Board of County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

We have several items on the agenda today. Uh we will be taking our full lunch break, uh but we're starting off with board and leadership communication. So, we're going to start with board communication. Who would like to go first? I can. Thank you, Mr. Snyder. Go right ahead. The last Thursday I had a meeting with a constituent about WCCLS and some concerns they had. Also had a meeting with a spouse regarding Acker and just checking in on some some of that work. Also a quick budget check-in. Friday we had our very successful CWS budget committee. Today, Monday, yesterday I had a meeting with waste management representatives. Just sort of a check-in. There was no real official planned or scheduled topic. Um We had our vehicle registration fee check-in. Pam and I were um originally scheduled to have that discussion with our team. The team had it. I represented Pam and I uh at the discussion and we will be bringing uh we're we have a plan. We'll be bringing more information back to the commission in June. Uh early June. Uh I also attended the ARPAC prep or pre-meeting for our team, one of the Washington County representative team. I listened in because Commissioner Willy is going to have to uh leave the meeting tomorrow early and so I wanted to be up on the prep material. Um And obviously we had our elected official budget session last night and today I am planning to attend our community budget town hall. Though it sounds like we may be regrouping on that

a little bit. Uh Wednesday I have a prep meeting for the region one act. I'm the vice chair. We're I'm participating in their leadership organizational part of that. And then I will attend the part of the R PAC meeting that Commissioner Willie cannot attend. I'll probably try to listen to the whole thing, but I'll definitely be there while he's not there. Uh, Thursday and Friday obviously we have budget committee meetings. I'm also going to try to stop by the future vision commission meeting that uh, Metro is having at I know they sort of gave it to us as an FYI. I'm going to try to stop by that Thursday on my way home from budget committee. Assuming we're done on time and then Monday just as a check in or reminder I am planning to attend a courthouse luncheon with the Chief Justice and the state court administrator and our team as well. So I do plan to attend that. Um, There you go. Cool. Have you ordered your lunch yet? I didn't know we were ordering lunch for Monday. Yep. Isn't that what I Yeah. Did yesterday. Yeah. Yeah, there's a lunch. Somebody Okay. I'll figure that out.

I'll I'll forward the email that I got. Hm. Who's next? Thank you, Commissioner Snyder. Yeah, I'll go. Um, the last Wednesday afternoon we had a fair board meeting. And so we just got an update as you know, we're a couple months out of the next fair and so everything is in place. I think we have sold um, we have sold all of the available um, vendor booths. And um, so things are going really well. The uh, the only question is what is the TLT money going to look like over the next 3 months because um it's it's been flatlined or decreasing, so we may fall a little bit short of the budgeted amount, but we're still keeping our fingers crossed. Even if we do, I did a quick calculation of expenses and those kinds of things. I think we'll still be we'll finish in the positive, so that's a good thing. I know Leah's been stuck there a lot. Um Thursday evening was Council Creek Regional Trail Community Open House in Cornelius. I did not go to that, but thank you very much Aaron Wardell. And I'm going to not pronounce this person's name right. Ruth Kaufman? Can anybody help me out? Anyway, okay. She's the LUT [clears throat] senior project manager. They provided me with a recap. The purpose of the open house was to review design alternatives for the enhanced crossings project. Remember, this is a trail that goes from Hillsboro to Forest Grove rail to trail. Um Our county received federal funds through Metro's RFF A grant, which is somewhat flexible fund allocation, but ODOT will not approve the construction phase of the enhanced crossings project until the trail trail project has received approval to start construction. In the

future, there will be need to be to reconvene the leadership, which is basically the electives for the four entities, which is Washington County, Hillsboro, Cornelius, and Forest Grove. Uh also TriMet and Metro are on that. Uh to work towards uh informalizing operations and maintenance agreement right now. That would mean that uh the owners of the respective portions of the trail would be responsible for the maintenance and operations of the trail. So, that'll stay tuned for that. Uh on Thursday, Pam and I had a joint interview with the National Center for State Courts on our courthouse replacement project. Um that was just a very interesting conversation with the consultants that we have hired and um, their expertise in um, other projects that they've been for building courthouses and what all the things that come into play there. So, I don't want to take all this cuz Pam can um, fill in some blanks on that as well, but it was it was um, it was very good conversation. Um, Friday was our clean water services budget meeting. Fortunately, we passed that. So, that was good. Saturday was the county fair and sheep sheep and goat weigh-in. I did not go to that, but that is always a fun event. Um, yesterday had check-in with GPI president Monique Cardwell. Uh, and so she always takes a few minutes and gives me an update on what GPI is doing in the region and some of the things that they're moving ahead on. Uh, in the evening was our elected budget info session where we had a couple of electeds online and so, small turnout, but we made the presentation. Tonight's our community budget info session. Tomorrow uh, reviewing budget, but also have my second SHS ARPA Committee

where the bulk of the conversation will be about KPIs and KEIs. We had Here Together has uh, sent a their proposal of KEIs and KPIs. Um, and it was an interesting thing. It was interesting KEIs uh, keep excellence. Key excellence and initiatives. Key Environmental indicators. Okay. Key environmental indicators for the record. you go.

versus key performance indicators. Yep. versus KPIs. Yeah, and yeah, when you include incorporate both of those together, it does give you a very broad scope of expectations. And so, that will be um that will be quite a conversation that we have in I I really do appreciate Jason you stepping in uh for when I have to step out of that, but um I'm flipping through looking for the agenda for that, but I'm not finding it. But anyway, it will be a robust conversation. And um that we're finally starting now to get into the meat and the purpose of this group getting together. Um I will be attending Genentech's 50th anniversary event um uh at the end of that day, so I will be leaving the ARPA meeting at from 3:00 to 6:00, I'll be leaving that about 4:30 to try and beat the traffic to get to Genentech by 5:00 or 5:30. Um we have budget meetings coming up. Uh that's always fun. Saturday, it will be the Washington County Canine Trials um at the Hillsboro Stadium. That's all I got. I'm on time, I think. Great. I can go next. Thank you, Commissioner Treece. Uh last Wednesday, I had a IMDAC meeting. Uh we they did a good job of uh going through the budget. Just what's what was presented, the public document. And we had a discussion about neighborhood streets. Then on Thursday morning, Commission Commission Wiley and I attended and participated in the National Center for State Courts, as as you mentioned. That was a really good discussion. And the team that they put pulled together, the consultants have experience, a depth of experience in other courthouses. They had experience uh in reference to Clackamas Courthouse and Multnomah County Courthouse. So, it was really helpful. But I believe and I think that

you guys there's other people here that will be meeting with them as well. We talked about the political significance of this from the standpoint of all of our communities in Washington County as well as the need to make sure we're partnering at the state level and what the dependencies are in terms of our relationships across the board and how important it is to keep everybody in the same communication loop and to work to work together. And one of the suggestions that we made was to make sure that even as we go through this planning budget of a million point two five that we're sending out um information the from the from this team saying, here's what we're here's what we're finding, here's what we're doing. So that everyone's starting to think in terms of the importance of getting this to be a real thing after we get through this 1.25 because it's going to be a big lift. The um Brian Rob did a really good job of pulling everybody together. He He does great work. I've had the opportunity to work with him before and this is this is he part of the facilities group and it really was well done and I appreciated the opportunity to provide feedback there. Um Friday was our CWS budget committee. We talked about that earlier today. Kudos to them, they did a great job. I attended last night's budget meeting. Great job. And I'm excited for the community budget town hall meeting tonight. I think we're going to be discussing that a bit more. Tomorrow I have a special work systems and board meeting with state representative Dacia Grayber Grayber. She's going to be attending to listen to what the workforce development needs are and I believe that the invitation was extended to our GR group as well. I'll I'll be double checking on that. Uh Thursday and Friday are our budget days for the county.

I will be attending the Genentech celebration and the lunch on Monday. I wanted to take just a couple minutes and let you know that as a member of ARWAC, Metro ARWAC, thank you, Metro ARWAC Regional Waste Advisory Committee, we've been looking at the budget. I've been working closely with staff on that. One of the pieces that's being eliminated is the food scraps program. There's a lot of angst about that. And So, Metro is eliminating our funding. eliminated the business recycling funding already and now they're Interesting. Is it the proposed And And is the proposal eliminating the the residential or even the our funding? Our funding. Funding to uh local governments to have programs to support And I'm going to pass around a letter that uh we will be signing on to and the reason that you're getting it just today is it's still in process. And it they This is for the Metro meeting on Thursday. So, there's a timeliness aspect to this and I've been working closely with Rusty and Mayor over the uh o- over this letter. So, this is something that other jurisdictions are signing on as well. And if you'd like, I can give you a list of who's going to be signing on to this. Is Is this all part of the Recycling Modernization Act shift or uh is Metro funding going I don't know that I would They're happening at the same time, Catherine. You know, I don't and the degree of interdependence I can't really articulate for you.

Well, they may not be articulating it very well either. I haven't exactly I've I've tried to pay attention to the the MPAC presentations as well. Mhm. Um and this is it seems to me like the level of changes that they're talking about, they're not they're not talking about it in in enough forums so that local elected officials understand because it's at the local level where there's going to be accountability and Metro just continues to undermine themselves as agents by lacking by Well, one of the issues that I brought up at the last meeting is that the South Station it the transfer station Metro is going to be taking that work that is currently done by uh Recology in-house. That's got a budget impact, but it's not clear what that is in relationship to There's a number of different working pieces here. It's the perception is that getting money for the uh food scraps program is probably not going to happen, but we needed to put our stake in the ground in terms of this is important to us. There is debate about whether or not that was promised versus uh just an option. So, there's there's a lot going on here, but I I did feel strongly that and that at the staff's recommendation that we make a statement here. And that's what this is about. So, I wanted to let you know that this is in in process and it will go to the Metro Council for the Thursday meeting. And I don't understand why they're doing this. Is this They have a budget issue?

Yes. Yes. It's budget. Speaking of money, make some recommendations to the council. And

Yes, but what is the underlying thing behind that? Have they because have their disposal [clears throat] is disposal volume, is that decreasing or as I see in this letter, the cost of disposal has increased and so they're cutting off volumes are changing and it's a dynamic situation. You're right. But it seems like they're biting their nose off to cut their face because if these these outreach programs are going to eliminate the supply That's the argument. Yeah, good heavens. Okay, so I'm just this is complex. Thank you. I'm very comfortable with your representing us well and working with other area governments to get these messages across. And I can tell you honestly after attending the meeting I I wasn't I wasn't going to push as hard, but in talking with the staff and in understanding what other jurisdictions are doing, it made sense to sign on to this Absolutely.

this letter as well. This will be a lot of jurisdictions.

Yes. Yes. Yes. And I can get you the final letter. I'm looking at Meta because we can get to the final letter when that goes. But again, I want to I really want to emphasize that the relationship between my my assignment to RWA and our staff has really been helpful and it's it's very tight. We have communication all the time about what's going on. So, thank you. And and a shout out to them. They They're critical part. He is He's two-fold on this, but one of them certainly is that you're pointing out that they have raised their uh disposal fees 92% since 2012. 92% and then they're cutting programs. Cutting the funding for some programs. We like somebody. Okay, time to move on. This was for awareness, so thank you. Thank you, Chair. Are you done, Commissioner? Um Um last week I was um I'm going to check in with the staff about this issue. Um but there's been a damage to crops and grass. I've heard some farmers um because one of our contractors uh sprayed was doing the regular scheduled spraying and cost um spray that spraying cost damages to neighboring crops. Um so I've heard some some of the farmers and we'll follow up with the staff. Uh but basically it sounds like instead of 5 to 10 ft away from the road, they were a bit too close and caused some kerfuffle with some of the farmers. And um yeah. So the assertion is that they sprayed outside of the right of way.

Yes. Thank you, Chair. Succinctly said, yeah. Um and uh really we're looking for um some strategies on what's next. So I intend to I think tomorrow um meeting with them at the farm site. And we'll have more to follow up on how big is the damage and how far they went off the right-of-way uh and to figure out what they'd like to see happen. Um it sounds like also one of especially one of the farmers this happened to them in 2011 and they county navigated. So, I I feel like we have a lessons learned on how to navigate that. Um, but I'll have more to report back tomorrow after tomorrow might work. Um, and then I'll break it down some of my reporting today so that it's not all issues, but updates. Um, I had a good meeting with our auditor. We talked about the release the the report that she already released and then gave me a preview of the animal services cash handling auditing that she's doing. And didn't realize that was an issue, but learned a lot more where the facility is and some of the cash they handle. And then also we had a good discussion about the facility capital invoice payment concerns that she heard in the auditing that she's doing. Um, to address some of the concerns that she heard. And then last night our um, uh, community budget, no, elected official town hall. I thought it that went well.

I really thought the the few people that showed up had good questions. And was a really good turnout in my opinion. As it's midday and um, but anyways, I wanted to say thank you to some of the members that showed up, the electeds. And then tonight I do intend to come. I don't know if we're going to have a discussion Commissioner Willie about this that particular piece, but I it's on my calendar and I intend to be at the community budgeting town hall tonight. Um, the other issue that I wanted to bring before I go over all of my other updates. What's on my calendar is that I've heard and I'll follow up with the staff on this one, too, but I wanted to give you guys an update on some concerns I've heard from business owners, especially restaurant business owners, that want to expand. And then the the the language barriers around the definitions of what that expansion looks like and is it mobile? Considered extension of the restaurant? Is it So, we're navigating that. I actually have a quite a bit of a learning on this because I'm myself am confused about some of our own written definitions on our websites, but more to come on that one. In terms of other stuff that is on my calendar, Commissioner Wiley, I will be joining you with a Genentech 50th anniversary celebration. And then I'll be here on Thursday for the budget meeting and then I do have Project Access um the their annual gala, as well. And then Friday, I'll be back with you all for the budgeting. And yeah, I'll read the rest next time. That's all.

Thank you. I'll finish up. Monday, we had another AOC Board of Directors meeting for another meeting on formalizing the dues policy, particularly for those counties who may have difficulty with large increases into annual dues and formalizing a a policy so that the conversation happens and there is structure around what is possible. So, true to form, there are board members who hadn't attended any of the other previous meetings, so we had a lively discussion to try and ensure that their concerns were uh addressed. Um so that they knew their concerns had already been addressed. Um I have a sheet here. Board members have it uh already, but I wanted to bring it for staff's benefit as well uh through CLE training uh through our other agency hat on DEI compliance audit checklist. Uh the reason I'm sharing this is uh because it helped me as a board member have a better understanding of the rigor that we as public agencies have to go through with all of our uh personnel uh uh policies and implementation, and it takes a lot of and we've the agency under our leadership team with Ms. Angie at County Council and our HR team have been evolving our practices and continue to

make strides in leaps and bounds to make things better, and I just wanted to share this. Um so, tonight's budget town hall is for the community. I realize that there is quite a gap between our work session completing today and that meeting starting at 6:00. Uh so, I wanted to offer up the idea that since myself, Ms. Angie, and John Steyer are the primary speakers that if you all want to just attend by Zoom, uh I don't want to make you come and uh sit through uh right up front or uh in the audience for the whole thing. You can stay as long as you want on Zoom to hear the questions, but we'll also be taking notes on what the questions are. So, I wanted to offer that up as an option. Um so, it makes sense to me to make highest and best use of your time based upon the fact that we had last night, we have tonight, we've we have a pretty long, you know, we had two CWS meetings this morning, we have more this afternoon, and we have two full days of budget. And I know you have other committees, so I mean, my main purpose in attending would be to hear the questions or comments the questions and comments if we get them and responses, and I can probably do that through notes or Well, it will be recorded as you

Yeah. I appreciate that. I I'm I'm okay with that. I'll I'll be on and off of Zoom depending on my cuz I have a Salmon Berry Trail at 6:00 to 7:30, and I have to make the financial presentation, so I've asked to have that front first, but then again, I'm thinking I should log in to the our this meeting first, so I'll push that around, and they're they're flexible. So, I'll be on for the first part, and then probably jump into the Salmon Berry. Well, you'll be off camera anyway, except for the introduction part. I just don't know if I can have two Zoom meetings going at the same time. Well, I don't know. Phone and your laptop. I I mean, I'll be attending. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh I just wanted to make sure I offered that. Thank you. I appreciate that. So, that that helps. Yeah. And that's all I've got for today. So, thank you. Okay. Um leadership communication. Roll up your sleeves. Thank you, Chair Harrington. Commissioners, so Sandy and I rock, paper, scissors, and I got her. So, she's hard to beat. Uh So, you all I have two teenagers at home. They're pretty skilled. Uh I know you all received direct communication from me and the office, and there were some media reports, but I did want to highlight here in this space that um the Supreme Court decision last week upholding ordinance uh 878, which is the flavored tobacco ban. Um as you all remember, this was an ordinance you first uh took up in 2001. So, we have been No, no, no, no. 21. 21. Thank you. 2021. Thank you. That was we had to make It smelled like a long time ago. I could not write that down. I was going to say, you know, we have

been in this literal fight since then. We we face legal challenge in right away, working very closely with Mira and her team at HHS to continue to defend the ability of the county to pass this regulation, and um it was a unanimous decision from the Supreme Court, so that's a very good outcome. Um as we explained, there are some procedural steps that need to happen down in Salem, and then it'll be remanded back to the district court to do for them to confirm the ruling, and um there's some post judgment motions and filings and costs to figure out. Um and then once we get through all that, we have a final order, then we will begin to work with HHS on education, implementation, and enforcement. So, it's a it's a big win um for uh for you all, for the county, for the public, and for our office. So, just wanted to take a moment to, um, highlight that. So, when will that actually take effect for the decor's prohibited items? I don't want to get ahead of HHS because I don't know what their plan is, but the legal process we would expect to wrap up in the next month-ish, about. We don't really have total control, but there are some set timelines.

hopefully we would give them some time. Correct. That's the elevator story. And I'm sure we will we'll follow up. We'll follow up. our prior plan that has been in suspension [laughter]

for years. I don't want to speak for Meagan and her team, but always the Yeah, we'll follow up cuz always the intent is to get to compliance, not enforcement. So, that requires some work up front. Um, on a personal note, I've spoken with Ms. Angie and Chair Harrington. Um, I have an unavoidable conflict on Thursday morning, um, with my family, so I will, um, Dave Lewis will be at your budget meeting until, uh, after the lunch break. I will be there after the lunch break and with you all day Friday. Great. Perfect. Thank [clears throat] you. Oh. Hey, good morning, um, commissioners. I had to think for a minute what day it was. Um, it feels like the days blend together sometimes. Um, so first I'll start with an elections update. Um, it is continues to be election season. Uh, the turnout has reached 11% as of yesterday with keeping up to with post-pandemic turnaround numbers for a gubernatorial primary election. As mentioned last week, elections discovered missing races for metro positions in one Hillsborough precinct number 327. Per your board's request, um, last week I did forward that information, um, to your emails. Replacement ballots have been sent and are beginning to be returned. Elections is segregating these replacement ballots for special processing to make sure all votes are correct are counted correctly. As a reminder to the public, mailed ballots must be postmarked on or before Tuesday, May 19th and received within 7 days after election day. Ballots received after May 26th will not be accepted regardless of the postmark date. Ballots can be returned to any official ballot drop box around the state. There are 21 official ballot drop boxes throughout Washington County, all of which are accessible 24 hours a day.

Um as always, voters are encouraged to reach out to elections with questions or email elections office. The last few days before an elections are extremely busy for staff and wait times may be longer than usual. Um each year I'm amazed at the work that our staff do within our elections department division. As a reminder, um in elections, we only have nine FTE at this point. So, that is a small and mighty team carrying out elections throughout this county. And yes, we do hire temporary workers during election season, which helps, but those nine staff are really the backbone of the work that occur throughout the year. And I was really impressed with the media release that just went out and talked about the hours on May 19th where people could help get service starting at 7:00 a.m. So, before most people have to show up for work uh through 8:00 p.m. So, your voice matters. Use your voice. Don't leave your voice up to somebody else by not voting. Please vote. And can I ask a question? Uh is there a plan for observers at the elections office on election day? And um the reason I'm asking the question because we hear we hear about that in our um public comment. Yeah, I'd like Marny to address We're going to take team. Um this So Marny, why don't you kick it off? And we didn't know this question was coming, but we've been talking about it. Thank you, Commissioner Trease. Um there there is a plan for observers and um to be honest, this current May election,

it's not very different than what we've had in the past, but um um we are hoping to upgrade some of the monitors and the video feed um later in the year, maybe before the November election. But every year, we have video feeds that you can see what's happening in the signature area where the ballots are coming in and you can see um kind of an overview of the I think they call it the boarding room, which is the room where they actually separate the ballots from the envelopes. Um and we have um volunteers who have been trained um that can answer questions. So there's somebody in the room with the observer um where or where people are observing um and if they can't answer the question, then they know who can answer the question, so they go back and and find the right person to answer the question. Are we anticipating a higher number of observers this cycle? I I think that we always have a pretty robust um group of folks that come in and observe on a regular basis. And um they they have requested um, more actual access to the back area, which currently because of our security planning, we can't allow observers to go back into the locked sort of staff only area. And it And it's the extended staff area, so um, that's something that we just can't do right now because of security concerns. And when do the observers start showing up? That's a That's a great question. I know they they've already There have been some that have already come. I'm not sure exactly when they start showing up. I know they've had um,

questions also about like, is there any process or way that they can observe the overseas, which a lot of that has happened earlier. Um, and the overseas ballot The overseas ballots, like how they get sent and processed and come back in. And um, so I think that's one area that we've had questions about um, coming in earlier. But people can come at any time and we can turn on the video cameras, so I know we've had some already. I would say at least for the last couple of weeks. So to add on Dan would know. It could be much longer. I just And I'm just curious. Yeah. To to maybe add a finer point to a couple of the things um, that Marni had mentioned. Um, in your proposed um, budget for consideration and there is additional investment in the technology systems for observation to increase observation. That does not change the room layout. Um, it does not allow access to the back area physically for observers. That would take a much higher capital investment. I want to underscore community members that you may have heard from and just uh, as recent as yesterday afternoon, Marni and I met with some community members who do want to have that direct access to observe for the entire process. So, that's not just on election night. It is counting overseas. So, um we had um a good conversation on also the balance of needs and safety and security that our safety and security plan must be approved. And that um we do uh recognize the need for legal meaningful observation. And we also recognize the need to make sure we have

safe and secure elections processing, which includes safe and secure location for staff and volunteers to do their work. And sometimes that feels like it can come in a conflict or a tension in what those um priorities areas are. We've also expressed that we cannot openly share the safety and security plan. So, and recognize to community that can feel like we're hiding something from them. But, it's a safety and security plan. And so, I think there was a degree of understanding there. However, um I think just I I want to just underscore even with what's in the proposed budget will not go um to the length that some of the community members are asking for. And it's it's an incremental improvement. Any other questions from from commissioners on elections? Yeah, just are are we communicating this to specifically the the people that are always at the board meetings that find that we communicate this? We We communicated that um we have put in a request through the budget process to to make some um incremental improvements to the video um observation capacity. So, that's about as far as we went with it yesterday. I don't have a question, I just have a comment. And that is I'm getting individually pretty sick and tired of all the false assertions that uh some community members are making uh with regard to our elections. I 100% stand by our team uh and I really appreciate the level of communication with the board members on looking into these uh false

or these assertions and letting us know uh if they're false or if uh there's something there for us to look further into. Um all of that is I continue to be committed to uh recognizing people's constitutional right to their opinions, uh but they don't have a right to the facts uh and defining what the facts are uh with regard to how we do our work, how we're required to do our work, and how we assure that the public interest is maintained. So, I just wanted to get that out of my system. Anything? I was going to say one other thing about elections. Okay. Sorry. Um I think I've talked to the county administrator about this before, but I I do think that the critique that the video system changes you know, there's not a continuous feed they're not observable from anywhere, which they could probably be put on the internet without a whole lot of trouble. Um and the fact that they're not recorded with a time or number like a time stamp and a and a camera number to me makes it so that if someone sees something they have a concern about right now, it's difficult for them to sort of speak on that. Uh, or to report it so that it could be looked at. I that is my only observation about the camera system and I don't know whether what's proposed will address some or all of that, but I did want to at least on in the public discourse that, you know, I do think those are things that would enhance um, the [clears throat] program to some extent. Oh, sorry. Um, I I think I'm planning to speak about this um,

Thursday. I almost said tomorrow at the budget hearing, but it's Thursday. Um, so I will try to get more information about um, the the improvements and whether we'll be able to time stamp them because I I definitely know that's what I've heard and seen in the observation room. Um, I did want to mention that um, we know we have had requests that it would be continuous feed on the internet and I think that's one of the pretty significant IT security concerns that we have um, because with AI people can really manipulate um, what's put out on the internet and then the other concern that happens is somebody sees something that they think doesn't look right to them and all of a sudden that is tweeted and Yeah. uh, duplicated over and over even if it even if it's not a bad actor changing something it just sort of becomes fact in certain uh, circles just because it's said over and over and passed along and so that's a little bit of our concern is that there's not a person like when you're in the observation room or on-site, if you see something and you think it looks bad, you can ask somebody about it. I know they can still go out and say that it's not happening correctly, but um more it's just the security that with AI people can manipulate those kind of videos and make them look like all sorts of things.

Yeah, I mean now with AI they they could make we go further. The meeting on Thursday is the budget committee meeting. Correct.

And in June we have an elections Yes. I don't want to have us end up rat-holing with, my word, with the whole budget committee about how elections work, how elections should work, and all of that. Um so, please speak to what the investment Yes. uh request proposal is in the budget, and then all other questions and comments need to be deferred. But thank you, and that's my plan. It's just this is the investment that's proposed in the budget, but I was going to try to get a little bit more um information about I'll have that at the end of the elections update.

I I I think it'll be important to understand what is proposed for improvement in the in the budget, and that that limiting it to that is fine. Are we all clear on that? Yes. On the AI part of like I think we're at a point now where someone can like literally make something that didn't exist. So I'm not sure there's a big advantage to, you know, like someone could make the whole thing appear. Yeah. Um which is a change. That wasn't true three years ago. Um anyway, That's true. Yeah. observation. Yep. I think this could be a when you do the June update for elections, Bonnie, but I think one of the question that came out that I've also heard from residents um was around multiple people being registered in a one address. Yes. Um and I think debunking that I think that yeah, we sent a an update. I I'm trying to remember, but I think we did send that update.

Yeah. No, I'm saying like in your update could start debunking that. I think that is one thing that people are walking away when they hear um so and I Yeah, we'll highlight it again in June. Um and it's a good time to remind you that when we sent that update out, we asked if you have specific questions or um areas that you want to be sure that we highlight to please let us know through your staff assistants so that we can make sure um that we're addressing those. So, sorry, I'm taking up your board and leadership time. Claire? Thank Um Okay, I yeah, I okay. Just couple more minutes. So, continue um the um partnership with the board um in service. One of the things that I appreciate is um when board members, when you share the concerns that you're hearing from community, especially on county service delivery, um and always feel free to not wait until we have a check-in to share that information with me. Um and so, one of the items that um I just want to just make sure that's on the record um is that LUT, land use and transportation, is aware of concerns. Um Commissioner Fy, you had brought up the farmers. They are aware it was a contractor, um not road construction, but a contractor that we were working with to spray in um the ditches or the areas on the roadside, which is a common practice. And so, LUT is currently working with the farmers and also the contractor on remedy. So, that is active work that is occurring. And that occurred in in just the District 1 was that a lot of farmland in District 4? This is actually District 1, District 4. Huh, it was in District 4? Yeah, District 1. Yeah, afterwards can you and I talk about it?

And we can have Steven Roberts provide an update for the full I think he's working on it as is. Everybody will have it. And that concludes my update. Okay. Well, we have a very full afternoon with three different topics. Uh, so, we'll uh, reconvene here. Do you want to We have to reconvene time certain, do we, Kevin, or Um, they uh, staff would like to go at 1:00. Okay, great. So, we'll reconvene uh, with the medical ex- aminer facilities feasibility study update at 1:00. Thank you.