##VIDEO ID:Xte1rHmeB3Y## it's the same all right uh we'll go ahead at 6:00 call the city council goal setting session to order if we could all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the na indivisible andice doing roll call all voting members are present uh do we have any public comment tonight hearing none we will move on to the first item of the goal setting work session E1 purpose for goal setting Workshop well good evening Council um it has been the city council's practice to have an annual goal setting session and that is to come together to assess the city's current initiatives establish goals balancing workload and available resources guidance to obtain a desire to obtain desired outcomes and to discuss the future city state of our city so I have a presentation that we're going to go through for um our departments uh some items that staff has identified as being potential goals and objectives and initiatives and then after the presentation you'll have the opportunity to um ask or staff any questions that you have we have all of our staff here almost and um prioritize a list so we'll get started so our vision and mission statement if you're unaware with the city of Ian our vision is to provide a safe healthy Vibrant Community and manage our resources to enhance the quality of life we are dedicated to coste effective governance professional management and ellent public services our mission is to support and engage the community Through leadership professionalism and integrity and to ensure Ian continues to be a community for Generations this is our organ organizational structure this is all of our staff that we have um and shows who they fall under for department heads as well as having some of our contracted services including the attorney engineering uh we have a total of 35 full-time employees nine part-time employees six seasonal SL interns and like I said three contracted here is our great team that makes up the city of Ian this does not have everyone we do have um a few part-timers most of those are within the liquor store so we have Administration uh the police department liquor store and Public Works um the average of our employees the tenure is 7 years um our longest employee is over 22 years just have to make note like those are some awesome pictures of our staff we don't get a lot of Staff pictures so it was pretty cool to have these in our presentation who is that in the light blue on the police that's Jed he does our um a CSO yep for administration to assist the public with a variety of Permitting billing and general information as it relates to the city the department manages the overall City budget along with a variety of compliance with state city and federal laws Services include licensing registrations Utility Billing data retention accounts payable and receivable elections human resources payal and Engineering this department provides Financial oversight to all departments within the city this department also oversees the implementation of all city codes and policies approved by the city council department objectives oversee governing board policy directives manage operations of the city in an effective and efficient manner maintain government records and provide administrative support to elected officials departments and staff oversees the financial operations of the city manage the hiring process benefits and employee engagement of all positions and provides training and development opportunities and manage Council board packet information communication and transparency with the public some of our 2024 accomplishments we completed seven new hires for employees implemented 28 new and revised ordinances while that number may seem low back in the day might be as high as three really is a huge undertaking for for staff uh there's a lot of requirements we have to go through so 28 is a huge deal manage the Municipal elections processed permits and Licensing we had three gambling 10 liquor eight mobile food and five cannaboid we processed 91 Community Center reservations we applied and received an L RP grant for the intersection project at Casa 5 in East duel Boulevard successful Casa 5 East Boulevard project kickoff and that was with the joint withan County pretty huge that we were able to get that um underway and big credit goes to our engineering uh removed fees for mobile food units developed cannabis regulations and discontinued water shut offs for non-payment I have a question quick on that so you said completed seven new hires can you just uh I guess add more to that those were all just to replace existing positions correct correct we did not have any new positions we haven't had any new positions be implemented since 2021 so some Department priorities uh new and improved website uh it would be a really huge advantage to the city um and get information out to the public to streamline information uh we also have new compliance laws for Ada that a city of our size has to be compliant by 2027 we have been informed that our current website will meet 88 compliance but we will have to pay a fee so I do feel that the new websites that I have vetted out um we'll be able to do it at a more cost-effective Manner and have a better website it'll be easier for the public to gain information that they're seeking uh text notifications can actually be part of our website be inra implemented and ingrained into it versus us paying for a separate service like we currently do um has some features such as a community blog relevant keyword search if you've ever tried to search for something on our website it brings up old information and there is no way that we are able to put parameters on that without paying for a more advanced website with our current website provider easy to apply job posting portal um and one of the other cool things about it is you can actually have different um things implemented such as report a pothole report a problem to Public Works you can actually have it be um report a concern to Community Development or the administration you can have it be dropped down and it can actually we can have it on the back end go if they have picked this category it can go right directly to that department head so I think that if we ever have members of the public or don't know who to reach or don't know if they are getting to the right person they would be sure to know right when they report their concern or ask their question we don't have that ability with the current website provider with what we pay um increase social media presence increase public engagement continue to be aware and Implement new legislative changes a welcome to Ian Dynamic sign that is just um put together image that doesn't have to be what ours looks like but just a cool graphic I put up there and then complete a wage analysis to insur staff positions are competitive to retain our great employees Community Development the Community Development Department is responsible for the application implementation of zoning ordinances related to the physical built environment of the city as well as long-term planning efforts as adopted through the comprehensive plan the department also facilitates promotion of economic development for both new and re Redevelopment opportunities to ensure the city is and remains a great place to live work and do business department objectives include promote thoughtful and careful physical and economic growth and development within the city coordinate with all City departments to ensure development considers all facets of potential impacts for current and future city resources provide excellent customer service and timely Communications to Residents businesses and construction requests and issues some of the 2024 accomplishments within this department is in we had 36 new single family dwelling permits received 64 new apartment units were complete completed 100 new Under Construction 66 single family lots were platted and either completed or currently under construction total of 788 total permits were received completed nine zoning ordinance amendments assisted six new businesses open within the city assisted five businesses expand completed three deed Industrial Development submittals two new development plat developments were platted celebrated recognition for 14 businesses at the mayor's lunch and event and remove the overlay District uh Zone and those um regulation requirements some of the department priorities are start process for a legal full legal review and Analysis of zoning code and assure alignment with Comprehensive plan highlight and promote downtown revitalization plan for Main Street Heritage and railroad District streamline processes for permitting create enhanced frequently asked questions for permitting and Zoning for the public increase marketing communication with potential and current businesses establish new section of City website dedicated to businesses using GIS begin tracking of development ques and contacts evaluate public transportation options establish a business entrepreneur program and create a city beautification plan for Parks the parks department is responsible for 261 Acres of Park land consisting of 19 parks and facilities and 15 Place structures the aan community center is overseen by this department a number of programs are run through Parks which include metal detecting on city property adopting a park or day cleanup the community garden shelter reservations City events including family programming and Street dances this department coordinates volunteer groups and the department also has her own budget and CIP projects to manage forther equipment and Facilities Department objectives for Parks includes provide multiple recreational opportunities for all residents across different ages and abilities maintaining and improving Park land and Facilities promoting environmental stewardship fostering Community engagement through programs and events ensuring safety within the park spaces and distributing park access throughout the city some of the of the 2024 Park accomplishments include restructuring of illuminated I San event implemented senior banners program downtown process 31 special event permit applications applied and received Park grants toing $124,400 software add message boards at parks to share events and program information increase promotion of parks amenities and outdoor programming increased focus on providing quality unique Recreation opportunities in the city add Park amenities at fairgreens North development add pickle ball courts update Whisper Ridge Park increase access and promote the realm River as an asset to the city Implement community events that fill gaps in surrounding communities Implement Park equipment and amenities to be a regional draw to our city and grand opening of new blue Bluebird Park equipment for Public Works the public works department is dedicated the health safety and Welfare of the citizens and Visitors by effectively and efficiently providing City Services Public Works maintains infrastructure including Parks streets storm water water and sewer systems public buildings vehicles and Equipment as well as providing guidance and oversight to many City Improvement projects currently staff maintains 27 streets uh miles of streets 10 miles of sidewalks and four miles of trails they also provide for the treatment for Safe Drinking Water and efficient waste water the public works department provides quality services with responsiveness reliability and dedication to our residents businesses and visitors some of our 2024 accomplishments within the department our new sshed was built purchased a new grater purchased a lull water Wastewater awards for efficiency of the plants a new mixer apparatus was installed at the water treatment plant received a source water grant from the MNR to seal up old Wells within our dsma area installed drive like your children live here signs implemented and installed 25 M hour regulations on city streets city-wide cleanup for summer storm damage resulting in many down trees and much debris and completed a water study to determine water and well needs some public works department priorities include with the growth of the city they'll be the need in the near future to hire another maintenance technician with water consumption there's a need for an additional well which would be well number four Advocate water conservation through social media and the City website to prolong the need for another well which would be well number five promote safety in the public works department through monthly meetings continue to promote items identifying the Wellhead protection plan to protect our groundwater Foster teamwork and workplace satisfaction to retain great employees additional facility for storage needs to maintain equipment it was originally plan Planned in 2021 and then we've made some modifications to share the public um the public safety your police building secure funding for future wa Wastewater mechanical plant increase Staffing for future Wastewater mechanical plant succession planning for staff to increase knowledge to newer employees generate enough Revenue funds in water Wastewater and storm to offset the cost of managing these systems and then Monitor and enforce compliance with state and federal regulations related to these Services police the police mission of the Ian Police Department is to work in collaboration with with the citizens of Ian to enhance the quality of life by engaging protecting and serving the committee with respect integrity and professionalism the vision of police department is whose employees feel valued work together in a partnership with the community to be a model of excellence in policing and develops the highest level of Community Trust and safety and core values are respect integrity and professionalism some of the recent 24 20124 accomplishments include establish the explorers and Citizen Academy programs continued partnership renewal of the SRO program with the school district very well attended night to unite event at the police department increased public transparency on social media they've um implemented what not to do Wednesday as well as published monthly crime reports and then employee Wellness to for injury prevention dietary program and cardiac evaluation amongst the uh employees Department employees and or priorities and police include officer retention prior should be on retain the officers we have officer position has been open for four months this our open position um that we've had for a little while uh we've received six applicants in the past we would routinely have 40 to 60 applicants the pool has just narrowed that much um the difficulty in replacing officer is shown to be of concern of the iany police department for Staffing as the city grows Public Safety framework needs to be in place to provide for Professional Services as more needs increase um the last two position positions were in 2016 and 2021 technology advancement optimizing technology and equipment to expand staff's Effectiveness conduct emergency tabletop exercises to equip staff during an emergency pre prepare for an emergency situation that could impact the city Vice an thoroughly investigate all crimes and reported instance to facilitate a safe community and complete grants for the Department to assist with funding liquor store liquor store likes to say not the local source for Just Wine beer and Spirits or we are the local Source sorry for wine beer and Spirits since 1965 and the best part are profit stay in the community and were're more than just a liquor store they provide a large variety of liquor products at competitive pricing provide great customer service through exceptional liquor store shopping and it's yeah through exceptional liquor store shopping experiences 2024 accomplishments our net sales were up 4% um just shy of $6 million which is amazing uh grow sales were a little over 6 million up 4% as well $5,256 47 were given back to the community Through customer donations for the mmba community drives which helps us strengthen the community ties $533,500 to the general fund which keeps taxes lower positive feedback from customers on store layout pricing selection drawing customer service cleanliness online orders curbside orders customer requests and deliveries slightly longer store hours leading up to the big holidays and being open for New Year's day was um a huge um push for higher sales during that time door Dash sales continue to have a positive impact on sales as well as cannabis sales continue to have a positive impact the image that you see there are pictures of winners and these are gifts that are donated through Distributors um and those are not paid by the liquor store so it's pretty phenomenal that um because of the huge volume and greatness that the staff does over there they're able to give these gifts away some of the liquor store Department priorities include reach a goal of 6.5 million grow sales which would be a net increase of 3% Dynamic sign at service road entrance would have a large impact on sales revenue maintain competitive pricing on high volume items continue to monitor cannabis sales and adjust product selection to meet market trends grow our online presence spend adequate stafftime updating maintaining isan liquor.com and doorm Marketplace keep Facebook page updated and full of fresh and exciting information start a whiskey Club start a wine club ensure that staff are given the needs uh needed tools to give great customer service develop staff to reach their full potential and give great service every day continue to be a Community Asset not just a liquor store to expand the liquor store layout and increase the transfer out to the city's general fund so future staffing needs we typically do discuss this um during our goal setting or um as frequently as needed there are three identified positions not necessarily with a year tied to that not to be this year but in the upcoming futures um and at council's discretion of how they feel that it benefits and helps the city of VI's Mission um one is an administrative and Communications coordinator this would be a new position this is to assist All City departments and then in public works a maintenance technician too when it's needed as well as a police off officer to the police department I'd like to expand a little bit on a proposed new position which is the administrative and Communications coordinator a communication staff can serve as a bridge between government and Community as a number one priority instead of currently what we have with our staff is while that is a priority it sometimes takes a back burner because it's everyone does a little bit which fits their Department instead of one person having it as their main job the staff person can inform educate and promote isand through ever evolving Media communication channels and gain insight into our community's needs inform and educate share information regarding city code and policies educate the public through multiple platforms to receive input and public engagement share pertinent information such as rfps and construction notices promotion and positive perception share the good work of the city and work to advocate for our businesses residents and Community public relations work with all City departments to develop creative content and distribute press releases and alerts to relevant audience and media contacts promote City initiatives and events to ensure participation involvement and then brand identity maintain cohesive cohesive brand identity across departments and media some of the things that it can help Department wise economic um and administration uh doing business of the month videos welcome to Ian visits and posts city-wide grant writing uh newsletter invitations event promotions policy writing Community blog website content social medias and adding in Instagram Tik Tok and having a higher presence on Facebook as well as LinkedIn recruitment brochure and video creation we currently don't do that at all public Outreach marketing and advertising and then turning the fabulous um great long 200 cell Excel worksheets into nice easy to read onepage handouts for our budget um for the liquor star uh they can also assist so we ask a great deal of our staff um they do a fabulous job with what they have over there but having an actual marketing person um to take on Facebook can help increase sales special offers draw more people in with the drawings and tastings events and new products start an Instagram page for the liquor store create an inore ads uh billboard content analyze customer traffic information create cost-effective marketing strategies and then for Public Safety alerts for emergencies road closures road projects reported problems such as the pothole managing that make sure that those are all getting taken care of in a very timely manner um building the relationship with our public and then Community engagement what's the rough cost on someone like that I did not go as far as doing the funding and I thought that if Council had that as a directive to find out more information we'd actually have that position pointed um I do have a draft uh job description that includes a lot of these elements um but I did not point it yet okay so looking forward ianti is anticipated to reach a population of 10,000 by 2034 things uh we could and should consider for I in terms of Economic Development technology public Outreach infrastructure management infrastructure growth traffic controls general public awareness Financial s sustainability organizational health and new initiatives should all be something that we take into consideration as we develop goals through this goal setting session for the remainder 38 minutes and Ready Set goal if Council has any questions for me or like me to go back through the slides I tried to make sure I kept that to about 20 minutes um I can certainly do that otherwise uh those are just some bullets to get you thinking I would like you to think of big scale things that we need to budget maybe not this year but five years down the road to ensure that we have the money sitting in in a bank and obviously our goal is to not borrow money so we want to keep that Financial stability that we've been working so hard to achieve uh moving forward all right thank you so Matt I did have a question here the maintenance technician 2 uh can you just elaborate a little bit more on that and what what they would be doing what the cost would be on that and how long you think that sort of position being added would keep the city um sustained and not having to add another well I think if we keep seeing the growth that we're seeing in town as part of it and the other part of that is is the longer people are here the more time that they earn time off so there's both of those two factors are going to trigger it if we keep growing like we are I have ideas that we can plow snow der I just need somebody else to to do that to plow snow so I think we be more effective in getting that done as we roll so the maintenance technician that would be plowing as well I just I I saw that title and I thought it like a mechanic and Main same as same as all the other Public Works guys outside of the mechanic or the former utility manager just be another maintenance tech too doing everything that they do down there we should expand on that a little bit just if some um are not aware that we don't have any maintenance one technicians we have found that that we haven't had a need to fill for that um and we tried it one time and actually it just didn't seem to be too much separation between the technician one and two um so our water streets Parks Wastewater storm water um everyone that is trained besides as you mentioned the mechanic is does all the maintenance tech 2 duties so they are licensed in water and wastewater operation as well as have their CDL for plowing and then everything in between so that's the more expensive position out of the maintenance tech one and maintenance tech 2 is obviously Tech 2 correct would it be any benefit to consider a maintenance technician one instead we filled the Gap um we certainly could look at that again however we found that when we hired um our seasonals workers um that was a more cost-effective manner because we didn't need just an extra body to plow us I mean it would help a year round position and then we would maybe scale back up our seasonals however having seasonals we didn't find the need for the tech one so it's possible but is a cost F effective to not pay benefits with the seasonals so that's why we have more seasonals than we used to have I think more bang for the buck is those seasonal workers I would agree and I it's that as Josie spoke on this they have to get certified for Wastewater and Sewer or water and drinking water and sewer so they have to get Serv certified for it and anytime you get another certification is a pay increase so irregardless anyway you look at it the tech one isn't going to do us any good because then all of a sudden this guy's filling in when like Matt said guys are on vacation they get more time comp time off and you got to have somebody to fill that seat when they're gone so you you could be you could hire two Tech ones for the same price as one Tech 2 and still be further ahead by hiring a Tech 2 I should add though there will may become a time down the road when we do hire Tech ones again but that would be after we split up our water waste water um which will be quite a few years down the road and we would actually have like a streets and parks department only thing I got to say about all you know all all the hires I think we got I I I think it's inevitable we're going to have to hire people plain and simple you're going to have to hire them but I think we need to do it in steps rather than saying hired three today or this year whatever we're going to have to see where the strongest needs are for those people and move do it responsibly instead of trying to throw all this money at one shot that's my personal opinion I mean I think the administrative person that Miss Wood's talking about is probably in my opinion at this moment probably the most valuable situation because that that person can help at the liquor store with marketing now now you know you you all want all this social media presence somebody's got to monitor it somebody's got to answer it to it and if you start taking these other staff members away to do those things they're not getting their other jobs done where this person can do for with the plead PD Public Works liquor store and that so to me that's probably the top thing we should be looking at I'm not trying to cut PD short not trying to cut Public Work short or liquor store Short liquor store is going to have turnover that part-time is turnover constantly um unfortunately I then On The Backs side of that we are getting more and more crime in this town I don't care how you look at it when I had a US Marshall raid four doors from my house this summer that's never never been anything here you know there's all these transplants that are mov moving up here 10% of them are probably the ones that are causing the trouble and those 10% hurt the ones that aren't the problem people that wanted to get away from that and that 10% causes 100% more damage to us so the PD is going to be in the next going to be on the top of the list for looking for another officer because he can't have an officer in every corner in this town at all times it ain't going to happen one thing I do want to add is I don't want to leave out our utility man manager that was actually the last position created so I apologize I think that I did not say that that was the last one but that was the last position that was created I think I'll be honest with you I think our city staff has done very well for how lean they operate in here there's there is no interns under anybody in City Hall it's what way we're able to achieve running as lean as we can is a lot of cross training so all department heads um for the most part I should say are able to cross train so different employees can do different jobs when need' be so if an employee for example a front-end staff when one of them goes on vacation obviously someone else needs to fill in so we make sure that we have um a way that multiple people are cross trained so they can take over and help fill in sometimes you'll have somebody gone for three months on attorney leave obviously you're not going to staff for that level but you do need to make sure that when you are at full staff you have people who have a little bit of wiggle room to fill in for people on vacation or whatever so we try to make sure that we're doing that so we don't have an overstaffed Department in any place I'm a little intrigued with this new position because one of the things one of my highest goals is more transparency and more community outreach and um I had a question about the website content would she be able to keep our website current would she be able to go in and change things on the city of vian's website or he yes so this staff person I do Envision U taking over the website so what we currently have is each department head does their own page so you'll see a lot of differences um on the website because everyone's managing their own portion of the website this person which is pretty typical in most cities that you have somebody dedicated to taking care of the website so they know if something should be added or didn't get added based off of what was discussed at Council or decided or approved um so having that consistent person always watching that yes they would be having full control and adding content more regularly that that website needs a a lot of improvement and and if this person could fulfill part of that need that would that would help a lot um I think that's well money well spent right and I think the marketing portion of that is huge when that person can go to each department and get that information that they need if there's additional information so Mr Sylvester doesn't have to take out of his schedule or he could be taking making sure his guys are doing what they're doing or doing filling in for them or whatever or Mr Becker same thing all that stuff that person can handle that where they don't have to take that hour if I got in or something in a computer it's probably two hours to do it you know I'm not a techy guy but I'm just saying is not everybody is as efficient as a lot of you younger people are with the computers so and if that person is hired on that basis is going to make that really streamline I know staff does a lot of crosswork to help each other out on on almost everything so getting somebody with these type of skills I think would be a really good asset to to all the Departments no doubt about it um and I think Council would be able to fulfill a lot of their goals on what we want to do um as far as public Outreach I think this would help a lot and I think when you asked staff of having more information go out whether it's on the website it's on social media or having because we've talked about it many times about having Instagram all that it just comes down to who's going to have the time to be able to do it because we want to do it well not just have it out there and not have content on there but actually have it an intentional engagement to our community and so this is something that staff's been on board for quite a while it's just a matter of how do we make it happen I'm worried about the cost the title sounds expensive to me and you know we we did just you know give you a raise to keep you and a lot of the basis for that was in my opinion was because we didn't have an assistant for you so it's for me it's a little harder to to justify because I know it's going to be six figures just based on the title and that are close to it I don't think it's going to be six figures by the time you figure benefits and stuff I it's it's a little concerning um it sounds great though I like the idea um I think the marketing and Outreach is is obviously something I've been pushing for pretty hard um but I would guess I would just be a little cautious on how much Duty we assign to that position because that's going to obviously add more pay uh I think the most important aspect if we could just have just a market marketing person or or something like kind of make it a little simpler to save a little money on that position I think that might be helpful um but otherwise I do like that um the public work stuff I guess I could go either way on uh I think obviously as as the city grows we're going to need more I think the public works now does a good job and they don't seem necessarily with their services over exerted at the moment so um I guess I'm in agreement with uh council member londan on if I were to choose one of those three at the moment it would probably be that one I don't think and we're not asking to add these this year this is just something as we look at goals if we want to start looking at implementing them in the future the time to start planning now to look at the cost um as you know we definitely wouldn't hire interns if we had this person things like that that we start thinking about that it had the as the um Pieces come together um just so staff can plan for it I'm I would like to know more about that position and and guest them in on on a yearly rate uh salary or yeah and we can definitely bring that forward we can point out the position take a look at it and actually bring forth a job description just to review as part of our can we the whole as an item just to say if this is something we want to look at we can add it as a goal just for I think it be a good idea in three of those those three departments that we're talking that we need help in right to get what our cost would be for each one of those so we can start wrapping our head around it and you're going to have to look at it is 3 to 5% increase every year that we delay on that so I think that I think all all the Departments that are requiring more help we need to maybe we should see all those numbers all at once rather than just one at a time yeah we can and then we can also include for especially Public Works um technician and the police officer of what year we think depending on that growth projected population what year that we figure that to be into that sounds good uh should we roll into E2 then city capital Improvement plan and pavement management Maps absolutely did you Nick had something to say yeah I had a couple questions on the uh the website Improvement has anything been started for that as far as finding a solution or cost um so I have costs um I've narrowed it down to what I think would be the best um um best service provided through a website at the best cost so I have I have that stuff ready to bring forward yeah because regardless of having a new position we do we would do better as a city having a better website um one that's easier to work on the back end has more information um for residents easier to find so I will be bringing that forward for sure so thank you that should definitely be high on the list the website it is it's really hard to navigate and really hard to find information off it and yes it is needs to be more user friendly Jeff did you have anything to add to E1 oh you need to have a a plan obviously we're going to keep growing unless there's a major recession um I'm not opposed to get in sometime of type of timeline with cost but I'd like to focus on how we're going to grow revenues before we need to get to those points so we don't raise taxes so as I've said in the past I think we should really focus on trying to get as many those industrial parks built up those lots built up there and then really focus on the liquor store I think that's the easiest way we can and we can do it right now so I would like to focus on trying to get create new reeven and getting that liquor store as profitable as we possibly can we do have something on the city council agenda that might help with that as well tonight and just to clarify coun our home are you talking about expanding the liquor store well eventually you're going to have to expand it but for the current footprint I want that try to get as much money out of that thing as possible before we start hiring more employees obviously we're going to need to hire employees at employees at some point but I guess we'll see what the staff see sees as a timeline between Police Department Public Works and then admin staff at the city hall so are you implying a sign for the liquor store probably something draw traffic we got a lot of people that drive right through as an and that is there's a lot more dollars we can capture I just I want to see that captured just pull a trailer sign out there for the time can we we got to get away with we got to do something we have reached out to see um with M do standard we can put a temporary sign on that corner so that is in the works okay uh so the next item that I have um which is something that I typically provide during goal setting just to make sure that everyone's aware what we have on the upcoming Capital Improvement list this is not a full comprehensive CIP list but this is going out till 2034 and it has items that are 10,000 is and higher um that have been already put into place this is on rotation of lifespan um as well as um key items that staff has identified of its useful life so if there's anything in there that you're is like well I think this should have been included or not included this is a great time to bring that up um because it does end up facilitating conversations about whether we want to have this park or this um project over here so that's included for you as well as pavement management plan um a huge cost to cities in planning is infrastructure so if there are roads you'd like to see redone um sooner than what is planned for I have that plan in there so we can discuss because that takes planning and saving doesn't happen in a year or two so that's why that plan is is there I did have a question on the flooring for the police station I see that's queued up for this year um where is that and is that being replaced for sure is it a necessity or is that just in there in case when we did the original remodel we did what a quarter of that with the lvp the rest is the carpet so we're just continuing that throughout the base the upstairs was new M but the basement is original okay do you think it's necessary to do it now or I don't I don't know I don't know if lvp lasts as long as carpet does or longer longer okay I mean that's what we did like when you come in that entry way and you go kind of past records that's all been done but we didn't have enough money in that remodel it wasn't part of the plan to do that piece so it's going to continue that same flooring down the hallway into that main floor something that carpet's pretty groy I guess I never noticed it when I was in there but okay and then there was another item the block insulation queued up for 2030 is that uh like spray foam or what is that one not really sure what Mike had in there but I guess the principle is that is you have a heated conditioned space with block walls right I I mean that's the principle so what it is yeah whatever the best value for the element I don't know what that number was for but the the principle is to obviously whatever money you're putting into there I mean we're throwing money through that block wall every time we heat that space they did that at station three is they furred the walls out then they f it out with steel studs and then they spray formed it and they put steel over the top it and I think that helped immensely in station getting calcium y same happen over there I think Immortal insulation did that and if that's if that's the goal is to do spray foam that that 23,000 is way low that be what could be the the the thought on that was is that that that same year would be the year that we'd want to change over the geothermal to a standard boiler what we learned when we bought that building was is that despite the number of contractors that that say they do geothermal the number that actually competently do it is really really small um the very expensive yeah the yeah you ain't kidding the the the prior owner wasn't super thrill he sort of agreed yeah I'll get this thing up and run and then by the time he was done getting it up and running he wasn't super excited about how much he had to put into that um and I'm not going to blame him talking to the prior owner talking to Travis who at least has some knowledge on geothermal and and my real life experience we figure you know eight years is about as long as you really want to push it before we get ourselves into a bind so that is why we have that queued up in that year at that point once we're not on geothermal and we're actually actually paying utilities to actually um you know heat that that area that would be if you're GNA if you're going to insulate it and try to save yourself some money on utilities that would sure seem like the moment to do it so that's how that ended up in there okay so right now it's geothermal INF floor heat is that correct yeah and then we reuse that that tubing that infrastructure but move it to a boiler something a little more reliable and more serviceable because right now if geothermal goes out the odds of him getting that fixed in any in less than two months are probably zero to be honest does the evidence room have its own separate heater an electric backup or anything like that not an electric backup but it has because it has to be climate control control that has a mini split in there air exchanger system for the volatiles um that geothermal system will work for a while but I think we're going to even if you put a boiler in it probably cost the same as far as energy know Steve's probably more familiar with that right now we're running 32 Degree water in and 28 out where it should be 50 degree in but that's the way it's always been just that the Earth loop system is not efficient something wasn't done right with that geothermal is a very special te thing when it works it's great when it breaks it's expensive I would I would never recommend geothermal to anybody but there's a lot of people that like it I personally is not something I'd like to rely on because you're limited to the people that fix it and you're limited to parts for them so those limited parts get very very very expensive and you see so we have five residential style heat pumps in that building that are running that commercial building so mean so it's not like you put a boiler and you're going to run an industrial boiler for that size but it's actually five residential sized heat pumps that are working independently of each other and that building was built Randy stelman built that building so him being an escavator it was cheap for him to put that in CU that's you know the slinkies and dig you know that thing was dug out completely that thing was dug down 68 ft all the way around that place when he built that because that's how far you got to bury that in the ground and like I said once it starts going bad there ain't no coming back from it so on on that number is that that's just for the the block installation just for the walls not the lid the lids already ins insulated enough okay okay so maybe we might need to get an updated number on that because I think that number is pretty low spray foam has like tripled in the price in the last 5 years so that number could be a little low on that yeah that could be I I'm sure I came up with that number in 2021 or 2022 okay I know this has been brought up before but we have a new Squad coming online this year I I have to ask one more time so that that 84,000 doeses that come out of the general fund or does it actually reflect on the police budget because I was under the understanding that that actually isn't if you look at the whole police budget the total amount that that the squad isn't in that is that is that correct the general fund is fund 101 general fund is operating expenses fund 920 is the sister fund for the general fund that houses Capital Improvement so Capital items are in 920 and we have a separate Levy and a separate cash flow and all those things over there and general fund is operating so person El costs training those types of things for more transparency for the public can we somehow show that in the police budget the overall police budget so if the police budget is let's say $2 million can show 2 million 84,4 120 well and that's that that there in lies the problem is is that if you put those together you're going to have some years where PD has no Capital expenditures or Public Works has no Capital expenditures and now they look really a rockstar and the next year when we buy two squads and we need to put in INF floor boilers and we're we've now just spent an extra 300,000 it looks really bad in that year the point the point of having it be separate is is that regardless of the expenditures we identify them as needed we identify them as as uh based on useful life and we just simply understand the cash flow at the bottom um this was this was a prior to me getting here this was an ongoing problem and um all of those Capital items were maintained in the general fund and this was part of that ongoing problem of police chief would come to the capital uh Capital Improvement meeting that we'd have as staff with the mayor and he'd say well here's the actually it would literally be more like this here's the stack of stuff that I want but since the understanding was is that this is all going to come out of the general fund and the levy and the tax rate map well we didn't necessarily want to spend what we needed to spend on Capital so police chief would show up saying yeah I need two squad cars and I'd come to ask him afterward I said well you did you really need two squad cars he said well no I didn't need two squad cars but if I didn't ask for two I wouldn't be able to bargain down to one so doing it in that style gives the department heads the wrong incentive by separating them out giving them a separate cash flow and not making anybody beg for items Department heads like Matt we had kudos to him the other meeting right I'm going to push this out he has an incentive to push that out because if he doesn't need it he doesn't want to go through the work of procuring it and he knows that the money will be there next year right so to reduce that volatility and understand what PD's true operating budget is you really do want those things separate now if we want a presentation item you know we could have one slide that we present at at December say PD operating PD Capital yeah we can we can do that but I think combining them back into 101 is going to end up bringing about the same problem that we we got away from prior you know 2017 prior that's that's what I was looking for as a solution and so when we look at numbers we're looking at all the numbers and not actually one department or another department actually getting more money than what we're seeing in in the graphs or the charts or MH um even here it can be misleading because it it shows under police but and it is but yet it isn't shown that way to the public so I just wanted to well you can do all kinds of that kind of stuff um you know in the past when I presented the you know for example back in Granite Falls there were two things that I did with capital that kind of you know eye openers for for Council was one is we had our own fire department um nobody was everybody was pretty confident the Department wasn't as expensive as I kept telling them it was so finally I put that 20-year Capital Improvement plan up and I said hey just so you know over the next 20 years based on the things you guys have identified as being needed we're going to drop $24 million well holy holy smokes you know like that that's the other one is Parks Parks is deceptively expensive on Capital now that doesn't mean that either is you know better worse or whatever but by God you probably ought know those kinds of things you know um so we can certainly modify that especially that December presentation but we can get into that earlier in the process and start giving that comparison you guys maybe want to see hey what is what is PD's capital in this year but what is PD's Capital over in aggregate in total over 20 years sure you know um you know my experience when I compare to um you know like a fire department or Parks um in aggregate PD actually is only surprising ly smaller than you think yeah because I get people saying we don't spend enough on police I get people saying we don't spend enough on or we spend too much on police so if we have the all the numbers together what we're actually spending then just a rudimentary summary not necessarily him changing it in his accounting setup it's just a rudimentary number right okay and I'm not but he can B charts I reflect got a couple minutes I'll just go ahead because I was already thinking this I will dovetail back into what Josie is talking about Josie found a nice onepage flyer that the city of Shak puts out that says hey this is this is what we're spending on this this is where your dollar goes your tax dollar goes this much here this much here has some really it's simple one page really a lot of information on there Josie comes to me and says well hey can you put this together this year well it took me all of about 20 minutes to realize I was going to have to learn entirely new software to even be able to put that together software that I am not familiar with and quite frankly I do not have time to learn and it's a lot of information that would be really great to get out there but now honestly that's that is not my forte so I have another question with the tennis court resurfacing at Academy Park that that tennis court does not need to be resurfaced I know I've said that a handful of times but is that planned to be resurfaced or not I think it's just in there because we keep pushing it back now okay intent is will have to do it eventually but not this year on any Capital item that gets pushed back you know if like for example I just talked with Matt about this this morning is if he's going to go through his 2025 budget and say you know what I think this is a this is an item that I think we're good let's push that back you know barring any other direction the default is go back one year and reevaluate and he might go back another year and another year and another you know he might push it back four years in a row but I would always just push it back one by default unless I've got some clear direction that hey this is in such great shape useful life is off by a factor of five okay well then I'll push it way back but otherwise the standarded one year one year one year one year just keep pushing it back I think that one could be pushed back a couple years in my personal opinion there are some wear areas but at the end of the day I don't think it really affects it's not on the it's not on the court actual Court surface um and that was that looked like a just a bad adhesion from whoever did that so I don't know if there's a warranty on that or how that was done but it's not even that old I there's no warranty on it at this period but we can check into that but I'm unsure but I'm do you know the time frame of do you remember I think it was done in 2018 uh but I'd have to double check that there would be any warranty this far out I'm not I I would know not know without looking into it further okay um one thing that we can make sure that we do though is when when we have our budget workshops that'll be starting in July um we can even set one earlier if we'd like if if Council would desire to have a budget Workshop in June to just go over all the CIP and when things are scheduled we can certainly do that too and spend a dedicated meeting going just over CIP items I'd like that sounds good anybody else on that subject we still have five minutes here so do you want to talk about establishing some goals yes okay go for it so what well what I have so far this is really up to councel um it can be things that you want staff to spend dedicated time to research and bring back further you know for further continued discussion but as I've been listening to the conversation so far this evening right now I have obtained the cost and exactly the parameters of when we would look at hiring new more staff whether that be a new proposed communication person or any for our current um positions that we have just with increased need increase uh Revenue sources which includes the liquor store with the current footprint um capturing as much dollars as we can within the sales um of that footprint and then showing a full representation of each department um including their operating ncip during all of our budget workshops so so far I have those things written down if you have anything else for us to explore I will write them down and and bring it back sidewalk on Whiskey Road 14 years Josie I've been asking about that that's one thing I'll never look see if anything has changed yeah I would say to me the sidewalks and more Street Lighting on the streets shouldn't the county be in charge of that on Whiskey Road anyways isn't that kind of like their expense it's their Road it is their Road and they're right away however it's our sidewalk all throughout the city even on County Road 5 anywhere it's City sidewalk so it's our sidewalk and we pay for it but they want say in it that's that's there was one we we entertained looking at getting their permission to use it in the right away so we avoided that Pro problem house and that's the only reason they would have anything to say in okay otherwise That Sidewalk is outside of their RightWay and they were willing to work with us um except for the slope of that area just is too great um to maintain a sidewalk that would work for 8 compliance and not be up on the road they didn't they didn't prefer that um so there just weren't a lot of avenues but they did look into and entertain it with us okay and I'm still concerned about the sidewalk between um the dairy Dairy Queen area and the the strip mall where uh China houses that that missing piece and I I don't think it's right that that's basically going to stay missing until the land is developed I don't I don't really think that's right um people are using it now it's a highly used area and there's a lot of foot traffic and I think it's unsafe um so I would like to I know we've talked about this but look into assessing it to the property that's there uh maybe we pay a little more than we normally would but I don't think the uh I don't think waiting for that lot to develop is going to be the right strategy on that because it could be another 20 years same with the one from the BFW all the way up yep CU that's all that is is just a painted line and then the curb that's that's that's for next year on The Improvement projects correct the Railroad Avenue I thought it was this year but it must have been 2026 yeah I guess Mike just stepped out but I it's in the next couple years is that segment of railroad AV moving that curb over to try and have that walk separated okay those of my only thing is I'm concerned with the goals I mean we obviously are always wanting lower taxes that's all part of that but those are the things that I've always been strong on the street lights and sidewalks and of course public Outreach surveys I know we talked about that last year and I think that's something that we will continue to do anybody else have specific things okay well we're just about wrapped up anyways uh so I think we'll probably work on that throughout the rest of the year uh I assume we can add to that as we go yes we can okay that sounds good then right thank you Council for your time thank you to all staff for coming to be available for questions appreciate it thank you thanks Joie great job all right so it is 659 uh I'll entertain a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second motion by council member lundine second by council member Hol Gren all in favor say I I I any opposed we're adjourned at 6:59 p.m. --------- ##VIDEO ID:h2_J-V5h2BM## e search alrighty it is 7:02 we'll call the city council meeting to order if we could all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance Al to the the United States of America the for it stands one nation under God indivisible Li and justice for all doing roll call all voting members are present uh will open it up for public comment if there's any public comment tonight just come forward and state your name and address for the record uh hearing none we will close the public comment uh we'll go on to adopting the agenda are there any changes or additions good evening Council I do there are no changes to what's presented uh before you however there were some revisions made about an hour ago so if someone did look at the packet just want to say that there are a few items that were recently added that in includes K1 Municipal dispensary discussion uh K8 contractor email list discussion and K9 illuminate isan operation discussion great I'll entertain a motion to adopt the agenda if that all sounds good second oh I'll make the motion that sounds good motion that's what you said I said I'll entertain that's all right I'll make I'll I'll make the motion to adopt the agenda and council member lundine seconded it all in favor I any opposed motion carries 5 Z uh city council meeting minutes from January 21st Committee of a whole if there's any questions on those or I'll entertain a motion motion to approve second motion by council member line Second by council member holgren all in favor say I I any opposed motion carries 5 z uh for the city council meeting minutes now from January 21st any questions on those I'll make a motion to approve I'll second motion to approve from council member hren second from council member heeman allo or all in favor I any opposed motion carries 5 z uh announcement city offices will be closed Monday February 17th 2025 in observance of President's Day committee of a whole meeting Tuesday February 18th 2025 at 5:00 p.m. Planning Commission meeting Tuesday February feary 18th 2025 at 6 p.m. city council meeting Tuesday February 18th 2025 at 7:00 p.m. and the park and wreck board meeting Tuesday February 25th 2025 at 6 PM uh Council committee reports are there any Council committee reports tonight I got one have had it uh I had my yearly uh Cambridge bike walk trail meeting short meeting but uh we had some discussion on uh replace of the boards of the bridge so Matt was going to at some point uh walk the trail with the person from Cambridge and do an assessmenta this to look at the boards and then I asked about how long that bridge is going to last and then maybe come up with a replacement plan so we can have some money in the bank account before we need to replace it because it it is overwater so it'll be a little expensive I'm assuming at the time so I actually had a question on that um is that on pans or on peers do you know the the boardwalk do you know the design of it I am not sure to be honest with you okay yeah all right I I'll check back in with you on that I'm curious about how long if it's pans how long they've lasted and what design and whatnot so the county park is actually looking into uh doing some pretty substantial boardwalks and I wanted to check on that um for them so just real quick on the on the bike quock Trail if the bridge is in need of repair um we do make a capital contribution to them annually that is the city of Cambridge would be the caraker of those funds that's 7500 a year correct yeah yep um so you know whoever their representative is at the meeting should be able to at least periodically provide some understanding of what that account balance is and what has been set aside and those kinds of things because they are going to ask for additional funding yeah I would like to know way in advance yep and I just want to know after they do their assessment on just the range if it's if we need to replace it in 15 20 years you then try to get you know kind of like what you do here just a replacement plan well and encourage them to start budgeting for that even though I will that's yeah maybe we can get another organization to go along with us on that yeah yep any other Council committee reports Park and wreck was a little uneventful uh thought the most interesting thing we talked about was maybe having movie Nights at the amphitheater and uh a message board at blue Bluebird Park um we'll see how things go I think we need to work closer with Park and wreck and let them know what kind of funding you know they have available so they can be more real realistic in their short-term goals um should maybe have that on K one of these in the near future and give them a little bit more Direction I think okay so I had my monthly school board meeting uh this month there was a School showcase on the Cambridge ien Woodland Brookside campus um that's the school off of Highway 65 by Borland I thought you just give a little rundown I was always curious on what that school was and what it looked like inside uh so there are five teachers in that building uh roughly 20 to 30 students generally special ed type students um so they can receive more Hands-On class instruction um personalized and more attentive to their needs uh generally generally their students are rotated at least in some aspect between the regular school uh District buildings and that building which I thought was interesting and good to um uh give a you know a diverse experience for them uh the school's financial audit also came back clean other than a few very small administrative errors typo type stuff uh their fund balance is roughly 32 million with expected expenditures near the 70 million Mark per year um this year they came in roughly $8 million under budget um but that's because they had some wage negotiations that have been loaded and uh bus purchases that were made but not expended before the end of the year audit um they did Bond unfortunately uh for $6 million of Capital Improvements you know we've talked about bonding in here quite a bit and the impact that has um so I actually asked to have a meeting with the um with the finance director for the school district and get an explanation on that so I met with him and a school board uh member and we talked about that and he he you could tell that he had put quite a bit of thought into that Bond obviously and he done some long-term projections and I think it was necessary um but I wanted people to be aware that they are having to bond for money so um just to be aware of that you might see a a small increase in taxes um based on that Bond um and another interesting thing um it's kind of a I would like to see a little bit more work from all the cities and townships around he said in his entire time being the um manager of the finances for the school dist not a single City representative or Township representative has ever met with him uh so I guess this is just a message for anybody that's in leadership to get out there and um you know there's not much more important in our community than kids so I don't know if that's you know I would like to see more of that um from our our city leadership City Council Members Mayors and Township supervisor yeah elected officials sorry I've met with him a bunch of times elected sorry that's why begged him for joint Capital planning items but yeah yes so everything's on the up and up at the school um the budget was looking pretty good and they passed through the audit with good numbers so anybody else all right so we will move on to business item K1 Municipal dispensary discussion thank you Council I'm gonna have um liquor store manager lus kick this off and then we'll also hear from Finance director Becker okay mayor and uh Council thank you for having me tonight um we started this conversation at the last um council meeting and I'm I'm glad that we're continuing it um I did give you each a kind of a handout and the first page is a lot of what we talked about the last meeting um I do have some stuff in bold that um that I added to this um if if you want me to go over the whole thing I can otherwise I can just touch on the the Bold stuff um but the isan municipal cannabis dispensary would not just be a business venture but a community focused initiative designed to enhance Public Safety contribute significantly to our local economy and uphold Our Community Values um you know there are some municipalities moving forward with cannabis dispensaries um they include St Anthony Village um Grand Rapids which isn't on this sheet but they are um the city of Byron Anoka elely and Newport are some of them that I'm aware of um and St Anthony Village is working with a a consulting firm Voyager cannabis service Byron is working with a consulting firm called Delaney Consulting um we did talk a little bit about you know I I mentioned the Red Pine Equity Group had approached some cities asking to partner with them using their cannabis license to um operate a dispensary um the second handout that I have for you is from that Kennedy and Graven um and that was a memo to the city of uh St Joseph their attorney had looked at at the proposal from Red Pine and that kind of lays out some of the concerns they have with that um I share those concerns um a lot of it is that what Red Pine group is trying to do doesn't necessarily match up with the current law um like what cities can't partner with a a corporation um and basically a big part of that is if we were to get a cannabis license we can't share that license with we can only have one license and if we were to partner with somebody like red pine and they have an agreement with another city and another city or another city well you're partnering with multiple multiple cities and and that isn't isn't isn't legal quick question one one license is five retail yes yep okay so and that's on the first part there um just to clarify um a cannabis retailer May up operate up to five retail locations however no person Cooperative or business May hold a license to own or operate more than one cannabis retail business in one city or three retail businesses in one County so so could we in theory open Sho in North Branch that thought has crossed my mind and okay you know I'm kind of aggressive like that uh you know what I'd like to see it do well here and then just you know keep going but I don't know if that's legal because cities are different than and your typical applicant you know we don't have to go through the lottery process we just have to apply by the deadline and meet all the qualifications um so I don't know if we'd be able to say partner with Cambridge or partner with North Branch or or anybody you know because North Branch is in a different County does that count towards the three you know that would be something that I would really be interested in and looking at once our operation is up and running and and generating Revenue I think we'd have more of an argument for that that might be an interesting way to protect the whole County from you know potentially bad things happening I know the county was a little more risk averse on their their discussion on this and their their rules um so that might be something that would be interesting to talk to with the county I never thought about that aspect of that and and one other thing to keep in mind too um speaking to that is you know our if a city is awarded a license that total does doesn't count towards the minimum number required so if we were awarded a license there'd still be at least one other um dispensary in town could be well there there would be would be my assumption um and in my opinion awesome that's great you know give people options we're still going to be give them the best service the best pricing you know and we're going to uphold the Community Values as we're doing that as well sure so I know I kind of beat this one beat the Bush on this quite a bit uh but the state handle handed us a legalization process that was extremely poorly done on the the policy side of things and I think they've created too many opportunities for dishonest businesses to come in and not practice safely within the community um I think that we combat that with potentially looking at our own Municipal you know you can we can protect our residents by giving them a service that we know is safe and that we know is not being you know tax actually done just to make moneyy and leave our community we're going to be here forever um so I think that's an important thing uh not to mention the direct offset in our tax bills uh which I think is obviously the the biggest incentive but keeping the community safer uh reducing taxes now if you look at what Mike has presented here on this this number sheet um with very conservative numbers and I think if you look at the the Staffing here um I've been to a couple in Colorado and they actually have less Staffing because they have have the person that works the door also worked the register so you have a line at the door like a staging area you you let people in and then you help that one person and then when they're done being helped and checked out they they leave and then the next person comes in now Colorado has that law um on some in some areas um to protect the stores and I think that's something that we could do to actually increase our profit margin here so um if you look at look at these numbers uh the profit margin there would create roughly a 4% reduction in taxes um that means the average household would roughly save $75 a year in taxes um from the revenue on that uh that's only about s $7 per month uh but every dollar counts when you're talking about taxes um I think if you look at the lease option it gives us a very good uh you know Avenue to kind of test the market with very little initial investment so there's not much risk for us um it's just also safer for the community the police can come into our own establishment uh the legislation is going to hand tie our hands of the police department and not allow us to do very much with uh private businesses and I think that's a dangerous thing for our our community so that's really all I have to say about it if if I could um the sheet that I put together here um I did not put a ton of time into this because I didn't have understand there to be direction that would warrant a bunch of time most of what you see presented before you was basically what I sketched out during the last meeting when we discussed this just out of my own head I did do probably half hour hour of fixes and research and things um just to get some understanding um whether or not this could work but when I was writing this up originally it was sort of all right how many people do I think I need um what are my costs um you know rough math and all right if I'm going to turn a profit that is going to make sense what the sales then need to be so that's how I ended up at 2.6 million from what I can tell from other states that have gone forward with this what I can tell amazingly at least to my mind amazingly 2.6 is apparently a very very conservative number which I mean I objectively when I think about it I think well that seems a little high but from all the research I can find all the numbers that are out there all the data from other states have already gone before apparently I should be talking about numbers that are you know tce that size apparently um I talked to um talked to our bank because of course that was like the biggest Crux was like if it's is a cash business I don't have anywhere to put the cash that's a deal breaker all by itself um they said that the they would need the executive board their executive board to vote on it they expected that the vote would be affirmative uh but they would not actually receive the cash the cash would be picked up weekly by an armored service and actually delivered to the Federal Reserve Bank in Minneapolis where they would count it um and and then give a uh basically a you know a memo of confirmation to to the bank saying yep we will honor that deposit and we will make that deposit to your account the bank would then subsequently pass that deposit on to the city that so that is how that would work um but yeah otherwise you know don't this this document should not be considered a planning document for final approval of you know but it's it's meant to give a ballpark like hey could this even conceivably possibly work is what I was looking trying to trying to get get to the only numbers I could find for dispensaries um was for the year 2023 and it looked like only 29% of all dispensaries actually made a profit um 40 approximately 40% broke even and the rest were in a hole um I hate to be a devil's advocate on that but it's a cash business it's pretty hard for I know to prove cash I know and those were the only real numbers I I found um George what state was that in that was Nationwide that was all the dispensaries that they surveyed Nationwide um well part of the reason that the state has taking so long to roll out the cannabis dispensary licensing and everything is because they're trying to their best ability to not get the market oversaturated um where the the people that do have licenses have a better chance of making a profit sure um compared to other states like Oklahoma Colorado where there's dispensaries on every corner um and you know another part of what the state is doing is there they're not allowing places to not issue licenses so there isn't that black market um you know where it's cheaper to go talk to your guy down the street and get a bag and not not pay tax or anything so there is there is some some things built into this program to to keep that kind of thing from happening I mean looking at the startup cost it is it's enticing I mean it's comparable to how much money we flushed on the toilet on a on a winter event here so um it's one one thought that I have too and I I did mention this last time I know if we were to go forward with this we're obviously not going to we're not going to build a a building by the liquor store but down the road if if we were to show that this is successful in you know in town here anywhere and then we had the opportunity to put up a building right by the liquor store and we captured that traffic stopping at the liquor store that's like double dipping right there I mean we're we're getting twice as much income Revenue right there and and people are you know on their way through town so your thought is to build a model try it out rent a building have have you looked at any any buildings is there any lease opportunities that you have in the back of your mind in town I I haven't gotten that far i' I'd lean on Mike for that more so okay yeah I've got a I've got a spot pick don't but okay yeah if if given the opportunity I would make sure we make a profit well so comparable to these numbers the spot you're thinking in the back of your mind let's let's let's just say that we're still waiting on confirmation for what the lease would be but based on the square footage we'd be looking at for500 square feet I don't think it should be $60,000 a year okay well first of all I've never been a fan of the city getting involved in this but it is what it's going to be second of all we should look at what it would cost to build that size of building with a potential to add on before we go start leasing second of all you got that other lot next to the liquor store if it failed it's a heck of a lot easier to sell a piece of property with a building on it than it is an empty lot good point so we would not be loot out out all that money if it didn't work so before we go jumping in wanting to lease something I think we should to look at a revenue what it would cost to build that building and get it operation in that empty lot next to us because I guarantee you we're going to sell that build that lot with a building on it a heck of a lot easier than it is just sitting empty I I don't think you'll get my vote if we have to invest that much you're going to invest if would like to see it work I'd like to see there's a market for it and and that we could build upon that before if you look at a $60,000 payment for a leas you don't own it you're just borrowing it and if it and if and if the building payments were less than that that would still be even that much further ahead and then you'd be able to sell it if it didn't if it failed that's still way less than we spend on a lot of other things well I think well I'm just saying it's a better turnover for your money if it didn't work tonight I don't think we're necessarily discussing obviously the long-term plan tonight I think we just need a plan for if we want to apply for the permit or not um there's a $5,000 application for that um I've been told we would meet all the requirements um so I think that's I think that's the direction we need to figure out if we want to consider it tonight I personally think it's a good thing to look into um another thing we didn't we didn't mention you know the free market is obviously all of us here believe in the free market and we wouldn't be limiting other people from coming in but what we what we would do is if we got this permit we would make is a softer Target for people that just want to come in and get rich off our community and leave so I think that's that's the biggest benefit that we get out of this is we can protect our residents there's a lot of residents that aren't happy or not a lot but there's a fair amount that are unhappy that the legislation was passing to begin with and I think if we do the steps to make it as safe as we can possible for them and reduce their taxes at the same time I think it's a great idea um so I guess I would entertain a motion if unless there's a lot more conversation to uh you know apply for the permit and then I guess go from there well I'm sure there'll be a ton of discussion in the future personally I'd like to see a consensus on on whether we lease or we decide to build because if we end up building something we're going to be stuck and then we're going to have a money pit because we're not going to want to get out of it till we've actually lost a good chunk of money well I think so so I think that just the logistics of the current situation solve that problem so we have a deadline middle of March to be able to apply for the permit so that's kind of the first hurdle and once you do that given that this is a new market in the state of Minnesota early entry is going to be a huge Advantage so you wouldn't want to necessarily wait for a build to be honest if I started for a build on the lot immediately north of the liquor store now I probably don't actually have it open for about 24 months that's about as fast as we can really pull this through bid it out get it in the ground it I mean it's just going to take time I don't think that that's a good idea what I would prefer is is you know location that I have in my mind um I would prefer to have a a 5-year lease that is 2-year commitment with third fourth and fifth year at our option right so that if we need to pull the plug after two years because we're like nope not working done all right we can walk away but then at the end of that second or third year we can say you know what I I can I can see the light at the end of the tunnel this is going to work and this warrants a better a more robust investment then we have that timeline to be able to move forward and get to the east side of 65 which I think would be a more advantageous location than the one I have in my mind but I think that's how it's got to go because otherwise if we're going to say we're building today that means we're also not opening for two years I think that's I think that's too late in the New Market yeah I would like to see 12 months of data before we commit two3 million on a building of taxpayers funds well it shouldn't be that much based on setbacks for that lot north of the liquor store about 1,200 square F feet of retail space is about as big as you can get so it's not going to be it won't be a23 million build but it won't be I mean it's it's it's not going to be cheap right I mean it's not it's not free um but I I would agree my my thought is if we're going to go forward with it let's not commit huge amounts of money until we can see this going we're going to build a building that's fine but let's let's have I would you say 12 months I prefer 24 36 I'd want to actually not just see like hey this was the new story and it did well in 12 months like what is the trend right did we do well in 12 months and now it's sure going going because if it's 12 months was our Peak and now we're just going down down down I get out cut your losses this is how I see it I like Steve's idea I know there was a potential business owner that was looking at that lot and they if they said it was already developed and they could get in it they would have they would have probably buy it just because of the location so I think that's a great idea for the long-term future um and the best thing about that lot is we can share parking lots too and some of the staff you know infrastructure you know I think it's a a good a good idea but the least thing is the safest option and not a whole lot of initial investment for a pretty sizable return hopefully so and I think these numbers are conservative just based on the research I've done too did you find municipals that were similar size that you're going say that these numbers are low or no I'm just looking at the Staffing the Staffing I know I mean Mike has it pretty pretty conservative with you know four I I believe it's four staff members yeah it would be one entry one point of sale one order of fulfillment and then one supervisor and my my my basis here was that you would you would only be open seven hours and so everyone would work at a standard 8 hour shift I don't I would prefer to not have a bunch of part-time um the one Personnel that's success contingent would be a part-timer but I would prefer to not have a bunch of part-time um that'd be my personal preference um keep everybody eight hour shifts and you know stick to fewer hours than the liquor store let's say that I think there's a good case to be made that being open at 9: or 10: in the morning isn't necessarily warranted maybe the market shows us something different a year or two down the road but at least initially so the money that we collect in taxes we get a percentage of that back one in one form or another because all just anything within the county gets yeah there would be yeah we would there would be as as statute sits right now yes we would be getting a cut it's not going to be a particularly giant amount but yes so in a sense we'd have a one or 2% margin better than our competitors well yeah in theory I mean now to make that functionally happen um you know we we'd have to have you know you'd have a transfer in to that Enterprise fund and then a transfer out now initially this is the other thing to keep in mind too is is that initially if if we do really well in the first year we have a net profit of1 to $150,000 um no one should expect that money to get transferred back out in the first year right you you got to get that fund back into the black then you get to start pulling money out but we're obviously we're going to have you know 400,000 or whatever out the door right out of the shoot so you probably do need five years to put replace that money build that fund back up get into the black and then get to start talking about transfers out that reduce taxes in a meaningful way I don't know there's a lot of unknowns there is um but I think you know if if you look at that even knocking out $50,000 just by doing the strategy that they have at most dispensaries where there's one person that you know one person that basically uses the opens the door for people lets them in then they look around they check out the person and then the per the customer leaves and then the next one comes in so then you have it's totally safe and you can eliminate one of those positions even if it goes goes you know you're not making the revenue you thought well there's you know $50,000 you could cut out but you know looking at I did look at a couple places in Colorado I didn't look at the population I should have looked at that but I think you know our sales of our liquor store sales of our coborns and our our sales at Quick Trip have sort of proven that our population here isn't the only number that determines sales cuz we have the number one quick trip in the state or as far as two years ago it was uh the coburns I believe is the number one our liquor store is doing crazy numbers so you know if you look at if you look at just population it might not sound like a lot but I think we we draw quite a few people here um so I think those numbers were pretty low on the um the sales like Mike had mentioned they're really conservative um some of those are $10 million on in Revenue so it's you know I think those numbers are are fair and there's definitely room for uh success but it's always a risk but at this point it's yeah our our bank um they've allowed dispensaries right um two or three other times he said um every time by a vote by executive board they've got to go through their processes um but yeah he he thought 2.6 million was a actually a little bit funny so so tonight tonight to go forward we would need a motion to potentially talk about go ahead Nick sorry one thing I wanted to bring up is that with the people I've talked to some people have a uh moral concerns about the city endorsing this and I think that before we do anything we should get more Community feedback before we start getting a solid answer on it because we all talked about that we like the culture we like the community and this is going to be a culture change if we're going to be endorsing this so I think more Community input would be warranted I'm just gon to say I don't think we have a problem with that I think it' be more of a personal moral decision um we have a very young Community um average average age here is 3 I have to say the majority 32 now right I would have to say the majority would would be okay with it myself just because of how young of a community it is um but and I think the S the sales the thing that you know is a little harder to understand is whether we have one or not there's going to be people that come here and you don't want that company that you know there's there are companies that are really awful business-wise and they don't care about their customers they just want to make money you know they don't care about you know safety and things like that as much as we might um so I think there's some value there uh just to protect your residents and you know we have if we hold the deck you know we can play it to how our residents want it versus if another company holds a deck if there is theft if there is any other any sort of crime we can't go in without a warrant unless there's someone's life in danger we can't go in as a police department you know and I I think that's a big risk too I I understand all the upsides I'm just saying that the people I've talked to who are in that younger crowd do have some concerns as far as what the Unseen effect would be to culture and communi so I'm not saying no I'm just saying we should get more direct feedback on that I've I've reached out to who I can but if we have a way to put a poll up on the website or on Facebook or some kind of call for feedback ult ultimately in the end um you know either at this meeting or at the first meeting in March is basically the time we got to just say um we have enough info and we're willing to spend $5,000 to keep the process going we're not committing to going forward but that's kind of the cof off window where you either put your 5,000 bucks in and potentially go forward or you don't put your money in and you are not going forward right that's really the impetus at this point is to figure that out would that license be transferable or no no not not if it's issued to a municipality how does how does that work with the 7525 split stuff I know we had talked about that where you have a the city gets the permit and then another company operates it with that permit how does that work on that aspect is that something that could be our backup plan well that could sure be a backup plan I think I personally don't think that it's a good idea at all just to just to read from what what this other lawyer had said is um basically the city would be forming a partnership or an LLC with that company um and then in here it says Min Minnesota statutes section 465 717 provides that a city may not create a corporation whether for profit or not for profit unless explicitly authorized to do so by law so that's where you're running into it's it it's probably not something that's allowable and even and even if it were allowable I I have some reservations about the incentive structure in that arrangement I would not necessarily to be honest I wouldn't trust our business partner no matter who it was quite frankly okay je you have anything to add on this one yep I sure do uh I I just assumed that this was just information only uh I am I just got handed this right before this meeting so for me I'm not voting on anything tonight uh sounds like we have until first meeting in March and I plan on going through the information but I am not thrilled with the city doing a business venture uh I just feel this as a uh private sector issue but I will go through the information and I guess we'll see all right um I guess I I I don't know if anybody wants to make a motion of any kind outd hear one I'd make a motion to approve the application for the permit and this I'm mostly making this motion because I won't be at the next meeting and I don't want to miss out on potentially making a decision that I think is beneficial for us so I would make the motion to approve applying for the the permit and see what happens after we do uh more analysis if anything applying for the permit I think sends the signal to maybe other businesses that um don't have the community's interest in mind that there will be competition here and they might not pick is as their first spot so that's my motion to approve the permit application if anybody has a second hearing none so motion fails any other motions I motion we just forget about it let somebody else do it free business I don't I really i' you've heard me say this before I don't feel the city should be involved in this at all the liquor store has been a different thing and I support that liquor store the city owning it but I kind of with Jeff over here is I feel that it's free enterprise our previous mayor we had resigned he was all about free enterprise MH and that's where I feel that's the motion I make there is still we're not making a municipal where there's only one permit in town which is don't matter I just don't think we need to get involved in it all right there's a motion on the floor does anybody have a second for that motion hearing none motion fails are there any other motions on the floor nope I think we should uh review the information and put it on for next uh is it we have until their first meeting in March meeting in March I think that gives has plenty of time to review everything and I think everybody should come with a yay or nay at that time is that a motion do I need does that need to be a motion or just for information doesn't have to be a motion I mean can just be consensus to bring to the next meeting well the one in March the one in March I'm sorry yes March 4th meeting yep I'm good with that this was just on for discussion this evening at first so that's why I would say that I would say first meeting in March sounds good to me George and Nick yeah I'm good I it's just a tough one I way okay sounds good we will go on to uh K2 resolution to consider approving variances for a second driveway at 27686 PK Street good evening mayor and Council um Tyler Baris had submitted an application for two variances to install a second driveway with the bituminous Milling surface which is loose millings not paved um on his 35 acre parcel zoned in the r1a residential rural District um section 17 of our zoning ordinance limits properties to one driveway and requires surfaces to be concrete pinous asphalt or a driveway paer system um and as you're all aware most of our residentials um Parcels are much smaller um so the Planning Commission did review this request um for variances at a public hearing on January 21st um and recommended approval of both variances based on the findings of facts which have been included in the packet um there's a resolution um for this approval um so if you so choose I wasn't here for that meeting so so he has a a very large lot I think it was 35 acres and he wants to add a a driveway access to his pole shed and we basically said do your thing as long as it's approved um and that's that so if there's any motion to approve second motion by council member lundine second by council member heeman all in favor say I I any opposed a motion carries 5 Z K3 resolution to consider approving a special event permit for downtown isan Street dances um good evening again mayor and councel um City staff has submitted a special event permit application to host the three downtown Street dances for 2025 um this is a process that we used to follow for all the street dances and City held events and we're going to start doing it this way again just to ensure that the events um you're aware of all of the things that are happening with each event um prior to everything being confirmed um so the first stance will be held June 14th from 700 p.m. to 11: PM featuring Jonah in the Wales the second will be July 26th 7 to 11: p.m. featuring The Farmer's daughters and the third dance August 9th from 7 P p.m. to 11:00 p.m. would feature rustic um these bands are all top 40 bands and play a lot of popular music and seem to be our largest draw at these events um the dances will be held at the intersection of First Avenue and Main Street and the estimate estimated number of people in attendance is 2 to 3,000 sometimes we get 5,000 um food vendors non-food vendors and beer wagons will be present at each stance alcohol sales will be monitored through the use of wristbands and law enforcement presence the event will be free to the public an outdoor stage will be set up in the right of way between a an retail meets and the creary um parking for the event will be available at City Hall iand Community Center Eagle Park and a lot of um off street parking given that the events are Street dances some roadways will be Clos for the event Main Street from the railroad tracks to Second Avenue as well as First Avenue from City Hall to the alley south of quest absolute Portable Restrooms will be provide restroom facilities for the event they'll be placed on 1 Avenue south of Main Street and on the grass um east of retail meets pending approval from retail meets additional trash and recycling receptacles will be brought in for each event and uh City staff will clean up after the event there will be sound amplification providing out provided outside by the band on stage and both Public Works and the police department will be providing assistance with the event a letter will be sent out as we do every year for these events or any events with sound application and parking um taking up a large large area or street closures um for all residents within a certain area of the city and so that will go out usually we sign it out in May so that they know or beginning early June so that they're aware and don't forget that it's coming for the rest of the summer um but we haven't had um any complaints since I've been here regarding these events um should the weather not cooperate for any of the events it will be canceled and any cancellations will be posted by the City website and Facebook page as early as possible it's usually have a phone tree of five people plus the mayor usually to cancel these events doesn't happen very frequently not on one so I have a couple questions on that for the August 9th date um have you guys contacted the r River rods or do they usually contact you after that's planned to plan their final show we've already been in contact with them this year and so they're usually very good to work with um and so yes it's already been in the works and they will submit a special event permit for their portion of this event as well okay and then I did have a resident asked me yesterday how much does each Treet Dent cost what is the I guess the number with staff time and the number without if you have that in the back of your head I do not have that in the back of my head especially with staff time but I do know that we budget annually $20,000 for all the street dances for the year we usually usually are under that budget but it just really depends on the cost of bands which can vary from year to year um but generally we try to find really good affordable bands for our area which is why we try to book them as early in advance as possible and that's how we get better bands but um as you know more well-known bands get more people also so it's finding that happy medium okay motion to approve second motion by council member lendine second by council member heeman all in favor I I any opposed motion carries 5 Z Item K4 resolution to consider approving a special event permit for 2025 fireworks and Splish Splash summer bash me again mayor and Council this is for a resolution we group together the fireworks and Splish Splash summer Vash bash events because they both take place during Jubilee days and um we just wanted to make you aware and let you know um about the plans for those events um they will take place on July 10th 700 p.m. to 11: p.m. which is um the fireworks event in Bluebird Park and July 11th from 11:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. um and it's two days in a row uh the splash spash event will include the performance of a kids dance DJ at Bluebird Park utilizing the bluebird Amphitheater um we often have a lot of fun activities at that event there's a big there's an event map you'll see within your package um and it shows we have bottle rockets we have a lot of great sponsors who donate um their time and things towards this event MCO usually provides popcorn um DW has a Sandbox there and a slip and slide and then we have multiple other um water slides and a kids smaller kids watering area the ambassadors are involved and usually do face painting so it's a great Community event we get 2500 people for both of these events each in that Park so they're both great make a motion to approve second motion to approve by council member lundine second by council member Peterson all in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed motion carries 5 Z K5 council member iPad discussion good evening mayor and Council uh so the city issued Council iPads were are aging and staff is not able to update at least one of them that is the one that was purchased in 2017 the other four iPads were purchased in 2019 they were previously up for uh replacement in 2023 for the in the capital Improvement plan however at that time it was determined that Council would push it out farther because all um iPads were operating efficiently however with the one iPad for sure we're not able to um update it which means we also can't do the multiactor authentification which means that we can't get the email that the city uses um onto that iPad so staff is requesting discussion and potential approval to purchase at least the one iPad um but up for discussion if you would like to move that back forward into the CIP plan and replace I all iPads in 2025 George I know you had a little bit of a input on this I know we've talked about this in the past during Council meetings so I figured I'd give you first crack at it I would I would like to see some kind of computer or pad with with keyboard um and we were talking about WiFi so that I know if the city had its own contract it would cost a lot more and I was thinking if we went per DM per month for council members for wireless would be a lot more cost-saving to the taxpayers than to have the city actually pay because you guys have to pay an extra 10 or $20 per WiFi it was just a thought um something a tad bigger easier to read when we're going through the budgets um they're really I mean you're scrolling and scrolling to the left to get to the end of the line item um my iPad connects to my Wi-Fi at home don't cost nothing mine does too what about when you're on the road when you're on vacation when you go to Hawaii ha I can get tie on their Wi-Fi with it sure as long as I have the password and their Wi-Fi connection I can tie into it any hotel you go to will give you your user password if you're on the road you really ain't going to pull over or you're not going to be driving and looking at your iPad so sure you know if you're and if if I'm on vacation I really don't want to sit and go through all this and if there's a problem I'll get a phone call plain and simple I mean when you're on vacation you're on vacation you don't need to you know it's your personal time that's not anybody else's you're all entitled to it and I looked at it is it's our personal Wi-Fi too I mean it's I don't know it don't cost me anything k i Wi-Fi okay as long as I have the password I can put a 100 devices on it in my house and the devices we get when we log on to a public Wi-Fi or a WiFi we shouldn't have any worries whatsoever and I do believe that that is part of having that multiactor authentification so it does have that extra layer of security I mean at the time that it went from a paper packet to the iPads those iPads to replace them are between $200 and $300 but the cost to go with the Wi-Fi built into it like on our our phone plan with Verizon ended up being about $600 for the iPad and then it added to the monthly cost um for the data plan and at that time it was figured that that those council members could use a hotspot on their phone or their personal Wi-Fi uh to your maybe point about having a monitor uh there are definitely councils many city councils that have a computer uh those actually dice spots where your sitting does have Jacks and cables um I don't know what the wiring is like but it's definitely something that if that was the direction of council staff could look into having monitors um put at your spot so at least that you could see what's being shown on the screens that is up ahead of on those TVs so if you needed to have a closer um monitor it's an option do you know the cost of a replacement iPad I mean maybe we get him a replacement iPad and then we can uh you know long-term plan for replacing these other ones if the if if the if the the one that failed is 2 years older maybe we have two years of cushion to plan for it um and maybe come up with what we want I'm I'm personally okay with the iPad but you know maybe a laptop would be nice but I think the iPads are nice and Compact and less likely to break I just I was carrying in my two cups and I dropped this thing today it's like man that's a good thing it's not an iPad or not a not a a laptop you know it's got the otter box case and stuff so I think it works pretty good um I think maybe with a newer one you could get you know better screen resolution that' be more sensitive to actual touch because there are a lot of issues with these things freezing and the touch sensor doesn't work right and you got to restart it and so I don't know if if you have a cost for the iPads or if you have any ideas for for laptops just to entertain the idea to ensure that we can get a case I would say $300 is what we were looking at which would have be the iPad replacement cost without data plan um just actually the cheapest location was an Amazon iPad and then a new case if the the current case doesn't fit okay Nick did you have something to say yeah to your point about wanting a keyboard they do have cases that have keyboards built in or you can add a Bluetooth keyboard right for when you're typing that's like 20 bucks I got one of those off of Amazon there're it works handy if you're really going to type a lot they are smaller though so it takes a little bit of getting used to but you could probably get a full sizee one too yeah quick question so if I wanted to get my own laptop that wasn't Apple can you guys set it up and can I use that that was council's direction to staff to set up a personal computer with the city issued um email and the multiactor authentification that is the direction we would follow that's what I would like to do I I would like a better device to be able to uh sort everything out that we're getting it'd be easier for me to read easier for me to navigate you have a device I'd probably just go buy a new laptop if you're going to do that we could pass yours down to Nick true I don't know if it can be a personally own one though because of all the data record retention policies that's why I asked if they could set it up and and be able that was if it was a city laptop only use it for City I have my own personal laptop and I have my own personal computer I just want a designated City use device um and that's solid use for even though it would be a personal device if the direction was to put a city um email and documents on there through email which is typically how we do it or through the website um or uh the application that you go to your packets that is definitely can be done there's a very very small risk that if there ever was some kind of liability lawsuit potential that we needed to take that device but that would be very minor percentage of odds of that happening but it would be somewhat of a risk if you're looking for any kind of risk just because of the purposes of um any item needed to be taken that was city property because it had City information on it would technically could be caused to take a risk for George not for the city correct correct okay correct because I'd be purchasing it with my own money at my own expense so I I could have to give it up till I got it back right well I think I would be okay with that you know we would solve our situation for you know maybe a year or two get Nick that iPad if once you get a a laptop of your own and then we could uh sort of look into budgeting for that I think the the price of $300 a piece is pretty good so I mean I would be okay with maybe trying to queue that up for next year unless you guys are totally opposed and want them sooner see you don't see any issues with that scenario of George getting a laptop with City information on there well I don't think to be honest of all the things that I've heard security wise that is most alarming would be is um connecting to a public Wi-Fi that is not password protected regardless of the device that's the most that'd be the part I'd be most worried about the to the extent that he we put his City email on his personal device substantively he could still put himself in that same situation as with his current setup right I mean once he's got any City information packet sensitive whatever on that device he can still forward that to his personal email and personal device just the same and any email communication is substantively not secure at its face to begin with so I don't know that digitally I don't know that we're taking any additional risk so are we not supposed to connect to open wi-fi with these I wouldn't recommend connecting any device you ever have can open wi-fi okay so may maybe we should have our own Wi-Fi then because that's what my argument was that's what I was saying but where you going to connect Walmart I did it I did it at Walmart when I was waiting for my tires to get down on my truck I had an hour and a half I was doing I mean if if you're con if you're connecting to a Wi-Fi that's password protected and the password isn't just posted on the wall you know that that's there's at least some measure of security but if it's you know you walk into Starbucks and it's just automatically open no no password required any anybody that's even reasonably tech savvy and is on that same network knows where you are and can can do a little peek around does a city run a VPN server could you configure them to require VPN connection back to the city to protect that information we try to limit VPN connections because that is a direct line into the the server so we don't even internally for staff yeah yeah we have two in in the end anything that we can do would only be to mitigate risk in the end we need all council members and staff to always be cognizant of the fact that you're emailed regardless of what device you're on email is never secure right like you should just assume that anything that ever went out by email or came in by email was potentially viewed by anyone and everyone that's always my advice on that so if you were at a hotel and you connected to their Wi-Fi even though it's password protected every room probably has the same password so you're setting let's just say that when I go to my conference and there's 350 Finance directors and I know most of them and I trust them I do not connect to the Wi-Fi no so we need to do something different here for us then if that's the case yeah or recommend using a hotspot on your mobile device that's the because that would be password protected but then you're using your data that I don't have have some people have limits I have limited so it doesn't bother me I just wanted Wi-Fi for all of us so we're the most secure we possibly can be all right I guess I'll make the motion to uh replace the one iPad right here right now and then we I think we should have further discussion about future long-term planning for our devices second motion by council member hren second by council member Peterson all in favor say I I any opposed I um so that motion passes 41 um I like the idea that you had about the laptop I think that would satisfy our needs and we're just as much risk with the iPads but all right so we will buy the new iPad uh for Nick and now we move on to k6 brush at the compost site discussion mayor and console had a contractor stopped down at the shop like a week and a half or or so and wanted to know what we were doing with the brush if he could get a a a bid on chipping it and he gave me what I consider a very um competitive bid just want to know if you want to move forward to get other quotes to have it have it Chi be chipped and the chips be left on site to for residents or whatever so looking for if you want me to move forward with that I would like to see more quotes more estimates and see if his his bid is you know good I'm sure it is if you think it is but it's it's it's pretty competitive bid and it's about 3,000 yards of brush that's out there now and it's pretty it's a pretty dense pile so that number is there's not a lot of air in it there's that's a pretty it's got pushed up and stacked up pretty good so okay yeah and I could bring my to other beds as well yep and then as far as keeping it on site would you like to keep that for residents do you think people would come get it or do you think it's too going to be too fine or what's your thoughts on that it's you know there's logs in there which is going to be a different chip than than brush but I think that I it's we could mix it in with the with the leaves cuz that does help break the leaves down as well so you can always eventually use it I think that if you gave residents the option they might come and use it for something okay is that something that we could ask them to chip the bigger stuff in a separate pile versus the smaller stuff or is you think that's asking too much cuz then we could use the bigger stuff or it's just separated so it's more usable I think if we just put that in as option if you know if you could separate that it's kind of separated now to a certain extent okay um but if we just put that in the bid and say hey you're going to have to separate this out Big Stuff versus small stuff and you know I don't think they'd have a problem with that at all could we do a a dual bid where you have separated and non-separated yeah okay yeah I think that sounds good and just to clarify we won't be going out for bid and following bid law but we would um solicit proposals or quotations yeah okay do you need a motion on that or we'll bring that forward to the next meeting sounds great thank you case7 South passage railroad crossing continued discussion so city engineer cook had reached out to bsnf to discuss possibility of extending the crossing work that the city had planned um with South passage which would be in 2027 the BS bsnf engineer stated that after discussing with the local maintenance team the project can be pushed out only to 2026 given the condition so staff is looking for a further discussion on potentially doing this project in 2026 what does that look like for the budget Mike as far as I'm concerned that's mostly State a if not entirely right so Jason and I gotten over the recent allocations I would say there should be money should be at least enough cushion to cover that yeah um right now uh we're looking like we would have you know more than enough available in the state aid fund balance uh this year or next year to be able to do the project uh the railroad you know did reply with you know that their maintenance team were willing to push it to 2026 uh and on top of that they were basically saying that was their recommendation even to have it done before our street project kind of like I was mentioning at the last meeting so that we would be able to do the project and the patch of the road all the way to the rightaway limits so then when we do our project we don't have to worry about them we don't have to permit with them our contractor wouldn't have to be bid to be qualified to work in the railroad area so it would actually you know we were originally talking about the idea of combining it into one but that con ccept of a bidder not needing to worry about a railroad and doing the rest of our project may very well end up at least making the making a two project just a wash on on cost so I don't have a problem with it being done as the two parts if anything it' be a lot easier coordination uh you know to make sure the crossing is controlled and and done properly and we don't have to worry about the railroad delaying the rest of our project um so um they're they're basically being you know open to doing this year or next year and state aid funds would be available for either one so from the city Side you know I guess it's kind of your guys's call on which year you'd prefer um but that was their response so you're suggesting that we have them do the railroad crossing in 2026 and we we actually do South passage in 2027 still is that or would it just be after or how what are you suggesting there yeah I I I guess I was suggesting to still wait I mean just because again on the the state aid fund available topic um to do all of self passage we would use up all of our state aid funds so pushing that out a little longer um we'd need to kind of accumulate a little bit more but but for the actual Crossing project that would be you know somewhere in that 90 to $100,000 you know kind of window that's at least a small enough amount that we can get that done this year or next year year but then we still want to have piled up enough and I want to speak for Mike but um you know to do the actual full project Reclamation and can you tell me if railroad a Railroad Avenue is a state aid route yes yes so that would be queued up as well and and we have to consider that when we do South passage great yep and that's why I'm saying you know we get an allotment every year we're allowed to get kind of an advance you know up to five years of that allotment and next meeting we'll be bringing you the advanced requests that we've kind of already pre- discussed for you know the roundabout project um the uh isan Hills project that we'll have coming up here with the the two roads that are state aid routes as well as the uh Mill and overlay project that has two state aid routes so we'll be bringing an advaned resolution next next council meeting and it' just be whether or not we add this to that any other questions no whatever Jason thinks will work best on his situation is I'm good with I mean honestly I mean moving into 2026 I don't see a problem with it you know maybe we get that one extra year of life you know if we're not worried about it having failed and uh you know we'll have built up another more allotment you know just in general but it that part is relevant if if the railroad is willing to help is willing to work with us in 2026 my preference be to do the Crossing in 2026 and the rest of the road in 2027 um get the extra year toward uh allocations on state aid but also I personally I would just assume have those two be separate I don't really want to have South passage closed for an unexpected amount of time because there was some delay with the railroad i' assume keep those two things separate and know that that Crossing is going to be close for a set amount of time and we can predict that pretty closely and know that that road can be done now in a set amount of time and are not dependent on that Crossing I'd prefer to keep those two separate do one in 20 do the Crossing in 26 and the rest of the road in 27 is scheduled I'll go with that yep works for me Nick I agree okay uh do you need a motion on that I see it just says it's a discussion that seems be a consensus we're just looking for direction okay we'll let you guys handle that hash that out thank you uh so item K8 uh contractor email list discussion I had asked to add this one um you know I've kind of beaten this to death over the last couple years um but I'll say it again we we seem to have a hard time getting contractors to put in bids um I would love to see you know five or six bids on every project that we do um and I think the more bids we get the more competitive people would be um with that being said you know the BMX bolt tightening project is done uh the engineer estimated that would be about $80,000 for that um and you know I was able to reach out to a couple contractors and there's one that actually checks this the city website almost weekly and he he didn't see this project I know it was on there but it's easy for them to miss it and he came in with a competitive bid at $441,500 um the next closest bid was over twice that at $92,000 um you know I had reached out to him over email and uh that saved $52,000 or $50,000 over the next highest bid um so that c me thinking you know why don't why don't we have a list of contractors that we can email because you know that $50,000 that we saved just on that one project saves the average household $150 in taxes so I think we need to have an email list that we can send out to as many contractors as we can um and then they can you know decide if they want to bid on or not because it's impossible for a contractor to check the city website all the time looking for stuff that's you know up for bid I had another contractor today uh called me and he said that um he said that he would like to know what's going on easier for projects so he could bid because there's you know there's situations where he wished he would have bid but he didn't know about it so um I guess today I'm asking that we uh assemble a list of any contractor um and then we can send out you know emails to them you know if it's maybe we set a dollar amount if it's a $10,000 project or more we send out an email to those contractors or or kind of whatever we think would be a good idea um and then also we had I had a question about uh preferred contractors now for the preferred contractors is there a dollar amount on those like say if it's over $5,000 we go out for a bid or is it just automatically given to that contractor that we have said as the preferred it really depends uh Council it really depends on the type of work being done if it is a work that we have a contract agreement with for let's say Plumbing or HVAC or something like that um we don't necessarily go out for um other quotations sometimes we do if it's a big project even though we do have um a contract with one of those contractors uh otherwise for every purchase that we make staff follows our purchasing policy and that di dictates with the threshold of the amount um how many quotes you need to receive as well as who needs to give approval if it's just department head if it's part department head and City administrator so that dollar amount um at 5,000 I believe is two quotes at 10,000 you are required to get three quotes So typically staff solicits quotes now I want to make sure there's a clear differentiation between quote proposal and bid if we say that we are accepting bid we must follow bid law so when we are asking for contractors to give us something it is going to be a quote or proposal or a bid bid law is we are required by State Statute at 175,000 that we must follow all of those rules if we don't believe that the project is going to meet that threshold we either do an RFP a request for proposals and we line out the scope and specifications of the project and we post that on our website we put it in the paper our official newspaper we typically put it on Facebook and then also with that call um Civic ready alert if people have signed up for that if it's a smaller project um Perhaps it is a short term we need a curb leak repaired City staff does have um some vendors that we work with that we've had a good relationship with uh that but we don't call just one even though we know one would do the job we always call two check on availability and cost for something like that so it it depends on the type of work all in all I would say most the time when they're meeting the threshold that people want also be involved we're doing an RFP and we follow the typical procedure website newspaper um and then if no one has um turned in a proposal and we're nearing the deadline staff will start calling people hey I know you've done work like this before in the past can you take a look are you interested maybe they're in maybe they didn't know maybe they're too busy saw it don't have time there could be a number of different reasons why we don't get proposals but okay so is there any way that we can you know we have our preferred contractors this particular contractor called me and he wished he would have been able to put in a bid on the illuminated San electrical even though we have an electrical contractor was that something or not a bid or what do you say a quote would be the threshold on that one or estimate yeah we we would ask for quotes or a proposal okay is it is it possible that you know obviously if you have a toilet that's leaking it needs to be replaced ASAP you're going to call your your your plumber that's preferred if you have an electrical issue that's pressing you're going to call your electric guy is there a way to you know if there's something that say it's going to cost $20,000 to run some wiring but it's not that pressing is there do you always check with other companies on something like that or how do you put out a bid on that because you don't really want to just go to you know just say one electric company and they give you a bid that's you know really high and it's like well I guess we're going to take that because there's no competition at that point I don't believe that we did an RFP for the electrical work but I would say most projects we do typically um go out and look for INS solicit quotes at least but I I'm not sure if you can speak to that are you aware if we reached out to any other contractors for electrical work no not not to my knowledge I don't believe we ever have so then we we did go with our city contracted one okay and I think I don't think we should do it that way I think the the market needs to know that there's these project because because I think our electrician has done a good good job for us for the money but at the same point if we're not allowing competition we're not really believing in the free market so I think that you know my email idea can kind of tie into that as well if there's say a project over $5,000 that's not pressing can we just send that out to all the contractors you know build up a list I know minor construction was you know very happy and that he was chosen for that that project at BMX and he did a good job got it all done in time saved us 50 over $50,000 um so obviously he would be on that he would want to be on that list uh you know local contractors they want to get involved and they also care more about their work I can guarantee that you know minor put a 5-year warranty on that project if you have somebody from out of town that doesn't care about their Community they're not going to do the same type of project so if we can get more people from the community more businesses involved I think it would save us money and get us a better a better product um so is that possible to say hey anything over $5,000 estimated or whatever that we send out to a list of contractors that we have we can definitely create a list like that I I would make the request to council that you're not asking staff to break it apart by um field of expertise whether as HVAC it's electrical it's um dirt work type you know moving dirt that kind of Excavating sorry um if we just have a running list and we can send it to all of them they can determine if it's applicable the other request that I would make just because of Staff time is that we would not vet out any of these um vendors if they're just asking me to put on a list we will send out a list but not to vet out to make sure that they are licensed bonded insured and that kind of thing until they send us a quarter proposal yep th those would be my two things I would be okay with both those I don't know if you guys had any thoughts on that but I just wanted to bring forward an idea that you know could save us a bol load of money because I see these bids coming in every month it's like there's no way there's no way someone can't do that better cheaper sorry I guess the third thing that I would request is that we do some some type of push to get the word out that we're creating this list because the one thing that we want we strive is to not be biased so that's why if someone asks us who's your preferred builder in town Miss Hill Asim and we say we don't give out one because we are not we might have a favorite but we don't say it because we don't want to give bias to someone we will give three that we do have we can provide three but we won't say which one's better than the other um that's not our job as staff and to put anyone out um and compete against each other out there so that is why we don't personally give recommendations of Staff but if we are going to create a list we should do some kind of push out there to the public that hey we are they need to come in here and tell they want to be on list because you can't call every flipping contractor in if they don't reach out I don't care what you do L if these people don't reach out it's not on anybody but them themselves and you know what I hear so many times oh I wished I would have known this well did you ever check to see and let let them know you want to do this did you ever check to see if you're going to do this MH it's always day late dollar short I should you know I I wished I would have known that well I don't I don't think we're asking for that I think what we want to do is develop six or seven different type of mailing lists one for plumbing one for electrical one for and then you just start filling it up the time and to be honest a lot of contractors do multiple fields of work so I would recommend that we create one list no matter what the project is over $5,000 we email out the details to everyone on the list so everyone is receiving the same information you know what that isn't a bad idea either because you might have a plumber who knows his friend who does electrical work that happens to have a slow time right now and can get on it and give a good bid so yeah I think it's a good idea do then the other thing that we will do as staff is look through our contracts and agreements that we have with our contracted services to ensure that there is not um quote like you're giving a certain dollar amount and just verify that those contracts don't need to be amended because they may have bid that contract knowing that they were getting x amount of work so it's just something that staff will need to review sure because you should just be able to write a cover page press a button and send it to 30 40 however many you have in the system all at once we don't have that but I can BCC them all at the same time via email and and send an attachment okay we don't use constant contacts but they have some cool things out there if you have those kind of software would that be something that could be incorporated in the new website possibly I know I have I have three contractors that almost call me every week and ask me what's going on if there's any projects for bid because they hate our website and it's it's too hard for them to constantly check and it's faster for them to just call I know that there are some um with the new website I'm proposing there are added added features and some of them do include text and email notifications I'd have to verify and look up dig a little further if those are things that you can sign up specifically for and we can input data that would go out I'll I can look into that okay but to ensure that it gets done I think that it would be something that staff's going to have to do and at least for now okay so if you know any contractors yeah get their emails send them to Josie or Stephanie or whoever that's but I think it should be pushed out into the community so everybody has a fair fair shot at it but before we go as contractor let's you know as soon as they submit a bid make sure they got all the t's crossed the ni dotted with the bonding and insurance wise yeah one thing I can foresee that we do um is to ensure then that staff is for any projects over 5,000 is is definitely a lower threshold for us to create um our detailed specifications so that'll take a little bit more work I mean it could be 10,000 that was just a rough number it's whatever dollar amount Council I I prefer that you vote on it as well just so staff has that clear direction of exact um expectations but that is something that for a project of 5,000 we may reach out to three contractors and verbally say here's what we're looking at can you give me a quote on on this we actually for sending it out we're going to have to come up with a spec sheet which is fine too but just letting you know I'd be okay with 10,000 being the threshold for that because if you look at a $10,000 project I mean you might have 10,000 or 9,000 you might you know I think you're pretty competitive under that number but anything over that I think you can potential for savings and we're going to make sure with our um contractors that we work with now that we're not going to have any issues we're going to look at their contracts I will need to review each of our contracts and agreements just to ensure yes uh I know that some of them I can think of one for sure has a non-exclusivity clause in there however I'd have to review all of them to ensure because some of those are three and five years and I don't want to speak incorrectly that sounds good if we could get a vote on that okay thank you I would entertain a motion or we just need to vote just well a motion okay yeah I'd entertain a motion for whatever someone feels like making I'll make a motion to start an email list and have the the Threshold at $10,000 um in hopes to get more competitive bids on all of our projects to save money second all right motion by myself second by council member Peterson all in favor say I I any opposed a motion carries 5 Z on that uh for K9 um I was supposed to receive a letter from somebody but I haven't yet so I'll just give you guys a brief summary I suppose um there was there's been a lot of talk about potentially a volunteer organization taking over the setup of the event um I didn't know if that was something that we even had the ability to do I think the the biggest cost to the city for illuminate was obviously the Public Works time but if there are if there's an organization that would be willing to take over the setup aspect of it I don't think it'd be such a bad investment for us to continue to have um so I don't know if there was any sort of taste for having that uh that discussion at some point we can put it off till I actually get a letter to if if that's what we need what solves one of the problems but so doesn't solve the problem of storage and deal the PD yep so you'd still have that that cost but at the same point if you look at I think there's a lot of people that like it and and if if we can if our only cost is literally storage and electricity I think it's you know maybe worth still having it for that amount of money you know you're talking I mean no money for storage technically how much was electricity a couple thousand dollars I mean it's pretty low expense so I didn't know if there was any any other ideas or if we had come up with any other I'd say make a motion to table this until we get this some more information on from those okay that sounds we can sit here and beat our head against the wall long for I'd late till we see the letter and what they're actually talking more okay I hear a motion is there a second second all right motion from council member lundine second from council member heeman all in favor say I I any opposed motion carries 5 Z on to the consent agenda are there any questions motion to approve second motion by council member lundine second by council member holgren all in favor say I I any opposed motion carries 5 Z the consent agenda is approved any other Communications or adjournment motion to adjourn second motion from council member lundine to adjourn second from council member holgren all in favor any opposed motion carries 5 Z therefore we are adjourned