Good morning everyone. It is Tuesday, November 4th. We'll call the Wright County Board of Commissioners to order. We'll begin with the Pledge of Allegiance. [snorts] >> 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. I like to give them a good old weather report here off the start. Looks like it might be our last day to see 60 degrees in a long time. So, everybody get outside this afternoon and enjoy it. Uh, first item on the agenda here. Uh, before we get started, uh, we are commissioner short here today. And I wanted to uh make a just a quick statement that uh Commissioner Shane is dealing with some medical uh emergencies for with within her family and we are sending our prayers for a speedy recovery for uh her family. Um and our next item on the agenda here would be the minutes from the 21st of October meeting. I will stand for any corrections or motions at this time. >> We'll make a motion we approve the minutes as presented. We have a motion by Commissioner Holland. >> Second. >> Second by Commissioner Moina. Any further discussion? >> Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. Same sign. All right. Minutes are approved unanimous. Today's agenda. Would anyone like to uh make any modifications to today's agenda? >> Mr. Chair, administration has one item we would like to change. Item C3 under timed items. We're asking that that matter be tabled. Uh we just received word that the viewers are not going to be able to make that date in time on March 10th. So we need additional time to communicate with them on a new date. >> All right, we'll bring that one back on the 18th then. And is there any other corrections to the agenda? Hearing none, I'll stand for a motion to approve the agenda as modified. >> Make a motion to approve the agenda. >> All right, we have a motion by Commissioner Holland. >> Second. >> Second by Commissioner Moina. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Oppos? Same sign. All right. The 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 would like to pull D1 for discussion, please. >> All right. D1. Okay. We have the resoning request for D1. Is there any other items? Otherwise, I'll stand for a motion to approve uh the consent agenda with the removal of item D1. Motion to approve the consent agenda. All right. Motion by Commissioner Dedric. >> Second. >> Second by Commissioner Moina. Any further discussion? [snorts] >> Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. >> All the same sign. All right. The consent agenda is approved unanimously with the removal of D1. D1 uh is removed by Commissioner Derk. Uh Dietrich, sorry. Uh you have any statements or questions? >> Yes. Yes, Mr. Chair. Um [snorts] I know it was a 5-2 vote um coming from the planning commission and um upon reading the letter from the city and um the possible recommendation I would I would say is to um vote no on this reszoning and have the city of Hanover and the Rockford Township to work together to put together a um annexation agreement um being that it is uh in the city's growth um pattern and that they will be putting utilities and etc. along there probably as they're growing so fast in a in a short amount of time. So, um I'm asking that we um vote no, turn this this uh item down and have them work together u for a better solution. Commissioner BCH. Um, as a representative, uh, on the planning and zoning, uh, this one we gave a large large leash to the city of Hanover. We started out with, um, this this item came up at the first meeting. Uh, Commissioner Shane reached out to the city council members of Hanover to to say that this was happening. We had a site visit. Nobody from the city of Hanover that we had the planner come but no city council was made aware of the site visit or was attending the site visit. We then had the subsequent meeting after the site visit. we uh it it failed. Um and we said we were concerned about the location and the potential uh um expansion of the handover. So we said to go back and have the city of Rockford of Hover and Rockford Township talk to each other. That happened over a month. We did I did reach out again to the city council member to say, "Hey, we've kicked it back to you. Uh do something about it." Uh and then uh it came to October 23rd and nobody from Hover was here. Nobody from handover did anything. Uh it's the right we we extended the time frame as per state statute. So then there was nothing left to do except for grant this lady her rights to uh bring um her property to uh the the development the three um lots that she requested. >> All right. Uh any comments other >> uh extensively I've had conversations with uh my planning commission person which is Dan Brainder and I'm in agreement with what the planning commission decided they not only the ample amount of time but if they wanted to have an orderly annexation agreement they they would have one between the two of them and the the city hasn't done anything until yesterday when I had received a phone call from one of the city council members and a copy of a letter that they also had sent to the planning commission. And I mean, I'm I'm not inclined to tell a land owner that they can't do something with their property because the city is coming in at the one yard line and saying, "We don't want this to happen, but we didn't want to take any action on this moving forward." So, as far as I'm concerned, approving this is protecting the land owner from the city stepping in and telling them what they can or can't do with their property when they're not even inside city limits. [snorts] And I don't I don't think that overturning what planning has decided without any substantial movement in the last week, almost week since the planning commission met. two weeks, two weeks since they met. I don't think that that would be a very good idea. I mean, like I said, we're protecting the land owner from a city overreaching when they've had more than enough time. This has been delayed multiple times. I think it first came to planning in September or August, and it nothing's been done since then. And uh Mr. Ravender had told me that when they did their site visit, they had asked the city planner, "What is your plans for future growth out here?" And they were told that they don't have a 5 to 10 year plan for their growth. I mean, everybody does. When I was on the city council in Montros, we had a 20 to 30year plan. Even though it might grossly be wrong after 5 years because growth happens somewhere else, you at least have a plan on where you're going to go. So, I don't I don't want to overturn what the planning commission has decided without some sort of substantial change in what's going on. And as far as I'm concerned, the the city hasn't done anything and the township supports this. So, I'm in favor of going with what the planning commission has decided. >> Thank you, Commissioner Moina. Uh I appreciate you uh advocating for some of the concerns that came forward here, Commissioner Dietrich, in the last uh couple days here. Unfortunately, uh given the constraints of the statute for reasonzoning, you have 120day window. If we did kick it back, uh you wouldn't have enough time for them to be able to even come to any type of agreement. You would be we would be forced on the applicant to remove their application. Otherwise, we would be timed out per the statute of the reasonzoning. Uh so that wouldn't be a feasible option. as well as the planning commission has been uh very diligent of working in trying to find uh um mitigation between the city and this application, but because the city hasn't done its uh proper steps in creating an orderly annexation, uh there really is no reason to deny this request. So, for that reason, I'm going to support the reszoning request. [snorts] >> All right. I'll I'll make a motion to accept the recommendation of the planning commission to reszone uh the property of Miss Gardner in Rockford Township. >> I'll second that. >> All right. Motion by Commissioner Moa, second by Commissioner Holland. Any further discussion? >> Mr. Chair, just quick, this came to my attention when it came on to the agenda. So, I was not familiar with all of the details that were not included with the packet. Um, so I understand where you're going and I understand the time limit. Um, I've been on planning and zoning before. Um I just I I got feedback from city council. Um probably there was a lot of lack of communication between maybe administration and their and their council. Um but that's a sharing concerns that this was um a pivotal piece of property potentially for their growth. So that's all. >> Fair enough. All right. Any other discussion? Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppos same sign. >> I. Motion passes 3-1. All right. [snorts] Now, moving on to timed agenda items. I believe we have Brad here as our first timed agenda item here to authorize a joint powers agreement with Sterns County for the care and maintenance of Fair Haven Mill County Park. >> Morning, Mr. Chair and board. So, yeah, I'm before you here this morning just to present the JPA for Fair Haven Mill. If you're familiar with the park, we've been operating this way for 40 years. This is just formalizing the process. So meeting with them every spring to develop a plan for any projects and then kind of setting budgets where they know that and then we pay upfront and then we'll re we invoice them at the end of the year for 50% of that cost. So that's kind of what's before you. Uh again something we've been doing for 40 years just finally formalizing it. >> It's um much needed exercise that needed to take place. So I appreciate your efforts on it. So at this time I'll >> make a motion to approve the JPA with Sterns County for the maintenance and care of Fair Haven Mill County Park. >> I'll second that. >> Right. Motion by Commissioner Mo, second by Commissioner Holland uh for the approval of the JPA. Uh any further discussion hearing? None. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Post same sign. All right. Motion passes unanimous. Thank you, Brad. And Lindsay has waited ever so patiently for her turn. She brings forward with us a resolution right off the start of the day. >> Yes. Good morning, Mr. Chair, board members. We've actually got two resolutions on deck. Um these are resolutions to implement a special assessment um which we are a participant of the um the St. Paul Port Authority for a property assessed clean energy program. Basically, um, it establishes a loan and the repayment is a special assessment process. [snorts] >> Board members, do you have any, uh, questions or discussion on this item? >> If not, I'll stand for the motion to approve resolution 2569. >> So moved. >> All right. We have a motion by Commissioner Holland. >> Second. >> Second by Commissioner Moina. Any discussion? Hearing none. Uh, resolution vote. Commissioner Moina. >> I >> I >> I >> I. >> Resolution passes unanimous. Thank you. >> Next one. Same thing, different entity. >> Motion to approve resolution 2570. >> Thank you, Commissioner Mo. We have a motion. All right. Motion by Commissioner Mina, second by Commissioner Holland to approve resolution 2570. Uh, any discussion? Hearing none, I'll vote I. >> I. I. >> All right. Resolution passes unanimous. Thank you, Lindsay. and Jared. >> Good morning, Mr. Chair, other members of the commissioners. Um, so that we have uh two items uh today to discuss. Um the first is requesting approval for staff to obtain quotes for tree removal on county ditch 33 and county ditch 23. >> All right. And this request is simply to get quotes and uh from contractors and board approval would be required uh to move forward um for any future tree clearing. So it's just to get quotes at this time. >> All right. Any uh questions board members? >> No. Relative. >> I'll make a motion to approve staff to obtain quotes for tree removal on county ditch 33 and 23. >> All right. Motion by Commissioner Mo, second by Commissioner Dietrich. Any further discussion hearing? None. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. All right. Motion passes unanimous. Second item. >> Okay. Is to accept the proposal from Houston engineering and county district 33 for a not to exceed cost of $39,000 and authorize the agricultural drainage and natural resources supervisors to sign contracts. >> All right. As the drainage authority here, I would encourage board members to move forward with the uh the proposal from Houston Engineering for work on ditch 33 and that not to exceed amount of 39,000. Uh stand for any questions or discussion or a motion. Do you have a motion? >> Motion to accept the proposal. >> I'll second it. >> All right. Motion by Commissioner Moa, second by Commissioner Holland. Any discussion hearing? None. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. All right. Motion passes. Unanimous. Thank you, Jared. >> Thank you. >> And Barry, I know he's hiding back there somewhere. I'm uh running a little bit ahead here, but I [clears throat] >> I probably should hold off a little bit on this one. Administrator Kaser, I believe. >> Well, Mr. Chair, the public hearing was conducted by the planning commission. So, it's just simply a timed item. >> Timed item. I >> I mean, >> we could move to Health and Human Services. >> Yeah. Otherwise, I can go to You want me to go down to items for consideration? >> I'm here. >> We can do We can do >> you guys. We can do Barry. I mean, I just trying it's a timed item. I don't generally if they're items that could be something, but we're not accepting public comment on it. So, we'll move forward with it. So, >> Mr. Chair, also I mean Mr. Ryanburgger and my experience with him can fill eight minutes. So, [laughter] >> he's gonna tell us all about uh >> He ain't lying. I I got a cop for that one. >> Well, the question is, did he get any birds this last weekend? >> See, there there's your eight minutes right there. >> Right there. [laughter] I won't go into details, but yes, we did. >> Uh yes, Mr. Chairman, and and commissioners, what we have before you is ordin amendment 25-4. Um there are portions of this that were uh directed by commissioners regarding changes to our plan unit development district. Um as part of that um we did some amendments to our subdivision ordinance as well because the base of that ordinance is from 1979 and had a lot of just old language in it and it had processes and procedures spelled out that we don't follow. Um, you know, one of the one of the the comments in there or one of the statements in there, well, applicants have to provide 10 copies of stuff. In the digital age, we don't need 10 copies of anything uh in paper form. And so, we wanted to modernize it at least a little bit uh as well as uh make definitions that exist in the subdivision ordinance and the zoning ordinance more consistent. So, the way we define lots of record, let's make it consistent between both ordinances. Uh probably the highlights uh of the amendment are uh a modification in the planning unit development ordinance which prohibits uh common open space or common access lots on lakes shore. So lakeshore frontage um that prohibits that those commonly owned lots which are requirement for our our PUDs are prohibited when it actually fronts on a lake. Um basic theory is we don't want to create a bunch of lake lots that are off the lake and then give them all access to the lake through these commonly owned uh properties. Um so that's one of the biggest things we did write that language in here. Uh went through the revisers with that. Uh the other portion is the adoption or or a change into how uh the ordinance reads for uh park dedication. So any subdivision is the way the subdivision ordinance defines it uh is required to pay park dedication fee. Historically our office has only applied that to platted subdivisions but it doesn't specify that in ordinance. That's just been the policy. Um and so looking at that calculation it it was it's 10% of the raw value of the land is what would go into that park dedication. Um, and us looking through it, we we found a few situations where [laughter] unplatted lots were created that didn't pay any park dedication and right next door they ended up doing a plaque because they needed a road and they played, you know, 20ome,000 in park dedication fees, which by the definitions of the ordinance, that shouldn't happen. So, what we did is instead of doing a raw land value, uh, we switched it over to a per lot basis and we'll be applying that to all subdivisions in residential districts. Uh, in the egg district, the use of entitlements will not have to pay that fee is how we wrote it. Um, because the entitlement divisions are a right granted by the ordinance. It's not a resoning that requires a special look by planning commission, the county board, and then a subdivision that also requires further. We have administrative divisions that we allow, and those won't uh have to pay the park dedication fee as as far as how we wrote it because we see that as a right just based on the zoning district that they're in. Um, and we did uh corresponding with the fee schedule that's going to be coming up later today, we have set a fee for that. We did some uh calculations on okay, we're not looking to necessarily overburden taxpayers on the amount we we collect and so we kind of figured out how many unplatted subdivision and platted subdivision lots we did and what we would collect. So we have set that fee which we can discuss at the fee schedule stage but uh we also set it up so that the county board will will make that a part of the fee schedule so that if if times change that fee can be changed as part of the fee schedule uh which is a little easier than amending ordinance every time you want to change a fee. Um so that we we did did that as part of this as well and then all the other changes were listed out. Um, the second part of this request will be the summary language, which actually does spell out all of the changes or the primary crux of all the changes that we made. So, what I'm looking for right now is commission approval and adoption of amendment 25-4. All right, Barry, I appreciate the efforts. Uh, just so people in the public have some uh understanding of this. Uh Barry, you and your team have done an excellent job of trying to go through uh decades of ordinances and bringing them up to date and bringing them to meet the practices of the county. Uh whether it's technology based or just uh functionality. Uh this is a great practice that you've adopted within your office so that we have consistency in the rules and how we actually operate. So, uh, that's where if the public's seeing that, you know, every couple months we have ordinance amendments coming forward, it is because we're actually cleaning up our ordinance book. So, appreciate the work. >> I still got a big list that we're still looking at. [laughter] And instead of doing a one big amendment that covers, you know, hundreds of pages. we're we're biting off small chunks that are somewhat tied together and then doing those and then give it a couple of months and then come back with with something else. Or as need arises, well then we might throw on a couple of smaller cleanups if we're being directed to do an amendment, we might throw a couple of more on there just to help clean up my board and start and get get them off my board so we can keep moving forward with them. >> Maybe in three, four years, you won't know what to do, right? >> [laughter] >> I have a sneaking suspicion that there's always going to be requests for changes. So, >> I'm pretty sure that's the case. All right. [clears throat] At this time, I'll stand for any comments or a motion to approve ordinance amendment 25-4. >> I'll make a motion to approve. >> All right. We have a motion to All right. Motion by Commissioner Holland, second by Commissioner Moina to approve uh ordinance amendment 25-4. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. [clears throat] >> Oppose. Same sign. >> All right. Ordinance approved unanimously. Now at this time I need resolution 2571 for summary publication of ordinance amendment 25-4. >> I'll make that motion. >> All right. We have a motion by Commissioner Holland. >> Second. >> Second by Commissioner Moina. Any discussion? Hearing none. Resolution vote. Commissioner Holland. >> I I >> I >> I resolution passes unanimous. Thank you, Barry. Thank you. >> And Barry, you got me real close to my public hearing, but uh can't quite get there yet. I'm not going to go into the the health and human services. We're just going to go to items for consideration. Uh item A1, we have to set the agenda for November 18th workshop. Uh quite a robust uh workshop agenda there. if everybody sees that in front of them. Uh just >> Yes, Mr. Chair. Um what was in the packet, we did update it with a couple other items that came up. Um namely, we added a discussion on CD33 and also uh the Great River Regional Library Board appointments. I received word um after the agenda got posted that we do have two appointments that are up at the end of this year. So, just trying to add that to the agenda as well. So, it is a full meeting, Mr. chair, as you can see, from 10:30 to basically an adjournment at around noon. Uh followed by another meeting that committee meeting that starts that afternoon, then at 1:30. So, we're packing it in. And at this time, I'll stand for a motion to uh acknowledge or approve the workshop agenda for November 18th. >> So, moved. >> Motion by Commissioner Holland. >> Second. Second by Commissioner Moina. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. I >> oppose. Same sign. All right. Motion passes unanimous. Next, we have uh we're going to take care of item number A2. Under items for consideration, we have the resolution 2572 urging the repeal of the Minnesota's moratorium on nuclear energy. Us being a host community of nuclear power. We know how uh much of a a asset that facility is and how uh base load energy is important to our grid and to the state of Minnesota and how we need to encourage our uh state legislature to lift that moratorum on nuclear energy. >> That's correct, Mr. Chair. this resolution. Uh I think a number of counties are requesting this right now going across the state, but really this is for to allow us to start constructing micro reactors which are literally the size of a semi-trail that could go around and power data centers and any other high energy use structure within the county or the state of Minnesota. So um looking to add our name to uh the list of counties looking to lift the moratorum and as you know Mr. I mean, as a host county of a nuclear power plant, we know it's safe, it's reliable, and it's great base load energy. >> Modular nuclear is the wave of the future. I think within the next uh 5, 10, 20 years, you're going to see modular nuclear probably to be a large portion of our grid makeup. >> I'll make a motion to approve resolution 2572. >> I'll second that. >> All right. We have a motion by Commissioner Moa, second by Commissioner Holland to approve resolution 2572 urging repeal of the Minnesota's moratorium on nuclear energy production. Any discussion hearing? None. Resolution vote. Commissioner Dietrich >> I >> I >> I >> I. >> Resolution passes unanimous. And at this time I think we're close enough we can do the preset of our public hearing that is scheduled for 9:30. Uh it is just a minute or two before 9:30. Uh the publication has been put forth for the public hearing for the fee schedule for 2026. Uh modifications are articulated within the packet here. We will be asking the public to come forward and state your name and your area or city or township of residency for the record. I'm going to turn it over to you, Mr. Mati, if you have any comments before we open up the public hearing. >> Uh, good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the board. First of all, I'd like to thank all our departments and their and everybody that worked on the fee schedule. Uh, since we made the changes a few years ago, there goes a lot of extra work into establishing our fees for transparency. I'd like to thank them. Uh the fee schedule was kind of reviewed for some modifications at the workshop a couple weeks ago. So those changes were made and open the floor up for any public comment questions. >> I have myself about one more minute before I can technically open up that public hearing. I do want to say that over the last probably 2 three years, the board has taken a great interest in working through the fee schedule and trying to build the methodology of the fees covering when applicable the costs for services. So those that use the service pay for the service when and however possible. Sometimes that isn't possible but in most of the cases within our fee schedule uh that is what is driving the cost changes on them. And at this time uh if anyone would like to come forward and comment for the record on the fee schedule for 2026. Please come forward. State your name and your city or township of residency. The floor is open at this time. Would anyone like to speak? Would anyone like to speak one last time here? Would anyone like to speak? Uh seeing there is no interest in commenting for the record, I will close the public hearing at this time and bring the discussion up here to the dis. [snorts] All right. At this time, board members, we are looking for a motion to either approve, modify, uh, or otherwise with the 2026 proposed fee schedule. >> Mr. Chair, >> yes. >> Um, I do have a comment, but thank you for staff and working on this. I think this process is is well done. Um my only concern and I probably should have said it at the the workshop that we talked about it but bringing it forward um planning zoning the increase in permit fees it's a 24% increase and um it might not seem like a lot but I am concerned that each step in that direction is only going to make housing more difficult for people to afford. Um and so I'm just asking that we maintain those fees um at this year's level. um and then re-evaluate it again next year. >> All right. >> Um Mr. Chair, I have asked Barry to stick around uh for this conversation if he wants to explain how that fee was at so you have that background a little bit would be excellent. >> And I guess to start off, I'll kind of make a a quick comment on it. Uh, I do know that Barry and his staff has largely spent a great deal of time looking at it from how much staff time they have and the cost and fuels of going out to these locations and analyzing them so that we're actually recouping the cost on the permits of the work. Uh, so that we don't have the general taxpayer subsidizing uh these building permits. So that is the large piece of what's driving the increase. But I'll turn it over to you uh Barry. Yeah, and that's and that's kind of what we look at is is, you know, talking with with our building official and our inspectors. You know, the amount of of time and miles that we put on to do these inspections. Um, you know, it's one of those where, you know, a lot of our uh expenses are covered by building permit fees. Um, you know, where roughly half or just just less than half of our total expenditures are covered by actually our cost of service. I have to submit reports on all of this to the Department of Labor and Industry, which I should have included because I have I have to recap this every year. Uh, and it's kind of a pain in the butt, but I have to provide it. Um, and what we're looking at is is a lot of the the over-the-counter type of fees with the amount of travel that's involved with them. Um, and we're getting more and more where uh the contractors and property owners are required to submit photos. And so now my staff is spending more time actually at the computer too reviewing the photos, making sure things are right. If they find a difference, now we got to go back out to the site, make sure that things are done appropriately based on the photos that we see. So we are seeing more time spent and more miles driven to uh to approve and get permits from start to finish on especially on a lot of the over-the-counter stuff. Um, and those tend to be the most problematic too when it comes to actually calling and getting inspections. And so we have time on the back end that we spend too that now that we have staff to do it, we're more able to send those notifications which are going to drive even more inspections. And so this is a way for us to recoup the costs of those types of services that we provide. Um, [snorts] I didn't do a calculation on exactly the percentage of our revenues that are derived from this. Um, but I do know house construction still is around 40% of our total revenues. So, houses really drive a lot of what we do. The actual amount that this is going to affect our budget is is fairly small. Um, just because they are very low cost permits in general. But with the cost of services and the fees and the salaries going up, we just figured this was a time I I want to avoid coming every couple of years with a small percentage. I'd rather set it and allow it to filter out for 5 years, 7 years, 8 years than coming every time we get an increase and then, you know, have to deal with trying to increase those fees small and incremental. I'd rather set this and then if I come back with something that increases this again, well then yell at me then. Uh because I just did it 25% as as noted. >> No, I >> that was our that was our mindset when we did this. Rather than doing 5% 10%, let's go where we're consistent with other municip mun municipalities around us and then hopefully be able to maintain that for a longer period of time. >> Mr. Chair, I I appreciate the work that your department does. Honestly, it's it's not that's not the question. The question is just the additional fees for homeowners um building or remodeling homes with those permits. >> That's my concern. I once again I I I appreciate your concern on that, but uh being the fact that that rate has been flat for a while and with the methodology of us wanting to make sure that our fees for services when possible are capturing the costs associated with the with the service that's being conducted. Hence the reason we need to get that 125 from that $100 uh fee, which is kind of the universal increase on those fees. Uh I I just can't see the general taxpayers subsidizing uh a person's improvements or changes within their home. Uh that that is should be warranted by the individual who's making the upgrades or changes within their property. Uh not being subsidized by the general taxpayer. [snorts] >> Yeah, Chairman, I was going to say the same thing. Subsidizing, you know, the um all the taxpayers subsidizing um for a very few and it isn't stopping the growth. We are still the number one growing uh county. So pe we're attractive. It's not stopping uh the growth. So I think uh I would rather recoup the the costs so that we can keep that levy low. [snorts] >> Mr. Chair, we do you know we pay for the health care and wages for our employees to do their job that we are required by law. And um I I do understand offsetting some costs. It certainly doesn't cover all of it. We wouldn't want that. Um, again, I'm just asking that we maintain this uh and not make an increase to the permit fees. >> Is there any other comments? Otherwise, I'll stand for a motion to uh either approve or modify the 2026 fee schedule. I'll make a motion to approve the fee schedule with maintaining the um planning and zoning permits at the level. >> All right. Uh so you're saying with with no changes under >> no changes for the permit fees, please. >> Uh so you're removing any changes on the planning and zoning because those are all the permit fees. Okay. Correct. So we have a motion by Commissioner uh Dedrick. Any further discussion? Do we have a second? Do we have a second? Do we have a second? Motion dies for the lack of a second. At this time, uh bring this forward here to see if there is another motion to uh approve or modify the fee schedule for 2026. >> I'll make a motion to accept the fee schedule as presented. >> We have a motion by Commissioner Holland to approve the fee schedule as presented. Do we have a second? Do we have a second? >> I'll second it. >> Second by Commissioner Moina. Any discussion? I I understand your concern with increasing the fees and um I'm not in favor and people are going to hate that I say this and some will really enjoy it but I hate the idea of having to give any kind of a permit for somebody to want to modify their home or to to build their home on their property that they purchased. However, I understand that from the federal government and from the state, we're required to do certain things and inspections are required and all of all of those checklists that we have to do and have to pay for. And so, I understand why it's there because yes, we would be completely subsidizing all of that if we didn't require it. Um, as long as this is a plan that we're not going to be increasing every single year, as Mr. Reinberger had said, then I'm okay with the changes for now, but that it is a concern that people have expressed, especially within the townships, of the the growing fees, but they they are growing everywhere. I know cities are growing their fees that they they have them, too. And um even just you know in cities of course they've got uh sack and whack fees that they use and they routinely increase those and sometimes on very substantial amounts every single year just because they they want to. But, uh, like I said, I'm I'm not really in favor of any permits to tell somebody they're allowed to do something on their property, but I understand why we have to and and the need for the increase right now as long as levels stay the way that they are. >> Commissioner Mo, I appreciate the comments on it. So, first I will say that uh in my tenure here, these fees have uh relatively been pretty flat for quite some time. they've made just minor tweaks over the uh uh past decade. Uh secondly, uh I will agree with your sentiment on the state building code and the uh what I would say aggressiveness of it. Um it isn't our building code here in the county. It is the state building code that we are I will say forced to uphold. Uh and for that reason, uh this is just more about uh us being able to recoup our cost of being the administrative arm of the state in terms of administering the state building code. So, uh your points are well taken, Commissioner Moina. I I'm with you. I'd rather not be regulating it, but uh unfortunately, we don't have much choice in that. So it's just a matter of us do we have the taxpayer pay for it or the individual who is demanding the work to be done. So we have a motion and we have a second. Is there any further discussion? >> Mr. Chair, I just appreciate the conversation. Thank you. >> All right. We have a motion and we have a second. If there is no other comments, all in favor say I. I. >> Oppose. Same sign. >> I. >> All right. FE schedule approved 31. >> Thank you, Mr. chair, members of the board, and a big thanks to Kelly up in our office for all the work you do. >> All right, and now we will put our health and human services hats on as we enter the Health and Human Services portion of the agenda. First item on there would be the approval of the consent agenda. Uh I will stand for a motion to approve the consent health and human services consent agenda items. >> So moved. >> I'll second. >> All right. Motion by Commissioner Moa, second by Commissioner Holland. Any further discussion hearing? None. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppos. Same sign. All right. Motion passes unanimous. All right. Now, first time agenda item would be to adopt resolution 2512 to accept the October 2025 donations, which we greatly appreciate all of those funds that help us uh better help the citizens of Wright County. Do you have any comments on that? >> Yes, I did. Oh, thank you. And I did want to just mention that um Candace King of the Forgotten Initiative donated 38 journey bags um to Health and Human Services. Their backpacks filled with some basic supplies and comfort items for children who are going into foster care. Um the forgotten initiative serves right in Sherburn counties and the 38 backpacks and their contents are valued at over $5,000. So we greatly appreciate that for our um kids entering foster care. That is a very very great donation. Uh at this time I'll stand for a motion to approve resolution 2512. >> So moved. Second. >> Motion by Commissioner Holland, second by Commissioner Dedric. Any further discussion? >> Hearing none. Uh resolution vote. Commissioner Moa. >> I I >> I. >> Resolution passes unanimous. >> Thank you. >> Next. >> Um next we have a um presentation. Lori Rollson, the executive director of our Central Minnesota Council on Aging is with us today and I'd like to invite her up and hopefully we can have her presentation um put up on the big screen. Um Lori's been a longtime partner and we're happy to have her here um to talk about her important programming. Thank you. >> How do I advance this from here? >> Um is she going to advance it or will you be advancing? >> Okay. Okay. >> Give him a wink. >> All right. [laughter] Well, I can't wink, so I'll just nod at you. Okay. Um, so thank you for having me here today. I'm Lori Bros. I'm the director of the Central Minnesota Council on Aging and um, we are one of six regional area agencies on aging in Minnesota and we're designated by the state to serve as that. Um, um, so we cover the 14 counties in central Minnesota and our main office is in St. Cloud. Next slide. So as an area agency on aging um we have kind of four core responsibilities. One um we administer at the local level the Minnesota aging pathways formerly known as senior linkage and this is an information and assistance service where people can call um in and talk with a social worker to help them evaluate their situation, get connected to local resources. Right now, we're extremely busy with Medicare open enrollment. So, um statewide right now we're receiving almost 2,000 calls a day um helping people evaluate their plan options for Medicare um part D and assisting with that. We also have staff through senior linkage that can actually help people in their own homes and um in particularly working with individuals being discharged from the hospital or nursing home back home and helping them kind of develop that support plan of what they'll need to um be successful. Um we also fund uh the Older Americans Act grants. So at the local level, we receive older Americans act funding and we work with providers throughout our region to deliver those direct services to older adults to help them remain in home. [snorts] And then we um have a community development um function where we work um really in partnership with the state at looking at how we can rebalance our long-term care system by having home and community based services available. And then we work on advocacy, advocacy and system change. So I just have a couple of slides coming up here kind of to set the tone on the aging demographics. So this first slide here, you'll see that Minnesota is home of nearly 1 million older adults age 65 plus and um by 2030 we'll be reaching 1.3 million. So we currently have now more older adults than we have school age children and communities are starting to see that shift and that impact. On the next slide you'll see that this really just depicts the 60 plus and the 85 plus populations. So statewide you can see that about 22% of our state is over age 60. Wright County is a little bit lower. Um, you're actually one of our youngest counties in our region at 18.7% being over age um over age 60. Um, our highest county is Cass County, which you'll see that just over 35% of their total population is over age 60. And Wright County will be there um as the as the baby boomers continue to age. And so you're in a good position right now that you have time for planning for the aging of our of our communities. Um, and then the 85 plus is a is a stat that I always like to pull out because this is when people t start to typically need formal supports and services. And so um, in addition to relying on friends, family, and neighbors, they start to rely on the formal service system that is available. and Wright County is currently at 1.3% of your total population is over age 85. If you look at the next slide, you'll see um people living alone. So in Minnesota, one in every four individuals over age 60 live alone. And um in Wright County, you're at about 20.3% that are living alone. And this proportion does change um as people grow older. So, for example, um if you look at individuals, especially women over age 75, 43% of them live alone. And when we look at individuals with dementia that live alone in a community, three out of every 10 individuals that are living with Alzheimer's or form of dementia live alone in the community. And that's why like for example in Wright County, there is the um dementia friendly Wright County. We have a memory cafe here in in Wright County and looking for additional supports that can continue to support um families as well as they're caring for their loved ones that are living with dementia. Um on the next slide you'll see that with the disability um 30% of the state 60 plus population are living with one or more disabilities and very often people are living with several disabilities at one time. Wright County is a little bit higher at 31.6% and um in particularly um with ambulatoratory in hearing Wright County is higher than the state average with with disabilities. Um the next slide um the 60 plus threshold for living below poverty. Um the state for the 60 plus 7.6% of our older adults live below poverty. Right. County is um a little bit um lower than our than our regional at 8.1 with six 6% of your 60 plus living below the poverty threshold. Um in the next slide, we know that the majority of older adults, 90% of older adults want to remain living in their own home, but to do so they often need those community supports that that are in in place. It's often thought that most older adults live in assisted living or nursing homes. And in fact, only 4.5% of older adults live in assisted living um with an annual cost about 45,000 a year. And only 2.4% live in nursing nursing home facilities um at a at a cost of about um 141,000 a year. We do all the premission screen screening for the state um for individuals that are moving into a nursing home. We do about 161,000 premission screens a year. And um with that, we know that 78% of individuals that go into the nursing home are in there for under 30 days. So, they're moving back home. Um, and once again, it's it's making sure that there's the needed there's the available resources available and the staffing to provide care in the home. So, this this next slide is kind of our pyramid of our older Americans Act funding. So, in Minnesota, the Minnesota Board on Aging, which is um which is under Department of Health and Human Services, they they receive about $22 million annually of federal older Americans Act funding. And then there's some state nutrition dollars in there as well. And then they distribute that to the area agencies on aging based on an interstate funding formula. So, um so we we receive about $4.6 6 million a year of that 22 million. And um you know when [clears throat] you look at that with 1.3 million older adults in our state that equates to about $17.31 per older adult. [clears throat] And so with that we really have to target our services. So eligibility for older Americans act is 60 plus. There is no means testing for it. So, we we don't look at the income or assets, but we do target individuals that are that are lower income, frail, um live in rural communities, and really lack um other support systems to be in place. And so, the services that we provide through the Older Americans Act are all done on uh voluntary contribution by the individual. So they're they're providing information about what the total cost of the service is that they're receiving and they're asked to contribute a donation to the service, but whether they contribute or not, they still receive the service. So um in our 14 county area last year, um we serve just over 24,000 older adults. So about one in every six older adult in our region is being impacted by Older Americans Act services. Um, fortunately right now, while most of this funding is federal, we are not having we're not seeing a disruption in our funding at the at this point in time um because we're still operating on 2025 money. So, our calendar year goes until December where the federal year starts October 1st. So, um, that's kind of a every two week process that we hear from the state on in terms of our ability to continue. Um, I've been with the Council on Aging for 32 years and I can only recall one time when we had to we had to put a pause on our services. At that time, the meal program was still um considered to be critical. Um but with the um with the 24,000 individuals, you can see that across our 14 county region about 450,000 congregate and homed delivered meals were provided, over 20,000 rides, 10,000 um homemaking hours and um the next slide here is um the impact specifically to Wright County. So in 2023, $355,566 were of the Older Americans Act dollars were utilized specifically in Wright County. Last year, um this was at 44 $444,65 used specifically in Wright County. Um we do know that in in the um 2025 and 26 these numbers will go down because these numbers did include American Rescue Act dollars that have now sunset it. So we're operating on our solely on our older Americans act allocations. um in Wright County um we provide funding specifically to Wright County Community Act, uh Community Action Agency, um Senior Community Services, Catholic Charities, uh Midman Legal Aid are are some of our providers. So, if you go to the next slide, what you'll see here is this is actual um numbers of individuals served from 2024. So, 2025, we're still, you know, in progress with this. So, this is last year's actual surve from from Wright County. And you'll see with that that um with senior linkage um just over 20 2,500 cases. Assisted transportation. Um this would have been done by Wright County Community Action. Um and they provided just over 1,000 rides to individuals um older adults from Wright County. This primarily would be to doctor's appointments, social service visits, um grocery shopping, those types of a those types of rides. It's assisted transportation, so they have a driver that actually picks up the individual. They'll help them out of their home. If they've gotten groceries with them, they help them carry the groceries back into the home. So, it's it's door-todoor uh assistance. So most of these individuals aren't able to use the the bus type um services. Um chore services, 341 hours of chore. This would be things such as installing a grab rail for somebody who's been discharged from the hospital that needs a grab rail put in. Or it may be um snow snow plowing services or heavy outside chores, putting storm windows on, those types of things. the homemaker. Um 3,631 hours of homemaker. This would be like doing laundry, house cleaning, those types of services. Um and those are usually done once a month or every other week type bases. Um the evidence-based health promotion, um 42 individuals. These are multi-week um series that that have been found to be evidence-based things such as chronic disease self-management, chronic pain, um hypertension, um diabetes self-management. So these tend to be depending upon what the series is, they tend to be um six to eight sessions that are one and a half to two hours long. And then you can see the congregate dining. Our congregate sites in Reich County are Anondale, Maple Lake, and Coco. Um, and uh 5,444 congregate meals last year. Home delivered meals, just over 27,000 home delivered meals. This is a combination of of daily hot meals being delivered to homebound people um which also serves as a daily safety check. But it we also did um during COVID we started to hear from food shelves that they were seeing a real spike in older adults coming to the food shelves. And so we partnered with Catholic Charities to develop within each county in our region at least one um uh um frozen meal distribution site that's done in partnership with the food shelves. So at these at these um at these food shelves, we have it in Monosel and Waverly um with during with the food shelves once a month older adults can come to the food shelf and pick up up to 30 meals. So they're frozen meals. So, it kind of depends upon how much freezer space they have, but they while they're there picking up their food shelf items, they can pick up um congre or frozen meals um that that meet the RDA standards that can really um help subsidize what they're getting from the food shop. And especially now with what what's um happening with our SNAP and and other other services, this is um extremely even more important. Um and then the caregiver the caregiver services these are being provided both by senior community services. They operate the senior centers in Monaceel, Delano, and um Crow River and and they they provide services um in those communities. And then um and um and then we have it supplemented um with assistance that did DAN last year, the dement um resource center was doing. But caregiver consultation um that is helping a caregiver through their journey where a social worker is is meeting with them and so so for example somebody's has a loved one with Alzheimer's versus providing them with a whole slew of information about Alzheimer's at the beginning they work through them throughout their journey. So now if the if their loved one is progressing and having um uh behavior or or um or wandering issues, they can they can have coaching them how to deal with that at that time so they're not overwhelming that caregiver. Um respit is the inhome respit services. And then the legal assistance, we have a contract with Midman Legal Aid and they have a senior law project. You may have seen the justice bus um around the area, but they have uh community locations that they meet throughout throughout our region, including Wright County where their Carla Krueger, their um attorney, can help older adults are are dealing with legal issues such as wrongful eviction to a variety of of of legal issues that they they work with. So, that's that's a little bit about the impact in Wright County specifically. And um the last slide is just annually we do have a request into our counties to all of our 14 counties um for the administrative match that we need in order to draw down the federal older Americans act. So across the 14 county area our match request is $62,630 and then we prorrate that based on the 60 plus population in each of the 14 counties. So, our request um for 2026 to Wright County is $9,187. Um and once again, that's that we use as part of our match to draw down those federal older Americans act. and then um in in an appointment to our board and we've been very fortunate to have Commissioner Holland who serves on our board as a representative from Wright County and um and and um and also serves as our treasurer to our board. So we've always been grateful for your leadership and thank you. So that is that is uh kind of an overview about our agency and the work that's been happening in Wright County. Are there any questions that anyone has? >> Well, Commissioner Betch, I just want to say Lori runs such a great program and a runs a clean ship and is very helpful because she's also a member with me on uh CMJTS and has helped guide them as well with she knows granting well. So, we're really fortunate to have you uh head this uh um organization. >> Thank you. I appreciate all your hard work. Thank you, >> Lori. I I appreciate you coming out here and sharing all this great information. I think the biggest takeaway that people need to understand is that uh your organization keeps people living in their homes. And in turn, by doing so, it saves taxpayers lots of money by keeping them out of nursing home facilities or highcosted uh structured facilities that otherwise uh usually end up either depleting individuals funds or end up coming at the cost of the taxpayer. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> As somebody quickly approaching a milestone birthday, I'm really appreciative of these services as well. Thank you, Lori. [clears throat] Um, next we have a presentation from um, our Americanore RSVP program um, by their program director, Jennifer Wuker. I believe Jennifer was actually just acknowledged in Washington DC for a leadership award as well. So, we're very happy to have her with us today. >> Thank you, Jamie. So, as we um pull up our our slides, I just want to uh thank you commissioners for for having us this morning. Um for those that uh are not or are new to uh learning about RSVP, uh we're we're a program um that supports older adults in the community of Wright County as well. um kind of a a little bit um and we partner with the Central Minnesota Council on Aging. Um but our scope is a little different where we are engaging adults um in in actively involving them in our communities through volunteer efforts. Um and so our folks are serving in those organizations that um Lori had mentioned within um the Wright County that are uh helping to keep older adults uh living in their home independently as long as possible. Uh but our our approach is uh to really promote that positive and and healthy aging um while meeting those critical community needs. U I'm Jennifer Wicker, the director of our local Americanore seniors program. Uh RSVP is a program of Americanore seniors and uh locally we cover Wright County, Sterns County, Benton County and Sherburn County and the counties have been our strongest partners over the years and so we're grateful for this opportunity to come and give you a little highlight today as to what's happening in Wright County with your older adults that are involved in volunteering. Uh we'll go to the next slide, please. Thank you. Uh currently we support uh 1,200 active seniors that are in our our four county region dedicating dedicating their time um to giving back to our local human service organizations and our communities. We hear day after day that spending time in service uh goes far beyond meeting those critical community needs as well. So, we do an annual survey to our senior volunteers, and we actually had 40% of our 1,200 members complete our survey. This past January, of um 472 completed surveys, 100% of our seniors agreed that um they feel more socially connected to their community because of their service through RSVP. 99% said that they experience a stronger sense of purpose uh by being involved. And these are folks that uh have are are just past their retirement years. And 98% agree that volunteering and being involved through service in their community positively impacts their mental and physical health. Uh we're pretty proud of those statistics. And um just just uh wanted to also mention that in the past year we had a record number of older adults joining our program. We do a personal enrollment, find out what each individual's interest, skills, time availability [clears throat] are, and then match them up appropriately to volunteer positions that not only serve um the needs in the community, but meet their individual interests as well. In addition to the benefits that this program has on individuals, um these folks have great impact in the community. Uh Amy, our program coordinator who um who works out of um health and human services here with Wright County is going to share impact specific to Wright County. Next, next slide. There you go. Hi, I'm Amy Johnson and I've been in this job for about six months and I love Wright County. I actually live in Delano since 2005. So, I'm really really proud of the work that we're doing here in the county and having the support. As you can see the list specific to Wright County of the organizations that we serve. The Buffalo Community Center, if you look at the top there with their new building being built, I'm I'm very excited. We're going to be partnering in December and doing a volunteer fair. It's going to be the first one we've done. There was one in Delano that the Delano Senior Center and Nick pulled together that was so successful for the organizations. I brought the idea to Buffalo and they're like, "We really need to do that." So, they're currently inviting all the organizations in the area to come and feature their organizations, try to help talk about volunteering and recruit more volunteers for those areas in Wright County. I see the benefits every day of this volunteers when they come in, the smiles on their faces. One of the examples is with our readers theater program. We meet at the Maple Lake Library once a month and when there was a was a little bit slow start getting in with the schools. At first they were very creative and they started going into memory care. So there's one memory care facility they go into and they act out these stories. So not only are they benefiting from their personal volunteerism with that program, but the residents are now looking forward to them. They've now got a monthly recurring visit at Park Terrace and we're going to be bringing that out to Anendale starting next month. So, we're very excited about those interconnections. Not only that, but the readers theater where we go into the schools. We've done our first couple readings in the Buffalo school system already. And when you see that intergenerational connection where we get our aging population meeting with those wee ones and I'll tell you what, I was a substitute teacher before and when you can get a room full of second graders to be quiet for 20 minutes, that is a gift. That is a gift. And and it happens every time. So it's a really beautiful connection. But like Jennifer said, number one, getting a 40% response rate. Anyone who's done a survey known that is an unheard of response rate. But having those percentages so close to 100 that the program is benefiting, I knew that when I applied for this job and got this job that it was it was perfect and we're making an impact. Can you change the side? So versus just me talking about it, we put it together a little video with some of our volunteers. So hopefully that will play. >> Do you have the raw power this looks like a video? If it's on your laptop, I get >> Yeah. >> Sweet. [laughter] >> Technology. >> Yes. >> Connect. How about as he's setting up, uh, we'll have one of our advisory council members, um, Kevin Burkstrom, um, say a few words. And Kevin is a Wright County resident here as well. >> Good morning. >> Morning. >> Morning. >> How's everybody doing today? >> Good. Thank you. >> All right. So, I am a resident of Wright County. I live in Karina Township and I've been with RSVP for about three years. Um, and I I could go into a lot of stuff, but I don't want to we're kind of short on time here. But the first thing is is when I first retired, it's like where do you volunteer? How do I find out where I can volunteer into an RSVP event and all kinds of things that I can volunteer? So, that really introduced me to some different areas that I can volunteer and help out the community. Another thing was uh so I'll give you an example. The other thing I really like about RSVPs, we help people all the way from preschoolers. I volunteered at a day camp helping preschoolers. Um I helped with a middle the high school, Buffalo High School. I helped them do mock interviews with some of the some of the folks there so I could learn how to do an interview and then give them a little bit of critique how they did on that. Um and then give them a little bit of feedback. But the big thing for me is volunteering is very important for me. It helps me feel connected and RSVP is a great way to identify things that I can do to help. The other thing that's really nice about RSVP is it's flexible. You can do just a one or two day event or you can get into kind of a long-term uh volunteering option in the the one or two days have worked really well. Looks like we're almost ready for the video. But again, it's a great organization. We're able to help people of all ages and uh it's been really rewarding and really u I've really enjoyed it. >> Thank you Kevin for sharing your uh perspective. >> RCP matches 55 plus adults with meaningful older stay active and better. Older adults bring wisdom, skills, and compassion to every organization they serve. Volunteering keeps them connected [music] and thriving. >> Hi, I'm Barb Fraser. I am an RSVP volunteer with RSVP for a little over a year and I work out of Wright County in St. Michael. And the thing I love about RSVP is the variety of opportunities that we get to do. Uh, I signed up for a lot of one-time opportunities and [music] uh, some recurring roles and there's a there's a selection of each. So, I like that I can I can do a whole lot of different things and meet a whole lot of different people now that I'm retired. Through RSVP, seniors find purpose, friendships, and [music] a chance to give back to the communities they call home. >> Okay. Uh my name is Ben Siggo and I uh volunteer for RSVP. And what [music] I do is I donate uh crocheted items. I crochet hats and mittens and also sew them and I donate them so that people that need them uh will have them help. What uh it means to me it's helping people in our community and be health volunteering is proven to reduce isolation, lower stress, and improve overall health for seniors. >> Hi, I'm Diana Steen. [music] I've been an RSVP volunteer for probably five years or so. Um, I work at [music] uh the food shelf in Buffalo and here at the human services center on second floor. Uh, I do some work for staff on second floor. I also have been a volunteer driver for the last couple of years. And what I [music] find is that of course volunteering is a two-way street. It's what you can what [music] I can give to other folks that I uh interact with but it's also what they give back to me what I get back from them and uh I can I can say that it's been very positive from my perspective. I [music] feel a lot of support from staff that families that I work with, children that I work with, and I feel like I give them just a little bit of my time that hopefully gets them um able helps them be able to uh complete a [music] task that they need or to get someplace that they need to go. Um, so it's been incredibly rewarding [music] and I think overall when I'm working with these folks that also benefits the community uh because they're like I say they're able to get to their groups [music] or their classes or get work done on second floor that benefits others in the community as well. RSVP volunteers [music] provide thousands of hours of volunteer service each year, saving local organizations time and resources. >> Hello, I'm Patty Dorf from Buffalo, Minnesota. I've been volunteering for about three years at Havenwood Senior Home and I [music] play keyboard there in the dining area and in the memory care unit. It's like soft, gentle, quiet music sometimes, some show tunes and semi original. I enjoyed doing that very much. Uh [music] few weeks ago in the memory care unit, a lady grabbed my hand and then tears said child. [music] She loved the music and it made her feel so relaxed and so good. in in the dining area, [music] I met a little boy who was wideeyed and grinning because he listened to the music. [music] So all those little things make things worthwhile. [music] >> [music] >> With your support, RSVP will continue to expand opportunities for seniors to serve, stay healthy, and strengthen Wright County. So, in closing, I just want to again um express our gratitude for uh having the opportunity to serve the seniors here in Reich County as well as the the organizations um both government and human service partners that we've um that we've been able to partner with. Um with that, I just want to um turn it over to you for any questions. And also before that, I want to mention that uh we're here to um explore [clears throat] other avenues for uh our seniors to make a difference. So if the county sees a need or has a need, please let us know and we would be happy to um see how else we can get folks involved. Well, Jennifer, first of all, I have to say we should be saying thank you to you and to all of your uh volunteers for the work that you do inside this building and even outside this building across Ray County. Uh it's truly making a difference uh for the volunteers and for the individuals on the receiving end as well. So, thank you. >> Thank you. They love it. >> I want to say it's always fun to see uh your people at the front desk and working the DMV line, which was really stressful this summer. and uh they did it with a smile on their face and I think this is the greatest program. Uh it's since I've been a commissioner, I can't tell you how many uh of those uh uh papers that I've handed out to various people and they say, "I don't know where I should volunteer." And I'll >> grab them from HHS and >> hand them out. >> Great. Good. Yeah, we we definitely appreciate the chance to sit down with every single one of them and help explore uh ways that would be a good fit for them. And so, um it's great all around. We're happy to serve here. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yep. Don't forget your computer. >> Thank you. >> And then just a few final wrapping up comments, director's comments today. Um we have our two um social service super or managers will be at AMC in December which I'm hoping all of you get a chance to um be part of that uh that conference. Michelle Miller will be there to represent along with um Ross Demon and Mark Mati the right leadership academy. Um and so that will be um at the AMC conference as well as Jill Puler will be there bending the curve disability waiver trends in Minnesota. So we're proud that our managers will be contributing to that effort. I also wanted to let you know that um as far as our um [clears throat] we have a housing study that is being proposed. Um so there's a proposal um included in near packet a comprehensive housing needs analysis for Wright County. The study would examine demographic and econ economic trends along with current housing market conditions. Um and we would be looking at using some of our SAHA funds and administration is also looking at um writing a grant for um this effort. We think this would be a great um again contribution with our communities to look to see what we can do for our housing and what's being [clears throat] identified coming in the short and long-term future of our um needs here in Wright County. As we as it's been mentioned several times, we're the fastest growing county in Wright County or in Minnesota. So, I think this would be a great and significant opportunity for our county to explore this. [clears throat] I also wanted to mention that there is um as we know with the shutdown continuing, the federal shutdown um um and we've been talking a lot about the SNAP benefits, it looks like there's a potential for a partial SNAP benefit going out at some point. I'm not sure how this is all going to look. Um but that's been something that's being explored at this point. So hopefully with fingers crossed we'll see some help in that area. >> Thank you Jamie. >> Yeah, thank you. Um, one mention uh if you could thank your staff too for I know we went to the uh streets of hope uh commissioner Shane and I for the last three years and the amount of staff that goes out there and then this year at the adgo festival um and then you know the uh county fairs I they they go over and above and I >> spectacular. Yeah, they were spectacular. >> Yes. And I just appreciate all that effort because they're taking time away from their families in the evenings and then Saturdays and it's much appreciated. >> I appreciate that. Yes, I think we have fantastic staff as I say all the time and I will certainly pass that along. Thank you, commissioners. >> All right. Uh now moving forward in the agenda, we would be under items for consideration B. We have committee minutes. We have the minutes from the county board workshop on October 14th. Uh brief overview. The first item on there was scheduled meetings which was uh just a standard item. Nothing to uh uh modify there. Uh Brian Johnson and his team from Ellers presented and uh let us know that we are on track with our investment income with our fund balance and letting us know that we are meeting our budgetary expectations. There we had Larkin uh bring information about uh GIS open data which was a anformational item and then we had uh the egg and drainage and the buffer uh enforcement and the purchasing of some equipment that was presented there as well. We had the 2026 fee schedule overview that was presented and we just adopted that earlier within this agenda. We had the update on the 2025 dismissers for the uh county fair. Uh we reviewed and brought forward a discussion to uh adhere to and make sure the prediums for uh and mileage for 2020 uh 6 are adopted. uh which is a resolution we'll be attaining to uh here shortly that pertains to a variety of uh people who serve on uh different committees and agendas throughout the county. And then we had the uh committee minutes discussion uh and then we had the uh AMC voting and uh appointing somebody to make sure we have those up and current with AMC on who is voting for us. So with that, I will stand for a motion to approve the minutes and recommendations uh for the uh 2020 or sorry the 10 October 14th, 2025 county board workshop. >> So moved. >> Motion by Commissioner Holland. >> Second. >> Second by Commissioner Moina. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. And next we would have to approve the RA resolution for the 2026 uh pdium mileage uh which was included in the packet for uh standard procedures that we set every year for 2026. >> Yes, Mr. Chair, just for a note uh that's resolution 2568 for PDMS. >> All right. And I'll stand for a motion for the approval of the uh predium setting the prediums for 2026 for uh county boards uh planning commission board of adjustments uh along with a variety of other boards within the county. >> So moved. >> All right. Motion by Commissioner Mo. >> I'll second. >> Second by Commissioner Holland. Any discussion hearing? None. Resol resolution vote. I'll vote I >> I >> I. Resolution passes unanimous and next we have the approval of the minutes from the personnel committee. >> Mr. Chair, there is a second resolution as well 2567 for the mileage. >> Oh, sorry. >> Allowance. >> Thank you for catching that. And with that, I will stand for a motion to approve resolution 2567 on the mileage. >> So moved. >> All right. Motion by Commissioner Dedric. >> Second. >> Second by Commissioner Mo. Any further discussion hearing? None. Resolution vote. Commissioner Holland. >> I >> I >> I >> I resolution passes unanimous. All right. Now we have the personnel committee minutes from uh October 28th. So, uh, Commissioner Holland, myself, uh, Sean Johnson, HR director, administrator Kryser, uh, Lori, Randy, and Clay, we met and discussed the first item was presented an update on the Oracle road map. Uh, this was just, uh, allowing us to understand where we're at in certain areas, the improvements that they're making to it, and any potential constraints that they may have. Uh second one was more of a issue to deal with the state paid leave and getting our personnel policy to be in line with that of the state paid leave and some housekeeping items pertaining to that. Uh so the recommendation was to approve changes to sections 613 and 301 to the right county personnel policy and the other one was HHS staffing levels. there was looking for replacing and backfilling some individuals that have left within the health and human services uh some eligibility specialists. So it was recommendation was to refer to November 4th county board meeting three eligibility specialist backfills. Uh with that I'll stand for a motion to approve the personnel committee minutes on October 28th and the recommendations. >> I'll make that motion. >> All right we have a motion by Commissioner Holland. >> Second. Second by Commissioner Mo. Any further discussion? >> Mr. Chair, can you explain a little bit more uh just about the Oracle Fusion product strategic roadmap? What that is? >> So I guess there's a couple different pieces to it. Do you want me to take it or do you want to do it administer? >> I can do it, Mr. Chair, if you want. >> Thank you. >> So this came from our our Oracle product manager. This is the road map of and again it says draft because anything in technology is a draft. that can change at any point in time given needs or any issues that come up. I mean, an Oracle update tomorrow could throw this entire thing out the door and we could end up with something completely different. But right now, this is a more forward-looking map of where we see potential enhancements in future development in Oracle ERP going forward in the future. And part of the reason why we developed this team is so that we had forwardlooking vision into it. And this is the product that Randy has given us after being on the job about 5 months um and getting into it. So I I really have to give Randy credit. I mean he hit the ground running here. Um took his team has met with all the stakeholders all the departments and really prioritized and now put into a format uh that everyone can see here how we're looking at investing and utilizing Oracle in the future. And this just gives you a road map. Again, that's in draft format, but shows what we're currently working on today, what we have been working on, and going forward into the future, uh, what are we potentially see implementing with different modules in Oracle in the future. As you can see, right now, we're in the middle of open enrollment for 2026. We're in the final stages of a security uh analysis that is being completed. And then our EPM software uh update or module update is currently on its final stage which should be done by the end of Q4. And the EPM is the budgeting um module for finance that was started earlier this year. After that, we're looking at doing structured workforce, which is just really laying out how staff and how the workforce is really delineated within Oracle, which then after we get that project done, then allows us to look at contracts, grants, and then of course we have to plan for open enrollment in 2027. So that's on the map as well. And then also talent management. This deals with performance review and goal setting uh from more of an HR administrative perspective as well. And then uh if all this goes well uh looking at more potential data reporting with the fusion data data intelligence but again all the stacks um everything else has to be done in order to get to fusion and then the learning management module in the future but it's really good to see that we are showing where Oracle can take us and I I thought it was a good opportunity to show the board um all our investment in this product has been really well received in the past and I think we can continue to go forward with this team and show view where we can actually take this product in the future instead of always looking backwards as to the last update from Oracle. Here's here's our vision. Here's what we're looking at getting to and here's where Oracle can take us in the future. >> Thank you, >> Commissioner Vet. Um, I just want to comment that when they say we were looking for a unicorn to manage this, we found it in Randy. He has a a plethora of skills and it was he's very uh a good asset to our um team, the county. And I do want to say this is one of the things that came up over and over again when we had the strategic planning process a couple years ago. Uh and I think now we're we're moving forward and so it's it's great to be at this point. I appreciated the update on it. I uh this is a kind of a twofold piece to it. Uh one is the being able to uh develop a timeline and be able to hold ourselves accountable to it as well as being able to build some better project management skills so that we can better leverage our Oracle or our ERP system. And then secondary, the other part of it is being able to start weaning ourselves off of the contractors and contractor management of the system and trying to be able to be a little bit more self-sufficient with it. So with both those pieces over time, uh we will be able to have this system uh totally are fully utilized and being able to get the most bang for the buck. So with that uh I'll stand for a motion and a >> Mr. Sure, we have a motion by second by Moina. >> Thank you. So with that, I will look for a vote here. Is there any comments? Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppos? Same sign. All right. The personnel committee minutes and recommendations are approved unanimous. Uh, one last quick item. I see that tomorrow we have the canvasing board meeting and Commissioner Mo and Commissioner Holland are on that and we'll be there. Correct. >> All right. Just want to make sure we're good there, >> Mr. Chair. >> Yep. >> I have an additional comment. I just Is that is it the right time right now? Um, I just wanted to say, um, I'm here to work for the people of Wright County in District 1 and, um, I want to work with the board and staff to make wise decisions. Um, so if you have concerns, questions, comments, um, please reach out to me. Um, you can email me, you can call me, you can text me. Um, please, I'm just asking that we can do this better if we're a team and work together. So, thank you. >> All right. Well, thank you with that. There's no other Oh, you've >> Mr. Chair, um I think you were involved in it last week as well, but we got word about a week ago from our TNT mailer, truth and taxation mailer, that we're able to add an insert into there um that helps provide some background information into our taxes. And at first, we thought we were past the deadline. Then we found out we could actually maybe squeeze something in by Halloween if we could do it. And I have to thank Larkin Walter and our GIS department, John Holler, our finance team and our assessor's office because they time boxed this thing so heavily within about 3 days they got it done. And I I have to give them credit because they turned around something that seemed like a mountain in less than a week. And we got it to the printer I think at noon on Halloween with the printer going, "Where is this document? I need an hour." I'm going, "You told me by the end of the day." We're early in my opinion at noon, but we hit it and I really have to thank the team. They really put in a lot of work last week and it'll be nice to have some something going out with the TNT mailer to at least provide some background information into our our tax base going forward. So, in the future, I hope to open this up to the cities and schools, but given the limited time we had, I I didn't know if we could make it, but the team really rose to the occasion. I really have to give them a lot of thanks. >> I I appreciate you bringing that up, Administer Kryser. I I it totally skipped my mind and I do want to give all of them uh kudos for the and I'm going to say it was a lot of work cuz uh it was uh bringing something forward changes bring it back. Uh yeah, they they did an excellent job under extreme time constraints. So, >> yeah, I'm glad to hear we got that done and I'm I'd be excited to see if we were able to open that up in in the years to come with to the cities and the school boards and um yeah, it's it's been requested and I never knew it was a thing until this year. So, >> yeah, >> it's great. >> All right. Well, with that, uh with no other business before the county board, we'll adjourn the county board meeting here today at 10:33.