Our house was built in 83. And yes, we have a >> class. I'm not I lost. >> I was just waiting for one more council member here. All right. Good. Calling to order the September 1st to 1st, 2026 meeting Long City Council. Good evening everyone. It's 6:32 p.m. All council members are present this evening with the exception of council member newcomer who is absent with prior notice. Item two is the pledge of allegiance. Please join me to the flag of the United States of America indivisible with liberty and justice for all. [clears throat] >> Okay. Item three is mayor mayor's comments news meeting review and updates. For starters, we just finished a city council work session where we discussed the 2027 preliminary levy and budget as well as 2027 utility rates. No final decisions have been made on the on either further discussion will be continuing but we are having a discussion uh on the utility rates here shortly during this evening's uh regular meeting. And other comments are that we um we haven't met since August 5th. We did cancel our meeting two weeks ago because there wasn't any thing pressing on the agenda. So the first time we met since August 5th as a council update since then are you know summer's winding down obviously and uh school started today and that sort of thing. So it's amazing how quickly uh summer went. Um, but since our last meeting, I just want to call out Corn Days, which was on August 8th. Uh, thanks as always to the Lone Lake Area Chamber of Commerce for the organizing the parade and of course the Church of St. George for corn days itself. And I know most of the council was there for the parade and of course going to the event itself and then some great corn and seeing the exhibitors and live music and all that great activities that the church put on. So, thanks for that great event in our community in uh each and every summer. So, that uh other than that, nothing major going on. I'm sure again some other items here with other business as the meeting goes on. So, move on from that item to uh item four, which is to approve this evening's agenda. I'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda. >> I'll second. >> All right. Motion and a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion carries unanimously. Uh item five, open correspondence. Open correspondence is an item on the agenda in which the public may address the city council. No formal action is taken by the city council and comments should limited to five minutes or less. And open correspondence comments may also be emailed to city staff by noon on the date of the the meeting. Anyone wish to approach? I bet I bet there is. >> Welcome. >> Thank you, honorable mayor, members of the council. Paul River, Boston, Massachusetts, Primary 295 like you have. Uh I I'm surprised there's not a bigger crowd for what's on the agenda tonight because I am very happy with what you guys have come up with. Uh, I just want to I want to thank the the city for seeking to pass a resolution in the upcoming consent agenda this evening to recognize September 17th to the 23rd, 2026. That's Constitution Week in the city of Long Lake. This is a big deal, at least to me. And here's why I think so. Given our current state of the union, I think we are in dire need to remind ourselves about the US Constitution and what it all means and what our rights and obligations are as the people. The current federal administration has caused me to become a constitutionalist. In the battle of Lexington in Concord, Massachusetts in April 1775, there was what was known as the shot heard around the world. And it's recognized as the start of the American Revolutionary War. I don't think we have heard a shot heard around the world since 1970 Kent State uh when US National Guard fired upon its own US citizens. Fast forward to January 7th and 24th of this year in Minneapolis when once again a tyrannis a ter tyrannical let's say act was committed by the federal government much like King George III and his loyalists in 1775 which in 1775 was an act that became one of the many driving forces for the founding fathers to bring forth a declaration of independence where we advised King George that we the people will not stand for such tyrannous acts and we're all created equal and endowed by our creator certain unalienable rights among those life liberty and the pursuit of happiness which is a great book uh by Walter I sent out for the 250th anniversary where he dissects that sentence was the greatest sentence I've ever written good short read so I think it's very important time in our country for folks like us to bring forth the US constitution We should revisit it, study it, exercise our rights as the people. In the past, when the human condition was looking a little rough, my mother used to half jokingly say, "Things will get better come the revolution." And things will get better. We're just going to have to go through some some tough times to get there. I think it's important to point out here, a revolution is not an act of violence by definition. Most revolutions in history have not been violent. And times that a revolution has become violent is most often been started by the oppressor, not those seeking change. So have hope in a peaceful resolution. I hope everyone takes the time to revisit the Constitution and what it means to live in a democracy during this week in September 2026 is the responsibility and obligation of everyone participating in order for it to work correctly. I hope everyone gets out, exercise their rights, make their voices heard, speaks out against oppressors, and most of all, uphold the laws and the principles of the US Constitution. That's what being a constitutionalist. So, I really want to thank the city of Long Lake, the Daughters of American Revolution, who got this proclamation to become national back in 1956. And I really hope we do something to promote it in long way. You know, if it's signage in storefronts, sandwich boards, you know, emails. It's upcoming US Constitution Week in September and uh you know, do something with it. Hold a proclamation down in the park. You can get logos from the Daughters of the Revolution website to use examples here. There you go. So, I think it's a great thing you guys are doing. Thank you for doing it. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. River. I mean, Mr. Miller. >> All right. Any um submitted open correspondent? >> Nothing. >> All right. Thank you. So then moving on item six which is the consent agenda. Items A through G on the consent agenda this evening. A couple to call out are um item F is issuance of special event permit for the Gear West Gear Western country half marathon of 5K event on October 10th. Great event there. Yes. Item G, adopt a resolution number 20, 20 2026-37 recognizing September 17th through 23rd as constitution week in the city of uh Mon Lake and as noted in the item on the packet uh item there is that was request from Daughters of the American Resol resolution specifically Lake Man chapter and Moren steel bellows regarding it being constitution week as designated in 1955 by United States Congress. So this occurs every every year. Um I guess it's officially started in 1956 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. So not sure if we recognized this before in previous years. I guess I don't recall it during my my term here per se, but just recognizes the Constitution which was of course in 1787 and has stood the test of time amazingly and the all all of these years and hopefully will continue to in the many years to come in history of the nation. Just wanted to point that out and uh and then also approving the LMPC mentioned LMPC 2027 budget. I don't know if you wanted to mention anything about that quality but >> we're trying to keep it is low according to the plan and um yep the the executive committee. >> No, actually it was a full meeting approved uh the the budget um was it a couple weeks ago? Couple weeks ago. >> Yeah. So two weeks ago I was here. >> Right. Right. that right there. >> But yeah, no. Um, they've mapped out uh what the projection is for the revenue because the revenue keeps declining each year and hopefully when Mid Code comes online, maybe they'll kind of uh uh kind of supplement some of the revenue and increase their revenue, but they have a a max out for I forget the end date, but yes, in trying to keep expenses low and trying to look for more opportunities to Good. Okay. All right. Unless there's any questions for staff, entertain a motion to approve this evening's consent agenda. Second motion to approve the consent agenda. >> Thank you. Second motion and a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. >> Motion carries hands, please. Great. Thank you. Okay, then moving on to item seven, regular business. Starting with 7A, authorized negotiation of a temporary access agreement allowing use of Harden Park property by Excel Energy for a transmission line improvement project. >> Yes, it tonight I'm going to be introducing Mr. Brian Milky of WSB. He is going to be working with Excel Energy on a project that they are working on um to rebuild the existing transmission line that is located between the city of Mound and Gleon Lake. However, in order to access these transmission utility lines um located near Loose Line located near the Loose Line Trail, Excel Energy is requesting that they be allowed to utilize Harden Park for an approximate period of six months. Tonight we are going to hear from Brian a little bit as he supervis some information on the project and we're also asking council to authorize um city myself the city administer to negotiate with him and executing a temporary agreement and um some compensation terms. So I invite Brian up to the podium to talk to you. >> Great. Welcome Brian stepping up there. >> Thank you mayor council ad did pretty good. >> Okay. So, um I I think the city administrator Ninsky got got things summarized fairly well. Excel Energy has got a transmission line. Well, they've got numerous transmission lines and if you drive around this north, what I'll call the north and western metro area, you'll see a lot of rebuild work in the last few years for these 69 kilovolt lines. They're simply end of life. That that's what's happening in Howard Lake, Montro. Those segments are done. I've got one starting between Mound and St. Bonnie um in about a month, not even they're all reaching end of life. And this is one that was built in 1960 and follows the loose line trail between Gle basically Gleon Lake Elementary to a subspace in uh basically downtown M. The challenge we have with this segment along the loose line is there's a few spots, not just the one by Harden Park, but a few others where the topography andor the bridges are such that you can't get equipment through. So when we looked at this a while back, we looked at what are some access points where we don't have to do a ton of tree tree removal, a ton of grading, etc. things like that and Harden Park effectively hits that. >> Can I ask a question with your map? So, it looks different. It doesn't look like it's going to Harden Park. Is this >> It goes right along it. >> So, I Yeah, southeast or straight southerntherly. the south end of Harden Park which is quite frankly the south end of Long Lake as I rec >> there's a three structure span so roughly a thousand ft between >> Forgive me I don't know the road names are we able to project a map up here by chance or not >> give me a minute >> so and admittedly the maps didn't copy well >> right I think we a color one in our packets that might show up better on that trajectory. >> I misread it, but I think it is kind of close to it. So that's what you're Is it going to be buried? >> The transmission line will not transmission lines as a whole generally are not >> really >> they're large. Yeah, they're on large >> Okay. >> the distribution lines there's actually distribution would be the lines that I'll for lack of better words, I'll compare to your city streets or your township road that serve the neighborhood and come to your driveway. That's basically a distribution line. Transmission lines are more your county, state, and interstate. They go substation to substation. >> Okay? So, and those are very very in infrequently underground. >> Is there a transmission line there now? >> Yeah. >> So, it's just replacing the one that's there. >> It's replacing the one that's there. >> The pole. Go ahead. I'm sorry. >> I'm sorry. That was that was me, but I was asking the poles too. The lines and the poles that are there along those plans. >> Correct. And effectively what's happening is with that line built in 1960, you may have seen, granted, we're right at the border and the line follows the loose line. You may have noticed some poles being replaced over the last 5 to 10 years and they've done single pole replacements. We've had places where um we've basically put bracing on them to get them through. But the analogy that I've used is it's kind of like a car. You need new tires, great. You need new spark plugs. Great. All of a sudden, your transmission and your engine are going bad. You replace the car. And that's where these lines are at. >> You're replacing more than the poles. You're replacing the whole thing. >> It'll be the whole thing. Yeah. But it's not going to be any bigger than it is now, or is there are they going to be more poles? Is it going to be taller? You know, it's going to be >> The poles themselves will I anticipate being 10 to 15 feet on average taller. The reason for that is they'll be upgraded to current standards. So we'll have what's called OPGW, which is basically a fiber communications line that is just for the transmission line that'll be added. Um the pole counts should be similar. The operating voltage is staying the same. So there's no there's no operational change in it. It is swapping what's there for a new one. I have actually seen this project going through Montros and township areas. So I've seen those. I was going to say those new poles are bigger. >> They're taller. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. The I bike on the loose line a lot in the east of Gleon Lake Elementary. There seems to be new poles in on that stretch. So maybe that are taller and metal. I think from I have to I'd have to look. I wasn't involved in that segment, but yes, that segment was rebuilt I want to say about five years ago. So, >> are there more lines on it than on the current one or? >> Well, operationally it'll stay the same. Uh the one thing that I will 100% acknowledge is there is places where the service lines crossed the transmission line and they're on the same pole. There's places the geometry will not work to move the service lines. So you may you may see an existing pole that stays and it's cut off with a new pole number of feet away. That's going to be very very limited. It's going to be limited to where it's necessary for the geometry of the service line, but there will that'll be the one place that I'm aware of that we'll be seeing whole count increase. >> These make noise like is there humming noise to these transmission lines? I'm going to answer that both correctly, politically, and uh also I'll call it directly. Um when there are when there is not something wrong with the line on a 69 KV line, you should not be hearing them. Does it happen? Yes. If clamps get loose or something of that nature, there are times when I've heard a 69 line, but it means there's something not right. >> And then you come out and fix it. to some degree. It depends a little bit on uh what it is and it has to be something that makes the utility aware of it or someone else um you know makes them aware of it. I can remember a time in Plato transmission line got hit by a car and was hanging by a toothpick but the pole didn't break. Well, the utility didn't know about it until quite frankly my dad called him because it was in front of the church that he mowed the lawn for at the time mowed the lawn for. So, >> the person that hit it never called. >> No. No. And the police report hadn't called them yet either, which was the part that was really bizarre because that's normal part of reporting. But dad called the utility because he called me and said, "Who do I call?" I said, "You just did." on the proposal for use of Harden Park. Would that essentially just be like for traffic to drive through? Are you talking about storage? What type of equipment would be on that road? I am realizing in the back of my mind that while initially I'm I'm not sure this is fully present, but having just been talking about future bonding for a street project, Green Hill and Glenmore Lane are in rough state to begin with. So, if you're hauling heavy equipment over that, uh, all of a sudden that's a bigger deal, I think, than I was initially thinking. >> I don't know if public public works director, right? >> I don't know the public works director had a comment, but um, jump in if you'd like. >> We had that same discussion in the field. So, I guess what I'm trying to dial into is what what would the use of the streets and the park property be? >> It would be for specifically the three pole segment between Weisetta Boulevard and Highway 12 to get the poles and the equipment necessary in there. Um, in terms of what would I see for equipment, you're going to see a drill rig. Um, Let's see. I do not know if any of those three, they're all what we call tangent structures, which is straight. I don't know if any of them would have a foundation or not. I could find that out, but I don't know right now. >> Trying to get a sense of, you know, are we going to see a lot of vehicles on that roadway? >> To give a sense, it would be it would be the same equipment for other rebuilds that we've done, but it would be limited to just those pretty cold and we've driven these down four ton paved roads with no issues as long as we don't do it during the road restriction season. That said, um it could be racked into an agreement for use through Harden Park. Um you know, how did I I wrote a note to myself after you emailed yesterday. >> My memory, what was the >> a condition? >> Yeah, I prefer that being done in the winter myself. And this stretch along the loose line is intended to be the winter for multiple reasons. One is the trail itself. I realize there's snowmobile traffic on it. However, >> it's not there's not snows allowed west of Subs Bay Road and in Oro. >> Yeah, where I just won Orno because they've got the signage up for snowmobiles. >> That's right. >> Right. >> I I apologize. I was I just looked at a spot in Oro before I came here. >> Um but for traffic purposes and quite frankly with us being through several golf courses um we're actually also planning to do this segment that goes into mound frankly in the winter as well at least a portion of it because it it sounds silly and I don't mean it to be a joke. It sounds like it, but our crews don't want to be dodging golf balls any more than the golfers want to see them there. Frankly, >> I think what I'm trying to get down here is an estimate of the average daily traffic impact on that road as well as is there going to be equipment actually parked in the park and will there be like full lane in the park? What's that what's the actual impact to Harden Park and the daily impact to the residents who live on that street? The daily impacts are going to vary a ton because what you're going to see on a transmission line rebuild is you'll see effectively we need to get in and stake and do some >> locates. >> Then you won't see anything for months. >> Then drill poles in this case three of them. And in those days I can't I I'm sorry clerk Miller. I Miller >> I'm sorry. >> That's okay. Um, I can't give you an estimate off the top of my head, but you're not, this isn't going to be a 100 vehicles a day. You're talking more in the even on the heavy days, you're talking more in that much lower range. Uh, without getting an estimate from the crew, I don't want to put a number to it. Um then you'll see a period where there's no activity again until they set the poles and are string and wired. So >> would poles or equipment be proposed to be stored out there? >> Oh yes, that was the other question I was trying to remember. Not plan property for any sort of staging and storage other than the matting that we would put down. >> Okay. >> Even in winter, we would plan to put matting to protect the turf. Um, and it's their interlocking polymer mat. >> So that particular route I have a water man under. If that were to break, how easy that comes? >> It's the matting itself is pretty easy to get out. It's easy to get in and out. It just takes time because it's heavy and it takes equipment. Um, but yeah, that's the Best answer I can give you is I'm sorry. >> It's fairly easy, fairly fast. It's just heavy and it takes equipment. >> Then another question I get is um on street parking. >> My question here. >> Um are we going to be parking all our rigs on the street or on the loose line or what's the plan there? >> This is the this is street right now of the park. There is no street parking in this area. The culdeac would be >> I don't want any >> That's a lot of driveways. Yeah, >> you can't fit more than a handful of vehicles in there. >> And I wouldn't anticipate any street parking or um park parking other than what I could foresee is a crew stopping having a crew pickup or something like that parked on Glenmore near where we parked when we met. I just don't want to come in at 4:00 in the morning and to follow that road and have 15 XL trucks in a >> point or whoever. >> Well, and again that be one of the things I was looking for my notes and I had written it yesterday. Um having a condition within there of no staging and no overnight parking of any means. >> You don't actually allow that citywide. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> That wouldn't be unusual. So, uh, projectwide, you will end up seeing some street parking where we have places where we cross roads, for example. Um, it wouldn't, for example, I wouldn't anticipate it. Well, that there's going to have to be some sort of roadway protection, and a lot of times we do that. It's a horribly desript horrible description, but I would expect we would have either a tent pull or a truck with what we call bat wings for cutting Highway 12, for example. Uh they do that when they string the wire. So, it's pretty uncommon, but if you have a catastrophic failure, you know, we don't close the roads with string wire. >> Excavators and track equipment in there equipment. this location in sorry multi-ton excavators or winter I would expect we would have a drill rig we would have bucket trucks and we would need a we would need a likely rubber tire I would the biggest thing I would expect to see would be the rubber tired frame to set the poles So, how long is the bumper to bumper on these pole in there? >> Yes. Yep. When we looked at that, Jake Riners was the individual from the construction that joined us. When Jake was looking at that, we did have well in either direction. if we went around the grill or if we went closer and by where the tennis courts are and follow the trail. And in either case, to be fair, there's a couple of trees that would likely need to come down to make the turning movements. And that was actually in the notes that I sent. I don't know if you guys have those or not. >> I'm sorry. >> Conifer is that >> are you able to show where the poles are located on here? If you zoom just a little bit to the south located >> and then they go >> okay those three that we're talking about >> you're going to be more on the closer to the leaf line to heavy equipment >> you are going to But the hard part is just staging. So you need >> access only. It wouldn't even be staging. >> Sorry, clarify that. So do you need concrete? How do you set them concrete? >> If the That's what one thing that I would have to check, commit, council member. Sorry, I want to say commissioner. I'm planning commission. Um council, that's one of the things I'd need to check if any of these three poles would have a foundation or not. on tangent poles, meaning inline poles. They're straight in line with the ones on next to them. The majority of the time we do those what we call direct embed, which is direct right into the ground. What has h I've seen over the last I'm going to say five years is almost every project they're actually using pulvers as well because when you drill the hole the dirt's falling in. So instead, what they've gotten into the habit of doing is using embedded culvert that those holes of the hole form and then they can back fill that with rock. So you don't see the culverts, they're all subsurface, but they're there. >> Tell me that describe a culvert. I think a culvert I think is something that goes, you know, underneath the road. You're talking is like a met premanufactured metal inside concrete. >> It's a tube. >> It's a tube. Okay. >> Vertical. Okay, >> that's what I would anticipate from these three poles. Although to be fair, I'd have to double check with engineering if any of these three are planned to have a foundation. And then the trees, I think in the trees that you would in the spring, whatever you would have a contractor that would replace those kind of for if you had to cut them down. >> We could replace them or we can compensate for them. Either of those could be the case. Um, I will tell you the size that they are, it would be hard to replace a conifer of that size. It is not, however, impossible unless they've grown quite a bit since March. Um, quite frankly, I know that because I just had one done myself by uh one of the tree companies that's just north of Buffalo and his name is keeping my mind. But I would recommend to anybody. >> Yes. I have a question for you because um I didn't understand this. An alternate path would go towards the trail area basically along the southern end of the ice rink still area. I was just wondering what that was. >> The current walking trail is >> an ice rink there. >> We used to park and play. >> No one used that either. >> Okay. I edited my notes slightly so they'd read better for this purpose, but I more or less copied and pasted the notes after we met in the field. >> So, I prefer the first drop other than staying off of our walking trail because you're going to have to replace that probably. I do have one further question. 20 years down the road, we're going to use these access points for maintenance for vegetation control. Typically, no, and here's why. Vegetation control can get in with a lot smaller stuff, frankly. And if it's done right, they can right might not be the correct word to use. Um, but done with the preferred method, they can do it in a way that they you really don't see the large growth come back in the corridor. To be fair, this is one of the worst corridors I've seen. This there, especially in the summer, there is so much vegetation underneath that line. They have trimmed it enough to keep the minimum clearances. And I will also tell you the easement um that was very very specific. It's one of the best easements I've ever seen, but it also allows for up to 15 foot trees be planted right within the rightway. >> So, which is pretty unusual with this. We are to be fair, we are going to have to clear the right of way enough to get equipment everywhere, replace those poles and pull the existing There will be some places that we slightly modify the center line as well to stay within the easement itself and not be impacting private properties. So is that coming out of there or is that staying in there? >> It's going to stay on the loop line property. >> So everything you cut down staying >> Oh, Help me understand. I'm sorry. >> The vegetation that you're going to clear out, is it staying in the rightway or is it coming out being hauled off? Oh, we anticipate the we anticipate the DNR will have us haul it all off. It's going to have to go through hard and hard. >> Um there I would anticipate no and I could talk with Veg and make sure to know that. Yeah. I think the bridges think the bridges are both heavy enough and large enough that we can get the outp that's going to be a whole separate time frame by the golf All right. >> So, can you just clarify? I'm confused. Maybe just So, you're going you're staging it in not staging it. Um, you're putting down Matting and you'll be putting some stuff there. Um, but you're going through Harden Park through the trail in one way or you going off the street in the other way? >> No. I can show you these. >> Oh yeah, >> I was going to talk loud so the mic can hear you. Please, John. primary water. >> Oh, okay. Okay. >> Okay. >> Got it. Thanks for that. All right. Any other questions for Brian? Making sense to folks and this wouldn't occur until the fall winter of 2028 2022. That is our plan. Um and the reason mayor uh why I'm here early is our alternatives. There's alternatives that exist, but they're limited and they would mean doing some other I'll call it significant grading and clearing planning. So, it's long lead time type activities. So, if we have what I'll call a general understanding that we can work toward having agreement in place with staff or with council, um then I have that certainty. Without that, I've got to start working on those other alternatives very very early. And the other thing I will uh state intentionally is we've been coordinating with the local government along the trail as well as the DNR. Uh this is by far the most public announcement that's been made is since we've been here at the meeting. We haven't announced the entire rebuild yet. that speeded up. But we've been trying to get some back and forth um I'll call items clarified with the DNR minor things as well. This pole needs to be X feet deep from the trail. Okay. Trying to make those shift. >> So if this didn't work go through the line trail go >> we'd have to do potentially we'd be looking at bridge modifications. Potentially we'd be looking at coming off of Highway 12 and doing a significant amount of greater or white boulevard. It would be something frankly we'd look at with the construction team because um we're we're not for lack of better words we're not going to try to force anything through anywhere. We know that we're going to have some upset people when we got to start clearing trees and we know the DNR's purpose and the transmission line purpose are sometimes at but at the same time we're looking for what's the least impact alter >> because it looks like um there's not much space between that playground set and all that. that seems like that would be a huge thing to have that >> a few notes that I wanted to mention. Um, I've been working with Brian and if this is something council is comfortable with, what what the um recommendation is tonight is to authorize myself but myself and staff to continue working with Brian on negotiating and making sure that we are being compensated but also um taking the best route to do so. He he'd be working with Sean. give you an add on um right away permits. I also made a note, you know, probably we we fill out some type of an escrow so that we would have engine our engineer take a look at it to make sure that our infrastructure is significant to what they're looking for. Um >> and if things are damaged, >> if they're damaged and so yes um Brian and Brian, myself and Janette have already had emails and Sean as well. So, um, there are areas that we're thinking of. We bring three different areas of expertise to this. And so, if comfortable tonight, you're not necessarily approving a specific route or anything. You're you're approving us to move forward in this. >> It's an option >> to negotiate an agreement. >> And we've been making notes all the way through. million little comments here. >> Is there pains involved in that? Then too >> he would be. Yes. >> Can I ask another like dumb question? So you're only replacing three poles, but it seems like you're in there. Why wouldn't you replace some more? Because >> we will. It would just be for those three poles that we don't have an alternative, >> a better alternative to get at >> because the bridges on Wisetta Boulevard and Highway 12 are such that as they're sitting, we can't get the equipment through. >> So only three are there only three poles between the bridges? >> That's exactly >> right. The whole line is being replaced, but this agreement would just be for those three poles because that's all we'd be accessing >> in that spot. >> How did they get them in before? >> That's a good question. >> Depends on whom you ask. There wasn't two bridges there before 25 years ago. All right. Well, I'll make a motion to authorize the city administrator to negotiate next to a temporary access agreement and compensation term subject to the city attorney review and approval for the purpose of allowing Excel Energy to utilize Harden Park to access utility transmission lines located on or near the loose plan trail. >> I'll second that motion. >> Thank you. Motion and a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor? I >> I >> I. Those opposed? Motion carries unanimously. >> All right. >> I guess we probably still a railroad running there. >> Yeah. >> Just brought them in by rail. >> Oh, yeah. >> I think it stopped like 72 73 something like that. >> We don't I mean, >> if you go a little further away, when I was a kid, there was still a train that ran about once a week. >> Yeah. >> Now there's now the track been gone. >> All right. Great. So, with that, we'll move on to 7 uh B adoption 2027 city utilities and recycling tree. >> Yes. Thank you. So tonight, um, in front of council, I have the resolution for resolution 2026-40 to adopt our 727 utility utility rates. This will include water, sewer, storm water, recycling, organic, and any um pass through fees that we have in front of you. I have my proposed changes for the 2027 rate. There is nothing significant with the except with the exception of storm water. I am recommending um a rather large change for the storm water um fee based fee to go from $4.95 up to $858. This would allow us to start preparing to work with the Metropolitan Council on future storm water improvements in our city. I'm also happy to announce that our we've received notice that our Metropolitan Council sewer treatment has gone down for 2027. And if you'll recall, that was a pass through to our residents. So that fee will be going down for each of our residents. Is >> that because uh we've had a dry year? >> I believe it was because we've had a drier year. We we did um minor lining a few years ago, but I'm I'm thinking Mother Nature was the size. So, that went down at $1.75 per resident. Um, I'd also like to let to point out to council that our um that our rates continue to be lower than many of our neighboring communities. If you'll see here, we are falling in the bottom half almost the bottom third of of our rates compared to communities around us. And this is our 2027 rates compared to 2026 rates of surrounding communities. So that could that could continue to change as rates get adopted. So if council does not have any significant questions for me, I think we talked about We have we have talked about this. Um on average a resident will see a increase of around 3% on their utility bill which is around $3 or less. Um and so I feel that our residents that's fair and equitable for residents right now. Um so the largest increase for residential in this scenario would be someone that uses 8,000 gallons. their monthly bill would increase around $4.80, which is a 3.1% increase. Um, commercial, we are going to be consistent around a 3.3% increase. I appreciate all the work we've done the last couple years kind of helping to get our our utility rates in in check and kind of in a good place where it seems to be fair and equitable based on on usage and and you know household size and and all those kinds of things. I think we're in a good good place with these rates here compared to when first on the council. >> It's well thought out and I think nice that we used it the taxes. So, we're actually covering that cost. >> I agree. And it's also nice as a city to um for our residents to see that we're not keeping the money. Um our metropolitan council fees over $400,000 a year right now. And so for our residents to understand that that money does not stay within the city, it it makes it clear for them to know where the money is going. >> So, I would echo what Charlie said. Good job. >> Yeah. Thanks for all the work. >> Yeah. All right. Well, there's any other questions. >> Entertain a motion on this one. >> I can do it. I got it right here. So, I'll make a motion to adopt resolution number 2026-40 establishing water, sewer, and storm sewer utility rates and establishing curbside residential recycling and residential organic recycling rate. Second. Thank you. Motion and a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor? I opposed. Motion carries unanimously. Great. Thank you. Okay. With that, we'll move on to eight other business. Start with council member Feldman. >> All right. Member Diamond. >> I don't have anything. >> Okay. >> Oh, that's never happened before. I'm sorry. So, um, uh, the Orno, um, high school football team has their first game this Thursday, >> so good luck to them. >> Who are they playing? >> They're playing Becker. We're all heading up to Becker >> and um, be a good game. My son happens to be playing on it, but yeah. So excited for that. >> Yeah. >> What role is he playing? >> He's quarterback. >> Yeah. Very cool. >> Good luck. >> Yeah. Right. All right. We're glad to remember that. All right. One thing I'll point out is that um a couple of weeks ago on August 13th, the city city administrator and city clerk and I all attended the oral regional commercial tobacco prevention meeting which was kind of a consortium that was spearheaded by Hanniba County. I think public health officials um where they are working with communities in the oral school district to try to get similar ordinances on the books to um for tobacco sales try to keep things consistent amongst the cities in the school district and oral the city of Orno kind of got the got a head start on this compared to the other cities and they last year I or so last year I believe changed some ordinances at the recommendation of the county regarding tobacco sales and I know our staff are working on um some looking at those changes to try to bring those to to the council here hopefully in the coming months to make some changes to u be in line with the other cities. So there's representatives from oral city of Oral there um oral police public safety city of um independence they weren't in participation or weren't available but um Maple Plane was so just to give you guys kind of a spear a snapshot of that or a sneak peek that we we've got maybe updating to do in our ordinances and this and I can speak more more to this. I was a little bit surprised to be honest by maybe just being behind the curve on that, but we've, you know, not not necessarily something we've been focusing on, but I think the time has come to kind of focus on that and just ensure that we're we're keeping up with the Joneses when it comes to our ordinances on tobacco sales. So, want to mention that to the council. But besides that, um, um, Northwest Han League of Municipalities kind of takes a summer break. We've had last couple months off, not going to start up here here again next week. So, we'll keep you up to speed on that as those meetings start up again. So, that is it for me. >> Nothing for me. >> Nothing for me. >> Wow. All right, Janette, >> talk a lot. Um, our city hall door replacement project is scheduled in just a couple weeks. So, mid September. Um, it is the 14th or something, but anyway, just a couple short weeks. So, we uh are on the schedule to see that happening and get done. That's great. Took a while for supplies to get on order. Um, striping of the city hall parking lot. Uh, has been working on coordinating that, too. I'm not sure when that's done. >> Yeah, I think >> crosswalks over here, crosswalks over there. And then I have been in a lot of training um and will continue to be in training for a little bit here um on our um necessary upgrades to our meetings module um for our software for meetings management along with um a necessary website update. So um lots of training going on there. I thought you thought that was gonna be off your to-do list. >> I was hoping >> Yeah, I'm hoping to get it off my to-do list before early voting starts, but I'm not entirely certain it'll be meetings management will be ready to launch. Um, not quite. >> What we think about for the strip, you know, it's kind of like a like a two standard two standard widths we think in the wider or the narrower kind of thing. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Well, I learned that years ago, but at the University of Minnesota, there's kind of a Yeah, skinnier ones, which >> skinnier ones, I'm sure that's all we have. >> Well, I mean, think about it. Just I mean, you know, evaluate, I guess, because we got some big trucks and stuff I see parked out there and that kind of thing. It might actually people from parking some of their larger vehicles that aren't supposed to be parked there a lot. It's >> not car, >> right? Right. >> Or there's the Costco size. The Costco size between the Costco size. >> I was told that I was supposed to get a membership Costco. >> Yeah. Not a bad idea. >> Before this video or for >> No, my wife told me. >> All right. Anything else, Sean? That you bought this book your presence here that you want to pass on to? >> Well, since a year ago, we probably have cut down 250 ash trees and got them all hauled off. We recently cut down one of the largest trees in town that fell on our >> some of our equipment in the park and I got that taken care of and starting to piece that back together. >> Which park? >> Nelson Park. >> Two years in a row, some big branches have fallen off and hit that picnic shelter. And just by pure luck, there was nobody in there. So now we don't have to worry about Yeah, I mean it was a windless night out of the >> roof. You can see when you go down there, this stuff is gigantic and rather rocky. So, it was time for it to go. >> We made an emergency decision that the tree had to come because the branch that had fallen from wasn't there was still a good portion of it up there and it it was a very large branch went right through the roof of the >> I know I wouldn't want to get hit by it. Yeah, I think it would have killed somebody. >> It went right through the roof and destroyed none putting some new frame in it and plywood and shingles and whole new. So, so you guys are fixing up yourself. You don't need to hire a contractor or anything. >> Yeah, we're going to try to >> not insurance because the biggest the biggest cost for us as a city was debris removal. Um, and so we're kind of going back and forth on they're like, "Well, if you would have left the tree up, I said that it was a danger and I will not wasn't worth it for insurance claim to have a danger." Um, because as we mentioned, this was not during a storm. It wasn't it was completely beautiful. >> Um, and but we are going kind of going back and forth because they don't usually cover free removal. They cover debris removal and the debris removal was the largest cost to the city so far because John and his team have been working. They did all the debris removal and they've worked on getting the shelter repaired. So, um if insurance is not going to cover the tree removal, I'm not going to cover the deductible. >> It's not it won't be worth it. But if they cover the tree removal, then we will be having a insurance claim. So, and then we might do more >> doing a bunch of lead and copper sampling that's required every three years. Um, they've changed the uh pre pre-approval process on that. So, we've been working through that. Um, I got nine out of the 10 samples. Um, the 10th one tomorrow, so we can look at completing that. Um, they're going to be putting well one out of service on Thursday. Uh that'll probably be out for four to eight weeks depending on what we find in the in the uh removal of that. >> Then everybody is that not going to affect water service? >> We'll be we'll be relying on well two for our water which we did the same thing to that 24 months ago now. And we things have been working great now that I said something. Um hopefully we get some rain and things cool off a little bit and water use goes down a little bit because we're over 300,000 a day which is pretty good clip right now. Um uh fiber guys have invaded town this week trying to get that done. Um we're looking at another record year in locates over 2,000 locates this year like we did last year. >> Um so we're busy doing that. Um, we're doing some trail modifications in Hullbrook Park in the very northwest corner. We're trying to bring that up to par. Also getting rid of some surplus items that we have in the back of the public workshop. So, we've been very, very busy. So, plus we're trying to get another person in in here to get hired and it's been proven rather difficult. So, a lot of social media work by Janette and others to post the position. So, pretty tirelessly keeping everything up to date on that. So, >> I did actually this time though I did a little extra research and found out that there's a Minnesota consortium of uh community and technical colleges that you can post jobs on. >> And since you know St. Cloud and St. Paul both have programs that um are for furthering water and wastewater education not just entail level but furthering as well. >> I went ahead and just sent it to them and created a new profile because it couldn't hurt. So trying to target more and more creative disabilities. >> Good idea. See what comes with that. All right. Great. Thanks, Don. Thank you. Call. All right. The next meeting is going to be on Tuesday, September 15th. And the office is closed on Labor Day. Oh, and then Janette's posting, but uh fall cleanup day is in conjunction with city coming up as well. What was that again? Is it the >> Saturday? 16th >> Saturday. >> Yeah, I think the 19th. It was the if it was a Saturday. So, >> check out West website listening for that. Appreciate Oral's partnership on that. I think is that new? They've always done the spring one. I didn't know that they were doing that. >> They've done a fall one just in the last couple years, man. The fall one a new ad as of maybe three years ago. >> Yeah, it's been a couple years. >> Just a couple. >> Okay, great. Good event. All right. If there's no objection, I'll adjourn the meeting by general consent. Hearing none, meeting is adjourned at 7:33. Yeah, that's much more expensive.