00:00:06,530	Chaplain, please. Good evening. Let us pray. Do. You have any father? We gathered tonight with grateful hearts, giving you Thanks for the many gifts you have bestowed upon us, especially the gift of our nation, our state, our homes and our families.

00:00:34,370	Lord as this commission gathers tonight again, come before you asking for your help for your guidance and for your protection. We pray that all the discussions made here and each decision made tonight will be done in accordance with your will and work to serve the common good of your people in this county. Finally Lord. We pray that all the works done this evening.

00:00:52,970	Begin you and by you be happily ended. We pray these things in your name. And now said, Oh, glory and praise be to you Forever and ever. Amen. And, please rise and join with me in saying the pledge of Allegiance.

00:01:17,130	I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United states of America and to the Republic for which it stands One Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. OK. I’ll. Call the, uh, April 15th 2024 meeting of the burly County Commission to order Um, first item on the agenda is roll Call members, please. Comm. Bakken here. Comm. schwab here. Comm. Woodcox Comm. Munson Chair, Bittner. Thank you.

00:01:47,570	Um, Next item is approval of the agenda. Anybody You need to add anything or take something away. Chair. Did you want to talk about? I do but I. Add that to it, or Yeah, that that’d be a great idea. I. Wanna add that first? Um I think the best path Is.

00:02:09,830	I should turn the meeting over to the vice chair. Would you mind? OK? All right. So at our last meeting. I did not review the items in the consent agenda. And Had. I reviewed those I would have seen my name and my company. Name on this, Uh Tax abatement. List because we purchased some land.

00:02:39,830	And I worked with Al And and Mark and and we got this valuation thing corrected. There was a incorrect assessment on some new land I bought by the Apple Creek assessor. And, so that was fixed, and it was on last week’s consent agenda, and I didn’t see it and had I seen it. I would have At least declared a possible conflict of interest.

00:03:03,830	And so the question Two questions is is I would like to have a motion to Motion in a second and affirmative vote to reconsider that action. And, then I would like to discuss the possible conflict of interest so that we can Address that move forward. Which is the Comm.

00:03:29,030	to have a move to, uh, revisit the last meetings. Uh, Thank you motion is second any further discussion? Hearing on color roll, please. Comm. schwab? Yes Woodcocks. Munson. Yes, Uh Bittner Epstein. Bucket? Yes motion carried Comm. bitner. Uh so It is my understanding that was a clerical error and on whose part was that clerical error.

00:03:59,530	The, local assessor, the township, the township assessor, not our staff. It was Apple Creek Township. OK and Because it affects my land. That’s why I would you know? Say? I have a possible conflict of interest. I don’t know that That’s the case. But, according to the auditor.

00:04:20,770	The law says that you know, we have to have that discussion and make a decision on whether there’s a conflict or not. And then we can Go ahead and The. Simplest answer is to do that first. Comm., uh, your thoughts on any conflict Comm. woodcox. Um, thank you, Mr Chair.

00:04:41,030	We’ve had this discussion on lots of things coming over the road and one of the main thing is there are monetary value to what you’re going to be considering and for your own protection, I would say you should recruit Recuse yourself from this vote. OK? I’m. I’m perfectly OK with that. And so I would make that as a motion motion second, any further discussion. I. Call the role, please.

00:05:09,300	Mr Schwab? Yes woodcocks Munson Bakn Yes motion carried with that I would entertain emotion to accept. Um Our Last commission meeting, uh, with the abstention of Comm. Bittner. So moved Second motion to second any further discussion. Can. I get some clarification. So. What we’re looking here to do is to approve the submitted abatement list. Correct.

00:05:38,430	With taking him out of the list or with him in the list. Keeping him in, OK OK, not out of the list. But just out of this, OK, thank you to clarify a for Any potential conflicts. Although. This commission doesn’t see one, but, um, so perfect. Thank you. Any discussion. Call the roll, please. Mr schwab? Yes Woodcock munson Bakken.

00:06:05,500	Yes motion carried with that I would like to one more. Um So I. It was my turn to review the bills in the in the minutes and whatnot this month and so in those bills, it reflects that there’s going to be a check going to me for that. So.

00:06:27,300	Um, if you wouldn’t mind I would carry on through the consideration and approval of the meeting minutes. Perfect. Um Uh, in the consent agenda. Consumer approval of, uh, the agenda. Second Motion second in a further discussion. Harry N called the role play. Comm. schwab woodcox. Yes munson Bakken.

00:07:00,030	Yes, motion carried next item up consideration approval of the April 1st 2024 meeting minutes and bills with the correction. I did review the bills in the minutes and found them in order, But. I’m gonna abstain on that for the same reason. What. We approve motion second for the discussion. Hearing on call the roll, please. Comm. schwab? Yes. Woodcox? Yes? Comm. Munson. Yes Vice Chen.

00:07:26,030	Yes, motion carried moving on to the consent agenda, including abatements application for licenses. Raffles gaming site authorization, special events permits and, uh, resolution authorizing county auditor treasurer to make payment upon demand for invoices for appointed county Coroner. Uh, Any discussions. Or any items wishing to be pulled Hearing that on to entertain emotion for the consent agenda move to approve. Second motion second for the discussion.

00:07:52,700	Here on call the roll, please. Comm. Schwab. Yes. Comm.. Woodcock? Yes Mr munson. Yes Vice chair. Bn yes motion carried moving on to item number six. I would like to turn this meeting back over to our Chair. Comm. Bittner, please.

00:08:14,770	Thank you commissioners for accommodating me on that next item is Lewis Clark Development Group executive director Brent Ekstrom. Brent Welcome. Uh, good evening Chair V Mi And commissioners. Um, as you said, My name is Brent deer. I’m, the executive director of the uh Lewis and clark Regional Development Council, which is part of the Lewis and clark Development group.

00:08:39,100	Um and I’m here, Uh, uh, to talk about, uh, couple things, um one to kind of inform you what’s going on, Um, what we’ve been doing, um and, uh, the other is to to talk about, uh, that we were unaware that we were not in this year’s budget and to ask for a reconsideration of that so real quickly. I think I sent out a packet.

00:08:55,700	Um and kind of gives the numbers, uh, of what we do and what we’ve done for the county. Um, uh, but there’s more than, uh, just numbers, right? Um, if you look at what we’ve done in the county, um since 1990 when we started lending, right, but I guess what? Let me. Let me take a step back first.

00:09:14,400	Um, just so, uh So you understand how the county is in the regional councils have come together. So. Um the regional council will Actually Lewis and Clark was actually founded in 1969, right as a Um, just a group. Uh, that got together, Um for planning and zoning and stuff in 1973.

00:09:35,170	The Legislature, um, put into century code, the statute for the regional Council, which I have included within your, uh, packet. Um, at that time, um, it was put in there that we had to have representation, um from the public officials, including county commissioners, So. That’s How we got to where I have 35 board members, um, 10 of which are one county. From.

00:09:57,170	Every County, Um one representative from every small city in the county. Um and then one representative from every soil conservation district for every county. Um, and then we also have representations from city of Bismarck City of Mandan.

00:10:15,170	Um the, uh, United Tribes Technical College, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe in economic development groups, So, That’s how we end up with our 35 members. Um, like I said. So. This was put into century code and that’s how you guys got roped into the deal for the last 50 years. So. Um so that’s how that so that’s how, um How. We got started in 1975.

00:10:33,530	We became an economic development district through the Economic Development Administration of the Federal Economic Development administration as part of that, um, we were giving, um we are granted, um, funds every year, um, for planning, and, um Economic development to go out and and and work with the communities.

00:10:56,230	The Business owners got local governments to help them access capital to help the businesses access capital whether that’s federal grants, whether that’s um lending funds or or what have you, um so that started in 1975 at that time, The board, which included the 10 commissioners, um, came up with the mechanism for funding the organization. Um, because that requires match that money that we get from ED a requires match at that time.

00:11:13,900	Came up and said we’re going to do 2/10 of a mil for every single, um county, and that way it would adjust as as mills go up and property values change within a county. Um, and it stayed that way for, um until 2019 and in 2019. If.

00:11:32,130	You were on the commission back then you remember budgets were really, really tight, and so we went back and we said, You know what? We’re going to tighten our bootstraps a little bit here and and see what we can do, And so we dropped it to 0.15 mil, and it’s been 1.15 mil since then, so That’s how the funding mechanism has worked.

00:11:45,900	That’s how we do that that is set by the board of directors. Um, and it’s always open to discussion at any other board of directors meetings. So so that’s kind of how we got here. Um, the Regional council itself and the group the regional council, like I said, started way back then. But in 1990.

00:12:01,970	We started doing lending right because at the time everybody was trying to create jobs, and that’s what we did. Um, but we also said, uh about Mid-nineties. We said. Wait a second, We’re creating all these jobs Now people don’t have a place to live. So that’s when we created the housing. Which is a community works.

00:12:14,870	North Dakota, right? And, So that’s how we started getting into that housing, well, single family housing, which is down payment, closing cost assistance as well as multifamily housing. Um and then in the early 2000 about 2009, we started a certified development company to do long term financing.

00:12:31,870	Uh through the SB, a 504 program, So that’s how we got the three groups that are all part of the North Dakota are are part of the Lewis and Clark Development Group. So that’s kind of how we got here today. So, um Even, though, that we started as economic development and we started as doing lending and we started as doing job creation.

00:12:45,270	We do an awful lot more than that, and I have brochures. I’ll hand out to you that have all of the programs that we have, um, within that we actually, uh and recently when, when anything starts up right in an issue comes up. We are we’re the ones that get called right.

00:13:02,230	Um, if you recall back a few years ago, when Luther Social services had issues and they went, um they went bankrupt. They left an awful lot of properties out there. And have management, so we started a property management company. So. Now, we manage over 700 units throughout the state.

00:13:18,000	Um, because we had to fill that gap because nobody else was doing it. All. Three organizations are nonprofits, right? And so, um, so not only do we not only do we create housing We create economic development. We also do. Um, other, um, stuff that’s probably not within. Um, the the Our boards decide that our that need to be done.

00:13:40,230	Um, like the like The, Uh, the Homeless Center, Right. So when? When Ruth Meyers shut down and at home center, right, United Way stepped up and was servicing that they were out of the hotel down over here. If! You remember that they had water issues. They had bug be bed bug issues, So they came and so I was meeting with Jenna.

00:13:52,500	They came to us and they said, You know what? Let’s find a place to do that, and that’s where we bought. Property down on South 12th. So. Um we bought that property knowing it was too small that we were going to expand it to where it is today, Right, um so to so our organization is actually 49%

00:14:07,430	owners of that building, you know, I way leases it. Um, but and it’s it’s 51% owners. We actually own 49%. Why because nobody else would do it. And so we stepped up and did that. So. Our organization does that We can’t do that without the the support that you guys give us.

00:14:22,370	We can’t get those ED a funds without having that match, OK? That match covers, um that, but it also covers the administration so we can go out and help businesses. We’re gonna go out and help. Municipalities another program that I’m gonna be back here in a couple of probably a couple of meetings.

00:14:38,430	I’m gonna be back in just came out where we’re gonna be where? Um It’s a grant program through the North Dakota Department of AG, right and what they’re gonna do is, um, it’s to, um, looking at livestock development and they were they’re going to map this county, you know all the as well as the other nine counties.

00:14:53,530	They’re going to map it all out, and they’re going to tell you where is the best place to put a feedlot Where is the best place to do this right? This is gonna be at no cost to you and the reason it’s at no cost to you is because we’re going out.

00:15:03,670	In. The fund. It came from Gran from the from North Dakota Department of agriculture, but I’ll let you guys look at that in a couple of weeks when I get that, but that’s a a new program that’s coming out. That’s the stuff that we do That’s beyond Just, a job creation.

00:15:17,100	Um, so, um, like I said the numbers speak for themselves. You give us a little bit of money, and we certainly return that as an investment. Right you I mean over the history. We’ve got about 1.

00:15:35,030	5 million from, but the total impact is 100 and $41 per dollar that you’ve given us for $217 million In projects in just in this county this year. Um, our organization will hit the billion dollar mark for the pro for the projects that we have done throughout this throughout the 10 counties, and now we’re actually out through the state, so we have a significant impact. I know a lot of times.

00:15:52,870	We’re not the people that are out front right? Because we worked with the banks. We. We. Take that second position we work with other investors. Um, but our work is out there if you know, Um if you drive on sent that 40 unit apartment. That’s ours. We are building that unit.

00:16:12,370	That’s 40 units 36 or 32 of those are gonna be, um, family affordable, right. So workforce housing. It’s gonna be up to 100. Some of them are up to 100 and 20%, the other the other eight our Market Boulevard Avenue apartments. That’s 100 and 20 units. We just completed that this last year it was a struggle. It was not easy.

00:16:28,030	Um, but that was the there was, um, we probably 40 tenants in there when we took over, and now there’s 100 and 20. It is full, and it has a waiting list.

00:16:41,300	And, so there is a huge need, And, so we continue to to do these projects as they come up so not only like said, do we create the jobs, but we also create the homes where those jobs go to sleep. So, um with that I’d open it up to any questions. Um, if you’d like to. I brought my board chair steve lee, who is a county Comm. in mclean County.

00:16:55,770	Um he’s been our chair for a number of years and he supporter as well as um, your neighboring county Comm.. Over there, um, over from Morton County. I’m Jackie Buckley is here if you wanna ask them specifically, um, because Been both very active, um, in the in the regional council, Um, showing up to you to all the meetings and stuff, So. Um, but I would like you to reconsider. Um the county. Uh, dues.

00:17:15,030	Uh, for this year. Um, it does allow us to to help you guys in the long run. Comm. Bakken, Mr Chair. I. Remember when we voted on this, and, uh I, uh, did not have a conflict at the time and I will leave it up to this board. I am an employee of UTC, which is on their board.

00:17:33,570	And that actually runs through my office. One of my, um, employees in my office is the representative board members. So if you deem that as a conflict, please let me know. You wanted to act on that right now. Yeah. Is that what you want, I would ask Julie’s sitting over there.

00:17:58,370	There’s another one where you’ve got the monetary thing is the biggest concern that we’ve always had and whether you benefit monetarily from it if you’re an employee of them, I would think you would that would be called a benefit is am I correct in that assumption conflict would be, uh, Direct and substantial financial or other benefits.

00:18:20,570	Um, personal benefit, and so, um, it’s better to disclose something that you think might be a conflict and then have the other commissioners decide whether that is a conflict and then decide whether despite that conflict, um the Comm. can still vote or have a say in that. You didn’t answer my question. So yeah.

00:18:39,700	III I been around the block once and if they’re an employee, and the company is getting some benefit from the county, then, um, you know, with trickle down like that getting paid by that entity, then it may be a direct and substantial benefit. And so it better to disclose and then the commissioners can determine whether or not they want that Comm.

00:18:59,570	to engage in voting or not. I don’t think the county benefits by anything that he would be employed or is that I personally do not benefit. Uh TC. Uh, Occasionally has some working because of the population involved, Um, with some of the workings of, uh, the organization, but, uh I was looking at this and I don’t see

00:19:25,730	one, but I just wanted to run it by the board. Just in case I think I think the key word There is. Direct personal gain, and it doesn’t sound like that’s the case here. Chair. I think the other part of the disclosing You know it’s out in the open. It’s our conversation from here on out.

00:19:45,600	I appreciate the disclosure. I personally don’t see a direct benefit to Mr B. You have to make that some form of emotion. I would move that any action regarding The Lewis clark Development group does not, um, create a conflict for Comm. Bakken. Me in a second. Any further discussion. Call the roll, please. Mr Schwab. Yes Comm.

00:20:16,470	Woodcock? Yes. Comm. munson Yes. Chair. Bittner. Yes. Motion carries. Thank you for doing that. Um OK let’s get back to the, uh Any questions for I have a question.

00:20:44,570	When When you list this Uh, you have grant slash loan amount, right? Why is that so? If? You? Shouldn’t it be grant amount and loan amount separate. This does not tell me How are you doing here? Comm. Comm.. I certainly could do that. Um, if you look at all of the ones that have that are economic development projects. Those are loans. The ones that are grants are like the public facilities. Um, and the housing.

00:21:03,930	Some of those are are grant funds to the organization. But If it’s an economic development, which is the lion’s share of that. Those are all loans. Um, we don’t do grants to businesses. We do low interest loans to them. Um, but we do grants to, um like planning grants.

00:21:20,430	So like, you know, burly county back in Um, if you did a strategic plan, we would help to fund that strategic plan. Um, there are also, um, community development block Grant, um, programs where we would, um help to, um do housing. Um And so those type of things would have been grants? We could separate that out there.

00:21:37,430	Um, but I can tell you if you look at it, the the lion’s share that our economic development Um those ones are the ones that are, um, if you look on like that last page are on the front page, it looks like this if Look at across the housing, the planning and the public facilities.

00:21:55,100	Those would be the grants the economic development of about $32 million that would be loans. Mr Chair Mr Wood along that along that same line. I agree. I think we should get that separate out.

00:22:18,230	But like Lincoln’s got some in there and wing and, uh, Wilton, I think got in there that is that indicate that the citizen of Bede County are donating money to Lincoln or we’re donating money to minute amount. I’m I’m sure, by the time you split it up in all of the different organizations, But, are we actually granting money to Lincoln to do their sewer system and Comm. Woodcock that actually to do their sewer system is actually coming from federal money, So.

00:22:35,630	It’s not the citizens aren’t giving us the money. It is coming we tap into into federal sources so that like if they were doing the sewer system that came from the community development Block grant, which comes out of HUD, and so, basically what we do is we go out and we make that application and and to the

00:22:51,770	federal government, um through the state, right? It comes down through the state, but we make that application and it comes from the federal government. So it’s not, um it’s not those citizens over there. Of them. They get the benefit of it, obviously because they get the new sewer. Um, but it’s not them. The only money. The.

00:23:05,570	Only funds that we get. That is not interest and and fees on the loans and stuff that we do. Um, is that is the funds that we get from the counties and and, uh, we get some admin on the grants that we receive, But outside of that We, don’t get any other public funding into

00:23:21,200	into our organization. So. It is multi. Those grants all came from federal dollars. That’s what we do, That’s what we did for a long time is is we went and got go out and that’s and we Still to this day.

00:23:33,930	Like I said with the money here state dollars, but we’ll go out and get state dollars that are out there available for the counties or for the, um, like I said, for the cities, doing public facilities and stuff like that, Comm. Bach I’m just continue on the same same line. Uh, what if these loans go belly up? What happens Well, Um so they see.

00:23:54,100	Some of them went to zero. I mean is that zero mean they’re paid off? Uh, Comm. Comm. woodcox. We actually have a default rate that’s less than 5%. And so if they do go belly up, uh, we go through the entire collection. Just like a banquet. Most. Most of these are are participated with banks. Um by far and away.

00:24:12,400	We’ve been doing this since 1990. A lot of those are paid off. They would then and but we do have a significant amount of loans that are still out there in and maturing. And advertising, and so, um, we would collect it just like a bank would collect it.

00:24:27,970	Um, go through all of this collateral and then we have personal guarantees. And so you have do you have, uh lone re loan loss reserves? Absolutely ok. I am. OK, question about. Um right? Could you explain a little bit because, um, you know, kind of the ways that, uh, you guys operate or your conduit for facilitating, uh, economic development.

00:24:53,970	The other piece is helping find Grant dollars, uh, quite often on the federal level. Um, and the other piece of that is, um That Not dissimilar from the way the bank in North Dakota, is, is that Backing agent.

00:25:17,500	Um, but you’re working with local lenders on most of those projects because you’re just putting the extra skin in the game to get them over the the hump. Correct Comm. Bagan? Yes that you’re absolutely correct what we do, um, so one of the kind of mantras that we always say is we’re there to make the banks comfortable, right? So we’re not always the big player in the game.

00:25:33,430	So if a borrower came to us, and they wanted to do a deal, and it was $100,000 deal, and the bank said, You know what you have to we’ll fund 70. Of it right, But the borrower is going I only have 20% down. We can fund that 10% gap. That’s absolutely one thing that we do So.

00:25:48,630	So, Um so we take a second position behind the bank with the collateral. Um, so then the bank is comfortable. So then the bank does the lion’s share of the deal. We feel that little gap to get it.

00:26:02,230	That’s why we’re a gap funding where we got that money from is we went out to the federal government. Um, and if you look at, uh where you guys, uh, have come in again? Uh, some of the federal money grants that we got back in the nineties required match. Everybody gets match. Right.

00:26:15,170	So what did we do? We went out to you guys and you guys all the 10 counties in all the 10 counties put money into that fund, which built the that fund. Um some of the more recent ones that we’ve got have not required match. Uh, we just got a $15 million from the meat and poultry, Um, intermediary lending program through USDA to diversify. Um, the Big four.

00:26:33,930	So the instead of the Big four meatpacking companies. If, you’re not one of those. You can acquire that. So we actually out in. It’s not yet here in in burly county yet, but, uh, we haven’t done Because we just got the money last year.

00:26:47,630	Uh, but we just built a brand new, uh, facility out in steel, right? Um, we’ve also, um funded some to to Cloverdale so they could expand and so, like I said, if you have if you like their little beef sticks, Yeah, you’re welcome. We help fund that for them to do that, right? Um And. So. Um, again. It seems like a big dollar amount, right. But. All, that money is restricted.

00:27:03,200	Right? So, That’s all money for lending. That’s not that’s not paying salaries That’s not paying for us to go out and and and market this it pays for Projects and then when the money comes back in with interest it gets funded to the next project. And so we’ve done that with ED A and USDA.

00:27:19,470	Um, in all these F sources, and that’s how we’ve built these funds that have us give us the ability to do the lending that you see. So. That’s why we haven’t been back here in the last 15 years is because we’ve built those funds up and we don’t have to go out and get a whole bunch more funds that

00:27:35,230	require that match, right? Absolutely right. You, Right. So. I mean, you look at the North Dakota Opportunity Fund, which you guys Part of, um We got that at $9 million. I was back under Obama back in 09. We’ve actually lent out over $20 million out of that fund, so we’ve lent it out.

00:27:49,870	It’s come back in. We lent it out again, right? And, So. We grow our funds. Um And. Like. I said. That’s the beauty of having a really low default rate is that these funds continue to grow right. And so that’s how we’re able to operate. Comm. schwab.

00:28:08,300	I, uh Remember some of these From the time I was on a city commission. And I often wondered. When. You’re paying somebody’s utilities and right here. There’s one group that’s got over 1.5 million that a grant that a loan or what is that? Uh, which ones? Are you referring to Comm.

00:28:31,900	Swan? Pardon me? Which was? Are you referring to Uh, U TT C utilities. Or that OK OK? Yeah. So what That was that? We’re not paying their utilities. What That was is we were we were paying to put in utilities, so that’s like water and sewer into U TT C.

00:28:49,370	So U TT C applied to to through us to get federal dollars and then we got them the federal dollars to increase their utilities and put that into, um into the property, so that might have been and that was probably before my time because I’ve only been there since 2000. But it was, uh, that was probably more along the lines of like water and sewer.

00:29:05,830	Into there, it could have been running electrical lines or stuff like that, So. It’s not going to the individual. It’s going to the entity, or, um, most of the stuff that’s done under public facilities is going to be maintained as community owned.

00:29:22,830	So that so if we put in, um water and sewer in Lincoln, right, that’s water and sewer for the city. So. The city has that the city actually applies for that? Yeah. OK, um, at one point in your presentation, you referred to a mill Levy, Can you? Um Back that up. Tell me a little bit more about that. Yes Chair, Um, so it was so basically, it is not.

00:29:43,930	Actually we’re not actually able to to attack. We’re not taxing authority. It was just based on that, and that’s how they based it, so they based it originally on 0.2 mils, so they basically what I do, um, and what they’ve done for the last since 75 years. We as we get everybody’s, uh, total property tax value.

00:30:00,400	Take that times that at this point now take that times that 0.15 and that gets the assessment so that everybody so that every county has the same Percentage of assessment based on their, um so Sioux county is is obviously getting charged 0.

00:30:17,430	15 million, but they so they pay a lot less in dues because obviously they have a lot less in property value. I see, So that’s not a It’s not an automatic mill levy just with you’re referring to as DS. Is that right? Is that right? That’s how That’s how they That’s how they set it up so that every county pays the same.

00:30:33,630	What was that what was that amount for 2024 91,000? A little over. Let me 0.15 mils. 0.15 mil. Yeah. OK so I don’t know you. Apparently You weren’t here for during the budget meetings and budget hearings. I was unaware that yeah, that there was any any issues And.

00:30:54,830	So what I’ve always tried to do because I do have 10 counties. Um and I have always tried to be at least once a year to every county. Um and I. I wasn’t available to be here, um, during your budget meetings, but that won’t happen again. I. Yeah, I’m Sure not, Um, However.

00:31:12,500	Um, since you weren’t there, I’ll just tell you that the, um budget hearings were very difficult. This last year. I think we ended up Um with a split vote on a adding something on the order of eight mils was it right around eight mils to the burly county budget for this year, roughly The Burly County Commission was tasked with finding each and every essentially penny.

00:31:41,230	We could Um I. Don’t think that the law allows us to go back and and as you request to, um Revisit that I think that My understanding and correct me if I’m wrong. Um, is that When. It comes to budgets, We can decrease budgets. But. We can’t increase them.

00:32:09,570	Julie, is that That’s correct because we have to have that into the state. We have to collect what we’ve budgeted for, and there’s no way to collect more. Right. So. There’s, um, I understand your question, But I’m not understanding how we could legally change or reconsider the amount that, um That that we came up with at at this point.

00:32:30,970	Unless you have some, uh, magic wand? I. I appreciate the request, and I understand the Um, concern, However. There was a budget decision and that was, I think in September Comm. that other thoughts. Mr B. There’s a lot of value with this I’ve seen Projects across burly county and and the other counties as well.

00:33:02,430	I’m wondering if they Maybe a mechanism by which We can Offset Because the numbers in stone. And. You’re right. We’re not gonna go Back. We can’t. Um, but is there an opportunity within statute? Because I know The two mills and is the 0.

00:33:27,570	15 mils, a kind of a guideline that you guys came up with, or that’s what the board came up, so I, I’m I’m wondering if we might Take into consideration next budget cycle. If the if the funds are there and available that We make whole For this past year.

00:33:49,730	So it’s just Throwing it out there as a consideration because there is a lot of, um We get a lot back for that little investment. So I. I just when it comes to budget time, I think that should be a conversation we should have is is maybe we go to You know, 0.3. On the mills for the next budget cycle. Excuse me. Sure, OK, Comm. Munson. Chair I.

00:34:15,630	I think something else we need to consider And I recall when we were, uh, doing a portfolios back after we first were elected. Um, we didn’t even keep this as a portfolio. And.

00:34:41,770	I found out the other day that I’m on the We didn’t think you’d find out that it took a while, but I got there, So I think the first thing we need to do is is reconsider that portfolio position since it is If. Correct me if I’m If. I’m right Brent by Um, century code is how you’re formed as a group correct and through the century code, all of us being involved, that’s in century code. Correct, Um so I think it minimum. Today we need to at least re-establish that Portfolio.

00:35:06,830	So that we have representation on that board. And. If. That’s Me. I’m Fine since I was just notified that I am on the board, um And then I think we need to consider Um, Mr B’s thought about getting into next year’s budget and and trying to make this whole I can tell you right

00:35:28,830	now that I’m not going to support prep spending on next year’s budget. We got enough. We have got enough problems coming down the road with with, um, budgets, and I’m not gonna take any action that assumes that we’re gonna Um, lead into the budget with preconceived spending levels.

00:35:48,470	I’m just not going to support that, Gentlemen. Um You know I haven’t had a chance to read the, uh, law. That talks is is this board called a Regional Planning Council? OK? Yeah, Chair the That is the actual C code that created us back in 1973. Mister Chair. Comm. would I know I’ve looked at this.

00:36:22,630	In fact I was on the board 1015 years ago, but, uh, we we analyzed that 0.2 Mills that we were giving, or we were donating every year that came by because we were always questioned. What are we getting for it? Is it a value and we were had some years We said.

00:36:38,870	What have you done in burly county or what? In in the Morton County, people would say the same thing because they’re looking. What. What value Are you getting for Beley County money. So? Uh, I think this slipped through the cracks this year. Um, it was one of those things where you almost have to defend yourself every year and that didn’t happen. I think that’s what happened.

00:36:55,800	We were looking for Any way to cut the budget that we could, and, uh, this fell into one of those one of those things, and I think we should just Ah, I.

00:37:10,870	I know we can’t do anything in the past, but, uh, let’s put it on the agenda for our budget hearings this year and and we’ll go forward from there and and evaluate it then. I, don’t I don’t I certainly Don’t think we need to look at what are we going to go from 1.5 to or 1.5 0.15 to two now? I mean, we? We just can’t do that. The rules are 0.15. We’ll discuss it at the time that budget comes up.

00:37:29,400	Yeah. Well, that’s about the only thing we can do anything we can do You know the law is pretty clear on this. So while I appreciate you, Uh Uh, giving that presentation. I. Guess we’ll see you. When we see we get those questions. Those brochures you had to be.

00:37:50,530	I’d like a motion to reestablished the portfolio. And and board presence. Second I’ll make that motion that we do establish that portfolio holder and since Comm. munson, you already did. You did. Yeah. Is that a vote. We vote on that or not. Pardon me have a motion in a second, any further discussion? Called role, please Comm. schwab. No Comm.

00:38:18,500	Woodcox Yes Mr munson Comm. Bakken Yes. Chair, bitner No. Thank you. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you. You’re welcome. Thank you. And thank you folks for coming in. She Leben Detention Center report Welcome Good evening, Mr Chair. Commissioners, Um Kind of the same old, same old with the JO. Basically.

00:38:47,030	I’ll go through some numbers here, not a lot changing average daily population 247. The. Good News is the billing is up. Um, basically, as of, uh, March. We are at 5 91 3 37. For the year. Um in 23. We were at 4024 34. In 2022. We were at 3 13 7 65. That was the first year we had We no longer housing Covid, Uh, inmates.

00:39:20,770	Basically inmates that couldn’t go to the prison because during the Covid pandemic, they had to stay in the jail and we were being paid for that. So 2021 was 5 97 8 56. That was our highest year as far as, um, offsetting income. Um and that was a covid housing year.

00:39:44,370	So 21 and 20 were very good. For us as far as income coming in and as you can see, we’re on track for that with the new daily rates. All of those came in or took effect on January 1st, the US marshal. Prior to that alternatives to jail Currently 265 participants.

00:40:09,000	Uh, that number continues to be stable goes up a little bit, but drops back down. Staffing, Um, every time. Uh, when I say, I come before you, and it’s kind of the same old, same old um, we are still in a hiring process for detention officers just when you think we’re gaining ground. Um, something happens and, um, we’re back at it.

00:40:30,530	So we are currently uh, We just finished interviewing. And thankfully, we’re getting a lot of applicants. Uh, but as Pam talked to you last week or last commission meeting about county turnover, uh, the traditional candidate for us is seems like is not there anymore. And When. I say traditional.

00:40:54,470	That’s the young person that grew up always gonna go into law enforcement. What. We’re seeing a lot more of is people coming and trying the job for a while. Some stay and some. It’s not Them and they move on.

00:41:12,630	Uh, I, Ironically as I was going over what I was gonna say tonight I had to update my sheet because, uh, when I put this together a few days ago, it was six employees. We were going to hire. We are currently going to hire eight. Um, we’ve lost two employees recently to terminations. The. Good thing is, we’re gonna conditionally employ 10 employees.

00:41:38,470	That would potentially be our eight and then two additional backfill, uh, which we should be fine with backfill employees were early enough in the year. Um, and that way we can train a big group. And. Then if we have any attrition moving forward will be just fine. That’s something I’ll monitor to make. We stay within budget. Overall. Our. Overtime is reduced.

00:41:59,430	Um even with these eight positions being vacant, which is a good thing, um, but over time, still a factor. Um, like I said, we’re getting a lot of applicants. Uh, you know we’re monitoring that If. You remember? I came before you a while back. With, the hiring and retention bonuses that the state had authorized last legislative session.

00:42:19,800	So, We’re monitoring that, um, what I would tell you is at this point, I don’t think it’s happening in a any impact. We’re getting a lot of applicants, but I think we had 10. No shows, um for the actual interviews, Deputy Sheriff is kind of the same thing. We’re not getting a It’s.

00:42:38,570	The end result isn’t what we would hope it to be, Um, one thing Are seeing, though with our hiring, and and our re It really comes down to our recruiting. That’s what’s the applicants that we’re getting in the door and retaining is the ones that have been recruited by other employees in our agency? Which.

00:43:01,370	I’m very proud of that, that that tells me that, um, the employees, uh, want to make sure they have good people to work with, so that might be something we look at in the future.

00:43:21,830	Um, I know other agencies have looked at that in the past, where potentially instead of a hiring and retention bonus, we pay the good employer recruiting bonus again. Just a thought, But that is the one thing that we’re seeing over and over again. Is getting us good applicants is when our own employees are asking them to come work with them. Um We. The.

00:43:43,330	Good News is we did a hire a nurse? Um, so that was a long time coming And As. I. Uh, I briefed the jail committee on this and I’ll share with you, Uh, one of the things we ran into again is salaries and issue.

00:44:04,170	Scheduling is an issue and one of the things we found is and I would say it’s I would just label it industry standard because that’s really what it is Nurses in this area. At least our traditionally not working 40 hours anymore. They basically are working three twelves and and I’ve recruited hard for this position every time I’m in the clinic. I’m afraid they’re gonna bar me from there Because Every Nurse. I see, I’m asking if they’ve ever thought about coming to work in a jail. And.

00:44:25,870	It’s truly not a traditional, um, role that nurses see you know, they don’t go to college and say I want to work in a jail And, so a lot of them are, you know, caught off guard when we have this type of service in our jail, But, um the ones we

00:44:41,500	do get in there to see it are very interested in the work it just not traditional for them. So one of the things we had to do, Um and again, one of the things I always tried to do for the commission. Is we look at every option we have and not just salary.

00:45:02,670	Uh so what We did, uh, work with HR on and we did implement with this latest nurse hiring Is a nontraditional schedule and basically what we’ve gone to is three twelves for our nurses, not the nurse supervisor. The nurse supervisor works at traditional work week.

00:45:27,230	Uh, that way they can interact with all the nurses, but we were able to, um, adjust our other nurses and get this new nurse into position. With that adjusted schedule the the position. The position is paid hourly so And. The benefits are prorated. And so, um, we think it’s very equitable and considering that that’s what every hospital and most facilities in this area were running into are doing.

00:45:52,870	We felt that’s what we had to to the other. Um, plus, I would say to you is, I think our coverage is just as good if maybe not a little bit better, because initially when we went to that fourth nurse What we want to do is assign our nurses to shifts.

00:46:13,700	But the problem is With fair wage and labor laws. We can’t work them over 40 like we can at detention officer and a deputy sheriff. Because there we have an 80 hour work or 80 hour work period that we can have different hours within that time period. So. Um, I think we’re sitting good on nurses knock on wood.

00:46:38,200	Um and, uh, we’ll see where how things continue along that line. Um, lastly, uh, budget You know we we’ve started on the budget Prep, uh, meeting with the jail committee and going over some things there. And. Uh, basically, you know, I’ll just give you a heads up.

00:47:00,230	We’re seeing just increased maintenance costs out in that facility. The. Uh, the costs are not going down, and and I use this quote all the time on the sheriff’s side. We budget For what if because we don’t know what’s gonna happen on the detention side we budget for what is Pass this to heat the building. It costs us to feed the inmates.

00:47:19,930	And so overall, we’re gonna do everything we can to keep that cost down. We did make some budget adjustments. Um, For. This year we were on track to, uh, purchase a new mower.

00:47:41,170	But with some of the, uh, maintenance costs that have come up in recent We are going to delay that more purchase and that way we will be able to cover some of those costs out at the jail. Unfortunately. I’ve spoke about this. That Gets broken out there by inmates the glass in the blocks and they say this glass is indestructible.

00:48:06,430	It’s not, um all it is is expensive in my opinion, and so we do charge the inmates, But, um, again trying to recoup that money is, um Frustrating at to say the least, but it’s something we work at and work with the state’s attorney’s office. The. Um, and also, just if you know Lee did a great job. Last Commission meeting talking about the overage or the budget.

00:48:28,670	And as you saw on the detention center. You know some line items we do very well, maintaining some are, you know very, uh, sporadic just depends on what’s happening. I think, uh, Pam touched on in one thing. I. Wanna, Uh, again bring up to you guys. Is that W SI, You know that’s a prime example with our turnover.

00:48:51,930	Um, we’ve been increasing that line item every year because our rating keeps going down for the experience level of our employee. And WI a car actually go up. So. We. Um, I thought we were doing a great job with our budget estimate. And Here we come in $50,000 under in what? W SI charged us now. Obviously.

00:49:17,870	We’ll recoup some of that, As Pam stated with the training. Um, that goes on throughout the year, but again, just another hidden cost of turnover. That’s all I have if you have any questions, I’ll be glad to answer them. Comm. Mr Chair. Thank You.

00:49:37,500	Um, I know this may be a tough question and a tough answer. But, you look at the inmate knights and, uh, Bismarck had 653 and man and only had 22 now what’s going wrong there? What? Are. They are they turning these people out onto the streets without? Uh, proper incarceration or is is man and getting more crooks let out.

00:49:56,600	That’s what it looks like to me right off the surface. But Can you can add Chair. Can. We answer that. Um, So. Yes. I’ll answer that. Um so Historically, um you know, one of the things we’ve seen out there and and I’m just gonna be honest, um We are we always see? Sometimes? These agencies try to lower their cost.

00:50:22,970	Um, and there’s a direct cost. When the municipality wanna put somebody in the jail? They have, you know, and that’s been debated. It’s been debated at these joint City County meetings. Um, but at the end of the day, um as I stress, if you know I, I’ll, and I’ll refer to burly county if Bismarck.

00:50:43,900	Police arrest a drunk driver in the city. You know it’s only right that the city taxpayers share that cost and not a farmer north of wing because that’s a city cost, and so in the past, um we have seen Man dan, where they’ve tried to do everything they can to keep their costs down. And.

00:51:07,700	I get that, um, you know, but at the same time, um we gotta make sure you know, and I can only speak for burly county. We gotta make sure that we’re keeping the people safe by locking up the people that should be. Does Morton County pick up that cost, then. Who’s picking it up and in 22 nights compared to 653.

00:51:27,570	Is Bertie County, picking up Mr Chair commissioners. No, that would be so basically what happens is when you look at those numbers if it’s a Bismarck inmate day that’s an in or a man inmate day those inmates were sentenced out of municipal court or arrested and charged, Um into municipal court.

00:51:50,600	So Basically when you look at Burle County and Morton County, and we always break this down by at budget time. Um, but for the sake of the monthly report, we just combined both counties because we’re both paying that bill the only time um they would be a city prisoner is if it’s a class, a missed or a class B misdemeanor or less.

00:52:14,670	So, basically, if a a murders committed in the city of Bismarck, Bismarck police And. They investigate. They arrest somebody once That persons brought to jail and charged they become a county prisoner just by the classification. So. Historically Man dans numbers have been traditionally low out at the jail.

00:52:42,400	Um, but that would come down to what’s occurring in their municipal court man in So in other words, in other words, they’re arresting him and running him through municipal court, rather than district court that right mister Chair Comm.? No, basically, um, what I would say is happening is they would be They’re either, um, not housing in the jail.

00:53:08,370	So if they make if they have an encounter, um they could do what’s called a promise to appear, Um or they could You know what we call go long form, which is basically they don’t make an arrest and how they just send a report to their prosecuting attorney’s office, which would be M, the city attorney. And So, Same with Bismarck Police Department.

00:53:30,670	Um, I would say, you know, man, dan. Traditionally is going to have less going on then, you know, obviously Bismarck burly, and, um so, um, I, I would say. It might be, we might see a factor with the municipal judge on what they do.

00:53:54,630	As far as sentencing to affect that number, but I don’t think they have a big number to start with, OK. Thank you. OK, any other I got to tell you a short story real quick, So. I was reviewing the bills today. And. Um and I saw this really large fuel order for the burly county Sheriff’s department.

00:54:14,700	In in the price and and whatever and then And. Then, it says fuel for Beast. And. I went beast. I’ve been here a while. What. No word beast. Well, it turns out now I’ve figured out while we’re sitting here that burly East is what? We’re referring to the old county shop is and it so it was shortened up on the on the on the bills Thing

00:54:34,530	to beast. So, If. You. See that That’s right, Mr Chair, OK? It makes it easy to identify locations. If you have a Constantly saying the old Highway department. Well, I came in. I was going to ask what’s beast, you know? And Then while I was sitting here, listening to you, they it occurred to me that, um All.

00:54:57,400	Right. Thank you, sheriff. Thank you Appreciate it. Cake. Next item. Comm. Munson regarding Bismarck. Burly Public health. Thank you chair so a little while ago. I, uh, had taken on the, uh, public health as a portfolio. Uh, and having watched the last 2 2.5 years of, uh Of Verley County Commission.

00:55:24,900	It always seemed to be a little bit of a confusing situation with what they do. How. They do it How it’s funded. And. So we put together for you, uh, a complete list. By century code. What, the public health units. Core functions are And we color coded those in black. Then I asked to go through and confirms.

00:55:54,100	Where’s this not a few more pages. Starting at your too far right there. So then I. I asked the question what is required by century code what’s required by the North Dakota. Public Health Department, and so we went through again. This document making sure that all of these items were required by the State Health department.

00:56:23,470	We, uh Renee Mok started with it. And. Then I went through it after that and met with both public health. Um, I did there is some information here from, uh, Public Finance or the city Finance department, uh, as well as then visiting with the state public health nurse. So. Then. I started asking the questions on finances.

00:56:47,370	Cause like Sitting through budget Last year. It was hard for me to understand that public health was only a $2.2 million enterprise. There a lot of people out there they do a lot of functions as we start going through this And come to find out that it’s actually a $6.9 million. Enterprise Public health.

00:57:14,630	Um three point $8 million is coming to the public health unit from grants. The remainder of that of the 4.6 million is coming through private bill. And. Then. The rest comes to the taxpayers of burly County and the city of Bismarck. So. The $2.

00:57:38,100	2 million now finally makes sense because with the the services that they have it Didn’t make sense to me that we were only talking about $2.2 million So yes, the the the public health is actually a $6.9 million operation. Uh, but only $2.2 million is coming back towards the, uh, taxpayers. The rest is funded by grants and by billable services.

00:58:03,630	So as you go through the pages, Uh, each section that’s in green. Uh, is paid for by grant funds. Each section in blue is a billable reimbursable fee. Um Brown is a non billable truly is cost to the county or the city residents. And.

00:58:24,430	So as as we go through, I don’t know if you want me to go through each one of these pages. Um, but I wanted to get the information to you so that it was more of an educational piece, something we can look through. Ask questions on. Um right now. I’m the only one here with that department, so don’t ask too hard a question.

00:58:43,300	Uh, Renee is traveling and she would be more than happy to come back and and visit with us. Um, one of the things I found was really interesting. Um Travel vaccines. If you wanna travel outside of the United states? There’s a certain set of Required vaccinations depending on where you’re going.

00:59:06,270	They only offered in the western half of North Dakota through public health, the local hospitals Do not have that. And. So that’s a bill service. Um, we go through and we look at investigations of water. Um, concerns within burly county and managing mosquitoes that is a non billable service. And. That is something that our residents pay for.

00:59:29,100	Um We work with the public health, health and local health care facilities and community stakeholders, develop plans and exercise in case of issues that is a Funded by Grant program. Um Adult and child health assessments. That’s a billable service. Preventive health screenings available service. Public education by registered nurses and licensed registered dietitian on health.

00:59:56,300	Preventative topics is non billable that is covered by us as taxpayers. But if you keep going through here. Tobacco Prevention, for instance, is a grant funded program. Um And and it it gets very detailed, Uh, the food establishment, You know the food service licensing and inspections. That’s a billable service that our Health Department does.

01:00:20,370	Um and so I wanted to get this to you so that if there was questions it came out. Please ask, Um I would be more than happy to get additional information to you, Um What I found as I kept going through this And, then looking at the financials. $4.6 million of grants and billable. Services. Pays for a lot of what we do in public health.

01:00:49,700	Um And. So 2.2 is what’s being asked of the residents so anyway. This is my first dive into public health. It’s wanting to educate myself to make sure that I understood the programs and I understood so that I could represent public health to Burle County residents.

01:01:11,100	Uh and so that document is there for you, and for the citizens to to look through. OK, thanks for the work by anybody have any questions? Yesterday did a good job of presenting because nobody has any questions or I didn’t put it up on Elmo and nobody really got a chance to read it. All. Right. You listen, Mr schwab. I have a question.

01:01:31,430	Uh, I have Some people out there that are complaining that the health department Is kind of following the World Health organization. Can you get them? Give us a rundown on that. In other words, if The World Health organization has shut down because Covid 95 shows up. That the automatically follow it. In other words.

01:02:06,570	From what I’m hearing. Are we losing our Of the Health department. To world government. Is basically what? They’re asking me. Legitimate and I would like to see an organizational deal and and what they are doing. And if they are moving in that direction, where A board can Advised to say shut down. Or whatever.

01:02:38,100	And it It’s just actually an excuse to me. For It’s AC Y A for Bismarck Commission, US and stuff and I’m really, really interested in knowing how this is going because this is really being pushed in the national level. It. It’s an interesting conversation.

01:03:05,770	Um, and if I, can we, uh actually, at our last meeting, uh, with public health, it was a very interesting conversation that came up along those same lines. This board has made it very clear that burly county commissioners are the board of Health that make final decisions for burly county residents. We’ve made that extremely clear to the public.

01:03:29,970	We voted on it not too long ago, and we are so so the public health cannot do anything in those lines shutting down for COVID-19 without our approval because we are the board of Health. The City has very similar Board of health. Um, At one point there was a conversation at this table. To create a combined Board of health. To help facilitate more knowledge.

01:03:57,230	In in that board would be very similar to the planning and zoning board. They would hear the issues they would have professionals, doctors, nurses on the board itself, along with us or and or city. Um, and those recommendations still would have to come back to the board. No different than planning and zoning for us to approve. Um So. So.

01:04:19,500	Like I said it was a great conversation. We had short. Uh, not too long ago. Uh but ultimately the residents need to be assured. That. Burly County commissioners are the acting Board of Health, and we have the final say as to what happens in our county.

01:04:38,770	What What I’m concerned about though, is if you have these boards out there following WHO And. They’re gung ho about it, like, say the mask mandate that we had with covid. Which is silly. We all know that. But. They can put the pressure on this board and say, Do it, do it, do it.

01:05:04,700	It’s kind of a setting up a bureaucracy, a bureaucracy that, uh, is following somebody outside. Territory that we’re responsible for sure. And. I think that very, very concerned about that. I think they They have to get their education from others, you know, as they’re learning about certain things, but But again. I remember Comm. Bittner at the time being very passionate about the fact that this board Would be the Board of Health.

01:05:28,970	For burly county residents and those decisions are made here now. That being said I wouldn’t mind seeing a combined. Board of health that could advise us You know with doctors and nurses on that board to give us their medical opinions. Um But. Still, the The decision is made here.

01:05:52,700	Um yeah, in that, In that case, Comm.. I wouldn’t I wouldn’t support setting up any sort of a different commission or committee or something? Because every one of us has got a phone and we can talk to any one of those doctors and nurses and and we always do. And I think there’s also a public health officer involved.

01:06:07,900	And so, I. I think those things are probably covered already without muddying up the water with more committees and groups and meetings, um Anything else on that, Uh Public health. Thank you? It was a good conversation Commissioners Auditor splonskowski Missouri Valley complex lease. Uh, good evening commissioners. Uh, at the last meeting.

01:06:32,100	We had a, uh, lease that came was up that had expired at the end of, uh, 2023 for the farmland in the Missouri Valley complex. Uh, this commission chose to not to renew it, however, to remain open to offers. I have received an offer from the former A from the former renter, and I’m just Seeking.

01:06:54,900	Guidance from the commission as to whether we should schedule an executive session at the next meeting in order to, uh for negotiation of contract or what the commission wants to do if we want to open it up to anybody else, or what? Uh, how long did they have that lease? Uh, they had it for a

01:07:14,300	few years. I believe at the time. I don’t know exactly what it would be a 2 to 6 year terms or two or three year terms. Yeah it, It might be time for us to, um Have another Mhm.

01:07:32,830	Open bids on that on that lease if it’s been that long, because I’m sure rental rates have changed, and things have Um, things have changed. So my suggestion would be that we look to have a I guess a competitive Lease. Effort, Mr schwab. Can that be done by putting A bit out. The requests. Because. We’re getting pretty close to planning time. If somebody’s gonna want to get in there.

01:08:00,100	They’re gonna want to get in there. Right. You know May is about the time they’re gonna hit it. Mhm, middle of May. So how we get So. I believe I believe that the requirements for that would to would be for it to be posted in the newspaper one time for two weeks, so two ti two post season in the newspaper, at

01:08:21,170	least and then we can go ahead and and, um, open any bids that I’ve received, so just follow that path and Do that because that would get us, right? Near the end of April. Yes, I could probably, uh, if I got that out right away tomorrow. Um Let me think here. What Day is tomorrow Tuesday.

01:08:42,170	I could probably have it posted in the newspaper by the end of this week, the first time and then next week and we could be opening bids the end of next week or the beginning of the following week. So.

01:08:59,770	The thing is that the request for bids for leasing the Missouri Valley complex farmland that would that would be ready then the next meeting. Potentially. Yes. OK. It could be ready as soon as the next meeting. I would like to see if we could do that.

01:09:15,300	Um, you guys want a motion or a consensus on that, or what do you wanna do? Fine? Yeah, I think we should go ahead and do that? Yeah. OK. All right. Thank you very much. OK, well. We’re down to other business. Anybody have other business for the good of burly count. Thank you gentlemen, We are adjourned. Business. Mr SWAT. You have a