all right it is 7:03 p.m let's call this city council meeting to order if we could all rise for the Pledge of Allegiance the United States of America to the rep for it stands one nation under God indivisible withy and justice
for doing roll call all five council members are present um next is the public comment if there's any public comment tonight mayor council I'd like to say something to the public and also to you it is with a heavy heart and
great sadness that I share with our community that our exceptional fance director a man of enormous Talent who was more than a coworker he was a mentor a friend an inspiration to us all and most importantly a loving father and husband has unexpectedly passed away due
to an unknown medical condition forever be in our hearts yes and I I would just like to say Mike was a great mentor and absolutely wonderful Finance director I would say he was probably the best in the state and it's it was a hard day today for all of us um and I would just
like to ask for a moment of silence and remember it's a mic and I'm sure at some point we'll do a little bit more um because he was a great man here for the city and uh he'll be great greatly missed all right thank you um with that if we could move on to the uh public comment
if there's anybody like to speak on anything um or bring anything forward you're welcome to come forward uh to the podium and just state your name and address for the record please my name is Blake penus 28117 pulk we're here tonight to support the municipal dispensary for the city I
think it's a great idea I multiple companies in this city um I think it would add a level of security for that children in our actually have City control part of it rather than just joeo taking over on doesn't really align with
my goals as a business owner because I'm also planning on doing a micro business here in the city so I I would also be looking to do what the city's going to do but I I feel like even them over me would have a better and more sec
so I'm excited to hear council members talk tonight thank you anybody else for public comment tonight all right hearing none we will move on to adopting the agenda are there any modifications yes mayor there is we do
have an item that we'll be adding to the business uh it would be K12 it is an eole or electronic election pad discussion please sounds good any other additions or questions motion to approve as present
second motion to approve from council member lundine second from council member Hol Gren all in favor say I I any opposed motion carries 5- z uh on to the approval of the city council meeting minutes from February 18th uh we'll go with the committee of
the whole meeting first motion to approve second motion to approve from council member londan second from council member Peterson all in favor say I I I any opposed motion carries 5 Z on those February 18th city council meeting minutes motion to
approve second motion to approve from council member Peterson second from council member heeman all in favor say I I I any he opposed motion carries 5 Z on those uh for announcements we have the committee of whole meeting Tuesday March 18th 2025 at 5: pm. the Planning
Commission meeting Tuesday March 18th 2025 at 6 p.m. uh the city council meeting Tuesday March 18th 2025 at 7:00 p.m. and the parks and rec board meeting Tuesday March 25th 2025 at 6 p.m. are there any Council committee reports I
have two all right so I attended the Chamber of Commerce February luncheon uh mayor of Cambridge mayor Godfrey presented uh the key points he hit on of relevance were that they're planning to develop 95 with improvements of their
storm Ser system to prevent flooding as happened the years past pass they're also relocating an a railroad switch to uh reduce the amount of times they're blocking 95 to Railroad traffic and they're planning to put a roundabout in on Main Street right off of 65 by quick
trip and getting rid of a lane to add a bike lane uh also they talked about the city buying up a bunch of acreage planning to develop 304 detached single family homes and taking other remaining 31 acres to build a park with a beach Trail system
and possibly doing kayak and paddle board rentals and that's it for the the chamber meeting and then I had Community Ed meeting we did not reach a quorum but they we did receive a presentation on the Adventure Center Program which I was unfamiliar with but they were talking
about how they're fully uh they're fully stacked up for students but they're looking for some staff and they're looking for two people uh you must be 16 good with kids know what certifications required and that's it I have a couple um Park
and Recreation um we're narrowed the names down for Greenways Park North uh down to three names um talked about the message boards in Bluebird that'll probably come in front of the console um and we talked
about putting QR signs out by the skate park to do some surveys about what what some of the kids may want for for different obstacles out there um fireboard I'm going to have put on cow
for the next meeting there's they're looking at uh well on the bright side we have uh six new firefighters that they swore in which was great news majority of them were within City Limits um they're looking at changing
language in a joint Powers agreement um and that is going to be a long discussion I think with with conso I'll have Josie forward the things that are thinking of changing
to all council members so we can discuss it at the next call um that's about all I got do you remember the three names for the the park off hand I'm kind of curious no okay I'm sure I'm thinking we might add a fourth so okay okay sounds
good thank you Woodland was one of them that is one at the elementary children picked out from our school here um and I I think Triumph was another one and I don't remember the third okay sounds good anybody else with Council committee
reports okay we will move on to business item K1 interview applicant Shaka Lee for vacant Eda seat uh if you could please come forward Shaka thank you for coming in you could just come up to the microphone and state your name and address for the
record please and then I'll have some questions for you U my name is Shaka Lee I live at 416 blueberg drive here in I all right so we'll just start right off what has been your community involvement um I've been actively
involved in fostering communic um Communications within the community um by organizing inclusive events that bring people together particularly women focused and fitness related um Gatherings additionally I advocate for
families navigating medical complexities um ensuring resources and supplies are available um yeah great uh what strengths will you bring to the Eda um I bring strong leadership problem
solve solving and strategy um planning skills along with a deep passion for Community growth and Business Development um my ability to connect with people and ideas will help drive a meaningful economic impact what is your background working
in or with local or corporate businesses um I have experience collaborating with businesses to support communic um Community um initiatives uh facilitating Partnerships that benefit both local entrepreneurs and residents
my background includes um event planning networking and advocating for small businesses okay what is what is something that you think the city of vien could incorporate into our business retention and expansion processes um implementing
mentorships programs that connect and establish business owners with new entrepreneurs I think would strengthen retention additionally creating um more visibility for local businesses through marketing support and network
opportunities um would drive us sustainable growth okay uh how do you current ly support local businesses in our community uh for for one I'm a part of the uh the city of ianti Park and recre board um
already um I actively promote and support local businesses by using their services I attend events um helping spread awareness through word of mouth and social media I also encourage um Community engagements uh hosting organ um hosting
and organizing events such as um local Fitness opportunities raising awareness campaigns and organizing other activities that directly benefit and Foster connection between businesses and residents and then I've also been a part
of like illuminated I Santi and um I think I threw a I don't think I threw a homeschooling opportunity for some of the local kids too at the um Shake Shop so cool uh if you were talking about Isanti to an entrepreneur entrepreneur who was interested in
bringing their business to Isanti what would you tell them to help convince them Isanti is a great place to conduct business um Isanti is a growing close-knit community that values and supports its local businesses um I've been here for about three years and
that's something that I've noticed a lot while being here um we seem to have a strong entrepreneurial Spirit um a loyal customer based and city that prioritizes business development it's the perfect place to
establish growth and success uccessful businesses what do you see as potential opportunities for commercial growth in isan um expanding familyfriendly businesses healthc care services and res uh recreational opportunities would
strengthen um isan's economy um I also want to add that I think finding creative ways to um do Recreational Sports that also are inclusive so not just kiddos
that I guess would maybe face me medical challenges or any other type of challenges I think would be um great additionally supporting um small businesses and attracting um Niche marketing could drive commercial growth
okay and can you attend meetings the first Tuesday Tuesday of each month immediately following the 7 PM City Council meetings yes I'm available and I'm committed to attending the meetings okay great thank you you're
welcome is there any discussion second motion to approve by council member lundine second by council member holr all in favor say I I I any opposed definite I motion carries 5 Z thank you K2 consider res consider resolutions
for is Hills rehabilitation uh preliminary engineering report mayor members of council you got some information here thank you for all the maps yeah the for
step assess good right so this is a presentation for the preliminary engine report here's the project area isan Hills uh various different phases of development we're calling it isan Hills
Development Area just it's it's basically Burke Street Cedar Dogwood also atment tra that runs between and bir um so those streets were rid I'm sure anybody that's driven them knows they're
in terrible shape they are worst cending more time patch more patches um it's been designated for work for at least the last 10 years just kind of keeps getting pushed back um we just did South Brookview project this would
be very identical to that for anybody in that area uh guess one other piece to mention two of the streets Birch andg between whiskey and state a routes so the city would be able to use State a funds for their
portion of requirements um and otherwise we do have some significant segments of failed curb that'll need to get replaced on this one more Cur on this one than there was on
theth still try to minimize cost as much as we can to isolate onlys to be otherwise sewer water and storm are all in Fairly good condition new enough in current pipe materials that we don't
have any concerns about those so the proposed Improvement again would be just like South Brookview um we proposed to reclaim the pavement where you just grind it up and blend it in with the gravel underneath uh replace the bad segments urb and fix any P ramps
that aren't uh compliant and then pave it back together it's usually a pretty quick process in general I mean obviously it still take a few months to do but it's as minimally disturbing as as a reconstruction project can be because we leave that reclaim material
there for people to be able to drive on oppos to lifting it up and out and having a big old open trench we won't have to go after utilities all just be right there on thef all right so the trail um as you can kind of
see from those two figures kind of looks like a you know squiggly snake um looks like that was the original design but it it is a little too tight for uh this mot bicycle facilities manual of a 20 design
speed and uh it sounds like plowing and maintenance have been a problem for trying to follow that so part of what we were looking at is can we straighten it um the other part was is the condition bad enough to need to get prepaired so after the evaluation it
does look like we'll be able to straighten it but we obviously would basically have to rebuild the whole section because you can't just reclaim it and move it on the grass you got to dig out the section for the gravel and the pavement underneath it so there is a
little bit more work that would need to be involved uh than just the the resurfacing type of thing but it is you know it is doable there's room and it's a an option that was budgeted for but something you guys can choose if you
want to do or not I did have a question on that if that's okay uh so for that one has there been a a community desire to change that or to pave that or have have homeowners their ass because I would think if a lot of homeowners if that was in their backyard they wouldn't want to make it paved and make it more
used I mean I would that that's it's already paved it's paved oh it is okay it's just it's starting to be you know there's root heaves there's cracks that have opened it's okay it's right on that line and needing to be re conditioned like overweight and it was just if we're going to go spend money on
it do we want to fix something while so what does bitm miss mean on there what's that bitm miss it says bitm missus blackp oh it is black top okay okay um so so that's all we would do um
it was part of the budgeted like scope that we were looking at but admittedly since it's not along the roads and it's not part of the assessment it's something you guys could choose to eliminate from the project or you know or just move forward with is the city is
the city now when they're plowing that and they scuff all their sod we're going back can fixing that I believe yes another cost savings down the road that we don't have to do that um so then so that's between whiskey and sixth is the
kind of longer run and then on that bottom right corner of the screen is the kind of sharper S curve there um that's kind of the end of what we're looking at is the Pavements in the worst condition and that's the end of the the curviness and so we're
looking at trying to straighten that out a little bit as well and then we would just end the limit of the project right at kind of where the trail was slightly newer and so the trail continues all the way to to Nina but we're just planning on leaving that in place because it
wasn't as bad of a condition um but like I say technically we can continue proceeding forward with this as part of the part of the project and then choose to eliminate it kind of at any time if you guys wanted to I think maintenance needs to
I think I would like to see what that's going to cost and if we could delay it another 5 years if you're saying it's going to need a total reconstruct either way there's no point in hitting it before it gets so bad that it can't be reclaimed correct like like roads you want to hit them before they get bad enough for you have to do a total reconstruct this isn't the case because
you're basically doing a total reconstruct either way well so not really um I think we could get away with an overlay or even know maybe a bit of a mill you know of just the surface and overlay it if we weren't going to try and re align it right but the moment we try and do the
straightening make that Improvement then yeah we're full rebuilding it what's the cost difference um I believe our estimate was in there but it's we get to the prices but I think it was 75 grand um I would lean on a mill in overlay is only going
to be about 20 25 Grand and that'll buy how many years oh we'd hope to get 10 years out of it you know and then that usually turns into 15 um so you said the the state recommendations for bike trails or
whatever have a a radius but this must have been built at the time when the radius was different if it was done this way or is there a has there been complaints about it I I I've never heard any complaints or good about this Trail at all so I don't know I mean how much is it used it's used a lot is it okay so
honestly it's the straightening is as much Public Works issues and maintenance as it is you know any feed we have from from residents about not liking it um the the bike manual um is a
requirement if you are using State funds um if we you know if that wasn't or the design is old enough where you know they can kind of you know do whatever they want if they're not using funds obviously there's the safety elements but you know it doesn't have to be
designed to the 20 mph bike speed that's a bike manual standard it's just if we're going to go mess with it we'll at least correct it to the point where it does meet those standards so was there state fund used on redoing this no this isn't a state a we're just
state aid is only available on the state aid roadways and so this would not be um fundable through that and it's not on our you know accessible either so it' be strictly State City cost would it be possible towards the end of the process to do a bid that has both a total Recon
and then just a Mill and overlay so either keeping it the way it is or straightening out would that be possible to do a bti option like that yeah okay I think that's what I would like to see personally okay all right so that's that's why this
has its own little separate piece is that it's kind of its own separate topic um so here it is straightened out I guess I didn't know I already had all that shown but I think that S curve at the end is a little more corrected even than than that looks but it's just the
idea it's one big straight shed okay uh the other side thing that we evaluated is doing a walk infill um along Birch there's a sidewalk that exists from Cottonwood to halfway to
Sixth Avenue and it stops there's two Parcels left um there technically is enough RightWay for it so it's not that whole RightWay acquisition side of the problem but there are three trees already out in the way and I have talk directly with each of the residents and
they both are opposed to the walk going in um and don't feel that you know there's enough people walking there um one Parks their vehicles through the whole length of their driveway and this would barricade off a portion of it because you weren't be able to park on
it um so so that was their direct feedback you know obviously the sidewalk system is part of a Citywide you know element so it's not 100% based on their IND idual desires but I at least would
relay that and again this is a unaccessible item that would be City cost and it would just be whether or not you guys want to proceed with with it and at least get bids or just eliminate it it's your guys's decision so when I'm
looking at page eight of this report I see that the existing sidewalk appears like it's probably about 8 ft off the side of the road is would it I don't know why anyone would ever want that but I know on our street we had it um our street was opposed to the sidewalk
because they had it set so far from the road you lose half your yard so we were able to talk the city into doing only a 12-in grass median is that something that we could do on this and the person could still Park in their driveway and maybe avoid the trees if we Ki C kicked it towards the street you know what is
that five six seven feet uh we can um you know the second I think our city standard is a six foot Boulevard and I believe this is eight or n foot Boulevard so it's already extra wide um the moment you're going less than 5 ft you're actually kind of getting into a
little bit of a problem on either snow removal from the the road onto the sidewalk you know anybody has a sidewalk that's right up against the back of curb actually those are a little easier to clean up because it's just a straight redo as opposed to trying to have a narrow strip of of grass or you know of
snow um so I wouldn't really recommend going less than maybe three feet of grass before that piece of grass is going to just turn into weeds and and not really be able to maintain and snow removal things but for sure we could I mean we could push it right up against the back of curb okay to try and
minimize that um I'm just thinking it might save three trees and it might he might still be able to park his vehicles and you could have the best of both worlds and I you know we have a 12in median or uh Boulevard on our street and I'd have no problems with it I like it personally so I mean maybe the industry
says that but I have no problems with it myself I don't think our neighbors do sure so I mean at this point I can go talk to them again and see if they' have a different opinion on the you know I'm going to go a three-foot Boulevard and
uh um and see what their take is if you know um as we get later into this presentation you'll see we're talking about maybe having an optional open house where we' get feedback from the rest of the the project area at least on what their take is on if that went in uh
but that all yeah sounds fine I I was going to suggest that too you know start making use of those polls that we have we're talking about or actually contact everybody on that block and ask their opinion on extending That Sidewalk you know and that's a problem with having a sidewalk policy that came after a lot of
these developments were already put in you know you're cutting out a good portion of people's front yards it happened on Palamino I mean they they lost a lot of their front yards there too and they I I don't know if there's a solution to it but I think we should at
least talk to everybody on block first so you say the city the city standard for a Boulevard is what you say six feet believe it's six feet with a 5 foot walk okay I think we should look into changing that that's that's too much of people's yard I wouldn't want to sidewalk with you're losing 11 ft of
your yard then so I don't know if that's something we can discuss in the future but yeah I I saw that picture and I was like man is that really that far off the road it is that's that's a waste of people's people's yard so yeah all right
okay um and then another piece that uh we brought up on the south riew project um inoka Conservation District had done a study on the city on how to improve water quality um we've done a pond at the end of palomino in
railroad uh that was one of their recommended projects to try and get some sediment out of the storm water before it goes into the cricks and streams um and so on this image here was they were recommending up to all of those green
triangles to be rain Gardens um where you would cut out the back of the curb and have a little trough of plantings uh and then let the water kind of just surge out into it and then just essentially infiltrate in or just kind of keep on going down the curve um we
brought this up on that last project um had one interested party and then bids came in and it was significantly expensive um and so it was decided to not do that one um this one
has a lot of recommended spots and I guess at this point I'm bringing it up if you guys even want to pursue it if you do or at least want to keep it on the table we can you know at least have it brought up at the open houses and the public hearings to see what interest
there is but um the prices came in the way they did on the last one it's uh tough tough I'd like to see the pricing on it before I say yes or no right did didn't the city at one time have some kind of incentive to homeowners to put in ring Gardens yeah is that still in
place I believe we do um in this case I guess I mean I believe the number was like $14,000 for one as we had it Bid And I think our incentive is on the $100 range it's probably it's like to 200 or
something I think right and so when we were doing it from these recommendations we were going into it thinking that the city was paying the majority of it as opposed to you know it's a resident individual lead thing that would be their cost but it was still just so high
that we didn't feel it wased so I mean couldn't we just ask them to leave that section of cerbo and just have Public Works come dig and put in some prairie grass isn't that essentially all it is yeah you know for us to call it a rain Garden we got to do
a whole bunch of extra pieces um but yeah for somebody to just get water to infiltrate to help the you know overall infiltration of the system yeah I mean getting water to soak in the ground is three4 the
goal to be honest quick quick question because of our soil type here we have such fine sand which I would have to believe is a really good filter of water and I think it we're in a ex a excellent actually circumstance
compared to other communities when when that type of soil is involved and filtering our water so is it are is this really a big concern considering our circumstances so it's actually funny you say that our soils are too good at it um
you don't want the water to infiltrate faster than 10 in per hour and we have soils that if you just scrape the surface off and it's just open sand and you can just it takes water so fast that they're actually worried it can carry
the like surface particulates or you know um bacteria actually all the way like down to our water table um because it doesn't it doesn't filter it slow enough a lot of people have the other problem where you can't even barely get
it to soak into the ground sure where we get into these problems where if we're calling it a rain Garden we have to do a corrected soil to slow it down to actually catch those nutrients and uh and bacteria you know items before they
actually get into the water table otherwise we have such a general ability to have everything soak into the ground that uh you know this was their finding know I I'd have to get some more
information on that cuz I'm not completely sold on it is is included in the back of this one sure so you can read about what their basis is of why they said these places and all that and see you know if any of that helps
you right maybe support it maybe we can reach out to the township too because I'm sure they have a lot of shallow Wells within the township and see if any of their Wells have had problems I know that they're not as condensed in population where they may have a problem like we do but I don't know I'm having a hard time
believing bacteria can make it down 20 ft or better but it could it could yeah I was just saying that when we have to make a large rain Garden we have to prove that it's not infiltration too fast and correction these little sense
you know they wouldn't be as big of a deal but okay okay uh oh so yeah here's some pictures of the before and after uh kind of you know computer rendering if anything but um the idea of what it could like
um I believe we had called out one that had that like kind of skimmer structure on the bottom um with the a pocket of you know plantings and flowers that would be able to tolerate that water um and that's the thing that it got such a high price on so may look at if we are
going to pursue even getting the price kind of eliminating the actual structure and just Cur curb cutting it you know just directly in and just not even having a structure but for either your guys' direction to cancel it or at least continue with
getting public opinion and see who'd be interested in it in their yard I guess sure all right so project cost um with the trail and the sidewalk and the original you know scoped project it
comes out to a total of $1.2 million um without the trail and and sidewalk uh we're basically talking about the item items that would go into the accessible items it's uh one $1.06
million um our assessment policy is 25% of the basically all of that surface work is assessible at 25% so that comes out to $266,000 of accessible cost um at which
point that leaves about $800,000 for City cost and about half of that could be using in advance of state A funds to to cover half of that 800,000 um as we already mentioned the trail is estimated at the
75,000 um as a full reclaim and replace you know we could do that alternative uh just Mill and overlay and then the sidewalk with the tree removals and things and having to build two ped ramps and redo the concrete to cross sixth came out to about
$60,000 as you see on the budgeted versus not budgeted um we did add the trailer replacement to the master budget for this year's project uh we did not have the concrete sidewalk infill so just so you know where things stand obviously these are all just based off
of past experience on our Engineers estimate um but the actual numbers always come down to what the biders bid and what actually gets built so the breakdown for the assessment topic um that 26 6,000 gets
broken over uh adjusted front footage so we basically assess by the foot of Frontage that a person owns and those get adjusted by odd shaped lots and Frontage lengths and things like that but it comes out to 11,500 or so feet of
Frontage that gets to distribute that cost which comes down to $23 a foot of Frontage um that brings there's 129 Parcels that front this project which they would then average about $2,000 a
parcel um and as I just was saying final assessments would be based on bid prices and actual costs incurred completed and and then we would do a final assessment based on the actual numbers at the end of the season usually in November um I did want to point out
there's three lots that have actually three frontages or or at least a front and a back lot and our assessment policy doesn't cover back lot like when their backyard butts up against the street so we did not include their frontages as part of the
assessment um we could choose to modify the assessment policy for a future one but at this point it's not covered so uh just so you know that was there and then the sidewalk and the trail like we said are already not accessible um and at this point I would also say the rain
Gardens wouldn't be um and so that's why they're kind of those easily alternative things for the city to elect to do or not so schedules we've kind of touched on some of this but uh tonight if we want to keep this thing on track we
would have to uh receive pass the resolution that receives this report and calls for the first public hearing to officially notify everybody that's on the project uh so that we can have a me this pretty much identical presentation
to them and um give them that first idea of how expensive it is for their each individual house or what's all going to be happening for the summer um and then also to keep this on track a separate resolution to actually order development of the plans and specs and
that's where we would make those modifications on Shifting the trail or making the alternate for a Mill and over for the trail um uh an optional thing we've been doing in the past is holding an open house um before the public hearing to hopefully
have everybody more of a chance to ask questions get a little more you know direct interaction on what's going on um at this point I would recommend doing it next Tuesday if um if you guys did want to do it uh you know you don't have to
attend or anything we'd usually do it kind of at that you know I don't know four to six kind of a window um but otherwise uh we' conduct the public hearing on April 1st at which point the plans would be expected to be done and
you'd be able to uh approve advertising for bids if after that public hearing you're still wanting to proceed um we would plan to actually I think that says award bids but I think that was open bids on April
29th and and then you would be awarding that first week in May and then we just you know expect the project that occur over the summer it usually is about a three month type project and then based all was spent um
we'd have that final assessment hearing that would lock in the actual assessments levied on the parcels Jason is there any way we can move that March 11 date down a little bit another week I mean make it closer to the April 1st
meeting and the reason I'm asking that is for the residents to be able to because it's kind of a rush they're going to get their notices and have time to less than a week to respond to it um I'd like to see them have a little bit more time to respond to it and talk to
their neighbors about it because it takes a little bit of time to really get the information out and I'd really like to see some people come to the yeah the open house or has all the information already went out no no this we okay that's what I thought this is going to
go this that meeting that open house just seems so close to to that data and and I don't want to push this whole thing back but I'd like to uh try to have that open house a little bit later can we push the March 11th and April 1st
back one meeting or one week yeah a week or two weeks can we push next Tuesday we don't have Council right the following Tuesday we have Council so you're not going to put it on Council night so we'd have to go to the following Tuesday three weeks
yeah so the open like I said the open house is optional I like to put it as early as I can so I can incorporate as much as I can into the plans and still have them done for that next meeting you know the one we'd be able to take it to
um because it's optional I usually am not overly concerned on the only giving a week's notice for that because we are required to give you know over a week's notice for the public hearing and so we'll we'll not only send out the open
house notice but we'll also have to give them that significant amount of time to know when that public hearing is which is the actual official thing that has to happen what about mer what about merging the two into one having an open
house and the public hearing all at once sure um we certainly can it's just like I say if I go that way I can't have Incorporated any feedback into the plans I know um and you know we can modify either the
you know construct it but you know essentially the public hearing is that like there is a open forum for the people to question and comment everything during it it's just during a council meeting instead of just you know
unrestricted discussion you know with with the go ahead with the open house I've been to a few of those and sometimes you get one person that shows up sometimes you get five on something like this do you see more input uh or more interaction on like the
residential stuff we did the one for you know the roundabout and there was a lot of talk about a lot of people showing up and there was like three people that showed up the whole time is that something do we see more of a turnout on residential stuff so what we usually see a turnout on is when
either it's an opposed project that everybody thinks doesn't need to happen or a significant impact that's going to block access and everybody's worried about how that's going to go down on these recent projects that we've been doing where everybody is on board that
the project needs to happen um you know we're doing everything we can to make the costs as you know Fair as we can and consistent between projects that um you know going into this I wouldn't expect more than I mean definitely not more
than 10% of the people would actually probably come to the open house much less the the public hearing just for how you know my impression of how wanted this project is usually people only come when they sure more oftenly don't want something um you know if not
half of that so we're talking you know six to 10 people okay and is that something that are you you're charging by the hour I assume is that is that something that you can still work on other stuff for the city while you're here if nobody shows up can you work on other stuff is that cuz I I I mean if if
we're not going to get any people up it be unfortunate to pay you you know sure I can bring other stuff okay um what about this third option let's send out notices as soon as possible conduct a public hearing at 6: p.m.
because that's a 700 p.m. council meeting if I'm looking at that right and then they'll have an hour before the council meeting to because you always set out the maps and the drawings and they'll be here to get personal input from you and then right after that 7 we have the meeting and if they have any
concerns at that time they can just address Cil directly would that work does that does that seem logical British yeah I mean like I say I I argue for earlier the better so we can show we're trying to incorporate any feedback
right um I you know I think the even just doing it the week before at least we could maybe incorporate something so on your point you know maybe that last week in March um might be the the time to squeeze in the open house just a week earlier so at least if something
significant comes out of it we can try and do something about it you know on our final plans that makes sense okay yeah I think that sounds good okay all right well I think we certainly made that longer than I was expecting
hope are you looking for a motion on this Jason uh it'll be two different resolutions yeah we could pass you know your choice on how you want to pass them but I personally Let's uh call for a resolution considering receiving the report and also the consider the
authorizing preparation of the plans that's my motion there's a motion on the floor do I hear a second second motion from council member lendine second from council member Peterson all in favor say I I any opposed motion carries 5 Z thank
you Jason art all right item K3 consider liquor license renewals uh so we have a few of them here we have Junction Bowl realm River VFW winter greens golf and the on sale Sunday license renewal for Thunder
Brothers now I I always like to see these reports I'm always impressed at the end of the year to see how well our local businesses handle their alcohol sales uh there was only one assault uh or disorderly in all of I Ian's bars last year uh which is pretty awesome uh
so with that being said I would make a motion to approve these CU these businesses are being very responsible with their alcohol sales second motion by myself second from council member Peterson all in favor say I I any opposed motion carries 5 z uh item K4
resolution to consider approving the construction of a sand volleyball court at Bluebird Park good evening mayor and Council um before you'll see a resolution and three quotes um regarding the construction of a sand volleyball court at Bluebird C Park um this was is
brought forward and recommended by the park and recreation board um they've been talking about it for a while um quote number one was from DW companies for $885 quote two was from seasonal Property Services for $2,650 and quote three was from Iron
sight's Land Management for $2,149 um the quotes listed do not include the cost for the volleyball polls net and Boundary ropes or installation of those um but staff did do a lot of research for outdoor vol supplies and found the bus to be from
National Sports Products for $1,599 with the Vol adjustable boundary lines for $48 and the cost of concrete um according to Public Works is estimated not to exceed $600
um the estimated total cost for the project including installation is this one um I see it's located you know somewhat Center between the basketball court and I believe is a sidewalk uh is there any way we can move it you know 50 ft one way or the other so if we wanted
to add another amenity in that spot in the future that would be possible rather than kind of ruining the whole or not ruining the whole space but taking the whole Space up yes the um we can definitely look at moving the site there is um yeah definitely we could try to put
it closer one way or the other to add more ities in the future definitely to see what this what that looks like out there specifically I know there's some trees out there too that might not be depicted in the overview map and so I think that they were trying to avoid that as well but yes we'll do our best
to fit it close to something without infringing upon it there is a Gaga um ball pit but I believe that is more toward the angled corner of the baseball field um so I think we're have plenty of feet so maybe we'll move South
towards the basketball court and the other if that would be to your preference is the baseball field the cities yes because I I noticed that the location there it's in between the two light PS so if it would ever need to be lit up down the road it being Center
between those posts wouldn't save having to put up any masks or anything just a correction it isn't it is the city owned land that the baseball field is on but the baseball is red birds it's not the cities okay I know I'm part Mark and Rick we discuss different locations for this and
if we want to bring it up to cow and and take another look at it a different spot we can do that but I I would make a motion to approve a volleyball court and location maybe tentatively could change to a different spot I do I do have a
couple other I guess concerns about it it's volleyball is a team sport and it seems like you know obviously at at places like bars and places that have high traffic it's easier to get those teams but I think I don't know that it'll necessarily be used a whole lot because there's really not a whole lot of groups of people I
feel like that would come to something like this but I mean it is a minimal investment but I do worry about um you know with sandur which is a big problem up here how much Public Works time and money would be spent in having to maintain it has that been discussed at all um we did discuss that a bit um
about the sandur and so that's why that was in I believe the in the memo saying that they will be adding this their list of regular maintenance which includes spraying and tilling the sand to prevent the sand burs um I can say that we do
get um in the summertime volleyball groups who put up their own Nets within certain areas of the park and so I think there is interest definitely in playing volleyball in that Park I can say that I've seen it myself actually I yeah I saw that in there about the sambers but
there's no like cost or time estimate is that something that's going to take 50 hours a year or five I mean is there any sort of estimate at all it'd be kind of good to know because it's an ongoing cost that we're going to have to pay I do not know the exact hours or
okay expected cost I would assume it's going to be minimal it's not going to be as high as you think it is no I don't believe so either okay I do know that there's people been asking for volleyball courts in Parks yes and there was a lengthly
discussion about it and it it sounded like there's a need for it and it it's a you know I think it's a cheap alternative to other things that we can do right now for the for this park and okay and we're using Park and wreck
funds for it so it's not coming out of the general fund I'll second George heeman's motion and that's referring to his Dirt Works doing the work yeah yes I'll second that motion yeah I want to give a shout out to DW there for a very Fair bid they're always giving Fair bids and I love that
we're getting multiple bids on things and that's been a big Focus for us the more bids you get the better competition the better prices and the less taxpayer money every single time um so there's a motion on the floor from council member heeman second from council member lundine all in favor say I are there any
opposed motion carries 5- Z on the volleyball courts uh K5 resolution to consider authorizing Wi-Fi services at the isan community center good evening again um this was was brought up I Believe by you Mr Mayor
um to research Wi-Fi costs for the I an Community Center um and these are the costs that we after researching further found so um it is our recommendation we received four different quotes from Verizon midco T-Mobile and Sentry Link and our best um
quote um was $51 a month with approximately four to5 dollars in fees roughly um a month for unlimited 5G Services through T-Mobile and so that is our recommendation and um just to authorize staff also to move forward
with any of the contracts necessary I think it's a good price and it's well worth it and we're going to offset the costs so I want to ask something is T-Mobile now serving our area because I know that T-Mobile only grants so many Wi-Fi connections because
I was looking at doing at home because I have t-mob service they weren't having enough area couldn't couldn't get enough to serve the area so they weren't servicing it so I mean that's a consideration I mean if they're
going to say it's in stone I'm fine with that but I really caution on that because they're only allowing certain certain amount of Wi-Fi per area at any certain time and I know that for a fact he he is
100% did you reach out to him and actually talk to him yes this was a we have a dedicated salesperson from each of these places that we discussed with I just started T-Mobile internet three months ago in town and they never said anything
about it it's been great I PL went I've done it I've asked numerous times and it wasn't available because they did not have enough space to add it you they do now the tower is almost complete and everybody's bandwidth is going to go way
up I had a long conversation with tech support just less than a month ago a week two weeks ago I one got a new phone and they couldn't answer that question for me well um just telling you cuz I just got a new phone and I was in she actually looked up the work orders for
this Tower it right here in town and it work should be completed really soon and she said everybody's speed is going to go way up when they're done um so right now there is a little bit of leg and uh yeah they are eliminating amount of people that letting out to keep that bandwidth up so I don't think there's
going to be a problem with this and I think it's a great asset for the community center that Community Center is jam packed and I think it will open up more opportunities for businesses and things to be able to uh use the internet for presentations and things like that
so yeah I'm I'm I'm in on it so we weren't quite ready with all the fee comparison so that will be coming to you on March 18th motion to approve T-Mobile second motion from council member lindine second from council member heeman all in favor say I I are
there any opposed motion carries you're opposed yes motion carries 41 uh case six resolution to consider adopting the isan community center free Wi-Fi public use policy along with um adding Wi-Fi services we added a Wi-Fi free public
use um policy so that is before you um staff looked at a few other places that have current policies and looked at our all of our policies and made sure that it melded well with what we're offering and so this is what we
propose any questions on the resolution no I think staff did a great job putting that together I'd make a motion to approve second motion from council member heeman second from council member hren all in favor say I I any opposed motion carries 5 z uh case 7 resolution
to consider adding rubber surfacing under the 2 to5 play area of the blueberg park Improvement project um if you recall when we approved the bluebird Park project uh staff was given the direction to try to search for more
funding for the rest of the rubber surfacing throughout the park and so we did apply for funding for the 2 to five area through the agef friendly Grant and just received notice that we weren't um awarded that Grant and so through the project uh speaking with the contractors
who are putting it in just discussed what it looks like if we add it in the future and and um he said it would be more than double at that time just because of the ne necessary requirement to take all the equipment out and replace it put it back into place and then pour the cement and or pour the rub
cement and then the rubber down um and so I just wanted to make you aware of this and just bring it back forward as we're working on this project to make sure that we're doing it the way we want to and see um the results that we want from such a large project and knowing that it's um $34,200
for that section of play for the 2 to5 area um which would increase the accessibility for kids of all ages and strollers and wheelchairs just for that play area um along with it the 5 to 12 play area which is going to be a national demonstration site for
inclusivity for kids at the park and so I just didn't feel like I couldn't bring it up again since we didn't get the funding and knew that it would be double and so we do have a healthy fund um in the park dedication balance right now and we you see that potentially
increasing in the near future again so just just thought it was the right time before we started the project so I wanted to bring It Forward I guess uh we talked about this at length when we had decided on I still think it's a I don't I don't necessarily like the investment and the fact that
we're getting rid of an amenity that's perfectly good and that we just put roughly $40,000 into for repairing and now basically ripping it out and putting something new in its place um I would would rather see it still put in a different Zone a different area I don't know if that's an option um but I
putting almost $400,000 into a place that that's replacing something that's still there that's usable just doesn't seem efficient to me so I I I can't get behind putting more than that into it already personally so I think it's an unfortunate
circumstance the way this came about and that we're going to have to spend more money one thing I've noticed this console really hasn't said down and talk about and that is what to do with the park and wreck funds I mean really a lot them
um I did have some ideas for that I I do too I but but we're putting this playground in it is inclusive it is accessible we really do not have another playground like that in the city of Ian I uh I that's a lot of money from
the park and wreck funds to approve but I'm at the opinion that we should try to do this and just just get it done and move on with what we have left in the pile and hopefully we can we can allocate that better in the future or at
least when we plan another project make sure something like this doesn't come up that is unexpected because I didn't expect this when I approved it the first time well when I voted for it the first
time I concur with you Mr and I I think it's if we're going to do it let's do it right let's let's make things accessible there's a lot of people that that you know I I don't want to say it technically I am handicapped and if I
got to go up a lot up and down a lot of stairs I ain't going someplace because I just can't do it anymore and you got somebody that's going on with a grandparents with their grandkids and they're they're in Walkers and they want to be part of those grandkids lives because their lives are shortening and
the kids are just getting longer and longer you know what it gives them enjoyment to be with them and if we're the ones that do it kudos to us and allowing that to happen I think handicap accessibilities is underrated I don't think a lot of people look
at how much of an asset it is right I mean it's it's as simple as you all talk about your creamer Cafe that building is not handicap accessible so if you got somebody your father is one if he can't get in there to go into the bathroom
he's not going in there you that that's why handicap accessibility is so strong and I think it needs to be done and it's unfortunately it happened the way it did it did there's nothing
any of us up here can do the funds are in the park dedicated funds let's use it let's do it is it is it too late to consider moving it over a little bit because I see we have a perfectly good playground there that's that's used right now it would be really cool to have more of like we've always wanted to
make it like a Mecca park right Bluebird Park why not have the place set that's already there that's probably got another 10 or 15 years of life left in it and put this next to it so then you really have an awesome Park and you're not getting rid of you're not wasting the money that we just spent to repair all this stuff on there and waiting
however long we waited for that that um the other the repair parts and I just I really don't think it's a good wise investment as far as just getting rid of stuff we will not be getting rid of any of the things that we just purchased for repairs so the tunnels the slides and
everything do um they're actually outdated and we can't get those pieces as readily available like the slide we had to order another slide but they fit on three other of our playgrounds throughout the city what about the rest of it I mean you have there's so much playground equipment there and to me
it's just seems like a huge waste a normal family wouldn't say hey I have this this playground equipment that still works great and I just spent ,000 on it the normal family wouldn't say let's just get rid of that and put a new one in its place let's get another one next to
it all of that equipment that is savable salvageable is being saved all of the plastic pieces every single one so that we can use it to replace pieces to elongate the use of our other playgrounds and so we we will be saving
whatever we can that is usable for from that playground is it not an option to just move the other one I mean we could theoretically move it right now part of the savings of this playground is that that site is already ready for a
playground and so it's cleared I mean other than the playground equipment but it's level like it's ready for it to be done so it's a site prep piece that is saving us money because it's ready it has the border around it that's concrete
and so we're using all of that in its place um so it's it's basically a a shovel ready site as okay Shaka did you have some public comment go ahead thank you shy um I st anti
resident I I'm having a hard time with the with the verbiage waste cuz I do not think this project is a waste of time I I do think that we invested in this project for a very particular and specific reason and I just think that we
should move forward with the Integrity of doing the the way we intended to which was making it all inclusive all right so now if we're pulling back after kind of stating what our what our goal was it concerns me now that that Community isn't going to be able to use
that efficiently as we plan to do so yes a child or an elderly person in a wheelchair can get through mulch but why make it hard for them when things are already difficult as a person that has disabilities I just don't I I'm very
passionate about this project because I have a child that has CP he cannot walk he is 3 years old it's hard to get him to that particular area right now with Mulch and he's not the only person as lundine said it doesn't and it's not just children it's also adults
grandparents and parents want to be able to get to the playground and push their kids and interact with their kids and kids should be able to go playground and interact like every other kid so to me the word waste is it's a hard word for me to hear because
we need to do what we say what we said we were going to do and this would not deplete the funds I I know I know it wouldn't I know what's in there so yes it's an expense but I do think if we're going to do this we should keep the Integrity of the project and be proud to
do this as a city thank you sure I agree yeah I meant I didn't mean waste as the project I meant as far as just Dem demolishing what is there I don't want to waste what we've already invested on that particular area I would like to add this as a great amenity in addition to
that smaller project so I just wanted to clear that up that's not what the word waste was intended for so that's the way I took it too yeah well I'll motion to go ahead with the finishing of the rubber in the whole area
second uh motion from council member lend second from council member holr all in favor opposed motion carried 5 Z on that uh we will move on to the next item which
is um can we move up K10 the municipal dispensary discussion I know there's some members of the public here that would maybe like to get that discussion started sooner than later yes all right and then we will resume K8 and K9 after this discussion
just for those just as quick yeah I suppose uh so the uh let's see Keith did you want to kick this off or did you want me to or I I am more than willing to take the take over here
um mayor and councel thank you for having me here tonight um I'm going to just summarize the the uh cannabis information that I sent all of you for the public here feel free to jump in with questions or comments as you see
fit um but the background on on uh uh recre ational cannabis is Minnesota is the 23rd state to legalize recreational marijuana um under Minnesota's recreational marijuana laws local municipalities and counties are able to own and operate their own retail
cannabis store much like Municipal liquor stores with but with one notable difference uh cities that decide to operate a cannabis store will not be the only business of that type in their City municipal retail cannabis licenses do not count towards the minimum number of
licenses awarded so if a city decides to open their own cannabis store there will there will be at least one privately owned store within C limits as well uh the the only advantage that cities have when applying for a license is that they are not subject to the license
lottery the uh state will issue cannabis retailer licenses in 2025 half of those licenses which is 75 will be awarded to social Equity applicants City held licenses licenses will not count towards the total number of licenses issued um
while the state of Minnesota sets the minimum number of cannabis businesses counties and cities have the ability and responsibility to set the maximum number allowed um as far as fees taxes and Licensing process the uh application
period for all retail Cannabis stores is February 18th through March 15th which is fast approaching uh cities that are interested in operating a cannabis store must apply for retail cannabis license by March 15th the application fee is
$2,500 once the application fee is submitted to the states to the state cities have up to an additional 18 months to work towards the fully operational cannabis store um so once the city receives um you you can apply for the um pay the the application fee
and then work towards a license so you have you know considerable amount of time to work towards the other payment which is a $2,500 licensing fee once the state says yes you will award you a license then you pay the ex then you pay the next 2500 um the annual fee to own
an operate a cannabis store is $5,000 um so that annually it'll cost $5,000 just to renew the license after that point um the Cannabis tax is a 10% gross receipt tax um from retail sales of taxable cannabis products money
raised from the T cannabis tax is split between cities and counties 80% of the tax revenue will go to local government aid while 20% will go towards Public Safety funds um license requirements uh while M municipalities are not subject to the
lottery process the statute always been has always been clear that they're not exempt from basic application information um the the licensing requirements include security and recordkeeping plans um and employee training plan business plan financial
and operational plan labor and employment practices and environmental plan so those will all have to be set up and and uh sent to the state for approval um customer payment options I know in the past we talked about the issue of large cash amounts on hand and
security issues that would arise from that um so it is not legal to use credit cards when purchasing cannabis however you can there are um dispensaries that use a a uh like a bank card like a
cashless ATM so basically you make your purchase you type in your PIN number you hit the green button you're on your way um there so there is you know electronic payment in that form um there's also cash um as an option uh the other thing
with it not being able to use credit cards is if you know if if we were to have a retail cannabis store I would suggest that we have an ATM in there as well um where people can get cash and if the city so chooses you could charge a fee for cash there and have an
additional Revenue source as well um oversight and enforcement the office of cannabis management oversees everything from light licensing dispensaries to ensuring compliance with health and safety standards however a local unit of government um the police department is responsible for enforcement and uh they
do compliance checks um stuff like that so other relevant information this is kind of a a big one for me um as somebody that's running the liquor store um state law currently prohibits an applicant from holding a cannabis license and a hemp license at the same
time so unless the law is amended that means that if the city were to be awarded a retail cannabis license the liquor store would not be eligible for a license to sell hemp derive THC um hemp dve THC we did just under 180,000 in sales last year so that would cut into
sales there um however there's already been um a bill um a bill entered into the state or um house I believe to change that um so there is some momentum to to amend that so that cities can hold
both I I would ask that that wouldn't be um something to to keep you from approving this or considering it um the way I look at it if we were to apply for a license work towards our plan um
between now and then there's a pretty big potential that they would iron that out and and change that if not then the liquor store could transfer our inventory of hemp derived products to the the Cannabis operation um I I haven't seen any laws that prevent that
um so but it would put a ding in the liquor store sale so I'd ask you guys to take it easy on me when the numbers are a little lower um if that happens so the other thing is uh projections suggest Minnesota's cannabis sales could hit 426 million in the first
year of adult use legalization uh growing up to 1.2 billion by uh year five so I did include a few um pictures of Cannabis stores um as you can see there's not a lot to them you know as we discussed earlier it doesn't take a big
building basically you have a secured entry you have a an area where people can come in and um look at samples you know basically a couple sales counter and you got your product in the back um the biggest thing is security and making sure you have a you know a good plan for
keeping track of your inventory and following all the the state regulations that go along with this business um I think online sales are big big part of cannabis sales as well um in a lot of other states and I know like medical cannabis um you buy the stuff
online You' show up at the dispensary and and they look at your ad buzz you in give you your stuff or make you pay for it obviously and and send you on your way um you know there's there's really not a lot more to it than that um it's
pretty pretty basic in the grand scheme of things um there are several other cities moving forward with Municipal canvas stores I included those as well as links to articles I hope you had a chance to to read up on that a little bit um but they include Grand Rapids Elk
River Brainard um city of Byron which is smaller than I an um St Anthony Village uh and Anoka are the ones I know of so that's that's the information I have um do you guys have any questions for
me so you had said that uh 75 of 150 Statewide permits were to be issued to social Equity applicants can you elaborate more on that yes um so social Equity applicants SE 75 is half of the half of the licensees
issued so basically what is a social Equity applicant who qualifies um a social equ Equity applicant is anyone that was convicted of an offense involving the possession or sale of cannabis prior to May 1st of 2023 um anyone that had a parent
Guardian child spouse or dependent convicted of an offense involving the possession or sale of cannabis prior to May 1st of 20 2023 um anyone who was a dependent of someone convicted of an offense um involving the possession or sale of
cannabis prior to May 1st of 23 um anyone who is a military veteran including service disabled veterans or current former members of the National Guard um is a military veteran or National Guard member who lost honorable status due to an INF involving the possession of sail or of
cannabis has or um anyone who has been a resident for the past five years in areas with um they call it a they use a social Equity verification map where you can check areas but it's places that have had um historically High cannabis
enforcement rates um a a poverty rate of 20% or more median family income not exceeding 80% of the Statewide median family income um at least 20% the households receiving snap assistance um populations that have experienced a high
level of V vulnerability and the last qualifying um piece is anyone that has participated in a farm operations um for at least three years providing the majority of the day-to-day labor and management on a farm with grow sales between 5,000 and
$100,000 in the previous year so that that's what they're using to Define social Equity applicants okay so part of that could be the felons per se you know drug dealers that were convicted of cannabis related occurrences okay so it
would be that but it it's also going to be you know cannabis related offenses so it's not going to be sure people that are dealing meth people that are you know convicted they the PE the people that that are eligible for the social Equity applicant status they're subject
to the same background checks as as everyone else so and they they do have some pretty strange background checks um to make sure a that you are who you say you are and B that there aren't companies that are praying on social Equity applicants as you can see a lot of them are are people that have
experienced a high level of poverty um to have some business come in and say Hey you I'll give you $100,000 if you put your name on this line and then sell me the business a year from now um so they're they're pretty strenuously looking at these applications and
they're not going to just give it to anybody you know but you know at the end of the day we're all human people do make mistakes once in a while too you know government does the same so sure Travis did you have any concerns about would you I know we've talked about this
in the past with with uh enforcement of issues at a non city-owned cannabis location do you still have the same concerns about that or have you had a chance to look into that more think about it more yeah I don't think there'd
be as far as compliance issues be the same is I mean granted um we'd have no control over we'd have a control over the illegal issues right if they if they're selling illegally but we would have control over the ramifications like
for that employee where the city in theory would have some you know disciplinary pieces of that I don't know if that's a significant issue or not because we'd still have the authority to enforce the other stuff on private business outside City business
okay so I guess from the beginning on this one you know i' I've always stated that I I'm a little concerned about how haphazardly they passed all this legislation and things continue to change and it's extremely volatile and and it really sets everybody up for risk I think because there's there's things
that you know like the social Equity stuff I I think there's a lot of leeway there um there are a couple things on that that made it sound like they basically DEC decided what was acceptable and what wasn't I don't I don't like that policy I think it leads the community open to risk um and then
as well as there's there's things that continue to change I mean they might see that it's not as profitable as they hoped so they're going to try and let more people into the market and that to me scares me too so I think if the city were to consider um doing one of our own stores it would uh make I say any less
of a soft target for maybe potentially people that don't have the best interest in mind of our community um I think our our city government and city council obviously has the best um you know the best interest in mind for our community because we are the community um so that's something I think is a very big
benefit not to mention um also the projections of you know the taxpayer savings you know might it had some projections anywhere from 755,000 to 300,000 a year rough projected you know income so that's something that would reduce people's taxes you know 8 to 10%
and that that's a meaningful thing to people and I think that's something that's you know should be considered by us um obviously it's not the only thing to consider but if anybody else has any questions or comments or I know I was I had briefly talked to Mike about this
last week and and he was um he seemed pretty excited about the numbers I don't know what the numbers were obviously we all wish he were here tonight to to be able to discuss that but um he was very hopeful and and very optimistic so I just want to let you guys know that as
well did we ever hear back on how much of potential lease on a space like that would cost he he had those numbers yeah I I also have those numbers and was the one who reached out to the space so I'm aware of I I have all of that okay can you share roughly the the lease I think
he was projecting roughly 5,000 a month it was LE it ended up being less less than that for the space that he really was hoping for so okay um he was happy to see that when the numbers came in but I can't give you that at the top of my head but I know it was less than what he had originally budgeted okay so there
might be more more room there for for a potential for profit and taxpayer savings one thing I want to caution you on if the city was to have that license we still have to give somebody else that license right they cut you by five bucks just a second they cut you by five bucks
we still can't control what they're doing in and out of there so then we're losing money while they're going to the other store and they could be doing the hanky crap where we're doing everything by the book to the letter of the T
but it isn't going to stop that problem the state is supposed to set the perance price though I thought yeah but it's you might be somebody doing something getting to Miners and then you got to get in and try to prove it it just it it's going to end up being a nightmare and that's another reason why if we have
the store we have a little bit more control you know we we would have control of our store we would not have control of the second store we still have to give a license to another private individual it that doesn't count against the count
of licenses given you have to bear that in mind Blake did you have something that you'd like to say on this yeah sure just state your name and address for the record please 28117 PK Street I've got kids in this community and I've
I've had my kids come home at 16 years old with the wrong thing from smoke shops and other stuff in the town it's going to happen the city can have a space and sell the stuff and do it respectfully and have good employees at this spa space you know in order to be a
man you got to see a man so now the city has an opportunity to show another business how to conduct business in this brand new space that we're all it's it's inevitable it's coming here either way so you got to show this person or this other business owner what it looks like to actually operate this business respectfully in our community and hold a
high standard to that people are going to come to your business because of that it's going to be a driving for you know I've been a medical cannabis recipient for eight years it's fantastic to have do I want my kids to come home with it or find mine at home no absolutely not
not until they're of age but there's a lot of benefits to having the city at least own part of it and you're going to get so you're you're GNA either have everybody go to this other store or you're going to get a good chunk of the people to go to yours which one would you rather have you want part of them coming to yours or do you want them all
going somewhere else and you can also then you know you you can pick the city should be able to pick they're going to be able to pick where they give the next license to you're going have a lot of applicants so you're going to set the standard of what it should and shouldn't look like I think as a
city you're going to know you're going to know if it's in the schools because it's going to have possibly your label or something maybe you might be able to trace that down or whatever and then maybe you'll find another business owner That'll Walk along Andes as you as City
and That'll Walk you know walk with you in that path because it's coming it's coming to town you ain't sto so you got to think about that I got for you thank you we open to public comment there's anyone else sure yeah if anybody wants
to speak on this they're welcome to come forward I there's nothing I love about this whole situation no either way you're doomed nothing um I'm going to hold my principle on this and that is the city should conduct itself like a
business but it shouldn't be in the business to be in business and I'm going to hold firm on that so you'll have a definite no vote for me on this um the safety as aspect of it
100% agree I mean Luke the research you did and what you have said makes total sense the revenue part of it I'm not totally convinced um looking at numbers Nationwide um I don't think the city is really
losing a huge opportunity I I hope I'm not proven wrong in the future by one of the dispensaries here being the highest you know Revenue one in in the whole area and it possibly could be
because we have such a a young Community here but um I I'm I'm just a no on it I'm in no too I believe in the free market and I don't think government
should get any bigger than it already is and I I the numbers are nice if they're accurate and you have to have really good staff to do that there are city-owned liquor stores in this state that are not doing very well at all so
it's it's really nice to have good projections but sometimes it's just on reality and I just don't see uh us putting that money at risk like that and I think it should be left up to the free market and I'm not convinced the revenue
stream is what it is and you know we'll lose one Revenue stream by by utilizing another and uh and and to be honest now with Mike I with Mike out of the pitch I mean even if I would have been wobbling
either way that would that's a definite no he had a really good grip on this and I had a lot of confidence in him if if I would have even wanted to lean the other way um but that's that's my two sens I agree with that sentiment
100% I do think there might be a value in US potentially you know applying for the permit make us S A softer Target and we can look at more projections and see so right now it's a $2,500 investment um I think it's a it's a good thing you know if if I were a business owner and I
saw that the city of iand they have this great liquor store and now they're considering even just talking about having a cannabis store I think that would keep the people that are going to do Shady things out of the of this community um and then it could give us a little more more option to look at more
numbers and see how go um it's a relatively small investment but I know it's a weak $2500 insurance policy I kind of I I it sounds good but I'm still know okay what are you
thinking I think those that don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it prohibition of alcohol was a failure and the way they handled the after effect of that was also failure I don't like that we were ever prohibiting it but I also don't want to go head and endorse it
either if we're going to take taxpayer money we need to be responsible with it and I don't think it's our job to open up a business with taxpayer funds okay all righty so that's a sounds like
a four to one consensus you already know where I yeah I figured as much you know it's it's look you had a very good point Blake you have a great point but there's a flaw in that point people were getting this stuff
long before it was legal people were doing it all the time prime example at work I have gentlemen that come to work stoned because it's legal they even come to work drunk but
they come to work stoned because it's legal does that make them any better of a worker or safer worker to work around no it doesn't some sometimes it makes it worse I don't disagree with the philosophy in the fact that it would be a safer and better alternative for the
people I don't disagree with that I also am along with councilman heeman uh previous mayor Gordon was the same way councilman hren same thing the liquor stores were granted to us after
prohibition that goes way back for any of us we even round and there will be come to a point when the city of byan will have to relinquish another liquor license to somebody else yes when that population gets to that
point I defend a liquor store for that fact which brings a lot of money into the city but I don't think we need to add another business on top of this the city I I'm dead set against the city owning properties and selling them shovel ready I I rather us do our aspect
of helping other developers and helping other people to get things developed rather than us spending tax dollars on it and it's the same thing with this we're going to cost us a lot of money just $2,500 today it's qu of a million dollars tomorrow right and I just don't
see that's being fiscally responsible for our taxers and and we will have a revenue stream off of this one way or the other because we're going to get a percentage from any operation that opens up within the city limits anyway so I I just I it's not that I it's it's great
that it is available it's legal now I've always said it should have been but I just don't feel it's our responsibility as council members sitting up here to start a business again I
agree fair enough all right we will move on to K8 then resolution to consider approving a special event permit for family summer entertainment series good evening again um the city staff has submitted a special event permit for the family Summer Event series and the event will take place on May 28th June 11th
June 25th and August 6 and August 20th from 5:00 P p.m. to 7: pm. um for a total of five separate days um this it will be the third Summer of the family Summer Event series and um an estimated
100 to 300 people will be in attendance the event includes performances from wiggle Jam the teddy bear band Will hill and the tadb parade um clim theater and the jolli poops and the East Central Regional Library will be doing a story stroll on June 11th and August 6 and the
books for each event are um 10 pigs and epic bath Adventure which I have here if you'd like to review them um and also Bark George which I have the synopsis of that also um last year's event was provided
with great success and we received again this year a grant from ecra which will help cover the cost of most of this event um we usually purchase um which is in here in the map um you'll see uh Inflatables that go to it so that's not covered by the grant
permit but it all comes out in our budget for the um summer Recreation program so okay any questions motion to approve I had one question do we know how much that Grant was that we received um I
believe it's around $9,000 okay that we received I'll second motion to approve by council member Peterson second by council member hren all in favor say I I any opposed motion carries 5 resolution to consider approving a special event
permit for kids archery day this uh permit is for kids archery day which we really excited for May 3rd it's from 11:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. um staff did contact the BMX just about having a event because it extends onto part of
their parcel for tents and such and they said they didn't see any issues with it though they do have a smaller event that day um I do want to give a a shout out to josica because she's been working really hard hard on this event it's a new event for the first time and she's had a lot
of great ideas for it and so she's reached out to the Minnesota DNR who will be showcasing Furs from Minnesota animals as well as the his history um the Ian Historical Society who will be providing some um different crafts that
they were using at this kns and fair Maiden event so they have some similar crafts that are like bows and arrows and stuff that are um really playing well with the archery theme and so she's done a really great job of gathering all these people there'll be a food truck at the event um and the ambassadors will be
there also to volunteer so I think it'll be a great day I MCO also I believe will be offering yes free popcorn as they always do and they also will be doing that for the family Summer Event series cool I'm excited for this one I know people are continuously asking for more
stuff for kids to do and I think we do a lot of stuff uh for kids events and just got to watch the City events and be involved and you'll see there's a lot of stuff especially in the summer months so it's great and this event is kind of special because it really reaches that mid-age kid of 8 to 18 and we don't
really get a lot of events for those age groups a lot of them are geared toward towards younger kids just naturally so um yeah tell your friends yeah I love the idea of this event I'll motion to approve second motion to approve from council member hean second from council
member lundi and all in favor say I I I any opposed motion carries 5 Z sorry I did forget to mention that the archery team is the one doing most of the work to put on this event they're bringing all the equipment and I know you guys the Cambridge ice anny archery team and so that's really great also I just
wanted to say it out loud some that's through the school right yes yeah great uh so k11 that is meeting videos on Facebook so there was a I Got a notification on my phone um I have a page that uses live sometimes so they
sent the notification and Facebook is discontinuing basically hosting our our videos um that are done on live I don't remember if it's 30 days or 90 days um and I'm I'm just curious what your guys' thoughts on that are so I like to have it's good for us to obviously have the
recorded live videos on Facebook um so you can go back and you have data records and all that stuff but it's also good I I send people links to videos or tell them to look at this date video if they have a question about a specific topic um so I don't know how we figure out how to Archive those or keep those
on Facebook or what sort of Technique we do but I know we we should continue to do the live and I don't know if we just you know download the video and then re-upload it the next day so we have a a version that won't disappear on Facebook or if you guys had any ideas or staff
had any ideas are we running OBS what's that are we running OBS what's that stand for it's like open broadcasting software it's a streaming software that's used a lot of time it's very expens so it's free it's open
source um so what would that do that would send the stream to whatever Services you want you can do multiple services at a time you also the ability to record locally and we have the ability to store files locally so then you could retain your own copy of the video so if any service takes it off you
still have the original recorded video on site sure but the software is free and it allows you to multicast many different services at the same time can can you clarify something are you is this a new thing are you it's start it's effective February 28th I believe it it
was newly effective so anything that's been on there for I don't remember if it's 30 or 90 days YouTube I don't believe has a time limit I know I can go back on some sub subscriptions I have and look back at videos that they did 9
10 11 years ago so I think YouTube for now is a good archive and if if that ends up going away I would I would really like the city to figure out a way to Archive every every meeting we've had on video um I've I've always defaulted
to YouTube for the archive okay I didn't realize that that uh Facebook had a new policy and that's that's a shame because it's really convenient for a lot of people and and it's it's phenomenal the amount of people that are are looking whether they're watching the whole
meeting or not but when I look at them and see 1,000 and some of the bigger meetings 5,000 or better um views on our meetings that that's great that is great I did a little math on that comparing YouTube and Facebook and we have over
3,000% higher View viewership on Facebook live than on YouTube as an average and I think that's huge because that gives people an opportunity to watch and to be involved and to care about their Community it's easy it's simple so I think that's one of the best things we've done in the last two years
but I I agree did they actually give you a time frame did they say 60 or 90 days or did they clarify exactly I can't remember what it I thought it was 30 but then part of me thought it was 90 and I tried to find the notification again and it disappeared so um I can
it Miss Woods had something to add there sure I don't think Facebook is a good place to Archive anyway because it's so difficult to scroll and scroll and scroll to see a meeting that happened last year and I think YouTube if any of the public wants to go back and look at a meeting that happened a year ago
YouTube is definitely the place to go and rewatch a video if they wanted to see what we were talking about make sure it lines up with what we're talking about currently or if our our stand has changed on a on an
issue um I don't know if that's going to be a big deal just because we do have that other platform for our meetings but it sucks yeah I just thought I brought it up I'd bring it up because I don't think a lot of
businesses and people are aware of it so after 30 days the live videos will be removed uh so they're trying to clean up their servers I I'm sure obviously it's had something to add about the archiving oh um so one thing that staff was able to determine is that and M
stran thank you for doing some research on it is when we have a Facebook live video um we are able to um take that or we can take it from YouTube and we can re-upload it as a video uh so there is a way to put that on there even for when
the Facebook live goes away to our understanding then the video stays there once it's been re-uploaded it initially does not have closed caption but can then edit it once it's been posted and add um text to it so it does have a close caption so to say um one thing to
keep in mind is we do need to screenshot all of the comments that are done so my recommendation is once we post it um or upload the video within that 30 days and you can set the timeline we need a little bit of a wiggle room depending on if staff is here or not for the ability
to do it but instead of having to screenshot every comment on the Facebook live post and then also on the video post is that we maybe take down the Facebook live sooner than the 30 days because that's just something additional that staff has to always watch uh Miss Tran continually monitors
our Facebook page to screenshot those because if people delete their comment we are still as a city responsible to keep that comment I know there's some possible legislation happening on on this exact situation I hope maybe it comes sooner
and later um yeah that's about all I have to say so you I can you clarify that so you can take the YouTube video or I mean the Facebook video and then upload it loaded to
the video portion of the Facebook page does the city of isan on their Facebook page have a place where they can put photos and video correct so we repul it from our just like we P from our server um to put it and upload it onto YouTube
We would upload it onto Facebook okay that'll be fine for now once we do upload it I would say if we upload it within let's say a week can we then remove the Facebook live post if we're able to which I'm not sure if
we've had any we've never tried to delete it but if we were able to then we aren't having to screenshot comments on both posts that are virtually both the same meeting would it be confusing to people you know the fact that we have a live and then 5 days later we post the
same video that's what I was worried about and that's why I don't necessarily like that idea but I didn't know if there was any sort of alternate idea if we could if we could just posted on Facebook as like unlisted so it doesn't show up in news feeds you know necessarily it's only shows up if you go
looking for it because otherwise if you if you hit some another video that's you know from 5 days ago and it show shows up and you start watching it's like what the heck I already saw this is that something I know it's a possibility ontu really the the the work that staff would have to do it doesn't matter where that
is if it's up for P public view we do have to screenshot if someone comments it one quick suggestion if we end up going that route and you upload them I would like and since you're doing screenshots I would like the face of
that video to have the agenda for that meeting so they can archive really quick if so if they're looking for information that we talked about and they're not sure what date on the cover page at the very beginning of the video would show the agenda so they could subject they
were looking for if that would be possible we don't edit the videos so you're asking for us to embed an image into the video but we don't have any of those capabilities now if we were uploading the video as a post we can easily put it in the post section you
know we can write text in there that says what meeting that is U we we do have that on the Facebook live too it says what meeting um but not the agenda but we could post an picture of it I would imagine that we could we haven't tried that but we could probably post a picture image of the agenda and then
post a video perhaps in the same post okay I think it would help help us as council members even trying to go back and see what we talked about 3 months earlier when the subject comes up again you know there sometimes I want to go back and look at it and see exactly what
it's talked about well tonight we have 11 take 20 minutes to scroll through tonight we have 11 agenda items I have 11 different lines of what the agenda is on a a screenshot or the thumbnail would be so small you wouldn't be able to read what the text is if you have two or
three two page agenda right yeah but it would jog probably people's memory just seeing the first page I don't know I think I'm leaning towards just doing the Facebook live and uploading to YouTube like we always do and then if if somebody really wants to see the older stuff they can go on the YouTube I think
that it just it might create a lot of confusion unless we can figure out a way to streamline it more that's kind of why I brought it Forward I didn't know you know Nick if you would have a any sort of input on it or if City staff had any creative ideas it stinks that Facebook changes their policy and it makes it a
little more difficult but I think the the live portion is the most important and it's still there for 30 days and then I think we just keep it clean and uploaded on YouTube unless we figure something else out yeah we can have further discussion on another time I guess if we need to if we're not running OBS I really think we should look at
running OBS and then for as far as uh before I was on the council when I try and watch meetings there's no way for me to watch Facebook live on my TV and I didn't have Facebook so I had no way to watch the things live if we do the multistream stuff a lot of the smart TVs you can watch YouTube live it's no problem but I have no way at home to
watch Facebook outside of my phone so if we were going and not being so on one platform but being multiplatform I I think you would see more watch time because YouTube is better for that setup but the OBS thing there's no cost it's
an open source thing we did try and look into that and we were told by our it guy it wasn't possible to do Facebook live and YouTube live at the same time that's what the IT guy had told us with our current cap capabilities okay of technology so maybe maybe if that is limitation there's also another way
which is called restream which is you send them the feed and they they do the multicasting if you're that limited but I would be surprised if we actually are okay would you be willing to do some more research or put something together for console maybe bring it back to col have us all look at it have more detail
I don't know what to show you but I I do the I do live streams for my church all the time so I'm I'm pretty familiar with it but maybe could you practice with City staff sure okay I'd be happy to try and get some stuff set up okay that
sounds good to me do you guys have any input on this one you know I should have bought it all R so I ain't got nothing to put on it all right then that concludes k11 uh we'll move on to the consent agendas K12
oh K12 yes po pads yes the pole pads sorry so K12 the pole pads I was asked um by County Commissioners how the city council feels about the pole pads and I gave them my opinion and I I don't like
it at all I think there's too many issues with the technology and too many chances for um potential issues U not enough checks and balances so I said I was against it but we'd have to get the consensus from the council to see I'm
100% no absolutely I hate I hate these things I'm also no I got to give Applause that no it's quite all right I'm I'm technically challenged so when it comes to them talking about this stuff I don't care because it's not I'm I'm old school
piece of paper you want to see what's going on in a meeting come to a meeting you get more more respect and more input when you come to a meeting than sitting at home on your couch watching that that's just me personally I'm not saying that's wrong but that's how I feel when you start putting more
electronic crap into elections that could be so skewed to start with where you had the election machines we've been using for years all of a sudden they're getting skewed now you want to change it put in another piece of digital no I'm not 100% against that paper doesn't lie
Jee how do you feel about it no I'm good I like paper that's a 5 against the pole pads just so you know how for the we feel that's that's awesome take that take that to the county of Commissioners and I appreciate
it sure May if I could can we um have a vote of council for that so we can conclude that with the minutes make a motion to say no pole pads second uh motion by myself second by council member holen all in favor say I
I any opposed motion carries 5 Z and can we maybe had Tod come up here and inform everybody what's going at on at the county with the pole pads absolutely thanks just come on up and state your name and address for the record please I don't want to put you on the spot but I
think uh oh no that's fine name is uh Todd Christensen County Commission District 4 um actually yeah for the pull pads that came up uh one of our other meetings it was talked about again today um you know as far as like you were
stating there about there's enough Electronics already involved in it I think election Integrity is very very important um you know some of the you know some of the townships and stuff were wondering why they didn't already have it and some of the townships are
very much against it so basically I mean it's just part of when you come in to register to vote that's what it is and it's an Apple Apple iPad that you will you'll look at it and right now it be1 $100,000 for the county but they have a
uh there is a $40,000 Grant and that means there' be $60,000 divided up between the townships and the and the counties there the problem is so with okay for some of the uh say election clerks and stuff doing the elections you know there's saying
it's going to make things more easy and more convenient but you know my thought is is that elections only happen every couple years so let's keep you know let's keep the documentation with with paper you know and then also too another negative part about it is is that there
every couple years we're going to have to update software it could be $5,000 you know who knows at the time so but uh and then also it's going to require you know the extra extension cords and the different things that's part of the negative part of it so basically the
reason why on the city of canbridge has done them you know and then when a a machine goes down they got to pull another one out put it in rotation I don't know me just personally and I I just don't I just don't like it so as a county commissioner I will not be voting
in favor of electronic pull BS so all right sounds great thank you Todd all right then we will now move on to the uh approving the consent agenda is there any items that need to be pulled out for discussion motion to approve well I'd just like to
make a shout out one of our election judges is donating their time so I want to say thank you from that awesome and I'll second okay I heard a motion from council member line second from council member holgren all in favor
signified by saying I I any opposed motion carries 5- to approve the consent agenda any other Communications I'll hear to adjourn motion to adjourn second motion to adjourn by council member line Second by council member heeman all in favor
signify by saying I I any opposed motion carries 5-0 we are adjourned