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City Council Regular Meeting Minutes June 26, 2001 Page 2 1 and indicated that Ramsey County would like to partner with Hennepin Parks and establish some 2 type of environmental educational facility to be located at that park. 3 Ms.Wiessner continued by reviewing the Workforce Solutions and new Workforce Investment Act. 4 She stated that there is a fifteen member Board of Directors for the Workforce Investment Board 5 (WEB), and indicated that they currently have vacancies for the business representatives positions 6 on the WIB. Ms. Wiessner stated that the purpose of the organization is to meet the needs of both 7 employees and job seekers, and said it is now a county-wide service. 8 Ms. Wiessner reviewed the Property Records and Revenue portion of the packet. She stated that a 9 recent meeting of the County Board concluded that they needed to explore financing mechanisms 10 to pay for new election equipment,and that they will obtain state and/or federal dollars to offset the 11 cost to do so. 12 Ms. Wiessner indicated that,this summer,the county appraisal staff would be focusing revaluation 13 efforts on a county-wide re-assessment of land values and on the revaluation of approximately 14 36,000 residential parcels in neighborhoods with unusually volatile values. 15 Ms. Wiessner indicated that the only construction work that would be going on in St. Anthony was 16 the bridge work on Silver Lake Road just north of 37`h Avenue Northeast. 17 Ms.Wiessner reviewed the Community Human Services portion of the packet. She highlighted the 18 Living at Home/Block Nurse Program which helps older citizens remain in their homes. She added 19 that their hope is to expand the program into the suburban areas. She reviewed the Resources 20 Recovery Project, and the current issues with the Project. 21 Ms. Wiessner explained that the Welfare Reform in Ramsey County, which began about two and 22 a half years ago,had ten thousand families that were on public assistance at that time,and was down 23 to eight thousand families today. They estimate that, by the end of the five year period, they will 24 be left with about two thousand families. 25 Ms. Wiessner referred to.the Adoption portion of Community Human Services. She indicated that 26 one hundred eighteen children were placed in adoptive homes in the year 2000. Ms. Wiessner 27 mentioned the Out-of-Home Placements which Counties around the state were trying to get this 28 "unfounded mandate"funded by the state during this legislative session. She indicated that the first 29 response from the legislature was to take away the same amount of money that they were requesting. 30 Ms. Wiessner added thatihe County spends about sixteen million on Out-of-home Placements, 31 which is a very significant amount of money. She referred to a few graphs which highlighted the 32 reasons that children are taken out of homes (chemical use, unstable housing). 33 Ms. Wiessner indicated she attended a meeting on the Regional Transit Corridor. The most recent 34 corridor to be established was the Northeast Diagonal Corridor,which is still in the very beginning 35 stages. 36 Ms. Wiessner announced that Ramsey County's Library system would be celebrating their 50"