This meeting is being recorded. >> Good morning everyone. It is Tuesday, December 16th. We'll call the Wright County Board of Commissioners to order. We'll begin with the pledge of allegiance. I aliance 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. Okay, it is that time of year again where we get to honor the dedication and hard work of the many employees here of the county and recognize their years of service. Uh at this time, I'll invite board members to step forward and help hand out certificates as administrator Kryser calls out uh all the names. >> [clears throat] >> Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the board. We'll be starting with their five years of recognition. And first up is TUFA Information Technology. [applause] Kelly Chaffy, Health and Human Services. [applause] Amber Davis, Health and Human Services. [applause] Joseph Dunham, Sheriff's Office. Dustin Pierce, HIGHWAY [applause] Gregory Wise, Health and Human Services. [applause] Jeremy Kringler, Project Administration. Then, Mr. Chair, members of the board, our 10 years of recognition. Cynthia Stone, Sheriff's Office. [applause] Blake Lamir, Sheriff's Office. [applause] Mr. Chair, members of the board, the 15-year [laughter] Corey Heming, Sheriff's Office. [applause] Alexander Herman, Bre County Probation and Court Services. [applause] Mr. Chair, members of the board, 20 years of recognition. Scott Deckert, Planning and Zoning. [applause] [snorts and clears throat] Andrea Bixby, Health and Human Services. [applause] Albert Jake Lutkins, Sheriff's Office. [applause] >> Amy Montto, Attorney's Office. [applause] Shannon Wolf, HIGHWAY. [applause] MR. CHAIR, members of the board, the 25 years of service. Don Zachman, Health and Human Services. [applause] Molly Koshansky, Sheriff's Office. [applause] Joan Olsen, Health and Human Services. [cheering] Christine Cracklow Trikler, Health and Human Services. Mr. Chair, members of the board, 30 years of service. Jacqueline Odow, Sheriff's Office. [applause] Mr. Chair, members of the board, 35 years of service. Patricia Malichek, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES. >> [applause] >> MR. CHAIR, MEMBERS of the board, that is our award ceremony for the fourth quarter of 2025. I want to thank all of our employees for their dedicated service and I thank you for your 35 years, 30 years, 25 years. I mean, it's an impressive amount of time to be with the county and we thank you for your dedication and public service. [applause] I think breakfast. >> [snorts] >> Maybe 14. >> All right, looks like uh we've emptied out pretty good. Uh once again, as Administrator Kryser uh just said, we appreciate all the dedication and uh long-term commitment to the organization and to the citizens of Ray County. Uh the staff here at the county do a fantastic job and work very very hard and we greatly appreciate it as well as does the taxpayers. Uh now, moving on with the agenda here today, uh we have the minutes from December 2nd. I'll stand for any corrections or for a motion for approval. I'll make a motion to approve the minutes. >> Second. >> All right. We have a motion by Commissioner Holland, second by Commissioner Shane. Is there any discussion? >> Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Post. Same sign. All right. Motion passes. Unanimous. Now we have today's agenda. Is anyone like to make any modifications to today's agenda? Otherwise, I'll stand for a motion. >> So moved. >> Motion by Commissioner Shane. >> Second. >> Second by Commissioner Holland. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor say I. I >> both with same sign. >> All right. Today's agenda is approved unanimous. Today's consent agenda. Would anyone like to remove anything from today's consent agenda for further discussion? >> Mr. Chair, I'd like to remove I1 approval and authorization to fill probation agent position related to backfill positions for discussion. >> We have a then is that a motion then to approve? >> Yeah, I'll make a motion with removing that. >> All right. We have a motion by Commissioner Moa to approve today's consent agenda with the removal of I1. We have a second. Second by Commissioner Holland. Any discussion hearing? None. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Post. Same sign. All right. Consent agenda approved unanimously uh with the removal of I1. Commissioner Mo, you have the floor with uh agenda item I1 on consent agenda. Uh yeah, just because this is related to our transition to CC, I wanted to kind of give an update that we had talked about a couple weeks ago now. Um and we received a response uh I did personally in a letter as well as I believe the county board did uh via email from Commissioner Schnell. So I just wanted to read that in into the record just so that our residents and everyone's aware of everything that's going on. Uh so in his letter uh dated December 10th uh Commissioner Snell had said, "In my decades long policing career, including nine years as a police chief and now seven years as commissioner of corrections, I've led through challenges, criticisms, and disagreements to ensure a high standard of service. However, I am dismayed by your recent public comments asserting an extortion plot. He, Commissioner Schnell, which is himself, has attempted to perpetrate on Wright County. Inaccurate rhetoric of this nature can diminish trust in government generally. I respect your frustration over the disagreement that exists between the county and the department of corrections, but framing my actions as an extortion attempt is not only misleading and disparaging, it obscures the issue in dispute. The word extortion suggests a criminal act, not a disagreement over the meaning and intent of statutory language. Wright County and the DOC disagree on the interpretation of the statutory requirements governing when a county decides to provide supervision services in accordance with community corrections act or CCA. Far from an attempt to extort Ray County, the DOC's position is grounded in state law, which establishes authority and provides direction to the executive branch of government, state agencies. The dispute is not about the DOC expecting Wright County to satisfy our contractual obligations under the state's collective bargaining agreements. The DOC does not expect a new employer to assume DOC's acred leave balance when separating from state service expect except under this circumstance because the requirement is spelled out in state law. When the CCA was enacted in the mid 1970s, legislators anticipated the displacement of state probation staff when a county made the business decision to convert to the CCA model. As a result, the legislature established statutory requirements spelled out in Minnesota statute 401.04 subdivision 2 so that displaced probation staff would transfer to county employment at no loss of salary and with all of the benefits enjoyed by them the employees while in [snorts] the service of the state. It is apparent that state policymakers did not want the displaced probation workers to be harmed based solely on a county's decision to change their supervision model. We believe Wright County's unwillingness to transfer the acred leave balances of the displaced staff uh of the displaced state probation staff is contrary to the law. Although the impacted staff have been employed by the DOC, their work has been entirely focused on serving Wright County probation clients. These DOC staff are not outsiders. They are the very same people who have been serving Wright County by providing felony probation supervision. Many of these staff are Wright County residents who public service is exclusively focused on Wright County. >> [snorts] >> The departments of corrections wholly supports the legitimate business decision of Wright County's board of commissioners to transfer to the community correction supervision model, but not outside the parameters described by Minnesota law. It remains my sincere hope that the outstanding issue can be resolved expeditiously so we can focus and assist Wright County's transition to the CCA model. Sincerely, Paul Schnell, Commissioner, Minnesota Department of Corrections. There's a lot of uh misrepresentation in what is in his letter. Uh but clearly he does not like the word extortion as he had put the quotes around it numerous times. Uh perhaps he would prefer if we used the phrase a quid proquo. However, uh from my memory, we have recently had a president that was impeached for a said quidd proquo. So, I don't know if Commissioner Schnell would really prefer that we use that. Uh if he doesn't want this situation called an extortion or a quidd proquo, then perhaps he shouldn't require payment for his contractual obligation to his employees just for us to access the DOC offender system. Uh the commissioner is attempting to make the taxpayers of Wright County balance his budget. And to me, this is a really smelly situation and it stinks like extortion. Uh there's many other things in this letter that we could refute and we could go back and forth and on and on um on how it's not correctly interpreted by his office, but you I think I've spent enough time ranting about this and I I think that we just need to to move on and hopefully he'll see the errors in his way and his extortion plot and we can get this moved in the right direction so that we can have our funding source that we're supposed to have by being a CCA county. So, that's all I had unless there's any other comments by anyone then. Okay. >> All right. Uh, first off here, I just want to say uh, Commissioner Moya, I appreciate your dedication to this and, uh, keeping the, uh, pursuit of, uh, righteousness on this. Uh, as well as I want to, uh, thank uh, Senator Holmstrom here, uh, who's also been a great asset on this. uh I don't know what I'd like to title it as a debacle or uh well in your case I mean maybe we can use the right word extortion to it cuz uh it does smell very much like that. So uh I I'll agree with that language then. Uh so Senator Holmstrom thank you for being here today as well as thank you for all of your uh assistance in uh working through this uh battle with the DOC. >> Kirby, >> Mr. Chair, if I could say something. Um, Commissioner Mo, I really appreciate you bringing this forth. Um, was confronted this weekend um, with somebody that didn't have clarity with this. So, I urge people if they do have questions that they do reach out to us and find out what actually is taking place because this is a burden that does not need to be shifted onto the taxpayers that we represent. >> All right. Well, with that, we'll uh I'll stand. I'll make a motion to approve the authorization to fill probation agent position. >> I'll second that. >> All right. We have a motion by Commissioner Moa, second by Commissioner Holland. Any further discussion? >> Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. Same sign. >> All right. Motion passes unanimous. And now we'll move on to the timed agenda item. Our first timed agenda item would be uh with Alicia from Soil and Water. She makes her way to the podium. >> Good morning. It is our time to do our annual uh resolution for the aquatic invasive species prevention aid. >> Good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Um as uh uh [clears throat] Chair Vet has said, we it's time to uh renew the the resolution for the AIS prevention aid. This is a, you know, paperwork stamp thing that the county receives money from the state to uh and then passes it on to the soil and water conservation district, which is what this um resolution does. Um, I just wanted to state that this past year, 2025, was a fairly typical year as far as inspections, treatment, education, etc. The one exception to that was the decontamination program, which was affected heavily by construction in Anendelle. This year, um, we will be be receiving $240,000 from the state, uh, in 2026, but I do want to point out that in 2027, we expect to receive about half that. And uh as such we have decided to cut the 2026 budget in order to stair step down uh if that that funding so that in 2026 our and 2027 our budget will be approximately 180,000 each year and then we will see what happens with the legislature as this uh cut moves forward. So >> thank you Alicia. Any questions from board members? Otherwise, I'll stand for a motion to approve resolution 2589. >> So moved. >> All right. Motion by Commissioner Dietrich, second by Commissioner Moina. Any further discussion? >> Hearing none. Resolution vote. Commissioner Moa. >> I >> I >> I >> I >> I. >> All right. Resolution 2589 is approved unanimous. Thank you. >> If I could just make one small note, I only need electronic copies. I don't need a physical mailed copy. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Alicia. >> All right. and we're right slightly above, but we'll uh continue on forward here if the you're good with that, Administrator Kaiser. >> I'm good with it, Mr. Chair. >> All right. Uh Barry Ryberger is making his way here. Planning and zoning here. We have adopt resolution 2589 pertaining to the uh petition to request for an EAW on the intersection of 25 and 113 property, adjacent property. Uh yes, Mr. Chairman. This is a resolution uh with findings in order for discretionary environmental assessment worksheet. Uh the county received or the environmental quality board received a petition for an EAW for the property listed. Um in little bit of history in 2021, we received a petition in relation to an interim use permit to mine sand and gravel on the property. Uh in November of 21, the board did require a discretionary EAW at that time. [snorts] Uh the EAW process was gone through and in September of 22, the board found that no significant environmental impacts would occur and did a negative declaration for an environmental impact statement. Uh this is a a new application related to sand and gravel mining on the same property. uh since uh since then in November we received another petition that went through the environmental quality board. Right. County was depicted as the regulatory governmental unit. And so this is the resolution to determine whether or not an EAW is again being required. Uh the the basis of this declaration not requiring EAW is that that has already been done and the and the board has already found that uh significant environmental impacts and an environmental impact statement are not required for the property. >> Thank you, Barry. Uh board members, any discussion? Otherwise, I'll entertain a motion on resolution 2590. Mr. Chair, >> okay. Yep. Commissioner Dietri, >> excuse me. Um, I just would like to say I I appreciate >> [clears throat] >> um the response and the thoroughess of planning and zoning. Um, I've also heard a lot from our residents uh in that area. Um, knowing that when that first EAW was were completed that it was during COVID and uh some of those the normal activity wasn't taking place um when it comes to like traffic count that type of thing which is certainly a concern um with the possibility of with a lot of traffic from the trucks um if if the aggregate mining moves forward. So, I just wanted to express the uh feedback that I got from residents in Buffalo Township in regard to um just that traffic impact and the safety involved um in that area. >> Any other comments from board members? >> All right. I'd like to adopt the resolution 2590 determining that the discretionary EAW is not required for MBE at this time. >> All right. We have a motion by Commissioner Holland and do I have a second? >> Second. >> Second by Commissioner Shane. Any further discussion >> hearing? None. Resolution vote. Commissioner Shane >> I. >> I. >> I. >> Nay. >> I. >> All right. Resolution passes 41. Thank you. All right. And moving on here. We are still making uh great timing here today. Chad's making his way to the podium. We have resolution 2591. It's a resolution day here in Ray County. Yes. >> Good morning. >> Good morning, chairman, commissioners. This is for um uh resolution authorizing signatures to enter a mindat agreement 1061217 which is basically to access there was a $2 million grant awarded basically to the 55 corridor coalition but they can't receive the funds so it has to go to mind and then through mind it will come to us and we're the we provide the fiscal agent for the 55 corridor coalition. So therefore we'll receive the funds and we'll um administer the contract. So this is part one of the the next is the actual consultant contract. So >> very good. Uh I'll stand for discussion or >> I'll make that motion for 2591 resolution. I'll second that. >> Motion by Commissioner Shane, second by Commissioner Holland for adopting resolution 2591. Uh any discussion hearing? None. Resolution vote. I vote I >> I >> I >> I >> I. All right. Resolution passes unanimous. >> Next. >> All right. Thank you. Um the next one is is uh authorization to enter into an agreement with SRF consulting group and they will be doing the uh the work on the environmental documentation and plary design public involvement for 55 corridor from 118 to CASA 19 in Henipin County. And um just to clarify too that you know they'll be invoicing us. We'll be paying the invoices. We do charge the coalition a monthly fee for the finance part of it. So um there's no added cost. is a little odd because it's a project not in Ray County, but we're the fiscal agent for the coalition. So, just a wanted to make sure that we know that there's no um added cost to the taxpayers for us to administer this contract. So, >> all right. Well, let's stand for a motion for the signatures on the agreement with SRF Consulting Group. >> So, moved. >> Second. >> All right. Motion by Commissioner Shane, second by Commissioner Dietrich. Any discussion? >> Mr. Chair, I just want to say um thank you, Chad. Thank you for being a fiscal agent on this. And then I just wanted to to comment on all the teamwork on the coalition um between Henipeneck County and MINDOT and all the cities and entities involved on the coalition. Um it's just it's a success moving forward here to get that EAW done and those preliminary engineering designs done and so we can get some activity coming our way uh with safer roads and um I just appreciate your your assistance on this. >> Thank you. >> All right. Before I want to just catch you up real quick after we do the vote. Uh is there any other discussion? Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Oppos. Same sign. >> All right. Motion pass unanimous but it was nice email yesterday on that grant award. Uh not going to turn that down. >> Yes. I don't know that all the board members did you all see that? Otherwise if you want to talk just real briefly on it. >> Yeah. We with the city of Buffalo support, we applied for a million dollar deed grant through economic development and uh for the realignment of 35 through uh um the old government center property and we didn't get the full million because there was other good projects, but we did get 700 over 750,000 >> 762. >> So that'll fund a vast majority of the realignment piece. So >> So that's the second grant we've gotten. We have the demo. >> Yeah. We got a million dollar. Yeah. So it's over $2 million now because the city of Buffalo got a local partnership project grant through MINDOT to address the intersection at 25 and second by the funeral home. So over $2 million of state funds to help with that important project. So >> thank you for Yeah. >> Yep. Thanks. >> All right. >> Uh we're a little early on our public hearing. Um >> Mr. Chair, I'd recommend doing the Ways and Means Committee minutes. >> Sounds great. >> We do have a representative from one of the cities here. [laughter] >> All right. and then we can go right into the public hearings and um finance director Meyer her items need to follow the public hearing. >> So um our first way of means met on November 18th uh with a limited agenda uh pertaining to the uh CM yeah you're talking about the 18th one correct >> I'm talking sorry number three >> number three >> 121 202 on the brush clipping sorry >> oh sorry the December 1st one I always had them in >> yeah we have two of them sorry Mr. Sure. Yeah. [laughter] >> Uh so the ways and means had a meeting on December 1st with uh Commissioner Holland and Commissioner Shane present as long as well as with a number of noted staff. Uh the item on the agenda was discussing theou uh for the use of a wood chipper with the townships and cities across the county. Uh the recommendation was to convene the meeting until Matias could contract contact the townships and reach out to the cities. [sighs and gasps] uh that have not yet participated and to look forward with theou with the uh interested townships and cities. >> And then Mr. Chair, we we did reconvene on December 4th at 11:00 um and came to a recommendation that we authorize the purchase of residential brush clipping equipment out of the general fund reserves and authorized administration to sign required purchase agreement documents. and uh assistant county administrator Matias was directed to communicate back to the partners the status of the project and work on price option with vendors. >> So kind of a two-parter. We we convened and then we adjourned and then we came back quick once we got some feedback here rather quickly. >> I I do know that once we got through uh just some of the communication uh barriers there was a great deal of excitement from a number of the municipalities that are out there. Uh so that is great to hear. I think these type of partnerships have a lot of value for the cities and townships as well as the county. So the more often that we can uh collaborate to get the economy of scale on things uh this nature, it's to the benefit of taxpayers. >> Mr. Chair, I'd just like to add that the townships are really excited about this too. I've had that conversation with a few of my townships and just that uh the cost that it's going to save them as well and just the availability availability of it on an ongoing basis um would be it would be huge for the townships. So with that said, >> I want to thank uh Mark. Uh this is a a great it was a lot of uh work on his part to um you know showcase what he wants to purchase and and present a plan and I know my cities are very excited about this. Uh it'll have a nice uh cost benefit to our cities and so for that I want to thank Mark for all the hard work on this. >> Mr. the chair if I could say something as well. Again, thank you Mark, but also my cities are extremely excited about this and this is going to be a cost savings to all of us. So, thank you. >> I just thought I'd look at you since everybody else made comments, Commissioner Mo, but [laughter] >> that just shows the excitement, right? Because everybody I got to see that machine work and that was fabulous. It just shreds like logs. It's it's fast. It's really amazing how quick that uh [laughter] the shredder works. So, >> we're excited about wood chippers here in Ray County. What can I say? [laughter] [gasps] All right. Uh with that being said, uh I'll stand for a motion. >> I'll make that motion. >> I'll second it. >> All right. We have a motion by Commissioner Shane, second by Commissioner Holland to approve the recommendations from the December 1st Ways and Means Committee. Any further discussion? >> Now, I'll make my comment. >> All right. [laughter] Uh was there any discussion uh I guess I just I didn't see it when I had read through it but has there been any discussion of the those who are not signing on now with anou that the the price that we're going to rent this out for the initial partners that are jumping into it that there will be an increase pay that they would have to do in the future for use of it because I I would want this to be more of an incentive for people that are right away at the beginning that that reached out to Mr. Mati and said, "Hey, we want to be involved in this. This is great. This is going to help us. It's going to save us, you know, a bunch of money on on all sorts of different areas." And then if we have people that wait or cities or townships wait a year or two years to to see how the project goes and that it's actually a cost savings. I just want to know if there's been any discussion that there would be a higher price tag to those that want to step in after the fact because they didn't want to put the skin in the game ahead of time and say, "Hey, I want to be involved in this. let me help you get this project off the ground because it's better for all of the citizens of Ray County >> because it's kind of designed on a pay-per-use type uh situation. So, uh the understanding right now, at least my understanding on it is that they at least going into the first year that they can the they can enter into theou at any point. So, uh whether whether that would maybe change in years three, four or five, I could see at that point well now there would be actually a savings to some of them maybe by not entering on day one. But being that we have it designed on a pay per pay per use piece uh allowing individuals to uh fluidly join the memo of understanding uh it doesn't seem to have any u positive or negatives to those that are already involved. >> Mr. chair. I'd like to say too that I think the uh a lot of the townships their budgets are already approved and and just adding this some of them are much smaller uh entities and so giving them that opportunity throughout the year to join or for next year um [clears throat] it just it's just fair. >> I think a lot of them are waiting to see how many storms they get in their in the in their either cities or townships across the county and uh if that happens to come true then we might have a lot more people joining later. I do we did make a comment though that they would be at the bottom of the back of the line because because of their reluctance to especially the cities that you know uh have had no appetite actually we just have one city for this um because we needed we needed the cities on board and we're really grateful that they did a lot of budget tweaking with Mark so that this could happen and without the cities, we wouldn't have had this. So, yes, we do have some townships that have put some skin in the game. Uh looks like they're going to be on board within the next six months, but other than that, after that, I h I would suggest we add add a cost and that they have, you know, they go in the back of the line because I think with the emerald ashbor, this thing's going to be used a lot. So, all right. And with that, is there any other discussion? I think we can take a vote then. All right. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppos? Same sign. All right. The December 1st Ways and Means recommendations are approved unanimous. And now we are right on time for our 9:30 public hearing. Uh before us is we had a emergency repair on the subordinate sewer district within Ray County in the area of the city of St. Michael. Uh this emergency repair requires us to uh hold a public hearing uh to render comments from the public and get concerns and answer those questions prior to taking action on this emergency repair. Lindsay, did I miss any pieces on that introduction? >> You got it. >> All right. Uh with that, I would ask anyone that wishes to come forward and speak on this uh public hearing, please come forward to the podium. Please give your first and last name and your city or township of residency in the county. At this time, I'll open up to public uh comments. >> Good morning. >> Good morning. How are you all? >> Good morning. >> Uh I'm a Rockford Township resident. I was a super advisor for a number of years and I I let someone else do it for a while. >> And your first last name? >> My name is Greg Eckplad. >> All right. Thanks, Greg. >> Yes. So I I live I live on Martha and uh I was quite pleased when we got the the the sewer project because uh Martha Charlotte they were essentially there were a lot of failing >> septic systems. So, uh I'm glad it happened and and it's come to the point of uh maybe a awakening of the fact of we were so happy that the sewage was going away and now we have to come up with a situation to when it stops flowing and uh get it repaired. And my thought is that on this contract that we add we add an additional uh pay item for repairing the sewer and perhaps then the the [laughter] fee there would be a additional cost added to the monthly fees. And I think it it should be like a a separate a separate items but then included with the monthly the monthly fees. But yes, I'm in I'm in favor of of just kind of breaking it apart and have it as a separate fund and it makes it a bit I think it makes it a bit easier for the city of St. Michael [clears throat] and just for payment purposes. I I worked in civil I was worked for a civil engineering firm and and it was I'm kind of using the same thought. We had the same type of system where you had a contract and then you had if if there was an extra you had a supplemental agreement or a change order >> and that those monies were separated. So, >> no. Greg, I appreciate your comments. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Would anyone else like to uh comment for the record? Would anyone else like to comment for the record? [snorts] I'll ask one more final time. Would anyone else like to comment for the record? >> [clears throat] >> Seeing no other comments on the record. At this time, I will close the public hearing and uh bring the discussion up here to the dis. Uh board members, I will uh >> Mr. Chair, stand I I think if you want to, we have a resolution underneath finance director Meyer's items, but I think we can take it in order if you want to do the next public hearing of the assessments. >> We'll come back to this one since they're they're kind of on the same nature, so the resolutions kind of pertain to each other. So, >> yes, they do. >> Y So, at this time, I will open up the second public hearing. Uh once again, if you would like to comment for the record, uh this public hearing will be uh in the subject matter of the delinquent utility accounts for the subordinate sewer district in the city of St. Michael. Uh if you wish to comment, please come forward and state your first and last name in your city or township of residency. Would anyone like to comment on the public hearing at this time? Would anyone like to comment on the public hearing at this time? And I'll ask one last final time. Would anyone like to comment for the record on the subordinate sewer district related to the delinquent utility accounts? Hearing none, I will [clears throat] close the public hearing and move the discussion here to the dis uh to board members. All right. At this time, I'm administer Ker, do you have any comments? I do know we have a couple resolutions uh pertaining to these. The first one would be the uh resolution 25.88. 88 uh certifying the city of St. Michael's emergency repair special assessment uh that was related to the first public hearing. The second one would be the adopting resolution 2587 certifying the special assessments the special assessments for the delinquent utility accounts for the subordinate sewer district within the city of St. Michael. I will ask that first uh for a motion on resolution 2588. >> Oh, so moved. >> Second. >> All right. Motion by Commissioner Shane, second by Commissioner Moina. Any discussion, >> Mr. Chair? >> Yes. >> Um could you clarify how that will be built? Just for the gentleman's [clears throat] comments, it will it be separated um as an assessment. Um the first item, the emergency repair will be our intent is to spread it equally amongst all property owners within the subordinate sewer district plus um an amount for interest on the borrowings of the subordinate sewer district. Since we paid the bill to the city of St. Michael back in February of 2025. >> Okay. So that will be a separate line item >> spread equally >> equally. Yes. Okay. >> The resolution before you has um I will add in response to the comments we have not proposed the creation of an emergency repair fund or any similar funding. Right. Yeah. Did uh so that's a discussion that we we probably should have coming into 2026 on that especially because it would expedite the process when emergency repairs come forward uh so we don't have to do things of this nature if we do have a a pot of money to make those repairs. So uh I believe in 2026 we'll be having some uh discussions that will come forward. So >> all right >> Mr. Chair that's correct. I mean the purpose of the hearing today is to deal with the repair fund and then the the comments provided by Mr. Actlad can be dealt with next year and the board to have another hearing if we have to on it and a job resolution at that point in time. >> Yeah, that's a good point. >> All right. So with that uh we have a motion for resolution 2588. >> Second. >> Do we have a motion? Sorry with all this discussion. All right. Is there any other discussion on uh >> resolution 2588? Hearing none. All right. Resolution vote. Commissioner Holland. >> I >> I >> I >> I >> I resolution 2588 approved unanimous. Now we have resolution 2587 with the delinquent utility accounts on the subordinate sewer district. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion by Commissioner Mo. Second by Commissioner Shane. Any further discussion? Hearing no. Hearing none. Uh resolution. Commissioner Dietrich. I >> I >> I >> I >> I >> resolution passes unanimous. And now we're on to finance housekeeping items. >> Yes. Um annually we are required um to follow Gazsby rules and in order to do that we are seeking a formal commitment or um and a way of obligating funds for a specific purpose at the board level. They are not uh restricted so much so that we have an external entity restricting them. But um we have chosen internally to have discussions where we would like to reserve these specific funds, the ARP funds, the park dedication funds, um the Bertrram funds, as well as the repairarian aid funds. Um so we're doing a formal set aside for financial statement preparation purposes. I appreciate the this this is done for multiple factors. One's for transparency and second it's done uh to articulate going forward how this dollars with it sitting within our fund balance how they are dedicated to it. So it's kind of similar to how we have road and bridge funds. We just these ones are dedicated to individualized projects. So kind of like a carry forward but it sits within our fund balance. >> Yep. Reflecting our intent. >> Yep. All right. Uh, with that, is there any discussion? Otherwise, I'll stand for a motion to approve resolution 2581. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. Motion by Commissioner Holland, second by Commissioner Moina. Uh, any discussion? Hearing none, Commissioner Mo. Resolution vote. >> I >> I >> I >> I >> I. >> All right. Resolution passes unanimous. And here is another one that's quite interesting. We haven't had one of these in well over a decade. uh but the changing of school district lines uh from one uh school district to another. Uh this is one of those things that the county actually weighs in on and once again it rarely rarely happens but we do have an individual parcel here in Wright County that is going to shift from St. Michael to Monaceel School District. >> Correct. Uh we had received the petition. We have uh received the appropriate approvals from the I'll call it the vacating school district. Um so before you is just a request to have a public hearing hearing to finalize that um change from St. Michael School District for um a specific parcel that is um in another grouping. I understand that they're seeking to combine these eventually if it works out, but they can't do that when the parals are in separate school districts. So, at this time, we're uh looking for a motion to schedule a public hearing on the county board meeting of January 20th, 2026. Uh requesting a time of 9:30 a.m. And in this room, >> I'll stand for a motion. >> So, moved. Second. Motion by Commissioner Dietrich, second by Commissioner Moya to set a public hearing for January 20th at 9:30 a.m. in the county boardroom for a public hearing pertaining to the transferring of property from Independent School District 885 to 882. >> Chairman B, we had something at planning and zoning on this issue that is that a separate public hearing? >> Yeah, that one's about combining the property. Uh so that they're the combining the property piece is separate from the transferring of the uh school district lines. So >> all right. >> So with that, is there any other discussion >> hearing? None. I'll stand uh did we get a motion? No, we >> there's a motion. >> Yeah, I should be marking that down. All right. So we have a motion to second. All in favor say I. >> I post same sign. >> All right. Motion passes unanimous. [sighs] All right. We're keeping right on track here on time. And the famous Matt Duchon is making his way. Yes. Making his way to the podium. He wants to schedule a public hearing for a redetermination of benefits, which we know is Matt Duchon's favorite thing. >> Yeah, they're awesome. Yeah. And I just want to apologize. I've been a little disconnected here lately, but I appreciate y'all having my back. So, [laughter] >> glad you're reconnected. >> Missed you. >> Awesome. Well, thank you, Mr. Mr. Chair, members of the board. Yes. So, we u been a while on this one. So, we're looking to uh hold a public hearing on these two redeterminations of benefits. So, today we will be setting um time for theformational meeting. Um not a requirement through this public hearing process, but just good for everyone to know in case any commissioners wish to attend thatformational meeting with land owners. Um but the public public hearing uh portion is the important one. U making sure we have a quorum and and all those notices and stuff go out for the public hearings. on judicial ditch number one and county ditch number seven. So, >> all right. So, uh first looking to schedule thoseformational meetings and we can probably do it all into uh one motion and just looking to uh get a motion to schedule the two information meetings and to schedule the public hearing for April 28, 2026 at 2 p.m. in the county boardroom. >> So moved. >> All right. Motion by Commissioner Derk. >> Second. Second by Commissioner Mo. Any discussion hearing? None. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppos. Same sign. All right. Motion passes unanimous. Thank you, Matt. >> And now on to items for consideration. We have the adoption of the 2026 uh property tax levy with resolution 2582. Uh, at this time I will stand for any discussion or administrator Kryer, do you have any comments prior to that? Otherwise, >> Mr. Chair, I just note for the record that we did have our truth and taxation hearing last Thursday on December 11th at 6 p.m. Uh, I think we had a very good discussion there. Um, we had some turnout. So, I appreciate the public coming out here and um, giving us their thoughts on on our overall levy and how things are going here at the county on a financial aspect. It's always good to have community involvement when we have it, but total levy before the board as we've talked about at the prelim as well as today is $166,16,926. >> I'll make a motion we adopt resolution 2582 for the 25 second. >> Motion by Commissioner Holland, second by Commissioner Shane. Any discussion? Once again, this was a very well done process. I appreciate finance and administration uh as they did a great job of working with us to uh get us to the numbers that we were hoping to get to. I mean I think we'd all everybody would agree we'd always like to go lower but there is constraints that in services that need to be provided and taking all that into consideration uh and trying to minimize impact to taxpayers uh we arrived at a number that we believe uh will be sufficient uh to meet both uh goals with that. Uh resolution vote. Is there any comments before that? All right. Resolution vote. Commissioner Shane >> I >> I >> I >> I >> resolution passes unanimous. Next we have the setting and adopting resolution 2583 setting the 2026 budget. >> So >> yes, Mr. Chair, sorry to interrupt you, Commissioner Mo. Um but no, Mr. Chair, you're correct. This is the 2026 budget. This is the culmination of kind of the underlying work underneath that gets us to the levy figure that we just adopted moments ago, but this is the the budget. Um, as you know, department heads and finance and administration and the board have been working on this diligently since about June or May of this year. So, um, we're finally at the culmination point. >> Thank you, Administrator Kryser. At this time, I'll stand for a motion for resolution 2583. >> I'll second. >> Motion by Are you second? Yeah, sorry. You cut off. You've cut off. That wasn't >> Yeah, I already motioned. So, I'm going to interrupt. >> You [laughter] cut me off, so I didn't even recognize that motion. So, >> wow. >> All right. We have a motion by uh Commissioner Mo, a second by Commissioner Shane to adopt resolution 2583 setting the budget for 2026. Is there any comments? Hearing no comments. Resolution vote. I'll start off. I >> I >> I >> I >> I. >> All right. Resolution passes unanimous. Next would be adopting resolution 2586 setting the sheriff's salary for 2026. Is there any discussion? Otherwise, I'll stand for a motion. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion by uh Commissioner Dietrich, second by Commissioner Moina. Any discussion? Hearing none. Resolution vote. Commissioner Holland. >> I >> I >> I >> I >> I resolution passes unanimous. Uh next would be uh setting the resolution 2585 setting the county attorney salary for 2026. Is there any discussion? >> Motion to approve. >> All right. >> Second. [clears throat] >> All right. Motion by Commissioner Moa, second by Commissioner Shane. Uh hearing no discussion and resolution vote. Commissioner Dietrich. >> I >> I >> I >> I >> I >> All right. Resolution passes unanimous. Next would be resolution 2584 setting the county board salary for 2026. Is there a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. Motion by Commissioner Mina, second by Commissioner Shane. Any discussion? Hearing none. Commissioner Moa. >> I >> I >> I >> I. >> Resolution passes unanimous. We are swimming along here quite uh efficiently. Next, we have the schedule a close session for the performance review of administrator uh county administrator. Uh looking to schedule that on January 20th post the county board meeting or after the county board meeting. Uh so looking for like a 10:30 a.m. >> I'll make that motion that we do it at that on that day. >> All right. Motion by uh Commissioner Holland. >> Second. Second by Commissioner Shane to schedule schedule a close session for performance review on admin on the county administrator for January 20th at 10:30 a.m. Is there any other discussion? >> Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppos? Same sign. All right. Motion passes unanimous. Now we'll come back to that November 18th uh ways and means committee. Um >> I had papers here somewhere. There's I had stacks. Oh, here. No. Where did they go? [laughter] >> Hang on. >> There it is. I got it right here. All right. And so the uh January 18th or no January November 18th Ways and Means Committee uh Commissioner Holland, uh Administrator Kryser and Aden Shane as well as other county staff which are noted in the minutes were available for this Ways and Means Committee. The first discussion or the item for discussion was the Minnesota Family Investment Program uh contract within Health and Human Services and the discussion about uh renewing that with Avivo or moving it to another entity. The recommendation, the committee's majority recommendation recommends entering into a contract with AVO again to provide employment services for MIP administration. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, I'll stand for motion. >> Approve the recommendations. >> All right. Second >> motion by Commissioner Mo, second by Commissioner Shane. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Close. Same sign. >> I. >> All right. Motion passes 41. All right. Next, we have the uh personnel committee minutes from uh December 1st. this uh personnel committee was uh adopting policies pertaining to the state paid leave uh and other statutory law changes within the state of Minnesota and making sure that our uh personnel policy is in compliance with that of the uh state statutes. So with that uh looking for a recommendation to approve the personnel committees from December 1st. >> So moved. >> I'll second. >> Motion by Commissioner Shane, second by Commissioner Holland. Any discussion hearing? None. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppos. Same sign. All right. Motion passes unanimous. And as we close the county board meeting as our last board meeting for 2025, I want to thank uh county staff and the citizens of Reich County uh for a wonderful 2025. I wish uh all county staff a wonderful holidays and thank you again. Uh we'll adjourn this meeting here today at 9:52. Thank you.