I don't have anything written down in front of me Connie I don't know how to start here I'm G to give you this March it's Monday March 17th happy St Patrick's Day will'll call to order the city of branded personnel and finance committee meeting and we'll start with introductions Alman at large Kevin stun
Connie Hillman Finance director Sean strong technology director James CR community development director Kelly bans city council Tim's fire Brer dispatch Chris Sher HR Director Jess City and Gabe Johnson chair of the committee we have
six items tonight the first of which is to authorize the technology department Renovations using Peg Channel funds Sean uh so tonight we have uh a couple of items or situations that are coming together in my opinion fairly favorably
uh we have some expenses that were going to occur in the integration of the technology department that weren't budgeted for because the budget was set before the integration was decided on and we have a peg Channel that's not being uh staffed appropriately so
recommending that we withhold funds that cover a good portion of those expenses so the recommendation for you to consider is uh whether or not to go ahead with the reh holding withholding of the funds to the cable channel for lack of Labor and to use that towards
the expenses that were going to ur integrating I would agree with that I make that motion I sack at it we have a motion and a second any other discussion I have one well two really this would have been
helpful before we decided to integrate Connie make note Finance integration is on the agenda sometime in the future what type of expenses are we going to incur just incidental with office spaces whatever that would be nice to know up
front I do support the motion secondly since the technology department is the technology department for all of our general funds and all of our Enterprise funds we shouldn't be taking just the peg Channel money I think there should be some Enterprise funds cost
sharing into this there will be okay any other discussion I mean some of this stuff is just for City Hall like adding the the door keys that kind of stuff to make our facility to have room to house them but
I would say like the desks and the laptops and the software will be split out between the utility and the city maybe we can get a grant from the Lakes area media collaborative since I'm trying to build out this interest
free it's a grant man yeah there's no interest okay all in favor say I oppose same sign that motion carries discuss orderly annexation of Riverside Drive James thank you Mr chair I'll start this off uh so City staff have held meetings with Crowing County staff uh regarding
the proposed annexation of a portion of Riverside Drive all properties proposed for annexation are in unorganized first assessment territory uh so the way this process works is one or more municipalities by joint resolution with the county May designate an unincorporated area in which there is no organized Township or government as in
need of orderly annexation it is then reviewed by an administrative law judge um after that uh so that's just kind of designating the area um then an orderly annexation agreement would have to be formulated and approved by both parties um at least 10 days before municipality
or Township Township adopts an orderly annexation agreement a notice must be published in the newspaper upon receipt of resolution for annexation of part of the designated area the chief administrative law judge shall set a time and place for a hearing in accordance with um State Statute section
41409 with that I'll turn it over to Cony to discuss the rural Service District so we've had a um attachment the packet was a policy that was adopted in 1995 um staff and interpretation and how the policy has been applied that if a
property is annexed in and water and sewer is available then the property be placed in the urban service dist District if not available then the rural Service District once Water and Sewer does become available then it moves to the urban service District as well the last time the property was added or
subtracted from the rural Service District was in 2020 when the property with the address of 9089 delmare Drive was added to the rural Service District the res president was requesting to be added to the rural Service District because he was not served by city water
and sewer and that is when I asked to get rid of the rural Service District so here we are March 17th 2025 right on right on night and if you'd like to know Jesse Dean is here to discuss um which areas are currently not serviced by those
utilities if you have questions I do okay but I want to back up to gabes thing yeah I kind cuz that's part of where you started your presentation not because I think it's the most important issue because I almost disagree with you
and here's why I happen to know that person on delmare drive and they have property sizable property and they don't have access to sewer and water and they got annexed under
somewhat unfortunate circumstances we had a council member that thought that that was the best thing to do for the city of Brainard and went on an annexation spree and the only fair way at the time that we could come up with to to handle
people like that was to give them a break on their on on their tax taxes yes yes it's a classification of tax so and and I kind of think that because I think you you have
people not only on delmare but in other places that don't that are that are already in the city of brainer due to those circumstances that would probably complain if they had to pay full rate taxes the property is basically I don't want to say it's nonusable or
non-developable but it certainly doesn't have access to S water so that makes it harder so I might disagree with you on that to give them a break because they're already in the city so they're kind of suck they're stuck so I I think we're I think we're we're in agreement I'm already at the middle ground with it
where I want to eliminate it for future use but everybody we've given this to promised it to Y we shouldn't go back on that I would agree with you 100% on that to no longer in the future use the rural Services District as far as the orderly
annexation agreement somebody read that out of the book I don't think that's anything of pertinence to this issue the issue and I sent the email to you and then it got passed on to Jesse I thought the issue is we changed our deferred assessment policy to include interest in
perpetuum I I think that that we need we need to relook at our connection fees for those people like the guy last year who an next in what and then and I the question I asked Jesse or or or James
was I can't remember what the initial connection view was I want to say it was $30,000 or something like was something astronomical and we cut it back to 2017's amount I think does that make
sense 11,300 yeah how much like 11,300 like 11,300 and if I was in the city of Brainard and had to pay an assessment plus interest higher than 11,300 and I'll pretty much guarantee a property
sized lot similar sized lot would be a lot more than 11,00 300 I'd be pissed that connection fee should stay consistent with an equalized slot of somebody who's been in the city of Brainard since the
project and that was my comment on relooking at this not the procedure for for going through an orderly annexation although I understand you may want to have it all as one unit I don't think he answered my questions at all how much
should it be based on the assessment policy we developed the connection fee policy that we developed in 2005 or whatever it was what was the attorney thinking when he came up with the fact
that if you on the on the um assessed properties the Deferred assessments that if you don't that if you sell the property you don't have to pay off the assessments everybody has to do that but not country manner and that isn't fair although the council
said it was fair 6 to1 but I would disagree that that is not fair um we could have raised what we gave them to cover the thing but they still should have the person who sold the property should have paid for it if I have an
assessment on my house I I I can't transfer that assessment can I no no but if your country manner you can you can stick it to every count every other taxpayer that isn't fair so I say that the buck stopped with country man or they are
paying it no the buck stopped with the people who sold it to country man they should have been ordered to pay it at the time of closing I have to do that Gabe has to do that everybody has to do that but not not on Riverside Drive
right so those are my issues not the assessment not the orderly annexation policy with cway c and that is still coming the or the assessment policy is still coming we and the connection fees need to be part of that because if we're going to go with this annexation we need
to be prepared with connection fees and let people know what where they're at and you need to look at what people are paying on original assessments plus interest which now includes interest on so they're so they stay the same and
they move at the same rate so 10 years from now since obviously these are internal which it just shocks me and I was part of the council so I'll take the blame but um you know you don't
want somebody paying their assessment plus interest 10 years from now and having it be twice as much as somebody who wasn't in the project in the first place that isn't fair and I think we're getting a little bit confused between Beaver Dam and Riverside Drive Riverside
Drive had the connections Beaver Dam had the assessments you don't think there's people in Beaver Dam that aren't in the city of I can take you to a house right now right next to Chuck right next to Mar or's father's house where Mar OD day lives now right next door he's in the
city of or outside of the city of brard but in the city of brard he's the sewer and water goes right in front of us and that's not on Beaver down so we'll have to look into it more I guess I can the map is in there roll it up to the map you can see the map you can see where
all the non City rer properties are all that all that clear stuff going right down to the river all the red stuff or no the red stuff is City red stuff is not City not City BR there's a ton the red the red areas are the areas
that we're proposing with the order the annexation yeah but there's going to be connection fees involved and they have to be comparable to people who paid their assessment or pay or didn't pay their assessment deferred it plus the
interest they have to be otherwise otherwise you get a tremendous Advantage for hanging out as long as possible so I think what we're trying to discuss tonight is what do we do from here do we proceed with the orderly Annex do you want to amend the policy what do we want
to do here so right now or get rid of the policy was and then if we eliminate the rural Service District how do we handle the current Parcels this is what is on here is how we handle annexation if they put them in the rural Service District Urban Service District some of
these Parcels are don't have water and sewer available some do so how do you want us to proceed I would like to see us amend the policy to eliminate the RSD going forward but honoring the promises we made in the past yep I would agree
and I would like to also put together an orderly annexation policy for those people not in the city of Brer now obviously if they're not on sewer and water there's no connection fee so they're say whatever that connection
fee is and col I think it was 20 grand it was over 20 grand it was over 20 grand last time we did this which was the guy at the end of or the guy on the Riverside Drive it was expensive but he's still way behind still way below at 11,3 he's way below somebody who paid
their assessment or paid their or hasn't paid their assessment plus interest he got a heck of a deal sitting outside the city of brard forever for 15 years and that isn't fair either of course he didn't have S and water either he did it was sitting up there he just didn't hook
up until he decided to hook up H up so I think the whole thing should go forward I think what Gabe said should move I think we should have a policy with Crowing County I think we should have we've already adjusted the interest rates on deferred assessments I think we
need to figure out where the where the right con ction fee is because this is an annexation this is people who are not in the city of Brainard I don't I think if you come into the city of Brainard and you're happen to be at a property with no City and with no Shore and water
then obviously you don't have to connect you don't have it but you will pay an assessment once it goes up there can I ask a question so when I'm looking at that little chart that you have up there um it shows what they would be paying if they're in unorganized territory and I can't read
it from here it's like $ if they are put into the city in the rural Service District at 52% they're going to be paying 700 at $68 so they're going to pay paying $500 more for no more services they're not getting water or
sewer and if they do have the water and sewer is this right James and they're going up to all you're all you're saying Chris is the city government wastes money exponentially higher than the County government does that's all you're saying I wouldn't say that they have
different they have different expenses being in a first assessment District versus a city right they get a police department and I just wanted my thought was why would someone Annex if they're going to have to pay they $500 more they
probably wouldn't and they don't so this is really a mood point but if we go with the orderly annexation we're just agreeing with the county to take the properties whether they want to be in or not so they would have to adopt a joint resolution otherwise it becomes contested they
wouldn't the county and the city the count the county the county represents the unorganized exactly yeah so staff staff I guess is looking you know for direction our recommendation is is to not proceed with orderly annexation if we have the rural Service District
policy that we want to revisit and amend um as well as we're working through the um the other policy so it would be staff Rec to not proceed with Orly annexation until those things are cleared up okay let's let's get a motion to clear up the That's con and the rural Service
District move second okay we have a motion in a second to move forward on eliminating the rural Service District in the future and setting the connection fees for setting the table for an order annexation process and Riv Side Drive
down and just to provide clarification to we keep saying 50% 52% % 52% the actual rural service district rate for 2024 was just under 31% it's 52% of the city's rate plus the amount for our debt Levy so when we say it's not 52% it's
52% of the city's general tax rate plus Deb just a clarification I think this is a moot point because I don't think anybody and I'm not being disrespectful about how wonderful the city of Brainard is but nobody's going to Annex in
without Sor water why I mean I'm sorry it hasn't happened yet except for where Sheila forced him to right I mean it is it hasn't since up in my 22 years nobody's come up and said boy I'd really like to pay more taxes to be in the city of brard without sewering
water they all want Ste water that's why we ran it out to the airport all in favor say I po same sign that motion carries next up ratify the hiring of Courtney to Shane Chris so we received 41 applications for a police records
management Tech position with 10 candidates interviewed we offered the position to courtne to Shane who started with us on March 5th at step one which is 2532 per hour recommend that ratifying her hiring all right so second
we have a motion and a second I'll note again there were 41 applications for the job so people are interested in working for the city just not annexing in they don't want to live here they want to pay they want to pay for the people to work here they would love to work
here all in favor say I post same sign that motion carries next up ratify the Aon Anderson reclassification Chris so on March 3rd the council approved an Mo MOA with the administrative support Union setting the wages for a technology department all vacant positions were
posted internally and one employee applied for the technology coordinator position staff recommends to reclassify Aaron Anderson to the tech coordinator position effective March 18th further that he be placed on step seven of the tech coordinator wage grid a couple things to note typically our employee
policy manual requires that the employee be placed on the step that is at least 3% higher than the current wage because he's already being paid at step seven and he's on that same grid we can't follow that practice just bringing that to your attention the other thing is is
currently Mr Anderson is exempt from overtime in his previous technology supervisor position with the integration into the single technology department and since the coordinator position is represented by the union he will now be eligible for overtime for the Union
contract Provisions staff's recommendation is to reclassify Aaron Anderson to the technology coordinated position effect of March 18th and they be placed on step S I move second any discussion I I have
a question do you think he and really I wish isan was here what do you think the expected overtime will be we don't know for sure um he know Aaron does some it'll be significant until we fill
those and part of what we do this Union contract does allow some flexible use of time as well so if they need to work a night maybe they can come in a little bit later depending on what their schedule is they don't have to be paid over time it's up to the employee if they want to or not so got it if they
want something Supervisor has mutually AG well some people don't they would rather have the time off they rather have the take the comp time inste it's that life work balance thing yeah okay all in favor say I I po same
sign that motion carries next up let's ratify a contract November 19th an arbitration hearing was held regarding our 22 2024 through 2026 IW contract representing public utility employees on January 30th we received arbitrator
Kelly's decision in addition during mediation on August 16th the city and the union reach a tentative agreement on several other items the recommended action is to ratify the attached tenative agreement summary and arbitrator Kelly's decision regarding
the contract and to adopt um or resolution setting the 24 through 26 wages for this Union I have one question Mr chair does this go retroactive yes why did they do that um this we got the wages Kelly come
on I I know I know but it just seems like it's benefiting it's rewarding belligerant I'm just suggest so one thing that we put in the tenative agreement is they had to be an active employee so if someone has left since
January of 20124 they will not get the back pay so that is something that we have put also into our employee policy manual now as well this is more me just being crappy not speaking against I I I would move that we sign this second we have a motion a second and I I don't
disagree with you at all but we got the big win we got the wages we got we got what needed to be done to keep moving in the right direction thank you Team all in favor say I I oppose same sign that motion carries crowin County
Historical Society donation Connie yes so um the Historical Society has requested a donation from the city of Brainard donations by a city are prohibited unless specifically authorized by Statute of Charter there was information in the packet and a
donation to a historical society is allowed in fact we can uh donate up to 02418 per of estimated market value for a historical society the letter from the Historical Society does not request a specific amount historically the city
has donated $500 as you can see from the history although the donation is not specifically budgeted for in 2025 it could be paid out of the special project uh budget line item which was budget at 28,000 for 2025 nothing has been spent
or allocated from this budget as we have done in the past is we repaid this out from in the past so haven't we spent some of that money I thought we spent some of that money not this year we haven't okay well what do you got Kevin I make a
motion we donate to 500 second any discussion I just thought it was hilarious that they send a 17-page request with all the documentation to why we can give them money and don't ask for anything that they don't ask for I gave you all the documentation they only
sent the letter and they still didn't ask for they they all they sent was the onepage letter I was giving you all the information as to why we canle so they could do the calculation of our tax rate and blah blah blah what our maximum is and ask for probably significantly more
almost just under 296,000 would be our Max that'd be a lot of money how much 296,000 to the Historical Society would be allowed we should get a plaque first a statute you can do the percentage our estimated market value is just
$297,000 you're getting off easy with 500 bucks well we actually if you look back there there's some 300s and 400 we didn't have the money all in favor of 500 say I I we had carries checks to Lakes area media
collabor