Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

County Board of Commissioners, roll call, please.

Aye. Can we stand for the Pledge of Allegiance?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Land Acknowledgement Commission is saying

Every community owes its existence and vitality to generations from around the world who contributed their hopes, dreams, and energy to making the history that led to this moment. Some were brought here against their will, some were drawn to leave their distant homes in hope of a better life, and some have lived on this land since time immemorial. Truth and acknowledgement are critical to building mutual respect and connection across all barriers of heritage and difference. We are standing on the ancestral lands of the Dakota people. We want to acknowledge the Ojibwe, the Ho-Chunk, and the oth

Thank you. I'd like to entertain a motion on the agenda, September 1st, 2026.

Aye. I'll entertain a motion on the minutes of August 25th, 2026. So moved. Second. SEE NO DISCUSSION, ROLL CALL.

AYE. I HAVE ADMINISTRATIVE ITEMS. AND I HAVE COMMISSIONER SINGH.

I move the following administrative items. Item number three, settlement agreement in Felicia Marie Wilson versus Ramsey County, court file number 23, CB01309. Number four, joint powers agreement with the state of Minnesota for election recount services. Item five, fund transfer from Boy's Totem Town and Maplewood properties to redevelopment implementation project.

Item number six, safe and secure courthouse initiative grant for Ramsey County. Item number seven, joint powers agreement with the Metropolitan Emergency Services Board.

Any further discussion? Seeing none, roll call.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to pull five fund transfer from Foley's Totem Town and Maplewood Properties to a redevelopment implementation project.

I just wanted to give an opportunity for the county manager and for our CD director to come and explain a little bit more about this particular item.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just have a question about the $75,000 from Boys Totem Town. What does that mean from that account, or what does that account entail?

Mm-hmm. Well, Mr. Chair, I would just like to say that, you know, of that 75,000, it just seems like, you know, there hasn't been much movement at all since 21, actually, and I didn't even know that there was a budget for it, set aside for it. So that's... obviously before my time, but I think just given that there was a budget set aside that we could have done the engagement that's needed because I'm bombarded with questions about touring it or different ideas about it every single year and monthly right now too. It's a property that the county owns directly. We're not waiting on any other la

I appreciate that. The point I'm also getting to also is that we should be doing the engagement side of it too. Having had this information already that wrapped up last year already, and I just haven't seen a plan to do the engagement or the prioritization of this at all. And also with our Building Stronger Together plan, we literally are using millions each year to just maintain this site. It's well maintained. The neighbors are happy with the county being a neighbor. But I would say that we really are just maintaining the site and it's in the millions.

Let me just add that during 21, we had a little thing called COVID. So community engagement was not something we could move at the time. But to your point, I think we're kick-starting it now and we'll get it going. Commissioner Moran and Miller.

Any further questions? Discussion? Thank you. Roll call.

Any questions, discussion? Commissioner Singh?

Yes, I'm curious, what has been the initial response from the partners in knowing that this modernization and re-look at the JPAs is underway?

Well, and can I just follow up and say that I, having been in community while some of these different, well, at least when White Bear kind of tipped in, joined the centralized 911. And I do know that there had been times in community, to your point of being stable now, There had been, you know, I remember a League of Women Voters report that had studied whether or not a centralized 911 would be, that was back in the day. And there was concerns and a lot of discussion. And now that we have everybody on board and have been there for quite some time, the success of this and the need to modernize

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a question around for this modernization in the JPA. Will there be consideration or conversations about at least the capital improvements, such as I believe in your last budget, You did flag that there are dispatch radio consoles that will need to be upgraded for the next generation, and it's looking upwards of 13.1 million. Is that included in this conversation?

Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Director Pass. It's been a few months since I've seen you. We had a great meeting at the Ramsey County League of Local Governments. I was touring our Emergency Communications Center, and I was, of course, running to the meeting, and I heard. I broke my kneecap at that meeting, but Director Pass was right there with ice and everything I needed. So if you're going to get hurt, do it near an emergency communications center.

So you didn't have to call 911. I did not have to call 911.

We were there. They were in good care of me. I stayed for the meeting. I was driven to urgent care. But yes, they did a great job. Thank you for all of that. Still recovering, and it's good. But we appreciate you taking the time to give the Ramsey County League a great tour. People are so impressed. And as we know, they're all impacted, and they're all now going to be in joint powers agreements with you. So thank you for all of that work. A question I'm just curious about is the amount that they're contributing to this effort going to be about the same or will it be, I mean, sometimes it's goi

She was right there. I appreciate that. It was so great. I felt very cared for.

OK, thank you. And thank you for that. And just to let you know, just to remind those of us that are on our Association of Minnesota Counties, and I serve on the Public Safety Committee, that this is one of our number one issues, is the statewide system. So I know that every county is working on that. So it's risen to the top, one of the top issues that I think AMC is really working on. So thank you. Appreciate that.

Thank you very much. Thank you. Have a good day. County Connections.

Any questions? Discussion? Thank you. Okay, let's begin. Maishan, you want to start us off? Outside committee reports? Board and committee reports?

May you come back? Thank you. Yeah, I'll go, then we can come back. Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll just start off with this morning, there was a back-to-school workshop for the Roseville area schools district it was I was lucky to be at the very beginning of it we had to leave a little early to come to this board meeting but it's just just a kudos and congratulations and gratitude to all of our our teachers in our schools that are you know starting a new school year it was a great There was a great welcome by our superintendent, Jenny Lake, and the school board was all there, and

Yes. Well, I'm going to give more of a broader message today. Last week, as part of the work with the Direct Care and Treatment Advisory Committee, I represent the Association of Minnesota Counties in that work. It was the second of three tours. We went to the Minnesota Sex Offender Program facility. Last week, we were at St. Peter, their forensics facility. And then we'll be heading to the Anoka Metro Regional Treatment Center. This is part of broad work that is continually part of my work day, whether that is meeting with our staff, front level staff who are working Our programs, directors w

Thank you. Commissioner McMurray, please.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to highlight a couple of things from last week. Last Tuesday, I had a chance to participate in a town hall at the Lynn Blumstein Care Center in my district in the Como Park neighborhood. Myself, Senator Umunba Baden, and Councilmember Molly Coleman, Ward 4, all provided updates to residents as well as answered their questions. A lot of great conversation and questions around A lot of the decisions and topics that we've been dealing with here at the county, including questions around Medicaid and SNAP and how that's going to impact the residents there, as well

Couple of thoughts. I remember visiting. those homes, tiny homes when they first came out over 10 years ago. Very impressive. Quite frankly, I thought they were very comfortable inside. But I think the critical piece is you're the chair of Heading Home Ramsey. That's really the table where we need to bring all our partners, the city and the community organizations to think outside the box and be more creative. instead of repeating the same formula over and over. So you are chairing the table now that we should be doing this. Otherwise, all the different government organizations are going to be

So we'll have to add that to our legislative package to get $8 million from the state. Get something. We can do that. Yeah, when we chair that committee. So we can work on that.

You know what? I'm going to be a little. $8 million is fine. The question is what you do with it. That's right. At the end of the day. Otherwise, $1 million is just another number on a piece of paper. That's right. Thank you for that.

I was just going to say, Commissioner Moran, that NAMI Ramsey County has their number one initiative. They've been doing research and done a lot of site visits around the supportive housing, including St. Cloud. And I know that the new NAMI Minnesota executive director comes from a supportive housing background. So I'm guessing that there are a number of partners in this work along creating that continuum of care. making sure we're inviting all of the stakeholders to the table because I think you've made a compelling case. NAMI is a great organization, too.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So last week has been all about transit for me. So I've been meeting with both residents who live near the bridge at Johnson Parkway and Phelan Boulevard, the real life co-op, as well as residents who want to see us advance transit in Ramsey County. So on top of that, I recently met with the Met Council Transportation Chair, Council Member Reva Chambliss, because she also received a lot of public testimony about this, and she was doing her due diligence as well and meeting with the project team. So I participated in the meeting. And what I learned, and for all of us here,

Thank you. We'll take a five-minute break. We're only a little bit behind schedule at 10, well, past 10.30 now, but we have a closed meeting regarding TCAP Rice Creek Commons A, and then at 1 o'clock, we have the Budget Committee of the Hall, and we'll be looking at health and wellness service teams chaired by Commissioner Moran. Is that right? That's one o'clock here. Okay. I saw her go, what's the matter? Did you not know that? We are adjourned.