Call to order for city of Canon Falls City Council meeting Tuesday, June 17th. If I could get a roll call, please. Uh Dian Johnson here. Chad uh Zimmerman here. Chad Johnson here. Jefferson here. Here. Croninburgger here. Montgomery
here. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
If I could get a motion to approve of tonight's agenda. So moved. Motion from Jeepson. Second from Lisa. All those in favor? I opposed. carries. Gets us to public input. Uh for those of you that are going to speak tonight, if you're not familiar with this public
input, there is no Q&A. You are free to say what you need for three minutes. We will address your concerns later in the meeting when we do around the horn. We'll have some department heads explain the water billing process. Okay. So, public input is intended to afford the public an opportunity to address
concerns to the city council. The public input will be no longer than 30 minutes in total length, and each speaker will have no more than 3 minutes to speak. Speakers may address topics relevant to the governance of the city. Speakers must sign up in advance, must provide their name, address, and the topic they intend to address. Comments must be on
topic, respectful, pertinent to city business, and adhere to the applicable data privacy rules. Any speaker that violates these rules will be asked to sit down. The speaker refuses to comply, they may be removed from the meeting. Speakers shall not address topics that are the subject of a public hearing. All such comments shall be made at the
public hearing. The city council will not generally act on issues raised by the public input, but may choose to schedule consideration of the item on a future agenda. Up first, Joe Girtton, Waterilling. Joe Girtton, 1216th Street North.
I guess after further examination and speaking with a few council members, my biggest concern is is that it appears that we were build for five weeks, a longer period of time due to what it sounds like someone can't remember which one of them told me, but there was a
problem with the reading equipment. Anyway, uh if that's the case, because it's not a linear billing, like you you pay more the more you use, then that needs to be corrected. And
then also, I viewed a email that was sent to another resident that shows much more data than anyone else claimed to be able to receive off of a water beater.
um I mean down to like the minute it was being used. So why are we not being built for actual usage and in a tiered system? That's my other point. You know, if I'm
only using 130, just for an example, if I'm using 130 gallons, why are we not being built for 130 gallons instead of you used 100 units, 200 units, 300 units? That doesn't seem logical to me if we have
the technology to further break that down. So, that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, I'm having a hard time with this one. Is it Carl Bishoff? Yeah,
I'm here for something. I know. Got the name right, though. Yes. Y um I was just told I supposed to come here to get a uh get permission to put up a handicap parking sign. I called city hall just to make sure that it was okay. I put one up and they
said I should come to this meeting. So, um, okay. So, like I said, public input is usually a time where somebody gets to come up and bring up an issue. If you're asking for a handicap permit signed, we can probably talk about that after the meeting. I'm not Is that a public works issue or is that the first time I'm
here? Okay. So, we're just hoping to put one up on the street right in front of a a residential group home here in town. Uh we've got a resident who's uh got down syndrome and really should be getting off his uh bus right in front of the sidewalk. And so
the uh the program director asked if I could put up a sign, but then before putting up a sign right next to the city street, I thought I should just check with you guys. So uh we will do our best to take care of you here in Johnson. Thanks. Thank you, Carl. Uh next up, uh
Satie. Is it Simmons or Simons? Uh Simmons. Simmons. Water. Um, I'll keep this fairly short. I think I reached out to most of the folks in this room via email. Um, I'm here as a concerned resident. I had an increase of
122% in my May utility water bill. Um, a jump from 57% which is my 9month average. um solely due to watering my garden, a practice that I've done for seven years, and I've never seen this level of increase in my water bill. Um I
follow the same exact process as I do every single year. I call city hall in April. I let whoever answers the phone know that I am starting to water my garden and could a note please be put on my address. Um that's always been done
without being told anything different until this year. I was told that the six-month average would automatically be used to protect residents from inflated sewer fees during seasonal watering, but my bill still went up 122%.
Um, I think this un unexpected bill increase and lack of clear communication around a policy change, whether that be a policy change or just inconsistent application of whatever policy already exists. um we deserve some transparency
as residents um in those in those practices. Um I hadn't heard of the fiveweek deal versus a 4-week deal um until one one council member shared that with me I think a day and a half ago or something like that. So whether that
play a role in my 122% increase, I'm sure it does. Um but but needless to say, I didn't know that it was a fiveweek cycle instead of a four-week cycle or whatever the natural cycle is. Um that wasn't shared with residents either. That's my concern. Thank you.
Thank you. All right, that gets us to tonight's consent agenda. Consent agenda items may be adopted under one motion as presented or may be removed for discussion and resolution as council business. I'll go through them. Uh item A, just correct claims. accounting period ending June
11th, 2025. B, meeting minutes for June 3rd, 2025 city council meeting. Item C, approve a final pay request for John Burch Park. Item D, approve police officer resignation, police officer promotion, and fill the part-time position. Item E, approve Prairie Island
Police Services Agreement. Item F, approve part-time police officer pay adjustment. Item G, approve hiring of seasonal part-time public works employees. Item H, approved stump grinding quote. Item I, approve 2025 street maintenance quote. Item J,
resolution 2815 relating to the conveyance of tax forfeited property. Item K, approve hiring of Izzy Carlson for the license and permit technician position. And item A, resolution 2816, accepting a monetary donation of $8,186
from the county emergency worker decon to the fire department. Is there anything the council would like to pull down? Uh E. Item E. Prairie Island. Prairie Island service agreement will be moved to uh council business as item A.
Anything else? I would accept a motion to approve tonight's consent agenda. So motion from Chris. Second. Second from Lisa. All those in favor? I opposed. Carries. Gets us down to council business. So what was
item E is now a approved Perry Island Police Services agreement. Diane um in reading the document um I noticed that the insurance the assurance that the our insurance policy would be covering it was from
2020. uh things change in 5 years and so I would appreciate it if we would have an updated uh okay with our insurance company for this kind of agreement. Um and had this
gone to the police commission, I'm assuming the police commission should have compared the contracted police services agreement that was supposedly approved back in 2020 with this one proposed with Prairie Island. Um, and I I guess I would feel more comfortable if
the police commission did review this before we consider it. Would ask that it be tabled and sent back to the commission for review before we consider this. So, this actually has been through that process was to this body um back in
2020. Um, because of where we were staffing wise, it was just never moved forward. Uh the body was told that should we get to that point, we bring it back to this body. Uh the insurance hasn't changed within uh what we get from the league. I certainly can verify
that again with them. But the uh league's coverage has remained consistent not just in the last 5 years but in the last 15 years. So whatever this this body wants to do. I just made sure that uh you know when
we did this the council was very adamant that prior to entering into that it would come back to the council because the contracted services agreement would be different than what is utilized for our standard ones for like most recent
usage would have a track um for their their uh one of their meetings. Um this is an agreement with the um Prairie Island uh tribal community. Um so it's already been um reviewed 5 years
ago by the city attorney. Um it was sent to Shelley for review just to make sure that nothing had changed relative to applicable statutes or anything and she uh approved it. That's why it was brought to the public. So there have been no major changes and I when I was
looking through there it got delayed due to CO. Am I correct? Well, CO shut the the the whole process down but we didn't um agree to uh to do anything just because we lost four of our officers, right? And then we
were in process of training them. We lost four more of our officers. We were process of training them. We're finally back to that point where we would be able to do it and they made the request uh probably about a month ago now. Just wondering if any
officers would be available. I don't know where their staffing is, but when they have these events, what they're primarily looking for is traffic control. And we of course would be billing them at a different rate than we bill out on the contract services because for contracted services we send the officer with a squad car but the
officer is parking the car. This the car would probably be running for the entire time. So we won't be charging for that. Shel I understand Diane's concerned with the 5year delay. Do you see any legal reason of uh pushing it back to police commission before it has to come back to
council in that time lapse? I reviewed the status of the contract as it as it is today. I did not do a comparative between the prior version and this version. What I saw today would be consistent with statutes and what you're
allowed to do. It's a policy matter as to whether or not you agree with the terms of it. And there was no difference. It was actually that version. The only thing that uh the uh Prairie Island said was change the dates. All right. So the request from
Prairie Island is the same. Uh any other discussion from council? I would still like to see it go back. But we are we are a council. We are an entire body. So I'm asking the rest of the council if they see things the way you do and they'd like to move it back or if they'd like to vote on it tonight.
So if there is any other questions, comments, concerns from the council, can we vote on it under the assumption that chief will make sure that the insurance is good? I guess. Yeah. I certainly can check with the league's uh
um legal again. Um they've got attorneys that do just that within their legal division. Um but from the 2020 discussions, the primary concern was would we have viability that you know isn't covered by the league? And the league came back and said no, you're
everything's covered. we cover this uh um you know any type of activity that not just our department but any of the city's departments engage in are you know covered under those policies. All right, with that said, I would
entertain a motion to approve uh what was item E. Now item A, approve the Prairie Island Police Services Agreement. to make a motion. Motion from Chad. Is there no second? Okay. Can I second with the understanding
chief will go get new insurance information? Absolutely. That's that would be my contingency and I would second that. All right. So, there's been a motion from Chad, second from Chris uh with the contingent that the chief will double check the insurance.
With that said, we can take a vote. All those in favor say I. I I opposed. No. Passes by. All right. That gets us to our around the horn time. Mayor. Yes, sir. Clarification. Um, time. Do you
want me to send email or anything so that you're aware of the outcome or do you want me to inform John? How do you want me to proceed on verify the insurance? You can just inform John. Okay. Thank you. That's John. All right. Uh Maggie's not here for the chamber. Uh
the EDA June 5th. Laura. Um at our EDA meeting, we actually approved a couple different purchase agreements which um fulfilled the 29th
lot. Um so we are fully under contract for all of phase one. So that's exciting. Um we are working on um we'll be bringing the well WHKS Darren and his team are all working on
the construction plans for uh the finals. So we'll be bringing those um hopefully the next I'm not sure I think end of July maybe. I know that's ambitious but um Jesse said it might be done. So um anyway so that's what we've got
going. I'm trying to see if there's anything else that I have to share with you. Um, let's see. I don't I don't think there's anything else really. Um,
no, I think that's it. All right. Uh, planning commission met on June 9th. Yeah. And we did not have a quorum, so it was just an informal meeting. Work session. Okay. Kind of work session. We talked about gravel driveways, track
development, and uh vacating or unvacing alleys. All right. Public works spark word June 12th. Jed, you just want to take Yeah, everything that we we talked about is on the consent agenda. Um is there any
specific questions you want me to address or No, there's John Burch Park ready to go. Ready to go. That's awesome. Yes. Yeah. All right, let's start there around the horn. If there are anything else, Jed, if you would like to talk about water billing in any way, shape, or form, now would be you to find time for that. So,
I can I can address like the meters side of it. I I'm more of the hardware side rather than the the the billing side of things. Um Joe and I did talk last week. Um and maybe I didn't clarify well enough. So, we read once a month. We don't have the ability to to do a
constant reading. So, we send uh one of the water guys around and they have to drive down like all the streets. They they pull in all the the information once a month. The antenna to our reader broke. Um it had a bad wire. And so when he tried to read, he was getting less
than a quarter of of all the reads to come in. And so we reached out to our our vendor to get us a new antenna. Um they sent us the wrong antenna. So then we took it into our own own hands, repaired it and was able to read it read it. And that's why billing was done
about 5 days later than we should have. Um as far as like the detailed um uh metering of like a minute to minute. Um, if there's if when a resident gets their bill and they they feel like they have like more water usage than normal, we
can do a data logger where one of my water guys can go out and they can pull all the information off that meter and it'll give a a detailed history back so far. I think it's a month or two of of all water usage down to either the minute or the hour. So there there is
that ability, but it has to we have to send a operator out to do individual data logging per meter. So I think we can't just pull it all in and have a extensive history on it every single year. It just gives us a the final, you
know, monthly. So if I could absolutely add to that, so what was referenced in the in the public comment is um I I was the one that reviewed that that data. It is by the hour um and it went back I think into March. So it it does it does
sustain three or four months of of data by the hour for for the amount of water that went through the meter. Um what the challenge is is yes we can pull that data but it is labor intensive in order to do that. So it's not and it's not
conducive to then go back into billing from that data set. Uh I it took me hours just to work with that the data set as it was received from me to be able to navigate it and kind of document for the individual what was happening
with the consumption of water at the crop coming through that meter. So yes, it can be done. It isn't necessarily the function that we're going to use for the systems that we have to build that water back. So we're I mean we are billing for
the actual use but we're rounding to 100. So it is kind of pretty one side or another. If you fall on that other side of the 100 then yeah your bill goes up. I mean it it's that way but over the long haul there's effective
you know kind of average of it's going to balance out for you. You may have 29 290 CF one month and 301 the next month. Yeah. Well, you know that's the 301 kind of hurts but you were just under so there's lots of other factors I can go
into a little bit later but I just definitely wanted to touch on the on the data logging side there I mean there are technology out there for for meters and systems that you know do have a different you know outlook in terms of what you can see and build it can be on
demand it can be you know doing everything remote coming back to to here um that's huge investment and upgrade for the system. So it would require server upgrades on in-house uh to bring in the the data to you know be able to
run that system as well as every meter needs to get upgraded to that as well as infrastructure in the community to be able to pull and and deliver back that that data back to us. So um that is uh you know not something that we we would
take lightly in terms of making a decision to do. Um it certainly is out there. I was part of the community where we did upgrade most of our uh meters. We had about a third of them done to that system and then took about 3 to 5 years to finish the rest at hundreds of
thousands of dollars of investment. And that's just to get the accurate down. just to go Yeah, that's just to go to the meter system that will tell you, you know, up to the basically up to the kind of minute like how much water going through that system because it's sending
that information out to um towers or antenna in the in the network. Then that network that information is then coming back to the to the city to wherever the central ser it was at. So I mean there was huge investments that needed to be made and plans that need to be made um
in order to accommodate that and do that. our system as it is today can't in in there. So the other part of the question was not necessarily minute by minute, hour by hour, whatever, but uh
you know we go and are build 100, 200, 300, 400. Can they be broken down more finely than that or does that again limitation of our system? That's a that that's a question I don't have an answer to. I don't know. I I've looked into a
lot, but the the what we can parse down in the in terms of why do we do a tiered system? The tiered system is is there. It's actually a state mandate that uh cities that are buil providing water have a increasing rate for for their
water consumption to help encourage people to conserve water. So if you had 401 you now pay the $13. So yeah. So that yeah seems unfair. Yeah. So there's the increase on the that's just on that
tier though. No, you retroactively pay the whole there is a issue isn't with the water, it's with the sewer. Most people's issue is with the sewer usage and the sewer is being paid twice too this because the operations of the
sewer system and the plant are more expensive because we do have a treatment plant for sewer. We don't have a treatment plant for water. Uh so I mean the cost to operate that side of the system is more expensive. And so in terms of the way the rate is you know
was approved and implemented the your your base charge for sewer accounts for your first 300 cubic feet of consumption. So it it is $33.68 right now. Once you hit 400 cubic feet
of consumption, then the rate converts from the base charge to $11.76 cents per 100 cubic feet. So that three, you know, if you're doing the math in your head, 3368 is not 3 / or 3 * 1176.
It's a little less than that. So there is a, you know, part of that structure that's different. So and it is it is different in my experiences uh that your base charge does accounts for consumption uh versus setting a base
charge and then setting a consumption charge. Um my previous community we had two different charges. You have that on the water side you have a base water that you pay fixed regardless if you use water or not and then you pay for the water use. On the sewer side, it's um
you know that base is factors in up to 300 cubic feet of of water use. Um but you could use zero and still pay 3360. What about like her? She said she tried calling and they used to give permit to go up as much as it did. That doesn't
seem right. that we've we've looked into that and in my evaluation of it and the staff that have reviewed it, this system and this policy and the structure for the sew summer sewer credit hasn't changed in how it's been implemented.
And the fact that they've called before and were told that it was it was there is based on what staff has reported to me that that nothing changes on their bill. just there. The system goes on on
May for the May buildings because we have the extra five to seven days, whatever that be. Um, it bumps people into the higher tier for the water usage. Would that that be a higher tier for like the sewer usage? So now they're
paying all of that at a higher rate. That would only have had an impact if they if in those extra days they crossed over from 300 to 4 in the 300 range of CF to 400 range. That would be the only difference in which on the sewer side that that would have impacted because
once they're I I would disagree based on the based on the average consumption for residential households. They are they're the average for the whole you know a residential property is over 400.
I my family of four, you know, equivalent to 800 CF in my where I like that 400 is is a very it's a very small amount of water. I don't know if we're technically allowed to speak right now,
but we posted this on the city of Canon Falls forum, which I'm sure you all absolutely hate, which I understand. But within like an hour of it being posted, there were over two dozen people expressing this exact same issue that
they've never experienced before. So whether you want to take my seven years of living here, I mean, into account or not, there's dozens of residents. It's a little unfortunate that more of them didn't show up, but I understand people have busy lives, but yeah, like Satie said, there was over 20 other people
that said, "My water bill was the highest it's ever been this month." All right. Do we And can we put a can we put a pause in this? And we will we've tried to explain the the billing cycle and how it is. We will take a deeper look or evaluate people's bills to see
if these thing if these claims are uh accurate or I I do understand people's concern if they think it's spiked. We will continue to look into it if it had to do with the extra few days of metering or with the due to the antenna. We will try to control this issue.
However, I think we've done a good job tonight to at least explain how we bill why it is that way with our software, with our programming that, you know, I understand Chad when you say, "Well, that's unfair." It's like, but for most people, it's like their monthly usage, they fit in this category, and every
once in a while you bump up and then it goes up. I know that's how it is in my household. A lot of the time it's this and it'll it goes up one, then it usually goes back down. especially spring water usage. Sewer should cost more because of our water treatment facility, because of the cost of operation, cost of that operating and that machinery and people's time that
work in public works that does not go down. Uh so let's just put a a pause in this for now. This was not on our agenda. We're doing this just out of the kindness of our hearts. Uh we're taking extra time. We were in around the horn. Uh Jed was the one that started it off. So let's go. Anything with the library?
Can I give one more? on a positive bill and they're going to get the next bill will be shorter because of this this one being longer. Correct. Billing. Yeah. The billing cycle we tried to we try based on the just operationally we try to bill as close to the end of the month
as we can. They had issues. Yeah. So issues so delayed. So we're still billing at the end of this month. So that the that readings will go out and that will be a part of your just wanted to at least put a posit. All right. All right. Thank you, Ch Nicole.
There's really not much new going on at the library. We've got great programs. Um, summer reading is barely still going on. It's going to be going until mid August. Uh, we're getting a lot of people signing up and we have very cool
gift baskets that people can enter raffles to try to win um for all ages. There are two specifically that are only for teens and then there are three for teens and adults and then there are like
six for kids. So please just come to the library, see what we've got. It's fun. And I'm sorry I was out last week, yesterday, and today I've been catching up on email. There you go. So all right, enjoy the library. Laura,
anything else you'd like to add? All right. Thank you, Chief. So, the uh police commission met on uh June 12th. Um but the uh the agenda was in front of me this evening. Um we are gearing up for the uh fair and I'll talk more about
that at the next meeting just because it's proximity. Perfect. Darren, anything from WHKS? Um just that uh we're trying to wrap up uh projects from last year and uh working on the studies and uh plans for
this year. Shelley. All right, John. Anything else? Couple things. Uh one quick wanted to point out in the upcoming meeting schedule planning commission is a change of date that is pushed back to July 21st. Um we do have our first meeting
with the township to discuss annexation um tomorrow. Uh we have uh members of the township board their attorney uh the mayor and I and others are Shelley and Laura I believe are going to try to attend uh from the city's perspective to kind of work through that. We're hopeful
and optimistic that we can come to what's called an orderly annexation agreement or O aaa um that can be approved through a joint resolution by both our council and the and the board to um effectively initiate that annexation pro process for project we
talked about tonight. Um thank you very much for approving the the new hire of Izzy Carlson. She will start on Monday. Um very excited to have her. I think she comes with a great deal of of educational knowledge and and experience
even uh and despite her uh you know just being a recent graduate of the school um she I think will will fit in really really well here and I'm very excited for for the the work that she can do and the opportunities that we can have for
her to grow uh and develop in in a career with our city. Um that said, I do want to inform uh we do have the holiday of Junth on Thursday. So our offices are closed. Um so that is the reason for
that. Uh and I am off on this Friday as well. And then the League of Minnesota Cities conference is next week in Duth. I will be attending that Wednesday through Friday. So unfortunately limited office time for the rest of the month of
June, but after that things get a lot lot more. So I will be available much more in July. All right. Thank you, John. Laura, I'm good. Chris, um I guess I just want to I know we've already talked about the
water thing. Um I think it just it it deserves more planted data. I guess whether it's in this formal setting or a work session or something, I think we can I feel like I need to be more educated on it, I guess, to kind of address these questions. maybe it deserves a fresh look and what our
current policy is and all that stuff, you know, and part of those questions, you know, is a user-l like tract good for the city, you know, in terms of water bills, waste water bills, stuff like that, you know, I think questions like that would be or hey, does this water study help us with these water
bills at all? Stuff like that would be very valuable to share. I don't know what that meeting would be, but just we could do a work session on it or if we don't have a busy um council meeting one time. If we could just spend some time on it, educating us, doing a
presentation, I think that that would be very valuable to the community and myself. I guess I guess that's what I'm looking for. But I don't want to be the dead horse either. I know. I mean, this is my first year. You've probably What year are you on, man? Uh sixth. Yeah.
So, you've probably been through it, but Yeah. I I mean I I hear the complaints. I've I was one of the complainers when I I'm still a resident obviously, but um you know, my my bill doubled too, but I you know, but part of that too is you know, you see this report. I was looking at it when we were doing our work
session. You know, we already have stuff that needs to be upgraded in the next 0 to 5 years is what it says or you know, there there is a lifespan to that stuff. So, you know, we need to keep our balance healthy, too. Um, so those are the things I kind of want to test out if we can and and kind of deliver that message and take a closer look at this.
But that's all I can if I can just I we can absolutely look at that that I I think the timing of it fits because we'll be going into the budgetary conversation. Uh, I just want to be clear and and help everybody, you know, make sure everybody's aware. We plan for
this budget year based on the revenues and the rates that were were approved last year. So, you know, we're projecting what's going to be used, what's going to be uh paid for bills, and that's the revenue that on the utility side that is planned for to
operate, paid for capital improvements, debt service, and whatnot for the like for those systems. So, I just want to, you know, emphasize that that's part of this year's revenue planning. Deviation or change from that certainly needs to be
strictly evaluated because it's going to have a very dramatic impact if we're going to change course mid year. However, talking about budget for 2026, evaluating where our rates are at is certainly a a very valid and I I would say timely discussion for how and why we
do that. um to ensure that we are capturing the the rates uh the revenues that we need to operate the systems in and cover for debt as well as plan for future energy. So um and then one other fact I've got to point out was uh
evaluating the amount of consumption for the entire residential classified meters. There was 947,000 cubic feet of water consumed in May for residentials and it was 567,000
for people. So across the board residents in city use almost double almost I appreciate that. I mean those are the types of things you know when we get to that point have that conversation
is that number based off the extra week of reading though. Yes. I mean, it's from three to 400 units on another week makes a difference. All right, Jeff.
Well, I'll go with with Chris on on and I I've been saying this for years and not so much the water bills, but the sewer charges. And I think my concern is because and number one May 1st through September 30th doesn't really encompass
the watering season anymore like April 1st through the end of October in terms of when we start using our irrigation. We do watering on gardens and that and that's what I'd really like to explore is is how do we and I know we base you
know we like to charge everybody these fees so that we can get more money for our sewer system. line our sewer system needs to be upgraded. But at the same time, uh the water we're using outside does not. And so we need to probably figure out if
we can put a way to do that. Lisa, don't cut your grass too short. Don't let it grow too long and make your neighbors crappy. Have a good week, Jeff. Um yeah, I guess just like everyone, my water went up. Um, but if I
going to say anything else, I would like to thank the the police and the fire and the ambulance. Um, there's incidents this last week with the bike trail. Um, we're all running inside or they tell us to go away. They could suit up and get ready for whatever gets thrown at him.
Um, there's been a lot of movies where guys are in the woods with guns and they don't like cops and uh, these guys suited up and they're ready to go out there. So, I I just thank them for that. Thank you, Chad. Uh I would echo those
sent a sentiment. So, Chief, thank you for uh your department and everything that they've been doing to uh continue to keep our communities safe. Uh with that, I would seek a motion to adjourn. So, moved. Motion from Jeffson, second from Diane. All those in favor? Opposed?
We're thank you everybody.