call 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 [Music] all ready it is he loves us all right all right welcome everybody to our November council meeting and uh we are going to open our council meeting with um very exciting program that we do every year so this is a tradition has started quite a few years ago by my predecessor uh Rod steel and I was very excited to be able to continue this this program into my term as mayor and what this what this is supposed to do is it takes people from our community and we are able to just take a moment to highlight uh some of the work that our community members are doing and often times people are behind the scenes doing things that most of members of the public are not able to see and we just want to take those individuals and uh take a few minutes to just call them out thank them publicly and acknowledge them to their fellow citizens for some of the work that they're doing and uh this has been going on for quite a few years and what's exciting is we have some people here tonight that have received this this award in previous years so it's a fun tradition to carry on so we will get started with our first individual tonight because I had the privilege to get to know Mr plort over the last few years through his volunteering with our senior members of this community what started out as simply volunteering to help fill a need with afternoon games and bingo at our local assisted living facility Mr plort took on more roles after seeing that we had a need to get our senior residents out into the community and to become more active Mr plort was able to step up and begin volunteering as an assistant on some of our field trips and the bus trips that the residents take um being able to go to multiple destinations throughout Southeastern Minnesota that normally they would not be able to to go to without help this led him also then to being recruited into being a volunteer driver for some of our senior residents in town where they needed to make appointments or they needed to get to the store he was willing to step up and offer um help in that area it was a significant need and Mr plort has shown a true Spirit of giving not only will you find him helping out with our senior citizens here in Pine Island but you also find him generously giving of his time helping organize events even at uh St Paul's Lutheran Church so tonight our first recipient is going to be Mr Steve plport come right on up here she is well known in our uh Pine Island community after having raised a family here for and she's been here for quite a few years nowadays you will find her busier than ever though as she continues to be active in the Pine Island community Through volunteerism between providing help with her skills and talents at the senior center offering rides to those in need who might need to get to appointments or needing a trip to the store even driving some of our ladies to their hair appointments Mrs dbor is constantly on the move she is giving much of her time when needed whether at church or whether through helping her neighbors notably Mrs dbor will also stop in to say hello and offer a visit to someone that may be alone and just needs to hear a voice ensuring that they are heard and taken care of and she's doing this behind the scenes and oftentimes you'll find her in conversation or even uh going for a walk with some of our residents in town who just need to get out and about she's continuously being active and giving up her time and when I was suggested to uh recognize her it was there was no doubt in being able to nominate her so our second recipient tonight is Mrs Diane dor one all right even with her recent retirement Mrs bergren continues to move quickly as she gives up her time and talents to local or organizations I've known her for many many years and Mrs Bergen is never one to slow down you often see her walking through town going here and there whether she is campaigning for growing Pine Islands Winterfest one of the biggest winter festivals in our area or collaborating with organizations through her work with the Chamber of Commerce Mrs Beren is working to make Pine Island a better place for both businesses and for our community members Advocate advocating constantly her longtime work on the image committee has shown through events held in the summer and the winter months and we look forward to that committee growing for more events in the years to come not only on local projects but Mrs Beren has also spent countless hours traveling south to Mexico where she has worked with her church doing Ministry projects helping those in need down there as well we thank her for her time and we celebrate our recipient our next recipient tonight is Mrs Nancy bergam all right we're going to keep rolling right along here he is a large presence in the community and he is known for a truly giving heart and you will hear this from many many people in our town uh Mr Goron has been a member of the Pine Island community for many years in that time he has given countless hours to projects and committees he is recognized for his work also on the fire department where he has stepped up to serve on several of the projects that help the fire department move forward to protect our area among the many projects Mr Goron has helped with one of them is dementia friends with a training program that was needed to help train our our local First Responders in fact our fire department was one of the first fire departments to initiate this program working with those with memory loss Mr Goron has also collaborated with area leaders on helping to prepare our First Responders for those in need with that memory loss program but also in other committees that we've had that have focused on um reaching out into the community and working with other Comm other organizations and uh recently Mr Goron LED efforts to establish the pine fire department as a member of time on the water which is a program that focuses on members of the military and first responder world who have dealt with trauma both whether it's um mental trauma or physical trauma through his efforts several of our firefighters both past and present were able to go on a trip to Canada that was a fishing trip that was all paid through donations in that Mr Goron took the time to help visit several of our area senior citizens offering to help them when needed along with his work as a first responder Mr Goron has also spent countless times helping prepare young men in the Boy Scout program to be Future Leaders our next recipient tonight is going to be Nick Goron all right um we going to switch this up just a little bit you will rarely see this uh last recipient well here tonight um you will rarely see this last recipient without a smile on her face even in the toughest of times she finds joy in being able to help others Mrs scripture may be known for raising some of the greatest golfers to come out of Pine Island so we thank her for that but she is also a true Angel to many of our senior citizens in the Pine Island community constantly looking for opportunities to give whether through her time or bance Mrs scripture devoted countless hours to ensuring our most V vulnerable have the support and help that they need she has gone to pay visits to some of our widows in town helping with appointments spending time singing for some of them sharing prayers with those in pain caring for children that needed babysitting the list goes on and on and on this is scripture is an ideal resident that makes small town America so great makes Pine Island a gem of a town Alabama had a song that once says I believe there are Angels Among Us and she is certainly one of them and she was nominated by quite a few people so our uh final recipient of the 2024 pillars of Pine Island is Miss Teresa scripture so our um one of our recipients was not able to be here tonight but I'm going to still read because she thinks I was joking when I said she was nominated but she had some other things coming up so um whether it's a cheerful laugh or a bright smile our next our recipient is known around Pine Island community for work through the American Legion family Miss hgan has been an active member of the Legion auxiliary for many years and continues to show her support to the efforts of serving our military veterans through the countless hours spent at the Legion Hall Miss howan has also stepped up over the past few years to help with other fundraising efforts but has also known for showing leadership in several community events notably she has led efforts to build Pine Island September 11th program she's also been an advocate for the flyer flag program she has also been involved with uh numerous other organizations including the Memorial Day picnic and there's a list that can go on and on and she has also been able to help with recognition to surrounded communities through some of the work that is done for our veterans here Miss Hogan has also been a force when it comes to showing patriotism for our nation and its ideals and is she is an unsung hero behind the scenes and so I will be going and presenting this to her at work and I'm sure she's going to love me for it but miss Carla Hogan was our other recipient so as we conclude this year's um class of pillars I want to publicly thank each and every one of them because I want people to understand that this is just a small list there is a growing list of of people in our community who qualify for being a pillar and we thank them for their continuous efforts to make Pine A Better Community this community is known far and wide for its number of volunteers and that's one that we can certainly be proud of and this is what makes Pine Island great with that so with that we are going to allow any of those I know we have bingo tonight at 6:30 so I want to make sure we were done in time for that but if you are wanting to leave you're welcome to leave and in about a few minutes we will continue with our regular council meeting thank you all right we are going to continue with our council meeting uh our next item is going to be our consent agenda which includes our October 15 2024 regular council meeting minutes November 13 2024 special council meeting minutes resolution 2448 accepting donations for the fire department request to approve Deputy fire chief election candidate a request to approve the Rafford permit for the Pine Island football booster club a request to approve the Ceda contract for continuing services and finally a request to approve the new hire for Van Horn Public Library I'll move the consent agenda I'll second have a motion in a second to accept the consent agenda Vernon hi Brandy hi and David willbe public input do we have any written I have not received any written corespondence Mr Mayor right we will then read a proclamation here whereas November is recognized as National Native American heritage month and whereas there are 574 feder recognized American Indian tribes in Alaska native entities in the United States 11 of which call Minnesota home including seven chipa ojibway and four Dakota tribes including Prairie Island midton those who were born of the waters and whereas November is a time to celebrate the Traditions languages and stories of the Native American Alaskan native native Hawaiian and Affiliated Island communities and whereas we want to ensure their Rich histories and contributions continue to thrive with each passing generation and whereas this month and every month throughout the year we celebrate the culture and Heritage of these remarkable Americans who deeply enrich the quality and character of our nation and whereas we celebrate Indian country with its remarkable diversity of American Indian Alaskan native cultures and peoples and whereas we look to strengthen and support our mutual communities through consolation consideration cooperation unity and respect now therefore I mayor David freeze do hereby recognize November as Pine Island Native American heritage month I will call this observation to all our citizens and call upon our citizens to seek out ways to learn and educate themselves on our local Native American histories thank you and respectfully David fre mayor of Pine Island November 19th 2024 there we go we'll move on to Administration item a which is a public hearing for a request to vacate Township Road M I'll move to open for public hearing I second we have a motion on a second to open up for public hearing vernett hi Brandy hi and David is I do we have anybody from the public tonight wanting to speak on this want to explain this part yes so we did send out proper notice to the uh abing properties which would be the Prairie Island Indian Community as well as the city of Pine Island so essentially this is some cleanup work from when we did The Interchange and so we are requesting to vacate uh Town ship Road M which is where White Pines used to be um it was moved East in that project um now where the roundabout is uh when we were going through title work when that properties were were sold to Perry Island it was discovered that that RightWay had not been vacated and as we were trying to essentially plat the new right of way um PR Island had requested um if the city could vacate the old Township RightWay it may seem silly because it hasn't been abroad for quite some time but um this would be to clear the title work so there is a map in the packet that shows exactly where it is um with that being said uh Minnesota State Statute says that you only need a majority vote of council members if the petitioner is the one asking for the vacation but because sum of the property is owned by the city of Pine Island and the City of Pine Island is initiating that um right away vacation we do need four fifths vote um for that state statute um tonight we only have three of four council members because we only have four on the council right now so unfortunately I am requesting um that we do table the resolution until December and hopefully we can have four council members present okay approval anybody have public comment if not we will close the public input portion yeah uh I'll motion to close the public hearing I'll second Motion in a second to close Vern I Brandy I and David will be I thank you staff for working on that uh so resolution 2449 is approving the road vacation Township Ro v m which our city administrator explained we need four fifths of voting power for that so I will take a motion on the recommendation to table this our next meeting I'll move to table the 2449 approving the road vacation until our next meeting second it Motion in a second Vernon hi Randy hi and David will be I we are going to move to resolution 2450 which is approved in the 2025 tax assessments for unpaid debts for both goodu and alad counties so this is for each November the city is able to um take a rooll of unpaid balances these are everything from invoices that were sent out um to utility accounts that have not been paid currently we are requesting approximately $1,956 7 to be assessed to property taxes that includes $900 in assessment fees I'll move approval of 2450 approving the 2025 tax assessments I'll second Motion in a second for resolution 2450 any discussion on those are questions for City staff otherwise I will take a vote Vernon I Randy I and David will be I thank you again for working on getting that cleaned up we've got our 2025 business license for resolution 2451 approving those business licensed which there was a list in the packet those yeah each year uh we renew our business licenses each fall so they're ready to go for January 1st this would include our tobacco alcohol THC um refu and recycling dance gaming and mobile food and vendor permits okay I can move approval of resolution 2451 approving the 2025 business licenses a second no motion and a second and approving those license people Hing business in home um motion a second Vernon hi Brandy hi David will be I which moves us to item D which is a resolution 2452 approving the new liquor license for 2024 so this is a brand new liquor license so algoo um applied for a liquor license and so they've not had one before I'll take a motion to approve your liquor license I'll take a I'll make a motion to approve resolution 2452 the new liquor license second Motion in a second mayor just uh I should have looked at this I didn't but I'll ask staff because they probably did um we don't require a public hearing on new liquor licenses to be issue we did not all right fair enough and this one is pro rated too I seen it right motion a second correct um Vernon hi Brandy hi and David willbe which brings us to resolution 2453 which is declaring a polling location for the 2025 elections in both good you n county we don't have election but we have to declare Point correct correct um move resolution 2453 declaring the polling location for 2025 I'll second motion the second which for public record is the polling locations at the fire station uh Vernon I Brandy hi and David will be I item F request to approve the LM CIT waiver so um this liability coverage waiver we see it every year every fall and it's for LMC which is our insurance trust um each year Council must decide whether they would like to wave or not wave um our liability and essentially if the city does not wave um an individual claim it could recover no more than $500,000 um per incident or total for all claimants for a single occurrence is 1.5 million um if the city wanted to wave that um the city could and then individual claimants could recover an additional amount um I'll move approval for the LMC waiver I'll second have a motion in second just to clarify it would be staff's recommendation to not wave the city statutory limit she like you said we do this each year correct cor approve approve signing the form marking not w got it all right we have a motion second right yep um any other discussions Council no um Bernie I Brandy hi David is I we have something exciting next a request to approve the Main Street banners I I can start the explanation and Mr kobby feel free to hop in if you need if if I'm leaving anything out but essentially um a few years ago we started looking at different banners for Main Street um currently we have three in rotation um and they're starting to become quite weathered and so um just a few months ago some of the public work staff and I started looking into replacing them um we came up with two designs one would be for to represent pineal and fire department and the other would be to represent uh Cheese Fest and advertisement Cheese Fest would be um both Pilon and fire department and Cheese Fest committee have approved the logo designs um the total cost for them would be just under just over $2,000 um we do have extra Park funds that we are going to use for this and the park board did allocate staff responsibility to use the park board is done meeting for the year and they did allocate um staff to use those funds towards the end of the year however we since it's a Main Street visibility we did want to bring it to council for a final they look awesome yeah I'm excited they did want to put P space on um I'll approve the Main Street Banner order I'll second that motion in a second I I gotta say I I all my cities have these and uh I think they're pretty cool but these are the most colorful ones I've ever SE these are it's crazy I can't believe you can get that much color on these things I mean right I don't know how you do it but it's pretty cool so nice nice work folks thanks Bryce for working on this is really Bryce worked hard he coordinated with both the cheese festival and fire department we a lot of designs flying around and so he coordinated everything with between parties you look nice what what would be the time frame I will say the one thing I want to add is so typically so the two that are going out of rotation are the season's greetings and then the two bikers um that advertise the dougas trail um so it it's not cost effective to do the season greetings because the city does need to rent a lift and then every year we need to pay to have our Public Works staff certified to use the lift so we have to rent the lift for them to go through training and then we have to rent the lift to actually use it and so um it wasn't conducive to do that so these banners would stay up all year Al thenn hi Randy David is we are going to have our cannabis ordinance discussion so as you all know adult use cannabis um is now legal in the state of Minnesota um with that comes um cannabis businesses while the state and the office of cannabis management ocm handles the actual business licenses for those the city does have the ability to register those businesses in town um similar to uh tobacco and things like that we can collect information on the business collect a registration fee um and then we do have limited powers when it comes to um time place and manner restrictions um things like uh operating times we can limit the um time during the day where those cannabis businesses um take place uh we can limit uh buffer areas around schools daycares um treatment facilities things like that we can also impose registration fees um there are caps on how expensive we can make the fees um and then we can also deap since you have chosen to retain registration Authority um we have the ability to set a limit on how many we would like um the minimum is one registered business per 12 ,500 residents um obviously we're well below that so the minimum we have to allow is one um but you can leave it at one or go beyond um you have in your packet a draft ordinance um from Kennedy engraven that we went through and kind of plugged in things related to our community um as well as the kind of generic standards um that came with it um with within that the um buffer areas that are included in there um are subject to change obviously with what you guys decide on um but they are set at a th000 feet from a school or 500 feet from a daycare Residential Treatment Center um or attractions within public parks um we do have the registration capped at one um again these are all things that you can change um just we needed somewhere to start um we also took a crack at um giving zoning designations to the different type of cannabis businesses there are 13 different cannabis licenses that the state will be issuing um from retail to cultivation to manufacturing to Transportation um so then we can designate what zoning districts in town we want those specific businesses to operate in um they're pretty um what you would expect retail takes place in commercial districts manufacturing takes place in um industrial districts they're pretty straightforward um but this is kind of just a jumping off point for where you guys would like to go with it um like I said the um ordinance we put together is where the Baseline is and kind of where we thought a good starting point was but it really is up to council's interpretation council's decision following discussion um and then sorry so this is kind of considered a first reading of the ordinance um we'll have it again before you in December um for the final reading it takes um effect uh January 1st 2025 if you guys remember you passed a moratorium on Canabis businesses in town until January 1st 2025 so we need to get this on the books before then because that will lapse um and we'd like to have a a framework in place and then there's also this can be tied to low potency hemper THC um cannaboids we already have a standalone ordinance for that so we kind of left that as it is um and just use this as a framework for the full strength adult cannabis and then as new rules come out we can kind of phase out the THC and um add to this if need be would it be simpler for the City staff start out with one license in the community and see what kind of interest you get from businesses that are going to be looking at this um I I have no desire I mean this is all new Waters and everybody I we've been going around and around around about this so I this is going to be new water for a lot of people but I have no interest in trying to regulate multiple businesses that's in that first time frame in that first year and there is an interesting line in there that I'm assuming most communities gloss over but one that may um be of interest to us um when it comes to registration limits um you can either um include or exclude uh tribal cannabis businesses um in the future in the event that PR Island wants to have one on the land that they own um we and either count that towards our registration cap or vice versa we can have it not be included um so that is something to consider um if you cap it at one and you don't want to include them in your cap they could open another one there' essentially be two in town um which they would have they would have their own governance out there correct yeah yeah what do you two think with I don't know if I want to cap it I think I would love to take a different approach of like I mean at the risk of sounding kind of you know not great about it I mean they're going to weed each other out so so to I didn't mean to say it that way but yeah it just came out that way um but if we put something into effect of they can't be within a certain distance from each other instead of let limiting how many I think that would be um conducive to more possibilities so that is another option when it comes to buffers um you can specifically call out buffers between cannabis businesses um since we the way we wrote it the cap was at one so we didn't include a buffer but that can certainly change we can include one um I don't right now I because that'll rule itself essentially yeah and if we if we continue with the the distance requirements right now is going to put pretty heavy restriction down that be a good question like how far away is our theater Stephen do you remember how far at TH fet what would that radius be for down now have the building it's G to rule out a good majority of the central business district that see1 kind of the main strip of Main Street um pretty much all at a th feet most of that is be within the buffer you're G to probably have to go north of the bridge or south of which there's no I don't I don't know how I feel about that you know you're you're probably right I wouldn't with if we have the distance requirements right now I would not put a cap on because it's GNA be pretty restrictive right would because Miss Angie's place would that be considered daycare do you know or no she's not a legal daycare okay that would um so it wouldn't be considered a daycare um so say if there was something that got you know quick chip oned to Da and then they could still do something like that but I feel I don't want to limit our existing business when that might be something that they are going to want to participate in so I feel like maybe we um can change verbiage to the West Side like keeping it to the west side of Main Street um within the like two block radius of the main business district I mean it's a little more complicated then but um I think we we have to as part of to set in the ordinance ordinance like a measurement system have so feat from property lines buildings things like that you have to kind of clearly Define what your measur system is okaying attorney B associate are understanding that we actually need to Define to whether we're me okay so I mean saying that we're measuring from like the front entrance of the school right or about there um would it be feasible to look at what the distance would be to Main Street and then just make the circumference because then we have one side of our main business district that they can participate on I hate to limit like our main business area I mean one side I understand because the school buts up to the back of them um but the OS side I mean we have the smoke shop already which is within that radius technically but if they want to dabble in more I hate to limit existing businesses I mean this is a conversation amongst you guys I know I'm also having the conversation with you guys too we're trying to figure out distance here and what right and so you guys know more about it than really I do per se of like what we have to depict in it so yeah I think we'd have to measure in feed we can we can figure out what area you would like that like I mean keeping it away from like that main couple blocks there yes but across Main Street just so that we have some part of our main business area that's available to them so is this is this footage does the state have a standard with footage right now on I because we have we we fall into this when we talk about alcohol about tobacco product things like that I think the theme that I have seen is more densely populated cities that have schools dayc carees on every street corner doesn't make as much sense to have the full thousand foot buffer because then you're really blocking out a good portion of your city the smaller towns like us most often are maxing out those buffers um just to maybe depending on what their philosophy around it is whether they if they want to keep it off of Main Street keep it to a certain portion of pound really is up to personal preference but that's the the overarching theme has been smaller towns are mostly maxing out those buckers okay from what I've seen so like the so like Stephen was saying this is this is a draft so I mean you can you can uh scan through this again if you have questions and send it and we can get that added for have a work session coming up and um on just at the county level just for comparison um Olstead and Goodhue County I believe are both limiting to whatever their least amount is based on their population I believe they're also maxing out all of their buffers so surrounding communities will have those restrictions in place because most people have passed that Authority onto the county so so mayor um as to the point about limiting or not limiting uh registrations to to that point I had heard the same thing that good Hue is like good Hue in particular since that's most of the developed part of the city um is going to impose the strictest limit one license one registration for 12,500 given the population of good hu is under 50,000 doesn't that mean we're talking about three or maybe depending on population growth for countywide and if if you're assuming that there can't be more than let's say four in good Hugh County isn't it likely that a couple are going to go in Red Wing and so then aren't you just talking about a competition for yeah two more everywhere else in goodu County so I mean it seems like seems like that issue isn't going to be a hot real hot issue here right I mean maybe two but more likely one just based on the County's liit so uh so does that seem right what I said is that all okay all right yeah I could see them doing that and putting like maybe Canon Falls and two in Redwing and yeah right you know the largest populations I don't like that well I mean that that the the point I'm making I guess is that everyone is thinking about totally understandably like how do we limit this and are we going to suddenly have all these but in counties of the the size of good which is not a small County by Minnesota standards there just won't be that many licenses countywide right so I mean it's sort of like it's you're not going to see 10 businesses 10 cannabis businesses in Pine Island you know the most of the county is four probably so so just for a reference the good Hugh County um their they just had a public hearing for their draft um ordinance as well and so they did do 1,000 feet from the school 500 feet from a daycare and 500 feet from residential treatment and then 5 F feet from um parks and playgrounds so and I know alide County did as well yeah it's about like roughly 500t from the back of the ELC they prob like Google Maps and just to like the middle of Main Street um is so it's like 528 is depending on where you put your line um it's just I I just don't want to limit our primary area which is where people would want to be um [Music] um and I don't know did they did they say how many they want to limit it to in that preliminary document it was one for every 12 around 38 or 42,000 or something like that yeah I think County was going to have like 28 or for the majority of those there were 23 I think they were reserved 18 of them for Rochester alone y so if we reserve the right to make the decision you know have some kind of decision in our jurisdiction is and yet the county can overseed us not a fan of that what do you mean by that I don't think like if they have a higher population in Redwing obviously they're going to have more but like I'm not one to want to limit businesses if they want to invest in our community and if it can bring anybody into our community that's lovely I mean dependent on Behavior but I just don't feel like I'm not want I don't want to limit business so so R what do you think with the um idea of well I the thousand feet from the school I can see the reasoning for that but again bry's thought too is that's taken out the central area of the commercial District here but there are options that they can probably get some land that's you know further out so I don't know if that's that that may not be a deal breaker in my mind but I you know because and we we're very we're unique in this in the situation that we have a school building on the North End of Maine which covers that chunk of of the north business district right um so it makes it very very difficult yeah so I would say if if you if you'd like staff to look at making modifications and what that would look like we can direct them to to explore that and we have do we have a work session in December right on December so we we T technically have two meetings that we could discuss this before needing to have it yeah so we could bring a couple maps showing kind of shaded regions of different yeah I didn't even think about that about the other school building on the north on North Main because that like really limits them yeah the alternative it yeah that's right so I mean you would think I wasn't even thinking that that's like well they could go to Norris but they're going to want to be you they can't so well um do you want to do you want to direct staff to uh yeah um could you look at what the distance would be to keep the business necessarily on the east side of Main Street but like with the exception of keep or keep it off of East so make it so it's only available on the west side of Main Street um as a distance instead of looking at just the generic thousand Feer we could do like 500 feet depending on where that the North Business Falls or wherever we have to measure from for the ELC um because 500 ft probably from either building would probably be still within Main Street and not over the curve line maybe from the back of the ELC building to City Hall which is a straight stretch across the stre okay okay so it would be good to see the 500 feet radius and a th000 feet radius to see this would be 250 250 yeah 10 feet so well I mean just ultimately really like raining it into being on the west side of Main Street just for like that's an easy line to draw um and that would be there I don't know the description of what constitutes a school building there's there's a definition in the ordinance I don't know what off top of my head um whether it's very specific to like has to house students where I know the building on the North side is more it's an ELC they house students they do or a nonu school Church religious organization which a child provided instru in compliance is true yeah it does not include a home so just based on our conversation I would I don't know if you were able to go through um this whole draft in detail with it seems like it's more or less the distance that is a a point of discussion because it would take a lot of the central business district out of the plan so is that work for staff then and then we got we got two more meetings we can still discuss perfect mayor yes sir a question for staff that I could asked offline but is U as a matter of timing are so there's two ordinances here right one is going to be the the guts of the new regulations the other is amending the zoning code to put cannabis in the right districts depending on the kind of cannabis production that's going on or retail that's going on um are both of those going to be run through Planning Commission heing process or how are we doing that and the reason I ask is because there are some elements like the um distance requirements that are in the main ordinance that are zoning like restrictions so I would prer if one's going through anyway let's just do both of them in front of the Planning Commission just so we can say we've complied with planning type stuff so okay um the other thing to consider that I didn't mention um there'll be a third ordinance change I believe it's chapter 10 which is General um restrictions um about public use of adult cannabis um whether we would like to allow it on public use on public property um kind of the direction we got is this ordinance pertains to businesses mainly so keep it business focused while that's more of a people restriction so put that with the other restrictions of its kind so kind of like you can't smoke within so many feet of I mean that that so mayor council my colleague has been handling all this and I've been trying to not pay attention to this stuff as much as I can but I've had plenty of City Council meetings now where we've had this kind of conversation I will just tell you that the hard part and lots of cities are doing that lots of cities are saying you can't use cannabis products in the city park yeah um and that's great if you do it I would just point out that the discussion always turns into if you dig into that the fact that unlike cigarettes that you smoke uh I mean you can consume cannabis now in so many ways that it's gonna be super hard to enforce that I mean they can be in a soft drink that looks like a regular soft drink they can be an edible that you know looks like a gummy bear and so I mean it's going to be super hard other than just smoking a joint in the Park which is is relatively easy I guess to sniff out but um you know just so you know I mean that's that's that is a thing that folks are like how are we ever gonna actually Force this so that's that seems to be the point of contention thus far is people have not to me have not complained about the consumption other than when people are smoking and it's smelling up the entire North End of town yeah you and Stephen you probably talked to my colleague about in addition to some cities saying you can't do it in public places some are also saying to the extent either the manufacturing of the stuff creates lots and lots of odors or the smoking of it creates lots of orders that can be a public nuisance and they're actually putting into their nuisance Provisions that you have a big huge smoke out party and it stinks up the neighborhood that's not okay you know so um yeah and in in that vein too um we also discussed um that whether it's just an allowable use a conditional use things like that um once suggestion we did get um was for those manufacturing facilities possibly making it a conditional use um Withers to address oldis nuisances that may try to nip that um in the planning process so that's something that we'll look at with it's a mayor council say it's not at all a frivolous subject but I have to tell you that my colleague Joe sathy who's been doing this this for all of our cities so for 40 cities he's been working about that he is now referred to as smok and Joe feel free to pass along anything you need to smoke a Joe the title this comment on okay all right moving on from pot to City Sam asking for Emergency Management equipment um r engage yes read the memo so uh the New River monitors were installed um they've been successfully installed with that when we initially got the quotes for the river monitors we could get electronic rain gauges um we held off on that because we wanted to get the river monitors set up see how they work see how we like them uh now that they are up and running we have a quote before you we looked at two different kinds of rain gauges this is an automatic tipping bucket rain gauge um it's highly accurate currently we use a rain gauge at the treatment plant that we manually empty we forget to empty it then we don't have accurate rain measures this would allow us to have all the real-time data right in front of us um Along on that along with on that quote is a um web page so that is the $1,188 expense um so essentially this company will host a web page so all of our data can be on that web page so once we get up and running we can share that with Council we can share that with County Emergency Management directors and so they can see our both our rain gauges and our River monitors in real time is that something we can put on our website too yes we want to work out the Kinks first before we make it public to Residents um we're still in the calibration stage and it'll probably take probably over a year before we actually learn how the river levels rise with the monitors and there's a learning curve with them and we need to calibrate them what's normal and but yes then that would just be a link that we can place for um residents to be able to use and reference as well keep the coffee Club happy yeah um so so this would be coming out of our uh Emergency Management 250 fund and so we do save for Emergency Management expenditures like this um how much do we have in there right now you know um off the top of my head I'm not sure for mergency management it is well in excess okay what we're asking for um Alo of approval of Emergency Management equipment purchase you have do we have a recommendation on which quote you w to I yeah I got a question though on the mounting kit for the bucket yeah is that unique enough that we don't need it I mean correct so the um tipping bucket that we are asking for so there's two on the quote there's one two and four was what recommended correct and so the rain gauge for number three we would not be purchasing um we're asking to purchase the the first two and so that does include the mounting kit for that bucket okay y That's the line number line item number two number two so it's one two and four and number three number three we are not asking for no number three that they don't need yeah well are we going to need it eventually no so we're just comparing the two separate they're two different rain gauges oh and so number one and two is one kind of rain gauge number three is a separate one we are asking for the first rain gaug to be approved yeah I'll um move the approval for the one two and four um options that were recommended for the amount of $2,161 75 second that a motion and a second any other discussion thank you Public Works and mercy management for working on this uh Vernon hi Brandy hi David will be I we're going to move on to item J which is a request to approve the utility agreement agement for a property on 8th Street Southwest think this is the old Fitch house so the city received an annexation petition for 178 Street Southwest it's on the corner of a street in County Road 3 it is currently in New Haven Township we are not hearing that annexation tonight that will be before you in December um because we need to post for a public hearing however the resident has a failing septic system and so they are asking to connect uh utilities prior to the annexation for that to occur we do need permission from the township so I did attend the I did attend the New Haven Township board meeting on November 12th asking permission for that parcel to be connected to utilities they were in agreement with that um this parcel is completely surrounded by city property and so um they didn't see any problems with the annexation either okay um I'll move appr appr for the U ility agreement for the 178 Street Southwest property I'll second mayor yes sir just one comment about this simple little agreement um it is common when cities extend utilities out of the city to developments you know multiple houses uh where a whole development is relying on city services but it's outside the city and many folks will be impacted it's common for cities to require in that scenario that folks outside the city that get City Services uh pay more than what city residents pay so and that we've actually had an agreement that's like that with trophy Lakes going on a decade ago it's not really important or common where it's this is just kind of a oneoff thing to one house um that's expected to be annexed into the city soon so but I just want to point out that that's very frequently that the provision would say that they're going to pay 25% over some percentage over what city residents pay but that didn't seem applicable here so I just wanted to point that out okay good have a motion and a second on the table for this agreement yep um Vernon hi r hi thank you okay we're gonna move on to item K uh followup from last month which is request to approve the fin fire department relief association bylaws which had change um so this was tabled from last month last month the city council voted to approve a pension increase for um the Pine Island Fire Relief Association uh at that meeting Council wanted to review the bylaws prior to approve approving the actual bylaw change so these are the bylaws before you from um the relief Association make a motion if anybody wants to make a motion move approval for the P bylaws second motion a second to approve any other discussion thank you for the relief board that was able to present um Vernon I Brandy I David will be I thank you for the work on that which is going to move us to resolution 2450 for approving the hazard mitigation plan presenting this PES I will so I know it definitely dominated the packet um but essentially both Brandon Sam and I uh have been working with both good Hugh County and alight County because both counties are updating their um Hazard medication plan at the same time before you is Alstead counties um just to prepare you good Hue County will most likely be before you in December and so what this does is by approving the fan the plan it opens up funding um for federal grants and programs and so there's a very small portion that is relevant um directly to Pine Island but it essentially goes through different ways that the city will try to mitigate flooding in the future um or any Emergency Management situation it's a little bit of a light light reading for you but we've we've gone through many different meetings working with coordinators to update the plan I enjoy this no there's some interesting stuff in there so I don't enjoy reading it getting to see other cities it's pretty boring um unless you want to go through pay 24 before appr the hazard medication plan I'll that a motion a second and thank you to to City Hall staff and our emergency management team for working on that and getting the Ala County portion done um so we'll vote uh Vernon hi Brandy hi and David is I which concludes our Administration portion we're going to move on to Planning Commission and jump right into that with item a which is a resolution 2455 the minor subdivision for p number 68.6 74 0.0110 who's taking this one that would be me so um a through D here in the Planning Commission are all in relation to the same property um it is a property located at 771 511th Street Northwest um it is the parcel that currently houses the solar farm on 51th Street um there's a portion in between the solar farm and 511 um it's about 16 acres that XL Energy is purchasing um they would like to minor subdivide that and construct a um substation there um we do have someone from EXL here if you guys have further questions about future plans um but it sounds like they will be working to construct that substation over the next few years um and down the road transition um the current grid from the substation by Collins park over to this new one and then five 10 15 how many every years it takes de condition a condition I'm just kidding I don't know I don't know enough about bulk Power Systems to try to tell just gonna say barrier power lines and then and the city park and then a lot of our problems will be solved um but their plan to build that will eventually decommission the substation by Collins Park um that's a ways down the line uh but they would also like to have a lay down yard um on the remaining part of the parcel um which would be used to store um equipment for future um construction projects um they're working on that large transmission line project from m to the river um that will kind of be through this area so I'm assuming they'll use that as a staging area for parts of that project um but just wanted to let you know that there's a survey and some depictions on what not that apply to all of these so if you need to reference them um getting right into the minor sub division um city code 12.10 um dictates that subdivis minor subdivisions can take place um when dividing one lot into two um that is what we are proposing here today um the one hiccup is the zoning of the lot um it's currently zoned egg um the minimum lot size for egg is 40 acres this obviously would split it into a 44 acre and a 16 acre parcel that's why along with the minor subdivision there is a rezone request to rezone it to R1 which is Suburban residential which sounds kind of odd for a substation but it is a um permitted use within within that residential Zone um so they did have a um public hearing on this at the Planning and Zoning commission meeting um they're not required for minor subdivisions but we were having a whole bunch of other public hearings so we took comment on this one as well um we did not get any push back on the split um they have met all of the requirements um for their application um the parcel hasn't been subdivided in the past five years um things like that it will meet all the setb setbacks and other um conditions following the rezone um so I do have two just small conditions of approval on there one of which being um title evidence submitted to the City attorney um Kennedy engraven did receive that um they issued a minor subdivision opinion there were some little quirks um but we got an updated survey completed that I believe cleared all those up so um from the legal side of things I believe we have the green light um we just asked that any future development um once they start getting rolling in this they'll submit all the required permits and whatnot okay so ultimately we can just move approval for all of them at once since they're all if I list them out or do you have more to talk about I have a lot to talk about so one at a time would be um I'll move resolution 2455 for the minor subdivision for p number 68. 74.0 one10 second no motion a second on the resolution 2455 any other discussion uh otherwise we'll take a vote with Vernon hi Brandy hi David will be I which moves us into ordinance 172 the zoning map Amendment um so like I spoke about um the requested a rezone from a to R1 um within R1 um they're listed as essential Services um bulk Power Systems transmission lines things like that are a permitted use um in I believe every Zone that we have so um residential works it is part of of our future land use map that that area be lowdensity housing so our one um seemed like the most appropriate fit for the rezone um the criteria for rezones are consistent with consistency with Comprehensive plan which I touched on um as well as um Conformity to Performance standards and public service accommodations um there's not a whole bunch of traffic out there um and I don't think a project like that would increase that too much um we're hoping that this doesn't get hung up on the bridge project out there but they can always go around um so the proposal is to have the um area reson from a to R1 then that 16 acre lot size um would meet the performance standards for R1 the minimum lot size is for unsued is two and a half acres so this would bring that into compliance following the minor subdivision okay we talked about this planing zoning meeting I mean it falls right next to the solar garden and right next to the high power lines and it's good fit you know and going be happy get the electrical away from the river there you go yes I'll move ordinance 172 zoning map Amendment I'll second mayor yes sir I I third time I've said ton that I should have checked before the meeting but I'm going to say again I should have check before the meeting uh the resoning here is to reson the entire right it's the both the remnant that stays behind and the 16 ACR I apologize I should have clarified reone is just subject to the newly created parcel the parcel that is remaining that has a solar farm is still over 40 acres so that is fine staying egg so yes thank you yeah so reone will just be for the newly created 60 neighborhoods okay we have motion second on the floor any other discussion questions one thing that will be nice about this too is they're going to have a 10- foot fence now instead of the little six foot there different linkage so we're getting more secure as we go down the road here you go will too I and Brandy hi David will be I uh bump us to item C resolution 2456 which is a conditional use permit request for EXL energy um so the cup is kind of where we get more into the technical part of the substation project project um the permitted use um for these essential Services is transmission lines up to 33 kilovolts the substation and transmission lines they're proposing to install are 69 kilovolts anything from 33 to 100 requires a cup um so again we held a public hearing on November 12th at the Planning Commission um to review all of the requirements ments in the city code um related to um conditional use permits and specifically the bulk Power Systems um the code lists a whole bunch of Standards to include when reviewing um traffic parking buffer yard screening lighting drainage signage etc etc um one of the things that I appreciate about the plan that they submitted um the required buffer yard between a road and this type of project I believe it's 30t the one they're proposing is 50 feet um so there's an extra buffer they're also planning to plant um pollinator pollinator buffer between so there'll be a bit of natural screening um in between the road and the project as well as the fence um so they kind of went above and beyond the standards for those things so we certainly appreciate that um I do have a list of conditions again um they're pretty General um one of which being the site screening in my Landscaping um they kind of already checked that box um exterior lighting directed inward towards the lot during construction um there's a residential property kind of kitty corner from them across 51 so we just wanted to make sure that they're not um Disturbed too much um site drainage system as well as availability and compatibility of utilities should be reviewed by the city engineer um they do have a few um drainage fields located on their plan um when we get closer to the actual um work on that project um we'd like to see a drainage plan from them um and then any applicable business licenses from state county Etc very good very good I'll move resolution 2456 spread the conditional use permit exone second a motion in a second no other discussion we will vote Vernon hi Randy hi and David isai which brings us to resolution 2 57 which is the V the variance request for 7715 11th Street Northwest um so again same property they are requesting a variance to the maximum height for fencing um in the R1 District the maximum fence height for rear and side yards is six feet front yards AB buding the RightWay is four feet um obviously they're a very unique situation with having um a bulk power system uh they have a lot of extra regulation and rules they have to follow when it comes to physical security um I list in the memo as well as the um resolution uh the list of standards for um variances um the first being uh in harmony with the general purposes and intent of the code um the code is to protect the public health safety and general welfare of the community um I would say improve security around a substation would certainly um benefit the public health and uh welfare of the community Comm um should be permitted when consistent with Comprehensive plan um as I spoke about earlier um the proposed use is an allowable use in the comprehensive plan um the zoning is um conforms with the comprehensive plan um variance of sh will be granted when uh they establish practical difficulty um practical difficulty um requires it to be a reasonable use for the same reasons listed above um uniqueness um there has to be a play to the land owner were six circumstances out of their control um we believe that they did establish practical difficulty because they are subject to um stringent Federal mandates for physical security um the project would not go forward if they aren't able to um secure the location and then essential character um if granted it won't alter the essential character there's already a large solar farm on the property so adding additional utilities wouldn't change anything there's also already um transmission lines that run along the east property line that they'll be connecting to so a lot of it's already in place so um we held that public hearing and the Planning and Zoning commission um approved a Rec or recommended approval of that variance yeah I would just say that when we consider variances from my from the lawyer perspective um the uniqueness standard is always the tough one that's the one where you got to show why that landowner that osed user is different than everybody else that has to play by the rules why does that person do it differently and this is probably about the best uh rationale I've ever seen Prett unque pretty unique so you know that that that definitely is a finding you can make that this is a unique circumstance so yeah I think I'd like to thank Brian suan for the write up on what he did here was very good thank you I'll move for resolution 2457 for the variance request for 77151 Street Northwest I'll second it motion and a second to approve the resolution 2457 any other discussion thank you again staff for working on this uh vernam hi Brandy hi and David is I concludes our Planning Commission and we're going to jump right into public works and Engineering we have one item item a which is the pay request number nine for the wel construction Adam yeah hiy mayor members of the council uh this is the ninth pay request on the 2023 Street project um majority of which is Fourth Street it's for $138,500 73 uh pretty much all of that is the release of retainage of any Street project we keep 5% retainage um from each all the pay items and then um the following spring we do a S sidewalk and we have a punch list of items that the contractor needs to address um the we did that the contractor addressed all except for there's some seating that needs to be uh cleaned up on the site so we're recommending um reducing that retainage from 5% to 0.75 that leaves about $ 24,37 um to cover those seating costs and um the seating is the last uh warranty item remaining in the project so once they get that done then we'll we'll close out project so um yeah I'll be around for any questions so thanks it's nice to wrap it up I'll Mo approval for the request for payment number nine for wiel I'll second Motion in a second for that payment number nine thank you Adam I'm sure they're ready to like Vernon I Randy David is I brings us to Legal Bob you know uh mayor and councel um Elizabeth and I were joking that lots of things have been going on I don't know that any need to be reported to you other than Elizabeth probably G to say something about this too but um we are um veering closer and closer to actually closing on the sale with the Prairie Island Indian Community uh again a lot of money um a lot of proceeds from that sale coming your direction I think we're aiming at first week of December um the schedules get tough get tougher uh Thanksgiving but yeah and and I can't claim somebody in my office is working quite hard on that I can't claim to be the person but uh you can appreciate with the number of little Parcels that we're conveying we're conveying nine little parcels and they have to be subdivided and so it's it's sort of a complicated transaction pull together um uh and but we're on track so um that that will be exciting and of course we um some of those proceeds are dedicated to go back out the door but a fair amount or not so speak is so very good yeah all right Council move to claims I Mo claims second Motion in a second Vernon hi Brandy hi David is I which brings us to Department updates Administration do you want to go or do you want to say anything yeah one thing I'd just like to point out for everything's in my report but um this month we did have a bid open for the 51 Street Bridge Project and so that was awarded to Icon constru um construction Constructors sorry um the county has not quite approved that contract yet but hopefully they'll approve it and they're meeting in two weeks and then icon can get going shortly after that so do you know if there's going to be any like sidewalk for the trails yes yes so I think we reviewed plan plans prior to um you coming on the council and so yes though there will be a designated sidewalk on the um would that be southide of yeah yeah and the bridge is actually widening out quite a bit so and the walking path will be um moved to connect to that so thank you for that [Music] update Rachel as over my chair not customed to that extra the jacket um hi everyone that doesn't know me I'm Rachel gray I'm the librarian here in town I'm just going to basically highlight the fact that we have a new strategic plan and I gave you all a copy of that with my report um so I just wanted to see if there's any questions about that or anything you want me to highlight further regarding the report that was fun and I thank everyone that which is the paided and helping us out with that we had quite a few people fill out surveys uh mayor freeze and others also attended some uh listening sessions and working on getting things nailed out so um we've got a I've got a task highlighting plan all the goals of different breakouts and everything else that we'll be presenting to our library board in January so um and also just a highlight we are not really meeting in December we usually meet every other month on even months um due to where Christmas lands and our meetings we decided to forego that meeting meeting they're going to give me my uh performance review that month instead and we'll be we'll be meeting instead in January so if anyone is interested there'll be information on our website about that unusual timing for the January meeting perfect and check out our Facebook at Instagram this month for dinovember telling dinosaur dad jokes so enjoy Public Works that's right Eda Mitch is not here fire department the do you have anything look for Santa Claus to come in our own town we have a date for that yeah do we have a date for that yeah we do I want to say December 5th yeah December I can got numerous inquiries so if someone could get that information to there's a sent something to Eda and to the chamber that was passed on to me but the skinny Santa will be out I think it's December 5th is that the girl parade yeah the light parade uhuh I got an email let's see if I still have it not I'll forward it to that'd be great thank you there's a poster up at the fire station there you go it's not going to help you um Sheriff's Office Eddie had to leave uh I want to publicly thank the uh school district for their Veterans Day program to recognize veterans on Veterans Day on November 11th another phenomenal program and just want to publicly thank them for that work with that that concludes Council motion move to close the meeting motion and have a second second Vernon hi Brandy hi David is I thank you everybody