Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

County may, continue to scale back workforce. There may be some significant property tax increases on the horizon for us, but yet we have this project in a community that isn't excited to have it that doesn't really go anywhere. So to me, that's a big part of this. I think that our group has a lot of very significant and viable reasons that the trail should not go in at this time. But to me, it's I put myself in your shoes and think, hey, this just might not make sense to do this in a community where it's not wanted at this time.

So thank you again for the time. And I'm not sure if to All get in over right. Thank you, commissioners. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you so much. And Jenny will Is take that there anybody else who wishes to be heard on an item that is not on the agenda or on the consent agenda? Seeing no one come forward, our next item is the approval of our agenda. Move approval, Madam Chair. We have a motion. Is there a second?

Second.

We have a motion and a second. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed, no. Hearing no opposition, that motion prevails. Next up, we are moving to a public hearing for the to receive comments on a draft Dakota County fiscal year twenty twenty six action plan for the community development block grant, home investment partnerships, and emergency solutions. We get to hear from Maggie Dykes, the assistant director of community and economic development at the CDA. So welcome, Maggie. Thank Looking forward to hearing from you.

Chair Halperson, commissioners, as you mentioned, Maggie Dykes, Dakota County CDA here to talk to you about the twenty twenty six annual action plan. The three funding sources that we're going to be discussing today on behalf of Dakota County are the Community Development Block Grant, or CDBG, which has a broad coverage of activities. And the county has chosen to split the funds between the county and the largest cities in Dakota County. And the CDA works specifically with cities and townships to spend the funds. The HOME program, which is the Home Investment Partnerships, the county receives HOME funds as part of the Dakota County HOME Consortium.

That includes Anoka, Sir Ribbon, Ramsey, Washington Counties, and the city of Woodbury. And the home program was specifically created for affordable housing activities. The Emergency Solutions Grant funds provide funding for folks who are experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of becoming homeless. And the three funding sources are principally for people who are low or moderate incomes. In order to receive the funds, HUD requires us to adopt a five year consolidated plan, hold an annual action plan, and adopt the one year hold a public hearing for the annual action plan and complete an annual report.

And this is year two of the five year plan. The primary objective of the entitlement programs, as I mentioned, is the development of viable urban communities, which are achieved through decent housing, a suitable living environment, and expanded economic opportunities. So this year, the county has been allocated $2,015,752 in CDBG funds, which is a 6.46% increase from 2025. Not including the grant administration costs, about 76% of the funds are set aside for the cities and townships, and 24% are reserved for countywide activities, which this year consists of the CDA administered housing counseling and home improvement loan program. This is the breakdown of the funding for cities and townships.

All municipalities submitted applications for eligible activities that meet one of the national objectives stipulated in the federal CDBG regulations. And in terms of activities, 67% of the funds will be used for housing rehab programs, 13% of the funds will be used for grant administration, and 2% will be used for planning activities, which includes funds for small cities and townships. The maximum amount that can be used for planning and grant administration is 20%. 13% of the funds will be used for public services, such programs for low income youth, senior services, or housing counseling. 2% of the funds will be used for neighborhood revitalization, which is the city of Hastings assessment abatement program. And 3% of

the funds will be used

for down payment assistance programs. And these specific activities are in your executive summary. For the HOME program, the Dakota County Home Consortium received an allocation of $2,000,252,100 I'm sorry, dollars 258,228.07, which I understand the cent issue is a little but that's how it is given to us. And so we have to present that to you. But that's an increase of 2.85% from 2025.

With program income, the amount that we'll have is $3,070,410.2 34% of the funds for the consortium are reserved for affordable rental activities. 41% of the funds are reserved for affordable homeowner activities. 15% of the funds will be allocated to a community housing development organization, or CHODA, which is required by federal statute. And 10% of the funds are reserved for grant administration. For Dakota County, 36% of home funds are reserved for future affordable homeowner housing.

36% of the funds are for future affordable rental housing activities. 13% of the funds will be allocated for CHOTO activities. And 15% of the funds will be served for grant administration. The amount shown on this slide includes program income. And that is blank.

Did I lose you?

Well, I'll move on to the ESG. The county will receive $166,414 And that's a little over a 1% increase from 2025. 60% of the funds will be used for emergency shelter operations, which is the statutory maximum. 27% of

the funds will be used

for rapid rehousing of homeless people, or to help stabilize people who are currently housed but who are at risk of becoming homeless. 3.5% of the funds will be used for homelessness prevention. 2% of the funds will be used for data collection. And 7.5% of

the funds will be used

for grant administration, which is the maximum. So the public comment period opened on March 8 and closed April 18. And we didn't receive any comments from the public about the plan. So with that, we are holding a public hearing today. And we will come back to the board for approval of the plan on May 19. And we will send the plan to HUD by June 1, which is a deadline the deadline required for us to send it in. And then the fiscal year starts on July 1. So with that, Madam Chair, excuse me, we are asking that you hold the public hearing on the twenty sixth action plan. And I can stand for questions if there are any.

Excellent. Thank you so much for Before the we go to the public hearing, do the board members have any comments or questions at this time? Hearing none, I'm going to sorry, Commissioner Drosty, I was too quick.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for the presentation. I realize this is a comment period. But if someone's watching this and knows someone that's in need of housing assistance, where do they go? Is it CDA? Is it Dakota County? Can you guide them one way or the other?

Sure. Chair and Commissioner Drosty, depending on the type of housing that they need, if they are in crisis, the best place to go is the county. And there's the housing crisis line, which the county has on the website. And I'm blanking on the number. I'm certain Marty could help me. But you could go immediately there. If you are looking for a voucher or some other rental assistance, you can come through the CDA. We manage the vouchers on behalf of we do that for the county. And so there is a waiting list, but that waiting list is always open. There's also the CDA housing, the workforce housing, as well as the affordable senior housing.

And again, we have waiting lists, but those are always open. So depending on what

they

need, certainly they can call the CDA if they need some help navigating. As I said, the housing crisis line through the county is the best place to go to.

And just a follow-up question. So when you say call the county, in the county, most people would have no idea what CDA is. So the county would be referring them to To the the CDA. Agency, etcetera. Correct.

On the county's website, there's directions to get to the CDA's information. Okay.

Thank you.

Yes.

Good. That was an excellent question. I will just follow-up and let you know that the housing resource line for Dakota County is (651) 554-5751. And you hit option 1, and that'll get you into the queue to get directed So, to where you need I'm glad that you mentioned that. Any other comments or questions from board members?

I will just add one question, and you may or may not be able to answer this now, or we could follow-up at a CDA board meeting. But this is an annual event. We hold this public hearing annually. In the time since we last held this similar public hearing, we have, as the CDA board, gotten research presented to us about the housing needs in Dakota County, the deficit that we have in housing, and then specifically affordable housing. And then we also, as a county, are addressing issues around homelessness and the needs of homelessness and understanding where those needs lie.

And so what I would be very interested in is how these dollars help us meet the goals that the CDA board is setting with regard to our need for housing and with regard to the deficit that we understood. And having those two things in tandem to me would be really helpful. Okay.

Because

these dollars are going to help us make progress. And knowing how we make that progress and being able to tell that story feels really important. I'm not going ask you to do that math here. But I know that you will follow-up

with us.

I absolutely will.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Seeing no other discussion at this time, I will open the public hearing and ask for folks to comment. Is there any comments with regard to the Black Gray at Home Investment Partnerships and Emergency Solutions? And I will ask a second time. And in the grand tradition of public meetings, I will ask a third time for any comment. Hearing none, I will close our public meeting and ask for a comment or a motion from our board members.

I closed the public meeting. So now we're turning it over to members for a resolution. What?

Are you looking for a resolution?

I'm looking for a motion.

A motion to approve the resolution before us. Will make that motion.

Thank you.

Second. There's a second. So a motion by Commissioner Slavix, second by Commissioner Drosty. Any discussion to the motion? Hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed, no. And that motion prevails. Thank you. Next up, we have our consent agenda to consider and would be looking for a motion to approve or change the consent agenda.

So moved.

We have a motion. Second. And a second. Any discussion to the motion? Hearing none, we will take a roll call.

Commissioner Workman? Yes. Commissioner Atkins? Yes. Commissioner Holberg?

Yes. Except for 7.1.

Commissioner Helberson? Yes. Commissioner Drasti? Yes. Commissioner Hayman Roland? Yes. Commissioner Slavik?

Yes, with the exception of seven one.

And that motion prevails. Thank you. We do not have any items on our regular agenda, so we will move to our interagency report starting with the Association of Minnesota Counties. Oh, thank you, madam chair. Commissioner Hamann Rollins.

Just pull this up here. I wanted to report out that we had our board meeting on Friday, and the chair, Commissioner Halverson, was there as well as Commissioner Atkins. I don't know why I said Atkins. I'm sorry.

Often get confused. It's all here.

It's all

in here. Exactly. A couple points. HCMC repurposing of the target field sales tax and increase by 0.15% is where we're hoping to achieve. There's a full court press on the Oregon style or Oregon Trail style 50 year old IT modernization health and human services.

We're emphasizing counties to be at the table to build the strategy, vision, and funding. And then we heard a great presentation from the LPHA, which is the Local Public Health Association, what it does and why it matters to all of us. And working on our a list of mandated services versus non mandated services. We're also the AMC was working on a handbook which is the best practices for commissioners. And then an updated new property tax video so people can understand how was our property tax system developed and how it is where it goes.

And I understand Anoka County has we've seen that video, which was excellent, but they're updating it as well. So that may end up being the default county statewide tax video. So I think that's it. It was a rich meeting and I was happy

to be there. It was a good meeting. Any additions to AMC? Hearing none, we can move on to the Metropolitan Emergency Services Board. Commissioner Dosti.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We had a meeting on May or April 8, and next meeting is May 13. Just want to update the mapping software that's being deployed on schools is moving along. However, it may be needed to extend it because just understanding what it does for schools, there's a large number of schools coming now wanting it somewhat late in the game. So, that could be extended later, maybe the next meeting. Okay.

Very good. Thank you so much. The Minnesota Inner County Association, Micah, we had our board meeting last Wednesday. It consisted largely of similar updates with regard to the legislature from AMC. There is nothing that Micah's working on that we are not doing this session without the partnership of AMC.

Our top priority also is modernization. And so I would say that there's a lot of really good work leveraging the experience of the MICA counties and our ability to do outreach. One of the things that was noted at the EMC meeting that I think is very true is that county commissioners are extremely engaged in those legislative relationships at the capital. And it's a point of difference with some of our other local governments. And it the feedback that we're getting is that it's making a difference.

So everybody who's engaging with their legislators know that it's the voices of our counties are extremely important. Just want to underscore that. Commissioner Slavik.

Thank you, madam chair. And I just want to one give a kudos. Last week during the general government meeting we talked a little bit about one of the assessed value and the valuation legislation which was a partnership of both the MICHA, AMC particularly and a little bit of the Minnesota Rural Caucus and County Caucus and they it was successful. So kudos to I know Micah took the lead on kind of taking that a scale back as that was really kind of a technology company out of California trying to drive an agenda. I do want to to Micah on that one, but also something really I would say special this year compared to even past years as AMC and Micah have kind of continued to grow in their partnership, the Minnesota rural county caucus have Minnesota rural counties has always kind of taken a step back.

With some of the issues we've had, they we learned that in AMC, but I think Micah as well that there were some points where each of the organizations has taken a moment to shine within the legislature. Just the fact that they've won they're working well together which has not always been the case and really speaking in common county voice even if the demographics are different and that's why you have different organizations. But they've all worked well and they've all kind of found when one person one organization needs to speak up louder. So

Thank you for that feedback. That's that's great.

Mic on that.

Thank you. The other thing I will make mention of is that we heard from the minute commissioner. And I with regard to our modernization needs, I think that we still have an educational bridge to ascend to help them understand. But it's good that the conversations are happening. And I will ask my colleague, Krishna Ghasti, if there's anything I missed.

You covered it well. Thank you.

Thank you. It was a big meeting, so I was a little intimidated. The Metropolitan Mosquito Control District Commission spring is here, Commissioner Workman. Yes, it is.

But then mother nature may change your mind again.

Yes. We

have a full board meeting tomorrow.

Barbara McQuade: Thank you. Barbara Thank you so much.

National Association of Counties? Barbara Madam Chair? Commissioner Hayman Rawlins. Just want to say that April is National County Government Month and we thank everyone. I'm sure that maybe you were going to say that at the end, but I just want to make sure that glad

I'm Slavic might have set up,

but Okay. You did a good And then also the I know that Commissioner spoke about this at the last meeting, but our NACO applications for presidential appointments for committee leadership are due May 8. Thank you for that reminder. Yeah.

Transportation Advisory Board. Commissioner Hobart.

Thank you. Madam Chair, we met last week. Nothing of huge note on the agenda, although I would raise two issues. Tomorrow, the Met Council will be voting on whether or not to accept the recommendations of TAB on the regional solicitation. And earlier this week yesterday, the Met Council put out a whole list of training and learning opportunities for those that will be applying for grants. And those are on the website webinars and special trainings and resources.

Thank you for that information. The Vermillion River Watershed Joint Powers Board, Commissioner Slavik.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just that our next meeting is this Thursday.

Okay. And the Workforce Development Board, Commissioner Hayman Rollins.

Thank you, Madam Chair. You know this year I spoke several times about the team job fair. Well, it was a record breaking attendance. There were 13 to 1,400 people at the Western Services in Apple Valley, doubling what was last year in attendance. And the attendance meant that exhibitors got to talk to a lot of people.

And I want to thank Tyler Williams from the library, Amanda Geske, Amber Higgins, Diane Podolsky, Duo Tau, and Andrea Grossman for the work that they did to prepare it and get it ready. But it provoked a question or stimulated a question on Friday at a Workforce Development Board meeting. So why was the attendance doubled? Which led to a great conversation. And the Dakota Scott Workforce Board is seeing that teens are challenged at this time because there aren't the jobs that are available for teens.

And so I would like to ask, if you hire teens, please let us know. And if you hire interns for your businesses, please reach out to Career Force. We can work together in partnership with the community and really make a difference. And this is a really serious matter for our teens. They used to be able to go to the Burnsville Mall and have lots of jobs and that's not available.

There's just the difference in the climate is so dramatic that teens are finding it very difficult. And these are the first jobs. And so, again, if you hire teens, please let us know. Thank you.

Thank you for that update. Are there other updates from commissioners? I have two. One from the Metropolitan Library Service Association this Saturday speaking of teens is Teen LitCon and it will be held in Dakota County. So it'll be bringing hundreds upon hundreds of teenagers to Two Rivers High School to meet with authors, to explore writing opportunities, to explore careers in literature.

And it is a really fun event. I find it really inspiring to see where our kids are going to go academically, and with their passions that they're going to explore through writing and literacy. So, that is coming up on Saturday. And then the other thing that I wanted to make mention of is the Metropolitan Council will be holding the State of the Region at AIM Center on May 21 from nine a. M. To eleven a. M, where we're going to hear about regional planning. And just wanted to let folks know about that. And hearing no other updates, we'll turn it over to our county manager for her update.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I actually have several things

The for you first one I'd like to talk about, this is Earth Week, tomorrow's Earth Day. And there are many things in the county that we do in support of environmental issues that relate to Earth Day from natural resources protection, water protection, to the kinds of things that we do in our facilities to try to preserve and to try to bring to try to save on electrical costs by using green energy and so forth. I wanted to point out an especially big event that is happening next week, which is the ribbon cutting no, the digging, the sorry, the groundbreaking I get the right words eventually the groundbreaking for our new Recycling Zone Plus, which will be a big deal for our residents. It's also something that we're doing in partnership with Scott County. So that brings me to the second item I want to talk about today, which is the focus that this county has on partnerships.

In particular, the last several months, our leadership has been working closely with Scott County and Carver County leadership teams to try to think about, look at, identify ways that we can collaborate and do better work and more efficient work with our neighbors. And that is going to have a sort of an exclamation point on it next week when this board meets in a joint session with Scott County Board Members. And I think that's going to be that doesn't happen everywhere. So it's something our residents should understand that this board really takes seriously the idea of efficiency and how to collaborate with neighbors, how to make government efficient. So those were two things.

Then I have one more item which you saw your consent item 9.1 was declaring it as National Crime Week's National Crime Victims Rights Week in Dakota County. And there was a video produced by the sheriff's office with help from the attorney's office, and we'd like to play that for you right now.

Every person deserves to feel safe in their home, school, workplace, and community. Yet each year, thousands of Dakota County residents fall victim to theft, fraud, violence, and other crimes.

For many, the pain and trauma doesn't end when the incident does. It carries forward, shaping their lives in ways that we may never fully see.

National Crime Victims Rights Week is a reminder to all of us on how we show up for those who have been impacted.

Listen. Take the time to listen to survivors because being heard is often the first step to healing. Act.

Step in with compassion and intention, connecting victims to resources, support, and the help they deserve when they need it the most.

Advocate. Use your voice to stand up for victims' rights and push for meaningful change.

This week is about action, awareness, and compassion. It's a time to recognize the progress we've made and raise awareness of victims' rights.

It's time to stand with those whose lives have been changed forever. Forever.

And it's time to honor those who have dedicated their lives to walking alongside victims

every step of the way.

Nice work.

That was nice. Madam Chair, that's all I have for you today. Thank you.

Very good. That is an excellent way to end our meeting. And thank you to everybody who is involved in caring for victims, of crime in our communities, and we appreciate those partnerships. Anything else from members for the good of the order? Hearing nothing, we can entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. We have a motion. We have a second. And with that, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed, no. We stand adjourned. Thank you, members.