Commissioner Proceedings

                                                               July 28, 2026

Whereas: Christine Hultman has served the residents of Lake of the Woods County since 

Whereas:  Christine Hultman has resigned from Lake of the Woods County service effective 

Now Therefore, Be it Resolved:  

Whereas: Lorene Hanson has served the residents of Lake of the Woods County since 

WHEREAS; the Northwest Minnesota Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #8 has submitted a Minnesota Lawful Gambling LG220 Application for Exempt Permit Gambling to be conducted at the following establishment, which is located in Lake of the Woods County: Sportsman’s Lodge on February 22, 2027

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Lake of the Woods County Board of Commissioners hereby approves said application for submission to the Minnesota Gambling Control Board.

Whereas, the state of Minnesota has a responsive and well-established network of locally operated deputy registrars acting as independent agents for the benefit of our citizens and the State, who are appointed and regulated by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety; and,

Whereas, the State of Minnesota in 1949 established a filing fee on motor vehicle-related transactions to be retained by the deputy registrar office as their only income to pay for all their associated costs in providing this vital local service on the State’s behalf; and,

Whereas, increasing costs borne by any office include but are not limited to basic inflation, salaries, training, insurance, rent, security, bank fees, utilities, furnishings, phones, computers, IT infrastructure, scanners, copiers, paper and toner cartridges, postage; and,

Whereas, the Department of Public Safety has transferred 40% of their data entry work onto deputy registrars without due compensation for these additional time-consuming tasks; and,

Whereas, the Department of Public Safety has aggressively marketed their exclusive online and mail-in service options to the public which also captures any filing fee in direct competition with deputy registrar offices who depend upon the revenue for their own local sustainability; and,

Whereas, increased costs to provide local services, exacerbated by competition and expanded new duties both caused by the State, now routinely outpace the filing fee income realized by any deputy registrar office and causing 6 permanent local office closures statewide since 2021; and,

Whereas, annual shortages incurred by public deputy offices are now consistently being subsidized by their local governments to remain open, while private deputy offices without this ability are forced to seek alternative lines of credit elsewhere to remain operational; and,

Whereas, a 2022 State commissioned independent expert review (King report) specifically calls on the State to share 25-50% of all filing fee revenue derived from the Department’s online and mail-in transactions with all local deputy registrar offices, and a subsequent State commissioned study from 2024 (Barry-Dunn report) also reinforced the overall need to develop a more sustainable revenue model for deputy registrars to remain operational.

Now, Therefore, Be it Resolved Lake of the Woods County requests that the 2027 State Legislature recognize the critical need to sustain deputy registrar offices and to enact a permanent State revenue sharing fund for deputy registrars, sourced with 50% of the existing filing fee revenue captured by the Department of Public Safety from their online and mail-in transactions to be disbursed quarterly among all deputy offices in Minnesota.