it is 6:30 and so I will call the uh meeting of the Wilmer city council to order roll call Mayor proam askos here here council member Nelson here council
member Davis here sches here ferly here osus here Butterfield here O'Brien here mayor ree is absent so eight present one absent thank you please stand for the
Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States America and to the rep for it stands one nation God indivisible withy and justice for all on the proposed agenda I just wanted
to clarify there's a couple copies apparently out there that on the proposed agenda for the consent agenda there should be five n uh approval of police commission appointment of Chris rosendal and with that I'll look for other amendments to the agenda or a
motion to approve the agenda move to approve second any discussion roll call Mayor prot temp OS I council member Nelson hi council
member Davis hi schies hi ferly hi osmus I Butterfield hi O'Brien I eight yeses zero NOS motion passes uh clerk Larson will
you walk us through tonight's consent agenda mayor Pro mayor proam and council members for tonight's consent agenda I have for you the city council minutes of June 3rd 2024 4 the Planning Commission minutes of June 5th 2024 is a draft the
police commission minutes of April 5th 2024 the police commission minutes of March 1st the police Comm commission minutes of February 9th the police commission minutes of February 5th the Municipal Utilities Commission minutes of June
10th approval of the First Amendment to dunic purchase agreement First Street and trot Avenue signal system replacement authorizing the the purchase of a self-propelled top dresser from Conga manufacturing consideration of the first
state 1 day to 4day Temporary on sale liquor license permit for candy County Fair Association the City Finance report through 53124 the accounts payable report from 5:30 to
61324 and the police commission appointment and for your information I have the monthly permit report from May of 2024 and the director's reports and the women Municipal uil's Finance report for April 2024 motion to approve the consent items
second any discussion roll call council member ask hi I'm sorry mayor protemp ask it's going to be hard tonight for me sorry I'll still vote I at least I pronounce your name
correctly Nelson hi Davis hi sches hi ferly hi osmus hi Butterfield hi and O'Brien hi eight yeses zero NOS consent agenda is approved uh looks like we have two
speakers for tonight's open Forum uh starting with Andre elbertson ask you to come up here and speak from podium and please give your name and address when you do name and address you said yes please
yes um I am andrees Albertson I live here in Wilmar on 19th Avenue Southeast 1401 is the number Somerset properties um I am here to um tell you H about and
invite you to a a Wilmer Pride event we will be having on June 28th um I am pastor at binci Lutheran Church also pastor of Iglesia Luana
pansa and I am in the fortunate position that I can be out as gay as a gay man um and be a pastor and do the things I I I do um and
glad to live in a city um that adopted a welcoming resolution in 2018 so this was two years before I moved to to the city and this resolution
remains abstract if um nobody celebrates that we can be who we are with our sexual orientation gender identity gender expression and so this is what we H will be doing and because we also have
a responsibility towards those who are still struggling with accepting who they are or fearful of um rejection so they also need to know that it is okay to celebrate and that they
are not the ones having a problem and I left the World Cafe hosted by the Human Rights Commission on a 30 some of you were there determined to do my part to have a pride event in Wilmer this year
of course we need allies um for that and um I found them in purpose Artisans intuition um brewing and when we started uh
talking um and doing some research we discover that we are not starting this from scratch but we are building on the legacy of um some bold people who formed
the Wester West Central Minnesota Pride back in 2009 and hosted an amazing Pride event here in in Wilber and other people also have been public
um er publicly claiming who they were maybe some of them paying a price for that but they have brought us to where we are today and this Legacy we plan to honor with our event on the 28th thank
you for this opportunity thank you our second speaker tonight is Liz Heimer good evening my my name is Liz heimr um my address is at 12388 big candy Drive in Lake Lan but I'm am a
downtown and a very proud downtown business owner um co-owner of intuition Brewing intuition Brewing um is a very new business we opened in December of 2023 and part of the reason we wanted to
be here is because we really wanted to embrace this amazing diversity that we have in wil and seeing all of these um wonderful organizations out there like purpose artisians and um Andre with the churches that he's at what's really
refreshing to see and so we are very excited about this event um at intuition Brewing uh one of the things that we really wanted to bring was for people to be able to show up and be seen and be who they are no matter who that is and
so we're having the event on June 28th it's a Friday and it starts at at 400 p.m. there's going to be some arts and crafts with purpose artisians um to celebrate then we'll be doing a very educational Pride trivia which we're
excited about at 700 p.m. we're going to be doing um just we're going to offer an open mic time so that if people have something they want to say if they want to read a poem if they want to talk about why this is important to them if they want to talk about the things that
have hurt them um this is their Podium to talk and we'll be having some light drumming in the background with purpose artisians if you haven't experienced that it's it's a really powerful um moment for them and so we're excited for
that we'll have a a dance at the end starting at 8 and it'll all be wrapped up by 10 p.m. and so we really hope to see the city stand behind us with welcoming these this community here um as Andre's talked about we really
haven't seen a lot since 20 9 and so this is a great opportunity to really Embrace that resolution and that diversity statement thank you so much thank you anyone else speaking at the open
Forum all right Wilmer Fest royalty is next on our agenda that's a fun item thank you so much mayor protm and councel uh before I get started you know I just want to say how appreciative I am of citizens of Wilmer coming up here
organizing themselves together and bringing some unique things forward to our community and to represent our community a little bit better and what a better segue right into Wilmer Fest talking about the community that we're
so proud of that we work so hard to celebrate uh I think you might have gotten the Spiel last year from uh Mr James Miller but my name is Christopher Rell and I am the current president of Wilmer Fest we also have Bri gimy back here the vice
president who probably works about three times harder than anyone else on the board I would say but we're so lucky to have her and all of the members on our Wilmer Fest board uh one thing I want to just mention to all of you is that this is the 78th year that we're celebrating
Wilmer and I think that's a really special thing to keep in mind as we keep moving forward the first event that we ever had was in 1945 right after the war and so or right as the uh World War II is ending and it's just such an exciting idea that we're continuing this Legacy of the
celebration of our community as it's changed throughout all the years one of the biggest things that I want to bring forward today is a little bit of the events both public um that we're going to be having and we're going to start tomorrow uh at coffee with the
candidates at goodness coffee on First Street uh later in the afternoon we're going to have quanis day Kids Day at Rice Park and I think a couple of you were there there last year but we had hundreds of kids running around in Rice Park it was an absolute beautiful event
it was the first time Kanas participated with us and it was it was a super success so we're really excited about continuing that this year um Thursday we have the block party of which again we're really excited about we have some really cool um cool
events including uh working with intuition and Spurs here with a uh downtown beer garden uh so we're really excited to bring that forward we're going to have the dam Jammers from New London a great local band to be supporting us uh through the night and
of course we're going to have a a ninja anywhere and Kids Fun Run with miles fermentors in downtown wmer so all that's going to start at about 5:00 p.m. um probably wrap up around 93010 we'll also of course have food vendors and a lot more activities down
there Friday is our Stingers night uh come celebrate Wilmer Fest at The Stingers game that's going to be at 6:35 p.m. and we will be um seeing the the new not the ambassadors of right now but the candidates do a lot of fun
activities including I were you guys in a some sort of like ball fight last time or something like that yeah uh it can get pretty wild um when we see that out there so Saturday we have the is is really our big event that's our big day
we're going to have the parade in the morning along with the foot Lake 4 and of course uh we have a brand new thing uh rescue squad car show at Robins Island from 12:00 to 4 p.m. the uh Wilmer Fest Ambassador
coordination at weak or the Wilmer education and arts center at 3M and then we have the beach party the awesome beach party that we had last year we're going to continue that forward at Robin's island with the with the U little crow ski team uh the radio
Nation will be playing for us we'll have another beer garden and then Lakeland media's uh Works overw water which we can't say enough of how much we are so supportive or appreciate their support at Wilmer Fest and this year uh we added one more thing on on Sunday and that is
the firefighters Association water ball fight we tried to move that from Thursday to Sunday um to get a little bit more um participation from different firefighters around the area so we will have um some food out there that's going to start at 12:00 p.m. at Robins Island
again and of course that Sunday is also going to be our makeup day for uh Saturday if we get bad weather fingers crossed uh right now the weather doesn't look fantastic for this week but maybe all the rain will happen at night and then it will be nice and sunny during
the day um but uh if there is rain I just want to let everyone know uh please check our Facebook page we're going to try to reach out to the radio to let everyone know what the plans are if we have to cancel or move any dates so I think that's enough for me for right now
so I am going to bring up our current ambassadors and have them chat a little bit about their year and experience with Wilmer Fest hello everyone my name is Marissa Peterson and I'm the 2024 wmer Fest Aqua princess hi I'm Esa Garcia and I'm the
2024 wmer Fest International princess and my name is mala yag I am the 2024 wmer Fest queen of festivals we made a little slideshow uh so first we're going to talk about a little bit of what we do as ambassadors for the Wilmer
community so some of the things that we do include attending parades um obviously for Wilmer Fest but that also includes in different communities across Minnesota and then we also have the opportunity to go to the South Dakota Snow Queen Festival which is a lot of
fun and then we also get to attend coronations where the new royalty is crowned which is a great experience to see these empowering young women step up to these roles and then we also have the opport Unity to meet some amazing new
people um meeting royalty across the state has been such an amazing experience and then we also really get to take a deep dive into the communities around us and get to learn more about their Community while sharing about Wilmer with
them no oh sorry I forgot my role so we also do a lot of public speaking um we have improved a lot in our public speaking from the beginning to the to our current time now um we do we've gone on the
radio we were on the radio last week with Chris and so if you look on the right side um that's us like the first time we were speaking at the beach party last year and honestly it was pretty scary but now we do a lot better job and
we like this this is this is up there yeah um and then in the last row of pictures these are um photos of different community members from Wilmer who have supported us um throughout the year uh we've had chaperon um all of them are volunteers and it's just been
so amazing to see how they come together and basically just Lift us up like I didn't really know what this role was I didn't know what it entailed but it was just so cool to see um people from Wilmer come and just tell us like this is what you do and then here's how you
do it and go ahead and they kind of just empowered us to be right here so okay and then so what have events have we attended throughout our R okay so one of the events that we attended was the Anoka Festival which
they are the Halloween capital of the world so that is why we are dressed up as Mario Kart we get to go in costumes take a break from the dresses for a little bit um but this is a really fun event um they have hosted a ball with the candidates and other visiting
royalty and they have a really great candidate program so it's great to see how they have such a lengthy program that really works on building up young women and empowering them with leadership skills and public speaking and all those kinds of things and then they also have a big parade and it's
very amazing to see the inoka community come out and support their community and also get to share with all the other festivals there and tell them about Wilmer how much we love Wilmer and get to share kind of our side of things another event that we got to go
to was the South Dakota Snow Queen Festival so this is our AO State events and this was in January and it was about 4 days long and it was super fun because Malo um goes to school in Florida and she traveled back to it was 40
deges so fun it was super cold and we were in dresses and just trying to stay warm but they had a bunch of fun events planned for us and there was some communities there that we got to spend the whole entire weekend with and become good friends with um something memorable
was the skating um I was kind of scared to be honest but it was super fun they also had um frosto which is this big Community event where we go around the city of Aberdine to kind of get to know the city and everything that there is
there and it's very intense and they have a bunch of cars and Designated Drivers and some people ate minnows and there was just a lot it was super fun and then we had to debate each other about who should win and M is
one um and then so the Minneapolis um aquatennial is kind of just a much bigger version of Wilmer fests where there are about 50 uh communities that compete on one representing each Community going to compete for the title
of the aquatennial princess or queen um and so we got to go very shortly after we were crowned to support our previous royalty uh and it was really cool we had um we got to watch her speak and then we also got to participate in the Torch Light Parade which was like a late not
late night but at night where all of the floats were lit up um and there were about 50 just uh can't like royalty so that's not including the bands and all that it was a very big parade the streets were full of people and it was really cool to go to such a big city and
represent our little hometown of Wilmer so that was a really fun one yes and another event we wanted to touch on was the Hopkins raspberry Festival they had an event called The Royal goose chase and that was just a great way to get familiar with the
Hopkins community it was sort of another like scavenger hunt type event except we're on foot so we're running around trying to get as many points as we could but it was just a really fun way to kind of see the royalty compete and then really get familiar with Hopkins and
learn history and then just get to hang out with the Hopkins community and then also had a ball as well and then they had this fun event they had musical chairs for Mis Congeniality so the um Royal two who are crowned as misong
geniality are usually seen as like being poised and very like kind and gentle so seeing them kind of take it out on each other for musical chairs was quite the experience was I was say she's not saying that part yeah I was playing
musical chairs I was maybe not as rough as the others but it was a great experience yeah um so Hopkins was one of our first like our big first Festival that we did after being crowned so it was super exciting to be able to meet a bunch of different people there and they just had so many fun events so it was a
fun first for us and so um what relationships have we built with the communities these are just kind of a little rundown of all of the I mean we kind of touched on them a bit but just there's girls from different towns that
go to each Festival each weekend so we see each other every time um this past weekend we were in Mon videoo and we got to hang out with aquatennial and South Dakota Snow Queen and at the end of the weekend we're like I can't wait to see you at Wilmer Fest like why do we have to leave so soon so it's really these
connections that we make that last a long time I when I was in Florida for school over Easter I was at a church and I turn the corner and I see one of the Lichfield royalty who was just visiting for the holiday and so it was just like so cool to see how those two things
connected um but yeah these are kind of just some friends we've made and then we're going to talk a little bit on how Wilmer Fest has impacted each of us yes so for me a big way that being a Wilmer Fest Ambassador
has impacted me is the growth that I've seen in myself um I mean being able to go to parades and coronations and meet a bunch of new people is a lot of fun but I've really seen a great growth in myself within the past year that definitely would not have been possible without the experiences that I've had as
an ambassador and the board and everyone who has supported me along the way I definitely was one who didn't like speaking in front of people so being here right now is and being comfortable speaking in front of you all today is a big accomplishment for me and just being
able to even start up a conversation with the stranger that wasn't always the easiest thing for me and now being able to do it very easily and it's just incredible to see how much a person can grow with a support system that Wilmer
Fest provides for us and I will take all the leadership skills and everything that I've gained in the past year and take it with me and I'm really excited to see how I continue to grow because of the position that I'm in now as an ambassador okay so I completely agree
with Marissa there's so much growth that happens throughout the year and it went by so fast but there's just so much growth that happened also another thing for me is wmer Fest has made me appreciate where I come from I was born and raised in Wilmer and I was always that person that was like I'm getting
out of Wilmer as soon as I graduate high school and I never want to come back but I go to school in Morehead and I love Morehead and I love where I am but every single time I was just so excited to come home and do a wmer Fest event and last summer just made me appreciate it
so much more and like this summer I me and my friends leased a house in Morehead and I could go spend the summer there but I was like I want to be home I want to stay in wmer and I want to be in the community that I know and that I love so we didn't talk about what we were going to say so she literally just
said what I was going to say but it was the same for me I've I've grown up here um and I was I always said like the minute I graduate I'm going out of state for college which led me to Florida um but when I took on this position not
knowing what to expect none of us knew until we went to our first Festival what we were really getting ourselves into but it was really cool to see how in every parade in every town we were in there was someone in the crowd that said it's Wilmer hey Wilmer and so we have um the previous ambassadors the board
members the chaperons have built such a um great reputation for Wilmer and so it's such an honor to be on that float and to be like yeah we're from Wilmer like this is this is our we're representing the coolest town in my opinion um even at aquatennial um I was
at the orientation for this coming year and they gave Wilmer a shout out for one of the best festivals which coming from the cities is I think that's pretty High Praise but it's just really made me appreciate how hardworking how diverse how just all these characteristics that
Wilmer has as a whole and just to say like Wilmer is on my sash that's that's what I'm representing um so it's been really really great and also with the skills that it's taught us just how to connect with people I didn't know that small talk was an art that you had to
develop but it's actually so so important so it's just like this long list of things that it's really just changed the three of us and it's helped us just reach out into other communities and invite them to wmer as well we could seriously talk about yeah I was going to
say you we have more slides but I think we've the yeah we love Wilmer I think that's the end of our presentation thank you for thank you thank you thank all three of you I appreciate the hard work that you guys
have put into this last year I know it's not easy and it takes a lot of your time to represent our community so thank you for doing it so well and and and having that hard work that that reflects the community in each and every one of you um so quick question the public speaking
that you've been developing over the Year great job tonight by the way um what's more intimidating speaking in front of the city council or being on the radio um for me it was this the city council the radio was like I they can't
see me yeah true yeah I would have to agree just like cuz here you're like face to face with a group of people and we've also had a little bit of experience on the radio now so it got more comfortable but I think that I was nervous until we got here and realized we were just talking about something we
love and then I realized oh this is not that bad but yeah good well thank you guys again so much and you can come back next time and speak again and it'll get easier every time yeah so true thank you for having us thank you so much and thank you for your
support uh just before we wrap up I just want to say um similar to what uh mayor protim OS had had mentioned is all the work that goes into this the city of Wilmer uh you know Wilmer Fest has to be so we are so grateful of all the things
that the city is doing the police department the fire staff City staff Public Works and of course city council with the support every year of Wilmer Fest financially and coming out to all of our events and saying hi and being part of this team um I just want to say
for these three young ladies um they were absolutely awesome this year and we should all be just so proud to have this this kind of group of people in our community that are excited about Wilmer and that you know what I love so much is
that you can see how much of a team those three are together and that is that embodies Wilmer Fest as well you know we do so much and it is a team event together I can't again I can't say enough about Bri and Carly they put in
incredible amount of hours to make sure that these girls these young ladies can go to all of these events for as volunteers 30 events we're driving for free bringing out uh it's just it warms my heart how much uh passion we have in this community so again thank you all
for your support if you have any questions I'm going to get out of here and I'll let bri take care of them or something like that but otherwise thank you again very much and um we'll see you out there thank you Christopher Bri thank you both so much for your hard work I know that there's there's a lot
more people to and thanks to everyone um that allows the community of Wilmer just to come out and celebrate and have fun uh you guys work really hard so we get to have a good time and we plan on doing so any questions from questions counc members thank you thank you yes sincere
thank you all right the only thing more fun than Wilmer Fest is preliminary engineering reports Mr vogi you're up next good evening mayor and Council uh
the first item here item 10A is relative to the 2025 and 2026 preliminary engineering reports um this is the first step in our typical process where we evaluate projects identify potential uh
costs and uh give a range of Assessments it's required for our 429 bonding process um associated with the the financing of the projects that we've historically used uh we've broken them
down into two sections if you will the 2025 and 2026 and you might ask why why we've done that um and trying to keep with the approximate um level of funding associated with Street improvements uh
we have received some comments from our partners including Wilmer Municipal Utilities that they'd like to be aware of the projects a year and in advance um so that they can do any improvements that they might need to in advance of a Mill and overlay or a uh reclaim
projects so that's where we're trying to um get to so that we're more prepared and we can provide the information to counil earlier on in the process so that at the end of the of the Fall it doesn't seem so rushed um there's a number of
projects in in your packet this evening I won't read through them all um because they are listed in the agenda but ultimately there is a resolution in your packets this evening and that would be the initiation of the preliminary engineering report uh for those projects
which would be the first step um in that process of the 429 process of course the report will come back numerous U discussions will be had plans there's a this is like the very initial step so with that I'm going to pause and see if
you have any questions for me council do we have questions or would someone like to offer a motion to um order the preparation of the 2025 Improvement project preliminary engineering report I'll make that motion
second Motion in a second discussion roll call council member Nelson I Davis I SCH ales hi baggerly hi osmus I Butterfield hi O'Brien hi mayor protm ask
I eight eyes zero nose motion passes thanks Council next we're looking for I believe there's a second motion is that correct looking for a motion ordering the preparation of preliminary engineering reports for the 2026 Improvement projects I'll make that motion second
discussion roll call council member Davis hi sches hi baggerly hi Osmos I Butterfield I O'Brien I mayor protm OS I and Nelson
I eight eyes zero nose the motion passes next on our agenda tonight our Public Works director go ahead thank you sir good evening good evening Council um so
to uh build on or piggyback what Jared just explained to you um this agenda item is um would ask to adopt a resolution awarding that 2025 and 2026 um feasibility report and
preliminary survey to Bolton and mink in the amount of $49,100 um all the same projects that that Jared was just referring to um this proposed scope of services would include a feasibility report cost estimate
preliminary assessment costs and conducting the necessary Improvement hearing as required by Minnesota statutes so moved I will pause for any questions Motion in a second questions comments
conversation roll call council member shes hi baggerly hi osmus hi Butterfield hi O'Brien hi mayor protm OS hi Nelson I
and Davis I eight eyes zero nose thank you motion passes thank you next Mr corbette is going to present to us a comprehensive uh plan for the city of wilart right good evening Mr mayor
protim council members and bear with me just a second I'll pull up the slide for today if you all think you had a blast with wmer Fest you just hang on um the comp plan is going to get really fond too that was my bad attempt at a
joke we laughed all right I don't know gave it up um so for today I'm going to be looking for a motion to approve um our selection of srf consult in um for Professional Services to assist the city of Wilmer um
comprehensive plan up to the amount of 25,000 to cover total call and any incidentals uh I will say that we received three bids from srf men collaborative as well as FY Hood they
came up at different price points and what really um stood apart for for srf is they've done work for our Parks already and green space and open space and other um comprehensive plans
regionally throughout the area and so we decided to move forward with them so what is a comprehensive plan and the City of Wilmer commitment to completing its comprehensive plan shows the importance of proactive urban
planning as the city embarks on the significant endeavor it will consider the changes since the 2009 comprehensive plan integrating new data Trends and Community input by analyzing past Trends and
anticipating future needs the city can make informed decisions and balance Economic Development with environmental stewardship and Community well-being the revision of the comprehensive plan is not a regulatory requirement
however it is an opportunity for Community engagement where residents and stakeholders can contribute to shaping the city's future this collaborative effort ensures that the plan reflects the collective vision and goals of Wilmer fostering a sustainable and
thriving environment for future for current and future Generations the comprehensive plan serves as a Visionary blueprint for the city's growth and development it is a strategic document that outlines the city's aspirations and the means to
achieve them through careful planning and policymaking the plan is structured to guide daily land use decisions ensuring they are aligned with the broader goals and objectives set forth these goals and objectives are not just abstract
ideas but are actionable directives that influence the city's development at every level the inclusion of a future land use map is noteworthy as it provides a visual representation of desired land use
patterns a land use map is a crucial tool for the city for city planners developers and CI citizens offering a Clear Vision of where and how the city intends to grow the plan looks or the plan's
Outlook will be a Forward Thinking approach yet it is designed to be a livable document adaptable to changes and new insights ensuring that it remains relevant and effective completing the comprehensive
plan is a commitment to sustainable organized and thoughtful Urban Development reflecting Wilmer values and priorities it is a promise of a well-considered future laying the groundwork for a
thriving City that balances growth with the quality of life the plan's implementation is an ongoing process subject to review and revisions which allows us to respond to emerging challenges and opportunities while
staying true to his long-term Vision in essence the city of Wilmer comprehensive plan will make a dynamic and evolving framework that shapes the city's trajectory ensuring that growth is not left to chance but is a result of
deliberate and informed decision making so what does the comprehensive plan do it identifies a f the future for the city it serves as a guide for City policy decisions it directs Land Development and growth it influen public
utility needs and it influen quality of life and Community Care return one thing that the or two things that the comprehensive plan will do is definitely have a vision for the city so that is is a statement describing the Desir future outcome for the community
and there will be many goals throughout each topic so is those are broad statements of community desires so there's three components I'm really going to focus on this comprehensive plan for the land use so
one you have land use thus in yellow of if you're looking at a map a zoning map it is yellow for residential red for General business you're going to see blue for industrial these are industry standards for coding or coloring
different land uses and those land use goes to zoning so the zoning ordinance that's how everything looks on a map how they interact and how blocks are made up and from our land use uses and our zoning we then influence development and
that's what you see is being built what Planning Commission kind of takes a look at as well as city council so let's take another look at land use zoning and development so land use planning gives General guidance about the long-term vision of an
area the zoning ordinance is the tool that we use to implement the plan that yields good development now this is just an illustration it is not being proposed at all so who all is involved is the Wilmer
Community I will like for this plan to be done with Wilmer it is to be we are here to soundproof and check the draft that we already have um starting in 2019 I believe the department started it and haven't completed it it hasn't completed
uh City staff of course is a it'll be my department Planning and Development as well as working with other developments other departments throughout the um City focus group we're looking at a smaller group historically we have stakeholder
groups that are pretty large um because we already have a rough draft it's easier to do a focus group and really H in some of the topics that we'll be taking a look at local agent local and agency partners city council and Planning
Commission and for today I'm requesting that we work with srf Consulting Group and their proposal is in the packet so when can we get done our schedule is broken out into phases so the first phase is listening and
learning and that's the public launch and Community engagement our goal is to learn about residents lived experiences and under under excuse me uncover planning needs our strategies are public surveys and our focus group meetings
that we'll meet um monthly phase two is more of exploring those Solutions so shaping the plan our goal is to confirm planning needs and test Solutions uh strategies again are planning or public engagement and you're
going to see a lot of public engagement I probably said it I don't know how many times already but public engagement we're going to be also working with city council to make sure that we're getting out and speaking to your constituents too and so your partnership will be valuable in that as well or throughout
this plan phase three is review and refine so we want to take a focus on our goal is to focus on planning topics uh with the public and gather feedback based on the draft that we have and we hope to have a draft this fall our strategies are community roundtables so
I can imagine that these Community roundtables will be different topics throughout the comp plan that is discussed in groups or small groups and then the fourth one is adopt and plan ahead our goal is to complete a final
document Again by the top of next year um with the holiday days in November and December and we might be looking at as early as January to be completed and to have it adopted so it is adopted document um and our strategies are
Planning Commission and city council and so we'll be doing touch points throughout Planning Commission and then coming here as well and meeting with city council I'll stop there and stand for any questions that you have about the comprehensive
plan Council what are your wishes com M Butterfield what is the big difference between srfs price and the lower one what they would be doing for the city you know that's $99,000 difference what
where is the city going to benefit seeing that $9,000 MH so you're going to benefit by focusing on the two things you're going to we're going to benefit by focusing on the land use map which is imperative to the Future growth you know we have an urban growth boundary around
the city and that needs to be taken in consideration as well we have a land use map from 2009 uh and that map is already outdated and we need to take a look at Future needs of um our our community so all these three bids that came in weren't
all the same covering the same aspects of what they're going to be doing for for this correct so there's um I I'll finish there too so another thing is that the document needs to be digestible and needs to be where a third or fifth grader could process it and understand
what a comprehensive plan is uh and we feel that srf has the experience to do it uh and to make sure that Community engagement is a huge part on it and really assists us with that my goal is not for the comprehensive plan to read like a research document we want this
document to be livable we want it to be used we don't want it to be data heavy uh we want it to be able wear policy makers like yourself can make informed decisions go ahead continue but but still you're not getting into what
what's srf going to do more than uh vly hood on on this proposal so we can go through the scope and so srf which fler H did not um provide us the um in their proposal these quotes they're going to
take a look at coordination and the kickoff meeting so meeting internally with all of the directors and departments across and consolidating a lot of the plans and making sure that our appendix speak to the work that has already been done and future work
graphic design support the land use plan which is on its own is really huge uh I would also state that typically comprehensive plans can range to uh six figures and the good thing about where
we are is we already have a rough draft and some things need to be reworked worked and we're looking to create new um chapters as well throughout and so the other tasks here number four they're going to do a full chapter review so
take a look at our work as well that we have and consolidate some of those chapters and develop new chapters as well and of course public engagement assistant which is huge um our department is a mighty 7 and you have
one urban planner by study and practice that's me you have Chris Frank an attorney and a great asset to the team and that's all that we have for the comp plan so we need more capacity to make sure that this is a great document go ahead I I'm just not
understanding you know how come we can't really see what the difference between fairly hood and srf is you know why why wasn't all the proposals in in our packet so we could looked through and see okay this is what
s f is doing Hood's not doing this part you know we need to justify $9,000 difference you know well Mr I'm not getting the answers that I'm looking for because uh councilman Butterfield if you're requesting to take a look at the other
proposals I'll be happy to provide those to council they they should have been here so we could have made an informed decision with all the information are you requesting the proposal I'm asking you what's what's the difference tell me what the difference between a $9,000 is
between srf and a low bid I stated it administrator Valiant I'd like to interject here also Christopher and I also met with flarity and Hood with the person that was going to do and um kind
of interviewed him on on the tasks that we were looking for in that and it wasn't um I would say the his insight as to what was needed in that was not what we were looking for
srf has the skills we've seen their work flan Hood this person that's new to the staff of Floridian Hood it he didn't provide us with what the skill level and the Comfort level of what we were
looking for so it had a lot to do with with the staff person and how they were going to work with us it um and that has a lot on this be bearing they like Christopher said there's Community
engagement srf has the expertise on community engagement this is what they do srf is working right now on community engagement with uh Highway 12 with the mot and the revision and the re and that
and so they they know the community too so that's really why you know it's like yeah maybe 9,000 less but it's also reflective in the work that it was going to be too so that's why we chose to work with srf and um recommend working with
srf as you can see the other plant the other me can their theirs was in the same over $20,000 too so that's that's a telling right there that the flaring
Hood reporting and that and the work was not going to be to the same level and just to add to that their proposal um now that you're talking their proposal wasn't tailored to Wilmer specific and the items that we were looking that's what I was asking about was it were the
bids Apple apples or apples oranges or oranges pineapples you know that information should have been all here so we could have made a read to it before night to get to it because now we got to vote and now we you know we're missing some
crucial information again Council I'm still looking for a motion on this move to approve second motion and a second other conversation go ahead council member Nelson I I would just comment that um I
was I worked on the park plan with srf and um they did a great job they were very good at at researching our community and understanding and um working um to do that so I'm supportive
of your decision to use srf thank you council members F this yeah and and uh councilman Butterfield thank you for asking that that that's important to know for the public to know and so I appreciate the clarification as to why
the $9,800 more so um I think uh sounds like it's it's definitely worth it so council member O'Brien my only comment is with Mr Butterfield is saying is we
should have the information I mean I understand that you guys know srf I don't know them from Hill of beans I don't know who they are or anything else about them so I would like to know a little bit more about them next time okay all right yes
absolutely any other conversation roll call council member shes i beggerly i osmus i Butterfield I O'Brien I mayor
protm OS I Nelson I and Davis Hi eight eyes zero nose thank you all right Miss Valiant July 1st yes um
we would like to ask the council that we uh cancel the July 1st meeting it seems that we have a lot of there's not many things that are coming up on the July 1st meeting right now and um but we ask
that you also pass a resolution authorizing our finance director to uh approve any Billings and things like that because um June has five Mondays in the month I believe and so our next meeting would not be for
another whole month then from from tonight's to July 15th so we just ask that July 1st is really kind of a busy week in the first place so if that would work for the
council Council what are your wishes council member Nelson um I'm I'm okay with that because I know the last week there there are several people going to the league of Minnesota City's annual meeting in or summer um annual meeting in Rochester but I'm confused with your
request to just pass a resolution for bills or what well because it would be another whole month before you would be able to approve any bills and so that's four weeks and this so typically every two weeks we would have Bill approvals
so and I believe that our finance director is fully capable of understanding what bills would need to be paid there are essential bills coming up that are going to need to be paid for example the utility billing is one of
them that's going to need to be paid by July 1st conversation or a motion I'll make the motion motion is there a second second more conversation to cancel the July 1st
meeting is that simply to cancel the meeting or to make the yes yeah I think it's got to be two motions I believe it has to be two motions so this is just to cancel the July 1 meeting council member ferly I've never heard of city council
cancelling a meeting we've always adjusted a day behind or forward but never canceling we only meet twice a month PTY so that's ridiculous I'm sorry other
conversation council member Butterfield so Rick in in here long ten you've never had a meeting cancelled here no okay have you ever heard of one cancel before you were here no okay I'll ask the question about um if
financials have to be approved in order to cancel this meeting is that not reason enough to have the meeting it I mean it's not unheard of that the resolution would be passed and then every all the reporting would still come in front of the Council on the July
15th meeting you would not miss any of that information and there any other items on that agenda that you would foresee happening if we did have a July 1st meeting not that I'm aware of right now
okay other conversation all right the motion is to cancel the July 1st city council meeting roll call council member ferly no osmus I Butterfield
no O'Brien I mayor protm o I Nelson I Davis I and shes
I six eyes two nose the motion is approved and now we're looking for a motion to authorize payment of bills through July 1st so moved second is there a
second second motion and a second is there any conversation council member Butterfield is there going to be a dollar limit set to what we can do or is is it just going to be open check well I have approval up to
$25,000 well yeah that's what I'm asking be I would say up to you know we can make it up to $25,000 okay council member osmus are you foreseeing any other bills that are necessary that would be above
that no because any of our uh any of our uh pay apps and that should come before the councilor oakin unless to unless Mr odens has something yeah thank you for the question and uh the only other outside would be as construction
uh pay applications come in um they construction had started early on in this year so we might be seeing some come into the office that'd be the only other um but um from one month from now would be the next the 15th would be the next meeting and those could wait till
then if that's the council's wishes so I'm understanding your comments correctly that you would be comfortable with a $25,000 limit um what my understanding would be per correct per invoice or yeah yes yep and that would be and then Leslie and I would
administrative valant and I would go through the list releasing any funds because the current practice would be to after Council approves it then release funds to the vendors um but this would be with her and I going through those lists together looking for a
motion you got the motion you have the motion do we have the motion yep jul motion but the motion does the motion specify the $25,000 limit that we've been disc discussing I did not think so it did not
yeah are we content with the current motion or would someone like to amend the motion well that's already kind of there because that's the limit that the city administrator has I think but if you want it stated I could include it up to
$25,000 I will second D all right thank you any other conversation council member Nelson um I feel some discomfort with this I think a few of us and so maybe at the meeting
the next meeting we should review what happened with the bills that we paid in in detail um just versus us just getting them kind of thing to see if we decide to do this again or what would be a
better protocol if we had something like that so I would request that I would Echo those comments as well are we ready to vote roll call cols member osmus I Butterfield I
O'Brien I mayor protm OS I council member Nelson I Davis I shers hi and faggle no seven eyes one one no that motion passes tonight we have
two of our directors offering up reports to the council who's up first tonight three three three all right who's up first good evening everyone um I'm playing a little catch up for being out on uh medical leave for a while with my
knee replacement so I want to commend our staff of holding down the fort while I was gone um all of our programs basically started June 10th so last week so we were busy with baseball and softball games uh adult softball leagues
are up and going um like last Thursday night was a per perfect evening we had the pool party for the city staff so that was busy Rosevelt soccer fields were busy um I headed over to the softball comp um The Stingers were playing they had
miles fermentors going on uh Legion Baseball game was going on the Church League Softball was going on um I went to go grab the trailer from the pool drove out to the Civic Center I saw people at the robins Island SP Park was busy the complex out the Civic Center
was busy um with baseball and softball games hockey people are going into the arena and there were soccer matches going on on the turf so it's just a perfect evening with that so it just shows that people are busy busy being active in Wilmer which is great and that's why we got the facilities that we
have um other things with our programming um that it just started off one thing is I'd like to notice or let you guys know is our gymnastics program we have a new head coach um she's been there for a couple years and she's just exploded with our youth programming it's
been great um we've been working with the school um to keep the gymnastics equipment up because in the past we've always had to tear it down when it was at Kennedy and then now when it was at the high school and their auxiliary gym we always had to tear it down so they could use it for tennis well now with us
having the tennis courts over on the Event Center side the the varsity teams are able to come and use that in the afternoon so then in turn we are able to eat the gymnastics equipment up and use it year round and tor's done a fabulous job with her um gymnastics program it's
always a weightless type of program um another program that we have it's called Little Athletes a new program it's more of a sport sampler so kids are able to come out um learn different type of sports that can happen from basketball to soccer um any of the hand ey
coordinations Sports and everything like that uh at Miller Park um we revamped um our little hitters program which was kind of like our first and second grade program um we eliminated the Kinder ball program um just because it was it seemed
to be too much of um a la a parallel move from the t-bolt program program so we eliminated that so it made more kids go up to that 6u program where we're able to get them into more into a baseball format um and it's and it
exploded um going to a six and an8 you program we have 97 kids out so we'll have 10 teams in our first and second grade program um we looked at our t-ball program too and we offered more nighttime activities with it so um we have 83 kids playing t-ball so it's a
lot of kids out there playing the the baseball softball type of programs and then another program that we're proud of is our uh tiny athletes these are for the little kids I mean two three four year olds learning how to be social with
other kids um being interactive um it's it's tough at times with with them all but um it gets them to be with other kids so they know how to do some play time and also try to learn a few things while they're there so um and then we have our traditional camps that we have
going on um one that I would like to point out is our little Cardinal golf um program it's our second year of it and we have 90 kids learning how to play golf and it's been great because our head coaches have really stepped up and said you know what we want to develop our youth programs because it's a feeder
program into their program so it's been good that way um if you read in the director's report we had a little bit of a hiccup with the Doak when we first started it up this season in um you fill the pool up and then you get it pressurized well when
you pressurized it we found a a few leaks in the sand filter so it took a couple days for the uh vendor to come out to fix the sand filter um for some odd reason when we start uh pouring in the chemicals there was a imbalance with
the water and it put a gritty clay film all over the pool um Justin and I went on and looked at it we've never seen it in the years that we've been there so it was a real unique situation so we had to drain the pool and we had to start all
over and um so we got it all clean got it ready to go um and I think opening night was was Wednesday of last week so we're able to get it turned around right away um we talked to the utilities they did some testing with the water they flushed the hydrant out and everything
so something didn't diive with the acid and the chlorine and the water that was in there but we're up and running now so um facility wise um we've been busy the last couple of months um just with the graduations both the high school and the
college graduation uh this past weekend we had U the circus in town so they were there on Saturday with two shows and then we had a quick turnover that we had at the Somali prayer service Sunday morning so we had to get that building clean um if you ever been after a circus
it's it's a chore because there are a lot of sticky bleachers out there um um also we hosted um the Baseball Classic those guys do a tremendous job with their tournament um so we had great reviews of all the facility um but again
kudos to those guys are bringing that into town um later on we'll have a car show at the Civic Center um another interesting stat we had 75 rentals shelter rentals for just the month of May um there it's it's crazy how busy
the shelters are out at Robins Island and at Rice Park um and again we have summer ice out at the blue line so that also started off in June um things at the community center this is just a crazy program uh goat yoga has anyone participated in it
so um if you haven't it's something uh you do stretching and everything and goats run around you and they you pet them and everything and people just love it we had 41 people in it so it's a it's a unique program um interesting but uh people love it another program that's a little bit uh that we
is unique is the puzzle contest we saw this online that people were starting to do it and um it's a big program now at the community center you get a group of people and you have a contest who can put the same puzzle together you would never think that it would be that but it is so it's a neat it's a neat one um
Brit is also doing some um bus tours so she took a group down to the Twins game and she's going to offer another one here in August and unfortunately she's going to offer a Viking trip um the Vikings football one um it's against the
Texans and not the Bears so um I won't be attending that one so I'm a big Bears fan so um and she's also working on some grants for some new new woodworking tools um other items that we've been
working on too is um the shelter and the bathroom project for the trail head um meeting with the bik group tomorrow about getting some designs um we've been working with two vendors so we can start looking at how that uh project is going to come about um it probably will not be
completed this year it'll be at the beginning of the spring of next year that will be completed um the process of that just took a lot longer than expected with the Environmental Studies and everything and and when we were looking at the parking lot plan about where the best setup was for it um we
couldn't sign the contract with the DNR but it's all signed and we're getting ready to go so hopefully we have some designs for you guys at the end of July or first part of August for that trhe head project um we've been conducting meetings with
Bolton and mink uh for the outdoor covered ring so we should have some preliminary drawings um sematic wise here in the next couple of weeks um at the park board level we were we talked about the Doak site and um
potential improvements in that area um I think the consensus from the board from what we had from the last meeting and a in a planning meeting that we had in April is that they would really like to look at the master Park plan and looking at trying to update that with all the new amenities that we've have um they
feel like that's something that we should probably look at doing is updating the master Park plan so information will come to you guys later about that um working with the Wimer rotary um on applying for the amphitheater Grant so that will be at um
just do at the end of July so we've been working on that hopefully we get that submitted so we can get a review on it and then it can come back and we can see if there's any changes um that we need to make from that um and for as far as capital project the SP pickleball courts
U will be resurfaced um July 19th they should be down for about a week whilea they're permitting um the valleyside playground equipment has been ordered um and that will happen in September um if you go by the Doak you see that the pool shed is installed and the new umbrella
covers have been installed as well so it gives it a new look it's a nice look out there with the new colors and everything so and then you just approve the top dresser that will be great for our ball fields um it'll start leveling it off and just it's a thing that we need to do
in order to make sure that our fields are up to good planes surfaces so that's what's been going on council member osas okay just for the benefit of the rest of the council I was at the park and rec board meeting um on
Doak uh they had to power wash that the whole pool after they had to drain it um you were able to get all that grit and stuff off of the open air slide but the closed one is still enclosed slide U developed that the residue I would
almost call it like a scale and it's hard for us to get into it because it is an enclosed slide um we had a vendor coming out we still haven't seen the quote to get that cleaned or buffed off um they have a more High um pressure washer a rotating one that they feel
like they can get it off um but we also have to be careful about that coming back into the pool so um I haven't heard much about it yet so um hopefully we hear so is is the slide usable right now or no it is not the open one is the enclosed one's not we we our staff was
able to get in there because of it was open it's just just tough to get the enclosed one now because of the heat too right so and do we need to talk about the filters yet no not yet we the guys checked them over that was the first
thing that we asked about if it was if if something was getting discharged back in the tool pool from the sand filters um but the vendor says hey get your head in there and look at them and everything was up to Snuff from what what our guys were telling us and a couple questions for you uh
first of all I just have to to say that I brought my seven-year-old to play softball last week and was uh she was very excited and I was excited she was on the turf field which seemed like you know great for seven-year-olds she would want you to know that it was not soft like a pillow when she fell down um so
if you could work on that um but um explain like you've talked about the registrations is that up from last year I mean when you throw numbers at at me I don't I don't remember what they were yeah our registrations numbers are up in in um several of the programs that we
have some of the programs you if you in the report you see seven or nine some of those don't start till later and um it's kind of with our adaptive programs they don't they kind of kind of get the word out and then they just come so okay and then you talked about registration being
High um for renting um Community buildings um what's the turnaround process for that I'm assuming after you know someone comes in they throw their party they leave like that's got to get cleaned up and locked and unlocked and ready for the next one what
what does that look like it's ready for the next business day so if we have a party Friday night it's ready Saturday morning for the next group so it's we turn it over the next day and who does that work um full-time parttime staff your staff parks and or parks and re yep
um with the shelters we do have that as a professional service out to Mr Clean and so it eliminates the overtime that we have to do with the public works um it's it's actually a win-win because now a local business can get some Revenue that way but we don't have to have the overtime so it's actually it actually
costs us less to do it through Mr Clean okay so Parks I'm sorry it was it was Mr Clean was taking over the cleaning which was being done by public works works okay yep but like with the circus our staff came in at the Civic
Center cleaned all the bleachers got it ready for the prayer okay thanks any other questions go ahead O'Brien you mentioned this two and three year old program yep who who takes care of those kids are they the parents that
come with that or who does that our staff does that um some parents will hop in especially if they know they they got a rambunctious two and three year old yeah and that type of stuff especially if it's you know they their attention span lasts for maybe 15 20 minutes and then they want to go to Mom and Dad and
get a water and then all of a sudden where the time well he's over on the playground right now so he asked you know hey Mom Dad bring him back over here and that type of stuff so so mom and dads are there or Yep they're watching they're watching they're part you know Spectators and everything but
sure yeah great program yeah all right well thank you so much for your presentation yeah good evening mayor Pro and members of the council uh this is um uh my time to be able to first of all say thanks uh for allowing me to be the
first um Community growth director for the city it's been a great ride and I think the um potential for continue to learn about this position by myself first of all and then by you all and
also for the community continues to be an exciting time um we are seeing the results of this new position and the city is positioning itself strategically to create um uh
many uh ways in which we can become more inclusive and also bring some equity and diversity to our community this work is anchored in enhancing access promoting equity and inclusion and broadening the
participation of all Wilmer residents from all backgrounds all ages and different um ways that may be um making us different but on the other hand is bringing us together so that we
can learn that we are much alike we have experienced many events that have brought thousands of our neighbors together to celebrate the diversity of our community and we are actively providing opportunities for all
to become aware to learn from one another so that our city continues to be a welcoming and inclusive community for all and providing a space for belonging I chose to work to work with
three pillars that is leading uh the work I do uh Community engagement which you heard quite a bit today Civic engagement and Leadership engagement
I will be more than happy to provide more details about that strategic plan but I think you have seen through all the events and the emails and the communication opportunities that you have received
from me about what those three mean so I'm going to emphasize some of the events that are coming ahead as you heard today uh
um we have a juneth event that is um choosing to be part of the uh kids event for the Wimer Fest this coming Wednesday uh we are sitting up a table a
simple table with a lot of gifts for all the children and family that will come but in that table we will have um postcard that will have a QR code for the families especially for the parents
so that if they want to have a resource for their children or for a h for having a family meal time together uh during the week to go to that cure qf code and um use the resource about what is
juneth now why are we doing this juneth is a new holiday uh as you all know and many people people still don't know what is this about it is a celebration of Freedom it is the celebration of the end
of slavery therefore is an opportunity for us to continue to grow in our human rights observance and how important it is for all to use this event to talk about these
issues we also have next um Tuesday we have our human rights commission schedule meeting in which we will be talking about uh our conversation we had for a World Cafe uh a month ago
now as you heard tonight at one of the members in our community Pastor Andres was part of that conversation he walked out with an idea with a dream with a motivation with a
calling we can call it to bring bring Pride event to Wilmer I wonder how many people walk out of that room that day with the same idea to do something to bring human rights to
our community so you are invited again uh to continue to engage with the Human Rights Commission not only for controversial issues but just so that we continue to
bring our community to together when we talk about human rights I've been invited to be part of a panel called building community and fostering belonging uh for one of the breakout sessions at the league of Minnesota
cities so I will be sharing about what's going on in Wilmer that brings unity and what's building community and what fostering belonging is not a hard question to answer
answer I've seen so many good things happening so I'm glad I can share the highlights of my work since I started working here then as you heard also tonight Friday June 28th our intuition Brewery
we will have not our first but our most important one we are restarting the conversation of celebrating Pride um here in Wilmer so I thank the leaders of this community and the leaders of this
committee that is bringing us with this opportunity on the following day on Saturday the 29th the Somali Community will come together downtown Wilmore to celebrate their Somali Independence
Day again another event in which the didn't come from us but rather a group of people came and say we want to offer the opportunity for everyone in the city to experience a Somali Independence Day
in our community so you are invited to join the Somali community in downtown wilmart on June 29th between the hours of 3 to 8 looking ahead furthermore a Wilmar welcoming week will be September
14th which is a great time for us to continue to celebrate and to foster a welcoming and belonging to the new immigrants you keep listening to the different demographics of our community and you will continue to listen how
people are starting to um declare their own languages that they have spoken at home or are speaking at home you are starting to hear the different countries that people are are representing um within each
individual um cultural communities such as the Latino Community which about 15 countries of Latin America are represented here in Wilmer more than 12 countries representing from Africa and
the numbers continue to grow languages spoken in our community according to the school district more than 20 7 languages is spoken every day still in our homes here in Wilmer and if we go outside of the
wilmart district the number increases to 41 that I know of so wilmart continues to grow with much diversity it is my privilege to be able to be the community growth
director finally let me finish uh this part by using Wikipedia to describe the word city a city is a place where many people live closer
together a city has many buildings and streets houses hotels Apartments a lot of stores and shops many buildings places where people
work large small everything happens in the city and you council members have done a good way to set up a great City but have you heard and noticed that
I have not mentioned that people live in so it can have a great infrastructure of our city but we also need to focus on the people and I think that is one of the reasons why the community growth position
was created to make sure that the people feel welcome and feel a sense of belonging thank you for the opportunity to allow me to do that and to lead you all in this work it's not my work it's
all of us the community growth is about helping all of us to live together to share one common goal to make our city a city for all not focusing on our
differences but rather in what is bringing us together any questions any questions well thank you for your work and for your leadership in our community and and for helping so much with that
bringing folks together as we continue to grow and celebrate the diversity within well you're back all right I'm back I don't have any jokes this time so uh Mr mayor protemp council members I'm just going to highlight just a few things that uh
the department of Planning and Development has been up to and let you know about our upcoming land sales both clean chickens and dues petroleum is looking to close um very soon so either at the end of this month or right after the holiday in
July uh in the month or for the month of May our department our building official and inspectors have been really busy issuing 100 permits uh just for the month of May that's a total valuation of 29 million and permit fees of
$316,000 and every month I always include in my director's report that we're in need of volunteers for our boards and commissions and so I like to take a second and just run through some of those that um we um we staff so it is
the board of zoning appeals currently there are six vacancies on there so if you know a friend or a friend know of a friend or you and please have them stop by City Hall to fill out an application and or online our applications are digital there the downtown Wilmer board
uh we're currently doing an audit of that board membership to make sure that we um have that one stabed but there might be opportunities for it too and I'll touch actually a little bit more on the downtown Wilmer board um formerly known as Wilmer Main Street um is was
the program Riley Kennedy is our coordinator and they focus on downtown the 20 blocks in downtown um for economic development any programming uh it is part or affiliated with main
streets America and um rals here in the state of Minnesota and Planning Commission so there is a vacancy for Planning Commission um candidates should meet one or more of the following criterias a knowledge or a knowledge of or interest
in zoning ordinance requirements or implementation a desire to work with property and business owners to meet their needs and while also ensuring safety and it for the public a general desire for civic service and an interest
in why a city why a city is zound or formed and so those are our criterias um again happy to sit with anyone and speak to anyone who's interested in a board uh members of the public who are interested in joining or serving on one of our
boards or commissions can always email planning at Wilmer mn.gov the other thing that I'll mention is the comp plan so thanks to you today uh I just joted this note down within the coming days we'll be um redoing the web
page for the comprehensive plan uh releasing some preliminary content that we have I'll definitely provide a link to the 2009 adopted comprehensive plan and if anyone is interested in participating uh in a focused group or
um in any of our round tabls or just a u wanting to stay up to date about the comprehensive plan I asked them to email planning Wilmer do PL wait planning Wilmer mn.gov
sorry um the last thing that I'll mention is I actually have a PowerPoint I love a good PowerPoint so we'll pull that up all right so I just touched on on Wilmer main streets um it was again
Affiliated of affiliate of Main Street Americas which is a National Organization that works with small towns to revitalize downtown areas or commercial districts and the back in April or May we did a we established a
brand for downtown Wilmer and with doing so we also uh renamed from Wilmer Main Street to down toown Town Wilmer or DTW so this is the logo and this logo comes in Array of colors this is the
vertical um lockup this went to a public vote uh it was voted for um by residents here and we're well on our way I think it looks great and uh Riley Kennedy is really taking um ownership of rolling
the things out and really happy to see some of our partnering organizations and businesses from downtown such as intuition um brewing and Spurs who have um been inspired by this brand and created a downtown logger that you can
get at intuition and um Spurs is doing a burger uh to go with that logger so it's perfect for summer so thanks to you too as well wor about your the other thing that you've probably seen made possible through a
grant the small cities Grand from deed is 24 concrete planters that are placed throughout the downtown area specifically on Becker Avenue in lville and this is a tremendous effort to um do
some beautification downtown again this is these Planters were purchased from a grant and that we had and so we finally got those out happy to have them out partner with Stacy Nursery to fill them as well they look great and I think it's a great addition to uh the
downtown just a question on those businesses my understanding is businesses requested um if they wanted one in front of their store and then they're responsible for watering it and the maintaining it so kind of sort of
the um so we have multiple planters that we got through this grant which was part of the street Scapes um project these are not the ones that they volunteered for these were the ones that myself and Riley Kennedy kind of mapped out with the help of Public Works and definitely
have to shout them out as well and for placing these throughout um Becker and lville the ones that Resident I mean business owners are signing up for those will roll out next year so it'll be a multiple phase multiple year phased out
um approach to beautifications improvements so do we have somebody watering these that's a great question I think that that is a question that we all had in the beginning happy to say that we do have a seasonal hire for the city that
will take on the responsibility and water the so yes but right now we don't have to worry about it for this week um as you heard the rain but i' I've been known to to go around with gallons of buckets of water to water these things
well every year downtown to the U at will Stacy Nursery provide us with black Planters and do um flowers in those those are if you you notice they used to be on the corner of downtown we mve those and place them at municipal
building so city and county and even the library so great addition to downtown and coming up next um another Improvement that we're doing are we're taking a look at Banners To Go on the
light pole and this too is made possible from a grant so we're looking at a reos grant we're looking to order about 85 banners to um put throughout downtown as well as Oldtown these are just some of the mockups so nothing's permanent right
now but any feedback that you all have please share that with me too and Riley Kennedy is working with the baker um design I believe graphic design so you'll notice that we have the standard Wilmer Minnesota welcome to the
Heart of the City which is downtown uh you'll see that there's languages to say that as well um we have historic pictures of or vintage pictures of buildings and architecture downtown um
because this is a print and there is a line of demarcation that will not be shown on the actual um Banner the Banners are going to be larger than the seasonal banners these are going to be 2425 by 45 and so it'll be larger in
width and um a great ass set to downtown as well we can also do these in conjunction so we don't have to just pick one uh we're staying true to the overall city city branding colors um and incorporating that so uh if you are
curious about the downtown Wilmer and events and things that are happening down there want to be involved you can follow downtown Wilmer uh on all social media platforms or email planning at Wilmer mn.gov
all right that's my update one question go ahead council member oan uh in front of Menards I see some construction starting what is that I'm sorry say that again front of Menards n oh yes that is Les Schwabs
that is coming that is Les wabs yes okay what is the date for that do you know well they just got their um permits we're working on let me find out and come back to you um but probably this summer okay I'll come back with you with an answer for
you council member a inquiring minds want to know about chicken restaurants well we have clean chickens closing on property uh other chicken places maybe they're thinking of poyes
uh we did Issue a permit for pies and happy to say that pies is coming to First Street yes I knew what you were getting I know that's is that the old Dairy Queen one and then what happens to Slim Chickens well slim chicken lot is for
sale so I I do not believe they are looking to come back to the market okay yes osus chicken maybe yes yes that's a good one negative council member ferly yes so they took the fence stone at the
mall there and they cut the grass the weeds so very appreciate it yes is is show very well this summer all right thank you thank you for your report Community Pride I have one go
ahead I just would like to say that um rack TV will be again providing the parade live on TV and streaming live at 10:30 on Saturday and it is the 29th year that rack has provided that service
so that's off to Rudy and his people that he has working so hard with him council member osas not a Community Pride I was going to try to slip this in before that got there but um since we are being serenad by thunder and rain at
tonight's meeting um are we concerned at all yet about the street projects and um uh rain delays that we should be because we won't get together now for a month
that great question council member so to date as of the last count uh we've had approximately eight rain days since construction began obviously with today that's N9 tomorrow who knows what's going to happen but um it has made it a
challenge and the residents have been responding well uh pretty understanding uh and we are trying to keep the project updates coming on the website um as you're well aware you can sign up for updates all the city's projects are
listed on the city's homepage and uh you can get text message email updates every time they're posted so um weather has been a challenge however uh everything I'm not concerned about project completion yet at this
point thank you other Community Pride announcements go ahead council member ferly thank you mayor protim so I just wanted to give an update on the Summer Classic Rob uh mentioned it but they had 64 teams in
town they used 13 Fields t uh teams came from Benson or bidi well Benson too but Fargo and South Dakota and many teams from the cities and it was a great tournament and uh one team from Wilmer won their division that
was a third 15 year old so yeah they went undefeated first time they did that in tournament so it was a great time again they always put on a good tournament yeah that's great and I heard a lot of compliments about our fields and our
complex all right looking for a motion to adjourn so move we areour e e