and on our agenda is number two consider approving the minutes of the regular meeting of the Wyoming Minnesota City Council for April 1st 2025 if there are no questions or comments do we have a motion to approve so moved motion to approve by member Luger do we have a
second second second by member Schilling all in favor i opposed so approved consent agenda number three four five three four and five does anybody wish to pull an agenda from or an item from the
consent agenda seeing none we need a motion to approve consent agenda number three four and five do we have a motion so moved we have a motion to approve by member Schilling do we have a second second second by member Luger all in favor i
opposed so approved acknowledge receipts of reports of officer boards commissions and department heads number six seven eight nine and 10 does anybody wish to pull an item um from the receipts of
reports seeing none we'll move on to new business which is number 11 to consider the hiring of Jim is it Maker am I saying that correctly correct okay um for the public works maintenance position with a tenative start date of
May 19th 2025 mr reeves will you be um filling in the information for us correct uh honorable mayor councel um through the um rate study and then um earlier this
year council approved the position and uh posting of the position to cap or to um cap or to uh encapsulate the process we interviewed 30 or reviewed 36
applications um interviewed nine in the first round trimmed it down to five um brought two back for a final um third round interview and uh we wish we would have been able to hire more than one um because we had a really great field um
but it it was pretty clear that uh Mr magger was the top candidate and has a lot of experience in water and sewer and will really add to the team um we believe that everybody will be able to learn some from him and we'll be able to share some best practices for our process and uh our department how we do
things so we're excited to have him join the team okay uh my question is why do you think we had such so many people apply is it because the city of Wyoming is really gained a lot of um what do I want to say um people are hearing about
how great it is to work for our city that's I would like to think so that that's what I'd like to think i I think we bring a a competitive um package with you know the variety of work and then also benefits um and I think people are
excited to join public works in general hopefully so um but then also get getting it out to the right people and advertising it properly I think also helped and then word of mouth too is always good perfect and we're starting him at what um rates it would be step
five which is 3621 per hour uh with six month probationary period okay perfect that's all my questions um member Schilling uh I actually have no questions i'm glad we had such a great pool so member Joerger um I am a little
uncomfortable with um expanding staff in today's economy given the current administration and the upheavalss it's I don't know maybe not such a great idea at the moment until things down
okay did you have any questions no not really okay uh member Luger um I have no questions i think this is fantastic we know um that our public works staff um we've been we've been looking for someone and this has been uh an authorized position to to hire for and certainly we need the the labor here so
um excited for this to be a thing um Mr ericson can I ask you a couple questions um especially with public works we have more roads ms4 am I saying that right ms4 because I noticed the big digging project out on
61 right so um when we are when we have what has been eight years since we've been MS4 five years something like that and obviously public works has to do more and a lot and it's actually very
difficult work to do a lot to it so adding a new employee to public works what does that do how does that help us with all the mandates that are put on us well um you know I'd certainly be happy to answer that i know our public works staff are and just we Stephen and I have
regular meetings and just talk about our infrastructure and planning and how we're going to tackle whether it's a road improvement project or maintenance projects and we bounce ideas off of one another and so that's really helpful for me and I think I hope it's the same for Steve but we talk a lot about you know just today we're talking about pothole
patching and the amount of potholes that we have we know that you know our road conditions um certainly we we've had a lot of improvement projects but we know that there's really a lot of work ahead of us as well and so we get regular calls and complaints about potholes and
asphalt plants are just opening back up we just talked about that this evening and uh Steve was down getting asphalt and the crews were and out out beginning that process right so I think the the residents will see you know additional manpower we'll see that uh effort uh
going into maintaining what we have and keeping it in good condition keeping uh storm water facilities managed and in good condition there's there's just an endless amount of work um that can be done and I think uh you know additional staffers would certainly help with regards to that perfect thank you all
right i um have no further questions so um we need a motion to approve the hiring of Jim Mer for the public works maintenance position with a tenative start date of May 19th 2025 i'll make that motion do we have a second second second by member Lucer all in favor i
opposed so approved number 12 to consider a work session for May 14th 2025 at 5:00 pm to conduct the annual road and project tour um Mr lynwood do you want to uh This is pretty it is pretty standard i think
you're all you're all familiar uh this is an annual um an annual activity that we do at the council we've been doing this since 2017 it's an opportunity for council to get out and um look at our look at our condition of our streets and look at um road projects that are ongoing or that have been completed and
future road projects future infrastructure new things in within the city um item items i think it's always nice to have everybody be able to get eyes on the same the same thing and provide information to the council so um again this year Meadows on Fair View has been so generous to donate um their bus
and driver and time for this activity so we are asking council to hold that road tour on May 14th at 5:00 p.m okay does everybody have that on their calendar i just added it no it can't so we'll fill you in okay okay
anybody else have problems with that date no problems no okay uh then we need a motion to approve the work session for May 14th 2025 at 5:00 PM do we have a motion so moved we have a motion by member Schilling do we have a second second we have a second from member
Luger all in favor i opposed so approved number 13 i just have to get this right number 13 is um a to have a further discussion on our retail cannabis consulting management agreement um and I
don't know if that's Mr lynwood or Mr larson or how are we starting i can start that off Mayor um council we had a work session regarding um the two items that are before you for item number 13 and 14 but the first being a cannabis retail agreement um we went through this
but there's essentially in form uh there's a finalized consulting agreement both staff has worked on and al has gone through our legal counsel in regards to this but um this agreement would essentially outline the structure for proposed municipal and cannabis retail business in the city of Wyoming that
would operate um under this uh consulting model have you um and then our independent contractor the city um would retain our full licensing authority where the contractor would handle all the day-to-day operations including staffing facility management product sourcing security compliance and
financial reporting um this would also be the buildout the staffing the inventory the insurance um marketing taxes utilities um they would all be employed by the contractor as far as the employees and different things um we as identified within the agreement the
revenue share model on this the city would receive 40% of net revenues and the contractor would retain 60% of those net revenues as defined um by total revenue um this would essentially begin by an initial hemp operation and then transition to a cannabis license under
Minnesota state statute um we do have full ability to audit the business at any time during the term of the agreement and six years after per state statute um the initial term of the agreement would be for five years with a five-year renewal option available for the contractor and any party can
terminate within 180 days written notice uh for material unccured breach um the agreement we believe has strong identification provisions that's clearly defined the independent contractor relationship between the parties um the contractor would not have the ability to bind the city to any contracts or
obligations insurance requirements recordkeeping dispute resolution procedures and legal compliance responsibilities are all addressed in this agreement uh as I had stated earlier it has been reviewed by our legal council um and we did I think go through this um at the the work session but we do have an agreement um that we
would if council was so inclined to approve we want to approve it with the stipulation that it would be if the city does receive their retail cannabis license and then Mr larson has anything but I think he identified at the work session that would be substantial form um to attorney review and finalization
okay all right uh questions from council we'll start with member Luger um I have no questions i attended the work session earlier and I yeah no further questions okay member Shelley I'm going to echo that um work session prior all my
questions were asked during that um I don't have any issues with it okay member Jagger well I don't have a problem with having a dispensary in town i don't think a city should be in the retail business because cities should not be competing with private
businesses i'm not comfortable with the city getting net revenue even if it is only even if it is 40% I would prefer to see part of the gross revenue or even a minimum payment and I also believe it's a good idea for any city who's looking
to open a retail business uh cannabis business to get a second bid for these services which I don't think we've have any questions just a statement okay all right um I do have um kind of a
questions with um which will probably our residents might ask that 40% when do we decide like where that money goes to so will we put it in some type of form of it'll be essentially a conversation
to have um further with the city council but essentially those those proceeds um would go into the general fund but certainly we have the ability to earmark those i know that in prior work sessions you know we had talked about parks we had talked about streets we had talked about facilities but certainly that can
be a conversation of the council and identify um or maybe it's portions of those potential net revenues where you would like to do those if it's m multiple um areas certainly that's up for discussion how the the council would identify that best use within the community okay and many cities have m um
m liquor municipalities or liquor that's run by the Thank you words are hard today it's okay um so kind of that same thing right i mean full liquor is very common i know that um through the application process right now you have many cities that are
looking at partnerships like this with other retailers or just full out um operation and ownership of it um singularly doing it on their own so Okay and we're fortunate to have somebody to help us and guide us through it um I think for a city of our size it
would be extremely difficult to have the resources the upfront um cost and to take on um some of the potential um liabil not liability but some of the I'm sorry operation yes the operation in regards to that it's pretty uh I think a pretty challenging business that I think
you have to know what you're um know what you're doing and I think that consultant has a proven track record of that and identified and I think um having this in the community and I think there's procedures in place that will really allow this to um protect public interests by we still operate this and
still have um something that we maintain community oversight and also having a meaningful meaningful share of the profits that we can put back into the Okay uh Chief Bower same question to you the benefits of um us being a part of our partnership with um a group that
will bring some funding to us what is the benefit of having us as a city or and our police involved with this project i I think some of it is what you discussed in the work session earlier is just there's a better understanding of what the product is versus um what's
available on the market currently okay that would be our benefit yeah and um to our partners here the RS if you guys can answer this um understanding is when there's a retail cannabis store there's barcodes there's a whole slew of of um
different things that go in to make sure that it's safe correct you can come on up i just want our residents to understand the benefits and then to me the benefits is having a safe project product instead of what's out there now yes and officially my name is Bill
Parker mayor and council members thanks for having me um the benefits of having that dispensary and having the legitimate products in place is not only the safety and the testing uh but it's also the education that the the dispensary staff can provide um to the clientele right um cannabis is new to
most motans um even if they were in the black market there's not a lot of education there for cannabis usage or you know there's no education at all um that's something that we provide uh dispensaries educate the uh client they also educate them on the different kinds
of products that are available uh and they can also gear products to certain experiences um not everybody wants to get high not everybody wants to have that mood altering effect some people just want some pain relief some people want a little reduction in inflammation
some people just want to be able to sleep at night and that doesn't always mean that you're Um and there's a lot of uh patients and there's a lot of customers out there that are looking for that kind of care um so that's something that we can provide as well okay uh on top of that above and beyond the state
requires a lot of security measures that go into these facilities um any officer who has seen one of our facilities can tell you that there is a zone of security around the entire facility um there is no way for anyone to use the
product on the grounds it will be caught by uh the surveillance systems um our security teams are well trained to spot that kind of activity um so it ends up being a really safe place where it's just education dispensing medication making sure we're taking care of the
client uh and limiting underage sales and making sure that the surrounding area is safe around the dispensary as well so basically you're operating a business in conjunction with us or we're doing it together right is really what it comes down to we're not pushing anybody out any other business out so okay appreciate that do you have a
question no no i was just going to make an additional statement um I mean we're still allowed per statute to have a private as well based on our population because we're exempt from that count if I'm not mistaken correct we could have with the along with the municipal there could be another potential private
entity that could operate within the city based on population count yeah i just wanted people to be aware that it's not something that we're snatching up to stifle someone else from you know having the opportunity for that business as well not saying it's going to happen i'm just
stating the fact so and I think to Mr parker's point and not only the the work that they'll do i mean there are strict standards within and regulations that the state has identified from um security to surveillance to cash handling ID checks um you know as far as
the protocols of how the product is tracked so I mean there really are not only what what they will be doing as their own operation but just what the state is requiring through this process so and we would have to hire more employees just to be able to cover that yeah I think to right like I said the
upfront costs and the the the knowledge and the the risk associated with this is something that we're I think this is a a good situation for the city in in this realm okay great so we need a motion to approve a retail cannabis consulting agreement do we have a motion so moved
we have a motion by member Luger do we have a second second second by member Schilling all in favor i opposed so approved um number 14 is um a discussion or an approval for the retail cannabis
buffer mr lynwood are you taking that one well Mayor we uh we did talk about this at the um at the work session as well mr mcfarland um is going to hand out um hand out some uh resolutions to you along this essentially this addition
of um the buffer is just um doing an amendment to the existing zoning code for cannabis um earlier we looked at a map in regarding how we handle our liquor tobacco and the radius is that regarding child care essentially the updated ordinance would just um update
and remove that 500 foot buffer and make it similar to in the same as we currently do for both our liquor and tobacco um Mr mcfarland just handed to you essentially is just a summary a resolution for a summary publication as always when we do this we have the ordinance that you received that's I
think around 10 12 pages long and that way when we adopt a summary that we just have to do the small portion of the paper it's a great savings when we have to do those legal publications um with that I can stand for any questions regarding the buffer okay we'll start with member Jagger he seems kind of busy
over there but do you have any questions i'm just taking notes i I finally looked at Mr lynwood enough of how he types on his computer and I thought I'd try it okay any questions any questions no basically what I said at the work session [Music]
um if we don't have any any um restrictions buffer restrictions on liquor and tobacco then it just seems silly to have any restrictions on cannabis if you are if your goal your
stated goal is to mirror uh what we do on liquor and uh tobacco personally I think we should keep the buffer zones all right uh member Luger um I have no
further questions than beyond what I asked in the in the work session member Schilling uh no questions during the work session uh I basically stated the same thing uh I I don't see any reason for the buffer there it's a legal product no different than our tobacco and alcohol it's highly age regulated
it's secure there's no point in the buffer zone in my opinion so and I know as the planning commission liaison the um planning commission kind of felt the same way why are we putting buffers out there why isn't it like the liquor stores so all right um so we need a
motion to approve the retail cannabis buffer resolution number 2250432 is there a motion me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me member I if you could also add that that we would have it would be the approval of the amendment to the ordinance and then also the approval of the summary
publication resolution 254-32 exactly what Mr lynwood said can we just go that route you may thank you all right so we need a motion to approve everything that I said plus Mr lynwood to the addition of the ordinance so moved all right uh member Schilling do
we have a second second we have a second by member Luger all in favor i opposed so approved all right um last on our agenda is um to just talk about what you've all been doing reports so we'll
start with Member Luger um I attended the work session earlier tonight uh in which the new cannabis business was discussed uh and that's all I've got thank you for attending member Schilling uh attended the work session uh tonight and uh where we discussed the cannabis
addition to the agenda and thank you for those tuning in and those who attended appreciate it a member Joerger oh I just attended the work session tonight thank you for coming and thank you for watching right i attended the economic development authority meeting it was a great meeting overall we have a lot
going on that we discussed also the planning commission and the work session and otherwise actually it was kind of quiet for me comes right down to it so all right what if I may um just wanted to quick provide a
reminder you may have seen in my staff report that tomorrow evening we do have a neighborhood meeting for the 2026 street improvement project there will be a hearing pardon me i'm sorry 2025 improvement project getting ahead of myself here it's all good the 2025
street improvement project uh so again tomorrow evening at 6:00 pm uh should be wrapped up by 7 pm and then we do have um the neighbor or the public hearing at the next meeting the first meeting in May okay did everybody receive postcards and stuff then have we gotten some we did we did mail that out yes okay all
right sounds great well I'll look forward to that for tomorrow one more update uh construction for the 2024 project that's carried over into this project um we did send a mailer out today um they are intending on starting construction on Monday for that project
so that was resuming for Goodwin i mean we're just 258th and Goodwin correct okay perfect looking forward to having that done I bet as well yeah thank you awesome all right thanks everybody for coming tonight um we're excited to have a new officer um I think that's just
great a new public works employee i mean um good things are happening in Wyoming not to jinx it for doing that so all right we do need a motion to adjurnn so move we have a motion to adjurnn do we have a second second we have a second we will adjourn at 7:30