good evening and welcome to the regular city council meeting for the city of St Peter Minnesota it is Monday March 10th 2025 at 7:00 p.m. we are called to order would all please rise for the pledge
I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all uh everybody should have received a copy of the agenda are there any
revisions or corrections to the agenda hearing none is there a motion to approve as distributed so move to Second all those in favor of approval say I I I any opposed the agenda is approved next up approval of the minutes there is one correction to the council reports on
page uh six under um where it states that uh council members Johnson and Sham met with Senator France and representative Schwarz they were only able to meet with representative Schwarz
during their visit because uh the senator was not available so we're going to make that correction are there any other revisions or corrections to the minutes hearing none is there a motion to prove as corrected so Mo second all those in favor of approval say I I any
opposed the minutes are approved we have time on our schedule for visitors is there any visitor who'd like to address the Council on an agenda item at this time hearing none we have time for General visitor comments is there a visitor who'd like to address us on
another agend uh another matter hearing none we will move on to the approval of the consent agenda the consent agenda begins on page seven and concludes with the resolution on pages 27 through 28 the resolution approving
the consent agenda includes the following employee appointments I'm going to read names only the titles and wages are indicated within the packet that would be Jonathan bear Beverly burbach Tom tley Jim seaart Johnny
Kennedy Carson Gunderson Ty zitel Colin Harrison Cliff Eisley um Dean Purtle Dale Thorson Patricia cooch Tim Mayo Tobias tweit and Evan
Hiner the following licenses will be approved a temporary 32 on sale beer for the Knights of Columbus on April 5th 2025 a temporary Gambling License for the Minnesota Barbecue Society on May
oh sorry May 10th 2025 the credit from neelon black topping to the city of St Peter Street's maintenance program for the purchase of screened millings for the price of $9 per ton shall be approved the following
purchases will be approved shidel sorry I'm not saying that right what's the name of the nursery P Shi out okay sorry uh let's see sorry I'm having a little bit of a computer issue here uh
for us so the nursery wow I really I'm having computer issues apologize for uh my tech issues thanks for bearing with me um that's what you get for going away from the paper I know I should be chopping down some trees thank you
chael's Nursery Inc and for 294 assorted trees schwickerts Tech to America of Mano for a captive Air Makeup air unit as well as the schedule of dispersements for February 20th 2025
through March 5th 2025 is there any discussion of any item on the consent agenda is is that about as many trees as we were hoping to get with this purchase I just saw there was a pretty big range of numbers of trees
welome here Pete got this okay so we're we're getting close to the end of our last grant that we received during the um from the DNR during the emerald ashb situation a few years back here and so we had
$50,00 something like that uh so in the memo what we did was we uh previously in 23 uh we received about 400 trees for 50,000 and so we anticipated about the same cost this year going forward uh we gave
them the options of DNR approv trees and uh we asked each to give us a quote of what was available and what they could substitute and we would check to see how many of those trees would be uh able to be used um out of that uh shikle came up
with the um highest number 270 of the desired trees there was another 24 that were substitutes uh that we think the DNR will uh honor with that it matches up with the grant it is the cheapest cost per tree uh out of the units uh
purchased and so we recommended uh going with them again they were the company that supplied the trees back in 23 when we planted them in 24 cool thank you so Pete generally it's the lowest price per Tree on average right and it meets the budget requirement or the amount of
dollars left within our grant great thank you thanks Pete additional questions Brad and Pete do these trees come with like a two-year warranty they come with a one year warranty one year warranty y additional questions for Pete or anything else on the consent
agenda hearing nothing further the resolution is on pages 27 through 28 of the of the packet is there a motion to approve so second we have a motion and a second call the vot please to hi mayor Noel I
council member Johnson hi council member Pettis hi council member weisenfeld hi council member shst hi resolution is approved thanks Pete we have no items of Unfinished Business tonight our first item of new business I guess Pete's just going to get comfortable there uh we're talking about the DNR outdoor
recreational Grant application request um you guys may be very familiar with this I think we've had you uh approve this the last two years going into the spring uh we'd like to make application for a $700,000 grant um with 350 of it coming
from Grant funds and 350 from inine match the application would be for 700 uh 50% would be in Grant totals in we have already contributed the uh matching Grant amount we're using our funding mechanisms for Gorman Park on that level
and uh what we'd like to do is get Council authorization to submit for the grant we' need a resolution by the council supporting that and then we would move forward with completing the application by the end of March all right thank you anything to add Todd or no just this is one of those grants that
requires your resolution and your commitment of funding not all grants that we apply for du but this one has traditionally through the DNR questions for Peter fan hearing no questions uh the resolution authorizing application for
the 25 25 Department of natural resources uh outdoor recreational Grant is on page 31 of the packet is there a motion to approve so moved second we have a motion and a second call the rooll please mayor Noel I council member Johnson I council member Pettis I
council member weisenfeld I council member Charron I council member DeVos I the resolution is approved next up a 25 2025 e schedule modification for our drop off site G uh Madame mayor and city council as you're aware we have a
variety of different um categories for which we charge our customers to use uh our compost drop off site uh this year we've made some modifications based on the recommendation from Ben's office and the permitting side along with the staff
that sits out there and monitors the site uh we've had a couple of complaints and concerns um from different contractors based on the overall use of the area and so we've tried to simplif ify that uh so that they can use that facility as needed uh that wouldn't
infringe on their um business abilities um as you can see here uh the non-resident um current utility customer that would be our our group of people that are served by our electric utility um but are not residents of St Peter um
we can treat those like a regular billing customer they come in sign up for the service and then of course Sally and her crew just add it right into the bill um and they continue that service we have you know five to 10 uh people that do that on a regular basis that
have signed up for that service uh you can see the monthly or the monthly fees there for 25 and for 26 and that would be updated of course if we ever get to the previous or the next budget year uh we would take the previous numbers out and install new ones uh non-resident
non-utility customer we only have a few of those that that um really want the service where they live out outside the city limits they're not served by us so billing is the issue here uh what we come up with it takes a little more staff time so usually what that $600
over a two-year window would cover is about a 25% increase overall in what we charge a regular customers and our utility customers um then as a landscap or contractor and as a tree worker uh two different categories there uh this is um
contractors that come in and use our site to drop materials off now they don't use or we don't allow them to use our materials they just need a place to dispose of their um materials such as grass or trees or branches uh they're
licensed for the tree worker and for the grass people uh again they have to bring materials only from St Peter and they can use that site roughly for $100 a year uh $200 for the two-year window um and then uh entrance stickers
will remain the same $5 so if people want additional stickers for additional trucks they can buy those at $5 a piece and then what we added this year was single dump or yeah single dumps uh small and large we do have anywhere from
three to five times where somebody will come in that's using something north of town or south of town that says hey I've got a load of of brush can I drop it off and we uh tell them yes you can if it's pickup size it's 40 bucks and if it's a dump truck size it's 80 bucks and and so
trying to simplify things going forward here um one thing we will be doing this year is again running a more consistent operation out there uh with our cameras and with our staff uh we did gain a little bit of compliance towards the end
of last year we did see volumes drop uh during the Spring and Summer it got out of control a little bit uh we started noticing a lot more hauling and requirements and what that does is it adds cost to our uh our people that are actually using that as a customer or
resident of the compost site and so once we started uh monitoring out there a little better we did see volumes drop and so our go overall goal is allow people that are using our facility and paying for our facility to use that to the uh strength that they can uh for
those that shouldn't be there we'll have somebody watching telling them that they'll have to turn around if they do not have a sticker we will not be taking their their debris thanks Pete um any questions for Pete Brad um on the drop off site are we
getting new stickers this year yes and uh when when would we be expecting those to I they should be coming out within the next month I would think we're getting the mailing ready and planning to send them out the last week of March and they'll be in a separate envelope that says environmental stickers so with
a red in red on the envelope so hopefully people will see that on their mail okay in case in case the mics didn't pick that up Sally says they're going to go out end of March and they'll the envelopes will be labeled so that people should not miss them but keep an eye on your utility bill for that red
sticker on the outside right Sally not on the outside the envelope no okay but they'll be red printing environmental sticker gotta CL okay and inside is blue what's that be blue stickers this year that was G be the most important question is what
color is the sticker this year and we could maybe announce that in the hot sheets so people know that that's going to be coming the that's in the utility fer that it was coming out so okay uh additional questions for Pete uh hearing uh nothing further the
resolution authorizing app wait I'm on the wrong page the resolution adopting modifications to the 2025 Municipal spee schedule is on page 34 of the packet is there a motion to approve so move second we have a motion from the second call the mo please
council member Johnson I council member Pettis I council member weisenfeld I council member shrom I council member DeVos I mayor Noel I the resolution is approved next up updated City utility standard details Pete Madame mayor and city
council we have four for your consideration today um one is a modification of of our street lighting and led requirements uh that was really just modified it's number 207 that was really modified with newer part
numbers uh from time to time they do change numbers in their inventory as we go forward uh the standard overall is pretty much the same the numbers have changed uh to help with uh people that are trying to either develop different areas or have a question about how they
should develop with Street lighting uh 20008 is really a composite pole it's used in the park system and that's a new standard that we have uh we've used that for a couple of years and thought we better get a standard developed because it is pretty consistent with what we do
um again that's a part numbers uh we Supply that to people that are doing uh different activities or want to plan for donations or a variety of different areas there are used in our city parks uh 2011 and 2012 uh 2011 is a load
management installation we're spelling that out we require that for new home construction and uh as a load management requirement we send that in the building packet we will make sure that everybody that's building a new home this year in St Peter gets that information so that
we can get those properly wired uh 2012 is the electric vehicle meter installation um standard detail and that requires the second meter and what that'll allow us to do in the future is put um uh uh EV Chargers on time of use
metering and I'm available for questions here here if you have some thank you any questions for Pete all right unless Todd has something to add not all right the resolution adopting City utility standard details number 2007 2008 2011 and 2012 appears
on page 40 of the packet is there a motion to approve so moved second we have a motion and a second to call the rooll please council member Pettis I council member weisenfeld hi council member shrom hi council member DeVos I mayor Noel I
council member Johnson I the resolution is approved Pete it's your show tonight we're going to talk about pool painting proposal great uh Madame mayor and city council uh before you you have a a recommendation to have elevation codings
out of St Cloud uh come in do some sand blasting and painting on uh our uh uh lindenburg Memorial outdoor pool um for $11,600 received two bids um one was at 101,000 one was at
171,000 as you may remember back in May of 2018 we painted the pool for about 40,000 uh very fortunate to have that and as you know times have changed we did budget 90,000 in the equipment certificate for 2023 uh we had a
contractor uh that you had authorized last year to do the pool painting um and did not complete the work and so as you know we had some additional chemical cost this year because that does help with not only the safety of the kids swimming but it also uh takes less
chemicals when the pool is better maintained um what we're asking tonight is that you approve the uh dollar amount and the contractor going forward our goal would be to get that painted by May 16th uh and we hope to have everything
ready to roll by miday and uh we will use equipment certificate funds for that and uh the proposal is about 12,000 more than we had allocated for that so we'll have to look at how we can accomplish that either through the equipment certificate we haven't evaluated that
unless Sally has already looked at that um but we might have additional funds in the equipment certificate to make that happen if not we would use general fund budget money Carrie um the contractor from last
year was that do we use their cost to base our estimate off of or did it just kind of go up that by that we kind of took the averages because we felt we got a really decent price and I think the contractor realized he couldn't do it for that and so he just didn't he he
didn't start the work but never finished okay and so we tried to average that out back in 23 we might have been fairly close had we gotten other bids at that time that were but it was about half of that again we thought we were getting a good deal but maybe too
good thank you br um uh the contract from last year basically started go it seemed like he was ghosting the staff to avoid getting it done um what kind of vetting have you done with uh these contractors particularly when you selected to make sure that this that you don't we checked with a few people to
see if their performance uh they also do water tanks and other painting jobs so we feel comfortable that they will provide a good job for us okay thank you how long does this coding normally last or how often about five years yep and so as you know we were trying to get
something done in 23 24 that would have been about a 5year window you start to see quite a bit of wear and tear uh especially during the winter time you know the our staff makes changes there they take the pool down to uh uh groundwater level usually and then
there's some buffer inside there that the water moves uh through the drains in our pool and so uh we've got some maintenance that does wear quite a bit based on where it's located you get ice scrape yep at additional
questions hearing nothing further a resolution awarding the work for repainting the Roy T lindenberg Memorial swimming pool is on page 43 of the packet is there a motion to approve so moved second we have a motion
and a second to call the rooll please council member weisenfeld I council member shrom hi council member Devas hi mayor Noel I council member Johnson I council member Pettis I the resolution is approved next up wastewater treatment plant preliminary engineering Madam
mayor and city council as you're aware we are in the process of starting our first step of some of the rehabilitation for our Wastewater facility um we have uh hired a construction manager at risk a semar you'll hear us talking about that probably in some of our workshops
going forward uh Rice Lake has uh accepted that position and um what we're looking at now is getting Bolton and mink on board to to do some of the pel preliminary engineering uh it's really important that we um have the design
started and developed through this Summer that would allow us to have a construction manager look at the project and try to make improvements that would hopefully and eventually save us money in the long run for the improvements that are at task um Bolton mink has
supplied a quote for that work they've given us 12 good examples of the work that they'll perform I just want to make sure that you're aware of a couple of them they come in and they uh do a layout of the building uh they have a nice little machine that comes in and
measures all of the um concrete structures the dimensions of the buildings the slopes the angles all of that to look and see if we can provide some efficiencies in designs that can be either modified or improved on uh they'll do some detail scope work
they'll do electric uh preliminary work they will identify equipment and sizing options and that's really important based on what we go to um we'll work with city funding assistant and as you know we're on the PFA list right now um
we're ranked fairly low because we haven't had much for violations we just are in a point where equipment is starting to wear out so that plant has performed exceptionally well for us we're really happy with the uh last 20 years of what that facility has produced
um they're going to do some hydraulic and flow designs and that's critical especially if we go to some of the newer uh types of treatment that are available uh just so that we can make everything work within the existing structure adding an additional building is something that we really don't want to
do and we feel we've got enough room there if we can get everything laid out approriately um and then again we'll be working with the Clean Water revolving uh fund and the point source implementation funds those are all either grants or loans through the state of Minnesota and the list that we talked
about earlier um what we do uh plan to do is get going on this fairly quick spending April uh March April and May getting a lot of the detail down get some work submitted uh by June 1 to the uh Minnesota Pollution Control agency uh
for their approval which would qualify us then to get on the PFA extended list and start working angles to get funding for that bolt The Mink predicts that they'll work about 750 hours over the course of the next 3 four months on this uh and that cost will be
about $140,000 for preliminary Eng engineering once we get that completed and we select a method of how we're going to improve our bio treatment we will come back to you for final design on that uh with a better scope and I'm
sure you'll hear from us during uh Workshop meetings thanks Pete uh Todd anything to add before we open up to questions repeat oh car um at the end of this process the selection is going to have
to be made between basically drawing biosolids or pressing biosolids correct how do you anticipate that discussion to happen and occur because those are fairly uh large differences in cost between those two processes how are we going to what's B to make it to do to
assist us in making that decision as Council well we've already talked about the two process that that do make a difference in how it can be done uh one process is more proa proactive in trying to uh treat for the future and what I
mean by the future is we're talking probably 15 to 20 years down the road as you're aware with P surfacing some of the biosolid um disposal methods and treatment methods are going to change they going to be required to change
where we're at in our process is that we don't don't know yet exactly which process we're going to be required to do and we'll probably get a pretty good inlan when we get to that determination point with PCA but we think based on the permit Cycles which are every five years
through the PCA it'll be at least 10 years before they make that final decision at that point our bio solid treatment process will be about 10 years old we'll have another 8 to 10 years worth of value left in that equipment
mpca usually works in permit Cycles like I mentioned so they may set a Target at 15 years that gives us an idea that we're going to have to change and then hopefully somewhere between that last permit cycle of 15 and 20 years we will be deciding again what what type of
biosolids treatment we will be doing so what we're going to do right now is evaluate those processes see what kind of rate impact it makes for our customers and then bring that forward to councel for discussion and for mpca to give us feedback that says you know if
they say you're going to get it in 10 years or you're going to have a change in permit requirements in 10 years that'll probably Drive our decision so we'll have to do some of those evaluations as we go through this so you anticipate sometime maybe this summer having those discussions yes yep I would
anticipate June um anywhere between the end of May all of June July thank you uh any additional questions have yeah we talked a lot about the pre-treatment process um but this is
really um engineering for the the end product the biosolids right our facility plan still addresses those and they will come up during our budget Cycles as we talk about those uh Curtis Thompson our Water Resources superintendent is in the process right now of putting some of
those into our 10-year budget cycle so you'll see some numbers coming in from that and then we'll deal with that as staff uh trying to figure out how to uh get those put in but there are some corrections uh pre-treatment will be one of the next areas that we try to conquer
it's probably not a process change it's more of a we got to put brakes and new tires on this car and so we're really at that point with a lot of the equipment within the facility right thank you all right last call for
questions I don't see any other questions the resolution authorizing Bolton and M to provide services for preliminary engineering for biosolids improvements appears on pages 46 through 47 of the packet is there a motion to approve move second we have a motion
then the second call the rooll please council member shrom I council member DeVos I mayor Noel I council member Johnson I council member Pettis I council member weisenfeld I resolution is approved thank you so much Pete thanks Pete Next Up Traverse GR
number three Lot Sale plan and policies and Ben is here to talk to us about that all right thank you mayor noell and members of the council um like I said in the workshop let's get ready to sell some Lots so um tonight we're actually
just looking uh starting on page 48 of the of the packet uh where this half report is is to establish some uh guidelines some lot a lot sales plan here and policy for phase three of
Travers green so um this is actually scheduled to be open and ready for home construction on July 1st so if you remember we're about halfway done with the project where the underground utilities and the grading work took place on cullin street here this fall
and then this spring um we'll do the paving work the curb and gutter and then the side walks and then just the finished grade work so everything should hopefully be done here in June and then uh we'll be able to have houses constructed beginning this summer so um
last fall we also approved a plat for this area there was 42 Lots um that were approved we also approved the lot prices and the neighborhood design standards so this is really the only thing left to do um we have Miller homes that reserved 26
of these Lots so three blocks and the city's responsible for selling the two Western blocks or 16 Lots um so in phase one the council actually had some guidelines similar to this where they um on the middle of page 48 it shows the
the difference between phase one and phase two uh based on Council discussion on how we want to uh accept reservation fees and what those should move to so uh for phase three we'll have a a fee of $1,500 that'll last for six months and
then the earnest money would be an extra $500 we are going to have uh so-called Land Rush day that'll be the middle of this month on Wednesday March 26th um we'll allow for people to come in that
morning from 8:00 to 10:00 if they're on the reservation list and then in an orderly fashion we'll we'll take their uh application fee and their money and then put their put their name down and they can choose their the lot that they want to have um so those on 48 and 49 it
kind of shows the details of how that'll play out um so really this will allow um with the the lot Revenue to be able to pay off the Cullen Street project um that those 42 Lots in the street that goes in front of it um we'll also have
fees that come in for Public Work Public Works fees and building permit fees and then essentially when all 42 houses are built um we'll have all that property tax revenue coming in as well on page 50 um just shows the abbreviated version of
kind of the process that people will go through through to reserve a lot um those five steps there and then on page 51 and 52 is the actual policy on page uh 53 is uh last fall what you guys
approved for um lot sizes and lot prices and so th those Maps will be available for people and that's also going to be online and then on page 54 is the resolution approving the the sales plan and the policies all right questions for Ben gr um so Ben
any thoughts on Switching the uh reservation process to going old school land rush maybe meeting on Clark Street anding everyone a stake and at 8: a.m. making them run to their lot that would draw a crowd I'm just saying call the newspaper call kyc are we from
Oklahoma did you pull out one of your old vhs's and get the old movie of that we were oh Ben brought that up in the planning mared members I can tell you that that in the other subdivisions that you've utilized this process there have been people waiting at the door to um
sign up and it has received some publicity which helps you Market these Lots so we'll see what happens this time but but it has in the past it's really exciting even without the physical land rush this will be fun I have a question about that how how has this been
publicized how do people know well they don't know much yet but they will know a lot more as we promotee this and then as you've approved the rules now we have a date set now we have what the amounts are you have the amounts for the lots and so it's uh much easier to publicize when we have those facts to be able to
attach to it so what's the plan so there'll be Facebook it'll be online as we've done in the past where people can go to your website and see the lots and what the process is um I have the sneaking suspicion that will be pumping it every time we're on the radio or on kuic or uh that those will be the issues
we will also likely send some information um to some of the real estate agents that are within your community so that they'll know um there are lots of folks that are watching this and so my sneaking suspicion is there are a few of them that know what's going on as they've read this packet
good all right unless there are any other questions the resolution approving Travis degree in subdivision number three sales plan of policies is on page 54 of the packet is there a motion to approve so Mo second we have a motion and a second call the
roll please council member DeVos I mayor Noel I council member Johnson I council member Pettis hi council member weisenfeld hi council member shrom hi the resolution is approved thanks Ben thanks to all the staff who've worked on
this including Pete because we need to get those roads built to uh bolon and M who's doing engineering for us as usual uh this is a big project and a really exciting time for St Peter so uh there's a lot of thanks to go
around um moving on to soda scoop's loan request all right thank you mayor and members of the Council on page 55 there I'll start on the staff report um we are looking at a loan request tonight Kai and Emma sill um they purchased the
property at 317 South Minnesota Avenue which was the former Chiefs and pongers building um and they're currently working on the interior of the building and they've also done a little bit of repair work to the roof um but they are requesting from the Eda and Council um a
loan request of $481 15 to do the Improvement shown on page 55 there which would be the electrical work signage and some painting um they are willing to put down the matching or the the minimum amount of funds and they're requesting
uh the 90% which is $485 for this particular loan and uh the loan terms on the top of page 56 um are fourth the the amount would be $485 at is 0% it' be over five years and
the monthly payment would be $825 so they do have to actually have the work done um then they submit back their invoices to us and then we would cut them a check if this is approved um this the nice thing about this particular loan um and the incentive to
to go this way is that there is commcial loan forgiveness so in this case they would be able to if they made all their payments on time and there wasn't any issues they could actually paay it off in 2 and a half years um and pay half the amount um so that's a a nice
incentive and we would require some loan security uh personal guarantee and mortgage and those would be required so um the HPC looked at this at at the end of January and approved it and the Eda just looked at this a few weeks ago and
they also approved a loan request on page 57 it shows the improvements that they're looking at yeah at the top there um they'll have some gooseneck lightings a little different color to the top um and the bricks and um some signage some new signage
there then the resolution is on page 58 thank you questions for Ben all right hearing no questions the resolution approving a central business district renovation SL accessibility enhancement Loan in the amount of $481
15 to Kai and Emma Sil to partially finance renovation improvements at 317 South Minnesota Avenue Avenue soda scoop soda Scoops ice cream shop is on page 58- 59 at the packet is there a motion to approve so move second we have a
motion and a second to call the rooll please mayor Noel I council member Johnson I council member Pettis hi council member weisenfeld hi council member shrom hi council member of the office I the resolution is approved uh next up 2025 accessibility loan uh
accessib accessibility Improvement grant program Ben all right thank you mayor and members of the council um on page 60 you'll notice a table there so um this program you have seen annually here for the last five years um it's kind of fun
to look back and see um in 2020 there was three applications received three funded and and then you can see the the businesses that were awarded but then as the program progressed the amount of applications that have come in and the number of awards has been uh greatly
increased so there actually has been 51 applications received for this program over the last five years um the awards from last year so there was nine applications five awarded all five of those have actually already been done um
and submitted for reimbursement and have mostly been and uh recorded at the county so um that's great uh you can see in page 61 the budgets and the actual amounts that we've uh doled out over the years um over the past five years the
Eda and city has awarded 1 thou or 167,168 to 24 different businesses um so just a a great program the timeline for this year's program is that the Eda uh already looked at this in February the council um would authorize that tonight
and then we would we already have the letters to go out in the mail tomorrow um if it's so approved and that would get advertised for a while and then we would receive applications we'd have a Review Committee review the the applications and then in uh May and June
do the awards um so we'd come back to you once the Review Committee had a chance and the Ed had a chance to review these um and then select the businesses that they want to do for the 2025 program um So at their meeting the Eda
did recommend approval of this uh grant program again for 2025 and then with Sally's help we calculated that there was about $55,000 worth of Interest made on a revolving Loan Fund last year so that's essentially where the what the budget is for this program uh going
forward this year um otherwise the resolution is on the following page and I'd be happy to answer any questions if you had any questions for Ben Bren um so so uh I remember when uh John kwami actually in 2019 uh
approached the Eda about this um made a very impassioned plea um and it was really on behalf of his fellow council member um Steve uh Grahams um we just had his funeral today um anyway I think this has been this program has been a
resounding success um as Steve would say we're all going to be disabled at some point and so even though these doors may not be helping us now in the future we might be very thankful that these were in here um I know last year uh we went a little we went in a
little bit of a different direction with one of them the estate department I think that was a very good decision at the time particularly considering how far under budget we were um and just I think you know keeping an open mind on the projects this year I think it's important that we do I Todd will tell
you you know he he's had people ask us how we do this program I think this is something we can really be proud of out of this is a very unique program we're unaware of any other communities that do this type of thing in Minnesota and um has been Illustrated his memo you know in excessive 10% of people within our
community today um are disabled to the extent that Mobility is impaired and so that's a business driver if we can get those 10% of customers into those businesses that's fantastic helping everyone krie um I was on the Eda in
2019 and I remember um we were looking at a report that a citizen put together Eileen Holz and she had pictures and like just really capturing how um challenging it was to get around um in a
wheelchair or with limited Mobility um to the businesses in St Peter and and what an impact that has um on economic development and just to see this list um like kind of chipping away at it over these years like it with 24 businesses
that's huge and when you walk around our community and you see those buttons for the automatic doors places where you didn't see that before it's pretty incredible and this is something we can be proud of and and thanks to eileene and thanks to Steve grams and thanks for
to John kwami for all really like pushing for this and for the creativity of City staff and they figuring out how to make this work because it's um it's truly uh profound and has had a huge impact um in our
community if I can Council should take lots of credit for this this is an idea that was generated as a part of a goal setting session before it came to the Eda and so council members helped generate this idea to improve the community and it shows that process has
helped you and um again it's worked very well as you've all Illustrated any additional questions or comments hearing nothing further the res res olution authoriz authorizing the 2025 Ada accessibility Improvement grant program appears on pages 62- 63 of the
packet is there a motion to approve so move second we have a motion and second call the rooll please council member Johnson I council member Pettis I council member weisen peld I council member shrom I council member boss I mayor Noel I the resolution is approve
thanks so much um we are now moving on to our last item of new business Community Center lease for sp3c may members the information is included in your packet and starts on page 64 this happens to be the last of the series of tenant leases to come to
you um the the goal of this lease is to continue to lease to St Peter community child care center the lease would be retroactive to January 1st a couple of things that you should not there are a couple of extra payments that are included in here that are paying off their loan as well in January and
February that's why you'll see an additional thousand for January and forgive me I don't remember the amount for February it's $240 or some something like that um which they've agreed to the lease is included in your packet um the changes or modifications to the fee or lease amounts are substantially similar
to what you have done with other tenants within the building um I'm happy to answer any other questions that you might have um this provides for at lease through the end of the 2029 calendar year my questions for Brad um so I've
already told Todd the mayor this I'm going to respectfully move that we table this um for discussion at a workshop um the consequences of tabling this are incredibly minimal the lease continues to go month-to month um and it will give us an opportunity to discuss as as has
been previously disclosed uh when sp3c acquired substantial space at this community center back in 2017 as part of an RFP process uh they committed to providing 20 infant spaces um they increase them from 12 in baces to 20 um
they were they they beat out uh the sp3c beat out uh Kids Corner who actually offered more school age spaces and more preschool spaces but s sp3c offered infant and topper spaces um sp3c at the time was at 12 infit spaces before
increasing to 20 they have now decreased down to 10 infit spaces so the city has actually had a deficit of two infant spaces from before they even moved into here um so what I would like to do is to table this for discussion at a workshop um re
reading their letter um their letter um it I could go through it just basically uh one of the first things to point out in their letter is is their explanation as to why they did it is they made a decision in 2021 to make this decision while we were still in the pandemic um
and they've reviewed their decision in 2024 and they've just decided to stick with it regardless of the previous commitments that the organization made um couple of things information that had been left out when trying to justify this they point out that they have uh
averaging two to three calls per week for school age in information two to three calls for day for preschool um if you'll note there is no indication of how many calls per week or per day they're getting for infants I don't
think that's an accident that that information was left out is um um and as well um infant spaces are the hardest space to find uh for examp as far as replacing them from a home child care center you need five home child care
centers to replace 10 INF spaces for 10 for 10 school age spaces that could be taken in one home child care center um yes uh uh for yes School Age Care is difficult at times but it is easier to find school age I've been through it
with two children um and working around you there it is easier to work around for school age than it is for infant and this is about commitments a commitment was made in acquiring the space to provide 20 infant slots the city council
made a decision based off of the amount of slots being provided at that young end versus a significantly larger amount at the school age um and if I'll be honest with you if I'm kid corner and this would be permitted to to uh to
proceed I would be irate because Kids Corner was offering more infant spots they weren't offering any toddler spots that's what sp3c came through with Kids Corner lost out on their space because of the fact that sp3c offered more in the younger area sp3c is now offering
fewer spaces than Kids Corner would have increased their spy um this is not a matter this is not a matter of resources um b3c currently as of the the end of 2023 under 990 at $350,000 in the bank
From perspective when I was Treasurer there and then doing their bookkeeping when we got up to $100,000 in the bank we felt like we were on Easy Street um it came a long way from when I started as treasur and we had $1,700 in the bank
um so I'm not asking to vote no on this lease what I am asking is that we just table the lease for discussion to to indicate what our to discuss what our priorities would be in the situation um this if we say yes to this
lease tonight this is a three-year lease um similar to what we've talked about with the with the uh uh with scholarship America these are decisions that will last for years um tabling this until for
discussion at a future Workshop all it does is to all it does is defer the decision the 3% month increase is is not a significant amount um and as say the lease is just going month to month at this point anyway so there's no chance
it's not like they're going to be out just because we don't renew the lease tonight so with that I move that we table the that that we table this agenda item for discussion at a workshop do we have a second I'll second it I think it's not a
bad idea to discuss this at Workshop uh we have a second so we can have further discussion Carrie I I'm hesitant to table just because I think um it they may H sp3c as an organization may have
made that commitment back then um however I can understand business decisions change with leadership and their board turnover but also I you know what I read from the letter and what I've heard is that it was a business decision um
you you get more bang for your buck with with prek and I think their influx of cash really related to what they were subsidies they were getting um throughout the pandemic um I think for them it was likely a business decision and the lease is no different than um
any other lease leasy in our building um so I think it's hard to sort of press them to say You must have these infant care slots I want them to have as many infant care slots as possible but I can understand how their business decision
may have changed since that time and also what we're hearing at the child care task force is just the regulations the Staffing there's so many barriers to providing infant care um right now and so I I'm I guess I'm hesitant to move to
uh table Dustin did you have did I see your hand no but I I mean okay I I don't have strong feel feelings either way um I would prefer if we are going to discuss this and discuss the inw workings of a lease I I would like to
put that into a workshop and not in an open meeting here a lot of these decisions obviously predated my time on the council I'd like to give others a chance to talk we can come back to you um did anybody else I I think I'll just chime in I I
think we should discuss this further whether or not we vote to table it today um I think as council member Devas noted it would be minimal impact on the day-to-day operations um of the of SPC
3C um but I guess my desire I I'd like to talk about it from a lens of what is reasonable over oversight is maybe not the right word of us over the businesses
that we lease space too um I understand there was an RFP process um are we and they beholden to decisions that were made by a different Council you know eight years ago I think that now is an opportune time to talk
about that because we will likely be having another RFP process and so I think some shared um sense of of what is reasonable for individual or or organizations rather that go through an RSP process would be helpful for us as a
council um totally apart from this discussion so that's my two cents Brad oh I was just going to say I agree with council member Johnson that it was a business it was a business decision that was made um just um
because absolutely school age is much school age is more profitable than than infant care so um so I I I do agree with that so all right if there's no further discussion the res the motion before us
right now is a motion to table so we'll do a roll call for that you can do a voice vote if you choose you can also call for a roll call if you want I think roll call is going to be a little more clear so we have an accurate count all right council member Pettis no council
member weisenfeld I council member shrom no council member DeVos I mayor Noel I council member Johnson no yep that fails a tie is a failure all right so we are back to the original
motion which is the resolution that appears on page 76 of the packet um approving execution of renewal of a lease with St Peter community child care center for rooms in the community center um do we have a motion to approve so
moved second we have a motion and a second call the RO please council member weisenfeld I council member shrom I council member DeVos no mayor Noel I council member Johnson I council member Pez
I uh the mo the resolution passes uh now we will move on to reports and the first up is the report of the mayor I just want to take a moment as was referenced earlier in our meeting to acknowledge the passing of
former council member Steve Grahams Steve served on the St Peter city council from 2013 to 2021 and I had the privilege of serving alongside him from December 2019 till the end of his last term Steve was a dedicated Public
Service known for his Good Humor his perseverance and unwavering advocacy for accessibility Steve led by example ensuring that our community was more accessible and welcoming for all his ability to connect with people break down barriers and approach challenges
with determination was truly inspiring on behalf of myself in the city I extend my deepest condolences to his family and all who knew and loved him Steve's impact on our community will not be
forgotten um I don't know Carrie and um Brad also served with Steve I don't know if you have anything you want to add you both made great statements during uh the discussion of the accessibility Loan program I think you did an excellent job
I think I don't have anything to add to that I st I I'll just add Steve was a funny guy I that that was one thing that the humor of him going back and forth going back and forth with him is one of the things I actually remember the most um he could light up he he could light
up a a go-to meeting even though we're all separate and so so um I think the humor that was Todd Todd can acknowledge that that was one of common things things brought up today was just Steve's humor um and so that that's the thing I think we should
remember and I think um it was I really enjoyed reading his obituary and I don't know if he wrote it but it it it sounded like he had a hand in that and um he's he was pretty humble and didn't
necessarily speak to all of his public service but he's done a lot of things outside of the council um and uh you know just for examples um serving with the co-op and um I'm going to miss you know seeing him and um his
wife and his wife will be around I know but I just the two of them together were just incredible people in our community and we're going to miss uh Steve a lot we just miss hearing Steve he had a very notable voice if you heard if you heard him in the building you knew that was
stepen probably nobody else so Todd you got to work with Steve for longer than any of the rest of us if you wanted to add anything I just appreciate um the comments and it was great to be at the service today and at the graveside today for Steve and his family um I think it was written in the obituary he had and
and this might sound contradictory but he had a grumpy sense of humor and it was great so anyway um long service so lucky to have people serve in this capacity absolutely yeah um that was my only report report this evening there is
time for council members uh to make reports I'll pick on Dustin and Brad in particular I somehow have two which I don't believe has happened um and the past three weeks I've actually been to the state capital now twice on behalf of the city and I also was out in
Washington DC rep representing us at the American public Power Association conference I'll start with the AA Conference um we were there representing simpa um it was representative ramp and I and Pete Pete was our our leader of the trip and we were there to
specifically speak on our energy and infrastructure needs we were able to meet with both Senators Tina Smith and Amy kashar and the two main areas that we focused in on was maintaining that local Bond projects are tax exempt and
then making sure that municipalities can directly purchase uh under the inflation reduction act and infrastructure act both of the Senators overwhelmingly agreed with us gave us 100% their support then we met with representative
finstead in his office with just the simpa group and we shared the same general platform and representative finstead told us that at this point in time everything is on the table and that
he cannot commit to any of our platforms because his priority is reducing the deficit um um we reiterated that if you do make it so local bonds are taxable you will end up costing all of your municipalities and school districts more
money in local taxes so that point was made hopefully it resonated so second trip um to the state capital for the league of Minnesota cities day that was actually mayor
Noel representative dasas and myself um we were able to make with both Nick FR and Erica Schwarz again we emphasized our Gorman Park project and Nick's support has not wavered on that he's already got it signed to be put into the
bonding bill um representative Schwarz indicated to me to us that she is supportive of it and she will be signing on to it and Nick's staff is going to go and work with her staff to make sure that everything is signed and hopefully
put in the bonding bill and if we have a bonding Bill we'd love to see gorbin Park in it anything to add Brad from um I think well number one it was the Epic road trip with the mayor um separate got got her up up there and back safely so I'm
continuing my career as show mayor schauffer thank you um uh but I I I think I I I think Dustin hit it hit it well um our our discussion with uh Erica Schwarz um it it it was brief um she did commit to us she did commit to
supporting the Gman Park project the emphasis of signing it we got that in there but had to it had to be repeated um I I agree I agree uh the meeting with Senator France uh much more optimistic um I I I felt a lot I felt a lot better
about the GMA Park and the bonding project after talking to uh after talking to Senator France I think uh if there is a bonding project this year I'm much more optimistic after that meeting that garment Park will in there uh and that and even if we don't get all of
what we want we should get something of what we're looking for um otherwise that was about that's about it so the only thing I'll add is my thanks to representative Schwarz and and senator frce for their time it's a very busy time at the capital and they've got a
lot of Demands on uh their time and so appreciate them taking time to uh visit with us when we were up there and hope that they'll be able to meet us here in some St Peter soon for further discussion so um anything else other
reports from Council Members all right kick it over to Todd mayor members I have three items one of which is listed on the um agenda um that's a time change for the workshop next week as you know what happens to be St Patrick's Day and a number of you are
occupied at least for a little bit as a part of the St Patrick's Day celebration so I'm proposing that that Workshop start at at 6:00 rather than 5:30 so at 6:00 rather than 5:30 um in addition I'd like to and there's a lot of things a lot of people for us to thank and send
kudos to but I do want to mention the rec department and library um for the author series with um William Kent Krueger what a fantastic event at the pack at the high school I think it was
packed and so what a wonderful event to be able to have an author with that number of books sold under their belt and come and talk about the theory of that and how that works and the writing process and all of those things are just fantastic so um great for your team and great for the community and again
collaboration with the school district on facilities and all of those things the last thing I'd like to mention Madame mayor members is that the um Transit board mrbt Minnesota River Valley Transit has a meeting tomorrow at 2:30 in lour um it's their every other
month meeting and so we just want to make people aware that that's that going on and um that Transit is such an important service within our community and that's the board that helps keep the wheels turning um so thanks for the folks that serve on that board again in lur at 2:30 tomorrow Madame mayor that's
the last any Mone I have car you have thank you see I guess if that's it having so much fun I hesitate to ask for to adjourn so
moved all those in favor of adjournment say I any opposed we are Jed thanks everyone