Good evening everyone. I'd like to welcome you to the ABSO city council meeting. Tonight is Monday, July 13th. Audrey, can you have the record show that our city attorney is online, our city planners present, our city engineers present along with all council members, along with our assistant city
administrator and our city administrator. At this time, I will ask you all to join us in the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under
God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Our first item this evening, we are going to have the oath of office and swearing in. So, I will ask Chief McCoy to join me up front along with firefighter Erin Andy and then we will
do firefighter Grant Carlson next. >> I state your name. I >> do solemnly swear that I will faithfully and discharge the duties of firefighter. >> Do solemnly swear that I will faithfully
discharge firefighter. >> I pledge to carry out these duties to the best of my ability. >> I pledge to carry out the duties to the best of my ability. >> And I will honor and respect the mission. and I will honor and respect the mission
>> goals and policies of these fire. >> Goals and policies of the fire. >> I recognize the badge of my office as a symbol of public faith and trust. >> I recognize the badge of my office as a symbol of public faith, trust.
>> I will serve the residents of the city of OGO passion, dedication, and integity. I will serve the residents, the city of Oiggo with compassion, dedication, honor, >> and to uphold the laws and constitutions of the United States of America, the
state of Minnesota, and the city of >> and to uphold the laws and constitutions of America, the state of Minnesota. >> And at this time, girlfriend friends. All right. Thank you.
>> All right. This time I'll ask Carlton and his parents to come up also. I state your name. >> Hi, Grant Carlson. >> Do solemnly swear that I will faithfully and partially discharge the duties of firefighter for the city of Delta.
>> Imly swear that I will faithfully impartially discharge the duties of firefighter city. >> I pledge to carry out these duties to the best of my ability. I pledge to carry out these duties to the best of my ability >> and will honor and respect the mission
>> and will honor and respect mission >> goals and policies of these fire department >> goals and policies of these fire department. >> I recognize the badge of my office as a symbol of public faith and trust. >> I recognize the badge of my office as a symbol of public faith and trust. I will
serve the residents of the city of passion, dedication, honor, and >> I will serve the residents of the city of compassion, dedication, honor, and integrity. and to uphold the laws of the constitution of the United States of
America, the state of Minnesota. >> No. and to uphold the laws and constitutions of the United States of America, state of Minnesota, city patient. Right. Thank you. Next.
All right. Our next item of business this evening is the open forum. This is the portion of the meeting where you can come to the podium, state your name and address, and limit comments to five minutes or less. Would anyone like to speak at this time?
Good evening, mayor and council members. Jeannie Holland, county commissioner. Just came with an update. Uh haven't had that for a while. Uh I know you guys are getting ready for your budgets and I did share with Adam that the contract for uh
the uh uh your deputies will go up to um 122 an hour. We wanted to keep that lower. That's like a 6% increase. Uh but sadly it's it's the insurance that went
up 18%. So uh in relation to that we are very excited though when we look at your per capita and I think your per capita uh rate for your uh um deputies is
around $80. And if you look at the city of Rogers and Elk River and Big Lake, it's a third of what they're paying. So, you get a lot of bang for your buck and especially at Sego because you have Jason Owens and uh you have the prize uh
of the department that supports you guys. Um, I do have to say that we uh we weren't really paying attention this year during the legislative uh season because it was a bonding year. Bonding, we were making sure we were getting
money coming back. Um, usually they don't uh send anything our way budgetarily because the budget year is the year before, but because the federal government sent the SNAP down to the
state and then the state decided that they were going to put it into the counties, we are seeing right now uh that would be a 9% increase in our levy, which is basically $9 million.
We have been working diligently to uh um bring as much of that increase down. We are we are going through the budget again like we did last year. Remember last year we went from 14% down to five
five and a like 5.5. This year we it looks like it it would be like 10%. We want to get it down to five. That might be a little harder um because we did go through last year, but
we've already uh cut $750,000 from HHS, which is huge. We've realigned a lot of things. We've eliminated staff, which is very unheard of in government. Um so very proud of all the hard work
that our leaders are doing, our department heads are looking diligently and not only that the the staff themselves are seeing how we can save money in many ways because they too are
uh taxpayers. Property tax is the only way we can get money sadly. Um, I know Senator Hoffman was very upset with that shift for uh the SNAP benefits. We did ask if we could, you know, cut down on
how many people receive SNAP and we are not allowed to by federal law. Um, so we are pretty much stuck with that shift. Um, not happy about it at all. It's not uh we're we are going to be working very
hard next session to make sure more shifts don't come because this is the time of the year where I get sick to my stomach thinking about all the people that ha I don't like property taxes. I and when I was on
the school board for 14 years I always worried about the young families and the people on fixed incomes. And I know it's been said before like in the past in the last couple months that we have a $19
million surplus, but that 19 million is similar to what you guys do at the city level as when I was on the schoolboard for 14 years. we have to keep a a three to six months uh um uh surplus to the
side in case because we've seen it I've seen it in in now three of the committees I'm on the federal government doesn't pay in time or the state doesn't pay in time. We need to have that money to pay our staff and to keep our keep
keep the county running. So I would love to use that $18 million to bring the levy down. It would be great, but it's it it's by by our auditors and by uh the government rules and regulations. We are
keeping that in case something would ever happen because we never know when the uh we already know that this year, this fall, we might see another federal shutdown. Um and we have a lot of federal grants that we process through the county as well as state. We don't
know what's going to happen in the state. hoping that elderly waiver doesn't come our way. Um we fought that really hard two years ago during the budget season. Um so we're kind of in precarious times as far as the county
goes. Uh the county knows that you guys have an impact. your schools have an impact because if if the the county uh if our if the property tax is raised because of the county a little harder to get bonds and levies to pass for schools
and then it is very hard for you guys to be able to um budget. I I'm working really hard because I know that from your standpoint that is not a fun place to be because that is too how you guys get your your your taxes to run your
city. So, um kind of sad news, not very fun news, but uh it is what it is, but know that we're just going line by line. This is this is we have two months of it. So, we we're already every day going into meetings uh to figure out how we
can better utilize staff and and uh kind of uh bring that tax levy burden down. So, does anybody have any questions? >> Anything? Great. Madame Mayor, >> hey Jeannie, um are you able to share,
you know, what departments you had to to cut down on on positions or >> HHS is pretty broad. It's uh public health and it's uh social services. So we what we did is we've uh one of the
biggest ones was we had a uh um a big phone system so that it would track the people that called so that they get a call back. But then with uh it looking at it and um we figured out that we can
um better uh align those phone calls through this the software and products we already had. So right there we saved about $100,000. And then we know just kind of how things come into
uh into HHS, you know, how many people touch it. So we've streamlined that and then uh some of the um kind of the management because we were seeing that a lot of the the um a lot of the positions
that we have we have very hardworking staff. So we had some people uh going out to retire uh and so now is the time we and we've done that in a lot of our other departments as well. uh um just as
they're retiring, we're not back filling those positions just so that we we we want to be really trimmed down and uh we know we can do it. Um but maybe we're very trim right now on the facility
sides of things, which is our highway and our uh assessors and our surveyors. We we chopped a lot last year on that. um they're really running slim. We can't really do much. Uh we might have to cut
a little on DMV, which would mean people have to wait a little bit. Uh you know, next year we won't have to worry so much about our elections, but elections right now are taking a lot of time and energy and money. Um so, a lot of things that we're looking at. Uh we're we're a big
animal. It's a big a big budget and a lot of people 830 employees that we have. Uh so you know a lot of people working for us uh we want what's best for them because we want to keep them and retain them but we also
know that you know bottom line it's the property tax uh burden that we don't want to shift. So >> thank you. I because uh aren't isn't Right County one of the fastest growing in the state or the fastest? >> It is. Yeah. Yes. And we are taking that
into account. Uh um Corey, we're we know that. We don't want to slim it down too much because of course like the assessors uh we we're just to the the brink of probably having to get another assessor just to the state mandates that are coming to
the assessor's office. Um but so far they they feel that they can handle it. Uh because we did have somebody uh leave so that we do have a position open and I did ask this morning like are we okay? And they feel like they are not burdened
too much. I mean it's more work for them but they also understand the big picture. So I'm super proud of our staff. I'm super proud of our administration uh to really take these deep dives and look at it. Uh so yeah,
>> I think there's probably a lot of opportunity in that streamlining. I think you mentioned before the the software it's you know >> seeing its uh seen its life cycle here and you know opportunities around. >> Exactly. And just like I'm sure some of you have heard we're we're switching
over from Beacon to making our own system. that's going to save us some money. It uh the public isn't as excited about it because they haven't seen how it works, but we're really confident with our GIS system people that they know like what we need and what we're
we're looking at. So, um, yeah, there's a lot of things software like you said, Corey, that's >> Are there any projects that would impact Seagull that are looking at shifting at all or >> No, I don't No, I don't think so. Yeah.
And I'm and I'm very proud. I can always say that you guys are very good about when the sheriff comes and says you need so many hours of uh sheriff contracts, you're very willing to take that on. There are some cities that do a lot of
push back on that and um but but uh our our sheriff's department is very excited always to to come to you guys because you're very very good with working with you know knowing what your you know basically your your constituents need
and want. And then of course you know you have Jason too that kind of advocates for you guys. So yeah um but no and uh I'm I'm fighting for you. So know that uh I will keep keep my eye on it and hopeful hoping for the best.
>> Appreciate it. Thank you. >> Yes. >> Any other comments? >> Thank you. >> Thanks. Thanks. >> Any other comments? >> Senator 953 Parkington Avenue.
I had sent all the council members and new mayor an email on the 28th two weeks ago. 29th. I got an email from DDL. I'm assuming it's you, the city planner, >> that the property at 9502 would be mowed
within two weeks. It still has not been mowed. >> Mayor, um resident emailed this afternoon as well, parks and recck department has it scheduled to be mowed this week. >> So, it's like going nails and teeth with you
guys. >> Get something done. So when we enforce mowing, it's not for property maintenance p purposes. It's partially for that, but it's also punitive. Uh and we have to accommodate it within the regular schedule of the park and recck department to uh get these accomplished.
So that was the need for the delay. >> And just to clarify too, so Charles had sent us all the email. I spoke with you that next day. There's two sides of it. And the attorney is online also. >> Yeah. And we're working on the process for the hazardous building. So,
>> but I I mean with even with Ken, my neighbor that lives right next door to it, he's been getting messages and emails that said, you know, one of the reasons why the property didn't get mowed is because no more may. Who cares about no more May? You guys know for the
last at least five years, as long as I've lived at where I've lived, that this is a constant issue with this property that the grass gets three and 1/2 ft tall and it just stays stagnant. And just to be clear, the city's not going to mow it every time it's greater than eight inches.
>> So, can I mow you guys? >> No. At most, we may do it once a month if not more. >> Well, then I suggest you bring a bor with because it's four feet tall. >> I was buy it on Friday. >> So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you,
>> Madam Mayor. >> Dan, is there um any sort of citation we can put on the It is cited. Okay. and it's more. So, okay. Thank you. >> Any other comments, >> Dave? Davis,
two weeks ago, I asked about the birds trap foil. Has anything been done with that? I know my neighbor down the street. Kim Game works for Elbertville and when they were notified of the problem last year, they sprayed and got
rid of most of it. Has anything happened on that front or more information? I know statewide on all these different gardening and horiculture sites, people are complaining like crazy that it started up in northern Minnesota and now it's spreading everywhere.
Mayor staff did discuss it at our meeting following a council meeting last session. The plant isn't currently on the state's noxious weed list. Uh so the city's not required to uh treat for it. U public works would address it basically as they do their regular ditch
mulling. Obviously for a city the size of being much larger than Albertville, it's a much more challenging issue to take on. >> So then nothing's going to be done. Mayor, if it's not on the noxious weed list, the city's not required to and
that would be done based on available resources. >> Yeah, I'll just keep spreading it in my neighborhood. No problem. We'd be gone wonders. >> Okay, the next thing is uh two weeks ago in the Elk River paper,
there was an article written about hiring part-time firefighters here, which included Tina Goody on the list. She was asked for a comment and to my surprise, which is rare, she had no
comment and said that she would be making a comment within two weeks. Is that going to happen? >> Yes. >> Oh, good. Okay. >> That's gatey, not goody. It's gated, not goody. >> Okay. I gated it.
>> Okay. And the next thing is I had talked to several people for the last couple weeks and they had in indicated their disposure at the appearance of a conflict of interest in Tina Gades
getting hired part-time on the fire department. They had also informed me that they had written letters and complaints to the attorney general's office and to the state auditor about the conflict of interest.
Has the city had any response from either entity or heard anything? Not yet. Okay. >> Staff, have you >> mayor council? Uh nothing received by the city. >> Okay. Just wanted to know. Okay. Thanks.
>> Thank you. Any other comments? >> I just also I would like to know like um so Tina addressed to all all of us as a citizens of this of SEGO is that you need to address why you are the conflict
of interest and it's I think it's very important for all of us and another thing that I really want to say about the comment of sheen is that the mayor has no problem spending money and things that we don't need. So you should not be concerned about the feedback for the
series for for you guys because you know how to spend our money and things that we don't need. Thanks. Any other comments? >> Good evening council. Madame mayor everyone people. Well, I talked to the chief and looks
like January 1 we're going to be fully staffed. That's 6 months away. Again, having those two major fires within my little community, I can't be happier. Second, um, I had the pleasure, well, if
you want to say pleasure, of being in the town of Kosad, Coz A, Nebraska, last week, right in the, if you take a look at the city of the map of Vata, throw a dart in any little corner, and
that's Kad population just under 4,000 people. Well, they're taking on a water project of 4,000 people of over 13.6 million dollars.
If they can do it, we can certainly do it with four times five times the population. Our water, our safety is just paramount. Um, also, Kad has a wonderful little park system.
Now, I know we're going to be be redoing our parks, but are we getting a swimming with a slide. Do we have a campground coming that has 15 sites with electricity? Do are we going to get a little airport
like they have right next to the community center? This is a town of under of 4,000 people. It's uh it's really neat to see what they're doing. Keep up the great work, council. Um maybe somebody we'll get that swimming.
>> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Any other comments? >> All right. All right. We will close the open forum and move on to consider our agenda for approval. Does anyone have anything that they would like to add or delete at this time? >> Madame Mayor.
>> Yes, Ryan. >> I move to approve the agenda as written. >> Second. >> No. Motion by Ryan, seconded by Corey. Is there any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. I.
>> All those opposed, same sign. Motion passes. Next item is our consent agenda. A motion would be in order. >> Madam Mayor, >> yes, Ryan, >> I move to approve the consent agenda as written. Second. >> Motion by Ryan, seconded by Corey. Is there any discussion?
All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. I. Those opposed. Same sign. >> Motion passes. Next item is city council reports and updates. Does anyone have anything? >> Madam Mayor, I do. >> Yes, >> like to read my statement here.
>> So, as um in June, I I do apologize for not being here. I did have a company meeting, so I was out of town, unfortunately. Um but to mayor, council members, and residents, I have expressed interest in serving our community and a part-time volunteer firefighter. Public
service has always been important to me and I believe strongly in supporting the safety and well-being of our residents in a way every way that I can. This has been something that has been of interest to me for many years. I now have the opportunity to fulfill a longtime dream of becoming a firefighter for our own
city and our own fire station. Being able to serve this community in both capacities is something I take very seriously and I'm incredibly honored to pursue. Because the firefighter position is a compensated volunteer role, I want to be fully transparent about how this will be handled. I have made a formal
disclosure regarding my part participation and will follow all applicable Minnesota laws, city policies, and ethical guidelines related to conflicts of interest. I will be going through the same process as everyone else who is selected as a firefighter. There will be no special treatment in hiring, training,
evaluation, compensation, or expectations. The position was publicly posted. Candidates went through the same application process and hiring decisions were made through the city's established procedures. Recently, concern concerns have been raised suggesting that my
interest in serving as a firefighter creates a conflict of interest. I respect the public's right to ask questions and expect transparency from elected officials. However, a conflict of interest is a serious allegation and should be supported by facts, not assumptions, speculation, or political
disagreement. Reasonable people can disagree on the creation of a fire department, its costs, or other policy decisions. That is part of healthy local government. What is not productive is attempting to transform those policy disagreements into ethical violations
where none exist. Repeating an accusation does not make it true. And public trust is not strengthened by insuation insuation unsupported by evidence. In fact, public trust is strengthened when concerns are raised in good faith and elevated based on facts.
Evaluate, excuse me, based on facts. It is weakened when narratives are created to generate controversy rather than inform residents. I will be completing my eight years of service on the city council and will not be seeking re-election in 2027. To ensure transparency and maintain
public trust, I will recuse myself from any city council discussions or votes that directly involve firefighter compensation, employment matters, or any issue that could create a direct financial conflict of interest. This opportunity is about service to our
community, supporting our growing city, and being part of a team dedicated to protecting our residents. Serving as a firefighter is not about personal gain. It requires significant training, commitment, sacrifice, and a willingness to respond when residents need help most. I am committed to handling both
roles responsibly, ethically, and with the highest level of professionalism. I appreciate the trust the community places in its elected officials and first responders, and I rem remain committed to serving our city with integrity, transparency, and respect for
the public trust. Thank you. Thank you. There any other city council reports and update? >> Madam Mayor, >> yes, Ryan. >> I'd like to respond to some of those comments because I think there's a couple things said there that
don't really align with what has occurred. I think upon reflection of our last meeting, it it sort of became obvious to me that we may all be operating on a different definition of what a conflict
of interest is. So, I looked it up for Minnesota statute 471.87. A conflict of interest is when an elected official or the the law says that an elected official shall not voluntarily have a personal financial
interest in the sale, lease or contract or personally benefit financially there from. Every public officer who violates this provision is guilty of a gross misdemeanor. I just heard that we need to make sure
that we're talking about the facts, make sure that we have the evidence. So, let's do that. The council member in question applied for the position on March 10th. From that point forward, she had a personal financial interest in obtaining
employment with the city. That raises conflict of interest questions regarding her subsequent participation in fire department decisions. After applying for the position, she approved pay application number 15 for the fire station in the amount of
667,47012. She interviewed the fire chief. She then hired the fire chief. She approved pay application number 16 in the amount of $927,5695. then received a conditional offer on May 21st to be hired.
After receiving that offer, she approved pay application number 17 in the amount of 1,131,856.64. She also approved resolution number 2026-46 regarding the firefighter pension plan and approved a fire marshal contract
which had no amount assigned to it but included more unplanned spending. The disclosure only occurred to the city council and that was on June 15th via email. The public was never notified.
During the period in which she was an applicant or had received a conditional offer, she participated in votes approving more than $2.7 million in fire department expenditures along with the adoption of the city's firefighter pension plan and the fire marshall
contract. She interviewed and hired her own boss who would then interview her for the position on the city payroll. There was no disclosure to the council or to the public about the potential for conflicts of interest.
I am happy to hear that this council member has agreed to recuse herself going forward, but the time for transparency was back in March and the fact that there is going to be recusal going forward
only draws these decisions into more question. But I think there is a critical misunderstanding that has that is being demonstrated here and that is that the elected official gets to determine if a conflict of
interest exists. There is a prevailing sentiment that the official if they feel like they can remain objective or if the financial stake is small enough that the conflict is resolved. But integrity is not a personal feeling.
It is a public standard. Conflicts of interest are not determined by the official who stands to benefit from them. They are determined and assessed by the public that we serve. When an official unilaterally decides that a potential conflict is not worth
disclosing, they are not just making a personal choice. They are depriving the public of the right to make an informed judgment about their elected representatives. Transparency is not a luxury or a courtesy. It is the only mechanism that
allows for the public to verify that their interests are being prioritized above personal gain. It is a fundamental component of self-governance. Depriving the people of that transparency is to undermine the very oath we have sworn to uphold. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Any other comments? I just have a question for um the legal council. Um Dave Dave um do I guess um in your opinion, do you think there's been a conflict of
interest? >> No, it's not a conflict of interest for a council member to serve on the city's fire department. And if if there future votes come up where the pay of volunteer firefighters is an issue that potentially could be a
conflict, it's not a conflict simply to serve on the fire department. It would be a case by case analysis. So there wouldn't be any I mean if council member Gay wants to recuse herself from any or all future votes involving the fire department, she's free to do that.
But it would not be required on a blanket measure. It would be dependent upon what the issue is up for vote. >> Thank you. Anything >> madame mayor? Um Dave kind of um in that same sort of line of thinking. Um I
think in my time here on council, anytime there has been a possible uh conflict, um staff has brought that forward to council and said you should recuse yourself. It's happened many times, but I I think uh Council Member
Gaty was just, you know, reiterating that, but it usually comes from staff if I'm if I'm right. >> Well, sure. So, if any council member who thinks they may have a conflict is welcome to consult with staff prior to the meeting to uh work through that or
is welcome to um raise that themselves. So there's a variety of ways or staff can raise it. You know, it's ultimately the council members decision whether they have a conflict and whether they need to recuse themselves, but staff can raise the issue as well. >> So it's a case- by case analysis based
on the vote before the council and whether that council member has a personal financial interest in that particular vote. >> Yeah. Thank you. I think the only other comments I'd like to make um is the fire station the approval to move forward
with construction occurred before well before she ever made applied for it um and sent in her application before she was honestly considered as a true applicant and gone through the rigorous um uh interview process and the other uh
things. I don't even know what they go through exactly to validate whether or not they're a good candidate or not. I imagine it's beyond just an interview. I think there's physical tests and stuff like that that they have to pass. Um and as far as um hiring fire chief um and
the fire marshall that's separate from um her application. She wasn't interviewed at that point in time. She was still she wasn't even brought forward as a true candidate until later. Um and um some of the other stuff, the decisions that were made, I'm not 100%
sure, timelines and stuff like that. There's everyone that was involved in voting for these things. Yes, she was one of the people that voted. There was other people that were voting as well. And in all those cases, I want to say it was a 4 to one situation.
um if I remember correctly, I don't have all my notes in front of me, but um so whether or not she recused herself or her vote was discounted, it still would have moved forward. So just wanted to point that out. >> Madame, >> yes, Ryan,
>> on that specific point, the law is very clear. In fact, I could quote it. It's 471.8A. It says when there is a conflict, it does not matter if the vote would have passed anyway. The mere fact that there
was a conflict negates all agreements. And and that was because I've been looking into this. That was validated by the Minnesota Supreme Court decades ago. In that case, the council member wasn't receiving a special payment or wasn't even named in the contract of the
agreement that the council approved. He was simply an employee of the company receiving the city's business. The court still found that to be an impermissible indirect financial interest and the mere presence of the conflict nullified the entire agreements. The law doesn't ask
whether a council member receives special benefit. It asks whether the council member receives any benefit at all. That's what determines a conflict. >> Dave, can you comment on that?
>> Sure. So, for example, when council member Gaty voted on the contracts to construct the fire department, she was not an employee of the contractor that was going to construct the fire department. So, she would have had a personal financial
interest if she was employed by the company that was going to build the fire department that was receiving the contract from the city. But that's not the case here. So, I don't believe she had a conflict when she voted on contracts for construction of the fire department, for example. Ryan, do you have any comment? You look
like you were going to say something. >> I guess I would just, you know, we continue to to put the attorney in an interesting position. I guess my question to the attorney would be, would it have been illegal for the council member to disclose the potential
conflict of interest back in March? I I'm not sure I understand the question. I don't think she had a potential conflict of interest. >> So, would it have been illegal if she had disclosed to the public that she had a potential conflict of interest back in
March? >> I don't know. I can't speculate on that. Madam Mayor, I think it's just important with with all due respect to our city attorney, I just think it's important to take a moment to clarify that what the role of the city attorney
is. And I think there's often a misunderstanding about who they represent. To be clear, the city attorney is not the personal attorney for the citizens, nor are they the personally attorney for
the members of this council. The city attorney represents only one client, the incorporated city, the entity of Oseago. So in that capacity, their primary job is to protect protect the city as an institution.
often by ensuring that this council does not take actions that expose the city to unnecessary liability or legal error. However, we must remember that the responsibility for protecting the rights of our citizens does not rest with the
city attorney. That responsibility rests solely with the five of us sitting at this day. Because that responsibility is ours alone, we should hold it in the highest regard. To that end, I believe we should always be comfortable with
radical transparency, even and perhaps especially when the city attorney advises that such transparency is technically unnecessary. Where the law sets the floor of what we must disclose, our duty to the public sets the ceiling
for what we should be transparent about. Sabrina, since you are our HR person, do you have any comments regarding this process timelines? I assume you did work with the attorney because you're
required to also check in with them if they're required. >> Yes, thank you, mayor. Uh, yeah, so it was a open recruitment as we always do. Uh, same process for everyone. Um really a big thing also I think is important to remind people is
we can't disclude people just on speculation. A lot of it has to be based on you know pre-employment screens that are um inqualified. We had quite a few candidates that didn't move forward because of their pre-employment screening and um council member Gaty
passed all of them. uh and from my seat that is what matters. We discussed with her was the recusution of herself from future firefighting or fire uh benefits and uh pay um that I also worked for a
city that had a ambulance member volunteer firefighter that was on the council. Um yeah, so it's been familiar to me in the past. Okay. Any other comments? >> Madame Mayor, just one final thing. >> Yes, ma'am.
>> On that issue, I think it's not clear to me that we followed the proper procedure. Um, I looked at the League of Minnesota Cities, their advice on conflicts of interest, and there is a provision in
the law that allows, of course, for council members to be members of the volunteer fire department. But it according to the League of Minnesota cities and the state auditor, the process that we are supposed to
follow is that they that we would hire them through separate resolution that would have to be voted on unanimously by the remaining members of the council. The conflicted member would have to recuse themselves from that vote. And that that didn't occur.
So I'm not sure where that leaves us. Any comments on that? >> That's the process for making a contract with the city council member. >> Employment is considered a contract from my
understanding. At least that's what the league says. >> Yes. Um Dave, correct me if I'm wrong, but uh it's noted in all of our job descriptions. No position is should be construed as a contract. The only position that has a contract actually
with the role would be any 1099 employees or the city administrator. Um that would be from my seat how we implement it in HR. >> I mayor councel if I may it be advantageous if this discussion were to
happen that everyone was accessible to the same information and that was shared so that this discussion could be vetted out properly ahead of the meeting. So, if we're going to reference league documents, uh statutes, >> anything, I I I would ask that staff
please be provided those uh for review and can make suggestions or recommendations at a future meeting uh based on that research. So, >> Ryan, can you send the documents that you referred to? >> Yeah, they're they're publicly available documents. I will be happy to include
them and make sure that everybody is aware of what the League of Minnesota City says as well as the office of the state auditor. >> Thank you. >> All right. There any comments? Mayor,
>> I think I would just reiterate uh what um council member council member L said last meeting and it was she's putting her life on the line for $16 an hour and it's part-time. So, Madame Mayor, I think those, you
know, those those kind of comments and the decisions surrounding this issue really signal to the citizens that this council is not going to take conflicts of interest seriously. Conflicts of interest are not resolved based on the dollar amount. And I will again inform the council that
the office of the state auditor recently completed an investigation into the mayor of the city of Good Thunder and found that he violated this specific law. He was convicted on those charges. One of the violations was for an amount less than the amount we are talking about here. So the amount does not
matter. But you're saying everybody here is wrong except you. The the mayor is wrong, council is wrong, that our staff is wrong. Our attorneys are off. >> It turns out people can make mistakes.
>> Yeah, they can. >> Mayor, council, >> yes, >> statute is very clear that part-time employment with the city is not prohibited in state statute. At its simplest form, I'm not getting into the ethics or the conflict of interest aspect of it. A council member's
part-time employment with the city fire department is not prohibited by state statute. >> That's correct. So Ryan, you will provide those other documents. Agreed with Adam that part-time employment is not prohibited. >> Correct. In fact, I can tell everybody
just right now under Minnesota 471.87, it goes under and then Minnesota 471.88 goes through through the procedures for allowable exceptions. Having a council member as a firefighter is under subdivision six and it
specifically restates that it requires a unanimous vote. >> But I will be happy to provide all of that. >> Thank you. Is there any other comments? >> All right, we will move on to staff reports and updates. Item 6.1 is to
consider scheduling a special city council meeting on August 11th. Uh, mayor, council, uh, you've all provided availability for a budget review meeting uh, on August 11th. Uh, time will be based on your availability.
Uh, referencing state statute, uh, we do need to adjourn that meeting by 6 p.m. that evening given that it is a primary election day. Uh, no, uh, governing body activities between 6:00 and 8:00 p.m. that evening. So, uh, time staff is available anytime after 8:00 a.m. Uh,
subject to year availability. >> Okay. Council, >> in the past, I think we've started around 11 or noon. >> That's fair. Yep. >> If we need if we need to be out of here by 6, is 11. Okay. >> Yes. >> Okay.
>> Do you prefer earlier? >> 11 is just fine there. >> Okay. Does 11 work for everyone? >> Yeah, >> earlier would be nicer, but Yeah. >> Yeah. I was going to say I can meet earlier. >> 8 a.m. is great for me. >> I can come whenever, too. >> I'm available whenever that I'm
flexible. Double check on the calendar. >> 8 a.m. that day available. >> I I would just say I don't think 8 am is very respectful of the staff's time. >> Actually, Adam said staff would prefer earlier.
>> Mayor, any anytime is available for staff. We need to be present at the meeting. Whether it's 8 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 3M, whatever the start time is, we'll we'll be there and present the information. So, >> start at 8.
>> Ryan, are you available if we start it at 8? >> I'm available. I would prefer a different time, but if we need to do it at 8, we can. >> Totally flexible. So, what does everyone want to do? >> 8:00 works. That's what Michelle wants.
Okay. >> Yes, >> that would be helpful. >> You're obviously asking me later to get to >> work for you. >> Yeah. >> Okay, >> Ryan, you can make it work. Okay. Thank you. All right, then. I will make a
motion to offer a special meeting for budget starting at 8 a.m. on August 11th. Is there second? >> Second. Motion by Jessica, seconded by Tina. Is there any discussion?
All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> All those opposed, same sign. Motion passes. All right. Uh moving on to Sabrina for updates. >> Uh thank you, mayor. Uh we had our new park maintenance uh individual start
today maintenance to Brent. Uh, and then, uh, as noted in the council consent agenda, uh, we have, um, an internal staff promotion to a supervisor, um, which is always great. We've had some good internal hires, which has been pretty cool. Um, and
then, um, a seasonal maintenance that was hired full-time. So, pretty cool to have some succession in there from seasonals and girls. So, that's been pretty fun. >> Great. >> That's it, >> Adam. Uh, mayor, councel, uh, as noted
in the update last week, uh, the city was awarded $500,000 on the, um, outdoor recreation grant through the DNR, uh, for the Prairie Park phase one project. Uh, you've all been invited to a groundbreaking at Foswin School next
Monday. Um, and then, uh, staff is staying apprised with the school district as well, uh, with their, uh, potential referendum questions. So, we're meeting with them. um some also some youth organizations here in the coming weeks just to make sure the city's uh up to date on everything that
they're planning. >> Adam, what time is the groundbreaking package? >> Thank you. >> I won't show up or up as late >> mayor. Thank you. Um just a couple election updates. Um, candidate filing
does open uh tomorrow, Tuesday, July 14th, and closes July 28th, two weeks later at 5:00 pm. Uh, our public accuracy test for the upcoming primary election will be this Thursday at 2 o'clock here at Prairie Center. And, uh,
early voting will start on Friday, July 24th at city hall, where people can vote and put their ballot right into the ballot counter. >> Perfect. Thank you, Dave. Nothing to report. Thanks, Mayor. >> Thank you, Dan.
>> Mayor, uh, just quick update. Planning Commission has a meeting next Monday, uh, July 20th. Uh, one item on the agenda is a change in occupancy for the former Northdale construction uh, industrial site, uh, 71st Street on the west side
of the city. >> Thank you, Ron. >> No updates, Mayor. >> Chief McCoy. Thank Excuse me. Thank you. Um again, I appreciate you swearing in our two firefighters. Both of them started last
week. Um it's wonderful to get them up here in front of everybody. They're both great individuals and they've been working hard since they started. Um we also started uh Marshall Smith. He's also hit the ground running. Um what what an asset he is. Um the fire
trucks arrived from Pierce uh two weeks ago now I think. Um stopped by visit uh see the see the trucks. Um one of the things that uh captain and firefighter are working on is buying equipment for those. Um and then we start our training
for our part-time firefighters this week. uh we ordered them rental gear off the uh from a a company that's used by other um fire departments in the state of Minnesota. So uh hopefully that shows up
as we slide into firefighter one because we're starting with hazmat uh which is the toughest part of firefighter training. So if we can get them through a hazmat we'll get them we'll get them to the end. So uh pretty exciting lots of stuff going on right now and u thank you for your time.
>> Thank you. Thank you. I like seeing that OGO fire uh fire flag up there flying. Looks good. >> Yeah, we we have one outside and they look great. We have one inside um on a stand like that. So, thank you to Chief Scott for organizing that and
getting that ready for us. So, looks good. >> Y So, thank you. >> Thank you. Thanks, Chief >> Sergeant Almans. coming up without a notebook, so we'll see how this goes. Uh, couple things, new hires for us.
It's pretty crazy. We, if you looked at our social media post, we had uh, uh, five new deputies start. Certainly the reoccurring theme. Not to beat a dead horse on it, but if you look at the ages of the pictures, you're, "Oh my god."
I actually said that to one of the other deputies. I said, at first I thought it was like the explore program. >> Yeah. >> But I guess we're getting older. >> One of those cases. So they they are out. They got through the academy and they're already assigned to their field
training officers. So they are out and about uh right now. I just actually was on calls today with them. So um actually considering how young they are, they're really well well spoken. you really interact with the public really well in uniform which is always like the biggest hurdle to jump over is just simply
talking to people in this and how much of a dynamic that is. It's kind of interesting. So um they're actually doing really well so far with that aspect. Um you know that part on hey how does this radio work is you know kind of one of those things that they're trying to accomplish all at the same so that's
been going well. You know, I've made comments, I think, in the past like how the there is a direct correlation between call load and temperature. That is absolutely true. Um, we have been absolutely flying. So, I worked the last this last weekend here today and we'll be working tomorrow. The call load is
absolutely just crazy where it's just whether people get really upset with one another when it's that hot out. Everybody's out about medical amount that we run into. It's just and just absolutely flying uh from call to call to call. I literally have not taken a break other than when I'm going to sleep
since Friday. So, we are definitely staying busy. Um, appreciate a lot of the deputies that have been staying late, coming in early, trying to accomplish some things when we're getting hung up on bigger calls. So, that's been working really well. Like this weekend, we had uh Waverly
Days was going on, then Monty Riverfest was going on. So, we have all that kind of kind of all hands- on deck type of a deal. So, >> uh, and then, yeah, traffic complaints are still coming in. I've had a really a lot of really good conversations with a lot of residents and really transparent
conversations as far as residents in town specifically on what we're trying to accomplish, how I can, you know, get squad cars in our neighborhoods. Again, you know, ebikes, scooters, etc. are m continuing to be probably the number one thing that we're receiving right now.
Um, we'll see. I'm >> Was there an incident on it? wasn't in at Sego but in Wright County on Friday. Correct. >> An accident. >> I you'll have to say which one. I hate to say but like >> Okay, I guess there's been a few. >> I think I responded to my just myself by
a different motor vehicle accident with injuries just on Saturday. >> So that was just me. So I'm including everything else that was going on county. Yeah. So we had one on Friday that was on our social med. So, uh,
there's been a break in that case that's positive. So, so that's all I'll say about that, I guess, for the time being. So, um, what else we got going on? >> Well, I got public safety. I can take up your time tomorrow. So, >> um, like I said, really busy. Um,
I to my point, I was on a call just trying to get over here. I was stuck in a call, so I was coming over here and logged into Zoom real quick so I could keep an eye on what was going on or listen to at least. And of course, Commissioner Holland's making nice positive things about I'm not even in the back of the room to hear it. Like
Jason's really great at this and I'm not even here. So, >> but you got to hear you got to listen >> him flying in. I appreciate that kind of. So, I think that's all I have unless there's any questions. >> Does anyone have anything? >> No. >> All right. Thank you, Sergeant. >> Thank you. Thanks, Jason.
>> All right. If no one else has anything, then a motion to adjurnn would be in order. Second. >> Motion by Tina, seconded by Corey. Is there any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> All those opposed, same sign. The meeting has ended. Thank you all for
attending this evening.