okay are you ready Carrie okay you're always ready what am I thinking it's me and this darn recorder that I always forget till the last second I'm sorry I'm going to apologize now I'm probably going to be sneezing the rest of the
evening but it is after five slits call this meeting to order we'll start with the pledge I pledge allegiance to the flag 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 thanks and welcome everybody Carrie if you wouldn't mind doing a roll call please Mr Steinberg here Mrs Ro here Mr
White Mr Winnington here mayor Norton here thank you Carrie um next item on our agenda we're going to go right into new business amended Tiff development for Fox Meadows looks like we have some folks here I'll let you kick it off
Jennifer sounds great um I will turn over to Shane Sweeny he's with David Drone Associates and he is our consultant that assists with Tiff welcome Mr Sweeney thanks for coming good evening may members of the council uh had some materials in your
packet we had received a request for taxing ref financing assistance from try shm who's working on a second phase of the Fox Meadow development Mr shm's here to answer questions on the project but ultimately he's looking at constructing 16 additional units and has requested a
Sim subsidy that was provided in the first phase of the project at which time 64 units were constructed in our phase one project we had re agreed to reimburse 90 90% of the tax increments or the new property taxes that are
captured from that project area by virtue of being in a tax increment district and reimbursing those to Mr Schram's company in an amount up to $ 82,9 169 or a term of 13 years and it's
whichever occurs first and so it won't go beyond 13 years and it won't be above $ 82,9 if we apply that same subsidy to the next phase it would be $174,700 and the duration of the reimbursement
would be extended within the note by one year to provide that same 13-year capture period for the additional units and so if you choose to proed bond Council has drafted an amended development agreement that would provide
that additional subsidy to Mr Shram and there's a resolution in your packet that authorizes the execution of that development agreement I'm happy to answer any questions you have on the
materials thank you Mr Sweeny um staff or councel do you have any questions for Mr Sweeny or Mr Shum and if you look towards the um the uh end of that portion for the agenda or the packet there is a resolution 202
24-39 and that as uh Shannon mentioned would authorize the execution of the amended and restated development agreement was this brought up when we did the first phase that it would likely happen on this second we created a tax increment District that covered the whole project
area so that you wouldn't have to hire me again for subsequent phases okay ultimately so yes it was contemplated at that time that it would be a multiphase project and Rec created the mechanism for providing assistance to be able to
accommodate that more efficiently okay thank you nothing's really changed from the original um process right no there's still an income restriction that's applied by virtue of being in a housing tip
District that means that 20% of the units have to be made available to Folks at 50% of County median income by family size so that income restriction will apply to 20% of the additional units as well and that number is said by Statute right
correct okay the the actual income numbers are set by Hud on an annual basis but the Restriction is a requirement of the statute yes couldn't do a housing tip District without an income restriction
G any comments thoughts Jennifer any thoughts um NOP as shanon mentioned this was something was contemplated when the original degree agreement was um approved so um I think this is a good good Economic Development tool for the
city to use um to continue seeing de development in our community I would add that on average the subsidy term is shorter than what we see in some new construction of late and so I don't think it's comparatively long
compared to what other cities in Greater Minnesota are doing to promote rental housing so that's good context thank you would anyone like to make a motion I'll make motion to um approve or amend the Tiff development
agreement I'll second it all right any further discussion uh all in favor then uh voting for the amended Tiff development agreement say I I I anyone opposed motion carries thank you um thank you
for coming glad we had you on the agenda first so was quick thanks Troy thank you all right next item work session to review the CIP project financial analysis for Street reconstruction looks like you can keep
your seat right there Mr Sweeney we have Mr sarf next to me to explain any of the projects that we're going to talk about could I interrupt you really quick too and Brian if you want to sit at the table and use that microphone you're more than welcome if you feel comfortable um you know whichever so you guys each have a
microphone but sorry Shannon go ahead uh if you read through the materials I supplied it may sound like I'm trying to talk the city into a 6, 280,000 project but that's not the case uh when we first
discussed this back in February or even a little bit before we were talking about a list of projects that potentially could be priorities for implementation and we have a we have a list of those projects that include
Diane driver reconstruction lour Avenue reconstruction Maywood Avenue reconstruction Second Street reconstruction plan View Street reconstruction and Third Street reconstruction so we have five reconstruction probably five or six that
uh ultimately we contemplated as being you know of need at some point in our future and ultimately when we start these conversations you know we talk about how do we achieve efficiencies and with utility
reconstruction projects it tends to be that the larger they are the more efficient they are in spending money that's going into the ground rather than to your financial advisor and your engineer and the contractor to mobilize and those kinds of things and so we
looked at them all and said let's lump them all together see what they cost and see what the financial impacts are so we can at least present a number to the council ultimately and let them start the affordability prioritization
discussion and so we looked at it as one large project for purposes of initiating that conversation to see what direction you'd like to take um and so as we look at it as one large project you know ultimately what you
care about most I believe other than accomplishing this reconstruction activity is how are we impacting our tax and rate payers and so that was what this analysis was meant to provide and those impacts aren't insignificant I
mean we're talking about uh the most significant increases to our tax levy of approximately 21% because we'd be adding a couple hundred, year a year in ta tax levy for this bond issue on a levy which in 2023
was 973 th000 so the math is fairly straightforward that impact is B down by the special assessments because we're app no special assessments for Street project costs but at the end of the day this is the one that hurts the most and
ultimately probably drives the conversation as far as what becomes part of a project if we put a project together and uh how do we determine that affordability so it's feedback on both
project priority as well as what we care to charge our taxpayers for projects that we need to undertake at some point I would tell you that splitting projects apart by a year or two doesn't accomplish anything because the debt service on these is going to extend for
15 to 20 years most times 20 years nowadays because reconstruction is so expensive and so in order to really you know try to maximize the affordability we'd be looking to other debt dropping off we're providing some separation
between implementation that allows for our tax base to grow adding new tax to the community that can contribute to the project and so those are all things that we think about as we talk about projects that we want to implement and again at the end of the day you know there's
probably two tasks associated with this one is looking at the list and deciding which ones need the most immediate assistance or need to be implemented the soonest and then the second is you know when do we choose to afford
to do those and so that's the information I prepared for discussion again I'm not here to tell you to do a project or not do a project I'm here to take your direction and provide information that helps you make a decision on whether or not you wish to
do something and if so how much you care to take on at one time and so and in context of that we do have water treatment facility that's being discussed as part of this that's Grant dependent we understand and so uh as we
talked Jennifer wanted us to address temporary financing for engineering on that project as part of this process but I think focusing first on this list and asking questions of the engineer myself on those items that are on the list is
important uh with ultimately the goal and it doesn't have have to happen today but we want to get you started on accomplishing the goal of directing us to do something or nothing depending on what your priorities are so uh happy to answer your questions to but hopefully
this is sufficient information to initiate that conversation I think it's a excellent road map um one question that comes to mind for me I know we're going to have leadline replacement that is from the city to the home happening at some point
I think we there's within the next 10 years it all has to be done right that's the the goal that our legislature has laid out I know we are I would say maybe not ahead of the game but in the front of uh that process because we already
have inventory going on right we're already there where I think a lot of cities weren't even aren't even starting that yet right do we know and just you know as we're looking at how that's going to work out are there things that you would suggest or Ryan if you have
comments to of how is there a benefit to trying to pair these things timing wise when they happen or oh can I I'm going to interrupt you guys uh one of our counil members got a message from somebody watching at home
that they can't hear so um Shannon that one is really um yes you have to put your base rate down to it and then Brian if you just want to turn yours on can to lean into it come up here yeah absolutely if you if that absolutely thanks everybody I don't know
we well welcome we don't fight too hard and then just just press that button right on there unless it's already on is there a green light uh y there it is all right there you
go the only thing I would add is the city's in good position with cash reserves and ultimately depending on the size of the project those can be brought to bear to remove some of the pain of implementation they we don't have enough
cash for a $6.2 million project to get a ton easier but you know something smaller than that we probably do have sufficient cash to have impact and ease implementation just so you're aware of that with regards to the lead service
lines uh currently I think we found four galvanized lines in town that's the extent of it so we're not talking about a quarter of the Town having Replacements so it's a fairly
small number and and the the strings that are going to be attached to getting some of that funding it's we're going to have to balance that out for sure for something that's small so we're not looking like massive blocks are getting torn up for this or it' be that's
correct at this point just given what we're finding with that inventory I think that's going to be a tool for us to approach homeowners uh as we do projects like this uh potentially less important for going out and finding big
grants to replace yep okay that I guess that was my question are those four or anywhere on on these streets uh I I don't know exactly I'm sure there's prob a couple just being that this is an older part of
town can I ask a question what would be the time frame and uh that we would first be able to undertake if the council wishes to move forward and then also um uh would it all would it be phased
like in a five-year plan or would it all get done um like in the same year is that is that what we're looking at if we how how does that provided assumes it's all going to be
done in one or two construction Seasons again splitting it you know by a year or two doesn't accomplish anything and probably cost us more in the long run if you're really looking to you know
provide some split that you know allows for an opportunity to be more affordable we're probably waiting something more like years for the next project uh simply because we need growth in tax base we need debt to fall off those
kinds of things to happen in order to really see the next project more affordable and your engineer will tell you by the way in the meantime we're going to see inflation on construction cost which great probably erode some of that affordability as well but uh but it
is what it is and it's a issue that almost everybody faces we just have to make decisions on how we care to approach it on the uh reconstruction I assume it's the whole street like agency all the way to 598 for example on the sewer
right that'd be correct it it'd be full Street and utilities for all of all of the items yeah so we' been like Second Street it would be North Second Street and South Second Street from ler Ray all the way down to Linda
Drive uh no let me see second that's we've got Second Street Third Street Dian drive or all all the other stuff would be continuous I would assume right um really what's been in the uh
Capital Improvement plan is two blocks of Second Street which would be uh the two blocks south of Parkway the other block I believe have slightly newer infrastructure in
there but for example like uh lur is the full run all the way from agency down to 598 Avenue uh no the cost included would be agency street
through the elementary school roughly okay everything so there's sections of the streets not the whole not not the whole SE not the whole length of the street that's correct and yeah I apologize I probably misunderstood the
initial question but yep it is it is segments okay so that nasty intersection at lur 598 would stay just as is that's correct that was a part I kind of got excited about when I saw a little sewer on there um one thing you guys will note
to the there's that water made looping project that we've been talking about for quite a few years years um and that's included in this so over by Valley Lane is that the continuation of the water M looping that we did like five years so we did not have easements at
that time you're exactly right G that's when we tried to get the easements we were un successful then the property changed hands that was the one down there where yep so as we're looking at this so the 21% increase that would not even cover
anything for the water treatment nope so that's a totally separate uh increase I know we've talked uh very recently about having to kind of move forward at least getting a little more shovel ready um how do we Loop that in here can we do
a um I know we're looking at at least the 1 point3 is that where we were heading I think it's 1.95 million I think um but that would be with our util revenues or utility rates that we' be covering that Debt
Service I'm assuming would tell you that uh you know the one of the questions that comes up as we look at significant needs like this sorry is one of the questions that we address during this
process is are there grants available uh ultimately and we effect that there will be and the water treatment project is dependent on grants and so when those grants are calculated it's
based on affordability at some level and the state applies a formula that says you can afford to spend 1.2% of your median household income on each utility service that you
receive and so when they do that calculation they're going to look at existing debt that you have on that particular system so incurring water debt for reconstruction in advance of a
grant calculation being done May assist in maximizing some additional Grant opportunity that would be applied to water treatment that's we understand so that' be the water utility impact yes but not storm not sewer just the water
utility taxy there is no the only Grant fun I shouldn't I'll put it this way the only grant funding I've seen for streets is a direct State appropriation uh for Street and utility reconstruction projects USDA Rural
Development will give you a loan that's pretty close to market rate on what you can borrow at PFA will not provide for streets uh there are grants available for your water and sewer Enterprises though not not very often on storm
almost never so it's water and sewer and so we did do an evaluation a while back on whether or not a USDA project the federal government's funding source for Street and utility reconstruction could be brought to bear and their income
thresholds are much higher and Ely wouldn't be Grant eligible on streets anyway and we most likely wouldn't be eligible in the utility areas and so our goal in this process at this
point is to at least be eligible for water treatment facility which we should be and from there you know if we incur some obligation for water for the water system in advance of that Grant being
funded it's possible that we could get additional Grant because they use this existing debt on the Reconstruction project for the affordability calculation we don't know that to be a fact yet Bolton mink has funding
Specialists that could help us decide if that's the case but it's something to consider as you're looking at timing of projects if we have some reconstruction activity planned it may be in our
interest to implement that before the water treatment facility is ultimately gone through the funding process are these prioritized or they just listed I is the Valley Lane the path of the water main looping is that
priority number one or I I would say say items 2 through 7 are listed in not so much priority as much as probably a phas construction
phasing in general uh it's it's not uh a set list per se and I would say two through seven are really the projects that we're tying together in this discussion currently
number one Valley Lane is really a separate project Al together uh along with uh water treatment facility and and the agency Street Trail are there any on the list that you
know you could say If This Were to be first this should be first I ultimately I think what the counil is going to want to ask of us is to look at different options for a first phase and I think we'd want to understand which ones are
the most important uh if there is such a thing if it's not by the state up or their condition then perhaps it's by what are the council priorities and before we say Council you should prioritize we should probably have some
input on which ones are in the most dire need that's what I would love to know and really reconstruction what exactly does all that entail are we talking then we have sidewalks and storm swer I mean what is it exactly everything underground
everything yep so it would where present storm sewer sanitary sewer water M new curban gutter new pavement surface we'd be looking at sidewalks uh making would have to make
some decisions on that certainly but it's really the full scope but these numbers probably don't have sidewalks in most likely I I didn't bring I don't think they do these particular I think it was a reconstruct
more or less as is I guess my question would be it makes sense to do the construction matching right so if we're in the area you know re removing and and bringing Construction in and out cost more right if you're in
the area it's less um I think the biggest thing is like um it's not me it's me U residence convenience you know we might have to phase do two constructions Seasons as
opposed to one because this looks like it's you would it be you know would we have the whole town torn up at once kind of thing um or since it is blocks at a time does you know is one person not going to be
get able to get out because all three roads to their house or you know under construction kind of thing so those sorts of things are usually addressed okay in a in a contract you know putting limitations on a contractor as to when
you can open up a new block or you know which blocks you can open at one time um and I would say you know we have we have options we we can do this in multiple contracts in multiple years as Shannon has said
there's you know not necessarily a benefit a financial benefit to that uh one thing uh for example if the whole project you know a full project were considered uh a lot of times will allow
for 2025 and 2026 to give the contractor flexib possibility and you know ideally lower prices to fit it in his schedule better so he's not rushed and not up against the wall so he could you know uh
start a later fall open up a couple blocks but he's still on the hook to come back the next summer to continue the project is another way that uh contracts can be structured structured so a lot of it would be handled in the construction and and the schedule within the
construction right of thing so how bad of repair are all these streets and infrastructure and so we this is probably one of the last areas in town with cast iron water M I'm not sure if there's been too many
breaks but yeah here we go here we go yep uh also Clay sewers I haven't you know certainly we haven't gone through the report process yet you know but uh
some of the original infrastructure in Eagle Lake it is kind of where we're at you could probably Drive the streets uh that's the easy one to judge for yourself but those are definitely I'm guessing Andrew's been
holding off a little bit on on some of those just because he knows that some of that some of this could be coming in the future but starting to look a little rough on the surface I think overall I mean this is a great kind of starting point like we have a
list of what we know we're going to need to work on as far as sitting here discussing a potential 21% increase to the tax levy that's terrifying you know um paired with the timing of the water treatment
and just kind of not knowing what's going to happen there I'm not saying at all I wouldn't want to move forward but I think I want to understand priority level um um if we had to phase it what could those phases look like
um I think I understand what you're saying on the Water Utility impact would then make it a little bit um better as far as the grant funding that we could get on water treatment but um also with pricing sidewalks in um
that's going to change so I guess my thought is I just want to know more before we make any decision um how much okay so Lisa has me thinking now sorry how much would this be onto
the individual household then as far as a tax increase how much would the assessments be yeah we have toate that out but essentially we're assuming that 20% roughly of the street portion
of are assessed and so at this point I guess I don't know how many property owners are in each segment so we have to look at kind of what an average assessment might look like and give you that information to so you can
see what those assessment I think so you're saying we would I mean I know there's ways to do this where sometimes it's only the homes impacted but I think in other cities too you just do the whole thing so it's spread across everyone
you're exactly right mayor we recently did the agency Street project and did did do special Assessments in that situation um but yep you're right it could be done either way depending on how the city you know wants to handle that what the policy is but keep in mind too with these These Streets that if we
don't address them and then there's infrastructure issues you know under the ground we'll be in a quick in a position where we're backed up against the wall you know with the agency Street project we all of a sudden had I know two three water main braks consecutive or maybe
was more than that and um we weren't planning to do that project when we when that came about it just kind of we were forced to do it but um you know and it's one of those things that it isn't going to go away we've taken a little break on doing some
Street reconstruction projects it's a lot of money but um you we have to invest in our infrastructure in our community so it's it's it's a tough decision to make I would say most recently with the agency project
uh there was a special benefit analysis done at that time and the typical residential lot I think was assessed $8,000 at that time roughly spread out over how
long I want to say it was 15-year term so that on top of the local match we're going to have to throw in on the treatment facility understand that if we don't specially assess in this analysis there was 64,000 a year being applied to Debt
Service that 64,000 would turn into 64,000 of additional property tax levy if we don't assess so assessments take some pressure off of our property tax levy and they convey you know some of the cost of the project to the properties that are
benefited and we've always done special assessments right since well okay I feel like there was a yeah I think for the most part the city has there maybe absolute I don't I don't think there's anything absolute but I
know since I've been here we've been assessed for wear coats because the contractor didn't pay for it and we got stuck with it so there's and then yeah that was a fun one so I you know I think we all have to take a look but if we've done
special assessments all along you know other people are going to say well I got a special assessment on Agency for my $88,000 and now you're expect me to pay for Second Street yeah um you know I think we it's one of those got you here got you there kind of
things going to be the problem how hard would it be to get closer or ballpark idea on pricing with the sidewalks my understanding is we kind of have to do them right we're going to tear it up we got to put the sidewalks in well there already is sidewalk on
there's sidewalk Street I going say I think some of these areas if they don't have sidewalks it's really hard to put them in in my opinion because the lot in the way the houses were and the driveways they can't park in their driveway then or they'll be blocking
sidewalks so I think unless it's new construction it's going to be hard in a lot of the areas I've seen to say hey let's now put a sidewalk in yeah again diand so actually looking at that list you we could go down all of
that list say most of them Valley Lanes an alley but Diane has a new sidewalk all the way from theol to blaze lur has a new sidewalk all the way from the school to agency Maywood doesn't have a sidewalk Second Street has a sidewalk
from a no Parkway to leur plane view has a new sidewalk all the way from the school to lour third streets again one of those more disjunct streets you know it has about about the length of the width of an alley and then it comes at A T so I don't know how that would you
know necessarily make sense but so would would the would all those sidewalks be coming out that we just put Ino um in this reconstruction bit the costs uh again I don't have the detailed estimate with me unfortunately but I'm almost
positive that the costs would include replacing a sidewalk that's already there so if if we had noticed that there was a sidewalk on lour we would have uh account we would have accounted
for removing replacing That Sidewalk so these are good numbers I would say so un unless you know we're ready to fight for a sidewalk on Maywood yeah okay well I think if you're not doing the whole street you're going to have a sidewalk to Nowhere too
at certain points the Second Street thing comes to not that I wouldn't like to see more sidewalks so we're thinking because of the I don't want to say inflation but the costs of everything keeps going up are we saying that we think we would want to
do a 2025 project or 2026 I'm just trying to think of um the cost we can take this on I know yeah I mean like to what Brian was saying with you know putting these bids
out you know if we come at it in the spring it becomes a little bit more of a I don't know would you say the springtime is going to be more competitive bids whereas in the fall they're going okay we're good um you know we're kind
of for next year generally speaking you know a February March bid is great uh if if you allow for a multi-year project that takes that pressure off a little bit if we had to and if there's a mild
winter they can carry over some of that and work longer and right and again that's all just kind of dependent on the market at that time and how much work that the the contractors have but in in general you know it's you're you're
generally shooting for a February March bid something like that so our first Debt Service payment would be 20 if we did in 2025 for construction but possibly having two years to complete the construction given the
amount our debt service our first payment or that would impact the tax L would be 2026 then okay even from there it can be phased in you know over a couple of years you know when we're talking about increases like this but understand where you need to
get to oops we need some commercial development to give us something I was just going to say should we be a little concerned about how much people are going to be having to pay you know for water bills and the water treatment and all this kind of stuff I mean this is what
eventually happens to cities that oh it's too expensive to live there you know I mean I don't is that going to be the reality of Eagle Lake whereas other towns are that's too expensive to live there we can't live there you know I mean are we with all these projects and
stuff I mean I don't know just asking the question it's definitely going to people are going to feel the pain with when you're talking 21% increase and just the levy alone and then the there'll be um subsequent um can't think of the right word sorry um ongoing increases of
utility revenue to keep up with those Debt Service payments so I mean people will feel it there's no doubt about that Ian water treatment facility alone if we got a 50% match either through Congressional or state or together it was still going
to end up being what 60 bucks a month per household roughly I mean and that will go down if we were to get more but and that was at so half would have been 7 million at 70 bucks a household roughly
so 6 million again this is tax levy so it's you know you guys can do your magic offsetting and things but it just seems like you know with the with water treatment my comment would be though
that ultimately you're funded to affordability level by the state or the feds in this instance mostly the state and that affordability level only goes up each year and so each year they're going to say you can afford to pay more
per resident and we're only going to you that level and so your Grant eligibility is roughly the same each year but how much you choose to afford and the construction costs are going up and so ultimately
uh that that Dynamic doesn't change it probably costs a little bit more per resident each year because of the funding formula of the state the street and utility reconstruction project completely different you know those are
those are direct impact but we have a funding source through the state that has a mechanism for giving you a grant that's based on an affordability calculation and what they say that you can afford goes up a little bit it
doesn't I haven't seen it go down yet and so each year they're going to say you can afford to charge a little bit more in Eagle lakes's case too uh we're looking at the emerging contaminant
Grant uh which assuming we get a bonding Bill to pass it should be quite significant to this particular project I don't even know what the final dollar amount was maybe you know
Shannon well there was discussion that the emerging contaminant Grant was going to go to a maximum of $112 million which would have significant impact on this and another client project that I have that's the same in
same application process so we need a bonding bill in that legislation to pass providing for some additional funding for emerging contaminants and so so that Grant would go over the 50% local match kind of theory right it could yes okay I
just sorry I we got that so pounded into us like City's gonna throw in half City's got to throw in half and to and I know that was what we learned was it l just last meeting that no it's going to be a little different but there'll be an affordability calculation that
ultimately they do so it'll be more than half okay otherwise i' so what is the recommend change what is the recommendation then here we decided to move forward tonight is that what's in the best interest I
mean we have great experts here I want to know like really what do you what do you think we want input as to the size of a project that you'd like to see and if there was any prioritization on the list that we're
pulling off of which was that number two through number seven and if you need more time than tonight you can certainly have it and if there's additional information we can provide we can get it uh you know if you say this is too big
you know let's focus on you know something that has tax impact of X or if you say numbers 24 six are highest priorities we can rerun numbers based on those you know any way you care to
approach it uh ultimately we're trying to build consensus through a process and and again I don't expect that to happen in one evening so uh you can certainly give us direction to look at options based on what you've heard and we would
try to be as helpful as we can to answer those questions if we're to go to bed in February or March when we need to make a decision by that's what I was going to ask you could you kind of lay out the next step in the process let's just say hypothetically the council says yep we want to go forward on this what is the
next step then may would be the answer La last May we're we're getting thanks yep I'm I'm being a little uh factious but it is getting to that point we're getting pretty late in the process
especially as we're looking at assessments there's there's a process that has to be followed and it it doesn't happen in a matter of months you know so generally speaking I'd call that a a six-month process uh it's also a
busy time we got to get survey scheduled and and that sort of thing but on a scale of 1 to 10 how grave of a situation are these reconstruction projects in like one being their tomorrow the water man's going to break and the sewer is going to back up into
someone's house on Third Street like what's the gravity of this whole project because I mean I just want to there's a lot of things going on the city's spending a lot of money on all this stuff quite frankly I'll be completely blunt I mean driving on those roads up there I've never really had
much problem I walk streets you know I mean the overlays on like Lisa said I thought that was the corner of 598 and lur that was going to be reconstructed and not lur up by the school where there's a new sidewalk and all that other stuff so I mean I I don't want to to be just spending money because well
our 20-year plan says we got to rip up the road and put a whole new freaking concrete sewer and this and that I mean people are good at convincing people to spend money right so I want to know how good of a
reason there is for us to have the city spend money on these projects because I just I just I'm personally not sold on any of the project on the Reconstruction unless it's again unless it's EX extremely grave I mean like I get it that what what are we talking with our
lifespan with these pipes and stuff you know I mean just just so we can all hear a little bit I mean and if it's a grave situation I would say yeah then we better do it you know I mean I just want to know I want to know the extent of the damages the problems that people are having in their houses are residents
having problems with these streets and their services uh coming up to their house say on uh let's say Dan's house on plane view is he having issues with the utilities and the street and all that I just want more context instead of just seeing we always this is what we always
have is numbers and numbers and numbers and this and that it does that it does that give us some context that would be great yeah I would uh let Andrew speak into it a little bit uh is it a 911 emergency no I mean it's it's
operating currently uh this has been on the city's plan I guess for I don't know 10 or 15 years at least probably these streets just being getting into the age where they don't want to have 911 emergencies and I
again I think Andrew's been putting off reclaiming these streets because you know of the utilities underneath right at some point you know we have a spring like last spring and it you're starting to put a lot of resources into repairing
these roads put fixing potholes you know last thing Andrew wants to do I guess is reclaim a street and then next year we have two water main brakes so I I don't know if that answers your question entirely it's
it's a scale 1 to 10 it's it's not today a 911 you know type scenario would that be fair I I guess Andrew's operating the system I know there's there's a lot of especially on the uh lur Second Street
Third Street part of it um a lot of I know probably 45 50e clay tile for sewer lines and things like that that you know are starting to crumble apart and deteriorate um even the age of some of
the valves in the road for the water main you know if they don't turn they turn super hard and you know so say we do have a water main breake well this valve doesn't turn anymore it's you know 40 years old so now we got to go back
and keep going back until we can find somewhere to shut off you know so we're affecting more residents and causing more disruption and things like that that you know just the workability of
you know the mechanical side of it is showing its age I think when you start talking infrastructure there's a couple ways to do it right one way is what I call and we do this all the time in healthcare is the cliff method
right buy everything brand new and you wait till it breaks and then all of a sudden you know you buy everything new again now that kind of hurts right because you're spending a million dollars but you know you're not spending anything in the four years in between but then you're spending another million
dollars now that being said you still have break Ag and things like that but I think in order for us to kind of one pay for things before they break and and and manage and maintain those things um you're going to go have to go in and
and and redo things that aren't quite used up yet um and that way one is right we're either going to fix it or we're going to dig six holes in that street because it's going to break six times at some
point and there's going to be a rusty valve and we're going to have flooded so I I think the best way to maintain infrastructures pick out things that need you know and just continually unfortunately you're going to have to continually every year where you're going to spend 5,000 or 5 million 5
million 100 million you know so it's it's one is yeah maybe we shouldn't do all this maybe we should cut in half and say let's look at what three and a half million would would get us um and then Andrew tell me where that three and a half million should go um and and that
would alleviate some and then we can potentially but you always got that time cost of money you got inflation you got you know you got all these things you have three and a half Millions now is going to be a five million in a year and a half or two years you know or you know
like last year it's going to be a year it's going to be so you know I think we need you know like mayor Norton was saying we need some more numbers is to say okay if if we go and say you know um you guys have $35 million pick out the
worst ones fix what You' think and that's going to be a levy of X or is it six or is it 6 and a half million you know because we got this big Acorn that's going to drop in 25 26 um and how's that going to affect and and just
listening to you Shannon there's other that's going to put a ripple through the entire thing but that is something that'll have to be done that is a 911 right um so maybe yeah maybe we just go for next you know next
year you guys got $4 million you know which what can you get done in this priority with four 4 million I don't know well my question too I think we got to spend you know if we have these six that are being called out as being a
high need because the utilities are a are we going to have if we push half of these down 5 10 years down the road minimum five probably closer to 10 in 10 years are there other roads that are going to be needing it and then we're just pushing those down the can so like we're going to be doing what we were
trying to catch up and every meeting I feel like we're talking about like we're we're making baby steps to catch up but now we're doing exactly what we're I mean trust me I don't want to spend this much money but then we're also saying we're going to do what we've been criticizing other members of the council
or staff that have been kicking it down the road then what happens in 10 years when roads 1 through 10 that we're supposed to be done then what do we do then just keep kicking down the road one and then number two would be I do keep hearing that chunk of the sewer that is heavily trafficked being rough is there
is there places and it might be more in our annual 100,000 that we set aside that we say we're not just resurfacing this little chunk the utilities underground are good but we need to do a full overlay of this whole Road or or reconstruction of the surfacing of the road not the infrastructure structure
underneath because the road is that rough you know so I think there's kind of a two-part thing here of the utilities are good but the road itself has shot and been patched too many times versus the the road piece and I think a
big I don't know if you want to call it a cost or savings aspect of it is you know being proactive instead of reactive you know like the agency project before before you know the year before we did
that we had I think four water main brakes well then that's four times that we're digging up the road in four different places patching it and then the next year we're tearing it all out and you know so do we want to be proactive and start fixing some of this
you know aging stuff I'm guessing clay tile probably has a 20 year lifespan 20 to 30 year lifespan when we're probably 40 M you know things like that where you know we're getting to the
end of the life cycle that they put on these products you know and it's their products they know how long you know some of the stuff should last you know how far beyond that do we want to go and then start repairing
it feel like we're kind of in a damned if you do damn if you don't situation right if we if we don't do it something happens I mean agency is a good example we didn't do it we had how many breaks people were mad because we're digging it up so then we said okay we need to do it and then they were mad that we're digging it up and assessing so I mean there's no win-win the win-win is just
that it needs to get fixed and um running how it's supposed to versus saying yeah we knew it was old we knew it needed to get fixed but we didn't do anything about it um residents aren't going to be happy with being assessed and residents aren't going to be happy if the utilities break and we're down so
is this the best way financially to just do it once I mean I like this but yeah no I I think you're absolutely we're all absolutely right there's no real easy answer no so longterm look at the water treatment
facility had that been built 5 years ago 10 years ago would it have been cheaper yes but if we don't build it tomorrow then all a sudden we're going to need a reverse osmosis next and and it's just going to be more money down the road the longer we wait the more expensive it's
going to be but like to Garrett's point we don't want to make Eagle Lake the most expensive place to live either and I uh I don't know everything in this world seems to be an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure so I get exactly
where you're coming from Andrew I yeah what do we so can I ask a question mayor and C Council so let's just say then you do want to I know you want more numbers you want more specific stuff so are we then just to make sure I understand we are looking more at 2027 then for
construction or we're looking at 2026 still Poss or 2026 for construction because I know we're behind the eightball here if we wanted to get bids everything ready to bid by next April or March February February
February March sorry right or or you do a later bid and like open up open up the schedule a little bit on the back side that's I suppose the alternative okay if there's more
time needed so would we like to see Garrett this is kind of what you were mentioning before do we want to see a priority list from Andrew maybe at the next meeting and then we can make a decision well yeah I think a we even from Brian I think it would be helpful if it you know
he says well this pipe is 40 years old and we want to get just kind of a basis I mean I guess I that's all I'm wondering is what what where where's the life cycle with these things what's I mean I can't really determine much I'm not you know I'm trying to be
an investigator which I'm not a public works investigator or a street construction engineer but I mean just the basic you know just okay while this pipe was put in in 1987 and it's a clay pipe and it has a 45 year life cycle and
it's going to be dead in 2027 so you better do something now so I don't that's why I'm making these questions is I don't I don't have any parameter of like okay well let's just go spend 6 million because that's what we should do right because everyone tells you to
spend money whether it's for engineering whether it's for a doctor bill whether it's for so I just I guess I just want a little cont I mean it's not that I don't think it's bad I just would like to know like you know perhaps Perhaps Perhaps the 6 million is too
little maybe there's more I mean what what if the list reveals to us that uh theur Avenue down by 598 has a clay pipe and then 2 Ines of the pipe are lad I mean I just I'm just making up examples is all so that that that's the only
thing that I'm looking at here is like okay I don't know that uh the water shut off Val at Maywood and Second Street is Rusted so they have to walk down 50 yards to turn turn off the next one well Common Sense would say use WD40 well you can't use WD40 on a on a switch whack it
really hard 6et below the ground you know so I mean those are the kind of things that are helpful instead I mean yeah I get a rubric of numbers is you know what what we need I guess I just I'm I just am more of a uh uh some details detailed wanting to be a
detailed decision maker what you're describing is a feasibility report what and what we're looking at is really a planning tool and so usually the first step in in the process is ordering a feasibility report let's look
at this in depth you know I would say we didn't do that though right Brian nope we haven't initiated that process to this point we do we have a list of all of the streets in Eagle a that say you know here's here's when they were
built and here's the kind of expected life so like when we talk about this and residents might say why these roads or why these streets or why not this or why not that we could say hey these are why we're doing it because in the next 10 years these are the next streets that need to get tackled or like I mean do we have any knowledge to that point well
Brian I think you've brought us some of that stuff before in years past of like well this this would be a future you know 2025 reconstruct you guys have haven't you I or am I thinking I of a different thing real I
think what that's this is what we've brought right the capital Improvement plan is that is that tool if I'm understanding right and I guess to answer I mean the city currently does not have a pavement management plan or anything like that
which is all often also a tool to I guess get those ducks in a row if you will uh we have certainly a lot of records that we reference and and we can pull pull that together but no singular
organized tool we haven't been tasked with that can't look at like once these are we can't say okay it's going to be Thomas and blae and Connie next or something like that because we don't have it full out documented per se in one spot no okay if we were to say tonight go
forward get a feasibility study together how quickly would you anticipate we could get that September meeting okay something like that cost right just ballpark if you had to throw it out
there sorry yeah put me on the spot here and put it in writing too while you're at it right right while you're thinking on that could I just ask as far as pursuing the funding is that something we could do concurrently we
know we're going to do something we want the deeps but can we start with that yeah ultimately the Reconstruction projects aren't state or federal funding eligible and so those can be funded you know whenever we Implement and that
funding isn't put in place until we have construction bids in hand okay so that's not that's not pressing what the feasibility might allow you to do then you know is help prioritize those so that if you want to look at uh phasing
it you know we would have more information to decide want to pH it and I can run additional scenarios for funding you know for a first phase or a second phase and we could see what those impacts are so I think that would be really
helpful and can I just ask then um why is Valley Lane separate is that simply because of the water main looping y so that was really part of the project we did back in 2019 ran into some roadblocks there it's
just again one of those Capital Improvement things that was identified as being beneficial okay but doesn't really fall in the bucket of reconstruction got it okay well I thank
you yeah thanks Brian I know lot of information yeah that's all right that's good great I mean it's great to talk about this one more question so if you bring that numbers back and we vote on September that puts us outside of that puts us in 26 definely
right uh again I would I would say there's still a window to uh opening up the schedule I would be comfortable with that you know so so maybe we're bidding up a little bit later and maybe the contractor gets a little bit later start um so we can start in
25 and then go into 26 I regardless of when we do these of looking at where they're at and what's going on I mean you clearly do not want to start a construction project when school is in session you know so I think
you just that'll all timing of that will be dependent on what roads are being done um are we able to get at our August meeting what the cost of a feasibility with study so the council can say yes let's do one and have it going forward
because then we at least would have a plan because I think we've talked about this several times of like how are we knowing what roads we're doing next whether it's resurfacing or full reconstruction and Brian our Council mean is August 5th so um if I understand we just get some pricing for that mean then the council will give approval of
that mean to go ahead with the study I like that approach a lot and just we have a plan to move forward right at the end of the day we're going to spend a lot of money here and I won't be here to get those questions but you guys will get those questions about why
this street when this how why do we need it like point you drive down the street you don't see what's Underground no one else is going down there and spray WD40 on Val right so we have toble to explain what we're doing they don't until Andrew
shows up at the back call correct well one thing too to keep in mind I was at the league of Minnesota cities conference and I sat in on a session where they had I can't remember the city now they had a ton of water main breaks or not water main breaks backups sorry sewer backups and I think um one thing the league of Minnesota City's Insurance
trust was recommending is that you do do exactly have these Capital Improvement plans so you can show that you are taking care of your infrastructure so that when these bad things happen you can say we are trying we're doing within our financial means um we're doing the best we can you can't fix everything at
once but we're at least not ignoring and kicking the can down the road and until it is a really n911 situation just another perspective to keep in mind could we also I I I totally agree with you and I mean these are just you know these are the hot buttons right but
briman when we look at that feasibility study can we look at this and then can we also look at what the cost would be to do a bigger one to say what are the next phases so we can start timing and planning those out for the next three
five 10 years so there is a plan are you talking about like a Citywide type sure plan yeah i' would say it might be good to separate that potentially is there another bucket like this around the corner somewhere Andrew
of the next bad areas or so maybe another way to ask that question too is so once this Pro these projects get done how many years then is what's coming next and how long yeah is it like that five years I think Shen said maybe you take a fiveyear break or maybe you didn't say that I'm not sure but is that something we' be looking at to pay off
The Debt Service in my mind I think a great place to start is a pavement management plan okay that's that's a good indicator of you know that's a a object objective rating of the street right here's I mean you can make a heat
map then you know here's here's what here's what is hot buttons okay now we can look at what are the utilities under here so then so then Andrew can say hey we just built these 20 years ago we got to Overlay this right or hey these
utilities you know I've got Rook problems in this one maybe we should pump the brakes on this and do a full reconstruct in 10 years so is that we would contract with Bolin mink to help us cuz I know our staff is small when you think about our community the
day-to-day stuff I feel like it's something that Andrew and his staff would need help with I don't know how you'd have time to I'm assuming that's pretty labor intensive I don't know what all goes into that yeah it's that's probably again don't hold me to it but it's a
probably 10 $110,000 Endeavor that's something we should look at with the budget possibly this year and start getting maybe we could do that if we could get pricing for that at the August meaning too well that's saying is it's an expense but then you're you're not just doing things on a whim you're not just oh this road has a big hole in it
let's fix it you're we're being strategic with why when and which roads yeah well that dve Tails right into the capital plan right so if we can lay that out and say okay in five years we got to do another 10 blocks and 10 blocks this
year is 6 million doll in five years is going to be 12 so I think it's kind crazy that we don't have a street plan if we don't I I I thought I I swear I saw I've seen a street plan here before in the time no
you're right we've talked about these same streets I think like 10 15 more years I mean it's just that the cans went kicked down the road essentially well no no no I get that but wasn't there didn't I remember Brian ghetto would would or at some I mean this could be six years ago I don't remember you
know it could be I thought there was some and Brian you've been the engineer the whole time but I thought there was something that was like that would be I remember something would come up oh well that that's going to be on the docket for 2020 you might be referring to and
correct me if I'm wrong Andrew um but you guys keep a list of like the different areas around town that you think need to be addressed um kind of right now when you do your annual maintenance um repairs correct maybe that's the list that was something that
I kind of started though that I don't think I've ever seen a list other than like this since I've been here of maybe it was just a comment maybe I think we have a new participant yeah Jenn's time BR Potter had a list that he kind of had
goals that he wanted to use that he would bring to the council at that time so there have been some kind of lists of that nature but there's never been anything that's been structured by the council that I know of where you kind of put things together you know the only comments I have been you know leading goes down the right direction
that you want to do something if you're going to do this you want to do something with staff that's going to be more than just streets and sewers make sure you have any other buildings are going to be part of the process because those are all going to affect your bonding bonding capabilities but you're in a situation where a lot of cities are
where you know there was a number of councils that that wanted to keep money you know the tax rates low keep money down and you know things age and they kind of age at the same time and and you also had a lot of federal funds that came in at least at the beginning they kind of help build a lot of those
structures but they don't maintain the structures yeah so what I'm thinking we need here is a motion for a couple things if someone wants to make it for uh coming back with a feasibility study for this particular first bucket
here so projects 1 through nine right and then um some options for future planning pavement whatever we call it pment project but I agree with you Mr Kenny it's way beyond that but maybe let's take this in chunks right um what
other plans do we need to have so does anyone want to make a motion for those items uh so that we can make decisions then on the September or August about the study and then hopefully September then on the go
forward yeah so what I can do is come back in August with a couple proposals sounds like that's really the next step yeah okay sounds good thank you anyone want to make a
motion I'm still a little fuzzy on the motion so we're just we're just putting a motion together to direct Brian to come back with the a price for the feasibility study okay at the August meeting and
then uh pricing for the pavement management plan p man yeah pavement management plan and then um look to making a decision on go forward at September I I would make that motion to have BR bring back the Fe
feasibility um proposal I lost my word um in in the the pavement management plan proposal that way we can take a look and and start formulating a long-term management plan with Capital numbers attached okay
somebody second that please oh second thank you all right all in favor of the motion say I I I anyone opposed a motion carries thank you thank you Shannon
thank you Brian appreciate it put a lot of work into that thank you Mr Kennedy would you like to grab this seat here this microphone is much better Anthony's not here so you know we do that um if it's a right mayor and city council thanks again you for making
the drive appreciate you guys thank you Public Works director hertman did ask um that we he's running low on water meters ask if you would um consider uh his request this evening so if it's okay we we'll just take a couple minutes let him talk to you about what he needs I didn't hear what it was but sure oh I'm sorry I
need talking to my he um Public Works director Hartman um asked if we could add um pricing for water meters uh so that is in the packet uh he is running low on water meters and um would like to replenish those um so he will talk about
that here next um yeah so I got a price um for 48 water meters um we just I mean I think last year we ordered about that many and we're down
to single digits left so with all the uh Fox Metals development going on we use a bunch of our meters so we need to just replenish them and then it takes a couple days to get them all put together and in working order so Andrew those are distributed to all
the new houses and stuff right yep and then if we have meters that fail like doing testing and or doing our meter reads and stuff we go in and replace them well I think we'll need more water meters so I'll make the motion to purchase the water meters
you remind home the when we go in and replace them the homeowners haven't in the past paid for them it's just new construction and um if they want to add a water meter for like a garden meter things like that they pay for them we've got a a fee so
when they order the water meters and we adjust our fee schedule to be able to like with Troy shom's development he comes and he has to pay for all the new water meters for his development and just a new home construction they have to pay for a a water meter City provides a stock basically yeah yeah yeah I'll
make that motion second we have a motion in a second any further discussion all faor oh sorry one quick question you probably already answered it this is enough to kind of get throy through a second phase and still have a few left over it should
be yeah ready to vote all right all in favor say I I I anyone opposed motion carries got your water meters Andrew all right next item on the agenda um we have our wonderful City attorney
Chris Kennedy here to talk to us um about the cannabis ordinance should we choose to have one I'll I don't know who wants to kick it off here uh Mr Kennedy thanks for being here and for joining us up here at the I almost want to see like the the grown-up table instead of the
kid table or something but well hopefully people can hear you better with this microphone basically where we're at at this point is that obviously the legislature has made uh cannabis legal and they're still in the process of kind of implementing what that looks like the office of Canabis
management isn't nearly as far along as everybody promised it was going to be and we but we they do have some resolutions and stuff that they put together mainly because the legislature at the last session started indicating that they're going to allow license holders who are social Equity applicants
to obtain and acquire those licenses um the definition of social Equity applicants is actually rather broad so there may be a lot of people that ended up qualifying for it though I don't know I think that time period is almost up for for making the applications um but B in in general what
the social Equity applicant is is anybody who's ever been harmed by the marijuana laws may now apply to become a dealer um anybody who may be from a minority uh situation uh minority area or any any of the counties that would be
less in the median income for for the um state of Minnesota uh by some estimates there's probably about 75% of the population of the state qualifies as a social applicant um anybody outside of the Twin Cities so that's kind of the impetus for
the information that you saw coming in and kind of going forward the information that the city needs to do and trying to consider where you want to be and where you want to kind of go forward on things is you need to get an idea of what you want to look at for options for for both retail and
wholesale and and manufacturer and eagle leg whether or not these are going to be options or not um historic Eagle Lake hasn't had a lot of manufacturing necessarily so I don't know that you know would necessarily see that that's top of my mind because wasik will be passing an ordinance that's going to be
allowing that but it kind of goes through with what their normal zoning ordinances as it is they have a industrial Zone that currently allows for pharmaceuticals to be manufactured alcohol to be distilled so it'd be very difficult for them to say no to marijuana now that it's legal um you
don't necessarily have something of that nature on the rec ational use or the commercial sales of it we'll have some options regarding what we want to do to try to limit sales you're probably going to be fortunate if you wish not to have
that by having Mano uh in the area because they do not seem like they're going to be limiting much one of the things would require is that the county uh the cities have to allow at least one license applicant if you have a population of
12,500 or less um but the some language in there that indicates that if your county overall has enough sufficient number to kind of match all the population for the county that smaller cities can ban it if they want to which is a little bit unusual quite frankly
the the marijuana law itself is unusual the city also has the option of having a uh City dispensary if you wanted to the same way you could have a city Liquor Store it'd be similar to City municipal liquor store with a big exception being
you'd still have to allow one other licy in the in the city so you could have a exclusive Monopoly unlike marijuana and tobacco the way the law is written it talks about minimums you can do more you can be far more lenient you can't be
more restrictive where in alcohol and tobacco we can be more restrictive in fact in you know North B was the first one in the state to make it illegal to have tobacco products until you were 21 one of your under for a period of
time you had to be 18 to buy tobacco in Minnesota North banko was was the first one to make it 21 so and the only reason for the illustration on that is that usually when we talk about these type of products the law states that you can be more restrictive on they want to stay
most you know for example on alcohol licenses we could you know theoretically your decid that you could limit alcohol sales to only a municipal Lo store and Municipal bar if you wanted to not have another ones outside of the city the legion would still would qualify as a
federal you know fraternity but but otherwise he could limit that I'm not saying it's a good idea it it's just you know marijuana in particular the legislature has kind of done things differently so that's kind of the background of where we're at so I'll try to answer any questions that you have
then if then it's just a matter whether or not the council feels that you're in a position where you want to go towards direction of looking at some potential ordinances or if you think we'd rather wait to see what Mano and g county does and that later can I ask a question too so we
have until the end of the year to or January 1st to get an ordinance in place right unless they extend things because they don't have the final we can continue on with the moratorium because there state law that allows the moratorium to in these particular this particular case to extend past the
normal time we would have a PO Mortor otherwise a typical moratorium that the city would put them twice we want to be good for you so I I expect that we may have something a little bit more only because can management has been so has had so little ability to really move
things forward the way they were supposed to I was also at the mayor and clerks meeting in um Mapleton was it a week ago or two weeks ago I can't remember now and John con with BL Earth County was there talking about um the Cannabis ordinance uh or the guide um
that was put out by office of cannabis management and he said that they probably wouldn't be talking about it yet until this fall um and I just mentioned we were going to have a work session to start talking about it but I think the other thing we have to think about too is you know you can have an option to have the county I schs manage
everything but then it limits because if you look at our area with Mano could take all the licenses and maybe that's not in the best interest of cities if you do in fact want to have um a retailer like that in your community right I mean that's that's the political decision that the council is going to
have what direction we want to see the city kind of going on that um in blur County for better or worse things are going to be pushed by B you know the county is going to be kind of stuck because again the legislation kind of talks about being you the way the
legislation works is that blur County could say that we're going to limit the number of licenses to I think they'd have to do five or six and say no more than that uh and if man came in and said we're going to off for 10 um they couldn't prevent that kill from offering
so is that so those license are for people that would be having a basically like a marijuana store like having a MGM Liquor store right so there's yeah similar to having mg liquor store so the to back of places that we so there's a limit of only like so you were just
saying kind of there's going to be probably a limit of x number of dispensaries per number of people in the population right wait liquor licenses work exactly that way you know that I can calculate by the
size of the city of Eagle like your population and determine the maximum number of lices that you can put out there you can't have 100 yeah what's that you couldn't go out and have 2,000 liqu you guys are you would be limited to something less than 10 yeah okay you know again there's certain organizations
we take away we've never had to take a look at it I know that's 12 in was because we did run up to hitting the max okay at that point um for marijuana they flip the statute the statute doesn't say any maximum number you know you can you
want it put a limit on the minimum number put a minimum in instead of a maximum so so you have a minimum theoretically is one you have to allow one dispensary in town but there could be 2,783 dispensaries there could be
yeah so where where the Restriction is going to come in it has to come in from the city it's going to have to come in from the county and what makes sense for those kind of restrictions whether it does or doesn't um there's also another going out there that will be interesting that talks about individuals growing for
not their own use which is perfectly legal right now but basically doing what you know like a farm I would or or having a a food Cottage business well yeah basically if you're growing it uh whether or not it would be a farm product that you can sell and quite frankly I think they'll lose on that but
they are going to take that up to the Supreme Court at some point here in the next year I've heard very little from the community about this overall I think if you ask people there's very strong
opinions but I haven't heard it you know just organically have not heard much um my thought when I have heard this before is going back to people don't so much care that there's a store selling it they don't want to smell it and they don't want the kids around it they don't want to you know walk into
the gas station have to walk through clouds of pot smoke I don't know I I I think those are very valid concerns a lot of those we can deal with the same way we with yeah yeah so we could do with the
smoking and the rest the other concerns that the city's going to have you know and where you may see that is if you have Street dances where you know kind of consumption at the streets yeah those get pretty wild well but you see plenty of other products out there that were going to
be um that that are aren't going to be that small type of things so yeah what are the other things be very legitimate for this Council to decide and I haven't really thought about it until earlier today because a different question came up about the election Comm as you ARG get to the point where you're at election season you know you can make a
strong argument that this is more appropriate to be dealt with by the new Council when they come in and figure out how that looks rather than putting something in place prior to that or like you said you really don't it's the type of thing that we could divide on community that you know running for
office you know decide that makes more sense political season I I just feel like this is going to be this is something the community is really going to care about one way or the other there's going to be strong
feelings I would really like to encourage some kind of Engagement whether it's an open house where we get opinions or a survey or something there definitely would have to be a public hearing for the ordinance yeah I mean
hey folks like do we people really really want this here well by law you can have one right right but you can restrict it with your zoning code not restrict it I'm sorry restrict you have you can have a minimum of one and you could restrict it just say we could have we're only going to all out five right
right you would be required by population to have one you can restrict by zoning where that one would be located but we can't restrict it as much as we can restrict let's say an adult bookstore so there's some options to be more or
less restrictive right so I don't I just feel like we need some public input on this like absolutely um more than just hey we're going to have a public hearing you get a couple people but like a real engagement and say CU I don't want to see the entire town come
after for y'all with pitchforks whatever decision gets made um because they didn't realize just like what was going to happen yep I would say we could almost like what Chris said maybe wait to see what what happens with Mano and and the rest of Blue Earth County and
then just see and just wait and see what you know that that will be what next year Chris it should be next year the county should be starting to take a look at things uh certainly we all see the Free Press information is coming from there you can get an idea what they're looking at when they're looking to move
things forward um I'll certainly let Jennifer know when North M looking to do things we'll see like going to go forward like Crystal have started doing you have some time Aon hasn't really moved anything forward at this point um and I like a lot of what what you are
saying there Norton my my concern on that is historically you get the groups that have an active interest on something or or strongly opposed or strongly not and you don't necessarily get other people to do that and you have that whole experience with the Motorsports where you have a very it
doesn't necessarily reflect what does sometimes matter how you get that there were you here when we talked about spraying for mosquito I would and then the next month when we didn't spray for mosquitoes I I was I was not there I have been here when youve had had
meetings about sidewalks yeah sidewalks not a to their property so on on that I I don't think we should wait you know just get those process started right I'd i' I'd even rather be ahead a little bit ahead of
blue of the county the county or or the city in our discussion because I think there's certain things that we could answer pretty quickly you know do we want retail or not do we want manufacturing or not you know those and that would limit what you know but you
know it'd be nice to have something in place or framework in place before we get the first applicant and that's something that you can do I mean I could put together a proposed ordinance for you guys to put on your Council agenda as a discussion item not something to
act on you're looking at this and see if that generates look at the kind of thought that you're looking at and then once you have that you have a discussion item if you want to have a you know a informational meeting or or whatever type of public forum you want you can do
that as many time I mean the requirement for the ordinances be do once there's nothing that requires it only be once no I I I'd like that approach just because yeah um you know most people don't like a blank paper right so if we have something to react to a proposed you
know then we can reiterate go through many iterations of that like you said if you like I will put together a proposed ordinance I not sure I'll get to you before August 5th most likely I will but you can put on your agenda probably for the next meeting after that certain
discuss I'd look to the rest of the council if that would be appropriate or not you know as long as there's the understanding from everybody on the council that you can should feel free to modify make additions or corrections to it the other fre can I just say I think
the buffer guidelines we all we've looked at that the th000 feet of a school 500 feet of a daycare residential treatment or attraction within a public park ball field a baseball field yeah I mean can we just say public park I don't know that people have walk in their dogs
want to sit there and you know I I don't know I mean do the buffer guidelines make sense to everybody I mean I they do to me no I I agree I like that you know that would be this is what we're talking about let's talk about it we either need to add a
bigger buffer take a buffer away um but that's where we'd get the input to say yeah you know well then the question with the buffer is the buffer now is not maybe what it's going to look like in 8 10 years one day care center goes out or in home goes out that changes it or if that goes in now that's a really an in
home can't go in there now because it's too close you know so like I'd almost look at saying here's where it would need to go to fit it you know could it could we say it that way keep it in the business district where or a certain District area to where in especially in home daycare
specifically can come and go as they want and they're not having to worry about what I don't want is a neighbor that has an inhome business of this and now cars are coming and going when it's not in the area you know they could do it in home and maybe we can't regulate that
but some of those pieces is in home businesses are not uncommon postco but this could really blow up depending on how much advocacy that person has right and I think that's part of the ordinance right so we're going to allow retail but it's only going to be
here we're going to allow manufacturing here um have we are now but that's not that'll change what I'm visualizing is if we're all good with the the buffer guidelines right I want to see a map that says here's the vom th feet out
here's a 500 feet out over here what's even left where this could maybe work and then then we it all has to be commercial right unless it's private use it doesn't all have it can't be residential zoning right now I don't think it would
be an acceptable business in a year zoning obligation but I will take a look at that okay so so you do have some businesses that can go into residential you know home based businesses and stuff so I'll take a look at that portion of it okay um the only thing with the buffer that sometimes we have language
in there regarding parts which it makes the only problem with that would end up being things like Tater days or other other things you may be looking at doing as a community where you may not necessarily want to have the B um you may you may want to have it but
that's those are always the discussions are a little bit different with marijuana than other sub yeah well I look forward to seeing the Ordinance do we need a formal motion for this I think no you don't need a formal motion there's really nothing to go forward as long as I got you guys the
permission to go forward with it I'll put together an ordinance where we kind of look at allowing it with buffer zones did you ever expect that that was the kind of thing you'd be drafting when you got into this this is not as strange as some of
the other things iend drafted I actually thought this is much better I understand this much more than having to do natural Lawns and ornamental grasses ornamental grasses that's the one that's confusing because that's not even natural well another thing too we'll have to
keep in mind and I don't know what um uh City attorney Chris would recommend but you know talking with Blue Earth County and on the enforcement I know that's separate from our ordinance probably except for violations or inspections um but you know I that's another question have they had enough time with all this
stuff being handed down or laws um implemented to be able to know how to even deal with the yeah you know managing this in the community yeah that's the part that's also really quirky about the statute is that all the
licensing funds are going to go into the office of Canada this management and they're going to be used for cannabis managements whatever they need and any other resources are going to be going into grants for to cities basically for enforcement or to Grants for increasing
marijuana business but none of them are going to go into the the general fund so if it if it blows up the way people think that it may blow up office camage man is going to have a lot of money that's sitting there with no real purpose so they might be looking at
Grants sounds like the government know it sounds like why we have high education cost that they can manage things differently oh my gosh don't get me started all right does now have the most liberal marijuana La in the country much more so than well that's something to
get excited [Music] about what it does yeah we have the most expansive and and we're the only one that doesn't make any money on it well I yeah I just have to wonder there's so much like there was a legislator that
had a medical marijuana card a few years back that also had a permit to carry didn't realize his permit was going to get revoked the moment he got his medical marijuana card yeah there there's going to be lots of that the other big problem that we have is you know if the city truly was thinking
about having a municipal Marijuana store THC store we'd have to have a discussion over what that would mean for federal funding it's still illegal Federal and so you think there are there's a real strong question is if you you allow that for a city whether or not the feds would say no go to you know
Federal Road funding and other things I'm really going to be sad that I'm not here oh well thank you we can bring you back incl I might just come and hang out in the crowd yeah all right um next item on our our
agenda tonight unless is there any other comments or thoughts just thank you Chris appreciate all your time with that thank you new territory and have some pizza please um last item on our agenda tonight uh is approve the updated job descriptions for administrative Clerk
and Community Development coordinator and commence hiring process all right mayor and city council um just want to let you know we did have a meeting with the Personnel committee uh we reviewed the job descriptions um took a little time to digest process you know um everything happens so quickly um got two
notices of resignation you know literally within a matter of like 24 hours and just after taking time to process it Carrie and I have been um you know managing that position more so Carrie than me um she has to carry the um heavier burden with stuff um with the
utility billing side um but I think it's given us a chance too to really kind of look at what do we need from our positions because this position the administrative clerk position is so um valuable to us so that in important so that we can get our job done um and then
also Community Development coordinator uh tomorrow is Olivia's last day um and so then those responsibilities will then fall back on um me um as I was doing those prior to Olivia um we created that position so we did make a few changes to
the job descriptions that are in the packet nothing significant really just more kind of wanting to update things just doing a review um and so the next step in the process would be to uh approve the updated job descriptions and
then also um authorize the hiring process to commence and just to give you a quick overview um we will post using like the city's website Facebook page League of Minnesota City's website indeed anything else that Minnesota Valley Council governments might um have
identified as another option um we'll for sure um advertise for a minimum of two weeks and I I just recommend we just leave them um open until filled so if we start getting some applications in we that two weeks passes we can U meet with the Cog and start reviewing scoring
applications um and schedule interviews um and then I would like to request that the city's Personnel committee sit in on the interviews both those positions are very important to the city and how we function so I'd like to have their input as well if they'd be willing to um and
also have the deputy city clerk sit in on those interviews as well since she works closely with uh both those positions so right now I just have the 2024 pay range because we don't know what the 2025 pay range is going to be at this time um so no changes with that
um and I have those listed in there and um unless there's any questions I would just ask the city council to make a motion to um approve the updated job descriptions and then um authorize the commencement of the hiring process what was changed or updated so U
very minor things um here I can walk through and kind kind of um so really more so on the administrative clerk position just kind of going through the essential functions and the um just making sure that they're actually
reflective of what the position does so um I'm just trying to think here manage could help managing the rent or do or chicken licenses that would manage
that or a new thing that we added was um uh now that we are Contracting for law enforcement Services we no longer have the eagle a police department to do the nuisance letters um so that person you know upon given direction would uh send
out the template letter that I have drafted and then um manage the tracking system and and so forth so I mean really just kind of minor stuff but just kind of cleaning it up um and then was like instead of distributes it was Distributing or dist you know like yeah
housekeeping assisting with uh rental licensing process as necessary or kind of adding those um things but um were there any like greater responsibilities added so those are some of the examples of things we added to try to take the
load off um nothing outside the realm that you would say would bounce it up a level no absolutely not tasks within we piece as whatever I ESP depends on the that in
might be very qualified but have two totally different personalities with how much they can handle and how done and then how busy the office that day that I think another great example is you know like Excel right so if somebody
comes with a lot more Excel experience and might be able to take some things off of more things off of Jennifer it's opened up a lot more to allow that to kind of happen great yeah and I just want to say that you know I know in the past has kind of been tossed around
about do we really need a full-time person I can tell you that yes we 100% do because um just in the last two weeks I feel like my work has been sheld because I can't do my job and answer phone calls and if we only had somebody here for 20 hours a week that's going to
fall on Carrie I and Carrie's not getting her work done so we're it's really it's a lot we're going to be fine but it it is a lot and then and the other thing too is you know we talked with Personnel committee is just trying to you know coming up with a lists of things to help the person who does have
that position to um these are some things that you need we're going to have a checklist and we want these things done um if there is downtime but keep in mind you you really can't predict some days some mornings I've just back toback phone calls people lined up at the front counter then other days the phone doesn't ring till 10 o'cl but then you
know it just it's hard and that's why that position I think I think you have to be careful it's delicate you don't want to pile a ton of responsibilities on that position because you you have to keep in mind that that position is going to be interrupted a lot and if you have work that requires a lot of attention to
detail or or research or um quiet it it would be very difficult for them to complete some of those tasks I think that's just it's kind of a we just have to monitor it and um you know just make sure the person stays busy but just know that we can't get by without somebody there 40 hours a week
trust me yeah g Echo that as well I I've had the joy of coming up here and borrowing the internet a couple times in the last couple weeks and I can hear how much that phone is ringing and just how many people really come in here it's it's a
lot it is a lot until you watch it you don't even realize it's it's kind of wild but um I think great work going through lifting shifting organizing and seeing what more we can get gain what we can
shift around um can I mention one other thing too one thing I've noticed not to interrupt you but something I think is really important to keep in mind too the more new development we get with Troy shom's development we are getting an influx of new people moving in and and that's good
for the city but it also it it's been a lot recently that we've had and that's going to keep continuing so you just think about over time that job with processing utility everything it just gets a little bit more and more and more so just I know you guys believe us and and um stand behind staff's
recommendation I just want to throw that out there from what I've just noticed in the last two weeks but I apologize this is going to be slightly off topic but I remember we were at a mayor's and Clerk's meeting not too long ago and I believe it was the city manager for Lakeville oh y y and he was talking on
succession planning Y and how incentivizing employees like if they stayed on if like they gave a Year's notice or a year and a half you know that there were incentives for giving us a lot of warning yes we yeah I know we
have it right um that didn't seem to help us in this recent situation no because I think it's a different type of a situation we had um you know um uh Community Development
cor is pursuing education not taking another job the other one is taking a different job but not at retirement age I think it's more kind of geared towards those that are going to be retirement perhaps longer term or longer time employees and they're thinking okay I'm
thinking of retiring maybe five years I think our program is just that is you know anchored in that retirement realm so if you know that you're going to retire at 65 if you tell us you know what when you're 64 we're going to right right right Y is there not s
harm and exploring the possibility of doing uh like not just retirement but if you're leaving how about a month's notice instead of two weeks so that it's you know you got a little more time to adjust or uh allow for a transition like what if we' started that hiring process
and been able like the retirement I know obviously it's probably not going to be as effective but we talked about that actually with the Cog and we thought in theory that sounds great but that in reality they're probably not going to give you that or they're going to any
enforcement when they have two weeks that they actually have to come back the next day if they have if they have vacation leave they can use their vacation so if you say hey we you need to give a month's notice two weeks is you know good practice but even if I was to say here's two weeks notice but not
show up tomorrow they got lassification they're incentivized to give a longer notice Mr Kennedy to answer your question the answer is no you can't force them to come in yeah so I mean if you're leaving for another job they're going to say I don't need the extra money I I'm going to this other job for
right it' be purely incentive you know to the degree we could we could put some Financial penalties in there that we could go after them for but you run the risk of having an employee here who doesn't want to be here that age either probably not going to do a good job or they may actively be causing problems
for then you have damage control that have deal yeah no I wouldn't I wouldn't think of like enforcement I was just thinking more of like incentives like you know twoe notice no incentive or whatever like 3E notice they get an extra $500 because they're staying around
helping to transition or something you may want to take a look at and they're doing this for police departments and for Eagle Lake historically would work for City administrator is whether or not you want to have programs in place that incentivize the officers and people that you have with step UPS or other bonuses
for being here for a certain period of time I love that idea Jennifer has been here for quite a while but you know I I can't remember the names of all your city ministers that in the first one we haven't got the lifetime so there would be ways to give her a bonus
because she always tries to talk us out of any discussion in that direction something you might you can go ahead and do longevity pay and like I said there's certain bonuses for the officers to try to keep them just because we're in a place where it's very difficult to have police
officers or keep them like Public Works we do things like Public Works we don't see it as much we see it a little bit when cities have utilities they to do it for utility Lin but I have not seen as much public works but there's nothing legally speaking that would say you could do it for one Department you can't do it for all departments car's like
this is sounding great yes I think we [Laughter] forlo ready I can't tell you how much we value Carrie I mean no I mean honest to
Pete right now if we didn't have you Carrie we would not be able to get through us because I can't do my job she's in here on her day off we can't do all that so yeah it's we really appreciate you Carrie absolutely what I would say is if we could take that topic and when the Personnel committee meets
regarding the interviews we can have that discussion on what what to be creative and not creative on cuz when we're talking about people leaving they're going to leave whether are supposed to give two weeks or a month and frankly being in that business a lot of times when people are leaving for another job you don't want them there much longer than that cuz yes you have
the transition period but you also have I mean I just had it for when that's going back to school and it's like stuff is only getting half done or relaying stuff to the customers and stuff is not fully there and then it's not they're not they might be seeming to go out strong but in the in the customer or
resident's eyes it's not the same I defer to the Personnel Committee just for thought because but I like your idea of rewarding um longtime employees such as Carrie who has really um been very dedicated to the city and always how
many times have you been through this s carry four or five times I mean no more than oh no more than now the city m is like the City attorney so it's it's a lot and she's never got extra I don't think it's going to change either I think turnover is just the new
like what it is where I'd like to see too if we can really incentivize people to stay yep you know I'll talk to the Cog too and see if they have any ideas we can talk about the personel committee one of the things the personel committee should also consider is whether or not there are positions that you want to see a little bit more turnover certainly not
every six months but the community development director particularly in a college town like this may not be the worst place to have somebody come and be there for four years and get some new somebody new coming in um I used to have that conversation with with the chief here for
Police Department be very active what you want is you have a solid sheep that's been there for quite a while but it you know whether your like P you Del leg you know would cost everything else if you're going have a good Department you're going be the young officers you know regular rate you know you may want
them for four five years but if they're staying there longer than that that's almost more problematic than it's you're going and I don't know you know and certainly Jennifer can help with that but you when I look at the community development director you North B Hill like f there forever probably should be
but there is some benefit to you know smaller account some turn over and getting people that may be qualified and using it as a steing stone it's not always a bad thing no no I just it's not it's never convenient
but it's not and that's that's the discussions we've had we wish them all the best so it's not that we're glad they're gone but it that's where we took a hard look at what the job descriptions and what we want that person to be doing so that we can take this and run with it instead of wish we did something different if anything it just um
reaffirms the importance of both of those positions now we can say we went into the Community Development cor position is a new position do we really need this absolutely we need it and same with um CH bilding CLK 40 hour a week job so I mean that's one you kind of look at the silver lining in it okay
I'll make a motion to approve the job updated job descriptions for Community Development coordinator and for um the at uh the office position and starting the hiring process and starting the hiring
process I'll second that's go all right we have a second from someone um any further discussion all in favor on the motion please say I I I anyone opposed motion
carries um that is everything that is under our agenda tonight would I want to make a motion to adjourn I'll make the motion to adjourn the meeting second one second thank you any further discussion all in favor of adjournment say I I
Thank youbody E Pizza oh my gosh I already had was watching watch that's just endearing yeah I do enough endearing