Sherburne County moves to end all DEI activities

The Sherburne County board this week voted to terminate all county initiatives and programs aimed at advancing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

The action, according to County Administrator Bruce Messelt, is in response to President Donald Trump’s recent executive order instructing federal contractors to not engage in DEI efforts, which he described as “illegal discrimination.”

During the board meeting Tuesday, Messelt said county officials had identified one program that could come under federal scrutiny: a DEI-specific assessment in the county’s Health and Human Services department that was funded by $33,000 of federal COVID relief funding and $166,000 of other federal money.

The contract was with Minneapolis-based CultureBrokers, which offers consulting services for DEI efforts. Messelt said the contract has been fully executed but the group’s suggestions were never implemented.

Board member Andrew Hulse said Tuesday he didn’t agree with the organization’s recommendations to begin with.

“At the end of the day, there are 13 protected classes in Minnesota statute — four more than in federal statute. It’s already illegal to discriminate. Period," Hulse said. “Their report out to us [was] leading toward hiring practices that I was not comfortable with.”

Messelt said the county already conducts hiring and employee evaluations based on performance, and he reiterated that won’t change.

“It is predominantly a merit-based system,” he said. “The county has not hired, promoted or evaluated individuals based upon what would commonly be called DEI.”

Board Chair Gary Gray said the action was not a political statement, but rather what is best for the county. Board member Gregg Felber emphasized that a majority of voters support the end of “modified affirmative-action DEI programs.”

“This is what the people voted for,” Felber said. “And although Minnesota did not specifically vote for this as a state, the people of Sherburne County voted 66% [for] this administration.”

Messelt said county staff recommended the action to bolster the county’s efforts to receive federal funding in the future.

“We’re having ongoing discussions at the federal level for a couple of other major contracts in the pubic safety arena,” Messelt said.