Alright. Good evening. With it being 06:00, we'll call our meeting to order and start with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance 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. Thank you. That does move us to roll call. Around the horn, please. Peterson here. Bora here. Steichen. Nash. And Olson. With that, we do have our agenda before us this evening. I didn't see anything additional. We're all dialed in right now. To that, I will entertain a motion for our agenda.
So moved. Motion by Borra. Second. Second by Nash. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. With that, we do have our consent. Any questions on the consent? Hearing none, I will entertain a motion on our consent agenda. Motion to approve. Motion by Nash. Second. Second. And a second by Steichen. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. With that, it does move us to number five, public comment period. Peyton, has there been any formal request to speak before council this evening? Yes. We do have one public comment request this evening from Ms.
Christy Goulet and the her submitted form is at your desk. All right. Thank you, Peyton. Ma'am, the floor is yours. Just a quick recap of the procedures. We just visited about you do have three minutes. The time is yours. Council member, no action action will be taken this evening, as we move forward, but we will afford Ms. Gullet the opportunity this evening. Ms. Gullet, the floor is yours. Thank you for coming. Means to be sweet like the water woman in Ojibwe Mon. My government name is Christie Goulet. It really saddens me to have to be before this council tonight.
I really prayed hard about coming before you. I would like you guys to look at me, at least address me when I'm speaking. Because the letter that you have before you, I really wish that when I bought my house in Dilworth, that my realtor would have said would have told me whites only. Don't come to our neighborhood. Every time I have come before this council, I have asked diligently about the conduct of your police department and your police chief. My neighbor spray painted over my property, walked onto my property, spray painted it,
which is not only vandalism, trespassing. It's a hate crime against Native American women. We have special laws in place for a reason. Then, again, I owned too many vehicles, and they all worked. The year 2025, gotta sell one of those. But what the icing on the cake was is that when I go to Dilworth Walmart, I have a multicultural family. I have a granddaughter who's African American. And when we went to Walmart and I was having a very deliberate conversation with her, it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when we encounter ICE.
And when we do, we wanna be ready because when you have people with hoods on their faces and unmarked police cars and unmarked vehicles I've been watching this city for a long time. I believe I have first amendment rights. And when I posted a video explaining to my family what our policies and procedures are if we encounter ICE, The very next morning, I get a phone call from Hunter Rawson, and it says, I'm not very impressed with the video you put out. Why? Because I have no first amendment rights?
Because I'm not allowed to educate my family on what ethnic cleansing and genocide look like? Because we haven't learned anything from the past? And then when I do try to complain, because I don't take you at face value, mister Olson, I don't. Because when I was in here about the issue of my neighbor painting on my fence, I was told that I couldn't file a police report. So what do I do? I come to City Hall. I would like to file a complaint on your police chief. Do you know how I was met? We don't take those reports. To hell you don't. That is your job as a city council is to oversee that.
Then when I left, I was pulled over, which there's a dash cam video of, by the City of Dilworth police officers that said if I don't like it here, I can move. To hell with you guys. I'm not moving. It took me a lifetime to buy back Ojibwe land, put a sweat lodge on it. I've never been arrested. I'm 55 years old. And you know what this is now? This is targeting. This is racial profiling and targeting by your police chief, and it is outrageous. And people I asked a lot of people, you know what? They're like, I have coworkers that are they're not leaving their house.
They're like, we don't know what the heck to do anymore. Outrageous. Because white people don't seem to have an issue with leaving their house. White people don't have an issue with having to have multiple identifications. I have the first. I have Sundance scars because in 1978, when I received civil rights in this country as an eight year old, let that sink in history teacher, I wrote your curriculum. I implement it Truthfully, under genocide and ethnic cleansing, this is nothing less than that. I have exhausted all measures in asking you for help repeatedly. And every time I'm told we'll get back to you,
you don't get back to me. That's the sad thing. We elect you to do this. I don't know what needs to come out of this because now we're seeking legal recourse, because now we have a legitimate lawsuit that we are going to look at at the city of Dilworth, and every one of you should be held. Every single one of you should be charged with a crime because when you're complicit and hearing that there's this type of violence, my destruction of property, I'm constantly harassed. I know I got a few minutes to finish up or just a second to finish up. Now I get a plea did any of you know that your police chief called
me? I released a video, and then I got a nice little letter from Sherry Pritchard. And it said, we're very concerned about this video because of not my language, theirs. And then to top it off, Hunter calls me at home and says, I'm not very impressed with the video you what the that's First Amendment rights. I can do anything that I need to do to help defend and protect myself and my family without you guys turning a blind eye? Because I'm pretty sure that that is a a a crime on you as city council members to be complicit when you see that racial profiling and targeting,
if not yet hate crimes are happening in our city. I will finish with that because I pray deeply again, and no law enforcement officer better tell me to move out of my own goddamn land that I bought back at a property value that's probably gonna sink because we redlined the place. But I ain't going into that right now because I just needed to come here and say it again. So I this time, I'm holding your feet to the fire. When I left here last time and I approached the city council about following through on my police chief because I went to City Hall,
And I said, what's the protocol here? How do I file a complaint? We don't do that here. Then you're not competent to have your jobs. Of course, you do that here. You just don't wanna do it. Then I'm pulled over, never given a citation, and told, if I don't like it here, I can leave. I'm not leaving. Thank you, miss Goulet. You're welcome. I appreciate you coming in this evening, and I also appreciate your passion. Please stay There's no passion. This is life or death for some of us right now. Thank you for coming in this evening. We appreciate you being here. Miigwech. To that, Peyton, has there been any other request to speak before city council this evening?
No. Nothing from state. Alright. Thank you very much, Peyton. With that, that does move us, literally and figuratively to number six. As we move, we look to our recognition this evening. Six alpha, we have, the Delworth Police Department officer of the year, presented by chief Ross and our officer well, received by officer Jacoby Stents. Chief, floor is yours. Alright. Mister mayor, council members, tonight, it's my honor to recognize the 2025 Dilworth Police Officer of the Year, officer Jacoby Stets. Earlier today, we had a little celebration for here,
so hopefully some of you guys had some cake. If not, there is some cake in the back for everyone. Throughout 2025, officer Stetsz consistently has demonstrated dedication, reliability, and professionalism. He routinely volunteered to cover shifts to ensure staffing and continuity of service, which, again, is an essential contribution to our smaller department's coverage of twenty four seven. Beyond his patrol and field training officer assignments, he has been actively involved in community outreach, such as serving as a mentor for the Moorhead Explorers program and a frequent volunteer for the Police Athletics League, which is the PAL program if some of you guys are familiar with it.
Officer Stetsz understands that effective policing is built on relationships, leadership, and invest in the next generation. Officer Stetsz represents the DeWorth Police Department with integrity and pride. His work ethic and commitment have made a meaningful impact in this department and the community we serve. Again, congratulations on the 2025 police officer of the year. And to show you something. This is how we'll get this move out. Oh, this is you to show. We'll go with a couple of things. This one's kinda cool. That is his award. I couldn't light it before. That's awesome. Alright. That's very nice.
I do appreciate the blue tint of the philosopher's stone tint. Yeah. The blue the importance of the blue. That's pretty impressive to you. Alright. Well done. Thank you very much. You guys have everything. Let's do one more photo of the evening. Mayor. Just sit like this. Do you want me to hold the door? Yes. You guys can take that one off. I think that's a more I think that's a more catch it. Where do you want to start? I think Perfect. Good job, guys. Congratulations. I would like to thank Hunter. He's created a great work environment here. Just all the opportunities he gives us with the training and the PAL program explorers.
I feel like it creates well rounded officers and really appreciate that. Able to represent our department in many different ways, not just within the city of Dilworth, but in the whole FM area. Cool. Thank you. That's awesome. Good work. Congratulations, Officer Stetsz. That's an outstanding achievement. Your gracious acceptance and kind words about our leader, I think, are accurate as, you represent all of the good things within our department, all of the things, that you commit yourself to. It was fantastic to see your family here supporting your efforts,
in protecting the great city of Dilworth. And I wanna thank you, all of the officers, and you, chief, for your commitment that you provide to all of our citizens every single day. So, gentlemen and the lady in the department, thank you for your commitment to the city of Denver. Appreciate you. Thank you. Glad to represent. With that, it does move us to planning and engineering, number seven and, seven alpha. We have resolution twenty six fourteen, improving plans and specifications and and ordering advertisement for bids for the 34th Street North Water Main Extension project.
Who's taking this one? Peyton? No? City engineer. Just thought maybe. Good evening, Andrew. How are you? I'm doing fine. Thank you. Well, thank you. Counsel. Oftentimes, I've heard from staff and elected officials that I work with, this is a really simple project. Right? This actually is one of the the simpler ones. 34th Street Water Main. In reality, there's not a lot to look at here, though. So to refresh your memory, we're designing and with the intent to construct a 12 inches water main basically connecting from the north side of the Aldi driveway,
about 6,000 feet plus or minus to the north, kind of paralleling 34th Street. And that's literally all that there is, to this project. So, just to kind of go through the schedule as it's proposed, right now what our intent is, the, advertisement will hit on Wednesday. And, by the way, we're taking care of that, Peyton. With the intent to open bids March 9 in the morning. And so that would that would, we would have bid results for that council meeting, later that day. So that is the plan going forward.
So I will take any questions that you might have on on the project. But, We upsized the infrastructure. Right? Okay. I just wanna make sure I was checking on that one. Yeah. To to to refresh, initially, the initial discussion was a 10 inch line. What we are proposing and what we have got designed in the plan is a 12 inch line. I have been in communication with, the design team for the Resco site at the very north end with the the anticipated flow rates, pressures, and things of that nature so that we're coordinating their improvements on their site with
this particular waterline. Okay. Any other questions from counsel? Mr. Machen, Mr. Ocrey, how many different contracts will be being requested for this project? One contract. One? Okay. Anything else, mister Stacken? No? Peyton? Can you let the council know about the sort of the timeline or construction timeline? The construction timeline, I actually haven't set a a completion date, as of as of this moment, but the intent would be that our construction would happen during the summer as early
as possible this summer. What I do need to do is reach out to the Resco folks just to verify their time frame. What we typically do in a situation like this is make sure that we're giving the contractor ample time to complete the project so that we're not putting a crunch on them, which has the effect of potentially inflating the cost. We don't wanna do that. We also don't want to give them an unnecessarily long duration to complete the project because that can be detrimental as well. So I would look for a completion date in the mid to late summer time
frame for this project and not stretch it into the fall. Makes sense. Any other questions? Just to clarify, though, they're not planning on building this year up there anyway, right, on the North End? Is that right? We start construction this summer. Yeah. Oh, they wanna start this summer. Oh, how is okay. Alright. Thank you. K. Anything else? No. To that end, thank you. And if there are no further questions, I will entertain a motion for resolution twenty six fourteen. So moved. A motion by Nash. Steichen second. Second by Steichen. All those in favor, say aye.
Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you very much. One step closer. Mr. Hockley, are you leaving? I will stick around. Oh, okay. I was just curious about the dredging, if that's happening at Sure. I can Okay. Take that whenever. Okay. So with that, we can move on to seven b. We have ordinance twenty six zero two amending the city of Delray zoning map by settling the zoning of parcel IDs 23.0460.001 and 23 Point 0460020 to,
light industrial. Don, good evening. Mayor and council, glad to be here. Sort of piggybacking off of the infrastructure improvements. Now that, property is in the process of annexation, we need to look at the zoning for both the Resco and the Red River Valley co op site. When the parcels come into the city, they go into a transitional zone. That's just part of the annexation, and the remainder of that property will be in that t z zone. With this, though, because they are it's industrial or light industrial in nature, recommendation from staff to the planning commission is to rezone this to,
I one light industrial. Planning commission at, their February meeting, held a public hearing and has made a recommendation to the city council to rezone both the Rasco and the Red River Valley, coop parcels to I 1 Industrial. Any questions? Again, sitting on planning, I had a great conversation about how this feeds into the future land use and what potential there will be. And it was actually brought to my attention that there's other for sale signs up, in that neck of the woods already for for I thought that was kind of interesting. So, Peyton?
Do you wanna make mention of the planning commission and looking at the zoning ordinance, but also just the specific area and what maybe future zoning could have in store for this. Sure. Absolutely. Thank you. Yeah. Planning commission this year will be reviewing now that the comprehensive plan is done, let me back up a second. They'll be reviewing the zoning ordinance for any updates to it, you know, which basically pinches upon the update to the comp plan. Traditionally, it always follows that. In this area, though, however, as we had talked about it,
I know we sort threw names around loosely like Dilworth Energy Park or something like that. We are actually looking at developing a specific industrial zone. It'd be like an industrial office park zone, for this area. And, that will be considered as part of the review of the zoning ordinance this year. Thank you, Don. Any other questions? I got a question, Mr. Mayer. What does that change with that designation versus just light industrial? Light industrial, it usually accommodates more of the lighter side of the industrial zoning,
more assembly, manufacturing, I would say storage, warehousing, contractors, that that kind of thing. The office the industrial office park would include some of those uses if if it makes sense. They're depending upon, again, the the intensity of the use, I guess, is how I would describe it, along coupled with warehousing and and, actually, office uses within there. So, I mean, literally, you could have a business that would have office, maybe wholesaling as a part of their business, maybe a small retail aspect with that too,
as well as, storage, you know, at in this zone. So it's gonna accommodate more than that. But it will have more of a clean look. There'll be, performance requirements much like we have in our, you know, traditional and our our, mixed use districts. So it'll look different than a typical industrial zone would. It'd be aesthetically more pleasing and, accommodate kind of a combination between commercial and industrial uses. Thank you. Thank you, Don. Any other questions?
Hearing none, I will entertain a motion for ordinance twenty six zero two. So moved. Motion by Peterson. Second. Second by Nash. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Thanks, Don. With that, it does bring us to seven Charlie, consideration of the preliminary and final plat for the community community center, the lots and blocks as identified. Don? Dayton? Mayor of city council, as the city of Dilworth has entered into a purchase agreement to acquire the 4.58 acres that will become the community center site,
it's time to consider the planning of it. Because, it is a acquisition by the city and it's been reviewed by the city attorney, the proposal from staff was to consider both the preliminary and final plat at the same time. And this will also include dedication of 3rd Avenue Northeast to the south. So that's another developer contribution to the property. Three three acres, of course, are the donated part by the development developer, and then 1.5 acres are the actual acquisition part by the city. The planning commission held a public hearing on this and is recommending,
approval of of the preliminary and final plat for the community center addition. Any questions from counsel? My only question, Peyton, is one motion good for both the preliminary and final plat? With that being said and hearing no conversation, I will entertain a motion for the consideration for the preliminary and final plat of the community center, lots and blocks as identified. Motion to approve. Motion by Nash. Second, Steichen. Second by Steichen. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Thanks, Don. I appreciate it.
Thank you. With that, it does move us to Number 8, City Hall. We have eight alpha. We have our 2025 strategic plan update. Peyton? Thank you, mayor, members of council. With us having a wider agenda tonight, I thought I would put on the docket here just a quick review of our strategic plan update that was done a little under a year ago now by the city council and management staff. Just go through and touch upon a few things that we're working towards, some things we haven't gotten to,
some things we are actively pursuing at this time, which is good. It's being utilized as a guide for management staff and, everyone involved here as we align goals and objectives for the community. What came of the strategic plan were our five areas of focus of city vitality, economic development, public safety, transportation, infrastructure, and and organizational infrastructure. And, if you go through each of the, we'll say, like, the goals and objectives within each of these areas of focus, I'll just briefly touch upon them and make note of,
you know, how it's in the back of all of our minds as we work through things. So on the vitality front, maximizing the community center investment. Obviously, we're working our way through it right now. Our ad hoc committee just got going on the operational, side of things, and that somewhat aligns with, gold number two there. While we're saying parks and rec being a distinct department and with autonomy, one of the things that's coming out of some of these discussions that we will be having is who would be over various programming and staffing and events and whatever
that may entail, not just for the community center, but for the entire facility. So we have some few ideas of how maybe some of those things can mix and, mingle, strengthen our community events, something our park board does a great job of doing. At our meeting on Wednesday night, they'll actually be talking about programming for this upcoming year and, improving in our pedestrian accessibility. Right? So, taking a look at our Heartland Trail, taking a look at some of our other modes of transportation through town on the pedestrian front, and, ensuring alignment,
ensuring that we are keeping in mind various improvements through the community that we're we have a lot of aging infrastructure. And so as we work through the, you know, planning process this coming summer through, Mike's office trying to identify where those needs are. Highway under the economic development front, Highway 10. Again, I have monthly meetings and then some other meetings as well with our Highway 10, individuals about the reconstruct that's gonna be going on in 2031. But additional to that, Don and I have various conversations all the time about the reinvestment opportunities that may
exist down here in the downtown corridor area and what we can be doing to, you know, enhance that as the reconstruct takes place. Promoting economic growth on the East Side. Obviously, we're doing that, all the time. I think that kinda ties hand in hand with the community center project. Energy Park speaks for itself. Just got done reviewing an agenda item or two related to it. So we're really excited to see this taking off. When we were doing our exercise this time last year, I would say the energy part for the annexation up there was probably a coin
flip at the time, but we were able to, you know, work with the landowners for prospective landowners at the time and with the city council and planning commission staff to get it to where we are today. Missing middle missing middle housing, just housing opportunity in general. You know, we are struggling right now in trying to, get some more single family residential development. We do have our new 72 unit complex that's coming online. Our planning commission is holding a public hearing next month for some infill development on the medium density residential front.
It's on the front of their mind at all junctions. So when they were working through the comp plan process, I was really impressed with their demeanor working through it and trying to identify certain areas where we can have this medium density housing as we, work towards, you know, work towards the future there. And, programs and community assets, just something that we're always continually doing, looking at our incentive programs and, and other opportunities and infrastructure that we're able to deliver to folks. Public safety front,
as you can the chief is heavily invested into training. That's something I think we all feel, strongly about. So kudos to the chief, for that and as well as on goal number two in getting the program off the ground, with it was with Accenture Health, correct? Allied Connect. Yeah. The Allied Connect, with the on the mental health side of things. That was one of the things that we had identified right away, and he got on that, you know, as, you know, as he was able to. Organizational structure and staffing needs and community demands, you know, we're trying to do our best to always stay on top of,
the hiring front. Yeah. I think it provided a lot of assistance. I think the chief will attest to this being able to, when we went through our wage and compensation study, labor negotiations last year, bumping up the wages a little bit. But along with that, having the more more defined command structure now that I believe helps out the police department, having a sergeant position in place. And as Jacoby is talking about, the chief does a really good job of integrating his department, providing opportunities for his police officers to grow. You know, we have to be creative in a small department because there are only so many
opportunities. Whether it be FTO training, the sergeant position, whatever it may be, the chief's always trying to think creatively of how to, you know, better his, crew there. And similar to the economic development, asset management, always looking at different, programs and other type of technologies to best serve the public safety of our, fellow officers, but also the community. One thing I didn't think about when we were it didn't come to mind until we were doing the Public Safety Aid discussion and awarding dollars,
how important it was that we made some more cutting edge technology investments with our Public Safety within our Police Department and Fire Department as well. But in our Police Department, that acts as a recruitment tool of sorts. So individuals look at those things when they see we have X, Y, and Z initiative and program in place. It just makes us a more viable organization as a whole there. Transportation and infrastructure, establish and maintain a priority of work.
That's one thing we continually work are working on. And I think I may have mentioned that earlier with, Mike and his team trying to identify projects and things that we can continually be enhancing. We're always in close communication with our city engineer to ensure we have any gaps in our infrastructure, which we're actually pretty good on, all things considered. We're redoing the pond dredging. We're talking about that earlier tonight. So that's going to be still coming about. We work through the budgeting process on planning for equipment purchases.
Mike's very mindful of not trying to overspend either. I know we had to reshuffle around some things. But he does a tremendous job of identifying what his department needs, when they need it, and the useful lifespan and trying to think creatively of whether it be leasing or whatever other type of initiatives that he can take to preserve his own internal infrastructure and his equipment that he has inside of his department. Aesthetic investment related policy implementation, I think I was talking more about at the time when we're looking at property
maintenance and things of that nature across the community. That's something in the back of my mind that I really want to focus in on, whether it be on the MS forefront, property maintenance issues, or whatever those may be. Majority of people do a great job of that. But, those who do not can put a really tough strain on, City Hall staff and the like. And so, we're always trying to work with our attorney, work with individuals. We don't come down with heavy hands very much. It's just not our style. So we always do our best to work with people,
maybe sometimes to a fault. But we're always trying to think of ways to encourage people to, you know, get out there and keep their property, nice and tidy there. And adequate staffing to address growing infrastructure needs. Nothing really on that front at this time, but and I think this will tie more into our last goal here on the organizational infrastructure, front there, specifically gold number two. We're looking internally right now with the new community center coming online and just talking
about City Hall staff specifically. But just looking are none of the roles and responsibilities at City Hall have been modified for over twenty years now. And we have this same amount of employees, which is fine. We're able to also do a lot more and process a lot more information than what we were able to do twenty years ago as well. But with that said, job descriptions and duties and the like are all the same as what they were at that time. Things have evolved and we've probably not done myself have not done the best of job of updating and implementing new procedures in place.
And so that's what we're looking at now from an organizational integrity standpoint there, and that ties with employee training as well to make sure you have the best workforce possible that gives people a sense of pride and responsibility when they come to the office to ensure that they're adequately trained to whether it's dealing with customers or dealing with the day to day issues that they're, encountering. And improving technology, efficiencies for employees resulting in a better user experience for citizens. Right now, the, I mean, it's more so talking about the on the City Hall side,
we talked about the police department and the improvements that they make all the time. But on the City Hall side, we've got to realize that your average person is not coming to City Hall anymore and we want to make it so that they can pick up their phone and handle all their business from City Hall. Additionally, with that, we want to make sure that we are creating a we we we have a technology infrastructure in place to more effectively and efficiently run the organization as a whole. So that's why right now, we are going out doing interviews and doing
tutorials on different programs. So on the budgeting side, asset management side of things, what we are trying to roll out slowly our new job application program online, and just other things like that that we're trying to be mindful of so that we can fully conduct the city hall and everything that we conduct at city hall without having to be at city hall. You know? And that's what we ultimately want to get to on in some capacity there. So, overall, though, again so these were the areas of focus.
I know I was gonna be talking here for seven, eight straight minutes. But I do feel like these are good initiatives that we have for that. It's something that I keep in the back of my mind at all times. I should probably do a better job of, you know, talking about it internally with our staff. But I feel like there's not a lot of, you know, recentering that has to be done as we work through all this because everyone has their eye on the prize. So I'm really proud of the document itself that we put together.
It's easy, simple to follow for a community of our size. It's what we need as a visionary guide and sort of like our comp plan as well. It's just something that we always gotta be thinking about. Every decision we make, you know, is in alignment with our organization's strategic plan. And I feel like most of the things that we're doing are in alignment with that even though we're still reactionary at times. But we're doing our best with what we can, so really proud to report that. Anything else, Payton? No, sir. Thank you. Any questions for Payton? Mister Steichen? I got a question. It might even exist,
but I don't I'm not familiar with what this might even be, but I'll talk a little more about it later. But I was down in Plymouth this weekend for the training, and they one of the things one of the titles was public safety. They talked about two different scenarios, one with natural they're both natural disasters. One was kind of a reoccurring event, and the other one was totally unsuspected. They both had struggles in handling disasters. Do we have do we have mock training or places where people would go?
What happens what falls in place. I know in that train incident a year or two back, there was something that I think you guys it might even exist. I know the fire department is the EOC for the area or county. But has that been talked about much far as emergency procedures, if this, then that type of thing? Yeah. So, in few things. So we do have an emergency operations plan. That's something that we have, reviewed and adopted. And, Angela takes time out of her busy schedule to ensure that is in alignment,
making sure little things like phone numbers are up to date and little things of that nature. We generally are going to end up defaulting to, working obviously, there's alignment here, right? You know, as far as working with our office, Police Department, Fire Department, Maintenance Department, and the like. I guess it depends on the degree to which some things will be catastrophic, you know? So, we have every county has their emergency operator. So Gabe Tweaton is, again, I'm not exactly sure what his title is,
but I know they do their emergency management training and seminars, have to do annual update and the like. And so our Public Safety Police and Fire Chief will probably speak a little more clearly as far as what additional training they have to do on that front. From an internal standpoint, I'm most worried about where my focus is, obviously, the city as a whole. But on the communication side of things, that's crucial during any event and ensuring that there's alignment
across the board and who they report to on things. DAME. So I guess I don't have a ton to add, beyond that other than that we kind of fall under the purview of the county's emergency management system. But also knowing that we have the infrastructure in place with our new fire hall and, it's been utilized in the past, our maintenance grounds and other spots for various community issues. But oftentimes, you don't know these how to deal with these until they happen either, right? I imagine on that communications, that texting program we have now would be very valuable if something does happen.
I had no doubt you had a plan. I mean, obviously, you're working on it. So, thank you. Yes. Anything else, Mr. Stegen? Oh, that's it for now. Alright. Any other questions for Peyton? Alright. Thank you, Peyton. Appreciate that. I also thinking back to the the efforts that it took for us to sit down and kinda hammer this out, that was, like, one of the first steps in refining it, and making it presentable and actionable is fantastic. To that end, it does move us if there are no further questions on it, it does move us to number nine. Council members' concerns and committee updates around the horn, please?
Feel better. Amber? I was just gonna say congrats again to officer Stetsz. I think that was an excellent choice. He's shown professionalism every time I've ever seen him out. But one of the biggest things I wanna compliment him on is, his engagement with community. Every event, I see him out there talking to people, playing games with the kids. So not only is he a professional that way, but he is out there trying to build relationships, and I think he was an excellent choice. So congrats to him again, and that was fun to see. Anything else? No. Thank you. Mister Second? I'd have to
add exactly what council member Boris said. Police department does a great job. The police officers do a fine great job in events and everything, so it's good to see, and it's good to be recognized just like when you have other recognitions for the people in the city. So it's great to see. It's great to do. Appreciate it. We're at the BIA Builders what BIA stand for? Builders? Building and Industry. Building Industry Association. It was kinda neat. They're celebrating their seventieth year with with had a name change here a little bit ago. But it's always exciting to hear an organization so motivated on what they do,
how they do it, what they're changing and working on, and ideas. And, I had a chance to, talk to a couple different people. I like to talk to somebody that I have not not I know nothing about. My friends, it's easy to find for me because I don't know a lot about some of these building things. But I got enlightened pretty good on a few projects, few ideas, and all that. So, thank you for sending me. Appreciate it. You always come away with a little nugget of something that makes the whole thing very valuable and,
and worthwhile. So, like I'd said earlier, the down in Saint Paul, the natural disasters was a big part of their topic, and we already talked about that. So the other part one other part that stuck with me is leading with heart and vision. It the person that's in charge of disasters at the Mall Of America, he deals with two disaster two major disasters every week. A lot of times it's handled, you know, easily enough with their response, but they're always looking at ways they can improve.
And he learned, when you lead with heart and vision, people are seeing, hearing, and connecting with you on if it's here, at home, or at other work, or wherever. People see and hear and watch what you do. And he was impressing on us that people don't remember your policy language, or they might not remember your procedural accuracy, but they do remember how, how safe they make you feel or that you're being listened to or heard.
So, it it's kinda neat how how taking the time to, if someone calls or texts or emails us, I mean, it's important to get back to them and and make sure they understand that might not agree with what they want, might not like what what you're hearing, but it's important to, keep that, communications open. That's what they'll remember. They won't probably remember the policy manual and all that. So, thank you for sending me. It was it was a great time. Thank you, mister Steichen. Nash? Okay. So updates in police department. We have our new officers starting next Monday,
so that is exciting. And, also, I appreciate being invited to the ceremony today. I mean, it's nice to be there, but I also wanna thank fellow council members and mayor, for coming because it means a lot to have you in the room when they're being recognized for these awards too, so thank you for showing up for that. And, yes, the I I appreciate being able to go to the Business and Industry Association. It's great to be able to connect with, those in our region that we don't see on a daily basis to see what
is important to them because it has regional effects. And so showing up for them also, is something that just means something beyond our our chamber. So, was glad to participate in that intergovernmental retreat. I don't know. Should I speak? Unless, Amber, did you want any updates on the intergovernmental retreat from your committee? No. I did. How you have at it? Okay. So, again, another wonderful opportunity where we get to, like, connect with everyone else in Clay County that is also, doing public service whether elected,
appointed, employed, and, just a great event. It was fifty seventh year of that organization. So, always thankful to be able to see what's happening with our neighboring communities. A big piece of that, they talked a lot about, they had some members from DEED and West Central Initiative there, but I thought I'm just gonna share a couple things that they pointed out. Like, 44.7% of Clay County residents work in Fargo. So, you know, I mean, that's a big number of us driving across. At the same time,
a majority of those working in Clay County come in from outside of Clay County or, you know, or so it's interesting. 53.6% of people also are coming in. So it's interesting to know where people live and work and why we choose to do that and how we're all interconnected and, just some great resources they shared that are meaningful for community development and engagement that and I think, again, them showing up and saying, you know, hey. If you have any questions, reach out. We have data. We have programs. If you have some ideas,
I really appreciated them being there and sharing that with us. Yeah. And, and we had our first ad hoc committee for the community center. So there you go. I think that's it. Alright. I think that's on my notes. Thank you, Julie. Peyton? Just wanna remind folks again about giving hearts day this Thursday. Thank you. Alright. Just quickly, but emphatically, tonight, prior to council, we did have that. I mean, it was a night full of awards from our police department, to hear about those the life saving awards, that are handed out. I mean, to me, that is it's pretty emotional.
Right? We have our officers, doing everything they possibly can to ensure the fullest lives of our citizens, including the extraordinary efforts of saving their lives. And, to the officers and, the paramedics and first responders that are making that happen, it's a testament to their commitment to their fellow man. That's pretty awesome. At the same time, yeah, again, officer Stetsz, I I think he does epitomize all that is right, and all that is good in our PD, and there there's many things. He is a remarkable young man and a fantastic officer.
So my hats off to them. And and I do I I'll echo your your comment, Julie. It's nice to be invited, because we don't say it or show it or do it enough to let our officers know that we stand behind them. We support them, as they're doing everything to keep us safe. We the least we can do is continue to stand behind them and support them in their efforts, and we'll continue to do that. So it is nice to be there, and and make it work. So and, chief's got a pretty good delivery, so it's it's fun to listen to. It's fun to listen to. Just a cup two quick other, elements here too. We had our legislative update.
The representatives and senators came to town, gave a gave a spiel at, the law enforcement center. It was interesting to hear, their comments as we transition and look, to legislative priorities, that we've been working on with Morehead, and, of course, the FM Chamber, Clay County leadership, to what we're able to try to accomplish in 2026, working, in unison, in concert as as a regional voice for the betterment of our community. So to me, that is that's an exciting exciting element as we're looking to, what's gonna happen for the rest of the year.
So we're getting things started. So it's a pleasure to be a part of those conversations. Lots to do, I guess, miles to go before we sleep. That does move us to number 10. We have our bills to be approved. Payment of the bills is 10 alpha. I will entertain a motion if there's not any questions. Any questions? Hearing none, I will entertain a motion to pay the bills. Motion to pay the bills. Motion by Nash. Steichen second. Any second by Steichen. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. And with there being no further business before councils