Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

It's 2026. You can see we're in a different space because we are getting our boardroom ready for better technology that's going to be more accessible to the public. And so we're going to be a little cozy until then. I'd invite you to stand as you're able to join us through the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which

with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. Next up on our agenda is to go out to the audience and see if there's anybody here to address the board on an item that is not on the agenda or that is on the consent agenda. So you can come forward. Seeing no one. Next, we will ask for approval of the agenda. Is there a motion? With approval, Madam Chair. The motion is our second. I'll second that, manager. The motion is second. Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor can signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed, no. That motion is advanced. Next up, we will be entertaining a public hearing on environmental resources to receive comments on the adoption of the revised county ordinance number 113, subsurface sewage treatment systems. You know you're at a local government meeting when that's the agenda topic. That was good.

Good, good. Welcome. Thank you, Chair, members of the board. My name is Benjamin Hoyt. I'm the septic program coordinator. I'm here to present an overview of the amendments to Dakota County Ordinance 113. The change has been into two categories, housekeeping updates like clarifications and reference updates, and then shifting the variance approval process from the county board to the zoning board adjustment.

The ZEPP ordinance has not been updated since 2018, and there were some changes necessary to make it current with Minnesota regulations.

Okay, development pressures on smaller lots reveal limitations on septic system placement. For example, there are developed areas around Lake Billsby with aging septic systems and limited lot areas. We anticipate that the frequency of variance requests in those areas may increase and would like to streamline the process for homeowners, contractors, and staff. Additionally, shifting the variance approval process will line up with the shoreland ordinance. The official county newspaper was notified each week since May 4th of the public hearing today. The proposed amendments were reviewed by the MPCA. We also presented them at a shared Dakota-Goodhue County septic contractors meeting. There were no issues raised and it received full support.

So to review, staff are requesting that the board adopt the ordinance amendments as proposed.

And with that, I will take any questions or comments you have. Thank you.

Thank you. Great. Commissioner Workman.

Thank you. This makes sense to streamline, but my question is, have other counties Are we unique in how we do this or are other counties also moving their authority from the board to zoning?

Most counties use a Board of Adjustment to do their variance process for perceptic variances.

Okay. So we don't need to. Thank you. Good question. Thank you. Other questions from the board? Yeah. Yeah, thanks a lot. And with that, I will open the public hearing. And any members of the public who are here to provide comments can come forward at this time.

So going once, and twice, and a third.

Excellent. Well, I will close the public hearing. Thank you. And with that, if there's no other questions from the board, we can entertain a motion. I'll move to also entertain. A motion and a second. Any discussion in the motion? Commissioner Slavik.

Thank you so much. I just want to, so most of us were good chunks were not on the board the last time we've done this part here. And this is actually one of the few things, if you look at many of our, to your question, Commissioner Workman, many of the things, especially in our unincorporated areas, we've either delegated to local control, to the local townships or to staff level on the here and this was always an awkward thing. And when we had, I think the last time, and there was a septic that needed to be moved. So they couldn't do the correct type of septic on Bills B. And I think this is actually makes it, I mean, it was delayed a number of months based on when the county board met and how it went through the process. So to be able to be more efficient, to be able to frankly get a failing septic addressed sooner than later, right next to one of our precious bodies of water is a positive too. So I appreciate the efficiency. I think this is still, After all these years, one of those complicated things that majority of the viewers up here have not necessarily comprehended, as most of us live on city water. But I appreciate that we do have the experts at the county and through our other partners to be able to do this and make the right decision. So I always support this cleanup and a little bit of the transfer of authority to those that are in the know.

Hearing none, we can take a roll call on the vote.

Commissioner Droste? Yes. Commissioner Newman-Roland?

Yes.

Commissioner Atkins? Yes. Commissioner Slavitt? Yes. Commissioner Werthmann? Yes. Commissioner Halverson? Yes. Commissioner Holberg?

Yes. And that motion comes out. Thank you very much. We have a few consent agenda items to consider. Is there a motion or anything that needs to be pulled?

Madam Chair, I'll move approval without amendment. Without Yeah. Second.

Moved and seconded discussion to the motion. Hearing none, we can take a roll call.

Commissioner Hayman-Rolland?

Yes.

Commissioner Atkins? Yes. Commissioner Slovak? Yes. Commissioner Workman? Yes. Commissioner Halvorsen? Yes. Commissioner Fulberg?

Yes.

Commissioner Droste?

Yes. That motion prevails. Next up, we have our interagency reports, starting with the Association of Minnesota Counties.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just to remind people that Monday, June the 15th, our District 10 meeting will be in Andover in Anoka County, and that will be at eight o'clock. And then our AMC board meeting will be June 26th. And we are meeting on the 26th because Juneteenth is a holiday. And so we are honoring that and making sure that we can meet for the 26th.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Metropolitan Emergency Services Board.

Is there an exec next week? Tomorrow. Or tomorrow? Yeah, tomorrow. I'm not even, I'm not on it anymore. It's a bill.

And the Minnesota Intercontinental Association, MICA, we meet tomorrow as well. I will make a note that There is a Senate hearing regarding DHS recertification of nonprofit providers. And so we'll be juggling a little bit because it's during our mic. So I think our staff are going to be attending that meeting. Metropolitan Mosquito Control District.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We went through a preliminary budget discussion. And we also had a conversation with our lobbyists, Kim Scott and Peg Larson, regarding tires. And there is a bill, I mean, out there, it's House File 5129. It's tire waste stewardship. And a lot of the discussion is about how it's not really working to charge people $5 her tire to dispose of them when counties are finding dumps of tires that are coming. It has to be coming from something commercial. Unless you have people hoarding tires. I don't know if that's a thing. But it does create a public health issue with breeding mosquitoes. So because I shut off my mouth, I am now chair of the subcommittee with Scott County Commissioner Dave Beer, Anoka County Commissioner Jeff Reinert, the two lobbyists, and then the executive director. And just looking at the legislation and how can this issue be addressed because mosquito control was hauling tires away for free. but we're all paying for it. And it's getting more and more expensive to do. So they've already done some preliminary work talking to places like Liberty Tire and Savage, which is where tires go to be reborn. And talking about to some manufacturers and it's, we've got to get a handle on it in the state. I mean, this just affects the Metro, but we're all paying to dispose of things like that, so. And then our next executive meeting is June 24th.

Thank you.

Thank you.

NACO, anything from NACO? Okay. And the Transportation Advisory Board, Commissioner Holberg.

Commissioner Drasty has the pleasure of a meeting.

Actually, I'll...

give you two updates, one also on NACL. Mostly tab meeting was a review of speed cameras that were trialed in Minneapolis and Mendota Heights. The police chief was there from Mendota Heights. And these are not licensed reader. There's different types of cameras out there today. But in Mendota Heights and Minneapolis, both of them were set up for 10 miles an hour over the speed limit flashes your license plate and you get a notice speeding. It works very well, I would say, on high accident type intersections because people respond when they know the trailers out there. Going forward, nothing to report. It's just that it was a trial. On a second note on NACO Transportation Committee, the House Transportation Committee on May 22nd did pass out of Committee 63 to 2, I think it was, the 2050 Transportation Bill. Now two counties, Cities, a couple changes, it still has a long ways to go, is more block grants to states, but also a 25% allocation to localities where you have more control going down the road. Now, this has to go through the whole House and Senate. It might change, but from NACO's standpoint, Those are good elements. And it was a 7% increase. And again, the current bill expires in September.

Thank you. Vermilion River Watershed Board.

We did not meet in May.

Okay.

Workforce Development. Thank you, Madam Chair. We will be meeting. The Dakota Scott Workforce Development Board will be meeting in our June meeting in Scott County at the CDA. And our eye on the future will be the Scott County Administrator, Leslie Vermillion. And then yesterday at our executive meeting, Jennifer Harmoning was recommended to be the new president or the new chair of Dakota Scott Workforce Development Board. Now, you may also know her as the President of the Chamber of Commerce in Burnsville. So she does a fine job and I would, you know, I would believe that she will be passed through the Board and then on to us. All right, thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner. Any other updates from Commissioners?

Mr. Sullivan. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So the Dakota 911, did meet since we've met last for our quarterly board meeting. Of course, we did receive a annual update from the executive director just recently, but the board of directors went and amongst the other business here, we got an update on some of the challenges we've been having with health insurance, with the pool that we've been part of, looking at, I think all of us are going to be addressing challenges with health insurance, but just some of the parts with that, as well as kind of some of the staffing we are still significantly lower on the staffing than what we actually budget for. We still do have that part-time program of retired part-time telecommunicators, which does help a little bit, not quite as what we were hoping, but then also the technology with the non-emergency AI have helped that. So we are still running full staff, just we're not at the numbers that are budgeted. We also lastly went and did go and approve the recommended budget from for the 2027 and then had a discussion very preliminary on as we're looking at the capital needs moving forward of actually working to get all of the cities and the county to go together to look at putting a congressional directed spending request in for some of the capital costs as opposed to everybody doing one-offs, but to look at using resources and speaking in one county voice for public safety on that. So that looks like, as we're looking at some multi-million dollar improvements coming up in the number of years, that actually gained some pretty positive traction. A couple members of the executive board were very excited about it. I brought it up again, and I think we saw an update from Deputy County Manager, Beth, this seems to be continuing discussions among cities are getting a little bit excited about it as well. Thank you.

Appreciate that. Positive. Additional updates. Great. There was West St. Paul days. It's that time of the year. Any other celebrations that we need to recognize yet? Okay.

More on the way. Very good. Well, Madam Chair, on June 19th, people are welcome to the Music in Kelly Park, although it will be indoors because the park is being reconstructed, it will be at Bogarts Entertainment Center. And we are honored to have our Apple Valley High School R&B band, as well as the district-wide continuing education, which is staff, and they're really great.

Excellent. We'll get your music on. Next up, we can hear from our county manager for our county manager's report. Madam Chair, I have a number of more operational issues, but I am going to bring those to your next meeting, to GGP. Okay. I don't have anything else to offer this morning. Okay. We're kicking off the summer. Well, with that, we can entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. It's been moved and seconded. All those in favor, please say aye. I am the opposed. Don't be silly. We are adjourned.