Billings County Commission - Regular Meeting

Okay, let's call the meeting to order. We'll stand and recite the pledge.

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.

Morning everyone we have our monthly July meeting Welcome everyone Today we have looks like we're going to prove the minutes first Last meetings Do you want to do them separately or all in one?

You can do them all together. June 4th, June 22nd, June 25th, and June 28th. Okay.

Does anyone have any questions, additions, or corrections? A lot of minutes. I read through them. I didn't really see anything, but... Anyone want to make a motion to approve the last month's minutes? No. I'll second. Motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Motion carries. We'll go to the agenda for the day. Anyone have any additions to the agenda?

I'd move to approve the agenda.

No. Oh, sorry. I have two. Oh. We need to discuss a little bit of overtime on this big event that's been going on. And I think we might do it during the budget or whatever. Overtime hours. And then... TRMF has some concerns, so clearance is going to try to show up at, I said here, between 11 and 12, so about the road issue over west there. And if we don't get to it, we'll have to do it later. Okay, anything else? I move to approve the agenda with the additions.

Second.

We have a motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. motion carries we'll start with department head reports whoever wants to go first can oh do we have a public comment no no no public comment no um so Ed requested to be on for the public hearing at 10 o'clock for the Water Depot oh yeah

okay now we can go dean i don't have my monthly report we didn't get a chance to get those numbers so i'll have that uh next one that's all right they're busy with the event so a lot of last minute stuff to tear down and get equipment back and get the school kind of back in order i think we got until the 10th we kind of clean up out of there so All in all, I think it was a very successful event. No major problems or whatever. I think we did a lot of planning to hopefully not end up with an issue or a problem and got a lot of really good comments from the Secret Service coming in and all the different agencies and departments that showed up. I won't take the time to read through them, but I mean we got a page and a half of agencies that assisted with that. So it was a huge endeavor and I think everybody just pulled together and made it work. So National Guard had a huge presence here too. We had to adjust some of our meals on that day of the president's visit or whatever to kind of cover those people or whatever. So might have some adjustments to the contract there, but I think we should be pretty close. I don't know if anybody had any questions on any of that. I know kind of talked to like you guys throughout or whatever from time to time. So if you have any questions today or whatever, I guess, just let me know. I have one of my deputies, Fred Whittingham, will be retiring here. And so his last date will be his end of shift today. So I hope to fill that position as soon as we can. So we'll be working on that. Travis is probably going to help me with this part of it. But we also wanted to talk about some of our event security stuff that we're going to have to be working. We're going to work more and more of those coming up. I think I mentioned that in the past. With the foundation building and the event center, we've got several concerts this summer that we have to provide security for. And I wanted to come up with a schedule of costs. And Travis and I met with Marcia, I guess, here last month, but we didn't have enough time really to bring it to the commission at that point. And the one concert we were supposed to work was canceled due to the rain. I can't remember her weather, wasn't it? It was rain. It was rain. But Travis, did you want to talk about that or?

I guess, like I said, we met with Marsha. We've kind of discussed this probably over the years as this event center has come to fruition with the TMRF. But currently, although it is state statute that events that have mixed groups with people under 21 and entertainment, dances, music, stuff like that, no enforcement has to be present or at least contacted to be available present at those events currently the city of medora when they have their events they have a scheduled fee of 325 dollars for four hours and then excuse me then after that it's i believe fifty dollars an hour um the discussion with marsha i guess if you can correct me if i misspeak in any of this we have to at least be at overtime range for what ours is but to get people to kind of work these events is tough if we don't pay a fee and also just to be fair that we're not trying to compete with the city or you know or if the city says well they charge this much and you guys only charge this much we're not trying to compete with each other for these positions and stuff like that so we just wanted to kind of stay in line with that as some of the reasonings we want to just have a special event line item on our check

So it'll be a special event, just like on their paychecks as it is now, whether it's availability pay or on-call time or whatever it may be. But we had mentioned that it's likely to be overtime anyway for the individuals who will be doing it, so we need it to be at that overtime rate so that our costs are covered.

Yeah, and I think the schedule that we were looking at, and again, the city's at 325 per officer for four hours, and then after that, it's $50 per hour per officer after the first four hours, but most of those concerts only go two hours. They hardly, I don't think we've had any that have gone over the four hours. And then we've got it set up where the events with 400 or more attendees require two security officers. So basically I think we just needed, so if I understand this correctly too, Marsha, we'll just, we'll have the auditor's office like invoice and then I will just pay that out of my special deputy fund and then when they pay the voucher it'll go to the county's general fund right just like our EMS when they do you know rodeo standby or whatever that's what we do we pay them directly out of the EMS budget but then the county general fund gets reimbursed for that

So what rate are we thinking here?

Proposing? $325 per officer for four hours and that's the exact same rate the city's using. So we're trying to keep that.

And does all that amount go to the deputy? Half of it? Or do you compensate for the vehicle or any payroll taxes?

No, they drive their own vehicle. Oh, they do? Yep. So they, actually most of them will be wearing like a polo shirt. They won't be like in our full...

Okay. So the $325 will come to the general fund? Yep.

yeah we just the sheriff's office won't be reimbursed which that's fine we talked about it that's how we have to do it as long as the county is full i guess that's what we're after i see and this is strictly with the alcohol presence that's why you need to be there all correct dances things like that big gatherings so too oh yeah we'll be we'll be seeing more of that too i think this summer there's What was there, six concerts? Five concerts? I can't remember.

Four concerts and then two other events.

So I think we need a motion or whatever, right, Marsha?

So this is mostly on top of it.

Well, Jaden Terrace will parade now, but it's going to move down south. There's going to be events there and then also down south. Or wherever they have an event in the county, I mean, I would fall back to the sheriff's office, you know, as long as it's out of the city limits.

So last year, what did we charge?

So the one concert that we had was canceled. Yeah, because they got canceled, a couple of them. A couple of them did. One was because of the train, maybe one with weather, and I just ended up paying overtime or whatever just because we didn't have this kind of flushed out at the time.

So what happens if he's doing that? Let's just say there's a fight and he gets hurt somehow.

He'll be covered.

Covered out of the county or is he a conservative contractor or that's what I'm kind of wondering.

Yeah, no I mean most of the events will be covered by my staff but what it also would do would be allow me to bring like a special deputy in. So like for example like this you know this event here. Brought back like Fern Moser used to work here years ago He's licensed so you know basically I could put them on my special deputy roster Okay, and they're covered yep by insurance and whatever Liability insurance I mean just And they're only part-time, so they don't get any benefits. But my thought is as things get busier, we're probably going to have to reach out just like the city has. They've got officers from, you know, like Belleville. Larry Johnson does it a lot. And then like Golden Valley, you know, they bring over some of the guys from the sheriff's office to cover these events in Medora because they just can't do them all themselves. So we're going to, I think we're going to see that too. So I'm probably going to have to, you know, bring special deputies to do some of that, like Fern and whatever we can, fill the gaps ourselves. I think this will allow us to do that as well.

So then this is going to, if we make this motion, this is going to be then from now on. Is that what that means? Yeah. And if we need to update it or do something later, we'll add to it or whatever. Yeah. Any more questions from anybody? Jared, you have...

no concerns maybe i could just give this schedule to you that's kind of what we're anticipating it just outlines the cost and the hours and the event size

I move to approve the Bill and Skye security rates

Thank you.

I guess, Marcia, before we do the fifth, does that cover all of the deputies? Because it has to be at least a minimum, or do we put this, anything over four hours is at least a minimum deputy overtime rate? just so we don't get ourselves into trouble. Like I said, most of the special events up on the Hill are obviously less than four hours, so it's not going to create a concern, but as we move into wedding season and the events in the town.

The overtime hourly rate is $63.19, and I know that with the EMS, what we do is we also include the benefits calculation on that, and we do that for Road and Bridge, too. So if we want to look back at that and adjust it, it would have to be at least the 6319, I guess. I just updated this today.

I guess you could put in a motion that it would have to include the... current overtime rate.

Because then we don't know what it is. It might change. Well, just to be argumentative, I mean, if you bring in someone that didn't work during the week, a special somebody else, then I guess why does it have to be at that?

Well, that's true.

That's true.

And like for special deputies, I mean, we've been paying, you know, mostly $25 an hour. Just that's kind of what the rate had been for some of that. But We can adjust that or whatever as well.

I don't know, maybe we just... What if we just state it, cover the costs of the employee?

However we want to state it.

We could always change things too, I suppose. And you could do the $50 an hour right now and then see how it goes. If we're losing anything, then adjust it later.

Okay, we have a motion on the table. No, we got it straight. Is there a second? I'll second. We have a second. Is there any more discussion on this? All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion carries. Thank you. Dean, I wanted to comment on the event a little bit. You guys, I don't know how many of you know how big it was, but it was maybe not as big as it maybe was planned in a way, but the people of Billings County, the employees, Dean and Kyle being kind of the leaders and everyone else that was involved, Grant, I just can't name them, so Don't forget somebody that was very well organized, very well done, very professional, you know, lots of comments from people.

I appreciate that.

I attended their meetings. They had a seven and a seven, and I tried to get to most of them, and it was all good. So thank you all.

And everybody pulled together. I mean, it was teamwork, and we had quite the team assembled. I mean, everybody worked hard, and even our partners, the library and the foundation. Like I said, I have a whole page and a half of the agencies that helped, but it was something to see. you know i think uh i think it was very successful nobody got hurt and you know that was what we were planning for no protest we were concerned about that so yeah but thank you i appreciate that and being around the secret service they don't say much at all but they did point that out so yeah during one of our briefings you know they mentioned coming into a small county they didn't expect all the planning that was done they did say that it's a good thing that we kicked it off early you know with the library and the foundation over here a few months ago so it's been a blur now i don't know it seems like meeting here two or three a day and hopefully got some extra time, but now I got to concentrate on those things we didn't get done. Thank you.

Thank you. Dale, you want to go?

Sure. Good morning.

Good morning. I don't have a lot this month. The only thing that's non-routine expenses, we upgraded the flights on top of our house for red, white, and blue.

And that will use the same system for Christmas lights. So they just change them on.

And I just, last couple weeks, helped them with the event. That's all I've got.

Thank you for that. Yeah, you were over there and here and now it's good.

yeah i just want to thank dale too i mean he put a lot of hours in plus dealing with his job mowing the lawn in between running for us and i mean everybody pitched in and he especially didn't have a lot of hours and helped out so thank you okay uh kyle

You feel good, huh? Did you break it?

Morning, commissioners. Presented as your June report. June numbers are down. Not sure why we're down this June, but we are down a little bit. Like Dean said, I'd like to thank our staff and everybody else that worked for this project last week. It was real good. We did end up with 27 patient contacts between Monday and Sunday for us. That doesn't include all of them that Public Health had in the first aid stations and all of them that Ringdale did for us up on the hill. And so we're still compiling those numbers. But I need to thank the ambulance services that came out and volunteered their time out here. So Kildare, Kitter County, McKenzie County, Mercer County, and airmen all were out here and volunteered their time on the day the president arrived. So many thanks to those guys. One thing I talked to Commissioner Hague about is our open EMT, advanced EMT position. We haven't received a whole lot of applications for it. Speaking with the ambulances that were out here that day and other ambulances, everybody's in the same struggle. With your guys' permission, I'd like to expand that to open it up to a paramedic as well to try to get somebody to fill that position.

Can you explain what you want to do?

So we haven't currently opened up very fast. Oh, yes. Okay. For hiring.

I was thinking you were talking about a class. No, no.

Hire that open position. Everybody's struggling right now to fill positions.

What's the difference in pay then or salary? About $15,000, I believe.

And is that something you wrote in your report there on your budget thing? Yep.

Yep.

Okay. So I thought. I guess you can make a pencil. I got no problem with it. I don't have any trouble, you know, to get people hired somehow. It's in your budget, so.

Otherwise, I have nothing else. If you guys have any questions for me.

Thank you for all you did there too.

We had some moments of pure chaos, but we got through it. Thank you guys.

I think we need a motion to approve a new paramedic position because it's a change from what the position was.

So, I mean, he had it in his report for the new budget.

Right, but if he's doing it in this year.

Okay, all right, so that makes sense.

And then approve it in the budget for next year.

For next year.

Okay. Or could it be stated as a temporary? Or do you think it... Well, I guess it can't be, because once there's an employee. It's going to be in the budget for next year, right?

So my preference would be to hire an EMT or an advanced EMT. We're not getting applicants for it, and so if we could change it so that position is read as that, if we have a qualified candidate to fill that grade, if we don't and we hire an EMT or advanced EMT, it'd go back to that regularly scheduled wage that they're currently at. So it could stay as an EMT position for this year as long as you guys approve the weight of a paramedic wage. And then next year, including my budget, it could be switched over.

And then just approving an increase in the wage of the AEMT position to a paramedic salary.

Or does that cause any internal problems for you then with any others?

Sure.

and then you'd be okay in this year's budget yeah so you'd be okay we just i don't know that we whatever's best totally need a motion but just when when positions have changed they've made motions in the past and maybe this is for jared i don't know if if they need to or

you know if it's if the amount can be within its budget that's not a problem but the position change is to vote on it right yeah to vote on it to expand it that'll be fine well it is a change so And if it's just to change the position from an AMT to a paramedic, would be...

I'll make that motion. I think that make it short like that, that would be good. Because it is a money change also. Okay. Okay, we have a motion on the table. Is there a second? I'll second it. Any more discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Motion carries. Thank you. Okay, let me see here. Juliana, nothing. What time is Stacey? That's later. That's 10 o'clock. So we could go to... They're back there. We can go to Pat Lavelle, too, because he's on the time frame. Are you ready to speak, Pat? Yeah. Okay. We can do it after. Unless she has to vote. You have to vote. I can't spray anyway. Okay.

Well, first of all, I want to thank the county that came out and put some dust control down. I don't know whether that has been coming in here bellyaching about the road or what, but anyways, I appreciate that. But I guess they had to do something because before they did that, the blade operator come out and in front of our place there, the potholes were pretty bad. So he come out and he had no material to work with, so he had to cut the hard band to fill in And so something had to be done because it would have been duster and a devil out there. But anyways, I appreciate that. And one thing, I missed a lot of things last meeting. It went over my head or I didn't hear them.

That's why I'm back here again today.

But I don't know that the county knows where that easement is on our place or not. But it starts... east of the junction where that oil well road is. That's just east of the junction. It goes west of the cattle guard going into Hellickson's old place, and it comes south to the cattle guard that's in front of our place. It's 5.22 acres. So when things are done out there, I would like to see the whole easement covered, not just part of it. Anyway, that's pretty much that on that part. And then Jim, last meeting there, you said you weren't in favor of the guardrails unless it was a deep ravine. Well, that gal, just about within a foot is going off that that would have been about a 20 foot drop off into that old creek bed so I guess that you could almost say that's a deep ravine and then that truck on the east side just about tipping over with a load of oil on it you know so that's kind of where I'm coming from on the on the guardrails and uh And as far as, I didn't hear anything, I couldn't hear the road foreman last meeting, so I listened to the tape and it was brought up that there's been dust control out there. This was before last week here. And I got to dispute that. The last time that we can remember any dust control out there is when Jeff Iverson was the foreman. And that's been a few years. And just had to bring that up. And also about cutting, pulling the shoulders and putting gravel around there. It's been so long since we've seen anybody dump any gravel out there we can't remember. But I can say one thing that if there had anybody been pulling the shoulders out there, we wouldn't have a 105 foot wide tee. And also I guess the reason I'm in here is I had the road foreman out there three years ago showing what, you know, see what we can get done out there. He told me at the time, that's three years ago, he said that that road was on the list for road repair, road work.

Well, that's three years ago.

Nothing been done. And then one other thing that... It was said, Steve, you said something about having trouble with an oil well road or something up at Freiburg. It's like that.

Yeah, the turnoff at Freiburg, when you turn off on the north side, it's pretty much the same kind of deal to where the trucks end up digging or are taken into the ditch.

Where is this at?

Right at Freiburg. Go north right away, and you come to the T. To go north towards the park... It gets a T right away and that's a similar intersection, the way the turning is with the trucks.

Is there anything can be done with that?

A couple years ago they did blade it up but the way the road is and the traffic, I don't know that there is a right way because the trucks eventually are pushed that way in a sense or the way they make their turns, the way the road is designed

Well I don't have any answers out there for our place. What I was just thinking, make it back to a T and maybe put some 15 mile an hour trucks turning or something like that. You know, so everybody's got to slow down and you know on that that easement thing or whatever that was, it did say that that engineer uh his idea was to put three stop signs out there i don't know whether that would work you know but but the yield sign sure as heck ain't working so but i i've been waiting for three years to get something done i mean that's why i came in here to the county commission because i you know i mean three years enough time i think something get done

Okay.

That's all I got to say.

Thank you, Pat. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Okay, Katie, do you want to go with your... Oh, that's the one thing I wanted to say.

We had the county spray crew come out, and Katie was there with her crew. And they've done one grand job, I'll tell you. You guys got a real gold mine with her.

Thank you, yeah. She's going to give her report here now. Oh, I didn't even see her.

With the weed board, we've been busy. We worked through last week with very minor issues, everything with all the information we had ahead of time. It was nice for us to be able to plan where to send our crews and stay out of everyone's way. We are a little bit behind with the wind that we had early in June, but our crews are out. Like we have five crews out every day working when it's not raining, but this is nice to see too. And the next couple of weeks look hot, but they'll be coming in early and we'll be getting as much done as we can. And you will see our budget later, there's a slight increase to deal with the increase in fuel prices and then the chemical increases mainly, but the board's pretty conservative about increases. They try to make another category go down if one goes up. So slight increase, but nothing major. Do you have any questions or concerns? Thank you.

Thank you. Okay.

Good morning, commissioners.

Just a couple brief updates on our two projects. 135th, they got the cementary subgrade done last week. The plan was to coordinate with the railroad. They were going to provide the flagging during construction. They canceled that, I think, for other reasons, obviously, unrelated to the project. They're coordinated, scheduled later this month to finish that. So right now, all the grading's done with the exception of about 100 feet on each side of the railroad. End of the month, that should be done. They're finishing the gravel this week on the portion that has been treated with cement. So that should wrap up with the exception of that couple hundred feet later this week, in fact. There's still going to be some erosion control left to do. But that should wrap up here pretty soon. Last meeting, we talked briefly about the paving cost. We looked at the numbers again, and what we think earlier, the numbers didn't change a whole lot. We still think it's around $1.7 million for the paving portion of that. I'm not sure where that fits in this year's budget or next year's budget, but one thing we thought we could potentially do is have a completion date into next year. doesn't mean it goes to bid this summer or this fall. They could potentially do it this year, or it might reserve time next year to do it. And my suggestion would be sometime in early summer next year for a completion date. That kind of ensures probably the best price you'll see. Excuse me. if the contract has flexibility to do it either this year or say by June next year or something like that. So anyway, I just wanted to kind of report on that, that the cost of $1.7 million is kind of what we've always thought it was going to be. We've kind of seen oil prices recede, obviously, so I think that 1.7 is potentially on the high side of it. That's kind of the budget number you guys should use.

Okay.

Any questions on that project or paving or anything? The other project is that Best Year BC Bridge being bid through the DOT. It is going to be bid July 17th. So next Friday, we'll know what those numbers are. And we have that set up for this year's completion date. It's going to be late in the year, as in November, late October, November timeframe, but should happen this year. So any questions on that project? no i think it's good okay that's all i had okay thank you thanks

So the crews have been hauling on West River Road, Government Creek, 30th, Blacktail, and blading as we get the rain, laying dust control in between. And then we were prepping for this library, stuff that went on. It's kind of a neat sight to see all the trucks lined up on the street for view blocking. It's kind of fun. Looked good. They all were cleaned up and looked nice, so the crew did a good job on that. Guardrail project, they got two of the sites finished up so far. They're working on the ones on Frank's Creek right now. Crews have been laying gravel for that as they need. Fishers is planning on moving into the Ironverse pit this week or next. Weirich, he's back in North Dakota now, so finally got a hold of him the other day. Just thinking, he said soon at the mouse pit, but he'd give me a closer date when they finish up a project they're on. And I did call Darren Mouse on that. Chip seal, they're planning closer to August now, just they weren't going to make it before the 4th. So that should be starting sometime soon. And then the shared use path, We're going to have a pre-job here in the next couple weeks on that. They'll be starting that. And that's the segment from Medora to the Sully Creek campground. And then the three trucks are consigned with Pipers for the auction this fall that we were to sell. And then also got a quote on paving by the Fairfield School. It's about 850 foot long and

11 or they can go ahead and do that be about eighty seven thousand five hundred dollars so any questions um how is there um how is uh hiring for uh employees because we're

we kind of short in some areas or we're only one short and in where in Friberg okay still the right one housing I got one I need to call an interview yet but still waiting for the right application to show up so we haven't hired anybody else lately or this year or I think it was January when it started. A couple. Yeah, we fired a couple this year. We're full other than just the one position. Okay.

So we're good there. And equipment is ordered and coming, so that's good. Yep.

And then in my budget, there's the increase for equipment next year. In that increase, there's also the trucks we already ordered. So we're good. Yep.

Okay. And I visited with Pat about getting some eight-foot forks that we used over at the fire hall to unload all the barriers, which was nice to have. We had to borrow them. So he said he'd work that in whenever it worked in.

Sure. What time frame are you milling some of the gravel roads? beginning of august okay i do what to mill some of the gravel oh like we did on like we did last year yeah good let's plan for the beginning of august last night okay and that's with uh trotters or yeah we'll be with trotters okay they did a nice job last year so it was a good deal

Okay. Well, I'm fine, I guess. Thank you. Thank you for all your help, too, on the project, or the big event.

Oh, you're welcome. I'm sure excited to help out.

Okay, who else is... Shockley isn't here today, huh? I guess we're done with that. What is our next... I guess we can move into Stacy.

Everybody is good. Did you have a report?

Just with the budgets when we get there. We do have some other items on the bottom.

We could look at that, I guess, while she's setting up. Well, let's look at that multi-hazard mitigation deal.

It's in your packets. It's the resolution for the multi-hazard mitigation plan to approve it. Kyle has presented it to you. Last, well, not last meeting, but June. So if you've all had a chance to review the multi-hazard mitigation plan, we just need a motion to approve resolution, and it doesn't have the number on there. It's resolution 2026-13.

And this is something that we just have to do. Get it in a motion.

Nope, not that one.

Oh.

There it is. It's just a one piece of paper.

Because it was that whole book that we're approving. Yeah.

I have all of your copies here.

did you see it jared did you see it ready here

Is it supposed to be a number besides the 26?

Yeah, 2026-13. So I'll have an original one for you to sign.

13, you said? 13.

He had sent me a PDF, so I don't have the actual Word document to adjust it.

okay so we just have to make a motion to to accept this i'll make the motion except that's true second motion in a second any more discussion all those in favor say aye aye aye motion carries um

are you ready yet stacy yeah okay okay so for zoning on june 18th we had two applications one is still in preliminary phase for that theodore rosalind or foundation's application for a major subdivision they're planning out the area west of the river into a new subdivision into lots and blocks like where the rubio arena would be and then actually making lots for the campground area and so all being platted out that's still under a preliminary phase so that's not on the agenda for today and then the western heritage arena would be the new arena the rodeo arena on the west side of the river so that that is on the agenda for construction and then we also have a public hearing for zoning amendments related to industrial water So Western Heritage Arena, it's application 2026-31. If you're familiar with the area that was used for parking for the library event, that's where it would be. And so they graded the area in preparation for construction for the Western Heritage Arena. And so it'll have a basic 120-foot, 240-foot rodeo arena, permanent bleachers that would be about 710 seats, plus they'll probably have extra portable bleachers bigger events and then they'll have like other rodeo ground amenities like parking areas, the announcer booth, the shoots and the stalls for the livestock and then they'll also have a 50 foot by 88 foot detached garage. and so this is a more detailed plan it's right in that middle area east of the fedora fire hall and the rodeo arena kind of goes east and west part north and south and then you know it'll be a basic i mean it's a moment to like country rodeo arenas that's what that would be These are some preliminary renderings for the arena and grandstand. Parking area would be along Pacific Avenue or I-94 route west between the fire hall and the new rope that would be constructed. And the approach for this This road has already been built with the library parking lot area. And then this is some earlier renderings on what it would possibly look like. You know, like your typical rodeo would be in a grandstand. And then this is the area right now that it would encompass. That's the grading plan. And the garage is in the kind of north, or it could be the east, east edge of the rodeo arena. This area. So that's the only, that's the major like permanent building. And then the rest are, it's grandstands and there's stalls.

Stock areas.

I don't see anything on the line over there. Like your typical kind of announcer booth that's elevated. And then the garage is there. Five star garage. 50 foot by 80 feet. And then there would be the chain link fence around the area. Kind of similar to what, the foundation has around that point to point park. The city has approved it and then because it's It went to city zoning, and then since it's kind of a major project in the ETC, it would also have to be reviewed by city council too. So everything is in permitting ways right now. And so the county, we approved it at the zoning meeting on the 18th with two conditions, that because they have a lot of ground being disturbed, they'll have to continue with their re-control plan, coordinated with Katie and the county board.

you know it's a lot of bare ground too so they'll have to have dust and cold we have a question from kyle yeah i'm going to ask a question can we make sure we have a designated entrance and exit for this rodeo arena that actually works for ems instead of Like where would you prefer? I don't care as long as it's a good road that gets us in and out and not side to side.

I'll send you the plan and then if you mark there like where you guys would watch. This is in the new area? Yeah, so would you want to put that as a third condition that, you know, you'd have it designated as ingress and egress for EMS or for emergency?

You're not asking for a new road in there.

I'm just asking for a good road and a good parking spot for the ambulance during events. Instead of where we come in and have to go down and then back up into that corner and have a heck of a time getting in and out when traffic is leaving the arena.

So a designated parking area.

Yeah, just have a designated parking area.

That looks good.

Just parking or should we have something like so the path doesn't get blocked or where they can't go?

Like designated access? Yeah, parking and access.

Parking and access, yeah.

Thank you. I'm sharing my screen.

do you have any other questions on this right now there isn't any plumbing or water or sewer with it it's just bare built you know bare ground buildings if they do have an event they'd have to get like quarter cars and stuff like that like call them like they do for the rancheralla right now because they still need to work out their their water situation on the west side

Okay, so do we need to make a motion on that? Yeah.

Okay. This would be 2026-31, Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation Western Heritage Arena with a weed control plan and dust being required in designated parking and access area for EMS since she has a screener.

I'll make that motion. Okay, we have a motion. Is there a second?

I'll second it.

Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any more discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Motion carries. Okay.

So... okay and then for the amendment we've had some requests for the industrial water depots and ponds and when first started looking at the ordinance what i was thinking of was the constructed depots that you see like in mckinsey county and dunn county where they're constructed water ponds that are lined either with a synthetic liner or heavy clay liner um and you know we usually want to anything with new construction, we want to make sure that their setbacks are okay and distance from other property lines are okay. And so we did amend the ordinance for these types of uses. and so the the amendment would be consistent with the comprehensive plan with the following goals objectives and policies to maintain the integrity and compatibility of land uses in the county promote responsible development of the county's natural resources promote and maintain a stable oil and gas industry within the county because these these ponds are used in fracking which when our comp plan was first created in 2007 that was like maybe still under development and so the the last um goal was to you know promote opportunities for increased and diversified exploration activities including the utilization of new technology so at that time like fracking was still and considering new technology and that's what these these ponds are for for for the oil and gas exploration and progression and then When we were drafting the ordinance, like we were thinking, you know, we had a few questions on, well, we have industrial use stock water pond or maybe an existing freshwater pond that are out there. Should those types of industrial uses be considered? the same as the constructed bond. And the feeling is that those wouldn't be reclaimed. I mean, there's stock bands that have been here over 50 years or more or if they're a natural pond you're not going to reclaim a natural pond or you're not going to require reclamation bonds or setback requirements don't really comply with with these natural uses and so it's mostly the regulations are pertaining to the constructed ponds and so the thinking is to have the natural stock water ponds as permitted use as an agricultural district they would still probably give us a notice that you know they have applied for the industrial water usage from the state they still need their industrial water permit as required by the state they would say would be a notice to the county because usually these are hubs for the lay flat lines used for fracking and what are the companies themselves would still have to come in for their pipeline permits we we've seen several of them over the years we handle them administratively but this would just be a notice of like here's a point source for those uses and then the conditional use would apply to the ones that are constructed within agricultural districts and then the ponds would be permitted use in industrial districts, but it would still require a zoning meeting because we have such few industrial areas out there so that any change of zoning would require a meeting. And so the stock water ponds wouldn't require a meeting, but anything constructed would require a zoning meeting.

So would you say to simplify, anything that's lined?

It's lined or like constructed for basically anything that requires, you know, Yeah, like they're more like engineered. I mean, even though a lot of times the stock dams have your plan for dredging and whatnot, but still, it's along a natural water course. You know, usually these constructed ones, I mean, they're square and, you know, it's a structure in the ground.

They can be clay or plastic or whatever.

i was just trying to get like a simplified you know version if it's lying okay that's what you're saying but yeah and i did put that in the definitions um to help um define like okay what would require a permit what would it require so anytime like uh the freshwater industrial ponds is a definition down below something like naturally occurring freshwater pond or existing agricultural stock dam and it's permitted by the carbon water resources for industrial use and then that that phrase in freshwater industrial pond is used in the ordinance under like exemption like they're exempt from setbacks they're exempt from regulation bonds But the water depot for industrial use covers the constructed ponds. They're lined, or they have tanks, or there's metering, which the fresh water ponds probably have the metering too in some ways. But the other definitions, include like what's an acre fund beneficial use the term that's used for the the state so if the water is still being used for beneficial use it's still an active permit by the state cancel water permits like if the state would cancel somebody's water permit our permit would also be tied to the state permit so if the state cancels the permit our permit would also go away and conditional water permit that's for what they usually use for those the frac water costs and then definition of industrial use for manufacturing mining or processing point of diversion that's your point where you get your water and then temporary water permits are also for those and the temporary water pipeline, and the lay flat lines that we already approved for ARW applications. And so the purpose of the ordinance is to enable the state and orderly setting and operation of industrial water depots and ponds that serve oil and gas exploration activities while protecting the public health, safety, and general welfare. And so the application procedure is very similar to what we already have for applications. You know, where is it going, the length of time if you know, how long the facility would be in operation, that they provide proof that they have their state water permit from the Department of Water Resources, or if they don't have it, it would be a condition that you need to submit that in as part of the process. And then our permit would always be tied to that state permit. Route maps, like where's water coming from, where's water going, and then if If there is heavy truck traffic during the construction of these ponds, that they would get a haul road agreement with the county if needed, and then get all right-of-way permits, pipeline permits as necessary. And then also if they're moving a lot of ground, that a weed control plan would also be needed, and then a reclamation bond and re-vegetation plan. If they have something worked out with the landowner, that would be best, just so that They're just not open sites in the long run. And then criteria, we have them as permitted uses or conditionally permitted uses in agricultural or industrial zoning. They'll have dust control on the roads if needed. Grounds kept free of weeds, junk, and trash. Temporary structures. If they do have any, you wouldn't. that don't require permanent foundation would be closed loops, self-contained structures, access roads maintained at all times to allow access to vehicles if needed. Fencing would either be, if it's probably like a smaller site, like within an industrial zone, you'd have like the six foot height chain link fence, or if it's in more, and then also have the So if you're near residential areas, that would require a chain of events. Or if it's more of a remote area, you would have a basic four-strand barbed wire. and then if you if we have like the fresh water on like the stock dams if they're already decided setbacks for the industrial water depots we have basically a quarter mile from an existing residence or residential district unless a written waiver is received or the reservoir would be at least 200 feet from the center line of all roads that are improved roads or 125 feet from unimproved section lines unless the written waiver for the standard is waived by the county highway superintendent another setback would be 125 feet from neighboring property boundaries and then also 150 feet from from the ordinary high water mark of a creek or river or the edge of something steep that you know if to prevent water erosion if something was to happen. And then also like if prohibited uses would be truck parking unless the site is zoned industrial and truck parking has been permitted as a separate use. Storage of produced water, like from produced water, so these aren't just fresh water, they're not for salt water or production water. You can't store hazardous materials, you can't store T-norms, naturally occurring radioactive material. And then the storage of any other material that would be detrimental to health. And then some time limitations, basically it's like, oh, You can put the limit on them if you needed to, or usually conditional use is run with the land. But if it is more of like, we'll have to take each one case by case, because sometimes they might only be here for a few years. And so we would want to have them make sure that they have their reclamation. a re-vegetation plan in place or an enclosure would be like if the industrial permit is removed by the state, they're not following the rules of the state for their water facility, that they would have, you know, and the state pulls their permit, then they would have 90 days to close the facility here too. So those are the regulations. A lot of them are based off of what's been seen in McKenzie County and Dunn County and outdoors. I think it's a good start. We'll have to see how it goes once we actually get applications, whether things need to be modified, but that's, I think, we can always add conditions if needed at that point, too. But something that you don't think of at the time. But I think we have a good start here.

Okay, so do we...

we made a motion to accept this yeah the zoning board approved it like it is a public hearing so like and we do have one person that has requested um so yeah okay you can come over

Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, thank you for your time today. I'm Ed Kessel. I live in Dickinson. I've got property in Billings County out there, and we do have a water permit out there along Highway 85. So I look at this, what was written, what was presented, and kind of feel like it leaves more questions than answers out there. There's a lot of, well, we could do this, and we could do that, but there's nothing that say, you will do this, you will do that. When I look at the fencing requirements, they say they may be waived. My pond is probably less than a quarter mile off of Highway 85. And I look at this here and it says that it has to be fenced. Now, is that fencing requirements NRCS standards or is it the six foot one? She talked about having, you know, lined or unlined, but there's no, really no explanation in the requirements which one is like an industrial pond or an agriculture pond. I think it's very vague on it. The other issue I take is with the requirement of obtaining a permit to utilize the water that I have a permit from the state to utilize. I know there's impact, but there's impact in everything that we do out there. Ag's got impact, oil's got impact, county gets revenue from each. So when we sit and look at this as far as citing water depots and what have you, you're only going to cite a water depot where you have water. And there's not a lot of water in Billings County being out there, and it's very hard to get a water permit. If you haven't done it, it's not an overnight thing. I mean, the state's very thorough on what they do. First, you have to demonstrate a need to have a water, to need to use the water. And being out there in oil and gas, it's very spotty as to where, you know, when water will be utilized or not. So if I am required to have a conditional permit, is it just when there's a frack job going on, or is it as long as I have a permit, a water permit? And when does that conditional permit expire? Because I understand they're annual. So now I pay a fee to have a permit for something that I might not be able to sell. I think what's here really Just because Dunn County, McKenzie County have something similar, I don't know if Billings County needs the same thing. We don't have near the demand that they have or the water resources that those counties have. That's really the main issues that I had with it. I think if you're going to pass a zoning ordinance, it needs to be specific on what the requirements are. You know, you look at, I talk about lined and unlined. If you set up a frack job and you have one of the large steel tanks with a liner in it and you're pumping water in there and, you know, it's a surge, then all of a sudden does that tank need to be lined? As I read the ordinance, it does. Or need to be fenced? It does. So... um i think i don't i think it needs more work to be honest with you but i'd be out i would prefer it just to go away so stand for any questions

As we were going through this, I was thinking of the same. Is his considered needing to be fenced or not? And that caught my mind too, and then you brought it up. Because it's fenced by the highway, right?

It's fenced, but it's probably not an NRCS fence.

Yeah. Is it a man-made, or was it stocked down from cattle?

It was man-made. Okay. But cattle can drink out of it.

And that's the other question, yeah. So does it fall under that? I mean... Because I would have liked to have seen this last night or something.

Yeah, it's, I mean, we've had two meetings on it, and so, yeah. And so, actually, I think we had three meetings on it when we started. And so it's still, I mean, yeah, it's good to hear from the operators of these facilities because it's still, like, So if you do have suggestions, if you want to, if you guys want to table it, that's fine by me. And then, you know, we can sit down and meet with some of the landowners.

And we did, I did call, I did call this once and I'm calling when I've seen it.

Yeah, sometimes it's easier too to like get it down on paper, like sit down and let's scribble it out.

or determine is there a need to have this ordinance and maybe just eliminate it. If we don't need it, why have it?

I'm in favor of having it. We've got to have some control, some knowledge of what's going on out there.

But we have a lot of rules, Mr. Chairman, and ordinances. I mean, you can still get subdivisions and things like that you can have, and you can't have certain things in them, but who's policing it? No, it's being policed. I can go up by Frank's Creek and see a truck parked there all the time.

That's just what came to my mind. Yeah, I know. It needs to be, we don't have, we're a pretty low populated area, so we don't have a lot of policing going on. but if you can but if there's something that would be pretty drastic it would get addressed that's the way i feel anyway and i feel if we have rules we should follow the rules if we don't need the rules and let's not have the rules okay well thank you for your opinion so so thank you uh quite a lot of questions so do you think there's even since you're experienced with the cracking

Is there enough time for the permitting process? Do they come to you and next thing you know, in two weeks or a month, do you know what the timeline of the process is?

Is it even enough to actually... Fracts seem to happen on their own timeline. It's a little bit almost like the water mafia with what they're dealing with the state to acquire enough... barrels, what have you, to do their job and locating where the resource is. I don't know what their timeframe is. I mean, I'm sure they have a planning, some kind of planning time on it. I think they are required to get a permit already to lay flat through the counties right away and what have you. But I don't know if I can answer what...

Sorry, what I meant is when they come to you and say, hey, we want to buy your water, do you have enough time to even come get a conditional use permit?

well i think for clarification though too this is an ordinance for the initial point of construction oh you know and so at at that point like you know, they would have their state water permit and they're designated for so many acre feet of water. We wouldn't need a permit for each and every time water is obtained from its facility. Oh yeah. It's just that initial point of construction.

But you would have to have a conditional use permit.

Yeah.

Which expires annually, correct?

Well, no. Conditional use permits run with the land. There's only some, you know, some conditional uses are temporary. But let's say if the state decides that the landowner isn't complying with the rules and regulations of the state of North Dakota and they pull the permit, then the county permit would expire them too. Yeah, conditional uses aren't a year by year. There's only a few things that are considered the temporary uses, and that's a year by year. But this would be, yeah, it would run with the land once it's constructed. And then if it ever gets to be where the water isn't being put to beneficial use and the state doesn't reissue a permit anymore or it's found defective by the state, And that's where the conditional use from the county would disappear to.

Yeah, you're regulated by the state, basically. Correct, yes. And so we're just having this so that we're notified what's going on in our county. I mean, other counties do the same thing. That's where we got this from, so...

we're just um does it cost anything to to get the permit well we have permit fees like we would have to determine what the permit fee would be okay and then the requirements to make sure i'm up to the set you know what's required in your your zoning so if you do say that i need to have a fence or what have you um there's that cost also

well and for his situation too like if he if he does have a um situation where like his facility isn't um the same as what our regulations are you'd be a legal non-performing use or grandfather use you know so in his case what is the fence fence zoning interpretation to be does he need to do anything or not no i wouldn't say i mean if it's already an existing pawn that already has fencing it might not be you know the nrcs required points but um no barbed wire on the bottom. We still have to look at a lot of them case by case, like the location. That's where May comes into play, where maybe you need it, maybe you don't. You can't hard code everything because each property has unique characteristics. And so we're mostly looking at the ones that are newly constructed where they're definitely more, they look man-made instead of like this docked dam.

And if you're going to construct something like that, you have to have a water resource. I mean, if you're going to dig out a pond or line the pond, I mean, these rack jobs are requiring, you know, hundreds of acre feet anymore. so my permit is is even a small permit i mean a lot of times they don't even want to even look at it because it's not enough water so if you're going to line dig and line a facility to crack or to move water it's going to have to be pretty substantial yeah and that's what we're keeping up with with the permit because they are larger facilities but you're going to need a large water source too yeah which is regulated by the state yes yeah

Yeah, and I don't see, like what you said, I don't see a high demand for it. We do have time, or we don't have anybody knocking on the door to have a water depot in the county. But if we did, these are our rules for where we sleep right now.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Ed. Does anyone have any more... Terry, you got anything?

I think if you got a water transfer... You want to stand up, though, so we can hear you?

Sir, I didn't mean to call him.

I just wanted to speak.

I guess my thoughts are, if you got a water transfer permit for moving the water, why would you need a permit coming from the source?

Because they already know where it's going, right?

The state?

No, like the county. So the people that transfer the water have to get a permit.

So why should the landowners have to get a permit also? Because you already know where the water is coming from because the transfer company has got it in their permit.

State your name up for the record. Jared Kessel.

Well, I guess we're going to have to probably table this here and go with the zoning again and get a little more... See what the zoning committee comes up with. if it's needed or not i mean i'm pretty sure it's going to be needed but we'll address that at our next meeting i feel if that's all right with you guys mr chairman if you're worried about line console wouldn't those have to be industrial use then wouldn't that be so industrial well and that's where like

They would either be permitted in industrial zoning or if it's more of a remote area where you wouldn't want an industrial zoning district in, it would be conditional use in agricultural.

Yeah, because that's what happens with a lot of ponds. There's no lining, it's a cattle pond and so they come and suck out of it and the state allows you to suck so much and that's it. There isn't there isn't requirement for lining other than I think we're talking about a man-made one next you know you get a million barrel pond that's pretty big and then it needs to be lined either clay or you know commercial lining of some sort.

But at that point it wouldn't it be industrial and require industrial?

well and does this here cover industrial zoning well yeah it we have them permitted in industrial zoning but the the lined like the very large line ones it would you know industrial use and then outright permitted in agricultural zoning and so that's where the conditional use comes into play because like you have to remember like okay if something's zoned industrial then that opens up that area for all types of industrial uses instead of just the water like you still want to protect the like the neighbor area so that you know you don't have like okay this area is owned industrial now i'm going to have

truck parking and industrial buildings that could it doesn't fit the agricultural area so that's where the conditional use comes in it would be a conditional use to allow an industrial use in an agricultural district i think this needs to be further worked with

Yeah, we can keep it on that. I mean, yeah, comments are always good. That's why we have the zoning meetings with comments. And this is also a public comment period, so we can take that into consideration. I think it's a good start. I don't think we would have to do much for it, but it is good feedback from these guys. It is? Yeah. So, okay. What else do we want? And so ARWs, we have two. Both of them are for petro-hunt. One is a new approach for a well pad. Oh, sorry. So first one is a new well pad off of 13th Street and section 10 of 143.98. And so it's on the south side of the road. And they have their weed control plan and pad approved at the approach with no conditions. So that one is good to go. And then there's a pipeline permit for water, oil, and gas through sections 8, 9, and 17 of 144.98, and they'll be crossing 8th Street Southwest and 124th Avenue Southwest. Okay, so these are just right to the east of the, or west of the gas plant well pad pipelines. And those are approved without any conditions too. Is that it for A.R.W.? Yep. Two of them? Yep, just two.

You have them listed? Okay. So we can do them both at the same time?

Usually you do the ARWs and the pipelines separately. Oh, yeah. All right. It would be 2026-10 ARW permit perpetual.

Okay, that would be this one. Yep, dash 10. Does this one look good, buddy? Nope, that's fine. Okay. So I want to make a motion to accept that ARW. I'll move. We have a motion. Are there any in second? I'll second. Second. Any more discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Motion carries. Then we'll go with the pipeline permit. That is number, look how it says 4479. Yep. Okay. I'll make that motion. We have a motion for the pipeline. Is there a second? I'll second. Second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Motion carries. Okay. Should I sign it now or wait? Yeah. Yep, where the yellow sticker is. Okay.

We have our renewal for the state radios.

I gave you all of that at the end.

That one, the 911.

memorandum of agreement between Billings County and state radio for dispatching and so every two years they come to us for the fee for dispatching and it's always based on like a price per telephone line so total number of phone lines between wireless lines like cell phones and landlines we have about 1250 phone lines in the county and then so dispatching fees are you know it's the number of lines that we have and that fluctuates but on average we have about 1250 and then times a dollar 59 and the fee is the same as what it was for this last biennium so they're not increasing the the dispatching fees so it's it's um That cost right now is about $2,000 a month or $24,000 a year, which we have about 2,700 dispatch calls throughout the year. And so it ends up being about like $9 per cat event, which is a more than reasonable fee for dispatching to state radio. And so this is our formal agreement. for dispatching and agreeing to the price. And so I would say just keep it going.

Okay. How do you want to word the motion?

If so, it would just be to approve the memorandum of agreement for the state ECC services.

Okay. Does anyone want to make that motion? I move to approve the memorandum of agreement. I'll second it. Is there any more discussion on it? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Motion carries. Did I sign this one, Marcia, or a different one?

That one is fine.

And then... Oh, wait. I'll show this one for you. It's got the nice copy, sorry. Okay. Yeah. And then we'll send this back to State Radio, and then they sign it, and then they'll give it back to us. And then the last thing I have is that I got... nice grant from the state Homeland Security grant program to get nice high-quality GIS imagery not for the whole county but for at least the Medora area so where we have all of our activity going on right now it's so that'll that'll be coming down the down the pipe so like what's that how much was that worth 50,000 oh yeah so I mean it's it's an expensive product but it'll It'll have wide uses for situational awareness, search and rescue. Yeah, just nice mapping for Medora. Yeah. It'll either be like three inch resolution or the best resolution is like one inch resolution. So one pixel on a screen would be one inch. It's a very, very clear imagery. And then the products usually come with an online portal and so like emergency responders would be able to access it and you don't need GIS experience for it at all. And it'll be the the two-dimensional imagery plus three-dimensional imagery for 3D looks of buildings. So that'll be next. Thank you. I'm in the quote phase right now because it's a federal grant, so you have to have at least three quotes from different companies.

Well, good luck with that. Is that it for you?

Yep. Okay.

Where's Sherry? Do you care if we take a break?

I'd be great because I have to go to the beach after this.

What do you want to do right now?

If you don't mind. Sure.

Your deal is fast.

I might talk more today.

I don't know.

So here it says, a sweet celebration of America. So that's because you guys made it through last week. And here are these.

You guys already got yours, didn't you?

They'll have to share with you. Well, good morning. For the record, I'm Sherry Adams. I'm the Executive Officer for Southwestern District Health Unit, which covers the eight counties of the Southwest. Before I touch base on the budget, I just have a couple things. I just wanted to say thank you. for appointing Christina Shockley to our board. I think she'll be a really good asset and has been very active already. So I think she'll represent you and public health for your county. So thank you for that. The other thing I wanted to just mention is it was a pleasure and an honor to work with you guys last week. I've been with the planning team for the months that had, oh, there's the other planning team person, for months. I was in a lot of meetings, but I know in the back side, these guys did so many more meetings. And I just wanted on the record of how good a job they did. On the sheriff side, the emergency manager side, working with my comrade over there on the health and medical side. I know the numbers didn't show as you did, but we had to plan and prepare for that, and I think In the planning of a preparedness world, you plan for the worst and hope for the best. And that's what happened. So kudos to you guys. It was a pleasure to work with you and all of you that came popping in. So anyway, makes me tear up.

And we couldn't have done it without you and your team leader, Sherry. So thank you.

SHERRY RIDDLE- Joint effort. And I did compliment you in the Stark County meeting too, just so you know. So as you know, the Joint Commission meeting will be August 5th, and we need at least two of you there to represent your county. All three of you would be fine and great, and all of you can come if you like. We probably only have sandwiches. You know, budgets are tight, so we won't have steak. I'm holding even again this year, meaning for the eight counties, I'm still going to request the same amount, which is $1,575,000. And... I'm able to do that one more year just by thinking creatively, I think. I understand the challenges with the property value and all of those things. So if I could hold even one more year, I think at least that will help. Again, the bottom line for our eight counties. On page one, there's not a lot of changes, except we have lost a couple grants. The federal grants are decreasing a lot of different areas in public health in general. We were able to only get, but we were able to get a small one, a small grant for rural health transformation of about 75,000. I have 80 on here, but we got 75,000. That is for more outreach into the smaller communities. And so trying to do more things like and those kinds of things. The challenge with the rural health transformation grant is there was such a short time frame. And so a lot of the smaller communities have not been able to actually apply and get some of the funding. I'm hoping next year, things like the ambulance, I know Kyle's been very involved in some of those. And I know we've been trying really hard to get some of that money down into the smaller communities. But it has been quite a challenge so far. And a lot of that is due to the Medicaid restrictions. It's a little bit different grant. But we'll keep trying. So a lot of not- a lot of additional changes, boy I can't talk, today in what we're getting. I'm hoping, the only other thing I'm hoping that's on here, I held even on it, is our state aid, which is the state funding we get. Health and Human Services was tasked for a 10% reduction across all state general funding grants. I hope that they'll put in our local public health state aid at level funding. I don't know. The final budget hasn't been out yet, but if that decreases, that will be quite a bigger challenge for us. But at this point, we'll still hold even. On the second page, I did lose two staff this last few months. One unfortunately passed away and the other retired. I'm not filling those two positions, but I'm about at the level I can't do that anymore. I've had six staff over the last year now retire, or unfortunately this one passed away, and I've not filled those positions. But I think we're at bare bones now, so we'll have to think outside the box if other things come up. So I was able to decrease staff salaries a little bit. I've decreased insurance a little bit because I've decreased staff salaries, so less are going to be taken to fringe. Basically everything else on here is about the same. We might have to go a little bit into our emergency fund. We don't have a lot in our emergency fund, but what we do have, we should carry us through for another year. So do you have any questions? And you look through it, because I know you just got it now, and you're looking through it. If you have questions after the fact, you know how to reach me. I did park a little bit in the blue zone, so I put my ticket up there. You have more chocolate.

I'll go get some.

Well, thank you for that. No, go ahead.

With the Southwest District Health budget, you'll need to approve it here before the August meeting so that when you go, you can approve it as it were there.

Okay. So there's a lot of numbers here. Where's the final number that we're approving?

1,575,000 over the eight counties. Your amount will be about what it was last year, maybe up a little bit or down a little bit, depending on property values. But the overall ask of all eight counties is to stay the same. And that was roughly $78,000. I know a couple counties' property values went up and a couple went down, so it kind of averages out for some of those. Oh, this dot to be the change.

Here it is, right here.

Since we don't have the symbols yet, we can't calculate it out correctly.

Okay. So, we just need a motion for the Southwest Health as presented.

And then two of you need to come to the meeting. Or three. Or four.

Next year it'll be three, because there's going to be five. Well, that's what I heard, yes.

Okay, yes, next year three. Or five.

You said to make more sandwiches.

I guess so. No, we used to do it at the Elm. The budget really went down real fast. No, it's sandwiches from Willow Heart.

Okay, someone want to make a motion to...

I'll make a motion for 2027 on the budget.

I'll second it.

Okay, motion and a second. Any more discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Motion carries. Thank you very much.

And if you ever have another event, I'll be at your door. Well, thank you.

Thank you, Sherry, for all you did, too, over there. That was pretty amazing.

It was good.

Yes. Okay, I think we're going to take a break.

Thank you for holding off on your break.

The North Dakota DOT is requesting a...

i think we're just signing off to uh help out with this grant right we're just being a uh what are you going to call it it's just a letter of support um nddot sent a letter of support request for the infra grant funding that they're requesting for high demand truck parking on i-94

So we just need a motion. We don't have to do anything.

It's just a motion if you want to approve of it. I'm not sure of the details of the grant or the project itself. The letter is in front of you.

You don't even know where the truck parking is going to be or anything.

Well, it says between mile marker 1 to mile marker 42 at 85, Highway 85.

It's the only thing I'd like to say to this is, yeah, it seemed like it'd make more sense either being in Beach or in Belleville, not choosing in the middle of our county, more so where there's amenities. I mean, I understand that there's a need for trucks to park. It's just in the middle of the Badlands.

I don't know if we want... Well, there is an overlook up there, but that isn't really... It's an overlook. It's not a designated parking. You know where that is. So they want to do a... They're not going to do an exit, are they? Is this like a rest area for trucks? I don't know. It doesn't specify it.

Just truck parking areas, generally speaking. You would assume that they don't.

Rumors that Payne Canyon is not going.

And I don't know if you could state it in this letter that feel that our county is not fitted as good as whether it's Beach or Belleville. I mean, we support the idea, but I don't know if I want to think it's fitting for our county.

the areas sorry i would assume that during the the project development that they would go out for public comment before they choose an option of where to build this this is just the grant funding application yeah good point

So do you think there's going to be more of these going out on the rest of the interstate all the way across the state? Is that what we're thinking? Not just in our area?

The infra grant is a competitive grant at the federal level, so I'm assuming they'll just be doing it for the one area of the state at a time. They wouldn't want to compete with themselves for multiple areas.

Yeah, they call it the Western North Dakota.

I would just say based on their history here in the North, working on Pacific Avenue, we all know how well their public comments that they take.

That's my experience.

Do we have to do something? That's right.

Do we have to do something?

No. Can we just leave it?

Yeah.

I'd just like to leave it. Me too, in a way, because it's... I'd like to know more information before we say something.

Would the DOC kind of frown upon us down the road if we, you know, I just thought of that too. It's true. Like, well, you wouldn't help us. Why do I want to help you? But our points of why we don't want it are legit.

I mean... Is there some way we could make a motion to request more information before we...

They need the answer by the 10th of July. That's when the application is due.

Yeah, I'm for leaving it. Okay. All right. Next item is association from the county association now it was his Neil Messer's letter where was that

the north dakota association of counties requested this be put on the agenda for the county commissioners association they have standing committees that meet with the on a board to be on those various legislative audit i don't have the letter in front of me so resolutions committee or nominating committee and so they're just asking if anybody wants to be a part of the County Commissioners Association committees I don't know how often they meet or

Well, so then we would just have to either appoint someone if they wanted to be on it or they'd show up.

Right, so you're not appointing, you would just put up your name to the state board and they would choose from amongst the counties and appoint somebody to those nominating boards.

Each position, if you wish to nominate yourself, it describes the frequency of meetings, do you meet virtually, et cetera, or if it's during the annual meeting, et cetera.

And that doesn't have to be at this time. You don't need to make a motion for it here. It's just if you want to serve on one of those committees, just give it back to me, put your name on one of the committees, and I'll forward it to the association.

All right. Okay. And then we got the ECC.

Nope, already did that one.

That's a good one. All right. Well, then we'll move on to the budget report.

So it's not so much a report this meeting, it will be next meeting. This meeting is just to take into account all of the department head budgets that have been turned in as of now. I provided them to you in email, but it was just over the weekend, so the deadline for them to turn in was July 2nd. We can do it one of two ways. I don't know if you guys have had a chance to go through all of the budgets, if you have any questions regarding the budgets, or if you want to go through them one by one.

I guess I know we'll do it again, but maybe we should... go over them and then that way we can see if it's up or down and that way we know rather than maybe we'll I know I might misread something because I'm not the

if you would please okay and just so you know I provided you spreadsheet of all the salaries and everything that increases health insurance we just got the notification two days ago that health insurance is going to increase seven point seven six percent so that's going to go up to twenty five forty eight ninety seven a month

What was that number again, 21?

254897. It is on your spreadsheet. We have this one.

It's right here, okay.

We don't have the increases or decreases from gentler vision at this time.

Decreases.

We have had vision has gone down before. Not anticipating that anymore, but. So if you look on your spreadsheet, the total I've updated with the cost of living appropriation that you guys approved at the Zoom meeting, overall total will be $90,243.44 for the next year. And that includes both General Fund and the Road and Bridge Fund and the Wheat Board. That being said, the general fund totals for retirement estimated for next year, and that depends on new employees and hiring and losing employees. For the general fund, $408,000. For health insurance, $692,000. Dental, $14,000. Life insurance, $94,000. Vision, $3,888. Flex, $252. And matching Social Security of $172,000. I will provide you these. It's all on your spreadsheet, but that's just the totals added up here. So the county does expend or will expend $1.1 million on health insurance for the Road and Bridge and General Fund together. 1.1 will be for health insurance and what just health insurance alone for for all county employees minus the human services which we don't calculate into our totals yep it isn't even on this here right no that would be a lot more paper um if you want to take a look just at your excuse me the treasurer's cash summary report And then the report that I gave you with the revenues and expenditures annually. If you take a look at the top line, the general fund, the beginning balance of 2026 was $10,668,000. The ending balance, if estimated, $6 million in receipts come in and an additional $5,294,000 that have been budgeted for expenditures go out. The estimate ending fund balance will be roughly $8 million. And that is if all of the budgets are fully spent. So those are the numbers that we're looking at working with for next year. I also gave you the statement of revenues and expenditures for 2025. That goes through each individual fund. And I'm just gonna go through the first one just to touch base on a couple items so that before our next meeting, if you have questions, you want more information on specific line items, you'll know where to look, okay? So the first page on the revenues and expenditures document goes through all the general fund revenues on the very top, separated out. So the total revenue for 2025 was $6,216,000. The total expenditures of all the general fund budgets was $7,173,000. So leaving a balance at the end of last year of $10,668,000. So depending upon, like I said, if budgets are totally spent or if budget authority is turned back to the county, that's what we're going to be working with. The first budget in your packet here is the commissioner budget. I have not done the commissioner budget because I wasn't sure how you guys wanted to appropriate the funds. We could just budget the total amount that each of you is getting in salary for 2027. But for the additional two, I should say. But since that hasn't been budgeted for yet, you'll have to make a determination of what the salary will be for the additional two positions.

I have a question, Marcia, to provide these numbers of other commissioners' numbers throughout the state. Why we have this? I have an idea for other counties. around this. Actually, well, it's the whole state, I should say.

And currently, the salary for commissioner is $33,416, scheduled with a 2.25% increase to $34,168.41 for 2027. $34 what? $34,168.41.

Thank you.

So if you left that, it would be $178,4205.

I'd be fine if we divide that number up five ways. $134,000 times three, $102,500. So it would be $20,500.

i guess that's my suggestion so this is something that we are what kind of a decision we have to make today or how is this um

You don't need to make the decision today. We have to have a preliminary budget done by August 31st. Well, before August 31st so I can send out the notices. It's helpful because it kind of adjusts everything else in the preliminary budget. So when I'm presenting stuff to you, I just don't like to change the department budgets later just because we don't want to miss anything in the changes. And if you want to take that back and have a special meeting later on in the month, then we can adjust that before the August meeting. So if you want to just hold off on this, look at different information and then come back, we can do that then. Or if you want to do it right now too, we can either way.

I guess I feel that we're going to have to have a special meeting anyway, so I think we go over all this because it's going to be our time to get through all of them. So we need to have a meeting before the end of July.

Right, because at the August meeting you'll have to make an approval of the preliminary.

Unless you guys have other ideas or plan. Well, I think let's just go over them.

We can go over. The next one is the auditor's budget, auditor treasurer's budget, which includes the superintendent of schools. The only increases that were made were for the 2.25% COLA. I did decrease the office supplies budget. Next year we don't have an election, so it shouldn't be so much different than that. the tax and zoning budget and I don't know if you want to have each department go over their own individually because the only one that I received additional comments are Kyle Michaels presented a letter with his and Stacy Swanson had just sent an email with a couple comments on her budget as well Overall, I think it's easier for me to go over it overall because it's not everybody's individual line items because I don't know who increased where. I can tell you the bottom line on each department budget, and I could just state those out loud if you want me to do that. Okay. So the bottom line, 2026 tax and zoning budget was $251,861. 2027 budget request would be $254,441. The majority of that is the cost of living increase. The recorder clerk of court salary 2026 budget was $340,246 and the 2027 budget request is $346,206.35. Courthouse maintenance 2026 budget $268,000, which includes the amended budget from this year when you increased his salary to the $75,000. And then the 2027 budget request is $264,687, which reflects some increase, well, there is no increase on the propane.

Courthouse supplies is down.

Yep. The emergency manager budget, 2026 budget was $636,004, which included the addition of an employee and the overtime salary. And it also had included, I believe, for a new vehicle. And then the 2027 budget request is $504,015. Those also included, I should clarify, each of the The DEM, the EMS, and the Sheriff's Office each had those additionals in there for the TRPL budget, or for the 250th, which have been removed from their next year's budget. The radio expenses, public safety budget, those are all included within one budget instead of the individual department budgets because they were purchased and then received some reimbursements for those purchases from the state. So the total budget of that is $125,000. EMS budget, Kyle went over that a little bit earlier, but the EMS budget total 2026 budget was $1,724,275. A 2027 budget is slated at $1,623,849. That also had the 150 that was removed. The Sheriff's Department budget, Dean had stated, sorry, in his email as well, that there was a little bit of an increase in the sheriff dues, which was highlighted on that budget here. The 2026 budget was $1,211,128. 2027, $1,026,113. So a little decrease there. The other budgets that are included in here are other entities. However, they are pulled out of our County General Fund for their budget purposes. The Billings County Museum, the Historical Society, they do a 0.25 mil levy each year. excuse me for the Historical Society but the museum is dealt with separately through the County General Fund their budget for 2026 was fifty eight thousand nine hundred The year to date, when you see that 3,800, it's because they hadn't been into the summer season yet when they have the staffing over at the museum. So that will go up. Their 2027 budget request is 58,600. And Carmen's are off, and Rodney Crowe both said if you guys have any questions on that particular budget, they'd be happy to come to the August meeting. The Stark and Billings Soil Conservation District, they just ask for a base budget, miscellaneous expenses of $12,000. They are eligible to levy for soil conservation. However, we have never levied actual dollars for soil conservation. It's always come out of the County General Fund. It's usually a very minimal amount.

So why are they doing it this year?

They had a $27,000. Sorry, it did not have their actual expenditures in there. It was higher. It was $27,000 last year. And then it went to $12,000 for 2026. And then they're requesting the same of $12,000 for 2027. I thought that that went away. That was extension services, so that's different.

Yeah, it was start because of the building or something they .

Yeah, it was a cooler system or something. They had had that under the capital outlay in 2025. You can skip, well, the Roosevelt-Custer Regional Council, she is going to be coming to the August meeting, so you can hold off on that one as well. The Weed Board budget, they do levy for the Weed Board. They're only eligible to receive four mills, which brings in about $90,000. And then the rest of it is covered by the revenues of the Weed Board, their chemical expenses or application fees that they charge, their federal and state So generally speaking, we've done about a $300,000 transfer from the operating and maintenance fund to the weed board fund to cover the expenses because they can't levy over the four mils. Their budget in 2026 is $799,286. Their budget for 2027 is $822.95. We have one question on this here.

So this is paid for by the general fund, more or less?

So it's out of the operating and maintenance fund, but that is reserves for any other fund in the county.

Right.

So it could go to the general fund. It could go to Road and Bridge. It could go to wherever.

I just feel that Road and Bridge should... I mean, the spring, she's gone, right, again? But... They spray a lot of our roads. all over the county. And so I think a portion of this budget should come from Road and Bridge.

So they do invoice Road and Bridge each district individually for the spring that they do in the county. So those monies are paid into their budget, which is some of their revenues for the year. But even with that, the total is not enough to cover the full expenditures.

That doesn't reflect it on here anywhere, what gets paid over?

This is just their budget. If you want to look at the revenues and expenditures from 2025.

So we go to the Weed Board then, right?

It's very hard to see, but it's page, I can't see it.

Oh, you're on that one. Which one is she on? The revenue is an experience. The white one? Okay. What page? 6 of 12. Oh, yeah, that's pretty little.

Yeah.

The weed control fund. It looks like page 6.

Yes, I think so. So you can see their total revenues are within that chemical weed spraying reimbursements. That particular year, no we separated it out, never mind. The $96,000 is part of the road and bridge payment to them is included in that $96,000. The U.S. Forest Service pays them $170,000. State aid distribution, they receive $52,000. And then that leaves the general property taxes, where $89,000 for 2025. um yeah so down below you can see that the transfers in was 334 156 leaving them an ending balance of 413 000 so when we get to where we're going to do the final budget that's when we will find out what the actual transfer in that will be required for next year is we did do the total transfer last year so that this year we wouldn't have to do such a big transfer. So just so you know, that's where their ending fund balance was. So going forward, depending on how their budget turns out for 2026, if they expend everything or don't receive the revenues that they're anticipating, And one of the problems was is that they, historically over the years, they've had trouble in the past where the state or the federal government didn't pay them until after the end of the year. So we have to have them at a positive balance by the end of the year. You can't have any of your funds, any of your county funds in a negative balance at the end of the year. So we had to make a transfer prior to the end of the year, sometimes larger than others. And they do have their own board that approves their budget, and then it comes here for your approval of the transfers.

I guess that's just something that I'd like to address at our next meeting when we have it, is to see if we can figure out some way to get Maybe a different, a definite percentage or a definite number that we could, that the auditors would approve and whatever because I just feel that... You're saying under the road and bridge budget? Yeah.

on top of the Bankhead Jones. So taking Bankhead Jones completely out of the equation because that can't be used. They also have BLM mineral royalties and the PILP payment that comes in annually. So if you wanted to appropriate some of those funds to the LEED board fund, I do believe that the BLM mineral royalties would be appropriate to use for that. And maybe that's a discussion where we should have some of the, or a board member from the WEED board in to discuss the Because what they've talked to Pat Redmond about is potentially building a new building. And I know that they are planning in the future to come in to request some funds out of that for that purpose. And that is not reflected within their budget here.

Okay, well that'll be some discussion that we have then.

The road and bridge budget, Pat Redmond is here. You can see annually it fluctuates. In 2025, the budget was $17,187,000. In 2026, that budget was cut pretty sharply to $14,107,000. And then just a reflection of it going back up to the $17,190,000. And then if you look back at your Treasurer's Cash Summary Report, you can see the road and bridge, we have a transfer to do prior to the end of the year. Currently, road and bridge has $5,265,000 within the road and bridge fund.

Sorry, this is the Treasurer's Cash.

And then the unorganized townships, $1,300,000. The highway distribution fund can be used for that as well, $648,000. And then the Bankhead Jones PILT and BLM fund has $51,361,000. The revenue was received for Bankhead Jones for 2026 in the amount of $11,801,000.

budget it does show right away spraying for 25 000. but i mean that's just a small amount to me it could be but i guess we'd have to that's just something we need to discuss and figure out where the number could be at for which i'm sorry uh the 25 000 that sprained oxygen speeds

And then within the road and bridge budget, the truck regulatory line item is included in there, which is the one sheriff's deputy that is dedicated to the truck reg.

Thank you.

The local emergency planning fund, which is the committee, the county committee, receives funds that are dedicated for the planning. Budget in 2025 and 2026 was $20,000. The budget for 2027 request is $80,000. Travis is the chairman of that board, but Kyle Shockley turned in the budget for that

the emergency manager that's the plan droid discussion before the state

If you look under Treasurer's Cash Report, the LEPC fund, currently the balance is $141,605. And they haven't had any meetings in years and haven't purchased any equipment or anything. So that has just been increasing over the years.

They did do an increase in permits.

Those are the budgets that I have received as of now. There will be other budgets that are going to come in. The library budget, the fire district budget, they all have different requirements for when they have to turn them in. But before the August meeting, they will be received.

I've got four of these papers here, health insurance, under my pile.

That's where they went.

That's where they went. Did you get anybody else get one? I made more copies of them because I... Well, you got one already, okay, so...

It was a lot of paper today, my apologies.

I'll keep one.

And then if you still have your budget books from previous years, if you want to just use those or if you want a new book, I can provide those to you. But I three-hole punched all of the budgets there for your review.

One thing I want to add to this is we have our exempt employees that were working overtime during this event the last two, three weeks. Namely, Dean and Kyle Shockley, because they're exempt, so they don't get overtime, whereas everyone else that was working, county employees, everyone involved was getting overtime. I mean, ambulance, sheriff, everybody. And so I would like to request us to look into that, to adding to our budget something, because this has been done in the past, in an emergency declaration situation. Maybe we can come up with some numbers. I don't think it will amount to very much, but if we can get an average of...

some of the employees and I don't know there was a lot of over and above things that happened I make one suggestion if you're going to do that if if you want to make a motion to increase salaries or to pay them an additional something if you could word it as a special stipend or something like that for the service done versus doing an additional on their salary, just because that gets confusing. So I think somewhat like a bonus or a... Yeah, you would do it as a discretionary

discretionary bonus tied to the emergency declaration it would just be its own line item not part of the base salary or any reflect on COLA or otherwise it would just be a one-time discretionary bonus for the exempt employees okay that was

My request for that, I guess, has brought to our attention.

Do we want to set a date for a meeting for the budget?

Sorry, is that something you wanted to include for this year's budget or for next year's budget?

What's that?

The discretionary bonus? Oh, that would be this year. Okay.

I would say it would have to be this year because it happened this year.

So you want to have a discussion on that in the future then?

Yes.

Okay.

I just wanted to make sure you didn't want me including something in the budget or the preliminary budget. as far as dates why don't we hold off on setting a date because we need to set a date for the redistricting board to meet and until we know when those meetings are going to be I think you want to wait to schedule a special meeting

unless you want to pick a date now and then i think the uh our date will be probably different than that redistricting because that's those are going to be eight o'clock in the morning or seven at night or ours here will be a nine o'clock or one o'clock

Is there any dates to avoid specifically?

We like looking at the last week of the month. Hopefully. Hopefully. Okay. I'm with that. Wednesday, Thursday, whatever. It doesn't matter.

It's fine with me too.

I'm just throwing it out there.

It's fine. 29th.

29th.

Okay, July 29th at 9 a.m. So then the only thing that will be on that agenda, unless something comes up between now and then, would be the budget discussions. In between now and then, if you guys have any questions, you're looking at something that you want more clarification on, let me know and I'll send it out to you. I hate to give you all this paper and then without any background.

Well, I think we're about done for the day. There's been a request for the library to make a comment or two is that all you wanted to do with that is that all right with us if we want to do that okay we'll hit that

Good morning, everybody. Chris Blackwell, vice president of operations for the library. I just wanted to take a moment and share gratitude on behalf of the library from both a long-term view from the permitting, construction, building, and completion of the library and everything everybody has done to get us to this point. and then obviously all the support through the event over the last year we call out kyle kyle dean pat and the team the planning the partnership the support that was second to nothing feel very very lucky our main goal the entire time was to have a safe event it was it was accomplished very very grateful for everybody's support and appreciation for all the extra hours all the extra time all the last 100 requests all the changes in scheduling the millions and millions of changes in scheduling everything that happened so just wanted to say my thanks and appreciation we're open uh everybody in the county gets a free pass we hope you take advantage of that

Thank you, Chris, and thank you for working with us, too. You were very accommodating. I think everyone agreed with that. There were some ups and downs, and we worked through them.

Thanks, everybody. So I've got a question. If we could talk about everybody in the county gets a free pass.

we have a bunch of road workers i shouldn't say a bunch but we have a few road workers that work for valence county that do not live in the county they live out i'm happy to make an exception okay just reach out to me the intention is to support the people who who helped us put this together and who to call this you know a community and so please reach out i'm happy to help thank you

Okay. Are we good then? All right. Well, we'll make a motion to adjourn. I'll make the motion to adjourn. I'll second. We are adjourned.