We're good. All right. It is 6:32 and with us tonight is Craig Schulty, Ben Peters, Bill Lois, myself Roth, Kim Beck, and Patrick
Knight, and also attorney city attorney Chris. And there we are. We are all set around with cameras. Um, is there anyone here this evening for open
forum? Good with that. Next, we'll move on to the consent agenda. Um, some of these items were additions today. Did everyone have a chance to look at them? Any questions, comments
before I make a motion on this? I would move to approve the consent agenda as presented here. A second. Second. All right. Um, roll call. Michael I
Bill. Hi. Ben. Hi. Craig. Oh, now he went mute. I watched his mouth. But all right. Thank you. There was cleaning the floor and it was kind of loud. So now now we're good. Okay. Uh with added unanimous on the consent agenda, first
item of business this evening, Fourth of July fireworks. Uh there's nothing in the packet, but I know that's what you're here for. Kim, would you like to come up there and join us on that identify yourself? I did. I scroll right
by unless it's like really skinny. Yeah, there wasn't anything. So, um it was a really nice memo. Wellcrafted. It was It's spectacular. Okay. Um maybe if Kim, if you want to introduce yourself.
Hi, I'm Kim Leno and I am the uh one of the volunteers that does fireworks for the community. Um worked with Bob for last 20 some odd years. Um, and ever since he has passed
away, looks like I got all of that fun stuff like the book work and the ordering and the, you know, begging for money and all the stuff that goes with that. So, here I am. Hey, what did the memo say? Could you
Yeah. You want to fill in the rest? Fireworks are permitted by the state also approved by the city. So the process as we understand it is we have
local organizers or could be non-local organizers who want to do a show. They first contact the well they first get a pyrochnics license so that they can do a show. Then they contact the fireworks suppliers, talk about what kind of show
they might want, what their budget is. An order is produced. Paperwork is created by the firework suppliers that is then submitted to the city in the form of a permit application which the council looks at, staff looks at, fire
chief looks at and we say yes, pass it on to the state and all is well with that step. Uh the city has another role when it comes to fireworks shows. We purchase all the fireworks and typically we've done that with money that's been
donated by other organizations. The Lions being one of the foremost for a long time the Lions raised all the money. Like when Bob was in charge and even before Bob was the only guy there, they were raising money for fireworks shows. They would pass that money to the city. The
city would purchase directly from the suppliers. And the reason we do that is because we offer insurance coverage for the show. And so it's significantly easier for us if we are involved in purchasing the fireworks than if the
supplier has to do it or if the local pirate technician has to do it and come up with their own insurance coverage, which would be quite a bit more expensive. So, we save money, we save time in the process by having the city involved in those two steps, looking at
the permit application and purchasing fireworks. Right now, there's three shows that are happening in the city annually, the 4th of July, the fisherman's picnic, and then one in December for the holidays. And all three shows are
um have been I should say purchased through the same uh contract with the same provider in the past when it was Bob. We buy them all at the same time, one invoice and then they would be stored locally and we lost them two in one.
Linda was separate and the Lions collected the Fourth of July and fisherman's picnic because that was Bob Yeah, before the the holiday December one is pretty new. So, historically it's there was just the two shows. We bought
all the fireworks and then they were used for two shows. Now we have three shows. And we also have Alliance Club who said we really need to refocus on our own mission and can't be raising money for and spending our money on a
fireworks show for the 4th of July. uh they're getting some assistance now and Kim is and and Mike Ryden who is actually the local licensed fire technician are taking over the role that Bob was filling
and there are multiple funding agencies involved now that are helping. What Kim was coming to ask for was the Fourth of July show. So right now there's already a funding commitment from I believe the chamber for the December
show. Yep. There's a funding commitment for Fisherman's Picnic and the Fourth of July show is looking for funding commitments. Visit Cook County through Jamada has provided $5,000 for that show. Kim was looking for another 5,000 potentially for the Fourth of July show.
So that was the ask at the end of the background story. So they did, you did talk to Linda and they will supply they're up for $5,000. Sorry, she was supposed to communicate that to you in the in the past.
Um we've always uh used the Lions Club money and bought one group of fireworks um this time of the year, divided them in half and shot both. Um but over the years the
cost of fireworks keeps going up and so in order to compensate for that um the supplier that we have would continue I I all I do is send in a request for and tell them I want to I want a Fourth of
July show. They will put it together and I always give them the the ability to set it up the way they want. So like Fourth of July, they'll give me a lot of red, white, and blues and and you know, things more patriotic. Um fisherman's,
they just kind of go with a lot of different colors. Um so they would they would send me um all in one order, but they would send me two different uh purchase orders, each one telling me exactly what I had for each set. So over
the years, um, what they've done to try to keep it keep a as big a show as they could, um, we would get restricted down to smaller and smaller fireworks, which I can shoot
a lot more of, but you don't get as big a show out of it. So, you'll notice over the last few years, we've had a a slightly smaller finale at the end. um slightly smaller boxes at the beginning, which we
normally try to shoot something at the beginning to get the show started, you know, and you notice that that has been gradually decreasing. Well, with increased cost again, that's going to decrease even that much more. So, that's the reason
I'm here looking. Um because the Lions Club, we used to I'm not sure exactly what the numbers were. I think we would um shoot about $7,000 worth each time Fourth of July and fisherman's, but
because of the in the you know increases in cost, we asked the Lions Club to increase that. Well, they said they could, but then they could not afford or didn't feel like they should afford Fourth of July also. So, um we're hoping that, you know, with with the Lions
Club, we'll shoot 10,000 at Fisherman's. We'll shoot 10,000 again at Fourth of July and I think we shoot u I believe our budget is 4,200 from um Vicook County for the uh
holiday parade. So um that's always a slightly smaller shot. We don't have near as many people around. So we feel we can get away with that one. So, like Mike said, if we if if they're going to um give us five, then if we
could possibly convince the city to do the same thing, we would have a very nice show again, probably for quite a few years. One of the conversations that um had afterwards was possibly some software or
operational stuff that will make it easier for you to shoot off the fireworks. Um they they have a program um we can go to a full electronics fire uh when they get the equipment. Right
now most of their equipment is out. If I put in a request, it might take a year or so to get the equipment, but they will supply it all, all of the um all the mortars, all of the uh electronics. Um they'll come up and do a schooling on
it for us. Um yearly cost, I think rental, she told me it was like $50 a year, so it really was minimal. Um it's a little bit safer system. um still takes about the same amount of
people to put it all together. But in the meantime, okay, we we're we're one of probably three places in the state that still shoots manually. Okay. So, that's
a that's what you're aiming for. Won't be this year. That's that's our goal. Unless they all a sudden come up with the equipment. Um yeah, then it's just a matter of changing the order out to electronic fire versus live fire.
Okay. And that also I guess and you know obviously safer is better but also it allows just for better or timed Yeah. you're not you're not dependent on
um weather and and any other malfunction that tends to happen at least once every time we shoot. So um you know if it's not raining the the fuses quit working or if it is raining they put the fuses
out or you know we got to we have to keep everything covered you know if it's wet. um problems we've had in the past. Excuse me. Um we've had we we dig our can our mortars in usually in the
morning and we put in um let's see 22 orders I believe plus the the volume orders that we use. So, we dig all those in. And the problem we've had in the past is being able to keep a control on those. So, that not so bad at
Fourth of July, but at fisherman's picnics, the kids think that because there's these nice little round tubes in the ground, they should throw rocks in them, which becomes very dangerous. So, eventually, against what some of the other
volunteers want, we are going to go to electronic fire. Well, if there's only three of you still using it, common sense tells me that we should go where everyone else is at this point and safer is better. Yeah. So, I'm I'm still
working on that program with uh um with the fireworks company. It's certainly not a cost issue. No, not at all. It's it's a it's a product supply issue. Sure. Well, not the product. It's the equipment issue. So,
do you have to send it back and forth each year? No. No. Then you just pay your rental. Yep. I just pay the rental. I'll keep I keep it all. Um it'll stay in the um dynamite shack where all of the fireworks are kept. Um I think the
only two keys for that place are me and and the owner. So, um there's no problem there. Um, you know, our other issue is some of our mortars are starting to get old. So,
you know, we'll need to eventually replace those, too. But if we go this other route, then they supply all new mortars. Okay. Anyone else have questions? So, the ask is $5,000 from the city.
That's right. Well, I would propose that we do $4,000 from the city and then I'd like to donate a thousand from the major moves. That would be wonderful. We We don't I mean for us as volunteers, we'll shoot anything you'll
give us. Um, that's our goal. I mean, if we're going to go there and, you know, our our budget for the year is $1,000. You know, that's just the show you're going to get. So, you know, so more is more is
better. Is there a problem? I do that. I don't think so. Okay. No, they used to raise they used to raise years ago. I remember businesses giving money especially towards the 4th of
July. Maybe it was the chamber. I can't remember. I know the Lions Club always took care of the main shooting on the August. But they also they also asked for money too. So sometimes you gave
money to that. I know I always sponsored me and Mike's Holiday always sponsored the printing of the Lions Club tickets. Um, and then other other businesses helped sponsor a lot of other stuff that were that the Alliance Club was doing, but the Fourth of July, I know the
Grammy State Bank used to sponsor the Fourth of July. Um, I think they did it all by the has given us money in the past. Yeah. No, I know. Right. Right. Right. I think a lot of businesses would want to do that, but
I I do, you know, especially Fisherman's Picnic. So many businesses are either like we always ran the fishing contest and you know there's the Lions Club really isn't the main driver of all the programs and activities and a lot of
businesses do but they do go on and ask for dollars too. I think they've not as much in the last couple years, but um I always feel like between the busyiness of it all and what they do, you get a little sensitive sometimes to for
businesses for them. There's a lot of it, you know. Yeah. Um though it's always appreciated. Um, you know, like even donating prizes for the which they don't do anymore, but they used to have like prizes for the um
bingo tent, you know, now it's cash, but right now it's cash. Yeah. And fisherman's picnic tickets, a lot of the prizes are donated. Anyways, we're getting off track, but takes a lot of power to do that, to go and, you know, round up money like that. It's, you
know, a lot of people think that's a real simple thing to do. you know, throw an ad out there that says, "Hey, help us out." Um, I have tried to get donations of of uh plastic bags to put over the top of the
mortars from businesses and been turned down. I mean, it's like $7 worth. But so anyway, I've purchased some myself and and we've all put some money into it just to make sure everything is safe and
works the way it's supposed to. So, Anyone else have any questions? No. So, yeah. Uh, Kim, so what you're saying is $10,000 puts on a display that um I guess we're we're accustomed to
having on Fourth of July. Is that what you're saying? Yes. Okay. Yeah. Based on today's what we're accustomed to having probably 10 years ago, it would give us back to that original display. I mean, it's been gradually getting smaller all
the time. um you know, so we shoot a lot of smaller stuff off because they're cheaper, but you know, we have the capability to shoot, you know, more 6 in and more 5 in, which um I don't know if
you guys are familiar with it, but the bigger the shell, the higher it goes, the bigger the the flare is. So, as you see a few of those during the fireworks display, most of them are re well most of them are are 3 in. So,
they're 300 ft high. The 6 in is 600 ft high and it's diameter is of course almost three times larger than a 3 in. So, makes a much better display. Um, I know Linda said she spent over
eight grand for that last Thanksgiving, Christmas. I mean, she said she'd already upped the money then. Yeah, I think they're at 4,200 is where they are for that one. She said it was more. Oh, well,
whatever. I don't think so. Okay. I know that all of the money, no matter who does it, because uh we're shooting as municipality, um there's a whole different set of rules through the state. Um a lot less
rules, let's say. If if I were to come in and uh if Mike and I were to come in and shoot as a licensed pyrochnics company, the cost would probably be four to five times more than
it is now for the same show. Okay. I'll wait for the money then. Um would anyone well an additional donation? Would anyone like to make a
motion for um donating fireworks and at what amount for 4th of July? Well, I'll make a motion to uh what was it? $4,000. Is that That's right. You
already Yeah, you already have five. So, that's nine. If Ben wants to contribute a thousand, that's 10. I'll make a motion for to um donate the 4,000. But I have a question. If you want to look ahead years to come,
um there's people who want to give money, then who or what account do you have that this money can go into to be used for this for the Fourth of July fireworks? Is that something the city's going to handle that account or is that you want a private person to handle that
money? Because I think that, you know, with some, you know, I think with the awareness that people might have about budgets and what's happening to this kind of thing, we'll we obviously want to keep it going and so maybe there'll be other people who want to give money maybe for next year, you know. So, I'm
just thinking how that can be handled. Well, on that same same note, it could go the opposite direction. So, yeah, people could decide they don't want to give money, then we're going to be back in here asking for this for the
right 5,000 again. We can we can hold the money. It might not be that we're the right people to hold it, but we certainly can. What we can't do is ask for it. And no, no, no. I'm not saying we ask for it. I'm just saying somebody wants to give somebody wants to give 500 bucks. If someone's asking, if someone's
actually wants to coordinate the asking part, they might might be better to figure out how to work with them and a local bank to hang on to it or maybe the chamber. Okay. Chamber be a perfect entity to do something like that, too. So, we'll be involved in whatever way is helpful, but there might be a better
fit. And talk to you a little bit about this, too. And someone has sat and greeted the public for quite a number of years. We all know that there's no other events here in town on Fourth of July, but it's a common question and obviously most
people are headed out to the West End, which has its own thing and but not everyone does and there's still plenty of people looking for something and the last thing I remember was a kids parade and that doesn't even exist anymore which maybe could with a safe walk
maybe they would have interest but anyways so then we said informally as a try maybe this year and especially with our Canadian neighbors, could we informally to try to see what we could do? And I did ask, could we maybe have a golf scramble at the local at our golf
course, could we maybe get the pickle ball group to have a little something because they're already playing back and forth. Same with informal volleyball. I just thought, could we just get a try without making it really big and then make sure we invite Andig also mentioned that because the
first is their holiday they tend to come down and stay that whole time. We thought it might work really well. So maybe if this starts to have a little something to it, then maybe there can be an organization and some you like, you know, organized better. Like where's the
money go? Or maybe the asks are easier to make if we can, you know, we don't have to make another huge thing, but things start small and maybe they're helpful to kind of have a few things or even if some food trucks could be
gathered in a spot. I don't know. Yeah. But I I've made one ask I got a couple more to make on that. So give it a whirl. I actually threw a motion about five minutes. Well, I would I would second
either one of those. So, either Ben's or I think we have one 4,000 by the city. Yeah, I think Craigs is the one we Yeah. So, I second. So, I'll second Craig's. Okay. Any further
discussion or questions? All right. I'm going to start with the roll call. Craig. I Bill. Hi. Hi, Michael. Hi. Okay, that's unanimous. One more thing accomplished.
Sort of. Perfect. So, when I did those applications last year, nothing had to be sent to the state. That was just a template. It just had to stay here. They didn't want to see it. I I send a I send something after the fireworks
are shot. I have one week to send in a safety report. Okay. That goes to the state. Mhm. Um, as long as I have uh Mike Ryden's signature on it, he is our licensed pyrochnics guy. I've been doing it for many years. So, I'm the
paperworks guy. He's our licensed guy. We work together just to make sure this happens and and uh eventually he will work into that part of it too, the ordering and all that kind of stuff. So, we just make sure we get the paperwork
sent in. The initial application which is now online is just needs to sit here with the city according to the state's website and I did that last year which is easier. Our biggest issue is once once I place the order
so I call in um talk to the rep that I have there. She puts together a package for me, sends it back to me. I make an approval. Um, once I send that request in, they
more this last time they said they sent it before they got paid and we had a few issues with with payment. They normally won't do that. So, they like paying ahead of time and they'll they'll send it. They've always, you know, they they
don't like to not let a fireworks display happen. Um, so they they really do work with me, but um, as long as I can get it into them two weeks before we need it, we're in good shape. Oh, then
we need that application completed. In this case, who's doing it? The city, I guess. Huh? I mean, before it was the Lions Club. I mean, for the not the purchasing, but the the actual
application. Yeah, that's that's just just a form that you fill out for your own, right? That might not be Well, but it's we're supposed to have it. Yeah. And that's what Patrick was supposed to Yeah. Supposed to approve it
and then we had to mess up with the checks last year. Okay. So, I will go ahead. I mean, if if this is what you want to do, I will go ahead and and get this all ordered and and so that they can put the program together and we'll
communicate to I don't know if it's VCC or chamber, but it's Mallalerie. Either way, yeah, event coordinator, we have a person. Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you.
All right. Su bluffs. Right. Well, thanks for having me everybody. I'm Mitch. Travis. Um, I think I've met most of you at some some way, shape, or form before, but um yeah, I I work in the role of the parks and trails coordinator for the county. It's
a it's a halftime position. um you know just kind of tasked with doing the duties of the Cook County Parks and Trails Commission. Um so yeah, I got a lot to bring forth to you today. Um so we did a survey back
in February for the Sawtooth Bluffs just to try to gauge community interest um kind of somewhat serendipitously. um this other issue with um a parcel that is adjacent that was kind of that is
private ownership that was in some way kind of dedicated to be an acquisition of the park. Um has kind of been going back and forth with the the county board as far as what's going to happen with it. Um yeah, and so I guess just to to
jump right into Well, maybe I should give a little context first. Um, try to make sure my screen. See if I remember how to do this. Is that working? Yeah. Okay. Um, you know, I mean, Sawtooth Bluffs
has been kind of an issue that's been going back and forth for quite a while, quite a while now. I think the original park plan was kind of started back in 2015. Um, and you know, essentially it was kind of a a guideline for what we could do with
it. Um, we, you know, as you guys are familiar, we we did kind of submit that to the Greater Minnesota Regional Parks and Trails Commission to see if they deemed it worthy of as, you know, feasibility for a a regional park. Um,
and so kind of the the reason I'm here today is just to talk about the Sawtooth Bluffs and what the city might be interested in as far as kind of reinvigorating the joint powers agreement. Um, and this kind of document the the process for developing Sawtooth
Bluffs is is kind of why. Um, so on the left you'll see in blue without Greater Minnesota Regional Parks and Trails Commission, we could develop the park. Um, it's it's kind of a more of a herkyjerky process which would require kind of a lot more involvement
for each piece that we build. um versus in green. Um we could kind of plan it all and then piece by piece kind of develop it a little more quickly. Um and you know just kind of I I guess to kind of get down to the meat of the
matter for the sake of brevity. Um once we kind of get get through the planning process for what Sawtooth Bluffs could be, it would kind of quickly put us into this little bit of a feedback loop where we could just kind of continue to choose components of the park, bring it to
Greater Minnesota um and and they would, you know, essentially block off legacy fund dollars to to complete the project versus like if we build a ple build a piece on the lefthand side, we just kind of got to do it, you know, one thing at a time and then we're back to the drawing board going back with figuring
out agreements between city and county with each component where if we did did it with the Greater Minnesota Regional Parks and Trails Commission, there's there's a lot of those benefits. Um and then um just to kind of highlight you know what the property we're talking
about. Um you know another another reason this is relevant as you can see is you know the the city of Grammaray property kind of is is the gateway to the you know the entirety of the parcel. You know we've we've got the city property in blue uh as it stands
now. I mean as it was originally planned. um access was, you know, slated to come in somewhere off of Fifth Avenue down here. Um get access up to here. You know, the plan did include things like a
campground, uh disc golf, mountain bike trails, hiking trails, other things like that. Um but just so you're aware, we're not locked into any of that. We it could all change if we, you know, agree on different things for through the joint powers agreement. Um, additionally, you
know, all of the the property that's outlined in blue, it's also city jurisdiction. So, I mean, even if we as a county wanted to develop it, I think we'd still be coming to the city for, you know, your blessing as to what we would like to do with it. Um, and again,
you know, just to highlight why this is, you know, coming up a lot more in the news cycle for us is, you know, Mr. chief has been granted this access approximate access on this yellow line here uh through a judge's ruling that happened last August. Um he intends to
develop this property if if the county cannot acquire it from him. So we're kind of trying to figure out a plan for that as well. Um you know if he wants to build the road he is entitled to do so but you know obviously it could interrupt some of the plans we had set
aside for it. Um, yeah. So, just so I'm not making any assumptions, when I look at the the beginning of his road access, I'm really looking at the towers. Mhm. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So, that that road access actually just skirts below the
the southernmost uh guywire for that northern tower. Okay. And then if we look at that bottom with the little skinny part, where exactly is that? Like like in relation to the
hospital or the dog park? I don't know. Yeah. So dog park is is right up here on the corner there of the Gunflint Trail. I'm not sure if you can see my cursor. Um that's where that is. Yep. And then yeah, just to the west of the hospital is is kind of where this skinny part is.
Um, as I said, kind of access was slated to be somewhere around here, but you know, obviously that's all subject to change. Mean the the main access to it. Well, for from the south, um, you know, in the plan there was also some
discussions of having an, you know, an access hub up off of Old Ski Hill Road. Um, okay. That's what I remember from earlier discussions things. Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, as the plan stands right now, like, you know,
like again, nothing's set in stone, but I mean, you know, a lot of kind of the campground area was kind of set to be on the below the ridge. Um, a couple of things like the disc golf course. um you know some hiking trails and and
things like that with you know some single track trails going up the hillside with I mean the only people would really be accessing it up there would be the mountain bike trail folks or anyone trying to get on the hiking trail um you know at this point but you
know again as I kind of intend to show you through some of the survey results I mean we are getting a lot of feedback from the community about preservation of the hillside rather than kind of doing larger more intensive projects. Um, you take
that for what it's worth. That's worth a lot around here. And the minute you guys brought this, well, the minute Thompson's house went up, I started hearing from people because they don't always know what city property and what's county property, right? But I think that's very true in this community
that that's I don't think that's an off statement at all. Sure. Um, but I thought, and this is where listening to Tim Kennedy a long time ago about this, I thought some of that was really slated to be on the upper. Yeah, that was my recollection, too, not in the lower
part. I think I I do have um the last version of the plans that were done, the master plan, showed a driveway coming in from Fifth Avenue. Yeah. Just above the city's reservoirs. And I think the idea was that there might need to be utilities extended for some of these
uses. And of course, you got to come from down there to do it. Sure. Yeah. But that's just a bubble drawing. Yeah. It's a long ways from a design. Well, and that's kind of where I mean, you know, we're, you know, trying to reinvigorate the discussion a little bit is, you know, if this isn't what the
community wants, um, you know, we as parks, trails commission feel it's important to set it aside, you know, because if a com a commission change or commissioner changes and, you know, things could be voted away fairly quickly for for sale or, you know,
whatever use is desired. So we don't necessarily have to develop it. Um it could be something that we have a very low you know impact on. Um you know doesn't have to be intensive trail building or anything like that. So
there were also conversations at the time about from the top joining this over to pin cushion. Is that part of the conversation too? I mean I think that's part of it. Again, you know, some of the feedback we received was, you know, we've got a lot of these amenities already going on at Pin Cushion. Do we
just want to create more of an access trail and yeah, certainly that that could be a conversation. I think we'd have to nail down exactly what that access would look like. You know, there's not I don't think there's an uninterrupted access route where I mean
like state or federal land that we could come up with an agreement on, but um potentially yes. Did I hear someone about to say something? I don't think so. Okay. Yeah. Again, just kind of showing a little more detail of that that chief access
that he intends to use. Uh we talked about this already. Um yeah, so our survey was fairly brief. We just asked nine questions regarding park development and then five kind of trying to get to the heart of the demographics. Um, I broke
it down, you know, into kind of folks who were full-time Cook County residents, um, part-time Cook County residents, frequent visitors, and, uh, folks who visit occasionally. Um, people from the Cook County area seem to, you
know, recognize that we had a plan for the park versus folks who are not from here didn't have so good of an idea about it. um just kind of right off the bat, how likely are you to visit or use a regional park if it's developed? Um so I
mean almost you know 58% of full-time Cook County residents were either likely or very likely to use the park and it just kind of goes up from there the the further away from Cook County you get. Um how important do you think it is to develop a regional park in Cook County?
I mean, I mean, you know, you can take this for what it is. You know, there's going to be folks on both sides of the argument. Um, you know, some folks just see other things as a higher priority like housing. Um, I would say Grand and the
EDA and H are doing a lot of strides in that regard. you know, um I think a lot of folks too were also afraid of, you know, costs incurred to the county um through developing the project that if we use the greater Minnesota path, we wouldn't be using
local funds for a majority of the development of the park. Um what other features did you want to see in the park? Um, so you know, this was kind of the common ones were down here, um, where I just selected a bunch, you know, walking, hiking trails, mountain
bike trails, ski trails, and you could select as many as you wanted. Some of the other common responses were, you know, we wanted to see some some motorsports. Um, a lot of folks wanted to see green or green space or low or no impact. Uh, again, focus on housing. Uh,
good contingent of folks wanted to see more winter sports available. You know, some folks were talking about glade skiing and maybe even having um you know, revitalization of the ski hill was a discussion. Um some folks wanted to see climbing. Uh beginner mountain bike
areas, picnic areas were also discussed. Um, yeah. So, you can kind of look at this in your own time, but essentially what I did was I just kind of took all of the comments from section 4 and highlighted them with, you know, if I received more than one, I would put an
asterisk next to it for each one I received. Um, just for space that is it sheath? Yeah, that piece of pro like how far out is that? Like a mile. It's Yeah, it's
pretty close. So, actually that that flagged alignment is about 4,000 ft to of road he would have to build along that access route to get back there. It's it's a lot of property. Um it is about a you know almost a mile walk back
in there. Well, in and out, I should say. So, if I go straight down on seven, am I a mile out? a half a mile. You're a mile out. So, okay, the Cook Countyy's section of the map that's outlined in light blue is the width of a section.
So, it's a mile and then his just goes beyond it. Okay. Like, man, is that half a mile if I divide that in half? Okay. one um individual um handed me some
model I don't know if that's I guess model zoning language I guess it would have been talking about view setbacks when you start to develop on a site like that and um is that something that could
be practically incorporated into some of this work just knowing the topography like I think you know, if you had the lower entrance and I think of that when it was the ski or now it's the runoff and whatnot. You know, nobody sees
that at all if you're standing there. Okay. Yeah. I mean, I guess to give some perspective, you know, right below she's parcel is is right about where like um Kim Pelam's property is. It's almost, you know, directly north of her
property. You can actually see some of those buildings from the top of that ridge there. So, it's fairly far west of town. Um, you know, it's not in the city limits, for instance. Just just outside. Just outside the city limits. Yep.
Well, are you just straight up? That is interesting. You know, you think it's a straight thing, but we already don't see some of the houses that are there now. They're fairly close. Obviously, there's one we do see, but it seems to me that that's something that some of these things could
potentially happen with with that in mind, how they're laid out. Right. Right. And I guess maybe it's important to point out that, you know, like regardless of what happens with Mr. She's parcel, I mean, all of the other property is still, you know, the park
plan still exists, you know, so these are separate but related, you know, um issues. Yeah. And I'm sorry I was jumping around. I just meant all the property that yeah when buyers since it's currently owned by the city and the county that gives us the most control
over what happens there. And the idea of developing it as a park is certainly the least impact idea of doing anything up there. I think of Pin Cushion's pretty high intense trail development and you really can't notice it from below. So,
I'm sure there's a way to do that here if that's what the community wants to see is not much at all. This is a good path to go down. Well, and like I think I heard the stats, right? It's pretty high percentage of of local people that would
be interested in utilizing it. It's not just something a draw outside. Not to say that it does seem to be the trend of where people are spending their recreation time. It's a shift, but you know, the biking and whatnot is
certainly right. And I mean, you know, as we go on, we'll kind of cover it a little more, but you know, a lot of folks talk about, well, it's just another amenity for tourists or it's, you know, um, you know, it's not going to be cost- effective for the taxpayers. You know,
like congestion and traffic and safety were other issues. you know, I mean, if the city is, you know, bumping up against issues with congestion, you know, of events and things like that, well, there's an opportunity to create some green event space up there for to
house some of the things that you guys do in the city often. Um, as well as the county, you know, I mean, and you know, again, just to point out that there's nothing set in stone about what the plan is at this point. It's just that was the idea back then. We could
come up with new ideas as to what you know what we want to do with it. I have two comments that I would um and I'm not opposed to more trails, but it seems like it's always easy to build trails and there's money available to
build them and then we struggle like hell to maintain them and eventually it always does come back to the taxpayer to figure that out. The other part with joint powers is we do have several joint powers agreements in place with the county that we're working
through. What does that look like to add another? And that's more of a question than a comment. That is a question that you as a council have considered from time to time too in the form of what are your priorities
and the other ones have risen to the top of that list whereas this one is not yet. still good to keep it keep talking about it as an issue and you know there will be a time when it's ready to move to that step.
You mean move to an actual agreement? Um Craig I know that Mitch had a chance to um present in front of the park board. Anything from that meeting you wanted to share? No, we had the same um Mitch, if I could stop sharing. Oh, sure. Yeah,
absolutely. Yeah, we had the same uh presentation. Um um probably more thoroughly. He went through the whole uh is that 2016? Is that when that first was created? 16 or 18? Yeah, I think it was
kind of f Yeah, started in 2016 and finalized around 2018. Yeah, we went through the all of that. We went through the um surveys that that were done. Um yeah, I don't know. There wasn't really
any decisions made by the park board other than that made us aware of, you know, what could be new ideas and what the old ideals were. And it all ultimately comes down to the city council and and moving ahead with
something or setting up joint powers agreement with the county. Um, I don't mean to interrupt. I guess that was Yeah, I just wanted to say, you know, I mean, at my opportunity to speak at the park board, I kind of recognized that I
didn't really ask for anything, you know, and I mean, seeking a recommendation from the park board should have been something I did at the time. Um, I'm still think we need to do that. I think it was fine to just inform the park. That's all we're doing today, too, is keeping the council up to speed. There's no ask yet. True. No, I was just
asking. No, I just think it was it was more it was moreformational, you know, to bring this whole thing back to the surface again and because there's been people that have changed it out on some of these boards now and stuff. So, it's just to uh wipe the slate clean and look
at what was actually on the docket at that point in time. Mhm. Yeah. So it was more of a discussion and a a showing and a viewing, you know, to us. And Ben, your concern was definitely
high on the list of concerns then too when the last version of this master plan was done that it might be a lot easier for us to find funds to build than it would be to continue their maintenance. And so there was a model that was discussed then which was there
wouldn't be anything developed that didn't have a designated user group that was behind it, that was going to be maintaining it, that was going to be planning it, working on getting funding for it if in cooperation with us maybe, but also on their own as well. Uh, I
mean, that's no guarantee that that issue doesn't exist in the future. But we did uh start developing the property that way even before we had this conversation finished with the dog park. It's kind of our model for how that might work. It's a local entity. They
raised the funds to do the improvements. They had a contract with us that says what they're responsible for and what we're responsible for. It's really been pretty painless for us and it's been a good service. And I think we were hoping that that model would work where we
could have user groups that are developing features that way. It's not an amenity for tourists only. It's something that there are people here that are passionate about that want to work on. And if not, then won't happen. Well, and to speak to that just a moment
too. Like I mean, you know, part another part of the reason why I'm here is, you know, I think it there was it was the desire of the city that, you know, the county kind of had this project and, you know, to show a little good faith. They wanted to see that someone was in this position. So, here I am.
Additionally, um you know, the county did put $30,000 in their budget to, you know, start the process of planning, you know, and so trying to be efficient with the use of those dollars, you know, and and trying to bring it back up to the
surface and, you know, see if we can put some put the money towards that use or if we should dedicate it to something else. And that money would probably be spent on taking what we have that we're
calling a master plan, turning it into what is an acceptable master plan to get regional designation like we just did at the rec park. Right. Okay. What do you think that would cost for that
uh that survey work to be done? I mean the rec park was what is it 60 more than 30 by quite a bit and and yeah I think part of that is that the property has a lot more going on right
now so there's quite a few more details to put into maps for instance u but we also had a master plan the park that we were modifying whereas in this case it's all kind of fresh and new so my guess would be quite a bit more than
But we should go out and ask somebody know for sure. Do access to those legacy fund dollars on a project like this would it does it compete with some of the other aspirations that we would have for those funds compete with everybody else whose
legacy fund but you statewide. But also if we've got two regionally designated sites locally, we're not going to get money for both of them at the same time. They're competing with each other for sure. But these are asks, incremental asks. Is
that what I'm reading from you, Charlie? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like you could, you know, a component of the park that you have in your plan would be something that they would dedicate the funds towards. Yeah. One piece kind of like we're doing with the rec park, right? Yeah. Incremental is one way to look at
it. But when we're thinking about what that means, we don't want to go with a small ask. We want to go with as big an ask as we can come up with uh at the rec park park and that's what Dave and park board's going to work on this year is figuring out okay in our capital
improvement plan what's the next thing probably bath house 3 and the wreck hall being reconstructed and then what part of that is worthy of an ask and but that's incremental because that's not the whole master part. Yeah, it's
incremental because I don't think the legacy funds would give us money. I don't think they have enough money to pay for everything that the wreck park would do and we're not expecting the state to fund the whole w park park. We're just looking for some recognition of its regional significance which we've received and but there's certainly
another layer to that when you have a competing property that you're also going to try to be looking at. Right. So just meant that you know maybe like the like the park is folks in this now and maybe another year they're doing you know kind of a little bit that way. I see that's all
I meant. Not in the same year. Well for sure the timing would need to be worked out and I think there's no problem with that because we're the owners of both and so we get to decide about the timing. Yeah, I I do, you know, I mean, if we wanted more information on that, I do I
do sit on a commission with the director of greater Minnesota and I could, you know, may bring inquire as to how they dedicate those funds, you know, from year to year, but their pockets are very deep, you know, so and I know that it was just voted, you know, the legacy fund was voted to be, you know,
continued. So, so we have to buy continue to buy a lottery ticket. Doesn't seem to be a problem with that. Seems like it happens. Yeah. Um did we want to continue? When you say
development, this uh land owner, what uh what do you know? What type of development? Um he is currently subdivided it into eight lots intended for residential use to my understanding. How many acre sites are those that there's uh believe it's I believe
they're 10 acres 10 acre parcels. It's Yeah, it's 80 acres total. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So, he's got All right. You got a map of their map. And you guys have what I read
outside of this. He has a price he's willing. He's willing to work with the county. He just wants us at this point it's a price. Yeah. So I I mean obviously being a businessman he didn't want to lose on his investment and kind of the agreement that you know what he
paid for the land versus what the Minnesota Land Trust was going to give him for it was you know a third of what he paid. And so he obviously was looking to break even at the very least. And um at one of the more recent county board
meetings um a price of $475,000 was was thrown out. And um my recollection is I think by if it's December one I think that um first payment has to be issued on that to my
understanding. So otherwise the purchasers the Minnesota land trust. No. Um Mr. chief has said that he well there's been a lot happening. I mean he's also seeking to possibly make it into a scientific and natural area. Um
possibly looking to sell it. Um but he's still got you know he he has a lot of road to build and a lot of utility line to lay before you know those would be um really developable for kind of your
standard home. Yeah, an awful lot. 4,000 ft. Yeah, I did that already at Kimo Lake with that telephone. It can be done.
So, you do have a timeline with him though to be able to work. The county has a timeline with him. The Yeah. The county has a timeline essentially to kind of let him know what their intent is and with some funds being dispersed by
December one was my understanding of the of Mr. Chief's desire. So, has anybody looked at the wetlands on that yellow line? Uh, I was over I've been on the chief's parcel um a couple of times. Once with Mr. chief and once with a
couple of commissioners and um it is all developable. I mean you could put there's eight good build sites. I'm talking about the the road right away. Oh yeah. Oh yes. I I walked that with him, you know, on that day that we met up there, too. And there are some
wetlands, but um you could work around them. I think the bigger thing that my expectation would be is like they'd have to have a pretty good storm water plan in place for a road of that size with that amount of material. Um I mean you're talking about almost a mile of
road and probably several thousand cubic yards of material all of a mile by the time you get across this property. Right. But yeah, I mean I just to speak to the wetlands piece. I mean, there are some some impacts that would occur, but
nothing extensive. I assume we'd want to see a delineation though before any of that happens. I assume we want to do that as part of the master planning process for instance. Maybe. Um, I mean most of the hillside once you kind of get below the northern,
you know, I mean it's it's a big ridge, you know, kind of once you get on the south side of the ridge, there's not much wetlands to speak of. Um there are some kind of down near the um the reservoirs there um off of Fifth where
you know kind of just west of the dog park. I think that would be the the bulk of the impacts to develop the property would probably happen there. Um, you know, but again, it if we're just putting an access road in, maybe it's only a couple thousand square feet
and something I could administratively deal with as you know, also the wetland administrator for the county. So, what I mean you have your diagram, but what is the next immediate step for the county? Is it just a focus on that property or is there another that's kind
of taking its own trajectory? Um, whatever happens with that will happen. Um, I think, you know, my, um, I'm, you know, just here because this $30,000 has been set aside and I, you know, we have,
you know, we'd like to start dedicating some funds within the budget year and figure out what we should focus on. Um, however, I mean, as you can kind of see, we're kind of handcuffed until a joint powers agreement occurs. I can't really
go making big plans with anything as far as, you know, what we want to do until we get buyin from the city, you know, start appointing the joint powers board to kind of steer it. And I guess, you know, that's another thing to maybe denote is that that joint powers agreement kind of lays out, you know,
appointing this joint powers board and they kind of then steer the ship as to what's going to happen with with Sawtooth Bluffs. [Music] Is that used to have one of those? What's that? We used to have one. We
did. What happened to Well, they stopped working on this because wasn't a priority. Okay. But I mean, this was this last plan was developed by a board of people that were appointed by the city and the county. Very much like what
we're talking about, what I'd say the next iteration of the joint powers board would be. Wait, so can it just be revived what we had? I don't think it would be a lot of work to get uh the joint powers agreement updated and looked at if that
was something that was important for people to work on. Gotcha. And so do is that happen on our side or that happens on Well, I think we wanted it to happen on their side.
Um that might be a lot to ask right now with transitions that they've had in leadership at the county. So I would acknowledge that as well. But you know um how how that would happen I'm not
exactly sure but you know again the money's out there and we should we kind of feel like you know some desire to figure out which path we should take you know and if it's not towards this then you know we have a comprehensive
trails plan and you know as Ben mentioned it's you know we recognize that trail use is, you know, it's one of the big draws in Cook County, especially in the winter months. And we've got an aging population of volunteers. And I
think, you know, one of the things that the county has highlighted is that there's a need for more of a central entity to kind of manage all of these amenities that are getting used um very extensively by by visitors. and you know just making sure that we don't lose
those amenities that we have in Cook County because you know we we just don't have a lot of folks to keep them up anymore. So I think the chicken egg argument about should we do the joint powers first or do we can we do that after we've
developed the plan a little more we've gotten stuck on that and I don't think it's necessary for us to get the joint powers completed to work together to do a master plan on the property if that's something that was interesting to people. We could we
could go back and try to get some more information about what would that scope of work look like and what what it might cost and how it might get paid for it and come back with some information like that. We don't have to do the joint powers first. Okay.
You might be asking the same thing. You don't. Then you're good. Well, I I'm just wondering what the hes I mean, I got Ben's points which are really good. Is that the main hesitation to joint powers? I mean, what what is
the hesitation of not I think the only hesitation was it wasn't anybody's top priority. So, we worked on other things. Okay. I thought maybe there's some key item. I don't think there was really any disagreement about how it might work or what might do. It was just a question of resources of is this what we want to
spend our time on and that's kind of the question that's still on the table and the county saying we're they're asking it too and if we're willing to be a part of this they'll keep looking at this and if not they're going to spend their time on some of those too. I didn't know if like part of it powers got into
maintenance costs you know got into that detail level. So I thought well maybe that was a reason why it hadn't moved forward. I mean so the the then the main potentially the county is which we've known from our other twin agreements as
a little buried right now. Um so maybe do we know if they want that to rise to the top? Yeah, I mean obviously so I mean the parks and trails commission is just an advisory commission you know and obviously you know we've been getting a
lot of feedback through surveys that you know okay we should work towards preservation of this and you know this sheath parcel has kind of brought that into the spotlight is you know well if we don't do something with it you know we run the risk of you know some
future change in that landscape and I not to say that that's going to happen. But if preservation is what we're striving for, we can do this through this process. Um, you know, so it is multiaceted. I'll agree. But it's um I think that's kind
of one of the main drivers is just well I if one it's on our comprehensive trails plan that we should be carrying it forward and and two, you know, I think it's there's some folks in the community who kind of see an urgency in preserving it. Um, I would say there's
more people in the community that are interested in housing development than there are preserving, which I don't see as an eitheror. No, maybe not. But when you commit the land to right to some purpose or some joint powers, then
you are seeking some of that authority over that and that particular land. Got it. The housing question was was uh also front and center both the last time this master plan was worked on and really the
first time it was worked on in 2000 as well and even at that time in 2000 they identified the spot on the property that that was best suited for development was in the southeast corner and I think that was kind of even more put a fine point
on the last time we looked at it in be inside the curb of the gunland And it has been used now for housing. It has been dedicated to and is being developed for. Right. That's the most suitable because it's not very high up the hill, which is good for the folks
that are concerned about views, but also because that's where the utilities are and it would be fabulously expensive to try and bring the utilities anywhere else on that property. Yeah. Okay. I'm just trying to get to like we
don't sit on like is there is there some something we should be doing or is it getting back to the fact that like we haven't moved the rest of the joint powers conversations forward because we we're understanding that and I know you're just an advisory group but
because right now the county is just waiting to get a full-time administrator back and just kind of get back to normal. And is it that the the 30,000 you mentioned it is that money going to go away or I mean so it's in the budget
now so it was budgeted for this year or it's just a hold over from before No it was budgeted this year for this kind of specific use it was Sawtooth Plus kind of whatever iteration of development or planning that we wanted to use it towards. Mhm.
I think it's worth us at least gathering a little more information about how we could partner with the county to use that money and what it might take for us to be a part of that before you have to make a decision about whether this
is time to set this down or or to reinvest in it. Yeah, I would I would be interested in finding out more. Yeah, I think just by the nature of having Tim Kennedy on the council before, we we were kind of more aware of
some of this than Well, I think he was wasn't the on parks and trails. I mean, well, no, there's there's been different versions of that too, right? And he's actually been on the states version of it and the county's version of it and the joint city and counties version of
it as the council. Yeah. So yes, he definitely kept it in the forefront. Even then when the council was asked to make priority decisions, this wasn't a high priority for them. Got it. So last time you were talking about your priorities, you looked at this and you
said, well, it's not a high priority in the sense that the housing is, but it's not off the table either. And so the way I interpreted that is if pieces come together where it makes sense to work on this, we might want to do that. A lot of it seems exploratory anyways at
this point. I mean, you had a plan and then now potentially need to create a new one. Seems like we should be at the table with that, not and whatever we information we glean from residents or whatever, you know, we
should just be a voice, not not there wouldn't be helpful, I don't think. That's why I was wondering if the park board had any thoughts that way? Whatever the park board, I mean, I think it makes a lot of sense to keep them
informed about this. We've also tried to make our staff available to assist in limited ways about this. Um, but your concern, Ben, about the costs of maintaining this? I think there's a there is a sense at a staff level that
we don't want to take on more of this than we're capable of right now with our existing staff. Even at a planning level. Uh, and I'm sure the park board is imagining, are we going to be asked to maintain this in the future? And that's not, nobody's asking that right
now, but it's not inconceivable for that conversation to occur. So, it happens. Yeah. Yeah. It needs to be planned. For sure. It does. Well, and there's a lot, you know, within the master plan process for greater Minnesota, like you know, the whole operations and costs and all those
sorts of things are kind of laid out in the that whole planning process. And so this they're not keen to give dollars unless you have a real, you know, good idea about how they're going to be spent. To me, that helps with the local competing interests because we're ready
to go at the rec park. We're going to have mask this year and that there's no chance of that occurring at Sawtooth Plus. As fast as we could possibly move, it's not going to get close to that. No, no. I Yeah, I mean, we still we would
have to go through everything you just went through with the park, you know, wreck park is essentially what we have yet to do. Um, so it might be more than a couple of years even if we started today. Well, and you know who are the people
that look up on that hill most of the time? It's the residents of this community. Not that everyone else who doesn't come and go looks too as well, just like you're always looking at the lake. But I don't know at all sides. It just seems like we should be at the table on this conversation
much some way, shape, or form. But it would it would be nice to to hear officially from the county commissioners what they view because they because they are in a busy busy time like what are they right where is it sitting for them I I you know
it it's it is an interesting time you know they're focused a lot on hiring an administrator and um I think you know Reena is keen on leaving this decision to be made for the next administrator um but yeah you know I'm just here doing
the tasks assigned to me and trying to inform you guys and see where your guys' interest stands and um keep you informed So, I thank you for having me. Um, Bell Treeboard, I mean, they looked up at some of this property on the hill,
right? Does that have any cross over at all that you think of from all that work? I don't think they really got deep in the woods looking physically. I think they used remote sensing things. But
yeah, I think they'd be interested in preserving it as a natural area or a green space. Yep. Okay. Um well, as we know, as Ben pointed out,
our other joint powers agreements haven't had much traction this year, so I would assume we might not hear anything in the immediate on that. But the potential is there. Y and um there's always next year.
Oh boy. And two, I mean, if if the city is at all interested in, you know, just writing up an agreement to figure out how to plan it, you know, whether that's to hire a landscape architectural firm to, you know, kind of kick off the process for us, too. Um, you know, maybe
that's another route as kind of Mike was was saying. Yeah. Okay. Any other questions? Anything I can I'm going to take that as the rest of us here in the council are good for right now for things to ponder and Yeah. I appreciate you bringing this to
us. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's helpful. Yeah. Yeah. It's good. It's it's an interesting thing to get get a herd of people moving in the same direction, you know, and so um if there's anything I can do, just let me know. You know, we're Could you send that survey over to
Patrick so we can I don't think I've seen that uh the PowerPoint presentation. Yeah, just the survey we saw. I'd be curious to read that. Maybe I just saw them. Yeah, I think he hasn't. That would be helpful.
to have that. And when are those survey results from? Uh we did it we started in February and kind of ended it in early March. I So now it was like three weeks. Yeah, it was recent. Yep. That was just
No, I think I did. Excusing you. Oh, yeah. We did get pretty good response. you know, we got about 480ish responses and um kind of across the spectrum of of interest. Um you know, I think we barely show that you know, it the percentage is
slightly in favor of, but um you know, certainly it's got to work for all of the community. So, what were the p like just real quick like percentages of respondents that were local versus Yeah. Um that's a good question. Sorry to pin you. No, no. I I don't know if I have
that right off the top of my head, but I think it was like Let's see. I don't know if I have that right off the top of my head for you, Ben, but I think it was like I want to say it was like 280 locals versus other, you know, and like part-time residents, you know, were
here like less than 180 days a year. I was okay. You know, I I have it broken down, but I don't have it immediately available. Oops, my computer went to sleep. Okay, so we're good with that. All right. All right.
Thank you very much. It's nice for you to take the time. That's always helpful to have a conversation. All right. I believe that was our last I gotta get up to the top here. That was our last item. Y if I could get the thing to work, I
just go to page one, but um All right. Uh you had a piece of paper just council I did, right? I left a piece of paper today. Um council and staff reports.
Oh yeah. Did was there anything bad? I can't remember. Oh yes, it was Bor Yorkberg 2.0 back again for another round. Um yeah, Yorkberg came to our meeting um and was
there mean all the same stuff from before um with some changes. Um they were looking what they took away from what what we all said in the council. The two things that they took away were um the looking at the
infrastructure coming in and out or coming out I guess of their property going to other properties around them that that had been one of the issues that that we had brought to them and they had a plan they had an idea of how to to address that.
um you know they they were going to well the idea is to have easements for adjacent properties um to hook up to their utilities. So still, but so in this way it would come in from that south uh
southeast corner and then they would allow for it to go different places and they showed a couple of spots where people had made mention I think that they were interested possibly in hooking up to utilities and so they showed a couple of places where that might
happen. Um the the challenge we ran into is there wasn't a full explanation of what that would look like and how that would work like who you know who pays who maintains how much it's going to cost
the adjacent land owner etc. Um and then the other thing that they offered too was to pay a flat amount of money for the development of Third Street at you know they kind of
took the total that they had seen that we had gotten and took like a quarter of it and said okay we'll pay a quarter of it. Um and Ben what else do you have to add to that? Um, yeah, it was it was interesting to
to to hear it back. I would I would say well, first I'll say that we have a another meeting with them. Yeah. Next week. So, so we did not come to conclusions because we didn't I watched we wanted you watched the movie. So, we
wanted to hear more about those issues. Um, you know, there's an opportunity obviously as there always is for some questions or feedback or whatever. I mean, I think everybody has been involved in it. We've all known about it. So, if you want to ask some questions about it, we can certainly have those questions uh for for the
developer. Um the planning board is very like we want to like we want to make sure that we vet this thing in the best possible way so that um so that if it comes to the city
council, you know, we we give you a good project that that we we feel like it's vetted. So, um, the easements were a question. The money on the road is a question. There was another question about how this money they have some
rural monies available, some grant funding that they've they can buy down the price of some lots, five homes. Yeah, there was a question of whether or not they're going to use those or not. Um, be awesome if they did. Um, so I
think there was some conversation about that and and overall that's that's where we're at. Yeah. I mean, they did, you know, want to really like push it through to to council, but it really wasn't ready. Um, and I don't think it
would have gone well. Yeah. Yeah. And they didn't really it wasn't as complete as what we had received before. So there were there were some missing elements that would have been nice nice to see um that were just weren't there.
So they are um so yeah we adjourned without taking any action and they're going to come back next week um for another another goound I think so right is that still that was how we left that is the current plan.
Okay. Yeah. I do not yet have their further developed information. I know they're working on it. Okay. Uh, I've asked for it by this week to give you some time to look at it before next week. Yeah. So, assuming that that happens, then yes, we're on. If that
doesn't happen, I'll let you know. Yeah. And what's our It's the 60-day time frame. Where did that start? Uh, not that long ago. We don't have We're concerned about timing yet. If y if they do manage to provide you
information and you are able to make a recommendation next week, there's no need to talk about that. If they don't, then we will extend it. Okay. Got it. Yeah. You know, this is their deadline. It's not the planning's deadline. It's not the council's deadline. So, I'm
hoping that a good project, right? they take the time to get the information and not rush to meet a deadline that they have imposed upon themselves. You know what I'm saying? It felt like the like the the information that they presented was a little rushed because
they did leave out a number of details about, you know, storm water, etc., right? Like maybe just thrown together quick thinking, I don't know, it went through here before it'll go through again. But um yeah, so I just hope that because
it's their deadline, it's nothing we need. It's not the 60-day whatever. I hope they're doing what, you know, giving themselves the time to to get what it is they need. Yeah. And conversely, we did the same thing. We wanted to make ourselves available as a planning board because we want we we're
aware and sympathetic to like, hey, there is a building season. there are these things that we you know if we want to be you know business friendly and development friendly we want to we want to you know coordinate but well and I did you know I did listen to it and I did hear the last comments to which he
said they still had a lot of work just even on financing to you know they're not ready to put anything in the ground yet so and we have a developers agreement to work through right so this is not the this you know wherever there's still a point of step so you
know I know what you mean about the seasonality, but I don't think they're close no matter what. It's just what we heard. Yeah. Right. Yeah. I But but I think they also heard heard from us and they heard from council even last time. Um you know there is support for for the
idea generally. Um we just need to have certain things addressed. So I think that they did hear Yeah. like Yes. But yeah. Well, good. Thanks for all of your work. No, it was it was a good meeting.
It was a long It was a good one. Yeah. Probably be a long one on Wednesday. Yeah. Well, maybe not. Maybe not. Or maybe not. Maybe. Yeah. Yeah. You know, don't know yet. Anything else? No. That was library board or anything? Nope. Nope. All
right. Well, we met with the aid animal rescue last Thursday and going over the agreement with the city. I think we're really close to working out the final details and they seem like like they're
in a good spot with that. So, and we meet again as a group tomorrow. Good. Anything else? Well, I went to the planning and zoning, too, and we exhausted that, but yeah. Okay. Planning and zoning. Uh, and we,
um, let's see, we've got a North House meeting on Thursday, board meeting, and then of course next Wednesday, HR. So, nothing else to report. Okay, Craig. Yeah, we had a um public utilities commission meeting
May 7th and the items on the agenda were um water plant control modifications and the wastewater sludge management. Um, and what that boils down to is our water management system has some
malfunctioning electronic components to it that need to be um I guess updated and made into compliance so that uh um they can work with Scott Scott
Warner's computer so it'll all talk with his computer. And there's quite a few things on that list that will help the water treatment plant operate more efficiently. Um that's part of the issue he's having
with bringing things on board to function better. And the other uh part of that uh was the wastewater sludge management. And basically what that is is every time we extend our our our sewer lines, I
guess, you know, we have to make application to the MPCA. And when they do make application the MCA, they look at our sludge levels and if our sludge levels aren't being monitored correctly, we're in violation. Um and so he worked out
a different program to how to manage the sludge levels. Uh more flushing of the sludge and uh which has definitely helped um between moving the sludge between the
clarifiers and getting it ready to where it has to be hauled. Um so he came out with a plan that he has implemented with the people that work at the uh wastewater treatment
plant which is working quite well and um looks like um we're not having any issues like we had before. Uh, so, um, Scott seems to be on top of a lot of things and I think he's a it's a good good guy to have working at that
facility right now. It's been working out really well. Um, anybody any questions on on the technical issues of that? I read those. I think that's great. That that software, whatever you need to do,
it's the right thing to do. Yeah, it's expensive, but it's it was installed by a company that has to come back and do it because it's kind of like one of those private rights things where you've got to have you got to use them to get access to the system. And once we get access to the system, um we'll be
able to do some of that stuff in the future by ourselves with just, you know, probably some consulting rather than actual putting a technician up here for a week to work on things. Um you just
have to get updated, right? You just Right. Yeah. And then you'll be good to go. Yeah. Yeah. Um let's see. The other meeting I had was a parks board meeting and um campground opened May 1st and I
guess we're looking at a very busy uh big Memorial Day weekend. They're already sold out. Um Dave, like Mike had already mentioned tonight, um Dave has been meeting with uh Mike Fischer from LHB to discuss the
bathroom project. And also with that is the um the uh parking area there, the trail head parking area. And so if everything gets put together correctly there, we can actually make application to the Greater Regional Parks and Trails
Commission. um that application closes in July and I think we haven't ruled out making that deadline. I guess we'd like to make that deadline. Um uh let's see what else did we have to
say here. We already had the meeting with the Get Your Gam Trail Head parking lot people. That was on 12th. Uh uh the marina needs a new gas pump. The gas pump broke down and so we're getting a new gas pump installed at the marina. That was one of the repairs that we
talked about. And also a uh our uh our utility cart that we use to drive around town and to work on and do things with is over 20 years old and I think they're looking towards purchasing a new cart. It's a Yamaha cart and uh that was
one thing we're going to replace in the park. Um let's see. That's about all I have with the the parts report. Um, everything is going well at the golf course. I'm not sure. I'm sure that opened by now. I'm not sure what the
opening date was on the golf course. Opening date is Friday. Okay. This week. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So, get up there and shoot your golf before the sandflies carry you away. Hope it's Hope it's dry for a little while. Well, I want I want rain
for the fires, that's for sure. But yeah. Um it's it's always fun to golf in the spring. Um no bugs and uh things are usually in pretty good shape. So good. Thank you. Yeah, that's all I got,
I guess. Thank you. I apologize I couldn't make last month's uh our last meeting family issues, but um uh let's see. So I I did the opening along with Ann Sullivan for the um
annual emergency services. You you were there for part of that. Yeah. For that um I've had two meetings for the Northshore Management Board. One was more local internal one and then we had our regular quarterly meeting. There's lots of conversation
about board purpose, how to move forward, how to have money to fund itself. um just bigger bigger conversations than I had in a while with them, including their management plan revision. Um so I
anticipate well we've we've actually decided to meet monthly for a few months to get some of these things worked out. Um so it was a little bit livelier than most. Um, uh, Brady Powers asked to meet with me
down here, um, because I'm often running the, um, east precinct for our elections in in the, um, commissioner's room and he wanted to know if it would function well down here. So, we met down here and of course
there's measurements for distances and where everything has to be set up and they were really excited and says it would fit perfectly. So, um, we'll very possibly see the east precinct elections be handled down here for the city and not in the commissioner's room. And part
of that has to do with some changes in equipment they're using and the need for them to work more efficiently to be in the commissioner's room when they're doing the rest of the county and counting and and some new balloting machines. So, that's kind of exciting.
Lots of people want to use um our new space. And we also hosted the community leadership meeting the other week and um like that went well. Um basically it was around the room asking how different um groups, the hospital, whatever uh the
city, the county offices might be affected by the changes in fundings coming um at the higher levels on down. So that was the kind of just a round robin informal on that. um had went to the cannabis. Were you at
I couldn't quite Were you I had another meeting. All right. So, I went to that this morning. Not much for us relating to the city because we're pretty well prepped. What I did discover is the county has yet to put in their events ordinance. So, that we got ours. Yes. I
mean, like we we're they can copy kind of all set. They can. Not only can they, but we also said to Jean if she would like to spend some time talking to David who wrote our ordinance and some other cities ordinance, be happy to make that connection. Yeah. So, but they've got
their hands full up there. Yeah. Right. So, most of the conversation came from health and human services and um programs that they're they're running for tracking and all that. But other than that, and then there was talk about
when to meet again and if even July being busy time would be a good time. I think they decided they would. They would anyway. I think so. I have to remember. Okay. I could do an whatever. Yeah.
So, yeah, I think that's everything. There we go. And everything I forgot. Thank you everyone. We are done for the night. Thank you, Chris. Thank you. Have a good night. Thanks everyone. Good night. Good night
everybody. Good night.