Welcome to the Mountain City Council. It's Tuesday, May 26 at 6. Can we rise for the pledge of allegiance? >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right, we have our agenda. We have one amendment for sure. We're going to move uh under 6 C or sorry 6B we're going to
move to C and then we're going to add B. Our Henipin County Commissioners are both here so we're going to put them as B under six. You all good with that? Any other? Nothing. Okay. All right. So, we got our
agenda with that one change. Can I get a motion to adopt the agenda? I'd like to make a motion to adop adopt the agenda with agenda with the changes. >> Okay, got a motion. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Any other discussion? All those in favor, please say I. >> I.
>> I. Those opposed. All right, that passes. All right, then we got our consent agenda. Does someone want to go through that? Oh, sorry. Public comment. Uh, I don't know if anybody's here that wants to come up, but if you do, come come on up. >> You're done with me.
>> Okay. All right. We're just You're the only one that >> he's just coming to observe a council meeting. >> She's like keeping me on track. >> All right. >> All right. Well, hearing none, we're going to move to consent agenda. Someone want to go through those?
>> I can do that. Um consent agenda items A through H. Um, A, minutes of the May 12th regular council meeting. B, check register for April 2026.
C, pay request number three for $52,000, $52,85.18 to Whitmer Construction for project PW2502. Um, D. Approve resolution 2637 approving
Surfside Park irrigation. E. Approve resolution 2638 approving Spirit of the Lakes 5K. F. Approve ordinance number three 2026 amending city code chapter
78. G approve ordinance number 4-2026 amending city code chapter 121 pertaining to outlots. and H approve resolution 2641 uh for 2026 crack repair project award.
>> All right, we got our consent agenda items. Does anybody want to talk about any of those? >> All right, hearing none. Can I get a motion to uh approve the consent agenda? >> Motion to approve consent agenda. >> All right, got a motion. Can I get a second?
>> Second. >> All right, roll call, please. Council member Eric, >> I. >> Council member Pew, >> hi. >> Council member Castellano, >> hi. >> Mayor Holt, >> I. All right. All that passes. >> All right. Number uh six, we got uh
recognition of Ornal Police Chief or as it were yesterday. I don't know if you want to come up or you just want to We don't have to make a big deal about it. >> We do. But we do. >> Yes, we do. We did. Yeah. Yeah. Um
well I'll I'll say something here. I don't know if anybody else wants to say anything too but um you know thank you for uh for the 30 years and as chief here what 19 >> 19 >> 19 years. >> Um from what I understand you worked up
from volunteer all the way to to the chief. >> Um and then I guess as of today we have our new chief right? >> Correct. >> And you got two more days left. >> Yes. So easy part now. Um I just want to say
just on my personal behalf uh you know I remember the one time I got a call from you and there's some issues with some violence down at the capital and you know you called me and you know we're concerned about you know me and my family and I appreciate that. I mean it's it's one thing to just have you
know police chief and you kind of fill in the role and just doing what you got to do but you know to actually like reach out as you know turns into like a friendship over time. So, um, I've been on the police commission meetings for what, two years now. Um, that's been great. We talked about I know one thing
that actually went to the state this year and you told me we should go to the state with this uh, you know, bike helmets and um, the ebikes. Yeah. That that go 80 miles an hour down Dakota Trail. >> Um, we saw videos of it. Um, but yeah,
then that that went to the state. That's what you said, you know, said, "Hey, go, this is a state thing. this isn't a county thing or uh you know just a one department thing but um yeah we you're always accessible. Um I' I've only known you for what six years maybe five five
and a half years but uh we appreciate I appreciate everything you've done for us. >> Good luck retirement. >> It it has truly been an honor to serve this community uh since 2013 when we um joined forces and became your police department. it, you know, it's
challenging to get all the intricacies of, you know, taking on new community, but it worked. I believe it worked well. Uh, we've been successful and it's great being a part of this community. And it is an honor to serve the residents to be a part of this. This was uh my second
home. I spent more waking hours in our communities as police chief than I did in my own home. And I'm going to miss it because this is my second family. So I appreciate the communities uh you as mayor councel uh for your support and that continued support and yes Chad Stenzude our chief uh started today so
he was sworn in this morning so we have three days to sort of get him trained up and up to speed it and then it's a learning curve from there we have great staff Tony our deputy chief Tony and our supervisors he was with our office and department for several 14 years prior to
before he went to to Robbinsdale uh for four as a police captain. So, he's returning with with that knowledge. He's served uh the community already of Mound and other communities. So, he knows more. It's just getting him up to speed. So, I appreciate that. >> Yeah, we appreciate it. Does anybody
else want to answer? No, just to thank you for your commitment to community service, which I always appreciate the fact that people who make those commitments to serve a community really are making a real life
commitment as well as one to the community. I appreciate >> and wish you the best in your retirement. >> Thank you very much, Council Member Pew. >> Yeah. Um, I don't have a whole lot else to add, but I kind of I did live here before and kind of during that whole transition period, and I mean, I just can't say enough good things about your
police department. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> I will say the same thing as Mayor Holt did. I've only been on the police commission for a little over a year and um, everything has been wonderful. I've enjoyed meeting you and your staff and a big congratulations to you on your retirement. >> Thank you very much.
>> Wishing you the best. >> Thank you. So, we do have one thing and we want to get a picture with the whole council if you're okay with it. >> Yes, please. >> So, we'll come down and present it. >> I'm I >> Oh, I will. Don't worry. I'm just I'm just
>> waiting for Sher to come down. >> No, you're just part of it. >> Oh, God. No, >> I'm hooked into my phone. >> I'm stuck. >> I'm stuck. >> So, this is >> coordinated. So, well, thank you. a little bit.
>> We're coloring. >> All right. One, two, three. >> Thank you. >> Thanks again. >> Congratulations. >> Congrats. >> Enjoy. All right. Now we got uh six uh B. We
got Henipin County Commissioners. We got both of them. Eden and Anderson. Appreciate you guys coming up. Okay. Up to up to you. You'll have to move this up though, I suppose. Probably. >> How many towns actually split commissioners? Are we
>> I have 16. >> Yeah. So, um, >> but how many towns split? >> Yeah, I have two. Sorry. >> Oh, yeah. You're lucky. >> Oh, sorry. Plymouth, Mound, Eden Prairie, and Minneapolis. >> Oh, that's right. Yeah,
>> there you go. >> We demand too. >> Yeah. Yeah, I mean, listen, we have a lot of work for you. >> It's a It's a plus. Trust me, that's it's always a good thing. Um, well, there's us >> and uh and your staffer just got a picture of me with my hand on my hip
like, "What are you talking about? It's my turn to talk." Just kidding. How So, it's good to see you guys. You only see us once a year. Um, but we talk to him multiple times, right? And hopefully you see us a few more times. Um, so I'll just I'll run through my my present and then I'll have Kevin come up here. Um,
so just a quick little fun thing though. Um, >> so county was established in 1852. State of Minnesota was established in just >> it it what? >> You're doing a guessing game. >> It is a guessing game. Yeah. Yeah. Go. >> 1858.
>> Yes. Give me a go. All right. So, um, All right. So, 1852 and then the state was established in 1858. So, counties were established before, well, at least Henipin County was established before the state of Minnesota, which I find very interesting. Um, so we have 45 cities. Kevin and I both each have 16
cities. So by far we have the most. Uh, so not to be competitive or anything, but we're the best. Um, so we have 1.3 million residents in Henipin County, eight Fortune 500 companies, 100 plus lakes with Lake Minnotonka of course being the largest and 607 square miles
and 11 watershed districts. And then we'll go to the next slide. >> This is just a fun thing I we had our staff do. Um, it just highlights all the incredible things Henipin County does. I think last time when I did my first presentation, I was like, let me do a 45minute presentation on all the
different things we do, but I won't do that today. It's a lot. Always feel free to call me. But I mean it we do anything from licensing to your driver's license. Um, and you'll see later that that went up. Remember when we had the whole Real Ideal uh Real ID debacle? And so
anyways, it's kind of interesting. It's like fees for service shot up with that and you're like well um we have public works which I think a lot of people think of us when they think of county roads Mary you and I have always we're always connecting on that court services um we have waiverss and and we'll go
ahead and we're going to dive into some of the finances on the next slide. All right so Henipin County has the largest budget out of the state of Minnesota. So state of Minnesota next biggest government in the state of Minnesota would be Hipin County. We have a $3.15 billion um uh revenue that we bring in
in our budget. And so you'll see the largest portion of that is property taxes and state and federal government. They, you know, we have a smattering of those. And then um we have some other revenue sources which you're going to get from licensing fees, things like that. Bond proceeds. Oops, sorry that
was bond proceeds. Um and those, you know, those change every year. It's not always an exact science there. Um, but with that, um, I have another chart later that will really help look at exactly where our revenue is and the expenditures because I think oftentimes
people are like, "That's a lot of money. Where's the money going to?" So hopefully that's really what we're going to be able to dive into here today. So you can go ahead next slide now. So these are the expenditures. So these are the pie charts and then I have charts after this. So expenditures by line of business. You'll see health and human
services is about 50% of our budget. And that's what people think about oftent times outside of county roads is health and human services, right? We're doing the waiverss. When somebody needs Medicaid services, they're coming through us. They need um economic supports. Um they're coming through us.
So you think about child protection, another one. So operations and disparity reduction, what that department is is we have housing in there. We also have just the operations of the county. It's all of our staff. And then capital improvements, the West Tonka Library of
course, which we're all very excited about. Um, and then you have public works, which are roads, resident services, which are our library operations, law, safety, justice, which is the the county attorney's office, the sheriff's department. We also do probation. Uh, a lot of people don't
think about that. We have the uh juvenile justice center uh downtown Minneapolis. Um, we also run, um, the adult detention center. Um, oh, what is it called, Kevin? It's not called the adult. Is it adult? >> Is it Is it detention center? Okay.
Yeah. Yes, it's adult detention facility. That's what it is. Thank you. Um, all right. And so, we have that. And we'll keep going. And so, these next slides, which I realize I needed my glasses for for this, but small, but this is the revenue. And what I want to highlight on this is you'll see the
property tax. This is the first um one here. And with this chart, what I'm trying to show is I understand the revenue sources. What we're seeing is 2024 is the blue, 2025 is the light blue, and then the green is 2026. You'll see that trend, which is a trend we we
have to get ahead of right now, and we have to stop this at this point is that um we're relying more and more on property taxes, and that's not sustainable for residents. We know that Kevin and I are are very clear and Kevin you should tell them a little bit about some of the things that you requested
which I'm very supportive of too. Um but I'll just say it since he's right there and I'm on it. Um but Kevin made a request which I think was sorry Commissioner Anderson made I'm informal you guys. I like policy but like the formality some of it is can be obnoxious. So, um, he made a request
that any service, so about I would say 70 70ish% of what we do at Henipin County is all mand. But there are other things that we do that are not mandated. And so Kevin made the request saying, "Hey, you know what? Why don't we look at everything that's a
mandated service and what's not mandated so that we know as we're in a very tight budget right now like everybody else, we make sure that we understand what those decisions are." So, that was a very good uh request that was made. And you'll see that fees for service. Hello, Real ID.
You see it? It's like one, two, three, one, two, three, four, five, over >> the big spike. >> Yeah, big spike. Yeah, there it goes. Real ID. Um, all right. So, you'll see that these are the other revenue sources that we're getting. You'll see that the federal government, we've lost some of the revenue. It's a third over. And the
state, it fluctuates. States's mandating a lot of things. They're not always. And it was funny when I was at the legislature. I was like mandated, what did they call it? Unfunded mandate. And I was like, "Oh, you guys." But now I'm like, "Oh, I get it. >> I I get it." >> Um, so next one, and this is
expenditures for line of business. So this is where the money is going out. Um, so you'll see health and human services. You see that big spike with health, but human services, it's health and human services are the bulk. And I will say the hospital has been an incredible challenge this year. You've
heard the good news that we got the funding the funding from the legislature. It's great. It's a it's a help for now, but it's not a 100% fix. Um, and I am hoping the task force that we have will actually with the state will actually help figure out what we do because there's we need that hospital to
stay open. Um, when people think, well, when I was young at least, when I was start thinking about like running for office and I love government, the reality is it's not just roads and bridges that people care about. They don't only care about schools. They need health care. People need health care. If we do not have health care, we will have
more homelessness. If we do not health care, people will lose their jobs. We do not want a society that does not have options for people to get the care they need. Now, if this hospital was to close, it would have been very bad. Other hospitals would have been they wouldn't have the capacity to care for
them and people would have been rejected from care. And what could we possibly do with that in the state of Minnesota? It would have been a very bad thing. Um, but off to that, uh, you'll see that our capital improvements, uh, will be going down this year because the economy is not great, right? We're not going to be
building an addition when we can barely pay the mortgage. So, we will be doing less building. And I think that is it for this one. And I think Kevin, you're Are you up now? Kevin's turn. >> Property tax. Yay.
>> So, uh, thank you. the um so this this chart and thank you to Commissioner Eden for uh taking care of the presentation. I have been flying off the cuff this year and so she's really helping keep me focused. Um over the last few years,
we've we've definitely noticed an increase in our reliance on property tax. Um in part because of decreasing state revenues coming into state to uh into the counties to pay for the mandated services uh and also increases
or decreases in federal revenue. So um we'll talk about that in a little bit, but in mound um I think we saw just less than a 1% increase in the median uh home value increase. Uh and the taxable value
and taxable capacity in mound increased by about 1%. So they were pretty even. Um we're seeing that in 2026 um the proposed the assessor's report showed a much more even increase across
the county. So, uh, tax capacity and tax values all kind of raised, uh, roughly the same across the county, which is kind of a, uh, we saw that there was it was stabilizing. Um, and that's that's good news for us. Uh, you know, we still
saw some bottoming out of the, uh, commercial in downtown Minneapolis. Um, but that is starting to stabilize and and hit the I think what is probably the bottom of it. uh as we start seeing more redevelopment happening in Minneapolis,
that's going to start increasing those values as those properties start turning over and uh and we start seeing new development there. That is really going to benefit everybody in the county uh when that happens because that cost balloon shift that happens as local
governments are uh needing to fund their operations, you know, our our our hammer, if you will, is property tax. We don't have a whole lot of other options for that. And if we need to pay our staff uh the negotiated rates, it is what it is. You
know, we don't have a whole lot of flex in in how that goes. Um other than to hold staff positions, which Henip Henipin County is doing uh pretty aggressively right now. I think we can move on to the next slide. Um this is last year as we were adopting our
budget. Uh we were looking at the impacts uh the 2026 impacts of HR1. Uh HR1 was the uh the big beautiful bill and the impacts to counties specifically in Henipin County specifically was uh a
cut to the uh SNAP the food assistance uh given to low-income residents uh and terminated grants through for housing uh primarily. um that had an impact of about 10 almost 11 million for to Henipin County that we
had to absorb in some ways. For for context, um you know, you saw our budget was three $3 billion. Uh 1 billion of that is through property taxes. Um so
$10 million equals about 1% of our of our levy. So, um, when we start talking about a cut, uh, of federal money for, uh, $10 million, that means we're either
going like we're mandated to provide food security for for our residents. The the responsibility didn't change on that, uh, but we now have to absorb that cost. That's about uh not quite a full percent of uh shifting that burden onto
property taxes for us. Um if you go on to the next slide here, you'll see that we have in 2027, what we're planning for is an increase due to that uh that bill. So SNAP, we're going to see about a $20
million uh shift in in responsibility. uh housing security through uh housing and urban development is about $12 million. Medicaid is a big question mark for us. We did a lot of reimbursement in
our human services. Um through Medicaid, Medicaid was the primary component that uh the federal government cut uh they cut about what was it a trillion dollars? I I
forget the numbers, but it was big. And in Minnesota, it's going to have a a pretty substantial uh dollar amount that we haven't fully calculated because most of those cuts are uh reimbursement rates for services
that are provided um either uh through people who are enrolled in um like Medicaid services, insurance, reimbursement. Most of the people receiving Medicaid services are seniors.
Uh and so seniors and people with disabilities. Hopefully they are going to be the least impacted by the changes made uh in that big beautiful bill. Uh but uh we still don't know exactly the extent that
that's going to roll down to us. But you can see even with the known numbers that's a three and a half% uh shift of costs onto our property tax dollars. We can move on to the next slide. Um, Henipin County Medical Center. We,
you've probably heard so much about this and Commissioner Edison already uh address this. Yay. We got funding and stability for a few years here. Um, as Commissioner Edison also mentioned, the work's not done. There's a task force that's going to be uh appointed by the
governor to uh examine uh governance uh fee structure. The problems facing HCMC are not unique to HCMC uh but they are probably worse for HCMC than for any other hospital in the state of Minnesota
because of the proportion of our residents who uh receive Medicaid services. Um and those services are as we talked about in the last slide are the ones being cut. Um and uh people
most least able to pay for those medical services and we see them uh coming from across the state. So I think uh about 40% of the trauma uh patients who get
brought in to HCMC are from outside of Henipin County from other hospital systems from uh I think I saw a report 86 of the 87 counties sent patients to HCMC in in 2025.
So this isn't a Henipin uh only issue. This impacts everybody um except apparently Manomomen County. But um >> and then I just want to just make a point about Henipan County Medical Center is with what um Commissioner
Anderson was talking about is we have about $40 million that we uh we are we pay to HCMC right now. And so that's four levy points that we are on property
taxes that we um so that we're getting to support HCMC. Now, of course, we believe in in having it. I I think I made my argument as to why, but one of the things that I will just say is we dissolved that the hospital board pre in
August. You'll see there as the timeline. Um, one of the things that I've been saying, and Kevin, I think you you agree, is that um, it it's not good to have elected people, politicians running a hospital.
>> It's just not. And so, I've said this at every single one of my board meetings that I've gone to or every one of my city council updates. And I just want to make sure that I'm telling you that this is what I'm advocating for because I think what happens there's there's not at least in the state of Minnesota, we're the only ones that have elected
officials that are helping. Right now it's just seven of us making decisions about the hospital. Now, we all want the hospital to survive. And so I think that's a consensus, but with this task force, what I do hope happens is that we build a hospital district. Now, there's hospital districts in Denver, say, or
other there's there's a few other ones that I can't remember the names of right away, but having a a system where we protect it and that Henipin County gives a set dollar amount to to be able to sustain the center, but also that the state will be contributing to other hospitals because like say North
Memorial in Sanford with an acquisition of North Memorial, um, who knows what will happen there if there's other rural hospitals that are also struggling. So figuring out if we can have a hospital district is something that I really am am pushing for in these meetings. Um because it's not going to be sustainable
for us to rely on property taxpayers to up to support a a health system. It's just not that's where the state is going to have to come in. And so we've done this for years. I don't think it's sustainable. If you look at what's happening with the economy, I don't know if you guys saw 60 Minutes on uh
yesterday, but they were talking about the economy and the similarities to the 19 like 1929 and the financial crisis. We have a stock market that's going up. You have people who are struggling to pay their their day-to-day expenses and you can't have property taxes go up and
to s to sustain, excuse me, I can't say that word. Um a healthcare system. So, we have to figure that out. That's really truly my hope when you're thinking about this that we reduce the property tax liability that we have, but we do not damage the system. So, I just
wanted to add that. I apologize and I'll let you go. >> Thank you. >> Sorry. >> Um, and you know, there's over the next year, part of the legislation was uh we are going to be returning the hospital to a professional board uh by January.
So the our work over the next six months here is to make sure that we find and recruit a professional board that can take control of the hospital and manage it efficiently and effectively and responsibly. Um I don't want us to be in
a position in a year, two years, three years where uh the hospital doesn't have the resources and is coming to the county first or is not making their budget and running a a deficit and
turning to us first for uh to to make up that uh that shortfall. uh we need people we need professionals uh at the helm who can who can take control of it and uh and run it efficiently. So we can
uh continue on here. Um we uh as you may be aware there's an election coming up this year. Uh we are working on uh we've established uh $9,000 because we uh for each municipality because there is new
early voting laws that uh go into effect for this election that we knew was uh a hardship especially for smaller municipalities like Mound. Um our goal in this was to offset uh at least a position uh of the cost that's uh that's
being settled on on your municipality. We're looking uh I've had conversations with our election administration team to look at other ways we can uh potentially offset or regionalize some of the early voting uh in future years. We just didn't have the capacity to do it this
year. So, uh more conversations to come on that. Uh we can continue on. uh some of the the highlights that we had uh over this last year, the youth crisis stabilization center, uh we opened that uh not December of this year, but
December of last year. Um and it is a new facility designed at stabilizing youth experiencing mental health crisises. We recognize that there was a severe severe shortage of facilities and
beds to provide this kind of care in Minnesota. uh and specifically in in Henipin County in this region. Um our goal in doing this is to provide a space for youth to come in uh receive
intensive care, uh become stabilized, ideally become stabilized within a a shortish period of time, 30 to 60 days, uh and be able to go back home. And this uh alleviates some of the the need for
providing care in a jail setting or a youth uh juvenile detention facility uh that often has a very very short window of uh opportunity to provide care. This helped address uh a really severe need
in that ecosystem. Uh we got this up and going uh I think between we authorized the spending in uh in the budget for 2024 and we had it completed uh a year later. There was a
amazing turnaround by our staff to be able to uh to stand up this facility and and open it up for for utilization. Uh at the end of last year um we can keep going. Uh we also uh opened up a new public safety headquarters in Plymouth.
Uh this is a little bit more centralized for our sheriff's department. It's a modern building. It can has all of the capacity for the sheriff's patrol and uh kind of all the equipment that the the sheriff's office holds. It's on the same
campus that our 911 center in in Plymouth is. It's with the adult detention facility just down the road. So, it really is uh centralized and that is now kind of our um our law enforcement complex uh if you will. It's
uh it's right off of County Road uh six in Shannondoa in in Plymouth. Uh it's a beautiful facility. Uh if you have a chance, I'm sure the sheriff would love to show you around. Uh but it's got um kind of the capacity to make sure that
they can occupy that space responsibly. uh safely and because it's more centrally located uh get to responding to uh emergency calls as they um as they receive them uh easier throughout the
entire county. So we also have as you know the West Tonka library uh it is coming along >> really nice like I I drove by it on the way here. Uh very exciting. The
building, the shell should be done by the end of this year. The all of the other uh components, the inside stuff should be done uh early next year. Uh I don't have a specific date, but as soon as we do have a specific date, we'll be
sharing it with you and uh inviting you to that. >> Uh it's been it's been kind of fun. Thank you for coming to the groundbreaking. Um, and like it's it's always exciting to see a project uh have being talked about in the
community, receive community input, see the groundbreaking, and now being so close to seeing the the fi finished product. Very exciting. >> Um, we have a few minor uh infrastructure projects, pavement preservation, multi-
uh multi-use trail projects, and road rate reconstruction. Sunset Drive is by far the biggest uh project that's happening of these right here. Um anytime you have a reconstruction, that's where we're actually taking up the all of the infrastructure and laying
out new stuff. So, um it gives us an opportunity to rebuild and rethink how things are how that space is utilized. We obviously um you know we've been to a few of the the improvements that we've done kind of spot uh spot improvements,
trail crossings, flashers. Um there's always going to be more improvements to be made. Uh and really appreciate the partnership that uh that we've had with the city to identify those areas and and work through them. Um I think we are any
projects that we have. We have uh capital projects on our map on the website. Uh we recently did change our website. It's now henipin county.gov. So uh if you type in the old address, it'll still take you there. But um we we
published that uh so you can see what the status is of each project that we're doing including some of the uh the operational work that we're doing. Um and I think the last slide is questions and discussion. So happy to answer anything that you might have. >> Does council have any questions?
>> I had one. I can't remember it. >> She had one but she can't remember. I I have three comments or questions. Um, one is, well, first of all, thank you. I know I came to your uh, uh, mayor um, launch thing that you did. We did, we
talked about the elections and we talked about that it's expensive for our staff, especially in a um, presidential election. It was brutal on on the staff. So, um, is that nine grand going this year, right? So, yeah, we appreciate um
that a lot. Really do. Um, we just talked I know the state passed some different changes and we're going to work with our clerk to figure out what he wants to do, but we appreciate the nine. Very helpful and it's again good to see that when we talk about something actually happens. So, thank you.
>> Yeah. Well, congratulations. I saw you guys money for uh water. No. Oh, you didn't? >> Just stay if you want to stay around after this. >> I saw Representative Meyers posted and I was like, I need to pull this up. Oh, okay. >> Wrong city. Oh yeah, we're not happy.
>> Sorry about that. >> Um, okay. The other thing, uh, trail crossing, I know we've been, you know, talking about that as well. Thank you for, um, thinking about us. I know we already got the first one done. Second one's working. I know we're going to, uh, do it this summer. Um,
you know, we've been talking about this via email. I know, but, um, the flashers, I mean, we need flashers eventually. So, I don't know if you need to hear from more more than than just a few of us, but um the the other flashes on the other one are are great.
>> Um I just heard this is from one of our family friends, but someone got hit going across this one that we're talking about, the second one right by the Dakota Junction or what it used to be called, Dakota Junction. Um, so it is one thing to have the, you know, the
pork shop in the middle and and you know, whatever, but it's another thing to like actually alert people, hey, stop. There's someone going through here. >> So, whatever you can do for FL, I know we went back and forth and you said it's not going to happen, but somehow you can make it happen. It'd be amazing. >> I'll follow up with that. Thank you for talking. Um, and then last thing, I
don't know Jesse's going to pull up our map here, but um, we have uh, um, we have your your county road going through mound around Black Lake. And so what happens is we have a lot of fishermen
and women that fish right um, right Yeah. Right there. >> Yeah. >> So you can see that truck parked right. So this strip about from the left side here to a little past the truck is actually parking. You can park there. So
it really promotes people and you can see these fishermen. There's two right there, right? And then they all they they fish on the bridge. It says don't fish on the bridge and they still do it. It says don't park, you know, in certain areas. Now they don't park where you're not supposed to park typically, but they do park. There's two sides that they
they do park on. But we're we would love for you guys to help us just do no parking that whole strip and then we can start enforcing it cuz you can't enforce it if it's legal to park there. The funny thing is too we also put a porta potty out for them too. So >> we did >> someone does I don't know but the I
don't know who does it. There's a portaott potty there for years. >> We're encouraging the >> we're encouraging the fishing. >> It's someone's gonna get smoked by car every time you drive by there in the summer. I mean I get it's a great fishing spot but you got to get on a boat. I mean you can't be fishing there. I think maybe I'm speaking out of
church, but I think we all agree that we've we've talked about, well, could we put a pier there or something, but you can't because there's no parking. There's just no we have a pier on the other side of the lake and it's a great pier and we have plenty of room and you can fish all over the place, >> right?
>> But this is I don't know Ryan if 30 feet 100 feet of parking that you can park there. Something like that. >> 100 feet of parking. 100 feet sign currently in between the signs you can park. >> Yeah. So, we want to just no parking.
Sorry. And then we're going to start enforcing it if you like. >> I think we can we can work with that. Um I've had conversations with public works about uh ways we can change our parking rules along county roads. Um and I think a big part of it is working with local
municipalities to identify those areas. >> Uh because some of some places really want to keep their parking. Some areas don't. Yes. >> Uh I would much prefer to have as much of our county roads that are really arterials, right? >> Uh to be no parking areas, but it's not
feasible for every every stretch and we need to work locally. So, thank you for bringing that up. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Well, and maybe it's too just we can maybe talk about thinking about some signage too about where to um direct people to better places to fish to because I mean not everybody has a boat,
right? So, we want to make sure that I mean they can come to Northarm or there's many other places. So, um yeah, let us look into that, mayor, and then we can circle back with >> we can make a sign. We we don't we have a sign maker. So, >> I I just talked to Jesse today. I was like, can we just put a you can't fish
because it's I mean I I don't know where your property ends, maybe it's the whole strip there, but you know, it's like once we get on the grass or like in the sand or you know, right before we get into the water, I'm like, can we just stick a Well, this is bound now. You can't you can't be here. >> Again, we love people. We love fishing.
Come to our town. Do it in the right spot. Don't get hit by a car. >> Right. >> Um and and ice fishing in the winter, you can just drive your car out there anyway. That's what they do. So, >> if they feel if they feel like that's safe, they go for it. But >> in the summer, we don't want them getting hit by cars. So,
>> no, we don't we don't want them hit by cars. You got a lot of >> That's the spot where every winter there's like >> someone drove out there and went through the ice. >> Oh no, they go through the ice. Oh no. >> In particular, it's like when people >> Okay, you got to go. He's got another city council presentation.
>> I'm going to leave I'm going to leave Commissioner Edson here to uh to answer any more of your questions. If you have any more for me, feel free to reach out to me email uh and I'll be happy to respond to. So thank you so much and keep up the great work. >> We we'll Thank you. We'll send an email.
Jesse can send one. >> And then Jesse, you did you get notifi notified about the 9,000. Was it eight or nine? Sorry, it's been a long day, you guys. Nine. >> Oh, good. You loan's on top of it. >> Good to hear. >> Well, again, thank you for all your hard
work and everything you do. It's good to, you know, feel that you guys listen to us. >> Oh, 100%. Yeah. Thank you for the ideas. The feedback was very helpful and then we did um we did take that and went and talked about it. Um, and then council member Pew, you had called about, you know, making some trails and and
hopefully you guys, Adjust, you guys are working on other ways that we can support trails. Um, I just again appreciate that call, too. If there's ever ideas that you have, um, I always want to be I mean, I'm here for a reason, right? I I don't want to just twidd my thumbs. I'm like a doer. Yeah.
>> So, find give me stuff to do. I want to make sure all our cities get stuff. So, and we'll look into those flashers again. Thanks for letting me know about that. the flashers and no parking signs. >> Flashers, no parking signs. And then you've already applied for that. So, let's just make sure we have an email tomorrow so I can circle back. >> Copy me on it, too. >> It's great to see all your faces. Thanks
for all the work you guys do. I really appreciate you. >> You can see Kevin, I have a different style. I talk super fast. He's much chiller. >> See you guys later. >> Thanks. >> All right, so that was B. So, now we got C. I'm
just going to kick it off quick. uh water treatment planning plant funding update. Uh I you know just like last time you know I'm desperate and I'm texting and calling and I sent out 30 I think it was 35 emails whatever the math
is on everybody on the capital investment committee on the house and the senate side. Uh Leila came up with an amazing graphic for us you know please support mound and and our funding and this and that. Um, obviously it didn't work, but we tried. Um,
what what happened in the end was uh the uh the the chair of the the Senate um Senator Papus, which is funny because we've actually sat in a meeting with her in our old city manager. the three of us sat down well and uh at the time Senator
Morrison um so she knows about our issue and she knows that we needed help and it's pretty disappointing that that didn't get heard um you know with all the different uh asks that we have you know we have maganesees and can't drink our water but I guess other people get
funding over us so um good for the people that got it but we didn't get anything so um I know we're going to talk uh about funing update. We're going to talk about like next steps and what is our, you know, kind of our um
timeline for all this stuff because um we want to get going and we want to keep this ball rolling. So, if it's going to be on us, we got to figure out what how we're going to do it. We already did the discussion on some of the funding stuff last time, but um again, I text texted
multiple times uh our senator and our rep. I even texted uh Morrison. And I thought she would have changed her phone number by now, but she still had the same cell, so that's good. She said, "I'm on it." Um, again, you know, you can't always get a miracle. But, um,
anyway, we we didn't It's not that we didn't try. We tried very hard. So, um, anyway, thank you. get the stretch far. All right. Well, thank you, mayor, members of the council, Mayor Holt. That was a good, you know, tea up to this presentation.
As the mayor mentioned, we want to give just a brief update on where things stand. you know, we had that presentation um in April which was really focused on the utility rate study um but want to kind of fold that into holistically
where that fits amongst the water treatment plant construction and and design. So, as the mayor mentioned in April, uh, April 28th, if people want to go back and watch that um, presentation, that's a pretty comprehensive look at what it would look like for the city to
fund the water treatment plant by itself. Um ahead of that meeting um the city's consultant Ellers and staff made the decision to alongside the financial committee to to show that without any additional commitment from the state
just because we weren't even sure if there would be any bonding bill. And so we were very conservative in discussing what it might look like to fund a water treatment plant and what our financial management plan would look like without any additional dollars. Um, so this is
the an arrow from that slide. Um, those slides that we showed in April. Um, June 2026 said state bonding if awarded. I've changed that to not awarded. We did not receive any funding. Um, that's not to say that the city hasn't made a lot of effort and progress in getting funding.
We've received almost $13 million to date from state and federal sources. So on this project, it's not nothing. There's been a lot of great work from this council um and past councils to really uh make our federal government and our state leaders aware of our issue
here. Looking ahead, um we're looking at uh about an August approval of the financial management plan and utility rate study with that water treatment scenario. So again, as we said in April, that was really a preliminary conversation that we'd have a little bit
more understanding of what that might look like later this summer. Also later this summer, we'll have final water treatment plant designs um which will be ready to for permitting um by the Minnesota Department of Health and then can be sent out for bid. And then by
fall of 2026, we're looking at having those permits approved as well as a a final council approval should you move forward with a water treatment plant. So, I'm going to dig into each of these a little bit more. Um, and then I can answer any questions that you might have. So, I'd like to start out any
conversation about water is why are we doing this? Um, we are doing this because our our mound water is completely untreated. Um, and it causes quite a few problems. And, uh, I manage the city social media, so I've, um, taken the brunt of it a little bit this
weekend as we've had some disruption in flows. Um, and when we disrupt the flows, because we don't treat our water, people end up with brown water. Um, so I've gotten a lot of complaints of residents who wanted to wash laundry or bathe their kids um, or think that someone didn't flush their toilet um,
because our water is quite brown. And so, um, from a drinkable standpoint, it is drinkable. It's safe. Um there are some guidelines for infants and older people around the manganesees in the water but most people complain about the color of our water which is comes from
iron and other contaminants. That color again is safe um but would be treated should we have a water treatment plant. And so, um, because we have, uh, older pipes, because we don't treat that water, what happens is that the water flow, if it's disrupted at all, whether that's from a water main break or from
construction, um, that gets stirred up in the water and people see it in their homes. Um, people see it generally in their homes even when they don't have those construction impacts. Um, just because we, again, we don't treat our water, so we're not taking out those contaminants. Uh what that does you know
when we invest in a water treatment plant is um help save taxpayers on inhome solutions. So a lot of people are buying bottled water. They have expensive you know whether that's reverse osmosis or uh solutions in home to help try to lessen the impacts of um
our water. Um but it also uh damages our infrastructure over time. It is a cost to us to have untreated water because it isn't good for our pipes or our infrastructure. um we're more susceptible to breaks and other issues within our infrastructure. So, I always like to set the scene of like why are we
doing this? It's not just because we think a water treatment plant would be fun. Um there are a lot of really positive impacts for residents. So, this is um really the initial drawing of what a a water treatment plant would look like. Um, for most
residents who are uh in the Sorbbo Park neighborhood, they're starting to see what that looks like for some preparation for water treatment infrastructure. We needed to do a project this summer to ensure that we were ready, that pipes were upsized, and that the water tower was ready to support a water treatment plant should
we move forward with that. Um, we did get about uh, again, $12.8 $8 million from state and federal sources that have helped support that first project as well as the design of this um water treatment facility that you see in front of you. We're at about 80% design um and
expect that by the end of summer this is ready to go out again for permitting and for bids. Those can happen concurrently. So, we can design it, have it go out to MDH to be approved. So, the Department of Health does have to approve it. Um, and then we can also go out for bids to
get a final cost estimate on it. Uh, again, this will you will do this in a two-phase process. You will first approve the ability for um staff to seek bids on the project and then it will come back a second time when you've received bids um to determine whether or
not if you will accept those bids. Um, so that is something I always like to remind councils is when we do these really big projects, you get two opportunities to say yes or no to that. If you don't like your bids um and they come in, you know, significantly higher than you were expecting, um you're not
obligated to accept those bids just because you've gone out for them. >> I want to pause here in case we have any questions on the design and bid process of where we're at. >> Council have any questions? >> Great. Um so the next part of this is how do we
pay for it? Should we move forward with it? Again, um we did present that uh state bonding no funding scenario on April 28th. So, if anyone is watching tonight and would like to see in depth what that looks like, um I really encourage you to watch that video on
YouTube. Um we do believe that with a modest increase in franchise fees and um utility water rates that we can support the construction of a water treatment plant. Um, we've done a lot of extensive work on a financial management plan and a utility rate study um that shows that
water bills for the average user need to go up about $2 a month to support this. And so um you know it's a very large price tag, we're looking at a $42 million project. Um, but for most people again who are utilizing those inhome water solutions, whether it's buying
salt or buying bottled water, um, that $2 increase on your water bill is going to be cheaper than, you know, buying water as long as you live here in mound. Um, you will again make that final decision on the utility rate study in August. That is really a preliminary
approval. So, the final fee schedule won't be approved until closer to the end of the year. But what you will do in August is give staff that direction on what utility rates should be set at in 2027 within that fee schedule. Um, so again, I'll pause if anyone has
questions about the utility rate study or the FMP. >> Council have any questions? >> Not yet. All right, >> great. So, the last thing I want to talk about is communications. um given that we are, you know, moving
forward with having a a conversation about what it looks like to fund this on our own, which is a change in conversation that we've been having before. Um we're going to make a strong effort to make sure that residents understand the impacts and costs of a water treatment um plant. So, I spoke
with Mayor Holt last week about doing a video from the mayor that kind of addresses the points that I'm addressing tonight. Um, we are going to put together a one-page handout, um, an early summer for you all that you can hand out if you're out at National Night Out, um, or, you know, we're going to do
some pop-up events at as staff at Lake State City, I'm sorry, um, at Spirit of the Lakes or at the farmers market that kind of in a one-page format sort of show what that financial impact is going to look like. Um we do have some cost
savings from the reduction in the size of the Mount Compass that comes out um every quarter. And so we're going to use that um cost savings to do a special water edition this summer. So it'll be four pages just like an open and and shut um that will be exclusively on
water ahead of a typical mound compass. Um just so that folks have a good sense of what this looks like and they have all the key dates and information and that goes directly to people's homes. Um, and finally, we're going to continue to have updates on social media and the city's website. Um, I really encourage
the council if you haven't taken the time to look through comments on any literally anytime I post almost anything. Um, there's a lot of really good comments. I think a lot of really supportive comments of um this, you know, I saw a comment the other day that was like, "We don't care what it costs.
Please just fix our water. We want to be able to wash our clothes. We want to be able to have consistently um clear water in our water." So, um, you know, I think that we're going to be thinking about some really creative ways that we can have some community feedback so that you feel like you've heard from everyone and
that you can make a really informed decision near the end of the summer um, and give residents that opportunity to give that feedback whether that's positive or negative on on this plant. So, um, this is my last slide. If anyone has any questions on this, I can also go
back to the slide on the timeline if that's helpful. >> Any questions? I don't have any questions. More of a comment that I think we're kind of like all on the same page anyway, but it's like kind of depends on the process of events, too. But I I thought the it's
important that we communicate like if the water treatment plant happens, what percentage because, you know, if people say, "Well, I don't want the water treatment plant. My water bill is going to go up." And it's like, you know, we we talked about in the previous meeting our presentation that it is going up
just because for part of our long-term financial plan and a small percent of it actually was just the water treatment plant. So I don't know if you know I don't know if we can overcommunicate that because you know it's like no matter how many times you say it or how
big you make the sign, but I feel like that might be important too. I mean kind of throughout the rest of the year. >> Yeah. Council member Costalano, Mayor, members of the council, I think that's a really good point that water rates are going to rise no matter what you do. Should you build a water treatment plant
or not? Um, for our city's funds to be positive in water and sewer, utility rates have to increase. Um, and that's been a really big passion project of this council is making sure that the city is in a really strong cash position and not negative on funds and not bonding on projects. So, um, what we
have done in the utility rate study, and again, I really encourage if a resident is watching this later or if you're having conversations with residents and they want a breakdown on how this what this would look like even if we didn't build a water treatment plant, um, to watch that meeting on the 28th and so that we can, you know, they can
understand there will be an increase regardless of if we do a water treatment plant or not. And so, you know, how much are residents willing to spend if it's going to be increased anyways to have that water treatment plant? Um, and I think we got good feedback at that meeting to make sure that in all user
classes, um, we have a clear understanding of what that increase is going to be as well as helping residents understand in what water class they are in. So, helping them navigate their utility bill and understanding, okay, I I am a 13,000galon user. I'm only a
5,000 gallon user and so my increase is going to be, you know, a dollar or it's going to be $4. >> So with the with the water treatment plant, what are the expectations of residents? They say, "Okay, we're gonna we're going to take this increase. We're going to
get a water treatment plant. Is my water going to be totally clear? Is it still going to be brown or you know I mean what are the expectations we should set for residents with the water treatment besides the cost issue just the
>> well first of all it's going to take time. >> Yeah. >> Then second of all Ryan >> mayor members of the council so that I'm glad you brought this up because I've talked with the health department and they've gone through this process with other communities. It takes a year to a
year and a half to clear out all of that, >> you know, iron that's built up throughout the system. We have many miles of pipes out there and flushing once or twice a year is not going to clean that out instantaneously. It's going to take a while. So once we are up
and running, we're looking to at least a year, if not a year and a half, until we get it to that point where we've flushed everything out of the system and we're not looking at that brown water. >> You make a cartoon or something if that says that.
>> We'll say that we have talked >> that would be an expectation. People think it should be instant. >> Yeah, it's not going to be instant. There's going to be process and we've been talking about that for a long time that we're going to have to communicate that heavily cuz >> I know everybody's going to look say well you flip the switch. Why isn't it perfect?
>> It's going to take time and every community that has done a new >> treatment plant goes through this but it slowly will get better day by day as of you know as we >> get it up and running. >> We'll we'll put that in the special
water newsletter too. >> Yeah. >> Of like >> I think that's really important what to expect. You know, there's the expectation of increased payment, >> but then it's the expectation of what's my water going to be like. >> So, also, yeah, a timeline on when to expect that increase in your bill. Will
it start before we produce water or will it be after the building's completed? See what I'm saying? >> Yeah, Council Member Heric, that's a great question, Mayor, members of the council. So the question is will will people see an increase in their water rates or build before the water
treatment is on plant is online. And the answer to that is yes. We do need that capital from the utility rate study increase to help us start to pay the debt service and to pay the work that will go into building the water treatment plant. So um what people will
could expect is um a water rate increase. And again this will be irregardless of a water treatment plan or not in 2027. Um we we did project that in this fall in 20 fall 2025 that for the next several years we we will see those water rate increases. Um but
that will happen in 2027 and then we would likely not have a water treatment plant online for about 18 months. Um so there will still be um a little bit of a lag and that additional uh water payment will help us um again secure the capital to help pay the debt service on the
water treatment plant. Anything else? >> Thank you. Good job. >> Thank you. >> All right. Number seven, we got public hearings and we're going to lump these all three together. Uh Rita is going to
come up and talk about all three of them, AB, and C. >> Uh good evening, mayor, members of the council. Rita Trap, uh city planning consultant. Uh thanks for the opportunity to talk about all three of these at the same time. Uh hopefully
these are uh things that you're familiar with. They were topics of discussion when we had our joint meeting with the planning commission earlier this year. The request before you are to amend all three are to amend the zoning code just for three different topic areas. Uh the first one is relative to clarifying
setback regulations for corner lots. Um for those of you that were there, I think most of you were on the council at that time. uh maybe a year and a half ago, we had a series of planning cases that had a lot of confusion about corner lots and how we apply those standards in terms of setbacks. And so the planning
commission and staff did spend some time studying how the regulations are organized and are proposing uh clarifications um that hopefully make it easier to understand. There are no actual changes to the numbers. So the planning commission did review that and felt the setbacks were appropriate. It
was just how they were applied was relatively confusing. uh because we had some set setbacks that were applied based on lot width and some that were based on lot depth and so we tried to clarify which one applies and it it uh it was one of those things that was fairly confusing. Uh one addition is
that we now have what's called a street side lot line to really clarify whether or not it's a interior street or interior side lot line so between two lots or if it's next to a street and that helps us to clarify when larger setbacks apply. Um the original intent
of corner lot setbacks is just to make sure that we have uh accessory buildings or other structures that are set back farther from the um from the street if they are corner yard. So we do have the site visibility and we do have it similar to properties that maybe have their front yard. So the changes that
were included again are more for clarity purposes and they are not intended to change the nature of what you had in the code just make it easier for all of us to follow. Um, I guess one addition that the planning commission did do that I should recognize is we do have uh the
ability as staff administratively to decide which is the front yard for a pro uh for putting together what is the front setback and what is the side setback and the planning commission wanted to extend that to anytime there's a corner lot. Previously, the code said
that at the time that it was equal um that the property owner could identify it and planning commission felt it was more comfortable having staff identify what would be the front and then have that be uh written down administratively so that we could always apply it consistently going forward. So that's
something that matches what we were doing in other cases. Um moving on from that, uh the next section is the humane pet store regulations. That was a topic that was brought up for the first time at the joint planning commission and city council meeting as a requ as the
result of a request from a resident I think that two certain city council members. Uh so we gathered precedent regulations from around Minnesota. Generally we found that they were all very similar. Um and so we worked through with the planning commission those regulations and what's before you
reflects that. Generally uh what the regulations do is it sets forth uh the idea that a pet store may not have cats and dogs overnight on an ongoing basis but rather that they would use sales uh in conjunction with a humane humane
society or some type of an event event from a shelter. Um and that's when they would have some type of adoption sale. There is a little bit of a provision to allow cats uh to be kept overnight, not for an extended period of time. Um, and the difference between cats and dogs obviously is how you uh take care of
those animals is a little bit more confined for a cat versus a dog. Um, these provisions are intended to go in uh the the code in the zoning code and they will be in an area for specifically pet stores kind of where our other use
specific standards are. Um otherwise uh the only other change that we had to make in order to better reflect this uh is to make sure that our pet and veterinary services separated out the sale of animals and grooming services from a vet because those are two different things. So we made some
adjustments just to account for that. Otherwise the definitions and the code language uh is generally what you find if you would look at the examples. There's about 15 other cities in the state of Minnesota that have this regulation. Um and so this is following what they had. And then the last one
that's in front of you this evening is just a small one related to accessible parking areas. Uh this is related to something that we identified as part of the West Honka Library project. Uh we identified that our code was not actually reflective of how the building code has changed. Uh and so this
modification would just adjust our parking stall size um and add an accessible aisle between the stalls. I'm sure everybody's familiar with that's kind of how parking stalls are structured these days. They're not necessarily bigger and longer. It's more about having that striped area in between so if you have a wheelchair you
can get someone in and out. So this just reflects uh updating our code to reflect that part of it. Um those are the three sections that we have. I do want to note something unique that we need to just make sure you're aware of with ordinances if they are long. Uh we do
have the ability through a resolution to authorize publication um of a summary of that with title. Um the only reason I bring it up is that you need to have four of you vote in the affirmative for the resolution about that. Um but we do not we just need a simple majority of three to adopt any of these. So it's
always a little bit interesting um when we have to do the resolution and they are organized in your motions to approve the ordinance and then the resolution. Um for the three that are long, the parking stall one is fairly short, so the city would just publish that as it's written. Um if there's questions about
that, I can answer it, but I just want to flag that. And then these are public hearings tonight. So technically you should open and close a public hearing and accept any public comment um that there may be about these. But I can answer any questions if there are any. Um
>> does council have any questions? >> All right. >> All right. All right. So on a approve ordinance number five 2026 and resolution number 26- 39 amending chapter 129 corner lot
setbacks. I'm going to open a public hearing for that. All right. Anybody wants to come up? There's nobody here. All right. I'm going to close the public hearing for that. And that is Okay.
>> Someone want to make a motion for that? >> Yeah, I can do that. Um, I really liked the the separate like agenda and motion sheet. Are we still doing that? >> Yes. Mayor, members of the council, unfortunately, Kevin was out today, so I can pretend I called. >> Just checking. >> Yes.
>> Like that. It just tells me it's like the anchor man thing. What I don't need to read. Um, all right. I'd like to make a motion to approve ordinance uh 05-2026 and resolution 26-39 amending chapter 129 corner lot
setbacks. >> All right. Got a motion. Can I get a second? >> Second. Any discussion? >> All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> I. >> Those opposed. >> All right, that passed unanimously. Uh B, we're going to go approve
ordinance number uh 6, 2026 and resolution number 2640 amending chapter 129, human pet store. Is it humane or human? It >> should be humane. >> Humane pet store regulations. >> All right. Now, I'm going to open a
public hearing on that. If anybody wants to come up talk about that one hearing none and close that and can I get a motion for this one? >> Sure. Um I make a motion to approve
ordinance 06-2026 and resolution 2640 amending chapter 129 humane pet store regulations. >> I got a motion. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> I got a second. Any other discussion?
All those in favor, please say I. >> I. Those opposed. All right, that's unanimous. >> Uh C, we're going to go approve ordinance number seven of 2026 amending chapter 129, design standards for parking stalls.
Uh I'm going to open a public hearing for that. Anybody want to come up and talk about it? Hearing none. I'm going to close the public hearing for that. Uh, can I get a motion for that one? >> I'll do it. >> Okay.
>> Um, I make a motion to approve ordinance 07206 amending chapter 129, design standards for parking stalls. >> All right. Got a motion. Make a second. >> Second. >> Any other discussion?
All those in favor, please say I. >> I. I. >> Those opposed. All right. That passes unanimously, too. >> Number two. >> Okay. All right. I'm out of order. Or number number two, approve resolution number 2639,
uh, authorizing public, uh, sorry, authorizing publication by title and summary pursuant to Minnesota statute 412-19 subsection 4 of an ordinance clarifying setback regulations for corner lots in
mound city chapter 129 zoning. >> Sed question. So that was in the motion that >> Oh, was that >> Kevin? Council member Casino made that as part of the motion. We haven't typically done that, but he did do it tonight. So you can as the attorney decide if that's okay. >> I didn't hear that in I didn't So he
made a motion for the ordinance and the resolution. >> Yeah, he read it exactly. It says it's print on the agenda. >> Oh, then you were fine. Okay. Back off. >> Yeah. Both, right? I thought I had >> I was going by the exact report. >> I know. I know. When he started reading, I was like, "Oh, look at that." >> The resolution. >> You've never done it that way. But
that'd be great if you can just do it all in one motion. >> Probably should do it separately. So maybe what I'd like to do is we'll treat the first one as an adoption of the ordinance and we'll do a separate one for the resolution because they are two. >> It's usually good to do it because if there was ever a question of like a it's
good practice. So if you ever had just three approve it, but you can have four approve the title and summary even if the >> you can technically do it that way. >> Okay. So, I guess what I'd be looking for is a mot is a motion >> um based on what the mayor just read. >> Okay. Can I get a motion based on that?
>> Say so move. Yeah. >> All right. I got a motion. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion on that? All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> I. Those opposed. >> That's unanimous. And I'll just say real quick, we're looking for a motion to approve resolution number 26-40
authorizing publication by title and summary pursuant to Minnesota statutes 412.191 subdivision 4 of an ordinance and to add humane pet store regulations in Mountain City chapter 129 zoning. So looking for a motion to approve.
>> Okay, we need a motion on that one too. >> So moved. >> I got so moved. And can I get a second? >> Second. >> Any other discussion? All those in favor, please say I. I. >> I. >> Those opposed. All right, that's approved unanimously as well. Okay,
>> now we're good. >> All right, we're good. >> All right. Uh, eight, no new uh, sorry, old business, nothing. Number nine, new business. We got code of conduct. >> Thanks, Rita. Thanks, Sarah. Good night.
>> Welcome back. >> All right. Thank you, mayor, members of the council. I apologize I didn't introduce myself last time, but I'm Laya Miki. I'm the deputy city manager for the city of Mound. And tonight, we're going to talk a little bit about the code of conduct that you all have been
discussing um a few times in a work session. So, just as a background on this item, the city council asked for a code of conduct um to be able to set some expectations for the city council and for boards and commissions as well as volunteers. Um this was a council
priority for you all in 2026. And over the course of two work sessions, the council reviewed example codes of conduct and directed staff to draft one to be formally adopted at a council meeting. So um for people who are maybe hearing
about a code of conduct for the first time um what does a code of conduct do? So codes of conduct prescribe explicit standards of behavior and provide formal comp uh provide for formal complaints, hearings and censure. Um these can be applied to city councils as well as
boards and commissions, any volunteer. Um you can think about this as anyone who is not staff or a contracted employee for the city. um if you are going to um enforce this um this is and we think about like what
is the purpose of a code of conduct right it has these kind of ethical standards um but what do we do if someone breaks it um so councils can remove board and commission members by a four-fifths vote of the council um I like to remind councils that this
is you as a council you cannot um recall public officials in a statutory city um so if one of you did something you did not really like um recalling you is is not an option. Um but censure, which is a formal resolution stating that a council member has violated the city's
ethical rules and expressing disapproval of their actions, is something that you can do. Um so what's typically included in a code of conduct? Um this is a great opportunity for um boards and commissions and the council to be reminded of things that can cause
challenges or legal challenges for councils. Um so open meeting law which is the gathering of uh a quorum of any board and commission or the council. Um conflicts of interest so um accepting a gift because you tell someone that you
would vote a certain way. Um or even the appearance of a conflict of interest. I've um I worked as a consultant before uh coming to uh working in a city and I had someone who lived right next door to something and then they would speak all the time about how much they hated it and how they were going to vote against
it and I would say maybe we don't vote on that because you've said only how much you hate it. Um it also gives some guidance on how to work with staff or the public um how to use social media. um how to interact with the media. So,
journalists or um newspaper uh Carol 11, whoever that is that might come and ask you for a comment or a quote. Um and then the use of city logos or city branding for your personal use. Um all of these things are addressed in the code of conduct example that was
provided within the P packet. Um I don't have that um every word of that code of conduct in my slide deck. Um, but these were the topics that we discussed as a um group and that the council identified as being very important to them. And so I think that um in the bullet points
that are within the code of conduct before you tonight um these are all really well captured. Again, I think this the question is always, you know, what happens if someone violates the code of conduct? So I think I wanted to walk uh you all
through the part of this policy that does sort of have some consequences. Um, members agree to hold themselves and each other accountable. And when there is a suspected violation of either the law or this policy, any member may file a written complaint with the city manager alleging a violation has
occurred. So whether this is a boarding commission member or you as a council, um, you may say, I believe, you know, council member Doe said, you know, accepted um, you know, free smoothies for a year to let the smoothie shop come in. Um, you would make that complaint
with the city manager. Um, the complaint must contain supporting facts for the allegation. Um, I saw the council member drinking the smoothies walking down the street in plain sight. Um, I have pictures of the smoothies and so I'm sending those to the city manager.
Upon receipt of the written complaint and maybe the pictures of the smoothies, the city manager is going to engage the city's legal council to review the complaint and offer an advisory opinion or initiate an investigation. Um, so this can be um as simple as, you know,
we have lots of records and proof that um the council member took a lot of smoothies. Um, or maybe it's more severe, you know, um, an allegation of um, sexual misconduct or use of um, the city logo inappropriately. um saying
your opinion as one thing that we talked about a lot was the differentiation between what is your opinion as a resident versus what is your opinion as you hold um office appointed or elected. Um and so we may utilize an outside investigator to investigate an initi an
investigation um or do that internally. the city council may then hold a hearing within 30 days of that complaint being received by the city manager. Um and then that is or you know beyond like kind of on your own valition, right? So
um if one of you felt like there was this you know misconduct amongst you or you absorbed it observed it as a liaison to a boarding commission um you may bring that forward and say we'd like to have a conversation about this. Um the member accused must have the
opportunity to be heard at such a hearing. Um and then during the review the council shall give consideration to the individual member's constitution and constitutional and statutory rights. So um this is the sticky part. I think one of a lot of the things we talked about was social media use, logo use,
interacting with the media. Um, again, there are uh things that that you as a resident may say. Um, even if they're in conflict with the way that other members of your body vote or that advisory commissions may disagree with the choices that you've made or you disagree
with the choices they've made. Um, there is, you know, uh, some first amendment rights and and attorney Lansman spoke about that during our work session. He could add some color to this if um, you'd like him to. Um but we do want to give that opportunity for someone accused of misconduct to have that um
chance to speak um on their own behalf. And then after if after a hearing um and review you do find that someone has made a violation of the law, the smoothies were drank and we voted in favor of the smoothie shop. Um you know for a council
again you may choose to censure a council member. Um for boards and commissions, they are appointed at your um valition. You can um with the right amount of votes remove someone that you think um is not adding positively to a board or commission um or ask a
volunteer not to return. So, you know, I think that this is again this is the the meat of the policy, right? There's a lot of things that we're asking people to do or not do. We had a lot of conversation about um it does have a signature page. What if I don't want to sign it? um you
don't have to sign it. No one is going to force you to sign it. Um but as you adopt this policy, you are still um having everyone follow this policy. So signature does not mean that no signature doesn't mean you don't have to follow it. Um all boarding commission
members will be provided a copy of this um and walked through it and the chance to ask any questions about the code the um code of conduct. So with that, I can answer any questions. Um, otherwise, um, I would propose a motion to approve the
code of conduct as it's written before you. Does >> council have any questions? >> No, I really dig the smoothie analogy. >> Listen, I could go for a smoothie now. Smoothie receipts are being investigated. If someone chooses not to sign,
is there refusal to not sign provided I mean is that public information as to who signs and who doesn't sign? Yeah, council member Pew, that's a really interesting and tricky conver question that I would maybe defer to
coun to attorney Lansman on is that it's um >> that it it is it personnel data whether or not someone chooses to sign or not sign. >> They're not employees so perhaps not. So is the question of whether what is well
personal data is all it's under the statute there's a laundry list of those items that are considered to be public data. Everything else is considered to be private. >> So I would have to look to see if it falls under one of the the laundry list of those items that are considered to be public. If it isn't then it's going to
be um private uh data to that individual. >> Yeah. Council member Pew, if I may, I think that um typically these are documents that are signed in public. Um so we discussed uh in previous work sessions that we would likely do some sort of training for boards and
commission members in 2027, especially in anticipation of maybe having a few new council members in 2027 as well, making sure that people come on board and and feel like they're ready and prepared to be in the seats uh in in front of me right now. And so, um, I think that that may be something that
would resolve itself that if someone started to make a stink in a in an onboarding that they didn't want to sign it, they're not going to be one-on-one with myself or Jesse. It's going to be in a public forum where we're asking everyone to sign it. >> And I think the point that you made earlier was that if you don't sign it,
you still have to follow the policy. Yeah. >> If you want to serve in that role. >> All right. Uh, someone want to make a motion to approve it? >> Um, I can do that. I would like to make a motion to approve the code of conduct.
>> I got a motion. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> I. Those opposed. All right, that passes. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Number 10, we got announcements, um, comments and reports
from council members. Well, today I stopped by to get my packet at city hall and I noticed this really kind of intriguing little magazine. >> Did everyone get a copy of it? And and so and I started reading I thought well
this is great and then I looked at how they characterized mound in many of the things and I would suggest that I don't know if we as a council or a city might want to just give them some pointers
that next time they consider like in parks they talk about surfside and the dog park being compat you know those are two parks, Oro's dog park and Surfside. And Surfside is not a dog park, but it
kind of infers that it is, you know, versus talking about it being an innovative park that has uh intergenerational components. So, I think that there are just subtle things like uh for Mound,
they said basically people in Mound are seeking a better school system, but the school isn't called Mound anymore. So, you know, just some things like that. And I I assume it's is it is it the Laker that put this together?
>> I think so. Yeah, >> I think they put it together. I don't think they have reached out to like ask. >> I know, but I think we might want to, >> you know, because it's attractive and it's kind of nice and, you know, you read through it about the different components
of the city and stuff like that, but some of the things are just a little bit off and they're not really highlighting our best assets. >> So, I think we need to share with them those corrections.
So that was my comment. >> All right. Anything else? >> Nope. >> Uh we don't have anything. >> I don't have anything yet. >> All right. Um
are we on for next meeting or not? Do we know yet or not? >> As of right now, um it's kind of up to the council. We don't have anything prescribed just yet. >> Okay. Is it something where we're going to wait and then you're going to cancel
it if there's nothing or are we just gonna >> That's kind of what we did last time was um sort of prep the council to not expect one unless you hear from us. Okay. >> So, I think that that's probably a fair
route right now. >> Okay. So, if you get some kind of issue that we have to be here. >> Okay. learned that you're up. I'm gone the next meeting. >> Oh, I thought you were asking if we were having or not having >> Yeah, I'm gonna be gone. Uh, this is my
annual that I got to I can't be here. So, >> either you're you're up or >> Oh, >> like a couple times ago, you didn't have a lot of stuff to talk about. So, you don't you guys don't need to meet if there's nothing to do, I guess. But >> Okay, >> cool. So, just email everybody if we're
on. Yeah, that that that's what's Yeah, that's fine. Then we'll just do that. >> That's June. What is it? >> That's June 9th. >> 9th >> 9th. That's six. Y. >> So, as far as uh like a workshop then that we you know that would be pushed till like the second meeting in June, I
suppose. Okay. All right. >> Okay. Um, just for anybody that watches this or listens to it, um, uh, Bartlett is going to be closed from June 1st to, uh, July 10th in front of
Sersside Park. So, if you're going to go through there, there's a there's going to be a detour. It's going to be terrible, but, you know, we got to do it. So, um, >> worse than getting out here on all the other roads. >> Well, you know, I I mean, look at
Henipin County. They're shutting down roads. I mean, there's >> road construction. It's summer. It is what it is. >> And this is something we have to do. There's no way around it. So, >> it'll be fun for six weeks, but >> And the Gillespie Center is closed the first week of June. >> They are closed
>> because they're they're having new um heating system and cooling systems put in. >> Nice. >> So, they're just shutting down for the week >> um while they have all that work done. >> Okay. All right. So, do you have anything you
want to say? >> I only am going to mention that after the adjournment, we have a close session. >> Okay. >> So, I'll just read that then. >> Yes. >> Are you want to do it? >> Yeah, I'll go ahead and read it. >> Okay. So, we're done with 10. So, number
number 11, >> I'm modifying it. That's fine. >> That's it. >> I'm modifying it. >> Go ahead. Uh we're looking for a motion to adjourn pursuant to the Minnesota statutes 13D.05 subdivision 3B to a close attorney
client privilege session pertaining to potential employment litigation the need for absolute confidentiality is necessary to discuss litigation strategy that may impact public funds. >> Got it. All right. So can I get a motion to adjurnn? >> Motion to adjurnn. Can
>> I get a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? All those in favor, please say I. I. >> I. Those opposed. All right, we're journey.