good evening and welcome to the regular city council meeting for the city of St Peter Minnesota it is Monday March 24th 2025 at 7.m we are called to order would all please rise for the pledge pled aliance to the flag of the United
States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all you have been called to order our next item is the approval of the agenda everybody should have received a copy of
the agenda is are there any revisions or corrections to the agenda hearing none is there a motion to approve the agenda as distributed so move second all those in favor of approval say I I any opposed the agenda is approved moving on to the approval of
the minutes the minutes from the March 10th meeting appear on page 5 to8 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 second all
those in favor of approval say I I I any opposed the minutes are approved we have time on our agenda for visitor comments is there any visitor who'd like to address the Council on an agenda item seeing no one we have time for General visitor comments is there any
visitor who'd like to address the Council on matters not on the agenda hearing none we will move on to the approval of the consent agenda and we do have one revision uh council member council member shrom has requested the approval of the donated Goods memo which
is on pages 9 through 11 of the packet he would like that considered separately because he um is I'll well we can let him explain that himself yeah I also serve in the sorry on the slow fast pitched softball board and so as part of
that board I voted to make this donation and I've been part of this process when it went to park and reck I did abstain from voting on it I would like that opportunity as well so we will be considering the consent agenda tonight minus that uh that one
item are there any is there any discussion well here i' like to read the uh consent agenda that's generally for point of clarification we'll just vote on that separately after we will vote on it separately yep um the the consent agenda includes the
following purchases I'm not going to read all of them they are printed in the packet um we have uh Tesco of Morehead Minnesota we have uh two separate purchases Mohawk lifts of Amsterdam New York one purchase Wesco in New Brighton
Minnesota two purchases border states in man two purchases BBY Utilities in Burnsville two purchases Mid America better in Medina Minnesota and automated systems Company of St Paul as well as the schedule of dispersements from March
6th to March 18th 2025 is there any discussion of any item on the consent agenda Brad um question for Pete on the uh Transformers um in particular on page 16 the uh three-phase pad mounted Transformer um we're going with Wesco and they did not have a firm offer um
and I know we're going with them on another one that only has a 12we lead time but this one has a 26 we lead time on it um what is the amount of variation that could happen in in in in in the uh cost on that that that is a good question we think it's going to be
cheaper than $10,000 okay so you you even even within even if there's a increase you don't expect it's going to move that correct right with the Resco bid we take all of the risk with the other it's kind of shared
okay thank you any other questions about any consent agenda items I had a question for Pete sure specifically when you get down to page 16 and we're looking at the three-phase pad mounted for the gustavis Adolphus col solar mhm
um correct me I if I understood you wrong but we are fronting the money for that and Gus Davis is being build for that right part of our agreement uh with the solar application is we identified what they would need in order to connect to our system and so they will be uh
invoice for the cost of that Transformer so we are not subsidizing that is correct their solar right good question additional questions hearing nothing further is there a motion to approve the resolution so move
second we have a motion and a second call the RO please mayor Noel I council member Pettis hi council member Ram I council member weisenfeld I council member shst hi hi the resolution is approved we have no items of Unfinished
Business tonight our first item of new business is the donated goods and services for St Peter girls fast pitch um we don't have a resolution r with related to to that um because it was something that was pulled off of the consent agenda if we approve this tonight we will be accepting a donation
from the St Peter girls fast pit Pitch Association for outfield fence improvements at Jefferson Park on fields two and three in the amount of $18,500 are there any questions for Pete or for Dustin one thing I could add
Madame mayor is that uh any donations that we receive uh over $10,000 we bring back to the council for approval uh This falls within the guidelines of our donation policy and this was approved um by The Parks Board it was
unanimously any questions hearing none is there a motion to approve acceptance of the donation so move I would second with that all right we have a motion and a second call the RO please P hi council member ramp I
council member Wiis I council member Shain council member Voss I mayor no I uh the acceptance is approved and thanks to the fast from oh it's a it's a mouthful it's the St Peter girls fast pitch
group um next up is a Gorman Park bid award yes madame mayor and city council um I'm going to throw a lot of information at you on the Gorman Park project as you see here uh beginning on page
42 um this is a multi- um line item project for Gorman Park we have first we'll be addressing neelen and the bidding process that we went through in order to get a general contractor to come in and and prepare
the site and facility uh bring in utilities do a variety of different work on site um we're also going to be adding in a purchase later for landscape structures they will be supplying the um structures and equipment for the
playground areas uh that we're identified and then we will have a purchase for uh fall protection uh if you look on page 43 at the top you kind of have a background of what phase number one looks like and it is five
individual projects that we have going on so far that includes engineering but as we move forward we wanted to talk just a little bit about neelon construction and the bidding process to get a general contractor on site to coordinate these efforts uh we had three
really good um bids that came in that were very tight so we know the cost is right where it needs to be um it was a little over our Engineers es estimate for that process but we did have a couple of minor changes in there that may impact that uh what we're asking you
to do tonight on phase one on the first step with the resolution that's on page 44 is authorize neelson construction uh to be the general contractor and award that bid questions for
pet we've talked about this a lot so uh we'll have a few resolutions related to this over the meeting and we'll see what questions pop up Brad um so when would work begin on this if if we were to approve this tonight um I I don't have an exact uh amount of time yet there's a couple of things that we still need to
go through with this process one would be if the council Awards the bid tonight uh we will set up a preconstruction meeting and begin what we call Value engineering on the project as you guys remember from Workshop we did have uh
about a page of different areas that we'll be looking to possibly trim some of those cost uh but we have to have a Contractor on board to break down their individual cost work with our engineer on how that can be accomplished and then move forward and try to uh get things
organized so the overall goal is we would like to see around $200,000 come off of of that scope of work um we will be limited by 20% of the total scope so if you take the 939 times
20% that's what we can legally get down to somewhere in that 175 to 200,000 depending on the willingness of the contractor and I remind you that the neelson black topping of Cota is a local contractor we worked with them on multiple projects uh not only in our
city parks but on our city streets and and some of our concrete work so uh they're very friendly with the city um they are Community involved and Community vested thank you additional questions hearing nothing further the
resolution awarding the bid for the construction of Gorman park playground improvements phase one to neelson Black Talk topping and concrete appears on page 44 of the packet is there a motion to approve so moved second we have a motion and a second call to vote please
council member Ram I council member wield I council member sh I counc member DeVos I mayor Noel I council member P hi the resolution is approved our next item of new business is the uh Gorman Park
equipment purchase uh Madame mayor and city council as you're aware uh this is a little different than how we've done some of our Park stuff in the past um but what we're using under this concept here in working with the Parks Board was to purchase uh the equipment that we
specified under the state bidding process and what that entitles us to is we could publicly bid that and compare apples and oranges and try to see if we have the same type of design uh that would really fit into that Park but your parch board
sent spent uh a lot of time trying to make sure that we had um not only the equipment in that Park that was necessary but located where it could be we took public feedback and had them pull out information from open houses
and public meetings and say boy I really like this I really like that your parch board spent a lot of time uh pulling that information together once we had that information together it was easy to go to the state bid why this helps us is because we have uh according to the memo
on page 45 we'll get about a 8% Direct Discount from ordering it off the state bid from this process uh that does save us roughly $228,000 there's two types of structures in this there's independent structures where kids can can go out and play and
climb and do all these things and then there's custom equipment the custom equipment is uh what I would call Specialized equipment that is targeted towards a certain group whether they be um diverse diversity um different
inclusion um trying to make sure that this park is a park that can serve all ages and all types of people whether they have disabilities or not and so with that what we've done is worked with uh landscape structures uh and your
equipment would run roughly 361,000 769 uh as you're aware the fiscal impact is that we have some art funding which was identified back I believe on page 43 and is part of that overall package
and this is specified in that area I would ask that you approve the resolution on page 47 and we can place that order and Hope hopefully we can get it in about 3 to four months thanks Pete questions for
Pete uh hearing no questions the res resolution authorizing landscape structures to furnish and deliver playground equipment for Gorman Park Phase 1 appears on page 47 of the packet is there a motion to approve so moved second we have a motion and a second
call the rooll please counc member w i council member shr I council member boss I mayor Noel I council member Pettis I council member hi the resolution is approved again Gorman Park surface purchase correct so once we picked out
the equipment we were able to um then look at the types of fall protection and uh find out what best would be utilized for the areas for the equipment we picked out and uh we came up with a very good design again the Parks Board went
through this area and looked at um methods and types of operation that we expect to see there um one thing about this bid is we did advertise this this isn't a state bid process right here this is where we put the uh
advertisement out to receive other bids um we did receive one bid out of that process from Flagship Recreation and they came back uh with the unit prices that match pretty much what our expectations were for this project uh something that we've been talking about
since the initial design went on and the surfacing um for the equipment that we needed again would be funded mostly by uh AR funding grants and donations uh through that plus general fund money should it be needed towards the end um
this would be the third of the four areas that we need to um authorize before we finish the project or during the course of it the last one is related to the installation of the playground equipment uh that will be brought to you
on April 14th and so what I'm asking tonight is that you approve the resolution on page 50 all right questions repeat hearing no questions the resolution authorizing Flagship Recreation to furnish surfacing
materials for Gorman Park Phase 1 is on page 50 is there a motion to approve Mo second we have a motion and a second to call the RO please Council M shr hi Council M deos hi mayor Noel hi hi council member ran hi council member
Wiis hi the resolution is approved uh moving on wastewater treatment facility Public Finance Authority loan application approval yes Madam mayor and city council as you're aware through our past discussions we are in the process
of making improvements at our wastewater treatment facility um we have uh received notification that we are eligible for PFA funding I'll use the abbreviated terms if I may um public facilities
Authority funding um but what we need in order to uh qualify is a resolution from Council so that it shows the PFA that we have made the council aware that we're asking for funding and that amount of money that we're asking for uh has been
considered by The Authority that makes that decision um this is a formality uh you have done this uh several times with water and wastewater water improvements uh and we expect nothing but good things coming from PFA financing usually a
reduced interest rate and or availability based on where we land on the priority list uh thanks for that Pete any questions for Pete this is another item we've had a lot of discussion about we know our
wastewater treatment plant um we'll we'll need upgrades we will yes it's 20y old plant and so 20 20 yeah 22 seems like yesterday um are there any questions all right hearing on the resolution authorizing
application to the Minnesota public facilities Authority PFA for a loan from the Clean Water revolving fund is on page 52 is there a motion to approve so moved second we have a motion and a second call the rooll please council member DeVos I mayor Noel I council
member pest I council member Ram I counc v i Council memb I the resolution is approved next up Ami electric meter purchase approval Madame mayor and city council as we have discussed during the budgeting process um the idea was is
that we would move ahead with purchasing our final electrical meters uh during during the 25 season uh the amount would be about 420,000 uh we're about 70% uh complete and the idea would be is that we furnish
or we purchase these units and upon delivery uh set those into our system and and get everything up and operational uh we do have about 160 meters that we had not planned uh through the budget process for that we're going to add for the apartment
complexes that are currently under construction uh that is an additional cost as you can see there um and so going forward um what our goal would be is that once the Electric System system is fully operational with AMI metering
we will continue to do the water meter uh installs at a regular scheduled uh amount of budgeted money and so this would only impact the electric utility and uh would is very beneficial not only in supplying customer service but
working with customers who either are delinquent and or have high utility bills and want to know why we can answer questions and solve a lot of their problems for and people who are at home want and don't know what Ami is Advanced
metering infrastructure correct is what that stands for and it allows us to do remote uh readings yes any questions for Pete Brad uh so Pete um as I understand some some people might wonder well if we're doing this for electric meters uh why aren't we
doing it for water meters and that's because the water meters are a require an appointment typically to get inside a customer's house and it's a longer process versus the electric meters is typically uh take it out of the socket put a new one in correct right we can do most of the electric work from outside
yeah we don't have to inconvenience the homeowner we can pull the bypass they have power they stay up and active for water we do have to get in we have to shut the water off for a little bit there's a little more time that's consumed um and so it takes two guys gals to go inside and do that work
and having had my water meter replaced uh a few years back I would say if you get a call from the city return the call it's very easy um staff does a great job and it's a real benefit to um our utility users if you have a running toilet in your basement that you don't
know about or something along those lines uh you can that the city pays attention to those things and can save you some money if if something goes wrong but um what we are really talking about is the electric meters today are there any
more questions regarding that then let's uh consider the resolution authorizing electric meters for advanced metering infrastruct infrastructure system that's on page 55 is there a motion to approve move second we have a motion I
second coll please mayor no I council member ptis I council member Ram I council member Wiis I council member shr i m of hi the resolution is approved uh next up approval of on sale and Sunday liquor licenses I'm going to try this
one too as well Madame mayor and city council before you you have a license request for on sale liquor and Sunday liquor licensing um as you can see Marco balanos doing business as taquera ELR is
asking for a license to provide Liquor on off on sale and on Sundays uh the police department did conduct a background check and found nothing that was irregular uh that would prohibit the issuance and uh we're recommending
approval of the resolution on page 57 for residents watching at home uh renewals will go on our consent agenda but we always see new licenses come through um are there any questions about this resolution hearing none the resolution
approving new licenses is on page 57 of the packet is there a motion to approve so move second we have a motion and second call the rooll please counc member I council member Ram I council member weld I council member I council member
DeVos I mayor n i the resolution is approved next up Fire Relief Association lumpsum benefit modification are you taking this one too I'm okay um mam mayor and city council um as
you're aware our Fire Relief Association has come forward with a request uh that request is to increase the annual benefit from 3,900 to4 500 annually uh the the memo really uh explains it very
well uh talks about um the last increase being in 2022 and that increase was uh only $400 um these funds are audited and a year yearly report is signed off by your city administrator Mr pfy um there is no
Financial impact at this time related to this expenditure could be in the future things change um but what we're recommending is that you approve the resolution on page
60 and I will try to answer questions all right are there any questions or discussion I we have someone else who could maybe just share some information Daryl um I'll just be noting that this resolution directly impacts me as a member of the fire department I will be
abstaining from any action on this resolution thanks darl rad um I I just like to point out that uh for people who are wondering why we're making an increase about of this size um when comparing to like like uh like-sized communities we have fallen behind them
so this helps catch us up um to help help us bring our uh our firefighters up to this up to uh similar size communities we also have upcoming um retirements we know in the years ahead and so hopefully staying in track with
our peers are our local local neighbors will help us when it comes to recruiting so it's important to stay on top of that any other questions or discussion the resolution approving an increase in lumpsum pension benefit for the St Peter Fire Relief Association
appears on page 60 of the packet is there a motion to approve so moved second we have a motion and the second to call the rooll please council member Rand I council member weisfeld I council member shr I council member deos I mayor no I member pass abstain all right the
resolution is approved our last item of new business tonight an IT manager job description approval Madam mayor in city council um what you have before you is a job description that talks about some of the uh changes that will occur or we
hope to have occur to help us run our our business you know we have quite a few um computers and operational systems that help us do our daily task um this position is not an increase in full-time equivalents this is really replacing an individual that's going to
retire uh from the city within the next uh couple of months and so what we're really trying to do is is do an upgrade we've fallen behind a little bit on where we need to be and how we operate uh this would be an uh an opportunity to
supply enhanced service and increase efficiencies a lot of the work we do uh it does run off computer uh all the way from our GIS system to our metering system to our Billing System uh to individual computers which we uh work on
every day um the job job description is attached it does have additional responsibilities and increased qualifications over the previous position and I think we've discussed those at Council Workshop um with this approval what we will do is we will
advertise in April interview towards the end of April early in May and if we're fortunate enough we'll have a new employee on staff by around June 1 uh the job descriptions on pages 63 through 65 and there's a resolution on page 66
that we'd like to appr for any questions for Pete Al dad we've reviewed this a couple times we've been talking about it for a while and um and we've got great staff currently in that role but technology as we all know is always evolving business
CH change needs change and so um there's is an opportunity to make this change right now and I think it will serve the city and our residents really well um the resolution appears on page 66 of the packet is there a motion to approve so
move to second we have a motion and a second call the RO please council member wiesfeld hi council member shst I council member Devas I mayor Noel I council member P hi counc Ram hi the resolution is approved we will move on now to reports and and I have a
proclamation for Vietnam Veterans Day whereas the United States of America began military operations in the country of Vietnam on January 12th 1962 and whereas American involvement in the Vietnam War continued until the last
American troops were evacuated from Vietnam on March 29th 1973 and whereas more than 58,000 military men and women gave their lives in service to our nation during the Vietnam war and whereas Viet Veterans of the Vietnam War deserve to be shown the
respect and dignity of a great and of a grateful nation and whereas Minnesota honors the sacrifice of these veterans and respects their dedication to the highest traditions of our AR armed forces and whereas our nation stands stronger for the service of these
veterans and Minnesota stands ready to honor their proud Legacy with our deepest gratitude now therefore I shanan a Noel mayor of the city of St Peter Minnesota do hereby Proclaim March 29th 2025 as
Viet at as Vietnam Veterans Day in the city and do encourage St Peter residents to honor the sacrifices made by all veterans of the Vietnam Mo by attending the Vietnam Veterans Day ceremonies uh that ceremony is going to happen on Saturday March 29th at 5:00
pm. here in the St Peter Community Center and the St Peter Legion is offering a meal following the program at the legions so happy to make that uh annual res Proclamation next up is council members do we have any council members who' like
to make reports today I do actually have one all right Dustin um like to report that last Tuesday um I was able to actually speak on a bill that was presented at the capital in St Paul it is not a new bill
it has some been something St Peter has been claiming going all the way back to our original state Ood the bill was short it was sweet and it was to the point and it just stated that we wanted St Peter to be designated as the honor capital of the state of
Minnesota this was a bipartisan bill that's been supported by Nick FR in the past I spoke on behalf of Representative Erica Schwarz I would also like to thank Ed Lee for driving all the way to St Paul to um testify in person I elected to do it for my
classroom well very few people are as knowled ible about St Peter as edley so he's a great uh advocate for St Peter and thanks for sharing uh your time and your students got to got to have a pretty cool experience see my students
got to see it firsthand due to a communication era of when I was actually going to be speaking and it ended up being an hour later than I was told well a great opportunity unexpected unexpected learning opportunity as a social studies
teacher absolutely perfect it's in y yep uh any other reports from Council Members tonight how about Pete a city administrator Pro let go we do have one um the closing
date on the uh scholarship America building is scheduled for April 3rd and we should be good to go after that all right thank you that's great to great to have that update I did notice
um Mr administrator protm that the new stickers for the drop off site got mailed out this we yes they did most of them should have received them today they're in a white envelope with red letters across the top that says
Environmental Services sticker included I didn't get mine you didn't get yours well look for it as we're all thinking about better look I got mine today we're all going to start doing clean up soon if it decides to be spring it could be winter again we you will need it to
access the site so please put your stcker on great note uh if there aren't any other further reports we have a resolution calling for a closed session related to Union negotiations and property at 1225 South Washington
correct Madame mayor um we will ask for a resolution authorizing that for two things one is police community Comm unication um uh it's basically our dispatchers and the second would be to discuss uh 1225 South was Washington
Avenue real estate transaction uh we will come back to open house or to open session uh for to take action on the police Communications all right so uh are there any questions for Pete or do we have a motion to approve the
resolution are we going to just be staying here since we're coming back I will make that resolution for the CL session thank you second we have a motion and a second call the RO please CC member shrom hi council member hi
mayor no hi council member P hi council member Ram hi council member the resolution is approved we will move to an uh executive session at 7:32 p.m. good evening this is a the St Peter city
council we are returning to open session it is 7:52 p.m. we have one item of business before us and that is a resolution authorizing execution of a 2024 contract by and between the city and law enforcement labor Services local
24 42 communication technicians and Mr Winkler is going to walk us through that thank you Madame mayor and members of the city council um we have reviewed in close session a labor contract between the city of St Peter and law enforcement
labor Services LS number 242 Communications technicians there's also a memorandum and a resolution to approve that Union contract um the bullet pointed uh terms of consideration for uh
the board was that this is a one-year contract for the year 2025 it uh includes an increase in wage of 3% across the board for all classifications and um this version
included technical changes related to dates and typos this latest version of the agreement however does constain contain uh a couple other errors that were noted um by the board in particular
on page 13 the duration of uh this contract states that it begins on January 1st of 2024 that should be January 1st of 2025 and then in the appendix there are other date errors uh indicating that the
contract is effective for the year 2024 and has a 4% General wage increase instead of a 3% wage increase it's anticipated that um this labor agreement
will be given another revision those um those type of those errors will be corrected and then a final labor agreement reflecting um what's outlined in the memorandum regarding uh duration and wage uh will be made available to um
you madam mayor and the city Administration for signatures so with those uh understood uh Corrections upcoming to the labor agreement um we're asking that the um Council approve the
um this Union agreement um and approve the resolution um as has been provided thank you any questions regarding the resolution before us a as Mr wiler noted there are some
changes that we will request in the labor agreement we may also make additional technical changes related to dates and typos if there are any additional ones but um the labor agreement will be corrected before it is uh signed by myself and the city
administrator uh if there are no questions the resolution before us in hard copy uh authorizing execution of the 2025 contract by in between the city and law enforcement labor Services local
242 um is there a motion to approve so move second we have a motion at a second to call the rooll please council member Devas I mayor Noel I council member Pettis I council member Ram I council member Wiis I council member sh I the
resolution is approved we have no other items of business before us this evening is there a motion to adjourn so move second all those in favor of adjournment say I I I any opposed we areed thank you everybody thanks Pete what time do we
meet on THS 1:00