United States. Okay. Would you like to do the roll call, please? Mr. Steinberg here. Mrs. Rooridge here. Mr. White here. Mr. Lewis here. Mayor Whittington here. Like to open it up for public comments
if there's anything that's not on the agenda. Step up to the mic. We got three minutes. So, looks like everybody's here for something that's on the agenda then. All right. I would
Moving on. Um, look to approve the agenda, but it sounds like we have a couple last minute entries. Administrator, uh, yes, mayor and city council, um, after the agenda was already, um, put together and sent out, I had, um, uh,
communication with two residents that asked for three items to be added to the agenda. Uh, one is to talk about um prohibiting glass bottles at the park or parks um the pond at Lake Eagle Park.
And then also just an update on where we're at with Regency and um nuisance complaints. Thank you, Council People. Any other additions?
Right. All right, I'd look for a motion to approve the agenda. A motion. I'll second. All right. Approval and and a second. All in favor? I. All oppose.
All right. Approval of the minutes from the last council meeting. Any adjustments or corrections? Look for a motion to approve the minutes. Motion. I'll second. Second. All in favor? I.
All opposed. All right. Consent agenda. Is there anything anyone wants to pull out of the consent agenda to discuss further? All right. I'll look for a motion to approve the consent agenda.
Motion. Second. A second. Any more discussion? All in favor? I All oppose. All right. Next one on the agenda is the annual
SWPP meeting and opportunities for public inputs. Thank you. My name is Kelly Herendall. I'm an environmental scientist with ISG. Here to talk about the city's MS4 program and the SWIP. Here with Julie Blackburn as well.
Tiny arrows. So the NS4 program is a municipal separate storm sewer system and it's regulated uh by the EPA under their NPDES program. So cities with urbanized areas determined by the US census that's how Eagle Lake qualifies being close to
Mano as a metropolis. Other MS4s are determined by MPCA policy and criteria. So under the EPA program, it monitors industrial storm water, construction storm water as well as municipal storm water. And we are having this meeting because
it is an annual requirement of the MS4 permit. It's also an an opportunity for interested residents to learn about the city's efforts under the six minimum control measures as well as received comments from the public on the city's storm water program.
So the problem um and the reason MS4 um is a thing is of pollution. So um you know you have debris running through the streets, you have storm water that's carried over the surface. Uh the MS4 program helps regulate what is happening
in cities and other um regulated MS4s. So storm water is the leading cause of pollution according to the EPA. It's rain or snow melt uh flows over land. It does not infiltrate into the earth. It carries everything that it picks up, garbage, debris, fertilizer, other
pollutants. I think there's sometimes a misconception that our storm drains lead to water treatment plants. That's not the case. They go straight to our rivers and our waterways. And under the MS4 permit, there are six minimum control measures. So the first two, public participation and
involvement, everything including outreach and education. Number three is elicit discharge detection and elimination or IDE. Four, construction site storm water runoff control. Five, post construction storm water management. And six, pollution prevention. And then good
housekeeping for municipal operations. So MCMS one and two uh include the annual SOP assessment, this public meeting, and all reporting. It's an opportunity for uh the city to provide educational information on pet waste,
elicit discharge, deicing salt, other storm water issues, things that are included in those uh seasonal newsletters that the city sends out. It also includes a public involvement activity. So, there's pictures from the previous storm drain stenciling events as well as this year's Earth Day
cleanup. And here's just a spreadsheet and education tracker of previous activities throughout the years, including um Everything that's talked about, the newsletters, our public meeting like we're having today, and then the public involvement activity. So everything gets
tracked and reported to the MPCA. Under MCM3, the IDE, it includes the elicit discharge ordinance, um other pollutant ordinances, talks about inspection procedures, emergency and enforcement response procedures. It also
includes training for all field staff on IDE recognition and reporting. And every three years all program staff meet to review their responsibilities. Four and five regarding construction site storm water talks about the erosion and controls erosion and sediment
control ordinances uh water quality volume treatment considering infiltration for construction sites reviewing site plans and reports of non-compliance. Um also requires IDVE training. It focuses on priority inspection maps
throughout the city and all structural storm water BMPs not owned or operated by the city. And this is just a map of the wellhead protection area within the city of Eagle Lake. So the pink area is the emergency response area. So infiltration systems
are prohibited in that area since drinking water is taken from that area. So MCM6 is pollution prevention and good housekeeping. It uh including includes mapping in in an inventory of all facilities that contribute storm water
discharge. It inspects structural BMPPS, documents those findings, implements BMPPS to reduce storm water discharge, implements other BMPs to reduce impacts of deicing salt, and it also includes documenting elicit discharge investigation findings and removal
activities. So, the audit was performed of the city's MS4 program and it is in compliance with requirements and I'll open the floor to any questions or public comment on the SWIP any questions.
Could I add something, Mayor Whittington, city council? Um there was some discussion at a recent um storm water meeting that um public works director Andrew Hartman and public works supervisor Mike Mlan and I attended where they talked or the PCA talked
about possibly reviewing um smaller um MS4s such as Eagle Lake and I think I gave you guys an update maybe a couple meetings ago. Um we are still waiting to hear what their final determination is on whether or not we are going to remain in MS4 or not. So, we submitted our
application and we're going to continue assuming we're in MS4 until we hear differently, but thought this might be a good time to give you guys an update on that. Were there any findings that you guys went through on this audit that you recommended for us to to start doing for
this next year, right? It's yearly, you know, review, right? Yep. Everything was up to par. So, Oh, perfect. We don't often hear that. What's that? We don't often hear that. Oh. So perfect. Well, we've come a long way and we
appreciate all the help and support from ISG. We're in a good place now. Thank you. That being said, we look forward to being taken off this list. Any any other questions or anybody from the public have any questions about the
program? Perfect. Thank you. You're welcome. All right. Do we need to have to any No action is needed on that. Um and then you can move on into the next item for presentation and then we'll
hear from um Kelly again about storm water in our community resilience final report. Perfect. You again. Perfect. I will pull that up in just a moment. Now, while we're waiting for that, is what's the difference then between the MS4 program and this program?
So, the MS4 program is technically regulated by the EPA, administered by the MPCA. This is a grant administered by the MPCA. So, yeah, you're legally required for the MS4 program and then your storm water community resilience
grant. Perfect. Okay. So, diving into this grant, we'll give an overview of the grant and then we'll talk about the three purposes and tasks for the grant which includes the flooding model, flooding modeling, the vulnerability assessment and then the
compost site feasibility. So, the storm water and community resilience grant, it's administered by the MPCA, funded by the MPCA. It's focused on planning for increased resilience with any of three focus areas under storm water, community resilience
or wastewater. So the grant for the city of Eagle Lake focuses on vulnerability assessment with hy hydraologic and hydraulic modeling for future conditions, a feasibility study on design alternatives, vulnerability assessment to identify community assets
at risk from extreme weather, as well as adaptation planning. So the grant was awarded last year in June and it has three primary purposes. To understand and mitigate flood impacts identified through future climate and buildout scenarios. Implement a
communitywide climate vulnerability assessment to envision solutions for the community assets most at risk from the extreme weather and evaluate the feasibility for a compost site to increase resiliency for the community and storm water infrastructure. So under those three purposes we have
the three main tasks. So the first one is to update or we did update I should say the storm water drainage study. So we converted the existing model to an updated software which included new development and uh mapped existing flooding extents. We worked with an
advisory group to develop future climate scenarios and then modeled those scenarios and we identified vulnerable infrastructure and develop mitigation plans. Under task two, the climate and communitywide vulnerability assessment, we conducted an inventory of all public assets. We collected community and
stakeholder feedback to identify any possible risks and opportunities to enhance um open spaces. And we presented solutions for each site to enhance resiliency against future weather events. And then the third task was the compost site feasibility. We were
looking at feasible locations to use for community yard waste. uh considering factors such as the flood plane, any shoreline, prevailing winds, commercial industrial zoning, and other possible nearby uses. Um we conducted the feasibility study of the selected site
with layout options. And then this compost facility would aid in reduced pollution to storm water and solid waste systems while increasing access to soil amendments. So, our project schedule, we launched the website and community survey last
fall as well as updated the existing city storm water model. Over the winter, the climate and community buildout scenario models were completed. We also formed a stakeholder advisory committee. We had our first open house in March. We
finished the plan draft in May and also held a second open house to review that draft plan. And then we finalized the plan in June. So for community engagement, the first thing we did was we launched the website in the survey. Um this was to see what
community concerns were and also see what the current knowledge of residents were regarding climate change. And we did this through an online format with an interactive map. And then we held two open houses. So, we displayed the flooding models that were created, possible locations for the compost
facility, as well as the public space assessments to receive feedback from community members. And then our stakeholder committee, we had four meetings with five members. We reviewed recommendations and information and we identified potential areas for concern
and determined solutions. So the results of the community engagement website, there were three primary concerns that were identified. Number one being negative health negative human health impacts, air quality decline, and water quality
decline. And then some suggestions that were included by community members was to ensure safe drinking water, address flooding issues, and share fact-based education on climate issues. Four themes were identified off of the
results. Uh water, climate resilience, and environmental sustainability. Uh residents wanted to see concerns addressed and they showed support for solutions for that theme. They were looking um to reduce impacts for storm water management, flooding, and green infrastructure.
Residents also valued public spaces and amenities that Eagle Lake has to offer. And they wanted to seek expansion of the parks and public spaces. and they there was support for sustainability for climate resilience for waste management and other public engagement initiatives. And now I'll turn it over to Julie to
talk about the flooding modeling. Okay. So what we had done is a few years ago we completed uh what's called an XP swim model of the city. Um, and that model software is no longer supported. And so we converted that model over to
an ICM model, uh, integrated catchment model. Um, and then we updated all of the information with any new developments that have been built since that original model was created. Uh, we also looked at, uh, verifying all the
existing data. Um and then we um calibrated the model just making sure that what we were seeing as results in the model made sense with what we were experiencing on the landscape. And so we had done some drone flights last year uh
when there was the flooding experienced in the city. And we used kind of the extents of flooding uh that we saw in the drone flights to calibrate the model um as far as where was the uh flooding occurring and how long was that flooding
occurring. Um we have a whole bunch of data that was included. Uh it is very upto-date, very technical. Um we also uh got landowner testimony. Um worked on some site visits just to make sure what we were seeing was represented in the
model. Um and then we looked at um proposed models scenarios. And so um some of the key things on this were we wanted to model future climate conditions. So we worked with a group of u people that are very knowledgeable
about climate change and and developed kind of an anticipation of uh future climate uh and rain event intensities. Uh which it turns out that um So we modeled to 2050 and uh our current
precipitation patterns compared to 2050 uh basically increase the uh rain intensity about 8%. And along with that so we looked at future flooding uh just on the basis of uh changing rainfall intensity but we also modeled as if the
city was fully built out according to all of the zoning that's in place. So, we wanted to basically demonstrate a worst case scenario 50 years in the future so that you can start planning now for the type of um storage that you
might need or or storm water holding that you might need uh to reduce potential future impacts. And so what we have here is a map of uh the existing 100red-year floods. You can see u the areas in red are the high flood duration
severity. Most of those are thankfully not where there's any uh buildings uh no uh critical infrastructure but there are certainly some areas that are at risk for critical infrastructure but most of the residential and business areas are
not in flooding areas although we know that there's certain pockets and residences that that do experience impacts from flooding. This is the full buildout uh scenario with climate change over 100 years. Um
more severity, still not a lot of residences that are impacted, no businesses impacted, but we see a longer duration of those flood impacts. And if you look at the south uh southern part uh actually past the city limits uh
where that road um often over tops, uh that's one of the areas we looked at. We looked at uh really the eastern or excuse me western portion of the city where there's a lot of flooding that takes place and uh major retention of
those flood waters as well as rapid movement of those flood waters from that uh this the western portion to the southwestern portion of the city. So the solutions that we came up with um
we had three potential solutions. We um looked at a number of different ideas, but really brought forward just three recommendations. One of them is a wetland uh to the west of the city. It's partially within city limits, partially in uh Blue Earth County uh limits uh but
creating about a 50 acre wetland. It it would be a restored wetland. It was originally a wetland uh but has since been drained and is used for agricultural purposes. The second recommendation was to raise that county road south of town in order to reduce over
topping, provide for uh safe uh vehicular traffic and um um also increase the storage of that wetland in the south area. The third recommendation is actually um south of uh Eagle Park
and it is to meander a stream. Uh it doesn't provide a lot of flood reduction benefits, but what it does do is slows down the flow to reduce the erosivity and the amount of flooding um rate that happens downstream.
So we did some mockups and these are not uh concepts that are ready to develop into um engineering plans. They certainly need more refinement but this would be looking at the landscape. What kind of a wetland um footprint uh would
be on the west end of town? uh the requirements for that. Um just as a note, we did send the draft report to the county engineer, county planning and zoning, county solid waste, uh the SWCD, and a few other folks just to get their
comments. Uh the um uh Blue Earth County Planning and Zoning got back to us right away and said that they have been eyeing this for restoration for a long time. They were very excited about uh this coming forward as a recommendation and have started thinking about how do they
work to secure funding to do that kind of a thing. Um so this is the solution that provides overall the most impact to reducing flooding within the city. The second solution this is raising uh county road 27. Um it would provide for
more storage in that wetland area. Uh but also um on the extreme flood events it would increase the flow then through that uh over downstream. Uh so there's multiple benefits there, but again for
safety uh purposes, having uh that road uh be accessible in those flooding events uh would be a prime safety concern. And then the third solution is just meandering uh that stream again to slow the flow, reduce the erosivity of those
flows. Uh we also believe that if this was to take place, the city could probably extend uh maybe some of the park features, trails down into this area and provide some uh additional benefits to the community.
Do you want to take a look from here? Okay. So, with that, I'm going to turn it back over to Kelly. So, I'll talk about the vulnerability assessments that were completed. So, first we looked at uh possible vulnerable populations within the city
within within the city of Eagle Lake. Um being that Eagle Lake is a smaller town, there's not uh great available data. Most of it's based on census blocks and census tracks. So, we took what we had to see how demographic characteristics are distributed throughout the
community. So, on the map, uh blue is most resilient within the community with pink being least resilient. And so this map was based on age, income, and race within the community. So we assessed all seven public assets
for the city of Eagle Lake as you can see on this map here. And this is what we assess. So I know it's hard to read, but the criteria we assessed included are there accessible amenities in the park? Is there accessible parking? Are there um areas
of seating? Is there shelter? Is there shade? Is there drinking water? Um any tree canopy cover? Are there native species, invasive species? And then after we completed the assessment of all public spaces, we ranked them on a scale of one to three. So one meaning it does
not have this amenity, two it has this to some degree, but this amenity needs improvement. And three, it does have this amenity. So, Lake Eagle Park had the highest resilience score with an average of 2.58. And then the fire
department and community garden area had the lowest resilience score of 1.5. So, this is uh just showing what the recommendations look like within the plan using Eagle Lake Park as the example. So, on the left we have the high priority, on the right the low
priority. And like Julie said, these aren't um full concepts, just suggestions of what you guys could do for the parks. Um and then showing the resiliency score here. So, one of the high priorities based off of community feedback from the open houses and things
was to resurface the trail, looking to add a drinking fountain on the park southside. And some other priority things could be u adding lighting along the trail, monitoring tree health, and like pulling weeds and things like that.
Other strategies we looked at to mitigate vulnerabilities um included like other open spaces, bicycle and pedestrian planning, looking to add a possible food forest. Um also including resilient design and development
practices including reflective or light colored roofs or green roofs, paving materials, development patterns. So those are just other recommendations that the group came up with. So, with the compost facility, um, we
were talking about this at the open house. We had a couple areas identified that could be have possible usage for the city. Making sure that it wasn't in an environmentally sensitive area, that it wasn't in the 100year flood plane, any wetlands. Um there were
so okay so first we were looking at located on the east side to limit odor and noise with within the city. Um dust conditions spread through prevailing winds from the north, northwest or southwest. Significant screening was looked at to mitigate nuisances. Um is the criteria
under like is it zone for industrial commercial uses? making sure it's not close to residences, businesses, or public areas. Is there adequate space for vehicle movements and operations for the city and for residents? And there was the preference for city- owned land
or to have it located on a site where the land owner is willing to sell or lease their property. So, the site selection, um, and you can see it's highlighted with that, uh, star. There's also the possible other two options that are shown on this map.
um directly northeast of that one and then east of that one. Um so ultimately the current compost facility was selected based on stakeholder committee feedback and then public house feedback. So the next steps for a compost facility
would be to design um that would include getting a wetland delineation as that compost facility is currently surrounded by a wetland, possible road enhancements, looking at storm water management, screening and perimeter controls, possible permitting for the compost facility and then looking at
what operations would be required for that site. So, the days and hours of operation, compost distribution, any equipment needs and staffing, and future expansion and educational initiatives on composting. And then I'll let Julie talk about the
implementation and funding for the So, those were the three main areas of concern that were investigated uh using these grant funds. Along with that, we made recommendations including those three priority areas. Community resilience of those public assets. Um
transforming your current uh compost facility that's used by public works to more of a public compost facility. And that's really for a couple different reasons. One of them is we know that yard waste ends up in storm water ponds right now. and it really reduces the
maintenance lifetime uh for those ponds and providing a place for those um yard waste to go would be one way to extend your infrastructure maintenance um a little bit longer with our recommendations. Um obviously those
things that that we covered uh were included in those recommendations. We also had a recommendation uh to develop a master parks and recreation plan. Um, and one of the reasons why we were recommending that is because we got a
lot of public comment about uh risk and vulnerability for a lack of kind of contiguous uh walking trails uh throughout the city. There was numerous comments made about uh people feeling like they were at risk or um maybe it
was dangerous to walk in certain areas of the city where there aren't walking trails and they're walking on roads. And then we thought if some of those additional um parks were enhanced, maybe there's a way to provide linkages and more access particularly to those vulnerable community areas. Um so that
was one of the recommendations that came forward. We also put together this uh funding um spreadsheet. And so we selected icons for each of the three main areas of focus of this study and developed a uh basically a a
spreadsheets, multiple pages of spreadsheets of all different kinds of funding opportunities that may exist to address those priority areas uh in the report. Um, so there's information in there about direct links to websites,
timing, match requirements, level of effort in order to get those kinds of funds. And so we're really hoping that this uh report and plan uh is used kind of as something that can uh leaprog the city into implementing some of these uh
recommendations, providing for more community assets and really maintaining that um resilience going into the future as uh climate change continues to uh impact our infrastructure. So with that,
be happy to take any questions. Anybody have questions? There's a lot of information. Excuse me. I know that I've been getting a lot of questions about the compost sites. Um, so that would probably be a higher priority and then been talking. It's
great that Blue Earth County is excited about the restoration of that site. Um, as long as they pay for it, we'll be excited, too. Um, so, you know, we'll have to work with them, but that makes a lot of sense. So, We'll have to go through that presentation.
Yeah, Mr. Mayor, that would definitely be a a collaborative uh kind of project, especially since part of it's in the city, part of it isn't. Um, and there's all kinds of uh opportunities to fund those projects. So, um I think that could be a really great project. We do
have several copies of the entire report here. Um not one for everybody, but we did put one at the entrance. And if you'd like to take a look at the report in a little bit more detail, we're circulating uh three copies to the city council. What's our next steps then? Is this kind
of project over with you guys? Unless we come back and say we want to follow up some on some recommendations. Is that where we are? Yes, we are completed with our our project. The uh grant deadline was June 30th and so we met that deadline and turned everything in uh to Jennifer.
Perfect. We'll just uh next steps I'll just close out the the grant with the reporting requirements and this as Julie mentioned and Kelly this is the basically the prerequisite to be able to get future funding. You have to get a plan in place. So now we're in a good position.
Perfect. Any other questions from the council? Well, thanks for all your hard work. It looks like there's a lot of things to digest in here and more projects, more money, more fun. So, perfect. Thank you. And then also maybe we could acknowledge
our our committee members. Hopefully I don't miss anybody, but we had Ryan Worcell from the community. Um Nicole Davos and um Anthony White, council rep, and uh who else did we have? Trying to
Oh, Luke uh with our climate um impact coordinator. So, and you said Ryan. Yep. Ryan Mercle, too. Just wanted to mention those too that they were involved and we appreciate all their time too coming to meetings and and all the people that attended the open houses
too. So, thank you ladies. Thank you. Thank Thank you. All right. Next presentation is a request away double permitting fee. Do we have any of the perfect? Can you kind of state your name and and
your address for us, please? Good evening, everyone. My name is Derek Miller and I'm with 207 Falcon Run. Here tonight waved. And for what it's worth, I was fully intending on pulling a permit before I
started actually building my patio. And to this day, the only work that's been done is I dug up some of the area with a shovel and use that dirt to level. So, I guess I'm just wanting at least
more clarification on that. And I could give a little background, too. Thank you for attending tonight's meeting. I know I corresponded, I think, with both you and your wife. So, appreciate that. Um, just a little background for the mayor and city council. Um, so at city hall, we'll
sometimes get notified by members of the community if there's um just they'll call and say, "Has so- and so pulled a permit? We see activity um but we don't see a permit posted." So, uh we did get a call on this property and so we just sent out our standard letter. Um, and I
do appreciate they sent a picture to show what they had done. And um, so we sent the the letter. Um, it it kind of is a little bit of a gray area. Um, per our code, it says no work should start without obtaining a permit first. Um,
but um, you know, in this situation, they didn't actually start construction, per se. So, it is kind of a a gray area. But typically um we require you know usually what happens is someone comes in, pulls a permit, shows us a site plan
um of what they're doing. And so um you know I don't feel that the property owner did this intentional. I think that you guys are being totally transparent and honest that it was you know they intended to come in. It's just the perception that we have to deal with now on the city's end because we've had other properties that have done work.
they're um midway through their project and you know they haven't pulled a permit and so we have issued a double fine so we're kind of in a unique situation but in the packet on page 86 I have just some background and then on page 87 is a picture that the property
owners um had sent in. So, um, you know, city staff, we don't have the authority to wave or modify permit fees, and that's why it's before the council this evening, um, for your consideration. Any questions from the council? Have you filled out the permit form out
now? Yes. All right. So, we're kind of in good standing. Um, yeah, it's kind of a gray area, right? You really haven't done any construction. you've leveled the back of your lawn. Um kind of um I guess the intent
we weren't going to start building until after a wedding and I think I did this back in May. We just got married. Well, congratulations. So, we didn't want to buy anything until after that was my thought process. any any preferences on waving or knots?
I'm kind of leaning towards since we haven't done any construction and it's basically you're leveling the lawn, right? So, I would think that we, you know, my preference would be to wave the double and make sure you don't ever do this again.
Um, I'll motion to wave the double fee. I'll second. Have a first and second. Any other discussion? All in favor? I. All opposed. Thanks. Thanks for coming in. Appreciate Appreciate the photo.
Now we've got a presentation from Mike Bailey. Hi, how's it going? Good. How are you? You have some exciting stuff for us. All right. Perfect. Lots and lots of good. All right. So, the first kind of staple copy is what we
call our internal control letter and that just is any of our findings that we had um throughout the audit. We did have uh the material weaknesses for proper financial statements, material audit adjustments and segregation of duties. These are have been similar in the past
years and due to the size of the city itself, we find this in all of our cities about similar size. There's no way around it because otherwise it's just a bigger cost to you guys. And we did have a correction of an error this year. Um we proposed an adjustment
to the beginning loan account cash from the unreserved fund balance because it was reported last year as an addition to the financials when it should have just been a reclass. The second massive staple um is our
governance letter and there we talk about our responsibilities, management's responsibilities. Um we also have any uh major adjustments that we had and again similar in prior years it was due to leases and also pension liabilities.
Again very similar year over year and then we also have a copy of the adjusting journal entries that were made throughout the entire audit. You also have your lovely massive financial statements. So feel free to kind of peruse those um
as it has all your disclosures including the new gazsby 101 for the compensated absences. In prior years you guys did have a small footnote in this one. We just have to do a little bit more testing due to government new government standards.
It's all the fun. Thankfully Carrie was amazing and helpful in getting all the information we needed that was extra compared to in prior years. So we really do appreciate her work on that. And then if we are ready for the PowerPoint presentation,
did you send it to me? Uh, they sent it earlier, I thought. Probably Casey or Jamie. forward it to me. I was out of the office last week and so I'm not sure I don't see anything from Casey in here, but um if Krie has it, she can forward
it to me. Gary, you should sing for us. At least hum a few bars or something. Or Lieutenant Mitch could play the spoons for us. I think we got some spoons in the in the kitchenet area. Should put some back.
So, while we're waiting, are there any new things? You know, obviously, you know, we got out of the state ended up wherever at the end of June or whatever, end of May. So, is there anything coming out of legislative session that we have to worry about for
this next year? You haven't even gotten to that for government advisory services are actually looking into everything that's going to be coming down the pipeline. Um, because a bunch of bills did just get signed. We're not really sure how it's going to impact all of our government entities. Um, so we do actually have a team working already
through that trying to figure out what's applicable. Not only that, but also then we also will have new Gazsby standards for the next few years it sounded like. So, it's never just a exciting world of accounting, right? It is. It never uh it never stops. It's
all right though. It's not a power. Okay, let's see. Okay. So, they just sent it as a PDF. Sweet. All right. So, we started our planning in December and we did our fieldwork starting in midappril and then
we just issued the financials at the end of June for the audit results. Thankfully, the city once again got a clean unmodified opinion which is what everyone wants to have of course. And the unbenefited opinion says that
you guys are following GAP and that there are no material misstatements for the city. And then kind of like I already talked about, we did have the four uh financial statement uh findings for the prep of the financial statements, the material audit adjustments, segregation of
duties, and the correction of that error. And we found no legal compliance with the state of Minnesota. And then kind of to go into our cash and investments. So we did see a increase from last year
and we noticed that in the 10ear span that we're looking at that there was that decrease from the 2018 to 2019. And that was due to the transfer of funds from the capital fun expenditures
$300 transfer for the general fund. You can see your budget to actual and how your variances. So you guys for revenues actually came in over budget. So, that's good. It's more money for you
guys. Um, however, your expenditures did come did have a slight increase over budget, but overall, you had a positive net position change, which is something I know you, the city has always strived to have. So, we're ending with a fund balance of
3.93 million for the general fund. And on that note, having that positive fun balance contributes to a favorable bond rating, reduces investment income and provides a source of working capital to meet your cash flow needs and offers
a cushion for unexpected expenditures for in case there is revenue shortfalls. There are five fund balance categories. Not every government client that we have utilizes every single one, but this is just more forformational on how the
non-spendable, restricted, committed, assigned, and unassigned balances are. And on this slide we have uh for the total fund balances of the general fund. The increase in the yellow is actually that committed fund. I know a couple
board meetings ago there was that increase that was talked about and you guys approved. So that is what that yellow is is the committed. We are now up to two essentially almost $2.1 million in committed funds
for the city to use for your capital projects. And then recommendations regarding fund balances. The state of Minnesota office of the state auditor at the end of the year local governments must maintain an unrestricted fund balance in their
general fund about 35 to 50%. and you guys are exceeding that. So that as well and also as the government finance officers association at year end the local governments maintain an unrestricted fund balance of no less
than 5 to 10% of operating expenses. The city itself has a policy to strive to maintain a minimum unassigned general fund balance of 50% of the annual budget. Could I ask you a question if that's okay,
mayor and city council? So, um, we have been trending that we're exceeding what's required. If, if we have projects that come up, um, you know, that we need to do, is it recommended that we draw down that general fund balance or is there like a at some point would you
guys kind of look at it and say, it looks like you guys maybe need to kind of draw down this or we carrying too large of a balance. Um, and we don't have to talk about it tonight. It's just something I was thinking about as we have, you know, different things that come up. And we probably should at least talk about that as we go into budget um to see if
we need to draw that down to kind of smooth out some of the Yeah. Well, I can just discuss this with a partner and then get back to you before the month end. Okay. Just so that way I could we know from a standpoint of which fund maybe if it's coming out of the committed fund or unassigned just knowing where maybe
those funds should go depending on what type of project you guys are hoping to do. Perfect. Thank you. Sorry to interrupt. Just wanted to ask you before I forgot. Questions are good. All right. So did we have the unrestricted?
So here we have the unrestricted fund balance. Um, and the unrestricted also includes the unassigned and the committed as well. And as you guys can see, you have had great results year-over-year.
And the city as it stands right now, you have, if you had no revenues at all, you guys could operate for 1.5 years. So, it's definitely a very good plus side. Not every city can say the same. So, is there a standard level that we should
be at at one and a half or one or is it just kind of wherever? It varies. Okay. I can't say. I mean, every city's different with how like how certain projects come up all of a sudden or like the flooding major events that no one's ever going to think about to be
like, "Oh, we need to have this in our budget." As we talk about 100 year floods, those kind of things. So, it really varies. I've known some cities to be well under that. So then it's a cause of concern of if you don't have enough cash to go over a year then they would call that just not very
well and we would then have to work about like a going concern is if you don't have enough funds to last 12 months at least 12 months. Okay. So definitely at least that 1.5 year range is a good is a good area. Okay. And so kind of to talk about some of the
other funds you have your debt service fund. There are four bonds that you guys still hold. You have the go water revenue note, the 2017, the 2021 A, and the 2021 B.
All included in the amounts there. In total debt service paid or dued in 2024, the principal was 369,000 and interest was 53,000. And on this graph you can just see the operating revenues, expenses and incomes just from the water fund where the red
line is the operating income. The blue is the operating receipts and then your expenses are that middle green line. So still trending now we're back trending upward for the water fund for operating income. And something else, if it's okay if I
note too, we are incurring costs on the front end for the um water treatment facility project before we get the grant funding. So that's going to skew make things look a little funny, too. And then on the next slide, we have the operating revenues, expenses, and income
for the sanitary sewer fund. And as you can see kind of year-over-year, uh, the expenses have gone up and down compared to revenue, which has been pretty consistent year-over-year. This year it did look like there was an operating loss in the sewer fund.
And we are working with Shannon Sweeney, so I'm not sure what we work with him and he has reviewed our rates just recently. So, we should be um you know, he works with us to make sure that we're generating enough in what we're charging people to cover our expenses. So,
are there any big projects or anything that we did this year? I don't recall. Trying to think if we had anything um I can't I can't think of anything major in the sewer that we've had. Um
that could be it. Yeah. So, that very well could be it. We had the um SCADA system and some of those other things that we paid for with grant funds and I'm not sure how that reflects that was that onetime grant funding. I'm not sure how that reflects because it was probably expensed out of the sewer fund and then we have that grant money that
wouldn't have shown as a revenue. So that's probably what it was. I'm going to guess. But okay. And on the next slide, we have the year end net position for both the water and the sanitary sewer funds. For the water fund, we did see an increase of
$362,000. And the sanitary sewer, we did see the decrease of the $35,000, which was that operating loss that you saw on the previous slide. And on this side, we have the year- end unrestricted cash and investments for the water and sanitary sewer funds. As
you can see, we're definitely starting to trend back upward for the water fund. And then the sewer fund has been steadily increasing and then hopefully those will still be increasing so you guys can have more operating cash in there.
Sorry to interrupt again, but I just want to point out we have been working with Shane and Sweeney. think that's why we're starting to see that we're trending in a better direction because we have been doing annual increases each year. We haven't done an increase yet this year, but we were kind of holding off on that when we were working with
him on the um street and utility reconstruction project, but since we're not going to do that until 2026, um I haven't gotten a recommendation to increase anything yet this year. And then does anyone have any other questions, concerns, comments?
That was pretty painless. Any questions from would now be an okay time to give the council kind of an update on the um uh cash balancing reconcil reconciliation where we're at with that or be good if we could get an update on the
pro process or progress because that's that was completed to be able to get the audit done. Yes, that was completed in full to get the audit done. And then I know um Jamie before she had gone out on sobatical, the partner in charge did include the partner who's taking
over any of her jobs for any inquiries. So if that is something that the city wants to look into going forward, we have that information for the government advisory services department who did work on it and as well as the partners in charge. So any questions can also be
answered directly through them or as an intermediary. But the cash reconciliation did get done and we are good to go. Perfect. And I thought I saw that there was a recommendation to how to stay on on track with that.
So the I did not I was out of town um last week so I didn't have a chance and then Jamie's gone. So, we'll need to have some sort of a call and talk about I think the recommendation that Jamie had sent over was that we should look at possibly outsourcing um cash balancing or reconciliation. And I'm not sure that
we're ready to do that yet, but we just kind of want to talk about and learn a little bit more about, you know, where we're at and any ideas on how to move forward. No, I'd like to see that so we don't hit the same issue. So, you know, once you once everybody gets back um from
wherever they are, um kind of I'd like to see in another couple months if something can come back recommendation of either outsourcing or internal controls or processes that need to be updated. Um that might take, you know, we'll do work on that. So, perfect. And I can
definitely uh talk to Brian Singer, the partner that's taking over for Jamie for the next couple months, as well as the government advisory services team, to see uh what they want to come with with them. See if we can just maybe do a joint call between everybody. So that way we can have a plan kind of going
forward or what might that look like because the reconciliation only went up to the end of last year, right? So yes, it was through December 24th. Yep. city to get up to speed now with that completed through the um first
the current period. Yep. So, thank you. We're good. I think we're good. All right. Thanks. Unless you have more paper for us. Oh, no. I I'm all papered up for today. Thank you. Thank you. All right. I think the next
one is Chief Simpson. I don't know if as much of a presentation as it is a status update on 4324, the old number one bumper that we uh set aside a couple years ago uh primarily to use as a blocker. Um we had
decided as a department to go ahead and sell the sell that 4324. Um so we did list it in an auction. Um we only had two primary biders. Um and both of both of those fell well short of the minimum
bid. Um and then afterwards uh both of those parties expressed great interest and and their willingness to meet the minimum bid. Um problem is in the meantime in between that bid happening
and them meeting with um Mr. Just a couple of days ago, um we had um emergency apparatus services stop into our station. They um they're the ones that do all of our pump testing and everything on our trucks every year,
annual maintenance. And um they found a uh crack on the uh it's where the pin goes in for the for on the ladder itself on 4312. Um so there's crack in that that's going
to have to be repaired. I spoke with emergency apparatus today to try and get some type of money or some type of idea on the amount of monies that it's going to cost to make to to make those repairs. Um they weren't able to give me a solid number. They don't anticipate
that it would cost 20,000, but that could be a possibility. It's a time and material job that they would have to do in order to be able to do it. They have to disassemble the whole thing in order to get the hydraulic, it's the main hydraulic cylinder for lifting the the aerial up
itself. So, they would have to be able to disassemble that. It's all aluminum, so they'd have to be able to remove the paint, grind it out, weld it up, um have have the welds x-rayed and reertified.
So, long story short is we told the prospective buyers 4324 that they have to hold off for another month before see what we're going to do with 4312 and whether or not it actually can be feasibly repaired. So, that's
I'm not seeing the connection. Sorry. Um, well, we didn't really We like to make sure that we maintain two pumpers in town at all times. And if we released 4324 and 12 was up for repairs, we would be at one. Okay. So, we
now there's the connection. Thank you. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Any questions about that? Can I ask a quick question? So, once the other truck is, is it 4312? You said the area. Yes. 24. The old truck that we sell
the uh ladder truck. Yes, that's 432. Okay. So once that's completed, then um to keep the process moving, would the fire department then have authorization just to go ahead and relist the um the pumper that you're trying to sell
once we have we know the cost to repair and it gets repaired. Would we need to relist? I'm not I Well, so I was going to You want to kind of explain to the council what happened with the the high bidder that they said that they wanted to go above the amount,
but they didn't get in before the auction closed? Yeah. They claim that they were trying to get it done within the last couple seconds because nobody wants to bid too much. So, that's where I think we kind of do need to go back through that process. They they were willing to go higher, but like uh fire chief Fern was saying the
auction thing cut it off and so we it just I don't know. Were they the high bidder before or who? Yes. Okay. Yes. The the they were both pretty pretty close neck and neck and like I said, they they both
fell well short. The minimum bid was $10,000. Um neither one of those offered over 4,000 at and then the person you talked to is a different bidder. No, those one of those one of those two. See, that's where I think we need to redo it again then. I don't Do we need to redo it or just reach out
to those two people and say it's available now that we got our other pumper back and say I don't know if they're willing to wait until Yeah, I don't know. I guess do we need to or not? Both of them are expressing interest in
willing to pay that minimum. So what I wonder if we both minimum then it should go back for auction was willing then I would say period. Yeah. But if both parties are willing then I think it needs to get reopen and re put
out there. We just don't need any headaches with somebody coming back and saying that we did something. If one said no I'm not paying anymore and the other one said I'll pay the full 10 then that's an easy answer. So no that makes sense if we got two biders as opposed to just one. So, you know, once we get them back,
so we'll just reject what we have right now. Then when everything gets they would have authority just to go ahead, we'll open it up again on that sale and it's open to, you know, it's fair game. Whoever gives the highest bid, it will get even higher. So, so on the ladder truck then, are you is
it we're So, we're just waiting for the bid or we got a time of materials bid for this? Time materials. wouldn't really be a fit on it. There's a company that's that EM goes through that's basically right next door to the
plant that they have um to for the certified aluminum. It's tricky. Um the reason part of the reason why they were unable to give a real stern number was they weren't they aren't sure
if there's actually damage that was done to a gusset from the stressing of the Is that scheduled to go then or what's what's the on scheduling? They did say that they could turn around in three weeks.
At what point is it too much? That's a very good question. Um the replacement of a ladder nowadays um is quite a bit money to buy one brand new um like the display that we were looking at um was
to I believe it was like 1.2 million to replace the ladder. Brand new the ladder truck or just the ladder? The whole truck? The whole truck. Truck. Um I don't know what the expense would be to replacing just the ladder
off of this truck. Um that's a very good question as far as that's exactly what I was wondering. So that'll be continue. Well, I just don't want to spend 20 grand on a $10,000 truck. I agree.
I think the point also is that trucken problem is if you don't put that in there, you're not going to be able to give away. So, that's the next truck, but when is that scheduled? 1.5 million is not in my schedule right
now. I think we have is that 26 or 27? I wasn't planning on speaking on the No, it's coming soon. So
I know we're not close to the So, we got a conundrum, right? So, if we don't fix it, it worth it's worthless. Um, even on the resale value, it's zero. Um, so we'd have to make some investment. And we know that we're at least I think
we're at least a year out or so to make a decision on, you know, we have to find out, you know, what we got in reserve. You guys have been reserving funds for that for a while. So, you know, like you said, are we at 800 or we have 500, you know, in that reserve bucket for that? Um, so
does it make sense for us to move forward with fixing the ladder now knowing that we're going to have to use this truck for at least another 12 to 18 to 24 months? Can you remind us too because I thought Trent said once we
decide to purchase it was a year out or something too, right? If we were doing new. Yes. If we're doing new. Okay. So now we're talking well over a year 24 to 36 months out for delivery even if we pulled a trigger in 18 months. So it makes sense to get kind of an
idea. Like I said, you know, we don't want to spend $100,000 on a $10,000 truck. So, how do we want to move forward as a council? That would make sense to have that coverage because, you know, we do have some high structures that we need to
cover. as they did speak with Lance um from also Jeremiah they um they're more anticipating somewhere around the 10 mark rather than 20 but I thought if I
was to numbers I would not underell no that's not good so is is a issue like this caused from just normal wear and tear is it recklessness or But it would have to be normal wear and
tear. I don't know. The ladder hasn't been used in any extreme situations to have it be like this to have for anything that we would have done that caused this. So it has to be just stress stress. So how do we get this truck back in
service for the next three years? Yes, that would be the question. Have to go forward with this. Everything else on the truck pass the inspection. Just not that. Yeah. So, I think we have to move forward. Do we have funds in maintenance
or anything within the fire department to cover the 20 or where does that have to come out of? Probably um they have to come out of capital outlay because of the the sheer volume of it. But I mean obviously there's money in their capital outlay over a million dollars. But you just
have to do a little reshifting around of funds. So oops, wrong one. So how do we want to word this? Um do we want to give kind of a
go ahead up to 20 or or when do we want them to come back to to say that's right? I mean, if it's time and materials, right? Unless there can be like a not to exceed amount, but
yeah, they they got the whole thing a pulled apart and they hit their not to exceed. Fixed or fixed. Here you go. Fixed or not fixed. I can give you an update just on the year-to- date financials for what they've fire department has in repairs and maintenance remaining. And it looks like there is
um let's see, we budget 33,750. There's $29,336 left. So, but that's just out of the fire department budget. Obviously, they have their capital outlay that we could dip into if need be.
Are there other repairs and maintenance items that you guys are expecting to have come up that you haven't yet? There's the roof of the fire station that we've had repaired a couple times. Um, there was another repair that was in
this month's bills. Um, it was only $500, but the whole roof up there just is the roof on this building. The vinyl on the roof is beyond its life. It's over 20 years old.
Um, they as you know by the warranty on this, they got up to about 10 years and said, "Oh, you're on your own." And we're at 20. So, that's going to have to be redone, too. Um, I don't anticipate going for the full
re- roof. Um that would be way too much money. They when I spoke with the um Garland company is the company that I've had come do the last repairs. Um they said that there is a repair that they could do instead of
tearing everything off and completely redoing it. They would uh cut around the edges, um add additional material, uh replace the rock that they had to move back, uh redo some of the gutter down spouts that are on there because they
are not I don't know compliance is the word. They're not they're not designed properly. There should be a sandwich of materials on both sides in order to ensure that the water goes into the down spout and out. There is no sandwiching
membrane on the bottom side. So that has that's what led to the last leaks which drain down into the electrical room to the fire station. Um luckily that didn't do any damages to anything electrical in there. But that repair that they were
talking about there was approximately 10,000 for that for that. Um other than that there is um some repairs that would need to be done. Um negotiations with 4324. There's a couple items on that that do need to be
repaired. Um, so like I said, that'll be in negotiations with them as far as do we take that off of the off price or how we work that out. Other than that, um, there's some talk of the parking lot that needs to be
redone. That's been in the works for quite a while. Um, as far as other maintenance things go, I think that's about the extent of what I anticipated. Has all the equipment been inspected for the year? It has.
Everything else, like I said, everything else passed except for cracking the ladder and the things on 24u. It's as we could always, of course, we would disclose. Yeah, you want to disclose, but
it could be negotiated as far as off the cost. I don't know that we would have to spend that money. I propose that's it's gets disclosed and take it off the, you know, whatever. That way that we're not moving cash or
moving checks. Okay. So, I'd look for a motion to fix the ladder truck. I guess that's kind of a interesting motion, isn't it? Um, I mean, it need it needs done. So I'll
motion mix the first and we got a second. I'll second. All right, we got Garrett as a second. Any other discussions? All right. All in favor? I All opposed. All right. You have you have one more thing.
Yes. Perfect. Yeah. So, I was here today talking to legal. They said, you know, we're going to be going that, but council lady wanted to I guess what the plan is that for the most part. Perfect.
So basically, you know, everyone around here does up north and everyone does unravel and stuff. So Cleveland did one recently, St. Cl one. Um city does one center does one every year. So reach out to younger gun works in the center, the
kind of newer um licenser and so they do it with the center. They've done it three or four years now with them. um basically just say here's how much money we want to give you. Get us x amount of guns. So right now I asked uh the department we tabled this for probably eight or nine months and now everyone's
approved like let's go with this and stuff like that. Um so we basically approved for at least $10,000 to put together a list of 10 12 guns or whatever. So we give it to Gunworks. They basically gave me a mockup of here's 10 guns. I told him, "Let's get couple ARs, some handguns, that kind of
stuff, and then let's do a raffle basically in three months at the Eagles nest." That's where our vendor is and stuff for our gambling. So, we do it there. Dave said, "Yep, go ahead. You know, whenever you want to do it, we're thinking that hopefully tater days we can start that our pancake breakfast. We
have a table there as well." Um, so basically us firemen are going to be the ones selling all these raffles. 20 bucks a piece each ticket. Um, and then So, right now the the budget's like 10,05. We sell all the tickets. You guys can do
the math out of $20,000. We make some pretty good money if you sell tickets. But, um, so what we basically do is that, um, we were talking about setting it up for like end of September, uh, which would be pretty much the start of fire prevention week as well. Um, what we do is we go to the the nest. The
vendor could come there if he wants, but if he doesn't want to, that's fine. He has 10 or 12 little metal uh, Basically, it says which gun you want. Say raffle number one, whatever. You basically say the vendor number. It says our gambling number on there and stuff like that. And
then you basically pulling it out right there in front of everyone. So they're not pre winners and stuff and it takes about an hour, 15 minutes maybe. You know, do one every 10 minutes and that gets people up there. You don't have to be present to win and stuff like that. So um we even said as a department we
would have our department members playing or immediate family members to be honest. Hopefully no one wins. That's kind of where we're at right now. We trying to figure out other ways to, you know, make revenue and stuff for this clearly here. Some of the the things that we need in our department
that so be somewhere around you know if it goes well we get grand pockets. So might have to sell a lot more tickets. Vern just spent 20 grand. We might have to ask 2,000 tickets. That's fine. So
no. So it's all going to be one one time. It's not going to be forced out over a couple months. And we talked about too, you know, a lot of places do calendars, right? You know, we do the hockey does, you know, throughout that maybe a fiveyear goal if we want to. If this does very well, we
talked about doing bingo. Cleveland did this and they did a one time bingo night for guns and stuff like that. You know, to buy a seat, it's 100 bingo cards each and just to win five guns during bingo or something like that. So, something for the future and
stuff but this is pretty simple small scale right now. Um one of our department members works at Taylor and get all the tickets and stuff. So perfect. Thank you.
Questions did you want to talk about the quick or Yeah, absolutely. Resolution on that maybe. So once we get the check then we'll do a resolution. But why don't you give them an update? That sounds good. Oh, did you? Oh, okay. Good.
For the pipeline grant, but why don't you just let the council know that? So, we got Spencer and I kind of do our grants and stuff. So, we got a pipeline grant $5,000 for green bin education. So, we have a a for that. And so, we'll
probably get the city and carry. We'll send them our electronic information, they'll send it to us and then hopefully in the next couple months we'll have great education here for that. So, we've been kind of looking to do that for a while. So, be great to have it by fall.
Yep. Exactly. Keep up the great work on the grants, guys. Thank you. All right, new business. Uh, number one, the EDA recommendation. Great. uh mayor and city council, the EDA, uh which is the um Eagle Lake
Economic Development Authority, uh recently met and talked about uh developing a promotional video to showcase the city of Eagle Lake as a vibrant, welcoming, and forwardthinking community. Um and just kind of touted as an ideal place to live, raise a family,
retire, or start a business. Um, so this initiative would be part of the EDA's um efforts to attract new residents, entrepreneurs, um, to support our existing local businesses, and then just kind of enhance Eagle Lake's visibility in the region. Uh, we'd want to try to
highlight some of our key community assets such as our parks. Um, might be debatable right now about our pond, but we would make sure we do uh any any video work when it looks nice. um you know, our wonderful
neighborhoods that we have, our um amazing elementary school, all the fun events, summer sounds, Tater Days, um National Night Out, um just what are you know, try to interview some of our business owners, um just to really um in
a short amount of time be able to highlight the high quality of life and opportunities that our community has to offer. So, the next step in the process, EDA talked about it, um is excited about it. um we would issue a request for proposal and at the meeting we talked about um sending to local colleges and
universities. Uh but since that time I've also been contacted by um a company that would be interested um a local company and submitting a proposal as well. So we'll send it out to whoever might be interested and hopefully get um a competitive proposal back and then the
EDA would pay for the um the cost of the video uh using EDA funds. So, what's before you this evening is uh just a recommendation from the EDA to go ahead release a RFP for a promotional video.
Um, and we would use EDA funds uh for that video. And when we get the proposal back, it'll go to the EDA. They'll review, select the uh most cost-effective one that best meets our needs, and then make a recommendation to the council to go forward. So, with that, um, just need a motion to
authorize issuing an RFP. And maybe it's too soon, but how much do we think this will cost? Um, you know, um, I would say it it could range depending on if we work with a college or university, but probably I'm just going to I don't know if I even want to throw a dollar amount. I've
worked with this in another community, so I kind of have a dollar amount in mind. Um, I don't think it'd be anything too extravagant. That was political or not. I would say um, 10,000 or less. I know whenever I worked at Mano Police, they they did one recently. This is like
$15,000 or something like that. Okay, which I thought was a lot. 10,000 is a lot, I think. Do we need a video? I think it's good for people who don't know about your community. You can use it to promote your community and also kind of like build um
um pride in your community and showcase what we have to offer. I think just letting people know all of the wonderful, you know, attributes that we have in Eagle Lake and and we really need to grow our businesses and get some commercial development. So, I think it all kind of goes into it together. I
don't know that we're doing a good job of marketing Eagle Lake and what we have to offer to be honest. Like, if somebody looks up Eagle Lake, you come go to our website, but I don't know what else you're seeing. Well, we also have funds set aside for stuff like this. Yes. you know, it's one of those things where
it's nice to have money, but you got to spend it at some point, too. So, um I just I think this would be a great idea to let people know what Eagle Lake is. Yep. You know, we've had these ideas even since CO of like the kids that go down and do YouTube videos. I think McCrae
has a YouTube channel, you know, so we're like, okay, it'd be funny to see how from the from the eyes of the kids why our parks are why they are, you know what I mean? Like what is exciting? Um, reading the RFP though, is there concern with because I know when we talked about
it before, we talked Bethany was a great option. They've they have an amazing um group there too, but with them out of school right now, getting a response from them by our next council meeting. We can totally change that or seeing how it goes or No, I kind of thought about that, too.
Um, and we can we can work with that. you know, if we I can reach out to the the local colleges, if you will, and just kind of find out, is this a bad time? Should we wait until or are they interested or not? Because if they're not, then we're obviously going with several businesses that I know are very good at it, too. Yeah. Yep. Okay.
Does it make sense for us to hold off till the fall till school is back in session? We're not that far. I I don't I think it's a conversation with the universities or or specifically um Greg at Bethany. Are you guys interested in doing a project like this? And if they say no, then obviously we're
proceeding with any of the the businesses. But you know, another thought too, I think something that we've struggled with in Eagle Lake, and granted, I've only been here since 2018, but our identity. I think kind of figuring what is our identity in Eagle Lake. And I I think that maybe doing a video like this will
help us a little bit. I think we tried to figure that out more with the economic strategic economic development plan, but I feel like we need to we just need to work on how we market our community to people.
And I think this video is going to pull that out because they're going to ask those questions of who, where, um, what and and I think one thing I've Yes. And Beth, you're a perfect example. You grew up in Eagle Lake. You live in Eagle Lake. Um there's other young people that
it's super exciting that they grew up in Eagle Lake. Well, Council Member Seinberg, for instance, you know, your experiences and and now your perspective and how it's changed over the years. I think some of those testimonials will be kind of special and um persuasive.
But it'll be interesting to know what this is going to cost because I have no idea. Yeah. a kids version of it and a professional version are two different things. Yeah. Well, we don't have to accept it. So, you know, we could let the RFP out and then if we get something that's like
it's way over the top, you know, we can re retake a look at that. But I think another thing you have to look at too is when you're trying to get businesses to come to your community, this would be a perfect selling point. like this is why you should come to our community and you know you'd have we have hardworking people here um
predominantly um you know a bedroom community but we have opportunities because of our close location to Manada with our amenities. I mean I I just think there's different angles you can look at but like you said it comes down to the dollar amount at the end of the day um you know and EDA and what they want to do and what the city council
wants to do but I think I think it's more than just putting a video on our website. I think that there's ways we could use this. The other question I have is your completion date because a lot of the things you mentioned was tater days, summer sounds, national night out, those all happen before the
notification of award. So what's going to happen from September to December? That is different than the three things you just said. Well, I think we just have to have they're going to want pictures, stills, you know, they're not going to be able to go to every event. That's just not possible. I don't think you I mean,
that's just my perspective. I guess when I've worked with a company, a production company in the past, they use a lot of our pictures for stills and they went around the community, did interviews and um you know, but I I'm I'm flexible. Whatever you guys want to do, it's fine.
I think getting out and seeing what happens first to see what it's going to cost and what interest there is. I'm not against it. I'm just I don't know. What does EDA have in funds? Uh well it depends. We have our revolving loan
funds and then we have our other funds that we we got plenty of funds to spend on this. We haven't spent any money on doing the the role of the EDA is to promote the community. We're not so recent we just ordered some magnets to put in our welcome to uh Eagle Lake bags
and that was kind of a an idea like how do we get people to when they come to town to know what we have available and kind of get them invested in our community. So, the most recent thing with the magnets, which was under $500, um it just basically is going to have like save the date for Tater Days, it'll
have a QR code to the notification app and then um you know, link to our website and phone number for the sheriff's office for emergencies, non-emergencies, and then, you know, city hall number. But I think that's another thing, too. people come to town, we need to do a good job of letting
people know what we have to offer here because we do get a lot of people that live in multifamily housing and we want to get them invested in our community and support our businesses and the school and well I think too uh was it last year the list of businesses in Eagle Lake I
was like I had no idea how many we had. So I mean that's that's part of it too, right? Absolutely. And that's another thing, not to get sidetracked here, but I'm glad you brought that up because we have printed. So, we um have an updated list of our business listing and then we printed that and put it in the welcome
bag so that when people come to town, because you're right, I was stunned when I looked at our long list of businesses, how many we do have, and letting people know so they can try to support those businesses. Well, I'll make a motion to approve releasing the RFP.
We have a first. Do we have a second? I'll second. Okay. Second. Any other discussions? All in favor? I. All opposed? All right. The developers agreement for Fox Meadows phase two.
All right. Uh mayor and city council. Um most of you guys were around for phase one. Um but now we're heading into phase two with extensions of the what will be public streets. So there is um a shorter version of a developers agreement for
phase two. Um this has been reviewed by the city's legal council. Uh basically this agreement still incorporates and upholds the provisions that were established in the original development agreement for phase one. Um which ensures consistency across all phases of
the project. Um another thing I want to point out is that we would need um an escrow agreement for phase two. uh we had an escro agreement for phase one. So we would follow the same structure um that we use for phase one and that worked well where um the developer had
to deposit um we'll go through the calculation um the required funds based on the estimate that they have and then um as the city's engineer approves the work that's been done then we get release requests for releases for escrow
and then that comes to the council and we release that money. But basically that would just make sure that if for some reason they would default or decide not to go forward that we don't have a road half completed we would be able to finish that road and have that money. So
um uh next up we've got um construction plans for phase two which uh we have I requested uh the city's engineer with Bold and make Brian Surf to be here tonight answering questions you guys might have. Um, but I believe everything has been found to comply with applicable
standards and if not we will work through that before we would allow them to move ahead. A phase two of the Fox Meadows development includes the extension of Blaze Street, Connie Street and Maple Lane. Um, something that has kind of um
moved this along too is the sale of lots along Blaze in the single family area. So I think that's wonderful. That's what we need in Eagle Lake. I hear many times, I'd like to see single family development. Well, this is perfect. We're getting, you know, um, you know,
some lots moving and to be able to keep accommodating the the growth, we'd have to allow them to extend, uh, the infrastructure. So, um, if you have any questions, um, engineer Brian Sarf is here. Otherwise, what I'm requesting of you this evening is authorization for
the mayor and myself to sign the developers agreement and an escrow agreement for phase two. Yes. So I have two questions. One is how's the developer been so far with phase one? You been good to work with? Per my conversations with Troy Shrom, the developer very good. Um they've had
um people sign up. They've had no issues with occupancy is what I've been told. And so it's going well and that's a good sign. We weren't sure when this first got started how fast things were going to develop. So this the fact that some of those single lots, single family lots
are selling is a good sign. Is there plans for them to build a park at all? So yes, there is um a very small area. It's mean very basic park. Um and then they paid uh a sum of money that goes into the park fund. So, if a developer
um it doesn't make sense or it doesn't flow right to have a a big park, then they they have a little area that's dedicated that'll basically be very simple like a picnic table, um maybe a simple swing structure, kind of whatever the city will end up wanting to put in
there because it was dedicated to the city. So, we we have that, but um otherwise I can't remember the exact dollar amount off the top of my head, but per their phase one developers agreement um they did give us money for for parkland that we put into our park funds and we have that money to be able
to improve however we want other parks even. So, okay. So we have the option to build like a substantial park there if you want. Like I mean there's a lot of people in that area and you know it' be nice to have something local like an extension of the city as opposed to a bunch of houses with like a swing set
you know and I don't know it just be nice to have something more substantial in that area because there's a lot of people. There's one south in Eagle Heights that's a five minute walk away. The the problem I think we run into is the capacity of the city to to fund
another park. And I think um doing taking care of our existing parks is kind of where we were stuck before. We've got three parks. We can barely keep up with the three parks. And um so we ended up asking for parkland fees in
lie of you know a park because at the end of the day they have to dead our code has a formula that they um that says how much land or how much money is given to the city and that's not going to pay for a new park unless we you know change our code. But it's so and we can
tell you just on having to get wood chips for our park tomorrow. I mean, it's an ongoing we already are getting requests on Eagle Heights to improve and change things in that park. Just went in what two three years ago. So, it's it's a big expense, but
so definitely something we factor into. So that money that we get that comes in um so we have that little portion of land and then we have the money they gave that goes into the park fund and then the park can use that however they want to either for that park or for something else.
So perfect. And Brian, was there anything engineering wise that we need to make sure? Was there a loop or something? Did that happen in phase one? Was there a water or ma water main loop that was happening or needs to happen in phase
two? Yes, the water main looping uh down to Maple Lane that was completed. So that's that's done. Okay. And everything. This one's pretty straightforward from an engineering perspective. Really just extending about
a block on Blaze, about a block on on Connie. Not even doing the intersections yet. Just getting up to that point. temporary turnaround in for fire trucks. Okay. Uh fairly straightforward at this point. Um Jennifer, there might have been
provisions for Maple Lane in phase two or I I saw that in there. I I don't know if it was just going to be an amendment at a later time or how that was any sign.
For some reason, I thought I had my own there's no basic But that's not in the current phase of Yeah, that might have been my my mistake. I'll double check on that.
Thank you. Have they been um I I know there in I don't know if it was in some of your emails that you sent or in the packet or somewhere but there's been complaints of the nuisance of the tall grass specifically on the east side of agency
in front of um Regency Regency um and going by it every day for the last seven years. Um, it went prior to this development going in, there was never any water standing in the ditch unless it was heavy rains or or a lot of days. Ever since that, there is always water in
that ditch, even if it hasn't rained. Um, I I understand that when developments happen, water will get moved around and stuff, but it seems like a pretty significant amount of water that's always there. Is there stuff broke? Are tiles not? And I know I've asked the
question many times, but um if I lived there, it would be very frustrating. Um so kind of putting myself in in their spot as well as just the nuisance of tall grass and then or and with that when we do the pedestrian pedest
will will there be underground is you know um drainage and stuff that will alleviate all of that water where it's going to be a null issue, right? Yeah, it has been a concern of public works and we've been trying to figure out what the issue is. I have a hunch that we kind of know it's not
related to the pond itself, right? Uh that water we're kind of from public works observations and what I understand we're seeing seepage into that ditch even when the pond levels below at this
point. Uh we think that there might be a arm tile that might have to get reconnected and directed across the road like it did before this project potentially. So it was connected and got disconnected during project then right usually those farm tiles are
completely obliterated when you when you come in but it seems to be active enough to be creating a nuisance is kind of our best hunch at this point. So we have a a plan at least to maybe try to redirect that again. Hopefully that would be
would solve that issue. Is that at the city's expense or who how would we determine like it it's a fairly minor thing. Okay. We'd like to hear that. Got to find it first after that.
We we have pinpointed that we can kind of reconnect again. See if that's taken care of. I know the contractor uh at Sham's expense did come out and put a clay dam if you
will at the outlet structure to make sure you know there wasn't granular seage through that but it just doesn't seem like what what we're seeing is likely subsurface drainage coming through there. I think we could.
Okay. And that's just I'm not trying to keep being a dead horse here, but just seeing it and then knowing that after this conversation, we got another one coming up. I just don't want it to be a common thing that developers put something in and then just throw all the water onto current homeowners that are there um or on the city's issues that
cause more nuisances. So, is there a timeline for this fix or Well, at this point, we were maybe gonna try to rope in our contractor. They're not showing up this year. So, we haven't talked about specific timeline
to this point because it has been going on for a bit. So, okay. Any other questions? So look for a motion to authorize Jennifer to sign the agreement.
So moved. Second. All right. Have a first and second. We need to wait for Garrett to filter back. All in favor? I. All opposed. Creekide. All right. Uh mayor and city council. Uh
we have the developers Justin Bower and Justin Jackson in the audience this evening. I'll let them talk to you in a few moments. I'm just going to give you um some background. Uh the final plat for Creekide subdivision was approved in 2024. Um and now the developers are preparing
to move forward and have expressed interest in obtaining permits to um begin construction soon. So prior to the city being able to issue any permits, uh we need to have a signing developers agreement. Um, we have a developers
agreement, um, a draft one in the packet this evening. Um, or excuse me, I think I put it by your place this evening hopefully or I emailed it to you. Um, but it's pretty standard because most of their development is within um, you we
have storm water um, but there aren't roads running through their development. So, it's definitely more simplified versus Fox Meadows is what I'm trying to say. Um I'll just kind of pull out some high points. Of course, we would any infrastructure that would be turned over and considered public. Once completed,
um would have to go through the same process that we, you know, go through as far as engineering plans and specs for public improvements. Um grading, drainage, and eros erosion control plan. Um you know, any land disturbance would have to comply with our chapter 18 storm
water management ordinance. Um and the developer would have to obtain all necessary permits um with PCA, NPDES, um Department of Health, um final approval of the plat um does not relieve
the developer from making sure that they comply with our zoning code. So when they submit their final plans before they pull a permit, we'll just do another review for zoning code. Um we've got included in here park dedication since that topic came up. So based on the calculation of what we have in code,
um the payment that would be in lie of property would be $3,346. Um and the development isn't a big development, so there isn't room to have a park in there. And that's where they would based on the calculation that's in code, um you know, that money would be
applied towards the city's park fund. and then the city could apply it however they want, whether it's, you know, something at Lake Eagle Park or a new park in the future. Um, that's how that money would be used. And then, um, let's
see what else we have in here. So, those are kind of the high points. I guess like I said, it's a pretty simplified developer agreement because there aren't public roadways in the development. Um, but we do have, you know, utility infrastructure. So maybe I will turn it over to either the
developers to talk a little bit more about what their project consists of just to give you guys an idea of um you know what what's going to be there and constructed and then we have Brian Sar engineer as well here to also comment on you know any questions as far as uh
plans and specs for the infrastructure. So um maybe what we could do is start on kind of just what the development's going to look like. Um, so we've got it's an R3, so um that's how it's zoned. It's just um just shy of 2 and a half
acres. Uh the final plat was approved in April of 2024. Um I believe there's going to be four buildings or eight plexes and there'd be six bedrooms for each building and a threetory building. So maybe kind of give us an idea of what that maybe will
look like in garages and all that stuff. Thank you. Jackson there are eight flex buildings. Each unit has two bedrooms, eight two bedroom units. We may potentially put four total three bedrooms in the whole
project, but we haven't decided on that quite yet. There's 24 garages and plenty of additional parking just available to answer any questions. Are the same buildings that I've done at Cornerstone along Highway 14.
the you talk parking and I'm saying this because Fox Meadows does not seem to have enough parking in my opinion when um you drive down those streets and there's vehicles everywhere. So can you just re re say what you were
talking how many vehicles could be there and how many extra spots to the left right side of that there should be the numbers on there but this is actually not the most recent Let's see if I can make this bigger. Sorry.
Did you send me one, Justin? The most I could pull that plan. I guess I don't need an answer now. I just don't want to have the the mass chaos that I see down there where now vehicles are parking down the
side roads and you got that mass group of vehicles trying to leave that other area. It It's I don't want that nightmare. And then there's a lot of traffic and and walking traffic and now someone gets hit or something. So, it's trying to make sure there's enough. There's one one stall garage per
apartment or two. Yeah, I sent Jennifer to Thank you. Yep. I didn't have that. So, 32 units total. Okay. And two bedrooms per unit. That's 64 potential. And then we had 24 garage
dolls. And then the unit today has how many? 48, right? Somebody do the math. How many stalls is that per apartment? How many? Well, how many per apartment? So, is that four stalls per apartments? Like
two garages, door stalls, and two parking slots because I think I'm saying too, right? So, we also have to assume that not every garage is going to have a vehicle in it. I would say probably half of them are going to be piled with bikes, toys, storage.
1.12 per most per bedroom. Excuse me. Okay. That's that's my biggest concern is not repeating the problem we're having otherwear. So if if there's two two cars in every one of these units and there's not enough stalls and they're not all parking in
garages because I don't think they all will garages over there. Where are they parking? Are they parking on city streets? And is that parking there? and it is a very narrow street and I don't know I can't remember how much parking is allowed on that street. I guess that's just a concern that I
have like I don't have this whole project is great. I just Nobody parks in their garages in that new subdivision. There's two in the driveway, there's two in the streets, and for every single Well, we have cornerstone. I think that
was, you know, but a similar ratio. I don't when I did own it, there was definitely people that use garages for parking their vehicle. We just did one in similar situation. people do use. I would say
it's a small percentage that don't use the garage or parking use it for storage. Maybe Fox Metals is unique. Right now it's a unicorn because there's nobody that I see parks in the garage, but not to say this wasn't. So I guess that would be a question. Is there an
opportunity in this green space to I've got a different Well, I think if you're going to do that, we'd have to look at um we have a lot coverage calculation requirements with hard surface. So, um we probably have to do a variance for
that if that's what the council wants to do. I don't think is there a problem by the ones by 14. My in-laws lived there and I didn't at cornerstone. I've never seen a problem at corners. Never been a problem there. So, okay.
Well, and I think the other thing is is that Fox Meadows doesn't even have a parking lot. I mean, this has a parking lot. Fox Meadows has street parking and they have driveway parking. I I think their their driveway parking is hard, too, because if they have two or three, they can't park back to back
because people are leaving at different times. So, then they don't ever stack cars and things like that. Yeah. His garages are away from the apartments, too. So, that's a direct out. And then the I I think the parking is adequate. Okay.
All right. So the other couple questions I have I think last time you came we had a question. Did you meet with the fire department to make sure we had all the radiuses because you were making a few subtle changes with that? Okay.
Jennifer Make sure the turn uses your largest truck. Perfect. And I think there was a question or maybe a hope there there would be a walking path up to one of the streets. Is that am I remembering that? I remember something about that, but I don't know if
I think what happened was the previous de previous proposed developer of this uh area were and that didn't end up following through. I think something he had talked about was wanting to um offer the city the opportunity to put
in a walking path. The developer wasn't going to pay for it, but it would be nice to have, but it Oh, that makes sense. So, your drivein is going to is going to be essentially where the mailboxes are currently, right?
It's close. Yeah, this is a much different picture. Yeah. So, maybe another point, not to keep interrupting, but that maybe Brian Surf, our engineer, could talk about too, is so this this area the city has had its eyes on, I know since I've been here, we
worked really hard to get a utility easement. were not successful with the previous owner. Um, but by the development getting underway, we are able to do some water main looping work that is desperately needed to get done. Um, and so we're working with developers
that are willing to work with us. We get easements um, you know, all the stuff we Brian can talk more about that, but that's pretty a pretty significant deal to the city. Yeah. Yeah. So I guess to be clear, we won't complete the loop with this um but
we will uh essentially complete the route for the loop. Um so as part of this development uh to serve their water uh it'll essentially extend to the property line and towards the left part of that screen you can see it's maybe a
little hard black and white a little bit wider easement towards the left bottom left part of that screen that's essentially dedicated for the situation for the city to finish that loop at some point in the adjacent development here.
Any other questions for developer or engineer? I guess I have one more question. Sorry to keep asking, but one thing we did talk about in our meeting was the possibility of having just a small play structure. Is that something, you know, because I know Council Member Lewis and um some other council members have kind
of echoed that what I tried to convey to you guys too, the concern about not having a a place for small children to play. Um and you know, over there in that part of town, it the um to be able to access a play area would be difficult. Is there any like I'm trying
to think of like Breen Ridge or some um other developments where they have a really small play structure just something for people to be able to use if there's you know the bird houses have one I I don't know
they do because that's kind of secluded with major roads kind of and it would be part of the development not a public you know play park space area would just be something you know you sometimes see in developments where there's a
concern with that is just utiliz Would that park be any different than what Lewis is saying with going from Fox Meadows to Eagle Heights? So, this would be a private Yep. The difference,
right? But like them saying, "No, we're not going to put one in. We'll give you the money." Is that distance from their unit to Phys Meadows to Eagle Heights? No. I mean, they would be able to go use that that park over there. Yep. Sorry if
I'm but them but they have to pay into our park dedication fund. Sorry if I'm not answering your question or understanding but so um if there's some more questions what would be needed tonight would be um authorization for the mayor and I to sign the final plat um which was not
signed but needs to be recorded and then we can sign the developers agreement. All right. I'll look for a motion for that. I'll make the motion. I'll second it. Any other discussion? All in favor? I I
All opposed. All right. Perfect. Thank you. We'll look forward to getting that kind of area developed. Any timeline of when when to start? Soon. Okay. So, you get this year. Yes. Okay. Perfect.
We definitely appreciate I know the mayor and I taught you that one day outside when you guys were leaving, but we really truly appreciate your investment into Eagle Lake and we I think it'll be great for our community and just um glad to work with you guys. Thank you.
All right. Park lighting project recommendations. Great. Uh mayor and city council, I'll just kind of give an overview and then I'm going to turn over to public works director Hartman and let him talk a little bit more in detail. Um, we've been talking about this for some time now. Uh, the need to improve our park
lighting at the park for safety reasons, aesthetic reasons. Um, but due to cost and lack of interest by developer or excuse me, developers, um, vendors or contractors, if you will, um, we hadn't moved this project forward. So, to kind
of keep it moving, the park board talked about, let's do an RFP. So, we put together an RFP um, between Andrew and I. We sent it out to um might have been four people. I can't remember off the top of my head, but obviously four people for sure. Might have had more
that just didn't submit a proposal. Um but we have four proposals that were uh returned. Um Andrew and I talked last week about um which one kind of best fits the city's needs, and I'll let him talk about that a little bit more. But in the packet, you'll see just a summary
of the different um proposals received and their bid amount. Um it sounds like everybody's kind of looking at um there's a quite a bit of a lead time. So we're looking at probably a fall project. So with that, I'll turn over to public works director Hartman.
Yeah. So with um with the way pricing came in, um Plug is the second lowest. Um, but I think talking with Jennifer, we want to we want to go with him just because
one, he knows everything that's down there already. He's repaired all of our lights down there. Um, so he kind of knows the electrical system. Um, and he's kind of been the most upfront and
he's made three or four trips over here to look at it. you know, he's got time invested in it. He um has made some recommendations and part of the reason why his price might be a little higher is um so in the RFP we had 12T poles and
he wants to go with 15T poles so that they're 12 ft out of the ground um so the lights are up high enough, you know, kids can't jump with baseball bats and and things like that that we've had problems with. Um, so he's kind of, you
know, that might be part of the reason why he is a little higher. Um, but and then he also is the only one that has offered a deduction um, with the use of the old wiring that
is in the ground. Um, which, um, I think BLK is the only other one that actually came out here and looked. Um, and they were like, "Yeah, the price will be the same whether we reuse that wire or not."
So, any questions from the council car? No, I was just going to make a motion to go with plug for the lighting project. I'll second. First and second. Any other discussion? I do have a couple questions. So, how
many lights are there going to be total? There'll be 12 lights total. 12 lights total. Are they decorative or just poles? Uh, they'll be like an LED. Um, they'll be kind of like what's similar to what's down there. Okay. Except no glass in them and they'll be
LED instead. No glass is good. LED is good. LEDs are maybe too bright. Okay, we have a first and second. Uh, all in favor? I. All opposed.
All right. Next one. Certification of unpaid utility charges. All right. Uh, mayor and city council. We have a property at 212 Agency Street South. Um they had an outstanding utility balance um totaling $1,51463
uh which includes uh late fees assessed. Uh this property had come up to uh come up before um they had requested the city wave these fees um due to a um water leak and us not be able to prove that it
didn't go into the sewer. Um, so they have not uh paid their bill and at this point uh because of the large amount uh it's recommended that we certify it for collection with property taxes. Um so with that just need a motion to
authorize city staff to proceed with certifying this to Blorth County for collection with property taxes. I'll make that motion. Have a first and Yeah, I'll make that one. Make a second. All in favor? I All opposed.
Have they just been ignoring you guys or what? I guess since they're not paying it. Yes. The best thing the safest path um that we can do is if we the more timely certification because if for some reason it would go under foreclosure, it gets
really dicey. So, it's good just to get it certified to Bl County and then it'll be added to the property taxes. Whoever get that property if it would go into that process would have to pay that. So we get our money. So number six agency agreement for federal
funds obtained. All right. So I am pleased to bring this back to you. I don't know if you guys recall, but uh probably a couple of meetings ago um I had shared with you that I had submitted a proposal for a carbon reduction um grant for
engineering for the pedestrian connectivity project and I had heard back and I kind of forgot that I had submitted it. Well, then all of a sudden we found out that we got it, but then we were kind of scrambling to figure out can we even make this work because of the federal funding and the the process that's entailed. So, long story short,
good news. Um we I was able to work with Blue Earth County and with um the people at Mindot and uh were able to with their help get a um proposal put together. So uh so we will be moving ahead with this
and they've approved everything. So uh we do have a grant for $180,000 that helps offset our local portion. So basically what this is is so that grant because it's federal funds, it won't get routed directly to the city of Eagle Lake. we have to have a project sponsor which is Blueorth County. So basically
this agreement is between Blue County and the city of Eagle Lake and it's just outlining you know our responsibilities as we would do if we were the project sponsor for another agency. So it's pretty standard um uh basically um
you know just what we're responsible for as far as the engineering and paying the the money that's owed for that. So, um, we would need the mayor and myself to sign this to be able to move ahead. And then I think I also, yep, I did include the federal participation, um,
from Mandot for this money. So, so with that number, what's what's the rest of the our donation? Is this still This helps significantly. Our I have all the numbers. I just don't have them off the top of my head right now. So,
we got the large federal um transportation alternatives grant and then we had the local share between Blorth County and the city we had to come up with and now that we've knocked off 180,000 that's it helps a lot. So, I can email you that tomorrow. That's fine. I just knew that it was a
substantial number of still our obligation. So, and when you say local does that that's that 180 goes to both county and city not just city, right? Yeah. But basically we between us have to come up with that money. So y this helps both the city and the county.
Y but I think this is a really good project for the city and one that I get asked about all the time. When is that going to happen because of all the kids that you know bike and run and right now we're going through the development in Fox Meadows to get back and forth. But
and we're still looking at a 26 or 27 start hopefully next year. Next year 26 hopefully. Okay. we do have to uh let the project um in 26 and start construction. So per the federal funding that we got.
So, have we done engineering and stuff? Because driving I'm still trying to figure out how this is all working, especially when you get to the corner and there's shrubs like right on the street. How you're going to So, has all that engineering been done already or and then are these property owners
knowing that hey, guess what? You're going to have a sidewalk right here with shrubs, you know, like where are we at at that phase? We are we have been in some talks with the regency so they know the project is coming. Um engineering at
this point it's kind of just been on hold because of the federal process is extremely complex but what you have specked fits on that lower side of 211 and east side of 26. Yeah. We assuming there's going to be
some temporary or permanent from the county, right? Or from agencies, some regencies. Okay. Certainly. The other thing I wanted to mention too is I don't think we've heard back, but we are waiting to hear back from the DNR. Oh, yes.
For additional money, I would expect to hear that really soon. I think all in all, and I'll get you the numbers tomorrow, but if we can get the DNR grant, too, we have done a really good job in getting grant funds for a project like this. So, I I would be very
proud if we could get it all. I think we we've done good already. So, I think it'll it's a needed project. Do we need any formal action on that? Yes. So, need approval to authorize um myself and the mayor to sign the um
sponsor agreement with Blorth County. I'll make that motion. Have a first. Anybody want a second? Second. Nick, a second. All right. All in favor? I opposed. All right. Number seven, request from property owner. Thank you, Brian.
Thanks, Brian. Okay, where am I at? Request run. Um, okay. So, mayor and city council, um, not too long ago, city staff identified an error in the utility billing account for a
property located at 102 Sparrow Hawk Circle. Um, we look back, the account was established in 2020. Um, and at that time, it was inadvertently set up without refuing charges. Um, that was due to an internal oversight by staff
um, that set up the utility billing for the account. Um, no one ever sent anything to the city. Um, and then as a result of that error, um, obviously we haven't been collecting refues and recycling fees for a number of years. So
when the issue was discovered, um, it just happened to be basically the same day that utility bills are run. So city staff added it to that billing cycle, um, had talked to the property owner and the property owner said acknowledged that, "Yep, I I'm responsible for these
fees." um but said I don't want to be back build and so the dispute that we've had ongoing now between the property or utility customer and um you know our billing cycle is um they feel like they're being back and I think at this
point we just need to move forward and get this issue resolved. the property has paid their account in full but is still um concerned about not having sufficient time to you know be made aware before. So they
were basically made aware the same day that utility bills are run and they were charged for this and I think they felt that that was considered back billing for whatever reason. So we found the 4 and a half year discrepancy
that day the bills were going to go out added that charge for that month month. I don't see how that's going backwards. So city staff doesn't have the authority
to wave any fees. So, um, we, um, you know, let them know that they were having lake fees occurred. I reached out to the propert, gave them a call and just said, you know, we we kind of need to get this cleaned up because they're carrying a, you know, the they're not paying their
late fees. They're not for that amount. Um, um, when they first start incurring late fees for not paying that, and we just need to get it resolved one way or another. So, I said I was going to bring it to the council and get this taken care of. And since that time they have paid their
balance in full. Um but we just um when I did talk to the property owner he said yes he would like the council to review this. So any suggestions anybody um you know the only question I would have is no I think they need to pay the
March was for March forward but I think the question I have is since that was in dispute and we hadn't come to should we wave the late fee part of that. Um,
I think that's a fair compromise that the March fees are still due, but um because it hadn't gotten to the council until now that the late fees incurred until then because I think our code even spells that out that if there was a you know, we would
um What is the fees we're talking here? I mean, just what's the dollar amount though? Oh, I'd have to pull up my fee schedule. Carrie probably knows it. Um less than 20, less than $50 a month, less than $100. just kind of random number.
Do we have a audit or checks and balance in place now to kind of So I asked city staff to do an internal audit and just make sure there's no other accounts. I don't know how how this happened and for so long. I'd be considering myself, but there's no other accounts found to
be in set up like that. Um, how many new accounts get us set up on a month? A lot. A lot. Well, and I I say that because well, the new construction, but then also um people moving in and out. Okay.
Yeah, it's a lot. I think in this time we had um maybe a vacancy in staff if I might remember right. I feel like we might have had one. I'm not sure. I don't remember. Or new staff. I can't. I was just kind of curious on just the volume. Are you guys still waiting for me to
look up the fees? I'm sorry. It's taking you a while. Oh, I could have looked up somewhere else. That would have been easier. Um, hold on. Is everybody ready? Okay, here we go. Go ahead. What's the number? So our utility a residential water or base fee is $7 and then we have
depending how many gallons you use. So if it be a thousand gallons it'd be about $6. So you know 13 15 bucks a month. Oh I'm looking up refuge and recycling not water. Sorry. Okay. Here we go. So refugees is $17 a
month and recycling is $529. So we're looking at, you know, 20 23 probably dollars a month, something like that. You're talking $23 and you got four and a half year five years free. Yeah. I don't see what the problem is.
I'd be pretty lucky. Well, like I said, I don't on the March, you know, I think we need to stand firm on that. But since there was a question, the only question I have and I'd go with what the council recommends, but you know, should we wave that late fee?
I got no problem waving the the late fee. I mean, but I do think they should be responsible for that. I mean, yeah, the March makes sense. We found it. We build you. We should be good. I think that's fair. What does our B our
process say that we could go back? You really can't with utilities if it's at the city's error. It's not recommended. Well, I don't want to, but yes, there's so many years you go back, but I wouldn't recommend it. You know, and I'm sure this the property
or utility customer was probably just caught off. You know, I guess I can kind of understand their frustration is that if you're not really paying close attention to your bill and then you all of a sudden now find out you have to pay an extra 20. I can understand why they're a little bit upset and it just hit them quickly. But, you know, after
they've had time to think about it and realize we've had four and a half years without it, you know, hopefully I think the only thing we could have done was followed up with a letter or something to them saying, "We found this discrepancy. That's why your bill is, you know, $23 before they actually got their utility bill." Right. Yep.
That's the only thing. So, I'd look to the How do you guys want to handle? I'll make a motion to wave the late fee but charge the March. I'll second that. First and second.
Any other discussion? All in favor? All opposed? All right. selling tires now. All right, mayor and city council. Um, we're getting down there on the agenda items, but this item is basically just a
formality to authorize a transfer of surplus police rated tires to Blue Earth County Sheriff's Office. You guys will remember a couple years ago when we or a year ago when we contracted out, we sold the um former squads to the sheriff's officer, worked it out with our deal.
Um, and then while the public works department was cleaning the shop, they came across some tires that were for that vehicle. We have no use for them. They're police rated. So, it only makes sense that we they should have went with them when we sold it. But, so basically, um, you know, I was just asked about this and my recommendation is just to do
something formal to make sure we have, you know, everything documented. But, so just need a motion to authorize the transfer of surplus police rate rated tires to Bluff County Sheriff's Office. Make that motion. first. I'll second.
We got a second. Any other discussion? All in favor? I I. All opposed. Don't burn those all up in one one night. Told you. Are they brand new tires just random? I think they were just sitting around
extra. Do we find them when something happened down in the shop? Clean up. No. All right. Um I think this is the added piece of the agenda. Glass bottles in parks. Oh, yes. So, um was contacted last week
by um a resident who had a concern about um seeing broken glass bottles at the park. Um I don't know if there's anything in code because I just simply being gone, I haven't had a chance to do any research. But if not, um I think what the resident was asking that we
talked about this evening is, you know, implementing some sort of a change or putting some sort of posting up at the park. And I I guess just from my own um experience going to different parks. I I recall seeing signs um it's pretty common, you know, no glass bottles or
whatever. So I said I would pass it along. This was after the agenda was already put together. So um wanted to bring that up to the council and see what your thoughts are on that. Makes sense to me. Is there anything else that we need to put signage up that are prohibited down
there? Yeah, I would put some signage somewhere by the entrance gates or near the pavilion or something. I didn't know they still make glass bottles, but yeah, it's a safety concern. It's uh once one of those things get gets broken and kids are running around, it's
potential hazard. So, but is there any other things that we need to prohibit that's we need to put signage up like the motorized vehicles that signs up or anything like that that we need to make sure that's
Do we have an amplified music we have a we have an ordinance on that correct or do we I I that's a great question. I don't know that we have anything about a no noise ordinance. I was approached by someone that lives near the park. They say every Sunday
there's music that's played loudly and you probably hear it yourself. And y it's kind of they're kind of complaining about how it gets too loud. I don't know if we had anything or if that's something we even want to mess with, but I don't think we have anything. And the reason I say that without looking before I say that is because in the past people
have had like a wedding in their backyard or um a band in their neighborhood. And I remember looking to see if there was a noise. There's I couldn't find anything in there. So the only thing I could find was um in our
rightway permit we have the hours at work construction work can take place. So that maybe is something we need to look at because if you get something that's being obnoxious I mean generally it's not a problem but I do know what you're talking about. I I you talking more through the city or just in the parks that we need to kind
of talk about? Uh I was thinking more of just the parks. Just the parks. Okay. Man I know they have some kind of ordinance for amplified music at the parks. Okay. But I just couldn't remember if we had something similar or not that is that something we could take take
back to the park board. We are scheduled to meet this Thursday. Maybe we could talk about that there if the council's okay with that. It's a great point to bring up. If you're going to put a sign up, are there any other ones that are missing that we need to put a prohibited rig? Great. Well, we can talk about all these
items in at the parkour. Mean that sounds good. I think maybe to reiterate or just more posting on vehicles parking down by the pavilion. I know a lot of people go down there to utilize the the playground equipment and if they can just once one vehicle goes down there then
you see six to eight. And then there's also a handicap stall that used to be painted handicap. It's not clearly visible and I think others are using that as a handicap stall. I know we talked at and I think it's been probably two years now, but we talked about, you
know, cleaning that bottom area up and then repainting even if it's the white lines or yellow lines of like the no parking and then repainting the handicap. is that it won't stop them per se, but I agree with with I'm glad that
Lieutenant Giller brought it up and council member Ro because I drive by the park every day to and from my house and I I notice that a lot that vehicles are creeping closer and closer to the pavilion and it's it's a safety issue too for kids on their bikes or people running, walking, here comes a vehicle
and you know it's clearly marked there for authorized vehicles only. So, I think it's going to be a because and then just I don't know if everybody remembers, but we had locked the gates and then we got a lot of push back from residents that didn't like that. So, then we opened them back up again and exactly the same thing, you know, is
going on. People are just getting closer and closer to either the softball field or Well, they blocked the path. You know, it'd be one thing if they stayed in those couple stalls, but they blocked that path so that it's hard for those that are on bikes or walking to go around. another issue for the park
board we should talk about. Yeah, for sure. So, I'm all for if we can get one or two handicap spots down there, a spot for, you know, authorized vehicles when you need to go down there and do maintenance and things like that, but other than that, nobody should be in that,
even the size of it, a loading or unloading zone maybe or something or people do have picnics down there, they don't Oh, yeah. As long as they're not parking there. Some of those quad parks get pretty heavy. Maybe that's what it is. Instead of painting, just putting a couple no
parking signs along that grass on that side. Um like what we did out here. Is that enough to get people to know like I don't some of them are going to do it regardless. You could ask them about that and then put a That's a good idea. Okay. So you guys will take that up the
park board. Sure. Um another one was the pond. Yes. So, mayor and city council, we re I have received comments from residents or concerns about the pond. And over the years, and I know this year it's been
it's been especially worse. Last year was good because we had the flooding and that seemed to do the trick and it was a pretty nice summer. Um I don't I don't know what we can do right now. I know public works um has put in the die, but
I have kind of mixed feelings on that because I know not all of you were on the council time, but I know I had talked about the possibility of raking the LG and I think everybody thought I was out of my mind, but I do think that's a possibility that we could look at getting a rake and try to rake the LG. I don't know where we dispose of it,
but it is a thing. Um and I think it's something we should look at. again. We can talk about the park board meeting because I mean just when you go down there sometimes I feel like I'll if I had a big rake with a big thing I could like pull it off and then we could get rid of it and it'll come back again. But I think that's something we should look
into. Complaint. Sorry. The complaint is the pond and how awful it looks. And so what I've been hearing from people is working on it right now. Yeah. And what I've been hearing from multiple people is if it's not going to look nice, you guys should just fill it in. And I think that's sad because it would be nice to have. It's such a nice
beautiful feature when it is you know pretty and clean. So stop quick. So I know we talked at the last meeting of like irriation or something to get water movement underneath and then there was also different chemicals besides dye you were going to
try. Have have we had any progress on any of that? So we when we got the chemicals they said call them and they'll tell us the right way how to use them. don't follow the instructions on the, you know, on the on the package
on the package, you know. Um, so they're like, you know, try and wait for a week where you can get 3 to 4 days without rain. Well, lo and behold, it was only a 20% chance of rain today. So, we were like, oh, we'll do it. This week, it's like the only week with no rain, so we
did it this afternoon or this morning. A little thunder. Um, yeah. But, you know, just so that it's not getting washed out the outlet, which I don't think with this amount of rain, I don't think we'll have too big of an issue. Um, so we'll just have to
see how that works, too. And that'll be the biggest, you know, if it works good and we continue to keep up on it, then maybe that's our ticket. We just haven't had haven't had time and haven't had the
weather to apply it yet. So, I know there are rakes that are manual and there's also automated things. That's it's an algae room, right? So, we put it out.
The the only thing with the rake is so we almost need some sort of skimmer cuz it's all the duckweed. So, it has to be something that floats to catch it all and pull it in. you know, it can't be your, you know, they have the weed rakes that you roll across the bottom and stuff, but that's not
going to do us any good. Um, it's got to be some sort of skimmer, but I think I've seen them, so I did do a little research last time we had this question, so there are out there. So, I think we should take some time just to see what the pricing might be. Um,
just because, yeah, it's when you can walk across the pond, then it's kind of. So, I can say to validate my um my belief that breaking or something would work, I did ask Luke Drummer, our um
climate impact coordinator, and he did. I look back at his email he sent me here in June. I had him research it and he he agreed. He said he thinks that if we have a rake or a pool skimmer um that we would be able to
um be able to remove it and then where we put it, I don't know. But, you know, I don't know how you dispose of that or who we contact to find out the best disposal compost. Yeah. Well, where the leaves are in the composting.
So, how do we move forward so we don't have to answer this four or five times a year? We need to do something because what we're doing right now is not working. So, I mean, I think I think just I think it's a combination. Yeah. Go
ahead. I mean the the pole and is that something Luke could do some research for pricing for us? Unfortunately, he's almost done. I wouldn't think that'd be very expensive, but you know, that would be something public works could work on um and you
know, maybe bring back something to the park board. But um yeah, we definitely can't just hope that we it goes away because it's not going to go away. And then the picture I took today, which I'm I think I saved but I'm not sure. Um, it had um Does everybody know what the pond looks like
right now? Yeah, it's it's there is no pond. It's grass. Yeah, I don't I took a picture today and I'm not sure if I sent it to myself or not. I was going to pull it up and show you. That's like the only place that's not
green is where the fountain is. Yeah. So, hitting that's what it I mean it's it's terrible. And there's all these geese out there which are just perpetuating the problem. They're spreading everything. There's a duckweed and and the algae. Anyways,
there's a picture if you haven't seen it. It's terrible. There's a pond. I see a nice green. Yeah. Is that par three? Yeah. Doesn't look like a golf hole.
I guess I haven't seen it for a while. I don't remember it being that bad. No. Since I've been in Eagle Lake, I have never seen it look this bad ever. I don't think I mean, Beth, you you grew up in Eagle Lake, Eric. Do you think it's ever looked this bad or I don't think so. I think this is the
worst it's been. I think so, too. So, I think, you know, it's probably worse, if I'm trying to recall. I mean, when they dredged it, it was this is probably worse than what it was before they drenched it. When was it dried? Do you remember
200? Okay. How much did that cost to do? Do you know? I was a fifth grader. I only remember going about 300,000. $300,000 to dredge it. I know they dred the pond.
We can all go grab shovels. Get some flippers and so let's just have public works. Let's see what would you how much are the chemicals that we keep I mean I guess at what point are we spending money and not getting a fix and I know we talk different type of
ariation and the cost of that but how much done yeah we just yeah so how how much was the chemicals that this round which hopefully it helps I think it was like less than wasn't it
600 or something. Okay. Okay. All right. Let's take a look at that. And then the next one was Regency. What I was can I just mention something else about that. So where I was going
when the otter was here was that's something that's always in my mind is that pond we got to do something about the pond and that's where I was kind of going with if we have extra money because I do feel like this pond is a huge focal point in Eagle Lake and if we don't address it it's it's just a huge eyesore. The amount of people that use
that park is incredible. So that may be a you know viable project if we need to spend down. So do we have a photo of it? Because your photo ground level is one thing, but when you stand up on that hill and look down and there's no water except there, I mean, do we have a photo at
that point or that area? And then does your guys or I mean someone that we can say here's the problem give us a fix instead of try this, try, you know, like what's what's a recommendation so that if we do have surplus money, here's what we can do that will
Yeah. So, so when we got this chemical that we just put in today, I sent them pictures all around the pond, um, dimensions of it, depths of it, and they said with the duckweed, and there's one other algae,
um, that's in there that they could see in the pictures, they said this is your best, okay, your best chemical, and they have all kinds of chemicals. And then where does it does it dissolve? Like, where does all of it go? I think it all just drops and just, you know, no
different than come Yeah. No different than come, you know, fall when it all dies off. Yep. And how long until it starts to take effect? We're going to find out. Yeah. I don't know. They didn't say they didn't say how how
quick. Okay. Not I know you guys want to wrap this up but I just want to clarify when we talk about like excess funds it's not that the city is just like um has this excess amount of money where I'm coming from is that we are being responsible and keeping to build a fund balance but at
some point when you have needs that need to get done and just the way the it's hard to explain how budgeting works and in the tax levy not that we we we are not um flush with all this excess money. But where I'm coming coming from is we know we have needs and we need to get
these needs so we don't have to burden the taxpayers when it comes time to the next budget. Could we say we are going to take this money because this is so important to our community and then try to rebuild that money because like like the auditor was saying only having a year and a half reserve is not really that much money. That's we you don't you
don't know what could happen and when you think about how much it costs to run a city and how much these things cost. So, I just want to clarify that so that um you know, everybody knows where we're at. So, that's all I have with that. No, I think it's a valuable asset that we need to see what we need to do with
it. So, I think getting some other options. Okay. Chemical might be the way to go, but it's, you know, I don't think, you know, since I've been on the council, I don't think we've seen any of these chemical regiments work. Now, this one might, you
know, but um but I know a mechanical solution will work. Um I'm sure someone's going to ask, but it's going to harm wildlife at all. Like this chemical that we're dumping in there going to be but that's a good question and I was
going to actually contact the DNR because now that I've learned that they've stocked our ponds with fish that I just kind of wanted to find out that same question. So, I haven't had a chance to come and I don't know if Andrew has a contact with the DNR, but we will reach out too just to make sure they're aware of what we're putting in
there. So, um and I think the next item is Regency. I can go into that one quick too. So, the next item that was brought up was Regency um and the tall grass in the ditch. And so, we kind of talked about
that this evening. Um and Brian Surf the engineer gave us you know I think hopefully some hope that we can get this issue resolved. But basically the um individ individual just wanted to bring it to our attention and I said that I had talked with both um you know Sham in
the past and then also with Regency and they recently have been in contact as of today those two parties to try to figure something out. So just wanted to um you know address that person's concern. they wanted this talked about. And then as a side note to let you know that um
between public works, law enforcement and myself, we had a meeting previously with u management at um uh Regency, we have actually we're going to have another call, I believe, tomorrow afternoon to talk about different items that um you know that need to be
addressed and um are just an eyesore and nuisance conditions for the community. So just let you know we're keep working on that. when you talk to them. I just I when we had the storm water um MS4 presentation today and then I saw this come up too when I went home in between
work and this meeting they mowed most of the lots which was great but threw a massive amount of grass onto the street um that was probably four feet out onto the street and solid green. So just reminding them where it ends up or cleaning it up. And they actually just got a letter
today um that said exactly that. Do not put your grass clippings in the street. Was it on Agency Street or Nope. It was on 211 and it was right on the corner. That one that has the shrubs there. Um, thank you for pointing that out. It was a significant amount. I mean, when it's a little bit, it's like, okay,
but it was a pretty significant amount of grass. Yep. We will let them know that um that was observed. They need cleaned up. The frustration point for me is that they think they know what the water problem is, but we're not making any progress to fix or closure. Right. So,
is it just that Brian is having a hard time getting the parties to come to an agreement to put a shovel in the ground or so I think it was waiting on
when we kind of figured out what we think the problem is um was coming into bidding and awarding bids for the street project. So, we were hoping that we could just incorporate, you know, hey, just move your mini down there for a
little bit, dig this up, double check, make sure if this is what we need or not. Um, so when you say awarding for this next phase or nope, for for our street project, which is now next year,
right? Okay. So, you know, now, do we want to just have somebody come in and fix it now or do we wait till next year and, you know, not have the mobilization fees and things like that?
that what would the council I think we need to do something sooner than later, you know, is it our responsibility or is it get built back to anyone or we it's our burden no matter what? Well, that's what I was trying to figure
out too from Brian Surf is I don't remember hearing about that before there was a tile and that's where I was wondering who's responsible because the project has been closed out. Well, the tile is just probably just an artifact of what that land was prior, right? So,
um the six is either connect the tile again or I'm assuming you can't pull it up because it's already in the development. Um I don't know a whole lot about it. I
just know bendable and I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Um I just I don't think we push it out till next year. It's been an issue for well not this last winter but the winter
before we noticed it. So I in my eyes I think it should be something that should be pushed back onto Sham and the development but is the day that all
the time was just too low and it was all too high and it was all going out right away. You know what I mean? But I've seen them try and weed whip. They can't even go and they're out there in like high boots and just three of them for
like four hours. So I don't blame them for not doing that. complain about it. I walked down there today and yes, there's a substantial amount of water at the bottom. Um, however, the road right away and I guess right at the stop sign
at 211 and South Agency, it's kind of become a traffic hazard. Uh, it's a little tall. So, I mean, the downs slope of the ditch could possibly be weed whipped for the time being. Um, the bottom of the ditch, yeah, it's going to be challenging. It's probably not going
to happen, but I think if we can do some some type of preventative maintenance on the down slope of the ditch and the road right away if they have the equipment, I think it would be pretty beneficial. So, leaf in the meantime, knock it down
to you can see around the corner kind of Yeah, I think that's the most frustrating part is, you know, we've been talking about this for two years now. So, um, I don't want to pay for it if we don't have to. But, uh, how do we push that forward
either with Sham or is it Shramm or us? Is that kind of the or at the very least a shared shared expense? has been closed and yet I think it was something that was happening at that point but obviously doesn't always happen
and I think it's been documented early enough when we first noticed it that you know we can go back and say yeah it's not a it's not a new issue we have documentation you know that you had Colt and I come
back out try and fix it they did not resolve the issue and now we're into what are we doing? So, we can document it. But before that went in, there wasn't that ditch wasn't
that wet. Before that, the ditch was never that way. Now, whether we have documentation showing that or not are two different things, but it was never that way unless we had heavy rains. When I was there, it was always I mean the res
up to the street the res. Okay. And we always Yeah. It's just how do we proceed? We want to push Mr. Shum a little bit or have we or can we or should we or
I think maybe it's a conversation we can have with um legal counsel because I mean you heard what our engineer said tonight. So I think we just need there. So yeah, we can look into it further and
then see where we need to go because there's a lot of people that cross over there. right there at that corner. Either car or pedestrian. If it's four feet tall and there's a three-foot kid, that's not good.
Okay. All right. Other an update on the incident. Oh, no. Was there Oh, just we're going to talk to him about ongoing stuff with just cleaning up nuisance stuff. So, just want to let you guys know we're still working with
them on that. Perfect. All right. Update the new drive-in. All right. The the what? The new drive-in. That would be great news, wouldn't it? Um All right. So, uh on your council
top, there should be a hard copy um that I printed which has year-to- date, revenue, and expense report um as of the end of June. Uh, next item is employee leave balances. Skipped over one update on the the vehicle incident at the
Oh, okay. I'm sorry. Sorry. Go ahead. Sorry about that, guys. Yeah. Here, right. Um, quickly though. Yeah. So, on your sheet that I had
printed out for you, it kind of shows what all we kind of have going on. Um, basically all new office equipment, epoxy flooring, replace the wall, replace the window, blinds,
um, filing cabinets. We have one filing cabinet that has all of our water files in it that we have to figure out how we're going to get into without trying to cut it and start a fire. So, um yeah, we got all kinds of
all kinds of fun fun stuff. Um like our big map filing cabinet was completely destroyed and we spent two hours getting into it to get all the maps out of it without destroying paperwork and documents and things like that. Some of
the maps in there from like the 40s. So, um, once we I got two bits back, now we're between 75 to 95,000
for the repairs. And then right now, we have our office in the shop, not in the office. So, we're really tight on space. So, we're going to wait until we get all of the work done in the
office before we buy our new office equipment and things like that. So, we're from the one company that I talked to, they said that um Semstone is or Wells Concrete is out to
about December to get a wall panel. So, we might be waiting a while. Is that who did did it originally? Well, yeah. Yep. So, um haven't put a little rebar in that this time. Oh, there is plenty.
Was there any structural dam? I mean, I know the wall, but like anything else or No, there is there's absolutely no structural damage that that wall piece wasn't a loadbearing piece or anything. There's a header above the window. Um,
on the corner there's a solid steel beam and then on the other side is a loadbearing panel. But see, they hit in a good spot. Yeah. Yep. So, we don't have to worry about anything structurally that way. Um, it's just a mess.
Yeah. All right. Well, keep moving forward. All right. Now, Jeff. Okay. Sorry, guys. Um, real quick. Okay. So, um, the packet or the handout in front of you just has
your date revenue expense report, employee leave balances, um, a copy of our community solution action plan that was distributed um, at the launch that we held um, in June. We had a really good turnout with that. Um we just
wanted to um you know push out the message that if anybody within those their networks um that was in attendance knows of anybody that's even remotely interested in starting a child care um whether it's in home or in a facility reach out. We'll put you in contact with
different resources. Um there's some good behind the scenes work taking place for um potential preschool um and also um other child care options. So, that's all good. We're fortunate to have those things taking place in our
community. Um, next item, Highway 14 corridor study. I want to give you guys an update. Um, so we recently had another one of our what they they call them PMTs or project management um team meetings. Um, we had
one just right before I went on vacation and we talked about, you know, how do we keep this this moving to wrap up the Highway 14 corridor study. Um so just to give you a little background kind of re recap of where we've been. So there was a presentation made at the June city
council meeting. Um and then after that a couple days later we had a another um meeting and involved the different partners um and their agencies. So, we had um Mayor Whittington, Council Member Rorich, um uh Council Commissioner Brund
with Blue Earth County, and uh different Mindot representatives that were um part of that meeting in addition to our normal PMT. And basically, we talked about the different concepts and that were dismissed and
kind of where the group was leaning. And at that point, Mindot and Blue Earth County Express um that concepts A and D2 were not viable due to the high cost. And I'm going to pull them up on my computer so you guys can um look at this. Um just one second here.
Get it here because I don't unless everybody remembers, but it's it was a while ago now we looked at this Okay. So, um they had the concept A which would um address the it's hard to
see, but you can just basically see where the green is that there would be um the uh is it the high tea? I'm trying to remember here. High tea. Yep. By the Casey's intersection. And then we'd also
still have um the interchange um over at the It was just an overpass though. overpass overpass over by um getting my roadways mixed up. We kind of reject it because it will just dump tons of traffic through
dump traffic through. Yes. So we'd have the one full access and one partial access to Eagle Lake. Um the Cass 17 there'd be the underpass and be routing um yeah less people,
highest cost. Um, and then we had concept B, which was one full access and one partial access to Eagle Lake, and then traffic rerouting through residential areas. Concept C, we had two
accesses to the highway. Um, no access from the south side of Highway 14 at CASA 55 and CASA 1727. in concept D. Um, lowest cost and highest safety according to Mandot and
the other partners. Um, but the trade-off is that we'd lose full access at Cass 56 at Casey's intersection. So, we'd basically just have and we'd have more traffic coming through town and we'd have a right in and right out at that intersection. Um, and so then let's
see, where do we go with that? Okay, so we went through all that. Well, then we we met then again with council member Aorich, Mayor Whittington and I at that meeting and um they talked about their preference would be um concept D which
would eliminate our full access at CASA 56. we just have that right in, right out. And we raised concerns with that because of not knowing what our potential future development would look like um and limiting that and not knowing what the funding opportunities
might be. And so we basically just said at that point they were kind of pushing us to give some sort of um consensus because they argued that well if we don't have consensus by all the agency partners here and have a recommendation that everybody agrees on to close out
the study then the study was basically for nothing because you're not going to be able you have to have everybody has to work together because basically it's Mandat's roadway. we'd have to have the county helping us. And if the county is saying they're not going to help us, it puts us in a really bad position. Um,
and then they talked about we said, "Well, then what about going ahead and just going for um concept A and, you know, taking that risk of applying for funding even though they think it's, you know, unattainable." They said, "Well, then you're just going to end up wasting
years and time." And so I don't know if I'm doing a good job recapping you guys, but basically then following that meeting, I had a project management team meeting with them and again where they were pushing for consensus and I said that as staff I certainly don't feel comfortable speaking on behalf of the council at
this point that I think there's more information that needs is needed because if you don't work I mean all these people in this project management group are either engineers or um you know they traffic's um uh what am I trying to say that
that's what they do every day for the rest of us this isn't something and looking at all these different concepts takes a lot of um time and um you know thought and it's our community and at the end of the day you know we live um
live here we have to answer to the people that you know are in Eagle Lake and we want our community to continue to grow and flourish and to lose access at you know CASA 56 is is concerning. Um, but then the other argument that gets pushed out, well then what what if
there's another fatality or what if there's more accidents and mind just comes in and shuts it down? Then then now you've lost out on, you know, opportunities to make any improvements to this this area. So it's just um we're kind of stuck right now and so we kind
of arrived at consensus that we're going to have them come back to the city council, talk to the council as a whole. It's a public meeting. if someone from the public wants to come in um we want the public if they can't make it to the meeting they can at least watch the meeting to see kind of you know the pros and cons and um you know have that
opportunity. So that's where we're at right now. We're kind of at a sticking point where we're not in you know we don't have consensus on on what uh we want to do here because um you know just we come from different perspectives I think. So
I think if you look at Our optimal what we've talked about is our optimal plan would be a high te at 56 and a full interchange at 17. That would be ult, you know, ultimate for us, right, as a
as a city. Um, what the county has said in these meetings is they wouldn't support that. What they're want to support is what you saw in option D, and that's the full interchange at 17 and and limiting the Casey's exit to write
in right outs. So, that's kind of the impass, right? Obviously, it's a couple more dollars for the ultimate one for us and things like that. So, I think that's where we're sticking. But, yeah, I think Beth really
summed it up that, you know, you know, we need to we need more information from the from the citizens, right? So, It's it's dollars, right? You know, the biggest concern would be if something happens or they just, you know, we go
through the plan and they just take away all access at at the cases exit. Um, so I think there's more to do. We're still talking about a 10-year plan. It's it's not something that's going to happen in
27 or 28, you know. we're still talking, you know, 2030 or better. But it brought up the if we go to write in right out um at 56, what does that do to our business development over there that hasn't been done? You know, it's not going to look very appealing for
people to be able to go in there or it has to be that right group. Um, what I can say we did get out of that whole meeting when we left um was what we as a council and a city need to do better on our strategic planning and comprehensive planning going forward of okay, if an
interchange happens out on 17, where can we also add a different additional roads to try and divert some even in inner city traffic um on the southeast side of town? Can we add another road behind Fox Meadows? So that group of people um commuters aren't all having to go agency
and out. They can go if they're wanting to get on the highway, a back road, if you will, um and jump right on the highway and go. And that helps alleviate some of the pressure on Parkway or agency or other areas. So kind of looking at the what could be a 30, 40, 50 year plan and have it kind of mapped
out so when developments come, we can say, "Hey, here's what we're looking at having put in and where we'd like stuff." so we can work around that versus um us wishing we could do something but we can't anymore because it's already taken up. But I wasn't going to speak on behalf of
city residents and say, "Yeah, we'll cave and just go with this." When I'm not sure that that's the right thing. Their argument is, "Well, everybody it's it's not safe. People don't use it. They go to 12." Well, if you put a high tea in, now you've made it safe again. And will
those that don't use 56 now go back to using 56 and take some of the pressure off 12 or all of the roundabouts. So I don't know that's where I was I was not willing to make a decision on behalf
of everyone here or the whole community. No. So So I think that's Monday. Is that right? Um special meeting. Yep. Let's see. Let me find the date again. July 14th at noon.
We were kind of at the mercy of all the different agencies and what worked for um for everybody. And so, yep, we picked Monday at noon because you've already advertised that as a meeting, right? So, we can all be there. Say what? No, the entire council can be there.
Yep. Yep. So, I will send out advertising want to talk to you guys before we do it. But, yep. I have it on um I sent you guys a invite for today so we'll have to notice it. I guess my concern too from staff was it's it is scary to be told well if there's another
accident or you know we're going to shut you down. Well, what is it's kind of what is that threshold? I mean what was the urgency? We the study came up because um the former mayor had wanted us to do the study. So we did the study but what if we hadn't done the study? we
wouldn't be sitting here looking at the situation we're in right now. So, that's where I feel like it feels like we're being pushed to hurry up and make a decision. And I it's hard. It's hard to make a decision that is going to have long-term effects on Eagle Lake. Like this is a decision that
once it's closed, it's closed. Yep. Once it's done, it's done. Yep. And another fear that I have is once they get approval, will they just make the change before the other interchange is open? Right.
I know. So, so hopefully we'll get more information and feel like we, you know, as a city can feel better about, you know, where we're at with this. But, um, so,
well, yeah. So, I think, you know, everybody that can be there should be there. Um um make your, you know, make your opinions known. If you can't be there, at least, you
know, let Jennifer know, you know, what you're thinking, um so we can bring it up. Proxy. Yeah. And sorry to spend so much time on it tonight. just want everybody to really think about it and just, you know, come if you can come with your
thoughts, questions, concerns, and, you know, this will be our opportunity to ask those questions. So, thanks for your time on that. Uh, next up is just um annual drinking water report certification just to let you know. Um, we sent it out to residents or the link uh we posted on our website. We did the
certification form. I know sometimes it gets confusing because of the maganesees issue, but at the end of the day, our water is safe to drink. However, the manganesees um that we had testing be voluntarily tested for a few years back um did have high levels for um that was
not considered safe for infants or people that might be more a vulnerable population. But we do know that if people have a water softener, other filters that it is most likely going to reduce it to safe levels, but you'd have to test in every home um to find that out for sure. So, next uh we met um
probably a couple months now to talk about emergency management response guidelines update. I um we'll get that on our agenda, those changes made for August and get that approved. Uh we're going to uh make a good effort to get this done every year. Um next item,
inner city leadership visit. Um this is with Greater Mano Growth. Um they are wanting to get um uh cross sector representation from the greater Mano area of businesses, private, nonprofit,
government, faith-based um to talk about um strategies for economic growth and innovation. And every few years they do a delegation. This year um they're looking to go to Witchah, Kansas um be November 5th through the 7th um here in 2025. And um
I have not previously attended one of these, but uh former mayor Tim Orer did attend and I can't remember now off top had the delegation where he went to. Um but they did travel and you know kind of learn about um different ways that you know we can try to bring back to our
area and grow our economy. So I think the mayor should for sure go. I'd like to go. I skipped um signing up for a couple conferences to make sure there's enough funding for this. And then um I was talking to Ryan VC with uh uh Rita
and um Greater Mano Growth and he said we should really kind of hone in on child care when we're there and ask lots of questions about that and learn about what they're doing um in that area. And um so I I apologize I missed council member Lewis's name in here but so
basically I I feel like there should be some discussion amongst um council members Rorich Steinberger White and Lewis as to who feels it would be best to go um because we obviously for quorum purposes would want to have more in budgetary purposes um but I had
mentioned council member Roch since since she's on the RCCIP and been working closely with childcare but I would let that um be decided. amongst the council. So, at this point, um you know, I think we just kind of need to have a loose idea of if there's interest in attending and then we'll bring back
final stuff to the council for approval um in August. But we're kind of looking at about $3,000 per person. I missed the planning meeting. Um I don't know if anybody else is able to go, but I think it's about $3,000 a person. Includes airfare, hotel, um all other costs. So,
and I think that's all I've got. So, yep, that's all I've got. Thank you. All right, council member reports. That was quick. All right, next upcoming council meeting is August 11th.
Uh, EDA is the 24th and park board's the 10th. That one's coming up quick. planning commissions on the 21st. I would look for any other business needs to happen. All right, I'd look for a motion to adjurnn.
Second. All right, mayor and city council. Um, someone asked and I guess we didn't clarify that the reason the um the meeting is scheduled for August 11th is uh Mayor Whittington will be out of town for the regular August meeting. And so in the past when that's happened, we've just
moved it to another mean. I hope that or another week. Hope that works for everybody. So we'll make sure we point that out to everybody. It's it's August 11th. No, it's we've done it many times in the past. So