Washington County Board Meeting

Good morning. Uh, I will call the March 24th, 2026 Washington County Board of Commissioners Meeting to order. Uh, clerk, will you please take the role? Commissioner Miron. Here. Commissioner Karwoski? Here. Commissioner Cox? Here. Commissioner Bigham. Here. Commissioner Clasen. Here. Roll call. Taken all present. Excellent. Please join us for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. One Nation under liberty.

All right. Well, we are at the, uh, public comment, uh, portion of the meeting. And, uh, we, we have, we have quite a few. So I just wanna, um, say a couple things. One, um, we don't respond or take action during public comment. Uh, the, uh, board or administration would follow up. And then, um, we would appreciate comments about three to to five minutes. And, and please try not to, um, uh, repeat, uh, what someone else has, has said. So, um, I am gonna start with, um, and after Afton City Council member. There you go, Lucia. Uh, so if Lucia Zeki could, uh, come to the de or, um, speakers podium over there, and then just state your name and, uh, community, even though I already did. Welcome Council member. Thank you, chair. Okay. Good morning. I first wanna thank the board commissioners for your hard work on behalf of all the residents of Washington County.

My name is Lucia Leski. I'm a Washington County resident who's lived in Afton for the past 31 years, and I'm also an Afton City Council member. Though this morning I'm representing myself as one individual council member and resident. I will share that after having participated in discussions with my Afton colleagues in both work sessions and meetings since early February on this matter, including at the last City Council meeting on March 17th, my comments about the matter, I'm here to give input on, as well as my belief backed by law that local government has and should have low sole authority over the regulation of the discharge of firearms is shared in spirit by the mayor and other council members. I'm here to speak to you about the recent change made by the DNR to remove the shotgun only restriction from our Metro County Deer Permit area, which includes our city of Afton. The DNR did carve out the option of restricting rifle use in our 7 0 1 zone following public notice, public hearing in a vote, which would if passed, restrict firearms hunting to shotgun only as has been the practice for the last 80 years.

Our city council has since early February, been working diligently to proceed with making the best decision for our town regarding this issue and the legitimate public safety concerns that are very unique city present. We plan to hold a public hearing on March 17th, but had to cancel after the city Attorney advised us that the authority to hold hearings on this and to make the decision was left to county boards. I'll be honest with you, it's clear to me there was not enough vetting, thought outreach to the countless municipalities that encompassed the zone or these counties. I suspect the hunting and firearms enthusiasts were certainly asked for their input and advised to contact the DNR and whoever had the authority to make the change. This morning, I did research on this, and some counties like Olmsted with the city of Rochester and surrounding communities, share the same concerns that I have with counties making the determination.

Even the DNR admits they don't manage based on counties, but zones that cross counties. The most glaring oversight is that cities have the legal authority to regulate firearms discharge. What was completely overlooked is what simply should have been done. That is for the DNR to clearly state in their published rules that regarding rifle use in the 7 0 1 zone, deer hunters must check the local municipality regulations and ordinances regarding their deer hunting, firearms discharge laws. I'm constantly told deer hunters are responsible, follow the law. I think the simple rule and statement of responsibility is not onerous. I will add here, for any of you who don't know me, I'm a retired St. Paul Cop, spent 28 and a half years on the street. I was a use of force firearms instructor, and I was a SWAT officer for a decade. I trained and carried rifles and shotguns in my career. I'm not a hunter, but I think I'm qualified to speak about gun safety.

I'd also be happy to share stories of recent hunting mishaps and violations in our town with you board members. But I don't wanna go too long. And there are a lot of concerns from hunters, lifelong hunters in Afton about this change. To be clear, neither I nor anyone else in Afton city government is asking the board to restrict rifle use for deer hunting anywhere else in the county. We are asking the board to grant authority to Afton as a municipality in the county, to hold a public hearing and vote to make the decision to prohibit rifles for deer hunting in our city, keeping a shotgun only if the majority of the council votes to do so. Again, the legal authority to regulate firearms is one that cities possess. This would fix the problems and inconsistencies created by the rule change. I don't think any of you agree with taking local government control away from the cities in your county, especially over matters, matters that concern public safety.

Cities know what's best in their unique communities. What's right in Afton isn't necessarily right in Woodbury. It's not what's right in Forest Lake, Hugo. It's, it's how can a county board representing all this diversity be tasked with making a countywide decision on this Afton special and its makeup, its topography, its deer population. And I've come to find out we're a trophy hunting area for deer hunting. We respect hunting in our town, including firearms hunting, but we also live here and intimately understand and respect the legitimate safety concerns. Public safety for our, uh, residents and mitigating risks is our main concern as it should be. We have a very responsible, effective city gov council that I'm proud to be part of. And the path we set forward to determine what's best for our residents was cut off. We ask your help in merely affirming that cities in your county are legally authorized by the county board to make such a determination for our own communities.

We'd be happy to hold the public hearings. You guys don't wanna, don't wanna hold on this, and I get why. Um, so thanks for your consideration. Thank you, council member. So we have two more cards related to this subject. Um, Steve Zeki, if you wanna please, uh, approach the speaker, uh, rum and then state your name and community. Yes. My name is Steve Chesky and I live in Afton. And, uh, I totally agree with, uh, what Lucia has spoke about. I, uh, feel that there's a lot of, um, our houses are too close together to have high powered, uh, rifle hunting, um, and, uh, knowing, uh, that, um, a lot of individuals out there that handle firearms are not qualified or responsible for their actions. And so this, uh, puts, uh, everybody's, uh, welfare on edge and that, so thank you. Thank You. And the third, um, comment card on this is Fen Risso. Please come to the Speaker rum and, uh, state your name and community.

Thank you very much. My name is Fen Risso, and I appreciate all the work you do, uh, in supporting the county, so thank you very much for that. I'd like to reiterate the importance of safety in our communities with firearms, uh, as it's been relayed, and I'll be much briefer. I think Lucia did a great job. I am a hunter, uh, have hunted. Uh, I've fired rifles and I fired shotguns. A rifle bullet can easily go two miles if you pace out two miles within Afton or in many other communities. I think it's critical that the community be able to decide what kind of firearms and what is able to be discharged. Whether it's an agenda that the board here wants to have or relay it to the cities as, uh, previously discussed, I think it would be a local decision as to what firearms can be discharged within that community. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, next is, um, a presentation of a petition.

Uh, is there a speaker that would, uh, Lizzie? Yep. All right.

Please come to the speaker Restroom. And Good morning. My name is Alexia Cheatham, and I am the communication liaison for AFSCME Local five 17. I also work for Washington County, and I live in Washington County, and I grew up in Washington County. As you know, our union voted to reject the county's offer and to authorize a strike. We did not make this decision lightly and believe we need more assistance with mental health, healthcare, and rising costs of living. We're glad to say that we felt our last negotiation session made significant progress. We've had strong support from the community as shown by the petition we like to present to you. We'd appreciate the support of the board in helping us cross the finish line and continue the important work needed to serve our communities. Thank you for your support. May I present this to Commissioner Stan, or I'll come.

Thank you. Uh, we have a few more cards. We have about five more cards, and then we'll open it up for, for comment. Um, Ms. Nancy Davis, if you wanna come to the speakers rum and, uh, state your name and community.

My name is Nancy Davis. I live in Stillwater. Um, I'm here because I'm very concerned about the immigrants and the people who suffer during the, the presence of ice in, in our state. Um, I am, uh, personally and, uh, know a person who stayed home from work and did not buy her food. She stayed in her house for the entire entire time. As a result, uh, there's some pressure on her to meet her, um, cost of living. She, I picked her up to go somewhere, and she confessed that she was very hungry. For someone to be hungry in this county is just horrible. So I would, I'm appealing to you to do what you can to mitigate some of the results of these this horrible winter may. I think there's a matter of helping people that may be losing their homes, um, helping people with, with their healthcare and, and food. And that's all I wanna say.

Thank you very much. Um, the next one is Peter Eland. You wanna approach the speakers rum and state your name and community.

Good morning. My name is Dr. Peter Ueland. I'm, um, I've lived in Stillwater since 79, and I've had the good fortune of, uh, working in this, uh, valley for the last 31 years, and I appreciate the work that you are doing as county commissioners. I'm worried about the state of our democracy. In my voting lifetime, elections have always been free and fair. Voting fraud is mini minuscule, but our federal government wants to change that. The, um, ice assault on our community and the proposed education legislation that's called the Save Act, are designed to make it harder for certain, um, community citizens to vote the poor, the immigrant, the immigrant citizen, I should say, the disabled. Those who are less fortunate are gonna have a more difficult time voting. If the Save Act has passed, we need to make it easier to vote, not harder. We need to protect our voter rolls. I, I see that as, um, a, a county responsibility.

And I would like to, you know, I, I would like to know how we are going to, um, to, to improve and encourage people to vote rather than discourage them. As a healthcare provider, I'm really worried about the passage of legislation that has taken away the safety net for a lot of people. Mm-hmm. People are losing their health insurance as the Acme uh, folks, uh, referred to making it harder to access healthcare ba Um, medical, medical costs are already the mo most common cause for people to go broke and file for bankruptcy. Snap benefits are, are diminishing, are harder to access. Our Valley Outreach program is serving more and more people who need food. Um, I, I don't care what the color of someone's skin is. I don't care what, where, what country their origin is, if they're my neighbor, I want to see them taken care of. Um, we're all better off if, if our neighbors are taken care of.

Even us rich, old white guys. I'm happy to pay taxes for that. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Um, the next one is Catherine Noble.

Please approach the speaker's restroom and state your name and community please.

Hello, my name's Catherine Noble, and I live in Oak Park Heights. And I agree. What, uh, with what Nancy and Peter have just said. I wanted to point out that, um, the Twin Cities is getting the John F. Kennedy profiles encourage award this year because of the peaceful protests and because of people standing up to take care of their neighbors when ICE came after them. And we here in Washington County, have also done our part in that spirit. Um, I want to encourage the board to do what they can to take care of the immigrants in our community, as Peter mentioned, and to ensure that, you know, legal citizens have no impeding impediments, legal voters, I should say, have no impediments to being able to vote this fall. And just thank you for your time. Thank you so much. Um, the next one is Deborah Debo, uh, Stillwater, you just wanna come up and state your name and community please.

Hello, I'm Debra Deru from Stillwater. I don't own a small business, but I have been hearing of our small businesses within Washington County as well as other counties who are suffering terribly because of the, I'll call it the invasion from ice. Particularly their, um, their labor pool, which happens to be heavily, uh, dependent on immigrant labor. They are suffering. I understand that the restaurants, particularly are troubled by this. Stillwater in particular, is a very tourist tourism is important here. And what brings many people here is the restaurants and the small businesses. So I encourage the county board to do what you can to support communities and their small businesses to recover from this unnatural disaster that has hit us. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, the final comment card I have is Carsten Nelson. Madam, if you wanna approach the speakers rum and state your name and community, please.

Hello, my name is, is Karten Nelson. I'm a, uh, Lutheran pastor, uh, 30 year resident in Maddi, 18 years serving as a pastor in, uh, in White Bear as well. And I wanna thank you for your wide, um, care for, uh, Washington County and what's laid upon you, uh, in your heart and in your responsibilities. I wanna speak to something past, present, and future. The past Metro Surge obviously made a, uh, uh, had big impacts for this whole state. You probably know better what that impact has meant here in Washington County. But obviously right now, part of the ripple effect is, uh, around housing issues for folks, both, um, folks who have been here short term and long term. The variety of ways that you can be helpful in, uh, rental assistance or moratoriums that, uh, are mindful of the basic necessity of people to have housing before the rest of care for their own selves or world or community can happen beyond that.

Um, it's also, um, the sense of support for small businesses that have been, uh, deeply affected and the ripple effect of not just those who have jobs, but the ripple effect of employment for, uh, other folks who are served by those businesses. Um, your ongoing support for small businesses in particular after the metro surge will be really good. The encouragement to continue. I wanna talk to something more specific present. Um, the cuts to Snap and Medicaid, the big beautiful bill that happened and some other, uh, impending pieces, uh, limiting, uh, medical care and support. 7% of the, uh, disability services in Minnesota has been cut. And I want to talk to you, uh, briefly about that. I was up at six o'clock this morning with my daughter who has muscular dystrophy, getting her ready for takes about an hour, got her, uh, set to drive out to Brooklyn Center. She's a data analyst for Target and loves her job.

She's also in a, uh, wheelchair that's necessary since she's been about six years old. The cuts, uh, recently make durable medical goods a real concern. Her wheelchair that's seven years old, she could get one at five years old, but we've stretched it, uh, beyond, but the limits to durable medical care means that trying to pursue a new wheelchair is put on hold for her. We think we'll get by, but I also have for 30 years have attended, um, uh, courage Pool, courage, Kenny, and have been a part of all kinds of therapy programs and, and woven in with all kinds of lives of people with different kinds of disabilities from, uh, just all kinds, their kind of, uh, cares and concerns and limits right now about trying to, um, tend well to their own individual lives and what they do then wider for the community. Um, your ongoing support around disability services is helpful and necessary important that we become a community that really does allow all kinds of people to thrive.

And I appreciate your willingness to hear stories that are real. My daughter, for the first time in five years, we found A-P-C-A-A personal care attendant that could work with her, willing, able, uh, uh, to be providing services. She did not, Ashley is her name. Ashley did not get paid for the first six weeks of her work. And that's because there's a backlog in the whole processing of how people, uh, walk through things. Thank goodness she was willing to stay in the job and to work with us. But the staffing for those around disability services is, uh, low. And, uh, trying to provide that care is helpful. That was a pass to present. And a future piece would simply say, uh, I'm one of many who would be concerned that, uh, upcoming elections, uh, will continue to be challenged and thought to be, um, even, uh, so far as invalid what you as a commission can do to ensure that Washington County is a place with integrity of voting, with support for processes that allow good voting for our whole community will be important and integral for our democracy and for our community.

Thank you, pastor. Um, that, um, is all the cards that I have, and so is there anybody else that would like to, uh, address the board in public comment? Okay. Please, if you wanna come to the speakers. Raam state your name and community, please.

I am, uh, excuse me. Uh, I'm, thank you for having us here today. Uh, I'm Tim Hoffman. I'm a resident of Cottage Grove. I have been a Washington County resident for 44 years, and an employee of a public institution in Washington County for 15 years. Um, I'm here today to ask you as county commissioners to use your influence, use your power to ensure that the people that are lining the, uh, room today receive a fair contract for the work that they supply. Um, I have a unique perspective in that in my job, I see daily the work that they do with the families and the citizens of Washington County. I see the truancy work in support of the families and the students in schools. I see the work that P Ssop does in helping families avoid having issues. I see the work that our Child Protection Group does in making sure that our children are safe.

I can't tell you what negative impact a strike would have on our community, but I believe that if these people were not given the fair contract that they deserve, that the impact that our community would feel is massive. And I'm hoping that you all can use your power and your influence to avoid that happening and help them receive the contract and the conditions that they're requesting. Thank you. Thank you. Any, anyone else?

Okay. Seeing none, we will move on to approval of the agenda chair. I'll move The agenda as Presented. Second. We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion to the agenda? Seeing none. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed, say nay. That passes. Uh, next item is the consent calendar. Are there any items that board members would like to pull? I'll make a motion to approve all items A through S. Okay. We have a motion. Second and a second clerk will take the role. Commissioner Miron Aye. Commissioner Karwoski. Aye. Commissioner Cox? Aye. Commissioner Clasen. Aye. Commissioner Bigham. Aye. Consent calendar passes. Five zero. Excellent. Thank you. Uh, the next item on the agenda is, uh, from our, uh, county attorney Kevin Magnuson in the County Attorney's office on, uh, human Trafficking Prevention Unit and presentation. Um, and just before the county attorney starts board members, I, um, uh, have always thought it to be very helpful to, um, have the county attorney and sheriff, uh, present different items at the board.

I know we got a, it's what we did when the first time I was on the board, and I thought it was very helpful and heard a lot of positive feedback. So I, if you haven't noticed, um, both, uh, the county attorney and sheriff have, uh, been having presentations at the board just to help, um, share the, the information, uh, that their, uh, offices do. So with that county attorney Magnuson, Madam Chair Commissioners, well thank you for the opportunity to present to you and talk about, uh, very important topic for important For approximately 10 years, the County Attorney's Office and partnership with the Sheriff's Office and other local police departments in, in Washington County, um, they have prioritized combating human trafficking in Washington County. The East Metro Human Trafficking Task Force is something Pete or Putt advocated for very strongly and moved mountains really to get it going, to raise its profile to get the community support behind it, um, to make it a force for helping victims who are ensnared in the life.

The task force deters and interrupts all the kinds of attendant crime that follows when sex and labor trafficking flourish in a community. Although the team has had many different iterations and contributions or contr contributors, the mission has always been clear and is use a victim centered approach to give survivors of sex trafficking the resources they need to get out of the lifestyle. A big part of that is prosecuting the criminals who force victims into the sex world and the buyers who drive that ecosystem. Local law enforcement on the ground here in our community is important, working alongside the BA BCA, but the focus of having a local task force on the ground here cannot be underestimated. Thanks to the Sheriff's Office, Cottage Grove PD and other law enforcement partners for the sophisticated team that has made our task force the preeminent sex trafficking investigator in the state. Evidence evidencing once again the unusually tight relationship the county attorney's office has with law enforcement in this community, in particular, the Sheriff's Office.

Today, I would like to highlight the work of Scott Haldeman. I stand up as I say Amanda Moore, Shauna Kish, Jalen Young, and Joseph Martin, thank you very much.

I wanna highlight the work they do day in and day out in this important mission. In particular today, I wanna recognize them for the recent conviction and sentence of Billy Ray w Wiley, who was, um, a very, um, horrible sex trafficker, um, that we successfully prosecuted and had sentenced. So, with that, to talk more about that, I mean, I'd like to introduce Scott Haldeman, who is, um, an assistant, um, deputy, um, division head, and the prosecutor at the, at the Sex Trafficking Task Force. Scott, Uh, chair Bigham Commissioners. Thank you so much for, uh, um, taking the time to listen to this very important case. I think, um, what this case, what, what made me so proud about working in Washington County Attorney's office, living in Washington County, um, was that it really took an entire community, uh, to bring Billy Ray Wiley to justice. I wanna highlight a little bit about what, um, the, the, our task force is, and then talk a little bit about this case.

Um, the task force has historically been a multi-jurisdictional unit. It's, um, at times has many as five members in it, um, from the Sheriff's Office, Oakdale Police Department, the Woodbury Police Department, Cottage Grove, and also Department of Homeland Security. Um, as, uh, county Attorney Magson stated, we do do proactive and reactive investigations where we are active as undercover persons, um, trying to proactively, uh, root out the, uh, sex buyers that are in our community are coming to our communities to do that and making arrests in that way. You've probably seen that in the news, and we've talked about some of those sting operations in the past. And, uh, how, uh, successful those are in deterring, um, future, future, uh, transgressions. And, um, we've definitely, uh, been successful in that area and have noted the more we do those operations, the less, um, the less, uh, advertisements and, and trafficking is coming through our community. And we also do reactive investigations where we're relying on, um, the public or, um, also local deputies and local law enforcements to, to find and to further investigate maybe cases that don't necessarily look like trafficking on the surface.

Um, this has historically been grant funded for the majority of it, and, uh, we've had as much as $760,000 in grant funding over the past two years. Uh, over a two year period. This has gone down and down and down every year. Um, and this is coming less and less of a, of a, of a source of income for us. Uh, most recently we were, uh, received $150,000 just for one year. And, uh, that does not cover a lot when it comes to a task force. And what's, what's needed to do thorough investigations, um, from the county attorney's perspective, as, as Attorney Magnus and County Attorney Magnus said, I'm Scott Halman, the dedicated prosecutor. Amanda Moore is a criminal analyst. She is, uh, really combing going through the information with a fine tooth comb, looking at cell phone, uh, records, looking at different connections that she can make to help our investigations. Uh, Shauna Kish from a victim witnesses, uh, extremely important in our office.

I mean, this is a, the victim survivors that, um, are, um, associated with these cases are extremely vulnerable people. And, um, and it takes a special person like Shauna to be able to keep in contact with them, uh, keep them on board and things like that. Uh, Jaylyn Young, uh, is our legal assistant in our office. Uh, she goes through all the discovery, which in this Billy Ray Wiley case was immense. Um, telephones, surveillance, uh, reports, multi-jurisdictional things. And, uh, we had to do that on a truncated basis. Uh, Billy Ray Wiley asked for a speedy trial, um, which was a 60 day timeline. So to go through a, a giant investigation like that and manage all that evidence within 60 days was quite a feat. And, uh, finally, um, as you know, our, our most recent, one of our most recent hires in our office, Joseph Barton, uh, e litigation and, and trial technology specialist, uh, he was, uh, integral in this case, putting together some of the videos and the surveillance that we needed to really make, uh, an accurate and really a good presentation to a jury.

So, uh, it makes my job a lot easier, and I can just put something up like that and, and kind of highlight what's going on there. Um, just in the last year, uh, we've had, like I said, we've gone from five members down to two members, Sergeant Daniel Erickson and Detective Jeff Red from Cottage Grove, uh, in 2025. And I just wanna highlight how much work Sergeant Erickson and Detective Ine do. Just the two of them. Uh, 13 human trafficking related investigations, 31 juvenile cases, 47 runaway investigations, 44 forensic phone evaluations, as well as 80 search warrants. Um, that's a, that's a big load for two people to carry. And, uh, they do it every day. And, uh, I just, I'm just constantly impressed by the work that, uh, Sergeant Erickson and Detective Ine, uh, have done in the last year. Um, but this case in particular, I think was something that was really, when you kind of hear the facts, it really kind of shocks the conscience of, of what things can happen.

I think a lot of time when I go make presentations or when I talk in the community, um, the first thing I people say to me is what sex trafficking happens in, in Washington County. And, and, yeah, it, it absolutely does. And it takes the task force of this proactive and reactive, um, investigations to really root it out and find out what's going on. Um, in, on June 30th, 2026, dispatch received a call from a concerned tenant of the Piccadilly Square Apartments in Amidi. Uh, Piccadilly Square is a, uh, building that Washington County owns, and it is a 55 plus, uh, facility. And there was, um, I won't, uh, I met Kathy was her name. She, uh, is I believe in her eighties. And she, uh, would sit by her window every day and look out the window. And we, when we first met with her, that was the first thing she told me. She said, Hey, Scott, come over here and sit in my chair and see what I was looking at.

And I did. And, uh, what she told me was something that, um, I think is very harrowing and, uh, very, uh, disturbing, which was she saw a 14-year-old girl in extreme distress, 14 year girl who was brought there by Billy Ray Wiley, a 52-year-old man, somebody, they had no idea who they were. And, uh, she was outta control. She couldn't control her body. And, uh, she was clearly under the influence of something. Uh, the two deputies that reply, that responded, uh, deputy Schweik and Deputy Kuhn, um, these are two folks that were recently trained, uh, by Sergeant Erickson in this area. Part of the, part of the things that we've been doing as a task force is with the less resources we have, with the less bodies we have, we have to rely on the deputies and the people that are out on the street to identify some of these things. And in turn, that really makes the task force a lot, a lot bigger without having a lot more so, so, um, that was a, uh, priority of Sergeant Erickson.

And, uh, and, uh, while she was training these officers, they, they, these deputies, they realized right away something was wrong with this, and they called her to conduct further investigation. Um, when I say that this was something that was taken in by the community, um, the officers had no way to ID this girl, this 14-year-old girl. Um, she had, you know, no identification she had, there was, she couldn't really talk about what her name was. She was, well, it wasn't saying where she was from or what she was doing there. Um, and there was no way to contact her parents. When she went to the hospital. She tested positive for fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine. This is a 14-year-old girl on a Monday night at the Piccadilly Square Apartments in the parking lot. Um, testing positive for all of those things. When I met with the emergency room doctors, um, again, talking about the community of what it took to bring Mr. Wiley to justice, um, the doc, the er, the er doctor was in tears talking about this case.

Somebody who sees some of the most heinous things coming into their hospital at any time of the day was broken down into tears talking about this 14-year-old girl, what she had been through, how she had nobody there. And, uh, that just shows what the things that she had to do and what the hospital had to do, um, to find out who her parents were, where she could get resources, where she could go, how to get her back on track. Um, furthermore, the, the, the, the investigation, uh, required surveillance, multiple interviews. Um, another, uh, the manager at the pic Valley Square Apartments was integral. I mean, her, her familiarity with the surveillance system and being able to, um, quickly, uh, get, quickly come back and get exact surveillance we needed, find the exact things we needed to piece together. So Joe had put together a really good presentation, um, and then for her to come in and testify to all that was, uh, absolutely integral to this case, um, for Kathy and, uh, Diane to come and testify.

They both said how terrified they were to do it. Um, it's not something a pub member of the public has to do every day, but they both said that they would stand up for those girls and do what they had to do to testify. Um, it also involved old, kind of old techniques. Typically, we were thinking about using cell phone analysis and all these things to, uh, and, and, and all that kind of data to, uh, to further investigation. But in this case, the Billy Ray Wiley and his co-defendant, uh, Michael Lewis, they didn't have, they didn't text message. They used, they talked on the phone. So we had to piece together certain timing of phone calls and location thing to, to really put these two together. Um, eventually when we found, uh, the investigation surveillance led to show that, uh, Mr. Wiley was bringing multiple women over to the Peka Valley Square Apartments, not just one 14 year girl.

This was going on for months. And, uh, they were able to, officers were able to obtain a phone ping warrant, uh, for his phone that led to the tracking and arrest of Wiley. And, uh, what happened was, uh, the ping came up in Minneapolis where we knew he was picking up, uh, girls and bringing to the Piccadilly Square apartment. Um, the ping was that we were able to track the ping all the way to Piccadilly Square and arrest him, uh, right in front of the Piccadilly Square Apartments. Uh, at, during the time of his arrest, he had a 17-year-old girl in the car that he was bringing there. So the quick actions of the officers and, and the deputies and the Sheriff's office, uh, and really the, the concerted effort, um, prevented another sexual assault. Um, this investigation identified multiple homeless victims. Mr. Wiley preyed on homeless victims from Minneapolis and St. Paul, who were, uh, on drugs recovering from drugs.

He would provide them drugs and then exchange, make them, force 'em into, uh, sexual acts, taking his phone. Through this investigation, um, Sergeant Erickson solved really an un also solved an unsolvable criminal sexual conduct that occurred, uh, in, at the Piccadilly Square Apartments. We covered a video, um, of a sexual assault from his, from his phone. There was no identification of the female in the video. But, um, through, uh, looking at phone logs and ca and calling different numbers that were on those phone logs, uh, Sergeant Erickson was able to determine that the girl in the video was on probation, identified her, and, uh, she was also, uh, one of our victim survivors that testified in this case. Um, everybody had to cultivate these relationships with these extremely vulnerable victims. I think that, um, between Sergeant Erickson, detective ine and as well as, uh, as Shauna Kish, um, it, it was integral in keeping them on board, keeping them online, keeping them to be able to testify.

'cause without them testifying, we didn't have a case. And, um, to be able to do that and to kind of relate to what these kids were going through was really just phenomenal. Um, Wiley was pro se so he represented himself. We had about 10 days worth of trial days. Uh, he demanded a speedy trial. Um, and again, we needed the victim testimony. We had the secure, we had the 14-year-old victim that was victim, survivor, secured at a hospital in Hennepin County Medical Center. That was, uh, that was fine. We knew who she was. We could get her here. Um, the 21-year-old victim survivor was in a treatment center at East Grand Forks at the time. Uh, the weekend before we were supposed to start trial, she ran away, she ran away from the treatment facility. And I got a call from Sergeant Erickson, and she was telling me that she goes, bad news. I said, what? You know, uh, we don't have, we don't have the 21-year-old.

And I was like, well, what happened? You know? And she left, she left the treatment facility. She goes, and the, I still will not believe, but Sergeant Erickson, the first thing she says, I'm gonna go get her. I'm like, what do you mean you're gonna go get her? She's like, I'm gonna drive four hours up there and I'm gonna get her. And, uh, I don't know if you know her very well, but, um, I wasn't gonna tell her no, you know, and, uh, that's exactly what she did. She went up there and, uh, she found her and got her, secured her, and brought her back, um, to, to testify on that Monday. Um, it's something that just shows the above and beyond that the task force is willing to go for, to secure, to secure a justice. Again, this required local ER doctors. We had DNA scientists, multiple deputies, member of the public. I had about 25 witnesses that I called.

And, uh, after about seven days, uh, the 21 witnesses, two survivors in 42 minutes. Yeah, the jury came back guilty on all counts. And that was for a first degree criminal sexual conduct, a third degree criminal sexual conduct, two counts of first degree sex trafficking counts, as well as the jury finding, uh, aggravating factors that the victims were particularly vulnerable, that allows the judge to up the sentence from what the standard sentence would be. Um, so with that sentencing, with all those charges, judge Freeman was the judge on this case, and she had very wide discretion on how to sentence Mr. Wiley. Um, each count could be sentenced consecutively, meaning they could stack, um, and three counts were up to 172 months in prison. Two of those could be aggravated. So there's a big wide range, and it was a big ar. We had a big, wide argument to make to the court. And after our argument, uh, judge Freeman sentenced Mr. Wiley to 480 months in prison.

That's 40 years. And, uh, that's one of the largest sentences I've ever received in my 20 year career as a prosecutor. And, uh, what I think is the most important is that Mr. Wiley's first eligible outdate is in 2052, when he'll be 79 years old. So I wanna just inclusion, thank you for listening to this presentation. Um, I think it's, uh, very important again, to show what the community had to do to bring somebody like this to justice and to put somebody like this held responsible, and, uh, for that, I, I think it was a very successful result. Thank you, commissioners. Thank You, Mr. Halderman. Any comments, questions? Commissioner Karwoski? Uh, thank you, uh, chair Bigham, um, uh, thank you, assistant attorney, uh, for presenting and, and our attorney Magnuson. Um, I represent in my district is the, uh, um, Elli Square. I've been there many times, and I know, uh, Kathy in particular more than Diane, and she is very active, so she's a, a careful eye.

And it's so important, no matter if this happens in a neighborhood or an apartment or a condo, that the citizens kind of do the policing and are watching out for each other. So that's great to hear. Um, it is, uh, uh, I think it's a great reminder, the presentation of that this kind of activity can happen underneath your eye. Um, you would never suspect a 55 plus seat, basically senior housing. Uh, this would occur there. So I'm, I'm glad it was caught relatively quickly. I appreciate, uh, everybody's assistance. And, uh, I know you have the county attorney staff here. Um, but again, I just encourage citizens to keep your eyes open no matter where, where you live, uh, something may be occurring, you know, and, uh, report it. Thank you. Commissioner Miron. Yeah, I just want to applaud, uh, you Chair Bigham, uh, for allowing this presentation to occur. A lot of us, you know, read about it in the news.

Uh, those of us on the county board, um, you know, certainly, um, um, we were knowledgeable of it because of the reports coming out of the county attorney's office, but so often the general public isn't aware of, of what's going on. And, and so I think this helps bring additional attention to it. Um, Scott, I, I can't imagine what your team goes through. Um, you know, first of all, the work, um, and, and certainly there's a satisfaction here. Um, but, um, you know, just the, the, the anguish, um, the, um, anxiety that these types of cases bring to your team. Um, I can't, uh, begin to imagine, uh, what that all entails. But, um, I certainly know and understand that it is significant and, and it wears on people, um, uh, and your team in particular. So I just want to give a shout out and, you know, thank you. And the entire county attorney's office, this is one example of the good work that's going on in Washington County, um, within our county attorney's office and the Sheriff's Department.

Um, there are so many other stories, and I hope that, you know, we're able to hear more of, of, um, these types of things. So the public is aware of what's going on around them. And to, um, Commissioner Karwoski point, um, you know, the Piccadilly Square was, um, something we worked extensively on in the, uh, community development agency. Um, you know, it, it was, uh, really an exciting housing project. Uh, um, you know, we, um, we took care of a lot of environmental issues on that site that, uh, no individual developer would've been able to do. Uh, it provides affordable housing for our seniors, and this type of thing shouldn't be happening there, um, you know, or anywhere else in Washington County. But again, thank you, your team and, and the work that you do. Thank you. Resident Commissioner Cox. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, just wanna add my thanks, um, Mr. Haldeman to, to the attorney's office, to the sheriff's office for this important unit that we have.

Um, and just thank you for making this community. I wrote down unwelcoming for this kind of behavior. I mean, the fact that it's getting known for that, like, I think it's incredible. Let's keep this out, um, and let's, let's charge the people who, who do this damaging behavior in our community. So thank you for leading that. Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Clasen. Uh, thank you so much for being here today and presenting. Um, I feel like it was almost an extension of probably the court and what you were, um, talking to the jury about. So it, it was nice to, to hear it, um, and to feel what it must feel like to be a jury, um, during these difficult, a difficult case like this. Especially, um, you had pointed to the importance of staff, and I wanted to also, um, highlight the importance of hospital staff too. There are people who are specialists at, um, sexual assaults.

Mm-hmm. And that's what they spend a lot of time, um, focused on to make sure that they get the information that you need so that you can prosecute these, um, horrendous cases. Um, but I also think it also, this story really does talk about, see something, say something and the importance of calling 9 1 1 when you see something suspicious. And, um, very happy to hear that we have witnesses who hang out by, um, on the window at night. Imagine she's watching birds and all the other, um, things that people watch outside the window. And we're very, we're very lucky, uh, to have this person who, um, was a garden angel over a child who was being abused. And this is the abuse that happens to females, um, that are young age like this. Um, it really, this is a local issue, but national is issue as well, and a global issue. And so I support additional funds needed for your department to be able to prosecute, um, these horrendous cases.

I know there's a lot more filthy people out there, and I think that we should have more people focused on this rather than your, your team is amazing. But this is really a growing concern now with the Epstein files and other, um, information that we're finding out. And, um, and so I absolutely support additional funding. Um, and I also think we have a lot of concerns with cybersecurity, data mining on children. Um, now with a lot more information that's been taken and get, um, from, uh, different federal agencies, our data is not secure. So I think we have a lot more, um, vulnerabilities and victims that we need to protect, uh, children and seniors. 'cause this was at a, a senior building. And I think that that is the two most vulnerable populations coming up here. And, um, so I thank you so much for the opportunity to hear the case and, you know, not wait for, you know, Dateline or something, you know, to hear it.

So I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Um, any further question or comment? Um, I'll just wrap up. I concur with, uh, the gratitude to you, your team, the office, uh, the sheriff's office, um, you know, on this incredible work. And I know it's still ongoing with other cases. So, um, I think the message is, uh, here in Washington County, don't come here and do this. 'cause the sheriff's gonna get you and the county attorney's gonna convict you. So, um, thank you for all of your, uh, hard work, uh, to you and your team and, um, keep, keep going and, um, doing a really good job of making sure our communities are safe and justice is served. Thank, Thank you chair. Thank you, commissioners.

The next item we got, we got quite a few here. It's a, it's a busy day with infrastructure, uh, in the county. Boardroom. First one is Mr. Mike Klein, uh, to talk about our 2026 crack seal program.

Good morning, Madam Chair and Commissioners as mentioned, my name is Mike Klein. I'm a project manager in the Public works department today. Public works will be recommend new approval of six board actions related to the 2026 crack seal program. Today I will review the project location scope, schedule received bids, review contract funding, review project agreements, enclosed with recommended board actions. This project will crack seal approximately 35 miles of roadway across the county, as shown in the map on the right side of the screen. This project is identified in Washington County's capital improve improvement plan as RB 2 2 0 4.

Crack se ceiling is performed annually within the county system. Crack ceiling is a maintenance process that seals cracks and roads. This process reduces the amount of water that can infiltrate the roadway, which reduces freeze thaw damage. Reducing freeze thaw damage helps slow road degradation and prolongs the life of the road, which helps preserve the financial investment of the roadway and extends the amount of time until the next reconstruction project is needed. In addition to the 35 miles of county roads and Highway, as mentioned on the previous slide, the Ravine Park Road and parking lots within the park will be crack sealed and the entrance road to Lake Elmo Park Reserve will also be crack sealed. Participation in the Crack Seal program was offered to our partner agencies in the county this year. One City Birchwood and two Townships, Stillwater and Gray Cloud Island. Partner with us on the Crack Seal project. Taking a look quick look at the project schedule, the red pin identifies where we are today.

Project coordination activities have been underway since this past fall. Our project team performed performed a road review of the county system. We coordinated with our internal partners within Washington County to understand other facility needs and reached out to our local partners early on in the process. The contractor will begin construction in May of this year. Construction bids were opened on March 3rd, and Public Works received six bids. The original O bid was submitted by Seal Pros, and their bid was withdrawn after being de deemed a noncompliant bid. The noncompliant bid was due to Seal Pros, not including prevailing wages as they're part of the bid. The lowest responsible bidder came in from asphalt surface technologies in the amount of $801,446, which is under the engineer's estimate. The county has worked with asphalt surface technologies in prior years for the county's correct seal program. On this slide, you'll see a project funding overview. Project expenses on this project include construction costs, which include the low bid from asphalt surface technologies, and the 7% construction contingency total an $857,547.

Project. Revenues, uh, come from local contributions and count county mileage tax. Two budget amendments are being recommended as part of this project. First is to move $307,547 from RB 2, 2 0 4 planning in end design to construction. And second is an increase in local contributions to $44,534.

Moving on to project agreements, there are three agreements that are included with this project. All three are cost share agreements, which define construction responsibilities between the county and the city of Birchwood, Stillwater Township, and Great Cloud Island. So to close public work is recommending board approval of six Board a actions that are in front of you, a construction contract with Asphalt Surface Technologies Corporation, a cost share agreement with the City of Birchwood, a cost share agreement with Stillwater Township, a cost share agreement with Grey Cloud Island Township, and two budget amendments. This is the end of my prepared presentation, Madam, Madam Chair, and I'll now stand for any questions. Thank you, Mr. Klein. Um, we will move, uh, to, uh, now approve, uh, some of the contracts. If there's a motion. Madam Chair, I will move, um, to a, uh, approved contract number, um, 1 8 1 1 5 in the amount of $801,445 75 cents with Asphalt Surface Technologies Corporation.

I'll second that. There's a motion and a second discussion chair. Yep, Go ahead. Yeah, I just want to thank the, uh, public Works Department, Michael, um, well for your presentation, but I think offering these services to the communities and, and, um, you know, it's a, a, an affordable way to get work done within our communities and, and, um, for them to, um, piggyback, if you will, on, on a, on a bid process that we've gone through. And obviously, um, you know, paying prevailing wage and, and, and, um, following, uh, those types of policy, uh, positions, I think, um, uh, helps our city support that kind of an effort as well. So thank you for, and look forward to the spring work going on. Commissioner Karwoski. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, Michael, thank you for the presentation. I confer with Commissioner, uh, Miron's comments, and I couldn't stress enough that the, the next vote, uh, is for Birchwood.

I represent that, but in looking at other small cities that we're gonna prove, they just don't have the wherewithal. Um, let's see, you can get the, the more discount. Um, they're much appreciated. And these are all city streets, at least in the Birchwood case, they don't have a county street. So wherever we can reach out to our smaller cities, there's really no, I believe there's really, uh, virtually minimal cost to do that on the counties that we have, um, if you would concur. But yet the benefit to those cities is just huge. So thank you Commissioner Cox. Thank you Madam Chair. Mr. Klein, thanks for the presentation and I'll just, um, again, share my thanks at Township days. Just a couple weeks ago, Stillwater Township, this came up and, um, just the ability to have this work done without them as, as my colleague said, you know, dedicating a lot of time and effort from staff to have to manage, um, is a huge, you know, win for them.

So thank you. Thank you. Any other questions, comments? Um, I'll just end, um, 'cause then we can just move through the rest of 'em relatively quickly. Um, thank you for offering this. I was at Grey Cloud Island Township, uh, annual meeting and uh, they were grateful of the partnership. Um, and, uh, you know, we asked them every year and, and so I just think it's important to build that relationship. I also wanna thank you and, um, show appreciation that the diligence that go through these bids because we have a prevailing wage, uh, policy. We support prevailing wage and appreciate, um, the staff going through, uh, and making sure that everything is followed. So appreciate that. Any other comment? Seeing none. Um, Commissioner Miron renews his motion to approve contract number 1 8 1 1 5. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Oppose say nay. Motion carries. Uh, Commissioner Karwoski I'll make motion to, uh, approve the cooperative cost share agreement.

Number 17, 9 70 between the city of Birchwood and Washington County. Second, Moved by Commissioner Karwoski, seconded by Commissioner Cox. Any discussion? Say none. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. Motion carries Commissioner Cox and I'm sure I move, uh, approval of co cooperative cost share agreement number 1 7 9 7 1 between Stillwater Township and Washington County. Second, It's been moved. And second in Any discussion, say none. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. Motion carries. Um, I will move to approve cooperative cost share agreement number 1 7 9 7 2 between Grey Cloud, Island Township, and Washington County. I'll second that. Moved and seconded. Any discussion? Seeing none. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. Motion carries. Uh, and would you like to discuss number five and, and six any further or no? You good? You good? Okay. Um, then we need, uh, uh, motion for, uh, the fifth item.

Madam Chair, I will move to approve the budget amendment to move $307,547 from RB 2204, planning design to construction. I'll second that. Been moved and seconded. Any discussion or questions? Seeing none. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed say nay. Motion carries a And the final one, Mr. Cox. Madam Chair, move approval of budget amendments to increase the total local contributions by 440, I'm sorry, $44,534 Second. That Moved. And second. Any discussion? See none. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Say nay. Motion carries. Thank you Mr. Klein. Yeah, thank you. Alright. Now, uh, we have Central Waste site. Um, item on the agenda with Mr. Hepps.

Yeah. Good morning, Madam Chair. Uh, fellow commissioners as noted. Uh, my name is Ryan Hays and I'm the project manager for Public Works, uh, leading the central yard way site, um, design and permitting efforts here, I'm here this morning to recommend board approval of a consulting contract for engineering and environmental services to complete project design and permitting. So This morning I'll give a brief project overview, review the project schedule, uh, discuss the contract services and consultant selection process, and lastly, discuss contract funding. Uh, the map on the right shows the site location, which is in Central Washington County, uh, within the city of Afton. Access to this site, uh, or future access to this site, I should say, would be from Hudson Road South on the south side of 94. So a central yard waste site has been desired by Washington County and identified in the county's Waste Management Master plan. Recently the county was able to acquire property to make this a reality for residents.

This project is identified as capital improvement Plan, project B-S-D-P-H-E 26 0 1. The site is located in Afton, as mentioned with access off Hudson Road South and will be set up to allow both residential and limited commercial yard waste use. This project will construct turn lanes on Hudson Road South to provide appropriate access into and out of the site. An internal entrance road will be constructed to allow staff to safely monitor incoming users and allow access into the site. Um, with this project, the site will be set up to accommodate future biochar operations, um, which is a process that'll transform wood waste, um, into carbon rich product that can be used in many different applications, such as filter media and soil amendments. This project hits several key priorities for, from both the Washington County strategic plan, as well as the county solid waste management plan. So with board approval of this contract this morning, uh, the project team is ready to hit the ground running.

We have just a few months, um, here to complete final design permitting and work through the bidding process. Um, our goal is to have improvements completed along Hudson Road done, um, by early fall with the remaining site improvements to follow thereafter. Uh, this is an aggressive schedule, uh, but one that the project team is ready to take on. So this is a complex site, uh, with a lot of specialized work and permitting efforts to get to construction. Uh, this consultant contract includes tasks for project management, site design, improvements to Hudson Road South, traffic modeling, stormwater management, design and permitting, geotechnical engineering, electrical design, well designed and permitting architectural support for the attendant shacks on site, as well as landscape architecture, um, general environmental services and permitting from all applicable agencies. So, So a request for proposals was posted on the county's website in November of 2025. Three, engineering firms submitted proposals for the work, um, and these firms were reviewed based on their expressed understanding of the project needs and objectives, the completeness, quality and overall technical competence of the project approach, work plan and methodology experience of the project team on similar projects and the proposal schedules, identification of project elements and identified resources necessary to complete the project.

Short. Elliot Hendrickson, uh, was selected as the consulting engineer for their services, um, due to their prior work on similar or projects of similar nature and their strong understanding of the project scope and necessary permitting, uh, for yard waste. Sites like this. They've also had successful, or they've had success working on projects for Washington County in the past. So we negotiated a scope and fee, um, in the amount of $408,729, uh, for these services. So here, uh, we show the project funding breakdown, um, just this project, this breakdown also includes the property acquisition, um, as well as improvements. The new sheriff building that is over there on the east side of the property. Um, the total project revenues for this site is just over $6.6 million. Um, and after this consulting contract, the, the remaining budget for this, for project construction, um, is just over $1.5 million. Uh, this recommended board action also includes a budget amendment to move $408,700 from the construction, um, to the planning and design budget.

So With all that, uh, public court says two recommended actions for the board this morning. First is the budget amendment to shift $408,700 from the construction to planning and design budget. Um, and second is recommending board approval of an engineering services contract, uh, with SEH for the central yard, waste site Engineering and environmental services. Uh, this is all prepared for this morning, and I can now outstand for any questions. Thank You, Mr. Reeves. Commissioner Cox. Thank you, Madam Chair. I would move approval of Budget Amendment to move $408,700 from B-S-D-P-H-E 2 6 0 1 construction to Planning and Design. I'll second Moved in. Seconded. Commissioner Cox. Thank you, uh, Mr. Hayes. Thanks for the presentation. I know there's a lot of people in our community that are really excited for this site to be opening, so I appreciate the staff's commitment to kind of this aggressive timeline. Timeline. I know we're not saying we're open necessarily at a certain date this year, but I really appreciate that.

I hear a lot about that. Um, you know, the safety aspects of, you know, that, that Hudson, I never know, road or Boulevard, I'm sorry, um, road. Um, you know, my son goes to soccer just down the street. So taking into account a lot of people that utilize that area, um, is gonna be really important. And then I think, um, I'll let some of my other colleagues who maybe understand biochar better than I do. But, um, you know, the, the ability to kind of have that facility already fitted for some of these things as we look to the future. I just, I just applaud the, the vision that the team has and, and thank you for bringing this to us today. Commissioner Karwoski, Uh, thank you, chair Bigham. Um, thank you, uh, Ryan, or, um, for the presentation. Um, this has been a long time coming to find a central site. Uh, I wanted to point out, I represent largely the central site, but in the western side.

And when we started looking, it just seemed natural to find something more in the Lake Elmo or in the central. But in reality, this will serve, uh, constituents on the west side, central west side of the county, uh, very well. I think the drive would be really around 10 minutes, 15 tops, and that would be comparable to another site further to the west, uh, just because either 10th Street, 94, the old Hudson Road, there's numerous exits. It's a pretty, uh, efficient, uh, straight, uh, with some relative speed to get to this site. So I think it'll serve the central area well, although, as we know, um, eventually there'll be a Southern site. There's a private right now, private Southern site, and then a northern site. And certainly there'll be people, uh, as an example in district two in the Birchwood Omi I area that might choose to go to the, is it Hugo North side of Hugo, uh, uh, for that waste site.

So there are choices, but this, I think, covers, uh, eventually we'll have the three sites, and I think it gives everybody a comparable driving distance. Uh, what I like, I have two questions regarding this site. Um, uh, one, will it be available to drop yard waste of, Yeah. Mad Madam Chair. Uh, Commissioner Karwoski. So the plan right now is, you know, we'll, we'll talk with the project team. You know, we have public works, public health, a couple other divisions here at the county on the team. So we'll, we'll discuss what is feasible for this fall. Is it a temporary drop off site? Um, if we can get improvements on Hudson Road done, or what does that look like? So I don't wanna commit to this fall. Um, it'll be open, you know, by the spring, hopefully at the latest. But, um, we'll, we'll discuss internally as to our options. Okay, thank you. And then, uh, what I liked about this site, and I'm trying to verify is that, um, because it's next to the, uh, just on the south side of 94, and it's near no residential area, and it's a large site that gives a lot of flexibility to how to handle the waste is exempt, chopping the waste, the wood char was mentioned.

Is that true? It'll, the site not, that has to be determined today, but it'll be pretty flexible on what we can do on that site. Yeah, Madam Chair, Commissioner, uh, I mean, the site will largely be, you know, a graded pad, so to speak, that will provide flexibility in the future to rearrange or accommodate certain pieces of that. Um, certain elements like the biochar, you know, requires power, electricity, as well as water. So those elements would be kind of set, but the rest of the site is certainly flexible for future use. Thank you. Thank you. Commissioner Clasen? Yeah. Um, thank you. Uh, I wanna, I have a couple things to, um, to ask about, but, uh, Commissioner Karwoski brought up something that I, um, would like confirmation on, and we had, it was the north side of Hugo Drop off was mentioned. Do we have a, a contract currently with the north side of Hugo for a drop off site?

Madam Chair, Commissioner, we've got the Northern Yard, waste Northern Environmental site, um, that is also a yard waste site. Forest Lake. Yep. Is there one in Hugo? Uh, No. Okay. Not that I haven't guessed. Not that I'm aware of. There was one before that Forest Lake site was set up, But, and what happened to that drop off site in North Hugo that had taken all of the, um, trees during that devastating, uh, was a lot of trees came down and there was acomp and we talk, we spoke about that company, um, and it doesn't look sound like that is a contract anymore. So can you explain that a little bit? Um, Commissioner Clasen, Commissioner Clasen, um, we're, um, dealing with the central one today, and I'm not sure that staff would have questions about, um, the Forest Lake, uh, Northern shop or the Hugo prepared for today because we're focused on the central thing. So if we could keep the topic to the Central Commissioner, or sorry, chair Bigham.

This Central Waste Center is in front of us today because there is a policy that we have that we've all worked on in regards to the waste. Correct. We all agreed moving forward how this was going to look. And this chair or Commissioner Karwoski just asked a question and he said it in his statement that that was assumed. And I'm just getting verification that it cannot be assumed that is an actual occurrence that just happened. So I don't know why asking about it today when we won't have another opportunity to do so, is problematic. Can we please have staff a answer, a question that was assumed if whether We can assume it or not? Well, I, it was assumed by Commissioner Karwoski and his remarks. I have now a question about that, and I'm just asking for verification. Okay. Uh, director Brummel, if you wanna answer, but if there is no answer, we're gonna move on.

No, I actually have more, I have more answers here, But I mean, from the, from the northern part, we will move on to the, I Don't don't, but excuse me, I don't understand why you're dictating how this is going today. There is a question that is, I'm the chair based on what though? On what, what part of the, of order, what part of this That you, you stick to the agenda? That, that's book We are sticking to the agenda. Yeah, it's the, the whole book. This is on the central yard waste, Stu not Northern. So Director Brummel, I'm sorry. Wanna answer? And then we, I I'm sorry. This is, Go back to Commissioner Clasen, Madam Chair, Commissioner Clasen. I can, uh, provide a quick answer on, uh, Commissioner Karwoski question about, uh, the Hugo site. That was a temporary yard waste collection site. Uh, we had a lease from a private, uh, landowner that landowner, um, after a certain period of time wanted the land back, so we were not able to renew the lease in Hugo.

Um, and that coincided the time that we opened, uh, and completed the Northern Environmental Center, which also takes yard waste. So because that lease, we were not able to renew it, uh, we switched operations to Forest Lake Yard waste site. Okay. Thank you for that, um, statement. May I move on to other questions that I asked? Have they asked about the Central Waste Center? Yes. So the Central Waste Center, also the property on there, um, has the potential sheriff building, is that sheriff's building at all a part of this approval today? Yeah. Madam Chair, Commissioner. So the, the site is the east side, is that sheriff's building. But this action and this, this work that we're talking about here today is specifically for the yard waste site and no interaction with the sheriff's site Today. Are we approving, um, anything in regards to the sheriff building that has been discussed? You had brought it up in the presentation.

Yep. Madam Chair, Commissioner Norward, this, this has nothing to do with the Sheriff's site. This is strictly for Central Yard waste site. Okay. The west side of the property. Thank you. Um, so when we came up with this site for the Central Waste Center or Waste, um, site, we had a discussion because at one point there was a waste site that was identified in Woodbury. And, um, currently that hasn't been discussed at, at all as a yard waste site in today's presentation or by, um, the board members today. So I'm concerned about the ongoing, uh, waste site distribution altogether. Um, the central yard waste site was approved based on my understanding that we would still have the Woodbury Yard waste site where the Pelvic Works building is located. But because that wasn't discussed at all today and wasn't discussed by, um, the board, I wanna make sure that that's still being something that is being discussed and planned.

Madam Chair, Commissioner Clasen? Uh, yes. Um, that project is in the Capital Improvement Plan. Um, it is alongside with the Southern Environmental Center and South Shop, uh, construction Project. Um, and just last week we were meeting with Public Works, uh, who is working with, uh, Knutson, uh, construction. And we're starting to, uh, look at, uh, potential designs for the South Environmental Center, including yard waste. Uh, we are saying potential yard waste, just like the Afton site. Um, we will need to receive a conditional use permit, uh, from the city of Woodbury. So whenever we say proposed, uh, yard waste site, uh, it is in deference because we know we have to get city approval. Uh, but we, that is in the capital improvement plan. Um, myself and staff are meeting on that, uh, and we're hoping to have a workshop, uh, shortly to, uh, review some of the information from that build and that capital improvement plan.

Great. Thank you so much. And, um, we did have a meeting, uh, probably about a couple months ago that, um, mayor Bert did very much want that yard waste site, so I wanted to reiterate that as well today. Um, based on, um, their comments from, um, Mr. Brummel, I will, uh, be approving this, um, based on what you had told me today. Thank you. Any other comment? Okay. Thank you. Uh, this is exciting and what a wonderful opportunity, uh, for the whole county, but especially central to have more options. And the biochar, uh, option is, uh, opportunity, uh, to get that supply is a big deal. Hopefully we'll be able to use it in our roads at some point, so. All right. Um, chair Commissioner Karwoski, Just for clarification, 'cause they always goof up the Northern site, and I'm never certain if it's on the northern end of Hue, but is it on the Southern, kind of close the southern border of Forest Lake Commissioner Ram Miron?

Yeah. Uh, thank you Madam Chair. Um, to your question, Commissioner Karwoski, it, um, it's kind of in the central area of, of Forest Lake, uh, where it's located, but it certainly is on the southern part of the city, uh, you know, as far as the city proper. And then I just want to provide just one comment. We do contract with a company, a private company in Hugo Toffs is the, the name of the company. And, um, we're directing, um, commercial waste to that particular site, but that's, uh, a public private partnership, but it, the property is owned by a private individual and we are doing some work there yet. Uh, but that shouldn't be confused with the temporary site that, uh, uh, Mr. Brummel, uh, mentioned that, um, you know, was reclaimed. Um, you know, we had done some work there to prep that site, and then that was, uh, when the lease terminated, we reclaimed that property and, and put it back to, uh, more of its, uh, original state.

Okay. All right. Thank you. Uh, Commissioner Cox renews her motion to prove, uh, the budget amendment. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Oppose a nay. Motion carries. Next, next item. I can. Thank you, Madam Chair. I move approval of contract number 1 8 1 1 4 with short Elliot Hendrickson Architects, incorporated in the amount of $408,729 and 11 cents for engineering and environmental services. I'll second that. Moved and seconded. Any discussion? See none. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed, say nay. Motion carries. Thank you, Ryan. Thank you. All right, now big, big day for, for Woodbury. Commissioner Clasen. Um, the next item is, uh, Mr. Lawrence is gonna come talk about the, uh, architectural and design services for RH Stafford. Uh, library.

Madam Chair. Commissioners, good morning. My name is Dan Lawrence, and I'm a senior project manager with the Public Works Building Services Division Projects team. Today I'll be presenting on the new RH Stafford Library Improvements project relative to the recommended contract award for architectural and engineering design services. The presentation this morning will define the project location, the RFP process, the consultant design team selection process, the scope of design services, along with the project schedule, budget, and recommended board action. The existing RH Stafford Library site is located in the city of Woodbury, southeast of the intersection at County Highway 13 Radio Drive, and County Highway 16 Valley Creek Road. The county library, highlighted by the yellow star on the site, aerial map, is literally connected to the city's recently renovated Central Park facility. The library's location in close Aja is in close adjacency to all project partners at this site, including the city of Woodbury, south Washington County Community Education, true Lens Community media, Stonecrest Senior Living, and the YMCA.

The RFP for Architectural and Engineering Services was publicly posted on both the county website and in the newspaper on December 1st, 2025. During the advertisement period of the RFP process, we received interest from 14 architectural firms. On December 12th, 2025, the county hosted a pre-proposal site tour at RH Stafford Library. This tour was open to any and all interested architectural firms to fully inform them of the project requirements. On January 16th of this year, we received a total of 11 proposals for evaluation.

The county's RFP review panel was Compri comprised of a well-rounded evaluation team, including staff from the library leadership team and the building services division projects team. The 10 person evaluation team scored the 11 firm submissions and narrowed down the selection to four candidates to interview at the end of this detailed collaborative evaluation process. The county's RFP review panel selected MSR design for this project. Their firm has worked on a total of 289 library projects over their history, including the original Park Grove Library back in the early eighties. Their current personnel are industry leaders and library experts. Their proposed team is passionate about libraries and their human-centric design philosophy results in projects that are as unique as the communities they serve. As evidenced by this collage of project experience photos, sustainability is integrated into every step of MSR designs process. They focus on strategies that support inclusive, safe, and healthy spaces for all staff and patrons.

The scope of work for architectural design and engineering services will follow a two phase design process, followed by construction. The phase one pre-designed feasibility study will require the architect to develop multiple concept options for comparative review and budget analysis. The intent is to determine the project scope moving forward that best aligns with the library's vision and the county's budget. The selected concept design option from the feasibility study will then move through the traditional path of phase two detailed design, resulting in bid package documents. It's important to note that throughout all phases of design, a robust and innovative community engagement effort will remain ongoing to infuse the project with stakeholder input. This will include community leadership meetings to provide county and project partner representatives and opportunity to contribute ideas for the design of our H Stafford Library. The architect and engineering teams will remain active on this project through construction and project closeout to provide a high level of consistency and quality.

The recommended consultant team MSR design is ready to kick the project off right away based on their proposal schedule. We anticipate the design effort to take about 12 months. Project bidding. Permitting in the start of construction is anticipated for the spring of 2027. Nevertheless, the beginning of RH Stafford Libraries construction phase will be relative to the confirmed reopening date for Park Grove Library. The two county libraries will not be closed at the same time. Once construction does get underway, we're anticipating the summer of 2028 completion and occupancy date. The overall project budget includes just over $22 million combined from the proposed 2027 bond sale and capital investment funding. The current board action requests for architectural and engineering services is $1.4 million if approved, this will result in a remaining project balance of just under $21 million.

In summary, the Public Works Building Services division in collaboration with the library department recommends approval of contract number 1 8 0 6 3 with MSR design for architectural and engineering design services for the RH Stafford Library Improvements Project in the amount of $1,409,930.

Madam Chair Commissioners, thank you for your time. The floor is now open for questions. Thank you, Mr. Lawrence. Commissioner Clasen? Yeah, I would like to move this forward to approve the contract 1 8 0 6 3 and the amount of 1,000,409. That was a 930 with MSR design for the Agricul Agricultural, um, the engineering services for the Rh Stafford Library Improvement Project, Architectural and Engineering. Yep. I'll second that. Seconded by Commissioner Karwoski. Commissioner Clasen, Thank you so much for the presentation. I've, um, I'm really happy that MSR design, um, submitted a proposal and it was accepted. I've, um, seen some of their design work and also got to look at their snazzy brochure, and I am, um, really excited to bring more light and more, um, seating and more space. So if you could just do that, that'd be great. And, um, there's a lot of people who are interested in the library. Uh, what happened, you know, as when I first began my term here, I, I had wished the projects could go together, um, but they didn't.

And Central Park was done before the library. And, um, you know, there's not enough seating, there's not enough spaces, and people feel like the library needs to accommodate some of that need. And so it's gonna be, um, an opportunity for amazing furniture design and making sure that it doesn't take up too much room, but provides all of the seating for a variety of ages, which is, you know, all the way from babies to seniors. And it's the second busiest library in the state. It's, um, such an, an enormous place to go to, if you wanna look at the heart of a community. There's so many people talking and having, um, discussions, and it's really, it's, it's our downtown, you know, um, the county seat has the luxury of a downtown. A lot of cities have a luxury of a downtown, but this is Woodbury's downtown, so it's a big deal. So, if I've made you scared just a little bit, oh, come on.

But, um, there's gonna be a lot of feedback, a lot of engagement, and, um, a lot of push to expand what we have currently. I think it's important that we really listen to all of the important groups in, um, the city of Woodbury. We are the, the largest city in Washington County. And, um, we're looking to make sure that we have, um, something that lasts and is able to support and serve the biggest city in the county. Um, and so really looking forward to unique opportunities. I'm hoping that they, that the architects are listening today, and that's why I am talking about this, because, um, it's such a, an enormous amount of, um, time and investment. And this does not come up very often. This is 40 years of planning for us to be the sec the se like the second a building is built is the time in which we also plan for its renovation and redesign in the future.

And so this has really been planned since the, since this got built. So we knew that it would need to be expanded with the population growth. And when we take on, as a city, have taken on so much population, that means that you guys have to serve that population as well. So, thank you so much. I look forward to all of the feedback that we're gonna hear from and the collaboration. Thanks. Commissioner Karwoski. Thank you, chair Bigham. Um, Mr. Lawrence, thanks for the presentation and thanks for the Public Works department and the work on this building and all the buildings throughout the county. Um, just to feed off, uh, Commissioner Coon's comments, who's been very passionate to get this project done, and it's finally happening, uh, as one of the most widely used libraries in the, uh, uh, state. Um, it's really nice that, uh, having it be re redesigned in an existing building. I'm really excited about the renderings 'cause they make it really look like it's gonna be a new library, which I think since Central Park is essentially a rebuilt new building, uh, it's nice to see.

We mimic that and gonna really have a fresh, exciting look to this very popular library. I know my areas of this library is used so well that, uh, my district too, part of Woodbury is really just almost across the street. And not only the residents of Woodbury uses library, but obviously throughout the whole county, you know, and most libraries when they're used, you know, it might be someone that goes to their favorite library on the way home from work, or they're out grocery shopping, those kind of things. So it really is a destination location. So I'm excited that we're making the investment that's warranted to really have an exciting library that carried through many, many decades. And I want to thank, uh, uh, chair Bigham, your role on the library board and the library boards, uh, input in keeping our libraries vibrant. Any other comment? I will just say that I too am excited about all the public feedback.

This is, um, the second busiest, uh, library in the, in the whole state. And last night at the library board meeting, um, Stafford's, uh, traffic has actually, uh, increased now that central, um, park is back in open. So it is definitely, um, an attraction. Um, you know, I think it's a fair point, Commissioner Klausen to say the downtown for Woodbury. Um, and so I'm just looking forward to what this final design will be. So, I, I think this is a big, big day for, uh, a long time coming for some renovation and upgrades, and not only for the patrons, but the staff. Um, so just a good day all around. Any other comment? All right, then. Commissioner Clasen renews her motion to approve, uh, contract number 1 8 0 6 3. All in favor say aye. A aye. Opposed, say nay. Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Barn. Um, we can go, uh, on general administration, which is, um, administrative Corbid.

Do you want to start off or are we gonna have Deputy administrator? Lucky go. Deputy administrator. Lucky for a legislative update. Good morning, Madam Chair. Commissioners as mentioned, I'm Jan Lucke, uh, deputy County Administrator. And in the interest of time, my update will be brief this morning. You have, um, in front of you at the deus, our updated state, uh, legislative platform tracker. Um, it has, uh, the latest, um, introductions or dates for each of our funding requests, each of our, our bills. And we're very delighted, um, to report that everything has been introduced. A few reminders on deadlines. Um, this Friday, March 27th is the first and second, uh, committee deadline. April 17th is the third deadline. And of course, adjournment, um, deadline or adjournment is scheduled for May 18th. If you have any questions about the tracker or the status of our quests, um, I can take those now or you can catch me, of course, anytime, Ms. Clasen. I have, um, just some comments, um, on top of, of what we have in front of us today.

Um, I am on the SSA board, and that's the library that oversees the metro. And there was a, a bill, um, that was being asked to be testified, and we're still needing support on it. And it is, um, about eBooks and, um, you know, there might be people watching today. So I thought maybe I would just take it upon ourselves today to talk a little bit about it. Um, Jackie is, their library director is in the audience, and we had spoken just, um, before the meeting started. Um, it's just a really important bill because, you know, there are things that are occurring federally that are affecting the library. And we are one of the highest book rentals and in elect electric book rentals. And people don't talk about it a lot. And, but that is, um, a big deal. But we as, uh, consumers pay more than the regular consumer. Um, and so you're like, why would counties have to pay more, right?

So this is really this bill. It's just so that we have the same cost that consumers are getting charged. Um, and this is, uh, something that happens with media. It's not, it's the eBooks, it's like movies and different things like that in which we as, um, governments for some reason get charged more. And so this is that. This is to help the bottom line for libraries, um, support. So I just wanted to take time to talk about that. Any other Was I say The number, uh, made me, uh, rather than save this for my Commissioner report, I'll mention just, uh, in the last week or so, it's done at the capital for the, uh, the one item there is the safe bonding $20 million request. I gets shared in the seven county area for parks, our regional park. So I, being our parks and open space, uh, commission Commissioner representative on our county parks and open space.

I joined Alex McKinney, who did a great job working with the other parks director. Uh, one time we met with the, uh, house, uh, led by Leon Lilly puts that together. And we had good representation from house members to, uh, uh, I got to present and give a pitch for, uh, along with a few other commissioners and, uh, uh, directors, park directors, to give a pitch for the need for the $20 million and mention three different types of uses we would do in our parks from, uh, uh, big Marine, uh, to, uh, um, uh, St. Cro Bluffs, and then also, uh, uh, Cottage Grove Parks. There'd be three projects in either, either each of those parks if we, uh, get our percentage of the $20 million bonding. Uh, they seemed well received. And then last week, I followed that up with, uh, going to the Senate building. And we had a senate, uh, group. Uh, and these included the bonding chairs for both the House and the Senate, and again, gave a pitch with, uh, Alex McKinney there.

Um, uh, we gave the same kind of pitch for that type of need. It seems very well received. So we will cross our fingers and keep working on that park funding. Hopefully it'll be the full 20 million. Uh, without it, we can't make the investments. We can't lean on local taxpayer dollars for that, and that's why we pay in state, uh, income tax. Thank you, Madam Chairman. Sounds good. Commissioner Clasen. I'm sorry, I forgot one more, um, that I was meaning to bring up. Um, and it's actually to help the food shelves. So this is about Eggs quality assurance dates. So right now, uh, food shelves are not able to get donations of eggs from grocery stores. This bill SF 3 8 9 1 and HF 3 5 79 would change the, uh, quality assurance date so that groceries, grocery stores can give eggs to food shelves, which is, which is the number one food source they need, that people need and always ask for.

So if people can support that as well, would be great. Ask your legislators to put their name on that. Any other questions on the state legislative agendas? Okay. Anything federally? Just one, uh, update, uh, Madam Chair on a congressionally directed spending of all of our house applications are in, I think you know, that, um, last, or actually it was Friday, um, or Thursday, uh, March 19th, the two senators opened their portals, um, with a deadline of this coming Friday, um, March 27th. So, uh, the Public Works team is working hard to get all those Senate applications in. They think they'll go in tomorrow. Um, that means all of our congressionally directed spending requests will have been submitted. And then, um, we'll be hearing, uh, back from each member at kind of a various times. So we're going to put together a summary after we've heard back from everyone, um, and share that with you on how they all fared.

And that is the end of, uh, my update, Madam Chair, but happy to answer the questions. Excellent. Any questions? Okay. Thank you. Deputy Director. Thank you, uh, administrator, Madam Chair and Commissioners. I just have one item, and it relates to the topic that was brought up by a couple public speakers today. That is the change related to shotgun and rifle hunting in, uh, the southern two thirds of the state. Uh, that legislative change was made at the last legislative session in 2025. We did get a letter addressed to the county board chair in October of 25. That was included in board correspondence for the board to make each of you aware of that. I do have a copy of that at the desk here, if anybody wants to see that letter again. Uh, I certainly will work with, uh, the county attorney's office to review what our o options are, and then talk with the board chair and the commissioners on how you'd like to proceed on that issue.

Okay. Anything for Administrator Corbid? Okay. Next item is Commissioner reports and comments. Uh, Commissioner Clasen, do you wanna start? Um, sure.

Well, there was a couple of discussions I was going to bring up, which was the Quality Assurance Egg and the, uh, ssa, uh, library request. Um, so that comes, those requests come from meetings that occurred last week. Um, I had several meetings with, um, SSA and the Rotary, um, and Open Cupboard. Uh, open Rotary were gave a donation to Open Cupboard for $20,000 for, um, two, uh, two door freezer, which is amazing. And I'm so, uh, proud to, um, be a part of that. And I, during that time, uh, Jessica Francis, the executive director of Open Cupboard, talked about the importance of this, um, bill for Egg Assurance. And again, talked about the amount of people in need. They had 7,500 people come through in one week. I think that's an incredible amount of, um, need that people are seeing. Um, and, you know, they are so thankful for all the help that the community has, um, been giving.

But, and, you know, talked to again about the board and Washington County supporting and providing the $250,000, which was such a lifeline. But, um, you know, this isn't going away. And to continue to think of ways in which you can volunteer, make it fun with your friends. Do a thing with your, you know, friends maybe on a Sunday brunch or Saturday. They're not open on Sunday, are they? Um, sorry, they're not open on Sunday, but like Saturday, they're open and they're open on Monday through Friday, and they're really the only, um, food shelf that is open in, in that manner. And that's why they get so many people. So if you're wanting to have fun with your family and friends, volunteer at the open cupboard, it serves so many people in need. Um, and then also ssa um, met with, um, our library directors around the cities, and they brought up a lot of concerns about funding, and that's why I spoke about, um, one bill that we could support them on.

And that is the eBooks. Um, also, we are having a lot of people come to us and talk about election processes and integrity, and asking us what are we doing to support that. Um, you know, we support our staff. We support, um, protecting election roles. Um, but more importantly, we want to embrace, uh, people to understand how elections works, the one-on-one on elections. And having that opportunity. I would love for four H to, um, put a curriculum together on youth elections to get more people to understand how elections works, how it actually works. It's a tabulation system. It's a, they tabulate tally the votes. And so we still always have paper ballots. And so even if we need to recount, we have paper ballots to do so. And I want people to understand that it's, it's not a scary distrust worthy process. It has multiple checks and balances and laws, um, associated with that. I would love the four H, um, because we do provide money to them to, to really think about that.

And I have spoken to them about it before, but wanted to bring that up again as people continue to bring that up. I was able to go and, um, speak, uh, Cub Scouts, um, at the Bailey Elementary. And, um, we, they were girls and they had so many great questions, and I would've loved to have my board here to answer some of 'em, because they were on roads in Woodbury, um, Bailey Avenue particularly, um, asking why it can't be four lanes, and they're tired of being stuck on Bailey. Um, which is funny because some of them went to another school on Bailey, and I was like, we, why are all the schools on Bailey though? I mean, I just, it's just a question for the planners, I suppose, for what Barry. But, um, it, it means that we need to really focus on, um, road improvements. And, um, I think the bright, talented, um, students coming up are, um, have a lot of really great questions.

Uh, so, um, what else did I have to talk about today? I think that's it. Um, so thank you so much. Appreciate it. That's good. Commissioner Miron. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, Commissioner Cox and I attended a personnel meeting. Um, um, county board approved those requests on the consent calendar today. Um, I attended, uh, the Township, um, annual meeting in, in May Township. Um, Mr. Klein, who was before us today, um, attended with me. And, um, a lot of interaction, a lot of questions, uh, was, um, appreciated. The, the kind reception that I had there. Um, uh, attended a, uh, meeting in Dellwood on the, uh, 96 study, um, with our, one of our planners, uh, from Public Works. Um, uh, again, that community is, um, excited about the potential work that, um, uh, might go on there. Uh, once that study is, um, uh, implemented or completed and implemented, uh, attended a, uh, metropolitan Emergency Services Board meeting with Commissioner Cox as well.

Um, I know that there's any necessarily details that, um, need to be addressed by the board at this time. Uh, Commissioner Karwoski and I attended the, uh, Minnesota Inner County Association meeting. Um, I actually brought, um, the materials for that meeting in a paper form here. I don't know if staff receives that, those materials or not, but I'll, um, give them to, uh, deputy director. Lucky, um, uh, here today. I think there's some interesting, um, you know, uh, materials and, and issues related to the legislative session there. Uh, we did have a guest speaker, Angie, um, Gerberg, um, who provided some long-term services and support update for the, the Micah board, uh, attended a cornelian Marine, uh, St. Croix Watershed District meeting. Um, and, um, um, engaged with the, um, the board there briefly, um, attended a, uh, budget and outcomes, uh, clean Water Council meeting where we reviewed, um, the, uh, program proposals that were presented before the full, uh, council, um, a few weeks before.

Um, and then our, uh, with that reviewer making recommendations to the full council, um, attended a, um, Hugo City Council meeting with our parks team, um, to talk about the Hardwood Creek, uh, trail extension and also the Glacial Hills, um, trail, looking for a letter of support or, uh, from the city of Hugo. And then, um, with staff and Commissioner Ka Karwoski and some of the administrators from some local communities. We met with a couple of Met Council representatives on the, um, met Council, um, system statement. And then yesterday I spent, um, um, entire day with the Clean Water Council reviewing, um, additional, um, programs for funding. That's all I have. Madam Chair. Thank You. Commissioner Cox. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, I wanna thank the 10 people that spoke today. Um, that public comment is really important and I think helps guide a lot of decision making. Um, so thank you for those that that took the time to come.

Um, attended Township Day and a huge thank you to Mr. Andrew Giesen. Um, I know I've shared my thanks with him as well, and some follow up questions with the Public Works team. But, um, we attended, we started on the north at Stillwater Township. We went to Baytown Township, and then we wrapped up the night at West Lakeland Township. So, um, we got some good quality time in together and, uh, he was very supportive in answering questions from the community, so I was really grateful to, to have him there. Um, I did attend the MESB meeting with Commissioner Miron. And I will say one thing that I did take away from that, um, was the shared technology consultant that's being hired. I think a lot of this work, and I still am trying to understand it, but happens in silos. And so the ability to maybe have some counties share in some of this technology instead of each kind of having our own was just an interesting thing.

So I'll kind of keep my eyes on that. Consultant's outcomes. Um, I was able to visit the Capitol with a Stillwater Leadership Group, so I was able to make some additional connections with legislators there. Um, and then I just wanted to share a, thanks. Um, I'm not sure how many of us were on the A MC update yesterday, um, but it was just really helpful to kind of get each, um, director at a MC to share kind of where things are looking, um, from a legislative standpoint at this point in time. And so grateful for that additional meeting. That's all I have. Commissioner Karwoski. Thank you. Uh, um, as Commissioner Marin pointed out, we had the Micah board meeting, uh, last week, um, that young Angie. Um, and, uh, I, I believe, uh, um, Nathan, our executive director, does pass on stuff to the staff, but as stuff is presented, I often wonder too, though, uh, because, uh, we don't necessarily know until the presentation at the Micah meeting, there could be additional information.

So we'll have to double check that 'cause it certainly good information through Micah. But to me, the highlight of the meeting was that Angie Youngberg, uh, explaining the, uh, long-term services that the state wants to cut. And Micah, along with a MC, wants to look at these 14 different program areas, uh, to accept the cuts, but see where they can tune up the services that, uh, you don't just simply, uh, uh, keep doing things the way you're doing them and accept the cut. Then we pick up the difference from the taxpayer that there's some maybe refresh of the programs that, uh, uh, uh, there could be some cuts and services, but there would be services, things that are inefficient to do. So it was a very, uh, good discussion. Uh, lot of work to do though to get to actual dollars saved for the taxpayers. Um, had our e Metro East Metro Strong meeting, um, met with staff beforehand as a prep.

Uh, our East Metro, uh, board, uh, has decided to sunset, uh, east Metro Strong at the end of 2026. It's kind of run its course, or a lot of it's a transit orientated group to get funding to the St. Paul moving East Metro. And it's kind of run its course with a lot of good contributions. So that is the tentative plan is to sunset it after 2026. The good thing is we can survive on the, uh, surplus money and the budget. There's no budgetary item, uh, uh, for 27 moving on, but certainly for 26 too, there'd be no bill. Um, and that was like a, a $35,000 contribution, I believe the county each year. Um, transportation advisory board meeting, uh, had a briefing and the board meeting. Uh, as we move closer to the solicitation, there's steps being done at each meeting to get to where we can properly, uh, uh, interpret the, uh, and vote on the, uh, um, upcoming solicitation of federal money.

Uh, attended the naco, uh, rule Action Caucus meeting this past week. Um, and then as Commissioner Miron pointed out, we both attended with our staffs and city staffs the, uh, review of the Met Council, uh, system statements, uh, uh, this is basically, uh, restricting water usage and, uh, what we think the cities we represent has a strong argument that there's a lot of evidence that, uh, says that can support the growth they want to do. And, uh, there's a lot of conflicting, um, stances the Med Council's taking. So hopefully we can work through that in the next few months. Uh, uh, appreciate our med Council representatives that were there. Uh, Judy, uh, Berger and, um, Cederberg Cedarburg, always Gale Berg with the, uh, Gale Berg. I always makes the Senator and the Med Council, Gale Berg doctors the Berg, and, uh, mark Jen Jenkins Jenkins from the, uh, med council. They're very good, uh, representatives for our county on that med council board.

Um, lastly, I'll just end too, I was also very inspired this morning by the Open Forum presenters on the very topics. They were very, um, passionate, very well stated, um, uh, just very thoughtful contributions that I think made us as the board all think about, uh, actions we've taken are, you know, what, what can we do moving forward? So I wanna thank those Open Forum participants. Uh, they were all very good. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. Um, yeah, I wanna thank everybody for your open forum as well. I think, um, it's just a great opportunity to, um, you know, come and have their voices heard, and then I do believe that it does impact, uh, how we discuss things and, and the process and, and way forward, uh, on that. And I just, um, think it's an, an important part of, of our democracy. Um, I'm gonna be very brief. Uh, we had a library board meeting yesterday and, um, you know, had the update on Park Grove and then it was at Lake Elmo, uh, the facade, and it looks fantastic by the way.

Um, and, uh, had the normal, uh, statistics that, that we, uh, receive every month and then had an update on the, um, uh, strategic plan. So, uh, spent a lot of last week, uh, not only in in staff meetings and a couple organizational meetings, uh, related to, um, testifying on medical waste that keeps ending up on our tip floor. And then, um, mafa the, uh, Minnesota African American Family Preservation Act. Um, I also had a board meeting, uh, with that, or a task force meeting with that. Um, I also am very grateful that a MC, uh, does, I think it's every other week, um, legislative update meetings on, on teams, zoom. Uh, I think it's just important to, um, stay in, in, up to date as we can and what they're doing to when we run into our delegation, uh, to be able to talk with them about that. And then also to know what we may be planning as we go into, uh, budget cycles here.

Uh, I attended the Township day at, uh, annual meeting at, um, Grey Cloud Island Township. And then, um, you know, I, I, uh, think the election information topic is, uh, extremely important. And I know on a preview coming to us soon, we are gonna, um, probably closer to when the primary would be 'cause you want it to be timely on the information, but to have the elections department, uh, present, uh, on a lot of the things that Commissioner Clasen brought up. But, um, also, I just think it's never a bad idea to remind people of the options that, uh, we have to vote and how to engage in our constitutional right, uh, for this federal democracy. Uh, and the final thing, I just wanna remind folks that the ERG Women's Empowerment event is at 1230 today. So if you're watching and, uh, that's here at the government center. So, um, the next item is, uh, board correspondence, which we have none.

Um, before we move into executive closed session, uh, we do have two workshops, uh, uh, one on climate action plan and the other one on ai. And so, um, I am going to state that the next item on the agenda, uh, is item number 10 and is listed as an executive closed session pursuant to Minnesota statute 13 D 0.03 subdivision one. Agenda item 10 is for discussion of labor negotiations. This agenda item may be closed to the public at this time. I would entertain a motion to move into closed session to discuss Agenda item 10. So moved, moved second and seconded. Any discussion, see none. We are in executive closed session.