Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

¶¶ Thank you. Amen. Thank you. Thank you. 🎵 🎵 Call to order. The Ramsey County Board of Commissioners. Roll call, please. Chabin Singh. Here. McGuire. Here. McMurtry. Here. Miller. Here. Moran. Here. Zong. Here. And Ortega. Aye. Can we stand for the pledge of allegiance?

Ben Acknowledgement, Commissioner Moran. Yes.

Every community owns its existence and vitality to generations from around the world who contributed their hopes, dreams, and energy to making a 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 connections across all barriers of heritage and difference. We are standing on the ancestral land of the Dakota people. We want to acknowledge the Ojibwe, the Ho-Chunk, and the other nations of people who also call this place home. We pay respect to their elders past and present. So please take a moment to consider the treaties made by the tribal nations that entitle non-native people to live and work on traditional native lands. Consider the many legacies of violence, displacement, migration, and settlement that bring us together here today. And please join us in uncovering such truth at any and all public events.

Thank you. And I'll entertain a motion on the agenda of August 18, 2026. So moved. Second. Seeing no discussion, roll call.

Moran. Aye. Zhong. Aye. Jebensingh. Aye. McGuire. Aye. McMurtry. Aye. Miller. Aye. And Ortega. Aye.

Aye. I'll entertain the motions on the minutes of April, of August 11th, 2026. So moved.

Second.

See no discussion, roll call.

Moran. Aye. Zong. Aye. Devin Singh. Aye. McGuire. Aye. McMurtry. Aye. Miller. Aye. And Ortega.

Aye. We move right into the administrative items. Commissioner Moran.

OK, Mr. Chair, I would like to move Administrative Item 3, Capital Grant Agreement with Metropolitan Council for the Engineering Phase of the Metro Bronze Line Bus Rapid Transit Project. I would like to move Administrative Item 4, Personnel Complement Increase in the Financial Assistance Services Department for House Resolution 1, Implementation.

I'd like to pull that item. Second.

Seeing no discussion, roll call.

Moran.

Aye.

Zhong. Aye. Jevenson. Aye. McGuire. Aye. McMurtry. Aye. Miller. Aye. And Ortega.

Aye. Commissioner Hussain.

Yes. I'd like to move item number four, personal complement increase in the financial assistance services department for house resolution one implementation.

Second.

Yes, and we had quite a discussion and presentation on this last week, but because this is when we're voting on it, I thought I would ask the county manager just to give a high-level recap so we understand what we're voting on in case anybody else had any additional thoughts to share today.

Yeah, thank you, Commissioner. Members of the board, as Commissioner Jevenson indicated, last week the board received a board presentation from the Financial Assistance Services Department about the impending impacts of H.R. 1. We parsed out that the conversation was just primarily about the most immediate impacts and that there would be other conversations as we move into the 2027 supplemental budget discussions as well. Over the past couple years, the FAS department, in partnership with lots of areas around the county, has done a significant amount of improvement around things that we can control when it comes to serving our residents around these eligibility services. Despite all those efforts, we know that HR1 impacts are unique for us here in Ramsey County, particularly because we are part of the state of Minnesota's state supervised county administered system, where there are many things that we don't have control over as a result of us having to deliver the services when it comes to particularly SNAP and Medicaid. And so with some of the impending changes around medical assistance workload, We are going to be seeing some additional work due to expanded renewals and eligibility checks that we have to do. That's going to require additional FTEs. In addition, we have SNAP workload impacts as well. around additional increased case reviews, resident communications. The changes also require more manual notices, change processing, so basically a lot more administrative burden on behalf of the county. The full impact of what you're looking at today is 17 FTE. Those are going to be primarily eligibility specialists as well as some supervisor roles. We are looking to... get some contingency dollars so that they can begin the hiring. As they described last week, we are subject to the state hiring process and timelines, and we want to ensure that we're not at risk of being able to meet the needs of our community, as well as being in compliance of the work as well. So we need to get ahead of that a little bit. We'll discuss sort of the ongoing impacts of those investments as part of the 27 supplemental budget, as I but we do need some more immediate action of allowing for these FTEs and contingency funds to get us started immediately.

Harrison?

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I appreciate that recap. Just for clarification, is the goal to have all 17.5 positions filled by October of this year?

I will have to ask Director Ali to come up and answer his timing on the hires.

Good morning, Chair, good morning, County Manager, everyone. Commissioner McMurtry, so our plan is to have the 17 and a half FTEs that we are requesting, 12 plus one supervisor will be in Medicaid area for medical assistance, and four and a half will be in SNAP program. So our goal is to start hiring this October group so they would be ready by spring of next year because there is significant training time that's needed. So we wanted to make sure that people are ready or staff are ready when the program impact is going to start.

Thank you. That was my next question, is what did the training look like? How long would that take? So that's the reason of why we're taking this action now. So we've kind of done our due diligence. So by the time January 1 hits, we'll have people positioned and ready to go. Exactly. Yep. Gotcha. And for my understanding, what would the annual cost be? I know that this 363 is for... Is it just for the remaining of this year? Or what would be the annual cost moving forward for these additional positions?

So the physical impact to Commissioner McMurtry, our county manager will cover in detail in the next budget presentation. But this $363,000 is a quarter four impact for this year. Gotcha.

Commissioner McMurtry, the annual impact is just a little over $1 million. We mentioned it would be 0.25% property tax levy. Gotcha.

Thank you, Mr. Chair and County Manager Becker. I know you mentioned this last week already, too, or Director Ali. Remind the public again what the county is liable for if our payment error rates do not decrease and if we fail to decrease it as a county and as a state.

For Commissioner Chong, that's a very important question. SNAP and Medicaid under H.R.1 bring multiple policy changes, which increases liability in terms of the physical impact, in addition to operational impact, which is managing the caseload. So, for example, for SNAP, today there is something called SNAP payment error rate. which means how much the case is impacted by overpayment or underpayment. That's called snap payment error rate. As of today, there is no penalty associated with that error rate. But under H.R. 1, there is going to be a penalty if your payment error rate is above 6%. This is not looked for county only, it's statewide. So even if your county does better and do everything, this is looked at statewide. As of today, state of Minnesota standards 12 point something payment error rate, which is interpreted into 15% of the fiscal impact statewide.

And what is that cost number to Ramsey County?

Commissioner Zhang, our current estimate, this wouldn't be in effect until 2028. But our estimated increase would be about $9.2 million for the benefits cost shift that would come as a result of that error rate.

I just want to add that that is substantial when we're talking about just percentages on the levy. And I just want to share this with my constituents who are, of course, tracking our budget and conversations that these are unfunded mandates that we have to carry out. And as state law is written already, is that those cost shifts are borne and bared by between the county and the state. And so unless that changes, Ramsey County will face that amount in the next few years, in 28, if the overall statewide payment error rate does not go down or if there are not changes in the law. So I just wanted to name that $1 million here for the amount of workload that is coming and also to support staff. This is one of the reasons why I would support it now.

Thank you.

As a follow-up to that, County Manager Becker, I wonder if you can provide kind of an update on some of the efforts that we're taking as a county to reach out to our federal partners, our state partners, to one, get additional help on these potential costs that are coming our way under H.R. 1, as well as what efforts may be done on the federal level specifically to try to pause the the passage of this particular aspect of the bill.

Yeah, thank you, Commissioner McMurtry. We've been doing a lot, primarily in partnership with our statewide association, and I'll talk about that in a minute, but even around the farm bill itself, I know our government relations team and our FAS team over through the summer have connected directly with our federal delegation and also did have a chance to meet with Senator Bozeman's office as well, who I believe is the chair of the Ag Committee. And so we did forward a letter about these anticipated impacts signed by Commissioner Ortega and I. And we've worked closely with Julie Ring over at AMC to tell kind of the bigger statewide story. I mean, really, as I mentioned, we just cannot lose sight that we are one of 10 states that are really in a unique position in terms of how this bill impacts local governments, particularly counties, as we deliver these really critical services to our residents. I will say, as I said last week, We have a lot of work to do at the legislature this year. Upon my presentation to you all of our 2027 supplemental budget, we plan to connect with our Ramsey County delegation I just talked to Commissioner McGuire about that yesterday. We are going to talk a lot about what the state should focus on when it comes to this next legislative session. And for me, it's very simple. It's just really three things. We've been talking to AMC and to the metro counties as well about the same three things. It is the SNAP administrative funding. While we received a little bit of relief and one-time money for 2027. It is not going to be enough as we go look into the future. It is the benefit-cost share that Commissioner Zhang mentioned, and it is potential long-term support services funding changes. And so I know both of you, Commissioner McGuire and Commissioner McMurtry, serve on the AMC board. I talked to both of you yesterday about bringing that message forward on our behalf as well. So we need to protect our Ramsey County taxpayers. We need to protect our the challenges before us and really get very specific about the impacts of these three particular pressures while being very cognizant of a greater human service modernization, possible role responsibilities reset. Those are all really important conversations, but those are going to take a little bit longer to get through, and we're appreciative to have those conversations in partnership with our other counties. We really need to manage this unsustainable pressure that is coming on taxpayers in Minnesota, particularly the county. So is that helpful? Yep. Commissioner McMahon.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I'm just going to keep the conversation going about how important this issue is for us and how really devastating it is, this H.R. 1 that we did fight. Our federal elected officials fought this. We did not want this to pass. We knew that this would be a really bad bill for counties, especially and especially states like Minnesota, which, as we've been saying, is one of ten that are being affected in this really negative way. And so our federal representatives, Senators Smith and Klobuchar, both fought it, and our Congresswoman Betty McCollum, but we didn't have the votes, and elections do matter. And unfortunately, this is a federal legislation that is really going to continue to hurt counties. I mean, this is one way. This is one indication. And it's going to keep happening as we go on in these next years. The impacts are going to continue to be felt. So I'm so grateful to our county manager, to our government relations team. to all of us for our participation in our state and federal associations because we're combining, we're joining forces with other counties throughout our state and our country that are feeling the same pain and we're letting Washington, D.C. know that this is, how this is affecting us and hopefully we'll get some changes in the makeup of our Congress so we can deal with some of these really bad, this bad the impacts that this legislation is having on all of us. So I appreciate the work that we're doing to make it all work, and we just have to keep working on seeing what we can do to, if we can delay it, if we can work on on getting help from the state, and that's going to be our legislative work this year, as we've been saying. And so we just have a lot of work to do to try to diminish all the impacts that this H.R. 1 is having on all of us. So thank you for all your work. County Manager Becker and everyone in the county that's trying to make this This is least onerous to our residents.

Yeah, I just wanted to add to our conversation here the idea that, just a reminder, you know, we had a really robust conversation on this, so if folks are interested in the details, last week's presentation was quite thorough, and I appreciate staff presenting that to us so we had time to digest. And just a reminder, again, as my colleagues have said, H.R. 1 created numerous additional unfunded mandates, and this is just one of them. So this is just, and they're going to impact our Ramsey County budget and property taxes. And the issue with this one is that the federal and state rules and regulations and guidelines of how we are to administer these funds are still being presented to us in real time. So there's very little on ramp to implement these with any kind of fidelity. So I appreciate the forethought of County leadership for acting now so that we have some reasonable hope of being able to hire and train people and implement this in time This is not work that we had on our plate So when we adopted our biennial budget this came in too late for us to be able to really incorporate into our biennial budget which is why we have to address this now and It's an addition that's being forced on us by the federal government. And I encourage any property tax owners that are upset with this small increase now and what we anticipate to be larger increases later to talk to their congressional and legislative delegations to see if they can mitigate any of the harms by the cost being borne directly by the counties. We know property taxes are regressive. There are other ways to pay for these services. And I encourage folks to have their voices be heard at every level. And just to remind folks that elections matter. These are the kinds of questions you should be asking the candidates at every level as to how they're going to address how to pay for these important services to our community.

Thank you. Seeing no further discussion, roll call.

Moran?

Aye.

Zong? Aye. Chabin-Singh? Aye. McGuire? Aye. McMurtry? Aye. Miller? Aye. And Ortega?

Aye. Thank you. County connections?

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanted to just ensure that everyone knows that HR has implemented a new partner for our emergency assistance program recently. So New Vantage is our new EAP partner. They bring together comprehensive resources with a strong Minnesota connection. So having experienced Minnesota-based clinicians and a partner rooted in the community means employees and their families have access to support that understand the environment in which we work and live. And NuVantage provides support for the whole person from behavioral health and workplace concerns through parenting, caregiving, legal, and financial needs. It is a free service to use. It is a division of Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota. And it brings over 40 years of experience to our community. So there's going to be some information on Ramsey on our internet about that today. So I encourage employees to check out the new EAP partner that we have. In addition, I just wanted to call out that earlier this month, Ramsey County had the opportunity to host a panel titled Leadership During a Ransomware Event. The panel included our Chief Information Officer, Chetan Ganatra, the State of Minnesota Chief Information Security Officer, John Israel, and the Minnesota National Guard Director of Cyber Coordination, Brian Morgan. The discussion was moderated by our Chief Information Security Officer, Saeed Nassim. Panelists shared perspectives on leadership, communication, organizational resilience, and the importance of coordinated decision-making during cyber incidents. They discussed how government partners can share expertise, strengthen preparedness, and support one another when responding to evolving threats. This event definitely reflects Ramsey County's commitment to building really strong relationships both with the state of Minnesota and the Minnesota National Guard. I want to just thank our CIO, Chetan Ganatra, for really prioritizing that. That has really been helpful for us as a large organization. By planning together, we can strengthen these partnerships before an incident occurs so that we're better prepared. I know this fall we're going to be having a tabletop for our highest leaders around cybersecurity. You've been hearing more about it in the news. I know it is something that we've worked really hard on in partnership with others. And, you know, it is top of mind for our CIO and for our chief operation officer as well. So thank you for the team for creating those partnerships. And that's all I have today.

Thank you. Outside board and committee reports. Mai-Shung, you want to start us off?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to thank our elections team for handling an amazing primary election day last Tuesday. It's a lot of work for everyone. I know we're going to get some more details about it today and at our workshop, but just thanks, many thanks to the elections team for their great work. Also, our Ramsey County League of Local Governments, our collective action team, which is focusing on chloride reduction. It's amazing how many communities are working on the salt that we put on our roads because it really goes into our watersheds and really impacts our water quality. So we've been continuing that work. And there was a great meeting on Thursday morning on that. Also, Roseville had the ninth annual Roseville Volunteer Fair on Thursday night at their education center. I want to give a shout out to Do Good Roseville, who started this in the first place. It's now taken over by the Roseville School District and the city of Roseville. There's so many people that participate in this volunteer fair, so many. thanks to those people that helped put that on. The Rice-Larpenter Alliance had their summer block party on Saturday. So just lots of gratitude to the people that helped put that on and all the community members that participate. Also, yesterday was the opening of the advisory board applications. So if people are interested in serving on an advisory board, applications are now being accepted again for the next round. And so look on our website for the openings in which boards are available to have people selected. Also, on Wednesday, Rice Creek Boulevard is having their open house. This is to get feedback and learn about the upcoming Rice Creek Boulevard Road project. So that is from 5 to 7. And it is at the Marsden Conference Room in Ramsey County Public Works Building. And then at the end of this week, the AMC, our Association of Minnesota Counties, is having our strategic planning board retreat. And so I know Commissioner Murtry and I will be attending that. So thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yes, it's been a very busy week, but I know we've got a tight schedule, so I kind of want to just focus on elections. I know that that's our workshop later on today, but just to thank all of the different community organizations that are providing education and advocacy and who are driving any of their questions around concerns about this particular election to Ramsey County. That includes We Choose Us, Isaiah, a League of Women Voters, a number of local community groups. And I was able to attend a League of Women Voters education event last night in partnership with Many Faces, the White Bear Lake Rotary, and the White Bear Lake Historical Society, talking about who gets to vote and the history of that and what we can learn from our history about today. And some of the most important questions that came from that that we should all be thinking and figuring as we're going through our workshops today is, what does democracy need from us? And every generation must decide whether it will expand or contract freedom. And these are some of the bedrocks of how we interact with that. And because we are leaders who are directly involved with the administration of election, it's above and beyond following the rules and making sure that we complete everything accurately. I think that that is definitely our highest operational excellence standards that we must achieve every single day. But it is also bringing our community along and trusting that we are doing that work, showing our work, and making them feel confident that their vote matters, their vote counts, and that we will find a way for them to safely exercise that right. I also just wanted to say that I sit on the elections canvassing board and were able to certify the primary vote. It was the highest non-presidential primary in Minnesota and Ramsey County. So thank you to all of community who came out to exercise that right. And also to really thank our communication staff, our election staff, everybody who has been out making sure that information is readily available and to continue to encourage, I'm sure we'll be echoing this throughout the day, but encouraging everyone to follow election updates and information from Ramsey County directly to get the most accurate and up-to-date information. That includes being active on our website. You can sign up for an elections newsletter, following on social media. And then I believe we have a new vamp of some of those websites with FAQs and also some chances for groups to listen in and have their questions directly answered from our team. So More to come on that. But one, thank you for community for demanding that of us. And thank you for our teams for rising to the extra, extra, extra, above and beyond that this moment requires. I hear from community how much it's appreciated. So thank you very much. That's all I got.

Chair Wilson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I echo everything that's been said in regards to the elections. I know we have our workshop after this, and the work that we're doing to ensure that everyone has accurate information and they know that our elections are safe is something that will be important for us to continue to convey to our residents, not only during the primaries, but definitely leading up to the general election in November 2021. I have just a couple of things that I want to highlight. Last Thursday, I had a chance to meet with the CEO of the Minnesota State Fair, along with a number of other electeds, including Representative Finke, Senator Umova Baden, Council Member Coleman, and Council Member Mielke, as well as Ramsey County's government affairs team and the city of St. Paul's government affairs team, to discuss a few of the... the concerns that residents who live around the State Fair have had over the last few years in regards to noise and pollution and parking and all the things that we know that involves the Minnesota State Fair. And so it was great to be able to connect with Renee and the team at the State Fair to have them listen directly to what we've been hearing from constituents and start discussing solutions so that we have a state fair that's accessible to everyone and also is not fully interrupting the lives of the people who live around the state fair since it is in a neighborhood. The other event I want to highlight, as Commissioner McGuire mentioned, Rice-Larpin Alliance had their summer block party this weekend. had a chance to attend that. And the work that they do at Rice-Larpner Alliance is amazing, because it not only speaks to how they're providing resources and different services to the businesses along the corridor, but it speaks to a larger renaissance that I think that we are seeing along Rice Street, coupled with the work that I know that we are doing as a county to completely reconstruct the road, but also looking at how we can build a community that's further connected and resilient heading into the future. And so just great, huge kudos to Kim O'Brien and the team at Rice-Larpter Alliance. And then the last thing that I will highlight is coming up this Sunday is the 11th Annual Central Honors Philando. Central Honors Philando celebrates the life of Philando Castile and raises money for Philando Castile's scholarship and brings the community together to connect, to collaborate. and honestly to still heal after 10 years. It's been 10 years since Philando was killed, and so this will be taking place at Central High School from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m. this Sunday, so those who want to attend and just continue to celebrate the life and legacy of Philando are invited. Thank you. Thank you. Kelly?

Last week I attended the Minnesota Association of soil and water conservation districts area for budget committee board that meeting that I'm on So we were approved the 20 the preliminary 2027 budget That proposed budget includes an annual membership dues of $500, which is a $50 increase from the current 450 The preliminary budget will now go on to the full Area 4 membership for its approval at its September 22nd meeting. On Thursday, I had the honor of welcoming community members, staff, and partners to the grand reopening of the Ramsey County Public Health Center at its new location in Maplewood. So this new location is really neat. It's big. It's beautiful. It's easier for residents to connect with the important services they need. It's across the street from a transit center, Maplewood Service Center, and our Maplewood Library. So I'm pretty excited about that. Commissioner Jevonsingh already mentioned the Kevinstein Board, but I will mention the fun thing we got to do yesterday. Commissioner Jevonsingh and I, we had the great morning touring the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 49 Training Center in Hinkley. So the site is nearly 400 acres, provides hands-on training for apprentices and experienced operating engineers, and trains more than 5,000 local 49er members each year for its careers that help build and maintain our roads, bridges, utilities, clean energy projects, housing, and other critical infrastructures. So we learned about their apprentice and training models, toured the facility, the grounds, and then we got to operate some heavy equipment, which was the funnest part. I got to bring Ella and Tee with, and it was my son's ninth birthday, so he was able to operate some big machinery on his birthday. I learned very quickly that it's a good thing I'm not a heavy machine operator, okay? But it was really a fun experience, but it also gave us a whole new appreciation for the precision the coordination the patients and also the attention to detail that and safety to operate these massive Pieces of equipment so that was pretty neat and really appreciate that Quickly upcoming I have my in district hours this week. I will be at Maplewood library tomorrow from 1030 to 12 p.m. And then Thursday

white bear lake from 12 30 to 2 and north st paul from 3 to 4 30. so with that i will be done meet you thank you yeah mr chair um i'm gonna spend some time on just one subject that i've been just spending the whole week and will continue to meet with people around homelessness and i just want to speak to that because we have been thrust into kind of like in emergency urgency after the closure of the encampment with really a huge focus on that piece of the whole continuum. And the continuum is definitely bigger than individuals who are in large numbers who are part of the encampment. And to focus a little bit on also family homelessness, where we have families who are homeless, who have been homeless, who are on a waiting list. And when emergencies like this happen, all the focus reverts from the waiting list that people have been on to respond to the urgency of the moment, which is not always the best way to function as a government entity. But in general, it's not always the best way of focusing. So I just want to share some Ramsey County-like, at a high level, some executive summaries of the things that we are doing here in Ramsey County. And just to state that Ramsey County has long recognized that homelessness is one of the most complex public policy challenges facing our community. It affects individuals and families experiencing housing instability while also influencing public health, behavior health, public safety, economic vitality, and the demand placed on many public funded systems. So recent local decisions, again, around the enclosure and the encampment has created immediate operational challenges for service providers. and public agencies across Brampton counties. As individuals and families, as individuals were displaced, there has been understandable pressure to expand emergency responses and redirect resources to address the urgent needs. But I want to state that Ramsey County will continue working alongside cities, nonprofit organizations, health care providers, and community partners to respond compassionately and responsibly to those immediate challenges. But at the same time, we must recognize an important reality. That our financial, operational, and human resources are not finite. We don't have just money that can go everywhere and be everywhere continuously. They are not finite. Every investment represents a choice. And our long-term success depends on ensuring that urgent operational demands do not come at the expense of the long-term strategies that reduce homelessness over time. This is the leadership challenge that is before us and before Ramsey County. We must respond to today's needs while continuing to build tomorrow's system. And so I believe, and many of us believe here at Ramsey County, that Heading Home Ramsey strategic plan provides the framework for achieving that balance. Its vision that homelessness should be rare, brief, and non-recurring requires more than emergency responses. It requires a coordinated continuum of care that prevents homelessness whenever possible, respond effectively when homelessness occurs, and create lasting pathway to stable housing. And so as we go into heading into a school year where we have children, I'm going to speak for our babies, for our children who are going into a school year where the pressure of not being stable, Many families are either couch-hopping, living in their vehicles, if they have a vehicle, but also often find themselves compromising the conditions of those families. And so as we continue this conversation around encampment, that is not the only issue that is before us. And we have to support our children. We have to support our families. We have to look through the whole continuum of care and invest wisely and do that in partnership with others because we cannot do this work alone. And it's a call for all to come together collectively, whether you are with the business sector, philanthropic sector, the continued relationship we have with all, including community-based organizations, the city of St. Paul, to work more closely to make sure that we are using our dollars wisely, we are being effective in what we're doing and how we do the work that we do, We know that this is much bigger than an account. And it is impacting an abundance of people in so many different ways. And it's the work of the county, along with partners, to really be strategic in the work that we do and how we do it. And so you will most likely hear me talk a lot about this, because we have to move away from the sense of, urgencies in focusing in one direction where there is this this the work that needs to be done is huge and that goes really along the continuum of care that we are doing in the work through heading home Ramsey County and so I just wanted to bring us back to this subject area because I This is heavy work for so many people who have been doing this for years. And so we've got to be smart. Trauma-informed practices. We have to look at best practices. We have to look maybe to even other states and entities that's doing this work and doing this work in a way that is getting the results that we believe that we need, and that is to stabilize. Stabilize. to house people for long term and not just for the immediacy, for an immediate result. Because sometimes that's just where It doesn't always get the best results when we respond that way. So I look forward to talking more with my members here on the board, talking more with you, county manager, staff, those who have been in the trenches, those who have been impacted every single day about this system. And let's look at removing arbitrary numbers, like 120 days that a family can be house be supported? It's an arbitrary number that we have put in place for a very long time. Is it working? So what is the data telling us? What is the facts telling us? And let's be very strategic around how we can do our best work through a very strategic plan, along with others. And that's it for me, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to respond to one thing, Commissioner Moran. We are scheduled to have a board workshop on heading home Ramsey to go over their strategic plan on September 22. So that's just right around the corner. In addition, I know you and I had a conversation yesterday. We're going to be preparing some additional information for the board around family homelessness as well. So I'll be working with Director Wilkins on that right now. So Commissioner Moran asked some really good questions, and I think we need to just put all the information and the work we have to date and where we are seeing gaps in one place. I know there is a family... shelter working group, and we'll align with them as well. So appreciate you calling that out and all things that I'm tracking as well. Thank you, Commissioner Moran.

Thank you. I want to echo your comments, Commissioner Moran. I think that we need to keep our eyes on the continuum because it's not just the homeless camps, but it is families. It's the young folks. Yeah. I mean, they're 16 and 17 years old. We need to address the entire continuum. All our partners should be The table is heading home, Ramsey. And that's where all our partners, including the city, should be putting their energies and resources to deal with the continuum. We need to be disciplined, even if others are not. The county needs to lead and be disciplined. Following this meeting, we have a regional rail authority. Then we have a housing development authority meeting with Commissioner Jean. Then in the morning still, we have a board workshop preparation for elections in 2026, Commissioner McMurtry. And then at 1.30 is the board workshop on Minnesota African American Family Preservation Commissioner Miller. We are adjourned. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.