[Music] Good evening and welcome to the Rapids City Council meeting for Tuesday, May 20th, 2025. If you could please rise and join us for the pledge. 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. Let's call the role. Council member Vrisco. Council member Butler here.
Council member Novak here. Council member Gisler here. Council member Armstrong here. Council member Carlson here. Mayor Cook here. One absent Krisco. Thank you. All right. Why don't we adopt this evening's agenda? Mr. Mayor, Council Member Gesler, I move
approval to adopt the agenda removing item 15, the introduction of an ordinance regarding the fire prevention code. Second. Motion by Geisler, second by Novak to approve the agenda um without item 15. Is there any discussion
or corrections? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. And the agenda is adopted. And the very first thing we have is we have our poppy day proclamations. These are always fun. We do these every year. Um and we have two
of our community groups here. Um do you want to come up together then? All right. Very good. So we're going to invite up the American Legion Post 334 and the auxiliary along with the VFW Post 9625 and the auxiliary. I'll meet
you down front. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. Okay. Well, first we'll do the proclamations and then we'll have you invite or introduce yourselves and then tell us a little bit about what's going on. So, I should have opened these
first. Come on. There we go. Nice. It's real professional. I know. Um, thanks for letting us both of these proclamations are exactly the same except for the first paragraph. So, we appreciate working together on this. uh
for poppy days. Whereas the Rapids Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9625 and the Veterans of Foreign Wars auxiliary have adopted the Poppy as their commemorative symbol. And whereas the Rapids American Legion Post 334 and auxiliary have adopted the Poppy as
their commemorative symbol. And whereas the memorial poppy assembled by disabled veterans pays respectful tribute to those killed in war and also benefits the living veterans and their families. And whereas public donations for poppies
fund rehabilitation programs within each local community that benefit veterans, their families, and ultimately our state and nation. And whereas the basic purpose of the annual distribution of poppies is eloquently reflected in the
desire to honor the dead by helping the living. Now therefore, I, Jerry Cook, mayor of the city of Rapids, on behalf of the Rapids City Council, hereby proclaim May 23rd, 2025 to be Poppy Day,
urging all citizens of Rapids to recognize the merits of this cause by contributing generously and to wear a poppy as mute evidence of our gratitude to the men and women of this country who have risked their lives in defense of the freedoms which we continue to enjoy.
as American citizens proclaimed this 20th day of May 2025. Let me let you introduce yourself. Commander Chris Fan, American Legion. Uh auxiliary president for the American
Legion post 3 and unit 334. Who are you? I'm Ann Stefen. Thank you. An I'm Diane Bowman. I'm the Poppy chairman for the uh Legion
9625 uh auxiliary president Ivon Sandine and I'm Nathan Morgan the Rapids 9625 commander. Thank you very much. Um where will these where will be able they be able to find these? So we always take donations at our post for Poppy days. We
did do our Poppy Day um donations. Uh we you might have seen everyone might have seen us out in front of uh restaurants and and um uh grocery stores in the city. Uh I think it was the weekend of the 9th we were out there. Uh we started raising money that weekend, but all throughout May is where we can go. Um
you can always come into our post. We have poppies. We still have cards that we're collecting donations for. Um and then people can just come in. They can donate. They can request to donate to a veteran in need and we can facilitate getting that to that veteran. Awesome.
Also, also this weekend, um on Saturday morning at 10 o'clock, we'll be at um Morningside Cemetery doing a ceremony, then Bunker Hills following with a lunch. On Monday, we will be at Epiphany,
um the second cemetery along with Joyce on the corner of uh Hansen and Northdale. and then back at our circle to do um another ceremony. We were out this past weekend,
the 16th and 17th at Cub Foods and I want to thank Cub for letting us stand inside because it was a little cold and wet and we thank everyone for coming and donating to us.
So, let me just say Poppy Days are every day of the year. You don't have to wait for a proclamation, but super excited that you did that. Um, donations can be accepted any time all year long, and it goes for our veterans. So, I would hope that if you can just just honor the
veterans, my my favorite guy here and over here, these guys are doing amazing things as as well as the auxiliary. You don't just have to wait for a certain day. We we take donations anytime and we will always have a poppy ready to go for you if you would like to support that as well. So, thanks to the community and
Jerry, thanks for being there for us, too. I do want to say thank you for having us up here today. Well, all right. Well, first, who's taking the uh Legion Proclamation? So, right here we got our
perfect and then the VFW proclamation down here. All right. And now the beauty of stopping into the VFW to get your poppies is you've got excellent food and a full bar. So I'm just just saying while you're there. Yeah. We also would
like to thank the VFW because our auxiliary does meet there and uh we have a lot of events also at the VFW. The partnership. Yeah. Yeah. No, for sure. and and as you know or maybe don't know,
the Rapids American Legion um our post isn't we don't have a brick and mortar, but we definitely collaborate with those in town and we just want to thank everybody for for supporting the Legion as well. We're still doing our thing around town. So, thank you, Commander and President. We appreciate
you guys. All right, before you sit down or Diane, you do your thing. Um I just want to I'll take another one. I just want to highlight that again. this Saturday at um Morningside. Thank you. I had the wrong word there. Morningside Cemetery at
10:00 a.m. There's a memorial service there. And then you go from there over to Bunker Activity Center. Bunker activity center. And is that at noon then? At 11:30. Okay. So 10 at Morningside on University, 11:30 at Bunker Hills
Activity Center. That's not the golf course. That's the one up off of Bunker Lake Boulevard. Okay. And then Sunday you're going to be at Epiphany Sunday morning and over at Joyce Chample Cemetery. That's on Monday. Monday. Mondaymorial. I thought I said Monday,
but maybe I didn't. Did I? Did I say Monday? I'm that guy over there. All right. Okay. We do have our VFW day of service on Sunday morning at Epiphany putting flags on veterans headstones. Oh, that's what I meant to That's what's going on
Sunday. Putting flags out there. Yeah. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you for being here. Oh, thank you. Thank you for all that you do. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you so much. Thank you so much. All right, that is awesome. And those services are very inspiring if you uh are available to get out there. Um you do want to get there early
though because there's not a lot of parking at Morningside and uh so you'll end up walking aways. All right. Uh we are up to item three and that's the approval of the minutes of the May 6th, 2025 meeting. Motion to
approve the minutes. Second. Motion by Carlson and a second by Butler to approve the minutes. Is there any discussion or corrections? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. And those minutes are approved. Uh now we wanted to
approve the April 22nd local board of appeal and equalization minutes. Motion to approve the April 22nd local board and appeal and equalization minutes. Second motion by Carlson. I'm going to give that one to Butler. I think you just beat out them by a split second there. Armstrong. Um any
discussion or corrections? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. And that motion carries. One abstension. Actually, um board member Novak was missed that one. Thank you. Yep.
Um I next item five is to approve the May 6th local board of appeal and equalization minutes. Motion to approve the May 6th, 2025 local board of appeal and equalization minutes. Motion by Butler and a second by Geisler. Is there any discussion or
corrections? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. And those minutes are approved. We have six items on our consent agenda this evening. And the first one, where is it? Here we
go, is to approve the Verizon Wireless first amendment to a lease for Winterest Monopole. Uh, the city and Celco partnership doing business as Verizon Wireless entered into a lease agreement on November 18th, 2005 to allow VI Verizon to lease space on the Winter
Crest Park Monopole for telecommunication purposes. Um they are in the process of refurbishing its directional antennas and in that process they desire the ability to place 13 directional antennas on the monopole. Currently the lease allows for 12. Um
city staff don't object to the addition as long as the antennas meet all the requirements under the current lease and the city ordinances. As a consideration of the added antenna, Verizon will pay the city an additional $2,700 in rent per year. Under the current lease,
Verizon's rent in 2025 is $31,179.40. So, we're looking to approve and execute, I'm sorry, approve and execution of the first amendment to the lease agreement with Celco Partnership doing business as Verizon Wireless.
Next item on our consent agenda is to approve a temporary on sale strong beer and wine liquor license for the Fourth of July community celebration to the Rapids Northstar Lions. Steven Wells on behalf of the Rapids Northstar Alliance has applied for a
temporary on sale strong beer and wine liquor license to be used at the 4th of July community celebration to be located at the Boulevard Plaza Park 11,000 Crooked Lake Boulevard July 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, 2025. The appropriate fees have been
paid. The certificate of insurance for liquor liability is on file and the background investigation has been completed and approved by the police department. Wouldn't that be a surprise if that one didn't pass? Uh, the temporary on sale strong beer and wine liquor license will be
valid from 8:00 a.m. to midnight from July 2nd through July 4th, 2025. So, this motion is to approve a temporary strong beer and wine liquor license for Rapids Northstar Lions for use at the Fourth of July community celebration from July 2nd through July
4th. And the next item under consent agenda item or consent agenda which is item eight is for just anformational item only. There's been a corporate officer change at the American Multi- Cinema
Incorporated. Um the city council must be notified of any changes in legal ownership or beneficial interest of a liquor license holder. And so the notice advised that the following changes have been made. Kevin Connor um as general
counsel has retired and Edwin Goldbach has been appointed to take over this position. The Rapids licensed establishment affected by these changes is AMC Theaters 100051 Woodrest Drive Northwest. This
wasformational purposes only. The next item on the consent agenda is to adopt resolation resolution 25-70 amending the city's fee schedule. Um, in recent months, the community development department has transitioned
to a new software platform for rental licensing, property maintenance, building permit, and planning functions. During implementation, staff discovered that the new software could not calculate rental licensing fees as structured by the current fee schedule.
Um the new uh so we're looking to amend the fee schedule to base the fee on the total number of units in the property rather than basing it on the number of units inspected. The structure um is expected to result in a similar amount
of rental licensing revenue. While the proposed structure is designed to result in as little change as possible, smaller complexes will generally pay a smaller fee and larger complexes will generally pay a higher fee than under the current arrangements. We're looking to adopt
resolution 25-70 amending the city's adopted 2025 fee schedule for rental license and inspection fees. And I suppose because we're adopting the fee schedule, I should go back and actually read that. Um, currently we're $60 per building
plus $20 per unit. I'm sorry, we are going to amend it to $60 per building plus $12 per unit rather than basing it on the number of units inspected. So, it's currently $60 per building and $25
per unit ex inspected. So, that's the fee change. Item 10 is to approve a waiver of fees for use of the portable stage for Faith Lutheran Church. Faith Lutheran Church is requesting a waiver of half the fees for use of the portable
stage for two dates in 2025, July 13th and July 17th. The portable stage is 520 per day for the approved 2025 fee schedule. Um they are located next to the city's public works building uh located on 111th Avenue and Faith
Lutheran has allowed for overflow parking use at their facility for the public works openhouse event that takes place the third weekend in May each year. This year it was this past Saturday and yes we parked in the Faith Lutheran parking lot. Uh this
cooperation combined with the fact that the facility is close to the stage storage location at public works makes it reasonable to staff that some of the standard fee could be waved. So we're looking to wave half of the fees for the stage rental which would be
$520. The renter Faith Lutheran would also be required to sign an agreement and provide liability insurance listing the city as an additional insured. The next item on the consent agenda is actually the last item and this is to res receive the schedule of electronic
payments. Um we've got our electronic payments processed since the last council meeting. So we're looking to receive the schedule of electronic payments from 512025 to 514 2025. And that's our consent agenda.
Mr. Mayor, Council Member Butler. I move that we adopt the consent agenda as listed and I'll second that. Motion by Butler and a second by Novak. Is there any questions or discussion on the consent agenda? Mr. Mayor, Council Member Carlson, you beat me to the punch commenting on the background check and
that liquor license. So, I'll leave that one alone. I think you beat all of us. But uh but I did want to say how much I appreciate our partnership with Faith Lutheran Church and as I appreciate our partnerships with Noa Ramsey and all the other entities we have in Rapids. I think these partnerships really make the
world go around and I appreciate what they do for us. So it's nice to be able to do something for them in return. Absolutely. All right. Any other discussion or questions? All in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. And the consent agenda is
adopted. We're up to item 12 to consider resolution 25-10 sub9 accepting bid and awarding contract for fire station number two driveway and parking lot replacement project 25-10. Mr. Himmer. Yes, Mr. Mayor,
council. Thank you. Uh we opened bids last week on the fire station 2 concrete project that included a base bid of just mainly the parking lot area and then we had three other alternates just to make sure we could afford the project. Some of that is miscellaneous curb out on the
roadway. Some of it is elsewhere on the site uh adjacent to the parking lot. Um many competitive bids, lots of biders, all pretty tightly spaced. Um and we came up with uh Eert Companies as the lowest responsive bidder. There was a
lower bidder. Um however, they did not acknowledge an agenda on the project, nor did they submit a bid bond, both of which are required. So, uh we've thrown that bid out and we're recommending to award to Eert Companies for the base plus all three alternates in the amount
of $242,67862. I'm happy to answer any questions. Very good. Any questions of Mr. Himmer on this? Mr. Mayor, Council Member Gesler, I move that we adopt resolution 25-10 sub9 awarding a contract to Eert Companies in
the amount of 242,67862 for project 25-10, fire station number two, driveway and parking lot replacement project. Second motion by Geyser, a second by Novak. Is there discussion on this? We're going to have it done for the uh Oh, that's right. We're not doing the
open house sir this year, are we? No. All right, never mind. We'll just have it done. Yes. Um, all in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. And that motion carries. Um, item 13 is to consider
resolution 25-61 sub9 awarding a contract for the public works roof replacement. Mr. Hammer. Thank you again, Mr. Mayor. council. We again had quite a few bidders on this project. Uh well, we certainly can't afford it all. It's a very large building over there.
Uh we did bid it in in alternates because there is that back section, that's the newest section of the building. So, that one can wait a little while. It's wide open over those last two bays on the back side. Um so, this will cover all the front office areas, the original bay, which is I think where
the utility staff is, the the extra um mechanics shop on the outside. So, this basically does about twothirds to threequarters of the project. Uh, it's right within our our line of budget. And so, uh, McFillips Brothers has done city
hall. They've done our two water treatment plants are a good contractor. So, we are recommending award to Mc Phillips Brothers Roofing for the base bid and alternate one only uh with a total of $930,395. Oh, I'm sorry. That is the
base bid. The total would be1,4,770. Right. Anybody have any questions of Mr. Hammer on that? Your honor, Council Member Novak, I uh move to adopt resolution number 25-61 sub9 awarding a contract to McFillips Brothers Roofing Company to
include the base bid of 930,395 and alternate one of $74,375 for a total amount of 1,4770. Second really quiet there. Sat there. Spended a
million dollars. Nobody wanted to second that. Motion by Novak and a second by Gesler. Is there discussion on this? Mr. Mayor. Council member Carlson. Just want to say how much I appreciate the competitive bidding process. I mean, it's a million dollars, but boy, we saved a lot of money on
those bids. All right, Mr. Mayor. Council member Geyser. And I I would just say that uh the public works building was wonderful to enjoy on the at the public works open house. So if you didn't make it this year, plan for it next year and it'll have a brand new roof on it. Hopefully.
Not that we got wet this year. No, we didn't. We didn't. All right. Uh any other discussion? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I opposed. And that motion carries. Item 14 is to consider resolution
25-68 and 25-69 for the 2025-1 appealed assessment levy. Miss Hansen, is this still kind of the amounts we got or do we have uh do we pay some of them off or? Nope. The amounts are are consistent with with
what's on the memo. All right. Um and then so I mean the amounts total $11,5240. All right. Very good. Any questions of Miss Hansen on this? Mr. Mayor, Council Member Carlson, make a motion to adopt resolution
25-68 and 25-69 adopting 25 2025 sub one miscellaneous special assessments contested miscellaneous assessments one year and three years. Second. Motion by Carlson, a second by Butler. Is there
discussion? Um, again, we thank the board of adjustment and appeals for all their yman work on this. Every one of these got a very fair hearing and I'm just trust the process. All in favor signify by saying
I. I opposed. And that motion carries. Item 16 is to consider resolution 25-71 authorizing submitt of federal funding application for trunk highway 610 and East River Road. Mr. Hammer.
Yes, Mr. Mayor. There's a slight correction on the memo itself. This is not Minnesota State House and Senate. This is at the federal level. So, uh, we applied last year for the discretionary funding, the community projectbased funding, uh, because that didn't move
forward. Uh, they invited us back again to do the same thing this year. So, um, we're still short on that construction funding. We're asking for the dollars anywhere we can. Um, the the initial ask is the 10 million. Uh, the fall back would be 3 million. That that allows the
property acquisitions to move forward. So, um, I got to get these letters of support and resolutions in this week. And so, uh, we put this on the agenda to get your feedback. And again, happy to answer any questions. Very good. This is the one that's going to get us the
money. All of them together are going to get us the money. Any questions of Mr. Hammer on this? Mr. Mayor, council member Armstrong. I move that we adopt resolution 25-71 authorizing the submittal of 2026 community project funding application
for construction of TH610 at East River Road full access interchange. Second motion by Armstrong and a second by Gesler. Any discussion hearing? None. All in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. And that motion carries. Is there anybody here to
address council on open mic this evening? Anybody here for open mic? All right, I have one um response from last council meetings. Open mic. We
had Mr. Derek Lynn from ASET here and uh he addressed the council requesting us to consider termination of an agreement with an oak county for the use of electronic pole pads. Um, we've Thank you staff for drafting a response and I
assume we included this agreement in our mailing to him, do you think? Or no, just Oh, that might have been it. I don't know. He can he can read it online. It's It's probably already has. Probably already has. You're right. Likely did not get his mail before. The
city of Rapids entered into an agreement outlining the conditions of an equipment license to operate electronic pull pads in place paper rosters in June of 2018. And the agreement is here. And this agreement obligates the city to store and secure the equipment, but ownership of the equipment remains
within the county or with the county. And the county is also responsible for any updates, maintenance, replacements, etc. This is really inside baseball. I'm not going to read the last paragraph, but he's got his response. And there we go.
Um, we're up to other business crickets. Mr. Mayor, council. Um, so Saturday we had the uh there was the Play for Patrick event at the Rapids High School. It's the second time it's been the high school um in the last
10 years. So, Play for Patrick is part of the Shunover um Heart Foundation um providing free, very, very detailed health screens to young people ages 14 to 24. This is all a result of 14-year-old Patrick Shunover dying at the age of 14 during a hockey game as
parents started this foundation. Uh it was a great day. Uh there a lot of Rapids kids there. There's also kids from all over the area. Um in total, 120 kids were screened for heart anomalies. Um my wife was taking blood pressures
with her nursing experience. Uh I have no particular useful experience. So I was uh I was ushering people, you know, we also had 10 minutes of CPR training, 10 minutes of AED. Um that was my job was to usher people in the correct direction. But it was a great day. Uh he
said 120 heart screens. Um 146 people received some basic CPR and AED training. Um the Rapids High School as part of this, the Rapids High School will have uh two public AEDs. Uh one will be by the uh uh athletic field,
one will be between the high school and the middle school. So if there's an emergency, someone can access these AEDs right there. And and that is what is saving lives. Of course, CPR is great, but that quick access to the AEDs have really that saved a lot of lives. So it
was a it was a great day. It was a really great day and and hats off to the uh uh Shunover Heart Foundation and Mike and Gail Shunover for all their great work. They took a tragedy and they're using it to save lives. Um up till Saturday uh they had screened
approximately 7,000 kids and they have found 359 kids with with one or more heart anomalies. Heart anomalies that would be life-threatened if they were undetected. So they're out there saving lives, doing good work. That's awesome.
Um, and those two AEDs for the outfield are not just the AED, it's the ex the outside cabinet, which is about four times the cost of the AED because it's got to be heated video cell link, I think. Doesn't it
call 911 automatically? Yeah. I mean, they're pretty It's pretty cool, Mr. Mayor. Pretty cool. You flip that You flip that door open and alarm goes off and it calls 911 and Yeah. the the cabinet keeps it the AED at the proper temp temperature
and such like and there's there's locators in the AED in case it isn't going where it's supposed to go and uh it's pretty neat. Awesome. Right out of Star Trek. Thank you. Thanks for doing that. Of course. It was a great time, Mr. Mayor. Council member Gesler. Uh I
just uh since we won't have a council meeting before it, I wanted to wish all the soon tobe Rapids High School grads uh congratulations and best wishes on your futures. Uh they will be uh graduating their ceremonies on the first coming up here uh which is a Sunday. So
we won't have a meeting before that. But uh I've got one graduating this year, so I'm excited. But uh for all the other parents out there doing that as well, um good luck and uh enjoy your time with your family as they go on to the next phase. Go Big Red. Awesome. Or and then come back for the
Fourth of July all uh all reunion all class reunion. What's the uh what's Rapids High School? It's a great It's a great day to be a Cardinal. It's a great day to be a Cardinal. You know it. All right. Any other business to have
before council, Mr. Mayor? Council Armstrong. Just a reminder, I know we covered it this earlier, but the memorial uh day or memorial celebrations 1000 a.m. at Morningside Memorial Gardens, 11:30 at Bunker Hills Event
Center. Um I'm a little bit of a history buff, so anytime I see a veteran, I like to shake their hand, say thank them, etc. And just a reminder, Memorial Day, the th this was set aside for the the
ones that died serving their country. And I we we we love our veterans. Um but remember on Memorial, these are the people that gave the ultimate sacrifice. Um and we we owe them a lot. Um,
sometimes history gets set aside or gets forgotten when we're growing up and being educated, etc. We wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for them. So, thank you very much. Absolutely.
Okay. Any other business? Motion to adjurnn. Second. Motion by Carlson, second by Novak to adjurnn. All in favor signify by saying I. I. We're journaling. [Music]