barnes dumbuya here ross here rowan here vloose here teal here mayor Ratchek or Spooner just can't let it die i was off for a week mayor Mayor
Spooner's here mayor Spoon's here pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all
our second item is approval of the agenda anybody have any changes mayor Spooner yes i make a motion to approve the agenda motion by Dambooya a second by Barnes
all those in favor i all opposed this is the agenda is approved we have no presentations or introductions item number four approval of the minutes of March 11th 2025
second by Barnes a second by Vance Loose all those in favor i all motion passes request to be heard we have none on the clipboard consent agenda items
6A through 6U anybody want to be talked about uh item R please for further discussion spooner yes i'll make a motion to approve consent agenda items 6A through
6 Q and 6S through 6 U i'll second motion by Ross for 6 A through 6 Q and 6S through 6 U and then by R all those
in favor I I all oppose those pass mr ran what would you like to discuss what's the backstory on it i think the backstory is that the League
of Cities has put out a call to all cities to reach out to their legislators letters of support for any legislation do require approval of the council or or anything and so that's why it's on here tonight um this was something that uh Dave Weanberg and and Harry Davis had
drafted from the planning standpoint and so that's why it's on here no but what is the concern that the legislature is doing uh they're trying to basically take away the ability of cities to regulate density um of housing as it
impacts our zoning and so that would be something that would be um problematic for the city of Farbo we have a very good comprehensive plan and uh zoning ordinance and so uh what that could mean is if this were to pass a developer could come in and want to put something
high density in a single family residential neighborhood and we would have um very little to no um ability to regulate that and so I think we we have quality um within our neighborhoods we have specific areas for highdensity um residential and that we want to maintain
that control uh of where highdensity residential goes versus the state of Minnesota saying it can go anywhere yes I'd like to add that um I have a few questions too i'm glad um councelor Rowan brought it up um I would like to
discuss it more um mainly just to find out more and learn about more of our building codes versus the trying to pass through um I'm not always a fan of the big guy taking the power of the little guy meaning us the city uh there's reasons that these plans
are in place um but I also agree that we need to make things a little bit easier for builders and homeowners to build um and expand within Farbo uh the construction material requirements um was one question I had there was uh the
state was suggesting banning the interim ordinances related to aesthetic mandates and it would also prohibit uh the required minimum parking spaces within so that's something I'd like to discuss more um as far as the three acts
that are on topic for tonight letter R So the next work session that we would have where this could be discussed is going to be April 15th um and so we can certainly do that and we'll know more about what's happening with the legislation at that point um because
April 1st is we're not having a traditional work session it's going to be focused on strategic planning so if there is still a letter to send by April 15th we'll put this on the April 15th con uh work session agenda for further discussion unless the council would want to have a work session after the regular
meeting on April 8th i I would like to hear from Scott do you have any insight on this or not really uh it really is a situation of of local control um so it's it's a policy question from the standpoint of how much control the council wants to have in
your city versus allowing the legislature to say globally you have to do X Y and Z instead so that's what it comes down to that's why the league obviously has some concerns um they've been working on it to my understanding working with legislators on on this but
it is a local control issue and so it's up to you how how much you want a seed of that control council member Barnes says the big guy you know that's really what it comes down to obviously as the bill moves forward there'll be some discussions and
deciding what's works what doesn't this has come up before um it's just another attempt that looking at it again so it's it's there it just hasn't been adopted before yep i might add too I did speak with our
senator and our state representative and both of them are against bill um Senator Jazinski did say that he does not believe it will go through and you're right they did try to pass something similar in the bipartisan bill which I love
bipartisan i love that for it so discussion would be good hey uh I'm in favor of voting for this we voted for this last year i believe we wrote the same this takes away a lot of local
control i think that the cities should have and want to have not just would be statewide and I'm sure multiple cities that are here Spooner i'll make a motion to
approve consent agenda item 6R second motion by Ross second by Teal for I think this bill is something that would be more
suitable for bigger city also the other side of that is what's in concern so but yeah um based on the size of our
city population all right i have a motion and a second all those in favor all opposed motion pass i just want to clarify that I'm not opposed to it on its merits
i have no problem with staff bringing forward a larger discussion on our Okay public hearings tonight we have none items for discussion we have quite a few
item A resolution [Music] 2025-079 approval of plans and specifications and establishing a bid date for 2025 miscellaneous concrete projects contract 202501 mr mark Duche thank you mayor
members of the council and the public uh before you tonight are four resolutions each approving plans and specifications for four of our capital improvement projects this year the first resolution is for our miscellaneous concrete project every year for the recent past years anyways we've bid a miscellaneous concrete project where we bid um
replacement of sidewalk and curb and pavement and other things that we have to have a specialty concrete contractor do um we don't necessarily know always how much we're going to end up doing every month we give the contractor a list they complete that work and we go from May through November these things take care of things like
curb replacement due to water main breaks over the winter public sidewalks or other works that the parks or utilities department want done around their facility so it really is just a miscellaneous job bit out a number of quantities and oftent times we spend a third to a half
of all spelled out to the contract resolution 2025079 approves those plans and specifications and sets a bid date of April 16th for the 2025 miscellaneous concrete project thank you Mark any
Spooner yes i'll make a motion to approve resolution 2025-079 by Ross a second by Barnes all those in favor i motion passes on to resolution
2025-080 approval of plans and specifications to establish a bid date for 2025 residential street overlay and sidewalk improvements contract 20252 once again Mark
thank you mayor members of the council and the public uh the second resolution is for our residential street and overlay uh sidewalk improvements contract you'll recall two weeks ago we were here with the public hearing had some discussion since that time we did remove the sidewalk on 25th Avenue as council directed from the project so the
revised plans and specifications that are before you tonight for approval um do not include that sidewalk on 25th Avenue um listing of streets is on the map here reminder project scope this is a mill and overlay project so we'll grind off all or portion of the top
surface of batuminous repair castings and structures replaced effective sidewalk and curb and then pave a batuminous overlay project costs for this have obviously gone down with the removal of the sidewalks we're just over $1.15 million and you can see the funding
splits amongst our capital funds project schedule moving forward approving the plans and specifications tonight again we'll set a bid date for April 16th to come back uh at the following meeting on April 22nd to award a contract i anticipate construction will start late May early June depending
upon the weather and contract availability and we do have a completion time of August 30th 2025 with that I'll stand for questions would ask you to consider resolution 2025 080 mayor Spooner yes i make a motion to
approve resolution 2025-08 i'll second by Duoya and a second by Ron to approve resolution 2025 all opposed motion is under resolution
2025-081 approval of plans and specifications and establishing a bid date for 2025 street overlay and utility improvements contract 2025-0 thank you mayor and council uh this is the second overlay project this is our
MSA or municipal state aid street overlay project a reminder that we separate these two projects up because this project is funded through our municipal state aid account which is revenues that the city receives portion of the gas taxes this project is Hellet Avenue from Seventh Street up to 20th Street or
trunk highway 3 similar project scope to the previous project we're going to grind off a portion of the existing matuminous surface repair castings and structures replace urban sidewalk as needed pave an overlay also included on this is add some water mane and some
missing segments along Heidi Avenue uh the base bid on this project includes the water man from 17th Street to Bradley Road and then we do have an alternate bid to complete a segment from Bradley up to 20th Street to replace a water man that failed so with the alternate of that
additional water man we're looking at an estimated project of just over $87 again you can see the funding split between our municipal state aid account the water utility Without that alternate water man we're just under similar project schedule pending approval of plans and specifications
tonight uh we have a bid date of April 16th to again come back on the 27 depending upon contractor availability may early June start so again I'll take any questions but ask you to consider resolution
2025081 there any questions mayor Spooner make a motion to approve resolution 2025-081 second motion by Teal a second by Vance Loose all those in favor of
resol 81 signify by saying I i i all oppose motion passes resolution [Music] 2025-082 approval of plans and specifications to establish a
bid 3rd Avenue Southwest reconstruction improvements contract 2025- Mark thank you Mayor and Council uh this is a little bit different project but similar uh proposal tonight uh this is for our Third Avenue Southwest reconstruction project so this
is a full street reconstruction of Third Avenue from Division Street down to Third Street Southwest proposed improvement here is is a completely new street um as council directed at the previous council meeting we are removing the angle parking in the northernmost block there adjacent to the
old Immaculate Conception Church and Divine Mercy School um new roadway new curb and gutter approaches new sidewalk new utilities is the big one full reconstruction there total project estimate for this is just under $1.5 million again you can see
majority of this is funded through our street improvement fund which is funded fees and then the various utility funds pay for their respective portions of the project identical project schedule here april 16th bid date for an April 22nd
award uh May June start and August completion with that we are asking you to resolution 2025 082 questions for Director Duch mayor Spooner
yes i'll make a motion to approve resolution 2025-082 i'll second i have a motion by Ross a second by Barnes for resolution motion passes all right we're done with the road
concerns tim E 2025A General Revenue Water Bonds yeah I'm going to do um kind of an introduction of this and just go over a little bit of what was in the memo um and then uh George Eertson with
Northland Securities um will be here to talk more about the the process and and the items that are here before you tonight um when we were putting together the budget for 2025 uh the water fund was the one fund that had a number of projects over um 2025 and 2026 where
there just wasn't the cash on hand to fund those and so uh Mark has shown us over the projects that are going out to bid um that each of those have a a component for water in them and so um kind of the projects that we're looking to fund in 2025 would be um the water
portions of street reconstruction uh which is a little less than 800,000 um reservoir rehabilitation uh which is estimated at 1.5 million and I believe Travis will have something at some point in the near future um with that one uh
the specific water system improvements um it's a number of looping projects uh that uh are detailed further in the capital improvement plan um for 2025 that's $1.73 million estimated and then we get into 2026 where we have 1.9
million of water system improvements estimated as well as $500,000 for the garage so that gets us to a little over 6.4 million 6.98 is the total that we have um out there uh the cost of the bond the cost of borrowing all come out
of the bond proceeds as well so we're not paying for that um from any other uh water revenue um uh water revenue sources it all comes out of the bond so we've got some room built in there um that hopefully the contingency um will
help us uh get through a what could be an interesting bid environment really over two years when there's a lot of unknowns related to tariffs and uh what that looks like um for uh the market with uh I think it's ductile iron um that we we utilize in some of our
projects so uh that's kind of the big introduction and then I'm happy to turn it over to George with Northland Securities to talk more about um the process and what's here before you tonight good evening Mayor members of the council george Northland Securities um
Jessica great uh overview of the project itself um it's nice to hear for the council's benefit what uh what is being financed so tonight I've got four items for you u mayor if you'd like me to go one one at
a time you you can go through them and then we'll vote for them all at the end is everybody happy with that yeah okay yep one presentation u just I'll I'll quickly overview the four items then the first is a resolution u essentially calling for the bond sale we in our
industry we call it a set sale resolution the purpose of the that resolution of course you're not issuing debt tonight what you're doing with this resolution is calling for a bond sale to take place at your second council meeting in the month of April on April
22nd so really council that's the the uh quick overview of that resolution it um it provides a basic structure for the financing but really the main purpose is just to set a sale date for April 22nd the second item actually item two
and three are together it's um it's what's called the the I'm sorry the these bonds are eligible for what's called the state of Minnesota credit enhancement program it's a really nice program for Minnesota municipalities water sewer and storm projects are
eligible for credit enhancement the city has an underlying double A bond rating which is already very strong um the credit enhancement program lifts that bond rating up to AAA and so just as a little um background Jessica referenced
the the rating fees or the other costs of issuance are included in the bond you would already be paying for a rating fee as part of your bond issue and certainly when you have a rating as strong as double A you want to use that it helps to drive your interest rates lower
adding this credit enhancement program on top of that is an additional $500 fee but the the benefit of the credit enhancement is it it lowers your interest rate by approximately a tenth
of a percent so this financing is preliminary size is 6,980,000 structured over a 20-year financing term lowering that um overall interest rate by approximately a tenth
of a percent will save the city approximately $80,000 over the 20-year term so the cost benefit of spending 500 to save about 80,000 that's that's a pretty good uh use there so uh that's the overview
of the state of Minnesota credit enhancement program the state stands behind your bond issue again because for cities sewer water and storm projects are eligible for that program so the second item is a resolution to enter into the program and the third item is
is an agreement with the state of Minnesota public facilities authority which administers um that's uh items two and three together the fourth item is what's called the municipal advisory agreement our capacity in this financing as is as
your municipal adviser and so the agreement details our pre-sale and postale duties to the bond issuant to the city pre-sale would be putting together the bond offering statement that's what we what investors review
when they consider bidding on your bonds the overview of the city includes your most recent financial statement and and then post sale or or sale plus post sale is conducting the bond sale for you and then helping with the uh bid tabulation
etc and then the closing of the bond there so again that's that's the municipal advisory agreement the So in summary then city council the um bond sale would be on April 22nd we would
take bids in the morning at 10:30 be back to your city council meeting that evening to present the bids to you at that time are there any questions right thank you all right we'll move on
with uh resolution 2025-090 providing insurance and sale for general obligation water revenue bond series 2025A in aggregate principle in the amount approximately of 6,980,000 mayor Spooner yes i make a motion to
approve resolution 20250 uh 90 second all those in favor all oppose motion passes under resolution 2025-091 the obligating the city to be
bonded by and to use the provisions of Minnesota state statutes section 446A-086 to guarantee the payment and principle and interest of the bond mayor Spooner yes i'll make a motion to
approve resolution 2025-091 i'll second I All oppose motion passes three approval of the Minnesota Public Facilities Authority Credit Enhancement Program Agreement
mayor Spooner yes i'll make a motion to approve Minnesota Public Facilities Authority Credit Enhancement Program Agreement second second by all opposed motion
passes under approval of municipal advisory agreement at Northland Securities Incorporated for I'll second motion passes done with items for discussion thank you
on to bids resolution 2025-085 accepting the bids for the Straight River waterband crossing contract thank you Mayor members of the council last Wednesday on March 19th we opened bids for the second time for the
Straight River water mane crossing a reminder this is a project to replace the 20-inch water man that's the sole feeder line from our water treatment plant up to our elevated storage reservoirs on the east side um the current line runs shallow underneath the Pacific railroad and is attached to the
pedestrian walking bridge we're proposing to replace that with a board line underneath some more reduced risk for issues with that pipeline and then it's current this project originally last
September um we received two bids in September um the low bidder had an error in their bid and the high bidder well both bids were above our budget at the time so as you recall we rejected both bids and said we'd work with the railroad um to see if we could find some
additional cost savings we tried that we were unsuccessful in getting the railroad to budget requirements so we rebid this project last Wednesday uh this time we received four bids um the bids as opened are on the screen here um subsequent to the bids opening it was
recognized that Icon LLC who at the time was the apparent low bidder there was an issue with their bid they have requested to have their bid withdrawn due to an error um so that was part of why we didn't have a recommendation ready for the packet is there some legal issues and some contractual issues that we've
been working through with Attorney Riggs uh so before you tonight are three options for the council to consider can once again reject all bids and try a third time to bid this project i will say the three other biders here they're all within you
know $60,000 of each other um and the one uh valid bid we did get the last time was in that 1.64 range so I feel like we know what this project is going to cost don't know that bidding it again is going to get in i feel like the three the next three
bids after icon are valid bids probably is option two tonight is to just deem Icon non-responsible um that's bidding language there that basically say look your bid is not valid we don't recognize it we're going to throw you out and
award to the second lowest bidder um which is meant first time who had an error in their bid um they bid again and obviously they solid bid this time that allows us to keep the project moving forward move on with it um or the third option uh and
this is a little bit of a riskier option and there's no guarantees we could award to Icon LLC force them to not sign a contract and try to draw on their pay on their bid bond in discussions with attorney Riggs um while this is a legal avenue to pursue it's not a guarantee
that we'll get the bond company to pay us the 5% bid bond that wased it also means that we potentially go lease trying to sort this out before we could eventually end up second lowest
bidder so before tonight are Whoops are those three options want to get feedback on council if you if you have interest in pursuing you know drawing on the bid bond um option three here we would recommend that you table
this two weeks so that we have time to further research attorney Riggs in his tenure has told me he's so there's we'd like two more weeks to sort that out we have the right to hold the bids for 60 days we're actually going to lose second lowest bid or
anything if we do award tonight um construction would likely begin this summer um availability and contract availability i don't know when exactly they would start but final completion would likely be by contract would be September looking for feedback from the
council um for options one or two I do have resolutions that I can pull up and show you if you want to go with one of those two options and again if option three is what you'd like to pursue we would ask that you table this item for Are all three of the other biders still
interested yes none of them none of them have uh asked to be withdrawn sense to me to either do a lottery of the three we we we the only viable option would be
to go to the next lowest next lowest responsible bidder why is that just so if we reject all the bids is it going to screw up the timeline significantly you go back out
for new bids we'd be it if you reject all bids I would ask you to you know to direct staff to rebid it immediately and set a bid date of I'll look at my calendar here but whatever three weeks from today would be it'd be a month that we would be doing and we'd
likely have to extend the completion date at that point which you know this is on the north end of the Video Park project it the features that are going on as part of that project are not planned at this time so other than there being construction traffic on the north end of
the project there um during park could potentially be open late summer that's mitigatable up there but yes all bids and rebid it we'd be out uh thank you mayor um I guess I
would like to go ahead award it to the second lowest bidding it you know then the numbers you know last year again that second bid was 1.64 64 in change oh I we're we're we're $17,000
less than that with the second apparent low here um up to 40,000 above that so half dollar project that's a pretty I I would like to ask the council just the other discussion my two senses that's what I would like
to do i'd like to just So with that um here is a resolution um so the resolution we've come up with is as our standard award resolution uh we did add language in there that said initially it appeared that Icon LLC of
Dodge bidder subsequent to bids being opened Icon LLC alleged an error in its bids and that its bid be deemed nonresponsive and withdrawn responsive and of the remaining biders it appears that PER companies council's directed enter into a contract for Pember for their bid
amount the deposits of all the biders except for Pember That would be the resolution 2025 any questions on that spooner i'll make a motion to approve resolution 2025 085 yeah
yeah motion by Ross a second by D we have to approve resolution 2025 i opposed motion passes any boards commissions reports announcements project updates anything
yeah uh just as a reminder April 1st is um going to be kind of our our first uh strategic planning session with council and with all department heads and I'm going to hopefully have Heather confirm times there is before the planning
session there is a close session to do my evaluation at 5:30 at Buckham West and then uh after that or approximately six o'clock um we would be gathering in the great hall um for the strategic
planning session to start so um that's kind of the schedule for things and we will have um some appetizers available uh since we're keeping you over the dinner hour great and then this Friday is the joint
boards committee meeting from 11 to 1 is that right correct and then the retirement of Hen correct Henry yes i I I thank you uh Council Member Von Flouse i I I feel that uh I am neglected to
mention that um I think our longest serving employee ever Henry Morgan uh wastewater um treatment uh facility superintendent um is retiring after 50 years i think he hit his 50 years um in
the fall of 2024 and uh he's decided that it's it's time to to leave the wastewater treatment plant and to to move forward so we wish him well and there's a reception um from 1 to 3 at the public works meeting room and so we
hope that we'll see everybody there 50 years that's we should give be giving him a key to the city so congratulations to him he probably has all right anything else nothing make a motion to adjurnn
all moved second those in favor of adjourning signify by saying I i all opposed we origin