Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

county board of commissioners roll call please chevin singh mcguire mcmurtry miller moran zhong and ortega hi can we stand for the pledge of allegiance

I'll entertain the land acknowledgment. Commissioner Miller.

Thank you, Chair. Every community owes its existence and vitality to generations from around the world who contributed their hopes, their 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 hopes of a better life. and some have lived on this land since time immemorial. Truth and acknowledgment 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 other nations of people who also call this place home. We pay respects to their elders, past and present. 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 truths at any and all public events.

Thank you. I'll entertain a motion on the agenda of June 23rd, 2026. So moved.

Second.

See no discussion. Roll call.

Miller.

Aye.

Moran.

Aye.

Zhang. Aye. Jevin Singh. Aye. McGuire.

Aye.

McMurtry. Aye. And Ortega.

Aye. I'll entertain a motion on the minutes of June 16th, 2026. So moved.

Second.

Any discussion? Seeing no discussion, roll call.

Miller?

Aye.

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

Aye. We have Commissioner Miller, administrative agenda.

Yep, thank you, Chair. I move to following administrative items. Item number three, lease agreement with Meridian Behavioral Health, LLC, DBA EOSIS, for lease space at 402 University Avenue East in St. Paul, Minnesota. Item number... Item number four, Minnesota Council on Local Results and Innovations Performance Measurement Program. And item number five, Salary Schedule and Grade for New Classified Job Classifications, Occupational Safety, and Compliance Administrator and Safety Officer.

Okay. Second. See no discussion roll call.

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

Aye. Commissioner Moran? Mr. Chair, just for administrative item, I'd like to move to administrative item three because I just want to hear a little bit more about what we're doing with the lease agreement. Do you want to move it first? Second. Go ahead. So if there's someone that can give us a check in on that.

Yeah, Mr. Chair, Commissioner Moran, we'd be happy to give an update. I think we're talking about item three, right? Yep. So I know Dr. Thompson's here, but I'm going to try to cover a little bit of it as well. So what you have before you is the lease. A couple weeks ago, Dr. Thompson came and shared an update on the detox withdrawal management transition. and how we ended up to today. And so the lease is tied very closely to a capacity building grant. And it's the grant itself that outlines many of the provisions that we are hoping to achieve in terms of being able to leverage the opportunity of using the building to have a local provider. So Dr. Thompson, do you have any clarifications or things you'd like to share? Or Commissioner Moran, I don't know if you have a specific question or what you'd like us to cover this morning. Sophia?

Good morning. Good morning, Chair, County Commissioners, and County Manager Becker. This collaboration really has been with property management. And property management has, together we have constructed a lease that will coincide with the grant award for the provider who will be occupying the space. very closely made sure that the information in the grant agreement or that the lease routed back to the grant agreement. And again, the grant agreement will be for a two-year period.

If there's any specific questions. That's great. Thank you for the update and for the information and just linking the two together. Yes.

Tara?

Yeah, I just want to, and maybe this is a broader question on the services coming in. I'm just wondering, so this is for the detox services, and I just want to just make sure people know what still will be available and how this will look to residents. Can individuals still self-refer to these services?

Yes, Commissioner, that is correct, that individuals will be able to self-refer. As a part of the grant agreement and the lease agreement, the entity that has been awarded will really be able to operate as they have been. They're a provider in the community that's been operating for some time, and the provisions in the grant indicated that Self-referral is going to be one of their processes, so being able to walk in, also phone, and there were also provisions in the agreement regarding ensuring that the individuals that we served in Ramsey County when we owned and operated the facility would be similar to the population and so that anyone who needs the service can be seen.

And that would include if anybody, so nobody would be turned away if they, for lack of insurance or failure to pay?

That's correct, Commissioner. there is a provision that indicates there's a sliding scale fee starting at zero. So individuals may be asked to provide some information about their income. And if they don't have income, they will not be turned away.

Excellent. I just wanted to make sure that folks were reassured that with this new provider coming in, that it is a continuity of service to our community. Thank you.

Yes, correct. Thank you.

Any other questions, discussion? Roll call.

Miller.

Aye.

Moran. Aye. Zhong. Aye. Jebin Singh. Aye. McGuire. Aye. McMurtry. Aye. And Ortega.

Aye.

Item number four, Commissioner Moran.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd also like to move item four and just have someone to just give us some update. Second.

I'd like to invite Mr. Chair, Deputy Chief of Staff Andrew Greenlee to share about this effort to submit performance measures to the Office of the State Auditor.

Good morning, Chair Ortega, Commissioners, County Manager Becker. Yeah, we're excited to present the set of performance measures that are submitted to the Office of the State Auditor as a part of an annual process that the State Auditor does to encourage counties and cities to report performance measures statewide in a format that allows for comparison across different cities and counties. And so participants in that process get a financial incentive, $25,000 for participating. And the report is due to the state auditor on July 1st. So we're coming before you to ask for you to ratify the report that we plan to submit to the state auditor, which includes 10 different measures selected from the Measures that the office of the state auditor allows us to report so one of the attachments on the RBA is a list of 27 measures that the state auditor provides for counties and cities or for counties to select from And we show we've chosen 10 of those to report as a part of this performance measurement process so the the table that you see in the attachment with 27 measures is the kind of list of options that we can choose from as Ramsey County and other counties and have to choose from that same list. And that facilitates some semi-standardized reporting across different counties. So, and then in the report itself, which is another attachment, you'll see the Ramsey County data, which we've collected from both internal and external, for instance, state sources. So happy to answer any other questions you have about the report.

So I'm just wondering, will that or can this report also be shared with the board so that we can also be informed about what has been submitted to the state?

It's included as an attachment in the agenda. So it looks like this. If you see in the agenda packet and as an attachment, it's got this contains the data that we're proposing to submit to the state office of the state auditor.

All right. Thank you. Mr. Chair, Commissioner Moran, maybe I can elaborate a little bit. It is on page 39 through 41 in your packet. I think report is a generous word. It's really just a couple pages of metrics. But I do want to share with you a little bit of a conversation I did have with Andrew this morning as we continue to think about performance measures. There's three ways that performance measures are showing up in front of the board and community. Before every performance year budget, we bring community indicators to the board as you reaffirm the strategic priorities. And there are a couple measures here that line up with those community indicators. In addition, we are moving into the second year of our biennial budget, which is a performance year. And there are departments will be focused on performance metrics. And some of these performance measures actually align with ones that will be shared at the at the budget hearings as well. So there's some opportunity for some intersection. Those community indicators that I first mentioned were informed by community engagement of things that community was interested in. And I'll just remind you, community indicators are measures that we are not the only ones that influence those outcomes. And similar to some of these, I mean, some of these we don't have full control of whether or not, you know, they go up or down. We are a contributing entity to how well or how poorly they do. But I do think we should look at kind of an approach of thinking through how all three of these work together as we go into the future as to what they say about, you know, are we investing in particular with our budget? in a way that is advancing something that we want to measure and know the impact for our community, and we'll need to take a little bit of a deeper look. I think what Andrew's trying to say is it's a little bit of a restrictive exercise because we have to work with the 27 indicators that they've added. What I appreciated that our team has done, though, is whenever there's been able to put a little nuance around, for example, racial disparities, they've tried to call those out as well. It's a good thing for the state to be doing. I will say the county is a little more advanced maybe in our performance metric work because of our biannual budget. And we could also do more integration while we're a little bit better at maybe than some entities that may not be doing performance metrics at all, which is why I think the auditor is asking cities and counties to do this.

I have Mary Jo and then Kelly.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate your work on this. Do you get to pick the same measures every year, or do you have to pick different ones? It would be nice to pick the same ones so we would get some sense, but also good to pick different ones so we get a sense of different measures. So talk to me about what the auditor requires and what we tend to do for these measures.

Chair Ortega, Commissioner McGuire, you can select the same measures every year. And over the, I guess, 12 years or so that we've been reporting, it's my understanding that we've generally stuck to the same set of measures with minor tweaks. So I think one was added in 2024. I don't know all the history, but I think we've been pretty consistent in reporting roughly the same set of measures over the years since 2013 when we started participating in this process.

And just to comment on that, I think it's, as I said, good so we can see some comparison between years. And I'm guessing if the state auditor lets people pick and choose, if someone's going to have a bad year, they just pick a different measure. So I'm glad that we're actually staying with the same measure so we can get an honest review and a measure of what we're doing. So thank you for that. Thank you.

Commissioner thank you for this information. I just wanted to I guess clarify or just The measures that are Chosen we choose which is great and a lot of them already kind of we are already tracking on our own Which is fabulous and we are working towards bettering To Mary Jo's point that each county could pick their own measure so you don't it doesn't really paint a large picture of what is really happening across the whole state and I think this is great but like what happens after this does the legislator then like also they also see this because I'm sure that they also receive it and can they think of maybe legislation or does our team think of that as well like as like hey this is an area that's continued to have continued low participation or we need more improvement in this area maybe this is a legislative ask or maybe this is a bigger picture we need to be looking at.

Chair Ortega, Commissioner Miller, great question. The state auditor does post the reports online, so they're available for people to see. I'm not entirely sure what else they do at the state level with that data. I can look into that. the county level i as commissioner i mean as county manager becker mentioned i think there are opportunities for more alignment between all of our different performance reporting processes and we can think strategically about that going forward i think with this we are aware our policy team takes a close look at this data and these data and thinks about how they can be incorporated in you know the county-wide initiatives related to strategic priorities and other, we are in a good position in the county manager's office to infuse different countywide initiatives with this data and use it to inform our priorities. So we will be doing that. and thinking about the best ways to incorporate this in some of those strategic discussions that we lead. And if you have ideas, if you're surveying the data, you've got ideas about program areas where we should be taking a close look at that, we'd be more than happy to hear those ideas and bring them to the departments involved.

Thank you. Follow up on that really quick. The data that we pull from this, too, is this from our own records, or do we go and survey community? I just want us to always be cautious of us extracting data from our community. And I just know when I worked in the community sector, it was like, you know, we need to do a survey for this, we need to do a survey for that. And it was kind of like, well, what is this for, and where is this data going? Because that really paints a picture, as well, of how communities operate.

Chair Ortega, Commissioner Miller, yes, we... Largely, we draw this data from internal sources and from state sources and some other sources that are suggested by the state auditor. If you look at the list of 27 measures, they do recommend some data sources. It's largely from existing data sets. We're not going out and doing new data collection for this performance reporting process. It's drawn from existing program data around Ramsey County. of data that the state makes available and some other websites like a project from the University of Wisconsin County Health Rankings. So we're not doing any intensive data extraction activity for this specifically. And the data sources are listed in the notes section in the report. So if you see under each data table, there's a little note about where we got the data.

Perfect. Thank you. I appreciate that.

I wanted to say that a couple of things, which is given that these are specific data points that we provide to the state annually, But they're part of a broader performance measure and community indicators and other kind of things that we are collecting to be data driven in the work that we do. In case somebody was looking at these specific areas, I know we internally use these for certain things. Like for instance, where it's the public health social services low birth weight, it is concerning that that percentage isn't where we want it to be. And I recollect that some of our efforts along this way were included in a workshop that we had around some of the efforts. So if folks are reading this data and thinking, well, how do you have these numbers and not then have an immediate discussion about them, this is incorporated into our work ongoing. And so I do appreciate that this data does inform what comes before our board and what we do deeper dives on. And I would be remiss not also to highlight things like the election accuracy of our post-election audit is 100% of our ballots are counted accurately in our post-election review. So these are the kind of things where Our residents want to have a better indication of where they could access this information these call these kind of measures of how their community is doing and the county's Role in that along with these indicators and any of the other performance indicators, but where would we direct? Residents who want to be able to see this kind of information? on their own in their own time

So this data is submitted as a report, but one thing that I thought that we could take as a takeaway, Andrew, is that the report itself could be put onto Open Data Portal as like a story of sorts. So maybe we can follow up to make sure that there's some transparency to being able to see this data right onto our Open Data Portal.

Chair Ortega, Commissioners Jevonsing, County Manager Becker, it actually is going to, it's a requirement from the Office of the State Auditor that we post this online. So we do have a website right now, or a part of the open data portal where we're reporting these data. Thank you.

Perfect.

Thank you for all this information. I plan to do a deeper dive. One is a really busy weekend, but to do a deeper dive on the report. I was just wondering, I do like the idea of being very strategic about the report that we submit and the impact or the achievement of whatever we may see out of that that's happening in Ramsey County. Was there like any aha moments? for you or others as you was going through this report.

Chair Ortega, Commissioner Moran, in reviewing these data, I think the low birth weight data does stand out. According to the community health assessment from our public health department, which I believe uses data from the State Department of Health, we do have a relatively high low birth weight rate in ramsey county compared to other metro counties which is troubling and you know there's concerted efforts taking place to work on that as commissioner jevin singh mentioned um but the the racial disparities persist in that and obviously birth outcomes we have major nationwide major uh racial, race-based disparities in birth outcomes in general, and that's just deeply troubling, and so that's something we want to keep monitoring closely. I think, for me, when I look at these data, one thing that jumps out is the assessment ratios that, generally speaking, when you look at those, those are falling well within the range that's required of 90% to 105%, indicating that our assessed values across different property types are pretty accurate in terms of how they compare to what properties actually sell for. So that's a nice counterbalance to the instances we hear where people feel their assessed value is not commensurate with their market value. And these data show that in general, our assessed values are pretty accurate. Obviously, I'm not the subject matter expert on that, but it was one takeaway that I thought of when I reviewed the data.

So thank you for that. And I, you know, this is a report and a requirement that comes, and a request that comes from the state that we submit. But I'm hoping that it would help us to inform the direction that we need to go into the future, right, in looking at the low birth rates. What are we doing about that in Ramsey County? You know, so that's... those concerning issues become part of our platform as we move forward to really begin to shrink those inequities or those disparities that we're seeing. Yeah, I think we want to get something out of that that's helped us to be the best that we can be. And so I'm hoping that can be some of our next steps.

Yeah, Commissioner Moran, I think we'll get kind of a part two of some of this as the departments do their supplemental budget. A couple of these are actually measures that departments will be sharing directly and then reflecting on. The ones that aren't, I'll just make sure we talk to the deputy county managers and make sure they get, while they might not be the measures they're using, the stories can be kind of woven into how they're talking about things. And I want to specifically call out that low birth rate. One of the measures that public health is measuring against has to do with the percentage of eligible Ramsey County babies that are receiving WIC services. So while there's a measure that's broad, we're also looking at what can we control in terms of advancing that measure, because the measure in itself could be a lot of things that could contribute to that. Some have to do with the overall health care system. They have to do with lots of things, right? But where we can have some control is our WIC access and programming. And so that's how those things will show back up in September.

That's awesome.

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, Anne. Thanks.

Any further discussion? Roll call, please.

Miller?

Aye.

Moran? Aye. Zhong? Aye. Jebin Singh? Aye. McGuire? Aye. McMurtry? Aye. And Ortega?

We now have the adoption of the proposed Ramsey County Commissioner's Salary Ordinance for 2027. I'll entertain a motion.

So moved. Second.

Any discussion? Hearing none, roll call, please.

Miller? Aye. Moran? Aye. Zhong? Aye. Jebin Singh? Aye. McGuire? Aye. McMurtry? Aye. And Ortega?

Aye.

County Connections.

Yeah. Good morning, commissioners. I have a couple of things here. The first is that on the 30th next week, we are hosting the sixth annual Midway Job Fair at Allianz Field. This is a partnership of Workforce Solutions, the Workforce Board, and Minnesota United. Last year, there were 700 attendees. And so this is our county's largest job fair that we host annually. There will be 40 employers on site along with community organizations, so please do encourage people to come. The event is free, open to the public, and job seekers of all ages. In addition, our Heading Home Ramsey has a youth advisory board that some of you are aware of, and they are going to be at Twin Cities Pride. The Youth Advisory Board will be participating in the Twin Cities Pride Festival, which will be the weekend of June 27th and 28th at Loring Park. This is the second year that they've had a presence there. This provides an opportunity for youth leaders to connect with community members, share resources, raise awareness about youth homelessness and housing stability, and elevate the voices of young people in Ramsey County. And so if you get a chance, please check that out. And then lastly, we have some special guests here today. So the county participates extensively in the city's Right Track program. The program provides career readiness opportunities and work experience for young people within our community. And we, as an employer, we actually host interns as well. So this year we are hosting 31 interns countywide. We also, as part of that group, there's a Right Track Scholars program. This is the second year of that program and they support young adults as they enter the workforce while building public sector work skills. So scholars are a little bit different than the Right Track program, but very similar to. They're just a different level of experience. So we are really happy to participate. It helps us generate awareness and build interest in being an employer in our community and share about public sector jobs. We create talent pipelines and we get to have our employees get really excited about their work as they get to explain many of the neat things they do to our young scholars and Right Track participants. So if I can have you guys come up while I list the departments, we'll have you introduce yourself and tell us maybe where you're working. We have people working on the county manager's office and public works. at the medical examiner's office, at the library, human resources, communications, parks and rec, county attorney, property management, the juvenile detention center, and public health. So Noe, do you want to quick introduce yourself before you get them going?

Good morning.

Good morning. There we go.

Hey, everyone. I am Noelana Gates, or Noe. I know many of you. So happy to be here. I'm the Public Pathways Coordinator here out of the Workforce Solutions Department. I've been excited to collaborate with a lot of our leadership and other staff that are preparing to provide an amazing experience. And really excited that our interns showed up and showed out and was ready today at 830 here. And they are ready to also share a little bit about themselves. So who wants to go first?

So hi, my name is Tyquan Allen, but you can call me TQ. The district that I'm in is six. I'm in district six. And what I'm here for is for property and maintenance management. And with like an interest that I want to learn or something I want to learn in the career that I'm going to do or the intern I'm going to do is I want to learn more about building, building management or managers and project managers. Thank you.

Hello, my name is Silas, and my department that I'm going to be in is Parks and Rec. A career pathway that interests me is education, because I do hanging around with people and talking to kids and building bonds. And my commissioner is in District 6. Thank you.

Minister, are they graduates of high school already or college or where? Are they in different places? I'd love to know where they go to school.

Yeah, could you say where you go to, if you are in school, if you go to school?

If you are in school, you go to school or graduated from.

I am in school right now. Currently, I go to Normandale Community College. Yes.

Right.

And then I am in Harding High School and yeah. Right.

Hello. I am Jeshua. I have been paired with the Ramsey County Library, and a career pathway that I plan to pursue is computer science. And I am in District 3, and I go to Como Park Senior High School. Okay.

Hello, my name is Matthew. I'm District 6, and one career pathway I'm looking for is in the trade business. I have a lot of family who've done electrician, and from what I've seen from them, they inspire me to be like them. And I graduated, and I am currently going to Century College.

hello I'm Michael Maceda district 6 I'm going to be an intern for Ramsey County Public Works and I'm interested in becoming a outreach specialist for Metro Transit I already said I graduated right Hardin High School hello my name is Joseph my

What's it called? I'm working with the Ramsey County and Parks. One thing I want to learn about my internship is just learning, I guess, I don't know. How do you say it? I don't know. Just learning about leadership and stuff. And I recently graduated from Harding High School as well.

Hi, my name is Eve. I was paired with Tamarack Nature Center. I go to creative arts secondary school and a career pathway I'm interested in is like rescuing animals and working with nature.

Hi, my name is Layla. I am interning at Ramsey County at Tamarack Nature Center currently. I go to Great River School. I think a career I'm looking for is something in public speaking. I was thinking about being an actor or maybe an ASL interpreter. I've also considered some stuff in law, so I have quite a few options on me. But I'm very excited to be here, and thank you for having me.

Hi, my name is Passion. I am a resident of District 6. I am a student at the University of Minnesota, currently interning at the Ramsey County Library.

Hi, my name is Noel. I'm in District 8. I'm currently attending Ramsey County Attorney's Office. I go to Manchester State University, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how the cases are made and how the court system works.

Hi, everybody. My name is Mahogany. My pronouns are she, her, hers. I'm from District 4, Rondo. I go to the University of Minnesota. I major in business and marketing education, and my minor is in the sociology of law, criminology, and justice. I'm interested in family law, and if not that, I would want to do research in educational psychology.

Hello, my name is Parker Sisler. I go to the University of Minnesota Duluth, and I am interning with Ramsey County Parks and Rec on the Soil and Water Conservation Division. I'm very passionate and excited about conservation, and I'm very happy to be here. Thank you guys very much.

Hi, I'm Selena Chen. I recently graduated from Harding High School and I am interning at Ramsey County Attorney's Office and I plan on majoring in management information systems at the University of Minnesota. Thank you.

Hi, good morning. I am from District 3, born and raised. I recently graduated from Regis University in Denver, Colorado. And I'm going to Belgium for my master's in diplomacy and global governance. But currently, I'm interning for the county manager's office. And I'm with the policy team. So those community indicators and the performance measures that you guys heard of previously, I'll be working on those. So thank you.

Hi, I'm Imani Bradley. I'm going to be interning at the Ramsey County's Attorney's Office. I go to school down in Nashville, Tennessee at Fish University, and I do plan to be a FBI agent after.

Good morning. My name is Leah. I'm interning with Racial Health and Equity Department at Ramsey County Manager's Office. Jesus. I'm at the University of Minnesota studying economics. I'm interested in economic development and... Interested in economic development and public policy. It's nice to meet you.

Hello, my name is Yuni Tao. I am going to be entering for Ramsey County Public Health. Currently, I am going to St. Paul College, majoring in Healthcare Administration, and I'm in District Three. Thank you.

Hello, my name is Avery Junior. I'm working through Ramsey County Property Management. I go to school at St. John's University in Minnesota, and I look forward to doing something in business.

Hi, my name is Savion Washington. I'm currently interning for Ramsey County Property Management. I graduated from South High. And my goal at the end of this is to learn how property management works so that one day I can manage my own properties.

Well, thank you. Oh, anyone? Hi.

Good morning. My name is Beatrice Meadows. I use say them. pronouns, and I'm with Workforce Solutions as a youth program specialist. And so I support Right Track, and then I'll also be primary support for Young Adult Career Academy, which is coming up. Thank you.

So I think we're going to take a picture. Yeah.

Are you ready for a picture?

Yay. I feel like you guys should join. Do you mind if you guys go join?

Oh, that's harder for you. Can you go? If you would like, yes. You want to go?

It's just me. It's just me. Yeah?

Three, two, one. I'll take one more.

Outside board and community reports. Reena, you want to begin? Okay. I'll just be here.

All right. Let me see. I had a couple of the Minnesota African American Family Preservation Child Welfare Disproportionality Act meetings. I did the statewide working group meeting and the policy and accountability compliance action team. And we're still working on that just to make sure that we are improving outcomes and working on the implementation process of the bill before it goes statewide in 2027. There's a lot of work that's happening there. I was able to meet with the YWCA the CEO, and a couple of the other team members to discuss housing stability, workforce development, pathways and strategies to support economic mobility and long-term success for residents and family. And I really do that to continue to work on and look at the continuation of the work we do here at Ramsey County in partnership with community-based organizations and how we can see ways to collaborate, inform, and Really educate each other on the work that's been done It was a really good meeting they have a system that they're working on right now to Really inform the work that they're doing through a very strategic process that I am looking forward to continuing to learn more about and Lots happening this weekend for Juneteenth. I was able to attend a few Juneteenth celebrations this weekend, one being the Juneteenth Black Excellence Celebration with Ramsey County staff, where we, myself along with Commissioner McMurtry, presented and read the proclamation recognizing the significance of Juneteenth and celebrating the achievement and contribution of black leaders and community members. I was also able to attend the Rondo Center for Diverse Expression Juneteenth celebration, where I was able to join state and local leaders, along with Governor Tim Walz, who was present. Congresswoman Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, along with Congresswoman Betty McCullen, St. Paul Mayor, Councilmember Bowie, and myself, who really just highlighted and commemorated Juneteenth and honoring the resilience and achievement and the contributions of the black community. There was also a Juneteenth celebration at the Minnesota State Capitol, where I also presented a proclamation during the Anika Foundation Juneteenth celebration. During the event, I was surprised that she honored me with the Community Giro Award in recognition of my leadership, advocacy, and commitment to community service. I also attended the 30,000 Feet Juneteenth Celebration, along with myself, Commissioner Zonk, and Commissioner McMurtry, along with Senator Umunbeta.

Umunbeta.

Umunbeta. Umunbeta.

I'm looking to you to help me out. Who are you talking about?

Senator Coward. Oh, yeah. Right, right. Senator Coward. And just listening to one of the things, one of my aha moments really from this gathering at 30,000 people and that I continue to learn and to remember is to know your audience. Because we all came in to introduce ourselves and who we were as elected officials. And one of the basic questions that came from community members is like, what do you do? And so it's about going back and really informing community of the work that we do do and introducing just some of the basic stuff that sometimes we just assume that people know who and whom we are. Let's see. That's it for me. A long weekend of just a bunch of celebrations. I try to control myself, Mr. Chair, and not become political, but sometimes I just can't help it because we know that Juneteenth came about when the United States showed up and got us in Texas to say that two years ago you was freed, and You have not been freed. And I learned in this conversation yesterday from our superintendent of public schools that she had families in Texas. So there's a generation of families from Texas. And it wasn't just Gavison, Texas that was not notified. It was all of Texas that did not know that the enslaved black residents there had been freed two years early. And my political piece comes up because I think it's important for us to remember Because they had a lot of folks, once they were free, black individuals who went on to run as state representatives, as senators, became governors of their local community, just really got into this political process because they knew the value of representation. They knew the value of the power of government. and having their voices and their insight and their wisdom being a part of government decisions. And it was just a reminder of today and where we are in this process that the value of participating in an electoral process really elevates your voice. through a vote. And it is still important that we are connected to what's happening. Politically, even though we hate it, we get tired of it, some people, it's really disgusting around what government does or do not do or needs to do better. But I want to remind them that that's why we need you. That's why we need you to stand up and run and be a part of a system that makes it more fair and equitable. And that is about all of us.

And I will stop there.

Thank you.

Thank you. Commissioner Miller.

Yes. I hosted my in-district hours last week all in one day with my son, let me tell you. Thank goodness summer school started this week. That's all I will say. Other parents probably feel my pain.

Or joy.

Or joy. Or joy. Let me say nothing.

It was joy.

You're right. I also attended the NYFS annual board meeting. It was a pretty straightforward annual board meeting. We selected new officers. We presented the quarterly deliverables and then also presented with the new fiscal budget. Let's see here. I attended the White Bear Lake Manitou's Day's That was fun to walk in with my family in the rain. It did rain, so that was great. Yesterday, I attended the mob training for Unlock Your Potential, understanding roles, responsibilities, and opportunities in WIOA for workforce board members. So that was really a nice way to spend my lunch hour. And then we finished it off by going to the Twins game. It was Native American Heritage Night, and we played the Dodgers. So it was really cool to see Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts play. We are a baseball, softball team. Family my son was rooting really loud for the Dodgers. I was really happy they won But otherwise, that's it Oh coming up on Saturday We do have the grand reopening of the Manitou Ridge golf course that I will be speaking at and then it's followed by a community classic nine-hole Course showcase which I am signed up to play in so watch out Not good at golf. I mean like watch out just in case Not like watch out. I'm good And with that, I'm done. I'll update you next week or the week after on how it went.

Great. Thank you, Mr. Chair. A couple of events from this past weekend. Of course, I had a chance to attend a number of Juneteenth celebrations with my colleagues. So as Commissioner Moran mentioned, we had a chance to go to the Black Excellence Juneteenth celebration, which was great to be with. Ramsey County staff and to just have a moment to just relax and be in community and celebrate one another. Really great event that was hosted there. Also had a chance to attend the Anika Foundation Juneteenth celebration at the Capitol. 30,000 feet celebration at their facility, their absolutely beautiful facility off of Arcade, and then the Blacknificent Volume 3 at Art at 965 off of Payne Avenue. So just a beautiful weekend of chance to celebrate what Juneteenth is all about, to celebrate You know, the continued resistance that we know that so many of these communities, so many in the black community are still fighting today. And to continue that fight for freedom that we continue to have to protect and hopefully expand and in doing so pass it off to future generations. So really, really great weekend. I also had a chance to, with Commissioner Moran, meet with members of Beacon Interfaith, different neighbors and housing advocates, to talk about their work around supportive housing in particular and the work that the county has been doing in that realm. And I know that they've had a number of requests. to hopefully get the county to continue to prioritize that work, knowing that we have such a huge need in our community for that type of housing. So it was great to meet with them. And then yesterday we had a chance to meet as a JIPTEC committee, myself, Commissioner Moran, Commissioner Jung, our members of the Joint Property Tax Advisory Committee, along with the City of St. Paul and the St. Paul School District, to just discuss a number of things, including legislative recaps from this last session but also preparing of what the next iteration of this group will look like, how we can create a new framework to ensure that all three entities are working better in collaboration to determine different efficiencies that we can identify and hopefully in doing so bring down property taxes for so many folks in our community. So looking forward to the next phase of JIPTAC as The county will be taking over as the leader of JIPTEC this September and continue to really expand that work. Two events that I want to highlight for this weekend, one in my district, one on Saturday and Sunday, will be the Hmong International Freedom Festival at McMurray Fields. This year's theme has arrived with stories rooted as Americans. And if you haven't been to Hmong Freedom Fest, it is amazing. an amazing two days of great food, sports, and just being in community with the Hmong community and celebrating their rich culture. Usually they see around 50,000 people at this event with over 200 vendors. That was just last year. They're adding new sports, including youth volleyball for 18 and under. along with some of the other ones that they do, including soccer, volleyball, flag football. And this year, they will also be, there is an entry fee of $10, so make sure that folks are aware of that when you go, but I really encourage people to attend this on either Saturday or Sunday. And then on Sunday, the Como neighborhood is hosting its annual Como Homo Pride event, where there will be a number of activities, including pageants for best costumes, including Pride is a Riot, where you Come in your protest outfit, drag the house down, big gay family with different family ensembles, and, of course, pet pride. As a resident of Como, it is a fun, family-filled event each year just to celebrate pride and to celebrate those in our community. So for those who are in Como or outside of Como, please make sure to stop by on Sunday. That's it. Thank you.

Yes. All righty. So busy week. Last week, I was able to attend the Twin Cities North Chamber of Commerce updates on Arden Hills and Shoreville economic development, and also able to continue conversations with local business owners. And just wanting to say that a lot of folks are still really feeling the pain of our local economy, increased fuel costs, supply issues, building costs. labor costs and property tax, as well as the issues around Paid Family Medical Leave Act and how that is impacting costs within our community. And so just kind of making sure to keep tabs on our role in making things easier or better for our business community and was able to remind The people there about the new EDA and how that might be bringing some local dollars in, that Ramsey County is open for business, our CEO Next and Now learning cohorts, and had a number of people reaching out to follow up on some of those supports that we have for the business community. I was able to take a tour of Tubman East and learned about the many programs serving individuals experiencing intimate, partner, and other familiar abuse and supporting folks on their journey from fear to freedom and really remembering to tie that the Tubman facilities and that program is reflective of the work of Harriet Tubman. which is really apropos giving our Juneteenth celebrations and that, again, that journey from fear to freedom and that inspires many works throughout our community. I had my quarter two compliance and ethics check in, learning more about our internal processes for employee investigations. And this is part of our broader ongoing internal operational excellence to make sure that we are doing all that we can professionally to be as tight as we can with our policies and procedures to support our staff, make sure that they are doing the best they can in support of our residents. I joined a couple of my colleagues on the tour of BTT and with some neighbors and advocates just to learn a little bit more about that property. and where it situates within the neighborhood and other environmental and other kind of development concerns of the area. I was honored to speak at the USA Games Torch Run at CHS Field in anticipation as the part of the launch of the Special Olympics Games that are ongoing in our community. And I just want to say it was just so wonderful to be there and knowing that it's beautiful to have so many people coming into our community. but also the idea of sport being a way of inclusion and belonging and purpose. It's just good for all of us all the way around. I was able to attend the Juneteenth at the Capitol, as well as Freedom Day in Vadnais Heights. I thank you to my colleague, Commissioner Moran, for forwarding me the proclamation that we had as a board and community to share with folks in Vadnais Heights. And people really liked knowing, in community, to hear where we stand on some of these events and how they are important to the work that we do. So thank you for that. I also was in the rainy Manitou Day parade and want to thank everybody who came out and just said, you know, community is still community, even when it's raining, even when it's storming. And we know that better than ever in Minnesota. And thanks to the folks who came out. And then I also had a chance with my colleague, Commissioner McGuire, to check in with our representatives from the Rice Creek Watershed District. They have received some bonding dollars to deal with some flooding mitigation. And as all things, there are processes in place to see that project come to fruition and just keeping us up to date. I look forward to the Twin Cities Pride Festival this weekend, and just want to say this is a wonderful time to stand by all of our friends and neighbors and letting them know that show up as you are. You're part of our community, and we're here to serve. And then one last thing, just not a big statement on news of the criminal subpoenas that were quashed that had been presented by... the federal government against some of our local electeds, now that that subpoena has been quashed and seen to be basically there not to investigate any wrongdoing by local officials, but to harass, coerce, and retaliate, that that should free up some time. Because we are still waiting for transparent and independent investigations for the killing of Renee Goode and Alex Preddy. We're still waiting for investigation and harms done to other people while they've been detained. and other crimes and constitutional infringements by federal agents in our community. So still waiting.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, a lot going on. Lots of celebrations on Juneteenth and just thanks to everyone who puts all the work and effort into doing all of those great celebrations. Shout out to Twin Cities North who were busy. They were doing a meeting in Moundsview and New Brighton as well. It was a great connecting breakfast at the Moundsview Community and Events Center. And so just kudos to the chambers who keep pulling our businesses together and the great work that they're doing. Also, MELSA met, which is the Twin Cities Metro Public Libraries Association, which is all the seven county metro commissioners that sit on that, or representatives of those boards. And we approved our preliminary budget for the coming year, and also our audit. And we had a nice, long discussion on e-book legislation, their pricing fairness legislation, where e-book distributors are really charging exorbitant fees to libraries to keep the e-books in circulation. And they do it because they can. And so states are passing legislation. And we have legislation in Minnesota that one of our senators in Ramsey County, Mary Kunesh, who chairs the Education Committee, who supports this, but they couldn't quite get it across the finish line this year, but they're going to keep working on it next year. But it is so that all of our residents can continue to get e-books, which are very popular, at a reasonable rate to our libraries. So we had a good discussion on that. Also, it is the time for celebrations and community celebrations. The Rose Fest for one of my cities of Roseville started last night with their parade. And just all the work and the community organizations that participate in that, it is a sight to behold, all the people that gather for that. I want to just give a shout out to the Veterans of Foreign Wars who were the Grand Marshals of the parade. Arden Hansen of the Rosetown American Legion and Jim Hartman of the Roseville VFW were Grand Marshals. And just to recognize the work that our veterans have done and continue to do in our communities. Also Rose Fest will continue on all week and this Thursday will be the Taste of Rose Fest which is sponsored by our Rotary which I'm a member of and also we've been listed other organizations since as the Roseville Area Optimist Club and other organizations. It's one of the great community events in our area and it is went Thursday night at the Roseville Central Park and the arboretum there in near central park and it's at it starts from five goes till eight you can still you can get tickets there you can go online and get tickets but i just encourage people to uh really participate it's a fundraiser for the community all the money that's raised at this goes right back into the community so um it's a great a great event that gets a lot of A lot of participation. And then throughout the week, you know, there's a family fun day on Saturday and all week there's events going on in Roseville. Also, we are starting another round of advisory board interviews with my colleagues. And we are always excited about those because we get to talk to a lot of amazing people that really apply for our boards. And I will say that we will be interviewing for the Capital Region Watershed. And these are really important positions. And the Personnel Review Board. These are really important boards that have an impact on the work that we do as a county. Thank you to the people that apply for them and to my colleagues who sit on this advisory board. I will say that my colleague, Commissioner Jevonsingh, mentioned that we had a meeting with our watershed appointees yesterday, and it really matters who gets appointed to these boards because there can be issues with the work that they need to do. So just to talk about how important that is, we'll be connecting with our Anoka and Washington County colleagues about who they're appointing to these as well. So We have a lot of have work to do in that area. But thank you. Thank you Thank you to the people that put themselves out and serve on those boards and many things to the to the appointees on those boards Also little Canada's having a road construction virtual information session which will be Wednesday night you can do that virtually and So look on the Little Canada website for that. And they are also doing their monthly community connection meetings, which I love that communities do these. And they're going to be connecting with the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District. So people in Little Canada are able to go and learn about different things that are happening in the community. And that's on Thursday, June 25th at the Spooner Upper Shelter at 9 in the morning. Or it's all day, actually.

Yeah.

So with that, also we have an AMC Board of Directors meeting on Friday. So I know that Commissioner McMurtry is our representative on that. I will also be attending that. And with that, everyone have a great week in the community.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I first want to start out by just thank you, Commissioner Jevenson, for your remarks and comments about the judge's response with the motion to quash that case. I just want to mention that what we are seeing exactly here today is the experience of so many black and brown community members who have been targeted and have died, basically. the hands of not just like law enforcement but like just all over overall our systems that do not recognize their full being and that's why it's so critical that for Juneteenth that I was in community to be in spaces there to both celebrate and also to remind us about why the work of both racial equity and true liberation for all communities is so important. Because as Commissioner Moran says, we don't want to be political, but we actually do not have the privilege of not being political. The system is not for the people or the people in our democratic society. of its ideals that it claims to be because we recently just celebrated a trillionaire in our country where we have plenty of wealth to go around that we have trillionaire. So I just want to name that and about why it's so important. And I was also invited to Blacknificent. This was a gallery, an art gallery on pain during Juneteenth when we're talking about both freedom, also about economic justice. There was a professor of history at Macalester College who also spoke in addition to Ron Brown. Ron Brown, who is the artist, who talked about that when black Americans were granted freedom, freedom did not come with economic supports or justice and how that is deeply weaved in to what it is in the United States here today. So I just wanted to lift that up and to also name that what we are seeing today is not different and that we are truly all not free. And then just pivoting to other additional work that we are doing, I also really wish that our interns were also here too because they only got a snippet of the work that we do every day. I also joined the boys totem town tour. This was hosted by a constituent who convened both City Council members Senator her was able to join us in addition to One of his committee administrators senator her after touring it this was his first time they are in his district and he was just You know, lots of ideas were going around. And I also have to remind him, though, that parks maintenance isn't fully funded by the state. Yes. And then my next meeting is the TAB meeting. We approved the release of the draft 2050 transportation policy plan amendment. It includes the county's bronze line and also the J line that is on West 7th. And then we also received a presentation about EV public charging needs and analysis. We received this earlier this year, but then they came back with final recommendations on what they will do This is important to the regional solicitation of the rollout of EV public charging. And they are going to weigh and put more percentage points to areas where there's multi-family housing, also low-income households. And I thought that the Met Council staff actually did a really good job in responding to suburban board members who asked, that it's not a privilege, but it's an individual person's responsibility that if you buy EV car, you need to buy the charger. And they actually provided a really good response that it falls within the line of both our climate goals and our equity goals of the Met Council. So I didn't need to add further to that conversation, because staff was able to respond. And I think that just reflects the work and the comments that has helped to create the Met Council's plan. And then finally, with GPTAC, I just also want to add that, County Manager, thank you so much for all your work in steering the work of, I see it as a group project. a group project in schools where you need someone to rally the group together and for everyone to be able to pull their weight. So I just want to acknowledge that and just name that for you. And so thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Following the Ramsey County Board meeting, there will be a Housing and Redevelopment Authority meeting chaired by Commissioner Chung. We are now adjourned.