##VIDEO ID:f-RzXFzbyU0## 7 o' repeat I Arden Anderson I Arden Anderson do solemnly swear to support solemnly swear to support the Constitution of the United States Constitution of the United States Constitution of the state of Minnesota constitution of the state of Minnesota and to discharge faithfully and to discharge Faithfully the duties of the office of Mayor the duties of the office of Mayor of the city of east bethl of the city of e Beth the best of my judgment and ability so help me God the best of my judgment and ability so help me God [Applause] congratulations do I raise my hand yep raise your hand right hand and repeat after me I Suzanne I Su anarch do solemnly swear to support do solemnly swear to support the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the United States Constitution of the state of Minnesota the constitution of the state of Minnesota and to discharge faithfully and to discharge Faithfully the duties of the office of city council member the duties of the office of city council member of the city of east bethl of the city of East bethl to the best of my judgment and abilities so help me God to the best of my judgment and abilities so help me gu congratulations thank you all right I Brian mundle I Brian mundle do solemnly swear to support do solemnly s swear to support the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the United States Constitution of the state of Minnesota and the constitution of the state of Minnesota and to discharge faithfully and to discharge Faithfully the duties of the office of city council member the duties of the office of the city council member the city of East Beth of the city of East Beth to the best of my judgment and ability so help me God to the best of my judgment and ability so help me God [Applause] congratulations bring the uh January 13 2025 meeting to order all rise for the pledge Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all make a motion to adopt tonight's agenda second all those in favor or any discussion on that hearing none all those in favor I opposed none being heard motion passes um we don't have any presentations uh public form uh Miss gimple you're up REM mind you you only have three minutes Tammy gimple 22359 baton Street Northeast I um I had a couple things I saw on the um on the agenda that you get you had put in new lay on for different things and I had seen on the fire department that Brian mundle was placed as leaon and I would suggest that we keep uh Jim Smith there because there were it was it's obvious there's some issues with fire department and Jim Smith was part of already he's how would you put it he already knows what's going on with a lot of things that are going on and I just think that should continue even with this Council it was it's the obligation of council to finish things that were going on and are going on and I think even with new people that should be continued um this is the job description for the fire chief and the position title is fire chief Emergency Management director and Council spent $10,000 hiring Jerry strike to do up a report and in that report it stated that the Emergency Management needed to be done pretty much immediately there was nothing in place or what was in place wasn't sufficient and since that report nothing has been done nothing has been done to anything in the report report and now um the review came up for the chief and apparently there's well it looks like we might have spent more money now to because it was stated that what Jerry strike was going to be hired to um do a performance plan so I'm also curious how much money that's going to cost us and I think that's pretty much it I I think that the I think that Jim should stay in as lison and I think that stuff needs to be finished and it's obvious there's some stuff going on with the fire department I'd like to see that taken care of this year even with this new Council thank you your comments and uh re thoughts are taken uh Dean good evening mayor Anderson council members and staff and congratulations to the newly elected officials um I'm Dean eing live at on Monroe Street um I spoke at two public forums last year concerning issues in connection with the city's tax increment financing of buildings that constitute the East Betha Village Apartments I commented then that on July 20th 2020 the East bethl city council approved the resolution authorizing phase two of the project to build a second 70 unit apartment building now for clarification Mr look was not the city commission City administrator during any of this the 2020 city council and the city administrator at that time were informed one week earlier on July 13 2020 by 's Public Finance advisers that 20% of the units um in the building would be made affordable to lowincome families in our city that has not happened all units in both buildings are currently offered at market rate rental fees and have been since they uh opened this has been verified to me by the development's property manager now that is a summary of what I rep reported to the council last year tonight I have additional information to share with you that I obtained through a public records request one of the documents I obtained is the developers agreement that accompanied the resolution adopted by the council the pertinent portion of that agreement states that at least 20% of the residential units and the project must be occupied or available for occupancy by person whose incomes do not exceed 50% of the county mediate income that is quite different than stating that at least 20% of the units would be affordable to persons at below 50% of their immedate income as was stated in the July 13 2020 Memo from Ellers a second public document I obtained is the annual compliance report for 2023 it was submitted by inh properties the management agent for the owner and states that it is certified under penalty of perjury it shows that two of the designated lowincome units in building one were actually occupied by two of the management agents employees one was the property manager the other was the assistant manager the manager's gross income is listed on that compliance report is $33,500 in months if extrapolated out over 12 months it would be $40,200 the annual gross income of the assistant manager was listed as $48,500 now there may be a logical explanation as to why the gross income of the assistant manager was more than her boss but I can't come up with one according to the website zip recruiter the average salary for property managers in our area is 58,59 $183 more than the estimated gross income of the manager of the East Bethel facility the management agent is asking you to believe that the two top people managing its $24 million apartment complex qualify for low income housing a statement at the bottom of the compliance report says that the gross income figure has been fully and accurately documented by the resident's income certification and is available for review it also states that the method of determining income was made in compliance with IRS Revenue code Coastline Equity a property management company specializing in multifam properties Adis es on its website that housing benefits provided to an onsite manager are considered non-cash compensation and must be reported as taxable income um since I started to look into this I've come up with more questions than answers question number one and I'm getting near the end uh how and why did the management agent place two of its own employees into apartments that are designated for lowincome families and how much rent did they pay these questions are not for anyone in particular question two are there any other employees of the agent listed on compliance report as occupying lowincome units if so how much rent do they pay number three has any city or county official ask the agent to produce the supporting documents used to create the compliance report and have they asked the IRS to review those documents if so have they been reviewed and what are the results number four why did the city administrator who signed off on the resolution and the developers agreement not advise the city council that the developers agreement contain no language requiring that the units be made affordable as spelled out in July 13th Meo memo received from Ellers this one week before the city council voted number five why was the city council not told by ERS that the developers agreement which it prepared contained no language requiring the units be made affordable number six and to make things even more confusing on February 14th 2024 's advised east bethl financial director Mike jorski via email quote the developer is not required to offer units at an affordable rate only required to have 20% of the units occupied by persons at are below 50% of the Ami to me the obvious question is what happened between the July 13 2020 Ellers memo and the February 14th 2024 Ellers email to convince Ellers to contradict its own opinion and lastly two questions for the owner of East bethl Village departments number one will you comply with the original intent of the city of East bethl and make 20% of your apartment units in both buildings affordable not just available to low-income families beginning February 1st 2025 number two will you refund to the affected tenants all of the excess rent collected plus interest since the facilities open the amount of excess rent we are talking about here is substantial according to my estimate utilizing data from that East bethl Village to compliance report for 2022 and data from rentcafe.com the total amount of excess rent collected by the owner in 2022 for building two was $86,400 buy a lot of groceries for our low-income family and that figure is for one building for one year motans believe in plain Straight Talk they don't like to be misled they also believe in helping those who are less fortunate than they two previous City councils voted to do just that when they approved resolutions Paving the way for construction what they were led to believe would be affordable affordable housing for at least 28 lwi income families in our city as of tonight the number of affordable units for low-income families at East bethl Village Apartment stands at zero I Ask of this Council that you do whatever you can to ensure that the efforts of your predecessors were not in vain if you have any questions or would like to see review the documents I have I'm available to meet with you at at your convenience thank for this opportunity thank you Dean for your concerns and comments okay item six uh consent agenda make a motion to approve T cons consent agenda second okay we have first and a second uh I would like to pull item H anybody else I'd like to pull item FG and I please I want to pull C and f and g any further discussion well I want to pull H but it's already been pulled mayor if I could be heard I believe uh B meeting minutes for December 23rd 20124 If I could ask that be pulled as well what do we got left I don't know I tried to keep track and I failed Mr Mayor we have D and uh e and the um and that's the two I think that haven't been Jay I will note Mr Mayor is um on page 57 I'll go to it here oh I'm sorry it be page three there was a it says city council U meeting minutes but it's not meeting minutes so that's the only change on Jay um this is uh actually setting meeting times for uh the local board of appeals and Equalization so copy and paste uh typo there unfortunately so that part that portion city council meeting minutes needs to be um need to strike that from that item J okay with that said uh all in favor with the Amendments uh not being approved say I I I opposed okay those not amended or pass and go down the order here so everything but you said uh DN DN so a who wanted that did we miss a or was that approved I don't think there was a question on it my apologies okay so a should be fine we can approve that in the next vote okay B that was approv or not no okay attorney Larson mayor thank you um um for that accommodation so and looking over the meeting minutes for December 23rd of 2024 on page seven of eight of the meeting minutes which in the packet is Page 15 uh I would ask that line 31 be deleted line 31 is part of a statement that was made by myself as the City attorney right after we this this Council um reconvened after the closed session and that's as line 31 says that with that being said comma Mr Mayor comma that concludes the summary report required one I'm fairly confident I did not say that two that is not the sumary report the summer report follows by the then um mayor Lewis so with that I requesting that line 31 be struck in its entire as not an accurate statement of the minutes of uh December 23rd of 2024 make a motion to approve the meeting minutes with the change recommended by the City attorney second we have a second all in favor I I opposed abstain motion carries all right back up to oural here C I pulled c uh I'd suggest to the council that we have a choice of the newspapers one's the um County Anoka County Herald and the other one's isan shago star I would suggest that we pick the isan shago star they're charging 335 per column where NOA County Herald is charging $11 per column so to save the residents money when we do need a paper to advertise in so that's my suggestion do I second that was that a motion I'll make a yeah make that as a motion I second that discussion how many of our residents get the s Chicago County Star we don't have a count on that it's a free newspaper Mr Mayor the um no County Union Herald is a not a free newspaper so depending on who gets it I'm not sure what what we go off of is the distribution numbers uh that they have and there's a minimum threshold that they have to have I believe it's 5,000 if I'm not mistaken last time I recall voting on this a year or so ago um but uh they meet that requirement um which is what's required by law okay or both meet that requirement I should say where do they distribute do is the are these available in the local gas stations no I've never read one neither one are closest NOA Union is uh Kings County Market I know the the Herold is at uh I'm pretty sure it's a Herald that's available at Cooper it used to be I've never seen it there lately till once the new owner took over there disappeared I think they're both online aren't they yeah well I like to make sure that our residents would have availability to it since one is in our County and one isn't any other discussion we have a motion all those in favor say I I I opposed I motion uh passes okay item f can I combine FNG G I just want to thank um our mayor Kevin Lewis and council member Bob D Ro uh they worked really hard they did their real true diligence in um studying stuff and preparing and um looking out for the residents and that is seen by the so many variances that they passed in the past so I just want to give them my personal thanks I know they're watching so I I appreciate everything you did for our residents in the last four years thank you I agree with what Suzanne said it was a pleasure to be working with Kevin and Bob they both have a lot of knowledge of the city and they care about the residents the businesses and the city itself and they applied their yourself and they did their homework on a lot of stuff there was no guessing and uh it was just a wealth of knowledge and I appreciate both of them thank you you feel the same way thank you with that I'll make a motion to approve fngg second any discussion all in favor I I I opposed motion carries item H I'm pulling this one uh shouldn't this come as a proposal to us before we sign a contract so we know what we are looking at and Council approved it to make that put you out to solicit to this I'm sorry Mr Mary the question question is since this been put to us for direction to go out and solicit before we get the contract thrown right at us well uh Mr Mayor what I will say to that is that um you know we were somewhat surprised with um Aaron deciding to uh to leave the city there's some unsettled uh business that um is time sensitive um as as Council and mayor know uh when when a when a u a permit comes in we have 60 days essentially to respond to that um and uh and so there are some backlogged just just today I spoke with somebody else who was hoping to be on tonight's agenda and I wasn't even aware of of the of the final plot that they were hoping to have on there so um essentially what this is is a um uh contract Service uh based on hourly uh there was some concern of you know cancellation in that as written in there as a 7 day uh cancellation if if need be but again it's it's very much like um you know if I could say uh very much like our City attorney where um based on what comes up we contract with them on an hourly basis to um to provide legal service this would be uh planning service and um we have tried since August now to find a planner uh we had three applicants none of which were qualified and I'll I'll just uh say that um to be a a planner these days is a four-year degree with a a certificate uh and it takes a lot of you know takes a lot of knowledge on how to prepare these packets and and make them happen uh bringing before planning ultimately bringing before uh city council for approval at that point and so uh what this does is it buys us a little bit of time uh and gives us an opportunity some cities contract out their entire planning uh some hire uh we um we had a practice of uh hiring somebody that could do it although that person didn't have a four-year degree uh or a certificate in that and so um this is um somewhat of a um opportunity I think to catch up on some backlog the prior Council and perhaps this Council uh is still interested in having our um our code looked at making sure it's meeting all of our needs and and um instill uh the best management practice um and and that would be something that would they'd be working on as well um but as far as the um um as far as the cost it's going to be very similar cost to what we're paying for eron's position um very similar to what a planner uh would be hired for for we have both of them here this evening uh two I'm sorry two individuals uh here this evening that can answer any questions on this um and uh and again it's I I think I think we're in a a position where we need to do something um and this is a this is a contract scenario that gives us some flexibility right now okay with that said now are we going to be advertising for another community development director that'll be a decision that the council can make um we'll bring it back to you in the form of a work session or gain some consensus on that uh we can certainly test the waters what I will say is that we've advertised in multiple locations we've even approached uh um colleges that that have these degrees and we just haven't found anybody I think one of the issue is is um that the dollar figure we were hiring at it may not be competitive with the marketplace the other is uh proximity uh if you have planners that are more centrally located in Minneapolis or somewhere in that vicinity it's quite a drive to get out to East bethl and may not be on their top list of uh of communities to work for so that can be a challenge uh to try and recruit somebody at that point but um we're certainly willing to uh you know test Waters and see who's out there um there this is not for Community Development so that's still an unanswered question for for for the city and uh and that's a decision that you guys will get to make in terms of what are our current Community Development needs you know how do we how do we uh account for that okay so this contracts for 20 hours a week right well it was initially estimated that we would um coming up to speed on everything it would take 20 hours a week there's some belief that um that based on kind of reviewing uh prior planning commissions and uh prior zoning uh zoning requests and variances and that that it would be about a 20 hour a week position um we are hiring for 40 hours a week but if they can do it in 20 hours I think we'd be um we you know that would be a a positive thing uh but again that's going to depend on what they find if the code is completely discombobulated and needs to be Rewritten and kind of categorized and organized that may take some time to do so but um so they'll be answering all the zoning and planning questions yes so so they'll be um they'll be in the office one day a week they'll be able to meet with people that need to meet otherwise uh they'll be working remotely all the emails will be going to them with uh zoning questions and they'll be handling that and um you of the permits that are coming forward they'll be preparing the packets for planning they'll be presenting uh to planning and then as that comes to city council they'll be presenting there as well okay final question uh how do how are we going to handle cold enforcement with this they do not provide code enforcement we have um we have two individuals in the office right now that that are kind of handling code enforcement but um thankfully right now is not a busy time for code enforcement okay um as we get into the springtime and snow uncovers things you know we uh we generally see an uptick in in those calls that come in or we are a complaint-based community so uh that might be another question for how do we you know do we do we contract that out as well that might be an option too rather than hiring somebody I have some questions on this um Aaron Berg resigned on December 20th so why wouldn't right then you put out a request for a proposal for this kind of contract and not just pick one or was there a request for a proposal and these are the people who came in um uh Mr chair and council member Co if we had put out a request for proposal we still wouldn't have that information back there were three uh individuals that I contacted landform was one of them uh there was another uh uh lady and another gentleman and uh the lady was not able to take on 20 hours of work in other words she didn't have that capacity the other gentleman didn't return a phone call uh and after speaking with the lady it was it was clear that um that with turnover in cities and kind of lack of available Talent that's out there these contract people are very busy very busy filling in the The Gap if you will and uh and so there's uh you know we could certainly have done that it just would have taken a little bit longer to do that and given the fact that we have um as of this evening uh we need to on Wednesday we need to uh have uh things in motion for a current to meet the current 60-day on a on a project already but those can be those 60 days can be extended for another 60 days isn't that correct that's a voluntary extension it's not a it's not a an extension if they don't grant that um but uh this particular individual needed um they're moving some Rams to to land that they're renting uh for grazing purposes and they want to separate them I don't understand the the the animal husbandry part of it but they need to separate them U before spring time uh and um and it's time is of the essence on that particular one and there's nobody that's currently in in the Staffing that can handle that particular issue that seems like one issue and why is that that you can't handle it no I I was not a planner um I did not do planning work uh and uh and as I indicated it is um you know the requirement to be a planner is pretty extensive so it makes Mak sure that you follow all the legal requirements of a planner uh making sure that it's filed properly with a County uh once approved it's it's invol it's quite involved so then my next question is are we hiring all three of the people that were in this packet or are we hiring just one just the one just land form is a recommendation so it's a company but there's three people and I was looking at the um total cost of it and for 20 hours a week if you add it up it comes to like $200,000 a year which is more than um what Mr Berg was making in the first place so I don't really see it as a savings because we're paying them more and we're getting less time I don't know if they want to speak to that you is that all right Mr Mayor if she approaches good evening Mr Mayor councel excuse me my name is Kendra lindall uh I'm with land for Professional Services and we are a consulting firm based out of Minneapolis this is what we do uh we're working for a number of cities that are in the same position you are uh as coun uh City administrator look indicated it's very hard to find Qualified staff today whether you're a private firm like myself or a city and so we uh serve cities coming in um either as an interim solution or to support their planning staff um in our packet we identified a number of the cities that we work in so um we are able to be I think particularly efficient with our time this is what we do um but it would be different members of my team uh as I've uh met with um City administrator look and council member Smith um to talk about this I would be the person in a city hall um I have 30 years of experience as a city planner so I can hit the ground running but it's my intention to use other colleagues uh with me tonight is Kevin Shay he leads the planning studio with me and we have another planner Zeke Peters uh who we would use for some of the day-to-day planning issu at a lower rate so on average at 20 hours a week it is uh 12 to 14,000 a month depending on who's working on the projects uh but we feel confident that with 20 hours a week based on what I've seen in the packets we can answer questions for residents uh and keep the planning applications moving within the 60-day time clock uh that's required under state law so happy to answer any more specific questions but we certainly understand that cities like our firm have budgets we're sensitive to that uh to being as efficient as possible while getting the job done any questions for um what is the intent here for length of time well Mr Mayor and Council that'd be um a question as to when we'd be able to hire someone full-time if we can find somebody well between the two two things here yeah length of time we're going to put this contract out for uh for the contract with with our due diligence of looking to get somebody in place well um again it's an hourly based contract um there's a cancellation of s days uh if we want to cancel so let's let's assume that we were successful in finding a candidate to fill the position we would notify them seven days later the contract would be done again it's relative to how many hours they're going to be spending and that's relative to how many variances and you know plats and things like that are coming forward okay so if they don't have a full 20 hours a week cuz I'm like well it's winter we don't really have that much going on in the winter time right or not as much as spring summer fall we wouldn't be paying them we would P are we paying them for 20 hours no matter what or are we paying them for what we actually get is that that's my question it is not a fixed hourly amount but they're estimating that it would be 20 hours a week eight hours of that would be in office so opportunity to meet with clients the other 12 hours would be estimated as how many emails did they receive how many you know responses did they have to make uh how many pack packets did they prepare those sorts of things okay and then my one other question is where do we post all these City administrator uh Community director jobs at is it just in East bethl are we using indeed are we using LinkedIn are we using all these other um great sites to advertise these positions Mr Mayor and Council we use a City website we use the website for the league of Minnesota cities which is a common area where where people will go uh to find uh to find these type of jobs we use the East Cham East bethl chamber job site we use social media and we've contacted colleges that um would be producing students and have a vested interest in placing students um you know for their success rates and and I I brought those other two up because somebody who said they would have applied if they had seen this job goes to LinkedIn and indeed and there's another online one I can't think of what it is but um so I think we need to expand our advertising um postings so that's all I have I have a question about this going through the contract I'd like to hear from our City attorney there was some language in there uh wasn't real sure about if we were going to get caught with a contract that was going to allow us to hire someone but would we still be paying more for someone so would we be paying double for a position which L led me to believe that maybe a 30-day termination of contract would be required to be written in that um what do you think so mayor council members uh there are two aspects to this uh contract that I do think need to have a an attorney review so I would suggest that if uh if you approve this contract that it' be subject to uh attorney City attorney approved as to form um for example the the termination does uh have seven days but it's based upon whether a party fails to perform I don't want to have that as an open question so at minimum um I would conclude that regardless of failure or non-failure to perform that either party has the right to terminate for any cause within 30 days uh at at minimum the second is is that if there is any dispute the venue would be in Ramsey County while you're Contracting with a city that's located in NOA County as your City attorney all your contracts I've embedded that the uh venue for any dispute is going to be in Oka County because that's where they're doing business um with respect to the other aspects though it is an hourly as your city administrator and as the land form individual had had indicated and I also want to underscore that by Statute under Minnesota statutes 15.99 any particular land use application you have to uh if it's incomplete you have to deny within 10 days there is a level of expertise that is involved in there and then of course you've heard about the 60 and the 120 day so I do see this as really kind of for the city's needs at least a placeholder until you can find if there is a different uh entity or an individual inhouse that you need for these land used uh services but at least uh it makes sense to retain at least some individual or firm to uh take care of the Zony needs of the city as of uh the present and into the future with that again to restate if you are going to approve this I would ask that you have that subject to review and approval as to form by your City attorney yeah and now I'm a little confused because Mr luk was saying seven days and now you're coming up with 30 days so what is it is it seven days we can end it for any reason or is it 30 days we need to give you know uh that's why you have a City attorney is is uh is is is we can Nuance all of this I will make sure that you have uh the protections that it can be terminated in the best interest of the of the of the city okay I do have another question too uh someone had mentioned three bids on this do we have to have three bids no that come in just we can contact like we did so I mean it was it was very good of your city administrator solicit an at least three that's a very good customary practice but for Professional Services it is not required so Kendra I got a question so what you've heard so far so the 30-day termination would you guys be okay with that uh Mr mayor council member absolutely I've used this contract in dozens of cities I'm very comfortable with it but I also know cities at City attorneys and they like to tweak it once in a while so we've done that I have no problem working with your City attorney to make those adjustments I'm here to serve you so if it's not working you can go ahead and make it change and and we've never had an issue doing that and stepping aside and transitioning so I'm very comfortable working with your City attorney to tweak the terms of the contract okay thank you so with that said do we want to table this till we got the right contract Mr Mayor I would given the time frames that we're up against here I would say we need them up and running as soon as possible uh if the approval was made contingent on a uh cityor attorney review and and agreement uh then uh I think that would be that would suffice okay so if the time was of the essence can you get this done quick Eric for her no problem okay the the this one's easy okay any further discussion okay motion to approve this with the uh extension on the termination of the contract with the city attorney and uh l Mar getting together all in favor I I I I all oppos motion passes thank you item I oh I pulled item I because I want to abstain because I wasn't present at that meeting make motion to approve item I second all in favor I I Iain item J I don't think it was pulled okay through that it was just corrected if I can make a comment on that for Mr look I do know that um at least two council members need to be trained for that meeting meeting yeah can you review that and let Council know who is trained and who needs to be trained yeah Mr Mayor and council members I'm going to bring that up under the uh staff reports and give some more details on that right Mr Mayor and Council I don't think the record was clear we we have uh DNE was clearly passed but it uh appeared that maybe a and j might have been pulled I would recommend that there be a motion to approve a and j as well just so that is very clear that those particular agenda items on the consent agenda have been approved by this Council I'll make a motion to approve items A and J on the consent agenda second have a second all in favor I I oppos motion passes let's see here looks like we're down to 8G Mr Mayor if I can um on this particular item there's assignments of city council persons to commissions committees authorities wos and other public advisory boards as Liaisons or members recommended by yourself and confirmed by the city council um I have um included in here hear your recommendations and I have included at your desk um a an alternate uh option as well uh that um council member Smith wanted presented and um and so essentially this might be a little bit of discussion in terms of um you know if everyone's willing to serve in those capacities or uh as it you know last year was the same way uh there was a little bit of discussion and and making of sausage as we say but but uh at any rate um it is before you for appointments I'm going to make a motion to accept the alternate um commission's report because I think we need um consistency in uh these positions uh for instance I want to stay on the airport Blaine uh Commission because I'm a board I'm the chair of that the think the co the 65 Coalition needs to keep their same people but I would like to consider adding um a commission of with the seniors group be and putting me on there because I'm on I go to every single one of those meetings and I think they need a leaz on somebody that can report what they're up to and so that the community can know more about what's going on there so that's my motion to accept the alternate and add the seniors have a second i' second that with one exception to that that uh Brian and I are not on the srw I am on the upper rum we weren't on it last year I think there was a misprint in here that Brian keeps that and I keep the upper room it that came up as when we uh reviewed the jpa it was figured out that uh the city could have a second okay and that's where you took on that secondary role that's why it's is that an alternative then Al case you can't make it then I'm fine with that because I'm familiar with the Watershed stuff yeah that that's how it came up and that's where it came from there okay we have a motion and a second discussion so Mr Mayor I have it up on the screen here I've got your recommendations here for 2025 um Council mayor Smith's recommendations for 2025 and compared to 2024 well you know I put uh what I want out there and that's what I was hoping to get um as far as far as the fire I believe uh or as far as Alles typically in the past we've rotated council members through all the commissions so during their four-year periods they get through uh a look at all the different commissions um I think it's uh kind of toxic at the fire station with Mi with Mr Smith there and uh has even said in the strike uh report that uh that was one of the main deals that uh he had not been showing up and supporting him so I don't believe that is a good fit for fire so I can't support this just call the question let's vote okay motion's been made second all in favor I I opposed i n motion passes yeah item nine staff reports Mr mayor council members um just wanted to touch base on that board of appeals uh training I um I think council member Miller did you take the training at one point I I can't recall if you had said you did okay perhaps that was somebody else but anyways um the only one that uh was uh trained before was mayor Lewis uh so we will need to have um at least at least one but I think um council member Miller and Council M Smith had indicated interest at one point in training I don't know if that's still the case but it's open to anyone and it's no charge uh but uh once you finish it you go on a roster and um and uh that that meets the qualifications now um prior Council decided that they wanted to conduct the board of appeals here in in East bethl versus having the county conduct it and by doing so we then triggers the need to have training of the individuals here at least one by law so um if somebody wants to indicate their interest uh I'll go okay yeah I think it it's just an online thing so it's an online deal yes so just send out an email to everybody and with the link and okay we can get her done yeah I have no problem doing it either okay um and uh that is all I have for an update Mr Mayor can I ask you a question about the LBA um that date of April 28th is before the counties right because if they come here they're still able to go to the county and appeal the decisions here that correct thank you and we generally have the county because we're Contracting with uh uh the county now for Assessment Services Alex guggenberger who is um sharp guy sharp individual he'll be here that evening and and generally we'll walk through things with people if they have any concerns very helpful to help settle those concerns absolutely thank you y any others other staff reports with none being heard motion to adjourn Council reports oh Council okay Council reports I guess uh I do have something from the sunrise River Water Management organization uh some really good news the ACD did secure a grant for $221,000 375 so that's uh that's a hefty Grant and that will be used to restore Wetland along what's called ditch 20 and will benefit typo and Martin Lake water qualities ditch 20 is a drainage ditch that leads into ditch 13 that then leads into typo Lake typo Lake then leads into Mar Lake Mar Lake leads into the sunrise Sunrise goes to St Croy River so all of that will be improved by this project and essentially it takes a section of the drainage ditch and the drainage ditch goes straight they dig all a section over here so that part of the water comes out and gives an opportunity for settlements to settle uh so that's very good news from that aspect um we discussed the budget for 2026 um and we will be presented with the final versions at our next meeting essentially uh we should be able to come in at or below uh this last year's budget or this year's budget so that's good news uh but with the 10-year plan that we have coming up and working on through 2027 to 2029 uh those budgets may increase to $60,000 right now we're at 50 50 to 55,000 um so we're looking at how we can make allows for that but the 10year plan is a required plan for both the sunrise River and the upper rum needs to be done every 10 years there's no getting around it so uh just they want to communicate that there are probably going to be anticipated increases in the 2027 to 29 budget and that's all I have um can I interject can would you be able to send all the council a copy of what they're planning to do with that Grant um in the plans for it because I think that is really good news and I really would like to maybe even broadcast it out if I could yeah I can get you that thanks anybody else if not I'll make a motion to adjourn second second that closes the meeting thank you we have to vote no all in favor all in favor I I okay there we go PA