There goes camera. >> Good evening and welcome to the Newport City Council meeting. Today is Thursday, September 4th, 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,
Council Member Sumar, Council Member Ingamman >> here. >> Council member Taylor >> here. >> Mayor Elliot >> here. Next on our agenda is to adopt our agenda. Do we have any changes to the agenda tonight? >> Make a motion to approve the agenda.
>> Second. >> I have a motion from council member Ingamman and a second from council member Taylor to adopt the agenda as presented. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed. >> The agenda is adopted. Next on our agenda is public comments. This is where members of the public can address the
city council about any local government topic that is not included on the regular agenda. This is limited to concerns that are relevant to City of Newport affairs policies or practices. We ask that you come to the podium and clearly state your name and your address for the record and to limit your
comments to about 3 minutes. Generally, the council will not take official action on items discussed at this time, but will refer matters to staff if appropriate. Is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak? I speak much more quickly than I move. Uh,
mayor, uh, one thing before we start, excuse me. My name is Dave Winklay. I live at 11614th Avenue in beautiful downtown Newport. Um the pledge of allegiance uh of course as a as a veteran is very important to me as I'm
sure it's important to all of you. One of the things that we have gotten used to over the years is as we say one nation and then there's a pause under God. it's actually properly done as one nation under God.
>> Just as a I've been trying to get my VFW to adopt that for all these many years and half of us do and half of us forget. Um, I I'm appreciate the opportunity to stand
before this uh organization and uh I'll tell you that uh I've been I'm a 49y year resident of Newport and I went to Park High >> in the days prior to FM radio. Uh, we
used to drive through Newport and the AM radio would always dim because we're in that area, the bluffs and everything else. And I said, I'm I can't live in Newport. So, here we are, 49 years living here, and
I'll never leave. Well, we all leave. We all leave. Um, I I have three things to address. Um, none of them controversial. I'm not here to complain. I'm I'm here
to to kind of chuckle and say it never ceases to amaze me that uh as I look at the Newport sites that are on uh on Facebook, not the city sites, but the
Newport nosy neighbors. And there's another one. Uh the the people who complain about what are they? Brownwater, the smell,
construction, I think are primarily the the ones that that everybody hits on, but we did have an interesting one about an exploding toilet not that long ago. >> Uh so I'd encourage you to not pay any attention to the information that's on
those sites. In fact, don't even bother looking at them because people are just complaining to the air, I guess, and and not doing what I think is probably appropriate and what I've always done and and uh and that's just look at the website, find a phone
number, and call the city. whether you're calling uh in fact my my wife had called Matt I don't know over the past number of years dealing with the the water issue what what we thought was
well what was a problem but we didn't couldn't identify what the problem was but we called Matt Matt always either answer the phone or always called back ultimately we we figured out what it was I think we discovered an issue or a potential issue with a valve that didn't
get turned on. Those the new houses that were were built. And so so that got resolved and it we we figured it out like not a big deal because putting it out on Facebook does absolut absolutely
nothing. Uh so I'd encourage people if they're if they're watching this and paying attention is there are numbers on the website just call and talk to somebody. Uh because I'm not going to do anything except laugh and say, you know, under my breath, why don't you just call
the city? Wouldn't that be easier? Uh I don't get a lot of clicks on my likes when it when I do that, but but that's okay. Uh so that's that's kind of the first thing. Uh well, in addition to that, I I I just like to publicly thank
thank Matt for the many times that you came uh answered the phone. You actually came to the house a couple of times and then you stopped by once after it was all resolved and we just said we don't we don't ever want to talk to you again.
Well, that's not exactly true, but but but I appreciate that and and I've had some opportunities to encounter some of the other folks on your staff and they're always kind and courteous and I
don't know, they seem to like what they're doing. They seem happy and and I think that's a testament to to the leadership. So, I just want to say thanks for that. I appreciate that. Um, second thing, uh, probably the most
serious of the of the three is speeding on Fourth Avenue. >> It and it I've addressed it with the sheriff's office. Uh, they've actually parked near my place and and of
course, as soon as they left, somebody come ripping down the road. Uh but just uh my my wife worked for Newport Elementary for 31 years walk to school every day and she'd see the people just
prior to the start of school or just after the start of school as people are either rushing to get them there before school starts or rushing to get them there I don't know what what the point is after they're already late. Uh and then
and then after school. Uh, so if if if we could get the sheriff's department just to >> take a look at at those particular times of day. There's a lot of kids in the neighborhood now and and we love that. Um, but
the last thing I want to do is be sitting out in the front yard and and see somebody get hit by a car. Just that'd be that would not be good. Um, third and final thing, uh, I don't know who produces the
newsletter. I know it's a it's a combination of a lot of a lot of people's input. Fourth Avenue has a a nice solid white line on the right hand side of the road and a kind of a space big enough to park a lot of cars
there and people do. That ought to be the spot where people walk, >> walk their dog, have their kids in the wagons. Kids on bikes should be in that lane. This is my opinion.
Uh they shouldn't, let's put it this way, it's safer to go there than it is to walk in the lane of traffic, which we see all too often. And when there's that space, that's where where they ought to walk. So, we could put
something perhaps in the newsletter that says if there's a space available like 4th Avenue because Dave doesn't want to see anybody get hit by a car. >> So, that that might be a spot to put it in the newsletter. >> Okay.
>> And those are the three things that I have. How do I do on three minutes, Mayor? You're probably a little bit over, but I think that's fine. >> Like I was I was banking I was banking on the fact that I didn't have anything bad to say that somebody wouldn't call the sheriff up then that three minutes would drag me out.
>> So mostly careful when people get a little redundant. So you kept it moving. >> Thanks very much. Appreciate it everybody. >> Yep. Thank you for coming in tonight. >> Appreciate it. >> Moving on. Next we have our consent agenda. Are there any changes to the
consent agenda this evening? >> Motion. >> I'll move the consent agenda. >> Second. >> I have a motion from council member Ingamman and a second from council member Taylor to adopt the consent agenda as presented. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Those opposed. The consent agenda is
adopted. >> Uh, next on our agenda is the Washington County Sheriff's Office report. He is delayed for just a minute or two here. So, we will move on to the fire chief's report and then the engineers report and then
just kidding. >> Good evening, Mayor Council. Um, so I now know how to go over my three minutes as to compliment Matt. So, well deserved. But, uh, a few things tonight. Um, I think last time I was up here, I talked about the water ball
tournament at Woodbury. Mhm. >> So, we did compete in that last weekend and took home a trophy that there were pictures of that on our social media site. So, the the team finished third out of eight teams. So, um just want to
congratulate them and uh they represented the the city of Newport really well. Uh Booya is coming up. So, >> I was there last year when they did. >> Okay. Oh, >> yeah. It's probably why they won.
>> No, it wasn't Mars fault last year. Um, Booya is coming up on September 21st. >> So, we'll have our parade the night before on the 20th and then the 21st it runs from 11 to 4 right here at the fire station. So, hopefully we'll see
everybody there. >> Okay. And what kinds of activities do you have at the Booya for families to enjoy? So, we have a whole section of kid games, you know, bounce house, um, Plinko, tic-tac-toe,
um, sucker wheel, fish p, that type of stuff for the kids. And then there's, um, beat the house. There's, um, some guy named Tom's liquor raffle that we have going on. Little beer garden and and that. So, lot it's a nice community
gathering. >> Wonderful. Um we um just hired a new firefighter. So I thought I'd let the council know that um he's a Newport resident lives on
Woodbury Road. Um Vang Jang, he started yesterday actually and while he was here doing orientation u we got a call. So he got um right into the flow of things right away. So but we're excited to have Vang join the department. We looked out for
them. >> Okay. >> They did. >> Did you make them haul hoses or something? >> No, it was a gas leak. So, there wasn't a whole lot of physical labor on that one. But, um, >> speaking of incidents, so in August, we
had 24 calls for service. >> Um, uh, four fires., three of those were structure fires, one was a vehicle fire. >> Um, during the month, um, four medical calls, five accidents. Um we provided mutual aid six times.
>> So once to south metro and five to Cottage Grove. Um couple of those were the night of the storm that rolled through. So >> um the South Metro, South St. Paul, West St. Paul Fire Department, that was a Santa fire
um that we had a crew over there and I believe um council member Taylor was on on our engine over there. and I, you know, made a comment the other night. It's probably the first time in our history that we worked with Egan fire, you know, at a scene like that. So, >> yeah,
>> um, our engine provided water to the Egan engine, which then provided it into the sprinkler system of the building. So, it was, you know, team work. >> Great. >> Um, we're outpacing last year's calls by about 12% year to date right now. So, a
little bit busier year. Okay. >> And that's everything I had. >> Okay. Any question? >> And um I'm sorry. Matt does a great job. >> Okay. You can talk a little longer now. >> Stretch. Any questions for Chief WY.
>> All right. Have a good evening. >> Yep. Thank you so much. Okay. Um next up is the Washington County Sheriff's Office report. Is he going to go over his timeline? >> You have three minutes. >> I'll try not to. I'll try not to. Uh,
mayor, council members, it's always good to see you guys again. Um, all right. Well, a couple things. First of all, school has started, right? It started on Wednesday. So, as in just yesterday. So, I'd like to remind anybody who would be watching this, please watch out for
buses. The kids at bus stops in the morning, right? They're running around. when they're playing, waiting for buses, and those kids walk into school. Um, it's going to be retraining people's brains again for a couple weeks to get used to that. But, uh, please be aware and alert of that. Uh, additionally,
aside from that, uh, school zones, right, making sure that we we are driving carefully like, uh, that gentleman did discuss on fourth. So, I'm glad he mentioned that. So, that was something that we absolutely will be paying attention to so people uh, also the kids and parents are safe walking to school.
Uh also friendly reminder for folks uh to watch out for bicycles. Um obviously they can be on the road as well, crosswalks or sidewalks, but to be careful um as they're driving and to not be distracted while they're driving. Um as always, and we continue to do, we're
still enforcing speed and distracted driving rules along with the other traffic regulations out there. So the guys are doing a good job educating folks um for good good driving behavior in a sense. Uh, additionally, I would also like to thank Matt for all the hard work that he
does. It's impeccable, impeccable work that he does, right? Um, and it's always hard to come up here after the fire chief. He's he's always very standup individual and all the hard work that the fire chief does and the teamwork that they have with other agencies is impeccable and all kidding aside is vital because that's how you get stuff
done, working as a team. So, good work to all of them for all that work. So, I stand here for any questions that anybody might have. Well, thank you for that. Any questions? >> Do we I mean, do we have like a a designated school zone? Is there And I don't think I've ever seen anything in
Newport. I know. I see a lot of communities where they have like if children present there is, but we don't. >> Right. There isn't anything like posted necessarily. So, it's hard to enforce anything like that, which is something that certainly as a city could be looked at and I'd probably look to Matt like
for that and how that would look. Um we'd have to reference state statutes for what those zones are of course before anything is posted. Um so something to certainly consider >> and what's your experience other I mean is that a pretty I is there like lot do
a lot of communities or some communities what's your experience or do you awareness of >> Yeah. you know, uh, uh, Council Member Taylor, I I find that a lot of a lot of cities do have something like that, but I will say they're usually along busy road routes.
>> That's usually what I've seen, too. >> Is is that um, and the good thing is this this school is a little tucked away from some of the major routes. Um, Granite does border fourth, which is probably the busiest road. Otherwise, seventh is that'll be too far for a
school zone. so forth is probably the busiest of the roads if there was to be one. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, absolutely. Any other questions? >> I think people have been warned now. Try to leave the house a little earlier during school start and school finish.
And I know the time you leave the house is driven by the children. >> That's Oh, boy. Ain't that the truth. Yeah. Know that myself very well. >> Yes. So, >> all right. Thank you very much. >> You bet. Thank you everybody. Uh, next on our agenda is the engineers report. >> Good evening, mayor, members of the
council. Couple items formal consideration, beginning with uh Third Avenue improvements. Uh during our work session on the 21st, uh council discussed uh moving forward with finalizing the design of Third Avenue uh
and then adding one additional block of Third Avenue to an improvement project um scheduled for construction in 2026 or 26 2026. Thank you. Um this was you'll recall that this was originally part of our second avenue improvement project
that we had uh that's currently uh underway. Uh and we decided to postpone Third Avenue for for one year, but the majority of the design is complete with the exception of the one block between uh 16th Street and 15th Street. Uh so we
uh ended up uh last or uh last spring deciding to eliminate the property owners on Third Avenue from the assessment process. Uh so we would like to reinitiate that uh special assessment process by uh conducting a a hear an
improvement hearing uh for those property owners on Third Avenue. will provide a chance for folks to come in, ask questions about the project, become informed about maybe why, you know, why we decided to postpone this project, as well as uh invite some of those new
property owners within the block between 15th and 16th to get a little familiar with what that process looks like. Uh they don't have to go far to see what that process looks like in construction. Uh but nonetheless, we'd like to be able to provide some information to them. Uh
the memo in your packet uh references or suggests a holding that hearing at your next council meeting on September 18th. Uh we we from a staff level we thought that it would be better to hold that on the 20 on the a October 2nd meeting.
Forgive me. Uh so we would look for a council motion to uh order an improvement hearing for the third avenue improvements uh for October 2nd. I believe the resolution calls that for 6 PM, which is pretty standard for uh for
the council. We can get moving on the on the agenda and then pause that agenda to open up the hearing at at 6. >> That sounds good. Any questions on this? I think we'll have a repeat of some people who probably came last year when
we were hoping to be able to do both roads at the same time. um they could more than welcome to come again. Did you have a question, Tom? >> No, I'll move the agenda to whatever he said. >> You move resolution 2025-61,
a resolution calling for an improvement hearing with the amendment to change the hearing date to October 2nd. >> No. >> Okay. Do I have a second? So, have a motion from Council Member Ingaman and a second from Council Member Taylor uh for said resolution. Any
discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. Those opposed, the resolution is adopted. >> And then also regarding the Third Avenue improvements, we have a proposal from uh from MSA to complete that uh design of of Third Avenue, which would be bringing
those uh plans that we uh that we worked on last year from about 90% up to a 100% as well as doing a full design for uh that one additional block of Third Avenue. and then also bidding uh services as well as construction related
services. So if the council is inclined, we'd uh request a consideration for accepting that proposal and directing staff to proceed with finalizing those construction plans. >> So is I'm trying to understand from the res uh from the memo is this for
$599,100? >> It is. And that is through the Yeah. through the construction phase. Oh, this is all the way through the other end. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, it's not just the design. Got it. >> Correct. >> Okay. So, I would be looking for a motion um for what? Third Avenue
Improvement Design Bidding and Construction Engineering Services in the amount of $599,100. Do I have a motion? >> I'll make that motion. >> I'll second. >> I have a motion from Council Member Taylor and a second from Council Member
Ingamman. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I I those opposed the scope and fee proposal is adopted. >> Next we had our priority 2 improvements and again we had a discussion at the uh
August 21st work session uh regarding that next uh priority project which is a little further uh south uh but still on the on the west side of uh highway 61. Uh we originally, and I'm referring to page 31 in the packet, uh in the memo,
there's a kind of a sidebyside figure. Um following the meeting, we had originally uh proposed improvements to uh Cedar Lane, 2nd Avenue, 12th Street, and uh a portion of Third Avenue, and
that was all uh west of 4th Avenue. uh staff had taken a little closer look at the uh at that scope and and we we're recommending to slightly modify that scope for uh just a or for a couple reasons. uh one the the original
proposed area had uh a number of the sanitary sewer lines has already been uh lined and so we would not be able to leverage quite as many uh INI funds uh from the state legislature uh to replace those lines. And secondly, and probably
more importantly, we took a look at the water mane breaks that we have uh that we've experienced over the years. And that's uh what the picture on the uh right side is depicting. Uh each one of those red uh stars is a is a historical
water mane break. >> It's on page 31. But >> would you like me to >> it just it just might be helpful for those who are trying to watch. forgiving >> because I think that historical data on
the water main breaks and that this hopefully will mitigate that and um keep more consistent water service there. >> Yeah. And we can certainly it's just going to take one second.
>> Yeah, it usually just takes a minute for this to come up. So, >> here we go. And I will zoom in as much as I can here to >> Y that looks good. >> So maybe just to backtrack somewhat. Uh
our original uh scope was to uh reconstruct a portion of Cedar Lane, Second Avenue, the two sections shown kind of in yellow, and then the portions shown in red. Uh this would be Third
Avenue as well as 12th Street. And each of these dash yellow lines are the portions of the uh of the sanitary sewer that has been previously lined. So you can see probably over half maybe even 3/4 of those sanitary sewer lines have
been have been lined. Uh then the uh the left or the right side here is showing those historical water man brakes and you can see that a lot of those water mane brakes are concentrated on 12th Street as well or both on the east and
west side of 4th Avenue as well as uh Fifth Avenue. And so we would be we're looking to suggest a modification to that uh to that priority project to be uh all of 12th Street on the on the west
side of the highway. So between the basically the Mississippi River and uh 7th Avenue still include uh Third Avenue because you can again see that we have water main breaks there and that is not
aligned uh sanitary sewer and then include Fifth Avenue and 12th Street to kind of complete that uh uh that project scope. And it is this is a little bit more of a uh of uh street improvements,
but we do think that it is a pretty important area to not only address INI, but also to address uh those water main breaks and storm water management. we would anticipate that we would be uh
installing a new storm sewer corridor on 12th Street to the river and that way we would be able to provide uh storm water management for for this um for this priority project as well. So perhaps I'll pause there if there are questions
or or concerns about modifying that that scope of improvement and then we can kind of move on to what the the next steps would be. >> Okay, question. Not really concerned about the modification. It's just a question that you know like the fourth avenue kind of stands out looking as that. Were those historical incidents before the reconstruction of fourth or
some have been afterwards? >> Both. >> Yeah. So so those records go back probably into the 70s. >> Uh so it is but there have been some that have uh taken place after the uh after the improvements to 4th Avenue.
>> Do we know why there's such a concentr idea why there's such a concentration in that area then? I don't >> tends to the with the bedrock uh when they installed it initially in the 60s, you know, they used cast iron pipe which is much less forgiving than like ductal
iron now or uh any plastic mane and anytime I think there's a little ridge in that rock trench and the ground moves, you know, you'd think rock doesn't move in the in the ground. Well, I can assure you it does. So, okay.
>> Um, anytime you kind of create a, you know, a fulcrum point in there, um, and some areas are are obviously substantially worse than others, but this is, this is one of the areas that really stands out. >> Other questions on this adjustment to
that um, priority 2 project? So if the council is comfortable adjusting that uh the scope, we would again looking assuming that we would would move forward with a special assessment for the benefiting property owners. The first step is to create a uh
feasibility study. And so in your uh in your packet, if I can jump back to that, uh we have a resolution ordering a feasibility study for the 12th Street improvements. Uh we'd like to uh proceed
with that to determine uh not only the you know some of the costs for associated with uh replacing some of the existing infrastructure but also what those costs would look like for uh for uh establishing a new storm sewer uh
outfall along 12th Street. I think that's pretty important to uh provide the council with kind of an overall uh expectation of cost for that improvement so that we can we can figure out both where we can leverage funding and what that impact would be to the to the city's um to the city's enterprise
funds. >> Do you anticipate we would do a benefit analysis also as part of that? >> I think that the the benefit analysis that we that we did last year for the uh for the 2025 street improvements is still very relevant. It's still very
similar neighborhood style. So, I would recommend using the findings of that benefit analysis and applying them to this uh to this project as well. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> You'd anticipate just if at 12 Street
you'd be able to to have that outlet to the river below without disturbing the WPA monument or the stone wall. That's >> that's certainly that would be the the priority. And then if we, you know, we have, thankfully, we have a little wider
right ofway to work with in this area. Gives us a little bit more flexibility. But if we needed to acquire easements or or the like to be able to protect that, certainly that would be uh something that we would we would review as part of that that feasibility.
>> Difficult shape, too. But it's just something I just wanted to make sure that we're it's on the radar as we go forward. But it's >> ready for a motion. >> Yep. I'm ready for a motion. >> All right. I move resolution 2025-62, a resolution ordering the preparation of a feasibility study.
>> I'll second. >> I have a motion from council member Taylor and a second from council member Ingamman. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. Those opposed. >> The resolution is adopted. >> And then again, there's a uh proposal
from MSA to complete that feasibility study as well as a uh a storm study. And part of the reason why we would want to do the storm water capacity study upfront is that has a pretty big impact on costs. If we can utilize a portion of
the the storm sewer on 4th Avenue, >> uh that would that would reduce the amount of storm that we would have to send down down 12th Street. And so in order to really get a good understanding of what that cost would be, we'd like to complete that analysis. And since permitting going or for another outfall
onto the Mississippi River can can take some time, probably up to nine months, we'd like to get started or at least engage the uh Army Corps of Engineers on that permitting process. So that work is described in the in the fee proposal. Uh
the the amount for that fee or that that work was 25,000. Uh so we would appreciate consideration of the council to direct staff to begin that feasibility study. >> Does this um area take on water from surrounding
communities or is this primarily storm water coming out of Newport? >> This would only be Newport. Uh and and uh we do have some uh infrastructure that crosses over Newport and we accept from other communities, but this area would be would be pretty isolated. We
don't get there's no crossings across 61 that would contribute to this area. >> Okay. >> Currently runs down my driveway. Yeah. So, >> yep, I got that, too. >> Um Okay. So, uh motion
to approve a feasibility study and storm sewer capacity evaluation in the amount of $25,000 to MSA. >> So, move. >> Second. I have a motion of council member Ingamman and a second from council member Taylor. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I.
>> I. >> Those opposed. The uh motion is adopted. >> Then mayor, I have some quick hitters on project updates. If I can have just a couple more minutes. >> Our street improvements project, our our water man construction is complete. So, we're going to be removing that
temporary water uh either this week or very early next week. So folks will be connected to the new water water man starting uh road construction as well next week with uh doing the road grading work and eventually doing curbon gutter work and and uh and hopefully paving
here in uh in the near future. Uh our sport court project is uh we expect the basketball hoops and then the perimeter fence posts as well as the net posts to be installed next week as well as the uh
the acrylic surfacing and then returning the following week to finish off the fencing and hopefully within about two possibly 3 weeks we we'll have a uh a sport court up and usable for the for the public. So we're excited about that.
Our water main interconnect project is progressing uh down uh Century Avenue. We should have most of the work on Century completed this week as and then we'll turn toward Lovelin Park and to the ground storage reservoirs to make that connection to our water system. Uh
Century or the um uh Cherrywood development utility construction on the Newport development is expected to begin next week as well. They're starting with the uh northern intersection by the the town homes and working their way in.
Their hope is to have a couple model homes under construction yet this year at each intersection on on the Newport side. So, they are they're moving quickly. They're moving a lot of material. Um and uh we're you know we're excited to see that progress.
And I think that's everything that we have under construction right now. >> Thank you. What do you do in your free time, John? Thank you very much. Um, with that, I mean, any questions on any of that? >> Okay.
>> You forgot to see how >> how great Matt is. >> How how good Matt is. Yeah. >> Matt, we're going to send a link to this meeting to all your family. >> Moving on to the administration report. >> Uh, good evening, Mayor Elliot.
>> Oh, sorry. public works. >> Sorry, >> Matt. She said administration. Matt, she said administration. >> Back in his place. I >> was going to say stop while you're ahead, Matt. Don't jinx it. >> All right. >> Nope. Fire away.
>> Uh I don't have anything formal this evening. Um but kind of to tag on to the uh um public comments at the beginning of the meeting. Um we are out jetting again. Um, and there are times where, like I said, we're running higher pressure because we're having to climb
hills. Um, also, um, your plumbing vent could be could be an issue. Um, but if you're experiencing issues, don't be afraid to call public works. We're here to help. You know, whether we're out jetting or not, you know, if you've got a sewer issue or a water issue, um, you
know, to be honest, we're the we're the ones that know what's going on with the system. So call us and we're happy to help. Happy to share, you know, share what we know with you to try and prevent you from, you know, u doing something
that isn't necessary, you know, or additional cost, that type of deal. So if if in question, give us a call and we'll tell you if we're able to help with any of it or, you know, the best way to proceed. Um, and then you know if
there is an after hours emergency, you know, I know it says call Washington County dispatch, dispatch calls us directly. So, you know, like I said, we don't have a a cell phone that, you know, is the duty number, but if you call Washington
County Dispatch, they call us directly and make sure that one of us receives this call and then we adjust from there. So, um, like I said, we're we're here to help and happy to help. So, anytime you run into an issue, give us a give us a
call and we'll do what we can. So, with that, I'd be happy to stand for any questions. >> Well, thanks for the information on how that kind of procedure works and it's free to call public works, so don't hesitate. >> Yeah, >> doesn't cost you anything. >> Any questions for Matt?
Okay, now it's time for the director of administration's report. Uh, mayor, members of the council, I'll just get it out of the way now. Um, I do think Matt's doing a great job. Just wanted to put that out there. Uh, tonight we do have a preliminary levy
presentation that I'll be uh, giving to the council. Uh, of course, Newport, like all other cities, are required to pass a preliminary levy by the end of September. Uh, just a little bit of background here. Um, council has reviewed the
following funds uh and uh in regards to our budget for 2026 staff's recommended 2026 general fund changes. Um, we did a detailed review of city revenue sources. Uh, we've looked at our capital improvement plan for the
years 2026 through 2030. And we've reviewed in detail our enterprise funds including the water, sewer, storm water, and street lighting funds. We also had a discussion in a work session with Cottage Grove regarding emergency medical services.
High level talking about goals for the 2026 budget. Um, you know, we are thinking about the impacts on the local taxpayer. Uh, we're thinking about the capacity needs and and the many staff changes we've had as a city over the last couple years and the continued changes we're
going to have coming in the next year and two. Uh we're thinking about public safety, the budget impact of our cops grant and adjusting costs based on hiring uh the hiring delay for our uh our next deputy. We also have a fire chief transition that council will
discuss today in a work session. Uh and we're also looking our parks and city infrastructure. We got the Cedar Lane Park and the trail that's going to be connected uh soon. Uh and we'll be doing work on that park next year. And then the 65th Street Trail. Um, this will
begin in uh, you know, contracts will be signed in 26 and I think work will begin in 27. We're also looking at the next steps of the area study and the initiatives in order to bring more economic development and business to our community and uh, also the Newport
library study and our long-term financial stability. Of course, I'm very excited because this was the third year of our team approach to budgeting. I think this really is is helpful and uh one way we're we're doing things a little bit differently.
Residential assessed property value did increase by about 8%. I think it was 8.1% to be precise. Median home value did increase from uh by about 22,000 900 from 305500 to 327800.
um debt service increased by approximately 125,000 and then LGA decreased by $44,000 to $452,32. Some highlights here. Uh of course we do have investments in our Newport parks and trails. Uh this is uh really due to
our quality of life and what we're trying to do there. uh we will see an increase in revenue to parks uh CIP and the uh from the park dedication not deduction fund. This would be a 400,000. Uh we do have 350,000 that we've devoted
for the development cost for Cedar Lane. We are seeking additional grants, but we want some money set aside to help match those grants and also uh $24,000 added for Newport portion of the cost for the trail along County Road 74.
Investments in parks, facilities, and public works. We have about $25,000 scheduled for the library space and service study. Staffing cost for maintaining our parks. Uh this was an increase of about 63,000. Public works assistant truck. This was a
investment of about 45,000 for 2026. Interior paint for public works 25,000. Garage doors for public works at 8,000. Roof for public works at 150 uh,000. office uh the HVAC for the office
portion of public works at about 20,000 and the garage portion of public works the HVAC there at 28,000 parking lots for public works a lot of public works items in uh coming due for 60,000 and a water softener and pressure
washer at 15 laptops for five and a whacker asphalt roller one ton for 30,000 items of note this is investments and our capital uh capacity and service level. We did increase education uh
across all departments by about $9,000 for 2026. Public safety, we are looking at a market adjustment for our firefighters to uh for our the pay to stay competitive. Uh and we want to keep our staffing levels up. It it can be very challenging for paid on call
firefighter uh fire departments nowadays. There's also a fire chief's vehicle uh a Ford CV for about $70,000. structural firefighting equipment is scheduled to be uh $30,000. And then of course this EMS service discussion with
Cottage Grove. There may be an investment there. Other goals for 2026 include code enforcement, economic development, the continued infrastructure investments, and uh the next initiatives of the area study.
I wanted to talk about the balance of priorities here a little bit. Um, you know, when when I know the council and staff are looking at uh, you know, the impacts for residents, our tax rate, we are keeping an eye on our fund reserve balance. We're trying to keep that between 50 and 60. Uh, and our long-term
financial health. This is, you know, where where we're trying to have Newport in in 10 plus years. I think also our service levels and staff capacity. We've had a lot of turnover. I think in the last 3 years, if you look at the number of staff that have retired and and uh
the new staff and things like that, we're at close to 100% turnover just in three years. So, a lot of folks are learning new things and and uh there's new priorities. We also want to keep our financial flexibility uh and I think really uh focusing on investing for the
future of our community. To that end, I did have one council member ask why not a 0% increase. Um, and I think really Newport has a number of challenges and opportunities over the next 5 to 10 years. I think really looking at the balance of service needs
with our capacity, frankly our infra infrastructure neglect and the amount of investment we will have to make over the next you know uh over the future here and that our debt and our financial stability balancing of service needs with
capacity. I think really the service level expectations have increased by the community and for uh from the council. I think you've seen tremendous increases uh with customer service, communication. I think the code enforcement and also bringing more development. It feels like
we're doing quite a bit more proactive code enforcement. Uh you know, it is one of our initiatives and we do believe this will bring more economic development. folks are attracted to nice communities and we are trying to raise the bar here in Newport. For a city our size to do proactive code enforcement,
it's really unheard of. Um, and it does take a toll on staff. This isn't something that's easy, but thankfully we got staff that are committed and and we're doing that work. Deputy costs, you know, thankfully this is something we won't have to bear the burden until
2027. Uh but the cost is about $180,000 and this will be about three and a half percent on the levy in that year. Thankfully, because of the efforts of the mayor and the council, we did receive grants in order to cover cover the costs of this additional deputy uh
for 2025 and 2026. looking at info in infrastructure neglect and our needs. Um we've done a number of park projects uh the last three years and this really does improve our quality of life. Um in looking at
surveys, folks really wanted a number of things and we've been focusing on that. We do have more projects coming. Still working on the Loveland Park sports courts. We are going to have a a park on the river. Um, and if you think about
the trails and whatnot, these are all things that will make our city more attractive over the next 5 to 10 years. If you look at our demographics, our population will turn over. And it's important for us to focus on Newport being an attractive place for folks to
choose to come here during that time. If you look at our streets, water, uh, sewers, and other infrastructure, we do have about a $64 million problem. This problem increases about well will increase about $5 million each year
based on inflation. This is something that is a big priority for the mayor and council and the mayor and staff have been working extensively to get grants and funding to take care of these issues. We have a lot of water main breaks, the inflationary costs and
frankly there was no plan uh to to to solve these problems. We have many streets with no curbs. We have a lack of storm water control and some streets that aren't looking so great. Debt and financial stability. Our debt
will be nearly 30% of our total levy until about 2030. How do we invest in our future without overburdening the taxpayer? I think looking at our financial stability, we really do have to add capacity through the development. We have a number of developments coming
online. we believe in 2028 uh and that will allow us to continue to make these investments. Um with that said, you know, we do want to keep our tax levels lower than other
communities in Washington County in order to decrease our tax rate. If you look at Newport, we are, you know, a higher tax community. With that said, how do you invest in the future while also managing that burden? We will have a decrease in our debt in
2030 and 2034 and this will decrease by about $400,000 per year. Managing our finances until new developments come on and begin uh to contribute is important and that will likely occur in 2028. We are looking at a 5 to 10 year plan to
decrease our tax rate and manage taxes for the community. We are trying to reduce our relative tax rate to other communities within Washington County. And I think we have a good goal that we'll be able to succeed in 5 to 10 years. We must continue economic development and increase the
property values here in Newport. Well, why don't we just increase it all right now and take care of all these big problems? And I think, you know, we just can't do that. We have to balance growth with our ability to pay as a community. We have to focus on lowering taxes and making Newport more affordable
affordable while also offering high service levels. We have to make it long-term and uh I believe we're offering a sustainable plan. In looking at comparable preliminary levies that are being approved by a number of cities around us, most of them
in uh Washington County, I feel very comfortable with with what we're doing here. Cottage Grove is uh doing a preliminary levy of 14.92%. St. Paul Park is looking at 14.9. South St. Paul is 11.72.
Woodbury is looking at 11.7. Bayport at a 9.9. Oakdale at 7 and Washington County at 6.95. in thinking about what we could do as a city, what's sustainable, and what I think will be a a good amount for us to
move forward over the next five years. Again, thinking that can we stay in uh single-digit numbers for probably the next three or four years and once we see that debt decrease in 2030, potentially really look at lowering that number.
Um staff is proposing uh you know, a couple options here. Uh four, five or 6%. um this will increase that levy you know uh depending on the amount but it would lower our tax rate. Uh currently it's
53.42 and you can see each option does lower that. Again the med median home value did increase by 8.1%. It is now uh $327,800 and the yearly increase uh kind of if you pick in the middle here of $72.81
and 81 would be $6 per month. This also does keep our fund balance ratio very healthy and I you know that's something to keep an eye on too. With all of that said, uh staff does recommend uh the preliminary levy.
Again, we can lower this between now and the end of the year. We're still sharpening our pencils. We still have to get our quotes on health insurance. We did uh put that in the budget at 16% and we're hopeful that will be lower. Um but I would ask for council to approve
resolution number 2025-63 setting the preliminary levy at 5% increase for 2026. >> Thank you Administrator Hatch. That was a nice comprehensive overview. Um and I
as you uh stated the council has been talking about the budget um through several workshop meetings where we talk about the general fund. We talk about uh the capital improvement program which is vehicles and large larger expensive equipment, building maintenance and
those kinds of things. Um our uh economic development uh funds, our utility funds. And so this tonight is sort of a culmination of all that. Um, administrator Hatch also said, you know,
this is a preliminary levy. Our the last three years, I want to say it might have even been four years where we've set a preliminary levy, but the actual final levy gets set in December and we have been a little bit lower than our actual
preliminary levy. So, it's always our hope uh to make to try to go a little less than what we set um on the preliminary levy and this is a state statute that we have to approve a preliminary levy before at the end of September even though we don't quite
have all the numbers in yet. So, um with that questions for uh staff on this at all? >> I just more of a comment. I just want to appreciate you know the presentation. And I hope it helps people understand these numbers because I mean there are
numbers we could always do something like yeah get a 0% levy increase this year but what is our what is our big picture that we're trying to work towards and I think you could Joe laid that out very well why we're doing these numbers what we're trying to achieve and I hope as you look around the city and see the improvements that we're making
it's because of you know we need to be fiscally responsible but we also need to keep investing and I think that we're we're trying to strike that balance. I hope you're seeing that. And I hope that's a balance that you you can you can appreciate. And if you you know have questions on certain items, you know, are we spending too much in one area, not enough in another area, but that's
it's always the balance act. I know people like, well, they want their playground, but you know, they don't want their taxes. And we got to we we have to strike these balances and try to pace these. I think that's the thing to make this work. >> A lot of these things have to have we're we're developing a much better, you know, capital improvement plan. We have
a much better idea of where we're going to be at in two years, three years, 5 years, >> than when I joined as a council member 5 years ago. We do it felt like everything was yeartoear carry numbers forward. Okay, this one and now I think we have a vision. I really appreciate that and I hope hope the residents do as well. So,
>> thank you, Council Member Taylor. Um, >> I'll make a motion to approve the uh resolution uh uh 25 2025-63. A resolution established in a proposed
uh preliminary levy certification for the uh year of 2025 payable in 2026. >> Thank you. >> Second. So, have a motion from council member Ingamman and a second from council member Taylor. Any further
discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed. And the preliminary levy is adopted. >> Mayor and members of the council. One more item here. Uh I was able to call Matt this morning and he did answer the phone.
>> Thank you. >> So, if you call public works, they'll answer the phone. Thank you. Oh, poor man. Um, so now we're on to mayor and council reports. I'm always happy when I do a little slip up because it gives me a
chance to come back and talk about it. Um, at the last meeting during mayor and council reports, I talked about a significant list of volunteers and business sponsors for our pioneer day and a couple uh groups kind of slipped through the cracks um despite my best
efforts. Um, I do want to thank core fitness and performance. They really advocated for the road race and fun run for the kids. They encouraged a lot of their members to participate and I think without that encouragement we wouldn't have had near the number of of runners that we had and I think the number of
runners we had just made the whole event a lot more fun for people. So I want to thank them for their uh work and promotion of our uh our community festival that day. I also want to thank South Suburban Rental. They've been a decadesl long uh partner and supporter
of Pioneer Day and they do provide the stage for the band uh at no charge uh for the event and I want to thank them for doing that for many many years. And I also want to recognize the group Newport on the Move. They've sponsored a
kids craft table at Pioneer Day for also many many years that kids can go over and do a free craft or they can, you know, put a put little money in the donation jar. So, those were just a few more people that I wanted to make sure we got a chance to thank uh for Pioneer
Day. Um, I also, uh, I guess it was late last week, I did a podcast with the, uh, True Lens, uh, people to talk about Newport, a little bit about Pioneer Day and the dog park and current projects going on and our library and some of our
accomplishments over the last four years. So, uh, that's out there now live on, um, YouTube, so you can go out and find that and hopefully, um, I did a good job and make you make you all proud of living
here. Um, I also got a chance to go to the, uh, a welcome back for teachers for school district 833. It was great to see the Newport teachers there, and everybody seemed pretty fired up about the new school year, so that was enjoyable. And I also want to let people
know there's a free shredding event at the South Environmental Center. Up to six boxes, they can't weigh any more than 30 pounds. It's on Wednesday, September 10th, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. And that location of the environmental
south environmental center is 4039 Cottage Grove Drive in Woodbury. And um just put in your trunk or the back of your SUV. They don't want you to get out of your car. just open it up, they will take the boxes out and and close it back
up. And that's just the most efficient way that they can they can run that event. So, if you have uh things to shred, that's the place to do it. And I guess in closing, Matt is amazing. Okay,
Tom, your report on Tom. Uh your report on Matt. >> I have nothing to report, but yes, Matt is amazing. Council member Taylor. >> Nothing to report >> and nothing to say about Matt. >> No.
>> Thanks, Marv. >> Barb is reserving judging. Okay. Um, do I have a motion to adjurnn? >> So move. >> Second. >> I have a motion from council member Ingamman and a second from council member Taylor. I want to thank everyone
for watching. Oh, all those in favor say I. I. Those opposed. Thank you for watching. We're adjourned. >> 5 minute break. You know,