Very [Music] like very >> mindful. [Music] [Music] to pass. >> Call the order of the meeting on Monday, August 4th, 2025 at rise for the pledge. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America to the stands nation under God >> indivisible indivisibley andice for all >> we quick do a roll call Joel Joel obviously you're coming in remotely and Sarah's out so roll call please >> Mayor Bogle >> here >> council Council members Melbower >> here. >> Bonis >> here. >> Robinson >> here. >> On to approval of tonight's agenda. Do I have an approval for tonight's agenda? >> Make that motion. Mayor >> motion by Councilman Robinson. Do I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Second by Councilman Fonis. Uh, all those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. I. >> We got a roll call because I'm on Zoom unfortunately. >> Sorry, I forgot Joe. You're right. >> All good. Roll call, please. Jenny. >> Mayor Vogle. >> I. >> Council members Robinson. >> Hi. >> Fanes. >> I. >> Milvower. >> I. >> On to the consent agenda. Do I have a motion to accept the consent agenda? >> Make that motion. Mayor. >> Motion by Councilman Robinson. Do I have a second? I'll >> second. >> Second by Councilman Mbower. Any discussion? No, sir. Well, I just had a question, but it's not going to change my vote. >> Go ahead and ask it right now. >> Oh, okay. Um Oh, I'll have to >> I just had a question. Couple questions for Darcy. Um on for the payment of claims, um page 37, >> it says um sorry, I got to get up there. Um it says $116 for the city of Rapids seal coding. And I think it may have said that last month, too. So I was just curious as to what that was. >> Um I'll let you >> Sure. Sure. So mayor and council that is to be part of a consortium that we belong to uh with Rapids being the the primary uh and that so we're in that consortium. We get a better price for seal coating for line painting for um the different services we need every year. Um we're part of a much bigger group. get a much better deal on everything. >> So, we pay $116 >> to be a part of it. >> To be a part of this? >> No, not a month. I I believe that's I I'll double check. >> Oh, >> but I believe it's not a month. I think that's for the year. >> Oh, okay. And then we get a better discussion. >> Correct. >> Okay, that makes sense. And then, um on page 70, um it says um charger repairs for $14,253. And I kind of think it said that last month, too. Um, and I just was wondering is that was that an insurance claim? >> Yep. There's there's actually two insurance claims on >> Oh, for doing similar amounts. I only wrote down the one. >> Yeah, there was they were different. Yeah, there are different amounts, but there's one that somebody hit somebody and then there's another one that they hit a deer. >> Okay, those were my only questions. I I I really do read all everything on there and there's always a half a dozen things that what what was that for? So I may ask >> Joe, any questions, Joe? >> No, I have nothing. Thank you. >> Okay, so I have a Oh, we're gonna have to do roll call on this. So roll call, please. J. >> Mayor Bogle, >> I. >> Council members Muard. >> Hi. >> Robinson. Hi >> Vonis. >> Hi. >> On to meeting open to the public. Anybody wishing to speak, please come forward, state your name and address and briefly state you would like. Anybody? Not seeing anybody. So, we're going to move on to old business. The bluffs of Lum River second reading. Beth. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, mayor and council. Can everybody see the screen? I'll just ask make sure that works. It's not >> power. I think there >> there it is. >> Good. Okay. Um, so tonight there are several applications in front of you that relate to the Bluffs of Rum River development. Uh, this is a site that's about 112 acres located between Highway 47 and the Rum River, uh, just north of Ambassador Boulevard. Uh, largely an undeveloped area with quite a few natural features to to mention. Um so as it's adjacent to the rum river this entire site is within the urban rum river management district. Uh so that comes with its whole uh host of different requirements. Uh there are also wetland areas and flood plane particularly closer to the river. Uh and then some bluffs and steep slopes as well. Um so once you get done taking out all of the natural features you're left with about 67 buildable acres on this site. So this is a project that uh the city has been working on uh for several years. Um so the applicant first brought in a comprehensive plan amendment in 2021. Um that was approved and what that really did was amend a majority of the land to medium density residential. Uh and then it reduced the amount of commercial land to just a small corner in the south area of the site. Uh then in October of 2022 uh there were some additional approvals that were granted. Um, so this included a plan unit development. Um, so that's the first reading of that ordinance uh to reszone all of this land to a plan unit development. Um, there was also a preliminary plat and then a conditional use permit for public roads that were all approved in that October of 2022. Um, so those are the those are the approvals that are currently on the property today. Uh, but what has been brought forward now this summer is an amendment to that existing preliminary plat as well as a second conditional use permit. again for public roads. So I'll talk about why there's why there's two. Um so there are a few changes that are proposed from the 2022 plat uh to the 2025 preliminary plat. Um primarily the big difference is that uh the unit mix has been changed. Um so before the the entire uh development included singleunit homes, detached town homes, attached rowouses and then an apartment. Uh and those use types are all still represented, but the numbers of each of those units have been shifted. Um so now there are more detached town homes proposed uh and fewer attached rowouses. Because of that change, uh there were some changes in the average lot size as well as the setbacks between buildings related to those detached villas. Um and that's really just a a product of how those units have laid out now. Um being that they're not attached anymore and they're detached. Um there was also a change relating to the number of apartment units that's proposed. And again, this is a preliminary plan. It it may or may likely be changed as um as the project uh moves forward. Uh because it is planned to be a phased project, but right now um there's a change to decrease the number of apartment units by 10. Um and that really relates to uh a state requirement for an environmental assessment worksheet. uh based on the types of units whether they're detached or attached and things like that. Um there is a calculation in state statute that you do when a project gets to a certain size and if you are over the threshold uh that's set by that state statute um then an environmental assessment worksheet or an EAW is required and so it was not required uh back in 2022 with that apartment mix. Um but in 2025 with changing the the amount of detached and attached uh they actually crossed that threshold and so they're proposing fewer apartment units or fewer attached units um to make up for that. Uh there is a proposed condition that's in the the approval documents that would require staff to anytime there's another phase of this project we would be going back and recalculating that number to make sure that if that threshold is exceeded that an environmental assessment worksheet is done. Uh the other main change to note is that uh the western street and I'll talk about that in a little bit. Um it was proposed to be private in 2022. It's now proposed to be public. So uh these are the two plats side by side. The 2022 plat is on the left. 2025 is on the right. Uh you'll see that the main difference is right in the center of that site. uh where before it was about half uh detached units, half attached units and now that entire central area is proposed to be detached uh villa units. So same street layout uh for the most part uh the main difference there when we talk about streets is that again the area that's in navy on the screen that was what was proposed to be private originally and is now proposed to be public. Um so the red street there uh is the public street that was originally um proposed to be public. Um because this is an area in the urban rumor management district. A conditional use permit to construct a public road is required. And so in 2022 that CUP was approved for that red street. Um there was not a CUP approved for the Navy Street because those were intended to be private streets. And so that's why there's a cup request in front of you this evening as well. Um parking there are different parking requirements in the code depending on the type of use uh that we're talking about. So uh single unit detached the detached town homes and the attached rowouses all have specific uh parking requirements. Those are uh those are not intended to be changed with this plan unit development. Um so the development would be adhering to the the typical code standards. I wanted to point out the uh requirement for guest parking for the attached rowouses. Um there are 26 attached rowouses that are proposed uh with the amended plat which means that there are there need to be 13 guest spaces provided. Uh in the the plat that was submitted to staff for for review, there were six spaces provided uh and they were within the public rightway, but they were private uh spaces. And so that's not something that uh the city typically allows. And so uh we've communicated with the applicant that uh the suggestion that providing an exhibit of on street parking to show are there 13 stalls that could just could be parked on the public street as opposed to creating some sort of parking lot for guest parking. The planning commission reviewed this preliminary plat amendment as well as the cup request at their July meeting. Uh we did have a few uh members of the public show up uh and provide some comment primarily about traffic. Uh we also discussed the uh involvement of the outside agencies for this application review. So MINDOT, uh the DNR and Anoka County and then we did discuss a little bit the alignment of 241st Avenue. That's not something that's proposed to be changed with this 2025 amendment. Um but it was something that was determined back in 2022. So with that, uh, the planning commission did unanimously recommend approval of both the preliminary plat amendment and the C. Uh, and so tonight staff has prepared draft approval documents, uh, for the various, uh, various requests. Uh those motions are all on page 53. But what we're really talking about tonight is acting on the second reading of the PUD ordinance. Uh and then a resolution of publication by summary of that ordinance followed by the preliminary plat amendment and then the conditional use permit. So uh the applicant is here tonight. Uh otherwise I am happy to answer any questions. >> Kevin, >> I have no questions at this time. Sure. Um, my only question is I I wasn't here when it was originally approved. So, um, there hasn't been any there's been no start to the development there. Correct. So, when what's the delay and when would that occur at any time? Yep. So, mayor and council, that's probably a better uh applicant question. Um, but yep, I'm sure he'd be happy to answer for you. the applicant here. Come forward. Please state your name and my name is Todd Christensen, 6150 202nd Street, Forest Lake. Um, Mr. Mayor, members of the council, staff, u, thanks for hearing us tonight and, um, we plan on starting right away. Uh, we're set to close with the, uh, land owner on September 5th. Hopefully we can work something out with the city, maybe even get an early grading permit to get started to try to beat the winter. Um, one thing that I wanted to mention tonight that I hope this doesn't throw a wrench into anything, but um, the reason things have changed over there is, you know, it's been an evolution of the market that we've seen. Um, you know, we want to see lower association dues. One of the reasons we went from private to or from private to public. One of the big reasons, you know, these villa homes are more entry level, especially the ones on the blue road. They're going to be built by a specific builder that um well, central homes. They've committed to all 38 of those homes. Then we have the 18 villa homes along the main street. Those are set right now and drawn out at 32 foot wide for the building pads. The builder who is uh committing to the river lots which are going to be like 800,000 and up homes for value is very concerned about the villa homes across the street. You know what they look like. You know they don't want to have a million dollar house and then across the street you have a $350,000 villa home. So he decided he wants all 18 of those. So he wants to buy those villa homes. We agreed to that. we took him away from Sentra and um the caveat is he wants 38 foot wide pads. So what we would end up doing is going from 18 on that primary road to 16. So we would actually be decreasing the amount of units, you know, it's it's an evolving process, you know, and we we kind of have to go with what the market shows, what the builders want. I think it's a good idea. Um both builders uh agreed to it. Um, so we have all of phase one committed to and sold. So, we're pretty excited about that. We want to get started as soon as we can, but happy to answer any other questions. >> And the apartment building, what phase is done? >> Um, you know, we haven't really started marketing that yet much. We hope to have a commitment to that before the end of the year. So, I would say that could come as early as next year. Joel, you got any questions or >> I have nothing further at this time. Thank you. I >> I do not have a question. The commercial area, the red area in the southwest corner, what's what do you anticipate for that down the road? >> That's um open for discussion. We, you know, we haven't marketed that either um as of yet. So, there's maybe a number of uses. We'll be talking to the city about that and you know maybe what some of the expectations might want to be for that restaurant or something something fun hopefully. >> All right. Thank you. Thank you, mayor. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, mayor. >> Just one quick question for Paul is the only question I have. So the whole public street part of it you're comfortable with the whole moving that to public? >> Yes, sir. Do you pref I'm just out of curiosity question in general. Do you prefer that to the private street scenario and council? I depends on the situation. I think it's definitely situation specific. In this case, public works has no problem. It'll be uh just like any other. We'll just fold it into the mix. Anybody else? Any other questions? And then do I need a motion on the ordinance? Roll call. So, do I have a motion for ordinance 301 approving reszoning of the set property reszoning 23925 St. Francis Boulevard Northwest from R3 and B2 to the bluffs of Rome River PUD? >> Mr. Mayor, I think Joe has a question. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead, Joe. >> Oh, no. I was just going to make the motion when you were done. I was just >> Sorry. >> My claim. >> Motion by Councilman Mulebower. Do I have a second? >> Second, Mayor. >> Second by Councilman Robinson. Roll call, please. >> Mayor Bogle, >> I. >> Council members Newbower. >> Hi. >> Hi. >> Robinson, >> I. >> On to resolution 202539 authorizing the summary publication of ordinance 301. Do I have a motion? >> I'll make that motion, mayor. >> Motion by Councilman Robinson. Do I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Second by Councilman Fis. Roll call, please. Jenny. >> Mayor Bogo. >> I. >> Council members Robinson. >> Hi. Hi, >> Newbowers. >> Hi. >> On to resolution 2025-40 approving a pre preliminary plat amendment for the bluffs of Rum River Development. Do I have a motion? >> Make that motion. Again, mayor. >> Motion by Councilman Robinson. Do I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Second by Councilman Fis. Roll call, please. Jenny. Mayor Google. I council member. I >> Robinson. Hi. >> On to resolution 202541 approving a conditional use permit for the Bluffs of Rome River Development for the construction of public roads within the Rum River Management District. Do I have a motion? >> I'll make that I'll make that motion. >> Do I have a second? >> I'll second. Mayor. >> Second by Councilman Robinson. Roll call, please. Jenny. Mayor. I. Council member Newower. Hi. >> Robinson. Hi. Hi. On to new business. Joel, walk-in cooler upgrade. Mayor and council, tonight I am requesting, >> can you hear me now? Okay. Tonight I'm requesting the addition of a walk-in cooler at the municipal liquor store. Um the cost is roughly going to be $50,000 of funds that are already set aside for the liquor store. Um the reasonings for having a walk-in cooler, um more efficient for the staff, easier to stock and rotate, um easier for customers to grab and maybe even grab more. Um, with the new cooler, we'd get a new condenser, which would also replace the older current condenser on that side of the store. Um, happy to answer any questions. >> Joel, any questions? >> Um, when we did the remodel, was that cooler? I assume that cooler wasn't replaced and that's an older cooler. >> That's correct. I believe that's the original cooler on the right side of the store. I don't have anything further. >> I don't >> I have no questions. I just want to commend you on the job you've done up to this point since you took over the store. You made good prudent moves and uh and the money being spent is coming out of the liquor fund itself. So, you've generated your own income to help pay for the more enhancements. So, I appreciate what you've been doing. >> Thank you. >> I'm just going to chime in and second what Kevin just said there. Doing a good job and trust your judgment on it. So I think it's a go. So resolution again here. Yes or no? Do we have to vote on this? >> Uh yes. So the action is council to approve that to proceed with the walkin upgrade and use britz store equipment uh below quote of 10,000. >> I'll miss that motion. No. Okay, >> you're good. Council Fonis made the motion. Do I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Second by Councilman Mualler. Roll call, please. >> Mayor Vogel, >> I. >> Council members Muower. >> I fis. >> Hi. >> Robinson. >> Hi. >> On to MWA operator award. >> Yes. >> Mayor Council, um you have a special visit to watch us this evening. Um, a little over a week and a half ago, um, this gentleman Parish was presented with a it's it's a in the business for the the Minnesota Wastewater Operators Association. This particular award is for a class A plant. He's a he's a a member of a very select few of individuals. It's a lifelong achievement. There's not a lot of of names on that list. And I asked Parish to be here tonight uh because public works is quite proud of him and and we wanted to congratulate him again publicly uh of the accomplishment. And I would if I want to join me >> and if council has any questions this evening. Um I'm much more confident with uh Paris on my left side here as far as water question. So it's incredible my confidence uh builds when when Paris is with me. So uh feel free council if you have any questions or may comment Paris. Kevin >> uh I just want to congratulate it's nice you to be recognized by your peers for something like this and will be will we be invited to the hall of fame. >> Absolutely. Thank you very much. >> No we are you've done a really good job. here. Appreciate you hanging in with the city and doing what you do and you're underappreciated by most accounts. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Almost 21 years of service coming up this fall with the city. That's all. >> Thank you, Dave. >> Joel, >> uh, great job, Parish. I appreciate it. Um, I don't know if I figured we have some people in the audience that might be curious, too, about I know with the chlorides and whatnot. Um we have some people there in the audience. So maybe just touch on the chlorides and then what our goal is there and the fact that we're trying to avoid um large costs to have to upgrade the plant by the state and their their regul want to touch on that for us. Just take the opportunity to educate the people that >> uh so mayor councel actually it's twofold the parish being here this evening uh Mr. Mimbar he will also touch on that at the back side of my quarter report as well. So, um, if you don't mind waiting a little bit, Paris will bring that up. So, >> that's just fine. Thank you. And and congratulations again, Parish. >> Thank you, Joe. >> Um, just congratulations to you. I'm new here, so I'm not familiar with everything that you're you do for us, but sounds like you do it pretty well. So, >> thank you. >> You're going to jump on the bad one. I got of course, but I I just want the public to understand when you were have a really good employee who's a gem. And I had the I had the opportunity, no, but I had the opportunity to take a all day tour when the MPCA was here and everything else and and to watch him in action. It's one thing to have the knowledge and the skills to do the job. He he also has the personal personality for the job and it was very evident to me how how outstanding your skill sets are. So I greatly appreciate what you're doing. this award was well deserved and thank you on behalf of the city. So >> thank you very much mayor and councel and you know all this although this award has a single name on it it is certainly a team effort um and I couldn't do it alone um I think department heads the whole city staff for support um and you know I would also like to thank the city of St. Francis uh it is the resources provided for me to attend the continuing ed classes the training sessions and the investment in our wastewater treatment facility made this possible too so um thank you guys for your support always it's appreciated and uh um thank you very much so >> thanks >> uh on to the work session request Kate >> yes mayor and council for you tonight is a work session request for Monday, August 25th. We could start at 5:30 or 6. And this is an opportunity to hear about the Bethl shared fire service look at the JPA. I'm happy to answer any questions if we need to. We can move it out from 5:30, but that is the night that we have also informed Bethl. So we may have their or staff particip the significant at the time, but I'm fully aware of what this is all about and been a part of it as it's been going on for the last two plus years. So, uh I'm my vote is yay, it's coming. >> Joel, any input? >> I should be able to make it. >> Excellent. You think times, whatever works best for you guys. >> I I know I prefer the 5:30, but I'm open to whatever will work for anybody else. >> Let's just go Let's just go with the 530. And just so the public understands what we're doing here. It's it's a work session. We're getting close to we currently have a joint power agreement with the city of Bethl to share the fire service. And this is kind of a short-term deal. Now, we're looking for a longer term thing. We're looking for at least a 10-year joint power agreement between the two cities for for the uh fire service. So, if you want to join us, all these are open to the public. So, 5:30 p.m. on Monday, August 25th, right here at this location. On to meeting open to the public again. Anybody wish to speak? See no one on to council member report or excuse me public works report all >> very good uh mayor and council before this evening is the second quarter public works report. I'm going to uh uh came up a little short. We were doing interviews today uh for our uh second interviews for our current position. So forgive me. This will be brief. Um you find >> Yep. I'm working on it. >> Perfect. >> Yep. Uh so some of the things we worked on in the second quarter here um lining up the the the work being done up front here. Um it's just about finished as far as the the landscaping. Um we're we are within a month of a rough concept for the warming house ice rink. So that's coming. Um we have a I'm hoping to have something by parks commission a week from this Thursday. we meet. Um, one of the one of the most interesting things we did that a lot of folks didn't notice was the gazebo, putting a new uh copper penny roof on the gazebo. Some folks did, some didn't. Uh, a good friend of mine drove by multiple times, didn't even realize that, uh, we had changed that at all. So, um, uh, we also had a culvert replacement out on 238th. Um, they're starting to fail. We, this is the this was the second of three this year. Um, we're noticing I don't I I don't have the history on it as far as them failing. Usually get 40 to 50 years out of them. Um, we had just had to do another one on 241st, so I'm seeing a trend here. Hopefully um hopefully it stops at the last one we did. But again, I just want to remind council that's all storm water. Anything to do with that is all storm water money. Um, culverts now are it used to be, you know, a few hundred to $1,000. culverts now are the last, just to give you council an idea, the last culvert we had to purchase was 5,000 for a 20 foot culvert. So again, these prices are changing astronomically with some of the products that we're we're using. I just want everyone to be aware of it. Um, another thing we had >> Sorry, Paul, just on that I assume are changing to poly from from galvanized or is that to galvanizer? >> Yep, that's sticking with galvanized. Um the only two are in in a case like on the road poly is not acceptable. Uh we have to either do galvanized or aluminiz. Aluminiz is more money. Um so we've just stuck with the the galvanized. They have a shelf life like I say between 40 or 50 years. So a lot will change by then. Um another thing public works has done um it was a big hit to lose Tom um this spring. Uh Tom was a wonderful recycling coordinator and and I and I I I hope he's watching tonight because he did a he did an amazing job and we're changing now um fulfilling his shoes and and the program's going to alter a little bit. There's three of us involved now versus one. Uh we only had 75 cars at our at our July uh recycle event. It was a little bit disappointing. We were hoping for more. Um so we're working on that. Um, we are in the process literally this week of second interviews um for his replacement. I was just in in one before uh before I came up here. Uh, I'll have that recommendation two weeks from tonight. Um, we had a very very good turnout and we're so thankful that uh um we had so many applicants for the job. The group had great choices. Um, with that, I'm actually going to turn this over to Paris because he's here tonight. Uh I brought his report with as well. Um I Parish is uh he knows this place inside. Now I will say that uh uh we were inspected by uh Department of Health um in May and and I believe the 5-second rule doesn't apply to our our our water plant, our wellhouse. Uh if you drop a sandwich in there, you can you can pick it up an hour later. And it's amazing how this guy keeps his facilities. So, we'll let we'll let him kind of run through it real quick just because he's here tonight. >> Well, remember I have to get my head through the door. >> You're fine. Thank you, Paris. >> Uh, mayor council, tonight before you is the water and wastewater um quarterly report. Um, surprising to me, our actual volume of water pump was increased this year versus last year. Um, I thought with the wet spring and early summer that we've experienced, I figured that by that would start to trend down, but it hasn't. Um, we did have an RPZ up at our fill station fill. We had to have that replaced and then reinspected. Um, and as Paul was mentioning, the U Minnesota Department of Health was here in May and they do a pretty thorough com um, sanitary inspection of all the water facilities to include the water treatment plant, the wellos, and the tower. Um Brian Omar, district engineer, um a feather in the cap of our team, says that this is probably um one of his top three facilities um that he enjoys to visit. So he doesn't really have much to worry about. Um which is good to hear from the Department of Health. So um one of the big things that we got done were the cameras, the security cameras up the water treatment plant. Um it's certainly nice to have a 360 degree view of that facility now. Certainly more secure than it was. uh in years past we just had the we did have the four cameras but they were uh very limited in their viewing. They were actually installed in 2007 when facility was built. Um as you can see by the wastewater treatment plant report uh the facility continues to operate and uh um produce a quality effluent that I think the MPCA would be envious of. Um, and then going into um, one of the things that we did in May, and I think I mentioned this at one of our work sessions that we had, um, staff actually was able to or rent two portable samplers that we used throughout town for the collection of chloride data. Um, what we found is that there were parts of town that I thought would be lower, but were actually higher and vice versa. Um, I think of the seven or eight different lift stations that we sampled, only three had sampling data that would be below our projected limit of 354 milligrams per liter. Um, coming up here January 1st of 2026. So, the plan is that was pretty much implemented today. Um tomorrow at uhite tonight there will be softener or chloride data pamphlets out uh kind of necessarily asking our residents if they would wouldn't mind reducing the amount of hardness level on their softener to 10 versus whatever setting they have. Um I have worked with council member Muower for about a month and a half on this. Um he is on the system. He does have a softener, so it was really accessible to acquire a data from him. As far as sampling goes, um I think that the benefit for the for the customer, uh the resident, you should see a reduced salt use and water use because it would be regenerating less frequently. Um, I know, you know, when the wastewater treatment plant was built, that was a pretty contentious um project as far as the citizens go. Um, the the the if we don't get our chlorides in check, the the long-term short-term um ramification would be a modification at the water treatment facility. That's certainly something that we're trying to delay. I don't know if we can not do that at all, but certainly delay it would be a great thing. Um, and that starts with our chlorides. Um, hoping hoping to get those chlorides under our limit for the for foreseeable future. That would be an awesome thing. So, >> do you want to I I know I don't want to put you on the spot, >> but do you want to give them an estimated price tag on what that would look like? >> Yeah. So early preliminary estimates parked that at about 10 to20 million. Um and at kind of where we're at right now. I can't say that we're ascending rapidly with our levels, but I would say that once new projects come in, whether it be business or homes, those chlorides should probably will probably start to increase. And unfortunately, the wastewater treatment plant is not uh equipped to treat for chlorides. So that modification would actually be up at the water treatment facility. So I just wanted to clarify that a little bit. Um >> can you tell us what chlorides are and who's mandating what's making you do all this? >> So the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is the governing agency of anything waste water. So every 5 years we're issued a um national pollution discharge elimination systems permit. Within that permit are all the constituents limits and parameters that we have to abide by. One of those parameters is chlorides. Chlorides is very harmful to aquatic life and streams, rivers, lakes. We happen to discharge our affluent to the celibly brook. Um if the chloride level they als there's a lot of scientific and engineering that goes into that in deciphering what limit is given to a c certain specific city. So for us our limit was given to us and one of the the the basis on that was the dilution factor of the celibly brook and the proportion to our effluent. So our affluent that goes into the cel book anybody who's seen the celely brook who's driven over it on highway 47 south of town realizes or sees that it's not necessarily a large river like the rum river. Um so chlorides the main the main source of chlorides into the wastewater treatment um influent primarily comes from water softener regeneration. It's the salt that is used to regenerate the resin bed in the softeners in order to keep that that water softener operating at peak parameters. So, um, you know, there's a lot of people like to think that, you know, they have soft water. And I guess that that's kind of up for debate on, you know, your preference. What's what's soft water? So, by by increasing or decreasing your hardness level on your softener to 10, you're still getting what's classified as soft water, but perhaps maybe not as soft as it once was. Anything over 12, our raw water hardness in tone is about 13 to 14 milligrams per liter. Anything over that as far as your softener is concerned, it's essentially wasting salt. You're not really removing anything because it's already been removed. So that's why we're asking for this decrease down to 10 milligrams per liter. Oh, >> two questions then. One, if you have >> if your water's harder at home, you're going to use more soap supposedly. And whether it's shampoo, dish soap, laundry soap, etc. Yep. >> That's the old adage that you'll use more soap. And second of all, what about the people who weren't worthy of a plaque? Your peers and city people, what are they doing? We're not alone in this dilemma, I would take it. So those two things, >> no, chlorine is certainly a state issue. We are not the only ones that have to deal with this. Um, and then the second part of time, >> the soap part the residue soap residue. What will that do to the effluent and because you you're taking away one, but now you're going to add more >> Yep. >> detergent byproduct. >> And that's just it. We're not necessarily asking you to increase it over into a classification of hard water. It will still be soft or classified as soft water. It's just going to be on the upper end of that. So, you might not even notice a difference. Um, you know, it's it's it's it's a personal preference, I guess, if you will. It's you might, you might not. Um, but on the flip side, if we if you know the salt lather or increased rates, I mean, that's kind of where we're looking at here. So, >> well, I wasn't thinking the lather. I was thinking also the residue that goes through your wastewater treatment plant can only take out so much stuff. Is there phosphorus in or what's in detergent? What's the byproduct of detergent? That's cumbersome for you. >> Yeah, phosphorus. So, our facility, that is a good question. So, phosphorus is one of the constituents that we can remove. >> The facility was designed to remove phosphorus. So, um we are a biological nutrient removal facility. So, the the soaps and um and the phosphoruses, yes, we can we can remove that. So, >> and so the lead time that the state or the federal government has given you to rein this in so to speak, what was the time span again or your window? >> Well, it's it's they haven't necessarily given us a window per se, but we are right now actually tomorrow our brand new permit will be submitted to the MPCA for review. So, with that, we have to assume I would actually bet on it that we will see new language pertaining to our chlorides. Um, one thing is we are somewhat in control of our destiny, if you will, not being told to do. And so I think we have the fortune of being able to kind of still have the options to use to get this down to for us to decide when and how we do this versus being told. That's somewhat how the wastewater treatment facility was in 2013. We were essentially told that we had to do this at that point. So um, right now we have options. Um and we are uh playing or help or asking our citizens to assist us with this. I understand that nobody likes to be told um this kind of news but >> pocketbook as well. >> It does. >> So we're preparing now for the future. We don't know when the deadlines are in play, but >> right, we're, you know, hypothetically around 2030 if we keep on this current rate um with our chlorides, that's probably when because then we would be non-compliant. And once you become non-compliant, that's when the MPCA is going to step in and say, "Okay, you need to do a corrective action somewhere and get this this problem um fixed." So, and then as far we've only been this about, it's not gospel as of yet, but we've talked about maybe subsidizing or helping a voucher per se for better softeners per per homeowner where applicable, whatnot. And again, like I mentioned at our last meeting, I think two and a half, well, three years ago now, we spent $600,000 on water meters to help improve water usage and conservation. And that all worked out fairly well over time. There was x amount of meter over 1,600 meters replaced in town. And now they I mean, it's high, it's efficient, it's new age, it's it's it's now. So, >> yep. >> But the softener portion that might be something coming down the road. And there's been a lot of misinformation I see bandied around outside the internet as usual about why, what, and why we do things. But this is the answer that we're hearing tonight. We're preparing for the future. It's not that we want to do things, it's we have to do things. So those who don't like it, you know, some of it comes with city living and some of it doesn't. I live in the country. I pay every two every three years I have to pay over $460 to have my sewer pumped. That's one thing. But I don't have a soft, you know, I don't have city water bills to pay. But so there's there's a balance here. We're one of those communities that has a little bit of both, but really like to step on step it on flat that uh you know, it's not something we want to do, but it's it's education. You know, we're we're doing it with uh care and engineering and you know, competency of our group here that runs our wastewater treatment plants. So, anybody else is out there just casting mud around saying, you know, the city's just doing it, you know, come listen, come learn, I guess is all I can say. >> That's all. >> Thanks. So, um, uh, what is our chloride levels as compared to other cities that have are similar size? Um and secondly, what can a property owner do that isn't connected to the wastewater um treatment plant to help with chloride levels? >> So certainly as far as a softener is concerned, the same kind of rules apply if you do not live within our MUSA. If you have a septic tank, sodium or high chlorides can actually be a detriment to the groundwater too because that septic tank goes into a leech bed and then infiltrates into the ground. So, you know, although it's not our problem with the wastewater treatment plant effluent, it's still a chlor a concentrated amount of chloride. Um, and the second part I'm sorry, >> oh, just how do we compare our chloride current chloride levels compared to others? Yeah. >> And that's kind of arbitrary. That's kind of hard to to say just simply because the size of our town, our our our our makeup, if you will, as far as business and home, um the amount of uh water that enters into the sanitary system. So, it's kind of hard for us to to kind of evaluate where we are or where we compare to other cities. So, we certainly don't have the highest. I can tell you that, but we certainly don't have the lowest either. >> All right. Thank you. >> Yeah, >> Joe. >> I got two questions. I think one's for Parish and one would be for Paul. Paul, for you, it's more of a I guess just explanation just because I've been kind of engaging people and that people have been asking me about the uh landscaping. But before I get to that, um just to kind of have you update everybody on that. Um, Parish, I wanted to ask it too. Somebody asked me as well about the fluoride in the water and um, if we add the fluoride or why do we add the fluoride or the fact that that could be labeled as a neurotoxin and if you could touch on that. >> So, we're mandated by the state of Minnesota to maintain a certain fluoride level. Um, I think I believe it's a state statute. Um, we do add a minimum amount of fluoride. We do have a natural occurring fluoride level in our water of about.3 milligrams per liter. We add about.3 milligrams of fluoride to bring it up to our variant level of.7 65.7 no higher than that. Um, I know that fluoride is kind of a hot topic and I um I don't know if I'm necessarily qualified to speak upon the the the the issues I guess if you will as far as the neurological or or anything else about fluoride. Um, >> I appreciate that. Um, and then Paul, I guess just if you want to touch on I mean there was a few residents that reached out about the landscaping and why we're ripping it up and I feel that you could probably explain it better than I ever could. So I' I'd like you to just throw that out there for people that want to hear it again. >> Sure. Sure. So Mayor and Councel, it was brought to my attention several weeks ago uh that the landscaping was subpar. Uh I was in agreement. Um, it was my directive at that point to start getting bids and get the problem corrected. It's as simple as that. Uh, and we are within a couple of days of it being finished at this point. So, um, personally, uh, the the the Clark Companies has done an amazing job out there. It is completely different looking than it was with the with the job that was left after the building was put up. So, Can I have a followup, mayor? >> Sure. >> What's it going to look like now? There's nice groomed black pulverized dirt out there. What's What's the end result? What's the end look? >> Uh, mayor and council hydro seating and then we are starting watering immediately thereafter. >> So, >> as far as boulevard watering and stuff with the sprinkler not being allowed, how do you maintain that? >> So, so mayor and councel, it's it's not that watering is not allowed on the boulevard, it's that we couldn't have water lines out on the boulevard. >> That's what I meant. So I think that explains but >> how how will you maintain the watering? Uh >> uh a sprinkler can throw water anywhere between five to 20 ft. So but just by changing heads I should be able to water the boulevard. >> Oh, okay. >> That's my plan. >> All right. Thank you. >> I just want to add something. Um >> I'm really happy with the color of the mulch. I'm glad we changed that. And you're right. It looks totally different. It looks like they're doing a doing a good job um out there. So, thank you for that. Um, and but to Joe's point, too, on social media, people were wondering what was going on and um and I think that we chose the right company to do it. But I just wanted to reiterate um I feel like um Stall should have should have stood behind their work and helped us do it. I was disappointed that they didn't do that. Um but we were we had a choice. we could leave it the way that it was basically because uh you went to them asking for it to be repaired or and that and we were told that was not an option. So we had to do something. We either had to leave it the way that it looked or we had to um uh choose to to redo it and that's what we chose to do. Um even though feel like it should have been fixed but it wasn't and so we just kind of had to move forward. So for those of people on social media that had questions about that, um it was maybe four weeks ago in the meeting that we had a big conversation about it as well. Um so but I just wanted to say I I think it looks good and I'm really happy. I was not happy with the mulch before. So thank you for for your efforts. You're welcome. >> Joel, anything else? >> No, thank you. >> I don't have anything other appreciate everything you guys are doing. always always different different struggles on different days. So, thank you. >> Welcome. >> You're welcome. >> On to council member reports. Bill, you want to go first? >> Sure, why not? Uh, one, I want to apologize you guys for having to do roll call all the time and you too, Jenny. Um, and then, uh, for me, this we I went to the work session with everybody else. Um, I've engaged on social media with lots of residents. Um, you know, some positive, some negative. Um, you know, to me, I think it's it's something that it's sometimes you're better off keeping your mouth shut too sometimes and and I have a hard time doing that. But I feel like too, if we can engage with people, we want to engage with them. Um, we we've been begging for engagement, at least since I've been there, um, which is quite some time. Um, and you know, the fact that we do have some engagement now, regardless of how they got there, whether it's because they got mad enough, um, or whatever the case may be, or maybe they're just interested, um, you know, that's that's awesome. Um, it's hard to get engagement as it is. So, I think when we have a chance to engage, we have to try to engage and and you know, I I made some comments at the work session that I I feel we're taken out of context on social media, but regardless, the whole purpose of of my words, I don't I don't I don't feel I need to apologize for them. Um, one person commented that it'll I need or maybe it'll teach me to something when it comes to res. I don't have anything to apologize. It's if you listen to the context from frustration as far as getting involved getting the engagement, uh, the more people come to us with their ideas or their concerns or questions or whatever they they have, um, the better we can represent them. Um, unfortunately, and I get it. I mean, unless you're doing what we do, which, you know, we're we're here. We see everything at some point when it comes to us, some before others, if you go to the planning commission and whatnot. Um, we see things come in front of us that most people don't think about, they don't look at. And to sit there and watch, I mean, I posted the videos online on some of those comments to say, "Hey, watch it, you know, and view it for yourself." Because again, it's not the funnest viewing, but um, for me, I just, you know, I want to have that engagement and I hope I don't come across as a jerk, but, you know, there there is sometimes I might. It's it's tough when you're doing like typing on social media because it's kind of depends on how the reader feels at the time they read it too. Um I know I'm guilty of that myself where I get I think somebody's being mean to me or you know has a has a tone in a text. I don't know how that's possible but just wanted to throw that out there. Um I do appreciate the involvement um from the residents that are getting involved and I hope that they encourage others to get involved and pay attention to things going on. um it only helps us better represent them and and better educate people too. I think ignorance is a choice um in the age of information here. Um I was very ignorant when I was mad and and upset about the initial water rates and that's how I got here. Um and then I educated myself and I'm not happy with some of the answers but you do understand things more and I think that does go a long way. Um that's all I have. Thank you. >> Thanks. Thanks Joel. Uh Amy. Um I just since the last meeting I attended the work session meeting went that last Monday. Um and also the local government officials meeting Wednesday at um Bunker Hills and that was very informative. Uh we talked a lot about um or they had presentations about recycling, waste management, community development and it was it was a good meeting. That's all I had. >> Thank you Amy Kevin. Um I also attended the work session. I do enjoy them. They're spirited and lively and uh we get a lot done and people should you can listen to those as well at your leisure. Uh like Joe said, you know, somebody accused me also of not know no having no faith in our residents. Well, that's I want to say oh contr all I want to do is get the communication out there and those people who can sit out there and spew stuff on the internet and just you know be nice and comfortable and hide behind that. I have those are the people I have no faith in by by all means. So, um, but I just we want people to be involved. It's all just everything Joe said, you know, just, uh, we appreciate the ones that do get engaged and come out and talk and and the ones who want to, uh, call, right, and or come even complaints, you know, we we accept them all, but I have plenty of faith in our residents and otherwise I wouldn't be sitting here doing this job. So, also attend the Jaylick Joint Law Enforcement Council meeting with the police chief, although I was a couple minutes late. Um, I just want to say what uh what a great speaker and individual Brad Johnson, our county attorney is. He is, excuse me. He's a real pleasure to listen to and he's uh has our county well grounded and uh a lot of common sense there. So, that's all I got. >> Thanks, Kevin. Uh let's see here. Johnson County Fire Protection Committee meeting. Uh July 24th work session on July 28th and on July 30th the JPA between St. Francis and Bethl flyer which uh just bottom line is that's why it's going to be coming for us on the work session. We are passing it off at this point to our attorneys to review the language in there and bring it back to us for us to review. And I'm sure it'll be bounced back a couple times back and forth, but in process of going to the attorneys for review before it comes to us. So, and lastly, just to Joe and Kevin's points, I just want the public to understand, I I don't engage with social media. I I absolutely refuse to engage with social media. And there's one major reason why is because you cannot get any you can get 10 minutes of information, but it's it's this world's become crazy where we think we can get a news story in one minute. If it's any longer than one minute, we're not going to watch it. And you can't possibly do a news story correct without doing some homework and research it. I get it. But once or twice a year I'll I'll let school board for instance once or twice a year I'll either watch a meeting or I'll read the minutes. It just it's it's incumbent on us to stay engaged to some level. I'm I'd be the first one. I'm not watching every school board meeting. That's the school district that represents me. I'm not reading every minutes. But I think we as citizens have to go directly to the source as well. That's why social media other than making you aware of something going on. I encourage you to go beyond the post whatever's on social media and come to any one of our staff who more than qualified, more than willing to answer your questions. Come to us if you don't feel you're getting the right right answers or not the right answers but not get you're not getting responded to because it's incumbent on us to do our due diligence as citizens. And again, I know watching a 2hour plus hour of work session, that's painful. I get it. I'm I'm here. So, I I understand that. I'm not saying tune in for everything. But I am saying we got to we got to do a better job of trying to tune in, especially when we know there's some subject that is near and dear to us or something that's got our attention. So, uh, upcoming events, National Night Out tomorrow, 5 to 7 PM. You want to take your shots at me? I will be in the dunk tank, so I don't know exactly what time, but come take your shots. Uh, August 13th, stay home safe and kids from 4 to 6 p.m. August 14th, parks commission in our next regular city council meeting, August 18th at 6 PM. With that, I'm looking for a motion to adjurnn. >> There's two more, mayor. You got con of the cup cop with the cone and planning commission. >> Go ahead. Oh, sorry. Thank you, Kevin. >> August 20th, the planning commission meeting, which has been cancelled. And then August 21st, comb with the cop at 4 p.m. Thanks, Kevin. >> Yep. >> Do I have a motion to adjurnn? >> I'll move that motion. >> Motion by Councilman Fonis. Do I have a second? >> I'll second, Mayor. >> Second by Councilman Robinson. Roll call, please. Jenny. >> Mayor. >> I. Council member Jensson. >> Hi. I >> being adjourned at 6:58 p.m. Check the