All right, we'll call the meeting to order. Please stand if you're able for the pledge of allegiance of America for it stands nationy and justice for all. Good evening all and welcome to city
council meeting. Uh Tom, take the roll call, please. Mayor King, present. Council member Large Austin, present. Council member Obala present. Fisher present. Waller present. Baskin Postma present. Heli present.
We have a quorum your honor. Thank you Thomas. Item number one is a motion for the adoption of tonight's agenda. So moved. Second. All in favor? I opposed. Motion carries. Item number two is a motion approving our minutes from our June 16th, 2025 meeting. So moved. Second.
All in favor? I opposed. That motion carries. Item number three, we have under awards and recognitions to two proclamations. The first one is Austin utilities proclamation and I will read that. Whereas in the year 1900, the city of Austin, Minnesota established a public
utility to serve its residents and businesses, laying the groundwork for the modern Austin utilities. And whereas for 125 years, Austin Utilities has exemplified a tradition of public ownership, local accountability, and dedicated service, ensuring that utility services are delivered reliably, safely,
and affordably to all. And whereas the mission of Austin Utilities offer utility products and services in a safe, reliable, and responsible manner to enhance the quality of life in our community has endured through changes, growth, and innovation. And whereas
employees of Austin Utilities, past and present, have exemplified professionalism, integrity, and a steadfast commitment to public service, playing an essential role in the development and sustainability of Austin's infrastructure and economy. And whereas Austin Utilities has consistently led in energy efficiencies,
environmental stewardship, and customer engagement, earning the trust and respect of the community it serves. And whereas in the year 2025 marks a significant milestone, the 125th anniversary of Austin Utilities, presenting a moment to celebrate its
rich history, honor its achievements, and look ahead to a future of continued service and innovation. And now, therefore, I, Steven M. King, mayor of city of Austin, Minnesota, do hereby recognize and celebrate the 125th anniversary of Austin Utilities. I commend the organization, its
leadership, and its employees for their ongoing dedication to the well-being and prosperity of the city of Austin. And thank thank you for the uh what you do, Austin utilities. I know Alex is here, and I saw Mark. Uh would you like to say anything or you want to just come on forward and I'll present this proclamation to you?
Nope, we're good. Well said. The proclamation says you're good. for your know and so this is where you this is this is the farewell tour for Martin he retired last
August and then Alex has been there for a while to be in Austin congratulations and thank you for all you do for the citizens of Austin mayor councel [Applause]
All right, we just have 17 more left of those proclamations. So, we'll be right with you. Next proclamation is for the park and wreck. Uh whereas parks and recreation is an integral part of communities throughout this country, including Austin, Minnesota. And whereas parks and recreation promotes health and
wellness, improving the physical and mental health of people who live near parks. And whereas parks and recreation promotes time spent in nature, which positively impacts mental health by increasing cognitive performance and well-being and alleviating stress such
as depression, attention def deficit disorders, and Alzheimer's. And whereas parks and recreation encourages physical activities by providing space for popular sports, hiking trails, swimming pools, and many other activities designed to promote active lifestyles. And whereas parks and recreation
programming such as youth sports and environmental education are critical to childhood development. And whereas parks and recreation increases a community's economic prosperity through increased property values, expansion of the local tax base, increased tourism, the
attraction and retention of business and crime reduction. And whereas parks and recreation is fundamental to the environmental well-being of our community. And whereas parks and recreation is essential and adaptable infrastructure that makes our communities resilient in the face of
natural disasters and climate change. Whereas our parks and natural recreation area areas ensure the ecological beauty of our community and provide a place for children and adults to connect with nature and recreate outdoors. And whereas the US House of
Representatives has designated July as Parks and Recreation Month. And whereas the city of Austin and the parks, recreation, and forestry department recognize the benefits derived from parks and res and recreation resources. Now therefore, I, Stephen M. King, mayor of the city of Austin, Minnesota, do
hereby recognize the month of July as parks and recreation month in the community of Austin. This designation highlights the importance of our community's green spaces, recreational facilities, and the valuable programs the park, recreation, and forestry department offers. We encourage all residents to take advantage of the
numerous outdoor activities, events, and resources available this month, fostering a deeper connection to nature and promoting a healthy, active lifestyle for individuals and family alike. Jason, want to come forward for your proclamation. Well done.
For those in the audience don't know, Jason Seion is our relatively new park and rec director and he's done an outstanding job hitting the ground running here and uh just has a great crew that works with him and we're super pumped and pleased that he's with us. So, thank you Jason and happy park and recreation month. Uh moving on to the
consent agenda. Looking for a motion. I second. All in favor? I posted. Motion carries. Under bids and awards, item number five is resolution receiving bids for Oakland Avenue and 1st Avenue Southwest project. Stephen,
yes, we opened up bids for this project on May 29th of 2025. Uh it is planned to be a three-year project with work occurring the remainder of this summer here in 2025 as well as uh 2026 and 2027 for both the Oakland Avenue and First
Avenue one-way corridor project. Uh we had four biders on the project. UN Brothers was the low bid at $15,83,84568. That's the total cost for the three-year project. We have multiple funding sources on the project that will go to
to fund this. Uh it does come within our our engineers estimate and it has been reviewed. Uh so a a project like this with federal dollars um requires state review. um by the Office of Civil Rights. They're they're looking for um
to make sure that the contractor met the 10.8% uh disadvantaged business goal. So working the the prime contractor working with subcontractors to ensure that 10.8% of the total overall project goes to disadvantaged businesses. There's on the
job training requirements of uh 1,200 hours of on the job training. There's also prevailing wages that need to be met as in accordance with the project and the office of civil rights has uh signed off and been reviewing those documents for the past month. They've
signed off on everything and they've given us authorization to award. So we would recommend awarding this bid. It'd be just the base bid, not the alternate. So awarding this base bid in that $15 million amount to Yulan Brothers. Very good. Thank you, Stephen. Council,
any questions? Mr. Lang? Stephen, I know I see the note here that the alternate um we're not going ahead with was to be funded by Austin Utilities to remove existing infrastructure um and we're not going to go forward with that. Is that work still getting
done? They're just choosing to do it themselves. Correct. Okay. Thank you. Anything further on this or I'll entertain a a resolution. So moved. Second, Tom. Council member Obala.
Hi, Fiser. Hi, Waller. Hi, Posa. Hi, Ellie. I council member at large Austin. I resolution passes ex. Thank you, Tom. Now, I'm sure this is why most of you are here under petitions and request. Item number six is discussion on the point of sale
ordinance. Uh, we've seen some emails uh bouncing around between myself and council and from the realators and folks that are concerned. Um, I'm just I'm a proponent of the ordinance. I do believe that maybe the roll out was clunky and uh wouldn't mind backing that up a
little bit to say a you know January of 2026. Uh we talked to our attorney and I think we can do that even though the ordinance was passed uh prior but just that want to put that out there and we'll certainly um take a few folks's comments if you'd wish but Stephen why don't you lead us down a little bit more
of a path on that. All right. So about two weeks ago, well actually two weeks ago today, we uh met with a group of representatives um in this room and uh presented the point of sale ordinance to them. Many of them are here tonight. Um
we had invited about 100 people to that meeting and 35 uh were present for the meeting. Uh it lasted about 90 minutes. We we presented to them uh what was in your backup for the the presentation about the point of sale and discussed
the sump pump inspection program and the needs to maintain that with the point of sale sump pump inspection as well as uh the new program which was the point of sale inspection on sewer services. discussed with them reasons why we were
implementing that as part of our INI program to find water infiltration and reduce INI um in our collection system and then ultimately down at the wastewater treatment plant. Um, from that there were concerns raised that are detailed
in your memo. Um, concerns that were raised from the group at that time regarding the the process of implementation impacts that that they see that it could it could raise. A lot of those points that were talked about
at the meeting were also brought up to to you in different emails that went around from constituents. Um but with that we look for some direction and feedback from the council on how to proceed with this and we have a couple different options there. Option one
would be to proceed with implementation and compliance with the ordinance as it was adopted on April 19th. Option two would be to uh amend the ordinance to include some sort of future effective date um that was not included originally
sometime in the near future to allow staff to develop more of a frequently asked questions flowchart and allow realators and closing agents time to develop um policies and procedures on their end as well. Um, and then option three would be just to uh modify the
ordinance in some manner based on some of the feedback you hear tonight or other feedback that you've received uh throughout the last couple weeks. So with that, that's just a brief synopsis of the meeting and what brings us here tonight. So with that, available for any questions that anyone might have. Thanks, Stephen. Council questions,
comments? Well, I was at that meeting two weeks ago and listened to the comments uh from those that were in attendance and after thinking about it, I think the the most prudent thing we could do is to resend or
uh resend this amendment or this ordinance and go back to the drawing board on it. I think it raised more questions uh than it answered. There were a lot of concerns from all sides. I think um and uh just moving the effective date. I
mean the ordinance is already out there. Um I think we just need to decide refigure this uh maybe put a a committee together to to get together and discuss it whether this is really the best way
to go about it. Um, I mean, I guess looking at how many houses are sold in Austin, uh, you know, if we did it during street projects, you're almost going to get as much saturation as you are at the point of sale. Um, it doesn't
define what a sale is. There were questions about that. Um, if property is just transferred rather than sold or does there have to be a certain amount of money change handed. Um, I just think that based on the feedback from those that were most affected by this that
there we need to get more input from them to make sure that this is really the best way to go or if there isn't a better way to go in my opinion. Thank you, Jeeoff. Other voices. Stephen, could you tell us where the ordinance language came from?
Um the language came from our consultant that works with many other communities throughout Minnesota, Iowa. Um so we utilize them and their experience to develop this ordinance. Um Golden Valley, uh one of the ring suburbs, they
are known for their progressive um stance on their sanitary sewer collection system. They have an ordinance it very similar to this one. it may have come from them, some combination of other communities that our consultant works with.
Yeah, I guess I uh feel like we need to take some action to protect our investment. Um we're putting a lot of capital into a new wastewater treatment plant and we don't need it to be treating water that isn't dirty. Um so,
uh the goal that we're going for I think is very important. how we get there. I can um be flexible. Uh but and I will say I certainly learned a lesson for next time, which is when you're trying something new, the effective date should be months and months into the future. So
there's plenty of time for communication and um I won't forget that. I bet none of us involved will. Thank you, Laura. Yeah. Um I agree. So I know when um the order was passed this is a learning um
opportunity for me to the last few uh days I had the opportunity to talk to um um resident in my word and also some realtors um I think it's a it's good to be a good listener because even though
the ordinance uh in the future um can be very helpful to protect both our investment especially um having your house, you're you're buying a house also u protecting also the buyer and the seller. But um for me in my
understanding the communication or is spreading the word for um our community to know about it. Uh I think that the time is it has been very short. Um I I will uh go for anything that will extend
this process so that uh our realtors can talk to the community can educate the community about this is what is coming and that will help them also because we are not only using the realtors within the Austin. We have some realtors out of the community that this is a new thing
for them. You know if you are selling someone who uh who their realtor in Rochester they may have known about this. So I think this is will be a better opportunity for all us as as a council when we have an ordering like this very important like this to spread
the word more and uh there's no urgency in something like this we have to educate our community because we are passing a law that will last uh for a very long time. Thank you Obala. Anybody else want to weigh in? What I'm hearing from Lauren is option number two, amending the
ordinance to include the effective date in the near future for all staff to ask questions. So, you're in favor of the ordinance. I number two, but I would like to hear from some of the folks in the audience as to why
option number two shouldn't happen. So, whoever let's go with the council first. So, uh post you Rebecca, anything? Um, you know, I've I've read a lot of emails over the last few weeks on this. Um, I do believe it is an important
ordinance that we continue to push forward with. If we need to give time to make the ordinance more adaptable to our realtors and to buyers and sellers, then that's what we need to do. I would be a fan of pushing the date back, but I definitely think we need this type of
ordinance for our future to protect the wastewater treatment plant. um when we put that amount of money down, we really do need to protect our investments within the city, but we do need to work as a community. So, I think that if we need to continue to grow this ordinance so that it works for both the city and
the community, then that's what we have to do. Thank you. Yeah, I was at the meeting that Jeff was at. I really appreciate everybody who came. There were some really good questions. I understood some of the frustrations. Um, you know, I've I think we've all dealt with government entities
when they pass laws or rules and then can't answer your questions that that is really frustrating and so I apologize for that. So, I'm in favor of at least a delay to make sure that we can get something in place. Um, I I kind of, you know, I understand the intent of this
ordinance. I'll be honest that I'm waffling a little bit on the the need of it. um just especially due to some of the cost. Um I and it's interesting um if you weren't at that meeting there was
two sets of professionals in there with very different opinions. You had a lot of folks in the real estate world who had one opinion and we had some folks from the plumbing world who were of another opinion on this ordinance. And it it just comes to show that it really depends as to what area you work on. But um you know I I do think that we need to
at a minimum delay this come up with a better set of procedures FAQs so that everybody understands the process that needs to happen to be compliant. Whether you are using one of our local real estate agents whether you're selling on your own you should be able to follow a process that's outlined with forms and
things that I know we don't have in place at the moment. I guess I'd just like to hear what folks in the audience have to share. Thank you. Appreciate everybody weighing in. So, it appears that we got some consensus on delaying it. I don't know if that satisfies most of the members of the audience, but I'd certainly like to
hear from a couple. I don't think we need I think most of you probably have the same same uh thoughts, but anybody but Chris Hikel would be nice. [Music] Welcome. You got it. Okay. Well, I
Thanks. I had sent an email with a few questions and concerns. Um, you know, if it has to be point of sale, I think there's a better way to go about it. I think for sure when we're doing new infrastructure and new roads, you already have the streets dug up, you know, could we implement at that point
in time that um, a mandate that the residents has to have the camera done. Um, and then if that be the case, the roads already tore up. If we're doing this at point of sale, you're going to have patched roads all over the place.
Um, I know Mr. Mor had just recently sold a couple properties where the road was just done and he had buyers opt I think they opted I'm kind of speaking for Tom um to have a sewer inspection done and in fact the sewers were um
found to be in need of some repair. The street had just been done so they had to dig up a whole new street. Um I I feel that there's a better way to go about doing it. I would also like to see, we had mentioned perhaps looking at putting a fee, a tax, whatever you would like to
call it, on the utility bill, kind of like we're doing for the um storm sewer um to help and assist in the cost of um making a if it be a seller, a homeowner, whomever, assist them in doing so. Um
whether you're a renter, an owner, either way, it's going to trickle down to you um the cost of doing so. So, for anybody that says, "Well, if you're a renter, you really have no skin in the game or there's no reason for you to pay this." I feel that there is because ultimately the landlord is going to pass it down. Um, you know, there were other
things that I questioned. Certainly, we know we have an aging sewer system and many aging things, but I do question how we're measuring how much of that is getting into the wastewater treatment plant. Ho how is it measured? And I guess to share that data with us would
be very beneficial, too, to help us understand. I mean, my concern, moreover, is we hate to see anybody purchase a new home and a sewer backup in it because um you know, they either opted not to have the sewer inspected or
it wasn't even offered to them. Um but again, we know we have an aging system and if we can get ahead of it before it completely fails, obviously that's what we want to do. Um I'm just trying to see what else I had in my email. Um, but really I just think let's
help our homeowners or, you know, figure out a way to assist them financially. Um, I'd really like to see it moved from point of sale. Um, but if that's the way it has to be, they'd still be great to have some type of assistance to help.
And I think moreover, a proposal of doing it at street repair would be a good thing. You know, it's an interesting point you raised, Chris, because I I was a beneficiary of a new street last year, and I've also had um jeter clean come out to my house twice a year because I have a 54 feet out from
my house where it kind of meets the curb and goes into the street. It's clay and the roads are growing through it. The PVC portion up to 54 are good. Um so my neighbor who was also in the street project alerted me to his sewer problem and he had called the city and said, "Hey, while you're there, can you
Right." So we end up he you pay a little extra. Maybe it was 1,600 bucks. Sure. But the street is done. Your yard's already ripped up and and it was a nice seamless pro. I I do like the idea if if at our street projects if we could sculpt these folks is I I just think the
protection of a homeowner. You I'm on my fourth home had four inspections. Not one time was it offered to me to do a sewer. And two of those four had sewer issues. So I do like the idea of protection uh for our investment of wastewater treatment, but also for the homeowner as well. And I think realtors,
I'm sure you want that, too. So, I do like the idea though when the streets are being ripped up. Now is then's the time to do it because it's a lot cheaper and just better. Well, thank you council also for listening to us and I really appreciate it. I I will admit when we left that day uh two weeks ago, we felt pretty
defeated and unheard. Um so, thank you for um considering all of our concerns and um what kind of brought us together. Very good. Thank you, Chris. Anybody else have different opinions or sir step up and if you could name an address uh
to the for the record please. I uh I named Paul Walling. I had a house well I still have it on Fourth Street. The city don't even know where the sewer is. I spent over $2,000 trying to find the sewer. And the sewer goes through the
neighbors and then out to the street, you know, and they had absolutely no records, you know, of these older houses and that stuff. So, I don't know how in the world you're supposed to get a sewer examination when the sewer don't even go out to the street. It goes to the neighbors. Every time he'd plug up his
sewer, it drained back into my in the basement of my house. That's my question on this deal. Is there their records are on these old older establishments? They don't have records. And your name again? Paul was it? Yeah. No, thank you. Uh Stephen, is there some
sewers tied together? Homes? Yes. Any more? Any further? Yes. All right. Thank you. We'll uh that's something we have to address. No doubt. Do you want more? No. Any Anyone else wish to to speak?
I'll say a couple things. Matt, welcome. Just want to reiterate what Chris said. You know, this is going to affect the lowest income demographic in Austin the most. They have the oldest homes, the oldest sewer lines. So, I think while
the streets are torn up, it'd be a great time to take a look at them. Um, and if we don't go that route, there should be some sort of funding or pool of money to help these homeowners. And you know, me and Jerry had one last year that cost $29,000.
You know, so the expense can be immense. Um, yeah, I think a little bit more planning and a roundt discussion with the committee um would be beneficial at a minimum push the ordinance out as far as we can. Okay. You know, it's interesting as you say, Matt, too, that Yeah, it's an expense to
the homeowner, but I was paying 600 bucks at time for Jeter Clean to come. So the course of two that's 12 1,200 bucks a year I was going to keep paying that until again my street was torn up and I got I got got to it. So it was an expense either way. If you have a crushed sewer system you're you're going to have an expense cleaning out all the
time and Holiday mine one was Holiday was 750 bucks. So anyway, I appreciate your comments. I do have one more story. Steve, I know you remember this one, but couple years ago, remember that one we had to line? There's a hole literally one foot from the city connection,
but we had just done the street, you know. So, but it still needed to be repaired. Luckily, at that time, the city agreed to cover it. But, just another example of where it could have been taken care of while the street was torn up. And there is that uh precision lining, I think, out of Owana that does some
business around here that does warranty it for 100 years. And yeah, that's who did our $29,000 nice option, too. Appreciate it. Anyone else have different comments or Sure. And we'll take you too if there's anything different. I'd like to have something different. I get what the sentiment is. So
Wayne Bonus, I live over in the northeast part of town. Probably more of a question than a comment. And maybe Stephen can answer this. What constitutes repair?
Does it have to be dug up and replaced from the house out to the main or is it possible to put a liner in in your sewer system to
make it compliant? Compliant. Yeah. Yep. Depends on the be three types of repair. One would be full replacement. The other would be just a spot repair of the bad section. And the third option would be a liner
inside of it. So, it all depends on the severity of the condition and choosing one of those three options to complete the repair. Okay. Yeah, there's an outfit I seen um outfit from Claremont. Um
can't remember the name. My wife wrote it down. This trailer was out in front of a house that's for sale and we figured it was probably one of the houses that fell into this and had to be repaired. And that was a liner. Now, I didn't talk to the uh owner of the of
the business in length, so I'm not quite sure exactly how that liner works, but um or the cost either. I have no idea what that would run. Steve, do you have any idea of cost?
Yeah, when we've done spot liners, I believe that company from Claremont is the Precision Lining. They're also out of Oatana. And uh the city has done a couple of them uh for $3,500 each repair. So, anywhere from $3,500 to
$5,000 depending on the length of a spot liner. Okay, that was my estimate, too. I had precision precision liner do my estimate. Yeah, that that that was it after Stephen said that that that was the it was $4,000. Thank you. Thank you, Wayne.
M. So, I'm Jasmine from Adam Jity and Sween. And so, like right now, um I work with a bunch of attorneys. I'm a parillegal, but we need more clarification because with the way the ordinance is set up, it says at a point of sale, but it sells also anytime
there's a deed transfer. Well, deeds are in divorces, estate planning, real estate closings, they happen all over. So, if you're getting divorced now, you have to or doing your estate plan and now you have to come up with money in order to add your kid to title or your spouse out of title or whatever the
situation is. They may not have that. So, we need clarification. And so all we're asking is more clarification and then also to like at least delay this. Um because we also get questions all the time when we work with for sale by owners or clients in general about they'll be asking what's the criteria?
What's going to be a pass or fail? Well, we don't have a criteria that tells us this is a pass or fail. And I think that's another issue we have is we we can't have gray areas. We need black and white. We need to be like, hey, your system will fail if you get it inspected if X, Y, and Z is in there. and and we
don't have that and as far as we know it's going to take time to develop that. So, thank you, Mr. Bramwell. You know, I should take a win and go, but I'm not that I'm not that smart.
I'm not that smart. All I wanted to do is is say that Austin is probably a pretty average community in this country. And I'm sure that you guys have all heard these numbers, but you know, more than half the people in this country owe more credit card debt
than have savings. And over 40% of the households cannot withstand a $400 emergency cost without borrowing the money for covering that cost.
Plus, there's 25% of the people in this country have no savings at all. Now, what I'm where I'm headed with this was when you when you're looking at at a repair, whether it's 5,000 or 10,000 or 25,000,
I know the point was brought up that it was done at point of sale, so you would have some money, but unless you're going to go live in Kaufman Park in a tent, you have to replace that house. And most of that equity in that house is eaten up
by inflation or created by inflation. So I'm just saying that what you're asking is probably a noble cause, but when you start putting this kind of a burden on the average person in Austin, and like Matt said, it's going to affect the
houses that are $200,000 down, not the $400,000 houses that have been built in the last, you know, 40 years, 35 years. It's going to be your lower-end cost. You're always talking about keeping cost house housing costs reasonable in this
town and you're just going to inflate every lowerend house in this town by probably 8 to $15,000. So, I'm not saying you shouldn't do it, but an alternative funding like Albert Lee or some other communities where
there is a monthly tax, and I think Chris touched on that a little bit, is probably the only way that you can help some of the people that are going to be really affected by this ordinance that you guys are about to adopt. So, that's
all I'll just I'll Thank you, John. My my house is built 40 years ago and tree roots have they don't discriminate. So uh I was impacted by it negatively. Let's hear from the real realtor association. Yes. Good evening Mr. Mayor Councel.
One of the reasons that typically speaking we're add your name to the record. Oh sorry Eric Brownlow Southeast Minnesota Realtors uh association executive. Uh there's a reason that we're typically opposed to sale uh point of sale ordinances and that's just because of the fact that
they do not achieve what you're trying to achieve. Um we can argue statistics all you want but typically speaking the average homeowner in Austin stays in their home anywhere from 10 to 14 years. So now it's a waiting game to accomplish what you want to accomplish. We do have
over 1,400 members across all of southeastern Minnesota. And the the point is is that very rarely will you get us agree on anything, but we do agree on the end game of stopping
the intrusion of of fresh water into the system. It is a a cause that is is worth the fight, especially to protect your investment. Point of sale is just not the way to get about it. Um, I will agree with Mr. Austin by appealing the ordinance. Doesn't mean it's dead
forever, but let's slow it down. Let's think about it. Let's make sure the homeowners are protected if they have a problem. Uh Mr. Lang did an exceptional job in presenting the case the other night and again we agreed with a lot of it. It was the execution and the roll
out and we asked for a pause. Thank you. Thank you, Eric. Yeah, I think everybody wants the protection of the homeowner, no doubt. So, council, I have a have a two question for Mr. Lang. Um I know um we do have we do
apply sometime for federal funding or other funding that help us um either uh HA or other is uh before we uh came up with this orin uh did we consider um
getting any federal funding or the state funding that um may help um alleviate this when it happened? Uh generally the state and federal funding is only eligible for public
infrastructure and these services are considered privately owned by each individual homeowner. So it would make it difficult for that type of grant to be applied for this use. Have Have we checked with the other cities that who have done this before?
What type of um ways u they have used? Um not specifically, but we do acknowledge there are lots of different funding options for doing something like this, and many of those have been touched on. um a a utility fee that
would be generate enough money each year to pay for the number that are completed on a yearly basis is one option. Um finding ways to allow for the repairs to be completed and assessed back to the
property is another option. um mainly that that assessment is the the loan that someone decides to take that loan out with the city and have it assessed back for 15 years versus going to the bank and taking out a loan. It's still the same cost um and it's all
would be incurred by the homeowner um or this point of sale option. So there there are multiple options out there. Um, but in our community, our policy position has been that the service lines are owned by the property owner from the
house all the way out to the connection at the main. And if we implemented a new funding mechanism, it would impact those that like Mr. King that just paid 100% of his service the last couple years and now all of a
sudden we have a communal fund that's going to pay for everyone. So no matter when you implement something, there's always that line of winners and losers or before and afters. But um our our plan with implementing the point of sale was to continue that same policy that
we've been using for the past 100 years in making the homeowner the responsible entity of their private sewer service. Thank you. My last question and I will give it to uh other council members. So let's say for example um some of houses
some people you know we do like repair during the summer and so forth. What if those people want to close their houses you know uh during winter whereby and then they found something that will delay let's say at the beginning of winter. Yeah there are time limitations
depending on the seasons like you described and also availability of contractors to be able to repair those. That's another factor that weighs into when someone can get their service repaired. They may not be able to get a contractor lined up for a couple months. So, there's opportunities in the
ordinance to allow escrow dollars to be set aside to allow that sale to move through and the dollars are set aside to repair that deficiency um within 180 days. So, there is a time aotment there that gives people time to
not hold up the sale and allow things to continue to move forward. and then the service gets repaired later with the dollars set aside in escrow. Thank you, Stephen. Kind of on that note, um so you know there's been I think a lot of broad
talk about at least delaying this right now. I think I've heard January 1 thrown about as a date that puts us kind of right in the debt of winter like especially for the level that I think that this needs to be looked at with some stakeholders and meetings and things. Can we realistically get this
get what we need in place by January 1st or just pushing it to even like March 1st? Give us enough time so that because I only want to do this once if we're going to push it back. I don't want to have a rolling delay in that uncertainty. Do you feel confident? Yeah. And sorry to interrupt you, Mike,
but I was just thinking about this. I think uh we should delay implementation until July of 2026 and give ourselves to the first of the year to clarify, edit, change, and then six whole months of
education, um sharing resources, making sure people understand. I think that's realistic, right? Um the more I thought about the more I didn't think January 1st was realistic. I felt like meetings and things would be
rushed. So, I'm open to other dates. I was thinking March, July. I mean, the audience is probably every new date they get more excited. So, Stephen, what do you think about by January 1st we can enact a edited
ordinance and by July 1st of 2026 we is the implementation date, effective date? Yeah, I think that's some some date in the future moving it out to is is fine. Um I think in your in your backup
material I there was a lot of references in our our public meeting a couple weeks ago about the county's uh septic system ordinance and there's a very good um the the county has a very good one-pager kind of frequency frequently asked questions handout that we could we could easily
mimic with this. Um, I think it it answers a lot of the questions that were brought up um and would be something that could easily be developed in a couple months um to help facilitate and move this forward. So, whatever dates council is.
So, if you're saying you want to delay this, you're you're saying that you feel that the point of sale is the best place to implement the scoping of the the lines and having everybody have their sump pumps reertified after we just went through
that program. Um when I mean we're talking we had several people stand up and say people have had to do their redo their sewer lines and you end up tearing up a brand new street. So why won't why don't
we just do it when we're doing street projects instead of at one reason is that street projects happen every 50 years and I just heard that on average homes get sold every 10 to 14 years. That's a reason that I think it's pretty important, but not every home.
Every home. I'm open to exploring that idea. Honestly, one of my concerns that wasn't mentioned is the fact that, you know, I've heard a lot of cost concerns and I get that. Um, you know, I guessing just based on my four or five years on council that the average street repair
cost the average homeowner between 2500 and $3,000. So now you've and so some are already struggling with that amount and now we're going to tack this on at the exact same time. That's honestly my bigger concern. I agree. Well, it's been said that it's a it's a it's a it's a burden to them when they
sell their home that they don't don't have the money at the time when they sell their home. So, it's you would hope that there's at least if somebody's selling a home, you would hope there's some equity. Like that's the one point in time where they might have some equity. I understand folks, but things have to
get paid for somehow, right? And and also we all everyone who pays a utility bill is paying for the infiltration that's happening. Correct. So this isn't a zero sum game where we're solving a problem by just taking from low-income households. We're all paying for the extra capacity. Um which
is how we got started here. So I do like the ordinance. I'm a I'm a big proponent of not having sewage back up in your basement and having to pay three times a year to have it jetter clean. So there's expense on that side. Let's not forget that. I'm an absolute victim of that. Um, I I was also a loser on the
sump pump. There's there's things in the in as you go about making city policy the best for all that there is going to be winners and losers. I had to have a sump pump installed that for 40 years of existence. My house never had water in the sump, but I paid it just for the greater good of our investment and the
and just for the greater good of the city. But, uh, I am a absolute proponent of the ordinance. I think again me as a fourtime homeowner, not one time was my sewer inspector. Not one time was it even brought up. So, I think it's a great protection. I think it's just great for our city, our wastewater treatment plant that's going to be
coming online soon. $110 million investment. So, there's a lot of reasons to do it. I I get there's also reasons not to, but I think it's overall uh we could tweak it a little bit. It's hold it off a little bit, but I do like the ordinance. So, I'm hoping to we get a motion here soon. The other big thing is the education
that's going on. I mean, when you buy a home, you look for the roof and those things. These are unseen underground but equally as cost effective as people, you know, as the street project came through. Mayor, you had a lot of personal experience with it. But as the street project comes
through, homeowners are certainly able to contact their local plumber and say, "Hey, if if it's going to mean $5,000 or $1,500, there's a pretty extensive vested interest for you to be able to go ahead and televise that." We certainly
could add that in the letters to homeowners that that might be something that they want to consider. Good idea for trying to limit their expenses as they're moving forward. But just educating and bringing awareness to the four of something that can be very costly
and protect the hundred million infrastructure investment that we're making is really critical. Sure. Thank you. Well said, mayor. Is it is it public comment closed? Uh, kind of only to Chris. It's going Yeah, only to Chris. I like
that woman right there. No, we'll take Well, we Well, one more. Chris, what do you got? Well, I just think not only does it affect those that are of probably the worst economic status, but it's also going to affect alter relocation. Um, which is hor
relocation. They will not alter relocation is Hormel's who they use to move people in and out. If there is a home that needs repair, they will not purchase that home. Um, so that's another piece of the point
of sale. I would just really like to just put a pause on all of it so we can all sit down in a room and figure out if there's a different way. Why why is it that we have to make a decision right now whether or not we leave at point of sale? I I get what you're saying, but I don't know if we want to make a carveout for a particular industry or corporation
to sell. I know they buy the home and then resell it or how it works. They That's a nice advantage or a nice perk if you are for now that they will buy escros as not every bank will escrow. Yeah, not every bank will escrow or the homeback either. Thank you. One thing that I would like
to point out and Stephen will correct me if I'm wrong, but I I I was at the meeting and listened and got a lot of questions answered there. Um, as somebody who's used Altar, for instance, many times in purchases, if I if I knew I was going to sell my home in the next two or three years, I could proactively
go ahead and get scoped, send it to the city, find out, and once it's, you know, you get the thumbs up, that is good for 10 years. So, just because we're requiring it at point of sale does not mean that you have to wait to point of sale to get that done. But you do have something in there saying that if it's doesn't pass, it has
to be repaired. That's correct. Now, like for me, I plan on moving in probably four or five years. If I know that this is going to be a point of sale, I may want to do that, but I also may want to have the time to save up to pay for that repair as well. Y
and and as a I probably wouldn't have it scoped until I had to. So, so you could have it scoped and just not sent to the city, right? And you would hope that the person doing the scoping would be able to tell you based on, you know, there, hey, here's what I'm seeing. Here's what's likely to
happen. It's, you know, I I do equate it, as was mentioned, a roof. I, you know, when you have a roof that you're pretty sure is going to need to be replaced in the next 3 to 5 years, I can appreciate trying to save up to fix it. It is harder with this because you can't necessarily see it, but it's just as important.
Thank you. One question for Matt. Matt Lock, what what's the scope price? Open probably anywhere from $85 to 250. There you go. I think beautiful. Thank you. Good. Good. Well, money well spent. So, council looking for a motion.
So, I would move I I would like to I I just don't know that I feel that we'll have everything buttoned up by January 1st. So, I'm going to move to delay the implementation of the ordinance to March 1st. And at that point, if we feel like we need a little more communication time that can be I I have a feeling the
ordinance might even change a little bit and we'll obviously need a meeting or two to make that happen as well. So, I will propose a delay to March 1st, 2026. Okay. Is there a second? I'll second that, Mr. Mayor. Yeah, I just just for clarity,
whatever you do tonight is going to have to be encapsulated in a new ordinance because just repealing an ordinance or adding an effective date to an ordinance has to go through the ordinance process. So, there's publication and posting and bringing it back and unanimous vote on the first reading and all all those
rules that govern. So, I just didn't want anybody to leave tonight and think that whatever was voted here is the final say on it. you're giving direction to us on what to bring back, right? And then two weeks from tonight, we could if it passes on the first vote, that could be the date it becomes
effective, right? And there is urgency from these folks of that intervening period where we had it enacted until now. So taking action on that is is important. Thank you. So, we have a motion and a
second to uh back it up, resend, rewrite it to March with the date of March 1. And uh Tom, roll call, please. Motion by council member Postma, seconded by council member Hely to delay the implementation till March 1st to 26.
And I vote is in favor of such. Mayor, can we clarify is are we still talking about maintaining the point of sale or is that that's part of the motion to use it point of sale at this point? Yes. Okay. Thank you. I vote is in favor of such. Council
member Obala. I. Fisher. I. Waller. I. Posa. I. Ellie. I. Council member at large. Austin. Nay. Motion passes 51. Your honor.
Thank you, Thomas. Thank you all for uh coming and uh appreciate your comments and uh um I know you all want what's best for your either your clients or yourself. So, appreciate your voice. Thank you. Moving on to item number two is a resolution or seven resolution approving an agreement with WHKS for
construction administration for the 2025 Oakland Avenue project. Stephen, yes. As part of the bid award that we did tonight for Oakland Avenue, we have in front of you a a proposal from WHKS to assist with uh project administration on a federal project like this. There's
a great deal of paperwork that is required to meet many of those requirements that I talked about during the um the notice to award. Uh before you is a proposal from WHKS in the amount of $70,000 to complete the seven or eight
items associated with um the federal documentation project management. We as city staff will also be involved of course with um the construction inspection, surveying um construction administration that we do as well. We're just utilizing um some assistance from
WHKS to help us assist with a very large project. So uh this is proposal is just for 2025. The work that will occur later on this summer and we would request approval of attached amendment number four. Very good. Thank you, Stephen. Council,
any questions? Mr. Lang, Stephen, I know this is jumping the gun a little bit on our budget discussion, but so you're telling us this is basically good for one year. So, I'm going to assume we're going to have similar requests for this project for the next two years as well. Is that safe to assume? That is correct.
I can't help but see $70,000 and think that that's at least half an FTE that we could have of our own staff doing this work and others. Appreciate that team. Any other questions?
Looking for a resolution frame number seven. So moved. Second. Tom. Council member Obala. Hi. Fisher. I. Waller. I. Hosma. I. Hely. I.
Council member Large Austin. I. Resolution passes 6. Your honor. Thank you. Item number eight. It's resolution approving the Hormal ICM agreement. Stephen. Yeah, we bring these before you from time to time. This regulates um the wastewater discharge from uh any particular facility to our
wastewater treatment plant. Um it regulates flow, strength, suspended solids, nitrogen, and pH. We've worked with representatives from Hormeell to make um pretty drastic modifications to our current ICM agreements that we have
with them. And uh we've this has been a requirement of the MPCA to make these modifications. So together with all of that involved, we've come to a consensus on new limit numbers that will be in
place for the next 18 months until we have our new plant complete and then there would be a new ICM agreement at that time. But uh for the next 18 months, we'd recommend approval of the ICM agreement that is proposed in your backup material. Very good. Thank you, Stephen.
Questions, councel? Looking for resolution item number eight? So moved. Second. Thomas. Council member Obala. Abstain. Fisher. I. Waller.
I. Oma. I. Ellie. I. Council member at large. Austin I. Resolution passes 5-0 with one abstaining, your honor. Thank you, Tom. Item number nine is a resolution approving an easement release with Austin Utilities. Stephen,
so this is a unique request. Um, a property located outside of the city limits has requested release of an easement. So, it kind of came through Austin utilities first. Um, they've gone through some procedures and did the
locate come back clear. The locate has not been done, but okay. Talking with Craig, we've done our due diligence. Um, Austin Utilities does not have any infrastructure located in the Eastman.
Um, nor do we foresee any future use for the Eastman. Uh so from our end we're we're clear our our uh our approve it and it's really a
charter requirement to have council approve that Greg. Yeah. So, um, this came from an outside private title company who's reviewing title, found this easement, and for some
reason felt the easement was going to be problematic for whatever the buyer or owner wanted to do with the property. So, they presented to Austin Utilities this release of easement and that's the extent of my knowledge about how this easement came to be, where it's, you
know, what, how it was created, was it platted, whatnot. From my perspective as a city attorney, it's not my job to advise private people about how they might get an easement lifted off of their property. If they want to do that, they should go through
the steps and they should do that. This was presented to us as would you sign this document. Austin Utilities as a public utility has the right to install utilities on any public easement that's within their service area. Their service area is
larger than the city of Austin. So that was the logical place for them to start and say, "Do you have any uh installed utilities in this location? Would you have a problem with releasing any rights you have to put utilities in that location?" Austin Utilities has looked
at it. Their board has looked at it and they have determined, as I understand it, that they presently don't have anything there. They have no plans to ever put anything there. They see no value in maintaining that easement for their purposes either now or in the future. The charter for the city of
Austin says that Austin utilities or any other city government can entity can't give up a right in real property without the council also approving that because there may be a situation not like this but in other situations where the city
would say well if Austin utilities doesn't need it maybe we do maybe the city has another use for it and instead of giving it up or giving it away we should take over and that's why it's in the charter so when they ask me what to do here. I said, "Make sure you don't have any interest in it. Then bring it to the council because the charter
requires a council vote before you give up any rights in an easement." From a practical standpoint, I think that these private entities need to really figure out how you vacate an easement that was established, I believe, in the plat. And that since this is in the county, they
may have more hoops to jump through. But from their perspective, I think there's value in having the Austin Utilities Board vote that they don't have any use for this. They don't plan to object or cause problems. They're willing to cooperate with getting rid of this easement. And for the council then to
vote for it to make sure again that we're following our charter really is all we're doing tonight. But we've also notified these private entities. They should do a go for one call just to make sure that charter communications doesn't have anything buried there because a utility easement established in a plat
can be open to all kinds of telecoms and you know over the life of this thing there may be things buried out there. They haven't completed that goal. So these private folks may have other steps they need to go through. All we're asking the council to do tonight is to say from a council perspective we don't
see a public use for this. We don't object at all to Austin Utilities cooperating. In fact, we would cooperate uh with this request if asked. And if this document will solve your problem, private person, we're certainly okay with somebody signing this and giving this to you. That's all we're asking you
to decide tonight. Excellent. Thank you. Appreciate that. Um so, council, any questions on item number nine? Otherwise, looking for a resolution. So moved. Second. All in favor? I opposed resolutions.
Oh, I'm sorry, Tom. Council member Obala I Fischer I Waller I postma I Kelly I council member at large Austin I resolution passes 6 your honor item number 10 is a request for motion
for requesting sale of equipment Stephen yes we have a uh snow plow that has been replaced it's a 2007 international plow truck been replaced by a new 2025 five piece of equipment and we're looking for approval from councel to sell this at auction.
Very good. Thank you, Stephen. Council, any questions? Otherwise, looking for a motion. So moved. Second. All in favor? Opposed? Goodbye equipment. Stephen, you're not fishing for any council member bets on this this time, right? Only if they want to.
Bring top dollar. And item number 11 is a resolution approving an off uh off-site gambling application for the paternal order of the order of the Eagles. Any resolution? So moved. Second. Um council member Obala. I
Fischer I Waller I Bosma I Hely I. Council member Large Austin I. Resolution passes 6 your honor. Thank you Tom. Item number 12 is accepting uh this donation into the city of Austin. and the donor is Hormell
Foods Charitable Trust. They're giving $2,500 for the bike club. Looking to make a have a motion to accept that our resolution. So moved. Second, Tom. Council member Obala I. Fisher. Hi. Waller.
Ima. I. Heli. I. Council member Large Austin. I. Resolution passes. Six. Your honor. Thank you. Item number 13 is a resolution declaring the structure at 703th Street Northwest as hazardous. Need a resolution. So move.
Second. Tom. Council member Obala. I. Fisher. Hi. Waller. I. Oma. I. Heli. I. Councilman. Large Austin. I. Resolution passes. 6. Your honor. Thank you. Item number 14 is a series of
motions granting the planning and zoning department the power to contract the removal of junk and or legally stored vehicles at the following location. 14A. Uh the address is 1110 Avenue Southwest, the Bennett property. So move second. All in favor? I
opposed. Motion carries. Uh 14B. The address is 605th Street Northwest, the Brooks Greenback property. So moved. Second. All in favor? I opposed. Motion carries. 14C. The address 100th Street Northwest, the
Finink property. So moved. Second. All in favor? I opposed. Motion carries. Uh lastly here are the citizens addressing the council. Anyone here in the chambers wishing to speak with council on items that were not on the agenda.
I'll be going to heck. Welcome. I like to talk. Brad Johnson's my name. I'd like to thank the council and all of the city departments on behalf of the Austin Enhancement Group for all of the work that they did for the Fourth of July celebration.
Well said. I appreciate That's all. Thank you. Right on. Thank you. Thank you. Uh moving on to uh reports and recommendations. Craig. Yeah. Council got not notification on our budget meeting. So hopefully you have those on your calendar. Staff is
working on Hormell Foundation requests. Uh Mr. Dank's opened up portals. So staff is working on that, but we'll come back for your ranking uh as we go through the process. um SKB got a six-month notice as you recall on our
leech POS uh efforts uh of the December 31st when they'll have to deal with that. So, we gave SKB notice on that uh December 31st date to remind them. Um yeah, the July 4th event was excellent.
Uh AEG, thank you for everything and all the other volunteers, the chamber and everyone else for the efforts that they did. Um it was a bangup event and then uh doesn't take uh much to realize the our hearts go out to those in Texas
dealing with those uh tragedies and uh the importance our public service and public safety provide. That's all I have. Mr. Lang has something. Thank you. Stephen just want to mention that we did spray for mosquitoes ahead of the Fourth of
July festivities. We sprayed on Tuesday, July 1st um in the evening. Prior to that, we had received about 20 complaints about just the quantity of mosquitoes around the community. Um we after spraying or when it was announced
that we were spraying, we received somewhere three to five complaints about spraying from folks that didn't want us to spray. So, it's not 100% that everybody loves it, of course. Um, and then now afterwards today, we've
received three calls that the spray didn't work. So, wide variety of wide variety of feedback. Um, I've heard positive things from the fireworks event and things that those that were there didn't have many
mosquito um impacts. So I think um overall just my analysis of it is is positive but just want to give some feedback on that. Um right now our next event that we generally spray for is the um the fair and we'll monitor. In the
past it's turned dry on us in July and we haven't had to spray ahead of the fair but we'll keep an eye on it and plan accordingly as that gets closer. Very good. Thank you for that Stephen. All right, on to uh council. Be lucky.
Mike, uh couple things as was mentioned. Really do want to thank everybody involved with the Fourth of July celebration. I know parks and recck is very involved, streets, the police, chamber of commerce for throwing up a bangup parade. Um and the Austin
Enhancement Group who just really goes above and beyond to make that a great event. I actually got a text from a friend who um was down with his kids and said, "Wow, like there's just so many options this year. They're having a great time." So, just really appreciate that. Um also want to let you know that
Discover Austin is working with the city and we are going to become a film friendly city because we have multiple folks who are interested in shooting movies. Um, I don't know that you're going to see Marvel Studios in Austin just yet, but we have at least one documentarian who's scheduled to shoot
around town. Um, and another um I think documentary style movie interested as well. And so it won't necessarily be about Austin, but it will be cool to see Austin in the movie. So, uh, we're going to be a film friendly city, just another way to promote ourselves around.
Excellent. Thank you, Mike. Appreciate it, Jeff. Um, yeah, kudos to the Austin Enhancement Group, the Chamber of Commerce, and everyone at the city that had a part in pulling off the fabulous festivities over the weekend. I think
everybody had a great time. Um, just touch on something Mr. Postman mentioned earlier uh when we approved the WHKS uh contract for $70,000 and how that could go to pay for or help pay for uh a
person in engineering that we've talked about in the past that it's not an immediate payback, but it does certainly a payback over time. I guess along those lines, um those of you that uh are new hire gentleman sitting next to Mr. Lang,
if you recall why you authorized his hiring, I don't think you anticipated him spending probably a fair amount of his time looking at uh sewer line videos. if you do pass this uh ordinance
with the uh uh point of sale issue to it because that's the gentleman that will be reviewing all the videos uh that people submit and he's the one making the call on how much damage and what needs to be repaired if it needs to be repaired. Uh so that position based on
what I thought it was being hired for and approved in last year's budget didn't doesn't line up with that. So, think about that as we move this ordinance forward, too. That's all I have. Thank you. Thank you, Laura. Um, I just want to remind council that
back in April, um, we did a performance review with the city administrator and we said we'd provide feedback in the month of July. So, we need to get that on the calendar and the week of the 21st of July. Okay, great. Um, I also want to announce publicly that as we're rolling into
budget time, um, we're seeking efficiencies or places where the community is being overserved. Um, it's really a big budget crunch. We don't want to, um, pay our people less than they're worth. We don't want to cut their health insurance benefits, but we also don't want to see double digit
increases on property taxes. So, um I'm I would love to hear any and all ideas about where we might be over sererving the community and and providing too much service or um especially um places where we could make a one-time investment and
have savings on our labor over time. Um uh PE we're a peopleheavy business. That's how our operation runs is on people. And so, anything that would save our our people time um would be money well spent. Um and uh now is the time for for great ideas. So frontline
employees, residents, everybody uh all hands on deck uh to figure out this budget issue. Um I also want to announce um and amplify for the parks, recreation, and forestry department that they have a program where you can adopt
a boulevard tree. You can call in and request a boulevard tree to be planted in um the boulevard in front of your house. you can help um keep our uh city expenses low by agreeing to water that tree for the next few years and that way
we don't have to send out a watering truck. Um that would be super helpful and a great way to um have a positive impact as we're all dealing with the emerald ashbor and losing so many trees. Um you can adopt a boulevard tree. Um,
also some of you uh saw there was a big announcement, but there'll be new playground equipment installed in uh Todd Park. The robot is staying. Don't worry. Jason's what I I'm pretty sure it was even mentioned in Jason's job interview
a couple years ago, like for gosh sakes, don't touch um the robot. But uh there'll be new playground equipment at Todd Park and also at Decker Park. And um also we've had some savings in those couple of projects and have some funding freed up so that we're going to be able to add um to the playground at Rotary
Centennial Park. Uh the Wakan uh community has really asked for that for many years. And so we're excited to be able to beef up that um playground. And then I will just add to the chorus of saying um thank you for uh the chamber
and Austin enhancement group um for the Freedom Fest work. Um I know it's a ton of work. My um 16-year-old daughter uh for whatever reason uh has often been traveling during Fourth of July. So, this was her first Fourth of July
fireworks in Austin and she came home and said, "Core memory, Mom. It's a core memory." Thank you, Laura Abala. Well, I want to say uh this this was the last uh Fourth of July was great. Um you
know, every year uh is upgrading. Um thank you to all um the people involved uh the chamber and everyone in the community. Um I took my boy and girl this is their first time to walk through. So halfway they almost give up and I'm I'm like the the more candy will
be at the end. So we keep walking as they were giving out. So they were disappointed at the end. They did not have any candy. All candy they have was gone because they were giving out. They thought they can have their own. So, but they love it. Um, I thank you again for
for that. And, uh, second, I want to say thank you to Mayor King. This last Saturday, we there we had a a very uh, uh, Anuak festival. So, whereby, you know, was took place in Ced Grove. Mayor
and I went over there to for celebrations. So, um, that was amazing to see the dance and everything. I think a lot of people from Austin went from here to celebrate the culture event. So I believe mayor may have something to say. So thank you.
Thanks Obama. Well uh I also want to thank all those involved with the 4th of July parade was great. Uh the band trail good good entertainment good music. I listened to Mike play. Um great fireworks. Thank you to all. And also, uh,
Jim, I'd like to I was taking a walk last Sunday and came across garage fire. It was 90 plus degrees. Um, to watch the firefighters and to watch Jim to watch those guys in that heat, support each other with their tanks and let each other rest and to go put the garage fire
out while the house next door was starting to burn as well. Um, kudos to all your firefighters um and volunteers. Just to watch them and work in the heat and and vigorously put that fire out before the heart started on fire was
uh was interesting to watch and I I just I felt big respect for what you guys go and you go through whether it's 95 degree day or not. If there's a fire, there's a fire. So, thank you to you and your guys. In addition, Council Member Fischer appreciates the rest he got in that walk
to watch your firemen work in that heat. That was not said, but I'm sure he appreciated that rest. Um, lot lot to be proud of in Austin, Minnesota. Nancy Schneable with the uh Discover Austin forwarded three three uh awards, if you will, that that Austin recently got in
Next Door. I believe it's nextdoor.com or Nextdoor something. Uh we're the number one friendliest place to live in Minnesota based on affordability and friendliness. Uh, number one, we are in the top 10, in fact, number 10 of a f in the family destination guide for number
10 of the most affordable towns in Minnesota. And also in family destination guide, number eight in charming town, uh, charming town to live in in retirement that will not break the bank. So, uh, kudos to everybody. That's just, uh, be those are great selections
and we appreciate those folks and those, uh, those awards, I guess, if you will. Also, Obala touched on I was uh honored to be able to be invited up to the OnWalk annual celebration. When Obala texted and then called, he he wanted to know if I was available. Yep, absolutely. I said, "Yes, I'll be there.
Just let me know where." Uh thinking it was an Austin event. Well, it's Cottage Grove. So, up to Cottage Grove, I go I went and couldn't I was treated like royalty. It was absolutely amazing group of of about two or 300 onwalk individuals that just roll out the red
carpet for all their guests and they were just very gracious. And what I learned there is Obala Obala is is their Elvis. I mean this guy is a celebrity when he gets there. People know Obala's there and the dance moves that he has in that native dance. And I did promise maybe I
overpromised but this annual celebration moves around and I'd love to have it in Austin. I told the folks I'd love to have it down in Austin. But I did promise them that if it does come to us, I will dance like Obala. We'll see how this rolls. Good luck. Yeah, I know. Full of hammy. Um, so there is a much to
be proud of and thank you for that invitation, Obala. It was awesome. Uh, we have some July anniversaries and I do know that we had some roll out in the employee engagement of uh of the swag and the t-shirts and the the city store. But these are the employee anniversaries for July. Lance Ellingsson, 36 years of the wastewater
treatment plant. Todd Clinton, police, 26 years. Steven Lang, engineering, 24. Brian Blake, uh, Austin police, 19 years. Jim Hollyy, retiring from the, uh, fire department after 18 years. We wish him well in his retirement. Sam Shweiler, police, 18 years. Joel Mashing
from the street department, 13 years. Aaron Heimer with the arena, 11 years. Dustin Hicks, police, nine years. Brendan Busted, street department, seven years. Sydney Whisinger, Nature Center, six years. Carrie Harststead, police, five years. Lauren Bachan, planning and
zoning, uh, and building in four years. Christian Wangan, uh, engineering, four years. Evan Walker, library, three years. Uh, so those are awesome years of service. And I do want to report that we do have five new police officers being sworn in July 14th. Mik, that's a big
uh, moving the needle when you have five new officers starting. So, we appreciate those upcoming uh, hires. Uh, with that I'll take a motion to adjourn to our Monday, July 21st meeting. Move. Second. All in favor? Opposed? We are journ. Thank you.