Okay. At this time, I'll call the April 13, 2026 uh council meeting to order. Please stand for the pledge if you can. >> To the flag, United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible and justice for all. Make a motion to adopt tonight's agenda. >> Second. >> Have a motion and a second. All in favor? >> I opposed. None heard. >> Presentations. Uh 2025 audit. >> Uh thank you, Mr. Mayor. The 2025 annual financial report has been prepared, audited, and is presented for review and approval tonight. Abdo, the city's auditor, will present the report to council. With that, I will hand it over to our auditor, Alex Triple. >> All right. Uh, like Mike said, my name is Alex. I'm a manager with our government audit group at ABDO. Um, I've been on the audit now working with Mike. This is my sixth year, so uh, gotten to know him pretty well and gotten to know your guys' city pretty well. So, we'll go ahead and get started and go through um kind of what our plan is for tonight. We'll start with the audit opinion and responsibility, then move into some general fund results, the other governmental funds, the enterprise funds, and then some key performance indicators that just kind of show where you guys kind of line up compared to cities of the same population and size. than within Anoka County. Starting off with the results, we issue two audit results here. So the first one is the auditor's opinion. Um we are issuing an unmodified opinion under GAP that's stating that the financial statements are fairly stated in all material aspects. That's a clean audit opinion. Um that's what you're shooting for. And the Minnesota legal compliance testing noted no instances of non-compliance. That's making sure the bids and quotes um statutes are being followed, payments are being made timely, stuff like that. Again, no issues there either. Moving on to the general fund. This graph shows the general fund balance as a percentage of the following year's expenditures. So that total 7.4 million there in the top and orange shows the expenditures budgeted for 2026. And that second line, that yellow one, shows the total general fund balance as a percentage of those expenditures. Um, you can see you're well above your policy of 40% and continuing to build a good cushion there in the general fund. The general fund budget to actual statements. Um, this first column shows your final budgeted amounts, how the total revenues and expenditures um, compared to that. um showing the actual column there at the second one and then the variance um those revenues exceeded the budget amounts um that's mostly due to the um fire relief aid as about $13,000 um of that amount that total $399,000 variance. Um and then another big hunk of that is um just conservative budgeting for interest on investments. You guys had budget around $80,000 and you came out with about 195,000 in interest revenue. You also had a favorable variance in expenditures um coming in less than budgeted. That's mostly due to the vacancy and the community director position in 2025. Um there's a pretty significant budget for that. Um that never got filled. And that transfer out which funds building, street, park capital projects um was right in line with budget resulting in a total net change in fund balance of an increase of $363,000 um coming to a total of 5.6 6 million in the general fund fund balance. This graph breaks out your general fund revenues by type. Uh the most recent year under audit 2025 is in black. There you can see that property tax increase um due to that about 3% increase in your tax levy from 24 to 25. Um that intergovernmental revenue you'll see a steep drop off there from 23 to 24. Then it kind of planes out. That's those ARPA funds uh that you guys received and then charges for services and other revenues remain fairly consistent. The expenditures in the general fund um again super consistent continue to increase as cost increase. Um the only thing here really worth noting that other section at the very end there um that's made up of general liability insurance, property insurance, stuff like that. Um the other four it's just those typical department budgets and the expenditures that go with those your capital project funds. Um here we're presenting the ending fund balance as of 25 and 24. Um and then broken out down below by fund balance type. These capital project funds are designed to fluctuate with capital cost capital projects. Um, so you'll see large increases and decreases over the years as they get funding and then spend it out. Um, so you'll see some large increases and decreases, but nothing of any concern that's according to plan. And feel free to stop me with questions at any time. You don't have to wait till the end or anything. I'm happy to stop and explain anything. Uh, the two special revenue funds, the recycling and HR. Um, the recycling fund remained pretty consistent. The HR had a significant increase. um they had a lot more state grants in 25 than they did in 24 contributing to that increase while expenses remained um pretty flat. And then all of that fund balance is restricted in the special revenue funds for the um corresponding purpose recycling and H. The two debt service um and the the two debt service funds in the governmental um side of things. This just shows the total cash in those funds, total assets, then the remaining debt obligations up top, and then down below, it just shows within the next 10 years what the debt payments will be made up of between principal and interest on that total. Um, these funds, the payments per year in these funds are levied for and the tax levy. Um, so you should have no problem meeting those obligations throughout the next 10 years. Moving on to the enterprise funds, starting with water. Um, this top graph shows the total receipts and the total cost for the year. Pretty big jump in revenue from 24 to 25. Um, that's that increase in utility revenue. And then again, a large increase in interest revenue on investments. And that bottom graph shows the total cash balance within the water fund. Um, that minimum target balance that is based on 50% of operating costs. So you guys are well above um kind of that goal of a cash balance on the water fund. You guys have plenty of room to fund operations going forward. Sewer fund. This is the same two graphs for the sewer fund. Uh what kind of jumps out here are those debt payments uh that's due that loan that was issued in 2023. Those payments catching on in 24 and 25. Um that revenue is pretty steady the past 3 four years. cash balance is a little lower than the water fund. Um, still well above that minimum target balance. That minimum target balance does incorporate um the tax payments that shown above. So, it's 50% operating cost plus the following year's um debt payment. The Ice Arena revenue increased a little bit from 24 to 25 um and was able to exceed cost for the first time in the past three years. Um and then their cash operating balance is um well above that target as well. It's sitting at about $140,000 total in cash. There in two internal service funds um that the city uses. One of them is the equipment replacement fund and then the second is to account for compensated absences that will fluctuate with equipment purchases throughout the year. So 24 this this 24 cash balance decreased a little bit mostly due to some capital equipment purchases out of the equipment replacement fund. And then this pulls together the total cash for the entire city um and then splits it out by what type of fund it's being held in. You can see the majority of that cash is being held in the general fund and then as that cash continues to increase the allocation remains fairly consistent across the board. These are the key performance indicators I touched on a little bit at the beginning. Um we compare in orange there to class three cities population of between 10 and 20,000 and then cities in an NOA in yellow and then that black bar represents East Bethl. uh your guys' tax rates are a little below the other cities of similar size and also cities within an county. And this tax rate mix shows up the total tax rates made up of in the area. So your city accounts for a good majority of that and then most of the rest of that tax rate mix is made up of the county tax rate and then a little bit within the school. Here we have your total long-term debt outstanding per capita. Again, that's well below the class three cities, a little bit above other cities in ANOA. And then we have the actual expenditures related to debt um per cap per capita on the right. That's going to be a little higher just because of you guys do fall within the lower portion of those class three cities. Again, that ceiling is 20,000 people. This first graph shows the total expenditures per capita. Again, you guys are running um healthy lean compared to class 3 cities and cities in Anoka when you take into per capita. Um and then the capital expenditures. Again, this will fluctuate with projects, equipment, purchases, but that's been fairly consistent the past four years. And that is all I got for you. Those are the rest of our team. Um, I'd be happy to answer any questions you guys have. >> So, overall, how did our finances and budgeting look? >> In my opinion, it looked well. It's It's up to you guys. If you guys want to stay within budget, you guys did well. If you want to maximize what you guys budgeted for, you had a little leftover. I mean, you saved you spent less than you budgeted for and you made more than you budgeted for, which is always good. I just wanted to say I couldn't open the links to get this so I'm wondering if they can be resent so I can look back and study it a little bit better. >> Sure. >> Thank you. All right. Um, I believe we need to >> I'll make a motion to approve resolution 2026-17 accepting and adopting the 2025 city of East Bethl annual financial report. >> Second. I have a motion and a second. All those uh any discussion on being heard? All those in favor? >> I opposed. Unheard. Motion passes. >> Thanks for the presentation. >> Yeah. Thank you guys. >> Uh item B, potentially dangerous dog hearing. >> Mr. Mayor and Council, um before you this evening is a potentially dangerous dog hearing, a public hearing that uh needs to be held. Just by way of background information, there was a request for this hearing based on a dog attack that occurred on February 23rd, 2026. The sheriff's office uh reported a pitbull mastiff dog by the name of Tucker um owned by Miss Perry, who approached and uh in a threatening manner and lethally injured a domestic cat belonging to Brenda Burke on a private property at 248 Elm Road. Um, in instances such as this, the um the law enforcement is called, they do uh research on this. You'll see the uh police report in here. And then at that point, it's up to the um offended party, you might say, to determine if they want to have this hearing here this evening. And then um testimony can be taken by both parties as it relates to uh what transpired that day. If currently right now it's a potentially dangerous dog, if the council decides it decides it meets the qualification for a dangerous dog, there are a few options that are available um to include uh you know destroying the animal is probably the most aggressive option. Uh but um if if the owner would like to continue to keep the animal if it's determined that it's a a dangerous animal, there are eight different um restrictions that can be um applied to uh the owner in terms of uh you know what they would need to do to include just naming a couple of your liability insurance for example which is very costly. uh proper enclosures for the animals, um you know, um lifetime license up to date on rabies and vaccination, which is typically the case. But um at any rate, it's um it's it comes to the point of the council getting to getting to decide if it needs to go from potentially dangerous to dangerous. And that would be part of the public hearing uh this evening. So, Mr. Mr. Mayor, if you would call for a public hearing, we can take testimony from both parties. >> All right. At this time, we'll open the public hearing. Um, I don't know which parties are here. If you'd like to come to the podium, state your name, address, and uh, >> one at a time or >> however you'd like to do it. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> I'm Brenda Burke and I'm 248 down road. I'm live at 246. In this particular incident, her cat was found dead in the first yard with around the cat. Nobody saw Tucker attack the cat, although person did see him near the cat or with the cat in his mouth, but we didn't see him actually kill it. After that happened, I took Brenda to the vet to have the cat cremated and the dog was in the cat. >> He did. When I picked Mickey up off the ground, he was Tucker charged at me to get to my cat with the blood on his face. I just So anyway, there's no question in my mind he did do this. And there was a statement that uh Barb had told me. She said that he has Pucker has killed rabbits in the yard. And she could not believe that he would do this. to harm Mickey. Um, and she also made a statement to someone else that she believe she knows that Tucker did it. And I have no reason to believe that he did not do it. I lost my best friend. I lost my my world that day. >> Okay. Um, so I'm not a dog trainer. I did work in rescue. I have handled hundreds of dogs. Tucker is not human. He does have a strong prey drive. He will be a danger to any small animal, rabbit, cat, squirrel. The bigger problem I see is Bar doesn't realize the way she's raising her dog or causing this problem. She has a huge yard with >> Can you use the microphone, please? >> Yes. I'm sorry. She has a a a six-foot fence. She has been leaving the dogs outside to their own devices all day long while she's at work. And when you do that repeatedly with dogs, a few things can happen. They get bored. They learn to escape. They can get aggressive. They can get teased. They can get into trouble. And so I think what the problem is is the way her last dog she had was a Rottweiler. She did this with that dog. That dog got aggressive, got aggressive with the previous city council member and had to be euthanized. So, it's her behaviors that are causing this, but as a dog owner, she doesn't realize she's the problem. So, um, she has been better since this incident. Um, I have repeatedly contacted her. This is just a few of my contacts. On March 6th, I let her know the dogs are out. On March 15th, the dogs are out again. On March 18th, I'm getting texts. I'm not even in the neighborhood telling me the dogs are out again. Her dogs need to be supervised. Her dogs cannot be outside unsupervised. I have a cat that stays in all winter. She chose yesterday to go out for the summer. She's 17 years old and should not have to worry about being killed by the neighbor's dog. So, I think Barb loves her dogs. Um, I think she would like to keep him, but there's two things going on here. I'm I'm just giving you my personal experience with dogs. You guys got to decide how to the best way to handle this is. She would like to see the dog gone because it killed her cat. Barb would like to keep the dog. So, that's kind of the situation. Um, I did have an incident with her dog after this um where my dog was outside. I didn't know what they do with my dog. She's 16 to 17. She's really old. And when she gets upset, her back legs give out. I have lung disease. Her dogs entered my yard. And I did keep yelling at Tucker, "No." And he kept backing up. And I was trying to get my dog in my house. was upset. Her back legs gave out. I couldn't lift her because of my lung disease. By the time I finally got her up on my deck, I was having a breathing problem. I shouldn't have to go through that because the neighbor can't control her animals. So, that's all I can tell you. I I don't know if anybody has any questions. And she's always got a reason. I was on the phone. There's always her roommate. She leaves the roommate in charge. Her roommate used to live next to me and her dog bit me because she let her dogs run. I got bit in both arms. So, not the roommate's responsibility, owner's responsibility. If my dog bites somebody, I get to pay for it. It's my responsibility. So, >> are there any other uh you say that the dog you got text messages that the dogs are out? Are those from other neighbors? >> Yeah, the neighbors let me know because they know I know how to get a hold of ours to tell her, "Hey, your dogs are out." >> Okay. But has there been any uh call to the sheriff when when those dogs are out? >> Last time they got out, I called. You guys said calls. We can document how much of a problem this is. The last time they were out, I called police. I said, "Our dogs, her dogs are out again." But there hasn't been an incident now for a few weeks. >> It's been pretty good. I haven't seen come out unless somebody's watching them or they're in the house. So, it's been fairly controlled. But the problem with Barb is this has been going on for years. They'll be controlled for a while. Like she got him electric collars. One of them broke. She doesn't need to replace it right away. That's when they got out this time. There's always an excuse and it keeps happening and happening and happening. So, really the the whole thing is she just needs to control her dogs. They should not be out unless they're supervised. So, they can't hurt somebody else's pet. But no, I don't believe they're aggressive. I didn't have any trouble controlling Tucker. He doesn't really know yet. I said no. So, >> okay. >> But you're an adult. If a child were running around, the smaller the child, the the more worried I would be. Did you want any compensation for your vet bill? No, she did pay uh reimburse me for the uh >> She did. Okay. >> For the cremation. She did do that. >> Okay. I'm so sorry for your loss. I know how hard that is. >> Yeah. >> Everybody >> I'm so sorry. So, >> and it's just I got post-traumatic stress disorder and stuff and it's just hard for me to start re uh >> healing when I have to walk out and see this the dog that had my cat's blood on it. >> So, yeah. I mean, if you guys want me to from here on out if they're loose, I'm just going to call the sheriff cuz she keeps getting tagged every time it happens. Well, if it if it's documented, then it's documented. >> Yeah. And I hate to do that, but I've talked to her and talked to her and I'm always for over a year every time there are dogs and some point it just needs to be >> And she's not here, right? >> She's >> um she mentioned something that a plow destroyed her gate, but I looked at pictures. She did have told me she had a problem, but I didn't look at her gate, >> but one of the dogs knows how to climb the fence and get out. >> Is it a chain link fence? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> I looked at pictures. I didn't see how a plow could go four feet from that. >> It I think it was over more or less the years of it being I mean, she's tried to keep the dogs in and I've helped her. I mean, it just that she did that Tucker is too big and too uh >> he's a hyper dog. Very hyper. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. Anybody else speak on this? Okay. At this time, we'll close the public hearing part of it and council discussion. >> Don't we need a motion before discussion? >> Well, Mr. Mayor and Council, you probably want to discuss what your what your motion might look like. Uh, >> if you >> don't determine that it's potentially dangerous, then you need to order one or more of the following requirements listed there. Um, you know, the first one is a proper enclosure. That would probably solve an issue if they were actually placed in the enclosure. >> Well, previously, and correct me if I'm wrong, we would make a motion to make it a potentially dangerous, not a dangerous, and then list the numbers that we want to apply. >> Yep, that is one of our options. >> Or is there more options? >> I'll jump in. Mayor, council, this is a hearing to determine whether or not the dog is dangerous. A potentially dangerous dog and a dangerous dog are two separate hearings. In this case, we have um an animal that has killed a domestic animal off its property on the property of another without provocation. So, under the city code, this is a hearing to determine whether the dog is dangerous. I think the use of the word potential in the statute and in code causes confusion. You're determining whether or not this is a dangerous dog. Staff has identified, at least according to the process in your code, staff identifies that the dog is dangerous. This is an appeal hearing to affirm or overturn whether or not the dog is in fact dangerous. When we deal with a dangerous dog, you don't have discretion about the conditions to approve. you must approve um if you determine it's dangerous, your resolution needs to include all of those restrictions in code. When it's a potentially dangerous dog, you can pick and choose which ones apply. >> Got it. Got it. Okay. Well, personally, I think it should be potentially dangerous since this is the first time it's ever came before us, even though it does have history. Um, and if it comes back before us again, then it would be dangerous. And I would choose u 1, two, five, six, seven, and eight of these stipulations potentially dangerous. That's my thinking, but I'm willing to be flexible. So excluding just three and four. >> One, two. Yep. Three seems redundant and four seems um like it could I'm hoping she has insurance already anyways but um four seems um excessive but and because of what I heard I added five that if it's outside it needs to be muzzled because it they are escape artists. And I worry about children because I know Rottweilers escalate their attacks. >> So I would second that motion. >> Well, I didn't make it yet. We're still discussing. >> Oh, I thought you made the motion. >> That would be my motion if I were going to make one. But >> you want to make a motion? >> Not yet. And I want to hear what everybody else has to say because I said I'm flexible. >> If they want to add the insurance or add the tag or or take something away, I'm flexible. >> Well, I would say I'm those terms are acceptable to me. 1 2 5 6 7 8. Yeah, that's fine with me. Jim Jim, >> yeah, I agree. >> I'm concerned about the gate that's broken for starters and that that would be covered in enclosure that would be put in. >> Yep. >> Um, sorry this happened to you. Um, but I could I could back that as long as it was followed to the D if it's not >> and she's required to be inspected. So, she has to get that gate fixed one way or another. >> I agree with what's been said here also. Sorry for your loss. >> All right. Right. With that, I'll make a motion to declare this dog as potentially dangerous and um require items 1 2 5 6 7 8 of stipulations listed in the ordinance. >> I'd second. >> Have a motion and a second. Any mot further discussion? >> That being said, all in favor? >> I opposed. None heard. Motion passes. >> Hopefully this will help even despite the loss. Hopefully this will >> not have it happen again. >> Exactly. I hate having >> No, no one likes to lose a pet, especially in these circumstances. It's >> our sympathy. >> Sorry. All right, moving on to the public forum. Uh Karen Creps, reminder of the threeminut rule. Good evening. Um happy spring. So I have a little lighter topic as a patron of the parks, especially Booster Park here. Um couple ideas that I think would be really fabulous to have out there. One would be a um pollinator garden, perennial garden for our pollinator friends out there. And also to help alleviate some of the mosquito population, I think some bat boxes would be really awesome. And as a member of our local Lions Club, um our motto with our district this year is growing our pride. And that's more than just growing the members that we have. Part of that is really tying in with our community. And these just seem like they'd be really some really cool community projects that my club doesn't know it yet, but I just thought of it today. So, I'm here and just wondering if there's anything that the city has to help us with it, if there's anything that we need to do, any guidance. I did reach out to Julie Brasset to see if Anoka County has any grants for any of these items. And I understand we might be late in the year for that, but I'm open to anything on that. And then also, I think it'd be really cool to have a little um library in our park here. Um I'm here at this park quite a bit. There's a lot of kids, a lot of adults who use it. Again, I think it's a great community project. Maybe we'll reach out to the cub scouts or something like that. But I just wanted to put that out there and see if there's anything that the city can do to help with that. Any questions? >> Great ideas. And the Cub Scouts could be bu You're talking about one of those little exchange library kind of things, >> right? where you can take a book, put in a book. >> Yes, I think that's a excellent idea. >> Yeah. And then with the pollinator garden, I know that when a new development goes in, there's money set aside for parks. Just I would like to put out there for consideration to have a pollinator garden in these parks. At least maybe not all parks, but in larger parks where it's feasible. I think it'd be really awesome to have. >> Thank you. >> Great idea. >> Yep. Thank you, Karen. >> Yeah, I think if you talk to Nate might be able to put your heads together and come up with some suggestions and be a great topic to bring up at park commission. >> Yep. Thank you, Karen. >> All right, Tammy Kimble. Mine isn't so light. I hope one day I can come up here with something like that. I was looking at the um the minutes for or the packet for this meeting and I was I came across um line D of the consent agenda. I'm assuming that you guys have all read through the packets um improve hire of a part-time office intern. So in there I had seen that the person Madison look um had the last name of our city administrator. So, I I sent an email, but I didn't get anything in reply. So, I don't know if you want to answer me here. >> This is your opportunity to speak to the council. >> So, I figured that was going to be the answer. So, I I dug deeper myself and I found out that it is a relative of Matt Luck. And I mean, we all know that just hiring someone that is a relative isn't a good idea in any case really and in this case probably a really really bad idea. um that person is also supposed to be doing the digitizing or that's what I'm understanding is it's there's a room that has all these boxes that have all the old paperwork from years and years ago and that stuff isn't digitized yet and it was supposed to be digitized or started last summer fall and then that person apparently I thought it was done that person I've been hearing that it's they're it's digitized the stuff's digitized because obviously I have an issue or city has an issue with me and that stuff is that my stuff is in that room and I guarantee my stuff is in that room and to now hear that a person that has been giving me all these inconsistencies is related to the person that you guys are possibly going to hire. It is concerning to me. >> Just going over my notes. >> I would think it'd be an investment in to your advantage just to get these done. Period. >> Whether who does it >> for one thing >> and it'd be better a third party that's not in the city do it. Period. also because there is a lot of data in there that citizens could look at and we would have an issue at that point because of the data practice laws. So I mean and and just forformational uh it was not included in our packet but a notice was sent out by Mr. look uh explained the uh possible intern approval and he did disclose that uh Miss Luke is his niece. >> Right now is a time when a lot of the high school kids and college kids are going to be looking for a job. And as from what I understand that was posted for like two weeks. I can guarantee you're gonna find somebody if you repost it and then this part of it is is done. I mean, it's it's up to you. I'm just up here to be on the record is all >> this job. >> It's been almost a year that it's been posted and reposted. >> Yeah, it's been posted, reposted. We had people coming on board and they back out. It's >> and now we have somebody like it's I'm on record. That's all I was looking for. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> All right. Present agenda. Make a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. >> I'll second. And I would like to pull item F. Like to pull it. to pull item A and C. Both of you on A. Okay, that's it. Okay, so I have a motion to accept the consent agenda. Uh we got a second as amended. >> Yeah. >> Okay. All those in favor as amended. >> I >> opposed. None heard. Item A. >> All right, let me see. I have this highlighted here. I'm curious. Um, haven't seen this charge. Um, I'm wondering if something new or something that's been relabeled under the building inspection process. State search charges from the Department of Labor and Industry 2600. Uh Mr. Mayor and Council, this is a quarterly charge that we get from the Department of Labor and Industry. Essentially, the way it works for every permit that we have that's a flat fee permit. $1 goes to call them Dolly, Department of Labor and Industry. uh if it's a valuationbased permit. So for example, you're putting on an addition and you know it's x amount of value and your permits based on that they get a percentage of that. So the you know I question this from the standpoint that you know we get uh x number of permits a quarter and it doesn't quite you know we don't get 2600 permits a quarter. So, it's not the dollar one. It's based mostly on the valuation part. But anyways, that gets sent back to the Department of Labor and Industry on a quarterly basis and um they use it to fund their whatever they use it to fund it. >> Okay. >> So, I'll turn a over to you. There was a squad in here for like 1,300 bucks. Fire department. Was it the fire department? >> Explain that. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. So, Mr. Mayor and Council, these are the um the duty t-shirts that the firefighters use. Um, these are it's an order that probably goes out every two years. It's an order for I'm showing about 85 shirts uh all different sizes, but essentially it's um you you probably seen the firefighters wear it. Says, you know, fire department on the back and a logo on the front. Fourcolor logo on the front, which is the logo of the fire department. Fourcolor logos and printing aren't inexpensive. Um and uh and essentially what the fire chief needed to do was to replace the ones that had holes in them and faded and washed out and that sort of thing. Um and again it's a purchase that happens approximately every two years. So depending on abuse. >> Okay. I didn't I just thought 1300 bucks was quite a bit t-shirts >> based on the quantity. Yeah. motion. >> I'll make a motion to approve item A consent. >> Second. >> I have a motion, a second. All in favor? >> I opposed. Heard. Motion passes. Item F C E C. >> Oh, I thought B and C were called. >> Nope. >> C was >> was C. Okay. Item C then. >> Yeah, I did that one. Item C on page 36 on 8 Z right below that it says Miller stated I'll make a motion to approve Bard and GL Glazer. I made that motion and he second it so second. Miller, we'll get that changed. >> Okay, I'll make a motion to approve item C on the consent agenda. >> Second. >> Motion is second. All in favor? >> I opposed. Unheard. Item F. >> Item F is approval of hire of seasonal maintenance employees. Is this an increase? Haven't we always had one or two? and now it's three. Is that correct? Or am I mistaken? I might be mistaken, but I thought we both it was one and maybe two, but now it's three. >> You are correct. Uh we approved this in um I think it was in the write up there back in February. We have an employee who was out on extended workers comp leave. >> Oh, that's right. >> And we're not sure when he's going to be back. So, we're we have You always have two. Um this year we're looking for three. One of these that we're looking at to hire here is probably only going to be here for a short time. He just completed his education, so he's probably going to get a full-time job at some point. >> That being said, if anybody's looking for a part-time job, we need some applications. So, >> put that word out there. >> Thank you. With that, I'll make a motion to approve item F. >> Second. >> I have a motion second. All in favor? I >> I motion to approve. Uh 78 planning commission. Oh, the big one. Sorry. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Again, just number one, thank you again for allowing me to to work with you all and I look forward to this meeting and working with you as time goes on and I'll try to be as brief as possible and there's a lot of information to go through here. >> Is your mic on? It doesn't tell the light. I'll I probably will I'll speak a little closer. >> You got to speak closer to it. >> There you go. Um so, mayor and council, the first item before you tonight is a variance request for 656 192nd Avenue Northeast, legally described as lot 2, block 2, Brookside Place. There is a site map on the screen. The applicant who is here, Miss Lindseay Plazants, seeks to seeks approval to keep one horse on this property. Uh, in the Rural Residential Zoning District, that use may be considered through an interim use permit. However, section 1051C of the East Bethl Code does not allow consideration of interim use permit on platted lands um, unless you were to consider and grant a variance from that condition. See if I can find that. Her her lot is shown on the screen as lot two in that Brookside Place plat. Accordingly, at this time, this matter comes before the council as a two as a two-step process. First, the requested variance from the platted land restriction and second, if the variance is approved, the related interim use permit. As I noted under section 10151C of East Bethl City Code, domestic farm animals animals cannot be considered and applied to parcel unless certain conditions are met. In this case, variance relief is being requested because the Brookside subdivision does not meet an additional required threshold for the number of lots over three acres and without that relief, the city cannot consider that in use permit. in reviewing the variance. Let's see. Uh just I'll touch base on this site. Um again, a image of showing the rural residential zoning for this property and the blue dot is is the applicant. And then your comp plan uh also shows this as rural residential. I'm a little unfamiliar with some of the maps you folks might prefer, so I grabbed what I understood. So um in reviewing the variance, the city is applying a three-part practical difficulties test. That means looking at whether the first whether the request is first reasonable, second whether the difficulties due to circumstances unique to the property and not created by the applicant and third whether the approval would alter the essential character of the locality. properties designated rural residential and the keeping of domestic farm animals through that interim use permit is consistent with that rural residential land use pattern. Again, here the request is limited to one horse and a 3.49 acre parcel which supports a finding that is reasonable use. The record also supports that approval will not alter the essential character of the area, especially given the rural setting and the fact that the abuing properties both to the north and south each maintain horses. Let's see better actually kind of north well north and kind of southeast obviously. Um, as stated in the resolution in your packet, a practical difficulty associated with the property arises from section 10-151C, which prevents consideration of interim use permit for domestic farm males on platted lands, even where the parcel exceeds 3 acres in size. The circumstance was not created by the applicant, but results from the property status. It's part of a previously recorded subdivision plat and the interaction of that restriction with the parcel size and its zoning context certainly from a rural uh residential area. So this request was reviewed by the planning commission following a public hearing on March 24th 2026. Planning commission recommended approval under the resolution 2026-1 which is in your packet. So with that action, the um before the council tonight is uh a draft or in your packet council resolution 202619 approving the request variance from 10151C with a number of conditions. Um and so that if you do approve that, you then may certainly consider the interview's permit as that second piece. So with that, I'll certainly do my best to stand for questions. make a motion to approve resolution 2026-19 um with the conditions as stated in the packet. >> I'll second, but I have questions on these uh resolutions because there's a 2026- blank two blanks uh 01 and a 19. And are we are they all the same or are we're picking one? What's the difference? I'm sorry. I read them and I'm like, "This sounds like the last one I read." >> Sure. Uh, Mayor Council, you're u council member, you're not you're not incorrect at all. Um, in the in the large body of the packet in the staff reports, there are blanks in those resolutions because we don't have a number or conceptually assigned. Um, but the planning commission did adopt a resolution and that should be in your packet um as attachment um pull that up here for you. Uh 202601 and and that was kind of the first step. And then your draft uh what's in your packet uh working with Carrie Frost, the labeling should be 202619. So >> do we need to approve both of those? >> No, ma'am. Just the 202619. I I might have implemented a a slightly different process than you might have been used to. Um where I've asked the planning commission to make their own findings of fact and formulate their own resolution. It in effect is nothing more than a set of recommendations to you, but it brings it all together so they don't have to, you know, formulate those things verbally. So, resolution, >> okay, >> 2026-01 is a resolution from the planning commission and resolution what came to be 2026-19. >> That's the one we're approving. >> Is the one we're approving. >> Okay. Hey, we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? >> I just want to say that I was out at the property and I took a look at it and there's horses. If you're facing her house, there's horses on the right side. I think there's three and I believe there's horses on her left side also. >> And I just want to thank her for going through the right motions to do this. I think uh it's great. It says a lot about her and I'm all for this. I too am all for this. It's her dream come true and I'm glad to be part of a dream. >> Anyone else? >> Okay. All those in favor? >> I I >> opposed. Unheard. Motion passes. Item two, the IUP. >> All right. Uh thank you again, mayor and councel. Um, as I mentioned, the second item involved in this is the interim use permit itself for keeping one domestic farm. Again, specifically one horse on the same property. >> It's two, correct? >> Let's see. This request again is contingent on the approval of the variance which you've granted, but it is distinct um in something that we have prepared for you separately. Again, the property is in the rural residential zoning district and the findings before you in that draft resolution. Um that the proposed use appears capable of meeting the applicable code standards for pasture lands, shelter setbacks, manure management, animal health and welfare along with the interim use permit review criteria. Again, the planning commission also recommended approval of of the interim use permit and is found in public in the planning commission resolution 20262 >> 20 >> 20. No, it should be O2 >> for the planning commission. I'm sorry. >> Um I'll label these potentially better if we get >> the planning is O2. >> All right. the proposed conditions in the in the council resolution 202620 and the draft IUP which is in your packet. Uh limit the use to one horse, require at least one acre of fence pasture land, requires compliance with applicable building and operational standards, requires ongoing compliance with the city code. Provide that the permit is not transferable and may be revoked if the property is not maintained in compliance. It does have a six-month non-use um termination. So, if if she doesn't have a horse on that property for 6 months or something, then it would it would it would vacate. The companion intermuse permit in your packet is intended to carry these approval terms forward. So similar from a variance standpoint and the second action before you is a resolution 2026-20 approving the intermuse permit for one horse at 656 192nd Avenue Northeast subject to the listed conditions. >> Make a motion to approve resolution 2026-20 with the conditions in our packet. Second. >> Have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? >> None being heard. All those in favor? >> I opposed. Unheard. Motion passes. >> Congratulations. >> Enjoy your horse. >> Thank you. >> Enjoy it. >> Item three, uh, Dairy Queen. >> All right. Okay. Again, a lot of information, so I'll do my best to be brief. Mayor and Council, the next item before you is a Dairy Queen application from P Magnus, Inc. and EB Commercial LLC for the property south of the existing QuickTrip near the intersection of 187th Lane and Sand Hill Parkway Northeast. Let's see. I'm going to find a better image. That'll do. The site is currently legally described as Outlot B Elivage EB First Edition. The request is for an amended plan unit development, site plan review, preliminary plat, and final plat to allow the construction of a 20, excuse me, 2554T Dairy Queen restaurant with drive-thru service, indoor and outdoor seating, related site improvements. Property is guided mixed use in the 2040 comprehensive plan. It is also zoned mixeduse. So the proposal is consistent with both the current zoning and the city's land use plan. So on your screen you have just the zoning showing your mixed use and uh let's see uh your proposed future comp plan site plan use or site use. All right, page down. I mentioned the Elvage EV first edition plat. This as you see in the on the screen uh outlot B is shown in yellow. Um and that was uh from that plat in approximately 2021 as that outlaw. Let's see here it is again. This site was originally or at least previously conceptualized for a daycare use in that Elvage first edition development and it was part of a 2021 uh PUD agreement. Um when these are conceptualized certainly it doesn't it doesn't inherently lock anybody into one specific form. These are shown as representative only. Um, and if you ever look back at these things in very small detail, that was shown the possibility of a daycare, but certainly uh a commercial use is what was it intended for. So, the planning commission held a public hearing on March 24th and recommended approve for approval of this via resolution, their resolution 202603. The proposed plat would replat the property from outlot B into lot one block one DQ East Bethl. See, and it would be a single lot single block plat as shown on your screen. Generally, the proposed building is consistent with the city's architectural standards, including quality landscaping. It screens its rooftop mechanical equipment with raised parapits. The only requested deviations uh to your required architectural uh limitations are the signage package increasing the maximum sign area from 144 square ft to 209 square ft and the location of the freestanding sign. I'm going to show you where those are. The freestanding sign is in this. Let's see what direction be this westerly portion of the property here. The requirement is 20 ft. Their proposal is approximately 12 ft. And from a signage the the entire FA this this picture represents the how it looks on the building. But also note that there the the applicant did increase the glazing, the window size, raise the roof lines. Um and it's compliant with your with your ordinances related to building materials, ephists, uh aluminum paneling and and the like. Um the lighting is be fully screened. Um doesn't rep doesn't show up here on that sense, but the their plans do show compliance. And then their final site uh their let's see find their signage plan. There's their signage plan. And these in total are are 209 square feet. City does not count the reader boards for the excuse me the the menu boards or wayfinding as part of that sign calculation. Um but 209 square feet is the maximum uh they are proposing. Um finally uh they are let's see the map on the screen shows the final trail connections that and sidewalk connections that will be uh shown at done at completion. Much of the many of the sidewalks are are completed in the development to the east. Certainly the sidewalk corners and the ped ramps are not, but ultimately they'll be required to connect um from that neighborhood to to the front of uh the the culde or the roundabout. Um, so with that action, so with that, the action before the council is a resolution to for you to consider is resolution 202621, which would approve the amended plan unit development, the site plan review, preliminary plat, and final plat for this DQ East Bethl. Um, its references, the submitted plans, the exhibits, and certainly would be subject to the listed conditions. I would note that staff would come back with a final PUD amendment agreement uh shortly um once we get all those details buttoned up. Um I think that's all I can add. So I'll do my best to answer questions for you. I'll make a motion to approve resolution number 2021-9 approving the planned unit development master plan for the development known as Elivage EB for properties legal described in exhibit A and shown in exhibit B the Dairy Queen >> second motion second any further discussion >> I just want to say I like the larger sign um because it's the distance from 65. It's so hard to see the just the quick trip. I'm still frustrated that I can't see the gas prices at Quick Trip. Um, and I'm excited because Dairy Queen is one of my favorite drive-throughs. So, watch out. >> Any other discussion? >> Mr. Mayor, I apologize if if it's okay with Council Member Urkl. I believe the the resolution number for the record, I know our city attorney might ask me a question, might be uh 202, excuse me, 2026-21. And if I misheard, that's entirely possible as as on the screen. >> Well, what am I looking at? >> Again, they are duplicative. >> 2021. So, I repeated. >> All right. I'll just say I'm gonna I'll revise that to 2026-21. Yes, ma'am. >> All right, we have a motion and a second. All those in favor? >> I >> I >> I >> opposed. Not heard. >> Do we have more to approve on this or just >> No, >> this because I read somewhere in here that we're approving >> the preliminary plat and the final plat. >> We did roll all those together into one resolution. >> Okay. Okay. Just wanted to make sure. >> Yep. >> All right. Item four. >> All right. I'm going have to catch up with you here. Just one second. >> Yeah, if you can. >> I'll take it, Mr. Mayor. >> That'd be great. >> Uh item four is the appointment of planning commission member. Uh there was a current vacancy on the planning commission resulting from a member stepping down and the planning commission did solicit applications for residents to fill the seat and um his uh the Mr. Balfan's term was slated to run through 13127. This would be filling that term. Uh it would be a partial term. The city received two applications of Miss Lindseay Cresenzo, if I'm pronouncing that correctly, and Miss Julie Lux, and both were interviewed on March 24th, and um the planning commission came away with the recommendation of Miss Lux. And you have before you the staff memo including the applications and uh current chart with the listed appointment dates on there. So anyways, uh recommendation we'd uh request the council appoint one of the two candidates to the planning commission with a term ending on 13127. I'll make a motion to appoint Miss Lux as uh planning as recommended. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? >> Uh I I I do want to bring something up here. We've taken the EDA back to its original form using council members how it started in the beginning and having been in these meetings with Julie Lux and having her chair the meetings um she gained a lot of respect for myself because of her knowledge and how she does her meetings. Uh I've watched the planning commission meeting. I've watched both interviews. I think when you take a look at what the council does and how it uses it its um advisory board members, I don't think we're gaining anything by moving Julie from one committee to another. Um, I have no problem sitting in the EDA and relying upon her direction and expertise because she's been there for a long time and it actually carries over longer on a term so to speak. Um, this Lindsay had a phenomenal interview also. I think we gain more by bringing someone new onto um the planning commission and leaving Julie exactly where she feels comfortable and we need her there. Um and that's my opinion about it. I think we're losing one potentially very good committee member and moving one who's already a very good committee member in the chair to a different and shorter position with the city. That's my two cents about it. >> I tend to agree. Julie is brilliant. She has some amazing expertise and her expertise is through the EDA. I I feel Lindsay did an amazing in interview and she has some expertise as an engineer and multiple other skills that I think she could bring to the city that the city hasn't seen before. And I think Julie still has a couple years as the EDA and there's a good possibility we may lose another planning commission. But until then, I want to um get as much information and uh knowledge from Julie as possible. I agree. I believe uh Julie's very good on the EDA. She's been on there for many years and I would appreciate her staying there and I watched both interviews and I was impressed with Lindsay. She did very well and I think she could really help our planning commission and ress also. >> I can understand the reasoning. The only thing I would say is this is a decision that Julie made to apply. So, what we could do is table that and ask Julie what she would like to do. >> I don't think we need to table it. Julie made the decision and uh I think uh looking forward she wants to be more in the mix with the city and everything not just sit back with the EDA which meets maybe once twice a year. She wants to be more productive through the city because she does enjoy working for the city with it. So that's my two cents on it. Any further discussion? There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? >> I opposed. >> I >> I Let's do a roll call on that to make sure. Jim, here a nay or a nay. >> Tim. >> I'm a I >> nay. >> Nay. All right, that motion fails. >> I'll entertain a new motion. >> We have to make a motion to put Lindsay on. >> Second. >> We have a motion in a second. Any further discussion? I I believe the transparency that we expect from the city and uh respect we get from our planning commission as a recommendation we should consider and uh I I think we're doing it in justice by doing this. >> I got one question. Was the vote for Julie unanimous? >> No, it was three to two. >> Three to two. Okay. >> And I think one person was not there. >> Okay. That's all I got. >> I just think it's a win-win for the city if we keep Julie right where she is to train a new EDA. EDA is going to get more visibly active in the next year as we move forward. We don't lose anybody in this deal. Both committees stay strong. I don't think we're doing it in justice. I think we're helping out our committees get stronger and keeping our key people where they do the best right now. >> That's my opinion. Any further >> management decision? >> All right. There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? >> I opposed. Nay. >> Nay. And I'd like to say that's not necessarily go against Lindsay. I I do recognize her her background. She's very well educated and I do believe that she is an excellent candidate. I vote against it just based on I'd like to follow the recommendation of the planning commission. >> All right. department's uh community development. >> Uh Mr. Mayor, um on the agenda here is a discussion for short-term rentals. Uh we've had this come before us in a work session before. Um actually, this is going to be going to the planning commission on the 28th. So what I might suggest is that we postpone discussion on this until after such time as the planning commission has has u worked through these details and and uh you know worked with our senior planner and kind of come out with uh best path forward and then uh if that's agreeable with the council we can we can put that into a a format that would be um suitable for approval at that point. So if it would be all right with you Mr. Mayor should postpone this until the next meeting. >> Yep. >> This is regarding the Airbnb. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> All right. Moving on to item E, public works. Good evening again, mayor and councel. I have two items for you tonight. Um, both of these are kind of related. In the past, we had bid both of these items as part of a north metro joint powers agreement with a bunch of cities in no county. Rapids was a lead agency on it. in 2025 they decided they did not want to run this group any longer. It was a lot of time and work for them. So each city's out has to go get the uh quotes and stuff on their own. The first item there is uh 8.0E1 which is our crack sealing contract for 2026. Um this is a regular maintenance item that we do on our city streets. We received three quotes that are shown there for you. Attachment one shows the location of the uh proposed crack sling for this year. We have um 65,000 linear feet planned for uh the low bid there from Allied Blacktop is $45,000. That's the one we're going to recommend for this project, too. We had $100,000 budgeted for this item and the next item on here. So, we're well below what we have budgeted for 2026, too. So, >> Nate, I'm just curious, why is there a big difference on these bids? I mean, is there different material? They all bidding the same material. >> That's a good question. I'm not sure. I don't know if they're trying to think they can uh pull one over, but Alli's done in the past. Uh they were they were always been kind of a lower bid. The second group on there is a local company. Um they do smaller projects, but we fit kind of in their in their uh what they could handle. We're kind of the biggest is about as big as they can go. And that Northwest Asphalt, they've had the contract in the past, but for some reason they came in really high on this quote. >> Okay. Thanks. How do you do this? Go about getting bids? Do you send out a mass >> proposal, email, mail, and people just come different come back? >> For when we're doing a sealed bid operation for a quote, we just solicited from different groups from different agencies we've used in the past. So, a couple of these are ones that have been the low in the past. So, we asked them again this year. >> Okay. >> Same with the next item as well. >> Okay. Thanks. because of the value of the contract, we don't have to do the sealed bid process. We're below that threshold, so we can just get quotes on it. So, >> I'll make a motion for approval of 8.0 B1 second la. >> Second that. >> We have a motion and a second. Any more discussion? None being heard. All those in favor? >> I >> I opposed. Unheard. Motion passes. Go to item two there, Nick. >> Yep. Item 8.0 E2 is the road striping contract. So, this is the repainting of our lines on our high volume, high speed roads. We uh have it set up right now that we do it every two years. We do half the city. This is kind of the smaller half. Um the one we'll have next year will be a little bit bigger contract because it includes all the service roads along Highway 65. So it's a little bit bigger quantity. Same process here. We solicited three quotes. Uh Sir Lines a lot has done the project for these cities for a long time. They've actually purchased a couple of their biggest competitors. So we're kind of running out of options. But Safety Signs is another large company and Schroer Striping is a kind of a smaller company that gave us a pretty good price as well. But u we would recommend sir lines all out again for this contract and item attachment one shows a location for the uh repainting of our lines this year. >> I'll make a motion to approve 8.0E-2 lines a lot >> second. >> Have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? >> None being heard. All those in favor? I >> I opposed. Unheard. Motion passes. Thank you. >> Item G, city administrator item one. Okay. Okay. Mr. Mayor and Council, uh before you hear this evening is a consider the approval of the attorney contract. Um the city of East Bethl's contract with Eber Lamers for legal services set to expire on May 31st, 2026. January 26, the council authorized staff to solicit requests for proposals. There were two submitts on this at Berg Glammers and Bergland Bombgartner and Glacer. Um, at the March 9th, 2026 council meeting, uh, representatives from both firms were here and made proposal to the council. And on the 23rd, council directed, uh, uh, staff to negotiate a contract with Bergam, Bombgartner, and Glacer uh, for um, consideration of approval before you hear this evening is that contract. And just a couple of the highlights of that um, we'll call them BBG. will provide the municipal services the city at an hourly rate of 225 per hour for attorney time and $100 per hour for parallegal time, $335 per city council meeting or any board or commission meeting that they're requested to attend and 325 per hour for reimburseable developer related services. Um so for example if u developer comes in needs legal u work done we would pass those costs through to them and um BBG will also provide the prosecution services the city based on a flatly flat monthly rate of $9,500 per month. So that's going to be your code enforcement issues or your DWIS or those type of um cases, prosecutorial cases that are that are argued in court. Um so before you is the contract and council is uh asked to review this and consider it for approval this evening. Stand for any questions. I'll make a motion to approve Merlin bum gutter garter and laser their contract. >> Second >> motion in a second. Any further discussion? >> Mr. Mayor, I have a quick comment if you'll indulge. I know at the discussion there were several comments about um services that you wanted to see in this contract. One was a particular attorney serving in this role. This contract does not include that language. Um, another piece that is not in this language is that their um, their RFP response and presentation included any appellet work as part of the fixed fee, but this contract pays them a rate of $120 an hour for that appellet work. I think the council should be aware of those two items. There's also an undisclosed uh software charge and service fees that um are not identified in any sort of numerical context in the contract. >> You can make a contingent on that. >> I saw that and I was going to ask if you knew how much that was might come to the software additional software fees. I'm not aware of the cost. Um, we can clarify that with them, but I would I would assume it' probably be negligible. I'd like to add in my motion that Mark Bergman is the attorney at our council meetings. Do we want to look into these other cost? >> I mean, this isn't due till the 31st >> of May. >> Is the parallegal something an additional cost that they didn't talk about before? Is that what you're saying? Just to make sure, >> council member Urkl asked a question. I'm not sure if the whole group heard. >> Did you guys hear? I asked if the parallegal is an additional cost that was not mentioned in the contract or it was mentioned. >> The parallegal rates are in the contract and they are the same as were in the proposal. >> Okay. What did you mention that? >> Appallet work. >> Appallet work. When the city prosecutes, if that defendant appeals a conviction, it will go to the court of appeals and potentially to the Supreme Court, those services were pitched as being part of the fixed fee. Uh, and they are now appearing at an hourly rate. It's not part of a fixed fee. >> Okay. With these things that came up right now, I want to remove my motion. >> Second that. Should we make a motion to I'll make a motion to table till these questions get answered. >> We need to >> I'll second your motion. >> Thank you. >> Do we First off, we got to resend. >> We got to resend the first motion. >> He did that. >> Um point of >> order uh motion has been made and seconded. It belongs to the body. So it does need to be >> rescended or if the body chooses to unanimously allow it to be rescended. >> He rescended it. >> He rescended it. >> I rescended it. >> Well, what? >> No, we should have we should have a vote from the body because it belongs to the the entire council, not just >> there been a motion to rescend the original motion and a second on that. Uh any further discussion? All those in favor of resending the first motion? >> I I >> Okay. Looking for a new motion. >> Okay. I'll make a motion to table >> to table it. >> Oh, second. >> Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? >> None being heard. All those in favor say I. I. >> I. Opposed? Unheard. All right, we made it through it. Item two is that fall town hall. Okay, Mr. Mayor, um before you this evening is setting the phone fall town hall meeting um and choosing a date. Um it's going to be held in November. uh and it's um can be held after elections so that there's uh not that necessarily that issue that comes up. Um but we've reviewed and found that there's no conflict with the following uh you know the evening meetings with ISD 15 or ISD831 or the commissions and committees for East Bethl. And so the available dates you have are Tuesday, November 17th, Wednesday, November 25th, Wednesday, November 18th, out of order, or Monday, November 30th. So I have a conflict with the 17th. The 25th is the day before Thanksgiving. Not sure. I think more people would be prepping for Thanksgiving where they treat that as a Friday and may not be so inclined to come to a open house meeting. >> Is that good or bad? >> I'm kidding. Depends if you're serving turkey. Yeah, >> I'm um the best date on there for me is Monday, November 30th after Thanksgiving. Um because there's all that prep work if you're entertaining and um these are kind of late close to Thanksgiving. So I do Monday, November 30th. >> It's fine by me. >> That work? >> Yeah, that'll work. >> All right. November 30th >> and our town hall is coming up here in the 22nd. >> Motch 29th. >> 29th. >> Want to make a motion. >> I'll make a motion to make Monday, November 30th our fall town hall. >> Second date. >> Got a motion in a second. Any further discussions? All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. None heard. Motion passes. Item 9A, staff report. >> Okay, Mr. Mayor and Council, I've got a couple of items to discuss this evening. I just wanted to touch base first of all on some of the comments that were made at the public forum. Um, it was stated that we've been trying to fill this position for this data um, transcription work for the last two years, and I believe that's accurate. We had two interested parties that didn't show up. Uh, and I think part of it has to do with folks just uh maybe don't want a part-time job. And quite honestly, this is going to be monotonous. So, um, but as was stated, we have a room full of documents that date back to the beginning of time. And, uh, and in the event of a fire or something like that, we would lose all of those things. So, it is critical uh that we find somebody that can come in and uh and do this. I had a niece who was in between jobs moving up from Tennessee. She has a marketing degree, very sharp young lady. Um and uh she was the only one that applied for uh the position when we when we had it out there. And um and we looked at the policy. I actually have the policy here um that essentially covers employment of relatives and it says more than one family member may not be employed within any department where one family member or relative supervises or has the ability to recommend hire fire or promote another relative or where there may be a conflict of interest or not in the best interest of the city as determined by the city administrator. Um, she was interviewed by some by Mike and Carrie. She will be res reporting to Mike and Carrie. I will have nothing to do with that. Um, and um, we're just hoping she sticks around till the job is complete because it is critical that we get this done. Um, she's a sharp young lady. Again, as as indicated, a marketing background. We, as you know, we're going through a uh website redo. She may help on that. And we're also going through kind of working through this new newsletter that should be coming out soon, by the way. Good news. And um and she may be able to um kind of break up some of the monotony and doing some of that work as well. So it is a six-month position, six month or less. And um and she understands that she's actually uh interested in applying with city Ramsay as a communications person over there. So we may end up losing her. But um but at any rate um uh it'll be it'll be great to have somebody in that position to get that work done. And I'm very pleased that she was willing to help us out. I think she's doing us a favor. Um so as indicated, the uh newsletter should be coming out here shortly. Um if it hasn't already landed, I think I would have gotten some nods if it's landed, but I don't think it's landed yet. Um and uh wanted to and my page of notes here. Uh wanted to just touch a little bit on the audit. Again, I want to thank Mike for an outstanding job. Um when you get a clean audit, you've succeeded. You win. Uh the state right now um does not will not get a clean audit for obvious reasons of fraud and other things that have gone on. Um but uh but it is our goal always to get a clean audit. We run a tight ship over here in terms of signatures and everything that needs to happen to be for purchases to happen. Um and we're constantly looking for fraud, not internal, although we keep an eye on that, but external fraud where people are trying to submit uh fake invoices or whatever the case is and try and get payment. Uh you'll you've read of some of the cities that have fallen prey to that and it is a real a real concern out there. So, we have great internal processes here to prevent uh that from happening. The savings as indicated uh was from the um savings from the budget this year is $163,980. The majority of that is attributed to the community development director that we have not filled that position and I'm filling that position uh and uh kind of doing double duty, but things are a little slow on the community development front. So, that's good. Uh we anticipate that to be picking up though. You saw Dairy Queen come through and some other projects. Um as as the news gets out of Highway 65 and the work being done there, uh we will see and we're getting phone calls. We'll see more and more development pressures coming as a result of that. So sometime in the future, we may need to fill that position as a full-time position, but currently uh I think we're managing well with that. Uh, and then the final thing I just wanted to uh touch base on, and I mentioned this at the um at the breakfast, uh, is the photo contest that we're going to have. Photo contest. So, if you are a amateur photographer, perhaps a professional photographer, you have pictures of East Bethl sunrises or sunsets or or wildlife or something of interest um that you want to submit, please do that. And if it is selected um it will be put on the website. So it'll be memorialized for I don't know forever but certainly for a long time on the website. But as part of this uh website uh redo that we're doing uh they we can either use stock photography which is very expensive or we can provide our own um uh photography. And part of that is either we have it or we ask the community to step up and and engage in a contest. So, I would encourage folks to to do that and um and if you're the lucky winner, there is a prize. So, but aside from that, uh that concludes my report unless there are some questions. >> Well, if you were wondering why I asked you this week who the new intern was going to report to, that was it. >> That's it. >> That was it. >> Oh, we I want to make sure that I I have nothing to do with it. So, All right, council reports. >> Had a couple meetings last week. Uh Sunrise River Water Management Organization. Uh not a whole lot there. Uh we did have a uh report that we reviewed that is being sent to the state that's essentially a review of uh the work that we've done and our projects. So, that was a a kind of a good overview and that uh should be posted on the Sunris's website. Uh also had the booster day planning meeting last week. Uh things are coming together. The uh parade is starting to come together. Uh starting to get uh people involved there. So, I'd make a call out that uh if there's any local businesses, any local groups, churches, clubs that would like to be involved in the parade, uh either contact Stephanie Dorne through the website, uh Booster Day website, Party in the Park, or uh I believe you can sign up for the parade right from that website. Um >> what time is the parade? I want to say 3:00, but don't quote me, so I'm pretty sure it's 3:00. Um, and the second, uh, we're we are still looking for volunteers, whether you want to help with the planning, uh, of the solid city celebration or if you would like to just volunteer for an hour or two on the day of. So there are plenty of areas where uh help is always needed and it's always appreciated. So again if you're interested with that uh feel free to just come to another uh booster day meeting uh or uh there are ways to apply through the booster day website. So that's all I have. Suzanne, >> I did attend the planning commission meeting. I wanted to attend the breakfast, but I was actually in the ER that day. So, which was my birthday. Very fun. Um, and I would like to Stephanie to give me a call because we need to work on the um vendor craft vendor fair part of that thing. So, I need to know where I stand. So, >> uh that that was discussed. We had members of the seniors there. >> Oh, they were there >> at the last meeting. So, that was discussed and figured out. >> Oh, good. Okay. Well, I'll find out. >> Yeah. >> Thursday. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> Also, uh now that things are greening up and everything, I know we uh approved a new flyover video of the city. Can we move forward with that now that things are getting greened up? So, that could go on the uh website and everything. Okay. get that moving forward being it was approved. And that's all I have. I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> Make a motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> Have a motion. Second. All in favor? I >> I >> Thank you everybody for coming.