Okay. Okay. All right. Like to call to order the uh Bayport City Council meeting of May 5th, 2025. Let's all stand for the pledge of allegiance. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and
to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Great. Thanks. Matt, you want to call the role? Council member Do present. Council
member really loud. You said it's really echoey. Harrison, is there something up with the speakers? No, it's like really echoey. Really loud. Echoey in here. Check. Check. Better than the other way around. We'll just get used to it,
maybe. Okay. All right. Okay, we'll keep going. John's here. Um, Council Member Bliss here. Council member Hill here. Mayor Hansen here. Um, Council Member Gilmore is absent tonight. All right. Um, uh, does anyone want to make a
motion to approve the agenda for tonight? Man, it's weird. I move to approve the agenda as presented. Okay, second. Thanks, Katie and John. All those in favor? I. Anyone opposed? Okay. There are no
proclamations, accommodations, petitions, or announcements. But we do have a couple guests for our open forum. That's all that's here. But the open forum is a portion of the meeting to address the city council on subjects that are not part of the agenda. City council may take action or reply at the
time of the statement or may give direction to staff regarding investigation of comments expressed. A total of 15 minutes is allotted for public comment during the open forum, but since we have a couple guests, we'll allow a little bit more time today. Want to come on up, Melissa from Washington
County. Yeah. Good evening. Can you hear me? Okay. Is this Well, loud and clear. Um, my name is Melissa Taporn. I'm the executive director of the Washington County Community Development Agency. And from here on out, I'm going to refer to it as the CDA.
Um, and uh, with me tonight is uh, two of my CDA commissioners, uh, Commissioner Peg Larson, who represents this district, district three of the county, and uh, Commissioner Roger Green, who represents district two, which is um, kind of the model, but you
know, equivalent on the west side of the county. So, Mona down to Woodbury. And then um I have a PowerPoint that I'm gonna talk from and I know this was also included in the packet. I have been at the CDA for
uh 13 years I think. Yeah, 13 years. And um have always worked in affordable housing in the public sector and always in the metro area of the Twin Cities and suburbia. So, kind of around the ring and um hopefully this is where I stop.
So, uh the CDA was created in 1981 and we are related to the county but a separate government entity. So, the uh we're governed by seven commissioner board. Those are all volunteer citizens except one. Um and
they represent the five county districts. Then uh the two at large are one count county commissioner and one uh recipient of federal housing funds. So I thought you were gonna say one was forced on. Everyone was a volunteer. Yes. One's
forced onto it, right? Yes. Okay. Is that really how So you have one that's actually comes from the where are they? Why are they not considered a volunteer? They they uh Well, because he's a county commissioner. Oh, because he's the county commissioner. Oh, gotcha. Yeah.
Gotcha. um and they get appointed annually. The rest of the commissioners serve a three-year term and are appointed by the county board. The county board um the CDA has the ability to levy a special u benefit tax levy. The county board as the elected body
that governor governs our jurisdiction as because it's the same uh is they have to consent to that before it can be approved and collected. So um we have the statutory powers of a housing and redevelopment authority as well as an ex
economic development authority and the economic development powers are our most recent powers. Those we uh went to the legislature and probably if you guys have been here for a while um came to you to uh talk to you about that and get your approval on that uh addition in
2016. We operate a broad spectrum of programs and services. We're kind of a one-stop shop for all things housing and economic development. We open operate 40 different programs. Um we own 1100
different or 1100 apartments across the county. We help low-income seniors and uh families pay their rent. We help cities and townships with planning and redevelopment or develop pre-development projects as well as um helping apartment
owners and sometimes some uh single family developers finance uh new construction and uh renovations on properties. And then our industry lingo is very um entrenched in acronyms as a lot you know
all good government is or bad government as you want to want to think about it. Um, but we also work in a lot of lingo and you'll hear us talk about affordable housing a lot. And what that means or is defined uh to us is housing um that a
household is paying less than 30% of their gross income towards their housing cost. So this could be their rent or mortgage plus utilities. And um so you know that doesn't matter what income range you are when we talk about
affordable affordability. However, when um most people think about what the CDA does, we think about low-income housing home homeowners or uh renters. And um that's primarily true. However, our programs do uh work across that income
spectrum. But primarily our work is at 75,000 um and 37,000. Those are kind of our time or income limits that we work with. So in addition to all the housing work that we do, uh the CDA undertakes
certain economic development activities. In this work, we uh we're focus on countywide marketing and initiatives that don't duplicate what cities and townships are doing on their economic development. However, uh we do a lot of work with small businesses and
entrepreneurs to try to get them uh financially stable or if they want to grow their business, um would do one-on-one technical assistance as well as um provide some access to small business um administration loans. In the last year, there have been
three businesses in Bayport that have taken advantage of those services. Some market trends in the rental market. um we are seeing a little bit of slowdown in the market rate apartments. There's higher interest rates plus construction costs means that
there's less units being built and that kind of stems from um the great recession. Uh a lot of construction dropped off at that time and it just has not um kept pace with population growth since then. That results of course in
less supply, higher demand and the prices go up. We're also seeing some insurance costs going up. There's a lot of insurers, brokers that will not even offer um insurance rates to multif family developments. Um and if they do,
they're raising their costs quite significantly. And then coming out of the pandemic, uh there are staffing challenges. It was one industry that had to be inperson throughout the pandemic and it
um you know with more people home there were a lot more complaints and kind of um burnt a lot of people out. So we're seeing that um continue on here. There's a mismatch what we call in uh between resident wages and the rents. So the
wages paid in Washington County are the lowest in the metro area and the rents are the in Washington County are the highest in the metro area. So um that causes uh what we call a cost burden. So paying more than 30% of your income towards the rent. Melissa, do you think
that's a um service industry thing because wages for service staff aren't you know tips are part of what they're earning but it's not their wages or what do you think is going on with that? uh mayor and council members, there's the types of jobs that are available in
Washington County. Some of them are lower paying. It's the hospitality, the services, and uh retail that we see a lot of those uh positions available in the county. So, that does have a a lower um wage paid, but you know, we could
also say the same for the downtowns. You know, there's a lot of retail and hospitality type jobs, too. Okay. Interesting. Thanks. But I think that the housing costs are um driven by what a beautiful place we have to live here. So that's um that's driven by a number
of different factors. Yeah. And we're seeing that on the home ownership um market as well. Uh the median home price is uh 400,000 and or over 400. 400,000. That sounded like not enough zeros for
me. And um Bayport is right in line with the county there. And because uh you know you don't have a lot of home sales or you know if you compare that to Woodbury you've got so many they have so many more sales. So anytime Bayport's
numbers can be skewed by one sale. Um I think Zillow had it at 600,000 for the last quarter something like that. So um that can skew it but when we look at maybe more of a longer term period it's around that 400,000 mark. Um but this uh
also is a mismatch. So we're seeing about 17% of all homeowners in the county are cost burdened where renters it's about half regardless of income. When you adjust for income when it's uh lower income uh it goes up to I think
80% or 79% of low-income seniors are costburdened. That's our biggest issue right now. Which means that they're paying more than 30%. Yeah. And seniors um are typically have fixed incomes. They have, you know, pensions, social security. They're not
where families or, you know, a 20-year-old has greater earning potential. Uh seniors are, you know, staying flat in those cola adjustments to social security are not keeping pace with the rents. And does that count people that are in senior living
facilities like assisted care and that kind of thing as well? also there because they're paying a lot more to be it does not because that also includes different services or health health care in that cost. Okay. So or meals are taken. So that's taken care of in that.
Yeah. Okay. And I do not know that percentage but those have got to be okay. I was just wondering if that was skewing that in some way but it sounds like it's not. So, and then um one of the biggest programs that we have that I
think is important um in Bayport is our home improvement loan programs. This is we have a variety a sleet of different programs for different um income points and um uses of you know they vary based
on how they're funded and um but the homes are older in Bayport and the you know like we want to keep up that housing stock and so this is a program that we definitely promote um to all areas of the county but something that uh Bayport residents can really take
advantage of. One of our newest programs that uh the CDA board approved in I think last month is the repair and renovate program. And this program is a new program for us that will go up to 115% of the area median income. So it's in
that 140,000 range depending on your household size. Um but then you'd be eligible. The other ones are kind of at 80% and 50% of the area median income. So um but can you explain that more? I'm not sure I understand what that means. I
just need to go back to So, you'd be qualified for it depending qualify for it. You just look, we look at um household income, but we pair that with like a household of one person, you know, a single person household and a sixperson household. There's variation
in what that um those limits are. The area median incomes on here, this bottom line, are based on a twoerson household. So, um the 0 to 37,000 37,000 is what uh
30% of the area median income is for, um a twoerson house. Does that help? And then and so they could qualify for some kind of a repair and renovate program assistance and right and that is like a
lowcost loan or a low interest loan or generally most of our home improvement loans are 0% interest deferred and so you pay them back when you sell the home or transfer ownership in some way and anyone on what was the range? I'm
sorry now I made go off that slide but it would be about 75,000 and less. Oh, for most of these for two person homes. Yes. Yep. So, they would reach out to you. No, I'm just kidding. Um they uh we have this on our website at
washingtoncda.org or and um all of the then you can find the full slate of income limits by household size and kinds of projects that you can do or is it is that I assume that's limited like certain things that where you're actually upgrading versus like
like I need an egress window maybe right that might not count code repair um and health and safety things are the top priority and then go down from there okay um so some of these are very limited in like uh the uh home
improvement loan program is funded by a federal source that um is only $25,000. I don't know if you've done any home improvements on your home, but that does not do go very far. Um it's better than nothing. It could be a new roof for someone or a bathroom renovation if they
have got plumbing problems, but it generally won't be both. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, cool. Um, but the repair and renovate uh will go up to uh I think 40,000. Don't quote me on that one because it's a new program. Um, and that
one does have a a an interest rate and a repayment to it. So that it's funded with um what is called the local affordable housing aid. And I'm going to talk about that next.
So um in 20 24 or 2023, the state legislature passed um a number a $2 billion uh housing bill. And a couple of the things they included in there was a statewide affordable housing
aid and a local affordable housing aid. The statewide is for all of the counties in Washington C or all of the all of Minnesota um and is a state appropriation. The local affordable housing aid is just in the metro area for uh county all seven counties plus
cities over 10,000. Um and that is paid for by a uh metro area sales tax. So in 2024, Washington County received $2.5 million. That's expected to go up because that was only half a year of
collections. It'll be um about 6 million in 2025. We don't have the exact numbers yet, but so we are putting that to good use in that repair and renovate program as well as our grow fund which helps uh
developers build and preserve or renovate um both multif family and single family homes. And um so these are our priorities with those funds. Uh those funds are going to Washington County. they have entered into a five-year agreement with the CDA to
administer the vast majority of those funds, but they are using a little bit of it for um homelessness services. So, and operation of the new emergency housing services building that's being under construction right now on their campus. So, we're looking at preserving
the existing affordable housing stock that we have. So, that repair and renovate program as well as multifamily uh expanding the supply of affordable units. So that's what our grow fund um we provide funding that would be a subordinate loan to their first mortgage
or bonds or tax credits. There's a variety of way of funding um affordable housing. This fills the gaps in that those um that capital stack and then increasing access to affordable housing. So we're doing some things with our um
rental assistance program as well as um providing some home buyer grants to first generation home buyers. uh people who have generally been historically um uh eliminated from the buying process and then increasing land supply for
affordable housing. So we're looking at a few sites right now to buy for future development that the CDA would develop on. And then that is the end of my formal presentation. Uh just people that you might want to contact. Uh Carly
Schuman is our uh deputy executive director and runs all of the um home improvement loan programs and not her her own. Uh we do have a staff of 35. So uh but does all of that in the housing finance. Uh Chris Ang is our economic
development director and Ann Linquist is our housing assistance director who does all of the tenant-based rental assistance programs. And part of that new sales tax is also going to fund a state well in the metro it's funding this the metro area a state rental uh
voucher program. So this is tenant that can um use that towards uh help with their rent on their choice of an apartment within certain parameters like we don't pay luxury rents but um help and it fluctuates based on their income.
So if you know the more they earn the less we pay that kind of thing. Um that program's hopefully we've applied we're we should roll that out in January. Um but we do have the federal program right now and there's just a handful of people in Bayport that um are using that
program. One of the other programs under home improvement is our it's a county program that we do the um entry into is a septic repair and replacement program. M so um people that uh have septic um
issues that need to be either repaired or replaced that have groundwater issues can come to us. We do the front-end paperwork, turn them over to public health and environment and they do all of the um scope of work for that. We don't have a lot of people, but there are some people with septics in our
city. So yeah, there's 17,000 systems in Washington County. Vast majority of them are on the east side of the county. if you have in that in the township something. Okay. Well, that was really informative. I would love to find out how we can get some
more details to relay these options, these opportunities to our residents so we could put it in an upcoming newsletter or something cuz yeah, people don't know about people don't know about these. I didn't even know about all these things and I talked to you. I've had coffee with you a couple times. So,
um, yeah, let's figure out how we how we do that. Sarah's writing it down. Yep. Right. I will, um, we have plenty of canned articles that we could provide to you, um, that I'll share with Matt and Sarah. All right. Appreciate it. Thanks
for coming and thank you guys for coming along as well. Thank you. It's nice of you to be here. Does anyone have questions or anything? We can do that if you'd like. If anyone has comments or questions, they'd like to. Madam, mayor, I have a question. Okay, ma'am. Uh Melissa, you mentioned some statistics. Uh what can you
actually give out to us as far as who's getting helped in Bayport and stuff like that? Obviously, you can't name them specifically names, but do you have a rough idea of who has gotten loans and different stuff like that? Not to put you on the spot, but maybe just to
provide that information so we can see that it's actually getting used in Bayart. Yes. Um I Yes, I can provide you numbers. I can't provide you addresses, but that yes, we can do that. Yeah, that would be great, too, to be able to say, "Hey, look, this people are
using this program, these program. They can do it. They actually work." Yeah. Okay. Good question, Matt. Everybody else good? All right. Thanks, Melissa. Thank you. Yeah. You guys are welcome to leave. Is that what you Can we get out of here? Is that
what you said? Yeah, you can. Of course. Nice to meet you. Yeah. Nice to meet you. Thank you for coming. Yeah. All right. And then uh next up is Cody Rossman from Wolf River Electric. Welcome, Cody. Thank you. Good evening.
My name is Cody Rossman. I'm the senior project manager at Wolf River Electric and I've been working um with Simon on the solar arrays that the city of Bayport's looking to put in. Um I know there's currently been some delays with procurement on material. So, I wanted to chat a little bit about that today as well as give you guys next steps um kind
of what to expect here moving forward. Um so, I'll start with kind of the next steps. Um so, we are approved. We do have a building permit with the city of Bayport. Um the state electrical permit has been issued so we're good with the state and then also with XL Energy. They have approved of everything on the solar array. So, um all the preliminary work has been done. We are ready for
construction. Currently, we're just waiting for the solar panels to come in. Um my CEO and procurement manager have been working with Haleen. Um, we chose to go with the halen panels because, um, the federal government offers a 30% federal tax credit for these solar
systems and if you use all domestic content, you can actually up that to 40%. So using these halen modules um, will allow us to go for that 40% federal tax credit. Um, so once we get the install completed, which will be roughly a 4 to 7day actual on-site process, um,
we will move into the inspections phases, get the state electrical inspector out here. He'll sign off on everything. I'll then send some paperwork over to XL Energy. They'll uh do do a little more paperwork, make sure they're good on their end, get a meter ordered for the system and all that good stuff. And then they'll reach back out to me and let me know um we're ready to
schedule what's called the witness test, which is the day that XL Energy Wolf River will be on site. We'll test the system, make sure it's not back feeding XL Energy's grid, and then um as long as everything goes well that day, um the system would be turned on and remain active. um working with Haleen. Uh my
CEO just let me know before I came down here. We're expecting roughly 3 weeks until we have those panels in and then we'd be ready again to start an installation. Okay. And Haleen is the name of the manufacturer, correct? Yes, that that's the manufacturer of the solar panels
themselves. Gotcha. We just happened to be on a tour of our fire station before we came here tonight and Allan gave us a little bit of an update and talked a little bit about the battery that might be on site. Is that are will there be a battery storage or not? I have not heard
anything about the battery storage, but I can certainly look into that. Battery. There won't be one. Oh, okay. Hypothetical. Oh, it was a hypothetical. If there were one, it would be outside. I didn't listen well enough on the tour apparently. Okay, that's good to know cuz that sounded a little scary.
What um what's the sort of the lifespan of a system like this? you know what what's the projected you know in in 20 years are the panels so inefficient that it's time to upgrade or Yeah, absolutely. So all
the equipment is actually warrantied for 25 years. Um so you have a warranty on the panels, the micro inverters, the racking, everything for 25 years. Um, and we've actually seen some of these systems, um, we we worked with a dealer not too long ago, um, by the name of SunPower. Um, and they actually had systems that were installed in back in
the late ' 80s, early '90s that were still running at about 92% efficiency, um, up in in the 2020s here. Um so these new modules that we're seeing um kind of industry standard and what these halen ones are is about 92% efficiency after 25 years
is um and we might have had this information already and I'm probably putting you on the spot but I'm an electrician so I just have a curiosity with this stuff. Um do we have uh sort of a number that on a on a typical day
that our electricity use how how is that going to match up or where is that where's the number that it's going to kind of it's going to provide 50% of our electricity on a day like today or and I know I'm not going to hold you to any of that but kind of where are we at Allan
maybe you know that Simon mighton I think it'll boil down to comparing invoices from previous years as far as usage is concerned because the meter ticks are what's counted, right? And the solar will supplement that throughout the high because it's an ong grid system. So that's how it will be
measured long term and we have access to the records obviously of years past for electrical charges. So it'll be pretty simple. I think it will be to answer Oh, sorry. Go ahead. To answer a little more on that. Um, so I was actually looking at the original proposal too. um that was gone over um at the beginning of the
process and you guys so we we do our estimates on a yearly basis and so over the course of one year you're estimated to offset 57% of your electrical needs which is I don't quote me on the numbers but I think it's right around 53,000 kwatt hours that system should put out in one year. Yeah. Yeah, that's sort of
what I was looking at or looking for. So yeah, that's helpful. And sort of just for other people that, you know, I I know in the development I live in, there are people that have solar installations on their roofs and and we get peppered pretty good with, hey, do you want to
think about this? And so um it's just good information for people that might be um interested in it. Just to be clear, this array will not be on the roof. It will be in the It is a ground. Yep. And we plan on directionally goring um so that way there's no clean up of
the of the yard or anything out there. So not actually trenching it in. We're just going to bore. So okay, he did mention that. I was listening to that part. Okay, I'm good. Any other Matt? You got any questions? Sorry, Madam Mayor. I do not
this. All right. Thank you for coming. I really appreciate it. Whoever set that up, thank you. That was Simon. I appreciate that you come and chat with us. It'll be fun year to see a utility bill and
where we're at. The first one. Yeah. All right. Great. And that was all through a grant just to remind everyone. The city didn't pay to have this installation happen. So, we will save that. We will save that. Save your Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Thank you.
Thank you. Bye. Okay. Okay, on to unless there doesn't look like there's anyone else here. So, on to the consent agenda. Consider a resolution adopting items 1 through 10. The April 7th, 2025 city council workshop regular and closed
meeting minutes. April payables and receipts as um sent after we got our original packet and um it has been posted online as well but it was missing in our original packet but we got it later. Um the April building
plumbing mechanical and zoning permits report, fire relief association fundraising efforts to purchase a utility task vehicle for the fire department. Award quote for street spray patching services. Award the quote for micro
surfacing street preservation services. Donation request from the Bayport American Legion for financial assistance to support the Memorial Day parade and a special event application from St. Charles Church for a fall festival on
September 13th and 14th at Peril Park. Do we have a motion to adopt a resolution approving the consent agenda as presented? I have a question maybe is um Sure, John. What you got? So
the I don't remember what we used to call resurface resurfacing the streets, but is this a different system? Mhm. It is slightly different than the old put the rocks down thing just for people's edification on this. Can you uh
maybe so blame the seal coat versus microsurface versus uh spray patch? So the difference would be well the order would be spray patch goes down first to essentially level out the road. There's bumps, waves, things like that.
Alligatoring we call it. I think you can imagine what that looks like on the roads. It's it's a sign of deterioration. Um the spray patch is essentially like an elephant trunk and that'll go out and it'll patch those areas. Um you don't have to redo the
whole road. You're able to kind of spray patch areas efficiently. It's a one-man crew, one truck. Um it's very effective. It's a sticky, goopy, tacky um good source to fill in these areas.
So that'll go through. Microsurface is essentially a seal coat that's like your typical black top seal coat that you would see in a residential area. Mhm. Mixed with that chip seal
emulsion that you would see otherwise on normal county roads or something like that. Yeah. It's an oil with rock dumped on it and dust and it's a mess. They kind of mix a very fine sediment with
the sealant as well and they'll spread that over thick thicker in some areas, but at the end of it and it's held up very well. You can go check out a lot of areas. Bayport's relatively new to this game, but it's it's a nice product. It
looks nice. It gives you probably seven years. It wears just like a normal road, but if you spray patch it first and then you do that as well. Um especially in a hightra area like for this one, it's going to be the inspiration um south
entry needs it pretty badly. Yeah, it's bad. Didn't deserve necessarily complete reconstruction cuz it was holding up pretty well. This is a cost effective way to cover a lot of square footage of streets and
make it look nice. Um, smooth it out. Um, I'm not going to say you can go rollerblading on it, but pretty close. It's not bad. Um, and then you can maintain that surface the same way as you would a normal road. You can crack
seal that. Um, you can spray patch that. Um there's just really not a need to reconstruct a whole lot of roads in this area. So to do this method is pretty effective, I think, and it's cost
effective. As you can see, that's a pretty low number for these maintenance items throughout the city. Um and it's going to be done by six people probably and two trucks. Um, I I would encourage somebody at the
end of the summer to go look at the south entrance to inspiration. It It'll be a pretty big difference. You'll see. Take some before and after pictures. Yeah. Yeah. Just uh for the record, the the quote was
22,175. And there's a map of all of the many many places that look like we'll have this applied so throughout the city. To clarify, um the spray patching can be standalone and it is done a lot more places. Um the the microsurfacing
is being done on a couple of higher trafficked areas that would be effective in this case. Uh the parade route up Fifth Street and 7th for Memorial Day. Unfortunately, it won't be done in time this year, but next year it will um
it'll be be seen. um and then inspiration, but the rest is spray patching for the most part. And it it'll do a nice job of kicking the can down the road for the most part. And right now we're just approving the spray patching part. And then you're going to be doing some seal coating. Is that what
you're saying? Or is that all part of Oh, it is. Oh, okay. No, that's a great that's a great explanation. I think most people are used to the um granite chip gra I don't know what chips they are and it's worked for 100
years um but this is comparable and I think arguably it it's more um suited for a neighborhood like this is would you I mean it's sort of a this is more of a you're treating a specific problem
area rather than before it was sort of a global approach where you just say all right we're going to do from 4th Avenue North to 4th Avenue South and do six blocks at a crack or something. Yeah, you're referring to spray patching, I assume, right? Yeah, the traditional
Yeah, I mean potholeing typically was the other way to do it, too. Um, so Okay. Um, no, that answers my question. Thank you. All right. Are we ready to make a motion to adopt the consent agenda? Yeah, I'll I'll make that
motion. So moved. Seconds. Thanks, John and Carl. All right. Roll call. Council member Dell. Uh I. Council member Bliss. I. Council member Hill. I. Mayor Hansen. I. There are no public hearings and we
have no unfinished business. So on to new business. We're going to consider amendments to appendix A, subdivisions of the Bayport city code of ordinances regarding guidelines for tree replacement species and summary for publication.
Thank you, Madam Mayor, members of the council. Um, this is a pretty straightforward change. Essentially, we're including information on um or direction on how to replace trees in a subdivision. So instead of listing all
the trees that are allowed or aren't allowed um given climate change, changing diseases, different things like that, instead of listing them all, we're putting it on the developer um or the property owner to submit a plan to us um
with some direction that they have to be structurally stable. Um invasives aren't allowed. prefer native trees, but also make sure that you um account for potential climate change. Um and then
direction on how what percentage um of any single type of tree there can be um within the development. So ultimately what the developer will need to do is come up with their own plan and that will be um either approved by the city
or um as in with the current development up at Anderson we had Washington conservation district to assist us to say yeah these trees work well in that area. So, um, like I indicated, it's a simple eliminating the trees that are
currently listed. Um, and then just adding language on how we're going to regulate it moving forward. All right. Thanks, Matt. Thanks. Does anyone have any questions or comments on the change? I mean, it just seems to be simplifying it and, you know, listing
things can get complicated because things change, right? and better to not have them all listed. I did ask Matt if we should have like kind of like we do with um fees, right? You just refer to the fee
schedule, like should we have something where we update all the list of trees all the time, but we decided they decided and I agreed that it's not worth it to have a standing list of trees. So,
what is what is city approval? Is that Yeah, Council Member Bliss, essentially for for developments that come up, you're required to provide a landscaping plan and a tree replacement plan. So, their tree replacement plan would include um where they plan on cutting
down trees, removal, and then I believe our current code calls for 2:1 replacement. Um that would indicate then you would have your list, which preferably they would go to like a landscape designer for um that's what we've seen in the past. and that they're
up to um education on, you know, what works good in terms of climate change, disease, different things like that, especially moving forward um here in Minnesota. So, so we're not largely adding work to this council because we're already doing this anyways. Mhm.
Yes. Essentially, we've already kind of eliminated the list, especially with the school project and with the Anderson development. Um, essentially I had them go back and make sure that uh the tree species wasn't a certain percentage of
each one and we recommended changes to both of those of trees that are included in this list. Great. So, okay, other questions or we can make a motion here.
Um, I'll make it I'll uh move to adopt amendment an amendment to appendix A, subdivisions of the Bayport city code of ordinances regarding guidelines for tree replacement species and summary for publication.
Anyone want to say? Oh, I second. Okay. All right. One guy's gone and falling apart. I know Ethan must hold us together. All right. Thanks, John and Katie. Roll call vote. Council member Dell. I. Council member Bliss. I.
Council member Hill. I. Mayor Hansen. I. All right. Thanks. Uh that passes and we'll move on to we were going to consider amendments to chapter 54 traffic and vehicle of the Bayport city code of ordinances regarding regulations for recreational vehicles um ATVs, UTVs,
snowmobiles, golf carts, trail bikes and summary for publication of that. Um at our workshop today, we um had a great conversation about this and still had a few questions mostly about kind of
timing and whether we should be setting different time for different things and on personal property and not. And um then it kind of came up that we should possibly think about tableabling this and giving the public some more opportunity to take a look at it and
give us some of their feedback on any parts of this ordinance since it you know it was just published on on Thursday and probably didn't have enough time. So and it's been so nice out that people probably weren't sitting around reading the packet. So any that we just
thought we would um we had a great discussion and we think that there could be some more feedback from from the community on this before and we're not in a huge hurry to to make it happen. So we thought we could give it a little more time and then and table this till the next
council meeting in June. So do I need a motion to table it then? Does or does anyone else want to make any comment about that before we table it or is that a good enough explanation? Tabling it. I'll make a motion to table it. Okay. Thanks, Katie.
Second. Thanks, John. All right. Do we Did we just say all in favor when it's just tableabling? Okay. All in favor? I. Anyone opposed? Okay. It'll also give Ethan a chance to to chime in because he wasn't at the workshop today. So, all right. Um, next
is city council liaison reports. Um, Carl, you want to go first? Yeah, we uh the airports commission didn't meet this month, so Oh, okay. Nothing uh nothing new on our end. All right. We will meet actually we'll meet in May.
Okay. Wonderful. Thank you. John, you are with Watershed and that's coming up this week or did you already have it? Yep. Uh coming up this week, I will I'm going to be in attendance, God willing. Um couple things from last month that are Bayport related. Um we approved some
new water monitoring equipment. They found our current equipment was damaged. So we approved money for um it's like 2500 bucks, I think, for new equipment for um water monitoring for Peril Creek.
Um is everything okay? Oh, whoops. Sorry. Oh goodness. It's my daughter needs I know. And I got nervous cuz I'm like she doesn't usually come and I got very worried that there was an emergency. Skip me and I'll come right come right back to that. Okay. All right. Sorry. I just I thought, man, is
she just being very patient and there's an emergency at home. Okay. All right. Katie, what's going on with the decal? Uh well, they had the Easter egg hunt, so that's already done. Turned out really good. I heard we were not there.
Yeah. But yeah, it was beautiful. Uh, this weekend is the bar crawl starting at Woodies. I you can still purchase tickets on their website. Otherwise, you could buy day off as well. Um, starting at Woodies and ending at Woodies with
music. Um, the ice cream social is on June 4th. That's a Wednesday. Um, the all three churches are involved. They're going to do a food pantry donation. Um Jill at the library has a band for us and city council members and church
members will be helping scoop. Garage sales is June 6th and 7th. Um I haven't seen a post yet about it but normally they have something where you can get on their map. So that's always good. And then you can pick the maps up here at city hall and then they're at a lot of
times at holiday as well. Farmers Market will start on June 16th and then Derby Days they talk a lot about or not a lot about but that's the biggest event that they have and everything's on schedule for their Okay,
great. And they're doing a contest for the t-shirt. The t-shirt. Yeah, that was just posted, too. So, you can go on their Facebook page and see all the requirements for that and everything and make a t-shirt for Derby Days. Yeah. Yeah. And it's only kids. Like you have
to either be in our elementary school or live in the in the area to do it. So that'll be fun to see. And it has to have a duck in it. I read the rules. That'll be really cute. All right. Thanks, Katie. Do you want to finish your update? I I can. I just have two other things. Sro United um
we approved a grant for part of the they're redoing their um rain garden and getting a much more elaborate bio retention system and the other the large part of the grants coming from the conservation district. Um so it'll be I'm really interested to
see what I don't know that we're going to be able to see a lot but what they end up with there. And then just and and I meant to talk to Matt about this but it just slipped in my mind. Um, something was brought up. I think I've seen some wording in our things
before where on projects that u middle stroy watershed looks at sometimes it it will say subject to WO approval when it's were not a body
that can approve or deny things. So, they were just asking that cities get away from that practice. I don't know that Bayport's a big guilty party of that, but we the councils of the cities are the governing bodies. We just take
input from the WMO. And so it was throwing people for a loop and sort of putting us in the crosshairs, putting the WO in the crosshairs when they really need to go back to their city and discuss those things. So yeah, but that
is it for April. Okay. Thanks. All right. I um had let's see we're still working on updating the city website and so we um talked to the company that's doing it
for us is Munibit I think is how you say it and they did a demo of their online payment system for us. So we had quite a few staff people there and I was there just to kind of learn more about how it might work. So we're Lucas had this in his update as well. we'll be moving
towards some of the simpler online payments first and see how that goes. And so that's kind of exciting moving into the new century. Um I spent three days at the Washington County Emergency Preparedness Program. It was a free
program at the Armory. Um I was invited by Doug Bergland who is in charge of all of that. It was by invitation only and um there's only a couple mayors there and some city council people but it was very very interesting. We actually um
had a scenario. Day one was just kind of teaching us about they kind of scared us, you know, here showing us a bunch of videos of all the things that could go wrong at like events, things like that. And then day two was a scenario where uh
someone drove a car into the Afton parade. Goodness. Yes. And there were Afton people there. Specifically the um the council member who also plans their parade was at this thing. So it was very he took it very personally and there was
actually a motion and it was very it was it was a beautifully planned day and there was a lot of learning. So we actually it treated it like that was what was happening. We were in the policy room. They would come to us with questions and kind of just to understand how all that could work. We even had um
the mayor of uh Wauaasha, Wisconsin came. They had someone drive into their parade. I don't know if you recall that. So, he shared how that experience went for him as a mayor. So, it was it was a very interesting program. If you ever get an invitation to that in the future
as a council member or whatever, I would recommend it. Um I also went to the regional council of mayors meeting. Um, let's see. I My notes are very bad. It says Met I think
it was Met Council and the Metro Transit people were there and they provided some updates on what's going on with them. We broadly discuss federal and state updates that are affecting cities, but not not much that was really um too much to take away this time. Attended the fire relief association
meeting. Again, markets aren't great, but we're not worried about the funds. I think everything's going to be fine. We talked a little bit about that UTV fundraiser that's on this agenda. Um, and let's see, we unfortunately had
the meeting to accept Simon Worth's resignation as our public works director. So, I don't know if that's been publicly announced, but very sorry to to see Simon go at what what's the
last day? June 3rd. June 3rd. So, still some projects we're working on together before that. And uh yeah, we'll be very sad to see Simon go. Um I attended the library board meeting. Um Jill checked
in on her strategic plan progress and realized she hasn't really been having f time to do that. So, she's go back and make sure she's You know how that happens, right? Stuff. Yes. Um, and then we reviewed um
the policy for requesting consideration of like removing materials from the library and just making sure that that appeal process is in place and everything makes sense and all that we have to worry about nowadays. She doesn't have that happening, but you
never know um if it would happen. Went to the First State Bank and Trust Chamber Mixer event where they celebrated the remodel. I don't know if you've been in there. It's beautiful. Yeah. Yeah. And um some ambassador. I'm a chamber ambassador. Some of those meetings to keep uh reminding them that
Bayport is also part of the Greater Still Water Chamber and some ribbon cutings where I got to announce the the bar crawl and things coming up in Bayport. Um I had another conversation with Derek Jagger from he's the new executive director at Community Thread
because he they had made some staffing changes. um specifically letting go of the two people that were working at the Bayport location, which brought some concern to me. So um and he tried to assure me that they're not closing the Bayport location. He's just making some
changes as um in his new position. Let's see. Still walking working with uh Simon on the walkability study and uh am excited that we have the involvement of an a resident who has expertise in this area. she wants to
help us. Carrie Christensen. Um, so super good news and she's going to be joining us at a meeting with um, Safeep in a couple days tomorrow. I can't remember. It's coming up sometime. Thursday. Um, and then I will be
attending the groundbreaking tomorrow. I think several of us might might be there for the new school. So that's very exciting. 400 p.m. on site. I assume wear shoes you don't mind getting dirty since they actually already did break
ground. That'll work. But that's that's my report. Um Matt, do you want to I think maybe I just want to make sure. I think you made it kind of clear, but Simon is leaving
of his own valition and he's been nothing but employee for us and has done a great job. So, yes, I'm sorry if I wasn't sad to see you go. Yes, I am very sad. I've had to stop talking about it because I was getting emotion. So, yeah, very sad
to see Simon go. So, thank you for giving me the time. Important to get that out for the public. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Mayor, members of council. Um staff reports. Um Fire Chief Eisinger. Good evening, Madame Mayor and
Council members. Um for the month of April, our call volume was 82 compared to 100 in 2024. Our 2025 year to date is 389 compared to 379 in 2024. Our monthly drills were
Excel uh Energy Tour. the quarterly EMS or fire inspections are ongoing. Uh past meetings for April, we had uh members attend the FDIC conference. Uh attended the Stillwater Area Lacrosse game, uh
West Lakeland 2025 road project, precon fire advisory board that got cancelled at the last minute that we're rescheduling it. Um we have the Save Station ribbon cutting at Stillwater Area High School. I don't know if you see u saw it on the news where we had
that uh young member last year. Uh they did put that uh safe station out there about $7,500. I'm encouraging uh West Lakeland and uh Lucy went in Bells to put one there and they're also encouraging us to take a look at it. Um
these are safe stations or defibrills that stay out there 24 hours a day, 365 days. They've got their own heater in them. They're connected to a uh phone or a IP uh device that as soon as somebody takes it out, 911 gets called and we get
dispatched. So, um they've got 20 this this was their 22nd one that they've put in since they lost their son in 2022. So, they're really dedicated to it and um we like to see more of them going through. So, um you'll probably be hit
up because they they know who what cities we cover. Oh, um anniversaries uh for April or Dustin Vincent with 10 years, Brandon Johnson with 19, myself with 24 years.
Wow. Um Jason Severson with 30 years. Um upcoming events, we have the Washington County Fire Chiefs and tomorrow I get to herd kittens. I mean, I'm sorry. We have the kindergarten class coming to tour the fire station and that's such fun. It
is. Wow. They got a lot of energy. Yeah, with that I stand for questions. I know what the FDIC is, but I don't think it's the same FDIC. What does that stand for? Uh, you know, fire department instructors conference. So, yeah, it's not the No, we're not loaning money or
anything. So, all right. Well, congrats on 24 years. Thank you. Yeah. And 30 for Jason. Wow. Thanks, Alan. Thank you, Alan. Um, Police Chief Jackson Madam Mayor, uh council members, um a
couple things. Uh we did get word that the uh there's some people that are concerned about the speeding. Again, that's come up seems to come up every so often online. Um I would encourage everyone to reach out to me so we can get specifics on where timing. Um email is the best way to get a hold of me and
then I can triage it from there to the officer that needs to handle it. Uh so we did get a couple complaints and a request to to use the speed sign. So, we did get that uh put out there. My goal is to have that out as much as we can this summer. So, if anybody has specific areas of concern, we're happy to add it
to the list and get it out to that location. Um we've also had a lot of or the council had mentioned um the two-hour parking near Anderson windows um has been an issue. So, we've been trying to increase our enforcement area in that um as well. So, my guys have
been hitting that pretty hard along with the speeding stuff. So today I actually was able to join um officer Cornell and officer Tesy out on the street today for a little bit to do some speed enforcement and we were on Main Street um and then also on Sixth Street. So hopefully uh with the weather getting
nice and people seem to just drive a little bit faster, we'll uh try and address some of those issues. Um our public safety events um we participated in the um public safety appreciation night with the boys lacrosse team. Um, we also did the Easter egg hunt and then
coming up in just a little bit over a week. Um, we have the um, uh, scam and fraud presentation that we're doing up at the community thread. I was invited to go up there again and partner with First State Bank. So, on May 13th, we're
going to do that at 2:30 p.m. So, it is open to anybody that would like to attend. Then, obviously, we have the parade and then the ice cream social we'll be at. And then don't forget those with uh safety camp age children. July 14th and 15th is our new date. Um we are
separating that from night to unite this year uh just to make it a little bit easier for our staff. Um but as with anything, just reach out via email if you have any questions about anything. So I will stand for any questions. Council has Thank you. Yeah, just thank you for
being engaged and looking at, you know, social media and and I think you've said before, I mean, the majority like in terms of speeding, it's your neighbors, folks. So, let's be courteous neighbors and slow down for each other. Yeah. And depending on, you know, where the neighborhoods are, you know, like
inspiration, I would say 98% of everyone that's being inspiration are inspiration residents. Yeah. Most people are just driving through there. This isn't a pass through neighborhood. you know, some of the speeding we get on, you know, Main Street, for example, is some Anderson Windows traffic. So, we try and educate as much as we can and uh get out there
and hit different locations. So, yeah. And to be clear, Main Street has an E on the end. It's not Highway 95, what some people think is our main street, but yeah. Okay. Thank you for all you're doing. Thank your officers, public works director worth,
uh, mayor, members of the council. Um, this past month really, um, has been a little little slower out outdoors. Um, as far as the the main projects are concerned, waiting on some things. Uh, Barker's Elps will start up again. Uh, the solar array, it was nice of Cody to
stop in. I appreciated that. He did a very nice job, I thought. Um, we have some irons in the fire. Um, we have the 3MP POS uh, priority two, excuse me, two grant that, um, we're awaiting uh, response from the state has been submitted. Um, currently working on the
walkability study as Mayor Hansen indicated. Um, seems to be growing, so that's fun. Yeah. Um, let's see. There's a new rain garden going in um, soon on the corner, just Kitty Corner from the city hall over by the church there. Um, that'll be a
pretty neat project. it it should go in pretty quick, but uh keep an eye out for that. Um start ash asht tree inventory here pretty quickly. Um now that the leaves are budding, so we can start figuring out which trees we're going to start replacing here one to one.
Um minor projects around town. Uh everybody else can read, I'm sure, but um for the most part, as as uh the mayor indicated, uh I will be stepping back from my role. And thank you for the kind words there, John. Um, decided I believe
it was uh I Matt kind of indicated that I I should have let him know right before the council meeting last time. So, it was before the council. We discussed it after the council meeting last uh last month. So, um, apologize for the timing, but it just, uh, just
felt right and um, plan to just take some take a step back, take some time, recharge, spend some time with the family and, uh, force deciding what's next. But, it's been an honor. It's been quite an opportunity. Bayport is a very welloiled machine, and it's been a true
pleasure to be a part of something that uh, means business, and it's all business, and I love it. So, it's been it's been a lot of fun. I've learned a lot, met a lot of great people. Um, can certainly call on me anytime. Um, be happy to happy to interact with anybody
I've met. So, um, it's it's been a lot of fun. Um, just just um to take take a step back, but I appreciate the opportunity for sure. So, with that, I stand for questions. No, ju just
piggybacking on that and again to just it was um I had an an opportunity to get Simon on the phone in my real life career outside of here with a a city related thing and it was it was so refreshing to call a number. Simon
answered on the first or second ring. We talked it through and I mean it it's it's it's so rare these days you don't get put on hold and you can actually talk to the person that can make things happen and it's uh um you'll be missed
and so in your short time here you I couldn't agree more and to get a phone call from somebody who's engaged and then to have somebody who I can send out as a staff from the city who's engaged who knows the people who's worked I mean it's just a wonderful community really
great interaction. So, thank you for that. It will be missed. Yeah. Thanks. I I want to just say how much I've appreciated how you do get stuff done and how you've um kind of jumped on the bandwagons of all my crazy ideas and we've gotten some really cool things
done as a result. So, yeah, going to miss you a lot. So, well, I'll be around for another month. I know. I think that's what it's going to months go by fast. Take for sure to to hand some things off. So, yeah. Um, I appreciate it. No, and I'm glad you're doing what's what's best for you.
You know, you need to take care of yourself if that's what you need to do. So, appreciate it. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for everything. All the grants that you sign up for and everything. Yeah. I love that. Yeah. It's great. So, it's great for us and
we'll miss you. Thank you. I can't just text now when I have a problem. who worn the new mat. Pretty nice. Yeah, worn mat for a while. He's got pretty big shoes to fill for Oh, yeah. Really does. Yeah. Um and I do have an asht tree in my front yard. Is it on the list? I know you do. Okay, good. My husband is very
worried that you're going to, you know, it's going to get lost in the shuffle because Simon's not It is written on the file. Don't worry, it's not getting missed. All right. Thank you so much, Simon. You bet. All right. All right. Thanks, Simon. Um, Assistant
Administrator Taylor. Madame Mayor, members of the council, uh, planning commission meeting will be held on Monday, June 23rd at 6 p.m. Agenda items include a final plat and plan unit development plan for the Bay Haven development by Pratt Holmes. And
also the MA multifamily component now has been decided on at 70 units and at home is the name of the company that will be doing that part of the project. Um we also have extensive remodel projects at 10 and 13 point road and
these are mostly reconstruction to comply with flood plane regulations. Um we also have a zoning ordinance amendment to provide 50% impervious surface credit for decks within the R2 zoning district. And finally uh zoning ordinance amendments to clarify the
definitions and regulations for recreational vehicles and recreation camping vehicles. And this kind of um ties into the discussion we had at the workshop today. Um the zoning code conflicts with chapter 54 of the regular code and some of the definitions for
recreational vehicles. So, we're just going to want to clean some of that up to be consistent. Smart. Um progress on city council goals and tasks since last month include researching completion dates for previous park improvements since they were implemented in 2004. and
this will assist in identifying outstanding improvements when the city council discusses priorities for upcoming projects. Uh we also did a draft ordinance update for the wreck vehicles and golf carts that we discussed as well as the impervious surface credit for decks. Um and
finally, EV upgrades at city hall will be completed in the coming weeks. and that relates mostly to the conference room um to make that a little more um conducive to meetings and offering um a screen so we can broadcast um different
presentations that way. So um lastly, everybody noted already the um groundbreaking event for the new school tomorrow at 4 p.m. Uh Memorial Day parade will be held on May 26th at 8 a.m. And just a reminder, that will also
be closed. City offices will be closed on Monday the 26th. So stand for questions. Thanks. I had I need to like write stuff down as soon as it pops into my head cuz I had some question and now I can't remember it. H I just really appreciate
we we we by that I mean you guys because we don't do anything. But just in terms of the ordinances, I really say let's look at that ordinance and then maybe I appreciate being proactive with that stuff and it really it matters. That stuff really
does matter and it makes maybe future councils and mayors jobs and and staff's job a lot easier. So I appreciate all the work that's been happening to that end. So I can kind of add to that too, John. I should have mentioned this when the ordinance came up in uh in the
regular meeting, but the reason we're tableabling it is the city staff did a great job putting it together. Um we would love any resident input uh as well. So if you're watching this, go through the packet. It's worth
um but we're waiting a month. Just we'd like to hear from you as well. Thanks. Thank you. Yeah, I think my comment was um just again that park improvement discussion. We will be having our June workshop will be about that and
I will get my job done which is um trying to summarize a couple of those binders and I it's just setting aside the time. It doesn't it hasn't really taken months to do it. It's just me setting aside the time. So I'm almost done and then I'll get that to you and we can kind of piece everything together
and we can have something ready for the June workshop for us all to look at. But there's a lot of things to talk about. It'll be an exciting conversation about where we should go next in planning for our parks. That's fun stuff. Yeah, for sure. So, thank you, Sarah. You're
welcome. Mayor, members of the council, um just a couple of short things. Just to piggyback on the Bayport Elementary School, as mentioned, there's groundbreaking tomorrow. Um they have been moving forward fairly quickly with their water and sewer mains. They have all been installed and I believe
foundation and footing work um has been started um as we speak this week. Um so I'm sure um you'll soon start to see a structure come up in place um which will be cool. Um city is currently in the
process of seeking candidates for both the fire full-time fire chief position um and unfortunately the public works director position. Um the fire chief position closes on May 15th and the um public works director position closes on
the 22nd. Um interviews will be conducted shortly thereafter um with onboarding for both of those jobs sometime in July or August. Um just an update on uh two-point road and 18point road.
um the uh default judgment um that was moving forward, the city has been awarded default judgment for those properties um due to for non-compliance with the city zoning code. Um so the result of that judgment is that the city
is allowed legally to move forward with cleanup of that property. Now, there's a whole ton of butts um to that statement. Uh and Chief Jackson and Attorney Johnson and I will be meeting on Thursday kind of to
put all those butt statements together. Um and then get back to you. Um probably at the June meeting would be my guess or June workshop. um we're not missing I mean we've waited this long
essentially for this to happen um and because of the property owner's ability to appeal um we're not missing out on on a lot of time at that point so um and then finally the League of Minnesota city salary survey the city staff has
completed that annual survey which is essentially a survey presented to Minnesota cities and counties to provide like their salary range and a couple of different things um in one conglomerate study essentially um and the city will
be looking at that to review the non-union staff um for comparable and equitable salary for the coming year. Um one other item of note um the city did receive word that we were awarded the
safe routes to school grant um in the amount of $311,000. Amazing. That's awesome. That will be for the installation of sidewalk, the missing two blocks of sidewalk um from
8th Avenue North to the city park. So with that with no assessments no assessments along Fifth Avenue 8th street to no assessments with that. Yeah. So the city that's only for the construction
cost of or the estimated construction cost, excuse me. um of the work, the city is still um liable or on the hook for the engineering costs. Okay. Uh with that, I'll stand for questions.
Do you any idea when did did I miss like when that project might kick off timeline? Yeah. So, um John Prod is putting together a city engineer um is putting together a proposal for completion of like the plan set survey
work for approval at the June council meeting. Once that gets approved, there's probably a chance that we could put everything together, bid it, and get it completed this winter. Um but the um
the grant goes through 2026. So, um, the hope would be to do it this year and if we can do it, we will definitely make that push. I hope so. Thank you. How are we looking for the Barker's Dirt parking lot grand opening? Wait, before I move on to that, can I just mention that you
did go and speak to all of the homeowners along that stretch just for council's information so they're aware that it's happening. Okay. Now, how are we doing with the dirt parking? Good question. That is a very good question. And I haven't got an an update on that,
but the projection was not until June to actually have a gravel parking lot for use. So, and I just made a note um on my walk today that we should start talking about the new sign that we'll want in
the park to match the other park signs. It sounds like we'll probably use our dedication funds for that, but I just remember in the past it took a while to find the right rock and all of that cuz, you know, we put it on a rock. So, I don't know if we want to start that process or how long Madame Mayor uh
members of the council um Mary in the office actually got a quote a number of months ago. So, there's three rocks that they proposed tossed out there um as being a possibility. I believe the one that
probably was would work the best was about $6,000 if I remember correctly. in and relative to how much in park dedication fees, just so people know, we're not using it all up on a sign. It's it's a very small fraction of what
we will be getting. Yeah. And that cost, sorry, Madame Mayor, that that cost did not include like sight prep, um concrete base or or delivery or setting the stone. So, that's just the rock basically. Any of that stuff inhouse or
you guys I don't I don't think we're setting a five ton rock or whatever it is with our crane on the back of the sewer truck. No, sorry. Okay. What is this? Does anyone have any
other announcements or items they'd like to talk about? No. Make a motion. I move to adjourn the meeting. All right. Thank you, Katie and Carl. All in favor? I I All right. could
be a journey.