So, I guess we'll go ahead and get started to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice
for all. All right. Would you like to do the roll call, please? Mr. Steinberg, here. Mrs. Rorich, here. Mr. White here. Mr. Lewis here. Mayor Whittington here. Just want to open up for any public
comments. So, if anybody that's not here that's not on the agenda, it doesn't look like anyone else. You guys are on the agenda here in a few minutes. So, perfect. All right. We have two additional agenda items to add to number nine and number
10 for our agenda. uh basketball back stops at the park and the solar on public buildings uh grant. So, any other additions to the to the agenda?
Hearing none, I'd look for a motion to approve the agenda as amended. I'll make a motion to approve and a second. A second. Second. We have a first and second. All in favor? I opposed. All right. consent agenda. Is
there anything anyone would like to pulled out or any more discussion on the consent agenda? No. All right. I would look for a motion to approve the consent agenda. Motion. Second. We have a first and second. Um any other
conversation? Um all in favor? I. All opposed. All right. So, we'll get a scheduled guest here. Miss Moore, you have Mayor Whittington, may I interrupt? Uh uh Deputy City Clerk uh Rous remind me
we need to approve the minutes. So, if you wouldn't mind doing that. We do. Seriously. Thank you. So, I'd look for a motion to approve the minutes. Motion. Second. We have a first and second. All in favor? I. All opposed. Anything else that I
missed? Just trying to get through the night. All right. Yes, please. Thank you. Uh hello council members. Thank you for having me. My name is Jenna Moore and I'm a lifelong resident of Eagle Lake. I
currently reside at 712 Maple Lane. Um I'm here to request that the city council consider adding language to the current ordinances regarding overgrown grass and weeds and consider adopting a specific ordinance as it relates to pollinator gardens. While the intent of the state ordinance is valuable, its
language is quite vague and without additional specifics within city codes, it lacks details that can lead to confusion for residents, inconsistent enforcement, and unintended conflicts within city codes and some neighbors. My backyard butts up to quite the garden. I
along with other neighbors have called it in several times as it is unmaintained. Garrett, I'm going to put you on the spot. How tall are you? I'm 6 foot six. So, some of these weeds are over seven feet tall. They have a six-foot fence
and they tower over that fence. Um, so just for reference, that's how tall they are. Um, measuring a tenth of an acre, the garden is home to ragweed and Canadian thistle. It sits directly on my property line along with four others. I was told public works department came to
look at the garden and determined it was native grasses. Then I had Blue Earth County come to evaluate and he agreed that not only were there noxious weeds, but the garden contained turf grass that was well over the 6 in that our city allows. He enforced removal of the Canadian thistle, which still has not
been completed. However, he said the city needs to enforce its own codes related to the grass and plants that have gone to seed and are over 6 in. Furthermore, because of the ragweed and lamb's quarters, my family simply cannot be outdoors. I wish I were being dramatic here. My daughter has never had
allergies in her 16 years, and within the last six months, she's been unable to breathe without difficulty outdoors. My husband cannot mow our lawn without being swollen in the face and eyes after 45 minutes of being outdoors, and we haven't opened our windows since last summer. Our neighbors young children
have been stung multiple times in the last month while simply trying to enjoy their backyard. Our neighbors as well as we have thistle popping up throughout our lawns, an issue that has never happened until this garden began this year. Because of its location, it's impossible for the current owners to
maintain their garden without stepping into all of our yards. For the record, city code chapter 3 dictates that any weeds or growth, noxious or not, that are over 6 in or have gone to seed are considered a public nuisance. Additionally, chapter 3 covers enjoyment
of one's property and states that any condition that unreasonably affects one's comfort or health shall be declared a nuisance. When property owners are unable to use their yard because their neighbor is growing one of the most common allergens like ragweed to me, that's affecting our comfort and
our health. Several cities throughout Minnesota have adopted ordinances that aim to address pollinator or natural grass gardens. All have a height limit, usually between 6 to 10 inches, for native grasses. All have an exclusion for noxious weeds, as does the state of
Minnesota. Furthermore, several cities dictate that a maintained garden must have a hard border. Sorry, I lost my spot. And have a setback of 2 to 5 feet from neighboring properties. I would encourage you all to review the ordinances related to pollinator gardens for Marshall, where
gardens cannot be closer than 5t to a neighboring property. North Mano's ordinance allows managed and intentional plantings with specifics about maintenance. Weeds or plantings must not go to seed and grasses cannot be above 8 in. Other cities even require permits
for natural landscape areas that are over 8 in in height where the property owner must abide by rules set forth like setbacks from property lines, size limitations, annual maintenance, and periodic cutting. This garden, while maybe at intentional at first, and I do
believe that it was, has been unmanaged and unmaintained for four months. It is not flowers or native grasses as one would think of when they're told their neighbors are planting a pollinator garden. It's weeds and grass that have now gone to seed, and it needs to be addressed according to our current code.
Beth, I don't mean to put you on the spot, and this is rhetorical, so I'm not going to. I know you have a delicate balance of both council member and a neighboring property, but you are working on a beautiful outdoor space. Knowing all the work you've put into your yard and seeing what you'll get to look at if the city continues to not
enforce its ordinance has to be disappointing at best. Maybe you, your children, your family or friends have allergies. After all the work you've put in, you may not be able to enjoy the space with those people. I can't imagine how that would make you feel. Anthony, again, not putting you on the spot, but
also uh as a fellow realtor, wouldn't you agree that weeds of this size and height would be a deterrent to buyers and would even potentially decrease the values of homes around it? I know when I bring buyers into homes, one of the first things we look at is neighboring properties and how they care for their
lawn and their property. This would be a major deterrent to me as a buyer and as a realtor. It's something I would definitely be taking note of. My goal for today is number one, spend some time truly investigating this specific location and how it doesn't comply with city code. Action needs to be taken so
we along with our neighbors can begin to truly enjoy the properties in our our properties in our yards. It's an eyesore. It's unhealthy and it violates code. While there may have been pollinator friendly seeds planted, and like I said, I do believe that there
were, it has been taken over by weeds. This state statute dictates that natural landscapes or pollinator gardens must be managed and this very much is not. Additionally, I think Eagle Lake can benefit from furthering the conversation of pollinator gardens, their benefit and how to have them around our community
without adverse effects on humans, biodiversity, and of course, in my real estate brain, property values. Working to adopt an ordinance like some of the cities I mentioned above would alleviate the confusion that we all feel as to what is allowable and what is not.
Please take time in the coming days to stop by my home at 712 Maple. You are each welcome to use my yard and come take a look in person as driving by simply does not suffice. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you.
Chris, were you going to speak? You have this on agenda item later on so we can discuss it as part of your agenda. You want to talk about what you want to do? I can make comments regarding that. Your city code section is invalid. The statute usurps it in 2023. Uh 8 in is
required under the statute. So that that code section needs to be revised in some fashion because it's not enforceable as it is written, you know. So you could take a look at that. Um, I certainly don't disagree with the city being able to go ahead and and have something for managed natural gardens. Uh, quite
frankly, the reason for the statute in the court of appeals case that was decided was litigated by me through North Mano. I drafted North Mano's current ordinance. You know, I think it's a good ordinance. I think there's some ways you can take a look at it. Um, but you know, the idea that we can go in and do something
regarding six inches, clearly we can't. um if it goes longer than that um as to how much it can go for if it's native grasses and that's kind of a misnomer because the or the statute doesn't really talk about native grasses. It talks about basically almost anything that somebody wants to plant as long as
it's not a noxious weed. You certainly can go in and enforce and take out noxious weeds at this point. And Mr. Mayor, you are technically the weed inspector for the city. So you could go in there and investigate if you have that expertise, but there's a list of what's noxious and what's not.
Um, and I don't believe rageweed is considered by the state at this point a noxious weed. I don't believe Yeah, Canadian Canadian thistle is and I know that the county came in and looked, which which we were very grateful for and that they're taking care of some of that, but but that also gives us kind of a double-edged sword because the items
that are not necessarily noxious weeds currently would be enforceable. So you can do something, you know, it's just a matter of what you want to do and how you want to kind of go forward. The property owners in regards to a lot of the claims that they also have, you know, independently of anything that the city does regarding a nuisance action
have the opportunity to bring a private, you know, public nuisance action to go regarding their damages. And that would be appropriate anytime we're talking about allergies, you know, lost property values, those type of things are are much more are better served between the property owners because we can't try to
accommodate or even litigate issues regarding the loss of of property values, though they certainly could. And I know that there's a lot of animosity between the property owners, but those are all things that are probably beyond what the city looks at. But when we get back to the agenda item, we're talking about certain ideas. I'll go in a little
bit more detail what I'd look at there, but but you know, just to get in the code section for for better or worse in 2023 when they enacted that statute, um they they took over that. I disagree with the statute. I would love it if everybody lobbyed the their legislators.
I think that that was improperly taken out of the hands of cities and an attempt to do so, but that was the intent when it was passed to take this directly out of the hands of cities and, you know, put it back into individual property owners irregardless of how their neighbors felt about it.
Okay. So, we'll do some more later on here. So, moving on to the first presentation, we have Erin Johnson. Perfect. want to kind of step up to the podium. Perfect.
All right. Thank you so much for having me today. It's great to be here. Um, my name is Aaron. I am the philanthropy director with Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation. Um, I'm just here to give a brief um, overview of the work that we're doing in your
area, in your community. Uh, some upcoming opportunities. Um, and yeah, I'm just very pleased to be here with you all. Um, starting out, I know you um are very familiar, most of you, with Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, but I'm just going to give a
general overview of our uh key areas of focus. So, for those of you who are not familiar or need a refresher, um, Smith is a donor supported foundation and we invest for economic growth in the 20 counties of South Central and southeastern Minnesota. This includes
175 communities in one native nation. Our key interests of focus are entrepreneurship, early childhood development, and community vitality. So far, Smith has invested over $170 million in the region since 1986.
Starting out with entrepreneurship, our goal here is to make sure entrepreneurs in our region have the resources needed to thrive. First and foremost, we do this through lending. We're a GAP lender and work in partnership with other organizations to meet the needs of entrepreneurs. we can help those just
starting out all the way up to equity investments. So, we we aim to be accessible in that way. Um, one of the great benefits of partnering with Smith on a loan package is that even if we are a small part, we can provide one-on-one technical assistance tailored to the
individual. Moving on to some of our programming, um, like I said, we aim to be accessible. Overcoming obstacles is important. Um, we have programming such as the Prosperity Initiative. This serves individuals who are from a
background or some sort face extra barriers or obstacles. For example, um veterans, people who are below the federal poverty threshold level and so on. Um we come in and we provide 12 months of one-on-one coaching tailored for that individual.
Also, Rev, Rural Entrepreneurial Ventures Programming. Um this is where we come into the community and look at who's here and uplift um current entrepreneurs. The traditional model very much looks uh from the outside and attracting them and bringing them into the community. We look at who's here and
we want to build them up. Moving on to early childhood. Our goal here is to make sure that children are ready to learn by age three. It is statistically shown that if they aren't, it's hard to catch up and we want everyone to have a chance to be successful members of our communities.
Also, as everyone here is aware, we are in the middle of a nationwide child care shortage. Uh meaning that not all of our kids have a place to go with quality care and also this means that parents have to unfortunately uh leave the workforce sometimes. So, we're tackling this by supporting
current providers. Uh we provide free develop approved trainings both virtually and in person. develop approved means that they receive their needed continuing education credits by attending and we serve around a thousand annually this way as well. We do have a
consultant in our office who will come and work with the community. Um I'd be happy to u put you in touch with that individual if you are interested. Um this basically he would come and look at the shortage needs and develop a plan um free of charge and can be accessed on
our website as well. But I would be happy to be that bridge as well. And finally, excuse me, and finally, we provide grants in this area. So, for example, our early care and education grant. Um, this is to support children uh with social, emotional support, mental and
physical support as well. Many times this translates also into additional trainings for providers and professionals. Um through our partners partnership with Abdo and Capstone and Mano, we give out around 30,000 books a year. This is for
children to keep and create their own libraries. And moving on to our last area of focus, community vitality. Um this is focused on our smaller communities, typically with populations under 10,000. We have the small town grant program which is focused on creating a culture of
collaboration and belonging in a community. also paint the town promoting community beautifification, volunteerism and engagement. We provide the paint for murals, historical structures, and public art. And then the community rallies around a really cool cause and and does the painting.
And finally, our affiliate fund program under which we have 147 funds. We are their fiscal 501c3 host. of those 33 are community foundations which I know that um recently Eagle Lake has a community foundation under Smith's umbrella which
is fantastic and actually just before leaving the office today um my co my colleague said to mention that um she's always available to continue being a resource in that development as well. Um so I'd be happy to connect you with Alyssa, our vice president of community
vitality um and philanthropy. So, so of course you guys know, but we do all the the administrative back office work. Um, all the tax stuff, kind of the more legal stuff, if you will. Um, allowing for volunteers to raise money and invest in their community.
Um, I just want to direct your attention here to the county fact sheet. You'll see in your folder. So, for every dollar that is donated from Blue Earth County, $14 is invested back into Blue Earth communities. Um, so
far, just countywide, um, 63 loans have been issued to support entrepreneurs. 711 grants to support community projects. $24 million has been invested by Smith into Blurith County through grants, loans, and programming. If you look on the back, you'll just see
some of our recent examples of our work. Um, for example, $10,000 um in through the early care and education grant was awarded to YMCA Mano um to help provide space for parent education and building relationships with others. Uh 4,000
English books and 100 Spanish books were awarded to Mano Kowanas Foundation. Um entrepreneurship, not too far from here is the Pickleborn. We were they were a lone client of ours. Um, moving down to community vitality spotlight. For
example, $15,600 uh Taylor grant was awarded to the city of Lake Crystal and uh around 1300 uh just under 1300. So, 12 1,297 children have been supported, 159 entrepreneurs supported
just here in this county, which is fantastic. Um, you know, Smith could never do it alone. We are very much a supplemental agency and we work our big thing is we work in partnership with um with everyone with cities with counties with
other organizations and that's how we believe that we get things um accomplished in our region and those partnerships are absolutely key um and I want to thank you everyone here for supporting us for for many years um and we hope that the impact of what we are
doing is felt here. I know as I was looking at my notes um some of the most recent work was revolving around that community foundation um aspect otherwise there was uh some grants awarded to Eagle Lake back in 2021. So while there
isn't a whole ton um of mo of our most recent work to demonstrate today um our hope is very much that that will change and that your community will feel um supported as well. I do want to if I can find it here in just a second. Um
I just would like to go over some of our early child care work here in the comm in this area. Excuse me. So, our early childare training sessions in 2023 2024, they're regionwide. Um, 31
early childhood sessions were provided in 2023, for example, free of charge. Anyone from our region can attend. We had around a thousand attendees that year to these events. Blue Earth County had 78 attendees. That was about $3,900
value there. And again in 2024 um same deal but 82 attendees from Blue Earth County. Our technical assistance has supported just here in Blue Earth County alone four early care early childcare providers on topics like wages, news center provider morale and so on. Um
really just again those our businesses and we want to make sure that we can support those entrepreneurs as well in the pivotal role that they play in our in our community. Um that was around a $6,500 value in 2023.
Um and again in 2025 just this recent here uh we supported four early childcare providers on topics like matching supply needs supply to needs staffing and leadership and operations improvement um from providers in Mano
Lake Crystal. Um that was around a 16,000 um dollar support right there. In total, it was just in the last three or four years, I should say, um the support that we've brought back into the community, those leveraged dollars, um
that amount is roughly around 870,396 um total dollars. So, thank you so much for your support and our ask is that you would consider us for your 20 fiscal year 2026 budget um to the amount of $1,000 um as is
um is congruent with the past support. So, anybody have any questions for Aaron? No, I think we will definitely consider it. you know, do we have it? We have it in the kind of preliminary right now,
right? So, perfect. So, no, I think you guys are doing a lot of good work and I know that we've been kind of dancing around the 503C thing and trying to get enough community support to kind of get that up back and up and running, too. So, hopefully we can get that rolling
here soon. Um, we very much appreciate what you guys do around the community and around the county. So, thank you. Can I share one more number? All right. I just uh wanted to give you the numbers actually for that community foundation matching support. Um from
2023 to 2025 um $15,087 has been um leveraged back into that support through those u matching grants and so on. I just want to give you that perfect but thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So
all right. Thanks Aaron. Thank you so much. All right. We'll head on to new business. So, scheduled public hearing to consider amendments to the city code related to national natural landscapes. Um, I I kind of alluded to the slum of
this in my previous comments. Um, your current code section is pretty much invalid. Um, the the language we have in there has been taken over by the statute. Uh, the statute provides that any grasses basically can be up to 8 in. And and while we talk about natural
gardens or we talk about native species, the actual wording of the statute itself talks about native and non-native. So if you have something that's managed, unless it's a noxis weed or apparently a turf grass, you know, it can grow to whatever height may be appropriate. Um I
do agree with the comments that were made um in the presentation that the statute itself is somewhat difficult to interpret and hasn't been, you know, litigated at this point. It talks about a managed lawn care, but it doesn't really give us a strong definition of
what's meant by managed. Um, I know for other cities that have similar areas that they do on their own, North Manito having three or four natural gardens that is put in place, they don't actually take a lot of time for staff or for the city crews to maintain and and manage, you know, so I'm not sure
exactly what we'd be looking there or not, but but there are but my reading of the statute is you can obviously make restrictions to that. Um, you know, North Man will be a good example because I wrote that ordinance. If you guys want to take a look at that and what you kind of go forward, I think that's something that you can, you know, so I think there
are some places where the city can go look doing that. But I think when you have the public hearing and as the council kind of goes forward, um, two things f first off, I think the public hearing is very important to give everybody the opportunity to do that. Um while here we have a group of of
property owners that are are concerned about the effects of the natural garden north we had that same type of group that came in. We tried to enforce the current ordinance at that time got a lot of publicity and litigation for trying to enforce it at that time and the
result was the creation of this or the statute. Um, so it's good to make sure that you have everybody, you know, and that was all communitydriven that there was a number of members of the community and a number of city hall meetings where other members were very much in favor of natural gardens. So, I think it's
important to get an overall view of what what your entire community may or may not want there, you know, and it may be that you'll have a public hearing and nobody shows up, but that says a lot too, you know, and you just kind of take a look at it. Um, but I do think that there needs to be something. We we know that the the current, you know, code
section, you know, that you have is not something that we can enforce. Um the other big question is really going to be a matter of enforcement. If we're going to have something that's in place, how do we look at enforcing this? You don't currently really have a police department. The sheriff's department
isn't qualified really to go out there and make these kind of adjustments, or more specifically, the county attorney's office is not going to prosecute them on a criminal basis. That means that we have to have something that we're looking at doing on a civil basis. Um you know what we did in North Mano
worked there though I'm even there I'm getting a little concerned about it is we required that if you have a managed natural garden um that you have to kind of give a plan and maintain a plan with the city. I think something to that effect is something that that's doable. I think that's something that's reasonable under the statute and taking
a look at it. But that does put additional burdens on city hall. you know, you have somebody who's going out there taking a look at making sure what's being maintained is what they have there. You have the licensing kind of facilities. Um, though you guys aren't as bad as Lick Crystal is, you know, over the last five years, you
probably added, you know, three or four duties just because you had to on city hall. Um, you know, this time of year, you're always looking at budgets and try to figure out how you can keep that 0%, you know, raise and and kind of keep those costs down. This is all something that would necessarily put additional
burdens on there. So, so I think that's something that has to be considered as to kind of going forward. Um, and and the reasons for it, I'd like to put those in in whatever we have for the ordinance. Um, uh, property values is something I have done for nuisance properties in the past and we can take a look at it. Incredibly difficult for the
city to enforce. You know, trying to figure out how we we come in there and have experts that come in and do that. So, it's not only difficult to kind of have what those numbers are if we're looking at trying to do that on a civil or criminal matter. we're having to hire an expert that comes out and says this is what it was worth before this neighbor had this garden. This is what
it's worth afterwards. And then at the end of the day, we're not we can't ask for that difference. We can say that that's a an element of proving that it's a nuisance and that that we need to do something to kind of rectify it. So for natural gardens, and I'll answer any questions that you have, you know, it's
something that you have to allow. It's not something that we can eliminate. Uh we can say that you can't have you know turf grasses more than 8 in. Um but it's going to be a question of how do we determine what managed is and how's that what does that look like?
Yeah, it's it's somewhat uncommon that the state would take these kind of actions particularly in this place. I mean and and there is some thought that they may have overstepped what they really legally could do. Um, North Manuel just got done with litigation on the issue, so they were
not interested in necessarily pushing the boundaries there. I I don't think Eagle Lake's interested in pushing the boundaries and going back to the Court of Appeals. You've just spent the last five years there for other reasons, you know. So, um, it's not dissimilar to marijuana, you know, it's something that
needs to get challenged and get better defined, you know, because the legislature didn't do a good job of it. It's just a matter of who's going to do that. You know, in marijuana, we I think we've seen that either Austin or Alberly. I confess I get the two confused in my head sometimes. One or the other is going to be litigating that matter at the county that the state went
too far and trying to restrict it and that's good. I think that they'll give us some definitions and take a look at it. I'm just glad it's not eagle-ike. So right now it's public hearing and then we can change things or is that kind of the
right now would be for a public hearing and the suggestion is to have the public hearing first so then you guys can give to Jennifer kind of parameters of what you're looking at and then I can generate language that tries to go along with what you're looking to have and put in place or if I can't at least explaining to you why I can't you know
say here's what the concerns are and kind of take a look at it. But I think a public hearing in this particular case is sometimes we like having the public hearing after we have the language and and say we want you to consider this as whether you know whether or not you know this is something that the city can take a look at. This is the type of issue I
think you're better served getting initial information and it may quite frankly be one where you have a multiple public hearings. You have the initial public hearing and then when we have the ordinance language you have a second public hearing in regards to that actual language and see what comments that you receive.
Yeah, it just it looks horrible and I'm trying to see what we can do quicker, but um yeah, and I and I kind of disagree with that. You know, I know you're giving thing out for public comment and trying to get as much public encouragement on things. I think, you
know, it was actually a very good thing for the city because what cities get accused of all the time is trying to hide things or doing things outside of the public image and trying to get things done too quickly and and not letting the public kind of have that say. Um, but more importantly, I I I think to accommodate what you want to
do, if if I'm looking at this, what I would hope to have is have an ordinance in place by April or May of next year so we have it for next summer. And and that you certainly have plenty of time to do that. You know, if we were having a public hearing at your next, you know, it's your next meeting and we're having
a draft ordinance that you're looking at, you know, putting in place in December, January. And there's really no reason that that can't happen. And I agree with looking at the Marshall ordinance and you look at North MO and whatever other cities you want to take a look at. I already suggested North Medo just because I'm very familiar with it
because I drafted it. I apologize. Jenna had sent me some pictures and asked me to put them up when she did her presentation and I forgot. So I have a question. Um, so is the is the vagueness in code like let's say you
know there's a lot over in like the areas where we've had them mow at KJ Walk. What's the difference between them letting their yards grow to pollinator gardens and just letting it just be like, "Oh, they could throw some seeds down and say, hey, we're going to have a pollinator garden so we don't have to
mow our all we don't have to hire um a bunch of lawnmowers to mow all of our vacant lots that are going to be built to be houses eventually. So, I think that that that could I mean the the terms maybe are ambiguous. So, like I mean I don't know. I
I think that's where we get into that managed issue, you know, and that's a difficult question because again, the statute doesn't define what that would be. But you are right that that would be a concern under the current, you know, standards if they went ahead and just kind of threw a bunch of seeds out there
for, you know, wild flowers or not and say it's a pollinator garden. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I had that same thought, you know, because we're we're sticklers on them. Yeah. I mean, it gets to be 6 in and we're calling them. And I just I don't understand how this is okay.
Yeah. Because I think that the stuff that would be growing in those lots is this. Yeah. It's natural. It It's Yeah. And natural gardens is probably a misnomer when they used the language on that. Uh because they talk about a lot of things that aren't
natural. They talk about ferns. They talk about allowing orbs. to talk about having, you know, flowers that were native to to Florida or or planting that would all be allowed in these kind of natural garden portions of it. So, it's not just a matter of letting it go back to what it would look like with the prairie. It's basically anything that's
not a turf grass. Understand with KJ Walk is, you know, most of the stuff that we've been looking at there has been turf grasses and and you know, the 6 in, you know, the city may have been enforcing that under the or you under the statute. It's not enforceable because it's real clear for turf grasses
it has to be 8 in. Well, I can tell you there's a lot of turf grass in there. I used to a bunch of golf balls there all the time. Um, yeah. I mean, so say we have an ordinance or whatever. So, does someone have to go in there and like spray paint what to cut, what not to
cut, or how I mean I mean that's going to be if we're looking at noxious weeds, that be probably to the extent where you have to go in there and identify that for the property owners. Um, I don't know that the city has anybody on staff that would be qualified to go in there and determine what's a noxious wheat and what's not a noxious wheat.
What does North Mano do? Do they hire somebody to come out and look at that or like a yearly inspection or Generally speaking, unless we have a real specific issue there there is no inspection. There's nothing to go out there and take a look at the noxious weeds. There's just not funding for it.
You know, Blur County has one individual that's probably qualified to make those determinations and he came out on this property. You know, it's just very small list that the things come up there, but unless you have something specific, you know, you have a specific complaint. Can we set a height for any grass,
native, whatever? Like, can we just set six inches? Well, first off, the statute sets 8 in for turf grasses. anything you know native grasses are going to be longer longer than that you will not be able to restrict that height no so I I can tell you speaking from both
obviously a neighboring resident but also council um I have done a lot of research the last month on what is allowable what isn't allowable and there's so many gray areas and it's it's honestly frustrating because it is so
gray but there is a lot of um communities in Minnesota whether it's small or larger Bloomington um Rochester that has example codes or their what their code
is North Mano that um does have a lot of good things in them that can be a win-win for both neighbors and the resident wanting to plant it such as setbacks um as some of them make a mow
between a certain time where it restarts everything that is growing long. So I I think we really have to do a big deep dive into this. Um it is a concern of and and frustrated on common ragweed. I mean if if they can't go enjoy their
their house because they can't go out because of allergens. Um where does it start? Where does it stop? I mean I asked I asked administer Bumland um if I start growing ragweed in my back lot because I don't want to deal
with it. Is that allowable? I mean, it's can I just say it's native grass even though it might harm other N, you know, so like where does it start and where does it stop? And I think that's where it's super frustrating from what the state allows. But in doing some of the research in some of the communities, they did take what that was and really
narrow it down to what their community fits within it. And it's like, can we really pull it in and do that? because I I too worked out outside the last two weekends 12 hours straight and my sister and her two kids came and they went home and had to put ice packs on their face
and take a bunch of medicine and even today they were struggling um and said I don't know how much more I can come over until all of that's under control because of their allergies. So that's where like even if there was a 20 foot setback I still don't think that's acceptable. So, I think it's that's where it's like I understand that we
have to allow it and not wanting to not allow it, but how can we have a win-win for what is allowable and what neighbors can be comfortable with to still enjoy um whether it's looking out their windows, whether it's playing outside or
a safety piece. Um it it this specific property does abut um the park and although kids should not be crossing any residents yards without permission um or when we have breakins what happens if someone goes and hides in there what happen you know I'm seeing cats run in
there I'm seeing more you know so where does it start where does it stop I guess is where we as a council need to look at it of this could get out of control citywide very quickly if we don't have bigger enforcements on them and very clear guidance. We're just looking at North Mano's city
ordinance, the managed natural landscape. I don't know how anyone can look at that and say that's managed. That looks just like we forgot about it. That that's not managed by any reasonleness stretch. That's unmanaged property with maybe some flowers thrown
in there at some point. But yeah, and and I think that's certainly, you know, that's what we'd be looking to try to address is kind of that definition. What is managed? And the big question comes in is when we when you're making that uh decision and putting something in the code, you know, what's
really beneficial is figuring out exactly what you expect and how you expect that that's going to be enforced. You know, kind of going forward. Um because you do have code sections that that we you're for all intents and purposes are not enforceable because there's just not the
the procedures in place or the manpower that that can, you know, do so. We we do have the resident here. You know, can we all have her just come up and say a few words? Um not on the
agenda. That would be up to you, Mr. Mayor. Is if you want is part of this if you think I don't want it to kind of get into back and forth is the only issue that I have. Um, I do like the idea of having a public hearing to kind of get some
input. Um, and then come back with an ordinance. I think this growing season is kind of done for. Um, so um, so how do we I' I'd like to kind of look toward that.
You know, I didn't prepare the um other property to speak or give them an opport give them notice to prepare. So maybe just we'll wait till the public hearing and can have a conversation with later if needed, but I just don't want it to to get too riled up on a
blustery Monday evening. Um, but I think one is having that that resident come back when we have the public hearing, those kind of things. Um, so what what would the council desire? I'd like to see the public hearing like
the next next one gets more input. Take take a look at a couple ordinance. kind of a ask a or a comment question. I don't know what it is, but um I guess I was kind of wondering too. I I myself am ignorant on this topic of what pollinator gardening or should look like.
And I was kind of looking um last week to see is there somebody that's an expert in this area maybe with the U of M extension that could come and talk to the council as well and kind of help us understand. It's hard to enforce something we don't understand. Well, I agree. And I think vagueness I don't know
breeds contempt or not contempt but non-content however you want to. So anything that we can do to kind of sharpen you know the definitions around it would I think would help both parties. Um so would the council
endeavor to have the public input hearing you know in our October October meeting? I have one more question for the city attorney. It would this be a public hearing where we'd have to publish notes in the newspaper or would it just be more a public hearing just like we post
on our agenda? There would be no publication requirement, but I would assume you may want to publish notice of it just to get as much attention to it as possible. At least put it on your website to try to get it out there. you know, if the
intent is to try to get as much public comment so you get that feedback and you can craft something that takes a look at both sides. Um, but but if we're we're not at this point, we don't have an ordinance or anything else that we're, you know, required to do the public public notice to
look to the council to see if that's what we want to do or I'm not sure there's any action we're prepared to go forward with tonight. Um, knowing that's our ordinance is the only Yeah. The only action would be if you want to set that public hearing
for the next meeting, you you can obviously go forward and do that. I would like to do that opposed to having the public hearing on an in ordinance because I think one with the budget coming up and things like that, I'm not sure staff would have any be able to have anything prepared
in in less than 30 days now um to to bring forward for public hearing. So just having some more input would be better I would think. So look for a motion or public hearing. I'll make a motion to have a public
hearing in our in our next scheduled October meeting. We have a first. We have a second. Second. Have a first and second. Any other discussion? All in favor? Well, I got a question actually. So,
like I'm looking at the grass there and I'm looking like what's behind your house, Anthony. What would be the difference of saying like that's I think the grass thing is really confusing. So, like you know like wetland grasses and then subdivision
grasses. I think it's going to be a very detailed conversation that we'll have to have, right? Because we have so much in Yeah. I mean like if you look at that you know it's
or like mowing you know like the ditches are mowed x number of times per year is this the type of stuff that needs to be mowed and controlled. So I think that we'll have a lot of research. Well that's why just doformational next time because I think there is a lot of
information that we need to gather on both managed versus unmanaged turf grass versus native grass. Well, could someone just go out and take a wild flower packet from Menards and like if I was the owner of all the lots up there and say,
um, I'm growing a pollinator garden, so therefore I don't have to mow any of these lots now. I mean, I that I could, right? I mean, that that's how that is kind of open, right? It is kind of open that way. In fact,
you know, the Borcart case out of North Mano is almost exactly that that the property owner was letting in their property go to seed that they threw out a bunch of flowering minixes and things of that nature that that the neighbors thought looked, you know, like it was running
ragged and they said, "No, it's a pinator garden. We're trying to get bees and other things here and attract butterflies and things of that nature." And that's what led to the litigation, led to the the statute change. the the actual court of appeals case was decided in other reasons not whether or not they could go ahead and do that you know but
um you know it's what kind of led to the whole discussion so that that's what we'd be looking at trying to control and figure out how we can necessarily control that in regards to some of the wetlands you know some of the other areas you had language in your current code that talked about how far away it could be from from properties if you're
allowing additional weeds or native grasses or whatever we want to call them to grow you uh you know we allowing it apparently is going to be very fine under the statute. It's just the controlling of it and how do we kind of figure out what that is meant by managed
and I do agree that there doesn't probably make a lot of sense if you're going to have that public hearing to have staff put something together because all I would provide you at this point is probably a virtual copy of what I put together for North Mano and you can you know Jennifer can make a copy of that and give you that along with
Marshall and a couple other cities. We have a first and second on the table. Any other discussion? All in favor? All opposed. All right, Jennifer, can you get that on agenda for next week,
next month? Anything else? Can we move on to the next item? I I think we have direction from the council on where you guys want to go. So, I have nothing else. Unless you have other questions for me. I think I think we're good. All right. The next item, new business, uh process
to sell land in response to two inquiries from interested parties. administrator. Uh, mayor and city council, the city received, um, inquiries from two residents recently that are interested in acquiring city- owned property uh,
that is adjacent to the respective parcels. Um after conferring with the city attorney, uh we discussed that before any sale could occur, the city would want to make sure that follows a structured process to um ensure legal requirements and to protect the
interests of the community. Um the first step uh we discussed was the city council this evening um you know first being made aware of the inquiries and having discussion with staff as to whether those properties would or areas
would be considered excess property u meaning that the city doesn't currently need um that land. Um, something that we'll I'll show you a couple pictures in a moment um that we want to take into consideration would be our utilities, infrastructure, recreation or other
future needs of the city. Um, so once we look at the properties to determine if they're excess or not, um, then we need to talk about, well, what's the value of the properties? Um, and then how do we go about um the sale of the properties? Typically when city properties up for
sale, you open it up to the public so everybody has an opportunity. In this case, obviously the properties that have land adjacent to them that they're interested in. There's probably nobody else interested in that those parcels, but um and just want to be careful too um in how the city handles this and then
getting future similar inquiries um and setting a precedent. So I'll pull up um there's two areas. Uh, one is from 429 Owl Lane and um there's uh here I'm going to show you public works director
Hartman and I talked about this and um so where you see I don't know if you guys can see that but where it says 429. So the property owner at 429 contacted the city and said they would be interested in um purchasing some land um
near their property. And I don't have a drawing to know uh what exactly um they're looking at, but you'll see the green line is um Andrew got me this picture is sewer. The orange is storm water and then or storm sewer, sorry.
And then the yellow is where we've got our lift station and um infrastructure with that. And then where you see that that gap between 430 and 429 is where the city has a lift station down there and can access that area. But then if you look to kind of the south um east
over there, that area is all owned by the city as well as you know where that wet land is um to the west. So the concern with this without knowing exactly what the property owner wants um and you're Orin, right? You're with the
other requests. Okay. Um without knowing exactly what the property owner wants, it you know that would be the concern is utilities right now. We wouldn't want anybody to We won't want to get rid of property where the city has utilities and that doesn't seem like it makes much sense. So, Andrew, do you have any
thoughts on this? I'm I don't know if you have anything different you want to share. No, I just the main thing on this one specifically is the utilities in there. And you know, I don't know,
depending on what they wanted to purchase, you know, you could block it off or you'd have to get a utility easement or, you know, might get into a lot more a lot more work than it's worth.
Jennifer kind of focused on it a little bit. I mean, what the council has to determine if we're going to be selling any real estate is that it's something that's no longer necessary for the city. It would be very difficult for the city to justify the sale of real estate to a property owner if on one hand we're
saying we don't need it, on the other hand saying we need to have an easement to go get to the utilities on it, you know. So, you know, you just and again I'm not speaking to the merits of the particular transactions. It's just the process and what you take a look kind of
going forward. Whatever you do here sets a precedent if there's other property owners that will will, you know, be looking at something similar and happening, you know. So, generally, you know, my preference is when cities determine that that we have excess real estate that we take care of it or or do
something else because we don't want to take a look at not necessarily react to what a property owner may want. It should be something from the city saying it's not necessary. And then, you know, um then we have to figure out what the reasonable prices for it.
So really we don't know one what could be available on the one first one. Right. So we definitely don't want to Yeah. Every parcel that would come to you would make an independent determination whether or not it's something that the city either needs now or would foreseeably need in the future.
you know, but like I said, if it's something you need to get an easement over, it would seem to me that that kind of makes it more make that a much more difficult situation for the city to to justify, particularly if the compensation that the city's receiving isn't significant.
So, thank you. Um then the next item or the next property we do have that property owner in the audience and see and this is a uh we have Orin Johnson. He lives at 129 Lane. Is that
one 111 County Lane? Sorry. And he had shown on this um drawing kind of the area he was looking at. So that's his property right here. And then I'm going to pull up um Andrew did pull up the utilities and the utilities are in the street, not
behind. So 111. Yeah, sorry about that. So you can see the area he was looking at is over here. There is nothing there. The only question I guess I have um I know Mayor Whittington and I have discussed this before. Um there's a sign on this area off of Thomas that says no
trespassing. It's owned by the state of Minnesota and Blorth County. Um but then on the beacon it lists the city of Beagle Lake as the owner. So we'd want to verify um you know I I don't know if there's any restrictions on it. I need to
you know it is a wetland you know where does the den you know the line go you know for I'm not even going to attempt that word again you know what I mean. Um so I think that would be the question for me. Um I am at 507 Thomas. So almost
not directly across but I'm part of that wetland on the other side. So um I think that would be the biggest thing. You know I think that some residents on that street are going into the wetlands. Um but I don't know where
that delineation got the word um is happening. because we have a 25 foot setback from the delineation as far as I understand of hard surfaces, but I don't know of anything else. So, I started to send an email because I'd called last week and I couldn't
reach it. Jake Fritz with soil and water. I think he's the person I need to talk to, but I never I didn't get to finish the email to him today. Um, so I will try to continue on with that and find out a little bit more information. Yeah, I think that would be the only question I have. one is, you know,
Director Hartman took a look at the utilities, which are all out in the street, but um it's kind of nice having that wetland there, which has a lot of water out of my backyard anyway. Um kind of thing. So, not not messing with that as is
appropriate. And if we do determine as Blue Earth County, I have a questions about noxious weeds for them. as anybody along that wetland might have. All right. Well, city staff will do some more research into that. Um, but just to
clarify in the record, so we're um make sure I have I'm under the same understanding. The 429 Owl Lane inquiry, I would respond, if I'm understanding correctly, that the city is not interested in selling at this time due to utility placement. And then we have
um Mr. Johnson in the audience this evening. We'll have to do more research and come back to the council. No, once we get find that out. So, we're not Wetlands are touchy, right? Well, not wetlands, but the state and the county are touching about wetlands.
less maintenance. Yeah, I'm sorry I had that mute here. Um, yep. No, I definitely I think we need to find out how big that wetland's supposed to be and kind of put that out there and then we'll figure out um what that should be.
I do like in the summertime I can't see Connie Lane from my house, my backyards and you can't see my backyard. So, you know, that's kind of one of the reasons we bought the lot. So, making sure that we we keep that intact would be preferable.
Do we want on the on the owl lane is there any full disclosure that is a a person I know and is a friend of mine. Um so is there any so we need all of that back behind there or is that something that we need to could or should map out to
say we don't need these pieces? You know, I I totally agree that we don't want to give up anything that we need now or think we're going to need in the future back there because it's I'm wondering if he's not mowing the area. Um I don't know because I don't
look at I don't go the lift station if he's mowing the area by the lift station, Andrew, or do you guys mow that? Cuz he alluded to he's been maintaining it. Um just depends on who gets to it first. really if he sometimes he does it on a weekend and we go down there Monday to
mow it and it's mowed and back and forth. We've done it also. So yeah, understanding what what he was looking at. Yeah, he he mentioned it to me and I told him to to contact you. So and we didn't go any further what he was
talking about as he was maintaining. I'm sorry. No, I think if there's nothing there, there's nothing there. And that's that's the message I would get to. So, anything more on that? Do we need any action on that or just
direction? Jennifer and I spoke about that. You would just need to give direction on it. There's really no action items that you're taking at this point. You're just asking for some additional information so you guys can make a motion. And the other one is just kind of indicating that you're going to be maintaining the status quo. So you don't need a motion
to remain the status quo. Perfect. Moving on to the next item, pricing for city hall re- roof. All right. uh mayor and city council. Um I'll go through and read uh the memo that I prepared with information about
proposals obtained and we also have Mike Boss in the audience with um KO roofing to help answer any questions you might have. Um so as uh especially law enforcement um and public works is very familiar with we had um a significant um
water intrusion back in May. We had had a lot of wind going on around that time um and um ended up with the whole east side of city hall um having water coming in and which we've never had happen before. Um so at the time we had
emergency repairs um were completed uh to stop further leaks and um we worked with uh KO roofing at that time. They came out right away and helped us um make those necessary repairs. Um the current roof um after having contractors
uh take a look at it and give us pricing have all said the same thing. We've reached it the end of its useful life. Um and it's recommend at this time we move forward with a full re- roof. And um city hall was constructed back in 2009 which would put our roof at about
16 years old. So the re-roof project was not included in our 2025 budget because we weren't planning to do a re-roof project this year. Like I said, we'd never had any major roof issues here. We've had, you know, occasional leaks, but nothing along the whole spanning the whole west or east side of city hall.
Um, and after talking with um four different um companies or contractors, if you will, and all telling us the same thing that we really can't wait, I think um we're kind of at a position where we really don't have much of a choice here
right now. So, um, we've, uh, got four quotes, um, or four proposals, excuse me. Um, and we went through direct negotiations. So, we got KO roofing, Balman Roofing and Coding, Serpro, and the Garland Company. Uh, the lowest, uh,
proposal came in from KO Roofing at $97,412. Um, they can still get the project done this year. Like I said, it wasn't something we budgeted for, but we do have money. Um in recent years we've been setting aside just small amounts into our um capital outlay for um city
facilities. Um so basically once we do this and then we do the cocking that's needed on the outside of city hall, we're pretty much going to basically almost deplete that the money that's there. But my concern is if we don't go ahead and get this done now, we don't know what next spring is going to be like and we could end up with even more
damage to this beautiful building. And I don't think we want to We were really lucky when we had all the water that came in. We had what was that called where they had the the device to see if there was moisture in the walls. Um fortunately s because our insurance adjuster wanted to get that done immediately and we were very fortunate
that we didn't have a lot of moisture detected in our walls. So that was one thing that we were um really lucky for. So anyways, we uh public works director Hartman and I met with uh Mr. Voss and we reviewed the proposal. Um, like I
said, it can be done yet this year. And, um, I'll let Mr. Voss kind of talk a little bit about there will be some disruption to our operations at city hall. I don't think there's any getting around that. Um, but, um, we're just eager to get this done and not have that headache and it should last a good 15
years or Can you come up to the mic for us, please? And you have to speak right into it. It's very sensitive. Thank you. Well, thanks for having me up here today. Um so with a new adhered system with the pricing that she had offered
you would be looking at 20 years um minimum of 20 years on it is a 20 year warranty with it with that uh what I've seen out of an adhered EPM roof system is it is with maintenance you can get 25 to 30 years out of it currently it's got
a ballast roof currently on there that is where you got your inch and a half wash on top. So the differ between that and an adhered uh ro system is that ballast is what keeps everything underneath that is loose. So the
expansion and contraction actually, you know, uh it's like taking a wire, you bend it back and forth enough times. And so that balance ripping system allows the most amount of expansion traction with everything adhered. Your insulation be screwed down membrane adhered
directly to the insulation. You're going to have very minimal expansion traction that can occur. So that definitely a very longlasting system for you guys. Any council members have questions?
I have a quick couple. One is it always concerns me when we have a big dispar I'm not going to use that big difference in the high and low. You know, the the other bids that we got were three times as much. Okay. Um so, you know, just want to make sure that
we're covered and we're going to get everything that we need. Um, so I think that was my biggest question. So without seeing the other proposals, I'd be happy to look them over uh blackout prices or whatever. And uh
so I'm assuming they did a full tear off as to where we are adding insulation on top of the existing insulation and therefore reusing what's there. any obvious value. Um
I think another thing if I don't don't mind my me interrupting but um because I had that same question we met with the different um companies and I was told um we met with the two companies that had higher significantly higher um proposals
was that um they had more robust um like warranties and workmanship warranties. Is that what you took away too? Um, public works director Hartman and I met with with everyone. Yeah. And and like the Garland company, they proposed a totally different
roof system. Um, theirs was a multi-layered. Um, I don't remember exactly what they called it, but so I speak to that proposal just as a company. We do work with them as well. So, theirs is going to be is what is
called a builtup roofing system. So everything is applied in hot asphalt. They probably screwed down their insulation, then hoted down the thermal barrier on top of that. Probably putting down a three ply with gravel on top. Or maybe they're doing a smooth surface. I would assume probably that or a four ply
with gravel. Um it is a significantly more expensive roof system to install. Very labor intensive. They're great roofing systems. Not taking anything away from those, but they are very expensive to install. Um you really don't get your life expectancy out of
the roof. Once again though, they aren't a great roofing system and not take anything away from that. With the adhered roof system, you will get the same life out of as you would with the build up garland system. And once again, I do believe when it says three times
their cost. In my mind, just knowing it, they are tearing all that existing insulation off that stuff. So, with us putting insulation on top of insulation, is that going to be more costly 25 years from now whenever we need to get another
roof? Because we just keep on putting insulation on top or maybe I'm misunderstanding something or Nope. So, per current state energy code, um it's R30, but we are tearing off the existing roofing system, roofing membrane, and we're disposing of that. We're going to leave that existing
roofing membrane in place and years when you need to or reruff is proposed again. If you left the membrane in place, you would have to tear it all off down to the deck. Now, with removing the membrane, you can just add additional uh
insulation on top of it. Now, I have not seen the R values change in probably 10 years. I don't expect that it's going to go up again anytime soon. I'm assuming I can't remember what type of roof is out here in the hallway.
That's all up there right now. PDM and so that roof system, the r insulation, the rubber, it's all loose laid and gravel is spread across the top to keep it all in place.
Could I ask another question? even though it's um we're going to talk about later on the agenda. But one thing I think we talked to you Mike about um was my we were um looking at maybe doing solar and public buildings, but I'm kind of leaning against it from every every company we talked to with the roof
roofing projects said to be very cautious and they weren't enthusiastic about putting solar on there. Do you have any thoughts on solar on that? It's definitely has its place. It's a good thing. If you were to install solar, I would highly highly highly
recommend installing a cover board at this time now even if you're projecting to do uh solar. So currently the installation that we're proposing to add on is a 20 PSI. So a coverboard is anywhere 80 PSI and greater holds up to
when you put solar up there's inherently going to be a lot more foot traffic. It's going to hold up to that foot traffic a lot better. So, if that is something that uh you guys are seriously considering, I would be happy to uh do an ad option to put a coverboard on
there. So, then you guys can uh see that cost. What's a ballpark number for that? You think I don't know right off hand to be honest. I could throw a number out there. I'm just making it up. Long as it's a little number, we're good
with it. would not be a huge cost to the overall job because you are still screwing everything down. You're only adding a half inch there. So, you're going to have a one inch longer screw than what is currently there. Um, you know, I would have to guess. I don't
want No, no. What would be your time frame to to do the review? If the council goes ahead this evening, when would be a good time to roll ahead this week um to move forward with it? We could have a crew here tenatively weather dependent um probably
second week of October. It's been a pretty dry summer. So it has been it's been pretty wet right up until this point too. So no it's uh schedules change every day but as of right now would have a second where we
could get this in. I would expect the duration of the project to be about a week and a half. So uh talking a little bit about disturbance of it as well. is very important to be very well informed of that. So with uh well removing the
ballast is going to be a loud noisy process up there guys with shovels or backing it up. It's going to be very loud and noisy and dusty. Then installing a new uh roof membrane screwing everything down through that steel deck. There's going to be people up there moving rolls around. It's going
to sound like building is going to collapse. It is not. I can assure you of that. But once again it is much easier to talk about this on the front end than it saying, "Oh, hey, you know, it's and we can also coordinate as well where people are working, what areas we're on." So,
this particular building does have, I believe, was it five different sections there. And so, it's just a coordination ahead of time. So, and how many days did you think the project would probably go? Um, probably about a week and a half roughly. And those are just standard
days. So, could you review and I apologize if you covered it. um just what would be covered? Yeah. So I believe when we check I do believe you get a 20 year warranty. Yeah. So there' be a 20 or a 20 year
manufacturers warranty. The first two years are covered by the contractor that would cover any uh uh if something was installed improperly. And so that once again manufacturer does come out inspect everything as well, but it is a 20 20
year manufacturer warranty. And really what that warranty is going to cover is if the roof goes off, roof leaks. What it doesn't cover is physical damage to the roof. So let's say we're up there, someone's changing HBAC or someone goes up there, we have a lot of snow, they're
shoveling there's 50. So that is not one thing. I don't believe there was any that you see quite often is where you run into a lot of damage on just your monthly maintenance on HBAC
units go up there across the top of the road if I recall it's service on a routine basis. Okay, thank you for that. So discussion
I'll make a motion to accept. So we have a first. Do we have a second? I'll second. Have a first and second. Any other discussion? All right. All in favor? I. All opposed. Thank you.
Thank you, Mike. I hope you made it to your son's football game. I did. No, thank you. Thank you. No worries. Next one. Pricing at city hall exterior building repairs. When it rains, it pours. No, I'm just kidding. Uh mayor and city council, um
during this process of having um companies come out and look at our roofing system, um some of uh it was observed and then city staff had noticed it too. Um, we have uh failing control joints on the building's exterior. And I I do have a picture somewhere of this on
my computer. I'll pull it up in just a minute. Um, but basically from my understand control joints are intentional gaps built into the u masonry or concrete surfaces that allow the building to absorb movement caused by temperature changes, moisture expansion or settling. Um, so when these
joints start to fail, um, the surrounding materials are at increased risk of cracking and water intrusion. Um so if you look if you go outside you'll see on the side here of the building we've got where the cocking is gone. Apparently not many people do this work
and um public director Hartman can can uh share that more information with you on that. But what we do have uh he obtained a proposal from Rice Companies who's also doing the public workshop. Um theirs came in in the amount of $5,950
to uh do the work out here. Um and then the Garland company who we had talked to about the roofing uh project had provided an estimate ranging from about 7,000 to 9,000 to take care of that. Um again this would have to come it wasn't budgeted for it have to come out of our
general government capital outlay fund. Um there would be enough in there but like I said we'll be basically depleting uh what we have in there for that. So um I don't know if you have anything else you want to add Andrew. Um does everybody know what I'm talking about? Otherwise I can try to find that picture. Okay. Um,
are we looking at reccocking all the joints or just the ones that are failing? Maybe I'll let answer. So, this quote was to redo all of them. Um, and then underneath the price, you can see the deduct. So, if you wanted to
do just the ones that are failing and then leave the ones that aren't failing, um, you would just deduct that linear footage price. But in the scheme of things, I think they're all weathered and, you know,
all the same age, right? They're all the same age, so they're all, you know, probably past their life expectancy anyway. Next up will be the public works building next year. We just have nice things
then you have to maintain them. Right. Well, exactly. And I think when we do work on the budget here tomorrow at the budget work session, we just have to just keep being very intentional about continuing to set money aside and um preserving our nice assets that we do have. So thankfully we've got some money
set aside and I I don't like it because our budget's going to be skewed, but what choice do we have right now? We really don't have a choice with them. Will they be checking to make sure there's, you know, like that one's pretty well failed. Is there water damage or do we think there's anything like that that needs to be attended to
while they're there or I don't think so being it's all just concrete. They'll they'll pull that out and then there's a backer rod like a foam backer inside of there. Yep. Yes.
At the same time that you're screwing the roof on a motion to accept the motion. First and a second. Any other discussion? All in favor? All opposed? All right.
I don't like all these pricing pricing pricing things. That's kind of scary. All right. So, the chemical metering pumps. Yes. So, down at our wellhouse, um we have
Look at the quote. I think it's um eight chemical feed pumps for um the different chemicals we have. Um they're all kind of starting to show their age and we've been repairing them and now they're
getting to the point where, you know, screws start to strip out and things just don't align up the way they used to on them. So, we're requesting to get eight new chemical feed pumps um from Hawin Chemicals where we get our all of our
chemical supplies from. Um I from what I can find, the newest one was purchased like 10 years ago. So, how old they are, I don't really know. But even our sales rep was like, "These
things are dinosaurs." So, um, there's a lot better technology and we can get a lot more accurate dosage with the newer pumps. Is this cost installed? We would install them oursel there. Yep.
It's just plug in and hook up two um tubings to it. So I'll make a motion to buy second. Do we have a second? Oh, second. First and second. Any other discussion?
Yeah, I'll just let's you know, just like anything else, try not to have like I don't know how old this is. You know what I mean? Try to keep track of this stuff, you know? That way we kind of at least have an idea, right?
Yep. Yeah. Everything. What was it? Built in 2006 or seven or something. Yeah, maybe. Cuz I know well two was in there before they remodeled it. I don't remember what year exactly the well two
was put in. But on a lot of the newer stuff that we buy, we, you know, either write the date on it or we have files and write the date on the manual of when we get them and things like that to try and help prevent these things. So, do we have We're probably getting
off the way. Do we have an inventory of all those pieces like this? Like Councilman White was saying, you know, having the inventory of when they were replaced last estimated cost so we can get on a replacement knowing that these last about eight years, but we use them
for 10 um kind of thing. So, maybe something we could search and we probably just do it everywhere across the city. Mhm. I think that was that was going to be one of the questions I had and I think it kind of comes up to probably more what's going to probably come forth tomorrow. quot what I feel like has
happened all year long with both public works and the fire department where they're coming to us with unexpected or unknown or here's another thing where it's like we need to do a better job preparing or planning for
some of these um larger expenses especially if we know they're getting to that point and I think the problem we've had in recent years is that we've inherited the staff that's working here now has inherited a situation where we don't want to increase our budgets. We're
supposed to cut our budget, but then we're working with not enough resource. We don't have the right equipment. We're working with outdated stuff. And so, I feel like in the last few years, we've been playing catch-up. And I think public works has made a lot of advancements. We've spent a lot of money, but I feel like we're finally
catching up to where we need to be. So, I agree with everything you say, but I just feel like it we we've been very behind. Or maybe it's having it where it's like, and I don't know, you might have it that indepth where we know that the cocking needs to be done at public works or having all
this list and like being able to navigate where they go in addition to the bigger budget expenditures or capital outlay expenditures that we have. Um because I feel like both are targeting the fire truck or snow plows or like those big big ticket pieces, but then a lot of these little nickel dime
things come up that eat away things pretty quickly. Well, we've been lucky, right? We built this building and maintenance building about the same time. Now things are, you know, it's like my house, the dishwasher went out. So, but if we have that inventory, you know,
being able to say that, you know, we're going to replace these now and then 2034, you know. So, just being able to kind of see what those bubbles are. Then we can shift things around as we just like at city hall these chairs I think to myself we don't have any we
haven't don't have a plan. We need to start making lists like you're saying of things that we need to replace and be prepared for so um you know we're not all of a sudden just overwhelmed. So and that's hopefully what we're going to start doing with our the budget. Well I think with that list you know having that priority to say yeah you
know the carpet needs to be done before the chairs and the chair you know microphones needed to be replaced a bit ago kind of thing. So, okay. So, we got a first and a second. Do we already pass this? Nope. But we do have a first and
second. Any other discussion? All in favor? Opposed? [Music] You get one more pricing and that's it.
Good luck for today. Um, next we got a few quotes from we got one from WW and one from MPM. Um, for street repairs to do a inch and a half
mill and overlay. Um, WW came in cheaper and we've worked with them a town in the past. So, um I'm just requesting that we go with them for street repairs for $52,479.
Is that what we budgeted or what did we budget for? I don't remember what we have. What we budgeted was 120,000. um what we have left in there currently. I'm not 100% positive,
but I know there's enough in there to do this on the next item on the agenda. And these were ones that we knew what that we're going to try to do this year or they addition to? Um yeah,
these so these were on a couple of these were on our list from last year um to do that we didn't have um you know time and money for last year so we pushed them to this year.
I can tell you right now there's uh to answer Andrew's question there's $94,000 almost $95,000 remaining right now. It wasn't until you made it. I guess I'd be one request that would help at least me is when we're looking
at these I just if there's nothing in the budgeted amount and it's not a capital outlay. I just assume it's a pulling out of my pocket I'm doing it versus no we did budget this it was part of it. So if we can make sure to put even if it's zero then we know that it wasn't budgeted but you're requesting
them or yes it is and this much is left. Um then my other question being is are we getting late in the season cuz on doing some of this because I would have thought this would have been more of a spring bring or you know early summer bringing to us or is this normal turnaround time or turn timing for this
stuff? Um yes it just feels it feels late coming to us now saying hey approve this and then when is it actually going to get done? Right. It's later um they can still get it in this year. So, that's where
where we're at with that. Um, yeah, ideally we would get it sooner in the year, but it just didn't work out in our schedule to go through it. It takes quite a bit of time to go through and, you know, we have to go through look at
all the streets, decide what is a priority and what isn't and and then, you know, measure all the areas out. And then usually we end up going back after we give a couple of the contractors a call and say, "Hey, what are you charging?" You know, then we
either have to subtract what we had on our list and add. And so, do you guys already have and I know the streets we've brought it up several times, I think, and and had that street inventory of which ones are not next to get the full reconstruction or which ones just need
surface, things like that. Are we to are you guys getting closer to that point of having some of that or at least saying okay next year these are the next on the on the agenda for just resurfacing or um wear course or things like that where it doesn't take you a week to have to go and do it all. You're just now fixing
random potholes and things like that that pop up through the winter or do we are you guys closer to getting that plan set so we're not always having the conversation of okay which road do we do next? Which one looks the worst? I I don't know that
how do we get to that point? a lot of money to get to the point of you know where to get to the point of having a plan right of not oh not like what's the point yeah of waiting until September to
approve road fixes you know andrew has worked with um Brian start with Bolmink they do have a pavement um or we just went through that uh was it last year as we've got a document that kind of lays out the Yeah, I haven't seen the final like
project the final whatever the plan for that. Um, I thought you were talking like, you know, where are we at with getting the streets fixed to where we don't have to No, no, kind of. I mean, you're driving
the city and making notes of all it and then, you know, removing stuff because it's over budget, but then is that on the list then as a top priority for the next year or something? So, you're not having to start at zero every time every year? Yep. And do all the work? still having it. Well, we're not waiting till September
to have these numbers and now hoping that it's getting scrunched in and where are we sitting budget wise and this and that. Yeah, you should be able to tell us the next five roads um from next year, you know, already knowing that, you know, winter happens, you know, right?
Might not be the same five roads that we started with, but it could, you know, but how do we budget? And that'll be a conversation more for tomorrow, I guess. But how are we budgeting if we don't know what we're replacing? I think past what we've been doing is um just kind of having a dollar amount then
this is kind of what we work with. It's usually been around 100,000. This year was 120,000. Um but um hopefully with the 20 26 street and utility reconstruction project that's going to knock out a lot of stuff. I'm hoping that will really help us.
Well, we definitely have a lot more miles of roads today than we had even five years ago. Right. Overall, I mean, majority of our city is pretty good. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I would agree. Yeah. And and one thing
that we do have to look at is and I look back, you know, like the last 5 years, you know, for the amount of roads that we've gained in the last 5 years, I don't know that we've increased our budget to maintain them enough to make,
you know, I propose that we're not going to unless you come with a plan because, you in in the simplest terms is if we got a 100 miles and we have a 10-year plan, we you know, we do 10 miles a year. That's
not what I'm proposing, but you know, having some kind of estimate knowing that we've increased our overall mileage by 50%, we need to start edging that budget up because I know I don't know how long asphalt lasts, right? So, if it lasts 10 years, so you know, we need to
start ratcheting up that budget number. So, just having some kind of idea of what we're looking at um because there will be tradeoffs this year um of what we can do and as there are every year
streets are very important. So, all right. Do we vote on that? I'm so lost. We haven't voted on have a first and second though, right? No. I'll make a motion to approve WW
black topping. We're going to have first and second. Any other discussion? All in favor? I I opposed. Jennifer, you need to keep more control of this meeting. Can I just make a comment? I know you're
exactly like I just want to say okay so we we but when we're talking about making concessions with our budget that's exactly the problem that we have and that we've been told from every year is and that's why we don't get ahead on things. So we're just trying to do the
bare bones. We'll talk more about this tomorrow. But totally there's no fluff in our budget. There really isn't. We'll talk more tomorrow night about that. generally speaking um yeah so this so does that you know you
have manhold covers in here is there we go manhole covers all right so um as many of you have probably heard as we're plowing in the winter, we hit a lot of manholes
um that have either been improperly installed or improperly maintained. Um so this year I talked with um actually drove around with Kurt from WW to just
to look at some of them and you know how to go about it. Um, and we kind of came up with the plan to just start cutting squares out around them, removing what we need to from the manhole to lower it down, and then reblack topping. You
know, it's probably a 5t x 5t area. Um, I know in the past the city has hired people to come in and um, heat up the asphalt and actually build it up around these manholes and stuff. And that's why you see some of them that just, you
know, I avoid one every day, right? Yep. Um, so this is going to fix some of them and some of the ones that are super bad for the plow trucks. I mean, we had the one the one year where it bent the wing on
the plow truck. You know, it can be it can be an expensive fix hitting them and you don't know where they're at when it snows. So, um, we're going to propose repairing roughly 30 manholes
this year. Um, WW's price came in at $22,000, uh, $350 and that would come out of the same street repair budget that the last one came out of. Um,
MPM didn't give me an exact price. They just gave me a price per um which was $950 each and WW was $745 per manhole. So,
um any other questions for director Hartman first? I'll second. First and second. Any other discussion? All in favor? I. All opposed.
All right. Review Highway 14. All right. Um mayor and city council. So following the the council meeting where um Angie with Bolton Bank and the PMT was was at our meeting um they had uh
asked me to get some clarification from this from the city council. And if you'll see in your packet on page 108, um there's a draft highway 14 Eagle Lake study recommendations, um they wanted to know or wanted me to ask you, uh why was an overpass with the
right in right out at Cass 1727 P preferred by the council. Um so I I said I I don't want to speak on behalf of the council. I would bring this back to you um so we could review that tonight. And I did include the slides um that we've
looked at before and I hope that's enough here um to be able to give give them back some feedback. Um so I don't mean to open up a discussion that was very lengthy last time, but if there's anybody that wants to just
clarify that and um you just make sure that I'm accurately reflecting what the city council is saying, that would be appreciated. So, the motion that was passed at that last meeting was um in support of concept A by uh which includes an
overpass with a right in and right out design at CASAS 1727. And then let's see if I can find um if you want me to pull up those drawings, I can do that. Let's see here. So, the question is that she's wondering why we wanted to write in and write out at
17 and 27. Wasn't that just because that's what the concept says? I was going to say that's what I recall is we went or at least voted concept A which was what is on there what we wanted. So we just wanted at 56 at 56 and then just got that with it.
Right. I think we wanted D2 but that wasn't pull it up. Yep. Hold on. It's not that we prefer that part of concept A. That's what we So right we had to choose between A and D. Yeah. As it laid out per the PMT. We chose what they had
um on their concepts. Okay, let me find concept. A guys, I'm sorry. Do they not remember this sideways? We wouldn't be if I guess I'm confused by this question because they I mean the whole team was here. So, I'm confused by this question
on what wasn't clear after an hour and a half conversation. Hey, hold on. But we didn't we couldn't cherrypick what we wanted because I think we even asked if we could and they said, "No, it's between A and D. Yeah. So, I'll just respond that we just went with what was presented for um concept
A has a right in and right out. That's it, right? Yep. Yep. I didn't know how to respond because I'm like, am I missing something? I don't know. Okay. Thank you. That's We can move on. A has a right in and right out, but it's a slit. It's split. It's not
It's right in, right out. You still had a way to get across the highway there because there was an overpass, too. Correct. Correct. Okay. Um, where is it? It's Why is A not in
here? It should be. Hold on. Page 93. Oh, okay. Thank you guys. That's it. Perfect. Here, I'll scroll down. Oops. Get my fingers to work here. What that was? Was that exact? Right. So, it was right in, right out,
but it's split. So, it did have a right in and right outs on the westbound side. Doesn't it say over on it? Yes. Right. Yeah. It says overpass and then a right in right out based on whether you want to go east or west.
It wasn't just right in and right out. 1727. So, they're confused on their own concept. I'm not familiar yet. I'll just go back with this is what I'll show concept. I don't want to speak for the council, but if they want to put a full
interchange there and high it, we wanted D2, which was the high. Yep. Okay. All right. That's that helps. Thank you guys. We trying to get right in right with as sensitive as this is. I said I
don't want to be making I think we need to be very clear that it's just not right in and right out. We didn't agree to just that. We agreed to concept A which included a split an overpass and a way to do go
east and west an overpass with the right in right out. Yep. As their concept reflects as their concept. Okay. Nope. That that helps. They have that little spur by the by the cemetery to go west. Come off the west and go on the west.
Right in right out west. Okay. Thank you. Words matter. All right. So, we had two additions. All right. Did you have the information on the basketball? Yes. So I did um put that in front of
your um your respective spots here at the table. Um so just give you a little background at the May parkboard meeting uh public works director Hartman presented pricing for a basketball court fence and back stop. And then at that time the park board said you know we
they weren't sure if they wanted to use park funds for that or if it should be a park fund um capital outlay fund or if it should come out of maintenance. Well, we don't it wasn't something that was planned for and it kind of feels like it's a capital outlay item. Um so there's kind of back and forth and then
at that time the count or the park board just said, you know, let's just go ahead and do the fencing behind where the um around the ring for like the hockey pucks and such. Um and so they fixed that, but we had held off on this. Um but since that time a couple people have
contacted um some of our park board members and then also I included two emails at the um that were received um from um some users of the basketball courts asking for a back stop. So um public
works director Hartman contacted Sunup today and verified that the $5,692.50 is still valid. Um, but we would recommend that it come out of the PA park board's capital outlay funds. Um, there's currently about $60,000 in
there. So, there is funding for it. If the council's interested, we want to just go ahead and and I guess the other thing is I have um uh I'm a visual learner. Sorry. Is it just a higher back stop fence net behind each
standard? So, this will be a fence behind um each each backboard. Um and then the fence will come down at an angle back into it'll be chain link and it'll come back down at an angle into
um the basketball court or hockey rink um just to help. There was a lot of discussion on going with the netting style and things like that, but the way kids are down at the park, that'll never hold up. So, and his background before
the hoops got replaced, we paid to have a fence put up. So, with the old hoops, the park board paid to have a fence put up, but because of the way the new hoops are that are down there now, the old the fence had to come completely down. So, there's poles for the fence, but we can't reinstall the old fence
based on how the new hoops are laid out. So there kept being discussion back and forth, get pricing for net, do this, and it never went anywhere. And I think it was get pricing from Sunup or confirm that and then bring it to the council if council approves it, kind of move forward with it because it is annoying
to have it bounce off and then jump over the boards to get out. Couple questions. One is get better and hit the backboard. Um two is is there any issue with that chainling coming to the top of the hockey fence? There's no issue there. better than when I have to
clear it up. Yeah. Be strategic of where you throw it over. No, it would make it more enjoyable if you're not constantly chasing a basketball into the parking lot. Short of the conversation where we said the next best option would be having
removable boards, but that's not a feasible option where then you wouldn't need that at all. But that's a area we're not going down. Removable back stops. Yeah. Okay. Motion to accept the vote.
We have a first. Do we have a second? Second. We have a first and second. Any other discussion? All in favor? I. All opposed. All right. The next one is the solar proposal.
All right. Uh mayor and city council, I've been kind of trying to just put hit the pause button on this. I don't know if you recall, but Sabry with region 9 attended a city counciling probably last spring and we talked about um he might be able to help us apply for solar on
public buildings grant. Um and so we did we've worked together in that. We got um a grant um about 30 38,000. But I just told them we need to kind of hit the pause button because we're you
know I didn't know what we're going to do with our roof. Now that we know what we're going to do with the roof, I'm really not I want to be a part of this, but yet I don't I don't want to cause problems for the city in the future. And I'm very leery about this in the sense that we just approved to get a rough and
we were told probably about 20 years. Now the life useful life of the or the agreement would be 25 years with uh solar and I just I don't it sounds good now, but I don't know what it's going to be like later to remove the equipment. then you have to store it, reinstall it,
and then there's the decommission aspect. And I it's like I feel like there's just so many unknowns. I don't want to burden the city down the road. But just to give you a little more information, so I did um so be 25ear term. Um it'd be on top of city hall. They're saying, and I don't know how
they come up with these calculations, that we'd have about a $60,000 electricity savings over this time period, but we don't know how much it would cost to have to go up and make repairs or the extra stress on the um the roof. I I don't know. I just feel like there's so many question marks and
unknown. I hate to not be a part of this because I really wanted to, but I just personally don't feel like I know enough to feel confident to say, "Yeah, let's go ahead with this." So, I talked to the lady today and I said I um because they want us to sign the contract and I said I just don't I'm have to talk to the council and see what the council wants
to do. I just it would be nice, but I think maybe we need to find a place that's freestanding or I just don't know if we want to put that on this building. Yeah, let me interject. Um, I know a building right now uh in Mano that put a
roof, a new roof on in 2014 and put solar panels on the roof as well and the solar panels have just been taken off of the roof and they're putting a new roof on and it's a it's a it's a rather big project. Um, so I
would echo what you say about putting solar panels not on a roof, especially after hearing what Mike said. I would say that it might just be a thing that we should maybe look at doing in another area at another time. I agree.
And I'm not against solar panels, but I'm just saying on the roofs, I think, you know, especially with having to redo the roof and, you know, the added weight, etc. Not too excited about putting a bunch of holes in a $100,000 roof either. So, um
I the little hometown in Iowa, um they have a lot of kind of concepts that you know they're freestanding. Um at the grade school, they actually made it a covering for the bus stop. You know, when the bus pulls up to on board and up for the kids, you know, that's
freestanding. So, I think there's other things we might want to look at that might be freestanding as opposed to punching a bunch of holes in. And I'm kind of not I don't think we'd see a $60,000 savings over that 10 years or
whatever that is. So, um, yeah, I feel bad because you always hear, well, how come the city doesn't didn't take advantage of this grant per firm or that? But I think we did our due diligence and I just don't with what we're the stretch it is to try to get this re-roof done. I just hate to put the city in a position down the road to
have unexpected surprise costs and then looking back and at all of us looking at the minutes why did they what were they thinking or you know I don't know so two issues one it probably will shorten the life of the roof and two is disposal of solar panels in 10 years or whatever
is becoming more and more expensive because they're not recyclable um and in some cases they're hazardous waste. So, I'm good with pausing and letting them know that, you know, we're not moving forward. Not not
only pausing, but, you know, kind of returning the grant. Do we need a motion for that? Probably. So, I don't Yep. as staff. I'll make a motion to decline the grant. First and second. Any other discussion? Is that Is that grant only for like on
the roof? I mean, can we put that somewhere else or is only for on the roof? I'll check into that, but I'm pretty sure it's on public buildings. And the other thing is I don't even know where we would put free sanding because we we were talking about that too internally. Where would we I don't know where we'd even
um I I'll certainly ask about that. Well, like we talked about in some of the other whether it's vehicles being left on the streets that we're getting complaints on or garbage or how we're talking on the native prairie or where does it start, where does it stop and not having it be an isore, you know, a big solar um field on the back of this,
is that really what we want it to look like, you know? So, if we can get creative and having I did I have seen the bus stop shelters and things like that that are creatively done, but they don't look like an isore, that's one thing. But if we're putting big um fields of them out there, is that what we want?
Revisit it. But yeah, so we have a first and second. All in favor? I. All oppose. All right, Jennifer, your Okay. Reports. I will get going here. Let's see.
Find my page here. Second. Oh, just a second. It's in here, guys. Okay, there we go. I got it. All right. I had added a couple things so I wouldn't forget it before I got to my report. So, um, just as as you guys see, every month there's a year-to- date expense revenue report. Um, an
update on the Congre congressionally directed spending request. Um, Mayor Whittington, I had uh met with our federal um representatives and asked for $5 million. Um, they've come back and said that they have us in the running
for 1 million um one one million50,000. Yes. Um and so I guess anything is better than nothing, but uh we'll just keep you posted on that. It obviously has to be approved by um the House and then signed into law before it becomes
effective, but a little bit more promising than what we're looking at on the state side as we haven't received anything from that. So, we'll keep you posted on that. Um next up, there's a Minnesota Valley Council Government's General Assembly meeting scheduled for September 17th. It'll be at the pond on
Madison Avenue. Um I'll be attending. If any of you are interested in attending, be great. Um, one of the topics I personally requested that they have on this is the paid leave and how that's going to impact cities and budgets. Um, so let me know if you want to attend. There's no cost um for you to attend.
Uh, next item, foundations of the future childcare and economic development conference. Uh, the city is working with rural or excuse me, first children's finance and they've invited um any city representatives to attend um a conference coming up. It's free. It's about the future child care and economic
development. It'll be in October on the 23rd in Alexandria. I am going to attend and just like I offered the RCCIP group if anybody wants to ride with me. Um I could fit three people in my car so we could car pool. Um, next item. I
received notice from Excel um that they're applying for um authority to increase their electric rates. And um you know, I don't know what action like a small city like the city of Eagle Lake would take, but just we're supposed to post it and let um let
people know about that. Um budget work session tomorrow night 5:00. We'll have some food here. Um and I know it's right after work, so we appreciate your time. We initially set it up at 5 because we were going to meet at the fire hall for a meeting with the um fire department,
their personnel policy. That's gotten has been cancelled because they want more time to work on that. But we still probably want to be mindful of that time frame because we have the fire chief and assistant chief will be at the meeting tomorrow night. So I think we'll probably wrap up be, you know, by 6:30 hopefully. Um employee leave balances. I
always put this in here now. So if you have any questions, let me know. Um, an exciting concept is um that Lieutenant Gayler with the sheriff's office uh pitched and he also included in his report a concept called the Eagle Lake Helping Hands. It's basically like a
community volunteer initiative where we engage law enforcement, youth, and the Eagle Lake Area Lions Club. And um very excited about that idea. It's just so many um good things I think that can come out of it. good thing for our
community and helping people um that could be elderly or people with mobility restrictions um and just engaging youth and having a positive um relationship with law enforcement. I know Lieutenant Gayerson and his deputies have done an amazing
job with the school and um really building relationships with the young people and their parents uh with pick up and drop off and you know just friendly wave smile. It's it's gone a long way. and then just with the um Blorth County Sheriff's Office and they're patrolling
around town and just being very friendly and having a good relationship with people. Um but some of the project we talked about uh we're doing like breaking leaves, picking up litter, weeding. Um Lieutenant Gayler came to the Lions Club, made his pitch. They're
super excited about it. So we've got a subcommittee formed and uh we'll get more information out and get that launched. But, uh, I think it'll be, um, it's a really good thing for the community. And then lastly, fire department policy update. I already covered this. The fire department has
request requested additional time to review their draft policy internally before bringing it back to the council. We were going to bring it to tonight for the council to approve and they just said, hey, we just want a little more time. No problem. Those are, we know when we went through the personnel policy, that's a big deal. I mean, we
had a staff lunch and I think it took us like an hour and 15, hour and a half just to get through and I had 60some slides. It's a it's a lot. So, better take your time. And I think that's all I've got. Thank you. Oh, I do have one more thing. I just
want to say congratulations to Mayor Whittington, his wife Audra, and becoming new grandparents. Pretty exciting. Definitely excited. So, council member reports Um, not really report from a committee
per se, but um, and maybe more of a question for tomorrow, but an email from Kent with LJP. I don't know if everybody got that email today. Um, so I'll forward it to you because it talked about um, LJP increases and like to from 50 to 200% increases. Um, so
I'll forward it to you and I don't and I don't know why I got it. What's the name? Who's the person? Kent. Kent with LJP. I'll forward it to you because I I guess I assumed everybody got it. Yeah. Yeah. No, didn't have not seen that yet.
It was a real email like what the actual email address was. Yeah. I mean it talked about Blue County and Mano community leaders um which maybe I'm part of Mano. I don't know. But it just went into that they um Excel doesn't want them um or doesn't want
outside. I got it too building. Yeah. Yeah. So, I forwarded it to you, Jennifer, so you have it. Yeah. Um because just thinking on what that's going to mean for tomorrow, like budget wise or how that how that pertains um
too. I don't know if that has anything to do with our city contract though. So, that was more my question and and again probably Oh, well, it might because we do have the Minnesota waste processing company. Among the consequences of a county owned RDF processing facility are that
residential garbage disposal rates would increase by 50% business by 200%. So it's not that LJP is is increasing their costs. It's the if I'm reading this it's Minnesota Waste Processing Company.
Is that right? Well, they're holding the county wants to do something. LJP doesn't like it, so they're saying on an email about it. So, I'd like to hear what the other side of the coin is. What's the county's reasoning for wanting to do it? And but yeah, I didn't know. I will research it, guys. Thank you. I assumed you got it, so you have it now.
Thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah. No, I guess the only the other thing I would have is just thanking um the summer sounds committee on an outstanding um summer. um could not have done it and would not have happened
without you guys and it was wonderful to see um and that couldn't have happened without public works doing their part and having everything ready to go and the sheriff's department showing up all the time. So um just massive thank you to all the committees and staff that have helped throughout all the summer
and making the city what it is. That's all I got. Yeah, just uh happy with the turnout for the ribbon cutting at the Little Eagles preschool. There's a lot of people that showed up and a lot of support. Um, which is great because because Miss Beth
is awesome. Uh, first day was today and it went great. Um, so hopefully that just grows and grows and grows. Got nothing. Um, we did not have a EDA meeting this past month, so nothing there. So, um,
upcoming announcements, special sess session tomorrow, uh, five o'clock back here. Um, regular city council October 6th. Um, EDA meeting September 25th, park board is September 11th and then
regular planning commission meeting is September 15th. So, I don't think we have any other items. So, I'd look for a motion to Perfect. Thanks everybody. We're so used to these short
you wouldn't keep adding stuff to the agenda. So, you got your little guy.