waiting call the meeting to order please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge Al FL States of America to the stand naice good evening and welcome everyone
um time the roll call please mayor King pres council member at large Austin present council member pusta present hel present osma present Baker yep Basin Fisher present we have a quorum
your honor thank you Tom I number one as a motion for the adoption of the agenda so moved second all in favor I I opposed motion carries item number two is approving our minutes from our June 3rd 2024 meeting so moved second all in favor I opposed motion carries number
three no way item number three can't be true recognition and awards Kim lens she can't be leaving tell it's all Roose mckin uh I wish you were so I'm going to try to get through this without choking up like I started to at the at the score event uh Eric asked me what are we
honoring or Kim for tonight and it's it's her years of service 17 and a half about with the city of Austin um Matt's uh taking a promotion uh we've known Matt forever too uh he's trained us for years worked uh for mayo and gold cross
alongside us for a long time um again Kim was an officer she's been a sergeant been on C team just both accomplished so much uh we've been so fortunate to know him uh I think when you look in the back there and see how many people have uh turned out tonight to support them I
think it's phenomenal uh but Kim's one of those people that when we lose her and it will be in the 25th I think is Kim's last day uh it will be like losing two or three people uh she's just so confident in her job um I trust her
completely I know all the other supervisors and patrolman do uh she's also one of those people that brings positive energy to the department um even when she's upset with something or upset with me it sometimes comes off as being a compliment or at least you know I leave
it actually feeling good even though I can tell she's upset and like I said those personalities are super rare uh that being said we understand the phenomenal opportunity afforded to her and the family I had an opportunity to connect with Red Wings police chief at our our vet meeting last month uh I know
he's thrilled to have her I did yell at him a little bit uh about uh stealing her uh but again they they feel like they won the lottery and they absolutely should and so again 17 years with the city um someone who has given the the city more than we've given her uh so
we're certainly rooting for Matt Kim the whole family as they begin their next Journey uh over in the city of redwing so thank you Kim for all your service and Kim if you you're welcome to say anything you might want to say if you want no
pressure to get Jim to come here Kim and I were hired and sworn in same time oh nice hope [Laughter] that's I just want to thank everyone that showed
up and if you would have asked me if I would have ever left I would have said no I thought I would start and end my career but it's Matt's fault we're doing what's best and I just
appreciate everyone and I appreciate all my co-workers and I might be leaving but I'll be back just stop thank you and thank you all the officers for showing up in support too it's always
great we hate to lose a anybody but Kim is extra special as Chief mck said I've known her for for about those same 17 and a half years and I've seen the work she does and the energy she does bring and the positiv so you will miss Kim but uh I might even see you with my family
over redwind sometime in passing so good luck to you and Matt Matt congratulations on your promotion and Kim good luck in redwind PD thank you for all the work to Austin All Right Moving on because we have to um item number four is motion
for the consent agenda so moved second all in favor I I opposed motion carries uh under public hearing we have item number five is a resolution for new tech Myth Minnesota deed grant extension request Craig uh thank you mayor members
a new tech has asked for an extension which uh deed can grant they want Council to take action and approve a resolution for extension they um haven't quite met the job creation requirements that they were required to do uh they have a plan to accomplish that over the
next year um and otherwise we need Council action to approve the resolution included as exhibit three and this is a public hearing thank you Craig Council anything for Craig on this any public from the public wish to speak on
it if not looking for resolution by number five so moved second council member pusta hi heli hi HMA hi Baker you bet fer I council
member large Austin I resolution passes 60 y thank you Tom item number uh petitions and request item number six is a motion approving authorization to sign State Grant amendment to airport fuel system upgrade Stephen in your backup material is a memo that details the
original Grant agreement for final design of the fuel system and an amendment to include the construction Administration the construction uh contractor bid and then also some admin
fees for a new revised Grant amount of $ 93,471 of that the mindat grant will cover 70% and the city will cover 30% so our city
total of that $900,000 project is about $275,000 so with that we'd request Council approve this grant Amendment for the airport fueling system thank you Stephen councel any questions on this item if not looking for a motion I'm
moved second all in favor opposed that motion carries item number seven is a motion calling for public hearing for the amend uh amendment of tax increment financing uh District number 16 YMCA Redevelopment from the stenzel development uh is there any questions
Council has on this yeah I just said one I think uh Craig you're going to kick it off to Tom why did we in the um in the financials in the revised calculation in the original calculation
we used 4% as a discount rate and in the revised we used 4% as a discount rate why are we why isn't the discount rate going up I don't have to have an answer but I'm just to vote but I'm curious more anything else they weren't four% in both of them they were they were I think
the goal of the of the discussion with um stencel group is there's a a dollar amount needed if not receive then the Tiff plan doesn't work so when we calculate the increment that's going to be available
with the capital costs they're going to input you can use the interest rate or interest rate of I think 4% is what we used in order to maximize all those tax increments so even though he's got $3.4 million dollar of eligible costs he's
actually going to get as long as the the payments are made he's actually a close to 5.8 I think million do payments back so when um Baker Tilly is doing the pro foras and the actual Tiff plan they look at how much increment is he going to be
paying which we know from the assessor's office that the current rates is going to be 5'8 we know that 3.3 million or 3.4 million as a principal he's going to be putting in the eligible Tiff costs so over the remaining 24 23 years that 4% rate will equal the total increments
he's getting total increments he's eligible to get now for Tiff plan you can only when you amend a tiff plan or create a tiff plan if you estimate the increments like in Phase One R only going to be $4 million that's all you can rebate back to a developer so in
this plan we wanted to make sure that if the valuation goes up times our tax rate that if he's getting all those increments in he's eligible to get his full 34 principal plus 4% interest going forward which is the exact same deal we gave on the first one so I think Craig
when working with m stencil the goal was let Trea them the same exact way on this one as we did phase one now again if if the valuation of his property doesn't go up like we've anticipated he may only
pay $5 million a tax increments which means that's all he's going to get it's a pay as you go basis so he's only getting paid back what he would actually be putting into the progam so again 4% long answer 4% rate is the same rate we use in phase one because the goal was to
treat him the same in phase one as we're going to do in phase two that was his request over TW the 24mon change period do you think that the 20-year discount rate has meaningfully moved from 4% to something else um I would say from when
we started X years [Music] ago it's probably moved a little bit like as the FED is noted this year we're only going to potentially have one interest rate reduction for from when they started the year at three or four
so I think that that range is still a uh unknown factor at this point in time I think the latest jobs report came in way above what everybody else thought oh all of a sudden no we're not reducing the FED funds rate anymore I actually think based on current rates he probably could get closer to four and a half five per.
but if he's only paying 5.8 million in increments he can't get more than $5.8 million back no matter what the interest rate is okay thank you thank you Tom so this motion we uh set up a public hearing for our next meeting on July July 15 15th looking for a motion by
number seven so moved second all in favor I opposed motion carries item number eight is a resolution approving a change order number four for the Waste Water treatment project Stephen yes before you tonight is request for approval of this change
order it in following our uh work session that we had a couple weeks ago there have been a few changes to this this for your information work change directive 56 has been eliminated and work change directive 65 have been
eliminated or removed from this change order they will likely come back in change order number five in the future but for now uh that reduces our number of work change directives on this change order to nine and it decreases the amount of the change order to the
current amount of $753,000 that's the total amount those costs are split between our domestic budget and our industrial budget uh so those are some changes as well as on page two at the very top of
page two the table that is shown there I've modified that table to account for some of council member baskin's requests to show where we're at based on the current project and you can see with uh this being our fourth change order we're
currently uh our cost increase es to the domestic budget have been 2.58% our cost increase to the industrial budget is 1.17% and our overall project cost increase with these four change orders is
1.84% so with that unless there are any questions I would request Council approve change order number four thank you Stephen Council any questions um I had a chance to go see the wastewater treatment
project um Steven was nice enough to give me a hour of his time on Friday uh three things one I I think his in-person explanation of what needs to happen on these um this change order is absolutely
correct I think we should approve it um second I'd encourage you to go out there if you get a chance it's a I know he probably doesn't want to spend a lot of more time I know Stephen doesn't want to spend any more time with me so I won't go but um I would encourage you to go out there it is a fascinating trip
mostly because of the complexities involved that I think we um as council members as Citizens don't understand um it is fascinating and it is a monstrous
project um I still you know I think to me the real challenge that's in front of us outside of the scope of this change order is how do we make sure we're running this plant this hundred million
brand new plant or mostly new plant um with the minimal amount of incremental headcount that we can get away with I I I know people don't like to hear it but it's a you know we have to have eyes wide open discussions about whether
where are we going to add staff and we got to we got to do that in that plant right now and I think we got to think that one through but uh again I'd encourage you to go out there it is say it is fascinating and it is you know one of those silent Heroes of the city it
just does it's amazing what happens out there and how little we have to think about it thank you looking for resolution for uh a number second council member pusta hi Elly I
osma hi Baker you bet Fisher I council member large Austin all resolution passes 60 your honor thank you Tom item number nine reviewing a g natural gas prepay ordinance with Minnesota Municipal gas agency uh um looking for a
motion for number a preparing the ordinance so moved second all in favor I I opposed motion carries item number n9b is an adoption of the ordinance so moved second
Tom Council pusta hi Ellie I HMA hi Baker you bet fiser hi council member large Austin hi ordinance passes 60 your honor than time 9 C is resolution for the summary publication of the ordinance
moved second Thomas council member pusta hi Ellie hi HMA hi Baker yep Fisher hi council member large Austin hi resolution passes 60 your honor thank you number 10 is resolution approving a
comprehensive plan downtown master plan memorandum of agreement hly mayor and Council uh there's more detail in the memo but the initial recommendation to update our comprehensive plan came through efforts by impact Austin at the same time maer County was proposing to
update their comprehensive plan uh the city and uh County allocated funds last year to Upstate update our respective plans and impact Austin city of Austin and Mar County staff collaborated on a proposed RFP to engage consultant to lead the joint project uh in order to
address a wider range of issues and some specific items such as food city concept uh impact Austin applied for and received a grant from the horal foundation uh as well as contri contributions from horal foods and Mayo uh the selection committee uh reviewed uh six
proposals uh the selection committee was cons consisted of eight individuals representing the three collaborating organizations uh overall the committee chose three to interview um ultimately they made the
recommendation uh to choose SE uh all of the proposals were very well done uh SE stood out because of their partnership and experience in the community as well as discussions on public engagement and implementation strategies during the interview uh the
team has experienced across the US and brings a diverse selection of experts in their partnership with velocity um attached to your memo is a memor random of agreement uh because the project has multiple sources of funding including City County Mayo horal foods
and horal Foundation uh we had discussions uh with the various organizations our city and county finance and administration and this memor memorandum of agreement was developed to address how the project would be invoiced and paid between the various entities uh we're requesting
that the council approved the mo MOA which uh is again attached uh and then there's an agreement for Professional Services which uh SE will be entering into with Austin Community charitable fund uh the fund Austin Community charitable fund will receive uh funds
from all sources throughout the project to cover the cost for the agreement uh the council doesn't have to act on the Professional Services agreement but it does uh list the scope and deliverables uh that se is required to complete the project uh we do have uh two
Representatives here from SE Bria Grace and Bob Kors who will be working with throughout the project so uh the uh and also uh our partners uh Nick nabney is here from Impact Austin and bidi from MA
county excellent thank you Ally this is uh truly a comprehensive plan and going to be an impactful one just based on the amount of buying from public and private you know this is uh as far as a financial Buy in from horal foods and Ma clinic and horal Foundation as well as
City County impact Austin I certainly have full confidence in SE and velocity group to get this across the Finish Line in very meaningful way uh just that kind of buying is unprecedented in my time so yeah we can do a lot more with our collaboration than we could have as individual entities for sure y excellent
Council any questions item number 10 or's anybody wish to speak uh that's here in the audience on Council motion to approve second Tom council member pusta hi Hy hi
HMA hi Baker yep Fisher hi council member at large Austin hi resolution passes 6 thank you I have your honor uh the our Consultants had a brief uh presentation to just kind of give you an idea of how we'll move forward sure
unless unless you don't want to do that I'm good with it okay yeah I get more Bob Kors time that's always good that's right any chance I get there we go uh first of all just want to thank everybody for having us
here today and for selecting our team to lead the comprehensive plans for the City of Austin and maer County so thank you for that um I'm going to turn it over to Bria Grace who is going to be our project manager we are going to have a project manager on the city Side as
well as the county side but Bria will be the overall project manager for the project and we're going to give just a brief presentation uh about the comprehensive plans and a little bit about the schedule coming up excellent thank you Bob Bria welcome thank
you yeah thank you for your time I think that um it' be important just to inform you on what our approach is kind what to expect moving forward um so myself I've been a community planner for 25 years um 15 of those years have been working for
municipalities um as a planning and development director Property Maintenance with presing economic all those things and we have a great team that we're do inject I'm really excited to introduce you to so because
we have two plans running uh simultaneously um I'm the overarching project manager we have a project manager Mark who will be the lead for the city and Nate day be both of them have um Decades of years of experience
um so they are going to um help lead our discussions um and then the talents and experience that we're bring the and a number of subc Consultants that he's bringing it's exciting uh as you mentioned the power
of collaboration is fantastic uh multiple funding Partners there's opportunities to organize uh or collaborate through organizations um efficiencies with plan delivery uh would be able to accomplish more um kind of running parallel with Community
visioning um that will be an advantage and then also coordinating implementation strategies um between the city and county how to expend resources when resources are always tight so jumping back A Min why are we doing comprehensive
plans uh we do them for those four reasons up there the implementable act the actionable implementation plan uh is my opinion so important um it helps to align those resources identify what priorities are coming out
of it um and through the process we're going to engage the public a lot it's not very often you get to step back away from normal City business and just reach out to the public and start having a visioning process with them what do you think of Austin where should we be in 20
years um and it's really it's fascinating the the uh feedback that you get from a wide array from you know kids in school versus elderly versus folks in their working careers um and what that does is it starts to redefine that
vision for Austin where are we now where are we from our County and that input then goes into a document that will be a guide for you as decision makers so when you have hard decisions that come before you it's valuable to go back to the
comprehensive plan and hear what the community said not just the people that are standing up saying no to something something but just as a whole where's the guidance that the community has there'll be a lot of data within the plan um that's something that it's kind
of exciting we have some neat data sources coming in lots of visualizations and um it provides information for Developers for business owners um for decision makers at the city and for funding agencies too when you want a grant they say how does your
comprehensive plan support the project you're trying to fund and then preserving Community character as a community develops you want to maintain that sense of place that you have you want that to grow and flourish so that's why we comprehensive
plan what's unique here is that um there'll be two separate plans at the end two separate deliverables but as this was the chart that was in the request for proposals so we have three columns the core column are things that there're there's a a
parallel there's a synthesis between what's happening in the city and what's happening in the county um so having our technical experts look at those there's efficiencies there you know here's the data now how do we extrapolate it out to the city and county and then there are certain issues
that are going to be distinct for the county versus the city a downtown plan for example versus Farmland preservation we'll say in the county um and so those Specialists that we're bringing in um they're we're going to touch on a number of things all of
those are listed in the chart here um so downtown neighborhood planning so how do we infill right to meet the character and meet the housing demands that we're seeing in our community um place-based economic analysis how do we grow
tourism and what's interesting um about Austin and marer county is the Food City Concepts that you have going on is that's really what brings us together um through all of the the icons up there through access and Equity production
distribution um branding and storytelling and so that's something that is a theme that's going to be coming up throughout the comprehensive plan um and it's a way to bring people together so we will focus distinctly on the
city um we will look at the existing comprehensive plan you have we'll update those recommendations we'll update um the goals were up here from the previous plan uh kind of build on those and and see how what's been accomplished since
the last plan and what what needs to happen next and how to prioritize that we'll have a distinct downtown plan um we'll look at data analysis on um the uh the assessed
valuations um look at infrastructure look at placemaking that's such a key part of downtown making it feel alive and looking at organizational support for implementation there'll be a heavy focus at the beginning on community engagement um we
will these These are kind of our philosophies for Community engagement just gring Partners identifying Champions building support meeting people where they are and celebrating who they are so looking at the schedule
we recognize that there's three distinct phases to our process um the first phase is discover and excite so we're doing data collection we're getting out with the community um starting to uh share the purpose of it starting to get their feedback and their vision
and then we move into more of a um plan and review phase where we're doing that technical analysis starting to write recommendations and implementation strategies bouncing those ideas off of the steering committees um and those um f the technical experts in your
community on those topics specific things and then refine and adopt once we get to more of that draft plan so that's what I wanted to share we'll have a kickoff meeting with um kind of Staff pull everyone together
we'll get together our project steering committee and we'll wind up having um an overarching steering committee and then one for the county one for the city so that we can dive into some really specific topics to each so I guess as a
a departing ask I would ask you to think about what are the right stakeholders to have on these committees so we're looking for about 12 people you know folks that are kind of very can see the different aspects of community life and
help us prioritize and identify uh what needs to happen and how to what is that vision of Austin and how to get there so that's my takeaway any questions or Bria why don't you anticipate the kickoff meeting is there a we are
meeting next Thursday um we don't have a kickoff meeting for the steering committee yet but our kind of our staff group so to speak is meeting next Thursday thank you exciting project Council any questions for Bria look forward to working with you thank you us
too all right um moving on to item number 11 uh a resolution expanding hoot no's liquor license to the patio area free mayor and council member so I have um received information from hoot noes and they've completed all the necessary
paperwork to expand their liquor license to their Outdoor Fence patio area so the clerk's office is just requesting that you authorize the approval of their expansion thank you Craig you have something yeah I just want to add uh thanks for Brianne wolf and attorney Byrum for the flexibility of this
property the building actually uh sets on less than 50% of the property um it's also in the RightWay and the flood plane so uh a little bit of flexibility and and that the entrance is actually in our city RightWay on the building so as it
intersects with liquor LW sometimes it doesn't line up well but I think we have a flexible solution here that accomplishes and keeps hoot and OES moving forward that's great good to hear thank you Bri uh Council questions I number 11 motion to
approve second Tom council member pusta hi Kelly hi HMA hi Baker you Fisher hi council member large Austin hi resolution passes 60 your honor thank you Tom item number 12
is a resolution accepting these donations in the city of Austin we have a gift of 9,266 76 from the Austin area foundation for the warle park cleanup 1 000 from Bita Shindler to the bike club and $110,000 from CAC for exploring
belonging through theater culture and arts commission uh we appreciate those folks as Financial uh gift and looking for a resolution accepting them so moved second Tom council member pusta I Elly I HMA I
Baker yep Fisher hi council member large Austin I resolution passes 60 thanks time I have number 13's resolution declaring the structure at 108 I'm sorry 108 7th Avenue Northeast as
hazardous all moved second Tom council member pusta I heli I HMA hi Baker yep Fisher I council member at large Austin I resolution passes 6 Z your honor number 14's a couple of motions graning
the planning and zoning department the power contract for the removal of junk Andor legally stored vehicles and following locations 14a address is 503 8th Avenue Southeast of Wakefield property need a motion don't moved second all in favor I opposed motion
carries 14b address 506 11th Avenue Southwest the wendroth property so moved second all in favor I I opposed that motion carries uh moving on to Citizens addressing the council is anyone in the audience uh wishing to
speak to Council of items that were on the agenda seeing none honorary council member comments Isaac how was your day down there bud pretty good this is the second time of six you'll be with us so again thank you for joining us as the
honorary council member uh reports and recommendations Craig I have nothing but Mr Lang has an item Stephen I just wanted to follow up on Mr council member Baker's comments there uh
last time we toured as a group was late July or early August of 2023 so last summer um I was planning kind of a one year every year taking you out there around that same time if you if you would like uh more frequent tours let me know if you want individual tours let me
know but I was planning another group tour again Late July early August excellent thank you I look forward to that uh Council Joyce I have nothing your honor thank you you bet nothing Jeff uh yes we
did have a library board meeting last week uh some of the highlights of that the programming highlight they having a skateboard art class coming June 21st through a grant in partnership with discover Austin uh with the recent New York Times article not your childhood
Library the board is thinking about the idea of a social worker being present in our library the library provided hotpots are up to a 6 to 8 we waiting list now that Austin aspires devices have been deactivated while Library provided
services are bringing the need for Wi-Fi access there is a greater need for digital equity in our community uh the library Sunday hours offering in the spring do not yield expected results with room rentals and foot traffic compared to staff time utilized the
board is REM recommending no Sunday hours in the fall so that staff time can be put to better use that's all I have for that thanks Jeff thanks thank you Jeff uh just a little advice to the uh comprehensive plan folks act with
urgency we have a we're damn near a crisis on the number of buildings that are empty on Main Street we have a need for big ideas please do this in such a way that this thing doesn't sit on a shelf
somewhere you know I mean that that's I just can't tell you how important that is and that's I mean there's a lot of people throwing a lot of money at this because there's high expectations good luck Mike uh couple of things from the
HRA um the HRA Riverland partnership house is for sale it's the brand new house at the Riverland uh construction class and team have built over the last year it's at market rate so it's available for anybody to purchase I think it's listed for
$350,000 so hopefully and it has five bedrooms so hopefully we'll get a nice house for a family in town um and then from the Discover Austin folks we had the Horseshoe tour in Austin this weekend we were excited to host them and this is the first of a two-year contract
to have them in town it's a national thing that they came to Austin for um and then right now uh actually starting tomorrow is the Discover Austin agga hormell Foods tournament um we have high schoolers and youth from over 18 states
about as far away as Hawaii and multiple countries including as far away as China and India here in Austin competing in our tournament so we're excited to have them and I hope they have a good week excellent thank you a lot going on in Austin Laura uh I just wanted to
acknowledge and say thank you to all the employees and elected officials who've been um working uh on the employee engagement events with the sakur group it's a big time commitment it's a lot of hours that people are taking away from their um other duties and um I haven't
been able to make all of them but the ones that I've been at I felt were very um helpful and good use of time so I I want to acknowledge that I appreciate people um taking their time and and engaging with these things I think it's something that's going to pay off for
the city in the long term um I also need to say thank you to very many um departments and people that supported 4 Avenue Fest a couple weeks ago the weather was about as rough as we've seen it for um that kind of event it was windy and threatening to rain but we
still had hundreds of people of all ages out enjoying um horse Austin Park so I know the parks uh Team including the pool did a ton of work to get us ready the library had some great programming the fire department brought um out their
ladder truck and then um Holly Wallace and tia in um the engineering department also put in a lot of hours so um and Lauren Bach and as well so thank you to everybody who did that thanks to all the um public who came out and are many many funding partners for that event as well
thank you Laura I just want to report that Craig and I had the opportunity to be part of a celebratory press conference at Riverland this afternoon for our uh we're going to be the fiscal host Austin is for the uh water and wastewater uh certification program and training uh sponsored by the southeast
League of Minnesota cities municipalities and it's we're very fortunate to have that I I I mean Wastewater is on our mind it's on the all of the state's Minds particularly southern Minnesota a lot of new plants going in and need the operators to run it so at last count they projected 260
uh people will be going through that certification program and and learning and and being able to operate well whether it's water or Wastewater operation so um City of Austin for three years will be the fiscal host for that and uh I thank ahead of time for that
that work with the audit and the count and everything else that might be required from that State Legislative money so um great day in Austin uh with that looking for a motion to adjourn to our Monday July 1 meeting so moved second on favor I opposed all right we
are adjourned to take a f minute break till our work session