Remarks by Tara Jebens-Singh
71 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 3 of 3
- Play at 37:54
“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?”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 38:13
“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.”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 39:21
“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.”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 52:45
“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.”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 54:49
“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.”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 1:01:50
“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…”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 1:16:21
“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…”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 1:17:46
“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.”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 1:28:45
“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…”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 1:56:07
“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…”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 1:57:31
“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.”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 2:03:24
“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.”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 2:04:08
“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?”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 2:05:09
“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?”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 2:27:43
“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.”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 2:29:09
“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…”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 2:54:16
“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.”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 3:05:05
“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…”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 3:19:17
“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…”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 3:21:39
“So they're quickly being returned, but are they quickly being denied?”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 27, 2026
- Play at 3:21:54
“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.”
Board of Commissioners · Aug 27, 2026