Okay, we'll call the April 24th, 2025 uh town hall meeting to order. Please rise for the We don't need the We don't need the pledge. Pledge. Okay. So, I'll make motion to adopt the agenda. Second. Have a motion. Second. All in favor? I I Okay. I want to thank all that uh showed up here today and I really ain't got a whole lot of remarks. I mean, some of them just four months in, learning people, a lot of different things. I've been to a League of Minnesota class to learn what I should do and shouldn't do. And uh it's a work in progress with all of us up here getting to know each other. I see we have no elected officials here, right? Except us. Yeah, Mr. Mayor. Um both uh Representative Peggy Scott and uh Senator Calbar are down in the legislature right now on the floor. So they were going to try and make it, but they got uh they got delayed, so they won't be here this evening. Okay. Uh any council member want to say anything? None being said, go into the general public input. But before we go, I'll kind of read the rules of conduct during this. Uh that those who wish to address the city council must sign up. I don't think we got to sign up, do we? No. Okay. So, forget that. Mayor invite speakers to the podium and they are asked to speak clearly into the microphone. Uh speakers are limited to three minutes to present their comments. If there are multiple residents who wish to address the same topic, they should choose a spokesperson to speak to them. At its choice, the city council may simply listen to the comments or may engage in a dialogue with the residents. So, does anybody want to speak, ask anything? Come on up, Mr. Mayor. Come on up. Howdy folks. Um, in 2023 we surveyed using East Bethl Bolton uh to see what how people got their information about the city and the bulletin was item number one. I think the website was number two. And uh I'm just I would I'm not complaining or whining or doing anything like that like you might expect given the setting. But uh I want to encourage uh the city to make sure that the bulletin does again come out quarterly like it used to. Uh the last last version I saw was June of last year where it was meet your new city administrator. That's the last one I saw. I don't know what that's coming from. I don't have my phone on me or anything. Yeah. Okay. Well, anyway, that's that's all I want to encourage you to get back on track with the city East Bethl Bolton. Uh this would be its 23rd year of publication if it were published this year. So, I think people still and if it's still would like to see it and I think if it's marketed correctly, you get a lot of advertising to pay for the the uh costs of producing it and distributing it because it goes directly to every home in the city. Um, and can you give us an update on the fire chief situation? Is it possible or is that confidential at this point? Mr. Mr. Mayor, um Mr. Mayor and Mr. Lewis, uh we have uh extended an offer to an individual and uh we're in the final negotiations of that. Uh once that's signed, then we'll uh bring them in, introduce them to the fire department, uh allow them to get to know the people and uh go through the equipment and buildings and that sort of thing. Kind of get a lay of the land. and um and we're hoping to hire this individual by maybe miday, end of May time frame. So, thank you. Y anybody else? No questions. My name is Jane Weinhold. Um do I give my address or Yeah. Okay. 10:15 229th Avenue Northeast. And um I have on my house not far from my property a vacant house at 1055 229th Avenue Northeast I believe is the address. Um right now there's been two deaths that have been in that house, the father and the son. Um and I it's still sitting vacant. Is there anyone knows what's happening with that property? And um then I've also had people cross the back of my property going from 231st Lane, which is on one side of my property to 229th, and I've had uh people that shouldn't be on my property passing through. Um and I know there's an issue on that street. Um any comments or Mr. Mayor, I can I can do some search research on that to figure out what the disposition is on that property. Is there a number? Maybe you can get with me afterwards and a number and I'll reach out to you on that. Sure. Okay. Okay. Any others? Quiet bunch. All right. Hey, my name is Mary Wells. I live on Edmar Lane in East Bethl. I have been thinking about this um ex like a a sorry, I don't really know what they're called. Uh accessory like a dwelling unit, an additional dwelling unit. Um I know there's been talk on and off over the years. years ago, Jim Smith, we formed a little committee to kind of explore the idea of tiny houses or, you know, some add-ons to a house, like a second unit. Has there been any discussion recently among council? And if not, how would a property owner kind of get something a dialogue started about that? Well, I believe where it ended up with the tiny houses is it wasn't a very functional thing to do according to the state building codes. So, the best option if you wanted um additional people living with you would be to uh add on to your own house. So, I believe that's where those discussions kind ended up. Okay. So if one wanted to pursue having either the code changed or I don't know maybe there's I mean maybe there's a variance process or something like that um we do have a personal situation where we may have an elder relative move in and we would want a separate unit um on our property and so I was just curious how person maybe talk to the building official about what could be done or you could talk with the building official that would be good person to talk to, Nick. He's in the audience right here. Um, you can chat with him afterwards if you want. Nick has a time. Um, another person may be, uh, um, Grace. Grace. Grace, she's our city planner. She may have a couple solutions. Um, so I don't I won't promise you anything that we can make it happen. No, no, it's fine. I just wondered how a person would get started with that. And even back to the idea of tiny houses, I mean, I know this council for sure, the previous council and mayor, I feel like they were really um wanting to, you know, give broad use to property owners or, you know, just be a lot more right for nodding. Yeah. No, I agree. If we have the my opinion is if we have the room on our properties to do something like that. Yeah. Thing is with what I'm thinking right now is that you'll have to have a separate septic system and stuff too. So you got to definitely have the space to do all that. Right. like Brian said there about adding on to your home and you could use, you know, that as a separate spot, but you could use the same septic system as long as it was big enough to, you know, obtain that. So, I mean, it's something I'm not against any of it. So, I mean, if we can figure it out. But there really hasn't been brought up, has it, since you? None that I'm aware of either. Okay. Thank you. That's something we can check into. I mean, you can talk with the staff and see what we can figure out. Okay. And thank you all for your service. It's a hard job. Thank you. Thank you, Mary. Anybody else? Once. Okay. I've never spoken here, so I don't know what to do. Just say your name and ask us questions. Okay. Uh my name is Megan Henik. Um, I live off of Viking N5. Um, kind of tucked back in there. I've already spoken to Nate about the sinkhole on my road. Um, so we're good there. But, um, the other day, yesterday actually, um, I was coming off of Sand Hill and, um, where the monastery is and where new development is. And I was just wondering, is there any sort of discussion about the impact on traffic that will be um, taking place right at that? because I was coming out on Sand Hill and somebody was coming out of the monastery. People were coming out, construction crew on um not quite to where the Viking Meadows entrance is. But I just wasn't sure if there's any sort of like discussions about the impact on traffic specifically on Viking getting to 65 because people coming off 65 then getting on to Viking are accelerating. So even now at Sand Hill, you have cars coming off of 65 that are really kind of like accelerating up to the 55, mostly 60. I mean, everyone at Viking drives 60 most of the time. So um just kind of that impact of what all of the housing is going to be happening specifically right there on Viking. Yeah. Short answer is yes. That there was a traffic study done before that uh development was approved. It was an extensive traffic study that looked at local intersections and intersections within a radius that uh potential people may use. And that also took in account not just uh Viking Meadows but uh townhouse development that's going up as well. Um and the company concluded that uh there would be no issues with the traffic that uh uh the service the the sizing is adequate for or what's going in there it be more than adequate. Okay. Because I just I mean if you have everyone coming out at all at one time like I had it is can be precarious. You know if somebody's trying to turn left I'm trying to turn right. It just seems like and I was at rush hour peak time so I will say there was a lot of cars in that area. There's going to be even more cars and the roundabout off of Quick Trip trying to get on to 65. If you haven't done it during rush hour to try to get to the J turn to go six, highly recommend it. Hit your accelerator because that's what you have to do. Um so I've done it many times where I've come off there, had to hit the gas so I can go south on 65. And so if I were a person living in that development, I would definitely choose the Sand Hill or Viking Meadows way to get on to 65 and I just foresee that becoming highly congested. Obviously, I'm not an expert, but just from my own experience yesterday and then there's going to be a lot more people living there. So, um, that was my only concern. Can you refresh my memory? When you're at Sand Hill, there is not a right turn only lane. Is that correct? Or is there a right turn only where you can turn left and Okay. No, it's all right there. Yeah, because I'm thinking they might need to put that right turn only lane otherwise it's going to Well, then you also have a monastery school. So, you have at certain periods of the day, you have all of those parents picking up their children and then trying to exit out. The monastery does have two driveway entrances. So, you have people picking up their children um at that time. I don't know the capacity of the monastery school, but um and I was this was after most of the students had left, so I'm assuming it was staff that was leaving, but it was like we all I kind of looked to my right and I'm like, "Oh, there's somebody there and then there's somebody there." And if they're all trying to turn left and I'm turning right from Sand Hill, it just can get kind of convoluted. So, that was my concern. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else? Well, not seeing anybody else want. Mr. Mayor, if I could say something yet. Um, bear with me. I broke my glasses. The only pair I have up here, so if I say something weird, you know why. But first of all, I want to thank everyone for joining us tonight. Um, these town hall meetings are important. It's a great opportunity for us all to get together um, and connect directly with the people because you guys are the heart and soul of this city. Point blank. Um, over the last couple of years, the city council up here has tried real hard and worked real hard and been dedicated uh, in making our residents feel first. We're proud to share that our city has achieved achieved one of the lowest tax breaks or lowest taxes than anyone around us the last couple of years. Um this is a testament basically of our commitment to you the residents. Um, we still want to be totally fiscally responsible for what we do, but our goal is to make living in this city as affordable as possible while still maintaining the highest quality services because you deserve it. Uh, we've made significant strides in changing city ordinances uh basically to benefit you, the residents. uh these changes were made with, you know, your well-being in mind, aiming to make our city a better place for everyone who calls it, you know, their home. Additionally, we've approved many variances. Some of them we had to turn down, but we try very hard on a case-byase basis, always with the intent to do what's right for the residents. If it works for you, we want it to work. It's your property, and that's how we feel. Um that dedication I hope you see as residents has always been our top priority. Every decision we make is with the best interest of the city and with its residents as the forefront. Uh we've made some significant changes uh accordingly with the fire department. We're trying some new things going a different direction. Um trying to make our city safer, trying to make the fire department safer. We're very proud of it and we want to continue the tradition that they've always had. Um, we want our first responders to be well equipped and well led and that's crucial for the well-being of this community. We want to continue encouraging all residents to make use of our public forums um or contact us directly. But it's your voices that matter. It's your voices that are going to get things done. It's your voices that we need to hear. Um, we're here to listen. We've said it before and we'll say it again. We brought back the public forum for one reason. That's to hear the people and the residents of this city. Um, however, we do once in a while receive some unique uh comments on social media and so forth. Uh, a lot of it isn't exactly true and it's not going to stop us from fighting for the residents of this city. Uh, we'll continue to work through anything we have to and our phones are always going to be open to listen to what's going on. you won't hear any of us ever hang up on you. We won't do that. Uh our mission is to keep that communication open. Um for the residents, as an elected official, I deeply appreciate the support you've given us and everyone up here. It it means a lot to us. You know, we have one common goal together. Whether you're on this side, this side, or whatever, we have one common goal. We want this city to be the best it possibly can be. Um, I want to thank you for that. I want to thank you for your feedback. I want to thank you for the trust that you've given us up here. Uh, let us continue to make this city a place that we all are proud of. And we can only do that if we work together. But thank you for coming tonight. We appreciate it. Thank you. Anybody else? Yeah. I just want to say reiterate what he said. Thank everybody for coming. I appreciate the private conversations I had with you over there. And if any of you ever want to meet with us individually and discuss your problems, give us a call. We'll put you on our calendar and we'd be happy to come out and uh visually see what your concerns are. So, um and we also want to take in all sides of any um conflicts that our residents might be having. So, there's that. And but thank you again. This is one of the best turnouts where I've been at. So, I appreciate it. Next time we will have cookies and coffee over there. All right. Anybody else? I guess that we'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. Make a motion to adjurnn. Second. Have a motion second. All in favor? I. Meeting is closed. Thank you everybody for coming. Thank you. Thank you.