Briner City Council. It is Monday, May 19th, 2025, 7:30 p.m. in council chambers. Tony, please call the role. Chazak here. Johnson here. Stunn. Jagger. Yep. Erikson. Beven here. OD here. Bed here. Please stand for the
pledge of allegiance. I 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.
All right. Next, we have the approval of the agenda. Looking for a motion. So move Jagger. Second. Motion by Jagger. Second by Stunic. Any discussion? Seeing none, let's go to a vote. All in favor? I against. same sign. We have an agenda. Number five, we have the consent
calendar. This is a notice to the public that all matters listed are considered routine by the council and will be enacted by one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless good cause is shown prior to the time the council votes on the motion to be adopted by roll call. Do you have a
motion? Motion to approve the consent calendar. Second. Motion by Chzach. Second by Ericson. Any discussion? None. Go to a vote. All in favor? I against resolution. Oh. Oh. All right. Tony, call the role. Chazach, yes.
Johnson, yes. Dunick, yes. Jagger, yep. Ericson, yes. Beans, yes. Odate, yes. That passes. Uh, next we have public forum. This is time allocated for citizens to bring matters not on the agenda to the attention of the council. Time limits
may be imposed. As usual, we'll try to keep it under three minutes. If you're here for something that you've already spoke on in the past, I'd uh recommend just letting the new people come up first, you can still come up and speak. Um hopefully you have new information compared to last time if you already
spoke as well. But at this time, if there's anybody here that would like to address the council, please come forward. Please just give us your name and address. Um, so my name is Pam Bolio. I address 2540 130th Street Southwest Pillager.
However, the seven organizations I volunteer with are all located in Brainard. So I come tonight with more of a curiosity. Um, so I know Brainer has somebody or a phone number that you can call if you see like a stray animal or a
wounded animal or an abandoned animal and somebody will come and take that animal and take it to a shelter where it will get food, water and have safe place to sleep. So my curiosity is why is not
that extended to human beings? you know, if we do it for the animals in this area, why is it not available to human beings? Now, I realize I'm not going to get an answer tonight, but I would like for the council to just be thinking about that, that if that's something we
offer to animals, pets, sometimes people abandon them, whatever it is. Um, the other thing I would like to say is that last time when I was here, I was hurt by a comment that was made that we were entertainment. And I guess the people
that I know that came here last time, they came because they had a decision made by the council that was really heavy on their hearts. We did not come to be entertainment. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Please come up. My name is Randy Wickham. I live at 710 South 8th Street in Brainard, Minnesota. Um, I've spoke in front of the council, not the last time, but the time before when we were hoping to get a better outcome for the shelter being open. And I took the time
to email every single one of you, and I only got one response. I'm not I'm not emailing to start issues. I want to have a actual conversation and figure out what we can do to make sure that our housed community feels safe enough to have a safe place for our unhoused
community. These are the most vulnerable of our population. And I I know it's uncomfortable and it's like there's not the best things that come about it, but also where where are we supposed to where are they supposed to go? Um, I'm really hoping that you guys take into
consideration that it like the first night the shelter closed there it was raining and it was cold. I'm guessing every single one of you had a warm place, a warm bed to sleep in. And I I I had a really hard time sleeping that night because some of these people I've known them a long time. I' I haven't
been homeless with the the people that are currently homeless in Brainard, but I've been homeless in Brainard and we we band together as a community. If one of us only has one tarp, there's six, seven, eight, nine people under one tarp. I I don't understand what the
problem is for keeping a place o just a a building open to have a warm place for people to stay. Um I'm really hoping that you guys can email me back and we can start a conversation and figure out what we can do to make sure you guys feel more comfortable, what we can some changes we can implement just to have a safe, warm place for people to sleep at
night. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else wishing to address the council? Sure. My name is Emma Nem. I addressed the council last time. My address is 101713th Avenue Northeast. I come with a greater sense of urgency. Um, my
family's recently experienced some major medical crisises. I've had a critically ill toddler. She just turned three in March and has something called immune thrombocytoenia, which none of us were expecting or uh ready to take on when she was diagnosed at the end of January. When I sat down with my family's
financials, um you know, and I'm married and I have two children. Um I work, my spouse works, and uh we have private insurance through his employer. It's very good insurance and yet our medical bills are still mounting. And when I sat down and crunched numbers for what we
can afford right now and what we can't afford right now, even with selling our home and most of the things in it, it will not completely get us out of the debt that we're in for medical, even with insurance. And then if we sell our home, where are we to go? We're lucky in the
fact that we have community and family in this area that would never let us and our children go homeless. But other people in this community do not have that luxury. And it appalls me to stand before this council today and to understand what those at the council
really are willing to do for community members such as myself if I were to end up in a position of being homeless. I think there's an assumption that somebody else is taking care of that, that that's somebody else's responsibility, but nobody makes it in the world without support. And I ask
that you listen to the people who are in this room because these are the people that support you to be in this position that you're in. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else like to come up? Uh Bill Weir 5823 Leverne Circle Baxter
here representing the bridge on 7th. Uh we've talked a lot about the bridge on 7th over the last couple of months. Uh the community has spoken to each and every one of you either through phone call, email or in person. Uh we I have also talked to a lot of you as well. Uh
one thing that strikes my huge in my mind is uh once again we're only pushing for all year round because of the ordinance that was passed last year and the ordinance passed last year is investing in the punishment. Uh if you're going to invest in punishment there needs to be some investment into
prevention. Now our shelter is not you know in by any means going to end homelessness in any way, shape or form but is a tool that can be used to help people get back on their feet. That tool is not there. It's going to make it a lot harder for people to get back on
their feet. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? Hello. Come on up. Uh Matt Carlard, uh 16236 Birchwood Lane. Um I was here four weeks ago and addressed you guys. I'm just here. I'm a board member on Bridges of Hope. Um we've reached out several
times and have gotten a little I know uh Mr. Jagger has responded to a few of Janna's conversations, but we've a lot of times we've reached out and we haven't heard back. So, um, we we just would like to get, you know, a conversation going. We want to understand the reasons why you guys said
no to the shelter. Um, it's just hasn't it's without understanding those reasons. We've debunked some of the things that have been said, you know, the there's 119 police calls, which is dwarfed by the number of police calls in in Brainer in a in a year. uh the public
library gets four more calls, four times as many calls per month or three times as many calls per month. Um so just asking you guys to come back to the table with us. We're going to keep coming back until it gets back on the agenda until we can have a discussion where we where we can have a you know understand the reasons and and try to
work something out because we this is an issue that is really important to all of us. Um there's people sleeping in the rain like they said. I'm not going to repeat the things that have been said, but it kills me every night when it's raining out and I know there's people sleeping outside and they're worried about getting uh the police uh you know
getting arrested because they're having to find a place to sleep that maybe is illegal that night. Um so let's let's figure it out together, guys. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? Anyone online? If you're online would like to address the council, pre
please press star three. Anyone? Sean, no. I'll ask one more time. If there's anyone that would like to come up, please do so now. No. All right. We will close the public forum. It is 7:40 p.m. Thank you all. If you're just here for the public
forum, give you a minute to clear out if you want to stay. That's more than fine, too. Next, we have number seven. That's presentations. I don't think we have any presentations set up, but it's still on my agenda. No presentations. All right. So,
number eight, we have council committee reports. First up, we have personnel and finance committee chairman Gabe Johnson. Thank you, Mr. President. We have four items on our agenda tonight. The first of which is to approve an RFP for
custodial services. And the motion out of committee is I move to direct staff to begin the RFP process for custodial services. And I so move. Second. Motion by Johnson, second by Stunic. Our current uh custodial service contract ends June
30th. We'd like to have another two-year contract in place by July 1st to not of an interruption of service. Thank you. Any more discussion? Seeing none, let's go to a vote. All in favor? I same sign. Motion passes.
Chairman Johnson. Thank you. Uh, next up is uh I move to authorize city staff to work in partnership with the YMCA leadership and existing YMCA adviserss to explore the feasibility of funding a new city pool facility as part of the YMCA's proposed capital project and
approve an allocation not to exceed $5,000 to support the RFP development. And I so move. I'll second that. And I request, Mr. Chair, that the entire council see the presentation from the YMCA. I know it's slightly out of
context the way we normally do things, but I really think it's beneficial that we take a moment or right now. Right now. Oh, I probably should have be before the motion. Sorry, Kelly. But yeah, I was hoping I invited Shane up here to hoping he would give the whole council. Really good. You want to have that in your motion? Friendly amendment
to just so there's no doesn't need to be part of the motion. Okay. No, we can you can just for information. Yeah, you can make us vote now and then let him talk or just let him talk and then we vote. Okay, Mr. Chair. Does it make a difference to you, Shane? Just so you know, I'll be recusing myself from this as I sit on the governance committee for
YMCA. Thank you, Mr. President. Yes. Um, if I I mean, this is this is like a preliminary motion to get things the ball rolling. I I don't object to seeing a presentation, but could I watch the presentation on YouTube to see it at your meeting if we don't do it right
now? And what is it? Five minutes. We didn't have it, Jeff. Oh, I'm sorry. When did you guys see it then? We we got an abbreviated Shane was down in our committee meeting and spoke for a couple minutes. You could view that on YouTube. Absolutely. But we didn't receive a full presentation. I was hoping he could take
five five or more minutes up here. Their meeting was 7:15 to 7:30. vote. Yeah, I'm guessing it's pretty quick. Um, that's fine. So, we have a motion by Johnson, a second by Bevans. Any more discussion? Seeing none, let's go to a vote. All in favor? I against. Same
sign. Motion passes. Jane, would you like to come up? I would love to. Thank you. Just uh introduce yourself and obviously who you're representing.
Listen, honorable council, mayor, thank you for having me tonight uh here to speak about the Brainer Family YMCA. My name is Shane Riffle and I'm the CEO over at the Y. And there's a lot going on that I'd like to update you on. Um before I go on though, I want to remind
you the history of the YMCA. We've been in the Brainer area since 1889. The Northern Pacific Railroad invited us in to serve a critical community need. Today, we're still serving those needs, but the building is outdated. It's
falling apart, and we need to transform the Y. We believe it can transform this community. So, we're making this request tonight. Um, we've also been in the current location since 1967, and you're aware of a lot of the challenges that we faced. We've had the
COVID epidemic pandemic. We had a cracked pool. We had a roof flood in 2020 that shut us down and then most recently a car drove through our daycare center. And it's time that we've transformed the YMCA. In fact, Woodset did a site study for us uh back in 2021
and said that the building is end of life and it would cost over $16 million to get the building up to operational standards. At that time, the board decided that it was time for a capital campaign that the Brainer community not
only needed um but deserved a YMCA that can continue to change lives and we're here to do that. So, I wanted to update you on the process that we followed to get us where we are today. Um, after we authorized the start of a capital campaign, we brought on uh a consultant,
Grow, and we did a a real estate app asset optimization study, and we ended up looking at about five different locations where a YMCA could end up. and we ran them through about five different
metrics and basically concluded that 602 Oak Street is the ideal place for a YMCA in this community for a lot of different reasons. It sits on what I call the seam where we serve people of all different income levels. It's very walkable. It's
next to the high school and then it also sits in a distressed economic tract which allows us to seek new markets tax credits as part of our funding stack. If you come by the YMCA any afternoon, you're going to see that it's vibrant with kids coming for after school care,
kids coming in to improve their health and and shooting baskets. Um they're lifting weights and they're doing something productive during that idle time. That's probably the most risky time of day for kids in our community. and we're there for them. So, we did
that study and we've been I've been committed all along and I've known a lot of you for a really long time. I've been committed to making sure that the Y stays where it is and this study showed that that we should do that. From then
on, we brought on another consultant called Donor by Design, and we did a feasibility study, and we tested the notion of raising about $52 million as part of a comprehensive campaign, which includes not only the main campus facility, but a new childcare center,
which we've actually raised the money and completed at 703 Oak Street, right across the street from the Y. um updating Camp Vanessic and also building a full multi-field indoor sports complex
on the CLC campus. We've gone through the process with them and we're actually on their master plan with the state and after we hope to finish this project. That'll be the next step in in what we want to do. Um, I have two kids and as I
was saying earlier in sports, our kids always take about half the season to catch up from kids that are down in the cities because they have indoor domes complexes. We're just as good athletes, but our kids just don't have the access to that type of complex to help us
compete. And we're committed to giving kids that resource down the road. Um so where we went after that and the results of the feasibility study were that we should first focus on the full facility and they believe with strong
confidence that we can raise between 30 to $35 million to get that rolling. Concurrently with that, we brought on a team from the University of Minnesota Extension and did an economic feasibility study because I believe that the Y is here not only just for mission
but also we contribute to the local economics of of the community. We know that by building a new YMCA in that location, it's going to bring in about $51.4 million in economic activity, direct, indirect, and induced. And I did
or I know Nick and and Mike did include that study as part of your packet. So if you have any questions about that later, feel free to ask. So we've been checking the boxes off. We've been building our team and it's not just me in charge of this. We have a full team of
professionals, consultants, and volunteers that are standing with me to make sure that this gets done. Uh we have a capital planning committee, an owners rep, um Tom Wuckles with Orb Management who's done a lot of work in the community. Uh we hired construction design teams and stayed local with Noran
and Woods. And then we've also recruited our volunteer leadership cabinet. Um Jamie Taji with Hotels, Resorts, and Leisure, and Christy Westbrook with CTC and Mike Bjknes are co-chairs on that. And then lastly, we've also brought on
professionals to help us with the new market tax credits, which is fairly complex. So that's where we are. Um, but it also involves three core partners and we need them to put that capital stack together so that we can make this happen. And in my 33 years at
the Y, I've seen a lot of citywise partnerships that have been not only met expectations but exceeded expectations. In Boyisee, Idaho, we had a partnership with the city where they funded the aquatic center, which is where this idea originated. And then I've talked with
people individually to see what how they felt about it. And it's been overwhelmingly met with positivity. You know, we live in the the the state of 10,000 lakes and we live right next to the Mississippi River. And yet, a lot of kids don't know how to swim. And drowning is the second leading cause of
accidental death from kids about 2 to 14 years old. Yet, it can largely be prevented by getting kids into a swimming pool by providing access and quality swim lessons. And we believe that we can do that. So, we've reached out. We've asked for permission to
continue working with staff and then also to put together an RFP. There are consultants that specialize in working with nonprofits and cities to figure out how this funding can look. So that was the ask for tonight. Um it really
excites me. You can see this is a rendering of what it could like and you look look like and you notice that you know it's the Brainer City Aquatic Center but it also has a look like that honors our roots as as
the Railroad YMCA. So I'll leave this up here and close with that. You can probably tell I'm pretty excited. Um, I've mentioned earlier I've been with the Y for 33 years. This is going to take me
to the end of my career and I want nothing more than the kids and the families in the community to experience what a YMCA can be. Thank you, Shane. Does anybody have any questions for Mr. Riffle?
Doesn't look like it. Thanks for coming. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. All right. Uh back to Chairman Johnson. All right, we still have two items on our agenda. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh the next item on our agenda is ratify the hiring
of Trevor Hines as technology specialist. And the motion is to ratify the hiring of Trevor Hines for technology specialist position effective May 21st and further that he be placed on step one of the technology specialist wage grid $30.7 per hour. And I so move
second motion by Johnson, second by Stunnick. Johnson. We had 24 applicants for this position. So people are still interested in working for the city of Brainard. All right. Any more discussion? Seeing none, let's go to a vote. All in
favor? I against? Same sign. Motion passes. Chairman Johnson. Thank you, Mr. President. Finally, we have a resignation and the motion is to accept with regret the resignation of Dylan Ferrari and further to authorize staff to begin the hiring process to backfill
the position and I so move. Second motion by Johnson, second by Bevans. More discussion. I have a question. Mr. Chzac. Yes. Um, did it not say in the agenda request that this was a budgeted item for this position? Is that just means that we were going we were going
to pay this individual? So this doesn't really change anything. Is that what that means? That's what that means is we budget x number of line workers. Now we're down one. We need to get another one. That's all I have. Thanks. Yep. Any more discussion? Seeing none. Let's go to a vote. All in
favor? I. Again, same sign. That motion passes. Chairman Johnson. End of report. Thank you, Chairman Johnson. Moving on to 8B, Safety and Public Works Committee Chairman Tad Ericson. All right. Thank you, Mr. President. We have four items on our agenda. The first of which is
review proposed code code enforcement ordinance. Motion coming out of committee is to approve proposed code enforcement ordinance to allow active code enforcement along major thoroughfares and near city parks and remove certain language to enable staff
uh to enforce code enforcement uh in route to inspections and other complaints. And I so move second by Erikson, second by Chzach. Do you have more discussion? Uh just that our current code uh does allow active code
enforcement. Um it's um primarily on a complaint based driven basis. However, this would allow staff to perform active code enforcement along these certain uh major thorough fairs such as business 371
um highway 210 and as stated uh around uh city parks as well as on on their way to other non-complaint um such as inspections. Okay, any more discussion?
Mr. Johnson. So, just a question on if we're taking a more of an active approach in certain direct areas, who do we expect will be doing this active code enforcement? Who is going to be out driving around looking around the neighborhoods, the parks, the
Mr. Kravik? It' be our building inspector and code enforcement officer, which is Jason Stockinger. The same 2,000 houses every year. He he'd have capacity to do it. He has capacity. Yep. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Any more
discussion? Seeing none, let's go to a vote. All in favor? I against? Same sign. That motion passes. Chairman Ericson. All right. Thank you. The next item on our agenda is to approve agreement construction surveying on an as needed basis. Motion coming out of
committee is to uh approve uh the attached agreement with to perform construction surveying on the construction projects. And I so move. Second. Motion by Ericson, second by Chzach. Discussion. Uh just to uh reiterate what was mentioned in
committee is that we have uh currently 11 projects. Two of which we're doing inhouse. Uh typically this would be done by the the contractors, but for those two that we're doing inhouse. Staff would normally do that if we just had one project, but having two uh this surveying uh exceeds the capacity at at
current capacity. And so they're wanting to do this uh via a contractor and SE has been selected. All right. More discussion. Seeing none, go to a vote. All in favor?
I against. Same sign. Motion passes. Chairman Ericson. All right. Our third item, approval of Front Street flag poles to be modified. Motion coming out of committee is to um improve the flag poles um the with
four devices to raise and lower the flags uh with five hardwired lighting units for a total cost of $825 and I so move second motion by Ericson second by Chzach. Yeah, discussion just to uh mention obviously this has come before
us before uh it was brought to our our attention that some certain flag poles downtown were not able to be uh raised or lowered. Um and we wanted to uh handle that appropriately. In order to do that, we wanted to equip them with uh appropriate devices to raise and lower
them and have them properly lit. Uh with this we're able to purchase these uh devices and uh BPU has offered to help install those and um be able to accomplish that for just under $1,000. So excellent. Thank you. Uh any more
discussion, Johnson? Yeah. Question. I know $825 doesn't sound like a lot of money in a government budget, but what fund do we expect this money to be coming out of? Mr. Abigor it would be coming out of our streets budget for just general purposes they take care of the streets so we
wanted to come out of there and the other discussion was coming out of the parks but because it's attached to the light poles and with streets it was just we just decided the streets so the construction fund no just our operating the streets operating budget and I'll be
discussing with Connie to to make sure that we're compliant with everything. Thank you. Thank you. Any more discussion? Just that I'm happy to see the flags uh remain downtown. I like that look down there. Thank you. All right. See, no more
discussion. Let's go to a vote. All in favor? I against. Same sign. Motion passes. Chairman Ericson. All right. Our last item, discussion and review of new city ordinance um of street performers/buskers. motion coming out of
committee is to direct staff to modify the draft ordinance with council comments and submit ordinances for uh final approval at the next council meeting. And so that recommendation um uh for us to have that discussion and there's a few things that staff would like to point out as well. So that's
move. Second motion by Ericson, second by Chzach. More discussion. Yeah. So as as was mentioned, uh staff had pointed out and we discussed uh staff pointed out three and we discussed four items. Um and just wanted to get additional council feedback um for for this
ordinance. The first item there is uh one, should busking or street performing be allowed in specific locations in the downtown area? Should staff put together a specific map? Number two, should uh busking pre street performing be allowed
in parks? Uh three uh what should the annual fee be? And a couple options there. So, um staff again just looking for some additional feedback before uh drafting this final ordinance and bringing it back and so um hoping to
have that discussion. Thank you, Chairman Ericson. Uh Johnson, how do we differentiate busking from busking adjacent activities that might not be actual busking like say somebody outside of a pizzeria or an insurance company flipping a sign around? I don't think
that's busking, but it's pretty close. How do we determine what's what? You have an answer for that, Mr. Abigar? Right. So, there's a couple different variations to that. One is private property or if it's just on the street corner now, it is considered an activity
that it could be done and it may fall underneath that if that's what we so choose. In my opinion, I think it would be fall underneath there. Um and that's I think there might be some other discussions. James, do you have anything?
I just note um some of the items that uh Mr. Johnson had mentioned a lot of times falls on private property. Think of like the taxes a lot of times doing in the parking lot, but yeah, certainly it could fall under it if it is occurring on on public property. Oh yeah, the Statue of Liberty monkey that is totally on the sidewalk.
That is that's busking. I have no idea. Monkey busing. Busting. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Chairman Johnson. Anyone else? Could I Could I ask Gabe to what what was the the example you use about a sign outside or I didn't I didn't
understand what you said there. Jeeoff, it's it's common nowadays for pizza places or insurance companies, cell phone type businesses to pay somebody to stand outside with a sign with an arrow trying to direct people to their business. Tax. Okay. Yeah. Got it. Thank
you, Mr. President. Mr. Ericson. Yep. Um to and I might um if I could call on Councilman Chzek to the fourth item we had discussed too. I believe it had to do with signage. In the proposed draft it indicates the sign recommended size is 24 in by 18 in
or they actually had two different sizes. I think the staff I followed up they followed up and said their preference was 24 by8. I'd rather see an 18 by 12 in side limit just because it's a sidewalk event. I don't think you need to be advertising from, you know, people
on driving by. The bigger the sign, the, you know, that was just my thought. If we were going to draft this, I'd rather see it 18 by 12 as opposed to 24 by 18. Of course, that's our decision. So, just a one of the things I wanted to do. And
then, um, I I um I'm kind of curious as to um if we're going to pick a locations. I I I don't know how we do that. And I was I I think Mike maybe and I don't want to speak for him. I think he indicated that be his preference. He talked about the uh significant amount
of work, right? If you want to could you weigh in on that about for staff? Right. This will require some staff work, not only from the police station and and the police chief, but also from just staff issuing these licenses and then following up, making sure that they're
following the ordinance and, you know, handling complaints, input, and so forth. So, there will be some significant time um allotted to this uh task. And if I could also just mention regarding Councilman Johnson's u
comment, it could be indicated in there and this may be a good clarification is uh is it advertising or entertainment? Busking is entertainment. So we could indicate that within the ordinance that to uh talk about that difference. Thank
you, Chairman Ericson. I I just wanted to add to I think I I like um Councilman Chzik's suggestion about reducing the size of the signage and I think that that kind of gets to uh Councilman Johnson's concerns about you know what's advertising what's and I I'm a little
leerary on um the suggestion about the content of the sign. I know we need to kind of watch out about you know we can't regulate the content of the sign first amendment issues but the size location and things like that we can affect. And I think, you know, reducing the size of the signage that's allowed would help alleviate that u potential
advertising difference. Chairman, anyone else? My question is, does this only pertain to people that are asking for donations like they're performing with a open hat on
the ground? Is that what this is for? Or just people that want to get out and play the guitar on the sidewalk? Is that does that go into this as well? they can ask for a tip jar and but other individuals they don't have to they won't either but it's just about performing and having entertainment
downtown in an area. So my question is if somebody wants to grab their guitar out of their music room and go out in the park and and play music that technically would fall under this. Then if this doesn't just pertain to people that are putting a hat on the
ground or a bucket and performing for donations, that's is am I wrong on that? So restate your question again. Well, how if we're not limiting this this fee schedule and all these regulations to
people that are only doing this for a donation or trying to raise money, then it it would pertain to somebody who just wants to play a acoustic guitar somewhere out in the park or walking down the sidewalk. I I don't want to see people getting arrested for right for playing a kazoo
on a sidewalk or Well, maybe. Well, depends how good they are at it, I guess. But what I would just indicate in that is that it is it there for entertainment or self-reflection, self entertainment in a park, but if it's there for entertainment, now you're
busking and we could clarify that more specifically in the ordinance also. Okay. Yeah, because I I would probably just say I'm self-reflecting if I was hassled at all playing my kazoo on a corner. But you have anything else? Also, just regarding
the actual locations, uh we do have some restaurants downtown that want a specific uh table outside the restaurant for, you know, uh Jeez, uh chief. Yeah, just want to speak to the intent that was mentioned. That would make
enforcement extremely difficult if now we have to look at something as subjective as intent. So, I guess my recommendation would be, you know, activity based and maybe leave tent intent out of it as far as entertainment versus self-reflection or Okay. It'd be
challenging for officers to determine what their intent is, right? Well, we do have individuals that already walk down the street performing multiple every night. Every day. So, I don't want the police to have to intervene with people
who are just doing something like that. So, I I'm a little confused at the at the idea, I guess, unless it just pertains to people who are sitting somewhere in front of a business or in a public place with a a donation bucket. I guess that's what I
saw this as, but it seems like maybe that's not what it is. But maybe we can clarify that as we go. So, um, Ericson, could you please clarify the motion before we vote? Yep. Happy to. So the motion coming out of committee is to direct staff to modify the draft ordinance with council comments and
submit ordinance an ordinance for final approval at the next council meeting. Okay. Thank you. Mayor, did you have some Yeah, I just say two things. One, this seems like something that would almost be better off just making an event application for specific individuals that want to do it. I I
don't see people lining up to do it at an extensive rate, but also if we are going to talk parks, that is the jurisdiction of the park board. So that those have that has to go before them. I'm not in favor of it just because if it's wide open and that you just get a license and now every day I go to the
park, I got a guy trumpeting in my ear. Not really what I'm looking for. So, but that definitely has to go before the park board. They have to make that decision. Thank you. I'll say I I'll support this motion, but I don't know if I'll support the ordinance going forward. Depending on what staff comes back with, I'll I'll
read it and see where it's at. One question and procedure if I could go ahead. It's supposed to come back for the final uh approval. Would that do you have to have a a readings on this? First and second reading, correct? Yes, we would have to have a reading. Okay. This
is just a draft form. There's there's a lot of discussion. There's a lot of interest in this and so yeah, that's why we're Typically, you can modify at a first reading, but not at a second. Thank you. Anyone else? Beans. Thank you. I'm going to vote against this
motion, Mr. Chair. I think we're fixing something that's not broken. I really think I mean, if somebody's being ano annoyance or a nuisance or prohibiting commerce on private property, that those are whole different problems, but I mean, we have people playing guitars,
all I live right across from Gregory Park. I It's We're fixing a problem that isn't a problem, I think. And we're going to create more problems, especially for law enforcement. I I really hesitate. I I really think
we're going down a slippery slope and trying to regulate overregulate something that nobody's one person's asked for and I've been here for 23 years. So, and I don't think there's ever been a problem. So,
that's I'm going to vote against it. Johnson, that was going to be my last question. Kelly, she covered it well. Like, what problem are we solving with this? Like, what have we identified as a problem that needs an ordinance to fix
it as a solution? It seems like we're just drafting an ordinance because we have nothing better to do. So, I think I'm I'm with Kelly. I'm going to vote no because I'm with Mike that I don't mind going forward and putting an ordinance and reading it, but I don't think I would support it at the
end until I can identify what's the problem and what are we solving by drafting this ordinance. So, I'll be a no. I might switch my vote to no after those comments because I do agree with both of you. I don't want staff to waste time on coming up with a new ordinance
if we're just going to shoot it down in two weeks. So I think staff, if this does not go forward, I think you could keep this in a file and if it does become an issue a year from now, two years from now, we can always revisit the issue. But u I think Mr. Jagger, do
you have Yeah, I'm convinced um way too much gray air here, I'll be voting no also. President um this came before us, I think at least uh for sure last me, maybe before that, but what was the rationale behind it? Again, we didn't have an ordinance and there was people requesting this and we didn't know how
to have uh regulate it. Is that what the issue was? Correct. So, if we don't have an ordinance, we don't have we can't provide any direction. We can't provide we can't indicate you can and cannot do it here or there. Uh we can't we can't and maybe Joe can comment a little bit
more, but uh if we don't have an ordinance, we don't have any jurisdiction to even tell them any direction. Joe, did I get that right? Mr. Lang, I mean, yeah, that's I think Mike stated it correctly. It But that of
course begs the initial question of uh do you want to that's a policy issue for for all of you folks up there is whether there is an issue here too regulated. I mean, he's right. There's no way to deal with buskers if they start showing up in mass on Main Street.
Um, but you guys have to decide whether that's a big enough issue to warrant the regulatory structure that's being created. Thank you, Mr. Langle. Um, I think everybody's said their piece, but so so Mr. OD, Mr. Chad,
so if we don't have this ordinance, and I'm leaning towards uh Kelly and Gabe's idea here, just saying no to this, but it somebody could come down. Um, what do we say if they got a small sign and they're on the sidewalk and they're beating a drum and and I mean this is
all what if what if. I guess until that happens u we can we can always then proceed with an ordinance but it hasn't happened yet. You haven't said no to an individual. They can do what they want right now. Right. Yes, that's correct. Have they done anything based on you telling them what you've told them at
city hall? I have indicated that we don't have an ordinance and therefore we can't provide any direction and he just indicated that uh he's here to provide entertainment and he will be very cordial to the local business individuals. Thank you very much. As
long as they're not breaking any current laws that we have or ordinances that we have, then they can continue to exercise their freedom. Um anyone else? Seeing none, let's go to a vote. Remember, if you're voting yes, it is to move forward
and have staff continue building this ordinance. Um, if you're voting no, we're that means we're going to drop the subject for now. We can always bring it up in a different time. So, do a roll call, Mr. President. Yes. Uh, Tony, please call the RO. Chzach, no. Johnson,
no. Stunn. No. Jerger, no. Ericson, no. Beven? Nope. OD? No. And that fails. Buskay. Busking is allowed. Busted buser staff time. Chairman Ericson. Yeah, we
just made about $10,000 in staff time. End the report. Thank you, Chairman Ericson. Moving on. Next, we have number nine, unfinished business. 9A, we have the new city administrator report form. Um, all right, city administrator
Broyals. Go ahead and take this one. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, so this is kind of the canary in the coal mine. So I'm looking forward to getting feedback from uh the mayor and the and city council. Um, so this is kind of my intent. This is kind of the format that I'm intending on following unless I'm
directed otherwise. But what I am anticipating right now is once a month, so every other meeting roughly, I'm going to give uh a written monthly report and I'm trying to find substantive items but not be redundant
with what the directors are already providing. So that will kind of evolve over time. Um, so I want to provide the narrative, the written report once a month, but every every single council meeting I will show the suspense tracker so we can see the current status updates
on all the different projects that staff is working on. So um, I'll just go through it briefly for this one and I don't think that I don't think the word busker is in this in this report. So that's a good thing. So basically I'm just going to I'll I'll just talk very
briefly community engagement. I'll just put some items of note that I've done throughout the throughout the month, people I've met with, things that are going on, and then I'm going to probably give some updates across the functional area. So, try to touch on each functional area and see what is perhaps substantive or something that might be
of of of high interest to the council. Um, I probably won't I'm not going to obviously read this, but I'll try to hit some of the highlights. If I think there's something worth mentioning, I will hit the highlights. So basically you can see I I have a little excerpt there in front on finance the audits
going on. Um I did not follow up. I know the session ended today. So I don't know what happened with the that I know there's some discussion down in St. Paul about um reducing LGA by 20 million. Um haven't heard anything yet to see where that happened in the session if that's
still if that went any further or not. Um I'll just go to the next page. Um community development. We got groundbreaking. Groundbreaking for Country Manor is scheduled for June 10th. So that should be a a big day for public. I'm just going to combine public
works, utilities, parks, and transit. And as as this grows and matures over time, if I need to move things around, I certainly will. Um I was approached by John Forest from Rotary. He had some questions about Rotary Park. Basically, this is still at the staff level. It's
not really ripe yet for council. staff is talking about um basically Rotary Park that we were approached by them. We just bought the Roberts property. Um a lot of that property is undevelopable. Um it's adjacent to Rotary Park. Rotary
Park says, "Hey, if you guys if the city wanted to donate that to Rotary Park, that would qualify us for regional to apply for regional recognition as a park, which could open doors to funding." Um staff between public utilities and public works. They're just
talking through that right now. So, more to follow on that if if we think that's something that needs to come before the council. Um, we had the briefing from the YMCA executive director. We talked about that fire. Um, just of note very recently. Um, there was a request for assistance that went out, I believe,
statewide and Tim Holmes, Chief Holmes sent a crew and they have sent they have gone and since returned. They were north of Two Harbors helping out some of the fires up north. No, no cost to the city. that's going to be reimbursed by DNR. So, they have already deployed and
they're already back. And um so that was a great training opportunity for some of Chief Holmes's crew. Um technology, just a couple uh personnel updates. The GIS specialist, you saw it today, he begins today. The tech specialist begins on Wednesday. And the network
administrator, we're anticipating mid June. Airport, the significant thing, airport director resigned on May 7th. airport commission is working through that process to ident to advertise for an interim and eventually a permanent. So, more to follow on that. Uh let's
see. I guess the last thing I'll mention is um as far as bargaining unit updates, the teamsters, which is the police lieutenants and sergeants, uh the final issues that uh need to be certified, we got those to BMS. We got our final positions to BMS. So, we met those
deadlines. So now we'll just have to select an arbitrator or the process. We'll have to select an arbitrator and we'll go through that process and let that'll kind of run its course. So that's kind of the way I'm going to do that. And then the very last thing you'll see suspense tracker and nothing. And that just rolls right into the
suspense tracker, which is that I think it's a probably a three or four page right now. And this is um this is a manifestation of the conversations we had at the at the work session. If there's things that you guys like on here, if there's things you don't like, if we for some reason omitted something
or forgot something, I'll be watching this more closely. This will develop over time. All of these different projects are assigned to an action officer, which is typically going to be me or one of the directors, and they will go in through task manager and provide updates, and they'll be they'll
be pop they'll populate the spreadsheet. Again, um I guess that's kind of red. Where I come from, red is bad. I would prefer to think of red, yellow, and green as red being kind of the highest priority, yellow is a little bit more on the horizon and green is perhaps a little bit further out on the horizon.
Not that they are less important, but we'll just um we'll resource these things appropriately. We gave percent complete. We gave in progress companies. I don't know if that's a default. I would probably just put action officer or something in there. But is this something that is
useful useful to the council? Do you guys like it? Do you not like it? um this is a great opportunity to provide staff feedback um how we can make this better going forward. Thank you, Administrator Broyals. And yeah, questions that he had. I I would love to hear answers from the council. My big
question is where would you guys like this on the agenda? Uh is it is it fine where it's at with unfinished business and go through it just like we are now? Would you rather have it somewhere like consent calendar? Would you rather have it during staff reports and maybe maybe
make a specific item like we have for the mayor's report under the administrator's report? Um, we can do it a number of ways, but I in general I like the format that administrator Broyals has come up with and I have no problem with it. Just where do you guys
want it? Beans. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I also agree. I think this is fantastic. I really think tonight was good because we learned from administrator Broyals where you know what the purpose and how this is laid out. I really doesn't I really
think it doesn't need to be commented on and if it does if there's an item on this that needs to be commented on, it should be pulled off and put on the agenda. Otherwise, I enjoyed reading it. Certainly didn't mind taking the time this evening, but I really think it's
just part of the administrator's report. let us read it again. If it's something that that that required action, then it doesn't belong on this. It's got to come off and go on the agenda. That's my that's my point. Rather than rather than
going through stuff that may not be necessary to have business items. Yeah. Not a business item. Okay. Thank you, Chza. day. Um um our previous administrator had her hers under staff reports uh which we find uh James and uh
Sean and uh I think our police had theirs on there this month. Um uh thank you to those folks. But I I think that'd be a great place for it and we can all read it and then I guess bring back questions. Uh I would like to ask a minister at Boles if he would uh uh entertain giving us a little update from
time to time on his source uh involvement. That's always interested me to see what's going on there from your perspective. So, if that's something you might consider, I'd appreciate it. Um, other than that, uh, I I agree with Kelly. I don't think it needs to be a discussion item and it's if it's
something we can read, um, I'd look forward to it monthly. So, Mr. Ches, are you saying in the consent calendar and those staff reports? Okay. Thank you, Johnson. I agree with Jeff and Kelly. I think the consent calendar under the department activity reports, this whole
document is there every single meeting or maybe once a month, whatever. And then if anything requires our attention or action, it's pulled off. It's just placed on the agenda under old business or new business. But this just gets updated and it's included in the consent
calendar so we can review it every meeting or once a month, whatever's whatever is more convenient for Nick. Thank you. The only question I have is this covers a lot of items. So if it is in the consent calendar and then it comes up as a discussion item later on,
does that cause an issue procedurally? That's up to the council or that's up to the chair to make that decision. Okay. So no, I'm totally fine having it on the consent calendar. I think that's where it I agree fits most. President OD day,
council member can always pull up from consent and ask about it. Okay. Yep. Thank you. Administer Bro, administrator Broyals. Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to respond to Councilman Chzach as far as Sourcewell. My official capacity with Sourcewell is on the board of trustees for the better health
collective. So my only official capacity with Sourcewell has to do with health insurance. But I will certainly if you want updates on health insurance, I can certainly provide those updates. Throw in that report. I love it. But uh it would might get pretty dry. So, thank
you. Anyone else? Sounds like you have direction. I don't think we have a need a motion on that. Um going forward, next we have call for applicants. First, we have the
mayor. Yes, the following application or applications for the following committees are available on our website. Charter commission. Two terms expiring 2025, two terms expiring 2026. Housing refor housing, let's try that again. Housing redevelopment authority, one
term expiring 2027. Library board, one term expiring 2027. Public Utilities Commission, one term expiring 2028. Transportation Advisory Committee, two terms expiring 2025, one term expiring 2026. And as council president, I have two terms open for the water
tower committee. Next, we have number 10, that's new business 10 A. We have a resolution for the petition sufficiency and setting a public hearing for the North 9th Street vacation. It's not the type of vacation you would think, but I
believe this is Mr. Havagar. Yes. Thank you, Mr. President. Attached to this request is a resolution which declares the sufficiency of the attached petition to vacate a portion of North Ninth Street in North Briner submitted to by St. Francis Church, the owner of the
parcels adjacent to North 9inth Street between Juniper and Ivory Street. The res the resolution simply declares the sufficiency of the petition to start the process of street vacation. This resolution accepts the petition from St.
Francis Church and sets a public hearing to hear testimony for or against the said street vacation. After testimony is received, the public notice is mailed to effective residents. The city council will have a choice to vacate the rightaway at the meeting on June 16th
and which will be after the public hearing takes place. Staff is recommending adopting the attached resolution which declares a petition to vacate portion of the 9inth Street and is sufficient and sets the public hearing for June 16th. Also, one uh
correction on the actual resolution itself. Uh the third the second paragraph is correct with the street description. The third paragraph is needs to be modified. With that I can take any questions. Thank you Mr. Habigorst. Does
anyone have questions for staff? So this is just recognizing the petition. We're not actually vacating a street. So if you're still in that um in that thought that you're not comfortable with the vacation, that's not what this is for. This is just recognizing a
petition. Johnson, I've got a motion. When you're ready, go for it. I'd move to adopt the attached resolution with the uh corrected language as stated by Mike Gabigor. Second Bev. Motion by Johnson. Second by
Bevans. And this is a resolution uh Johnson. Yeah, I support the resolution stating that there is a sufficiency of a petition. But I do just want to let St. Francis know that I hope their public testimony at the public hearing is very compelling because I'm still not seeing
why we should vacate that street. But since I'm just saying that this mo this vote is just to say they sufficiently applied, which they did, I support this. Thank you. Anyone else? Seeing no further comments. Tony, please
call the role. Chazak, yes. Johnson, yes. Dunick, yes. Jerger, yes. Erikson, yes. Beans, yes. OD. Yes, that resolution passes. Moving on to 10B. This is uh consideration for revising corner lot fence requirements. I know
this uh this is both James Kravik and Councilman Gabe Johnson. Um I think I'll Do you want to start this one, Johnson, or should I hand it over to James? Let's see uh let's let James start it and I can uh clean up any messes he makes. Okay. Thank you, Mr. President. So, Council Member Johnson had a
constituent reach out with concerns regarding fence standards uh specifically for corner lots. Uh Councilwoman Johnson requested staff to add this request to for council considerations. Uh the email is included in the packet. So, according to fence standards of the zoning code, fences may be located in any yard up to a height of
4T. A fence up to 6 and 1/2 ft may be erected from a line extending from the front facade of the principal building to the side lot lines and then along the side lot lines and rear lot lines. So with uh corner lots that have two facades as the house faces two streets.
Uh so corner property owners have consistently had issues with construction of backyard privacy fences. The fence often bisects the property splitting the backyard in half. Um there is a um aerial photo pictured in um as part of the attachment for this agenda request. So with that staff um
recommends potentially some altered language for corner lots, specifically ones that are budding the alley. It would state slight edit from the packet um that for corner properties if the rear yard of Butudson alley a fence up to 6 and 1/2 ft high may be erected from a line extended from the rear corner of
the principal building to the side corner lot line and then along the side lot line to the rear lot line. Um again, so staff um included the aerial depiction here. You'll see the first photo is what's currently allowed by ordinance um straight off the facade
along um the I guess the street to the north. You can see um the property on the left hand side. It's about half the property that bisects it. Um the one on the bottom, you're looking at about uh about a quarters left for the backyard privacy fence. uh potentially with a a
new language, you'd be looking at the bottom one that would allow it to go from the back corner of the principal structure out to the side corner lot line and then back to the rear yard. Uh so with that, staff is seeking direction from council to draft an ordinance with the example language uh for planning
commission consideration and I can answer any questions. Thank you, James. Mr. Johnson. Yeah. No, James, thank you. You did a great job and I think these pictures show it all with our current ordinance for a six-foot fence. You have to stay straight with the house. This is
built on a double lot and it's and the house is built on the very southernly part of the property. So if they follow our ordinance, they are fencing in less than half of their backyard. They're losing the majority of their property from privacy and it's not really to any
benefit. if they do are able to build out to the property line in this specific circumstance, if they're able to build out to the property line, it doesn't affect anybody else. So, I think I think it should be allowed and I hope the council would support directing staff to look at it. Thank you, Mr.
Johnson. My question, this has to do only with corner lots that an alley. I do live next to somebody who doesn't we don't have an alley in between, but I could see them wanting to do this. Does that change anything for somebody that doesn't? really I know I know in your instance that person's abuing your front
yard so there could be issues where you may not want to see a 6ft fence along your front yard so they could request a variance um and then you'd have a a chance to come in and certainly voice your concerns about it. So there's still instances where it could work um but
again they'd have to come in for a variance but this change wouldn't change that. This change wouldn't change that just with the alleys. Makes sense. Okay, any more questions? comments. I'd move to approve the uh draft.
Second. Motion by Chzach, second by Johnson. Any discussion? It's like no. Let's go to a vote. All in favor? I against. Same sign. Motion passes. Moving on to 10 C. This is a discussion of Brainard
Community Action Beautifification ideas. It looks, it sounds like we have somebody from Brainer Community Action here tonight. Please introduce yourself, sir. Dave Bau, executive director of Brainer Community Action. Yeah, we've uh sent over two requests from the city.
Both would include BPU as well, so there would need to be discussion on uh their end. Uh I don't know which one you have first on your list here. Banners. Banners. Okay, let's start with banners. So, uh, last year, I believe it was, I
was, uh, approached by, uh, at that time county administrator HooL, who had said, "Wouldn't it be nice if we, uh, created a banner program for our hometown heroes along Laurel Street between the city and
the county buildings?" Uh, something was just kind of put on the back burner. And then just recently I had a second group, the Panda Project, who approached us and asked for a similar thing. So what I'm bringing forward to you guys is a
request. Um I think in terms of timing wise, what we would be interested in doing is uh May before Memorial Day through the 4th of July, potentially to the end of the summer. Um but we've got a photo there if you've got it. I don't
know if it made the packet or not. Look at that. There it is. Let's shrink that baby down. So, along Laurel Street, we have the decorative lighting that is alongside uh both sides of the street. It is just in the portion from about
city hall or excuse me, the um the let's word I'm looking for is post office. It took me a long time to get there, but I got there. uh from the post office down to the about where the county garages are. It is just these poles that we're looking at. And
specifically, every other set has the top bar for hanging a banner. The the pole next to it, as you can see, that does not have a banner on it. That is for hanging baskets. So, to start with, we're not interested in in encroaching into that. What we're looking at is
these poles that already have the existing hardware on the top. The problem is is that those were set up with a triangle banner in mind. So there is just a hook down at the bottom or a loop. What we'd like to do is uh work with BPU to install the bracket on the
bottom part so we could have a full banner that is put into place and is held nice and strong um and would give us a little bit more uh footage there in order to present the individual. Idea behind this would be that individuals would purchase a banner through the
program for an individual living or dead that is is or was in the military and that we would line the street with those every year. Uh goal being that at the end of the year we would take those down, people can have them as a keepsake with the option of putting them up the
following year as well. Uh cost, what we're looking to do is take on all the cost. The only thing we're asking is to have uh BPU potentially put them up because I don't want to be in charge of putting things onto the light pole. If need be, we would gladly put those
banners up them ourselves. I think we could handle that. Those light poles are very um short compared to our other light poles. So, I don't think that we have time to do it this year. I think that this is something I'd like to make sure we get right. So, I'm not asking to, you
know, put the foot on the throttle and get this one done right away, but we'd just like the um approval from the council so that we can then take it to BPU, get their approval on what they might think on it, and then start looking at what that would look like.
Excellent. President OA, go ahead. Um I you said there's a picture of a banner in the packet. Yes. Is it a name of an individual or Yes. So that's ideally that's what we'd like to see is um some kind of logo type that is consistent across all of them and then the name of
the individual first and last name typically yes sometimes they have um service service you know different things from their various different branches. We haven't nailed down exactly what the look would be and if the city's interested we could represent that when we get to that stage as well. Okay.
Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else have questions? Go ahead. Okay. Item number two also has a picture. I'm sorry, Jeff. Oh, that's okay. Don't apologize. So, there's there's just some examples that we found online that you guys can peruse
at your own uh leisure. Various different ways it could look. Okay. Item number two is we were approached by a couple of local artists uh wanting to partner with us on a beautifification project for uh electrical boxes in the
downtown area. So, we've got a lot of various different electrical boxes in throughout the city. It's unbelievable the amount of electrical boxes we have. Some of them are in really good condition, some of them are in poor condition. Uh, and so we'd like to take a look at what it could potentially be
to have an artist either paint directly on it or have some kind of wrapping done that is digital as well. Um, there is an image that we've put here. Uh, this is the one we're probably the most interested because it's the most visible. This is the one right next to
the downtown sign uh right here at city hall. Uh, the nice thing about these particular electrical boxes, these are slightly different than the other ones you'll see, and these are new and they look really nice right now. So, it would be easy to wrap these. It'd be easy to paint on them. Um, a nice smooth
surface. Some of the other ones are not in as nice of condition. U, but maybe that would be where we start. Maybe we look at the ones that are a little bit rougher off. Maybe this is the better way to go. Um, but again, we're looking for approval from the city to then take it to BPU and see if they would be
interested in uh right now both Chase Freeland and Tony Powers, couple really uh cool local artists are uh interested in the project. I actually just got a text message from Chase right before I came up here asking uh if where we had gotten with it and I just said we're
still looking uh to see where we could go with it. Excellent. Anyone have questions? Jagger. I do. Thank you, Mr. Bedau. Um, uh, living in this town, I have come to the realization that, uh, what some people think looks good compared to what
other people think looks good is vastly different. So, my question is, do you have an idea what I what I like about the graphic wrap is it would give the ability to see it before it's done versus see it after it comes out of the creative mind.
Just want to get your thoughts on that. uh because I do I am I have a little bit of trepidation about just turning turning this type of work loose. That's all. As an artist myself, I do not take offense to the idea that uh art can be very subjective.
Uh the the advantage of the rap is exactly what you said. You can create it, you can tweak it, you can make it look like what it is. There is in the art world there, you know, there's a lesser quality to that. It is not an individual piece. Uh, however, the other advantage is that it lasts a little bit
longer as well. So, the problem with painting things is that you're consistently going to be need to repainting them. So, it would need to be something that is at least basic enough that can be touched up. Um, I think that the artist would be interested in whatever the city may be interested in.
And I could also see there being two vastly different approaches to it. Uh in the alley near Bremer Bank, there is a electrical box that is currently the color of rust brown because it is rust brown. Uh that's probably a good example
of one that could be quickly spray painted and and turned into something a little bit nicer just to look nicer. Um probably isn't the best use of a wrap. Um but the the only issue with the wrap is just a little bit of extra time and and money for the installation. However,
if that's what the city's interested, we've seen models that use that all over the place. So, is there another image? I don't know if I get Did I give you two images? Did I give you the one from Oh, there's without. Okay, hold on. Now, let's do this. There's without. Now, let's go back to with Wow. blew your
minds. So, I have a quick question. So, the first one, the the banners have a a obvious theme, which I think is awesome. I've had this brought up to me before in private as well, and I know other towns
do this. I think it's great. Uh, and I love the the idea of the the boxes getting painted or or wrapped artistically, but is there a general theme you're looking for with that as well, or is it just bring it bring it forward to BPU, the council, see if it's
approved one by one, or how do you want to approach that? The beauty of this is we can do whatever we want. So, if that's what the city would like to see happen, I will gladly push them down that road. I personally would like to keep it with a small group of artists to start so there's consistency around it.
If it turned into something where we were bringing on other artists, I think that is something we'd have to look at again once we got there. Thank you. Could we could we negotiate like if we allow this we get rid of the blue crosswalks? What?
How would anybody know where to cross? Johnson, you had something? Uh, no cost on the banners. Love that program. Love the cost to the city. I think it's a good way to honor our uh our family members who have served. Any cost with the wrapping the electrical boxes? We
would like to take on that cost completely. So you would like So you would find benefactors, sponsors, and artists and what? Yeah. Yeah. So and and obviously paint way cheaper than wrapping it. Wrapping it will I'm not someone that is a wrapping professional.
not a busker, also not a rapping professional. Uh so I we'd probably have to find someone to be able to do that. That would drive up the cost a little bit, but completely doable. Yeah. So I I think I support both since there is no cost. I think it adds a a little bit of vibrancy to downtown. You know, I was in
Tri Cities, Washington a number of years ago and they paint their electrical boxes and it was just kind of cool that there was every electrical box was different, different artist vibe to it. But I I also agree with Kevin that some art is ugly.
A lot of art is ugly. So I I would nominate Kevin to just uh be our approval person because I do like his attention to detail. I 100% do not accept that role. Let's go with a cannabis theme. You all knowing our artist, you may get that. There are cities that they do them
all with organics that look like plants, flowering plants. It's pretty cool. It's it's a pretty cool thing. There's a lot. There was another image that maybe didn't make it, but there was I was recently in Detroit Lakes and just happened to drive past one and uh it was
very similar to what you're seeing there. And I'll just throw this out. I served on the FiveWing Arts Council in the past and one of the grants we gave was to an artist to do this exact work. I forget the name of the town, but there was some money that was given through the Five Wings Arts Council for this type of commission work. So, yeah. And again, we'd like to start small. Find
out from BP what they're interested in. You know, maybe they say, "Don't touch that. That's beautiful. We don't want you messing with it." But there are countless electrical boxes in the downtown area that we could take a look at. All right. Are are you looking for
just general approval? Um are you looking for our staff to come up with something that a document, some type of contract for this? What I'd like to do is get approval from you guys to go to BPU and have that conversation with them, make sure that they're okay with it, and then if you need to, we can bring it back to you guys. But we'd like
to get started on the electrical boxes. We'd like to get started sooner rather than later. President O day. I'd like to move a conceptual approval to give permission to Mayor Bedau acting as the community action president. Executive director um to move to go to the public
utilities commission and ask them for their approval. Second motion by Chzox, second by Jagger. Any discussion on that motion, Johnson? Yeah, I I fully support it, but I like how the motion was worded because it's pretty much entirely BPU's realm. They they it's their boxes, it's
their polls, it's their So, you definitely need their support on the project. But you have mine. Excellent. Any more discussion? Seeing none, let's go to a vote. All in favor? I against? Same sign. Motion passes. Thank you. Thank
you, Mr. Bedau. Next, we have number 11. This is staff reports. Start with Tony Gage. Anything, Chief Davis? Nothing. Nothing tonight. Sean Strong, I'll just mention one quick thing here. Uh, tonight we're job shadowing. CLC now has staff back on
staff to televise the meetings, do the broadcasting back here. So, this is Max. He's learning how this all works and will be uh taking on most of the meetings going forward once he knows the ropes. So, thanks. Thank you, Sean. Welcome, Max. Connie Helman, Mike Abigor. Yes, thank you, Mr.
President. Just take a few minutes just to highlight some staff in our transit department. As you know, they're underneath that we have a consultant helping us with more efficiencies and uh uh Crystal, Aaron, and Amy are just doing great job with all of those facets
with that. And then recreation, we are having a fishing clinic this weekend, and Kayla's doing awesome with uh the baseball. You haven't heard any news because I haven't heard anything. The the the schedules are working great. You wouldn't think it would take a lot of work to get a 11 team schedule working
perfectly, but after we printed out from our old program, we quickly realized that it needs a lot of work and it is a little expensive, but we have something in the budget to help with that. And then uh parks, you if you haven't been out to JC Park and Buffalo Hills Park,
we're doing a lot of improvements there. Also at Lum Park, um just want to highlight some of those. Troy has been doing a great job with getting everything up to par and keep the input coming or concerns. Just email, text, whatever it is that that you can do. I
we just need that input to take care of our parks. Also, streets is helping out our parks with some critical uh items and we're working with HR and finance creating job codes for our streets and our park guys to go back and forth, not
necessarily cross trainining, but just job sharing if you will, just to get some things, critical things done. So, that's really awesome. And then you've all heard about our engineering with our construction projects. Um Jesse has done a great job with that and Eric and James are working really well with that. And
then Lisa with our with our admin function. She's just keeping everything organized really well. So I just want to highlight a few staff. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Abigor. Mr. Kravik. Thank you, Mr. President. Just wanted to highlight the upcoming agenda for the planning commission this Wednesday. It'll be
quite busy. Uh we have a public hearing to consider preliminary plat final plat resoning and CUP for St. Francis uh school and church. Hold a public hearing and consider an ordinance amendment for outdoor sales. That was directed by city council. Uh, hold a public hearing, consider proposed ordinance to amend parking requirements in the general
industrial district and park district. Consider a variance uh for an accessory structure at Teen Challenge on Greenwood Street. And then review an amended allowed use table to create less restrictions for businesses. That's everything. Thank you, James. Mr. Wangle, nothing for me. Thank you, Chris
Schubert. Administrator Broyals. Thank you, Mr. President. Quickly, in the same vein as what Mike said, I just want to communicate to the council. You guys have got a great staff. Uh you've got an amazing staff and that staff begins with great directors and I just want to assure the council that the directors
come into work every day and they're focusing on what they can do to deliver services to the public and they're very professional. Uh they put up with me. They're just fantastic. I do want to, you know, and I I want to point out or I want to single out Tony Gage. You know, as we've been working through this this
we've been teasing this monthly report for a while and the suspense tracker for a while. Tony has been instrumental. I am not an IT genius and she is. So Tony has been instrumental in putting this together. So I just want to say thank you Tony for your dedication to the city
of Brainard. It's much appreciated. All right. Thank you, Administrator Broyals. Mr. Mayor up top. Oh, Eric. Eric Sharper, the invisible one. Anything today? Nothing this evening, Mr. President?
Nothing this evening. Nothing. Thank you. Okay. Thanks, Eric. Mayor Bau. Yes. Busker do or busker don't. The choice is up to you folks. You may, you may not. That's up to you. Uh park board had its uh priority meeting much like you guys
did. You guys met. You set your priorities. Park board did the same. Went very well. I think staff was happy with the results in terms of getting some direction. I think park board was able to come together, hash a few things out, shake a little rust off, make sure we're all in the same direction. So,
that was good. Uh, other than that, June 5th, it was on your agenda today. We now have concerts in the park, ladies and gentlemen. Seth Dow, Angie Stevens, June 5th, Lyman P. White, 5:30 to
8:30 being brought to you by Jack Pine Brewery once again folks. So, the folks of Jack Pine will be making their way across the river to the right side and serving some beer for you at your leisure. 5:30 to 8:30, Lyman P. White Park. Seth Dow, special guest, Angie
Stevens. End of report. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Let's start with uh Mr. Chzach. Nothing tonight, Mr. Nothing tonight. Stunic. I have nothing. Jagger. Yes. Airport. Oh, okay. Uh Mr. Broyals did touch on this. I'll try to be as brief
as I can, although it was a flurry of activity out there over the past couple weeks. On May 6th, um this Tuesday, May 6th, the commission did receive a letter of resignation from Mr. Steve Wright, who is our current uh acting director out there. At that time, the commission called a special meeting with the the
highest degree of rapidity that we could uh given that it was still an open meeting and we needed to notice this. So, a follow-up meeting uh happened on May 15th um in which the commission did accept the resignation with tremendous regret uh of Mr. Steve Wright, our our
our leader who's been out there for for quite some time. Uh we also did agree to the separation agreement that was uh put forth with Mr. Wright. So, we have a clean break there. Um and um whom whatever Mr. Wright's path is in
the future. If that is in aviation at another airport, they will be very uh very lucky to get a a tremendous leader and uh a gifted person in that in Mr. Wright. So, we wish him absolutely all of the best. Uh that being said, we are without a uh airport director. We're
without an airport deputy director. So, I have been acting as the interim to the interim to the interim director, I guess, for the last couple weeks here. Um, basically I go out there every single morning just kind of address the staff and see if there's any documentation that needs to be signed
and so forth. Uh as we did decide in the last meeting, we'll be advertising for our new IA uh hopefully tomorrow. That uh that uh has been draft that was drafted over the weekend and has been reviewed by um the HR and both sides uh
today. And it does look like uh we will be posting the uh advertisement for our our new IAD uh tomorrow and we're hoping to close that um about a week from now. Uh we've had already a robust turnout of people who are interested in helping us
out out there uh both as an interim director as well as a long-term uh director, but we've decided to focus just on the interim position for right now. Uh a subcommittee was established at our at that uh May 15th meeting where we will uh narrow the grouping down to about three or four key candidates
hopefully and we will present those to the full airport commission at our next meeting. That's June 5th and the airport commission will have the ability to interview those uh applicants and hopefully right on the spot we will make a decision with a a new interim director uh which is tentatively planned to be
active at our airport from anywhere from 2 to 12 months. Uh following up with that we will then be diving into pretty deeply into exactly what the commission sees for our new the the vision for our new director. So, as opposed to just trying to advertise for both, we really want to take our time with this, make
sure that we are bringing our new director in with good, clean, concise, uh, deliverable as far as what we expect out of this person and moving forward. And we are also looking for a long-term person uh, to to guide us and to to lead us through what will no doubt be
difficult times ahead uh, financially for the airport as as I'm sure a lot of you have known. Uh so um with that being said, I do want to just uh call out a couple people. Uh Jessica Ruling over the past uh week to 10 days has just been phenomenal. She has uh gone above
and beyond the normal call of duty to help us with a few key FAA um credentials that were needed. Uh also uh Cassandra Loftess at with our friends at St. Cloud has been helping out as well. And the staff out there has just been fantastic. The morale is super high. the
the you know the f future's bright and we're all looking forward to uh to moving forward out there um with uh with the airport. So um that's all I really have. Although I did want to say that I love the use of the word suspense tracker and action officers. If we could
get like defcon rolled in there or some kind of that kind of military type stuff, that'd be great, too. But I do like uh the direction that we're going with that. And that's all I have. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Jagger. Put on the le put on the list. Chief action officers. Yes, Mr. Beavenons.
I don't even know what to say after Mr. Joerger. I mean, it's a tough one. Save the world. Did that filled in for the airport director. Filled in for President Trump. Filled in for this. I filled in for the mayor last week. Thank
you. I did one thing and one thing only and that's as you may not know every year we get a financial audit and the whipcracker Hillman drags one of us in and locks us into the chair with the auditors. six of the meanest people you
have ever met and they go through everything on what you know about our city finances and you confess to everything and I did and I'm probably going to get fried but so
far it looks good. End of report. Thank you, Mr. Beavens. Chairman Ericson. Thank you, Mr. President. It's a a busy evening meeting week for me. Uh both my committee assignments meet later this week. Um James already mentioned planning commission uh Wednesday and
then the following evening region 5 development commission and looking forward to participating and attending both those meetings. I know Mr. Ericson Chairman Johnson. Nothing to add. All right. Good answer. Thank you. I will
say uh I wanted to recognize the the four people from our fire department, our our crew that we sent up north. I I was going to ask the fire chief if he was here tonight if that fire is out. I'm not sure if it officially is or not. No, they haven't had as much rain as we
did tonight. Um contained, but one of it's highly contained now, but when those emergencies happen, if we don't help out, we can't expect others to help us out in those emergency situations that we can't control. So, thank you to that crew. Um I do want to recognize the
public works crew. Uh Mr. Mr. Havagor sent us out a long list of spring activities that they are undertaking right now. They're doing a great job. U I think we had a little delay on our our plantings after we had a 94 degree weekend. We now have frost warnings
multiple nights in a row. So, it's probably best we held off on those. But looking forward to seeing those plantings go, uh baskets going out. Our boulevards getting cleaned up, replanted, and and everything's going to look real nice real soon. They're hard at work. So, thank you to that whole
crew. Um, tomorrow morning I I was invited to a leadership breakfast at Essentia. Looking forward to learning whatever it is that we're going to learn there. That'll be my first one. So, um, that's all I have for my report. But, Mr. Mr. Chz, I'd like to wish everybody
a happy Memorial weekend. Yes, I'll second that. Happy Memorial Weekend, everybody. Um, we're just looking for a motion to adjourn. So move motion by Chzach and Stunnick. Jeff, you're going to have to have a talk here. We say
motion by Chzok, second by Stunic. All those in favor? Again, same sign. We are adjourned. No, no after meeting. Oh, can't we go into close session for something? For something. Let's talk
about the annex again. Wait.