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2025.1.21 Pine Island City Council

Pine IslandWednesday, January 22, 2025
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me of BU the to the flag of the United States of America and to the rep for which stands one nation under God indivisible withy and jusice for all welcome everybody to our first meeting of 2025 January 21st we have quite an exciting agenda for item is going to be swearing in of our elected officials weed off stand you s youly swear that I support theti of the United States support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of Minnesota and the constition of the state of Minnesota Faithfully discharge the duties of the office discharge the duties of the office of in the jurisdiction of in the jurisdiction of is to the my Jud and abil to the best of my judgment and ability we're going move on to the consent agenda Congratulations by the way welcome we have a motion second to approve the consent agenda which includes December 17 2024 regular council meeting minutes our January 6 2025 special city council meeting minutes a request to approve Winterfest assembly permit a request to approve Christopher Carter to Planning and Zoning commission request to approve weight increase for cleaning staff a request to approve Rebecca leis of the library board resolution 21 or 25 01 accepting donation to the city resolution 25-2 to approve the 2025 budget amendments and a request to approve pool manager job description and job post any other discussion in otherwise i' would like to publicly thank and welcome Mr Carter to Planning and Zoning we always appreciate those in our community who are willing to step up and help with our boards and committees as everybody knows it's can be a challeng very exced to have other discussion Council right Colton hi Vernon hi Brandy hi and David will be I passes which we will go into public input and we have two items or two speakers on public inputs or do we have any written correspondence first no written correspondence here BR correspondence we will have mariaa like welcome to the Lector and introduce yourself welcome welcome so I'm and I'm show a little bit different but um in October Anon and myself from kind of friendly and Angela cost s from high school went to a play in TN city is called thank you for holding character of play project and um because I had some conversations with someone that the in the project I received an email saying that it is going to be streamed live next week and it's since it's short notice I wanted to let the council know about it um mainly because this is part of you know the community becoming a Liverpool Community every month so this play project rather than they trying to figure out what to say exactly when on their website um so that the information is based on the true stories of caregivers series of interlocking fictional scenes that use puppetry song mement movement and humor to entertain and ver conversation and thought asking what does a community of care look like how we place value on care as a society in the middle of the night mysterious forces demand that Jonah accept a call for caregiving that he would do anything to avoid Carol battles with the inadequacies of social service support while she tries to ensure her brother gets the best care possible Liu cares for her aging mother and complex family while dealing with the demands of being a nurse Malcolm loses himself trying to support his mentally ill partner parents grapple with the joys and trials and caring for adult children with disabilities program staff tries to build community among people of all abilities teenage children experience role reversals caring for sick parents middle-aged adults care for their aging parents each character is alone and unique in their experiences but United in the secret Club of being a character so this is going to be streaming live starting noon on January 26th through 7M on February 2nd and there will be a zoom discussion on February 2nd after the live streaming um I have posted this on Facebook on um open to everybody know my Facebook page P Community as as still waiting appr but it is on the P community site um and there's a link to get the email they get the address to be able to stream and then a zoom link is separate and it's out there on that Facebook post um also uh there is even in the live performance um they had a suggested ticket price for us I was $10 but if you can't stay you can still watch their their goal is to get this information that was gathered from these caregivers in Cities area and around them out to people so I think it's a great project it was a wonderful thing to experiencing live and I'm hoping to do a watch party um I'm trying to organize a watch party for that sometime get next week probably thank you so much Miss Mary mber welcome hi my name is Mary bber and I'm own a home in Pine Island at 5354 Street Southwest I am here about a threatening letter I received from the city this began back in June 19th 20123 I want you to make note of the time when I made contact with a company contracted by the city to change water leers after not hearing from them for over a month I contacted them again and on October 5th 2023 um they finally arrived examined the water meter and said they could not access it they stated they would contact the city with the information uh later that month I received a call from Todd Robertson and we set up an appointment for November 13th [Music] 2023 he looked at the meter said it was in proper working order but inaccessible Mr Robertson said um he would get back to me and I never heard from him however later that month I received a call from Stephanie pocklington saying Todd Robertson needed to come and look at my water meter I told her he had already been there and asked if he needed to come again she stated that she was unaware of his visit on November 13th I suggested she contact him before sending him out again and wasting the city's time and money I asked her to contact me or have Todd Robertson contact me after speaking with him neither Miss clington nor Mr Robertson contacted me this all happened in 2023 and since 2023 I have never received a phone call an email a text or a letter about the water meter I have received a bill each month amounting to an average of $35 which is consistent with the past and all bills were paid out um by an automatic withdrawal uh the only other contact I have had with the city um regarding this issue came on July 7th of 2024 when I received a second letter concerning lead pipes I called Jamie Hitchcock and told him that I had sent um the in the picture showing my water pipes which included a shot of the water meter he told me everything was okay and to ignore the second letter I specifically asked him if there were any other issues concerning the water service at my post and he said no so I will repeat once again since 2023 I have received absolutely no communication from the city of Pine Island about this water meter however on January 21st 2025 one of the coldest days in Minnesota in three years I received received a threatening letter from C city clerk Stephanie pingon stating and I quote the city staff has been in contact with you regarding this issue and requested that you schedule a time for the furnace to be removed by an HVAC company at which time Public Works can change your water meter they never contacted me in over a year this is a blatant lie as I stated before and I heard from you since 2023 in addition the letter threatens to cut off my water find me and um there are penalties it says I have violated chapter 3 Municipal Utilities 3.02 point1 subdivision 7 and I would like to read you what I am being accused of it says it is unlawful for a person to willingly carelessly break injure marred face disturb or in any way disturb with any buildings attachments Machinery I can go on and on I have never done that it says it is unlawful for any person to make any connection with opening into use or alter in any way any Municipal utility system without having first Contact the city I have never done that it says it is unlawful for any person to turn on connected to a utility without contacting the city I have never done that and it says it is um unlawful for anyone to consume unmetered utilities I have never done that I I I I just I don't even understand um as I said in before you haven't contacted me since 2023 I look these up I have done none of these things um as far as contacting an HP HVAC company to quote move my furnace and have it removed I would have absolutely no idea where they would move it to or why it would need to be removed to change a water meter I have absolutely no knowledge or expertise in this area and would have no idea what to communicate to such a company the water beater I will tell you was replaced quite a few years ago and the city sent Steve oers to change it he arrived with tools and had absolutely no problem replacing the meter other than saying it was tight quarters in addition because I was a new homeowner at that time I was extremely worried about the fact that they at that time suggested pulling out the furnace as well and I distinctly remember the crew stating that no city inspector should should have ever approved the arrangement in that furnace room my home was built in 1982 and obviously the building including the furnace room was approved by a city building inspector now over 40 years later I am supposed to pay for a building error approved by a licensed building inspector under the city's control I feel I was threatened with water sh penalties and fines over actions I never committed as listed in this letter from Stephanie Pon the city clerk what am I asking for I am asking the city at their expense to contact an HVAC company and do whatever necessary to change the water meter or the other alternative is to continue to read my meter and to collect the out of payment as it has always been done thank you Al we're going to move on to Administration which is going to be item a which is resolution 25-3 appointing Del land whis to city council vacy [Music] Motion in a [Music] second any other discussion David will be die which will lead us to office way up here for and mayor hi Bob Hi how are you mayor uh hello uh new Council I'm sorry that I'm not there I'm City attorney Bob Vose I um have a good excuse but I won't belabor the point uh on that um I'll look forward to seeing uh new council members at the next meeting mayor I just want to point out that um when you're appointing a a council member um in this uh kind of scenario it's it's useful to the public to just uh announce along with that the term of office that's being appointed and Elizabeth and I had a little text exchange about that but maybe somebody could just uh explain that the term that's being filled by the appointment so essentially uh council member Jason Johnson um resigned leaving a vacancy a vacancy was declared on September 18th 24 um her State Statute 41 2.02 subdivision 2A um the vacancy could be appointed by the city council because the vacancy occurred after the last filing for the last regular election so even though the the vacancy was declared prior to the election the filing period had already passed and so this V or this term will be for the rest of that term which expires on the first Monday of January 2027 and then this week will be up for re-election in the 2026 general election well but so I I'm G to go ahead and just welcome our new council members we have a very new Council that's sitting before the community and uh one of the challenges that I was presented with when I first got under Council was the opportunity to listen to your community and it's a lot of times become with ideas and suggestions that we want to share right the away but sometimes the best thing that Council can do is just listen to the members of the community and I am proud to say that our Council has done very well with that and accepting feedback from the community sometimes is hard and uh not always a popular thing that we have to do um I applaud Miss um she was one of them that stepped up when the when the conceit came before us and it's a very tough job at so if any anytime a member of the community is willing to step up and help feel this very much appreciated we have a very cohesive Council we don't always agree on everything um but that's what makes government work and one thing I will point out a lot of times people like to say it's an honor to serve um I will that say it's a privilege to serve you're representing your community and disob can be voted out so for them to UST us is a very honorable thing so um and looking forward to this year really young so thank you everybody B rolling so we are going to move on to Item B which is resolution 25-4 approving 2025 boards and committees for the year motion and a second once again I'm going to say we've had some tremendous people step up and willing to serve on our committees in this community and that's what makes our community work so I'm very appreciative to those that are willing to do that uh we have a motion in a second Delena h i Vernon I Brandy hi and David is I first time we've had a since last feels really good resolution 25-5 is accepting donation the $ 49,98207 on the donation any other discussion just to clarify for the public Mr Mayor funds from the relief the fire department relief Association and these are put into a special fund um they're putting this fund 28 so that we could track these expenditures and essentially we could save them um so each year we've uh got a donation from the Relief Associations and then we do cheack these expenses and so um we can use them for special purposes thank you Delena hi Colton hi Vernon hi Bry I and David is I on that one we are going to be going into item D which is a public hearing for the proposed a for proposed ordinance um this is going to be an proposed amendment to an ordinance for snow removal um I will take a motion to open the floor for public input or public comment excuse me make a motion to open Flor for public input second Motion in second open for public input Del Hi Colton hi Vernon hi Randy hi and David is I who is introducing this coordinance update okay Mr Mayor um so essentially we learned a lot about our snow ordinance uh in the last month and so if you remember we had a an ice storm uh a few weeks ago and what we discovered is our uh snow ordinance was unenforcable because it said um after a snowfall and so we did not receive any snow we only received ice and so it's very difficult we encouraged uh residents to move off the street not park on the street however due to the fact that our ordinance specifically said snowfall and so we are proposing that we change snowfall to winter weather event also our in a separate matter uh we received some feedback from the Sheriff's Office and our ordinance had said after a snowfall and so um we had again we had an all day weather event snow and um we have a few individuals who are arguing some parking tickets because they were parked during the snowfall um and they um are arguing that our ordinance States after a snowfall so that technically they could park on the street while it was snowing they just can't after it is snowing and so we staff is proposing changes um instead of after we say during or after um a thoughts from public works I agre theair says correct so the rest of the ver is staying the same and and so it does uh canuse to say it's unlawful for any person to park a vehicle on any street during or after a winter weather event during which there has been any accumulation of snow ice and similar debris on any Street and until all snow ice and similar debris has beened or removed from the P mayor yes sir I may just quick comment uh you can appreciate council members that uh in Minnesota this is a of disc us type of ordinance uh and nailing down exactly when uh residents are required to do things in snow events or winter events is is sort of hard to Define in words and I this is definitely a step forward in doing that I I think the key is and I just would say this for everybody in the room staff councel and and the public you know getting the word out about a change like this putting it on the city's website things like that um that's kind of the key um it's almost more important than how you reword it to be a little bit clearer which this does but sort of getting the word out that folks are expected not to park on uh certain streets during during a winter events even if they just lead to ice and they don't leave snow on the ground that's that's kind of the key so just my two cents on that point one I we've had this conversation many many times trying to make it fair and uh each time we make a change people get upset and they love to go to social media and share their knowledge and wisdom um so with that being said Community needs to understand this is not being done to make it more challenging or difficult for them it is to allow our Public Works to be able to clear the streets so that the streets are cleaned off they can treat the streets and we don't have people complaining about their cars getting hit with the bre from trucks um so like you said it's going to be getting that word out to the community so they understand um so any members of the public here that would like to write and on that Mr Mayor I will say that the sheriff department did work with us in three different snow event evenings we did do um just friendly reminders with the ordinance on a quarter sheet of paper that the sheriff department did put on vehicles were that were part where they weren't supposed to so we did do three three sets of warnings three different evenings but uh we'll definitely with the change uh ensure that we do that again in uh by even smiling face that Miss as I we hav't had problems with that in the past and so um I think it's just to help describe rather than saying right away its entire name will this require it will not and so we have signs coming into town that say that when you have a winter ordinance in effect um and then it states what section of our code it is in and then um we have on website we do post it periodically probably once a month 176 um to social media and on the band main page of our website just to try to um capture that attention man well I have a couple of questions about change how much of a problem is this when creating as one more rules to address a few situations there is just a lot of situations where people are making it difficult difficult to follow I lived in St Paul for 17 years so I'm pretty familiar with how they have very organized systematic way of roving snow by the hour 12 hours they divide it up they have Roots AR rever where you can park after those are cleared they have any other day the first 12 hours of the this this street the next 12 hours of that street so they do that because they have a tremendous amount of track cars people are parked on the streets not everybody has a garage uh they do a lot of on street parking so it's really probably more of a question is it really necessary to go after a lot of people and find them in the town's size um and how much of a problem is it really uh when you say snow event do you define what that is um during after before how many hours I mean it's it's difficult I think for people to know what to do if they have trouble with their cars or they can't move their cars if they don't have place to move their cars too because you're plowing up the cities so I think looking at it for me I would say Obviously there have been problems that have been reported and there have been issues but setting something like that it seems a little vague to me uh in place is maybe not the most helpful way to help I get the clear no that's a fair question because we've we've had conversation in the past um since I've been a council it's gone all the way from fully restricting uh public parking on city streets to it has to be a measurable amount of snow to it has to be two Ines of snow um and where Public Works was running into issues that they're out there trying to clear the streets and people were leaving their vehicles so they having to go around homeowners were complaining that their street wasn't clean you know then it I out so you're right trying trying to make itable for everybody and not make it cumbersome by any means I think like with this language is reallying up yeah it's just updating P herbage really I mean with some of our streets and get a down on the road it's very hard and then also keeping it safe for those neighborhoods that don't have say a so um it's hard for kids to walk around them and it creates you know drainage when it's melting then itrees and ice and all so um safety issues yes and so I can see where you would think that it's creating new gos but in in the general as really just public and I i' love to see a sidewalk on my street for that very reason we have a lot of kids where two BLS from school they walk down the middle of the street and all sorts of situations that are not so I totally agree with that see why that's B concern I mean if I were to say what could you do with this nor policy don't BL the end of my driveway you know there's a lot of things that people would like to shov that out but um I just I hate to see situations where rules are created for something that may not be as problem as as one would think on the other hand I don't know how many cars areed or how many people have had to have cars removed or ticket or CH say that we aren't changing anything other than adding ice um to our ordinance um the main reason for the request is a safety hazard because when there was Ice our P trucks couldn't even move forward because they didn't have any traction and so we're actually very thankful that more that no vehicles were hit by P tracks because our P trucks had to go backwards um they had to go in revers through the entire city um because they couldn't get traction so they put salt down first so that they could get over it and so um the main the own the main reason for this is for safely and so that um people's vehicles that protects their vehicles because when our P truck drivers have zero traction um they we don't we don't want them trting people those personal vehicles so it's very essential that they're off the world and I think that's fair um I guess I would just say if you're going to change policy or change or or rules I would always say make sure that the responding to a problem is big enough that we have to ground and this situation that came up with the ice is clearly one that needs to be addressed so I don't disagree with that um I just think that people if anything that doesn't clarify it more for the people knowing when to move their cars during and after is okay you know that it um I I just wonder if it would create more problems absolutely so that's all I wanted to say on my input on it and I get a sidewalk soon abely [Music] else I which we will move to 177 amending stoval ordinance ordinance 177 amending thank you foring feedback all right we're GNA move on to plan commission which we have one item oh I checked the wrong box all right item e I'm sorry which is the request to approve a print relase for the LIC buau given they have a much increased workload over there and they need updates and Equipment yes so with the license bureau taking driver's license renewals you can get your real ID there at time so stop um with these new license rals they' seen um a big boost in customers and paperwork that process the printer working on now that we home we have buy all the and for it all us um it's getting up there in years is also make terrifying noise when it prints soci start to show it age uh the city contracts with trate Business Machines for some other machines I believe the W treatment plant has one well City Hall um we always had a great experience with them we have us machines so the toner and the services and everything is included in that um if we me Tri State we're also a pool prin City Department so one department has the cost of those prints um we did did another quote from Metro Sales in Rochester um little bit different device but it was their equivalent in a little bit higher than Tri State the state leases for months6 theot package for Canon IRC 26 26 is the only model7 St just requesting the approval of that 6 mon release for the um I think they bought the machine out at the end [Music] so perfect so we can help mitigate the terrifying noises was um we got a motion a second on floor for this another discussion their cost is vir I we' got at our church as well them they furnish the toner and stuff right yep so the toner and service want to make was yep we get a Ser the service contract and I believe the price per sheet black white Brandy now we can move on to our Planning Commission we have one item under here uh which was discussed at planning and zoning that's resolution 25-06 which is approving amendments to the Future land use map which is in the council packets great color scenes in there to help describe what's going on y so the city's been in talk with Ops regarding future or indexation agreements or indexation agement um just identif Parcels to make poal anation easier in the future um there is no room at this time it's just kind of a concept um it's kind of City practice to designate a future land use to any Parcels that we have plans to Annex in the future or have subject to OAS the current future land use map that's in the comprehensive plan for 2024 um has a industrial area on the northeast side of town it currently ends at 500 Street the city is requesting to amend that to extend 480th Street the parcels to the north there ones that the township city um since this amendment to the plan is part of comprehensive plan all comprehensive plan have to go through public hearings commission um we had public heing January 14 and the Planning Commission proved humanly members Township City Township Board were all there um we didn't receive any push back I it was just people interested that they saw their property what that was all about so um it formative people walked away with a better understanding of so great so based on that for theion reques Council approve resolution 246 to amend that future plan as shown okay we got a motion on a second on this um any other discussion everybody happy no and I appreciate that the our city staff's um working working on this so much appreciated otherwise brand is I we're going to go on to Public Works and Engineering which we have one item tonight resolution 25-7 which is reporting repeal of or Amendment to the Bing official yeah you welcome congratulations name yeah so the resolution in front of you tonight um would um if you're in support would um ask for the or the amendment to the official number one that is in the's jurisdiction so uh the official map I'll just give you a little bit of history behind it the official map was created in 2004 when a North Main interchange was being considered at that time um so this official map has identified a future route for the realignment of count 11 um and so there was there was some other um terms to that agreement with minda um but recently the city has been approached by a developer to develop a portion of property portion of the city and and this does good portion of that property so would make it difficult for them if not impossible to develop that so we we started talking with GUI County and um about options for this um indicated they do not have any plans to uh construct a North Main interchange um those um that was done back in 2004 um but with interchange and as time has passed they not working to construct North so with County it's it's their map they said um if we get a resolution of support from Council City and also correspondence from that um they're in support repealing it then they would go through the process and take to so seems like um end and support with is in support and after reviewing this and looking at um you know the unlikelihood of nor me staff is also support that there are a couple recital um that I just wanted to cover and those are the last three warehouses in the resolution um but um m not just asked that we that the council acknowledge these three items and that would be that um you know that the result of a repe Amendment to the official map would result of plans for interchange um they're also in second one from the bottom talks about that permanent closure of the north access onto Highway so right now if you're South 52 into town street um and it is bar do north and the city year the year before applied for a grant to access Highway 52 from North M Sou however that was not possible so um so they just wanted to acknowledge that they do have an overlay project coming up that was in 28 there and at that time they want to at that intersection up so it construction Z right so but they also said that this is possible access and then the last one is just that um the existing round in County 11 would St has a full access so part of the agreement if interchange um but this is leing that that access so just wanted to point those items out so this is mean that we can still address it down the line and there could be changes name eventually if something were to change still or is a hard in the line hard it is at this time now that is that we don't understand all for terms so that's not resolution but that is something enter [Music] nobody can back support our businesses continue grow here that I don't see that viable option for you know especially the industrial traffic and stuff that come back in some develop down this way industrial you know like we talked about that part of nor and stuff like so they still be able to get into town from 52 stay open that would stay well if we amend this there's plans to shut that completely down right they do that no it just say movement to Northbound or southbound from 112 the same as it is now it yes it would essentially stay the same how it is and correct me if I'm wrong this does not um prohibit us from um working with minda on some sort of access north of town I know we've had loose discussions about 490th or 500th um and so this does not the city and um pursuing those sorts of accesses this is just going from County Road 11 to Mayor yes sir if I may just on on the point that uh your city engineer and City administrator Craig and Elizabeth are making um um this's a Nuance point but just to give a little Comfort to council members about the resolution I mean first of all these three whereases dealing with the north uh end of town North Maine uh and 52 understand that these wear asses are just saying what the facts are these are not agreement points or commitments by the city these are facts about what the city has been told what city staff what Craig and Elizabeth have been told by mindat about mind's intentions um and they're they're correct I mean these are things that mot has expressed to Craig um and so the whereases are correct the point the council members are making is a good is a good point uh I'm not going to attempt to do the whole Elk Run history I suspect council members new council members are are generally or more than generally aware of the history on that there are agreements between the city and and mindat regarding that South interchange The elkrun Interchange and that's been amended a number of times the most recent amendment has a commitment in between mindat and the city to sort of work collaboratively on considering improvements here at this North Main 52 area it's not specific about what improvements could be considered but there's a commitment there to consider improvements we're led to understand mindat wants to address that more specifically now they want to amend that agreement to make that commitment change somehow that agreement between the parties change somehow that's not being agreed to here this council is not making any promises about that amendment to an existing agreement I think we understand what mot's going to seek and we're going to have to sit down with them and sort of work through the details of that but you're not should you elect to approve this resolution you're not obligating yourself to things related to Future uh either South elkrun interchange changes or this North Main 52 area that that's yet to be decided thank you that so a good question I have here too that agre to this but I know there's some of council that have opinions that forth would be a good spot you know to put the interchange up that still impedes the process of this developer not no no because that would be far [Music] and that that would be that would be too close to the the existing about this because now we're liting where we're going to put our north bound southbound and nor access for the on that point that is indicated that studying would need to be and so any any interchange reest so even if it's we did and that was all that land in the middle they could together offs with roundabouts and everybody be happy that and correct corre and one other point too Le on the on the official map that does extend to the west side of iow 52 where there's City owned property that is the for wter property there as well so um this would remove that um That official map from that side as well so would allow for future development Dev to incence on that property all res motion we have a second we have a second any other discussion and two I think I think this is really important to point out as well with with this going on and this project that they're discussing I I will say I appreciate mot's willingness to hear some of these concerns we've had some conversations with them in the past and they have thankfully alter some of their initial plans so that's always always been appreciated well they're hard that one so we have a motion of second any other discussion Council thank you vernona hi Colton Randy hi David will I thank you uh we're going to move into legal B have anything to add I don't other than just Craig did a better job than me of introducing himself again Bob Vose Kennedy and Graven Law Firm I think I've been the City attorney since 04 I want to say um so a long time and I look forward to meeting you all in person and mayor I don't you know I've been doing some work uh I usually take this time to just report on any high points of any legal work I've been doing for the city I am now communicating a bit as our other staff members about the project that you were just talking about uh communicating with developers legal and you know I'll have further input on that as we move forward thank you sir all right let's do to clim a motion we have a second motion a second Elena fton Veron Brandy David is I which brings us into Department update which earlier I was going to share with our community um I know sometimes staff doesn't always want to be L like but this is an opportunity to do that with our staff our administrator get her updates um you know often times Community looks at the negatives that go on and they Overlook the positives that are accomplished in one of those things that was very very positive was uh oh my goodness few weeks ago um fin was able to host Leota City's one of their tours we were one of the steps on their tours and as myself Elizabeth was there Sten yeah who was there I think it was just us two was about five other yeah the number of communities BR was there and U Le minota representatives and one of the things that was really exciting was we were able to do a highlight of what the community is doing one one of those was with staff attention a number of cities are struggling with change and very frequently where people are leaving and it was noticed that P has a very good retention of their staff and they wanted to know was and so it allowed P to be able to to share some of our successes and one of those things was what our city administrator implemented and I remember when it was first implemented or introducing the city council we all kind of s sat with what's going on why is this and one of those things for those are here um Elizabeth wanted to get out and really get the city staff to interact with another some work session and it was a high moment for number of the cities that were there that they how we can do it why we do that of course they were all saying we but we were able to share some of the successes out of that and having staff have open dialogue with our cityor administrator um Elizabeth had been able to go out she took a driving T fire truck which was fun so she had able to take train with the fire department she's been down to Public Works she's been to the library um to The Bu or the license and being able to see what staff are doing because um we talked to a number of the city administrators they sit in their office and they would tell people to come see them and it's not a welcoming man and so um Lo behold was highlighted throughout the state here I league in Minnesota City so congratulations the staff doing that we look forward to continuing supporting our city staff and that's one thing I'm I'm so proud of with this city you see a number of cities struggle with their their staff and I'm so proud that this Council supports our and I look forward to continuing us so thank you with that being said Elizabeth you're up everything's my report thank you Mr um I I say it almost every month but we have fantastic stff Rachel New Year is New Year I'm Rachel gr Library here in I've been with the library for nine years so that's really hard to believe but there you go uh a big news uh is that we've got our board is finally full again so thank you foring more joining our U our group we've got a new catalog coming um Soo is our Regional Library and they are getting a new it's called it is basically a new card catalog for the computers and so we're all we're all taking training starting next this week I have my train tomorrow on how that's all going to work so we basically have to migrate all of our data actually CCO has to migrate all of our data and so we've been doing a lot of clean up and a lot work with that so very exciting to see what new catalogs otherwise um one t one title is what I'm thinking of right now we do a community read every year this year we're doing the book The SE keeper by the Wilson unfortunately I have not received those books yet they in back order so I'm hoping they're here Saturday for Winter Fest I'm not holding my breath at this point but I'm hoping I've got another vendor working on this for me so fingers are crossed um we get about 100 books we distribute them throughout the community Through the month of February our book club talks about it um and then we've got programming that goes along with that this year our programming is um the seat keeper is the F about basically Finding Your Roots it's um a Native American woman was adopted or put in the foster care system as a teenager and and throughout the book she kind of becomes goes back to her native roots goes back to the house where she grew up with her father and kind of rediscovers her ancestors and so we've got a lot of Native American um programming to go with that uh Chris Deets with the Historical Society here in town is going to be doing a program on the 13th on pre Colonial CL Island so basically the prehistory of our area so really looking forward to that and on the 20th uh we've got our presented from the lower suit agency which is a Minnesota historical site um just to the west of Us coming to talk about the Dakota War because that's also mentioned in the book it is one of those little historical plat points in the book um both of those are going to be at the History Center at 6:30 in the evening these are all Thursday night programs so Chris is on the 13th luris through agency is on the 20th and then on the 27th our author is Coming to Town ban Wilson is uh lives in it's north of Stillwater right along the the border of the state um and she will be here at 6:30 at the United Methodist Church um and she's going to be I've heard really good things about her presentations so I've got people asking me from other parts of V County already that heard about her through the B Gardener program that um when is she coming when is she coming so I'm really excited to have a whole house for that again 6:30 um in the association with that we also have uh the Minnesota Humanities Council has an exhibit called by treaties M it is a 30 poster exhibit that we have uh been granted that will also be at the Methodist Church um that should be here all week that week so I believe that'll be installed on Monday open Tuesday and they'll be taking it back the following Monday um I think that's Mar 1st so lots going on um hopefully we'll have a couple more things regarding seeds but if not I think we'll be very well educated with our native um neighbors so really looking forward to all of that I have any questions me this is I've heard some very positive things about so yeah I'll be getting out all of our publicity for that this week and and we're hoping to give out books at wi us if that will'll at least have an Swanson has volunteered to help me um give out stuff um but yeah we'll have our flyers and information thank you all public works set up a DAT a little of our facilities you later Mitch Mitch yep thanks Mr Mayor I I don't have anything to add other than what's in my report but I did want to introduce myself on Mitch Mossman the Eda director I know there's a couple new council members I want to introduce myself to you uh but will be there in person next month and uh we'll looking forward to working with you thank you Department here busy month busy month yeah before we before we adjourn here once again thank you for those that are stuffing up here tonight so I appreciate that very much you're welcome to Planning and Zoning um with that being said anything else other [Music] are you talking about the Emergency Management report yeah yeah those are just things that they actively working on still y okay and they came in month ago and so I think they're waiting for and that [Music] I will take motion to [Music] CL thank you everybody