All right, it is 7 o'clock. We will call this city council meeting to order. If we could all rise for the pledge of allegiance. >> Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. >> Doing roll call. All voting members are present. minus council member Hongren who notified us that he would not be able to make it this evening. Uh tonight we have an oath of office uh for police officer Petra Petra Seldana
and I will have uh Chief Myers take the floor on that. I'll just say that we're very happy to fill our our last full-time position slot and uh it's a very valuable um resource for our city. So, >> all right, mayor and council, I started
off as chief in 2019 and one of you were there at that time, that very same day. One of I said one of my challenges was recruitment retention. I don't know how many times I've mentioned those same words in the past six years, but many a times is recruitment retention is the
biggest challenge in law enforcement as well as for Sani PD. Um we went through a few processes trying to find the right person for us. We don't just hire anybody that wants to put on a badge or gun. We want to find the right fit that fits with our community, that fits with
our officers, and that will fit as a exemplary law enforcement officer. Um, we hired Petra Sodana as an officer and she's completed her 12 weeks of field training. Um, she calls County her home and she lives there along with her
husband Jose and her small child. Uh, she's was amazing candidate that we're proud of calling our own. Uh, we're very fortunate to have her to wear a badge and she embodies our core values of respect, integrity, and professionalism.
So, um, we'll do our oath of office with Jaden. And I encourage council to support all these officers as well as, uh, future officers. Many decisions that come before your body, uh, affect our recruitment retention, which ultimately affects the quality of life that we can
enhance within our community. So, just think about that every time we bring something up that it's all going to fall back to recruitment retention for us to provide the service to our community members. And I challenge you to prioritize those things for our public safety, for our community members. All right, Petra, you want to come up? And
Officer Sana, test. Okay. Hello. Okay. All right. >> Whatever you want. Does anyone want better picture in the middle? Whatever. >> Please raise your right hand and repeat
after me. I state your name. >> Do solemnly swear to support the Constitution. do solemnly swear to support the Constitution >> the Constitution of the United States >> the Constitution of the United States >> the State of Minnesota >> the state of Minnesota
>> and to discharge faithfully >> and to discharge faithfully >> the duties >> the duties >> of police officer >> of police officer >> of the city of Isani >> of the city of Isani >> Minnesota >> Minnesota >> to the best judgment >> to the best judgment
>> and ability >> and ability >> so help me God >> so help me God >> congrat Congratulations. And then we'll have Jose, her husband, her badge. >> Don't stick her now. >> Like I said, we're very proud to call her one of our own. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Good to go. All right. Uh, next. >> Okay. No problem. >> Oh, sure. Come on up. Don't be shy. Yeah, we could stand up behind him.
Maybe you guys want to stand up behind. >> No. Do you What do you >> Sometimes we stand up behind, but we can move out of the way and let you >> However you guys want to do it. >> What do you guys want to do? Okay. Yeah. Right.
Thank you everybody for coming in and thank you Petra for your service to Sani. >> Thank the other officers as well. >> Of course. Thank you everybody. All right. Uh, next we will move on to the public comment section of the
meeting. And I will just remind people that there's a 3minut time limit. And we would please like to keep it to uh official city business and not personal or political attacks. Uh, tonight we have a a timekeeper if necessary. Uh, that'll be council member Heman. He will have a one minute u piece of paper and
he will notify you when there's one minute. If there's anybody that'd like to come forward for public comment tonight, you're more than welcome to come forward, >> come on up and just state your name and address for the record. And thank you for coming in. >> You can you can tilt it up if you'd like. >> No, it's good. It's good.
>> Okay, it's good. I'm Josh Bosma from My Santi. Mayor, you posted something today about the school walk out. I don't even know if it happened to be honest with you. You don't get to as a public official, as a government official, tell people
where, when, how, why they're going to protest. That's not for you. That's specifically what the First Amendment was written for. You don't get to have a a say in how people choose to use their rights. You tried to tell them that they shouldn't. You tried to intimidate
people and say that they shouldn't be doing this, that the school shouldn't be doing this, when in fact, you didn't even know what happened with the school. You just made stuff up and you can go back and point at your edit now. But the other thing you did is you said, "This is from my mayor campaign page." You
know, this is the page you're directing people to go to because they don't want to look at your personal page. It's your mayor page. You're not campaigning anymore. It's your mayor page. Number two, anybody in the room, have anybody any
relatives that were in World War II? Do you I hope you thank them for their service. Do you think any of those people thought anything that Hitler did was a good idea? Not going to answer nothing. Since I'm sure not everybody s has seen
this, you speaking directly to one of our community members. The quote push back for mentally handicapped and unstable morons. Sure, probably the same type of people that Hitler had a problem with in the first place. poison to society. Let me ask you something.
Republican, Democrat, whatever. Did those people that Hitler killed deserve it? >> No. And that was my personal page. And I will say that that's taken completely out of context. >> I don't care. You don't get to hide behind that. >> You're mayor 24 hours a day. You don't
get to hide behind your personal page when you are as abhorrent and disgusting of comments as that. And if the first thing that comes to your mind when you're going to make a comment is comparing or rationalizing or making it okay things that Adolf Hitler did.
And for anybody that sits up there, anybody that works with him that thinks that that's okay and doesn't want to hold that accountable, there's a word that they used for all the people in Germany that sat back and didn't say anything and wanted to stay comfortable.
Those people, the word that they use for them is Nazi. No, under no circumstances should you be okay with that representing our community. And I urge you, for the love of God, hold him accountable.
Is that that's the person that is the school district liaison. Is that what we want going and being in front of our schools and our kids is somebody that's rationalizing things that Hitler did? At a minimum, remove him as the school leazison. >> All right.
>> I just will reply that was uh a year ago and it was a it was a tough transition for me into mayorhood. I will fully admit that and there was a mistake. I shouldn't have used a couple of the words that I used in that uh comment. Uh it was in the heat of the moment and we all make mistakes. So, I fully acknowledge that. I've been working on
that and I I feel like it's gotten better. Uh but nobody's perfect. Thank you. Anybody else for public comment tonight? come on forward and just state your name and address for the record, please. Thank you for coming in. >> Coler 702 Marian, um I'm just coming
because I got this tree trimming notice on my front door last week saying trimming trees in the rightway. >> Okay. >> Kind of reminded me of being up there 10 months ago. >> Correct. >> And I have not heard any answers or anything on that. I'm kind of felt like I've been discarded or not heard. So,
um, I haven't went on Facebook, made a big deal about it on any of the community pages. I tried to come to council. >> Yep. >> Bring you guys my situation, the whole community situation. Um, but I feel like I've been kind of discarded and, uh, want to know what's being done. I know you guys did a tree survey. I know there's been turnover in public works
department. I talked to the new public services director. Um, we had a good conversation, but I've heard nothing since then. >> Sure. It was on the agenda over and over every month for three months and it kind of just got kicked off the agenda. If you guys need a refresher, the city
went through planted ash trees in the boulevards. They've now got emerald ashbor and are dying and I'm asking for the city to take responsibility for it. I understand the city attorney said your guys city ordinance was legal. It's not. I've talked to your insurance already said up to three times as much
damages for personal injury or property damage. And a good example of that too would be like sidewalks. Say you guys said you guys don't want to take care of sidewalks in the right way and made the residents take care of their own sidewalks. I worked for a city before where somebody slipped on a sidewalk that had that exact same ordinance. We
weren't responsible for it. League of Minnesota cities paid off for two broken risks. So yeah, I guess more of a question you guys can answer. >> Sure. Yeah, I'd be happy to answer that. Thank you for coming in, Keith. Uh, I know that our staff is working on some grant applications um to try and cover
some of that cost and we have um talked a lot as a council for I'd say probably six, seven hours about this total up here. >> Yep. Yep. So, we've talked about it a lot and I think our plan of attack is to attack get the diseased ones or the the more immediate need ones first. Um, and
we're kind of waiting to see how the grant comes through. Um, and that was our plan with that. If you ever have a question, feel free to reach out to me or Josh. I'd be happy to communicate. I assumed you've been watching the the videos because I know you're very diligent with that. So, I figured you kind of knew what was going on with that. Um, but if you ever need any
questions answered, I'm more than willing to chat on the phone or whatever. >> One piece of advice just going through this as a different, you know, in the same situation, I guess. Um, you're not doing your public works staff a service by waiting for them to be, you know, fully affected. I don't taking down ash
or not, but >> grenades. >> Yeah. If you take down a dead ash, it's going to explode. take down a live street. It's a heck of a lot easier. >> Sure. >> You guys can just start attacking. I think you guys would appreciate it. You won't regret getting a jump start on it. You're kind of already behind the
eightball a little bit. So getting caught up. >> Okay, >> I'll keep watching. Hopefully I I hear something soon or see something soon. as recently as October, November where we talking about the grant thing and trying to forecast and it's not easier
going after the more effective ones. We're just trying to prioritize that way and then see what public works could do internally versus what we needed to hire out if we need to get someone training to become a uh >> uh not Yeah. to be able to go open to trees if they're near lines to do more
trouble work versus something that's open in the clear. Well, I provided you guys state statute stuff. I provided you guys League of Minnesota City's response. I've uh gave you guys my emerald ashbor policy that I created that we're using currently. I
see Cambridge is going through and cutting down all the trees. >> We're at we're at three minutes. Can you can you give me a call and we can talk about or talk to Josh? Um he's kind of got, you know, it's his >> exchange emails on call, too. So, >> sounds good. Well, thank you for coming in. I appreciate it. >> Thank you for following up and bringing it to our attention. Yeah.
>> Anybody else for public comment this evening? >> Come on up, Erica. Thank you for coming in. I appreciate it. State your name and address for the record, please. >> Um, Erica Zadon, 709 Bergman Court. I just want to follow up. You and I had had some conversations, some messages.
And I just want to kind of piggyback on that one. I I think most of us would be fired for saying things even on our personal page. As a teacher, if I said things like that, I would immediately be called in and reprimanded, let go, suspended. We've said before in the
past, if children said these words, they would be suspended, reprimanded. Um, and I do hope that you guys have conversations outside of these meetings. Um, personal or not, we're still all citizens of Iani and we would like to be
looked at positively and with respect. >> Thank you. Anybody else for public comment tonight? >> Hearing none, we will move on to adopting the agenda. Are there any changes to the agenda? Miss Wood, >> mayor and council, I do want to share
that there were two recent additions to the business agenda uh today. One of them is K6 and it's resolution to consider authorizing to enter into a professional services contract for IT services with Bitebear IT Services LLC. And number seven, resolution to consider
approving CUP for fitness gym. >> All right. Thank you. >> Make a motion to approve with changes. >> Motion on the floor. Is there a second to approve the agenda with the mentioned? >> Second. >> Motion by council member Lundine. Second by council member Heman. All in favor say I. I
>> any opposed? >> Motion. >> Yeah. >> Did you oppose? >> Yeah. >> Okay. So motion carries 3-1 then. >> Uh so that is approved. We will move on to uh proclamations, accommodations, and
certificate award. Uh so tonight we have a food supply drive check presentation. Um and I'll just read a little bit about that. As part of the 18th annual MMBA food supply drive, we raised a total of $3,9948 for the Family Pathways Food Shelf in
Cambridge. The amount raised is 100% of DO donations made by customers either rounding up at the register or by making cash donations. So, thank you everybody that did that. Uh we are also awarded a pair of customized Vikings cleat as part of the Miller Lights uh my cause my kicks program. They've been received in
time and we'll present them at the meeting also. Uh, so staff would like to >> The shoes aren't done. The artist has them. I wish they were done. >> Okay. All right. Well, next time I guess. >> Um, so staff would like to take an
opportunity uh to give the representative from Family Pathways the opportunity to make a a statement if they wish, as well as get a picture of the check being presented to Family Pathways Food Shelf staff uh with the mayor, council, and liquor store manager. Lusk. come on forward. Thank you for being
here and thank you for being a valued part of our community. >> Thanks. >> State your name and address for the record, please. >> Uh Patrick Feler, St. Paul. Um yeah, just thanks. Keith has been doing this a lot of years. The number keeps growing. The need keeps growing. So really appreciate everything you do for the community. And um on record, the cleat
are like the coolest thing I've ever I worked at nonprofits for like 10 years and customized cleat is like the coolest thing anyone's ever gotten for us. So I really appreciate that. >> What do you guys do with those cleats? I'm just curious. Do you auction them or have them on display or what? I'm not sure. We have a little thing in our main office that has like a signed basketball
and I think a signed golf tea. So maybe just ends up on display, but um >> Okay. Well, sounds good. Uh we'd like to get a picture with with staff or with council members and if you guys could come on forward. All right. Next. Next, we'll move on to
approval of the city council meeting minutes. Are there any changes or additions to this? >> Make a motion to approve. >> Second. >> Motion to approve by council member Lundine. Second by council member Peterson. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed.
>> Motion carries 40. Uh thank you for the good job on those minutes, Jaden. I appreciate it. I know it takes a lot of time. Uh next we'll move on to the announcements. Park and Recck board meeting Tuesday, January 27th at 6 p.m. City Council goal setting session, Wednesday, February 4th at 5:00 p.m.
Economic Development Authority, Wednesday, February 4th at 6:30 p.m. which is a new time this year. Uh so that's at 6:30 p.m. instead of uh immediately following council. So keep that in mind. Uh and city council meeting Wednesday, February 4th at 7 p.m.
Do we have any council committee reports this evening? None. Okay. Well, I do have one. Uh at the Arts and Science Academy, uh they talked about some open seats on their board and an upcoming vote for new board members. So, if anybody in the community or that has a child in the arts and science academy is interested, uh,
contact them to get involved with their board. Uh, they also talked about a field trip day to Bluebird Park Sledding Hill for the kindergarten through 2 grade. Uh, which I thought was pretty cool. Uh, made me wonder if if any of the other schools use the the Dani City Hill for that purpose. Uh, I think it's
a great nearly free addition to that park and it's been used a ton. Um, so Josh, I had a question for you. There's been a lot of question about snow this like a snow makers out this year. Have they been out yet this year or is that expected or have we how's how's the conditions been out there?
>> It's icy but we've added snow to the hill. We haven't brought the snow makers out because we have snow base. Um and it makes more icy snow than real snow. So we're really not lacking on the hill. >> Okay. But you you would be coming out
with them again this year if it was necessary. >> Oh yeah, for sure. If we needed snow on the hill, we could bring make them. >> Sounds good. Anything else for the council committee reports? I know uh the ISD 911 district uh start meets this Thursday. Um and
then the chamber of commerce uh Nick, you had signed up for this month, so you'll be at that which is tomorrow. Correct. >> Correct. >> And I'll be taking that over in February. Uh again, >> fireboards tomorrow. CAC was canceled for this month.
Okay. So, this will be your second technically second meeting as a fireboard or first meeting as a rep but second because you were an alternate before. Correct. >> Correct. >> Okay. Sounds good. Hearing nothing else. We will move on to
business item L1 illuminate 2025 recap. Good evening mayor and councel. Well, um tonight we have Isani together here um who were the volunteers this year for illuminate and they'll provide with the recap. you will see that I did provide
the financials and so the overall um donations and in kind received was a total of $24,750 with the total cash contributions around $17,750
or yes $17,750. Um the expenditures um to date I know we are missing one for propane but it shouldn't be very large um um is around $10,731
for expenditures for the year. Um the city of Icanti was in charge in the contract of at taking care of the large item expenses. So, anything to do with like this the large snowman, the large star um as well as any of our park
related infrastructure. And so, we had a total of $1,000 in expenditures for this season. Um and that is all I have for an update from us right now. Unless you have other further questions, I'm sure um public services director Becker will have some
answers for you as well. But I'd like to invite the volunteers of illumin or IC together up to discuss. >> Sure. And I would just like to say great job everybody involved with this. Um it was a pleasure to be a small part of it, you know, coming there to light up the tree and help clean up a little bit afterwards. Um I was really impressed to
see you guys work together as a team and I thought it was it was a great event this year. I thought it was even better this year than it's ever been. Um so I really appreciate your time and all the people that donated money. Uh so it's it was very exciting. >> I agree. >> Yes. Go ahead and state your name and address for the record, please.
>> Uh, Carla Angela, 312 Flintwood Street. >> Jennifer Bain. So, I have an illuminated sunny 2025 recap. Illuminated Sunni 2025 continued its trajectory as a signature event for our city, demonstrating measurable
community and regional engagement. This summary is this summary is to review the results, effectiveness and and practical forward-looking plans for for the event with an emphasis on fiscal stewardship, public safety and responsible growth.
This year, illuminated Sani ran for 15 days with eight days of designed as the festival of lights. The events reached extended beyond attracting visitors from St. Francis, Andover, Woodbury, Woodbury, several other neighboring
cities and a handful of autostate people. The demon the demonstration this demonstrates increasing regional interest and economic opportunity. Illumina received coverage from two newspapers was featured on Fox 9 morning
and evening news and the topic of a realistic podcast episode. Additionally, we joined two holiday lightfinder platforms, including a prominent Facebook group, furthering ampl further amplifying amplifying
our visibility. Um, and enhance I'd like to enhance a couple highlights. The first night was like our excitement and the turnout set the tone for the whole event. um the last night the highest attended
evening with an estimated 1,200 to 1,500 people participating in just that night. Our our festival days despite challenging weather daily attendance averaged at least 100 people nightly showcasing strong community support.
Regional visitors regional regional visitors. Attendees traveled from numerous cities, adding diverse diversity and energy to to the celebration as well as revenue into our community by going out to eat at our
local restaurants, getting gas, etc. In the absence of this event, it is highly probable that these individuals would not have traveled to ice. Performances and vendors. We had two musical groups perform in the amphitheater and all vendor sheds were
successfully filled. Santa saw an estimated um 800 children. Nearly all 1,200 giveaways were handed out over the course of seven days. We also were the
location of a marriage proposal. Feed feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive both in person and across social media platforms. Families appreciated the festive atmosphere,
the small changes to the event layout, and the event's role in building a sense of community. Some comments included, I can tell that everyone's heart and soul went into this this year's display. Thank you for keeping it alive. Another
person said, "Thank you all. Thank you all for your hard work and dedication to keep this light the lights on for us." Another person said, "Thank you to everyone that made this possible. This has become a yearly tradition for our kiddos."
Another person said, "Thank you to all the volunteers for their time in keeping this tradition alive. We appreciate it." The partnership between Isani together and city staff was productive with both sides responding promptly to requests
and collaborating effectively. While there were moments of adjustment, the event ran smoothly overall. Preparations are underway to further improvement improve communication for future events, events, challenges, and safety
improvements. Propane incident On the opening night, our propane tank, one of our propane or propane fires caught caught fire, but was swiftly contained thanks to first responders.
This highlighted the need for fire extinguishers in the amphitheater sides side rooms, which should be addressed moving forward. Display damage. One display was damaged by being backed over by a vehicle not
affiliated with city workers. Ian together or market vendors or food vendors. The display was made operational and will receive additional repairs later. The weather
the weather weather did not cooperate this year with getting seven to 10 inches of snow before opening and then extreme clo cold and blizzard-like conditions forcing one festival night to be cancelled and four other others to
operate at reduced hours. That being said, we quickly realized that having some cold weather guidelines would make the decisions to cancel or reduce hours much easier. These guidelines could definitely use some fine-tuning, but they were a necessary and beneficial
addition for this this year. Our financial summary. Careful financial management allowed the event to come in under budget with roughly $6,750 in leftover funds for future investments. Iani together provoke
proposes using these funds to purchase two more sheds or a shipping container for consolidated secure storage of event displays and equipment. one or two new wire frame displays to fill out some current selections for some better
cohesion. Possible changes for 2026. Replace artificial trees with real trees um each year which could be composted after the event. This will this will be
a storage saving, timesaving and better for the environment. As one can imagine, 10 artificial trees take up a lot of space. They also take a really long time to set up and fluff. Repurpose or donate large wreaths from
the Redbird fence line and consider wire displays that store more con more more compactly. uh switch to wood burning fire rings instead of propane for greater safety and heat pending discussion with the
fire department and city staffs. Of course, relocate two of the carport arches off pathways to improve plowing and allowing emergency vehicle access. Explore installing permanent lights on the amphitheater for illuminate a santi
um and yearround use. I know it would make the city workers really happy, too. Um, another thing that we should consider, it's not on my list, but, um, the outouses are removed at the end of
October at Bluebird Park. And, um, I really think they should stay there all year long. Um, being in that park, I normally would not be in the park during any cold times. Um, anyways, that park is reused a ton no matter what the
temperature is and we do have a sledding hill there and it would be really nice if there was at least one outhouse there. Just something to consider. Um, anyways, um, I can I together played a vital role in organizing and executing
the event. While not yet ready to fully take over over, the team is committed to a gradual transition to ensure continued success and growth. Isani together's unwavering commitment to Illuminate Asani was demonstrated during the
intense setup for the 2025 event. Def despite facing immense personal challenges, four of our nine core members experienced family losses. One underwent surgery, another cared for an
ailing relative, and two managed to to manage their own small businesses. Um, our team persevered. Furthermore, every member was also balancing a full-time job. Yet, we made
it a priority to to meet weekly throughout the year to ensure thoughtful planning and smooth execution. We chose not to publicize these hardships. Instead, staying focused on delivering a remarkable event for our community. Through resilience, dedication, and
consistent collaboration, we believe we successfully delivered a remarkable event, provoking our determination to keep this tradition thriving for our community. The goal for 2026 is to raise the same amount as 2025. Keeping in mind that we
have a surplus from 2025, we want to utilize the 2025 surplus funds for pract practical expansion. With ongoing community support and collaboration, the event is po is poised to deliver an even bigger and better
experience. There are already inquiries from businesses and individuals interested in supporting, hosting, sponsoring, and volunteering in 2026. In conclusion, Illuminati Sani 2025 performance reflects disciplined
financial management, expanding regional appeal, proactive safety measures, and a direct positive impact on local families and businesses with practical improvements, and clear measurable plans for 2026. We respectfully request the
city council's continued support for this event. Your vote for your vote to your vote vote your vote for Illuminae Sani 20 26 will ensure families will ensure festivities remain a
valuable sustainable asset for our community. >> Does anybody have any questions? >> Thank you. Yes. And again, I just want to say great job, guys. Uh it's a great great community event and you guys did a fantastic job. Um I'm sure there's lots
of questions up here. Um, so if you guys have any questions, go for it. >> I think you guys did a great job. How How did it go for you setting up and learning how to set everything up? >> There was a lot of guessing. Um,
>> I think it I think I do think it went well. There was a lot of learning. There was a lot of a lot of questions where, well, how do you do that? And we're like, let's learn together because we're not sure. So, um, we just did it. We just
I don't know. We just did it. >> Did do you do you have a Facebook page? Illuminate Ian. >> We do. >> Um, not illuminina. Ian together. >> Yep. >> San together. Okay. >> I noticed you have uh a few individual
contributions from um community uh private people instead of businesses. and maybe try to promote that more would be one of my recommendations. Maybe try to get a donate button on that >> Facebook page. We do have um QR codes
throughout the whole park um for people to be able to make electronic donations. Um the problem with that system is that there is no way of donating without giving all of your information. So much
like if you went on Menard's and you if you have an account, you can just click on it and you know get your order. If you're don't have an account but you still want to check out at Menard's they have like a bypass where you can just check out and you don't have to be a
registered like get a password a guest pass guest checkout. >> That isn't something that's available through the donation site. I don't recall 100%. Did you were thinking of being a nonprofit? Are you a nonprofit now? >> We are not. Yeah. No.
>> Okay. >> We were too busy trying to learn how to do everything else. >> Is that still the hope potentially for be by the next year's event? >> Um it's not off the table, but we just we just we're not sure if we'll be able
to by by 2026. So, we'd still we thought that how things went this year, we kind of felt like things went pretty well, >> right? >> Um there was a you know, communication and I think we we tried to make it so that we didn't have to rely on the
workers too much, the city workers. I mean, Stephanie did some ordering for us and I'm sure she did way more than that. She did some postings and and and stuff like that, but we tried not to >> ask her to do too many things and same thing with the city workers. We tried to
do as much as we could to minimize anything that they had to do. Um so there were times when we helped out do doing something for them and then vice versa like if we said we actually don't really know if we can do that, they helped us out with things. So there was
a nice give and take with that. Good, >> Nick. >> So, I have a question regarding the expense report. Uh, what was Cheryl's entertainment? >> Is that Santa? >> Is that a light? Does
>> is that a light or is that the >> Nope, that is Santa Claus. >> Okay. So my followup to that is when we met in June originally you guys had talked about uh 4,800 for Santa and I questioned that amount and then you guys came back at 800. So I'm wondering how
it got from 800 to 3200. >> So um we talked to Santa about it and he was unwilling to um do the night each night for $100. Um but he was willing to um take a lesser amount than what his
original fee was. So, we negotiated that with them. Um, we had um a lead on um a different donor that was going to potentially help us out with the differentiating cost, but then that just never ended up taking place. So, we just
had to take it out of our budget. >> Oops. I should have started with this, but I also want to say that we I took uh two my children there opening night and the volunteers that I saw and inter interact with my children were very enthusiastic and happy to be there and like believe in it. So, I appreciate the
time and effort that all the volunteers put into it and for those who donated. Um although I have a different view on it, I I know that you guys believe in it and I I appreciate that you guys are putting your effort where your heart is at. Um, so I guess my question would be
the expense report didn't cover city staff time or public works time. I'm wondering if we have any amount for that. >> Um, I don't know if Mr. Becker has any. I didn't track staff time, but all we did was set up the
big ticket items. And we did get called back one time to salt because it was pretty slippery in there. And um we I had another call back for the lights were left on. So I sent a guy in for that. But I'd say we probably did all
the big ticket items weeks. Couple guys. So 160 hours or approximate. >> That'd just be a guess. Yeah, I didn't track it. >> And then
>> I I did not track my time. Um but I did um they did create all the Facebook posts and I just posted the Facebook posts. Um, the most difficult part I would say was just because of the weather, there's not, you know, tried to figuring out how to get around like me
having to be available on a like weekends to post on our Facebook page. And so we discussed um staff did when we met, you know, afterwards how we could do that. And it's just directing people to your Facebook page next year just a few times instead of it being posted on
ours and pushing some of our users, you know, Facebook users to you guys. And so that we don't even have to do any of the posting. It can just be on your on yours. We'll just have a few posts directing them directly to there and then they could create the events. And so that will save some of that time. Um,
but otherwise, if we're going to remain the fiscal agent, I think the purchasing and stuff seemed to go pretty seamlessly. They would send me the order from Anards and I would order it and they would pick it up. So, I didn't have to touch anything usually and neither did public works then for those instances. So, that was pretty slick.
Um, otherwise, yeah, it was much more reduced of my time than previous years. I can say that exponentially. >> Okay. I know we had talked about roughly 200 hours, so it sounds like we're probably under that by a little bit or or on that would be a conservative
guess. Um, so that's that's good. I think it seemed to go well. >> It's less than a city dance. >> Yeah, as far as money out of pocket. >> As far as money out of pocket, >> ma, if I remember correctly, it was like 800 and 960 hours before. So that's a
quarter of where it started at or less, >> right? I did I did have a question. And I know we had talked about the goal was to make the city have a a net zero um dollar expenditure, but obviously the
time from the city staff. Um and I know I thought we had talked about like if you raise more the some of that amount will go towards covering extra expenses and then you guys would keep the rest in your account. Um would you guys be in favor of you know you have a $6,000 plus dollar surplus. So, would you be in
favor of, you know, donating $1,000 of that back to cover the city costs that were associated this year and then keeping the rest in your account for next year? Is that something that has been discussed at all or >> anything like that? >> Uh, no. It was never discuss we haven't discussed that. It was my understanding
that um in the contract that we wrote up or whatever that any extra money would be used for future events and not be used >> to pay back either prior events or any other >> I would I would counter that like if
there's excess funds I would just say that rather than investing into it that we figure out a way to get the stuff out of the PD so that way it reduces the the trouble with setting up next year if we can get stuff into containers ers and get it off site or something like that.
I feel like that would be the better way to go so that way you guys have full access to it and aren't relying upon >> That's a great idea. >> I like that idea a lot. >> Yep. Great idea. >> Yeah. Yeah, that's part that's part of why we talked about um possibly purchasing a smaller conx um or
purchasing more sheds. Um much of what was um taken down u we took down on a Saturday. Um 99.8% of the stuff was taken down in a matter of five hours. >> That was crazy. Amazing. >> That was And not only was it put away,
it was put away, right? Um so when city the city workers came to pick it up, everything was inside the sheds other than what was in the amphitheater. And then anything that was in the amphitheater was in totes. So there when
they came to get it where when they brought it out there there was a lot of there was a lot more that they had to bring and that's just that's just so much extra time. Even unloading and reloading all those totes just seems so timeconuming to me. So if it could just
be put in a conx and that conx brought over to me that just makes more sense. That's also why we want to talk about getting rid of the trees and the wreath. really really bulky and they would take up a lot of space in >> that also turn the conics into a lit
tunnel or something like that rather than >> Absolutely. It can >> move it on side and decorate it rather than having to move it up. >> Absolutely. >> Cool. Good ideas. And I I was I was there to help with the cleanup day and it was amazing to see you guys work. It's like a welloiled machine. I couldn't believe it. I got there halfway through and I couldn't believe most of it was was done. You know, 70% of it was
done and it was awesome to see that. And I think I don't know how much of that is left out there. Josh, have you guys had a chance to get out the the super frozen in uh stakes or anything? They were they really busted their hump trying to get all those out. So, >> the stakes are all still they're frozen in and if we try to pull them now, they
bend. So, we just put cones on them and they're out there. >> Okay. >> I believe everything else is taken down. Just some stakes are in the ground and that's it. >> There's still a little bit of clean up inside, but Okay. And I think the sheds are still sitting there. They just got
to be moved. Awesome. Well, thank you guys again. You did a fantastic job this year and I'm looking forward to, you know, a future relationship. >> Any other questions? >> So, how would you like us to move forward? I guess would you like us to
start working on a new contract? Like, what would you guys like to see? And then we can bring that back and work from there. Like what are And we can maybe negotiate like how it works for staff and figure out things like the the Facebook posting or things like that or any things that we saw together as
staff. Sorry, I talk with my hands. Um, and sit down together again or how would you like us to move forward? I guess >> maybe put it on a cow, have another discussion about it. I'd like to be able to help them out as much as we can. I mean, that that event was drowning us. I
I it was an astronomical number that were in a hole from that event. I know there's startup costs. I realize we spent a lot on on lights and everything, but still um I I love you guys for taking it over and and doing a great
job. Had really good community response this year about it and I like to see that going forward and I think we should do what we can to help them out. Yeah, it's a great community building exercise and I I hope more, you know, local government sees this and
thinks, well, maybe we could initiate our our people to do something like this. And we we build community by providing these events and we're trying to help you guys help everybody else and I think it's just a great partnership. So, >> yeah. >> Yeah. Come back for a future cow and we
can have more discussion if that sounds good. Or >> would you like staff to start working on like just from our contract from last year from a >> Yeah. know and work with them first and then bring it forward with working out his kinks and
>> them we can all >> I think the sooner we get going on this the sooner they can move forward with >> instead of being at the last minute. >> Yes, please. >> Is there anything you'd like to see changed from the contract that you had? >> I'd actually have to pull out the
contract and make sure. I think for the most part it was really pretty good. Um, but of course anything should be revisited and know that you know hindsight there's lot there's things. >> Sure. >> So >> we do have a couple issues with the bigger items like the snowman some of
the lights aren't working the shooting star and we did have those are our responsibility in the contract. So, if you want us to move forward on fixing those sooner than later, I guess >> I would like to transition more into
those are theirs. Personally, I know it's easy for me to say up here, but that that's just a slow transition into that because you guys had a surplus and I that's a good sign. We don't want to throw it all at you, but and if if if you guys have time to try and fix it type of thing, you know what I mean? And
if you have a whole year to sort of plan and maybe it's not it's more fun because it's not all, you know, rushed at the end type of thing. I don't know how that sounds to you guys, but >> it would be something we'd have to just discuss. Um, and I think too, like I I think that we would have some people
that would be willing to take a stab at trying to fix it. It's more about the that now that it's put away, it's not really accessible to us. >> Sure. >> So, um, that would be the biggest problem. >> Sure. So if you were to say purchase
ConX containers and move the stuff, you could maybe when you have it when you're moving the stuff, you could work on it or I don't know if that's even feasible this year. We we there's a lot to discuss. So >> sure. Yep. >> Right.
>> Well, that's something we can all discuss >> in further. set up a meeting with ICA together um with public services director of Becker and myself and we'll sit down and work through some through
some things and then bring it forward um at an upcoming cow. >> Sounds good. Well, thank you and thank you for all our volunteers that are here too. >> Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Yes. Thank you everybody. All right. Item L2, resolution to consider request advancement of
municipal state aid funds. Mr. Cook, I suppose this one's you. >> Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of council. So, this is to use state aid funds to fund our projects uh that are still getting closed out from last year that we use state aid funds for and to
uh add in the new projects that we're looking at. So essentially uh our current balance is in the hole. Uh we get a more or less a free loan. You can borrow up to five years of advancement. We're currently at about two years in advance. Although I checked today and we
haven't gotten our aotment this year, but they told us that we would have it by the end of the week likely at which point we'd only be one year in the hole. Uh so we basically have 1.2 2 million in funds we could advance if we needed them
and we are showing a number uh of advance that we'd be asking for at 647. So only about half of the amount that we could ask for we actually are looking to need to to request this year. Um the projects involved are the 2025
payment management project. We got almost all of our funds, but you can only get like 95% in the initial request and then you'd only get the the last little bit once you close out the project. And the way these advances work, they work per year. So even though we asked for the money last year and we
didn't close it out, we got to ask again. And that that project has $10,000 that we need to ask for. I Sandy Hills, same thing. We got almost all the money. We got to close it out this year. So we got to ask for the money. And so that is at about $12,000 uh between the two
different state aid routes that were on that. Um but then we get into our new projects. Uh Railroad Avenue um with all costs anticipated with a little extra contingency just to make sure we're going to be covered. Uh we put in
for $575,000, but we haven't really finished that study yet. But this number seems like a pretty safe number. This doesn't actually commit us to spending the money or using it. It's more of a kind of a cap that the state will let us borrow up to. So, putting the number a little
comfortable is not a bad idea. Um, and then we have on here the South Passage railroad planking replacement. If you recall, um, two years ago, the the railroad had asked to do the South Passage crossing last year and we asked
to push it out to 2027. They countered with the latest they would be willing to push it is 2026. and we had settled with, okay, sounds good. Um, and so here we are. Uh, so essentially they gave us a price uh to share that planking cost.
If you recall how that system works, they do the work. They charge us half of it. And then we are responsible for the street patch and the traffic control. If you recall, in this case, uh, since there isn't any curb, there isn't a
sidewalk, it's pretty straightforward, small street patch. I'm recommending that we only go after state aid funds for that planking cost share we're required to do. And then the other work that would only be somewhere in the I
guess I forgot to write down the number, but let's say it's a $30,000 cost of street patching, traffic control, coordination, and all that that we'd have to get a a local contractor to do. Um, I'm not recommending using state aid
funds for that because to do that then we'd have to create state aid plan sets get state aid review and approval and meet all their standards and have all their um wage rate requirements and all those things go with it and and engineering fees for that matter. Um
whereas if you just go out for some quotes for those two little the little patchwork and that traffic control, we pretty much don't have to draw out plans and you can just ask for a few quotes and you just wouldn't be able to reimburse yourself with state aid funds that way. So right now this is laid out
as just covering that planking cost and then I'm recommending that we just go out for some quotes for the the street passion traffic control. But I guess that is one little piece of that project that I guess we could talk about. And then a new item that I was thinking
about in between uh cow and this meeting is your sidewalk infill is along a state aid route. And so we could actually add that to this advance request uh to at least have a placeholder to be able to choose to use state aid funds on
that segment of sidewalk. So, we could we could just add that line in this thing and uh and at least have the ability to choose to use that money. We still wouldn't have to have committed or even choose to do the project, but if we get it in the advance request, then the
state would let us get that money if we so choose. Um, and so either we could modify that right now, uh, you know, and still just move forward, or I could rework it and then just bring it back to the next council meeting and add that
line item. Um, you know, just so that we're kind of all caught up and square. Um, and at that point, we'd actually have this year's aotment in there. So then you'd be able to see how far in advance we are as well. But I don't think either one would really affect
much anything. But just two things I guess that we'd want to kind of clear up on this before we move forward. >> Okay. So I have a question on the state aid stuff. Um say if you have to do the engineering and all that and it's state aid eligible. It's going to be state aid
eligible. It's a state aid route. Correct. Would the state then reimburse us for your time in doing that? So it would be a zero a net zero wash for us as a city and then we would be leveraging the state funds to get that roughly $30,000 of work done. Is that how I'm understanding that?
>> Yeah. So probably uh I mean it you can you can request up to 25% of a project cost and engineering fees. So on a regular project, you know, we don't really get there. all the other things, you know, it's not really a problem for
a tiny little project. You know, 25% of, let's say it's only $20,000, just so my math's easy. 5,000 bucks isn't really probably going to cover a little bit of survey, plan, set, development, spec writing, submittal through state aid reviews, inspection to make sure it
meets those testing that's required to meet those. And then the contractor is going to be bidding with wage rate requirements. So, their bid's going to be higher. And so, the chain reaction there, I don't know if I would call it a net zero. You could get close-ish, you
know, if you want to, but it's just usually once a project's, you know, less than like $50,000. It's rarely easy to make that work, I guess. Or is it worth it or not kind of a thing?
>> Okay. So, 25% would be 7,500 on 30,000. numbers here. So, yeah. >> So, we could, you know, um it's just >> I think it's going to be on the lighter end. >> You're saying that the rates would also go up, so it wouldn't be a $30,000
project anymore. >> Sure. >> But it would be money coming out of state funds versus our taxpayers paying for it. I mean, they all pay for it anyway, but >> but we'd end up paying more for the prod $7,500.
It isn't worth trying to get. >> Well, we be at 30,000 roughly. >> If it goes from 30 to 50, we get 25% of 50. Then >> we don't have to pay any of that. It would be state aid funds that go towards all of it. He's saying that the engineering firm would only get 25%
>> up to 25%. So maybe for them it's more advantageous for us to eat the $30,000 cost, but for a city taxpayer perspective, it's better for them to go forward and try and get the state funding for it if we can if we can make it work. >> Sure. I guess I guess without knowing
the specifics, I'm just I'm just saying if if the engineering side and all the other production things end up being $12,000, you know, either way, then the city would be spending >> the difference. >> Yeah. Right. >> So roughly $5,000 versus $30,000.
>> Sure. >> Okay. >> Is there any interest or fees in any of these scenarios? >> Uh so no. So, the state aid program is set up to try and help facilitate cities to accomplish their goals. And so, their
system is set up to allow cities that are in need to ask for these advances to allow it. And this resolution essentially says we will allow, you know, each annual aotment that we get to start rebuilding it back and try and get
back to zero. But if a project comes up that we need the money for again, you know, as long as the funds are available, they'll, you know, help us deliver our projects. >> Is this pretty typical for the other
cities that you work with to be, you know, a year or two like this? >> Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's certainly cities that are fully in the positive and even try and have large balances and wait until the the positive balance is
large enough to cover the cost of the project, which technically, you know, is the ideal situation. >> Sure. >> Um, you know, the state honestly wants to show that there's a need for the state aid program and that people are
needing the money. And so, you know, as long as As you see, it's a first come first serve trying to get this pro approval to ask for an advance. You know, as long as they don't kind of run out of expected expenditures this year, it's, you know, it's just not an
interest assigned thing and it's not, you know, an extra cost to the city. >> I know we moved that project on railroad crossing. Was it budget related or was there something else that we wanted to do at the same time and that's why we moved it forward?
>> Right. So the the planking um South Passage uh we were going to redo South Passage in 2027 and we still were planning on it and so we said well can we do it in 2027 with that project and uh between their scheduling and the
condition of the planking they didn't want to wait that long and they also kind of said well if you actually do the planking as its own thing this year and we replace a patch on either side to get out of their rightway. Well, then when our project comes along, we don't even
have to involve the railroad. We don't have to get, you know, flaggers. We don't have to work within that railroad restriction. And so, it's not the worst idea to get it done ahead of time, you know, and we'll just end up with a street kind of a patch seam right on the
the railroad rightway kind of line in the end, but, you know, it's not actually too bad of a thing if you think about it that way. >> Okay. I don't know. The way the way way I understood Jason is maybe he wants to go back and look at getting the Main Street
sidewalk part of that. That's >> Yeah. I mean, so >> that's a case of why don't we just postpone this until he comes back with that to get the right numbers? That's what you were kind of asking, right? >> Yeah. So, you know, it's that first come
first serve thing. So, you know, one council meeting delay probably isn't going to be a problem, but I'd hate to have it be a problem. Um, these are just estimated numbers to like get a placeholder. It's not committing to it. >> Um, I'm hearing I think that maybe we
just changed the South Passage Railroad planking number to 90,000 instead of 50 to just possibly have the choice to cover it with >> Sure. >> the the patch and the >> We don't have to take that money either. This is just a rough just to give them
an idea. >> Well, to cap us at how much we can ask for. >> Okay. >> So, if we do only ask for 50 and then you guys decide you want to do the patch and the traffic control with state aid funds, well, we wouldn't actually be able to get them this year
because we didn't ask for an advance on them. >> Got it. >> And so, if we just change it right now to be like 90, then we'll be covered in case you do choose to do that. Um, and then if we just add another line item that's for that sidewalk and I just go check my numbers tomorrow morning, you
know, that I did earlier last year and maybe we just add 10% to have a number that's comfortably covering it. We can add that in here and now we have our placeholders if we want to use state aid funds. Otherwise, we wouldn't be allowed
to this year because it wasn't the amount requested wasn't big enough to cover it. >> Sure. >> I say we get it passed this this meeting if we can if everybody agrees. >> You'd like to add on for that like to add on for that sidewalk on Main Street.
>> Well, you have we approve it with uh changes. Mayor and council, we could do so this this evening if we want to just give an estimate as you know 65 maybe plus 10% to be on that um maybe that cushion side that that would have that placeholder in
there for the sidewalk and then up to the 90,000 we could uh council could approve this resol resolution this evening with that amendment if >> that work Jason 65 and 10 >> yeah I mean I mean even for less specifics you know I might just say make it 75,000 you know just because again
it's not commitment. It's just that's the cap we're going to give ourselves. So, there's no need for it to be really tight, you know, because it's not actually going to be used aside from it's going to limit how much we can ask for should the cost actually end up
being more than we thought. >> So, so what are we So, with with the sidewalk at 75 and you bring that up to 90, what's the total number amount? >> So, let's see. So we add 75 and 40
and then we were at 647. So it' be asking for 762,000 allowed to be advanced and our technical limit is 1.2 million. So we're still well short of it. Um you know and it's
just making that at least eligible on the table for you guys to choose. Maybe once the Railroad Avenue feasibility report comes in, you don't want to do the project or we change something. It's perfectly fine. This is just making those funds available should we choose
to move forward on any of these. >> Same thing with the sidewalk. >> Yep. >> So, how I understand this is if we were to use this money this year, we can't come back. It's money that's gone. We only have so much aotted over the next five years to to get ahead of time. So, if we use this money for say a sidewalk
or the railroad planking, that's less money we can have next year >> prepaid. >> Sure. Yes. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> Except that we're going to have some come back >> every year. Yep. We get an aotment in January. I thought it would be here by now, but like I say, they told me by the
end of the week and I checked, you know, right before I came here and it wasn't in there, but it's it's over $300,000 we get all year. >> Okay. So each year that goes by, it's going to keep coming back. But then each time we want to do a state aid project, we got to ask for an advance unless
we're up in the positive. And right now we have a couple more projects on, you know, in the hopper that in a couple years we we're going to probably have to do this again. Um and then to be honest, you know, we have the full dollar amount for this railroad avenue in here. Well,
it's unlikely that we'll have closed out the project before the end of the year. So, it's likely we're going to have a $20,000 we got to do an advanced request for next year just to close out the project. You know, it's just this per year thing that we just have to keep
doing this paperwork for. >> Would you say 4762? You said >> y >> I make a motion approve it for 762. >> Second. >> Motion by council member Lendine, second by council member Peterson. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 4
Z on that. Uh, next we will go to item L3, resolution to consider authorizing a reduction in letter of credit for Johnson Meadows second edition. Jason is Oh, >> good evening, mayor and council. Um, the developer Carrington Homes of Johnson Meadows second edition has requested a
reduction in their letter of credit um, following the successful completion of public utilities and initial paving. Staff supports this request. myself, um, city engineer Jason Cook as well as finance director Soulberg, um, all reviewed it and, um, recommend approval
at this time. >> And we've done this on numerous other projects. So, I motion to approve. >> Second. >> Motion to approve by council member Lundine, second by Council Member Peterson. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? >> Motion carries 40. Next, we'll move on to L4, resolution to consider related to
the deed redevelopment grant and the Creary building project. Miss Hillshine. >> Um, good evening again. Staff is seeking your approval um of two required resolutions to apply for Minnesota deed redevelopment grant funding um specifically to support the
revitalization of the crearyy building. And this would be specific to um a large boiler room area within the building um which has never been utilized for anything other than storage or crearyy operations. How long ago? Um, and so
it's a large space. We do have the applicants here if you'd like to hear them talk about it. Um, and it would be for the Crearyy Kitchen and Tap House LLC. >> Sure. Would you guys like to come forward and say anything or >> We sure can
>> come on up and state your name and address for the record. And I will say that little area is really cool. I Yeah, it's pretty awesome. So that industrial feel that it's gotten there is going to be pretty awesome. Miss Hillsham, I'd like to ask you a question quick. Yes. Um, so what sort of
time is involved in this for you? Um, when when doing these grants, I I assume they were going to they fill out most of the stuff and you just submit it through. >> We would work together on it, but we don't have a ton of time. It's not too encumbering of a grant process. Um, we
um have a lot of the city side of it is pretty standard. It's what we utilize for other grant applications. And so the specifics would be them working on it and um I just would say minimally a couple hours potentially. Um but really
it allows us to help our businesses get money that wouldn't be otherwise brought in our community and um prevents us from using some of our local dollars that we do have. And so any way we can help get money in our community that taxpayers in our community are paying out to the
state or federal government, I think is helpful for our community. >> Sure. Of course. All right, boys. Name and address for the record, please. >> Uh good evening. My name is Brody Bachan. My partner Nick Shear. Uh we are real estate agents with Turpin Realy. Uh we just bought 104 Main Street, the old
crearyy building a few months ago. Um my grandpa started Turpin Realy 50 years ago. He spent a lot of time in Iani many years and then we moved to Cambridge and we are thrilled uh to be back in Iani. Um the council staff has been super awesome. Stephanie's awesome to work
with. So um I I don't know if we tell you guys that enough. So um been been really a fun been fun for us. Um the journey at the crearyy has been really fun. We started there's six apartments upstairs. We started there. We've got all of those filled. Awesome people
upstairs. Um yeah, just uh that went pretty slick. They were in pretty good shape. Most of them were in pretty good shape when we bought it. Uh and then we we have um four business suites downstairs, uh the crearyy, and so we have all of those
filled uh with other local >> entrepreneurs. So, we're we're very excited about that. Uh the restaurant piece, the dining room, the kitchen is what everyone really cares about. No one cares too much about real estate offices. Um, so the kitchen and and the dining room, if
you walk through it today, it looks like a completely different space. It's definitely a demolition uh zone right now. Um, and we we've had contractors out, we've had engineers out, and so we are awaiting some some probably pretty
big bids to to make that a thriving space. Again, uh Nick and I started another LLC, the uh Crearyy Kitchen and Tap House. And so, um, just by deductive reasoning, you can kind of just figure out what our what we're thinking, what our plan is for for that space, um,
hopefully in the coming couple months. >> Sure. >> Um, our vision there's I don't know if you guys have seen I mean, Nick did something and put on Facebook, but we've got this really big boiler room that's over 2,000 square feet and and um, we've
got big grand visions. were young entrepreneurs and excited about it and and you know have super big plans for it and um but these plans for the boiler room are probably two or three or four years down the road once we have our dining room and and the kind of the front of the building established and
we're saying yep we can make money this is a fun we're enjoying this um let's let's create this this this new space um that we can use as as an event space or um whatever we see fit at that time. Um and and it just so happens that there's
a a deed grant that's due next month uh that is almost it seems written for for a space like that. So um basically redeveloping it, taking it from storage. Um there's obviously a huge boiler in there that was used once upon a time that's just just there right now. Um I'm
sure it's going to be tomorrow our contractor is coming out. It's going to tell us that it's filled with asbestous and and that number is going to be huge, I'm sure, to get it out of there. Um, >> if you need a number for another guy, I I deal with a guy that does a lot of that demoing and he's phenomenal and
he's very reasonable. >> We we will we do already. Um, so that's that's all that I have. Um, do you guys do you have anything, Nikki? Um, Nick Nick handed this out. It's basically this top piece right here is
the boiler room. You can see there's a little sliver that's like a garage space. We'll probably keep that, but then rest of it is a is the boiler room. So, once upon a time, it seems like maybe somebody was going to do some type of a dinner club or I'm not sure exactly
what the history is. Um, but that obviously never came to fruition. So, >> Sure. Well, we're really excited that you guys are here and you guys would take this over. It's It's awesome to see some movement there. And this room is awesome for what your plans are. I think uh it would be awesome if you guys could
keep the door hang the door on the wall. That's that's a that's a that's a staple I feel like for that type of a thing. So, uh I'm excited for y'all. Um is there any risk for the city involved in something like this? Um so basically
these these resolutions wave the risk to the city to become the risk of the applicants and so it would be facilitated through the city but the risk would really be it's putting the onus on them to have the match and if they are the ones who fail to comply
then they would be the ones who would pay the money back within five years and so it really is the risk on them. >> Okay. >> And not the city. >> Okay. minimal risk. >> Is there any other stipulations to take in that?
>> Um there aren't any other stipulations for the city that um we have to fill out. Uh just our pre-awward um risk application, which really is the state taking a risk on a city just having the
ability to apply for a grant, which is what they do for any deed grant. And so pretty similar to what we generally are filling out. No different than the main street program which we um worked on earlier this year. >> Okay.
>> So that's basically both those uh resolutions. >> Yes. >> Same thing. >> Yep. One um is specifically stating that you guys are approving us to apply because we need a resolution from council and the other one is just committing the local match which would
be 50% um put on by the crearyy um kitchen and tap house LLC. So >> well I'm going to go ahead and say I motion to approve both. Thank you guys for uh the commitment to
the city and a lot of people kept asking for restaurant and for the crearyy to be brought back. So, thank you for you guys putting the effort in and I'm taking the risk and I'll second the motion. >> I swear that's every day people say something about that. So, it's it's reinvigorated. That's >> they got they got a hu huge boost
because people is up for sale. >> Sure. >> That's going to be an amazing space if you >> make it happen. That that >> looking forward to seeing it someday. Sure. You know, they I do a I've done a bunch of work for a wedding venue company
>> and they did there's a building called the Gilbert building in downtown St. Paul and there was an old vault and they took the doors and they have that set up for part of the wedding venues. That same company is bought in Cedarhurst Manor in Cars Grove.
And there's a bathtub that Roosevelt used when he's had been there. There was five presidents that stayed in it. They're taking that tub and they're putting it in the groomsman's suite because like when he brought up the door, this was just kind of an idea for
that. Uh so they're going to have that tub set up for photo ops. There's an old the old cage elevator. They're taking that out and setting that up in the front for a photo shoot ops. So if you ever look up the Cedar He Manor, take a look at that. It's
pretty amazing. >> All right, there's a motion and a second on the floor. Motion from council member Lundine, second from council member Peterson. All in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries 40. Thank you guys. >> All right. Item L5, resolution to
consider 2026 special event permit for the street dances. Mr. Becker. >> Good evening and council and mayor. Uh yeah. Resolution to consider the 2026 special event permits for the street dances this year.
>> Okay. So, we had talked about I thought last year of the fourth the fourth date. Um I had an idea and I think it maybe it' be a good idea to schedule a fourth date as a rain date. So if one of the first three doesn't happen then you have
a date you know all the other artists are maybe aware um that hey if if you're say the second event is rained out you have the fourth date set up as a potential option um and you could give them first right of refusal to perform at it. But I have a feeling every year people ask me, bands ask me, "How do you
get involved with this?" And I feel like if we had a fourth option or a fourth event for a rain date and the the band that was supposed to play on the rain doesn't want it, that we could find another one to fill in. Um, so that was kind of my idea to potentially have the fourth one so that way at least taxpayers and residents are having at
least three even if there's rain. >> And I think that's that's just a matter of just adding a date at any time. I mean, we could just say prove this as is with date to be determined due to weather. That's we're not asking to have a for
dance. >> Sure. >> Just it's it's just to have a to be determined at a later time. >> Well, we could add uh Mr. Rebecca was just going to get to the point that um there is a backup potential location um
that staff um parks coordinator Ethan Andrews did work with the rodeo um and the fire district and they have given approval for the street dance to move over there um and he has gotten commitments from all the bands that as long as there's enough a little bit of
time to change can't be the same day but if they knew if we knew that the bad weather was coming they could move over there. However, I do want to um share which he was going to share. >> Sorry, guys. >> Um is that the city would have to assume the liability and so we are still
waiting to hear back from our LMCIT insurance carrier that they will cover the city if we move it onto there because it's not city property. Um so we still have to wait for that, but that is an option. Um and that did go through the fire board and they did approve that. So, right now we're waiting for
the um the insurance information. And in terms of a fourth date, um not to be confused with the street dance, but Mr. Becker was also going to share that we do have an amp it up event coming up um which would be a fourth dance for the city of Iani.
>> I'm sorry. >> We're on the same page. >> I just didn't want him to leave anything out, but he was going to say everything I just said. He's pretty shy, Josie. You're not. >> Okay. Well, that sounds like What's the plan for the potential Amp it up type
event, which I'm I'm happy to hear. We got to use that amphitheater. It It doesn't get the same as much turnout, but it has a different type of turnout. So, >> so he has a a local group that is from the area that's going to plan on doing the Amp it up.
>> Okay. Event. And I think he's doing it. Correct me if I'm wrong. I don't have all the details, but the last like end of the year event. >> Okay. So, that's in the works still. >> That's still in the works. Um I'm not sure if he's got 100% commitment, but um
I don't want to mispronounce his name, and I probably will if I'm not reading it, but Troy Castell. >> Oh, really? >> Really? >> Troy Castellano. >> Castano. I don't know if we're saying the name yet or not. >> Exactly. >> Well, now we did. um which that's still in the works and we're he's really
hopeful that he can have that um be that a really great event and maybe even have some other activities with it. So, >> all right. >> That's good progress. >> I've known Troy since he was knee eyes to a grasshopper. >> He grew up in the house two doors down from my parents house.
>> No, he grew up down on Conor Road 9. >> Oh, one of his neighbors. They lived there at some point. They may have one at some point, but he grew up on Conor Road 9 just by the crossroads >> cuz he lived next door to my sister and I went to school with him all. >> That's cool. >> Um, Troy's a really good guy and he's
written a lot of he's actually written a lot of songs for other country singers. They've used his songs. So, um, but I I guess I don't know if that answers the question of adding that fourth day.
I don't think we need it with the backup plan potentially and then the amp it up. I know we last year we just talked about bringing it back to four and I wanted to make sure because >> that is what we talked about last year. So I wanted to make sure and I appreciate you guys' work. >> Well, four events total, three street dance and one.
>> Yep. >> So I make a motion to approve. >> Can we just uh Excuse me if I could interrupt though just to make sure. Does the council, assuming we do hear back from insurance and that the city can be carried by adding on let's just maybe it's going to be a rider or something.
Is that something that the council is comfortable with? >> Yeah, I think it's a good idea. >> Talk to people live around there at all and see if they have >> I think there's four town homes right there. How would that less than Main Street, I
guess, but would would he send a letter to them to ask? Well, we wouldn't know. We would because we wouldn't have time to mail out the letters um >> because it's going to be a short term if it rains. >> Sure. >> Maybe uh if if we end up signing that and agreeing to it, could we just send
letters to them letting us know that then those residents know that there is a potential that we could have a rain event there? Would that be okay? >> Yeah, we certainly could. And if for some reason we are not able to or it's just at an exorbitant cost or something to get the insurance and we're not able to move there, we won't obviously send a
letter. Um, and then we would be in the same boat that we were before. We could try to get them over to the amphitheater as a backup location if it was available and unoccupied or worse worst case would be to cancel. But >> cancel and we can always if we'll hear back sooner or later on that we can
always have time to add a a date to be determined if we got rained out. >> Sure. >> That's just because that's just semantics at this point for that. We're not adding another dance. We're just having an alternative date. >> Yep. Okay, sounds good there. So, there's a
motion on the floor from Council Member Lundine. >> Second. >> Second from Council Member Peterson. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 4 Z. Uh, next resolution uh item L6, resolution to consider authorizing to enter into professional
services contract for IT services with Whitebear IT Solutions LLC. And this was added uh recently to the agenda. >> Uh, thank you, Mayor, Council. staff does apologize that this uh contract snuck up on us um which is why it was added. Uh this was a three-year contract
with that we had with Whitebear IT Services um which we've entered into in January 2023. We did go out for an RFP at that time and the other uh proposals that we received from two other IT services was
quite a bit higher than what Whitebear IT services has been. um services has been adequate for what we use here for the city of Vani. So going with a larger company um maybe there are times that we could have faster responses but then
you're paying over double the cost that we pay. Um and the cost and the agreement that we have with White Bear Bear IT as well as what would be in the new contract is that it's a flat rate for the entire month no matter how many times we have to call and the services
that we need provided. um which we think has benefited the city well over the last three years. It wasn't always like that, but we do feel like that seems to be um good for the city. Uh so the cost would be $2,250 per month uh for the monthly rate of
that and it would be effective Jan February 1st. >> What was the rate last time? That's >> 1,874. >> Okay. >> Five. >> So that's $375 up
>> per month. So that's 4,000 a year roughly. Is that math right? >> Yeah. more. >> I did bring the proposals that we had from 2023 from the other companies. Um
not that they would be relevant because we didn't do another RFP, but just showing the cost difference from the other um proposals if you were interested. >> Yeah. Almost. >> Is it exactly? Okay.
Thoughts, guys? You can you could probably find a lot more than that from somebody else. But >> well, I initially voted no adding to the agenda. It was just it seems like a lot of money to not have more time to look into before signing it. >> Okay.
>> Um I mean that's if you look at just a straight cost. I mean that's 24,000 some a year. 25,000 a year. >> How like how many calls are we are we getting a year out of them? like >> well you're I mean in a week I would say
he's reached out to every week um for different things. It could be security, could be firewall, um it could be help with our Adobe subscription, um email, adding new emails for new employees, um security scans and different software
for security, um mailware, potential issues, threat attacks. We reach out to him. There's not a week that goes by because most go through me. There are some maybe things that go through PD that I don't see. In addition >> from our side like our CIS auditing
pieces like all the like the mandated CISTS auditing requirements that have to go through our server stuff that's all what he maintains every whatever he does. Um so he needs to maintain that as well as so he's also an IT for another
city on the same records management system which is huge um to be able to have him not only have the siege certification but able to do those like LEG when we switched over to Oracle to do the Sieges side of it too. So we
probably reach out to him I would say several times a week that we see. He also does all the backup for I know we have two backup services for something I can't remember top of my head on what used to be the camera system and I think our watchguard server
is backed up through automatic through one of he maintains the backup pieces for our data too. >> Switching over to our new website he's doing all the backend DNS um server information to get that. So it I mean definitely definitely weekly multiple
times. >> If we were to say uh hold this until the next meeting, would that be a big detriment? Do we you said February 1st it would be active or what's our first meeting date? Would he still continue services do you think? Or
>> um >> my recommendation I don't know I didn't ask and again this was staff that we missed that this was coming up. Y >> um my recommendation is that we enter into a new agreement for one month then if you want to do it. We really cannot just because of our security issue is we
can't have a break in services. We don't have a backup. Um we don't have anyone else to take over it. >> Okay. >> I would say short of hiring a full-time IT person, I think you're better off just sticking with what we're doing. They know their systems. He's working
them. it. You bring somebody else new in, they don't know. It's like Chief Meyer said, he does it for other cities. So, some of that it helps out for him taking care of the issues he's having. I make a recommendation and we go with it.
I I I get what you're saying, but unfortunately, everything costs more money. >> Is there negotiation room in something like that? Could we say, "Hey, we we'd approve this at $2,100 per month." Uh, it's a
professional service. You could coner. >> Did you make a motion, Steve? Sorry. >> Yeah, I made a motion. >> Okay. There's a motion on the floor uh to approve it as written. Is there a second? >> Hearing none. Motion fails. Further discussion for the three-year
three-year contract. If you looked at inflation or CPI over that it be like at 2050. So your 2100 counter offer I feel like is probably unless the responsibilities or something has changed just an increase for an increase without justification doesn't seem
prudent. >> I have a question about the security of its uh I I know nothing about him. So if he's downloading the police computers, I'm not sure how in depth he's getting. I mean, do they have are they bonded
different than working for a company? I mean, is there back does he would they have to do like a background check >> for us? In order for him to access our stuff, he does get fingerprinted and do the CIS training and he's certified through CIS just to be in our building and then he has access to the Siegeist
database. So he's has the certification to have the same access we do to the criminal justice information system databases. Yes. >> So he's by BCA as well. >> Yes. >> Is there any other concerns? The city I mean so this is pretty standard
and and this IT firm already like you said does one other police department. So, okay, that was my question just about bonding or extra insurance or confidentiality or how that's all
covered. Okay. >> Um I like your counter offer. >> Okay. >> And it's just above the 3% you're saying per year >> if you Yeah. Yeah, if you did 3% a year over three years and it came out to like
2050 from the 1875. So is 2100 is >> I make a motion to counter them for $2,100. >> Second >> motion by council member Heman, second by council member Peterson to counter
for $2,100. All in favor say I. >> I opposed. >> I You're just going to end up screwing this around, but >> mayor do what you want. >> Yep. We will make that counter to them. But I am going to request that we do enter into agreement for what is agreed upon for one month so we don't have a break in service.
>> Sounds good. >> So that would be in the amount of >> $2,250 for the month of February and then we would have um it would come back before that one month would be up. >> So next month we'll have an answer whether he says yes or whether he says
no and then we can decide if we're going to select him or go a different route essentially. >> Correct. Okay. >> And if we did decide to go a different route and go with the RFP, we will need to likely extend with him again just so we're not having a break in service. Um but I would um like to request that
there be um a vote going with him for one month. >> RFP process is 90 days or is it 30 days? >> I'm sorry. >> The RFP process, how much time is that? >> Um typically, well, we have to post it in the newspaper. We do have to post it out. It has to RFP first has to come to
city council for approval after it's been drafted. Um, and then it usually is open for about 30 days and then we review the proposals and has to come back for to council after that. So, it's it's usually about a two-month process at a minimum. >> So, would it be better just to do like a two or three month now that we can go
through that process and then or just still do the one month? >> I don't think we should go through the process unless he declines the offer. Just the amount of staff time involved. process is very time consuming and it does have a cost as >> um >> I worked on the RFP last time that we
did it in 2023 which would have to be all redone again because data have all of our systems not all of them but a lot of our systems has changed and Travis has to go through all of his um it actually is very timeconuming to write up everything that we do for data
>> um and IT needs so we're talking hours of work >> yep I think uh so the motion was for carry 31 to go for 2100 and you said you wanted a conditional a vote on a conditional one month >> two >> only two so we could decide whether to
go >> just do do one month and we'll come back next month with another decision or vote >> okay >> uh so you need a do we need a motion on that as well >> yes I do >> I'll make that motion to go forward with the one month at 2250 >> second >> motion on the floor by myself second by
council member Peterson all in favor say I >> any opposed Motion carries 40 on that. Thank you guys. Good discussion. Uh next we have L7 resolution to consider approving a conditional use permit for a fitness gym at 687 East
Duel Boulevard. Stephanie, >> good evening, mayor and council. We have a conditional use permit to review for a fitness gym on East Wool Boulevard. It was um earlier this evening the planning commission reviewed um this application
at a public hearing and it was recommended approval. We do have another working fitness um gym within the same district and we don't see any issues with this one. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Motion to approve by council member
Lundine. Second by council member Heman. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? >> Motion carries 40. That is approved. Uh, I believe next is the consent agenda. Did you guys have any questions on the consent agenda? >> George,
>> I did have a question on M2. Um, >> there you go. >> I have a question on M2. So, it looks like you want these devices. Are are they going to be internet accessible?
>> That's what they are. They're the internet access points for those squads. >> All right. Are are they going to be uh CJIS protected? >> They run through a VPN like the other. Yeah, it just >> Okay. >> Same thing we already are running. We're
just short two. >> All right. Just making sure. I I it wasn't real clear exactly what they were going to be used for. >> It's already what we have. It's just that we're short two devices. That's all. >> Okay. >> We had a mix up when we did the budget for this year. We thought they were going to be in there, but we didn't have
them there. >> All right. Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Motion to approve by Council Member Lundine, second by Council Member Peterson. All in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries 40. The consent agenda is approved. Are there any other communications or questions
from the board or staff? >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Second. Motion.