[Music] welcome to the Rapids City Council meeting for Tuesday April 15th 2025 If you could please join us and rise 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 Please call the role Council member here Council member Butler here Council
member Novak here Council member Gesler here Council member Armstrong here Council member Carlson here Mayor Cook here Um okay Maybe we can adopt this evening's agenda then Mr Mayor council member Geyser Uh I would like to request
that we move the charter commission item to for some discussion Otherwise I would move the agenda as uh otherwise amended So you want to move item four to down to top of new business like Okay We put it before that if you
want Yeah 13A or something Yeah Okay Is there a second on that Second Okay Mot second by Butler Is there any other discussion or um questions about the agenda
Hearing none All in favor signify by saying I I I Opposed And that motion carries Um first thing on our agenda then is to uh declare Fair Housing
Month Um April is Fair Housing Month to commemorate the Fair Housing Act And before I read any more of that I'm just going to do the proclamation because most of this is covered in the proclamation for Fair Housing Month Whereas the Fair Housing Act enacted on
April 11th 1968 enshrined into federal law the goal of eliminating racial segregation and ending housing discrimination in the United States And whereas the Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in
housing on the basis of race color religion sex familial status national origin and disability and commits recipients of federal funding to affirmatively further fair housing opportunities for all And whereas
Rapids is committed to the mission and intent of Congress to provide fair and equal housing opportunities for all And whereas our social fabric the economy health and environment are strengthened
in diverse inclusive communities And whereas the success of the Fair Housing Act comes from a commitment by all of us to address discrimination and support equal housing opportunities for all Now
therefore I Jerry Cook mayor of the city of Rapids on behalf of the Rapids City Council hereby proclaim the month of April 2025 to be fair housing month in the city of Rapids
proclaimed this 15th day of April 2025 And all right item two is to approve the minutes of the April 1st 2025 meeting your honor Council member Novak I move to approve the minutes of the April 1st 2025 meeting Second Motion by Novak and a second by Butler Is there
any discussion or corrections Hearing none All in favor signify by saying I I Opposed And that motion carries We have now then six items on our consent agenda And the first one is to approve a
right of entry agreement with an NOA County for sanitary sewer lining project 25-4 Um this will take place along portions of Mississippi and Hansen Boulevards and we will need a temporary access to Anoka County Parkland for the placement of a temporary bypass system
So we're looking to accept the attached right of entry agreement with the NOA County for project 25-4 sanitary sewer lining Uh the next item on our consent agenda has been moved to
13A So the next item on our consent agenda is to adopt resolution 25-58 accepting the Twin Cities Gateway 2025 member city grant Uh the city may use the grant funds for any purpose as
specified and in accordance with Minnesota state statutes governing the local option lodging tax and the established criteria identified by the Twin Cities Gateway Board in the attached agreement Um and we're receiving this because we participate in
a regional convention and visitors bureau known as Twin Cities Gateway And we and we receive an annual community member grant The grant is based on the local option lodging taxes collected by the city and other member cities and the city of Rapids will be receiving
$28,000 from the 2025 member city marketing grant Similar to last year uh staff is proposing that $18,000 of this grant be provided to the community strength foundation for the purposes of supporting the Fourth of July celebration and other community events
that attract visitors to Rapids The balance of $10,000 will be used by staff to support various city marketing efforts Um so we're looking to A approve the 2025 member city marketing grant agreement b adopt resolution
25-58 accepting the 2025 member city marketing grant in the amount of $28,000 and C direct staff to contribute $18,000 of the grant funds to the Community Strength Foundation for the purpose of supporting the Fourth of July
celebration fireworks and other events that promote bringing visitors to Rapids Um next item on our consent agenda item six on this evening's agenda
and that's uh to receive the schedule of electronic payments Uh Minnesota State statute requires a list of transactions made by electronic funds transfer be provided to the city council at the next regular meeting after the transaction Uh so we're looking to receive the schedule
of electronic payments for March 27th through 2025 to April 9th 2025 The next item on our consent agenda is to approve waiver of fees for
portable stage analog Ramsey Community College looking to a waiver of the fees for use of the portable stage on Thursday September 18th 2025 for use with their fundraising event Rhythm of the Rapids This event raises money to
inspire learning and help with student success The portable stage fee is $520 per day per the approved 2025 fee schedule The fee covers the cost of stage rental staff setup and delivery staff takeown and return and other
related administrative costs Anoka Ramsey Community College is a partner of the city particularly during the Fourth of July community celebration and the college allows the city to use its parking lots for public parking during the event and members of the college work with the organizing committee on
lighting needs and other requests as needed The city also has a facility use agreement for parking lot 4 at the college which is used as an overflow parking lot during the Rapids Treelighting Festival Staff members feel this cooperation and partnership make it
reasonable to wave the stage use fee So we're looking to wave the stage fee of $520 The city will require that an RAM community college sign an agreement and provide liability insurance listing the city as an additional insured Uh next item on our consent
agenda is to adopt resolution 25-61 establishing a hearing a hearing date on imposition of fees Village Manor Condominium Association housing improvement area Um so let's see here So
well council will recall the state law authorizes cities to establish housing improvement areas and finance the costs of improvements to housing within those areas if no other financing source is available In November council established a housing improvement area
for the eight units in the Village Manor Condominium Association housing improvement area The improvements include new roof sophet fascia and gutters And the costs of the improvements have now been determined And the next step in the process is to
adopt a resolution to collect by assessment the improvement fees from the owners of the units A hearing is necessary before that resolution can be adopted and the attached resolution would set May 6 2025 as the date for
that hearing So we're looking to adopt resolution 25-61 setting the hearing on the establishment of improvement fees for the Village Manor Condominium Association housing improvement area for
Tuesday May 6th 2025 at 7 p.m in the Kun Rapids City Council Chambers The next and final item on our consent agenda is to adopt resolution 25-62 amending the general fund budget
for copier lease accounting Uh beginning in 2022 new accounting standards issued by the governmental accounting standards board changed how lease agreements involving tangible assets are accounted for And the standard requires lease agreements that meet certain
requirements to be accounted for as a capital purchase and a leased asset amortised over the life of the agreement The capital expenditure is offset by a lease proceed revenue in order to add to the governmental fund balance sheet
There is no monetary transaction for the initial capital expenditure and offsetting revenue required The transaction is simply for financial reporting and the lease payments are then recorded as a debt service payment uh lease principal and interest and all
capital outlay purchases must be specifically identified and funded So we are looking to um adopt resolution number 25-62 amending the 2025 general fund
budget and that will be appropriating $111,412 to capital outlay and other financing source lease proceeds Your honor council member Novak I move that we adopt the consent agenda as amended Second Motion by Novak and a second by
Carlson Any discussion or questions on the consent agenda Hearing none All in favor signify by saying I I Opposed And that motion carries Um next we're looking at item
10 And that is to consider resolution 25-19 awarding a contract for the street reconstruction project 25-1 Mr Hammer Thank you Mr Mayor Councel excuse me Um we received five
bids on this project the usual customers within this part of the um ina county Um good competitive bids They came in under engineers estimates Um we intend to do three different neighborhoods approximately four miles on the north
side of town mostly Um it's our standard FDR mill and overlay curb replacement uh hydrants valves uh some cast iron pipes in the Thousand Oaks neighborhood Uh pedestrian amenities uh city- owned street lights will be upgraded to LED as
part of the project Um and so with this the low bid came in by Northwest Asphalt They have done this work for us in many years in many locations throughout the city So staff would be recommending to award a contract to Northwest Asphalt in the amount of
5,722,178.90 And I am more than happy to answer any questions you might have on the project Your honor Council Member Novak Uh Mr Hammer I apologize I think I've asked you this question before but do we have any idea how much more cast iron we have to get replaced Council member Novc I do not have that answer
but I can get it for you very easily out of our GIS system Hopefully not a whole lot I'll bring that up Um no you'd be surprised A lot of that uh 60s and 70s infrastructure um even even into the 80s and early 90s before we transition to
that cast or to the ductal iron Okay I think we've got two more years of major replacement Mr Uh Council Member Butler Uh I move that city council recommends uh we adopt resolution number 25-1 sub9 awarding a
contract to Northwest Asphalt Incorporated for 5,722,178.90 Second Motion by Butler and a second by Geisler Is there any further discussion on this one Mr Mayor Council member was that Carlson down there Yep Yes sir Boy
it sure is nice seeing that thing come in $800,000 below budget Good lord that's a nice bid Yeah agreed Any other discussion Mr Mayor council member Kusco a question of Mr Hammer And this just came up because
someone asked me the other day when we redo these roads it shows in here that we are going to do improvements ADA requirements water mane and fire hydrant replacements Are we actually going to change and update all those fire hydrants or is it just maintenance as
required when we're in there Council member Gcoiac primarily the hydrants we will replace are those that we call um plugged hydrants those that extend down into the water table So those are saturated and they're subject to that that groundwater coming and going So those deteriorate much faster All of
those will be replaced Uh the remainder we just make sure they're to our current standards and then we paint them such that they um look good Okay that last part is actually the question that I was had because we were a lot of people been going around and flushing hydrants you know over the last couple of weeks and I
noticed that there are some hydrants on recently renovated roads that still look pretty rusty and I'm just wondering why that wasn't done If it's done at the time of the rehabilitation that's great Or if not is there a you know a timeline
within a year to get that done Because it seems like it's like a brand new road Why aren't our hydrants painted Yeah Council Member Scoiac about two years ago we made that switch We were doing them in-house Uh we got our own piece of equipment to do that but with limited resources you know basically one person
It was a lot of work to try to get caught up on those So what we've added to those contracts starting about two years ago is we put that on the contractor and we get a bid price for that Perfect So that'll all be taken care of That'll be great That answers that Thank you
Did that answer that It's Well we still have to go back to the ones that we didn't do two years ago Right But these are all going to get painted with the Oh the new Right going forward Right Right But to the neighborhood you're talking about I don't think we really found out
when those are going to get done That might be a separate email to uh public works Provide me the locations and I'll let you know where the list stands and when we think we'll get there Perfect I'll do that Okay Good point Council member Geyser Uh just one clarifying
point too The the 15% contingency here is as needed That's part of this authorization but not necessarily to be spent only as needed That's correct Council member Ger We just we have separate contracts for material testing separate contracts for um batch plant
testing Um we that's just a general number rule of thumb we use It's actual costs once those contracts are resolved and final payments go out Thank you All right We have a motion and a second And I'll remind council to adopt
resolution 25-9 25-1 sub9 awarding a contract to Northwest Asphalt Incorporated for 5,722,178.90 Is there any further discussion on this Hearing none All in favor signify by saying I I Opposed And
that motion carries Um item 11 is to consider resolution 25-3 sub9 awarding a contract for miscellaneous trail construction project 25-3 Mr Hammer Yes Mr Mayor This is a
continuation of our annual trail maintenance program Um there are roughly six or seven different segments throughout the city Uh we also did include an alternate in here Bunker Hills has some uh cart paths that they wanted to do We packaged the two together So there's two funding sources
on this one The base bid um came in really well as did the alternate You you'll see that in all of these these bids and quite frankly I'll I'll give the credit to engineering staff and others who we get these things out early in the process and we try to be the first to bid So we're not relying on
contractors who potentially already have a full program or those that maybe are are uh not the best uh at the work that they do So I I give that team a great amount of respect and and appreciation And we got more bids another eight
biders on this Um Asixens did the project for us last year and a couple of years ago Um so with that I am more than happy to make a recommendation to award this contract to Alixen for the base bid plus the alternate in the amount of $191,87866
Very good Any questions of Mr Hammer Your honor Council member Novak I move that we adopt resolution 25-3 sub9 awarding a contract to Alexen's Services Incorporated for 191,8786 cents for project 25-3 miscellaneous city trail reconstruction
project Second motion by Novak second by Butler Is there further discussion on this hearing None All in favor signify by saying I I opposed And that motion carries Um and now now that we have uh
permission to use the the the easement for doing this we should probably consider approving the project for sanitary sewer lining project 25-4 Mr Hammer thank you again Mr Mayor We had all relevant biders on this project there This one blew us away We
asked you for more money to to increase this just to get us to where we thought we were going to need to be These prices are less than what we had uh last year So we had every single bidder here There aren't a lot of projects out there met councils kind of in a in between year
for them There's not a lot of communities doing this So we had every bidder bidding on this project I in hindsight I would have added five more alternates to this because quite frankly we we could we could double what we would like to do uh under this program
But um great competition really good bids Can't complain about these at all And this is going to get us uh through Mississippi Boulevard and just up that channel heading up towards Riverview Park Uh get us out of the roadways for that next segment uh heading north And
so I would recommend in situ form receive this bid uh in the amount of 1,25,53643 Very good Any questions of Mr Hammer on this Mr May Um council member Novak I was just going to uh move to adopt resolution
number 25-4 sub9 awarding the contract to insitue form technologies USA LLC in the amount of 1,25,53643 for the sewer lining project Second motion by Novak and a second by Gesler There discussion on this
hearing none All in favor signify by saying I I opposed and that motion carries Item 13 is to consider uh construction contract for 2025 street
sweeping project 25-15 And that's because we're not Spring Lake Park and we don't have anybody buying us a sweeper Is that what the deal is $318,000 Nice Nice gift Mr Hammer Mr Mr Mayor I
may have good news for you on a different subject We'll we'll stick to this we'll stick to this memo here Um this is the last of the bids we're considering tonight This is our annual street sweeping program Um this supplements what staff does We're still out there and our two sweepers um
running pretty much daily with our crews This is just to get the extra work done in the spring and then they come back in the fall Um we typically have two biders They've done the work kind of alternating back and forth over the past 10 years Um we went back out to those biders this year but only one uh
responded Um they're including a rate that's exactly the same as it was last year on an hourly basis So with that being said we're more than comfortable to move forward with this project Again it's supplemental work for us Uh we have adequate funding to do it and I'm happy to recommend Alli Blacktop receiving the
annual street sweeping in the amount of $108,62.50 All right Any questions of Mr Hammer on this Mr Mayor council member Gisler Mr Ammer is this a do not exceed or is this just an estimate based on hours and we'll pay on actuals if they have increased hours or how how does this
work on the hourly rates Council member Gsler this is an estimated amount of hours based upon history of of what we've swept We added a specific dollar amount but it is a hourly rate So it it we we could do less than this We could do a little bit more than this It's
really just based upon what our needs are Thank you Mr Mayor Council member Carlson make a motion to approve the construction contract with Allied Blacktop Company for the 2025 street sweeping and authorized staff to execute
the agreement Second motion by Carlson and a second by Armstrong Any further discussion on this Mr Mayor Council for Carlson Looks like with some of these great bids we're a little we're ahead of the game if it's over a few hours Different funding sources but thank you
very much All right Any other discussion Sorry I was taking a trip down me a mental trip down memory lane back when I was a kid Don Card was always the guy that was driving the street sweeper along Crooked Lake Boulevard by our house So and he's he's
still retired I think he's like your longest retired public works guy All in favor signify by saying I opposed And that motion carries Um and we're under new business now And we moved item what number was it
Four Four Four Four We moved item four up to 13A to approve recommendation for reappointment of charter commission members and recommendations for new appointments to the charter commissions State statutes require that a minimum of seven and no more than 15 persons serve
on the charter commission Currently the charter commission has seven members and the terms of two charter member commission members Alden Hoffstead and Glenda Mel are expiring Mr Hoffstead and Ms Michael Mel are eligible and willing to serve another four-year term
effective April 2025 and expiring March 29 Um in addition the term of charter commission member Steve Wells is set to expire Mr Wells is eligible and willing to serve another four-year term effective May of 2025 and expiring in April of
2029 Um and then given that we're at the minimum number of members uh city council and city staff believe adding new members would be beneficial based on direction received from the council city staff asks the council to consider recommending two residents Kenneth Uko
and Susan Susan Ericson to the chief judge to serve as members of the Raps Charter Commission both have expressed an interest in being on the charter commission and have submitted their applications which are attached for a review Um and if the council follows the recommendations on the
agenda and then the commission will have nine members and assuming they're approved by the judge Um the council's recommendation for reappointments and appointments are forwarded to the honorable Elizabeth H Strand chief judge for the 10th judicial district who makes
the final appointments All right Council Member Gesler you wanted this removed Yes Mr Mayor If uh I have just a couple points that I would like to make um in uh about this in general but also commissions in general First of all I wanted to thank everyone
who applied to commissions across the entire slate Uh this is our last round of appointments for this year And so uh I know that there are folks who didn't get on or didn't get to do things I encourage them to continue to apply It took me three times to get on planning So please take please keep going at it
Um please help serve your community if you can and if you're able Uh so I just wanted a general thank you on that one Um but secondly you know spec a little more specific to this item We had a a lot of discussion at our work session before we came up to this And you know
one of the things that that came out of this that was a little confusing to me that I wanted to bring up to staff was um you know these terms are expiring in weird months compared to all of our other commissions where they typically end on a December or all terms are ending or they're staggered by a year
You know we've got some ending in March some ending in April These ones would then those new appointments would theoretically end in April Um you looking at the state statute it looks like they probably they're supposed to be fixed terms and if someone leaves then they're supposed to be reappointed into a partial term Seems like we got
out of sync there I I do think I would like to ask staff to look into that to figure out where how should we have those structured properly Um and then one of the other topics that came up uh within our discussion was you know kind of a a a cooling off
consideration period for elected officials And I I think that's something also that I'd like for like like staff to explore I know the the state statute for the charter commission specifically prohibits our ability to limit who can be on the commission Um but other
commissions you know it's it's I think it's something that was brought up by other council members and I think it's worth consideration and a little broader discussion of who you know do we want former elected folks Do we want actively elected folks Uh do we want um city employees Do we want you know other
things like that I think there it warrants a discussion on our commissions I do think all of our commission members are are there to serve really well and serve the community But I I do think that is something that we should consider and look at and I wanted to just bring forward as a discussion point
Um but with all of that said and and as this stands today I I do want to make a motion to uh approve um the the recommendation to Chief Judge for uh for the 10th Judicial District that Alan Hoffstead and Glenda Mike will be reappointed to serve another four-year
term effected April 2025 with said term to expire in March 2029 Uh also to recommend to the chief judge that Steve Wells be reappointed to serve another four-year term effective May 25 with a said term to expire in May 29 And to also recommend to the chief judge that
Kenneth Uko and Susan Ericson be appointed to serve a four-year term effective May 25 with terms to expire in May 29 Second Motion by Geisler and a second by Carlson Is there any further discussion on this
Councilor Butler Yeah First of all I just wanted to congratulate everyone who's going to get reappointed or appointed for the first time But uh just to build off of one of Council Member Gesler points I I also was sort of contemplating should we institute a formal rule around a cooling off period And I did talk to Mr Stemwell a little
yesterday about maybe you know if you were an elected official of any kind maybe you should have a cooling off period of a year or two before you're able to join commissions Again it's not that we don't love the enthusiasm It's just uh it's it's a way to make sure that we have a little distance from one
form of public service to another Okay Council member Novak Um just for the folks at home who are wondering who may be wondering about this uh city council does not have the authority to directly appoint people to the charter commission It has to go to the chief judge for approval So that's why we're doing it
this way Great And we have a motion and a second on the recommendation to the judge Do we have any other discussion hearing None All in favor signify by saying I I Opposed And that
motion carries Item 14 is to consider a purchase agreement on 31XX 111th Avenue Northwest and adopt resolution 25-59 amending the 2025 revolving
construction fund budget And this is item 14 on our agenda this evening Get that one called up here Um Mr Stew you going to hit the highlights on this one Sure I will Mayor and council we have a unique opportunity
to purchase a piece of property that's owned by Minnesota State University Systems in particular Anoka Ramsey Community College Um the property sits right in between the current fire station 3 property and the Rapids Ice Center property And for many years
the college and the city have had some discussions generally about the potential for the city to purchase this property And for a number of reasons Anoka Ramsey has decided to move forward with uh selling the property given that it's located in between two city
properties in a pretty strategic area Um I brought this forward to council several months ago to see if there was interest in purchasing it and um at that time there was consensus to move forward at least to this point Um really the the purpose of purchasing the policy would be to anticipate future expansion and
growth at the ice center In years past we've had conversations around a recreation center or expanding Boulevard Plaza uh other activities around the 4th of July And so really it makes sense for the city to control it for that purpose But it would also facilitate an
extension of Flor Street um 211th someday into the future especially when that property were to develop more for better ingress and egress and parking at that facility Um so it makes a lot of sense for us to purchase it Now it does come at a a pretty high price and I I
can explain that a little bit Uh the the process for Minnesota State to unload property is a statutory one At first they have to offer it to local jurisdictions So the county and the city in particular to see if they have interest in purchasing it And the method by which they can sell it then is to
have a property appraised at the current zoning and then if the buyer is willing to purchase it at that price it moves forward and if not then um you know they can have other methods for selling the property So this particular piece of property has been zon highdensity
residential for uh quite some time Therefore the the purchase price reflects that zoning is probably the most expensive um type of property to purchase as highdensity residential given that um in theory that value could be so much higher given the density Um
so that purchase price uh reflects at $1.1 million We did have our city assessor take a look at the methods of the appraisal and he agreed that that it was a reasonable method and uh arrived at a 1.1 million uh purchase price made sense to him as well given the zoning
and the other context for the piece of property Uh so in order to move forward with the purchase of this property there is a purchase agreement attached that would call for a closing by the end of July Um if uh council approves this I'll
reach out to Minnesota State tomorrow and we'll start to set up a timeline for the closing of the property Uh council would also need to amend the revolving construction fund This is a a fund that has adequate fund balance for the purchase of this property And then in the future as we sell off some other
remnant pieces of city property we do expect to reimburse the revolving construction fund when possible um for this particular purchase With that I'll stand for any questions if council has any Mr Stemwaddle um will we be taking
advantage of the period of for inspections to do soil borings It appears to be the same like um same level to what am I looking for And the contours as like the fire station Sure So so that would have all had soil
borings and that would have been fine Um but I guess I'm just wondering if that would be some due diligence we would consider Yeah mayor and council we can certainly do that We have a a period for due diligence here over the next couple of months and u that is something we can investigate We've got a company that we
use u for that purpose frequently and I'm sure we could get that done fairly quickly I was just thinking about the one on the other side of 10 that that company bought for a million dollars and then couldn't build it Right They didn't do that Yes I agree M Um council member Carlson Mr understand what we're also in
the process of of selling some property right Hopefully to try to replenish the fund a little bit with that Yes So um one you know 1.1 million is a lot of money Yeah But I know we have some properties we're trying to sell and hopefully we can try to make up a chunk
of that Uh Council Member Carlson yes we do uh we do have several properties that staff has had a conversation with the city council about over the last year or so Um in particular the old fire station 3 property is something yet this year we
could probably move forward on Uh we we created a new property south of new fire station 3 that in the next year or two depending on you know what the interest level is would be ripe for um selling as well We have a property at the uh new
water tower site that will someday generate a lot of interest I think um there So we have few properties like that Those are the three biggest ones right now that I can think of that um or in the next two or three years we think we'll be able to sell and reimburse ourselves with I I think it's a great
investment I mean you're right It connects to two city properties And boy I wish we had enough money to do something with that you know ice arena right now but we don't But if we look down the look down the future it's it's great future thinking If anything too maybe we can do something more with the plaza and build that out a little bit If
it if it isn't an extension of the ice arena maybe something nice with the plaza to build that I think it's a great investment Mr Mayor Butler first I just want to thank city staff for working on this I think this is a phenomenal investment for the long
term of the city Um and then the only other thing I want to say is I I did share council member Carlson's concern about the price tag That that was you know an unfortunate part of doing business but I I was reassured because Mr Stew told me there'll still be a fund balance of about $5 million in our
revolving construction fund near the end of the year assuming everything goes according to plan Correct All right Mr Mayor Council Member Grisco I got a few questions and maybe some open discussion for the council but uh first of all obviously it's a desirable piece of property uh for community
development I mean uh we've long thought about expanding the uh community center the ice center and things like that So this piece of property would certainly be used for a community uh community use
And I'm just wondering how can I say this Do we have to close on this Do we have to sign a purchase agreement now or do we have time to still maybe talk to Minscu talk to the college We've been a great partner with them They've been a
great partner with us I'm just wondering if if it is known that this is going to be a community asset exclusively for that use and not a commercial uh or other type of investment I mean would Minsku be
willing to negotiate a little bit better price on that That's that's my first question I have a couple of other thoughts too Uh Council Member Griscoak I mean the statutory process is laid out pretty simply and it's exactly the process we're following um you know what
could h if we chose to turn down the property I mean it would be opened up to them to sell any way they'd like essentially and so we would be left potentially with whoever purchases the property and the way they would like to develop it Um that you know they're they
didn't have a specific urgency to sell it other than it's a piece of property that they have no need for or future use for It's segmented off of their property Their their model has changed quite a bit Um and really I understand it that um although they they're not urgently
looking to sell it they do plan to use the proceeds of the sale for some capital okay improvements at the the school site So they are thinking in the next couple of years that these dollars would be um used for some project on the campus All right And you know the value
the $ 1.1 million value is certainly tied to the zoning as as high density you know if there was a 100 unit 200 500 unit uh apartment building built there But if we buy it we are not going to build a apartment
building We could certainly reszone it to you know commercial without that high density And if we did that would that affect the per would that affect the value Now I don't you know I don't think that would actually even be unethical in
any way because we're following state statute I don't know Has it have we thought about that Uh mayor and council I mean we we have not had a long discussion about changing the zoning on the property I mean I I think that at especially at this juncture really the
the interest level in council should be either to purchase it as stated or not Well that's what what the long-term zoning of the property would be if we didn't own it would have to go through a separate process whether that's through the comprehensive plan or otherwise I mean in this particular location
highdensity residential made a lot of sense given the adjacent uses in that area There really isn't any commercial that's that close by until you get to the boulevard So um it could be zoned as something else Yes I think at this point though it's really a matter of if if
council wants to purchase the property um as it's being presented tonight or if you know if that's if it's too much of a price tag then really answer to the college is you know we decided not to and you're free to pursue other options Well you know again it's a deserved
piece of property I think it makes sense for the city to own it because then we have all that flexibility for for community use Um but that was to my first point you know do we have to move forward with this We did talk about this in work session quite a bit and I actually didn't think it was going to
come before council quite this quick before we had maybe some of these other questions answered Um the other thing is you know we've always wanted they've got some pretty nice riverfront acorage there too It'd be nice if we could
bundle this to have a community slice of that riverfront And I don't know if any of that has been tried to try to negotiate that in uh into this because then we would have again a community asset with uh with river access for our
community members adjacent to our um community center Any thought on that Anybody Well my my thought on that was I because I looked at this as a nice first step Okay We'll make it a nice smooth process buying this piece of property
and then we can have the conversation about the riverfront That's I mean that's that's how I see it and and I think the ship has sailed on the zoning We you know I don't think there's nothing anything we can do to impact the value right now that would be reasonable and wouldn't
upset future negotiations Mr Mayor come he first All right Hang on just a second Is it No I I think I think that makes sense That was No I'm I'm with you on all this And that was kind of my first question is the timing We we don't want to let this pass up We let other pieces
of property on Rapids Boulevard pass us up And you know now we're kind of we you know we look back and say boy we had an opportunity we didn't take it We need to take this opportunity The price tag is high We've got the money in the revolving fund Um I'm of course you know you guys know
me well enough I'm always looking for the best deal for the city and our taxpayers That's all I'm good All right So knowing that Council Member Drosco is good do you still have followup over here I'm good I'm good He asked for He
asked for input I council member Gesler Uh Mr I'd like to make a motion to approve the purchase agreement for the property at 31xx 111th Avenue Northwest and authorize staff to execute any documents as necessary to close on the property and to adopt
resolution 25-59 amending the 2025 resol revolving construction fund budget Second There's a motion by Gesler and a second by Butler Is there any further discussion on this Mr Mayor council member Carlson I didn't jump in soon enough for discussion
Okay I just want to uh to uh council member Grisco's point I totally understand where you're coming from on the bundling but um I just hate to lose this property while we're in the process of trying to negotiate anything else Yeah I think this is I think we got the process now Look look how easy that was
Now now let's carve this off down here All right we have a motion and a second Any further discussion Mr Mayor council member Armstrong I just want to give kudos to council councilman Guscoviaak I appreciate the creativity Keep it keep it coming
Little late maybe Thank you All right All in favor signify by saying I I opposed And that motion carries Unanimous Um item 15 is to consider a mindot agreement for design services for the trunk highway 610 and East River
Road full access interchange project um number 15-14 There we go Um Mr Hammer Thank you Mayor Councel Uh the city received a million dollars in the 2023 legislative session from the state Um this is the
mechanism by which to receive those dollars So it goes into the local road program as administered by Mindot So we have to execute set agreement so the dollars can be distributed to the city This will uh offset most of the costs
with the Anoka County funding um that has been depleted Uh this will get us almost to the finish line with our construction activity The city and county will be splitting those extras 5050 and uh we'll have shovel ready plans by the end of the year So I'm happy to answer any questions you might
have All right your honor Council member Novak I move we approve the MIDN Local road improvement program grant agreement and associated resolution for the $1 million state grant Second motion by Novak second by Armstrong Is there further discussion on this or any
discussion Your honor Novak Thank goodness this came through That's all I have to say your honor Council member Carlson been a lot of discussion about this right over several years I think And and boy yeah the closer we get to
that full exchange the better My nine-year-old grandson asked me why it only goes one way Well he's a smart kid I wonder where he gets it from His father somehow skipped the gener Oh um All right All right So we have a
motion and a second Do we have any other discussion on this hearing None All in favor signify by saying I I Opposed And that motion carries Item 16 is to consider resolution um 25-10 sub8 accepting plans and specs for
fire station number two driveway and parking lot replacement and authorized solicitation of bids Mr Hammer Yes Mayor Council Um this this infrastructure was put in about 35 years ago Um it's it's seen the end of its useful life We've
tried to patch it putting asphalt on concrete or trying to do segments of this Uh we finally bit the bullet I think and and provided funding within this year's budget uh to move forward with this project Not only will we look at um the parking lot as a whole within
that but we'll look at kind of the ADA stuff out near the roadway on 121st There's a little bit of concrete work there that needs to get addressed as well So we package it all together We're ready to go out for bid on it and uh if you have any questions I'm happy to answer them Very good Any questions of
Mr Hammer on this Mr Mayor Council Council Butler I move that the council adopt resolution number 25-10 sub8 approving plans and specifications and ordering an advertisement for bids for the replacement of the existing concrete driveway and parking lot surfaces at
fire station number two Second Motion by Butler and a second by Geisler Is there discussion on this Mr Mayor Council Member Grisco I'll just say this I'm really familiar with this This is way overdue I mean we should have uh replaced this maybe 10 or 15 years ago
We put a lot of um upgrades into that fire station over those years A lot of them And uh yeah this is this is definitely due anyone drives by there they'll know exactly what we're talking about Oh yeah For this piece of uh you know critical infrastructure
and we the only know thing we know for sure is the contractor that did station three won't be doing station two Correct Okay We will evaluate all contractors once bids are received All right Is there any further discussion on this We have a motion in a second Hearing none All in favor signify
by saying I I Opposed And that motion carries And I can only assume that somebody is here for open mic I'll bet maybe Well okay we're up to the open mic portion of the meeting And open mic provides an opportunity for the public to address
the city council on subjects that are not part of the regular meeting agenda The public is invited to express any concerns they may have which are relevant to the affairs policies or practices of the city of Rabbids Remarks will be limited to three minutes
Please approach the podium and state your name and address before addressing the council And all remarks will be made from the podium and addressed to the council as a whole Open mic is not a time for problem solving or reacting to the comments made but for hearing the speaker forformational purposes only
Questions from council will be for clarification only and if necessary a staff report will be prepared for the next regular council meeting with a copy forwarded to the speaker and that does not take out your three minutes Oh we Is
it okay if Could you step up the mic Yes Is it okay if I provide you my written address rather than stating it out loud City clerk right there Okay Thank you My name is Amy Thank you for allowing me to speak tonight Council Mayor Cook And
also apparently this is my favorite time of year to come I I don't come to these very often but I was here for the city uh street sweeping uh consideration last year So apparently it's my favorite topic but not why I'm here tonight Um I
did want to address the situation about the cats Um and I understand that the policy has changed Um I disagree that the cats were being relocated Um I don't think it was transparent It was a bad
policy It put csos and other officers in a bad position that I think probably unfairly took a little bit of the heat um for that Um and it possibly made it really hard and difficult for people to find their cats uh when that happened I
agree overall that leaving cats be for the most part is probably a better policy It's more likely to make their way home or be found by the owner I am worried that there's no provisions in place for injured cats that maybe offer a humane solution I understand part of
the complication was there was no veterinary uh person available that night I I do wonder what the city does when there's an injured dog overnight or when there's no vet um available at the humane society at that time I know the council
has also passed the humane pet store ordinance which I appreciate and I know everybody most of you were here at the board at the time Uh we're really passionate I understand that that was a little bit easier because it was more proactive We didn't have to try to come up with solutions
Um but I do know that there's a passion and a care from people about animals including on this board So I do think it's worth considering even though there's probably not an easy solution not even a perfect solution to see if there's maybe some considerations or solutions that we might be able to come
up with Uh especially in the case of an injured cat Um and that's what I would like to share tonight Thank you Wow A minute despair Nice job Amy Anybody else here to address council for open mic this evening
I'm Eric Manson the same address as Amy Um I just briefly wanted to ask why we don't have the state flag flying anywhere on the city I didn't see it coming in and not in here and that's what I would like to know Okay Thanks
Thank you Even more time left All right Anybody else to address council for the um what are we doing Open mic portion No All right Everybody else is good All right We'll close the open mic portion I don't have any
reports on previous open mics And we are up to other business I think we had our last winter uh winter concert series concert last Thursday Uh seemed to be well attended
Cake was excellent Just saying Um and I think our uh summer concert series will be kicking off in what July right June June June June That's right Okay What else What do we have Other business Mayor and council I'll
just put one more plug in I think I did this a few weeks ago Next week we have our local board of appeal and equalization meeting So folks uh who own property in Rapids got a property notice about a month ago that showed your 2026 value for uh or 2025 value for
purposes of paying 2026 taxes And next week is an opportunity that if people disagree with that assessment that they can come in here and contest that before the local board which is made up of members of the city council But the best thing to do if you have questions is call our city assessor's office They'll
explain the process how they arrive at the value and if there's things that they made some assumptions about that aren't accurate they'll come out check out your property and they can make adjustments So it's a lot easier to deal with it If you call ahead and are proactive than on the night of um sort of delays the process a little bit So um
if you've got that and you have questions or concerns please do call Absolutely Absolutely critical Call our assessing department If you're questioning your values don't wait for that night You can but please don't
All right Council Member Geyser Uh one other thing I'll just pull out It's uh it was sent out It's on the website but uh Earth Mon Earth Earth Month Park cleanup with the sustainability commission is going on this Saturday uh at 10 o'clock at Lions Creek Park You can RSVP online There's also a what
to expect handout there So head on to head on out to the city website and it's one of the big tiles out there So give a look and if you're up for it help clean our community a little bit I'll be there All right Mr Mayor Butler Uh Mr Samuel I
got a question for you that I got from a few constituents Do we have any updates on you know the timing for uh spongy moth treatment I I know there were originally talks next month and then the city thought it might be delayed for a little later Do do we have any other updates on that Sure Council Member Butler and members of the council So uh
we actually had a meeting today with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture Um about a week ago the MDA sent out a notice saying that they were cancelling the application of the treatment for the spongy moth due to delays in federal funding All the funding they have for
spongy moth treatment comes through the federal level And they were they're waiting They were waiting They were waiting and decided they couldn't wait any longer They needed to cancel it Um there was a question that was asked by the mayor about whether or not the city could look into you paying for that
application instead or what options there might be So we discussed some of those today Don't have a definitive answer Although I will say it's looking like it's going to be very difficult for the city even to contract with the applicator One of the reasons they they called it quits when they did is there's so much lead time to get all the right
flight pattern information and uh the u the contracts in order and those sorts of things So that's one of the reasons why the state backed off when they did is just for that So we're kind of giving it about 24 more hours that we had a few questions we asked of them today and um
they're going to get us some responses hopefully tomorrow and then we'll have to make a decision and I can communicate out to council if I think it's even remotely feasible to pursue any further the idea that the city might be able to contract with an applicator to do that Absent that the MDA has got a plan for
uh communication that would include a quarantine of removal of um trees and certain you know firewood and things like that from the area What they'd ask uh residents in that area to do in terms of like inspection of their um yard furniture if they were to sell yard
furniture and move it well that's fine but could you you know look at it make sure there's no nests or no caterpillars crawling around and that sort of thing That would be about a year-long process It wouldn't affect um yard waste wouldn't affect our EAB tree removal and things of that nature but it would be
something that the state would ask area uh that area to do uh for one year until they could come back and do the treatment next year Meanwhile um they would monitor that area of Rapids very closely set up traps and really
configure how big they think that the u the numbers are though they believe it's a very small outbreak of spongy moth and aren't too concerned about it moving around Apparently it's a very slowm moving insect primarily moves through transport of firewood and things like
that Um so they feel like through education and really focusing on it that way and doing their monitoring that they'll be just fine They can come back next year and do the wider treatment if that's where we end up Thank you for that I appreciate and I should mention if that's if if that's the direction that we need to go um they're prepared
to start communicating that almost immediately guys I mean the next meeting we would have is 3 weeks out um if if something was possible though and it needed to be done quickly is there any pre-authorization we could do for you to
enable to act on it if it's possible you know u council member Gistler I don't think so because ultimately the contract amount would be less than uh what I could sign for individually and because we already have funds set aside set aside for tree treatment and removal and
that sort of thing this would fit right in there with that So uh we did have a little bit of that conversation but we think it's well within my authority to approve that agreement if necessary Okay Thank you Excellent All right Other business before council this evening Motion to adjurnn Second
Motion by Carlson Second by Butler to adjurnn All in favor signify by saying I I We'rejourned [Music]