good evening and welcome to the regular city council meeting for the city of St peter Minnesota it is Monday April 14th 2025 at 7:22 we are called to order would all please rise for the pledge
i pledge algiance 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 we did get started a little bit late
tonight because of some technical difficulties we're not going to have uh the packet to display on the screen tonight but the full packet's available on the city website so I'd encourage folks who are interested to go check it out there um our first agenda item is
the approval of the agenda everybody has received a copy of the packet are there any revisions or corrections hearing none is there a motion to approve the agenda so move second we have a motion and a second all those in favor of approving the agenda
say I i any opposed the agenda is approved the minutes from our last meeting appear on pages 5 through nine of the packet are there any revisions or corrections to the minutes hearing none is there a motion to approve as distributed
so moved second all those in favor of approval say I i i any opposed the minutes are approved we have time on our schedule for visitors is there a visitor who'd like to uh speak to the council on
any agenda item hearing none we have time for general visitor comments is there a visitor who'd like to address the council on another uh matter we do have somebody who'd like to address the council i you know the deal if you would introduce yourself you've got five
minutes thank you greetings Mayor Noel and Council members my name is Emily Brulad and I live at 317 Grey Street i'm sure that none of you know who I am that's my only joke i promise okay last week I reached out to several of you
regarding an update to our city code tree list um but for boulevards and um Oh yes sorry this is really tiny all right um I reached out for an update about the tree list both for
boulevards and for city spaces and parks the code indicated that it hadn't been updated since 1990 so I thought it seemed time for a refresh and there were a handful of invasive trees um to take off the list the city has been wonderfully responsive and they shared
with me the information and new tree lists that you all updated in November of 2024 and let me know that the actual code is only updated a couple times per year thank you for taking the time to discuss such an important topic i reviewed the new lists and I want to
read part of the email I sent in response edited for clarity and time i really need to point out with some alarm that you have included the calorie pair or pyrus calorie on both of these lists this is a highly invasive tree and it is being banned for its
ability to spread and create thicket native forums that I am connected to criticize this tree as one of the worst both the USDA and Minnesota DNR lasist tree is invasive from the DNR calorie pair is a Minnesota Department of
Agriculture specially regulated plant beginning in 2026 sale of the species will be prohibited and the species will be designated as a restricted noxious weed please do not plant this tree in St peter and replace any that you have
planted with urgency i'm really disappointed that this made it through the vetting process at a quick glance comparing your list to the DNR the other allowed invasive is cork tree i am however glad to see things like pagota dogwood and river birch and others
included more native options like this rather than so many cultivars would be much appreciated and that's the end of my excerpt from the email and again the city response was swift and appreciated and the calorie pair has been removed from both lists i want to thank Andrew
for reaching out with that information and for taking that action i would call on you as the council to make that official if you needed to approve the updated lists in November please pass a new ordinance that removes both calorie
pair and cork tree from our approved lists i understand that the goal is a diverse canopy and this is a very loudable goal um diversity can be achieved by including even more straight native species and I would encourage you to do so resources like the DNR include
lists of native plants and invasive plants and I call on staff to review these lists before making recommendations to the council and to make a commitment to avoid planting anything deemed invasive it is not worth the long-term consequences to plant something that
causes harm in the name of beauty or even diversity i'll close by saying that trees are longived and such a vital part of our city both aesthetically and within the habitat they support i think it's important to be mindful of the types of
trees we select to reduce problems to support ecosystems native to our region and to think of the long-term impact of something that is intended to live for many decades since larger projects like Gorman Park are coming up the time is now to make this ordinance the best that
it can be and help St peter to better reflect the natural beauty and diversity of our state thank you for your time and for all of your work thank you Emily and thanks for bearing with us through our technical difficulties did you have a question i'd just like to just thank Emily for
reaching out on this topic and providing um the detailed government resources that have the tree lists as far as what are considered invasive species and working so so working with our staff and I'd like to commend our staff for uh for addressing it so quickly i I think it's a great uh show of collaboration of
responsiveness when a when a citizen reaches out and actually is able to document why it's an issue and we can take action on it so thanks yeah Todd if I could for members and for Emily certainly the process for this um as in previous years is that your tree board
meets and makes a designation and then they make a recommendation to the city council which then that that list then is approved ultimately by the city council an ordinance changes you know it takes a little bit more but in reviewing this item it might be the suggestion of staff when we get to that point that the
ordinance not list off the trees anymore but that it point towards a resolution set by the council that establishes that tree list so that's kind of the process moving forward that you can expect us to pursue unless members tell us don't and
that group usually meets is it once a year July or August something yep oh April okay april i should remember that arbor Day and our tree committee so now's a a reasonable rational logical within regular process time to have this
discussion super i didn't even know that thanks again Emily thank you Emily all right uh we will move on to approval of the consent agenda the consent agenda appears on pages 10 through35 with a
resolution on pages Oh sorry uh with a resolution on pages 34 and 35 is there any let me get to the right page here any discussion of any items on the consent
agenda the consent agenda includes the following purchases mp asphalt maintenance of Buffalo Minnesota uh 12,600 pounds of asphalt pavement pavement crack sealer uh for well it's
in the it's in the packet a lot of these we have uh the following tree worker licenses there's a list within the packet all of them are approved May 1st through uh of 2025 through April 30th 2026
we have two uh licenses for express lane which is at 624 South Minnesota one is a tobacco license one is a 32 beer license the tobacco license uh is for the dates of 4152025 through 12312025 the 32 beer sale is 41525
through 6:3025 the following employee appointment Gail Bodie an accounting tech and the schedule of dispersements for March 19th 2025 through April 9th 2025 last call for questions or discussion on items on the consent
agenda hearing none is there a motion to approve the resolution second we have a motion and a second call the role please council member Johnson I council member Pettis hi Council Member Weisenfeld hi Council Member Sharstrom hi Council Member Devos
i Mayor Noel I the resolution is approved we have no items of unfinished business before us so we will move on to new business uh first item of new business is the Gorman Park playground equipment installation and Pete is here to talk to us about that madame Mayor
and City Council um as you remember a couple of weeks ago at our last city council meeting I omitted a uh one of the four critical areas that we needed to purchase and so what we're here tonight to ask you is to uh allow uh
Flagship Recreation of Lake Elmo uh authorize them to install the phase one playground equipment in the amount of 80,12516 uh we followed the city's purchasing policy and guidelines we uh requested formal written proposals uh one was
received uh the construction goals were to try to save some funds on this which we feel we have done through this and working with the manufacturer uh through uh the project coordinator or contractor uh there is a resolution on page 38 and
I'm available for questions any questions for Pete we've all talked extensively about Gorman Park and are well aware of the plans uh we've talked about them in workshop as well as business meetings so um so hopefully this is not a surprise
to anybody tonight i hear no discussion so the resolution authorizing Flagship Recreation to install playground equipment for Gorman Park phase 1 is on page 38 of the packet is there a motion to approve so move we have a motion and a second and call
the role please council member Pettis yes i Council Member Weisenfeld I council member Sharstrom I council member Devos I mayor Noel I council member Johnson I the resolution is approved next up street seal coat and trail ceiling bid acceptance pete madame
Mayor and City Council uh before you you have the 2025 seal coating and trail ceiling project uh bid award that we are requesting um as the resolution identifies on page 42 uh we have several blocks that we're trying to identify we
have a map on page 41 that talks about seal coding uh most of that for streets is on the southern end of St peter uh with a few collector streets in between uh that would be the CRS2 um oil that is used for that process uh
the other oil the CRS2PD is for trail sealing we kind of call it a fog seal uh in the industry um and really what it's related to is we're going to repair some trails along our routes and seal those up so that they
are nice and black and have a little weather resistance on that um bids came in very good this year again uh right around $4 for the 2PD and about $379 for the two and so what we're asking is that
you approve the resolution on page 42 thank you questions for Pete hearing no questions the resolution awarding bid for 2025 street seal code and trail ceiling project is on page 42 is there a motion to approve
so moved second we have a motion and a second call the roll please council member Weisenfeld hi council member Sharstrom hi council member Devos i mayor Noel hi council member Johnson i council member Pettis hi the resolution is approved next up Bumminous Materials
and uh bid acceptance madame Mayor and council members uh before you you have the buminous materials uh request uh this is uh strictly product uh and we had two competitive biders for this year
uh OMG uh Midwest uh Minnesota Paving and Materials um supplied the lowest uh total overall quote based on the estimated volume of materials that we plan to install um this would be either
half inch wear course 3/4 inch wear course uh and a variety of um sand mix which they do not have but we will probably purchase some of that from the other distributor just because of the making of the materials uh and what we'd like to do with this purchase here is
set out our street patching and uh replacement program and this is part of your regular uh maintenance schedule that we went through at the last workshop um there is a resolution on page 45 that authorizes staff to
purchase uh both the wearer and the base course if I forgot to mention the 3/4 inch base uh is also in this number as well thanks Pete questions for Pete hearing no questions the resolution awarding bid for the 2025 batuminous
materials is on page 45 of the packet is there a motion to approve so move second do we have a motion and a second call the role please council member Charstrom i council member Devos i mayor Noel i council member Johnson i council
member Pettis hi council member Weisenfeld hi the resolution is approved i hope you're comfortable Pete because I know you're going to be talking to us about the MPCA grant acceptance for the Kazota uh lift station yes we have uh two grant applications we'll take them
one by one here um that we applied for after the 2024 flooding that occurred in St peter uh the MPCA Minnesota Pollution Control Agency uh made some funding available to correct some of these our staff had already targeted a couple of
these areas and we had some of this money already budgeted uh for repairs we just were unfortunate enough to have a a flood year last year that made the system uh become overwhelmed just to a large degree um looking at the first
grant it is a grant for the Casota Lift Station uh we call it the Casota lift station it's right off the rabbit road uh that serves the city of Casota it is our lift station that we own and maintain our goal there would be to add a SCADA system supervisory control and
data acquisition it allows us to be able to see what's going on at that lift station during flooding conditions as you heard during the um workshops uh it takes us about an hour and 10 minutes to drive around to visit that lift station
during flooding conditions uh with the different road restrictions and so uh what we're trying to do with this is be able to see it on a uh SCADA system and it also would allow us to have a generator installed at that lift station for emergency services so if the power
would be lost um during that time emergency generation can be started remotely and we can operate that facility keeping the service to Custo um hopefully I've explained that enough uh and if you have questions uh
I'm asking you to re uh approve the resolution on page 48 and I would be happy to answer any questions questions for Pete very timely relative to our the workshop presentation so uh happy to see this show up on our agenda hearing no
discussion the resolution accepting the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency implementation grant for Casota lift station improvements is on page 48 is there a motion to approve so moved it's second we have a motion then to second call the role please council member
Devos I mayor Noel I council member Johnson I council member Pettis I council member Weisenfeld I council member Sharstrom I the resolution is approved uh next up MPCA grant acceptance for sanitary sewer and manhole lining madame Mayor and City
Council uh as we talked uh the other uh grant that we applied for would be to do some lining on some uh clay tile that's in our system along and adjacent to Highway 169 on the west side of the
southbound traffic coming in from St peter uh really from St julian Street all the way to the north up past Dral Street where we uh pick up sanitary sewer in that northwest quadrant uh it's 15-in sanitary sewer line um it is made
out of clay pipe the structure is sound but it does have leaking joints and some connections uh that are bad so what we'd like to do is put a soft liner in there um with a resin filled line and uh heat that up and seal those joints off um
we're asking uh that you authorize the grant amount acceptance of 192,280 we anticipate the total project will be about 213644 the city would be responsible for about 10% of that cost um and there is a
resolution on page 51 that we're asking your approval for questions for Pete i have a question i'm just curious what's the life of that lining about 50 years about 50 years so that line has been in there over 55 years now and so
we add another 50 to it uh we should be in good shape for quite a while okay uh hearing no other questions the resolution accepting the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency implementation grant for the uh 169 sanitary sewer lining is on page
51 is there a motion to approve so move second oh uh we have a motion and a second call the roll please mayor Noel I council member Johnson I council member Pettis I council member Weisenfeld I council member Sharstrom hi
council member Deos I the resolution is approved thank you thank you very much all right our last item of new business council out of state travel authorization mayor member as you know it is the state law and the council policy that if council members are traveling out of state that approval
must be given by the council for that travel and for payment of that you also know that past city councils including yourselves have talked about the importance of membership in organizations whether it's Coalition and Greater Minnesota Cities or League of Minnesota cities or in this instance GMG
and Rita that if we're going to participate we should strive for leadership opportunities and participate be available and participate in the activities of those groups and so to that end um GMG and Rita are um looking towards an effort establishing and
enhancing a relationship with Ireland which has been in place in our area through a number of different businesses that are located within our region and are articulated in the body of the memo um this would provide an opportunity for uh council member Carrie Johnson to
attend that trip uh which is in the middle part of September generally the 13th through the 19th um the cost for that trip is estimated between $3500 and $4,000 and the resolution anticipates a not to exceed amount of
$4,000 um happy to talk more about this um this has been an important objective for Rita moving forward to expand that potential footprint and learn from our neighbors and um again I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have relative to this item
questions for Todd carrie anything you'd like to add yeah comments um I I think that right now more than ever establishing and fostering positive relationships abroad is really important
um some of you went to the Rita annual meeting last year and um an Irish uh company called Lettuce was there presenting so in addition to it being learning from um this incredible region in Ireland and their economic
development work it is about fostering relationships um relationships that are already in the works but and doing more of that in in person um and I think having representation from outside the Mano North Mano area is really important
on this trip um not just as in my role as chair of Rita but um just ensuring that we have um that we're able to bring people from the region uh to attend this trip and so I have extended invitations
as well to um Stavis um a few of the manufacturing industries and banking uh bankers in the area too to see if there's interest so it's would be more than just me going hopefully from St peter so
well thanks for all that you do as chair of Rita st peter benefits from uh Rita in really direct ways and so I appreciate the the work that you do in that capacity and I'll abstain from the
vote okay uh any questions or discussion hearing nothing further the resolution authorizing elected official travel is on page 54 of the packet is there a motion to approve so moved second we have a motion and a second
call the role please council member Pettis I council member Weisenfeld I council member Shrom I council member Devos I mayor Noel I council member Johnson abstain the resolution is approved uh moving on to
reports i have just one report item tonight which is a proclamation for Arbor Day and Arbor Month whereas Minnesota forest treasures are a significant attraction to early settlers because of their usefulness and the beautiful environment they protected and
whereas trees are an increasingly vital resource in Minnesota enriching our lives by purifying air and water helping to conserve soil and energy serving as recreational settings providing habitat for wildlife of all kinds and making our
cities more livable and whereas Arbor Day was founded on April 10th 1872 by J sterling Morton at Nebraska City Nebraska and whereas in 1876 Minnesota became the fourth state to adopt Arbor
Day and whereas the citizens of St peter have proudly participated it in the celebration of Arbor Day and Arbor Month for many years now therefore I Shannan Anowel Mayor of the City of St peter Minnesota do hereby proclaim April 25th
2025 as Arbor Day and May 20 2025 as Arbor Month in the city of St peter and encourage citizens to participate in tree planting activities in their homes and businesses uh we will move on to reports of council members is there any council
member who'd like to make a report at this time reports from our city administrator mayor members the first one that I have listed on here well the only one that I have listed on here is really recognizing um a couple of different items one of which is to recognize John um your
recreational services director he has been selected um to present with a recreation director from Pittsboro North Carolina and a recreation director from Hilton Parma New York in the National Recreation and Park Administration
conference and do a presentation on building professional family and networking with intention so I want to congratulate him on that that's a super cool thing to be recognized at that level and even as nice as that I want to ask John to come up because I want him
to talk about a couple of awards that the recck department will be receiving and you're going to have some other people visit you so this is kind of a preview they'll be coming uh maybe in a couple months to visit with you but John if you would mention the two awards that you and your team are receiving or will
be receiving coming up yes uh thank you uh Mr pky Madame Mayor and members of council this is really exciting i I know it was mentioned that these are um recreation awards but as so many of these things with uh the city are they are a team effort um and the awards we
are getting tonight are for a couple different uh initiatives that we um have worked with a number of different people on another number of different teams but I'll start first just by kind of explaining uh Minnesota Recreation and Park Association is our uh professional association with almost a thousand
members across the state of Minnesota each year they award um what they call their awards of excellence for new or modified initiatives to that signify excellence in the field of parks and recreation um this year as Mr prafky said we were uh awarded two for the
nominations that we submitted uh I will recognize that the first one um took a lot of work from a lot of different people a couple members of council Pete as well and his team it was the parks and recreation master plan um that was accepted last year i went ahead and
submitted that on behalf of all of us and we were selected so that is really exciting to see that hard work that not only staff and the council but the parks and recreation board put into that that document to help guide us into the future for um for our recreational
amenities here in St peter the second one um was for uh our library efforts and our teen advisory board and volunteers at uh within the library recognized for their impactful use of volunteers to accomplish goals and
enhance the quality and scope of recreation opportunities in our community so this was under the volunteer initiatives that MRPA gives these awards out for um we're really really excited about these these are new initiatives that our newer assistant
library supervisor Tegan Watkins um has really spearheaded and really created and pushed through as in her limited time here of about seven eight months and so these continue to gain momentum and to see these recognized um to quote our library supervisor Brenda McHugh um
as she was preparing a draft uh to give to me to before we submitted she goes "You know I knew this was really cool stuff and then I started writing it down and realized how cool it was." And so to see even even the library staff go "Wow this is this is really making an impact was very cool." Um the final piece of
this is that come uh the end of summer or early fall um a member of the Minnesota Recreation and Park Association Awards Committee um would like to come to a council meeting and present the plaques to uh the council and uh with your permission I'd like to invite the staff um as well as Pete's
team um to be a part of that ceremony but uh as we get that out I'll work with Mr pky to line up a date for to bring them uh to a future council meeting really exciting stuff i mean I've been a fan of our library since I moved to St peter and my kids were little and we
were there every Saturday morning without fail um but also the to recognize the hard work that went into the the planning process for our master plans we're really lucky to have such wonderful parks in St peter and staff
that that really n all the great stuff we see in St peter only happens because we have great staff it doesn't happen by accident so so thanks to everybody who contributed uh to those initiatives so Madam Mayor normally what we do we certainly would congratulate John on
that speaking and working with some peers throughout the country at the national conference but the two awards with John's team and Pete's team we'd normally give them a little bit of a hand for sure [Applause] all right John thank you very much sir
thank you John madame Mayor that's all that I have for you for this evening all right if there's nothing further motion to adjurnn second all those in favor i We are thanks everybody