good evening and welcome to the regular city council meeting for the city of St Peter Minnesota it is Monday February uh 10th 2025 at 7.m we are called to order would all please rise for the pledge I Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the repblic for it stands one nation under God
indivisible with liy and justice for all everyone has received a copy of the agenda is there are there any uh questions revisions regarding the agenda hearing then is there a motion to approve the agenda as distributed so moved second um all those in favor of approval say I I I any opposed the agenda is approved next up are the minutes the minutes peer on pages 5 through 7 of the packet are
there any revisions or corrections to the minutes hearing none is there a motion to approve so moved second all those in favor of approving the minutes as distributed say I I I any opposed the minutes are approved we have time on our agenda agenda for visitors we have time for visitors who'd like to comment on agenda items or for General visitor comments are there any any visitors who'd like to address the council this evening hearing
none we will move on to the approval of the consent agenda the consent agenda begins on page eight of the packet and concludes with a resolution that appears on page 29 uh the resolution includes the um let's see to dgr engineering of rock r Rapids Iowa would be approved to complete an engineering and Professional Services for the generation feasibility and planning study the following purchase would be approved a Midway Ford
of Roseville Minnesota for a Ford pickup truck at the price um listed within the packet the following licenses a consumption and display permit for uh nicholet County egg Society temporary gambling for St Peter ambassadors and gustavis Adolphus College addresses and dates are listed within the package uh corrections to resolution number 20257 and the schedule of dispersements for January 23rd 2025 through February 5th
2025 is there any uh discussion or uh revisions to any of the consent agenda items hearing none is there a motion to approve the resolution second we have a motion and a second call the rooll please council member Ram I council member weisenfeld hi council member shrom I mayor noell I council member Johnson I council member hi the resolution is approved we have
no items of Unfinished Business tonight our first item of new business is a wastewater treatment biosolid improvements construction manager at risk selection and Pete is here to talk to us about that Madam mayor in city council as you're aware since the completion and acceptance of the Wastewater facility plan back in January of 2024 uh we have been putting together a plan to attack improvements that will be needed at the Wastewater Plant uh part
of that as we've discussed at Workshop is the development and acceptance of a construction manager at risk um we're are going to be making improvements to the Wastewater Plant in a variety of different stages and phases uh with the most important being the one that's we're having the most trouble with right now and that is biosolids um we met Bolton and mink and City staff met with two firms that we felt had the capabilities of being a construction manager at risk or a semar
and uh we interviewed both of them uh both interviewed very well and we would have gladly accepted both uh to work on this project um they were asked to supply a price um in comparison for the preconstruction phases which is working with our engineer and staff have to design a project uh to get to 90% so that we could begin improvements uh which would include uh liquid storage improvements transfer of Bio solids from
the clarifiers to the uh liquid storage and then again um a process would be selected to either dry or dewater bio solids uh to meet the class A requirements um what we're asking you tonight is to approve Rice Lake Construction um both the engineering firm of Bolt the m and ourselves are very familiar with Rice Lake they worked with us back in 2010 and 2011 uh sounds like a long time ago but
uh on our new water plants where uh they were the general contractor um semar has really grown in popularity with a lot of Minnesota cities because a it is a way to transfer some of the risk in how we get things done um going forward uh Rice Lake will supply us uh a cost not to exceed for which we'll bring back to council and either discuss that Workshop or uh if it's straightforward just bring it back for
approval to work on some of those biosolids improvements you can kind of see the schedule there on uh page 32 I believe it is uh that talks about where we're at and where we're going and uh we're asking that you approve the resolution uh I believe on page 34 thanks Peta any questions for Pete anything to add Todd no just that this is a process that we've used on a number of your building facilities and has worked well for you all
right hearing no questions uh the resolution appears on pages 32 through 33 of the packet is there a motion to approve so moved second we have a motion at a second call the rooll please council member Wiis I council member sh I mayor Noel I council member Johnson hi council member Pettis hi council member r i the resolution is approved thank you very much Pete um moving on adoption of a resolution accepting an RFP for Community Center control system oh and John
is here come on down John thank you good evening Madame mayor and members of council thank you um as uh stated I am here presenting a quote for the new HVAC system computer Control software system for the community center um at the end of 2025 this system will no longer be um one that can be serviced uh which will could cause uh
interruptions to the building if this is not replaced so um this was something that was approved in the CIP budget for the community center at a total of $660,000 so we did come in under budget with this quote um per the purchase policy uh we do usually get written quot quotes for something like this but due to the proprietary nature of the current uh equipment that goes with this that's already in the building um we are hoping to just go forward as a proprietary
system um so that we don't have to replace all of the equipment sensors and things like that that already are in um the community center uh so we are looking to avoid those additional costs this is also going to be the same system that is currently in the new Fire Station as well so it will sync up um with that type of system so we are seeking um approval to uh to the resolution that is I believe on page 37 um to proceed with accepting this quote
and proceeding with this upgrade to the software system thank you very much any questions Ben now my question is is this so the system support is no longer supported after 2025 correct but we want to continue to use a system that's no longer supported after 2025 and we're not going to go out and look at other possible vendors so we're sticking with the
same vendor that's pushing us that they're forcing us to stay with them you know what I mean so so I think I would like to see us go out and get just a few more bids just to see where they're at um before we go with this it's nice that the bid come in lower but it would in 2030 to come back and put another 40,000 because support ended in 2030 you you know what I mean
to be in the same boat in five years cuz I mean system support I understand how it works it's licenses and they say we're done but maybe there's another vendor out there that we might be at 80,000 because we we change out a sensors but that might be good till 2040 okay so in the long run we actually might be better off just yep just tossing that out there to to clarify the only part of the system and
and I think you recognize this if I heard you correctly um is that it is only the computer system not the equipment that is expected but I do understand what you're saying as well um I know we are certainly happy to do that if that is the direction of the council I do know in talking with staff and kind of preliminary conversations they've had with other vendors they expect the cost to come in more than double um if we are replacing the equipment as well additional questions my question was
almost identical to okay Carrie if we waited to receive uh additional bids um what does it affect our timeline um what would be the impact uh the impact isn't truly known I mean it would push us back at least a little while longer for staff to do that come back and accept A New U bid the the unknown is the fact of what is the backup on this and we don't want to push too close to the end of 2025 on this if they
were to um have any service delays I don't anticipate anything that would take nine months um but if that were to be a case and we hit January of 2026 and had a major issue the first week we'd have some problems but it is certainly something that would delay us a month two months depending on the service time how long would it take to get additional bids depends on how quickly we got the responses for I know this is staff's primary recommendation I do know there's a few other out there and again some of those conversations have preliminarily been had
but we could probably have that in another month or so so but you're recommending to move forward this schem $220,000 under what we budgeted and you are recommend staff is recommending this based on the information that um if we had G out to bid it would have been double that is correct based on the research that uh Eric Borth our facility maintenance supervisor has done he is recommending this and has explained it to me and I support that as well
the system that we have in place currently is now approximately 25 years old um so that's the control system that we have in place so I mean it's it's a very fair point we continue um to have or utilize systems that interconnect with with the hardware here that's what papy provides they've provided the service for us um if we do solicit from others it will then be different software to support the systems and some different
Hardware but I wouldn't imagine substantial different Hardware with in the community center so we wouldn't be changing out vavs or those types of things I wouldn't imagine as a part of that it would primarily be sensors but again the system that we had has been in place since the building was brand new um so our expect about life cycle frankly has more than been met on this one but it is at the pleasure of the council Dustin where I think some of the questions have come up um this was an expenditure that we questioned about the
dollar bill amount from the get-go of bringing it up of how much this should cost so I think you're just seeing a little bit of questioning because we don't have other bits here to see that that is the best price or best option moving forward okay any further discussion well there's a resolution before us unless somebody wishes to make a a a motion to table um Ben I make
a motion to table until we get a few more bids is there a second I have a second we have a motion and a second uh call the r please council member shr I mayor Noel no council member no council member Pettis no council member ramp I council member W no uh the motion fails so uh we are once
again looking at the resolution accepting the proposal uh for the community center Library each backup motion with for the current resolution second uh we have a motion and a second call the role please mayor Noel I council member Johnson I member Pettis hi council member Ram no council member weisenfeld I council member shrom no uh the resolution passes thank you very much you and thanks for the conversation amongst
the council I think we all care a lot about being good stewards of um our resources and so uh it's good that questions are raised and that we can have a discussion so thanks for that um our NE next up is a donation acceptance from the Carla and Carl and vernish MIT foundation and John you're here to talk to us about that one as well yes on a far more fun note um would like to recognize the continued support from um the uh Schmidt Foundation to our library
here this has been um a very generous ongoing support of the library and the donation has come in once again for 2025 in the uh amount of $69,500 this goes to the library material the circulation material which does include B both um digital and hard copy materials um and so the library is very excited to continue to receive this generous donation um that has been fairly or has
been on an annual basis and would like to recognize and thank the Schmid foundation for this donation and bring it before the council for acceptance thank you John any questions or comments if I could Mir and members This falls under your donation policy we haven't always considered it in this manner um but for the last few years this has been brought before the council for acceptance that's part of the discussion that we've had with the Schmidt foundation and recognizing them and their very kind donation for those folks that don't know um they originally
provided the money for the rebuild of the library back in the early 2000s um which was um more than $3 million for the building and Equipment um we are very careful and as you know as a part of the budget that we're very specific about what this gets used for so if at some some point um they were unable to provide this level of funding for you it would not impact your operations other than from a materials standpoint and so if this money didn't come in um this money isn't paying to
keep the lights on or keep people there or anything like that this is really for those materials so if we had to go a period of time without materials the library would still be usable by folks thanks well and thanks to the Schmidt Foundation they do amazing things in our community this in included um is there a motion to uh pass the resolution accepting the Schmidt Foundation donation second we have a motion and a second call the rooll please council
member Johnson hi council member Pettis hi council member Ram I council member Wiis I council member I mayor Noel I the resolution is approved our last thanks John our last item of new business is the adoption of a resolution approving requ the request for City assistance for the 2025 St Peter all School reunion and I think Todd's going to talk to us about that and there's also a revision to the resolution that's provided Madame mayor and Council
if I may let me talk about it in general terms and then talk about the modification that I'm hoping you would approve as a part of the resolution um so this is submitted by the all School reunion um committee um generally they have an event on an every once in a while basis about every 5 years so that is coming up they've had smaller events from time to time this event is planned in the First National Bank parking lot in the adjacent area um this is not substantially different than what they have asked for in
previous years however in previous years they have asked for a partial closure of Grey Street so if you kind of put your mind's eye towards grece Street and there's an alley there that's between Rock Loft and um Family Dollar or between Nutters and the bank as an example they want to close the Westerly portion of Grace Street so from the alley to Third Street um in the past
we have not approved that and we from a staff perspective would prefer that you not approve that again the resolution that I have in the packet is a previous Kesha took a previous resolution and so I did not correct this because I thought we were going to be okay but because of traffic that can come off Minnesota onto grece Street we really have to let that traffic flow through to Third Street the alley essentially to the north is likely to be closed off by activities by the school reunion the all School reunion
and to the South there's been development in the interim and while it might be open our guess is is that there will be lots of pedestrians and other things moving along this area because of the new Brewery there and so our goal would not to be have P have traffic back up on to Minnesota Avenue or cause congestion in that area I think it's also important to note that the attendees at this um tend to be um graduates that have graduated more than 5 10
15 years ago and so many may be coming to this reunion and are unfamiliar with modifications that have made been made in this area so our goal would be to keep Grace open helping the allore union push pedestrian traffic to the corner on Third Street not across the alley and not across the roadway where traffic will be coming off Minnesota onto Grace Street this is really a safety issue the last time they requested this we did not approve
their request for the closure partial closure of grece Street and I think this time we should also follow suit in that manner so that would require a small modification to the resolution that would not allow for the closure of Grey Street um other than that everything else they're asking for is within the realm of reasonable makes the process move forward they'll provide the appropriate level of insurance as they've done in the past in this area and we're excited for them to do it um they are expecting maybe
a larger turnout than normal because of how the calendar works and as you know the fourth is a Friday and the fifth is a Saturday and so because this lands on a Saturday um they're expecting great turnout as it's connected to the fourth so anyway that's where I'm at uh questions Josh what's the thinking of closing gry Street are they trying to use Family Dollars parking lot I think that's part of it I think they see a lot of pedestrian traffic at one point that's where they wanted to have vendors potentially go but what we've done what
we did last time is push their vendors onto Third Street so again imagine the parking area along First National Bank on Third Street vendors can park with their sales Windows onto the sidewalk in the parking area there and it's really safe and works really well um Cil wi and but beyond that I don't know part of this is based on the discussion of staff today in a review of the packet part of this is a little bit of additional understanding of what their request
was not so much why it was that way frankly I think they took the letter from about five and a half years ago and just sent it again with a new date and um anyway sure that's where I'm at okay additional questions so you just need to change it to eliminate yeah so we would remove the provision that allows them to close a portion of Grace Street that portion would be removed I'll make a motion for
that all right we have uh a motion to approve the amended resolution approving City assistance for the all School reunion uh call the rooll please council member Pettis hi council member Ram hi council member w I council member charr I mayor Noel I council member Johnson I the resolution is approved uh I have no report we're moving on to reports I have no reports are there any
council members with reports this evening hearing none reports from the city administrator um mayor members I'm actually going to turn it over to Pete if I may we want to talk about couple of grants that Pete and his team has received and then one of the other cool things that we have what we talked about before is our RP P3 rating has gone up so really things that you should feel good about and feel proud about that not only helped the city financially but from a service perspective so Pete I'll let you talk about all three of them if you wouldn't mind as you guys remember
back in June we had some extra Beach property along Minnesota Avenue and Street um uh but with that um the Wastewater uh res resiliency grants came out uh sponsored by the mpca these were grants that were made eligible to communities that were impacted by by floodwater here uh we we applied uh led by Curtis Thompson
our Water Resources superintendent and Jeff Donas our city engineer uh put together two very nice packages and applied for two projects with the idea that we would hopefully get one of the two um we applied for uh Cota lift station scada and backup gener generation uh as you're aware we really have a um we don't have ska system out there to monitor the activities as we would like uh that facility has been in there about 20 years has functioned really well uh but
when we did have some problems um getting to getting access to the site to monitor the activities uh took us a while to get around about an hour to get all the way around through Mano and back uh to monitor some of those activities um we also looked for some backup generation there not a huge generation issue but if power would go out during a storm or due to flooding we'd have a way to keep pumping sewage from the city of
Cota this is a lift station that we own and maintain in order to maintain service to Cota uh we made an application for $175,000 and we did receive 90% of that or 1579 uh to make that process happen um and hopefully we can start working on that here in the near future and the other one was uh trunk Highway um 169 the sanitary sewer that's over on the west side of 169 uh that flows out by
um dot Avenue all the way back to St Julian Street and hits our sewer system that is about 40 years old and it's clay tile with h uh joints that need some work and that was on our budget if you remember uh to do some additional lining on out there uh we applied for $213,000 and we did receive 192 280 these are both 10% matching grants and so we committed those funds um the money
that we had set aside uh for the lining will will easily cover both of our in-kind services for that so we shouldn't see any impact um it was a great opportunity for us I would imagine a lot of communities have a lot of needs I'm just really happy that Curtis and Jeff could make this happen for us and saved us again about $350,000 in Grants that we don't have to go back to our rate payers to pay for so uh kudos to those guys um in addition
as before Pete goes on hip hiip paray for sure that's a big deal so thank you yeah they did an outstanding job um in relation to the American public power associations rp3 that is the reliable Public Power provider uh that is is a a set of standards that we have tried to maintain within our community here now for the last seven or eight years uh pushing a high level of reliability not only for our customers but our businesses that we have uh your electric
utility led by Jason Lee as a superintendent have worked extremely hard to make our system reliable uh you may have seen them out this winter uh working on infrared and making changes out there uh a lot of the work that they do in the wintertime results in what happen since the following budget year and as you guys have noticed uh it's been a challenge on the electric side because our system is 25 years old and it is starting to show some wear and tear uh when the guys go out and
do some of the preliminary work they catch these things before they become major issues as you're aware they also that we have a problem getting materials a lot of times so when we can go out the year before and identify problems order materials 6 to n months later uh the next next year we are out making Corrections which keeps our outages down and keeps our customers with power and so we're very happy that they have done that and
have been recognized on a national level um there are about 10 cities in Minnesota that have received this award um and we're glad to be one of them so Pete there's standards within this and there's also classification so there's like diamond or Ruby or how does that work there's diamond and that's that's a very high standard uh there's a few Minnesota communities that fall within that then there's Platinum which is right below that uh we are right at the top between platinum and gold and we're
working hard to implement some of the testing procedures uh to be accepted as uh a gold member uh this this award will be good for two to three years and then we'll be applying to try to reach that next level of uh customer service and as you know and you see through a number of the standards related to time of outage number of outages those kind of things you guys are just at the top of the top here in in the state gold standard we were there the first couple years as we developed our program and got things going
and now we've moved up to platinum so so we are Platinum Status which is fantastic so those of you that go um and visit with some of the other Minnesota Utilities in Washington in the near future I wouldn't be ashamed to nudge them in the arm and say that a little bit you're ahead of most of them so um it's important to know so I think most those the ones that have received the award are going so be careful who you next it's a really great thing for our customers for sure so thanks Pete for talking about that thanks Pete um Madame mayor
the next thing that I have for you is a request for closed session on page 46 um we have Union negotiations that are ongoing and so really this is in the form of three Clos sessions one for electric line Workers Local 70 one for our maintenance local unit 70 and one for our communication technicians or dispatchers L LS 242 so technically there would be three I do not anticipate coming back into session to do anything other than adjourn we will not come
back and take action on any of these contracts so we'll move downstairs so we'll move downstairs and um again we'll only come back in Open Session to adjourn all right uh any questions for Todd or is there a motion to approve the resolution calling for a closed session all right motion and a second call the rooll please council member r i council member Wiis I council member shrom I mayor Noel I council member Johnson
I council member Pettis I the resolution is approved and we will move in close session it is 7:32 p.m.