I allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. Well, thank you and again, welcome. Um, it's warm outside, but it's nice that uh the air conditioning is working in here, so that's a good thing. Um, Lord, we take a roll call. >> Council member Present. >> Council member Tradewell >> here. >> Mayor Rolf >> here. >> Council member West >> present. >> Council member Bray Johnson >> here. >> All right. Anybody have any announcements? >> I guess the only announcement I have is that black book in the back has our agenda and all the supporting documents for it. Our agenda is also on the city website if you'd prefer to look there. That is the only announcement uh I have today. uh setting of the regular agenda. Um it's a time to either add, delete, or remove an item. I would like to add uh an item under maybe presentations, Lauren. Yeah. Item B, I would like to do a proclamation for the 250th birthday of our country, I guess you could say. Um outside of that, um anybody have anything they'd like to add or remove? I have uh two resolutions to add uh 2026-112112 which is approving a development agreement for sand trap crossings and then resolution 2026-113 which is a resolution removing a parks commission member. We can add both of those to the consent agenda. Okay. >> J and K. All right, we'll look a motion to approve. >> Motion. >> Motion by council member Tradewell. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Second by council member Wy. All in favor indicate by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. >> Motion passes 5 to zero. >> Uh we are to the public forum. If there's anybody here that would like to speak to us about an item that is not on the agenda, I'd ask you to come up now. State your name and address for the record and try to limit your remarks to three minutes if you can. Guy, it look like you want to come on up. So, >> what can we do for you? >> I just Hi, Guy Farah and then my daughter Isabelle Farah, 970 192nd Avenue Northwest. And I just since I came and spoke to you guys at the last meeting, just want to give you an update. I was able to get the survey work done and the application completed and turned in. >> Great. >> So, prior to our uh planning commission meeting on the 18th. >> So, I just want to give you an update. >> Wonderful. >> Thank you for that. Appreciate it. Thank you. >> Anybody else? >> Are you here for Brad? >> What? >> Are you here for Brad? >> Yes, I'm here for Brad. >> He's actually on the agenda. You want to wait till we get to that? >> Oh, I can talk then, too. >> Sure. >> Sure. All right. >> We're almost to it, so don't go far. >> We just want to make Brad feel really good tonight. So, >> we won't forget about you. >> Oh, boy. He did turn red. >> He did a little bit. All right. Anybody here for an item not on the agenda? No. All right. We are moving on here to approval of council minutes. Uh we have work session dated June 8th, 2026 and a regular scheduled meeting June 8th, 2026. I'm looking for a motion for both unless somebody would like to divvy it up because they have a question or concern. >> I'll make a motion for both. >> Second. >> Motion by Council Member West, second by Council Member Wy. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor indicate by saying I. I >> opposed. Motion passes five to zero. All right. Acknowledge receipt of advisory commission minutes for the park commission dated June 17, 2026 and the planning commission dated June 18, 2026. I do have a couple of comments, but I'll let others start if anyone has any comments or questions. No. Okay. The only one I have after reading through the park commission minutes, uh, myself personally, I'm not in favor of seven commission members. I think five is good. And I also just want the park commission, even though I appreciate um all their hard work and excitement to want to do a lot of great things for our city. I just want to remind the park commission that we have a very small staff and just to kind of keep that in mind before we get too many too many things going on. a lot of cities that have a lot of other um of these activities. They have park commission or park employee members and I don't think our city's quite quite ready for that. So, just they're doing a great job, but just something to to keep in mind. All right. Uh presentations. Now, it's going to be time for you here in a minute, but we have uh Brad Johnson. You want to come up, Brad? Maybe there's a couple things you want to say. We might have a couple things to say to you. Uh Brad Johnson has served on our planning commission as the chair uh for what's it been now? Four, five, >> fourish years. >> Four years. >> Um he moved into our city not too long before that and he got involved on the planning commission and I think was your first or second meeting. They wanted you to be the chair. Uh so he has a lot of knowledge and uh experience. I once in a while I draft something up that I'd like to read and today's the day. I even brought my glasses so I can actually see. So if you guys don't mind, I I'll start start this off here. Um all right. So Commissioner Brad Johnson, on behalf of the city of Oakrove, I want to express our deepest gratitude for your dedication or your dedicated service and as chair of the planning commission. Your commitment to our city has made a lasting impact and your leadership and commitment will be remembered for years to come. Throughout your time on the planning commission, you have consistently demonstrated exceptional knowledge, thoughtful judgment, and passion for serving our community. Your ability to carefully consider complex issues while while always keeping the best interests of our residents at heart has earned the respect of your fellow commissioners, city staff, elected officials, and community members alike. Your leadership has helped shape the future of our city in meaningful ways. Whether guiding discussion, mentoring fellow commissioners, or ensuring every decision was approached with fairness and integrity, you have set a remarkable example of public safety. While we are excited for you, we will miss your insight, leadership, and wealth of knowledge. Your involvement on the Oak Grove Planning Commission has been invaluable and your contributions will continue to benefit our city for years to come. Thank you for your commitment to making our community a better place. We wish all the best in your future endeavors and hope you take pride in knowing the positive difference you made for our great city. Um, and you will be missed. So, I have that all typed out for you so you can hang it on the wall in your new house or throw it in a recycling bin. >> I'll put it in a frame on the wall next to my desk. >> Um, the one thing before I move on that I've always appreciated about Brad is a lot of times when you know you get involved with uh the city or any level of government, you feel like it's always no, you can't do what you want to do. Uh well, besides the council here always having a little bit different approach, Brad uh along with the planning commission has done a good job with what Brad usually says is let's see how we can make this work or how we can get there versus just a no, it's not going to happen. It doesn't fit what we're trying to do. Uh so he's put in a lot of hours and so has the commission, but he's got a St. Paul and had meetings and all kinds of things that most people probably don't even realize that he's been a part of. And so what I say, uh, he will be missed. He will. And I believe our new chair, Commissioner Hall, will do a great job, but he definitely has big shoes to fill. I've given you enough compliments for one night. >> Yeah. >> But I don't know if anyone else has anything um that you want to mention or not or but if you do, go ahead. >> I agree. We'll miss you. Uh, your experience and your expertise was second to none. really appreciate uh uh and miss your brevity of your meetings. >> Sure. >> But again, thank you and uh I appreciate your hard work. >> I appreciate you, Brad. Thank you so much for what you've done for our city. Um it will affect us as long as I'm alive. Anyways, um I remember when I found out all the knowledge you have and I thought you need to be involved in the city somewhere. So, thank you for doing that for us because I know that you have put in countless hours and heart for our city. So, thank you. I appreciate you and uh enjoy Colorado. >> Thank you. >> I already kind of told you. I don't want to repeat it. Your head might get really big. So anyways, >> there are ADA doors luckily outside. >> No, I really appreciate everything you've done and and you're going to be missed and and uh we've had a lot of uh I'll call them conversations and discussions and we don't always agree on a lot of things, but it never affected our ability to work with one another and that for that I really appreciate you. So thank you and good luck and keep remember to keep sending some pictures. So I will >> all I can say is you did a great job and it was great getting to know you. >> Likewise. Anything to say? >> I'll be brief. >> Oh, making jokes already. >> What time is it? >> Get comfortable. >> I uh first, thank you. Uh it's humbling to hear those words of praise and um you know, the motiv motivation behind any of this was to make sure that this was a great community to live in. Independent of how long I knew I'd live here. I thought I'd be here much longer than six years. Uh but things change in life and sometimes it takes a different path and uh the commissioners I've had the pleasure to serve with have been outstanding and we have represented a variety of opinions and viewpoints and that helped us test really test the things that were brought before us to make sure they were the right long-term moves for the community and the neighbors who had to live with these things for one year and by today's consent agenda renewed for another two or five years etc. Um, and it was a great opportunity for me. I gained a lot of knowledge and experience that I'll take with me forward to future things that I do. Um, and I'm happy to hear that, you know, what work we did as a team and the plan commission is setting the city up for the future it wants, not necessarily the future that other people want for it that aren't even here in our community. And I think that the way we've handled things has put the city in a position where it will chart its future and that's pretty great. So, and I appreciate you as a council and mayor because whatever we sent to you was thoughtfully reviewed and either approved or modified and when things changed kind of went, well, that's fine, too. And that's pretty unique in politics these day. Not that local politics should be all that political, but it is rare that you have commissions and elected officials, staff, consultants work this well together. And that's something I hope for this community to continue. And I think the people you have here, it will continue. And I I'll say one last thing to be brief is the staff that you have are fantastic. um the servant leadership mentality that comes from how they work with and I include full-time staff and consultants in that including our planners that work for MSA have been amazing to work with and collaborate with and Chuck I'll still argue with you about the size of water empowerment for new developments but that's that's a fun uh sparring item but you all have made the position of commission chair so much easier than it could have been and how it is in other communities ities and so for that I'm grateful for the success you you all enabled as well. So I'll miss everyone here. I'll miss the community and because I can't jigsaw Oak Grove out of the state of Minnesota and forklift it somewhere else. I'm the one that has to go. But uh thank you for the opportunity and I hope for nothing but the best for the people who are here now and in future generations. So thank you. >> Thanks Brad. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. You want to come up? Come on up. I cut you off earlier. >> Yeah, you said exactly. >> Oh, I said everything. >> I know in this this city met council generally is kind of a swear word. Um, but if we have any success with them at all moving forward, this guy back here is a huge part of that. >> And so, uh, it doesn't mean we're we're friends with the Met Council, but, uh, we're Is it is it fair to say we're trying to >> we have better dialogue >> you know so and that has a lot to do with you Brad so thank you um don't leave without this all right um moving on here then unless there's somebody else that wanted to say something I guess I should all right so I had mentioned probably two meetings ago maybe three that I don't like doing too many proclamations because I feel like I'm always going to forget one and then offend somebody. So, for years and years and years before I was even up here, we've always done a proclamation on the const on constitutional week, which we're going to continue to keep doing, but I didn't want to uh start adding, you know, all these different ones because even when I said that, okay, I'll acknowledge them. So, I acknowledged law enforcement memorial week and I think it was uh building inspector week and then one of the staff said, Well, last week was public works week, so that's why. But I do think something as important as celebrating our 250th anniversary is worth doing a proclamation. Whether or not councils moving forward want to acknowledge 251 and 252 and all that, I guess that will be up to them. Um, but I'm hoping to get support here. I'm feeling pretty confident it's probably going to be five to zero um to support this, but I'm going to read it here. Um all right. So, I'd like to do a proclamation celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States of America. I >> say much easier, >> right? Whereas on July 4th, 2026, the United States of America will commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and the founding of our nation. And whereas our founders established a nation based on the principles, liberty, equality, un and unal unalienable, get it out eventually, rights. And the milestone is an opportunity to reflect on our nation's history, honor the contributions of all Americans, and look ahead to the future. And whereas this historic historic anniversary invites communities across all 50 states to come together, reflect on the journey towards this milestone, and recommmit to the ideas of democracy, mutual respect, and unity. And whereas local governments play a vital role in the civic education, fostering community pride and preserving the local leg or legacies that helped shape our country's identity. Now, whereas I, Weston Ralph, mayor of Oakrove, do hereby proclaim the year 2026 as the America 250 celebration in Oakroveve, and urge all residents to join in this momentous occasion, reflect on our nation's journey, and recommmit to the founding principles that make America strong. In witness whereof, I have here unto set my hand and cause the seal of the city of Oak Grove to affix this 26th day of June in the year of our Lord 2026. So rather than just making this my deal, I'd like to see if anybody would like to join me in making a motion and we'll celebrate this. I >> Yep. I'll make the motion. >> I'll second. >> All right. So I have a motion by council member west or no I'm sorry >> made the motion. >> I did >> the council member west I commissed to made the second >> council member Ray Johnson. Is there any further discussion? >> Hearing none. All in favor keep by saying I >> opposed. Motion passes 5 to zero. All right. Well thank you. I I figured I'd get a lot of support on that one. So >> thank you for doing that. >> Yeah. All right. We are to the consent agenda here. Uh there's a list of items that we're going to vote in one motion unless there's an item pulled by uh someone on the council staff or the audience. I would like to pull item E because it pertains to my wife and I. So >> I had a question before we uh get a motion on this uh for Lauren. Lauren, when you are adding the IUPs to the consent agenda, um, have any of these had any issues or would you would you not add them to the consent agenda if they had in issues on the books? >> Exactly. No, the ones that make it to the consent agenda have been >> clean, >> uh, inspected, met all the requirements for renewal. So, we are recommending renewal of these IEPs and then, you know, our standard then is to renew for five years. >> Okay. So going forward, if they're not on the consent agenda, that means they're going to be separated so we can have a discussion. >> Yep. And as with any interim use permit, you know, if there are complaints and they're not in compliance, the city will act on those outside of the renewal periods. >> Okay. Thank you. So >> All right. So again, there's Lauren's going to put them all up there. We had several items we're voting on. Again, um unless somebody from the council staff or if there's somebody in the audience that would like to discuss one of these items, just raise your hand. That's under n item number 10 there. You'll see A through N. And I have pulled E because that uh is my wife and my business. So, I don't want to vote on that. So, >> I'll make a motion to pass the remaining other than E. >> A second. All right. So, we got a motion by Council Member West, a second by Council Member Bray Johnson. Uh, any further discussion hearing? None. All in favor indicate by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. >> All right. Motion passes five to zero. So, like I mentioned, E that is my wife and myself. And so, that's why I pulled that. So, I guess I look for a motion or discussion or whatever somebody wants to do. Might be sweating for a little while. Oh, I I was thinking we could bring your wife up to talk about it. >> I'll second it. She probably out the back door. >> That's why she's behind the camera. >> All right. So, I'm sorry. Was there a motion? >> I a motion to approve. >> Motion by second. >> Ray Johnson. Second by council member Wy. All in favor indicate by saying it. I >> I >> oppose. Extension. Motion passes four to one and I'm abstaining from the vote. Chief, we're up to you already. >> This is our fire chief Engler if you haven't met him. >> Good evening, Mayor and Council. >> Hello. >> We'll start with our annual or monthly run report. in as of May. Um, in the month of May, we had four building fires, six grass slashmiscellaneous fires, three illegal burns, two smoke investigations, 28 medical incidences, six were hearts, heart of some sort, um, one stroke and two difficulty breathing, motor vehicle accidents, we have one, um, public assistance, three and special incidents, two gave us 40 calls for the month of May and for of the year 225 calls. You have any questions? >> Could you define uh public service assistance for the audience as well as special incident types? >> Those are the calls we get that are possibly what we have a lot of times now is cars falling off or phones falling off cars and it comes up as a crash. And um there's just anything that the police need help for, it gets um recorded as a special incident or public service. So, >> thank you. >> Thanks, sir. >> I guess nobody has any questions for >> No one has any questions. >> And of course, the second thing up there is we're requesting some money to purchase new tablets for our vehicles. So my only question is I know it has to be done but were they budgeted for in 2026 or is this coming from somewhere else? >> There's a there's a line item in there in the CIP4 basically technology. It's under we I use it as radios. >> Okay. >> Because we'll have to start replacing those as they go bad. >> Right. >> Okay. Any uh and it looks like there's a grant. You guys are going to try to >> We're going to try for a grant. Yep. Countywide. Yep. >> Okay. Anybody have any questions? >> I look for a motion. >> Nope. I'll make that motion. >> Second. >> Motion by council member Tradewell. Second by council member Bray Johnson. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor indicate by saying I. >> Opposed. Motion passes 5. And of course some new things are you guys just approved hiring two new folks. They're desperately needed. Um, we have the cast fishing event in August, night to unite. So, >> yes, >> the night to unite is the first Tuesday in August every year. Doesn't matter the date, it's always the first. So, I think you is it through the sheriff's office? >> Yeah, sheriff's office. Yeah. >> Well, that's with a cast event also. >> Okay. >> Any more questions? An easy night for you. >> Pretty easy. >> Simple. >> Thank you. >> I can make it harder. >> So could we. >> Thank you, Rob. >> Chuck, looks like all you have is updates. >> Yes. Uh good evening, Mr. Mayor. Council, couple of updates for you. the Cedar Drive project. Uh they'll start covert replacement next week and then by midmon you can expect them to uh start reclaiming the roadway and and beginning the road construction and it'll substantial we expect substantial completion to be reached mid August and then with final completion at the end of August. uh you know other than that my inspectors informed me that they have done quite a bit of cleanup in the 2026 street improvement project. So if there's any sort of lingering things out there um I haven't reviewed it myself personally. We didn't get around to that today but uh sounds like that's been addressed but more to come on that. uh Wix from South up there off of uh Trunk Highway 47. You know, they're installing private utilities currently and then work continues on Aspen Glenn for that the second edition there. That's all I have currently. Does anybody have any questions for me? >> Any closures for that Cedar Drive or will it stay open the whole time? >> It'll stay open. >> So, the residents >> there'll be lane closures in there. >> Okay. Yeah, but the residents will be able to get there. >> I figured. But >> you want to just for the audience give a quick little update of 181st in Row Lake and it's primarily the county's project, but >> yes, thank you for that we had here. >> On Tuesday, there was an open house uh for that uh 181st and uh Lake George Boulevard and good good attendance. I was glad to see people out there interested and wanting more information and uh that is going to be constructed in 2028 is is when that will be redone >> and then um thank you for that. I am wondering if you have talked with the county anymore about 22. I know I talked with Jerry and he gave me an update, but I'm not sure if you've heard anything. >> No, other than they're still trying to figure out when that's going to be programmed or what they're going to do yet. So, >> okay. >> Okay. >> I can follow up on that. >> Okay. Um I mean, what he told me was it's not the fact that it was not done correctly, it's just how it was done. And um so they're looking at what the most cost effective way is to do it in the future to fix it so that this doesn't continue to happen. I'm surprised it hasn't happened today, honestly. Um but he also said that they were looking as to if they're going to do any of the other projects that we were talking about too, just to update the city of what Jerry is from the highway department. So, yeah, it'd be great. I know he mentioned maybe coming in and talking to us sometime when they did figure out some type of a plan. >> Yeah. Anecdotally, I had heard that some of the construction crews like every time there's a blowout, they find >> moisture between the underlying batuminous and the overlay of concrete. So, >> yeah, there's always water under them when they buckle. >> Yeah. Yeah, >> the change in dramatic change in temperatures and that sort of thing with the heat, the steam or how that all works. But >> yeah, >> it's unfortunate for sure. >> Would be an expensive fix. So, but maybe we can get some roundabouts at the same time. >> Yeah. >> Or a turning lane or something. >> So, okay. Thank you, Chuck. Yeah, I would say Joe and Jerry great to work with with the county, but I think we got to stay on them, too, because every time I see those buckles, I'd hate to be a motorcycle going over that. So, >> yeah. >> Well, did you hear about what happened at the last one? There was somebody that has a pig farm that drove over the buckle that had his pigs in the back of the trailer. They weren't alive, but they were flying out of the trailer. Oh jeez. >> Yeah. One of my friends was my friend had gone over it first and then this guy came behind her and she said there was flying pigs. >> Pigs do fly. >> It's just worth staying on top of. >> Yes. Thank you. >> All right. Uh, anything else for Chuck? >> I think I'll take off then. >> Well, thanks Chuck. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Chuck. city attorney. I don't know if you're taking that or Lauren or I guess I'll let you. >> I think it's me. >> It's all Joe tonight, >> right? >> It's a dangerous uh directive. Uh I'm here uh to present the this is an order for abatement for the Cedar Avenue uh property that has been sub 22 730 Cedar Drive Northwest uh which has been subject to abatement proceedings for some time now. The council has taken previous action to, you know, authorize staff and uh both the city prosecutor and my office, the civil city attorney to uh attempt to use multiple tools to obey this nuisance. Those have been unsuccessful. Um, and as you all know, part of the delay in this enforcement has been because of a court order in the criminal proceeding last year where the court gave the property owner a significant amount of time to bring their property into compliance. Uh, and then a couple of delays in that process where uh the property owner received extensions um from the court. Uh, however, we're at a point now where this I would say is It's a technical step from your perspective. Um it's an important one, but you've given clear direction on what you want for this property. What this does is provides the final deadline um of August 1st after which the city can take action to in civil court to get a court order telling this individual that they have to abate the nuisances uh on the property. And if they don't, then the city can abate uh potentially abate the nuisances itself. and certify the costs uh to be collected with property taxes. So, uh do you have an updated resolution in your packet that was provided today? Um out of an abundance of caution, we added an explicit opportunity to address the council at the next meeting. Um that does not change the August 1st deadline, but it proides notice to the property owner that they can come uh if they have anything to say about this order. or should you approve it at the next council meeting? So, we're still asking you for approval of this resolution tonight. Uh, but just wanted to flag that change. >> Well, I'll be honest. For many years, I when it comes to code enforcement, I'm just going to talk for myself here. Anybody else can can add in, but we live in an area that you should be able to do a little more than you could do if you lived in, you know, the suburbs, which we're able to. We're able to do a lot more. We have larger lots. We, as you can see, we approved a bunch of uh intramuse permits to allow people have businesses at their home. You know, we're not too picky if you've got a couple of cars, a couple trailers or different things like some cities out there, you know, they've got code enforcement people driving around looking for all kinds of problems. And for years, I've been talking about it's time to get these top 10 worst properties cleaned up. Doesn't mean that I'm worried about every single little thing that people are doing. I'm just talking about the ones that look like a junkyard in their house or on their property. And we get multiple calls. We have city staff time. We have code enforcement time. What is code enforcement time right now? 75 or $95 an hour. We pay >> uh 85 or 90. Yeah. >> Yeah. They're paying our criminal attorney. Now we're paying our our uh civil attorney. We're just spending a lot of money and there's not a lot of traction getting done here. And so I say if we're going to continue to have the ordinances, uh, again, we don't need to feel like we're living in an HOA that you can't do anything. Um, but I'm looking at these more serious ones that this property we've been dealing with for a long time. And we've given so many opportunities to clean up and and to do things and hey, we can give you more time. And it just literally um I don't want to speak for the property owner, but my perspective is I kind of feel like we're just kind of being ignored. Um, and so I support doing this. I wouldn't support doing this if it was if we hadn't done all the steps that we've already done. But we're just wasting taxpayer money on some of these properties here. Again, if you got a couple little things going on and they send you a letter and you're like, "Oh, sorry. I didn't know anything about it." That's different. But it's these ones that are just like a junkyard in their front and backyard. Uh, I support moving forward. So, >> I agree with that. and uh it's really affecting the neighbors and their you know property values. It's something that we need to consider and like Weston said, this isn't something that's brand new. This can's been kicked down the road so many time there's barely a can left. So we need to we need to get it done and you know if August 1st is the soonest we can do it then I guess that's it. But we got to move forward in my opinion. >> I'd like to move forward before August 1st too because we've been going on for years. Yeah. I drove by on Friday. Doesn't look like anything, but adding to the collection is going on out there. >> There's even there was even a couch out there, you know, right next to a camper. >> I don't know, like a seating arrangement. I mean, it's just getting it's just getting terrible. It's And we've tried, we've tried, we've tried. It's time to move on. Like Weston said, it's just costing money. We just need to go forward with it and get it done. >> I agree. It's costing us a lot of money and they really don't seem to care what it's costing us or how it's affecting the neighbors there. And I mean, we get calls from the neighbors a lot and emails from them about it. And there's even been some safety things happening, not to mention what it's doing to the environment there and more and more things coming in. So, >> I think it's even worse and he doesn't care. They've asked for extensions to the court system to get it cleaned up. they're acknowledging the issue and then they go blow right past it and have another excuse. I mean it just >> and if we go too long then we're back to winter again. They can't seem to get anything done in the winter time and so it uh >> but >> anyway I'm always say you know a lot of things I'm not looking for perfection but some effort but all right unless there's anything else I guess I would look for a motion to to move forward on this. I'll make that motion. >> I'll second it. >> Motion by Council Member West, second by Council Member Wy. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor indicate by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. >> Motion passes five to zero. Well, >> hopefully we can get somewhere doing it this way now. We tried every other way. >> Yep. >> All right. Uh do you have any updates? >> You know, my office uh continues to work on a number of uh property sales. There's a number of development agreements that are going on right now. things are moving in no grove uh and we are wrapping up um everything and anything related to uh you know our work with the DNR previously. So things are moving uh and I think that that's good. So I don't have any specific updates on projects besides all the property sales you've recently approved and the development agreements that we're working on for those some of those properties. >> Well Jaw attorney's free coming here. Anybody got any questions for him while he's here? >> I do. >> Yes, sir. Um and I don't know what I can and can't say but uh about um we were asked for information. We just need some I I personally would like some more clarification around what if not all devices. We need to do those searches on the different things for >> Oh yeah. >> data discovery. >> Yeah. you know, um when responding to a a a data request from from anyone, it's um you know, those those items that communicate communications generally um search them based on the parameters that were provided uh by Lauren. Um and if there are things that are you know end up not being public there are a lot of rules under the data practices act um we'll review those things to make sure that only sort of public data is being released as part of of any data request. >> I'm going to word add a little bit of clarification to it. >> Request that means I have a choice. >> No uh no unfortunately uh that's just the great question. That's just the terminology that we use. Uh when someone requests data, the statute says that, you know, it must be provided. Okay. >> Um it's a good question. >> All right. Well, I just don't want someone showing up. >> Nope. I Nope. Absolutely not. We're here to make sure people don't show up. We're the ones who knock, right? >> Okay. >> Yes. >> Well, maybe that's a bad example, but >> don't quote me on that, Brad. >> Anything else for Joe? >> No. >> Thank you for asking that, Paul. >> Have a good night. >> Sounds great. >> Thank you. Thank you, Joe. Have a good night. >> All right. City administrator updates and discussion items. Lauren, >> a couple items. Uh, one thing I did include was there was a letter received from the West Oakrove Cemetery Association. Uh, they did reach out to Anoka County to see if they would potentially take over the cemetery operations. Uh, there is a letter also included from Anoka County Attorney's Office uh declining to take that over. Um and then they also did reach out to the Cedar Cemetery Association who also declined to take on the operations. Uh so it appears that they are looking to set up a meeting uh with the association uh to discuss transferring the secretary. >> I have something to say about that tonight. >> Yeah. Um, so currently Marie, the president of the cemetery, is turning people away because what she feared would happen and why they were approaching us as a city is happening. um they are turning people away from burials because she's had uh some health emergencies with two family members and between two different hospitals, not to mention herself. Um I got a call 6:30 on Saturday morning to tell me um about it. So um I I do think it's something that we should have a serious discussion about. Um the county wouldn't take it over. I I see that. And um I've also had some people come to me and ask me why us as a council wouldn't be concerned about the residents of our city or the people that are laid to rest there to want to take it over. Um because it's not something that is going to cost us money. It's coming with funds, not to mention equity. Um, and so I'd really like to urge the council to think about this because right now people are being turned away from even being buried there or buying a plot there because Marie is not able to do it. So the SE there's and Mike cannot he's in the hospital her husband who is the sexton. So nobody is being buried there or anything maintained because of that. So, it's kind of an urgent situation at this point if we want the cemetery to be cared for at all and the residents that are laid to rest there. So, that's what I know. >> Thank you. >> Um, any other comments? >> Clearly, the the situation is going to get resolved one one way or the other, but I do find it entertaining that the county, you know, they just have the resources for it. But you know, the big county doesn't have resources, but the little city of Oakrove is supposed to have all the resources. >> Yeah, but they're trying to put surfing in on the river. So the priorities, right? >> No, that's the city of Anoka, isn't it? >> But well in that they put hundreds of thousands. >> Yeah. What I would say, Angie, is it's probably fair to give a response >> one way or the other, right? So, it probably is something that we should talk about here, maybe not right this minute, but in the near future to at least give them a response. >> But, yeah, it's hard to get into without going really deep into it. My concern is it's got the money today, it's got the money tomorrow, but in 40 years it doesn't. And now all of a sudden, all the citizens of Oak Grove are paying to keep up a a cemetery. I mean, it might sound selfish, but now you flip it and look out there and and have people say, "Well, what do you mean? You mean a $100 of my in, you know, what I'm paying in a year is going to maintain something?" Or maybe it's $10 or $5 or two or whatever. But I think if we do it, we we have to try to set it up like a business that has to be able to maintain itself and show that it can maintain itself. Otherwise, it's I think it's a bad bad thing to get into. But that's me. And it doesn't mean I'm against You heard what I said there. if we can run it like a business and it can maintain itself and we can figure that out and doesn't take city staff's time to do it, I'd be more inclined or in favor to doing it. So that that's >> and you know Paul, when you say the future, um there's been many things that we've said that we're going to do now and something happens in the future then they will deal with how that happens in the future on other topics. So, um, but I think the biggest thing is us taking care of the people in our city. And somebody else said to me, why are you asking the county? That's your city. Why aren't you going to be responsible for things in your city? Or why don't you want to take care of and respect the things in your city? Why would you ask the county or the state to do it? It should be the city's thing to want to help a cemetery in our city, which makes sense, too. So, um, >> yeah. And >> maybe the best thing is, Lauren, because I know we're in his updates right now. >> Yeah. >> Yeah, we are. >> Sorry. >> A couple of meetings or something. Maybe we have a a work session before and and talk about it because, you know, it's probably fair to give some type of response. >> Yeah. something to just chew on is do you or don't you look at something like this like an enterprise fund and to me I look at it like an enterprise fund we or other people in the city don't pay into St. Francis up there at the ponds. Anything that happens up there, they're responsible for it. How do we make sure we maybe run this more like an enterprise fund? And I think if we can do that, I think we should do it. But I think we got to run it that way. So, yeah. >> But I think we have a work session. I'll just be honest. I'm going to be hard. It's be hard for me to approve it when I have six months left of this position. And this is going to be someone else's issue to deal with at some point, but I'm more than happy to have a work session to talk about it, but would you like staff or a council member or two to meet with them ahead of that or just have a work session to discuss it? >> I think we know what they want. I think we just have to, you know, your idea, the enterprise thing, maybe we just have to kind of get some numbers because that is the I think that's the issue is right now there is money, but the money will run out at some point and we only have so much staff and you know, everybody wants their taxes low, but nobody wants to spend any money on anything, you know, or they want us to spend money on everything, but they don't want to pay anything for it. But so I don't know, maybe the next time the five of us are together, couple meetings out or something, maybe we can I don't know if we need them to come to it. Unless you guys, >> we have all the data from the last time you're here. As long as we could bring that forward to that work session, that would be great. >> And I'd also like to remind you guys when we're thinking about this and discussing it and contemplating it, there's people from our city that are buried there. There's hundreds of veterans that are buried there. Um, if we don't if we don't take it, I'm afraid the cemetery is going to be abandoned. It's abandoned right now. There's nobody to run that cemetery right now. And, um, so, um, it's not it's it's about the community as a whole also. So, I know we look at the dollars, but um I think there's a bigger picture other than just dollars. There's respect for the people that are there and that will be there hopefully. >> So, thanks set something up and we can we can talk about it and try to come up with some type of a response but one way or the other at least. >> Sounds good. >> Because I'm sure they want to know something, too. So, >> Sure. Anything else? >> Uh, do you want to Mike, do you want to talk about the meeting we had with Rum River? Do you want to do that under council? You want me to start it now? >> Um, we had our meeting um with Rum River Associates and they budgeted on a few things. My impression was that they really had a reason for not changing fees on pretty much anything and stuff. They did say we could propose some changes and stuff, but it didn't sound very positive. I um RI was uh they were a little upset. They thought that we didn't trust them and stuff, which I explained to them. We did. We thought they their inspections were fine and stuff like that. Uh we mentioned that in society, everything is going up constantly. Housing's going up, you know, groceries, everything. I said, at some point, we got to try to slow that down. And that was one of the reasons that we were um arguing about these fees. And I also mentioned that we were looking at at other contract agencies here, which Weston has brought up several times, and we were looking at their contracts. We can't just keep rubber stamping it and stuff. And so, that's kind of where we left it off. We had a two-hour meeting. Um, but Lauren, you can go over the few changes there. There wasn't much. They were pretty minor. >> No. Yeah, they they tried to highlight some of the things that are being decreased. You know, there are definitely increases, but there are some things that they are that will go down as well. Uh, the big one they talked about was there now would be a maximum fee for decks, uh, including both the permit and the plan review fees. Uh, some residential plumbing and mechanical basement finish permits. uh if it's done by the homeowner, that stuff is going down. Um some of this is like non-residential multif family, you know, we don't have a lot of that in Oakrove. Um plan review hourly fees minimum decreased. Non-residential plan review hourly fees decreased. Demolition permit is not valuebased anymore. The flap fee um those were a couple of those some of the fees that were brought up in the meetings with them. a technology fee. Mike and I talked quite a bit about that with them. They did lay out a couple different options to do that. They weren't willing to get rid of it, but there were other ways to present it. Um, but one thing that we I think we got an agreement out of them at the end was to gradually increase that over the next three years. So rather than the full technology fee increase this year, uh be $526 and go up to 750 and 27 and then up to $1028. Um there was another fee too. I think it was that maintenance permit for septic systems. They would also gradually increase that one. I think 15 and 26, 1750 and 27 and then up to 20 in 2028. So those are a couple things we made some progress with them on. We did talk a little bit about uh them coming back. Remember there was like three reasons they could come back and ask for increases before that three years was up. So we talked a little bit about that and uh as a lighter moment we said well that's why we try to make it tough on you so you don't want to come back and we did tend to agree with that that they really don't want to come back in the three years because we do make it tough on all of our contracts and we try to you know we're working for the residents we're trying to save them money so um that's what we explained to him. So but it did sound a lot like uh kind of take it or don't approve it and see what happens. You know, it uh myself personally, I've been very clear about this for years. I believe we should hire our own inspection outfit again. But that doesn't seem to be the majority, but that's my personal opinion. I think we have a lot more control that way in the city. I don't think I have anything else to add outside of I I wouldn't have I have a problem exploring that and seeing what what comes of that because at least we have some control of what the permit fees are going to be versus contracting a company who tells us what the fees are going to be. And my biggest thing, I know it might seem really small in the grand scheme of things, uh, when it relates to building a house, but you're forced to come in here and purchase a permit, and you got to pay a fee. And then this technology thing they're referring to is then you have to pay a $10 fee to process it through their technology they want to use. Now, I think you should have the option. If you want to use paper, use paper. And if you don't think I'm serious, check all the news outlets of what we think about paper this council. >> Um, if you're a contractor or somebody who's like, you know what, I'd just rather pay the 10 bucks and do it all and be done with it. At least you have that option. But I know that that's something really small when you're talking some of these permits are thousands of dollars. But >> um, I would support, Mike, of not just jumping in saying let's do that, but at least exploring, uh, what that would actually look like. I would love to do that, >> but >> there's two. >> Oh, I would I think you always look at options. >> I think there's a consensus to look at. It's only smart to do that >> to have options. >> Certainly is. >> You might at least if you look at it and it's >> way more at least you hope maybe it helps us sleep a little better that we're doing the best that we can do. So >> at least we did the research. Okay. >> You know, >> if they are better, then at least we know that versus just >> just approving everything. >> But I think we got to get do something now with them, right? To keep things going and then that's something that has to fold in. >> I I think personally that we approve it and then we look into if we want to do replacement at the end. >> What kind of clause is in there for cancing the contract? >> Yeah. Can we Is it year by year? >> 60 days, I thought. I remember what that was, wasn't it? I think it's Yeah. >> Yeah. I think it's like 60 days. That the the contract isn't up for discussion at this point. This is just the fee schedule amendment, but I believe it was something around 60 days. >> Okay. >> Okay. That would work. >> Great. Um, also we did tell um river they didn't have to come up tonight. They could. We told them they didn't have to. me and Lord would bring it up and kind of get a feel for it and if we needed them to, they would come back at the next meeting or something like that. But we just thought they've been here enough times already and talk to everybody. We all know where they stand and they haven't changed it much. And I understand their position, too. I mean, they're business. They're trying to make a profit and they've got expenses, too. I mean, it's just that we don't have any control over it, >> right? Well, maybe we'll talk more about that when we talk about goals and priorities because I feel like we just keep throwing stuff at him and figure out what order I want to do that stuff in. >> Um, anything more on that, Mike? >> No. >> Lauren, anything else? I think what at this point based on the conversation tonight, we would bring those proposals forward in the actual fee schedule amendment either at the next meeting or the meeting after that within the next two meetings and we can look at the other stuff later. >> Okay, >> I guess I will add one more thing. They were under the impression that they were going to have a lay on person working for them, but me and Laura did shut that down and say no, this was a one and done, okay, >> type of thing. So, but they were they were under the impression there was going to be remember ongoing. >> We'll have a leazison go and meet with them. >> Well, they thought that might be a permanent thing and stuff and said, "Yeah, we didn't talk about that. We're looking more as a one and done type of thing." So, >> or two and done. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Well, thank you. >> Yeah. Thanks for doing that. >> Anything else, Lauren? Uh early voting technically started last Friday, but as you know, we opted out of the full 46 days of early voting. So, we're only open for early voting at city hall here for the last 18 days of that. So, about a month from now, I think it's just Friday, July 24th, is when you can come in person and vote. And that's called direct balloting, which is just like voting on election day where you put the ballot into the machine. Um right now, it's the absentee voting process, the envelope system. So any resident that would like to do that will need to go to Anoka County to do that until 18 days before the primary election. >> Uh newsletter was delivered last week. I was able to get some of the we talked a little bit about ebikes and stuff like that. When the sheriff's office was here last week, they were able to get us some information. We did put quite a bit of information in the newsletter regarding that. >> I was surprised at how much was in there. >> Yeah, they had a lot. >> Yeah, >> I was surprised you got it in this. Yeah, I was like, we just talked about that. >> We are working on the budget. Um, I don't think it's at the last meeting of July, I think, is our first work session, but department had started working on it last week. We're working on the CIP stuff. So, uh, should have something by the end of next month for you guys to review for the preliminary 2027 levy and budget. That's all I got. >> All right. Uh, mayor and council requests and updates. Item A, city hall fire station building project. I don't know if Lauren or one of you want to take that since you're on the building committee. >> Lauren, you want to I mean, there's not a lot going on. I mean, >> there is. >> There's a lot going on. Yeah. But, uh, from our standpoint, >> you'll there. big thing tomorrow is they'll start pouring the uh concrete in the apparatus base. Um and then once that's done, then they'll move out to the site. Um you know, most of the fire department side has concrete on the exterior. So once that is poured, you'll start to notice a difference on the site. And then the patuminous, the asphalt parking for the parking lots on the city hall side was delayed a week or two. So that might actually come after the concrete. Um they've started to uh install some drywall inside. Um, so you're starting to see some of the walls up in the council chamber, some of the offices. Um, they're starting to install the septic system. Uh, they were testing the well last week. So, some of you may have noticed a lot of water uh out in front of uh the new building as they were testing that for day and a half or so. Uh, the good news is with our sandy soils here, within a day or so, that was all gone. Um, so we're confident in the the drainage system and the storm water system that will be in from the rain and it was like that's they were testing the wall. That thing was running uh pretty good for you know 36 hours or so. >> Okay. >> Y uh we're starting to get into like color selections for the interior of the building, the council chambers and stuff like that. We'll look at that at the next building committee meeting which I think is in a couple weeks >> week after the fourth. >> Yep. >> Yeah. That's a big step for whoever's picking colors out. >> Seafoam green. >> No. >> Seafoam green. >> No, no, no. >> I like that color. >> You want me to? >> You're off the committee. It's like the 80s. >> Yeah, my committee >> with a little orange >> my pants then. >> Chief and I think we got some good uh we found some used office furniture and stuff like that. So, we're getting quotes on on that stuff. Trying to finalize some of that work as well. All right. Are we on schedule? >> We're a little behind. >> Uh, you know, they would say that we're on schedule, but I think we disagree on that and we remind them of that at every meeting. >> Um, the original bid said 365 days. Contract was signed in September. They've been telling us November ever since it was signed. So, >> it's our position that they're behind. And the budget. The budget. We're still under budget a little bit on that. >> Yep. Looking good. >> The budget is good. >> Just got to keep Rob away from it. >> And those golden nurtures. >> Just make sure Rob gets a nice chair that has some lumps in it from the prior >> 20 or 30 years of usage. >> Is there anything you want to add to that, Rob? >> That's going well. All right. Uh, next is uh our 2026 council. Uh, kind of call them goals, priorities. Something that we started uh this year more getting it on paper of what what our goals were for the year, but then kind of breaking that down to what's the priorities because as you can see just from tonight, we're throwing all kinds of things at city staff and they don't have the time to do all that as quickly as as we'd like them to. So, we uh being that uh we're just about halfway through the year, I had asked at our last meeting just to give us an update to where we're at on the list. And it appears that we're we're moving forward our I think we had all decided our main priority over everything is this building to make sure that's done right so it doesn't end up costing all of us a lot of extra money. Uh so it sounds like uh things are going well there. um uh replacement of our fire chief when he retires and we're hoping to keep him on for a little while longer, but um I think that's still a priority. The 2050 comp plan, we're well underway there. Um this particular building, I don't know exactly where we're at on that, but were you still getting some >> quotes or something? >> You should be able to come back in a meeting or two to present that information to the council. >> Okay. um putting pickle ball courts out uh between the new building and the uh trees for the Christmas tree lighting that open area. We're going to have three there um which should start soon. And then just to the east of that, there's going to be a a veterans memorial that we're all excited about. That's I think not moving quite as quickly. Uh the park commission's working hard on that, but they want to get it done just right. uh and our park commission again are practically volunteers so you know it takes a little bit of time but we're excited about that. I was a little nervous when I saw the water there the other day. Um but I'm glad to hear that's all it was. Uh we owned property on 22 just east of um what is that Gast or >> Jo? >> Um so that's been sold. Um, our property that we own up in the ponds, which is the old wastewater area, that looks like we're closing Wednesday, and they're going to construct, is it 27 homes up there, Lauren? >> Yep. >> Yeah. And then we're saving an area there. If we ever have to get back into that business again, we're hoping we don't have to. But if St. Francis decides to um not give us reasonable uh wastewater prices, then it's something that a future council may have to. So, it was important for us to keep a piece so we always could. And then, of course, the Lake George uh park, I'm sorry, not park, parkway on the east side of the lake. There's a little area there that the city owns that we've been having some issues with people leaving boats and and doing things over there. Um we're going to get that all marked off. Um and is that I just got this Lauren when I got here today. Is where are we at with that exactly? >> The Lakes Shorts Parkway. Yeah, we've done the utility locate, idol, but are we getting ready to put the post in? >> I think next week they'll start installing them. >> Okay. >> Um they've I believe they've flagged where the markers are going to go to let the property owner know what the plan is. >> Um I do know there has been some issues with the property owner in terms of health issues in terms of being able to react to the letter, but they have received it. So, we are going to start down by the lake and work our way back to the road, but we have notified them that we are installing the markers. Okay. >> All right. Um, >> the one utility utility locate is done except for Kexus didn't uh complete their part. So, my understanding is they were coming out of there today or tomorrow to finish that part. But that's a major one because they have a box big transformer right there. So, they need to mark that for us. >> Okay. Then, of course, the CIP accounts, making sure that we have enough for that. Um, in English, that's like a savings account. You're saving for a fire truck, plow truck, roads, things like that. Uh that's something that we all think is important, but that's something that council member trade has been pushing since I think you and I have been on here is to >> um figure those numbers out a little bit better than just kind of maybe estimating sometimes. Um then success well 2026 election. Clearly we're not there yet. Um, and then we also, which I believe was council member Wes's idea a year or so back, was to do uh like an ordinance of the month that we review. And with that, I added like council member WY had said, reviewing some of our contracts. Our city being a small city, we contract a lot of things. Uh, which is good in some aspects and not in others. like the one you're just talking about. It's well basically, you know, I'm pretty sure even though they haven't said the words take it or leave it, is kind of about where they're at with it. So, um, sometimes it's good to contract, sometimes sometimes it's not. So, we're trying to review those. Um, the accessory buildings, the ADUs, uh, we're looking to take that from 700 square feet to 850. And of course, anything else that pops up. As you can see tonight, some other things popped up. So, I think we're I don't know if I'd say we're on course or not, but I think we're doing a really good job at a lot of these things. I think we're just now to the part that, you know, we we told Lauren today, hey, let's do the the building inspector, figure that out. Let's figure out the uh cemetery. And now I'm sitting there thinking, I know the chief hasn't given a retirement date, but if he was to go in six months, a year, that process needs to get going here soon. And we're still trying to decide if it's full-time chief, part-time chief, you know, other different options. So, I think I've said a lot right now, but I think it's fair for us to to give some some feedback to Lauren and what what are our priorities here when I feel like we've kind of thrown a couple two or three different things at him just tonight. So, I'll stop here for a couple minutes here if somebody has something they want to add or >> Oh, I don't think we need to add anything. >> I I don't mean add, but like here's where we're at. what is now the priorities here because I don't know if all this is going to get done by the end of the year. I thought we obvious the obvious is the fire station the 2050 comp plan those are have to happen right >> um future of the fire department has to happen because we're getting a new fire department and we don't want to have not have a chief so >> we're chewing gum and walking at the same time here a lot of this stuff is happening >> yeah all the time >> so >> and the land selling there's not really we just have to work through that process like George e yeah they're all important what do you mean >> I guess I'm getting to the bottom of it is when we're talking about reviewing of ordinances and contracts and then hey let's look into maybe our own building inspector and what about a fire chief. I'm just saying th those the bottom portion is more what I'm >> referring to and I think this fire chief thing needs to be again one of the uh priorities to start working on soon unless he's changed his mind. >> Well, we should probably get some sort of definitive answer from Chief at some point. Not today, not right now. what's his timing looked like so we can plan better that's all >> and we are working on that uh you know it will be presented some options in the 2027 budget for the council to consider uh and we have also applied for that federal safer grant which if that is awarded uh that pays a significant chunk of the salary and benefits of that position for the first three years so that grant application was submitted we should know in September the status of that so we will have more in a month or two here. >> That's if we go to a full-time fire chief, right? >> Correct. Yeah. >> So, part-time or three quarter time. They There's no grant for that. >> Uh we did not apply for that. >> We Well, I don't think What's that? >> Was there one there that you could apply for? >> No, because we already have a part-time fire chief. It's a position the city already funds and pays. These are for new positions. >> So, there's only a grant for a full-time >> for new positions, >> which we haven't decided yet. >> Right. I will I will bring up whether we continue to do it or take a break for a couple months or whatever else the review of the ordinance. Um as we were sitting there I got asked a lot of questions and I couldn't answer all of them. Um so with the help of AI um I did come up with an ordinance review document and just high level you know ordinance to review purpose of the review was there a situation that prompted the review is there still a specific issue we were trying to address. These are all things they were asking me and I couldn't answer all of them because like there was the one on the I forget the one that I was stumbling on that Mike had asked about. Oh um the IUP Yeah. Well, the IEPs specifically, you know, and they're like, well, what do you want to know more about them? And I I didn't have a great answer, you know, and I said it was more about, you know, what's too big, when is enough enough, this kind of thing. I knew that much of it. I could remember that. But this, I think, helps guide because we can actually hand them something and say, "This is why we're giving it to you. This is what we're looking for. This is the kind of answer we're looking back." Cuz right now, it goes to them and they kind of go, "Okay, what do they, you know, what do they want for it?" So anyways, just help to hone it. We can keep modifying it as we go. But >> it's a good idea. >> I like that. >> So you can you put down if you're looking at a larger size and put down what you're thinking and then they can go from there. >> Yep. And especially like if you come up with the idea or John or you know if it's Angie, you you know might have more specifics to what you're looking for instead of a higher level I glossing over a little bit what you're talking about because it's very you know important to you. So that way we capture what you're looking for, the essence of it, then give it to them. So anyways, going forward, hopefully we can use something like that and give it to them. So >> Lauren, on the speaking of the ADUs, um we said before that we wanted to include the house sizes with that, but it's not on here. Is that being included in that? >> We talked about that, but I don't think the council gave any direction on that. >> I think it got discussed minimum. >> Yeah. whether you know to have them look at the two so that we only have to have one public hearing instead of two public hearings. We were talking about possibly changing the sizes which I thought we were all in agreement on. >> I thought we were >> No, I think I think we didn't vote. I think the consensus was 4 to one because I was not in support of the 850 but I think the consensus was because there was at least >> the 850 on the house or the ADU side? >> The house. >> The house size. Okay. >> And so I but I think the consensus was to send it because that's the way we're doing it. >> Um, so >> I hate to do this open this here and then a month later have to do another one. I'm basically a very similar thing that could be tied together that to me that's just a big waste of time, >> right? But >> I agree. Can we do that, Warren? >> Yep. Yep. We can add it to the publishing. We haven't published it yet, so we got time. >> Good catch, Mike. >> They can look at that and stuff, too. Anything else you guys >> on that topic? No, but I do have something to discuss at the end. >> Different. >> Okay. So, I guess my my thought here would be I think the top part of this form staff is doing a really good job working on that. But when it when we break it down to some of the um ordinance reviews and so forth, I think you're kind of right that the planning department's going to get really bogged down and staff. But when it comes to like the contracts, I know, you know, we want to talk about the fire chief. I don't want an interim fire chief. I'd rather get a good plan of what we're going to do. You know, we talked about the cemetery. We talked about the building. And then this whole Abdul I'd like to talk about that too. So I'm just even if we took just those four are there one or two that's more of a priority than the others. >> I would say Abdul is and I would say that because that has been your issue pretty strongly and you're going to be leaving. I think you would probably want to be in on that. >> Well, it's a big dollar amount >> and it's a big dollar amount and I would so I would say anything to save taxpayers money is something we should look at sooner rather than later. >> Okay. I mean, I think the cemetery thing is probably I don't want to say an easy thing. That's not what I'm saying. But I don't think staff has to do a ton of research to to figure that out. But >> maybe the ABDO thing would there be enough time, Lauren, just to have some type of report or something to share in July sometime >> or is that too soon? >> What are you guys looking for? I mean, do you want just >> the generator? >> Yep. >> Generator's back off. Yeah. I just like I had mentioned earlier in the year and I think everybody was in agreed to it is looking at our contracts kind of one by one and figuring out can we do better can we not you know and at least then we can you know talk to the community and hey we're doing everything we can that is the best deal we can get so on and so forth versus just every year they keep coming with these increases but I have just some concerns with ABDO as a whole um and so I just would like to have more of a discussion about it see options we have. If we have options, I think we're paying them a lot of money and I just don't know if we're getting quite the service that at least I think we should be getting out of them. >> I know there's a couple things that I'd like to see. Um, when we first switched from having our own finance director, she was putting in 40 hours plus a week. When we switched over, we were told they didn't know what she did with her time out every day. That basically they could handle our city for eight hours a week. So, I'd like to know how many hours a week they do spend for the amount of money we are paying them because if they're only spending eight hours and we're paying the amounts we're paying, that's a pretty good rate. I think we could hire somebody ourselves better. I mean, at least knowing those numbers, we can we can weigh it out. Now, they might have doubled or tripled their amount of time here. I don't know. Um, >> but we don't know if we don't ask them. >> But that was also in 2011. The city significantly since then, >> right? And so I don't I have no clue to what what it takes to do this job for them in a weekly bike, you know, numbers. So I'd like to get that information, >> right? And I don't know if anybody's really saying all of this has to go back to the city, but I think it's just at least we can tell the community members we looked into this stuff and what we're doing actually is the best. >> Yeah. And I'm not saying it's got to go back either. We don't know the numbers. We don't know how much time's even being spent on this type of work, >> right? >> We do know how much our bills are. I like. >> So, it sounds like we have some work sessions coming up maybe. >> Well, remember we're starting budget work sessions, too. So, I think that would probably be the priority over some of this stuff, >> right? >> Yeah. At least the first couple, >> right? >> Do they provide a detail at all in their invoices to us from? No, it's within the contract because the contract defines all the tasks they're working on and then there's it's a monthly fee to provide all of that work. So, it's in the contract. >> I mean, that's a good place to start just reviewing the contract and looking at 10,000 foot view, coming up with specifics and then making a decision like that is going to be a multi-step multimonth process. So, just 10,000 foot view quick get start on the contract. Well, I think it's like you're reviewing of the ordinances. Just get an idea of what we're doing and all right. Anybody have anything else related to that? You said you had something, John. >> Yeah, something minor. Uh wife and I were out driving the city the other night and found that on two ends of a street, the street is the street sign is spelled differently. And I'd like to know if the people on this end of the street are using the incorrect spelling, the people on this end of the street using the right spelling. It's Silver Rod on the north side of Viking. >> South end of the street says has the R O D spelling >> and the north end of the street has R O D. So little perplexing. Just wondering how that happened. >> Maybe there's two different names. >> No, I don't think so. So maybe we look into that and get a new sign. That'd be great. Thanks. That's all I have. >> Did you get lost? >> I would hope not. >> Ask you anything? >> Yeah. Um I in lie of the data request that we have received from the county. Um I would like to discuss having a separate phone for city business. um not using my personal phone because my personal phone is how I make a living and um so I would like a city phone frankly for anybody to call me or text me or email me on my city email. >> Yeah. For the audience that doesn't know why, tell them why. >> Why? >> A lot of people don't understand. any city business we do on our phone, if something happens, they can they can take our phones from us and until they're done with their investigation, maybe never get them back. So, actually, our our mayor had warned us about that long time ago. Be careful about where you take your mail in because anything and everything that touches the city can become if in an investigation or anything else um can become evidence and then they take it from you and now you don't have it. So in Angie's case, her livelihood depends on her phone and um is concerned about, you know, having her phone taken and that would be very very bad, >> detrimental. >> Yep. I just think it's important to explain because a lot of people don't know the the reasoning behind it for those that don't have to be careful. >> What's that? >> We have to be careful why you're talking about this because it is >> Oh, yeah. No. >> So, I would like a city phone. That's what I have to ask for. I don't know how anyone else feels. It's been said that people didn't want to carry around two phones, but I have no problem carrying around two phones. >> You want us to decide right now? It's not in front of us or anything at this point. >> Well, I don't I don't know what needs >> I'd like to think I'd like to think about it for a I don't know what needs to be done, but I um I'm to the point where I don't even want to accept any phone call on my personal phone from anybody relating to city business because >> I I don't totally disagree with you, Angie. That's why the city has all laptops for once. That doesn't fix a phone situation, but >> maybe it's worth at least exploring what that would even cost. Yeah, but it could be as easy as a Google phone number and using it from your PC. No, >> instead of using >> I don't I'm not on my PC. This is this is my >> Yeah, for your business. Yeah, >> but for the city stuff, it could go to your city laptop. >> But then I have to carry this around with me all the time. >> Well, I don't know if you need to carry it around all the time. >> Well, there's options. >> I think it's at least worth knowing what it would cost. So maybe by the next meeting if you could come up with that. See another thing we we came to do. Um any >> Mike? Anything? >> Nope. Paul? >> Nope. >> I have just a couple quick things here. Uh one, so the fire chief I was here at a meeting last week and he was asking me about the uh the city flag. Didn't know anything about a city flag. didn't know we ever had a city flag. U but then it kind of got me thinking, well, I don't know. Maybe we'd want to fly this old historical city flag at the new building, maybe. Right. Well, then I talked to him. It sounds like maybe it wasn't really so much a city flag. Thought it was more of an acorn day flag from the 90s. >> A flag. And it's something about it had an acorn and feet and a head or something. >> Oh, yeah. It was an acre. It was an acorn that looked like. >> So, I'm not looking for anyone to make any decisions today, but it sounds like maybe that wasn't what maybe I thought it was, but maybe um you know, the city wants to have a city flag. A lot of cities have them. I'm not sold one way or the other on it, but if right now is the time we're starting to decide the polls and all the stuff for the new building, um I'm not really even looking for a response right now. Just something for you to think about or the fire department flag. They have a flag. >> Um like I say, it's think about it for a couple weeks. I'll I'll bring it up again and see what kind of interest there is or or isn't um >> with all the arguments out there about flags going on right now. >> Those be our own flag next. >> Yeah, it's our um but even like I like the fire department one too. Maybe we can incorporate that somehow. Um but just you guys were on the uh the building committee. Give it some thought. Uh I also was contacted by um a resident about flock cameras in the city. Um >> what kind? >> Flock cameras. >> And my only response to flock cameras is there was this individual thought that we were getting flock cameras in the city. Um we're not getting flock cameras in the city. We have we've never even had a discussion about flat cameras. There is some pro to it and some negative to it, but again the five of us have never even had a discussion about them. >> Um >> and if the county wants to do it that, you know, on a county road, that's really out of our purview anyway. >> So I talked to the county about it. The county had said they don't have any in Oakrove. They're not looking to put any in Oakrove. And if they were, they would contact the city first and ultimately get us to fund it. >> Of course they would. >> Again, >> that's not going to happen. >> There's positives with them. I know a lot about them. There's positives, there's negatives. But to put this thing to bed for now is the five of us have never even talked about it up here one time. Um, so so that's that. And the last thing I have is I I hope you guys have a great uh Independence Day and it should be nice and warm. looks like maybe. >> And uh thanks for coming to the meeting tonight. I don't know what brought everyone here. Maybe it was Commissioner Johnson, him leaving or what? But >> free cookies and the air conditioning. >> It looks like there's some cookies in the back, too. So, thanks for coming. And uh our next regular scheduled meeting will be Monday, July 13, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. And I'd look for a motion to adjurnn. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> Motion by Council Tradewell. Second by council member John Bray Johnson. All in favor indicate by saying I >> I >> I >> almost forgot this motion passes four to one. Thank you.