Board of Supervisor - Regular Meeting

Indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

We'd like to welcome you all here today after a beautiful Memorial Day weekend here in the Lakes area. Our first item of business today is approval of the May 19th Board Meeting Units. Motion to approve. I'll second. Levi moves. Mr. Dillard seconds. Is there any discussion? There is none. Levi? Aye. Mr. Dillard? Aye. Mr. Clark? Aye. Kim? Aye. And Bill is aye. Next up, item three is the approval of claims as listed on the May 25th claims register. Did anyone see anything amiss?

It's just not often we see $306,000 for a bridge. But it looked good. Motion to approve.

Second. Kim moves. Mr. Clark seconds. Further discussion? As there is none. Kim? Aye. Mr. Clark? Aye. Levi? Aye. Mr. Dullard? Aye.

And Bill is aye. Item number four is the approval of drainage claims. We have two today. One is to the Dickinson County Secondary Road Department. In the amount of $3,102.38. Do you agree with District 6? I believe so. Motion to approve. Is that correct?

That DD6 branch, yeah, DD6, yeah, for a clean town.

Motion to approve. Kim moves. I'll second. Levi second. Further discussion?

Hearing none, Kim? Aye. Levi? Aye. Mr. Clark? Aye.

Mr. Dillard? Aye. And Bill is high. Our second one is to ISG. And that was range district.

19.

19. And the interesting thing about this, the fleet mileage was $166.03. Now, I filled my pickup up the other day for $60. But anyway, the total on this is $7,265.58. Motion to approve. Kim moves. Second. Mr. Clark seconds. Further discussion? Hearing none, Kim?

Aye. Mr. Clark? Aye. Levi? Aye. Mr. Dullard? Aye. And Bill?

Aye. Okay, next item number five is a debate on the taxes and interest charges. Chris?

Good morning. I sent you some information about three different parcels that we wanted to talk about today. One of them, and I have John Paulsey here from the Historic Islands, because that's the first one. And so I'm giving you some detail on the background of that. In about January, it came to my attention that um there were taxes that were unpaid on it didn't send out a delinquent notice in November and anyway so John Pelosi had contacted me to see if we could get those taxes abated and get the property exempt because it was part of the dormitories that were built and they were finally now being taxed their full rate which got their attention because the previous bill had very much smaller taxes like around I think was around 1500 or something on that order anyway so um what had happened was they had to file something John Kane, earlier to get the 2024 taxes that i've been collecting this year exempt and that didn't happen so we're in January of 2026 now. John Kane, And so that also was a little too late for the 25 assessments which i'll be collecting next year. John Kane, And the numbers fairly large and so that that's something that we are going to have you consider also what to do, but it did come to our attention in January so. the very minimum i'd like to make sure that we get the interest rate because it got delayed getting to you today because i had to go through staff through the department of revenue to make sure there wasn't income for it that would be on budget it is exempt for 20.6 that all that really is laid out the rest of may so if you have questions i have john here also to talk any chances will come up on my uh commie sales another yes there's always that chance that'd be pretty weird it isn't paid it would be unless you suspend the taxes and then it would the interest would go away and also the ability to be on the tax that would go away which at the very minimum i would recommend that since it is exempt for future as a city owned property so you're you're asking to The interest is that we're asking the city is asking to pay all the interest and the taxes.

Even not moving forward just to current.

Well, it is abated or it's exempt for future it qualifies it's a matter of timing, so two years ago, there should have been an application put in to exempt the taxes at that point, because they are a nonprofit and that was overlooked. and he's overlooked for next year's taxes too that had to have been done a year ago and that didn't happen it was done now in January so it's taken care of for future years because it did qualify we had to run run through the censor's office had to take it through the state to make sure that it was truly exempt because it was a dormitory and so we had to make sure it wasn't income capital was not profit and it qualified so the taxes that were filed for this year timely is no problem they're going to be exempt for future but We have two years of taxes to address.

What has been the history for a situation like this?

We've never had this situation that I'm aware of. Of course not. We've never had a dormitory. We've never had something at our reserve.

Go ahead. John, does taking taking the nonprofit and having the taxes abated in the future. Does that restrict you on what you can do with it? Can it only be used for workers?

It does, but the city of arms park has already restricted us to that. We can't rent it out to groups. We can't do all those areas. So that's already been restricted by the city of Arnold's Park. The reason this got overlooked, as soon as we saw the taxes come due, we reached out. It was a private sale. So it wasn't something that we, it was a private sale. owner before us. And so we did not have a realtor go through all the normal procedures. I've worked in nonprofits my whole life. Every time I've had a nonprofit property and we switched it into our status, it has automatically gone to be property tax exempt. I understand this was a different situation, but just we missed putting the document in. And as soon as we got the tax bill, we said, oh, well, that's not what we expected. So the interest that's on there as well.

I guess I'll make a motion to abate the taxes and the interest on that property. Mr. Clark has moved.

I don't like these. I'm going to tell you right up front, I hate them. I think the missing getting them in bothers me the most. And, and, and I don't disagree. I think if it's already set up to abate these tax or not to abate, but not to have these taxes in the future, I don't mind that. I guess the delinquent interest rates is something I would maybe look to get, but, um, I'll second.

Is there further discussion? experience is something you have after you need it.

I don't like the idea of overtaxation as much as anybody. And I just feel like, though, if there was a precedent set, like what's fair, and we want to make sure that we're like, how often is the situation going to happen or has happened? And if it hasn't happened, What are the likely chances that it happens again? I understand things get missed, you know, and not filed correctly or forgotten. And I want to provide as much grace as possible in a situation like that. Because I appreciate grace when it's given to me. And so, I would just hate for somebody else to feel like they've been taken advantage of by the system and we're, you know, looking to

I signed up for this didn't I yeah you paid good money yeah I think the hard part and I'm with you Levi that's why I've stated what I stated the difficulty for me is in the future they're going to be exempt from it right so we're dealing with this two-year interim and I understand what John's saying yeah it was a different situation it wasn't reported early enough it's a challenge though and for me maybe the the delinquent interest charges of 59 17 and 10 or something we could maybe look at as a lesson which why so for me if we're going to abate it and I think if it wasn't something that could be done in the future I'd fight it more obviously right and we've we've been we've had those kind of things before as well these are tough yeah But I get where he's at as well, and the park is a very important part of the area. I get it.

Yeah, no, I understand.

I think. Yeah, it's a hard one. It's a hard one.

Any more discussion? If not, Mr. Clark?

Aye. Kim? Aye. Levi? Aye. Mr. Dullard? Aye. And Bill LaSalle? Aye.

Thanks, John. And I've got two that are more unusual kinds of requests. One of them was a mobile home that we found out had been renewed at some point, and a new mobile home had been replaced by it. But we were taxing both the one that was removed this past year and one that's new. And the owners finally contacted us with the last delinquent notices that went out and said, the old one's gone so he doesn't need to clean it up because you can't tax something that's gone and it hasn't been here for the past year so that's the taxes that with delinquent interest equal 100. so requesting that one and I can go with the next one also if you want or you can do them separately let's handle them one at a time okay that one seems easier to me yeah it's gone yes sir motion to approve

And Mr. Clark second. Further discussion? Mary Millen? Kim? Aye. Mr. Clark? Aye. Levi? Aye. Mr. Doehler? Aye. And Bill Latar?

Thank you on that one. Mobile homes sometimes disappear, and the next one also did. That was a mobile home out in the country. It was taxes, a mobile home. The first, and it disappeared a few years back. And so we recovered some of it, but at some point the owner had moved to Minnesota. And I don't have any way of forcing somebody in Minnesota to pay at the moment with the present code. I can't sell this at tax sale. It was taxed as a building on lease land, and that's prohibitive right now in current law, although the treasuries are trying to get that changed. So anyway, this one is just dead weight on our books. It disappeared in about 2022. And I'd like to just get it evaded because I can't collect it. I don't have any hold on Minnesota. I can't go through their department of revenue to take any tax winnings or families. And he's not in Iowa.

I'll make a motion. Okay, Levi moves. Second. Mr. Clark seconds. Further discussion? Hearing none, Levi? Mr. Clark? Aye. Mr. Dillard? Aye. Kim? Aye. And Bill, it's aye.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Item number six, discussion possible action on Ludwig contract. Dagan, are you up for that or Mr. Clark?

Well, I think you all got the copy that we sent out. the end of the week last week uh and I've talked to Megan about it and both of us I think that his services are no longer needed uh and don't need to extend the contract but just get him paid what is due up to the date of his final report so Levi you've been

i i could talk with mr clark a little bit about it and and i agree that i think we can make the decision looking forward thank you concur all the way around um we thank mr ledway for his um experience um but it's time to move on with our decision measures with the conference so we agree

It's time to move on. I think we've got enough information that once the group meets again, we can sit, talk, and come up with a recommendation in the morning.

Well, I haven't heard a motion.

I don't think we need one. Well, we're not going to renew or extend his contract or anything. We have the original, and I think we just need to make sure that we get settled up. I have an invoice from... the auditor's office to take down to the sanitary district so they can pay their third here and then I think we'll be we'd be good with that part of it if we but I don't think we need a motion to renew at this time okay I can with that now what if the sanitary sewer says I think we need this guy well I don't think they're going to say that. I can't say for them, but they've been pretty much on board with everything we've done so far. I think they're just like us. We've got to keep moving ahead. I guess if they throw a scream and fit, we'll have to address it at another meeting, but I don't see any problems.

Okay. Kim, what are your thoughts? I'm good with that as well. As long as Megan's okay with it, I'm fine. And since we all concur, let's end the contract.

Okay.

Okay. Item number six, county engineer. John? Thanks, Megan. Thanks, Megan.

well thank you john thank you john thank you sir thank you

So the only thing he had on the agenda was a request for repairs on DD 76 and have county forces do it.

And they're thinking it'd be less than $1,500. Motion to approve. Move. I'll second. Mr. Dullard seconds. Further discussion? Thanks John. You bet.

Good to see you.

Okay, we're down to that item number seven, maybe a fade since it's a different.

General discussion board and committee reports. I delivered 45 meals to Terrell for Hunger Coalition. That program, they're seamless over in Terrell. They do a great job of distributing food. Um, those numbers that have gone up when we first started, I think it was 30 and we're up to 45 meals. So again, we have folks that have food insecurities here in Dickinson County. Um, I wanted to make sure that all of our county offices know that June 11th, the safety board will be putting on a deescalation class, and I would recommend every office come to that. Basically, it's a class on how to deal with angry customers or customers who are confrontational. Gee, we don't see those anymore. So I think it's something that'd be great for every office to come to if they can make that happen, but that'll be June 11th. And I know we don't meet again until the 9th, I think it is. So I want to make sure everybody knew that. What time is that, Kim? I don't have the times in front of me, I'm sorry, but it's on the 11th and we've got a little time we can check. Yep.

Yep. Thank you.

And then, of course, I want to remind everybody, get your wellness stuff done. It goes till the end of October. But again, that wellness challenge is a huge thing. So we can save an excess of $80,000 a year on our health insurance premiums. So please do your self-awareness, which takes about five minutes online, and set up your appointments with your physicians because it takes a little while to get into them. So maybe get it set up ahead of time. That's all I have. Okay.

after our last meeting last week uh church to check to see what we had uh lined up for the distribution of upper Des Moines products which we had done on Monday and we're doing again on Tuesday and And that evening I participated in the handout of the food products for upper Des Moines that they're closed and be closed to do more. One more week. In the next couple of months, July and August last year, they were closed for. So I didn't bring those numbers with me because I'll report those to where I guess in this session I want to do with the Hunger Coalition. When we have our next meeting, we'll have the Hunger Coalition and Kim can report those numbers. But we did have, it was a little bit disappointing, the number of people that we had. But our numbers went up a little bit for our food pantry. Wednesday, you and I attended the Veterans Board meeting. Oh boy, was that a meeting. I'll let you explain the best part of it, but it seems like we're at another pause while we're getting some other facts and figures. I think that the point is, one of the points is about the monument. Why is the county paying for the whole thing? I think Bill made a good point when he said we already have a veterans monument. The taxpayers have already paid for that. This stuff that they want to do is additional, and they wanted to pay for that. So it was a very good point, and it caught my attention. On Thursday, I attended the rights board with Mr. Ludwig again, and that went well. As the alternate, I don't normally report on those if Bill is present. I'll leave that to Bill. And then Saturday, I attended our normal food pantry, which our numbers ticked up a little bit. And that is all I have.

Okay, Mr. Clark.

On Thursday, I attended the Upper Little Sioux river trail steering committee planning meeting down in spencer at the uh at their new one uh off offices offices and center down there uh they've done a really nice job with their new offices uh this is something that people want to uh establish a canoe trail be all the way from the start of the little sioux down to uh sort of where it hooks onto the missouri It was really interesting. They have a lot of good ideas. Unfortunately, up in this county, when it gets dry, there's, they said that if you did the whole Dickinson County, you'd be dragging your canoe a lot more than you'd be floating it. It does get better after, especially after Spencer, when the Ocheeden and the little suit come together. but just the little Sioux, they're gonna try to maybe have some better canoe accesses up here and stuff, but it only really works up here when the water's high, when we've got enough water to keep it flowing. I've done a couple of float trips and it's no fun dragging on the bottom. So I can imagine that dragging your canoe along, Over those spots, you know, I believe they called that a portage.

Yes.

Yeah. I can understand why that was not looked upon favorably by the people that did it back then. But it's coming. They're going to have three more meetings yet this year to see, you know, see what people think of us. So it'll be interesting. Friday, I went down to Cherokee, did the guest board down there. They have been working hard to get things changed down in Des Moines. They finally got it done this year. And it will be good for a lot of the smaller centers because they'll get more money. Some of the bigger centers, and I hate to pick on them, but Polk County again, has a whole wing of about 15 beds that they don't staff for, but they hold in reserve. And the way that it was getting paid for by the state before is they got paid on availability of beds. And so they didn't want to give up that money, but, uh, they finally convinced the legislature that it should be done based on bed days of performance. You know, you know, what's the demand in your area and, uh, how many bed days are you, did you do last year? And that's what they're going to pay there. uh state appropriations to the yes center by and it will increase a lot of the smaller centers that that have been really uh had a lot of people coming through and it will decrease about three counties because they were holding these beds in reserve but never staffing for them and never using them it was a pretty good income stream for them but it wasn't real practical So unfortunately that was just signed, uh, last week by the governor and it won't go into effect till next year. But after that, you know, after July one of next year, that it will be appropriated out differently. Each center will start with $150,000, even all the way across the board and then be paid on bed days that they use throughout the year. So. And other than that, I went to a very nice Memorial Day. So it wasn't a celebration. It was a reminder of Memorial Day before a decoration day for a lot of us, before it was converted into a three-day weekend. So other than that, not much.

Okay.

Levi? Well, because of my trip, I was not... uh around to be doing anything with the county so i apologize i don't have anything to report in that regard um i as mentioned earlier morning uh did not perform like i had hoped for myself had i entered my correct age category i would have done just fine and performed at a very acceptable level but my brain just does not quite accept reality of my situation at the moment. So, um, we are working on, um, balance and perspective and, uh, those good Lord has a plan and I will begrudgingly trust his plan over mine.

Don't feel bad. My brain says I'm 24. My body says I'm crazy. I'm in good company then. Yeah. Okay. Um, yeah, better maybe. When you look over at your fellow board member and he's sitting there like this, you know things aren't going the way they should. It seems we take one step forward and three steps back. We've got a new member who I think raised a good point. He said we need to get specifics on this memorial. so that it can be let out for bids and it would be apples to apples. I bet those aren't cheap. The one we got from Beck was $10,000, I believe. And he picked apart what wasn't exactly right on that. The second thing which scares the jeepers out of me is I've been hearing, well, what if we give the county what we've raised so far and they take it over? Well, I don't think I'd get a majority of votes on this board to do that because as I mentioned, I think there's a perfectly good memorial out there. The part I like about it is people have to walk past it and be reminded. Uh, another thing that was mentioned was, well, how about the county pays for this? And then as we get the money, we pay them back. And I says, well, I think we did that with mental health one time and the state auditor wasn't too happy, but Lori called the state auditor and, oh yeah, you can do that. Well, what happens if we do that and they don't raise the money? so i didn't put my head in my hands but i probably should have this is i don't know they keep losing members off the board and getting new ones on and i worry about the whole thing anyway on the rides as i reported last time someone was raising questions about cities paying non-governmental entities such as rides tax money and so now several of the transportation people are paying for a lawyer to challenge that it's really important that they win Because if they don't, these transportation companies are going to be hurting big time. So that's what I have for the week. Not very happy. I did, uh, attend the Memorial day service up the high school and it's always makes you think. So that's all I have. Anything from our huge crowd? No. The crowd all silent. If not, I would take a motion to adjourn. I'll make that motion. Mr. Dollard moved. I'll second. Levi seconds. Further discussion?

Just a reminder, we're under the summer schedule. So, June 9th. Second and fourth Tuesday of the month to approve claims. June 9th is the next one.

Very good. Excellent. Anything else? If not, Mr. Dullard.

Aye.

Levi. Aye.

Mr. Clark. Aye. Kim. Aye.

And Bill O'Shaughnessy.