and justice for all. Let's see. Let's start with the agenda. Um, does anybody have anything to add? Heather, Jenny? Nope. Ed, Ellie, Martha, any update on the school? That was the only thing. The school building or
I have that in my notes. That'll be for next month. Okay. Oh, okay. I just got together with the superintendent. He's been a little bit busy, so I believe it. Understandable. Okay, good. Don, anything? Michael and I do not. All right. Somebody like to move to approve.
I'll make a motion to approve. Second. Motion by Jenny. Second by Don. Any discussion? Any further discussion? Any discussion? All those in favor, please say I. Oppos. Same sign. Motion carried. We have our agenda. Um, the consent agenda
has minutes from August 8th, financials and the pay equity report. I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda. Motion by Ed. Is there a second? I'll second it. Second by Jenny. Any discussion?
Any questions or discussion? Any discussion? All in favor of approving the consent agenda, please say I. Opposed. Same side. Motion carried. Public hearing on
police policy body warn cameras. You have a motion to open the public hearing. Oh, right. Thanks. My brain's still so. Thanks, Kelly. A second. All right. Uh, any discussion? Any discussion? All in
favor of opening the public hearing, please say I. Oppose. Same sign. All right. Public hearing is open. you're discussing bodywn cameras and retention schedule. Yeah, just a a little bit of an update. So, during our um audit that we are
taking part of uh for the state of Minnesota, the body worn camera uh policy just had some minor updates. One of them was in section I for the data security safeguards. Um and then the retention schedule has changed a little bit for the state of Minnesota. So, that
was also updated in the guidelines. Um, so all of our officers that are on duty have body warn cameras. It's pretty common practice now um to have them, but there are policies including um the policy of how Logan and
Aaron go through and do audits on the cameras, make sure that our police officers are following our guidelines and our policy and state statute. Um we also have retention schedules. the the data security safeguards really about um you know us not being able to alter
which we can't alter our video um and not using other recording devices while on duty. So we have recording devices on our officers and in our squad's cars. So um there's also triggers so they don't have to
make sure that they're turning them on and off. So, you know, there's not really an instance where our officers would accidentally forget to record interactions with the public. So, they turn their police sirens on, they start recording. Um, they pull their gun, it starts recording automatically. All that
stuff is kind of like those those auto features that we added a couple years ago to the camera policy. So, and then um Julie, it looks like we have Oh, people would like to comment. Yes.
Um, Mr. Salma, did you want to comment on the policy? You answered my question. Can Can they be turned off? And it sounds like that would be very difficult to do. Yeah, they can mute them. So, sometimes if an officer wants to ask another law enforcement person a question, they can
mute the cameras. They can't stop the video. Okay. Um, but they can mute them to ask a question. And that's actually in the policy. It's one one way that they can ask. So if you know they have to call Don Lenoi for instance and ask him a question, they can actually mute the
camera so that it's not recording the conversation and then they can turn it back on when they're when they're done. And then point of clarification, is it body worn w or body worn w? It should be worn. Worn uh
with an yes. Did you have any other public comment? Uh, no one else that wanted to speak. All right. Does anyone have any other comments here? Otherwise, if someone would like to move to close motion to close the public hearing by
Ed. Is there a second? I'll second. Okay. Second by Don. Any discussion? Any further discussion on the body worn cameras? Any further discussion? All those in favor of closing the public hearing, please say I. I. Same sign. Motion carried. Moving on to
new business. Um 5.1. The Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities. Come on up. Hello. Thanks for having me. Thanks for getting me on the agenda. My name is Darren Lee with Flarity and Hood and uh we represent the Coalition of Greater
Minnesota Cities at the state capital uh during legislative session. And so you and during the interim between sessions, we like to travel to our member cities and just sort of give an update about what we did uh in the last session and what's sort of a little look ahead to
what's coming up next session or what we think is on the horizon. So, um, just as a reminder, the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities is over 120 cities now thereabouts outside of the seven county metro area, uh, of which, uh, Winthrup is a member, of
course. Um, so those are some of the issues that we work on. Local government aid is kind of our primary issue. Uh and then some of those other issue areas that you see there, transportation is uh something that I work on uh most out of
those issues. Um and then I guess I will at this point just sort of explain what I handed out here. Um there's our session report which will go into more detail and kind of a narrative uh than what I can get into tonight, but you can
look at that um with all the different issues. And then we've got our outcomes chart, sort of what uh our position was, what the governor's position was, and what the outcome was for those uh issues. And then we've got our events
flyer in here. So, we'd love to have you come to some of these upcoming events. Our fall conference uh is the first thing on there coming up in November. And then there's actually a flyer for the fall conference in there. We'd love to have you come to Grand Rapids. There'll be we'll get into we get into more in-depth discussion. We have
panelists, guest speakers, talk about all these different kind of things. And so, and then finally in their uh staff contacts, uh depending on whatever issue, if you need to get in touch with us, have any questions or concerns on any of those, uh that's how you can
reach us. Um so getting into the legislative session, if we go to the next slide here. Um so the election from 2024 kind of brought a sort of interesting dynamic to the legislature with the house evenly
divided at 6767. Um which is very unique. That hadn't happened since 1979. And so um and then if you recall at the beginning of session it was very chaotic. uh the Democrats weren't showing up for like the first month or so because one of
their candidates had been ruled ineligible and so had they shown up the Republicans would have been able to like basically gain control over all the committees and so they denied a forum and it legal challenges and all that sort of thing. So to make a long story short, after the first month, finally
they came to a power sharing agreement. Lisa Damoth became the speaker. Uh the committees were evenly split. Uh and so everything was kind of a they sort of took turns holding hearings. You know, one week the Republican chair would hold hearings, the next week the Democrat chair would hold hearings. And it kind
of went back and forth like that. And so everything was sort of a four-way negotiation. So the House had to kind of negotiate with itself before negotiating with the Senate, which was was kind of uh something a little bit different. You can go to the next one. So the legislature basically had two tasks,
which is pass a budget, a two-year budget, which they always do in an oddnumbered year for the next two years ahead, and then passing a bonding bill. And we say hopefully there because they didn't pass one uh in 2024. The last bill had been in 2023. So, you know,
traditionally there's like a budget year and then a bonding year, budget year, bonding year. But that like the last 10 years or so, that's kind of gotten thrown off. So, it doesn't always follow that pattern. Um, so those were the two main things. And then on our next slide here, I've got this was our agenda. So,
protecting LGA from any cuts. Um, a bonding bill, which has of course uh public facilities authority funds for those wastewater drinking water projects that, you know, are so expensive. um for small towns uh to pay for themselves.
And then business development, public infrastructure grants is another thing that's funded through there. We have a lead line uh initiative to replace lead lines all throughout the state. Um and then uh child care and of course all your local bonding projects that go
through the budget requests and then EMS funding. And then we knew that there was going to be zoning mandates, sort of uh preeemption on zoning authority for local uh governments. And so we knew that was going to come back up. And so we'd have to fight that again. Go to the
next one. So I wanted to include this just because this kind of gives you an idea of sort of where things were at. So there's still a small amount on the bottom line based on the budget forecast um going into 26 27456 million. But it's
really that second two-year window because they do a first two-year and then a second two-year window when they when they do their budget planning. And so it's that second two years where that $6 billion deficit shows up. And so that's kind of what sort of drove the
discussion throughout the whole legislative session. We can go to the next one. Um, and so here you can see there's what the governor was proposing uh with his uh budget and he he kind of his budget
really relied a lot on shifting health and human services costs from the state to the counties who are responsible for a lot of those services. And so, uh, that was kind of what his proposal relied on. And then on the next slide here, uh, you can see the difference
between what the House and the Senate was proposing as far as their budget reductions, uh, their budget cuts. Interestingly, here though, uh, the final outcome actually was a lesser cut than either the House or the Senate was proposing. So it's, you know, it's
harder to find the cuts. What it's easy to propose the big numbers that when you start out, but then it, you know, as they get into the negotiations, it gets tougher to find those cuts. But they did end up cutting, I think, 1.9 billion in the second bianium. So they cut a substantial amount, but they still will
have to come back, you know, maybe next year, the year after, and still find some more cuts depending on how the forecast goes. So we'll see we'll see what happens um what happens there. So, I want to talk a little bit about LGA. Um, we can go to the next one. So, it
was interesting. The the governor did not have any LGA cuts in his budget proposal. The House did not have any, but it was the Senate Democrats who actually proposed a 20 million LGA cut. Um, which we thought, which which we
found that surprising that they would include that in their in their tax cut, uh, their tax bill. Um and they had a similar amount for county program aid as well, but they also were raising taxes in there in that bill and then had other spending cuts in other areas. So like
for example, on the next slide here, we talked a little bit about um sort of some of those priorities. Um you know, why are they raising taxes but yet also cutting LGA? They had they had sales tax exemptions in there for um you know uh
PGA golf events like the Ryder Cup that's going to be coming in a few years. Uh which is already going to be coming anyway by the way. So you know it's not like they needed to attract that event. Uh it's already going to be here. Um but they still couldn't find dollars to fund LGA. They had to do a 20
$20 million cut there. Um so that was kind of some of the arguments that we made. And then well in the homestead credit refund which grows uh with inflation whereas LGA is not tied to inflation if they have to do that proactively. It doesn't just
automatically go up like some of those other ones do. Um so we did we we put together a campaign to lobby uh very aggressively. Uh and this is some of our different tactics that we used. uh a lot of rural
senators staff the governor's office action alerts which we send out you probably get our our emails and so when you contact your legislators that makes a huge difference um so that's very helpful and then um it was nice that we
had sort of the house on our side on that and so ultimately LGA was left intact but we're going to have to keep an eye on that going forward you know depending on the forecast because that could be threatened And um there's our executive director testifying on uh one
of the tax in one of the tax hearings. Um let's go to bonding next. Um so a little I talked a little bit about this. There wasn't a bill last year. So that kind of like builds up, you know, the list of projects just get a year older and
inflation is a year, you know, goes up every year. So these projects don't get cheaper. But um they had about 700 million uh according to their debt capacity guidelines on how much they can borrow and sort of stay within that target where they don't threaten the
state's bond rating. Um and you can see the governor's proposal was basically just stateowned assets like uh you know the Minscu system, the U of M system, public buildings, stateowned buildings, that sort of thing. Um there was very little for local projects and I was
actually you know zero for local roads and bridges which you know he really could have included something for those I think but you know he didn't have a big bill to work with but I think to include nothing for local roads and bridges was was a mistake on his part.
Ultimately we ended up getting um something for that which I'll get to in a second. But so we did press conferences and we had some of our labor friends that uh of course rely on those construction projects uh work with us. We did did some on uh some online ads
and radios uh commercials, that sort of thing. Um and so we really um lobbyed hard for some of those things. And then ultimately what we ended up getting was 773 million. Go to the next one. Thank
you. uh public facilities authority 176 million. I think that's pretty good considering, you know, the total bill. You know, sometimes these bills are like I think the last one was 1.5 billion total that they had um a couple years ago. So for a relatively small bill, uh
all things considered, you know, to get that much for water, waste water, drinking water, and then local roads and bridges, I think was pretty good victory. uh all when all things are said and done. Um and then another big policy change is increasing the caps on those
PFA programs from you know $5 million maximum to 10 and then 7 to 12 on the point source implementation grants. So that was a pretty big policy change cuz those those caps have not been increased in quite a bit and those projects of course get more and more expensive every
year. So, and when we talk about the streams project, you guys, that tripled the amount of grants we can get for our communities. So, um, and Fluttering Hood is also helping us with streams, too. There are so that is going to help us.
Good. Good. Um, I'll do a little bit on EMS services. So, in 2024, we got some one-time funding, uh, 24 million. We worked on this during the interim. Of course, you know, it's a lot of these rural ambulance services operate at a
deficit and so it makes it very difficult to uh continue to operate. And so we had Grant Hoschild in the Senate and Natalie Zelelesnikar in the House uh introduce a bill this year on an ambulant oper operating deficit grant
program. Um, and we did secure some funding, but you know, the funding source was sort of TBD as the session progressed because, you know, of course they had this uh projected deficit and so it's tough to ask for funding for new programs of course when they've already
got a deficit that they've got to um reach a agreement on. So um on the next slide here uh so we did get the program established and there's one there's one time money in there for one year 16 million which
is prorated based on what the operating your operating deficit was for those uh services license holders that were operating at a deficit. Um, but we'll need to come back next year and do, you know, try to find some ongoing funding
for that. But it's a good start. We built we we got something in 2023. We or something in 2024, something in 2025. So, uh, we'll just have to come back and get another bite of the apple on that one. And then lastly, I will go to, uh,
zoning. Um, I talked a little bit about, you know, preeemption. So, they had the same package of bills. They called it last year they called it the missing middle package of bills. This year they called it yes to homes. But it's basically the same thing. You know uh forcing you to
do mixed zoning with commercial uh increased density um parking reform they call it. Basically saying you can't mandate a number of parking spots. Um, and then aesthetics and building materials saying, you know, you can't
you got to you can't say that you can't have vinyl downtown or whatever or uh, you know, mandate that uh, housing development have like pillars or columns or whatever, that kind of thing. Um, and then HOA reform was another one. um putting sort of cracking down on
restrictions within um homeowners associations which would be a drastic change to state statute for cities because we control all of that right now. Yeah. Mhm. Basically, one of the things would be to
uh say that you could not require a homeowners association or um you know, they I mean those those are created by the developers anyway and cities don't create homeowners associations but you know it would restrict sort of what what would could be in those covenants
between the homeowners and the association. So a lot of changes there but so we testified a lot on this. There was a lot of hearings on it. um the bills failed to reach the House or Senate floor, there was sort of at the last minute, you know, some of the city
groups were willing to give a little bit on the aesthetic stuff. Um but a lot of the advocates for all these sort of housing reforms at that point, I think they were too frustrated and so they said too little, too late. didn't
want to come to even a small agreement on little things like that, which we kind of reached out and were willing to do. But, um, so we're not really in the mood to compromise next year. Uh, so you can expect that this is going to be a continued confrontation with, you know,
state policy makers trying to take away local authority on this kind of thing. So, we'll be fighting it again next session. And then so looking ahead, uh there's special sessions or special elections coming up uh for the Hortman seat. Of
course, Melissa Hortman was tragically assassinated in the spring. Um that special election is going to be next week. Uh there's actually I believe there's a caucus meeting among the House Democrats tonight where they're going to be deciding on new leadership. Um and
then you know is there going to be some security changes at the capital? you know, people are talking about maybe metal detectors or changes on, you know, carrying weapons in the capital. That's going to be controversial. Um, and then there's special elections on November
4th for uh Bruce Anderson, senator who passed away. And then Nicole Mitchell, who resigned after she was convicted of burglary earlier this summer. Uh, that those elections will be on November 4th. And then, you know, is Governor Walls going to run again? everyone's waiting
to see if he's going to run again and how that'll play out, you know, tariffs, uh, how that could affect uh, and then the recently passed um, tax bill with that could have impact on Medicaid services, too. So, there's a lot coming
coming up. So, and then in February, we'll start again. So, I think I've got one more thing with I just want to show you our events again. So, we'd love to have you come to our fall conference. you can come lobby with us in March next year on some of this stuff. And then we've already got our summer conference
dates nailed down for next year in new. So those are all fun events and you can hear about all kinds more fun stuff uh from people besides me. And with that, I guess if there's any questions, thank you again for having me. Let you get on with your meeting here.
Thank you, D. Appreciate it. Very interesting. Yeah. If you haven't been to a conference with the coalition, they're extremely informative and they're action based. Sounds good. I'll leave I'll leave my card, too. Thank you very much.
Thank you. All right. Um, yeah, lots of good pieces of that there. Plenty of challenges coming up. Um, moving on to new business. We're on 5.2, to the personnel policy update for
the paid family medical leave. Yeah, speaking of changes, uh so this is um you know, we're trying to get ahead of um a lot of the changes that are coming and paid family medical leave is one of them. So by December, we have to have a
policy in place um that uh gives our employees what we how we plan to implement it. Um, so we we have discussed this quite a bit as a staff. I know uh Heather's done a
number of conference calls, but you know, we we are not exempt from this. Um, this is part of um the new policy of the state. So we um you know, reading over it, you know, we we just really took what the League of Minnesota cities
had and what was in state statute and put it into policy form. The the reason that we wanted to put it just as an information item is that that council could at least ask questions about the program and how it's going to impact the budget. Um
overall um you know this is not going to be a widely impactful program. Yes, there's going to be some cost associated um with it, but it is pretty minor comparatively to the rising costs of many other categories that we have in
the budget. Um, this starts January 1st. Um, employees that have had a child or have personal illness since July of this year will be eligible on January 1st to take a 12week paid leave up to 20 weeks
if you're caring for a loved one. Um, so the um Minnesota D will actually be uh monitoring this and and paying for the program. um it is not the same as
unemployment. So this is a separate program that we have to report separately. Um it is not the same thing. Uh the other thing that uh we are putting in here is the combined compensation. So paid family medical
leave and FMLA run concurrently meaning they run parallel. They run together. So, you can't take paid family leave and then um FMLA at like backtoback. That doesn't work. Those same hours that you're out on paid family medical leave
um run consistently with regular leave. Um which is a little bit confusing. I think employees can at that time exhaust their ESST, which is their earned safe and sick time. um their PTO or if they
have comp time, they can also expend their comp time. However, it cannot according to this policy, which we can change, exceed their regular wages. Um so that's kind of the nuts and bolts of it.
Um what did I miss, Heather? Anything? What are the requirements to get the paid family leave? You have to work a minimum of 1250 I think 1,250 hours. Um you have to make at least 4,000 or
3,900 I think before you're eligible. So within the prior 12 months or something, you have to make $4,000 in order to be paid eligible. And then this is where it gets really complicated. And there's a calculator online that you can go and put your wage in. But for instance,
someone on paid family medical leave that earns less than myself, let's just say, um, may actually take home more than if I went on paid family medical leave, just based on our income levels and the formula.
The higher you make, the lower percentage they pay back. Yes. So someone that earns less will get 90%. Someone that earns more will only get about 50%. Also, it's not the full wage. No. No. And that's where that combined, you
know, PTO, ESST, and comp time really comes in is that if they're out for a qualifying medical um reason, they, you know, could potentially then have 100% of their wage. I think the other thing that we
are also talking about is, you know, right now we pay as a city long-term and short-term disability. And I mean, we'll have to negotiate this with the union because it's in their union contract, but is it really worth having long and short-term disability
anymore? If you are already doing paid family medical leave and what are the requirements from the employee? Now, this is throughout the whole state. Yes. Um what are the requirements for the employee? What do they have to show?
They do have to show medical documentation. Um we can under certain circumstances request a second opinion. Okay. Um has to be requested in advance. It has to be requested in advance at least 30 days. Be gone for the next
So is it like if somebody's having surgery or surgery, child adoption, caring for caring for a loved one and adult parent or something. And does that have to be um updated
every so many weeks or do they just take the full time off? I mean, it'll depend on the paperwork. So, you know, if you're if you know you're going to have surgery, the doctor is recommending that you have five or six weeks off. They can put that in the leave paperwork.
Um but they are entitled up to 12 weeks. You can also take intermittent leave like if you need off for PT appointments but the PT is going to go for six months and you know you need every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday off,
you can take just those three days and still report and work Thursday, Friday. Do employees have to use up any of their PTO or ESST time before this? That's up to council. Okay, that's going to be one of
technically there's a waiting period. I would assume that they will want to use it for that. Okay. But again, that's up to how the council wants to run the program. So, it's not statemandated how we run.
There are certain certain things. Yes, there are certain things that are statemandated and others that it's our choice. Okay. For example, we cannot take more than 50% of the premium. We cannot ask the employee to pay more than 50% of the premium for the program.
Oh, okay. Okay. So, starting in December, we're going to start having these conversations. That's why we wanted to put it on the agenda tonight to kind of start kicking the can. We haven't gotten I mean there's guidance out there but
there I haven't seen a really great policy. This is I think very bare bones because we don't know the pitfalls that we're going to hit until this program rolls out. That's just it. Nobody knows because nobody's doing it yet. So we're all going to be sort of finding our way. Like one of the things that I'm probably
the most concerned about is the um you know the requirements of notifying us. you know, in the state statute, it's pretty it's pretty lenient. Um, you know, they say 30 days, but in extreme
circumstances, and you can ask for a medical documentation, but really only for these things, you know, so that's what's going to be a little bit tricky. So, no action tonight, but we just wanted to get some words in front of you to start thinking about um
what's going on with that. Very helpful. It is and we appreciate the effort you two put into researching it so far. Um any other questions on that? All right, then we'll move on to 5.3, the
electrical rates. Okay. Um, you know, I I think we should start this conversation in 2017. Um, yes. Because I think that's uh where we need to go back. So, for those that don't know, you know, the electric demand
um that commercial businesses use during peak times is rated differently um on our bill, on the city bill that we get from our power company than your regular residential rates. um it's
because they are pulling from our electrical grid at high peak demand time. So in 2017 there was this rate study done that the city had conducted and um
the demand rates were asked to go almost triple and we really didn't do anything immediately and then two years ago we started raising that um I think when I got here it was $4.25 25 and we raised
it to 650. Our normal rates on commercial businesses and residentials really has a blend. Okay. So, when we get our bill from MMPA, as I think I sent you guys an example of
it, we you guys will notice that there's peak demand, there's weekend demand, there's all types of charges in there. our rate represents a blend of all of that. So when we set up the normal
kilowatt hour rate at the lower demand rate, we used to be able to blend that demand into our normal rates. Okay? And in 2017, they identified that that is not really
happening anymore. The spreadsheet that I gave you guys um currently represents the deficit that that demand just the demand account currently holds. Now is that the full picture? No. There
is some blending on their regular rates of commercial businesses. Um but we have to do something to stop the um bleeding of this account. we have to do something about demand rates.
So, we did checking um between our neighboring MMPA towns and we were by far the cheapest. We are the cheapest demand rate by almost half. So, um what we're asking council to do now that we have kind of identified this
is that we do a rate change just for demand rates on commercial businesses which will affect 12 full businesses. Um, businesses that run, you know, a lot of
power at night are going to see their bills increase, but not by a significant amount. Um, and the other thing about demand is that there's really two two rates. So you'll notice that in your packet the demand
rate this month was I think $1549 or 15 something the uh 1542. So in the fall and winter that goes down to $9. So what we're proposing
is an average of those two rates for the rest of the year um to try to get that account. Ideally, what we're really aiming for is a deficit of 75,000, which that 75,000 is in the blend of the
rates, if that makes sense. So, everybody, we've I've talked about this with Michael several times already. Is everybody kind of clear about how that blend works in in essence? And stop, stop me if I'm wrong.
the community as a whole are we're we're paying a little bit more to sort of balance that for the bigger demand users. Yeah. You know, the the you go to the store and you buy retail,
right? You buy that retail. So, we get our power for cost and we pass that on to the customers to help pay for things like new generators, new transformers, the poles throughout the town, lines,
all that stuff. Um, repairs to the bucket truck. And um you know in 2017 when they said you really need to raise the electric rates and then we didn't for a very long time
that really put us behind. I I just I won't lie. We have not made money in the electric department since 2017. And we need to start making money again because we have so many lines to replace. Um, you know, we're doing small
incremental projects, but the the blend does not work anymore, right? Because that cookie price costwise went up. If to say that we need to make money, we're not actually making money. We're just putting money into an account to pay for all the upcoming expenses we're going to have.
Yes. Yeah. Like for instance, if a transformer like our substation, if that if something happens to the substation, which let's pray it doesn't, you know, that's almost a million dollars minimum that we would have to come up with to pay for. It's
extremely expensive. So what we're asking council to do tonight is to raise it from 650 which is the current demand charge to 1292 for the remainder of the year and then we'll evaluate at that point and that is for the business demand.
Yep. That's business demand. Do we have to give them any type of a notice? We don't. We'll let them know on their next billing but we don't on demand. A lot of towns and a lot like Excel Energy for instance, they're already
taking some towns and they have meters that tell you when you how much uh energy you used on the weekends, how much you used during demand and they are charging customers different rates. Even residential. Oh, even residential. Yeah, absolutely.
Anybody have any thoughts about that? Does anybody want to make a motion? I guess I don't understand why it was run as a deficit at all. Oh, well, I'll take that because in 2017 when we did the right study, um, we
didn't vote for any rate increases. Okay. So, we've just sort of been well trying to tread water, but we've actually been sinking ever since then because we didn't raise the rates even keep up with inflation. Okay. So, yeah,
it's been it's been brewing for a long time. I think two years ago was the first time we raised rates in almost a decade. Probably at least that. Yeah. As far as as far back as we could go in.
Anybody have, you know, you have questions or discussion or if somebody wants to make a motion regarding the change in the electrical demand rate and it's it I I wish that we had the
foresight to have done smaller incremental changes along the way because this is hard. This is a this is a big jump and it's not fun for anybody. It's not fun for us to propose. It's not fun for people to pay it. But
I think that's what happens when we don't pay attention to things like inflation and adjust our rates accordingly because trying to pass it off till the next year or the next year puts us into the position we're in now. This will only affect the business
customers. I mean, this is commercial demand. Wouldn't be a great impact. It, you know, their amount of power that they're using right now is going to start decreasing um because their air conditioners aren't going to run as much. Refrigeration is
not going to run as much, for instance, on the grocery store side. Um so, it won't have as big as impact now as it would have during the summer. I so move. Okay. Motion by Kelly. I'll second it
and a second by Jenny. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? All those in favor of adjusting the electrical demand rates, please say I. I. Opposed. Same sign. Motion carried.
All right. Um, moving on to 5.4, the resolution hiring part-time officer Nick Ericson. You got background for us, Michael? You have? Yeah. So, Logan and I both uh interviewed Nick a couple months ago.
He's had an officer job in Bel Plane before. Um he's currently working for the corrections department. Um he wants to start just part-time, see how the department and the town rolls. Uh we also, you know, just to hedge our bets a
little bit, you know, Officer Mitchell is not going to stay forever. We already know he's looking for other employment. Uh his life is moving on. He's served the community really well. Um we're hoping that this is kind of his precursor to his replacement. Reed will
actually be the one um doing his field training. So, uh, we hope that Reed can make another Reed and, uh, keep that strength. Uh, you know, Reed really specializes and our police force on search warrants. Um, kind of all the
after office stuff. Reed's really, really good at um digital media, social media, search warrants for school. Uh, he did a lot of that stuff in the last two years. We went to training, so we're hoping he kind of takes that on. Uh it's one of those strengths that we really
need in our department. Anyway, so I know he helps Nick every once in a while, our K9 unit. So um anyway, that's where Nick Ericson, not Nick Action. That is going to be we're going to get a nickname real soon.
Why don't we just Nick, why don't we just call him nickname? Yes. Well, then we could um but this is just a part-time position. Hill Pelt Cup when we have gap in coverage. So no real budget impact. No.
How many cameras does it have on us? Um I think it's this will make five. It's Karen, [Music] Larry, Eric, RJ, and now him. I s
by Kelly, second by Ed. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? All those in favor of hiring officer Nick Ericson parttime, please say I. I. I oppose. Same side. Motion carried. All right. Um
5.5, the resolution regarding the police department schedule restructure. Yeah. So, um, you know, the personnel committee, admin committee have really been talking about this the last couple months, um, about, uh, getting our assistant police chief kind of more in a
supervisory role than, uh, her current state. So, um, this new schedule puts her puts Aaron on every other weekend. It actually doesn't overlap with a second shift so that if there's something pressing going on in the town,
um, she can let them know. It also gives Logan really weekends off, you know, so that when we're getting those calls on the weekends for Logan, uh, he can spend them with his family instead of on the phone. Um, so this schedule change, I think, was needed. Aaron already knows about it. We've already had discussions
with her last week. We did that when she came back from leave, so she's aware of the schedule change. What did she think? What did she think of the schedule change? I think she's willing to work with it. She understands that the schedule that we had
um you know wasn't feasible financially. We needed more coverage at different times. You know, that really that schedule really started when we first hired Logan to get Logan and the department back up to snuff. And it just took some time. And then there were some babies in there
on both accounts for Logan and Aaron. So, we're ready to move forward. All right. I'll make a motion to uh do make the schedule change. However, it says they're approving police department schedule changes. Yes.
All right. Motion by Ed. Is there a second? Second. Second by John. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? All those in favor, please say I. I. Opposed. Motion carried. [Applause]
All right. And now we're on to 5.6 police policy about the body warn cameras. It's just the policy that we reviewed during the public hearing. Yeah. Want to make a motion? Does anybody have any questions? That says body warn.
I wonder if the word was it's okay on the last sentence but not on the first two. You know what? But I'm sure Yeah, it's probably the policy is correct. Yeah, it's it's probably a just Yeah, spell check. I move to approve that resolution.
Okay. Motion by Don. Is there a second? And second by Jenny. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? All those in favor, please say I. I. Oppos. Same sign. Motion carried. All right. 5.7. the property line and
easement agreement between Bob Crumblest and Beerman's. Yeah. So, planning and zoning has already reviewed this. The reason that council is doing it is so that we have record in the minutes of a this is a
non-conforming issue in our in our comprehensive plan. Um both parties are aware of it. staff only asks that, you know, they make sure that the county records it correctly and we'll check up on it. Um because as everyone knows,
this has happened in the past at Winthre where we approve something, the line changes but never gets recorded at the county. Yeah. Um so I know the Beerman's and Crumple Stutters will make sure that it's good to go. Um everything else looked in order. Our city attorney approved it,
planning and zoning approved it last month. Um, and this is just the final step before it's okay to report. All right. So, I'd like to make a motion. So, move by Ed, second by Kelly. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? All those in favor, please say I.
I. Same side. Motion carried. All right. There you go. Um 5.8 Pial Bank account review that you have. Hi. Um, so recently, this last month, when
doing reconciliations, one of our money market accounts got a $10 fee for service charge. Um, I reached out to the branch and Jim told me that it was due to the amount of funding that was in the account, that there was a threshold.
that account is no longer utilized um really for anything um because it was all moved to the 4N count. So, we're asking to close that one so we're not incurring fees. Otherwise, we have to keep at least $2,500 in it.
And then we also, and this has been brought up a few times, the fire department checking is the only checking account that does not get interest. So we would like permission to move it to an interest bearing account.
Yeah, that sounds reasonable. Is it a different kind of checking account or what? Apparently that uh apparently when it was set up it was not set up to bear interest but ambulance or regular checking those all gain interest but the fire department
doesn't. What is the what's what's in the perennial account? What's that for? I mean, if you're less than 2500. Um, so it used to be used as our our essentially, for l better term, but our
savings account for like our capital improvement and all that. However, the form account had way better interest rates. You guys approved us to move it to the form account a couple years ago now. So, there's really nothing that's not going in there. It currently has a
little bit of the fundraising funds for the park that the park committee did, but and that gets designated if it's moved over. Mhm. So, where will that money go then when we if we close that account? Like
where would the rest of the money what account would that go into? It would probably go into the checking because it's not much at all, right? And those that $10 fee was taken off too, by the way. Yeah, I saw that. Yeah. So, just let me know. That's good.
Yeah. And the difference between, you know, our local bank interest and the 4 fund was significant. So, I mean, that's why we had moved the funds over. And I think one of the things that's happened over the last few years is we used, you know, 10 or 15 years ago there were probably,
you know, 15 different accounts to keep the funding separate, but now we have so much better accounting. Yeah. I think when I started there was 17 of them. Yeah. Three years ago we closed like 13 accounts. So just kind of streamlining everything.
Yeah. There's just it's not being utilized and I don't foresee it being utilized in the future with the forum. Okay. would like to make a motion regarding the I move that we close that savings account and put it into the general or
wherever you're going to move it to and then move the uh fire department's checking account to an interest bearing account. Okay, I'll second motion by Don, second by Jenny. Any discussion? Yeah. Uh the the
savings got the 4M U money market account that is guaranteed like it would be in the bank. I mean they still have it's FDIC insured. Yeah. Okay. Um All right. Any other questions? Any
discussion? Any discussion? All those in favor please say I. Oppos? Same side. I'm going to abstain. Sounds reasonable. All right, motion carried. Um, moving on to committee notices and updates.
Um, Michael, you want to go first? Yes. Um, where to start? So, streams, our wastewater project is hiring um to conduct uh the rest of the studies
where Kimley Horn left off. Uh right now uh we may actually see the appropriations committee come through Winthrop. So the House and Senate have wanted to talk to us about our project. So we'll let you know more when we know
more. Um that's interesting. We are um oddly kind of that odd stage where we're switching engineer firms, but we're also requesting a bunch of money for engineering. So, uh, we're trying to get
that back up to snuff. We have meetings now set, uh, September, October, November, and like three in December because it's the end of the year. Parks, my favorite topic. Um, I I don't know where to begin on this
one. So, the uh the setbacks have not been from our construction company. They've actually been from the splash pad company. um they have uh delayed this project by almost four months. So I want you to keep that in
mind as I tell you this. So they subcontracted the cement slab, the big round thing to be poured. Um and you may saw a bunch of chalk lines on it the other day. That's because Troy and I went down there and basically pointed out every single
defect in the cement. I mean anywhere from we didn't uh have a non-slip service to their shoe prints to you put your triel down and never picked it up um to the highs and lows. Um we actually had the meeting in the rain on Tuesday last week um and we're watching the
water pool came back the next day that same water was still there. So even by MDH standards that would not pass. So right now we're in the middle of conflict resolution. um they need to
have a plan of action to either replace the entire pad or to put a rubber mat down um that evens out the low spots and high spots. Um it's been very frustrating. I can tell
you that the construction company Veta is very frustrated because they just want to finish the project. They tried to hydro seed the other day. Um they got the trees planted and some trees replaced, but there's like um the boxes around the splash pad. That's VA. They
have to pour those for benches and they can't do that because if they're going to rip out the splash pad, they you know can't they don't want to replace them and endure that cost. Um, so from here on out, we're asking CRS, which is the company
that installed the splash pad, to pay for the overages for ISG and for anything VA is incurring. So I have not heard back from them or our attorney yet on that, but I will tell you um that we are not the only city facing this problem right now with the same company.
So we are teaming up. Uh we're having lots of discussion over email. Uh and they've come out here twice in the last week to try to give us some solutions. Um we won't really settle for anything that's not going to be anything subpar.
We're just saying no to. Um we're not going to allow sock huts and patchwork. We're just not going to allow it. So is there a timeline on that? Hopefully spring of 26 it's open. It's It will not open this year.
No, I understand that. But I mean to get back to the construction part, they have to tear up cement and pour new cement. We're running out of time for that. Yeah. Yeah. I'm still waiting on their response. So, what are they suggesting with with this rubber pad you're talking about?
So, there's two things that they're suggesting. One is they are going to saw cut into the pad, take the bad sections out, put new sections in. The problem with that is that so before any of that work could be done, there is actually electrical coil all the way around the
splash pad so that if it gets, you know, an electric spark or lightning or whatever, it actually grounds the splash pad so that small children don't get electrocuted. Um, and there is not one electrician that I've talked to that would ever
certify that by doing slab cuts because you can't specifically say, "Yep, all the coils are 100% fine, right?" Um, the other problem with that approach is that, you know, with all of our circling down there, if you go down
there right now, there is hardly anywhere on the splash pad that doesn't have a defect, whether it's a high low or a footprint or smooth surface. Uh there's there's barely anywhere that that would So, who's going to say
we're going to replace the whole pad or we're gonna CRS? The other solution is they're going to rubber mat it. Um they've done it in other situations where it's like a, you know, it's like a like a playground pad that like New Alm has on their playgrounds.
Um that's kind of a band-aid, isn't it? Yeah. And I'm not totally convinced that it will work, but I want to see some solutions um presented by them first before we there would be a rubber pad over it
anyhow. That's just going to be it would just be some I understand that but I think it's a band-aid of Yeah. Yeah. I think it should be replaced. But the when when I because I went and looked at the one in Rogers because they've got the rubber pad over it and um one of the things that I did like
about it is that you know otherwise kids are running on that. I'm talking about the all the mistakes with the I agree. It's not it's not a fix for that. But I think from like just a safety and usage standpoint, the rubber pad is probably kind of nice. But
but if it's as bad as Michael's saying, I don't think we should just say, "Oh, okay. Well, let's just leave it." Yeah, I agree. Have they had any payment so far? They've only had one payment in the fall to pay for the actual equipment like the
sprinkler heads and that stuff, but nothing else so far. So, If they tear it out, how long is it going to be before we get the new Well, that's the problem. It wouldn't get poured again until spring.
Oh, that's understandable because all of the the sprinkler heads were already on short order and they they came from Canada and this spring because of the tariffs there was some delay and there's still that delay
and ours report our report in the spring. No, I'm just I just want to make sure that it's not going to be, you know, a year and a half away or whatever. Well, right. I don't want it to be spring and pour it and they go, "Oh, sorry. We can't get the sprinkler heads or we can't get the parts that we need to put in the ground before you pour the
cement." It's It's definitely a problem and you know, our city attorney is aware of it now and we're working together to find a solution because it's not acceptable. No. Well, that's unfortunate. Yes. St. James is in the same boat, by the
way. Same exact boat, same company, same everything. So what if CRS all of a sudden decides to file bankruptcy and close their business? We would still have a claim against them. Yeah, I know how those get paid.
Mhm. Pennies on the dollar. But we don't have that much. We just have the equipment which we have in hand. Yeah, we already have the, you know, big dump
stations and the rest of it. All right, so we should just stay tuned for updates. I also wanted to let you know that, um, we plan to have some estimates hopefully next meeting about the baseball lights. Uh, there's been many communities interested in purchasing them. I have a
company coming out Wednesday to give us estimates because we don't know how much they're worth. new systems, same same brand new systems, I should say, are $450 to $500,000 right now. So, the gentleman over the phone said we'll come out, we'll assess how much
they're worth and give you a good estimate. Perfect. Okay. The GFW meetings, uh, we continue to have, uh, really great meetings about the school and the buildings and the, um, football field. I hope to get you some more information in October, kind
of a recap of what the community thought during those meetings. Um, and I just got to speak to Superintendent Bird last week, so hopefully we can continue that conversation. The EDA, um, just so you know, has been really, really busy. Um,
their next meeting this month is going to be about two new businesses starting, um, both asking for gap financing. Uh the EDC, the uh 17-M EDC, Mary has been working with entrepreneurs in all three communities. Uh and hopefully you
guys read the insert that we put in the mailers uh this last month. She's been working really hard um talking to new business owners and going over business plans and really shaping those conversations. Uh the charter commission is going to have to meet again this year based on
some research that the League of Minnesota cities did. Um in order to petition council, one of the new requirements under the state is they also have to have their date of birth presented and our charter does not say that. Our attorney is working on that. So
we'll have a charter meeting sometime this fall. Do we have a full membership on the chart commission? We still have one position open. Okay. Better than where we were last time. Yeah. Um, as a reminder to council members, you know, that want to add agenda items, we just ask that we have
that information the Wednesday before, um, so we can place it on the agenda. Furthermore, uh, each committee member can call meetings, uh, of whatever meeting committee you're on. Just remember to let us know so that we can have it posted. Those meetings are still
considered public unless you're dealing with close session uh, agenda items, the ambulance building. So, I had a extensive conversation with the engineer team. Uh, they they're going to meet sometime at the week of September 22nd.
I haven't gotten an invite from them yet. Um, they want to go over uh finishes and affordability. Um, how cheap do we have to make this thing but still make it work? Uh, and then they'll come to council and they're going to want to know, you know, do we want to go
with a general contractor? Do we want to subcontract this out? There's a lot of different ways and he's going to go through that, but I just wanted to let you know that we are still working on that. We're kind of at the final details. They met with Darren, our building code enforcement officer, two
weeks ago now. Um, and they're just trying to make sure that they're following city code, state code, and nailing down some of the final touches. So, is this possibly going to be on the October agenda or probably later? Uh, it' probably be in November. Oh,
all right. That's it. I promise. You sure you think so? All right. Um, let's see. I'm just going to get on the list. Fire. I don't see Adam here. They're at their meeting. That's right. Okay. Library. Where the Do you have anything?
Uh, we did not meet as a board, but we meet uh this coming Monday. Okay. Good. Um, public works. or anything. Um they're just doing fall uh items right now. Uh they're doing a lot of clean up. Uh they'll flush hydrants
soon. Okay. Um they'll start that. They're starting to clean up the park obviously and they're mowing a lot of lawn because it don't stop just keeps growing. Um planning commission they have not met. Okay. Our spider has not met either
utilities. I was not able to get to the August meeting. Yeah, they they really were um talking about transmission line fees from Excel. You know, Excel Energy is proposing a 10% increase on electric, which is
obviously going to affect MMPA in one way or the other. So, they're trying to hedge some of their bets. Their new solar farm just went online. Um and so they're they're working on finding more power source. Um, ambulance Ed, which got anything for
us? Nothing significant. Couple more have passed their fist app, so they're good. Onto their national registry exam. So, good
progressing with the cadetses. Glad to hear it. Um, police, anything else? Well, half the agenda was about him. Um yeah, I will just say that um Nick and Nash have been really really busy out in the
community again. Um the unfortunate events that had the town kind of on lockdown um you know it turned out really well for Winthrop. I tip my hat to the county and the city and Mloud County for coming down. Uh they used their tools correctly. I think
that uh all agencies involved it was a good outcome. So, kept community safe and kept the person safe. So, great. It sounds like they all worked together and cooperated really well and professionally, which is very nice.
It was It was very interesting. I was listening on a one of on a scanner because I was at work and I was concerned, you know, with my house being fairly close. the calmness of the conversation was, it seemed to me like it was, you know,
phenomenally calm and yeah, with the situation that they were working through. So, kudos to those guys. I would agree. Um, yeah, we met on Wednesday, August 25th. We approved a technology grant for
Prairie Lutheran and we did deny one for the first one uh that GFW proposed as it didn't fit our guidelines for technology and we're just waiting on requests from other organizations and our next meeting
will be September 24th. Okay. Park Committee Committee met splash pad updates, right? Committee hasn't actually met. Okay. John's like, "What? I miss I still concrete."
All right. Um I got I was at a football game prior to coming here and there was some fans in the from the opposing they were looking out at our park and they're like, "You guys have a beautiful park." Yeah. So,
yeah, it's a great asset. I don't know if you noticed, but Caitlyn actually painted a lot of the older equipment and it looks like a million bucks. I think she did a really good job. They they noticed. So, and along
um I my neighbor had some friends visiting that hadn't been to Winthre before and they got there and said, "Your town is really attractive. We just drove up and down the streets on the way here and people take care of their houses and their gardens are beautiful and your downtown is lovely. So I just thought I mean those kinds of things are
nice to hear because it's easy to you know see the negative stuff but we need to be reminded there's a lot of good too. So thanks. All right. Um we have nothing else. Some would like to move to adjourn. So moved. Is there a second by Jenny?
All in favor say I. I opposed.