Wright County Honors Employees, Approves Lake Management Updates
Wright County Board of Commissioners recognized dozens of employees for years of service and outstanding achievements during their March 4 meeting, while also receiving updates on major county initiatives.
The board honored 32 employees for milestone service anniversaries ranging from five to 30 years, with the Sheriff's Office representing the majority of recipients. Matt Dechen from the county's natural resources department received the individual employee achievement award for his work securing over $2 million in grant funding and expertise in drainage law. The Court Services Department earned the group achievement award for implementing comprehensive best practices and reorganizing operations without additional staff.
Commissioners received an update on the Pelican Lake management project, a decades-long effort to restore the 3,800-acre shallow lake to historic water levels. Peter Bor from the Department of Natural Resources reported the lake has reached its target management level after years of drawdown and pumping operations that concluded in 2021. The project involved collaboration between multiple agencies and strategic land acquisitions totaling about 2,000 acres around the lake.
The board approved several administrative items, including joining the Central Mississippi River Partnership as a nonprofit organization to better position the group for federal lobbying efforts. They also approved various drainage system appointments and maintenance contracts, and set their March 11 workshop agenda to include discussion of upcoming state budget forecasts.
Health and Human Services Director Jamie presented positive outcomes from the department's work, noting that children in out-of-home placements dropped to a record low of 69 in January, down from 165 in 2018, while maintaining child safety standards.
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▸Meeting Analysis
Wright County Board of Commissioners meeting on March 4, 2025, featuring employee service awards, policy discussions, and annual employee recognition. The meeting included recognition of employees with 5-30 years of service, approval of various administrative items, updates on Pelican Lake management, and presentation of individual and group achievement awards.
▸Source Document
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[2:03] good morning everyone it is Tuesday March 4th we'll call the r County Board of Commissioners to order we'll begin
[2:10] with the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the
[2:15] flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one
[2:21] nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for
[2:27] all good morning to everyone it's great to see so many in attendance here as we
[2:33] uh honor some uh great employees here at the county for their years of service and the wonderful uh efforts that they
[2:39] put forward here for the organization and for the citizens of Ray County uh at this time we are going to go with our uh
[2:46] recognition of services uh awards at this time if board members want to come forward and uh greet the recipients
[3:11] all right Mr chair members of the board and everyone in attendance here today we're going to start with our five-year
[3:16] Service Awards the first person is Gretchen gacer from the sheriff's
[3:28] department mat Matthew mosan from the sheriff's
[3:35] department Jason banck Information [Applause]
[3:42] Technology Joseph dur Sheriff's
[3:48] Office Jacob Swanson Information
[3:53] [Applause] Technology Sarah dos Health and Human
[4:04] Services Marcy deing Sheriff's
[4:10] Office Elizabeth uker Health and Human
[4:18] Services Angela Gohan Health and Human
[4:26] Services right Mr chair members of the board our 10year recipients Sean tisn
[4:31] from the Sheriff's
[4:38] Office Marcus Anderson Sheriff's
[4:48] Office Ariel Johnson Health and Human
[4:56] Services Daniel Warren Sheriff's Office
[5:05] Austin Henry Sheriff's
[5:12] Office James casari Highway
[5:22] Department Blake sha Health and Human Services
[5:29] Kaye Henson court [Applause]
[5:37] services and Mr chair members of the board our 15-year recipients we have Julie Ben boom from Health and Human
[5:48] Services and Vincent horn from the Sheriff's Department
[6:00] Mr chair members of the board are 20-year recipients Brian Severson Highway
[6:05] [Applause] Department David Carlson Sheriff's
[6:16] Office Teresa Burkhart Health and Human
[6:23] Services Lance Stein Sheriff's Office
[6:33] Anthony bhouse Sheriff's
[6:39] Office Melissa Hol house court
[6:47] services Lori thingvold assessor's
[6:55] office Mr chair members of the board are 25e recipients County attorney Brian
[7:01] [Applause] Lewis Curtis martensson Highway
[7:15] Department Lori poel Human
[7:24] Resources Sheri mu Bower Health and Human Services
[7:38] Siri got kicked in [Laughter] there Robert Duo Sheriff's
[7:45] [Applause] Office and then Betsy Larson from the
[7:51] county attorney's office [Applause]
[8:01] the Mr chair members of the board are 30e recipients we start with Jake Hermanson from the sheriff's
[8:07] [Applause]
[8:16] department then our second 30-year recipient is Jeffrey Fox from the Sheriff's
[8:22] [Applause]
[8:27] Office Mr chair members of the Bo that is everyone for the quarter 1 recipients
[8:32] and I want to congratulate everyone on their anniversary dates and to the Sheriff's Office it's looks like we do a
[8:38] lot of hiring in q1 so I think you were 75% of the the list here but
[8:43] congratulations to everyone as well [Applause]
[9:04] all right first of all I want to also say thank you for all the wonderful
[9:10] years of dedication and service that you've given to this organization and to the citizens of R County we can't thank
[9:16] you enough uh we'll take a short little uh minute here for uh individuals if that want to uh depart for the uh next
[9:24] portion of the meeting I'll be reconvening at about 10 o' for other Awards
[9:35] didn't see L didn't Lindsay she's still little like oh Lindsay's
[9:41] here awards at 10 o' at 10 o' at 10 10 y so I'm just giving a minute
[9:52] here my internet's not working
[10:03] um there's people congregating in the back how do
[10:09] we do can they close it I I'm just I
[10:17] don't mark
[10:57] oh okay so at this time if anybody still wants to uh uh gather and conversate uh
[11:03] 11:04 is open if we can go there for the meantime uh will we just conduct this uh short portion of the meeting here that
[11:08] needs to be uh moved forward thank you all right at this time we'll convene
[11:16] back to the county board meeting uh we have our first item on the agenda is the approval of minutes for i' like to
[11:22] approve the minutes for the county board meeting and the committee of the whole 28 2025 all right we have a motion by
[11:29] commissioner uh Holland and second by commissioner Shane to approve the minutes from February 18th Mr discussion
[11:37] I have um I would like to add um it says Mr uh sorry just first of all if you're
[11:42] you looking to discussion so modifying the minutes uh that's under minutes yes
[11:48] so we have a motion a second to approve them as presented uh would the motion makers be interested in modifications to
[11:54] the minutes not at this time no all right uh then if we uh Mr chair we
[11:59] always have discussion after we've moved it forward and that is the discussion is on the motion at hand and the discussion
[12:05] of the motion at hand would be to approve the minutes as
[12:10] presented so um but if uh if we want to move forward to having a discussion on
[12:17] the I motion at hand we certainly can have a discussion on the motion at hand all right with no discussion uh we
[12:24] will move forward with the vote uh motion by commissioner Holland second by commissioner Shane to approve the
[12:30] February 18th minutes as presented all in favor say I I oppose same sign I
[12:35] motion passes 41 all right approval of the minutes from 218 from the committee of the whole
[12:43] I'll make that motion I'll second it all right motion by commissioner Shane second by commissioner Holland to approve the minutes from February 18th
[12:51] is there any discussion hearing none all in favor say I hi oppose same sign all right motion
[12:58] pass is unanimous next would be approval of the agenda is there anything that needs to be added or removed from
[13:04] today's agenda administrator kryer U Mr chair nothing from Administration all right nothing from admin motion we
[13:10] approve the agenda as presented all right we have a motion by commissioner holl to approve today's agenda as
[13:16] presented second second by commissioner Shane is there any further discussion hearing none all in favor say
[13:22] I I post same sign all right agenda is approved unanimous next today's consent
[13:27] agenda would anyone like to remove any anything from today's consent agenda for further discussion Mr chair yes I would
[13:33] like to pull e the Planning and Zoning um for further discussion please all right we have a motion by commissioner
[13:39] Dietrich to uh approve is it to approve the consent agenda with the removal of itam correct all right with the removal
[13:45] of item e is there a second second second by commissioner MOA any
[13:51] discussion hearing none I'll in favor say I I po same sign motion passes I'm
[13:57] assuming that was fiveable right on the approving the consent agenda with the removal of e right okay just everybody
[14:03] was really quiet there all right now item e uh we have the acceptance of the recommendation of
[14:09] the Planning Commission for the request to rezone uh property in Coco Township uh is Barry available here or is he not
[14:18] otherwise uh commissioner Dietrich right your questions oh certainly um I was just we'
[14:24] had a discussion earlier this morning just clarifying um typically what comes before the board is a zoning adjustments
[14:30] we don't do line adjustments um that's for the planning and and that's the um Board of adjustments so what we're here
[14:36] to to approve is the planning or the zoning piece um but it's tied in with
[14:42] the lot adjustment and um I guess uh I I
[14:47] disagree that we that that should be brought forward with that or I I would I
[14:52] guess um just have more clarification on that lot line adjustment with this zoning coming forward if you could
[14:58] explain
[15:07] certained stat State Statute in our ordinance defines lots of record which are lots
[15:14] that were created prior to an ordinance going into effect that would now not allow that lot to be created um this lot
[15:22] is not that situation this was a duly approved lot by the Planning Commission I believe in the 80s or the 90s uh
[15:29] and so the only way to effectuate an adjustment of that is to rezone that
[15:35] portion that they want to add to the res to the residentially zoned lot and then
[15:40] request a an amendment to the subdivision approval from the 80s and so that's what they did here um that way we
[15:47] avoid having split Zone properties when you have split Zone properties there are things allowed in in the different
[15:53] districts that aren't allowed in the others and so you get into from a zoning standpoint of really
[15:59] difficult situation what uses do we allow where do we allow them and now if a property has different zoning districts it just makes it really hard
[16:07] to work through the rules that we do have in place so in this case it's a small adjustment to accommodate a
[16:13] structure that's there the property owner owned both pieces and he ended up building the the lot over the line he
[16:19] has the right to apply to reone the property and to amend the subdivision which he did Planning Commission in this
[16:26] case said okay we're we're okay with it we'll res Zone this in this case it's 048 Acres um and then the County Board
[16:34] has the authority on that rezoning so by Statute only you can amend that map
[16:39] that's why it's before you for the resoning now the in situations like this where it makes no sense to do the
[16:44] subdivision which is 048 Acres without the rezoning we also run the the subdivision request simultaneously and
[16:51] then put a condition that if you do not approve this then that subdivision is null and void so that's what is before
[16:58] you if you approve the resoning here the subdivision then is approved and they can swap this 048
[17:08] Acres so Mr chair and just to comment commenting on that is that I think the comment that the Nay vote was um on the
[17:15] planning was that um that we're we're creating should the mo should the
[17:22] buildings be moved are we creating a precedent where they've built over the lot line and um and then we're going to
[17:30] just allow them to move the line instead of uh requiring them to you know move their property back to the setbacks on
[17:37] their property that's my concern so uh commissioner Dietrich to your point I I
[17:43] guess I could understand the point if if the individual didn't own both Parcels but in this case the individual owned
[17:48] both Parcels there was a rectifying me uh method of going to fix it by resoning it and it's continuous it meets the land
[17:56] use plan uh the going to the circumstances of asking somebody to demo
[18:02] demo a building when there is a route to be able to make it uh cohesive within our regul within our rules um to me that
[18:10] would be an unfair hardship that we'd be asking for somebody because there was a
[18:16] way to rectify it uh through rezoning it that makes it um uh how sorry compliance
[18:24] compliance oh I understand that um we're also requiring him to move another shed uh you know on the property so I'm I'm
[18:30] just saying I would approve the zoning um with both of the properties or both of the buildings being
[18:36] um moved in order to be in compliance um I was chairman v i was um
[18:44] uh involved in the in-depth discussion with the Planning and Zoning Board uh he
[18:50] truly didn't realize when he built that that he was building over a line and
[18:55] it's continguous to his plan of his pool and uh it was and it was an honest
[19:03] mistake and he felt bad about it um and and it and it's just such a small sliver
[19:10] that it didn't make any sense to have them tear that whole building down and so therefore we um we approved
[19:20] it I don't see that there's any preceden that would be set with this if anything
[19:26] the precedents would say that it when applicable uh we try to find other routes other than moving things uh and
[19:33] forcing individuals to move things unduly if there is ways to make them compliant out outside of moving them we
[19:40] want to go that route first and this is a way that gets their buildings within
[19:46] compliance with planning and zoning and does it without the uh land owner having to incur undue expenses so Mr chair I'll
[19:53] go ahead and make the motion to approve the rezoning I'll second that all right we have a motion by commissioner Shane
[19:59] second by commissioner Holland to approve consent agenda item E1 is there
[20:04] any further discussion hearing none all in favor say I I oppose same sign I all right motion
[20:13] passes 41 thank you thank you all right next is moving up to
[20:19] today's timed agenda items we have uh Charles Webb the interim County
[20:25] Surveyor first time at the podium yay good
[20:31] morning good morning Mr chair and the me board members um I'm actually here today
[20:37] to request proclaim the uh National surveyor week U it's March 16th through
[20:44] the 22nd of 2025 and it's basically it's a annual campaign to raise awareness of the
[20:50] valuable work surveyors do every day and and as part of that we're planning to do
[20:56] a um write up on the the the news area of the right net to
[21:03] just explain a little bit more what we do so well I appreciate that Charles we
[21:08] appreciate all the work that uh yourself and individuals in your department do uh keep replacing those monuments keep uh
[21:15] surveying those plats for us we appreciate it at this time can I get a motion to
[21:22] make a March 16th through the 22nd as uh National surveyors week here in Ray County so moved all right we have a mo
[21:30] by commissioner dri second by commissioner MOA uh any discussion congrat do you want to read
[21:37] that Derek read the resolution I didn't even have it printed out in front of me I have to open up
[21:42] here so do you want me to read the resolution no it's okay I was just you're all right it's a resolution vote
[21:49] commissioner MOA I I I I hi all right resolution passes unanimous thank youg
[21:56] thank you for all the hard work next we're moving on to our 920 uh it's
[22:02] our overview and update on Pelican Lake management plan we have uh Peter and I'm
[22:08] going to probably is it Bor it's as simple as it sounds okay Bor
[22:15] okay as simple as it seems like when they're simple like that I'll I'll overthink it well thank you Mr chairman
[22:21] thank you Commissioners for letting me come today and and just give an update to everyone on where we're at with Pelican Lake um it's been a big
[22:29] uh it's been a very big project in the past several decades um but I don't know
[22:34] how much us current Commissioners know about the history and what's actually happened so just wanted to give an
[22:41] update um so I guess just to start off I mean I think if you don't know what
[22:47] Pelican Lake is in the area it's it's a really large shallow Lake which is not
[22:53] super common in this in the state in general um we consider a Shallow Lake
[22:59] less than 15 ft deep and this one is a 3,800 acre Lake that's less than that um
[23:04] so these are great migratory bird stopovers and nesting grounds um but
[23:11] they tend to be the ones that have been most impacted in the in the past by farming draining um so this particular
[23:19] lake has had a huge significance in all of migrating in in Minnesota since I
[23:24] mean we've been recording it since the 40s but obviously centuries um why it became uh a point of
[23:33] management is that uh starting in about the 70s especially the lake really
[23:39] started to rise uh some of that was ditching some of that was drainage um and there was no real outlet for it and
[23:47] just between the 70s and the early 2000s it went up over 6 feet uh which again when you're talking Lake starts off as
[23:54] only 15t deep that's that uh takes up a lot more land base around it um so uh
[24:03] going back again to the 70s or even before uh there was talk of how can we manage that both on from the water
[24:09] quality standpoint and the and the land use standpoint um and so currently along
[24:14] with trying to do water level management uh there's been some strategic Acquisitions around it to protect the
[24:20] shoreline to protect runoff uh which currently between state-owned land and federal owned land um add up to about
[24:28] 2,000 acres of land and about between half and 2/3 of the shoreline is
[24:33] protected [Music] currently um just to again highlight why
[24:41] this started um the in you'll see okay there it is in
[24:47] the in the graphs up here it shows the historic trend of water levels the um
[24:55] this bottom one is zoomed into to the last basically 10 years um 15 years but you'll see again
[25:01] starting in the 70s it skyrocketed um and so that was again the main point of how do we get this back to a Shallow
[25:07] Lake that produces a lot of vegetation a lot of food for waterfall it's a they're
[25:13] very productive Lakes um and when they're too deep they don't freeze out so bullheads take over rough fish take
[25:19] over um and we just don't have that production so um I'm not going to go through all of
[25:26] the details here um because I know I I've provided some timelines to you as well but uh just highlighting some of
[25:33] the work that's been done in the last 45 years 50 years um as far as bringing the
[25:40] public in and keeping the public as part of the conversation with this draw down which is eventually what it came to is a
[25:47] draw down of the lake back to Historic levels um started in 1970 um I I miss I
[25:54] put the wrong date on here for the 1995 per first public land acquisition the first land acquisition was a little bit
[26:01] earlier than that but I wanted to note the 95 one um because I want I feel like
[26:06] it's probably one of the only ones in the state that this land acquisition was actually spearheaded by Wright County um
[26:13] the county actually brought it to DNR fish and wildlife service and said um
[26:19] this land is something that we should protect with this project um and they
[26:25] actually at that time went to the auction with the intent of purchasing it for
[26:30] protection and again that's extremely unique in the state and so that was a
[26:37] big part but going through um the real draw down and construction part of it
[26:43] actually started in a in 2012 2013 uh working on a way to find where
[26:48] can we bring how can we create an outlet on this Lake keep it at historic levels
[26:53] um and work with surrounding land owners and the city it ended up being a lot with the city of St Michael because this
[27:00] now drains from Pelican Lake through the city of St Michael to the Crow River um
[27:05] and so all of that long story short all of that came into place in 2014 we
[27:11] started drying the lake down in 2014 um by gravity and then installed
[27:18] pumps that pumped until 2021 um again the goal was to get it as
[27:23] low as we could for a short period of time and then bring it back to the historic level and have a gravity
[27:30] structure that requires no power no pumping to maintain it at that level and so that's um I thought this would be a
[27:37] good time to come and talk about it too because currently as of this fall we were right at that outlet management
[27:45] level so if you drive by the lake uh as of yesterday it was a half a foot below that again um but with spring runoff
[27:53] we'll get to basically this is the long-term managed goal for the lake level um it's going to bounce some
[28:00] because it's a gravity structure um every time we get a rain it's going to fill up and it's going to take a little while to lower down um but again right
[28:07] now would be a good time to drive by and say all right this is where that water level will be long
[28:12] term um just for reference I guess you don't have I don't know if you have the slides in front of you um just uh I'm
[28:20] going to have you click through a couple different Maps um kind of looking at
[28:26] before the project um especially on this like this 2010 and you can go one more
[28:32] 2015 um especially look on the northwest or the Northeast side of the lake and
[28:37] the southwest side of the lake is where it's really going to show when we click to the next picture how much we've
[28:44] sucked this Lake down back into nor back to Historic um and it's just so this is
[28:51] 2021 this was after the beginning of several years of drought so it actually went a little lower than that like I say
[28:58] we stopped pumping in 2021 but our low level actually came in
[29:03] 2023 uh even with no pumping it evaporated and and and got
[29:08] drier right um again kind of messy but but just a an outline of this is every
[29:14] point on there was a survey point that showed the lake depths in 2022 when we did our survey close to the
[29:22] low Point uh where at that point the lowest the highest depth was about 8 and 1/2 ft right now we're just over 10t at
[29:30] the deepest spot um again just to just kind of a side by-side comparison pre-draw down
[29:36] post draw down um and uh I guess that's like I say
[29:43] that's where I wanted to bring you too um right now we're basically just in a monitoring monitoring phase um I know
[29:50] you've been provided the Lake management plan too so there are there are triggers that would cause us to reevaluate doing
[29:57] another draw down um the I don't expect that anytime in the near future uh we we as Wildlife
[30:04] also have to get a permit for changing any water levels so that's why this this didn't change the historic water levels
[30:11] all we did was bring it back to that hold it below that for management purposes for a couple years now we are
[30:17] required to allow it to be back at that uh or by by rule we are we are required
[30:23] to leave it at that man that long-term level um if we were to draw down again
[30:29] we would have to apply for a permit go through permitting process to try to lower it any further because that would be changing just like anybody else we
[30:36] can't change the water level of a lake we can manage it but that's for a short term Mr chair if I could say something
[30:43] first off Peter thank you for being here I was on the city council so I know what a big project this has been and yes it's
[30:49] been a long time coming I think people are starting to understand more what was
[30:54] taking place and what we what our initiatives were so and I wanted to say thank you to your group because anytime
[31:00] I have one of my constituents calls I usually refer them to you being the expert um and you've been very attentive
[31:07] and made that work out very well so it's really good to see kind of the fruits of the labor right now and people are
[31:13] really studing to understand because it was very contentious there for a while yeah chairman V yeah Peter I uh I raised
[31:21] my kids close there and uh go by it all the time so it is and I was on the
[31:27] school board at the the time so you had some of our teachers on your committee it was basically the fish the fisherman
[31:33] against the duck Hunters it was it was ugly and and my and my kids fished down
[31:41] that Lake and um so you know they they uh were sad when it went away but no it
[31:48] was that's a very good presentation and yeah I know you guys worked hard on that
[31:54] and to that point I guess if people ask about that it is never it's this is not a lake we ever intend to be fish- free
[32:01] um there's actually I've got probably again if you drove by this winter the spearing out there was excellent this
[32:07] year um the the northern population is really high the crappie population and Sunfish populations are still really
[32:14] high they're just going to fluctuate a lot more um as we get occasional freeze
[32:19] outs which we did not last winter but the winter before yeah
[32:24] so I appreciate you uh bringing this information and sharing it here uh Peter
[32:30] very good and I think we're on to a good path here for the long term with Pelican Lake can thank you all for the time I
[32:37] appreciate it you thank you all right uh we're running just a
[32:43] couple minutes ahead here which is great uh now we will put on our health and human services hat and uh Jamie will
[32:48] make her way to the podium uh the first item on there it be to the approve the consent agenda at this time uh if
[32:55] there's board members uh that would like to remove any items from the consent agenda otherwise I'll stand for a motion
[33:00] to approve the health services second right motion by commissioner MOA second by commissioner Holland any further
[33:08] discussion hearing none all in favor say I I oppose same sign all right the
[33:14] Health and Human Services agenda is proved unanimous now on to your time to agenda items Jamie thank you um yes just
[33:21] a couple today um I would like to invite um along with the surveyors we also have a week that we'd like to recognize ni
[33:28] coming up or this week I'd like to invite Michelle Miller and Jill perer to join me our two Social Service
[33:34] managers as we recognize social worker month oh month not week there we go we
[33:40] get a whole month good morning Commissioners as Jamie stated March is social work month
[33:47] and instead of reading the full proclamation to you we wanted to just highlight a few statements that really resonated with us so the first is
[33:55] whereas this year's Social Work month theme is social work plus action and it embodies the fact that social workers go
[34:01] through years of Education and Training so they have the skill and expertise to transform their care of others into
[34:07] action that brings positive results and this statement strongly connects and really Echoes our social services Vision
[34:14] that we created a few years ago our social services department vision is Right County social services will be
[34:20] Innovative and Progressive setting the gold star standard in Service delivery in Minnesota if either any of you know
[34:26] Michelle and I well we're slightly competitive so we really want to be the other the county that other counties
[34:32] look to and emulate so that is our goal is to constantly be striving to be better each day we strive not only to
[34:38] Pro provide amazing services to our clients and our community but also to look how to improve each day we
[34:44] challenge our staff not to be content with the status quo but to always be looking to ways to better ourselves our
[34:49] Pro our processes and our agency and this of course takes active action by our social workers all of our staff not
[34:56] just our social workers as well as our supervisors our management our Administration and of course you as our
[35:02] board so yes Jill and I are competitive I'm just going to make one comment um we
[35:07] both have heard not only from DHS which is now dcyf for me um but also other
[35:13] counties who have called and asked us what are you guys doing in right County we're hearing good things so um that is
[35:19] our vision to be the goal start standard in Minnesota um Jill also mentioned the services that social workers provide and
[35:26] I I think some people are like what what is that service so another section of the Proclamation says social workers
[35:32] help protect millions of children from abuse and neglect provide services and support which help strengthen families
[35:39] that are under stress stress and if you just Wordsmith that a little bit it really speaks to what social workers do
[35:45] across our division and that is that we protect children and adults from abuse and
[35:51] neglect we provide services and support which help strengthen families adults
[35:56] and youth that are under stress stress and we do so by coming alongside them in their stress and carrying out our health
[36:03] and human services Mission which is to strengthen support and serve our community we're very proud of what our
[36:10] 113 social workers do daily which is to strengthen support and serve right
[36:16] County so this month and we do this every every Social Work month um we plan
[36:22] a couple of fun events so if you want to put March 12th and 18th on your calendar at two we have food so you know feed
[36:29] them and they will come you can join us um uh again March 12th and 18th at 2 pm
[36:35] on our in our second floor lunchroom um we'd love to have you come and and we'll feed
[36:40] you thank you thank you and I'd like to have have you guys stay up here before we do the resolution and I think
[36:46] Michelle mentioned the positive outcomes and I did want to share with you um that we just got a results for our children
[36:53] in out of home placements numbers for January and it's the lowest ever 69 69
[36:59] kids are in out of home placement in Jan the end of January in 2018 it was
[37:05] 165 so marked difference um and again I can only um you know speak to the work
[37:12] that's being done in Social Services it's really amazing so can I just add and our other stats that go along with
[37:18] that show that kids are safe it's not just that we're putting fewer kids in care and they're not safe they're also
[37:24] safe yeah so and with that we would ask ask that um the board consider a resolution I'll
[37:30] make a motion to approve resolution HHS 253 second all right motion by
[37:35] commissioner MOA second by commissioner Shane to Proclaim March 20 or March 2025
[37:41] as Social Work month here in R County uh discussion uh I think that's amazing 69
[37:48] out of home placements and I'm guessing the number of calls that we get screened is relatively flat so that just goes to
[37:55] show that that we are doing our due d but the issues are not there to
[38:00] substantiate so the numbers from last year to this year are about 2,300 reports that we receive annually so yeah
[38:09] that that's phenomenal that's and I would say some of the change too is just the response that we have you know the response is we're trying to be more
[38:15] preventative versus the the reaction and we're um you know kind of just realizing it and Michelle has done a great job in
[38:21] the children's area doing things like navigating hope um lots of different programs so you know really speaks to
[38:28] the to the work that you can put in to get different results even without other things changing and that is at a huge
[38:34] cost savings uh to do that and it's it's less harmful and less impactful to the children so it's great to see that we're
[38:41] taking a more proactive approach and trying to stem it on the front side in preventing them from having to enter
[38:46] into this out of home placement so I believe our foster our out of home placement budget was came in under
[38:52] budget by 1.5 million last year in 2024 that's great thank you you guys
[38:58] wonderful well with that we have a motion in a second it's a resolution vote commissioner Shane i i i i i
[39:05] resolution passes unanimous March 2025 is social worker month here in right County thank you board thank you thank
[39:12] you all right director's comments that was her that was
[39:18] okay oh no I had one more item that's sry I thought I I was reading on here that there was another item but I I was
[39:23] just going to walk out on the you know the good feelings about the social workers drop the mic and drop the mic
[39:29] and leave yeah that's right um I do have a letter you should have it in front of you it's just a um
[39:36] heads up that I plan on signing a letter in support of functional Industries um requesting a grant to buy a new van to
[39:43] um help with their senior population in community events so great that's all
[39:48] thank you Mr chair I just hope I yes definitely sign that I just hope that it's able to get the van yes is that
[39:56] seems to be a problem with a lot of the right yeah equipment and we can only do what we can do so y so thank you should
[40:04] we uh formally get a motion here to approve the letter of support yeah I'll make that motion all right motion by
[40:10] commissioner Holland second second by commissioner Shane for letter of support for functional Industries any discussion
[40:17] hearing none all in favor say I I oose same sign all right motion passes unanimous thank you thank you very much
[40:24] all right now moving forward here we're making good time we have to Chad making
[40:30] his way to the podium here approve and adopt the resolution uh requesting variance from the State Park Road
[40:36] account yeah good morning Commissioners this was previously approved back in May 24 we've made some changes work with
[40:43] menot reduce the number of variances so they require an updated resolution so it's just basically a
[40:49] housekeeping exercise so but we need a resolution so any questions I can answer them before I'll make a motion for that
[40:56] resolution all right motion by commissioner Holland second second by commissioner Shane any
[41:02] discussion hearing none resolution vote I vote i i i i i resolution passes
[41:09] unanimous thank you Chad thanks Chad and now the famous Matt dchen is
[41:16] making his way to the podium thank you Mr chair members of the board uh yeah a couple easier items
[41:23] today hopefully um we uh the first item is to approve the The Joint disch appointments by commissioner District um
[41:30] in the past we've appointed them by commissioner name um and with turnover we have to come back and get those all
[41:36] approved and with anything involving joint ditches it involves a whole joint ditch Authority so you have to get
[41:42] Commissioners from other districts and timing as Kirby's finding out with one of his meetings uh can be fun so my
[41:49] recommendation is to proove the Joint dit uh appointments by commissioner districts for three separate scenarios
[41:56] all right uh stand for that motion moved all right motion by commissioner dik second second
[42:03] by commissioner MOA any further discussion hearing none all in favor say
[42:08] I I I poose same sign all right motion passes unanimous awesome uh the second
[42:14] item is to amend uh the findings and order for two redetermination of benefits uh judicial ditch one and
[42:21] County ditch number seven um whenever we do a redetermination we have to appoint three viewers um and
[42:27] two of the viewers that we appointed for these systems left the company so we're appointing uh two additional and then a
[42:34] replacement just in case that happens again all right any questions or is all
[42:41] entertain a motion I'll make that motion motion by commissioner Shane second by commissioner Holland to uh approve the
[42:48] amending the findings and redetermination of benets and appointing viewers for County ditch 7 and Joint
[42:53] ditch one Mr chair these are actually resolutions and I think we take them in order because you are acting as to Your
[43:00] Capacity as drainage Authority and judicial ditch one and then also on County ditch 7 so okay so do separately
[43:05] okay so the first one was a motion for joint ditch one yep all right that was a motion by uh commissioner Hall and
[43:11] second by commissioner Shane all right is set for joint ditch one or judicial judicial ditch one this is in it's right
[43:20] next to the training facility for the Sheriff's Office yeah Mary Maryville chadam chadam chadam
[43:27] all right is there any other discussion all right resolution vote commissioner Holland hi hi hi I I resolution passes
[43:37] unanimous next would be the amending the findings and the redetermination of benefits and appointing viewers for
[43:43] County ditch 7 so moved all right motion by commissioner MOA second by commissioner Holland any discussion
[43:50] hearing none resolution vote commissioner Dietrich i i i i i all
[43:56] right resolution passes unanimous all right and then uh final item is to accept the bid from Houston
[44:03] engineering to complete a reestablish or records on County District number 23 uh the past board meeting brought up the
[44:09] repair request submitted by the township um and after review we found that a reestablishment records is needed um so
[44:16] Houston engineering provided us a quote for $118,800 to complete those
[44:21] Services all right we have a motion um make that
[44:27] motion all right motion by commissioner Shane I'll second second by commissioner Holland to approve the uh or to uh hire
[44:35] Houston engineering to complete a reestablishment of Records on County ditch 23 all right any discussion
[44:42] hearing none all in favor say I I I post same sign all right motion passes
[44:48] unanimous thank you Matt and now we're moving on to items
[44:53] for consideration uh first items on items for consideration would be be the Personnel committee from February 20th
[45:00] uh the recommendations were included in there uh number of them were just some housekeeping items within the uh
[45:08] Personnel policy as how it pertains to reclassifications and uh photo IDs and
[45:15] uh ID cards for door entry and hybrid work procedures and guidelines um and
[45:20] then there was also a records manager job description uh that update but that
[45:26] is there any questions or discussion otherwise I'll stand for a motion to approve the recommendations from the February 20th Personnel committee I'll
[45:33] make that motion to approve the recommendations from the Personnel committee I'll second all right motion by commissioner Shane second by
[45:38] commissioner Holland discussion hearing none all in favor say
[45:44] I I I oppose same sign all right the Personnel committee uh recommendations
[45:49] are approved unanimously all right now moving on to sorry I lost my other page here all
[45:55] right we would have the approv and adopt the county resolution 2513 to join the
[46:01] central Mississippi uh River partnership uh nonprofit yeah thanks Mr chair and
[46:07] Commissioners so just some brief background on this this group's been around for almost a decade formally established as a jpa in that capacity
[46:14] they've done a lot of work leading up to the federal Appropriations process to eventually go to the federal government
[46:20] and try to seek funding for this So currently they're in the middle of a planning and environmental linkages
[46:25] study and then the next step step is to go through the NEPA process and then seek Federal funding the work largely
[46:31] has been done by the jpa now but as we transition we've been doing joint Powers agreements between Sherburn and Wright
[46:37] counties to accomplish the environmental study process that we have and then we're going to shift this portion of the
[46:44] group to a nonprofit organization the reason for doing that is that when we go lobby at a federal level we want to
[46:51] invite our private sector Partners to join us in that effort by becoming affiliate members and then we can use
[46:57] their logos and their voices as well at the capital when we go Lobby it's been an effort that's been successfully
[47:03] utilized by organizations like the I94 Coalition in their lobbying efforts at the federal level so all this move is is
[47:09] to pass a resolution that was drafted by our legal team that's representing that um cmrp organization to join the
[47:16] nonprofit um I sent out the bylaws to all of you as well we tried to reflect in those bylaws terms and conditions
[47:24] that are almost identical to what we have currently on under the jpa uh so pretty straightforward today just trying
[47:30] to look change the organization to better situate ourselves for the future once we get these environmental processes done and set ourselves up for
[47:36] future lobbying efforts with that be open for questions otherwise looking for passage of the resolution and uh board
[47:43] members on the third Tuesday in April you will get an invite here in the next
[47:48] probably within the next week or so from the monacello chamber uh staff here as well as myself and uh members of the
[47:55] central Mississippi uh Regional partnership are working on putting together a large presentation that will
[48:02] involve uh the highway department from Sherburn R County as well as having
[48:08] people from mindat and as well as from uh Bolton and mink to present on where
[48:14] we're at where we've been and where we're going on a variety of different facets of it uh parts of it from the pel
[48:20] study as well as some of them with some of the work that mot is doing on the existing Highway 25 so
[48:27] very comprehensive and really wants to articulate all the work that has been put into this and that we are working
[48:33] very very hard even though it doesn't seem like we're going very fast but this process is very orous and uh very costly
[48:41] so we're but we've never been so close yet so far away Mr chair um clay I just had a
[48:49] question I think I tried emailing you earlier um it does it discuss in the J well as it moves to the nonprofit dues
[48:55] and I didn't see any amount on there and I was wondering if we had there's amount and if we've budget it for it for it as
[49:02] we move forward otherwi so as far as the amount the amount at this point hasn't been officially set for the ongoing at
[49:09] the nonprofit because we haven't had like an official nonprofit meeting on it there is a lot of discussion that will
[49:14] come with that because the cost factors that will be uh on the nonprofit will
[49:21] be less than what it was before because a lot of the expenses will be paid for out of the lgu which is the local
[49:28] government unit jpa which is between Sherburn and Wright County so most of the studies and work that will be done
[49:33] will be paid out of that the cost factors now out of the nonprofit are a
[49:39] lot less so right now the dues are
[49:44] are budgeted uh within Department 100 and they would at this point I would say
[49:50] that they would stay linear if not be reduced but we're we'll have more discussions on that as July when we set
[49:57] our budget as a nonprofit so what was the ballpark that you put in 100 so the ball the annual fees that we pay rate
[50:03] this time is $225,000 to Wright County $25,000 for uh Sher County and then
[50:08] there's a subsequent amounts that the cities and townships that participate play okay thank you
[50:15] y Mr chair I'll go ahead and make that motion to be moving forward on this all right I'll second motion by commissioner
[50:21] Shane second by commissioner Holland to approve the participation and resolution
[50:26] on 2513 for the central Mississippi River partnership nonprofit participation
[50:33] exciting news thanks for all the hard work you guys that's well needed and it is a resolution vote commissioner MOA i
[50:40] i i i i resolution passes unanimous thank you thank
[50:46] you all right next would be the last item on our agenda here today would be to set the workshop agenda uh which was
[50:53] included in the packet for uh next week on March 11th I'll entertain a motion Mr chair I do
[50:59] just have one change if I could I'd like to remove the 10 o'cl uh item for the security audit report out I just
[51:06] received word that there's a staff conflict I'd like to push that out to the April Workshop okay Mr chair I would
[51:13] like to add an item if that's possible it's just um usually you you have asked that question um I'd like to the state
[51:19] budget numbers are coming out on Thursday and I'd like that as an agenda item so that we can talk about what that
[51:25] what that number is and then Poss implications if if we need to start looking at things even this year for
[51:31] what the impact of the state budget um could have on the county
[51:37] okay State forecast for the February forecast that'll be coming out here all right with that we a motion I well I got
[51:46] two things one uh I would like to add um just an update on the French Lake um
[51:53] Highway shop they they have their meeting tonight so hopefully have some
[51:59] sort of update that I can bring uh to that um and also that um I'll miss the
[52:07] first portion of this meeting um Carver County scheduled the joint ditch meeting at 9:00 a.m. and um they'll be hearing
[52:15] about how that's not going to be able to be done in the future so um if we're
[52:21] working around their schedule they can work around ours a little bit too so
[52:26] fair enough all right with that do we have a motion to uh approve the workshop
[52:32] agenda with the added items I'll make that motion all right motion by commissioner Holland second second by
[52:38] commissioner Shane any further discussion hearing none all in favor say I I post same sign all right a workshop
[52:48] agenda is approved unanimous uh with that we are coming to today the end of today's agenda uh with that we will
[52:55] adjourn here at we do have the 10 o'cl items we have 10 o' yes you want to take a 9 minute recess or if everyone I don't know that
[53:02] everybody's here so I maybe we should just take a 9 minute recess that's right I forgot that that is actually part of the board meeting okay yeah so with that
[53:09] we'll just take a short little uh six minute break here and we'll reconvene in
[53:14] in six minutes all
[53:25] right
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[1:02:38] all right if I can ask everyone to uh either uh take a a little bit of silence
[1:02:43] and or and or take a seat here we're going to uh commence back with the board meeting
[1:02:50] here so annually am I live there okay so annually we have the opportunity uh to
[1:02:57] honor an individual employee as well as a group of employees for uh achievements
[1:03:03] and work that goes above and beyond uh the Call of Duty and uh our first reip
[1:03:09] first award is the individual Achievement Award uh we had four nominations we had one from the
[1:03:15] attorney's office with uh Barbara shley uh we had another one from Health and Human Services with Leanne Bethy we had
[1:03:23] two nominations from the sheriff's office with Stacy Doyle and Jacob Cheryl
[1:03:28] and we had another uh nomination from the record's office with Mary cogley and
[1:03:34] I thank you all for your great work and the individuals who nominated these people for their great work um but at
[1:03:41] this time I am going to call uh Mr Matt dechen up to the podium and Elizabeth uh
[1:03:48] up to the podium as well H as I think you have a wonderful statement to read for him
[1:03:56] thank you Mr chair members of the board um I'm just going to read the letter I wrote nominating Matt um I am honored to
[1:04:02] nominate Matt dchen for the right County employee of the year award while Matt may be best known as the ditch guy his
[1:04:08] contributions and impact extend far beyond that showcasing a l level of dedication leadership and collaboration
[1:04:15] that truly demonstrates he is on the right track Matt's role Encompass encompasses
[1:04:22] a vast array of responsibilities from overseeing County ditch Administration ation and maintenance to ensuring
[1:04:27] compliance with buffer and noxious weed laws as well as managing natural resource initiatives he also plays a
[1:04:33] critical role in Grant Administration securing more than $2 million in external grant funding grant funding in
[1:04:40] for projects in 20124 alone over the past several years he successfully secured over $2.5 million dollar of the
[1:04:47] County's AR allocation for water quality improvement projects and he holds a key role in managing an additional $2
[1:04:54] million in ARP water equality grants for other organizations excuse me his work in this
[1:05:00] realm has had a significant financial impact on the county and its Partners Beyond his impressive Technical
[1:05:07] and managerial skills Matt's collaborative nature and County First approach set him apart he consistently
[1:05:13] prioritizes the needs of the county and its residents working tirelessly with a variety of stakeholders including County
[1:05:19] staff cities townships residents other jurisdictions consultants and contractors he is a true team player who
[1:05:25] looks out for his peers always offering support and willingly lending a hand when needed Matt also demonstrates
[1:05:32] outstanding leadership providing clear direction to his team while fostering a positive and supportive work environment
[1:05:37] he is not only a respected leader but also a trusted friend and an all-around good person um his ability to balance
[1:05:44] technical expertise with strong interpersonal relationships um has made him made him an invaluable asset to WR
[1:05:51] County I've had the privilege of working with Matt and his professionalism work work ethic and unwavering commitment to
[1:05:58] Excellence makes him truly deserving of this recognition thank you
[1:06:04] [Applause]
[1:06:15] Matt oh man yeah make me blush after that thank you yeah um very honored yeah it was it
[1:06:23] was very cool um you know in reading that uh when I got the email uh that was
[1:06:29] covered it was it was awesome especially coming from someone that I'm very close with from Ek the nomination um who's not
[1:06:35] only an amazing employee but an even better person and someone I look up to so it was really cool to see that you
[1:06:41] nominated me and really appreciate that um yeah um yeah again great honor um but
[1:06:49] nothing we do in my line of work happens with just one person doing the work um
[1:06:54] there's a lot of other St St and and people involved um too many people here to thank um you know that helps make
[1:07:00] these projects happen um I look up at Greg and I remember when I started eight years ago Greg could have uh you know
[1:07:07] not given me the time of day but would sit down with me all the time and teach me about ditches and everything else and
[1:07:13] so I just really appreciate all that and and all the help everyone has been um since I started here it's it's been an
[1:07:19] honor to work for right County so um yeah and you know there's a lot of amazing employees at right County and I
[1:07:25] think you guys know that acknowledge it that do a lot of amazing work too so um
[1:07:30] just make sure that we let them know every day too that they with the great work they're doing as well um that's
[1:07:36] something very important so other than that I don't know I'm all flustered after her reading
[1:07:41] that well Matt I'm gonna take a few moments to say some great things about you because you know eight years ago I
[1:07:49] remember sitting in that room with that that interview for that position and you know this is a a young fairly recent
[1:07:56] college grad uh eager to learn and ambitious and he checked all the boxes
[1:08:03] at the time he he knew nothing about drainage law which which we knew that was the the out there there wasn't very
[1:08:08] many people that knew anything about drainage law but he you had the determination to say well I'll learn a
[1:08:13] lot about it and boy did you learn a lot about it because in in that eight years you've now become one of what I would
[1:08:20] say a field expert in the state of Minnesota in drainage and in drainage
[1:08:26] management and in during that time you have fixed many issues that for decades
[1:08:32] were insurmountable and that had caused so much damage to so many citizens and
[1:08:38] youve have systematically been able to fix many of these issues at a little or
[1:08:44] no impact or small impact to the citizens in the county and I can't thank you enough for all that hard work Matt
[1:08:51] you are a top shelf thank you that was a
[1:08:57] first and only time you see me in a suit too so and I just want to say uh I avoided
[1:09:04] becoming a county commissioner because of ditches so when I became a county commissioner the very first phone call I
[1:09:11] got was about a ditch that was going to be going under 94 and Matt assured me that he's going
[1:09:19] toe-to-toe with mindat to make sure that they fix that ditch so that the benefited land owner wouldn't have to
[1:09:26] pay and uh he did it in true Matt fashion and my uh my constituents were
[1:09:33] so happy and you're always smiling even though it's a tough job and we know that
[1:09:38] there's been incidences that that truly are not fun for you but uh yeah you are
[1:09:45] just a topnotch employee thank you so much you deserve that board members can
[1:09:50] we come down for a photo yes
[1:10:15] for
[1:10:35] thank
[1:10:42] you okay Dad
[1:11:14] and now at this time we have our uh group achievement we have many uh
[1:11:19] divisions and departments within this County that do amazing things and at this time of year we we uh take the
[1:11:26] opportunity to award a department or a division within the county that goes
[1:11:31] above and beyond the Call of Duty uh we had a number of nominations uh the uh
[1:11:37] nominations uh that were submitted but not chosen was Health and Human Services
[1:11:43] uh financial assistance team I know that they've had a very challenging ever since covid and they've worked very very
[1:11:50] hard and we thank all of them and their Dedication that they have and for them we'll give them a round of applause
[1:11:56] [Applause]
[1:12:01] we also have our projects Administration team uh this group here is the catch all
[1:12:06] of uh of everything there another one group that has uh ended sorry I don't
[1:12:11] want to miss it the geographic information system I was going to call it GIS because that's
[1:12:17] always I know it as is the acronym uh so we're actually the projects Administration graphic information team
[1:12:24] uh Lin and team has done a phenomenal job on working with the different
[1:12:29] departments and putting out there uh so much uh deciphered information uh
[1:12:35] through their mappings and working with them to bring out more digestible information internally and externally
[1:12:41] and we can't thank them enough so give them all a round of [Applause]
[1:12:49] applause always hardworking as all of those individuals in the recorder's office uh they've always seen many ups
[1:12:55] and downs more ups and work in the later years than uh downs and for that we
[1:13:01] thank all of them in their dedication and looking at always improving processes and for that let's give them
[1:13:06] all a round of applause we also have our health and
[1:13:13] human services Youth Services team uh as we kind of hear about some of the uh accolades that was spoken up here
[1:13:19] earlier in the meeting and they've done a wonderful job to enhance and improve
[1:13:25] improve the youth uh youth's lives in wri county and for that let's give them all a round of
[1:13:34] applause and now for our honored group I'm going to ask that Mr McMillan stop
[1:13:40] forward here I think he has some words to uh read yes thank you uh board and also
[1:13:49] thank all those that were nominated they do an unbelievable job for the county and I'm fortunate to work with the
[1:13:54] number of those different groups that were uh would put up for nomination and very proud that uh our team was selected
[1:14:03] um it's difficult when you nominate a big group uh to not call out certain
[1:14:08] things but in our nomination we had 10 points that I thought uh kind of called out this past year that really started
[1:14:15] probably about three years ago and since Co um I firm believer that we if you're
[1:14:20] if you're evolving you're going to get better uh I don't use the word change or try not to use the word change because I
[1:14:25] think it's scary and also I believe that if you're if you're standing still you're moving backwards and we've always
[1:14:31] prided ourselves because of our team to always move forward and I'll talk a little bit about their characteristics
[1:14:37] when I'm done but just a little bit about the nomination and the why um as you probably know you don't see me up
[1:14:43] here a lot with nominations because I really believe in the team approach and I really believe and he derise to a
[1:14:49] standard that uh is worthy of um winning first of all uh being a coach so I think
[1:14:54] this group uh this year is clearly worthy of of winning over the past year a department agents and support team
[1:15:00] have gone above and beyond to execute a ma major changes in our department to ensure ongoing implementation of best
[1:15:06] practices um our goal is always to be the best and meet expectations of our comprehensive plan extensive
[1:15:13] modifications were made uh to Everyday procedures while not missing a beat providing Public Safety to the
[1:15:19] communities of Wright County court services staff did all this without staff increases Consultants instead
[1:15:26] created our own implementation teams uh which strategically reorganized the entire department to serve the courts
[1:15:33] community criminal s criminal justice system and the county to be better um we
[1:15:40] listed 10 things that were really significant during this period of time and if you if you open up the hood and
[1:15:46] and come over and ask a question about it it was a lot I mean it's a lot and you can't do a lot without everybody
[1:15:52] buying in and everybody working together because every little part affects somebody else uh and not only that I do
[1:15:57] have to say my partners in the criminal justice system that are out here thank you because they were a part of many of
[1:16:03] these um changes and I always have to remember everything that we do as a department affects everybody in the
[1:16:09] criminal justice system and we have to be conscious of that when we're making change so I want to thank them um I'm
[1:16:16] going to hit on the 10 things uh the first one was completion of best practice supervision implementation
[1:16:21] model using a Dosa dosage formula um really for the lay person in the
[1:16:27] audience what that means is and for the board that means we're uh doing a better job of tracking the hours and time
[1:16:33] people put into what their actual Court conditions are and that's developed through a case planning system that we
[1:16:39] use when you make a move like this um and it took approximately three years to
[1:16:45] come to this last year where really the the true implementation started and was executed in October um you know the
[1:16:53] whole objective is to reduce reism do a better job with victims and make our
[1:16:58] community safer um and that is done by making sure the clients are doing the right things when they're on probation
[1:17:04] not just being on probation and it's a little bit of a heavy lift and a change instead of just checking a box and
[1:17:11] visiting people um the group set up a new framework for efficiency in that
[1:17:17] delivery of best practices aligning our support team to reinforce and support the agents assist in execution of the
[1:17:24] vision and uh try to be as efficient as possible so the agent can spend time where it needs to be spent uh the
[1:17:31] Streamline sent we also worked on streamlining sentencing from the bench and collaboration with our criminal justice Partners multiple meetings with
[1:17:38] the court County Attorney's Office public defenders law enforcement everybody that's affected to uh move
[1:17:44] towards a sentencing From the Bench as you can imagine not doing a piece PSI
[1:17:50] not going to court how that would instantly streamline save everybody money and time which is a big important
[1:17:57] thing when we when we move forward and that was a collaborative effort between everybody but um pushed forward by our
[1:18:03] team we redesigned our treny program after two years of implementation we went from two agents down to one agent
[1:18:09] so the first two years when we switched we took a a real hard look at that statistically anecdotally and with our
[1:18:15] Community Partners our schools and uh because of what we found in using some systems uh in better communication with
[1:18:22] the schools we would reduce it to one agent and keep two base Aid so though that agent then was moved into other
[1:18:27] parts of our department and uh it help with that efficiency we realigned our coaching and development team uh which
[1:18:35] really executes our coaching model and that's lifting up the agents and them able to spend more time on individual
[1:18:41] units and individual employees to make them better at that beginning part that I talked about that big paradigm shift
[1:18:47] that we made and you need support when you're doing that and ongoing and they they've they're able to do that and
[1:18:52] they're doing that today we streamlined our drug testing uh systems also to increase
[1:18:57] accountability but also to streamline it from a financial standpoint but also client services and helping the agents
[1:19:03] out and making their jobs easier we reorganized drug court to make it more of a department and not just one or two
[1:19:10] people and that's been uh um very successful now so instead of having two key people involved with drug court now
[1:19:16] we have five or six in our department that share that responsibility and Spread spread out the work uh we
[1:19:23] redesigned our agent of the day and that's that's too in the minutia for you to understand so I'm not going to to skip that
[1:19:28] one we implemented another program called check and connect that right choice help push forward where um where
[1:19:35] we where kids coming out a right choice go back and we're staying on top of that and the schools have bought in we
[1:19:41] trained a number of people including the schools and our staff and then last but not least and I want some Smiles please
[1:19:47] on this one uh we also redesigned for the 24 25 school year safe schools we
[1:19:53] have implemented speakers uh at each one of the meetings uh topics like juvenile probation what it really
[1:19:58] looks like what it means co-responder Child Protection uh parent support uh Outreach and many other presentations
[1:20:05] that meet the needs of the school we also Shrunk the two that I promised down to four meetings so there you go so I do
[1:20:11] listen and uh like to be combative but I do listen uh when it's all going on and
[1:20:16] again it's an evolution but to do this you have to have a team and being a coach for 40 years team is so important
[1:20:22] and over individuals so here's a description a little bit of what makes us the best uh not only here I think but
[1:20:29] also Statewide uh here's our staff they're never satisfied they're different and
[1:20:37] difficult and stubborn and challenging they're Visionary they push they ask why
[1:20:42] they demand to know the why um they're passionate they go the extra mile they try things and uh they want to be
[1:20:49] included in the whole department each and every one of them they want to know what's going on everywhere and those
[1:20:55] those characteristics in my opinion make us the best and to have that you have to have a team that has all those little
[1:21:01] pie all those pieces to make them the best so I'm very proud to stand up here uh they did the work they do it every
[1:21:07] day um I just get to kind of me and my management team get to stand up and kind of coach and move them around and make
[1:21:14] sure things are getting done and they get it done every single day for you for the courts and ultimately the clients in
[1:21:20] the community so thank you very much for honoring um our agents and our support team and I'm very proud to uh accept
[1:21:27] that and if you want them all to come up I think that would be awesome I think it's a great idea at this time thank you
[1:21:33] can we uh give a round of applause and call our court services agents and support team up front here thank
[1:21:39] [Applause]
[1:21:46] you go ahead just like right there in front we
[1:21:53] Cana here [Music]
[1:21:58] somebody be kneeling down up there there we go all
[1:22:12] right challenge people stand tippy toes standing your tippy toes
[1:22:18] Genie going come this a little bit you see over a gap here ones right in the front
[1:22:26] yeah there we go behind people that can see yeah you get in there
[1:22:38] right squish need the panoramic lens
[1:23:01] congratulations you guys yeah you're good for the
[1:23:14] day all right and before we adjourn uh admin kryer yeah Mr chair I I would just
[1:23:20] like to thank the employee recognition committee members who took the time to review all the nominations and to
[1:23:26] present this list and slate to the County Board and for everyone to acknowledge all the great work that our
[1:23:31] employees do here in the county Mr chair well thank you I I believe we have some uh designated uh 30
[1:23:38] minute period here uh to meet and greet and uh recognize the individuals awarded
[1:23:43] here uh but at this time we will adjourn to that uh Refreshments here at 10:22
This story was created by artificial intelligence (a large language model) based on the proceedings captured in the video below.
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