e e e e e we call the city council meeting to order roll call Mayor ree here council
member OS here Nelson here Davis here sches here Bly here osas here Butterfield here and O'Brien here nine present zero absent stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag
of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible withy and justice for all any proposed additions or deletions motion to approve the agenda
as presented second we got a motion in a second discussion roll call council member o i Nelson I Davis I
sches I ferly hi osmus hi butfield I O'Brien I eight eyes zero nose that passes consent items I'll call on ver Larsson city
clerk mayor Reese council members tonight for for your approval I have the city council meeting minutes from June 17 20124 the Planning Commission meeting minutes from June 26 24 the Planning Commission meeting meeting minutes draft minutes from July 3rd the Municipal
Utilities Commission minutes from June 24th the Municipal Utilities Commission minutes from July 8th resolution to designate responsible Authority data practices the consideration of the city park special event by on sale liquor license holder permit Green Mill a
consideration for a state 1 to 4 day temporary license liquor license for intuition Brewing the penck Lions Club lawful gambling application accounts payable report from 629 to 710 and for your information the monthly
building permit report from June 2024 zoning appeals board application Steve amen zoning appeals board applic applicant from Gan cing and Wilmer Municipal Utilities financial report from May 2024 and the director's
reports motion to approve the consent agenda as presented second motion and a second discussion hearing none roll call council member Nelson I Davis I
sches hi Bly hi osmus hi Butterfield hi O'Brien I and Os hi eight eyes zero Nays that passes we'll go to the open form do
we have anybody signed up no no okay we'll go to the public hearing mayor yes would you like to introduce Mr Patrick oor or acknowledge absolutely welcome Patrick our new uh
economic development director Patrick oror welcome thank you thanks for joining us it's good to have you here do you want to say anything to the council I just wanted to see what you
folks were doing and what's going on in so that I could get more what needs to be done in Ecom just pleased to be here thank you thank you Patrick we'll go to the public hearing
the consideration to establish a tax increment financing district for water viw senior housing Christopher good evening Mr Mayor members of the council and tonight for your consideration is a motion to
approve the um Tiff plan for water view Senor Housing Development give me just a second and okay um we first brought this uh or briefed Council on this on May 6 and where we learned about trident's plan to
develop 75 units 64 of them being assisted living 14 memory care and out of the 75 units 20 of them will be um or 15 units will be for affordable housing at 20% and the total development cost is 22
million and there was a gap in financing for Trident to build water view Senor housing roughly around 2.5 so they requested that we um extend a or establish a tiff district for 26
years um typically we do um we do have a tip District now that is 25 years and so this one will look a little different where we're pledging 80% of the annual tax increments um up to 26 years two
things can happen once the 2.5 is paid before before 26 years that will satisfy um the term uh and then we extended it just to make sure that we can capture as much as we we possibly can to make sure that we close the gap of 2.5 for Trident
development but this one looks a little different so for 26 years U for the first time we're proposing here in the city of Wilmer that we' use a tiff pooling and Tiff pooling is where we can capture the funds in the District which
is the highlighted map in front um on the screen but we can use it in the project area those funds captured in the project area so that's about 20% over 26 years it'll be a total of six $760,000 that we
can use for other housing initiatives uh throughout the city so I just want to go through a few more things here um we came here May 6 talked about um this project at large and you all set a
public hearing Planning Commission it was introduced to Planning Commission June 5th and the decision was made to recommend Council approve or to establish a housing tip district for Waterview senior housing on July 3rd and the county commissioner received
notification as well as the county and school districts receive their notifications as well and today is we do have Michaela huitt with Baker and Tilly to go over some of the specifics um again I just want to really stress that for 26 years
we're capturing those funds that 20% extra and that normally we do not have when establishing a tip district and pouring that back into the City for different housing um initiatives too michaa good evening mayor members of the
council uh we were here about uh six weeks ago um presenting the initial um uh proposal by the developer tonight um just provide a few more details on the actual tax increment plan and the structure of the tax increment um
assistance as proposed and happy to address any questions that you uh might have so Christopher did walk through um the application for Tiff assistance um based on the proposed 75 unit Senior Housing Development with a portion of
the units assisted living and Memory Care um subject to receipt of all um financing and tax increment construction is Project is expected to start mid to late 2024 the request for assist assistance from the city um was initially at 3.5 million based on the um
anticipated value and revenue projections um following introduction to council that request um has been uh reduced to 2.5 million the structure Still Remains as pay as you go which I'll walk through that financing mechanism um again the purpose of the
request is to fill a financing Gap to assist with uh financing of the affordable housing uh site Development and Construction costs related to the project again based on review of the um in the feasibility of the project the availability of tax increment revenues and the structure of the proposed tax
increment assistance the updated financial gap is um about 2.5 million the way the request has been structured is that um the developer would Finance the project um through private financing and and private equity and then annual tax increments uh would be received as
additional cash flow to support the the debt repayment and the equity repayment the maximum term of a housing district is 26 years um and that is the request and the structure of the assistance to meet um the developers request for assistance as well as the uh the pooling
concept that Christopher had described again just a reminder tax increment financing is a is a tool commonly used by communities to capture the tax-based growth that results from the new development uh there's a fixed term for the capturing of the incremental revenues and in this case
with the housing District it is up to 26 years and then that development capacity is added to the existing tax base so the tax incent revenues are generated by that increased property value that's created when the property is developed here's an illustration we've
got the existing land value the taxes generated by that existing value continue to flow to the city county and School District the taxes that are generated by the new building are captured by the tax increment District to finance the Tiff eligible expenses as
necessary to uh facilitate development of that project there are only certain costs that can be Finance with tax increment dollars you'll see listed here it's uh primarily the um improvements prior to Vertical construction so it's um it
would be acquisition any public Improvement site grading the exception is when we're looking at a housing District which is what um is being considered tonight the cost of the qualifying housing costs are also eligible um as that is the means for um the the
use of the tax increment dollars um another concept that you heard tonight is is what's referred to as pooling so the tax increment districts are all the little buildings and they are where um the tax increment revenues are generated based on that new
development you can have one or more tax increment districts established within the the city's project area and the project area can be the same size as the tax increment District or it can be larger in this case the um the city's project area is the size of the city
limits and so the tax increment revenues that are generated by each of the individual tax increment districts um may be able to be spent um within the larger project area um and that's referred to as pooling uh when creating a tax increment District um there's a
draft Tiff plan that's created that includes the budget of projected revenues and expenditures um based on the the new taxable value of the project what the geographic boundaries of the district are and the purpose and qualifications for which the tax increment District's being created the
um one of the final steps is a public hearing and that's the action item tonight um and then um should the the district be created the final step is certification with the county um as administering the district so pooling is the uh again it's
the ability to spend a portion of the tax increments outside the geographic boundaries of the tax increment District but within the larger project area uh the proposed terms of of assistance for related to the tax increment District are um 80% would be pledged to the
developer and that's um estimated to be about 2.5 million um over the maximum term of 26 years with 20% retained by the city for um uh qualifying affordable housing costs um within the project area and the project area is Municipal
development District um number two one of the things to point out is when you're creating a tax increment district there are statutory requirements on uh using pooling and it's it has to be structured on the front end with the 80% 20% as opposed to all of the increment being pledged to the developer in the
early years and then the city retaining a greater percentage in the later years so part of the conversation related to feasibility has been what is a structure that works that um closes the financial gap but also provides the ability for the city to uh retain future tax um
increment dollars for other um uh to be determined affordable um initi initiatives in the city so when we're looking at pooling um Ma we're we're considering maximizing the use of the tax increment uh generated by that new project first and foremost to finance the specific um
District project costs um plus um extend the term of the district to allow for the pooling um for qualifying affordable housing um initiatives here's from the tax increment plan it is uh the estimated total project costs and sources of
revenue the total budget is about 8.7 million that is based on a $15 million um taxable value of the project the county um assessor has um indicated the value would be most likely closer to 11 million so um the projected tax
increment is could be is expected to be less than this total budget however to provide flexibility with the city retaining that 20% um we do have the the budget as the 8.7 million um I touched on the financing options again I'll point out you know this is
peso financing in which the developer is financing all of the the costs of 22.3 million um upfront through private equity and debt and then um the the uh once the eligible expenses have been incurred and other requirements of the Tiff agreement which you'll be
considering at a later date um are met there is a tiff note that's issued by the city to the developer and then the developer is reimbursed over time um with available tax increment um the remaining 20% is um um kept retained by
the city and then that um fund balance is expected to grow over the 26 years and be um used for other other projects um with peso financing there are maximum either um uh amount of the financing of the 2.5 million or number of years and
so once those um terms have been met the obligation has been fulfilled and there's no further obligation to pay um the developer if there is additional increment uh here is the breakdown of the the 22.3 million budget you'll see on the on the right the sources of funds
between acquisition U excuse me the uses of funds including acquisition construction um soft cost um financing costs and other um related costs sources of funds um this initially we were looking at um 15.6 debt based on the
financing of the um uh the maximum amount that the project can Finance Equity of 3.1 and here the Tiff of 3.5 that has been reduced to 2.5 um and the remaining 1 million would be covered either through debt or Equity subject to the developers final
financing so again tax increment um redirects the future capture tax increment dollars um to uhu meet a public purpose it assists projects that otherwise would not occur and it adds the tax base following desertification one more illustration um the green
shaded area is the base value um today the existing taxes are frozen over the life of the district the incremental taxes in the gray shaded area are captured by the Tiff to pay for the Tiff eligible um improvements and then once the um uh last year of the district the
new value and taxes are um available in and uh would flow to the other taxing entities including the city so I talk about affordable housing uh and really the there's there's a lot of language here but it's really trying to keep um not more than 30% of income um
based on um the type of project for 30% of the income for housing um and that's intent of this is trying to keep the the um there would be as a housing District I'll go through here is that it is um income restricted but it's also making sure that the rents are affordable to
the occupants um so when we're looking at the findings for creating a tax increment District um first and foremost that it qualifies as a housing District um that the development would not proceed but for the the um uh use of tax increment dollars that the Tiff plan affords
maximum opportunity um for development uh within the Tiff district and project area and that the plan conforms to the general um development plans for the city in a housing district there are specific um income requirements and I will when we're talking about a housing
Tiff district there are both um rental and afford and ownership um um income limits with this project being um rental there are one of two tests that have to be met at least 20% of the units are occupied by persons or families with incomes no greater than 50% of the area
Meed income or 40% of the units are occupied um or occupied by um persons or families with incomes no greater than 60% of the area Meed income for this project the developer is proposing that at least 20% of the units would be available um for tenants at 50% of the
area Medan income um it is also important to note that the income limitations apply for the duration of the tax increment financing District so when we're looking at meeting um each year the developer um is required to certify that um at least 20% of the
units are occupied by qualifying tenants um and that is an annual certification following the completion of that that's when the developer is eligible for um reimbursement through the pay go financing and that would stay for the duration up to the full 26 years um again this is why cities choose
to use tax increment really it's to stimulate development that otherwise would not occur as well as um facilitating certain types of housing that may not otherwise occur without financial assistance and while it's deferring the um the growth in the tax
base at the termination of the tax increment District it does facilitate um new tax base growth so with that I'd be happy to answer answer any questions you have on the the Tiff plan the Tiff process or the the um page or the Tiff tool
itself I think I'll open the public hearing at this time and uh if there's questions the council can ask them later on so if you're going to uh speak in the public hearing we'd like you to write
your name and address and contact information anybody willing to wanting to speak to this project good evening mayor and members of the council um my name is Michelle morasky I am the business development
manager for candy oh high County Economic Development uh thank you for the opportunity to speak about this um the creation of a tax increment financing district for the Waterview senior housing project by Trident development as you know the purpose of
candy ohigh County Economic Development is that we are a catalyst for economic growth in Wilmer and the greater candy ohigh County area Trident development is a senior or St cloud-based senior housing and assisted living developer
they recognize that there is a strong need for senior housing in Wilmer and Candy oh high County some of what I say you already have heard some of it will hopefully just be a refresher of things too um the proposed development on 9th Street Southeast will offer Trident the
opportunity to construct quality and safe memory care and assisted living options for our seniors this $22 million investment is well suited for the location and development of the land will provide significant long-term tax
revenue to the city of Wilmer the KC supports development of housing at all levels including those that support seniors with Assisted Living needs Trident purchase of that property at 9th Street Southwest is its first step
toward providing much needed housing and care options for Wilmer aging population the number of people 65 and older in cyoh high county is expected to increase nearly 25% between 2020 and 2030 as
Wilmer grows and attracts more business development the population is expected to continue increasing as people move to the area for jobs and Recreation and take my glasses off I never know when I need them or not uh as demonstrated in the January
2023 candy ohigh County housing market analysis there is a need of 65 senior housing units in Wilmer between 2022 and 2030 further breakdown of this study shows that 375 of these units should be
with Services as the Trident project proposes progress toward this need is forthcoming with the plan development by Bethesda you may recall that's 120 units primarily Independent Living the Trident
project will add 75 units of housing made up of 14 Memory Care units and 61 Assisted Living units as well well as dozens of new jobs these projects will help address part of the need for housing but we will still need over 400
more housing units for our seniors in the coming years a few additional benefits of this project it is situated just south of an established residential neighborhood in a highly walkable area with access to grocery stores and other shopping
opportunities the proposed development will provide an opportunity for Continuum of Care to area seniors as they age and progressively need medical care and services 19th Avenue is an arterial Road near the pro proposed site
providing access to medical facilities and other local amenities this is a level site it's already part of an already developed storm water system and utilities are also nearby based on KCs and my work with
trident I support the establishment of a tax increment financing district for the Waterview senior housing project doing so will provide funding for additional Housing Development projects in Wilmer if you have any questions I am happy to answer those or have offline
conversations thank you Carl do you have a question uh Michelle do we have a timeline on if if this moves forward how soon would this be open you know I would actually defer to our tried and development Partners here for for their timeline sure thank
you for the question right thank you Michelle thank you mayor um did you want to say anything or some of the council might have questions for you yes indeed um mayor
ree members of the city council good evening my name is Roger Fink I'm with Trident development in St Cloud uh thank you very much for H holding this public hearing tonight and thank you Michelle for your testimony tonight that was uh wasant surprise so weren't expecting
that so and thank you to staff uh and Michaela for your presentation and um I think just in summary uh from the applicants point of view um our Tiff plan has evolved a little bit uh since we brought it to council a few weeks ago
our a dollar amount has adjusted down by about a million dollars and we've looked at different terms in order to get down to that uh $2 mil5 request we looked at a 20-year term
and we looked at the 26 or 25 year term as well um what we found was that we could uh maintain that 2 million5 number uh by going a 9010 pay as you go increment sharing
with the city or we could go with a 26-year 8020 increment sharing with the city or the pooling as Michaela referenced um so we felt that the longer term Not only would assure the
affordable units maintain for a longer period of time but also gave the city of Wilmer a source of Revenue through that extra 10% the 20% um that they use for the for the pooling AC ity it's new to
me this is the first time I've done something quite like this um it's always been a 9010 for projects in the past but like I said with Christopher and Michaela's collaboration I think it's a kind of a winwin situation for us um I
don't really have any prepared remarks but I know there's a question about the timeline um if we can get through the entitlement process permitting and so forth we might be able to get started with this project before the end of the year hopefully sometime this winter I
hate to say that but it's coming up but there's a lot of work to be done yet the the the the um State Department of Health has a lot of plan reviewing to do um the Department of Labor and Industry have a lot of plan review to do the city of Wilmer have a lot of plan review to
do so it could take a number of months before we get there but hopefully we can get started with the project by the end of this year the construction timeline should be about 12 uh to 14 months so if that were to hold true we would be
opening in 2026 uh early on May 1 quarter second quarter of 26 if that makes sense um so with that I guess I would uh offer to answer any questions you might have any questions from the council for
Roger well we're welcoming you to the community thank you this is housing that is needed we appreciate that we've enjoyed our experience with the city so far and we look forward to moving forward so again thank you all very much thank you Rog I
just have one question yeah go Ahad I just have a 26 years just to me this seems like a long time um I know a lot of the Tiff that I have dealt with in the past has been 10 years in that range maybe
15 but 26 years just seems to be a lot awful long time and there's not a lot of players left after 26 years well I can only saying it to you yeah I know um I won't be here in 26 years um I guess I would offer a little
bit of insight on that when they say 26 years what it means is 26 years from the when we start the district to when it ends but the increment stream doesn't really start for yet another year after the increment starts so for us the pay
payment stream the income stream the Tiff increment stream is really more 25 years I know that's small concession but the other point I'd like to make is that it doesn't mean that the the Tiff increment payment stream will continue
for the full 26 years there is the possibility and I've seen this happen in some other communities we've done where that Tiff obligation from the city gets paid off early because the real estate taxes in increase faster than what we
projected them to do and I think we're using a 3% M go 3% increase annually and I don't know about you folks but most of the properties we've seen recently have seen tax increases far greater than 3% per year so with that sort of trend
you're going to find the Tiff note retired much faster if taxes go up more than 3% a year which means then that Tiff note that Tiff obligation gets shorten conserva well let's let's wait I
shouldn't had Michael speak until we close the hearing public hearing so is there any other questions no I don't think so very good thank you well we'll see the council still might have questions I'll Stick Around okay is
there anybody else that wants to uh speak in regards to the uh Tiff financing for this this project nobody if not I'll close the public
hearing and uh open up to the council for a motion to approve I have questions yes I figured there would be questions Tom make that motion second okay we got the motion we got the
second discussion Tom than I'll say after council meeting me and you met up you know you want to go over some of my concerns about the 26 years uh I see you you did some figures after our talk and you know and came
down a little bit and on uh the way they're doing it now for this 20% pool 2080 I I appreciate you guys looking out for that you know my main job is to watch out for our tax space
here in wmer understood you know that that was one of my biggest concerns and also how 26 years was going through I think with you given a little bit you know coming back offering this different type of pool than last time I'm willing
to go with the this 26 years appreciate that so I mean I you guys gave a little I'm going to give a little you know I'm not still not comfortable with 26 but you you came up to the plate stepped up and showed hey we want to be in wmer I understand your concerns I understand
the taxpayers concerns so I appreciate that and I appreciate that meeting you asked for yeah thank you Tom uh one other point about the 26 years I might want to add if I may when we met with Planning Commission I felt there was a sense of uh concern if the district were
to pay off and expire too soon it's in fact I heard comments like well what if happens then do the affordable units then are they are they gone you no longer have to maintain them and I said depends on what the agreement
says but ordinarily yes the requirement to to to reserve those affordable units goes away so we can do whatever we need to do with those and I I sense a little concern by Planning Commission that you know we'd really like to commit you as long as possible to those affordable
units and so that's why we sort of leaned towards the 25 26 year term as opposed to something true I just want to add that any other questions Audrey thank you um I'm supportive of
the Tiff district and um we have done 25 years on our last project so I'm not afraid of the time frame I'm a little still confused by the pooling concept and why we are proposing that for for
this this time around in both of the presentations and if I I understand it correctly we're we're keeping money that we can use for something else but I heard some ifs and ANS and buts and ores and maybe and those types of things and I'm just curious about that structure so
if we approve that now and those funds aren't available for 10 years um I'm not going to be here 10 years from now at sitting at this table and and I'm just the the pooling is a New Concept to me um I can understand that there are other
needs in the area or other needs in this type of thing but um I'm I'm just curious more about that pooling concept and and and I I would ask you and then I um why is it right for you this time to do that concept but then I'd also like
to hear from our staff with how the heck is this going to work yes yes thank you for the question it's a very good question um I'm a little bit new to that pooling concept too so I'll do my best to answer it as best I know but yeah I would defer to the city staff or Mel on
that um because reason that's right for us is that it it accomplished two things one it accomplished the ability to maintain those affordable units for as long as the term would allow those that 26-year period even though we won't be
open for that first year but and and I felt that was a concern that Planning Commission had uh the other thing that that did for us then was it was able to give back to
the city some additional increment that they wouldn't have otherwise received as kind of a tradeoff for the concern of having such a long District okay my understanding is that the
pooling Revenue increment starts with the first year and when Michaela says it's I don't know5 or $600,000 that's over the course of the total term received in semiannual
payments over 25 years that's how I understand it so I would turn it over to Christopher or Michaela they have a much better experience on that which one of you would like to address ITA Michaela okay so mayor members of the council
you're right that you know pooling has become um I wouldn't say common but I think as communities are looking for opportunities to provide stretch every dollar to get um more funding for more projects um looking at housing districts
and pooling has become one of the ways of trying to generate an additional source of funds to facilitate other projects so the way we try to look at is first and foremost we have to as you heard from the development team first and foremost you have to address the financial gap of that project um make
sure there's enough tax increment dollars pledged to have that project generate uh support the the um those affordable units but then secondly if there is a way to try to stretch both the term of it up to 26 years and provide that additional source of funds um to the city for future un I would say
unidentified uses at this point um the way that the the pool grows is each year 100% of the tax increment is received by the that by the city 80% pledged to the developer that remaining 20% stays in the Tiff fund so each year those funds
will accumulate up to the point where um we are projecting over 26 years the value of the city share would be approximately 600,000 now those are funds that would accumulate like I said each year um the choice will be made in the future when
we talked about financing options if it would be a pay as you go structure and you know that that P that those funds could be pledged to another development um and either in place of Tiff or to complement Tiff or whatever that project might be um but each year that the the
tax increment dollars are given or um um collected by the city they will the city will retain 20% so the balances will grow um the other thing that's into the minutia is each year the the Tiff law is complicated
each year there's slight interpretations to the Tiff law now if you want to exercise this option of pooling you have to do it now you can't do it later so it is a concept that is new um but it's it's um it's the way wey try to
structure it to provide again more resources for additional um projects within the city yes Audrey um I still have that question and I serve as Lea on to the H board and so my head is um thinking housing with
that the pooling funds have to be used for the same type of projects or is it at the city's decision of who they allow to use these pooling funds or application process or um so we we would
know that 10 years from now we have 500,000 that we can do something with so someone could already start plotting for how they would use that or how does that that piece of that work or does it just sit there that's a good question so right now the the those funds would stay
in the tax increment District account um each year until there was a purpose for those dollars um as far as how those dollars can be used in the future um they can be used used anywhere within the city's project area so anywhere in the city on projects that would qualify
as if they were their own tax increment District so it has to meet either the 20% at 50% or 40% at 60% for a rental project or their housing um I'm sorry there's there's owner occupied um income limits as well so if it's a family so if
it's an owner occupied project um or how you know whether it's it's town homes or single units um it's the it's 100% um area made in income for a family of three or less and if you're family of four or more that income limit is
115% so the only restrictions are that it has to be as if it were a tax increment District but it doesn't mean it has it doesn't mean it has to be a district itself so you might have a future development that comes in doesn't make sense to create a tax increment District but it would qualify and instead maybe you can use these funds
that are either accumulated or pledged to close a gap on a different project in the future and I would say to your question between the city and the HRA you know the city is the authority of the district so it's the city's funds typically what we see is as you explore the opportunities to use these dollars
there'll be additional conversations of you know what what programs you want to establish what needs and part of that's going back to your housing market analysis of where's the demand in the Gap and how can we use these funds to um fill those future needs so you can I go
ahead so you were quoting some things that are parameters that are already out there in the state guidelines for Tiff that's correct so everything I'm referenced is what by Statute um qualifies as a housing project a tiff housing project pooling um language is
in that Tiff state or in the state Tiff that's correct guidelines thank you it doesn't say pooling but it's it's using the Tiff dollars outside the district Justin um thank you that's want make sure I'm understanding the increment sharing at the 8020 versus the 9010 so
on 8020 that 20% as council member nson you have discussed gets put into the special account that has a specific purpose it's reserved is it the same way with the 9010 that's a good question so again into the the weeds of a tax increment
District when that when a district is created a city cannot spend more than 10% of the annual revenue on administrative expenses so it was pretty common if you were not doing pooling you would just do 9010 or even 95 955
because you're not probably going to have that many admin costs and so those funds sit and accumulate into the fund technically even under a 9010 that 10% could be withheld could be withheld by the city and used for either administrative or other housing costs or
qualifying if it's a Redevelopment District you've got Redevelopment qualifying expenses subject to the type of District um this is a generalization but 10% over 26 years doesn't accumulate as fast as 20% so by increasing that percentage taking a look at what the actual
administrative expenses would be each year you have that ability to um uh create a larger pool with that 2080 um 2080 mix we did look at a slightly higher percentage if we could accumulate more of that pooling funds but that's where the developer did their financial
feasibility and said 8020 works but we can't we can't do more than um 80% okay and we're talking tonight about that 20% being sent to a reserve fund that would have to be spent under the parameters that you've already outlined yeah right now um right so right now the
action item is to adopt the tax increment financing plan um which provides a city with the authority to use the tax increment dollars at a future council meeting the actual Tiff agreement which will include the provisions of the Tiff assistance would be um for consideration by the city
Council I believe that's at a later date um but we're having this discussion tonight so you know what the terms of the Tiff is going to be and again this Tiff plan provides you with the authority um to be able to create the district and use those dollars and at this point the the Tiff funds that are
accumulated by the city um could either go into a special fund we haven't talked administratively what that would look like or just stay in the Tiff fund and accumulate for um the identified purposes that to to be determined okay thank you that's helpful and just just another total line of questioning which
I think may be for Mr Frink but so we heard from the EDC tonight that here in cioa County between 2020 and 2030 we can expect a 25% increase in our senior population so uh 2030 only 6 years from
now you're going to it's going to take you a little while to get your facility up so let's maybe just assume four years uh for that the Baby Boomers have created this kind of increased need for senior housing from what I understand and it seems to me uh that every time
they kind of enter into a new stage of life it catches all of society by a surprise for some reason right like they all just retired and all of a sudden we're like shocked that we can't hire anyone my question is with the youngest Boomer being born in 64 which makes them 60 years old in 26 years when this Tiff
expires they're going to be 86 life expectancy for someone right now in America is 77 what are people in your industry doing we need that housing now I don't know if we're going to need it in 26 years are we going to need it in 26
years um and and what are what are people in your industry doing to to Pivot are you thinking out into the future for 26 years I don't want to be caught surprised when the boomers are all dead and we're all like oh we never thought they'd die I'm a baby boomer I'll be
surprised you're surrounded uh mayor C member ask ask I uh I don't know if I have a really great question or answer for that that's uh pretty hypothetical and so forth but uh our industry certainly does see this what we call Silver tsunami head it our
way um personally I don't know that we can create enough uh housing units of that type assisted living or dementia care or um active senior AG restricted as it
is um the constraints that the health department in Minnesota and um uh other um policies it makes it very difficult to create this uh type of housing period
so you know on one hand you could say we'll we'll never be able to satisfy the demand anyway so if the demand lessens or goes away altogether uh maybe if we just build just the right amount I think that's what you're really talking about supply and demand Dynamics
right and the fact that it's going to be really different for a period of time the only thing that's happening is that um while um you know the actual age demographic you're trending about you know they'll all be dead in 26 years and will there be anybody all what's
interesting about the the con the health conditions of the younger generation be uh younger than the um baby boomers is they're not as healthy and so we're seeing younger residents coming in with health
conditions BCD or diabetes or whatever but they have to still be 55 or older to qualify but I don't know if that Trend will continue I certainly hope it doesn't but that's something that we're seeing right now too and then I think that as far as industry is concerned
we're also focused on housing for um just active seniors that like about is doing right and we'll have to see how that evolves into housing with Services over time whether that sort of fills in but the
bottom line to your question probably is that could this property be converted to a different use if there weren't isn't Demand anymore sure I would say yes you could convert it to lodging you could convert it to market rate Apartments you could convert it to homeless shelters
you know things like that there's a lot of other um um alternate uses you could convert it to if if the demand completely falls off the map and is there an aspect of the Tiff agreement that speaks to what happens if if if you no longer do business in the
community um I don't remember is there there is a look back um Clause so uh it transfers these the um terms actually transfer to a new owner as well so we'll continue to have a tip pool as
well I hope I answered your question best I could is there can answer you want to take a crack at it too yeah yeah I would love to uh so thank you uh mayor and council members uh one of the things that I have asked
is that exact question are we overbuilding our senior housing our Assisted Living our Memory Care are we overbuilding that I am that Gen X um you know just remember that I exist that's all I ask and uh you know what do things
look like in 2025 years um am I am I going to live in the mall with an Orange Julius or am I going to live in assisted living or a an independent housing um I can say that um I mentioned in when I spoke earlier that Wilmer is growing I
am speaking every week to multiple business developers that want to locate their businesses here as we expand the industrial park the rail Park um also in Greater candy oh high County uh it isn't just Wilmer people that live in Wilmer
facilities it's around we are growing as a population I believe our census data has never shown a decline so that tells us one thing uh the other thing and this is also stuff that I've spoken with deed our partners at deed about and they've said the same thing you know we're
growing um rural is not dying we are growing but also I received information today that uh you may recall child care we need approximately 1,400 slots up from 800 just a couple of years ago now
that is has grown another 172 so people are still having children people are staying around here people are moving our immigrants our refugees all of these people need Housing Solutions so hopefully that answers your
question um and makes you a little more comfortable with the level of building that we're doing thank you thank you Michelle Tom yeah I don't know if Baker Tilly or the city wants to answer this but my from uh council member Nelson's question got
brought up with the affordable housing you know that this could be tied in there how big would that affordable housing have to be for single family houses to retain a portion of this this money to get some uh single family
housing built up than you you know is it one house 10 houses 20 houses I'll take a stab at it I this we can use the pooling funds not for um let's say just the development of one single family home but we can use
those funds as incentives so I personally would look at this as a um a program for firsttime home buyers or um an incentive for um facade repairs and rehabilitations of or we can even use some of the funding
to apply it towards new development but it won't solely build um new housing it's it's not enough so right now currently I think it's 400,000 to build a single family home 400 thousand to build a single family home so that
wouldn't be enough but we we could do um smaller projects throughout the 26 years to um to kind of close the gap well I just want to know how big of the district would have to be you know for single family house to get in it you
know one 10 houses it doesn't I see and so it it doesn't so the district is the three Parcels that water viiew um singor housing will be at but the project area is the entire city so these can be scatter sites throughout or a program
that service scatter sites throughout the city does that answer not really you know I'm kind of looking more for kind of pushing more towards away from Apartments using this and getting some single family houses buil in walart and use this money to get
the developers say hey I can start building some houses versus apartment buildings um I I can try to address that that there's there's no limits on you know what the size of the the district
or the size of the projects that those funds could be um used for I think if we use the example of let's just say you know a new house I'm going to make these numbers up but let's just say you know that you have a home price that's a certain dollar amount um you know let's
just say it's 300,000 but to meet for someone to qualify to buy that house their income has to be at 100% or 115% of the are Meed income so let's say that house needs to be reduced down to you know 25,000 or something to make it
affordable and they're qualifying that's one example of how this these dollars could be used it's really more of a gap financing tool um to facilitate um you know whether it's firsttime home buyer programs um or you know other
improvements and but it can be for owner occupied or rental so I think that's the key is and that's part of what it would anticipate if there's guidance um of the direction for how you know what type of program or developments that you want to focus these
on um what I would I would I would assume would be future conversations but just know that you know the intent of these of this pool dollars as it grows is to really be more of Gap financing to facilitate um development that you're not see now that does meet the
requirements of a of a housing District whether it's rental or owner occupied and my example was just one example of how we've seen those dollars um facilitate or how we've seen pooled housing dollars facilitate future owner occupied homes and make them affordable
for that at at at a qualifying income level okay Mike it seems like 55 is the magic age to get into these apartments some of these apartments and these programs what
about veterans who come back from Wars and right now we're very very short on places for these veterans to be is there such a a program that we can help get into these types of
Apartments council member O'Brien uh thank you for bringing that up I wish I had a great answer for that I'm not aware of anything there are um housing programs that are out there that I'm not familiar with that do address housing
needs for various types of populations um you know near homeless homeless uh disabled and there may be a program for Veterans as well I am not aware of it but I certainly understand the need um because our property has
operated as age restricted that 55 plus is sort of statutory for us to um consider that so we certainly welcome all veterans who meet that age category but um don't we aren't able to to take um to take veterans just because of
their veteran status you know what I'm saying if they're not old enough is what I'm saying so a lot of veterans are under 55 that oh yeah I wish there was a program I could identify but if it's out there I done aw of it thank you any other questions from the
council if not we have a no order I'm prepared to vote but I'm just curious the motion that we're voting on is simply to um establish the tax in it and the other one's going to come back to us later CU there's two motions on our our
our um action request form but there's only one motion on the agenda there should only be one motion um for the Tiff plan itself all right thank you
okay no further discussion roll call C Davis I sches I fagly hi osmus hi
Butterfield I O'Brien I OS I and Nelson I eight eyes zero nose that passes thank you everyone thank
you all right um regular business we we go to the review of the July 1 accounts payable Tom versus updates good evening Mr Mayor members of the council uh in closing your packet this evening is a list of accounts
payable uh consisting mostly of General operation invoices that would have been included in the July 1st packet of the city council um I do want to uh point out there are two in voices in this list Lin underground LLC and dunck
Incorporated that are listed those those funds have not been released uh they were already in the workflow of being in the process of being paid uh as if we were going to have the July 1st meeting so we still have those checks in housee so those are over the $255,000 threshold
and then we also have a list of electronic payments of also mostly General oblig uh operations and then we have two wires going to investment firms um leaving our checking
account I'll stand for any questions okay we have a motion to approve July one that count beable so moved second we got a motion and a
second discussion Audrey thank you thanks for clarifying those so we in essence did not pay any bills that went over authorization or we did do some because of the the automatic payments Etc so the the the figures that are over
the 25 we did pay our utility bill uh to avoid any late fees those those invoices actually come in they came in later than would it even made the second council meeting in June so we we do pay those as a practice to avoid any late fees just to be um prudent with the city's funds
and then also our credit card uh our credit card policy does not allow us to carry debt so that is paid in full every month as well um yes go ahead I hope we don't do this again I guess is the way I think it caused some confusion and concerns and even for us
to review the purchase policy however that maybe was a good thing to do because I think we haven't done a lot of reviewing with the finance for for a while but on the reports that we get I do have a request is there a way that you can expand that description field so
that you can we can see what it is other than guessing what those words are over there with our new system that's a that's a great question and I do have an ability to export that to excel uh it doesn't look quite as neat or nice as
this but it does give the invoice description it the characters are probably triple the length so you can actually read it um I have a copy I could show you after the meeting but I can include that in the packet going forward but there's no way just to expand the characters in that description field I've tried and that's
not an update we can request I could look into that okay but I I I totally agree with you on the I wish the description was yeah five times right any other questions if not roll
call council member sches hi baggerly hi Osmos hi Butterfield hi I OS I Nelson I and Davis I eight eyes
zero NOS thank you Tom next 2024 assessment hearing Jared good evening mayor council and closing your packet this evening is a resolution for the assessment hearing associated with the 2024 Improvement
project the resolution identifies a public hearing date of August 9 19th and uh by way of background this is the next step in the assessment process that we've been going through for the the 2024 improvements project so uh we
are recommending adoption of the resolution and I'd be happy to stand for any questions that Council might have move to approve we got a motion second we got a second discussion um uh do we we have our corner lot kind
of figured out this year better on assessment policy than we have in the past yeah based on council's review of the corner laap policy that we had a few uh weeks ago or perhaps it's months now um there were no specific changes that were requested to that so I think we're
in a good shape in a good position for the the corner policy so and then on all these projects we don't have any other projects that happened within the time period like with TRS last year last year where they were charged like five years
10 years prior that on the other road than this road we don't have any of those problems coming up on any of these not that we're aware of okay we've reviewed that as part of the assessment preparation process any other
questions roll call council member fagly hi osmus hi Butterfield hi O'Brien hi OS hi Nelson hi Davis Hi and shes hi eight
yeses zero NOS thank you Jared next is a consideration of Wastewater rate study Justin good evening Mr Mayor good evening Council uh I am here tonight on behalf of our Waste Water treatment
Department requesting coun approval for a rate analysis study to be conducted it is important to have a financial plan when projecting our future Capital Improvements debt repayment fund balances and operation costs and having this study done will give us that
necessary financial plan the last Wastewater rate analysis was completed in 2019 and rates have not changed since that time uh staff received four proposals for this study the recommendation is to use Baker Tilly
uh included with the baker Tilly proposal is the potential renegotiation of the city's current PFA loan this loan is scheduled to have 5 years of balloon payments beginning in the year 2025 that will roughly double our annual
payments um refinancing this loan would allow us more flexibility uh in determining future rate costs excuse me future rate increases only one other proposal The isers Proposal included this option at a higher cost the Dave BG Consulting and
the HR green proposals do not include uh loan refinancing uh so with that I would ask for a motion to approve uh entering an agreement with Baker Tilly for a Wastewater uh treatment fund rate analysis in the amount of
$155,000 and I will stand for any questions you may have I'll make that motion second got a motion and a second discussion seeing none hearing none roll call council member osmus I Butterfield I
O'Brien I OS I Nelson I Davis I sches I and fagly I eight eyes zero nose that passes thank you Justin thank you next is uh public hearing
establishing a gas franch ordinance Kyle good evening Mr Mayor members of the city council tonight the council will be asked to call for a public hearing to introduce a gas franchise ordinance for the city of Wilmer between the city of Wilmer and
CenterPoint Energy so in the fall of 2023 the city council asked staff to look at an update a gas franchise ordinance between the city of Wilmer and centerp Point Energy the city of Wilmer and Center Point have collaboratively worked together to
present this ordinance before you in your packet uh to establish an updated gas franchise for the city of Wilmer this ordinance will replace in its entirety the previously established franchise agreement uh from March 2004 it's ordinance number
1192 so the gas franchise what what a gas franchise is is a legal agreement between the municipality and the utility company that grants the company the exclusive right to provide in this case Natural Gas service within the specified geographic area the agreements typically
include Provisions regarding the service obligations rates infrastructure maintenance and fees paid to the local government in this case city of Wilmer Center Point would continue to be granted its the rights and authority to operate in the public rights of way in public places within the present uh its
current um infrastructure buildout and within the city limits and future limits City Limits and moving forward this includes the natur the distribution of natural gas and gas facilities necessary for the purpose of supplying natural gas or processed gas for all purposes to the
residents and consumers within the city of Wilmer gas franchises often involve the payment of franchise fees by the utility company to the local government these fees are often based either on a percentage or a flat rate of the company's revenues that come from gas
sales within the franchised area and these revenues can be contribute to the local government's budget providing Public Funding for public services infrastructure projects or other community needs by granting a franchise agreement the local government can regulate and oversee the operations of
gas utility within its jurisdiction ensuring compliance with safety standards environmental regulations and service quality requirements the franchise agreement established establishes terms under which the utility operates providing a framework for resolving disputes and
addressing Community concerns Etc um the franchise agreement often like I had mentioned exclude includes Provisions for the expansion and maintenance of the infrastructure within the community and can lead to improved access to Natural Gas services for residents businesses and institutions uh thereby thereby
supporting Economic Development and growth Mr Mayor I will pause there for any questions again this is the introduction and calling for a public hearing to establish a gas franchise ordinance confirm a motion establishing calling for a
hearing second we got a motion and a second discussion Audrey thank you um I know we've talked about this before I was kind of surprised to see it before we had an introduction of our budget or an estimate of what this could bring to the
table is there an estimate um that's already being proposed in the budget I know we're going to hear that maybe in two weeks but before we do this what is it what does it bring to our bring to the city so I'll I'll dive into that in
the next um the franchise fee ordinance if that's okay more specifically on the fees being proposed and what we're anticipating with with what's proposed in the packet be the overall ordinance regulating I was just wondering if we
had it on record that it was going to be the date and the time would be August 5th Yeah but I I don't think that was in the motion okay so 6:31 6:31 on August
5th okay any other discussion roll call council member Butterfield I O'Brien i o i Nelson I Davis I sches hi baggerly hi an
osmus i eight eyes zero nose motion carries we need a motion to approve publication by summary second got a motion and a second discussion roll
call council member O'Brien I OS I Nelson I Davis Hi sches I Bly I osmus hi I and Butterfield I eight eyes zero nose
that passes now we call for public hearing establishing a gas franchise fee ordinance Kyle thank you Mr Mayor uh building off of the last agenda item the franchise fee ordinance provides what this will accomplish or hope to accomplish is to provide the city with a
reliable source of Revenue uh the revenues that would be coming in from the franchise fee um fees can be Eed Mark for essential services such as road maintenance Public Safety Community Development projects environmental sustainability energy efficient programs
or other needs determined by the city council um to answer your question directly uh council member Nelson we have worked with Centerpoint uh to look at the current for 2022 data is the most recent data that centerp point has available for us to review looking at
the total number of customers and different rate classes that are within the city uh the fees that are in your packet um roughly total or approximately total $650,000 annually um when we did had an
opportunity to look at the revenues collected or the fee structures that are set um with other municipalities with Center Point Energy then this is public data with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission um it's we did our best to make sure that we weren't the highest
we're not the lowest tried to be right in the middle and and really what is um most responsible for fees that we can set um again that's that's public information it's not included in your packet um really it's all over a lot of it is really all over the board
especially when you're trying to compare cities that are that have may have ordinances that are 20 years old or close to 20 years old so we really tried to hone in on cities that are more comparable to wmer and then furthermore um cities that have more updated gas franchise fees structure as well uh
within the last four to five years again this would be to call for the public hearing uh to establish a gas franchise fee ordinance Mr Mayor I'll pause there for any questions
right we don't have the motion yet I believe somebody want to make the motion for August 5th 6302 632 so second a motion and a second discussion just a
question the first one doesn't pass and you don't need this one that would be correct remember we've talked we do we still do need the first one no matter what because center point energy has to have an ordinance to do work in town so
we still do need the first one okay remember we've talked about this for years one year it was like 200,000 and jumped up to 250 now it could be 600 it it could be and so I went back and did
um some just give my gave myself a history lesson on franchise fees with the city of Wilmer so that number that you're referring to is from 2007 is when the the city council was asked to look at establishing a franchise fee um the franchise ordinance
was already established like I had mentioned in 2004 and then before that in 1981 um in 2007 the city council looked at establishing a franchise fee ordinance which was right around 200200 to $250,000 and then the council at the time decided not to move forward with
that and then it was brought back to the council in 2014 and again the city C with the same numbers the $250,000 um and again that was not moved forward by the city city council at the time um referencing to adjust the levy
instead of imposing a franchise fee um so that is the last time a franchise fee ordinance has been brought before the city council was 2014 so again looking at what other cities are are imposing for franchise fees trying to adjust for inflation over
those times this is best guess and I think it's a comfortable area for us to be when looking at the rates that are in your packet and since that time the district heat has gone away there's more people using gas now sure yes
well with bringing that up in the past you know you were looking at 200,000 250,000 now you're looking at over $600,000 yes that's what's that's those are what the fees would and now our residents are going to be paying more money for you know to EXL
for this basically yeah would be to Center Point Energy the the fees would be paid to the city through by CenterPoint Energy like I'm not going to speak for CenterPoint Energy they would have if they want to increase their rates and pass through to their customer they could do that um but that's up to
them to to make that have you even what's the bottom rate for the statewise on this I I just can't see push another $650,000 on the taxpayers right now it's been shot down before in the past and
with the way inflation is going right now single families need every penny they can get absolutely council member and and the residential rate is what's proposed is $5 a month so $60 a year is what the residential rate um would be
obviously the more it's once you get Beyond residential when you look at commercial small volume to large volume dual fuel uh it's based off of classifications and the amount of thms that you're using for your business so a small downtown business might be at that
$10 a month um if you're exerc or using more energy to heat your business that might bump you up to the next rate um if the council would like to change those rates I mean that that's up to the council again we're just showing you what we feel is average what
we feel is um right for Wilmer with this what was proposed in the past adjusting and moving forward what's right for wmer is different what's right for taxpayers we have the our job is watch out for the taxpayers not for you know the city is next in line
what's the lowest out there right now for the cities doing you say we're right in the middle we weren't the lowest we would want to be the highest what's the lowest uh dollar dollar versus five yeah or and then all the way up to um10 or 122 is
the highest okay I'll I'll double check that but I believe that's accurate in the past when we've had this discussion and Rick Might Recall some of this but um I Rec call getting in a a legal
opinion that said that if a utility is utilizing our RightWay we should be having a franchise agreement because they they shouldn't be using our RightWay for no
cost so any other questions roll call council member hi Nelson hi Davis hi sches hi baggerly
hi osmus hi Butterfield hi O'Brien I eight eyes zero nose thank you Council that passes thank you Kyle um we need a a motion to approve publication by summary summ second got a motion in a
second discussion roll call council member Nelson I Davis I sches I fly I osmus I Butterfield I O'Brien I
and Os I eight eyes zero NOS motion passes next is uh consideration of sale of THC product license honix Holdings LLC doing business as honix ver
mayor ree council members um so the current owners of honic LLC located at 14251 Street South are selling their business to honic Holdings LLC doing business as honic um in September 22 the city
council adopted an ordinance to regulate the sale of THC products in the city of Wilmer and honic has been operating under that license agreement and with a license that they re received from the city currently the that business is a partnership and that partnership is
selling to one of the partners so according to state law they have to reapply for a new license under the single ownership and so that would be the LL honic Holdings LLC so they're looking for your approval tonight to um
for their application as a single holder of that company make that motion second got a motion and a second discussion Tom now does any part of the old uh license fee kind of get kicked
back to the old no okay they have to re repay for a new license okay any other questions roll call council member Davis I sches hi baggerly hi osmus hi
Butterfield hi O'Brien I OS I and Nelson I eight eyes zero nose that passes next is a resolution to acknowledge donations for the second quarter of 2024 ver once
again mayor re and council members um we are looking for approval of the list of donations that were received in the second quarter the period from April 1st 2024 through June 30th 2024 they
include $100 from Friends of Rick LLC for the wmer firefighters explorers $100 from the community giving for the 2024 summer camp $200 from Marcus construction for the 2024 summer camp
$300 from Waltz for the 24 summer camp $300 from dues for the 24 summer camp $500 from Community giving for for the juneth celebration $500 from Teresa haera Insurance Agency for the 2024 summer camp $500 from Candy oh high
power charitable trust for the 24 summer camp $500 from the Wilmer Area Arts Council for the international Heritage event $500 from Candy oh high County for the Wilmer CT fund $500 from United Way of West Central for the juneth
celebration $1,000 from the community giving for officer hay Top Cop award $1,000 from Todd lenam for the bench program $1,200 from Prime Wales Health Senior Citizen Center or senior citizens
day24 99.45% motion acknowledging those donations so second you got a motion and letter of thanks any discussion roll call council member Davis i sches i
ferly osmus i Butterfield I O'Brien right OS I and Nelson I eight eyes zero nose that passes before we go into the director's
update take a five minute break e e e e e e e e
e e e e e e e e e all right we're going to get started
[Music] um director's update first uh we're going to have our police chief Jim welcome good evening Mr Mr Mayor and members of the council thank you for having me here this evening um a few things to to go over just some general
things about uh the department and things that are happening and looking at the council packet I don't know if the St statistic sheet made it into your uh your Council packet or not but I can hit the highlights for you here anyway um and looking at the June uh statistics
last year compared to this year um so far in June we had um year to date we had 8,374 calls for service um 1,429 occurred in June and looking at that compared to last year we're actually only five different so it's
amazing sometimes that these numbers are fairly consistent from year toe month to month and looking at some of the specific categories here we had a decrease in abandoned vehicle uh complaints part of that we believe is because our community service officers have been very active on looking for
abandoned vehicles warning owners putting tickets on Cars and and following up trying to get that um uh get those Vehicles moved so they don't have to be towed and that type of thing so that dropped to about half from 54 to 28 within the month um we had an
increase in neighborhood disturbance complaints really what I in looking at the reports I would contribute to that to we had a lot of fireworks complaints this year um when they come in we do take them very seriously that some some come in as fireworks complaints but some come in as gunshot complaints so
obviously we we want to take that seriously and uh check them all out but um there's uh that almost doubled this year actually did double from 24 to 48 for neighborhood disturbances now that's not just that can be loud parties that could be um you know strange noise or
something like that to and not just fireworks but I think that was the the largest contributor um we had a fortunately had a decrease in Theft complaints I don't have an answer for you on on why that might be um but that could include retail theft shoplifting
um steps from vehicles and and that typee of thing too um we did had have a significant increase almost triple increase in mental health related calls and looking at that um we've got a couple individuals in our neighborhood right now that are taking a lot of time
on police services for mental health calls they they are um we've been working with family services and other providers to try and get them the services that they need they might be off their medications or that type of thing it's not to the point where we officers can go and they'll offer
services they'll ask you know can we bring you to the hospital can we bring you to crisis um they often refuse and it's not enough where they can force the issue to sign a police officer hold or health uh mental health hold to get them evaluated so we're working with some
other providers to try and try and get that all worked out so um in comparing the calls for service this year versus last again in uh for the Walmer Police Department we statistically are around anywhere from 18,000 to 21,000 calls for service each
year we um we are uh average about 40 to 60 per day kind of fluctuates throughout the year with weather with school no school things like that um this year we are about 11 days ahead or about 500 calls ahead of uh 2023 so it's uh it
looks to be an active year again too and again um like I've said before too when it comes to calls for service it's a little hard to um you know if somebody calls about a bag of trash Ling in the middle of the First Street and it's a traffic complaint it might take an officer 5 minutes to completely clear
that but homicide call that could take months of Investigation also counts as one so they count both count as one so um to get a true look at this sometimes you might have to dig into the time to um to evaluate that so other things that
are happening around the department um we are fortunate enough to hire a new officer his name is Cody Karen he started on um J uh well July 1st was his first day he's a recent graduate from alect Tech he's from Cottonwood
Minnesota um has never been an officer before so we welcome Cody um in in typical fashion he uh was here for six days and now the military took him for a month of his mandatory training so he'll really start his training in August and we'll roughly finish up with that about
November and be able to to be on patrol uh we're also sadden too that we are losing one of our officers that's been here for about three years Dave verling um took a job with the Shaka police department and July 29th he'll be leaving us and going to Shak PPD but uh they're fortunate to
have him he's a he's a great officer he'll do very well he he grew up near that area as family lives near that area and it's also closer to where his wife's family is at so that was the uh the motivation for his move there um some other things that have
been happening yes I'm sorry uh so we gained one and we lose one so are we still down six correct correct we are yeah um we're backgrounding an individual right now um we've got a police commission meeting coming up to see if that individual will move forward
in the process later this week um but uh right now uh we we sent officers to the alect tech um skills program where the the kind of like the police academy program for for new officers this summer to try and recruit and uh unfortunately
we haven't got the numbers are low there there aren't a lot of individuals going to skills this summer um but you know we haven't received any applications from those individuals even with personal contacts and that type of thing a lot of the individuals that are entering skills are entering alect Tech already have job
offers so that's something that we're kind of refocusing on that we may have to look at first year law enforcement students and um maybe even do some type of conditional offer with if they fit the bill and the police commission approves and that type of thing to kind
of keep them on the hook now that's not an immediate um uh immediate help to the department but another year or two years down the line hopefully that will bolster the numbers and get them up again so
right um couple other things that have happened we just had coffee with the cops on July 11th at the Wilmer Community Center BR is a rock star she had Donuts there for us so we were happy about that um it was a pretty good turnout that day uh we are planning uh
we don't have the final preparations in place but we're going to have pop with the cops at uh we're planning probably a city park in August so we're working with one of the uh the pop vendors right now to to get that and do that and that'll be anybody's going to be welcome but it's kind of aimed more at the
younger crowd so there police department's been busy with a few other things just within the last couple weeks here we had an officer that that um went to Indiana and spent 3 days there testifying in a Crim sex case uh that he helped investigate in Wilmer um officers
our officers helped out with a homicide investigation that happened in St Paul um that had some ties to the area here so they helped with that also Meer County as you may be heard had an uh a robbery and attempted homicide that all three suspects were located in Wilmer
and Wilmer PD um and kyway County Sheriff's Office and C6 drug task force spent a lot of time uh tracking those individuals down and and we're successful in making arrests so um just uh bigger bigger cases bigger agencies we continue have involvement
there um Pastor Paul has announced his uh um official retirement from our chapy program that started um should have brought the numbers with me the chapy program has been in place for you know probably about 25 years Pastor Paul was
one of the original chaplain on that um right now it's Pastor Paul and Pastor Tony uh freeberg from the uh Church of the nazine Pastor Paul is going to stay on and help train in any new chaplain we held an open house uh where um
interested pastors could come and and speak with them we have uh Pastor Craig from Redeemer um who actually was a police chaplain in Cleveland Ohio and he's uh submitted an application and then we have uh chaplain Cecil who used
to be with the Fortress um it's now Cecil Meyer Cecil Meer yep it's uh he's with something different now it's kind of a group of chaplain that cover a lot of different chaplain he's also with faith at work there you go yes Marketplace chaplain thank you so so
he's applied also so we feel pretty confident from their backgrounds that they'll they'll make it through the background process here but we're we're doing the the necessary backgrounds on that so one last thing that I wanted to talk to the the council about is a few weeks ago um the brought forward for us to
look a little bit further into the uh UTV permitting and ordinance within the city of Wilmer here um there was a Wilmer resident that had expressed interest to one of the council members and it was brought up to us um we reviewed the ordinances from several different cities around Minnesota there
are you know a fair number that have um ordinances for that in order for ATVs utvs golf carts that type of thing to to be to operate within a city limits there has to be a certain order that permits that otherwise it it's it's not
permitted so we looked at several of those ordinances um met with as a group we met City administrator City attorney planning myself um looked over several different things um we have some concerns that um have come up with that
from from our review and speaking with a limited number of residents there are some residents that uh you know would be in favor of of that some concerns that we have are about safety um with with utvs first of all utvs are made for
off-road and not necessarily onroad um so they've got a different wheelbase different center of gravity could potentially be more easily uh tipped over depending on how they're driven and that type of thing um and looking at our
city streets especially in Wilmer the speeds and design of streets we've got a lot of busier roads the Wilmer Avenues the first streets the 19th Avenues um to get to some of the retail locations and things like that that would need to be crossed some of these cities that we looked at were fairly small cities you
didn't have to travel through a lot of residential to get to a restaurant or or that type of thing so it was a little bit U um potentially safer path um UTV safety features are different than cars for instance there's um at least I'm not
aware of any utvs that have airbags the crumple zones are different or non-existent utvs are really good for rollover protection but comes from Impact from another vehicle um they don't have that same protection as a car also different visibility compared to
other vehicles it's um you know I'm not against motorcycles but it's bad enough for motorcycle riders in to be seen you know the UTV utvs would be probably slightly better but still would be more difficult we feel in vehicles for for
visibility we've had uh citizen Express concern about if they were allowed about noise that comes along with them I know each winter especially we have some noise complaints dealing with snowmobiles that there is a partion of the ordinance that allows them to leave from their home go out in the county and come back within certain time periods
and certain roads and things but noise concerns come up with that we're concerned about uh that with utvs also and then you know just the potential for misuse for underage people we have some areas in town here right now that that we struggle with enforcement on you know whether it be golf carts or something
like that with underage kids riding out in the streets and things so um those are concerns that we have there I looked up some UTV um statistics for 2023 and again compared to vehicles or cars and trucks it's a much lower number but last
year there were 312 reported accidents involving utvs there were 15 fatalities in the state 323 people were injured and 47 property damage um reports that came with that too so um they travel at fairly High rates of speed they can be
can be dangerous depending on how they're operated and that type of thing so and looking at the totality of that um it's the recommendation from the staff here to not create a permitting process for utvs in the city of wmer but we would follow any direction of the
council you may have just follow up on that with the golf court was that coming from uh Kelly Welch's area back over by holiday in area you know by Valley golf with kids riding the golf cart with more Eagles
Landing I know we've taken a number of complaints and concerns from people up there so I I'm personally I'm not aware of the Eagles Eagles um of the U the Valley Golf area myself but CU myself and uh council member Davis met up with Kelly here a few years ago and
that was one of his concerns were all these running around already with the kids on the golf so yeah I would I would be totally against this ordinance too if it came up um Chief Bel are they allowed in the county that the County permits them on
County Roads is that correct yep the the state does and the county um I don't I'm not aware of the county having specific ordinance for but I believe that it's all the DNR rules have to be followed there so it gets really confusing and I'm I'm afraid I'm not real good on it like they can sometimes
only be on the inside of the ditch and sometimes it can only be in the ditches During certain times of the year so that there's no bird nests that they would be harming or destroying there's certain roads that I think you can only cross at a right angle and um some some roads that you're not supposed to cross at all but so
they're not allowed on the road in the county I think I I think there are Provisions like on some of the uh on some of the county roads I believe I don't believe they're on allowed on any County State a highway
but um just like a gravel country Road or something I don't think there's anything that per that I was just curious if we had any County roads in Wilmer that they would already be allowed on the uh the way I understand the uh the ordinance and how the statute
is written that once you hit City Limits then the City Rules would would take over there thank you you back right any other questions thanks Chief all right thank you and thank you for your support of the department they're a great great
group working there they're working very hard they are ready for rock and Robbins tomorrow when they saw it was in the 70s instead of the '90s set up the smiles that appeared then so uh they're they're excited about doing that event again tomorrow so thank you all right thanks
Chief Tom Finance director thank you Mr Mayor members of the council there we go so the finance update uh it works out well uh for me to stand here today it's a little easier being the end of June marks are halfway point through the year so 50% is
an easy number to kind of uh gauge that off of I just want to draw your attention to a couple numbers uh we did get our first half property taxes um so that that came in nice um we are still waiting on our LGA which is the um local
government Aid supplied to the state of Minnesota and that is due to hit our account in July I believe July 20th so that you'll see it's only 3.22% for the for that line item so that number will increase when that when that does hit
that'll put us right over 50% of revenue for the year so a right on Pace uh that comes in two pieces once in July and once in December similar to property taxes where we get two payments for the most part or the lon share of our money on the expenditure side of things
I just want to draw your attention to a couple of them uh like you'll see the mayor and council is a a little bit higher than 50% the reason for that is uh the Civic requests we've paid out some Civic requests uh like for Wilmer Fest um we've also paid out that's the
The Lion Share is the the Wilmer Fest request and the uh celebrate the light that payment has gone out so it looks like you're ahead of pace for the year um but that's just um a one-time payment and it's not a recurring item um uh another one is the
information technology I know our information techn ology coordinator orders all of our new equipment at the beginning of the year so it looks a little high uh however that once again that purchasing is done for the year uh the next page if we want to look
over at the wastewater treatment plant uh quite a few less line items to look at uh I do want to I just looked today um that's at 30 just under 33% so 1/3 we've only received the first four months of Revenue and that that number
the billing comes in for from the Municipal Utilities so that is right in line with onethird of the year so I I'm not very alarmed by that at all and then on expenditure side were significantly less than our anticipated expenses um in there there are Bond payments that are
yet to be made our Capital Improvement transfers and payments have yet to be made like our lift station 789 so those are some big ticket items and our road projects so our expenses seem low we just haven't made those large ticket items out of those funds yet uh so
nothing um nothing to worry about at this juncture uh jump down uh the next page I believe in the packet is it uh the investment activity I believe is the next page uh so that just gives you an overview of the investment activity uh
through the second quarter from April 1st through the end of June uh we had a couple Investments mature and then we also uh got some interest along the way and we've made a few we had to uh transfer some money into our checking account to make some payments and then
we also transferred out uh significant portions of money back once we received our uh bond for our improvements for 2024 and when we got our property tax payment from the county so our ending value is just over $60
million and then the whole portfolio is outlined on the next page and it just goes in descending or uh the the maturity closest to us on top the money market is is very liquid we can access those funds at any time so those those
numbers are listed at the very top but then we also have our investments that will be maturing uh starting in in August all the way out through 2028 um you'll see the our uh 4M fund I know uh council member Nelson and I we
had spoken at the league of Minnesota City's uh we are utilizing them for our bond proceeds for our construction fund as well the third page on the investment side is just a is a 10year history of what our uh interest in dividends
received so it just shows a little bit of a picture of where we're getting or how we're doing on our investments in dividends um these numbers are significantly higher than a few years back obviously the interest rates are reflecting of that uh our money markets
are paying over % right now so that is that's the the main driver for that right now and then this last page it just breaks it down by which institutions paid us how much money so it's just a breakdown once again showing the same figure the the 690,000 year to date of
where those monies are coming from so that's the kind of the financial little snapshot of the city of Wilmer um and other in other areas of the finance department our payroll we're continuing to work with human resources as well as creative planning which is the new name
of Bergen kdv which is our payroll software and HR softwares uh company uh a large task lately has been on boarding our summer help as well as all of our election judges it's a pretty big undertaking a lot of paperwork coming in at one time getting people used to it
and it's also just going away from paper going to all of electronic onboarding so there's always a little hiccups here and there but each day we're getting a little bit better at it working with them um and just for an example we had on our last payroll 110 full-time
employees but we had 131 part-time staff so our numbers swell quite a bit in the summertime with all of our parttime staff coming on board moving on the audit Westberg Ians has done some field work in City Hall uh they're working on that and right now as
as we launched our uh new Tyler our munice Enterprise system they're working on 11 months of our old Legacy system for data and then one month of our new system so they're they're kind of putting together two systems into one and they're learning all of our new accounting numbers as well uh they will
be to counsel the report when they're uh completing with their audit and on to budget um that I believe actually is our next agenda item is to call for a work session to go over the very preliminary part of the budget um mostly will be our Capital Improvement
program or CIP so that would be our next step as the council uh the Departments all submitted their requests that was due uh yesterday so we'll be able to start compiling that internally and get get the preliminary look for the 2025 budget in front of you
all so any questions questions for Tom thank you Tom Christopher okay um Mr Mayor members of the council I'm very excited to kind of kick off the
comprehensive plan with you all tonight um we've done a lot of work since you all approved us um hiring the consultant srf Consulting out of the cities and our consultant came and she spent a day with us so far um she's familiar with the
area I'm having family ties here as well and we've internally met with the focus group and so I'll like to go over some of the where we are now and give you an update for the comprehensive plan so we had a focused group a
successful focus group meeting on July 11th uh our focus group members are Beth fiser council member Carl scheldes Cory Berg our County Commissioner Cory Berg ding Munos Fernando Canó which is a
planning Commissioner James Miller Jean clean um Jonathan marshan our chairman of Planning Commission Michelle moraski from KC Sarah Carlson and Taylor Marcus and this group has really proven to give
us great feedback and got us to where we are today and so far in the process and I'm happy to share that too so what is a comprehensive plan I imagine for all of our engagements I always would highlight exactly what the
comprehensive plan is and it is our guiding document for All City initiatives it's the way that we can refer to for future development as well as um budget requests um and take a look at all of the topics that the city covers so that's land use Parks it is
hous in how we are preserving our historic sites as well throughout the city and land use is a large Focus so land use is again the um General guidance about long-term Vision so our
comp plan will take a 20-year Lookout uh I'm just going to remind you that the last comprehensive plan we have that was been adopted was 2009 um the planning department started to do an update to that plan in 2019 um and I am happy to say that this time we are going to get
it done and so different land uses that we have are agriculture residential industrial commercial and recreational to name a few uh but what we use from the land use map will inform our zoning ordinance that needs to be updated and
that's our tool to implement the plan any questions okay so we came up with a framework we wanted to make sure that the comprehensive plan uh does three things it establish and guid City's policies
and decisions uh it combines City plans into one document and to provide the basis for zoning and land use decisions as well so often time developers come to the Department of planning and development and one of the finding of
facts is doesn't meet the comprehensive or is it align with the comprehensive plan and it's so important to do this plan possibly every 7 to 10 years to make amendments as we go so I'm going to highlight nine chapters so our plan will consist of
nine chapters and an implementation plan so this is one way that we'll make sure that things are actually um done get done and budgeted for so the community profile uh it is basically it'll serve as a foundation for understanding the
population in which we serve and understand the needs Arts culture and Heritage preservation it'll outline strategies for promoting cultural activities preserving historic sites and enhancing the city's Multicultural identity land
use uh it is it address the um regulation of land within the city Mobility this is done in conjunction with the Safe Streets for all um Grant plan that we're doing and this chapter will be updated in
conjunction with that plan um and it'll definitely highlight all of the areas of concerns and planning needs that we need for Mobility our housing we do have a housing plan that was um done I think in 2018 that's more of a housing needs
assessment that plan would need to be done every 5 years or so to keep it accurate for the housing chapter of the comprehensive plan it'll examine the housing needs and include um affordability availability and diverse housing options that we we are lacking
and so it'll come out will come out with some um strategies to improve that if there's a need for policy updates or zoning code updates as well to make it easier to build qu question yes what about the housing study we just
did two years ago two years ago so um not 2018 U the housing study it is usually they live they need to be updated every 5 years that housing study that was done um I believe pced was a
part of it that will feed into it but we are going to lay out and see what barriers the city has on development and that will yield to any implementation strategies that we may find the next chapter is economic opportunities um taking a look
at the chapters that we had as a rough draft the um one chapter that was missing was Agriculture and I think it be hard to do a plan without mentioning Agriculture and so we're placing it in economic opportunities uh and so
economic opportunities will identify key Industries employment trends and OPP opportunities for businesses to grow the next chapter is natural resources and conservation and this is going to take a
look at our assets our natural assets so from bodies of waters to planes for is wildlife air quality and coming up with um sustainable strategies and practices for that parks and open space uh it'll highlight the city's recreational
facilities parks and open space includes um plans for maintaining and expanding these amenities to promote Public Health wellness and quality of life and the last chapter is um one of the last topics will be um public facilities uh
and it'll ensure that these services or the services that we offer meet the needs uh and the F the future needs of the community so those are nine chapters we'll have an implementation chapter as well and the implementation chapter will
identify those key strategies that we can Implement and then give us a term either um it's on the short list medium or long and so that's like zero should we do this immediately within the first year or three years does it look like we
can push it out to 3 to six or longer Christi yes um land use and development yes we've sold uh a lot of our properties in
our Industrial Park some large sales is there opportunities to pick up more land there are opportunities to pick up more land uh Mr Mayor you know we have
the we have 11 segments for urban an urban growth area in which we could um do orderly anex station for as well and so there are areas that the county kind of gives us a buffer around the city where we can expand into how much land
do we have yet do you have any idea for the urban growth area there's quite a few thousands of Acres there is there are I can get you a a a specific number as well well I just want to make sure
we've got properties to meet the demands of the future yes I agree Tom yes yeah I have a question about you wanting to buy more Parkland now the other month you guys were looking at selling Parkland now you guys want to buy more Parkland
well I totally confused on this now I mean uh you guys want to sell you guys are preaching we got to sell this now you're saying we got to be buying well is it I I just want to clarify I did not mention that we have to buy um the parks and
Open Space chapter would allow us to look at um highest and best use for some of our parks and prioritize some of those Parks meaning should we should they be expanded that's not what you said you said we allow me to finish just a second Mr Butterfield so the parks and
Open Space chapter I imagine would yield a master plan for the parks that plan should be immediately adopted and an appendix to the comprehensive plan and so we should be thinking outside of the box about the current
parks that we do have and expanding some of its programs or some of its space um so I'm not saying or proposing that we purchase property uh again this is just the framework of the comprehensive plan and the details will come later after we
engage with the public and parks and Rick is updating they're doing a new comprehensive plan correct the board does want to okay Audrey I'm sorry I think we talked
about this before but I think for us to understand the inventory of what the city owns whether that is Park land or whether that is just land and Open Spaces kind of thing I think I think we asked for that at at
a previous time to um I'm not sure if we can you know just have a map that shows us what we have because I would say there's probably some land we could sell and land we should buy but we have not looked at that or talked about that or
inventory that and so for me I would appreciate um knowing what we have um as we look at what do we want to do and maybe things that should be enhanced and things that shouldn't be enhanced
absolutely I agree with you I um once we roll out the land use engagement and that is something that will certainly um be a factor and I could always provide council members with that information ahead of time too any other questions on the
chapters doesn't look like it okay all right so let's talk about public engagement the plans in the past um you know we took a look at our plans from the 80s and the 90s and 2009 and what was missing was the public engagement the people's voice and our
plans and so I mentioned for the month of July we met with the focus group on July 11th uh we released a press release today um and we're here uh the open house we're scheduling is for July
25th and I'll give you more information about that all of our and we'll be at Rock and Robbins for as a popup on the 30th and on the on August 6 to make sure that we're collecting surveys and really hearing and engaging with the public and so the main goal for this document is
that it does not read like a research paper it is not done in one office it is done but with Wilmer and so making sure that the people and the residents are a huge focal part of the
plan just to go over a few things we um we're r on a very robust um public engagement schedule by scheduling four more days in August and having a day session and a evening session to make sure that we're capturing all residents
or most residents those dates are August 8th 12th the 26th and 29th and then we'll be at other events such as the county fair uh on August 9th and then welcoming week in September
uh September 14th and then the other September and October those dates in public engagement will look a little different uh and that's where we're going to kind of lean on this body here and city council to kind of host Us in each a to make sure that we're speaking
directly to your constituents uh I know that was one thing that you all wanted to do um and so we'll take it on tour is what we're calling it for September and October just doing public engagement making sure that we're we're having a draft document that is socialized throughout the public we're hoping to
have this document as a draft and socialize with the public in the fall and hopefully adoption sometime at the top of next year so uh with that being said we came up with the focus group and staff together and feel very strongly about
standing out and making sure that this plan is people first and policies are created by people and so we are naming the plan with Wilmer with a logo and um the name so the name is simply it is a plan that's done with
the city not for the city and its residents um but it's done by um the residents our open house um is July 25th the day session starts at 11: to 12:30 the evening session is 5:30 to 8:00 p.m.
and that will be taking place on the second floor of the Wilmer public public library and the main thing about the open house is come and go so we'll be presenting like every 15 minutes depending on the crowd um just a brief but the main goal is to
do some interaction around the visioning of the city for the next 20 years so with that I will stop and stand for any questions that you may have questions you covered it all I guess okay I'm good with that too all right
thank you for your time and thanks for approving srf thank you I like the [Laughter] logo I thought that's why we went with the other logo because there's too many other old logos floating around all
right thank you gentlemen Lesley good evening Council mayor uh tonight I'd like to ask that we schedule our C uh Capital Improvement plan meeting for July 29th Monday at the
Wilmer Auditorium it was part of our capital or our budget calendar that was presented and approved to you May 20th and um uh so staff has been working on their Capital
request and such and so we'd like to sit down with Council and review those and try to finalize where our Capital budget's going to land first before we put that information then into our final budget
information any questions on that we need a motion to establish the special council meeting for yes it would be a special council meeting motion we got a second discussion Audrey just clarification are
we're only going to talk about budget at the council meeting there won't any agenda items no there may be some agenda items that's why it's going to be a special council meeting we' got some things in the works that I can't talk about at this time no I'm just seeking clarification so part of it will be a
council meeting and part of it will be a budget Workshop no we're just going to make it a council meeting it with the working on the CIP doesn't have to be a council Workshop it can just no I understand but we're going to do the same dialogue we're going to have the
opportunity it's not as formal usually it yes to talk about the CP yes okay thank you and this will be 6:00 p.m. at the Wilmer Auditorium one more Auditorium or the MU mu is the auditorium lmer utilities
Auditorium I was think City Auditorium we know the auditorium as the Memorial Auditorium so this is taking the place the first one that we missed sure yes suppos to meet twice y yes okay all
right any other questions roll call council member sches hi pagerly hi osmus I Butterfield I O'Brien I OS I Nelson I and Davis I
eight eyes zero nose motion passes any Community Pride announcements Audrey I just um want to give a shout out to Pablo um he um did a nice job serving on a panel the panel
discussion down at the league of Minnesota City's Conference in Rochester on building community and Comm community and fostering belonging and um I enjoyed listening to him and it was fun to watch the other people in the room um to hear
and um ask questions about what we're doing here and I just want to say thank you to him and how lucky we are to have him so I agree we are lucky to have
P um yes Julie um a couple of weeks ago I briefly mentioned that the destination playground was going to be doing their seven-year assessment and uh Reb beautification you could call it so uh
Public Works and park and wreck have done a walkth through and um right now they're going to be looking for volunteers to do some repainting some of the artwork uh possibly replacing some of the boards they're looking at late summer early
fall probably right after school starts they'll be shutting down the playground for a week and they're also going to be opening up picket sales they're thinking that they will be selling approximately a th000 possibly up to 1,400 they'll be
doing the whole um out outside of the destination playground Wilmer Area Community Foundation will be coordinating it and out at Rock and Robbins they are going to have a booth uh where people can sign up to volunteer when the DAT is
set and then also to get some information on the pickets so look for the city and uh Wilmer Area Community Foundation Booth out at Rock and Robbins all right thank you anybody
else there's nothing else um we're going to adjourn to a closed session the agenda item is threatened e e e