Call City Council meeting for Tuesday, 06/02/2026. Do we have a roll call, please? Yes. Council member Spendi? Here. Voss? Here. Dotson? Here. Burbank? Here. Bogey? Here. McCann? Here. Rainey? Here. Mayor Jessup? Here. You have seven council and the mayor present. Thank you. Would everyone please rise as council member Burbank leads us in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America, and to the republic for which to stand, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Alright.
Good evening, everyone, on a beautiful summer evening. Let's hope we get about, ten more months of this. First up tonight is approval of the count council agenda. We do have one addition is resolution three point two point three fifty four dash 26. It is for the 18th Street reconstruction to authorize bids. With that addition, I would look for a motion to approve. So moved. Motion by Daniel. Approved. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Brent. And further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? The agenda has been approved.
Next up tonight is Mayor Jessup. Good evening, sir. Have you got anything for us? Nothing tonight. Thank you. Councilor Rainey. We're now up to consent agenda. That consent agenda is, minutes, the finance report, licenses, permits, miscellaneous items all lumped into one, for a consensus vote. Motion to approve. Motion by Nate to approve. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Don. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. We're now up to action items. We have one ordinance tonight. It is three point one point one second reading of the,
proposed ordinance for, let's get this here. Northland. For Northland Farms. And with that going to Troy. Alright. Thank you. Yes. Northland Farm Systems is proposing to put a 10,000 square foot building up, on their property. This is, I believe, their fourth building on there. So this is one of those scenarios where our zoning allows, more flexibility, when we can put it in a PUD zone. So that's what the request is here from a B two community business district, which has certain standards, setbacks, and number of buildings on it to a PUD zone,
which allows them to vary from many different things in our ordinances. So so long as we have a public hearing, and we get, city council approval, planning commission reclamation, city council approval, we can we can deviate from those. So in this case, they're looking to put a 10,000 square foot building up. It's gonna have multiple uses in their stores, showroom, and offices. They'll be, putting a lot of the things that are stored on-site, within the building. They're looking to do some pavement off of 22nd Street, within a five year period.
So, again, allowing some flexibility with the zoning so that they can do what they wanna do over a period of time. So it did go to planning commission. They did recommend approval, and staff is recommending approval of the zone change as well. Thank you. Any questions for Troy? Hearing none, I look for a motion to approve. Motion motion by Nate to approve. I have a second. Second. Second by Doug. Any further discussion? Hearing none, I'd ask for a roll call vote, please. Also, in sending? Aye. Pass. Aye. Dotson. Aye. Bokey. Aye. Burbank. Aye. McCann. Aye.
Rainey. Aye. You have seven a's. Thank you. Hey. We're now up to resolutions. First one tonight is 3.20.152Dash56 to accept bids and award contract for the 2026 crack seal seal coat project. And for that, we go to Sean Murphy. Good evening. Good evening, mayor and council. Yes. We're requesting council's approval of resolution 52, 52 dash 26 for our street maintenance project in 2026, to accept in or the contract. Our Cracked Seal and SealCo project bid package included an alternate for additional streets to
be considered if the base bid allowed for additional streets to be completed. The base and additional alternate amount to approximately 6.3 miles of crack seal and seal coating. We received bids on 05/27/2026, for our Street Maintenance project, and bids were received from one company, Pearson Brothers out of Hanover. The lowest responsible bid was from Pearson Brothers. The bid was $4,063.33 or $0.3 or 1.3% under our engineers estimate.
Given the fact that base bid is within the budget amount, staff recommends awarding the base bid and alternate to Pearson Brothers. So the total contracted project cost will be $292,236.42. The project is being funded out of our operating budget and engineering and stormwater utility funds. That staff recommends approval. Thank you. Any questions for Sean? Doug. Sean, I believe we've had these guys work for us before. Is that correct? Correct. We've always been happy with it. Yeah. They they're very accommodating, just changes in plans.
So with the alternate, that we've added this year in previous years, we haven't included alternates. We've just had additional streets that if the budget allows for based on their bid, they've worked well with us in the past and we just made it more formalized this year. Thank you. Any other questions? Hearing none, look for a motion to approve. Motion. Motion by Dan to approve. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Don. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. We're now up to three point two point two, resolution 53 dash 26 to purchase for the purchase agreement with McQueen Emergency.
And for that, we go to Charlie Secora. Good evening, sir. Good evening, council mayor. Yeah. I'm here just to represent the the purchase of a new fire truck, which falls in line with our, purchasing plan for our fire department and our apparatus. This would be purchasing another first out pumper. And first out, I mean, it'd be the one responding to all the calls. This would replace a pumper that's currently in reserve in 1989. I believe Pearson reserve out at our, airport facility. So it stays in line with our vehicle replacement plan and it has been reviewed,
by legal and has been, recommended for approval. Any questions? Thank you. Any questions from counsel? I got a quick one. Yeah. Charlie, it seems like with the warm weather, there's a heck of a lot more sirens lately. Are you guys rolling on accidents too like you have in the past? So, yes, we typically respond to any, motor vehicle accident with unknown injuries or confirmed injuries as a precaution. So we will go to car accidents, motorcycle accidents. There has been a few calls this week. We've been fairly busy,
and we have been starting to respond, in assistance to male ambulance with some medicals. K. Thank you. Doug. Charlie, as I read through these pages and pages and pages of descriptions here, there's 502 options. I'm sure you've looked at every one of them. This is my third truck I've built, for McQueen. It's a very detailed process. McQueen is the dealership, just like what kind of Ford would be or Ford Motor Company, But the engine is a Pierce manufacturing engine. They are very detailed. This is a truck that is built from the ground up per our specifications,
and it would be the third truck to fall in the line with standardizing our fleet for our paid on call staff. It'll look very similar to what the other two look like? It'll look not that one. No. Not That's the one we're replacing, but it'll be very, very similar to that with, the caveat of a possible color change, depending on if, the board wants to go down that route. But, yes, very similar very similar equipment. Okay. Thank you. Yep. Thank you. Brent. Arlene, just remind us how long it takes to build this truck? It's currently slated for, I believe, four to five years in order to receive this.
I'll remind counsel that you are paying $20.26 prices for a 2,030 vehicle. Pretty unheard of in the vehicle industry. So we will not be getting a twenty twenty six vehicle in four years. We'll be getting a 2,030. There is some caveats to this as long as the federal government doesn't change any emission standards or anything else that McQueen or Pierce would have to pass along to the buyer. According to our rep, he doesn't anticipate any of that. But there is a significant build time for these trucks. So then as technology changes over the years,
this will have, like, the most advanced technology in it, or is it based on technology that we have today? Yeah. Pierce is pretty forward in their technology. So this truck, as compared to the first one we bought, has a lot more in it. But as far as their advancements in technology, I'm not quite sure if they would just be like, hey, we upgraded it because you guys are getting it now. I think it will still go after the bid price and the specifications in that bid. Any other questions? Kevin, can I just add a couple of comments here is you can see the price tag on this is $1,400,000
and I think the three years out or four years out ends up being substantially more? And the city has done a nice job in our financial management of vehicles, the vehicle replacement. We own a lot of equipment, and some of it's very expensive. And so years back, you started to find a vehicle replacement fund. And so this is one of those pieces that helps us pay for that. And so this is the same plan for that. We may have to increase a little bit of our contributions over the next four or five years to make sure we can meet that 1.4
so we don't have to bond for it. Again, this is good, business practice that the council has picked up several years ago, and has worked well in our financial management plan as we're, understanding what our equipment needs are coming into the future. So that's just wanted to add that to it. K. Thank you. Any other questions? Hearing none, I look for a motion to approve. Motion to approve. Motion by Doug to approve. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Dave. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Next up is resolution 3.20.354Dash26 to authorize bids for the 18th Street reconstruction.
And for that, we go back to Sean Murphy. Thanks again. Requesting Council's authorization to advertise for bids for the 18th Street Southeast reconstruction project. 18th Street Southeast from Austin Road to Cornerstone Lane is scheduled for reconstruction in 2026. Council has previously approved the feasibility report, held the required preliminary assessment, public hearing on 12/02/2025, and authorized preparation of plans and specifications. Plans are complete now, and the next step is to advertise for sealed bids. Contracting requirements may end date a twenty one day posting period.
Based on this time line, the recommended bid opening date is June 26 with council's consideration bids on the July 7 meeting. Engineer's estimate is within the budget amount for the projects and will be financed through a combination of federal funds, state aid funds, grants, city funds, OPU funds, and special assessments. With that, staff recommends approval. Thank you. Any questions for Sean? Dan? Still a one summer project? We're gonna attempt that. There there's probably gonna be some carryover into 2027.
Thank you. Brent. That was my question. Okay. Go ahead. Any other questions? Hearing none, I look for a motion to approve. So moved. Motion by Dan to approve. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Don. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. We have four miscellaneous items tonight. The first one is 3.30.1, the engineering service agreement, sewer rate update with NERO Engineering, and once again, Sean Murphy. Alright. Thanks again. We're requesting council's approval of this engineering service agreement with neuroengineering, to provide professional services in,
sanitary rate model and other miscellaneous engineering services. We've previously gone through a rate model update in 2021 with some minor updates in 2023 after completing a comprehensive sewer plan. We updated to include capital projects as well as revenue shortcomings from the original model and also account for the additional funding we received through bonding, through the state for our wastewater treatment facility expansion project. We previously had an amendment to update rates for 2025,
2026 and 2027. This request will evaluate our sewer access charge to account for the actual cost of our wastewater treatment facility expansion project and the capacity that has increased as part of that project. So the representative fee to that sewer availability charge represents what it costs to purchase that treatment capacity within the plant. This also reviews our heavy industrial user rate renewal
as well as ordinance and model updates for total phosphorus and ammonia. The original contract was $21,598 Contract, including this amendment, will amount to a total of $66,219, and all will be paid for out of our sanitary sewer fund. And with that, staff recommends approval. Thank you. Any questions for Sean? Doug? Sean, how does Medford's, addition to our plant affect this at all? Nope. It's not not enough to really affect it at all? Nope. Not at all.
Okay. It's a very small percentage of our total flow. Okay. Any other questions? Hearing none, look for a motion to approve. Motion to approve. Motion by Doug to approve. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Dan. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries. Next up tonight is three point three point two professional services agreement amendment number two for the wastewater treatment facility expansion with Niro Engineering and Sean once again. Perfect. So 3.3.2 and 3.3.3 are both related to the construction related services contract that we initially entered into with
NERO and I'll talk about both of them, just because they are related. The First Amendment, so Amendment No. Two is in relation to the contract extension time that we authorized back in March for Rice Lake construction sorry, March of the previous year, so 2025. With Rice Lake construction, to as we were getting through to one of our digester lid replacements, There's a very unique way to fill the annular space between the roof met or the membrane and the roof structure,
that was unanticipated due to, not going through destructive exploratory surveying to understand how those components were put together previously in the late 1980s. So with the difficulty of working through that, we extended the contract time for Rice Lake for two months, which also resulted in additional time for NERO and AE2S, their subconsultant that did a lot of our construction related observation, engineering review, for those two months.
And so the first amendment is to, to increase their construction related services for the work that they performed in November and December 2025. The original CRS agreement was for a total of $4,029,518 Amendment two will not exceed $66,075 without prior authorization. And with the total agreement now at $4,468,112 cost will be paid for out of our sanitary sewer fund and recommend approval.
Thank you. Any questions for Sean? Hearing none, I look for a motion to approve. So moved. Motion by Dan to approve. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Brent. Hey. Nate. I'm sorry. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. So Sean, next up is 3.3.3, the engineering service agreement with the biogas tax credit, any additional to add to this? Yeah. So this is specifically related to our offloading of our biogas into OPU's distribution system.
Being that this would be the first wastewater treatment facility in the State of Minnesota to inject its biogas back into the grid, so to speak, there are a number of things from OPU standpoint as the distribution system owner, from their perspective, understanding how the constituency of the biogas gets cleaned, what's allowed in it in terms of some of the constituents that we'll be testing for, I think arsenic, water vapor, a number of different things that at the time of bidding didn't have the detailed tariff that was provided by OPU later.
And we're still working through that with them in terms of is all of this necessary because the tariff that was provided is mainly developed for landfills, which have a much different feedstock than what a wastewater treatment facility would have that serves a municipality like the City Of Owatonna. So the amendment to the agreement is to account for diving in into these tariffs, testing the all the different components that need to be added to our gas skid
for testing and getting into the total costs are $47,606 for this amendment, which will bring the total contract to $4,515,718 And again, the cost will be paid for out of our sanitary sewer fund. Staff recommends approval. Thank you. Any questions for Sean? Dan? Just a comment. I find it curious that we're going to adopt Northern Natural Gas' policy called tariff or whatever and causes us to spend a little bit extra money for online analyzers to be designed and integrated
into the system and develop a monitoring plan and reporting a significant coordination between the city and OPU. But we have to get determine how the data should be shared and report it and to who. So all these things are out there, but who should we give them to? Well, we don't know what you have to do it. And we're working through that with OPU. Okay. Any other questions? Hearing none for a motion to approve. So moved. Motion by Dan. To approve by the second. Second. Second by Nate. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. And the Sean show has one more appearance.
Three point three point four professional services agreements with lockout tagout assessments with IE IEA consultants. Sean Murphy. Perfect. Yes. We're requesting council's approval of the professional services agreement with IEA to conduct our lockout takeout assessment at the wastewater treatment facility. With the expansion of our wastewater treatment facility, we wanted to update our lockout takeout procedures for all of the new equipment, all of the new overhead doors, all of the new items that require through or that are required through OSHA's,
CFR 29, so Control of Hazardous Energy. This is put in place to protect our workers or anybody that would be coming to work on our facilities for unexpected release of hazardous energy during maintenance, servicing and repair of machinery and equipment. IEA is going to be conducting the lockout takeout assessments for equipment with more than one energy source as required by OSHA. The assessments will include identification of energy sources, magnitudes and shut off locations for each source for up to two thirty pieces of
equipment. If additional equipment is identified, we'll work through a change order process. But as of right now, our staff has gone through and feel that this is the right number that we need for the wastewater treatment facility. Specific written procedures will be developed for each individual piece of equipment. Photographs will be taken of equipment when accessible. And as part of the agreement, general procedure will be developed for single energy source equipment. So IEA's fee with this project, as outlined is $14,100 and will be paid for out of our sanitary sewer fund.
And with that, staff recommends approval. Thank you. Any questions? Doug? Sean, for the audience and those watching at home, give us the really short version of what lockout tagout means. Yes. So with our wastewater treatment facility and many other pieces of equipment throughout our city, it's required to maintain operations. So our facility needs to be running all the time. And when you have multiple sources of energy that provide it, so it could be a battery power and hardwired into,
electrical components. It can be as simple as an overhead garage door that has, spring assist and then also electric power to to motor and pull that up. When those pieces of equipment are being worked on, whether they're being energized at the time or not, there's a lockout takeout procedure so that if somebody is working on it and they're going to get another part or they're they're missing a tool that they may need and walk away, somebody doesn't try to use that piece of equipment and an accident can happen.
So somebody's working on a a garage door. Yeah. Maybe the power might be pulled, but the string springs are still activated. There could be some some issue if somebody walks away from it. So when it's being worked on, you it's called lockout tag out. So you lock it out so that it can't be operated and have a specific padlock as to, preventing anybody from from using it. Thank you. Any questions? Right now, I look for a motion to approve. Motion to approve. Motion by Doug to approve, I have a second. Second. Second by Don.
Any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. We are now up to staff report, and tonight, we have a fire department update with mister Charlie Sikora. Good evening again. I think Sean to take should take this too. No. He's good. I'm here in in lieu of, assistant chief Deshail, who's not available tonight. So I'll give a brief update of the our current staffing levels in Owatonna and at the fire department. Go over some training stuff, get to give you some inspection reports and then some upcoming projects we've got going on in our department right now.
So staffing update. We currently are gonna be starting the process for posting our paid on call staff, and those are men and women that come, from outside other our outside work and come and respond. And I just wanna give you a kind of an overview of what paid on call means. They used to be called volunteers, and they're still called volunteers across many much of the state. But paid on call refers to those who are actually being paid to come into our calls. So right now, we have 21 current paid on call men and women that respond in a shift.
So we call it a day shift or a night shift page. So when you're on the night shift, you're responsible to come to calls from 7AM to 5PM. And the day shift, we, like to thank our local businesses. They allow them to leave their full time jobs and come in when we need assistance. Not every call that we receive during the day requires a shift page, but when they do, the day squad would be seven to 5PM, and our night squad would be 5PM to 7AM. So those individuals are available to come down to the station,
help get trucks out the door, help with our calls. So right now, we're looking to hire six paid on calls. So if anybody knows anybody interested in being a firefighter, we're hiring. That is a very intense first year of probation. If you do not have certifications, you'll be going through a full year of training. A lot of it's put on by Riverland and then supported by our staff. And you will get your certifications. After a year, you'll be off probation, and then you'll be good to go. But that first year is very intense, and there's a reason for that because there's a lot to learn, and we're very specific about how we train our firefighters.
So that's our current staffing for paid on call. Recent events, we continue to train, twice a month with our full department as well as full time training on duty every day. That drill is twice a month, and some of this stuff, I will highlight that top picture. That was some auto extrication training. Little shout out to Dean's Towing. They are very accommodating business in town. They actually stuck a car underneath a trailer, and we have seen this on the interstate, and we've had responded. But they were willing to put a scenario together that we dreamed of and allowed
us to really hone in on, what it means in those situations without having it be an emergency. We get to slow down. We have some new people in the department. They get to slow down and see how things end up going. So we did that on the top. On the bottom, we went to one of our city parks out by the new soccer fields, and we did some winter, angled high angle or rope rescue. I was the guy. I was the victim. It was cold that day, so I was cold and wet, but that was our full time staff. We do full time training every every Monday as well. And then we have squads. So our department's broken up into one full time member and three paid on calls
to get that little bit of a slower or more condensed training period with the individuals, and we call those our squad trainings. We do those once once a month. So that's kind of our highlight of our training right now. Inspections, we continue to do inspections, through April 2026. We have done a 154 rental inspections. 933 rental units have been inspection inspected. Fire alarm sprinklers, seven. And, of course, the fire department deals with weed nuisance inspections, and we've got about three of those on the books. I've been on the day. I think we got two or three more of those today, so that continues to go up. Very aggressive with rental inspections in the city of Montana.
And, of course, fire alarms, sprinkler systems continue to come in as projects roll around with new buildings in Montana. Upcoming events. So our Steele County safety camp will highlight this a little bit. It's in conjunction with the Otana Fire Department, the Otana Police Department, Steele County Sheriff's Department, Blooming Prairie Police Department, State Patrol, OPU, Life Fitness here in Otana, and, of course, Federated all support this program. This program is a two day program put on to any kid who has completed third grade, get going into the fourth grade. And currently, Leila Kath,
one of our full time members, is the president of safety camp and puts in a ton of time and effort for this two day event. We get about 200 plus kids for two days. The first day is down at Lake Colmeyer enjoying anything from camping, fishing, to boating. And then the second day, we move up to the Steele County Fairgrounds. That top picture is we show the kids what we like to do, kind of park cars, and then we do some other events with them up there. But if any of you are available on those days, I'm sure they would love to see you guys down there. We do do hot dogs. So anybody's dying to eat a hot dog or serve hot dogs on Friday,
we do Friday lunch for them. But that's a great event. One of our bigger summer events. And, of course, we have our open house coming on October 4 for, fire prevention week. And, that more information on what the topic is this year to come, but that will be October 4. Questions for the fire department? Any questions for Charlie? Dave? Going back to the first topic, Charlie, we hear the term paid on call Yes. For the young people that are considering it. How much is the pay? Been a while, Dave, since I've been paid on call, but it has gone up. I would I'd have to look in to see what exactly the pay is.
And for those young individuals that are looking, we still have our sleeper program going on, which allows you to live at the fire hall Yeah. And respond to calls. So it it's very appealing to those young men and women who are looking to step out of the nest, I'll say. But it's a great opportunity. A lot of our sleeper program members have turned into full time members, not only in Otauton, but other communities. So paid on call, you're paid for trainings. So that first year training, that's very intense. You're paid for all that. And then you're paid for, the Monday night trainings, and then you're paid per call as you come in and respond to those calls.
There is a call percentage. We ask you to meet in order to maintain a good quality or a good standing on the fire department, but, I'm not gonna lie. The state is hurting for volunteer and paid alcohol firefighters. The city of Owatonna is on a downward slope of people who are willing and able to put the time commitment into it. But it's not just an Otona problem. It's not just a state problem. It's across the nation. But the state of Minnesota volunteer fire departments are 90 of the apartments in the state are volunteer. So but as far as the pay goes, check the website.
I'm sure it's on there. Alright. Thank you. Any other questions? Don. Just a comment. Charlie, you mentioned the safety camp. I did that a couple times when I was park and rec. Yep. It's a hoot. It is a lot of fun. You got a different version of hoot then. And a bunch of two hundred third going into fourth graders is a lot. It is a lot to handle. Yeah. But it's fun. And they will they will have a run for your money. But it was fun. Anyone else? Couple of comments from me. First of all, thank you for for mentioning, you know, businesses stepping up and and assisting.
You can't replicate that in a classroom setting. No. And to have local companies come on and say, hey, how can we enhance what you're doing? That just speaks volumes. And I'll go along with Don. My kids are old, and they remember going through safety camp, and it is a lot. You hope that they take some things away from it. I know my kids did. And, they're not gonna remember everything, but if they can remember one or two things, it could make a world of difference in their lives. So thank you for doing that. It's it's a great program.
Thank you. Alright. Now we're up to public comment. We've limit your comments to three minutes. Please approach the microphone, sign in, state your name and address for the record after being acknowledged by the council president. Speakers will be limited to three minutes to deliver their comments. Council vice president Vos will be timing and hold up a hand after two minutes forty five seconds to notify the speaker they have fifteen seconds to complete their comment. Those speaking are asked to conduct themselves in a respectful manner as they deliver their comments. Audience members are asked to refrain from reacting to comments. The council will not respond directly to comments in this venue or take immediate action
in response to them. With that, I open up the public comment. I'll go first and get this started. Melissa Zimmerman. 2525 Stoney Creek Drive. Thank you guys for putting together the information tonight. I think the public was hoping for a little bit more back and forth. We're hoping that that that that can still happen, and we're asking that you guys put this on the ballot for November. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else this evening? I'm John Havelka. Two things. First, there's a parking lot downtown that some businesses have counted on, and it's been closed. So I supported, I didn't realize it was a pay,
that you have to pay rent on that lot. But with the upcoming construction on Main Street, it's a real challenge for especially Sister Salon and Clifton Larson Allen for parking. So maybe push it off a little bit or see if there's another strategy for that lot. Second, I've been on the early edition of Rotary Club, and we have been fundraising for the fireworks for the last twenty six years. You may know that the fireworks is a $10,000,000 insurance policy on the actual show. Rotary International asked us to have an additional $10,000,000
policy on everything else around the show. Insurance is really expensive and I want to thank Genetuma for helping us do the League of Minnesota Cities, I think it is, through their insurance that they cover other programs or other fireworks around the state. So it was only a $250 policy for the cost. So it saves us so this year, we're doing a $30,000 show for the fireworks. So the the rotary early edition will cover the fireworks and the insurance policy, but a big thank you to Jenna and the City of Owatonna for,
like, making this really, really easy for years to come with the, with the fireworks show. So thank you very much for doing that. Thank you. Anyone else this evening? All yours, mate. I'm Lynn Underwood live on Mackinac sorry about that. Hazel Jean, The new developments that we're gonna do on Partridge runs through another homeowner association. The the the Holding Pond isn't big enough. So I know they said they're gonna redo that when they do their, new development on Partridge. Make it deeper. I raise my patio
as high as I can. And when it rains hard, all that overflow comes right down through that development east of me and goes into a private sewer that goes underneath Rose Street and down into the creek. So if you don't make that holding pond larger and deeper after taking some of the property that absorbs some of this rain away, I'm gonna be in trouble. And I'm probably the lowest spot.
My neighbor I live in a twin home, so my neighbor was on the North Side. It's just a little bit higher. It drains, but his for some reason, when they when they built a twin home, his entry his door entry is a little bit higher than mine. So I'm worried about developing up there in Partridge, and I I just wanted to make a point of that. In addition, I'd like to ask, when did we know when did you decide on using part of the property at
West Hills for the police department? I just want a date. You know, if you wanna give me a call, we can discuss it. They don't they won't answer questions. It's just an opportunity for the public to comment. So that's why. But feel free to reach out to me, and I'll get you that answer. Okay. Anyone else? My name is Donna Haney, and I'd like to talk about the West Hills for the police department. My question or wondering, why don't you put the police department out by the jail? You have it there. You had to have the sheriff right across the road. You the police department now has to use the jail all the time anyway.
Build it out here because this West Hills is that's part of Watanah. My mom was in the orphan each year. It sent to me to the Southwest. I did senior place. Everything here is Owatonna. And if the the police department, if it's built here, it's gonna outgrow it right away. So why not keep it in a group where it's all together? I mean, I have nothing yet to have in a new police department. If it's locationed, it's better. You know, because you're gonna be knocking down the rest of these buildings down as you grow.
Just put it out there and make it one big area where you need it. And then we need to have a vote on on everything in November. This everything can't go through without, Otona voting on it. That's all I have to say. Thank you. Anyone else this evening? My name is Steve LeCount. I live at, 1975 Lynn Drive. And, first of all, I'd like to thank the fire department and the law enforcement for their presentation, and those things don't just come together. I I'm sure a lot of people put a lot of time into putting all
of that together, and I appreciate that. I appreciate the counsel for the research that you've done. I've been here, probably three or four of the last five meetings. And what I've heard and I'm I'm just gonna give you my 30,000 foot perspective for what it's worth. And I'm speaking mainly to the council council and and, mayor and city administrator. I think you've done an outstanding job. There's I don't think there's any argument about need. I mean, there's a need, obviously. You've spent a lot of time identifying what the need is,
So I don't think you're getting a lot of argument there. You spent a fair amount of time, justifying your process. Maybe that's not the right term, but you you went through your process for getting to where you're at. I think the piece that's missing is that, you have not created an environment to get input from your constituents. And as public servants, I believe that's a key responsibility that you have. I know you've done workshops, and you I'm just saying you haven't been effective in getting public input.
And so it'll go to a vote in November, and from my perspective, it'll probably get voted down. And then here we are, back at zero. We've kicked the can down the road again. We need to come up with solutions, and and the two issues are location and the amount that you wanna spend. And if you don't address those, we're not gonna get anywhere. So those are my comments. Thank you for listening. Thank you. Lynn Holtas, and it's l y n n e, 1070 Truman Avenue.
Put it on the ballot. And don't just put it on the ballot for 65,000,000 or 61,500,000. Put it on the ballot for location and put it on the ballot for the money as well. Don't put it at West Hills. There's too much history here. And in a generation or two or three, people aren't gonna care, and they're gonna tear these buildings down without even batting an eye. And I don't want that history to happen. So please put it on the ballot and let the people vote. Let them vote for the amount, which is way too much money,
and let them vote for the location. Don't put it at West Hills. I'm not saying we don't need a police department and a fire department. I'm saying we probably could use new facilities, but you need to do a better job of finding a different place and getting the money under control. Thank you. Anyone else this evening? Alright. Brad Fleming, 1010 Bixby Road. I just wanna say I think the city staff and council members did a really good job today with the walking tour and the study session afterwards. I'm a lifelong. I've been born and raised here. I personally feel like the plan that's put out in front of the city is
the proper plan to move the city forward with new facilities. I have no problem at the location of the at the West Hills here, and I have no problem at the location at the current, police station for the fire hall. So just my 2¢. Thank you. Sorry. That was a little rough. Good evening. My name is Kate Coleman. I am an almost a lifetime resident of of Owatonna. Born and raised, moved away, came back. I just want to address the 2025 Minnesota state statute, a 138.665
subdivision two. It reads in part, I'm taking part of it out, in order. Before carrying out any undertaking that will affect designated or listed properties or funding or licensing and undertaking by other parties, the state department or agency, which would be the city, nongovernment oh, no. Excuse me. Sorry. The state department or agencies shall consult with the SHPO pursuant to SHPO's established procedures to determine appropriate treatments and to seek ways to avoid and mitigate and mitigate any
adverse effects on designated or listed properties. If the state department or agency and SHPO agree in writing on a suitable course of action, the project may proceed. If the parties cannot agree, any one of the parties may request that the governor appoint and convene, a mediation task force consisting of five members, two appointed by the governor, the chair of the state review board of the state historic preservation office, the commissioner of the administration, or the commissioner's designee, and one member appointed by the director of the Minnesota Historical Society.
I also want to say that if you have a smaller tract of land, build up. You've you've contracted out all these designs, to to plan and and and look at ways you can different places you can build. Build up. You have a lot of opportunities in town to be able to do that, including the temporary space where you're gonna be putting the police station if this all goes through and does not and gets approved by the vote. So if that happens, that's the, the city no.
Sorry. The school district building in that location build up. Thank you very much. Thank you. Anyone else this evening? Seeing no one coming forward, we will close that portion. We are now up to council comment and general information. First up tonight is council member Spenby. Nothing. Council member Voss. Just quick thank you to the OFD. I know they've been busy lately, and they've done some great work. So keep it up. Thank you. Council member Dodson. Nothing bad. Council member Burbank. Nothing more. Council member Bokey. Nothing. Go ahead. Council member McCann? Just a couple of comments.
I know we passed the golf course ordinance and side by side ordinance as far as licensing people. I have seen golf carts driving through Darts Park. Again, they are licensed to go on the street and down Rose Street if they need to get there, but they're not licensed to go through the parks. So I just wanted to make that comment. And then, I appreciate the folks coming out tonight to, listen to what we put together, or I should say Jenna and the police park fire department put together and our
consultant. I think it was, well read, well attended. I I was very happy with that. Thursday night, we will have, a booth for the city. So if you wanna come and talk to us at that time too, please do I'm not sure where we're at, but In Central Park. In Central Park. So we'll be there. And, again, bring your questions, comments. We're not gonna shy away. So other than that, I wanna thank everyone for their involvement, and I appreciate it. And thank you very much. Thank you. Mayor? Just second what Mr.
McCandis said, thank you to everybody who showed up for the walking tour tonight, who came to the study session and sat through all that information. It was heavy. It was a lot. So thanks for being here. Thank you to Jenna and the city staff, to the fire department and police department members who were here to give information and share their own personal experiences and knowledge. Driving? Thanks. Regarding what mister Kerschke talked about earlier, the Streetscape project, limestone has been torn out. Granite is being put in place. Please don't park and drive where crews are working.
This project can be done much quicker, much earlier if we just cooperate with each other a little bit. So if you see if you're downtown and you see these guys working, please do your best to stay away from where they are working so they can get this done as quickly as possible. And then, again, just a reminder, like mister McCann said, downtown Thursday is this week's the first one of the year. Always a great turnout, and it's always a really good time. So we would love to see everybody come on out for it. Thank you. Administrator Tuma. Yeah. Thanks. I got, about four updates. One, just to make sure people know that it was a big presentation today.
Couple couple weeks ago, we had another one. Those are all the slide decks, the recording of those meetings. So people can hear the dialogue or the conversation are on our website or on our, the slide decks are on our agenda, but the recordings will be on our website under the project. So really good information. To just to confirm, we do are working with SHPO on this project, and it's part of the process. I guess my other one is River Springs Waterpark, just so the public knows, that we are running into a little bit of a leak out there that we're working on. So I don't believe it'll open on June 4,
as planned, but the staff are working on it hard behind the scenes trying to get that addressed and figured out. So we'll provide more updates as we learn more, but just wanna let people know that's where that is. The second thing, Kevin, you referenced it earlier that you're probably getting old. And so I just wanna acknowledge somebody has a birthday tomorrow of 5051, somewhere in there. But anyway '48. '48. Sorry. Mhmm. Happy birthday to you. And also to our mayor and his new wife, Carol, on their wedding last week. That's all I have.
Thank you. For me, I was downtown this morning with the mayor. Oh, we even had a photo. Love it. With the mayor looking at the rock and the city parking lot that is directly behind the lot that we used to lease had three open spots. So, and then the the city owned parking lot that is, just to the south of, the screen was completely empty. With the Ascend two project, we had, public hearings because we took a city parking lot out.
Not one business owner from downtown spoke against that because we're losing parking. The other concern I have is the people that parked in that leased lot. Did they go to the end of the block and cross at a crosswalk, which you are legally supposed to do? Are they cutting across four lanes of traffic, taking a shortcut? Because you can say that the screen is far away. If you count your steps, that's actually closer than going across the crosswalk than than the other option. Mine Street parking lot is typically only half full.
There are parking opportunities downtown. We've got Thursday night event tomorrow night. As busy as it is, we never we don't struggle to find a parking spot. We're either on on the street or in the Vine Street parking lot. So, you know, in regards to to not going on a crosswalk, we had that situation couple years ago down by the blast where, you know, ends up after the investigation. They weren't in the crosswalk. Create their own crosswalk. I got hit by a car. And so, you know, there are options,
opportunities out there. Thank you to our security tonight. Appreciate you being here. Stay safe. Good luck to our graduates from Owatonna High School. Graduation is coming up. That's an exciting time for everyone. Personal note, After eighteen years of coaching fast pitch for Owatonna High School, I decided at age 65 it's time to retire. I wanna thank activity director Mark Optikirk for allowing me to coach some very fine athletes in my eighteen years of coaching. The coaches I coached with and,
especially the athletes, to listen to a fat old man try to talk about fast pitch softball and putting up with me. So it was it was a great run for me. I enjoyed it. Thank you to especially Dan Bokey. Always asking the questions on softball and supporting me coaching that. So, it was it was enjoyable, but now it's time to move on. Last, we we don't hear a lot from mister Walbrand. We don't hear a much a lot from you. You're welcome. But but I do wanna say thank you for your service. You you've been you've been our city attorney for,
what, two years now? Three years? Yeah. So I just wanted to I just wanted to thank you for for your service. He's not going away. He's not retiring. Don't read that into it. But I just want to thank you for for your continued service. With no other business before, I'd look for a motion to adjourn. So moved. Motion by nature. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Dan. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? We are adjourned. Thank you all.