We'll start with the pledge of allegiance. I aliance 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. Thank you everybody for being here in the midst of pouring rain. Um we will start with um the approval of the agenda. Does anybody have anything to add? Um, that way you Jenny. Nope. Ed,
no. Kelly, no. No. Sorry. Nope. That's okay. And Michael, uh, the only thing that I'm asking is that 5.6 resolution 2025-015 being moved to the front of the agenda. We have um the engineering firm
here to present for council. And then I did send out uh earlier today the addendum item uh 5.13 uh concerning streams funding and assistance for an engineering firm. Okay. So we'll put 5.6 right after
consent agenda. Yes. Please. All right. Somebody like to make a motion regarding the agenda. Motion by Kelly. Is there a second? Second. Second by Ed. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? All in favor please say I. I
oppose. Same sign. Motion carried. Um the consent agenda. Does anybody have any questions or feedback? Someone would like to approve. I'll second. All right. Motion by and second by Dawn. Any discussion? Any discussion?
Any discussion? All in f all those in favor, please say I. I. Opposed? Motion carried. All right. Um then we're going to move on to item 5.6, the resolution regarding the winter ambulance fire building
architect and engineering services. Yeah, for those following along, it's page 32 uh in the agenda packet and my perserant
by I don't know what happened. Hold on. Um, so I just wanted to say that uh this ambulance and fire building has kind of been uh an ongoing project between about a dozen fire and ambulance representatives.
Um, Ed has been kind enough to head most of it up. Um, but I wanted to say that this really started three years ago when we the city um condemned um the fire, excuse me, the
ambulance building that is currently um down on Main Street. So our um our go-get I guess from ambulance and fire perspective was let's design something that is going to um serve the community
in the future and really provide for our needs. Now six sites were selected at first. Um those sites included things like the current um school building. Um it also
included um over on Brown Street um out by the ethanol plant and for various reasons uh we really settled on the current location where the fire barn is across from the grocery
store. Um adding on to it was uh far less expensive than trying to build a brand new facility. um the Brown Street location that's next to the nursing home and clinic there. Um just north of that where a branch pile is normally at um
the soil samples that were taken made it very not good to um build at that location. Um ISG did the or sorry AET actually did the borings for those. Um then ISG started designing a building
that uh was not necessarily it didn't really fit our needs. Uh, and it was overbuilt and overengineered. We'll just put it that way. Um, Ed actually at a counselor stole or ambulance captain stole, depending on
which person shows up, um, is the first one that reached out to Bloom Hay Doss to really um, go after a different type of building. Um, something that fit the winter budget, fit our current needs. Um
and um so after two years and multiple floor plans and layouts um we are presenting tonight um really what is going to become um the fire and ambulance building um that will have
adequate meeting rooms. Um it will have uh new bays for the ambulance, a new drive-thru and washing bay for fire and ambulance. a kitchen that can handle the cookouts and all the things um that fire
does for open house and for their um pork chop feed. And I think the other thing um that this committee really worked hard on is fulfilling the needs that we need right now but looking into the future. So the meeting room is big because they know at some point they're going to use
it for larger training. Um, we also know that this doesn't fit our needs when it comes to sleeping quarters, but you know, we have plans to add on um later on. So, so tonight
um I want to go through the floor plan that both fire and ambulance kind of have um approved and looked at. Hold on, I'm scrolling. I don't know which page number it is. And then we'll go back to the proposal in just a second. So
obviously this is the existing building. Um the existing building includes the fire barn that is currently there. There is an existing building to the west and that is the old trouble horn oil. Um so just so you know kind of by reference what we're talking
about. Um that is not it. That is not it. So this is uh if anyone want Adam Poggle should have been an engineer. Uh, so that's his drawing. That's kind of where um we got our um current ask. And
that one's not it either, but it's really close. That's the right one. Yeah, that's the correct one. Yeah, that's the right one. So, um, if you look at the existing fire station, um, this adds on to it to both
the south and the west. You'll notice to the south there really are meeting and office spaces. Um both EMS and fire fit in that south corridor. The ambulance bay has two bays. Um they can double stack trucks um
however they would like. Um this would also serve for some storage, much needed storage for fire um at first, especially with their emergency lights, their foam trailer. They've got a lot of stuff kind of scattered all over the place. So this
kind of gives us some options. Um those that are not on EMS, just so you guys know, today um was a very busy day for ambulance. Uh and EMS in and around the area. We mutual aided Gaylord
today. Um then we had another I think we had four calls for ambulance just today. Um so they were very busy. Uh so we assume that's only going to go up actually in the future. So that's why there's two bays. Um we're
uh we're at the point too where our bays um that we currently have for the ambulance uh are not going to fit our needs. Uh it is extremely difficult to back up the ambulances in the current uh garages just because ambulances just
just gotten so much bigger. Um so these would fit our needs. And then you'll see to the north the bay that goes all the way through. um that would connect to the bay that already goes all the way through. Um it also would serve as the wash
bay. And then there's some OSHA required decon room that the fire department currently does not have. And you'll notice that that door is only connected to what they would call the dirty room. Uh so when they enter the fire department, um they would all go into
decon. After that, they would wash their clothes and get undressed and they would only proceed out of that room and when they were cleaned. So, that's a requirement. Two toilets. Um, again, when this barn is open, we're hoping
that they we can use it for voting still since it will still be one floor. Um, that bay would be perfect for a voting area. So, we'll have toilets available. And then there's just some supply rooms, some storage, um, and a mezzanine on top
that would ho house the rest of the especially fire department's items. So the um the ask today is really to go forward with preliminary engineering. Um, the engineer firm is here.
Um the budget construction, you know, we really that's a really loose number right now. Um they're assuming about four for the new building and 500,000 for um the renovations that have to pertain to the existing building. Some
of that is ventilation, air conditioning, residing um and then locking into the new building. Uh you'll notice that the basic services that the engineer firm is going to provide um includes design, development,
construction documents, negotiation, and construction admin. Um and that's 315 for that service. What did I miss? That was good. Okay, that was very good. What questions does council have? When you guys had the
estimate for the new building, what was the estimate for the brand new building? It was 11 million. Yeah, it was it was so far off and that was like preconstruction documents. So that was
very basic estimates and uh it was over 11. Then we asked them to trim it and they only trimmed it by like two million five. [Music] So, one thing I just want to comment on,
and Tom, you can help me out here, too, is when we add onto this building some of the renovation dollars that we have included in there will include making the existing building the same color, the same texture, you know, whether we
do horizontal sighting or vertical siding or whatever. So, it's not going to look like you've got one building and then another building that was just slapped to the side of it. We want to make it make it look like it belongs together. So,
I'll jump in. Yeah, go ahead. I'm Tom Dos with DOBS. Glad to be here. Um, happy to walk you through the process that that Michael described. Um I would just add to what he said is that this is a conceptual analysis so far. So
we've just looked at conceptually how the spaces work, the size they are, the relationships and then a rough rough order of magnitude cost. Um so what we're proposing is schematic design sets the actual volume of the building. We'll actually do soil borings. Um they'll do
there'll be some not necessarily destructive testing but testing on the existing structural systems, footing and foundations that we'll have to underpin. And so um so it's early. I just want to stress that what you're seeing in terms of the concept plans are illustrative plans based on three or four meetings um
with input from various stakeholders. And so there'll be a refinement of that as well and refinement of some of the elevations. And um they're just at this point very simple to illustrate the volume massing and relationship between the existing building and the new building. Sure.
Um be happy to you want me to walk through some of the phasing of those phase just um back up I guess the pages two more right there that's good so what we've proposed is uh orientation and startup in July we could obviously
accelerate that sooner that's really just uh getting everything aligned in terms of stakeholder groups on your end. Um the overall design team, um contractual commitments, um defining stakeholder outreach, who
else is involved? Is it just this group? Is it the stakeholder group? Or is there a broader community input process that wants to happen? Um and that's sort of just the initiation of the project. If you go to the next, just scroll down to schematic. So the real work starts with schematic design which is taking and
actually setting the again the specific volume specific structural type of the new building. Right now you've got a pre-engineered metal building. The issue with that is that it tends to move a lot structurally. There's a sway built into that and so adding a building to that
building is a challenge because one wants to move and if you put a stiffer building in there some expansion joints that need to be looked at. So we have to engineer that um and understand how that works. We may what we've illustrated right now is a pre-engineered metal building solution. So a similar building
type. Um we would explore in this phase whether a pre-cast solution or B cavity wall would make sense. Um from a cost standpoint, from a lead time standpoint, sometimes there's some advantages in that. So we'd explore that as well. Most
likely it'll be a metal building that's tagged into a metal building. Um so can I can I ask a question? Do we know about the foundation of the existing building? I mean, is it is that something I would assume would be checked out, but that's yeah, if we have any existing drawings,
we would look at those. If not, we would contact the manufacturer. Um, I don't know if that was a Butler or Eagle. I mean, there's half a dozen different metal building manufacturers. There should be some tags on the steel that can tell us um date and type and start
to figure out what those systems are. Um, that's where destructive testing you necessarily would excavate to see footing and foundation. um structural engineers and civil engineers can make some assumptions about that and during construction we can test that too but they'll have to be underpinned at some
point when you tie those buildings together. Um so at again at the outset what we're doing is looking at um an existing conditions plan understanding the boundary we'd get a new survey unless you have one. Um we'd have an illustrative site plan similar to what
you're looking at. So where where is the parking? What are the setbacks? um where are uh community parking, uh firefighter parking, ambulance parking. So when there's a call, where do people park? And usually the answer is anywhere, right? Um but you want that to be a
designated spot if possible. And then are there spaces that are dedicated for um more full-time employees or visitors, etc. Um so sorting that out, making sure everyone's on on board in terms of the uh overall concept plan. One thing to
note is that right now because um there was a desire to keep that drive-thru bay on the north side of the building, the entry kind of flips to the south side or the southeast side. So that is um an issue that needs to be dealt with in terms of arrival and
understanding where you go into the building, okay? Where you enter as a as a um as a citizen or visitor. So we'll we'll confirm that. We'll start to illustrate what that looks like. Um there'll be a code review. There's some requirements. Um you mentioned some OSHA requirements, Michael, but there's also
just building code. Fixture counts um are determined by the building code. So that determines the minimum number of fixtures. You may want to optionally add some fixtures. Uh that that's your discretion. Um and so schematic design will basically set again that size,
scale, design direction, and intent overall. That moves fairly quickly. If you go to the next phase, the next I have a question here. So, the existing fire barn will be kept by the fire department. That's where they're going to keep their trucks. That entrance goes
to the east. Now, the new one uh for the ambulance. I know you wanted the north drivethru. So, that'll be they enter from the west then and drive straight in. That's what we're That's what we just Lonnie was talking about that. I think there's a desire to do that. We
would actually look at that. What we didn't do. so far is confirm apparatus size and and clearances and see otherwise they'd enter from which direction? Well, you could drive straight through for the ambulance. For the ambulance, they would enter from the west as it's okay. That's what I for the
ambulance. They they would still enter from the west. Yep. Yep. That wouldn't be a drive-through scenario, at least at this point. Again, I should mention in schematic design, that's the that's the time to refine this. So, you know, we've spent you know, six hours talking,
right? and listening to what your needs are. So, this would give us an opportunity to have a more in-depth discussion about that and make sure that um we actually think that through a little more fully and make sure that operationally it works for both requirements you're talking about. You're familiar with these. Yeah, those
those are those are new. It has to do with carcinogens and keeping carcinogens separate from um day rooms and or living quarters. Okay. And so that's a pretty straightforward and that's really common practice in any sort of uh fire facility is really having three zones. You've got
sort of a dirty zone, a neutral zone and a clean zone and you want to keep those separate. So that's just pretty much standard practice in terms of how that happens. But for instance, you've got um any bloodborne pathogens, any any decontaminate, all that wants to be taken um to an extractor and cleaned and
sanitized before you get to the neutral zone and then into the clean zone. And will the existing building be able to be used while all of this is going on? I'm guessing not. Well, that's that's something we'll have to talk through operationally is um you'll see
there at the bottom. One thing we'll talk about is how you want to deliver the project, meaning how you want to construct the project. Whether it's design, bid, build, or whether you have a construction manager come on board earlier and act as a partner. You can do it either way. People do it both ways.
There's no right or wrong. um that will start to set the actual construction schedule and then when the construction schedule is defined then it's a question for you all operationally what can we live with for x number of months and so is it
something where you have to do temporary or you taking things offline is it just something where apparatus are outside um Adam what are your thoughts on that during construction if the fire trucks can't be in there do they need to be housed in some I I don't see anything
that would hinder us from having to being able to use um you know if they were to shut power off or something. I'm sure we could set up a temporary generator or something to power doors open and close but you know
but the equipment can that be outside for any the equipment itself the trucks I I wouldn't suggest we park them outside. I would f to find an alternative to make sure we could if they they needed them out for the day
but overnight than that. Okay. I would try to find a different alternative for that. Yeah. The desire would be to obviously stay operational and then the question is how how do you do that? Exactly. And that's really a it's a dialogue with yourselves and with
the construction manager. Um there'll be some challenges just in terms of mobilization and construction. Where do you put the job trailer? where to deliver, you know, where does the materials get stacked so you're not impeding that operation. Um, so that dance has to be done with the construction manager or general
contractor, whoever's building that building, but we would plan for that accordingly. There's certain things that if we have to phase certain things, we would do that. Um, we've done that to an extreme with um, we're working with Ramsey County Law Enforcement Center there, the jail, so there's they have to
be operational 24/7 and still we're upgrading and renovating. And so it's really just a question of how you do that and and um it's not insurmountable. It's just it's just a dialogue and figuring out how you actually do it. We've done temporary facilities before which are great, but it's literally a
tent, you know, tent and chain link and it it works for a month or something like that. Um depends also when we bid, whether it's February construction or whether it's June construction. Um bu the building will go up pretty quickly given the building type. Um the question
will be as we affect the existing building um we've talked about reskinning the building we've talked about upgrading the mechanical systems um what the requirement is for that and if that has to be done um concurrent with operations
and so or whether it can be done outside of that. Thank you. Mhm. So if you if you go to the design development phase, that's so we've got that outlined for October, November. That's really just a refinement of of the schematic design.
So we're doing more detailed drawings. We're specifying specific building materials. So at that point, we would expect that we would know the um metal building manufacturer or some sort of standard that could be bid to a number of manufacturers. But the but the finish
type, the look, the feel, um fixture types, lighting types, floor finishes, that would all be described and and designed during that phase. And if you scroll down just a little bit, there's just a list of drawings there that you would get. Um we would typically do a 30% and 60%
review. Oftentimes the question comes, how can we keep the schedule moving? We can move as fast as you can move. It's typically if you can respond to things and and make decisions, then we can keep that schedule moving rapidly. If it's committee A, then committee B, then community, then back to schedule, then
then it just slows down. So, um, so the schedule I've outlined assumes that there's a an expedited decision-making process that everyone's on board with. Construction documents take the longest amount of time. That's really putting together the blueprints, if you
will, for building. So, um you could if you decided to engage a construction manager, you could engage that construction manager at this point. Um they would work handinand glove with us on budget so that they would take our design development drawings, put budget numbers to that that would be tied to
the actual so they would be working with their subcontractors and they would be getting real numbers from them which helps you keep that budget um in alignment with your expectations. And it also gives you feedback for if we wanted to add things. So there's
typically two types of contingencies we carry when we're talking about numbers. There's a building contingency, which is what happens if there's dollars set aside for that. And there's the owner's contingency, and that's we're deciding we want to do something else. So we carry those through when we're doing
estimating. And we usually carry eight and 10% to start and then it gets smaller as we go forward. But what it does, it gives you discretionary dollars. So, if you went in and said, um, we're going to do a barebones meeting room, and you had $50,000 sitting there in your contingency, you
could come back and do audiovisisual, you could add more, you could build whatever you want in that space. So, it gives you the ability to spend that money as you see fit. Um, that's the owner contingency. And again, the building contingency is, okay, we opened
up the roof to tie it into the existing roof, and there's mold. And now, what do we do? How do we remediate that? and that's a cost that you'll incur that's held with that other contingency. So our goal is really to keep the budget and the scope in uh
alignment from day one to occupation. Um we know for anytime you do an addition to a building, things happen. Um there's unforeseen circumstances. We do our best to try and foresee those and and and preclude any issues, but something always happens. And it's it could be
something as simple as you do a boring and you find out there's contamination, you have to remediate. It's possible likely um or the soils aren't good or that the building wasn't built the way it was designed and we have to underpin
the footings to support the existing building as it sits adjacent to the building. Any there's any number of things like that that but that's really what happens during design development and then construction documents. You see less of us. It's really heads down putting the documents together. So that's all the uh all the drawings, all
the specifications, all the engineering, um code plans, um there's uh fire suppression. Um so mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire suppression, all the architectural, all the interior finishes, all the site design, that that's all articulated in that into a
bid package. And then if there's a construction uh manager, we put together the packages slightly different so they can bid those two respective subcontracts. So there's a concrete package, there's a steel package. If it's a general contractor, we do one package and then they sub that
out to the subcontractors. And the big distinction is uh if you have a construction manager either at risk or as adviser, you can do both. Um you're doing single prime contracts with each of those subs. they're they're basically facilitating that, but you're signing a
contract with excavator, you're signing a contract with concrete, you're signing, and that's common. Um, but you have a number of different contracts versus a general contractor, one contract, they're responsible for all those things. So, there's there's no right or wrong. I can I can walk you through the advantages and disadvantages
of those as we move forward. Um, they both work. So, but that's but construction documents are articulating what the building wants to be. And then there's the bidding phase and that will that will change depending on if there's a construction manager again or a general
contractor. So that's where the the drawings are circulated to the various subcontractors or various trades. They have questions invariably about something. If your um door hardware schedule says this, you sure you want to do that? Yes or no. Um the overhead door
is this. Can we substitute that instead? Maybe, maybe not, depending on the quality of that. And that's just a dialogue with us acting on your behalf, helping the subcontractors understand what they're bidding. Okay? And then and then there's a bid. Okay? And and if you have a construction manager at risk,
they're giving you a guaranteed maximum price. Typically, that that's a loaded word because it doesn't mean it's a guarantee because if you change something, it's not. Okay. But um what they'll do is during that CD phase, they'll put that number on there and they'll say the GMP is 4.1 million or
3.5 million or whatever that number is and that's based on our drawings that they've already taken out and work with subcontractors on. So there's pretty good assurances in that. Um and then when they pull the trigger at the end and you sign the agreement on that, then they're going to work to keep that
number the way it is. Okay? um unless you make discretionary changes on your behalf. But in terms of the scope that's articulated um that's the number they're working towards. And so that that um that bidding and negotiation phase
basically engages the contractor or subcontractors and then construction administration or construction phase work. We're acting as your behalf as your advocate. So we're making sure that the contractor is bidding is building it rather the way it's designed. So that and we do we're not inspecting, we're
observing. Um there's also what we call shop drawings. So if we designed your day like this, the casework contractor would sub send us drawings. We'd verify that it's what they've shown is what we've designed. And that goes all the structural steel, all the there are special inspections for structure and
and subsurface work. Um, but all of the different pieces and parts of the building, windows, doors, frames, hardware, uh, finishes, we get all those submittals, we review them, we make sure that they're compliant with our drawings, and then we sign off on them and they build it as such. And then when
that's done, as we've got it articulated, and we've just outlined a 12-month process, 10-month process. So, that's something again the contractor will have to um, confirm. But when that's done, then there's a project close out. And it's basically just do what we call a punch list. You go
through and verify that what's been uh that the drawing that the construction is done for for the most part. And we do what's called a punch list. And a punch list is basically you go through and there's no trim kit on some lights and there's a paint gouge over here that
needs to be touched up and there's the vinyl base is peeling back somewhere and you just note all that and the contractors fix it. And then you can if you like we can do a 10-month walk through too. So that is April 2026 an estimated construction to March 2027.
Yes. Yes. That's an error on my part. Sorry. So yes, April 26th start March 27 occupy. So again about a year some of that is going to be set by just the um the rapidity that they can
construct it. The other thing is there's lead time issues. So um right now pre-cast concrete for instance is about six to seven months out. So if I hired Michael to do the concrete to to build the building your pre-cast person when
you put that order in the clock starts ticking. So you have to put the order in and there's six six to seven months before you can get those panels on site. So that's an extreme but like during co we saw mechanical systems 18 months 24 months out before
you could get certain things. Um that's evened out quite a bit. But that's really the thing that sets a lot of this. Um and then if the if there's any sort of trades issues, um this would set
up to do most of the excavations such during the summer. Um there's a huge push, as you can imagine, from about May to September when all the schools are doing work. So it's it's tough to be in the height of what you're doing when schools are pulling all the contractors,
the subcontractors during that that window. So, this pretty much avoids that. So, you'd be um in the ground, ideally framed up, maybe under a roof, and then you start to do the other work September, October, etc. through the winter. And the other thing about that
schedule is it would be um ideally not winter construction. So, you'd get in the ground before it freezes. You'd have temp heat, but you'd be under roof, so you're not building during the winter. And although interior work could happen during the winter, so that's an ideal schedule. I don't set that. It's just an estimate, but it's a reasonable
estimate. um the contractor or construction manager would actually define that. And if you needed it earlier for some reason, there are ways to try and expedite that either through the u we can issue bid packages early like footing and foundation to get you
out faster. It'll cost you more though because the construction manager is managing things a little bit differently. So, but if there we haven't really talked about schedule and when you wanted to occupy, but if for there was some reason you needed to speed it up, we could try and speed it up. the design schedule that we articulated is
pretty quick and again it assumes pretty good decision- making on um all parties behalf and so that can get compressed a little bit but it's um it's pretty good the way it is um it's tough to go a whole lot faster than that
questions trying to both. You had mentioned um pros and cons to the construction manager versus general contractor. Is there is one or the other better suited to a city project or is it just No, no, it's it's really just um
sort of comfort level and how you want to handle the work. the the the hybrid of that would be to hire a general contractor um earlier on in the process. So typically you design the building, we do construction documents, it goes out to the world, they bid the project, they
being general contractors, let's just say each one of you is a different company. We get seven eight bids and we open the bids and that's the number. The problem with that is you're not estimating along the way and sometimes they're surprises. Sometimes they're good surprises. Usually they're not. And
so then you go, okay, now what? were $700,000 over budget and then you go into this value engineering mode and it's no one's happy. Um, but you could get a general contractor on board earlier, they could start to put numbers on it. And what the way you would do
that is you would you would negotiate with them their fee, their general conditions, and their hourly rates for their superintendent and project manager. And the um construction manager is going to do the same thing. So, it's really just the contract that they hold.
Um, again, we've we've done it half and half. I mean, that's it doesn't really matter. It's really your comfort level. And I can coach you through that. Um, and give you some examples and references, too, to see how that would work. Um, it's really a question of whether you want the general contractor
to hold that prime contract or whether you want to have the construction manager um, have all the subs do contracts with you directly. Is there ever any drawback if we have to have contracts with each individual subcontractor or you know No, it's just Michael's hand gets sore from signing
them. All that you have to manage all meeting to sign all of those and that would get Yeah, that's where the um construction managers passes those through. So here's the contract from group A, group B, group C. Um and the
pay apps are all done through them. um general contractor, you get one bill, pay the bill, they pay their subs. Yeah. So, it's a little simpler. The the the reason um any client doesn't like general contractors
sometimes is that there's an appearance of um lack of transparency. So, I can't see what their subcon. So, what you can do is you can ask your general contractor to provide open book accounting. So, what that means is you negotiate their fee upfront. So, that's
transparent. you negotiate the the general conditions are things like rentals and uh um street closure requirements and permits and and things that they're going to incur. Um renting a portable toilet as an example would be general conditions. Um and then and then
the cost of their labor or their uh job superintendent and you can look at and they're going to be competitive with everyone, right? So it's just a question of you know if they're working at $65 an hour that's what they're billing them at. So now you know all of that. And then if you ask them for um transparency with their subs, they'll
say, "There's my subs for steel." And you five are going to submit numbers. He's or she's going to share those with you. Say, "I'm picking person B because I think they're best value. This one's less, but they never perform. I don't like them, so I'm going with them." And you say, "Sure." And off you go. So, so
there's no place to sort of hide dollars, if you will. Um, so there's an advantage in that to a certain extent. and and then um and they're they're getting paid that fee up front just like a general or just like a construction manager would. So, it's really just the
contract itself and procedurally there's a few things that go on. Um you would pay them to help with estimating early. That's maybe the one big difference. And when we say pay, it's five grand to do another estimate. It's not like it's
$100,000 and another $100,000 for them to do that. It's just they're they're putting those numbers together early and they're getting um not hard and fast commitments, but they're working with their subcontractors from Jump Street. So, they're working with excavators, they're
working with demo contractors, they're working with window suppliers to provide some estimating and then when it comes to that contract, they're actually getting a hard number. If that makes sense. Yeah, it does. That's very helpful. Other
questions? And I think we touched on this before, but there has been a lot of a lot of time and effort going into this. And this so far, the proposed design really seems to serve the ambulance and the fire committee. The
members, they're happy with this design. Yeah. Adam and Ed, I mean, you're the kind of representatives here. Y I think that's just important for, you know, the community and for us as a council to to think about going forward. Is this really is
everybody got buy in right now because if we don't right now, we're going to have trouble. Great. Yeah. Yeah, that if if you want to go back one mic that so we had done a ear a more uh modest scheme earlier and then
um I'm not sure internally I'm pointing but I'm not sure we were provided that sketch and then these are a reflection of that sketch. So that's been the input to date and I think we want to work through some of that a little bit more about you know how that meeting room works if there's support infrastructure
there in terms of sink closet you know some of those things how those work and how do how to best align those but from a square footage standpoint that that's a pretty good reflection of the size and now we just move the parts around inside of that. All right. I think that was very helpful
information. Good. Thank you. Well done. Thanks. Welcome. Appreciate it. Call me. Yes. I just have one comment to go along with that. Okay. Our uh new ambulance has 2,000 less miles than our
old ambulance does at this point. So, our old one is 14 years. We almost It's a 2014. They have the same miles on them. So you can you know that it's been a crazy couple
years. Goodness. All right. So um we have a lot of information provided. Um the resolution in front of us is to approve the architectural and engineering
services. I make a motion to Yeah. Go ahead. Do that. resolution. Jenny made a motion to approve the U resolution. Is there a second? I'll second. Second by John. Any
discussion? Yes. Um, so what are the what are the costs they're talking about right now? Is that the 315,000? Yes. Where would that come from? Hold on. I'm trying to get to that page.
There we go. Yeah. So what they're um basically providing us is the 315 and that will be phased over time. Obviously you don't get construction documents before design development. Um I think
the way we've been looking at this is we do have contingency funds in both fire and ambulance. Um and we can spread this out really over two budget cycles. this budget cycle and next year's budget cycle. Um, so that's I
mean if you give us the okay, we'll we'll find a way. There's some money from the Pitts donation still. The fire does have money left over in their contingency funds. I think they're at almost $200,000. Um, so we also this doesn't
commit us totally to No. And um, you know, he disappeared. Okay. So this doesn't commit us. Absolutely not. And not only that, but if we're going to go So our financial adviser, Shannon Sweeney, two years ago said, "You have to go through USDA. It's cheaper. It's
better." Well, that takes some time. But I can't go to USDA until we get to construction documents. Um, so we have to get through schematic. Um, and the reason they USDA does that is because they don't want like halfbaked ideas in
their arena because they'd be kicking out so many so many projects back and forth. So, they won't do anything unless they have construction documents and soft numbers of how much it's going to actually cost to construct. And then we
would go through that. Well, that includes a public hearing. It includes two readings of the construction documents. So, that means two meetings. It's exactly like Second Street. Um, so that those would be meetings that we'd have to perform in order to get the USDA
money. So the first payment we'd have to make is for the schematic design which is listed here at 47,000. Yeah. That really that $100,000 uh between schematic and the design development would probably be this year's budget. Okay.
There in lies the problem is we don't know what our budget is going to look like. We don't know leaving Minnesota I mean um the uh the funding from the state that is going down for
sure. Well, they made a mistake. They made an accounting error for LGA. Um, so at first it looked like it was going to be a $20 million swing to LGA funding for the state and then they forgot a revenue
line. Heather, back me up here. Yeah, it was a $14 million deficit in the beginning that was going to be spread between all the cities except for they forgot about a $275 million revenue fund that they magically found. So then
what? So dropped it down to 4.1. Yeah, 4.1. And what billion versus 14 plus another six. So it's it's going to impact us very little according to the state of Minnesota at
this time. Yes. Well, no more this fall, but the LGA um shortage was not what they thought it was. It was. No, that's one
bit of good news. Yeah. And I, you know, it it would be it's so easy to say, well, let's just get it off. Let's wait and see what happens. But where do we where do we put the
ambulances? What happens when the fire trucks, you know, that that building definitely has issues. Are we are we making You know, we could try and save money and push this off for a couple of years, but is that going to how much is that really going to cost us then if we put
it off for four or five years? Or are we really saving money if the cost going up? Yes, that's Yeah. And there's no existing buildings in town. I know that, you know, we're not going to use the, you know, the old school and all that, but there aren't
any like exist like for the ambulance. Not think so. I mean, I think they really did brainstorm this for a long time. I mean, they looked at that committee looked at we actually looked at the grocery store for for a short period of time, too. I remember
remodeling the grocery store and back in ambulances, fire trucks were there. So, But now that's rocking it as grocery stores. Now that's rocking it as a grocery store. Yeah. You know, they looked at new construction in different locations and
I like this tied together. I mean, I think this is Yeah, this seems to be the best serves both of them. And and the certainly cheaper than the 10 or 11 million. Yes. Again, I would say that this engineering firm has been
very easy to work with. I mean, even with Adam's rough sketch drawing, they got it right like right away. Yeah, we did send them back to them after Adam said that. It was like, okay. Yeah, basically what we wanted.
All right, my question. Okay, any more questions, discussion? Any other discussion? Any discussion? All right, I will call the vote. All those in favor of um the resolution to proceed with architectural and engineering services, please say I.
I. Oppose. Same side. Motion carried. All right. Check that off. Moving forward. Um then we'll move on to um new business. First item 5.1 is the city
council code of conduct, which we've talked about before. I have several questions. Yeah, I gave Michael some some edits. I have to find my my notes. It's on page 17 if you're looking
or I guess it starts on 15 16, but the actual text starts on page 17. All right. So, it's hard to hear everybody. Just so you know,
to include Michael. H I'd say that it's hard to hear everybody to include you at times. What? We have to. It's hard to hear. Oh, okay.
Uh so page five of the um document, but it's p on page 21. Um under city council members promise city staff they will. And the second bullet point um it
says and the public are free to express their ideas and work to full potential. I'm just not sure what that means. Where are they? What? In middle of page 21, right under the Yeah.
I don't know if whoever wrote this could kind of explain what that means. You would have to go to the League of Minnesota Cities. Oh, it's right from there. Yeah. Directly from there. And so, what do you think it means? I think it means that the council is not going to hinder the ideas of the
public. That's how I'm interpreting it. any of you and they're allowing them to work to their fullest potential. Like ambulance and fire committee, you know, no one hindered that process, right? That one or two council people
didn't come in and say, "Well, I think it should be here, so I I don't want to hear about other options." So members, city staff, and the public are free to express their ideas and work to their full potential.
Okay. All right. And then um let's see the that same paragraph, the second to last bullet point. Agree that information they ask of the city administrator will be shared equally with all council
members. So does that mean every time I email you with a question, I'm supposed to email everybody? Because I didn't think I was supposed to do that. No, you should because that would violate open meeting laws, I think. So, I'm not sure what that means either. I think what
they're saying is that they agree to inform the city administrator that will also share it with the council members at open meetings. So, if I ask Michael about uh I don't know, say there's a bad sidewalk issue
on Second Street that he would then put it on the agenda or if it was something emergent. Let's I don't I don't have I don't look good. One of the ambulance blew an engine and you know Jenny knows it. Sorry that one Ed I won't. That's
the only one that came to mind. If Ed knew about it and he contacted Michael it would then Michael would email and contact the rest of the council. That's my information. Well that's I mean the well sorry raise your blood pressure.
The well issue that was a perfect example. something was brought to Michael's attention about the well needing to be fixed and he sent that out to all of us. Okay. That's just a little confusing to me because you know I was you know I
want to make sure I'm following the correct procedures and rules and um Okay. So if one of us come in and [Music] say what is the total amount that we're spending on um insurance does that
answer have to go out to everyone then I don't think so but I think if you want it to be shared with everyone that is something that you let me know and then I okay otherwise disseminate it okay that's generally how it works because there'll be questions on the
budget absolutely Oh, that's reasonable. Okay, let's see. Good so far. [Music] Um, under working with the community, it's on the next page.
Um, it says it is not feasible to conduct all businesses in a public meeting, particular particularly around development. business interests might ask a member to meet outside of the city council meeting to facilitate idea
generation uh generation. So that's just that's kind of like what happened with the this new project. Is that right? Mhm. Okay. All right. Just a little clarification.
And I had asked earlier today about that next paragraph. Yeah. We got rid of the state. The reason that they put that in there is because they want you guys to know that we're under the PAR pension program, but it's in a really weird spot. So, we got rid of the statewide pension program in which all city
employees meeting programs requirements must participate. We got rid of that entire last paragraph. Now, it kind of makes a little more sense to me now that I read it because we are Yes. technically although we not there are some city council members that are parah
um we are parah public works police but council is not so is it makes more sense to delete it in the council code of conduct yeah that's what I thought okay next I have Okay. I think what I have, Michael, I
just gave there were there was one No, I corrected it already. Yeah, I'm trying to find it. It was just a formatting thing mostly. I left that down. Oh, I think it's on it's on page. Oh, on page six. Right above what we
were just talking about. We will. However, while attending the meetings, council members will and then the bullet point should just say do so only as an observer. Drop the we will just because it doesn't fit the formatting and the rest of it. So,
about it. I think this was good. I mean, sometimes it's confusing reading some of it, but you can get through it. I think it's good. I mean, um I'm sure and we did make some other edits, too. After I printed it out, it was extremely hard to read with
the Yeah. the logo and stuff behind. So, I got rid of all of that because it was just really hard to read no matter how I printed it. So, I did um I did get rid of some of the branding and
the stuff in it. So, all right. Somebody like to make a motion regarding motion by Kelly to approve. Second by Jenny. Any further discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? All those in favor, please say I. Any oppos? Same
side. Motion carried. Thanks for the work on that. I think that really is going to be very good moving forward. And we can always work on the document too as you know we see fit. Do you think that a section just needs to be revamped? We can put it on a a work agenda and and go after it. Yeah. I
don't think this is written in stone and not to be touched again. It's better to have it be a living document. All right. 5.2. Um, the resolution regarding the Smith annual donation. So, annually we generally give $1,000. Um, you know, I don't I don't
This is council's whether they want to or not is completely up to you guys. So, they're asking for an increase this year of $200. So, is everybody familiar with the Yeah. How
often do we use them? Do we utilize Well, we're part of the Rev program for economic development. So, us Gibbon and Fairfax um use them on a monthly basis. Uh we actually are pairing with them for some of our EDA loans too um because
they are a GAP funer for state funds and for regional funds. Um so, we we haven't used them yet because we haven't had a need. uh yet, but there's a project currently underway that is going to need some additional funding, and Smith is
one of those places we can go. Other than the cities, where do they get their funding or is that it? Smith is completely um a nonprofit. So, most of their money comes from donations and endowments. That's where they get their money. Like for instance, Glenn Taylor just
split his I don't know what 5,000 acres between three different organizations. Uh the Mano Area Foundation, the Glen Taylor Found, the Glen Taylor family farm foundation and Smith. Um but then they also do and um help out with like
state funding programs and so they get administrative costs um based on based on those programs. During COVID, they were instrumental in getting restaurant revitalization funds and other COVID bonds and they get paid for the state
pays them to do that and administer those funds. Are they asking the other cities uh for the increase also? Yeah, everyone is okay. getting the boost, but they are not like region nine who are taxf funded um exclusively. Like
region 9 is a I mean everyone sees it on their property taxes, but that is a different entity. Right. Are your wishes council? I'll make a motion to approve the Smith donation. It's 1,200, right? Yep. Yes. Okay. Motion by Ed. Is there a second?
Second. Second by Moreno. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any last discussion? All those in favor of increasing the Smith donation, please say I. I. Oppose. Same side. Motion carries. 5.3 Reimburse reimburseed
expenses for plants on Second Street project. Um, so some of you may remember this. It was at one of the Second Street meetings. The construction crew staked like one hour and the next hour they removed a bunch of trees from Cathy's
Hubble's house. She replaced them. um I think on a actually really decent budget. I think it was uh yes $102 they ripped out probably $500 worth of plants. She is just asking for reimbursement. Speaking as someone who's bought a lot of plants lately. Yeah, she did do that
on a pretty good budget. So move second. I have a question. Did So did they did anybody tell her that they were going to um reimburse her? We Yes. Yeah, the council did ask her to resubmit receipts
last year. So you we already the council already told her that we were going to do it. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. All right. So we had a motion in a second. Any further discussion or questions? Uh Ed, I think it was Kelly and Ed. Um any further discussion? All those in
favor, please say I. I. Post same sign. Motion carried. Uh 5.4 four, the resolution about well number two. Okay, so um well number two needs rehabilitation.
We sent out estimates um I don't know about a month ago now. Uh the actual estimate came back about half of what we originally thought it was going to be um at 35,4720. Um there's going to be some additional excavations. So I would say
the project will be under 40,000. Um, so right now we're running off just two wells. Uh, the well number four uh had a maganese mitigation problem. So we have not used well number four for
almost two years now. Um, the top of the well is basically just caving in on itself. So they're going to lift the entire pipe up, cut off what they need to weld the new part on, and put the weld uh back down. They're also going to
check the motor while they're down there. Um you know, since it's going to be offline, we don't see any other problems. Uh you know, the water towers are going to continue to operate during that time. They'll may make public works will make sure that the water towers are completely full. Um we'll make sure that
H Heartland knows that they can't pull from us that day. Um and otherwise business as usual for public works. Um you might get a warning from us at the city to that they're going to need to flush some hydrants out once they complete the project. It's pretty
standard um just to get the muck out. But otherwise um you know public works worked really hard to make sure that the quote went down, not up. And so I think that uh it's a pretty reasonable rate and that'll come from the water
fund which is pretty healthy right now. to make sure we have wells. Yes, you need water. It's nice to have an estimate come in on the low end, too. So, move to. Okay. Motion by Kelly. Is there a second? Second by Jenny. Any
discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? All those in favor, please say I. I. Post. Same sign. Motion carried. 5.5 204 North Carver Street Sewer Repair. So, this has been an ongoing saga. Um, I'm going to take you
back to 2020 when we repaired Carver. Um, during COVID, uh, it was allowed that, um, the construction crews and company would try their hardest to get into buildings and check sewer, water
connections. This one had a written consent that they were not allowed in the building. Uh it was actually uh that particular building and the one if you guys remember on Henipin in second that house had to have an emergency sewer repair. They actually couldn't get a
hold of that homeowner in 2020 as well. That one was actually found during the project. It was mitigated. It was corrected. Um and and they fixed the one at Henipin. The one at Carver happened to be uh a little bit different. there
was not really a business in there that was using this particular amount of water. The water that was used at the residential level, the top floor, um was just not enough to cause any flooding or really anything happened. Most of it was
just seeping into the ground. Uh so waste water, gray water was just going into the ground. Well, then the business opened and they started using it a lot more. And in the fall of 2024,
um, we obviously ran into a problem, they started scoping. It took honestly a little while to figure it out. Uh, and then in January, we started construction and they basically rerouted all of that then to Carver Street where it should have
been correct. Um, so since Holtmire had the basically the clearance to say we don't have to go in and check, we came, the die came out correctly, the sewer was hoo hooked up. What happened is, you
know, back in the old days, you just hooked it up to wherever you could. And this actually had two sewer connections. One that went south to Second Street and the other one that went east to Carper. We didn't know the South Street one was even there. And when they cut it off, it
was actually really rainy that time. With the photos that we have, I don't think they would have known that it was sewer. Um, and at the time when it was going through, you know, in August, there wasn't a lot of business uh going on. So, we repaired all the storm sewer,
all the um actual sewer, and that is done. But now we have this really incomplete project where BNR went in, they put the new pipes down. Uh they hastily put some concrete down to
cover up the pipes, and now the business owners are asking that we repair it back to what it was, which was smooth concrete and level. Um the estimates that they received are
uh in the packet. I don't remember which page 30. Yes, thank you. Um, so, uh, on page 30, it gives you an estimate from Lakeside Paint Works. We also got an additional estimate from our
construction crew that we've been using a lot, uh, which, uh, is top-notch concrete out of New um, their their actual estimate for epoxy and level it was almost double. Um, so I I guess it's uh you know
council's wishes whether they they feel like we're responsible for putting it back to as is. Um, I did invite the property owners uh to the council meeting so they can answer any questions that you might have on their part. But
uh what was it just cement um prior to that? Yeah, it was there was no epoxy for it. It was completely smooth. No water, but it was just cement. Just cement. There was a section. See you. That's when there was a seal on top of
it. Yes, there was a clear coat or something. Okay. Not the epoxy though with the speckles or whatever. No, not the epoxy. But it was kind of like epoxy, but it was just clear. Okay. But now you got uneven
Oh, yeah. I agree. I mean, that floor has to be put back to the way it needs to be. And there's no insurance that covers it. Um, based on whoseever quote unquote fault it was? No, we checked
with Holt Meer and we checked with RNR and um ISG obviously and because it was 2020 and CO, no one is no one's diving up to the plate. And we checked with our insurance too and no, they wouldn't cover it at all. But in the unfortunate
situation is because it happened, we had a renter who was going to use the basement and needed to replace a lot of stuff because there was sewage and we had a gal from Given who was going to start teaching yoga and she hasn't been able to yet. So from our standpoint,
it's like we just I mean we need it back because that was part of our revenue stream in order to pay off the city for their ADA loan. That just hasn't happened yet. I mean it's an unfortunate situation. Yeah. One of the I think we talked about this
at admin committee um and this it's sort of all rolled into one here. Is there is it possible that we could pay for getting the cement smooth and that the epoxy is a separate thing or are they just so intertwined that that's not I
mean putting it back to you know smooth cement would be getting it back to where it was before this all started but there was a there was a sealant on it right and there's and that's what when the use of that but there was also a shower down
there a locker room down there and um a sauna down there and all of that was cut out and that did actually have because they were using it as a shower a sauna and a river. So when you say there was a seal but there was epoxy in three different sections of it that
got ended up getting cut up also and truly you can see those seams and they had to replace every drain in there because they were packed. Yeah. 345. So the Yeah, the price reflected that uh
was the lesser of the quote was 345. I'll make a motion to approve it. Motion by add. Is there a second? And that's doing the the um the floor too. Yes. Putting
the top coat in the Yeah. Y a motion. Is there a second? A second. Second by Martha. Discussion. We are going to file this under the second street contingency funds. Just so you guys know. Um, that's where this has
been paid out of and we do have the project did come in under budget. Yes. Thank goodness. There's a little tiny bit left. We're coming down to the end. Yeah. So, you're saying part of it was epoxy?
Yeah. And that's what And there was the rest of it was just a clear seal, but I don't know what that product was saying. So, yeah. in the bathroom. The bathroom in the sauna area that was all it had a weird I don't know a tile epoxy. I don't
know what it was treated. Yeah, like your garage floor. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right. Any other questions or discussion? All right. Then I will um call a vote on the su the repair in the
sewer of 207 North Harbor. All those in favor, please say I. Opposed? Same sign. Motion carried. All right. 5.6. Yeah, we did 5.6 already. Let's move on. 5.7. The resolution regarding repayment of the general fund via the
money market. That Heather. Sure. Um so every February we pay our bond payments which is principal and interest. Um, we didn't pay back the principal portion this
February because our POM fund makes a heck of a lot more in interest than our general checking. Um, however, now that we're getting closer to waiting for our property taxes to
come in, monitoring the accounts, we don't like getting as low as we are now. So we would like to pull from money market to pay back our general for just the principal of the bond payments.
So this really just moving money from one account to another. Correct. But it needs council because of the amount. Okay. And would uh that be put back in with the property tax when the property tax comes back? Yep. All right. Someone like to make a
motion. So move be done. Is there a second? Second. Second by Kelly. Any discussion? Any questions? Any discussion? All those in favor, please say I. Same sign. Motion
carried. Moving on to 5.8. Um, policy 2025- Z002, utility billing and services policy. Uh so from time to time we review policies especially when um things come up that you know we haven't either
handled very often or maybe we're getting more and more questions on. Um so Heather and I uh took the liberty of redoing the utility application so that changed some language made a little bit more sense. Maybe it was a little bit more clear. I don't I don't I don't
necessarily think the last policy was inaccurate or not clear. Um, but we did update the the utility um application and we've never actually had a policy on when staff can turn people off, turn
people on, that kind of stuff. So, that's what the um 2025002 utility um service policy really gets at is when staff has been turning people off for non-payment. Um when we disconnect, that type of
stuff is is really what we're getting at. And so now that we're putting this into a policy, you know, Heather and I can follow this and say, "Yes, we understand you're frustrated, but we are just following the city council policy."
um before we were following city code. So our city code actually outlines when we can disconnect reconnect individuals. So um this is basically just pulling it from city code and putting it into policy form so that it's easier to read
so they don't have to go searching for it. Um and then the utility service application hasn't hadn't been updated since last year 2015. the language was still the same as 2015 and then we made a fillable form for it online because a
lot of people were asking for it. Um so we really just changed it all around because uh we felt like maybe it made more sense to um to everyone if it was
uh set up differently. So, you know, setting up service is the first one to go about how we refund deposits and how you fill up the form. Um, we also obviously include the if you had a delinquent account before, you're not
getting new service again. Um, in billing information and payment information. Uh, we really, um, you know, we give them five ways to pay. Um, whether they drop it off the box or come into city hall or they pay online. um
that really is um pretty clear-cut. We also bullet pointed, you know, it's, you know, first of the month, due the 15th. I think that's been that way since, well, since before I got here. Um we also gave the delinquent notice and then letting them know that we do charge a
disconnection fee if we go out and pull the meter. Uh we also gave them utility contact information including emergency contact and then uh additional new resident information. So obviously when people come connect utilities they also
need garbage but mostly gas um and some internet. Uh so we put that on there. And then uh just so you know we we put some additional licenses on there because people are always asking. We also mirrored this on our website that I
am gonna pull up right now just to kind of show you um because one of the um questions that we get probably the most Oh my goodness, where's my cursor? Oh, there it is. Um is you know, how do
I set up new service? How do I do this? How do I do that? So, we actually created a um new resident information tab on the website. Um, so it just welcomes everyone that we take care of water, electric, gas. We
put the permits all in one spot. Um, and obviously we can keep and then we just basically took that application and put it here. Put some garbage rates, uh, additional utilities like gas and internet. Um, and
then we pointed them to the utility page so that we hadn't have to recreate a page. And then just some community things like, hey, this is our public calendar. This is where the library is. This is GFW schools. And obviously, we can continue to expand upon this um, as
we we see fit. But it's kind of a one-stop shop for new residents that kind of mimics what the application is trying to do, but put it in web form. Very nice. Yeah, it's nice to make people feel welcome. The one thing that
we're missing that we're going to add that we actually get asked about a lot is organics like branches, grass clippings, trees, that kind of stuff. It's something that we missed and we got asked again today and I was like, "Hey, that should be on the new resident page." Um, and even on the utility
application, like it should just be there so people know where to go. Is this one typo under additional licenses? see if you got it. Yep. Julie Julie found that. So, if somebody comes and they give you
full payment for faster charges, they re they're going to be reconnected. Um, how much time do we have to reconnect them? We actually they have to come in during business hours, right? Yeah. State statute actually allows us 12 hours to
reconnect services. Um, we also have the right to inspect the meters in their house and the the fuse box as we put the meter back in. We generally don't have to do that. Uh, but I will tell you there's been some utility customers lately that have uh what what what are
considered hot sockets. They report back to us on our tower that the the meter is actually getting warm and that's because the socket that it's in is incorrectly installed. We've replaced one so far, but we have two more to go. Is that
right? There's three total. Um, and those, you know, those are preventing fires. Those are preventing electrical fires in the home. Is it due to an old? Normally, it's because they're old boxes on the outside almost guaranteed. And you know, the last meter we pulled off,
one of the residents actually was melting on the backside. It was getting so hot. So, um, those types of things, that's where we can say as a utility, we need to see your electrical box on the inside. Um, but yes, in order to
reconnect, we generally have it within half an hour, 45 minutes. Um, but we have up to 12 hours to reconnect. All right. I think there's a lot of good work that went into that. Um, somebody like me to make a motion regarding the
policy on utility billing and services. So move. Motion by Kelly. Is there a second? Second. Second by Jenny. Any discussion? Any further questions? Discussion. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say I. I. I. Oppos. Same
sign. Motion carried. Moving along. We have a long agenda. I know. I'm sorry. That's okay. 5.9 building code inspector update. So, this is uh more of a formality than anything. Um, every three years, Darren comes back
out and asks us to renew the contract. Um, this limits his liabilities to make sure that the current council knows kind of what's happening. His fees are the exact same that he's been charging. He's actually he's still on 2022 fee schedule from the state. um that kind of puts us
behind the ball, but it's it's better for everyone because then it's not changing all the time. Um so it's just a a normal update to the contract. Okay. Somebody make a motion. So motion
by Ed. Is there a second? I'll second. Second by Don. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? All those in favor, please say I. I. Same sign. Motion carried. 5.10. 10 conflict of interest for Neil Bank. This is such a
weird one. Um, so a resident came up and said, "How is it that a council member is on council and also serving at the bank?" So I put the state statute directly in the so that no one could understand it, I'm assuming.
No, I I did it just because that is there's an exemption. So conflict of interest generally happen when you have someone that has an unodudited entity, right? That uh the bank gets audited every single year. So
do we. Martha can't just move funds from one count to the other uh willy-nilly, right? So there is an exemption when it comes to banks because they are they're special because they're both
audited entities. and they're both FDIC insured. And so when this came up, I just kind of wanted to nip it in the butt. And after doing some research online and League of Minnesota cities, um you know, I don't think there's a conflict
per se. Um maybe the perception is out there, but I I don't um I I don't think that, you know, the state allows it, number one, and number two, I don't know if it's anything that council wants to pick up or no change.
Um but I just wanted to put it on the agenda to get it out in the open. All right. So, everybody knew that I worked at the bank. So, should this have been like read or something in January? Yes. So, um you know, in January when we pick
our official depositories, there's like six or seven of them that we use, we'll just make sure that it's in the minutes letting everyone know that she's at the bank. And I've never tried to hide that work. No. Yeah.
But yeah, so not to be didactic, but like with Ed, he's, you know, very involved with the ambulance and yet is there something that he, you know, needs to be read because he head of the ambulance
committee and we spend a lot of money with the ambulance or is that different because it's a bank? No, that's a good It's a department though and Ed doesn't He doesn't handle money. Oh, so Ed doesn't handle money. We do. He votes on money. That's an elected part with
money. I'm sorry. I didn't I said he's not working with the money like you are. But but can um Ed can't access checks. He can't access funds. So, if there was a vote on
raising the the amount that they get paid per run, you would just have to stay from something like that. Yeah. Because that directly affects, right? Right. That's the problem with a small town. We're all connected. We all businesses that, you know, Well, and I
think it's I think it's good to have the discussions. as the public we can say you know we we are now aware of this we'll put it as part of our annual statement um and you know that we are watching those things
because you know I was talking about it earlier today there you know you say well that wouldn't ever happen and then you hear about something you know something not good happening in a small town or a larger city and you think oh it does happen sometimes so it's it's good to say to to the public, we're
aware of this. We are watching it. We will we will stay on the straight and narrow. What was the scam you had brought up about monthly? We get emails telling us for scams that we could be seeing in our email. What was the one
that you had on there for millions? It was a small It was a million five. Yeah, it was a small town. Um, and mayor of Minnesota had the same thing happen in 2023 where, you know, unfortunately for them, they took cyber security insurance. We also take liability
insurance for cyber security. Um, and they got most of it paid back, but it they took they lost half a million dollars. Wow. So, yeah, we never ever ever respond to those emails. If you ever have a question, you just forward them to us. We'll never ask you to make bomb payments or money movements or
weird things. Um, you know, we as staff get uh, in fact, Chief Anderson's one of his officers got something that looked very legitimate from a South Dakota agency. Very legitimate. I mean, even to
the name, they knew him, right? It went to multiple people in the department. For some reason, the filter let it go through on Nick's, but not on Logan's or Aaron's or uh, Reeds. And it was it was a fishing scheme. I mean, they they wanted them to
respond and enter payment information. And it it's it's one of those things where we just have to constantly be vigilant. Yeah. Good. Okay. So, we've covered the conflict of interest and determined that we can move
on. All right. Um 5.11, the resolution vacating the easement on parcel number 37.0551. which is um that's the one by the Catholic Church. Yes. Yes. Okay. And I think it's
easier. Oh, no. I forgot they updated their link. Just go to Sly County and then um Oops. G. Um it's just easier to show you guys kind of what we're doing. Um normally we don't do vac.
Is this one the right one? They changed this recently. And I update my link. Apparently, this one's faster, though. So, I Oh, it's way faster. It's way better. It is more better. Okay. Well, it's faster downstairs. I
know. I just thought it would be easier to explain on a map. Yeah, I want Yes, I agree. If you put the address in, it's really fast. Oh, really? Mhm. I didn't know that was Yes. So, I don't know what the
address is, but we're we're going there. We're getting there. Okay. So, when the churches were made, they were actually put on different parcels. And what we're vacating today uh and what the league the league was like, well, they're already just just put them
together. I don't know why this is such a thing. So, we just want it recorded correctly. That's why we're passing the resolution. So, if you look at Zion, um, their building goes right through the easement. Uh, this is normally what would be an alleyway easement. However, it could have been a roadway. That's why
it says roadway on yours. Oh. And then, um, the Catholic Church has the same exact thing, but in a different location. And Peace was like that, but they actually had recorded that one back in the 80s. So, they fixed that one. So, what the county is going to do is just
basically smush those together. They're going to v vacate them and get rid of them. Um, as I put in the resolution, they're they really serve no purpose for us. And um, right through the middle of both buildings. Right through the middle of
both buildings. And the the you know, in in the county's perspective, they just want the map to be corrected. Yeah. So, I get it. So, when they pay their property, well, yes, property, they have to pay on both parcels. Yes. Instead of just And just one. Mhm. And I think
these are actually both parcled as one. Um, but again, it's kind of it's the most silly thing, but all we have to do is record the resolution. I'll send it over to them and they'll they'll correct it. Good. All right. So moved on the
first one. All right. Motion by Ed. Is there a second? Second by Martha on the first one. Any discussion? Any discussion? All those in favor, please say I. Oppose. Same sign. Motion carried. Um the next one that would be Zion I believe. Yes. So move on the
second one. Motion by Ed. Second. Second by Don. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? All those in favor, please say I. I. Same side. Motion carried. Oh, hey. We're getting there. We're getting there. Uh
streams funding assistance. Okay. Um so the wastewater project is moving along. Um we currently are utilizing Kimley Horn as our
uh engineering firm. Uh I will tell you since this is a public meeting that might change. Uh we we feel like um we've missed deadlines because their firm hasn't been up to the process of
the bonding bill and congre congressional direct spends. So we've been kind of fishing around for other engineering companies that can take that on and handle it. Um, so what we're asking for today is all four cities to put an additional I
think it's almost 19,000, sorry, 18,450. We have our feasibility study. The feasibility study cost the four cities and two industries $150ish,000. That money is completely gone now.
Um, and so what we're asking the cities to do because we need to get into a funding cycle. We need to get into the bonding bill so that they know we want money. So the $19,000 that we're asking for helps get us to that bonding bill phase.
They have lobbyists. They'll write it all for us. They'll manage it. And they're asking for a total of $4 million for engineering. Um, and that will go uh to the bond bill this year, like right now. It's due in 12
days. Um, then the cities are really trying to figure out what we do. Um, when it comes to the rest of the engineering, uh, and Heather will probably smile, but, uh, we just have not had, uh, the energy behind the
project that we need from an engineering firm aspect. Um, we've been really actually really blessed that Al down in Lafayette just knows a lot of stuff about wastewater because that's, you know, people that are passionate about wastewater just
know things. And, you know, even like the the rate tables that came up, that was not our engineering firm. That was Al on the backside making spreadsheets, making sure things worked. You know, he's looking out after the communities. We want this to not only work but also
be feasible on the on the side that uh it is financial. Um so when we look at uh the MPCA rates when it comes to sulfates in uh the next 5 years pond
systems will be completely eliminated in the next 10 years. They will not have any ponds in Minnesota. Um, when it comes to phosphate level levels, BOD's, TTS, all of those things that they test for, ponds just simply cannot clean the
water up to the specifications of MPCA. And we all all four towns know it. We know that we have to move forward somehow, but we need help with funding. The next phase of our project is going
to cost about $8 million, and that's engineering. um additional documents to get on the PPL and sorry project priority list that is the list for our funding for PIG that's the federal dollars. So all of those things are up
in the air all at one time. And if we our engineering firm and construction firm aren't doing the right things at the right time, then we're missing the ball. And we just my opinion, the previous Kimley
Horn really missed this entire funding cycle. You know, we went to Washington DC. I gave congressional spend uh ask to all the Congress people and then they didn't submit our paperwork at all. Um, and it's really frustrating for all
four of us. All four towns had to call today again. And that's why it was an addendum. I had to get their permission to say, "What are we going to go for? Should we ask for it this year?" And they said, "Yeah, there's no time like the present. Let's get people talking about the regional wastewater project."
Um, so this will only get us to the funding portion of the four towns are going to meet again, give some plausible explanation to the councils. We might have another joint meeting that really takes us through
what is going to do. Um, but right now it's just about getting on the funding schedule. And if we would not do this, we can't ask for that funding. We can't not until 26,
right? And you'd have to complete this step before 2020. You have to complete this step before asking for any of that. I don't think any one of our towns wants to out no to spend $4 million on a engineering report. Like we just
financially can't afford that in any one of us. So, and the other thing that whenever I sit in those meetings and there's a lot of big numbers floating around, but the the scarier thing is that if we don't work together and try and find some solutions where we share
the costs, it's going to cost all of us a lot of really big numbers because, you know, like Michael said, those the the systems we have now are not going to be feasible and just keeping industry up to, you know. Yes. Uh, you know, it DFA
is looking at either they're on with this project or they're having to build a brand new wastewater system. Um, partly corn products need more water if they're going to continue to advance products. Well, they can't do that without something happening. So, when we
look at the economic impact of this, it's it's a real thing. Yeah. I think that's that it's so easy to say, well, it's just waste water, but it it's more than just waste water. It is it's so much economic development and and you know, the impact on our
citizens. So, and we've already had very preliminary discussions about the waste the water reuse side of things with Michael Foods over in Gaylord, like they would use all of it. And so now there's going to be a bidding war. I mean, who wants the water most?
I mean, as long as we can get it to great spec, it's it's it's a it's a thing. So, I think a bit more. Yeah. And this money also would come out of our um super funds. And we have the money in there. Yes.
All right. Somebody like to make a motion regarding the streams funding assistance? I'll make a motion. Jenny made a motion in support. Second. Second by Kelly. Any discussion? Any further discussion?
Questions? I'll call the question. All those in favor, please say I. I. Opposed. Motion carried. All right. We are moving on to committees. Michael, what do you have for us? Uh, the one thing that I wanted to bring up to council is uh we've we've gotten back
some feedback from engineers about the cost of demoing demoing the school, rebuilding the school into apartments, that kind of stuff. and I want to know um what meeting date works best for you. Uh right now we're looking at a Monday
in July July 21st if we could. The 14th is fire meeting that night. So we can't they're probably going to need our space, the city hall space. So what are you looking at for today? Um July 21st
at 7 p.m. What what are we going to discuss? So, that was just a work session. Uh, we're just going to go over um the um 21st items that the last meeting about the school building and football
field really brought up and then how much those number one estimated costs are. And then we're going to give reminders about the surveys and and what people wanted to do with the So, it's not just a council meeting. This is going to be advertised to the community. Yes. There'll be community input just kind of like the last meeting. Yeah.
Yep. Same thing, just different drill. Okay. Seven o'clock. Yeah. It gives people time to get off work and get here. Does that work for everyone? It does right now. Okay. Until everything
changes. Um and then just upcoming dates. Uh city hall is closed June 19th. Uh there are some system updates and the League of Minnesota Cities Conference June 26th and 27th. Um, so online accounts, our accounts in city hall, you
probably won't have a ton of access to. We really don't know what that looks like. Cassell, the program that we use, actually bought got bought out um by a larger company and they're converting some of their software stuff. Obviously, Fourth of July, we're closed. And then Farmity Funfest is July 11th through the
13th. If you haven't seen the chamber putting those online, I also put the flyers over at the front of city hall. Um, other than that, uh, administration's been working on a lot
of wastewater projects, um, and just keeping public works in line. The splash pad, uh, does break ground tomorrow. So, um, they'll do official staking and, um, moving dirt, that kind of stuff, uh,
tomorrow. Are you going with the golden shovel? No, we're just going to break around and make things happen. All right, good. Um, utilities, anything? Um, I I was not able to attend either in
person or online this time or uh via teleconference, but okay. I do have a public statement. Um the board of directors met on May 27th um at Chesca City Hall. The board
reviewed agency's financial and operating performance for April 2025. Participation in the residential clean energy choice program increased by 48 customers and um the board discussed the
status of renewable projects the agency is pursuing. That's good. Were you able to jump on? I wasn't. Yeah, I got a busy day. Okay. Uh, moving on. Fire. Adam, do you have anything for us? It's all good. Good. Okay, we'll take
that. Um, ambulance. So, um, cadetses are still working through their testing phase. U, we did have one, uh, pass and then passes, uh, national, uh, exam. So, he's a fully
certified EMT now. Excellent. Um, we did have one uh person that asked for a leave of absence uh from June until September. Um, although that person is uh moving out of town, so it's going to
wind up being a resignation at some point. But, uh, and then I commented on the ambulance mileage. Uh they're within 2,000 miles of each other and you know one of them's 2014 and what year we in now? 25.
So it's almost it's old. One's the next cycle for no. It's passed. We've been holding off because if we purchase one now, we really don't have any place to put it because it's
just it'll be too big. Yeah. So, um, so that's all I have. All right. Um, library. Yeah, the, uh, library board met on May 19th. Uh, the friends book sale was a huge success. We netted
$615. So, thank you for everybody that came out for that. Um, and also the Lions has been very uh generous. We received $300 from them to go towards
our applying for our nonprofit status. And we also got uh $600 from the EDA. And the Lions is also uh is giving $500 for a KOMO zoo trip this summer. Oh, good. So, the summer
reading program begins next week and goes through the end of July. And there was a grant received from the Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council to pay for a part-time summer intern because one of the employees will be gone for most of
June, I believe. That's it. All right. Um, police Logan, you got anything for us? Uh, good. So, uh, I'm sure you all have heard the
numerous complaints of minibikes around town, all that stuff. Electric scooters, electric scooters, that whole little, we'll call them a gang of kids that drive around. Um, I was able to identify a couple of them today and then get more
information from them on the rest of them. And there's like almost 10 kids. So, we're in the process of talking with parents now. And so, hopefully we can Can they drive the electric scooters on
the streets? Technically, no. Uh any motorized vehicle on a public roadway, you need driver's license for. Um, but you know, I think our main issues are, you know, the actual dirt bikes,
minibikes, um, kids not wearing helmets, flying through intersections, um, and they don't have driver's licenses. So, um, the ones today, we had conversations with parents and they were notified of the consequences if
if it happens again. So, um, that'll continue with the other parents that I've been able to identify. Um, outside of that, Nick is officially back now. He's all certified,
uh, with Nash and he will be on his first official shift with Nash on Wednesday. So, see him out and about. Um, other than that, we had a successful
uh women's defense class uh last week and I think it went over pretty well. It did. Yeah. How many people participated? There were nine. Yeah. Nine. Oh, yeah. Nice. Yeah, it was it was a good turnout. Um, first time I've ever done
something like that. So, it was thought it was fun and it was really good discussion. Honestly, that was the best part. I thought, at least for me, to learn people's doing that on a, you know, not just doing it once, but once the word gets out, I thought it was
pretty good. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So, great. Dial 911 for emergencies. Yes. Thank you. Um that's in regard to the uh the whole mini bike thing and whatnot. You know, we hear a lot of on the back
end of people. So, you know, in this public forum, hopefully people are watching the YouTube videos, make sure that you're calling the non-emergency dispatch number or 911 for these things because there's times where officers are dealing with other things. They're they
don't have to pick up the phone. they shouldn't be picking up the phone while they're dealing with other things that's taking away from their own safety. So, um, proper routes are contact dispatch. Dispatch will get a hold of us and then we can respond. How else do they contact
you? The the police department. Well, they call them. Yeah. The cell phone number. Yeah. And then they'll leave messages and, you know, we'll get the messages eventually, but you know, we're also not looking at the cell phone every time. So, emergency. Yeah. So ultimately
the the best way is letting the dispatcher do their job, gather the information, preliminary information so that they can relay that information to us and do you have any suggestion when it's appropriate to call the non 91 the non-emergency versus the emergency
number like what's kind of the Yeah, just staring at me. Weigh in on that. dispatch. Well, your vehicle locked without children or dogs and it's normal temperature. It's not an emergency. If it's right, you know, people will call and say their vehicle's locked because
they tie up the 911 line. Okay. Get somebody there as quick as you can, but unless there's a child in the car, that's not an emergency, right? Are you asking specifically about the police department cell phone? No, I'm asking like what's a good guide for somebody to
um know whether to call? Is it? Well, if you're physical harm, if you're operating in good faith, yeah, you can dial 911. It's not the end of the world, right? If you can't remember, it's the phone number, but if you have time,
we'll look it up or just ever, it's all on Facebook now. We can put it other places, too, but just put that number in your phone. Savage number, you know, Silvy County Dispatch. Yeah. And then you have it safe there. Then we have people apologize for calling 911 for an emergency. Yes. Right. Yeah, it's very
polar. And don't give your children a deactivated cell phone. True. We had a call. We had a child in Henderson had dialed 27 times 911 and they were giggling. Yeah. Swearing at me and
Verizon was kind enough to give me the with some information. the owner of the phone who was grandpa and um yeah, but they can still call 911. It's tied to the line because we have to listen as Tom might be
calling 911 for an emergency and I can't answer it because I'm listening to these kids. Okay. So, really just any non-emergency question that Yeah. you would call the city. I mean, you right the the police department you were
asking. Yeah. I I think a good rule of thumb is just maybe we'll contact you on the police department's cell phone, but you don't need to contact us on the police department. So, say I got a letter that said uh you need
to take care of the weeds in your lawn. If I had a question about that, that's a great that's Thank you, Kelly. That's actually probably the only appropriate time, honestly. Not that I have these on my because Jenny's not going to know and you know and and it's definitely not an emergency. If you leave a voicemail,
we'll get it, you know. Yeah. Um so I think that's that's appropriate, you know. But so were people upset that they left a message about the dirt bikes and they didn't get a response or uh just I mean it's just an ongoing issue that we have to remind people. Not necessarily
people were upset, but it's then you have to take time to explain to them, hey, this is if you want immediate uh action from the police department, the best way to communicate with us is through dispatch because we can't be dispatchers and the police and social
worker and all the things at once. So, I think it was last Wednesday or Thursday, someone was trying to get a hold of officer Mitchell and then they called city hall and said, "Well, I can't get a hold of him." Well, it's because he had a car pulled over, right? And he was
doing actual cop things. And they just wanted to let them know that they they found their keys. Oh, yes. Which is fine, but just leave a message and and move on. That's done. So then, let's say an incident happens, whatever, front of
my house. They know I'm on counsel. They come to me and they say, "Well, we want you to contact them." My best thing is to say, "No, you need to call the 911 and take care of it. Don't email me." Yeah. Don't email city council. You need to take care of it calling the dispatch.
Absolutely. It's really hard to take care of things after the fact. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Okay. I just want to make sure. I just, you know, I haven't had it happen, but if it does happen, I just Yeah. And I mean, just anything regarding the police department. It doesn't make sense to go
to the council member 3 days from now and say, "Hey, this thing happened and then it's phone tag of counselor reaching out to the police department asking just reach out to if you don't like the answer that we give," then certainly go talk with Michael, go talk
with you guys or something like that. But, um, it just doesn't it's not very effective to communicate that way. So if a resident has a question that doesn't need immediate answer, they can call the winter PD number later. Yeah, certainly.
And know that they might not get a response that day or the next day, but but will eventually. Yeah, I think it's option three on our It's just call city hall now. It's option number three, which is good for people to know. I you know, you don't want people calling even the non-emergency number to say, well,
you know, I don't know. I don't like where that car is parked, but it's been parked there for a week. So that's not an emer that's not even that's not even a non-emergency. That's just a thing. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Okay. And it get to get a hold of anyone now. You can actually dial the 5306 number and get,
you know, the mayor, me, Heather, utilities, emergency non-cont. So when it's after hours now, it actually routes it to the on call utility person automatically. You just have to be patient and listen all the way through the office.
Yeah, they're all there. Yeah. Yes. Okay. All right. Thanks. Anything else? That's all I got. Thank you very much. Public works. Do we have anything from Public Works has been engaged in the park the last couple of days. Um they are replacing some of the wood boxes.
They're rotted out. Um so they do have some replacements going on, but they're also running some new electrical wire for the splash pad. So you'll see them in the park pretty regularly. Street lights uh are ordered at almost in. Um
they plan to go from uh Highway 19 all the way down um to uh basically the grocery store replacing the rest of uh what is essentially Main Street's lights. Um and so that's that's what
public works is currently working on. I've seen our summer help out mowing lawn. They are back. Yes. Yeah. And our next go- get is basically seal coating. Um we had some questions about the bill uh the bid. So it's it's budgeted in our
budget, but um the bid was one page didn't match the other. So we're trying to get some clarification on that before we start, but the seal coding streets will be online as soon as we Okay. The seal coding. All right. Uh what are we
on? Planning commission. We have not met cable commission. We did not meet in this. Okay, just moving right along. Uh park committee, uh they meet Wednesday. Um and RS Viber, we have not met either.
Um does anybody have anything else? Otherwise, I will happily entertain a motion to adjurnn. So move second. All right. All those in favor, please say I. I. Thank you very much. Have a great evening.
I second that you're a kosher.