##VIDEO ID:CWnAN3xd-xA## [Music] good evening and welcome to the Kun rid city council meeting for Tuesday September 3rd 2024 if you could please rise and join us for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for stand one nation under God indivisible with libery and justice for all please call the RO council member kovak here council member Ray rower here council member Novak council member Geisler here council member Armstrong council member Carlson here mayor cook here two absent Novak and Armstrong thank you all right well why don't we adopt this evening's agenda motion to adopt the agenda second motion by Carlson and a second by Ray rower to adopt the agenda is there any corrections or discussion hearing none all in favor signify by saying I I I opposed and the agenda is adopted uh we're looking to approve the minutes from the August 20th meeting mayor make a motion to approve the minutes of the August 20 2024 meeting second motion by grisak second by Geisler is there any discussion or correction hearing none all in favor signify by saying I I I opposed and that motion carries I abstain Mr Mayor one abstention council member Carlson we have three items on our consent agenda this evening uh the first one is to adopt resolution 24-87 accepting a CenterPoint Energy Community safety Grant um the Kun abers fire department has received a grant totaling $2,500 to be used for firefighter safety the grant was received from Center Point Energy under their 2024 Community safety grant program the monies may be used to purchase individual thermal IM Imaging cameras um I'm sorry the monies will be used uh the cameras Aid firefighters in locating possible victims and structure fires as well as increasing situational awareness of surrounding thermal temperature variations while performing their fire suppression duties individual thermal imaging cameras tic have become the standard in the fire service for locating victims and protecting firefighters from extreme thermal flashover temperature variations common in today's structure fires this grant will allow us to purchase more individual cameras so each firefighter may have one while performing their duties while the number of structure fires continues to decrease each year the potential risk to Firefighters continues to climb the purchase of these cameras will assist in reducing their risk during fire ground operations so the um item one is uh to adopt resolution 24-87 accepting the CenterPoint Energy Community safety grant for $2,500 to purchase the individual thermal imaging cameras uh this next item on our consent agenda is to accept a deed from Eda transferring land to the city the Eda currently owns 4 Parcels in Port campus square area that include the Kun Rapids Ice Center Boulevard Park and Associated public improvements because the Eda originally issued the bonds that financed land acquisition and certain improvements to the properties they have remained under Eda ownership the bonds have since been paid off and the city as the operator of the Ice Center and park is better suited to own the properties in the long term in addition state law only allows real estate held by an Eda to be exempt from property taxes for a period of 10 years city-owned property held for a public purpose can remain tax exempt indefinitely um and the Eda adopted a resolution authorizing transfer the parcels to the city um immediately before this council meeting so we're looking to accept a deed from The Economic Development Authority conveying four Parcels in the port campus square area and the third and final item on our our consent agenda is to adopt resolution 24-8 accepting the victim Services Grant the Minnesota Department of Public Safety the DPS Officer of Justice programs ojp sought proposals from County and City attorney offices to fund a victim witness Advocate position this position provides services to Crime Victims ensuring crime victim rights are upheld and increasing victim safety and access to services that meet their needs the city attorney's office was first awarded the Grant in October of 2017 and has maintained it since then these funds were anticipated in the 2023 City budget and the 2024 proposed City budget this funding enhances not replaces existing services for Crime Victims by having the victim service staff be in court with an attorney to improve victim contact further the funding helps city attorney's office meet statutory requirements by enhancing information referrals for victims and providing victims greater assistance and advocacy the victim service staff is under the supervision of the City attorney under the proposal state and federal funding is available to directly service the needs of Crime Victims and this grant was awarded to the city for $70,000 for a one-year period beginning October 2023 the grant was automatically renewed by the ojp in April of 2024 for an additional 70,000 for a second year extending the grant through September of 2025 Additionally the Minnesota state legislature approved additional funding for fiscal year 2025 for current crime victim service grantees the additional funding of $1,154 has been awarded to the city to be used towards training um towards training our current victim witness specialist obtaining an intern language and translation apps Andor service and direct client assistance for victims um so we're looking to adopt resolution 24-8 to accept the victim service Grant from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Office of Justice programs and authorized execution of the agreement by the mayor and city manager I didn't know how to distill that down any shorter it was it seemed all important we're getting a second year of our $80,000 or 70,000 plus we're getting an potential of another 10,000 than and apparently we have to accept that okay I should have just had you give us a synopsis all right that was our complete consent agenda Mr council member Carlson motion to adopt the consent agenda second motion by Carlson a second by Ray rower is there any discussion or questions on the consent agenda hearing none all in favor signify by saying I I I opposed and the consent agenda is adopted now we have a couple public hearings the first one is to conduct a public hearing as we consider resolution 24-85 giving host approval to the issuance of an educational facilities Revenue note M Hansen do you want to hit the highlights of this one yes thank you Mr mayor council is asked to conduct a public hearing and then give host approval for the issuance of Education facility Revenue note uh for the friends of Northwest page High School um they are looking to finance acquisition renovation and Improvement of an existing building in the city um the city was not able to assist with the issuance since we had already issued um almost 8.5 million bonds and that would have put us over our $10 million Bank qualified limit so the city of Champlain has agreed to issue this note um we do have a couple representatives in in the audience if the council has any questions um regarding this at all we have Peter hope I don't about your name roric roric um then they're happy to answer any questions you have very good and this this is not without precedent we we went to Champlain and helped us out another year for a something for Epiphany Pines or Epiphany Assisted Living one of those I don't recall which does anybody have any questions on this all right so then there's no questions we will open a public hearing um is anybody here to address counil IL for the friends of Northwest Passage high school and their um issuance an our issuance of a an educational facilities Revenue note not our issuance our yeah our is post approval so yeah city of champlin would issue we're just giving the approval to do so yeah what what what she said is anybody here for the public hearing on that one more time anybody for the public hearing on that well close the public hearing and look for a motion from Council commission uh council member Geisler I'll make a motion to adopt resolution 24-85 giving host approval to the issuance of a conduit education facilities Revenue note second motion by Geisler and a second by Carlson is there any discussion on this Mr Mayor I just want to say thank you to the city of Champlain and that I think you know the northern cities we do a lot of cooperation and the is just another way that we work together to help each other out and thank you to staff for reaching out and making sure that we can make this happen for them all right and Mr mayor council member andak my understanding no financial obligation here for the city of Champlain or the city of Rapids but in exchange what we get is you know I was just driving by that property on Robertson Drive just a couple weeks ago and it does look like it's in need of some renovation so I'm excited to see that some money's going into it getting it renovated getting it back up to speed and again appreciative the city of Rapids and chaplain on this one all right we have a motion at a second any further discussion hearing none all in favor signify by saying I I I opposed and that motion carries thank you um item six is to hold an assessment hearing and consider resolutions 2481 2482 2483 and 24- 84 approving the miscellaneous 2024 -2 assessment Levy Miss Hansen again thank you uh following the assessment hearing the council's asked to adopt uh resolutions for unopposed Miss special assessments um as of 4:30 this evening uh the amount was at um 147,000 all right any other questions before we open it up all right then we will open the assessment hearing is there anybody here to address councel over the uh assessments here uh Mr Brody am I doing something wrong your hon I would just point out that this is the any person's last opportunity if they want to uh object to their assessment so if this would be the opportunity just want to make sure that people are aware of that oh all right very good so this is their last opportunity to object to these assessments and the hearing continues to be open is there anybody here for the assessment hearing all right we are going to close that and consider resolutions Mr mayor council member Ray rower I make a motion to adopt resolution 24-8 adopting 2024 sub2 miscellaneous special assessments unopposed one year can these be together and adopt resolution 24-8 2 adopting 2024 sub2 miscellaneous special assessments unopposed 3year and adopt resolution 2483 adopting 2024 sub2 miscellaneous special assessments un opposed 5year and adopt resolution 24- 84 adopting 2024 sub to miscellaneous special assessments un opposed 10 year second motion by Ray rower and a second by Geisler is there a discussion on this Mr Mayor from I think it's just maybe just to let the public know of you know the one year the threee five year 10 year um those terms are dictated based on the amount of the assessment so amounts up to $1,000 are payable in one year up to 5,000 are payable in three years up to 20,000 are five years and anything over 20,000 is a tenure so that's just why there are four different um motions very good and that total amount of the miscellaneous assessments as of tonight is $147,000 okay all right uh we have a motion in a second any further discussion you're bring none all a favor signifi by saying I I I opposed and that motion carries and we are up to item seven and it looks like we've got a Mr Brown dog and pony show over there yes good evening uh so yes we have a site plan application Family Promise of Anoka County is proposing an 8 unit uh multif family building on some property in the port Evergreen District so this is just off of 94th Avenue uh block off of Rapids Boulevard the site currently just under 1 and a half acres has uh a single family house on it that house would be retained uh as part of this proposal uh Family Promise Al Note 2 also owns uh an office building where it operates its office uh at on on Rapids Boulevard just across 94th Avenue there you had uh seen a similar project in a work session just about a year ago um there have been some modifications to the proposal since uh then but quite quite a similar proposal the zoning is the port Evergreen zoning District which allows a variety of both commercial and residential uses comprehensive plan designation as commercial mixed use uh the site plan shown on the screen here again for an 8un Residential Building the existing single family house would be integrated into the project so a total of nine units the building would be oriented toward 94th Avenue driveway and parking area the pro proposal would include 13 Park parking spaces we'll talk a little bit more about parking in a moment uh but the site plan also includes a children's play area uh a pet area also an infiltration Basin at the southeast corner of the site uh in terms of building materials The Proposal meets all of the requirements of the port district and the River Rapids overlay District so it would be primarily fiber cement siding uh brick uh along the first floor there are total of three two-bedroom units proposed so our zoning code minimum size for a two-bedroom unit or two-bedroom unit is 700 Square ft these units are proposed to be 850 Square ft uh proposal also includes a total of five efficiency units at 528 Square ft each the code uh has a 500t minimum for those units you can see here the first floor plan so it includes a community room kitchen playroom couple units on the first floor laundry on the first floor and then the second floor uh couple more two-bedroom units and then four more efficiency units there is the front and rear elevation again a combination of um fiber cement uh board and batten siding lap siding and brick uh here are the North and South elevations uh so again the building elevations do meet all of the code requirements in terms of building materials uh breaking up longer facades Windows brick and stones and and the like uh the one area where the applicant is requesting flexibility is on parking uh so right now our code requires two and a quar space per unit one of which uh needs to be enclosed uh this project project is geared toward families coming out of homelessness who are unlikely to own uh you know two or or three vehicles so the applicant is proposing that 13 space uh surface lot on the site as I mentioned they also own the office building that's across 94th Avenue which has a total of 43 spaces on it so they would be able to meet the two and a quarter spaces per unit um if some spaces in that exist existing uh office building lot are dedicated toward this project so we are uh recommending a condition of approval that a share parking agreement is in place between the two Parcels so that this project has use of those Parcels there wouldn't be any enclosed parking spaces of course but there would be more than enough parking spaces available on that site so that existing office building would uh require 10 spaces per the code so there would be 33 additional spaces that would be available for uh for this new project so Mr Brown so does is there like a deed restriction that goes on that property so that it can't be sold separate from this then or how does that work that's what we're proposing that a a a shared parking agreement of some sort that that staff would review to ensure that it um you know has appropriate language to really re to make make clear that uh those parking spaces are you know to be used for this this project and here here's a drawing showing those parking spaces one of the other conditions we're recommending uh is that that existing office building parking lot is striped right now it's kind of a big informal parking area so we are asking that it is striped and it's just clear which spaces are are dedicated toward uh to which use uh so again that parking is the one flexibility request uh for the enclosed parking and the um and the offsite parking since it is across the street and our recommendation is approval with 12 conditions the Planning Commission considered uh the site plan application at its August meeting no one spoke at the public hearing uh was was unanimous uh and then we have the flexibility requests for Di dimensional flexibility for parking uh making those three findings we do have representatives of the applicant here to answer any questions I'm certainly available to answer questions as well Mr Brown um would you go back to the um the the site plan or the the image with with the building in the parking um is there a is there a fence required behind that I'm just because you've got you've got all those parking places going up against the back of those Residential Properties so that's I mean all of a they got all these headlights in their backyard yeah that's and that's one of the other conditions I'll I'll mention uh everything else really met the landscape standards we we do have a condition in there that they add a 3-foot burm along that East property line so that uh the parking lot is is screened from those other Residential Properties okay a three-foot BM or or hedge okay or hedge yeah item 10 instead of a six foot F I mean that that is certainly up to you as to what constitutes the screening that is that is our recommendation if you have a different preference uh that condition can certainly be modified yeah I I guess all of a sudden it's just it's kind of introducing headlights into the backyards of all those folks and I was just kind of wonder make sure that we're not messing with them too much all right questions Mr Brown Mr Mayor counc gusov oh I'm not sure if this is a question for Mr Brown or this just a question for all of us but okay I mean Family Promise obviously a great organization we all know that um I've never seen a um an agreement with the parking that gives proof of parking on the other side of a city street do we have any precedent about that do we have any concerns with crosswalks or anything of that nature we do it it is a little unusual and our zoning code does allow for parking on an adjacent property under certain conditions this is a little bit unusual and that it is across the street we have talked with our engineering staff about this and they they really feel that the traffic volumes on 94th Avenue are so low that there isn't really a need to stripe a crosswalk or anything so we're we're not overly concerned at the staff level of about that okay you're lost or you're going to Family Promise if you're on 94th a yeah the other question if I might um so again Family Promise great organization and it makes sense that people are transitioning from homelessness into a facility like this for a year that likely don't have two cars hopefully they have one we don't have any enclosed parking on this but what if Family Promise stepped away from this uh project and that becomes just a regular apartment building then are they going to become non-conforming with the parking and would that be addressed at a at a separate time or how would that work yeah it wouldn't become non-conforming necessarily however you know if that was a concern of the council there could be a way of attaching a condition to the parking flexibility just making it clear that uh that flexibility was granted for uh the existing you user and if that user goes away um you know they have to bring the parking into compliance or provide parking on site so I I think there there would be a way to attach a condition to the flexibility um to address some of those issues if that was a a concern okay and the only reason I bring it up is if you know if it does change hands then not only is there no covered parking but there's really a limited number of parking spaces there so those cars would eventually just be on 94th and we don't you know don't really want that Mr Mayor CC U Carlson yeah yeah I'm huge supporter Family Promise and huge supporter of this project and my only concerns is the whole thing is what happens if you're gone that's all so I I agree with council member scrovak and I I think that's a good thought there's some condition that could be in there where if Family Promise does uh does step out of that property and it's sold as an apartment building just a reg apartment building just to make sure we have those requirements met somehow is that Mr Mayor counc crisia is that pretty straightforward if we you know your honor I guess I have a question for Mr Brown if I may too Mr goad I presume that and and we haven't discussed what a you know we we consider cross access sort of agreements and cross parking agreements on a semi-regular basis with properties that are adjacent to one another the only difference here is this is just across the street are we presuming that this is sort of going to run with the land so to speak so that the parking itself will always be there for both properties the only issue that would remain then would be the covered parking cuz that wouldn't be necessarily addressed but the parking should remain even if Family Promise leaves either um they decide to leave their their office building you know that property would be subject to the allowing parking from across the street and vice versa if they sell off that the apartment piece then they should still whoever buys it still should have access in my mind to the part paring that's across the street so they would always meet the minimum parking that we've required the question would be is how does council feel then well it's fine if the new owner doesn't have covered parking because we didn't have it before but at least we know that they have the parking that we required for the first project so that's what I'm envisioning um and so the question being open is how does council feel if this somehow transfers ownership to just a sort of a regular apartment and there's no covered parking this how how would that if if if they all right so if if if that parking is assigned or tied to that apartment building but then they wanted to sell the parcel on Kun Rapids Boulevard and the owner of the purchaser of that and the the owner of the building said yeah we don't care we we don't need that parking anymore and so they signed off on that deed I mean we we don't have any ability to protect that restrictive covenant at that point do we because couldn't they just sort of because it's basically between those two parties between those two owners then correct yeah you're you're likely right I mean we're we're speculating a lot I was looking at it from the positive that the person across the street would want that parking but you're right potentially they could come to an agreement um then at that point the property probably isn't incompliance the whatever lost the parking wouldn't be in compliance at that point because it needed 20 spots or whatever we agreed to and so um I don't know what enforcement action we could take at that point um that's a good question okay I think what our hope is is to put this in the give the city the most protection it can and give Council the most assurances it can and so I think we're at least doing that from the get-go you know there's all kinds of I'm guessing different ways that could go down the road and I guess I I I mean I really like the model of Family Promise I like what they do you know I guess my concern is at some point all of a sudden they get an offer where they think of a different model and somebody says well then I'll just buy this one for from you for $800,000 or a million dollars or whatever it is and that would give them act money to start a different type of a project I I guess I'm just I don't know trying to always trying to think of the worst case scenario here Mr mayor council member Geisler yeah the you know for me the cross parking easement isn't as big of a concern I'm sure that we can handle that the the place that I'm concerned is do we are we setting a precedent for non-covered parking and that is something I don't want to set so but I agree that it's reasonable here so is there a way that we can add some sort of language that would be that describes the type of usage that is acceptable for non-covered parking with this current tenant and then because if if it goes away and is just a general apartment I don't want to see no covered parking because then I could have people arguing across the city that they don't need covered parking I Mr Mayor yeah just to to go on to continue on your comments I'm just wondering if so it sounds like if it were to be another uh maybe transitional housing that wasn't Family Promise but another one this would still make sense to keep this way but so could there be a condition where to Ashu the concerns that it could become somebody else's the condition is that this parking um flexibility flexibility is only specific to transitional housing and if it were to you know change owners that now they'd either have to meet the parking requirements or come back for flexibility approval I get a look I mayor and Council I get a little concerned what we're looking at is an apartment building we're treating it like an apartment building because we don't have sort of boarding houses or shelters so they've presented a model that's based on running an apartment building now they're the individuals they may bring in uh may be transitional some point they might not be but so I think we're I think staff has looked at it and what we've been proposed to by Family Promise is that this is a traditional apartment now who they tend to serve that's up to them but they're going it's going to be run it's going to be built like a traditional apartment building at least that's my understanding so I get a little worried um legally or otherwise that we start sort of parsing it out based on its use when really what we're looking at is an apartment building that needs some parking flexibilities or Mr Mayor is it you know so then a multi family that is 10 units or less we could get you know I'm just trying to sure you know where are we setting that precedent for no covered parking so and and that's I guess that's what I would like to go back to is that question are we setting a precedent because we we've just had however many units over on University go in and we required fencing all the way around by the way um you know I guess I'm just I'm wondering about that I I would say with with the flexibility provision the council does have a lot of latitude as to when it approves that there are those three findings that can be made so I I do think you can tie those to a specific site or situation so I I I don't know that it's a huge concern that you know if we don't have enclosed parking here that just means any other apartment proposal that comes in you know you're bound to Grant flexibility for that and and for one flexibility is only even an option in the port districts and River Rapids overlay districts so that's not even something we really can do Citywide so I I would say there are some safeguards in place if you wanted to attach additional uh conditions or kind of uh bolster that motion language to make clear um that that it is you know because of the unique circumstances of the operation of this building I I think that that could be a a solution I would agree with Mr Brown that flexibility I it's only in the port and what what he indicated like I said I just have a little bit of trouble though if we're sort of tying our conditions to sort of the the unique use of the property when it's when it's really just a what we're treating it as as an apart or multif family unit sure concerned about its parking flexibilities okay cust R rower I I just want to make sure I'm pretty sure I know the answer just want to double check anytime that were there would be parking flexibility in the port District a group would have to come forward and get approval by the council correct so we do review them on an individual caseby case basis okay so I'm I'm I'm okay with it the way it is so so Mr Brown I'm still stuck on the fence thing because when we did the Town Homes right next to Hoover Elementary didn't we require fencing on those for to block headlights from the neighbors and the town homes that went in on um university the I don't recall the name of that one right by the little church um I unit yeah didn't they have to put a privacy fence in on both sides yeah I and the landscape standards do offer some different options whether it's a burm hedge fence for screening there is screening that's required um I I would certainly say that again if the council prefers a fence uh or wants a burm and a fence that that is that is certainly within your perview to modify that condition okay I'm I'm just posing the question I don't I don't know where I'm at on it either I just it just seems like we normally would have a fence there between an apartment parking lot and the back I I think it's in some ways more common to have a fence just because that could be an easier solution if you're constrained uh Landscaping can get pricey Mr Mayor yeah c for R I'm just wondering on those other projects were their neighbors that were you know opposed to the development and then we added the fence or was that not really the case no I don't remember neighbors no okay Mr mayor council member Geisler if we could potentially ask the petitioners their opinion on you know because to me if it's a three foot burm and hedge you know as screening or off fence it needs to be screened and if they are opposed to putting a fence versus the Hedge if yeah that'd be great yeah coming up good question introduce yourself good question I'm Andy Madson the project architect with uh lhb uh the only thing that I would say I I think that Family Promise would likely be open to a fence or a hedge the burm is a little concerning because we have uh currently a 10t setback from the curb to the property line shown and uh a burm typically would need a a 3 to1 slope to get up to 3 feet so we're talking about a setback of about 18 ft instead of 10 ft so that would really throw off the site plan as it currently sits so that would be more challenging that's my only so so a fence instead of a three- foot BM is probably more easier and acceptable so if we modified our our bullet 10 instead of saying a three foot burm or three foot high solid hedge we would just add a a privacy fence for screening headlights yeah that's totally reasonable yeah great Mr Mayor C Mia since we have the petition up there I mean if we had covered parking along that we would we would cover both of those bases we'd have covered parking and we would have the barrier with the lights and everything like is covered parking some basic covered parking along that edge uh except potential so uh sorry David fry director for Family Promise uh resident at 23rd Avenue in Rapids um we uh we've done some research around with other uh organizations that have worked with families in similar situation and uh the recommendation is to avoid covered parking because it doesn't become parking it becomes Storage storage and uh and that's hard for us to move them on move that on when it goes so uh for us we would like to avoid covered parking for for some of that reason specifically it's good to have that feedback thank you thank you okay um so the fence fence we're okay yeah I think so yeah made I guess my yeah my only challenge is is is is I'm looking at the the snow removal you know they'll have to make sure they don't push the snow over in into the in and over the fence but uh okay I I I guess I would just like to offer some protection for those residents behind I think that's reasonable so Mr Mayor C guer I would make a motion on planning case 24-22 that the city council approve the proposed site plan with the following conditions and since we made changes I will read them one all engineering comments be addressed two all sustainability comments be considered three the applicant enter in into a site security agreement with the city four all units on site including the existing single family home be connected to city sewer and water utilities five a shared parking agreement be executed between the owners of the subject Pro property and the owners of the Family Promise office site um p 25- 31-24 43-44 and number six um the parking lot on the Family Promise office site to be used for parking for the apartment project be striped to the standards of city code section 11-202 seven a park dedication fee of $1,690 which is $1,410 per unit for nine units be paid prior to issuance of building permits eight all parking areas are lit to one foot candle um nine a right of Entry agreement be established between the city and property owner to provide City access to hydrants located outside of the public RightWay 10 a 6 foot privacy fence be provided between the parking area on site and the adjacent single family residential Parcels um with a review and approval by by staff and 11 all sign ages subject to separate sign permits and 12 the applicant work with staff to ensure the facade and roof materials are appropriate second we have a motion by Geisler and a second by Ray rower um we can do the dimensional flexibility in a second motion yes that would be my recommendation okay um and then the uh um the the thing on the parking the the shared parking agreement mhm would would that ever be written as like a non-revocable or something well I would assume that it's going to run with the land and be recorded on the properties would be my intention and that I think gives us the best protection or the best you know nothing is a guarantee but and maybe we could amend that and I they've got to provide it that you know City approved uh agreement so if we amended the motion to include that I think it's implied in there but uh okay that would be my suggestion okay and then Mr Brown does that um the way she talked about the fence that gives you the ability to make sure we get a nice Quality Fence sir yes okay and you can make sure it's in the right space and all that good stuff all right very good we have a motion in a second we have further discussion on this Mr Mayor is this rovak as amended just as amended as amended as amended okay Motion in a second as amended okay okay any other discussion hearing none all in favor signify by saying I I I opposed and the motion carries Mr Mayor counc member rer for planning case 24-22 I move to approve dimensional flexibility for covered parking finding that the modifications are necessary to respond to site conditions result in better integration of uses or additional public amenities and further the intent of the port District second motion by Ray rower and a second by Geisler is there additional discussion on this hearing none all in favor signify by saying I I I opposed and that motion carries all right thank you gentlemen it's been a long time coming here good luck with the project um all right item eight is to consider acceptance of a petition for the establishment of Village Manor Condominium Association housing Improvement area Mr Brody your honor uh we received a petition from the village Mander Condominium Association for housing Improvement area as you just indicated we haven't done one of these in a long time 2016 is so this is the first step in that process they're a smaller Association I believe eight units uh proposing at some point when we get to it uh just to replace the r so this is just the first step to accept the petition and order the public hearing for October 15th um it's about a 5-month process with several Council meetings in which we'll uh establish the housing Improvement area if that's the council wishes to do and then go through a process to assess those units um the value of the of the improvements and at that point they'll be able to do the work so we're just asking that you accept the petition tonight um and order the public hearing for October 15th okay and and Mr Brody we can I mean we can assume that if any of these are not legitimate that somebody will bring it up at at a one of the subsequent meetings right that some of the well like one of the sign if any of the signatures were faked or anything like that yes and we verified at least that they're the property owners that are currently the property owners and so yes all right very good um Mr Mayor is uh council member gusak is it typical that the city get involved in a um a Housing Association like this used to be okay I just haven't seen one I guess well it's been 2016 2016 was the last time we did one it's a legislative uh creation by Statute that allows cities to sort of act as the financier of the project it's usually when associations haven't uh large enough reserves which occasionally does happen so part of the process of this is they'll have to come up with a financial plan um to Ure sure that this doesn't happen again although to be frank this this individ or this property or this Association was here in like 2003 so it's been about 20 years and we did allow them at least to proceed with the petition you're also not obligated by accepting the petition tonight to do anything this is just the first step in that statutory process and you'll get a lot more information as we proceed as well the The Carriage homes off a Robinson Drive I think was the last project um earlier than that all of the really nice condo the Big Town Homes off of Tulip Street and Silver Rod over off of Round Lake Boulevard was done um it's it's been done a number of times yeah just hasn't been recent yeah okay your H Council Ray rower so is this a motion to accept the petition yes please in order um I make a motion to accept the petition requesting the establishment of the Village Manor Condominium Association housing Improvement area and order a public hearing for October 15th 2024 at p.m. second motion by Ray row and a second by Carlson Is there further discussion on this hearing none all in favor signify by saying I I opposed and that motion carries um item nine is to consider resolutions ordering preparation of feasibility report and plans for project 25-1 Street reconstruction and uh Mr hmer anything you want to hit on here yes Mr mayor council we're looking at approximately four miles is mostly on the north side of town adjacent to Main Street also a smaller section um on the border with Andover uh it's our typical reconstruction Mr Hansen was in work session with you maybe about a month or so outlining these areas this is just the first step in that 429 process um moving forward with that feasibility it's our typical reconstruction a little bit of cast iron replacement in there Mark will come back detailing the scope of that the estimated cost the assessments all of that at a future date so I'm happy to answer any questions you might have right now very good any questions of Mr Hammer Mr Mayor M member Carlson make a motion to uh adopt following resolutions necessary for project 25-1 as part of the 2025 Street reconstruction program a adopt resolution number 25-1 sub3 ordering preparation of feasibility project and B adopt resol resolution number 25-1 sub6 ordering preparation of plans second motion by Carlson a second by gisler is there any uh further discussion on this hearing none all in favor signify by saying I I I opposed and that motion carries item 10 is to consider an introduction of an ordinance to amend 8-200 waste collection and recycling Mr Brody mayor and council members as we discussed at the work session earlier but for the benefit of those now watching um this is a kind of a culmination as we had explored last year organized hauling and and we ultimately decided to go in a diff uh not in that direction we did want to make some changes to the waste hauling uh uh portion of that 8200 so we've proposed some changes based on input from staff and councel I've highlighted the main ones in the memo um the biggest one is that we have five active haulers and we would limit it to three however those five that are currently active who have the license and provide uh residential garbage service will be able to continue to do so as long as they continue to apply and receive a license um we've had some issues with complaints about some of our haulers or and and things like that so we've come up with a couple different ways to try to address that one is kind of a five strikes in your out process that we've incorporated into this new proposal ordinance um as well as an administrative fine penalty piece as well where if people have if haulers have individual violations that they could be fine for those um with that in each process comes an appeal process as well um there's a couple other minor changes that are listed in the ordinance so tonight we're just here for introduction and if we have any questions feel I'm open for those um otherwise we'd ask that you introduce the ordinance and we would bring it back for adoption at the next meeting very good and Mr Brody the appeal process but ultimately they could appeal it to the council correct correct I believe under one I think under the administrative fines we've kind of gotten a little bit more unique in that initially they'll go to a uh a uh of adjustment appeals a hearing officer which we use like in our dog cases and things like that sometimes that becomes more effective more efficient often quicker sure and so but uh generally in the end they do have an opportunity to come to council okay very good your honor Council remember rower you have questions uh well just was just going to share that um this was a long process and we um have had intense discussions and thorough discussions um both within the council and with the haulers and coming out of that we really came to um some great um protections here and some uh great changes to our ordinance that will um make sure that we don't have more than five haulers within the city and if any of those um leave that we will reduce to um three haulers over time um if they chose to leave and that way we reduce because we had a lot of complaints from um City residents about noise and traffic on hauling days and so this would reduce that but also we were very divided as a city um there were some who were interested in going to uh single waste taller but um for as many as were interested there were many opposed to it so this way we do some of those things that our residents want without um you know moving that um Direction so very happy about that and um oh just wanted to share Mr mayor council m g one comment the the key thing that I I think that we're proposing here in these ordinance changes are that we want quality services for our residents and you know a a key change is the the strike five strikes policy and that if there are haulers that you know Miss pick trash pickups regularly and we get a lot of complaints from those so we want our haulers to be responsible and doing the right things and meeting our standards so this is our way to First make sure that we've got good haulers in our city um and so so um I'm looking forward to seeing this come back after it's been introduced yep yeah and and there's no there's this is a big deal I mean if if they had five five Bonafide complaints and lost their license it would be a big deal because it would be a lot of customers shifting so this will be taken very seriously and we'll do a yeah it's Mr mayor council member Carlson thanks for bailing me out you're doing great I also wanted just to mention too that uh you know most if not all these uh conditions were suggested by the haulers themselves yes yes yep that's a great Point um okay so counc guys are Mr stem mayor council if I may it's also a good opportunity to sort of recognize that were some things that uh Council asked staff to move forward on this past spring that are a little more informal these are some formal changes to ordinance but um last spring staff worked on an organize your neighborhood collection page and process there's a toolkit out there for example if you lived in a CU deac you thought boy it'd be really nice if all 10 of us were on the same trash huler then this would give you an opportunity to give some information to your neighbors about the benefits of that maybe help you organize that with a holler and so forth we also um have a new complaint sort of collection portion to the website to help us better identify if there are issues out there so um if folks do have they see something weird with their their holler maybe they see them dump the recycling and trash in the same truck that's definitely something we want to know about because that's illegal they're not supposed to do that and that would be something we could follow up on and so we we've got some new Tools in there to help us track that that if we are running into patterns with haulers that we identifi them earlier perhaps than we were before and then it gives us better opportunity to address those issues so that's it yeah all great points thank you um so if this is introduced tonight the plan is to then take action on it at the on the 17th yes your honor okay all right are there any other questions on this okay then we will consider the ordinance to amend 8-200 waste collection and recycling introduced we will take this back up again at our September 17th meeting and if you have any concern concerns or questions make sure you reach out to staff or to any of us on the council and we'll try and get answers for you okay so with that introduced we'll go to item 11 consider resolution 24-16 sub 8 approving plans and specifications and ordering ordering advertisement for bids 2024 lift station Rehabilitation project this sounds like a Mr himmer Project yes sir Mr Mayor thank you Council uh last year we did a condition assessment on several of our lift stations around town um what we came up with and it took us a little longer than anticipated was there are some needs but we have a budget and so we're prioritizing the improvements to stations five six and 10 uh there anything from improved pumps to um grease uh minimization to uh security and access concerns Communications um so this is a a package we're happy to move forward most of the work depending on the the time and materials that it takes to get hit would not take place probably till spring but we're going to jump on it and try to get done as much as we can it's included in this year's budget I'm happy to answer any specific questions you have but we'd like to get this out for bid and uh see what kind of pricing we get all right any questions for Mr Hammer your honor Council M rower I make a motion to adopt resolution number 24-16 sub 8 approving plans and specifications and ordering advertisement for bids for city project 24-16 the 2024 lift station Rehabilitation project second we have a motion by Ray rower and a second by Carlson no everybody wants to just keep this stuff moving out of town so um any for any discussion on this hearing none all in favor signify by saying I I I opposed and that motion carries item 12 is to consider resolution 2486 establishing the 2024 and 2025 Rapids Ice Center rental rates and approve the fee structure um Miss ring back there in the corner good evening mayor and Council yes what we have before you is the proposed fee structure as we kick off the season of course we're excited to welcome everybody back for the season which runs September through March March and we did market research so we are proposing um a winter Prime ice rate of $248 per hour um our nonprime at 192 per hour spring summer same price our outdoor ice at $15 those fees um very much are competitive within the marketplace they're also about 4% over last year inflationary increase uh we also believe it's just the right spot to be for our pricing we did some other price adjustments that were just slight that uh affected skate sharpening and some room rates room rates have not been raised for over four years so we looked at that to increase those slightly and those are the main areas that had adjustment changes so if you have any questions I'm here to help all right very good now will this have the Ice Center breaking even now counts I'm not going to promise that it help in its own way all right Mr mayor council member gesler I'll make a motion to adopt resolution 24- 86 establishing the 2024 2025 ice rental rates for the Rapids Ice Center and approve the 2024 2025 Rapids Ice Center fee structure second motion by Geisler and a second by Carlson Is there further discussion on this I haven't I haven't gotten a call from Jay so I'm thinking we must be okay with the Blue Ox over there all right all in favor favor signifi by saying I I opposed and that motion carries item what are we at here 13 it wrote in the wrong one consider approval of the 2024 and 2025 ice center user contracts again miss ring thank you mayor and Council uh the contracts before you are are standard contracts where we update the terms with the new price fees um we have user groups that AB by these contracts you already mentioned the Blue Ox uh junior team hockey we have Rapids Youth Hockey we have Noah henin school district and we have a couple other contracts that reflect other elements of um a training room and storage so these are our standard contracts that we have had and again we are excited to welcome all our groups back for the season very good any questions of Miss bring your honor council member Ray rower although I'm not super excited about the season of winter coming I am excited to welcome them back so with that I make a motion to approve the proposed 2024 -225 Rapids Ice Center annual user contracts with an Noah hennipin Independent School District number 11  Rapids Youth Hockey Association the Minnesota blue ax Minnesota Wild sled program and power Edge and authorized City officials to execute accordingly second motion by Ray Brower and a second by Carlson Is there further discussion on this hearing none all in favor signify by saying I I opposed and that motion carries item 14 is to consider resolution 2479 establishing the preliminary 2025 tax levy Miss Hansen thank you Mr Mayor uh following a work session that uh the city council had here in August to discuss the proposed 2025 budget staff is recommending the city council adopt a Prem preliminary 25 tax levy of 38,3 73,8 this does represent a 7.85% increase over the previous year um just as a reminder to the council and um for the residents to know so the preliminary Levy once it's set can be lowered but it cannot be increased um so we'll ask the council um in addition sorry to uh set the truth and tax hearing for the first meeting in December as well that's also included in your resolution um there is copies available electronic copies of the proposed budget as well as the highlights are available on the city website um and I'm happy to answer any questions thank you um any questions I encourage you to go to the city's website and look at it's so we've got the budget in umef brief in brief thank you lost that word for for a second um I briefly lost that word um look at the budget in brief um and see the the work that went into that and if you're not satisfied with that then you can you know go and look at the whole budget yeah but hundreds of pages um but we really appreciate all of the effort and the work that staff put into this and the uh thoughtfulness that went into it um really expresses the priorities Public Safety Road streets water sewer I mean it just it it it expresses the priorities and uh and I thought it was very well done so Mr Mayor councilor beriser I will make a motion to adopt resolution 2479 establishing the preliminary 2025 tax levy for the city of Rapids second motion by Geisler and a second by Carlson Is there further discussion on this Mr mayor council Robert gak just a comment we all worked through this I mean the process kicks off in the spring we have work sessions we express our priorities and I think the city did a really good job this year of kind of going with our guidance on this most of these increases are almost inflationary in nature but we are taking care of all of the big infrastructure projects that we need all the core services that were taken care of um a little bit higher increase over last year than we had looked at um and we can reduce it if we can but I think the city's done a really good job of of spending every penny wise L uh as you mentioned hundreds of pages on that budget 331 to be exact and it's all in there if you wanted to take a look at it in depth it's all out there on the on our City website so and when you and when you say City you mean staff staff it's absolutely not us it's the staff that does all the work here Mr Mayor coun Carlson and this is the you know preliminary so it's not it's not officially over yet but um staff did a did do a great job I this is all about priorities and and I had some questions about some of the spending um that was in there but uh staff I thought did a great job of answering all those questions so I you know certainly felt better about it um these levies I hate to see these Levy increases but we've got to keep up on this stuff so our priorities uh we in the right place it's all going in the right place there's no wasteful spending in there it's a very good budget with the pressure on wages and with 80% of our Levy being Personnel it's really difficult to um get it much lower Mr SE mayor council maybe to expand a little bit on the purpose of setting the preliminary Levy for the benefit of the public is really that truth and Taxation notices are sent out in November and it details um each of the taxing jurisdictions and their proposed increases and how it's going to impact that particular property for the next year it also includes information about their truth and Taxation hearing date um in the location so if people do have questions and concerns certainly they can um raise those at that public hearing ours the first meeting in December um but I would encourage uh folks if they have questions about uh their tax impact to reach out to us earlier than that because often there's what's changing is has more to do with their value of their home and how that's being affected than the tax increase itself which is normal you you see a number like 7.85% but then you try to do the calculation just purely based on what I paid this year versus what I'm going to pay next year and it may not make sense because your value change relative to other properties you may have done improvements you may your property may have been um reviewed uh recently and so there's a number of factors that go into it so I just encourage people when they get that notice in the mail to reach out to uh myself the finance department our City Assessor and we can help guide you to get some of those answers right yeah and until we know the difference between the commercial and industrial base compared to the residential base you don't know how that's going to be distributed you know yeah you're okay cower I would just also like to thank staff for doing a fabulous job um compared to many of our close neighbors this is much lower um than other proposed levies and I just think part of that is the wise management over time that we have thank you Miss Hansen as our fi Finance director of always thinking not just next year or the year after but 5 years 10 years and 20 years ahead so that we can try to keep that as steady as possible so thank you for again for the fabulous job all right we have a motion and a second is there any further discussion on this hearing none all in favor signified by saying I I I opposed and that motion carries and we are to the open mic public comment and I'm thinking nobody's here for Open Mic okay and and since Steve's not turning the camera on it's because there is nobody here okay um let's see um oh we had a uh we did have a couple Open Mic folks um and I and I guess I what all I would do is you want me to should I touch on this or I I guess there were pretty specific things and they did get responses from staff um I do have two of them I guess I didn't get the last one oh there was oh there was a Boulevard tree and there was a property maintenance issues they were both responded to no further action with uh either of them at this time so we'll just leave it at that other business to come before councel first day of school for a lot of kids today we we were over at the high school welcoming back the freshmen as they were coming in I'd like to say there was lots of bright smiling faces but it was kind of hard to get eye contact out of a lot of them and uh M Mr Peña would stay with them until they would a lot of them would smile though so but no welcome back we're looking for a good school year and chief how did the uh any uh any anything going with the back to school buses any issues with the police or no big issues the police department will be at to high school doing uh just the same as you did this morning so we'll be out there tomorrow tom St police yeah trying to get better eye contact maybe than we hey you right here all right yeah then I think uh I think fire fires are on Friday yeah yeah Thursday or Friday I don't remember Chief Piper always likes to bring everything out to get get their attention so all right other business you want to do our calendar of events fun things coming up right sure so tomorrow Wednesday we have our farmers market that those are Wednesdays um in the afternoon at the ice arena and that's I believe 3 to 6 and it goes through end of September um and next Monday There's a community blood drive at Fire Station 3 so check our website and if you're uh a able to donate and available please certainly sign up for that and then next week Saturday the 14th is our movie in the p park migration um is that the Rapid Soccer Complex oh and I should next Tuesday we have our ribbon cut cutting at our Fire Station 3 so you could give blood on Monday and then come to the um ribbon cutting on Tuesday so those are a couple big things coming up in this next week all right um and then I guess um one of our retired police officers um Pete bber unfortunately passed away um and I mentioned that because Pete was I think the first Layon officer at the school wasn't he his Junior High Mr Mayor 1974 okay there you go student I stay out of his office for three [Laughter] years and then uh and Pete was also the mayor of our neighboring City in NOA for a number of years and uh just an all-around really good guy and he will be missed and our condolences to his family and friends Mr Mayor he's with k rpid for 25 years and he was the uh Chief Deputy in NOA County for five years before he retired uh great great person great person he was uh he was my boss for a while night shift great supervisor great person Pete the heat Pete the heat yep Y and Pete left a legacy on the police department and that his son is still working for us so all right um anything else to come before Council this evening Mr Hammer Mr Mayor I'll be brief with uh Labor Day and back to school also is kind of our transitioning Into The Fall season which means um today they were out winterizing the splash pad the beach up at Crooked Lake is uh no longer open for the season so uh summer is officially over and fall is here and snow before you know um and M Mr Hammer we weren't doing any um any brush pickup from that storm Thursday other than just Boulevard trees that went down or something is that what was kind of going on yeah Mr Mayor we're just handling what is on our trails in our roads that sort of thing we we didn't have such a widespread thing that we've looked at anything that would be more Citywide okay and was is there any of our I know Andover and oakover both hit harder is there anything that they need help with that we would consider helping with or I don't maybe there I guess not else yeah May C I mean I I haven't there hasn't been an Ask made um I know that uh Andover is similarly handling their brush and debris in terms of they're not doing you know City direct pickup but sort of uh connecting to County resources and that sort of thing so you know they are in need of help certainly we can reach out to them but um I haven't usually especially Mr Dickinson Andor doesn't hesitate to give me a call if something's up and I haven't heard from them yet so yeah okay very good all right and I offer a personal apology for anybody that was without power because of my ashre taking out the power lines it I I ran Extension Course to two of the neighbors refrigerators but that was all I could that's all I could do all right any other business to have before Council motion to adjourn Mr Mayor second motion and a second to adjourn all in favor signify by saying I I I adjourned [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music]