--------- Jamie, I see you just joined. Can you hear me? >> Yes, I can hear you now. >> Wonderful. Great. It will be just a few minutes here. I'm going to put you on mute. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Yep. Yes. >> Okay, Jamie, we're just waiting on one
more. All right. Good morning everybody. We will officially call our city of Nisa special council meeting to order on this Tuesday, February 17th, 2026. and it is 10:34 a.m. Um, so our main agenda item
and why we have this special meeting today is to do the final interviews um for the city administrator clerk position uh that has been vacant with the city of Nisa. Um before we dive in, I'd like to turn it over to um Wendell
from South Central Service Cooperative. They are the firm that council motioned to engage with um to help us with the search for these positions. Wendle, thank you and your team for being here today. Thank you so much. Um, yep. And just to
overview, we have the four interviews. Um, so the first one is scheduled about 55 minutes per interview. So, just for council, for our information and just for good flowing and trying to keep on track, we do want to leave maybe five, seven minutes at the end for any kind of
wrap up um and whatnot. And then, um, Mr. Lawrence, just for your knowledge too, as we go through and ask questions, we want you to be able to ask questions back of us as well. So, if things come up as we're going through and you don't want to hold it until the very end, right? If something pops in your mind,
please feel free to note that um and ask the council those questions also. And then I would just note council in talking with Wendell, there is a suggested question list, right, for each of us. We all have the same one. Um
we'll go we'll kind of do a round robin how we did for the last round of interviews. So we each have an opportunity to ask questions, but you can ask questions that are not on this list. The only thing that Wendell uh gave guidance on, strong guidance, is that we need to be fair and ask the same
in general the same questions about the candidates unless there's maybe something specific to, you know, their resume or experience that you saw in order to maintain um fairness throughout this process. So, if everybody's good, we could get started.
Okay, great. Uh Mr. Lawrence, um thank you so much for being here virtually. We do appreciate it. We appreciate your candidacy and being involved in the process. If you wouldn't mind just starting out for a few minutes just giving us a little bit of your background, bio, and what uh interested you in applying for the position with
the city of Nisa. >> Yeah. Yeah. First of all, thank you for allowing me to do this. It was uh not the ideal situation. I really wanted to be up there and be there in person, but uh um had a conflict with a vacation that was already scheduled. So, I
appreciate you guys doing that for me. Um yeah, a little background on myself. I'm I was born and raised in West Central Illinois. Um lived there most of my life. Went to college uh university at the Illinois State University.
Started there. Um left college a little bit early. Had the opportunity at that time to go um work in soil conservation and a few other areas. Um did that um um was
hired on with the US Forest Service right after that period. Worked for the Forest Service for a couple years. Um, friend of mine had given me the opportunity to to move after the Forest Service. That was in the early 2000s to uh move down to the Kentucky, Tennessee
area um by the Land Between the Lakes area down there. Um, so I went down there and I worked for the Kentucky Department of Corrections for about six years. And during that time, I actually went back and finished my uh transferred all my credits from Illinois State down to Murray State, finished my bachelor's
degree. Um, and then went on and and worked on uh and got my masters in public administration. Uh, once I got my master's degree, I went to work for the uh Madisonville Hopkins County Economic Development Corporation. worked with them for worked
with them for about a year, year and a half I believe. Um then went on to uh what they called an area development district in Kentucky. It was a regional planning agency. Um started there working as a projects coordinator. uh which meant I I wrote mainly I wrote
grants for uh small communities um for grants such as law enforcement uh grants, fire grants, uh trails, recreation, uh various uh various grant programs that were on the smaller side. Um, and
then I advanced in that that same uh agency to the to become their water and wastewater uh coordinator, which then I worked with the state down there was the state department of water um and uh helped uh local communities that weren't
the largest communities that didn't have a lot of staff, help them manage their uh their local utility systems and and write grants to uh to uh build a build new water plants. new sewer plants, uh expand infrastructure, um fix some of
their problems. So, I did that um for about two years. Uh just so happened that, uh the city administrator in the current city I'm at uh his he took a position as a city administrator in Kentucky and he fell in I I covered nine
counties in uh in Kentucky and he was one of the cities in one of my counties. Um I was working with him to build a uh suit new sewer sewage treatment plant and u in discussions with him he said there was an opening in SAK city Iowa as
an administrator. So um he thought I'd be a good fit for that. So I uh and it was a little bit closer to my my where I grew up in Illinois back up in the Midwest. And uh so I interviewed for that and uh everything went well and the council liked the way I ran my business
or ran my operations and uh hired me. So I've been in uh it'll be nine years I've been in Sak City in June. Um kind of the reason I think he asked you know what interested me and maybe Niswah. Um
it's something that I'm looking for a place. I think that this is going to be my whatever position I choose, I'm looking for a city that's kind of going to be my final resting, you know, where I retire at. Um I'll be turning 49, 50
soon. So, um this is the one of those positions I'm looking to settle. Um I've been in in uh in SAK City, like I said, for for nine years. Uh the community's treated me well. Um we have a good relationship. I I' I've built a really
good relationship with our city council and mayor um over those nine years. Um and we've done a lot of great things. Uh we've we've expanded our recreational opportunities. We've we've revamped uh our wastewater treatment collection
system where when I first came to that community, we were having u all kinds of sewer backup issues in the community. Um the the sewer system wasn't being maintained like it should have been. Uh, so we we hit that head-on as soon as I got there and and corrected that within
a year. Um, we're doing a lot of water water department utility improvements. Um, I worked with the police department quite frequently to to uh to uh improve training opportunities for them. Um, engage and update their policies uh to
make them reflect uh what was required state and nationally um and modernize. And uh we've just done our big item, big ticket item in the last few years is our we've we've redone our housing. Um the
city's purchased a lot um two lots actually. Um that we've actually become kind of the developers on uh because being in a rural area, it's kind of difficult to be honest to bring in a a large developer to build a
lot of housing. Uh so the council decided that it'd be in the interest of the city to to kind of be the developer ourselves initially. Um so we've we've done that. Um like I said, we had two divisions. We've filled one and then the the second one we're currently it's got
13 lots in it. I think we've filled three so far um in the last year. So uh the way we financed that was through TIF. Um, and currently what we're doing with that property as well is we're transferring the city doesn't really necessarily want to be the developer
owner of the property. Um, and to make to make it simpler because it is kind of complicated sometimes for the city to sell property to individual land owners that the city is going to sell that to our um, SAC economic development corporation, our our development arm of
the city. Um, so we're working on getting that completed right now. So, that's a little background on myself. >> Thank you. Thank you for sharing. Um, we'll start with questions from the council. Council member London, if you'd like to start,
you can make sure. >> So, tell us what you know about our community. >> Tell us what you know about our community. >> Yeah. So, um, when I when I came across the job
description in in the advertisement, uh, I actually talked to my wife about it and I said, "Well, I'm the type I've got to see what's going on." So, we actually, uh, the week before Christmas drove up to Niswah and spent the weekend um, and did some Christmas shopping and
and ate some pizza at the Rafferties and, uh, just walked around town and and met some of the people. So, um, and then and drove around the community and and the surrounding communities. So, it's something that was I always have to have buy in myself before I want to to, uh,
to go to a new community. So, I went there and it was it's it's a beautiful town and, uh, I mean, you've got the lakes and and the amenities and the good people around. So, um, I was very impressed and uh, and it attracted me.
So, I I my wife and I both decided it was it'd be a good opportunity to to apply and so that's what we did. >> Very good. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, next question, Council Member Freilley. >> Well, you come from the county that my great-grandfather was born in and before
he moved up to Minnesota. I found that pretty interesting. Um, what is your approach to dealing with difficult people, whether it be staff or counsel? Right. Um, I've always come to the I' I've always
had the position that um it's usually not a full-on conflict. It's a misunderstanding. Um, and typically what I find is it's a misunderstanding of roles, uh, what what the role of staff member is, what the role of the council member is, whatever.
Um, and once those are explained out, um, and I'm most cities have pol written policies already in place that help explain those roles as well. Um, so I always try to be neutral on both sides. Um, and then approach it from what
policy says. Um, so I've always my personal position on on how local government works is that the city council and mayor are your policy makers and your staff or your operators and the ones that enforce that policy. Um, it's
important to to understand those roles um and allow the city administrator as the arbiter in between the two. Um, I find it important and I've told the staff this as well. I find it important that if there's a if a council member or
the mayor has an issues directly with a a policy or an action that the at the city department's doing or um an action or something that an individual employee has done. um it's it's important for
that council member or mayor to approach the administrator and let the administrator handle that situation um instead of handling it directly. Um there's and there's also recourse usually I mean if there's they can always appeal whatever decision
administrator makes on beyond and and bring it back up to the council level as a whole. But um I I always find it's it's important to allow admin the city administrators do their job and their jobs to to manage the operations of the city. I don't make we don't make the policy but we make we do manage the
operations. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Um next question. Council member Hall. Okay. Well, let's do we have you back? >> Yeah, I'm back. >> Okay. Okay. Perfect. >> So, the question was, how would you
develop a long range plan for the community? >> Yeah. So, what we do in what we've done in Iowa, and I think it works anywhere, but uh it's u there's there's you really need to develop a a good strategic plan,
and it involves the council and and staff and and the administrator um in working out a two-year plan, a five-year plan, and a 10-year plan um of what you want to see done. Uh it's sometimes it's best and it might actually be good to
have an out you know a new administrator come in with new ideas but uh um we usually look at uh the state uh some of the universities uh have people that specialize that come in and work with the city councils in in developing those
plans. Um, and then once those are established, we try to you really push a city administrator to follow those. And like I do in our we have a check I have a little checklist of items that we have on on our our plan uh future plans and I
check them off as we accomplish them and it's a pride point with the city that we we do set plans and we we follow through on them. So yeah, it's it's just it's just a process of uh gaining new idea. Everybody's going to have their own ideas. We put the ideas together. Uh typically we'll put them on a board
where everybody writes all the ideas out. Then we just prioritize them uh by votes um and narrow them down to these three goals this year, these three goals next year, these three goals five years from now. Um and then once those are all
set, we really work hard to finish them. >> Thank you. Um next question will come from council member Zan. >> Good morning Jamie. Thank you for joining us. Uh question I have for you is uh somewhat similar to what council member Hall just asked, but is uh like
to know if you could tell us about your experience with economic development. >> Uh yeah, so I I worked when I worked there I was their business retention and expansion coordinator. Um, so my main job is I went in and in and v visited
with the the local industries, mostly manufacturers, but I also went into the the smaller business as well because we understood that the uh the actually main growth you see in in economies isn't new new businesses or uh chasing new
businesses into town. It's the real growth you typically see in economic developments is those industries that already there expanding. Um, so that's where we saw the growth and that's where that's the area I focused on. Um, we
also did a big uh push on entrepreneurship in the community. Um, I think that's especially in small towns. Um and and in towns like Niswah especially with the uh the potential on the uh tourism and and tourism development is
that entrepreneur entrepreneurs come in with new business ideas. And it's always key in my mind that uh that the city be a team player with these individuals and not be a hindrance with uh you know
bureaucratic uh red tape. So, we've always tried to help and that was a big key part of it. Our EDC's was that the individuals could come to our organization um and we were there to work with the
city and uh any government agency that could cause any problems. we were there to work with them directly and and and get past that red tape or at least have somebody on staff who could take care of a lot of that for the individual and and let them focus on growing their business
instead of filling out paperwork. I think that's a big key. Um I think it's you know economic development side too is we did a lot of work with we were actually uh so I think what you guys are looking at as an an authority we didn't have an
authority we were an economic development corporation uh we were actually a 501c3 so we could take uh charitable contributions and what worked well for our organization at the time when I was in Kentucky was that uh especially if if there was a a
manufacturer was moving out of town if we happen to lose one. Um they would donate that we would go into discussions with them and a lot of times they would donate the that empty building to the uh development corporation as a tax write off for their company and then we could
use that uh empty building as a recruitment tool for for a new business or industry coming into town. So it served as a good pass through um and the city itself didn't have to necessarily get involved. Um, and the third part was that the we usually, especially when we
did big deals, big development deals, um, our director and staff would go work a a tax package together. Um, and a a recruit and a package for the potential business coming into town of, you know, certain tax breaks they could receive,
uh, incentives. uh what if they would receive an empty building. You know, part of the the the attractiveness of the the city I was in was if they did if we did have an empty building that the that EDC oftentimes would almost give them that building for free if they
would bring in bring in their industry there with a certain number of jobs attached to it. So, um that's that's kind of key in my view what what these economic development groups need to do. Um, I've always had the, uh, you know,
opinion, and this is just because I came from that this end and not the the authority end, but the, uh, I've always had the opinion that it's good to have, uh, more of the private sector involved on the board than necessarily the local governments. Um, it's it keeps everybody
on their toes and it brings a lot more new ideas into the system. Um and it actually also I think in my view kind of keeps things uh remains keeps a continuity involved there because local your local councils your local
governments change policy direction from time to time. Um when you have more private industry uh some of them folks of board it creates a little more continuity where if there's a big change in government it they can kind of still
continue on the same path. So it's good to see continuity and not like a lot of upheaval when especially in economic development because that's what the industries like to see. Do does any council have any follow-up questions
around this topic for Mr. Lawrence >> before we move on to the next question? >> None that are listed. >> Anyone? >> Okay. Thank you. Um the next question, Mr. Lawrence, is what would you need from the city council to be successful,
you know, in a new city, in a new role as the administrator clerk in Nisa, >> right? My my main goal is to develop an understanding between me and the council on how a city's properly managed. Um so
I've always initially like when I when I take on a new position and I've only done it a couple times. I don't I don't move very often, but like when the last time I started um just determining those roles and and I usually do that via contract actually before we even start
so we're all on the same page. Um that you know I like to be the one that I'm in between the council and the and the staff members. Um and I like to be the one that uh relays the you know wishes of the council to the staff. I so we
don't have to have any of that conflict in the future. Um I it's always important to me I always want to develop um a relationship with each and every uh member of the council and the mayor yourself um and be able to be on a firstname easy talking basis um to
understand your issues. Um that's important. Uh so that and then I always really push the issue that I am I'm my job is to be neutral in the situation. You're the policy makers. you make the
decisions. If you ask me a question, um I'm I'm going to give you the pros and cons of those those issues that come up. Um but but ultimately, it's it's your your call and um I'm just there to implement your policies and make them
work the most efficient way I can see possible. Um, so that I'm it's key to me to be just the the openness in dialogue between myself and and the council and mayor is always important and as long as we can do that um it'd be great and it's
I I always feel that it's it's very very important during this interview process if we're going to click if you can see us working together um and I feel like we can work together it's great. If it's if you can see that we're on two different, you know, wavelengths and our
different we're just going to have different management styles, then um that's you may not be my style may not be for you. But I I think the way I've watched your your city work, I think it would work. U so I'm here to help and
that's what I do. It's it's to make to help you make things work for the city and to make the public build trust in the city and and have a good relationship. Um what I like to do also see is that I like in my own community
I'm I'm involved in a lot of stuff. Um I'm parts of the civics civic organizations. I serve on the sac the or economic development board. Um I'm on the board of director for Kuanas Club. I
I go to several of the meetings. I always go to the if if one of the commissions want to meet and ask me, they need my opinion, I usually attend it. Um so I'm I'm there when they need me um to give their advice, but uh I
also want to allow them to manage their own departments and not be a micromanager as well. >> Thank you. Um next question, Council Member London. What do you believe you would bring to
the position that others may not? >> Uh I I just bring a I have a pretty broad background in uh in government itself. Um I've worked at three I've worked at the federal level, the state
level and the local level. Um I'm very well aware on how um government s funding systems work. I'm very knowledgeable on um obtaining uh grant funds for communities. I that's used
that used to be what my main job was is to secure funding for for local communities. Um I have a I I grew up in a law enforcement family. My dad was a my father was a deputy sheriff. Um, I have a good solid relationship with our uh,
police department. Uh, I'm very we our fire department I'm involved with. Uh, I'm on I serve on their fire board. Uh, we have an agreement that's with our fire departments. Um, we also provide services to all the townships uh, in our surrounding community. So, we have a in
Iowa what's called a 280 agreements, intergovernmental agreements. Um, and I'm in charge of kind of setting that and making sure that agreement is followed and and um the townships pay their their their part to the city uh
for fire protection. Um, so the the big thing I have is and and coming from a town of of where I'm at now, I I have a fairly good knowledge base of most every department and uh we have a water department, a sewer department, uh
municipal garbage departments, uh police department, fire departments, um and being a small enough city, I'm kind of involved in all the aspects of that. So, I'm I I also as as far as being, you know, I have my office time, but I also
have some hands-on time that I I'm able to do. Um I don't know if the others have that or not. Um but it's to me it's always key at least and I always make a point um on a few times at least each year to get out with a line staff and uh
and work next to them for a day or something just so they I can understand what they're coming from. um and and the work they have to do and uh they can see where I'm coming from. So, and it helps develop that, you know, it's it's always good to develop a good relationship with all those employees. Let get get let
them get to know you on a firstname business basis. Um I don't know if a lot a lot of administrators do that. But some it's just it's a management style. Some more office oriented. I'm more of the type that likes to get out in the community and uh explore and meet new
people and and get to know the staff and and the community members. >> Thank you very much. >> Next question. Council member Freillley, >> I know you made some uh talked about communication, but how would you establish good communications
and information flow with others between the council yourself to staff? >> Communication between the council, myself to or from the council to staff. Is that what you're asking? >> Yeah, correct. >> Yeah. Um
yeah, so I usually I mean I'm always at every council meeting we'll discuss and you direct at me whatever comments you have um or outside whatever. Um and that's where it's key I think for me to develop good relationships with both sides um the
council and the staff um to be able to sit down and talk to them in a in a not not necessarily formal setting but informal setting of what we're wanting to see as the city council is wanting to see is what the staff needs to do. Um,
and again, I I think, you know, a lot of times, and this happens where I work, and it happens in every city. It's um, it's just human nature to to disagree on how something needs to be done. Um, and I always tell the the staff, well, they're the ones that are making the
policy. We're supposed to enforce it. That's what we do. Um, if that's what they want done, that's that's what we're going to do. um if they have ideas and this is where I come back to to u roles and responsibilities as well. I mean part of
their role is to advise me and the council on why an idea that the council is pushing may not necessarily work. So, what I do when I bring the the that policy decision to the staff members,
they may not like it initially and we're going to follow it initially because that's what the council said to do, but I also let them comment on that, especially over a month or two period while we're testing it out and bring those comments back to the city council and say, "Well, here's what the public's
work director said that here's some of the issues maybe we need to look at to amend this policy or or, you know, correct this ordinance or whatever. Um, so it and it's it's just a you got to you got to look city policy and city government or the ordinance the book
ordinances it's always going to be have to be kind of a living document. It changes from time to time and it's when when it's to me it's extremely important too once so giving each of those department heads and and individual employees buy
in to to some of the decision- making. Um well not you know giving their ideas and having the city council to consider those ideas especially tell them it's a good idea if it is a good idea is it's a huge thing for them to have. It's a it's
a for motivation and and and making a making a good employee when they actually feel like they're part of it and part of the community and and their ideas get implemented. It's it's a great feeling for them and and that really creates a good bond too between between the administrator council and the the
staff. >> Well, thank you. >> Council member Hall, >> a little bit of a followup to that question. Um, tell us about a time, give us an example of of a conflict that you've had between yourself and staff
and how that was resolved. >> Yeah. Um, the main one that I believe would come to mind would be it was uh a lot of times the staff would be when
we negotiated pay pay raises for staff on the annual basis. Actually, we our city would do a three-year an agreement with uh with the city employees and and said a three-year this is what you're going to get over three-year raises and
um that always created quite a bit of conflict. Um I'm going through it right now to be honest and it's it's it's going to be conflicts. This the city budget's tight and uh we don't have the funds that they're wanting um on their end to uh
provide those raises. Um, what I usually do is I I bring out the the the information to them directly, especially to the department heads and and say, "Here's here's the revenue dollars we're bringing in. If you can show me where we
can afford to make these changes and to make these improvements you're suggesting, I'm all for it. But if you can't show it, because I" and I'll say, "I'm looking for it and I don't see it." And then if they can't come up with it or give a suggestion, then then we revert back to what my idea and the
council's idea originally was. So it's, you know, we come to the my idea of that conflict resolution is here's my idea of what to do. You tell me how to do it better or come up with a new idea that makes it more efficient. I'm I'm wide
open to it and lay that back on to them. So they have to make that decision. And if they can't come up with a solid decision, then we revert back to the original. That tends to melt the conflict and end it immediately. Um, in my experience,
>> thank you. Um, council members on >> similar that was good. My question, sir, is how can you how can a city administrator maintain positive relationships with citizens, business, and staff when delivering unpopular
news? Give us your take. That's that's always that's always difficult. There's even though it's unpopular news, I'm trying to think of a good example. Let's say um it's always unpopular that
the tax the tax rate levy is going up. Um that's always very unpopular. Um >> oh say >> you all know and it's it's part of life. Um the way to the way there's always a
positive spin on those type of things. Um, and usually what I've come to find out is if you can explain in a very direct way and tell them exactly why where these dollars are going and what
they're going to be used for, um, that bad news becomes more acceptable over a period of time. And especially if it's something that's, you know, we providing uh pay raises to law
enforcement officers or um public safety items um are key to that. and and making it known that you know your tax dollar is being used for your purpose to keep your community safe and efficient um to provide you you know uh well your you
know clean drinking water in my case in my city or a sewage system that works well and efficient um um that those that I'm discussing rate increases on utilities there but you know but being able to sell rate utility
rate increases being able to So tax tax levies, the way you do it is you explain the reasoning behind it and usually most people can swallow that. It's uh it's you know nobody I I don't like paying more taxes. Nobody does. But uh if it's for a good cause and it to make our town
better um usually they tend to to accept a little bit better. Um, so we we do you just have to to sell that to the community that that hey, this is why we're doing it. We're not just raising your taxes to to spend more money. We're doing it for a specific reason and
outline that. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, what what are your expectations from employees that directly report to you and what could the employees expect from you as a manager?
>> Yeah. So in this law situation especially my expectations there would be the department heads are they manage their department they're expected to follow the budget that's established in their department. Um if they've run into
issues budget wise or staff problems or whatever um I expect them to come to me and discuss it before it becomes a major issue. Um, on the other side, what I hope they expect of me and the way I operate is that I don't micromanage each
department's operations on a daily basis. That I understand that they are the subject matter experts. They're the professionals in their specific areas, that I don't necessarily know everything. Um, and so that I allow them to manage their own departments to the
extent they can best do it. Um, and the only time I would necessarily become involved is if red flags are coming up or budget items are hitting or there's becoming personnel issues. Um, but dayto day I don't want to be in a position
that I have to m manage them. If I do, there's going to be usually that's where I end up with a having to discipline a uh a supervisor is if if I'm having to go in into their department and correct issues and they're not doing it themselves because that's what they're
hired to do is be the supervisor of that specific department. >> Thank you. Um, Council Member London, >> if you were selected as a city administrator, how would you spend your
first month in the position? >> Yeah. So, it's key to me is to to develop the relationship with the the mayor and the council during that first month and getting to know the public and the the general public in that community and develop the key in that the first 30
to 60 days is developing a rapport and a relationship between the staff, the council and and residents of the community and work on building that trust that is so often required. ired um
between uh the city administrator and those uh specific entities. Um life becomes much easier for the council and the staff and the city administrator when the residents trust the person that
you've hired to do the job that you hired them to do. So, I'm key and I'm very keen on uh initially coming out and getting out in the public, meeting the business owners, getting to know uh some of the residents issues, um meeting with the council
members individually, staff members individually. Um I always said I like to go out and spend a day or so and I think that's key in the first 30 days um with these department heads and some of the and some of the line staff so they get
to know me. Um, it's always even down to the the newest hire, it's always important that they they know you and when they see you on the street, they can come up and say, "Hi, how are you doing?" Um, so know them, know the community, and and then find out what
the issues are that are going on uh in the community, uh, in the council, uh, what policy direction the council's wanting to go, uh, and trying to help implement that direction. Um, and I usually try to say like, well, what
three goals do we want to accomplish in the next six months as administrator, the next year as administrator. Um, and then I'll work on getting those goals accomplished. But I work with you guys on doing that and saying, do you want to do you want to work on public safety? Is that your key issue? And you want to is
there is there um a big uh inflow infiltration issue in the sewer collection system that needs to be dealt with? Um, do you want to build a new water plant and start a water utility or you know, set three goals for me and I can I can probably try to accomplish any
of them for you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, Council Member Frley Frillley didn't have any more questions on his end, so we'll turn it to Council Member Hall. We probably only have time for maybe one or so more questions
because we want to give you time to ask questions for us and then kind of wrap up. So, we're at that 10-minute mark, but council member Hall. >> Yeah. And my question is maybe kind of a lead into the wrapup. Um, if you've had time to research us as a
city and and Nysa, what would be maybe a couple of your top two or three things that you already know about us that you would address in your research of us? >> Yeah. So, I I think you've started the
the process. I I see you you've got some housing u some property purchased, I believe, to do some housing developments. Um I think that's a great a great start. Um, in that I think something that you guys
should look at consider really consider doing um and this this would be to attract business and uh and housing is to potentially look at um establishing a water department and building a water plant. I think that
would be a awesome a really great addition uh that would probably recruit even more business and and housing to your community. Um, and it it's it's it's uh it makes things much more efficient as well instead of
having to dig private wells, especially on the commercial side. Um, I see that as key. I see the you've got all the natural amenities already. Um, it it's good to keep expanding on those to keep
the the maintenance up on them. Um, and I'd be I think I'd really like to work on that as well. I I've we've done a lot in that of that in my city. Um, and I I see a lot of potential for even more growth as far as tourism and uh in this.
So, we could work on a plan for that as well. Um, and uh then uh I think those would be the two main goals. But uh yeah. Yeah. any city, but I think always it's
infrastructure would be a a big a big part of of your community uh and then seeing it grow in the future, both on the the wastewater and water side. >> Thank you. Well, we want to give you time um as well. We appreciate you going so in depth on all the questions from
the council members, but we want to give you time as well. If you have questions for us, what could we answer for you? >> Yeah. Um, my main question with you guys is kind of what fit are you looking uh what where are you looking for as an
administrator? Is is there specific items that you want um accomplished that you see that maybe I would be good at or or not? Um, those are the type of things I would like to know. And that's I could answer
your questions even better if that's, you know, the direction you want to work through an EDA and establish an economic development authority. I think it could probably help with that. I'd have to it's a little bit different in Iowa and in and Minnesota as far as the that
system works, but uh that's kind of my the nerd in me is uh I enjoy that type of policy. So, I' I'd have fun researching that out as far as Minnesota law and all that, how that all works. But, yeah, my is is what I guess what
what you what are you looking for? What do you want me to do? >> Let me um turn to start with council member Zan for a response. >> Solve all of our problems. Of course, >> it's a loaded question, but it can also be a loaded answer back. Um there's five
of us up here. We have a town of 2,000 plus residents. So we have our fair share of challenges that we deal with. Uh to be honest, Jamie, we have uh a property, as you've already mentioned, that was purchased uh late 24. >> I I'm going to clarify though. I don't
think any of us at that time uh made the signed off on the motion for it to be specifically like a housing development, but um more so for future economic opportunity. Um there's I think a lot that you've already brought up that would be a
benefit to this team here. Uh we have a really good staff. We have a really good group on this council that is uh dynamic in really all regards. So what what are we looking for? Um we're looking for a quarterback from my my opinion. Looking for a team player. Looking for somebody
that's willing to put their ego aside and put their working form and hat on for the day. show up, turn the coffee on, and shut the lights off at the end of the day and get this team ppped up to be able to do their job and have fun. U >> we have everything that this community
would need to be classified as Mayberry in my opinion. Um and I hope you had that same experience when you came here a few weeks ago, months ago. But uh um I'm just going to stop talking because I'll let the rest of the folks >> Yeah. Um which council member would like
to chime in next? Council member Hall or Oh, so you walked out. Sorry. Um Jamie's question was he was asking us what are we looking for in a city administrator? You know, what are the qualities? What are the traits? So, council members on tal, you know, gave his answer and I know you were out of the room be part of
it. >> I came on the council in uh 2021. Um, what I'm looking for in a city administrator is as council member Zhan said, a team player that can work with the council,
bring our policy, our direction to the staff and work with the staff. We've got excellent staff. Uh, they know what they're doing. Um and and to convey if they're which we can sometimes hear if staff has uh concerns
um because they're not being listened to or whatever it happens to be that you that the new city administrator is uh willing to come to the council and express those to us. Um also uh like member Zan said, we are a
population of approximately 2,000 tourist area and we grow to 30,000. There's a lot of things to do here. We have some great festivals. So, um I want the new city administrator to enjoy the people, enjoy what happens in this area. Uh and to get involved with the people because we have some great people in
this in this area and in this city. That's what I'm looking for. >> Council member Hall. >> Yes. I guess I'd be looking for somebody um that is good with interacting with not
only the staff and the council, but also too as a community. Um it's a really small community. Uh a number of people like myself, we've lived our entire life in this community. Um involved in many different aspects of the community. So,
knowing the public, uh, knowing the business owners themselves, and having a good relationship with them is just as high of a expectation for myself, for somebody like you, as it
is working with the staff and the uh, council. you know, actually get out there in the public and and uh and know the individual people that really make this town great and what it is.
>> And then Oh, is the screen froze or no? >> Yeah. >> Yeah, cuz I think >> Did we freeze again? >> Yeah. Oh, okay. >> He's gone. >> Yeah, I'm guessing his internet
connection isn't good. >> That's what Give him a second here. >> Okay. >> Um, Wend, would you suggest we give him a minute to come back or should we just Okay.
Yeah, we only have a couple minutes. Oh, here he comes. >> Jamie, were you were you able to hear Council Member Hall's feedback to your question or because the screen froze there? Yeah, I got the I got about half of it, I believe, and then whatever the
Zoom just quit on me. So, um >> yeah. So, I was just saying, you know, for somebody in your role, I believe it's just as important to have a good relationship with the people of the town, the community, and the business owners, and to actually get out there and know who they are,
um what they kind of are looking for and kind of what makes this community unique and a great community to live in, you know? >> Yep. I couldn't agree more with that. That's that's a big one to me. And then I guess I would just add from my perspective in addition to what the
other council members shared is having a good uh strategic leader that not only has the hard skills but also the soft skills for interpersonal relationships because I've only been on the council now for a year but one of the things I've observed is there was a strat plan or a strategic plan for the city but
perhaps not all of the council maybe is fully aligned with how that strategic plan sits today. But that's supposed to guide and direct staff, right? But there may be different perspectives of of policy because council has changed over time from when that strategic plan was
originally built. And so to have that, you know, right leader that can help uh get the right plans in place, help, you know, kind of foster that connectivity, that collaboration, the strategic perspective so that everybody is clear on understanding the goals and
direction. And then when council makes policy, there's no confusion around it. If that makes sense. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I would just follow up just, you know, wrapping things up is it's I still see us as the council, the
city managers, uh, and the staff, the team, and we all have disagreements. We all have different ideas and different visions on how we'd like to see things happen. But we also have a lot of ideas that are similar. Uh, I'm sure there's
there's policy directions that Niswah wants to go on that most everyone can agree on on the council and and work on some of those as well. So, you can, you know, pass those positive things that that make the city look good and and make your town look good and and and get
through those. Um, and you can tackle the tough ones as well, but you know, let's Yeah, there's always there's always positives that you can look at and advertise. uh to sell to the community to say, "Hey, this is what your city's doing for you and us as a
team, as a city council, this is what we're working on to make things better for your community." Um, and I know there's like several issues that everyone all agrees on and that's always important to go out there, get those passed and and implemented and promoted.
>> Thank you. Well, we are at um 11:26 here. If you don't have any final questions for us, if you want to take just a final minute or two to to wrap up in closing, any final thoughts you want to leave us with before we um let you go for the day.
>> Yeah, just thank you for the opportunity to interview. Um like I said, it's I visited Niswah. It's a very beautiful town. Um yeah, I'd be proud of what you have there. Um regardless if I get hired or not, I'll still come back and visit you because you're you're a great place
to visit. Um we funny story uh one of our council members actually he's retired now he's a he was an optometrist uh said that and this was back in the 50s they used to drive up to Nisa his family on on summer
vacations so and I and and they were from the uh I believe he grew up in the Omaha area Nebraska before they moved to Sachs. So, um, he was well well aware of Misswell when I talked to him about it and he just thought it was the most wonderful place and all the best
memories. So, um, be proud of your community and, uh, regardless how this turns out, I'm I'm proud of what you guys are doing and I hope you have a very good successful, uh, community in the future. >> Thank you. >> Thank you so much for your time. We really appreciate it. >> Thank you.
>> Take care. >> You too. Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Bye. We will do that. Thank you. >> You have it. Very interesting. >> Not to distract from it. It looks like it got this in my inbox.
Yeah, I'm like saw that weird search and stuff. that they are interesting. Okay, shall we get started? >> Come say hi.
>> Nice to meet you. >> Nice to meet you, Jennifer. You >> hi Joe. Nice to meet you. Okay, Miss Burns, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate you being here today. Um, we have about 55 minutes. So,
the way we structured the last interview and we'll do this moving forward is um, we'll kind of go do around Robin and ask questions, but we want to leave time at the end for you to ask us questions as well and then kind of wrap up any closing thoughts. So, how does that sound? Okay, great. Well, to get us
started, if you wouldn't mind just giving us a little bit about your background and then also sharing what what uh interested you in applying for the position, >> familiar with uh the area that I'm from. Uh probably our biggest claim to fame is it's close to Dodge City. If anyone is
into westerns, that's that's probably the most famous place where I'm or by where I'm from. Um, I started out in juvenile probation on the county side uh when I first began my career in local government and I did budget and grants
for that office and also carried a little bit of a case load. Then from there I went to the public sector for a few years. Realized that um it's a completely different world, a world that I was not very familiar with. So I went
back to local government on the municipal side this time as the budget and grant analyst for the police department in Garden City, Kansas. There I managed an 11 million budget and uh we usually ran about 14 grants at a time.
did that for several several years. Then I was promoted to assistant finance director for the city of Garden City and I was with that city for a total of almost 11 years at which time I became the assistant city administrator for
Simmeron Kansas. Um in that role I really enjoyed it. It was a smaller community much like Niswah where um I did everything from utility billing. we had all utilities um in addition to the wastewater and you know just kind of
your standard things. Um so it was there were a lot of moving parts with that. Um I did everything from ordinance enforcement to um you know there's there were times where I would have to go out and read water meters or um just kind of
your day-to-day tasks that um you never really knew what was going to occur. just, you know, took it one day at a time, did some economic development and um really enjoyed that role. And while I was there, the city administrator uh resigned and the council had offered me
the city administrator position. However, in Kansas there was a residency require or they could actually enforce the residency requirements and at that time I was living in a different community and um we had always talked about moving
to Minnesota at some point. We'd been talking about it for 15 years and so it was kind of one of those things. It was a little sooner than we had anticipated, but um you know it was either we move 30 miles and um you know or we make the
really big move and move 15 hours away from Southwest Kansas. So I opted for the really big move and went to the city of Owatana where I was the finance director there. And I'm not sure how familiar you are with um Owatana, but
they have a lot of lot of moving parts right now. Uh a lot of uh projects in the works, a lot of in infrastructure. Um looking at a pretty big uh police and fire facility in the upcoming years. Um so got very well verssed on the bonding
process and managing debt. And um then in December we found out that we kind of needed to be closer to this area. And this position came up and I I don't ever uh you know just apply at places. These
are big positions that require a lot of thought and knowledge of the area. And so, um, you know, we came up and visited and the weekend that we were here, it was in January and it was snowing and there were people out shopping. The stores were all full. It just seemed
like a very inviting, welcoming community and um, you know, I'm looking for something very long term. Um, not a big fan of moving. That last move was a big one. So, um, looking for a place to land and um, we are definitely not uh,
metro area people. We're looking for the smaller uh more, you know, te hometown environment and feels like this is a a good fit for that. >> Very good. Thank you. Um we'll go to council member London.
>> What do you know about our community? Well, I know that um you know, being on the finance side of things, first thing that I looked at was uh you know, where your revenue comes from, which is primarily tourism from what I gathered um with quite a few tourists every year.
Um I did see that uh you know with that you don't receive local government aid from the state. So, um, you know, that's kind of a double-edged sword for some communities, especially when that's, uh, being looked at on an annual basis as a possibility to be cut. So, it's nice to
see that you're not dependent on those funds. Um, it is, you know, there's a lot to offer. As far as families, I I notice there's a lot of um, you know, different kids activities between here,
Brainer, Baxter, um, and the, uh, resorts. We we did stay at one of those last night to get a feel for, you know, we wanted to to get the whole experience. So, um aside from that, I know that uh it looks like you've got
some projects coming up, uh street projects, uh if what I read was correct. Um look like those are slated. Um possibly some bonding with that. Um, and I know last week you kind of uh entertained the idea of either economic
development or authority or committee. So, um, it looks like there's a lot of potential for growth, a lot of moving parts, and it seems like, um, you know, pretty active involved community. From what I've seen on the council meeting, you know, that have been televised, it
looks like you have a pretty good turnout for those meetings and a lot of citizen involvement. So that's that's good to see. >> Thank you, >> Council Member Freley. >> What is your approach to dealing with difficult people?
>> Well, I, you know, it's kind of one of those things, the older I get, the, you know, they always say the older you get, the wiser you get. Um, you know, I have learned through trial and error that, um, you know, everybody is entitled to their own opinion. A lot of times there
is, you know, a a solid base for their stance on whatever the issue is. Um it's important to let everybody's voice be heard and just get a feel from where they're coming from. Um one of the things that we had talked about in the
uh meetings that we had this morning with staff, I dealt with a city mayor who we were uh on the utility side. we needed a generator to meet capacity for our electric side. Um he was pretty adamant that this generator was going to
go in the middle middle of a culde-sac in our town. Um and he felt like this was a good reasonable place to put this generator, which anybody who knows anything about generators, which I am definitely not wellversed on them, but you know they're very loud and they're
probably not something you want in the middle of a neighborhood. Um, but in talking to him, I learned, you know, his reasoning for that is it was city-owned property that was available. It met the size requirements and he felt like that was a good place for it. So, you know,
hearing him out and then going to the subject matter experts, which was our public works director, I visited with him and said, "Okay, we need to come up with some alternatives and we need reasons why this is probably not the best fit for it." and you know we can't
just go with a nope that's not going to work. We need to take a solution along with us when we meet with the mayor. So that's what we did and just kind of came to a common ground. Um it is you know it it's going to arise in local government. It always does. No, you know no town is
dramaree. So, um, it's best to, you know, just kind of understand that at the end of the day, we're all trying to accomplish the same goal, which is serve the community and be fiscally responsible. So, you know, those are as as long as everybody's got the same end
goal, we can come to a common ground. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Council member Hall had to jump out. So, Council Member Z is going to ask his question and then the question that Council Member Z had as well. All right. >> All right. >> So, you get two questions with me. >> Okay.
>> Um, first one of the two is how would you develop a long range plan for this community? >> Well, I think um strategic planning is very important. Um it, you know, it serves as your road map for what projects you have and it also kind of
helps you determine what you can afford when and you're not reaching a point, you know, infrastructure has has a lifespan and you've got to keep up on that maintenance. And so developing that plan is going to help you strategize how
how to pay for projects when and that way you don't have the crisis of this road's failing. um you know we need new sidewalks here or uh you know sewer lines need to be replaced that kind of thing. It's important to every aspect
trails, you know, every every area within the city needs to be addressed within that strategic plan where you can say, okay, you know, 2027, this is what we're going to tackle. Now, whether or not that actually happens because things do change, but at
least it gives you a guide book of what needs to to happen when. >> Good. Thank you for that. Uh the next question will be tell us about your experience with economic development. >> So in Owatana um we actually have 27 or
there are 27 tiff districts right now which is probably the most per capita in the state of Minnesota. Um those a lot of those were in place when I began. But um with the city of Simmeron, there were some projects that I was pretty excited
about as far as economic development. um being out in a rural agriculture community, it was very hard to entice new businesses to come to that area. And what were we what we were seeing was the main street area was starting to dwindle
down. And we actually had a 26,000 square foot building that just sat vacant. And so one of my projects was um to figure out what we were going to do with this building in the middle of town. and the owner had actually turned
it over to the city. So, first thing that we looked at um was like a business incubator, which if you I'm sure you're all familiar with that, just kind of an area, you know, that allowed local entrepreneurs, small business owners to
branch out, see if you know, they wanted to do bricks and mortar or, you know, if they were okay with just kind of the online or the smaller little like vendor fairs. Um, another option that we looked at, um, it was a pretty goodiz building
obviously, so you know, we looked at anything from a bowling alley to a multi-use office space. Um, I did work with an architect to kind of come up with some plans on that. Ultimately, it ended up um a local attorney had um
decided he wanted the property and made it into a rentable office space. But um you know along with that he was from the community. He was invested in the community. He he already had other businesses there. But looking at tax
abatements, different options if necessary, that was something that we'd explored. Um, I had also worked with uh a renewable energy plant that was looking to relocate to the county and you know getting with the county,
getting with your commissioners, councils, everybody, all the parties involved to see what kind of package we could offer without it being a burden on the taxpayers on the city, on the the county, you know, and and learning more about what that business would bring to
the community was, you know, key in the beginning stages and um you know and it's exciting when it comes through. Sometimes it it falls through or you know they change their mind and decide to go someplace else but um you know it's it's a lot of a lot of leg work
when it comes to economic development but the payoff is is definitely worth it. >> Quick followup. >> Yeah, go for it. >> Offscripted um did that renewable energy project end up happening? Unfortunately, it was stalled because the county did
not want to offer the tax abatement and um it they had the the business had just purchased the land and um it was it was one of those things where I didn't get to see see it until the you know through through the process before I moved to
Minnesota. Um but last I had known you know they were still wanting to plug ahead with the project. it just a few hurdles that they um you know were needing to iron out with the county. So um I I haven't looked in the last couple
months, but I I know it was it was a long drawn out process. So >> I know how it goes. That's I'm in the renewable energy industry. >> Oh, okay. Yes. So >> yeah, so I can imagine what the project was. >> Yes. >> Thanks. >> Um quick followup too to that. The EDA.
So does Austin, the city of Austin have an EDA or an EDC? We have a port authority. So, yes. And I'm sorry I left that out. >> That's okay. >> My background. I just kind of I didn't mean to gloss over Austin. That is actually where I am currently at. And yes, and we have a port authority which
is similar to an EDA. Um and and I am the treasurer for that. And you know, we meet on a regular basis, monthly basis. And you know, the function is still the same. you're just trying to figure out how to build your community and and
entice new new business owners while you keep what you've already got. So, >> no, thank you. My mom grew up in Austin. >> Oh, okay. >> Um, okay. The next question here is, what do you need from the city council? What would you need from us to be
successful if you were to come into this position? >> I think as with any position, um, you know, the request is simple. just clear direct communication. Let me know what your expectations are. Let me know, you know, if I'm doing something you don't
like, what you would like to see done differently, you know, just that um face to face or, you know, whichever is easiest, but communication. Um, so that way I know, you know, we're all on the same page and, you know, just I've got
thick skin, so if if I'm not taking things in the direction you want to see them go, you know, uh, hey, maybe maybe you look at this and, you know, I'm definitely open to suggestions and, um, you know, you're serving all of, you
know, the citizens, so you have the biggest voice here and it's my job as a city administrator to make sure things happen the way that they are expected to happen. So, so just the clear direct communication is preferred.
>> Thank you. Um, Council Member London, next question. >> What do you believe you'd bring to the position that others may not? I think and some of it kind of stems from um my time in juvenile probation
where you learn everybody's different, everybody's coming from a different background. You know, leniency, understanding, compassion is important. This is I mean we're in the service industry working in local government. You're here to serve the people and you
know knowing at the end of the day that your your job is impacting everyone. hopefully in a positive way. You know, that's that's the primary um goal. But I think, you know, I I I have failed on on some projects. I have, you know, put my
foot in my mouth and others. And I think um learning from those mistakes and moving forward and realizing, you know, hey, maybe this time around we try something different. I think being open-minded and and just understanding of, you know, other people are we're all
traveling this road together and and we need to do it as a team. >> Thank you very much. >> Council member Freley, >> uh, how would you establish good communication and information flow from the council to staff and staff to the
council? Uh so we actually I had this question earlier and it might sound a little a little redundant but um I am a big fan of face-to-face communication and just keeping it simple and direct and um what I have done in the past with
council is you know you meet you discuss what the expectations are, what the projects are, what the concerns are and then relay that to directors and city staff in a professional manner. You know, sometimes
conversations can get heated or personal feelings can get involved. So, kind of serving as both a buffer and liaison between the employees and the council, but making sure the message is delivered as it should be. Um, I also, this is
kind of the redundancy side. um any important conversations, meetings, anything where there is a delegation of duty or discussion of major project. I do like to go back and summarize that in an email, not like a dissertation, but
um you know, these are the bullet points. This is who's handling what. That way, it's in writing. We've got it on record and we know, you know, things things happen. Life happens. You've got um a million things going on from day to day. So, um, you know, a lot of the
communications that I have, I like to summarize and just get them in writing. So, that way I can go back and reference it and make sure that we've covered all the the basis and and nothing was overlooked. >> Thank you. >> Okay, Council Member Zan's going to do two questions again.
>> Give us an example of conflict uh with staff and potentially council and how it was resolved. Uh well, so this goes back to my time as an assistant finance director in Garden City. We had utility
billing clerks and in that role, it was an entry- level position and we had different people in different stages in their career coming into those roles. So, a lot of different viewpoints um you know and and you're working side by side with citizens who may or may not
be having a good day. I guess to um you know it's sometimes tension was high and um you know that in turn makes the job a lot harder if you're dealing with upset customers and citizens. Um so we had a few issues arise with those clerks and
you know it was one of those things first of all it's important to understand both sides of the story. So, um, you know, if I had one, if clerk A came in and had a complaint about clerk B, obviously I would hear out clerk A
and then have clerk B come in. And the situation that comes to mind the most is um it was kind of a personality issue. There was um we had one that had a little more seniority than the other and it was just kind of um a lot of issues
surrounding I mean it was it was a lot of nitpicking is what kind of ended up happening where um this new clerk didn't really intend to do anything wrong but um you know might not have had the initial tools and resources he needed to
do his his job the way you know that fell in line with maybe what the lead clerk thought. So, um what what we ended up doing was um it what it boiled down to is, you know, it was a complaint about customer service. It was a complaint, you know, not answering the
phones on time, not sounding professional, you know, that just basic customer service things. So, what I identified as the problem was, you know, obviously customer service. And what we ended up doing was just kind of a mini I
want to say boot camp type um meeting. It was a component of our weekly meetings where we just kind of sat down and said, "Hey, you know, as a refresher, you know, when the phone rings, this is who's doing what and who's responsible this day or, you know, they'd rotate on the phones, that kind
of thing. But just kind of having an open dialogue with everybody that was involved and you know not making it a session for everybody to air out their grievances. It was more of, you know, this is this is what we're trying to accomplish and this is how we're going
to do it and these are the key players. And it it worked a whole lot better than, you know, calling somebody in and saying, "She said this, he said that." and you know and it kind of bolstered a more team
atmosphere after that because it kind of gave everybody you know they they had a stake in the game and they were able to put in some input and and it wasn't targeted at one person in particular since it was the whole group. So um you know I think you can kind of collaborate
and get creative with some of the conflict resolution and and get everybody on board. >> Thank you. Thank you. Um, next question I have for you is how can an ad how can an administrator maintain positive relationships with citizens, business,
and staff when delivering unpopular news? >> Well, I think every city administrator is going to deliver unpopular news probably more often than popular news. So, um I think there's an education piece to it, which is something that
we're running into, um you know, in in Owatana and Austin, and I'm sure it's every other community. Levies are not going down. Everybody's, you know, the cost of goods is skyrocketing and you've got, you know,
expenses and nothing is getting cheaper. So, um I think educating the citizens is probably the most important thing and you know not just saying this is what we're looking at, this is what we have to do, that's it, take it or leave it. That's not the right approach. Um you
know, having open meetings, having town hall meetings, social media is a big thing. I'm not sure so much here, but you know, some communities I know, you know, you've got social media as an outlet as well, but um you know, just
communicating the why behind what's going on can go a long ways. Um I know if you know if it's a levy increase it's explaining okay we are asking for more funds this year but it's going to give
us these streets you know these street projects or you know you're going to see actually see something within the community that's improved by these funds. So, I think, you know, just explaining it, not saying, "Yeah, we just need more money because we're local government and and that's what we do."
You know, I think I think making sure everyone understands. And if that means um boots on the ground, going, you know, visiting with store owners, um stopping in, when I was in Simmeron, you know, I I tried to make a point to just kind of swing by some of the businesses and just
get a feel for what was going on. And you know, you can hear a lot in coffee shops and you can hear a lot in restaurants. And just kind of taking that and um you know, being approachable and and hearing out the citizens is really the the biggest piece to this
role. >> Thank you. >> Okay. The next question is um what do you expect from employees that direct report to you and what can they expect from you as a manager and leader?
So, I think um and I I caught caught this this morning when we met with the directors and staff. Um you know, these are not always the highest paying roles. Local government is not known, you know, for being a glamorous position. Usually,
the people that you find in these roles are passionate about what they do and they're doing it because they're invested in the community and they want to help the citizens. So, you know, my biggest ask of anybody in local government is, you know, show that
you're passionate about it number one. And, you know, that that we all have the same goal of at the end of the day, you you know, you did something good for a neighbor or friend, and you know, you did something to improve the community. And I think as the city administrator,
your role is to make sure that they have the tools needed to accomplish those goals. and you know if if you need to get out there with them and help out. I mean I am by no means um wellversed on wastewater treatment and things like
that but but you know it's we're all trying to to get things up and running and make sure we have just the basic necessities and and maybe a few nice trails and parks for everybody to enjoy. And um you know really I I guess my
biggest ask is um of myself and employees just be passionate about what you do and and you know as long as you're in it for the citizens that's that's really the biggest thing. >> Thank you Bruce. Council member London
you are next. >> If you were selected as a city administrator how would you spend your first month in the position? So first month would be as yeah it's going to be hectic of course. Um I think uh you know
prior to starting it's important to get the groundwork you know and just kind of review budgets um review what's been proposed requested in the past those kind of things. Um get that you know before you even
enter the office the first day. And then um of course you want to get to know um all of your staff and um which I think a lot of them were were present today and you know open a dialogue with everybody. Make them feel comfortable approaching
you because a lot of times um you know and especially when this position has been vacant for a while there are still needs that I'm sure have not been met. So I'm sure everybody has concerns, questions, things that they need to address. So, it's important to get to
know the employees, what it is that they need to keep going. Um, coming up on the busy season with, um, you know, spring and summer right around the corner. Um, there is a lot going on, I'm sure. So, just kind of getting a feel for everybody. Um, I do like to do ride
alongs, go with the public works people's, you know, get a get a feel for what their projects look like. Um, you know, it's one thing to talk about them and another thing to actually see them and see everybody in action. Um, you know, go with the parks people a day
maybe. Um, you know, police, fire, just seeing the employees actually engage with the community and do the tasks is um, pretty vital to understanding what their role is. And then, you know, when
it comes to community engagement, it's important to get to know your business owners and, you know, walk up and down the streets, kind of um informally introduce yourself, get to know everybody and and you know, understand what the concerns are. And I know um
from previous experience once you do that you whether you are soliciting information or not a lot of times you will get everything you need to know um by just going in and introducing yourself and um you know letting the business owners or the homeowners uh take the lead in the conversation and
tell you what it is that they expect. >> Thank you. >> Last question that I'll have from Council Member Hall. >> Okay. is what are your top two or three things regarding this wall that you have researched that you would like to address?
>> Um I well the tourism thing is uh it's a very neat aspect but I am assuming along with that comes um you know added pressure on parks and wreck and our utility side. You know parking is probably a challenge I would guess in
the summertime. um how you know I I guess what resources those two particular departments and well and police and fire too um you know what what they would need to make it
less stressful on their um you know their departments because I'm sure you know when your population drastically increases almost overnight and is sustained that way for several months um you know it's it's definitely a burden
Um so that's that's kind of a new a new thing that I would not be real familiar with. Um and and then the second thing um you know I and it's it's a very minor thing but it's something that I have
found every place that I have been and it it kind of becomes a timeconsuming task is the uh registration for ATVs and side by sides and you know those kind of things on your public streets. Um, I'm
guessing judging by the street signs, you you've got that process streamlined and figured out, but um, those are kind of the two areas that I know, um, you know, could be a little challenging, I guess, if if you don't have them completely ironed out.
>> Thank you. >> Perfect. Um, we're a little bit ahead of schedule with you. Um, so I I I don't know if unorthodox is the right word, but I know originally when we were planning these interviews, there was going to be a public session, like a
public meet and greet the night before, and that kind of went away to condense everything into one day here. But we have two uh residents in the audience that are highly engaged with our city. Um, they follow along on a lot of issues. They attend a lot of our meetings, a lot of the committees and
commissions. And I would just like to offer if either of the gentlemen in the audience, uh, Mr. Landers or Mr. Dwey, if you guys would have a question that you would like to ask just to include and show how public participation is such a big part of what we do. And if
you don't, it's okay, too. >> I don't really have a question, but um as Mayor Carneahan has mentioned, I do like um access, you know, if I have questions and things like that, if those questions could be answered uh well, I
love that, you know. Um I love direct answers. Um, and I don't know if this will help you or not, but with me it would help me. Um, I like direct answers. Uh, as short as possible. I'm a guy. I'm impatient sometimes. Um, when it requires a long answer, I I'm trying to be really
patient. Um, I've learned a lot from all the council members. Um, I've been coming to several meetings and um, I've learned how to be more professional um, by watching them and uh, just thank you very much. >> And that is uh, Mr. Ron Dwey. is a
resident of Nisa um owns his own business and like I said is highly engaged and then the other gentleman here would you like to come up? Oh go ahead. >> Well and I think you know like what you said direct communication with the
citizens is important and sometimes um which I I'm sure everyone in local government is guilty of it. we get long-winded and sometimes we get off topic and we like to talk about other projects and different things that might not be what you're looking for. Um, but
I'm one of those people, you know, if I if I start going down a different road or not answering the question, you know, you can cut me off and say, "Hey, just yes or no," or, you know, and and it's not going to hurt my feelings and I'm not going to take it home and dwell on
it. So, um I I think you know sometimes we also forget that um not everybody speaks uh local government either. So, um I like to you know keep it as simple as and direct as possible. >> There we go. Roger Landers. I've been a
a resident of the community for almost 40 years and one of my big concern is planning and zoning especially in a small town like this that continue wants to grow and and make sure that we do it the proper way. So I'd like to to to
know your experience with any with planning and zoning issues. Well, um, in in Simmeron, we actually had a a pretty sizable planning and zoning issue where, uh, there were some plots not, uh, noted
correctly, I guess, in the, uh, on the county side, and we ended up with a house and a, I think it was a threecar garage being built on on city property that was not supposed to be there. And
so we ended up going through, it was a very lengthy process. That house had actually been there about 20 years before anybody realized that it was not uh actually on the plot that it was supposed to be on. So, you know, there was a lot of uh backtracking and a lot
of expenses with that. So, learned, you know, that was uh very important to do it right the first time. Um and make sure you have everything correct. Um, one thing that I think some of the communities see, you know, well, I mean,
every community housing is an issue and there are a lot of communities, I know in in Garden City where I came from, um, housing was very hard to find, affordable housing, even harder to find. Um, so the solution was inexpensive
single family homes built just side by side on very, very small lots. Some lots were lots that they cut up into two or three lots even. Um, and then you get to a point where nobody has yard space. Everybody's kind of on top of each
other. Um, there is an art to it. And I know the the planning um, department here can definitely speak more on that than I can, but um, you know, you there you walk a fine line between trying to get in as much as you can in a small
space and overdoing it. So, making sure that, you know, in an area like this, this isn't the metro area. Um, I would assume most people want a little bit of privacy and and some nicesized yards and and a little space and you don't want a
a gas station in your backyard and, you know, so it's it's just being cognizant of of what you're placing where and making sure that it accommodates the growth that it needs to and that you're not just throwing things in places because they might fit. So, um it's
definitely challenging sometimes when you don't have a lot of land to work with, but um but you know, there's there are options and um you just want to make sure that you explore everything thoroughly and and don't just jump on the first um contractor that says
they'll put 50 houses on 25 lots. So, um that's probably the biggest thing. >> Thank you. Um what questions do you have for us? What can we answer for you? >> Well, I know that um you have been without a city administrator for quite a
while and I'm sure that um you know nothing nothing stops um because the position is vacant. So I am sure that council has a lot of expectations going forward with this role. So I think probably my biggest question is you know
number one time frame. What are you looking at as far as getting somebody in? And, you know, what are your top priorities for the first month of this role? What do you see as being, you know, the the main fires that need to be put out? Um, you know, when when someone
is actually here and ready to get started. >> Yeah, I'll take the time frame one first and then turn it over to the gentleman. But I think obviously we'd love to have someone here as soon as possible. And I think we do have time carved out today after the interviews for council to
deliberate um and discuss on you know offers and whatnot so that our uh partners at um South Central can help us move forward with that. So that would be from a time frame perspective. Um top priorities who would like anyone like to
go first on that? I >> I'll start. So where do we start on the list? No. Um, I am the parks leaison. I've got a passion for the parks and I'm kind of a pain in the butt when it comes to it. Um,
we have our parks needs to be replaced playground. We're working into that. We're working they're working on a uh uh um a fund a grant through the through the DNR. But but we have a lot of things that are priority. you know, it's the
parks, development of the land, road bonds, but in in me it would be because parks is kind of going there. I think it would be road bonds working on a road bonds. I mean, our our costs went up um almost quadrupled for costs. So,
that's where I sit. >> So, that's all right. Yeah. >> Too much information. >> No, no, that is good. Oh, also I'm um as Maggie will say, I'm very blunt in in mine. Um like Ron, I like very direct. Most people around here do like very
direct and not the circle talk. >> Yes. >> So um that's where I am. All right. Thank you. >> Council member London, do you have anything you want to add? >> No, I she's doing fine. >> Okay. Council member on.
>> You are doing fine. Doing very good. Um something that's that's prevalent right now for us is we have uh interm city administrator financial specialist in one position right now. Uh I think it's obvious that any person coming into this
position. Whoever uh accepts the job is going to be coming into a position where they're going to need to be quick on their feet and be able to roll up their sleeves and be the what we call in my industry the working for men or for women, right? Um
there's a good bit of momentum with a few projects that's already been discussed, but just as any municipal, we're looking ahead beyond that as well. We have election cycle coming up to where it's going to be a totally different council makeup in a few months. So, um,
really want to try to have a team player that's willing to learn this team, get to know this community, be able to intertwine as much as possible, and be that quarterback, as I've been saying for quite some time, and being uh, uh, as collaborative as you appear to be,
too, uh, in most of your responses. I particularly appreciated your response in regards to um what do you believe you bring to the position that others may not? I thought that response you gave was very humbling for you to put your ego aside and saying
that I have made a mistake. You stated you made multiple mistakes regarding specific project or projects. Uh we all make mistakes here too, but we're trying to move forward and have somebody be the the quarterback of this great group of people that have been here for many many
years and have seen the city grow quite a bit. Uh definitely post 2020 when co a lot of people like to work at their laptop with a lake view. Can't blame them. that uh that means that our resources here get strained and there's
a lot of moving pieces for a 18.36 square mile town like this where half of it's land. >> Yes. >> Yeah. So nothing more. >> Okay. Perfect. Um and I had shared this at the with the last interview as well but the strate you had mentioned this in your interview having a good strategic
lens being able to put together a strategic plan. We have one for the city of Niswan place and that really should be kind of the guide book and the framework for how we all move forward as a city but that was developed before maybe everybody was here and so there are differing perspectives on it and
sometimes that can cause confusion. So to have a really strong strategic steward with that experience I think is important as well. >> Yes. Yeah. And I think um you know every every municipality does it differently but I think your budget season is a good
time to also I mean you can tag team it with a strategic plan and your budget because that's when all the projects come up and then you know that that kind of gives you your outline of what you need to put in your strategic plan and you know like we mentioned earlier it it changes every I mean every day pretty
much you could probably come up with a different plan but um you know you do the five-year strategic plan and more than likely they, you know, after a year it's going to change, but at least it gives you something to go off of. >> Do you have other questions for us?
>> Um, I think that is it. I know I am right before lunch and I don't want to hold anybody's lunch off, so I don't uh I I know that is a short time frame and you've got a couple other interviews this afternoon and I don't want to cut into that. So, um I'm I'm very excited
to be here. I thank you for inviting me to come and interview and um you know it's a it's beautiful community. It's a nice town and um I've definitely enjoyed my my visit here and um getting to know a few of the locals and um it's it's an
exciting opportunity. Thank you. And I apologize. I just have one last question. >> Yes. >> Um so I I just noticed that at your current position and then the past two you were there just about a year. Um, and I did just want to ask about that because I do think one of the most important things for the city of Nisa
moving forward is stability and having someone, you know, that that will commit to being here because there has been a lot of transition and looking at the opportunities for this city moving forward. Like I mentioned, it's stability, but that would survive, you know, any changes on council with
elections coming up and always put the core, you know, priorities of the residents and the taxpayers at the heart of everything the city does, no matter who's sitting up here, no matter who's in the staff positions, but to have that kind of tenorship, if that makes sense. >> Yes. No, that does. And I should have
addressed that earlier in my introduction. Um so I I went to Owatana and like I had mentioned um you know it is it was a bit of a struggle with the amount of moving parts that I came into and then there was a new administrator
new um assistant administrator a lot of changes that occurred and these projects that are moving forward um as the finance director I did not necessar I don't want to say I was uncomfortable with moving forward with them it was
just um definitely Definely a difficult thing to navigate where you're looking at best case scenario 27% levy increase in the upcoming year when we are had already hit them with the 13% increase for 2026
and you know if you can't talk through the project in a way that makes it understandable then I mean it it was difficult for me to articulate what all the parts were and not to get too deep in the weeds but you know it had a lot of moving parts.
Some of them were very hard for the citizens to understand. It was very hard for the city staff to understand. There were a lot of unanswered questions. And to be the primary person issuing $63 million in debt, if I can't fully
understand it and articulate it in a way that makes sense, I don't know if I was the right fit for that. So, um I in December I went to the city of Austin, which was um it was kind of the total opposite. they actually don't have um debt other than their wastewater
treatment facility. So, it was very refreshing to walk into that and very conservative budget. Um after I had accepted the position, we found out that we had some family issues that we needed to address that are in the Little Falls area. And so, it was kind of one of
those things, really, really bad timing. So, um, you know, if I had kind of waited, stuck it out a little bit with Owatana, it wouldn't have been, um, quite such a crazy time frame, but, um, we are looking at, I mean, this is
closer to where we need to be. And, um, you know, I I don't plan on on leaving once we get set up. You know, I I made that huge move one time and, um, you know, outside. I told the group this morning, it's like I outside of moving
out of my parents house and college and, you know, getting set up and in my house in Kansas, I was there for a long time and then when I came here, I I remind, you know, it was a good reminder that moving is not fun. And um which is not the only reason, but um but you know,
I'm looking for a place where I've got um kids middle school, high school age that um you know, they need that stability. they need to have a landing spot that they can call home. And this definitely feels like it would fit, you
know, our family and our activities that we like to do. And um, you know, I'm not I'm not looking for just a stepping stone or um, you know, I I don't plan on on being a short-timer. >> Thank you. >> Well, hopefully your kids play hockey,
>> you know. Yeah. I'm >> They don't do >> Yeah. Yes. We've got to work on that. Yeah. Do you have any final closing remarks for council? >> I don't think so. I think that covers it. And you guys have a very very long
day with two meetings and and the rest of the the interviews and um you know, I've just it was really nice getting to know the staff this morning. That was a really great interview setup. It was it was fun to learn more about everybody and I really appreciate it.
>> Well, thank you for taking the time with us. We appreciate it. We can take a break for lunch and then if council can plan to be back here, our next interview is at 1:30. >> 1:30.
>> Great. Thank you. Yeah. So, I wanted to ask you I think we can get started. He'll join when he gets here. My father died. >> It wasn't jet
point. Thank you. >> See, nice to see you. >> All right, if everybody's ready, we will get started here. Um, Mr. Jackson, thank you for joining us. We appreciate your time.
>> So, what we'll do for the interview today is um each of the council we've got some questions we'll ask and then we want to make sure we leave ample time at the end for you to ask any questions you have of us and then Yes, ma'am. >> You know, to make any closing that that you might like to. >> Sure. >> Um, but before we get started with the
questions, would love to just get a little bit of information on your background and then what interested you in applying for this position. >> Okay. So, first question, given that we're on microphones, is this a public session or a closed session right now? >> Oh, this is a public session. >> This is a public session. Yes. Okay.
>> Um, so, uh, background on me, grew up on a farm in eastern North Carolina, integrated a operation. We did chickens, hogs, tilapia, and cattle. Uh, so with the southern accent, you can tell I'm definitely not a Midwesterner. Uh, by birth. >> Say that's like a southeastern accent.
South. >> No, not at all. Um, so, uh, went to East Carolina University um graduated in 2007. As you all might recall, there was sort of some economic calamity going on about that time and as a consequence, municipal governments and state
governments were not making uh you know, vast hiring decisions at that point. So, I happened to find a um position teaching in a relatively small rural school being uniquely qualified in science and social studies to hold those licenses at the state level. um taught a
total of about five and a half years. Coached swimming during that time. So I did uh physics, physical science, earth, environmental science, anatomy and physiology, civics and economics. Um so broad scope of studies. Uh and all the while was attempting to gain some traction in state and local government.
So for a time I served as an elected soil and water conservation supervisor in Pit County, North Carolina. Uh was on a plan commission for a county uh plan commission for a few years. population about 80,000 um and eventually sat down with a local
government administrator in Fremont, North Carolina, which is also my hometown. His name is Carrie McDuffy. He's a lifelong mentor of mine and uh just said I would like an opportunity to maybe cut my teeth in local government. So, he credited an internship for me on an unpaid basis. After about six months,
me putting out a couple hundred resumes and not getting a single call back, I sat down with Carrie again and said, "Carrie, this experience thing, I'm not really sure how you're supposed to go about getting it if no one will give you a job." Um, so could we change my title and change my duties? So I became the unpaid assistant administrator for the
town of Fremont, working on whatever uh needed to be worked on for that community, including planning and zoning work. Um, got my first job in Exmore, Virginia uh as a town manager uh full-time and that was an interesting place. Since we are in public session,
I'm going to um hold the stories and say that um I had a good deal of financial cleanup to perform within that community. Um the way that the um community was making payroll at the time was to take personal loans from board members to make payroll for the staff
and then when taxes were paid or um utility bills were paid, the board members would be personally paid back for that. It was the second poorest community in the state of Virginia at the time. Chespig Bay on one side, Atlantic Ocean on the other. We had homes that had dirt floors and pitcher pump wells and ouses. So I had an
opportunity to see what natural beauty um had the opportunity to bring in and didn't. Um I left there and went to Sister Bay, Wisconsin, very similar to Nisa, one of the most wealthy communities uh in Wisconsin. So on the northern tip of the door peninsula, and really had an opportunity to um uh
manage a what you might think of as a resort community with a heavy tourism in uh emphasis. um had water, sewer, streets, parks, wreck, uh planning and zoning. I served as planning and zoning director as well as economic development director for the community. While there, I sat as the uh
board's appointee for the tourism zone commission, which is the uh county room tax. Even though room tax is implemented at the local level, it's collected at the county level, remitted to the uh convention bureau for promotion purposes. um also sat on the Door County
uh economic development corporation board of directors, worked on their revolving loan program. Um redid the entire downtown of Sister Bay. of hotel development, restaurant development, uh if it has to do with economic development, I've probably touched it uh within that community, including a kind
of unique partnership between a bank that went through a consolidation, the uh technical college district and the village of SisterBay to create a multi-purpose maker space that included um Fab Lab components as well as a food-based incubator for foodbased
startups. Um, so I've got a a pretty broad gamut of economic development experience on a tourism based economy from that. 2.5 million annual visitors in Sister Bay. Um, so unique community in that regard. Left there to go to Waterford. Um, they hired me largely because of that background in Sister
Bay. About a 100 years ago, they had been a tourism based uh, community and they really wanted to um, in many respects return to their roots with a walkable downtown that featured a number of park amenities. Um so yet again a highway state highway reconstruction project um for Wistat 2083 as well as
the main street. Um some unique economic development opportunities there doing a mixeduse industrial park and business park uh what I would call an office park for a medical office district and a number of housing projects including mixeduse development that the village itself um funded and paid for uh in
partnership with the developer. So, um, lots of economic development experience, lots of reorganization experience, change management, um, all the fun things that come along with managing a community of 6,000 people roughly. >> And then, oh, sorry. And then the second
part is what attracted you to, yeah, want to apply for this position? >> So, from a a personal standpoint, there's a personal professional answer to that. Um, the personal answer is I have an ex-wife whose father is 76 years old. He lives in the cities. She has accepted the job with the Met Council, would like to move back to be near dad.
Dad had um PE some years ago, was on blood thinners and uh lives on the side of a hill. So our fear is that at some point um he's going to take a fall being on Eloquist, he's going to bump his head, have a blind breed, and that's going to be the end of it. So um for what years he has left, she would like to be there with him. Uh we have two
children and the plan would be if I took this position for us to relocate her, her to take that commute back and forth. Kids don't roll in school here. Professionally, um, what I do is water-based communities that have a tourism focus, and that's you guys. So, I'm interested in it because of the
economy here. >> Thank you. Um, we'll start questions with Council Member London. >> Tell us what you know about our community. >> Um, my brief background, I took a um run
over to your chamber of commerce, met with Kelly, had an engaging conversation with her about your present business situation. It looks to me like your land use patterns are such that most of what would be in Wisconsin public resource in many instances are held in private hands. Um so your lakefront development
areas appear substantially to be held by private property owners rather than in public trust. Um you seem to have a very robust uh boating economy and lake life culture here. Uh not dissimilar to many places in Wisconsin. Um, I took the opportunity to test out some micro
spikes earlier. Uh, and the gap between uh the morning interview and now. Uh, so took a hike on the Paul Bunan Trail that looks like it was a lovely rails to trail program. It appears that the Chamber of Commerce building once upon a time was your train station or train depot and you've done a good job of preserving some of those assets in your
uh settlers park area. Um, diversified commercial business mix uh that appears to be tourism oriented. Your visitor guide is absolutely beautifully laid out. Um, so kudos to the crew that does that. Um, your facilities look to be relatively well
managed. I haven't dug super deep into your budget, um, or your operations overall. >> Thank you. >> Yes, sir. >> Council member Freley. >> So, I was just wanting to know what is your approach to dealing with difficult people? >> Depends on the person, sir, and the
search of circumstance that I find myself in. Um, so each of you right now is looking at me. Uh, as a paramedic, the first thing that we learn is engage the patient from a distance and ascertain what the patient's general mental status is. So what your eyes are doing, what your mouth is doing, your
micro right right there. Um, so I'm constantly engaging facial affect display and determining how to respond to somebody based on that or based on the inflection and procity that I would hear in their voice. So in other words, the the scientific study of the very
human element of um how to engage with people. >> Thank you. >> Yes, sir. Council member Hall, >> along those lines, um, tell us about or
give us an example of a time when you've had a conflict between yourself and other staff and how it was resolved. >> So, the unfortunate part about being in a public session is there are um, various agreements that your candidates
may be signitories to. So I can give you about this much of a story that would be that big. Um there are times that staff make regrettable decisions and as a consequence I would need to involve um labor attorneys or our general counsel
uh to help pilot our way through that. Um each and every time I'm going to engage the council in that conversation, generally speaking in executive session uh or one-on-one if appropriate. Um, if there's a personnel committee in place, I would engage with that entity also and would uh do my best to make a written
effort uh through documentation of whatever might come up. >> Okay. >> Okay. Council member Zan, >> thank you for being >> Thank you for being here. >> Yes, sir. >> My question, sir, is uh
>> I'd like to know more about your experience with economic development. >> What do you want to know, Jesse? I want to know what you do, what you've done, how can you help us? >> Yeah. So, I think the first and and foremost I just free consulting. Okay. Take it for what it's worth. I haven't been through your zoning code, but my
first step would be to go through your zoning code and determine if there are any barriers to economic development. You may have those embedded in your zoning code earlier. I was asked questions by the folks that run your liquor store about my what what my experience was with alcohol. There are two communities in the state of Wisconsin that have no of a container
ordinance. That's the village of Sister Bay and the village of Waterford because I wrote both of them because there's no reason that an adult that's um responsible is not able to go out and have an open beverage in the community at large walking through a park. We want them to move back and forth between um
different businesses, particularly in a tourism based economy. So, this is um very low-level stuff. Do your ordinances and codes reflect an environment that economic development is possible? Right. So number one, it really takes five things to go through um economic development dependent upon the scale.
Infrastructure is the second one. If you don't have the right electric, gas, water, sewer, telecom, all that stuff in place, only certain levels of economic development are going to be possible. I understand from talking to your planning director earlier that you do not have a water system as a consequence. It's
either going to be more expensive to do certain types of development, i.e. to meet state fire suppression codes, you will needs and backup pumps. Um, you have an ISO rating of six, which is going to impact insurance rates across the community. There are some things that we could discuss if I was your administrator about how to address that
with cross staffing. Um, yeah, man. >> That's good. >> I've done it all. >> That's good. I appreciate that. >> Thank you. Yes, sir. >> Okay. Um, what do you expect from employees, you know, as their manager and leader, and what could they expect
from you? Um, in one word, I think that would be uh excellence. If I could add another word to that, it would be cooperation. Um, so the way that uh I practice city management is it's incumbent upon the residents to communicate with the council to develop
a comprehensive plan, a capital plan, a comprehensive outdoor recreation plan, various codes and ordinances that govern the city. It's my job as the administrator to administer those codes and to work with the council to chunk that into an annual operating budget, 5-year capital plan, and a strategic
work plan and then work with the department heads within those various documents to make sure yearbyear we're consistently taking steps uh to add on to the percentage point of completion towards that comp plan, whether that's a 10-year comp plan or 20-year comp plan,
whatever the time horizon is. Um, so collaborative in general. >> Thank you. Um, Council Member London, >> what do you believe you'd bring to the position that others may not?
>> Um, I'm not in your position, sir, to interview the other candidates. I've just read their bio. Um, so it it appears that, um, you have a number of quality candidates to choose from, all of which have some background in city management. Um, I think I may be the only one that has done tourism
development in a substantial way or economic development in a substantial way from what I read. Um, so I would offer you that. >> Thank you. Yes, sir. >> Council member Freley, >> how would you establish good communications and information flow from
the council to the staff, staff to the council? So, I'm going to describe that in terms of official and unofficial. Um, each of you will have a different preference for information at different times or you may have different projects or items
that you're more concerned about. It will take me some time to learn what that is uh to describe the situation in um Waterford and in Sister Bay. I had a village president when I was in Sister Bay who was a biomedical engineer by trade and was the um
I think vice president by Service Master International's biomedical engineering division through his career. The guy was a genius. I talked to him once a month. This would have been the equivalent of the mayor. It was only at a board meeting. The guy had such a highle understanding of everything going on that he could run the entire village in his sleep. Like one of the smartest men
I've ever met. Um that would run over to other individuals. I have a trustee right now that we talk on the phone almost once a week and it's just a back and forth of hey what's going on and you know are there any big projects or development things happening and so on the personal side of it I'll work to learn each of your communication
preferences is that email text message telephone call and we'll work to collaborate on that on the professional side of it um to make sure that information is flowing between the staff and me and those board members um or committee members as it were um we do board reports in every community that
I've worked in so each department head is requested to generally be at the council meetings so they can convey information under a board report. Um most of the time that's a written document that's provided to the council. Um and then from time to time we host
meetings on various topics where there might be something of important for example street improvement project where a council member may live. You know we'll involve them in that conversation to make sure that they're able to um also reach out to their constituents within that affected area to engage in good constituent service.
Thank you. Yes, sir. >> Council member Hall. >> So, you've mentioned you've done a little research of us here. >> Yes, sir. >> Um, in in your research of what you've done of Nisa.
uh what would you look at doing first or helping with the city? What what do you see as maybe a couple of your top two or three items that that you think should be addressed? Um
uh you you have some image issues at the moment uh from the outside in. I've heard that as I've made my way around the community. So, in terms of how the board communicates, I've been around long enough to know that everything I read online is not spot-on. Um, and certainly things that have been printed about me online are not spot-on. Um, we
live in a uh news cycle where short-term emotional reactions to things are favored in algorithms as opposed to deep thinking and engagement of wisdom. Um, so that's I think we all have experienced that at some point. And uh you know, my first move um Joe would be
to be really quiet for about 90 days and listen a lot to the folks in the community to figure out what they think is going on. Um and then I would deliver you a report back. You're only going to get one opportunity when you hire an administrator to hire somebody who's going to see everything with outside eyes. Um things that I've seen just
walking in. I'm not sure who's handling highway maintenance on the highway, if that's a county function or a state function or local function or who has that contract, but you have ice in uh deceleration lanes on turning movements. That's a problem in a tourism based community like that shouldn't be there.
Somebody should have addressed that. Um so I would deliver all of those items that I've observed back to you and report form and say, "Hey, these are things. Let's talk about which ones to prioritize and which ones to deemphasize because they're just not important. Everybody understands them as they are." Okay,
>> council members on >> that was fantastic. >> How can an administrator maintain maintain positive relationships with citizen staff council from your perspective? What would you do? >> So, I'm going to go back to the answer I just gave, which is to listen. Um, so
leadership is politics is the art of problem solving without violence, right? That's it's why we have politics to begin with. Otherwise, we would just beat each other up and take what we wanted, right? So there's there's a system of government that we have in place that allows us to reallocate resources in the community in
a way that's responsive and responsible. >> Let me add another level to that. Sure. >> What if it's on popular news? >> So I think that's what I'm talking about. >> Same point. >> Yeah. So ultimately what I've done in each community I've gone into and I've got the exact same standard form that I've used across three states. So it's a survey form that we send out to the
residents. Every registered voter in every community that I've worked in gets one and we do it every two years. And so what I'm asking is do you trust the council? Do you think the council is competent? Do you think the council is serving your needs? There's a block of questions in there about the council and the committees. There's a block of questions in there about the staff. Do
you trust the staff? Do you believe the staff is competent in their jobs? And then we go across the different departments and ask about police, fire, EMS, water. So, all the different services. Um, we ask what the resident's priorities are. No big secret. Uh, every community that I've been in, and I think every community in America says keep my taxes low and fix my roads, right? No
matter where you go, that's the gig. Um, and it's ultimately upon you all to um, sometimes listen to what I have to say to pull the levers to make things happen, right? It's it's your role to evaluate the political viability of the options that I and the staff would
present. It's our job to manage the technical aspects of that and you guys to have your finger on the pulse of what's going on. We have some have some tools to help you with that. Um, so you can get a better gauge than maybe just the circle that you're in. um repeatedly in Waterford or Sister Bay and Xmore, we
would refer back to that community engagement survey when making decisions. Um the first time that I've done it, in each community that I've been in, people I think generally they give a higher response rate um overall, but the second time we send it out, we get a much higher response rate because people realize like, oh no, they do refer to
the results in this thing in order to make decisions. >> Is that paper and digital? >> Uh I've only done it on paper and that's because there are concerns about people manipulating the survey, right? We've actually stamped them and registered them back by address to make sure that you don't have one person going, for example, I really love the library. I'm
going to go fill out a hundred surveys and send them in in order to goose the results one way or another. So, you know, that's come up in past discussion. >> You guys should have implemented survey ID or something like that. >> Yeah, I've worked for councils a little more cost conscious and >> Okay. Yes, sir. >> Can I can I just add a clarification?
you had mentioned, you know, kind of maybe your role to, I'll paraphrase, gather this information from the community and the public and bring it back to us and present it. >> Yes, sir. >> Is that the way that you view the role
or do you view the role as also to us leading presenting it to you for information from the community? >> I'm not quite sure I understand that question. I'm going to take meaning you know, are you putting together stuff
for us kind of as leading and for us to vote on or does the leadership start up here and come down to you and say this is this is the direction we want to go as council in this city? >> In my experience, it goes both ways. >> Can you elaborate on that?
>> So, I'll give you an example from this morning's conversation related to the issue of INI, influent infiltration into your sewer system. So it's one of the questions that I ask in each and every community that I go in. So INI is ultimately costly to a community. It cost you more money over the long run to
manage the wastewater treatment side of your operation by not maintaining the pipes in the ground. Anything with an INI rate over 5% um is really a challenge. It's essentially money that you're you're flushing down the pipes. So that's something that is largely going to come up from civil engineering and staff monitoring of your assets.
They're going to bring that forward and say, "Hey, we have an INI issue. We identified it in this area. We've televised the pipe." um and we would recommend you to you know allocate funds in the budget to repair that pipe. So that's an example of a staff driven thing um that we would bring forward. An example in the other
way is I just dealt with one related to the number of dogs that could be kept in a particular residence in the village of Waterford is limited to three by ordinance. It's an ordinance been on the books way before any of us that are in governance uh were employed or elected by the community. And so the council
took it up as an item and ultimately didn't do anything about it, but they wanted to be responsive to the residents and a request that came in from a resident to evaluate that situation. Did that answer it? Maybe. >> Oh, I was going to just say, well, >> go ahead.
>> I was just going to say a followup to council member Hall is I think so I I'm the newest one on the council, right? I I was elected last year, so I'm just crossing a year. But I know when I came and knew um and as I was campaigning getting to know different folks on the council like one of the things that I
heard a lot is that at times previously council might have felt in the dark about projects going on. Um, for example, there was it was called the downtown master plan. And so it really was to kind of like maybe revision or look at connectivity, quarter studies,
different things with our >> downtown this one. I own two businesses down there, right? So, >> um, but it got to a point where I think some people on the council felt like they were totally in the dark on all of this. And then what ended up happening is business owners brought forward to
council members engineering results that the downtown community was adamantly against. So then this council chamber was packed. But I think that's not the proper process of how it should happen. Right. Council should never be in the dark until that last minute. They should have some kind
of >> Right. So I think maybe that's part of what council member Hall's getting at too of like you know >> Yeah. I'm just, you know, just your philosophy on, you know, if we want to take that engaging in the citizens, the businesses and stuff. Do you view your role as you're you're the one in the
town, the community to gather that information and present it back to us or or you know, as the community and stuff and like myself, I've lived in this town my entire life, went to elementary school here. I I know
a lot of people, you know, and kind of like, hey, this is kind of >> the sense, the feeling of the town, the community, the business owners, you know, here's kind of our objectives. You know, you're delegated to execute them. Yeah.
>> So, you know, do you have a philosophy one way or the other on >> um I would describe that a bit like um a football game where you guys are the coaches and I'm the quarterback. Um, so it's my job to run the plays. It's your job to call the plays. Uh, so you know,
we can run it however you want to run it, I think, is what I'm trying to say. So if what you want is for me not to have contact with the business owners or not to garner that, then I would need you to give me that as a clear instruction, right? Hey, we don't want you to do that. We want you to be a very passive administrator, and that's what we're looking for, and I'm capable of
doing that. in the communities that I've worked in in the past that hasn't been what's desired, but I'm aware of communities that that's exactly how they operate is the council's going to call every shot and the um employees are there in a very passive way. So, it's you've got to give me the instruction on
how you want to run it. >> Good. >> Okay. Um, next question is, well, maybe this is kind of on in the same vein as that question is, um, what what would you need from the city council to be successful as a city administrator?
>> Clear direction. Yeah. I mean, that so um by it's a question of how much autonomy you want a city administrator to have. If you want a city administrator to function more like a clerk, I think you have a capable clerk over here, right?
She's she's doing stuff. Um if what you want is something that moves more you know towards the manager role then you know you would need to communicate that right now you're organized under chapter 412 plan A right so it's sort of a um a CAO position then it's a question of how
do you tune that up or town that down or tune that down what's the preference of the council for that >> thank you >> oh go ahead council member Freley >> yeah I just want to put two cents just so I I think mainly what we're looking for is the quarterback >> I Yeah,
>> me on has made that clear, too. Um, yeah, we basically say, "Yeah, this is how we want to go and you're the one that does it." And and you say, "Hey, don't if you think I'm stepping in the way and going to too many staff members.
I want you to feel comfortable, tell me to go." >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. >> Yes, sir. >> Because I think it previously that may not have been done. >> Okay. Um, that's where I stand. That's what I'm looking for. I think that's what most of us are looking for.
>> Fair enough. >> Um, council member London. Next question. If you were selected as city administrator, how would you spend your first month in the position? >> Earlier when I spoke online when I I really would just listen a lot. It's
going to it in particular the time that I moved across the state line, I have to reorient to every state level official. So that's your governor's office, your secretariat level positions, your general assembly reps, state senators, congressman senators, um everybody at
the county level that is a player in the game. Um so it it takes quite a bit of time to do that just at at those two levels of government. Uh and it also takes time to go through um the staff itself, get to know people and you know how they prefer to do things. And then
you're going to have um key residents that want more or less access. Um in my experience, every time I step into one of these roles, everyone that's been told no for the last however many years is going to pop into my office and say, "Hey, could we talk about, you know, whatever that thing is?" And I'm going to politely listen and then report back
to you. >> Thank you. >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. Um there was one question last left. Council member Holly, you had skipped number seven. >> Yep. >> Yep. How would you develop a long range plan for the community?
>> Um, the last one of those that I was a part of was for the village of Waterford. The way that we went about that was I made a um a proposal to council that we bring in, we start out with the survey and along with that um invite uh residents, business owners,
whether they were a voter or not, they were a stakeholder in the community of some kind um to come in. Uh I did large format maps that we printed out and um split the community up into groups. We held several different sessions where I gave a um presentation that took what
the council gave me as input uh for objectives um relayed all that to the community. Ultimately the village president in this case did not want to spend money on having a a consultant do this. So I brought in a couple of compatriots that were qualified in the area to assist me in writing the plan.
Um, I would love it if you would spring for a consultant to do that. Um, just because it takes the workload off of me, but I'm capable of doing it internally. Um, I had a local photographer take every map that utilized um, small group drawings for future land use plans uh,
and uh, different survey results. We did um some group consensus building through that where we wrote out what the residents would like to see. They were instructed to discuss in small groups things they felt like the community was lacking in services or in businesses or in overall amenities. We posted those up
on the wall. We went through multiple multiple iterative process to rank those and then wrote of the plan to include all of that, presented that back to the community um in those same group style meetings, had the public validate that. It went on to the plan commission and then the village board for adoption.
sort of a beginning with governance, ending with governance, you know, with bookends on both end of that. And then I've spent the last eight and a half years executing a 10-year plan. I would tell you the plan's basically done and it needs to go through that process again. >> Any last questions for council? We've
gone through all the questions we asked the other candidates. Um so we're running we want to give time for you to ask us questions but because we we have a little more time left. >> Um what we did with our last interview is there's two members of the community because there was supposed to be the meet and greet at the community center which got cancelceled. There's two
members of the community that are >> um highly engaged with with our city council meetings, our commission committee meetings, etc. They're both here today. Um, I offered them the chance just from a resident perspective to ask our last candidate um, a question and just want to offer it up to Mr. Dwey
and Mr. Landers if you would like to um, ask as well in this interview. And I would just note that because we're following the guidelines, it should be the same question that you asked last time. >> If you remember what you asked, >> he's got a
because my my concern is finance zone. >> Okay. >> And you've already uh expressed your concern, your experience with PZ, I believe. >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. So, in a small community like this where it's a tourist, we got a lot of
people uh that live here that's got uh everybody wants to live here, but we only got so much land. Nysa uh is about 40% underwater in the city limits, right? A lot of lakes. So, so from a planning uh perspective, how do how do
you balance the the issues that we're faced with? >> Um, so I'll I'll use sort of a sailing analogy uh to that one, which is, you know, pick a point on the horizon that you think is an accurate navigation point and sail towards it. Um, I would submit that as I've made my way through
your community, I think the single biggest vulnerability that you have is exposure to gasoline prices. It's the exact same vulnerability that Sister Bay had and it's not something that's talked about enough. Um, so your visitors and your noty year round residents are
relying upon petroleum based vehicles to get up there. I haven't seen a single electric charging station incorporated into your infrastructure. Maybe some exist and I just can't find them. And I don't know that that's an end all beall. Um, every amenity that I visited here is reliant substantially on a car to get
around. Um, so from an urban land use standpoint, um, you have some real challenges. You don't really have what I've noticed is a density of development. I think, you know, if a long range like 30 or 50-year plan doesn't exist, I haven't seen on the website, maybe one's there and I just haven't seen it.
>> Um, but making sure that you're taking steps towards that long range plan and making sure the long-range plan actually maps to the fiscal and resource reality that we find ourselves in. Thank you. >> Yes, sir.
>> Thank you. Oh, Mr. Dwey. >> Hello, Zeke. Um, I often like to get information. Um, would you be available for me if you were city administrator to say, "Hey, Zeke, I'm looking for answers in regards to this. Would you be available to the public?" >> Yes, sir. Anytime.
>> Okay. And then could you um just reiterate your um briefly I love your direct answers to I love them, you know, just just input from one citizen. Sure. >> Um could you just summarize again your um like number of years of experience as
a city administrator? Um and I was listening but maybe I wasn't paying enough attention. >> 14 I'm just doing that off the top of my head. It's 14 or 15 something like that. And if you want to count the experience in government adjacent, they're probably
up to the 16 or 17. So non city administrative but urban planning or soil water conservation. So things that are in the local government spheres. >> Yes sir. >> Thank you. Um Mr. Jackson, what
questions do you have for us? What can we answer? >> Um some of it you have answered. Um where do you want to go as a council? What what's the big picture uh view of what you want to achieve?
>> I think I'll start and this is something that I brought up in the past two interviews, right? the city does have a strategic plan um or a comprehensive plan would be the better terminology that was created I think maybe well at least before I was on and maybe some of
the others and that's something that we had talked about as a council in different workshops over the past year of do we want to revisit that comp plan and ha perhaps look at how might that shift or change with the council's input right to help give us that guidance and
direction because at this point I don't know if you said it in this interview, but because um council members are liaons on different committees, they might have, you know, kind of a more focus on their right, but then we we need to have that overarching strategic and comp plan to tie
everything together. Um I'll let the other council members chime in. I don't know if you want to go first, council member Freley. >> Where we want to see the council going, what what we want to see accomplished. >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. We've got a lot of things on the
table right now. I mean, we've got the parks which are being redone. Um, a couple things with that. We've got look at community center. Um, I think I think my thing for looking down the future because you always have to look at that 15 20 years um is the the property that
we purchased. Um, how are we going to get that developed? How are we going to go >> the 71 acre piece? >> Correct. >> Okay. and and they like well we did get the we got half of the property for less than half of what they originally put it up for but but to how are we going to develop that where are we going to go
we're working right now of of looking at um EDA so that that's where I see but yes and that will come in with the strategic plan which or the comp plan also that we've been wanting to uh take a look at too um
I just want to say I know you said something ordinances. Yes, we've been going through the ordinances because like when I came back to the area, my wife's family's been here for over hundred years. Um when I came back, I wanted to do something on my property and they said, "Go ahead." Well, wait a minute. There
has to be an ordinance there. So, we've been trying to go through those, but yes, that will help. And we do have some issues with ordinances on that piece of property, too. So, okay, that's what we have to look at. >> Do you use PCD here, planned community development? Does that ring a bell with anybody? >> Do you all use development agreements
here? >> Both. >> Both depending upon what it is. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> They can be done a few different ways. >> Okay. >> Um, council member London, >> tourism is a big draw for Nisa and you know, we want to try to maintain that.
We've got some competition in the area and uh develop it develop it as best we can and you know, take good care of our local people as well. Yes sir. >> Council member Zan where to start. Um I guess to summarize
with Zeke is trying to have a unified vision from this council out to the community out with the staff. Getting some sense of peace, some calm progress, not for the sake of progress, but let's get some done. >> Um we have a lot of good things moving behind this community. This community is
rich in many ways in history and culture and and with its resources, land and water. It's very desired and sought after. Yahoo made an article in 20 or 21 top five places to work from home. Sure wish they didn't do that because our
taxes have gone up because of it. Love to find that author of that article and show them how I really feel. But it's a testament though too. >> So we need some stout leadership in this team. um use quarterback analogy. I've been using that for the last few months. That's probably why Mark brought that
up. We do we have the general manager slashowners is the residents of the city, >> right? >> Uh we're the coaches, sure, but um we all wear different hats and we need that quarterback to be able to help our our real strong team that we still have here
right now. Want to keep them intact and get them as much support as possible because they deserve that to their job. >> Yes, sir. And that's all that our role should be is providing vision not working in the business but on the business. >> Yes sir. Thank you >> council member Hall.
>> Yeah I think you know to tie in with what Jesse said a little bit and a little history um you know uh this was a unique town a small town tourism you know um a lot of people have been
here a long time. there is um a lot of pride in the way the town looks, function, operates currently and there's not um I would say an overarching motivation to change that which I would agree to. You know, I love this little
town. We got the best elementary school and and you know, great resorts and and tourism. However, with that, um there have been maybe past councils that
haven't um spent uh maybe enough time looking ahead into the future on what do we need to do, not to change the town, but to keep it
current with um you know um changing times. like Jesse said, the bigger influx of the people. Um, and so to balance the two, keep the charm, >> keep what Nesa represents, but also
integrate it with um current times. >> Yes, sir. >> And and look for, you know, drive the bus looking forward more than looking backwards. and that hasn't always traditionally operated and been done in
this community. So, >> I appreciate that. >> What other questions do you have? >> Um, on a per month basis, just from each of you, how much time do you estimate that you spend on council business personally? >> What a phenomenal question.
>> No, never asked us that before. >> No, so I'm the reason I'm asking the question is really on a question from Joe earlier. So, I've worked for communities where my council members did not read the packets. I mean, these are voluous packets. They show up at the meeting and >> that's happened in the past.
>> I mean, if you're you're around tonight, we have one tonight. This is this is the nights. >> This is I would say >> we've had them this thick and and they >> um >> Yeah. No, I mean in the past, >> why don't you answer? How long How long do you spend a month?
>> Say again. How much time do you spend a month working on city council related activity? >> More than I ever thought I would. >> Okay. >> Um I am the leazison on with park. So I I I I think I have a rather good working
relationship with the department head. Um I spend a lot of time with her going over things. How are things coming up? Um, I if I have questions on certain things, I do come in and talk to the different departments on things that are going, how are they doing? You know, I this is
coming up, how's that going? Um, and then with the packets, I usually pick those up because they're usually ready Thursday night. I try and get them Thursday night and I go through them. Uh, if I have any questions, uh, Friday morning, I usually reach out for the question on that and then I also reread
it over the, you know, the weekend. >> Okay. >> So, I'm prepared. So, I spend more time than I ever thought I would. >> It's a good answer. >> Council member London. >> Okay. >> Oh, just how much time you spend on city council business was the question. >> Um, you know, when I get my packet, I
like to look over it and uh, you know, see what's in there so I can be prepared for the meetings and that and uh, I think it's very helpful to come here and be prepared and know what to expect and that and just kind of look at the agenda and so forth. >> Council member Hall.
Um, so I'm also a business owner in town. Um, depends upon the week. Some weeks I spend more time on city council stuff than I do my own business stuff. Um, I
would say that it has to do with um, you know, truly what the current state of the drama is in the town at a certain week or time period. what the certain hot topics are.
Um, in this town, um, seems like it doesn't matter what the topic is, there's the same group of people that have an issue with every topic. >> Sure. >> And what needs dealt with that group of
people. Um, we have excellent staff um that um um do a phenomenal job at their job. Um sometimes that can hinder or overwhelm them even.
So trying to give them support, you know, during these times or controversial things that may come up town, you know, with like, hey, you know, this is what's going on. I I think um
yeah, uh the amount of time I'll give, whatever time is needed and whatever I can give to the town, I'm I'm not going anywhere, you know. Um I joined the uh I joined the council not
because it was a welloiled machine but because it was the opposite and it's like enough's enough and so I'm here to you know be committed to get it going in a better direction and whatever time it takes that's what it takes but that'd be
my viewpoint. Okay. Thank you, >> Council Member Son. >> I would say probably too much too much on a month-to-month basis. Very, very volatile week overw week. I would say this past calendar year has
had its fair share of surprises and challenges. Um, yet we're here. Tomorrow will be here as well. So, um, I think we do have a strong enough outlook to be able to get things stable.
And I think that that's the goal of everybody on this council. Okay. >> Hence why filling this position is so important for us. >> And I would say I would probably echo everyone's sentiments. You know, much more time than I thought I would when I ran for mayor and much more time than I
want to be because similarly, you know, I own two businesses in town >> and, you know, it takes time away from operating and running my businesses which are, you know, kind of my my lifeline, right? My bread and butter. Um, but as Council Member Hall said,
well, and actually everybody up here said it. We're all committed to this town. So, if we have to put in the time and energy, we certainly put it in. But I would agree with what everybody said. I think there has been a lot of volatility in the past several months, maybe a little bit longer than that.
There's been a lot of, from my lens, a lot of drama that just doesn't serve the city right. We should be focusing on policy. we should be focusing on how to move things forward. um we should be focusing on aligning over a strategic vision and
strategic plan for the city and that's where our focus should be not on personality differences or you know style differences right and I think that's an area too where this um city needs significant help is on communication having clear communication
having everybody understand that we are here to serve the public and the taxpayers and that's it and um we are a five member governing body we are all equally elected. We all hold election certificates equally. So ensuring that communication is shared equally, right,
to all of us and and helping with those strategic priorities, I think that could go a long way and helping NYSA move in continue to move in great directions because as everyone said, it is a great community. It's a wonderful place to be. >> Yes, ma'am. Um, how are we on time right now? >> We have about
>> seven minutes. >> Seven minutes. Okay. >> Um, so I'll ask you all have any other questions for me? I have one last one for you. I have none. >> None. >> Do you have any council members? >> Okay. So, when when I've listened to
what you all have had to say, I hear, you know, sort of one unifying point through all of that, and that's communication. Um, you know, that you're all here to serve, you know, the the needs and desires of the residents and there's a you maybe a communication gap somewhere
in that. um how do you all individually handle constituent service outside of this building? So, I'm going to give you some examples of that. Things that I've seen be successful in the past. Do any one of you maintain a constituent email newsletter
as individuals? Do do any one of you as individual council members regularly collect email addresses from residents as constituents and do a weekly, monthly, quarterly update by email to your constituents? >> No. >> No, not individual. We last year we did
a >> has something like that set up for the town >> at this council and individually. No. >> Okay. Um, second up, do any of you host focus groups in your private homes with people that are from within your neighborhood or business community as a whole?
>> I have in the past. >> It it >> I do not >> focus groups or just >> let me clarify. So sure, an issue came up that had to do with well the lake
that my wife and I are on had to come up. And so there were some misinformation that one side was saying as the others. So what I did was is is a uh neighbor reached out wanted to know if we'd have a little uh can I explain
things through questions and I've done that in the past. I've done that with a few things. So the the two most effective things that I've seen in my career are the two things that I just mentioned, which is, you know, for for each of you as council members to take a personal responsibility, whether that's at your place of business and you host
it there or at your home. And it doesn't have to be particularly often, but um you do an invite out to those folks that maybe you're closest to in the community that are registered voters. You have them over. You sit down with the comp plan and you say, "Hey, can we just talk about the comp plan or can we talk about the issues within the community?" what
whatever format that is, but there's a direct one-on-one facetime with you and those residents outside of this building in a much more personal setting. Um, the second one, I don't know if Calvin Mercer will watch this. He's a city councilman in Greenville, North Carolina that I worked for once upon a time. Long- serving at large council member in
a community of I don't know, somewhere in the ballpark of 100,000 people. Um, Calvin everywhere he goes takes a piece of paper with him and he gets everybody's email address and he adds them to an email list and he does it was once upon a time monthly. I'm not sure if he's still doing that but monthly
email blurb out. Here's what's going on in the city of Greenville, North Carolina. And that is just a terrific way for him as an individual council member to articulate what he perceives the view of the council to be, of the staff to be, and then and he's very clear about laying that out. Right?
Here's here's the council's piece. here's the, you know, staff overview and then this is my personal viewpoint on this. So he distinguishes between those in an effort to very clearly communicate out to the public. I mean, it's when you're five humans trying to manage the lives of what's on your sign is about
2,000 humans plus annual visitors. Do we know a number? How many people come through? >> It could explode to 20 >> 20 30,000. Yeah. >> There there's no true metric. This county goes from 66 to 300,000. >> Yes. So I mean you you all are responsible for this jurisdiction and communicating what's going on to all of
those people. Whether they care about that message or not, that's a different thing. So it's at what level are you meeting them in order to have an opportunity to convey that message? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Um there's like three minutes left. Do you have any any last questions
or anything you want to say in closing? >> Um no. I'm grateful for the opportunity to come over. I've had a chance to, you know, make my way around the community today and just again sort of take in the sights of what's here. You you do have a lot to offer. I'm not sure how the fishing is. I'm assuming it's good because I see, you know, ice fishing
shanties out on the lake. Um, yeah, it's uh it's a beautiful place. So, thank you for the time and the effort that you're putting in to go through the search. >> Thank you for the interest. >> Thank you very much. Thank you all. >> Okay, we could take about an eight minute break till the next interview.
Please. We have a few minutes yet, Jessica, before we get started. later tonight. Okay. >> So, >> we're going to be >> Well, hopefully we'll be heading on down the road. >> Yeah.
>> Although good. No, it's tricky because you like Shortly I have a Yeah. >> She's just turned eight. Her name was Blocky. She looked like a
baby. that I think I could have Smile. >> Yeah. just one
Okay. >> We are >> Yeah. We saw Yes, >> you want to take that opportunity, didn't you? >> I just gave you a whole more. >> Hey, it adds up.
>> Okay, I think we're all set. That's good. >> Okay, if everybody's ready. Thank you for being with us today. >> Thank you. Thank you for this opportunity. >> Yes. So, what we'll do with the 55 minutes that we have is um council will go around and we've got questions for
you and then we'll leave time at the end for you to ask any questions of us and then any final summary that you might want to add. Um but before we get started, if you wouldn't mind just telling us a little about yourself and then what um made you interested in applying for this position. >> Sure. I am from the area, graduated from
Brainard High School a long time ago. I won't date myself. Um moved away as my resume shows. I've been around here and there everywhere around the world. Uh came back to home about eight months ago and uh am reestablishing myself in the
community. uh reacquainting myself with old friends. Um I love the place. Uh even when I lived abroad, I had a house here that I spent a lot of time in. Uh have had to have family in the area the whole time. So I've spent most of my
vacation time here uh with family. So I've haven't there hasn't been a break in my attachment to the area. Um, when I saw the position come up, it seemed to me like a wonderful opportunity to be a part of the community, to serve the
community, and um to, you know, be a part of Niswah's growth for the future, uh, with all of the challenges it faces as a small town with a large seasonal population and a, uh, booming tourist economy.
>> Very good. Thank you. Um, we'll start with our first question. Um, council member London, >> what you know about our community? >> So, as I said, I've grew up in the area and have spent a significant amount of time here. Um, it is a small town
community at heart, small town values, people, you know, say hello to each other, chat to each other, polite, cordial, part of each other, speak to each other about family, etc. But there is a boon in the summer that we all
know. There's a large influx of people. Some of them spend the whole summer. Some of them only spend a weekend. But there's a large influx of people who aren't year- round population. And that has a lot of uh challenges which Miswah has risen to the occasion through the
time that I've known it to be. um you know put on community events in the winter and the fall as well as the summer to have the summer population to continue to associate Nisel with these wonderful times that they have in the
summer and come back year after year. >> Thank you. >> Council member Freley, >> what's your approach to dealing with difficult people? >> So I I've had a lot of experience with that. I've obviously been in different cultures around the world. Um, I prefer
to approach that through facilitation and communication. I think that if people have a common goal in mind, um, you can eventually get the details to be worked out so that people
understand we're going to a common collaborative goal. Um, it can be hard to get there. It can involve a lot of negotiation and a lot of discussions. But my experience in the past was when I worked on projects that everybody
understood, we want to reach the same end point. You're able to get there as long as we have open communication and understanding that there are there is a common understanding of where we want to be.
>> Thank you, >> Council Member Hall. How would you range plan for the community? >> How would you develop long range plan for the community? >> Well, I think that would involve a whole
lot of input. Um, I'd talk to each of the heads of the different department of NISMA as to what their plans are. talk to the council according to what your plans are and look at surveys from the public to see what the public the
community here wants from the city of Nispa. Then you would try to mesh those and look at what's feasible financially because you know we probably can't put a pro hockey rig here but we probably can work on the hockey rig that is here. um
working that out according to the budget and the priorities to see what the community wants and what the community might not see that needs to be done like the potholes or that inevitably come every winter or you know some structural
problems in buildings in the community. We'd have to put together the plan and prioritize what things are most critical, what things are most important to the community and what can be afforded. >> Council members on
>> tell us about your experience with economic development. in economic development. Well, I did a lot of book a lot of work on the legal side with economic development in the past uh in other countries. Um getting funding from
development banks in order to do projects that were both of benefit to the local community and financially viable. Now, that is not economic development in a small town government because you're although they need to be
viable, the primary purpose would be for the community. Um, I think the financial understanding of those types of development projects is critical though in in looking at a small town's um trajectory and development path and what
wants to be accomplished because you still have to look at what's financially feasible. Thank you. >> Um Jessica, what do you need from the city council to be successful as a city administrator in this role? I think it's just about communication, communication,
communication foremost. Um because the role is to facilitate what the community wants. the count what the council is looking at putting into place from what the community has expressed and leading up with the different departments to see
what needs to be followed through and again what the community might not know that actually does need to get done. So from the com from the council I would want to have you know ex lots of communication um sitdowns very often in
order of very often within the structure of people's timelines in order to understand uh what their thoughts are what they think is important so that we can put together plans that are cohesive. >> Thank you council member London. Next
question. If you reflected, city administrator, how would you spend this month in that position? >> The first month, as I said, uh the importance is on communication. So, I'd want to meet with each of the heads of the department, see where they're at,
see where they're at according to the present development plan, um what's behind, uh what is being left off the agenda, uh to see where that's going. look at the finances to see where the city is fiscally. If we're behind
revenue, ahead of revenue, uh what sort of avenues are being looked at in order to close any gaps and then sit down uh with the council and see, you know, where the council's thought is in terms of the plan and the budget and how they
mesh and what we can do to make things reality. um hopefully looking within that at anything that needs to be done right away that I can facilitate having that happen if it's feasible. >> Council member Freley,
>> how would you establish good communications and information flow from the council to staff and staff to the council? >> Well, I think the role of a city administrator to my mind is one of facilitator. So hopefully I would be a
point person for the department heads to come to and then sit down with the city council especially those of you who are who are leazons to the various committees and have the conversation in general but
I wouldn't want to I wouldn't want to I guess take up unnecessary time where I am being a full-time employee to be that filter and I would see that my role is to communication on both sides. So, yes, that puts a lot on a city administrator,
but that is, I think, their role >> to be there for both parties. >> Thank you. >> Um, Council Member Hall, >> give us a time and an example of a conflict that you've had between yourself and another staff member and
how it was resolved. So, I had a um junior associate, it's just coming to mind because it's the one that came to mind, uh working on a document for me that was critical to facilitating a large transaction and she
was behind in the document and uh she felt that I hadn't given her clear instructions on what was to be achieved. So I first sat down with her to understand what the issue was, what the
miscommunication was, um, and then revised the timeline, gave clear communication, set an accountability agenda so that she could meet it or I could see that it was performance and not just
misunderstanding. And at the end of it, it was performance. And so we had to have a performance review um that she wasn't meeting clearly defined expectations. So I guess I would say I met it with
communication, coaching, but accountability at the end of the day. Uh, council members on, >> how can an administrator maintain positive relationships with citizens,
business, and staff when delivering on popular news? That is a very tricky agenda to have, but I think as long as you have established the communication with your community uh so that they trust that
you're not just telling them something to tell it, but rather that it is the actual facts of where the situation is at, that the uh unwelcome news is not based on unreasonable assumptions, but on research, the work of the council,
the work of the departments. Um, it helps to facilitate an understanding if the community, the businesses understand why this is occurring and they trust that your word is the actual truth as you believe it.
>> Thank you. >> Um, what do you expect from employees and what can they expect from you in the role of administrator? Um I have an open door policy in all of my management roles in the past. Uh I communicate to
employees what is required of them. Uh what is expected of them and what would be wonderful to have from them if they would choose to do that. Uh in turn I expect employees to come to me and
give me feedback where I'm not communicating well. the expectations aren't known or they feel that I need to know more about a certain topic that they didn't feel I was up to speed as I should be with. Um so it's a two-way
communication street and if it's not I think it feels more of a top- down management style which I dislike. I like more of a collaborative management style because then you have buyin from the staff as to what they're doing that they have also determined this is something
that needs to be done or or a project that needs to be completed. >> Thank you. Um council member London, >> what do you believe you bring that others may not? Um I think I have a
long history of work with the law, finance, uh and management in retail style, but I do have management experience. I think that you know my knowledge of the workings of law would be very facilitative to working in this
role so that you understand the regulations, what we're dealing with, what the limitations may be. The financial side I think it is very important to bring into the budget process and understanding when we're looking at development plans what is
fiscally possible. >> Thank you. >> Okay. And I think the last question is council member Halt >> in you doing some research of us. Uh what would you say maybe your top two
or three things in Nisa um that you might want to accomplish right away or start working on to improve or change? Well, I know that um there are some road upgrades that need
to be done and there needs to be uh a more reconciled process to how those roads are going to be paid for whether it's through bonding or whether you know the agenda if it's pushed off. So, I think that's something that would be
looked at. Um, I think that the process for uh the piece of property needs to be set forth probably more of a long range plan of what's going to be done with that. Uh, because I think a lot of the
community is not sure. Um, I also think that there's probably quite a lot of backlog of communication to the community that needs to be taken care of quite expeditiously because if we don't have community buy in, that's
not where I think the community would like the city council to be. >> Sure. >> What questions do you have for us? I guess my primary thing in looking at NISWA is how the council thinks the next
five years would look in terms of trying to keep the small town community aspect of what brings people to NISA. What makes people shop, have dinner, stay for a weekend, stay for the summer while having that economic development? How do
you see the the ch the primary challenges in doing that? I think I'll start. I think that's one of the issues that we've been talking about throughout the different interviews today is one of the things I've said is we have the comprehensive plan, but it it may have been put
together before folks that were here were here. And so is that comprehensive plan the one that the city sees for the long range long range vision? And we've been trying over the past year but haven't done it yet to to truly have a workshop where we dive into that as a
council with staff there. Um, that's one piece of it. And you know, council will change, right? Because elections are every two years, but having a good vision, I'll turn it over to the other council members for input. Council member Freilley, >> next five years. Well, yeah, I'm looking
15 years. Uh, next five years, just getting things done, starting to look at the uh economic development of the of the land down there. And also I know there are some concerns from the local business community that we are going to basically replace the downtown. That's
not what it's we have no intention of doing that. It's got Niswah's got to stay what Niswah was. But we also need to realize we have some growing pains and you know how can we do that on such limited land space you know when almost half of the land is water. Um, and how
will we do that re responsibly with also feedback from the community? Um, so I'm hoping in 5 years we have a plan as to what we can do with that land in the future. >> Council member London, >> thank you. Maintain the city as a
tourist. It's not just in summertime, you know, it's year round. expect to do. But we Christmas time lights summer, you know, freedom days, I'm working at big touris all these little shops downtown. That's why people come here.
>> I just want to see it stay. It's been I think for 40 years and uh there's going to be some little growing pains, but just kind of maintain it the way it is so that it continues to be the drop that it is. >> Right. Council members on
>> it's my hometown, born and raised here, just like a few of us in this room um in this community. It's it's a very unique spot that we're in because of the draw and the attention of this community. Um as I've stated in the previous interviews, it's it has
kind of morphed into a centralized hub for folks to move to above and beyond just a cabin stay in a seasonal aspect. maintaining its integrity is obviously important to any of us that have been here to see this community grow. Um, but there's also a lot of opportunity with
that and it is a balancing act which is why it's important for us to have somebody in the city administrator/clerk position to be able to help quarterback that and move the city forward. We help provide vision and direction. We are elected into these positions. Uh we're here temporarily um just like Mayor
Cardahan admitted our uh election cycle is up in November. So two of us or three of us could be office council and that's a whole new group right but that focus and vision has to be readressed uh in my opinion as we've discussed every election cycle that strategic plan that
comprehensive plan because it's a whole new group of leaders potentially um but that staff has to also be equally bought into it as well. Um I think we do have a lot of opportunity to be able to build that transparency with with residents. Uh there's things we do in close session. Uh there's things that we do in
in open sessions, uh public sessions. Uh but there's a lot of opportunity for us to continue to garner that input from them. Uh because this is our town collectively. I I pay taxes here. We all pay taxes here. So do the voters that uh elect us to these positions.
>> But you have to try to find that balancing act. And we're trying to I think hone in on what that exactly is going to be for us uh outside of just ideas. Right. >> Right. Yeah. >> Council member Hall. >> Yeah, I think over the next five years,
it's uh you know, trying to get a good plan for the next 10 to 20 to 30 years really. Um like like everyone said, it's a unique town um unique situation that um
everybody wants to come here. It's not like we can say, "Oh, we're full and you know, we're at max capacity." And so we need to figure out, you know, whether it be the land we purchased, what are more
amenities and um just services that this town needs. um behind the scenes, everyone just sees that downtown is kind of staying the way it is and they like that, but all the other services are
just um stretched in the area in the community that needs some attention. Yeah, I can imagine that the uh utility services are feeling feeling a little bit of pain with all the growth and >> um yeah, I can say especially the
parking. >> Well, those utilities just pass along their their actual cost to us uh residents slash utility bill payers XL Minnesota Power, growing power. I mean, that's how it works. But that we have to
be cognizant. We're service providers at the end of the day. >> Yeah. >> Sure. We'll do customer satisfaction surveys, but that happens every two years. And it's not a popularity contest. It's are we pro are we uh providing proper roads? Uh is the design
of said road proper? Is the maintenance of said road being upheld? Is it uh the same on northwest side of Niswah or versus the southeast side? Um, that's the thing. I mean, it's small
city. Uh, what's the best way to how do you say that? Small town with big city problems sometimes >> because of what happens here in the summertime. And this place just explodes. As you know, if you live in Breezy, you know, it's you guys got the
luxury of being in between two of the hot beds of Cross Lake and Nissa. But, um, Pelican's no different. >> No. So >> do do you have any other questions for us? I guess I ask you know how do you
see the city administrator helping to fulfill you know the ideas that you have along with the staff that has their own ideas about what needs to be done in the various public departments. Do you want to go first on this one or council
member London or council member Freley? Can you restate that again? I get you because there you want to see >> how do we see >> Yeah. How do we >> city administrator >> working with >> engaging? Yeah. >> Um
I've said it, others have said it too. The uh we're looking for the quarterback. >> Uh the football analogy. Um we got to work on the strategic plan. We've got to get it to where it's going to be. We've got to work towards that.
So, we'll be the guiders. You'll bring back the staff. You basically manage it, >> right? >> Because you'll be here all the time. We're not. Um, but also there has to be you bringing back concerns from the staff to us. Mhm. >> Um
and and also uh I I I think I asked one of them this too is um you can't be afraid to tell us if we're being overbearing with the staff, >> right? >> You know what I'm saying? Um I'm always
worried when the staff pulls me and I wonder what what did I do wrong? But we need to know. Mhm. >> Um, so that's that's what I see your position is. Keep harmony, well communication with all of us. That's it.
Yeah, that's council member. >> I agree with their points. Um, I think I hopefully answer that question in the previous responses. >> Council member Hall. >> Yeah, I agree with what Mark said, too. I don't know that I'd really have much to add than you know working with the
staff and the council. >> Yep. I don't have anything to add. Okay. >> Um do you have any additional or final questions for us? >> No, I think that covered the the majority because you know I I'm from the area so I have a little bit more information perhaps than others do by
just being part of the >> community in general. So >> um Mr. Dwey, did you want to ask a question or no? No. Okay. Um well if you have any do you have any closing comments before we >> Well again I want to thank you very much
for this opportunity. Um I really it's a role that I feel I could fulfill very well that my heart would be very attached because I love this community. Um I want to be able to serve the people of the community. Um you know I've come
back here. This is this is my home. I'm not going anywhere else. this is where I've landed and you know been everywhere else but I always came home. So um thank you again for the opportunity and I think that my management experience
financial and legal experience would help me and to fulfill this role and my strong felt desire and love of the community would also lead it and thank you for your time. >> Thank you so much. Well, move to close session.
>> Right. >> We can move to close session. >> Well, the labor attorney guided we have to stay in open session. SCSC when they've done this in other cities have gone to close session but our labor attorney is saying we have to stay open
so we can follow the guidance of our labor attorney or I wanted to wait for Wendell to just share Wendell if you don't mind um we just we're having the conversation um because on the agenda you know it says we can move to a closed session however as you and I briefly
discussed before and as Miss Wentler noted the labor attorney labor attorney guidance was we stay in open session but you guys have shared in your firms when you've done this with other cities you have gone to close session so
>> u we want to you know defer to your city attorney's opinion obviously >> Wend can I have you speaking I don't care which >> thank you >> it is >> so just uh we would not want to go
contrary to your city attorney's advice though we can proceed if you're willing uh in open session. >> It's up to the council. Um do you want to follow the labor attorney's guidance and stay in open session or do you want to go into closed session? >> Well, to my opinion on the matter would
be much more vanilla if we're going to be in open session. Uh we've been searching for this position for quite some time. Critical hire. Um, we're in close session. I feel like we can have a very good and thorough conversation
without being uh potentially hurting anybody's feelings because I'm a person that values constructive criticism and feedback. And I think that the four great candidates you brought forward for us, we deserve to properly vet through as a group. So, I for one would be willing to make a motion to go to close
session. Um, con uh contrary to the city's. >> Okay. Council member Hall, do you have any thoughts on that? I Jesse said it well. I agree with that statement. Um, so >> your practice is this has been done in
close session and >> it it has been in most instances >> in most cities that you that have hired you to to consult and help with. >> The discussion amongst the council members on the merits of the individual applicants are discussed and you can say
particular uh evaluations of whichever of the applicants you so choose. And then okay, >> in the end we result we report the results. >> Okay. Um Miss Wentler, it looked like you wanted to chime in. >> I will just note that when I talked with
um our labor attorneys that they said that the council could make a motion to choose two liaison so they could have a discussion and negotiate with SCSC and the applicant. So then even no matter what
you decide right now that you could still say we're going to select the personnel committee. So if you pick a salary range on a person and they say hey I want to do this you can either do this and kind of go back and forth as the personnel or whatever two liaison um
could do that. Um, I think we're all five here and if your experience in most cities as you go into close session, I think it's fair to have all five council members be a part of the discussion about candidates and so forth. >> And we will do so at your discretion.
>> Okay. >> Yes. >> All right. If someone I would I would entertain a motion. Oh, go ahead. >> Motion to move to close session pursuant to Minnesota statutes 13D.03 3 regarding labor negotiations specifically for the purpose of discussing an employment agreement slashnegotiations for the city
administrator/clerk position. >> I'll second >> um so council member London seconded. >> Yep. >> Okay. Any additional discussion? >> Uh either her or >> Well, we would want um can we maybe
remotion to keep you folks in the room? No, we service your consent. Oh, so you can be here anyway. He will be in the room. Perfect. Yeah, sorry. You'll have to leave though. >> Yeah. Sorry. You have a break until 6. >> You could, Ron. Could you shut the door on your >> Um, okay. So, we have a a motion and a
joke. I mean, you're the only one >> got the question. Okay, we have a motion and second. Any additional discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed? Okay, motion carries. >> Okay, give me a second here. Do we just take a two-minute break to run to the
restroom and get more water? Part: 2
kind of good. >> Joe, we're ready when you are. I call the meeting of February 17th, 2026 to order at 6 p.m. Um, all rise for the pledge. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the republic indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Okay. Um, first thing on the agenda is to approve the um, consent calendar or
to approve the agenda. Sorry. >> Mr. Mayor, I'll make a motion to approve the agenda as presented. Actually, with one exception, I believe we have uh, uh, item H, new business number
>> seven. Seven that has been tabled until March. >> Yes. Correct. >> That is my motion. >> Second. >> I'll second. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Motion carries. Uh, next item is the
consent calendar. All matters listed are considered routine by the council and will all be enacted in one motion. There will be no separate discussion for these items unless good cause is shown prior to the time of the council votes on the motion.
>> Mr. Mayor, I'll make a motion to approve the consent calendar as presented. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Motion carries. Um, next uh letter D, open form. This is for a time when somebody would like to come up to the
mic and speak about something not on the agenda. If it is a agenda related item, you will have time to comment at that time. Is there anybody would like to come to the mic? Okay. At this time, I see nobody coming
to the mic. We will close open form um reports. Uh city attorney >> uh nothing to report from here tonight. >> Okay. Thank you. city engineer. This will be going through 2026 streets generally
and 2027 students in the process of hold or on. Okay. Did you get enough. Super. Thank you. Um, >> we're going to open a public hearing.
>> Okay, public hearing. Next on the list, public hearing, the 2026 street um, reconstruction planned and bond resolution. >> We need a motion to open the public hearing. >> I'd like to make a motion to open the public hearing for the 2026 street
reconstruction plan and bond resolution. I'll >> second. All those in favor? >> I. >> Okay. >> Okay. Dave, you're ready here? >> Yep. >> Do we have a brief presentation for the
bond hearing tonight? This is for 2026 street improvements. This is similar information to what we reviewed in a public information meeting back in December. Um so we can flip through these slides and then there'll be
question answer period toward the end. So um maybe back one if you would. There you go. meeting objectives. Uh just to recap, project scope, timeline,
uh review our current project estimates, and then we'll have the QA period. Okay. Um for the project scope, once again, these are reconstruction projects. So, we're looking at improving
public safety and property access, um, rideability, roadway strength, roadway drainage, address those ongoing maintenance concerns that the city's been dealing with. Uh, and a lot of the roads are simply at the end of their
service life, so they need to be replaced and reconstructed. Here's a list of the roads that are on the 2026 uh improvement list. Uh there was a question uh raised about
what roads are on this. Um these are all the roads. Uh we did move up a Roy Lake Road to 2027 uh improvements. So that was on 2026 but got moved to 2027.
The timeline, as I mentioned, we went through publicformational meeting back in December. We're here tonight, February 17th, for the street bond hearing. Uh we plan on opening bids next week on the
26th. Uh we're looking at awarding a contract or considering those bids March 17th. The construction period typically will be May through November on projects like this. Um load limits sometimes play into
that when they can start in the spring, but generally that's what we would expect. Okay, these are current project estimates. These are more than what was reviewed in the December publicformational meeting, but these
include the bonding and financing costs um of the total bond package. Uh we have all the current construction plans that are out to bid um included in this with the most up-to-date construction
estimate. And uh we're looking at issuance of a $5.75 million bond. Um there is contingency built into these numbers. Uh so hopefully we'll get good bids. It
looks like a good bidding environment so far. So uh we'll see what happens next week. And then we do have uh the plans. Um you can see around you on the walls the
various streets. Uh so if we need to take a look at a particular area, if you have a particular area of concern, we can take a look at that. Otherwise, tonight uh really is um to deal with passage of uh and
approval of the bond going forward to finance the projects. Any questions? >> Um, I think maybe my only question would be for Tom with this. Are we sitting
pretty good with all our acquisitions and easement stuff that we need for this stuff? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Any other questions? >> Okay. I do have Heather from PFM, our financial advisor, on Zoom if anybody
had questions in regards to that piece. >> Okay. Anybody have any financial questions? >> I do. >> Heather, question in regards to the financing of this project. Do you have models that are showing the certain term
of the amortization? Are we looking at a specific range of years for the bond? Yes, we've uh done some planning with Tom and also with Maggie and we looked we are looking at a 15-year amateurization which is in alignment
with the city's prior practice and not uh overextending the debt >> and we're looking at Mr. So, you would say we'd be looking at a lifpan of these new roads to be roughly what would you
say? >> We shoot for a 20 year design life. Uh in reality, that should go beyond that time frame. >> Fantastic. there any financial data to share as to what those projections might look like
for a 2027 levy impact or is that too premature? We have looked at the modeling of both the 2026 road bond program and the 2027 to
wrap around the existing debt that the city has so that on a year-to-year basis the levy impact would be minimal. >> Okay. >> But we do we will have more opportunity to refine that. The current schedule is
holding this public hearing today. then we will need a 30-day what's called a 30-day reverse referendum window so that if if folks do oppose this street reconstruction plans they have the opportunity to voice that
and then we would look to issue debt have a bond sale in April with closing in May so proceeds would be received in May and up until we do the bond sale we can make refinements to the amateization structure Okay.
>> Okay. I appreciate that. I don't have any more questions. >> Okay. Do you have anything to add, Tom? Okay. Okay. Well, we just need a motion.
Actually, there there should be a resolution that would be adopted that the motion should be for. Sorry, Maggie, if if I'm stepping in and you were just going to say that. >> Nope, that's exactly what I was going to say. >> I have the resolution in front of me and
I'm happy to um make the motion, Miss Maggie, but how would you like me to read it off, >> Heather? Yeah, I would say there's the the two um capitaliz resolution make a a motion resolution adopting a street
reconstruction plan and approving the issuance of general obligation street reconstruction bonds. >> That's big capitalized. >> So that's just going to be one, not two. >> Correct. >> Got it. like to make a motion to approve the resolution adopting a street
reconstruction plan and approving the issuance of general obligation street reconstruction bonds as presented. >> I'll second it. >> All those in favor? >> I posted. Motion carries. >> Then we will need a motion to close the
public hearing. I'd >> like to make a motion to close the public hearing regarding the 2026 street reconstruction plan and bond resolution. Second. >> All those in favor? I >> I. >> Motion carries.
Okay. Letter G, old business. >> Thank you, Heather. >> Item number one, street lights to Hills Crossing out. Uh, council action. Um, we had tabled this a month or so ago. Tom,
did you have more information on this? >> Yeah. So that was kicked back to the public works committee. Um and that committee at its last meeting didn't have a quorum. So we weren't able to address that issue. It will come up again at our
public works meeting at the end of this month. >> Okay. >> So based upon that information, I'd recommend that we make a motion to the table. >> I so move. >> All those in favor? I >> I opposed. Motion carries. Um
second one the EDA EDC discussion council action. Um I know that uh earlier I was not present for the meeting. If you want to update people Jesse uh we had a special meeting
uh with the EDA to discuss um setting up criteria to form the committee. Yeah. Uh, on that note, I want to make some very clear stance here as to my perspective on the EDA and and the or
EDC and the rest of the council will be able to chime in as well. Uh, November, December of 2024, city of Niswah acquired some 70ome acres uh on the west side of Highways 371 uh south of now Sportland Bait Shop
as a vehicle to be able to help drive whatever will happen there. uh the city at least even at that point in time we made the determination as a council in 24 that we need to have some body some vehicle so to speak to be able to help drive uh stacked hand development of
whatever is going to go there and not specifically uh convening this council at every single time there's a conversation that uh is brought forward or an idea of development etc. So, uh, the EDA/EDC, whatever, uh, is moved forward with here
by this council, it needs to have that governing authority to be able to help drive that development. Um, with that being said, uh, the timeliness of it, uh, I would have preferred to have seen it happen a year ago, but, uh, we are where we are and, uh, we need to continue to move this forward. Spring
thaw is upon us. uh people get very eager to be able to start planning their next project. And I don't see why we should waste another good season here in regards to uh being able to take that investment that the city made and to be able to move forward with planning of
it, whatever it may be. So, I want to make that very clear. If anybody has questions, this is an opportunity to come up and ask, provide input. We welcome it. We want it. So, if there's any concerns that the public has in regards to why an economic development authority or committee is necessary,
microphone's right here. With that being said, uh we had a meeting last week to try to get a resolution populated to be able to get over to the city attorney for this council to be able to discuss and then uh approve. Hence why we had
another special meeting last week to be able to do it today. Uh 30 days is 30 days. I understand that. But, uh, we're here now. So, the purpose of this specific topic is to be able to give our city attorney Tom Pearson the, uh, verbiage to be able to populate a
resolution, a draft resolution for now this council to deliberate and vote on authorizing in the March regular meeting. So, I think that gives a good recap, Joe. >> Yeah. Yep. >> Okay. Also too, Tyler is here with
Bletek that um has been helping the city through this process. I don't know if any council has any questions for Tyler and or if we can reach out and kind of rely on you forming this uh for Tom tonight to get this put together.
>> I was just going to say I I missed out on the one meeting. Um but then last week and I had the questions and you were very good at clarifying you know authority over committee and I agree now that we do need the authority also the clarification on the authority can't just go out and tax that would have to
come to the council to approve and that was one of the sticking points with me too. >> That's correct. >> So um as far as a a committee or a um authority I'm 100% behind authority. Okay.
So, I apologize. I had something come up last week, missed the meeting, but Tom, what what all information do you need for us to vote on to kind of get this going and or can we reinstate the one
previously in place that the city had from 2017? >> No. um as was discussed at the special meeting um because we cannot find an enabling resolution for when that EDA was originally formed and we can't find
anything that says it was formally disbanded. It's just kind of out there. >> Okay. >> So, we would tackle that in the drafting of this resolution which would make reference to that. Okay. And basically to paraphrase say whatever that was whatever that enabling resolution was
that we don't know what the ingredients were they are now amended as follows and that would flow into the ingredients that Tyler and I would need to put together a resolution for your review.
>> Okay. I think the best thing you could do, and Tyler, not to put this on you, >> but Tyler wrote a good memo to you, uh, that I think was in front of you at the December meeting where he, uh, had a section in there about what the EDA can
do, the various things under the statute that you could uh, put into a resolution in enabling resolution. And that's really what we've needed to know is what do you want this EDA to do and specifically what do you not what statutory powers do you not want it to
have? So, just working off that resolution or that memo that Tyler wrote, for instance, um do you want this do you want to create economic development districts through this resolution? And and and do you want the EDA to be involved? And Tyler, you might
want to speak to that that means. >> Yeah, the ele economic development districts are primarily regarded with um definition of tiff districts. So tiff districts are are defined in three different categories. Um there's a
housing tiff district, there is an economic development tiff district, and then the I'm blanking on the third one, but each one of them has a certain number of years that they're assigned to relief the tax from the the the project itself. Like a a housing tiff district
is a has a 25 year life cycle on it. So by setting in there that the EDA has the ability to define these tiff districts. So if a business came in and we looked at them and they were asking for assistance on a particular project and they wanted that assistance to come from
the city, the EDA could determine whether or not that particular property like the land you own. You could define that entire property as an economic development tiff district and it has nine-year life nine-year life cycles to it. So that if the first project said
came to the council and asked for tiff assistance, you could grant that tiff assistance for a 9-year cycle. What it is is it's a pay as you go. So as they pay their taxes on an annual basis because it's a tiff district, city turns around and gives 90% of that back to the
project itself. That's the way for a a city to incentivize a project. The difference with that is is that that is what the defined district is is that if the next project comes in there, the next project only can receive the tiff um benefit for the remaining cycle of
the first project. So if the second one came in two years later, they only get they are only allowed to receive seven years of assistance from the city. That's really what the the defining of the districts does for it is it's related to tiff and tax abatement. And
again, those decisions could be recommended by the EDA back to the council. The council still has the ultimate decision- making in all of these processes. So, you'd have to by defining the it just gives the ability to say the EDA can define the districts or you can push it all back to the
council and the council makes the the decision based on what that district is. >> And that's the same for when it comes to potentially any taxing authority that an EDA would have. >> That is correct. It is all council approval at the end of the day >> 100%. >> Okay.
>> So, if I may, um, maybe we should stop for a second. I asked Tyler to speak to that, but what I've heard with this group talking about what the purpose of this EDA would be, it would be primarily, if not completely,
to master plan that land and to figure out how it's going to look and and and and then be available to help market parcels of that land for sale to third parties. Is that your vision of what this EDA would do?
Well, I would have a slightly different vision in that >> we would work with anybody kind of down in I'll say the 77 371 corridor in any
one of those four quadrants in that area and set this up with a little foresight looking ahead just knowing on what MDOT has potential plans of doing in that area could
um there's also a lot of privatelyowned vacant land in there that could help um um accommodate or drive some development in any one of those areas around that um
with what MDOT's going to do. So, I would say we would want to be able to help with that in the real near future also as we set this up. So, going back to what Tyler was just talking about, you know, tax increment
districts, what I'm thinking is that you don't want your enabling resolution to deal with something like that. >> I don't know, Tyler, should they should they based on what you know about what this >> I would take I would take that out that
I would not you would not want to have another layer to this. I think any any company requesting incentives, any type of incentives should come right to the full right should come directly to the full council. You can make a recommendation
if you'd like to. You can have the conversations with someone. If someone addresses the EDA first, you can have those conversations that any taxing any tax incentives um would not be dealt with by the EDA, they're going to be dealt with by the full council. >> Yeah. So, that was going to be one of my
questions though too. If we do have a district and let's say the district starts with just the cityowned property >> and some other developer comes in somewhere around that neighborhood and we want to expand that district. Can we
change the parameters after it's already place or do we create a secondary district with a new timeline for a new area let's say on one of the other intersection sides. If you have it in
the language that the EDA can determine the diff the tiff districts themselves or the the taxing districts themselves, they can you can move them wherever you'd like. >> That then goes through council review and approval. >> It does. >> Yeah.
The the one thing that I would like to con have you cons excuse me have you consider is is that it's um also defined by any city-owned property that the EDA would as in this resolution that if there are any city-owned properties that
any development discussions come directly to the EDA. You'd want that, you'd want that layer in for any property, any projects, but a specifically city-owned property. You'd want the city-owned property to come directly to the EDA for anything around
whether it's taxing. You'd want to have those conversations. Other incentives, you just want to make sure that the EDA has that layer in place before it comes to the full council because you can vet a lot of things out in an EDA with the authority in place.
>> Okay. My other question with that is if there is uh um a project or a situation where something is currently underway or phase two of a project, is anything retroactive or split or anything like
that? If somebody in that area came to us and said, "Hey, we're going to do phase two on an existing project." Does that apply or not? I would probably look to Tom considering that we don't have nothing can be found
that identifies whether an EDA was established, was not established, was was dissolved at a certain period of time. I would take it from the point moving forward when the council signs the new resolution moving and move that forward. >> Yeah.
I just don't want you to guys deal with something that somebody comes back and says that it's >> well the EDA wasn't in in place at that time. >> Right. That's I can see, hey, do I qualify for this? I did it. Whatever. >> Mhm. >> Yeah.
I uh attorney Pearson, I think my sense would be is that somewhere in the language that when we referred to um the the the taxing conversation or the question last week was um including in
there that any as we the beauty of an EDA is that the EDA has has levy authority that the EDA can do that if it chooses to, But to make sure that the language indicates that any decision to add a tax during a current
tax year or any tax year moving forward, it needs to come from for full approval to the council before it goes any further. The EDA would not want to have that authority. Okay.
Going down this list in Tyler's memo, you I assume that you don't want the ADA to have in the enabling resolution the independent power to acquire property. >> No. Correct. >> No. >> Um I assume you don't want in an
enabling resolution um his bullet point describing developing districts by filling, grading, and protecting property. Again, not would not be the No. >> No. >> Um I assume that you don't want an
enabling resolution for the EDA have the power to issue bonds. >> No. Uh or to make or guarantee credit enhancements. Now Tyler, you might want to speak to that bullet point where you uh where you
discussed providing business assistance flesh to that. >> Yeah, the business assistance could be provided through your contractual agreement with Bladec. So we would provide that and then bring any of that discussion forward to the EDA. Can the EDA could the EDA through that line on
the resolution apply for grants like uh development design grants or is that through through Bladec then passed down to this Niswah EDA some of that is going to be dependent on
um the grant structure because if typically if the grants coming from the state um they can be done we can do that on behalf of the city. Yeah. >> It would not be done on behalf of the EDA. >> Okay. >> Could they discuss it? Yes. As part of an overall discussion and bring that to
you. Yes. >> But not independently empowered to to do it. Yeah. >> All right. >> Okay. >> Tyler, what am I missing? >> The only other thing would be is the um the ability for the city to trans for
the the EDA has the the power to own property. So if it were in the situation where as in with regards to the land that the city owns, the city could transfer that property to the EDA if there was some reason for it to do that. The EDA could and does have the ability
to go out and acquire property. So if you want if you saw a parcel of land that the city really felt like they wanted, the EDA does have the ability to purchase that on behalf of the city. So this the EDA can technically own property >> if you enabled it.
>> Mhm. And again with council approval. >> Correct. >> Yeah. So to me, we'd write this now just to say no to that. And if something came up where that would be a thing um an issue, we could we could amend an
enabling resolution to delegate that to the EDA. >> I think that sounds >> more than reasonable. >> Another one is member makeup. Um, wait. >> Yeah, that's the last piece. >> So, you can it's um and I believe it's
in my document there. It's as few as three >> and I believe it's as many as seven. It's three, five, or seven. Once you exceed if there are three members, it's only the requirement only has that one sitting city council member be a part of
the the authority. If it is five, there has five or seven, there has to be two. So you if you have a fivep person EDA board, two sitting city council members have to be on that board. If it's three, it only requires one. You could have
two, but it only requires one. >> Is it is is it a practice to have uh say city administrators or managers on that board? >> It is typically not. >> Okay, good. >> I guess my initial vote on that piece would be to have
five. I think five seems reasonable. >> So then probably in my opinion not necessary to identify who those appointments are. That can come when the resolution is in front of you. >> It gives us 30 days to do homework and have some suggestions by
next March individually to discuss. And what was and what was um asked of me at the first special um special council meeting for this was whether or not I could serve on this board. And as a
citizen of the city of Brainard, technically I could >> of Nisa, >> but of Nisa, excuse me. Um but as as we look at this, I would recl. So, if you were to looking to appoint someone from the city of Niswah to be on
this board, um my name would need to be pulled from that list. >> Tyler out >> because you'll be involved anyway and it kind >> So, so yeah, >> technically um I'm I will manage the EDA for you, but >> correct >> do not want to be a voting member.
>> Do we set the criteria or is that already set for >> the criteria is already set and there two there are two criteria for this. you have to be the um more than 50% owner of a business that's has a Niswah residence
uh or can be a Niswah citizen must be over the age of 18. >> Do they have to prove that with like a shareholder agreement? It's >> just the way the statute's written. Probably no. But uh that's the that's typic that's the requirements. two I
have two more questions um regarding I guess just outside of a governance piece suggested meeting frequency. >> So each one of them you have to you have to meet at least twice a year that is
the state requirement but you can meet as frequent as you'd like. Uh typically what I see um through the other communities that I support in Crowing County, uh I typical is is quarterly. >> Yeah. >> Well, I would agree with that.
>> Yes. >> However, I would say because the city's own this land for how long has it been now? Uh 15 16 months. No, 14 months. >> Mhm. Uh, I would encourage that this meet monthly
or on an as needed basis >> to be able to see what can transpire for 2026 and beyond and then be able to recalibrate from there. >> And these are recorded meetings. >> Yeah, >> these are um these are city meetings. So
they are recorded. >> And then second question is suggested suggested staff support. who would typically be there on a city staff level to support the meeting. >> Um this >> in in retrospect or in in regards to
Niswah specifically, who would you? >> Yeah. Um probably Stephen, I think Steven's in the room. I would say probably him or a sitting city administrator. That those are typically the two that we would see. Um unless the city's large enough to have like a community development
director. The community development director is usually one of them that's there. I typically don't see an engineer at any of these meetings, but >> public works. >> Public works. Yes. >> Okay. So, public works, Steve, PNZ, and then
city administrator. >> Mhm. Clerk, >> do you have enough information to write a resolution for us? Yeah, Tyler and I will work together on that. We should be able to have something ready for you and >> you need a council motion.
>> I I don't think so. This was just really just a little bit of a mini work session to give us uh some guidance >> some guidance about how to write this. So, I don't know that there's a motion necessary for what you just said. >> Good. because this makes me feel more
comfortable knowing that we have a $5.75 million project coming down the pipeline that we're going to have to budget for in 2027, which if you all do the math, it's going to be a significant levy smack that perhaps if we have some something that
makes sense through the EDA and this property start to be able to get a return on the investment. So, moving forward in good faith and I think this is a good step. Appreciate it everybody >> and thanks for coming for a third time. My pleasure. >> Thanks Tyler.
>> Okay. Um item number three um spirits lease with Schaers council action. So old business again Maggie or Brian? Well, while Brian's coming up, um the
Schaefer family has come to us and um was maybe open to negotiation when it comes to a lease cost. That was our last liquor committee meeting. Um so I know the council at one point had said we're not interested due to the cost
that came in and the financial impact to us. Um now they kind of came back to the table hoping that maybe we would negotiate So, um, council members, thank you, um, for, um, letting me present this. Last month we discussed having a feasibility
study and looking at and saying okay what space do we have now and what are our sales and what um if we expand it how are we going to grow our sales and be more profitable in the
future. So I reached out to the MMBA and they gave us multiple different examples of feasibility studies. I have broken it down. I've given every one of you. Um, this is based off of the Baldwin Municipal Liquor Store feasibility study
and they pretty much I narrowed it down to three. You guys got everything in the packet. So, um, if you have a different opinion, just please let me know. But, um, >> Brian, could I could I just stop you for a quick second? Ask under new business.
>> This stud is actually under new business. >> Correct. We are just about the spirit's lease right now. Do we want to just talk about the lease and then we'll talk about this? I mean, they go hand in hand, but >> they kind of do. >> They're two separate items. >> So, I don't know if Andy or Ted want to
come up and speak on behalf if you guys are interested in hearing what they have to say, if you're open to >> Yes. And and maybe could I kind of summarize and maybe that would help. So, as I understand it, I'm not on the
liquor committee, but as I understand it, um, Schaers is doing an expansion down there. The actual business of Spirits is going to present a report later with
a consultant group on what they could do to enhance the business, upgrade, expand the business, and give a report on that. And then that would dictate some additional lease space required. Am I
correct, Brian? >> Yes. >> Okay. And right now >> talking about the existing lease. >> We're talking about the existing lease and also numbers for if we did expand and upgrade the spirits also to what
those potential cost would be. Correct. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, we're just talking about the cost right now. Okay. >> So, yeah, I don't I mean, this goes back a couple years back to when you were on
the committee. We've been talking about this for a long time and >> um we've been kind of kicked around here in meetings and you know, every time we've come to the council, we've been told we have to go to liquor committee. But liquor committee, you can't get a meeting together. Nothing gets
accomplished. So, now we're back here. So, The proposed lease that we gave you had different terms than the current lease. And that's what we were talking about uh at the last liquor committee. Was that last month or a couple weeks ago? >> Couple weeks ago.
>> That we'd be willing to adjust the terms back to the original terms, but the dollar value stays the same. So, you're going from 1776 to 21 bucks a square foot if you want to use any of the new amenities
in this expansion. Okay. And >> Mr. Attorney, would it be proper to make a motion to authorize the liquor committee as a whole to negotiate? >> Yes. I think that was the whole idea of
coming out of the liquor committee meeting um where some positive conversation I think was had but but it needed to come to the council about whether the full council authorizes some further discussion on
this. >> Right. >> I think that's what I heard coming out of that meeting. And so if the answer is yes, that the council is willing to revisit the subject, then yeah, it makes sense to me that you would authorize that you would say yes to that and you
would authorize the liquor committee to enter into some negotiations knowing that the liquor committee won't bind anybody. Um, but try to see what could be done with respect to not just the current lease, but also that additional space, whether that's on the
table, what the rates are, that kind of thing. Do we need to Miss Megan, do we need a post for the liquor committee meetings? I can't recall. We do not. >> No. >> The only thing I guess that I would ask then I think that's a great idea. Jesse,
you are currently the only council on the liquor committee >> on the liquors are >> great. Okay. So for this negot for this negotiation process and to help move it forward and stuff, would we want to assign one other council to be on that
during negotiation time to just give Jesse a hand or whatever with that? Does that seem appropriate? I have a suggestion. >> Okay. Uh Mayor Carneahan, she's been involved with this enough uh she'll be able to come in with enough knowledge to be able to help get this moving along and I think she'd appreciate it.
>> Yeah. So then we would authorize them to negotiate this and move ahead. Um I guess my question maybe for Andy just so I know Brian is going to present um some
consultant work on expanding figuring out a business plan to enhance the spirits potentially. >> We told him to hold the space if that's where you're going. >> What's that? I said we told them we'd hold the space if that's where you're going. >> Well, not only that, but does it does it
matter or impact the price or in the negotiation if it's a 100 square feet or a thousand? Does the amount of square feet matter? >> No, because the buildout would be on the city. >> Okay. So, as far as like to move a door or whatever, you know, cuz we've talked multiple different scenarios, but if you
took I think it was 1,200 ft, then you could have an in and out door in the spirits building and redesign the whole thing on the inside, which is a whole another that's >> okay. >> A whole another thing, but there's bunch of different scenarios as to what we can do.
>> So then also my question is you just mentioned the buildout is on the city. Am I correct? in from my time on the electric committee, the current buildout and the current owners of the existing coolers and stuff is the
Schaefer family. So, this new the new addition and stuff would be done differently than it currently was. You guys would no longer currently own the >> It was coolers and stuff. >> We could Well, we would still own what's in there, but we could build it out, but
that would affect the price. >> Correct. if you're already >> not. >> Well, I'm just asking these questions right now for everyone to know and understand or think through. If we have half the store done this way and Schaefer's family owns this set of coolers, but now the city of Nisa owns
this set, does that complicate it? >> Well, it would just become city of Niswah inventory, I would say, an asset. So, >> okay. >> Yeah. I don't think >> just just to bring it up or address it
>> early next week if >> I can interject on that. >> Yep. >> So, over the last 20 years, we've had to upgrade numerous items in there. So, a lot of those items are the city's property and and some of them aren't. And it's it's really easy to keep track of which is which.
>> Okay. I just So then Yeah. I All right. One last question for the city attorney. Negotiate, but also to enter into agreement or does that need to come back to the council? >> Yeah, just negotiate the concept of an agreement, bring that back to the
council, I think is and it depends on what the council wants to do. If you want to delegate making a deal to the committee, you could do that, but I guess my thought is that you wouldn't do that. And so the motion would just be um for the council to
authorize the liquor committee to enter in negotiations with the Schaers uh with respect to that lease and any additional space um and um that you're agreeing to appoint Mayor Carneahan to that discussion.
>> Okay, Andy, how does that sound? One more month as well. It'll be decided 30 days from today. >> Yeah, that's what I thought two years ago. Uh, who's actually on the liquor committee? >> So, who's the voting people on the
liquor committee that >> I'm the leazison and we'll have Mayor Carneahan be the second? >> I get that. So, if it's a liquor committee making a decision, you're voting on something as a liquor committee, right? So, who is that made up of? >> Uh, Brian and Terry >> and you and Jennifer >> and Jennifer. And it has been in the
past the city administrators would also be bangy. >> I believe that is correct. >> So >> committee Andy is not making a decision. It's just simply getting a concept deal and making a recommendation to the council to approve that.
>> Well, they still have to come together to make a recommendation, >> right? >> Yeah. We'll we'll together and be >> one last time and get this thing taken care of. >> Okay. within the next 30 days for the March meeting. So, um, Megan, do you
have Tom's suggestion for a motion? Do you need me to? >> Yep. >> Yes, >> I have. Yes, I have some notes >> for your motion. If somebody wants to actually make the motion, >> I make a motion to authorize a liquor committee with the addition of Mayor
Carneahan to facilitate negotiations regarding the spirits lease with the Schaers with Schaers. Uh that >> I'll second. >> All those in favor? >> I
>> I motion carries. Number four, old business. Verizon cell phone tower appeal. I don't know. Do we have a representative here from Verizon? >> Yes, she's >> Tammy's here.
>> Okay. Yep. Or anybody from the appeal? Anybody that wants to address? Okay. Come on up. Uh, good evening, council. My name is Paula West. I live at 24 25839
Trailside Run in Nisah. And I'm just going to speak very briefly because you heard our concerns um back in December and I also um sent an email sort of outlining some of the concerns we we have. So um we are asking um you to deny
the approved variances of the variance 031-25 which is stated singularly but it's actual six variances that were packaged up into one variance. Um we are u 33 residents who petitioned to
you for this appeal. We all live within uh at least a half a mile of the proposed site and um some of the residents live actually within the ordinances 500 ft. There's several reasons why I'm just going to give you a
couple of the salient points of why um we uh brought forth this appeal. Number one, a variance was granted for 70 ft from the nearest residential zoned property where 500 ft is required. Now, there is a residence just 70 ft away
from this proposed site. And we as petitioners who live within this residential district feel that looking at a 190 ft cell tower is a visual pollution to us and a possible detriment to our property values and being able to
sell our properties. The city's cell tower ordinance states that cell towers must be cited to minimize adverse visual impact. So certainly sitting on my deck looking 400
feet away at 190 foot cell tower is going to be um a little disturbing. Number two, a variance was granted for a setback of of the nearest property line of 33 ft where 190 ft is required. Um,
now the cell tower ordinance states that in citing a cell tower, you shall avoid potential damage to adjacent properties from tower failure through engineering and careful sighting. In the last 10 years, we've had two do storms here with
winds over a 100 miles per hour. Do we know that that tower is going to withstand that with a assisted living facility 33 feet from this proposed tower? Thirdly, a variance for 190 ft
cell tower was granted where 150 ft is the maximum allowed. Now, Verizon previously stated that the height of the proposed tower will be two and a half times the tree line there. This is another example of impaired visual
impact as it would be seen looming over Main Street from anywhere you go on Main Street of Nisa. that does not convey the small town historic aura that is described and desired in the Niswah city comprehensive
plan and state statute section 426.327 subsection 6 states that a variance can only be granted when in harmony with the general purposes of the city's ordinance and a comprehensive plan. Variance
031-25 does not meet the intent of the ordinance or the city's vision as stated in its comprehensive plan. Number four, state statute also requires a variance may only be granted if it is established
that there are practical difficulties. And we raised the question, what are the practical difficulties? The approved location was desired by Verizon, but they also said at one time that the cemetery, which is almost exactly the same distance from the main intersection
of downtown, was also an acceptable site. Now I understand that the original re reason why better cell coverage came up in the first place a few years ago was because the uh the tur they needed
better tourist cell phone coverage during the high tourist season months which is two or three months out of the year and then Verizon also wanted to have better coverage for uh residents outside of the main of the main street
area. So this 190 ft tower then meets both of those requirements. We suggest that perhaps the city and Verizon could collaborate on finding a solution that meets the needs of everyone. Perhaps something less
powerful downtown. And with the city's purchase of the new property out near Sportland Corners, there's a possibility of a higher tower at some point out there once the property is reszoned. We all want a win-win s solution. We want
the tourists to have better cell coverage. We as residents who live nearby want cell coverage as well, but we don't want to look at this tower. And we want to have greater residential coverage in the future as well. And I think that we hope that with a
collaborative attit uh attitude between the city and Verizon that this could be accomplished and that we can all win in this situation. And finally, approving six variances, several of which, as I just mentioned, are very egregious variances for one
project does not set a good precedent for the future. And finally, I just want to thank you for taking our concerns and our requests um to into consideration now as you make your decision this evening, and we hope we can go forward
as partners in this process. >> Can I ask Paul a question? >> Sure. >> Yep. >> Um I'm all for compromising. Yeah. I I think I was I either put it in when we were looking at for for the tower made the motion or second um but I didn't
realize we didn't know how many variances at that time. Six to me is way too many. Two is fine. When you talk compromise would you be okay with this tower say that's 90 ft there. Um, I'd have to see what the uh, you know, what that would be in comparison to what's what how high is the tower
that's there now for your >> communications? >> It's about 110 I think. >> Top my head I think it's top of my head I think is 110 ft. Okay. Do you know? >> I don't find that um to be obtrusive.
>> Okay. >> But again, I'm speaking for 33 residents. I'm just giving you my personal opinion. >> Right. Right. I appreciate it. >> And the answer to that question can't be part of your determination of this appeal. I know. I know. I know.
>> Any other questions? >> I don't believe so. Thank you. >> Anybody else? >> Roger has something he'd like to say. >> It's on. >> Good evening, Roger Landers, 26587 End
Road. I would also like to um identify another reason why you should support the appeal. I believe you all got a letter from me a couple of days ago and that has to do with the legal legal aspect of how the uh planning
commission planning commission and the board of adjustment handled this particular um uh request at their November 4th meeting. um
they identified six variances. There were uh two height variances, one uh imperous coverage variance and three setback variances. They they grouped them all together
rather than taking each one individually and identifying the findings of facts for each one because they're all unique. They all should be considered separately. But they didn't. They grouped them all together and came up
with the fines effects as a group rather than individually. that I believe should be a a procedural error in how they handle that. If you look at the uh NISL ordinance, the state statute uh they
they talk about singular singularly one one variance. They don't talk and no nowhere do you see uh variances for one application grouped together. So for that reason, I would uh hope that you
consider also approving the appeal and denying the uh variance. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anybody else like to speak? Any staff or anybody? Okay,
with that I guess then the looking for somebody to either make a motion to approve or deny. >> I have I have one question I'd like to ask the city attorney. Um being this
I've been here now four years. This is the first appeal that's come forward. So my question to you, Mr. attorney would be what is the process if this council ends up voting and and approving or slgranting the appeal that's been
presented. What is the process of that and the follow through? If the council is of a mind to grant the appeal and reverse what the planning commission board of adjustment did with these variances and you need to have findings
of fact to support that which we don't have in front of you, >> right? you'd need to help us figure out what those findings of fact should be and then we would put together a set of findings of fact for you to
approve at your next meeting. Um when the council or when the planning commission board of adjustment had this matter before them originally, they went through each one of those ordinance that that ordinance protocol for findings of
fact. That's part of what's being um argued about here. Um and they went through there and Stephen can verify this, but those weren't pre-prepared. I think those findings of fact based on the minutes were based on the conversation that was having at the table as they went through each one. I
wouldn't ask you to do that here tonight. So, if there is there's two there's two possibilities with this. uh either a vote to deny the appeal and uphold what the planning commission board of adjustment did or if you're of a mind to grant the appeal and reverse
what the planning commission board of adjustment did then you'd have to instruct us to prepare findings of fact for you to consider at your next meeting for that. >> Thank you. So with each one of those finding effects maybe for Bruce or Mark they
went through and they talked about they had the same series of questions they asked for each fact that they went through >> them all together one question that referred to all So I wasn't there. I didn't watch my
meeting. So I don't know. Just for a little bit of reference to Maggie, this tower issue has been discussed in town and I know Tom has met with Verizon various times on different sites, but
this is a topic that has been going on for close to a decade now. Correct. >> Correct. >> So, this this is not a new topic. >> No, it's not. Right. Okay. So, I guess
um looking for some sort of motion. >> I'll do it. Uh, city council, I'd like to make a motion uh to move to grant the Verizon cell tower appeal presented and to further instruct our city attorney and staff to
prepare findings of fact to be presented at the March meeting. >> I'll second it. >> So, I'll do a roll call vote. So Jesse I I'll vote no. I >> I
>> Okay, motion carries. So then um will that be Stephen working with you, Tom, to put together the finding effect? >> Yes. >> Okay, sounds good. On to new business. Spirits
request for council pay raise increase council action. Brian >> here >> we have an employee a young employee Joey Hendrickson and he does an excellent job. We at times we have a a
small staff right now and we do need extra people that have keys to close in case somebody's on vacation or they're or they're sick. So that is and he's doing a fantastic job. Um that is the reason why I'm bringing this request because we have a need that needs to be
filled. >> One question on it, Megan. Do we do we typically need to bring these to council? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um I'd like to make a motion to uh approve the request for the council pay raise uh
for Mr. Joey Hendrickson as presented by >> I'll second that. >> All those in favor? I >> I >> motion carries. Second, uh pickle factory um well the spirits and the pickle
factory uh consultants services presentation. Brian, >> there we go. A little deja vu here. >> Well, as I mentioned earlier that um the council wanted to have some idea if we expanded our space,
would that make sense? would we be able to sell more product, bring in new items and make it worth their while? And you know, some of that stuff is um items that you need a professional or somebody outside um the scope of what
we're doing daytoday. And we have um I gave you guys um some information. There was about six different organizations that were in there. I narrowed it down to the information that I have on the paper for you today. This is all based off of the Baldwin Municipal Liquor
Store feasibility study. So number the first one will be the um Delani and this is from their study. It was 35,700 and that is a very comprehensive study. They will go into great detail um on
that study. Uh the next option that I saw that would potentially be um a feasible option for us would be the LOCI and I had talked to that gentleman today and
he you know because it was $11,000 on on there. So I changed it to 7 to $10,000 and that would be an outside firm there a Minnesota based company. Let me just jump ahead a little bit here. They are a Minnesota based company
that has worked with some of the municipals in the area in Minnesota I should say and um they would do an outside study. They would they would look at a quite a bit of detail as far as that the count um
products that we sell, what they would um what they could predict and look at the way that um our area is growing and they would have numbers for us for the next five years basically out to 2030.
So, four years and uh that would cost the city approximately, let's just say $10,000. Now, the next one would be from the MMBA and that would be Brenda and she argues
against having feasibility studies because um municipal liquor stores finances are public records. the cities can um benchmark against similar operations without the cost of expensive studies.
She has experience in management 35 37 years of managing multiple different municipal liquor stores and she has she was um down in Lakeville and they opened
up two new liquor stores in her area and and then she helped with another one. Only one of those needed a feasibility study in her opinion. Now, she would come up and work with us and the cost would be as we went just saw $1,000 at
the most. And she could look at items. What are we carrying? How does that equate with our um our wages compared to our sales? How are our sales compared to our our square footage? And look at the
nuts and bolts. And she has worked with multiple different municipals. She retired a couple years ago and so she is now a consultant for the MMBA and goes around uses all of her contacts and numbers where she's worked in other
cities and um if she doesn't have an answer then she reaches out to uh municipal maybe Detroit Lakes or something that would be a similar size to us. Now with that that would be my recommendation.
Um, my second recommendation would be the LOCI and my last one would be the 45 to 40 to $50,000 um consultant. And the reason I am
leaning towards starting with Brenda is because I it might I might sound like a broken record, but I still go back to we cannot see the future. We do not know what the Minnesota laws are going to be if they change, if we lose exclusivity
and you have quick trips and you have holiday gas stations and every every um convenience store and his brother carrying three or strong beer now that will affect our sales. So for us to spend $50,000 on a feasibility study, I
don't think that makes sense. And the other aspect is we have no idea what the THC market is going to look like um in the the next three years. It's changing like wildfire. Um they don't even know
because of the farm bill and um in different areas like that. So that's my recommendation to start with Brenda, but um it's obviously your decisions. Do you have any questions? >> No. Well, I guess my question is, you
know, I had brought this up or asked for it because it seems like we just kind of keep circling the wagon in that, you know, I'll try and be as clear as possible. The city of Nisa, if we are going to be
in the liquor business, we flat out got to do it better than we should or we should just get out of liquor business totally. So, >> can I just want to interrupt you for a second? Where do you think that we have not lived up to the benchmark because I
actually take that a little um offensive to me and maybe you didn't mean it that way and maybe I heard it wrong. >> So, we can look at the sales numbers, you know, not specifically towards you or towards spirits or whatever, but as we look at the pickle as a whole, you know, in a business as a whole right
now, the pickle building needs knocked down and redone. it doesn't support itself to even build a new pickle building. You know, we've been talking about this for years now. So, if we are going to talk with the
Schaers family, as we just discussed, on expanding room, we're not going to be more profitable by just making more space. So, once again, I go back to what is our business plan? We want to expand. we
want to grow. What's the business plan? Expanding is going to be more efficient because we don't have to stock the coolers as much. Therefore, we can reduce our staff a little bit and be more profitable. There has to be a goal and a vision
with operating the business before we talk about the expansion going ahead, moving ahead both down at Spirits and redoing anything with that pickle building. And that's where I mean we just circle and circle the wagon. the
risk, the liability, the insurance, the overhead right now today with 100% confidence, we would be more profitable, especially with the pickle building next door, leasing that out to another
company that knows how to operate that more efficiently, add food to it, create a business plan in it, and organize it, and just be the lease and get rid of all the risk, the liability, and the overhead. head. And so that being said,
that is what we're looking for. We need an outside company that is going to help us evaluate all those things and figure that out. We're not going to get that from spending $1,000 with this lady from the league. I'm sorry, but those are the
clear answers I'm looking for. or I say we do nothing because like you said in your own words, we are I think the last state or one of the last two states where it is going to be opened to holiday in every municipality. We are
going to lose out on the monopoly we have and then what do we have? And so for any sort of um risk or using taxpayer dollars to
grow, expand, change any of the liquor businesses within the city, not knowing what the state's going to do is we are gambling with taxpayer dollars, especially when we have no plan. We have to get this plan put in place before we
talk about anything else. >> I'm not arguing with that. has to be number one and that has been missing the whole time. >> Some of my my concerns are so the $1,000 are you let me ask you right now. Are
you leaning towards the $45 to $50,000 one? >> I I don't know if that plan I apologize. I had a family emergency. I haven't had time to review that whole document to see if that is what is entailed in
there. But if that is a company that is actually going to put together a business plan, um, help with operationals. I mean, shoot, you can watch TV shows on this now where people come in do this with bars and restaurants. That that that's what we're
looking for. It's not a knock on how anybody's currently running it, but we want to raise the bar, take a step up, and you know, have the businesses both support the town, the community, and what they're doing to make it viable.
>> Sure. >> And and I don't see, you know, when we look at the numbers with Maggie, the viability is not there. >> All right. So, my argument on that is we're going to spend, let's just say we
go with the the high one, the $50,000. We are gambling with the taxpayers dollars just like you mentioned because we cannot and they cannot tell us what the Minnesota laws are going to be in two years. So, we if we do this whole
study, we have a market plan. that plan goes right out the window as soon as the law is changed and we just wasted $50,000. I could easily be talked into the seven to $10,000 one that would probably go up
to $15,000 because that's the way the world works. But um then just moving back a little bit. Uh I if we go back to 2016, which is quite a while ago, the Star Tribune had a letter had written a
article on our little town and our municipal liquor store and how much it makes. And they basically said that Niswah should be the benchmark for every other city as far as sales and profit that it gives back to the citizens. So,
we are the benchmark. Can our benchmark even go higher? You dang right it can. But I would never want any of the council members to refer to saying that. Um, in the past, we did not achieve our marks because we blew them out of the water. >> I'm saying going forward, what is our
plan going forward? We're talking about expanding the square footage. >> And I agree with you. It's just a matter of how we got there. >> How is our profitability going up? >> The square footage cost is going up. We're expanding more costs, more overhead. I mean, even last fall, Jesse,
you know, with that and and everybody unknown with the state, Jesse had made a suggestion as we go to budgeting not to even count on that money to come in and start phasing that off. So, when that does happen, it's not a bigger hit to the taxpayers because all all of a
sudden we aren't getting this this deposit from the liquor committees. So, that that's all I'm saying. I'm just trying to make >> we need to get a business plan put in place before we talk about expanding and >> and I agree 100% with that. I just didn't really like the way that we got
there with the conversation we just had. And >> back back to this, that's what I'm saying. If the 35 to 50,000 is a true business plan, then I don't know. It's a lot of money. It's it's it's a lot of risk. Like you say, I agree. But that's
what we need to look at. that that's what's missing. >> Well, the Schaefer family wants an answer from us. And all of these studies, the um the one from Delani was 10 weeks. The other one was 45 to 60
days. And we need to give them an answer on what we're going to do. So, we're we're stuck between a rock and a hard spot right now as far as and we have to decide on what what direction we want to go tonight and um so that we can get that
ball moving if it's any of the three options that I presented. >> Can I ask a question, >> Brian? Are these quotes for both pickle and spirits or are they just for spirits? >> This is just for spirits.
>> Okay. I wouldn't want to go with Brenda just because she can get this done in two weeks and then it goes off to the Schaers for because of the of uh and I know Andy, you want an answer right away. We might have if if we go with
Loki or Delaney. Um >> so you should do what's right for the city, not what's right for me. >> Okay. Yeah. So, so what I'm saying is >> I told you I'd hold the space until you get this feasibility study done. That's fine with me >> cuz I agree with Joe. I think you know
does Bren does um Brenda I mean does she do business plans because that's basically what is what what we need and I don't do you have a background on business plans or do you know if she does business plans or just feasibility? I mean I know who Brenda is but I don't
know if she does business plans. >> Sure. To be honest, I don't I could not answer that question right now on the spot. And um as far as projections, like what Joe was saying, we probably are way better off spending
some more money going with the LOCI and that way we know what we're getting. We know it's an organization that has is going to check this box, this box, and this box. Uh
>> I can go, like I said, I can go whatever you guys decide is what I I will work with. But um >> none of none of them would know what the laws are going to be, you know. >> Yeah. That is part of my point on why I would argue against spending $50,000
because that is a chunk of money that the citizens would not be getting back. Okay. Um I've chatted with with Brian about this a couple times in the last few weeks. I think we all unanimously, I would hope, agree that we want to see
enhanced profitability at any of our enterprises that the city owns. Now, to that point, um, I like what LOCI is willing to propose, >> but I see a dynamic in here in which they just based off what their their
scope of services outlines. I I would see that they'd be willing to entertain and you'll have to get clarification from them on this, but I would see that they would be able to to more or less formulate this data into a suggested approach to a business plan for us to
then you and I perhaps on the liquor committee to then bring back the following month to the council perhaps. Um, so my suggestion would be going with LOCI, revising the scope of services that we would ask for them to
help us with a business plan as Joe was just alluding to and then for this to be paid for through the uh which is what is the fund with the liquor uh the liquor enterprise fund. >> Yeah. The spirits within their budget. >> Mhm.
>> Yeah. >> And it has to I would ask >> pickle and the the the whole thing as a whole as an entirety. >> Correct. >> Correct. >> I'm not sure if we can do this, but I would ask that it would not be taken out of my budget for this year if we could
take it out of because we have reserves. >> You have your capital reserves. >> Well, correct. I don't have it in my capital reserves earmarked for this. >> Well, we could still use those funds >> to do this as long as the council approves it because it's over 10,000. That's
>> I'm I'm totally okay with that. >> That's my motion. >> But yes, it has to include both >> both pickle and spirits. >> Okay. >> Okay. I just want one more question in there be just to um be clear on that.
Let's say they come back and they want for both scenarios 25,000. Are are we okay with that? >> It all depends upon what the scope is. Show us the scope. >> Okay. So, I'm a I'm just a little puzzled right now. I'm going to get the
scope and then I have to come back to the next meeting to get approval or or I'm not sure. >> All right. Throw it to the liquor committee. Show it to Jesse. I I will make a motion to give uh the liquor committee pre-authorization up to $25,000 for
the scope of services through the consult the consulting services uh request for quote but to also include provisions for a business plan through the scope of services um for pickle factory and spirits of
Niswah. Also too with this one, I would recommend have Jennifer look at it with you. The two >> Yes. >> with the request to include Mayor Carneahan. >> Fantastic. The one thing if we can just >> I need a second before we discuss. >> I'll second.
>> Okay. Open for discussion. >> Just so let's not put the um LIC or LCI in there because maybe a different organization would check the boxes that we want and you did not have that in there. I just wanted to make that clear that we have the authorization to spend
up to $25,000. >> How quick do you think you can get these folks to revise their proposals >> within a week? >> Okay, good. Then when that happens, schedule a liquor committee meeting and we can do it virtual or in person if it works and we'll just get this thing move
forward. >> So, um I'll revise my motion to include or to open the RFP back up to all. >> Okay. All right. Well, thank you for the discussions. No recommendations. I'll second. >> Okay. Got a vote.
>> Okay. >> All those in favor? >> All those in favor? >> I >> I post. Motion carries. >> Okay. Next item. IDS 181 Lakers Lane Joint
Project Preliminary Design Services. Tom, >> right evening. >> This is for um safe routes school. Um we're looking at this in three different phases. Um
Woods proposal is actually to the school, but we would be entertaining a cost sharing agreement for this project. Um, and so this would be for work that would
happen uh during 2026. That would be the school would be upgrading the sidewalks along the school and some things with the buildings. I Dave can probably detail this a little better than I can. um our portion of it, the city's portion of it would uh be some
improvements with the curb and gutter and some drainage um concerns related to the sidewalk improvements would need to be done. Um and what this what this proposal does is it gives them permission to go ahead and
uh do the engineering work for uh the project that would happen in 2026. Have you got anything to add to what I said, Dave? >> Right. So, it's it's kind of a combination architecture engineering proposal to do
preliminary work with the school district and the city to jointly do these uh adjacent projects that will need to be done in concert with each other. Um and so along with this uh the
contract will be with ISD 181. Uh but a cost share agreement as Tom mentioned would need to be drafted. So um we talked a little bit with the city attorney about getting something drafted
so that can be reviewed by both city school district >> and I felt like it was very collaborative sessions that we had with them. Yes, I believe so, too. >> Okay. >> Um, so I guess I'm just looking for is
the city okay with the proceeding with this uh proposal from Woodside? >> Like to make >> Yeah. Go ahead. >> Excuse me. Like to make a motion to approve the public to approve the public works 181 Lakers Lane joint project
preliminary design services proposal as presented. >> Second. All those in favor? I >> I >> motion carries. >> Thank you. >> One quick question though with that. Has a light been talked about or a flashing light up town by >> Yeah. So to kind of give you a little
bit more background on this, this is going to be a project that's going to take uh three phases. >> Okay. >> And so this is just the first phase. Um lights and crosswalks and some other things are going to happen in one of the later phases. >> Okay. Super.
Thank you. Tom, before you leave, how are we going to pay for our portion of this? >> So, >> that going to go within our cost share agreement just because this money wasn't budgeted for it and no, it wasn't specifically earmarked for, but we have a couple
different places in the uh >> maintenance budget we can pull this from. >> Okay. >> Okay. Okay. Next item, the five-year street plan. >> Yeah. So, this >> is a requirement for the bonding that we
just did for the 2026 road bond. Um, so we have we had to submit a 5-year rec road reconstruction plan as part of that. Um, so what this does is it details the roads that we're working on in 2026 and also in 2027.
Um, and this pretty much is just a it would be a regurgitation of what you've heard for 2026 so far. Um, and then it's a preliminary estimate for 2027. Um, what you would probably want to know out of this is that uh what we're
showing for 2027 will be back here this time next year and it'll be revised. So, um, this is just a preliminary figure figure for that. But mostly this is a a requirement for the bonding. question I have for you, Tom, is I think the only
gray area that I have on this one is the 2027 Robon project. We're going to be budgeting for it in 27 that will go in in effect on the levy for the 28 budget. Is that correct? >> Okay. All right. Motion.
I'll make a motion to approve the public works 5-year street recognition reconstruction plan for 2026 through 2030 as presented. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I >> I motion passes. >> Thank you.
>> Okay. Uh next item accept uh resignation Pete Kerry. >> Yeah. So this is one of our it's not our latest individual that's working for us. it was a previous one. Um he's one of
our maintenance techs and he's done a fantastic job. Um he has asked to uh he's planning to retire. He's a he's a vet. Um so he's he's got some issues that he would that he would like to retire for. Um so with regret, I'm
asking for you to accept his resignation. He's been a fantastic employee for us and uh he'll be missed. Okay. >> Well, I'll make a motion to accept resignation of Pete Kerry. >> Second. >> All those in favor?
>> I I motion passes. Tell them. Thank you. >> We'll do. >> Now, regards to the next item next. >> So, with that, >> advertise for >> uh I would like to ask to advertise for his replacement.
>> Like to make a motion to uh approve the advertisement request for a maintenance tech position. in >> favor. >> I >> I only question I had Tom is how long do you anticipate it'll take to fill this because it's judging by his resignation
letter his last day will be on the 20th of March. >> Yeah. So we'll have to advertise. Usually that takes two to three weeks to gather a pool of applicants. Um I would say >> you'll fill before you'll fill before
season. Yeah, we'll be probably filling this, I'm hoping, in April. Okay. >> Okay, sounds good. >> Okay. Uh, next item number seven that was pushed till March. Number eight, uh, collaboration services with the League of Minnesota Cities. Um,
I can talk to this one. Um, in your packet, you guys may have seen um, some information that Maggie put in there. Um her name is Annie um down at the League
of Minnesota Cities. So I reached out to Annie here a month or so ago um and several different people at the league. They have a resource down there called the collaboration services. Um you can see it they provide many different
services for uh cities. Uh I'll start by saying this is a free service that's available to Austin any city. But what they do is um they work on coming into a city. Uh we've had a lot of um turnover
changes in the city, conflicts over the last um several months and year. Um and what they would do is they'd come in and uh they would work for us. So it is all tailored to what we need as a city. um
work with staff, work with council, uh mayor, uh department heads, um even um you know outside contractors if need be. Uh so in the effort of
keeping the ball rolling in a good direction for the city of Nisa and for the citizens and uh for the group of people working in this building. Um uh I have reached out to find out additional information. Um kind of given
her the overlay. Uh it does require a council motion to continue engage with her. Maggie as the um um current city administrator would be involved with this. Um there's several different processes that might take place. She
might come in and sit down with staff kind of one-on-one people kind of get a feel for what's going on. Um but maybe some additional training uh for council um council staff, mayor um
employees uh but just help to build up the teamwork and the camaraderie within everybody in the city working for a common goal. So that's kind of the overview of it. But >> is there a cost associated to this? >> Zero zero cost. It's a part of our It's
It's a part of what we pay for with our subscription to the league. Um uh that it's that it's covered. They're they're willing. They're happy. They have a team services to do this. And like I say, it's going to be tailored to
us, the city of Nisa, and what we need to uh to get going. So, uh I've talked to her and a couple of her uh teammates um down there. um they've had some discussions. She just emailed back
yesterday saying that yes, they would be willing to find time in the near the near future to come up here and just start helping us move along. Um >> uh the mayor is out of town tonight on some business. I talked to her about it.
She's in support of it and behind it too, you know, and wanted to let it be known that she supports this also. So, go ahead. Questions, Mark? Uh, do we want to wait until we have a new city administrator in or do we want to start before?
>> Um, I asked that question. She said, you know, really we can start before as we go into this, you know, um, right now going into the new city administrator too to give um, some traction with that that would be also beneficial.
>> So, I don't know there's she said there's never a good time or a prime time to start. she just said, you know, start where you're at and we'll go from there. So, it does take a council vote motion for
us to do this. And then um being on the personnel committee um you know you've been out a little bit Mark but me and you and Maggie would probably make some initial contacts and and Maggie would be in charge of
scheduling and setting up some times for her to come in and and just start meeting and visiting with people. Well, I'd make a a motion to go forward with uh the collaboration services with the League of Minnesota Cities as presented. >> I'll second. All those in favor? I
>> opposed. Motion carries. Thank you. Um maybe Maggie will figure out the reaches out to her then. >> Yep. >> Okay. Number nine, council liaison. Council action. I'll make a motion to accept the 2026
council liaison appointments as presented. >> Second. All those in favor? >> Whoa. >> All right. Well, discussion. >> Whoa. Discussion. Who are you going to set up as the liaison for the administrative clerk
finance team? I need somebody to replace that. >> To replace the >> Yeah. Somebody to fill that role. >> Yes. >> I'll take it. I nominate Jesse. >> Is that part of your motion Mark?
>> Yes. >> Okay. >> And that's part of my second. >> Perfect. >> Was that the only one that was missing on that sheet? >> Correct. >> Okay. >> So now all those in favor? >> I. >> Motion carries. >> Now I got one more.
>> Number 10. uh the 2027 road uh reconstruction update. >> Dave and Bill, just kind of give a a brief summary of where we're sitting at with 2027 road bond and project. >> Sure, I can do that. Um so we are
currently in the design process. All the survey work has been completed. Um we're working on preliminary design on the area around Grand View roads. Uh and then the downtown roads are 100% design
um along with parking lot design. So that's underway. Um, also we are looking at uh having a review with public works committee next week on some of the concepts that we'll be looking at for uh
city hall street um Nisah Avenue and Church Street. So that kind of goes hand inhand with some of the discussion earlier about Lakers Lane and uh Church Street intersection.
>> Okay. So, did we make a prom on the public works? >> I'm sorry. >> That was supposed to be discussed at our last public works meeting, but we didn't have a quorum. >> Okay. >> Mr. Reese, I'll be out of town next week
for travel. Okay. >> Got to go to a job site. >> Sure. So, with the 2027 um road construction project, some people out there in the community and stuff might hear of some different
meetings going on. I believe that that uh WSN and and Tom have been involved with contacting I'll say select um property owners, adjacent property owners to different
um areas throughout the project that might be impacted. So if anybody wants to know about a specific area, you're not excluded. You know, reach out, talk to, ask. But some of those conversations and dialogue are currently going on,
>> right? It's standard practice for us to reach out to particular abuing stakeholders that might be impacted more so by the design, talk about some of the um pros and cons, concerns, things like
that. Get some feedback. uh it helps us bring good information back through the city public works and city council. So we give you all the information feedback that we've gotten so you can make good decisions. >> Yeah, we heard that through the grape
that you guys might be putting a roundabout in front of Joe's house. So it's caused quite a stir around here. >> Okay. >> So more more to come with that as you continue to go. >> Yeah. Yep. Super. Anything else?
>> No. Or really all that was was just uh we're just discussing a few preliminary options just to put some ideas together for people to see. >> And I like to be, you know, with numbers. I try to be as forthcoming as possible cuz nobody likes a sticker
shock and there's definitely no blue light special or roll back prices on a road bond of a magnitude of shy of 14 million for 26 and 27 road bonds combined. So, um, the public does need
to be aware that these are some significant dollar cost projects that we're working through to be able to improve the the road infrastructure throughout the city in Niswah and u any collaboration uh that such as Mr. Reese
and WSN is having along with Tom and his team. It's to be able to make the best decision possible for these roads so we don't touch them again for another 30 years. That's right. Appreciate it. >> Thanks.
>> Uh, next item, the 2027 community funding federal grant consideration. >> Maggie >> Jesse actually sent this. >> I can start. Okay. >> First time in four years being here and
I think Congressman Pete Ster has been in office as long as I've been here. It's >> the first time we got it. First time we got an email from a email account called Stabber Projects from us housereps.gov. It's a real email address. Um they
indicated that we have an opportunity to submit projects for calendar or for fiscal year 2027 funding. They say shovel ready. Shovel ready in any industry is always a coin flip as to
what that actually means. >> But we got a couple ideas. uh of projects that have been floating around here for a long time. So when this uh when I received this email, I forwarded to the mayor and uh Maggie and then the conversation continued on by including
Dave. What can we even consider that's close to quote shovel ready or not? Uh and that has broad community support. So for council discussion, knowing that they would like to have these projects
in in a deadline that they have set of March 7th, uh we do have a few weeks, but are there projects that we can discuss or that perhaps we have at top of mind to be able to bring this forward to try to get federal funding?
Any suggestions, Mr. Ree or Tom? >> Lift station number 12. That's the first one that came to my mind potentially. Like I was scared of that one. >> I mean, we could talk about that. We
could talk about water system. We got the two road bonds. Um I'm I'm not sure what what is eligible for that. Perhaps Dave has a better idea. I think I think there were some infrastructure was on some of the ones
that have been uh p that have passed in the past >> as far as shovel ready goes. The only large project that we are ready to go with is 2026 the 26 road bond. But these other things we have done some of the preliminary work for. So that's
>> yeah, one one thing I'd add to the conversation is these are legislative earmarks that >> that uh if you are selected
um they may be subject to all of the federal criteria that you might uh experience going through federal state uh aid funding, which involves going through environmental clearances
and so forth, much the same type of path that uh say a USDA rural development type project might follow. And so um that can get intensive with some of the administrative work that goes along with
those funds. So it's something to be aware of. And if I could comment too, there there are different designations as David know based on federal shovel ready and state shovel ready. What's determined to be whether the property itself is
determined to be shovel ready? There's variables involved with that. So I guess it'd be interesting. I mean we do that. I mean we we've have properties that are designated in Crowing County. There's three currently that are identified as as shovel ready sites and it's a designation that we've Woods does that.
Um, so we've had them do uh one of our sites, but the um it's a state designation. I don't know if these are coming. These are federal dollars. Whether or not this is something that would be required to dig deeper to determine whether it's the site that you're picking is shovel ready. That'd
be my those would be my experiences with it and my questions. I'm I'm happy to look through it. I'm sure Dave is as well, but happy to look through whatever they're sending through to you. Um, just to see where it where it's defined. Yeah, I get Yeah, 100%.
>> Pretty sexy email. I'm not going to lie. >> Yeah. >> Um, the states >> very very vanilla. >> Outside of the fact that he states here, I quote, "For fiscal year 2026, the 15 projects selected by the congressman, assuming Pete Stalber were successfully
signed into law." Uh, you can review those projects selected there. Dave, do you have that up by chance? Or perhaps Maggie? I don't >> I could not get that link to open on my end for some reason, but without knowing what those projects were, would our
piece of grass, the 78 acres that's been acquired out uh Southtown, is that not considered shovel ready? >> I would say that based on the state's definition, it would not be because there's currently not water stubbed to
the property. That's the the propert the three properties in Crowing County that are deemed shovel ready have all utilities directly stubbed to the property. Um as well as the environmental studies completed on them. That would be to my
knowledge that would be the only thing missing would be the water piece of that. >> City water has to be the is the missing piece. >> That's what's defined this that's how the state defines shovel ready. >> What about a what about a city-owned well? But but but we don't also know
that whether or not that is deemed on whether there's a time frame around how quick get to it. >> Let me ask you this on would would water infrastructure be appropriate for this
>> 70 acres. >> Sure. Yeah. that would enhance the, you know, viability of that property for commercial highway development as it own. But the kicker is here. It says projects should be considered shovel
ready and have broad community support. And by my gauge of the last 14 months, the notion of city water is not popular. I believe it's under the notion and the guise that one they'd be paying the residents of Nisa will be paying for it themselves via tax and two that they
were going to be mandated to hook up which I hope we debunked clearly at the last town hall in the fall in regards to what happened with the city sewer rollout. >> I can dig in I'm happy to dig into this and get you an answer back to Maggie that she can share with the council within the next week.
>> Yeah, that'd be great. >> Happy to do it. Another thought that come came to my mind was emergency services facility, fire, police, ambulance bay, helipad, >> uh, which was the main driving catalyst in our early discussion, the 24 council
for that property, too. >> I know I know a couple of the projects that were were okayed in the past had to do with water, but it was to um upgrade water systems that were currently within the municipalities. >> Not new ones, huh?
>> Okay. Yeah. Well, >> we we have the whole parks thing, too, if that's a possibility. >> Yeah. And I could I'll be able to find the projects that that were approved last year and and I'm sure we can Dave will I could talk to Dave, too. We can figure that out. But
>> happy to help. >> Super. Thank you. >> Okay. >> Uh states council action, but >> do we need council action? >> I don't think I don't think that there is right now. The downside is that the deadline's March 7th. So I think at this
rate it's going to be up to the city staff to drive this forward. So good luck. Well, we're not going to be back here for two weeks after the 7th. So okay, next item. Um
RFP for labor attorney council action. We discussed this in the January meeting of putting the request for proposal back out to offer our current labor attorney group and future potential
uh labor attorney groups to uh submit a proposal for us to consider. I've reviewed this and I think this looks accurate and covers everything. So, >> I used pretty much the same language from the last one. >> That's why I look familiar. >> Okay. I'd like to make a motion to
approve the uh draft RFP for uh labor attorney. That's >> all those in favor? >> Opposed? Motion carries. Okay. Uh number 13, uh Dan Boberg,
concept plan presentation. Been patiently waiting the whole time. Dan, will you just hit the middle so the green light turns on? Thank you. >> All right. >> Yeah. Hi, Dan Boberg and I'm joined by Mark Renai. I think you know Mark pretty
well. Um, so uh yeah, my family's been in the NES area for 100 plus years and uh and we presented to the planning commission for land that we own, the old lumberyard property and the all the surrounding land around it. We presented to the planning commission in a couple months back, October I believe it was,
and uh uh the the Joe and others said, "Hey, you should come to the city council and and present this because it's adjacent to the city's land and also fairly large area that we're looking at um developing over time. So I think initially it's a fairly limited
scope but then the thought was to to kind of plan ahead and and move uh and think about the entire project and think about the entire area and what should go where over time >> Mark Roni um so and I'm I'm working with
Dan. The idea here is that rather than just come in with one project, this is, you know, plus or minus 40, 41, 43 acres, depends on how it's how it's sliced up. Um, rather than come in with just one section of this and the first
project would be, let's say, if if there was like six storage buildings and a couple of office build or office warehouse kind of things on the north end. Rather than do that, what we thought we should do is come in here and start talking about a master plan for the whole area because it really matters
um what the city wants to do with a uh the back road. You know, there's been discussion for since time immemorial um the idea of connecting um Hazlewood to 77. Um there's the you know the having a
collector there. Um, you know, we do have access on 77 on the very, um, well, I guess I can point to it. Uh, so the access that exists right now is on 77 right here. That that land is owned by
the Bull Works and this up here does not exist. You know, that is that's that's that's part of the property. And um you know but again every time we bring this up the conversation starts where should that con where should that connection be
also um if there were in fact to be um some single family homes along the golf course here which is one of the ideas or this these are if you more like blob diagrams than actual anything to do with sizes. So this doesn't mean this the
18,000 foot lot that would be proposed. It just means the highest and best use of that land along a golf course is probably something that you would single out. It may be something where some of these disappear and then it'll be more clustered on this end. But just to give
you a rough order of magnitude of what's going to take place one of the issues here is sewer. So where's sewer going to come from right now? If the the if the U residences are clustered right here as an example, if that project was brought
forward, it exceeds the minimum limitation so that it's there's not a requirement that this that the uh the developer would bring to city sewage. But if we're going to bypass all the other land that's here and which will
need sewer at some point in time, makes sense that maybe we have a conversation with the city up front to say to develop the master plan as it relates to the sewer and to the streets the streets in here. Also, it is it depends a little
bit again and the engineer knows much more about this than I do. Is is this a collective or is this a little bit more of a road than city? this because um the traffic the amount of traffic it could be on that would be
more significant because if it was if it was a connection to um all the way to Hazlewood and again this is just a representation we don't know exactly where the city would want to put this um and then finally
another factor here is um to do the engineering analysis it's a ton of different and so we would like to prove even a sense, but the idea um we want we just want to bring this forward to you to say this is what's going to come because we're going to
need some zoning in here. Um this this parcel, you know, this parcel right here is surrounded by commercial. This is highway commercial. That's highway commercial. That's highway commercial. And this is commercial. So, and then down this way a little further
that's city. So, um you know and the middle of this is a is currently a proposal for I mean the current concept is an an apartment but this is this is the kind of apartment that they would require you
know probably it would be a three-story building. um you know uh we would be looking at not a it would not be a uh it would be a market rate apartments much like oh you know some of the latest ones that have been that have been built in u in the city of uh Baxter u and know
there some of those that so it's it's a market rate apartment um again the the idea being there is no place for people to live who work in this why a lot of the the younger the people starting out and also potentially um a floor of it
would be for seniors. Um you know people there's a lot of demand for people coming off the lake. You know they don't want they don't want to have to leave Nisa right now. Um you know they can still be independent living but there there isn't really anything for them to do uh to do that in in terms of a rental
and a quality rental environment. So it's a mixed use. Um but so the the the ask or the the discussion should be how does the city want to proceed with participating in the planning of the
infrastructure because sewer you know there's there is one little tap um coming coming across um at the at the Wendy's um you know that there's a there that you know and again there is some discussion about the
availability of that um how far does sewer come down on on um Hazlewood. You recall >> it it to its entirety. >> Pardon me. >> It it covers Hazlewood to its entirety.
>> Yeah. Okay. So again, so you know >> it does not go down Commons Drive, >> right? So So that again that's the idea is you know you know as as we as we what what's the city's desire? I mean, how do how and not even how do we arrive at
what the city's desire is? It's like we'd like to have a collaboration. We don't want to, you know, whether it's a committee or it's the public works committee to be to be designated on this >> or economic development >> or economic developments, right? So, it's a it's a it's a big
project, you know, along along and and there's some additional land that's not even in the in the colored zone and the orange color. Um also that this side up here. So this is not going to all be developed
overnight. Um, but again, I've done a lot of development work in Mete and and it always works better if if we're sitting with a if if you're not surprised when we come in and say, "Oh, hey, we want to do a sewer expansion, a sewer extension, or we're going to we're
going to blow a little a little driveway in where you think eventually the city is going to require or request or look for a collector road." And if you know, Collector Road would probably be just a little bit bigger. Um, you know, and
there city standards and I know all that, but but again, and that connection on 77, um, where the Bows have their connection onto 77 may not be the most desirable place for the only connection on 27, you
know, coming from the from the north. But again, um, you know, they've had this land for hundred years. um you know they're the the the proposing what I think in all of these things are reasonable um developments things that are
consistent with what's in the neighborhood already. Um you know in terms of because it's a it's completely surrounded by highway or it's or highway commercial or or commercial waterfront. So um I think most of this can be done
uh you know with with good planning. We, you know, we the one of my last developments at Graham View, we did a uh the city did a development district um which allowed for some flexibility uh with that with that zoning and that worked out pretty well. So, you know, we
may be proposing something like that. the the development district again is uh I mean the um yeah the the things you the development authority that you were looking at tonight um you know the one way to fund some of this could there could be some uh some tiff potentially
um to put in some of these city infrastructure because because there's infrastructure here that's going to serve more than just this property. So again, it's always nebulous when you come in with a sketch plan, you know, because you're going, "What are you going to do here? What are you going to
do here?" But at the same time, it's the beginning of the beginning. Um, but it it's, you know, we we um in my conversation with Dan and and company, um, they they want to do this the right way. Again, they've been a
leading family in the, you know, they've been in business here for hundred they've been in business probably for close to a hundred years. um you know they this this piece of ground has been is is kind of in its native state most of it. So uh and and so so
before we start talking to our neighbors and doing some other things so we you hear you hear it third hand we wanted you to know you know what's going on or at least what we're proposing. So any question Dan you want to add anything?
>> No I think that covers it. Any thoughts, questions? >> Mark's good in this stuff. I had the opportunity to work with him for a little bit on the committee with Paula and Roger on the G Lake uh steering trail committee. Um Dan, also my
apologies for the passing of Carl. >> Appreciate it. Yeah, thank you. >> The Bullberg family is legendary in this town and uh had the opportunity to grow up next to Ingabbrit in the Creek property where my family's been since early '9s. And yeah, your family's been
great. And uh when I first learned of this, it was on the social media uh app uh Backdoor, which I call it, I will not acknowledge it by its real name because it's where people take to backdooring each other. Um,
I saw this and I was like fascinated, but it goes back to the city's involvement in this and there's going to be a lot of levels from planning and zoning to the public works aspect of course, which is where I think in EDA coming into play, it's just going to
help with discussions and even just if it's just discussions, it's going to help that. Um but the backage road piece I think was first I first saw that notion three years ago maybe four years ago. Um but
the city's going to have from my perspective it's handsful I would imagine with the property that we've acquired in December of 24 to 78 and some acres uh just to the south of 77 there. So
it's uh it's very intriguing. I don't think I have any questions because Mark tends to nail it on the head every time and if I do, I'll just walk across the street to you guys new office and and uh inquire. But uh the proposal within the high density
piece, my only question is on that is is there is there any detail into ideas of what you would like to to do within there above and beyond what you've explained? blue the blue area there you know let's let's say it's something between I mean initial concept would be
24 to to 48 um you know apartment like a three-story apartment building um this would be something that would be a nice apartment building it would be it would be market rate apartment building um so um you know it's if if you look at the
ones that are um well the new one that was built in Baxter um kind of behind the the quick trip um you know that's a market rate apartment um you know that's that's the kind of thing that we're talking about something um very presentable um you
know some amenities all those kind of things um and then the blue across from it the small blue might be a couple of duplexes or something um the the hot pink the fuchsia I guess is is what it is the fuchsia is um there's there's in
my real estate business. We're getting a lot of call for snowbirds. Somebody who wants to be here for 6 months a year and then wants to get out of dodge and they don't care so much if they're on the lake. They just they've got friends in the area. They they've got, you know, a
house in Texas and they want to they want to have a place up here. And some of that could be the long-term rental. Some of it could be ownership. So, we're still doing some market studies on all of that. Um but uh it's there there's an element in there that could be some
short-term rentals. >> Um again that's but it would require the proper zoning and since is butdding up against commercial waterfront surrounded by commercial not really a spot zone the way we look at it. First project that's probably going to come in is going to be
a project on the north end that will um have couple of of storage buildings or you know some really nice higher end you know much like a commons you know like that and and the the land we're thinking about storage buildings that's not very
sexy. Well it's it's land that's located between other storage buildings between the um the tile yard and the brickyard and all that stuff and then the city sewer. So there's not a lot of appeal surrounding it currently. So I mean it's a it's a you know and again we coming in
with a with a plat a conditional use permit but as we as soon as we do our first project all the conversation is going to start about what about the road what about the sewer how are we going to do this what about the zone what about the the step on the highway you know
what about the connection 77 so there's a lot of questions so I probably added some complications but maybe that's sounds like >> and there's an ordinance change or two in there too. >> Yeah, I mean there's right there's there
going to be some zoning zoning issues to iron out. Um you know so >> that package road I don't know where we are with that because there was a lot of things with that and the state funding and stuff and that's basically they just said you're on your own basically. So,
>> right. And and again, and so one of the one of the ways around that and one of the ways around that is TIFF. >> Yep. >> You know, if if the site and >> you're really going to have to sell me on tiff, Mark. >> Well, I Well, I know, but if but if the depends on what the requirements are. If the requirement is all we have to do is
service who's there and we don't have to worry about what, you know, a collector road, you know, then that's probably develop that's the developer's response. If the city has requirements over and above what's required for the development that that that go on to that
that provide a benefit beyond the immediate land owner, you know, probably we we're going to talk we're going to at least discuss. >> Well, and as I know developers I mean I know developers that say they want the city to put all the roads in, all the sewer and all the water in. And I know
and I know other developers that put it all in and put the cost off onto the property. So yeah, that'll be a long discussion, but I think a best thing is to put that through, you know, the EDA get their because they can run it. They can keep up to everything going there
and then work with, okay, we see you want to do this, that'll have to be an ordinance change, that'll have to be, you know, zoning change, whatever. Um, and that would be the easiest. That'd be the fastest way and easiest way. Only question I have for you too, gentlemen, is is there a uh timeline in
which you're trying to target or >> pursue that you're willing to disclose here? >> Well, I I think I think there's a lot of patience involved, you know, because we know this is a big project and they've had it for 100 years. They they don't want to have it for another hundred years, >> but um so
>> so split the difference. We'll see what it's like in 50 years. All right. If you're building senior residency, I might move in there >> over the over the over the next couple years. I mean, they'll if we bring in an initial an initial project on the north end, we would bring it in with with some
after some conversation and consultation about what might be coming next. And >> and it's going to take some time for the city to think, do they actually need any anything from this? Do they is there any requirements? because we want to try to plan that out as far in advance as possible to to make the planning process
um as efficient as possible. >> I mean, I'd probably consider a 10-year plan, you know, it's it's not like the multif family the multif family we that's not I mean there's no numbers behind that yet at all. This is purely conceptual, but I do think the
>> yeah, a project on the north end is possible sooner rather than later. And then the golf course lots would probably be second most likely. Okay. >> All right. >> All right. >> I don't think I have anything else. You two gentlemen. >> And I think Dan's like one or two years
older than I. I think he graduated two years before me. And Eric, that was uh that Yeah. I mean, >> yeah. Good. >> He's basically my neighbor. So >> that's great. >> Thank you for your time. We won't take >> Okay. >> Appreciate it.
>> All right. >> Okay. Well, um, Miss Maggie, we obviously lost our mayor prom to a structure fire. So, how do you want to who takes lead?
>> You're doing great. >> Do we need to make him >> is it okay to >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, >> we're good. >> Uh, last item is uh number 14, recommendation move to close session uh strictly for labor union negotiations.
My opinion after being a part of that is we do not need to unless we have a full council. I don't think that there's enough meat on the bone right now. >> So I would then suggest that we move this >> table this to the March regular meeting
where I would envision that we'll have a lot more hopefully some >> I'm fine with that. >> Okay. So with that uh we go to council leazison reports. Uh our mayor uh as mentioned is uh out on business and she
uh wanted to be here. We encouraged her after the uh uh five four and a half five hours of >> yes >> chair time we had here say yeah we've been sitting here for about eight hours today um doing interviews with city administrators candidates um and council
member Hall just went reported to a structure fire. So uh any other council reports from council member Freilley? Um I'm not sure if everybody's up to speed with parks, but um um working diligently on the grant. Hopefully it'll it it'll
be in they'll bring information back to uh council that we um will have to deal with in the end of March. Um uh the plans look really neat for the replacement of the playground. So >> Okay.
>> Thank you. >> Nothing. >> Nothing. >> Nope. No. >> You got something. I know. No. All right, >> good. >> Well, I too have nothing. Um, the upcoming announcements and meetings are listed here. Uh, with that, I will take a motion to adjourn the meeting.
>> I so move. >> We have a second by London. >> Okay. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. I. Opposed. This meeting is adjourned. Have a good evening everyone.