Alright. Good evening, everybody. Just a quick reminder as we open our meeting, if you have not done so, please sign in in the back as, matter of your attendance is a matter of public record. And 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. All right. Quickly, roll call around the horn, please. Bora, here. Steichen. Nash. And Olson.
With that, we have our agenda before us this evening. I do see one addition in our consent agenda, looks like four kilo. But other than that, it's whole. Motion to approve the agenda. I have a motion by Nash. Steichen second. And a second by Steichen. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Aye. Motion carries. With that, it does move us to number four. Are there any questions regarding our consent agenda this evening? If hearing no questions, I will entertain a motion. Motion to approve. Motion by Nash. Second. Second by Borah.
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? None received. With that, again, encourage the public to participate, please. It does help us make progress. With that, we will progress to number six. We have our recognitions this evening. We'll start with our recognitions of our twenty twenty five Star Businesses of the Year, U Haul and TAC Event Center. Peyton, you wanna start this off? Yes. So U Haul, our emerging star business of the year and TAC music venue are both being recognized,
this evening for their level of investment and opportunities that they provide to the Dilworth community. TAC got started here, I believe, in twenty nineteen ish? 'eighteen. 'eighteen, excuse me. Yes, in 2018. Todd, who's in attendance this evening, has been a great ambassador for the community, and it's tremendous to see all the events that take place at Tech, event center now, if I remember correctly. There's been a recent rebranding ongoing there. So very proud of Todd and his accomplishments and really bringing about an amenity that
was needed in not just the Dilworth area but the entire metro area, and it's recognized as one of the premier venues of the FM space. For U Haul, what I think you have to first make note regarding U Haul is the level of investment that they made into the community, taking over an approximate 10 acre site, reforming a previous space and into their now fleet management site, then adding all the large storage spaces and the like.
It just really transformed that entire area of town, there at the County Road 9 intersection. So we're proud that U Haul has decided to make this their home front here on for the FM area and really proud of the accomplishments and what they brought forward and to the level of employment they brought to the area. So these are some of the things that the STAR Business of the Year Committee looks at on an annual basis when they provide their recommendations. As you can see now, we have two different categories, the legacy businesses,
anything that's been here five plus years, emerging anything under that. And the reason why the group decided to recalibrate their focus to both categories is because, frankly, the amount of businesses that we have in town now. So that's really cool that we have the availability and capacity to support these many, new businesses and enterprises that are coming about on an annual basis. So with that said, I don't know if you have anything else, Mayor, to add to that?
No. Honestly, I was really hoping you'd just focus on the two categories now that we've gone over the last couple of years. And because that is a it's a great problem for us to start to have, right, is is that we have businesses that have, taken root and really, really grown to support our community and be part of, you know, our environment to draw in new business. And if you had asked me five years ago what's going to go in that corner that U Haul is now, I would have said, I have no idea. But visioning and the market really allowed for that opportunity.
It created a great opportunity for U Haul to come in. And when we look at this and the committee, which I believe is one of the longest standing committees, in Dilworth, they look at, like Pete had mentioned, it's, what employment, does it bring the city of Dilworth? What, need is it fulfilling, that we saw? And then, what type of improvement, aesthetic improvement, does it bring to town? And when when we look at U Haul first, I mean, we know the transformation that that corner took and what they did. It's it's remarkable. And then the same thing, if you've been in Dewitt as long as I have and if you remember Archie's
and Bargains and now what is TAC, it's definitely a transformative nature in terms of the visual aspects of our community. So we are fortunate to have the emerging element that we see in U Haul and the legacy element that we see in TACC. And again, as we're growing our economic base in the city of Dilworth, we're fortunate to have our business in town that provide the opportunities and amenities for our citizens. And this 2025 is a fantastic year. Looking forward to what we're gonna see in 2026 and this continue to grow.
So on behalf of the city of Delworth, we can have both representatives from U Haul and from TAC come out. We'll do this at once or one at a time. Let's do TAC. Let's do TAC first and then Then see where we're at. We'll try to try that one. Keep slow rolling it till May. We're trying. We're trying. We're going to come up here and take a photo. Okay. Perfect. Alright. Thank you so very much. Thank you. And the floor of your Yeah. If you're welcome to this Yeah. Go ahead. Houston. Oh, great. Rest. However you wanna do it there. Yeah. I guess it's outstanding. We just really appreciate being part of the city of Bill Worth. Great support, from day one when we started and through the,
the bumpy nightmare that was COVID, in a business where you rely on people to gather together. Appreciate it. It was really hard on us. And I know it was five years ago, but we still feel like it was just yesterday. But, so now I'll like I said, appreciate your support. We're a we're a champion for Gilworth. And, yeah, it's gonna be good. Thank you, sir. Yep. So with that, we can just hang on to the trophy for a minute or so, and we can go from there. All right. Again, thank you very much, Todd. We appreciate all that you bring to the city of Doris. It's fantastic. Thank you. We're actually looking at doing something being kind of a bigger part of local days
this year, so I'm going to talk with Jim this week. I love it. So with that, it does move us to seven Bravo. We have Resolution 2607, accepting a land donation from Eastview Land Development LLC for the new Dilworth Community Center. Peyton? I'd first like to welcome up our, two landowners here, if you wouldn't mind taking a quick seat. Sure. I'm not gonna put you on the spot too much here and make you come up with a speech or anything. When we came up with our game plan to move forward with the community center project,
obviously, it was multifaceted from securing partial funding for the sales tax, hiring a design consultant, trying to determine even if we're going to do this project. The one of the bigger pieces that has to come about is you got to have somewhere to put it, right? And so, that's where our generous land donors this, evening are here to be recognized. So obviously, the location of the new community center is going to be going on the Far East of town, just east of what the existing Rail District is.
I think long term vision is for the entirety of that whole quadrant out there or whatever you wanna call it. It will be the entirety of, what makes up the the Rail District. But we had an opportunity to work with, Eastview Land Development in securing a donation because they wanna see the community grow, and they want to see a level of investment that they can be proud of. And so,
you know, for myself personally and working with them, I know they want to see the community grow and prosper, in a way that, can have an everlasting impact and legacy on the community, and that's where this begins. So, the new community center, this three acre land donation is going to be where the actual physical structure is going to go. And with this project, it would not be possible without Eastview Land Development support without their consideration in coming to the table with this generous donation. So thank you both for that.
And, Mayor, I don't know if you'd like to add something as well. I'm next. You're next. Well, I was gonna put them on the spot. So, Dylan, the floor is yours. Yeah. Well, I'd like I guess I'd like to say we we got a lot of interest in Dilworth. We've been developing residential, and we started the Rail District, you know, about five years ago. And and we we don't we got a vision working with the city and the planning commission. And and, what we really like is how the city works good together, not making got a good master plan for the future of of the zoning and
stuff out there. And and I just think it's, good steady growth for the community. And, you know, it's just good for everybody, I think, in the long run, you know. And and like I said before, Rick and I got a lot of interest in the North. We we enjoy, as Exact Site, one of our main hobbies, we do enjoy, putting pieces of the puzzle together. So we appreciate working with you guys and especially Peyton and Don and the rest of the city and the planning commission. And eventually, we'll keep putting the puzzle together out there. So Yep. Thank you, Steve. Pretty much. I did pretty much hit all what Steve said there.
I've been doing things in Delaware since I don't remember when we were in Crotus about '97, I believe, is when I started developing up there. That's kinda how I learned. You guys have been excellent to work with all the time, so that makes our job easier too. So so we appreciate it, and we appreciate the community center going out to the Rail District. That's gonna be a big help for us too. So it's great that we can work together. Awesome. Counsel? Julie? I I just wanna say I think this is just an amazing,
opportunity you've given us, generous gift. When we were looking at what we do, you know, having to reconfigure with the fire department and community center, we looked at different things, but I don't think we ever were able to envision what the community center could be until you guys came to us with an idea about being in that space. And I think it offers our communities something so much bigger than what we had ever thought about, being able to combine some, you know, private and public kind of opportunities together.
And I just want to really thank you for your vision on that and this donation. Thank you. Council? Well, I just want to say thank you. I mean, everything that's been said is, right on spot. And I work in Fargo. And it's amazing how many people are aware of the rail district just in passing by or participating or, taking part in some of the businesses out there. And so what you've done, I couldn't comprehend this even happening. So people with vision, peep visionary people are always that always amazes me,
how you can see this developing. So, I do appreciate your work, and, hopefully, the future has more in store for both of us and the community. So thank you. Yeah. Thanks. And I can't wait to see what it looks like. You guys are doing some amazing things and really transforming Dilworth. So I think it's a good fit. It's a good spot for it, and we appreciate everything you guys have done so far and everything you're doing with the community center. It's kinda stole everything I was gonna say. So Well, we always say it's like pushing a log chain. Hopefully,
that log chain's getting stiffer now. So it'll it'll go it'll go better after the community center is out there. So that's what we're hoping for. So we appreciate you guys. Well, we aren't able to do this without partners. Right. The city is one piece, but our private partners are essential in making our community grow. And like you said, we've been investing in the City Of Dilworth since the 1900s, and that's true. And those seeds have they bear fruit.
I mean, we are a growing community in part because of your efforts, and they've been continuous over the last four decades now, and and we reap the benefit in in all aspects. Our community is stronger because of our partnership, your dependability, your vision, your humility. Like, I'm surprised that you're here, because your commitment is is has never wavered, never once wavered. But to have you here when we're recognizing your contribution, I'm I'm glad that you're here, because this is the right thing to do. When we're saying thank you, I want you to be here to hear the sincerity,
from all of us sitting here on behalf of the city Of Dilworth, because it is it is truly it's it's monumental. The contribution that you're making with the land is significant, and I would argue it's the largest one in the history of the City Of Dilworth thus far. I don't know. I've kind of done some research, kinda wondered if there's been a a gift of this magnitude. I don't know if there has been. And and so that cannot be overstated in my opinion, because as we move this forward, like I said, from the beginning, from the fire department to the community center to,
okay, we're doing the community center and and moving this forward. That vision's been essential, and and this is just the next step. When we begin the construction process and we finish the construction process, I know that there's already been interest in the next phase and the next step for our eastern part of town. And again, that partnership, that vision, is essential for us, and I cannot extend thank you enough times, my gratitude personally and professionally enough times because it's going to echo through doors for generations. And gentlemen, thank you for being here tonight.
I told them that was the condition of the purchasing. No, I have to show it on. Yes. But it is. It's going to echo for generations, and we owe that success to our partnership. One reason we like to come here, it's a lot of our interest, and we Sam, back to you, we appreciate working with you guys, too. It's been fun. Otherwise, we probably wouldn't be doing it if we didn't enjoy it. Well, we are grateful and we are thankful. And I'm also excited about this spring and twenty twenty seven when it opens and everything that comes thereafter because it promises nothing but a bright future for the City
Of Delaware. So with that being said, are there other questions or comments from council? Because if they're not, I will make the motion, for Resolution 20 six-seven, accepting the land donation from Eastview Land Development. Motion by Chad and a second by Julie. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. And again, gentlemen, thank you very much for being here tonight and for being here for Delworth. Appreciate it. You're welcome. Thank you. That does move us to 6C, and now they're out. That does move us to 6C, Resolution two 609,
accepting a donation from Tractor Supply Company for community outreach. Which one, Peyton? Oh, yes, sir. Oh, me. Travis Supply Company was nice enough to give us a donation of $251 I believe, or a little bit over, Right about there. So definitely for our community outreach. We have some ideas. If those hometown heroes with, our liaison council member had some ideas. So, again, thank you to TSC for this great donation. It'll be well used. Any questions of the Chief? Hearing none, I will entertain a motion for Resolution 20 six-nine. Motion by Nash and a second by Borrell.
All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you, chief. Appreciate it. With that, it does move us to number seven. And seven alpha, we have the 2025 Metro profile. Carissa and Aiden this evening, correct, with MetroCAD? Yep. Correct. Alright. Welcome. Happy to hear. Thanks for having us. Good evening, mayor, council members. We're excited to be here today to present our 2025 metro profile document. We've been kinda doing the roadshow. We've been to all the other, jurisdictions, and so you're the last. We saved the best for last. Quality saved. Quality saved.
Yep. There you go. So, yeah, with that, the document, if you have if you haven't already seen it, it has a lot of information in it, a lot of data, a lot of statistics. Tonight, we're just gonna go over some of the high points of that. But if you ever have any questions or comments, please feel free to reach out to myself or Chrissa, and we can answer those. So with that, we'll start out. The Metro profile is separated into six chapters, each of which focuses on trends affecting the development pattern and transportation network of the Fargo Moorhead Metropolitan Area. Together, these chapters provide a comprehensive snapshot of the conditions and trends affecting our metro area.
The first chapter in the document is our community profile chapter. The Fargo Moorhead Metro Area has continued to experience faster population growth in the country as a whole. In 2024, a lot of that growth occurred down in Horace, but still a lot of growth occurred here in Dilworth. Dilworth's a 0.663% increase in population over the previous year. The population of our metro area continues to look younger and more educated than the national average as well. The metro also looks more diverse despite having lower rates of foreign born individuals and
those speaking a language other than English at home. Even though our metropolitan area is diversifying, regional trends are still quite a bit slower than what's happening at the national last slide here for our community profile chapter is, employment. In 2024, the Fargo Moorhead area, was ranked number two in the nation for the second year in a row for, the lowest unemployment rate. This year we were tied with Burlington, Vermont. And then another, statistic on this page that's pretty interesting is the metro area sees, quite a bit higher than average percent participation in the labor force when compared to,
the rest of the nation. This chapter discusses the roadways in our metro. Vehicle miles traveled in the area are less than the national average. The Greater Fargo Moorhead Metro, has an average commute time of seventeen minutes compared to the twenty seven minutes of the national average. We also track the roadway projects. In 2024, there were 41 projects totaling $196,000,000. Some of the projects the the major projects for the 11th Street underpass in Moorhead
and the reconstruction of 32nd Avenue in Fargo. Alright. Moving on to our freight section. In 2024, there were 349,300,000 pounds of air cargo landed at Fargo Hector International Airport. This was a pretty big decrease over the previous years, a nearly 14% decrease. But, this decline reflect reflects a couple things. There's kind of a national downward trend in air cargo. We found that, ground, ground based cargo is is increasing. So we've had an you know, with the Amazon warehouse coming up,
that has increased a lot of ground cargo, but our air cargo is is, falling a little bit. And then there's also there was a termination of FedEx's USPS mail contract as well, which is part of that decline. And then the other statistic on this page that I just wanna highlight is, this is a new new thing that we're tracking this year. It's, the percent of freight trucks on our interstate system. So freight trucks account for 7.4% of all traffic on Interstate 94, and freight trucks account for 11.7% of all traffic on Interstate 29 throughout our metro area.
Alright. And then moving on here to our rail and air section, Fargo Amtrak, em Amtrak's Empire Builder saw a pretty significant increase this year in, in ridership and on time performance, nearly 14% increase, over the previous year and then a almost 5% increase in their on time performance as well. And then Hector International Airport saw its busiest year on record as well with nearly 1,100,000 passengers served. And then during, 2024, the construction of the terminal expansion and parking garage also,
began. The construction or the parking garage is now complete, and I believe the terminal expansion should be complete either in late twenty six or early twenty seven. For bike and pedestrian chapter, our metro area has an extensive network of trails and bike paths that near almost 300 miles. In 2024, eight additional miles were added, most of them occurring in Horace. You can go to the next slide now. With the addition with the additional increase of bike and pedestrian traffic, the metro saw an increase in the number of nonmotorized crash crashes and serious injuries,
which included two fatalities in c South Fargo. Alright. And then we just have a couple slides here on our transit, chapter. This year, Matt or not this year. In 2024, I should say, Matt Bus served over 1,300,000 passengers, resulting in a 2.2% increase over the previous year. Matt Bus has continued to see an increase in ridership, post COVID, but still have not reached, pre COVID levels. So we're hoping to see this trend continue and hope to see that their, ridership can bounce back to pre COVID levels. And then, just this slide here just kinda highlights some of the,
inventory that they have, the fleet that they have. And just wanting to highlight here that, 10 bus replacements were ordered in 2022, and all of them, were finally received in 2024. So they have a whole new, fleet of buses, working on their system. This is our new chapter that we added this year, the system performance. This chapter looks at how well the transportation system is working. This is the first year adding the chapter. We're going to be using it to track congestion trends across the metro. This includes looking at traffic flow, travel time, safety,
and on time performance. Some of the biggest contributing factors to crashes and congestion are young drivers, intersections, and lane departures. This slide shows our, vehicle miles traveled trends. So, over the past five years, our total vehicle miles traveled has remained relatively steady. However, during that same period, we've had a lot of population growth. And so that's interesting for a couple reasons, because typically when you see, more people, that means more cars on the road, more people are driving, you would typically see an increase in your vehicle miles traveled. However, our VMT hasn't really changed that much while our population has grown.
So this could mean a couple things. It could mean that, people are just choosing to drive less. It could mean or one thing that we've seen kind of at the national level is fewer people, acquiring driver's licenses, fewer fewer young people in particular, acquiring driver's licenses, and then lastly, increased reliance on alternative forms of transportation. So people are looking to use the map bus services, People are walking more or biking more to work or to get groceries. So kind of an interesting trend because it's not typical, especially of a region like ours, which does sprawl a bit.
So to see that, people are kind of driving less is, is kind of an interesting thing that that we saw this year. And then this Can I ask just a quick question Yeah? Absolutely. Related to that? Mhmm. So is that individual, like, vehicle miles? Like so if I don't so does that track, like, Uber and all that other stuff too then? Yeah. Yeah. I think that that that would track Uber as well. Mhmm. K. I it's fascinating to me, so that's Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Yep. Absolutely. Well, can I add to that? It just seems like you said, like, it could be because they're taking the bus more, but ridership isn't hugely up.
And so Yeah. Yeah. Like, how are they getting there? Maybe they well and first thing I think is like, okay, what's the shift? Are people more people working from home? Right. It's another thing. It's just all like very interesting. Yeah. Alright. And then this slide here, I'll go over this one pretty quickly, but, this is, this map is meant to show areas of our, portions of our metro area that see a lot of congestion. And so this particular metric is called the TTI or travel time index. And so there's a kind of a complicated, formula behind it.
But the higher the TTI, the more, congestion there is in a certain area, or the more delay you may have through certain areas of town. So there's there's a number of areas throughout town that kind of see, higher congestion. A lot of them we we all know 13th Avenue in Fargo, 45th in Fargo. But one that's kind of specific to Morehead Dilworth is, over, on Highway 10 and, 34th. So that's one area that does see a bit of congestion in this in this region. It's still pretty low. It's well within, what I would call normal congestion. You know, you're not waiting a super long time to get through there,
but it is showing on our map that there is a bit of of backup there during peak period times. Alright. And then the last slide that we have prepared here is just a demographic overview of residents living within a half mile of transit stops. So, within a half mile of transit stops, 170,000 people are, accessible within a half mile of stops. 108,704 jobs are within that half mile buffer. 8% of people living within that buffer are, car free households, either voluntarily or involuntarily.
12% of people within that, are people living with a disability, and then thirteen percent of people living within that buffer, are 65. And so those are some populations that would be more likely to use our transit system. And so, this is our first year of putting this in here, and we're gonna continue to expand upon this and hopefully track some more, some more metrics and then we can hand this over off to to transit and maybe target some areas that have, you know, higher car free household, or people living without a car,
I should say. Alright. And with that, that's all that, we have, prepared for you all. I know it's a lot of information. There's a lot more in the document, too, so, we can answer any questions if you may have any. Thank you, Aiden. Any questions for Aiden or Carissa? Julie? And I know you won't know the answer to this, but also a thank you. I always appreciate seeing the demographics, and it's just, fun to see how our region is changing. But I was thinking about how, like, Matt Bus hasn't seen this huge bounce back from, ridership. But it's also something that, like,
the Minneapolis Saint Paul region, like, I think I saw recently, they just canceled the one that goes to, like, the Twins Stadium, you know, or Mhmm. What's called? Anyway, where the Twins play. With Target? Target Field. There you go. There you go. Yeah. It's like yeah. But, you know, I was just fascinated that they also kinda went through that where people stopped riding, and it's like why the, mindset around public transportation never went back to I mean, like, their ridership decreased Yeah. Way more than what we saw and never bounced back.
And so it's curious to just see trends. So thank you for bringing it. Because, again, it it's just I mean, like, we can't get into people's heads to know why they're doing it, but it's still interesting to see where the trends are. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And it's something that's happening across the country. It's in a lot of, you know, large metro areas are seeing it. Small metro areas like ours, it's it's kind of happening across the board. So it is an interesting thing why they haven't come back fully. Yeah. Thank you. Anything else you want? Mister Steichen. Can you go back a slide, Peyton? Yes.
The ones that live within a half mile of transit, there's a pretty big area on the South South Fargo. I'm not sure what East of the West of the river, obviously, but is is just is there just not a need for transit connections in that area? In the South And then to Southwest as well. Southeast and Southwest. Yeah. A lot of that, you know, when they're when they're planning transit stops, there's a lot of considerations, but density is one of them. And so the land use in those areas of town are primarily single family homes,
so it's pretty sparse out there. And they just aren't likely to be ones that'll ride transit. And so that's typically why they don't they don't target those areas of town. Town. It costs a lot of money to bring services out there. And so, that's that's one of the reasons why why there isn't isn't service out there today. Not to say there can't be in the future. You know, if things start to densify more and and, you know, more people are living down there and requesting service, that may happen. But, as it is now, it's just that the land use isn't there to support it. I don't doubt your numbers, but the last statistic there kind of shot out at me.
I was thinking it'd be a higher percent of people 65 and older living in those areas, but I'm not doubting your stat or your word. Yes. Yes. Interesting. Anything else? Alright. Thank you, mister Steichen. Well, thank you for coming out. It is it's interesting to see where this can take us and how we look at planning in the future. I know we have Highway 10 corridor studies and how that transforms in 34th Street Interchange. That'll be a great conversation moving forward. Just the whole network for transportation, I mean, it's vital to the lifeblood of our community in terms of economic success as well.
I mean, whether it's planes, trains or automobiles, it's absolutely fascinating. So thank you both for coming out this evening. Thank you to MetroCOG for the work that they put together and including Deworth in the study. It's fantastic information. So thank you both very much for coming out. Awesome. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Have a good evening. You both. With that, it does move us, to seven b. We have our public hearing, Resolution 20 six-eleven, approval of properties participating in a two year tax abatement program. And with it being six thirty five, we'll call our public hearing open.
We'll open our public hearing and begin with staff presentation. Peyton? Thank you, mayor. The property tax abatement program has been operating in Dilworth for, what year, 'twenty five? So we're about, what, fourteen years into this now, I believe. And each year, we're required statutorily when city taxes are going to be abated for new construction of residential structures. It has to receive authorization via resolution by the city council.
So that's what we're doing here this evening. Alright. Thank you, Peyton. Is that the end of the staff presentation? It is. Alright. With that, we'll ask if there's anyone here to speak in either favor or opposition to the tax abatement program. Second call to speak, on the tax abatement program. Hearing no one here to speak on the tax abatement program, we'll close, the public hearing at 06:37. And council discussion. Any questions from council, to Peyton regarding the program? Hearing none, I will entertain a motion for the resolution twenty six eleven.
Steichen so moved. Motion by Steichen. Second. And a second by Nash. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion Carries. With that, it does bring us to number eight, and eight alpha is the authorization of hiring a new police officer. Chief? Alright. Well, mister mayor mister mayor, council members, I am here seeking a conditional offer of employment to be on behalf of candidate Kane Tourney. So So some of you guys might know might not know Kane Tourney, so I have a little descriptor for him. Kane Tourney first expressed interest in employment with the Dilworth Police Department in September 2025
after learning of a potential opening and has maintained consistent communication throughout the hiring process. Can an attorney move to Grand Forks at the age of four during his attendance at Grand Forks High School and the death of two of his classmates by suicide significantly influenced his interest in community service and led to his involvement in starting nonprofit focused on mental health awareness and suicide prevention. Candidate turn candidate attorney began his criminal justice career as a correctional officer with Grand Forks Correctional Center and later worked for the Tri County Community Corrections Department after relocating
to the Crookston area. During this employment, candidate attorney earned a criminal justice degree from Northland Community Technical College. He then completed an internship with Minnesota State Patrol, not for any academic credit, just on his own, and was selected during his, during school for the Secretary of Criminal Justice Club. After graduation, Ken, attorney obtained a law enforcement position with the Morritt Police Department. And in June 2024, he completed his FTO training and was released to be a solo officer. Canada attorney resigned from Moorhead Police Department in September '25 and subsequent and subsequently sought
employment with the Dilworth Police Department. Since leaving Morehead PD, Canada attorney has remained gainfully employed, working as a seasonal semi truck driver with the Jacobson Family Farms and currently as an Uber driver. Candidate attorney hold holds a current Minnesota post license through, 06/30/2027 and is a certified first responder and also holds SFST and A Rite certifications. This makes them eligible for, state funded target enforcement from state patrol. So any DUI enforcement, stuff like that. Canon attorney has expressed interest in future instructor level training following successful completion of his
probationary period. Based on his training certifications, work history and demonstrated interest in serving the City Of Dilworth, I recommend the City Council to extend a conditional job offer to candidate attorney. Thanks, Chief. Any questions for Chief regarding the candidate? Just some procedural questions. Do obviously, we need background and all that still. Do we need that since he's currently holding a license? How does that work? I guess that's a process question. Actually, background's already been completed. So he's six now the conditional offer would be for the psych exam, and also for the, physical.
Okay. So those two elements Those two elements that he needs. Currently licensed, so that part's all done. We're on that right? Yeah. Correct. We don't have to we just have to get him fired. If we if you guys would like to move forward with his conditional offer, once he successfully completes those two other items, then we have to do use of force and firearms training, and he's up and running. Oh, then he can join the FTO program. Any other questions? Okay. That was I'm just looking at the process. No. Absolutely. I I appreciate that, chief. Thank you. I have no further questions. Any other questions from counsel? Hearing none, I will, entertain the motion for the authorization to hire,
candidate attorney. Motion to approve the hire. Motion by Nash. Second. Second by Borra. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Fully staffed? Yes. What's that? For now. We'll see it. I'm knocking. I'm knocking. Yeah. Well, you and me both. I've been knocking on for a while. Yeah. Well, that's outstanding. Congratulations, chief, and thank you for the efforts there. With that, it does move us to number nine. We have some conversations, regarding the community center. Resolution nine alpha is resolution twenty six zero eight authorizing the purchase of real property in the city of Dilworth. Peyton?
Thank you, mayor, members of the council. So this gets back to yeah. As you're mentioning back to the donation piece, so, the landowners are doing a three acre donation, and the city has agreed to a purchase agreement for the additional 1.58 acres. This will be on the North side. So if you see this plat right here that's been, put together, so if you see the plat here that's been, put together, the North 3rd or so is what the city is going to be purchasing.
Here's the three acres that is being donated by Eastview Land Development. And in addition to that, I think it's important to point out that they have dedicated a future 3rd Avenue Northeast. That'll be part of the plat approval process, but I just wanted to go on and make note of that now. The plat is going through the review process right now. It will go before the planning commission for a public hearing next week. And then the zoning has to be set on the land as well. But that's what the plan is going to look like. You can get a sense of where the community center is going to go and
the land to the north that we'll be purchasing for future expansion purposes, session, which is what we're doing right here this evening. The landowners have agreed to sell the 1.58 acres at a cost of $6 I said $6 an acre. I meant $6 is I said, how many of those how many of those acres can we buy? Because I got a bunch of $6 bills in my pocket. Here we go. But that's supposed to be $6 a square foot, which equals out to $82,589
a year over the course of five years. It could be a contract for the no interest is being charged for the lands. We're very appreciative of that. That's a massive savings as well. So once we have the purchase agreement in place already and the file has been started over at a closing company. So we're, you know, making all the moves to get this in place. Questions for Peyton? No questions? Just a point of clarification, this is what we're talking about that we were working on and we're so concerned about that was going to happen? Sometimes things are actually working when we're not in a meeting.
Any other questions? I think I made I'm sorry, I won't go ahead there. I think I did make a notation either in, I don't know, if it was in the staff report or another document that we've again, you look at the transaction as a whole, when you're buying the entirety of the land, we have our limited appraisal that will be coming in at some point, but it wasn't the basis of the sales. But yes, we did negotiate this price, very fair price and very appreciative of working with the landowners on this. And that was my question. Is Perry going to have everything he has to make sure that this rolls and solid?
Money. Yes, and well That's all we need, yes. Perfect. Are there any other questions? I will entertain a motion then for resolution twenty six zero eight authorizing the purchase of real property. Steichen, so move. Motion by Steichen. Second. And a second by Nash. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. I do wanna say it again. I know it takes a lot of work to get this going. I know it's been a long time in the making since we started this. I don't know. Probably, we're working on the fire department. So Peyton and Perry and all the full time staff that that worked through this
to get us this far. And I know we're not done yet, but I know it took a tremendous amount of effort and a tremendous amount of time. Thank you very much. With that, we do have to talk about 9b, the creation of an ad hoc committee to provide operational recommendations for this said community center. Peyton. Thank you, mayor. So the community center is obviously happening now. We're probably eighteen months out, nineteen months out, plus or minus, until the facility opens. And so with that in mind, we have to start making a determination,
get a game plan in order for what we want this facility to look like on opening day. Everyone's under the impression that we're not going to be operating like the previous facility, where it's just rented out by appointment only, mainly just on weekends. One tenant renting out the facility. This is going to be open, a little more robust facility. And so with that in mind, as we approach next year's budget cycle and going through that process, we need to have some kind of a framework in mind for what this facility
is going to be from an operational standpoint. And so this evening, more just making note of the fact that and and getting authorization, I guess, as well, that, council member Nash has agreed under protest, I might add, to to oversee, to get somewhat chair a committee of sorts that's gonna be bringing back recommendations to the group as a whole. Even though the day to day operations of it's really residing with staff, with this being a new building facility as a whole,
we would still like some kind of a blessing from council to say, hey. This is sort of what we're thinking of, how it's going to operate. Staff's gonna be heavily involved in this process. Jess and Angela are gonna be spearheading a lot of things, doing a lot of research for, the committee. But this will be comprised of, you know, council member Nash and maybe one other council member, if someone would like to volunteer, and, some other individuals in the community, to because it is a facility for our residents. That's sort of the point of all this. So we're going to be having some robust discussions,
be having some, questions asked and answers hopefully provided as we work through this over the next few months. Thank you, Julie. Appreciate you willing to do that. I and I'm not volunteering him in any way, shape, or form, but I do know in our conversations, Kevin did express an interest. So as if you're looking at another council member or whatever the case may be, maybe we reach out to him. I know he's absent today, but I'm not I I wanna say this again. Please write this. As a matter of record, I am not volunteering him.
But he did and I would be remiss if I did not bring that part up. So, it's it's gonna be interesting just to say the least, and I think it's gonna take some great conversations to figure out what it looks like. I think it's gonna take some trial and error too. I think we're gonna have to have a solid season. By that, I mean, like, winter, summer, spring, fall, to get some type of measurement before all of this is finalized. But it looks to be exciting. It's a totally different facility than what we had before, and there's a different level of expectations that go into that.
The previous facility was not always rented, right, on the weekends. And if this is something that's going to be open on, you know, seven days a week, we'll say, say, the playground equipment, There has to be crews ready to go to move snow even on the weekends. You know, it can't just be, oh, we're going to get to it on Monday like we previously had to do. And so how is that going to work? Is that something that we do ourselves? Are we subbing that out? I don't know. Those are all part of the questions, and answers that are hopefully gonna come out of all this. I'll help with that one because I don't plan on subbing that one out.
Well, so you are volunteer to join on the committee then. I'm just helping where I can. I mean, we're we're in the we're in the midst of a conversation. Sounds like the enforcement's being It's gonna be really interesting too when we look at the roads going in and how does that look and then Yep. Build that with 8th Avenue and 15th Avenue. We have some responsibilities that are going over the next year to three years. There's all kinds of conversations that are connected with that. But Kevin did express interest. He did. And he and just, to buffer that point, he sent me a when he said he cannot make it tonight, he sent me the same message as well, that he's willing to volunteer if no one else steps up.
K. So perfect. I I feel I feel vindicated a little bit. Hope you're listening, Kevin. So we can't have any more than that. If he's interested, that's two. And a third would be a quorum, and that's just problematic. So we'll we'll move from there. Just a quick question regarding that, Peyton. With citizen participation, is there just gonna be an open invite? Is that kind of the plan? Are we gonna I mean, because we did have interested citizens that were part of the that process. Are they gonna have an op like, the first opportunity? I wanna leave that to the determination of how that's gonna work to the committee,
but there will be a process that we will be laying out. Perfect. I I was just curious. Yeah. Alright. That's my other question. So with that, do you just want permission to create the ad hoc committee? Yeah. Yeah. I think appointing the two council members is a good idea to go for now. I guess I will make, the recommendation. I'll take I'll make the motion that we establish an ad hoc committee led by vice mayor Nash and council member Peterson, to provide operational recommendations, for the Duluth Community Center. I'll second that. Motion by Chad and a second by mister Steichen.
Any other conversations? Okay. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. So with that, thanks, Julie. Thanks, Kevin. And I'll keep all of my other comments to the citizens panel then. But we do get to move to number 10, City Hall. And we have 10 alpha resolution twenty six thirteen, the disposition of real property, parcel ID number 52Dot900Dot 0030, part of Out Lot 2 L Out Lot 2 Alpha. Peyton, you got a map of this one? There it is. There we are. Yeah.
Sort of an interesting one here. So the Dilworth Mobile Home Park over here on off of County Road 9 recently came under new ownership, and we were contacted by the owners, saying, hey. There's a strip of land that is abutting Ditch 50 there. Is there possibility that we acquire said land? I'll be honest. I didn't know that we own that, strip up there when that first came to us.
And so we did a little investigating on it, both internally and also with our city attorney to get her thoughts on it as well. As you can see in the image and I can get zoomed in on it a little bit. You can see in the image already a good portion. There's a lot of structures and trees already that are in place over the existing property line there that they're already encroaching into. And just from a liability standpoint,
I think that was their main motivation for wanting it like that. And so in discussing it with maintenance, so our responsibilities from a maintenance perspective of Ditch fifty, we are contracted out with them to provide service and maintenance along, the the ditch. It is, still their property there, but we, you know, issue them a bill and we pay for it right there. So anyway, so as part of this transaction that we're looking to do, there is an established permanent easement that's gonna run basically just the same
outline as the property itself. So we'll still have full access to it where Mike and them maintain isn't even really in, that the area in which that's being transacted, here today. They will have a little bit where they enter in the property here off of County Road 9 just kinda crossing, but they don't even, come up here and maintain within this property. They do all the maintenance of it already as well. So, Mike felt comfortable in, turning over the land. We don't feel like it's really anything we're, you know, maintaining right now anyways.
So, so we have put together a, you know, purchase agreement with them. And, as such, any just like any selling disposition of property has to come before the city council. So that's what this is this evening. Questions from counsel? I had a question, mister Steigen. It says the strip serves little purpose, but but it does provide limited access to maintain Ditch 50. Is that gonna be an issue? No? No. Because mainly now when we clean Ditch 50,
we're we start in the bottom anyways because it's concrete liner. And all we do up there is mow. We don't we don't really have any utilities in that area, so it it shouldn't be an issue. Plus, I don't know how many years they've overtaken that, but it's they've been there for a long time. So we haven't had an issue since or during, so I don't foresee anyone. But The concrete lining is what changed That's mainly no. That's that's all the same, but But that that changes the fact you don't need to get on the edge
of the Yeah. I mean, the only the only reason we're on the edge is to mow mainly. That's And that was the first I thought there was a utility component to it. We were saying there's water sewer, and there's nothing back there at all. Not on the maps. There isn't. Okay. So Well, and I guess, as a matter of course, if there's something that we don't realize is there I mean, we'd have the we'd have the right to go and It's an easement. Yeah. So that's that's what the yeah. Perfect. Any other questions? Thank you, Mr. Seiken. Thanks, Mike. Mr. Seiken, any other questions, Julie? Nope. Hammer?
No. All right. Hearing none, I will entertain a motion for resolution 20 six-thirteen. So moved. Motion by Boro. Steichen second. And second by Steichen. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. With that, does move us to 10 b. We have our public hearing on resolution 20 six-twelve, miscellaneous assessment for unpaid curb stop repair, invoice at 3064th Street Northwest. With that, we'll open up our public hearing at 06:57 and begin with staff presentation. Thank you, mayor. This is just for a unpaid curb stop repair invoice.
We encourage individuals to pay invoices when they receive them. K. Thank you, Peyton. Is that the end of the staff presentation? That's it. With that, I will encourage anyone to speak, in favor or against this resolution. Second call to speak, if you're so inclined. Hearing no one to speak, after the second call, we'll close, the public hearing and move to, council conversation committee council conversation, questions, comments, concerns from council. Alright. That outstanding staff presentation puts us in a good spot.
I will entertain a motion for resolution twenty six twelve. Motion to approve. Motion by Nash. Steichen second. And a second by Steichen. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. With that, it does move us to number 11. Council members concerns about any updates are on the horn. I've got nothing. Beginning of the year. It's been a been a smooth ride so far. Mister Steichen? I was fortunate enough to, attend the, hometown heroes, hockey along with vice mayor Nash. Did not know much about hockey going into it,
but that's only a small part of the whole. It was it was great to see all the different organizations recognized, for the ones that have been there before. It's it's nothing new to them, but it's still important to recognize the, first responders, fire, police, rescue, and whatever it is might be there. And, Dilworth Fire had a good representation there, and I enjoyed talking to the different people that are running the booths, everything from the SWAT to the different agencies to the ones that very involved with
drone operations. So I learned a lot, and I do appreciate being able to go. So, thanks for the chief and the and, both chiefs back there for representing, on the booths. And, and, it's just a great evening. So thank you for inviting us. Yeah. It was, you know, having the booths there, it's fun to see the communities interact with, you know, our staff at the booths, and it just it's a a nice way, to recognize their contributions while they're sitting there working the booth as we're recognizing their contributions.
But it felt a little like but it was good to see, you know, just how much everyone in enjoyed, having, that interaction with everyone. Besides that, we, on Sunday, annual kids and versus cops hockey tournament is happening. So keep an eye if you wanna see what's happening with that over at Concordia College, and Hunter will be on skates. Oh, I'm On the mic? He's on the mic. He's howling the music, trying to get him on the skates.
He won't do it. So and there's a progress on new squads. They're they're finally kind of, yeah, here. Not here, but soon. They're in the city. In the city. Yeah. So that's coming. And then just, some other activities the police department has going on. They're going to be participating in the I don't know if it's the first, Dilworth Health and Wellness kinda fair, but it's kind of a big thing happening in March. And, I it looks like it should get a lot of community participation, so thank you for participating in that.
And sounds like kite day is coming back in May too, so something to keep, your eye on. It was awesome. Wasn't it? That was a great idea. May I ask? Nope. That's it. Thank you. The only thing I wanted to make mention of is on February 12, I believe it is. See on the back of my computer here is Giving Hearts Day. Always encourage everyone to take a look at the Giving Hearts website. I think you can go on now and do donations if you, you know, feel so inclined, to do so. We have a very benevolent
metro area, lots of great organizations and charities that serve a tremendous cause. And so I always just encourage everyone to check it out. So check out the Giving Hearts Day website and see if there's anything there that sparks your interest that you could get back to. Is that all? That's it. Alright. Thank you, Peyton. Just a a quick reminder, we do have our intergovernmental retreat on Friday. Right? If you're able to participate, if you're in town, be sure, you get there and represent Delworth if you can.
And I say that knowing full well that I will be in Duluth watching some hockey. And thank you, vice mayor Nash, for for taking the speaking role and and representing the city of Delworth. So, like you said, it's a it's a brand new year filled with opportunities on the horizon, and I know our, our committee schedules are gonna be full enough very, very soon. To that point, it does move us to twelve a. We have our bills to be paid, and we have a full lineup of bills. Any questions or comments? Hearing none, I will entertain a motion to pay the bills. So moved. Motion by Nash.
Steichen second. And a second by Steichen. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. And with there being no further business before the council this evening, call this meeting adjourned.