Good evening and welcome to the Newport City Council meeting. Today is Thursday, May 15, 2025. We'll begin the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge algiance 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. Will staff please call the role. Council member Schmidt here. Council member Sner here. Council member Ingaban here.
Council member Taylor here. Mayor Elliott here. Uh, next on our agenda is to adopt the agenda. Do we have any changes to the agenda this evening? Hearing none, do I have a motion? Second. I have a motion from council member Ingamman and a second from
council member Sumar to adopt the agenda as presented. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed. Motion carries. Next on our agenda is public comments. Since we have no members of the public um in the council chambers uh this evening, we will move on to the consent agenda. Is
there anything on the consent agenda that staff or uh council would like removed? Hearing nothing. Um I'll make a motion. Thank you. I'll second. I have a motion from council member Sumar and a second from council member Ingamman to
adopt the consent agenda as presented. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed, the consent agenda is adopted. Next on our agenda is the engineers reports. I'll turn this over to city engineer John Herdigan. Thank you, mayor. Good evening. Uh two items for
formal consideration this evening. Uh the first is our 2025 street and utility improvement project. Uh staff opened bids for that project uh back on sorry Monday. Yes. Uh and we received three bids for the project. uh Meyer
Contracting was the low bid uh at just a little above 3.9 million. That was uh nearly 300 or over $300,000 less than our engineers estimate. So, we were very pleased with that. And uh the um the
difference between the first and second low bids was around 25,000 which is extremely close which uh gives us the indication that you know they uh the the bid was the the bid was uh well distributed and then the there isn't any
major gaps there since those two uh those two bids were as close as they were. Uh very pleased with the uh with how the bids came in. Uh we haven't worked with Meyer here at the city. Um, in my experience here, uh, we have worked with, uh, with them, uh, in other
communities that we serve, um, as well as they've done recent projects in Washington County as well as Cottage Grove, and we checked in with some of those project managers and had had, uh, very good, uh, feedback from from that. So, we are looking for council to uh
accept the uh um accept the bids and then award the uh contract for the 2025 street improvements project to Meyer Contracting in the amount of $3,914,426.94. And there's a resolution uh in your packet that reflects that uh
motion or that u council direction. Great. Thank you. Um, and for the public, this is item has been before the council on some workshops as well as some public hearings at council meetings. And so, this isn't a a new item. We're not uh spending $4 million
without any background or any uh consideration on what all uh is involved in doing this. And this project really involves sewer, street, storm water, water, you know, it's the it's the whole smash, so to speak. Um, so, uh, any
questions for John on this at all? Hearing none, do I have a motion to approve resolution 2025-32? So, I'll move second that. I have a motion from council member Ingamman and a second from council member Sumar. All of those in favor say I. I. Those
opposed, the resolution is adopted. Then I have one more uh update on the uh 2025 street improvements. Uh we were recently notified that uh the city had received a storm water resiliency grant from the MPCA uh in the amount of just north of
$1.5 million that would be uh attributed to this project as well as future storm water uh improvements project within the uh within the corridor. Uh so very excited. Uh now we have the uh very um I
guess the the task of figuring out how to appropriately spend both the grants that we're working with. We're confident that we're going to come up with a great or really great funding plan. Uh but this will really help us with the second phase uh of the project. we can we can balance the grant that we have from MET
council for our INI related to the sanitary sewer and now with the storm sewer with uh with curbon gutter and then our storm water treatment as well as all the storm water uh infrastructure below the street. So very excited about that. I think this uh really helps the
the city in in completing the uh the second phase of that project. Yeah. Yeah. So when you mean second phase, you're talking about Third Avenue, correct? Yeah. Yeah. Yes. That was very I was very happy and um credit to John and staff on their good work because we
asked for 1.5 million and we got 1.5 million which um is a rare occurrence that you get all of the money that you ask for. So um I think we've done a good job of stating our case and our goals with this and our real commitment and we're starting to see you know
organizations kind of rally behind that uh with us. So um that's great news. Then the uh second item I had was the uh Loveland Sport court reconstruction. So in your packets there's a uh construction plans uh for these
improvements. This is an item that uh staff and council have reviewed at a couple different uh uh work sessions and then we're presenting plans before you this evening to uh seek council approval and then advertise this project for bid.
Uh we're looking at opening bids in advance of your June uh 5th meeting so that we can bring those bids to council for consideration. Uh one thing I wanted to uh um bring the council's attention to was the the bidding strategy. We have
a we have a base bid uh for the uh improvements directly related to the sport court. And then we had some additive alternates to give the council some flexibility on how they would like to um uh structure the final scope of the project with bids in hand. So that
first alternate was to do some improvements to the ADA parking. Uh right now the there is no um uh disabled access from a parking space into the court. So, we're doing some minor modifications, doing some additional
paving and a sidewalk uh shown on the plan to get uh cost from the uh contractor for that work. Uh second was uh the perimeter fencing. The current design is reusing uh and constructing around the existing fencing, but then
also asking the uh contractor to provide a uh a cost to do um to do new perimeter uh fencing around the entire um uh sport court. uh the interior fencing is new fencing is included in that base bid.
And then the last alternative uh the basketball uh posts are going to remain in place and if we uh the base bid has us preserving the posts and then putting on new uh backboards and hoops. Uh we're
we're also requesting an alternate bid to get a new basketball uh post, basically a new system, and then we can kind of modify where those uh posts would be if we're going to be relocating them. So, those were the um those were
the the bidding strategy. I'd certainly uh welcome comments on the plans themselves if council has any. Uh otherwise, uh as I mentioned, we're going to uh be advertising that project coming up on Monday, I think, in the paper, and then uh planning to open bids on May 29th and then bringing those bids
to council, uh at the June 5th meeting. Okay. Thank you. Um questions on this, Council Member Sumar? Is there a hope that this project could be done this year? That is our hope. Yeah, we we are setting the uh um substantial completion
for the work at the near the end of September, like the third week in September. Um so we I think it's certainly reasonable to to get this work done and we'll have a handful of contractors working in the area. So it'll I'm hoping it'll draw some attention from from those contractors.
And I think uh if the public hasn't seen the most recent layout, um the basketball court essentially stays where it is. The tennis court will go kind of east west on the north side. It'll be a full-size tennis court. And then we'll have three pickle ball courts on the
south, I guess, south and west of the basketball uh court. So, basically, uh parallel to the one half of the basketball court. Um so, I'm excited. We've got three courts going in there. I'm hoping that that is sufficient to uh serve the community.
But I know um since I became mayor a few years back uh people have been asking for pickle ball um in the community and so I'm glad that we have finally gotten to the point where we can we can provide this and I think we're really um aiming for a quality surface and a really good
playing experience whether it's basketball, tennis or pickle ball. So um I think that's uh that's probably the most important thing that people really want to know about. Okay. And then so you would like a motion to solicit bids uh for the
courts. So do I have a motion for that? Make that motion. I'll second. Were you seconding? Yeah. And you were firsting. Yeah. Thank you. I have to do SU now and SC so I get it right. Okay. So have a motion from Council Member Sumar and a second from Council Member
Schmidt uh to uh solicit bids for the court uh rework. Um any other discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed. And the motion is approved. And that's all I have, mayor, but happy to
stand for questions. Okay, looks like we're good. Thank you so much. Next, we have the superintendent of public works report. Good evening, Mayor Elliot and council members. I have nothing formal this evening, but a few updates if you uh wish. Um, we've completed hydrant
flushing for the spring. Um, we are nearing getting close to finishing uh patching all our water mane brakes from last year. We're doing that all inhouse. So, um, we could definitely do it faster with a contractor, but we're kind of fitting it in with the mowing and
everything else going on. So, and then, uh, the lighting change out is actually started in the library and could be complete, um, as soon as tomorrow, but I would guess maybe early next week. So, uh, definitely brighter. Oh.
So, with that, I'd be happy to stand for any questions. Okay. Any questions for Matt tonight? Thank you very much. Thank you. Next on our agenda is the administration report. Uh, mayor, members of the council, the first item here is the development
agreement for Cherrywood. And, uh, we'll have a presentation by, uh, city planner Nathan First. Thanks. Uh I don't have anything to show you, but I I will talk through this item here. So uh as as you all know, the uh Cherrywood Final Plat
was approved earlier this spring. As a condition of the final plat approval, uh that development is about 117 units. Uh a development agreement is required by the city to make sure that the uh construction goes on a uh uh according
to plan and and all the public improvements get um built as as they have been planned for. So, the development practice or development agreement is a standard practice in Newport, we have a template that the city attorney has prepared which we modify uh for all of our developments.
Uh, and in particular with this one, I would note that the council packet was updated earlier this afternoon. We've been able to go back and forth with the developer and we have a development agreement that we feel really good about at this point. A couple of high notes in the
development agreement um in terms of um covering the costs for ongoing engineering administration and observation. The city will make will receive an escrow to cover its costs for all of those uh inspections. Uh the time of performance
is a is a section which identifies when the city could expect those public improvements to be complete. That's the roads and and infrastructure. Um that date is the end of the year of 2026. So December 31st of 26. Um I I think it's fair to say that we will see
construction and probably a good um a good deal of uh progress well before that that date. Uh the city will receive a parkland dedication uh fee of $280,000. Just over that. Uh the city
will capture required fees for uh water trunk and and sewer trunk fees. uh the water access and sewer access charges will be paid in full at the time of the building permit, first building permit. And so uh in summary, the city
will receive uh cash requirements of around uh a million dollars here before the the development gets um started. And then uh before the first building permit, you'll have additional cash in the form of those whack and sack payments. So um that's kind of the
highlight of the development agreement. There are two other agreements that serve as exhibits. There is a conservation easement uh that is an easement over those areas of the bluff. And there's also a landscape license agreement which allows the developer uh to install and maintain landscaping on
the city's storm water outlots. So that's kind of the high level. Um, we have the the packets been updated. Resolution 2025 5-33 has also been updated. Uh, and um, what we'll be looking for is a motion to approve that resolution. And I'm happy to take
questions. The developer is also here if you have questions for them. Okay. Um, any questions for John? So, this Cherrywood development has also been to the planning commission as well as council meetings and council workshops. We do have a representative
here from Cherrywood um if we have any questions tonight. Um but I think this has been pretty thoroughly vetted. Um I would caution people to uh even though there are funds coming in that those funds are expended out as well. It's not it's not just a million dollars free and
clear. We have expenses that you know that it's going to go towards. Um so just keep that in in mind. I I'm sorry, not future tax uh property tax reductions um as a result of this because uh you know monitoring the
development and doing all like you mentioned all the inspections and whether it's sewer, water, electrical, construction, streets, all that. Um it's a lot of monitoring that goes on as part of that. So, um I think uh with no questions then I would uh entertain a
motion to approve resolution 2025, a resolution approving the development agreement for Cherrywood. I'll make that motion for resolution 2025-33, Cherrywood development agreement. Okay,
I'll second. Thank you. Um so have a motion from council member Sumar and a second from council member. Any further discussion? Guess I would just kind of echo on the point you were making too, is that you look at the pickle ball courts and sport courts that were improving, the 65th Street project,
which we just just did. I mean, these new developments go hand inand with some of those other improvements that both benefit this development and the broader community. I think that's something I just want people to think about. Yeah. As we as we go forward, why are we doing some of these things? It's, you know, it's serving that neighborhood, but it's
also part of the, you know, and this will help replenish that park dedication fee fund for the next project, too. and and so and these things do you know there's a synergy between these two and it's I think it's going to help us you know update our park system too you know going forward so absolutely because um I
think the highest priority out of our last park survey was Cedar Lane um we're in the the application process to get some funds from the 3M settlement uh to cover some of those costs but things like a park dedication uh like this
helps um existing park dedication money that we, you know, have a little bit of money in that account right now also helps. Um but that would be our first uh park in Newport where the public, the general public can really go and access and
enjoy the river um with benches and picnic tables and things like that. As long as we get all the funding we need, as long as we can pay for it, we'll do it all. Um okay, any other comments? Okay. So, all those in favor of the resolution say I. I those opposed and
the resolution is adopted. You Yes. Thank you for coming. Mayor, members of the council, the next item here is uh you know, we've we've been uh missing a position in administration since uh the um uh Ann Bell resigned her
position as the assistant to the city administrator. Council did authorize the creation of a community development specialist position. This position primarily would focus on the initiatives uh that were adopted during the 2023 area study. Uh we did do two rounds of
interviews. We finished them up this week. We had finalists this week um three of them. and uh we think we found a a good candidate Christina Adet um you know master's degree uh bachelor's degree currently working for a county uh
from the area though and and looks uh is really hoping to come here to Newport and help us uh focus on serving our community. Um that was a big theme of the interview. Uh, and with that, um, staff is recommending the hiring of Christina Audit as the community
development specialist at a grade 10 step two, which is $34.5 per hour. Uh, we did prepare uh, prepare a resolution number 2025-34 authorizing that hiring. Uh, and
happy to stand for questions. Okay. Well, I'm glad this is moving along. I know it's uh it's a very small office to begin with. When you're only when you're down to three people and someone's on vacation or calls in sick and someone has to go to meetings, it's uh more than
less than it is challenging and I know this will allow us to get back to some of the work that was started by Ann Bell. So I think that's um that is good news as well. Any questions uh for the city administrator on this hearing? None. Do I have a motion
to approve? We'll make the motion. Thank you. I have a motion from Council Member Schmidt and a second from Council Member Sumar to adopt resolution 2025-34 authorizing the hiring of a community development specialist. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed.
The resolution is adopted. Thank you, Mayor and Council. Two other quick updates. Today is peace officers memorial day and uh off the uh Washington County Sheriff Star. They had a short uh presentation today and ceremony. I was invited to attend uh by
Sergeant Leget and I did attend and it was very it was very somber and I appreciated all the service. This is in recognition of all the officers that have lost their uh life during service and of course in the past year we had the incident in Burnsville and also in
Minneapolis. They also recognize all the officers that have uh either served communities in Washington County or lived in the community. Um and there were a number that they recognized. So, uh very important and we appreciate their service. Um additionally, next
week, May 21st, we do have an open house for the Bailey development that will be here at city hall from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Folks are more than welcome to come down and just uh learn about the development. We'll have representatives from Quick Trip, uh, United Properties,
um, Real Estate Equities. We'll also have, uh, uh, the Bailey family broker, Luke, will be attending, and then also, uh, folks from Washington County. We'll also have, uh, staff from Woodbury and staff from Maplewood to to just kind of
be there to answer questions, things like that. We know during the public hearing at the planning commission, there were a lot of comments uh, about traffic, things like that. and we'll we'll try to answer as many questions as we can. Uh so come down and get some coffee and some water and have a cookie
and and get to know about the development that uh will be occurring in the next year or so. Time on that again, please. Uh it will be May 21st at Newport City Hall from 5:00 p.m. until 6 p.m. in the fire training room. Okay. Okay. That's on the first floor,
correct? Um, and I think Can you just give a general description of where this property is located? I know we've thrown maps up at other meetings, but it it's on Bailey Road. Yep. So, if you're driving down Bailey Road, uh, what would
it be? It would be eastbound past Sterling where it uh, past Military and then you you see the Bailey facility off to the left. Uh, and then past that there's basically it's a farm field right now. Okay. Um, now my
understanding is the county will build the the controls, the intersection controls that will be needed for the development. So folks can come and take a look that night and see what the proposed concept plans, things like that that the council have uh reviewed. Um,
additionally, there is an environmental uh assessment worksheet that will be completed over the next 3 or 4 months that's going to provide more information. Uh so again we're we're still in that information gathering phase and then my understanding is folks will look at the the land use approvals
in September October. So it's going to be that kind of that farm field north side of Bailey just east of the the Bailey headquarters there. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. And I think for those who are haven't really been following this, it the entire development is um about 190
unit apartment building, a quick trip um set kind of back off of the road a little a few feet, I mean 50 feet or behind a holding pond, and then uh the west edge of this particular property and just to the north is some warehouse
production type and offices there. And the reason that Maplewood and Woodbury will be there is Maplewood uh owns the property directly to the west and Woodbury owns the property directly to the east. So they will be managing what kind of development goes into those
areas uh east and west of this. So, um, traffic concerns, yes, but we have a very small piece of the traffic load that comes on Bailey Road, um, that we kind of manage and control and make decisions on. There are other
communities that um, a lot more of that property belongs uh, to other communities. So, we don't we don't have a whole lot of say we can't we can't say, "Well, in this little section here, we just want it to be a two-lane road in each direction." it's, you know, the county has to look and and manage this
from a holistic uh perspective. So, um, as the city administrator said, they'll be there to answer some more in-depth questions on this. I think it'll be very important to attend, you know, if you have any interest in what's going on up there or just even the new development and new things that are coming into Newport. So, it's pretty exciting.
Council member Sumar, will our development be the first of the three cities developments? Mayor, members of the council, um, council member Sumar, you're correct. This is, uh, going to be the first phase. Uh, it feels like, uh, Woodbury
would potentially be the second phase, and you'll kind of see some I I I do expect some maps that will kind of show generally what might occur uh, in Woodbury. I think Maplewood, there hasn't been anything formal presented yet, so that might be kind of the third
phase. Um, but Newport will be the first phase and in talking with United Properties, they'd like to uh start work in spring next year. So, we're still about a year out. And of course, when you start that work, they're going to have to grade the entire area. They're
going to have to start putting in those roads. So, there's going to be a a lot of action occurring um in the next year or so. Okay. And this does require a zoning change to that area. So, that is something that would be coming um back to the council as well because it's not
zoned for the apartments at this time. Okay, thank you for that update. Very good. Um, next on our agenda is mayor and council reports. I think just a couple quick things. I mentioned this last time. Uh, the summer family fun
night is coming up on June 3rd from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Lovelin Park and that's uh up off of Glenn Road. So, I'd encourage people and families to come and attend. It's a fun night. Um, we also have Pioneer Day is getting planned for this year. Um, Friday, August 8th,
they're planning a movie in the park. And then Saturday, we'll have the parade as well as um the games and the bounce house and the band and the, you know, all the other uh fun activities that we do um as part of Pioneer Day. And then I
would also like to note that May 18th through the 24th is National Public Works Week. So if you see your public works employee out there, please give them a wave or a thumbs up or a thanks for all the good work. Um whenever it snows and they're around plowing in the
middle of the night, that's that you can thank them. And uh when there's a water mane break and you get your water turned off, it gets turned back on more quickly because of them. And um they do an awful lot of things that we don't think about. and and we've had staff uh more than
once that have put in more than 24 hours straight uh to serve this community. They're incredibly dedicated here. Um they're incredibly concerned about providing very high level service to the people who live here. So um if you get a chance, please thank them um next week
or anytime for the work that they do on behalf of the city as a whole. That's it for me. Council member Ingamman, I have nothing. Okay. Council member Taylor, Council Member Schmidt, nothing. Council member Sumar, I heard recently that
there are s suggested changes to the PAS chemical levels. Has anyone heard anything more about it? It's in the paper. It was on our news. It was in the paper today and it's uh I'm going to say it's uh confusing. Um if you read the article,
uh it said uh we're not changing the limit. um we're just looking at changing the deadline that needs to be accomplished by. Then you read further in the article and it says, well, we're changing some of the chemical compounds that need to be within the limit. Um and
so I I would just say kind of more to come. We um also have requirements at the state level. So it isn't like complying with PAS and getting PAS out of our system all of a sudden doesn't happen. Um, but the EPA uh
standard, you know, from what they said, they're not getting rid of it. But PAS really consists of, you know, hundreds of chemicals of which, you know, very few of hundreds have been truly tested for the um health
impacts. Um, and so I think my perspective anyways is that cleaning the water, we will find out in later years about other chemicals and those impacts when there's funding available to study
um those kinds of things. So I think at this point we're moving forward as if it's four parts per trillion and you know that's all we can do until until something formal comes out. Yeah. It was something that was in the air. I
just wanted to bring that up. Yeah. For the public. Yep. Okay. That's what I had today. Okay. Great. Well, thank you. With that, I would take a motion to adjurnn. So, I'll move. Second. I have a motion from Council Member Ingramman and a second from Council Member Sum. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed,
we're adjourned. Thank you for watching.