Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Budget Committee of the Whole. Today's focus will be on community services and support. On August the 25th, County Manager Lene Becker provided an overview of the proposed supplemental budget. Today, the community services and support service team kicks off a series of presentations that focus on performance measures for each department. The county performance measure process helps the county improve accountability to our community, understand the impact of budget investments, make data-informed decisions, and identify opportunities for improvement. Performan

Thank you. So we will invite Director Wilkins up to the stage.

Director Wilkins, a really quick question around the 2030 goal, which is, he said, it's 180 days for all. What do you mean by that? It's on the side, the sidebar, under key context.

OK, we have a question. Director Wilkins. Yeah, sorry.

Hello, hi. Hi. So we're kind of digesting in real time, but my question for you is, and perhaps I know we're in the performance indicators, but you said there's an additional $2 million that is going towards eviction prevention?

So can I ask just a point of organization? Not reviewing the packet ahead of time. I want to make sure I'm asking my questions in the right order. I know we're having performance measures, but will there be discussion on specifics of the budget that interact with this in the slides, or do we just ask them as we go along?

OK, so on our budget packet, when I'm looking at housing stability services, it looks like we go from $13 million in fiscal year 25 to the approved budget in fiscal year 26 at $16 million. And then the 27 approved budget goes down to $12 million. So is the $2 million from the LAHA funds additional dollars from a different? Are they not going? I'm just trying to square the numbers here with what she's saying.

OK, and that's great. And I think some of that's helpful because, As folks who may be watching these presentations and seeing some of the documents, when you look at the high-level accounting of $1 amount for a whole department, it goes up and down, and it can be confusing to follow along. So just knowing that that information is in the budget, it's in the website, and we can do the digging and make sure we get that information.

We have a question from yes, ma'am. Commissioner Jones

Thank you, Director Wilkins. I think you're doing a great job just articulating the performance measures and the goals connecting to it. I want to go back to the slide on the average number of days on the coordinated entry. And then also tying that in with the budget that you have laid out. We are seeing your department's budget shrinking and your goals are really to reduce and cut the wait time in half essentially. What is that strategy there? And then also, When you're looking at the context about housing capacity or like the housing availability, what types of housing are we looking for for

Okay. And then the other part that I just wanted you to lift a name that you said really fast and just emphasize is the resources that's actually needed right now to keep someone housed. That even the bundling of those resources are not enough. Are you also keeping track about what is needed so that we can tell that story and share that with our state legislators?

So how much is that that's needed? As far as overall? Yeah, for this and also for coordinated entry. Okay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Really appreciate this presentation. My question mostly stems around looking at the entire housing continuum and the role that housing stability plays, but also knowing that there is a partnership internally with CED. So I wanted to allow some space to kind of speak to what that collaboration looks like and how that will also support the efforts that you're presenting to us today.

Can you share with us what CED is? We use it, but just for those who are listening and watching, what is CED?

Yes. So I just had a couple questions on the last slide you shared with us. When the first bullet point on what's changed with our increase in the FHPAP and LAHA dollars, is this is the work that's being done through our housing stability department or with the Heading Home Ramsey group as well?

that are also usually involved in the Heading Home Ramsey continuum. Correct. OK. They sit on the board. So that's where I think some of the can happen. And the governing board. Yeah. And then with the redesign of the, which I think is a fabulous idea, as someone who used to work in community and had are one of my sister programs. I always use the coordinated entry list. I've heard many times about the frustrations with the coordinated entry system. Will that be developed in collaboration with community as well, so with the partners at Heading Home Ramsey, or will that just be an internal in d

Perfect. Thank you so much. Commissioner Jefferson.

Yes, back to the budget. I think that I just wanted to follow up on the question from Commissioner Zhang. Not that I am opposed to us finding cost savings. In fact, that is a big part of what our role is going to be in the next coming years. But on the housing stability, when I see that it went from fiscal year 25, we were at, let's see, $13 million again, and then it went to $16 and $26, and now it's down to $12. And I guess I would just like to know, was there specific investments that were built into $26? I'm just curious to hear that narrative, the story of development of that.

That helps me tremendously. And the reason why I bring this up is because now, in this particular year, there's been a lot of concerns about how we are supporting housing stability. And I wanted to make sure there wasn't some kind of significant programmatic changes that were a drawback from our commitment to that. So just knowing that this is a when the LAHA funds get recorded on the books is very comforting to me. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. To kind of piggyback off of what the county manager mentioned, knowing that grant applications play a big role in the funding of housing stability, with the passage of the new federal housing law, are there potential opportunities that we're looking into as a county that we could potentially get additional funding, or just want to get a sense of how that law will impact potential funding opportunities for this particular department?

Thank you so much for reminding us what the work that's going on behind these numbers. One of the questions that I have is I know that earlier this summer, some of our emergency housing and our shelter dollars and things like that were driven by decisions that were happening within the St. Paul community. And I guess I want to broaden out to the idea of heading home Ramsey as a broader collective of partnerships. And then so that's the first part of my question is just how many of our other local municipalities and other governmental entities are participating in that as our partners in this w

OK. Director Wilkins, one quick question on the expenditure side. The supplemental budget, your request for $227,000 going into 2027. And maybe I missed this. Can you share with us what those dollars will be spent on? It's $227,000 going into 2027. Under the supplemental proposed budget, there's an increase of $227,000. Can you share with me what that means? What is that there?

All right. Thank you. All right, so if we don't have any further questions, I want to thank you for your presentation and your work and the work to come. The coordination and the support to stabilize families is crucially important. I know it's of strong value for the county, and I just look forward to seeing the work in detail and the coordination that's going to happen and get us in a better place.

Yeah. All right. Thank you. So we want to welcome Director Ali Ali, who's going to present on the financial assistance services that we have here in Ramsey County.

Director Ali, we have a question from Commissioner Magnotri.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Do you know what the sample size is for the surveys? How many folks are we getting to complete the surveys to get these numbers?

The data is... One moment, Director. Commissioner Jeppesen.

Yeah, back to that last slide. I'm just curious how the survey is. The one question is basically looking at the time that somebody, you know, is waiting in line to when they get help to did they get the help. Does this mean that the reason why they came in to get help, that they received the services that they need or they got the information that they need? How are we navigating that? If I come with a need and I come to you to answer a question, I might get information that answers my question, but that might not necessarily actually get me the assistance that I need. How is this worded and h

Good to know. It's a deeper question than what I'm asking, which is when people come to us from help, do they receive the help they need? And that's beyond a survey you can do after being at the service center. But I just wanted to make sure that that's what we were tracking. Thank you.

Director Ali, could you go back to that page there? Because I am like fully impressed with those remarks that you received from someone you serve. Can you read what residents voice, what they said?

This is what I read. The young man working to provide housing assistance provided me with such amazing assistance and really blew me out of the water with his knowledge and his patience, gave me hope for the future for myself and the resources I needed to attain that future.

back of the service that was provided. Just to read that, because it hasn't always been that way. People have been frustrated. They have waited in line for a very long time. Assistance has not always been. So I just want to show from how the service center has improved the lives of people that come to ask for help. And so I think it's worth reading that. Commissioner McMurtry. Thank you, Commissioner.

Thank you for that, Madam Chair. And I think it is very important to lift up the voices from residents who have had these good experiences. I also want to make sure that we are hearing or getting a sense of how we're gathering information from staff as well. This work is hard, and they're reaching folks and communicating with folks at some of their lowest of low moments, and that at times will cause for emotions to run high, that they then have to manage that on top of managing helping out the individual. Do we gather in any... consistent input from staff on how they're feeling throughout thes

Yes, I know that we talked about extensively the impacts of HR1 when we looked at the addition of those new FTEs to support this work. But I think seeing the performance measures here really puts a stark viewpoint of what happens when these roles, these mandated administrative services are not properly funded. And the idea of when when additional administrative requirements are placed on the counties and if we do not then have funding or resources dedicated to meet those new administration, what happens with these service delivery times and what happens to getting people connected to services

We have another question. Commissioner Miller, then Commissioner Zong.

Are these numbers tied to our error rate and reimbursement from these numbers here?

May I go first? Yes, please. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just have a question about this, about some of the trend here, and if you can explain a little bit, also provide more of a narrative on what's happening here from, I guess, to 2020 to up to now. We're at 46% for 2026 for the timeliness on the expedited SNAP applications. May you explain kind of what was happening in between 2022 and 25 there?

Okay. Yeah, I'm just trying to understand that too and some of the rationale because also like if there were changes in policy at all from the state at that time. Mm-hmm. Were there changes in policy from the state during the COVID or even pre-COVID?

I think I want to follow up on that question around the expedited snaps, because those numbers are really low. Very low. So what is getting in the way of that? Is the request to individuals to show proof of something? I mean, what is it? that these numbers are so low?

OK. So you currently have a process in place for improvement. Great. We can't see right now because we're seeing N26. So the data will be coming later on.

Commissioner McMurtry. Thank you, Madam Chair. And this may be a question for the county manager. We know that in this past legislative session that we got funding from the government on tech modernization. What impact will will we see potentially with things like the application process with SNAP through the tech modernization that could help improve numbers? And also, what exactly is the process and the timeline for when we will eventually start seeing those dollars and improvements to tech throughout the county?

No, I appreciate that. I think that's helpful. And I wanted to just name that to get more context around we've seen the passage of this new money, but it's not going to happen immediately. There's still more time. A plan has to be developed before we start. seeing the new tech being rolled out. The other piece I wanted to touch on real quick is I know that we approved the additional FTE a couple of weeks ago. The other component that we heard in your presentation, County Manager Becker, idea of doing more cross-training. Will that also be a part of the plan here as we think about getting up to

So I would agree. There's lots of conversation at a few of those tables about modernization, our system and technology. And there was money that was allocated that went directly to DHS that did not come into the counties, and they allocated more dollars But the conversation is that it would take at least two to three, four years before we are up and ready to even use that technology. And so I would really agree with the county managers that we have to save ourselves and maybe start having conversation internally, or maybe with our partners from Hennepin, whoever's doing work differently. about

Yeah. I just want to add a vote to that. Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm so glad. Commissioner McGuire. Because Commissioner McMurtry, you bring up a really good question. And when we say the county's got money, we hardly got money. But the state got money. that they didn't use yet or wherever it is for a statewide system, which I think we all agree should happen, but we don't know when that's going to happen. And so then they said, oh, okay, you want money, so we'll give the counties money, which they gave us like a pittance to do. I mean, it's not even enough to do one county, and it gave i

And it's very frustrating. But I like these numbers. We've been very ambitious. We're going from 23% in 2025 to 95% in 2028. So we have some work to do to get there, for sure. OK, continue.

Thank you, Chair. Quick question. I know that the EA and EGA are state-funded programs. How is those dollars figured out? Is it an allocation? Is it off of population? Is it off of residents who are on our program? Or is it a formula that is distributed through the counties? And then my next question then goes into, do we add dollars to, like levy dollars or other program dollars to that support as well?

Thank you. OK. Commissioner Zong. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just have a question about this, too, because are we is this helpful information for us in terms of getting the funds out? Because they have strict guidelines already, too, and a criteria. So 100 people can apply but may not be eligible, and then you'd be at 0%. So that's why I'm asking, how has this data been helpful to your department?

Right. And what I'm getting at, too, is they have to meet a specific criteria already. Correct. Shouldn't the data that we are looking for is of the eligible applicants? How many are we processing or approving?

Yeah. So I'm following up. My question was very similar to that, which is I was trying to figure out what this is actually measuring. Is it the population of folks who are coming and the needs that they have. And then this is just reflecting that, since the requirements are pretty prescribed. Or I guess I'm right there with Commissioner Zhang. I'm not really sure, except for measuring maybe how we are educating on which box to fill so that the number of people who check that box. I guess I don't really quite understand how this is helpful. I'm just curious if there's, I mean, maybe I'm just no

I won't belabor the question. I'm still about where I was when we started, but we'll follow up. Maybe we can do a side note later.

I think I just have a question more or less for maybe you, County Manager. If there's some confusion around this performance measure, can we maybe change the performance measure and have one that shows us maybe what we're looking for? Or, you know, if this performance measure is not very useful, let's change it.

All right, so I just wanna thank you, Director Ali Ali. Okay, we have another question.

To that point, if we went from 100 to 50, I would want to know is that because we were successful, in other areas so their actual economic opportunities had lifted and they've succeeded in that way? Or was it that we have cut them off from benefits because of new eligibility requirements? Or, and this is what I'm very concerned about, or the additional administrative burdens or ambiguity or other barriers where people are just unable to keep up with the type of administrative sludge that they put in place.

Yeah, and to be able to know the impacts and where else we should be advising our other community partners, because those needs will still be there. And what does that mean for our greater ecosystem?

Yeah, I just want to put another pin into the question that Commissioner Jeven-Singh and I had about this, because I'm just a little bit perplexed about it too, because I know that we have restrictions around the emergencies, but one of our goals around holistic support, resident-centered holistic supports, meaning that people are identifying to us that they have an emergency, but even though it doesn't fall under the county programs, are we actively working with partners to get them to that resource? So that's a better measure for us on the things that we can control that I think that it woul

And it gets back to my earlier question of did we answer their question or we get them the help they needed? Because sometimes the answering the question is 95%. We said, yes, here is your local provider. And the follow-up is, and were they actually able to get the help they needed?

All right. So I just want to thank you. Very good questions. You know, hopefully we can get to a place where we can get the answers that the commissioners are asking, right, so that we can be able to tell that story, see where we are and where we're going. And I just want to end by looking at your performance measures and the strategic outlook and just highlight, you know, summarize the last point that you talked about, which is improving what is in counties' departments' control, and influencing what is in state and federal control. And so we end with that, that there's more work to do. There

We should wear pink and low cut shirts next week or something.

You want to gavel us back in? So I just want to welcome Director Davis from Workforce Solutions. And so if you don't mind introducing yourself and continue.

Yes. You highlighted some of the specific groups and our intentions to meet their needs. I'm wondering if you could be more specific on what types of significant barriers are being addressed through a more holistic approach to helping families.

Thank you for that, and one of the reasons why I wanted you to get into some of those specifics is because I am quite concerned about the impacts that we've been talking about HR1 on the caregivers throughout our community, the folks who take care of family and kin informally. It's not part of their necessarily paid work, but as those needs in community grow, it will be. become another barrier to folks who are in those roles to participate in a more formalized work network. So I appreciate that there are programs like that that may be helping families address some of those barriers to work as

Can you share with us what those numbers in red mean?

Okay, so it's like an increase. Yes. It's going to be more intentional work support. Yes. Commissioner McGuire.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So yeah, just some clarity. So on the page before that, the percent of MFIP participants employed, is this an increase? Or this is just like when we say 2% and 4%, is that the total of people that we want employed? Or is that an increase? I mean, really, is it that? We're not employing very many people. Am I reading these numbers correctly? I mean, this is a huge deal. I'm thinking that that's a goal of this program, is to get people up and out. And employment is a huge issue, as you know. So, but this is, I mean, I know we want achievable goals and we'll keep improving

And Madam Chair, yeah, I appreciate that clarification in what this is looking at. Because people on MFIP are working. And if maybe we had a higher minimum wage for some of these people, they could exit off some of these programs. But they can't afford their child care, their housing, and everything, and live on a small salary. It's just too much. To exit off MFIP requires a lot of things to happen. But it's really the systemic inequities we have in how much people make and how much cost to support a family. So yeah, a number of these people are working and on MFIP. And it's just that the jobs

I see we're on this page. Do we already do the next slide? Because I don't want to jump ahead. I moved back.

Okay, I just wanted to make sure. So a couple questions. On this slide right here, do we know... When we talk about the American Indian families or the African American Indian families, and you can see how that number goes up and down a little, do we know are these families that have been on the program for multi-years and are now just utilizing the whole family support? And then also, does this work tie into the work that we're doing with our family coaching programs that we are supporting as well? Because I know the American Indian Family Center is not a partner with the Economic Mobility Hu

And then one thing I do want to just name and just say are I know that for the Native American community, like you said, we partner with the American Indian Family Center. But have there been other agencies interested in holding that contract or that similar contract? And why do we only partner with one? I understand that they've held that contract for many years. And I'm just curious as what does that look like going forward?

Perfect. And I think that is all the questions I have.

Commissioner Miller, I think Accountant Becker has a response to one of your questions.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to go back really quickly to the slide on page 23. I know that we talked a lot about the decline and the really low numbers for American Indian and African American. But I also want to highlight the significant drop from 2024 to 2025. for the Hispanic community. Is there any insights as to why we saw such a drop from the 25% to seven?

Great Thank You madam chair um may we just go back to the percent of Minnesota family investment program participants employed I Just had a question about like you know just across the board the percentage is really low and are we measuring Like new employment that they have from participating in the program I

And so this is current MFIP participants who are not working?

OK, great. And do you have a number on this? Because the percentage is just really low, and I just don't have a grasp on how many total. Yeah, I can provide that as follow up as well. OK, great. Thank you.

All right, Commissioner Miller and then McMurtry.

Okay, while we're still on this slide, do we know the participants that exited off, did they utilize training programs or other support services that we offered versus them utilizing career advancements on their own if they were already working part-time or they were already in school versus, hey, they're starting at zero, they got a job, they went to a training program, right? Do we have that type of data as well?

That's awesome. I just want to follow up and say I think that's an important part or an important piece that we try to communicate somehow during this budget season or even just going forward is that our participants that are on this program or some of these programs are employed. They are working hard to exit the program and use it how it's intended to be used and it's not abused, you get a lot of that misinformation or that misconception that people utilizing these programs are abusing them. This is really important data, and I think it's really important that we somehow find a way to make s

Thank you, Madam Chair. How do we define economic stability? And I ask that because, you know, folks who are, you know, no longer qualifying for MFIT may hit a threshold where they, you know, maybe deemed economically stable, but we know that that may not still be the case. So is there a situation where we're still getting folks falling through the system because they may be numerically deemed economic stable of reaching whatever threshold is set, but still... is unable to afford living with the current cost of living in parts of our community. So I just want to get a little bit more understan

OK, Commissioner Jefferson, let me just say that the hope is to have you, it's 3.50, to have you to end by 4 o'clock, because we have one more.

I'll keep this quick, then. I do appreciate that you have set goals that meet the current grant dollars and your current ability of fulfilling the program. I guess the question I have is, if an administration's goal is to move people from, let's say, a small town to a big city, the social safety net programs into a workforce. Have you seen the dollars move from, if they've been taken from this pot and put into workforce pot? Have you seen additional investments in such an activity? Commissioner Jevin's saying no. Thank you.

All right. Any questions? All right, so I think I had one quick question. But I think I'm going to pass. You can follow up later. All right, so there we go. I want to welcome Director Ross here to speak on veteran services. Please introduce yourself and proceed.

Yeah, I just wanted to thank you for the outreach and the education that you do to allow veterans, their families, and survivors to know what they are eligible for, what they have earned through their amazing service to our country. Before working at the county, I provided older adult services through the White Bear Lake area schools. And we provided education all the time. And when the VA benefit person from Ramsey County would come, it was a wonderful time for those individuals to collect. They would hear about potential things that they might be able to access in the future, be able to real

And before you do that, Dr. Ross, I'm just wondering, have we reached 100% of veteran homelessness? Have we reached the goal of 100% veteran homelessness?

Very close, though. Very, very close. Okay. Commissioner McMurtry. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Going back to the the percentage of veterans who report that they received the services that they need. One thing you mentioned was a hope that we're able to increase the level of participation in the survey. Out of curiosity, what is the current level of participation do we get from those veterans who we serve?

Thank you, Madam Chair. Let's see. I just want to first say thank you so much for being able to capture and work with residents so directly and intimately. Just having this resident voice is so important for folks. And on the topic around housing and homelessness that Chair Moran mentioned here, what has the role of our department been around the encampment and also doing direct engagement out on the ground to see if there are folks who are veterans or a family of veterans that could also be eligible for services? Sure.

OK. And is that a question that we're actively asking all the residents, too, that we're encountering? I believe former Commissioner Martinson said that the term, it's like, have you served in the military? Or are you a veteran? That there was a difference in how people responded, whether or not they identified as a veteran. And that you would have to say, have you served in the military?

Yeah. Yeah, that's great. And it's just really important as we think across one Ramsey County that we're doing that cross-training, but also being out in the community to help serve them. this department would be able to help leverage additional federal funds if folks were enrolled or didn't participate in those programs. We can leverage more funding and support for them if they have served in the military. Okay.

All right. Commissioner McMurtry and then David, did you want to?

Yes. So one of the questions that I have, you kind of led right into it, which is if part of your goal is to connect our local veterans to the services and the eligibility of things that they're eligible for, and you talked about a technical or IT kind of data issue with the federal government. I guess one of the questions that I was going to ask is I know that there have been Severe cuts in the VA staff positions at the federal level, some 40,000, I think. The last time I counted, it could be more since then. How is that impacting your ability to connect local veterans to the services that th

So they're quickly being returned, but are they quickly being denied?

Error rates are a big thing, so it's not unique to. I don't think they talk about those. OK. All right. Well, I really appreciate that context because, you know, we hear about different cuts and we hear how it's impacting people. And I think the idea that we continue to walk alongside our veterans to make sure, regardless of what is happening in the greater landscape, that you're helping them get what they've earned. So thank you for that.

Commissioner McArcher? I don't have a question. Okay, good. All right. Okay. Director Ross, you want to? Closes out or are we done?

All right. Well, we want to thank you, Director Ross, for your work and Thank you for your leadership. We so appreciate it, especially in the area of veterans. We appreciate you. So commissioners, members of the public, county manager, DCMs, DCM of the community service and support service team, I just want to thank you all. I want to thank the community services and support team, for their presentation today and for their commitment to improving the lives of Ramsey County residents by connecting them to benefits, housing, employment, and veteran services, and more. The closure of the encampme

The county operations service team will present their performance measures. So as a reminder, we want to encourage public participation in the budget process. You can participate by attending a public hearing, contacting your commissioner, or submitting a written comment to the chief clerk office. Instructions on how to participate and a full schedule of upcoming meetings is posted on the budget and finance page. of Ramsey County website. Thank you all for staying in this, participating in this, and being great partners and support for the residents of Ramsey County. Enjoy your evening and see