Okay. At this time, we'll call the October 27th, 2025 uh council meeting to order. >> Please rise if you can for the pledge. >> I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic
for it stands. One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Make a motion to adopt a nice agenda. >> Second. >> Got a motion and a second on the agenda. All those in favor?
>> I I presentations. Sheriff's office. >> Good evening, uh, mayor and council. Hope everybody's well this evening. September we had a total of 389 calls
for service in our community was slightly above what we saw throughout the spring months this year. So April uh and March and those numbers were very very similar. Uh we had seven thefts and 13 assault reports. We had a total of 45 arrests and 179 traffic stops which were
conducted uh which resulted in 38 traffic citations on a roadway. A few of our notable calls in September occurred on the 5th of September at 6 PM. Deputy Martinez observed a vehicle with expired registration traveling
northbound on Highway 65. He stopped the vehicle uh on Highway 65 at Sims Road. Deputy Martinez spoke to the driver who said he didn't have a driver's license with him and ended up actually identifying himself as his brother. So, he was claiming to be somebody that he
was not. Upon further investigation, our deputies were able to properly identify this male who was found to have three active felony warrants out of multiple different counties. The male was arrested without incident. Uh upon an inventory search of the vehicle, our deputies located drug paraphernalia and
an open container of alcohol. The male was transported to our jail and booked on those charges, including false information, driving after cancellation, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Um about a week later on the 18th, Deputy Martinez again uh at 9:39 p.m.
received a call of a possibly impaired driver near Highway 65 Northeast and 181st Avenue Northeast. So uh a very typical call for us that we receive on a nightly basis. Uh Deputy Martinez located that vehicle uh near Viking Boulevard and Flamingo Street in El
Grove. Uh he ended up stopping it there after observing its erratic driving conduct. The female driving that car showed multiple signs of impairment and later failed standardized field sobriety testing. She submitted to a PBT with a result of.182. She was later arrested
for DWI and then provided a evidentiary breath sample of.16. Uh that individual was booked into our jail for thirdderee DWI. And then finally, uh, on the 18th at approximately 6 PM, our deputies responded to an address in the 24300
block of Highway 65 Northeast on a report of a bullet that was found inside the caller's residence. The homeowner discovered an intact bullet and damage consistent with a round traveling through the exterior siding and multiple drywall panels of that of that house. Our our deputies canvased the area and
spoke to a neighbor who reported hearing a gunshot around 4 p.m., but could not determine the source. Deputies spoke with several of the neighbors, all of whom denied any firearm discharge. Our CSU, which is our crime scene unit, responded to the scene and collected that bullet and documented uh everything
that they could. And our followup on that case continues. So, um we were able to determine that that shot didn't come from another house, came from the outside, from somewhere. Um still working on that as we speak. Over at the sheriff's office, we do some trajectory
and things of that nature. So, um, maybe in time we'll get we'll get some information that might lead us to a possible suspect, but that at this point, um, something to be aware of. You know, you don't think of of finding that inside your house. You don't expect to have that happen to you while you're at home. So, if anything like that happens
to anybody else, please let us know. Um, these folks did the right thing and we'll see what we can find out here as time goes on. >> Were you able to identify it as either a handgun or >> it was a handgun? >> Okay. Yeah.
Uh so finally uh this fall ACSO and East Bethl Fire have responded to multiple water rescues on Lake. Um primarily those were involving um our community hunters. Um and as temperatures drop, we just want to make sure and we urge
everybody that's out there to wear life preservers, share their plans with others, and be prepared for any unexpected water immersion. as the temperature gets colder, so is the water and it increases the danger um greatly
the longer that you're in the water obviously. So, we are more than capable of performing those water rescues in partnership with the fire department, but um that prevention is is critical in those cold weather conditions. So, uh finally, Halloween fast approaching this
weekend. Um, we want to encourage the safe practices for all of our trick-or-treaters and our parent guardians that'll be out and about on Friday night. Uh, remember to use reflective or light up gear to maximize your visibility out on the roads. Um, inspect your treats prior to eating them. And then make sure to call 911 if
something seems suspicious while you're out and about. Um, the community are our eyes that evening. We're very responsive on Friday nights. We don't have a whole lot of work for that proactive um, enforcement until maybe later in the evening. So, if you see something, let us know and we'll get out there and
check it out for you. So, um, wishing everybody an enjoyable holiday. >> Any questions for deputy? >> No, he covered the ones I was going to ask. So, >> thank you, sir. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Fire Chief,
>> Mr. Mayor, members of the council. Uh thank you for having me tonight. Uh the call numbers for Septe September which are from our last meeting until this one uh totaled 75 calls. Uh 39 of them were medicals, 18 were good intent and then
there were three fires uh fire related calls rather. Um within this time since we last spoke on uh October 6th, we implemented duty crew and uh duty crew has been able to answer
eight calls so far that have not resulted in an all call. Um one of those calls uh during duty crew hours um was a car fire. Car fires are common uh not usually a big deal. However, this one happened to be an an
EV, electric vehicle fire. uh which it was a hybrid. Uh because we had uh a person in the station on our duty crew shift um uh Deputy Chief Udin was able to jump into the engine immediately with them. They were on scene very in a very
short order and they were able to make keep that to a engine compartment fire and not allow it to get to the battery compartment which would have changed the whole dynamic of that fire. Um so uh quick responses is is what's uh duty
crew is meant to do and it's it's doing it. Um we had the water rescue with the sheriff as uh was already mentioned. Um I just want to give uh credit where it's due. The officer that ran that call had
great communication and they were unable to act that enact that rescue quickly. Um the members that showed up were competent in what they were doing. and they were confident in what they were doing and they were able to get that individual onto our boat, the East Bethl fireboat, and get get them to shore
along with some of their belongings. Um, I would like to echo what the sheriff's office said, you know, have life preservers, have a plan, have a communications plan. Um, as far as other calls, um, you may have
seen or heard on the news that there was a bus fire. Um, depending on which news outlet you listen to, there it's labeled it as Bethl or East Bethl. That incident did happen in Bethl outside of our area.
That area is now operated or covered by St. Francis. Um the video shows a woman acting very quickly and getting those kids off that bus. Uh so she did amazing work there. Uh but it did not happen in our city. So I just don't want there to
be any confusion there. Um uh with the duty crew being implemented, we did take that opportunity to rework our matrix to um list some of the non-emerent calls as unless requested by
Alina. Um these include uh blood pressure, uh lab values are off, those kind of calls that are are not those emergent calls. Um, so we we've accomplished a couple of different things uh with duty crews implementation.
Uh, fire prevention uh was at the beginning of October. Uh, we went to uh the schools uh here in town and with uh Oakrove, we were able to interact with
over 400 students and staff at those schools. uh had great participation, great questions. It was a great time. Weather was beautiful. Couldn't ask for a better day in October to to be able to do that. Uh we had our open house where
we had somewhere between two and 300 people attend. Uh which is a good turnout. Um it was it was a good time. We were able to have a couple of different demonstrations. We had the uh the firehouse where the kids could spray water on a resettable wooden fire deal.
Uh, we had our forcable entry props, so they got to watch some firefighters actually work on getting through a locked door so they could see what would happen if if we showed up at a house. Um, and I'd like to say thank you to those that participated in that um, above and beyond our membership, which
was uh, the Lions. Uh, they provided the food and cooked it. Lifelink 3 landed a helicopter at station one and gave tours of their helicopter. Anoka County Sheriff's Office was there. uh Minnesota State Patrol, Anoka County Dispatch, and
Excel were all part of our uh open house this year and uh did a great job. Um I want to talk about uh we're still looking for firefighters. Uh we're trying to uh find three more
firefighters before the academy starts in February. So we are still working on recruiting. Um, we're working on getting a mailer postcard together so that we can send that out to all residents of East Bethl and and try and drive some interest in in joining our department.
Um, and last, um, three of our most recently hired firefighters completed EMR, which is emergency medical responder. Um, so they are now getting familiar with our equipment and our SOPs, and uh, hopefully we'll get them
out on the trucks here very soon. Any questions? >> I have a question. What does this fire department have that is better than other fire departments that will
improve recruiting stand? I mean like what can I go out and say hey East Bethl's got a is hiring fire depart firefighters but they say well so is Andover so is
Oakrove so is Blaine so is Fidley >> a lot of that's going to be driven on the job description that we have which is you have to be within 10 minutes uh and every other department has that as well unless they're hiring part-time bringing in outside people we're we're
not hiring part-time. We're looking for those on call folks that are in our community. Um I can say we have a great bunch of of people within our buildings. Um we are developing a a culture of
accountability and inclusion and uh you know building a great team. Um, so >> do you have postings at the Elevage and the um apartments? Because I I'm just thinking those are the places that are
getting turnovers. They're getting new people moving in. >> We have I we haven't posted there like in those buildings, but it's something we can definitely look into. I appreciate that offer or that suggestion. >> Okay.
Oh, you could always be like Savage, you know, get that fire safety grant like they did for 12 new full-time firefighters. If that is what this council would like me to pursue, I can start to look into
it. >> I want to say thank you for putting this duty crew thing together. Uh it it's it's a great vision. Uh, I think this is something that we used to do a little bit of. Um, thank you for that. I thank you for working on the call reduction
program. I mean, that's huge. Um, I also want to thank both Lieutenant Peters and yourself for finding ways to tweak your systems to make our residents safer and always continuing to look at that. So, thank you very much, both of you. >> You're welcome. And I do want to give
credit where it's due. Again, some of this stuff was set up prior to my arrival. Uh, Deputy Chief Udin has been instrumental in getting duty crew put together. Um, he's running the schedule, uh, and that kind of stuff. Uh, there's a lot that goes into this and there's a
lot of people behind the scenes and even some of those that came before me that have made this possible. I'm just happy that we're able to implement it for the citizens. >> Make sure you thank them for us. >> I will do that. >> Thanks. >> Thank you.
Item 4 C. >> Mr. Mayor and Council, uh, on August 25th, 2025, the council directed staff to prepare an ordinance change specifically allowing liquor consumption at the senior community center during
reservations. And wanted to bring this forward here this evening. You'll see uh tail end here kind of what we suggest in red for a change to the ordinance, but wanted to had a little sidebar conversation with our attorney as well. Wanted to kind of just kind of frame the
discussion in terms of uh this is what we believe will work and these are some of the uh concerns or considerations that need to be u thought about before we implement this. But anyways, um there's statutes that place limitations on the council's discretion regarding
liquor consumption in a public facility. That's uh Minnesota State Statute 348.101, subdivision 24B and Minnesota State statute 34A.414 consumption and daily permits. Um the so
you you define uh park, community center or other accommodations or facility owned or managed by or on behalf of subdivision of the state including any county, city, town, uh township or independent district of the state. So a community center falls under that public
facility definition defined in 34A 101 subdivision 24. And then as you get into consumption and daily permits, it says no business establishment or club which does not hold an on sale intoxicating liquor license may directly or
indirectly allow the consumption and display of alcoholic beverages without first having obtained a permit from the commissioner. However, it also states that a rental of a facility does not make a subdivision or a facility a business establishment for the purposes
of this chapter. and uh thereby renting out a community center by itself doesn't trigger the business establishment rules of the of the statute. Um if uh if the city wants to allow
unrestricted liquor consumption in the community center um that might conflict with 34A 414. Uh and yet um because the statute excludes rental of a facility
from the business establishment devel uh definition there is some ambiguity obviously. So we want to be cautious about this. Um and if the community seminar is rented out for an event and hosts arranges consumption the statute
may apply may not apply in the same way. So essentially the the council has power in this regard. We can we can be more strict than the state. We cannot be less strict. Uh but um
you know as a governing body it looks as though we would have to approve a permit and uh the council has control in that. Um, as I mentioned, we attach section 6-64 of the code here. And
if you so choose to pass a resolution permitting on-site alcohol consumption with a prerequisite of obtaining a reservation agreement approved by the managing authority for the city-owned property, um, then we would need to change, as you
see here, the ordinance as follows. So, wanted to bring this up and let you decide what you want to go, where you want to take it. >> So, can I get some clarification?
When it says um playing of games recreation unless authorized as part of an approved reservation, does that mean every time somebody goes to rent over there, they have to come to
city council first or is it part of the lease the agreement that they sign? Can we modify that because it's not consist going to be consistent. It might be, you know, once or twice a month that anybody would even
want to do at the most. Probably once or twice a year. >> I would have to defer to the attorney on this as to whether a reservation would be a standing, you know, permit with the city, >> the contract that they sign with those, >> right?
>> They have a pretty >> before we go further here, Matt. >> This is a public hearing, right? >> Yep. So we should open that part first before we start discussing it up here. >> Sure. >> So at this time I'll entertain uh opening up the public hearing department
for anybody to speak from the public. Seeing none, I'll clear the close the public hearing part of it and now it's up for council discussion. >> All right. So, do I need to rephrase my question? >> You know, I I'll pick it up as best as I
can remember. Um, mayor, council, um, council member Urkel, if if I understood correct, your question was how to, um, use the reservation applications or contracts in conjunction with this change in code. >> And do they have to come before city
council every time? Who and who has to come before city council? Does it senior center? Is it the person who um does the contracts with each person? Is
it the renter themselves? >> I need clarification. >> As as best as I understand it, I would defer most of those answers back to city staff because the process that the city uses to reserve those community spaces
would not change. um it would be a function of what is required as part of an application that would also allow the the sale and consumption of liquor in a public space. And so that would mean we'd be take another look at what the city currently uses for the application
uh the requirements that we put on the applicant. And then in terms of who applies um you know candidly I would just imagine it's the you know leader or the spokesperson of any organization but that's going to be a fluid question that you know changes with every applicant. Um the important part will be making
sure that that that individualized applicant is the right person to make the application that they can answer all the questions that they can satisfy the requirements as a proxy or on behalf of you know the the organization if it's an organization or the group but at some
point um you'll have insurance related concerns that need to be addressed um likely by the users. I don't know what the agreements currently require in terms of uh insurance, but um certainly with alcohol, you'd want to make sure that all your users are covered. Um
perhaps above and beyond the the um the entity that is doing the sales, you know, so depending on how you're going to handle the alcohol licensing is a separate question from how you handle the applications for reservation. It's a pretty detailed application. Um I
know I've done it. Um currently they say no alcohol, so it would have to be revised. Um yeah. >> So Mr. Mayor Council, this just to give you the good, bad, and the
ugly. um you know it does open the city up to liability. So essentially somebody even if let's say route 65 is a supplier somebody rents a facility they consume too much
or they they come in you know potentially drunk already and consume some go out and get in a car accident. It would I'm not an attorney but I don't think I'd have to be a gambling man to to figure out the city will be named in that lawsuit. >> They'll go for the deepest pocket.
>> Right. Um, is there benefits to this? Um, you know, you have perhaps people that want to have a a wedding venue here. They don't want to pay for a huge venue somewhere else. Uh, we don't have short-term
rental houses yet. So, um, so they want to rent this facility. That that's a nice option for folks. No doubt. No doubt about that. Um but uh I I guess um is you know to to to
put it put it in a in a way that I've heard uh recently is the is the juice worth worth the squeeze at this point? You know is there enough gain uh for providing alcohols at the senior center for what
the potential risk is going to be? That's that's the policy question you have to, you know, struggle with here this evening. Um, and you know, yes, Route 65 is covered with their insurance. Yes, we have insurance.
Um, but our insurance, as you know, is part of the insurance trust. If we get sued, our rates go up to cover that. It's not nothing's free out there. Um so you know if cities were completely opposed to liability we would not have
parks right people can get hurt in parks and get sued we can get sued from that. So the to a certain degree cities are subject to some liability. The question is is um do you want to potentially look at additional liability
where you have a mood altering substance that could, you know, be abused at some point. I mean, there's there's bars out here now today that might serve someone one drink, but they came in with four drinks in their system. you know, uh,
it's kind of hard to kind of hard to recognize that unless they're stumbling or slurring or whatever the case is, at which point they could they can be cut off, right? But, um, if, um, if things are busy and people are just trying to
fill orders and you're not catching the cues, at that point, I think that the city is is somewhat responsible um, because we do own the the property. But that's that's the question that I think you get to deal with. Um
I know that there's some that are pro and some that are opposed and not just on the council. I'm saying, you know, residents out there, but um uh you know, it's that's the question and I don't necessarily have the answer for you
>> because I know other community centers like the Rapids one that's they they serve they allow people to have alcohol if they're renting one of their AB or C room for big events. Um, I
haven't gone down there and asked them for what they went through to get that approval, but I know they do. And I know they play bingo and other gambling games down there, too. And which I'm working on. >> Yeah, I think you're referring to the
golf club, maybe the >> No, the it's they have a lot all the >> activity center. It's on that row. I think it begins with a R. >> Okay. can't remember
down not far from North Dale and Hansen >> because I know the Kendall's restaurant at the golf course there. They also serve, >> you know, they have an open bar type of deal. And there's also a restaurant there. I think they're probably the ones that are servicing. >> This place doesn't have a restaurant. It
just rents. It has they do all their senior activities there. They have they rent out rooms for weddings and baby showers and all different kinds of things and have constant activities going on.
So would this as it's prepared be just for the senior center because it sounds like it'd be opening up the potential for alcohol
at any city owned property or says seniors for the senior center, community center, public works manager for ice arena or city parks, etc. So, would this be opening up alcohol for
all city- owned properties or is the intent of it just to allow alcohol for the senior center? And if it is, can we could it be shaped just to allow alcohol for the senior center?
Uh, Mr. Mr. Mayor and council members, as it's currently written, um it shall be consumed in any recreation hall or center, park, ballpark, or other place of public gathering in the city used for the purpose of entertainment, amusement, playing of games, or recreation.
Um that's the restriction unless authorized as part of an approved reservation. So the restriction is restricting everything unless you've given a reservation for it. So the council can decide then we want
to open up booster park or we think this this event would qualify or something of that nature. Whereas in the past um I think I think the Lions are the only ones that have
Route 65 also had a permit over there but Yeah, that's the only >> it it's only been allowed for booster day. >> Right. Right. That was a restriction before. >> And I'm fine with it opening up for all the places. It's not like they're going
to sneak in and and do it without they have to get approval to do it. So, it's not going to be a secret. So, this approved reservation, what is is that a form we have or Okay, >> it's a form that the seniors I believe
have have uh folks fill out when they want to use it. >> Uh I don't know the city necessarily gets involved in that. The the seniors kind of run the reservations over there. Um so we would be permitting the seniors
with putting on restrictions I believe of you know the um food vendor and alcohol sales would be the individual that they would allow such as I think there's only two there's Route 65 and Smokies in the city that have that food vendor license.
So, of those two, you could select one or both or however you want to handle that. But, um, but being we're liable though, wouldn't uh we want to have some kind of a say in how this reservation is written
up. >> Oh, well, I believe the city did write up the reservation initially. Um, and I don't know that you could incorporate a hold harmless into it. for the city.
I don't know. And I don't know that. So, like I say, Route 65 has insurance, for example, if they're the selected provider. The city has insurance, but I don't know that anyone renting would be able to go out and get a
million-doll rider. You know, >> actually, um, they do. I had to get a one-day insurance policy when I used it just for a open house type thing. And so they do require the renters to get
insurance and the seniors have a huge insurance policy too just for that part of the building. >> So the seniors would need to then update that insurance policy. >> Yes. If there was to be sales of
intoxicating liquor, Mr. Mayor and council, if I can interject here, I'll say that the the ordinance is is written, you know, in an agnostic sense. It applies to everybody. So any group under this language could come up and make an application. And if
your intention is to restrict it to certain groups, then I' I'd urge you to be cautious about taking that approach, right? >> Um because we have to decide based on the merits of the applicant, not the, you know, name on the application. >> Um so consider
if you're going to amend this ordinance, then consider what parameters you want to establish that would would would qualify as a qualifying reservation. So, if you want to see additional insurance requirements, let's determine what numbers and what types of insurance. If we're going to
require a one-day policy, like council member Urkel mentioned, a tulip policy, a tenant user liability policy, then that should be a requirement as part of any applicant. If if the intention is to restrict it to a particular public center rather than all of the public centers, then let's be specific about
that requirement. Um, I just urged you to use, it sounds like you have specific intentions in mind, so be sure that you put those specific parameters into the ordinance because right now it's very general. >> Yeah, I believe this came came
>> up by just allowing the seniors to have it in the senior center. Um, and I I think there wasn't a whole lot of reservation uh from council to
uh the council's open having that done. Uh but as far as how it's written right now, like you say, this is a very open and generalized thing that could potentially uh affect many more things and places outside of
the senior center that uh uh this council may not have intended to open that up. Um, we certainly have not had that conversation to allow alcohol at uh all city properties or the potential to
have alcohol at all city properties or how that uh applica application process would exist at all those different properties because I could potentially see uh something being put on at the ice
arena and somebody wanting a somebody that organization want would want alcohol at their event. Um I I believe that has been done before
but that went through the uh traditional process that we have already established in the city but this be loosening potentially be loosening that up. So, uh, I think if we should if we want to
pursue this, it needs to be pursued just to allow it for the original intent of what we were talking about discussing to allow just for the senior center at this time. Actually, I changed my mind and I'm agreeing with you because I'm
thinking of that application since the seniors do one person in the senior does the applica takes in the applications and reserves the room. Then we we always have hire somebody to moni stay there and monitor what and make
sure the people uh clean up and leave it as good or better than when they got there. Um, but that person is not going to want to take applications for Whispering Aspens, for the Ice Arena, for Lake, for the parks. I don't
know who would be taking those. We just going to All I care about is the senior center to be honest with you. >> And Mr. Mayor and Council, if I understood the attorney, I I don't know that we can limit it just to the seniors. So, if um if somebody wanted to
bypass the seniors, for example, and come in and do their own wedding venue here um and they meet the qualifications, we'd have it allow them to do that, too. Uh can we limit it with specific
language just to the for the seniors for the at the senior center? >> Well, I'm I'm glad that Mr. look uh said what he said. He beat me to the microphone. Um I would have to look into that question because um you know my my
understanding from the chair is that it's a public building and that it would be open to the public and any other applicant that met the requirements would be granted a license or granted a reservation regardless of um you know
what the the normal use of the senior center is, right? Even if it's typically used for senior programming, that doesn't mean it can be exclusively used for senior programming necessarily. So, if you'd like me to look into it, I can. I just don't think that's an avenue we want to go. >> No, we didn't want it just for the
seniors because they rent it out to bar mitzvah and baby showers and weddings and other people in the public. We want to limit it to this building and not the ice arena and not the whispering aspens. And that's what that's what I'm trying
to be specific about is >> yeah with the seniors oversight. >> Yes. The seniors will always oversight. The seniors do the application. The seniors collect the money. The seniors reimburse the deposit. The seniors do have the insurance. Make sure that the
renters have an insurance policy for that day. Um the seniors they do all that over there already. >> Yeah. So the seniors would be the managing authority, >> right, >> of of that building of who rents it and
etc. >> Exactly. But I don't want to do all the other buildings in the city. >> Yeah. So would that would we would something like that be able to be wrote up? >> Mr. Mayor, council. Yeah. Uh I I think
that that would be fine. You could you could limit the application of this we'll say the exclusion or the exception for alcohol to certain locations and if that's the senior center then that's the senior center >> senior center as ran by the seniors. >> Yeah. And boosters dates can continue to
do whatever it is however they've done it in the past. And if somebody wants to do the ice arena they can do that other process. >> Yeah. >> So I'll clarify and just say I'm not familiar with how the senior center is managed on a day-to-day basis. And so
whether or not um allowing the seniors to manage that process would be acceptable is is beyond my understanding right here today. Um I can connect with city staff and learn more about how the administration functions at a staff
level. Um but at at some level the city does have oversight in approving applications for its spaces and so we need to ensure that everything just flowed up through the right process. So with the appropriate process at this
time as it looks like this needs more uh investigation would it be appropriate to table this item? >> I believe so. Yes. >> Would it be a tableabling or would it be a continuation of the public hearing to a later date?
>> I think that's an interesting question and you'll get different answers. In this case, we um we may open that that public hearing and continue it for a later date. I have a feeling that this ordinance will change when it comes back. And with that in mind, we should have the public hearing again
>> is because this public hearing is just for the ordinance change that is presented tonight. >> Correct. And so I if you were, mayor and council, if you were to vote to reopen the public hearing and continue it to a later date to coincide with um
>> the next iteration of the the ordinance, then I would be okay with that motion. >> Okay. >> Do I make a motion to reopen the public hearing >> or to table? Well, we have to >> you can do either.
>> Let's reopen the public hearing first and then and that'll be open and then we move to >> okay >> table or continue the public hearing to a later date. >> Okay. >> Okay. At this time, we'll reopen the uh public hearing. >> Okay. I make a motion to continue the
public hearing at a later date. >> Second. We have a motion and a second to continue this. Uh, any more discussion, >> Mr. Mayor? Point of order. I should have been more clear. When you continue a public hearing, it needs to be a date certain. So, if you were to say in two
cycles >> um or or next meeting, >> I make a motion. I correct my motion to make it affected effective two meetings from now. Is that enough time, Mr. Luck?
>> That should be enough time. I'll second that. >> So that'll be >> November 24th. >> Perfect. >> Right before Thanksgiving. >> Okay. >> Okay. We have a motion. Second. Any more
discussion? >> Hearing none. All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. None. This time we'll close the public here. Nope. >> Okay. Oh, that's right. We Okay, moving
on. >> Public. >> So, so now at this point, you would table the item until two cycles. >> I thought we just did. >> Oh, that was for the public. Did I turn my ears off for a second? I thought that was >> No, we just continued the public hearing.
>> And so, now you can table the item for two cycles to be addressed November 24th. I'm going to make a motion to table the um >> item >> item 6 restriction on purchase and consumption of alcohol till November 24th.
>> Second. >> Okay, we have a motion second. All in favor? >> I >> All right. >> Okay. >> Public forum. I don't believe anybody's on the list there. Okay, moving on.
60. Make a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. >> Second. >> Have a motion in a second. Any other discussion? All those in favor? >> I opposed.
All right. Down to eight A1s. >> Good evening, Mayor Council. Uh tonight I will be providing you an overview of the 2025 system statement for the 2050 comprehensive planning cycle. Uh last month the Metropolitan Council published
the 2025 system statement for East Bethl. This officially kicks off the planning cycle for the 2050 comprehensive plan. Staff has reviewed the system statement and I'm going to provide you an overview of the most pertinent information included in that document. The full 2025 system statement was included in your packet. If you'd
like to read that or have already read that, that's wonderful. uh just some context on the system statement and comprehensive planning since the last time we did this was about a decade ago. I want to go into the why and the how behind these things. So the why is that in 1976 the metropolitan land planning
act was passed and it's been amended many times since then. Uh but this act requires that all local governments in the 7ount metro area prepare and adopt a local comprehensive plan every 10 years. It also specifies which elements and topics must must be covered in each
city's comprehensive plan. At its core, a comprehensive plan is a document that outlines a vision for the development of a city. It is a physical plan. It covers things like land use, infrastructure, parks. Uh but when a comprehensive plan is made with good intentions and uh is
well thought out by a community, it also reflects the community's social and economic values. Uh so what I like to think about is what do you want East Bethl to look like for your children and your grandchildren who will be in the city in 2050. Uh how do cities put together this this comprehensive plan? So each city is required to draft the
2050 plan by December 31st of 2028. Uh this is then reviewed by the metropolitan council for conformance with the regional development guide known as imagine 2050 which was adopted earlier this year. A system statement is provided to each community that's prepared by the Met Council. It is
intended to assist cities in developing their comprehensive plans. that includes relevant data about population and jobs growth and it outlines the impacts of the newly updated regional development guide Imagine 2050 on each city. So goes into some details there that are pertinent for each city when they are
making their comprehensive plan. Similar to my staff report, I split this up kind of into four topic areas, those big ones that I just want to get out of the way tonight, give you a brief overview of. The first one is the growth forecast for East Bethl. So, a large part of our system statement is that growth forecast. Met Council's growth forecast
is intended to help cities anticipate the planning actions that they might need to take to accommodate the forecasted number of people living and working in their community in 2050. In this case, cities are not required to achieve the numbers that are outlined in their system statement and they are not
penalized for not reaching these population or jobs forecasts. So obviously things like res recessions, pandemics, those things might happen that restrict jobs growth, housing growth. So we're not held to these numbers. Uh but by 2050, East Bethl is projected to have a population of 15,400
people, 5,900 households, and 2540 jobs. What this looks like is a population increase of 3,600 people or 1,600 households. of these new or of this total population of about 15,000 people
about 3,200 residents will uh be served by city sewer and water. That's what's projected. So, we can anticipate that a large amount of this growth in population will be in those areas of the city that are uh currently or are projected to be served by city sewer. Uh as for jobs, uh our projection has us
almost doubling the number of jobs in East Bethl. So currently we have about 13,000 job or 1300 jobs, my bad. And we're projected to have about uh 2,500 jobs. So about doubling. Uh staff believes that these uh growth projections are generally appropriate,
if not slightly high, but they're generally appropriate for us to base our planning on. And we do not plan to dispute these these projections. Um our second topic is our community designation. Uh also our long-term service area and our municipal urban service area. So these all kind of work together.
Uh the MET council assigns each city one or many community designations. Your community designation establishes your land use expectations. The big one being your overall density. Uh and this must be addressed in your comp plan in many areas. So East Bethl has been assigned
the designations of rural center and diversified rural. These are defined in depth in your packet. Uh but in summary, rural centers are hubs for commercial employment and housing development and they are served by water and wastewater infrastructure. Because of this they are required to be developed at a minimum
density of three units per acre. Rural rural centers are very important. They serve local economies and provide services. So think your grocery store, your veterinary clinic, things like that uh that support surrounding lower density rural areas. Uh these lower density rural areas that surround rural
centers are uh classified as diversified rural. So East Bethl again has rural center and diversified rural designations in it. Um these diversified rural areas contain contain large lot residential developments and prime agricultural land. So things that people
know and love about East Bethl. Um these areas are not projected to have wastewater or water service by 2050. Though some parts of this diversified rural designation are within the long-term service area, so they can be expected to receive these services sometime in the future beyond that 2050
horizon. Uh so not a specified date but potentially in the future. Uh to support orderly growth, the diversified rural designation uh has a maximum average density of four units per 40 acres. So for rural centers, we're dealing with a minimum density of three units per acre.
And for a diversified rural, we're on the other other end of that spectrum dealing with four units per 40 acres as a maximum. So what does this mean? uh designations that we received this time around are consistent with what we received during the 2040 planning cycle. So these two designations are the same.
Uh there are some minor differences. For example, uh in this new system statement, the rural center only encompasses areas that are within our 2050 municipal urban service area or the area that's expected to get city sewer and water by 2050. Uh before this rural center designation was the entire
highway 65 corridor and then extended along our southern boundary over to Lake. Uh so this is a shrinking of our rural center designation and kind of an expansion of that rural diversified rural uh designation. Uh the second thing we look at is our municipal urban service area or our MUSA. Again, those
are areas expected to get sewer and water by 2050. This is unchanged. Uh so our 2040 MUSA is the same as our 2050 MUSA. Um there is a minor error in some of our maps in our system statement. This is something that's typical as the Met Council prepares so many of these.
Uh something that we can talk to our representative about correcting and we have a plan to do that this week. And then our last uh kind of thing in this this consideration is our long-term service area. So these are areas of the city that are eventually expected to be sewered but are not within 2050. So this
is long-term thinking about it beyond that 2050 horizon. Uh this has also changed. So before this was the entire highway 65 corridor going all the way out to Lake on our southern border. Now it is our highway 65 corridor but going over to our western border with
Andover and Oak Grove. So this change happened. We're thinking it's because in 2040 the city disputed extending sewer over to Lake uh saying they want to keep it in uh the Highway 65 corridor. Met council seems like responded by flipping it towards Oak Grove. Uh
overall, uh just kind of a general overview of this. We believe that the community designation, the long-term service area, and 2050 Musa are generally appropriate. There aren't really any big surprises in there. Uh city staff does have a meeting with our Met Council local planning representative this week just to get some more context on these changes and
discuss their implications and correct that small mapping error, but again, nothing concerning here. Uh going into our third topic, which is housing. So, housing is addressed in the system statement, specifically affordable housing. There is a lot of misconceptions about what the Met
Council can require cities to do as far as affordable housing development. Each comp planning cycle, uh, the Met Council determines a regional need for affordable housing for the entire seven county metro area by 2040, that is an estimated roughly 40,000 new affordable
housing units that are needed. East Bethl's share of that is 108 new units. What this means for East Bethl is that our comp plan is required to guide an adequate amount of land using the Met Council's formula that could be developed at a density that supports
affordable housing at our AMI targets. So 30% 31 to 50% and 51 to 60% area median income. Uh what this does not mean for the city is that we actually have to build any of that housing. So, I want to emphasize we are required to
guide land in a way that could be developed for affordable housing, but we are not penalized if nobody approaches us saying they want to build affordable housing on that land. We can accept market rate proposals. We do not have to build that affordable housing even though we guide land for it. We just
have to guide enough land that could facilitate the development of those 108 units. uh what this looks like in our current comprehensive plan because this has always been a requirement is our mixed use land use designation. So our mixed use designation allows extremely high densities of development. Uh but
notably two of the biggest projects within our mixeduse land use designation are Viking Meadows, the Capstone development and the Sand Hill Parkway town homes. These are market rate developments. They're not an astoundingly high density or anything. So we are not again required to build that affordable housing though we do
have to provide land that could make the numbers work out for it. And then the last topic I want to get into is climate. So uh this is a bit of a change from the previous planning cycles. In 2023, there was an amendment to the Metropolitan Land Planning Act that required all comp plans to acknowledge
statewide targets for greenhouse gas emission reductions, include a greenhouse gas emissions inventory, which thankfully the Met Council can help with preparation of, and then identify mitigation and adaption strategies for cities to implement to address climate change. Uh this is
something that uh has to be included in the plan in order for it to be accepted by the Met Council. Uh, cities do have a wide range of options for these strategies. The Met Council is compiling a comprehensive list of these things. Cities are also allowed to come up with their own that fit their needs. Um, this
is something that all planners are kind of approaching for the first time here when it comes to the comp plan because again, this is a new requirement. Um, but I'm confident that we'll be able to find something that works for East Bethl and satisfy this requirement and um, should be over it should be able to be implemented. um or we we can at least
plan for it in a way that should be pretty low stress. So, it's just a new element of the plan that we have to consider. Uh so, looking ahead at next steps, uh in the short term, staff is meeting with the Met Council, uh our local planning rep this week just to discuss the system statement, some of our questions about that, some of the
plans requirements, and then also look at eligibility for a grant that would assist staff in the cost of drafting the comprehensive plan. This is a three-year process. It is not cheap. Um, and this is standard procedure just to meet with your rep and go over some of your questions. So, this is what we're doing
this week. Uh, staff hopes to start the 2050 plan draft by early 2026. Again, this is due in December of 2028. So, this is about a three-year process. Um, and then throughout the planning cycle, uh, you can expect staff to provide regular updates on ongoing planning
efforts and also to seek input from residents, local businesses, the council commission members, um, as many as many stakeholders as possible in this process because again, the goal of this comprehensive plan is to create a plan that is reflective of our community's goals and values. Uh, that starts with
engagement, starts with understanding what people want to see. So, I'm excited to work on this process with you all and keep you all updated on it. Happy to answer any questions. How much of these changes are absolutely mandatory versus ex
can if we do if we can, don't if we can't. >> Yes. So the Met Council provides us with a checklist essentially of things that are absolutely required within our plans. It is it's a big checklist. It's many many pages. Um things like
uh evaluating our density, looking at our housing requirement. Um those are all parts of this. That climate element is a required element of our plan. Um many cities stick with that checklist. Do the bare minimum. I believe that's probably what we did with our 2040 plan. It's still a pretty extensive process.
Um so you can go above and beyond if you would like to, but otherwise there is that checklist. I can uh send that out to y'all um after this meeting if you'd like to see it. And then my other question has to do with the public because I um
really think the public needs to be involved at getting their opinion and stuff. Does the city have any kind of a plan on how they're going to do that? Are they going to have public open houses, public hearings, comp plan views, um inputs?
And is it going to be like part of our city council meeting? Is it going to be special days? what are what are we thinking? >> Yeah, so that process can help be shaped by you all. Um I think so we hope to start that comprehensive planning process in early 2026. So part of what
I'm doing in the leadup to that is kind of thinking about okay, how are we going to do community engagement? Um I think last cycle I wasn't here for that obviously, but there was a regular comp plan update at council meetings. It was also included in our newsletters giving residents an update on uh what the
current efforts are. Um, I also see things like going to town halls, going to different community events, you know, things at the schools, things at the ice arena, senior center, all of that as being incredibly valuable and also, uh, going to events with the chamber, uh, seeking their input. So, I mean, we are a small staff here. I am the only
full-time planning staff, so limited in our efforts. Uh, I want to be honest with you, but it is top of mind for me to be out there getting input and do that. >> Yeah. Uh the last on our last uh 2040 we had multiple meetings that we invited
the public at the senior center for uh their input. Not only was it just like a come in and this is what we're doing. It was a sit down listening sessions put on presentation. What do you think about this? Uh pulled out several different
maps and what do you want to see here? What do you what do you think would fit there? And this wasn't just at the senior center. I believe that uh like Grace said, went to a couple of different uh
high populated areas like Lake Beach Community Center and try to get as much public input as possible. >> Sweet. >> Mr. Mayor Council, I I would say that changing your 2040 to 2050 will not be
huge changes, but minor adjustments. So >> again, there are those new requirements um and some things to consider with density. I mean, if we get substantial feedback that residents want a bigger change, then uh we should listen to
that. But um yeah, there are there are new requirements and things to consider. Any other questions? Thank you, Grace. >> Thank you. Uh, city administrator,
>> Mr. Mayor and Council, uh, on the 13th of October here, we talked about, uh, the solicitation for proposals for facility study needs and, uh, we are bringing it back here, uh, to the next meeting. Uh I trust that you've had an
opportunity to go through the 450 pages and commit it to memory. >> Thank you. >> Um and uh essentially bring it back uh to you here to see if this is a direction you want to go. Again, I just want to emphasize that the study is um is kind
of a road map that offers us an opportunity to consider not only our existing facilities but future facilities. You know, we just talked about the comp plan and this is kind of what we're anticipating for population growth. Um what sort of needs do we have
to to address that population growth? Um will what sort of needs will we um have to plan for to to um to serve that population growth? And so um again, you have before you hear kind of a summary of the different firms that submitted.
And um again, I think the cheapest one on here is ICS Wald. As indicated before, ICS Wald has done a lot of work for the county. I worked closely with them in the past. And um and there's other good ones, too. TKDA is a good
one. Um uh that I know of and uh BKB is out there quite a bit. But uh at any rate, I wanted to bring it back up, see what direction council wants to go on this. And where's this money coming from?
>> We were uh we'll have this money budgeted already. It's not an increase to the levy. >> Well, I know it's probably in the budget, but what part of the budget is it coming out of? Um, I would say that uh we have dollars
banked for um facility needs already. Um, and uh we we levy about $50,000 a year for that. Uh, so it could possibly come from that. And we have some dollars that um that are um kind of are left
over from every year and goes into a um a fund uh that is not necessarily restricted. We can use dollars from that as well. So, are you wanting a motion or just a nod? >> Yes, there would need to be a motion on
this and um um you know depending on whoever you choose to go with and uh the dollar amount and and then uh with approval we can we can start this process. This will be a a lengthier process. it uh they will go through
everything uh they will go through every single uh fixture that we have and determine you know what's the life expectancy of these HVAC units on the roof you know etc furnaces and boilers and and uh give us a complete
understanding of what we should anticipate over the next 10 years and and uh what we may need for expansion >> well doesn't never fail that when you get something like this. Somebody go around and inspect something starts
everything starts to break. I'm going to make a motion to uh for ICS worldw. [Music] Any further discussion? Yes, I think it's I think it's kind of ironic that we
are taking money from a possible future capital improvement needs to get a survey done to tell us what our capital improvement future needs are going to be, but I think it's something we should do. I know I've worked in the past
construction wise with Wool before. I've worked with BKB and I've worked with Mayor many times, too. I mean, they're all good outfits. I mean, But I think Wald would be a very excellent one for us.
>> Yeah, when I look through everything, it didn't look like it was that much difference. And the but the prices are quite a bit different. So, I'm like, I'll take the lowest price one. And I can go through these buildings and tell you, okay, fire department number three,
that looks like it's going to crumble any day now. you know, but I also know it costs money and we're not really ready for a levy for that. >> Any further discussion? >> Okay, we have a motion and a second. All
those in favor? >> I >> opposed. None heard. Motion passes. Staff report. Mr. Mayor Council, I just want to give you a couple of quick updates. Um, at a
prior council meeting, uh, staff was given direction to work with, um, the seller of 1347 Sims on the corner of 65 and Sims. and um the seller then decided that they wanted to
withdraw from working with the city uh and uh citing that there was some concerns in the past uh trust issues perhaps and uh and so that deal kind of fell away and and as I left it with the with the realtor I said well um if
you're not able to sell the property we're we're still willing to talk. So, I did receive a phone call from the realtor saying uh they were hoping to close the deal with some other people. Didn't pan out and uh they want to come
back to the table and and negotiate with the city. Um in negotiating with the city, uh you know, there's going to be need as was indicated last time for an appraisal. Um we had an appraisal of this is a
commercial appraisal now. very difficult to find commercial appraisals today, appraisers. And um we had one for 3,000 and now the or for a,000 and now they're $3,500 for an appraisal. Uh we'll need a title commitment and a survey on the
property and uh and this would be a cash deal essentially uh to purchase this land. This was a recommendation from the EDA to um to look into the feasibility
of purchasing this land and um and so I wanted to bring it back and just in form of an update kind of let you know where that where that property is and kind of get your temperature at this point on whether you're still favorable in pursuing this. If you are we can um we
can have them sign another purchase agreement. we can start going through the appraisal process, title commitment, survey work, get things lined up for eventual close uh closing on the property. Um as as you know, that corner
is going to be, you know, um a a area of change, you might say. Uh there is that's kind of the corner of the nexus where we're uh looking at uh um a water treatment um wells lines going to the schools.
That whole water project that we've talked about before and of course corner properties on Highway 65 with high visibility will probably be a good economic development opportunity in the future. It is currently zoned residential. Is currently zoned
commercial but is grandfathered residential and um and we would eventually you know we have options on the table for what can be done with that property. Probably what the city should consider is making it uh pad ready for um for a
commercial development of some sort to go in there. Owning the property of course allows you the ability to um make that decision on what you want in there. Um if a you know if a use comes along that it's zoned for and you
don't want that use but you don't own the property, it's it's somewhat difficult to deny that. But uh controlling that uh property does give you that opportunity to kind of direct, you know, what you want to go in there for a for a project that would meet your
needs going into the future. So anyways, I just wanted to kind of pause a little on this, mayor, and see if I can get your if there's a consensus to pursue this still and um and if there is, we will we will do our best to bring this
to finality. >> What was the price on that last time, Matt, that we were negotiating on? >> Trying from memory, I don't have the contract in front of me. I think it was around 230,000. That was uh price was lower than the
appraised value. Um and um the I'm sorry, the assessed value, not the appraised value. The the county has assess that property and generally speaking, the retail price of a property is higher than an than an assessed
county value. Uh counties always assess about 95% of value. It's generally the rule of thumb. Uh and part of that is just to avoid the the um legal contests of people coming in saying I you know
you've over overassessed my property. Uh but the c the state does allow between 95 and 101% of of what the state believes the value of property is. I know in noa county is very conservative on that. So, um the
appraisal if ordered um I think will essentially show that um that you know from what we're paying you're probably going to be looking at an appraised value coming forward probably around 260 275 maybe
something like that. >> Is my >> Mr. Mayor, I'll also jump in just to say to the extent that you intend to develop offers to purchase the property, we can go to close session to discuss that. But if we're having higher level
discussions about generalized city interest, um then we should do that in an open session. But I also caution to the extent that your questions or comments will reveal negotiating strategy or pricing strategy, we may want to consider a closed session to hold those discussions.
Essentially, just as part of the update, I I want to know if the council is still favorable to pursuing this. Um, and if they are, we'll we'll keep >> I think so. >> Okay.
>> But that's my opinion. I'm one of five. I think we should look into it further. There's still some questions we need to answer though. Okay. Some of that stuff we'll have to do, but terms of investment for the city. We have to take a look at what we
can do. Is that property right now? Are they renting it or live in. >> We were trying to determine that if they have a renter in there currently. I know that there's um a septic system that may
or may not be operational. They did make a concession on that of you know in lie of replacing mo in order to to close on a property. Generally speaking, the city would require the septic system to be operational. Um but um depending on the
plans that we would have for that property, we may not need a septic system there. Or you can you can certainly replace it and rent it out if you want. But um um >> I'm just thinking >> I'm not sure that they can currently live there with the current septic
system. >> That's important because I mean we could rent it out until we decide what we want to do with it. We don't want to stick any more money into it, but >> Okay. Thanks. I know there was a question last time too about tanks. Those tanks are above ground, not in the
ground. Um, propane tanks. Yeah. >> Oh, yeah. Propane tanks, of course. >> I was checking my notes from that meeting and it's that was one of them that's on it tanks, >> right? >> I think we should pursue it though.
>> Check into it more. pretty much in agreement then pursue it and decide what we're going to come back with if we have to go to close session whatever. Okay. Okay. Um also want to just report we were talking a little bit about the Senate bonding tour that is coming
tomorrow at 5:20 um at that same corner. We're having their tour bus stop there and we'll we'll um provide them uh water samples and uh and also flyers on the project. I was able to reach out to um
uh Congressman Emmer's office today. Actually, I have his cell phone number, so I text him, but uh I said, you know, we we'd certainly appreciate your support on this project. He immediately put me in contact with his staff on this. they want to meet and chat about it in the event that there's any we call
it earmark dollars. They call it high priority project dollars um that become available. This is an area that um that we may may be able to be successful on on getting some dollars for this project at all as well, which would limit the
ask from the state. Uh so that's going to be tomorrow at 5:20. And then on November 13th, there's a house bonding tour. They're calling it a house bonding tour, but it's actually going to be at the Henipin Technical College uh in which they have all the cities coming in and making presentations there. So, I'll
be doing that on November 13th. That is also the um the town hall uh date as well. So, that'll be a busy day. But at any rate, those are my updates. If there's uh anything any questions, I'll stand for questions. Otherwise,
I'll wrap it up. Any questions? Council reports. >> Well, I have a few things. I attended the airport me two airport meetings. Um,
I already talked about the comp plan. Uh, this Friday is the dance, the senior Halloween dance. And so, everybody can come dressed up. where at 4:30 we're having the trunk or treat and I am wondering if that can be put on the
reader board that there's a trunk or treat up here 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. on Friday which is actually Halloween. Um the town hall is coming up as Matt said November 13th. I just wanted to let
you know that I invited um the Elivage people. I invited the airport people, the young eagle eagles people at the airport, and I think even some business owners could would be nice. Maybe even the um chamber.
Um what else? There's something else. And I guess that's it. >> Got planning meeting tomorrow. Sunrise meeting on Thursday.
Otherwise, wish everyone a happy and safe Halloween that's coming up. We had a good parks meeting. Uh major part of the discussion was involving the park fees and uh what we're going to do to them. They have been sent to the planning
commission and look for some ideas from those guys. But um it's time East Bethl charges what they're supposed to charge. We're a buffer between the city and and the country and our our property is is one of a kind. The city is one of a kind and uh hopefully they agree with the
changes that the parks committee has sent up. Um I had the privilege of going on a ride along this week with the NOA County Sheriff's Department touring our city. Um thank you to Derek Peters. I got a new
uh outlook on what they do at night around here. Uh it was four hours of learning. It really was. And I did not have to sit in the back seat. I sat in the front seat.
But uh it they do a lot and uh a lot of driving. That's all I have. All right. With that, I'll close the meeting. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Very. Yeah. >> Okay. Get a motion.
>> Second. >> Second. Yeah. >> All in favor? >> I >> You're just trying to trick us there, weren't you? >> All in spirit. Okay, I want to call the October 27th, 2025 HA meeting to order. I have a
motion to adopt tonight's >> Make motion to adopt agenda. >> Second. >> Have a motion and a second to adopt tonight's agenda. Any discussion? >> Let's proceed to vote. All in favor say I. >> I. Opposed? None heard. Okay. Number
three, approve minutes. July 28th, 2025 Hing. Can I have a motion to >> I'll make a motion to approve the minutes? >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Proceed to vote. All in favor say I. I.
>> Opposed? None heard. Number four. >> Um, Mr. President of the HA and members, uh, I have before you a financial update per Minnesota statute 469.0033 rather, the H must prepare and file a
budget in accordance with the procedure of the city. The city and the H are both approved uh have approved a preliminary levy amount of $77,000 for 2026. Um and this is to ensure that we continue our legal status as a
standalone entity and to provide funds for eligible eligible projects. Uh the unodudited HRA cash amount balance as of September 30th, 2025 is $388,52144. Uh these dollars uh we were talking
earlier about dollars that don't have restrictions. These dollars do have restrictions on them. Uh the H levy is a funding source and now the Minnesota local affordable housing aid is also a funding source. The levy has $314,93459
and so far we've gotten $73,586.85 from the Minnesota Local Housing Aid. That is the quarter cent sales tax uh that is paid in and then distributed out to communities. We have another $120,000. 73,000 was a partial year. We have an
estimated 123,000 coming um for 2025, I believe it is 2026. Um at any rate, um we have not received those dollars yet, so we cannot include that in the unodudited cash uh balance. But um these
dollars of course are used um to assist governments develop and preserve affordable housing within their jurisdictions. Um and uh as you know we can use it for housing needs such as that homelessness, finding housing uh and and we
you know have have limited use at this point for those type of dollars. There is um you know we were talking earlier about um AMI and the percentages of of um your uh income levels in the city and
the Met Council kind of wanting us to uh you know set land aside or or program it such that u housing projects can go in to meet those AMI figures. Uh these type of dollars can be used for that. So, when you're looking at
say the Taylor Street project, for example, we've had a we've had a builder approach us and say, "I want to put in uh single level um uh homes for uh retirees." Uh they may they may meet that
qualifications for the amount of um income uh for those properties. And so, um, you know, senior housing is always a challenge. Um, you know, finding enough, having enough of it, building enough of it. And you can use these type of dollars to help contractors try and
close those funding gaps, uh, to provide that option for seniors in our community, for example. So, um these dollars continue to acrue and um and we can um you know we can start uh looking
at uh what sort of projects we may want to invest in in the HR. But at any rate um that is the financial update as of September 30th and um stand for any questions on that.
Can that money be used for the purchase of that place on SIMS or does it have too many restrictions? So, the difference between HR and EDA is sometimes blurred. Um, but there may be a possibility we can use some of these
dollars. We'll have to check in and see what exact restrictions there are on HA dollars, but um but that would be a redevelopment project. So, I can look into that for
you and see if that would qualify. >> Okay. >> I don't think we can use the 73,000 portion of it, Minnesota local affordable housing, but the EDA levy, we may be able to use a portion of that. Any more questions for Matt on four
five? Matt. Okay. We have before you here a resolution here this evening. 2025-04 setting housing and redevelopment authority meeting dates for 2026. You have that before you here. January, April, July, and October regular
meetings. January is the annual meeting. uh where we um identify, you know, the um the positions, the organization of it and um so we would need a appro approval of
this resolution and offering of this resolution this evening to establish those dates for the upcoming year. >> I'll make a motion to approve resolution 2025-04. >> Second. >> Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any
discussion on these dates? Let's proceed to vote. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Hearing none. Passed. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> Got a motion to adjurnn. First and a second. Any discussion? All in favor say
I. I. I. Done.