Call to order for city of Canon Falls City Council meeting on Tuesday, August 19th, 2025. I'd like you to roll call, please. >> Diane Johnson, >> here. >> Zimmerman >> here. >> Chad Johnson here.
>> Jeepson. >> Kind of hears from line. Is that good? Uh then Novach >> here. >> Croninburgger >> here. >> Montgomery >> here. Please rise for the pledge of >> allegiance. Aliance to the flag of the United States
of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. If I could get a motion to approve tonight's agenda. >> Motion. Second. >> Motion from Lisa, second from Diane. All
those in favor say. >> We do have to do roll call. >> It's an amended agenda with the addition of in the consent agenda. We will have item J, which is cable commission, the tririccaster replacement. So, it is
amended. Uh, so I'll ask a second time if I can get a motion to approve the amended agenda. >> Motion. >> Lisa and Diane for a motion and second. All those in favor, we will go roll call because Brian Jeepson.
>> Jeepson. >> Right. You can give a thumbs up or a thumbs down if you can hear us. I saw the eye. >> Yep. >> Noach. >> Hi. >> Croninburgger >> here. Diane Johnson. >> I mean I >> Zimmerman. >> Ted Johnson. >> Hi.
>> All right. It carries six to zero. Gets us to public input. 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,
and if the speaker refuses to comply, they may be removed from the meeting. Speaker shall not address topics that are the subject of the 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. Leading off tonight, we got Dallas Larson. >> Mayor, members of the council, thank you for letting me speak with you tonight. Uh, this is regarding the data center. Uh, the newspaper provided a brief on
the proposal for the annexation agreement with Randolph Township in order to facilitate a data center. Cannon Falls appears to have stagnated over the last 10 or 15 years. There's been no consequential industrial or commercial development in the last
decade. That shows in what we're paying for real estate taxes. Taxes on my home have increased over 70% in the last 10 years. We haven't seen any real restraint on the part of the city or the school and
frankly even the county that used to be uh somewhat conservative has has seemed to lost that conservatism and uh spending is equal to that 70% over the last decade. So if there's no hope of
seeing any spending side help our only relief will be in acquiring new tax base. So, regarding the data center, apparently there's some naysayers that feel that development has uh too many issues. Perhaps uh it's too premature to
suggest that it's uh it's something we can support wholeheartedly or not. But it it reminds me of 15 years ago when the proposal came forth for Inveny. Lots of people feared air quality issues and other things. It was really seemed
almost irrational at the time. But as it turned out, all the concerns were addressed in the development agreement. And as some of us believed at the time, you're hardressed to tell when that facility is even operating. So we can look back from here and we can
see that has provided tremendous benefit to the city. And unfortunately, even though there's hundreds of thousands of dollars been paid in from invenergy, we haven't seen any real relief in our taxes over the last decade. So after this long drought and
commercial development, we finally have a chance to secure a project that could provide some needed relief to an overstressed tax base. One of you is quoted in the paper as saying this project would be against our uh recreation strength as a recreation
town. Well, recreation does not pay for the cost of local government. So we need to look elsewhere to find the some help. D d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d da centers are being constructed all over the country. Mistakes have been made elsewhere that can benefit us. By
adopting regulations that mitigate those concerns over water recycling, noise and air quality and the like, we can have this benefit our community rather than go down the road to another city. I'd like to see all of you have a
positive attitude towards this proposal. Obviously, not prejudging it because there's lots of decisions that get to be made along the way. But doing this project in a smart way will provide benefits to for this the community for many years to come. And I can tell you that uh my income in
retirement hasn't kept pace with the 70% cost that the city has uh increased its uh expending over the last decade. So we really do need some relief. Something has to give. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.
Uh next up is it Ryan Goken. Good evening. Uh my name is Ryan Goen. Uh my address is 30 379 72nd Avenue Way. Uh my partner and I recently bought our house um at the end of April. Uh I'm here as a concerned citizen to provide a
critical point of view on the proposed data center. I've worked for nearly 20 years as an IT engineer uh in several data centers in and outside of Minnesota. I want to echo the points regarding the promise of jobs that I've seen mentioned in letters to the editor of the beacon as well as mentioned in a
previous meeting. The proposal makes it seem like the jobs being created are within the data center itself. However, track builds data centers to sell to the highest bidder. Most likely that will be Meta, Amazon, Microsoft or similar. Other than short-term contract likely
non-UN construction jobs, there's no way TRA can promise any local employment after the build is complete. the contracts are up and the data center is sold. Furthermore, a job inside a data center is highly skilled. Majority of these skilled jobs will likely be remote
workers in and out of the United States. Hypers scale data centers are built for one purpose and that is for massive compute power with huge energy and water resource needs. These developments target small towns with untapped power grids and water aquifers which is reminiscent of the exploitation that
occurred during during the oil boom of the ear early 20th century. The compute power will undoubtedly be used for training and building AI models with data that has been harvested from unsuspecting in users. Some companies have allegedly trained their AI models
on data that was gained illegally. The AI models here uh the AI models being trained inside these types of data centers are used to extrude synthetic information in place of the rigor and research done by real humans who are adept at interpreting and disseminating knowledge in their chosen fields. AI
backed applications have been entrusted to surveil and police the behavior of Americans including workers at their jobs, journalists and activists and students in schools. All this will be aided by a building that will be just one mile from where I stand. the city would not have a say in what happens inside the data center
walls. There don't appear to be any public services offered back to the city from this project. This is not a new Silicon Valley. The final tennis of the data center will not benevolently extend tech services to the city. It's being referred to as a technology
park, but there won't be any playgrounds or any place where the community would spend their leisure time. There will only be brutalist architecture and dead in sidewalks. Entry to the area would be secured and you would need a badge to be on the property. This would be better classified as a data refinery. You won't
smell the fumes, but it will be just as toxic to the community. I don't believe that a data center is in the best interest of Canon Falls. If the development moves forward, I would urge the council to negotiate tangible benefits and economic fail safes to the city. When the AI bubble bursts, and it
most certainly will, Canon Falls will be left unaded to deal with an abandoned development. Thank you. Thank you. Moving on, we go to tonight's presentation. We have toward zero
deaths. Uh Anna Coenhopper. >> Yes. All right. >> Got it. >> Thank you. So, as you mentioned, my name is Anna Coher. I work for Goodyu County Health and Humming Services as their community health specialist, and I'm also the
Goodyu County TCD safe roads coordinator. And I'm here presenting as well with >> Thank you for your time today. We like to do these presentations just to kind of raise awareness about the program that's happening locally and countywide
towards zero death program has been happening for over a decade now and just to give you some insight about what that program is and then locally what we're doing that program. So the overall mission of towards zero death is to create a culture for which
traffic fatalities and serious injuries are no longer acceptable. We do this through an integrative um application and a comprehensive approach. Um and these efforts are driven by data, best practices and research. So to achieve that mission, we do it
through the goals of pursuing public support of traffic safety as a priority, strengthening towards your death as a priority for all units of government and traffic safety partnerships, and we promote implement effective traffic safety initiatives. So we have the main
values of continuous improvement, engaged partnership, and evidence-based approach. We have what we call our five E approach. So this is really making sure that we're not siloing all of our um engagements when it comes to traffic
safety, but we're really all working together. So we pull in law enforcement, engineering, education and outreach, emergency, medical, and trauma services. And our fifth E is everyone. So everyone has a role in preventing these crashes, especially those that get behind the
wheel, but even pedestrians. So why traffic safety matters? So last year in Minnesota alone, there was 477 fatalities. So people that never made it home due to a crash. Nearly 30,000 were
severely injured. And every single day day there's 174 crashes, 65 injuries, and one person tragically dies due to a crash every day. The reason we show you these numbers, I know sometimes it's hard to wrap your
mind around it, but behind every single number is a story. It's someone losing a family member, a loved one, um, and it's a real life, the loss of the road. So this is kind of an overarching view since the beginning of towards zero
death being implemented. So you can see all the way back to 2000. Um and overall the trend line has decreased. Um, and actually today I just sat in on the medical examiner's report for county and that was one of the biggest takeaways is
we're seeing less crashes happening in our county which is mainly attributed to the education and enforcement efforts that are going around locally um targeting um traffic safety in our community. So you can see that red line
is where the trend line was going prior to toward zero death being implemented in our state and locally. And then you can see um now even just in the last year we're at like 414 deaths back in 2024 the goal for this year 2025 is 225
um crashes but definitely an improvement over the past years. This again kind of shows you how many lives overall have been saved had we not taken an approach where we bring all the ease together and focus on traffic
safety. So about 4,526 lives saved um if we didn't interrupt that trend line where the crashes were headed. Again, kind of another view about this. This looks more at the serious injuries rather than just the traffic deaths
alone. Um, but definitely an overall decrease. Still a long way to go to get that trend line down though. And then I always like to mention this specifically because we still are in August, but um we really focus on what
we call 100 deadly days of summer. So this is the time between Memorial Day and um Labor Day. So during this time there's more events, there's more people on the roads. Um, some of the events have more drinking, so there tends to be more impaired driving, more distracted driving, and a higher increase in
fatalities on the road. So, um, as Lieutenant Burke will share, some of our efforts are really focused around the summer months. Um, we have a lot of enforcement waves, paired with education, so we can really target um the crash fatalities that happen this
month. >> Fatalities are occurring in rural Minnesota where we have our higher speeds a lot of times. Yep. they occur in the metro. There's a lot more, but the majority of them are actually occurring in the rural areas. And that's why speaking rural area, it's very
important to do the education piece and the enforcement pieces to get people to slow down and grow their speed. >> So, you can see 38% of fatalities, an increase of 38% of fatalities happen during that 100 day.
So, year-to- date traffic related deaths. So, as of June 10th, which is where we have our most recent data collected, um there has been 137 traffic related deaths already on the Minnesota roads. So, as I mentioned before, our goal is to decrease it down to 225 crash
related deaths in 2025 total. So, definitely still efforts being done to keep that number under that. And you might notice just the language that we're using. We refer to um crashes as crashes not accidents and that's very
purposefully. So we do really view it as a crash and not an accident because we fullheartedly believe that every crash is preventable and we have a role everyone on the road has a role in making sure that they are prevented and it is really realistic to um prevent all
the crashes. So that kind of leads me into the question that a lot of people ask. So the tagline toward zero deaths, we ask, can we really get to zero? Is it attainable? Is it realistic? It is. It takes all the effort. It takes education. It takes enforcement, the
emergency responders, and it takes each of you really making sure that when you get behind the wheel, you're making smart choices, you're ready to drive, um, and you're alert. So my favorite part is talking about how we're applying our goals in this program locally. So,
>> so some of you might have heard about the mock crash. We try to do it every other year. This was the year that we did it. Um, this year, Officer Hansen was the officer that participated. I was more of a background function, making sure everything got the way it
should be. Um, so if anybody's been able to see that presentation, it's a very good one. One thing in the mock crash that I never got to do was actually go to the after presentation. So, this year I have to go to the after presentation. Most of the kids actually stayed awake in a dark room talking about something
that's maybe not as entertaining to them. But the trooper was really interactive and able to I think get the message across and that's what we're looking for is educating young so that they realize these things do happen kids
>> and it's very strategic also pairing mock crashes with um an impact speaker. the data has shown that that sticks longer with students having a testimony and a story actually related to the law crash. So that was um a great event put
on by Can Falls High School. And then as a countywide um initiative that we started this year is um an adult detention center putting on traffic safety presentation and activities. So myself and my regional coordinator um
had a traffic safety presentation that we shared with both the female inmates one day and then the male inmates another day and then have some traffic related activities. So the focus was on the four main contributing factors, crashes, speed, impaired driving,
distracted driving, and then being unfalted. Um and it was really impactful. A lot of people that are in the adult detention center have some sort of DUIs. They do drive in high speeds oftent times unbelted. Um and they may have a short sentence or term
and be back on the roadways and that's a population that's often times missing that education. So um really great uh events this year. >> So then we had the kickoff to summer put on by the chamber. So I was able to get
the seat belt condenser. Anybody get to try it out? So it it simulates a crash with a seat belt on. And if you ever seen the video on lease, it just rolls down that little ramp there and comes to a complete stop. And everybody, I think
we had 33 people um ride it. And I asked them, I said, "If that seat belt would have went been on, where would you have been?" And they said they would have been right into that metal face clean right off. And that was only recreating a is it 10 mph crash? >> Yeah.
>> It's it's slow. So, I mean, think about when we're going 30 m an hour and if we get a car going 30, it's a 60 m hour pack, how important that seat belt is. So, it was great learning experience. Unfortunately, we couldn't let super young kids, the young kids all wanted to
ride it, but for it's not designed for that purpose. >> Yeah. And right around this time as well, um there was an enforcement wave of enforcement on the road specifically to um look for unbelted drivers and make
sure that we're having extra enforcement um since seat belts are really life-saving. So also pairing that education with enforcement and really one of the things that's been on the rise is ATV crashes and
young drivers not wearing helmets. So what we focused on at the fair was um ATV safety. Um there was a great story that we were playing along with this display in this crashed ATV which um an individual was driving at a high rate of
speed and came around the corner and off the roadway crashed into a tree. both were seriously injured and uh he worked with the state to donate his ATV so we can go around the region and educate people and show how important it is to
wear helmets. I think one of the things people don't realize with the side by sides is, oh, you're safe in the side by side. You got a seat belt. Still need to wear a helmet. So, it's it's not a car. When they go off road, their head is going to hit things that aren't designed for your
head to hit, right? It's not like a car where you have all the soft areas. So, we were able to display that during the fair and had a lot of people asking questions. Hopefully that educated a few people and keep
>> So how can you get involved? Um Goodyu County Towards your death has a Facebook page. We're constantly doing different campaigns focusing on different staff uh traffic safety initiatives. Um I know that Canon Falls Police Department also has a Facebook page that they're very
active in. So just staying engaged in what the events are, going to the events if you're able and supporting it um that way is very helpful. We also have Southeast Regional Steering Committee meetings. These are hosted um at the Minnesota Department of Transportation
office in Rochester, but also held virtually as well. So if you did ever want to join those meetings to see what trends we're seeing on the roads and what we're doing in regards to traffic safety, you're more than welcome. um just reach out to myself and I'd be able to connect you with that. And then we
also have a towards zero death safe roads coalition throughout our county. So Berg's a part of that coalition. We have various people from different police departments locally. Um we have emergency uh responders. We have um various people from the public health
and education standpoint as well making sure that we're doing all we can to collaborate locally um and increase um our traffic safety in the county. And then we also have our Towards Zero Death statewide conference. This year it's October 21st to 22nd and that is hosted
in Prior Lake Minnesota. So also a great opportunity to hear more about the traffic initiatives happening statewide. >> And that is all we have for you today. Thank you so much for your time. >> Questions? >> I was going to ask a question. With our
region being the southeast and highway 52, Lieutenant Bird, you had said rural areas and county roads, all that stuff. Uh, ever since CO, it seems like people drive maybe 10, 15 miles an hour over the limit. Is Highway 52 in our region
considered dangerous or more dangerous than it was maybe a decade or 15 years ago. >> What I found interesting is when we close shut down the stop lightss, it's almost like people drove faster and didn't slow down for that. We actually had a lot of crashes during that time which kind of threw us for a curve. We
thought, "Oh no, they're just going to keep driving through." So, I don't know if it was just a happen chance that there were crashes after that close. Um, the biggest thing in is that enforcement piece to show people that the officers are out there. That's what it helps slow
people down. We don't want our officers out there all the time cuz paying a lot of taxes. see your cops in town. So, we've kind of left that focus in the state patrol. But like Anna said, you know, our our numbers in Goodyu County have actually been very good surrounding communities.
So, the actions that are being taken in state and I'd like to note too another thing that we do quarterly is fatal reviews. So with um our local police departments and actually um state patrol and Minnesota Department of Transportation
engineers, we all sit in a rec room and we review crashes that have happened. And it's actually really really important to have our engineers at the table because we only have so much capacity for law enforcement. If there's something we can do to alter that
roadway to make it safer, if we can put in a stoplight, a roundabout, if we can take out a culvert that maybe if someone went in the ditch they would have a death from rather than just going to the ditch. Those are really important things that we can make changes to. And we've actually seen changes when we brought
things up to the table. Minnesota Department of Transportation, especially on those stateowned roads, really take responsibility and make those changes pretty swiftly. One of the biggest changes you'll see right now is Highway 56 and County 9. We had a lot of crashes there. So, what they did is they put the
flashing stop sign on. Um, they put flags on the stop ahead to get people to stop at Highway 56. It has a little bit of a curve and they've had the flashing lights forever. I think people just kind of focus on that. I want the lighting flashing right through it. It's also not
a perfect system. Those are the kind of things that when we talk about how can we make things better trying to get that down. >> Any other questions from the council? Um, and this is actually you, we've talked about motorized
vehicles all the way down to the ATVs and those. Um, I am also concerned about not just car crashes, but when cars uh crash into PE, people on bikes, kids on bikes, people walking. Um, is that
part of your safety study, too? Because I think around here that can be um it's an area of concern. Yeah, we actually countywide also have a program that you can be familiar with called safe routes to school. Um, and so we collaborate a
lot because they're very focused on pedestrians, specifically students in school areas, but making that infrastructure changes, making sure there's a clear um crosswalk, making sure there's um lights, make the traffic aware of that. Um but yes, it all
interconnects and we really do try to collaborate a lot because there's a lot of interweaving um programs that are happening. >> And I think uh we've been working on different things around the school. I'm I live out on Highway 17, which is 55 mph coming into town downhill, no
shoulders, and we've got lots of folks who walk the dogs, kids on bikes. I was coming home earlier and two kids on a bike stopped right in middle of the road. Car bike's coming one way, cars coming the other. Thank goodness car who had the 55 mph speed zone saw the kids
and slowed down quite a while. And I was reading the articles in the paper that said the old rule about the 85% rule in terms of setting speed limits is being reviewed. We've been trying to get that speed limit lowered at least as one way
to try to offer a little bit more safety to our our people who use that road and foot bikes. Is there a push in the county to try to figure out how we can take some of these roads and yes I go by 85% rule you should probably put it at
90 I don't know but uh that's not safe. So a lot of changes are statistic based. There is zero statistics for that roadway and we have tried 5 years ago I think >> and I know and that's why I'm still pressing to say it doesn't as we said at
a recent meeting my association what how many dead bodies are we going to have to plant on the road before we actually do something? Do we want to wait for somebody to get seriously injured or die? you know, is that the statistic we need or can we use common sense and say
there are people living out there, we've got a whole ton of kids and people walking, you see it. Um, shouldn't that be statistic enough to say that will drive much safer? >> You know, and I and that's I guess I I
don't know how much influence you have, but >> yeah, I would I'd love to connect with you and if you I can give you my email. Um there's infrastructure grants. Oftentimes that's the way we have to go about it if it's not a priority on a state level or we just don't have the
finances. We apply for a grant to change in infrastructure. So that's something we could definitely talk about. >> Yeah. I mean I'd be happy at this point if we could put the speed limit down to 45 and give us a fighting chance. Not I mean I hate walking down that
>> Yeah. And so >> but definitely I'd like to >> Yeah. This changing the speed limit doesn't cost us any more than changing the size. >> If we can get past that silly 85% rule and the old way of statistics saying you got to have dead bodies before we
actually do something sense. >> I'm sorry. I have to >> No, that's all right. We agree with you. So, >> thank you so much for your presentation and honestly I know that that crash uh the impact on the families and people involved is so >> Thank you so much.
>> Yep. All right. Uh, moving on. Consent agenda tonight. Consent agenda items may be adopted under one motion as presented or may be removed for discussion and resolution as council business. Uh, remember this is amended, so I'll go through it. Uh, item A, adjust and
correct claims for the accounting period ending August 14, 2025. Item B, meeting minutes, August 5th, 2025, city council meeting. Item C, second reading and adoption of ordinance 409, an ordinance amending city code chapter 152.258
related to parking stall aisle or driveway design and design standards. Item D, second reading and adoption of ordinance 410, an ordinance amending city code chapter 152 related to zoning. Item E, approve gambling premises permit
for the application of the United Way. Item F, approve uh trial and possible purchase of a grid B AP500 wet well mixer. Item G, approve cash match for smalltime grant for wayfinder trail signs. Item H, resolution 2822,
authorizing acceptance of donated improvements at Johnbridge Park. Item I, resolution 2823, approving of preliminary platform Gorman addition. and item J which was added the cable commission and the tririccaster
replacement. If there is anything the council would like to be pulled down to council business. >> Item D. >> Item D. Second reading will now be council business item B.
Anything else from the council hearing? None. I would accept a motion to approve tonight's consent agenda. >> Motion. >> Motion from Lisa. >> Second. >> Second from Chris. Roll call vote, please. >> Noach. >> Hi. >> Croninburgger. >> Hi.
>> Diane Johnson. >> Hi. >> Zimmerman. >> Hi. >> Chaz Johnson. >> Hi. >> Jeepson. >> Did we get an eye out of Jeffson? If we Oh, that's right. Sorry. >> Jeff, did we get a plus? There we go. Thumbs up. Uh, so that
passes 6 to zero. Gets us to our council business tonight. Item A, resolution 2824, the matter of the orderly annexation between the city of Canon Falls and Randolph Township pursuant of Minnesota statutes 414.0325. John,
>> thank you, Mayor. Uh, so tonight we have a resolution between us and Randolph Township. Uh, we have been working on this for a number of months. um trying to find the balance between uh as land comes in addressing concerns that Randolph Township has with the potential
development of the data center in the area and I would say we've had a very uh good conversation very productive uh meetings and have concluded uh that we uh have an orderly annexation for between us and the township as well as
the current land owners and the prospective uh buyers for the property. property. So, um I did try to incorporate a table that breaks down kind of the key elements that we were we were discussing. Um so, there is contributions that are made uh for the
the township offsetting the loss of tax base. Those do come from the city, but as part of our conversations and negotiations with track for the data center development, th those funds would be paid by the developer. Um there's a buyer fee that they that they will pay to the township and then the the
component about detachment. I just want to add clarity to this. So the township just wants to have some level of assurance. They're not trying to I'd say in any way force this to go back to them. But if there were if if the
development was not to be able to go through, they want assurances that the the property can come back to them and and continue being used as so if you know it does get purchased but nothing gets developed that stays uh potentially farmland that there there would be
measures in place that they could ask. So what we try to align that with is if we bring infrastructure to that site. So a water and sewer main that we we do plan and intend to to develop if the um data center development goes through
um that within two years we bid and award the contract and within two years after that bid award we have it constructed. So it is something that we're already discussing and um would plan for if this is approved. Um so that
you would very likely easily be able to to um our stance to as well is we we do you know detract development see a lot of positive benefits with that if it is approved if it is you know if it's uh
does not something t changes in the market dynamics and something you know does not develop that still is an area that has been a part of our comp plan for for development uh for industrial use. So the AU still, you know, has a 5year uh timeline. So it still shows
that there's that potential with those mitigating factors for some type of development out there. So it is something that I think the city would still pursue uh trying to get that development or the infrastructure developed to the area. It'll, you know, something that we we've addressed and
and explained and indicated that in any development agreement that would be a high priority for the city. So we did want to deal with that. So the other another piece was um for the well that is part of one of the properties that
irrigation well um if it were to be receive an amendment to its uh use uh through the DNR that they would slight you know be able to reduce the the total appropriation and only use it in the case of the emergency if the cities um
had a planned outage or you know had had wasn't able to serve that them that they would have the ability to access that well um if it if it get there. And finally, uh the buffer area is
increased um to make sure that there's uh 200 ft of natural area between that and properties. Um and then making sure that there's tree plantings in there. And I think the 25% number, they did the calculation talking 270 trees or
something to be planted in that within that. So adding some more um environmental or natural um buffering between the homes that are there currently in
>> discussion, comments, questions from the council. one maybe a point of clarification and I I think I um so we're obligated within two years to put the infrastructure or the >> did the infrastructure and then two years after that so it's we have a four
year yeah total time frame from from that >> and then uh is there something here then that says you actually have to build it out or develop an industry after that or just so it's just the infrastructure >> yep infrastructure in the ground to be able to serve this >> okay >> so it's about a mile of infrastructure
Sure. Fortunately, it's the the plan for development. We have existing county rightaway that we can build alongside versus having to go underneath the road. So, we're we're in a really good position where that relatively speaking is is easier. >> I just wanted to make sure it was just
the infrastructure and not an obligation to actually have some sort of industry built there. >> Y bid out to contractors pipe in not not flowing, not certain, not necessarily connected. Are we planting the 150 trees?
>> Can I get some clarity on the well? So, as I understand it, there's there's no way for for them to draw from that well unless it is emergency conditions. So, they're still allocated the 440 million 45 million gallons per year for the city. they would they are not allowed to
use that well for other purposes. >> The city the city allocation hasn't been finalized or determined yet. >> Um so the the well appropriation right now stands at 41 million. Um it would as part of the agreement it is they have to
provide notice there has to be some level of city not able to supply them water that they can then tap into to utilize. So if something were to happen happen the city can't get them the water they can then use that per
still needs to go through the DNR to get the amended amendment for the teleport because they're changing its current appropriation use from from a base variation to some other questions or comments hearing none I would accept a motion to
approve resolution 2824. Motion motion from chair, second from Lisa. Uh, any further discussion? All right, we'll take a roll call vote. >> Sorry. >> Hi, >> Diane Johnson. >> Hi, >> Zimmerman.
>> Hi, >> Jack Johnson. >> Hi, >> Jeepson. >> And Novach, >> I approved 6. gets us to item B, which was D on your consent agenda, the second reading and
adoption ordinance 410, an ordinance amending city code chapter 152 related to zoning. Uh reminder, we have stricken the phrase and summary of publication. So, this was part of the amendment that got crossed out by uh Sarah to say there
will not be a summary. So, D. >> Yes. and and I expressed my opposition to the text amendment at the last meeting and so I will not repeat that. Uh but uh to emphasize that I certainly
know that our town could could wisely use all of its additional uh tax revenue that comes in. I do not deny that at all. Um, and as people say, well, you know, one data center is not so bad. And I, you know,
I'm not saying anything good or bad or otherwise about the, you know, current developer. Um, but I also want to say, you know, this is letting the genie out of the model. Once we do, there's no stuff in the genie back in. And so, although we say we've got all of these
conditions that would limit it to just one data center, there's already rumors of the second. and we say, "Well, we don't, you know, they have to come up with all these requirements." Well, obviously, if they're going to bring it up, you know, if the second or third data center offers us tons and tons of
money, it's going to be hard for us for the future councils to say no again. And so I just want us to be very very aware of the fact that if we allow this tax amendment to allow data centers in our
community, we might say, "Oh, one is all we need. We're not going to let them work. We might say we have ways to control that." But you offer enough money and we come up with enough solutions, there's every possibility that there will be more than one. And it because of
that um I I will have to continue to to oppose. That's all I understand. >> Any other discussions on item B? Diane, I I guess I I kind of I just want to maybe it's time for me to open a bank on this topic. Um I do want to say one of
the thing, you know, I get emails from people. I hear concerns. Um it's a tough decision all around for me because I feel like some concerns are valid. I feel like job numbers are not really there. I feel like um taxes are very relevant and all
that stuff. Um one of the things I struggle with is if if we the council say no here, what's stopping developers from going to Hampton, pulling from the same aquifer, pulling from the same power source, and us not seeing any
benefits? So I can tell you I mean I mean I share similar concerns but I also have that weighing on my mind. I feel like I wouldn't myself. I mean, I really have to reason through all this because if we say no or if I say no when that happens, I feel like I'd be doing a
disservice based off that whole tax base going away too. And all those concerns we have about the environment or whatever, what have you are still still valid, but it still happens to our environment very. But I hear what you're saying and I hear
other people who email me and you know give me calls too. So I appreciate that and it's a it's a tough one all around. Any other questions on this? >> I kind of see the the building out the scaling of the water and the energy.
It's probably close to where the worst it's going to be. And technology the servers over the years like they've gotten better. They use less energy. They require less tooling. they get on the train now and get better and then we
can get the benefits and they can stay in the tower versus being in Hampton or somewhere else where they want to just do it. We got to set the regulations right. We got to make sure that if they go over that we've got large enough fines but
see how that got to do it right. something like that. Thank you, Chair. Hearing nothing else, I would accept a motion to approve uh item B of city, which was D consent agenda, the second reading and adoption of ordinance 410, ordinance amending city code chapter 1 2
related to zoning. >> Motion from Laura. >> Second. >> Second from Lisa. Take a roll. >> Diane Johnson. >> No. >> Zimmerman. >> Hi. >> Chad Johnson. Hi >> Jeffson.
>> Hi >> Novak. >> Hi. >> And Croninburgger. >> Hi. >> It passes with the tally of 5 to one. Uh reports for the night. Yay. Laura.
>> Um I just wanted to give a brief update today. We had a um a group in town that was um from the Minnesota Department of Egg and also AURI which is agricultural utilization research institution. I had
to write that down. Um and the two groups had their annual joint meeting here in Canon Falls. It was about um close to 50 people and they were here to kind of talk about our not just their business that they had to conduct but um
we did um a tour of Cannonbells. We went to Ferndale. We went out to Josephson's farm um where the corn the famous corn is grown. Um and the FFA students um actually one of the students that actually picked the corn um very early
in the morning uh she spoke and then >> I Mr. Pluscott drove the bus. >> Mr. Pluscott drove the bus um and then we also had uh Mike Lawrence from Lawrence Meets come and speak. So we had a lot of representation for Canon Falls and our local food producers. And uh
then afterward uh they wrapped up about 3:30. Uh they went across to the winery and I can't tell you how many people came up and just gave glowing reviews of Canon Falls and how lucky and fortunate we are to have this community and all
the amenities, how beautiful the town was. And people are asking like, "Is there a hotel here? Can we come back for a stay and a weekend and a girl trip and whatever?" And I mean, I just think, you know, there we live here and I think that, you know, maybe we take it for
granted, but um we really do have a wonderful community and for those that maybe don't frequent some of our local amenities or our producers um that we have, I really encourage you to do so and take advantage of it because we
really are very fortunate in our little town that we have and we really impressed some very um and I mean some really big people today. Um, so I just wanted to make sure that it was on record. Um, and also to let
our council know that um, we had a really good showcase of our community today. So, thank you. I got a chance to meet some of those people here uh, before coming to the meeting and glowing reviews is probably the the quiet way to say it. They there were people that were saying we would look at moving here uh,
from Metro and all the things you said. I think what we forget uh kind of what John Dah had said of sometimes when you live in it you forget a town of our size the amenities that we have some people think well that should mean you know sometimes you see the online comment of why don't we have a target why don't we have Walmart all those things you might
not have those amenities but cannon bells people forget they think of as coffee and sandwich and ice cream it's like they're a cheese producer that is in stores all across the state has a national uh stamp with the national co-op gers uh So for a town of our size,
we definitely have a lot of amenities, but they might not be the thing that people see uh or they might think of a town of 4,000. We have uh a lot of assets that are very unique to a town size. I'm glad the amount went really well. Uh public works park board met on
August 7th. >> Who wants to take that one? >> Jed. >> Jed, go ahead. >> Okay. Um, well, everything was on the the consent agenda. Um, so yeah, I I don't really have anything to >> You don't want to talk through the AP500
wet well mixer or >> you want me to tell you all about it? >> We should get a thumbs up. It's all good. It's all good. >> Well, you'll save it for your update, but copper. >> Yeah, I'll give that in my report. >> All right. All right. uh planning commission met on August
11th >> and preliminary plat for the aortment edition was approved on consent agenda. We also approved with our engineers blessing the decay wallet atlet sunrise. >> All right the horn J. All right. Um,
Milan overlay state uh uh state highway 20 going out of town. That will wrap up this weekend um 21st 22nd. Uh so uh yeah, thanks for bearing with us and they they kind of got delayed a little bit on
Saturday with the rain, but they're okay with the train. >> Will that striping? >> That'll happen Thursday. and they'll start striping Thursday and Friday and then once striping is done for traffic.
Anyway, um last year the EPA and Department of Health mandated that we do a lead copper survey and figure out what you guys remember the the letters that we sent out. They give us such a short timeline we didn't get a complete survey done. We didn't weren't able to get a
hold of everybody and just had really incomplete information. So they've opened it back up, gave us another really short timeline. Um so in September, WHKS and well and then they're working, the state's working directly with WHKS and not through us. So um WHKS will have a couple
representatives. We'll send out letters to everybody. Um WHKS will be sending out letters um similar to what we got last year and then they will have a couple representatives. I think it was from noon to to 8:00 at night be knocking on those doors and so that they can do a site inspection of if you for
sure will identify your pipes in inside your house as lead copper or whatever do a source identification. Um I just want to give you a heads up there will be more information. Um we'll work with Laura and get it on the the website and also the the Facebook page just trying
to make everybody aware. Um they will be have name tags and official legit legit. So >> all right. Um last thing uh we will start our mill and overlay projects here in the next couple weeks uh with industrial boulevard and then also uh
John Park alley and then our small little thank you. >> Thanks Izzy. >> I just wanted to give a quick update on Donald. I'm sure a lot of people are excited or anxious about that. Um, so
the next planning commission is a big one. So we're doing all the approvals for additional uses and variances for the McDonald's. Um, so that will be happening kind of September 8th. >> Wonderful. Thank you. Laura, anything else?
>> John B. >> So while you guys were enjoying your council meeting in your last session, we got to enjoy nights unite. We had seven parties. Um, spread the officers about to all the parties and, uh, I think we all came back pretty full. It's hard to
go to the second party and they're like, "We got food." And I was like, "I might have ate too much at the last one, but give me a little more." >> So, it was it was a great time. We had great weather. Um, hopefully next year we can move the council meeting and everybody can partake from year end. So,
so yeah, it was a great time. Uh we experienced a little bit of rain over the last couple weeks, last week. Um so it looks like everything has peaked out with the river. So we're not expecting any uh significant flooding. In fact, there's supposed to be dry for the next couple days and it looks like it'll
start going down on the river. That's all I have. Thanks. >> Random question. Were we given a notification from Northfield with stuff in the river or due to the rain? Did they let some No, >> not that I know of. >> There was a rumor that I heard but nothing official. >> Okay.
Okay, Sarah, >> Shelley, >> John, >> uh, so I do have, uh, news. Quick Trip has informed us that they did not extend their last purchase agreement. Um, so I
do actually have a meeting with Mindot tomorrow to discuss um, ways that we can either move that project forward, bring that project back. Um, a lot of it had to do with just the uncertainty around what improvements need to be made along
Highway 19 and Dow Street and Highway 52 offramp and Casey's there. Um, we hopefully can establish a little better communication and a little more consistency in terms of response. uh that would help grant some some kind of
certainty or at least acknowledgement or confidence from quick trip that uh moving forward a solution you know we'll get we'll get to some sort of solution but at this time it was uncertainty was was more than our team could could bear for that but it wasn't I do want to
emphasize that the feedback I got was not on the city the city has been the comments for the city's been very responsive very good to work with and they are still very interested in being here. Um if they could be this site or
another site, if we can find ways to address the situation that so hopefully my conversations start to improve that process tomorrow. Um and uh additionally we do want to uh
acknowledge in that planning commission uh September 8th uh likely we'll have a joint work session prior to that. So that's available. Um we met previously with tract uh before this meeting. They have their amended applications that they'll be submitting here this week. Uh
and we will be starting to discuss those development agreement terms as well. So just kind of kind of laying the laying the runway here for for the decision. So, while we're not far along in the total decision-m process and getting everything to the point where it's
presented to you for for approvals, um we have come a long ways in terms of those conversations. So, I hope that um it does that previous work will help us to kind of understand what it is that they're asking for, how the development is looking to to would take place so
that you know we can kind of see see where the vision is. It is complicated. It is going to take create take a lot of time are you know even with the text amendment for the data centers um being approved that's still create there's still a process in which a lot of this
has to happen primarily to make sure that we have that control that we want so that it isn't a development that um you know we see um in future as being an issue for we want to make sure that
those controls are in place that um safeguards are are there for the city so that the risk is as low as it can. Is it without risk? No. Nothing in terms of doing this, especially when you're talking about huge things that take up 200 some acres. Um nothing's risk-free,
but we're we're trying to accomplish and get to a point where we're presenting to every this this board and the planning commission, you know, the ways that the issues are mitigated. And I know there's been a lot of conversations and a lot of a lot of concerns being addressed. We
haven't been in a position where we've been able to directly answer them because we haven't been in this position until now with the annexation going through where we had the, you know, real authority to make those decisions and provide that that those answers. So I
think from this point forward through the end of the process we you know we will be able to to address the concerns that are that you arise be able to talk more specifically about how we are responding to it but
ultimately you as a council will have to decision to make in terms of the plan. Going back to what you said about uh quick trip just to reiterate uh more of a mindot not a city however uh was a
broad didn't they see something similar where purchase agreement may have expired and then came back. So I'm just trying to be optimistic for the community. So, it is. Yeah, I would I would say the feedback that I've had even since they informed me the purchase agreement is that they still want to be
somewhere in the in the street and that that very much is on their their radar fits within their models. That location was really good for them in terms of that. It was really good for the city in terms of an opportunity to redevelop a
site that has some trouble. Um, so we have an interest in one. But we also need to address and work with Mandot as well because at some point if we not if we're not then we could be in a position
where we're in conflict with them and that's not that's not how I intend in operating in my profession um where we can find solutions of these these. Yep. Very much similar to what Diane was saying before with the presentation. I'd much rather that we have things right
before the building gets built and starts opening and operating with Down Street. We know that that's a that's a tricky area as is just right at this moment. The timelines are aligning with with that. Thank you, John. Uh Laura, >> I'm good.
>> Chris, help Lisa. >> Uh I attended the lines. They were talking at the uh they did a brave book grading this week and I'd like to thank them for doing that. It's pretty cool. >> Pretty cool.
>> They're doing a book sale this uh 25th through the 30th of the year. >> That's awesome. Good. >> Awesome. Jeff, do you have anything that you want to share? All right. I'm good, too. I just want to say thank you for uh allowing me to be absent from the last
meeting being on that uh church trip to Colorado. It's it was an amazing trip. I'm lucky that I got to share it with two of my children. It was uh cable farming and transformative and all those things but climbing a mountain pretty dang cool. So all right uh I would accept a motion to motion
>> motion from Lisa. >> Second from Diane and we have to take a roll call even on the adjourned votes. >> Zimmerman. >> Hi. >> Chad Johnson. >> Hi. >> JSON. >> Noach. >> Hi. >> Croninburgger. >> Hi. >> And Diane Johnson. >> Hi.
>> We are ajourned. Thank you everybody.