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City Council MTG 062325

East Bethel City CouncilTuesday, June 24, 2025
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Okay, we'll call the uh June 23rd, 2025 uh council meeting to order. Please rise for allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with all. Make a motion to adopt tonight's agenda with the addition of the supplemental payment summary as item I under the consent agenda. Second. Have a motion and a second. Any discussion? None being heard. All in favor? I opposed. Unard. Motion passes. 40 uh A Sheriff's Department. Good evening. Uh Mayor Council May had a total of 446 calls for service. Deputies had five thefts. We handled four assaults and one damage to property call. made a total of 42 arrests for miscellaneous violations. 200 traffic stops were conducted in the city which resulted in the issuance of 39 traffic citations. Uh, a few of our notable calls to mention this evening. On the 3rd of May at 10 p.m., Deputy Martinez stopped a vehicle for a moving violation in the 18700 block of Highway 65 Northeast. As he was speaking with the driver and the lone passenger, Deputy Martinez noticed that the ignition of the vehicle was punched out. As he continued questioning the occupants, Deputy Martinez believed the driver was providing a false name to him when he went to identify them. After running the normal checks that he would, Deputy Martinez confronted the driver, who did admit to providing a false name to him. The driver and occupants were removed from the vehicle and detained. Excuse me. The driver was later arrested for an outstanding narcotics warrant out of Washington County uh for an outstanding charge of fifth degree possession of a controlled substance. Due to the condition of the vehicle, uh, with the ignition being punched, um, and the belief that our deputies had that it may have been an unreported stolen, they determined that they would be towing the vehicle from the side of the road. During a subsequent inventory search of that vehicle, um, the deputies uncovered a small amount of cocaine, 19 grams of suspected methamphetamine, and an additional nine grams of suspected fentanyl. The two occupants were arrested and transported to jail on the active warrant and PC drug charges. On the 11th of May, at 217 a.m., Deputy Johnson stopped a vehicle for a speed violation in the 22100 block of Highway 65 Northeast. As he was speaking with the driver, Deputy Johnson noticed signs of alcohol impairment and asked the driver to step out to perform standardized field sobriety testing. The driver did as as was requested but failed the roadside testing and later PBT to.17. The driver was arrested and transported to jail where they submitted to an evidentiary breath test which reported a final value of 0.14. The driver was then transported to jail and booked on a on misdemeanor fourthderee DWI. On the 10th of May at 5:40 PM, Deputy Madson performed a traffic stop on a vehicle for an equipment violation in the 23700 block of Highway 65 Northeast. After identifying the driver, Deputy Madson learned that the driver had an active gross misdemeanor warrant out of Chicago County. Deputy Madson arrested the driver, transported that male to jail without incident. The vehicle was released to a suspect's friend who had been driving by and happened to witness the arrest. And then finally, on the 18th of May at 7:44 p.m., Deputy Martinez made a traffic stop at Viking Boulevard in Sand Hill Parkway after running the plate and learned that the registered owner of the car was driving after cancellation and imical to public safety. The registered owner also showed an active warrant out of Itasa County for a probation violation. Upon contacting the occupants, Deputy Martinez learned that the registered owner wasn't driving the car, but was in fact a passenger in the front seat. Deputy Martinez arrested the passenger and transported him to jail on the warrant and was released to staff there without incident. So, uh, summer's in full swing, everyone, as as you can tell with the hot weather. Um, we've seen a a lot of our regular boat traffic increase on Lake and some of our surrounding lakes that we see out in Anoka County. show. Um, unfortunately, we've also seen a number of several severe traffic crashes on Highway 65. So, this is just a good reminder. Uh, these are the most dangerous times on our roadway. Please, uh, use do care when you're driving. If you see anything that doesn't make sense, um, we're available 24/7, 365. So, call us. Um, I'm up here usually telling everyone to call whenever they see something, but again, I'm pleading with you. If you see something unsafe on the roadway, let us know. Um, and we will dispatch a deputy out there to take care of it and address those issues properly. So, that's all I have for the evening. I'll stand for any questions if anybody has anything. Anybody have any questions? I saw that we had a uh up by Cooper's Corner just north of 237th. A piece of Highway 65 got very hot and a joint um what do you call it now? Exploded. Buckled. Buckled. buckled. Sure. So, how how was that treated? You know what? It never made it to my desk, so I would assume that our deputies went up there and handled it and called the the necessary um road maintenance staff to come out there and fix that. So, hopefully we're back in back in order. Yeah, I I saw it was repaired today. Good. Excellent. There was a deputy sitting there yesterday when I drove by. So, so has there been any other instance of those through the city or? No. Uh, no infrastructure issues that I'm aware of. Um, again, those are some of the problems that we we'd respond to on a whim. Obviously, somebody calls 911, we'll respond and we'll provide that public safety, you know, uh, we'll dedicate somebody there until we can get that problem resolved almost like a down power line. So, um, some of those road issues can be quite severe in the summertime like you like you had mentioned. So, some of that heat really does um, transfer into that black that black top and it creates those issues. So, Lieutenant, has uh we haven't heard anything about Nexus lately. Is everything kind of calmed down over there? Yeah, Nexus is Nexus has stabilized. We It does eb and flow. Um and I'll have our second quarter report here done shortly. Um we saw a busier weekend two weekends ago, but that's not unusual for us to see at this time of year, especially when they're taking in new clients, stabilizing the residents there. Um, but after two weeks ago, we haven't had many many calls for service there that I that I'm aware of that we've had to deal with. Uh, that have of course required a significant response. It's normal for us to respond there, not normal for us to have a significant response and we have not seen that. That's great. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Fire Chief. Uh, mayor, members of the council, uh, good evening. Uh, just a quick, uh, rundown of what the fire department's been up since the last up to since the last time I was up here. Um, we've been on 57 calls uh, since May 28th. Um the majority of them, 70% of them being medical related, uh 13 of them being good intent and the others fallen somewhere within there. Uh two notable calls, we did have one lawn mower fire that was close to a residence. Uh we were able to get out there and get it handled. Uh the sheriff's office also helped on that call to maintain that structure not getting involved. Um, and then we did have a uh fatal accident on Highway 65 at Sims uh two weeks ago or a week and a half ago, sorry. Um, that was obviously handed off to highway patrol um as they do their investigation. Uh, we've heard nothing since uh the accident. um some projects and initiate uh initiatives that we're working on. Um recruitment and retention uh was in full swing when I arrived here. We received eight applicants. Um as of last week, they went through their first rounds. Um all eight will be moving on to the second round, which is a one-on-one interview with me, and then we'll see which ones get recommended for uh probationary hire uh with the fire department. Uh their first interview was a panel interview with five uh members of the department. Uh it was headed up by uh deputy chief uh Udin and uh with the help of District Chief Hoffman and then three other members, one from each station. Um we are evaluating turnout gear. Um I know it's been talked about at various times with council. Um, but we're looking at all different vendors for turnout gear, prices, and how it fits into um our budget and our needs for the department. Uh, we have a vendor that's up there currently uh showing uh firefighters that turnout gearing, allowing them to feel it, put it on, and give us their feedback on it. So, they have a a vested interest in in what they're wearing and what they're going to have. Um, and then one other thing that uh I talked about with council, I believe it was two weeks ago, is the station floors. Um, today we received the final uh bid. So, we went out to three different companies. Uh, received those uh bids. Uh, because I could not get them on the agenda, I'm not going to discuss them right now. Uh, but I do intend to bring them uh to you the first meeting in July so that we can review them and discuss them at length. Okay. Anybody have any questions for Chief? I have a question. What is the percentage of people you when it gets to the second round of interviews with you that you keep versus say no to? You're not a good fit. You're a great fit. Do you do you know that number? Is it like 90% or 5050 or Um I don't I don't have that number. Um, this is going to be my first goaround with with East Bethl. That's true. That's a dumb question. Uh, it's not. It's not. And if I had the numbers or if there was a national average, I'd be happy to share it with you. Um, when I was in Delano at my previous um, the fire department, the officers ran it and, you know, I would take it forward for them on their recommendation. I didn't actually meet with them. So, this is going to be my first opportunity to fill that second interview and make sure that they are going to be a good fit for our organization and they're going to they're going to fit in well and and you know help us achieve uh the department visions that we have. Thanks. Yep. And Mr. Chair and Council, we also do background checks on them once they kind of get through the interview process. Make sure everything checks out there. Perfect. Am I bel? Thank you. Yes. Item 4 C, public hearing. Matt, just get to it here real quick. Okay, Mr. Mayor and Council, we've got a public hearing uh for a offsale liquor license for Last Stop Liquor, formerly Wayne's Liquor. Um new owner, but existing um business there on Highway 65. And as part of the process here, um I'm not sure if the applicant is here this evening or not, but um right here. Okay. Um they can answer any questions for you. Typically, um you know, it's required that we hold a uh a public hearing for this and um if allow people to speak if they so wish and um can certainly ask questions of of the applicant while they're here. staff does recommend uh conducting the hearing and receiving comments and um and once it's closed, if there's any reason to deny the license, staff recommends council consider um approval of it if there isn't a reason to deny it. And um and the address we're talking about here is 21340 Aberdine Street Northeast in East Bethl. Okay. Okay. So, at this time, I will bring uh open the public hearing for the off sale license for last stop liquor. Anybody that wants to uh address the issue may step to the podium. Seeing no offers, public hearing is closed. Council discussion. Make a motion to approve of an offsale liquor license for Last Stop Liquor Incorporated, DBA, Last Stop Liquor, located at 21340 Aberdine Street Northeast, East Bethl, Minnesota 55011. I have a motion. We got a second. Second. Have a motion and a second. Discussion further. None being heard. All those in favor? I opposed. None heard. Motion passes. Okay, we'll move into the public forum. Okay, I'm going to make a statement first. Okay. Um, regarding why most of you are here. First, I want to welcome everybody. It's I I love seeing this room full of residents. I think it's wonderful. I appreciate all of the CI civic involvement that's here and um and it's been happening for the past few months. This room has been full and fuller and fuller and I appreciate that. Um but back to the murders and the murder attempts attempts were really horrendous tragedies like all of you. I was saddened. I was disturbed by that violence. I I was shocked. I have proudly served this community for many, many years as a volunteer, as a veteran, as a city council member, and as a school board member. I'm retired from the military. My life has been serving. But in the moment I made that comment, I had was responding to just a series of uh different posts that I have had seen. First, Governor Waltz had said that it was politically motivated assassination. Then I saw the video of that tearful, she was visibly shaken, Representative Hortman. And then her and I had learned that both of them had voted with Republicans. So I just kind of put two and two together and I concurred with the governor that it he was correct. So these pieces of information made an impact on my thought process at that moment. I was worried political retaliation was going to be a growing threat. I was sharing that concern and that more acts might occur. Unfortunately, my message did not come across as I intended. My intention was not to stir any discourse or fear or suspicion, but to express concern for public safety. As a veteran, that's how I'm wired. I'm wired to uh speak from the perspective of protection, safety, analyzing the environment to see if what's going on. And I want to be clear, I never once threatened anybody. The authorities thoroughly investigated me and found absolutely no credible threat. This has been a difficult week. A number of individuals have lodged a targeted campaign against me. They've been sharing personal information. They've been sending in inappropriate messages to my family, taking obituaries of my husband's brother and sending it to him telling him, "Yeah, this is a good thing. Your wife and you just didn't say wife, you and your wife." and some expletives in there. Need to die too. Death threats. Um, filing false reports to police and Mary Kay Corporation. Just all kinds of vile language that I've been dozens and dozens of calls and texts and just some of the most evil names you could think a woman could be called. I have been called this week. And that is inacceptable. People are intentionally misleading others, accusing me of putting hits out on Democrats if they vote against Republicans. These people voted for in favor of Republicans. It doesn't even make sense what I'm being accused of. Civil discourse should not include harassment or character attacks, vile name calling, death wishes, death threats. I believe we all have a responsibility to hold up uphold respectful dialogue especially in the wake of a tragedy. I think it's fair to reflect on how language from leaders across the political spectrum can influence public perception. My response was in part shaped by the framing I saw from others including our governor walls and other public officials comments could be influencing how people interpret innocent concerned comments on social media. If we are to hold one another accountable, it should be consistent and fair. Am I correct? See some heads nod. I am very grateful to those who have reached out in kindness and offered support through this difficult week. It's a very refreshing amidst the horrid emails, texts, and calls I have received. And I am always willing to talk. I am always willing to talk respectfully. respectfully, especially when it comes to serving this community. I am not going to respond to cold, cruel, evil insults that come to me. I'm not responding. I don't have to. And that's all I have to say. All right. Give me the sheet over there. But before we get going here, reminder that uh it's a threem minute limit at 30 seconds. I'll be telling you to wrap it up. Uh typically we only go for 15 minutes on the forum. We'll set it for 30 tonight, but again, you're going to be held to the three minutes. So, uh Diane Sanger, good evening. Um, honorable mayor, council members, pull the mic down, please. Hi, honorable mayor and council members, I put together this brief uh list of statements to aid you. I'm number eight on the agenda, and I wanted to not hold you here real late this afternoon, so I thought I'd just come up during public forum and um say some comments and then leave you to your business. So, um I want to thank um the planning staff and the development team because this project that we've been working on with our land um has been kind of back and forth depending on the administrations on what we can and can't do. Um you'll see it's uh our address is 447 Dogwood Road and the land that we want to build an accessory structure on is across the street. It's the only street south of Lincoln Drive that isn't a dead end. And I'm sure it's a safety thing primarily so that people from Cedar actually have a secondary exit to get away. In the past, it's always been front lot, back lot, and that's the way the previous administration has treated it and they knew we were going to build there and um so I am looking for council's approval to allow us this accessory structure. And um if you look at the page 60 of your packet um I I have sent an additional sheet to grapes if you need to that's a little bit clearer where you can see that we are the only non deadend street. So um the uh our property is situated away from the lakeshore line and separated by Cedar Road. Um, and our primary residence is just north across Longfellow. And if we were to sell this land or sell our house, I mean, there would be no purpose not to sell that accessory structure as part of it. We have talked to the county. This even come up when I was planning commission um that the county will not let you attach a lot that you own to your primary residence if there is a rightaway between it and um you can I'm sure you could talk to Grace and she's probably given it to you in your report that that is something that we just we even tried to talk to them about and you know you just can't get it done. So lastly, because we've been looking at this for a couple years, and last year we even purchased an additional part of land that was owned by the city, um, and this gave us the amount of space we needed to build the accessory structure, as well as our interest in just maintaining the wildlife center within that the wildlife area there. Other than putting the garage on the existing like open space there, we have um we use that land for a number of things. If you drive down there, you'll see that we let a lot of people put their compost in their leaves. That helps get rid of moisture. That helps get rid of bad animals and mosquitoes, those kind of things. So, we do not want to change the n the natural preserve of that area. We just want to add a garage um because we have a lot of things and they've changed rules. Uh, so we need our garage for like a a vehicle for her because to have staff, they can't be on ice. They can't walk to an icy car. They can't scrape ice. They can't do any of that. So, we need to empty our garage so that they have a safe entrance for her. And I can figure it out another way. We're just was really hoping that through the years that that's the way that we could do it is just put a garage. It's not heated. It's not going to be fancy, no electric, nothing. So, I will let you to it. Um, Brooklyn doesn't like to sit through these meetings as you can tell. So, I'm going to hope that you guys approve and I'm going to let you on with your business. So, thank you for your time. I really appreciate it. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Kevin Lewis. Hi, I'm Kevin Lewis, 166 Colleen Street. It's on the south shore of the eastern half of Lake. Long as I'm here right after Diane, I want to I want to speak in support of what she's looking for you guys to do. It's just a practical matter for her uh daughter Brooke. Uh wanted to speak just to two things real quickly. One is it's it's good to see what you're doing here tonight of trying to get a resolution on the Mundle City matter. Uh whether it goes to court or whether it's friendly negotiations gets you there. It's really important in this job. Haven't been there. I know you can't keep dragging things into the future. You have to get resolution, keep the decks of the boat clear, move on to the next thing. So I really want to encourage you to get to that end um with goodwill, too. And the other thing is I want to speak uh regarding Ms. Suzanne Urkl who I've had the pleasure of getting to know the past three years. Um again having been up here I've been subject to the I don't know what you'd call it on Facebook. I I liken it to a chicken coupe where the fox walks by and sticks his head in and all the chickens freak out. That's what face that's what Facebook is to me. But anyway, I know Suzanne is a very decent person, a very good person, and also tougher than nails. And uh I just want people to take a breath, back up, look at the facts, and realize that Suzanne's heart was nowhere near what people are accusing her. Usually people who never even met her. So anyway, I just wanted to speak on behalf of Suzanne. a valued member of the city council. I'm glad you're on our city council. Thank you. And uh good luck. Thank you. Be strong. Thank you. Yep. Thank you, Kevin. Tammy Gibble. Someone left a phone here. Tammy Gimple, 22359 Baton Street, East Bethl. Um, I have a couple things. Actually, I have quite a few things and I only have three minutes, so I'm going to try to talk kind of fast. We do have a We do have a six horse IUP. So, I don't know where this is going to go as far as from here with us. We have a six horse IUP. We are going to have six horses or less. And I'm leaving it at that. Um, I can provide proof of that. That is I know Matt Luck has and he's not giving it to you. Um, I'd prefer that you get it from him or from Carrie because it's it exists and it's there. Um, the last meeting, Mr. Luke said he had no horse in this race at all. And so I just want to read a couple things. I I came to know Matt Look from a email that he sent in February 1st of 24 where he asked to come to my facility because of the city has been receiving ongoing communications from Miss Dolman. In those emails, he had said things such as, "Now, this is between Mattlook and Christine Dolman." He has written to Christine, "We will take it from here. The past is the past." This was in 2024. The Facebook posts are opinions and only opinions. Miss Gimple could be very easily posting something on Facebook to feed your obsession. Finally, the city is the governing jurisdiction over this matter, not you. As I stated, we will take it from here. I can't speak on what you've heard in the past, nor will I defend Jack and what he may or may have not done. There have been extensive city resources spent on this topic to date, and it ends. It ends. Then 11, so November 14th of 24, Matt Look wrote to Christine Dolman, and it's Christine Dolman@hotmail.com. Christine, can you call me? Thanks, Matt. look and it's all, you know, city of East Bethl. So on our taxpayer dime, he is talking to a Ham Lake resident. Um 10:40 on April 30th at 10:40 a.m. Mattlook wrote to Christine. Christine, just an FYI, the Gratitude Farms IUP violations will be discussed on the May 12th work session, 6 p.m. Thanks, Matt. book. That was 10:40 a.m. 30 seconds, Tammy. Okay. You said you're going to give me another Okay, 30 seconds. Thank you. 3:36 is when he wrote to mayor and council. So, he was telling Christine about the IEP before he was telling um you guys. And then, let me see, same day, please don't post anything until after the hearing. This is Matt Looked to Christine Dolman. Christine Dolman, thank you for the update. Um, he says, "You may want to attend the with evidence." This is from Matt Look to Christine Dolman. You may want to attend with evidence. She has three IUPs. One for dog food sales, one for two tours, one for animal containment. He he also has a kennel license for 15 dogs limited a certain age. I guess that's my 30 seconds, but I want to say that it does look like you might be have a horse in this race. Thank you, Denise Lashinski. I just have a couple items. Any Sinsky 2286 Vermillion. I would like to call attention to Suzan Suzanne's Urkl's continuation of using her second term as a council person to harm the reputation of the city of East Bethl. I can attest to the damage and stress that rhetoric such as hers causes to families of tragic circumstances. People will say that the Hortmans were public figures, so it should be expected. While Suzanne will get a pass once again for her antics by council members present and past who have called past and present commission members names in this very chamber. It's all around unprofessional and aberant behavior. You know who doesn't get a pass for this? The parents, the kids, the extended family members as well as the friends and neighbors. You should be ashamed of yourself. Instead, as president from your first term suggests, you will be cosplaying a victim. Number two, council person Miller has referenced or alluded to polling of half to more than half of East Bethl citizens not knowing what's going on. Are we talking approximately 5,500 residents? Are we talking about approximately 1,000 res registered voters? I can't find a poll anywhere. Um where the original contract is? Where are the minutes of the meetings where this is discussed? This is looking more and more like intimidation of citizens and businesses. Where are the facts? Thanks. Thank you, Council Person Mundle, who by the way was not part of the original contract or negotiating. Thank you for your continued professionalism in what must be trying times. That's it. East. Thank you, Jennifer Bloomquist. My name is Jennifer Bloomquist. I've been an East Bethl resident for a little over two years. I'm here today to address a recent social media comment and subsequent response by Council Member Urkl. I could stand up here and talk until the heat death of the universe about how the contents of the council member's comments made no logical sense, but she and folks who think like her will ignore every word that doesn't fit their predetermined conclusion. I am under no illusion that my three minutes at this podium will change anyone's mind. While you are free to have whatever ridiculous, vile opinions you want in private as an elected official, your public communications are held to a higher standard. This is in part because those statements reflect on your community as a whole. Our community deserves better than having a reputation for being tinfoil hatwearing conspiracy theorists who cannot discern reality from propaganda and misinformation. Not only do the council membmber's comments reflect poorly on our community, but her rhetoric unfounded accusations that have no basis in reality only feeds violence against innocent people. Once the comment was removed, she began to try to rewrite history, including at this very meeting, lying about the context of her words and gaslighting constituents who called out her aberant statement, including misre misrepresenting the words of our governor to fit her twisted theory. As a communications professional with nearly 20 years of experience, which includes media coordination, web content management, and social media management, I have some free advice. Most folks, if not everyone on the deis would benefit from a media literacy course that teaches you to recognize propaganda, bias, and misinformation. Also, the League of Minnesota Cities helpfully offers a 25minute course on social media for elected officials, which would be a wise investment. It's only 15 bucks. Thank you. Thank you, Christine Dolman. I guess I need your perition now. I'm not sure if that's constitutional, but since Tammy brought me up, I'm going to take if it's okay with you, mayor, I'd like my three minutes. You have your three minutes. Thank you. So, I was at the courthouse today um because Tammy Gimple had court and exactly what you said, Mayor Anderson, is that she was going to drag this on. Um she could her attorney could have put in a motion for dismissal. They're claiming that Tammy didn't steal the dogs because after five days they became Tammy's dogs. However, Tammy on her post Facebook post says that the dogs were surrendered to her by the owner. So, I'm not sure why the five days had anything to do with it. But again, you know, Tammy has never run a legit business. Her IEP says she's not allowed to board. She's boarded. We have proven it again and again and again. I have been threatened with liel. I've been threatened with slander. If anything that I have said, done, or reposted, trust me, her attorney would have been all over me, and I would have been sued. She's had me in court twice trying to stop me from speaking publicly against her business. Both times it was dismissed. So, as far as these IUP goes, I was at the courthouse. They're filed. IUPs are filed at the county courthouse. There are three on file. If Tammy Gimple has an IUP to have six horses, where is it? She had the other permit for the horses when she was first issued it. If she renewed that permit, where is it? The city doesn't have it. The county doesn't have it. And Gimple hasn't been able to produce it. So, I highly doubt it exists. And here's why I say that. When I became involved with this because of Duke, her IUP to be animal control was expired for eight years. And that's all in your minutes. Everything that I have said is absolute truth. She is still in violation of her IUPs. She's boarding dogs. She's playing as a rescue. Now, she's been behaving herself since she was charged by the county for theft of two dogs and interference with police investigation. Her next court date is September 8th at 1:15. Mayor, you had it called. She was going to try to drag this out as long as she can. That's seven months from the time she was charged. How long are you going to let her continue to run an acco business that you know she's not running according to her ID? And will she still be on the agenda for July 9th? Thank you, Ryan Mandell. This is uh going to take a little longer than three minutes. Yeah. Hold it hold you to it with everybody else. Yep. Um, this is a synopsis of the purchase agreement and money that Firebird Land and BDM construction has contributed to the city of East Bethl budget and an NOA County budget at this time and through the years resulting from the benefits for the work done to complete the whispering aspen plat in the three phases so far. Taxes on 108 homes already built or about to be completed are approximately $3,000. That equals 324,000 per year that goes to the county. There is another 38 more coming in that phase which will increase that to 438,000 per year to Anoka County. The city gets a sizable portion of that. The every time a new home has been built, a water and sewer access fee has been paid to the city of East Bethl at $6,500 per the contract. So far, 108 homes have been built. The contribution to the city budget is $72,000 presently and another $27,000 will be added to the city budget when the next 38 homes are completed. The total will then be $99,000 given to the city of East Bethl by the purchaser me. At the time of the closing, an escrow account article 4.1J was to be set up by the city and the entire purchase price was to be put into this. This was to be an interestbearing account. The interest from this account was to be transferred to the account set up by article 1.4B and 1.4 C. The article 4.1 also was to pay off the cost of the 1998 municipal bond the city had received to acquire the property from the bankruptcy corporation. In 2004, the payment for that bond that the city had to make was $234,000 by my purchasing the property that relieved the city of of those and those were to go on until 2008. The city had levied money to pay for them each time. The entire 1.7 million was to stay in the escrow account until the bond could be paid off and released from the bond holder. By the purchaser buying the property, it took the cost off the residents by a guarantee of funds to reimburse the residents and possibly release them from the levies set up by the city to pay for the bond. That cost to the city budget was approximately 25% of the city budget at the time as the city had a $1 million budget. Please try and wrap it up. Article 1.4 4 A and B designates that I was to put $2,000 per lot into a fund for the repair of the streets. If the city asked me for money, I was to give a a check for such deficiency. Any such deposit will be offset against the $2,000 amounts collected when the building permits are issued. No such offset was used and I have now overpaid the city by $25,000 as all but three of the first phase lots have been built on and the purchaser no longer owns them. The city asked for $25,000 in 2005 and the purchaser paid it to the city when in 2005 the city repaved 25% of the project. The city engineer never asked for any deficiency fund payments before commencing the street repaving project in 2013. If they had, it would also offset the $2,000 amounts collected when the building permits were issued. Brian, we're going to have to wrap this up. Okay. Move forward. There's two parts. Number one, the purchaser was to deposit $2,000 for the 96 lots. Number two, the city was to put the put the funds into two interest bearing accounts. Where is the interest? I've never ever seen any interest. $1.7 million at 5% for one year is $85,000. Where is it? Where is the interest on the $2,000 that I was paying? Matt Luke said there's $148,000 sitting in that count. That's a nice round even number. Mr. Mayor, comments are the next three minutes. We got to cut it off. Okay. Thank you. I got more. I know. I know you do. Lind Linda Linder. Excuse me. Linda Linder, 242 999 in Filmore Circle, East Bethl in the Whispering Aspen neighborhood. I was here about a year ago and was asking for help from the city about the lovely green algae pond that I have across from my home and nothing ever became of it. I'm coming back again for the new mayor asking if there's any way you can look into this and I'm paying taxes. Why can't some kind of circulation system be put in that pond? There used to be when I bought my land, there was circulation through that pond. It has since stopped when you close that plant in there that right off the north side of our property in that development. And I drive by other lovely neighborhoods that have maybe a pond with a little fountain in it that probably keeps circulation. Looks beautiful, you know, makes the the real estate look very nice. Why? We have a green scummy pond in that neighborhood. Very unappealing. I've asked for help. Nothing became of it. I came back for it to ask for it again. What can be done about this? I pay taxes. There's money in the taxes that can be helped paying for electricity to pay for the pump or whatever it needs to a pump that needs to be installed to keep that pond circulating. I'd appreciate some followback feedback back from one of the board members here, please. Okay. We'll have a staff research that. All right. Thank you. Moving on to the consent agenda. you a motion. I'll make a motion to adopt the consent agenda. So, I would second that and then I'd like to pull item H. That the only one being pulled. I'll pull H also. Okay. Have a motion and a second to adopt the consent agenda except for item H. All those in favor? I post none heard. Item H. Yeah, I pulled this as this is only recommending Christina. Uh, planning commission's recommendation was for both Christina and Mr. Holmes. So, I would like to know why council is not going with the planning commission's recommendation. I have uh as far as Christina, I believe uh will agree to put her on planning commission. Uh with Elden, I have uh a bunch of emails that he sent to all of us council members and I can read them if you want. My concern is with all these is that he's badmouthing all of us council members previous and and he if you don't agree with what the decision that we have made versus if the commissions came to us with something else I would think that you would just leave it that way but with all these emails we're called clown pounds. And I mean, to me, it's like it's simple. If we can't uh take what the commissioners are telling us when they're cutting us down, I mean, I can't anything that they bring to me, I'm going to question because just the way this is handled, I can't go by what they're doing. So, if I'm going to put them on there, I want to be able to trust in what they're telling us. By reading all these emails, I'm like, we're just a bunch of clowns is what we've been told. So, I'm against definitely putting him back on there because I don't think it's in the best interest of our residents at all. That's my opinion. Um, I have the same opinion. I've received these emails. I've even been called a liar. uh for trying to be as transparent as I possibly could with Mr. Holmes. Uh based on that, I can't I can't justify putting someone on there who feels that way about certain members, including myself, on this council and to get good advice from it. And I'm going to tell you, I was not going to vote for him because I researched his history on the planning commission and he is was chair when um he indebted us to all those millions and millions of dollars for this water sewer system. And I do not think we have the same plans for East Bethl. They just make recommendations. They They didn't actually make the decision. Their recommendations was approved by the city council though because the city council took their word for it and they did not do the research that they really needed to do back then. And that's on the city then. That's on. It's on all of them. Mr. Holmes, would you like to respond? Please, please come up to the microphone. As for Mr. Smith, I don't know what his problem is, but he's always been against me for some reason. And he said last time at at this meeting that there was numerous reasons why. Well, I'd like to know what the numerous reasons why. You don't have a numerous reasons why read your And as far as Mr. Excuse me, I have the floor. Oh boy. Let's be respectful. Yeah. And as far as Mr. Miller, he tells me that people that are going for the uh planning and zoning have a better credentials than I do. None of them have been on the e uh commission at all. and I've been on it for 14 years. So, he's lying to me. Point of order here. Well, I'd like to make a point here. You I have the floor. Excuse me. I can make according to according to Robert's rules of order. I have the floor until I re release it. This is Read the Robert's rules of order. This is not a public forum. I didn't say it was. We're gonna be respectful or this is going to be cut off. I'm trying to be respectful, but they keep interrupting. Just be respectful or it's going to get cut off. Now, the the people on planning and zoning have gi given me a unanimous decision to go on back on the board. I've been on the board for 14 plus years. I sat as chairman a few times and yet you guys just for some reason don't want it because it might uh jeopardize what you're saying or doing or whatever. But I'm sick of it. The the residents of East Bethl deserve a lot better than what you guys are putting out. This is ridiculous. And if it wasn't for the three here, I'd be on the planning and zoning a long time ago. It's always something. And I I I just don't know what I did. And if you can tell me what the heck I did besides one simple little email or whatever it was that's really got you upset, Mr. Smith, bring it out now. either that or zip it as far as I'm concerned. Thank you for your attention. All right, back to item m discussion. Somebody got a motion or I'll make a motion to approve Christina to the planning commission. Have a motion for Christina. Second. Second. Any further discussion? All those in favor? I opposed. Unheard. Mr. Holmes, uh, what you want to do with him? Motion there. Make a motion to deny, Mr. Holmes. Second. Have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Mr. No, no, no. According to Robert's know about that, you best read. I've read it. I've read it, sir. I've got it right here. Yeah. So, I used to We've got other letter from the city hall telling me to be here tomorrow to be uh put on the plan. you got this last. I'd have to look into staff on that. You can you can read this if you want. Oh, I'm sure staff has it. Do you have it? I don't have that letter, but I can look into it. But I believe in the original night of the candidates uh were being interviewed you. You didn't even show I believe. Mr. Mayor, council members, this is for the planning commission agenda for June 24th uh 2025. So, I'm not even sure it's June 24th. This would be for tomorrow if you were approved tonight. Obviously, it doesn't apply if you aren't approved tonight. Mr. L knew about why I was not here for the discussion. Mr. Mayor, we did send his letter of interest around to everybody. Um, so everyone was given that information in fairness. So, okay. We got a motion second. Any further discussion? None being heard. All those in favor? I I opposed. I motion passes. Moving on. Item 8 A1. Hold on. Bear with us one second. This Thank you for your patience, Mayor Council. Uh, this is a site plan review for a detached accessory structure on a vacant lot south of 447 Dogwood Road. The applicants, James and Diana Sanger, have applied to seek approval from the city council to build a garage on property located southeast of Longfellow Drive in Cedar Road. The property is zoned and guided Lake in the Lake Beach neighborhood. It's also within the Shorland Overlay District. The properties to the north, south, and west are zoned Lake, and the property to the east is zoned Royal Residential. The shore of Lake is approximately 275 ft from the western property line. The applicant resides on the property to the north and this proposed structure would be on the property to the south as seen in the image there. The properties are split by the uh right of way for Long Long Long Longfellow Drive. The applicant applicant acquired the eastern portion of this lot from the city in January of 2024 and combined the lots to create a 1.54 acre parcel. So, she had previously owned the western portion and combined it with the eastern portion. The vacant parcel cannot be combined with the parcel to the north that the applicant resides on as the parcels are divided by Longfellow Drive. So they are adjacent to each other but they are not contiguous meaning that Anoka County will not combine those lots. City council or the city code states that no accessory building or structure shall be constructed constructed on any lot prior to the construction of a principal structure without prior approval of the city council. As noted in the staff report, the code does not state how someone seeking to do this should seek approval from the council. So, the city attorney has advised us as staff to present this to the council using the standards for review that we would use for a site plan review. This is not something that would typically be put up for site plan review. Um, but the city code does um direct the city council to evaluate this request and this is the most appropriate way to do so. The applicant is seeking approval from the city council to construct this accessory structure on this vacant lot as a principal use. So, there would not be another principal structure associated with this garage that would be built on this lot. The applicant's proposed garage is 30x 48 ft and it's on the northern portion of the lot and it would have a driveway extending towards Cedar Road. The city has discretion in approving or denying this request. Analysis for this request against the site plan review standards has been provided in the staff report. The five standards for site plan review are listed on this slide. Staff has found that the proposed structure meets the ordinance standards for accessory structures in this zoning district. Um we found that the proposed structure um does not have any concerns regarding impervious surface. It should stay below that 25% um benchmark established in the code. It also appears to meet the setbacks for both principal principal structures and accessory structures within the zoning district. Um the applicant has also been working with our building department to resolve concerns related to the soil on this lot. Um and a condition of approval for this request would be that the applicant has to seek a building permit from the city prior to construction. The city council has two options. The first is to move to adopt the resolution approving the construction of the structure or the other option is to deny the resolution for the construction of this detached accessory structure. This is just for the zoning approval. The building approval would come later from our building department. This is just to ensure that or this is just to give the applicant the approval that the city code uh designates that the council can provide um to build this build this structure. I'm happy to answer any questions. I'm going to make a motion to approve resolution number 2025-39, a site for a detached accessory structure as a principal use on a vacant lot in a property located east of Cedar Road northeast and south of Longfellow Drive Northeast pin number 36-33-23-31- Z0010. Second. Have a motion. Second. Any further discussion? I'm just going to say I know there are multiple lots down on Lakes that has only one garage type structure on it. The past mayor has one. Um, multiple people. I've I've met them down there and they've showed me their structures. So, I know there are multiple I've when I was dropping campaign literature, I saw several of them also. I don't know who they belong to, but I know there are several. And I don't think one person should be denied one if um other people are able to get one. I know I was out to the property today and I took a look at it and I see where the road is in between it, but it's a road that's not used very well or much. You can tell because it's overgrown. So, I have no issue at all with this as long as there setbacks are made correctly and I believe it will be. I'm for this. Any further discussion? We have a motion and a second. All those in favor? I I opposed. None heard. Motion passes. Staff items. Mr. Mayor, Council, just a couple of items uh to bring you up to speed on here. Uh I want to give you a quick legislative update. We um were not successful this year in uh in the bonding requests that we had with the legislature. Uh they had a limited amount of money that they were going to be spending given kind of the debt ceiling and interest rates. And uh and the sad part about that is that if you're looking at a 5% construction inflation, essentially the project just went up a million dollars for two years of waiting. So I'm going to be meeting with the school administrator and the chair of the school board. uh to kind of discuss um a plan moving forward for 2026 um to try and see if we can secure those dollars necessary for the this would be the water tower, the water treatment, the piping necessary to hook the schools up to city sewer and water service. Um we are currently undertaking uh an imaging project where we are we have a lot of um old files uh that are in the vault and need to be transitioned over to digital. We have an interested intern uh that is a St. Cloud student and is going to uh be coming in to interview to see if that might be a good fit for them for a short-term type of project. But I think it's going to be more than just one person. So, I've I've reached out to some people um and uh and if there are other interested members of the community out there that might want to donate time to come in, we're going to set up essentially a a um kind of a a row of of getting these things done as fast as possible and uh and getting them into a a digital format, easily searchable. Ultimately, um, this is going to be setting up the background so that when we have the website redone, there might be the possibility in the future that, uh, people can pull up a property and and look at, uh, when was the roof last done or when was the, um, septic system done or what are the plans for the property, that sort of thing. Um, so at any rate, it's a big project and again I want to emphasize if we can get um if we can get volunteers, I'm thinking kind of like election judge type of volunteers, you know, that type of thinking. Uh, if we can get volunteers, uh, it'll save the city a lot of money. I think it's a a monumental project that everyone has kind of not wanted to undertake. So, it is uh it's going to be a big uh a big project for the city. it needs to be done and um and we're trying to find the most cost-effective way to do that. Uh the senior center locks are completed. So now we can buzz them in with a phone like all the other uh locations around here, all the other buildings. So that's uh that was done. The HVAC system was heating ventilating air conditioning system was installed on this building. So that is completed. Um, and as the fire chief had indicated, we're getting quotes on the flooring for the fire station. And I'm going to put all this into the category of deferred maintenance that uh this stuff doesn't um it doesn't wait for anyone. Uh it's going to keep deteriorating until it's fixed and um and so it's we're trying to bite it off piece by piece and um and not impact the budget too terribly much. Uh but we know the importance of trying to secure the assets that the city has invested in. We want to make sure we get as much life out of that as possible. Um, and then I do want to bring attention to the fact that you'll probably notice, and I know people online right now can notice a lack of ticking. Do you hear a ticking out there? Miss Carrie, Miss Carrie found that that podium right there was the culprit. Um, and uh, by by muting some of the microphones were able to stop that from happening. It will also happen if your cell phone is too close. That is a culprit as well. But that one was a big culprit. So hopefully I know that uh former council member D Ro would email me almost every meeting saying, "Can you get rid of that ticking?" Anyways, uh it's annoying and uh so we're continuing to try and find the bugs and that with the system here. I think your mic has been fixed. We changed that out. Um and um and hopefully uh I think eventually we'll need to replace this system, but maybe not soon because it's going to be costly to do so. But at any rate, uh that uh that I believe um concludes my comments unless there's any questions. Any questions for Matt? Okay. Council reports. I want to say I'd like to speak on Suzanne's behalf. I've known her for quite a few years now and I know she has a heart of gold and she doesn't have a mean bone in her body. So, I just stuff can be taken out of contact big time and I know the statement that she made was not what she's been accused of. She's a great person and I need everybody to know that. That's it. Anybody else? Yeah, I have some I have some uh senior information. Um, first we meet every third Thursday at 10:30 over there and first Friday of the month usually is a dance, but July there is no dance. Um, booster days is coming up and I know booster days is going to be on the reader board, but they would like the fact that there's going to be a pancake breakfast to scroll along with that and a bake sale. Um, we do want to start doing bingo games over here and I have an application, but I am wondering if I have to go through the city or if I can just uh send it in or what the procedure is for them to play bingo. Um, and again, we want to they're asking about the alcohol consumption during events. So, we'd like to have that come up on a work meeting or agenda or some some something in the near future. Um, and then uh booster days, we they want to remind everybody there is going to be a fabulous car show and if you have a great old car, you can bring it up. You registration is nice, but if you don't want to register, just drive on in and they'll take your money anyway. I think it's free actually. Yeah, I think they're like donations though. It's free but with donation or something. I don't know how they work it. But then finally, Joan Major from the seniors. She's also member of the Lions Club. She's just been a volunteer in this city. She works worked at NACE for like 20ome years volunteering over there. She just got the Lions Lifetime Achievement Award. I'm really proud of Joan and I just had to give her kudos and that's all I have. I'll just add booster day is coming up on uh July 19th, third Saturday in July. As Suzanne said, we got a car show. I believe that there'll be pancake breakfast put on by the seniors. Uh we have the parade in the afternoon. We have three different bands that are playing throughout the day in the evening. Uh we have multiple vendors. We have multiple food trucks. Uh multiple other things that are going on as well. I believe the sheriff is there with the K9 demonstration. Uh a handful of other things. Inflate free inflatables for the kids to play on. And then the best part is the fireworks at dusk. So, uh, please come on out on out to our city celebration and I will be there and, uh, I believe I won't want to speak for everybody else, but they will probably be there as well. So, uh, come out if you see us, talk to us. Thank you. And with that, happy 4th of July, everybody, because we won't meet again until after the 4th. Yep. Happy birthday, America. Anybody else? Motion to adjurnn. Second. I have a motion, a second to adjurnn. All in favor? I turned.