All right. You want to say test test one more time? Test test test. Okay. Thank you. Good evening everyone and welcome to the Chesa City Council meeting for May 5th uh 2025. Five. Calling the meeting to
order. Let's go ahead and stand up for the pledge of allegiance, please. I pledge algiance 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. Um, Elise, would you call roll, please? Council member Hatfield, here. Council member Benes, present. Council member Chevlin, here. Council McGrath, Mayor Hubard here. All right. Uh, next
we have adopt the agenda. Does anybody have any uh additions or changes on the agenda? Otherwise, I'd entertain a motion to adopt the agenda. Motion to adopt agenda. Motion by council member Hatfield. Second, and a second by council member Benes. Um, any
other discussion? Otherwise, all those in favor say I. I. I. And opposed. All right. And then next, uh, we have visitor presentations. Uh, looks like we have Eric Hansen from Southwest Transit up here to do the 20 Yes. Come on down.
Okay. Doing the 2024 year in review. Yes, that's right. Um, I am Eric Hansen. I'm the CEO of Southwest Transit. Um, I've been the CEO for a couple of years. Uh, many of you know I haven't met Council Member uh Chevlin yet. Um, but I
uh wanted to take an opportunity like I have for the last couple years and kind of give you an update about where things are with Southwest Transit. Um, and okay, this is I'm going to have to actually see this while I'm doing Let's flip it to the next slide then. Are you in charge or am I in charge? Who's in
charge? She's back there. She's back there. Okay, next slide. Do I just say that out loud? Next. Next. It'll be like magic. It will eventually happen. I can get on my computer. It's kind of might uh
Oh. Oh, we're having some technical issues this evening. Why don't I uh why don't I just uh I can just kind of free for it um and kind of go through it a little bit because I do have it on my computer. Okay.
Um, so just a little bit of background, there we go. About Southwest Transit, we basically do have three basic services. Uh, one is our Southwest Transit, uh, really our our fixed route bus route services. um in the past kind of in 2024, but what is new in 2025 is we have
a new fixed route. But in 2024, we primarily provided service at downtown Minneapolis um and some parts in between in the University of Minnesota, but we added a fixed route along the 494 corridor to the airport on March 31st, which is not 2024, but it is uh I think
worth mentioning here. our Southwest Shuttle, which is our special event service, um, anytime you go to the Twins game or the state fair or whatever, uh, special event service that you happen to go to, and Southwest Prime, which is our ondemand, uh, ride share service. Um, so
next, um, I have a little bit of information that's kind of just about Chaza specifically. Uh, so people ask all the time, okay, well, where do people go on Southwest Prime in Chaza? Um, the number one pickup locations and
drop off locations is Cub Foods. Um, probably not too terribly surprising. Uh, Target is right up there as well. Um, Cloverfield Marketplace Apartments, Chesca Village Town Homes, Lake Grace Manor Apartments, 212 Medical Center, and it just goes on on down from there.
You can kind of see a little bit of a trend, you know, with Targeted Cub Foods, people coming from multifamily housing. Um and you get a sense for who is using the service and what they might be using the service for when you kind of see those things. Um in total last
year we had 537,877 total wrership. Um the FTA calls that a unique passenger trip. Um and that was up 20 and a half% in comparison to 2024 which is actually the largest increase of any transit service in the
metro area. Um, a lot of that is actually specifically coming from a special event services and I think I'm that might be the next slide actually. Can we pause really quick here? Yeah. Do you mind if I add just sure especially for our newer council members? I think sometimes people look at Southwest and
we have these fancy buses and great color scheme things like that. Think, wow, that's such like a nice thing. Only commuters are using that to get downtown. You know, people with nineto-fives. But I think what's interesting about this slide is it represents the true need in our community to have transit like this and
how important it is. Um we wouldn't have this if we weren't part of this joint powers agency. So it's just something to keep in the back of your mind when we talk about how important Southwest transit is. You can see there like it's serving a huge need in our community
people to get to work to get food things like that. So I just wanted to call that out. Sorry Eric. Thank no you're you know that was perfect Michaela. you should have been giving this presentation to be honest with you because that's exactly what this is. Go ahead. So, is that more stops at Cub Foods or more riders at Cub Foods than
East Creek because I always see the East Creek ramp full all the time. So, so what this is and I and I should have explained I kind of glossed over it. I apologize. I was actually thinking I need to try to go as quickly as I can just because I I I know you have an agenda. We are light on the agenda
today. Okay. Well, I could I could talk for the next two hours. the the um so so just that piece of it that is just Southwest Prime numbers. Uh that's it. It doesn't include any of the any of the bus numbers. Okay. Um so I
should have I should have been more specific about that. Um and so we we had you know I'm not sure where that number came from. I don't think that number is quite right because we we actually had 145,000 roughly prime riders in 2020
2024. about 182,000. Um I think some things probably got double counted when somebody did the numbers, but basically what that says is that in the Chaza Cub Foods, 1,26 people got picked up there. Um and 1474 people got dropped off.
Okay. Um so if that's 3,000 and we're open roughly 250 days a year, you figure 12 people a day, you know, are using it just to go to the grocery store. you know, and and that's that does serve a big need in the community. It really
really does. Well, especially with not having a grocery store in downtown now, right? Yep. I mean, we had that conversation. I remember when when they closed and it's like, well, how do I get to a grocery store? You know, this is a pretty good example of how you do that. In fact, it is the best example of how you do that during the day. And and it's
open on Saturdays, too. So, if you work during the week or something like that, you can also use it to get around on Saturday. Um, but in Southwest Prime, it's actually pretty easy to use. We have an app. It works a lot like Uber or Lyft if you've used that. You know, you call the ride on demand on your phone
and you don't even have you can call somebody too if you want, but about twothirds of people use the app. Um and it works a lot like um it works a lot like Uber and Lyft. Um and so and and when we look at the demographics, the difference between the people that we
take downtown, you know, or even some of our special event services is that um a large portion of those people taking Southwest Prime really are people that are a little bit more transit dependent. Probably 20 to 25% of those people and surveys say that it's the only way that they have to get around. Um so if you
think about that, that means there are some actual real needs in the community that we're that we're serving. Um, in some cases people choose that, but in in in uh in a lot of cases they don't have any other options. Um, and so it's it's a huge need that I think that this
service serves in the community. So, thank you Michaela for for saying that. I think that was exactly right on. Um, and I don't want to lose sight of that message. um for other kinds of services. A lot of our growth this year, that 20% growth u
that represented about 60,000 passengers, about half of that came specific or a good portion of it, about half of it, maybe a little more than half of that came in kind of the expansion of these special events services. So, one of the things we did two years ago, right after I was hired,
was we did a community survey and we asked people, "What do you want from Southwest Transit?" if there was one service, what would it be uh that you could do? And a plurality, roughly 30 35% of those people said, gosh, you know, we really would like you to go to more places, these kind of special
events types of services. And so we added quite a lot last year, including, you know, the Pride Parade, Renfest, India Fest, the Renaissance Festival actually represented about half of that increase because we took about 30,000 people to the Renaissance Festival, which is a lot actually if you think
about it. Um, we expanded our twin service and this year actually we've been and actually starting last fall we went to all of the wild games, all of the uh, Timberwolves games, Taste of Minnesota. There's some new things coming up in 2025. Uh, going to Art World, the D Dragon Boat Festival, and
the Minnesota Yacht Club Festival. And so we really see this as a core part of our mission, which is to uh, take people from where they are to where they want to to go essentially. Um, and thinking about Southwest Transit a little bit
more broadly maybe than than in the past. You know, we're not just taking people downtown on the bus to work anymore. You know, we're taking people to places in the community that they might need to go, like the grocery store, and we're taking people to places like the Twins game or the Taste of
Minnesota, which is in some cases places that we haven't gone before. But people want uh public transit and have a need for it. And so we're really focusing on what those customers needs are. Um, and so that was a big part of our strategy
in 2024, which we think was was hugely successful. Um, so kind of what's what's coming up. Um, I'm going to I'm going to talk a little I I probably should talk about a couple of things that happened in 2025 as well as kind of transition to where, you know, we might be going, you
know, with Southwest Transit. Uh the first one is is we've been working with the Carver County Commissioners. Um we originally had some discussions with them about, you know, potentially uh providing service in Waconia, which we we we do because we go to the hospital there, but more expanded service. And
they came back and said, you know, we really want to think about the county as a whole. Their their initial recommendation was we need to do some kind of study, you know, countywide to look at what the potential need for transit is in in the bigger picture. Um and so we met with the county
commissioners a week ago um and uh they approved us um in moving forward with a mobility study for the county. We met with the county staff and Southwest Transit is going to be leading that mobility study. We really want to include also a stakeholder group as part
of that. And so we'll be asking Chaza staff and other people in the community to participate so we can help help us identify what those potential needs are for transit uh in the future in Carver County. Uh and as Southwest Transit, I think we're probably poised to do uh
more in the county than we currently are. Um we we do anticipate expanding Southwest Prime into new and current service areas. There's a couple of pl things that we're looking at doing. Um we kind of need to get through the first
part of this summer because we made a lot of service changes last month that I'll talk about in a second. But um we really think that there's some opportunity to expand some of our service hours now so that it goes later in the evening or maybe on Sundays, which we currently don't serve people on
Sundays. Uh with Southwest Prime, um we also have a grant uh that we could start drawing on in 2026 to provide some service uh kind of north of our service area in Dominit. So potentially if you were someone that needed to go to that part
of town from Taska, you could uh in at some point in the future within a couple of years, you'll be able to go that direction with Prime, which you currently can't do. Um we'll also be evaluating our expansion of our fixed routes, which include connections off of the new C686
route to the airport. So, a lot of people know and the the mayor and and council member Hatfield, we're we're at the the opening of our 686 route um which currently goes from Southwest Station to the airport um with some stops along the way, including the Mall
of America. And that's a fixed route that operates um from 5:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. 7 days a week. Um and this is the first time Southwest Transit has been open for that extensive period of time. So, it really opens up the opportunity for us to provide service at different
days than we don't currently provide it like Southwest Prime on Sundays. And one of the things, and I know council member Hatfield has been very vocal about this, and I agree with her that that she says, "Well, geez, you know, that route stops in Eden Prairie. Why doesn't it come to Chaza?" Um, there's a couple of reasons
for that. Well, there's really one big reason for it and that was because the way the grant was written, which goes back a number of years, it had to come from from Southwest Station in Eden Prairie. But what we want to do, we probably are going to have to expand it because we've already had examples of
people who said who have taken maybe one of the express buses and connected that started at East Creek and then connected to the 686 and then took it along uh that way to get to the airport. I think you're going to see some more stuff like that. So, we're going to have to look at how do we expand that. And the way this
service works is that it also has a park and fly component. So, if you're somebody that doesn't want to drive all the way to the airport and park and you like the idea of parking for $5 a day instead of $30 a day, um you could park at Southwest Station in Eden Prairie. um
and on the fourth level and then take one of those vehic uh hop on one of our vehicles which will take you all the way to the airport and then and then back after you come back from the airport and we go to both terminal one and terminal 2. Um the second big thing and and that
service started actually on March 31st. Um and the second big thing that happened is is that we also started a pilot program for autonomous vehicles uh last month um in Eden Prairie. Um and uh that service is ongoing and you know at
this point it's going great. Um but we're going to have to evaluate the cost of that and does that mean that we want to bring that to other areas of our service area. Um this is another example of something that was grant funded and is kind of limited to that particular space but we think there's some opportunity uh to expand that in future
years. So there's a lot of really interesting things that are happening at Southwest Transit right now. They're kind of exciting. you know, that we're really on the cutting edge of you, expanded fixed routes, you know, autonomous vehicles. You're seeing us go to a lot more places than than we hadn't
done before. And doing all of this uh without breaking the bank, too. I might say that that our budget has been balanced, you know, every year since well, the last two years and is anticipated, you know, since I've been here. And so, people always ask that question, well, how are you doing all
these things? Um well, you know, I'd like to say that we're we're good at what we do. Um but um we're also pretty smart about finding opportunities with grants and things like that to be able to expand our services. So people, you might ask, well, how if I'm a citizen,
you know, out there watching or you as a city council, you know, how can I support Southwest Transit? You know, one of the things that we've been talking about pretty extensively on the Southwest Transit Commission is that two years ago, the state legislature adopted
a 3/4 cent sales tax uh that goes to transit. Um 83% of that goes to Met Council and 17% to the counties. And so we've been talking to Carver County about utilizing some of that money uh for some services. And so that that
conversation is ongoing, hence our mobility study I just talked about. Um and 83% goes to Met Council. At Southwest Transit, we have received some of that. Um it will be so far we've been allocated roughly, this is an estimate
because it's depending on sales tax collections about $7.5 million, but this is slated to generate $ 32 billion over the next 30 years. 7 and a half million is a drop in the bucket. By the way, this little chart, I don't know if you want to move
it to the next one. And I didn't realize we weren't there yet. Um, but there is a chart on the next slide that shows the the amount that's on the right. It's kind of funny because, you know, there's a pie chart there and this is the only chair that we can count on between now
and 2025 is 0.11. I mean, it's so small that you can barely see the little line, right? you know, and so we really believe that and not just us, but all of the transit agencies, you know, whether you be one of the other replacement opt- out transit providers like us or
Minnesota Valley, we think that we should get a dedicated amount of this over a period of time as opposed to having to go beg for Met Council every single year for an allocation. Um, and so we've been working with our legislators on fixing that problem as
well as negotiating with Met Council. And so we just want to make people aware because I think a lot of times people think, gosh, you know, that that tax, well, that's going to transit that must be going to you. Well, yeah, we've gotten a little bit of that, but no long-term sustainable funding and and
from my personal viewpoint, probably not our fair share either in terms of what they're asking us to do with it. Um, and so, uh, you know, and I'll give you a specific example. So, Metro Transit, um, has a kind of a plan, a long-term plan that says they intend to
increase service levels by 35%. Um, I promise you I can't increase service levels by 35% without additional funding, you know, and so if they're going to be increasing metroransit service levels by 35%, we ought to be
able to have sufficient funding to be able to do something similar because I don't think our citizens deserve anything less than than what we're receiving other parts of the metro area. Um, and so ultimately we want people to be aware of this, know that we're working on it, and the Southwest
Commission, your representatives, John and Michaela, are working on this uh together, as well as the other five members of my of my board. Um, and uh, there'll be more to come on this. Um, but ultimately, it's an important part of what we're trying to accomplish uh, in the next few years. Um, and with
that, I'd be happy to answer any any questions that you might have if you have any. Anybody have any questions for for Eric? And we're talking something kind of on that last slide. So part of it is um
those dollars have been allocated to the county for the county to essentially do what they want with. Um and so part of that is when we're talking to our county partners at the retreat, we talked a lot about this. How do we, you know, influence things in those partnerships and
collaborations? This is probably one area of them. And I'll just this is a story I'm telling. It's not necessarily the reality at the moment, but the county can take those dollars and spend a lot of them not in Chesca because our roads kind of exist. Our, you know, and
it's good to have transportation in the rest of the county, but they're very much dollars that should be allocated for the whole county. So when you're talking to your commissioners, it's good to mention like this is important, transit's important, how people get around our community is just as important. Yes, you're going to need
roads and to all the rest of the county, but it's uh there should be some allocations for our transportation needs here are far different than when you go further uh west in the county. And so that's something to keep in mind. That's how you guys can directly influence this
conversation as well as just you know uh legislatively we have some bills and things coming up. So um I don't know how often you guys are talking to them but that's a good thing too. So, just it's always important to keep this that one slide that I called out and how important it is for our community to be
able to move around. Um, that's something to kind of keep in the back of your mind when we talk about why Southwest Transit's important. If we don't talk about it, they don't people people that are making decisions around us don't know what's important to us. So, I would just say that, you know, it's a really good point. Right. I mean,
we we talk to people in the community both, you know, people work for the county and human services and nonprofits like Bountiful Baskets, for example, and you know, a lot of them will say, and if you particularly if you talk to the food shells and people like that, they'll say, "Well, you know, we
really in many cases they're delivering. We actually help them deliver too, but ultimately they need people to be able to get to the food, you know, or get the food to them, you know, because and if you're not someone that has reliable
transportation because, you know, for whatever reason that might be, or maybe you're somebody that has a disability or you're, you know, older and you don't feel comfortable driving anymore. you know, these are the kinds of things that are your opportunity to ensure things like food security, to ensure that
people have um access to jobs, you know, and things like that. Um, and that's that's actually huge. Um, really really important stuff. There was actually one thing I wanted to point out here. Um
Um, no, it's not this one. I think that was in a different one. But um you're also kind it is one one thing I want to point out about one more thing I want to point out about prime while I'm thinking about that is is that I' I've personally ridden prime
myself to work um at various times. Um it's actually kind of fun because sometimes the drivers don't necessarily recognize me and it becomes an undercover boss situation which is true story. Um but but you people forget too that there are people that work at
Target and work at Grub Foods. And so it's really common. Not everybody who is going there is just going there because they're going to shop. You know, those are folks that actually work there, too. Um and in many cases, you know, places like Cub Foods and Target or some of the
bigger employers in town, too. Um so that's the last comment that I wanted to make about Prime. And uh you know, we think we provide a needed service in the community. you know, we're doing everything we can to uh maximize the service and grow the service so that people have uh the ability to utilize
it. And we really appreciate the city of Chaza's support and your representatives on our board. Um it uh you know, it's it's an important mission and thank you so much for everything you do for us. We appreciate it. Thank you so much for coming and giving an update. Yeah, I agree. I think, you
know, when you look at some of the larger employers, being able to have reliable transportation for for them to be able to have workers come in and work and and have that that that's really important and that's an important selling point for us as a community as
well. So, um and and also, you know, the concert series, the the um state fair, those are all really good, um ways of being able to get there, um and have those folks be able to to not have to
worry about parking and the cost of parking. And it's so nice, especially, you know, for the for the state fair after a really hot uh Target uh or Twins game that you get get on that bus and you just sit back and relax, you know.
So, um it's huge. One more plug, too. I mean, in the past, we've always done Chaza River City days too and provide transportation for that as well as the fire and ice festival. I don't think we did it last year, but I know we did it two years ago, and we'd be happy to do it again this year, too. Um if you if you need that for with the road closure.
What's that? Careful what you ask for with that road closure. Well, that that is an issue. I'm I'm not going to complain about that, but it has it's put a monkey wrench in some of our our our um particularly the Renaissance Festival actually, which is a was a main thorough for us to be able to get there. So,
we're going to have to reroute some of that stuff, but that's okay. You know, we got to you got to fix the roads, too, you know. So, I don't know what to do about that, but but uh but yeah, I mean, we we we we see us as a valuable community partner, you know, for those kinds of events as well. So, you you're
a very important partner. So, thank you for being here. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Thank you. Good night. Bye. All right. Uh moving along. We're going to approve the previous meeting minutes. Oh, wait. I see two other folks in the
audience. You guys here for a visitor presentation? Are you guys students in school? Do you guys have to get sign offs on being here at the meeting? Why don't you guys come on up to the microphone and introduce yourself? This is what we like to do when we see
students here. My name's Italy and I'm a senior at Eden Prairie High School and I'm here for my US government and politics class. I'm Philip. I also go to Eden Prairie. We're in the same class. And I'm also
here just to hear about uh the civic meeting. That's about it. Who's your teacher? U Mr. Sibi. Brian Sibly. He wasn't there. I've been gone 25 years now, but Well, thank you guys for being here. And you picked a really good meeting because
it's pretty short. So, I just had to pick on you just a teeny tiny little bit because that's what we like to do. But you guys can go ahead and sit down. Thank you for being here. All right. I couldn't I couldn't get away with not doing that. Um, okay. So,
moving along, we're going to approve the previous meeting minutes here for uh uh April 21st. Uh, does anybody have any additions or corrections on the minutes at all? Otherwise, I'd entertain a motion.
Motion to approve the minutes. All right. I got a motion from council member Bennish. Second, and a second from council member Chevlin. Um, any other discussion? Otherwise, all those in favor say I. I. Opposed. All right. Meeting minutes are good. And then
moving right along, our consent items. Um, we just have a couple. Uh, anybody have any um or our consent is our our um items that really need little to no discussion, but we can certainly pull something off. Um, otherwise, does
anybody have any questions on consent? Otherwise, I'll entertain a motion. Motion to approve consent. Okay, we got a motion from Council Member Hatfield. Second, and a second from Council Member Bennish. Um, any other discussion? Otherwise, all those in favor say I. I.
Opposed. All right. Consent approved. And then that moves us to 8A, action item. Authorize city administrator to sign a letter of intent for tax abatement to support Beckman Coulter expansion. Uh mayor and council members, item in front of you tonight is uh sort
of the next step in helping uh Beckman Coulter with their expansion that they have up there. It's not uncommon uh that uh uh you'll see us come back with talking about assistance that we provide to uh uh industrial businesses as they
come into the community. and Julie Grove, our economic development uh director, has been working uh with Beckman Coulter over the last several weeks and is going to talk a little bit about the uh assistance uh package that uh we're recommending for for Beckman.
Thank you. Thank you, uh mayor, council members. Thank you, Matt. Um like Matt said, I believe you're familiar with this project. It's the next step. It's um so on last at the last council meeting on April 21st, uh council
approved the preliminary uh site and building plans for Beckman. Just a reminder, it's they're it's a $50 million expansion project. They're adding 148,000 square feet and up to 300 employees within the next two to three years. Beckman Coulter has been awarded grants
from DED and this was brought before you a couple months ago for the myth, the Minnesota Investment Fund and the JCF, the job creation fund grants, and that's to help with their job creation and some of their capital investment. Due to the enormity of the project, Beckman has requested tax abatement assistance from
the city to help fund their expansion and some related public infrastructure improvements on Lake Hazeline Drive. Um if some of you don't know just in case tax abatement it's a strategic tool the city has used to support economic
development to stimulate the um investments in the past we've used it or the city has used it to achieve community goals such as attract and retain businesses job creation spur redevelopment and fund public infrastructure improvements and staff
believes that this project will achieve many of those same goals. So to that end um staff has been working with Beckman Coulter and our consultant to draft a letter of intent which defines kind of the high level level terms and conditions that are part of
the tax abatement. And this letter of intent, if approved, uh it provides the basis for the development of the tax abatement agreement. And that agreement will actually come back before the city council likely at the same time as the final planning approvals um come forward
and will be requesting your um approval for that. the terms that are the the high level terms that are outlined in the letter of intent that was attached to your report. It would be a pay as you go abatement um for approximately 1.39
million not to exceed 12 years. So it would be a 12-year term. A portion of abatement funds will also be used to resurface Lake Hazeline Drive no later than 2028. Currently that road is not scheduled for resurfacing within the
next five years but with the expansion and um the current conditions of the road which is not necessarily great uh it's in need of some resurfacing and it will with the abatement it will be able to happen soon after construction is complete. I just want to
take a a pause there. Uh so one of the one of the areas of our community that probably has the worst uh streets and utilities is our industrial parks. Uh they were built during the 70s and 80s when
uh it was different materials, different methods used and and obviously there's much heavier traffic like physically heavier trucks uh that that go on those roads. and uh our industrial parks up
there are in desperate need of of attention like this. So, I just want to give huge kudos to uh Julie and and Elise figuring out a way to include the road repair as part of this because that's not going to just impact Beckman.
Well, maybe it will because they almost own all the buildings on there, but but uh it's it's going to impact positively all of the businesses within that industrial park to have that done. So, you know, it's awesome having Beckman uh expand, but it's even better that we can
help serve the rest of the businesses out there this way, too. Absolutely. Sorry. Thank you, Matt. No, that's a great point. Um, some other terms, Beckman Coulter, they're going to commit to build the plans as approved. Um, the final plans
that will be approved. They also are working with Chesca Electric. There's a couple transformers that will be located on the site as part of the expansion and uh Chesca Electric Department will need easements depending on where those transformers are located. So, Beckman Golder will continue to work with those.
Those easements will be drawn up after they're installed. So, it's one of those things that kind comes after the development is closer to being complete. So staff recogni recognizes that Beckman's uh proposed expansion it
represents a significant and as Matt um alluded to significant and beneficial use of the project. It's a major expansion for a company that has been in within Chaza for a number of years and is one of our largest employers in the city and they will be even creating
creating even more jobs um with this expansion project. So, we believe that the request for tax abatement is reasonable and it supports our city goals for economic growth, business expansion, job retention, and the public infrastructure upgrades. And uh we are recommending um council approve the
letter of intent, authorize the city administrator to sign that letter of intent and negotiate the tax abatement agreement that will then come back for your approval. Um I would be happy to take any questions. I should note that representatives of Beckman were going to
speak but were having technical difficulties. So they asked me to add just briefly. They are comfortable with the letter of intent and the um the key terms outlined in there and they asked me to also
um speak that uh Beckman is grateful for the long-standing partnership with the city and looks forward to continued growth in Chesca. Thank you for your time and consideration. Does anybody have any questions for for Julie or otherwise? Sounds like Beckman
the representatives are on the phone. The only thing I noticed, you know, I mean I think this is a great opportunity like like mentioned um they're providing expansion in the city. They're going to provide additional jobs. Um they've been a long-standing
reputable company. Um and also just learning of the road uh infrastructure improvements is wonderful. So thank you so much for for having that be a piece of this. Also saw that uh they you know
those um tax payment could be up to 20 years but it's only 12 years. And so I think that's important to note too is you know that's not looking for the maximum. It's it's um far less than that. So, um, and we've been really consistent over the years with how we've
provided assistance so that one business can't say, "Well, they got more than I did." Or it it makes it so much easier when we're going and meeting with these companies to to say, "Hey, we have provided assistance. This is how we've done it. We want to be consistent with
how we've done it in in the past." And um, I don't want to say it takes away the negotiation, but it certainly makes it It makes it them understand that we really take that the idea of equity uh that seriously and that a business
shouldn't feel like because they've been here a long time that they're going to get treated like somebody coming in new is going to get treated better than they are. So yeah. Yeah. I and I think you know we're using those tools in our tool kit appropriately. So it's important. Um
so this checks all the boxes. Um, okay. So, anybody have any other questions? Otherwise, looks like I think the council action that we need to do is make a motion to authorize the city administrator to sign a letter of intent for the tax statement to support the
project. So, I'd entertain that. Sign consent. Got a motion from council member Chevlin. Second. Okay. Okay. Second from council member Benes. Um, any other discussion?
Otherwise, all those in favor say I. I opposed. All right. Motion carries. Perfect. And that's our only action item. So, next we move on to bills. Anybody have a question of uh of
any of the bills on the roster there? No questions. But I did have a good laugh on the first page. I read from Adam's Pest Control that we were doing a Bud Light rental. And I was like, why are we renting Bud Light from the pest control? It says bug. It says bug light rental. I
was like, so that's when I saw thought I better read this with brighter eyes tomorrow. Yeah. You reading it from your phone where you're like trying to Yeah. It was like late at night on like Saturday and I'm like, I'll read this tomorrow. I know. It's always hard to read the roster sheets on the on your
phone. You're like scrolling in like So I would have been questioning why we were getting some Budlet, but we're good. question. Oh, that is funny. Uh, any any other fun questions or observations maybe. All right. Well, with that, I will have
a lease call. Roll on. We need a motion. Oh, we have a motion to pay the bills. Okay. Thank you. I have a motion from council member Hatfield. Second. I'll give it to her. I have a second from council member
Chevlin. All right. Now, go for it. Council member Hatfield. Yes. Council member Venish. Yes. Council member Chevlin. Yes. Mayor Hubard. Yes. All right. Moving right along to other business.
Um, Council Member Hatfield. Sure. Um, I just want to first Christmas in May was this past Saturday and that's always my favorite event. Um, I'm I have a wedding planning business and it's one of the few Saturdays in peak season that
I block off and I don't accept any business so that I can be there because it's just always fantastic to see the community come together and neighbors come together and businesses come together and just uh support a few homes and the homeowners faces are always probably my favorite part. and um the
house I was at. I got to chat with them a bit and um and they just they got to talk about the process and how nice um the people from the organization of Christmas and May were to work with leading up to it and just how grateful they were and to see their faces brighten brighten brighten as the house
kind of came together and was fully painted and there was landscaping and um it's just always really really fun to see. So, thank you to everyone that showed up and volunteered. Thank you to Christmas in May. Um, thank you to the fire department and the electric department um for doing the the fire I'm
combining it. Fire audits. It's the fire fire inspection. They do the smoke and CO detectors. Yeah. And then the and then the electricity audit um to you know and all that that entails. But um it's a lot of lot of hands that make light work and um it's just a fantastic
event. So thanks to everyone that showed up and uh helped with that. And then uh the leadoff party was yesterday for the Cubs. It's great to see the athletic park lit up and have baseball going again. And um that's always just another
good sign of summer. So um that was great. Uh a few things coming up. The 40th annual Taste of Chaza is next Wednesday. Um which is always a great event. And then Chesca police night at the Cubs, speaking of the Cubs, is on
May 16th at 6 or 5:30 um whenever the game starts. And they'll be there um with free pizza and such. So that's always a good time, too. So definitely attend that. I think for events, that's most of what's coming up. Um I did have
a couple of questions. When are we going to turn on the string lights downtown? That's a good question. Are they Are the Is the plan to have them on? Yes. Okay. I was like I drive by them every time. I'm like, are they on yet? Are they on yet? So, I'll follow up with you. Okay.
Where are they, Michaela? They're basically the on the pos where the arches are. Um they uh so kind behind Red B. Yeah, behind Redbench and stuff. So, by Von Hansen's and then by um Wells Fargo and then by Redbench. Those they
look fantastic. I'm very excited arches, but I didn't know there's fade lights that sort of draw people down there. Yeah. And so I'm like very excited for them to be honest. So um and then I had a question. The the signage looks amazing. The big sign by Nicollay Bank, there's like a tree branch kind of
blocking it. I don't know if it's Nicolet's tree or I don't know if we could work with them to We'll take a look at it. It looks like you could probably trim it and that tree would still be fine. Yeah, we'll take a look at it. I'd seen some feedback in the community about that, too, so I thought I'd mention it.
Um but otherwise that's all that's all I have. Okay. Wonderful. All right. Council member Finch. I in the interest of our students who are present don't actually have anything. Look at that. You're welcome.
Well, okay. Good. Great report. Council member Shlin, I only have a couple things. First thing was, I said it at the beginning of the meeting, but on air want to give Metroet a shout out for how they're putting back yards after they're finished digging. And for those whose neighborhoods are still coming, it
may look awful when they're there. And yes, the holes are like six feet deep and every like six feet down your yard, but they they really put it back just the way they found it. And it's nothing to be afraid of. So, shout out to them. Um, and then I think we've all seen we
dance with this family. I went to high school with this family and they are a Chesca uh fire department family, but the ACE drives as they go through their leukemia treatment for their daughter just that we would all keep them in our thoughts and prayers. Um, and you know, I know there's lots of GoFundMe and
other ways to help the family um while they go through this. But I would encourage people who know them um or support them in our community to be generous and give to that. Wonderful. Yeah, that was really sad news.
Um, uh, Elise, uh, just a couple of kind of, uh, things. It is small business week this week. And so, just a shout out to our small local businesses who are here in town. I know Julie's been working to
try and showcase some of these businesses and get more information out about that. So, wanted to highlight that. And also is public um, service recognition week. So, a shout out to all the city employees and the work that they're doing many times behind the
scenes or in the public eye and just how much work they put into this community. So, I just wanted to share those couple dates. Thank you. I'm putting them at the bottom of this list because I don't think it's on here. You guys gave me a lot of special special dates, but I
don't see those ones on there. Wonderful. Uh Kristoff Matt, I just again just like uh Council Member Hatfield want to thank everybody for Christmas in May. I personally think
that this year was like the best year ever. It it went so smooth. The homeowners were so happy. Um it was a beautiful day. Uh it was just uh it was really a pleasure uh to to to do that on
Saturday and it just uh that was a 29th year of uh Christmas in May. And I think we probably had the most volunteers that we've ever had uh at our 29th anniversary. And so uh to me it's just like sort of a sort of another boost in
the arm to just keep that going into the future and stuff. So, just a huge thank you to all the volunteers, the house captains that put a ton of work into uh you know, not only having to lead people, but also plan uh what they need to do. The runners that go out and make
sure that things are there, the food crew that make sure that everybody's fed. St. John's for giving us a place to be. I mean, it's just the list goes on. It's such a like all-encompassing community event. Uh it is also my
favorite uh community event of the year by far. Uh and just want to thank everybody. Yeah. Um yeah, I will add to that. I mean, it is so wonderful to be a part of that event every year and to see the the
transformation in like five or six hours to someone's home and to see everyone collectively come together. people that live in this community, people that don't live in this community but come to this community because they know about the event and they want to be there and help. Um it's just it's all inspiring
and um even this year to to see so many youth um be there and know that their prom was that night. Um go that is so selfless. Like they all hung in there too and they and they had such a great
time doing it too, you know. You just um just see the joy and and and and in their faces while they're while they're pitching in. And so it can also show how little effort men put into the prom. Oh, there were girls there,
too. There were girls in my house. I was just sick of the football team, but no, I mean it it was it was amazing. Takes a little lifting. Yeah, I know. My husband, he was talking about it because this is his first year volunteering and he he made it sound like he didn't know
that he could volunteer in years previous, which I was like, I'm going to put that on public record right now that I he told me that. I know he did. And I'm going to say Martin was always been invited to help out with this. So, under the bus right here, I told him now he's
stuck. He can't leave. Oh, I know. And he loved hearing every minute of that. So, um, he's like talking about what tools he was going to round up, you know, out of our garage for next year. So, but no, I mean that's the thing is people are involved and and they they want to they want to come back and do,
you know, do it every single year and even the homeowners that are recipients of it, they want to be there and contribute in the following years. It's just so powerful. So, thank you. Um, it's just makes it just feels good. It just is such a a great thing about our
community. says so much about us as as chass. Um okay. Uh so that and then yeah you touched on um the taste of Chaska. May is bike month. Um I noticed that uh you can go on our website and download a
bike bingo card and if you fill it out you can um enter it in for for a prize. Um, bike to school day is on May 7th. Uh, the Chesa Bike Rodeo is on May 12th. It's from 5:30 to 7 at Veterans Park.
There is a melon drop um, as part of this and I've been so honored to be able to do that. So, if you want to come out and be entertained, uh, feel free to stop on by. Um, and then I did go to the Cubs game at, uh, yesterday at Athletic
Park and I thought it was really cool. they were handing out these flyers to every single patron that came that talked about the restoration of the park. Um, and it was just it was wonderful to see this uh this little bit
of information and everybody was just buzzing about how great of a job the city did and got huge, you know, round of applause and everything like that. So, just really, really nice. The grass looked amazing and it was a really great
game. U I didn't stay for the whole thing. I had to leave, but um they it was a really close game. So, uh let's see. And then there are a lot of really special days in May here. So, I'm going to read them off and uh yeah. Okay. So,
we have Armed Forces Day. It's the third Saturday in May, which would be the 17th this month. National Police Week every May. and that's May 11th through 17th. So that's coming up. Uh military appreciation month, International
Firefighter Day, which is every year on May 4th. That was yesterday. Um it is the EMS week May 18th through the 24th because we care for everyone as as those service workers
do. Uh municipal clerk's week every May, May 4th through 10th. So, we are in the middle of that week and I want to stop and say we appreciate our clerks here at city hall. They do so much hard work for us. Um, so thank you. And then National Teachers Appreciation Week, which is
every year the first full week of May, which is also this week currently. So, thank you to all of our teachers um and all their contributions. National Nurses Week, which is every year, which starts on May 6th. So that would be tomorrow through
the 12th and we appreciate all the nurses that give give uh their time and effort. Public service recognition week which is every year for the first full week of May. So May 4th through the 10th which I think was what you had talked about Elise. So there was one on the
list. Um corrections officer week uh which is this week uh May 4th through the 10th. Um, selfishly, that is a good good thing because I have a husband in the corrections field. So, thank you to all of them. I I like to say that the
Southwest um chamber does their um first responders lunchon and it's always such a great event, but I I was giving Steve a hard time because I said, "You should really add those corrections officers to that invite
because they, you know, are heroes just as much because they are in that every single day and have to kind of put their lives on the line and um and and and have that um part as well and everything. So anyways, pausing there.
Okay, National Public Works Appreciation Week, which is the third week of May. So this one's May 18th through the 24th. So we have this one coming up here. Um and then Asian and Pacific American Heritage Month, um all the month of May. And also today is Cinco de Mayo, which is um I
was talking with the ladies from Latino Voices. It's it's like the history of Cinco de Mayo is like it's a it's a battle. So it's it's got, you know, um war history behind it, but it's in this country is it's
celebrated as more of a um a cultural um recognition of the Mexican culture. So I want to wish them all happy single de Mayo in that regard. Uh and then let's see. I think that's everything. Oh,
Memorial Day is on the 26th. So, we still have a meeting between now and then, but just want to give a a quick blur about it just to say there will be a parade at 9:30. Um um a short parade over um kind of coming up to Veterans Park and then the program will be at 10
a.m. that day. Um and then our next meeting is Monday, May 19th. Mayor, can I add something? Yes. um this month, month of May, if you have yard waste, you can bring it for free to the place that I can't remember the name of right
now. So, organic recycling. That's the uh Midwalk Shock Bay Midwak tribes. So, right off of Highway 41 as you're going Shockby up to 169, you can take a right there. Is that how you get into it technically? Yeah, you do. Okay. Uh, one
thing I'll mention on that, and I only know this cuz I sent my son down there with some of my stuff. Uh, it's I guess it's Thursday through Sunday. Okay. Well, that's good enough. So, it's like during the weekend times Thursday to Sunday, but the month of May. He tried to go on Wednesday and return,
but Thursday through Sunday, drop it off on the sidewalk. Yeah, he just threw up. I don't mind doing that. The couch. It's probably I think that's just a really nice thing. So, if you missed Saturday's drop off at Athletic Park, you can go do that. Yeah. So, that that is if you want
to give the bugs and bees in your yard a little more time before you take those leaves away, you can. So, sorry, I didn't mean to, you know, good. Sort of a preview uh extension of that. They're going to be doing the same thing in October. Oh, nice. in the fall. Um I
think they sort of want to get us hooked uh in there. But uh but we are sort of talking about does it make because we get if you look on your tax statement, the county charges a solid waste uh uh fee uh on your bill. And each year we
get a grant from the county that helps pay for the uh drop off location that we have at Athletic Park in May and then in October. Um we've sort of talked started to have the discussions about would it make more sense for us to take those
dollars and put it towards uh that facility and make that available to people all year round because especially with its proximity to Chaza it's really not a lot farther than going to Athletic Park right um so we're we're doing some
investigation on that but that might be something that it's right down where the Melkerson's uh horse uh that by the Renissance kind of Renaissance by the Renaissance. It's it's so it's right down 41 maybe about a mile and a half down the road. Oh, I didn't even know it was there. Yeah, I think I mean it's
just a it's just great that that they open up for the whole month because I know that was the one thing that residents are like oh you know I would love like I love that you guys do this. It's just I you know we're out of town that weekend and then it's like you're trying then they have to try to figure out you know or hook up with their um
garbage haulers to to get to get the stuff. If they do that again then next year you guys can all volunteer for Christmas in May and bring your yard waste another day. Yep. Exactly. Because I have I've had people say that that's a concern of theirs is that Christmas in
May is on the same day as cleanup day. Yeah. Absolutely. Wonderful. Good to good to know. Good addition. Um any last call for anybody else? Any light bulb moments here? No. Okay. All right. Well, with
that, I um I think we'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. Motion to adjurnn. Okay. Motion from council member Hatfield and I'll second from council or from Mayor Hubard. He's not going to let you have anything tonight. I didn't give you one.
Every single motion has actually been on everyone. Um, okay. All those in favor say I. I. I. We're adjourned.