##VIDEO ID:WKJ2Y1Qyqaw## before if you could all join me in pledging Allegiance and flag I pledge 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 thank you everybody uh all of the members of the city council are present uh first item on the agenda is to approve the agenda chair would entertain a motion to approve the agenda I'll make that motion we have a motion by councelor Holden do we have a second second second by councelor Wagner discussion hearing none call the question hi I I I I'll vote Yes motion carries 5- Z go to the minutes of August 19th chair would entertain a motion to approve those minutes I'll move we have a motion by councelor Holden or I'm sorry Council Kaylor second second by councelor wigner discussion hearing none call the question I I I I I'll vote Yes motion carries go to the payments and claims we have a resolution before you International Falls transfers going from the 101 general fund in the amount of $1,142 46 and that's coming from the 812 lodging tax fund accounts payable International Falls claims of [Music] 67,5 66 airport commission claims of $ 78,2 16840 and Airport major Capital project claims of $95,100 the chair would entertain a motion to approve the resolution uh for the payments and claims I'll make that motion we have a motion by councelor Holden do we have a second a second second by councelor Buller discussion I I oh all he none none no discussion easy well I got another meeting hearing no no questions call the question I I hi hi yes motion carries 5 Z go to audience is there anyone in the audience that would like to bring anything forward that's not on the agenda please can you come up and state your name and uh informate or address so Nathan Myers 1310 9th Avenue um for the past 6 weeks because of medical issues I've been having to walk around town um what I've been noticing is there are a lot of areas in town where you physically cannot walk on the sidewalk you have to walk on the street because the bushes Hedges are so overgrown that you can't walk um there are also Vehicles parked on the sidewalks that you have to walk out into the street to get around just coming up here tonight for the meeting on 9th Avenue there are three vehicles parked out into the sidewalk that you have to walk down the street it creates an unsafe condition for pedestrians walking around especially elderly that are trying to get exercise they will have to hop off the curb and then hop back onto the curb or just like I've been doing walking down the street which is very dangerous right uh City administrator is there who would we have at the city that would be is that the building official for the the bushes and the Hedges would it be Police Department bushes and hedges we would work with Public Works um they would look into whether that they're in the right way and then possibly working with then the housing flight folks to um ticket if needed but I would start with Public Works see if what's in the right away what would be our responsibility first um as far as the vehicles over sidewalks that is Police Department enforcement okay yep thank you thank you thanks anybody else have anything to bring forward there will also be an opportunity uh later in the meeting uh we'll go to Old business we have uh the second and final reading of an ordinance section 2-9 salaries of the mayor and councel um chair would entertain a motion to have the second reading I'll make that motion we have a motion by councelor Wagner I'll second it have a second by councelor Holden discussion and when would these take effect it has to be after a uh after an election so this would be in January next year january1 2025 okay correct thank you all right uh it the salaries themselves are not going up it's per DM rate uh it would be $55 per additional meeting which uh legitimately we have uh um one meeting a month on the third uh third Wednesday or third Monday of the month that's when we kind of break out of a vast majority of our our meetings specialty meetings yep uh hearing no other questions call the the question no I I I and I will vote no as well motion carries three for the motion two against the motion all right we'll go to the consent agenda approve the separation of employment with Zach scoffield effective August 21st 2024 uh chair would entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda so we have a motion by councelor Buller second second by councelor I cannot think of your name Kaylor that T's throwing you off yeah it is it really is all right there's no uh call the question hi hi hi I'll vote Yes motion carries 5 Z next we'll go to new business Sharon ball resident wants to discuss a incident at the Falls Bass Tournament do you want to please come up I really do this so so I just had a couple of questions um because nobody ever told me and I was one of the people involved I filmed the cutting of the tree the whole thing and nobody ever told me anything and I was just wondering what the council is doing with it did the council approve for the bass fishing tournament to start cutting on trees even though it's against city law state law and federal law um that day in the park Public Works was in the park cutting down cutting tree limbs for the well I was right there filming it no and they weren't the ones they were not the ones that that that cut that particular they get permission ahead because I have one of the bass fishing tournament people coming over and saying the city had given them permission but that would not be possible unless you had a city council meeting and you all approved it correct according to the statute no Public Works Public Works is the one who was it approved they were cutting the trees down that day for the vendors I was sitting right there I I understand that that's okay so that's that's approved then you can they can do that without consent correct I just want to get this on record you're saying it can be done without bet please tell council meeting thank you mayor council um earlier in the day Public Works was working with vendors they had Trimm trees all along the vendor area that specific vendor at that time had not spoking with public works but as soon as Public Works seen the situation they went right over there spoke with them explained to them that you know they can't just do it themselves they asked if they needed anything further that they would assist them okay so they did not have permission which according to the state statute and federal law states that they cannot cut down cut branches off of any tree without City council's approval in advance that is what your statute reads I would think you would know that that's false pardon me that's false no it's not false you can look it up right on on I understand the statute you're looking at but that's did they approve it you want me to answer it the answer is I already know the answer did you just said they did not approve it ahead correct they don't the prire approval okay but they did not have approval when they started cutting those branches down that's my only question yes or no did they have permission to cut those branches off the answer is yes they had permission you just said okay so which one of you is is they had permission you are if you let me answer the question okay I will be sending this video in then would you like her to answer the questioned no because this is lie they had permission maybe not before to answer your first question let me finish go ahead then stop talking excuse me but I'm a citizen are you yelling at me and telling me to stop talking did I raise my voice yes you are do you want to see me raise my voice would you like to here's the answer you're on TV right yes do Sharon I've worked I know you don't Rec recognize me but I've gone to your business for years I know you very well and I understand you're upset don't care about anyone I Shar if you'd like to hear the answer let her answer the question I understand you're upset the answer is did they have permission prior to starting cutting the answer would be no okay that's all I wanted that is not a violation of State Statute if the city comes in after and says it's fine because you know who has to issue the citation and who has to press that charge the property owner okay well that's what you say so city is the is the I'm just making sure so they did not have prior permission right and if you look at the statute and I'll I'll be sending in this into the state with the statute with all the film okay I was trying to handle it here but apparently who are you sending it to the attorney general do you want me to forward it for you no I don't need you to do anything ma' I'm an investigator I can do it myself and I don't need your help okay I thought you came here for help no I came and I got my answer no one approved it ahead they did not have permission so my next question is in the future what do we do so that we're not defacing the trees in order to make room for vendors I think they're cutting trees right now because and then this man here was actually upset that trees were in the way okay okay I expected that answer but you already answer answer my question they did not have prior consent I would expect the council to maybe do your research because I guarantee you I'm doing mine I'm working from with another mayor in another town and they're helping me submit this along with all the film which the bass fishing tournament representative came right up and said to me I gave them permission it's all on video I don't do anything that isn't on video or I'm not being reported so what I feel here is hostility because apparently there's a statute that nobody's following and in my estimation in this town there needs to be more consistency with everyone so that everyone knows statute everyone's on the same page as far as I'm concerned if you would have seen well I offered to give you guys video you didn't want it so we've established this all I wanted to do we've established that there was no prior authorization given to that part and that's all I asked thank you for your time thank you I appreciate may may I ask yes can you Sharon can you tell me what statute exactly you're referring to I will send it to you okay perfect I appreciate that thank you thank you and you don't know the statute she's not the City attorney I am off the top of my head there's lot of you know the statute right I know exactly what you're referring to and it doesn't apply in this situation well it's pretty open and I have talked to people in the state and I have talked to Federal people and it is a statute be holding those people should have never had a saw on their hands that tree should have never been cut without prior so what do you want done and what I want done is for everybody to be on the same page we all need what does that mean that that every the law applies ignorance of the law is not a defense do you want a citation issue I would like that I would like to see some action taken because one person just because a city worker was doing something around the trees okay does not give those people consent I was harassed by them I had to shut down my booth I lost $5,000 okay I'm running a fostering program which I pay everything myself I am a citizen I'm a taxpayer and these people were cutting down the tree and I started videoing it because I knew nobody would believe me and there was a lot and that video went out and people could not believe it I had over 5,000 views so far on it that's how many people were disgruntled by it I had a mayor call me and say no they needed to give them okay I will go along with the city you said the city can cut down branches I understand these were private citizens coming up with a handsaw and sawing off large parts of that tree and be facing the tree because you don't cut those with the chainsaw the tree will start to deteriorate from the branches okay so my point here is that I just think I think it could I think somebody should have re received de citation I honestly do because they did not have permission and then they started yelling at me and nobody came to my defense in the city not one person not one person sent me any kind of information although I was the person affected I paid for my spot okay and I have a business I have a fostering business and I do everything for free fostering business what is that I Foster dogs I take in dogs I have a boarding business and I was just told after running it for two hours or two years the day that I put in that I wanted to run for May and I complained about fireworks being over my boarding business suddenly I was told they needed a kennel license well they came no ignorance of the law isn't you just got done for one and I filed for one sir but I did not know that would have been nice I hold a million-dollar policy on my business I have a business license with the state so these are the kind of things I'm talking about it makes people feel like they don't matter like small small businesses after I put $900,000 into that property and all the equipment suddenly I told you need a k I did this in reer I got all that done I went through zoning nobody said a word I was did you go through zoning in International Falls when you came in and started the business no because I the the county came and right away and started looking around and they saw I was running a business and they did my taxes and they they did my commercial and everything so I thought okay you know I don't keep up on these things I'm a bus own it say right in our it says you have to have a license for that I was very transparent about my business so somewhere along the line you would have thought somebody to County somebody would have said Sharon and it doesn't matter because I asked if I needed to close it down and Betty said no I did not need and I'm filing everything but what I'm saying is it's the Heartbreak of the thing it's the exact same situation as what just happened with you recording in the park the people didn't know that what they did was was incorrect I expect to be held to the same standards everyone else in the day I found out was a day I came right back when she had the paperwork and I got it filled up and but what I'm saying through all of this is the people that cut down the tree they didn't know that they were doing anything wrong and we we're not holding them to a higher standard or a lower standard to be fine what I'm all I asked for was transparency that's all I asked for transparency you just sold me on video we on TV that they did not have prior permissions understand that but we've also talked to the folks that cut the tree down we we if someone makes a mistake we never said anything to everyone in the community that you didn't have a candling license we're not going to tell we're not going to tell every no stop stop but we're not telling everybody else of how it was handled with the person that cut the tree down we're leaving that dignity and respect with the person that made a mistake and we're handling this situation I was the wrong party to film as a citizen which is my con constitutional right with the ACLU correct I know I'm saying we don't have a a a we don't have anything to talk to you about we worked with that person we're moving on in our agenda and I point of order absolutely we're moving on thanks for all your time guys thank you all right we're going to go to the 2024 taxi license for TK taxi LLC uh Tracy you want to come forward hi I'm Tracy har try to follow that up I can't please take a seat by the the microphone those folks online and when it's recorded are have a harder time hearing if you're that close Okay than yes please I'm Tracy harmoning and this is my husband Kurt chishi and we are um we applied to start a taxi business here in International Falls um it's just going to be local there's probably like a 50 mile radius that I'm looking at um I'm starting out very small I have two vehicles to start with and um we'll see what happens from there I think it would be a good addition to the community just because um I have worked for Randy Kennedy off and on for a couple years so I do know the business I I do know um what it entails and everything but I I think there's need for another service really and I I do too um more is better my uh my question to you it actually doesn't involve the the license or anything like that how are you going to um advertise how are you going to get your information out how are people going to know that you're you're you're in town and you're doing this I was waiting for this meeting this was like kind of my last hurdle um I've done a lot of preparing through the insurance and I've already got my business phone and my account and all this stuff Kurt has made me um some magnets that go on the side of my cars that say TK taxi and then they have and TK's hands for Tracy Kurt by the way and then um they have these cute little taxi things that go on the right hand corner just like uber you know Uber has those blue signs well this would it says taxi plus I went to s North and I ordered um 250 business cards and I'm just going to go around and give them to all the hotels all the bars of course um and uh yeah so it's just going to be word of mouth I don't so one of the other things and this is just a a a potential suggestion I I'm not getting into your business at all but we do have might we do have no no no no no this is just trying to make things better so we have a lift service in town with International Falls about three years ago ended up getting lift uh we tried to get Uber into International Falls as well but we never got Uber but we do have lift but we don't have any lift drivers that actually drive for it so that might be another opportunity if that works but I have no clue because it's over my head but I just know that that is a service that is being provided but we don't have drivers that maybe we could right well I'm actually a an Uber driver okay so I brought my car to Luth and it went through inspection and it passed so I can drive Uber anywhere in the state of Minnesota and I actually went I went to duth and I drew up Uber like on a Friday night I made like $300 it was absolutely crazy but the demand here is not it's not there I tried it um and I had told Randy Kennedy about it and I said I want to give this a shot you know it's it's more um of a younger crowd thing I mean I don't want to say it that way but they're pretty Savvy on their phones and they're the ones that are ordering Uber and lift and all that stuff but it just did not go over here so I have already tried that okay fair enough I I just I just want you to succeed that's the only thing I just want you to succeed uh please I know the airport is always short of rentals out there too they can't their planes come in car they can't get cars so I mean I think it will help l a lot there too for you I do there yeah be great any okay back it up any questions on the actual license no no all right so chair would entertain a motion to uh approve the taxi license I'll make that Mo we have a motion by councelor Holden do we have a second second second by councelor wner because I can't remember kaylor's name all right we have a motion and second any discussion call the question I I I I'll vote Yes motion carries 5 Z you are approved good luck thank you everyone good luck thank you all right Tracy you want to stop in the office tomorrow and we'll get your paperwork finished y okay approve the 2024 homecoming parade request from ISD 361 chair would entertain a motion to approve that we have a motion by councelor buler do we have a second second second by councelor Holden discussion hearing none call the question I I I I I'll vote Yes motion carries 5 Z next we'll go to a resolution approving the application for an exempt permit for PCA hunting and raffle con hunting and raffle contest Incorporated to conduct a raffle on November 11th 2024 at P PCA 4002 Street chair would entertain a motion for that so moved we have a motion by councelor Wagner I'll second second by councelor Buller any any discussion hearing none call the question I I I and all vote Yes motion carries 5 Z next we go to the order of a removal or repair for a building at uh 1083 Street City attorney um Jared's not here with pictures or anything like that but this is the St property um I don't know if any of you have driven by it lately um it's they were buying it on contract for deed um they've now left it so it's essentially no one's in there really um and it's in pretty bad shape I've had a couple neighbors call too um aside from Jared sending it over my way I did try to do it excuse me with an agreement that they just agreed to have it torn down I can't find them um so we'll have to go through this order and then we'll probably have to publish if I can't find them before I have to serve them when when you're saying can't find them are you talking about the Stalls or the person that they walked away from a contract for deed the contract for deed people we did find okay stalls um we had an address in mind um but we were not able to actually get anything to them but if it if it was a a walked away contract for deed wouldn't it go back to the original owner only if they cancel the contract for deed okay that's why we have you I just have questions all right so uh really good question chair chair would entertain a motion for that uh remove or repair I'll make that motion we have a motion by councelor bowler and immediate second by councelor Holden any discussion hearing none call the question I I I I can all vote Yes motion carries 5 Z next uh we are going to um by motion uh close the meeting in accordance to min to statute uh 13d d05 subsection 2B for the preliminary uh consideration of allegations against an individual subject to the council's authority so the chair would entertain a motion to close this meeting I'll move we have a motion by councelor Kaylor I'll second second by councelor Buller discussion call the question I I I I and I'll vote Yes motion carries 5 Z we don't actually have anything really exciting on the the agenda the rest of the night anyways guys but um you have to leave thanks for coming thanks for coming all right we're all good then all right uh we are coming out of a closed meeting and again that closed meeting was to uh consider allegation against a individual subject to the council's author and at this time uh the chair would entertain a motion to uh provide separation of employment of Steven donabauer effective today's date September 3rd um and chair would entertain that motion I'll make that motion we have a motion by councelor Holden do we have a second second we have a second by counselor Buller discussion hearing none call the question i i i i and I'll vote Yes motion carries 5- Z with that separation with the city we're going to add on to the agenda at this time uh to open the position and advertise for a mechanic for Public Works chair we have a motion by councelor Buller second second by councelor Wagner discussion hearing none call the question I I I I no vote Yes motion carries 5 Z any other business to come before the council that was that was pretty pretty strong no from the city administrator we're done here today all right uh we'll go to the reports of the city administrator City attorney and department head City administrator I have nothing further thank you City attorney I have nothing uh department heads I just want to mayor uh we did have a power outage Sunday night uh the city and I did not have a chance to speak to the administrator today about this um don't know if any other areas in the city were affected but we did have some R okay uh just for the folks that couldn't hear the uh the police or the fire chief just said that we had some damaged uh radios potentially through the power outage that we had this last weekend um City administrator do you have anything else to add with with that I have not heard of any other damaged items however I can reach out to the different departments and we can make a um list of items and we can turn it over to our insurance okay and follow up from there worth checking right perfect anything else Chief all right uh we'll go to reports the mayor council committees boards and commissions anybody I I just wanted to say that the Labor Day uh picnic yesterday went off without a hitch it was fantastic um it's not as busy at the very beginning as it used to be when they started at 4: there was hundreds of people there right at the beginning and now that they start at 3: it's a slow trickle until it gets crazy busy but I was informed today that uh they had, 1500 plates and they ran out of plates so that tells me that they had to have served at least 1500 hot dogs so um please at the airport we had airport commission meeting last week and um Adam Cole gave a talk at the end of it and after we left I I didn't really know what his questions were or for sure who was going to follow through with what he had questions about and this about the annexing is what it is sorry didn't say that sooner but but um I did spend some time with Betty today just to explain to her what took place there so that maybe she could look into it and and find out what what was there was some requests made but it wasn't was it to us as a city was it to the airport commission it after the meeting that they just thought it was a good report and they thought well who's he addressing you know yeah cuz his he's got two of his uh two uh Commissioners Commissioners are on there too so they apparently knew must have known already but I just I was a little confused after we left and I I should have thought of it sooner but I didn't but uh Betty said she'd check into it yeah and I did not get a chance to call him today so I will by the end of the week get a hold of him and find out if there's something they're asking of us or if he's you know looking at the commission itself to you know to answer some of those questions one of the things was you like beans that we were went through the property individual properties that we wanted to Annex and there we find find some flaws in some of the descriptions he wanted to go back on the part that already is annexed and check those and see what kind of descriptions are there that to make sure that the whole everything airport everything is correctly put out there so um that was one of the things and there's others to yet so just want to let you know yeah can I uh oh please please just to speak on that I I just watched the video but his questions should be answered by his County that they take care of property the city doesn't do that yeah that's him but I just two out of three of his questions which he directed to the airport they don't do that you don't you don't do that that's what the county does but I mean that's that's what was brought up and and I think to clarify it and to get something moving I mean we've been struggling trying to get this thing moving forward I don't wanted to stop now let just get keep it moving and find out where we the other question is directed to the the steering committee airport steering committee the other one was that one was clear yeah that that and that it has to do with the Sky West contract that one directed and I'm still not sure what the question is but we'll we'll look at it in part in part of the annex then there's talk about whether that will the FAA whether we Annex into the property is one of the questions they they had I I don't think the F cares who owns a property as long as it's still the airport commission it would still be in the city of International Falls and in the county and it would still be the commission's property yes whether and what then we got into some of the other yeah stuff that but and stuff like that little just a little more kicking the can down seem to be a little more dragging their feet about getting this done that's basically what it was if you remember basketball and the well we remember the Four Corners offense back in the day that's what we got going here I think exactly what's going on I'm going to have that a pretty good SC nobody had nothing I just think with if Benny can just talk to get it clarified there a little bit that that would help a lot and then we'll we'll go ahead go forward with it and we need to meet again special time let's meet it let's get going on this thing cuz it's been dragging out too long all right anything else all right we'll go to audience anybody in the audience have anything to bring forward hearing none uh International Falls Rainer and Rainy Lake convention and visitors bureau me meeting minutes are in your packet from June 20th cooin County Board of Commissioners meeting minutes from August 6th Minnesota Board of Peace Officers standing standards and training review of The International Falls Police Department letter of past was dated August 12th 2024 our next meeting is again on a Monday on September 16th at 5:30 p.m. this meeting is adjourned getting closer to that September 23rd yeah it is