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Administrator outlines housing roundtable, public‑defender contract work and 2026 legislative platform timeline
Summary
County administrator announced a Dec. 2 housing roundtable, said an offer for HR director has been extended, and said staff are updating public‑defender contracts and preparing a 2026 legislative platform for board review in November; the board removed a highway grant item from the consent agenda.
Beltrami County Administrator Tom (surname not specified) briefed the board Tuesday on several administrative matters: an upcoming housing roundtable, personnel recruitment, public‑defender contracts, and the county's 2026 legislative platform.
Housing roundtable: The administrator said Sanford Health, Northern Minnesota organizations and the Greater Minnesota Housing Finance Fund will co‑host a county housing roundtable on Tuesday, Dec. 2 at the Sanford Center in Bemidji. The full‑day event will present results of a county housing study by Maxfield Research and include panels and networking for developers, financial institutions, local governments and advocates. The administrator noted the meeting conflicts with one scheduled board meeting and urged commissioners to attend portions if possible.
Personnel and contracts: The administrator said a second round of interviews for an HR director concluded and the county has extended an offer to a candidate and is awaiting a response. He also said staff are revising and modernizing the public‑defender contracts (four contracts that expire at year‑end) and plan to stagger renewals and add performance standards; those contracts will return to the board for approval later this year.
Legislative platform and other items: The administrator said staff are drafting the county's 2026 legislative platform with an emphasis on a smaller, focused list of priorities and expects to circulate a preliminary draft to commissioners within days and to present it at the Nov. 4 meeting for action. He also asked to remove item 7(k) (County State Aid Highway 11 project resolution) from the meeting agenda so staff can make adjustments before resubmission; commissioners agreed to strike that item.
Adjournment action: At the close of the work session the board approved a motion to adjourn the work session until 5 p.m.; Commissioner Carlson moved and Commissioner Wenger seconded the motion; the clerk recorded the meeting adjourned by voice vote and the board recessed 4‑0.
No other formal actions on administrator items were taken at Tuesday's session.
