recording in progress. Allegiance 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. Item number two, if anybody would like
to approach the council and make a public comment for anything that is not on tonight's agenda, feel free to do so. State your name and address. Seeing nobody come forward, we'll close the public comment period. On to item agenda number three, approval of the agenda.
So moved. Second hearing a motion, a second. Any other discussion? All those in favor signify by I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. On to item 3A, swearing
in of Officer Vic Weiss. Hope I said your name correctly. Repeat after me. I doly swearly swear to support the Constitution of the United States. of the United
States of the state of Minnesota and discharge faithfully the duties the position of police officer duties of police officer or affection malice or illus
until discharge. I will soon cause our community's peace and cause our community's peace to be kept invest to the best of my ability all offenses against peace all offenses against peace according to the law according to the
law. So help me God. Congratulations. [Applause] That's pretty long. Thank you, Vic. And thank you for your service. Moving on to item number four, consent agenda.
Second with a motion and second. Any other discussion? All those in favor signify by I. I opposed. Motion carries. On to item number five, Joe Town blocks.
Dave, do you have a preamble for our guests? I guess nothing other than I guess we are not really looking at any for any action at this point. Um the representatives from Joetown Blocks are going to be here. They um have some potential changes that they want to get
some feedback from the council on before we uh go through with the full application and bring it back for approval. I think they Well, I believe we know who you are, but just still state your name, please. Mary Bruno and Razer. Um okay, so we just wanted to
bring some things to the council to see um what some thoughts might be and The first thing was talking about a new proposed location. Um, you know, last year was a great event, but there were some things that
would have been nice to avoid. And one of them was that, you know, on a Sunday going on Main Street um caused a lot of um friction with the church that we would just assume avoid. So um we were talking recently about and we've talked
about this many times. This is not the first time we've thought about this, but um we thought we would maybe try to give it a shot this year to um block off the kind of enclosed um alleyway, you know, square behind
Minnesota Street um and where Bad Habit and the Meat Market area is. Um we felt like it'd be more contained and we could um we're still going to ask to block off like first and ash for the car show and the um fire department is
going to do some water stuff. Um but we thought that that could maybe avoid a lot of what the pain was with the main street. Um so that's kind of our and it's just kind of a naturally contained area. So, and when we had talked about Minnesota Street, like Mary said, it was
like this was also talked about, but and it we're in our infancy yet with Joetown blocks to maybe try a different location to see like it's best to do it now than to wait rather than five years down the road and then flip the switch. So, we wanted some guidance from council on that to see pros and cons or questions
about that. But now would be a good time to attempt this other location to give it a shot. Yeah. So, that's our first thing. Um and you know mainly are we just going through? Yeah. Yeah. So like then you know we've kind of already
reached out to most of the businesses that would have some impact and they know about it. They're on board. Um and nobody commented and yeah nobody really said too much. You know obviously there's most of the businesses are closed on Sunday but the ones that are
not um want to be involved. Um, okay. Yeah. I mean, are there any do you guys want questions now? We can pause, Kevin. No, as far as the local, so you're talking about the alley
that's running east and west. Um, both alleys. So, there would in terms of the alleys. Yes. So, the one that's between um like Bodids and Bad Habit and then also the one that does come off of Minnesota by
Rock House there. Okay. So there would be we would need barricade and then the one that comes off of first and one comes off ash. So there would need to be kind of a barricade a barricade a barricade to protect those alleys enclosed and then not have people park back there as those businesses not to
have people parking and have one big open area. Yep. Yep. And so there I mean obviously there's some apartments above um like the laundromat and stuff up there but it it's it's a the event is 12 so we would need some extension before
and after that but it's not a 24-hour closure so so to speak. So and to Mary's point just you know the meat market's closed there's some other businesses that are closed so I don't think it would be extra intrusive. I think it could be a good opportunity for us.
Yeah, I like the idea. Yeah, you know, your first foray into a social district. Totally. There we go. That's totally what we were thinking, too. Yeah. Um, but then we wanted to also bring up um because, you know, this was our first
attempt at this event and it felt like it was really positive and we learned a ton and we're making a lot of um adjustments to make it simpler and um easier and serve some of the funds that we don't really have. Um, but the
question we wanted to ask the council too was like, is this a city event? You know, because this isn't um like a fundraiser necessarily for any one thing. This isn't any one business's thing. This is something that um was
asked of the CVB by the mayor. Um, you know, and that's always been our strategy was to host more events and to do more community bonding and building. Um, and so I think we want to clarify that because um, you know, we there's
not going to be a way for us to fund raise for this event. You know, I mean, we we had the raffle and the um, dunk tank, but you know, we can't put on an event like this with with that kind of money. So, I think we're just trying to figure out um, if it is, and if so, how
we can work it in that direction. And if it's not, if you know, then what? Didn't the EDA give the CVB nine? Was it nine grand last year for it? Yep. Y and I believe isn't the EDA planning on doing that again? Yep. Yep. Isn't And is nine
grand or 10? Is that 10 not enough to do what you want to do? Is that what you're saying? Yeah. But no, that's not what we're saying, right? Like what we're asking this because there's stuff um that as this being a city event that maybe we wouldn't to pay for or be
responsible for that we had some problems with trying to navigate last year such as Yep. So, um the l the special event licensing and then also um when we put this event on, we ask food vendors that are local um beverage
vendors that are local to obviously provide their product and do they have should they have to be required to pay those that fee for a St. Joe event. So, I think it's just been a little for us to understand what that looks like. And
was it like the police thing too? Uh yes. Yep. For extra security there. Yeah. Yeah. I mean these are small things but we're sponsoring it. That's should these things be charged to your budget? Totally. Because then the other
way we thought about it especially with like food vendors is that these aren't people from St. Cloud or blah blah blah. These are all St. Joe businesses. Sure. And so more about the point of it and the mission of it to be like let's just have everybody do what they So you have
a list of those things and you could give that list to Murphy. Yeah. And then Murphy could discuss it at staff meeting. Yeah. Yeah. So so this officially being a city event would just kind of um loosen up some of the weird little things that that are you know we
shouldn't have to worry about in our in our opinion in our humble opinion. So that you know it's not like we're looking more money or blah blah blah, but we just want to tighten up what we You're looking at spending less money for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah. Well, I don't know what the
other I I see it as a city event. I don't know agree with that EDA. It's not like it's a private party that wanted to do it. So, what do other people think? I would think that we would just you just keep that in your your ramifications of the you know
security and things like that, but it would it would be a city event, right? So you you would still say, "Yeah, you know, Dwight, we need you, you know, whatever that was, but I would just formulate that and bring that like Kevin said to David so that we would know
exactly what your needs are." Okay. So the you would like a list of what you had paid for last year, right? And then we would probably just say, well, we're going to wave it, wave it, wave it kind of thing if we go down that if we go
down that path. Sure. Mr. Mayor, if I may. Um, so one I know this uh this idea was was floated um or I'd heard about this idea before and um so we did a little bit checking and I guess at some point we'll have to really kind of clarify where does the CDB fit
in this you know are is it really is it a a city entity or not because when you look at the at the founding documents it's somewhat confusing um you know far as whether it's truly a city entity or not. Um so which is fine but you know um
but the other thing I would say is I will take that under adisement. I we'll we'll review it um bring it back to the council. The one thing I would say though is um also just be in mind that this was something that was brought up last year uh with some of the other events they were looking at. You know
what what do other what do other events get and we don't. So like what um particularly the one that was brought up was Rocktoberfest. I know they brought up that's a school event. Yeah. It's not a city event. But what I'm saying is they they were making
comparison to other events and saying why are they being treated differently. I just want to make sure that that that it's something that that other events will look at. But yes, but I want to make but I want to make sure that we have an answer for that. Right. That's dedicated. Make sure you have an answer. But
you mean to like clarify why they're different and then we can say because this is a city event. That is correct. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Okay. Is that all we have left? Yeah. Okay. So, we're going to bring that list to David and then we're going to chat again. Okay. And then any feedback is in terms
of the map the map that is in front of you. Pretty selfexplanatory. No questions, concerns there. I like that it's a block because I like word puns. Joetown blocks. It's a block. Sure. Um I also like that it is
having less street closures just so you know it's an easier flow of traffic around the city. Hopefully it's a less of an impact for the police department. But I did want to ask Dwight, you know, I would assume that this is going to be safer for pedestrians. It's safer for
the vehicles traveling around the block party. Is there any new safety concerns that arise because now it's entirely inside of a block? No. As long as all the private property owners are good with this, that's going to be the biggest thing. I mean, your
footprint could get a lot smaller if one or two of these, you know, individuals say that their renters prevail or something like that. So, I would say before it goes too much farther in planning, we definitely would want to get an all-in on if this total block would would be acceptable. And then it's just a matter of just closing off
certain blocks. I mean, obviously between Bad Habit, Bodidlley's by Rock House Productions, those are going to be some pretty easy closures. The Sidle on the Legion, that's going to probably require a few more barricades up there because that's a little bit more open and stuff like that, too. But yeah, I mean, the concept itself, I mean, it's
hard to say that you can trade Ash Street for Minnesota Street, but we all know the volume that goes down, you know, Minnesota Street's a lot a lot higher, so it would definitely have a lot less impact. Ryan, do you see this being a little bit easier to execute just because if you're
out there providing barricades and like the resources that you provide? Could it be easier to clean up since it's not out in the road, per se? Yes, absolutely, Mayor. It would be a way easier uh street closure to manage for for opening and closing for us. Good. Sweet. I don't
have any questions. Thank you, ladies. I just have one quick question for clarity. Um as far as response from the business owners, um if we Here's that. We sent them the email with a response date if they have any conflicts with that. Is that fair? We haven't heard
anything. Is that is that adequate for what you're looking for even Dwight as far as Well, I mean, as far as my my concern would be is I mean, it's private property, so as a city, we can't, you know, tell them what they want to do, but if for some reason like the local
blend or somebody said, "I'm not on board with this. So, I don't want my parking lot blocked off. We can't as a city overrule that. Or if all of a sudden the laundromat they can't get in or out, it might significantly I know that bad habit is likely on board. I don't per say see the meat market when
they're closed on Sunday, it's not going to impact it, you know, obviously. So, but I don't want to speak for any of those private property owners either. So, I I and I don't know that you can necessarily, and this is I'm not on this end of it, but I don't know you can necessarily send out an uh maybe an invite or something like that or or a
questionnaire and if you don't have a response back, just assume they're good with it. I think you'd almost have to get a yes or no out of them. Because if all of a sudden we show up the day of this and they said, um, this is not what I let happen and somehow I didn't receive correspondence and now my renters can't get to it. I think you
might be in trouble on that one. So, I don't want to see any type of trespassing charges or whatever. I don't know how that would relate to it at all, but I think you should definitely get a positive response like, "Yes, we're willing to work with you on this date." versus, "Well, we never heard from you." So, I just want to clear. Yeah. We always seem to get into these public
hearings too every so often where people are very um I rate afterwards with like loud music and different things or traffic congestions and then a year later goes by and we get to the public hearing, nobody shows up until the day after the event and then they're they're fresh with that, too. So something like
this here, I could see somebody not being on their radar until the day of the event. And that's what it's going to be really hard for my staff to say, "Sorry, you didn't respond." So we're just going to have to let it go for the day. So just a thought. All right. Okay.
Thank you. Thank you. Moving on to item number six, municipal management services agreement. I believe David. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, council members. uh and I will start out by apologizing uh about the
um the the manner and how this is coming forward. This is uh something that um literally we are getting updates from the council from the our city council representative as far as working with
the the representatives from Redpine Group and their attorney our city attorney and that. So, um, what you have before you was was sent to us at 4:17 this afternoon. So, and, um, part of that is because of the the nature of how
this is coming forward, um, that the OCM just put the put it out that we have until March 14th to get this get this application in. Uh, we found out what the rules really were on February 14th.
the rules have morphed somewhat as the OCM has reviewed some of this as well and gotten some feedback from the people that are the municipalities that are looking at applying. So, so anyway, so this is a little bit more of a moving target than we're normally used to here in government. So, I just wanted to
preface it by saying that. So, but anyways, as you're aware, um we are pursuing a municipal dis dispensary and we've been working with the Red Pine Group to operate that. Um, one of the requirements um for the uh application
is that we have to have a if if the city is not going to be oper operating it themselves and is going to be contracting with another entity to operate it, we need to have some sort of they wanted the the um that agreement to be included with the application. uh they have received some clarification
based on feedback that they received from other municipalities that they don't really know that that's going to be ready for that uh because of a lot of the different things. We don't exactly know what all the rules are going to be yet and everything. So anyway, so what they have gotten back from them is that
a me a memorandum of understanding will suffice. Um, so I know we did give you a draft um, agreement with the Red Pine Group that is still a working document, meaning that it is still under review. Um, if you do have any feedback on what
was provided in that, please let me know and we can forward that uh to our city attorney here as well. However, but that is not really in it um, close to its final form yet. However, the the memorandum of understanding does include the the big points as far as who does
what um between the two entities right group and the city. So with that, what um we need from the council then tonight is a motion to approve the resolution uh authorizing the mayor and city administrator to execute theou not the agreement agreement theou so the
the new resolution that was given to you tonight. So, with that, I will take any questions and answer them as best I can based on the information we have as of when I went in here at 5:50
tonight. Um, so just to reiterate, theou this memorandum of understanding that we have is a lot more vague than like the final product that we're obviously going to be agreeing to in the coming weeks. That is correct. Okay.
And at any and we can back out because I did not read that on here. At any time of any change of the agreement that we are not app, you know, privy to or are not appreciative of, we can back out.
Yes. Until such time as the council officially approves the the contract by motion and accept the pro the the contract and is signed officially. Up until that point, we can change or back out of it. Once we would sign that contract then we're bound by the terms of the contract but up until
now we are. So that is correct. So the contract So now you were saying two different things. We've got a draft agreement and a contract. Are those the is that the same thing or two different ones? Well the draft the draft agreement that
we have is is the the term we're using the draft agreement is the same as the contract. So it's it's a draft agreement. The the agreement would be the contract. So it's a draft at this point. However, it has not been 100% agreed to by both their attorney and our attorney. Okay. So, really what we're
saying is we need a motion to be able to sign theou and disregard the agreement at this time. That is correct. Any other questions, feedback, Adam or Andrew? our
attorney's one that drafted it. Well, with that, I'll make a motion to approve theou as written before us this evening. I'll second there. Excuse me. Is there any other feedback or
comments? With that, all those in favor signify by I. I. Opposed. Motion does carry. Thank you, David. Thank you. Moving on to item number seven, unpaid leave of absence
request. Is this Dwight? That is Thank you, Mr. Mayor, council members. Uh again, so I'm not if everybody is aware, um we do have an officer that is out um due to medical leave uh and has
exhausted their FMLA. So they are asking for an unpaid leave of absence for up to a up to and including August 8th of 2025 based on any changing conditions. So section 19.14 of the city's personnel policy states that the city administrator may
authorize leave without pay for up to 30 days and the council may authorize for periods greater than 30 days. The officer has requested an unpaid leave of absence up to August 8th and the city's contribution towards health, dental, and life insurance may be continued with council approval for up to 90 days. So
with that, um I have reviewed this with the city's employment attorney. Um the the FMLE leave has expired. Uh so I have extended that further 30 days under the authority that I have under the um personnel policy and is requesting and
I'm requesting the extension up to August 8th of 2025. So with that, um, there would be a motion to approve the unpaid leave of absence for officer Honer for a period of for a period beginning February 19th, 2025 and ending
on or before August 8th, 2025. And to excuse me, continue that portion of this the employees health insurance for 90 days as stated by the city's personnel policy, which would then end on May 20th of 2025. So I excuse me, I'll take any questions you
may have. Does this period of unpaid leave of absence um also cover a period of maternity leave or is this up into like a proposed or thought of delivery date? Um
not this this would be through what what would normally be um given for a maternity leave meaning after the delivery date. So okay the delivery from what I'm saying it would be before that.
Okay. I just asked because having a very new son myself, I understand how important it is they have time afterwards. That's the only question I have. Okay. Yeah. I have to be careful how I can answer that. Any other comments or questions?
Otherwise, we're looking for a motion of approval. So moved. Second. No other questions or comments. All those in favor signify by I. I. I. All those opposed. Motion carries. Thank
you, David. You're welcome. On to number eight, department reports. Uh Dwight, Ryan, Randy, nothing. You guys are awesome. Unfortunately, I Unfortunately, I do have a couple here real quick. So, um
just a couple real quick ones. So, uh, as we're, so, um, the city engineer and I will be down at the capital tomorrow to testify for the before the, uh, capital investment committee for the bonding money for the sanitary sewer line. Um, that will be before the um
before the the legislature this year, hopefully get included in the bonding bill. So, we will be there probably most of the day tomorrow. Um, and then, as a reminder, we will have the um legislative day at the capital on Thursday. Um, so, uh, if at all
possible, those who will be going, if I could keep you around for just a minute or two after the council meeting, we just kind of coordinate some of the items that we have there. Uh, and other than that, I am hoping to I'm honing on the first Wednesday in April, hopefully
as the day that would work for our team building and um, uh, visioning sessions. So, please let me know ASAP if that does not work for you. Certainly, I will take any questions. So, a second.
Yes. I just didn't have my calendar right in front of me, but when you said that, that sounds right. Yeah. Moving on to item number nine, mayor and council reports. Anything to report? Well, I have a couple things. Uh
this past weekend, Kelly and I attended a elected leaders um program in Alexandria. I understand that um Andrew and Adam attended one previously in Plymouth in the last couple weeks. So I know and Kevin, I'm sorry. Um I know I
got a lot out of the weekend that Kelly and I attended. Um we learned about decision making. We learned about contracts and how those are structured. And I'm looking forward to our team building day that David's looking to work for us because can get to know our counselors
better. And also if you have free time and and enjoy beer and want to patronize a business this week, this Thursday at the La Play at 6:30, I'm holding my second mayor forum. So same format as the first one last week. This one you can have a beverage. It'll be just the
one hour Q&A. You can ask me anything you'd like. We'll see how well that goes. If we have nothing else to report, uh item number 10, looking for a motion. I move to adjourn. All those in favor signify by. I I We
are adjourned.