Because >> I'm sure. >> [snorts] >> The Tuesday, August 18th >> Now, my mics are on. The Tuesday, August 18th, 2026 meeting of Eden Prairie City Council is now called to order. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. >> [clears throat] >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> [clears throat] >> During the summer months, we have um just one meeting per month, June, July, and August. So, tonight is our August meeting. It's customary for me at this time in the meeting to read an open podium invitation to our residents. Open podium is an opportunity for Eden Prairie residents to address the City Council on issues related to Eden Prairie City government. These occur prior to each council meeting and again, the council meetings typically are on the first and third Tuesday of each month. The open podiums are from 6:30 to 6:55 right here in the council chamber. If you wish to speak at open podium, please do contact the city manager's office at 952-949-8412 by noon of the meeting date with your name, phone number, and subject matter so we can be better prepared for you. Open podium is not recorded or televised. If you have questions about open podium, please do contact the city manager's office. Mr. Gatchell, we have um a couple um just really positive uh statements about our phenomenal staff tonight, but I'll I'll let you begin with the first one, the American Red Cross Lifeguard Training Award. >> Uh thank you, Mayor, Mayor and Council. Yes, we are we are very excited to um have a few of our lead aquatics people here um for this um training award. I will turn things immediately over to our Park and Recreation Director uh Amy Markle to walk us through this. >> Thank you, Dr. Markle. >> Yeah, thank you, Mayor and Council. Um super excited tonight to share that the city of Eden Prairie was recognized as a top training provider in the United States for in 2025 from the American Red Cross. And this is the fourth year in a row we've received this recognition. And this is based not only on the quantity of aquatics training, but also the quality and participant satisfaction. Uh the Parks and Rec team is very proud of our efforts in 2025 providing high-quality training for over 650 participants across 75 different courses. Classes include things like CPR instruction, lifeguard instruction and certification, and water safety instruction courses. Um these have noted um most of this takes place at our facility at the Eden Prairie Community Center. A lot of our staff attends them, but also staff from across the region. And this helps staff over uh you know, hundreds of of different sites really across the Mid- west with with lifeguards. Um this award honors our deep commitment to water safety and the positive impacts that have resulted in our community, in Minnesota, and beyond. Uh we're greatly appreciative of our aquatic supervisor [clears throat] Nick Remmes and his talented team of lifeguards for the daily leadership they provide in keeping our community safe both at the outdoor beach and indoor aquatic center. And also for the collaborative efforts with the American Red Cross in providing such outstanding opportunities. I'm excited tonight to introduce our aquatic leads, Katie Bailey and Sam Yure, and they're going to say a few words about the specific award. >> Great, please come forward. Thanks for being here tonight as well. >> Yeah, so um thank you guys so much for recognizing this program. Um it's really been incredible to see it grow from less than 60 participants the first year to over 600 participants, um making us um the top Red Cross training facility in the Midwest and actually one of the top three within the country. And we see participants from um about 12 different states all over the country come to uh utilize our programs. So we're incredibly grateful to all the support um that we've received from the city um and from the community. So thank you guys very much. >> Okay. Um >> [applause] >> I think um we're going to do a picture. >> I think Thank you guys. >> All right, Mr. Getchell, um uh continuing on with uh the positivity here, um recognizing our staff, Minnesota Association of Government Communicators Awards. >> Yes, Mayor, thank you. Uh we do we in this area alone uh we have a number of awards uh recognizing the city and our staff um for work in communication Uh uh from the Minnesota Association of Government Communicators. So, I am going to ask our city communications manager Joyce Lorenz to come up and introduce our speaker um who will walk us through these awards. >> Hi there. We are lucky enough to have Ari Luxet from She's the president of the Minnesota Association of Government Communicators and she's presenting our awards tonight. >> All right. Thank you um for coming. >> Hi. Ooh, gosh, sorry about that. Good evening, Mayor and uh City Council members. I'm Ari Luxet, the Chief Communications Officer for Carver County and president of the Minnesota Association of Government Communicators or MAGC. MAGC is a professional organization serving public sector communications throughout Minnesota. We provide opportunities for government communicators to learn from one another, strengthen their skills, and share best practices, all with the goal of helping public organizations communicate and engage more engage more effectively with the people that they serve. Each year, our Northern Lights Awards recognize the very best work being done by government communicators across the state. Entries are judged by communications professionals from outside Minnesota and receiving a Northern Lights Award is a meaningful recognition recognition of creativity, strategy, execution, and results. I'm very pleased to be here tonight because Eden Prairie had an exceptional year. I'm sure you see it right over there. The city received seven awards in 2026, including five five first-place Northern Lights Awards. >> Wow. >> Yeah, five. Exactly. I had just had to highlight that twice cuz it's so exceptional. So, Life in the Prairie earned three first-place awards in the graphic design, general publication, and newsletter or magazine categories. The Eden Prairie Liquor Name That Gummy campaign earned two first-place awards for marketing or communications plan and community engagement. The Little Berry on the Prairie packaging received a second-place award for graphic design and the city's work to digitize senior center communication communications earned three Excuse me, earned third-place recognition in the marketing or communications plan category. And there's one more distinction worth noting. For the third consecutive year and an unprecedented fifth time overall Life in the Prairie was named one of six best of show nominees. So, in case you don't recall, Life in the Prairie has won best of show twice. First in 2018 and then Excuse me, in its debut year and then a second time in 2025. So, those results alone could make this a remarkable year, but there's one additional honor I'm especially proud to recognize tonight. So, this year Communications Manager Joyce Lorenz received the Scott Panjoli Lifetime Achievement Award, which is MAGC's highest individual honor. Um this award is named for respected Minnesota government communic- Excuse me. Respected Minnesota government communicator Scott Panjoli and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated exceptional leadership and made lasting contributions to public sector communications. So, over Joyce's 20 years in Eden Prairie, the communications profession and the role of the city communications division has changed dramatically. When she began, much of government communication centered on printed newsletters, fax media releases, and rudimentary websites. Today, that work means navigating an an always-on digital environment that requires constant awareness, strategic thinking, and adaptability. Leading the city's public communications response during crises and developing sophisticated marketing and engagement strategies for revenue-generating initiatives that help offset property taxes. Through all of that change, Joyce hasn't simply kept pace. She has consistently helped lead the way. Under her leadership, Eden Prairie has built a communications program that reaches residents where they are through a high-performing website, social media channels, email and text communications, accessible and plain language content, and publications that continue to set a very high standard. And your residents have noticed. In the city's quality of life surveys, residents have consistently given Eden Prairie's communications efforts exceptional marks year after year under Joyce's leadership. She has also strengthened the organization behind the scenes by establishing brand standards, modernizing internal communications, improving efficiency, advancing accessibility, and helping the city thought- thoughtfully adopt new tools and technologies. Perhaps most importantly, Joyce has established the communications division as a trusted strategic partner in protecting and strengthening the city's the city's brand and reputation. Her team has helped city leaders navigate challenging and high-profile situations, built trust with the community, and created an extraordinary record of professional recognition. During her tenure, Joyce has built a culture of excellence, empowering her team to innovate, take smart risks, and deliver exceptional work. That work has earned more than 60 honors from MAGC and national professional organizations, including 3CMA and IABC. But awards only tell part of the story. Joyce has also been a mentor and a collaborator to communicators throughout our region. She has generously shared her expertise, invested in the growth of those around her, and helped develop communications professionals who have gone on to leadership roles in other communities. Extending her impact on the profession well beyond Eden Prairie, which is so so so important. Her leadership has strengthened this organization, improved the ways residents experience and interact with their city, and created a legacy that will continue to benefit Eden Prairie for years to come. So, on behalf of MAGC, I'm honored to congratulate the city of Eden Prairie and your communications team on an outstanding year, very clearly. And Joyce, congratulations again on receiving the 2026 Scott Pangel lifetime achievement award. It is a fitting recognition of an exceptional career and a legacy of public service that has set a standard for government communicators across Minnesota. So, congratulations. >> [applause] [applause] >> Sure. >> Thank you, Ari, for being here tonight and for those incredibly kind words. It means a great deal to have you here representing MAGC and to have the city's work recognized in this way. I also want to recognize my team. I'm incredibly fortunate to work with a group of talented, creative, and dedicated communications professionals who care deeply about this community and about doing exceptional work on its behalf. I'm very proud of what we've accomplished together. And I want to thank our city leadership and our city council. The kind of communications program Ari described is only possible in an organization that values communication, trusts its professionals, and gives us the support and opportunity to innovate, take some risks, and keep raising the bar. Finally, I'm deeply honored to receive this lifetime achievement award. To be recognized by my peers in this profession means more to me than I can adequately express. Thank you. I'm very grateful. >> [applause] [applause] [clears throat] >> As a city council, we are extremely cognizant of the work of our communications marketing team in that we see the literature that goes out to our residents and and we get um feedback from our residents, but I just want to say on a personal level as mayor that this year's been um fairly well, the last couple years actually fairly stressful. Um but just in terms of needing to get sometimes communications out to the public quickly and have it uh say the things that we really need um it to be to be said and Joyce has been a phenomenal partner, incredible writer um and just um so I'd like to say I wrote everything I sent out, I wrote much of what I sent out. I started with the core of it, but Joyce is an amazing editor and um I think she understands the voice of the people that she ends up writing for or with and that's powerful. So, I can't thank uh her enough um and I got tons and tons of praise. In fact, I got uh praise from county officials who said we were leading the way in our communication um during the um surge, the ice surge this last uh winter um and that's due a lot to Joyce's amazing ability to communicate so well succinctly. So, thank you. Um it's well deserved. Um that's amazing to have our city win uh all those awards for communication. So, and and again, uh Rick Getsch you um our CEO, you lead this um this the staff, the community uh of our employers employees. Um so, thank you for all that you do as well. Uh hiring really good people. And council, thank you for all the support that you've given to a really high quality of staffing that we have in the city and the expectations that our residents have come to expect. >> Uh Mayor Council, I'd also echo some of the comments uh regarding Joyce. Ari, that was that was excellent. I mean, th- those comments you really covered a lot of ground and there was so much um that you said related to the city and and I think there's so much good content. Obviously, there's so much good content that our communications team puts out um to the city, but so much good content related to um the communications um work that Joyce does for the team and not only in the awards that were presented this year, there are there are awards that are presented each and every year and we need to bring those back um more often in the future but one thing to keep in mind too and I think you know the mayor knows this and I know that the police and fire department know this but a lot of the job that Joyce has in communications has is a lot of it can be 24/7 so there are and you mentioned this mayor with some of the communications that emergencies arise at all different times and Joyce herself particularly is ready at all hours of the day to respond and communicate on behalf of the city and be ready to assist the city and our residents and internally with the department when needed in any instance that we have in addition to a lot of what Ari said in making us one of the top cities not only in the state but in the country as it comes to you know when it comes to our level of engagement and communication I was asked to speak at a national city manager conference related to how well we engage with our community and that was due to your work and your team's work and and you helped me put together that presentation so that was a big that was a big part of that and and also how how you lead your team that is a huge part of the work as well Mary you mentioned you know me being the the CEO of the city that's the city is full of many many CEOs and many other people in their divisions and their areas of work that make the city function as well so kudos to Joyce and we're going to talk about this award internally every day. >> [laughter] [snorts] >> Um real fast, just another little piece of of your job that has really arisen in the last couple years is that with social media today, it's not infrequent that misinformation would start to get out pretty quickly and it can spread really fast. Um and if you pay attention sometimes to Nextdoor, um you'll you'll read and we're not really permitted in in legally I would or at least we're advised not to respond on that because of the archival issues, but but sometimes I want to so badly, but Joyce's team is so quick to jump on what's happening out there in terms of rumors, misinformation, uh flawed, you know, um understandings of what just happened. And so her team has kind of well, all communication marketing teams these days, but has this new responsibility really to stay 24/7 um up to what's happening out in the misinformation world. So, thank you again for for all you do there as well. >> Uh Council, anything else just before we move on and just about this amazing communication department we have? >> Thank you. >> Thank you. It's amazing. Okay. Moving on. We have the approval of the agenda. Um any items uh you want to add or pull off um or talk about separate or any um um council member reports you want to add? Nothing? Okay. Is there a motion to approve the agenda? >> I'll move to approve the agenda. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Second. >> Further discussion. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> I. Any opposed? Moving to the minutes of our Council meeting back in July, July 14th, we had both a workshop and a City Council meeting. Uh any concerns in there? Any edits? Anything that you read that you would like to see changed? Okay, if not, is there a motion to approve um both minutes of the workshop and the regular city council meeting. >> Move to approve the following city council minutes. City council workshop held Tuesday, July 14, 2026. And city council meeting held Tuesday, July 14, 2026. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Opposed. Moving to the consent calendar A through V. A little bit lengthy today. It's the um all the list of very important items, but nonetheless often not needing further discussion. However, council, are there any items on the consent calendar that you would like to have a little bit more information on or have a discussion? If not, is there a motion to approve the items A through V on the consent calendar? >> I'll move to approve items A through B A through B on the consent calendar. >> Second. >> any further discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Opposed. All right. We have one public hearing tonight, Mr. Getchell. >> Uh thank you, Mayor and Council. Uh Dell Road street and utility project. So, something you're very familiar with, something we've been talking about for quite some time. Uh you authorized a feasibility study for this project back in 2022. And you actually have Robert's going to discuss this have previously approved this, but due to the development delays with the Marshall Farms development project, the road project was put off. So, um it is back before you again. Um I'm not going to read through all this because I believe Robert has some slides. Our public works director, Robert Ellis, has some slides that he would like to go through and um bring you up to speed, but basically the bottom line is we're asking you to reauthorize um the street and utility project once again. So, I will turn things over to Mr. Ellis to provide a brief presentation um before you would take action, hold the public hearing, and reorder the street and utility improvements. >> Robert. >> Uh Mayor K, City Council, so yes, um may sound very familiar because in January of 2024, you actually took action on this very item. And the reason we're back today is because state statute sets a clock for when you order a project and when you have to begin it, and that's 12 months. And we were prepared to do that, but the previous developer, the Marshall Farms, as you know, fell through, moved on, and now we have a new developer, and because of that, it took more than 12 months. So, here we are back. We have it on the consent calendar tonight, the final plat for Marshall Farms was approved as well as the second reading and the development agreement. So, it looks like we have a developer very poised to move forward with this project. And so, to um get the project started for Dell Road, because these two are joined at the hip. Without Marshall Farms, we cannot build Dell Road. There was a exchange of land needed for the new alignment. So, that's why they're tied together. But, [snorts] uh we're back again asking for the council to reorder the project you had previously ordered in January of 2024. So, uh maybe just a quick recap of the previous action cuz there's been numerous action taken by the City Council on this project dating back several years. Uh some of the first serious conversations we had about it were in March of 2022 where the City Council, at a workshop, was shared the alignment of Dell Road and reviewed that. And uh then there was March uh of that same year where the City Council authorized the feasibility study that is required as part of any assessment project. And then in November of 2023, City Council received that feasibility study. It was discussed at the council meeting. And that was followed a few months later in January of 2024, as I mentioned, where the City Council ordered the project. That allowed us then to come um before the council in July of 2025 with the final plans and specifications that would be used for bidding. That was approved. Then on September of 2025, we started to getting an inkling that maybe this development was not going to move forward, but we had already advertised bids. So, now we had to do something with those bids. And because it seemed like it probably would not move forward, the development that is, we rejected those bids. Um and then in August of 2026, we're here today because we do have a developer that uh has actually started quite a bit of work on the project. And so, we need to now do our Dell Road. So, we're asking for a reordering of the project, and we will be back in September with a set of bids for hopefully the council to award and will begin construction on the project. So, a little bit of a history going back a number of years, but I wanted to refresh the council. So, a little bit about the Dell Road project. I've tried to lay This isn't perfect, but I tried to match with the existing topography of the area. You see the red dash line is the current alignment of Dell Road. And then I've laid the plans over the topography to show where the new Dell Road will be going. So, it's moving slightly north in the center of this alignment. And the reason that it's moving is we have some today some very sharp horizontal curves that have restricted sightlines. Makes it a little bit dangerous or uncomfortable as you're coming around some of those corners. So, to improve that, we're widening or softening the curve so there are as better sightline. Vertical slopes are rather steep out there. I believe we have almost 16% slopes up and down in areas of Dell Road. So, we're trying to soften those. They'll be adjusted to about a 13.9%. So, we're able to make some marginal improvements. It'll still be uh somewhat steep road, but we've tried to eliminate some of the steepest parts. Uh also working with the watershed district, we've They've done a number of projects over the years along Riley Creek to restore the bank and do some uh creek bank restoration. So, we've made some changes into where that creek crossing is located and some improvements for fish habitat as well. Uh so, we've worked with them on where that alignment of Riley Creek will ultimately be after the end of the project. And then, I also want to highlight that uh you don't see the road going all the way down to Flying Cloud Drive, Highway 61. A portion of that was built when the county redid that project a few years ago, but we will match with a new trail that will uh tie in with Highway 61 with our project. So, you'll see a little bit of trail work and some grading on that farther southern portion of Dell Road. And then, there is a short segment of Turnwall that is actually being reconstructed and aligned with this project as well. So, a little bit of frontage on that Turnwall that is included with this project. I should highlight that some of the improvements are not only the roadway, uh there is a trail that will continue, which is on the west side of the road transitioning to the south side, so it's on that west and south. Uh it will tie in to the north with the existing trail, tie in with um Flying Cloud Drive trail. Water and sewer, of course, are being extended so that we can ultimately serve the Turnwall neighborhood. Uh there's a lift station because we aren't able to gravity serve uh the sewer here, so we're putting the lift station down by the Riley Creek crossing. And then, stormwater treatment. So, currently out there today, a gravel road, anytime it rains, a lot of that gravel washes down into the creek. That's been a a a problem that we've had with um uh total suspended solids build up in the creek because of that. So, with this project, we'll be capturing that storm through our stormwater system and then doing some treatment and rate control before it discharges into Riley Creek. So, there's stormwater improvements as well. Um just to uh show you exactly what this road will look like. This is on the existing section of Dell Road looking to the north. So, you can see Marshall Farm uh off to the side there on the right-hand side. You can see the existing trail that's on the left-hand side. This is a two-lane, 30 mph roadway. We're going to continue that design farther to the south. Again, it'll stay a two-lane, 30 mph design roadway. It will have that 8-ft trail on the west south side that'll be separated by a grassy boulevard. You will see a small section of sidewalk um that has been installed with the Marshall Farm development, but that sidewalk does not carry farther to the south. It will only be the trail on the one side of the road. Um but that is the cross-section of the road that's being built. I'll talk a little bit about the assessment and the assessment area. So, this is uh about an $11 million project uh when it's totally completed. We are looking to assess about $1.2 million of that total project cost, which amounts to about 11% of the total project. The largest uh share of that will be through the the developer of the Marshall Farms. They're being assessed about $850,000 of that $1.2 million um and it's based on per unit, so they have 50 units of development there and that's what's driving their cost. And then there are some other landowners along here that you see with the numbers one and and twos and threes. Those are the number of units that they will be assessed uh for the Dell Road project. Most of them are at one. The ones that are in black that you see, they're a little bit different than the ones in white. It's because there are previous development agreements that were authorized when those properties were built and in their development agreement, it specified that they would be a um charged a unit for the future Dell Road assessment. So, that has already been approved through previous development agreements. Uh the ones in whites were not part of any development agreement and you see different units from one to two to three. That's based on how many potential units they might be able to fit on those lots. Some are a little bit larger, can house uh more than one home, some are just the one. And the way the assessments work, just to refresh you, is that once the project's done, there's a period of time that expires before the the assessment is finally levied through another public hearing that the city council will conduct. But homeowners are only required to pay one unit if there is a current home on that property. The others are deferred until some future time of of development. If they were to replat and add another home or two homes, then those assessments would be due only at that plat. If that's never replatted, if there never is another home built on those lots, then that is never due. It's just held as a pending for that potential if it ever were to replat or develop. Um again, we're looking at 17 total property owners um out there that would be a part of that assessment. And this is that preliminary assessment roll, so you see the the Marshall Farm, the development there at the top at almost 850,000, and then all of the other units that are a part of that uh assessment area. And then I just want to finish with the timeline. So, um construction seems to be well underway out there. We plan to, like I said, bring those bid award to the September city council meeting with that would allow the construction to begin this fall. We're probably going to start down at the creek with the creek crossing. A lot of the mass grading, and you'll see that happen over the winter. That's the best time to do that type of work. And then throughout the remainder of 2027, you'll start to see the roadway and some of the utilities going up the hill and the trail as well. So, a lot of that heavy construction will take place over uh the remainder of 2027. This will be a total closure, certainly while that creek crossing is being constructed. There may be a time later in the project, late in 2027, where it's open to traffic, but it may stay closed for the majority of the construction season. We look to be substantially complete about fall of 2027. We will follow this project up with another project and I wanted to maybe highlight that. Once all of the roadway has been built, utilities in, the site revegetated, we're coming in with a separate project to do landscaping. We'd like to add some trees. We want to do a lot of work with native prairie grasses out there, but there will be a separate project where we're going to try to beautify this after all the heavy construction is done. And again, that will be a separate project, designed separately, bid award separately, sometime in 2027-2028. And then with respect to the assessments, that would happen in the fall of 2028 when the city council always does their assessment process. Uh the city council would be asked to levy those assessments and then homeowners would first in the spring of 2029 see an installment of an assessment to be due for those property owners. We work with them on a term, uh 10 years. Sometimes we go as long as 20 years for property owners that want to extend that that payback of that assessment, but uh we'll work with them individually when that time comes. So, anyways, I think that is all that I have for presentation, but certainly can answer any questions. >> Uh council, we're going to have a public hearing momentarily. Um you could ask questions now or wait till after we close the public meeting, public hearing. Uh Robert, I just for the sake of the council, I just want to clarify one thing. We approved this exact proposal that we're looking to approve tonight previously. I just want to make sure the assessments were part of that. >> Yes. >> So, nothing has changed. And so, it's fine that we could change our minds. I just want to remind people that we 5-0 have already approved exactly this. And so, if we have new questions, I'm maybe different shade or clarify that. I I certainly understandable. Uh Council, you okay if I go ahead and open the public hearing? Okay. Um maybe you'll just stay there in case there's questions that come up. So, um this is a public hearing. Is there anyone in the audience wishing to address the Council this evening on the Dell Road Street and utility improvement project? I feel like I'm at a caucus meeting where I have to say that three times. You know, I won't. Um seeing none, um I think we're probably since we've approved this before, I think we're good just go ahead and make the whole motion. We can still ask any questions, comment. Um so, is there somebody willing to make the motion? >> Well, move to close the public hearing and adopt resolution reordering Dell Dell Road Street and utility improvements. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Any further discussion, questions, comments that you wish to offer at this time? If not, all those in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. All right, thank you, Robert. Nice um review presentation. Appreciate that. All right, um moving ahead in the agenda, payment of claims. Um any uh expenses that you as you read through the pages and pages that you wish um to find out more about. If not, is there a motion to approve the payment of claims? >> I move to approve the payment of claims as submitted. >> Second. >> Roll call vote. >> Councilmember Freiberg. >> I. >> Councilmember Nerison. >> I. >> Councilmember Nelson. >> I. >> Councilmember Toomey. >> I. >> Mayor Case. >> I. >> Council, Mr. Getch, is there anything else to come before the Council this evening. >> Mayor, there is not. >> If not, then could I I will entertain a motion to adjourn the city council meeting. >> I move and then move to adjourn the city council meeting tonight. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> This meeting is adjourned. >> I didn't stretch it. >> I kind of stretched it.