--------- Uh, she's gonna be >> All right, we're call the meeting to order. Roll call, please. >> Council member Nordby is absent. Council member Woods, >> here. >> Council member McKenzie, >> here. >> Council member Schweer is absent. Mayor Mongi >> here. Thank you very much. Can I please
get a motion to adopt the agenda? >> So move. >> So move. Council member McKenzie. >> Second. >> Second. Council member Woods. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Thank you much. Topics. >> We got two topics up tonight. Uh we're going to have two department reviews and
overviews. Uh just going to be a quick look at uh 2025 accomplishments and just a brief look into 2026 and what to see and expect. So we'll start off with uh fire chief Minger to discuss the fire department.
>> Hello mayor and council members. Can you hear me? Y >> great. >> Uh yeah, looking forward to talking about uh 2025 in review. Uh I have a lot of data and statistics as it relates to
uh the fire department uh response and um >> excuse one second. Maybe it isn't working. >> Should the light be on? Yes, >> light's on. >> Yeah. Check test. Yes. >> Yeah. Be close. Yours is working.
better now. >> Y >> much better. Okay. Again, I have a lot of data as it relates to the fire department from 2025 and uh we'll look to um 2026 as an outlook and and review
some things as well. Um so with that, uh I'll try not to bore you to too much. If I see a n and off, maybe we'll get up and stretch or do some calisthenics or something. But a lot of what I have is related to our response and the numbers
and what we've seen. So Jenny's going to help me out and uh we'll keep moving forward here. Okay. So 2025 uh total incident response um again
increasing over last year uh 1932 total incidents average 5.2 2 incidents per day and averaged 158 incidents per month. And we'll get into the breakdown
of where those uh came from. 1500 and 19 or 1519 uh were in EMS, 326 in the other category and 87 in fire. And there we go.
>> Now we're talking. We're really talking. Okay. Um, and we'll break down the next one as well. Uh, as you can see on this one, it it talks about or it shows uh the call
volume by m by month. And a lot of times we get the question um you know, are you busier in the wintertime because people may be doing unsafe heating activities or how does it play out? And really it
it doesn't because the majority of our calls are EMS and it can uh really change uh throughout the months, but there's the breakdown from month by month through 2025. Next, uh incidents by hour and day. This
is really the one one of the graphs that I like a lot. Um, I know it's difficult to kind of see, but if you can just see the darker shades of red, you can see most of the calls actually happen between the hours of 8 a.m. and 1000
p.m. Uh, obviously we do have calls um in the overnight. Uh, but the majority of them are during the daytime. It also breaks it down from Sunday through Saturday. At any point you have questions, just throw them out.
Uh next we'll get into some statistics as it's broken down by the NFRS group which is the national fire incident record management system. Um under the medical we have 14669 that are categorized as medical illness
unknown problems 48 as injury trauma motor vehicle collisions are categorized within this medical portion. if we have an injury related with the accident and then two as other and standby requests.
Next, uh public service broken down 67 citizen assist or service calls. These could be for any reason somebody calls 911, maybe they have a water leak in their bathroom, something along that. They're looking for help from the fire
department because they don't know what to do with whatever situation's going on. uh smoke fire alarm. Uh that's more of an actual detector in somebody's home, not an alarm activation, which would be an entire system, but more of a smoke
fire alarm in somebody's home, a single unit. Um along with eight CO alarm, three standby requests, and three weather response related type calls. >> What exactly does standby request mean?
could fall into a couple areas maybe where PD asks us to specifically stand by for an incident. It could be unknown. >> Okay. >> And a lot of times what could happen is we can go to standby >> and then be cleared because they were
able to handle the situation >> more than likely. Uh and again uh 121 under the no emergency category. So 54, there was no emergency found once we arrived on
scene. Um 38, a malfunctioning alarm system. Um 13 or 18, uh smoke from non-hostile source, a smoke scare. So, a lot of times we'll get dispatched for smoke in
the area type call and it could be a recreational fire or just unfounded because it could have been a recreational fire and now it's calmed down and we're unable to locate. >> Hey Jason. >> Yeah. of the uh false alarms, are you
seeing a lot of them from the same address or >> There are times when we may see false alarms from the same address. And if we do um per our ordinance and within our
rental licensing agreement, if it's the same reason, if it's a consistent alarm issue or smoke detector or head or some type of issue mechanical that we're seeing time after time, usually by the
second time, we'll take it out of service and make them fix it and put in a firewall. watch where they have people watching or caring for the the building. If they don't fix it, um that's where we
can charge per our ordinance if needed. But usually by the second or third time, they're were on top of them to get it repaired. Um six intentional false alarms. To be
honest, I should have looked into that category a little bit more. of where that is, but I believe it would be somebody maliciously pulled a um pole station um and there was no fire. Um and
five of those was a location area error uh with no incident found. Under fire incidents, actual structure fires uh 38 and that includes a portion of our auto aid and mutual aid um that
we'll get into a little bit later. Uh 24 outside fire. So that could be anything from um separate from a trash or rubbish fire, but something else that isn't categorized in trash, rubbish, or grass
uh vegetation fire. So maybe wood chips that were burning next to a sidewalk because somebody was smoking there or something odd like that that isn't captured in a spec specific group. uh
when we go to categorize it within the incident response uh and two specific vehicle fires. >> Jason, on on the new tankless water heaters that companies are putting out
there now, folks are well, I've got one in my house now. I've noticed that if people start smelling gas that these things release the gas through the outside of your house and if start people start don't realize that someone's got a tankless
they're going to call because they smell gas. So, I mean, that's the difference of uh the tankless versus the tank that's in someone's basement is I have a lot of gas running through the exterior now. and we'll get called too because
depending on Excel's gas system, there can be times where certain areas can get overpressurized and the on the exterior of your home, it will if it there is a regulator within
everything that could release it. Um, but no matter what, um, we always tell people or we ask them to call 911 if they smell gas or see something. And, uh, we have a bigger problem along the
same lines with the same area where they don't want to bother us and they don't want to send um, a fire truck because they don't think it's something. And to be honest, we would rather play it safe and have somebody respond and, you know, make that determination.
Um, but I think it's good for homeowners to know what they have so that if their neighbor were to say something, they could understand and know it. Yeah. >> And you know what to do when you come to my house. Just bring a shovel, right?
>> Just drive by. >> Drive by and drop me into the ground, right? >> Okay. All right, next hazardous situation 6722 of those gas leaks, gas odors, 15 electrical power line downs, but we were
back in service right away because we have the best electric department around. Um, 10 smoke investigation, five motor vehicle collisions where they were leaking fluids and required cleanup, five carbon monoxide actual
releases. So these are the ones where when we get there we're actually detecting the CO where sometimes a CO alarm we don't uh detect anything uh for electrical hazard short circuit type issues three fuel spills typically
those are happening within the gas stations and three uh rupture without fire. >> Hey Jason. >> Yeah. You know, the general public sees the road blocked off and fire trucks at a gas station, they you should think the
worst. But it's a reportable quantity is what, five gallons? >> Anything over five gallons. So when we um if we see a spill uh if there is a spill on the ground, no matter what, most of the time they call us to help
help clean up. Um but yes, we'll report um to the state and make sure that when it's severe, we've had some severe issues where maybe a tractor trailer has had something spear the bottom of a
55gallon tank on their truck and they're leaking it all over, we will help try and contain it. Um, but usually if it if they're on site at a gas station, they have resources that will be able to get
people out to clean it up and deal with it. We're just trying to keep it spreading and keep the public out of it from driving through it or doing something bad like throwing a cigarette near it. >> Do our Do our trucks are our city trucks
do they have spill kits on them? Yeah, they're required to and we carry we have a lot of spill and >> containment um on the trucks and in the station. >> Yep.
>> Uh again, next six of our calls related to law enforcement support that could be with um the SWAT teams or something like that where we're assisting them. uh four specific to rescue, three elevator, one
structural collapse, but it wasn't as bad as it sound. It just got categorized as that. And then two calls that were non-specific. Uh in 2025, 202 incidents occurred while we were on a previous incident. So meaning we had overlapping calls. We had
people out on calls and another call came in. So 202 times we had that scenario. Un. Unfortunately, I really don't have the breakdown of EMS or fire right now. I'd have to do a little bit
more digging, but this is a concern for a lot of departments to make sure that they have the necessary resources. It's not always that first call that you may have, it's that next call. And if you're on a
current call, do you have the resources to be able to handle that? Um, auto aid and mutual aid given. So, auto aid, I've talked a little bit about this before, but what we provide um as
far as auto aid through Ramsey County Dispatch means if when somebody calls 911 and they say they see fire or they say they see black smoke, it will trigle trigger what's called auto. So, if it
happens in North St. Paul or Maplewood or Oakdale or White Bear Lake, three to four departments are responding or being dispatched at the same time to get resources there as quickly as possible. Mutual aid would be I'm on
scene and maybe it's just um North St. Paul that's there and I'm requesting uh assistance from one department or another. However, uh we had 62 of those that we responded
um throughout the year for fires. 39 in Maplewood, 12 in Oakdale, three for Roseville, three for Lake Johanna Shore View, North Oaks area type place. Uh two in White Bear Lake, one in St. Paul, and
one in Lake Elmo. uh two of those EMS we provided um to Maplewood as well. And a lot of times what can happen in the EMS area as well is we have closest unit dispatching. So if there was a cardiac
arrest and we had a unit that was within a mile radius, it would automatically grab them to send them to start CPR. Next. Um, >> is there a status of how many times they responded to us for mutual aid? Oh,
that's next. >> That's next. >> Oh, we received. Okay, perfect. >> Received. So, um, in 2025, we received, um, 10 of those for in in 2025, four from Maplewood, three from
Oakdale, and three from uh, White Bear Lake, and then three in the EMS realm were Maplewood responded um, specifically because Lake View, a lot of times what happens with Lake
View is if they're not in here because they have four other ambulances that are in two are in Stillwater and two are in Hudson. As soon as one ambulance goes on a call, they start rotating their ambulance
around to provide maximum coverage for the entire area. But once all of their ambulances are out of service is when we go outside. Unless I know I have an ambulance coming from
Lake View that may be coming from Stillwater, except this has happened before where we have an accident and a person is struck by a vehicle on a bike and I don't want to wait a long time to
get an ambulance there. So I'll request the closest one which typically would be Mapwood or Oakdale. So we're for that Lakewood then we're or Lake View, I'm sorry. We're probably the farthest west they go. >> Nope. >> Nope. They go farther.
>> Yeah. So they're when they're here >> Mhm. >> they'll they'll get dragged >> like >> they'll get they're common going west into Maplewood, Roseville, Lilana. >> They go that far. >> Okay. >> Even further.
>> Oh, I didn't realize that. I thought maybe they were just eastern only. >> Nope. Um the EMS service right now is a little short staffed. Um again, even though Maplewood has three ambulances
and their own staff, they can get stacked with calls where they're busy, all of a sudden they got five calls coming on and they'll um be looking for assistance from Lake View or a different ambulance service to cover their area.
>> Yeah. >> Thank you. Nice to know. Yep. >> Are the are the times where we had to request assistance from other um services. Are those situations I know you talked about situations where we had
to double up and you know we had a crew off at one site and something else happened and we needed people over there where we would generally call in for help. automatically if there's a second um call that comes in that's EMS and this
happens all the time for some reason we're prone to have two to three medicals within a 30 minute period it it always happens quite a bit and with the benefit of having uh our first
responders respond is if they are on scene with Lake View on the first one when that second ambulance is coming from wherever wherever they are. Our first responders can then first respond to the medical and take care of things until that next ambulance gets there.
But that that's what happens when we have that overlapping call type issue. Yep. Good questions. Uh response times um dispatch to in
route the the mean uh for fire incidents 0 minutes and 58 seconds and uh dispatch to at se scene time mean 5 minutes to 26 seconds. Um, and the EMS incident
response times, uh, dispatch to end route mean 0 minutes to 12 seconds. And that's not quite 100% accur accurate because it's not an unsign assigned unit like
fire is that EMS unit doesn't get it until they choose it. So they because we don't assign like for EMS calls like we do for fire calls. Um that's why the dispatch and route time is uh so small
but the dispatch to at scene time 2 minutes to 38 seconds is is accurate. So that's the our response times to getting people a first unit on scene whether
it's a fire or a medical I mean for a predominantly part-time paid on call department is really good response times. >> Yeah. Are there in uh industry I don't want to say industry
standard but are there standard like service level agreements or anything like that that you know like this is what you know is you know most people hit and I would say that we're probably well under that you know based on what I'm
>> so um as it relates to to fire um the national fire protection association has some minimum imum requirements for fire response as it relates to departments that are staffed full-time and
departments that are well they they still call them volunteer type departments. Um and we're kind of in the middle there because we're a little com uh of both. We're a combination. Um but our our time frames for fires were far
exceeding uh those requirements. Um, having Lake View here, um, definitely helps us out for having an ALS unit on scene, but also the EMS first responder. Um, because a lot of
times if they are going to a different community, Lake View is going to a different community and that ambulance is coming from somewhere else. until we have that truck back here. It's up to our first
responders to handle that gap. >> Is there a a uh difference in cost on whether we still lease through the the Lake View Group or because I know we used to have
our own for many many many years. you know, how much difference of cost would there be owning our own again or going back to the >> big a big part of it, you know, back in 1997 when the the fire department switched to go to Lake View, a big part
of that was because we were BLS ambulance. We didn't have um paramedics, if you will. we were EMTs and and predominantly that's what most of us are now. Um for an ALS service you need to
have paramedics and that would require a lot more training and that that's the problem for a part-time paid on call department. Uh we don't have we don't pay uh Lake View to provide service to our
community. It's simply a an agreement for them to be part of us and respond. If they respond to your house and they don't transport you, there's no fee. So, if they were to come out, assess you,
even if you were a diabetic and, you know, gave you started an IV and gave you blood sugar, there's, you know, it's not like a transport bill. So that's that's where they get paid is on the transport.
>> Interesting. >> Yeah. And to be honest, we Lake View has grown quite a bit in their area and their response and the amount of people that we have. Uh but we're very close and work very closely with
them. >> Yeah. >> And staff stays on site here when they're on duty. >> Yep. When they're on duty. There's two of them here. in in quarters. They have sleeping quarters, bathroom, showers. Yep.
They're typically their schedule is a 24-hour schedule when they work here. Um, department training in 2025, we had 3,940 total hours, so around 106.5
per firefighter. uh conducting live burns at the East Metro Public Safety Training Facility, uh conducting forcible entry, made a firefighter down, what we call VIS, vent, enter, isolate, search, incident command training, fire
inspections, investigations, vehicle extrication, fire apparatus operator, pumpering, pumping and driving, electric vehicle and stored energy, and EMS training. Those were some of the topics we covered
in 25. Uh moving on to fire inspections. Um so these are based off of uh what we had in open gov. So and an entry um as it relates. So
this could be uh we haveund 105 single family rental units. Um, typically for the single family, uh, if they pass the first inspection, they're not going back. But when
there's, um, any failures, they'll write them up and then they'll have to go back and do an inspection unless it's something that they could send back to us via a photo on a text or email, and
we'll accept that on certain items. uh 52 multifamily apartment complexes. So even though we uh went out to those obviously one complex could be Cedar View Commons where there are 12
buildings with multiple common areas and multiple units. Um, so we're not able to capture the amount of actual times we've gone out there, but that's how many uh complexes that we've been to. Uh, last
year, the mobile food vendor license, we had 38 of those. Uh, 21 fire certificate of compliance for commercial building inspections. Uh, 13 duplex rental properties, and five group homes.
code compliance 182. And again, this could be one entry in open gov, but multiple even more so than the fire inspection. The code compliance is multiple times of
going out to the properties and checking and speaking and working with the uh property owner to get things completed. Uh 49 tall grass weeds, 45 snow and ice, 33 trash and debris, 24 parking, 17
tree, seven uh property maintenance, three animal issues, three other and one illegal dumping. uh accomplishments for 2025. The fire relief association voted to join the statewide volunteer firefighter uh SVF
plan. We had six time six part-time paid on call firefighters complete firefighter one two and hazmat and emergency medical responder classes in 25. Uh we put in service our new engine. That was quite a great feat and had a
lot of work. Uh, our truck committee met with multiple vendors and reviewed numerous ladder trucks before choosing E1 to build our next ladder truck with your approval. Thank you. Uh, passed annual pump testing and maintenance on all three frontline
apparatuses. uh conducted annual flow testing of our 30 SCBA and RIT packs and spare bottles with no failures. Uh annual MIS mask fit testing uh conducted on firefighters. So
every year their SCBA uh is fitted to their face to make sure it's proper and annual testing of over 9,000 ft of fire hose. everything that we have. Um, and last year we had no failures on
that. Uh, every year our annual agility test is conducted by everyone full-time and part-time paid on call members. Uh, updated our hose loads on our truck to be the same as Maplewood for interoperable ability on the fire
ground. So, meaning if we do go over to Maplewood, uh, what we see on their truck is the same as what we see. So if they come over here and help us um it really helps for deployment and stressful situations and helps to just
keep things moving forward in a positive way. Uh we conducted our first blood drive with Red Cross which was really successful and um met with four different vendors last year to learn about access control
systems and approve a contractor for that installation that's going on. Uh completed our insurance service office ISO review with the fire department, the city and water supply system. uh current rating is at a at a three. So, we're
proud about that. Uh 2026 volume to date. So, so far this year, we're at 388 or I'm sorry, 355 where we're um a little down 8.5 uh% lower than last year with a
projected total rate now of set 1728. Uh again 2025 with 1932 in incidents total incidents was quite a spike from the previous year. Um we
really weren't expecting that. So I think this number that's projected is probably more in line. Um but as you'll see on the next slide, uh in 2024 we had 1771 total calls and
as it as you can see going back to year 2020 which we were at 1478. Um since 2020 we've had a 30% increase in call volume. We'll see where the year brings us I guess in 2026. It's
always surprising to me to see it consistently go up by these big numbers. Um, and obviously EMS has a lot to do with it.
It also has to do a lot with um people calling 911 for a lot of things they didn't normally call for in in the past as well. And that's not just in EMS, but also
um you know, service calls or fire type calls or concerns. Uh new for 2026, uh the National Emergency Response Information System nearest platform uh was replaced
uh and the outdated NFRS national fire incident reporting system uh that was done in on January 1st, 2026. So for the past few few years nationally fire departments were prepare preparing
with this or I should should say mostly record management systems were um but we had to become trained in how things were working. Uh why did they do this? It was really to capture better data than what
they had been doing. Uh so Nerys is supposed to be the premier source of all hazards information and innovative analytics informing the nation's fire problem and the capabilities of state, local, territorial and tribal services
resource capacities and capabilities to handle the problem effectively, efficiently, and safely. They're hoping that this data that has been changed in how it's categorized and how it's being collected will be
able to influence the needs of the fire service quicker. Uh also in 26 we partnered with echo data analytics um to get live information from our record management system uh which we use image trend which
is provided to us free by the state. However, uh we have a contract with ECO data that goes into image trend and extracts data for us for things like this.
And it's been uh it's been really good. The outlook for 2026, uh continue recruitment of our part-time paid on call firefighters. We're currently at 34. Uh we have leadership development training for lieutenants and captains.
Uh we'll review, update and create fire department policies and procedures. Um we've been talking about interdep departmental training with the PD. Uh we definitely are going to continue our blood drive with Red Cross. We have one
scheduled for I believe it's May. Uh continue our CPR training with North High students in their health class. We go out there a couple times a year on multiple days uh provide continue to provide instructors for the Ramsey County Fire one and two class uh where
we send uh our students to learn uh continued partnership with the Ramsey Chief's Fire Investigation Team and continued GP JPA with the East Metro Public Safety Training Facility uh which
recently received a 2 million uh federal funding from with help from Congressman Betty McCullum and trying to keep it short. That's where we're at. Any questions?
>> No, I applaud you for all that you do and the level of detail that you have and the statistics that you have. Um, it sounds like that's attributable to the echosystem. >> Yes, system that you >> There's a lot there. Um, and if you are
ever have any questions uh regarding data as it relates to the fire department. I'd love to show you of what it's pulling out because I'm still learning. Um, but it's it's impressive and we've had some problems. I shouldn't
say in general a lot of these record management systems are still working around nearest and trying to figure things out and how they categorize things. Um, and it's different and everybody's trying to um make sure
they're capturing the correct data. I know we are with what we have, but there's more there to to get as well. And once they get some things straightened out, it will only improve. Good. >> Thank you. Great information. Appreciate all the the work you do and your team.
>> Thanks. >> Pass it on to the group. >> We'll do. >> Thank you, Chief. >> Thanks, Chief. >> Thank you. >> Doesn't Mr. Wick usually want a full hour to talk? He really likes doing >> He likes that talking stuff. >> Two hours. >> That way we can go home early.
>> Thanks, Jason. Thank you. >> Have a good night. >> Have a good night, Chief. >> Yeah. Next up is the electric department for 2025 year in review and the 2026 outlook. We have electric director Wick here to discuss.
Welcome. Hopefully it's uh I can send it to you again too. Okay. I got a little presentation uh but I can get started a little bit without uh
the visual but thanks thanks again for having me. Did you >> What was it? >> That was me. Sorry. We actually have it in our packet. So I was right here. Yeah. Good. >> 25 2025 year in review. Good. >> Okay.
So, uh, thanks for for having me and giving the opportunity to kind of talk about what we did in 25. Um, and then some of the things we're looking to do here in 26. I don't have as many statistics as Jason did, but uh, we do have a lot more um,
if you're ever curious on how much overtime the guys are putting in, uh, the number of calls coming in. uh kind of kept it more to the work the guys were doing uh things that kind of led towards the accomplishments that we we reached in uh 2025.
So for um the 2025 statistics um you know each year we do a uh an inspection of our entire system uh the power poles any equipment transformers um you know cab any cabinet of any kind
uh just to make sure that there's no uh inefficiencies or or things that need to be replaced. Um, from that uh list of inspections, we replaced 26 power poles that were um in deteriorating state, uh, the crossarms
that support the the major conductors on the pole. Um, we replaced 33 of those. And there was 28 pole tops that were found to be um in disrepair. And there what we do is we just remove that top portion and move the conductors down
lower if we have the space to to do so. Um, so it saves us a little bit of time and effort, but uh, still a a pretty big job to do that. Um, total outages, we had 41 unscheduled power outages. Um,
we do schedule outages with uh, the projects that we're working on or if there's a scenario that comes up. Um, but usually it's not a significant number of outages. Uh but of those 41 outages, uh a major storm in uh July, it
was like a two to three day stretch there that we had 19 power outages. Um that, uh you can see accounts for, you know, a pretty good portion of what the actual total outages for the season was. Um if you remove those outliers um we
had about a 44minut uh from time of call the power restored uh average and only uh 305 meters affected by those uh remaining 22 outages.
Um the bottom statistic there is the um from the projects in 25 and I'll I'll touch on them briefly. Uh but we did a total of 12,800 ft of new underground installed um and 2400 ft of upgrades to
the main lines in the backyards to increase capacity and reliability. Uh some of the highlights from 2025. Uh we adopted the e safety data tracker from um American public power. Um some of the
requirements for electric utilities have changed now where we are required to do safety tail boards before each job and have documentation. uh just in case OSHA ever stopped by and wanted to see, you know, did you take the proper steps to identify hazards on the job um take
steps to um eliminate those hazards or reduce the the risk of exposure. So, we adopted the e safety data tracker. It's a it's an application on the iPads that we keep in the trucks um that the guys fill out daytoday on any
job they're doing. uh identify any sort of explosion hazards, electrical hazards, uh traffic, um you know, a number of of uh elements that uh can contribute to um improper
workplace safety. Um and the crews go over them in a tailboard session. They all sit, identify the things, talk about the job that they're doing, and everybody signs off that they agree that this is the best way to to move forward. Um we also had a heavy focus on um
updating and upgrading our uh existing online mapping which is um run through WSB that datafy. Uh it it's been there. We've had the map all this time but we just haven't really made it the most
readily accessible thing for the guys on the cruise. We do keep paper maps in all the trucks as well. Um, but just making it so that they have a tool on their phone or on their iPads to, you know, before they even come to the job site, they can open up the map and see what they're getting into. Uh, but there was
a lot of information that needed to be added and, uh, a lot of details on the map that just needed to be corrected so that it was more legible to the guys. Uh we did start our um in in the fall of
2025 we did introduce the uh electric vehicle rebate program. Um it is for Energy Star rated EV chargers installed in homes, garages. um where if if you
submit the doc the proper receipt and the uh application, you can receive $250 for the the install of the charger. Um to go with that program, uh we did introduce the time of use metering for
the EV charger services. Um and I think that that came to you guys for rate approval. Um, and we currently have uh three customers signed up. Uh, but it's been a lot of interest um in the program
and just what it takes to to get up and going. We currently have a requirement that you install a dedicated meter to the EV service so that we can uh read that meter separate of your main service
and give you the the proper rate based on when you're charging your vehicle. And everybody that's actually joined that program has been adhering to the rate schedule uh very strictly and uh have been keeping to the off peak periods for charging.
Um we reached 29 solar customers by the end of the year. Uh it's over 30 now. Um you know we're I think 31 or 32 now. But they also receive a rebate for the install um based on the size of the system they're putting up and the cost
that it's that they're incurring from uh the contractor putting it in. Um and and with that uh the residents receiving credit for any power that they're putting back onto the system. Um
for one, you're already saving power by generating your own, but anything you don't use in excess goes back onto the grid and you get a credit for that on your account. Um, another highlight was, uh, our apprenticeship is handled through
Northwest Lineman College and, uh, we currently have one apprentice. Um, the second one is on his taking his final test, so he's kind of in limbo between apprentice and journeyman, but um, we have one that's actively in the
apprenticeship program through Northwest Lyman College. Uh, but we did introduce uh, MMUA, which we're a part of. um to help manage that program. And the benefit of that is just seeing uh tracking the hours uh that they're
putting in for uh how much overhead time they're putting in, underground time, metering, generation, substation, trainings. Uh it's all logged for them to gain credit towards an apprenticeship. Um, prior to that, we weren't keeping track of the hours, but
we were you were required to complete a three-year or four-year apprentichip based on where you came in here. Uh, but at the end of that apprenticeship, um, the tests that you take are certifying you for the state
certification as a journeyman lineman. You're not required to have that to be recognized as a journeyman here. Uh, just have to complete the program. But it's definitely a benefit for the guys and I think a of a feather in their cap to be able to to hold that card. So
>> a question for you. The uh so with the EV vehicle rebate that was introduced and the time of use metering rates that are tied with that and with your last slide saying that you're upgrading some of those um wires to the secondaries to
the homes. Is those tied together? >> Yeah. I I mean in general, yes, the the the main reason we're going through uh in these project areas and upgrading those rear lots is just to add some capacity. Um you know, if we have to upgrade a transformer, that's one thing,
but the main lines that run from pole to pole and not necessarily to the homes. Um it's a smaller wire. It's it's a wire that's spread out and vulnerable to, you know, tree damage, rodents, squirrels, you know, chewing through the wires. Um,
it's just not as protected. Um, so us going through putting in a bigger wire for more capacity, you know, should be able to accept more of these EVs in the future. It doesn't mean that all the transformers are up to snuff, but at least we're kind of going down the right
road. Um, and I I think in general, um, most of our transformers aren't loaded to the capacity they could be. So, I think we're sitting in a good position, especially with the projects that we're going through, uh, to be able to accept more of these.
I did attach uh, we have this one uh, mutual aid accommodation from Kiss, Florida. That was kind of right at the end of 24 and then beginning of 25. and the guys went to Orlando as well, which is the the next one. >> Um, and that's just something that I
think, you know, I've touched on it before here that uh the guys take a lot of pride in that and it's getting them, you know, into new experiences that they've they've not been a part of before. Um, and building, you know, good
networking with other utilities. Um, and just giving them opportunities that, you know, they they might not be able to receive at other utilities. Um, just it does seem like, and I was going to touch on it maybe a little bit later, but it does seem like there's a a trend in I
don't know if it's not only the utility workforce, but when I came on, it always seemed like you were grateful to have this job and you wanted to do what can I do to make myself an asset and to keep this job and to be a contributor to, you
know, this the city, to the company, wherever you're at. Um, I'm not saying that they're not doing that, but there's been a mindset shift to what what are you doing to keep me here? What, you know, what are the good things that I can do here that I can't do other
places? And why would I want to stay here? And I think we're doing a lot of good things in that regard. Great. And one of those those I know those might seem like a long way away for sending help from Minnesota down there, but uh they happen to get hit by a backto-back
Helen and Milton uh hurricanes. So they of course draw from the closer utilities. They kind of wore them out a bit and then that other hurricane came in right behind it. So they had to kind of expand the area they were asking for help from. So but it was really good. They were very appreciative.
>> Not used to dodging alligators up here, but they might have had to worry about that down there. Huh. Yeah, there's some pictures. Yeah, >> sure there would be. >> Yeah, some new exposures for sure. >> Uh I did I did put an a picture of uh East on there because I'm sure not many of you get to see his face very often
and he's a but he's a pivotal part of our team. Um he's our electric superintendent. Uh he doesn't like to toot his own horn and he's definitely a guy that likes to let his work speak for himself. Um, and but I it was much to his embarrassment, but I've nominated
him for an award at one of the conferences through MMUA, and he did win. Uh, it was about 40 nominees for that same award. Uh, and they picked three. Uh, and it was the rising star award. So, it's just recognizing people
that have been in their position for less than five years and are making, you know, substant substantial contributions to their community um and making changes for the the better of, you know, the whole workforce. I did put a little snippet of what I had wrote. It was much
longer, but um just you know that he came from a background of being a lineman here. uh he easily relates with the guys. Uh and he cares deeply about their safety and and just um he he's he's been a big part of some of the
changes we've made for new programs, you know, the the safety tailboards, um any new technology. He's always the one pushing it. I'm I like new technology, too, and I like to explore things, but I definitely have to kind of rein him in a little bit on what's what's feasible for
our size of utility. So, uh, he's he's definitely been a a good person to lean on and, uh, to, uh, to bounce my ideas off of and to and to put some of the workload that I, it would take a lot of trust for me to
put that into somebody. uh some of the projects that we completed in 2025. Um the Gerald Mohawk um conversion, it was along the road project. Uh but we had a few radio high voltage lines there, meaning they didn't
have a secondary backup um you know, where you could feed them from another direction. Uh we buried those lines and now they're all looped. So if there's ever an issue, we can just change where it's fed from and and fix the issue later or or right then and there. Um and
like I said, all the high voltage is now underground in that area. Um and that was, you know, kind of a a project that was coordinated pretty rapidly just because the decision to do a full uh road reconstruction project
there kind of dictated that. Uh 17th in Delaware is an area that we buried a main circuit feeder. Main circuit feeder is kind of the main artery for uh portions of town. And when you're burying that, a lot of care and consideration needs to be put into
um the route and just uh what kind of protection you have in place for not causing any major problems. Uh we did complete that uh this in 2025. Uh there's also the new development homes right on the corner there that we've been as they've been introducing them,
we've been uh adding them to that to to the the circuit in that area. Um Target, we uh we increased our reliability over there. Uh we did have uh a single feed to Target that if it
was interrupted for any reason, some sort of fault or problem, uh they would have been out of power for an extended period of time before we could fix it. Uh, and what we did there was change how things were fed, uh, by adding some wires and, uh, made it so
that if anything happened there, they have a backup feed and we can switch out any equipment in the area without taking outages in the future as well. And then lastly, I misspelled Casey Lake, but uh, Casey Lake Lighting. Uh, we finished that up in 25 as well with
the west end of the park just increasing the safety on the trail there. Uh, real quick, the 2026 outlook. I'll touch on the goals, projects, and uh, some of our concerns for the future. Nope, they're fine. So, I'd like to for
some of my goals for 26 uh, would be to introduce as many, you know, programs and incentives for for residents as we can. Um, you know, we already have one in the works that's for, um, electric equipment like lawn
equipment, um, lawnmowers, leaf blowers, weed whips. If you buy a battery powered unit, we can get you a rebate for that. Um, varying from the size of the unit. Uh, a riding lawnmower, I think, is $200. uh weed whip is like 75 or 25, I can't
remember exactly, but we have a a rebate form for that that uh we'd be like to be introducing soon. Uh but things along that line, things that you know, we get a benefit for energy savings. Uh but not necessarily everything has to be along that lines in
my mind too. You know, things that can be a benefit to the to the customers is um a big deal. Uh there's things too that you know it could reduce the amount of call outs we get in the area even though we're not saving power. Um it
might save on overtime too. So I'd like to finish the upgrades for datafy. I think it's at a place now that the guys I trust that they would all be able to read it well and use it well. Uh just the final touches on it and I think it's definitely something that we can finish in 2026.
Uh I did, this one's kind of vague, but uh develop standard procedures for events that can occur. Uh we have a lot of them. There's a lot of scenarios that can happen and there's a lot that we're we do have standard um switching procedures or or work
practices for them scenarios. But there's definitely ones that I think with some of the senior guys on our crew, they take for granted that they know how to do it. And a lot of the younger staff are left wondering, you know, what do I do in this situation? um you know, maybe even uh one of the
main circuits in the substation failing. I', you know, if I went to one of the younger guys on the crew and said, "What would you do in this scenario?" I think, you know, they're going to have the help they need to get it accomplished, but in that moment, if I'm asking them that, it might be a 50/50 shot that they get the right answer. Um,
and it's not that they're not knowledgeable and they don't know what they're doing. It's just it's a lot of stress in a in a very, you know, a high stress moment. So just getting making the right call in that time and just having a procedure that would be not what you have to do but a guideline to
just get them in the right ballpark would be be nice. Um participating in more mutual aid and and networking uh with other utilities. I think I've said it to you guys before, but um it does feel like it's the electric utility field as a community
and and you get as much of it back as what you put into it. If you're willing to engage with other utilities, they're willing to engage with you and help you in in in situations and uh uh really uh be a a resource that you can tap for uh
for for information that I you know I might not know or they might need from us. Uh it just it kind of works both ways. And the mutual aid, you know, it's not always sending guys to Florida. It might be, you know, Owatana gets a windstorm and they need they need help and they might call anybody in the, you
know, metro area to come down there. That might be something that we'd be a part of. Uh, engaging the community. I know that was something that we had touched on um at our retreat. Uh but you know it I don't know 100% what it looks like but I
would like to have stuff where not necessarily bragging about the municipal but what are some of the benefits of being in a city with a municipal putting that knowledge out there for the residents to consume and to you know to take for what they what they interpret
it. But at least showing them the good things about being in a in a small utility like this uh versus a big investorowned or a cooperative or something like that. Oh, and and maybe even, you know, uh some sort of social media interaction element to that as
well. Uh I'd like to keep our outage times uh low and our outage counts low. I think we're already well on our way. I mean, a good example would be look at the snow storms we just had here and the high winds. Uh we did not have a single call
out during that span. The last call we had was uh 3 4 days prior to that. So, um, it just and the things we're doing to kind of remedy any sort of problems we may have had with storms is, uh, you know, keeping up on our tree trimming
line clearance, doing our annual inspections, and being proactive about the the maintenance schedule and all the equipment and the the poles and and relocating overhead to underground and just keeping ahead of those things.
And then lastly, uh just I'll touch uh real quick on the project from 2026, but it's just completing those projects on in a timely manner. Uh here's a small portion of kind of what we're we're looking at, but kind of the major
uh project areas. Uh in Tower Park area, we're actually out there working right now. the guys are out upgrading the lines in the backyards like we had talked about with the increased capacity. Uh at the end of May, we'll have a contractor out to start putting the conduit in the ground and then we'll
we'll kind of hit the ground running with that uh putting the lines in. Uh Northwood Park, the contractors will be out to put the conduit in at the beginning of May. So, it'll kind of be a balancing act of upgrading on the north end, going down to Northwood and putting
in lines underground. uh you know kind of coordinating that. Um but it it'll it'll just you know both these areas have lines that are I've called I've said radial before but just it's the line goes down and comes to an end and
anything that happens on that line everybody beyond it it's out until you fix the problem and we'll be looping everything so that you know we can get people back on you know pretty quick. I do have on there switch gears and overhead switches. Those are equipment that you have on like your those main
feeders that I talked about. Um, we were uh prior to my time in this position, we were on a good schedule of doing like upgrades to the older switch gears that are the the biggest green box you see around town. Um, I'd like to get
back on a schedule like that, doing one to two a year and having a new one in stock ready for if uh, you know, one of them gets hit by a car or we have something blow up inside of a switch gear and burn all the the inards, uh, you need to have something there to
replace it. We do have one at the shop, but it's an old one, and it's it's kind of a hope you don't have to use it type of scenario. The last thing there is not a necessarily a project that we're working on. Uh but it's what does and I'll talk
about it in my challenges and concerns here, but what does the presence of the increased fiber optic companies in the area cause for us for workload? Uh maybe we can jump to the next slide for that. Uh that top portion there, the fiber
optic providers. um each one of these companies that's coming in wanting to put fiber optic in in North St. Paul, you know, everybody needs internet. Internet is it's not a a privilege anymore. It's it's needed for
everything you do. Um but there's also concerns with every one of these providers wants to attach to our power poles and every one of them wants to bury lines in the boulevards. We only have so much space on the poles and we only have so much space in the boulevards. So, um, you know, what what
does it look like for, uh, a company coming in saying they're going to attach to 500 poles and of those 500 poles, they've they've checked the engineering and they need 100 of them upgraded because there's not enough space for their utility on there. Now, we have
agreements in place that, you know, that will be in place um for uh, you know, that's that cost isn't on us to do it. Uh but the workload's still there. Is it contractors coming in setting poles and us coming in behind them and transferring everything? We're
not the only ones on those poles. And you know, we change out 20 to 30 poles a year. And it's hard enough to get those utilities to transfer on those poles, let alone how many are these fiber optic providers going to ask us to, you know,
get transferred as well. So, uh, it's just it's something that it's a little bit of an unknown on how much it what the scale of everything's going to be. Um, I definitely think we've positioned ourselves well for, you know,
if they have big demands, but also not just the power poles, they want to put it in the ground. What does that look like for keeping our utilities marked for their install? And what do the boulevards look like for our future installs? Like it's going to be you call
in for a locate in your front yard. It'll be from the curb to about 5t back all orange. You might see a red or a yellow mark and then you'll see all orange all the way to the back of the rightway. It's just going to be full. I mean obviously within reason, you know,
you can only fit so much there, but we need to get our stuff in the ground as well. So just kind of coordinating that with those providers is is a challenge and keeping our utilities marked is uh these projects areas that they're wanting to call in are are huge and
other projects don't stop when when they come to town. We got to keep up on all the other underground projects as well. So just keeping our utilities marked and safe and protected is uh is a major concern. And then just where does it stop? How many providers are going to try to come
to town? You know, we got Lumen fiber in town, Metroet looking to come, Intrepid looking to come through. Um, you know, Zo Arvvic fiber in the ground. More St. Paul has fiber in the ground. Um, you know, where does it
where does it stop? Where does it start? How many providers are actually going to try to, you know, come into the area? >> Are they going to lease all off our poles then? Do they lease space on the poles of each one that they tie into? That's correct. Yep. There's a pole attachment agreement that they that the
city signs and they sign um and they get charged per pole. >> So, okay. If if uh they're not satisfied with the pole that they're going to tie on to, do they replace the pole in? >> It's on them to replace it. >> It's on them. Or will they tie onto a pole of their own in that corner?
>> It it kind of depends, I guess, on, you know, what what they can do in the rightway. But um if the pole needs to be upgraded, the cost is 100% on the utility that wants to attach. Um whether it be, you know, depending on the
workload, it might be something we can handle going out replacing oneoffs. We keep about 60 to 80 poles at the shop. >> Yeah. >> They're not they might not be the size they need. They might need, you know, a bunch of 40footers and we only have 20
of them. you know, and they might want 50 replaced. So, it might be a matter of having a third party come in and replace a bunch of poles and and then we come in behind and transfer all the wires. Um, it's just the the coordination there is
going to be critical. It's just the cost. It's not going to be the cost to us so much as, you know, what is our what does our role in the project look like from the utility stand? Well, then we would charge the company coming in the time for us to move to a new new
pole. >> That's correct. Yep. Yeah. Any other questions on the the polls? >> Stay in the hot air too long though. >> Yeah. Um, another concern uh with the time I got left here is um just the increase in
costs, you know, around CO all everything shot up. it wasn't realistic to think it would ever come back down and that's pretty much kind of held true. Uh and some things have even increased in costs. Uh in turn making our projects cost more. Um obviously in
the budgeting process we've kind of planned for these things but uh it's something that I don't think will be I don't I think we're in the new norm. If not it's just going to get more expensive. Um and then this uh real quick there I had the supply chains
being interrupted. One of the things on the consent agenda for tonight is purchasing pad mount transformers. Uh we reach out to a number of sources for pad mount transformers. We do have one that we prefer since they're a reliable company, a reliable brand, and a pretty
uh reasonable price. Uh they were able to quote and get us what we wanted. Um another company we reach out to, Herby, has Howard Transformers. They've been a reliable brand in the past, one that we've purchased. Uh Herby decided to no quote because Howard is now an
unreliable source. Now, they don't expand on what that is, but I mean, you can read between the lines of it's not that they put out a bad transformer, it's they can't deliver on lead times and they can't give them a reasonable date to get stuff in. uh there's just
not enough inventory there for for what these utilities all around the na herbies nationwide are asking for. Um so they they're not willing to put us a bid out there for this purchase because they don't want to
they don't want to commit to something they can't deliver on, right? Um and and there's always refurbished transformers, too, but then you're kind of getting into a gray area there of you're taking some risk on Um yeah. So yeah, in uh in summary, you know, we just we want to keep our outage
times low. We want to keep our rates competitive. Um we want to keep converting the system to underground. Uh whether it's putting new underground in from overhead or um upgrading older underground to to new.
Uh we just want to keep our staff safe and well informed. And like I had said, um, you know, with wanting to wanting to work somewhere is just keeping this place somewhere that, you know, our staff wants to love to come to work. Um, and I think we're doing a great job of
that now. And I think, um, everyone that I work with in close proximity, whether it's the electric or any department, um, there's always good positive interactions and and, uh, it doesn't seem like anybody dreads coming to work every day. So,
U with that as I got a few minutes here if any questions. >> I have a comment. Um just incredibly thankful for the you guys' outages are incredibly low when they happen and that return time to have the power back on is
incredibly a narrow amount of time. Um it can be a dangerous job especially when it comes to storms. It was only a couple weeks back I heard a call go out over in Maplewood that the guy was down. He got and he was the guy not in the air but he was on the ground next to the truck and he got they had to give him
CPR but they brought him back and you guys have an incredibly low rate of injuries in there even for all the work that you guys do and um just great job. Thank you. Thank you. >> Echo that. Thank you so much for your wins this weekend were just incredible. I'm I was just wondering if there was
any outages. So >> I was waiting but kept a close eye on things but it yeah nothing nothing came through. Usually, even with the high winds, you know, they're going into the night. The next morning, you get flooded with calls because people are waking up seeing the aftermath and still really
nothing. I mean, we had a few tree calls this week that were more routine stuff, not not damage. So, >> well, please extend our gratitude to your whole team. >> Y Thank you. >> Oh, thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> All right.
I get a motion to close the workshop. So moved. >> So moved. Council member Woods. Second. >> Second. >> Second. Council member Mackenzie. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All right. We got a few minutes, four minutes, and we'll be back. Part: 2
all the main order. Stand for the pledge of allegiance, please. Thank you very much. Roll call, please. >> Council member Nordby, >> here. >> Excuse me. Council member Woods >> here. >> Council member McKenzie >> here. >> Council member Schwar >> here. Mayor Muggi
>> here. >> Thank you very much. Can I get a motion to adopt the agenda, please? >> So moved. >> So moved. Council member Mackenzie. Seconds. Woods. All those in favor say I. I I thank you very much, >> Mayor. Uh consent agenda. Uh item A,
February 17th, 2026, city council workshop and regular meeting minutes. Item B, general claims of 1,223,68527. Item C, H claims of $19,235.83. Uh item D, building permits for February of 2026. Item E, resolution accepting
donations for February of 2026. Item F, electric department purchase of Padmount transformers. And item G, 2025, police employees suspense our overages. Looking for >> Thank you very much. Would anybody like to pull anything at this time?
If not, can I have a motion? >> So move. Council member Kinsey. >> Second. >> Second. Council member Woods. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Thank you very much. Next is we're going to go to open the
meeting to the public. I do want to say a couple things here this far before we get started. Um, one of the few jobs the mayor has that's a little bit different than everybody else is I'm in charge of running the meeting. So, I do have a couple changes that I would like to uh put into effect. We've been having some
issues sometimes with going over and uh just wanted to touch base on that again. So it is three minutes. After three minutes I will say thank you and if it continues I do have the button where I'll be able to uh be able to stop the conversation. It just has been get a
little bit want to keep it in check. So it's the three minutes from there. Thank you. And then if it continues then I'm going to have to hit the button on it. So just wanted to say that up front. John Schmall next. John Schmall, 2750 Chisum Avenue Council
Mayor. Uh, two quick items. Uh, I got a a copy of my uh where I have my cabin in northern Wisconsin, a big city of 360 souls. And they had a note of receiving a solar
bench from Excel and uh evidently this is an item that has solar panels on it and you can charge your phones from this bench. I think it somebody ought to look into it in the electric utility. It be better
than that stupid air purifier of last year. I don't need an air purifier. Anyway, but just a suggestion to have something on there about North St. Paul utility solar bench. Second item is I'm
hoping that you will tell the uh populace about ALPRs. And if you don't know what an ALPR is, you can ask the officer here that's here today and uh what that's all about. Will
you be telling the u the city uh residents about ALPRs and that you'll be putting them up and will where will they be? I was here two meetings ago and I asked the officer just said ALPRS and he
went like this and I said uh how many he went like this. So uh I assume you uh will be telling the the citizens that you will have ALPRs and where they will be. Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you. >> Write that down. >> Thank you. All right. Appreciate it. There's nobody else. We will move on to city business. >> Thank you, mayor. First item up is uh article 7, the HUD closing documents for
approval. We have community development director Ken here to discuss. Mr. Roberts. >> Thank you, mayor, members of the council. Uh before you this evening are five documents that the owners of article 7 are asking
for city approval of. They are seeking to refinance their mortgage with HUD and to do so they need to clean up some outstanding matters involving the city and really condensed version. Uh all these requirements are coming from HUD.
First of all, they weren't weren't the city's idea and we're just facilitating it so they can refinance their uh current mortgage into a HUDbacked uh mortgage going forward. So there's a draft amendment to the development
contract which they are it is an acknowledgement that the project is complete and there's nothing deficient at this point with the project. Related to that, there's a certificate of completion that we have confirmed as a
city that from all the city requirements that the project again is complete and it doesn't void the warranty work, but just rather that they've completed everything that they need to for the project. On the city side, there's a
MPCA environmental covenant and that that is to ensure that any remaining potential contamination is dealt with appropriate appropriately and this gets recorded against the property and it's
again a requirement of MPCA as part of the initial cleanup and that continues on I think for the life of the building, however long that goes. There's a reassignment of TIFF payments because it was supported by TIFF. Now
they're going to be making those payments to HUD rather than to the developer directly. Again, another HUD requirement. And lastly, uh, if you recall not too long ago, probably in February, you approved a
sump pump agreement for this project, and that was to allow their sump pump to discharge into the sanitary sewer. And they again, HUD is now requiring an anti-deficiency provision uh to ensure again that that carries on and there's
no outstanding matters. All of these items have been reviewed by the city attorney and he's comfortable with them. And so it's our recommendation that the council uh approve all the request all five requested items and authorize the
mayor and city manager to assign them as may be necessary. Jack again is familiar with them if you have questions and the developers attorney is here as well if needed. questions. You We're all good. You attorney?
>> Yes. Sorry, your honor. >> Sorry, I should use name, shouldn't I? >> Uh I reviewed all of the uh documents. Um I my description is in the um the memo that is before the council. Uh and um I would recommend approval.
>> Good. Well, there we go. There you go. Can >> I have uh for article 7 HUD closing documents approval? Can I have a motion, please? So move. >> So move. Council member McKinzy. >> Second. >> Second. Council member Norby. All those in favor say I. >> I.
>> I. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate the work on it. >> Thank you. >> Sorry. You going to get a chance to say hi. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next item up is the coin press purchase authorization resolution.
Ken, are you discussing or >> we're gonna have a joint presentation, Mr. here, members of the art commission, arts and culture commissioner here, Tom Sonic and Carrie Nadu. They put together this PowerPoint. I will help run it and they will talk a little bit about what
the arts and culture commission has been doing and then we'll have some information on the coin press machine as well. >> Mr. Mayor, council members, city manager, city staff, thank you for having us here. Really appreciate it. I want to start first by expressing our
gratitude um that this city has an arts and culture commission. Uh we think that this uh can really make a difference in our city and it's been proven that it makes a difference in lots of cities throughout the country and the world. Uh it can help revitalize. It creates a
sense of place reflecting our local culture and history. Um it builds community pride and engagement. Um, and we see it not really as a decoration, but really a core infrastructure for livability and growth. And, uh, I think we're starting to see some evidence of
this in North St. Paul already. We have seen some, I've noticed, uh, social media influencers. I I'm not really too familiar with this, but people who have come to North St. Paul and taken pictures, visited our city, and then they put them up on the social media sites, and you can see in their pictures
that they're sharing and talking about the town. pictures of the snowies, not just the big snowy, but the little snowies. Um, yeah, and uh pictures of the murals, pictures of the utility wraps. So, that's kind of exciting and I think it it helps uh people engage with
the city more. So, we really appreciate um the city for making this part of what we do here in North St. Paul. We think that this can make a difference. And secondly, I want to take just a second too to uh on the on the second slide here, there's I'll talk about our
agenda. There's a picture of our our current commission and even our newest member who's I don't know four months old now. >> Yeah. So, >> we have a full group here. We have a we also have a student commissioner who's not in the picture right now, but we've had some outstanding student
commissioners, both of whom who have aspirations to be president of the United States. And I'm not kidding. and either of them or both of them could someday be. I mean, we've got some really talented youth here in North St. Paul. So, that's really fantastic. And we've had some awesome members of the
commission. Um, you know, Margaret me said, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." And I don't say that we're changing the world, but we're changing our world here in North St.
Paul by making it a more livable and engaging space. So, I want to thank our commissioners for their dedication. Uh, we have some extraordinarily dedicated people and Carrie Neto here being one of them and we have another member, Raquel, in the back. So, thanks for being here. Okay, I want to just talk a little bit
about what we've been up to and then I'm going to talk about what's next and then uh Carrie's going to talk a little bit about a penny press which is an exciting new artistic cultural related thing that we're that we're proposing for purchase for the city from our arts commission uh
budget. So, what we've been up to, so public art has been a main part of what we do. And you can see from the pictures here, and if you walk around town at all, um, sculpture and other public art. So, Project Snowy, that was a big one that we've completed a couple of years ago. That was a long time in the making,
but with coordination with local businesses, we were able to get that done. And I think that's really great seeing the snowies around town. Um, we did create a a snowman brand u that I don't know has been uh used yet, but it's something that will be used um in
new construction projects. So, Morgan back there will have to be aware of this as we're uh building new sidewalks or curbs that we can brand that snowy into the uh into the sidewalks. And just kind of a fun whimsical thing for people to kind of see like, you know, I was just
at downtown St. hall today and I saw some more of that uh sidewalk poetry where they kind of stamp it right into the concrete sidewalk. I think that's so cool. And so we were talking about doing something like that and came up with the the snowman brand that would be stamped in.
>> Um and then uh snowy signs yard art. Honest to God, we're we're really not trying to do everything be a snowman and snowman related. I'm kind of like thinking we got to put a moratorium on it. We people love this.
>> Uh yeah. So there may there may be more snowman things, but um we got to branch out and we did. So look at our murals. So Silver Lake Park, the the amazing mural that was done there on the bathroom building and then the Sepila garage that we uh pulled up really quickly with one of our local artists,
you know, just really brightens up the downtown area. utility boxes. That's been an ongoing project that we've been doing um every year and we try and knock out like a few of those every year. It won't last forever, but you know um but right now we're continuing we still see some
great opportunities to add some more of those. Um and you can see we there are some that are downtown. Uh Casey Lake Park will be going in and this is back um I don't know what side you call that, but I call it the backside where the little ball field is. Um there there
will be one back there right at the start of the trail. Um uh North High, there was one that we coordinated with the students there and we had a a design contest for that with the students at North. Um we have some on 7th Avenue and the one on Veterans Park which was a great addition there. And fun fact, the
design of the utility box at Veterans Park was the same artist who designed our Snowy right outside of city hall. So >> little artistic uh history for you there. And then cultural events, you know. So this has been something that
we've really tried to do as well is uh uh get people involved in the art. So not just public art, but how can people get involved in creating art and seeing art and participating somehow and some of the things that we've been doing? So the art cart, you know, I I remember
this when I was a little kid. We had the art cart at Casey Park. It was really awesome. And so there was this old uh wagon or uh you know trailer that was sitting in public works and we painted that thing orange and we had it at um the car show one night and had residents
come and put their handprints on it and do all kinds of art on top of that thing and we've been using that mostly at music in the parks. Um and then we've also had it at the car show. So, open the open the doors and let kids come around and engage them in doing creating
some art of their own and some adults get involved too and that's cool. Um, and so, like I said, uh, music in the parks and big truck night. Um, art nights. This is where we've had artistled um, uh, what would you call them? Like a class or workshop. Um, and
and the participants the participants do have to have a little skin in the game. They pay what like 10 10 bucks. So they can participate and and make something really cool. Carrie, what are some of the items they've they've made? Blankets. >> Blankets. They did the arm knit blankets. They made the mandala on mugs.
They did a lot of painting. Watercolor painting is a favorite. So that >> all Yeah. All kinds of really different unique >> artistic styles and things that are explored and those are at the at the park building at Casey. And that's been that's been really neat and engaging
with artists that are leading our folks through those things. Um, in 2023 we had three of those. 2024 we had five. And then uh uh and then 2025 we had six. And this year we kind of figured that's our
sweet spot, six per year. Um, and that's also something nice that uh we can do those in the winter because we have the Casey Park building. So it gives activities available in kind of those off months. You know, everything gets so busy in the summer, but this allows us to have some activities available at
other times of the year. Um, and then the the Autumn Arts Festival. So, this is uh continuing to grow and uh we're really excited about that. We're going to be moving downtown this year, which is really cool. Um, but this has been in Casey Park and um Ava
has has really helped take the lead on this, but we really grew from this small thing and every year we're just like, okay, well, let's let's see what we can do. Let's see what comes of it. And people keep coming. We keep having more success. we get more artists involved and it continues to grow so we say okay
we got something here let's keep moving um so we've tested it tried it to see how it would work and and it's working and so and it's been great to see a lot of you at the autumn arts festival every year as well um and the national night out so we were a presence there in the
uh fire department building um uh helping people make snowy signs there's that snowman again here it is here it is again on the agenda there it is It's everywhere. Can't get away from it. >> Um, so what's next? So public art, so sculpture and other public art. So the
penny press. Carrie's going to tell you about that. And this year, you know, um, murals. I just want to say a little bit about murals. We've always had this as kind of a subcommittee and had budget dollars available so that we could execute a mural quickly. Um, and but one
of the things we've we've engaged with business owners in town to to to have to help participate in getting a mural done on their building if they're interested. There hasn't been a whole lot of interest just yet. Uh, there has been some interest early on, but so we continue to work and and see if
something's there that we can work with them. Um, public spaces were we we're kind of limited on the public spaces that we have. So now we're kind of looking at, you know, can we maybe bring in some sculpture that could maybe fit in in different places in the city. So we're looking at options there. Um, and
then murals like, oh, I jumped ahead there. So the business collaboration, the historical society museum. So uh, we kind of stepped into a partnership with the historical society last year. Looked like we were going to move forward with that. Um, and then we just, um, we
didn't feel like that one was going to live up to the quality that we expect from the commission. Um, I I hope you can trust us that we're we're not going to spend our taxpayer dollars. These are our dollars, too, right? Because we live here. Um, we're not going to spend those
dollars if we don't think it's the right thing to do and if it if we don't think it's going to be a home run for the city. Um, so so we step back from that in coordination with the historical society. Um, but something may still come of that with the historical society at some date. This year, not sure. Maybe
next. We'll see. Um, okay. And then utility boxes, more coming. Uh, Silver Lake Park, there's one coming this year. Casey Lake Park, that's uh one that I think the one I mentioned earlier. Um, events, art carts. So, we got a new trailer. So, this is really cool. So, we got this new
trailer so we don't have to worry so much about that big door coming down and slamming you on the head. Um, but it didn't happen, thank God. But, uh, it was I was always worried like that thing was going to come down and crush me. But um this this new trailer is really nice. So we're looking forward to using that one. We'll be at big truck night again.
Um and then at music in the parks I think at three. >> Uh there's two this year. >> Two this year. Okay. Um and then art night. I already mentioned there are six events this year and the autumn arts festival. So this will be our fifth one now. So is pretty cool and we're going to be downtown. Ava's uh spearheading
that and so we're really excited about what can become of that. So uh really appreciate and national night out will be there again. So, appreciate all the support. Um, we hope you're starting to see some of the fruits of our labor and the and the fruits of of your uh support that are showing up throughout the the
whole city. It's been pretty cool. Thanks. >> Awesome. Well, first I need to say thank you to Ron and his crew for amazing job plowing. Yay, Ron. >> And I have to say thank you to Lisa, his wife, who's going to lead our art night this Thursday. And we're completely
full. We've got one person on the waiting list. I'm really excited about it because I love making art with Lisa and she's donating her time. So, she's a volunteer for us for this event, which is great. Yeah. So, I'm looking forward to that. Um, penny press. So, we all know what a penny press is, right? You go in, you pay her 51 cents or whatever,
and you get a little penny smooshed out of it. Why a penny press when pennies are no longer being made? I'm glad you asked. You can either use, right, you could either use copper blanks. So, the the vendor we're working with in Colorado does have copper blanks we can use. We can also use nickels and dimes.
And so our commission discussed and we decided nickels cheaper. Might as well go with the nickel route. I mean, and more surface area, right? They're thicker. >> What do all their all their pennies? >> Oh my god. Right. >> Yeah. Or Yeah. I think they can retrofit it to still fit all your old pennies. So, we can do it. So, um the history
cruisers, I have confirmed permission from them to use that logo. So, we're set there. The other three are works in progress. So, I'm working with Ava, but this is our initial four round of designs. So, we've got Henry Castle, we've got the giant snowman, we've got the history cruisers because you can't
think of North St. Paul without the history cruisers. And then, uh, the pallet and paintbrush is not going to be the final design. That's just clip art that I found, but that's to represent our autumn arts festival. I mean, this is the arts commission putting this penny press together. So, I really felt that it our commission or committee
actually felt that it made sense for us to have something that represented the arts in St. Paul. So, we were going with a palette and brush. I am talking to Ava about a new logo for the Autumn Arts Festival, which I think would be much better than that uh clipboard in there.
But yeah, so that's the impetus of the uh penny press machine. It has wheels so we can take it places if we ever wanted to. I know that staff is at capacity with what they're already doing. We're already planning to put a sign on there that says that um there will be no change made at the front desk because
staff does not have the time to handle that. Any technical issues they cannot help with. So, we will um have to lean on our wonderful public works department, unfortunately, for support in that area. But that is our plan for the Penny Press. Oh, and there's more information about it. And that's what it looks like. They have the blue that
matches our blue. So, it's like it was planned. It was like it was meant to be. I'm very excited. Any questions? >> You're a good salesperson. >> Oh, thank you. >> Holy moly. >> I try. >> Very good. That's It's a cool looking machine. Yeah. >> Didn't realize it was that big.
>> Yeah. I'm excited. It doesn't require electricity. >> No. >> That's what the old crank is. Huh. >> Back when you used to start your car back in the day. >> Yeah. Yeah. I still start I still start the dozer that way. >> That's right. >> Any questions? Anybody?
>> Um I do have one. Uh great work. I really thank you. And this is more of a technical question for me. This will be the first time that I know of that I've voted um on something for the city that generates new revenue. And I was surprised reading it that there wasn't
something that said where that revenue went. Um it seemed more of a technical question, but so so the city's putting in something in place that it's going to take in a couple bucks. I mean I I hope you know eventually it pays for itself,
but there was nothing that said what happens to those couple bucks that surprised me in the in the legal wording. Is that >> That's a good question. I think it's fair statement. >> Yeah. >> And and I don't know who to ask that question.
>> General fund. >> I'd like to propose back to you guys. I mean, it's the machines being paid for. I again on Tom's end, it might not happen quickly, >> right? And again, I I'm not opposed to
that. I was just surprised that the resolution or the code didn't spell that out. >> Check. What do you do with our pennies? I >> mean, it's a good question. Um, I think it would be a good thing to address. I think that would be a good decision for
the council to make. Um, I there's not necessarily any restrictions on where you could put that money. It could go to the general fund. It could go back to the arts and culture commission budget. Um, that would just be a decision for the council. >> I mean, I think right now our art night
monies go back to the general fund. Is that right? I think so. >> I think so. Yeah. So, I mean, that's the precedent. I don't know if you want to follow that or if you want to >> arts festival, art nights, all that. It goes back to the general fund. So, >> and again, I I'm for it. I I plan on
voting yes. I just want to be transparent with all the residents and say where the couple bucks go. >> Absolutely. Appreciate that. >> Well, you know what I'm thinking? What happens if you guys at least repay back your money for the cost that you guys are going to have for the delivery
charge and the drop shipping charge of the lift gate? That's a lot of money coming off the truck like that for their service to drop the gate because it's 400 bucks. >> Yeah. >> At least get that paid for and then
we'll we make a decision where it goes, you know. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Great idea. Yeah. >> That's the first thing you want. pay back what you're losing by the truck delivery. >> Yeah, sure. Yeah. Yeah. So, totally. We're open. I'll leave it to city manager to fight that out with all of
you all, but >> we're just volunteers. >> Yeah, we appreciate it. >> You guys have your yearly budget. Excuse me. Yeah. >> So, I mean, they get you get it back, right? >> But, uh, general fund is just fine. You guys still have your budget.
>> I think this is a great idea. I the only concern I have is that um because we have limited hours here at city hall, >> how um I mean how how often are people going to be able to visit, especially when it's the work week and um they open
early, they close fairly early, business hours, right? Um is it is city hall the perfect place to pit it? Have you guys discussed other areas to place it? I mean, city hall made the most sense to us just because people come I mean I
come in here and pay my bills here so I'm in here once a month plus being here for arts commission. Um but yeah, I mean that's why I was excited about the wheels. I didn't realize that it would be a um challenge for staff. I I should have thought of that, but um yeah, that was the place we thought made the most
sense because it is centrally located. It is kind of the hub of our city or the heart of our city. Um but open to other ideas. I I did not know about the wheels option which was a really good idea and um maybe it's an another option to place it
out on the car show night car show >> or the arts festival knowing that that's going to be downtown this year. I think that's a great idea as well. >> You just wheel it right over but >> depending on how heavy it is. I'm assuming it's not that heavy but >> you never know. So I that's I think it's
a great idea. location was one of those like >> Yeah, maybe the Casey Park building throughout the summer or something. >> Oh, that's a good idea. >> Yeah, >> maybe it rotates. >> That's a good idea. Yeah, >> a ro I like that as well as we're brainstorming a rotating coin press. Hey,
>> sounds fun. >> I'm sure Ron can lift it. >> Oh, yeah. He can do anything. >> Team >> Yeah. See, he said yes. He's got it. So, I guess I would just say revisit like how often can we if we can move it.
I mean, obviously if it's heavy, >> but we want people to be aware of it. So, not if you have children that want to come and see and try the penny press, which >> I I see it when I was a kid, I did it. My kids like to do it. I'm assuming others do too. It's very nostalgic.
>> Um, having the ability for people to use it. >> Yeah. >> Great feedback. Thanks. Cool. >> Throw it up for a vote. >> Thanks for the time everyone. >> Thank you. Appreciate everyone. >> Mr. Mayor, if I may. There there was a
staff report in your packet. There is a resolution. >> Yep. That's what I was going to do next. Here. >> So, a resolution for the coin press purchase authorization resolution. Can I have a motion? >> I'll Excuse me. I'll make a motion. >> Move. There you go. >> All right. Council member Schwar. Second.
>> Second. >> Second. Council member Woods. All those in favor say I. >> I. I. Thank you very much. Appreciate it, gang. >> Thank you. All right. Next up is special event ordinance update. Back to community development director, Mr. Roberts.
>> Mr. Mayor, members of the council, we bring before you uh my staff and myself an update, proposed update to the special event permit ordinance. C has had this ordinance in place since 2008. And through our experiences in the last
couple years, we found there's some ways to improve the processes and make it easier for the users and city staff. So, we're proposing a few changes to the ordinance. Uh the biggest change I would say is and I
don't know why that's still up there. >> Yeah, I know. What the heck? >> Just a minute. Okay, wait. Close that. There we go. Thank you. Uh we are proposing uh to create two
different types of special event permits. One we're calling now a special event registration and this is proposed to be for the smaller events that would occur on private property to not require
city services. It would have no more than one mobile food vendor. We wouldn't charge a fee or registration for these, but we would want an applicant to fill out the paperwork and application. So, we as a city were aware of it. We can
notify police, fire if we need to. And then there's documentation. If they're having a small event, we don't feel it necessary to have them pay a fee, go through all the licensing requirements. Uh this could be for example if you're having a graduation party. Maybe you
have one mobile food vendor come. It's on your private property. That's great. Doesn't need any s city services. Let's keep that simple. The primary special event permit
uh would remain the same. Uh that fee remains the same at $80 plus a $15 processing fee. The definition has changed a little bit where we now make it clear this would be for events on
public property that require city services andor have more than one mobile food vendor. So again the larger events such as the car show for example it's an example of that.
Uh we to facilitate this we're proposing new definitions again defining clearly defining what a special event permit is adding the new definition of special event registration again that's for the smaller events that do not need uh city
services and are on private property. We for any of these we are asking or suggesting in the ordinance that they would applicant provide the city a complete site plan which would
indicate the location of the vendors stages tents sanitary facilities many things that we should have all the time wasn't clear in the ordinance. So we're adding that as just clearly outline what
we expect with an application. For the request, we're putting the timeline that they submit their applications at least 45 days before the event uh to ensure we get enough staff time to review that, answer questions, get more
information from an applicant if needed. If it's if we get an application less than 45 days before the date, uh we can expedite it, but there will be an additional fee that the city would
charge for that. Uh and then we will provide provide the forms and uh again they would be submitted through the city and approved by the city manager. If and as part of this with the mobile
food vendors, we are also clarifying that the city will need a complete list of the mobile food vendors at least 14 days prior to the event. And that again allows time for their inspections, their license check or their insurance checks,
uh verifying that they have the necessary inspections from Ramsey County. If they receive if the city receives those uh lists 13A or less than the event we're putting in the ordinance that we
cannot guarantee all the requested vendor licenses can be processed by staff. We will try. We'll do our best, but if there's a flood of things that come in at the last minute, we're making it clear that we don't want to promise
100% that we'll be successful every time. We're also adding language that uh staff may deny the application due to the event location being unavailable, and we would notify the applicant within
five business days. If for some reason we come up with some kind of a conflict or problem that we weren't aware of, we'll certainly notify an applicant. Those are the highlights of the proposed changes. I'll take questions if there are any.
Otherwise, we have for you tonight two actions. There's an ordinance for recommending approval that changes the special event ordinance as outlined in this report. And there's also a resolution that propo approves the proposed amendments to the fee schedule
because there are some fee changes outlined as well. With that, I'll take questions. I have one question. um for for the special event registration for things like um you mentioned like
graduation parties and things like that for events being held at like Casey Lake or Howy Park or things like that. Is the reservation of the shelter the inherent special event registration or is that a separate process that would need to be completed?
>> Council member Woods and members of the council that's a separate thing. >> Okay. Uh if I could just chime in a little bit. Um the definition of special event is an event that is open to the general public. So something like a um
graduation party where you're inviting, you know, friends and family, but not necessarily people walking in off the street would not necessarily qualify as a special event that needs a permit. >> Okay. Okay. >> Thank you for the clarification. Can can you speak to the approval process? Right
now, my understanding is the current special event permits come before the council. >> Correct. >> Would would both of those type of approvals or either or still need to come before the council? >> Uh, council member Norby and the members of the council and I've got this on the
screen. The special event registration is a staff approval only. >> Does not require city council. Again, we're trying to simplify the smaller events that don't have a big impact that staff can approve those special event permits like they do now would come back
to the council as they always have. >> Thank you for that clarification. I appreciate that. >> And is that specific to having a mobile food vendor only at a private property? No, they they don't even have to have a
mobile food vendor. Uh to become to require the registration. Um >> so >> well wait I I'm sorry. Let's be clear. I want to make sure I'm not
so special event permits or registration, excuse me. It's when a special event occurs on private property, does not require city services, and has no more than one mobile food vendor. So, if they do have one mobile food vendor coming to their
property, then that would require the registration. >> Okay? >> If they don't have any, >> so if I don't I'm going to use just graduation party because it's it's on the table. So, if I'm having a graduation party for my family member, whether they live at the house or not, I
don't have to come to the city to register. It's only specific if I use a mobile food vendor. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> Now, does that food vendor have to park on the property or on the street, that city street, then they would need a permit?
We haven't clarified that, but we can certainly make that a condition. If need be, if they should be or kept on the private property, we can do that. So to clarify, one of the things coming to my mind is one of the local bars has
a rotten corn feed. It's contained entirely in their own parking lot. Yep. >> There's no mobile food vendors, >> right? >> Currently, they have to get a special event permit. So something like that would no longer need an event permit because it's held entirely on their property.
>> Um they pro Is that accurate? they but they may need city services whether it's fire or police or security or you know but >> I think one could say the same thing for
a house too. I mean if something were to happen with a mobile food vendor at on a city street in front of my house and we need local fire, local police, whatever that whatever that is. Um, I mean, one
can argue that as well. >> I still think it should come through council just so everyone's aware of what's going on >> or would that just fall under a registration? >> Well, that that was the goal of having the registration. And if it's a small
event on private property with no more than one vendor, we as a staff are trying to make it easier for those folks to get a registration so the city knows about it but not overburden them with a timeline with city council. And uh
>> would one vendor make enough money to go do go to graduation? >> Well, that's not that doesn't matter. That has nothing to do. >> Yeah. What about I it seems like what threw this in is the one Jason brought up. So what as far as because yours was a was it
called a corn feed? >> A broughten corn feed >> private brought corn. >> I I I know what a local bar has. It's self-contained within their parking lot. Um they they do not do any food trucks for it because they're doing the rotten corn. Um so I guess the question is what
city what is city services? What is that definition? >> Because they're not using public works. Correct me if I'm wrong. Right. >> Correct. >> So, >> they probably would not need a permit then >> based on this definition.
>> And and there might be one that a local church does too. That would no longer need a per I'll just throw that pen. Um that would no longer need a permit. Not their big one, but a smaller one. >> Yeah. The big variable is probably the number of mobile food vendors
>> and the inspections that those require and and and they also if it's open to the public versus a private party like a graduation party where it's so after these all these scenarios were thrown out. Are we still comfortable with how
everything's written as far as your >> We are, but if if the council would like >> I didn't know if anything changed your thoughts or anything like that after some questions were brought up because, you know, I just want to make sure we're still on the same page. >> It's great you're putting me on the
spot, but that's great. Uh, yes. I can certainly see where there could be some gray areas or not clear. If the council has some specific things he'd like us to relook at and bring them back, we can certainly do that if there's questions.
>> I mean, I understand the purpose of the special event registration for a homeowner, for the corn feed. I get it. Let's make the let's make our um our uh city services aware of it because if we do get a call whatever it looks like we have that
I see a lot of confusion that this could cause too um and clarification I think we just need to I mean it's I don't know if the wording needs to be redone >> anything else once you start talking about a little more things come up if everybody feels that you know that it
needs to maybe be worded. I mean, >> for my help, is it the definitions that are or just what applies? >> When I first heard about it, it sounds like just a just a um
graduation or some party like that, but now all of a sudden we're getting restaurants and, you know, or different places involved, too. So, it's kind of creeped in. And are we comfortable with that? Mhm. >> Because right now if they do their corn and brought do they have to do they have
to get a permit now? >> We we approve the permit every year we have. >> Okay. So now are we comfortable with that type of thing going just to not have to do it? That's where the clarification is how everybody feels about it.
>> And that's a valid question on mayor's end right there too. Is the council comfortable with that as we're now having moving to this piece of having a registration versus a special event permit? Um
to me, I'll give my opinion. I'm fine with it as long as it brings clarity to what what are the expectations if it is a business owner or a bar, whatever it is. if they are handling everything on their property. They're doing the cleanup, they're doing um it's
corn, it's it's not a mobile food, it's they're doing it all. I think a registration is just fine. But you there could be one to argue that it's why why do they get that and I have to have a special event permit? It's the
exact same event. I mean, I just see some phone calls coming into city hall. One of the things I would say to uh Council Member McKenzie's point, I if we do um go forward with this and and personally I think I am in favor, I
would appreciate like a monthly email though of the approved ones just so we're aware of the events. >> So would the I have a question. So would the registration for the not and not a permit just to notify the
city of you know the extra capacity. Does this bring an extra hundred customers to that business? So just the city's aware of that. Was that the idea behind that? >> The intent was just for city awareness and then if we get phone calls then we can say well they they registered with
the city and they got their staff approval versus going to the council. >> So we will know about it. The staff will know about it. Yes. >> Well, I I Mr. Mayor, I see two options. U
if you're comfortable with it, we want to give it a try for this year, move forward with it. If you want some more clarity on private events and when it when when's a special event versus a reg registration needed, we can go back and
oh, I hate the term workshop it a little more and then bring it back to you if you want some changes for we want to get this in place for the summer clearly coming up, but we got a little time we could >> right now for that one we voted on for it. So that brought us what more
information than just them saying, "Hey, we're we're doing it." And the staff does it to come to us. What more does that do for Does that make any difference for to have it come to us or just to have it go to staff or go to in and say
we're getting this permit, we're good, off you go instead of special event. what I don't know if I'm wording this correctly. What brings it up to that hierarchy and what we be losing not having special event going to this? Is there anything that you know as far as information or anything like that or is
it just a need to know? >> It I would say it's just just the need to know and again we're trying to streamline for the smaller events that don't have a public input or impact >> just so we're aware of it. we can notify
police and fire just so they're aware of it >> and you guys will be doing that just with the permit part. Yes. So then I'm comfortable with that because at least people are knowing because you we're every two weeks or you know twice a month >> and you know be able to pull in front like that then I would now that makes sense to me. We still know it's just the
staff saying okay you know let this let the city people know that we were we're having this event they're having this event on Saturday. >> Yes. >> So I'm I think I'm Anybody else? It comes down to whether city st city services are required at the event at
the time >> and it's more of an awareness that hey if something does come up there's 100 people potentially at this place and one of those may need medical >> and they could happen any day at any event. Somebody could walk in a Newman's and fall and it's not an event but we
still have to do it. So it really doesn't make that difference I think. >> Correct. Would we still get a notification through the council though at least what could be happening or this will be just thrown out through the >> I don't think the council need council
doesn't need to know. I think staff that's their job. All right. Does everybody sound okay with that? If I if I now there's one thing on here. What do you want us? You said two things to vote on. So you read it first one will vote.
>> Thank you. The first one on the screen is the we're recommending approval of the ordinance that approves the amendments to the special event permit as outlined this evening in the report. And then the second item is about the fee schedule.
>> Okay. First item, the amendment for the permit. Do I have a motion on that? >> I'll make a motion. >> Council member Schwear. >> Have a second. >> Second. >> Second. Council member Norby. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. And again, the second item is a resolution that approves the proposed
amendments to the 2026 fee schedule uh that was that's included in the staff report in the >> perfect. >> I'll make a motion to that as well. >> Thank you, Council Member Schwar. Second. >> Second. >> Second. Council member Woods. All those in favor say I.
>> I. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Last up on the city business action items and recommendations, item D is the 2026 pavement management project, city project number 26-01 received bid award contract and
authorized professional construction services. And Morgan's here to give us the good news. >> Oh, we already broke the surprise. The good news. That's good to hear. >> Thanks, Brian. Uh, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. So this next item here
before you is um to consider the bids and award a construction contract for the 2026 pavement management project um and also authorized professional services for the construction administration contract administration uh observation during uh the
construction process. So as you may recall uh this this project has been before you before uh the streets are um this is primarily pavement replacement. We do have a small area of water mane replacement that public works had identified. All of the streets were
identified by public works previously. Um we're talking about sections of first street uh between Navajo and Indian Mohawk between 17th Avenue and Mcnite. 7th Street um north of 30 highway 36 to 9th Avenue. Cow from 7th A to 6th
Street. Sixth Street from Holloway to 7th A. Cow from Mcnite to First Street. Memory Lane and Memory Court and Polaris Place and Polaris Court as well as a bid alternate which I've mentioned previously to the council for Skiilman between Mcnite um and Third Street
approximately. And the good news is the bids came in very good. So we do have uh it within the budget to complete the base bid plus the alternative of Skilman. >> And so that is the recommendation and proposal before you here tonight. Um the
bids received range if we just include the alternate alto together with the base bid the bids range between 2.12 million and 2.49 million. Um if you take out that high bidder actually all of the bids were all within $100,000 which is
usually a good sign. That means things were pretty clear to the contractors. Plans were good. Specs were good. Um fairly competitive u uh situation here. And so we feel really good that this was a good representation of the true cost of the project. Uh low bid was just
slightly under the engineers estimate. So everything did come in uh where we were hoping for it. It's uh within budget for all the different funding components as I laid out in the memo. Um and so I'll stand for any questions. You've heard about the project before.
One note uh also just pertaining to construction. We are going to plan some version of a neighborhood open house or something like that just to invite folks out to, you know, pre-construction to learn more about the project so they know what's going on. Um, and but we
haven't selected a date or anything. So, we'll work with Ava on that moving forward to to put together a meeting. Um, and as always, I can recommend uh that you consider the bids and uh adopt by resolution or authorize by resolution
a construction contract to the low bidder of Valley Paving in the amount of 2,124,44745. The second uh action item is to consider uh WSB proposal for professional services. I can't recommend that. So, if you do need a recommendation, that might
need to come from uh the city manager. But with that, I'll stand for any questions the council might have before uh considering action on this item. >> Thank you for that information. Does anybody have any questions? I know we've been talking about this one. It's good to get it on the books.
>> Nice to be able to get the alternative in there as well. >> Yes. >> Yeah, we are pleased with the bid results. Yeah, absolutely. >> Nice job. >> Yeah. >> So, >> all right. I'll ask for a motion on the 20 2026 pavement management project. >> I will make a motion.
>> Council member Schwear. >> I will second. >> Second. Council member Woods. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> And you got to do the one for him. >> I would like to make a recommendation for WSB's professional construction services for this next. >> I have a motion for that.
>> I will make a motion. Council >> member recommendation. >> My leader today. Thank you. >> I will second. >> Second. Council member Woods. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Morgan kind of like to say a special thanks to Mark Lynch for doing such a wonderful job.
>> Oh, that's really nice of you to Yeah. So, uh, many of you might know Mark Lynch. He grew up here in town. Um, knows almost everybody that, uh, if I'm standing next to him and we bump into a random resident, uh, he has some sort of
history with him. He's an employee of WSB. has been with WSB for gosh um probably about 10 or 15 years, been in the construction industry for much longer than that. Um his dad actually
worked for uh the city of North St. Paul, I think proper, and then also did a lot of work with as a with an engineering consulting firm different than WSB, but his uh dad's name is on a lot of different stuff from back in the day. and um he is finally going to
retire and hang it up this summer. So he's going to finish out doing the inspection and observation for what's left on the 2025 project up by Casey Lake. Um and uh so he'll be with us, you know, probably through July. Um but we
will have a new inspector for this 2026 project. Um and I haven't met him yet, but I'm hearing good things. And so we will try to do a transfer of institutional knowledge between Mark and the new person. And um yeah, I'm I'm hopeful for uh good things with the new
person, but certainly we thank Mark for all his uh several years and many many projects worth of contributions for North St. Paul uh with WSB and just his family in general for North St. Paul infrastructure. I think over the years, I mean, it's generational. It's decades
and decades. And um if you do see him, you know, give him a slap on the back and an add a boy and and uh we're all we were all very lucky to have him, I think, over the years. So, it'll be sad to see him go, but everybody needs to retire at some point. And I think this is a great time for him uh with
grandkids and travel and all sorts of stuff. I think he's looking forward to it. So, I kind of had to kind of give him a little bit of extra, you know, come on, you can join us for the Casey Lake project for one more. story. So, he might have retired like a year ago, but
he's sticking with us to finish up the project and I know he's very proud of what he's done and and it's always I mean, I think we were just really lucky to have like a local person who just happened to work for WSB and was able to >> work on all these projects. So, yeah, thank you to Mark. Thank you for
bringing that up. That's a really good thing to recognize Mark Lynch for. So, >> great. >> Thank you. >> Well, we wish him the best. >> Yes. Happy retirement. All right, reports. >> All right, next up, reports. City manager and departments. Um, last week
the uh League of Women Voters reached out to uh which they usually host the um forums for the new u council members and mayors that may be running for whoever's up and they're hoping to have it here in the council
chambers on uh September 8th. We happen to have an EDA meeting that night. So we have that from about 4:00 to 5:00 and they are looking for uh from probably about 5 to 9ine depending on how many people run and good stuff like that. But uh so more information to come on that but uh I think that would be nice to
hold here. Normally it was at the the Legion previously. Uh some department updates. We had uh um system inspection that the lecturer's been working on as he kind of mentioned, but uh we also got Quick Trip has been
reaching out and you know getting their permits and working with the electric department because they have to have a generator run the building while they have to move the transformer and make way for their second wash bay that they have there. Uh communications has been
participated in a grant writing workshop last week. So, she's looking to be kind of touching base with the department heads and seeing the needs and what to look out for and um so I think she'll be a good addition for doing that. Um she's also working on booking the autumn arts festival at the new locations getting
vendors lined up and getting stuff together. So, it'll be nice to see finance of course been wrapped up with the uh auditors last week. Just felt like a weight lift off our damned shoulders and he feels better. So, and
then we did hold uh the reviews for the uh finance coordinator position and uh in interviews for that. And Melissa Alicia did start that on this Monday. So, she'll be working under
the wing of Jackie and picking those skills up while she's still here till I believe the 20 22nd of May. So, >> she started this Monday or next Monday. >> This this Monday. Yep. We did the interviews last Friday. So, yep. we're going to get her in right away and make sure she's because she'll be doing payroll and things like that. Really
important stuff. So, learning the new system. So, I think she's gonna do a really good job. She's also the one that has been went back to college to be an accountant and so she's really driven and it was really great to see that and this is going to work out well.
Uh police has one position open that's still going to be open until the 27th, but uh they already have 30 applications for that position. So, that's really great to see. Um they also been working with the Motorola team. They've had um some of their equipment has been coming in. Um this week they're going to be
doing a complete inventory um address wiring potential serving uh server issues and system anticipated to be operational hopefully by the end of the month. So that'll be good. Uh public works been busy. Uh they keep
an eye on the student build house as well. That's all contained now and enclosed. They got the roof on. Got the windows in, the doors are on. Um getting heat in there. They did uh pour some of the the basement already. Um got the plumbing in there before they did that,
of course. Um but now they're working on the interior work of the building. So it's coming together. Um they got a really good start on street sweeping until this snow so rudely showed up. Uh hopefully this will melt soon. They can finish that up and take care of the rest
of that. Uh summer staffing is already out there. Uh they got four applications in already and six applications for the horiculturist position. Um we did have one of our public works people that turned in their resignation notice. He's going to be going to his hometown for a job there. So that
position will be posted here soon. Um so we're looking forward to seeing what that'll bring in. Uh fire's been busy with uh they're doing their first live burn training for 2026. That's scheduled tomorrow out at the training center. Um they have several offers that officers that are attending leadership training
in Duth this week end and uh they're doing some emergency vehicle operation training which is also taking place this weekend. Um also working with the code compliance issues addressing snow and parking and yard maintenance issues. They've created
some door hangers that they can put out on there now. So a little quicker than coming back and having to type up a letter and then mailing that out. So just kind of streamlining that a little bit. Um, and the access control system. You probably seen some of the pads around. They got power to them now.
They've lit up, so they're getting closer. They're still waiting on some u parts that are backorded, but uh shouldn't be too much longer. Um, community development. Uh, the Mcnite use agreement with the school is in progress for the Mcnite fields.
Um, and also spending a lot of time, uh, doing cleanup day planning and we had a meeting today on that actually. So, um, really getting the fin finishing touches on it and I believe Ava put that out for it'll probably be advertised tomorrow. So, that's coming up as well. That's all
I got for you. >> Thank you very much. Reports, Council Shre, >> the only report I have is that uh, parks and recreation will meet next Wednesday here at 6:30. >> Thank you very much.
>> I have none of All right. Um, arts and culture met after our last uh, city council meeting. Um, and I've got nothing to add beyond what uh, the commissioners presented tonight. So,
>> the next planning commission will be April 2nd. Um, come to the these chambers here to come see me and Ken and have a good time. >> There's one thing you and I had was EDA. We're going to be doing the doing the parking lot. We're going to be paving between Sidewinders and the tattoo
place. So, that's was signed and uh turned in. So, they're going to get that cleaned up because we were missing a bunch of pavement in the middle there where that old office doctor's building used to be. So, that's in the plans here. It's going to be uh hopefully early summer here or late fall, late
spring, excuse me. Y >> Yep. >> Does the weight restrictions come off the roads and get equipment in? >> Yep. So, we have some real competitive bids. It was actually um about 20,000 cheaper than it was when we looked at this a couple years ago. So, uh, looking forward to having that done. It's going to be striped and ready to go. We also
moved the sign, um, trying to focus on if we have development involved in town or people interested. We had a great EDA meeting. We had, um, Jim Lavel, is I right? He was here kind of giving us the state of the union out there when it comes to different office buildings and
different uh, different places, how development is going and things like that. So he was it was very informative about uh some of the some shocking stuff too about how much buildings have been selling for commercial buildings. It was quite an eye openener as far as that. And uh so we have our development sign
moved over to um the Margaret um fur over across the street here. So that's the future development signs over there. And there's no um then we took down our public parking sign over there because we're going to have this one paved and we need to follow our own rules. So,
all right. New business or uh general business, I'm sorry. >> I don't have anything to share. >> All right. I had a hiccup at the house last night. I apologize not making the historical meeting last night. >> Oh, had a uh an issue at the house. >> Okay. Well, that happens for sure.
Anything new for any of you guys? >> I've got nothing. >> All right. >> Happy St. Patrick's Day. Yeah. >> If you choose to celebrate, please do responsibly. I uh have a couple things. So, it was kind of fun. I actually texted Ron and say, "Can I go out uh for plowing?" So, we had a nice big storm.
So, Sunday uh Brian Fry came up. It wish we had a video camera. America's funniest video trying to watch me get into that truck was I barely made it, but I went out for a couple hours on uh on Sunday with the gang. So, Brian and I mean it it was like told my wife it was
like a ballet. We were in the first truck. We they came around the corner. They grabbed what we left over. Then the next truck came along. And I just really give credit to our public works guys. They really uh really are amazing how they can take care of that. And and it's just flawless. All of a sudden we get to
a corner. Here comes the other guy around the corner. I don't know how they can time it like that. It's it's it's uh it's amazing. Um the trucks themselves, I was able to see all the joysticks of course. Watched them do that. There's a temperature of what the temperature is of the road so they can do the mixture
for the So the road was 31. the air temperature was 32 and just really a good time being able to ride around in that just to see what they can do. So that was a that was a fun event. Thank you for letting me uh participate in that. I >> I waited I wanted a big storm and boy
that was it. >> You know, I will piggyback off that though. I do appreciate that one is after the other because I only have to shovel out my sidewalk in front of the house >> once. I don't have to wait another hour.
It's about five minutes later that. So, thank you. >> Yep. >> And right turns only, too. I learned that and the route was cool. >> So, why the the trucks are those close that close together? Then we're just on our main roads. So, that's how that
happens. And the reason that why is because the roads are wider. So, it would take one truck three passes to do that. So, we do that that way. So, we can couple reasons. So we can do it in just one time and take care of it like
that. So we don't come back in an hour later, you know, to do that. On the side roads, um, the driver might go by like like the mayor said, we take all right turns so we don't leave any wind rows crossing roads. So that's why sometimes
you'll see a truck go by and you won't see them for a half hour or 40 minutes because they're might be in an area taking all right-hand turns and then once they're done with that they come back and they take all right-hand turns again to catch the other side of the road. So I just want people to think,
hey, they take care of that. >> This is where I live. I'm sorry. I live in a really good area then. >> So thank you. I appreciate you team too. So he told me now you have to correct because Brian I don't know if it's right or not but he said we got pretty much 80 linear miles of road. Does that sound
right? As I was asking how much because we have a you know the our area we have >> I believe we have like 48 miles of road. So it's like double that. So if you you call it lane miles on one side and then the other. Yep. So yeah >> that's interesting. >> Alleys and sidewalks.
>> Yep. Yeah. >> Well, I was watching and too I was also watching um uh Dudak Todd, I think it is. >> Yes. >> He was doing a magnificent job, too. That guy really knows how to work his equipment and he pushed it out. Then our guys were sweeping, you know, hitting it by and our downtown looked beautiful right after that.
>> Yeah. I believe Todd has plowed down here. Don't quote me on this, but I I bet you it's at least 25 years. And there's not a waste in motion that that guy does that when he's down there. And >> our bucket was picking it up. It was >> Yep. If we ever if we ever, you know, we that goes out to bid every like three
years, um if we ever lose him, um we'll probably have to hire two people to replace what he does. I think he can plow that with his eyes closed down there. I mean, he does a really great job down there. And it's was just like a welloiled machine. It was so fun watching all these vehicles going past each other. We were going down the main
street and then the they were coming to get the sidewalk stuff and then we were going past and it was just amazing. >> Yeah, >> it was fun. Thanks. >> Yep. You're welcome. >> And I apologize. I hijacked, but I did not. Thank you guys. And truly, we are blessed as a city to have the response
that you guys put out there for snow removal. Um, >> 100%. >> Yeah, we are ridiculously blessed and people don't understand that the moments that they do call you. We're we're a very fortunate city to have what we have with you guys as public.
>> Thank you. We take a lot of pride in it. You know, there's a lot of planning that goes into it. you know, when we have these big storms like this, it's it's tough when they last, you know, if they're going to last for a 24-h hour period because we only have the 10 guys and just trying to break this up where we're going to have to do, you know, if
we're getting uh 18 or 20 inches like they were talking about, we can't let that all go and plow that all at one time, especially this time of the year. As big as those trucks are, they won't push it. We won't be able. So, uh, thankfully we we were able to
take care of this. We went around three times. I know I took many calls where people were upset. Um, but we have to go around multiple times because we just can't do it all in one one push. So, we went out at 4:00 a.m. The guys went out, plowed everything. We got done at about
10:30 in the morning. They took an hour break, ate some food, went back out again. We got done at about 6:30 that night, which was Sunday night. And then they came back in at 4 am and did it all again. So >> just to be clear, the complaints are that they had to go out and and and do the end of their drive
>> shovel the end of the driveway again. >> Now I grew up in the St. Paul Midway. My buddy Mark still lives over over on Bolair. And I sent him a picture of me getting, you know, in front of the truck and I said, "This is what they call a snow plow. You've never seen one in the wild?" And he goes, "I haven't." He goes, "Can you send him to St. Paul?"
Yes. So you know, I understand it when the snow is that heavy it's a lot of work to shovel. Um, but our main goal is to and the main roads usually get plowed an extra time or two than the side roads, but we do that so we can try to get people out to work. We have to the
the timing of the stuff we, you know, we do our best to try to get people out or consider, you know, we don't like to be out in the middle of the day with people as much as the people don't like the plows being out there. So, I mean, there's a lot that goes into thinking about when we go out, >> the timing of it, how many times we do
it. We do consider all that stuff. Um, but you know, the main goal is to keep everyone safe and get them, you know, being a letting them be able to go out and get to work or get home from work or whatever it might be. So, >> right. Well, thank you, >> Ron. Are you still expecting tonight to
be a plowable event? >> Uh, yes. Um, I I got to plan on the side of caution. So, we're having the crew come in at 4:00 a.m. Uh, I know it'll be done uh sooner than it'll probably be out here. I was looking at that back during during
the meeting. Um, it looks like it'll probably be done nine o'clock. It looks like maybe an inch and a half, but we'll see how it looks. The guys will come in. If we have to do something, we will. If we don't, so be it. So, >> great. >> Thank you for everything. >> Y Thanks. >> Also, I did make it to the North St.
Paul Historical Society. So, um, that was a great time. All I had one guy that was talking to me that's been in North St. Paul 85 years, and the other one's been here 80 years. So I mean to all the different buildings they're like you reminded me of you when I was talking to him. They go four bu four owners back on
these buildings and doctor was here above this building that was there. So it was really a great turnout too. There was a lot of people that showed up for that and it uh it's always fun going to the events historical society just a great group of people and just a lot of fun. People want to come talk about the
>> the different things that have happened over the years in North St. Paul. So, that was a great event and I thank Sue and her in the group that does that. Uh, I know Elaine, I was talking to her and she said she was pretty tired. She was working on it and she does a great job. So, we're very lucky to have those guys.
>> All right. Well, nothing else. I'll >> Can I add one thing? Um, I mentioned in the update with public works about losing a public works employee, but Chase Lenny has worked here for nine years and uh, he's been a great employee. He's been dedicated. They're a
close-knit group down there. So, it's tough when they lose somebody, but uh he just had a better offer there closer to home and stuff, but I just want to thank him for his years of service here and the good job he's done. >> That's great. >> So, thank you. >> All right. Appreciate that. We appreciate all all of our employees and
what they do. So, a motion to adjurnn if nothing else for April 7th is our next meeting. >> That seems a long time. >> I know. I'll make a motion. Yeah. >> All right. Council member Swear. >> Second. >> Second. >> Second. Council member Norby. All those in favor say I.
>> I. >> Thank you all. >> Thank you. >> Next time we come here, we're going to be in shorts. >> I would like to think that. >> Yeah. Now you've done it. Now it will be snowing.