Good evening and welcome to the March 16th City Council meeting. If you join me in a moment of silence and the Pledge of Allegiance.
Will you, in the light of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands? One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and. Orlovsky. Roll call, please.
Michelle Wilk, Lou Kelleher, John Burnell, Dan Wolter here. Joshua Lee here. Okay. Very good. Um, we'll now move on to item number three. Citizens. Comments. This is an opportunity for those in attendance to address the council for up to three minutes.
Uh, typically, if there's an item later on, the agenda will hold off comment for that. So okay. Seeing none moving on to additional agenda information, Mr. Keenan. Uh, nothing additional tonight, mayor. All right. And with that, we'll go into our first presentation.
Our only presentation, actually, the fire department quarterly report from Chief Meyer. Welcome, chief. Good to see you. Good evening. Mayor, Council, I'd like to present the annual report for Lakeville Fire
Department for 2025. Starting with our mission statement. The Lakeville Fire Department is dedicated to serving the community through the protection of lives and property, by providing public safety, education and a professional emergency response. You can kind of see the list of everything that we do as a department.
There, and looking first at our emergency responses. So in 2025, we ended with 4162 calls. The two bottom graphs just show the difference between a three year and a ten year comparison. When you look at the three year, uh,
since 23, we've been seeing a 9% increase since 23 over each year. And obviously, if you look at the ten year comparison, you can see kind of that jump between 2020 and 2021. And then after that, it's been a steady increase after that point.
Moving forward. And how we break down those incidents, those 462 on the left side, you can see a little over 60% of those are EMS rescue calls for 2900. And then it goes from there to good intent. Uh, false alarms, hazardous conditions, uh, fires,
service calls and severe weather calls. Uh, the fire number is about average of what we see year to year. Uh, it's about 3%, roughly to 5% of our call volume. Uh, right now we're averaging about 11 calls per day
as a department. On just some changes on the left side, just to highlight some changes in response that we happen. So I'll talk a little bit more later in the presentation. But, uh, as of April 28th and 25, we did add engine one, fully staffed, 24 over seven. Uh, that typically
is a crew, uh, 4 to 6 minimum. If we get to that number, we break it down into a third truck. But, uh, the benefit of having that second full time engine out is just assisting with overlapping calls covering the southern half of the city. Obviously, staffing that truck gives us a quicker response
time. The downside of that is, or, uh, what we've seen is a decrease to our pay on call, our station call outs or pages. Uh, and then on the right side, the top graph just shows a breakout of what those engines are doing as far as their response. So engine four handles roughly 67%
of the call volume was in. One is at 33%. And it's all about location. As far as where those two engines are located. Uh, and then the bottom, uh, circle graph that you see is those overlapping calls. So, uh, in 2025, we had 636 simultaneous
calls or overlapping calls, uh, 535 of those were simultaneously two incidents or more or two incidents. And as you work your way around clockwise, uh, those increase, uh, obviously, July 4th was a busy evening because we had eight incidents within an
hour of each other within one hour. So that's kind of what we look at for that. So obviously that's busy, but that helps us on July 4th as an instance, we we staff up for that day so that we have additional coverage besides just the two engines. As
I mentioned, we see a decrease in those station page outs or calls. And you can kind of see that graph on the left. So in 2023, before we started implementing full time staffing, uh, the station volumes were, you know, station one at the top at just short of 500 calls, uh,
going down there from there. And then as we look at 20, 25, uh, we reduce those station page outs by about two thirds. So there are two busiest stations. One and two are now just over 100 calls, with station three right behind them. Uh, drone
response. So we have a ten person drone team. Obviously they respond to structure fires, water rescue, uh, search for missing people. Uh, they're out in the community doing public education events. Uh, I'll say one of the strong points to our drone team is that two of our leads are there. Full time job
is in the aviation field, so they have a strong knowledge, strong background. Uh, and they've actually been, uh, used in other communities that are either starting up their drone program, helping them get on their feet and kind of the, the ins and outs on what we've learned as we've built our drone team up from there. And
obviously, you can see some of the pictures of us responding to fires and, and what we use them for. Looking at response time. So just I'll focus on the top two graphs that you see the EMS and structure fire. There's not a lot of change in those
response as far as the two staffed engines. The third one is, uh, a station response. When we page out the station, uh, I'll highlight the EMS one. So when you look at the alarm time, that is the time of the phone call is received at Dakota 911 until we're alerted or paged
out. Uh, typically on an EMS side, those times are a little bit longer. And that alarm time is just a matter of the questions they ask as far as to determine what type of medical it is and the response that's required. Obviously, a structure fire. I think it's a five question. Uh, questions that
they ask that then that prompts our response. So it's a little bit faster there. Uh, the bottom one just shows all responses. So regardless of if it's a medical, a fire and then whether we're going lights or sirens, uh, so those times are a little bit increased from that, which we fully expect, because we're not
always running lights and sirens to that call if it doesn't warrant it. Uh, and then on the left side, just to show on EMS calls, our two staffed engines are still about 60% in front of the ambulance as far as arrival.
Fire prevention. Uh, so just kind of highlight some of those. So the far left one. So we visit 14 elementary schools during fire prevention. We also do fire extinguisher training at the middle schools. But we've also done a lot of businesses this past year as far as they've requested fire extinguisher
training. So we go into that business, that request that, um, provide that, uh, Oak Hills Elementary was our citywide fire poster contest winner. Uh, and that person was submitted to the fight state fire chiefs for the final drawing, which we'll hear, I think, in April, is when that
comes back out, uh, fire safety talks. Uh, we do those anywhere and everywhere that we're invited to. So daycare station, tour, safety camps, National Night Out, and then obviously our open house, uh, food truck inspection. So just some of the areas that we see food trucks happening, obviously Panna Park
is a very large event, but we're seeing more businesses that host them. Uh, Fleet Farm is one of those. And then we see a lot of school events and park events now, as those continue to increase and just looking at annual inspections. So in 2025, we had just over 1200
inspections completed. Uh, on the right you can see how those are broken out in different inspection types that we do. Um, but then what what does that inspection team do when they go out. So we're we're looking at the commercial businesses, uh, any open burn requests? Mobile food trucks, fireworks sales. So
if Cub Foods or another business requests a firework permit to sell, then we we are inspecting those tents or in store sales that they do have. And obviously they're in the business of looking for any fire hazards, uh, making sure that we're in compliance with state and local
codes. Again, I always, uh, like to reinforce that when we do a fire inspection, our job is not, you know, to look at the fire code and make sure that's enforced, but it's also to educate and make sure that we're correcting those, uh, they also do the investigation on any fire causes. Also. And one side of
the inspections that we don't talk a lot about, and these are all, uh, the two graphs that you do see are all about new construction. Uh, so the inspections that we do, uh, regarding a new construction, whether it's a business or a multifamily unit. So the top one is just strictly as looking at
sprinkler systems that we have to look at and do a rough in a final, all the components that go with that sprinkler system, the bottom one just shows, uh, fire sprinkler inspections, temp heats and then fire alarm inspections. So these are new installs or remodels to an
existing system. Uh, and then on the right, just some accomplishments that our inspection team has completed this past year. Uh, we're implementing or changing over the key box system that we put on the side of a building that gives us access in, uh, along with that, then within our vehicles as a secure key system
that we use that holds those keys, that when an individual takes a key out of the truck, they're identified by their Pin number. They use, uh, and then the bottom couple that I just want to highlight is this, that we've, we've done a lot of, uh, increased education on lithium ion batteries. A lot of people
look at the vehicles as far as one big thing, but there's also a ton of batteries that are out there in your cell phone in different components. Uh, and then the fires that we've experienced recently is that we've added some containment units as far as after a fire where we can put that battery in safely stored until, uh, we're
sure that it's completely out. Uh, mobile food truck license. So as I mentioned, on the left, you can just see everything that we're looking at when we do an inspection on a food truck. Uh, since we started this program in 2021, you can see where we started with numbers, uh, to
where we are in 2025 with 194. And I know usually we start those right after January and we've we've probably already at 60, I believe, this year. So they start coming in pretty fast . Department training. Uh, so training we complete on a
monthly basis. All of our firefighters are required to attend a monthly training. Uh, that lists below it their of EMR cardiac live burn are the areas that we hit every year. Uh, medical training wise, just to give you an idea. So all of our firefighters that we have, 32 of
them are EMR, which is our base level medical training. Uh, we have 52 EMTs and four paramedics on the department. Uh, some extra training opportunities that we provided this past year and into this year. Excuse me. Our fire inspector, fire officer, fire instructor. Uh, we
have three individuals currently going through paramedic school right now. Uh, and then we've certified all of our full time staff as rescue swimmers. And then, uh, there's eight of our full time staff that are also doing car seat, car seat certification for installation.
Uh, wellness, mental, uh, mental and physical health. So one thing I guess I preach when we hire people is that, you know, when they come into the fire department, we want them to be physically and mentally healthy. And when they retire, we want that same look at them as that. They're in the same but just slightly aged, probably. Uh, so
these are some of the steps that we do to try to make sure that that occurs is that we do annual physicals with our firefighters. A lot of this is OSHA required that we have to complete, uh, from the mental side, we're doing the critical incident stress. We have a partnership with a badge on the back side. Uh, and then there's also fire
out there as another resource for us. And then we make sure that our firefighters out when they're on shift, that they have time to do a workout. And obviously providing that facility for them. Looking at recruitment, uh, retirements and awards. So obviously we got the
Safer grant. So in March of 2025, we hired 16 full time firefighters, uh, to put us at our 21 full time staffing. As I mentioned, eight of those are certified as far as car seat installation. They've all gone through a joint fire academy and they complete their shift
fitness and training. Uh, with that hire again mentioning that we now are staffing two full time engines 24 over seven. Uh, and you can just see pictures of them going through either fitness training, uh, during their academy and then their group photo, uh, when we hired
them. Uh, then to recruitment for pay on call. So we did hire eight pay on call in 2025. Uh, we lost two in September due to either family or, uh, one got a promotion for his job and just had to, uh, step away from the fire department. As far as that
goes. Uh, I'm happy to announce, as of this past Saturday, they've all completed their training, their hazmat certification, uh, and they will start working shifts work in April as far as that, if not sooner, if they find an open shift to work on, then they're working on their two year probation. And you can see their names down there of Christian
Carson and and Rick at station one, uh, Sean and Tim at three and four. And just some pictures of them and going through certain training with that. Uh, badging and retirement. So just starting on the left side. So on
March, uh, our first full time, we're badged here. Uh, one is not pictured, so there's only four up there. Uh, but Steve, uh, Colin, Tom and Dan, I believe Zach missed it because he maybe had a baby at home that was a newborn. So, uh, and then the middle, our class of 23 completed their two year
probation so that we were here, uh, badging them in December, and then, uh, they were issued their black helmet signifying their end of probation. And then on the right, uh, Dan, Paul, John and Steve were, uh, presented their shadow boxes for
their retirement after 20 years of service from the fire department. And then just looking at numbers, recruitment and retention of our pay on call staff. So, uh, it's a it's a busy graph on the top. But when you look at it overall, we lose,
uh, roughly about six firefighters every year, regardless of the number that we hire. Uh, and if I ran the numbers, I believe, over the, the 11 year period that you look at, I think we hired 89 over that time frame, and we've lost 85 of those for that time frame.
So and then if we look here, the bottom graph is just, uh, years of service as far as where we stand today. As far as experience on the department. So, uh, six members are 20 plus years, and then it goes from there to the right. Uh, so just over, I think it's 50% a little over that our ten years or under
for years of experience. So we've been holding roughly about the same, uh, across the board on that as far as years of experience goes, in January, we hosted our annual awards banquet. Uh, and Joe Holmes was awarded our firefighter of the
year. And he is one of our lead drone, uh, person. So he's the aviation expert, if you will, in the fire department. And then, uh, Corey Blanchard was awarded the rookie of the year. Community and public events that
we were part of. Oops. Too far. Uh, some of the events that we were part of. So community blood drive, uh, Home and Garden show and a shameless plug that that is this year is happening this Saturday at Lakeville North, uh, International Day of Living. Uh,
we participated in a number of parades for our neighboring cities. Mighty trucks at the library, obviously to the right. Uh, panel prog events, open house, school events, and touch a truck. And just some of those pictures, uh, from those events.
And some of the fun things we do as firefighters, if you will. Uh, so on the left side, we had the nine over 11 stair climb that we do at Lifetime Fitness. Uh, it's a great partnership that they allow us to come in and, and use our stair mills and spend some time climbing 110 stories. Uh, and then, thanks to
the Fountains of Hosanna for giving us some some hydration and some fuel after we're all done. Uh, and then on the right side is our Ragnar team. So, uh, we've been doing this for eight years. We've had one team, and I think the past three years, we've had two teams running
this, uh, so it's a 200 mile relay race from Saint Paul to Duluth. Uh, occurs from a Friday into Saturday. As far as running that, and you can see 36 legs that are shared between either 6 or 12 people running it, depending on the team. And then
our partnership with the Public Safety Foundation, just some of the events that we do throughout the year with them. Uh, Firehouse Bingo in May this year, it is May 17th. Uh, their golf tournament in June. And Bourbon and cigars, which is in June. And if you have not bought your tickets already, you're
probably too late for those two events. I believe there are pretty close to sold out at our last update, and then our police fireball. Uh, the pitcher to the right is the makeup day of the softball game that, uh, we were part of. And then shop with a hero in December. Just to
highlight a few, uh, department enhancements that occurred in 2025. Uh, you know a lot about the first center, uh, obviously, you know, about heard about the fire station, uh, for that. But just some of the things I'd like to mention at the very bottom is with our full time staffing, we've had an opportunity to
provide a stronger mentorship program. Uh, so we partnered with the school district and the chamber as far as getting into the schools, talking about the fire service and what that means and what that looks like. Uh, if we have a high school student that is very interested in that, then we can provide them a right along program to kind of get
them interested. Our next phase that we want to get into is if that senior, that junior senior is interested in the fire service to roll them into our pay on call academy and give them the training, and potentially they become part of our department after that. Uh,
and then you can just see some pictures of the first center, and then the left side is obviously the fire station to, uh, as we work through that, that completes my annual report. And I want to thank you for your support to the Lakeville Fire Department, and I'll stand for any questions.
Thank you. Chief, questions. Council. Councilmember Lee. Uh, thank you, chief. Always impressive. What can happen in one only one year with the fire department? Um, I was looking at that slide about the call
station callouts, and it was making me think, you know, that the decrease in call outs is both a positive, because there's not folks getting woken up in the middle of the night and getting paid to the station. And so there has there's a number
decrease there. But are there other ways to quantify the benefit of that? I mean, or do do you know if there's a way to measure maybe the health benefits of not being woken up in the middle of the night as frequently? The second part of my question is, with that change, are there changes in
expectations for the number of hours that our firefighters are expected to respond? Since the calls, the call are fewer? Yep. So the first part, absolutely, yes. Is it better not to be waking everybody up in the middle of the night? 100%
guaranteed on that? Uh, I think the message that we have to the department right now, as far as just kind of relating to that, is when we do call them out as far as when the other two trucks are busy on whatever that is, or if it's a structure fire. Uh, so when we do page them out, we truly need them to respond, if
that makes sense. There's a higher need for that at that time. Um, the second part of your question is we're working on that. One of my promises I made to the fire department at my our annual meeting with the firefighters was I wasn't going to make any changes because
we've done quite a bit over the past year and a half is we're going to we're looking at hours increase just because of that, but we're not quite there. If we do anything and it won't be until July of this year as far as that. So one thing I guess I failed to mention in my report
is right now we're working on staffing that third truck. As far as, uh, rescue truck, if you will. So it's a pickup truck response for those medicals so that we're not always running the engine. And that's kind of where that that need is going to arise, if that makes sense. I just I do want to be clear
that I'm not saying that, you know, what are they doing? They're not being called out. It's more we know that clearly the firefighters are engaging with the community in a lot of different ways. They're scheduling themselves for other shifts. But that callout number is an important one to me, because to me, it's the most
disruptive to the life of firefighters. Yeah, I'll say, you know, that it's a shift in how we obviously where we came from to where we are today. So it's a change in the the picture of I'm waiting for my pager to go off versus I sign up and I'm going to work this four hour shift or these
eight hours or whatever I can pick up on that day. So it's more of a scheduled time to work versus the interruption of your pager going off. Thank you. Um. Mr. Walter. Uh, two things. First, I just want to thank you again for including us in the awards banquet every year. That's
always just a wonderful time to interact with the department and and see the comradery and stuff. And I thoroughly enjoy it. Um, second, um, I want to ask you about 4th of July. Um, that was the time when you had eight simultaneous calls. Um, you
know, I think most of us get complaints from people on 4th of July on fireworks and issues like that. From your perspective, is that getting worse? Is it staying the same or there are other, you know, real life and safety threats in those calls? A lot? I'll say I'm trying to
remember some of those incidents, but majority of them are more of a like a grass fire caused by fireworks. So it's not necessarily a complaint for us. That's obviously that's more of a PD thing. It's more of a response. And obviously just the the amount of people moving through the city as far as
during and after the fireworks, as we're where we see those calls generated to that. Okay. Thank you. Um. Other questions. Um, my one question for you is the slide said we had four current paramedics. We have a couple that are going through training.
Is the intent later on than to make sure that one is kind of scheduled in like a shift so that we have that asset as much as possible. Or what's your vision for that? So I'll say our goal is once we hit, you know, obviously paramedic school is not
something I think there's a ten month program. So the the three individuals in it should complete and certify in October of this year. So our goal is when we roll into 2027, is that one of them will always be on one of one of the engines. So we'll have a medic on one of those engines. And as we
progress into 2728 is that we'll have a minimum of two paramedics per shift and then one on each engine. Okay. Thank you. Any questions? Thanks, chief. I appreciate it. Okay. We'll move on to our consent agenda. Any items you
want to highlight, Mister Cannon? Uh, nothing to highlight tonight. Okay. These are more routine matters for the council. If anybody anything they wanted to discuss. Otherwise, I'll take a motion to approve. I'll move approval of the consent agenda. For a second. Second?
Any further discussion? All those in favor, say aye. Aye aye. Opposed? Okay. Consent agenda passes. We'll move on to item seven. a.com and preliminary plat. Oh, Allen. Okay. I don't know if the chief
or you or whoever was going to. I do the short straw. Thank you. Uh, good evening, mayor. City council, tonight we're going to review the.com preliminary plat, conditional use, permanent easement vacation. Um, the subject property is located in
the south, uh, east corner of 1/79 Street and Granby Lane. That's currently zoned C3 commercial, with a little bit of a portion of the south area being, uh, public open, uh, public open space. Um, the four
acres of that, uh, Fisher property that was previously purchased last year, uh, will be used for the new fire station two, um, access to the site will be off of Dodd Boulevard and Granby Lane. Uh, the front of the building is going to be towards the north, uh, towards
Dodd Boulevard. So that'll be the gas parking and, uh, that you see at the north end. The site will also include the extension of a new north south road. Um, and, uh, access for the fire apparatus. Vehicles coming in and out of the site will be off of Granby. So
they'll be entering and exiting, exiting for calls off of Granby. The main level of the building includes fire administration offices, as well as the management staff for Fire Station two. Um also include
classroom breakout, space, firefighter workroom, fitness based locker room, equipment storage, and then the seven bays for the apparatuses. Uh, the upper level will include the dorm areas, uh, kitchen, dining, laundry and day room, as well as
training space. And then and then the tower on the north and, um, sorry, on the east and west side of the building, as well as the mezzanine training area. Uh, this is looking at the building from the north or from Dodd Boulevard. This will be the main entrance going into the building
. This is looking at the building from, uh, Granby Lane. From the east, east side. Or will be the new north south access road. And then from the south that you may kind of see that peeking through from 1/79 Street, maybe see a little bit
of that building from from the south. So planning Commission at the March 5th meeting reviewed the preliminary plat for Dodd Commons. Um, the plat does include one lot and three out lots. Um, block one lot one will be the fire station site and
then out lot A will be the stormwater basin for the area. Um I'll that be is the existing water tower site, um, along 1/79 Street and then outlet C, it will be future development, future developable area. So
Planning Commission also reviewed the conditional use permit request. Um, this is for the height of the building at the top of the screening that goes around the HVAC equipment on the roof, as well as the training tower that's going to be on the east side of the
building. Uh, the plan also includes the vacation of some old right of way and some easements. So we're just doing some cleanup work as part of the preliminary plat, um, easements and Right-Of-Way will be re-established when the final plat comes through later on. So
I mentioned Planning Commission reviewed this. The three items at the March 5th meeting, uh, input was received from one adjacent resident during that meeting. Um, the concerns there are more, in a general sense of just traffic and intersection concerns. Um, at Dodd, 1/79 and
and Glacier Way, uh, staff responded to those questions at the meeting. Um Planning Commission recommended approval of the planning plat East notifications and right away vacations and the cup and staff is available for any questions. Okay. Council, we've been talking about this for a while,
but, uh, now it's really real. As I say, any comment? Uh, Councilmember Lee. Um, the site looks as I expected it because, like you said there, we've gone through this many times. My question and concern
is related to exhibit. Oh, it's the letter that we received from Dakota County. And in relation to the access from DoD to the adjacent businesses on the east side of the parcel, I've had some concerns from businesses
about the language that would restrict or take away that access point coming southbound, and I'm just wanting to make sure that the language here protects their access or improves it in the future. Um,
and the the way it's stated, I just I'm a little confused on on when and where that access will take place in the future. So are you referring to the old TVs at the corner or that development? Yeah, right now there's a brain.
Um, academic Academy right on the on Cedar. And there's a, there's a right in right out. Yep. Yeah. So when that plat was originally developed, the county agreed to allow that writing right out to exist until additional access was provided
towards the west. Um, right now, there is no plans to make a connection there. Um, so we would have to address that with the county if we were to make that connection towards the east into this outlet. See, um, where
that right and right out could go away. Gotcha. Because I think my concern is if we ever consider the current access on DoD as the replacement for that. And there are barriers in the way of
making a left on DoD into that area. Um, so I just want to make sure that if and when that intersection or access from DoD is closed, that there's full intersection access, um, to that business area.
Gotcha. I understand what you're saying. Yep. And we'd have to look at that when that outlet develops. Then.. So do you think from exhibit. Oh, that's what they're trying to state from there that. That would be my interpretation.
Unless. Yeah that would that's the integration of staff. All right. Appreciate that. Thank you. Yeah. Councilor questions. Good point. Council member I'll take a motion. Council member.
I moved to. I moved to approve the preliminary plat of dog commons, a conditional use permit for a building in excess of 35ft in height in the C3 General Commercial District. A vacation
of public right of way and roadway drainage and utility easements, and adopt the findings of fact. Okay, is there a second. Second? Any further discussion? Okay. Roll call, please.
Walter. I. Lee. I volk I Hellyer. I okay. Very good. One more step. Um, we'll now move on to item B, Prime 35 industrial preliminary plat. And John Roush from
Cushman Wakefield or Brady Musselman from Minnesota Hill welcome. Good to see you both. Oh yeah. And I think Tina will probably she has plenty to say too. But welcome. I'm John Roush with Cushman and
Wakefield representing the I'm standing in for the owners tonight who are dealing with the snowstorm. Um, we have 145 acres, uh, for highway 70 that were, uh, looking to develop into a class A industrial park.
Lots of jobs, hopefully, um, quality buildings. Um, we hope to kick off, uh, grading this year as quickly as possible. We'd even move some of the equipment in, you know, prior to the road restrictions, uh, coming on, if we can get our get
our timing set, um, we expect about one point 3,000,000ft² at full build out is what the order has allowed for that, we believe is approved. Um, and it's just going to be really a continuation of the rest of the business parks that Scannell and
others have done along the south side of highway 70. So we're real excited about this, uh, this property has been on everybody's radar for quite some time, and we we hope to bring another bunch of jobs and quality business park to the
city. And again, I'm a broker, not an engineer. We have any real specific question. Do they have users identified or is it just more spec at this point? Who's speculative right now? We're we're too far out for anybody to take us real serious. We need to start moving some dirt and then we can quantify
scope, price and, uh, you know, delivery schedule. People can't. I mean, if we were to start today, right now, today, we're still probably two years out from somebody taking occupancy, probably a lot of these companies aren't looking out quite that far yet. So we gotta we gotta stick some shovels in
the ground to to show them more real. Very good. Okay. Good evening. Mayor. Members of the council. Um, so. Yes. Um, Crosby development Partners have
submitted the application for preliminary plat to be known as Prime 35 industrial. The property is, um, outlined in yellow. It's those two properties that are adjacent south of County Road 70 between Jaccard and Kaipara Avenues. The
property is zoned I-1 Light industrial. It's also guided warehouse and light industrial. As Mr. Rauch mentioned, the property does include 100 approximately 145 acres. The plat includes eight lots plus four out lots. Two of those out
lots will be dedicated to the city. It does include or expect more than 1,000,000ft² of future industrial space. Um, here's a layout of the site plan. Um, a couple of the challenges with the site plan is there is a gas line easement that runs and
crosses the entire property, as well as the creek that runs through the property. Um, most of the wetlands, the creek area and the trees within this area are all being protected and included into a wetland that will be deeded to the city. Um, so that is a benefit of the site
and why the configuration of the future buildings looks the way that it does. So they were able to use the space where they could. So the buildings do blend are a variety of sizes, I should say, from the smallest up in that corner, um, adjacent to
County Road 70 all the way to larger buildings in this location. So this is the estimated, um, layout as a plot. This is kind of like a residential. So we always in residential, we have preliminary plots that come through, and then we have individual final
plots based on phases. This is no different. So when you think of this, um, with the developers are really wanting to do is to have this entitlement approved so that they are able to do grading based on phases. And then as they sell lots, those,
then developers will come through and get their final plats approved. There may be conditional use permits in the future. Depending on the use. We would tie those conditional use permit reviews with the final plot. So very, very similar to
how we do residential developments. Um, this is a grading and drainage plan on the majority of the stormwater is being managed to the south, with stormwater also provided for this building. Up, up in the northwest corner, the tree
preservation plan was completed. Um, the ordinance allows up to 70% of removal there. Just a little bit over that. Again, areas of preservation are within the area that will be deeded to the city, as well as along the adjacent property. So then all
of those trees that need to make up that difference in reforestation are being provided within the site. And these plans are big. So hopefully you're able to see them on your individual computers. Prior to the meeting. The center picture is that overall landscaping
plan. Um, Heather broke out a few of the exhibits for one of the buildings. A lot of the trees and the new plantings are being focused along the, um, site perimeters, as well as parking lot perimeters and building perimeters. So
throughout the site, the required trees, not only from our base landscaping ordinance, but also the the required, um, reforestation is being provided and scattered throughout the site. So then again, as we review final plats, as we review
final site plans, we will be looking back to these master plans or this preliminary plot landscaping plan to ensure the landscaping is done appropriately, and the same would fall true for lighting, building design and so forth. So while we don't have those users, which is, you know, sometimes
unique, sometimes we know exactly what the user is going to be. Um, we will work through that as we work through the individual final plots. Um, and we may be working with multiple developers. It's hard to know at this point. Um, the Planning Commission did hold their public
hearing on March 5th, and the Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval. And I would stand for any questions. Council, any other questions for applicant or Miss Gertrude? Uh, Miss Goodrow, I would this
is one of our early, um, plats where we're using the, uh, new tree preservation plan, and I'm trying to test out, you know, how it's working is one of the reasons why there wasn't a need
to replace one for one was because of preservation of larger trees or legacy trees. I think. Heritage trees. Heritage. Yes. They did receive quite a bit of credit for preservation of some heritage trees too. Is there somewhere in the packet
that maybe I missed it where it's logging what those trees were and just kind of curious, what is the size and age of the trees that we are preserving through this policy? Um, I don't have that off my top of my head, but the, um, we do
have a robust Excel spreadsheet that the applicant uses, along with our forestry team, and they evaluate all of that and go through. And then that's where the forestry team determines what could be counted for the heritage trees. So we can provide that information to you
if you want to see it. Um, that level of detail I don't think made it into the packet, but we it is a robust analysis. Um, yeah. It doesn't affect my decision tonight, but I would love to see that just to see how that policy is working.
Okay. Thank you. Good question. Any other questions Council. No. I'll take a motion. I'll move to. Approve a resolution approving the Prime 35 industrial preliminary plat. Yes. Is there a second second?
Any further discussion? Um, I just want to I mean, 1,000,000ft² of industrial space. This is a unique opportunity for the city. There's not a lot of communities that have the ability to do that. And so, um, this is an
exciting project. So I'm excited . I would second then with that roll call, please. Volk. Hi, Kelly. Burma. Hi, Walter. I li. I.
Thank you very much. Um, our next item is new business. This is kind of a new way that we're approaching our work session. So there's no formal action taken by the council. It's for discussion. Uh, did you guys want to take a break, or do you want to jump into it or. Okay,
we'll go right into it. So the first item is discussion on keeping of chickens. Ordinance. Um, vitamins. Good road back up. Talk about the 40 chickens she wants to have. Chickens. So, um, mayor, members
of the council keeping of chickens is found in chapter 35 of the zoning ordinance. Item C of 1135 three. So it's in the zoning ordinance contains the requirements specifically of chickens within that animal ordinance. An administrative
permit is required to keep chickens, and it's allowed upon property that is developed with a single family home in a residential zoning district. The ordinance was adopted in 2018, and we have issued 92 administrative permits to date,
a maximum of three chickens is allowed, and the keeping of roosters is prohibited. Um. There are also some requirements in the ordinances included in your packet regarding the coop exterior. Um, which is, um, something that we do get questions on once in a while.
Um, we do require it to be constructed of wood. Location requirements are also included in the ordinance. Um, calling out that it's only in the rear yard 20ft from the lot line. Looking at a couple of our neighbors, Rosemont allows five
hens. Farmington for compared to our three, I can imagine the number of chickens might be part of the conversation tonight. Um, but, you know, we were asked to include this for discussion tonight. So the table is now yours. Very good.
I'll just say I think just for everybody's background. And what year did we do this. 2018, 2018? I've only I think I've only had one complaint to at least to me as mayor. And it was related more of location of the coop
adjacent to their neighbor versus actually about chickens. So I'll just there might be other complaints, but that was the only one that came to me specifically, Councilmember Walter, this was your item that you wanted to talk about on our retreat. So I'll let you kind of start if you had any input. I've got some thoughts. Um, and
I, first of all, want to thank the council for your willingness to discuss this, because I know I've been talking about it for a while. Um, uh, so really, there's four issues that I wanted to raise and would be interested in. Other thoughts on this. I think that that materials question of what the requirement of what the coops
are made of. We did receive a, um, a citizen, um, email on that, I think probably about a year ago, um, saying that wood was not that there were other options out there. Um, in addition to wood. So I think in
my view that we should we should consider changing that at least to allow things like composite material. I don't know, the I guess I don't know enough of as to whether or not the requirement of wood, if and from my research, I'm not sure there's necessarily a reason for
that. Yeah. Is it. Yeah. Is it, is it, is it. So I think that that could be either eliminated that requirement that it be wood or um, add other materials there to make it more, um, uh, to create more options.
And then the number of chickens issue, um, as you know, is one that I've had concerns about. I think three is too few. Um, the, um, just my own experience. I just for background, I started with chickens about a year ago.
Um, and the cost of the permit, the cost of keeping the coop in the run, um, and then also what you get in terms of egg production from three, it's not it's not a, it's not really a I would say it's cost prohibitive.
Um, for, for most people. So it definitely is a hobby thing. Um, I think we would be safe raising that to six or even eight. Um, Rosemont, as you pointed out, Tina and the materials Rosemont allows for Farmington five. Burnsville I did a little
research there, either 4 or 6. I can't tell if there's two numbers I could find out there. On the opposite side, or Apple Valley is zero. They don't allow any prior lake, for Minneapolis has a unique system allowing up to 30 um, with a tiered permitting system that involves
neighbor consent and that sort of thing. I think that's a bridge too far in my view. Um, Plymouth allows six Roseville, ten Woodbury, Woodbury and Minnetonka had some interesting approaches. Woodbury allows six on lots less than four acres and then two more per acre above
that. So there are a number of of of lots, I think, that are larger in the community. And you could certainly have larger numbers. I thought that was interesting. And then Minnetonka was one per one tenth acre. Um, so your standard third acre lot
would still have three, um, but lots like mine would, you know, a half acre out of five. Um, so, yeah. I think.
I. When you go to the. You have to the lady. And you I. I went to some of the online sources and I honestly they would the ones I saw would let you buy as few as one. Oh they would. Um. Okay. And I went to what's
that place in Rosemont. Pujols in Rosemont. They've actually got a and and, uh, Fleet Farm has them as well. And you can buy, buy singles. Oh, you can. There as well. So I, you know, I think there's probably some exotic breeds or something. I don't know if we have any chicken people in the, in the I,
the. Yeah. You do. Um, that might have some, um, some answers to that question. I honestly, I inherited egg producing chickens when I bought my house, so I haven't actually had to go through that process. So I don't know if anybody, any of you have thoughts on that of how you have to buy them and. Uh.
Give us a memo. Have you come. Up? I. I. Okay. Okay. Well that's good. Good. I probably have some something. So that's, that's the number issue. Um, I also just want to raise
the, the so, so the coop and everything that I inherited was not permitted. There was no permit for it. And I discovered that after moving into the place, um, permits are $100. Um, and, um, I just want to raise
the idea there. You know, if if. Obviously, if you have a certain number, I think permits are necessary. But if you have three chickens, I'm not sure exactly why you need a permit. It's. And to me, it's almost like dog licensing. The people that follow the rules do it. Others
don't, you know. So. So I know a number of permits that are a number of people that have backyard chickens and don't actually do the permit thing. So. It's be the. Same. Mhm. I just raised.
That on how many bees to I forget. Um no I got the hives. I think there's a limit on hives. Yeah that's I meant the hives. Yeah. I'm sorry. I should have been clear on that. Okay. And then my final point we
do specifically prohibit the sale of eggs. Um, I understand the intent of that. You don't want people running working farms out of their, uh, out of their backyards. I completely get that. But I think even if we
were to raise it to six, six birds, you, you know, that's just a couple dozen a week. I don't know that we've got an issue with people running businesses. Uh, in selling that, I think we could repeal that prohibition. Um, just for as a
matter of state law, allows people to sell direct from their flock. Um, as long as their flock is fewer than 3000 birds. So in terms of state law, um, you. Know, like raw milk. I think there are. And if you're
selling them at a farmers market and stuff, you have you have to go through the state requirements too. But if you're just selling them, like if I'm just selling them to anybody that not that I, I mean, I mine produce 13 eggs a week. So there's not a lot of sale there. Let's just say that. And if there were more people there,
there wouldn't be any because I mean, I can't eat 13 eggs a. Week, but at six, then you're looking at 26 eggs a week or more, right? Potentially, depending on what breed you have. I high producing breed. So anyway, those are my thoughts. That's just the four issues that I that I wanted to
raise. So as some putting a little thought into it. So I think there's three things that I would entertain every conversation. I think the building material, I don't know what the right answer, but I'd be open that. Conversation.
I think six seems logical. I could be convinced more, but I think six seems reasonable. And then the selling, as long as I think, you know, you had to kind of set up like like our little Free Library is where somebody just wants to stop in and buy
your eggs. I guess I but I'd want a lot of limits maybe on. Giant signs. We've got enough of that crap during election season. It is. Isn't that already covered, or are there other ordinances though?
We just would want to tie it all together. Because like, can you if you have a garden, can you set up a stand to sell carrots out in your yard? I have no idea. That's a good question. Anybody? No. I don't I don't necessarily support that. I just don't want it to make it illegal. If somebody wants to pay me for my eggs.
It's a good question. I'm not sure. Off the top of my head. So, okay, anybody else? You guys, did you guys want to comment about the eggs at all or chickens? You know, a also. Are you claiming that you more
than three chickens, are you going to say in a public meeting. Okay. Um, but I do. Teach them. What you need to come to the microphone, please. The educator that's. Do you want my address?
Yeah. All right. 20034 Italy Avenue in Lakeville. And yes, I do teach the community ed chicken class for the city of Farmington. Not for. Lakeville, because I am a teacher in Farmington. Um, so chickens are a passion project
for me. I do very much like them, so I would be happy to, I guess, help you in your research. Dan, of knowing. So, um, would is, you know, a basic catch all. However, if it's untreated, you have problems
with the ammonia levels for chickens rotting of the wood, all of that. So composite materials would be a wonderful addition to be able to make coops more secure. Um, make. Coops. Less smelly and just have the availability of other products
that maybe are more cost effective. And what about in Farmington? What are they allow then? The deposit material? They do allow composite material. They also have the restrictions of, um, how close coops and stuff can be to property lines. I don't know, I
can't remember off the top of my head what that is. I think it's very similar to Lakeville. Um, but like so let's, for example, Tractor Supply, you know, they sell chicken coops. Last year they had an adorable chicken coop that looked like a camper,
like a pull behind camper. And that obviously was not made out of wood that was made out of metal. So according to the Lakeville ordinance, that wouldn't have been an approved coop. However, a metal coop is more secure than a wood coop because metal is a stronger
material than wood. If it's done correctly. So like obviously like sheet metal? No, but depending on. Your material tornado. I mean, is it. No. Okay, maybe that's a
big. But I mean the the coop the way that I'm sorry, the way that it's built. ET cetera. It's like a little mini home. Right. And the camper. So camper. So you have when you set up coops, especially on a small
scale, you're going to have to do things to secure a coop, either to the ground or in some way, shape or form. What's more important is the run itself. Um, because we live in Minnesota and specifically in the location, we still have foxes, we still have,
um, coyotes. And if you do not have a strong enough run, a coyote can rip through the material to get at chickens and then, unfortunately, kill your flock, um, you know, up north and stuff. Then then it has to be bear proofed. So there's different variations of of
predator proofing your coop. We already have the ordinances that they have to be contained. So you're not worrying worried about hawks, eagles, that type of stuff. However, if your run is not an eagle can pull through chicken wire, they can break chicken wire. Chicken wire is
meant to keep chickens out, not keep chickens in. Um, it is not a strong material for use. People want you to use, um, hardware cloth as a more strong material for chicken coops. So.
And act. You are not allowed to buy single birds at Tractor Supply or Fleet Farm. You have to buy the minimum of your city ordinance, so you cannot replace a single chicken if one dies. However, there are plenty of chicken groups on Facebook that are looking to rehome mean chickens and that.
The other thing. So yes. That you just said the minimum of your ordinance. Or the so like if so, I believe Fleet Farm, you have to give your address. Okay. You're not allowed to buy any more than three at Fleet Farm.
However, if you go to Tractor Supply, the minimum birds you can buy is for.. Okay. so you. You go to Tractor Supply and you're only allowed three chickens in the city of Lakeville. But you have to buy four and they will not sell you
anything less than four. And that's just their policy as a business. Um, and how they sell chickens. I don't care what you do with the fourth one. Then when you walk out of their store, no. , uh. Chicken, chickens, unfortunately, are not under the same. You know, people don't
people see them as more of a it's not a cat or dog. I'll just put it that way. People don't. People are not as passionate about as chickens as I am just. Like an animal being sold. I mean, that's the the point. Yeah.
Um, but, you know, unfortunately there are it's a mass produced selling of it's essentially a mass produced selling of goods is chickens. They are not. But can you buy if you minimum is for but you. Tractor supply specifically. You can buy six.
You can buy six. Yeah. You have to. Like have to buy four or more. Okay. Or do you know I in the ordinance there's nothing about waterfowl because a lot of places also sell ducks alongside chickens. So that be something that you guys would still know.
Not today. I. , I just. because waterfowl poultry you know. They yeah. Tend to mix and match. Um but and I would adamantly yes ducks are disgusting. Uh, however like
Dan was stating for egg selling, we as a as someone who would want to potentially sell their eggs like Dan said, he can't eat 13 eggs a week. Um, the requirements are very minimal. There cannot be any debris on your eggs, so they have to be
clean. But you can't. You also can't like, let's say your egg was laid and. The chicken also went. To the bathroom at the same time. So that egg is now contaminated. You're not allowed to wash the egg. You have to rub it off with like a sandpaper. So the the bloom on the egg has to
stay intact unless they're refrigerated. Mm. Oh for the, for. That's for the entire state of Minnesota as a private small scale seller. All right. Interesting. Thank you for your input. And yes, there's plenty of exotic. Breeds. We're here for chickens.
Are you just here to listen here? But I'm. Happy to. Okay. All right. Council, any other thoughts about chickens? Yeah. Councilmember. I just. You know, this is an interesting topic and I'm learning a lot.
Even tonight. Um, you know, my my philosophy on this is, you know, let the people have their chickens. Uh, I do agree that with the coops, um, we should look at some kind of composite materials and allowing something
that that is other than wood, because wood is hard to maintain. Well, I think we changed the ordinance a while ago because there was composite material coming in on houses. ET, and we never got to look at it. Yeah, I would just I'm in
support of that, um, number of chickens, I would say six or even go as high as eight. I what's interesting is so the mayor mentioned the complaints. I asked some information about complaints and 92 permits.
There's relatively few complaints and the complaints aren't nuisance nuisance complaints. They're complaints about, hey, my neighbor doesn't have a permit or, you know, they have X number of chickens when they should only have X number of chickens. And I can imagine I wasn't on council when we
enacted this. Um, but I would imagine that the conversation was around, how do we jump into this without compromising neighbor relations? In other words, what's a good number that we can just kind of test the
waters? Um, I think with the complaint history, I think the chicken owners have proven that they can manage this and it is manageable in a single family residential area. And when you do well with little, you get more. And so I would say, you
know, I would think that we can boost the number of chickens up, uh, without, without any issues. Um, the permitting, I still think we should maintain doing that. Uh, if we start doing numbers of chickens, it's going to be the same issue. I only have three chickens. I don't
have. To do. And but I really, in reality have four or 5 or 6, just like people do now. You know, if somebody's not going to get a permit, they're not going to get a permit. Um, so I would say it's all or nothing. Uh, you
just either get rid of the permitting or else or else continue it. But I wouldn't start putting numbers of chickens, uh, requiring a permit. So I'd say either or on that one. I think I'd rather have the permit, because in case
inspections, in case one year they decide they want to inspect all those people that have permits or that I've had them for, you know, 5 to 10 years. And they need to, you know, need to, um, I don't know, especially
if you're allowing a then then I would want some oversight on the, the condition that the chickens are living in. Yeah. And I mean, that's, that's always another thing is, is the only thing that I have with the it was interesting to hear that
the regulations are really minimal. Um, I think once you allow people to start making money, crazy things start happening. Um. I can just see, you know, people maximizing production, maybe an unhealthy ways if they're in
this to make money. Now, most people aren't. With six chickens. Most people aren't. They're just going to be in it to, hey, I need to get rid of my 13 eggs because I can't eat that many in somebody willing to buy them from me. So here you go. Um, that I don't have a problem with. I would just want
something that we could regulate. If somebody does get a little bit crazy and start doing stuff to maximize production. Uh, as a, as a. I can't imagine how anybody would make any decent money off of that, but, um, that's the only thing. Yeah.
I'm not I'm not against repealing that. But I think that's something that we would want to take a really good, solid look at first. So let the people have their chickens. That's where I'm. At. If if I remember correctly, when. we were drafting this
first edition, we set a minimum square footage of the coop based on the appropriate number of chickens. And so if we're looking at increasing the increases, the minimum square footage, which then has an implication on smaller lots and
setbacks from property lines. So I do think that we need to make sure that it's in line with particularly the standard kind of quarter acre lot that we've got, even though recently that's not a standard. We have even smaller, uh, lots coming in. So
I just want to make sure that. You don't think that the same structure that holds the three would hold six. That's just three more. I don't know, I'd. Have to. I mean, they're not that big. You gotta come. Up with a.
Well, you know that the discussion when we drafted. It. 16530 Judicial Road. Um, so as far as chickens, gold, kind of the standard is two square feet per bird is
considered a humane way to keep chickens. They don't need a lot of room, but they need to be able to stretch their wings and flap and move around. Um, one other thing. I this one might be more a personal thing, but one thing you may want to consider as you rework your ordinance is
potentially just putting language in there. Nobody's going to because they don't like you say some people are just going to raise chickens, but the largest problem that I see with people raising chickens at home is the use of heat lamps. Um. Chicken coops are filthy places.
They're very dusty and dirty, and people put heat lamps in and the chickens are doing dust baths. They're creating dust and mixing. You know, the back of your barn is on fire. So there are many other heaters.
Typically, heat lamps are used when you're raising chicks. Um, there are plenty of other options out there that are not heat lamps, so it might just be something to consider because personally, I think it's a one of the biggest safety hazards of keeping chickens.
Yeah. Good point. Do you have heat lamps, damn. I've got a radiant heat thing. It's it's heated, but it's not a lamp. It's a really be as indirect as.
Yeah, I think there's a lot. Um, well, now move on. To the next topic. And then college students in the . T the. And. Um. You're on.
Mute. Oh. Go ahead. Sorry. Uh, so in 2019, one of the more frequent complaints we were getting regarding waste hauler service, uh, services was the number and frequency of waste hauler trucks within residential neighborhoods. In addition to the those issues, we were also
getting complaints regarding the continuous disruption of noise and traffic. Uh, with the trucks, increased wear and tear in our streets, inefficient use of the roadways, and constant display of unsightly trash containers, and also in increased instances of spilled waste because they were going through the neighborhoods, um,
every day of the week. So city Council considered several service models to address this issue, including transitioning to an organized collection system, which, um, basically goes down to one hauler that the city contracts with to serve the entire city. The other option that council looked at was
developing a hybrid system that allows residents to continue to individually contract. Um, but look at bringing the city down to maybe a couple service areas. So in March of 2019, that's what the council ended up doing. They
amended the city code to split the city into two two districts. The east side of the city is serviced on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and the west side is serviced on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Um, so bringing the number of days of waste haulers in our neighborhoods down to
three instead of the five. This is the map that shows those districts and the breakout. Um, so complaints regarding the frequency of the waste haulers and neighborhoods dropped significantly after that code
revision was completed. Um, with most concerns now related to more of the unreliable service, missed or delayed services, um, the city has currently has five class A service providers that collect waste from all areas of the city, and two class B service providers that collect
waste from only commercial and multifamily apartment areas. The City Council has discussed on several occasions reducing the two day service area down to one, or to further reduce it to further reduce the disruptions and traffic within the residential areas. This could be
accomplished by dividing the city into two or more service districts that would only allow services to be completed on a specific day of the week. Excuse me. Going down from the three current days down to maybe two. Uh, the cities of Apple Valley and Burnsville have this type of
model which allows businesses and homeowners to pick their hauler. Um, but the city is divided into five districts, with each district having a day of the week when their garbage is picked up. Um, this is Apple Valley's again. Five districts. Each district has their garbage
picked up on a particular day of the week. Burnsville. Burnsville is the same way. Uh, the cities of Rosemount allows businesses and homeowners to pick their hauler, but limits pickup days to Monday or Tuesday on the west side of Akron Avenue, which is
where the majority of the residential is, is at. And the homes and businesses on the east side of Akron are allowed to pick up any day of the week. That's mostly their industrial area. Uh, City of Farmington operates a single hauler system, and they're currently contracted with Waste Management to do that for the entire city.
Do you know how long that's been for. Farmington? Yeah. Uh. I would. They used to have their own service. Um, so I think they. Forever they've had one hauler basically. Yeah. Right. So before waste hours or before whoever had the initial
contract, it was always City of Farmington. Did the services. Over there. That's a cultural. Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry. Um, so tonight, some options for city council to consider is we can keep the current Tuesday, Wednesday, Wednesday, Thursday service districts. Um, keep the
current, or we can keep the current service area, but reduce the pickup days to one day per per district. Um, or we can develop an additional service areas similar to Apple Valley and Burnsville. And look at, you know, one pickup per day per
district. Um, just a note. Sure. Back in 2019 wasn't one of the things that was that the city council had to take into effect. To not do it right away was the fact that the haulers were going to have to buy more trucks, or
was that not not something that you had to worry about? No, that that did not come up at that time. They just. Wanted to buy more trucks. If we reduce the number of days. No, no, that would be I mean, that kind of goes my final note
that if council wants to make amendments to this, the next step would be reaching out to the haulers and working with them to figure out what works. So one of the one I'd be curious, because I know Dan has
been on some sort of some calls related to this, and there's some big changes coming really to organic pickup. And so we're going to be expecting more trucks. The problem we created for ourselves, going to this model is now the complaints I hear is, oh, there's too many
trucks on one day. And so the complaint of, oh, there's trucks every day. It's I get an email that says, oh, there's nine different trucks coming through my neighborhood, but it's just one day, right? So it's what, you know, what's the trade off and what you would rather have. And so I don't know, you know, other than going to one hauler, which I don't think is a really
good idea. I don't know how you fixed that problem. And so I, I think I don't know, I guess I'd be curious what other people think about it. You know, I. Is there a way to, um, I don't know, I don't know, I guess, to
try to bid some kind of like, you know, because what do we have five right now. We have five right. Now, you know. Do you, do you make the licenses down to three and have the three most competitive bids, and then you grant them that way. So then it's but again, I mean, every hauler by 2030 you're going to
have organic. And maybe that does go with the yard waste to trucks work recycling and then regular. waste. Still have 12 trucks a day in some of these neighborhoods. I mean, I think to your
ultimatum, I would rather have all the trucks on one day. Um, and so I would like to have the conversation of, of what does that look like? Um, and make sure that those boundaries are on major thoroughfares so that trucks are not crossing through
neighborhoods to get to certain districts. Um, the other thing that I've put out there before, I don't know if it has gotten much traction, but not to artificially, uh, or I should say not to force fewer haulers,
but to allow the attrition naturally so that when and if a hauler decides they no longer want to service Lakeville to not reopen, that permit. We have done I think we were we done two haulers. Yeah. I think we originally had
seven licenses. And over the past ten years we've gone down to five that we have now. Is um. But it doesn't happen very fast. Right. Because there's not as many of them that are going into the business. Or, I mean, do we have people that are calling and saying, if you have a spot, open
up, we want in. Well, we have the one, that's currently serving. or kind of new in the area they're serving Saint Paul. We met with them and I met with them. And the more of the attrition came from combination, you know,
people bought out another hauler and. Merged into one. Yeah. Merge. I'm sorry I interrupted your point. So what was your point again? Uh. You wanted you didn't. If somebody dropped out, you never
wanted to replace them. Yeah, and I don't know what the magic number is, but I think we could afford going down to four naturally. Not by picking winners and losers here, but by saying the next time a hauler decides to no longer service Lakeville, we could bring it down to for.
The only reason. The only reason I. I'm a little hesitant about not replacing somebody that left. If there are people that are still in the business is
because you're. Every time we do something that narrows the competition, you ask the prices to go up. So, you know, that's the part. I'm just trying to make sure that it stays affordable and competitive for
people so that they have, um, they're not happy with the service they get from da da da a they got people to go to to look at B, C, D and E to see if they can get better service and a price.
Yeah. I mean, one idea I had thought about was if you broke the city into some zones and allow. Uh. Companies to bid for a zone. Right. So because my biggest concern is, yeah, price is a major thing, but the other is if
you have like waste management and Burnsville was a disaster. The. Last couple years, they were short drivers. There was no pickup. Right. So my I, I wouldn't want to go with one company. And then all of a sudden, you know, where we have no pickup, I'd want to have an A contract and say, okay, well,
one of these other three zones, those guys pick up the slack and then they get the business. I just don't want to have to then go out to when we're desperate to get a hauler to come in to fill the gap. That's that's my concern. More from a service capacity. If you start limiting, even if
you limit who's going to be in a zone once you start limiting your asking for trouble and you're you're making it. So I can't call up and start looking for somebody else. If the service is finally getting to the point where I can't stand it
any longer, I can't find anybody else because I'm zoned for just this one carrier. And the price is what that one carrier is going to charge. Do you do you see what I'm trying to say? And I totally agree with you. I'm just saying, if if we're at a level where we're so concerned
about the truck traffic and we're on the roads. Um. But that's what I have. Yeah, I. I, you know, the truck traffic is one thing, and I think that's always a, um, always a concern when you talk about this, but
there's so many trucks on the road. I mean, it kind of amazes me that people want trash pickup on one day, but they'll take a UPS and Fedex thing four times in the same day. Exactly. So that's one thing in terms of of like the wear and tear on the
roads, I think between when this ordinance was was enacted and today I think that looks totally different. I'm not in favor of something that limits people's choices. I think people are much less concerned about the day
their trash gets picked up, and they're more concerned about. I want to be able to competitively, figure out who I want to pick my trash up. Right. Um, so a community like Apple Valley has the five zones. They have nine licenses, and seven of
those serve residential. And so I think, you know, we haven't as we continue to talk to the waste haulers, I think it would be important if we were to expand and go to like three zones and do a day or, you know, do like
communities doing five zones. Then haulers have some choice about when what they want to serve, if they don't want to do pickups on Wednesdays, then they won't do that. Zone. Um, so somebody who lives in that zone isn't limited by something we're telling them to do. They're
limited by something where the taller is going. I don't want to be competitive in that zone. So I would think if we figure out if we were to limit days, if it's two days and we just use the route that we have here, um, and have a combination of, hey, if you live here, this is what
you have available for Tuesday pickup. And if you live here, this is what you have available for Thursday pickup. And and then let the the market and the haulers decide where they want to to fall in that. So there is some competition. Well I thought that the whole
point of having the two days Tuesday, Wednesday, Wednesday, Thursday or whatever was so that the haulers could schedule a route and it wasn't going to cost us more money because it gave them the flexibility to figure out where they wanted to
put those trucks. Well, that's what I'm saying. But we certainly if we say that this area, let's say my home area is only going to be serviced on Wednesdays, I need the people that are getting
things that are, um, from their other carriers on Tuesdays. Might those carriers might not come into the market then, because that's not a day they can serve us. That's exactly what I was saying. That's precisely the point I made. No. And so what I'm saying is, is that people's
choices aren't limited by our decision. Yes it is. It's limited by our decision because we decided to bring it down to one day. So now you've limited their decision on how they because they can't service that day. But if we yeah, if we limit it,
if we limit it to 2 or 3 haulers or four haulers. Yes, that's a problem. No, we have more. When you limit the days, you limited the possibility of the haulers to. Potentially. Potentially, potentially. I totally disagree with that though. I mean, all these other
cities work, they can figure it out with one day. I mean, the one area is Tuesday. I don't I don't completely get that. I, you know, don't don't. We won't know until we put it out there and see what they, they come back with. It's just
that I don't think it's that broke that. I, you know, I think I was the one that raised the two day thing I didn't like because my old neighborhood was the only one I've ever seen that where you had trash cans out on both days. And to me, it's not just the where on the road, it's the
the trash of having trash cans on the road for two days out of the week seems excessive. To me. My neighborhood uses both days. So you do have one more thing. I have a neighbor. I've seen. It two days for all these different people, and I do have
Amazon coming multiple times depending on what warehouse they pulled something out of to deliver product to me. If I order it online. So I in one day I might you might think that
they would put everything together because they're going to come on Wednesday. But then I get something, you know, I get five different deliveries. I will say, so been in this house 12 years since the first time I actually my hauler just sent an email to lock in our
price for three years. So they're getting competitive. Um. Yeah. I never had that. I don't know if other haulers are doing that. So do all five of those residential haulers serve the entire city? Because I thought at one point, like Buckingham
only went to the west part. And ah, some of them just licensed. Good. But I just don't. Know if, I mean, if they have the ability to, but I don't know that they do. I'm not I'm not sure. We don't know their routes. Because I like their sites, their websites. I think you just put your address in and they'll tell you whether it's available. I think they might charge you
more if you're. not like Buckingham, if you're not closer to Prior Lake, I think you might get charged. Part of the reason we went with the districts the way we did was when we were working with the haulers, they they wanted to be in that district on those days because that's when their other
pickups were happening in the adjacent cities that they worked in. So I doubt that all five haulers are have customers across the city. But I don't know that. And then there's some just class B licensed, and they don't do any residential. They just do
commercial and multi housing. Two of them that just do uh, industrial and apartments commercial. So we had five, we have five. So we only have three that are doing residential service. No we have we have five. Five class A licenses are. five
okay. Class B is two of them. And class A license allows single family or multifamily. All right. So those those five will do. Those five will do all the kind of work. If you want to come up
and comment come on. Yeah. My my name is Mike Gill and I live at 16600 Judicial Road. And this is a timely item coming up tonight because I just spent three hours walking my ditch
along Judicial Road just north of Orchard Lake, and it, uh, most of the items I picked up were liquor containers. So it's indicative of how much liquor is consumed on the roads of Lakeville. I'm sure the chief of police can attest to that. But
the other items that were picked up was trash blowing out of the trucks. Um, these are items that I don't think would be pitched out of a car. I picked up a piece of styrofoam two feet by three feet that I don't think came out of a window of a car.
So this is stuff that's blown out of the trash trucks. And I have a black bag of trash this big in front of my house right now that I have to get rid of. So it is there something that we can do with the trucks that we can seal the trucks better, or
talk to the drivers that they stop and pick up the stuff that's blown out of the trucks. Um. I don't know. I haven't really seen any of them running with the back door open. So I, you know, I, I'm not saying I don't believe that you
got that garbage. I just haven't seen that coming out of my neighborhood that they they still look enclosed. I think it happens. I've seen trucks. Trash blowing out. Sometimes when you're following that truck or something, some of the papers coming out. I've seen more of, like was
going into it and it blows, you know, if it's likely. Right. The liquor containers are coming out of a truck. They're they're coming out of a vehicle. But it's the lightweight trash that is blown out of the trucks. And do you think it's because
you live in an area where the speed is going to pick up? I mean, you don't have a lot of people that they're stopping for that, but they're using it as a thoroughfare to get to where they want to go. Uh, no, I think the trucks are, uh, doing the residential
customers. Okay. And we have the prevailing wind from the west right there. And that's why it all ends up in my village. The people across the street from me never see any trash in their yards. They just throw it in the. Well, I was there.
I'm teasing the people. I'm teasing. Okay. Thanks. Appreciate it. Thank you. I don't really hear a consensus of us making a big. Change. Yes. What? The actual complaints from residents are. I guess that's why I'm unclear. Of.
I would say the most complaints I get mostly now are there's just a lot of truck traffic in my neighborhood. On 1 or 2 days. Right. I say, because, you know, my neighborhood is 12 houses total and we get served by three different providers. So as you
imagine. Yeah, that would be very annoying. They're all on Tuesday. So it's not. But I guess it's, you know, as. As someone living close to Antlers Park, I'm more concerned about the people coming to the park than I am about a garbage truck, but okay. I was just wondering the clarifying question on what the action.
How many times does Amazon Fedex UPS come? And I have no concern. Like I have. No complaints on my garbage trucks at all. I don't I'm not complaining. I don't. Know, I know, I'm just saying. I just wanted to clarify. Just the only trucks coming
through our neighborhoods every day, right? Multiple times. Different Amazon drivers delivering twice in my neighborhood to my house, specifically because I've ordered at two different times. So, no, I understand what you're. Talking about. Okay. Sorry. Thank you.
Oh, okay. Sorry. I oh is there there's concerns about something or. No. I'd like us to at least have the conversation with the haulers. Uh, because I think what we do have a majority, not full consensus on is having this
discussion on a single day map. Anything else? I don't think there's close to, uh, in terms of reducing the number of haulers or anything like that. I don't think there's consensus on. So I think there are three. I don't know if there might be four. Yes. The thing is, if we go to a
single day, I if you want to have the discussion, fine. I don't I don't want it to add expense to their business or suddenly they're not going to want to. And I don't want to limit the number of if, if we
come up with a number and it's five and somebody drops out, I would like to be able to allow it to be replaced if they wanted to, because I think it's important that we have competition. My price is already gone. up because of the county
mandate too, with the weekly um, recycle versus when I had it every other week. And, you know, I mean, it's. just and it's getting to the point where it's like the recyclable is like full and my, oh, my garbage. I have to decide, you know, do you
condense it down. Oh well, it doesn't really save you any money. You know what I mean? So I mean, it's just it's kind of crazy about how it just keeps going up. And I don't want to add to it, or I don't want the council. I shouldn't say me. I
don't want the council to add to the cost to the consumers. Our residents. But yet come up with a solution that makes everybody happy. It's just that we have other trucks coming through
these neighborhoods more often than just our garbage trucks. Robert Allen, do you want to just do. A those do we. Know oh. Do you want to do a check in with the haulers? And I think the real question is, you know, they know their logistics better
than we do. And potentially if you share the complaints that we're kind of hearing, if they have some ideas that we maybe. want to explore on how they can. . Sure. Yep. We can put some feelers out to them and see what they say and report back. All right.
Yeah, yeah that's fine. Okay. Uh, and now, Miss Staff, you want to give us the preliminary 2025 financial report on the general fund?
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, my promises will not be long. Item. Uh, lots of good things to report. Revenues for the year are coming in roughly 840,000 over our budget, which is
positive. Um, and looking at our expenditures in the general fund, the General government, um, we're looking at that. They came in total of 476,000 under budget, public safety. So police and fire together about 350,000
under budget. And then public works, 673,000 under budget. A lot of this has to do with staffing vacancies. We had retirements happen. So just timing issues or positions that hadn't been filled. So that's what we saw. A lot of the
savings in um, so what that brings us down for our total expenditures came in about 3.5% under budget. So what that brings us to for the year is a change in our fund balance of roughly $2.2 million to the
good, um, we did transfer out. We had the 1.85 million of the public safety money from 2023. We got that in December of 2023, and we just transferred that out for to help with the land purchase at the fire station,
too. So even with that in there, we still came out to the good at 2.2 million. Where that leaves us that for the end of the year, our policy is based on our what we end up from balance to next year's expenditures. So next
year's budget of 2026, budget, um, leaves us at a 52% fund balance, which is good. Just 2% over our top end of our policy. Um, we are reserving or restricting and Odyssey
assigning um, 600,000, um, is for the first year of the Safer grant when that when that cliff happens, when that is gone. Um, and then we've got 175,000 for the 2050 comp plan. So that's what you see in that restricted fund balance of 775,000. Um, and
this coming year, at the end of 2026, we'll have another 600,000 for the Safer grant. So there'll be an assigned fund balance of 1.2 million. But again, that'll fall. We'll make sure that it falls within our fund balance policy. So, um, with that I'll
take any questions. There was a lot of information in the packet and in various more detail. So any questions particular. Yeah. Do you know off the top of your head? Um. We so the, the number on the
franchise fees was a little over 3 million. I think. What were we kind of what was like the pro forma. Are we hitting the number we thought we were or where are we kind of in relation to is is the target number going to pay for the first center and the fire station, I guess is my
question. Yes, we are on target and I didn't put it all in the packet. But as we structured this next set of bonds for the fire station two and laying out the the proforma out, in the years, we're doing fine and we should
be fine. Um, we'll be able to, um, use some of the franchise fees toward the construction of the next phases of the fire stations. Um, we didn't for this particular fire station to just because we want to see. Okay, what what is it really coming
in? Because we only have three quarters that we know right now. So as we see that projection and with the new houses going in and all that, but, um, we will be fine with covering those debt issuances. So related to the franchise fee,
one of my questions tonight was related to the revenues are broken down into residential and commercial, but there's no industrial, uh, franchise fee. Commercial and industrial. Are on together. Yeah .. I. See those together. Got it. Okay.
So we have it labeled in the software. I said no, if we were missing an offer. And no, I mean. That wouldn't. Open versus eager to kind. Of $1 million. I don't think it would be that high. But, um, I did have one other question for you. I, I
mean, having a, uh, being under budget by 2 million is great. I had a question, though, about the overage of the capital outlay expenditures that were over the budget and the amended budget that. We set. And I'm just curious what
happened with with those funds. I'm not exactly sure. On the capital outlay. I didn't look into. I was looking more at departments and how they shook out. Um, I'd have to see, you know, if it was something that they maybe had they were under in another area professional
services, other charges. So they had savings in this. But all we had this, um, something, you know, a heater, a condensing unit or something, break facilities or whatever it was, um, emergency that we had to do. With the follow up. I can. Yep.
Appreciate it. Yep. Other questions? Comments. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Um, council and committee updates I know some of us are on new committees and some not, and
. Um. Yeah, I don't think. Elected vice chair of Dakota 911, so that's good. Yeah. Is this going to say we had that meeting in February and we did the performance evaluation and then. Yeah, I got elected vice chair of that board
for the quarter. 911. This this isn't a committee update, but um, Council member Walter and I had a chance to go to the Capitol last week, and I thought it was it's through the League of Minnesota cities. And I thought the sessions that they
provided in the first half of the day were very interesting and informative. Um, it's always a good chance to network with other city council members. Um, and then we had a chance to meet with our legislators. and we're very familiar with them. But,
um, it was still a nice chance to be in their office talking about a couple of the things that really are important to us, particularly related to housing. Um, and so we had some conversations about housing bills that are being considered. Um, and so I don't know if you
have anything else to share, but. No, it was it was really eye opening for me on the, uh, I was, had been having trouble contemplating, you know, why we're losing on the housing issue in the legislature this year. Um, and it all struck me
when they were the everybody in attendance was asked to raise their hand if they had a bonding project. And you saw all the rural communities that are exempted from the housing bill, raised their hand about bonding requests, and so that it helped. Um, it made a lot of sense to me
that, that that all of a sudden we're we're, um, that housing issue, or so it seems. So, but no, it was a great it was it was a good discussion. It was, uh, um, our legislators are lockstep on, on that issue, which I think is important. Good. Um.
Um, just one little thing on the lake, Phil Arenas. Um. Carly Anderson from the school district is now the new chair, um, this year. And, um, the numbers coming in from the
winter season for the, um, skating, hockey. ET cetera. It's fantastic. So we're doing good. Good on that. Is there a date already set for the joint
session with the school district? I was going to make that announcement tonight. Okay. Um. Yeah. So, uh, our next council meeting is April 6th, Monday, April 6th. And then we
do on what would traditionally be our what we used to call our work sessions on April 27th, for the first time since I've been on council. So over ten years we're having a joint meeting with the 194 school board, which has been taking quite a while to get put together. So.
And and that'll be here. I'll be here. Yep. And how long do you think that will go. On the calendar? We have from 6 to 8. So I don't probably depends on how long our colleagues from the school board like to talk. I have no idea.
I know. But we're going to. Cover what topic wise and what you were thinking. So we we we're going to talk about, um, housing and growth and some other things. I think there's going to be some conversation about school safety and a few other things. So it's, you know, broad intersections
where we kind of. Have. And will that be before or after? I'm sorry, the vote on. The before. Yep. So the referendum vote is. in May. In April, May. Okay. Yeah. So about six weeks from today or that is when the
meeting. Will be. But that I'll take a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? We're adjourned