##VIDEO ID:W0-C0pYfKUk## call a meeting to please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance unit States Amer stand indivisible all right good evening everyone uh Tom could you take the roll call please mayor King pres council member at large Austin present council member heli present pusta present Fisher present Haller Basin postma present we have a Corum your honor thank you Tom item number one is a motion for the adoption of the agenda with the additions all moved second all in favor I opposed the motion carries item number two is a motion approving amends for January 21st 2025 meeting so moved second all in favor I opposed the motion carries nothing under recognitions and award frame number three uh number four is a consent agenda looking for a motion unless someone's got some changes uh mayor I was propose we pull the um tobacco one out to for further discussion sure all right with the consent agenda pulling out the um cigarette rth uh we will like take a motion or vot on that a motions there there a second second all in favor I I opposed the motion carries with the exclusion of rth cigarette uh nothing under public hearings nothing under awarding bids uh mayor King we'll need to talk about that one now consent agenda so it should be addressed as sear oh but now we have to talk about specifically only rth okay you want to do it now or yes oh okay poy what do you got I I just know there was uh had a citizen concerned about um I think most of us got a similar email with uh if there's any regulation as to the number of tobacco businesses and some of the perforation and whatnot so I thought instead of just having to go through the consent gen it would be worth a discussion whether it's now or if we want to table it to a work session um I didn't know if others have the same interest yeah you know it was uh Mr Edward is he here tonight John Edward no so I think he emailed everybody and uh just said hey we we'd certainly discuss it now I think I did check with our communities he's under the impression that Austin with is having a too many smoke shops or maybe too many in the same area you know we're not dissimilar from our neighboring or sister communities Albert Lee has three oana has three wiona has three Redwing has three Rochester has 10 farbo has four and Austin has two soon to be three perhaps I don't know that we're becoming Smoke City but it it is one of those things where uh dri the private Market drives that there's a building for sale a person bought that and if the I guess if there's not a need for it then it'll go out of business but if there is a need it'll be successful there's also a convenient store that sell tobacco products um and crate them and other things so I'm not a proponent of smoking I just um you know I there's a delicate tight RPP of of uh free market so looking for discussion my question was um and I think I know the answer to this I think our law enforcement does do uh checks spot checks to make sure that all of the those who are selling tobacco products are iding people appropriately so it's not the wild west Smoke City Austin Minnesota um we are regulating it and um personally I feel pretty good about it I wondered if there is prohibition of a smoke shop near schools um partially because you just think about where they are they're um centered on that 18th you'd have the freedom gas station whatever it's called now right across street high school that sells cigarettes okay um you know the law did change maybe a year ago too where um ke and he's upstairs but the the enforcement of having a possession of a cigarette used to be illegal to be have a possession if you're under 21 now you can possess it you just can't sell it to somebody under 21 so the enforcement as far as the Chiefs on the Police role in it is really diminished because it's not illegal to to see someone in the public 12 years old smoking a cigarette that's not an offense anymore it's just only if you sell it if find someone that's selling it to the youth so but they do do those checks um and like alcohol too so I I guess knowing that we have to balance being business friendly and we are part of capitalistic Market I would say we have a appropriate numbers of checks and balances we do license them individually if there was a problem with one in particular we could pull their license that's why we do that um and we know they're being checked so I would be in favor of approving this and letting it move forward second all right so we have a motion in a second to include that back in the OR at least approve it in it's part of the consent agenda um want to do roll all fa okay all in favor of that I I I opposed no need for a role thank you that moves forward now uh public hearings nothing uh awarding bids nothing petitions and requests we have a uh item number five is requesting approval of the of a temporary liquor uh ordinance uh looking for a motion for preparation of the ordinance so move is there a second second that's a half a second Jeff half a second for Paul split that up Tom uh all in favor I opposed motion carries uh item number 5B for the adoption of the ordinance so moved second time council member heli hi vusta hi Fisher hi Basin I HMA I council at large Austin I ordinance passes 60 your honor than you and finally under 55c for summary publication of the ordinance need a resolution so moved second time council member heli hi pusta hi Fisher hi Basin hi HMA hi council member at large Austin I resolution passes 6 Z your thank you item number six is a motion for Jason to sell a tractor from the park and rack Department Jason do you have anything further on that I'd be happy to answer any questions everything else is um written and outlined in the memo motion to approve second all in favor I opposed that motion carries item number seven is resolution approving cook farm land rental lease agreement Stephen since 2012 we've been working with Kevin Finley and his family on uh farming tillable Acres out at the cook farm at the Creekside Business Park and with the construction project that occurred last year that impacted our available space for Farm rental for R cropping um that continue is anticipated to continue again here in 2025 what we're what we're looking at is establishing more of a grass elfelfa mix on the south side of 27th Avenue and which is where new tech and smite and all for dogs are located on the south side and then um doing continuing roll cropping on the north side of 27th Avenue um when we develop when we present the area with with a a grass elf Alpha mix it it looks more like like a development a commercial development as opposed to a farm field so we're just we're trying to make that transition now with the investment that that has been made out at Creekside to to start to make those lots look more marketable and we feel that switching over to a grass self Fela mix on the south side of 27th Avenue will Aid in that process what little bit it it may but it it takes some time to establish so you can see uh this year we're proposing that we only charge for the 39 acres north north of 27th Avenue at a rate of $200 per acre the area to the south of 27th Avenue we would give the farmer free rent for this year because it's ENT he'll have uh a decent amount of inputs that he needs to um pay out of pocket to plant that new crop and it's it's very it's unlikely of much of a crop that he'll get here in 2025 so really what we're doing is we're setting this up for 2026 and uh maybe more more detailed than you needed to know there or wanted to know but that is the reasoning why we've got it broken up this year and we're proposing to not charge them for the southernly portion of 27th Avenue due to the cost of input so with that uh we would recommend a $7,800 um lease agreement to Kevin Finley for 2025 is Finley going to stick with it then I mean do we need a longer lease agreement what if he bails out in six and then we're stuck with a he he he preferred a a one-year lease agreement and the alala grass mix is also something that is of value to him in the future for his cattle both both the road cropping and the grass Al Alpa he does both so we'll I anticipate we'll continue this working relationship into the future until until that property sells thank you any other questions from Mr Lang Council if not looking for resolution fa number seven so moved second council member heli hi pusta hi Fisher hi Basin hi HMA hi council at large Austin hi resolution passes 60 your honor thank I number Eight's resolution approving request for city council floring Tom as you walked into the chambers this morning you probably went through some areas that looked a little unseed down here at City Hall uh we had the street departments been doing a great job helping peel off the wallpaper priming going to paint it um but while we're in that process we reached out to a couple local flooring companies to in install some new flooring in the concrete areas um and the walkway coming into the chambers and in front of both of the council chambers and then carpet new carpet in the conference room a across the hallway and the um former mayor's office with that being said we'd request approval of $1,665 for Huffman flooring to install some new flooring very nice I do appreciate the city's uh City street department helping and that uh everybody's kind of working together on so very good keep the cost y that's great to hear Council any questions from Mr Daner can we um since we're doing all of this down here can we maybe put on a workshop agenda the bathrooms we start taking a look at that maybe getting some yes right there these are ones right yes yeah we're doing all that other work down here I'd like to see something done with the bathrooms if we could put that on an upcoming agenda like appliances or up upgraded surpr it look like the library fancy bathroom maybe we should have had their leftovers or their hand-me-downs well they aren't they aren't Ada no well at least a women's I not that familiar with the men's side we've gone this far maybe we just take a some kind of an estimate on a bathroom remodel down here that's fine all right we can can you do that Tom look at how happy he is to do that'll work point for stepen I'm looking forward to seeing how the story ends all right bathroom remodel put that if we make it part of the eye and eye conversation you got a shot Joyce we'll work on that all right thank you well thank a lot thank you moving on right no we need to I would move to approve the request for City Hall flooring not that the be concrete doesn't look great and this will not include the old engineering because they're just removing that now okay Tom want to take the roll on that I got a first who's second yeah Jeff okay Je uh council member heli hi pusta hi fiser hi Basin hi postma hi council member large Austin resolution passes 60 yor thank we have number nine is resolution receiving feasibility report and calling for public hearing on March 3rd for a street Improvement uh her Nature's Ridge fourth edition Stephen yes at the last meeting um Council reviewed a preliminary plat for Nature's Ridge 4th and we mentioned at that meeting there would be more stuff to come on this development as we're going to this will be a a kind of a first first time out the door project where the city gets involved with financing um a development project and then we would look to assess the cost back to the developed Properties or the developed Parcels so um before you tonight are some estimated costs for the development we're continuing to work with the developer on a development agreement and uh continuing to carry that through but at this time we'd request the council set a public hearing for March 3rd 2025 to consider this proposed project and we bring forward more detail at that time very good thank you Stephen Council any questions looking for resolution for item number nine some move second Thomas council member heli hi pusta hi Fisher hi Basin hi HMA hi council member at large Austin hi resolution passes 60 your honor thank you Tom item number 10 is a resolution approving the healthare savings plan change for Mia uh Council has that in the backup if there any questions um take them or Craig and field him Trish is absent but there was no cost to the city this was requested from the union so looking for a resolution so moved second Tom council member heli hi pusta hi Fisher hi Basin hi postma hi council member at large Austin hi resolution passes 60 your H thank you I have 11 is a motion approving sick time donation request uh Craig do you have anything to add on that no just uh Steve Turner's requested uh SI leave donation being extended so happy to answer any questions it's excellent very very nice to be able to have that donation program and I'm sure it's just well used and I know Steve and his wife are going through some tough times so looking for a motion to approve this leave donation request so moved second all in favor I I opposed motion carries item number 12 is a resolution accepting uh donations and we got a couple of them here that are uh 2500 to the Cornerstone Church for the LC Fitness room we thank them $3,000 from the Eagles for the Fourth of July fireworks also $2500 from fraternal organ of the E order of the Eagles for the Riverside Arena audio and visual improvements with those looking for a uh motion to approve those and we thank them for it I'm sorry it's resolution is there a second second council member heli hi pusta hi fiser hi Waller hi Basin hi postma hi council member large Austin hi resolution passes 70 your honor thank you uh it is uh is my uh seems what what I do is honor these folks that give donations so this is the time year we just offer that you guys pack a lunch or go somewhere for and your keep your thoughts and cuz I'm going to read a bunch of names we appreciate these folks for this the flower donations equals about $31,000 so Larry andreon Mike and Patty anony Jeff and Diane Baker Jeff and Chris baldis Greg and Amy Basin Jason and Katie Baskin Nancy Beck Peggy Ben Coffer Judy and Dick Bergen Judy and Lee Bjorn doall Fred and Carolyn bulot Cheryl boutton Patrick Bradley James and Millie buroughs Richard and Laura Carlson Ron ler and the Center Court departments uh Colette chaffy Cheryl Christopherson Clifton lson Allen Katherine Coy Mr Mrs Joseph Davidson Robert dine Joan IDM Leanne and Jeff Edinger Quinton and marleene fiala LEL Foster Jeffrey and Mara Frank Phyllis Frey JC and PT Frid Harold and Priscilla golly John Gray Susan Grove Gordon and Donna handeland Veronica Hansen Laura heli and Matt stoba uh Janet Hokinson Katie Clark Grant and Mary Johnson Phyllis Jorgenson Steven Shelly King Randy and Wendy Kramer Dorothy and Steve crob Thomas Lander Sonia Larson Margaret list Ron and MaryAnn lutters Jay Lutz Thomas and Donna Moss Pat McLean John Madson Steven Sher Mason Mark and Holly mayor Jerry and Suzanne McCarthy uh the M McGuff construction company and uh tagert medgard Austin HRA Daryl and Deb Mickelson Phil and Gail minr Bill momson Michael Monson Steven n Swagger Ralph and Helen Nelson Colleen horn Betty Olen uh Richard pusta the 11 Joyce pusta Mike and Stephanie post ma Steven Lynn price Gretchen and Mark ramlo Scott and Katherine Richardson Bonnie and Tim Reitz barbar schaer Bita Schindler Dean and Leanne seik Paige and John scha Ellen Stark Marine Stein block Dave silty Peter and Bonnie tangren Bill toffic Daphne Wagner Kathy Wagner Colleen weer James and Charlene Wix westrick Dale Wix Jerry and Maran weski Gary and Marjorie Zimmerman Nan half hgraph and Sally Baker we also have businesses U Baler Mouse foreman and king um Brer Bank golden tress piggy blues potach and Mitchell D dental clinic Austin Eagles and the ladies uh floral club that equals 3 $ 31,44 for the co the uh floral donations flower donations this is our 30th year in the city of Austin always gets great remarks from their visitors and our residents so it's just very heartening to see these folks uh give of their money for that program so with that looking for a resolution to approve so moved second time council member heli I pusta I fiser hi Waller hi Basin hi HMA hi council member large Austin hi resolution passes 70 thank you Tom item number 14 uh uh as a motion granting the planning and zoning department the power power to contract for the removal of junk and or illegally stored vehicles at the location 3042 Avenue Southwest the dieser property looking for a motion so moved second all in favor I opposed that motion carries on our addition item number 15 is resolution approving the airport tea hanger Grant Stephen yes before you is a Federal grant it's part of a bill funding that is allocated toward the City of Austin that we've designated toward the construction of the 10un te- hanger this grant is in the amount of $137,000 uh this is part of our overall funding package that we had for the t- hanger if you all remember it was pretty complex we had lots of different funding sources that'll be coming in over different years and then we're now into year two and this is uh kind of our first grant of year two so we would request Council authorization and acceptance of this grant very good councel any questions from Mr Lang Stephen is somebody who deals with federal grants it's been an interesting last week or two are we are there concerns that this funding may or may not come through at this point I would defer to Tom if you have any other um backside from what you I guess what happens if it doesn't come through there's always concerns but as you know we saw day one he came out with the federal funding freeze day 12 122 Democratic Governor's filed suit along with a couple not for Prof profits and day two the everything was dropped um do we anticipate problems it could be potential problems we've got I think I sent out an email I said seven or eight federal grants that could be a potential this one would be the least of our worries the creek site Eda grants got $4 million project half of it paid with federal dollars um that could potentially be a problem but we're in the middle of construction we're going to keep going we'll pay for it ourselves and we'll just ask the federal government to keep paying us back um I've been in contact well the other big one is our treatment plant the dollars for the grant and the CWF loan on that are actually federal dollars also so the minute the freeze came out we contacted the federal our contacted the federal government and at this point in time even before the freeze came through they said it should not be a problem because those dollars have been already allocated out sounded like to the state so the state's already got the money you can't have it back guys um but this one again would be the least of our concerns compared to some of the other projects we got going on but we've been watching it closely and at this point in time everything still seems to be okay even some of the federal grants we sent in for last week for um some of our other airport projects like no it's should be good we'll process for payments so okay at this point in time we're hopeful um but never say never very good thank you if no other questions looking for a resolution 15 some of is there a second second council member heli hi pusta hi fiser hi Waller hi Basin hi HMA hi council member large Austin hi resolution passes 7 Zer your honor thank you time moving on to Citizens addressing the council anyone in the audience wishing to uh speak with Council that of items that weren on the agenda okay uh reports and recommendations Craig I don't have anything but Mr Daner and Julie Klein felter have a couple items uh just in front some people already handed it back but in front of counselor annual audit requirements are related party questionnaires Becky you don't have them because you weren't here in 2024 but if everybody could get those back to us as soon as they can um and otherwise again you've seen the hallways it's going to be like this for could be a couple could be a month or so before the flooring gets in so we ask for your patience thank you yes just letting people know that due to staff illness we are having to adjust the library's hours this week um tomorrow we'll have normal hours uh 10: to 8:00 p.m. Wednesday we are going to have to close and Thursday we're going to open at noon instead of 10: otherwise things the rest of the week should be good um our children's programming this week also the story times Legos and games and our tween Advisory board we're going to have to cancel this week so we're sorry for the inconvenience bear with us and we hope to be back to normal soon all right very good thank you uh city council reports and recommendations Paul do you have anything I have nothing your honor on Joyce uh nothing your honor well the culture and arts commission is planning Fourth Avenue Fest for Wednesday June 4th so um mark your calendar if you work with a community organization that would want to be part of that event um let me know we're going to start our organizational meetings here in February uh the Parks and Recreation Department I want to congratulate them on using um a feature on some customer software that they've had to announce programming um which resulted in public skate um getting really great crowds turned out for it it turns out if you tell people about the things you're offering you get more people to show up so um nice job to the parks and recck department they also are working with um Austin Public Schools and the high school special education um program uh on employment opportunities so um the high school students that are in specialed if they're looking um to uh go to work after they leave high school they're they're doing these programs already where they sort of work Shadow and try out different things in the community and where we've now made the connection so that they can be doing Park and wreck things like watering flowers or mowing lawns or I don't whatever you guys do in the winter um public skate I guess um and I just wanted to say uh congratulations also on that um I think that's a great illustration of Austin working smart making the connections um uh great outcomes for the students on the public school side and also great outcomes for us giving us sort of another Pool of um future employees and when we're fighting for every single employee that we've got that's um really important um I want to say thank you to city employees for uh rallying around Steve Turner with your donation of PTO hours um I'm sure that that isn't the only way you're rallying around Steve and I'm sure that isn't the only way that you're supporting each other um I see our employees um having those connections of loyalty and family um and that's what we want to see and I I appreciate it and want to say thanks um it that's really the Austin that I know um is the Austin where you um work together with your neighbor you value other people even if they're not exactly like you and so I also feel that I need to say um our community of Austin works because uh immigrant and Refugee communities come here and they work for our employers and they make things go and Austin isn't what it is without those people um they belong here um it it's a great disservice to them to scapegoat them for everything that's wrong um in your community or your life so um I I just wanted to say that for the record and um now is a great time to educate yourself um and or your employer about your rights um in terms of interacting with ice if they should um appear at your workplace or anywhere else in the community thank you Lauren appreciate the comments Jeff uh yes at the last Library board meeting they uh want to let us know that the integrated library system or ILS migration is slated for May 1st of this year during the systems upgrade the library will not be closed so that patrons can continue to use the system as it changes live this is a best practice from the installation company and also the library will be hosting additional Spanish language driers Ed classes these classes have been well received in the past Julie was able to secure a grant to support this and is pursuing additional Grant options very good I have your honor thanks Jee poy um two things uh one thanks to everybody who has donated uh time or not even donate work time to help with all of the Paint The Town Pink events plunging for pink um I know that we've had a couple of our firefighters in the water for multiple hours on their off time volunteering for that event that's fantastic and just thank you it's great to see all the things happening around town um and then just thoughts and prayers with Steve and r and the Turner family and um we know that you got this Randy thanks Mike B yeah would Echo that um couple things one is obviously you know continuation of the paint the pound pink events this week um so black and gold Gala Thursday night you've got the paint the rink pink Saturday night a lot of other festivities that are there and so I mean obviously one of the great ways that our community comes together to raise money for cancer research and just incredible causes so if you have the opportunity would encourage everybody to get out and do that um and then finally we also have busy week in Austin we've got a delegation of European leaders coming on Thursday so I know we've got a handful of us that are giving a presentation talking about the work that Austin is doing as a welcoming community and so um we'll be hosting folks from all over the continent of Europe to learn more about what we're doing thank you Jason Becky nothing your honor I'm glad you made it all the way back from lacrosse just under the I was going to tell you that's a beautiful drive unless you're in a hurry to get to City Council it's not a beautiful drive okay um there are some anniversary want to read too but I do want to recognize uh a reporter back there Eric Johnson who I happen to know it was his birthday because it told me on the K uh birthday club I'm pretty convinced all the other four and fiveyear olds their smile didn't match what Eric had for his birthday smile on kbl so happy birthday Eric uh we have the anniversaries for February Jim Lunt from the police department 18 years Travis pant for the uh wastewater treatment plant eight years Dan Peterson Wastewater uh seven years John Beckman Craig Byron Marty heli and Steve holie all with Administration all with six years of service Sam pusta Street Department six years Josh F habber Park and wck and Forestry six years Rich ganzen wastewater treatment plant five years Michael goet three years with finance and it uh Kelly Ball Nature Center two years Matt Wise with the fire also two years um we recognize those anniversaries and thank those folks for um being part of our great city city staff also we Chief mckin and Trish and I were just upstairs with our uh police Civil Service uh annual meeting as it just a great time to recognize as the beginning of the year that we do get folks uh new to any commission and board and we have a ton of folks out there residents serving on these commissions and boards and we're thankful for what they do uh to move us forward so just want to thank oh