Rice County Commissioners Committee of the Whole Meeting
Attendees: all commissioners present
Notable attendees: Local school visiting.
Guest: Minnesota State Senator John Jasinski
Jasinski presented the following:
- $225 million cut in transportation in Senate, none in House of Representatives. $5 billion in cuts. Working on the budget.
- Malecha Q: It’s not sustainable to keep pushing things down onto the counties. People are being squeezed, the senior population and those with fixed incomes, especially. Many are choosing between dinner on the table, medication, and property taxes. Another thing is the nursing housing situation—disabled and ill—it’s our job to take care of them. It’s not right to cut funding for them. What are we going to do? Put them on the streets because there’s no money to take care of them?
- Jasinski A: I agree, that’s what we’ve been arguing about for the past 4 years. The state government under one party’s control increased spending by 40%. Most I’ve seen is 2.7% in the past. We went from a $5 billion surplus to the state increasing spending by $10 billion. Largest increase in state spending. We fought for the nursing homes last year, we knew they were facing those issues. We had to fight to get that with the governor. We’ll see how much of the budget they try to make out in the next 2 years. Some of the spending in 2023—the state spent like it was monopoly money. We fought for not legalizing marijuana. Our party didn’t agree with that. The state spent money on it anyway. One-size-fits-all family leave is also hurting our counties. Paid family leave is devastating to small businesses and schools. School districts are also being told how they should be spending their money. Our concern is that these mandates mean schools across the state have to make cuts. Property taxes are hurting people. What the governor has pushed is 8-9% on the counties.
- Hoisington Q: I don’t know what the polarization is like between Republicans and Democrats right now. But I have to hope they know how this is going to impact. Are you working across the aisle, or is it just steady polarization?
- Jasinski A: Lots of polarization now. Worst I’ve seen in a while. The other side brought in a 415-page bill at 11:15. They knew we were supposed to go home and it’s not respectful. There’s a certain portion of the other side that does not want to cooperate and just wants to push a progressive agenda. In the House of Representatives, it’s an exact tie, so they have to agree on some things. I don’t think you’ll see huge policy changes this year because it’s tied. I think anything super-partisan in the Senate won’t get through the House safety gap. I’ve always worked to work across the aisle. I think if you asked a Democrat, they would agree. The Bonding Bill will require across-the-aisle work. It started off pretty well after the terrible ending last year. My committee of transportation probably has the most evenly distributed committee, but that’s not the case with the rest—environment, etc. In 2018, we began to capture the auto sales tax to use towards roads and bridges, but to balance the budget, we now had to stop that. Right now, the state of Minnesota is about $1 billion dollars short every year of funding roads. Taking money out of there is concerning, but that’s how they had to balance the budget.
- Hoisington Q: What’s something we could do to make a difference?
- Jasinski A: We need to work together as legislators to compromise. We’re in the situation we’re at today because we had a one-sided view on how to get things done. All the excess money we had, they spent and increased taxes, so now we have to cut things. I think working together. A divided government is good because you have to compromise. Work together, understand the other side’s viewpoints, and why they think that way. We’re seeing a ton of influx in the urban areas while rural areas are seeing the big cuts.
- Malecha Q: We know that people with a roof over their heads do better in life. I know you’re also a fan of clean rivers. I know that everything won’t get the same amount of money in the past. But if you can just remember this, it’s important.
- Jasinski A: A lot of money was spent on multi-family. We like that money is going towards families who can build equity through home ownership. Want to make sure our families can get into homes they own.
- Q: What’s going on with federal, and how will it trickle down to state and county?
- Jasinski A: In the Minnesota legislature, the governor commented that everything is based on what the president is doing. In November, we knew we’d be facing this deficit already, so it wasn’t the president. There’s a lot of pointing fingers going on. I think there are a lot of pauses in the federal government, like DOGE. Minnesota has the largest waste, abuse and fraud in the United States. So I think what the government is doing is pausing to make sure we know what’s happening with funds. It’s a short-term hurt on a lot of people, but I think the long term is important.
- Purferst Q: Can you give updates on county road 9?
- Jasinski A: Looking at realigning Minnesota highways 3 and 21. It’s going to be up to funding, but I think it’s a good plan. Some property owners are concerned about what’s happening. If you look at the amount of traffic counts, it probably doesn’t warrant one yet, which was my point. We want to be ahead of the traffic. In 2026, if I’m the chair of transportation, which I hope to be, we’ll continue with that project.
- Purferst: Thank you for signing off on the bill increasing the speed limit of farm equipment.
- Jasinski: Thank you
- Brian Mortenson Q: Question about public safety. Last year, our Legislature passed the Minnesota rehabilitation reinvestment plan. That has unraveled a lot of the work many of us have done: police officers, probation officers, prosecutors, etc. I know there are plans to change the bill to recognize more of the work we do. What movement is happening on that issue to change that law? A lot of people don’t recognize that after law enforcement makes a good arrest… we get resolutions to these cases that oftentimes have victims. We speak with victims about valid resolutions and bring that to court. We sentence the defendant to prison. A sentence that is agreed upon by the prosecutor, victim, defendant, and judge. This bill undoes that. They are allowing prisoners sent to prison to have less prison time. They haven’t included us in this. We determine what happens up until they go to jail, but not after. What are you doing to remedy this?
- Jasinski A: I do have a bill on that, trying to stop it. 2nd degree, 3rd degree, trying to make those not qualify. We don’t know a lot of what we can do offensively, given the makeup of the parties. Thinking of Jennifer Murphy – killed in road rage in Rice County. We think violent offenders should be held. We want to fix the crazy things that have been enacted by one party.
- Mortenson: It’s disheartening to see that the legislature can undo what we do in the executive branch
- Underdahl Q: Mental health is a big issue. Counties alone can’t afford to deal with it-—
- Jasinski: I agree. I’ve been on the bonding committee. We have facilities, but there aren’t enough providers willing to provide those services. It seems like in the past years, people have been incentivized not to work. For example, the governor wanted people to only come back to work half the time. With all the government programs that I’ve seen, people just seem not to want to work and do things. It’s the same across the state. Workforce, daycare, and mental health is happening everywhere.
- Malecha Q: I want to piggyback off the mental health subject. Yes, getting providers and healthcare professionals is difficult. I think it’s also a financial reimbursement for the mental health providers as well on the federal and state level. We need to continue down that path of creating regional mental health facilities. When we have to send residents to North Dakota and Indiana that really says something about Minnesota not being part of it.
- Jasinski: Growing up services were more centralized. When they shut down the regional center in Faribault, that center would have been able to meet a lot of these demands.
- Underdahl: We used to have meetings like this all the time with our local Senators. This is the first time since COVID we’ve done this. It’s really nice.
- Jasinski: Thank you for what you do. You guys are the front lines of everything. Anytime you guys want to meet with me I’m happy to go down on your agenda. The input I get from local officials is huge.
Community Corrections with Angela Brewer.
- Last week I discussed with you a contract with EHawk. I have not yet executed the contract. Conversations made it clear there was miscommunication on the terms of their service agreement. I wanted to bring it back here to make sure you are aware of the contract. I’m not personally recommending we change course on anything. The up front cost agreement after one year was true on the surface but the ongoing reporting of the monitoring access to historical data would cost more. From a fiscal perspective, this is a grant funded project for the GPS app. We do have funds through the latter half of 2027. So long as funding remains in tact, we would fund it through. Mr. Mortenson did have questions about how the data is collected as well. Until we know your questions and an answer on data collection we will not be signing.
- Underdahl Q: Contract over a year?
- Brewer A: At this point we’re not thinking about a contract beyond a year. We can’t project our population at that time, which is what the cost is based on. If we really like the service we may expand it to include pretrial services.
- Underdahl Q: Have you figured out a metric to determine maintenance costs?
- Brewer A: We will have an alternate method of supervision to increase accountability. This app will allow curfew to be monitored every night. Same with going to mandatory meetings. Right now we don’t have staff dedicated to checking every point they’re at, which is something the app can do. We may be able to increase work in other areas because we won’t need as much staffing. I believe 6 months in we’ll have a better idea of what this looks like from the data.
- Hoisington Q: So, this is just an app to keep track of the people we are monitoring?
- Brewer A: It is increasing monitoring. It’s electronic not staff. It’s different but additional.
- Hoisington Q: So, what are you doing now? How does it work?
- Brewer A: variety of ways things are monitored. We have probation officers who check on phone and at intervals. We make contact to resource sites people are supposed to be going to. We don’t have the level of verification we could have. The reason for accountability is because our treatment corps are of the highest need and are doing this instead of going to prison. If people in the program aren’t doing what they’re supposed to be doing, that undermines the integrity of the program.
- Malecha Q: Do you currently do monitoring like ankle bracelets?
- Brewer A: not everyone in the program is on one, but we use them as necessary
- Purferst Q: How long does this app retain the activities of a person?
- Brewer A: That is Mortenson’s question as well. We’re waiting on clarification.
- Purferst Q: Does this meet court orders to track somebody?
- Brewer A: In treatment court the program itself is technically optional. It wouldn’t be a order in their sentencing, but it would be a requirement of the treatment court.
- Mortenson Q: Right now everyone in treatment court has curfew times depending on what phase of treatment court they’re in. From time to time we do GPS monitoring. There’s generally weekly requirements of attending 12-step programs. Right now, GPS monitoring is initiated when someone violates. One of the benefits of this is that at the moment GPS monitoring costs a certain amount and has to be paid in advance. It’s expensive and a lot of people don’t have the money to actually pay for it. This would alleviate that cost. Right now we rely on a court directive for someone to go on monitoring. This is constant monitoring so we’d have to balance the level of supervision the app gives and the desired amount by treatment court. I’m concerned about the data the company uses with the data on someone’s phone. We need to make sure we aren’t violating people’s rights.
- Perferst Q: Is this a wristband or ankle bracelet people wear?
- Brewer A: It’s on their cellphone. They have to check in on the app at certain times. Like past curfew they need to check in on the app using face ID. This company and their monitoring software is used by other courts in the country.
- Peters Q: I think it would be a good program. Safer for the probation officers, saves time. So the $6000 for the software the first year would continue?
- Brewer A: Yes, it’s a contract.
- Malecha Q: The grant is good until 2027?
- Brewer A: Yes, and every year we will come back to go over it.
- Purferst Q: Do you think you’ll have excess money at the end of this grant or is it going to take away something else it was intended for?
- Brewer A: The grant was written for this, so it wouldn’t take away from something else. If we want to change how it is used, we’d need to apply for it to change. Right now, we’re behind in spending on the grant because we were still exploring options. We do have more money than we expected at this time with our grant.
- Underdahl Q: Can you report back to the board once you get the information?
- Brewer A: Absolutely.
Paula O’Connell. Going over the finance and investments schedule. Details and graphs available https://ricecountymn.portal.civicclerk.com/event/1378/files/agenda/4143
- Hoisington Q: Our reserves are around 61 million. Our yearly budget is about 100 million. Our reserves are about 60% of our budget. Is this about what we’ve been maintaining?
- O’Connell A: We try to stay within 20-30% of our budget. With the different activities that have been anomalies, we have gotten it up to the higher percentages. It is a very good reserve. It all depends on your comfort level, but it gives you flexibility.
- Malecha Q: School districts, municipalities, and counties all have a recommendation or a statutory requirement to keep a balance of operating days and months. We are likely above the fund balance reserves. We have obligations to have that money there for para-payments. It’s hard to take a lot of money from reserves to help pay for things because it’s meant to be used for other things.
- O’Connell A: One of the first pages of the audit shows how it gets restructured
- Malecha: We’ve had to use it before during federal government shutdowns when payments came in slower or not at all.
Underdahl motion for adjournment. Meeting adjourned.
