Remarks by Mary Jo McGuire
68 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 2 of 3
- Play at 5:10:43
“That was my question. You do everything. And our community loves libraries for all the things that you do. I really appreciate our county manager talking and you working on any location of services for any of the things. We used to have bookmobiles. I think St. Paul does. We may do. But, you know, we have library, I think we have bookshelves at our service center in Maplewood. Or, you know, I mean, I know that the libraries, maybe that was just when the library in Maplewood was under construction. But, you know, all the things that you're looking at to really serve our residents I think is…”
Board of Commissioners · Sep 3, 2026
- Play at 5:27:00
“Thank you, Madam Chair. I always try to get all my things in one, but then I always think of something else. And thank you for this. And I just thought we might want to give a shout out to our advisory board of our library, who we do appoint. And I'm guessing, I'm hoping that they are really helping contribute to the conversations about how we are providing the resources that our community needs. And I'm going to ask if you want to, you can comment on that. But then also, just to say that, We talk about us being one door, and I remember hearing this, how amazed I was that sometimes our…”
Board of Commissioners · Sep 3, 2026
- Play at 7:03
“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.”
Board of Commissioners · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 47:52
“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.”
Board of Commissioners · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 48:23
“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…”
Board of Commissioners · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 49:30
“She was right there. I appreciate that. It was so great. I felt very cared for.”
Board of Commissioners · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 50:23
“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.”
Board of Commissioners · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 1:04:15
“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…”
Board of Commissioners · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 1:35:00
“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.”
Board of Commissioners · Sep 1, 2026
- Play at 40:27
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
Board of Commissioners · Aug 28, 2026
- Play at 41:55
“That's a really good thing. If it can be prevented. I think some people think people just either die or they walk away from their home and it's just sitting there. There's generally a reason that people are not able to make those payments. I appreciate the pre-forfeiture work that you're doing to try to help residents with that. So thank you for that. And then the other, on the restrictive covenants, I love the numbers that were going from 13% to 100%. I mean, this is a really good goal. And I know you have a huge effort in that area. And I just wanted, my question is, you answered part of it…”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 28, 2026
- Play at 44:29
“No, I really appreciate that. I know that different events, and I know there are organizations that support this work. I don't want to get the word out. I'm thinking League of Women Voters. I think a lot of civic organizations who can put this word out as well, because I'm guessing that people, when they hear about this and they know about it, they want to change it. I mean, we just sold my house I grew up in, and we didn't know there was a covenant on it. We don't check our deeds until we're selling. So we were mortified, of course. There was a covenant on there that there had been. And…”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 28, 2026
- Play at 45:29
“That's great. We certainly want to help with that legislatively. Great. Thank you. County manager.”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 28, 2026
- Play at 46:19
“Thank you. No, I'm just glad we're doing that kind of work. And we just want to keep promoting it. So yes, thank you.”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 28, 2026
- Play at 1:13:11
“Thank you, Ben. I love that question. So, yeah, we're all interested in that. And I'm guessing there's a few that people are searching a lot. There's a couple, yeah. Yeah, and thank you, Director Lindsay, for all your work and your teams. I've been, we've appreciated your work with commissioners because we are good ambassadors in the community and we do newsletters and I'm always struck by the fact that I do a digital newsletter, but I have a fair number of people in my district that are still not going on a website or they're not accessing. They probably are looking at their emails, so they…”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 28, 2026
- Play at 1:18:15
“And I'm glad to hear that, and I want to keep encouraging that, that we do use those community newsletters, use our newsletters, use, yes, all of our communities have those resource centers in their lobbies. Our libraries do, but our cities all do. And if we make sure that we have our up-to-date, any county, it doesn't have to be a huge booklet, but it can be a... any kind of a resource in those lobbies and things. And so I just want to encourage us to keep doing that because our cities do want content and they are willing to post all the things that Ramsey County does.”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 28, 2026
- Play at 1:39:57
“For you, two. Two? I've got to run downstairs. That's going to take me longer than two.”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 28, 2026
- Play at 2:18:46
“Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. I'm going to add my gratitude to the good work that you're doing. I have heard that in at my statewide and national tables as well that people are not able to get insurance for cybersecurity. And I am really proud to say that you're able to get it and at a discount is really commendable. I just want to thank you and your whole department for all the good work that you are doing and for being available to be at those tables because I think it really helps us learn from each other and to really work together with others. So thank you for all of that. I also just…”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 28, 2026
- Play at 2:21:48
“Which is something I think we all assumed was happening anyway. And when it wasn't, it was, oh my goodness. So thank you. Thank you for all of your work and your whole team. I really appreciate it.”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 28, 2026
- Play at 2:55:50
“Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm so grateful for all of your work, Director Krueger, and your whole team. We are proud of our buildings and we Appreciate the upkeep that you have because we want our buildings to look good and feel good and you know be be sustainable So thank you for that. I appreciate my colleague Commissioner Miller bringing up district energy. It was one of my questions as well to see if we're using that and those of us that serve on our Recycling and Energy Board, you know, we're gonna be asking questions about sustainability and I I appreciate that you brought up the…”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 28, 2026
- Play at 2:57:51
“Okay, thank you. And I'm just grateful that we do have new buildings, that we are looking at the sustainability of them with the solar and with all of those things, which I think is a value of ours. And it brings me to my last question for this time is because now we are going to be 100% – able to collect organics and food scraps in our county starting in February or March when St. Paul will come on board. Then I'm hoping, and I'm just putting this out there, that all of our buildings will be outfitted with our within organics, with our food scraps, recyclables, and landfill bins. Because I…”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 28, 2026
- Play at 3:00:12
“A big initiative to get to it. We're happy to work with you and, of course, environmental health and recycling and energy. We work with all the haulers. They are all conditioned to do this work, too. Thank you. We need a timeline. I just want to make sure that we're online for that.”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 28, 2026
- Play at 3:37:36
“Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, CFO Coover. This was a great job on your first time presenting to us. I think it's the first time in this setting. So thank you for all this good information. My question is around the procurement process, and let me know if there should be a question at another point. But we've talked... at other times about the importance of our procurement and really making our process much more available to minority-owned businesses and our diverse vendors and things. And so how is that going? And I don't know if there's a, I know we only could pick three…”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 28, 2026
- Play at 3:40:46
“I really appreciate that. And thank you. I'm glad it's countywide. And then, of course, the question is, if everybody's doing it, is anybody doing it? You know, if everybody thinks everybody else is doing it. So at some point, the countywide... effort will come up. And maybe you'll address that, Deputy County Manager Kutza. I'm not sure she's a director.”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 28, 2026
- Play at 3:41:31
“Great. Thank you. I just wanted to know when to look for that. Thank you for all that work. Yeah.”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 28, 2026