you can go ahead I call this meeting to order please stand for the good J go ahead pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America to the rep for it stands one nation indivisible with liy and justice for all whenever you invite me all right there's a lot of stuff all right good evening everybody um let's see can I get a motion to approve the agenda I'll make a motion to approve the agenda got a motion by council member pman a second and a second by council member uh Welch any further discussion all those in favor say I I oppose same sign motion passes all right up next is community comment uh presenters are welcome to address the city council for up to 5 minutes on matters that are not listed on tonight's agenda specific requests for information may not immediately be available in which case followup will occur with the presenters sometime after the meeting the city council should not be expected to immediately act on requests however we will follow up accordingly and May schedule items for a future consideration with that is anybody here for anything that is not on tonight's agenda going once going twice all right uh we got some fun stuff to start off the meeting up uh for item number 5.1 is the Greg aerik community service award come on up oh and Lor Sid do you want to come up you can pull chair from the front of she can stand or you can stand there [Laughter] awkwardly all right um for those of you who aren't aware the Greg aerik community service award is named after Greg aerik who was the former mayor of Carver shortly after Greg's death in 2019 we started thinking about a way that we could honor Greg's memory that was in line with his many contributions to the city of Carver and our larger Community the decision was then made to rename the community service award after Greg which I still think is just the perf perfect way to honor his memory community service was a very important part of who Greg was Greg was the M mayor of the city of Carver from 2011 to 2014 he was also a lion he served on the Saints Foundation at St Francis Hospital he was very involved with Guardian Angels Catholic church and so much more the city of Carver is a better place because of Greg's many contributions the winner of the 2023 Greg ardite community service award is a tremendous representation of Greg's outstanding and selfless service to our community it is now my pleasure to welcome back Lori asterik to Carver Greg's wife who will tell you more about our winner the winner of the 20203 Greg asite community service award is joy mcnight joy is someone all of us in this room know she most recently served the city of Carver on city council from 2019 to 20 23 before that she served on the Planning Commission for close to two decades from 2000 to 2018 Joy spent countless hours of thoughtful review and consideration of issues which will positively impact the community for Generations she always came to meetings prepared and asked smart and thoughtful questions Joy's work on behalf of the city was selfless and we never doubted she had the best interests of the city of Carver in mind I don't think many of us realize what an important role Joy played in shaping Carver into the community it is today congratulations joy and thank you so much for everything you've done for our community you want to make a speech to oh gosh no all right well let's get a picture then all right sounds good yes con all right up next we have the 2023 employee of the Year Awards Mr Mayor uh thank you mayor and Council uh community members uh happy to uh announce and award the employee of the year award one of the best part Parts about this award is it's uh the winners are nominated by their colleagues and so um the full-time uh award goes to uh Russell Kerber uh Public Services technician 2 uh some of the nominations for uh Russell in the nomination uh great attitude every time I see Russ willingness to help with any project when asked another one reads he's always friendly and helpful and was especially reassuring and patient with the meter read issues that came along with utility billing switch to bsna and finally his attention to detail and his willingness to work through any type of situation one is one of the most mechanically gifted people I have ever worked with uh please join me in congratulating Russ Kerber on employee of the year you like look like you want to make a speech right right let's y ready and then for the uh parttime award uh want to recognize uh Captain Chad Rous uh nominations for Chad included Chad has been instrumental in coordinating training opportunities for the fire department this past year beyond that he is willing to stay and help anyone who asked for a little more time on our fire calls he's never looked annoyed or too busy might need some tips Chad has been instrumental and coordinating training opportunities for the Department beyond that he's always willing to stay and help others and then finally Chad is willing to help and do that little bit extra to support others on the team so please help me in congratulating Chad Rous you want to make an exception speech CH that an [Laughter] look no it's okay yeah your phone something yeah you want to all right up next we've got recognition of Service Awards big night for Awards in yeah so is Ken is where's Ken is Ken here yeah Ken Johnson going once come on down there he is should we announce them all and then do pictures I'll do a little diddy okay that's what the kids that's what the kids say okay so we'll start with Ken uh Ken we're celebrating five years of service for Ken Johnson uh a great thing to know about Ken is his persistence before Ken was actually on the department he was volunteering for the fire department on on different events just showing how much he wanted to support the community so uh thank you for your five years of service Ken picture time oh picture okay or do you want me to do all maybe we should do them all and then we'll just all right keep getting up and down sorry we're going to streamline this yeah you can stand there you our our second award goes to Tim Walsh for 10 years of service where's Tim so Tim is a consumate leader and professional in our department we he's heavily relied on and I can't think of anyone I'd rather get advice from when it comes to difficult situations Tim's always been there for me and others in a pinch so thank you and congratulations Tim uh Bill Bill cochren Bill's got one of the best senses of humor on the department uh he's always good to keep kind of spirits up and he's always been a really straight shooter with me and I've always appreciated his feedback and what he's added to that apartment so thanks Bill for your service uh and last and certainly not least where where's Danny Dan Meyer on 25 years of service so Dan was the the fire chief when I first started here and so we've been through a been through a lot and faced a lot of challenges the the one thing that I'll share with Dan that really resonates me that I would share with anybody if if I was an situation where I needed help or my family needed help and I saw Dan Meyer come up the driveway I know we'd be taken care of so thank you Dan for your service you pictures we can do whatever VAR [Music] I think you want anybody else I'm good how are you good thank you congratulations [Music] phot [Music] [Music] okay thanks for coming you guys um All Right Moving On uh we have no public hearings this evening can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda I move to approve the consent agenda a motion by council member wsh I'll second and I count second by council member Mack any further discussion all those in favor say I I oppose same sign motion passes all right uh up to sorry were you flagging me for something okay it is do anything second no okay sorry I just saw you out of the corner of my eye uh 8 one budget and tax lby Miss shitty all right thank you mayor council all right tonight we are at a very exciting point in the budget and Levy discussion where we will be hopefully adopting the 2024 property tax levy and budget um so we began this process in May and we continued it through the summer with many work sessions um and we also looked at the long-term financial plan throughout that time um so we're sitting here tonight after the truth and Taxation that we had two weeks ago um which we actually had quite a bit of participation with which was fun um and we're looking at a proposed 2024 Levy of 4,381 674 um this Levy includes a Street Maintenance Levy The Debt Service Levy as well as the general fund Levy um this is a 13.75% increase from the 2023 final Levy um and then moving on to the budget uh we are looking at the general fund budget we want to have a balanced budget when we're looking at the general fund so we're looking at just a little bit over a $4 million um revenue and expense for the general fund and then I also laid out the Enterprise which you will also be adopting tonight as well um so I have the water sewer and storm there's detail laid out behind um the memo for you just to highlight some of of the um primary budget and tax levy drivers for the general fund we have $75,000 budgeted for Capital Improvements um $100,000 in additional Street Maintenance as this is the third year that we will be doing that in the pavement management plan approximately $140,000 increase in wages um for 2024 $50,000 increase in fire emergency wages and training and um $44,000 increase in the law enforcement contract and we are hiring one new full-time employee um with that being said we have two um resolutions that we need to adopt tonight one is for the property tax levy and one is for the budget I'm here to answer any questions that you have I know that that we've had extensive um discussions on this but again any questions that you have I'm happy to answer right any questions Eric are you so this was a high level um I assume that this is what you're here for okay um and I don't mean to call you out but we um our truth and Taxation public hearing was two weeks ago that was the date that was on your property tax statement and Lynn went through everything in detail would you like to see that tonight no okay yeah it's not a waste of time if you want we can but it's also available online so and I think okay we we up until solid handful of years ago we always used to do TR truth and Taxation and then acceptance um passing of the the budget in the same night few years ago we started doing it in separate nights so that we could hear from folks and take that feedback um and then potentially make changes in the two weeks time between those meetings so we've separated those out but tonight this is the budget that we've heard about since June um so I always kind of explain generally to an empty room that like if our eyes glaze over a little bit it's because we easily heard this presentation a half a dozen times so just want to do you have any questions okay and again I'm sorry to I don't mean to single you out but you came and I appreciate you taking the time to to be here tonight all right um Council questions comments slots or emotion okay I'll I'll I just have a couple of comments um we know we did have a number of residents here last um meeting um with good reason um and I'm happy to see that people are paying attention um unfortunately truth and Taxation people are not generally stopping by because they want to applaud it um they are here because they want one more information but two um they're oftentimes not not happy with it um this is and again speaking for myself this is a a very large percentage um when you look at our previous years and and um especially considering the economy right now we have a growing city growth is tough um I have done this in a previous career when I was in city of Victoria that city was the exact same size as we are now and growing and this is like Groundhogs Day I feel like that I've went through this already um and I understand it it was hard then and it's just as hard here um I I want to as we move forward make sure that we pay attention that the city does not become somewhere that can only be um inhabited and have residents who are either the very wealthy or the subsidized there's a a large middle class that I think that um we should always be cognizant of and I'm not trying to say that the council is not but I think for myself that is something that I really want to pay attention to as we're moving forward Beyond this year into the next year's budgeting um oops I just there was a train of thought here that just snuck away for a second um this is large let's see so as we were talking about this oh where did that little thought go sorry Toria the um oh the needs and wants so obviously as a growing city um there's needs that are we have to do this we have to have water we have to have Street plows there's things that are also wants um but there's also an expectation from residents what those needs and wants are and I think that there's maybe some work to be done to um with the community to say okay we've heard you but here's what you're giving up if if if you want this way here are the things we can't do because we don't have the the base to of of dollars to do it with um and that's a hard conversation to have back and forth to say okay you want this but is that a need or a want and then also how do we fund that so do we do with a little bit less well we're getting larger or do we say no we have a higher expectation and this is what it costs and that's a really hard balance this has been a tough budget for uh me to go through um and I know and we have worked really hard on it has come down from initially what was brought to us we did work on that that doesn't mean by saying that that it we we still don't have the understanding that it's 13.75% I just wanted to add a few of those comments in um so that anyone watching or any anyone who who sees us go through this process doesn't think that it's something we just throw some numbers on paper and and just get moving um there's a lot of deliberation and there's a lot of thought that goes into this and again it's some of those wants and some of those needs that we have to mix together that we have to find our best way to fund so with that I will stop my comments all right anybody else I will add some commentary to that to uh this could have been much higher uh 13.75 was after a lot of work to look at closely and very consciously what we could minimize to keep that tax rate down so uh for folks that are listening uh or watching U this is coming in after a a year of dramatic inflation uh I want to applaud everyone in the city uh that worked on this that really looked at every corner we could um we could massage to bring the number down to 1375 so that is um that's deliberate work um and I want to make sure that that's recognized uh and um well I don't think I can add any more to uh um council member Christie's commentary uh other than the the recognition thank you anything from you just most say that I appreciate the staff's effort to this summer already start to present things to us so that we had plenty of time to look at options and and come up with the budget that balanced um put put our kept our priorities where we needed them um so thank you GRE yeah um I just EO everyone else's comments real good work by staff and then I just had one again quick question for people looking online uh what was our like percentage of population increase from this year to last year do we know off top of our head or how many a rough estimate okay yeah the we get population estimates so we get the the census numbers every 10 years ah a few years delayed after the census but then the my Council gives us population estimates the number I think though that Brent's going to pull up are last year a year delay no that's okay okay well I guess it go ech goes into the fact that we're a growing Community right so we do have increasing expenses and not all of the expenses can be uh you know distributed over all the residents right you have to kind of get things early to allow for the growth so but um yeah right that's s don't worry about it okay um while Brent's looking that up I Christy you hit on the needs and wants and I think every year that we've been on coun so we start off doing this process and we talk about we want a lean budget that includes needs we're not a community of wants so um I am happy with this budget but you know needs I think is different through the lens that you view it right if we did away with spring cleanup day there would be rioting in the streets right we've unfortunately gone through a period where Southwest Prime went away for a fraction of time and we heard that that's not acceptable in our community so these things cost money clean day is $34,000 prime is $45,000 um so these are the kinds of Investments and these are the kinds of needs that we need for our community this is a a higher increase I I realize that um but I think that we give plenty of opportunity for folks to come and to provide feedback uh when we had our truth and Taxation hearing two weeks ago I didn't necessarily hear from anybody that night of like strike the Police contract take out this line item you know like let's why do we need a spring cleanup day I think there was a lot of issues and I'm glad that we are kind of reacting um about the valuation notices and kind of questions about how is the valuation come to what impact does that have on my taxes so that was the major of folks we did get an email from somebody who had issues with the overall budget but um that was kind of the one person that we we heard from um and then this is our I think it needs to be said that this is our our first budget under the new strategic plan and with all of the kind of zth stars if you will that are in that budget in the financial goals you know the financial goals are an entire section of our strategic plan so it is cool to see that come a full circle and us to really lean into to that plan and have a budget allign with that so um that Mr mer 33 and a third perc I could see you doing math over there Brent trying to no I said ly you do it they'll make fun of me it was about a n 9% growth from 5,850 people to 6,371 and that's 2021 to 2022 because it's always a year you're behind yeah okay right thank you great I'll make a motion uh to adopt resolution 15823 certifying the 2024 property tax levy in the amount of 4,381 674 motion by council member s I'll second and second by council member wsh any further discussion all those in favor say I I oppose same sign motion passes all right I'll move to adopt uh resolution 159 23 approving the 2024 budget a second got a motion council member Welsh a second by council member pman any further discussion all those in favor say I I oppose same sign motion passes thank you Lyn especially for all your work on that and Brent and everybody appreciate it thank you all right moving on to Communications Mr Merck anything from you uh nothing specifically I just publicly want want to thank everybody on the the team you know there's ups and downs and highs and lows and opportunities and challenges um but we've got a great team here to work through all those things and just thankful for our team and what they contribute to for the things that are seen and unseen and thanks for the council's leadership on a great year see you next year thank you all right why don't we start on this side readed Council updates uh nothing for me Christie uh HPC was cancelled this month so we didn't have anything there which is not surprising it's winter months we don't tend to see a whole lot um uh we have the Soggy Bottom is coming up I'm sure people are watching right now but if you will have a nomination potentially be soy um if you have um anybody you would like to nominate as a recipient um I'm going to leave it open till noon tomorrow it's on our Facebook page so you can go there scroll down you'll find should be one of the last posts on there there's a link there you can nominate somebody for the S bottom to be a recipient that's all I have I haven't had any meetings um otherwise just a a happy holidays um our local school district Eastern Carver counties last day school is Wednesday so if the weather stays nice I think we're going to see a lot more kids outside but otherwise um thank you everyone for a good year uh so I attended the Planning Commission meeting and that was the preliminary plat for car place the additional 60 units uh coming in for that and we discussed this in our work session uh what was not lost on me in that meeting is the last time around car Crossing had a lot of Resident conern a lot of a over it uh and certainly a packed house conern residents in this meeting we have none and I think that is a testimony to the ultimate reception of cross the value that brought to the community so I'm I'm really looking forward the next phase this was also brought in the work session but car Oaks is moving forward it won't be a combined building that was one of the original Design Concepts but because of how the the money came in there be separately constructed units is it 40 how many 43 senior ER can I ask you a question I I didn't catch it so none of those buildings will be attached so the the 60 units are are obviously one building that's getting shifted down the property a little than else okay and then the senior home will be a separate building so it'll I think it'll still kind of look like an l between but they will be separated they will be separated yeah there just was no way to to start one hold off the way the money comes in and I had asked that question but unfortunately that ship had sailed so will and this is just out of curiosity I don't expect that you would know their man but will one they have a management office in in Carver Crossing will they just have one management office or they all three going to have them well it's a different company oh it is okay yeah so there was a question that uh how how it'll be staffed is 5 to8 hours 5 days a week start and then 5 to eight hours three days per week uh when it reaches maximum capacity okay different I lie not ultimate trth seller all right uh thanks Eric I did attend the Southwest Transit meeting but that was the meeting and holiday party were right ahead of the Planning Commission so I was only able to attend uh for the mission statement Envision statement part of thewest meeting I'm looking for some updat thank you for trying to be in two places at once I've done that I know it's not easy let me know if you figure out a solution to that um for me in the last couple weeks uh we had a Carver County leaders meeting on Friday December 8th um um just as a reminder that's the city managers and uh mayors of all four of the communities in the school district and then um some County folks as well um that was just a few days after the Carver Eastern Carver County school superintendent Dr Lisa sales Adams um had been selected by Minneapolis public schools as their new superintendent um at that point she didn't know when the transition was going to be since that time um the assistant superintendent Aon rathy is that her last name um has been appointed by the school board as the interim they are going to be engaging a search firm to look for a new superintendent and I think do you know off the top of your head when Dr Sales Adams last day is it's sometime in January so she's down to to weeks left but um Erin's great she's been at a few of our meetings and I think the school district um has a solid plan forward in the interim uh let's see uh the Carver Holiday Market was December 10th that is kind of um a little bit of an extend of our partnership with the Southwest uh Metro chamber where they did an event on a Sunday afternoon and I wasn't sure I don't think it was on a Sunday last year but it was busy all the vendors were happy were selling things um really cool kind of essentially a craft fair but more than that there were some folks selling cookies there were some folks selling dog treats just a really fun event that was held uh down in Village Hall um the Red Cross Blood drop drive from the Lions was uh last Wednesday last Tuesday December 12th um so I think they do those quarterly so always a good event um I had a league of Minnesota cities board meeting last Friday on December 14th uh I'm sorry that was Thursday um also last Thursday was Shop with a hero which um Fleet Farm um is always very very generous and they gave $500 worth of gifts and toys away I think we had a total of seven kids that split up that money and they were able to get a bunch of stuff so um the Carver fire participated and then Joey from the Carver County Sheriff's Department helped out so there are pictures on Facebook of these little itty bitty kids pushing the carts and you know their Hero trying to figure out and do the math and make sure they don't go over their allotment um and then I always attend and help rap the gifts at the end which is one of my favorite things um let's see and then um we had a business Alliance meeting last Friday so um still getting a really good turnout from there we got an update uh from Hometown Bank they are thrilled to be seeing their building being put up kind of piece by piece as you're seeing um and they are working on kind of Market warming activities they told us that um between the branch manager I'm not sure what Kim's role is maybe Assistant Branch Manager um they are working unw writing handwriting postcards to every address in the city of Carver just kind of saying like Hey we're coming to Carver and we're looking forward to meeting you which just really seems that hurts my hand I just you just did Christmas cards we were talking about that and the chiropractor was there and we like maybe you guys need a Business Partnership because yeah um but just they're going the extra mile and I've been impressed with you know how they're working to kind of warm this Market literally before they have a present here I have my coupons they're mailed to me I'm out of those um and then um I also want to acknowledge um the Water Resources team I think just did an excellent job we um you know at the last meeting I said you know if you see something report it report it report it well they folks did and that is great because that's exactly what we need from our residents we need that partnership we need those Advocates saying it because for whatever reason sometimes s when we say it it doesn't work but when we have the community members who are beating that drum it helps and that's what happened so um the Water Resources team which uh a lot of folks who are sitting in this room on the other side of the dasas were part of um put in a lot of time last week doing that for anybody who's watching tonight we talked about it in length during our work session which preceded this which uh that video will go live tomorrow morning there's information in the packet for that as well but just a huge kudos for that because that was a lift um and will continue to be continuing work and will probably continue to be a lift but I just think it's important um for anybody watching this or hearing this to know that this is something we're committed to getting figured out and we'll be working on it we're not checking that box quite yet so um and then this is our last meeting of 2023 so I just wish everybody a happy holidays and hopefully everybody has some time to relax recharge and that I entertain a motion to adjourn I'll make a motion I'll second that got a motion by council member pman and a second by council member mck all those in favor say I I oppose same sign motion passes good evening