County Commission - Regular Meeting

Ready [clears throat] [snorts] to go. [cough and clears throat] Good evening everyone. Call the meeting the Ramsey County meeting to order. Start off pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Uh first thing on the agenda is approval of minutes.

Move to approve. Second. We got a motion and a second to approve the minutes. All those in favor say I. I. All the same. All those opposed same sign. Motion passes. Approval of agenda. I have an addition to the agenda. Um I added an abatement to that just this afternoon under new business. Yep.

Move to approve as amended. Second. We have a motion and a second to approve the agenda as amended. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed, same sign. Motion carries. Jason, you're up. [clears throat and snorts] [clears throat] Good evening. Um, we'll get started right away here. Uh, Tri-State Paving got our PA patches done on Ramsey County 4 and Ramsey County 3C. So, I'm asking for a motion to pay the 29,644 quote.

I move to approve the 29644. Second. [clears throat] So, we got a motion and a second to pay 20 or tri-state paving 29644. Roll call, please. His hi. Will Hel me. Hi, Bulk. Hi.

Next, there were three change orders for the CER projects. This was on the erosion barrier that needed the changes. Um, the changes were approved by the North Dakota DOT. So, I'm asking for a motion for the chairman to sign these change orders so we can be submitted to DOT for payment. So, I have them here. I'm going to submit those now. Just need the motion to get them signed. Make that motion. Second. So, we got a motion for the change order and a second. All those in favor by saying I

I all those opposed, same sign. Motion carries. Um, next we had a a machine breakdown with a Butler bill. I shared with the portfolio holders. That bill is at $5,44329. I'm asking for a motion to pay the bill as there's no available warranty at this time on the machines that were purchased with this deaf system. This was to replace the muffler, right? Um, it was deaf kit filter [clears throat] repair. So, okay.

It's the same same thing that happened in 24 to one of the machines, but that's one of the only systems I guess on the machine that's not under our warranty. Correct. I don't know how that got missed, but of course. I move to approve to Butler 544329. Second. We got a motion and a second to pay Butler for repair kit done. $5,44329. Roll call, please. Hodus. Hi, Frith. Hi, Wilhelm. Hi, Bulk. Hi.

Our um salt was delivered. Uh, we [clears throat] do have that mixed and we have a little bit left for future use in our stockpile. The invoice for the salt is $7,510 from NSC Minerals. So, I'm seeking a motion to pay for the salt. So moved. Second. We had a motion, a second to pay for uh salt at $7,510. Roll call, please. Otis. Hi Frith. Hi Will Helmy. Hi Bulk. Hi. [snorts]

Moving on. Invoice from KLJ for the 2026 paving projects. This is a partial bill for these projects. They're the Woods Rotten Road Prairie um mile and a quarter Rocket Ramsey County 7 by Brockett that mile down there by State One and then Ramsey County uh four from Ramsey County 8 to North Dakota 17. So, I'm asking for an invoice to pay or asking them for a motion to pay the invoice. Sorry. I would make a motion to pay the 7160 to KJ. Second.

So, we have a motion and a second to pay KJ7160 for projects addressed. Roll call, please. Otis. Hi. Ruth. Hi. Will Helmy. Hi, Bulk. Hi.

All right. The next one was just for you guys' information there. It explained what happened with that last um quotes we had called for. The only one we had at the time of submitting my agenda was Iron Hide. Um by the time we had the meeting, the day of the meeting, I got the second quote from Butler, but Iron Hide was a low quote. I did attach those quotes to the original agenda I sent you guys, so hopefully you got a chance to look at them. But we ended up going ultimately with the 14T pusher just for where it'll fit in available spaces. So that should be with your original stuff. Um the next thing I had I I gave you guys some information on some of the other public entities have been starting to do this. It's on CDL driver proposal. We're having a hard time finding a an applicant with the CDL. I know um Mr. from Ramsey Water District just said he sent his one of his guys through this program takes about 3 months costs are about $3,100 and when they come out of there they're a licensed driver [snorts] it's something I visited with Nicole on I think it's something that I would like to I have a couple good applicants that we could probably put into place and uh put to work right away [snorts] we can utilize them in the motorgrader position as we have motorgrader operators who have CDLs who could trade off until the new hire to get a CDL. So, as my job as department head, I would juggle that to make sure we had all the pieces of equipment covered until we get the new hire, possibly a CDL. We we built we budget money for education for our department and I have enough money within the budget left in the education from this year alone to pay for what's being asked there.

$3,100 for each individual. Yeah. And we'd only need one [snorts] because we we did make an offer and the offer was accepted for the Webster blade operator position. Kaden Thorscel had been filling in out of Devil's Lake up in Webster. He's been doing a fantastic job for us. We're very happy to have Kaden on staff, but he wants to return back to Devil's Lake cuz he's been driving to Webster and he was hired to work in Devil's Lake, so he wants to come back. So,

so to send them to this three month school or are we going to if we were to go with this, are we going to hold them to a year to stay with us or six months or something so that we don't pay after they're done with school so that we don't pay $3,100 of training and then they move on and go somewhere else to drive CDL? Well, one of the pitches that Nicole and I visit with and if she can come up here. Oh, okay. This is Nicole Bakard, our HR. Hi, I'm Nicole Bakigard and I guess I could have done that introduction before uh we did this, but nice to meet all of you and I can certainly

um jump in at any time. But uh Jason and I have been working on staffing in his area. He's had two openings. Um both very unexpected kind of walkout type of openings that happened um end of October I believe maybe end of September even end of September. So, we've been working on uh filling those, but there's a couple different options we could do. The differential in pay between having a CDL license and not having a CDL license is I think a $187 87 over the 20 the 280 hours for a year isn't all that much different than the 3,100 that this would be. So we could hold the pay increase and not have to charge that person, you know, the the money of the class. We could uh create a tuition reimbursement type model where they paid us back if they left. The issue with that always is the person actually has to have the money and you have to go after them for the money when they leave because you know you're you're trying to get money back from someone. And when somebody makes 2241 an hour, they don't always have $3,100 to pay you back when they're leaving a job. And depending on when they leave in the month, there's not always that kind of money to take back out of a paycheck. And there's rules around, you know, how far you can go down on a check. So, uh, we've talked about a couple of different options. you know, we've also talked about do you, you know, split some of that or or what, but um I think it's a good idea for you to consider because we are um we've had some other options for candidates. Things haven't worked out. Um Jason had an idea to use the radio um for his ad. he had some money and in a marketing and had a connection at the radio and every one of the ads that he

got in came off the radio and so it's not something we would necessarily use in all of the positions but I think in this type of job it worked well because it's it's the kind of job where you know shops have radios on people might have your local radio on so it worked great and I I highly encouraged him in the future to keep some money in that marketing budget for the same reason uh he has a retirement that he knows of in 26 I think early or late of 2026 or early 2027. So um just a couple different potential options but certainly don't want to pay all of that out which I think is your concern very validly your concern and then send somebody on their way. Um, you know, there's a pretty famous quote that says, well, what if we train them up and they they leave? And the other side of it is, well, what if we don't train them at all and they stay? And then you have a lot of people who've never really enhanced their skill set and they all still work for you. So, you kind of have to balance both sides of that. But I'm happy to work on whichever one of those options you want, whether we split some of the salary and don't have quite as much to pay out or we look at creating that kind of tuition payback. And if Daniel wants to do that instead of me, I will happily transfer it over to him too. So we can do it how however you would like. You have other questions, let me know.

Thank you. So, the one thing that we have to take into consideration if we allow us if we're allowed to do this is the classroom part the first couple weeks of that and then when they go out to drive that still be being paid by the county as well. So that's something we'd have to keep track which is easy enough for us to log their hours but we'd want to consider that into that total tuition tuition cost I feel because they're actually getting they're not they're getting paid to be at work to do this as a requirement for work. So I think about that that might be something we want to look at when we figure out this 3156 if it's actually 3156 or if it's 5200 or and then work that towards that

wage if that's something we can do just because they're getting paid while they're getting their license. You know what I mean? And you can look at Yeah. You can look at what the classroom time is. You know, I think currently in your in your human service zone, some of those people enter a six-w week training as soon as they start. So, it's it's not like you don't have very intensive training and there's just needs to be some expectation for new hires that you have a certain amount of training. I think we do that with the sheriff's department. Yeah. Okay.

We do definitely do it with the sheriff's department. We one of the newest deputies we hired isn't going to the academy until I apologize I don't have that right in front of me but he won't go to the academy until spring and then he has another level of training after that and so his salary has three um tiers tiers thank you before he will get at what is considered starting wage for a deputy who has gone through uh the academy and And it's not called officer training. I can't remember what it's called, but um so it's very similar to this. That would work. Yeah.

And then so anyway, we'll let you guys have I'll let you guys have the floor. I really don't have a lot of other stuff. Um we had a car deer crash. I called the sheriff. The damage came in at 9256 with that Kevin's old expedition. I think we should take that money and either make that vehicle usable ourselves in the shop this winter as a filler vehicle like we have been or else just surplus it next year and sell it. We get to keep the vehicle and get that check. Um I want you guys in the loop on that. And then the last thing I looked at is we do have some fall flooding going on which is a weird time of the year to be flooding. I think we'll have you come back for that. So yes, we'll talk. We'll we'll talk.

Yep. Sounds good. Thank you. So 5:45 we'll move on to the foreclosure sale of the properties that we have in front of us. I believe there's seven properties. Correct me if I'm wrong, Candy. Yep, seven. I guess uh the first property on the list is Devil's Lake parcel 39-000000-00001. It's E5 [snorts] South 100 foot lot 16 and lot 17 block 8.

Yes. And the minimum sale price would start at $24,729.98. [clears throat and cough] space.

So, this is over at the fitness center. Correct me if I'm wrong.

In between a fitness center and then the home right beside it there. [snorts] Is there any takers to start the bid off at 24,729.998 hearing? None for that parcel. I believe we just move on to the next one. Nobody out here wanting to bid. Correct. Auction closed on the first item of business or first item. Moving on to the second one. It's Devil's Lake East partial lot 2 non-inccorporate park easy lighty survey east pitcher park and that is a minimum sale price starting at $27645. It's a corner of a corner block is the way I understand. There you can see where it is. Do we have any bids starting at 27645? hearing none. That will close the property sale on that. We'll move on to the next item. And this one is Edmore City Track

75 by 140 block 35 home edition. Minimum sale price starting at $4,574.36.

No structure on the property. So as you can see the property there without the structure. Do we have any bids? Yep. Okay, we have sir there two was raised first at 457436. We have a second offer. Go ahead and do 6,000. Okay. 6,000 on bidder one. 65 65 on bidder two. 66

66 bidder one. 67 67 bidder two 68 68 bidder one 7,000 7,000 bidder two 71 71 bidder one 72 72 bidder two 73 74 76 76 bidder one 77 77 bidder two 78 78 bidder one 8,000 Bidder 28,000 81 81 bidder one 82 82 bidder two 83 bidder one have 83

84 84 bidder two 86 86 bidder one 87 87 bidder two 88 bidder one 89 89 bidder two. 9,000 9,000 bidder one. 91 91 bidder two 92 92 bidder one 93 [clears throat] 93 bidder two 94 bidder 1 94

95 bidder 2 95

bidder 196 Six 97 bidder 297 97 9,500 bidder 97 excuse me 975 bidder one 98 98 9800 bidder Two

99 9900 bidder one 9950 9950 bidder two 10,000 bidder one 10,000

10,000 f bid 10,000 50 better too. 10,50 bidder two going once. 10,000 bidder two going twice. 10,50 bidder two sold. Uh, you have to square up with the ladies over here. Do we have to wait? Can they go in? Yeah, she should be. She should be in

Y. If you would like to, there's nothing else you want to bid on, you can go ahead. Lesie, you'll be next door. Thank you. Next item on the is a lot city lot 19 block five minimum sale price 622 $6225. You want to see it or you okay just b

[clears throat] That way you have the visual. This one So you're aware of that?

So minimum sale price $6225. No bid. Okay. Hearing no other bids. And hearing no bids. That has closed. Moving on to the next item in lot 20 block five

okay so everybody can see 19 20 2122, but we are on lot 20 at this time. Is there any bids on lot 20 at $6225? Hearing none, that is closed. Moving on to lot 21, block 5 at $62,225. Do we have any business for lot 21 block 5? Hearing none. That one's closed. Move on to the next one. Lot 22 block five at $622.25. [clears throat] Any takers on that lot? Hearing none. That closes that. That is the end of the sale for the forfeited of taxes.

Then you just need a motion to accept. Okay. So, if I could hear a motion to accept what we sold, right? Yep. For what we have sold on Edmore A Track 75 by 140 block 35 home edition at 10,50. Second. Have a motion. We have a second for the sale of 10,50. Do we have to do roll call or just? All those in favor by saying I.

I. I. All those favors with the same sign opposed. Motion carries for the Edmore product or property. [clears throat] Nothing else. That will close the sale for the real estate forfeited and we will move back to Jason if you could finish. Thank you.

Thank you sir. So, I guess we were at we left with the expedition. Um, just [clears throat] so you guys that was a FYI what was going on there. Um, there was some confusion on where the check was sent, but I talked to Rhonda and I've talked to Candy. So, hopefully when the check is found, we'll get it. It did. It came. Okay, we got it. Good. All right. So, that's handled. Hold on one second. Does that money go back into his capital then? Sorry. No, that's fine. That's a fair question. I was curious with myself. Never been through it. Was the person driving injured?

No, they were not. And I and I did let both the portfolio holders know the night of the crash that the operator was okay or the next morning or whatever. And I'd also called uh Sheriff Lang immediately because I didn't know if we needed to do an accident report. And he said depending on what North Dakota Insurance Reserve requires, you're good at this point with us as long as he notified us. He was up helping in Edmore and we leave a vehicle there for for this situation if we need something to drive and he just happened to be coming back at about 6:30 and it's deer 30 and he hit it right by Devil's Lake right outside of town. So, so that was that and we had no injuries in the crash. So, um the last thing is

you want us to make a decision on Yeah, we may I would like your guys' opinion on if we should surplus that thing or fix it and use it. Um, I don't think we should spend $9,000 on it. It's a 100,000 mile vehicle, eight years old, but that's up to you guys. Maybe have a different department you want to repurpose it in. I don't know. Is it still drivable? Yeah, he drove it. There's no fluids leaking. It's all cosmetic. It's a fender, the hood, the door, and then all the plastic stuff that holds like the lights and all that. Like the mounts aren't there any longer. That's I think why it's so expensive. Like there is nowhere to put a headlight. We'd have to fabricate.

It's not legally drivable. It's current right. I get what you're saying. It's usable but it's not right. It's not drivable, right? Yeah, that's better way to word it. Well, my actual opinion would be just to surplus the thing and sell it next year with sheriff when he has a sale and get what we can for it. I'm sure someone would buy it and probably fix it. Um, and we've already been paid for the vehicle more than we would get on a surplus sale anyway at this point. So, we're not like we're out anything, but because we really don't have a use for it, that's why we put it up there. It was and we brought a pickup back. It was an extra.

It was an extra for and we do have a pickup that we replaced it with Edmore already. So, I think just get rid of it. I would tend to agree a motion to surplus it. Second. We have a motion and a second to surplus it next year auction. Yep. Sounds good. Thank you. [clears throat] Can you move on to the water issue? Oh, I'm sorry. All those in favor say I. I. I. All oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. Apologize for that.

Oh, thanks for that because I didn't know really how to handle that from there forward either. Um so yeah the water issues um it came up in the water board meeting that there was some uh flooding [snorts] overland flooding going on in the Edmore So I I did go up and take a drive and did some great shooting and stuff up there and I've explained uh to a few of the land owners that were in questions that the water was equal on both sides of the culverts. Things were flowing. It was just that much rain at the time that had take over top the road. It didn't appear to be anything backing up. Paul's been in on some of that conversation as well. Um, we got that sorted out for now. That water has receded some in the Edmore Kulie quite a bit actually. It's back within its banks now and and dropping. So hopefully it continues to flow before we get heavy snow events and get rid of some of that water for spring. We have some room. Um, as of this morning, we had a new situation arise. Uh, had a individual stop in my office today. He's concerned about some of the roads around Roarville. Again, Ramsey County 3 included in that. So, myself and uh Mr. Jagger, Chris Jagger, our emergency manager, we met up this afternoon with a few of the with one of the land owners and we drove a lot of the area. We looked at the the flooding going on um 50th Street right south of Roarville and then heading east. The water's about ready to top that road there, the township road. As of right now, Ramsey County 3 looks to be safe. There's no no immediate threats there. We built that up a few years ago with a grade. Um they say there's some held back water outways that if that comes that that will put three in danger, but there's really no way of knowing that without the water present at the time. Um with the grade rays added, I don't know how that would turn out. I hope we don't have to find out.

Basically a waiting. Yeah. So, we need to monitor the road system through that area and keep an eye on that and help the township. any way we can with road closures if we need to and keep the LEC involved. But as far as the highway department, that's about the that's about the extent of it right now for the for the highway department's involvement. I am going to recommend to the land concerned land owners that they bring this to the water board and I'll bring what I found in the pictures I have and I'm sure Mr. Jagger will do the same. And I think they need to look at the whole area, see if there's something that needs to be done somewhere. But as far as the road side of things right now, we're okay on our side. So, hey,

water board's been informed of the situation. Um, I talked to Chairman Martin last night about this situation because Mr. Nichols had contacted me and um got elevated from there. There's a lot of water over those areas that Ontario and Bartland uh townships are all dealing with those situations. And it's like you said, it's an odd time of year for dealing with flooding situations um along roads, but um trying to see if there's a easy way for the water to be on either or temporary basis. Um, you know, we're kind of backed up against mother nature and she's going to start getting cold before too long and Frieza was uh coolies up. Uh, one of the benefits of the government closure was USGS hadn't shut down their gauging sites yet and so we were able to monitor the Edmore flows and uh I was looking at springtime conditions in the Admore for about two three weeks into you know end of October, first part of November because of all the rain that we've received this fall And uh normally they shut those down at the end of September every year because of that's their operational season, but since nobody was working at the government, they left those real-time gauges up and we're able to monitor those. And so it's kind of the first time we've been able to to notice that and those numbers and they were, like I said, they were springtime numbers and both the Edmore and the Stark weather coolies.

Yeah. Late into the fall. Yeah. I um to to coattail off that or short tail off that on Sunday while I was hunting in the deer stand. They were out at the site on Ramsey 3 measuring flow on Sunday afternoon.

So I was going to say there would be current flow readings available for us if we needed. Um I witnessed that myself and we um or myself personally I monitored this all the way through as when it started in Fer Township I knew we were going to see something further down the line because it was it's I the blame is coming from what we did as a highway department on the federal aid roads. That's where they they think we increased the volume the flow to these sites but it flooded all the way down the channels backed out everywhere. It wasn't just where we had worked in the system. So, we followed it really close to keep So, we were informed. People are concerned to make sure we're doing the right thing.

Right. Exactly. And I appreciate all that the water board's doing and Commissioner Fritz because it's there's a lot of water out there right now. There's a lot of concern heading into fall. So, freeze up. Okay. Thanks for all that information. I do think we need to go back to the CDL driver proposal. Oh, yeah. I I do think one more thing before we move off the water is if there's any townships out there listening, if they have a road that's under or in jeopardy, make sure that you notify law enforcement center so dispatch can get notified so emergency responders can uh take appropriate routes to a situation or so or just get it to us at the highway department. We'll get it in right away, right, to to the LAC. So,

thank you. So the CDL thing 3100 for one employee, what are you guys' thoughts? How we want to do it or if we want to do it? I feel we need to do training. Yeah. No matter how we look at it, we do training in other departments. I mean, the bang for your buck, you're probably going to be and that's the only way you can get CDL now. basically. Yeah. I mean, we can do the behind the wheel part, but we can't do any classroom part and we can't we can't ex expedite it or accelerate it either like they can.

So, fast as the individual works, the faster they get done, the more they put into it, the more they the quicker they can be out of the program with the license. So, that they give you time frame of when it starts.

January 12th. And they also said I um Nicole also was in on that email. I have asked for grant applications um any type of [clears throat] funding for government entities, anything that may help with the tuition just for the fact that if we can if we can um you know save some money to help make it easier for everybody. And they said there are some things that the that the money in your budget to do this? Yes. Daniel, just a clarify clarifying couple questions. This is for an already employed individual.

No, not no. This is for future employees and it would have to become I'd come case by case. Okay. You know, so you're not even really contemplating or is there somebody you have in mind to hire with this in mind? Yes, we've narrowed it down to who we would go to without a CDL at this point. Okay. And then final question, when do you do you have a deadline by which you need to get them registered? Um, not for the registration. We'd like to get them hired before December 1st if possible,

which has kind of been the hiring date, but with this situation, no, that there is no I would have to have them enrolled before the end of the semester, which I believe is December 15th. Is there okay? So, I think we have some time. [clears throat] I guess if you guys want to think about it or don't want to do anything tonight, we could table it till the next meeting. But that's I think it'd be a good thing to do provide that additional treaty. I'd go ahead and make that a motion to allow Jason to support that and I second it.

Okay, [clears throat] I have a motion. We have a second for Jason to support for one individual to go to training at this time. So, to be clear, is this for the highway department to just pay for this training for this individual? And we'll revisit some of the different um options that Nicole and Jason went over. I I think that would be good. You know, whether it's uh you know, a lower salary up until the time they graduate from this program or something similar to how we work that with other departments in their educational training background before.

So the motion that we have is basically to let Jason make that call. And if that's what you want to do, that's acceptable. I just wanted to I really like the tier idea. So that's what I would let Yeah. like to work that out with Nicole. I really I I didn't realize that was something that we used in other departments. I think that's that's kind of something I was looking to do without realiz you could come back with the information. Okay. With that, Jeff, since we Yeah. Well, we can make the offer. see if they accept and then Okay, we'll have that information in place before we make the offer so they know what they're getting into. Okay, so we have a motion and we have a second for the $3,100 to train an individual and leave it to Jason to bring us back how we're going to do that.

All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed, same sign. Motion carries. Jason, um I had one last thing like Commissioner Fris said. The townships are listening. We still have a few that haven't turned anything for the 2022 FEMA disaster yet. We did get chain lakes in this week so we can get that reimbursement for them. If they have the work done, we need it by January 14th. So, we try to put it out at every meeting if we can until the end of the year here. If I forget, please one of you remind me to get it out there. So, thank you. Thank you, Nicole. Floor is yours. Human resource.

Good evening. I don't have any I have to push the button. So turn there. We have

I also don't know how to use your microphone. [laughter] So good evening. Um I introduced myself quickly earlier when I came up to speak um with Jason on behalf of some of his things. It's a pleasure to be here tonight. I've been in the courthouse the last two days. I've been doing open enrollment meetings, meeting with some of the different employees. Have gotten a chance to meet many of the staff members. I'm going to meet uh more of the highway department tomorrow because they are all coming to do a training. So, we're going to do their open enrollment meeting at the end of that. I know there is nothing a bunch of guys who normally don't sit in offices like more than to sit through their eighth hour of meetings talking about HR. So I will be speedalking when that uh session comes in. Um Candy and I have been working on all sorts of things since late July when the contract got signed. Um Danielle and I have worked on a handful of things. Jason. Um, Lonnie and I have actually worked on a few things together, so I probably owe him a thanks for getting me up in this area to start with, but I don't know if you guys had any specific questions or there was anything in particular you wanted me to go over. I never actually bothered to ask Handy today if there was an agenda I should look at. I was so busy with these benefit meetings and responding to emails that I just was here to to be here. So you guys have

Mr. Bulk, I will ask you as the new chair. Is there something specific you wanted? I I have nothing specific, but is there any that have questions? Have you dealt some with Miss Social?

I miss most certainly have worked with uh the human services zone. um they had five hires with in uh from October 1st until November 1st. So we have done a lot of hiring, a lot of onboarding. They've had some family medical leaves. Um yeah, I've been very busy with human service zone. Seen a lot of their employees over the last few days coming to meetings or calling in to meetings. So definitely saw um Rhonda right away Monday morning. She came down uh before I even had my first meeting and was able to meet her in person. So definitely I've worked with her quite a bit.

I think it's great that you came out so that people could picture the face that they're you know it's it is what it is. So it it helps for me. It helps. You know you you know what we got. Not that should matter, but at least we know.

And Nicole had stopped in my office yesterday and we talked um about some of the concerns that we may have had and you know the number of hours that we um contracted with for the quarter and you know if there'd be a need for any additional hours. Um Nicole felt that we you know hit kind of a a plateau that we had some unique circumstances had happened in the last quarter with a lot of vacancies a lot of openings and doesn't see that as normal normal thing for us forward. So I think that we thought that the number of hours was adequate. I I I mean I certainly hope it's adequate going into 2026. You know, it was been a combination of a few things. You had several openings. You know, you've you've done very little hiring in 2026 up until well, let's put it this way. You went on your new payroll system June 1st. from June 1st until uh September, the second full week of September when you had a part-time person that hired in NDSU extension, there was not a new hire during that entire time. So during the entire summer, there was not a new hire. So we didn't um have to onboard anyone. We didn't review the applications, you know, we didn't do any of that. Candy didn't have to go through that process of knowing how to set somebody new up in that new payroll system. So, there's been this all of that work that had to go into your new payroll system also has to be set up and ready for new people. You got your system ready and thankfully we're able to run it June, July, August, and even the 1 of September without having to add anybody new into it. But every time you have some of those changes, right, it takes time. and the

first time, the second time, the third time, it takes more and more changes. And so thankfully, we didn't also in August have several hires, but we have hired I think if if Jason gets this guy hired, I think that's either our 11th or 12th hire since that one part-time hire in September. And that's probably multiple years of hiring for you recently. and we've been able to get that done. Um, and and I think right now we feel really pretty good about all the hires that we have. And so my my um point of view on that is I don't just want to hire them, I want to onboard them or or do orientation with them. So, I've spent time with every one of them going through their whole benefit packet, meeting with them online, stepping through those pieces. And one of the things I've told every group that I've met with, I've done four meetings, is they are an extremely fortunate employee group to have their employee, their health insurance paid for in full. And their new health insurance costs about $38,000 a year for family coverage. that that's an amazing amazing benefit. The downside of being paid in full is people don't always go and look that much at what their coverage is. And so they're not they don't understand always all the benefits they have. And you guys have so many benefits that people aren't overly educated on the depth of benefits because there's so many. And so that's part of what I've been trying to do is I've trying to get everything updated. There's been a lot of things that haven't been updated for many years. Some of them we one of the things today I said, "Well, Candy, this can't be right. These rates are from 2015. How long have these been in the drawer?" And

we called, "Well, those actually were right." So, but you know, just a lot of expired forms, a lot of things that needed to be updated. HR never stops changing and you have to kind of have a compliance mindset to know where to check and when to check it and that's part of what I do with the clients I have is I know kind of where some of those things are. So most of that now is done. Um, but we had to do all of that while hiring this group of people, while figuring out how to do the work, while, you know, I'd never been in the ND PERS system before, right? So, unfortunately, we're going to have a quarter here where that all kind of hits. And I didn't want to cancel the trip to come and do benefits because I think that was really important to come and then and try to meet all of you. So, we're going to I think we're going to be able to slow down on some of our hours to the end of this the rest of this month, December. I don't expect that our hours are going to be um outside of contract, you know, unless [laughter] unless we have a bunch of employment issue kind of situations or or some of those, which truthfully, we've had some of those and we've stayed in contract dealing with some of those, but we didn't have very many July hours because it we kind of had a slow ramp. Thank you. What uh is there a [clears throat] um above? So you hit a threshold within a quarter. Is there

an overage rate? You know an overage? Yep. That's part of the original contract. Okay. And if there's under those hours, can we bank them till the next quarter? you have um a minimal amount of hours you can bank forward and backward but you've also used all of those for next quarter. I already gave you the luxury of using all of those. So, so, but the question was it is out. There is a there is a minimal and there's a max. Well, not really maximum because we when we hit it there's over. Sorry. So, just to refresh your contracts are

it's actually it's 99 a quarter. So, it's about 33 a month. And we used about a hundred in October because of well actually used about 110 because of the extra 10. So getting ready for open enrollment getting all the benefits pieces ready and doing all that on boarding. And I think that was the biggest question for us is are we doing enough hours? Are we doing too many hours and we want to so we know it's going to take some time. I think it's too early to set that. You know Jason has these two jobs open. Hopefully, one of them is filled. There's not another job open right now, right?

So, all of that, there's no reason for us to pre-plan. I don't want you to add hours just to add hours. I mean, that doesn't that doesn't benefit either side. Um, I also don't want you to pay overage rates when you don't have to, but I just I couldn't get ahead of all the things that needed to happen before. So, we've also I think that's understandable because

I've also put some things in motion to try to create efficiencies with the new hires and we have a meeting set up with the zone to specifically in that area create efficiencies going forward. And um all of those went out last week in response to some things that were not being done efficiently and need to change. And uh that meeting is set um I'm actually not available next week, so it's set the week following that, but that's already set and the agenda is pretty clear what we're going to discuss. Thank you. Is there any other questions for Nicole? All right. Thank you.

Thank you. Um at this point, Candy, you got to go. Take take a brief brief and let deputy auditor come up. Let Candy, she's got a very important engagement. Candy needs to Yeah, Sandy needs to go to her kids event. Thank you, Candy. Thank you, Lesie, for taking over.

You'll be fine. talking too much. You're good.

You good, Lesie? I'm good. Let's go. Okay. Moving [clears throat] on to Steve Zimmer for the update of the ordinance. Good afternoon, Steve.

Good afternoon. Actually, good evening. Now, um Stephen Zimmer with Intella Plans, and as you guys know, we've been working on uh the zoning ordinances, the subdivision ordinance, and now the I guess the uh flood plan ordinance as well. Uh we previously I guess last time we were in front of you we approved the comprehensive plan and so the next steps obviously were were to try to get some of these ordinances in place and um kind of going along with the HR. I'm kind of glad that the county is going in that direction kind of setting some uh processes and standards for a lot of the things that are happening in the county. And so I guess we hadn't been in front of you for a while. There's a lot of moving parts right now. There's a lot a lot of information that we could share, but we just wanted to um before we got into the like the draft review process, we wanted to make sure that we uh got in front of you guys and made sure that I guess we were kind of going in the right direction. And as far as my portion, what I've been working on is zoning ordinance. Uh Candy had sent I believe she had sent something out to you guys uh just kind of with the the uh table of contents of what are the things that we're looking at there and the biggest things obviously are zoning districts it's covers industrial residential commercial uh you know all the traditional things but I guess more importantly probably for the county uh what I believe uh I've been working with some other township ships and counties. Also, some of the things that are happening around the state of North Dakota, which are the wind turbines, the data farms, the u solar energy farms, things like that. kind of wanted to make sure that um we were covered and that kind of see what's happening around the state which is kind of taking a little bit longer just to make sure that we've

got ordinances in Ramsey County that are I guess strong enough to make sure that once if it does happen that we're that every oh we have our bases covered and so um on my side that's kind of where I've been spending most of my time uh making sure that all the ducks are in a row uh for that there's been a lot of issues over the last six months for around the state of North Dakota with townships and counties and communities kind of getting steamrolled by uh some of these things and unfortunately but uh thank god it hasn't happened here and but it does just want to make sure we ready. So, I don't know if she had if you had looked at anything um with that um if she even sent it out. I guess we sent it to her, but um I just wanted to make

This is what I got, right? The table of content. Yeah. What you got? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, you got the whole thing for the Okay.

I didn't want to send out It's 65 pages right now. And I didn't want to send the whole thing out yet because like I said before the actual review process. Um they said we had some meetings with the during the comprehensive planning process that we got a direction that the steering committee wanted to go and then through the planning commission uh we went to them and then to you guys uh approving the comprehensive plan. Really all we're doing now is taking what the comprehensive plan says, what the direction for that is, and making ordinances out of those things to make sure that all the things that are addressed in the comp plan um are codified and put in ordinances so that the county can um I guess deal with it legally and orderly, I guess, as it comes to the county level. And so you guys aren't caught off guard with anything. So, um Sam, [clears throat] uh TrebleCock is here with Houston Engineering as well. He's been working on the um subdivision ordinance and the um flood plane ordinance. And so I guess if you guys don't have any questions for me right now or um anything particular that you for zoning and land use that you guys have heard happening in the state which has been a lot that you have concerns with. Um that we could make sure that's in the zoning ordinance. Um but we can there'll be further review. I just wanted to come in front of you let us know where we're at. let you know where we are at. I guess I'm probably about 80% finished with the zoning ordinance. Um, so we'll uh do some final touches and then we'll start the when Sam is ready, we'll probably try

starting all uh the review process. Uh kind of all going through at the same time unless you guys like to do them one at a time. That's something I guess we'd consider as well. What kind of time frame are we going to need to go through all? We are in the worst time of the year right now, as you know, to try to get any type of committees and boards and stuff together. But that's not what I'm asking. How much time are you going to need to present to us? Oh, to you. Um, the final drafts. Yes, sir.

It I'm guessing the meeting would maybe take if we can get them to you ahead of time. Obviously, that all depends always on whether or not the people that are if we send them to you that you review them. Um the review itself, it'll be multiple levels of it. We'll go to the planning commission and then we'll come to you and then most likely if there's any changes, we'll go back and it won't be just a one time shot shot deal unless you have to. But it would if probably I'm guessing the meeting would be no longer than an hour, 45 half hour, 45 minutes probably realistically. Um, as long as everybody's prepared on the front end when we get here. So, I just want to know just in case we have to call a special

meeting for it so that we're not holding the public up, I guess. You know, I don't think that it should be too much too difficult, I guess, unless there's some kind of a hold up on say the flood plane ordinance or something that there's something that the county or the townships or something somebody wants to see or that isn't in there that they think should be and if there's got to be uh changes made to the ordinances and stuff that all, you know, will affect timeline, too. But, um, for the most part, I think we're on the right track. We've been getting some input and uh again with the flood plane ordinance too, there was some state law or some state legislation that was passed this past year that we had to kind of wait to see exactly how that was going to work out. And so um so Sam's been dealing with that and he can come up and review the subdivision and flood plane if you guys want to have anything else for me. So

okay, thanks Steve. First one, did you guys receive the U summaries that I had put together? I don't know if you'd receive these that I sent out. No, you haven't. I can hand them out.

Really quick, they're not the full certainly pass it on to the others in the audience like to also So, I'll kind of start with the flood plane [clears throat] or like I said, it's just kind of a quick update. And as um Steve was talking about again, I'm Sam Travel with Houston Engineering. Um Steve's taking the zoning, I'm taking flip lanes. uh subdivision. Um, and of course, you know, all of this is pages and pages because anytime you're dealing with an ordinance, uh, your state's attorney will understand this, of course, and you'll be involved in review. It's just important that you dot all the eyes and cross all the tees to make sure you have the enforcement capabilities to do these kind of things that are really important and included in the comprehensive plan. But the flip plane ordinance, one of the most important things you're you're dealing with right now that I want to make sure you understand is there's state law changes that's just occurred. I think a lot of you know about that. That's an important distinction um that you'll be dealing with. So as a county um whereas before the state law change, the townships were kind of in the driver's seats on on on flood plane. So they had the authority if they decided to move forward with it and they could only if they decided to give it up then you guys got it. It's totally flipped. The counties now have authority. You have original jurisdiction. That's important to note. The only way the townships have any um flood plane authority, they can still do that, but they have to send you a um

notice of intent first to say that they're going to take that authority. they intend to do that and then they have to adopt an ordinance a flood plane ordinance otherwise you guys will have and um if they don't do that you guys have jurisdiction or the ability to have the jurisdiction in that area. So that's a big change that you guys just have to note. Um the other thing that didn't change but still is the case is the cities have um the ability to have jurisdiction not only within their city limits but also within within um their extr territorial area and in Ramsey County that would be two miles for the Devil's Lake area. So that isn't any different. That's pretty much the same. But just so you know that too. Also, you probably will need to update your ordinance um irregardless because the statutory authorities in state law change that's in your current ordinance. So, just note that and that's important. [clears throat] Um on the next page, what we're kind of working towards is what we call the model D ordinance. What you have right now is a model C ordinance. And it's not significantly different, but it is somewhat different. It's something that's being re be recommended by FEMA and um department North Dakota Department DWR. Um [clears throat] and so that's what we're working on right now. So what you would be reviewing is that there's some minor changes uh with that um that we'll note that be noted right there that's different. [clears throat] Um things that I would also note is that anytime you're looking you in and the zones are noted here that are the flood plane uh zones that are required a flood plane development ordinance that does not include the X areas on your flood plane map right now. If anybody sees those X areas those areas are anywhere from the 100 to

500year flood plane area. Sometimes that's confusing to people. Just want to make sure you note that. And then we're going to also incorporate those areas of special consideration from your 2000 study. But one other thing that's important to note that isn't done yet is your updated flood plane uh ordinance or or maps. As I understand that should be coming sometime in the next year. But by no means would you maybe you're like yeah they've been saying that forever. I don't know. Probably closer to 2030. Well, when you would uh my understanding would be they'll be coming out, but they won't be effective probably till about that time.

Yeah. So, you'll actually be able to see them before 2030, but they won't be um certified by that time. Yeah.

So, exactly. Um, one other thing to note is when when when I send these out, um, and same thing with Steve, we we don't want to send them out, you know, one after, you know, all at the same time, but we will provide those. Uh, you'll probably see Steve's first. Um, but one thing to uh, we did talk about in the comp plan is do you want to incorporate unmapped areas because a lot of the county is not going to be mapped even probably with the new maps. Um, if you want to, we can. If not, um, that's just something to note and think about. It did come up in some of our comprehensive plan meetings. So, just keep that in mind or maybe you have opinion even right now. Um, because most a good part of the county is not mapped. [cough] Any questions about flood plane? That's the quick update there. Okay. So, the next um what I sent out I I'll just hand it around was subdivision ordinance and and this is kind of maybe new to a lot of you because you don't have a subdivision ordinance right now that you effectively have uh or are or are operating with. So, I just put a quick summary of what subdivision ordinances are. They regulate land division to ensure orderly development. So, when you're subdividing land, you're platting. It's the plats. But with that, there's really some important things that we're doing when we're plotting because you got to make sure that those lots are divided to comply with minimum lot size requirements. You got to make sure it meets the this the zoning ordinance standards. You don't want to subdivide a lot that's way too small to actually put a a structure on or has uh access to a public rightway. Things like that are really important. infrastructure access, environmental protection standards, and then really coordination of roads, utilities, and other engineering design standards. You

want to make sure the roads that are developed are developed something that somebody could actually drive on, an emergency vehicle, a snow plow, things like that can be utilized. Um, so that's what the subdivision ordinance is effectively is for. Kind of that next page gets into the sections. You know, we have lots and blocks. minimum road improvement standards, uh, grading and drainage plans. So, you'll with each plat when when there's a major subdivision, I'll get into that in a second. Um, you'll have a grading plan, a drainage plan to make sure that's done properly. Um, erosion control plan, and then there's an assurance for completion of a minimum improvements. So, they'll be required to um provide a shity bond of some sort to make sure in case they don't actually finish the project and it's just sitting there um and somebody's bought a lot and they say, "Hey, county, what are you going to do?" And so now you're stuck with it. Well, then there's a shity bond that you can use to actually help with the the improvements. So, and then if it's a private road or other private, then you have maintenance agreements uh for private standards. So, that's an important uh certification that you would have with the subdivision. One of the most important things that I would note here that you just really want you to think about is what I've heard and what we've talked about is public versus private roads. Where do you want guys want to go? Right now, a lot of times what's going on is you're trying to accept or you're you're trying to um a developer would be trying to put in a public road on a public rideway and then you uh the township won't accept it. Uh the county won't accept it. No one's willing to accept it. So, what what are you going to do? So, one option for you

to consider and what other places are doing is private roads and then the standards for those private roads. So you could require a private road with private maintenance agreements, things like that. Um, so that's something you'll probably see as an option with the subdivision ordinance. Um, but you really only have two options. You either accept the road, the township accept the road, the county accepts the road, or you you do a private road maintenance agreement. You got to do one or the other. Um, the next page really just gets into a subdivision review process. And I don't want to go over a ton, but really it just talks about the process when you go through concept plan, preliminary plan, and final plot really is only for major subdivisions where there's four lots or more. And then talks about minor plants um where you're ex uh you will have certain uh situations where platting will be exempted and just kind of take a look at that. um it kind of helps you in a flowchart method of kind of telling you how this will work. And then lastly, certificates of plats. The whole idea there is to make sure that people are signing off on the plat that need to need to review it and have signed off because there was a lot of concern that um that right now you don't have people that know about it. Your highway superintendent, Jason, doesn't know about it. Well, if you have him signing off on it, then he knows about it. He's reviewed it. He's done it. Same thing with everybody else that will be certified to the plat. Um, we want everybody to know about it. That's part of that um enforcement mechanism that you would have. So, that's what it's there for. But if you see some that, hey, I don't think it's necessary we have that many signing off on the plant, we can take them off. But, um, that's

what it's there for. Um, last very last thing, uh, enforcement is key here. Whether it's zoning, subdivision, flood plane, you have flood plane with Chris. He's handling a lot of that, even though I know he's doing he's wearing a lot of hats. Um, we talked about in the comp plan, it's really going to be important that you have somebody that's enforcing these ordinances. So before you even adopt these, you need somebody and u that actually will be kind of the um the code enforcer, planning and zoning code enforcer. Um so you have to designate that person. You're going to have to look at uh um methods. We've show looked at some models in the comp plan to do that. I know we've talked about it. I just mentioned it because it's really important before you actually adopt that you have that. So other than that, I'll take any questions or sure if there's other things that came up for Steve. So thank you commission have questions for [clears throat] Sam.

One thing I'd like to add to that too that just so that the commission is aware that the subdivision ordinance there's different levels of authority obviously when it comes to municipalities. by municipalities. I mean, townships, counties, state um that zoning townships have the right to do their, you know, they have zoning authority over the county to within their own township. And so just to clarify some of these things I guess for anybody listening to that townships who have their own zoning most of them or all of them have said they are most likely going to keep their zoning authority which is fine. Um and the county then has the authority to you know with their zoning ordinance to more or less zone the rest of the county unless one of the townships wants to you know if they enact their own zoning then again their zoning would supersede the townships but until or I mean the counties but then up until that point the county would be able to zone those areas. However, subdivision authority counties have the overarching subdivision authority in over the townships. And so this zoning ordinance then would be would apply to every township within the county within Ramsey County. And so what this says, I mean, realistically what this says can dictate what townships can do then ultimately with their zoning ordinance somewhat as far, you know, to make sure that their roads and things like along those lines are all up to a certain standard. And so the subdivision ordinance, you know, a lot of times gets kind of well, it's just a subdivision ordinance and, you know, z everybody knows what zoning is, but the subdivision ordinance realistically is a pretty powerful document itself in itself. So you got to make sure that what that says too is is

is exactly what what you're looking for. So um that does hold a lot of uh strength and power because it is like I said that's kind of supersedes all the other documents that say a sub county or I guess the cities have their own but anywhere else in the county over the township. So just to clarify the levels of that the county zoning ordinance in general there's not going to be a lot of development necessarily outside of the townships that currently have their own zoning. uh some of them may want to have mentioned that maybe partnering with the county for um enforcement um that kind of thing, but uh subdivision ordinance then would be again something they'd have to follow. So, anybody have any other questions? Any commissioners? It's a lot to take in.

Yeah, exact. It's exactly right because we we we know that this is going to take time. We didn't want to come in here and say, "Well, here are all the ordinances, you know, 80 pages of ordinances, and are you guys okay adopting today?" We we're not by any means thinking that's going to happen. We think it's going to take some time to digest, ask questions. uh we want you to be comfortable with it and be ready for it before yeah we get to that stage

and the biggest thing is obviously to understand it and to if you have questions then to make sure that you feel comfortable because obviously you're the last step is in enforcement. The county commission is the the end all of you know of enforcing all the ordinances and so want to make sure you're comfortable with what they say and how you're how go about enforcing them. So, um, yeah, I'll just add that it's a lot to read, but it's an easy read.

It's pretty plain English. tried not to put too many things in obviously that aren't going to be used or needed and tried spend quite a few times quite a few hours whittling down just to the necessities I guess to because nobody like you said it's a good read at night make fall asleep for sure. So [laughter] thanks Steve. Um any other questions for Steve or Sam? Thank you guys for coming in tonight.

Thank you guys. So, hearing [clears throat] none, there's no unfinished business. We'll move on to new business. And the next thing is a letter of resignation from Lee, which was sent November 4th, 2025. Ramsey County Commissioner, members, I wish to inform you that I am resigning my seat on the commission effectively immediately. Respectfully, Lee Gestner received at 1:35 p.m. So [snorts] with the with that, is there any conversation of what we're going to do to fill that seat? If we want to go down that path,

I suppose we need a motion to accept the resignation. No, the resation received by the So, the resation is complete, [clears throat] correct?

Yeah, resignation is complete. The the next thing that needs to be addressed is filling Commissioner Gzner's open seat. Um I sent out an email earlier this week, earlier today, early this afternoon actually, um just uh outlining the century code for that uh for filling that position. Um, the real only requirements of the Century Code is that it must be immediate and that it must be a qualified elector here in Ramsey County. Um, that's that's about the extent of what is required in the situation. Um if the commission does not choose to or cannot agree to appoint somebody or doesn't have anybody to uh put forward then the statute defaults to the treasurer uh being appointed to the position until the next gen whoever is appointed to the position holds it until the next general election uh at which point it will be put to a vote of uh Ramsey County citizens. So the way I read it, we may or shall appoint some suitable person to fill the vacancy from the district in which a vacancy occurred.

Yeah. Which we don't have districts here in Ry County. So, so is there any what do you guys feel? I guess does it need to be done this meeting or the first of the next meeting?

Statute doesn't say it must be done by any specific time. It says immediately. Um, if this commission wants to take some additional time to uh select uh or or to find somebody who the commission or various members of the commission think will be appropriate for the position. I mean,

so the way I understand it's we can uh choose someone, not really choose someone, but put someone on the table and talk about it or even go back to what the election was. Look at things like that. I'm just throwing it out there. Yeah.

Um [clears throat] I mean is it is entirely up to this commission how you want to go about filling it. there's little to no direction. Um I've spoken with uh a few of our surrounding counties, states attorneys, and um they've they've picked somebody and they've appointed them. Uh if the commission has somebody in mind or a commissioner has somebody in mind that they want to recommend today, we even if you recommend someone today, we we have to notify them and let them know like if they even want to do it, right? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, yeah, can't just say tomorrow you're coming here. [laughter]

Uh but certainly time is of the essence. This is not something we don't want to be down a commissioner uh for any longer than is necessary to make sure that we're uh appropriately representing uh the citizens of Ramsey County. Um but again I definitely think this is my opinion that it needs to be done by next meeting like we have to have names or name by next meeting so that we can vote on it and if we can't come to some kind of senses obviously it would then go to the treasurer. Correct.

Correct. I mean, has is there really any has there been any thought process by you other commissioners? I mean, I know Jeff and I have talked a little bit, but nothing like, yeah, this is the guy or this is the gal, you know, just kind of spitballing some things. I've thought of a few people, but I haven't reached out to any of them, and I honestly highly doubt they would want anything to do with it. [laughter] I mean, I think they would be good people, but I know they have a lot of other things on the plate as well. So, it's

I 100% agree. I, you know, it's a it's a commitment, you know, and that's why we all run because we're putting willing commit. I would hate to commit somebody to that without Oh, absolutely. talking to them first. I I think opening it up for people interested and taking a look at who would be interested and then bringing that to the table and having that discussion because then at least you have those individuals willingly

because if we went back to the last election there was three of us that ran and we all ran uncontested. So, the last contested election was really almost four years ago. Um, and I'm not sure if those that um ran or even

some that chose not to to seek re-election and there was a contested election that was within I think 12 votes was it? Um, but that's been almost four years ago. Whether or not those individuals were at all interested in seeking the position again, even on a temporary basis, I'm not sure. I haven't reached out to anybody to to seek that. Nobody's reached out to me saying, "Hey, select me," kind of thing. Um, so it could be a process. It could it could be a process.

Do we and I we have that option of selecting the treasurer in the case of a tie? Right. Yes. And is that the only provision that they would be involved in would be breaking ties or would they then be become a commissioner for the duration? They they become a commissioner. Lisa would become a commissioner for the duration. She is not a tiebreaker. She is if the commission cannot by majority [clears throat] appoint a successor, it becomes the treasurer by default

because that's where this 95 days comes after the vacancy. That's for vacancies across the board in elected positions. Um, understand like when Mr. Cummings left, if that had been within 95 days of an election, then it would have just remained vacant for that time. So then the individuals would just be put out on the ballot basically. Yes. That individual, if they want to run for the position, would be on the ballot against anybody else who would like the position. And we're way more than 95 days. So we're looking at like two years, three months or something. One year. Next general election. Next general election.

Yes. It's not Commissioner Gnner's next whenever his term was up. It is the next general election that uh position goes up. So, um I would just reiterate that the statute does say immediately immediately is is a variable term, especially in terms of government and how quickly things move. Um I I would agree with Commissioner Frith that if a a decision is not made today that a dead a hard deadline needs to be the next commission meeting so that there are five members of the commission moving forward.

I don't I don't feel comfortable at all making a decision tonight. Right. A and I I would well and with with that knowing it's one year now when you do an ask they know it's one year it's not [clears throat] the full uh term of what Lee had left right because if it was then it would be two years whatever right so now it's one year you know because of the general [clears throat] and I and maybe that could spark some interest due to it only being one year right I'm going to give it a trial period and if it's not for me, they could well I'm not going to run. Correct.

It's like us sending them to training, right? [laughter] So, what do you guys feel? We What's that process? I I would say seek uh letters of interest submitted to the auditor by, you know, our next meeting date, you know, interest in citizens of Ramsey County, which that date is December second, I believe.

Yeah. So I would say [clears throat] seek send it before December 2nd. So have it by the just the 30th of November so that we have time to look at candidates and can move on and see by Friday, November 28th. Okay. At the end of the day. Is that a motion? That's a motion.

Second. So, we have a motion and a second to put by the 28th of Friday the 28th of November for letters to be submitted to the auditor to seek interest for commission. Correct, Jeff. Correct. and those letters of interest being distributed to the four Monday morning or 100% agree. So with that, do we have to do a roll call or we just No, that that doesn't need to be a roll call.

Okay, so we have a motion. We have a second. Um all those in favor say I. I post oppose same sign. Motion carries. Moving on to the next thing on the agenda is appointing a new chairman. I move to appoint as chairman. Second. So we have a motion and a second to po appoint myself. Those in favor say I. I. Or is there any other? I should ask is there any other nominees before hearing? None. All in favor saying I. I.

Those opposed same sign. Yes. I am the new chair. Next thing on agenda appointing to fill vacancy on the comm we on the commission. So this we talked about. Yeah. Waterboard reappoint. I think there was something in the packet there. There was two people that submitted their letters of interest and I think there are two current members. Can we read the signature on the second one? Yes. And I know we don't have any doctors that are serving on that position. [laughter] It's John Martinson. Okay. We'll have to give John.

So John Martinson and what was this? Dwayne Ash. They both been long-term water board members. Um and we are looking for one or we are looking just to reappoint them. I I think they're they're both up for reappointment. Okay. Um and their terms end at the end of the the year and it's a three-year term that they reappointed to. Okay. So, we have two individuals that are willing to be reappointed.

I would move to reappoint John Martinson and Dwayne Ash to the waterboard. We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. We have a motion. We have a second to reappoint John Martinsson, Dwayne Ash to the water board. All those in fair saying I before is taken. I'm sorry. I just usually these are advertised. These are a call is put out to the general public if there's any interest so that the general public we we could table this until next meeting, you know, since their terms don't end until the end of the year, right? and advertise and see if there would be any parties of interest.

So, I don't think there were any last year. There may have been one, but just in case there is, since it is an appointed position, since it does involve tax dollars, I I think it would be more appropriate to at least give the public a chance to express interest and be considered by the commission. With that, let me retrieve my motion. Yes. Maybe table and advertise. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, I would retract my motion to reappoint and make a motion to advertise the two positions. Mhm. And make a decision at a the next meeting or Yeah, I'd say next

the second meeting. I'd give two weeks for advertisement and interest to come in and then make a decision on the 16th. You've already got two good candidates. You're not going to be rushing to okay fill the positions if nobody else applies to the 16th of the December. So advertise until the 16th of December. Is that your motion? Yes. We have a second. Second.

We have a motion to advertise for the two positions on the water boy board for till the 16th or the 16th of December. All in favor say I. I. Those opposed same sign. Motion carries. Yep, I got it. So, we have an abatement. Move to approve the abatement. Second. Got a motion, a second to approve the abatement. All those in favor say I. I. I. Those opposed, same sign. Motion carries. At this time, visitors and delegates. Oh, anybody have anything hearing? Done.

You didn't have nothing. [laughter]

Hey