Up here. Alright. Good evening, and welcome to the regular meeting of the city council Falcon Heights City Council on Wednesday, 03/11/2026. We'll call this meeting to order at 07:10. Roll call. Gustafsson. Here. May. Here. Morgan. Here. Melke. Here. Lawsonberg. Here. Linehan. Here. Alright. Any, changes to tonight's agenda? Do I hear an approval to, I move to move the agenda. Okay. Further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye.
Opposed, same sign. Motion's approved five-zero. Don't have presentation. For those interested in, great work going on in the community here and abroad or around the state, I'd suggest you watch our workshop for presentation by rebuilding. It was awesome. Rebuilding Together Minnesota. Rebuilding Together Minnesota. So, next order would be approval of minutes. We've got three sets of them tonight. We've got our February 11, City Council regular meeting minutes, our February 25 city council workshop minutes,
and our February 25 city council regular meeting minutes. So moved. Changes. So moved by Melkie. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed same sign. Motion approval minutes have been approved five-zero. No public hearings tonight. We have a consent agenda on eight items. We have general disbursements through March 6 Payroll through February 26 Wire payments through March
6 $16,495.1 Approval of Resolution 20 six-nineteen, authorizing the surplus of various public works machinery. Three, we have approval of Resolution 2,620, reappointing Jake Anderson to the Planning Commission. Four, we have approval of job position reclassification of assistant finance director to finance director position. Five, approval of resolution twenty six twenty one, appointing Alyssa Landberg as finance director. Six, approval of resolution twenty six twenty two,
awarding the contract for sanitary sewer televising and cleaning to American Environmental LLC. Seven, approval of Resolution 2,623, awarding a contract to Municode for online code hosting services. And eight, approval of the City Council standing rules as modified. I'll move the consent agenda. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed same sign. Motion carries five-zero. Comments on consent agenda by anybody?
I would like, Jack, if you could just give a highlight of item number seven, the Mhmm. Contract to Unicode for online code hosting services. Yeah. Yep. So as part of our website redesign, the city has moved forward, obviously, with Civic Plus. We're going through that. Civic Plus is the owner of Municode. So it's their code platform. We didn't have it as an initial part of our contract. They didn't have it priced out. We've been working on getting a price for it, refining that, bringing it down. And so it's within our our full contractual costs,
our budgeted cost for the website redesign. So instead of our current code format is all PDF, so we upload our code, we do a combined code, and then each section is a various PDF. When we codify or change code, everything has to get updated. We revise it. The city has kind of a a difficult history with that. We've gotten a lot better, and staff has done a fantastic job of staying on that. There were a lot of times, where it would go years without getting recodified. And so the move to mini code is a great option. Most of the cities in our area are using mini code.
They kinda have a little bit of a monopoly on online code. Online code service, so what we do is when we adopt a new ordinance, staff forwards that to municode, they would codify for us. So one of the services they offer, again, something we've kinda done in house is that the other benefits of mini code, it's a much easier code to search, takes keywords. So if you're typing in the example I use, even myself was the figure out the electric sign for city hall and typing I know where it is. I know it's in chapter one thirteen. I don't exactly know where. Typing in sign and control find finds you,
200 results. That's not helpful. And so trying to find it further, the correct term you're looking for is dynamic display. That's how we classify it. And so stuff like that, mini code will do is have similar keywords. It kind of can learn and say, okay, we're thinking you're learning for this, for very low cost. And so that was where, for us, add on to the website within the budget. Hopefully, a better service we can do with the launch of the new website. The MiniCode might take a little longer, but it's still we think it's gonna be a good a good fit. So this will be helpful for residents looking for an ordinance.
Yep. Great. Roseville uses MiniCode. Saint Paul uses MiniCode. Most of the larger cities are using MiniCode in our area. Most cities that have codified online use mini code in Minnesota. Country nationwide, actually. No. It'll be great. I had a question on the approval of the reclassification, from assistant to finance to finance director. I I just wanna make it clear, you know, make sure that I understand correctly. We are we now only have a position of finance director. We don't also have an assistant finance director. Correct. That's what we're doing is a reclassification.
So currently in our system, we don't have a finance director. So we don't have a finance director. We had one, kind of with that position. Didn't put it as a budgeted position this year, just kept the assistant. Alyssa has been serving that interim role. And so kind of with this, we're recommending that we take the assistant position, reclassify it to a finance director. This is also the first finance director job description the city has. We did not have a job description for our previous finance director. Or if it did, it was not in a accessible format. And so now that's where this will kind of be our official job description for
the position. So kind of one of our moves as we do this is that we wanna make sure each position has a job council approves the job description, kind of as a a step for that. But the idea is we would maintain we have our nine FTE. We'd maintain nine FTEs for the budget. Okay. Further comments? I just wanted to congratulate Alyssa. Yes. I want to thank Alyssa. There she is. I think it's I'll just say a couple of things. I think it's important that we're a city that and Jack and I have talked about this. We're a city that supports our staff and because they're what really make things go. And I am happy and confident and feel good about,
Alyssa being there to support us in our many undoubtedly coming adventures, coming up. So thanks very much. You have our support. You give us support. We're all good. Thank you. Thank you. Absolutely. Mayor council, if I can comment too. So Alyssa, kind of as part of the retirement, you know, we've known for a while that she's really good. We've wanted to keep her. The council supported that. The move from, you know, she started as our finance intern, as she was working on getting her, bachelor's, you know, in accounting. Phenomenal at that. The city had promoted her at the time to part time accountant.
We kept wanting to keep her as that skill set grew and as we knew that transition was coming up, the opportunity to to create an assistant finance director position, knowing temporarily that we are carrying more FTEs than probably needed. We went through the ABDO study this fall. One of the recommendations and kind of the work that Alyssa's done, has kind of allowed her to maintain that finance director position down again to, or the the role down to one FTE in finance. We have outsourced payroll. We've taken on additional expanded our payroll tremendously, navigated paid family medical leave,
have the audit coming up, and Alyssa has done a phenomenal job with that. So it's really a a super valuable skill set to have, and I've kinda brought up to you guys too the market, for finance directors is extremely competitive. Cities are kind of just poaching each other's finance directors right now. And so, you know, Alyssa's been wants to be here, but we wanna make it right and keep her here. And so that was kind of the idea behind this too is to, kinda take the interim away that's been there for about seven months and make it a permanent recommended approval. Jack, do you just wanna add a quick sentence on what you mean by expanded payroll?
Yeah. Because we didn't Yes. Yeah. So bay I mean, basically, kind of as part of the transition right at that time was when we took on first, we took on all the seasonal parking ambassadors. So we onboarded 14, new, you know, kind of part time employees, and then we also went to our paid commissioners at that point. And so it's just going from a payroll usually of 10 employees and then council, on kinda once a month, went to, you know, a lot more employees for the temporary payrolls and then the, the commissioners as well. So just expanding payroll and then moving it to enough,
you know, kind of a third party through ADP. Tremendous amount of work went into that on the back end. Weekends, nights, making sure it was there, being very afraid as, you know, the day was coming up for payroll to make sure people were paid. So Alyssa just put in the work, done it, and has the skill set too. It's not just internal. She has all the qualifications to be a finance director in this field and will be for a long time. I just had another question, maybe not specific to Alyssa, but we've outsourced some functions as we move into this Volstead Golf Course redevelopment and
possibly other redevelopment sites. Do we need to add actually more staff? Do you see that at all in that department? For finance? Yeah. You know, I think one of the things that we'll do so the city has a long standing agreement with Ehlers to be our financial adviser. So they kinda do our bond counsel. They've assisted us with our TIFs and others in the past. I think a reengagement with them would make sense, essentially, or even considering, you know we've been happy with others, and I'm not trying to suggest otherwise, but just some sort of,
documenting kind of prices and and getting almost a quote as well. Mhmm. Because as we go through the less posted, that's something that they're they're very good at. They run pro formas on, you know, okay, what are the they'll they'll take what the developer's proposing, and they'll run those tax analysis. Okay. They'll do all of that for us. They'll run bond analysis. They'll kinda help us create a financial strategy of, okay, how are we gonna pay for these public improvements? They'll help us with that. I see. So that'll be where tellers would be I would recommend contractual with that. That's kind of how a lot of our thought is with this because it's a
temporary Mhmm. You know, time period of one to however many years until it's done. And then when it's done, that all dries up. Yeah. And so that'd be the idea that we could expand through contractual, working through escrow escrow agreements and others to kinda help finance that and then roll it off instead of hiring staff and then laying off staff. Right. Okay. Thanks. Just curious. Cool. Thank you, Alyssa. Keep up the good work. Okay? Don't no pressure. Well Okay. What else? Policy items. Tonight, we don't have any on here,
which is good. We're good. Information and announcements. Who wants to start? We had to start on that end because most of the time we start on my end. Well, thank you. So I don't have a heck of a lot. The planning commission is going to be busy in two weeks. They're going to, be reviewing a, amendment to the what we used to be the Amber Flats. We're now calling it Fairway Commons. Yeah. Yeah. That's the development. Project of a senior housing, or 55 plus housing, project and also a what's oh, the discussion of no. What's the other project that's happening on planning commission?
So the other one would be the findings of, conformity to, comprehensive plan for 1407 Larpenter. So so it'll be a busy busy meeting. I did sit in most of a meeting of a of a Zoom meeting on, put on by an energy group, that had some interesting developments, regarding some what they called middle development, four to 20 unit buildings, that particularly those that were energy efficient. And so I'm using that to,
take on or to inform both the 1407 project as well as, ideas for the Les Paulstead, development. So some some ideas of some smaller, multifamily housing units that are interesting to see and, discuss. So other than that, nothing nothing new. Okay. Follow-up. Nope. Quiet week community engagement meets on Monday. Okay. Next. James? Well, mister mayor, you actually you knew what I was up to today, and I'll probably talk about it. So, and That way I don't have to remember what happened. You don't have to remember what we did today. Yeah.
That's great. So mayor and I actually attended the city day on the hill. So it was a great opportunity to talk with, our legislators, learn more about the details about their plans and challenges. And it gave us a chance, of course, to highlight our legislative agenda agenda as well. I myself found, it particularly interesting the the in-depth budget review update that they, that they gave. There are a lot of uncertainties and risks with, the projected budget for the this and the next biennium. So it's really great to understand those. A lot of those uncertainties come from our federal government,
these days. So but the, we the person delivering delivering, our deputy Commissioner of Finance, I believe, was seems to have it well in hand as best as possible. So that's that is encouraging as we face what may be some challenging times ahead in state budget, which affects ultimately our local budgets. So and we still, of course, gave our push for local government aid to help keep property taxes here low. Great. Well, the Environment Commission met this just two days ago.
So I have lots of dates. The sustainability fair is coming up April 18. Hannah has done a fantastic job of lining up exhibitors and resources for our residents. And I encourage all of you to come and to bring your friends and neighbors because it's really a great event. So that's April 18, yes, one point five months away. We decided on the date of the lawn and garden tour for July 18. That's a Saturday. And again, we'll have advertising and maps,
and it'll be really cool. I was very enjoyed last year. I at that meeting, I presented the Community Advisory Committee application and goals. That encouraged a lively discussion, shall we say. So I'm hoping that we'll get some applicants from the current Environment Commission. We have a lot of terrific folks there, so I'm hoping I hope all of them apply. I attended this okay, so that's the Environment Commission. I also attended the
same webinar that Jim did, and thank you, Jack, for passing on that information. It's the Community Energy Network, and the it was basically about sustainable development, and they had three developers giving presentations that were really interesting and informative. And there's lots that I hope we can incorporate in what we do here in Falcon Heights. And then the last thing I'd say is I signed up for and hope other people will join me in May. League of Minnesota Cities is sponsoring a workshop,
which will be facilitated by this group Braver Angels on conflict, tuning up my skill set in that way is always a good idea. So it's in May, and it's run by the League of Minnesota Cities. I mean, it's sponsored by the League of Minnesota Cities, but it's going to be presented by Braver Angels, which has quite a history of working on these issues and training people in that aspect. So maybe some of you will join me. I'd really enjoy that. Cool. That's my update. All right. I was privileged to be able to join the Parks and Rec Commission,
meeting on on the second, and it was, it was really fun. We've got, community garden. The lottery, filled. They had one one plot left to kind of the redevelopment, plot. So the, so they're working on one of the current gardeners would have an a chance to do an extra plot for one year. And then then it would go into the lottery again for next year and doing those so that the community garden will be filled and they'll work they'll be taking
applications from amongst the other current gardeners so that they could have an extra plot for those. But it's gonna be a one year assignment type of thing rather than a forever one. So that, that'll be working that way. We've also talked about, events that are that are upcoming that, that the that parks and rec can somewhere in my bag, I have all of the notes that I was gonna share, but I'm gonna work from my faded memory. But, we have the, new this year. Well, we'll we're gonna have our ice cream social on the July.
That one's going to be that that's gonna be happening, so put that in your books. I think that's the sixteenth. That's the sixteenth. Yeah. And, and then we have Fall Fest, date to be finalized here at some point, but looking for early October so that we get in on good weather and likely again to happen at the elementary school. And new this year, we're working on trying to make it happen in June, a, an event at the Grove Park. So thinking music,
thinking bring your blankets, and, and your picnic will provide water and, and have, have some music of some some nature. Might roll out the electric pianos from Kaufman. We don't know. But, so that's that's all to go. The, don't have a large budget, so bringing in, one of the headliners from the state fair that they could do a pre concert test of the, the environs of Falcon Heights probably won't happen. So don't look for the Forever Young tour to, to be doing music that day.
But we might have covers of that from, from somebody. So a lot of enthusiasm there. We're looking at, the park, community park, getting that finalized once that all of the grant money gets released so that then the work orders are ready to the contractor's ready. They've got it all. They're holding their prices to past years, just waiting for confirmation that we're gonna have the money. So that's, it's kind of the update there, and we're working towards a great, group of enthused people for for ideas on what we can do.
So it's about, as much as I know. I did really it's really fun to see what's going on with other cities and, getting together with them, you know, and get that legislative update. And we're all have our individual things, but we all share very similar, opportunities as this is probably the most functional level of government currently going is local cities. So at that, administrator Linehan, what else is happening in the city? Yeah. Thanks, mayor and council. So staff have been busy. One of the things we're getting ready for,
our spring summer newsletter is coming out. So likely kinda late March for that. A lot of the dates are kinda April through that that newsletter kinda carries us into the early fall, then the fall newsletter comes out and usually do the supplemental state fair resource guide kind of in between. So usually kinda two newsletters plus like a a state fair update. So working on that. Reminder, our community advisory committee, those applications close Monday at midnight. We'll be sending out another push over the weekend or tomorrow,
kinda to help reinforce and get kind of a little extra email attention for that. Community park has been busy as of today. Lots of construction crews out again. Warm enough weather, permits everything ready to go. And so they were doing some plumbing, roughing, and getting the building and shelter done. So for it's been kind of on pause for a bit, but everything is moving very quick again. So excited to see that. Next week's our audit. So for Alyssa especially, that's sorry. Two weeks. I should say two weeks. So the the week of the twenty twenty fourth.
So two weeks from now, we'll get ready for that. So a lot of the preparation, other stuff. And then we sold our, old Ford f two fifty on Purple Wave. So we're excited to get more equipment, get the garage cleared out a little bit, and Public Works is kinda getting ready for spring and getting everything together. So that's the update from staff. Cool. Did you there was an email you said sent to us that you were going to give updates on Splashpad and police contract. Did I read that wrong? Yes. I provided a little bit of an update.
I've gotten a question on those, and so I kinda shared just to update for for council. Oh, no. That's fine. Public info on that. But the Splashpad, we've kinda gotten that resolved to the state. Had kind of a little bit of a holdup in the back end we've been working on and just how they classified it. So figuring out that, that was tonight, then we approved the release of that payment. So I've just been working on that. That held up a bit of it. Going through now, city's issued a plumbing permit again, for the rest of the rough or the rest of the plumbing, and then now, the state's doing their final reviews. But everything's kinda back to moving and right on right back on pace.
It would have, I think, been a lot harder to handle navigating that if it was really warm winter. But at the end of the day, there really wasn't much work they could do while we figured that out with the state. So everything should be back on track. The mayor mentioned the grant. We are pushing we still have the outdoor DNR recreation grant. We cannot do anything with it until we receive the grant agreement paperwork. So the council we applied for the grant. Council has not accepted the grant yet. We cannot accept the grant until we get that grant paperwork from the state. They, give us updates.
They're continuing to work on it. So, the new 2026 grant closes at the end of the month, and so we're pushing them. Other cities have finalized their projects. We're just waiting for them to get us the paperwork. So once we get that, we'll bring it forward. But we're continuing to push the DNR on that. And they tell us everything's fine. They're working on it. They just gotta get their paperwork to us. So, yeah, That's kind of the reference for that, though. So Yeah. Yep. Still moving. Once we get that, we can get into an agreement with the playground vendor. So they're holding their pricing through the end of the month. They held their pricing in December.
You know, like, we're so it's getting to a point that's gonna start getting more expensive if we can't. So we're gonna continue to push at a staff level, the state to get us that paperwork because we're ready to ready to go Yeah. Start building and get everything done. It's just that that might be one of the holdups. It's waiting for the state and but we have $350,000 on the line. So we want to make sure we do it right. Yeah. Yep. Alright. Any anything else? I'd open this up for community forum or for other staff announcements if the finance I hear the finance department is celebrating.
If, but so we'll see no one here for, community forum. We'll, we'll go without that one. Or we'll close community forum, suggest those that are watching this on, on on their, Internet and their cable and, later, come on in and give us, give us your best words. So next, hearing anything else, anybody like to, make a motion for adjournment? So moved. So moved by Wattenberg. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye.
All those opposed, same sign. Thank you very much. At, 07:38, this this, meeting is adjourned.