was locked yeah was locked I thought i' heard somebody up there hello everybody and welcome to our city council meeting today Thursday March 13 2025 if you could please stand for the pledge of
allegiance 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 thank you roll Brian wor kerson here Ki Miller here Tom
Berg here James vka here and Scott palava here uh moving on to approval of the agenda is there any additions deletions or Corrections uh in addition to uh the revised agenda on um the
council Das I'd request that a uh consider approval of a Minesota lawful gambling lg220 application for exempt permit um for Ducks Unlimited to conduct a raffle um at rail
19 make that item car yes motion approve addition I'll second motion by Bava second by Miller can you just repeat that one more time Joel GBL license uh it's a uh lg220 application for exempt permit for Ducks
Unlimited to conduct uh a r at rail 19 all right um all in favor discussion discussion yeah we can um I'd like to add another item to the agenda
sure yeah skywar and is it possible that we could do that kind of high up in the agenda since you know I don't want to have to interfere with u you know the city water parks SE Recreation that we can do
it as probably Item B right underneath uh Evergreen Therapy Solutions okay that' be perfect okay so I make that Amendment thank you Brian all right all in
favor a second I'll second all right second by pava all in favor all oppose all right approval of the minutes consider approval of the minutes from the February 6 2025 work session and the
February 13 2025 regular meeting is there any adds deletions or Corrections move to approve the minutes as pres motion by pava second second by Miller any further discussion
all right all in favor all oppos all right there is a public hearing it's the assessment hearing delinquent accounts so I'll open up this public hearing Joel Erikson thank you mayor members of the council uh the February 13 2025 city
council meeting uh this uh public hearing was uh approved to be held tonight uh the purpose of the hearing is to assess delinquent accounts uh we have two uh pass du fire calls totaling $1,000
um included with the staff report is um the proposed resolution and also the proposed assessment role um as as far as I'm aware of the payments have not been made staff did not receive any written or verbal comments pertaining to the to
the assessments okay well this is a public he so if you are here uh to speak on this now is your time okay see none I will entertain a motion to close this public
hearing motion by Wu second second by Miller any further discussion all in favor all oppos all right presentation of citizens petitions and comments comments limited to two minutes so if you're not on the
agenda now is your time to speak are you with skyw yes okay we got you on the agenda oh okay I was to stand up for it all right approval of the consent agenda there is nothing on the consent agenda nothing for old business on the new
business introduction of Evergreen Therapy Solutions Joel er uh all right uh thank you mayor members of the council um this was a discussion item at the uh last work session um the council um since then
requested that um Whitney Dawan and Ki Holden owners and speech language Pathologists with Evergreen Therapy Solutions attend the council meeting and introduce themselves um the I guess the backstory behind this is um they had contacted the city to see if there was
space available uh either at City Hall or some other location for them to set up a satellite office and um did two were the the building with them several weeks ago uh first discussion was held at the last um work session and um like I said they
were requested to come to the um city council me to introduce themselves and I guess provide a little history on their business do you two want to come up here thank you for absolutely not
res you don't have to say that and you to the podium and then there's a button on it's all set okay it's all set it should be you're welcome thank you yeah thank
you yeah I'm K Holden and I'm Whitney doin and we opened Evergreen Therapy Solutions in July July of 2023 so we're coming up on two years in Northfield uh we started in a very small very small office and grew quickly because there's
a huge demand for our services um and we work with children and adults mostly children i' say 90% children um anywhere from two all the way up through high school um with communication needs and
there's obviously a booming population here in laale and we just realiz a lot of our families live in lale and they would actually come more have their kids be seen more but the drive is you know can be challenging so we're like well
maybe it's time to open satellite location on La sale sure so that's kind of the back story do you have questions for us um what was the room that you were looking at leasing uh when you walk in
the new City homeall mm just right to the left y to the left and that was the only room right okay I think that's what we were confused on during the worst session was it was just that one room so um I know I felt a little indifferent
about leasing our area in the new town hall because we were talking about access and doors and it felt like a headache and um thank you Whitney for calling me and and having a good discussion um if you guys want to kind
of talk about uh the hours of operation um days so then that way the other Council or everyone else in the council kind of can see what's going to be envisioned with that space yeah right now we we just operate Monday through
Friday so like the work week and we start at 8 and go usually not no later than 4:30 um so like your typical work day um yeah it's one to one so just be one working one-on-one with an
individual um the parents often wait in like a waiting room area and sometimes they'll bring other siblings with them so that could have a few more bodies in the space but we only do one to one Services right now k for therapy how
long are the session they're 30 minutes yep and we have like har said a lot of families that are already out here a lot a lot more need out here that just don't have the means to get doesn't seem like long but to Northfield CU often it's the same they have the same time every
single week so it's not just one appointment here or there it's where your curring appointments every single week yeah yeah and not just Londale they're coming from Montgomery I'll go new actually so and one thing that I gotten from the phone call is there's 18
families right now and then with the satellite there would be additional so yeah so there's currently 18 families that come to us from Lonsdale but there's more sessions that are that are happening some of them come multiple times a week and then there's other families as we said that are still here
they're just not doing Services yet sure okay um Brian I'll start with you there's yeah I krie it's nice to meet you in person car and I had a conversation uh late last week um so we we were able to talk about this as well
and um thank you for coming to clarify what you're looking for um one thing I did notice I I I checked out your website after we spoke I I would hope so one research yes one of the things that really jumped out to me is I noticed that you guys offered tutoring Services
as well so you know I see a broader potential um just beyond the speech services of what we can offer the community in lawville through this so um you know after our conversation I spoke with Joel and I said you know I think it's worth having a conversation about
this because the landscape has changed um you know what we were envisioning before seemed I I don't want to say unrealistic but maybe invasive on both sides you know there was I express my concerns to you about you know not just from people
using the space as a community space but for privacy and potential Hippa concerns for your clients as well as they may have to walk in between but you know since we're talking about one room it's it's a completely different uh discussion so I said you that changes my
mind completely um you know I think the things that we need to figure out is one is this a yes or no do we want to lease the space and then two what what's our our price you know that's I think that's the discussion I don't know if we've had
yet um but I do see not just the current families that you serve the potential for other families with those similar Speech Pathology needs but then the tutoring Serv that really jumped out at me like that's a that's a service that
we don't have um a business doing you know I I'm sure there are tutors out there one-on-one tutors in the community I'm sure you know I've seen things online but to have that here would be really I think a great service to the community so that that helped change my
mind on this this discussion thank you Brian krie um so and I appreciate you guys coming to krie cool name I don't need so many others I know it's rare um so I appreciate you coming because I was also a little torn on like
what was the space going to be used for and the same issues um of accessibility security things like that but now that that's been clarified you guys are here and I love the work you guys do I work public health and specialed in school so I really appreciate you guys and I
definitely agree we have a need in the community we have growing families um and we have the elementary school here in town so it's like just to me it sounds like a great partnership and just I'm thankful that you guys came so that you would be able to put my mind uh at
ease and kind of help me understand things better so thank you all right thank you car Jamie I'm in favored if we can logistically do it because it's helping kids and if we're going to help kids it's always okay with me all right thank you Jamie Scott um
well I'm in I'm in favor and I actually have a little bit of uh uh connection my my wife has worked with these ladies professionally for several years um on kind of both sides of it so uh get a little little more insight into what
they're doing and whatnot and uh she spoke very highly at their their operation and and she said that would absolutely be a great fit well there you have it we we'll continue talks we got to get you the square footage and then try to figure
figure out you know uh Le Sprint so we we'll definitely keep in touch and thank you for making it out here um I know K I know I asked you this question but um you said summer is what you're targeting for when you would like
to be an operation out here yeah that accurate okay yeah I just want to make sure our timelines fit so and we know what what we're working with as a timeline to figure out the numbers and whatnot awesome thank thanks ladies thank
you what we'll do is uh we'll have this next one as an introduction for skyw War as well so it just be a discussion we don't have to vote on anything if that's okay okay so the next item would be an
introduction to Skyward uh Brian I'll let you take this one okay so I mean well we'll open it up to the the gentleman from SC so um I was contacted by Roger pesta um Roger's my
neighbor uh you know we've been talking for a long time about you know skyw and the situation that we have with the uh the sale of the PD so um with that happening from my discussions my
understanding is skywar needs a space and if they don't have a space they're going to cease operations is essentially what it comes down to um leasing a space because they don't have income as an
organization um from what I gather and Roger you can correct me if I'm wrong here the only fundraising or the major fundraising I'm sure there's other things that have been done or may be done from time to time but the the regular fundraising that the organization does is through Pioneer Power Pioneer power show they have a
food Booth out there and that's basically their operating Revenue so trying to lease a space is is a challenge it always has been a challenge um you know they worked with the city so they asked to have a discussion about this and if there's any possibility that
we have anything that can help accomodate skyw War um personally I know Joel and I and thank you Joel Monday for taking me up to uh to tour of the building um this all happened after that and it just happened to be kind of appropriate
timing um there was a room that I kind of thought might be a space that would work it's the the one room um with the old lolium in the the flooring that room the one where we did exam room yeah yeah I couldn't remember what what we call
the old exam room I thought maybe that could be a space up in the new city hall that would accommodate skyw War um it probably is a little bit smaller than what they currently have but I think based on conversations it might work um
you know of course we'd have to show it to them and see and decide if we want to even do that because along with Skywarn comes the Skywarn antenna so we would have to talk about you know do we bring that up do we put that on the on the
grounds at at the new city hall um you know I was thinking with it being up on the hill it makes sense um you know I've thought about would it work in the fire department I think they're pretty pretty tight over at the fire department you know just trying to think about spaces
so that's that was the conversations I had and and they had mentioned that they were coming to the meeting tonight so I thought rather than just give them the two minutes let's put them on the agenda and have a little discussion about it since we're coming up on the closing on on that building does anybody from
Skyward want to come up here and speak make me all the way up here good evening Council thanks for putting us on the agenda we appreciate it I'm John Malo this is well Brian pretty well summed it up I guess that's what we're looking for
we're hoping something could be happen can be done for us and stuff so U I don't know what else we can do because we we can't afford to buy a building lease a building pay insurance pay taxes and all that kind of stuff we have nobody could any of us that can really
own the building that wouldn't work out for the group you know so I guess that's kind of what we're up against because if we can't have a spot to head to that anything you guys can help us out with it be a big help as otherwise without a spot to to meet at
and stuff you know and we'd be kind of out of luck and we have haven't been because of all this happening in the last not that last little while and stuff is we don't have members like we should have because we haven't done out recruiting so we
can't that's kind recruit six eight members and all say next month all we're we're closing up we're not going to be here anymore so that's one of the big issues we have right now is there's a space you know how much space are
you I guess I don't what are you looking for our have been in our office we got down the stairs no I guess what you consider that it's like 30 by 20 the exam room's about the size of that table what
that yeah well you just said the exam room about the of that table Yeah we never fit all our equipment stuff you so you're looking for meeting space and storage space well the storage space we'd have to if it comes down to that
it's not a meeting place we have to go the we have calls and we got to have access you know get in and out quick and stuff and go up there pick up the radi for portabl go out to the vehicles and get out of town and one person stays in there and runs their the radios and uh
we have the our TV and computer stuff there we can watch the radar stuff on TV and stuff at the same time one person got to stay there if not two to run the radios top of the rice Colony top of the state and stuff as we as the storms are going through and stuff so
i' hate the I'd hate the fact that this is shutting it down because then you're putting Northfield faball we're there that's warning over here we go we go most of R County we go when we go on storm wash for
lville I have been there I've been on for many years and I've been actually there's been times when I've been a mile west of the city limit so mon watching forville you're going to a mile out of town and have a storm warning for the town it's too
late so that's that's the thing we're up against if we can't handle that it and I I know someone mentioned the fire department the fire dep Department used to do some of the Skywarn stuff years and years ago but they don't want it they don't want to monkey with it theyve got other things they can't be afford to have firem out on skywar when there's something happen bad
in town so that's kind of where we're at and if it doesn't work out I guess I could say is going to be thing in the past the thing is it's been had two members sitting here they been in it for just about 50 years each since the since
the days in in the early 70s when it was actually considered civil defense and I was more of with the with the uh fall shelter and that kind of thing back then but we started do sky at that time so we've been been servicing Lille
for 50 almost 50 years or so put a lot of time a lot of effort a lot of heart thank you r k I just feel thankful for your services um I think it's a safety thing for the town too so I think
if we can figure something out to help you guys out that's what I want to do so I appreciate it yeah anything would help because like I say you fo out we're just going to be closing the doors and then your your county on Rice County somebody get their extra members they've got to
try to get here stuff but they're they're going to come as far as lale to protect F and North they're not going to go toward montgomer to protect lale they're just strictly keeping out out for for their own group you know so so
warning for we've been for years well we'll have to try to find them someplace to go okay well we're up for talk with you guys whatever you want so I on to talk just know creative creative use of space and and
prioritizing you know um you know you mentioned your equipment you know you sounds like you have operating equipment and then you have other equipment that you're storing and that your stuff you use for fundraising yeah we keep some stuff fundraising so that that's kind of a you know that that that take a lot
that takes up a lot more space than your operating equipment the biggest space for what we do is now we have freezers and refrigerator stuff to keep supplies we out at police we have our meetings out there and stuff so and Su look we have a big cabinet for
all over Ros and equipment and stuff have desk with the what's your your your Emergency Operating equipment and what's your extra event situation half and a half yeah okay all
right yeah yeah so I know Roger Roger and I kind of talk about this um what my oh I'm sorry sorry oh it's okay I walked on you last time finished what you're saying oh no no I just just additional context with it you know Roger and I we were
talking about this and you know I I don't and like I mentioned to you Roger I don't I don't see the space that I envisioned you know as a possible space in the city hall building fitting like the freezers and stuff like that so we might have to get creative
the way we decide to go or something like that but you know the other the other thing we have to talk through is access right you know availability to get in and get out um but I I think the conversation is worth having and I think it's an important one to have because it
it is a service to the to the city the city the the not just the city the area the whole County um you know to lose the Western half where all the storms are going to start from is going to be a big hit to everybody so I think it's it's it's something we should do it's it's a
it's a important piece that we need to have a conversation about yeah and I had a phone call with with Tom and and just trying to brainstorm and you know um I thought maybe the legion would be able to help
out for for now and we further these conversations um and then when you had brought it up about that extra room I was like oh we might have it you know and and in the community space would be nice because then you can host your training events in there too to get more
people coming in and getting involved so abely um yeah just bear with us for a little bit while we try to help as much as we can and and um gosh yeah it's tough I don't I don't want to lose
Skyward I don't it's just so rough gu we don't know what's GNA be the time frame as far as if something happens how fast the building going to be to be moved into by anybody else and stuff we got no place put anything at all you know that's the thing we all got garages
we're not big enough to put all that stuff you well I'll tell you what if you got to put in an tenna on a building I live on Main Street and you could put it on my shop I we' got the tower we got got that Tower that's up at the police department
now stuff and that that's the nice part of we got that put there specially for us so we'd have we bought that and had it installed and everything cost was about going for the bus put that Tower up just for that alone put that Tower so we have a radial connection we'd want less than that well we can't reach our
radial from the city from the in town out to the we go halfway to mongi and I've been I've been halfway to le le Center when the storm from the southwest different times in fact I followed I fell I was sitting in sunshine today that that big tornado hit here when it did all the
damage in town and we followed the tornado actually we didn't see it because it was in the clouds the north of us we were in sunshine we follow a tornado in the town we got the town we couldn't believe the damage it did you know but the people in town were War there's guys halfway between us and War the city and stuff so if I may I
actually have a question in regards to that where does where do you guys sit Now with uh uh law enforcement and whatnot going to encrypted radios are you guys going is sky going to be operating on that or is the Civil def
side we have we have the Civil side that we're using now and we also have 8 that's in the office that we can so that we can communicate with the state and race County if we have to in the different counties but my understanding is that that's what the 800 mehz is being phased out for Public
Safety um so do will Rice County continue to operate on the 800 megahertz just for for that there's nothing been brought up to us and if they were going to change they' be changing with us because they know that we use the same currently that's something that we're
budgeting for right we got a gr for for the encrypted radios y so that's going to I don't know how I don't know what the bill landscape looks like for that but that's the thing when 800 mehz came around we said they said that would be the last of it we we bought the radio for that we access all that stuff
ourselves you know so that you know that's that's another aspect to take into consideration because the these encrypted radios are even more expensive and not I'm just trying to give the you know maybe you could follow up with the
ear pow that be if it becomes that are these encrypted radios are so exorbitantly expensive that it places such a strain on you on your program if you can't do it right what where what does that look like suddenly you're out just because of technology and not that
would be something that I'm sure the race Colony would be bringing up to us and stuff too they know we're pretty crucial part of their system too and St so okay just something appreciate something we had heard at all yeah and I noticed I just saw today that there uh
Rice County skywar is coming for a training here at the library I didn't see the date but there's one coming up in town too so that might be somewhere we could ask that question can I just ask a question of and being Noy person I kind of BU in way
but in the new city hall building what is what is that area i' probably been told to REM model inside but what is that area on the north west side of the corner where there's a small overhead door and entrance Door there what is that that's where the dumpster yeah
dumpster um and then the kind of the not the we got the power comes in the breakers and then um yeah like a mud room utility room with the water heater and mop sink you guys have mentioned about the
legion and stuff but it'd be pretty hard for business to you know we can't be out in the open anywhere we'd have to close an area and stuff I don't know what they would do it all remodeling inside the building for us just for us to be there so which wouldn't make a lot of sense to them either you know they don't have extra space for that kind of thing
either so so that's what we're up against gentlemen and ladies so do what you can for us well let us let us scratch our heads a little bit let's figure something out and yeah I think we I think we need to know how much square footage you guys need I mean
otherwise we're just no one has an idea I have an idea yeah the size of we for office down there now we kind of plus you have stuff in that garage area too kind ni for the winter stuff generators and frers that we can that doesn't have
to be other option for that so about 300 500 square feet yeah yeah okay maybe would be worth taking them up there just to show I I don't know I mean I just
thought that room that just popped into my mind I I guess I don't well then I I'm thinking about you know if we're going to have the community room at Town Hall that big community room with the Das it's like well okay so are a lot of events going to be hosted in there
versus the libraries conference room or you know what's the plan there so if the intent is for a community space in town hall then what about that extra room at the library you know well the challenge there in my
mind is that that's shared space with the villages Villages so they they have access to use that space as well so I thought that we I thought it was just between us I mean they reserve it okay when they need to use it so we know when
they need to use it but it's it's not just ours it's a am I correct in that Joel it's kind of a shared space uh it's ours but they they reserve it yeah I mean they and they do use it a fair amount so okay enough to the point for my understanding where it
would be difficult yeah but you guys are looking at an area probably the size of this room or close to it yeah to i' say we could probably get by with if were picking the width of this building or room half that would be
probably pretty close would at least be funy might just have to get creative yeah I agree we don't want the world we just need need a place to be able to walk and walk back how much time do you think they're
going to need to uh vacate the uh current Police Department or the prev whatever uh as of right now closing scheduled for for May 1st whether that happens or not I guess I'm not sure is there any stipulations as far as I
mean you can't on a closing you can't see okay you can you can't start using until June or July yeah I mean once they once they close it's their their property I guess it's something once we know who it is we'd probably discuss things with them too iag you know see
what theying you never know they could be possible work all M we're willing to talk to anybody so yeah kind of know we're not b hey I appreciate the the time you guys
I appreciate you guys thank you very much all right consider approval of a quote in the amount of $647 7864 submitted by Motorola Solutions for five mobile and six portable radios in a equipment
Jason thank you mayor members of the council well for the past five years the fer Bureau of Investigation and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal investigations are running all public departments to switch to encrypted capable radios um the reason for that change is that those two agencies
contain an or manage that criminal justice information that times gets transmitted um over the radio our current radios have some level of encryption which they're currently operating under but don't have the capability to operate under the level of encryption um required currently the
plan is to switch to full encryption in 2026 across Rice County and then for the past three years I've been budgeting funds to upgrade our radios to have encryption capabilities and currently have budgeted 25,000 this past June I learned of a grant through the department of public
safety um for the purchase of encrypted radios and Equipment which I applied for and was awarded 40,000 so I did obviously they applied for the full amount U but I think they underestimated the amount of dollars that would take
the number of agencies that applied for it so I think what helped is that we had a plan in place and we had money budgeted for this project so I think that kind of really helped with uh with us getting an awarded that Grant so of course um obviously we have to
purchase those radios and Equipment um before we get those gr so with that if you have any questions I think I submitted a kind of a quote with that so all right thank you Jason
jimy I'm good how soon will we get the radios as soon as you submit the payment um well you put the order in I don't know what the timeline is for that um so I I couldn't tell
you I suppose it depends on how many other agencies to okay all right Scott yeah you know the only thing I was wondering about uh was was there any Sunset date on you know the grant just because uh the Sunset date is uh I think
June of okay right just from the standpoint you order it for whatever reason delay it'll be here before they would be here before 2026 well I hope I'm not picking on I'm just saying though I mean it's technology it's it's it's the world you
know it's the world we're in right now so yeah you know when you have a a whole state you know it's making a change you know that's just one of how many states that are making this change
y so okay all right thanks Scott Brian um do you have a plan for the old radio equipment uh not yet I was going to talk to the fire department um in possible too I mean Skyward also you know see
what equipment or radio equipment needs they might have um and of course you know if they need them definitely get them transferred over to that sure I I assume since everybody's got to switch over there's really no resale market for them no there's
not I yep okay um I just want to say awesome job applying for this Grant and getting it and also for working ahead and budgeting that's I appreciate that so and this is definitely a need so I'm on board all right thank you thank you
Jason um with that I'll entertain a motion motion by rers second second by vka any further discussion all in favor I all oppose right motion carries thank
you ready for the next one I'm here consider approval of a conditional job offer to Zachary leoner as full-time police officer at step two Jason shitz thank you mayor members of the council
back on January 20th of 25 I received an application from Zachary Leonard for the openen full-time police officer position an interview was held shortly after by the human resource committee officer Jack Scher and I Zachary interviewed well who grew up in a small town and is
looking to serve in that same type of atmosphere his family is also moving to the area which was another reason why Zachary applied for the position Zachary is currently employed in the law enfor for field and has several years of law enforcement experience so with that it would be my recommendation to give
Zachary letteron a conditional job offer as a full-time police officer for the city of lale on conditions that he successfully completes passes the background investigation psychological and medical so with that anyone have any
questions all right Scott uh nothing Ryan nope car Jamie no let's get your back up the full staff that's what I'm hoping for all right motion to uh offer the conditional
position motion by War excution second second by palava any further discussion all in favor I all opposed motion carries thank you J thank you thank you consider approval of resolution 20253 a resolution adopting assessments
for delinquent accounts Joel uh this is the resolution to consider adoption of the uh assessment role for the delinquent accounts public hearing was held earlier in the meeting we have two outstanding fire calls totaling
$1,000 um as I said I'm not aware that the payments were were received uh no written or verbal comments by approving the proposed resolution uh the city council would be uh approving the the proposed assessments uh approving the assessments we be pay with the 2026
property taxes be an interest rate of 6% uh which would acre to December 31st um if not paid within 30 days of the resolution being adopted and then uh having the city administrator uh certify a copy of the assessment role to Rice County property tax and election direct
director unless there's any questions staff to recommend approval of 2025 13 thank you ran I don't have any questions all right Curry Jamie no Scott nothing all right I'll entertain a motion
motion by pava second second by Miller any further discussion all in favor all opposed motion carries consider approval of revised change order number four in the amount of 8,810 75 pertaining to the city Hall's
remodel project Joel Aron at the last council meeting uh change order four was presented the amount just uh just under $5,900 um since then it's been revised to I received the cost to um basically put a quarter inch um new
countertop over the existing countertop at the front desk um that's the only change to um this change order um the increase is uh $2,955 38 um based off of an original contract
of 1, 52,000 there's been four change orders approved uh for just over $23,000 or 2.21% unless there's any questions staff would recommend approval of revised change order number
four krie no questions Jamie no questions Scott no Brian um I just want to say Joel um thank you for explaining this to me on Monday because we were talking about this as we were T touring the city hall so I think it's important
to clarify here this is not another change order for 8,000 this is a an adjustment to the one we last discussed but I want to say I appreciate your veracity in finding ways to save money in some of these things you know looking
if you guys have been up there the the counter has a crack and the recommendation from The Architects was to replace the whole countertop and spend upwards of $10,000 right so thank
you Joel for saying no let's find a better way to do this at at a lower cost I appreciate that I think that needs to be recognized with this specific change order absolutely all right thank you Brian so I'll make the motion to approve it motion by wor Missin second second by
palava any further discussion all in favor I all opposed motion carries consider approval of a 3.2% maltt liquor offsale liquor license applied for by mackenthun's f Foods Joel
Aris um munes has uh submitted the attached uh 32% Malt Liquor off sale liquor license for their store here in Lawnsdale uh they also completed the uh background inquiry um that was filled out and then provided to the police
department for review uh based off of that uh it was determin that there were no disqualifiers for them to obtain this liquor license um with Sunday sales 32 has essentially become obsolete um there are you know
most of the time that 32 license are provided are um to well it used to be nonprofits for like the JC Park for example or or DRS um kind of temporary 32 liquor licenses and the city has improved them in the past um to like
Casey's and uh Jesse's at the time uh if approved Ma and would be able to sell 32 beer and Malt B based beverages such as wine coolers light beer labeled containing um 4% alcohol by volume or
less um also any packaging intended for 32 uh must have the alcohol by weight or volume listed on each can bottle and package um since we haven't issued uh the one of these for quite a long time there is not a fee in our fee schedule
uh I did go back back to the last time that it was in there and it was $10 uh the Alternatives I would be to not approve the requested liquor license by munes and then included with the staff report is the certification of an
onsale liquor license 32 liquor license or Sunday liquor license all right thank you Jamie I'm good Scott nothing Ryan uh we did discuss this at the liquor store meeting so one of the
questions I had was do we see this impacting our liquor store sales I didn't get the impression from anyone that it would um one question I guess Joel I don't know if you can answer this or not but one thing that came up
was can they only sell this on the same side that they sell the tobacco products because of the age requirement for the sales is there the the same 18 or older to to be able to process the sale do you
know uh as far as their employees yes uh yeah I would say it would be have to be 18 years old so assuming that then the the sales would have to be on the convenience store side at MC Tunes just like the tobacco
products I would assume then yeah I guess that' be for them to to figure out which register they're going to going to sell it out of okay um hours of operation 8:00 a.m. to 10: p.m. yeah on the Sunday did we ever figure that out because I know the
question uh Sunday uh was 11 to 6 okay so the same hours that the liquor store would operate okay so there's no no um conflict there um maybe something just to think about since now we have
one coming to us for this when we look the fee schedu for 26 maybe we want to revisit the $10 fee for 32 y that's all I got thank you Curry my only thing was does the $10 fee cover the cost uh like
our staff cost um to process all of this not even close yeah so I definitely would like to add that on the 2026 budget discussion the fee discussion then but that's all I am yeah that fee schedule conversation will come
back pretty soon so all right uh thank you I'll entertain a motion I'll make it all right motion by Miller second second by pava any further
discussion all in favor I all opposed motion carries consider approval of a refuge recycling collection Transportation disposal agreement between the city of Lonsdale and Dick sanitation Jo um I'll be right back I
grab my my rision um so included in the the council packet um was the um the draft resol or excuse me contract at the time uh I got a verbal approval this afternoon that um
we went back and forth a couple times um between staff and uh legal departments and got the okay uh from dick sanitation today or this afternoon that they were um accepting the the terms basically changes we're adding some uh
verbiage to um refu talking about biomedical infectious biohazard um it's nothing that is um uh any material changes to to the agreement um the contract itself has definitions uh the services to be
provided a household collection the recycling programs um how the city uh will be uh reimbursed for the uh tonnage rebate uh for the recycling um and that is separate from the uh
Civic organization um program um methods of service basically talking about how um we are providing under the uh organized establishing organized collection of refu uh State Statute
section 115 .94 basically providing uh dick sanitation a the a right to be the provider of uh curbside garbage collection equipment which is consistent with the RFP uh any collection
operations um there was a language added that each household will be provided one roll out cart based off of the agreed two uh monthly rates and then um if any
damage to the cart done by the C customer will be the uh responsibility of of the customer um if this a wheel falls off for example um DSi would would take care of that uh garbage collection between 7:00
a.m. and 600 p.m. Thursday and Friday and then residents are to have their carts out no later than 6:00 a.m. uh there was um language added as far
as um who responsible for the material at what time um DSi as part of the contract said that once they assumed that they would take responsibility for it but then if there was any
um uh contamin say oil or biohazard something like that uh would be the responsibility of the city and the the resident well don't get it both ways once you assume it you assume it um and then if they have to go after somebody
then they'll have to have to do that the city um could help but they are not definitely not taking the lead uh they wanted some language in there um that the city warrants the city's pavement curbing other surfaces
um are sufficient to the bear the weight of all the contractor's equipment um we deleted that uh as far as billing and collection uh the rates uh that were submitted in their proposal and accepted by the city appendix a b and c in the collection of
fees is the sole responsibility of the contractor uh the contractor shall be entitled to handle delinquent accounts uh anyone more than 30 days pass due would be considered um delinquent and outstanding term of the contract April
1st 25 to March 31st 2029 um as far as terminating the contract either party can terminate the contract upon 180 days written notice to the other party uh if they don't cure uh
the default within 10 days uh the city can terminate the contract immediately if in the reasonable Judgment of the council the contractor failed to perform one or more of the terms of the contract uh after providing the contractor notice of of the
failure um legal requirements that the contractor will comply with all rules regulations and statutes set forth um in America Minnesota Rice County lawdale as far as collection transportation and disposal of uh
materials the contractor's best effort uh they will provide and furnish all labor and equipment necessary to ensure satisfactory collection transportation and disposal of refuse uh contractor's Insurance uh minimum amount of 2 million per
occurrence 4 million in the aggregate automobile liability 2 million combined single limit work comp uh 500,000 uh environmental their uh environmental impairment liability uh no less than 2 million per occurrence 4
million in the aggregate um indemnification um both parties um agreed to indemnify and hold harmless the other uh performance bond they're DSi is working on getting this right now uh
they have to provide a performance bond or a letter of credit or some other instrument in the amount of $100,000 uh they can't just sell um they have to provide the city notice and we have to um agree that um that they can
assign the contract to a different company relationships of the parties uh the contractor in this case DSi is independent contractor and not an employee or agent of the city of the miscellaneous contractor subject to
audit uh according to State Statute 16 c05 subdivision 5 uh the contractor agrees that the city the state auditor Minnesota legislative auditor or any of their duly authorized representatives at any time during normal business hours and as often as May reasonably be deemed
have access to their numbers their their bookwork um non-discrimination uh waiver if the if either party waves one portion of the contract doesn't mean that subsequent breaches um would be
okay uh complete agreement this is the the complete agreement and there's just notifications and then the as I said earlier appendix a b and c a is the uh charge per year
per month for the varant sized carts uh white goods dishwashers freezers things like that and then there's also appendix C the spring cleanup costs so um I said I worked with the
city attorney on this their legal team agreed to it um unless there's any questions staff would recommend approval of the uh proposed refu recycling collection transportation and Disposal agreement between the city of lawdale and DSi awesome thank you Scott
um I believe you uh Joel you mentioned that uh containers will just stay where they are they're just going to get relabeled correct they're handling that yep um actually uh on uh March 5th I sent a
press release to um Colton with a news review uh he said he would get it in I look at the paper on Tuesday surprise surprise it's not in there so this afternoon our phone was ringing off the hook with people call and questioning hey what are they doing um so today they
started um swapping out the West Central recycle carts with Rice County Recycling carts and yes um they have purchased as my understanding they've purchased the the garbage cans or carts and will'll be
rebranding them with with their logo so we're not getting new DSi cards correct we use our current ones yep minor correct all right is that all you have
got um yeah at this point yes all right Brian um is that the same for the um cardboard or they putting new containers there you know no they bought those ones they bought those ones too yep so they're just rebranding those as well
correct okay and when you say the r and depending on how it goes uh they might modify them okay so that people are forced to break down their boxes that'd be nice yeah they're they're that' be nice um when you say the Rice County so
for the recycling the blue with the yellow top are Rice County okay so anyone who currently has those will not see any pickup or or replacement of those containers correct correct okay thank
you okay nothing I'm just bummed I don't get quick I know well you might yeah maybe somebody might get yours and you get theirs Jamie can we make the general public aware of some of these other
white good collections because before I saw this I wasn't aware that we could call and they'd come pick up some of that stuff for a feet and if you're taking off of work that fee is well worth the time and money other than that I'm good it's been
a while since I was at the press release but I believe that that is in there all right uh entertain motion a motion by pava second second bya any further
discussion all in favor I all opposed right motion carries presentation of the 2024 Community Development report Cory Hiner uh thank you Mr Mayor and good evening uh councel I'm going to take you on a journey through 2024 uh with the
planning and zoning department right uh so the key points I'm uh hitting on tonight um I'm going to spend very little time on the population uh as we previously discussed at several meetings uh lawn sale pop State demographers office has not released our
2020 or 2024 population yet fingers are crossed we're above 5,000 uh building permit uh statistics uh land use permits and real estate home sales and uh um land developments so uh there's no PowerPoint
uh please follow along in your attachment tonight um I'm going to quickly go through this report um so moving along to page three lawn sale population change from 1990 to 2023 uh council member worm cersion and
pava you saw the same information last year uh putting us at that population of uh four under 5,000 still uh moving along to four page four uh this just gives a comparison for the
from 20120 to 23 with our surrounding uh communities here uh as you can see Elco New Market is just a smidge above 5,000 there and uh we're near nearby or close to it uh building uh statistics on page
five uh so the total permits that were submitted through our permitting system uh total 290 in 2024 and the total value so this is I want to make sure this is very clear this is not a fee that's being paid to the city in each building
application there's a value of the project and it's taking that value if someone's putting in a fence or a hot water heater for $33,000 that is the contractor's value that they're entering into that permit so that number uh is uh
$10.5 million as far as uh the permits being process process processed as the value uh this is a long range uh historical data here since 1990 uh as I mentioned uh 290 permits
this year uh that's 65 less than last year last year was 355 um this gets into the next slide on page eight it gives more or just another look at this as you can see in 2021 uh
for all the residents were that were here that year that was the big hail storm that came through that was the resides re roofs um well as you can see 1,537 permits were pulled at that time uh to correct that damage that insurance
damage to property uh then here's a permit value uh 10.5 million uh 12.9 last year uh moving along to uh slide 10 uh here's just a comparisons of last year uh as you could
see uh we're lower in our re roofs much lower on our resides we sort of come out of that repair uh from a few years ago um and what it's showing us here is that more fences are going up in
town um Windows accessory building uh then uh a few more finished basements uh here's in page 11 this is just a breakdown of year by year showing the differences or the permits pulled for and these are our most common
permits uh accessory buildings Stacks fences finished basement re-roof reside uh Windows uh 12 uh go go jumping into another category here on Slide 12 2024
new single family dwelling units so last year there was 20 new homes built in laale uh that total value as I mentioned again was uh little 4,370
th000 and then that and this $218,500 is the contractor cost that's being put into these into their builds the value that's added into their permit so we're slightly up we're one up from
last year uh we're starting the year off uh basic we're starting off the year right now I have three uh constru or new build uh permits in the hopper right now just basically waiting for uh the escro payments the fees to be made or made out to the city so we will see some uh
action starting in the short future um in the Legacy Meadows area uh through both all three uh uh uh projects are occurring in that in that subdivision uh fun facts here last year
uh 14 of the new homes are built in the Tri City uh uh TCU School District uh and then uh six in the new PR uh school district and what's interesting here is so out of the 20 homes that were built
West Ben rentals so West Ben rentals is a company of Scott Lumis so as as as many of the or as a council member pava and wor gersan you've heard Lumis has always been a big builder in town and this is
his sub company uh Westbend rentals and he's been building these new homes for rental property and he has exclaimed that you know what lale is a great Rental Community we have great renters here and the two permits that submitted
or the two two out of the three sub permits that are submitted right now are from West Bend rental again to build these rental properties uh then Scott then the actual Lumis company put up six uh GRL two in Welco or uh town or Twin Homes and then
uh Bill Mark Court just a small Builder out of the St Paul area uh has two lot or had four Lots down there and put two uh single um family uh detached uh units on two of his properties this year uh
breakdown on slide uh 15 as far as the subdivisions where the homes are going one enrolling Ridge four in valrose uh six in Welco uh four in Willow Creek and then uh three in
Heritage Estates uh then broken down by the quadrants were these homes being built um majority of them in the southwest quadrant of the city uh just looking at comparisons on
slide 16 U what's happening in our area as far as builds um this is just 2024 stats only I'm not going to go down the whole list but B PL put up four Montgomery seven uh new pre 10 you
know lale's right in the middle of there basically um still Lakeville Lakeville as you can see rapidly growing there at 434 uh slide 17 this just uh paints a picture of the tenure um new build uh in the area and
then Londale in bold with 293 in 293 homes in the last 10 years uh slide 18 um a a permit it's commercial permits so this is another
category that's in our permit system this is for all our commercial businesses and businesses in town this is involves any public builds that we have going on uh such as the new city hall project up on the hill so a value
of uh about a little over $3 million um as you can see wy's car wash opened up early this spring uh in J or in January we got the City Hall remodel project going on and then always with the assistance
of uh the city administrator here with the building and development Revenue uh so future impact uh home or ta future tax impact of the city portion we take that average from the last seven builds from last year we come up with
1,952 times 20 so that tax impact to the city 39,40 uh there is no industrial or commercial uh builds last year so that's a goose egg zero our sack and whack these up to 195,000 easy
multiplier and then as industrial nothing going on there so you know we're seeing uh the the admin fees here uh plus uh then with the um property taxes so you know what we're still seeing growth here but my bottom message my end
message to this presentation is that we need development um so we're getting into okay the sack and wack bees 195,000 were collected last year um and then land use slide 21 land
use permits uh it was um very slow year with land use uh applications compared to this year uh this year I believe we have four or five already and last year there was just one processed uh for advanced exhaust Solutions uh this is this is a very interesting uh
slide or moving forward slide 23 2024 real estate home sales in the town or in the city of Lawnsdale so 2024 there are 703 home sales in the area as you could see that from 2019 it was rising Rising and it
peaked at 2021 and it's been declining um and that's just based upon um inventory what's available in town and also construction costs and um or the economies at at this
point or last year uh breakdown when are people buying homes uh in the city uh May was the busiest month with 12 so this paints just interesting P picture here of when the closings are occurring
uh I always thought that you you close on a house in SE or right or during the summertime before school starts uh so we see a lot of closing in closing closings in May uh based upon the sales or the the
sales of the uh the 73 homes just doing a simple average uh the average with uh with the sale prices uh our average sale price in in town is for a home is 324,000 but then you're wondering man when I go
on Zillow I'm seeing this house for 400 and so forth um our homes in town are um they seem like they're a lot more expensive than the $324,000 uh Joel and I were talking about this one slide 27 you know this is
one of the first years where Lumis had the highest or our Lumis house was the highest um sold house here in in town uh 633 Birch Street Northeast right between right behind mathun uh sold for
$90,700 the homes were above $400,000 all right The Sweet Spot here in town uh with 37 is between 300 and4 $400,000 um dropping to between 200 and 300 there was 22 homes and then you know
if you got lucky there was only four in there between1 and $200,000 and obviously nothing at below 100,000 uh Land Development this is probably the most crucial part of this uh update in this
presentation we talk about lot inventory uh from the information that I collected um there's 21 Lots left in town subtract the three on process three the city is processing at this time so
these Lots um these are infill lots these are sort of like the Little Secret Patches in town that hey there's still a lot there but when you see some of these Lots it's the homeowner right next door that owns these lots that want the extra land
so we've we've reached the pivotal low of 21 uh left in the inventory here in town uh slide 31 is just uh the locations by subdivision where the lots are remaining uh like I said Legacy Meadows there's a few down by the
culdesac still that's where uh West Bend is building uh slide 32 this just gives a breakdown of excuse me of the of the who owns the Lots who's building the
Lots um in town that are remaining and just a more of a breakdown on page on slide 33 so 13 standard Lots left up on welo uh there's eight left I know that Lumis is going to be building
a a twin home up there soon so I know that there's another or a twin twin twin home develop or build that's going to be occurring up there and then we we are less than there's nothing left basically uh as far as uh where to build here in
town uh summary just an overview of the future development land West Side the South prop or the Southwest properties near the LA ele Elementary School um 10th Avenue North West properties uh
Joel and I have not been in talk or in discussion with any of these uh owners here or nor have any of them reached out but on the positive side here uh we have been in heavy discussions uh for harmony medal second edition this is
Lumis homes I believe this was mentioned at the work session uh about um working with Scott Lumis in the um Harmony Meadows area uh he did his company did officially submit a land use application
uh it's incomplete at this time because we're still waiting for the payment to start the process but that's underway and I believe the information that was driven to or given to you was it it was a uh the area build up to 40 Lots but
they were or 40 homes but they were thinking about a phased approach uh but I know that they're eager to get going this year uh from what we heard last of uh 20 starting with 20 and then expanding the or then increase going
then additional 20 in the following year um so on the bottom of I'm still on page or slide 35 total there's still potential to 600 800 Lots here um and then also here's what I was looking for
the Bixby property uh Joel and I met with the Bixby property team earlier in the week uh still talking about the concept plan we related related the park board information uh to their design concept and uh they're working with us
we're working with them so that is still underway uh slide 36 this has not changed from last year development land within the city limits uh 303 Acres up to 600 and 600 to
800 um uh single family uh detached Lots uh as I mentioned on S slide 37 uh harbon metal second uh we received the land use application uh WSB has done a pre pre
preliminary review um with the platting uh Harmon Metals 3 a little bit further south from Harmony Metals second edition 15 to 25 Lots uh slide 39 shadowstone North uh that's been a
little quiet lately um we were in discussion with Mike Benson earlier in the year and uh we have not heard back from him slide 40 best your point I know that
discussion or that was mentioned at the work session meeting uh we have Joel and I have not had any discussions with any uh builders in that area and then as everybody at the council table has seen on
41 uh the Bixby property uh concept plan and as I mentioned I've relayed that information from the park board to the development plan on Tuesday uh with the city administrator uh Willow Creek height
South East um potential 240 to 280 Lots uh as everybody knows uh the commercial Industrial Development or industrial park is still open but I need to mention quick trip here uh with the development of quick
trip going or uh going in in the industrial park area uh just a filler slide here the original industrial park is completely full a little room for some expansion there uh slide 45 lawn sale Business
Park Willer Creek Commons as I mentioned the 12.3 Acres of the industrial park still open and uh staff are working with quick trip and the staff are working with the engineer and quick trip uh major accomplishments from our
Public Works team and Engineering uh this year uh as far as parks and trails go uh Kina Park disc golf course was our amenity uh a park amenity new park amenity uh last year
and I just want to make a note that all of that was done in house uh with that price tag of $335,000 for that amenity uh getting feedback that it is heavily used by a ra a range of Ages from Young
to um to senior uh Street and infrastructure we talked about we hit this at the last work session what was accomplished um with the m water main extension The Mill Street water main extension uh the Millan overlay project
on fourth fifth Ash Northwest and Lonsdale Court um the booster station project underway and the city remodel project that wow I cannot believe it's going to be April and the deadline is coming up the
completion deadline is coming up on that uh quick summary um still working with the we utilize the iWorks permitting system um it is all online it's very it's a a very easy na uh
program to navigate I'm always here to answer questions of our uh of our applicants and help them out but um we've gone completely 100% online with our applications um laale is essentially out
of lots and uh future development is needing now but I'm reassuring the Council of staff is working on that uh with two developers and then coming soon and which I know City's Hall staff are pretty excited about um it's the new
city hall up in the hill um I will do my best to answer any questions uh from the mayor or councel uh but that concludes my uh 2024 um Community Development report thank you
Corey Ryan I'll let you kick it off um do we track I really like the charts you have at the beginning with the the home sales um do we do any of that tracking for commercial properties as well like existing properties that have sold or um
and I know it might be a little bit more challenging because they might change hands a little bit more often but that'd be interesting to see the the dynamic of of those numbers uh council member wmer kerson I totally agree uh let me figure it out and I think it'd be a good way to
to get a better handle on what's what kind of transactions are are going on in our commercial World here in town yeah yeah that'd be great thanks G all right G just great presentation good information thank you thank you I don't
have any questions Jamie how close to shadowstone North is the water and sewer right now uh to the property line is it all right and then on 8th 11th and then uh there's also Water and Sewer in the
northwest corner of figan 96 and then what's the plans to get water and sewer to Crusader Ridge uh that was uh submitted as a uh
SE well and septic won't pass perk well it's also not on the radar either so um ideally it would be to run it through Shadow storm North all right that's all I've got all right
Scott actually Brian's point about the commercial stuff that was the only thing I really had is you know as we're seeing more commercial development and turnover of stuff would be kind of cool to see where where we sit on that especially
with the turnover yeah thank you Cory I want to thank you for putting this together um one thing that I do recall in another one of these uh presentations prior was it was highlighted
uh comparison between one business in town to a total amount of houses so it was like at that time I think it was 11 houses is what it took for one business in property tax value um and so ever
since seeing that I've been really focused on uh commercial industrial and uh but a couple questions that I do have is on page 40 baser point and you have mno homes there 20 to 40
lots are we having active conversations with madno no then did we get um as far as terms of what the Developers for Bigsby want do we ever get answers or questions that
what they needed from the city for support uh in our conversation uh earlier this week the densities are are are the main thing is there more guidance that you need from Council on that or no we would
just follow our policy okay and then for the uh laale Business Park you know we do have eight acres in one lot we do have three acres and another owned by GPM lawdale and I kind of wonder if when we
say things like the business park is full like so when ases was coming through we said the business park is full it it was our City's land that was correct completely sold but we still had
11 acres still out there in total so I I think that we really need to start getting GPM involved too on trying to get that land sold versus focusing on the verbage of that business park being full even if the city sells their whole
site so but other than that that's all that I really have from all this and Corey I do want to thank you for the time that you you have spent on this it was it was great to read it and go through all these slides so I appreciate your hard work thank you Mr Mayor and
thank you councel so um don't need a motion on that so we'll go into consider approval of a quote submitted by underground Technologies in the amount of $8,699
and4 for televising and jetting sanitary sewer Man line Joe dorfield thank you mayor and members of the council starting in 2021 uh the city began hiring routine jetting and
televising this is due to our jedar um being put on an emergency basis only um it's just not ready or capable of the full duties of jetting the whole city as it used to um so approximately one-third
of the city has been jetted and televised in 21 22 and 23 once that was completed um consistent with Nasco and city um sewer policy we can televise
only and we just do spot cleaning where it's needed um 2024 was the first year of just televising only uh it went it went great we were able to complete all of the necessary jetting in one day um bid
packets were sent to hydrovac Empire VI sewer hydroc clean underground Technologies Superior Ser Superior sewer services and American Environmental and Ritter and Ritter and my apologies I have a typo um seven of the eight
contractors that were bid packets responded um underground Technologies is the low bidder Ritter and Ritter did respond um informing staff that they are no longer in the televising business staff recommends approving the quote submitted by underground
Technologies in the amount of $1,692 And1 for televising sanitary sewers in 2025 staff has worked with underground Technologies in the past and it's pleased with their work and reports um
that reports is really something that is I it's really valuable and it's working with other contractors in the past they can be very tricky and hard to follow um they do a fantastic job with their reports for fiscal impact we have 30,000
budgeted for the cost of this project um that's just from me working with the contractors kind of getting the ballpark of where things were going to go uh the bid tab is here for you guys to compare as you can see that 30,000 is probably a pretty good budget number um working
with underground Technologies he came in pretty comparable to last year's um prices um 2024 hydrovac won the bid for $1 19,23 and you know for about less than $ thousand dollars
underground Technologies um lost that bid so he really wanted to get back into lawdale um the Alternatives we had would be to not approve the quote from from underground Technologies and select another alternate contractor attached are the quotes received and the map of
2025 proposed work area if you guys have any questions I'd be happy to answer all right thank you Joe carry no questions Jamie no questions Scott no that's good Ryan like
to see him blow budget keep it up amen all right no entertain a motion so all right Mo by pava second by War Miss Gerson any further discussion all in favor all opposed motion carries discuss the city council's water sewer Park and
recreational or Recreation Capital outlay priorities goals and objectives for 2025 this is a continuation off of our previous work session so Joe dornfeld I'll give you that one too thank you mayor and members of the council
um so tonight as you stated we'll be discussing water sewer and park and wreck um I just want to start with the water and sewer by prefacing it with our infrastructure is strong our infrastructure is probably one of the
strongest for a small City in our nation I mean when we're talking the age of our infrastructure the condition it it's fantastic and we are um we're lucky to work with uh with such new things um so I'll start with water our
infrastructure we have a booster station rehab project that will be completed this year in 2025 um we are ever so patiently waiting for that circuit barard to arrive um once that's in the rest of it is pretty much done pretty to go um
Wellhead protection Wellhead protection plan we began that process last year phase one that will be completed in Spring of 2025 with phase two to begin um shortly after in the summer of 2025 um it has been budgeted for um the
water tower sighting study has been budgeted for in 2025 um we've had this topic um brought up it's called a sighting study it's much more than that we we know where the water tower is going to go that's it's it's just
more it's more in depth in that it's what size do we need in ground above ground um you want to add anything to it Shani um yeah just looking at
um underground above ground and then kind of site costs as well um and then it will also evaluate the need for a new well um because the other discussion was well fre which is your emergency that
rehab to be a full proding but the next step of this study would evaluate the need and timing of that as well the um moving on um as part of that water tower
sighting study as well um part of the Water Tower project would be adding an additional Loop to the southeast water main system um I think the primary location would be the Highway
19 Corridor um so in the last year we have had two water main brakes one valve away from shutting the entire Southeast section of town off
um I just want to tell you guys it's not just an inconvenience of residents in businesses not having water when you have that when you have no water on a scale that large um as people come home as businesses are figuring out that
water is off and everybody's trying their water um that's when these back flow preventers come into place it's so that we're not taking things into our water system the other challenge is
restoring on a scale that large um I don't know if you guys have ever been on a water main break when it when you're recharging but the amount of air and you're you're talking 600 a th000 ft of water m is without water and all that
air has to be forced out before it can be returned to Residence um it just introduces a risk of more breaks more issues so
um I think that with two in the span of one year I think it's a matter of when if that happens um we we touched on replacing the water tower whether we add or replace it um that would come with that
sighting study um future things to think about um water treatment plan expansion uh we're currently in a chloride variance which is through the mpca on the sewer side but one of the remedies for it is to fix it on the water side
um discussions were talked about you know that um centralized softening at the city level at our water treatment plant you know as a upgrade around the 15 million price tag range
um somewhere down the line we will have to install well six currently we have wells four and five in service with well three as an emergency well only well three is a multi- aquafer well which is
finished in the mount Simon aquafer same as Wells four and five well 3 is not connected to our water treatment plant and I do not believe it feasible to connect it to the water treatment plant um however with our two Wells that we
currently have both are capable of a th000 gallons per minute however both Wells cannot simultaneously be turned on and treated so through the treatment plant one well at a time or in
a state of emergency we can valve it so that it does not go through the treatment plant if we need to pump an addition of a th000 gallons at one time um the last thing for the water is an implementation of a backflow
prevention certification program So currently uh Public Works staff manages a system where all of the commercial rpz are inspected on an annual basis um we make sure that all of them are in
compliance if we do not receive their certification we send out a letter so far um since 2010 everyone has complied there's been a few where we've had to give them a few
additional nudges but everybody has always complied um in kind of a hint hint from the Department of Health uh this is coming for all residential vacuum breakers on irrigation systems that is a rather large
scale um so staff I I have uh I have some quotes from some companies that this is what they do they take care of sending the letters and the notifications um and then weighing that
cost versus staff running this cost or running this program um so you guys can expect to see that at a future council meeting in the near future um but I strongly believe that that that has to be in place um I would
rather start it and show the Department of Health that we are making a good faith effort than if they knock on our door and we have nothing in place um so that will be coming
shortly um how do you guys want to run this you want to ask questions for water you want me to go through the whole thing um let's break down let's break down what you currently went through let me just run it through the table real quick okay um Jamie you
have any questions or anything you want to add not right now okay Scott um just on the the treating of the water through the the the freshwater system you said you can only run through so much that's the it's plum or that's just the
capacity of the filters that's the capacity of the filters okay and I recall when we when we designed that um it was designed for the potential expansion to the east west to the West okay I could which direction it was but
that would have done the additional filter system it be kind of doubling the capacity correct okay um so if we did that um too at the time when we did it it was it
was a lot um but where are we at for our current capacity overall not not just switching off from Well to Well but uh if we're at the th per minute on a well what's the what's the
uh is it a th per minute on the filter alone or um I just don't know how it's I don't remember how it's plumed because we added additional well is it an issue with the plumbing so we're not we're not pulling out not pulling out a two and
running it in the filter all at once um I think I'll do my best so the the filter it can only have one well it can accept a th000 gallons a minute whether it comes from well four or well five um
the city has two Wells it's a redundancy thing it's just kind of how it needs to be as far as capacity goes I would more rate our capacity on our storage which is 300,000 gallons in a water tower okay
I just I couldn't remember if we were that thousand a minute in the filter or if it was just the way it was to it that was the issue yeah um it is what it is it's been a long time since we looked at the the
operation of that it's got to be 15 years 14 years you put that in believe was 2012 that's it all right Brian um so with that water tower sighting stud I
know we use the term sighting um are we going to have some idea of cost estimates after we complete that um okay perfect in terms of the you mentioned
the centralized sof softening and you said 15 million those are high Lev numbers those were just like possible solutions that we are and and trying to avoid you know at some point we're gonna have to talk about water plant expansion right at some
point yep um so I assume you know we're looking at Water Tower and then F the next project future project would be expansion or some some upgrade or work to the water treatment water treatment
plant um so what I I've been having a few I've reached out and I've had some conversations with some of our legislators in regard to we want to get into the hopper for
potential bonding State bonding for this um some have been open and responsive some have not either way I think it's something that this study is going to put us in a good position to as a council we need to
think okay let's start maybe budgeting so we can show the good faith that we've got money set aside for this because that's a piece for this bonding but I think bonding through the state for a project like this is really important and I think it's something that we should really really try to do
because doing this on our own is going to be tough um and there's no reason we shouldn't be on there we've never for it we've never asked our legislators to go to bad for
us to put us on the list to get us in there and usually it takes a couple swings to get into that bonding so that's why the sooner we get that stuff done the sooner we can have numbers to take to the legislature and say get us on the list we understand we're going to
get a no this time around but maybe we can get it in two years um because that's within our timeline right does that seem realistic it it absolutely is two to three years um so I think that's important that's super
important so if anybody else feels the need to reach out new PR they're pushing for them to get bonding for their police station I made a very good point to one of our legislators in an email to say we did that on our own we need a water
tower so um yeah if anybody needs a template let me know send it to me I'm happy to do it that's all I got all right Curry um I'm just really invested in the Southeast section since I live there uh so I want
to know um about uh so adding an additional Loop to that um what kind of cost are we needing to look at for budgeting and is wait I don't know so that was built into the cost of the water tower okay um based on the
comprehensive plan that Loop um and altitud Val was figured but step we would um reach out to vendors again and kind of update those costs I just want to mention also on the funding um so
there's the um PPL program through the mpca um which is an easy application it's due May 1 to just get you on that project priority list um but and then they rank the projects and they're
pointed um that could provide interest loan it's not a grant um and then as part of the comp plan that the council approved in 2023 another step is to do a utility rate
study um you know and account for sack and whack because that that helps fund your larger infrastructure improvements as well but um certainly the increases in rates over time you know I don't know if that would fund this so definitely
talking to your legislators for body probably good as well all right thank you if you don't mind I got to ask for a quick recess yeah okay are you gonna bring us walk
I should want there th resp all right I apologize that's fine all right Joel I'll let you keep going okay all right on to the Sewer
um so some time ago um one of our airation ponds was shut down for we were at under half capacity substantial Energy savings um we are no longer under half capacity
at our wastewater treatment plant um so both of those ponds need to be back up in service for proper operation of that service um each airation Pond has four airators currently we have four in the
one pond that's in service we have one spare and none in the other um we're looking at about $125,000 to get us up and running in equipment um and there will be a
substantial increase in electricity used uh these there's just really no way around it they're just by Design they're just not very efficient and they are on 247 365 um so that that pond needs to be be
put back in service um other things for the council to consider so it is increasingly difficult to have farmland to spread our biosolids on we're currently doing a bio
augmentation program it's fancy word for we have bugs that are in our digester that just eat more of it um so this year we are not for the first time since I've worked here we are not
participating in a spring Hall of biosolids this bio augmentation program is working it was 20ish th000 if I remember right so it's equivalent to one hauling which it is saving
us um with the math that we're doing we should make it um the city of New pre has been gracious enough to offer if we are in a pinch and we need to haul a few truckloads over to them to make it to fall they would accept it for us so that
would just be some Trucking expense um but the city if we want to continue with this method of getting rid of our biosolids I think we need to strongly
consider buying our own land of a minimum of 80 acres so each spring and each fall it takes 40 acres um I just think that would allow expansion for the for the town you
know we're going to have more as the population grows um but it's it would be nice to be in the driver's seat to have our land you know so um The Challenge always is spring
everybody wants the fertilizer in the fall nobody wants compaction of the tractors driving on and in the spring and it's all just it's kind of been a hard know this year so um we're going to make it I mean everything's going to be fine and I
don't think we need to buy land tomorrow but I think it's something we need to to strongly consider um so like these next points constructing a sludge storage tank to allow for the hauling of fall biosolids only um you know that's something to still consider if it's our
own land or not if we're going to lease this land to a farmer um there's also consider putting in sand drying beds there's there's other ways that we can do things without increasing the classification of our Wastewater
Plant um so for example sand drying beds um I believe it's attached you know one and a half2 million all of the biosolids would fit into about 10 single axle dump truck loads
and we would just bring it to Rice County and that would be it it would be done um there's many options that we need to consider but we we do need to consider something so that we have a little more control at least of what to do
um the other thing I I have consider a replacement of some equipment in the pre-treatment room um our wastewater treatment plant is 20 years old um City's always kind of been ProActive
at pump replacement um there's been insurance claims and you know so so the operation of everything else is kind of um we're sitting good that pre-treat equipment that's the most
important phase of the wastewater treatment plant facility that's taking out all the things that damage our pumps um and that equipment is 20 years old again it's it does not shut off and it's made of steel so it just wears
out um there's a bar screen in there it's probably looking about half a million for that and then there's a grip classifier it's probably another half a million for that so it's sky is not falling it's just something we need to have in the back of our
minds um continuing with our current jetting televising program um versus purchasing a new um jet vat truck as my prior staff report indicated back in 2021 that's when we started this program staff staff sat down and really analyzed
the price and the value and worth of having a half a million dollar jedar truck that runs for one month out of the year um I believe this program is working fantastic um I think
it's financially responsible for the city to keep going in this manner and to have our current jedar truck as an emergency truck only um the only downfall that I really see with this
is it really is the best way to learn the city is to be outworking the system and that is the one thing that we do lose by not Jing these sewers ourselves um continuing with our current manhole sailing program what that's been
in the past is it just set money aside um Believe last year we did not do it we've been in a drought for the last three years so it's they're not leaking it's kind of hard for me to justify
throwing 15 $20,000 at some blind spots that we and verify um continue with our current manhole casting adjustments in roadways uh for two years now um I'm sure you guys have
all known or seen around town this time of year when the frost is coming out of the ground you'll have those manholes that are this deep um and over the free Tha Cycles over the years they just crumble they don't go back to where they should so
we've been cutting the asphalt out around them and totally resetting the Rings resealing them and just redoing them it's a much better system than just fixing a little black top around it and just hoping for the best um we've had good success with it I think it's important to keep doing
that um our lift station we have one and only lift station in the city of lale we decommissioned um our other lift station in 2018 I believe that was by the lumber yard the only lift station is just down the hill from our shop um
um in 2020 there was a new pump installed and in 2023 there was a new pump installed with the project that we had um we had a broken base elbow so we replaced the base elbows all the piping so everything in that lift station in
the lift station um is was replaced in 23 with the exception of one of the pumps which was replaced in 2020 we're doing awesome at the listing um the thing we did not do is we we had considered panel
Rehabilitation um we've done technology upgrades there are benefits to installing vfds in that panel which are not in there now and then the panel is is just leaning over um and part of that panel Rehabilitation would be to switch
the orientation of the panel so when there is a problem at the lift station and the service call has been made the operator does not stand at the panel with the 40 foot hole right to his back
um all in all I think our sewer system is doing good again our sewer system was installed in 1974 so when we have these jobs for jettying and televising and all of these things
um these sewer companies can't believe that a little town like lale has all PVC sewers which helps them keep the cost down for all of our projects they're not musling through clay sewers and roots and this
and that and um so yeah all in all I I think um the main focus here would be let's get some control over our biosolids application otherwise I think se's looking pretty good you guys have any questions on
SE uh who did I start with last time Brian I'll start with part this thing nothing Jamie nothing c a couple things one is on the panel uh I remember at the old old lift station by Lumberyard we are always having skate issues and stuff
like that with alarms and stuff like that do they still is that still the technology for issues notifications yes so the lift station currently has um it has our skater system with radio communication to the
Wastewater treat plant something happens we get a call um there's the oldfashioned lights on the system I don't remember the year I believe we upgraded that panel view in 2015 or 16 something like that so the
technology is new I remember when we eliminated the other one the old the other station that was constantly having problems with yeah false alarms and shut down and whatnot so that that one wasn't hooked to the to the ska system per se
it was hooked to our oldfashioned dial it still called you on your phone but it was we weren't able to control operations from a laptop I remember I many times I would I would call Dale to let them know the red light because it wouldn't even be calling the alarm
system wasn't even calling through so just happened to something i' noticed what I call exh uh the other thing um for a friend you know we talking about you know 80 acres you know to spread biosolids or whatever uh and the cost of uh with
electricity and all this stuff I'm just I've totally thrown out an idea um a number a few years back we looked at um somebody talked about uh doing solar Farms is there would there be a way to incorporate if we did a did a solar
solar farm to do biosolids on that same property if it was large enough okay um would help offset some of our electric the thing with biosolids application in our liquid state that we have is there's two
methods that you can do you can inject it which is what we do or you can spread it on top of the field and it has to be incorporated within four hours that doesn't sound very appealing to me what do you mean by Incorporated
plow in okay all right um so that there's contractors so it's not just sprayed on the surface correct no it has to be injected or Incorporated okay and the windows I was envisioning a uh an irrigation system you know for
livestock that is that is acceptable but for humans it's not okay all right so a lot easier if it was I would not want to live by that I will pass the thing with um human biosolids I'm not going to say the smell
is zero but it is digested waste there's there's not much smell to it good um what was the you talked about the drying beds I know that was a subject that was talked about a number
of years ago too and I even know New Craig they were doing something like that where they were they were uh bagging and selling product so new is a class A facility they have an incinerator um I would not recommend
increasing our facility to a class a manner until our population absolutely demands it um we're talking sampling costs staffs obligation
to the plant samples they I mean we're talking on it's a whole another scale um so city of Montgomery has readed drying beds speaking with a couple different cities um met with some people from WSB
last week redying beds are probably off the table the mpca is considering those a invasive species so that's where the sand beds come that's what Le Center has um again you know as as time progresses
will look at these in a much more thorough manner I just wanted you guys to be aware that um again the sky is not falling it's just we we have to keep moving forward very good all right thank you
Brian um is this something that we can set aside a small amount or an amount pick an amount within our budget each year to kind of put aside for yeah we need it for or we need it for whatever um is that do
you see any room there Joe as you're and I I I I don't mean to put you on the spots I know we haven't gotten to the budget yet for the year for next year but maybe something to think about to see you know like and I know it's a much larger scale but you know we budget over
time for um vehicle Replacements and stuff like that maybe this is something that we should start thinking about throwing some money into a pot to hold on to to I mean if we're going to potentially buy land land's not getting any cheaper but if we can start putting
some money aside for it um you know and there would be potential Revenue off the land too if we do farm it or lease it out to farming true um I think this is another category same as the water tower
legisl I'm just going to send you over there to talk to be like I got a whole big L list day the hill how many hundreds of millions yeah that's all I got Joel I have a question what is
1% what is a dollar amount of 1% for tax L uh our tax L it's over $3 million 30 grand that's a number we all need to know so write it down but uh water and sewer would be funded it's
an Enterprise fund so it would should be in theory be funded by rates right yeah uh um oh wait you got another one at Park and wreck yep okay okay Park and wreck
um these are high level things um with the with the new Park Board um just some suggestions with the council here just for you guys to be aware um JC projects to be completed in 2025 scoreboard is up power is the only thing that's remaining
um and then the remodel of the concession stand and bathrooms which that project is underway um Emerald ashor um rid The Parks of dead dying and diseased ash trees and then the replacement of those trees um again we've been very
aggressive um as far as the park system um especially at trenda Memorial Park and then last year we we haven't removed any I shouldn't say that we removed one um but for JC we started the
planting of trees so that when the ash trees are removed it's not just a baren no shade no nothing um the trail maintenance over the past few years we've budgeted funds to replace the trails that are in poor
condition um similar to the PCI for the streets there is a trail pavement condition index that we use to identify and prioritize all the trail maintenance um talking with Joel and Cory I it's a good idea with the park board to review chapter 7 with our Park
Advisory Board um just it's a lot of good information of where the parks are where where we started where we are where we're going um a big thing for me um as you guys probably tell I really like the pavement so uh Paving all of our Parks
our parking lots at of at our parks and then I I just listed um the parking lots that we have the unpaved JC there's two parking lots the one for the park then the auxiliary parking lot directly to the South stia Park has two parking lots
Kina Park trena Memorial Park um then there are a list here seven parks with street parking only rayan baser Singing Hills 8th Avenue Marlene veterans and Lions Park um I think it's
fine with with no other amenities other than what we have currently there it's working um and then trishka has two parking lots with pavement on them um fiscal impact it's just the cost I
guess of attend attendance here and then the Alternatives we just don't have any I just again wanted to make you guys aware of just kind of my priorities and what I what I think um if you have any questions Park and
wreck or throughout the whole thing I'd be happy to answer for you guys all right thank you Joe Jamie I'm good Scott uh I'm good at the moment Brian no further
questions sorry I'm good is that all that you have for this discussion it is M okay so I want to kind of say something here is when we're talking about it's page 20
24 on the comprehensive water system plan I just want to highlight this it's for available funding options and they have the rural development all right so and I'll kind of read it if I can find it
again given lale's higher median income uh household income the city would likely not qualify for funding through the rule development for funding so that's something to acknowledge especially when we just got off of um
Corey's presentation is is that we have such a high median household income in Rice County and so when it comes to Grants you know I I want us to pay attention to that so it is going to be difficult um when we try to look at
funding for these options so that is something I just want to bring up put attention on so other than that I I don't have anything else but I appreciate uh this all this work between you Joe and and Shabani helping out a
lot too and um this is a lot of material it we aren't going to get through this whole entire thing but to constantly keep it in front of us so then that way we can start making a plan and implementing it and start working towards it is is crucial and critical so
um with all this information Council let's just really keep it in front of ourselves elves and and keep asking questions so then that way when it comes to implementing it um it goes by pretty smooth
so again thank you Joe and and Shabani um the last item that we have is for this lg220 application for exempt that's uh for Ducks Unlimited uh Joel
Eric and all what you go through with that um I got this late this afternoon from Ducks Unlimited they're looking at conducting a raffle at rail 19 on I believe it's April 27th uh they do need to provide it 30
days in advance so I'm getting it on our March 27th meeting did not meet their timeline so um I did tell them that they needed to get it to me by 3:30 today so I could get it um copied review it make
sure they had all the information supplied um they did I'm not aware of any reasons not to approve or acknowledge the lg220 application for exempt permit um with no waiting
period okay Scott you have anything no Brian um I see on the application they have Bingo and raffle checked are they doing both uh yes y they're doing both cool and it's just for that one day
April 27th are correct okay Jamie I'm good all right entertain a motion right motion by waru second second by any further discussion all in favor I all opposed
all right motion carries on to other business uh department and Council report Joel right back to you yeah thanks mayor and members of the council um booster station is coming along it is
about ready to be fired up like I said we're ever so patiently waiting for the component of the control panel to arrive um speaking with pm and the electricians um it is possible that we will fire it
up in anticipation of waiting for this control panel um it'll be hooked up in the manner of the old electrical system so we just won't have the new control panel components which at least it will get
more pressure to the residents of the Northwest section um I think you guys have seen the scoreboard is up at the JC Park we just got to get some few more sunny days here and we'll get a trencher get a get it wired up the concession stand and
bathrooms are in progress um I've talked to a few members of the Lions um you know just trying to trying to make everybody happy I guess with just you know remembering that it is our building and this is what
what's in the best interest for the city um street sweeper is back up and running he's been out um and the guys after that big giant snowfall we've had probably 10 mailboxes that were repaired
um just working with the residents everybody was really nice to work with nobody was losing their mind and then I did get the chemical SDS sheets on the homepage of the website for the herbicides um than thank you to Corey
with his help with that and then Tuesday and Wednesday of this week I attended the annual Minnesota shade tree course it is the continuing education hours for our tree inspector license um this year was pretty
interesting with some talks of cutting Boulevard trees down and just the legal aspects of how we started to where we are today about how that all kind of fell into place so it it was a good conference um other than that that's all I that's
all I got for you guys right now all right thank you Joe Shabani yeah just um reviewing the harmony Meadow second edition and working with Jeff on that just doing a preliminary review um and then um excuse me the Wellhead
protection plan did get approved by the Department of Health so um the next step is to have a public meeting um and I guess the first step is for the city to officially request appr and then have that public meeting by
June and then we've got our Public Works meeting next Monday to go through various items staff needs support one thank you your Joel uh well the Public Works director touched based on the scoreboard
coordination um the deadline for engineering and legal proposals uh has come gone so I'll be reviewing those um potentially for the next meeting the mosquito control RFP was sent out to several
companies um took a look at the uh Rice County local mitigation survey that was sent out by Rice County attended the chamber networking event earlier this week at Generations um got confirmation from mot
earlier this week that um they they do intend to bid and let the roundabout project and construct it this year uh liquor store meeting I'll get the numbers out tomorrow uh updated Quick Trip uh concept and just continue
with the city hall remodel project all right thank you Cory uh thank you Mr Mayor and council members um been working with the city administrator uh with the develop ERS um with Bixby like I mentioned earlier this
in the meeting with the Bixby um Property Owners on earlier in this week and um shooting out um parkboard and planning and zoning put the parkboard packet went out today Planning and Zoning will go out tomorrow and um we
will be reviewing the preliminary chicken ordinance uh plus having a few public hearings at the next meeting thank you cor Brian uh um liquor store met last week um numbers are up from last year so that's
good um we talk a little bit again like I mentioned earlier the uh 32 and the impact there um next week is library and Eda also tour the uh thank you again to Joel for
U opening up for the city hall to take a look at that on Monday so it's nice to go up there and take a look at where we're at all right thanks Brian C um well I Echo the liquor store meeting because I was there with them and liquor store staff is always doing a great job
um Park meeting is Monday so that'll be fun and then just thank you for all of these very thorough packets I appreciate having this information thank you uh Jamie planing and zonings Monday and we'll go over the
preliminary ordinance and probably some other good stuff all right Scott as Brian mentioned Eda next week um Joel mentioned the uh chamber networking event at generation
on Tuesday morning that was a good turnout uh Chan is working on getting one next month uh put together so that that it'll be coming out pretty soon I actually had a question for Joel or maybe you would know um I saw the new
um ladder truck uh this past weekend was in uh in the parking lot and I talked to the firefighters and they said they were out on a train they were out training with it was that specific training for that piece of equipment yeah yeah okay
so then when when is is that are we is it in approved for use or is it we still have to wait for all the training or what I I think they were at with training and then decal but I think that uh this weekend was the big opportunity to
train anybody that could really go to the training okay so they could put it on you know live and C going into calls with it yeah that's I I wasn't sure if it was officially in service or not yeah I don't I don't think it quite is I think maybe after this weekend I don't
know I'll ask pumper I'll get back to you on that it wasn't critical it was just you know just I noticed it was all when you know the firefighters they were walking in and I they just said they were returning from training and I wasn't sure what level but I wasn't going to interrupt with they going on
so that's all I had all right um yeah Joe uh thank you for putting that SDS on the website I saw that um the other day and and that was really nice to have up there uh I did have the opportunity to meet with a
business that wants to buy an existing building and so um we're we're still trying to make it happen um but a great company uh right now I'm kind of working with uh some other developers and having
conversations and and trying to get it brought up to council so we can really focus on a on a sound vision and start getting things wrapped up and loose ends um we also need to schedule next month's work session
um and back to kind of this conversation that we've been having on the public work side is we really need to focus on implementing a lot of this so it's not just discussion discussion discussion and nothing comes from it we we really
need to help public works out and make a map so um I I had gotten some feedback about the Eda revolving loan um some businesses uh like to hear more about it
so um that's something to throw out there uh maybe throw some more advertisement towards it maybe on the Facebook the city's Facebook if that's been discussed before but um other than that I I got
nothing else so I'll be looking for a motion to adjourn some all right motion by pava second second by Miller any further discussion all in favor I I all oppose all right
motion carries have a good night yes