Roll call. Gustafsson. Here. Leahy. Here. Meyer. Here. Melke. Here. Wossenberg. Here. Linehan. Here. Hendrickson. Here. Alright. Do we have any changes to tonight's agenda? None here. None. Do I hear a motion to approve the agenda? So moved. So moved by Myer. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed same sign. Motion carries five-zero. Our agenda is approved. We don't have any presentation tonight. Our first order of business is approval of minutes of our 09/03/2025 City Council workshop
meeting. Changes to today. Do I hear a motion to approve the minutes from the 09/03/2025 City Council meeting? So moved. So moved by Melki. Further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Same sign. Motion carries five-zero. Tonight we do have a public hearing on the 2025 pavement management project assessment hearing. For everybody here who's there, the, process will be as follows.
Staff will provide a brief overview of the topic. We'll then open the hearing to the public. Each person may speak for up to three minutes on the hearing topic. I may reserve the right to limit off topic discussion. Well, after all who wish to speak have done so, then we'll do that, and then we'll call for a motion to close the hearing. And then I'll open it for city council members to have discussion on the topic, and, then we'll, do that. As a procedural notice, any objections to the proposed special assessment under chapter four twenty nine of state statute
must be delivered in writing to the city clerk, city administrator, Jack Linehan, prior to the close of the public hearing. So if you brought your, brought a, written objection, you'll need to bring that to attention there. And, at this point, I'm gonna call on our city engineer, Eric Hendrickson, to provide our, brief, or staff overview on the topic before us. Thank you, mayor, council. Pleasure to see everyone again. I feel like it's been quite a while. The last time I was here was, we got the plans approved, and then we got the construction contract, signed off on. So,
tonight we'll be talking about the, final assessment hearing and the final assessment numbers. Just again for the audience, the presentation will be on the screen, to your left. As a reminder, and I think as of as everyone knows, the two project areas for the 2025, street project were Falcon Woods and North Home. North Home were the East West Streets, Iowa, Idaho, and California Avenue. Falcon Woods, is Garden Howell, Pryor, Moore, And Autumn Streets. This was, gone over previously, but the scope for the project is seen on the screen. There were no major changes in scope,
from what we had originally designed. The two areas both went through a full depth reclamation, which is rejuvenating the, the, the road section, to basically a new life cycle. We did repave about three and a half, inches of new asphalt. There was, spot curb and gutter replacement. In the Falcon Woods neighborhood we did do some trail work. And just for clarity, that is not assessed. All the assessments, which I'll get into in a little bit, is just for, applicable street costs only. No utilities or other pertinent work. Again, there were storm and other utility, improvements in Falcon Woods, as well as some stormwater BMP improvements.
North Home, essentially the same scope. There was no stormwater necessary, and then the Curtis Field parking lot was, refinished. And again, that particular portion of the cost, was not assessed. Looking at our timeline, you can see we're pretty much at the end here. We've gone through the, the full cycle of a project. Tonight is the final assessment hearing. I do want to let everyone know that, after tonight, the contractor is not leaving. There are still, minor punch list items such as restoration and cleanup, that need to occur, as well as, in 2027, when we do,
get the warranty bond, it's a two year warranty bond where we'll go out and do a reinspection of all the improvements to ensure that they're holding up. Means and methods were good and the contractor's work was sufficient. So, there's just a couple more little steps to do. But again, tonight is the final assessment hearing. In overview, the projected final project costs and where they're coming from funding wise. The total project cost was roughly 1,400,000.0. We have for the street work, that's paid through either assessments, the City Street Fund or, the Minnesota State Aid Fund.
And then the applicable utilities, come from the utility funds. One thing I'd note, it's a minor cost, but water, you know, we understand that we don't own or maintain the water system in Falcon Heights. However, we did need to adjust some of the gate valves, which again is tied to road work. But that will be coming from the waterfront. The assessment policy in the City Of Falcon Heights is essentially all, all, in a street project is any of the, work associated with streets. 40% of that cost is, is bared by the property owners while the remaining is picked up by the city.
There's two, formulas essentially in the policy, or there's multiple, but the two on this project were a street frontage. So the, the length of the property's front, front property line, so per foot or by per parcel. So, something I'll go into in the next slide here. Of note, when we're calculating the cost per, foot, we do account for all, properties. However, there are 40 in the North Home neighborhood that did not meet the assessment policy as far as, their corner lots and they were assessed a couple years ago for some other street work. So those were not, included. A look at what we saw from the feasibility to the final,
amounts, for the project. We saw generally a substantial reduction from what was anticipated. The estimated cost originally in the Falcon Woods neighborhood was about 870,000 due to a competitive bidding market, which we saw three great quotes and then a couple more. We saw a a reduction in the cost, to make these improvements for the city. Just focusing on the assessment amount. So in Falcon Woods it was a per parcel basis. So each lot is, or each property owner, has an assessment of approximately 2,100 That's a reduction from the 38 or 3,900,
that was, estimated in the feasibility phase. North Home had 181 parcels. And again, their assessment was per foot. And there was another reduction that equates to an average residential assessment of about $1,200 as well as, the range which is shown. Again, all, all reductions. While we did do the same amount of work, North Home did have more mileage, if you will, of streets, but they also have a higher parcel count, which is why you might see a difference in the actual final, amount for each, assessment per parcel. There are a few payment options,
essentially from after or if and when this council, approves the assessment roll, and certifies the final assessment roll. There's thirty days to pay upfront, the the assessment amount, and that is interest free. That would be a date of November 7, is is the final date in order to make that payment. After that, interest rates are, applied to the financing from the city that, goes to the taxes. So the first payment is due in 2026, and it's spread out over a proposed seven year, term. The interest rate is, is 2% above the bond for the City,
or the, rate of return on the City's portfolio. So the total amount would be an interest rate of 5.4, we'll say 5.5%. There are hardship deferrals. So if your property is homesteaded, you are of the age of 65 or older or retired by virtue of disability, you can defer the assessment. The interest still accrues, but you essentially would not be paying the the, assessment over the the time of that you that you live in the property or that the hardship deferral is is still there. There are applications, and you can apply for that at City Hall. I'm sure, I don't think we have any printed off tonight if that's something that you're looking
to get into, but definitely stop by at regular City Hall hours and, and, talk to staff and we can, supply that to you. There's also, as the mayor mentioned, there is an appeal process. It does go to district court. You would have to have in writing, a either before, this meeting or at this meeting, a petition, objection, to the assessment. The property owner, also after that, within thirty days, so starting tomorrow, and again until November 7, would have to serve the the mayor or the, city clerk here at City Hall. Then the city after receiving that would file with the,
district court within ten days of the, appeal. With that, that is my presentation. There are a few requested counsel action items, and the first being open opening up to the public hearing. Okay. Well, pardon me. At this time, I'll open the public hearing for, all who wish to speak on the topic. Please remember to state your name and your address for the record. And, so that we can catch all of your words, please come to the podium here and, begin speaking. We, usually have a time time frame of about three minutes per per speaker after you've
introduced yourself. So at this time, I'd like to open the public hearing and invite any and all who would like to, step forward and, provide comments to counsel on on the topic before Us. Highway Of Ed, 1954 Autumn Street. And my objection is the work is not finished, so the payment should not be due until thirty days after the work is actually finished. Okay. Thank you, I mean. Anybody else? Anybody else like to address the council and and speak at the public hearing?
I'll make a second call for people to speak at the public hearing. I'll make a third call for people who would like to like to speak and a final call for those wishing to speak. Seeing no one coming forward, may I please have a motion to close the public hearing? So moved. So moved by Leahy. We'll now close the public hearing. So I'll close it by consent here. And now we'll open the floor for discussion from City Council members. Council members, items to state.
Yeah, I guess I've just maybe a it's a question for, our engineer. Eric, when when do you think those final items will be completed, the final punch list items? Is this a reasonable request? Well, maybe that's for for us to discuss. But, yeah, when do you think, when do you think it'll be finished up? So as far as the contract, that we have with the contractor, it is substantially complete. There are no other items that would fall under a pay voucher that haven't been completed yet. There still is some pay vouchers yet to, approve, but that work is complete. And we're meeting with the contractor tomorrow,
to discuss, completion and getting it done. So some of the bigger items, I shouldn't say bigger, but, the more, to do is the restoration. And we need to talk with a contractor on their plan because even if they start seeding and hydro seeding and watering, we're getting towards the end of the growing season. Some would say that October 15 is really your, your final date to get stuff to grow. So we're going to monitor that. They, they need to maintain that for thirty days. If they do not get 70% vegetation established, they would come back or would be responsible to come back and ensure that it
does happen, in spring of next year. So our work is still continuing. Again, I just want to stress that, like the the project is substantially complete. There's no more roads to pave. There's no more no more curb to do. Even on the punch list item, there isn't repairs of ped ramps that might've been out of compliance or things of that nature. So again, I, my, my comment is it is generally substantially complete. Okay. Yeah. It's just the, the seating stuff and I actually biked through there on the way here. It looks like there's a couple of things that need to be picked up too. Like, there's a board with some things posted?
Yeah. And that's the, that's the state aid requirement is the jobs board essentially that kinda outlines the the rights of, workers on-site because it is a state aid job. But, we are aware of those and those things. Yes. Those types of items will get cleaned up, and we're stressing with the contractor as soon as possible. To jump into it too, for our road projects, we do hold that final retainer. Right? And so one of the things that we look at is in the spring, we're making sure, you know, if grass was seeded, even if this project had been done in July, we're still gonna go back in the spring. Make sure grass is, you know, is going back,
everything's done. We'll end up cutting usually the final check to the contractor the next year. So that's all standard and part of our procedures, and it would not be a valid reason to delay the assessment process. In line with that, the warranty inspection is 2027 for that very reason. Is that correct? Yes. It's it's a little different than the obligations they have under the original contract. So when we perform a warranty inspection in spring, we're looking for maybe some curb that had cracked or failed, pavement that may have heaved for some reason,
things that get to the quality of the workmanship that the contractor did. But it's typical practice. Every contract will have a two year bond. We'll come back before it expires to notify the contractor of any work. And then if they don't wanna do the work, that's why we have the bond and and we pull the money and get the work done. So Thank you. Thank you. I like the fact that it got done for about 45%, 50% less than what we had anticipated and far less than what we were projecting a year in advance of the project. That that was fortunate. It worked out different than our park building.
We saw the opposite happen. So, thanks. Further discussion from council members. Got all our questions answered and, work seems to be nice. Smooth roads. All of that. Yeah. Do I have a motion to recommend approval or denial of resolution twenty five eighty nine adopting and confirming the assessment for the 2025 pavement management project. Summoved. In North Home. Summoved. So moved by Wachenberg. Made a motion to call for a vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed say nay. Motion carries five-zero.
Vote number two we have, we have a motion to recommend approval or denial of resolution twenty five ninety adopting and confirming the assessments for the 2025 pavement management project, Falcon Woods. So moved. So moved by Meyer. For discussion, I'll call for a vote on the motion. All in favor say aye. All opposed say nay. And the motion carries five-zero. Assessment roles have been approved and city staff will communicate the next step in the assessment process
with residents and, there. Eric? I'd just like to add, engineer Heinrichson. I'm I apologize. Of course. Not not a problem there. Mhmm. For the the residents here and then anyone watching at home, the city will be sending out in the next couple days, an amortization schedule. Again, just a reminder of the assessment, its approval, and that it's certified as well as a breakdown of, you know, what the, what the cost would be either, you know, if you paid it up front versus if, it did have the interest accruing. So, you can be informed on whether, how how you wanna move forward on financing.
So just we will be, reaching out again to, the public. Okay. Alright. That, administrator Linehan. I guess my final other public information so that, the payable period so we do certify this and send to Ramsey County. So we do need that thirty day period to allow us to collect the funds. So if you are going to pay it, we do recommend kind of doing that in a timely manner just so we can kind of work through that process. We're also happy to answer any specific individual questions. So if you have questions on your assessment, on other stuff, we're happy to help with that as well. So feel free to reach out to city hall.
Checks would be made payable to the city up until that period. As soon as that November 9 deadline hits, that's where we transmit it to the county. They put it as part of your 2026 property taxes, so that's what their deadline and our deadline is. At that point, if let's say it was, you know, a couple weeks later and you wanted to pay the city, we wouldn't be able to even accept it because it's now in Ramsey County's hands. And so that point, you would be able to still pay it. You can always pay this early even if you don't pay within that thirty days. You can always pay it, but you would owe interest for that first year essentially if you if you miss
that thirty day window. So that's kinda part of the the financial considerations to consider as you think about that, how how you wanna strategize that. Okay. Well, thank you everyone. The thank you for coming. We have public hearing. We've got our pavement management. Next item on our agenda tonight is our consent agenda, which consists of nine items. We have general disbursements through October 3 payroll through 09/23/2025,
of $23,823.16 and wire payments through October 3 We have approval of a sewer cleaning and televising, project. Third, we have approval of Resolution 2,591, appointing Emily Schmall to the Community Engagement Commission. Four, approval of Resolution 2,592, authorizing the application for the Select Committee on Recycling and Energy
or Environment, known as the SCORE grant. Five, approval of Resolution 20 five-ninety three, authorizing the ICMA conference travel. Six, approval of Resolution 2,594 authorizing the application for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Community Tree Planting Grant. Seven, approval of Resolution 2,595 authorizing an amendment to the Tax Increment Finance District one-three for parcel number correction and eight, approval of repayment request for Tax Increment Finance District number one-three
And then nine, approval of pay voucher number one to New Look Contracting Incorporated for the community park construction project. I'll move the consent agenda. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed? Same sign. Motion carries five-zero by consent. We don't have any policy items on tonight's agenda. So that brings us to information and announcements. Sure. Well, I was clearing my throat. I didn't mean I had to go first, but I certainly will. Sure. Okay. Well, they're ready to go. Sure. I'm ready to go. Alright. The the parks, commission met back on Monday of this week and,
to discuss options for different, different options for fall and winter programming for its residents, and a fair bit of, discussion around management of the community garden rules, regulations, how to make the community garden, a smooth and happy a place as possible. And particularly a lot of work was put in by, Commissioner Bob Haight. And so, with some some, there's a fair bit of discussion with some minor modifications, the Commission decided to, to move forward with those recommendations from from Commissioner Haight. So so that was great. And then lastly, I put in this reminder a couple weeks ago,
but Fall Festival for Falcon Heights is going to be up at this at Falcon Heights Elementary this Saturday. It's a mere three days away. It's looking to shape up to be a beautiful day if you can believe the weather reports in Minnesota. So Saturday, one to three. There's a lot of fun stuff to do there. Meet your neighbors. Have a good time. And so I encourage you all to mark your calendars and come on out. So that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you, Jim. Council member Leahy? Yeah. Just to first remark, in regards to the Fall Fest, I enjoy and appreciate the social media that our staff is doing.
It was a real fun one for the Fall Fest that I saw just today. So if you're needing something to do, please join us. So I think it will be a fun time had by all. The Community Engagement Commission will be meeting the next time on October 20 at 06:30 and look forward to welcoming Emily to her first meeting. Okay. Council member from where? Yeah. Sure. So, yeah, planning commission, doesn't meet till the twenty eighth, I believe. So no no updates, there. But those those meetings are always pretty exciting these days with all the the the
golf course, kind of thinking about what what the future, may hold there. I do have somewhat of a larger, announcement, I suppose. I just wanted to, get the get the word out, yeah, over over the the the weekend. You know, I'm spending some time with my, my one year old little girl and just sort of thinking about what what the next, four years might look like. And I did, come to the conclusion that, it would be, it would be better for me, to actually end my campaign for reelection. So, yeah, it's been an honor serving. But, you know,
the the good news is we have, three wonderful candidates. We have, an embarrassment of riches in that department, as a city to have such quality people experience running for for office. So, but, yeah. So that'll, that'll that'll be, that'll be that. We've got another two months of good, good work to be done before before, I'm, you know, going, going back to my, my role as a, just a citizen and not in the council, but, but yeah, it's been, it's been an honor and a pleasure, serving with you all. Thanks. Thanks, Eric.
Council member Malke? This is a PSA announcement. Get your COVID shot. It's still out there on the tail end of it. None. And your flu shots. Yes. Get get those. And, I haven't got the senior dose again. The, do wanna remember to, this Saturday, one to three, right, at, Falcon Heights Elementary In the back. In the back of the, in the back of the the property where there's a lot of room to play. Oh, yeah. You could even come walking across the field for moguls if you wanted to and, to participate. And, so like to do that.
Human Rights Day, They're gonna be focusing on, food insecurity. That'll happen in December. CEC will be discussing that more, next week week from Monday at their next meeting. And that, I wanna thank everybody for all of their participation in the city. Look forward to the, newsletter coming out, here in a week or two. And at that point, I'll, send this over to administrator Linehan who has the daily, feel of the pulse of the city. Thanks, mayor and council. So just a couple other updates.
Again, yeah, Fall Fest this weekend, staff's getting ready for it. We're excited to have it over at Falcon Heights Elementary, working with the school. So, the school board members will be there to talk about the upcoming, referendum for their, capital, technology levy. So that'll be good to have them there as well. We'll also have, Carroll Coffee. So a new coffee shop kind of in the neighborhood of the North Home area. They'll be on-site selling coffee. Floyd's Mini Donuts who were here last year. And then also Saint Paul Fire Department, and Saint Anthony Police Department will be here. And we'll have multiple bounce houses. So that was what was referenced,
staff had to try out ours and make sure it's still inflated, and it does. So that was great. The other items too. So, community park, the, shelter, materials. So we ordered the prefabricated shelter. All those were dropped off kind of on-site. I've compared it to an IKEA delivery is that you get all the parts and then the manufacturer is gonna be putting them all together in the next, few weeks. They went and poured. So if you actually walk through the site, you'll see the footings, for the building are in. Mhmm. It's really cool. You can see kinda where the doors will be and the openings. They've installed the new, storm drainage system kind of in the northwest corner of the property for stormwater,
and then kinda doing all the other parts. So getting everything together, still kind of on on a good pace to get quite a bit done this year, but some of it will be completed next year as well. Up you'll see some of the construction activity here at city hall, our solar on public buildings grant. So we are installing our new solar system. We have one of the, we've had a great solar system. We were one of the early adopters Minnesota and they're just coming end of life with a lot of the panels cracked. So we had a great opportunity to replace the panels. So that'll increase our efficiency, and so we're working on that. And then also, the Les Bolstead RFP.
So we've been working with the University of Minnesota on their release of that. The latest information we have from them is they are planning, October 13 or so, so next week. So they have pushed it back as they're gathering other information. They're looking they'll do kind of a pre meeting with the contract or with potential bidders in early November, but the rest of it's still kind of on pace for their other items there. So that kind of concludes the general city updates other than, some of the other PNP and stuff the council's mentioned. Okay. Thank you, everyone. So at this time, I'd like to, open the floor for a community forum.
Come on up to the podium. It gives you a chance to address the council and topics, not otherwise on the agenda for discussion. But you may want to bring to our attention to, to view. We'll, be kind of considered for for future, meetings. We may ask questions for clarification, but we won't take any council action tonight, or decisions on those. But it would raise raise it up for our, for our future, awareness. So if I I'll open up community forum And,
once it should you speak before the group, it's not very you know, you could become empowered. Next time maybe. So seeing no one wanting to step forward for community forum, I'd like to thank everyone for turning out on a, beautiful fall night and, being invested in the, city of Falcon Heights with your time and energy. And thank you, counsel, for thank you, Engineer Hendrickson for explaining it all tonight. At that point, now I'll, ask for a motion to adjourn. So moved. So moved. We got Malachy Lee. And, Paula,
we wish you a a good recovery. And, all those in favor of adjournment, signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Same sign. Motion carries. We are adjourned. Thank you.