August 18th, 2025. Everyone, please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America with liberty and justice for all. >> And now emergency personnel recognition.
stand in front of us. >> Yeah, you can stand in front of us. You're more important. >> That's a little better. All right. Mayor, uh, council members, city staff, and guests. My name is Matt Johnson. I'm the deputy chief in the St.
Joseph Police Department. Tonight, we're here to recognize members of our first respon responder family along with several incredible citizens with a lifesaving award for their heroic actions. On June 26th, 2025, at 7:26 a.m., the
St. Joseph Police, St. Joseph Fire and Rescue, and Mayo Ambulance were dispatched to a medical at Quick Trip West by its name, the one on the west side of town. Um, after a 911 call was placed by Quick Trip employee Carla Marklitz,
first responders were advised that a male was unresponsive and laying on the sidewalk in front of the store and CPR was in progress. When St. Joseph police officers uh or when arriving, St. Joseph police officers observed several citizens who
had assisted in rendering medical aid including Diane Hmering um who had started CPR and Amber Wenty who had taken over CPR when our officers arrived. Amber, there you go. Um
officer Alex Lion applied an AED and Chief Dwight Funenstein began giving breaths with a bag valve mask. When prompted by the AED, Officer Lion delivered a shock with the AED and Officer Dan Funenstein took over compressions.
After the shock was delivered, Amber was able to detect uh light radial pulse. Several St. Joseph rescue members arrived on scene and applied a Lucas and continued life-saving measures. For those of you who don't know, the Lucas is an
apparatus that gives mechanical compressions to the chest. Um, Mayo ambulance paramedics arrived on scene and a pulse was again located. It appeared that the male was taking breaths on his own at this time. Mayo
ambulance loaded the male into their ambulance, continued care, and transported him to the St. Cloud Hospital. Joining us tonight is Brian Becker, the unconscious male who received the life-saving care. Brian
Ryan will come up in a minute and talk, but he's joined tonight with his wife Karen. Had to say that right. Uh their children Hannah and Josh, four grandchildren, and I think I saw several more family members that were here. So, welcome. Um, I'm happy to report talking
to Brian several times since this incident incident that he's fully recovered. So, Brian, if you want to say a couple words. >> Come on up so they can hear you. Well, alls I can say is I'm so thankful
that I'm here today and I am so thankful for all of you and you three to start at the beginning for being citizens and just stepping up and um doing what you did and all of you first responders and ambulance drivers
and policemen that you guys did your professional job in a great way and um kept me alive or brought me back to life and I get to hopefully live a long life with my family and kids and grandkids. And since the incident 4 days after I
had a little grandbaby that was born, which I would have never got to meet him. So I from my my heart and my family, I just want to thank all of you guys for everything you did and um and just being so fast and professional and
giving me good care. So thank you. So, we have a few that could not make it tonight. It's tough with summer schedules to get everybody here, but we do have of several of the people here. So, Mayor Sapontiac is going to um issue some certificates for the first responders and the citizens. So, I will
name them off. Chief Dwight Funenstein, Officer Alex Lion, Officer Dan Funenstein couldn't be here tonight. was close. Uh, fire captain Ken Jacobson,
firefighter Justin Hunt, firefighter Jake Richter, firefighter Chris Zita, paramedic Mike Hero, Citizen Diane Harding,
Citizen Amber Wenty, and Citizen Carla Mark Lewitz. So, that concludes our presentation. We will meet straight across. I think Brian wanted to talk to all of you guys if you could come over there for a few minutes. Um, and we'll let you carry on with the
council meeting. Thank you. Well, with that, I think we have everybody in here that's going to stay. Our next item on the agenda is public comment. If anybody would like to address the council on anything that is not on tonight's agenda, you're welcome to do so. You can step to the podium and
just state your name and address, please. Seeing no public comment, we'll close we'll close the public comment period. Item number four, approval of the agenda. >> So moved. >> Seeing a motion is second. Any further
comment? All those in favor signify by I. >> I opposed. Motion carries. Item number five, consent agenda. >> So moved. >> Second. Seeing a motion as seconds. Any
further comment? All those in favor signify by I. >> I. Opposed. Motion carries for consent agenda. Item number six, continuation of public hearing for 2025 street improvements.
Thank you, mayor. My name is Bryce Johnson. I work for the city engineer. I am here tonight to present uh present the details uh for a special assessment hearing for the 2025 street improvement project.
Just wait a moment here to see if that will come up. Otherwise, we'll unplug again. What was the control? Oh, there we go. All right, sorry about that. Again, we're here to discuss the special
assessments for the 2025 street improvements. So, these are the project locations, uh various streets in town, uh and all the all these streets are are determined, uh through the city's capital improvement plan. We lay out over many years uh planned improvements
and we we don't always follow that exactly. Those those can vary a little bit depending on street condition, but generally these streets are determined years ahead on what will be improved in what years. Those project locations are shown here
in uh in purple shade as well as green. And this thin red line is the trail improvements along Minnesota Street and Highway 2. These are the projected final total
project costs. So we see the project item, public hearing, estimated cost, and where we sit tonight after opening publicly opening bids or our assessment hearing uh proposed final cost. So here
we've we have a total at our first our first uh public hearing the our estimated total project cost was just over a million. Uh and tonight here we sit at $981,000 roughly.
This just breaks down the total costs into project area a little bit more. So we've got project area here. our estimated cost at the improvement hearing and our proposed final cost here. So again, we've got just north of a million million was our initial
estimate and tonight we sit at $980,000. This shows our projected funding preliminary and this is our projected funding final. So we've got again the project area, the special assessment revenue, city
subsidy, and the proposed total cost. So roughly 53% of the cost for this project is proposed to be funded by special assessment with the remaining 47% coming from a city subsidy, general funds.
Some special assessment info. It has been and continues to be the policy of the city of St. Joseph, that whenever infrastructure improvements are constructed providing benefit to a particular area, those costs shall be levied against benefiting properties. With that, the city commissioned a special assessment benefit report to
determine a maximum assessment. So, typically we will we'll go off of the the city's assessment policy and then we'll have this third party special assessment benefit report done and that oftent times will cap the assessments depending on the property uh the specific properties that are being
assessed. So, the city's policy is to assess up to 60% of the street overlay reconstruct costs uh with 100% of the street cost being assessed to annex properties with no previous assessment. So the remaining 40% would be typically subsidized by the
city. And those special assessment those those uh footages are determined by the frontage of your property that abuts the project. So if you live on a corner, you would only be assessed for the the length of your property that that abuts the improvement. If you only if the
improvement only lies on one side of your of your corner lot. These were the findings of the special assessment benefit report. So again depending on the the type and use of the property this third party determines a maximum market benefit. Uh so the
simplest to look at would be these res single family residential homes which are capped out per per parcel. Some more some more special assessment info. So for your your average rectangular interior lot 100% of that a
budding a budding project frontage uh would be would be assessed. The city policy also has different deter determinations for different shaped lots. Um corner lots again the the long
side of that corner lot you would only be assessed half of that footage. Uh in irregular interior lots, we we take an average of the of the front and back width to find that that footage. Special assessment rates. So here again,
we have our project area on the left, the type of improvement done, and here we've got our estimated preliminary special assessment rate, and on the far right here, we've got the proposed final special assessment rate this evening. So as you can see all of these were
slightly reduced. Again here was our initial estimate and here's the final. So these are the the unit the unit price special assessment rates. These special assessments may be paid in annual installments over time. They are
typically collected with property taxes. For this project the term is 10 years and the interest rate is 5%. There there would be no interest if the special assessment was paid in full within 30 days of the adoption of the assessment role.
You may partially prepay these amounts at at any time. Um and then you would would be charged interest on the remaining the remaining amount. uh those that would be need to be paid uh prior to November 15th or interest
would be charged through December 31st of the succeeding year. There are special considerations for military persons, seniors uh and disability. So you do have the opportunity for a deferral. It's
important to understand that it it does not it does not is not a forgiveness. It's not a a loan forgiveness. You would also still acrue uh you would also still acrue interest over that time but those are those are an option.
The process for a deferral you would apply using a form available from the city complete complete that form within 30 days of the adoption of the special assessment which would typically occur this evening. uh the city council would would make the ultimate decision on
whether to grant that deferral and again that interest still occurs. Appeals. No appeal may be taken as to the amount of an assessment unless a written objection by the affected property owner is filed with the municipal clerk prior to the hearing or
presented to the presiding officer at the hearing. So that's the hearing that we're at. So appeals would need to be given in written form to the council uh this evening. Sorry. You must serve notice upon the mayor or city clerk within 30 days after
the adoption of the assessment. And that's related to if if a property owner is going to appeal to district court, they have to follow that process on the bottom two uh bullets. If if you're going to appeal uh to district court tonight, in order to maintain your
ability to appeal, you have to serve the mayor or the clerk uh at >> Yes. Thank you, Randy. This is an example special assessment calculation. So, if our unit rate is 29 ft and you
have an 80 foot wide interior lot, you have 80 feet of of your property that abuts the project. This would be your total assessment. If you lived on a corner lot, say, and your your lot dimension was 80 feet by
100 feet and the the long side is where the improvement was being done, you are only going to be assessed for half of that long side. So, it' be half of this 100 ft times the unit price. So if if we combine these two and both sides of your
corner lot are are being improved, you would add those two together. So you're still only assessed half of your long side. This is a tenative schedule for the remaining work. So we would be looking to start construction this year
in early September and the vast majority of the project would be complete this season. uh Minnesota Street. The overlay on Minnesota Street would not be done until next year after completion of the roundabout project at at County Road 2.
With that, I can take any questions from the council or the public. >> At this time, does the council have any questions for Randy or Bryce? Seeing none, we're going to look to open the public hearing. And some of the residents that are present here tonight
might remember they're here about a month ago for another public hearing. The reason why we have an additional public hearing tonight is one resident who was impacted by street assessments this year did not receive proper notification from the city. That is our
fault. So, as a result, we're having an additional public hearing tonight. Typically, that would be reserved specifically for that resident to speak during the public hearing. If anybody wants to speak that was at the previous public hearing, I'm fine with that. So,
if anybody has questions that they would like to direct at Bryce, Randy, or the council and myself, you're welcome to do so. Just state your name and address and please approach the podium so people at home can pick you up on the mic. So, with that, we will open our public
hearing. If no one would like to approach the council, I'll ask one last time we may look to close the public hearing. With that, we will close the public hearing. Is there any other action that you'd like, David?
Excuse me. No, you do not need to take any action tonight. He did take it at the the last meeting. So, this was for any additional comment for the one that did not receive notice. So, we can move to the next agenda item. Okay. Thank you everyone. On to agenda item number seven, zoning
text amendment for cannabis cultivation in B2 highway business district and L1 light industrial district. Yeah, thank you. Um, mayor and councel, I'll be presenting the zoning ordinance text amendment item, um, which involves,
um, an amendment allowing cannabis cultivation in the B2 highway 75 business district and light industrial district. I'll provide an overview of the requests and then ask for action this evening. So, the city has received two requests
to amend the city's zoning ordinance to again allow cannabis cultivation. One request is to allow indoor cannabis cultivation as a conditional use in the B2 highway business district due to pursuing indoor cannabis cultivation at 417 1st Avenue Northeast. A second
request is to allow indoor cannabis cultivation as a permitted use in the light industrial district due to pursuing operations in the Northland Business Center Industrial Park. So recent laws legalized adult use cannabis in Minnesota and established a
regulatory framework over the cannabis industry. The city of St. Joseph adopted a cannabis ordinance related to retail registration and licensing in 2025. This request is related to the cultivation of cannabis which is not listed as a permitted or conditional use in any of
the city's zoning districts. The draft zoning text amendment includes adding indoor greenhouse including cannabis cultivation as a conditional use in the B2 district and as a permitted use in the light industrial district. So I'm pulling up the zoning map here uh
in regards to um the B2 that would be the I know might be kind of it might be hard to see but the red is the B2 highway 75 business district. Um, so when you if you amend the ordinance to allow for that, those would be the areas that it would be allowed. And then the
uh purplish color is the light industrial districts. The planning commission reviewed this request and held a public hearing on August 5th. They discussed safety, order control, wastewater, lighting, hours of operation, truck traffic, um amount of
production, number of employees, and the city having the city's cannabis ordinance addressing a cultivation. Um um there was discussion on having an an ordinance in place to provide guidance on how to handle cultivation. Um there
was discussion on the suitability to allow in the B2 district that is more retail use focused. Um, a letter has been included in your packet by um, planning commissioner Mark Thompson. Uh, the applicant uh, indicated that carbon filters will be used uh, saying there
will be little to no smell. Um, that the state has rigorous safety standards and any transportation um, would be rare and plant waste is composting. Um, the plan commission voted they took two separate motions on the item. Um they voted 3 to1
to approve the ordinance amending um section 502.54 of the 502 ordinance which adds indoor greenhouse including cannabis cultivation in the B2 highway 75 business district and that was based on
those concerns that um Commissioner Thompson had raised. uh they uh did vote four and zero um unanimously to approve the ordinance amending adding it to section 506.62 which is the light industrial district to add that as
a permitted use. So the requested action this evening um you can do uh either a motion all all in one motion to uh table deny or approve ordinance 2025-010
amending ordinance 502 sections 502.54 and 506.62. So that you could do it in one motion which would amend allowing it as a conditional use in the B2 D excuse me B2 district and light industrial district
or you can do it in two separate motions if you you wish. So those options are laid before you on the screen and then lastly we would um ask for a motion for the summary publication. So with that I can take any questions you may have. The applicant is here this
evening if you actually the both applicants are here this evening if you have questions. >> Council is there any questions? >> It feels like it's conflicting with the RPG thing. >> So would the candidates mind coming to
the podium for a couple questions? So, they're looking at becoming cultivators, growers, and they're looking to do indoor cultivation growth only. And what the city of St. Joseph is pursuing, and we're still waiting on the OCM, the Office of Cannabis Management, is a municipal retail license. So, they're
not looking to per se sell to the public. They're looking to be growers and then sell to a distributor. Do I have that correct? >> Correct. >> Okay, >> that's correct. We're working on location in Uptown Minneapolis. And so essentially I can go over some of the questions that were asked to help ease
some of your concerns. So Crime and Security, Office of Cannabis Management is pretty strict on that. We have cameras. We have alarm systems that go to the police. We have all those kind of things covered. Odor control, we use HEPA filters for
mold and toxins. We use carbon filters for smell. It's actually a sealed room that we have. And so there's not even exhaust where air is coming out. We have CO2 that's feeding inside the room. So, it's literally all sealed. There's no windows. There's no light leakage. There's no water leakage. We use coconut
husk. So, it's from coconuts. I mean, it's it's a natural source. And essentially, when the drip emitter goes on top and drips, there's a pot on the bottom. You've probably seen with regular pots, the water goes to the bottom, and so there's no waste water. And in regards to waste material, the roots, the stocks, there's a fenced area
that Corey, the owner of the building, has where we can put like a a composting pile. So, this is all regenerative process. We're regenerating the coconut husk um amending it and creating nutrients and reusing it. So, there's not water waste. There's no other one
other thing product amount. It's not like we're going to have a retail shop with a sign. And it's honestly like you're going to notice that we're not even there. Once every month and a half or a month, we take a whole bunch of product. We map out the retail stores in Minneapolis and other locations that want it. And then we either use a
transporter or we transport it to that place and we use bags and devices that seal it from smell. Has to go in a lock box. Like I said, state has really stringent rules on this stuff. And so I think that covers it all. And for us, we're small, more like a boutique. His
location is much larger. Ours is 3,000 square feet. So, we're talking 3 to 600 pounds of product over the period of a year, but think of it like a fine French type of fine winery type of thing. We're we're kind of catering to that boutique market. And so, that's essentially what
we're doing. And uh yeah, >> wanted to piggyback onto that with uh Commissioner Thompson's questions. uh the light pollution the growing environment is contained so there will be no light pollution outside of the building and the uh physical waste is
all organic waste we have to separate any hazardous waste they call it that's just something that has tricoms in it there's really no hazard to it other than I suppose somebody trying to take it out of the garbage or something but we have to remediate that by chopping it up and mixing it with organic waste that
soil stocks leaves. They're all just byproducts of the process. So, and then THC, one of the concerns was the water contamination. So, THC is not water soluble. >> Any other questions? Go for it. >> Um, just I'm glad that Councilman
Schnetler brought up with is there potential confusion? And so we want the public to know that we have, as the mayor mentioned, applied to get a retail license to have a city-owned cannabis store, just like there would be
a mun municipal liquor store. These two businesses are totally different. They're going to be growing to sell to retailers and other places in Minnesota. Um, I'm in favor of the motion. I attended the planning commission meeting
uh on August 5th. It was a robust discussion and I can appreciate planning commissioner Kennedy's uh issues that he has with it, but nevertheless it did get voted in favor by the planning commission 4 to one.
>> Any other questions for them? >> I don't have any questions myself. If you were doing this outdoors, I'd have a flurry of questions for you. But you're doing all your operations indoor, very self-contained, it sounds like, and I understand with going through our license process, how much the OCM forces
you to do to be safe and have everything buttoned up. So, I don't have any questions or issue with this. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, uh, mayor and councel. With that, we're looking for a motion to table deny or approve uh individual
ordinances or both. >> We're just taking questions from the applicants. It's not a public hearing. >> I think your letter was in the packet, Commissioner Kennedy. I think your letter was in the packet.
Unfortunately, this isn't a public hearing. >> I move to approve ordinance 2025-010 amending ordinance 502 sections 502.54 and 506.62. >> Second. >> Seeing a motion is second. Any further
comment or questions? All those in All those in favor signify by I. I >> I oppose. Motion carries. >> I move to approve summary publication resolution 2025-057.
>> I'll second that. Any other questions or comments? All those in favor signify by I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion carries. Thank you. On to item number eight, Riversbend
five, preliminary and final plat. Do you have that one, David, that you're carrying for us? Or no, I believe is is taking this is trying to load, I believe. Yeah, thank you. I'll be presenting the Riverbend Plat 5. Um,
again providing an overview of the proposed subdivision and asking for action on that item tonight. >> I will do that and I'll abs Absolutely. Yes, I'll talk louder.
All right. So, this is uh the location of uh the proposed subdivision. To your right, you'll see Rivers Ben Plat 5. The previous plats are shown on there as well. Um in the corner uh on the upper um left hand side, if you will, more
west is Riverbend Plat 4. Essentially, this is an extension of um Lanigan Way Southeast. The land use uh plan guides the property for um medium density residential and
you'll see the arrow um showing the location of the proposed subdivision. The zoning of the property is R4, excuse me, R4, townhouse, patio home residential. It was actually platted um in 2005. It
encompassed quite a bit of area including um to the south um Kennedy and over time um it was amended and went through um various iterations. Here's a um an exhibit showing our
transportation plan. Um on the on the right hand side there, you'll see the overall transportation plan map. I have an arrow pointing to the location. Uh Jade Road, which is also known as 12th Avenue, has been part of the city's transportation plan for uh quite some
time. It's a future plan minor arterial roadway. And then the smaller map just shows a a closer up view with the arrow showing uh the future Jade Road. This exhibit is the preliminary plat. Um
it shows uh the right of way uh for again that future um Jade Road. Um and uh also the lots there um in the extension of Lanigan Way southeast extending to the east and the future
Jade Road. North on the northerly lots are four patio homes and then the south where I had the arrows are two duplex lots which are twin homes attached side by side. This exhibit shows the final plat which
is consistent with the preliminary plat. Um and it's really uh platting is a two-part process. It's governed by state statute as well as your subdivision ordinance. And this is the document that would get recorded with um the county um
after the city council um approves that. As you can see from this exhibit, they're not showing uh the rightway being um dedicated. Um one of the items that we have included in your resolutions this evening is to have that
be a required for the dedication of um Lanigan, excuse me, um of Jade Road. So we are put adding that as a a condition for them to add that. So for your uh action this evening uh we are asking for a motion in regards to
approving the preliminary plat of Riversben Plat 5. And then the second motion would be an approval for the resolution approving the final plat and development agreement of Riversb Plat 5. Um, I do want to point out, maybe I'll
go back to the map here. Um, this right here, they're not proposing again, uh, that be right away. We are asking that to be a condition of approval that they, uh, add that on the final plat exhibit. As far as the timing of, um, construction of Jade Road, uh,
that was intended, um, that it would be part of this future phase. They're not proposing that. So that is a discussion that's ongoing with the developers and city staff on on the timing of that. It is addressed in the development agreement from a previous plat um plat 3
just to the west of this where its you'll notice actually maybe I'll go back a couple sides. You can see the aerial there's a culde-sac right here. So part of that approval of that plat um encompassed a temporary turnaround and
um there's actually an easement over that. Um and this the building permit for this lot will not be issued until uh that is vacated and this roadway is extended and then connects
again future Jade Road and then connects to County Road 121 aligning with Jade Road to the south. Otherwise, these are the actions again that um are before you this evening. If you have any questions for me, I'd be more than happy to ask them. Um the
planning commission um did uh review this and held a public hearing on the preliminary plat. And they are recommending approval of both the preliminary plat and the final plat. They did not weigh in on in regards to the timing of um Jade Road. Um they
didn't have any input on that. The one item they did ask us a condition that be added and it was added to the resolutions is for a temporary construction um easement or excuse me access off of um that future Jade Road. They wanted
construction to come off that. So with that, any questions, counselors? >> So, uh, what they're saying is that they want the city to have that. >> Oh, >> thank you. I appreciate you speaking up so that you can hear. Um, is that
better? Perfect. Thank you. Um, so what you're saying is that they're requesting the city to have access so that they can get to that for development. No, it would actually be for the developer. So they would have to put the improvements in. And so part of their request and they're they're proposing the
subdivision, they have to do those improvements. So put the new roadway that will serve um the patio home lots as well as the duplex lots. >> Okay. And so >> so that would be on the um that would be the developer's responsibility. >> Okay. Thank you.
>> Any other questions or comments? I personally have none myself. So we are just looking for a motion to approve resolution 2025-04. Then >> so moved. >> Second.
>> Seeing a motion and a second. Any other comments or questions? >> All those in favor signify by I. >> I. >> Opposed. >> Motion carries. I will make the motion to approve resolution 2025-055
for the final plat. Looking for a second. A second. >> Seeing a motion, a second. Any further comment. All those in favor signify by I. >> I. >> Opposed?
Motion carries. Thank you, Trice. On to item number nine, labor peace agreement for Red Pine Group. Thank >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor, council members. I'll be fairly brief with this one. It's um actually, for my opinion, a bit more
of a formality that required from OCM. One of the um interesting quirks of the law that was passed is that um we have to have a labor peace agreement with any potential unions. Uh that would be uh for the mun
municipal dispensary employees. Um however, as the council's aware, we are contracting with Red Pine Group to provide the management services for that, which would include they would they would employ the employees. Um so that was not really addressed in the law. So one of the things that we've
been working on for a little while is how to address that. So what we have what the attorneys have come up with is a labor peace agreement which um would spec would specifically reference the teamsters here uh because they are the
the one union group that has um I guess expressed interest in potentially representing any employees. So the agreement that is um is written, it specifies that the city intends to hire the independent contractor to run the retail space and the agreement will either be assigned to the operator or
the operator may enter into a separate agreement with the union um if they so choose to unionize. So they would not have to unionize, but it would this agreement would be in place if they so choose. So with that being said, it is um um approved by two form and content
by the city attorney that is representing us in the municipal cannabis cannabis dispensary. So with that um I'll take any questions. Otherwise, we just be looking for a motion to approve the labor peace agreement. >> I'll make a motion to approve the labor peace agreement.
>> Second. Any other questions? All those in favor signify by I. >> I. >> I. Opposed. Motion carries. Thank you, David. Item number 10, department reports.
>> I'll add something real quick. I just want to give a shout out to my fellow co-workers, Kayla, David, Lori, and everyone that helped fill in while I was out for the past four weeks. Um, and also thank you to Theres for filling in and helping as well. So very
appreciative. We have a great team. So thank you everyone. >> Glad to have you back, Nate. Anybody else? Department reports? Nothing. With that, we have mayor and council reports. >> Anything
>> tonight? I'd want to mention that uh tonight's a unique circumstance where we're having our work session after a city council meeting. Traditionally, that is before that we have on a monthly basis. So, immediately following this, we're going to walk across the hall to our
conference room and we'll be discussing a native plant ordinance for roughly an hour. If we can get through that quickly and swiftly, we have a couple other topics to discuss, but if not, we'll just be attending to that one. So if anybody would like to come to that, work sessions are open to the public and
you're more than welcome to do so. See no other reports. Looking for a motion to adjourn. >> Move to adjourn. >> Second. >> All those in favor signify by I. I. >> I. Oppos. We are adjourned.