##VIDEO ID:n3oWQQkL-cM## e e e e e e e e e e e good afternoon it is 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday January 7th 2025 we will call the city council meeting of the city of New Al to order this is our annual meeting item number one is the oath of office Miss Jorgenson okay councelors if You' stand and raise your right hand this is for councelors be kers Schmitz and Christian through it or do you want to repeat after me you want to do let's do the repeat it's always better okay I your name do solemnly swear I Andrea do swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States in the state of Minnesota that I will constition of the United States in the state of Minnesota and faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of office of council Senator counselor that I will faithfully and of the office of the first city coun of the city council of said city of in the county of brown in the state of Minnesota to the best of my judgment and ability so help me God in county of brown state of Minnesota to the best of my judgement and ability so help me guide help me God thank you thank you and welcome counselor Schmitz okay item number two is the consent consent agenda councilors what are your wishes I'll move it second thank you we do have a motion and a second any further discussion those in favor signal by saying I I I I opposed that motion does carry item number 3.1 2025 appointments of the city council okay counselor so you will have to go through and replace some of the positions that were there or if you want to change anything else that would be up to you as well as part of this action so you will need a new vice president um and then as part of this we'll also be appointing the City attorney the official newspaper um fire department officers which were already approved at a previous meeting um designating investment and depositories and then filling in some of the other boards that you each represent so I'm not sure if you want to do nominations for pres or for vice president first or how you want to do that um for Vice President are you interested councelor Christian otherwise it would be councelor warco because he's not here that's okay if Mr warco would wish to do it he is more than welcome to I'm sure he'd be obliged I'll put Eric's name in there and then would you like us to read these into the record um yeah or I think we've always done it in bul I don't know that we've done them individual all these individual things before yeah I think we just read in the we've only read in the changes if you were going to change anyone thank you uh it looks like we will be changing on cable advisory Commission and economic development and Heritage preservation is going to be a little switch yep start with the cable Advisory Board sure um and I had spoken with councelor schmidtz who had indicated he would be willing to serve certainly thank you and also on HPC certainly thank you so much and then in regards to changes on economic development I spoke with councelor Christian who is interested in taking councelor Schultz's position for that yes thank you um would you like to remain on the park and rack commission yes thank you outside of that I see no other changes except vice president which we would list as councelor on the Personnel committee councelor Schultz was the alternate ah yes councelor Christian it's yeah the alternate correct correct I'll assume that thank you and vice president how about the drug task force when they do have their reg their annual meetings last would go to those um they don't have one every year but right right um unless there's an interest from either of you I would nominate councelor warka for that also you need a second or I'll second it sounds good to me okay I I understand it is it's once a year at the most yeah yeah me thank you thank you um councelor Mac any interest in any of these missions for different ones I mean yes outside of Planning and Zoning um could [Music] do yeah boy there's really depending on the meeting time I mean possibly Solid Waste or Yeah okay or law enforcement or if needed then looking at the airport commission um W one nominates that there's a position open and then Wayne clawen and Ward 2 usually nominates that position so if you don't have anybody yet at this point but has expired mayor do you have any recommendations for counselors to serve on these well they're not coun yeah you need to choose somebody a citizen for for those y Brad lip Key's term is expiring and Wayne classen's term is expiring so then do those uh two Ward counselors um look for members to you try to find somebody the Air Force commission yep so if you don't have anybody yet you'll have to yep we can bring it up at the next meeting here I think we can table that yeah I think we should table that table that one yep okay so um just to recap cable Advisory Board is going to be counselor schmidtz Planning Commission will continue with councelor Mack HPC uh would be counselor schmidtz uh Economic Development would be myself and counselor Christian Park and wreck would remain counselor Christian airport commissions being tabled Personnel committee uh counselor Christian would serve as the backup and no other changes to terms the drug task force Dr drug task force uh counselor Christian on that as well warm War warm CA on that I think that covers them all okay so you would just need a motion to approve those changes thank you I'd be looking to have a motion to approve these changes motion to approve as just dis discussed second thank you we do have a motion and a second any further discussion those in favor signal by saying I I opposed that motion does carry item number 3.2 appointments of the mayor mayor backer yay hello happy New Year Happy New Year to you and to all okay do I read through these uh yeah I would if yeah what you have there okay so the first of all I want to thank uh extend appreciation to all those who have served and whose termed uh ended at the end of the year uh or those uh who could have served but uh didn't for uh particular reasons as an example uh one of our commissioners had an opportunity to continue their master's program so chose not to con continue to serve on a particular commission so the Commissioners uh that I am appointing and ask for your approval are the cable communications Advisory Board to reappoint uh Paula humbard and to appoint Mike fth Heritage preservation commission to reappoint Deb Zan and appoint Peg Sandell for the Human Rights Commission to appoint Carl zidler to appoint Deb egund and to reappoint Sarah lesli Library board to appoint Caitlyn Caitlyn hulahan and Nancy burn monuments and Cemetery commission to reappoint Jim Laker and to appoint Terry Sweeney Planning Commission to reappoint Bobby fur and to appoint Bill turnball blad police commission to appoint John Gog Public Utilities Commission to appoint Darren bugler and appoint Colleen skillings safety commission to reappoint Deb Kaylor and reappoint GG risdall sister cities commission to reappoint Ellie Sweeney and T commission to appoint Jordy Vite thank you mayor I'll look for a motion I'll motion to approve the confirmation of the 20 25 appointments of the mayor second thank you we have a motion and a second any further discussion those in favor signal by saying I I I that motion does carry and thank you mayor for all of your work contacting and making these appointments easy um Communications item four section 4.1 request for tax abatement assistance for M andd Properties LLC Mr snowb um um president council beter members of city council um you received a communication from M andd Properties LLC and they've requested the establishment of a tax vment program for a project at uh 2229 North Highland Avenue uh the owners of M andd properties are Dale bushard and Mike crawl sub property is legally described as lot 9 block 7 Lakeside Village Edition property is generally located east of the railroad tracks north of North Highland Avenue and west of Lake Avenue property is owned R4 which is high density residence District lot size is 2.44 Acres uh the owner received a building permit to construct an unit townhouse project on the property on September 19th 2024 all of the dwelling units are two bedroom uh the building site buts North Highland Avenue uh a sizable amount of vacant property remains to the rear of the project site the units are twostory with and there's a mistake uh there there's a one stall tuck under garage not two uh City Park property AB buts the north side of this parcel of property estimated cost of the project is 1.3 million and that is the building permit uh value uh M andd properties uh owns other Residential Properties in New Alm and in particular they own six 4unit townhouse uh buildings that are located at 103 Mac Lane which is in the same division as this property uh the applicant is requesting tax abatement assistance to help ease the exessive cost of building to allow rental rates to be affordable to the residents of New Alm and individuals looking to become a resident of newal it would also address the community's um housing needs a tax abatement program allows the city to rebate a portion of the property taxes back to the property owner who then uses it to help offset development or Redevelopment costs the city has six existing and one pending tax abatement program a permitted use of tax abatement is General economic growth resulting in an increased tax base um we are currently in the process of uh determining the market value for this project which will then help us determine what the maximum amount of assistance uh that we would uh be able to provide um the establishment of a tax abatement program will require a development agreement and a public hearing on the project will also be H held following the preparation um of that agreement the six previously established tax abatement programs were for industrial businesses the one abatement program that is pending is for a commercial use that is for the former Lamplighter building so the city has never previously established a tax abatement program for a residential use now tax abatement is a companion program to Tiff districts um one of the difference between the two is that in a tiff district there are income limits for people that reside in a certain percentage um of the units there's two different formulas that are in place for that a residential tax abatement program has no State mandated income limits and for that reason Some people prefer to use tax abatement uh for a res idential uh program um at this time staff is requesting authorization to retain The Firm of David Dron Associates to prepare projections and other Associated information um on a tax abatement program for this project at a cost not to exceed $1,500 upon the receip of that information we can then prepare um the program and a development agreement for the project and bring that back to the um city council for for your review I might also note that the city has a fee to establish a tax abatement program of $4,000 that would uh conclude the uh staff report thank you Mr schnober one question for Mr schn I said you'll attempt Dave can you really have that done the development agreement and the tax abav by the 17th next meeting I didn't think so at the meeting on the 17th what I hope to be able to provide the council with is first of all the amount of Revenue that would be generated by the project we just recently got information on um in you know information about the um contents uh the features of the building uh the types of uh okay you know furnishing uh you know the air conditioning the HVAC that type of thing that helps us estimate the value uh so that now that we have that we can get a value from Brown County as to how they would um evaluate that from a property tax standpoint that then allows us to know how much tax abatement would be available Dave what kind of timeline is this is this a 5 10 20 year tax abatement um that's ultimately going to be a decision of the um city council um the maximum term for a tax batement program is 15 years um what we have seen uh in other communities is that for Residential Properties generally the number of years is lower yeah so yeah um we've seen five years seen 10 years um so I expect it'll probably be some place in in that range okay do you see down the road Dave more cities doing this because of the housing crunch going this route um yeah I've seen some communities that for larger projects they'll go 15 years um in order to make it feasible um I've also seen um a lot of uh counties um in particular we'll have uh programs a batement programs for single family housing um I've seen uh cities uh Albert Lee Austin have gone with their counties and their school districts to put a package together for you know single family residences but they'll also include multifam in that definition so all right thank you all right thank you I'd be looking for a motion to receive the communications uh for motion to receive the communications from M andd Properties LLC and authorize the city staff to prepare information on the established tax abatement program at 2229 North Highland Avenue I'll second the motion thank you we do have a motion in a second any further discussion um I would just like to say I'm just kind of leaning towards kind of a lesser term I guess depending on how long it takes to build and sell the homes I'd be curious to see what kind of some of those Trends are at the me at the next meeting any other discussion those in favor signal by saying I I opposed that motion does carry uh under new business item 5.1 is a renewal of the terms of the collecting bargaining agreement with asme council president councilors um the agreement that was in your packet was ratified uh by asme um some of the highlights uh this is a three contract with wage adjustments for all three years uh and Market adjustments for the first two um we updated um the language for a step one grievance uh compensatory time uh was moved from 80 hours down to 60 uh small increase to standby pay each year um added June 19 juneth as a holiday um there was small update to sick and vacation leave policy um the new vacation schedule uh was added uh funeral leave is now changed to bement leave um boot allowance was increased from 375 to 450 over a 3year period and then the changes to our Healthcare savings plan and updated Health uh insurance was part of that agreement just one question one kind of jumped at me that is other bargaining units in the state of Minnesota are they leaning towards that increments of 15 minutes sick leave on vacation that's always I mean across the board this is what what all the other units have do and what we as not exempt employees okay I'm okay with it just I was like a bookkeeping nightmare no I read for everything also and I didn't have any questions I'll offer the resolution approving the terms of the collective bargaining unit agreement with the American Federation of state county and Miss employees ask me local 1204 for the period beginning January 1 2025 and ex spraying on December 31st 2027 second thank you we have a motion and a second any further discussion director Jorgenson please call the role councelor Christian yes councelor schmidtz yes councelor Mack yes and president Becker yes that motion carries item number 5.2 The 2025 Street utility Street and Alley Improvement project Mr stadim thank you madam president city councilors today we're asking Council to set the date for the public hearing for the 2025 USA project for Tuesday February 4th at 4:30 p.m. uh as a reminder uh this was presented to the council back on November 19th uh as part of the 2025 Capital Improvement plan presentation projects proposed to be included in this project include Bridge Street from Cottonwood Street to Tower Road Lakeside Village Edition would be initial roadway improvements Ali block 59 sou of Center and Ali block 60 sou of Center alley reconstruction projects and a miscellaneous concrete sidewalk and Ada improvements uh setting the public public hearing is just the first step in the delivery of this project thank you Mr stadheim now a motion to set the public hearing on the 2025 utility Street and Alley improvements project for Tuesday February 4 2025 at 4:30 p.m. second thank you we do have a motion in a second any further discussion those in favor signal by saying I that motion does carry item 5.3 Safe Streets and roads for all um Grant agreement mam president say cers back almost a year ago in February of 24 um staff submitted a Grant application uh for funding to complete a comprehensive safety action plan for the City of New WM uh we were notified that we received that Grant uh in September um so we have been patiently awaiting the grant agreement from the uh Federal Highway Administration um and we finally received that Grant agreement and are bringing it to you today for approval and execution um just as a quick summary uh this comprehensive Safety Action Plan would continue to safety Improvement uh kind of movement that we've been uh working on the last handful of years um it would help identify roadway improvements uh within our roadway Network um with the ultimate goal of increasing safety and eliminating Serious injury and fatal accidents within the city um we feel it's important to keep the safety action or the safety movement moving forward and development to this plan um is another way to open up funding opportunities in the future to help fund those uh safety enhancements throughout the city uh the grant agreement or the grant amount is $200 ,000 uh we're estimating the development of the plan that costs around $250,000 I also do want to note that mindat has ija funding to provide our local match which would be that $50,000 so than staff time this is not going to cost um the city of New Home budget um any funds to be expended so uh the grant agreement um and funding award notices are included within the packet for your review but I would be happy to answer any questions you may have thank you Mr just to thank you to the engineering for putting a time in for the money appreciate it yeah I'd like to offer the resolution approving the US Department of Transportation Safe Streets and Roads uh for all Grant agreement and authorize the city manager to execute the grant agreement on behalf of the city second thank you we do have a motion and a second any further discussion director jensson please call the role councelor Christian yes councelor schmidtz yes councelor ma yes and president Becker yes motion carries item 5.4 participation in the Minnesota City participation program council president counselors um this is a program we've participated I think in the LA for the last three years um this is a program it's basically run through Minnesota housing uh it's I wouldn't say free money but free money there's no strings attached uh it just opens up another um Avenue for first-time home buyers to potentially get a loan um there are Income um requirements uh for this uh F francen Banking Trust and Bank Midwest um are two local lenders that um are eligible lenders for this program uh last year we were allocated 255,000 uh and we were able to secure loans up to 605,000 um total of four loans so uh we do meet the requirements um you usually have to spend 50% by the end of the year uh to be eligible for the program program again every year we exceed um our limit excellent thank you Mr Dalton I'm going to for motion to authorize the city manager to sign the agreement necessary to participate in the Minnesota City participation program for 2025 second thank you we do have a motion in a second any further discussion it's just nice that we have another tool to hopefully uh get some more houses built yeah those in favor signal by saying I I opposed that motion does carry item number 5.5 Park and wreck comprehensive master plan request proposal Mr sh thank you council president beter city council Joey shugal Park and Park and Recreation director for the city uh this is a request to authorize staff to seek consulting services for the Park and Recreation master plan this was really identified in the newly adopted comprehensive plan that called for a new updated parks and recck master plan the old one was dated back to 1989 uh this plan would also build off of what that Foundation within the comprehens plan and the newly adopted strategic plans as well uh within the item you'll see a tentative schedule that's listed uh if all goes well the goal would BR to would be to bring this back to you um to approve a contract on the March 18th meeting with a project kickoff in April and then a project completion hopefully no later than April of 20126 uh this item is within the city budget for the year 2025 and i''d be happy to answer any questions thank you if nobody's got any questions I'll motion to approve the request for a proposal and authorize the Park and Recreation director to distribute accept and review proposals for consulting services to repair the city's Park and Recreation comprehensive master plan second thank you we do have a motion in a second any additional discussion those in favor signal by saying I I that motion does carry item five 5.6 Police Department donations I'll offer the resolution to accept monetary donation in the amount of $200 from Marsha hson support the new K9 unit second we do have a motion and a second uh Chief anything to add president backer members of the council I have nothing to add um this was UN unsolicited it was um just sent to us in there there was a request that we use it for for the K9 program and I sent a a thank you to her just saying that I had received it and thanked her for her contribution fantastic thank you any additional discussion director Jorgenson please call the role coun Christian wait a minute we have to make the motion first we did we did did oh yeah yes I hear that councelor schmidtz yes councelor Mack yes president Becker yes that motion does carry item 5.7 Narin of new fashing decorations since we do it annually offer the resolution to authorize an Aon of no to hang colorful strips of decorative cloth on lamp post on Minnesota street from First South Street to third North Street and on first North Street and Center Street from Broadway to Minnesota Street in observance of the season of fashing beginning Sunday February 23rd 2025 with removal on Sunday March 9th 2025 second thank you we do have a Motion in a second any further discussion director jensson please call the role councelor Christian yes councelor schmidtz yes councel Mac yes president Becker yes motion carries last item of business today item 6.1 is a report of claims paid I move to accept the list of claims paid in the amount of 4,829 12182 second thank you we do have a motion in a second any further discussion those in favor signal by saying I I opposed that motion carries and with no additional business today's meeting is adjourned thank you