All right, everybody.

Welcome to the Ramsey County Board Workshop.

Today's workshop will be a presentation on the Minnesota Resource Management Draft Report.

Courtesy reminder that this board workshop is recorded and it is live streamed on Zoom webinar.

There will be no boats taken here in this workshop.

Let's start with introductions of commissioners and presenters around the table and then move to the rest of the room.

Commissioner Kelly Miller, District 7.

Your Smith Burker, Commissioner District 3.5.

Mary Joe McGuire, Commissioner District 2.

Target Evansing, Commissioner District 1.

Marine Worm, Commissioner District 4.

Ren Becker, County Manager.

Sam Hall, Ramsey Washington Cycle Energy Director.

Mr.

Martinson, Ramsey Washington, I'd draft.

Sam Hanson, Ramsey Washington Recycling Energy Programs Director.

Daniel Schmidt Division Manager with Environmental Hall of Those are released for those.

Meeting Karen, St.

Paul Ramsey County public director.

All right.

So since 1975 have worked together to reduce and manage solid waste responsibly.

This year marks Ramsey Washington Recycling and Energy's 10-year anniversary of shared ownership and operation of the RE Center in Newport, a partnership that has guided more than 50 million in public investments that capture the resource value of discarded materials and benefit local communities, economy, and the environment.

In 2023, the Minnesota legislator directed the MPCA to assess resource management across the state and analyze opportunities to reach 90% waste diversion diversion by 2045, sometimes referred to as zero waste.

In April of this year, the MPCA released a 358-page draft report for public comment.

This workshop will inform the Ramsey County Board on the draft resource management report in the in the context of the current solid waste management system in Ramsey and Washington Counties.

Progress towards the state and county goals and concerns identified by staff in the draft report.

This discussion provides an overview of these concerns, the basis for recommended revisions to the report and both immediate and broader next steps for the RE and the counties to continue advancing waste prevention, landfill diversion, and sustainable materials management in the East Metro and statewide.

This workshop will be presented by executive director Tristan Martinson with support from facilities director Sam Paul, Programs Director Sam Hanson, and planning and projects manager Leah.

Yeah.

Take it away, Trista.

Thank you for sure.

First, we're gonna just quickly do an update of our budget.

Um County Manager Becker asked to just remind you all in the budget process because we will not see us again in this budget process that you approved our two-year budget last year.

I don't remember that slide for the minutes.

Okay, sorry.

Okay.

So you all know this, but as a reminder, we are Ramsey Washington, we're a joint powers agreement between Ramsey and Washington County.

Uh and you have three board members and one alternate on our board, and Washington County has two.

Um, and then we have two main uh budgets, and that is our facilities budget, which is um funded by our processing and resource recovery and our tip fees paid by garbage haulers.

Um, that does not require your approval.

The part that you approve every year is the programs budget, which are funds used for reduction of waste and recycling programs, and it is funded from the county's environmental uh charge is how that's funded.

And we just uh you all appropriate a portion of your CEC funds to fund the programs that REST so um just as a reminder, we have um our RE project project uh program budget that was a two-year budget proposed for 26 and 27, approved last year.

We have no changes to our 27 budget.

Um, and so we have submitted it to your environmental health team to submit as part of their budget process with no changes to the budget.

It was previously approved.

And then the facility budget, just for again, this does not require your approval, uh, but this is our budget, but just highlighted this because there will be changes as of previously uh we presented to you in the TIP fees for 27.

So right now, our tip fees that haulers pay when they come across our scale is 142 a ton.

There will be an increase in 27 of 159 a ton.

Um, and that increase is completely to cover the the expansion of the food scrap program and those um transfer stations.

So again, our tip fee is just covering our operational expenses, and so that's what the tip fee is for 2027.

Um that will letters will be going out to haulers uh soon to let them know of that increase.

They last year we'd let them know it was coming.

We'll remind them again of the increase starting in January.

Sometimes that's when you get phone calls when they get that letter.

So just for your awareness, that it's close out on this, right?

Uh yeah, yep.

And we typically try to meet with the haulers to explain the cost increases for the tipping fee.

And then in this one, if you see there's an increase, but it's not we are there are new services that weren't in the previous budget.

So our the next program and the digestion for that is driving the cost increases from 26 to 27.

And going forward, we're negotiating a new agreement with Excel Energy.