To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right, we will start with approving the agenda. Does anybody have anything
to add to the agenda? Michael, do you have anything? >> I do not. >> All right. So, I'd like to move to approve. >> Second by Ed, second by Jenny. Any discussion? Any discussion? Discussion. All those in favor, please say I.
>> I. Same sign. Motion carried. Consent agenda. We had minutes from July. Financials. Any questions? a nice thank you note from the farm funfest committee.
>> The uh the water sewer adjustments, just so everyone knows, um there was quite a few this last month. Uh we had some broken pipes in buildings and um the water dispenser at the grocery store had a valve stuck open. Uh so he went
through quite a bit of water. So glad we had the system. Once again, saved a lot of headache later on. So things were fixed and repaired on all those. >> Good. Anybody want to make a motion about the consent agenda? >> Move.
>> Motion by Kelly. Is there a second? >> Second by Martha. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? All those in favor, please say I. >> I. All the same side. Motion carried. New business. Pull pads. >> Yeah. So, normally this wouldn't be on
the agenda, but uh there is a special election in the east portion of our county. They were planned to replacing uh the election iPads in 2026 with the upcoming election. Uh it's just going to happen a little bit sooner. Uh when we
were going through training, we found out about that uh during the last election. Uh each pole pad costs $430. Uh we currently use two uh iPads to do
registrations and check in uh registered voters. We are asking to have three and there's a lot of reasons why but just think of it on election day one of your iPads goes down and then you only are left with one. It is the only way for us to
register them, print out the ballot ticket other than the printed list which um is a little bit cumbersome especially with the new way they do things. Um and then when we train um
so generally when someone registers it takes a while. Um, and what's been happening lately is obviously we've been registering more voters because we've got a lot of new residents and the elections are a little bit more
attention. So, we are asking for three because our registration count is actually up. Um, Arlington already has three. Gaylord RV has three. Normally, it's populations of 20, sorry, 1,700 or above get three. So,
we're like right on the threshold. It's really up to council. >> What are they all used for? >> Um, they register voters. They print the ballot ticket. It's basically that first table that you go to. >> Okay. >> Um, so that's what they're used for. They hold all of the secure documents
that um have registered voters on them. >> They're not online. >> No. >> No. Okay. That's >> They actually don't connect online. >> And what's wrong with the two we have? >> They're just end of life. the um the county is the one that actually um administers all of our elections and
they determine when when end of life equipment needs to be replaced. So last year they replaced the um >> it's the handicap accessible um >> reader >> the reader thing they replaced that with
a new larger iPad screen and some new earphones and stuff. So, we've received two from the county and your request. >> Yes. Yeah. So, those two will be retired and then the new software will be loaded on three new iPads. >> Well, I think especially because I
worked a bunch of those for a long time and when you used to have paper, you'd have two people doing register, you know, taking voters who registered, then you'd have somebody else in a different table registering new voters, but now they do that all the same. So, if somebody's registering a new voter, it
takes that long much longer in that line. So, I think it's probably a good idea to have three. >> Yeah. >> And we have three people that would be using them. >> Yeah, we have. >> Or is this >> I think we have six actually trained on pole pads that take training every every
time there's an election. Every two years we have to get reertified. And I've always thought about, you know, the day that one of them goes down and then you have the appearance that some people are getting registered on a poll pad and some people are getting
registered on paper and what that looks like to the voters, you know, >> and the county doesn't have backups. >> Yeah, they don't have backups for us. So, if they go down on election day, >> they're done. >> How long do they use them? >> They use these for six years.
>> Yeah. >> Yeah. um they've had them for six years. So I think the software on them I think is actually what the problem is is the software is outdated. the iPad just, you know, Apple just updated to the latest software and the old software doesn't work on the or the new software doesn't
work on the old iPads. But everything else they're keeping like the printers that attach um the little stands that attach >> the case >> the case. Everything else is going to be the same, just the actual iPad. >> And are they uniform statewide?
>> Mhm. Yeah. They come from one one company that loads them. So, the county doesn't pay for the first two. >> The county doesn't pay for any of them. Actually, six years ago, the city paid for the first two as well. >> Council, what are your wishes? >> I'll make a motion to purchase the
three. >> Motion by purchase three. Is there a second? I'll second it. Second by Jenny. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? All those in favor, please say I. I. Post. same sign. Motion
carried. >> All right. Um 4.2 approval approval of the union contract. >> Long overdue. Um so this actually was worked on by the personnote and admin committee in 2024, November and December of 24. We actually have just been
waiting on the union um representative, not our union members, but the actual representative to finalize the language of the contract. Um, they finally have done that and they basically
uh I just need it signed so that I can sign the document. It is a two-year agreement. Um, it uh will expire. We'll start talking about this in June in the admin committee again. So I >> and there were no changes when we went
over it earlier. >> No, they approved all the recommendations that council had given. We had a chance to look over it. Any questions about it? >> And we've been operating under it already anyway. So, >> yeah.
So, move. >> Motion by Kelly. There a second. >> Second. Second by Jenny. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? All those in favor, please say I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Motion carried.
>> The 2024 audit review. Yeah. Um, so on the monitors, we're just going to go through some numbers and I'm going to try to do my best to explain the audit process and why we go through audits. Um, you also today have the blue books.
Those are the audits that we get mailed to us. Some of you may have already received them. I gave you extra cop. We have so many copies this year. I don't really know why, but they sent six extra. So, copies for everyone. We're like Oprah. Um so why do we do audits?
Well um you know statutoily we are required to do um something um if we have a clerk treasurer position that is the same person. So technically underneath our guidelines under the state statute any population under 2500
actually does not need to do an audit. If Heather's position was two positions um a clerk and a treasurer and they balanced each other out we would not have to do an audit. However, I will tell you that any bond, loan, grants,
uh, requires an audit from an independent firm in order to get one. So, it's it's pretty common place that we do them. Um, there's also a threshold and there's a lot of things, but, you know, basically anyone in the state of
Minnesota, even small populations are doing audits. Even Gibbon does a a full audit every year. Um, ours is not a what they call a forensic audit. Uh, forensic audits are very in-depth. Uh, I think there's actually only um class A or
class one cities that do them or class 4. Um, that's when they go in, they audit like 50% of all receipts that come in to the city. They check contracts, that kind of stuff. They do that for us, and I'll I'll explain that in a little
bit. Oops. No, go the other way. So each year, uh, we actually sign a contract with Carlson SV. They're our auditing company. Um, Carlson SV will probably start reaching out in a couple months actually to secure their spot for 2025's
audit. The about a year ago, maybe two years ago, we actually reached out to different auditing firms, not because we were unhappy with Carlson SB, just to see what it was. um they were by far the cheapest and um they've done a really
good job about correcting some of our fund balances and uh they've gotten a lot better actually since we started with them three years ago. So during the the this time what we do as staff is we
provide all the financial information. So we give them all of our bank reconciliations, all of our bank documents each month for each account. Um we provide variance reports. We give minutes, resolutions, and council agendas. On the EDA side, we have to
give all loan documents, facade grants, any money that goes out that's attached to an EDA loan, we give them and then we compile reports as needed. So during this process, mainly Heather goes through and grabs
the invoices and payments uh that we've made. So things get flagged. Um there's criteria that they go through. Uh for instance, ISG, I think almost every year gets flagged because they do so much work for us. So Heather gets a list of
invoices or payments due that Carlson SB wants audited. They want to see the invoice. They want to make sure it went to the right person, make sure we entered it correctly. Uh, and anyway, so we sent all that information over to them. We actually upload it to a portal. It's a lot less
cumbersome than we used to do. And because of our new system, Heather can pull invoices within minutes of them sending them to us versus digging through boxes, scanning them in, trying to separate them. Um, it's very convenient. Carlson SV does budget
comparison information. uh they combine non-fund information. They indiv uh they do individual uh fund statements for instance for enterprise funds for electric, sewer, water. And they also do our schedule of
indebtness, accounts receivable and accounts payable. They also do all of our OSA annual reporting to the state of Minnesota, which is great because it just makes it so much easier. That OSA site is terrible anyway. Uh and
obviously when we report um to the state of Minnesota we are now you know we are eligible for LG local government assistance. >> What does OSA stand for? >> Office >> office of >> state auditor. >> State auditor. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Um so that's kind of what we do.
That's kind of the partnership that we have. We provide documents. They audit documents. So uh these are the fund balances and net priorities of uh 2024. Um, so we had 1 point, let's just say
$1.2 million in our savings account. Uh, the net, uh, fund from 23 to 24 decreased by about a million dollars. And that was part of the plan when we talked about Second Street. So, some of those are inner um inner fund loans um
between sewer, water, and electric, but we knew going into it that we were going to use some of our actual funds. Our total revenue for the city was $5.2 million. Our total expenditures, that's
where that uh decrease in funds comes from, was 6.1 million. Our outstanding debt is still uh at this time about 5 million. >> That doesn't include Second Street. >> That does not include Second Street.
Nope. We didn't bond until 25. Historical overview. So, um this is a little bit deceptive, I will tell you. Um it looks like since 2020, we've always had more expenses than revenue. It's really not true. There's some uh I
took this directly from the the audit documents. So what happens on the back side of this is we know for instance sewer water and electric inner inner loan inner loan funds to us. So for instance some of the second story um
funding for storm sewer and for electrical actually came out of the general fund. And so that fund is now paying some of that back. So it looks a little wonky, but um I just wanted to give that as a visual. This is what our
audit generally looks like. Go forward. Um this is where our sources by revenue come from. Uh 38.2% come from property taxes. um special assessments is 4.9% and that
intergovernmental the other blue I guess I should have t used a different color palette the larger blue the 30 34.4% 4% um that is from electric, storm, water, they obviously help pay for a majority
of their bills. So that is a source of revenue. Um so when we compare taxes to our enterprise funds, you'll notice that enterprise funds, especially to a small town like ours, are really important. If we didn't have electric, we didn't have
water and sewer and storm sewer funds, we would have less revenue coming in, which means our property taxes would have to go up. Charges for services is 13%. Um, that is a wide range of things,
but um things like mowing people's lawn and charging them to replacing uh transformers, licensing and permits. Um obviously that's self-explanatory. Uh interest 3.4% of our revenue last
year came from interest from our accounts. Um 1.5% came from contributions and donations and8% uh came from fines and forfeures. So um those things like speeding tickets um
DWIS um that stuff goes into that account. >> What about LGA? Does that get put on there or no? Uh I have that within property taxes. >> That is >> what percentage of that is LGA?
>> Um LGA is about let's just say 480 I think this year on 2024 it was about 485,000. So it's about a fourth of our actual expenses >> contributions. If somebody will million
dollars to the city >> Yeah. That's not a issue. I mean, the city can accept that. >> Sometimes they'll donate it as uh for a purpose. >> Yeah. >> Like the Pipsner ambulance donations are great example. Those are restricted
funds. They can only be used for ambulance. >> You have a plan. No, >> I think >> we started every time >> the um electric fund uh I'll just say since 2017 has had a really difficult
time performing in Winthrup. Um and I would say a lot of that has to do with ongoing expensive costs. Um but we've also seen a great pressure in rates not going up. So in 2018, the city
did a rate study. Um that rate study did not follow. Um the city council for whatever reason chose not to follow the rate study and the fund really continued to diminish. Um they have a great net position right
now only because in early 2000s the electric fund had great profit because it was set up um to make profit. with the new rates >> with the new rates. And so, uh, I will tell you that our net position went down
this year, but that was only because of Second Street. So, all of the conduit, wiring, all that stuff was paid out of this fund. If that hadn't happened, electric would have actually had a net positive
for the first time in almost a decade. Um, so your net position for electric is 1.7 million. Um, as I said over here, oh look, I put a note. Capital improvements to Second Street was about 100,000. It was actually a little bit more than
that. Uh, but we used some of the interest from our 4M fund at the beginning of the project to help take some of that down. But, uh, projects in Arlington, by the way, similar projects. um just to compare the two because we're
both MMPA members and we both had to do electric. Uh theirs totaled almost half a million. Um so we did ours relatively cheap and that's because our guys are MMUA certified to lay pipe and wiring and
there aren't they had to contract. So the water department had uh a great year. Um there was a lot of reasons for that. We did a lot of corrections on industries that are using and consuming a large amount of water. Um, our gross
profit was 812. Our expenses were 410. We net profited about $400,000 in that account this year. I would I would assume that that trend will continue. They're doing really well this year as well. >> And go ahead.
>> Electrical should be cash flowing then next year with the new rate changes. >> Yes. I believe they will, but they're going to have to take a 4% increase. The rate of inflation has to be met. Um because they're our rates that they're selling us power to continue to
rise. Um and we'll talk about that at the next session. But like for instance, demand uh MMPA raised their demand rate again and we haven't raised it now for two years. It's really time to look at that again. Um, and those demand rates,
I think we charge 650 for a demand hour and MMPA is charging us like 15 bucks right now. So, there's a large disparity. And how we get around to that? Well, we used to get around it by blending it, right? So, the a little
bit of profit that the residential customers give us, we spread that out so it was cheaper for industries to continue to operate in Winthrop. Um, I think it's a great strategy. It's just one that's not working right now and we'll have to look at that as we budget.
The other thing that I think we need to talk about in the water fund is the water fund is going to need a lot of money coming up. Uh our 1950s water plant has already had problems. The 1932 water tower that's in the park. Uh, you know, the health department hasn't said
much lately, but it has led paint on the outside, and I'm honestly surprised it has been shut down, just to be completely honest. But, it's turned up clean. Our water report is always shiny. But, uh, in general, they usually
shut those down unless they're rehabbed. It's a very small water tower to begin with. Um, >> is that 75,000? >> Yeah, 75,000 gallons. Um, and then the water plant filters. So, even if we don't do anything to the
plant, the filters are going to have to be rehabbed. We got quotes two years ago, and they're almost $400,000 to rehab the filters in the plant >> just to do the filters. >> Just to do the filters. So, the water department's going to need money. That's kind of my point.
The sewer. Um, so sewer is also um a little bit odd. We had a industrial customer where we were incorrectly charging them since 2019 2018 uh the incorrect sewer mount. So we had
to do a refund of $227,000 last year. Um when we switched over to the new system, that's really when we saw the error. Um, and so the net position actually would have been
positive this year for the first time in a little while. Um, and right now that fund is really healthy. It's doing its job. Um, sewer is one of those things where um, you know, to repair sewer in
the city is really expensive. Um, we all know that everyone wants the sewer department to work because if you don't, poop gets in your basement. Um, we also did a healthy amount of improvements to the sewer ponds and to our lift station
um down on Mil Street in the last two years and they're going to continue to kind of need rehab um especially when it comes to our our sewer ponds. Net position right now is 763. Rubbish. Isn't it rubbish? Um, generally
we don't talk about rubbish as an enterprise fund, but it is one. We make money on garbage right now. Um, we use that money, by the way, to do things like fall and spring cleanup because that costs us money. We also, um, are
going to start debiting this for Farm City Funfest with all the garbage. um that we use. So, uh they have a little bit of net position, but uh every time we switch or the garbage company needs new garbage cans in one trip, we have to
pay that. Um so, a little bit of money is helpful, uh to keep that lively. Uh other cities are using the rubbish fund to do demolitions on houses. Um um this year specifically we haven't
really seen a ton of increases. So this is one of those enterprise funds that you won't see rate increases for. So uh in 2025 uh we'll get that audit back in 26. So now we need to look at 26 going forward. I kind of wanted to give you a general
overview. This is kind of um item number 4.4 before on the the agenda, but uh in 24 we'll review and use current data from 25. Our planning sessions really will run from August to September where city
council will be charged with setting the preliminary levy by September 30th. Um because this isn't Heather and I's first rodeo, uh we're already having department head meetings uh after this
week. um we already have kind of a good projection on where we want to go with projects next year. Um finalization of that uh honestly by December 15th after uh Thanksgiving that first meeting in December will finalize
the budget and then we'll send it to the county sometime thereafter. Um, we have work sessions and I put them on the agenda on uh May or excuse me, May August 18th, uh, September 15th and
September 22nd. If council feels comfortable after the first section, our second one, we can cancel the third. We just wanted to get it on people's agendas. Um, on one or both of them, we will have to go into a normal session.
um because you have to at a work session you cannot pass uh resolution. So So I think that's it. Any questions about the 24 audit or the budget session and season coming up?
I would just like to say that audits are good things, you know. I mean, it protects Heather. It protects anybody that does anything with the finances, the bills. So, you know, I think it's a great thing to have that done. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah.
>> And that information is freely available, right, to public if anybody wants to >> to look at it. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. And I know how much work goes into it for the city staff. So, >> yes,
>> we appreciate the final outcome. >> Is it finally easier now that we're sort of on the same budget system and we don't have to do that sort of balancing one foot in both worlds? >> Yeah, it's way easier. >> Okay. >> Way easier. And you know, considering in
2022 when it was my first audit and I'm not a finance person, that was uh >> Come on. It was fine. We had fun. >> It was fun digging through boxes. And yeah, it was um the new system is much better for everyone. For everyone.
>> Good. Okay. Any other any questions about audit or budget planning sessions coming up? If not, we'll move on to 4.5, the ambulance service discussion. Yeah, this is justformational. I just
have a lot of information and um we've been working on this at planning uh in the admin committee I don't know for the last couple months. Um honestly um Rob Edwards is kind of the one that um
really wanted us to dig into fire and ambulance because we knew that there were there was going to be a lot of problems coming up. And um you there's a supplement page that I gave you guys. Um it's just information. I don't know how helpful it is. I but I just wanted to
kind of give you a a give council a broad stroke about what's happening to ambulance service across the country. Um what's happening to our ambulance service here in Winthr, which is not gloom and doom. there's a lot of positive um and kind of our recommendations
from the admin committee and um obviously we can have a lot of discussion about this in 2022 because we base a lot of things off numbers. I thought we should just kind
of go down memory lane. So in the early 2000s ambulance was probably making a lot of money. They were probably cash flow positive. I I no doubt have zero doubt that they probably were.
Uh in 2002, the federal government in all their infinite and wisdom decided to have very complicated formulas uh put together. And at first it wasn't really real
realized what was happening. um in those formulas, but they weren't very strict in 2002. Then COVID happened and Medicare and Medicaid went through this weird crisis
and their formulas changed and it started putting large amounts of pressure on not just rural but larger ambulance services. At that time what you saw generally even in our region is you saw places like
Mayo Clinic and Alena Healthcare and Ridge View reach out to small towns and say hey we can provide services for you at a fraction of the cost. we'll be your friends and partners, right? And so they came in and they started operating
ambulance services under the guise of, you know, Winthrop ambulance. And I think in general that worked for a really long time, but what's happening is these Medicare Medicaid payments and you you probably been hearing this in the news. um that formula keeps changing
and uh I I'm going to flip to the last page cuz I think it's these are actual examples of payments. I just gave you four of them. So, normally our ambulance bills are about $1,000 to $1,200. Uh if
we transport is when they get more expensive based on mileage, if we have to do an ALS intercept, all of those things. But generally, let's just pretend they're about 1,200 bucks. if they have a supplemental insurance. Oh, I missed a 00. Anyway, if they have a
supplemental insurance, it goes through them first. And you can see on example one and example four, that's what happened. They paid us a little extra, then Medicare pays. Then Medicare takes the rest of that bill and writes it all off. And there is
no way for us to collect. It's actually illegal for us to send them to collections or separately bill them or put it on their taxes. So, of the $5,200 we were supposed to receive as a revenue,
we only receive 3,200 of that because 2,000 was wrote off, which means 39% of everything we build was wrote off by the federal government under their special formula. What's great about the formula is it's different everywhere and it
actually helps metro locations more than it does rural locations. fun. So, uh throughout this time in the 2000s, this formula kept getting changed. Um we saw costs increase. In
23, we lost about $60,000, which means we taxed the citizens of WRIP about 60,000. In 24, um due to some capital outreach and capital investments, um we lost money again. And then we also lost money last year only because we
started working on uh ambulance um and fire buildings which they both helped to pay out >> I think. Um >> that's a big number 200. >> Yeah. What's that? >> A lot of it was engineering. Um supply
costs went through the roof. Air >> air was insane. Um but they just they've ambulance medicine uh you know we've tried to do different suppliers in the last year. We've really
tried to lower the cost of that but it I mean it's very expensive. Not only that, but our ambulances continue to have mechanical problems. And um we just found out the other day that one of our ambulances actually it popped a breaker and it was actually something inside the
ambulance we think because there's nothing wrong with the breaker. Still trying to figure that out by the way, Ed. Um so they're they're just things are just more expensive. Um you know, regular ACE bandages are five times more expensive
now than they were three years ago. and we don't get reimbursed at the same rate. We actually increased our fee only to hopefully get more back from >> our federal. >> So, and
>> yeah, we also sorry I'm we cannot >> individually charge for for supplies. So, like if we have to shock somebody with pads and they survive, we can't charge them the $600 for those pads, we
still get the same 400 or four 1,200 bucks or whatever our base rate is at this point. So, >> all of the pieces of that we use the oxygen, we can't charge it for the oxygen, we can't charge it for the band-aid, for the >> diabetic supplies,
>> diabetic supplies, any of that stuff. It's just a flat rate of $1,400 >> and you have to have >> 12 certain list of medications and supplies and some of them expire. >> Yep. >> Before they're right. >> So what are the revenues that offset
this? Not much of that. >> So that's where you know some of this conversation with other um townships have come into play. When we said you know we're going to start charging it. There was a lot of kickback. um they they give us a very small portion of our
actual operating budget. Ambulance pulls in about $100,000 every single year to bas depending on call volume. Um 75ish% of our 2024 calls were on
Medicare or Medicaid. So getting reimbursements from that is very difficult and where it gets supplemented is through taxation. I mean we budgeted about $60 to $70,000 this last year to
go on taxes. And so um right now we have a BLS service um which is a lower grade service. And through all this research and discussion and conversation with cities
like Hector and Gaylord, um there is just a lot of solution building going on right now in a lot of different towns. A lot of towns are switching from BLS to ALS. But with that comes a different set of
criteria, more supplies. It it requires a paramedic on staff. Um, but the flip side of that is that they pay out differently for ALS service than
they do BLS service. So, um, for instance, you know, Gaylord is a good example of someone that switched to ALS service but also went through Bridge View to contract that service.
Um, so they have like a daytime emergency services person. I can't remember their title right now. Um, and they take care of, you know, what ED does now plus some. They're also allowed to administer like IV medications and
charge the patient um to recover the cost of them. >> And they have the regular ambulance also. >> And then they have a volunteer ambulance service during the day and night. what um and please take this as a
I'm not you know those medical facilities are there to make money they can't lose money all the time so their expenses have also gone up in fact this was in their minutes of city council so you can
go look it up um last year uh Ridge View charged them $145,000 um this year it went up $50,000 to cover their expenses. And what Ridgeview isn't telling them about this
is that Gaylord's still in charge of purchasing and maintaining their ambulances, their garage, um code compliance, they are in charge of all that and they don't get any of the revenue that goes to Ridge View.
So the actual cost is far greater than $195,000. And Ridge View will say during this report that, you know, it's based on call volume. We just aren't getting enough call volume. You have to combine with another city
to do that. Um, I think there's another solution. I think that uh Hector is a really good example of a and not just because Heather lives there, literally just because it is a good example of a different way to build the airplane as
this crisis is going on. And uh they switched to ALS ALS service and still retain their you know autonomy. Um no one oversees them. It's their own service. they have kept expenses lower
than what we run our BLS service for. Um, in in fact, I I think last year it was only like, and I have to double check these numbers off the top of my head, but I think it was like 30 or $40,000 is what the taxpayers pitched in
versus us who are on this different crazy Medicaid formula. And this is only going to get worse as our population ages, as our county on the west side ages. That that figure is never going to get better for us. You know, we cover
everything basically west of Winthrop. And we have the second largest by territory volunteer ambulance service in the state. And our population of elderly continues
to grow. And so fixing this formula what whatever council wishes to do or points us in the direction of doing has to come out uh in a formula where ambulance is once
again self- sustaining. Um I think four years ago we broke it to both ambulance and townships that you know ambulance hasn't made money in over a decade and they were just floored. Um,
we just we have to get better at making informed decisions when it comes to ambulance. >> And I thought that we did change the rates for the townships. >> We did and they are still very unsure of them. >> They still haven't signed agreement >> and three of them have not signed the
agreement >> and it was just >> so they don't sign the agreement. We don't go to their Tasha. >> Well, I think statutoily we're required to at this time. >> Why? Um, so the EMSRB actually designates territories and when we sign
on we are statutoily required to respond to calls to them. >> Uh, Lassour Arlington did some switches a few years ago. >> Mhm. >> Lassour is now required to come further out because
I remember it was some problem with this kind of thing. Yeah, it's that same formula like they thought combining with another service was better and generally I think some of that stuff is good like you know Gaylord
and us we bought a sewer cleaning system together years ago. I don't right that was great because we don't use that every day and it's silly for both towns to have their own. It it just is. Um, I think it's great to collaborate on most things, but when you lose your autonomy
to choose what you do with your service and, you know, have a a parent company kind of take over, it just gets harder. It It gets harder and harder. It's kind of like um that same discussion of whether you switch to city town cops or
just have county coverage. County coverage sounds great at first, but as their increases, as their level of support goes up, so does the level of cost, right? Because we would all do the same thing. Um, you go into the hospital
and have a boo boo and it requires surgery, that is going to be more expensive than just getting stitches, right? Um, same thing. Uh so as we continue down this ambulance journey, uh we wanted you guys to know
and understand that we as staff and as the admin committee know that this is a problem and that we're working on it, but we don't also want to jump to a conclusion of like, yep, let's just go with Gaylord. um you know helps you know
help uh disperse some of that cost out because I don't know if that's the best solution. >> Well, if we went to the ALS, are we still uh obligated to serve um >> same area? >> Oh, yeah. The same area.
>> Yes. Um, but we could petition the ESMRB board to do something different, but we would still have a coverage area. >> And that's one of the concerns I have if you, you know, if you combine with Gaylord or whoever, it's a larger even
larger territory and what happens to response time. >> And Gibbons's been really good. So Gibbon, you know, I said there was good things at the end of this. You know, our cadet program produced some new EMTs. Um, we have really great paramedics and
EMTs already serving. Um, clearly we need more uh especially on days both fire and ambulance need day people like you wouldn't believe. Uh, but Gibbon actually sent a number of people through EMT class and they pass.
So when we go to call a given, their fire and rescue crew really have things like nailed down for us like generally we're there just to pick up and like fly to the hospital. Um and Ed, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but generally
given helps us and they've been really good partners in this. It really comes down to um you know where does that expense get expensed out to? Is is it more fees on townships, which honestly their tax
capacity is pretty tight, or you know, is do we create a fire and ambulance taxing district, which a lot of people have used that would give everyone in the townships a moment of reflection
because they would get an elected official on the board. Uh it would no longer be in control of city council. it would be a blended board between cities and townships. Um but then they have to understand that
there's a lot of expectation to keep up. >> So where's the township at right now? >> Um we have a meeting scheduled for this fall. Um >> so they have nothing's been increased with the townships. >> We we did increase them. We did invoice
them to what the agreement was, but we have a number of townships that have not signed the document. >> Well, I don't understand why they wouldn't pay the same as someone leaving the city of Wind. >> They do. They actually probably pay more
because of mileage. Uh because we do charge mileage on calls. Um but what we have asked the townships to do is help give >> I'm talking about capital expense. Yeah. So they do >> an operational. >> Yeah, they >> not like a call by call. Yeah, not a
call by call. >> We have been sending the bills for operation expenses. We have a formula that was agreed upon >> um a while ago. It's based on households that are in the selected areas by a percent. So like this township pays 8%
and that township pays 10%. It's um kind of archaic. And uh you know when we buy like an ambulance um those expenses are you know dispersed between the city and the city of Gibbon and the rest of the townships.
>> So if we went with this ALS first do we have enough staff? Do we have enough paramedics? Because you'd have to have a paramedic on every run. >> You'd have to. So we would we're looking at a part-time ALS service. So, it would just be day daytime.
>> Um, and no, we would not have enough staff >> for that. We would have to hire staff. >> What about the reimbursement difference? Um, it's reimbured different than what we are right now. >> Yeah, we're actually I reached out to our billing company to see if they could
run it as ALS. I just haven't gotten it back yet. >> And just because you have a paramedic in the truck doesn't necessarily you can bill it as an ALS call. >> Correct. >> Really? >> Right. Because you know the the severity
of the call, you know, if the guy has if if you go to someplace and they have a broken finger and they can't drive themselves to the hospital, you can't charge them ALS fees for that. You can only charge them basic rate because it's not
would I say life-threatening. I can guarantee you that Gail or I can guarantee you that Bridge probably bills everybody as ALS because of the fact that none of their EMTs during the day as you work with a paramedic ever take the BLS call. There's always a paramedic that takes the call >> in the back.
>> Yeah. >> So I can guarantee you you're spending the extra money for those >> so the insurance company doesn't question that at all. I don't know if it's they don't question it, but I mean we also have we would
have certification as ALS. I mean, so we can bill it as ALS. >> Have you ever reached out to Arlington? How did how are cuz they're they're we get a calendar and they're supposed to have ALS, I believe, but it's one day it's not, one day it is, one day it's not. So, you got to get up and look at
the calendar and see, >> you know. >> Yeah, we have reached out. There's some they have some staffing problems uh in Arlington. >> What about >> but as well as Gaylord? I mean Gaylord's under Ridge View and they still have staffing problems.
>> Massive. What about uh so is is uh Red View reaching out to us and saying, "Hey, we want to come over here and take >> um actually Steve reached out to me sometime late last year and asked if we were interested in combining." And I
said, "No, things are going fine right now. This isn't something that we'd consider because we would have to absorb that one." >> Right. And I don't I don't just working with that's not the answer either. >> Yeah. And quite frankly, we're spending less. You know, if it wouldn't have been for capital expenditures, we would have
been spending less than joining them by a lot. But I mean, close to $100,000 less. So, >> but that was pretty necessary because we have to have a place to put said ambulances that's safe and meet some
standards. >> Yeah. >> What I was getting at is the Medicare cost. >> Yeah. for an ambulance run if they they only pay 64165 whatever would that be higher if we're under ALS >> yes >> that would
it what >> significantly >> that's what we're trying to find out >> okay >> yeah I don't have the best answer for you right now but yes the formula is different when I looked at it I calculated we would have 20% more revenue based on our
ALS position, but I we need to figure out that formula and they would know better than I would. >> So, even the local hospitals are struggling with >> Yeah. >> Medicare payments. >> How about uh >> when we go to call, you go on call and
you go, "Hey, we need ALS." >> Yep. >> So, the ALS comes from Gailor. So, then how does that go for them? >> You pay them. >> Are we paying them too? So, we have a billing third party billing company. They do all of our
billing for us. Um, they collect all the payments to ensure that all the accounts get labeled as taken care of, not taken care of, so that we have end of year reports to give to our auditors. If they don't, if the check isn't
written out to us, they send us a check. We get build like our last month's bill for them doing all of the month was $375 for them to do all of the invoicing everything
reports. They send us weekly reports and monthly reports which is a far sight better than what we had. We couldn't get any reports out of the last billing company we had. Um >> does um does Alina bill? So Alina will
send us invoices if they have an ALS run with us. Alina bills us I believe it's $200 a call and Ridge View charges us $400 a call >> and then and then
>> ALS and we we add so we have a BLS rate and we have an ALS rate that gets pulled out. So if we if we build if we if we call ALS then we bill them at the ALS rate which should cover >> that $200.
>> Do you meet them or do they actually come out? >> They meet us. We meet them on the highway and then they get in our ambulance. How many have >> So they bring their >> um last year we had 22 ALS intercepts out of 284 calls and this year out of
120ome calls we've already had 15 intercepts. Yeah. >> So, our intercepts are up. >> Yeah. And you know, some of our just some of our recent calls have been ALS. We've been ALS heavy in the last
month. Very ALS heavy in the last month. So, we're, you know, it's just we need meds. We can't give these meds. And if we had, you know, part-time ALS and it's a day call, you know, we can do that. Or
if, you know, we call Kristen and wake her up at midnight and she can come running. >> Do do you two want to give a maybe a better broader definition of ALS and BLS? Like, >> so BLS is just your literally your basic
life support. They can't give any nerves. They can't give you any pain meds. They can't intubate you. They can't give you any cardiac meds. It's literally like bandages, CPR, your basic basic first aid. And advanced uh ALS is
your advanced life support, which is I can intubate you. I can give you ns, I can give you pain meds, I can give you cardiac arrest meds, >> every single thing you can get in an ER. Pretty much we would be like a mini ER in the back of your rig. >> Yeah. So when she says intubate, that's,
you know, the lendoscope that you see on TV and they stick the tube in. We have a device that we can use as BLS. It's super super >> super glotic. >> Gladic. Thank you.
>> Airway. And basically it just it to put it simply, it just pushes the tongue out of the way and seals the the hole, but it doesn't directly go into the trachea. So you get some leakage into the
esophagus at some points if you don't get it far enough down where if you're intubating you get much deeper in. >> And what what situation would you deem need that someone >> that's unconscious? Yeah. not breathing, unconscious, cardiac,
>> um a severe vehicle, you know, automobile accident where >> you know if they, you know, a lot of times, you know, well, for instance, like a stroke patient that you know is stroking, you can sedate and intubate
to protect their airway and the sedation sometimes can slow down the effects of a stroke. So, >> so you can use sedation? >> Yep. >> Yep. As a paramedic, you can't >> as a paramedic. Yes. And we can't on >> No. >> No.
>> When we stuff a sublotic airway in if they gag on it and then and we're out of out of luck on it. >> So, how how is Hector going? Do they have did they have to hire somebody? >> So, they have two paramedics >> that are on
>> I don't know if Rodm is. So there the Rambo County Sheriff is a paramedic for the Hector ambulance. They had another one. He retired from some of his other duties and I believe he retired from the ambulance too. Um and I don't know if another one picked
it up, but 90% of the time they run ALS. >> So it's somebody that lives in the community. They're not like paying somebody to sit there like >> Nope. They are completely volunteer. They don't schedule like you guys. They have a a Gmail calendar that you can pick up
shifts on if you feel like picking them up, but otherwise they just kind of everybody just they've never had an issue where people aren't responding to the calls that it's >> not a guarantee that the paramedic's going to be there. >> No, but the dispatch will say ALS or BLS
and if they need ALS and we don't have a paramedic that can respond, they radio back and say page the next. Okay. It does open up a little bit of revenue for us for the surrounding communities that are losing their need services
also. >> Yeah. >> It puts us in a stronger position. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> As long as we have people, >> right? >> And and you know, right now as a BLS service, we're very lucky because we
have we have a good staff. struggle on days a little bit. I wouldn't I wouldn't even say much, just a little bit. Um, but >> nothing compared to anybody else in our >> in our area. You know, Lafayette, you
know, they're they're going through a big struggle right now where they're they're going to suspend their ambulance or not. And then who picks up that territory, you know, and that's something we need to talk about. >> So, they
>> at some point, too. they would have to hire like somebody to come in there and >> right >> or somebody else takes over part of the territory. >> Yep. Yeah. Like right now Alina covers the southern half of their territory and
and if let's say there's something on County Road 8, you know, south of County Road 8 and south is their territory and north is ours. If it's along that northern border of their territory, we've been paged out to that.
>> Well, I can tell you that a crash at 84. >> Yeah, >> that's their territory. When I called Dickwood County for >> Alina, it was going to be 30 minutes. >> Yep. >> So, I instantly paid Winter, which was 10 minutes. >> Yeah. >> With two trucks.
>> But they didn't have I know. But they didn't have anybody >> Yeah. They didn't have anybody to go there. And that's not the that's not the first time that's happened either. I responded out there to an accident with >> And one person showed up in a private
vehicle and said, "I just wanted to come out and make sure you guys didn't need any help." And then, you know, no, we got this. And then, you know, pretty much they left and we handled that scene. And that was again, it was one of their it was their territory. And it was
they just didn't have anybody to respond. And that was a Saturday afternoon. >> What do I have to have? >> I just had a cardiac arrest out there on Saturday and it took him four pages to get anybody from LA amines out there >> and and you were >> It was a 42-y old man that just
collapsed on the side of the road >> and I was working a lineup. >> Yeah. >> But do we want more territory? I mean, if we're losing money on it now, >> but more territory doesn't necessarily mean losing money. It actually means
you're going to increase calls. >> You're going to increase calls >> when you could increase profit, >> right? And if you do it, if you're a >> if you do it correctly, even if you're BLS, if you do it correctly and the um
our EMS uh specialist from the office of EMS or former EMSRB, >> whatever it's called now, >> um she was talking about staffing agreements with different cities and how the staffing agreement from Winona
County where she lives is um Winona County has a staffing agreement with several different small agencies where they can staff their ambulance. Let's say they have a staff that can staff their ambulance on Friday and Saturday,
but they can't any other time. Then our city runs that staff and we gain that revenue um along with some you know if there's a call we gain that revenue along with some additional revenue from the city covering the territory
but you have to have there has to be staffing agreements in place for that. So, >> there's many ways to skin this cat, but the game that we're playing right now, it doesn't work. And we either,
you know, we either have to figure out that formula or we're going to start I mean, just the taxes are going to go crazy with >> this huge. >> Well, and it's one of those things we can't just say, "Oh, well, let's just
not deal with it." Because we need ambulance coverage. We have to provide that. So we have to find the most cost effective way to do it. Yeah. >> It still provides good service for our taxpayers. >> Yeah. I think you know we're lucky in Winthre because we are in a position
where we're like okay what do we want to do? It's not an emergency. It's not saying like tomorrow we're closing down. We're not, you know, you know, terribly staffed like Lafayette and um we just have options and I think that if we
become stronger, we'll be a much better resource for the region. I mean, we're already helping cover towns around us. So, you know, maybe it's time we step up our game. And you know, last weekend we
had we had a backup call where we had Gaylord had to come over and help us because we didn't have a st we didn't have staff for a backup ambulance. >> Our main ambulance was out already, obviously. So, >> yeah. >> Something I didn't put in this report,
but it's a reality is that, you know, our call volume has gone up greatly over the last decade. and um from people dialing when they shouldn't be dialing to uh you know just our population change it it's going to continue to go
up. That's what we see as a trend. I mean look at our fire calls this year too. I mean our fire calls we're already at the level that they were four years ago. That's how many fire calls we've had this year. It's it's been a very
tough year for fire. So, with all that said, we'll continue to work on this. I wanted to bring it up so that it doesn't come up as a surprise. We'll try to get you more information, bigger information. Um, and then, um, you know, maybe we can fit this into some budget
discussions about what we want to do going forward. >> And thank you, Kristen. >> I believe that actually I think you can itemize two on your intercept bill. >> Yeah. Um, and >> I think by procedures you can Very nice. >> Yeah. And if you want to This is what we
have to figure out. >> I'm not 100% sure, but I'm pretty sure you can. >> So, you can charge for >> oxygen. You have oxygen. You can charge for blood glucose. You can any procedure that you do. >> I have to show you this formula thing because this is the federal government
at its best. >> At its finest. >> At its finest. >> I think this >> is it open? It's open. No. Okay. >> It's too big.
>> I don't know what's going on. >> I can't get my uh Okay. So, this is where you >> So, first you have to figure out your local, which we're 72. This isn't going to make any sense to
anyone, but um this is the kind of malarkey we have to deal with. And then you'd have to figure out your service and all that other stuff. And then each location and service gets to charge different amounts. And the reimbursement amounts that we have are different in
every single location. And then based on uh ALS versus BLS and then I don't know what this is. It's just different. These are the formulas you have to work through in order to get the right one. The small one on the
bottom is mileage I believe. >> Yeah, this is probably mileage. But I think these through two are BLS. This is ALS. So you can see the difference is much greater. This is what we get reimbursed on most calls thereabouts. And this is how much you can get
reimbured for like airflights and helicopter rides, you know. So all of this is part of that formula that we have to figure out. >> Well, gas costs the same. Yeah, >> per mile. I mean, >> but look at all this.
>> The supplies are the same. >> You have to figure out all of these formulas. Anyway, so with that being said, we still have more research to do. I wanted to bring it up tonight because it was kind of a light agenda anyway, and I know that we were going to talk about budget things. So, I thought it would be a good fit uh for tonight's
conversation. >> Wow. Okay, that's a lot of information, which is good. Anybody have any questions? Last Okay. Then we move on to 4.6. The police policy.
>> This is just updated language on uh >> it's a new new policy for when we're going through our accreditation. they're uh recommending the city. Thank you, bro.
>> Um the policy covers things like um keeping officers safe. Um in fact, most of it is about keeping officers safe if you look through it. um you know when to radio dispatch um when they're acting
alone or in a party gives different different alternatives to engaging also. So >> So we had no policy on this before? >> No. >> And where did this policy come from?
uh Grand Rapids Police Department was the bulk of it and not very many police departments actually have a home policy. So that's why the accreditation process is helpful that identifies areas where
you can improve and >> you're comfortable with all of >> Yeah. I I updated that specifically for us so it's not the exact same as theirs. Um Okay. Anybody
have any questions about it or Logan or anything else? >> Now, if somebody like to make a motion regarding the police policy, >> I'll make a motion to approve it. >> Motion by Jenny to approve. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Second by Kelly. Any discussion? Any
discussion? Any discussion? All those in favor, please say I. I. Post. Same sign. Motion carries. >> All right. old business item, the flag pole estimates. >> Yes. So,
long story short, we went to JT Services for um our flag pole estimates. They have an interlock system that will fit our pole. Um we got that back and we were super unhappy with it. We just thought that was astronomical to pay.
So, I didn't get this on the agenda because we just got it last Thursday. So, I apologize. Um, but we actually found an independent metal person that will make them for us at a fraction of the cost. So, um, each insert on the
pole costs $20 to make. Um, we're talking, um, about spending about $1,000 on the actual inserts to the poles. And then one of the residents is actually willing to powder coat it. And so we think the
whole project can get done for about 1,500 uh downtown and then we don't have to buy it through JT services because that's very expensive. >> I about fell over on my chair when they sent the go through. Um,
so depending on how many brackets you want, um, you know, we can do whatever council wants, especially now that we have a, um, a new supplier. And, um, this is kind of a general map of where the flag will be placed. Um,
and we can certainly change it if you wish. Um obviously on the four corners there's a lot of opportunity on Maine in second and Carver in second. There's four flight or four poles on there. Um but
where the American flags are on there would be two American flags per pole is what Troy and I um the only weird thing is is this does not have a flag pole on it. Just by design it didn't need one. So we didn't put one in.
>> Um and >> what do you mean two flags per pole? So it's kind of >> Yeah, they would just fly out. >> So when did the flags fly? Would they be a >> Yeah, I think that's something that we can discuss further about when we put
them up and when we take them down. >> Yeah. Um, with the brackets too, we can actually put them to a height that, you know, any civic organization or staffer can go through and put them up instead of having to get the bucket truck out
and go, you know, >> will they be stolen or do they get mounted in there? >> I would hope that no one would steal the American >> I hope not. >> Um, but they could we could buy banners u or chamber of commerce or whoever.
Yeah, they could definitely do different things. >> Um, >> so what's the total cost now with the >> I think with flags, brackets, and the powder coating it'd be about 2,000 >> instead of >> instead of 15,000 just for brackets.
>> You're welcome. >> So move. >> Second. >> All right. Motion by Kelly, second by Ed to proceed with Uh, I think we got a quote. Any discussion?
>> Any discussion? >> When would they have them? >> Uh, we'll have them start making them after this meeting gets approved and then um sometime after that. I don't know. >> We install them. >> I don't think it's going to take them very long. >> Okay. >> Um, but yeah, we'll we'll help install
them and get them up. >> Good. Wonderful. >> All right. All those in favor, please say I. Oppos. Same sign. Motion carried. All right. How many notices, updates, admin or Yeah, Michael with you. EDA.
>> Um, just a few updates from around around the city. Um, the EDA is going to be really busy in the next couple months. I know that a lot of people know this already, but there's been a couple loan requests um put through for some new businesses, some succession
planning, and some brand new builds. Um, so you're going to see a lot of EDA action in the next couple months. Baseball lighting. So, we have been approached by multiple cities to purchase our lights and we have um an
independent company uh assessing their value right now. To put a light system up like we have currently costs almost $300,000. So, the lights have a little bit of value that we didn't know about. >> Then we pay about 50,000. Yeah.
>> Yeah. >> Because we'll be able to sell them for probably a couple double that. >> I know that Gibbon has been interested in it. >> Um, a couple of years ago I've had people ask about it. We have people that play on the Yes. baseball team over
there, >> the Reds. >> Yeah. I I would sure hope we could do something. >> I know that Wade has reach Wade Warner reached out last week. We're just trying to get an assessed value and then let council know what it is. Even if council
decides to donate most of that value, I think that's completely fine. But we certainly want to make sure that the asset is valued so that we can write that off as a donation. So, >> wow. But yeah, baseball lighting, who knew? Uh splash pad.
>> Okay, so the splash pad has encountered a few setbacks. Um, one of them was just the large amount of rain that we've had. Um, obviously they're digging holes to put piping in for the splash pad. That is delayed some. We've had some
contractor missteps. They installed some uh, you know, some tiling that went to the storm sewer system. Then it rained a lot and they decided to put heavy equipment on it which collapsed the storm sewer system. Um, so that had to
get replaced. So, they've really had to dig twice in the same area, >> but they paid for it. >> They paid for all of that. Yes. >> Um, so at this point, the splash pad is beyond um the date of completion. So, now we're going to start talking about fines with them and about what we can
enforce via our AA AIA contract. We'll get back to you on that. I'll email you guys. But, um, we really expected them to be done by now. And, um, a little bit disappointed. They had all spring to do it, >> but they expected to do it. >> Yeah. >> This was their
>> this was their estimates. So, they were supposed to pour the actual splash pad concrete on Wednesday, but it's supposed to rain now on Wednesday. So, I don't know when that's going to happen, but they are making progress. Um, all of
the storm sewer is in. Um, most of the parts for the actual splash pad mechanicals are done and in. We'll actually be putting up light poles this week and have that done. Um, and with light poles, they're actually already
running the lights, the lights, the wiring for the camera system, but it's been a long process and it's been a little bit frustrating. Hopefully, they can finish up here in the next week or two. The police station. So, we had a significant amount of dirt um from the
splash pad. You'll see some of it where the old baseball field was. Um, our plan is to actually spread that out and even out that ground. There's some very low spots where, you know, poles used to be and where the actual baseball diamonds were. So, they're
going to push that black dirt around, rake it up really good, and then seed it this fall. The police station is also getting a considerable amount of that dirt and clay. Uh we're actually trying to even that out to put a more even surface for
the sledding hill where the police station is. So it looks a little weird right now because there's pumpkins growing at the bottom of where we want to spread it out. So it might look a little weird right now, but that will get evened out um a little bit later
this fall after the the kids are done having fun. >> September. >> One more thing about that. Yeah, >> the park they're putting cement around the play area. I saw the forms set up. >> Um there's a trail that goes by there. Yes,
>> that's a trail. >> Yes, I believe there's a trail that goes up there. They're also putting forms in to keep the wood chips in. >> That's what I was talking >> Oh, yep. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Um the chamber versus the city. So, we've
had a lot of confusion about whether or not uh we are the Chamber of Commerce, and >> that's my favorite. >> Yes. So, U Farm City Funfest is run by the Chamber of Commerce. I volunteer my time to help the chamber put on the festival. Um, so yes, you saw me down
there, but that was not like I wasn't getting paid to be a volunteer down at Farm City. Um, there's just been a lot of questions about who puts that on, and I just wanted to make it very clear to city council that that is a chamber of commerce. They file for the food permits, the liquor permits. Um
anyway, so they're the ones that put that on. It is not the city nuisance. Uh we're going to send out some warning letters. There's some properties getting out of control with grass and weeds. Um uh Logan and I are going to talk about that again. We I
kind of drove around um last night and today and identified some properties. We're just going to send some warning letters out. Try to be nice neighbors. mow your lawn and then after that we'll start start doing our thing Christmas lights. So Troy just wanted to bring
this up because the flag pole thing got a little out of hand. Just so everyone knows in this room there are no lights on Second Street. We didn't purchase them. We'll have lights on the highway and a few of the lights on Penipin, but
we don't have any other light brackets that were purchased. Uh, lights, by the way, are very expensive. You thought You thought flag pole holders were expensive. Well, light decorations are even more expensive. >> Talk to that other company. Maybe they
can make something. >> Yeah. So, uh, we just wanted to make you aware that yes, the highway and yes, Henipin, but no, down Second Street. something. >> Um, they put them above the
I don't know the light pole. There's a snowflake above them. >> They're very expensive. >> What kind of decorations would we be looking at if we wanted something down Main Street and then Second Street? Um,
what would work? >> Um, well, there's electrical all the way up and they have boxes on them, so they would have to be a bracketed um thing or the kind that go over the light um like that we have on Henipin.
Both of them would work. I know that the Chamber of Commerce really wants to put lights, string lights around the trees this year. I think that they're working on that. Oh, that would be >> instead of doing the very unique thing where they commercially go out and buy a
thing that goes on a light pole, they would rather just do the trees. >> Okay. Any other questions from Michael? >> Random updates. >> All right. Fire. I assume there's nothing. And is there anything you should know about?
>> I don't think so. >> Okay. library. >> We had a library advisory board meeting on July 7th. We looked at the bylaws quite a bit because they haven't been updated in a while and we're going to
keep making revisions to those. The summer reading program went well and some projects for the fall were considered. There was a lot of discussion on funding for the library on the federal, state,
county, local level. And while we know that library isn't as important as police, sewer, water, it certainly is something that really
means something to the community. And so, you know, we want to make sure that we talked about that a lot in our budgeting. If you happen to talk to a county commissioner, the their proposed cuts are $34,000
per library. So, over their funding from last year, that's that's a lot of money. >> And we were making 75. So, we'd be down to roughly 35. And the plan is according to their
discussion to go down after that because there's a it's called the maintenance of effort. That's a set by state statute. They have to provide they have to you know fund approximately the same level they did the year before. It can drop by like 10% per year but there's a it's
established by tax capacity and population. And so >> why don't they want to fun? I personally I think the libraries are just not a not a priority over there. >> And the really sad thing I think is that you know they're going to be difficult
economic times. So everybody's everybody's going to get crunched and that's when the libraries really get used and the if you if you check out anything from the library I just did last week now on your receipt that says you know I checked out these five books it will say you saved $125.39
today by using the library. So, if I got to purchase those same five books that I checked out, it would cost me over $100. But I can walk into the library with my library card and I go home and read them and I return them for somebody else to use them. So, >> and they have more than just books. You
know, we have Nintendo DS systems or no >> switches. >> Switches. >> Um, you know, there's >> there's DVDs that, um, people check out a lot, which I was surprised. >> Yeah. Um, but there's a lot of materials that the library has books.
>> You can check out a pass to go to the state park. >> Yeah. Which is >> what is that? >> I've heard of, >> right? So, it's just a piece of paper basically that you put you you have it for a week and you just put it in your
car >> and you can go right into the state park. Yep. It's like the past used to >> It's like the It's good for a week, >> but it's good for a week. >> Only once a year or the next week? I >> You can do it every week. >> Something is available. >> Yeah. As long as it's available, you can
check it out. >> Yeah. Cuz they only do Is it one per library? >> Yes. I believe we only have one right now. >> Yes. >> Heard about it. >> It's a cool program. >> It is a great program. >> Fantastic. So anyway,
get my Okay, public works. Anything going on? >> Well, I know there's lots going on there, but >> there's a ton going on. Uh they are working on the park project right now. Um but they do plan to do more light work this fall. So the $5 fee that's on
your bill allows us to buy about $30,000 worth of lighting every year. So, there's a couple north on uh north of town that they're going to replace because they feel like they're going to fall over. >> The one that's leaning like this by me.
>> Yeah, by meers. >> That is going to get replaced and then they're going to finish the rest of Second Street towards like the county shop there. It's pretty dark down there. >> Um so, they'll get those done and then the rest of them on Main Street here, the old green ones will come down and
the new decorative ones will come up. So, that's what they're really working on um this the rest of summer and fall. It's almost fall, by the way. Anyway, okay. >> All right. Planning Commission. >> They did meet um this last month.
Heather staffed the meeting. Um they really were looking at just variances and in normal items. >> RS Viper has not met. Nothing to report. utilities. >> I attended and uh council Samman
attended and Mayor Troublehorn attended the MMPA annual meeting. I thought it was really informative. Met some new people from Olivia >> who seemed to be at >> um but good information overall and we got to tour our power plant. >> Was this in Shak
>> right by the Canterbury Park? Yeah. >> And you would you know >> you'd never guess that's a power plant. You'd never guess it was >> It's right in a high rent apartment district right by a Canary Downs. >> Yeah, >> it's really well done. >> Quite impressive. >> All right. Um, ambulance.
There's more. Wait, >> I should I should just update the candidates. So, those ones that were uh doing the remediation through the college, they have they've completed that now. last week was their last week. Uh they've got a little bit of paperwork
they need to finish up. Uh some some assignments they need to finish up and then they'll be able to start testing again. So confident that those will move forward and we still have three that are uh in the national registry testing process.
So >> all right. Um thank them for their efforts. Please, >> please. Logan, you got anything for us? >> Not a lot. Just a reminder for National Night Out tomorrow. You guys want to stop. >> Tomorrow night
>> in the park from 5 to >> 5 to 7. >> Okay, >> sounds good. Uh, cable commission, >> we did not meet last >> and park committee. >> We haven't met, but we are going to meet um soon. Okay,
>> we've got some preliminary drawings on the donor wall uh that they're going to put for the splash pad. So, >> we have some things to discuss with that. >> Okay. >> Um, anything else? Otherwise, someone would like to move to ajourn.
>> You want to speak at once? >> So, move. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> I just thought we'd stay here all night. All those in favor, please say I. We are journed.
Thank you all. It's