Remarks by Debbie Goettel
37 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 2
- Play at 7:00
“Debbie Gotell, Hennepin County Commissioner, District 5. Irene Fernando, Commissioner, District 2.”
Committee · Oct 8, 2026
- Play at 53:29
“So I will thank you also for your service.”
Committee · Oct 8, 2026
- Play at 1:02:42
“Commissioner Gautel. Thank you. Thank you. I will try to be brief. I want to go back to where you opened up and I want to talk about the protection of staff. First of all, thank you for joining us. it matters. And it bothers me because who's going to want to take these jobs if this is where you're at? Also, who's going to run a run for office when you're targeted? You're targeted. We are all targeted. I remember the people who handcuffed themselves to your front door. This is something that I, this is a whole new ball game that happened. And I've been a public servant for 22 years. And this…”
Committee · Oct 8, 2026
- Play at 2:10:34
“Thanks. I want to start with the budget book, and I want to talk about pages 4 and 5, and I want to make a blanket comment that I made yesterday as well. I want to talk about all the great work, and I know the sheriff had something to do with it too, so I wanted to re-mention this again today about all the different areas that we work on disparity elimination. And I said this, and I still believe it, this is some of the best visible examples that we actually have in our community and helps the people most in need. And so I just want to say that. I also want to point out just a couple of…”
Committee · Oct 8, 2026
- Play at 2:12:45
“Well, that's really helpful with the suicide watch that you already do and trying to make sure that you get enough visibility to whatever it is. This is just one more great tool. So I just want to say thank you for that. And I love the fact that you're requiring transitional housing and housing stability as some of our folks leave the jail, so I appreciate that. And then on the environment and climate action, the HSCO, Public Safety Service Headquarters, is designed to operate at a net zero energy. I just wanted to state that because I think that's something without shouting out, and we're…”
Committee · Oct 8, 2026
- Play at 2:15:58
“Nobody. OK. I do want to thank you, too, for another piece that you do that goes without a lot of fanfare. And that's the work that you do around technology scams with our seniors and vulnerable people. There's so many of them that you hear. You hear all the time about the dollars that somebody loses that were scammed out of them. And I know that you are trying to be out in front of this. You're trying to get in front of those people and talk about those very programs. I know you've sent me information on them, and I've passed it on, so I just want to take it to some of our town halls. So…”
Committee · Oct 8, 2026
- Play at 1:40
“I just want to make another comment, too, around this about, you know, we're really jumping into this with our libraries through the Ready to Read program and try to help kids. And this is such a great tool for these kiddos to have, too, because once we get them hooked into loving books and everything like this, I mean, sometimes it takes the right book. But if a kid can figure it out and all of a sudden the light bulb goes on, then they're a reader for a lifetime.”
Committee · Oct 6, 2026
- Play at 5:06
“Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the Administration Operations and Budget Committee of Tuesday, October 6th. We begin the agenda here today with minutes from the previous meeting of September 22nd, 2026. May I have a motion to approve?”
Committee · Oct 6, 2026
- Play at 5:22
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
Committee · Oct 6, 2026
- Play at 8:13
“Colleagues? I think we're just happy to see the great collaboration between the different counties and entities. Thank you for the hard work. I'll ask if there's any callers on the line.”
Committee · Oct 6, 2026
- Play at 8:28
“Okay, so I'm going to, while we still leave that line open, I'm going to welcome anyone in person who might be here for the public hearing. You'll have three minutes to speak. Please step up to the podium. On the podium, there's three lights. The green light starts your time. The yellow light illuminated. You have 30 seconds then. Then you need to conclude your comments. The red light indicates your time's up. Is there anyone here in person who would like to come speak at the open public forum? Anyone? I'll check again then. Is there anybody calling in?”
Committee · Oct 6, 2026
- Play at 9:10
“Seeing no one who wishes to comment on this to close, I will ask for a motion to close. Moved and closed. All those in favor signify by aye. Aye. Motion closed. Thank you. We'll move on to item three, which is new business. I'd like to have you move items 3A and 3B together. Do I have a motion for those?”
Committee · Oct 6, 2026
- Play at 9:32
“They're very similar. 3A is an agreement with the city of Waysetta to purchase law enforcement and terrorism prevention equipment starting 7-15 of 26 through 12-31 of 26 and not to exceed of just under $10,000. Item 3B is an agreement with the city of Richfield to purchase new law enforcement and terrorism prevention equipment starting 7-15-26 through 12-31 of 26 and just for a little bit of over $12,000. Is there comments or questions? Anybody want any background? All those in favor signify by aye. Aye. Motion carries. Those two items pass. Item 3C is an agreement with the Task Unlimited…”
Committee · Oct 6, 2026
- Play at 11:48
“Wow, that's great news. Any comments or questions? Go ahead, Commissioner Green.”
Committee · Oct 6, 2026
- Play at 12:15
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
Committee · Oct 6, 2026
- Play at 15:56
“Any other comments or questions? This is a good day. All those in favor, signify by aye. Aye. Motion carries. We move on to the addendum part of the agenda. 3F is to direct the county administrator to explore options for the provision of medical services in county-operated correctional facilities offered by Commissioner Conley. Commissioner Conley. I will move it. Second.”
Committee · Oct 6, 2026
- Play at 17:45
“Comments and questions? Commissioner Lundy, then I'll go down the line.”
Committee · Oct 6, 2026
- Play at 21:33
“Anyone else? I have just a quick thing. I just want to note, too, that along with the escalating costs, or also the acuity has changed in what we're seeing, too. And I'm, like my colleagues up here have always spoke, I'm looking for better models of care. And I think there are better models of care that serve us better than what we have right now, and perhaps that has better and different outcomes. So thank you, Commissioner Connolly, for bringing this. Other comments or questions? All those in favor signify by aye. Aye. Motion carries. Item 3G is to establish the Hennepin County Committee on…”
Committee · Oct 6, 2026
- Play at 26:25
“Well, I want to thank you, too, Commissioner, because you were the lead author. And we were filtering in through you and through the office. So I just want to thank you for that. I wanted to go back to even some more background in this, what people might not know. When I came on this board, I mean, it was right when we started the child well-being program. and there was across the country there was these outcries, and there were lots of lawsuits across the country. We were the only one, the only one that got a consent decree. Otherwise, everybody had to pay up, and I mean it was millions and…”
Committee · Oct 6, 2026
- Play at 31:30
“There might be a wordsmith in there that we could – we have time to do a wordsmith.”
Committee · Oct 6, 2026
- Play at 33:27
“Other comments? Any others? All those in favor of the R1 signify by aye. Excuse me? Progress. You want to progress it?”
Committee · Oct 6, 2026
- Play at 33:45
“It's been moved and seconded to the progress of the R1. All those in favor signify by aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. This item is progressed. And that concludes our agenda. Thank you, everybody, for the great feedback. Appreciate it.”
Committee · Oct 6, 2026
- Play at 0:43
“I'm going to wait till the crowd moves. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the Administration Operations and Budget Committee of Tuesday, August 25th, 2026. We start our agenda, item one, with there's going to be two presentations. The first presentation today is our reoccurring 2026 budget update. I'm going to hand this over to Administrator Wetland to kick things off. Thank you.”
Committee · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 11:05
“Thank you. I really appreciate the estimated cost shifts detail here on the sheet that we have. That's very helpful. I think we always wanted to get closer to a real actual number so we know what the headwinds are ahead of us in this future. I'll turn it over and see if colleagues have questions and comments. I'll start with Commissioner Fernando and then Commissioner Connolly.”
Committee · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 23:12
“Commissioner Adelson, did you want to speak? Okay. No, thank you again and appreciate that. So we're going to move on to item 1B, which is our second presentation for today. It's an annual update on Hennepin History Museum from the Executive Director, John Crippen. Before we jump into the presentation, I'd like to take a couple of minutes to recognize the key role that John played in the county's semi-quincentennial planning team, helping to design and implement programming aligned with the county's adopted themes of the power of peace and unfinished revolutions. He has been instrumental in…”
Committee · Aug 25, 2026