County Commission - Regular Meeting

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Well, the first thing on the agenda is approval of minutes. Move to approve. Got a motion. We have a second. Second. We have a motion. We have a second. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor saying I.

I. Oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. Approval of the bills. Move to approve. We have a motion. Do we have I have a second, but I have got a couple questions. Go ahead. Um, do the second first or you want to do the question first? You can do the question. Okay. Great region narcotics. Um, rent for TF building. What's TF building? I don't remember seeing that. Hey, twice a year.

We're the financial officer for the Lake Region task force. Oh, okay. Okay. So, and the other part of that was Devil's Lake cars. There's three cars or vehicles listed. That is for wonder where That's theirs. Yeah. With that's has nothing to do with the county budget.

Yeah. And I see our state's attorney. No, that's not Sorry. Uh sheriff department has a credit card that's over the $5,000. 5734. Am I not reading that right?

That's all of them together. Good. Okay. That says com combined, right? Yep. Okay. Anything? Great. I'll second. Okay. We got a motion. And we have a second. Any other discussion hearing? None. Roll call, please. His eye. F. I. Brown. Hi. Wilhelm. Hi. Hol. Hi.

Approval of treasurer checks. I was on Second. We have a motion. We have a second. All in favor of saying I. I. All oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. Approval of the agenda. Move to approve.

Are we going to talk about those financials? I'd like to have a discussion about that. We could include that on the agenda. Okay.

We'll put that right under the resource board. Anything else? We like to add I move to approve the agenda as presented. Amended. Amended. Second.

We have a motion. We have a second. All those in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Same sign. Motion carries. Before we go on to Mr. or Mrs. black. I'd like to um take a moment for officer Smith and we all know that there was a tragedy down at the LAC wasn't at the LAC but Mr. Smith has taken his life and just like take a minute. So best of regards to his family, he'll be missed for sure. Okay, math.

Good morning. I'm here today to just do a followup um regarding our ALAND values for our 2026 assessment. Um, in the previous meeting I I shared with you that it seems that most values are going down across the state for the upcoming year and we would be looking to see if possibly to have a motion today on what you would like us to do moving forward so that we are able to continue the process um that we have to go through to finalize all values and send notices to the taxpayers in the next couple months. Um, so when you're talking about going down across the state, what kind of uh value like percentage wise?

I don't know percentage wise, but each county saw a reduction. Okay. I don't know the overall. Now, whether or not they have to reduce their values in their county is each individual. Some could still maybe be at 99% or be within tolerance, but they saw a reduction. And even if even if we were to go to reduction, we're still going to meet our So we want

yeah to be in tolerance, we need to be um we have a 10% leadance. So we we're supposed to be at 100%. So we have to somewhere between 90 and 100. In past years, we've always tried to kind of circle around that 95% that just gave us leeway either way if something were to occur in the next year, that kind of thing. A 3% gets us very close to the 100%, almost too close. um realistically a 4% decrease would be better because it'd get us closer to the 95. But also, if anything were to occur when they're doing the calculations or even just when we're putting our information from our um spreadsheets into TAP, the TAP program, it's like rounding and things like that can sometimes just make it just off a little. Um so,

your recommendation, my recommendation would be to go to the 4% decrease. um that way keeping us a little bit closer to that 5% or that 95% and we would for sure be within tolerance especially with this year being the first time using Sibil and some of that being new I think I don't want it to be too close anybody have any discussion or any thoughts

well looking at the percentages that you We haven't had an increase for two years and certainly we want to avoid those double digit increases but you know like Mr. Hogan said or um gave us that little educational component last after our last meeting you know it's an Olympic average that they have throughout the highs and the lows. Next week we're meeting at the state capital um for our continuing education and he's part of the program so we'll know a little bit more but everything that would change within that formula comes from the legislature. So yes

and you said the all counties are in the same situation. All counties saw a reduction in their value whether or not they have to decrease or stay the same because some people weren't hitting that temp. Right. Some people would stay could stay the same to correct get them in that tolerance. Yes. And we were already in that tolerance. So but after this year now we went up Yeah. So we definitely have to do it. We have to decrease to be intolerance a minimum of 3%.

Over the whole state, how far land values came down on the average? Um I don't you have a figure on that? I don't have an not overall I didn't calculate for the whole state. Um I guess if you did look on page um where do they have I think they usually do they do I think they had an average for Oh yeah on the bottom um if you look on page two the very bottom I guess you can see what the state average is of the 644.22 22 overall, but I guess I Oh, I maybe would have last year's 4.74 they're using. No, that's the cap rate. Um, just above that,

if you see on the last line, it says $644.22 is the state average for eggland value, right?

Yep. I could look I I bet I have in here um last year's So Beth, I have a probably a silly question. So what what drew us to go I know last year we were at 70520. Was that just the way the economy was forcing us to go way up and now we're seeing the economy go the other way so it's bringing the value back down? Um I believe that there's two reasons that were the largest that they felt was the reduction. Uh one is the co crop production index has in the cost of production index has increased which there isn't a cap on that. So that could continue to increase and as that rises it lowers the values that's taxes, fuel, wages.

That's something we did. It's the economy and this the other people to know that. Yeah. The other one is the capitalization prices to hear. Yes. To bring them back to you know what I'm saying, right? No, it's completely way the economy brings it up and down. The capital capitalization rate increased also. So those two items across the state um caused this uh and in last year the state average was uh $67646. Now down to the $644 22 I say. Yep. 64422 for the state. Yeah,

I mean our hands are pretty tied to stay within that below that 100%. Right. No matter what we got to do 3%. You're you're just suggesting 4% because of Sidwell and if they have numbers that realm Yeah. could put us back in to an issue if something came up with our egg acres. The changes from the year to year just it's just so close. Which makes sense.

Make a motion that we uh decrease our values by 4%. Second. We have a motion. We have a second to decrease the values by 4%. All those in favor I will do a roll call. All those in favor say I. I. I. Those opposed. Same sign. We need to do roll call. Yeah. Should we do roll? Okay. Motion carries. You have that? That's all I have. Thank you.

Thank you. up next, but we'll wait for Bill if you're okay with that. Okay. No. Maybe what?

Sorry about that.

It's okay. Good morning. Sarah Light here with NDSU Extension Ramsey County. Just it's been a just a few months since uh we've visited um the monthly commission meeting. So, I thought we'd uh visit and give you a little update on extension activities. Um as you know, we hosted uh NDSU or the our roundup um January 7th and 8th and we had a great turnout here um in Ramsey County. We estimate that we had right around 350 to 450 people um each day. So that was a great turnout. The weather was good and based on our evaluations, we estimate that there were about uh 15 counties represented, probably more, but uh that was a good representation of uh farming families in the area. Uh we it was another successful event. So, we look forward to next year's event. We've already had a recap meeting and are already planning for next year. Also, our uh Ramsey County crop improve improvement meetings and commodity elections will be held February 18th at 10:00 a.m. at the KC Hall. will be having commodity elections starting at 10:30 for the North Dakota Barley Council, the corn council, the dry pee and lentil and North Dakota oil seed canola. We'll be having one of our NDSU extension soil health spe specialists presenting on soil compaction and managing post-h harvested ruts. Lunch will be provided and again that's February 18th. We're al also hosting a beef quality assurance workshop on February 25th from 1 to 4 uh here at the Ramsey County Courthouse meeting room. This program is designed to help producers implement daily management techniques to help

their cattle operations run smoothly. So, uh if you'd like to attend that can pre-register in our office. We're also excited to be offering design your succession plan on February 27th. That's 9:00 a.m. um at the Lake Regen State College egg building. And that's a program to assist farm families in our areas uh transition um to uh transition their business um on to the next generation. Also, Lindsay's been busy planning the reertification of private pesticide licenses. And if anybody in the area in our county uh private pesticide license is expiring um they have received letters. So they will be hopefully attending one of our three trainings on February 9th, March 5th or March 31st. Also we do um a lot of um networking and um offering programs with uh leadership development. We have a lead local training coming up on February 10th and that's mainly uh if you're looking at getting a parliamentary procedure refresher uh to help kind of those leaders in the area step up their game a little bit that is on February 10th. Also uh 4ers uh have been pretty busy in Ramsey County. Our annual 4 fruit and candy and coffee fundraiser is underway. Um, and it's just our our main fundraiser just to help help our 4 program throughout the the year. We're also hosting a state air rifle match on February 14th. Our air rifle program is underway that started in January. And um, so we do we do a great job. We have

great um, volunteers that that help run that state air rifle match. And we do have a couple of 4ers that will be competing in the national shooting sports competition. Kind of a big deal. Uh that will be in Grand Island, Nebraska in June. That's Lauren. She'll be competing in air pistol and Braden will be competing in shotgun. Um so just a little bit of what what's been happening with extension. We do have our um quarterly narrative. It's come out. You'll be receiving that and with a little more information. Anybody has any questions or comments? A lot going on. We do.

Which is good. Yeah. I mean, I think I mean, just writing dates down here, it's good for the community. I mean, you're really, really busy, so Yeah. makes your days go by fast. It does. Yes. A lot of different different activities, which is great. Which is great. Sarah, do you know is that the local uh seminar uh open for have availabilities to it? We still do have a a few spots available. Yes. Yes. It's an all day deal though. It is an all day deal. 9 to4. Yes, we do have some specialists coming from um our leadership and civic engagement program coming and they do a wonderful job.

Thank you. Any other questions for Sarah? Thank you, Sarah. Thank you, Brian. Morning. Morning.

Uh, like to start off with is we got a a car that was stripped out and is out of service and Sean from the ambulance service has mentioned interest in purchasing that vehicle for a quick response vehicle. Um, would you want to come up and add Sean to what you're looking for?

Chairman Vul Commissioners, uh, quick response unit for SUV. We're actually looking for a community paramedic vehicle. Uh, there's money coming in from the state. It's a rural health. Uh, we were able to get between 14 and 20 million through the state. Some of the things that are going through are purchase of new equipment for EMS throughout the state and development of new program. Uh we do have a community paramedic program currently. The vehicle that we use is a 2012. Uh frankly, I'm using duct or duct tape and zip ties to hold the front end on. Uh we've had it for about five years now. Uh we're looking for SUV that we can use. This is going to be for the person. I have a community paramedic that we hired off grants. It's able for them to go to people's houses. So if I have an elderly patient that uh well last week in 60 below instead of them going to see their doctor out in the cold, we can go out there, set up a laptop, they can see their doctor. Uh this is now covered by Medicare, Medicaid, most insurance programs. Very little profit for the ambulance service. Uh it's about $50 per visit that's covered by insurance. It's not a money maker for us by any means. Uh so we're not in this to make money. is for the community's benefits to fill a gap in healthcare. Uh they also do a false lip trip stumble assessments throughout the uh community and we're also working with public health and a few other things so we're able to um actually help the community and one of the things for us to be able to help the community would be an SUV that works. So um we did have purchase of some used ambulances. Um, one of the ambulances we uh donated to with the search and rescue for use of their dive rescue team for SCBAS SCBAs uh their scuba gear uh they're currently when they would change it's in the back of a van. Now they have an ambulance that's been designed for uh scuba gear so they can stand up and change it. We donated that to them. Uh

we're hoping for an exchange of vehicles for the ambulance for the uh scuba or for the SUV for the for the ambulance. We already gave it to them. So be blunt about that. We we already gave it to them. We're not going to go ahead and take it back. It's it's it's designed for our search and rescue team. So but my ask today is for consideration of donation of the old SUV for a community paramedic program. Any questions on that before I stay? Anybody any questions for Sean?

Sure. If this is one of the vehicles that were taken out of service. Yes. Correct. Yes. And you just like a motion to go ahead and approve that transfer or we want uh million dollar check for it. That'll be up to what you guys want to do if you want to sell it or if you want to donate it. Realistically, you might get 2500 out of the car. What vintage is this vehicle? I think it's a 20 20. Is it a one of the Durango? Durango.

That's a high mileage one, right? Yeah. I'd make a motion to transfer ownership to the Lake Regen Ambulance, the 2020 Dodge Durango. I'll second. We have a motion. We have a second. Um, since it's a transfer. I think we need to do a roll call. Correct. Roll call, please. Hodis. Hi. Fred. Hi. Brown. Hi. Wilhelm. Hi. Hulk. Hi. Motion carries. Congratulations. Thank you. I'll be

okay. The other thing I had on the agenda is we've been looking for the last couple years now of of bringing in some software systems so we could track our evidence a lot better uh than the old handwritten on a piece of paper and trying to keep track of everything. Um, so we narrowed it down to two companies that we felt that would meet our needs and uh the at the end of the day um pretty sure you guys got the handouts that I PMI is the company uh that we would like to go with this pick is the other company. Uh just so just for to suit our needs was 14,000 a year and well it' be 14,000 initial setup and then it'd be about $8,000 a year just to have their software and them to provide support through PMI for a little over $7,000. We get the software plus the equipment and we own it. There's no other annual fee to go with it other than if we want to continue with tech support and that would be $75 a year. So in the initial quote you can see I I highlighted

so is there any what's the service on it once you buy it you get a year go the first year free and then this quote will pay for the second year and then after that it's $795 a year the only reason I asked if we get a year to make sure that we use that year so that we know if it's worth the $700 if we were to go down that road, right? You know what I'm saying? Right? If it's not worth the $700, then why would we continue? I mean, we'd have the program, but why would we continue with the service?

Right? We've demoed both of these and PMI is the easiest. it suits our needs. Uh the other one has way more features than we'll ever use and I think we just be throwing money away uh on that one. But PMI is uh extremely user friendly. We can set it up the way we want it. And plus they'll give us they'll give us a couple hours of training. So I can bring my guys in and they'll they'll conduct the training on how to run this program. Um, the current system we got now, it's basically we pull a sheet of paper out. It says evidence inventory. We're writing it down. Sometimes you can read what somebody wrote. Uh, then it's just the managing of trying to keep track of that. Uh, with this system, it's a barcode system. You print on a label, put it on your evidence. It's got a barcode and it's scanned. So, I can tell you when it came in, what officer brought it in, and what evidence locker it went to, and then for once it goes to that temporary evidence locker and it goes to the main evidence room, it gets logged in there on the barcode. If it needs to come back out for court, we can barcode it again and we can take it out for court. And then in this program, we can run a report that shows all the activity and where the evidence has been.

It keeps a history of it. It keeps a history of it. So if we got two items that went to the state lab, it shows that it went to the state lab. Yeah. What what I'm asking the history of it. If there was a case and it was brought back in, you always have that history that you can fall back on. Yes. Good idea. I would assume for because we've had a couple cases that came up, the old cases that come up 20, 30, 40 years ago and now you're scrambling.

Yeah. It's like, okay, where's it at? and the paper stuff is gone and you got no record or this way the evidence or us young lawyers don't know what microfish is anymore. So yes, that's it in a case because we don't know. We have to have the person who actually collected it and locked it to introduce it as a

I like the idea of the $7,000 one just for the fact if you were to go with the other one that's $14,000 a year. We can literally if this system was to go down, we can literally repurchase it for less than what the service would be. You know what I mean, right? No brainer. Any other discussion on it? I have a question and this is like for our purposes. Turn my mic.

Yep, you're good. Okay. Um I just have a question. Does it keep track of like how long you should keep evidence? Like is there some sort of like ticker system that you can set? Yes. Okay. so that you know when evidence comes in. And that's a great point because when evidence comes in, we can set a timer that okay, in 90 days, it sends us a reminder to check with the state's attorney's office as to the status of the case and they can tell us if we can destroy the evidence or not. if we need to extend it, then we extend that notification out again and it keeps giving us reminders.

That's an issue that we commonly run into, too, because we'll have um like victims where their items were taken and they're wanting those items back and then they're calling our office and they're calling the sheriff's department or they're calling the PD or um they have evidence that just sits in their evidence locker for ages because no one knows what to do with it. That brings up a question. I know. So, this is for the sheriff department, right? That's correct. Does the PD plan on using this? No. Only reason I'm asking is because if they are, then they need to put some skin in the game also.

No, that's just be for our department because it'll be set up just for the sheriff's department. But you don't otherwise it becomes confusing, right? And that's not what I'm looking for. No. And then we're not looking for that either. We're This is just straightly for us.

We wouldn't need the signature pad. We decided we wouldn't need that. So, if we just total up what's on the front page of that, it comes to about $7,245. I've been keeping roughly right around $8,000 in my technology uh budget just for the software that we've been looking for.

So, does this come with like the computer and everything set up? No, it'll come with the uh wireless barcode scanner, the tech support, uh the evidence tracker software program itself that every deputy can use. Uh with the other system, I can only get three and then I had to purchase a license for each one of those. That's why it got so high. But on this one, it's uh like I said, it's simple. It's easy. And the nice thing about this is we can put it on the laptops we got in the patrol cars. They can go into there, use this system. They can create their own evidence logs out in the field if they see something. Right now, if they they have to write it on the piece of paper, then they have to log it in the CAD system, this would take that two steps out of it and just do one because we wouldn't have to log it in the CAD system because they could have it in this software and print that report off just like we would have it in the CAD. Just time saving.

Well, less room for error, right? This is something we've needed for years and we just it needs to be done because evidence is a crucial thing when you do cases and just the slightest not getting a signature in the right box your evidence could be thrown out. So the next question, do you have this in your budget? Yes, I've been carrying like I said budgeting 8,000 in my technology to buy the software for this. Any other discussion?

And what were you saying about um the what is it? Simply square the software that we currently have for our um CAD system. Is this tie into that at all? No. No. Does it need to be? No. No. And it's the PMI that um that's the the brand that you want to Yep. the Progressive Micro Technology Incorporated. Okay. And it's the unlimited license. Correct. Correct. 7245 without the signature ad module.

Correct. I'd make that motion. I'll second. So, we have a motion. We have a second to order the PMI program and then we'll pay later. We'll do the roll call later for payment or this is the order and pay. So um with that motion with the motion all in favor say

I post same sign. Motion carries. That's all you have. Well, I don't know if Candy got it out to you, but we prepared a year-end report for the sheriff's department for 2025. Uh, we have comparison for 2024 in here. I don't know if you guys had time to give it a a look over, but um we can wait till the next meeting to go into detail, but just just at a year in at a glance, uh the total calls for service were up. Uh 2024 we had 8,781. 2025 we had 8,954. So we're up just slightly. We had a big jump in arrest. We went from 83 arrests to 126 arrests. Uh agency assist in arresting uh we went from 191 to 239. Uh total cases charged uh our case cases charged have gone down a little bit. uh 2024 we had 309 25 we had 282 some of the trends that we seen from 24 to 25 our DUIs have decreased from 65 to 42 and our driving suspensions went from 76 to 46 and we like to think that's due to our visibility us being out there and being a lot more proactive than we have been in the past. It's nice to see them numbers drop.

Uh our minor consumption was up from 11 to 20. Uh under prosecution review cases, we went from 81 to 98. So then we we it showed a little bit about what our K9 was doing. Um just trying to get everybody more familiar with him and and use him more. We have 43 deployments, uh, nine patrol deployments, 34 detection, and out of them 43 deployments, uh, 24 arrests were made. So, he he's done some training. He did 19 the, uh, for detection and 24 patrol. Um, we've did five community demonstrations with the K9. So, traffic enforcement, um, 2024 we had, 142 citations issued. As of the end of 25, we had 867. So, we're down in citations. Uh, we noticed that there was a drop in our speeding violations. We went from 697 citations for the year in 2024 to 468 citations in 25. And they're driving without insurance that went down from 87 to 45. And our

driving under suspension also went down from 67 citations to 40. So our civil process uh division in tracking the papers that we serve through the CAD system. Now these are just the papers that we act we serve. Uh there's some that don't get documented because people come into the office, we serve the papers there or they're a subpoena or they're from other entities that we don't charge. Um so in 2024 we had 2,998. Uh 2025 we did 3,774. uh you can probably add another 1,500 to 2,000 papers that were served on top of that. Like I said, there were subpoenas. We just we don't track them. Um revenue generated uh in 2024 was 32,85245. Uh so far in 2025 there's 34,715. That's just a preliminary number. We know we still got some outstanding uh bills to be paid to us. So that number could go back up. So and the the rest of it is just more of a breakdown on our calls for service. Uh what we were called to, what we had to deal with. Uh it also goes into our criminal

activities, what we uh responded to and dealt with. This shows the traffic citations, the crashes. So, if you got time, you can review the review them numbers and if you got any questions, I'll be more than happy to sit down and discuss it with you. But just to kind of give you an idea of what the sheriff's department's been doing and and where we're at, but we're happy to see some of the areas where there was a decrease. We feel like our presence has has helped that. I feel that possibility. If I look at the last page where you have a community engagement, these are all the events that you've had someone out there. Correct.

Correct. I mean, some of this event you're looking at five, six, eight hours sometimes, right? Right. Any other questions for the sheriff? Thanks for this report. Very good. Yeah, very well done. That's all I got. Unless you guys got something for me. Thank you. Thank you. Next item. Jason.

Good morning. Morning, Jason. Um, not a whole lot going on, just weather related stuff. Um, we got a few quotes in finally for a few things. So, we'll run over a pick. The new pickup that we ordered is in and ready for pickup. So, now I'm asking for a motion to pay Devil's Lake Ford the $46,990. So moved. Second. We have a motion. We have a second. Roll call, please. Otis. Hi, Brit. Hi, Brown. Hi, Will. Hel me. Hi, Hulk.

Hi. Motion carries.

The next one we had talked about last fall a couple different times. Um, we had looked at overhead door for the south door of the main shop. Uh, PS Doors is the only one who actually give a written quote. We waited. We asked for quotes again and that's where we're at with that. That quote came in at $10,388. So, at this point, doesn't look like we're getting a lot of interest in that door. So, I'd like to move on with PS doors quote. I'm asking for a motion to accept that quote. And I think I attached that for you guys. So, you could look at that. It's a 16T by 13 16t high by 13 and 12T wide door 3in insulated steel door. And then it'll come with a new opener. It's been time for a while, but to work it in and I wanted to try to get the best price. I would move to accept a quote from PS Doors.

Second. We have a motion. We have a second. All those in favor by saying I suppose same sign. Motion carries.

The next one was just the the Butler invoices and everything. I that was Brent did a nice job in the bill list so we don't have to cover that. Um, Culver CL Crossing and Lton. This one came up lot 31 Lily Hoff. We had a request last fall. We went out and looked at it. The pipe were rusted out. So, I had Paul from KJ. He just did a water assessment study. We didn't do a paid study on this. He um said that right now, currently, that crossing is set for a 50-year event with two with the two pipe that are in there. um one culvert that would replace the two same size that are there would be sufficient for a 10-year event which is required as much we required to do by century code on a township road is just a 10-year event. Um but I personally would not ever reduce a crossing. So I wanted to talk to you guys and let you know. That's why I sent you the email conversation also between Paul and I so you guys could kind of get a little backstory. I don't know why it was ever why two were put there in the first place if nobody ever looked at you know who knows back then maybe there wasn't as easy to figure out the the watershed assessments. But anyway, I'm just looking for a motion to replace the two or to change it to one by his finding. My recommen recommendation would be just to replace what's there

to put two of them back in. I agree. put in there for a reason and it hasn't created any issues. Right. Correct. I I would be afraid if we put one in there, we create an issue and then we're going back there.

Yeah. There wasn't there was no I when I do when I ask them to do these, it's never to I never intended to reduce anything. It's always to make sure we have enough because Paul water is such a hot topic, right? Well, then every now and again you're going to find these where maybe they got oversized, but who knows what the future holds or if there's cleanouts or something at some point and then we're unders sized. So, but it does say I mean we shouldn't be, you know, by all the information we have, but it's there. So, if my suggestion is we leave it as two, but I'd make that a motion if you want. Yes, please.

Yep. We have a motion and we have a second to leave what's there or replace what's there already with two culvers. All in favor by saying I those opposed same sign. Motion carries.

Uh the next one I'm assuming they will um accept that this morning they're talking about it now. Mr. Martinson with his board that 96th Avenue Samson crossing as we call it. I put the project number in here for you guys, but it's to take out the 440 the 448 inch covers and two 24 inch covers and go with 572s. It'll still be a low water crossing, just not as low. And we'll get all the rusted culverts out and the holes out. So, this is just a farm access trail at this point anymore, but it's still our crossing. So, we still have to take care of it. Pipe there again are rusted out. These are the only two as of right now that we have for big covert projects lined up for the summer. There might be possibly one coming on old two. I'm looking into that. We got high water on one side of the asphalt on the south side down on the end on down by four and on the north side that's lo the water's gone. So we got to figure out what's going on in there. Try to figure something out. But as of now I only have the two covert projects. So once they approve that then I'll need a motion. But I just wanted that's more of anformational thing. The next one as well, the ACE convention, I was selected to be their voting delegate at their conference. So, I have that to look forward to. Something new there. Um KJ, I had to add add a couple we have a couple of uh invoices we have to pay that I didn't have at the time when I put this together for Candy. Um KJ invoice 96.43 43 came in for $8,000 and the 1106 11 invoice 11067 that we talked about last time for $2,000. I'm going to pay them together as one motion for $10,000 for the hydraulic study for 96th Avenue that we had agreed on to have done. So I would like a motion to pay those two invoices, one for 8,000 and one for 2,000 totaling

10,000. So moved. We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. Have a motion. We have a second to pay 8,000 and 2,000 which will tally to 10,000. Roll call, please. His brethren. Hi, Brown. Hi, Will. Hel me. Hi, Bulk.

I motion carries. And then we got um we still have some engineering left to be paid for on the South Minnowan project which is all rein re you know reimbursed by the North Dakota DOT. I did receive another one for that that I need to submit and that's $1,453.72. So I need a motion for us to pay that and then I will submit that to the DOT for reimbursement. That's a motion. We have a second. Second. A motion. We have a second to pay 14,000 $1,453.72.

Got that in. Roll call, please. His hi breth. Hi Brown. Hi Wilhelm. Hi Folk.

Hi. Motion carries. And the last thing that I been going to talk about and I keep keep slipping my mind, but um for years we've carried a clothing allowance at the highway department and I did budget to continue to carry the clothing allowance, clothing reimbursement. Um I just budgeted the same exact number that Kevin had the last several years of $3,600. So it works out to $300 per employee. Um Brent continu Brent monitors that either through reimbursements and all that. We have a tracking process for that record keeping of that. So, I would like to continue that, but since January rolled around, the new year would start. I should have brought this up sooner, but it wasn't something that was important, you know, as important as some of the other issues we were dealing with. So, I just want to make sure it's okay before we start into another year doing that.

Move to approve. Second, we have a motion. We have a second. All those in favor say I. I. I. Those oppos same sign. Motion carries. And with that I don't think I have anything else unless you guys have something. Anybody go grab John from next door. Sure. We can discuss that. Did you need a motion on to order those culberts? Um, not for 96th or the other one quite yet because I want to get a quote on price on them. Okay. I just want to make sure we're okay with proceeding to order.

Come in. Yes, we are. Good morning.

Update on the waterboard. We have gotten through most of our agenda for today. We have a couple little things. We received a petition for a snag and clear up in Fantry Township. The petition was accepted and we will start the process to take in determined bids and determine the watershed. So that'll be ongoing here. there's any question that the start is at county 4 where the county put in those new culberts and it goes to the convergence of this laterals and the edar So whether or not that's going to be the full length of where we can go we don't know until we get bids and get the watershed. The other is channel fishing pier. There's a question of liability and posting of the parcels by the water board. It was questioned by Mike Graphgard whether or not the county water board can post those parcels even though they're because it's public land. The reason they're posted is for liability reasons. So somebody got hurt out there. We don't want to be liable. So, we're going to take and defer to legal on how that should be handled. And also, it was questioned about it was posted for the liability and the fishing pier up there then would have been posted. So, somebody questioned that. So, that was removed for now until we get clarification on how to take and handle it. Right now, Mike is dealing with a state game of fish to see if they can on Onyx can take and parcel that out, just the fishing pier. So, that that could be separated out, but we still have to wait to see if we should have the rest of it posted or not. We will for now because there's going to be that maintenance of the culverts on channel A and until that's done, there is a known hazard out there. So, we'll keep it posted to keep

people off of there. But other than that, there's not a lot of business going on. Is there any other questions for me? Nothing here. Well, have you guys decided on that 96th Avenue Culbert? Oh, yes, we did do that. We uh we approved the recommendation from KJ. Okay. For the 572 inch Culver. Sorry. No, that's

No. the one where the culver's off the side. Y that's that will be Yep. So going back to the channel A fishing pair, you had something back 10 years ago when they established that. Yes. that still in in effect or

so according to the special meeting minutes in 2015 the motion was made for a 25y year contract or easement with game and fish or the fishing authorities. So that part is but right now there's no way to take and section out just the fishing pier with the 52 acre parcel that it's part of. So, we're going to try to either get that separated out or if the waterboard cannot post because it's public land, then we'll just take it off totally. We just need clarification from legal. So, yes, there is an easement 25 year easement starting 15. Right.

Any other questions for John? Hearing none. Thanks, John. All right. Thank you, guys. Okay. Do Jason, do we need to circle back and Okay,

that does worked. Thank you. Thank you. Moving on to the additional financials. Candy, can you just explain where we're at with that? Um, I'm in contact with Tyler Technology um, and they are working on getting the six months worth of um, input put into the computer because we just don't have the time. So hopefully in the next week

we'll have and this input was included correct with their we we had um we had hours that we did not use. Um so it's part of our like we could use those for them to help us with that. And then you and I had talked. So once the six months is put in there, that'll bring us up to date so that we can see the actual numbers. Yes. Yes. Just so that we're Yes.

clarified on why the financials have not been put out. You understand that, Jeff?

I understand it. I just don't like it, you know. It's we're approving things that we have no idea what we're approving. Um, and so we haven't had a financial report for six months and that's concerning. So, and I know that there's been issues and I understand that, but at the same time, we're are we not doing our due diligence and and asking those questions? So we're we're approving things. It's not that we don't know what we're approving. We're approving Well, knowing how much money, right?

Exactly. So, and I think that's something that is our responsibility to do. Um, unless I'm completely off base, I would go ahead and

and that's why I have asked Candy and we sat down and had the conversation. And this is when she reached out to Tyler Technology because she sold showed me the binders, you know, 8 inch binders of the techn or of the information that needed to be put into this. And she you had a one and a half done. And so that when she reached out to them, they said they could put this in to speed the process up to get us back on track. Just so you guys all know,

what additional things do we need from Tyler that you don't think have been have they met all the requirements that have been put out in the contracts that we've had with them or is there additional services that they can provide as far as

well as far as getting you Lisa um the assistance that you need to um making sure that everything is where we should be. I think they need to go like I talked with the person like the lead guy and I explained to him and I told him I told him that you know if this was something that we knew

like we should have been told so that we could have worked on it like prior to instead of trying to work on it after the fact, you know, I mean, as far as financials, right, we would get into where we're at today. Yeah. But as far as like the people overspending, I mean, no. Well, yeah. I don't I don't think that's

No. Um, it's just to be able to have the numbers so that we know for fact. Yeah. I think is where we're at with How long have we dealt with title? They're new. Oh, they're new. Is there other outfits out there that does this? Other companies that do it? Not very many. you know, you're kind of your kind of hands are kind of tied.

Well, I think we signed up with them about a year ago and so it's been a transition and then I think Dakota programs went offline in June or May of June of this year, this last year. This past year. So when Dakota programs went offline, that's where all the information had to be put over and we're playing catchup. I think sitting here as commissioners talking we're getting to the point where this needs to be completed. Yeah. Well, I agree with you 100%. You know,

so we we don't know what we did last year then that missing or go back farther than last year. No, there's I mean there's numbers in there. It's as far as now put it into the competitor to make it show that we're at the standing that we should like we're so we're not over budget right and that's what I think that's what we're all looking for here is so that we can compare to make sure that we're not going too right

you know I've talked to a commissioner from county and from county in the same conversation. They're actively looking for a different provider. Are they having any luck? I haven't got them since this was a month ago. Okay. But there's other outfits out there that do this. Very very few. I I think Tyler has monopoly on on North Dakota counties. I think I can't remember if it's 50 out of 53 or it's a huge number that that Tyler has locked up within the state. Where are they? Where are they headquartered?

I think they're out of Montana. No, but they're a very big organization. So, and when we went from a Dakota programs that was operated by a company of two, you know, we had exclusive access to those two individuals and they're very accommodating to our needs. Um, so it's very strugglesome to feel like we're going back, right? Feel like you're going backwards. Well, on getting information like the information is there.

Yeah. But we don't have that one on one. I shouldn't say we don't have the one-on-one. It's just not as going downtown to talking to your your home person. You know what I'm saying? Let me ask you, is this the person you're talking to at Tyler? Is there more than one that you're talking to? Oh, yeah. Or you talk to more? Oh, yeah. You talk to supervisors. Oh, yeah. And they tell you the same story. No, that's the person that I started with. Okay. Yeah. But it's it's not just, oh, okay, you send us the information, we'll have it for you tomorrow. It's like you got to pull their teeth.

Yeah. To know the next the next step. Well, not No, not really. No, like the six months of information is I mean, it's a binder like this of all the information to input into the computer. We have the information. The information is in binders. It's just getting it put onto the technology so that it does it for you. So, it does the basically the budgeting for you and then she can give us a print out. Correct. And that's what we're looking for as we're all sitting in here. Correct.

Yep. And hopefully they can finish this next week so that when we're sitting back in here the next meeting, we have them tonight. Oh yeah. It just seems like the process has gone too far. You know, the process is in works, but it's seems like it's went too far. You don't think they're breaking in new people or problems with that? No, they have no explanation. What's taking so long? Well, I think a lot of it is we finally found out that they'll actually put this in for us because Candy was trying to upload this herself.

Well, and I think part of it too is and I talked with like he is the he is like our contact person for our project we call it. Um, and I explained to him that, you know, I think things are a little bit backwards, like how you present to a client, like you you should tell the client if you're going to do this conversion in the middle of a year, like you need to start doing this each month so that by the time you get to your conversion date that you have all of this information and then you can input

so you can move on to the next smooth having it done in the middle of a season or middle of a year is a tough thing to accomplish also but they believe they can do it that correct yeah they better from overpaying them you have to let them try see if they fail then I'm not starting. Yeah. So, they're it's that difficult to change different should I call it that?

So, 2025 pretty much the whole year was training. Mhm. Well, and partial even even 20 24 like was training to make this big change because techn is so easy you know write it down on a piece of paper. Yeah I know. Well, I think as far as the financials, we answered the or Candy has answered your guys's questions that is sitting at Tyler hopefully in the next week

and I have one contact person I mean the supervisor and the G's name and I sent an email on Friday and you know it's being worked. It's not like we're sitting out there and it's just sitting in binders. it's actually being worked. So, what we've been I think you and I sat down two weeks now and that's when we Yeah. reached out to them to ask for help on that portion. You said to him on Friday, Candy. No, I sent an email. Email? Yeah.

Okay. You get a response? I get like, you know, 12 Tyler emails a day. So, frustrating.

Yeah. transitioning from I've done it. Transitioning from one major software to another is it doesn't happen overnight. Well,

we've actually that the other software was so old that it didn't the data didn't extrapulate correctly

and so you got columns off and A lot of the problem is it just didn't you weren't able to just put the thumb drive in the computer and transfer it because it wasn't up to date. I mean it was up to date what we were using and it was getting us all our information that we needed but it wasn't up to 2026 and that's where we're at now. and everything that came out of the old software like a record or or whatever it was like it went to a PDF. That was your only option. Yeah. So that once it goes to a PDF, you can't go in there and you can't change things.

So if you try to convert a PDF to an Excel, it doesn't work. Yeah. You're So then you're hand, you know. you're you're wasting, you know, two weeks trying to make it readable. I mean, you use it. Well, to make the system work properly, you're going to have to hand jam a lot out of this. Yep. Yep. So,

my question is, you guys all feel a lot more comfortable knowing what we know today? Yep. I know it's not a perfect answer. I just wonder if it'll be the same way the next meeting. I hope we have another week. Doing my best. I didn't say that. Oh, didn't say that. We good. We're all good. Okay. Moving on. Unfinished business. Nothing. New business. Approve of abatements. Move to approve.

Second. We got a motion. We have a second proposal in favor by saying I I approve. Yes. Those opposed. Same sign. Motion carries. Visitors and delegations. Anybody? Sean, you have anything? You're good. Paper got anything? You're good. Um, portfolios. Anybody has any announcements? I will be here for the next meeting. I guess I was told I'm going to be in sunny Arizona.

Okay. Supposed to storm that day. It's quite colder.

Anybody else? uh home rule. Uh we had our home roll committee meeting uh yesterday afternoon. We do have a draft uh ready that uh Daniel's going to work with staff and and uh shine it up a little bit and but it should be ready for commissioners review at our next meeting in February. Um very short, very simple. I think we hey if we took out some double spaces we could probably get it on two pages. Um very um concise and to the point and I think it accomplished what we were looking for as a as a commission. So, I'm hoping that the home rule charter committee will get together right prior to our meeting on the 17th um approve the the final draft for presentation at our February 17th meeting.

Okay, thanks Jeff. Anybody else? Um the flood plane ordinance got the somewhat I think it's finished as far as uh the engineering firm is concerned. I will get that to everyone. Um is my understanding that that one doesn't need to be recommended on by the planning commission. That can just go straight to us. So, I'll get that to everyone and we'll get that on the agenda maybe for next meeting. Okay.

Yep. Yep. I'll get it to her, too. I think did you you may have been on email from Steve, too. I don't remember. If not, I'll get it to you. Uh, it was late last week. Is it like No, I'll get it to you. Thank you. Anything else? No, that's it.

Hearing nothing else. le we're going to have a special meeting on Thursday uh discuss that building options and locations and uh having that with the the other member counties of the law enforcement center and trying to come up with a building design and location and uh hopefully get something finalized and everybody to look at. So, Thursday, you said

Thursday. Thursday morning at 8:00 at the law enforcement center. Anything else? Hearing nothing. Meeting a journ. Thanks everybody.