- Rice County Administrator Sara Folsted and Rice County Commissioner Steve Underdahl, whom spoke about the Rice County Objectives:
- Folsted and Underdahl introduced themselves, expressed being pleased to be there, and provided their backgrounds.
- Underdahl – 7th year as a Rice County Commissioner for District 4, and also has 14 years’ experience on the city council prior. Explained the Commissioner areas and other elected board members.
- Sara Folsted – 9 years with Rice County as the Administrator, 19 years total as an Administrator working for other jurisdictions.
- Folsted provided a presentation highlighting various information and details of services Rice County provides.
- Rice County Overview – founded in 1853 – named after former US Senator Henry Mower Rice.
- Rice County by the numbers: Provided information on the demographics of persons living in Rice County.
- Rice County Governance – governed by a 5-member Board of Commissioners whom are responsible to attend meetings and are assigned committees, accountable to their district as well as the larger constituency of the county, and they set policy, plans, and budgets.
- Rice County Departments – Folsted talked about each department and provided an overview for each and how each serves Rice County.
- Folsted had some charts outlining county budgeted expenditures by type and function. She also had a chart outlining budgeted county revenues by type. She went over the various areas in each.
- Folsted talked about some of the challenges and initiatives that Rice County is working on including some housing projects like the one next to the Public Safety Center, Economic Development initiatives, community-based coordinators and justice projects, transportation, public health, and Planning and Zoning updates including regulation of Cannabis.
- She said that some of the challenges facing our county are funding and mandate uncertainty. State and Federal actions directly impact county operations.
- Some funding changes are easier to pivot and make work, while others will require further discussions, planning, and board decisions on what services Rice County can continue doing.
- Talked about the importance of community collaboration with Rice County.
- Folsted and Underdahl took time to answer questions and comments from Rotarians in attendance.
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