All right, it is 7 p.m. We'll call this meeting to order. If we could all rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. >> Doing roll call. All voting members are present. Uh we will open up for public com comment tonight. And I'll just remind people that there's a threeminut time limit this evening. Uh we will keep it to uh 15minute maximum. Uh just in the sake of time, we have some stuff to get through tonight. Um and I remind you
to please not uh or please refrain from personal attacks and political ideologies. Anybody who's uh wanting to come forward, you're welcome to come forward and just state your name and address for the record, please. >> Thank you for coming in. >> Denal Vanble Vleet, 508 Mulling Loop.
Um, I have sat by and watched as Mayor Luke Merrill and others of the city council have been slandered, defamed, and harassed. People have called him a racist and a misogynist, as well as made
other false accusations. People have also attacked other members of the city council. As someone who has had many interactions with Luke and the council, I can attest that they are all kind and thoughtful people and have always gotten back to me
promptly. I want to address a few other things that people are complaining about. It is time to get over the splash pad. If you have watched or attended the meetings, you know that the splash pad would have
significantly increased our taxes. As for Illuminate Asani, it is still going on and this year the city is participating. They are taking on a slightly different role in hopes of transitioning it to the volunteer group.
This was to help us save money on city taxes. We also need to remember that there are more people on the council than Luke who do these votes. I like how fiscally responsible the council has been in the past couple of years. I like
the thoughtfulness in conversations before just throwing money at things that are wants, not necessarily needs. Meeting after meeting, I have watched as Luke and the council discuss, plan, and negotiate with contractors to get the
best possible prices for our tax dollars. Just this week, I saw multiple posts about how everyone's taxes are going up significantly in Cambridge. If we did everything everyone wanted, we would face a tax increase just as
significant, if not worse, than the ones so many people in Cambridge have been complaining about in the Facebook groups. I want to say to the council directly, you guys aren't going to make everyone happy, but keep up the good work and
keep the conversations going. Thank you for helping keep our taxes from sec sign significantly increas increasing. You can't always stop all increases. However, I appreciate that you guys have
been doing your due diligence to keep the rise to a minimum. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Anybody else for public comment this evening? come on forward and just state your name and address for the record, please. Thank you for coming in.
>> Rebecca Waller, 815 Parkbrook Road Northwest. I just want to say that the weather has been lovely. We have some great snow on the sledding hill. I don't know if you guys have noticed, but it's just lovely. There's snow out there. You know what would be even better? If the lights were on. I don't know why the
lights aren't on. We use the sledding hill a lot and we have all these big fancy lights but the lights aren't on. They were on for the weekend I think but not the holiday part of it. So that was a bit peculiar. But I do enjoy the snow and sledding. I hope other people enjoy
snow and sledding. I really like sledding and snow. It's awesome. The lights would be better. Thank you. >> Thank you for coming in. Uh, Miss Wood or Stephanie, does anybody have any followup on that or can you check on that? Has there been issues or
>> I will definitely look into it and get those lights hopefully to get if they need to be repaired or the timer issue and we'll make sure it's on during the um park hours. So, we'll get that fixed. >> Thank you. Yep. Come on up. Anybody else for public comment? Just state your name and address or record, please. And thank
you for coming in. >> My name is Janet Shock. I'm from Athens Township but in the process of moving to Ianti. Um I excuse me. My address is 26130 Rum River Drive Northwest um Minnesota. So I
just want to ask a quick question just just for clarification. So I went on your website and I looked up your uh economic factors and net year's budget and rates and it's for 2024. When does this get updated? Is it like I
know the last one was April. Do you do this like every April or is this always in April? >> I'm I'm not sure. >> Okay. Cuz I was noticing according to the 2024, it says property tax evaluations within
the city increased by 11.17%. This was pulled from your website. So I just want to follow that to see where we trend over the next few months. And then I just want to take a quick moment to shine a light on the uh incredible
volunteers that have made Illuminate a reality. They have all worked very very hard. I seen them out there in the cold putting up the lights and stuff and of course myself from River Radio will be playing music out there one evening. Um they these volunteers stepped up when
it seemed like it wasn't going to happen for a fourth year. So, I want to commend them for doing that and I hope that uh nobody else tries to take credit for their hard work because if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have it this year. Thank you. >> Can Janet, can you tell me what the name
of that document was again? I can look into that. >> Do you want me to give it to you? >> Sure. >> Sure. >> Okay. Thank you. I appreciate it. Anybody else for public comment this evening? Coming up and state your name and address for record. Thank you for
coming in, Todd. >> This will be real quick here. Um Todd Christensen, County Commissioner, District 4. Um when I came in before when we started budget talks with the county, if you remember, we were just a little over 15% when it all started. Last time I was in here, we had got it
down to 5.74%. And now for for the sake of the uh tax uh thing that we're going to have on Thursday there, truth and taxation, it's uh we're running with the 3.63, but uh as I asked I said, what is it
what is it going to take to get it down, you know, under three. So, and I personally I'd like to see it at zero, but that's that's just me. But anyway, that's where we're at. We came from 15% to 3.63 at this time. >> Awesome. Thought you I thought you guys would like the update. So,
>> do you know the tax rate with that? I know you're talking levy numbers. Do you know the actual tax rate? Do you guys talk about that a whole lot? >> Um, we did a little bit there, but uh right now these numbers are just eb and flowing so much that uh but they wanted to have something kind of a little more solid for the truth and taxation so when
people come in we can talk and so but uh anyway, I wanted to see it lower than that and hopefully we're heading in that direction. So, >> sounds good. >> All righty. Thank you. >> Thank you for coming in. Anybody else for public comment this evening?
>> Come on up. Thank you for coming in. Just state your name and address for the record, please. >> Theodore Ken, 1112nd Avenue Southwest. Um, I just wanted to say thank you. I just got the proposed uh property taxes
for next year and it's the first time since I moved up here four years ago that it hasn't uh significantly increased. It's actually gone down. So, I do want to thank you for that. And you guys are doing a great job and I just want to say continue continue the great
work that you're doing. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anybody else for public comment tonight? All right, hearing none, we will move on to adopting the agenda. Are there any changes or additions or concerns?
>> Good evening, mayor and council. We do have two late additions to our consent agenda, so I'd like to read those off. Uh they were added today. Uh consent item number 13, resolution to approve the purchase of the 2025 Chevy Silverado
uh PPV police vehicle. And is it 26? Actually, it's a 26. Uh that might be a typo. And then item for consent number 14, resolution to approve the promotion of Jordan Wrap from utility lead to public works foreman.
>> All right. Any questions with those changes? Everybody else, are you happy with the agenda? Motion to accept the changes. >> Second. >> Motion to adopt the agenda from uh Council Member Lendine. Second from Council Member Homegrren. All in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed?
>> Motion carries 5-0. The agenda is adopted. Uh next we'll move on to approval of the city council meeting minutes. Uh November 18th, 2025 committee of a whole. Any questions on those? >> Motion to adopt. >> I do have one if that's okay, Steve. Um,
I'd like to add a note on each of those Dogwood concerns that these are per perceived um not actual facts. If you read it, it sound makes it almost sound like they're actual facts from um Dogwood in the minutes for the cow. >> Make clarification that it's an their
opinions versus factual. Okay. >> Correct. And then uh I'd like to see a note on number two on the rodeo stage. agenda. We talked about it um in the meeting, but uh specify that this would not be a commonly offered usage of our stage for organizations. Uh just to make sure that
anybody reading that understands this was like a a consideration for uh for the rodeo association only if that's okay by council. >> Yep. >> Steve, are you okay with that? >> Yep. >> Okay. There's a motion on the floor. Is
there a second? >> Second. >> All in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries 5-0 on those. Those are approved. Uh, next on the city council meeting minutes from November 18th, 2025. Uh, I noticed in there there was an incorrect name given
at the meeting for the street assessment. It says, can you get an explanation on what that means? >> I had shared the name of someone and that was not the correct name of the person who gave it. So, I wanted to make uh it notated in the minutes that the name that I stated at the meeting was not the correct name. >> Okay. Can we put the real name in there
or or how does >> because I didn't say the right name. I >> it really will come across as being an anonymous resident then. >> Okay, sounds good. I'd never seen that before. So, >> to be honest, I wasn't quite sure how to handle it, but I wanted it notated that the name that I gave at the meeting was
not the correct name. >> Okay, sounds good. Any other questions on the minutes? >> Motion to accept. >> Second. >> Motion to accept by Council Member Lundine. Second by Council Member Peterson. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries 5-0. Next, we have the announcements. Uh, committee of
a whole meeting, Tuesday, December 16th, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. Planning Commission meeting, Tuesday, December 16th, 2025 at 6 p.m. City Council meeting Tuesday, December 16th, 2025 at 7 p.m. Uh, city offices will be closed Wednesday, December 24th, and Thursday, December
25th. Uh, and Thursday, January 1st, in observance of the holidays. Uh, parks and recreation board meeting. There will be no park and wreck meeting in December. Uh, next we have council committee reports. Are there any this evening? >> I have one. >> Go ahead.
>> Uh, we had the chamber of commerce meeting. They did employee of the year awards. Uh, Mr. Sickles of the Star one employee of the year. Uh, they also had regular business announcements, few new businesses in anti and lots of talks
about events. So, the Chamber of Commerce site is a great resource for tracking events in the area. And that's all I have. >> Sounds good. >> Uh, fire district. Um, we had a 3.2% increase in the budget for
this year. Um, on the joint powers agreement, I voted no. I don't think there's any reason right now that the district needs any more power. Right now we already provide fire rescue service, hire and manager firefighters, purchase equipment, maintain stations, plan for
capital needs, work with relief association. There's no real operational gaps that exist and I don't think uh by changing the joint powers agreement to uh add CEO authority, fire marshall authority, ordinance authority,
independent collection authority and expand regulatory powers will make that district running more efficiently at this time. So, um, that's all I got. >> I have a question on that. You said there was a 3.2% increase in the budget,
but don't they have didn't they have our lease on our building was dropping off. Was that 120 or 160,000? >> It was I think it was 120,000. And I and I fought to try to get 40,000 of that instead of putting it in the capital
improvements um to hold their budget at zero, which would have been the first time in the history of the fire district that they actually had no increase in their budget. I mean, I don't think they've seen a budget that they don't like. But um after about
3 minutes of me talking and somebody just said, "Do we need his vote?" So they just went and voted. So >> Huh. >> I mean, I'm only one of six, seven votes. So, >> but we pay 42% of the fire district's costs. >> Interesting. >> It's the way it goes.
>> Okay. Well, I guess next year hopefully we'll see a decrease on that. I guess I was this year I was kind of expecting a either flat or a decrease with them having $120,000 of debt dropping off, >> right? And I tried to get them to hold um hold that budget at at 0% for one
year, which is really weird because it's 3.2% 2% increase. Our increase to the city was 1.63. So obviously one of the townships or somebody used more services, so they had even a higher increase. Um,
so it is it is what it is. I mean, I'm only one voice. >> Okay. Well, good job taking that on. I know there's a lot of stuff to learn with that, so I appreciate it. >> Definitely. >> Any other council committee reports? I do have one. So, I went to the Arts
and Science Academy um schoolboard meeting and it was um a little bit concerning. Uh I think it's a good group and they ask a lot of questions. So, I'm happy to see that they did actually report some proficiency stuff in the middle school section of the school that are that's slightly concerning. However,
they went like fine tooth comb over the proficiencies and the testing and they're talking about it and trying to figure out ways to implement ways to improve it. Um and they did see some improvement in the last month. So, I'm happy to see that. Uh so hope hopefully they continue um towards that trend of higher proficiency numbers and I think
it's a great thing that we have that in our city. It's just another option for people that might want to learn through you know an art and science approach versus a typical public school approach. Uh so that is a charter school that is open to uh the residents here if they would like to put their kids in that school. Um so I'm going to try and go to
more of those meetings and just try and keep an eye more on uh proficiency and their budget and stuff like that. So hearing no other council committee reports, uh we will move on to business item K1, resolution to consider truth and taxation presentation.
Mr. Soulberg Good evening, mayor and members of council. Uh this is our 2026 truth and taxation meeting. So get going on this. So, what we're going to cover today is we're going to overview how the city's
budget development process went, provide some more detail on the proposed 2026 levy, give an estimate of city property tax impact on individual properties, and answer any questions for the public. The city had their first formal review
of the 2026 budget on July 23rd of 2025. This budget was brought before council in a work session or during city council meetings five times during 2025. During these sessions, we went through each line item in the budget in each fund line by line. Using this process, we
were able to explain to council and the public better in detail of where money was being spent and make any updates for any expected changes in 2026. At the current anticipated levy, we are continuing to fund our road maintenance fund, capital project funds, EDA
operating levy, debt service levy, and general fund will expect to have a loss of $219,000. That money will be spent out of fund balance to cover those operating expenses in 2026. The city's fund balance policy is to
keep our fund balance in between 30 and 70% of the next year's levied expenditures. At the end of 2024, this percent was at 62.1%. At the end of 2025, this was projected to be 55.7%.
And at the end of 2026, with the current budget, we are expected to be at 50.4% 4% of our fund balance for expenditures for the remaining year. So, some of our strategies and long-term focus for the city is to keep delivering
exceptional public service, foster an engaged, informed, and involved citizens and community, and be fiscally responsible as a city. We will also continue to comply with our bond requirements and continue to strive to be a debt-free city. Our only debt
currently that we are levying for will expire in 2029. That is currently 5.4% of our total tax levy. This next chart is showing our 10-year trend in population growth. Since 2016,
the city of Iani has increased its population by 37%. With this increase, we've continued the need to provide more services with our public works and police department. This next slide here is just showing us the same trends with number of
households over that same period, which is following along that same trend line as our population. Next, we're going to cover kind of what our 2026 taxes will be funding during the year. So, our four main talking points are keeping the public safe,
keeping the public moving, encouraging sustainable recreation, and keeping the city compliant with laws, and being fiscally responsible for keeping the public safe. We currently have 10 sworn police officers, two support staff, one community service
officer, three volunteer reserve officers, and then we also have our building inspection provided by Rum River Consultants. Rum River Consultants is funded by permit fees charged for plan review and building inspections that are paid for by the businesses and
the residents that use those services. For keeping the public moving, the city maintains 60 mi of streets in 2025, 32 miles of trails and sidewalks. They plow 30 of these. The public works staff has eight full-time public works employees along
with three seasonal employees. The increase in budget for them in 2026 includes some additional equipment to be purchased for our in-house mechanic to be able to service more of the city's vehicles and equipment. Hopefully with this purchase of equipment, we'll see a
reduction in the cost of outsourcing these repairs. encouraging parks and recreation. The city has four park shelters along with an amphitheater, baseball field, tennis courts, basketball courts, volleyball court, and other facilities available
for reservation. City also puts on street dances, the splish splash summer bash, the family summer event series, Jubilee Days parade, and the firework display. This department is supported by the parks and recreation coordinator and is
also supported by the public works employees. City of Iani has 12 parks. The parks and art coordinator does monthly inspections on these and helps with any maintenance that may occur during these inspections and is also supported by public works for maintaining these parks throughout the
year. Keeping the city compliant with laws and being fiscally responsible, the city uses its expert knowledge base both internally and externally to stay in compliance with these laws. that's working with our finance department and other experts along with our tiff
consultants and any bond consultants that may be needed throughout the year. We also have an annual audit performed of our financial statements to be in compliance with laws. We work with our auditors throughout the year for any changes in financial reporting and for any unique situations that arise during
the year. As part of being fiscally responsible, we've continued to fund our capital projects for future projects. Uh this includes continuing to fund our road projects and funding our capital project funds for future equipment
purchases. And then our last goal is working towards lowering our tax levy rate while avoiding future tax levy rate spikes. So on this graph, the line that is shown is our tax rate over the years.
uh the peak there in 2017 we were at a 85.93% tax rate. Currently in 2025 that rate was brought down to 43.98%. We are currently anticipating a 43.79%
tax rate for 2026. Just to give a understanding of why tax rate is important. This is the rate that will be applied to each individual business or home for determining the amount of taxes that will be paid by that specific property for the following
year. >> So Nick, you had said on that uh the tax rate has come down from 85% roughly to 43%. So in half. >> Yep. Over the last nine years, 10 years. Okay. >> Thank you.
Even with our tax rate decreasing, we were still seeing an increase in our levy of about 5% which was seen on the preliminary tax reports that were sent out to the residents. This is due to the adjusted net tax capacity increasing. Those are these blue bars on that graph.
What this is showing is growth in the city either in property value increases, new construction, anything like that that will affect our total tax base. So, we're able to continue to keep our tax rate low or flat or decreasing over
these last few years while still being able to increase some of our revenue to support our general fund and our other capital projects. So, so with that, you're essentially saying that there's been enough market growth that the tax the tax levy is
going up because we have substantially more people, more services, but the individual payments towards taxes are actually decreasing. >> Yes. As long as your property value is not increasing at a rate that is higher than what we're decreasing our rate by,
people will see either steady or decrease in payments. Now, that's all individually based on where your property value gets assessed at. So, if there's any increases there, that may affect the amount in city tax that you're paying to the city of Sani. But if your property value has stayed
stagnant over the years, we have been dropping the amount of tax that you're paying to the city of Sani. >> But just bear in mind, the city does not value the property. That's county values your property. >> Yep. That comes from the assessor's office. So,
Next slide here shows our 2025 tax rate comparison. This is comparing us to other cities in our region and other cities that are in similar distance from the Twin Cities and similar in size to Isani. So on that bar graph that is each
individual tax rate that are on the bars and then that average line is the average of all of the cities excluding Bell Plane and Bram. they're taken out just because their tax rates are very high. It would skew kind of our average line. So, just took those ones out of
there so that we had a more reasonable comparison for the rest of them. On the far right there in the green is our 2026 proposed tax rate. Also, >> so it looks like we're the second lowest. I >> think we might be third.
>> Third. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Yep. So, we're right in the ballpark. It's just good to see these comparisons for residents knowing that if you took your home of the same value and put it in a different city, which cities you'd
be paying higher or lower tax amounts in. Next up is our 2026 city tax levy. With this, we are seeing a 6% increase to our general fund levy, a 3% increase to our capital maintenance
levy, a 3.9% increase to our street construction fund, a 3.6% increase to our EDA levy, a 23% decrease to our tax abatement levy, and a 77%
increase to our debt service levy. Overall, this is working out to our five% increase that we talked about for total level levy previously. Also below you can see our tax rate comparison for 25 versus 26. We're
seeing a 044% decrease in tax levy from 2025 to 2026. In those bar charts on the right, you can see another display of historically where our tax rate has been. And then above that you'll see the total levies
from 2013 all the way through 2026. Our total levy in 2026 is a 3% increase over where we were at in 2023. As you can see in 24 and 25, we
actually dipped down below where we were at total levy wise in those years. and our general fund is still below the operating expenses that we were at in 2023. So, we've managed to keep those below where we were a few years ago. The
increase in that levy has been to continue to fund those capital projects in the capital improvement fund and in the street construction fund. This next slide here is showing the individual tax impact to a residential home or a commercial property. based on
our 2025 tax rate versus our 2026 tax rate. What you're seeing here is that decrease in the tax rate from 25 to 2026. Assuming your value stayed steady, would actually see a decrease in the amount of tax that you're paying to the city of Icing.
This is our general fund revenue summary. There is a pie chart up there kind of showing the breakdown of our different funding sources for what funds our general fund, which is our general operating revenues. Next slide is our general fund
expenditure summary. Our general fund expenditures are increasing by $111,000 from 25 to 2026 as the current budget is proposed. of this. The main factors that are driving this are step increases and cola
increases for employees along with health insurance premium increases for 2026. Next up here is our department budgets that also is including CIP. CIP is our capital improvement plan. This is for
any capital items that are getting purchased for these departments. It's just giving us a better view overall of the total amount that is being spent for each individual department. This is our last slide. If you have questions on your property value, please
reach out to the county. For 2026, your value is already set, but for 2027, you can appeal that to the county assessor and set up a time for them to come out for a site visit to appeal your property value. If you have any other questions on that, you can reach out to the
assessor and they'll be able to get you information on what that process looks like. Any questions? >> Miss Wood, could you I'm sure you have experience with this. Could you briefly explain the or or Nick briefly explain how they do this? um the assessment of
your property. Uh I think it's on like a five or six year rotation and they generally come through. Um so some people might see that their property value stays stagnant for four, five, six years and then all of a sudden they get a big hit. So you see that you see that on their the tax statements. Can you explain why that is or or what that
means for people? >> Yeah, so the assessor's office is going to do a few different things. Some of what they're going to work off of is other homes that were similar to yours that sold in your area. If those are going for a higher or lower amount, there'll be a potential adjustment to
your property value. There'll also be adjustments to that. If you have some sort of improvements that you're doing to your home, if you added a deck, if you finished your basement, that type of stuff, you'll also see a correlating increase in your assessment there, too. So, and then yes, the county comes
around, I think, like you said, kind of every five years and picks specifically where they're focusing to come in and do actual visits for that. I don't know. a whole lot about how that necessarily works, but yeah. >> And I know you can appeal to the county
your value um and they will come. So, they can only give you a valuation based on what they see from the outside. They can walk around the property, but they can't legally come into your household. Um so, if you appeal it, sometimes they want to come into the household. Um they just assume it's average. If the inside is less than average, you might see a
decrease in what you have to pay. Um there is the chance that you could have the increase as well. So, I just think it's important that people know that they can appeal uh their valuation on their property and see if it's lower than what the county says it is. I >> will warn you though, if you tell them they can't come in, they're going to
assess as high as they can. >> Right. >> So, it may harm you by not allowing them in. >> All right. Well, thank you, Nick. Anybody for questions tonight, you're welcome to come forward and state your
name and address and just ask ask away. So, Alicia at the county, the county assessor's office is who you talk to and who you'd address questions to for your home values. >> All right, sounds good. The county welcomes anybody that couldn't hear that comment to come in and ask questions and
get answers from the county. So, thank you, Todd. Anybody else for public comment? And I will just say I'm open to questions at any time, too, and I I would believe the rest of us are too. I get a lot of messages about the tax statements. I think it's very interesting. I've had some people from
St. Paul, a lot of them from my obviously, North Branch, Cambridge. It's just interesting, you know, to see um how different areas are affected and obviously it's important to everybody's livelihood. So, I'm happy to answer any questions I can too. All right. Hearing none, uh we will
close the public comment on that. Nick, was there business that we had to do on this tonight? The cola or >> Yes. So, we have uh four resolutions following this. uh one to adopt the 2026
final budget, one to adopt the final 2025 tax levy collectible in 2026, one resolution to adopt the 2026 enterprise fund budgets, and then the last resolution is to approve the cola for the non-UN employees. I believe that
might be where we want to head first and kind of go from there. Just to get the background, the current uh cola that is expected for the non-UN employees that's been in the budget since our preliminary talks has been 3.5%.
>> Okay. So, we have had a lot of discussions on on cola and and obviously the cost of living has gone up. Um and we have said many times, you know, all of our citizens aren't getting a cola. Um, so I I like to take the hard line of if our citizens aren't getting this, if our
citizens are aren't receiving this sort of benefit, then we need to try and do our best possible as a city to mirror that because our taxpayers have to pay. Um, so I would like to talk about, you know, cola. Um, I think 3.5% is a little high personally. Um, but I guess we'll
just open the conversation with that if any of you guys have any discussion, questions, comments. I think I I mentioned last time I'm I'm my pay for the last 20 years is totally different than that. I haven't had a coal raise ever. So, you know, my pay is
pretty much the same as it was 20 years ago. So, but so I don't want to form an opinion on this. You guys can can talk about it. I I know >> when was the last cola increase they had? >> Last year. And what was that?
>> 3.5% in 2025. >> How about the year before? >> I'm just wondering if you're catching up with inflation. >> If you went if you went by catching up with inflation and it'd be higher now. Well, maybe maybe not this year's, but
the big the big inflation rate we had for those two pandemic years where you guys >> Well, like I said though, even even though 3.5 is not catching up to inflation as of today even, >> right? >> I've always been a but nobody is nobody's getting
>> well 5% and 6%. No, but it as long as I've been around, 3% right around there is always been the standard of of cost of living. Always. It's never changed. >> You know, unfortunately, some people go
in and and I hate to say it, if an employer is not looking at the value of their employee by not giving them a raise, then it's maybe that's time for the employee to find something else somewhere else. And there's all kinds of opportunities to move on. I'm I'm a firm
believer, I don't care who you are, what you do, you should be able to get a 3% cost of living raise every year. I'm not saying that it should be 6 8 10 12%. I'm not saying that, but I think 3% across the board or even that three and a half,
I mean, that's that's splitting hairs at that moment. And now you have the state of Minnesota is now going to be taking out of your out of your pay for paid sick leave which you are paying to have
paid sick leave. You're not getting a choice. >> It's less than 1% isn't it? Isn't it like44 is employee share? >> That's what I thought. >> But it still doesn't matter. I mean that's that's no like no different than somebody talking about social security. You know social security they want to change the naming of that to
>> Yeah. But then what's the increase to us if that ends up getting used? >> If it doesn't get used, you don't get you're just throwing the money away. So, but I personally think that three three and a half I mean I'm I'd have to kind
of shake my head a little bit more. anything more than that. But I don't think three and a half% for people for what they do here that are non-union not getting an increase in wages because basically they are not getting a review. If you work for a company that doesn't
give you your yearly review, they don't give you a raise. I mean, let's face it, you just just like yourself, you drive truck, if cost of fuel goes up, you have to adjust that fuel charge that your company you're driving for. That's really no different. And if they're not
paying you any more per mileage, they're taking advantage of you in my personal opinion. >> But we do have stage pay here as well. >> It's that's but that's also >> doesn't affect any of it. >> But if you also you look at step wages,
>> you look at somebody starting out at step 01, >> they know nothing, but they've also are going to training. They're also learning. They're also striving to do better. I personally, if I, as a if I was a business owner and I
got an employee that isn't trying to do themselves any better, I'm not going to help them out to do any better. I've asked them to try to do better. They don't want to do it. It's their effort to do it. I'm not going to give you a raise, but I'm not going to I'm not going to take one of our staffs and say,
"You get a raise, you don't." Or nobody gets a raise because this person isn't doing their job. What is the average percent uh step increase in pay >> and how I should know this but how many years apart are the steps
>> so we have um 3% is in between the steps and depending on what employees so talking about non-UN employees we have nine steps in our pay scale if you reach the top you don't there are no raises beyond the top of the scale if there was no cola
or adjustment made beyond that point. Um, and to answer the question that came up earlier, so in typically what we've seen in the city going back, I believe three contracts is that unions have all aligned. By the time we've gotten to budget, the union contracts have been
negotiated. And by aligned, I mean by colas have aligned. Um, and the non-UN employees have gotten the same cola as the union employees across the board. There hasn't been differentiation. Um 2025 it was 3.5% cola. 2024 was 3.75
2023 was 4% and then three years prior was 3%. >> Okay. Can you clarify? So how many years does it take to reach a step? >> One year one step per year. >> Okay. >> And but not everyone starts at the
bottom. um pay is sometimes someone based upon experience um in the field they may start at a higher step than step one. So if someone got hired say at step six because they were very qualified for a position
there's three steps three years that they could go and then they'd be at the top of the scale. >> Okay. So every year that employees here, they do get a raise because they go up a step >> until they reach the max step n >> and then there's no more steps and
there's no merit pay either. >> Would it be wrong then just to say who's ever maxed out we give three and a half% to Is that fair? >> Because everybody else will be getting a 3% raise every year on their state steps anyways. I think virtually you're asking just to extend the number of steps and why
wouldn't we just say that instead of nine steps we have 12 steps. >> Sure. >> Or what some cities do and it was looked at. So I'll just briefly bring it up when we did our class and comp study in 2019 implemented 2020 is some cities uh
implement beyond however many steps the city approved. So in ours was nine. They do merit steps beyond that. So it goes based upon performance. Um, that's something fairly I would say newer in the public sector. It's in the private sector all the time.
So, if you do a phenomenal job, you get a higher raise than someone who does a mediocre job. That doesn't happen in the public sector, but that is something that we're seeing as a trend as cities become more competitive against each other. Um, and trying to recruit good talent. >> I do like that idea. That's more in line
with the public. >> We should look into that next year. >> Yeah. And it would be just for um once people have reached the top of that ninth step. >> Okay. Yeah, that would be something
interesting that that's not something that we could figure out in the next two weeks, I don't think. So, um maybe that is a good discussion for early next year. We can start that discussion. Uh Jeff or Nick, did you guys have any input on the the COLA?
>> I looked at uh Social Security's cola and it's 2.8% 8% for this next year. Um so I think a 3% is right in the ballpark and uh we've also had quite a bit of turnover in staff the last three years
and we do lose or it is hard to replace that when you have so many other cities paying significantly higher in some cases. So, I don't I wouldn't want to get too far behind uh in the average because you'll start
seeing big jumps in future budgets. So, I think 3%'s just fine. >> And I know probably over the last 15 years I've been at most of these truths in taxation is generally around 3%. I think those couple years were more, you know, fringe years, the four and the three and three/4er. It's almost always
been 3%. So, I think the 3% is a a good compromise. Personally, Mr. Pearson. >> As I've said other times when I looked into this, 3% was what I was coming up with. So I don't want employees to take a pay decrease by not addressing the
inflation and such, but I also don't want to hurt tax base either. So I think meeting that as closely as you can is I think what's equitable and correct. >> Okay. George, what were you are are you okay
with the >> Well, >> three three and a half. >> I was just trying to put a point out if they're getting 3% every year going up a step and then we're giving them 3%. So that's 6% basically we're giving them a year if we go 3%. >> If they're increasing
>> if if they have an increase during that year, right? >> But then also their knowledge their knowledge they do. I mean that's that's just like so take example for a plumber. Apprentice plumber makes 12 bucks an hour.
Master plumbers can make up to 100 bucks an hour. But you also have to go through training for four years and you have to go take a test and you have to do this. And I I personally feel our staff, you know, they're working pretty bare bones minimum in here. And when one person's
gone, you know, Miss Wood is filling in for that person or Miss Hellam is filling in or I mean it's they're they're doing two rolls. >> I agree. >> With nothing. So when somebody is gone on a leave or whatever, it's still
taxing our staff. And if we don't show value to our staff, just like Jeff said, >> I agree. >> They they're going to say see you. I mean, if I don't get appreciated in my job, I'm going to say see you >> because I tell you what, I was looking for a job when I got there. I can look
for a job when I leave here. I mean, plain and simple. So, let's see. >> Well, it sounds like we're all at a consensus of about 3%. Anyway, so far, >> do we do we need a vote on that? Is Okay,
I'm fine with 3%. >> I do have one more question. Of the city employees, how many are leveled out? One, two, >> two. >> For them to be in their nine steps. >> Just to clarify, you're talking non-un
employees. I >> think there's 11 total, right? >> The list that was in our email we're talking about, right? I mean, I'm gonna if I could generalize, I'd probably say half the people, >> okay, >> are nearing maybe in this next year will
be at the top or at the top within a year. Probably, let's just estimate around half. >> Okay. >> All right. Uh, so >> it changes with I as Mr. Homegrid mentioned, I mean, we've had some
turnover here recently. I'd say it was much higher before the last few months. >> I think we got it set at three and a half already in the in the in in our preliminary budget. I think we just take it to three and a half. I don't dis agree with you in your in our thinking. I think right now we're too late in the
season to redo this. It's just going to cause more nightmare and problems. You think about a half percent on on 11 staff members or 12 staff members, it really isn't that much. >> It's a half a percent every year though
from the rest of internity, though. >> But but if you don't get if you don't make money in what you do, are you going to continue doing your job doing what you're doing? Absolutely not. If you're going to lose money, you're going to get out of it and go do something different. >> Well, they're not losing money, Steve. That's >> No. What I'm saying though as general
business sense >> I why would why would I want to put more effort in to be a better employee for somebody if I'm not going to be recognized for it >> then all a sudden you're going to start getting slackers and I see pl trust me I see plenty of them if it was up to me I
company I work for I'd probably get rid of a third of the people I worked at but that's not my decision to make I just go do me and I do my job and I go home at the end of the day >> but 3% is still more than what the social security administration settings for cost of living. So, it's still better than average. >> I don't I don't agree with social
security either. >> Right. Right. >> I mean, because they're they're the only reason they're giving you that little percentage. They're, you know, is because they've already spent my my money as retirement, George's money as the retirements because they, you know,
that's why they keep raising retirement age because the money isn't there for people to retire on >> and that isn't right because that wasn't my choice to put it there. Let's take it back to cola here. Yeah, >> I my point was is if you don't show value to your employees, they are not
going to do go above and beyond for you. >> I'll make a motion to do the 3% cola. >> Second >> motion on the floor from council member Homegrren. Uh second by council member Peterson to do a 3% cola. All in favor say I. >> I opposed. >> I I think it should have stayed at three
and a half. >> Motion carries 41 on the cola. Uh, good discussion, guys. Um, which one would you like us to tackle next, Nick? >> So, with that cola change, we will uh
bring the budget back at the next council meeting with those salary numbers adjusted now that that 3%'s in there. So, the rest of those items I will be bringing back for the 16th and at that time, then we can do our final approval. If there's any other discussion that you guys would like to
have on the budget, though, please go ahead. if there's anything else that you would like to see, kind of our last chance to make any changes to this before we do our final approval. >> And I will just say there's a promising item tonight on EDA um that might affect
the budget as well. So, I'm happy to hear that we will be uh pushing it back two weeks to make a final uh recommendation on the budget. Uh what else do you guys have? Does anything anybody have anything else that they looked over in the budget? And >> let me just ask you something, Nick. the
adopt the final tax levy. Is that gonna be affected by your final budget? I mean, if the if none of these things are going to be affected by the final budget, to me, the final budget's that you have your resolution for enterprise funds. If the rest of that isn't going to be affected by that, we'd only have
to bring the heck that one item. Correct. >> The enterprise funds will be affected by that, too. >> Okay. I just wanted to make sure. >> Yep. And then, uh, tax levby wise, there may still just be some changes there with some other items, too. So, >> okay, >> just to give you guys time to bring up
any other items, we can just bring that all back at once. >> Okay, >> we can continue discussion, mayor, council, but if we could get a vote on postponing those to the December 16th 16th meeting for those three resolutions, that would be preferred.
Motion to postpone till December 16th meeting for the final budget tax levy collectibles and the uh enterprise fund budgets. >> Second >> motion by council member Lundine, second by council member Peterson. All in favor say I.
>> I. Any opposed? >> Motion carries 5-0. What other discussion? What question do you have George? >> I have a question about the land that um we're selling that's out for bid. I know. Is that land designated DA or is it absolutely EDA?
>> Um >> we would talk maybe we should just talk about that later. >> It is EDA land. >> Okay. >> We'll talk about that in the EDA meeting next. >> Well, I was just wondering why that money can't go in the general fund. That's all >> it can.
>> We'll have that. >> We'll have that discussion. >> We had that discussion the last time we selling a property. Um, >> you know, and I would just like to say that we value all of our employees here. You know, we're we're hard on all line
items of the budget, no matter what, union, non-union. We we try to do the best thing for every single resident and every single employee. So, I don't want anybody leaving here thinking that we're not taking, you know, taking care of our employees. So, 3% is still a good cola,
I think. Um, Nick, did you have something that you wanted to add to that or any questions? Anybody else? >> Oh, I'm good. >> All right. Then we will move on to business item K2. Uh, that is resolution to consider
approving the cannabis micro business registration for Limeline LLC. >> Mayor and council, we have um a micro business registration here for Limeline LLC. As you mentioned, they have submitted all the required registration application and pre-approvals needed from the OCM. They also meet all of the
requirements for our zoning ordinance and they have submitted everything and is recommended that we approve uh their registration tonight. >> Motion to approve. >> Was this the same one that we had talked about a couple months ago with a
different name? >> I think it is. It's a seems to be the same the same address potentially. >> I believe that it might be a different business, similar address, close in proximity. >> Okay, sounds good. I just wasn't sure because at at that meeting he had said that he's potentially going to change
the name of his LLC, so I wasn't sure if it's it's a different applicant. Okay, perfect. Sounds good. There's a motion to approve on the floor. >> Second. >> Second. Motion by Council Member Lendine. Second by Council Member Holgren. All in favor say I. I
>> I any opposed? Motion carries 5-0. Uh next is the uh consent agenda. Are there any questions on that consent agenda? >> I'd like to thank BP Medals for their donation. >> And I would like to thank all the donors
involved in uh Illuminate Sandy this year. I >> was going to get there. >> Sorry. >> Yeah. >> Cambridge Family Dental Absolute Portable Restrooms. Riley Lear and Serenity Circle just contributed in the last 30 days. Again, also a huge thank you to the Sandy Together volunteer group. Uh this type of community
volunteer group and city staff collaboration should be an example for all cities. Uh utilizing the passion of folks within our community to keep the taxpayer burden down on events and amenities like this. Uh without the diff difficult discussions um our leadership's care for taxpayers and the group that was volunteered, this
wouldn't be possible. So again, thank you for everybody that's involved, especially the volunteers uh to keep this going at little to no taxpayer costs. And I hope that everybody uh attends this year checks it out. It's a free event and it's great for the community and and kids and if you
haven't seen it, check it out this year. >> Any other questions on the consent agenda? >> I do have a question regard questions regarding all nine. Um have we received other donations or is this the first batch coming through? >> Yep. Yeah. So about two months ago or a month ago, I read off another batch and
I read off all the businesses and everybody that donated. Uh the total is over $20,000 of donations. Um which is great. Um the the cost to run the event is around $16,000. So uh the they did a great job, you know, raising donations to cover all the costs. So that's big.
And uh hopefully next year they can just continue that and maybe we continue to grow it or they continue to grow it. >> All the costs except for public works time. >> Yes. This year. Yep. The public works time to help with part of the setup. Yep.
And then I did have I just wanted to uh congrat give a congrats to Jordan Rap for his promotion to Foreman. Uh it's a well-deserved uh promotion. He's a hardworking individual. He's been in this community his whole life and he's been with us for quite a long time. So I just wanted to give him a congratulations on that approval and I
think he'll be a great foreman for us. >> We haven't accepted it yet. >> Well, >> I made a motion to approve it. We're waiting for a second and a vote. >> I'll second. Motion from council member Lundine, second from council member Homegrren. All in favor say I.
>> I. Any opposed? >> Motion carries 5-0. The consent agenda is approved. Any other communications or questions from the board or staff? Hearing none, we will all entertain a motion to go into close session regarding labor negotiation strategy
pursuant to Minnesota statute subdivision 13D uh. 03, subdivision 1B. >> Motion to go into close session. >> Second. Motion by council member Lundy and second by council member Heman. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion
carries 5-0. We are going into close session. Thank you everybody for being here.