call the council meeting to order first order of business will be the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge 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 like to welcome everybody to our September 17th council meeting second month we're starting at 6 o' here and agend Mr Mayor I want to amend the agenda for tonight um under Public Works and Engineering I'm G put Item B approve Grant purchase of a new pedestrian safety light and then under administration number H will be discuss my uh city council ter a motion to amend the agenda second motion second Vernon hiy hi Mike hi Jason Hi David will we will move on to the consent agenda which concludes our August 20th regular council meeting minutes September 4th 2024 special council meeting minutes a request to use City parking lot for fundraiser a request to use Trail Head Park for a luminary walk a request to consume alcohol on the public property a request to approve brand inverting to to the Eda board resolution 2434 accepting monthly donations and a request to approve the homecoming parade route I'll move the consent agenda second have a motion a second to approve agenda city has been able to work with school on getting to go yes correct I've been in contact with both principal and Finland SRO perfect and I'd like to publicly thank as well we've had a couple donations a notable one was from the Lions Club um am of $5,000 towards the um our Parks so I wanted to publicly thank them for that that was a tremendous gift so thank you um we have motion second any other discussion Veron hi Brandy hi Mike hi Jason Hi and David will be I public inut do we have anything written I have not received any written correspondence Mr Mayor all right jump right into Administration potatoes here request to approve the goody County Sheriff's Office leasing contract will be our first item I can we do have Sheriff Kelly here tonight if you would like to say a few words before we approve the contract evening Sheriff have me again again um last time I said we were working on it and I think we came to what I called a palatable resolution with our County Board um still actually not what I requested but we got the second best option in my opinion so we're very grateful for your patience I know it ruffled some feathers as expected I knew it would and if you watched the County board meeting I told them so and they did they did dampen some of our relationships with five towns in our County and I didn't appreciate it but we'll get that back um I'll just stand for any questions before you take a vote on that thanks for uh the support up there myself and a couple of our other City staff along with other community uh Representatives the board meeting and there was some frustrations going on but appreciated the Sheriff's Office through and sharing our our concerns and ensuring that we that people knew that we were continuing to to push that part and that was important so any questions regarding the contract no no I'll move approval for the gcso placing contract I'll second no motion second thank you sh thank you guys other discussion Vernon hi Brandy hi Mike hi Jason Hi David is few week we got through we're going to move on to our resolution 2435 which is approving the preliminary budget we all got some paperwork in our emails regarding those numbers and what like yes Mr Mayor and Council um at our last work session we worked through kind of by Department what the 2025 Levy and budget looks like um obviously we know we've been talking about some increases that we're going to have such as Public Safety on the policeing contract is the only increase we're looking at an increase from um Ambulance Service as well um in addition to that uh city council recently implemented a wage study uh which obviously impacts the budget uh so that was a twep um increase and so part of that took place in 2024 and then part of that will take place in 2025 and so that's the majority of the increase that we're seeing uh overall with those increases and where we're seeing cost increase uh I very happy with our department heads um I challenge them all to get creative with um Capital Equipment purchases and seeing how we can spread projects out over multip years and they all met that challenge uh overall we don't have many major projects in 2025 and so we are able to keep the levy increase at a 5.57% increase which uh when we look at Levy increases that doesn't necessarily mean a bad thing as communities grow our Levy should increase I always compare it to a family's grocery bill as your family increases your grocery bill will increase and so as we are adding uh people and households are Levy and our budget should be increasing as well so what that means is our tax capacity is increasing and so what we try to do each year is we try to raise the levy with the same rate as what our tax capacity is increasing and so I do want to make a slight adjustment I know in the packet I didn't have Alstead couny um 2025 tax capacities available I have those now and so in uh the packet it says that we're looking at about tax rate of about 82.0 five% that's actually going to be closer to 81.5 6% because we were able to add about $30,000 in tax capacity in Homestead county um with some of the new builds that we have going on there and so what we're looking at what that means is for every $100,000 in residential valuation it's about a 7.61 um $761 uh tax uh increase for the year so for instance if we just take an average $400,000 house we're looking at uh their yearly taxes going up about $30 and so um again this is the preliminary Levy and so once we set the preliminary Levy we cannot increase that for the rest of the year and so typically we set our preliminary Levy a little bit um High because we don't have project quotes and things like that um insurance premium rates we're still waiting on that so we estimate High because we can't raise this number once we said it this evening but then once we get those numbers in in October and November and we're able to get solid quotes for projects then we can bring that number down and we can decrease it so the number setting tonight is just the highest of the tax levy could be for 2025 and then we can cut and we can um make the budget and Levy more Le prior to the final uh tax levy in December thank you uh any questions regarding the information that our administrator shared just to reiterate to the public as well this the numbers that we are discussing right now are the highest that we can do right now um we still have the opportunity to Wi away at the final budget numbers we're sitting well so that's that's a good any questions I'll move resolution 2435 second a motion in a second to approve resolution 2435 and of course as always if there's members of the public that are listening online and you have questions uh please feel free to reach out to City Hall to get your questions answered Vernon hi Brandy hi Mike I Jason I David will I which moves us right into our next resolution 24-36 which is approving the preliminary 11 I'll move approval for resolution 2436 approving the preliminary lby no second Motion in a second to approve the ly so with these numbers again once weiz increase Vernon hi Randy hi Mike hi Jason Hi and David will be I thank you stff you're working and on this and i' would also like to thank our department heads too for their work on this budget for next year and really CR num so thank you for that we are going to be looking at a chicken permit for Miss rire so on your packet um you have a request for a chicken permit um it's located down on sather court um based on the application we receive um going through the ordinance she's in compliance with all the proposed regulations um she plans to have three hens um she included a waste plan for that she also included a site plan for where it's going to be located um her property on the south side of sather Court um but buts up to a city drainage ditch so she actually has additional space behind her house so she meets all the setbacks from other um principal buildings of her neighbors so um she is in line with everything of course the approval of the permit um is subject to a final inspection uh by the city so we'll take a look at it when she gets the actual group assembled and just make sure she put it where she said she was like to so I'll move approval of the proposed permit for chickens let second motion a I think I'm the resident chicken inspector going forward so I'll get the honor motion a second for the permit any other discussion excuse me Vernon brand hi Mike hi Jason Hi David is we're gonna have a request to reduce the wack and Sack fees pick this one I will Mr Mayor so throughout the years as we meet with different developers uh one common theme that we here is how high our uh whack and saxes are um what those means our it's our water access charge and Sewer access charge essentially developers pay this um to be able to expand um both of those utilities and connect to our main systems and in the packet I included what our area cities charge for wackin p and as you can see we are significantly higher um looking back this was implemented years ago because we were lower than everybody else and so Council had enacted an automatic 7% increase each year and I think that's where we it it balloon to be um High especially for the sac fece and so as we are continuing to grow and work with the developers uh I'm asking councel to look at these fees uh to bring them down more in line to our area cities so that we can um essentially still have developers on the Pine Island and not look at other communities over Pine Island um so these These are usually charged on the developable acreage um when we have a development and so um I do have a hand out a resol resolution before you on the last page would be where um we could have the wack and P Chang um I honestly don't have a recommendation for you other than the fees that are listed um with surrounding cities uh I leave that up to council if you want to reduce them um it would make sense to keep them all the same um I can answer more questions if Council has we're looking at just significant decrease if we were to go down more in line with the others hear that it's a significant decrease if we go down in line with the others it is it would make our developments more competitive just because it would be more in line um typically developers pass these costs on to people who buy the lots and so uh I know plan Island Lots seem to be a little bit higher than commun so this would help bring our Lots down as well uh it doesn't seem to be affecting lots lots are still selling um fairly quickly I just got word today that it sounds like time 30 second um is selling out really well however um we want to continue that growth and we want to continue to bring developers to our area there any engineering methodology to true cost to any of this or I mean instead of just throwing a throwing a number in the air you have a good question put a lot of devel done that as utility committee h it was done a while ago um we had to dig back quite a few years okay we used to wa isn't this we used to wave these for a while didn't we I remember voting on that so that was the individual hookup fees so in addition to this when um someone builds a house in Pine Island they pay individual hookup costs to actually connect their house to the system got it and so Pine Island did wave those fees to encourage people to buy Lots um in Pine Island and I believe we had wav those for about five or six years yeah so are you looking for a specific number that coun would recommend or is this something that we can have the utilities committee or city staff do some Ma look at what would be a reasonable reduction and that need action or do we need action on this with a pending development agreement I mean we do have pending developments but I think a lot of it has the cost of the development has danged on uh what our fees are and are being Incorporated whether what the developer can do with their property uh that's not the only developer obviously that's brought it to our attention how high our fees are with our competitor or area cities not competitors and so that's um that's one staff started actually looking at and comparing to neighboring cities and realizing how high we are compared to that I say in sort of my my words um what Craig said is exactly right these these fees which are different than some of your fees these fees are supposed to recover a certain basket of costs that the city incurs but as Craig rightly points out exactly what that basket of cost is is subject to some f there isn't some bright line rule about you include this and don't include that and in the case of a city that's got some future wastewater treatment plant water plant water well uh needs down the road identifying exactly what that basket of cost is the future is let's be honest not it's not possible to do it with accuracy so that that's reality we're supposed to aim for costs but what exactly that basket of cost is is not something we put our finger on and the reality is that what you see in front of you I'm glad staff put this in front of you what you see is that cities uh look at what each other do I mean that that is the reality um it's not strictly what the statute encourages us to do but that is what most cities do and you'll see that in the case of Stewartville and Cass these are $2,000 across the board shared among a couple of cities clearly is just a reflection of being competitive with your neighbors right so that's reality I'm not going tell you that I'm opposed to you doing it that way I would love it if we could say to a committee or to Craig go and figure out what the costs are and figure out what these numbers out be but I think that exercise is just super difficult yeah so that that's that's and tell me again the these fees are charged on a development per developable acre correct what are you recommend it I mean I think anything between the $2,000 which would be competitive and to other cities our size up to the 2,960 which we have for our whack and the storm right now uh I think the the sewer is especially what what needs to come down I think it makes sense to make all the Fe the same amount um there's and there's no reason a sewer would be more than a water I'm just right what do we say about 2 200 across the board for all three for all three like each is at 2500 I mean that's a reasonable between that amount and that'll bring the sack Fe down yeah and if there's one cost more than the other I mean some that does happen you usually recoup it with another one being a little bit higher that recommendation like to make or discussion we're discussing David we're discussing discussion pushy pushy no that's and this is a very good uh very good topic to address and and look at those numbers and and Elizabeth reiterated we're still seeing that uh development to me town so and definitely per acre is a lot so um I think I think we're definitely getting at least what we need I would like to see that 20 I would like to see that 22 25 so I'll go ahead and recommend uh reduce reduced fee for all of them set at $2,500 for each of them that's a motion yes a motion and second that we have a motion in a second to look at taking our price any other discussion do we want to look at adjusting the percentage of increase annually or is that for another discussion I think right now we can leave them at the 2500 and we can kind of um that's a discussion that we can have before we set the 2025 schedule okay okay will you remind us of you'll remind us of that sorry did I no I'm stepping on you no I just don't let us forget that when we go to discuss that yeah yeah okay thank you no may I just gonna say um this is just not this is not legal advice at all but just an observation the concern I have that I've seen some cities that have built in automatic for some of these speed the result of doing that is you stop looking at those Fe right you got I think happen and you know what you don't want to do you don't want to have time cost based system contracts with your cities in the case of County and policing services or in the case of having to rebuild your Wastewater Plant you don't want to have to suddenly make a giant increase from 2500 to$ 7300 on S so I like the idea that you're sort of forced to look at this every year to make sure that you're sort of keeping up so now i' probably made an argument that staff is makes a little complicated schedule each year rather than just a buil that's problem probably should be on a utility committee it's a service we any other thoughts or questions Council thank you staff for looking into that we have a motion to second on the floor Bon hi Randy hi Mike hi Jason Hi David will be we're going to look at a request to approve the remote work policy concept for us this is a an exciting uh policy so back in 2020 uh we a little bit to co and with all the funds that the city received we were able to upgrade staff to um laptops and essentially we moved all of our systems to cloud-based system so that we could offer remote work to our employees and no one wanted to work from home so um I kind of fell to the Wayside uh our staff like coming into the office uh that has changed now where we have had some staff inquire about it maybe on a rotating schedule um um and so we Revisited it I pulled the LMC model um remote work policy U and retrofitted it to um our city so that's the policy that you see before you but essentially just set guidelines and expectations for both the employee and the employer eventually an employee would requested to supervisor and ultimately it would be left up to um me to meet with the supervisor and employee and set a schedu over expectations um so there's a a clear road map of what that employee will be doing what their look like obviously uh work comes first and employees or customers come first and so this the only way an employee will be able to work from home is if it does not normal operations and soic things like that will have to office but those are things we poliy is exciting one question I had how do you handle yeah so when we upgraded our phone system last year I believe um essentially we upgraded to A system that has an app and so uh and know Stephen and I been using it and so we can forward our desk phones to this app and our app works exactly our desk phones do so I can any phone call that brings to my desk through this app and so we have that where we have employees from home where they can a cell phone but it actually when they make calls through that app it um says that the call is coming from City Hall so pretty common in the workplace right now in the professional world seems like freeding through it there's enough controls if something goes upside down you can bring them back yeah I'll make a motion to approve the remote work Mo I'll [Music] second so are you are you having significant request on that or is it just kind of well all four of us in the office just to say must be the new people and people that live out of town [Music] no so we've just had some conversations and we've always talked about it but really now that we we have had some new people in the office we've been talking about ways that we can um redo some workflows and look at job responsibilities um it's really made us look at how we back each other up in our positions and just how we can utilize um new flows of information and as we try to go paperless um this this just kind of part of all that conversation so as you know I've been huge in the um employee attention and offering a positive work culture for our employees and I think this is just another added benefit that we can add to that we have a motion at second Council any other questions comments thoughts hi Randy hi Mike hi Jason hiid we are looking very looking forward to next legislative session uh resolution 2437 is approving the nor number sary District lobbying contract course kind a charm so two years ago two years ago we did receive $10 million from the state leg legislature to go towards the design of our Joint Sanitary District that we've been working on since 2020 uh the group is looking to head back to the capital this year to look for the remainder of that funding and so this would allow us to continue to work with the same lobbyist firm that we have been working with which is winter Rob and Weinstein they've done a fantastic job um working with us they have a really good relationship um with PR Island Indian Community who's also helped us Lobby on the Venture so this is our request to continue work I'll also add that so the fees have been exactly the same so they had ra their fees from session to session um so the fees have stay exactly the same um of approval for resolution 2437 approving the lobbying contract a second motion and a second got a so any other comments questions pretty straightforward so we appreciate the Partnerships that we've developed with project so that's something been very valuable to us um I do have a quick question on yes sir Prairie Island side of things are they now part of the lobbyist kick in or how does that work no so the for communities who are part of the Sanitary District we divide that four ways um Prairie island has their own lobbyist that they that they use work closely with um so Le use a firm and then they also have a staff member I don't want to speak on behalf of very own but I think I got that right um so they have their own government Li on that um that's right that will work with our lobbyists but uh I know like last year um like Johnson he attended most of our meetings with us and so um we were just able to build a really good connection um as they attended meetings with state senators okay that's yeah just wanted to clarify make sure thanks second hi Randy hi Mike hi hi David uh mes us to added item H which is a discussion on Council councilman Johnson's turn so I uh I have relocated outside the city limits um we had an opportunity to come up that uh we jumped on so I uh my last meet this will be my last meeting so it's my uh almost my 11th year on the Council I've been in town for 24 years put two kids through the the school system um just like to thank the people who elected me three times hopefully I did a good job for you that's wasn't easy but it's something I had to do we'll have a more formal acknowledgement coming up but U I would like to publicly thank the councilman this time he said it's been about 11 years uh this is definitely not an easy easy role to play people don't step into this role of F and fortune in small communities and you end up taking on a lot more than you expect when you step into the seats and Mr Johnson's showing himself to be a very reliable council member attending his committees making connections and one thing I've always appreciated about him is he's always been a very cool common collected up here and that's somebody that we needed and I I was truly sad and VI year when that decision was made and I could not be more pleased to say that I I've counted a privilege to serve with them so I want to say thank you as well appreciate it so yeah will have some some things to work out here that we have to yeah Council first of all congratulations council member for really good service here um yeah so unfortunately I've had this come up on a couple of communities um so I happen to the statute prior to tonight um essentially um yes we'll have to ask the council member to put something writing I don't know it's required practically required to we asked to do that right now on it right now but after the meeting if we put it right Council can accept that at the next meeting that will be the act that creates the vacancy on the council and then sort of regardless and maybe we can work out the detail it's not right here sitting here now but we'll either have to appoint someone to fill the seat temporarily or we'll need to appoint somebody to fill the seat through its remaining term that will depend on some things that we talk about separately but there will there will need to be an appointment uh to fill the vacancy the next month or two or so we'll get going figuring out that's work so i' leave it to council if you want toand sign something right now you do that don't need so no action until we have something ready Jason I want we'll keep rolling then let's jump into our Planning Commission which is the resolution plan 4-38 approving the pine Ben [Music] final yep so back in July I believe um Council approved a preliminary plat um for Seth freze Construction LLC um to move forward up on the Walter's property um along with that plat you also approve a land use map alteration as well as a rezone um so we kind of laid all the building blocks for this final plat the final plat was submitted it went in front of the Planning Commission back in August they um recommended approval following a public hearing um along with their approval we kind of had a whole laundry list of administrative and Engineering um requirements that they satisfy um I would say they have partially satisfied both the administrative and Engineering um there are still a few T's to cross and eyes to dot um I believe on the engineering side um Craig can correct me if I'm wrong but we are still a wait we have received most of the technical reports um I know we're waiting for final approval from the county um for an access permit on County Road 11 I believe WSC and maybe the city have a meeting with the county tomorrow um to discuss that um it's kind of up to council how you'd like to proceed if you'd like to approve the plat pending um the approval from the county um on the administrative side of things um Kenan Graven did Issue a plat opinion um there were some hiccups in the title work um the title work that was provided by um Mr Freeze uh still included the Walters as title owners of the property um we requested now that Seth has purchased the property uh an updated title reflecting his sole ownership um we have not yet received that at this point um we asked for a copy of the title deed or something that was signed saying he is the owner we just haven't gotten it yet um I'm confident that we will um but it's kind of up to you as well as Bob how comfortable you are moving forward without those documents in hand so that's kind of where I'm at we have most of it however there are a few technical pieces that we are still waiting on I have a question for Craig is there no sidewalks in this development I also have questions about a walking path to it yeah and know um yep right this won't be the First Development off of a high traffic highspeed Road and I'm pretty sure in the last eight years I've said never on another one you know that creates a debacle for right um people getting to and from so that's a sticking point for me some of that Land Is Ours but I know it's um one thing we discussed because there are not sidewalks um on Main Street down um That Way North I should say up that way however we did talk about um the county will be um redoing um their Road there and we did talk about making some improvements on Third Avenue and at that point we talked about putting connecting it to sidewalks on Third Avenue so then that would bring them um to the park essentially and then there's a trail from Collins Park and so we did say that um that would probably be the safest route the safest and the quickest route is to connect um this whole property where the city's purchasing and then where Mr Freez is purchased um and connect that through Third Avenue and bring it the connectivity to col's par we're going to do work on Third Avenue no but we would have to add sidewalk there okay eventually yeah okay so as long have questions about eventually but yeah so as long as they put the sidewalks in the development we'll be able to connect up then after that I'm glad you brought that up because that was part of the discussion like with the age initiative and being aware of that and because that's been a a point of discussion going north on Main Street we have wide shoulders thank goodness people to watch especially when they go to the clinic but if we're looking to add that that tra yeah we just need to be vigilant moving forward so as Stephen was saying we can look at options for moving forward with this if we wanted to approve as it's written contingent on them receiving that paperwork and hand City Hall option Orit I'll make a motion to approve resolution 2438 provided developer could meet all his requirements second second yes sir just say um you know the resolution that staff has put in front of you which now up for voting um just just to be clear the conditions in it all most of them do properly indicate that we the city wouldn't release the actual myar ver thing we're recording at the county until all these things are done so when you hold the myar like that that's what say I mean you're kind of holding the keys to the whole thing at that point so we do have a lot of as far as making second any other [Music] discussion Vernon hi Randy hi Mike hi Jason Hi David takes us to the request to approve the development agreement for uh my Preamble is all the same so I can pass it off to Craig if he wants to go into depth on the Development Group sure so this is standard [Music] credit of that so we did passes along to seel and us all [Music] as this development will be expanded to City facili the CER am so are we going to be paying for rework when we get to that point um the way [Music] well Elizabeth refresh my memory when there's money in L of park space does that go somewhere into a park safekeeping for upgrades enhancements I mean this thing's close to Collins right so yep that's correct and so um just to refresh your memory we would use that money directly for so that's where the connectivity down Third Street would come into play is because they are paying the fee in l park space that we would use that to connect it to our trail system directly so any other comments questions I'll move approval for the development agreement for p Bend second that motion we have a motion a second to approve the development agreement comments Vernon hi hi Mike hi Jason Hi okay we'll move into public works and engineering and our first item is a request to replace the shop entrance gate which has become a need yeah so the the gate at the the shop is in bad shape the gate itself and the electronics running it you can't even get parked for anymore I don't think even the emergency stop works anymore so it's time uh we got three quotes uh they're all pretty close uh Thompson door coming lowest at uh 14650 and the next one was from Apex 14662 and American Fence at 14889 so being comfortable with Thompson's yeah they they're good they're good outfit and they do all our door maintenance okay um on our overhead doors so we're real comfortable and they treat us pretty good so I'll make the motion to accept Thompson's second a second yeah it's a little intimidating sitting down there waiting for the gate halfway go fast thank thank you Mr Mayor would like to add that this is coming out of regularly budgeted dollars too so typically for um Building Maintenance we don't have to bring that before Council however um one of the bathroom facilities that we're going to be building at the shop that got moved to early 2025 so that freed up some um maintenance dollars in 2024 so that's why we wanted to bring it before you is because um those funds are being reallocated hiy hi hi hi all right let's go on to Item B some good news including some science purchases for second Second Street main yes so you have two handouts before you the first is a quote from safety signs and it is for um a new flashing system on the corner it would be Second Street South and Main Street so the corner at the bank and um this quote is for $7,250 um this is a specialized piece of equipment because one we have power issues because where our current um flashing signs are we don't have power they're solar and so most systems that we could find were run off power and so it's very difficult to find a system that um that did not need that um once we got the quote we approached the county to see if they would be willing to cost share with us uh they challenged us to find some additional funding and so um Mr Robertson applied for a grant through Live Well um it's through he County but it is State funds that are just funneled through the county um and we were granted $6,000 towards that uh so then we went back to the county again and said we got a $6,000 Grant would you C share the remaining dollars that went before the County Board today and they did approve that um so they will be um they're willing to split the difference after the grant is applied so before you is the quote um to approve this would be um just coming out of a fund balance this would not be coming out of budgeted funds I'm comfortable with that um we've had a lot of uh safety issues at that intersection I think this is a need for Public Safety and then also before you is the agreement with the Live Well to um receive the $6,000 it's pretty straightforward um it essentially states that it's reimbursement the city will be supplying um receipts to be reimbursed and that will be writing an article sharing pictures with them on what uh what the system does in our community Robert you write that Grant he did it 100% on his own oh terrific [Laughter] impressive that's exciting they wrote it for you told I would also like to add that at some point we will have to enter into an agreement with the County due to the cost sharing and um we have a verbal agreement that the county will cost share however this then the city will be responsible for all future maintenance things like that and which is all we are looking for anyways um but that agreement will at some point be in front you so okay will we get the agreement in writing before we order 27250 I think it's I don't want to say I don't trust the so the grant dollars are only available through October um we we have to order the system by October 15th to receive the gr dollars um okay I'm comfortable either way I think I think it's a system so our system is I think we all know it doesn't work um the batteries frequently go out on it um it's an old system that we can't get parts for anymore and now that schools started back up that intersection really really need some help um of approval of the purchase of new safety light for Second Street and the acceptance of the you like separate items yeah is it or does it matter does it have to be I don't think it matters but if you want to do it separate you can okay any the acceptance of the $6,000 second second okay we got a motion a second for the whole kit here correct I heard correctly can we advertise this is happening and I will say thank to stepping up to long we should have an employee recognition top yeah that corner has been a s I think somebody should bring it up on Facebook yeah well I was just saying we should do a employee recognition for Todd and we can post it all over he got us these Grand dollars to get us a wonderful new flashy Vernon hi Randy hi Mike hi Jason Hi move claims claims ver hi Randy hi Mike hi Jason Hi let's go to Department reports Elizabeth anything no everything's at my report um yeah we've been busy I'm looking forward to the preliminary Levy being passed I'll a lot of time City participated last month than National out so again I want to publicly thank were able to do a r and a review of that and look at making some tweaks going into next year so thank you to the volunteers that that as well 911 service a good Rachel go our walk Sunday yeah that was kind of neat to see so many people I'm a part of the age friendly group so uh that organization that Marie had done done for that walk was fantastic I think we had 35 people show up which was like 10 more than we were expecting so excellent news uh per the library um as you can see in my report we had a uh author talk last night on uh the man who came up with how to purify uranium for the atom uh for the bombs in World War II fascinating talk um we've got the book at the library it's called wilhelm's way um encourage anyone who can to read that and maybe to check out I can I'll be posting links to the author's schedule for the rest of the tour because it's going through South I think 27 libraries in the Sila region are having her fantastic speaker um my biggest news of course is our pollinator Garden in the front yard of the library that's going gang busters we've got it completely um mulched underneath the mulch is a layer of cardboard to kind of kill all those grasses and we that are already there and my master gardener that I've been working with her name is Kim Olen she's out of Canon Falls she's planted a shrub tree at no one on Facebook guest so I will let you all know that it is a willow so look forward to seeing those cute little willow blossoms in the front of the library um early spring we'll be planting everything else um probably in April or May um with that I have applied for a couple of different grants one of which is through wild green Futures the game Angry Birds has all 50 minig grants that they've put together through this organization Heidi happened to see it on Facebook and she said hey apply for this so I applied for it yesterday we'll find out next week if we get that um and I'm looking for that to kind of fund the pro the stuff that's already happened this fall and then in the spring we'll also be oh I'm putting together a grant right now through leg funding through celco um and that can be up to $7,000 and that will include a peace poll hopefully all the rest of the plants a bunch of different programming uh so keep an eye on U our website and other information here um as that goes forward uh bu we'll also be partnering with the school Eco Club so they're going to be helping out with that too we're changing the format of books and Brews starting this coming month um I've done it as a genre thing in the past so we're look at a different genre each month going forward we're going to try to get more people to attend by just having it as a come and talk about the books that you're reading have a beer um bring your fiber or other crafts that you're working on and we'll just kind of get together and have kind of like a book talk that whatever you're reading let us know also at books and Brews next month October 11th is our next Spelling be so I would love to see everyone there to come Sip and spell um had 27 people in February last year I'd love to top that because April was right before the garage sale weekend and we had two people because that was the last nice day before that craptastic weather weekend so come and visit us um any questions for me otherwise thank you FR of that Library looks fantastic it's gonna be super Fant it is weird not having the tree there because there's a lot more Vis visual there but it is I'm looking forward to what it's going to be yeah and um I also got um a donation from the good Hugh County Soil Conservation oh they provide trays of plants so if anyone needs a pollinator tray I think you get 60 plants for 70 bucks or something to that effect or maybe no it's 36 plants for $70 they're donating a tray for us so um yeah we'll be using a bunch of them in that in our garden and then if there's other things around the city maybe we'll be putting them in parks and that kind of stuff too so thank you so much thank you all you [Laughter] help so you notic we got some of our Mill and overlay done around the school looks really nice I want to thank s and gravel for working with me on that getting that done before school and Craig helped me a little bit here there too so uh trailer court we're hoping to have wrapped up this week so it's coming so and so right we got our new street sweeper what was what was the issue with one of the roads there by the trailer court they said it had to be it was something about all the grading that had to be done on it or something yeah there's there's some they had a couple soft spots and uh we took out the cuck on the end of the one street okay and we actually found a vault we didn't we had so but bonus yeah so and then but yes we did purch or get our uh street sweeper here last week so and they boys have been out working it's gonna be a great piece of machinery for us it's making a difference oh yeah yeah it's gonna be I thank Sam took me down there and showed me that that was that was fun and then uh also uh we got our canoe launch moved out at the pit you guys want to go and look at that really turned out nice so Floyd I don't know if you guys have met Floyd yet out there he's leing that project and they they've been so that's far very very helpful Partners to the City St they move some Boulders so Haven been out there in a long time it still goes past the lift station no no it's moved towards comes along the riverv viiew and goes towards the bridge it's on that end by the bridge Robert fond [Laughter] [Music] awesome thank you guys for maintaining it's going to be nice off year that the river is not too low and not too high we can actually use it so actually the river is just perfect right now it's so there's been a lot of so actually there's no fishing in the pond so River only they're practi we're putting signs up the company still owns the pond they don't want any fishing or swimming they've actually kicked a couple kids out already so go fish the river I said I would have been there too [Laughter] so member sitting in the back over there he stepped up and he's serving on the board so thank you so much for coming out tonight fire departments not here Sheriff's Office we did our thing anything else for the good of the order otherwise Jason I say better last uh Nikki L from Prairie Island inting community um I was just wanted to let the community know that we are holding a expungement Clinic um on the 24th um so people can come down to the um Community Center and we'll be having uh it's with the Attorney General's office and they're going to be coming down and if anyone has um some minor felonies and um let Mis misdemeanors gross misdemeanors and minor felonies they can come and get their uh Records expunged if they if they um qualify um They al also helps because it takes away the $300 court and paper paper filing fees if you have and they will you come in you fill out a an application and then um they go over your record you'll be with the one of the attorneys from the Attorney General's office and they will go through your record and they will help get that expunged if you have a warrant they will let you know that you have a warrant um they won't arrest you on site but they will they will help you find ways to get that removed or pay whatever fees and things you need to do and um I think it's just a good opportunity to let people know that because it helps with employment and also so um housing and so if you want to come down and even if anything's been discharged it's still on your record so if you have any if anyone has any issues that they need to have a checked or whatever um you can go to uh the website or you can also come down and and we have a pre-registration I can send you the information for that or you can walk come in in person and do it as well and it'll be from uh September 24th from 10: until 5:00 p.m. that's awesome Council as I saying thank you Jason make motion I'm not very excited about second hiy hi hi Jason thank you everybody