Ready where you are. Mark it. All right. Calling to order the September 15, 2026 meeting of the Longland City Council. Good evening, everyone. It is 6:33 p.m. All council members are present this evening. Item two is the pledge of allegiance. Please join me in the pledgece to the flag of the United States of America and to the stand indivisible and justice for all. >> Okay, item three is mayor's comments news reviews and updates. So just a couple updates tonight. We did just finish a city council work session where we talked about the preliminary 2027 uh city uh tax levy and budget and we'll be discussing that in further detail being regular business here shortly. Some more to come on that. Uh Labor Day occurred since LA last meeting two weeks ago. So kind of marks the end of summer and school's in session and fall sports are in session and school and everyone's doing great so far. I think we'll hear more about that here towards the end of the meeting. Uh so hopefully we had a good summer. Paul is uh going to be here before we know it. Um we are la or two uh two meetings ago we adopted a resolution regarding constitution week and that is starting here on Thursday on the 17th and thanks to staff for putting together a poster behind us here recognizing um aspects of constitution week. So that um is coming up here in just a couple of days. Um and I would like like to call out council member Dybeck for his work um last week helping staff put together a new conference table. He came in on his on his day off. I think here's one to go over the bits here. I left this for you. >> So, so our small but mighty staff um were very appreciative of the assistance of assembling that new conference table in the back of our city hall. So, thank you, John, for for doing that. I know staff greatly appreciated that. So, a few updates on what has been occurring here over the last uh couple of weeks. Um, with that we'll move on to item four, which is to approve this evening's agenda. Motion to approve the agenda. >> Thank you. Motion and a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Motion carries unanimously. Item five is open correspondence. Open correspondence is an item on the agenda in which the public may address the city council. All formal actions taken by the city council and comment should be limited to five minutes or less. I wish to approach this evening. Yes. Please state your name and address. Welcome. >> Hi, I'm Kelly Grady. I live at 671 Green Hill. Um and I am doing public I should have prepared something to say, but I didn't. I am um running for Long Lake City State Council. a couple of you are treating to retire and um I've appreciated so much um getting to know you and um your service and I'm excited about the opportunity. Um I started to do some campaigning as you know uh both candidates are running all of our candidates are running on a post um but uh I genuinely believe that I should earn people's uh vote. So I website which is kellian community.com. I'm doing um meetings. I think I have like seven um scheduled meetings uh for people to come and chat with me if they'd like um that they can find on my events page. I plan to do some door knocking. I have um yard signs and things like that. And I've had people ask me like, "Why are you doing this? You're running on a post." And I it's because I genuinely believe that I should earn people's votes. Um and that also too um through some of the civic engagement that I have had uh working towards a uh fire resolution with the JPA for Shoreline Fire Department, I also realized how important um uh engagement is with residents and what a difference it can make when people do become engaged and um and work with their councils. Uh it became something that was really really important to me. Uh so I'd like to encourage more people in our city to um city coms on our planning commissions or our parks department or even um just attending meetings and understanding some of the things that happen in our city. So I am telling people that I'm running a peoplepowered campaign um which defin means to me that uh engagement should be people should have a seat at the table um far beyond election day. So um as I'm meeting with people I'm definitely encouraging them to come to meetings. I've already seen a couple of people show up. Um, and I've been meeting with people and talking to them about what some of their priorities are. And I've had, um, I had one just before this and I had a handful of people show up and and talk to me about some of their priorities in the city and that was really exciting for me. Um, anyways, so um, anyways, I just wanted to thank you both like for your service and um, I'm sad to see you both go and Charlie and Dedra. Um, but I also appreciate the opportunity and hope that president will uh come and chat with me or find me uh an art where I'll find them. So anyway, thank you so much. >> Great. Thank you, Kelly. >> All right. Submitted open correspondence for the council meeting. >> All right. And move on to item six, the consent agenda. Just a short consent agenda tonight. Items A through. Any questions for staff regarding items on the consent agenda? If not, >> I'll make a motion to approve tonight's consent agenda. Second. >> Thank you. Motion and a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries unanimously. >> Okay. Seven. Regular business. Start with 7A. approved master professional service agreement and supplementary task orders with WSP LLC to provide city engineering consulting services, city planning services and for transfer of municipal engineering data. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, if you recall back on July 27th, 2026, council approved um shifting our engineering firm to Hawinson Anderson Associates for future engineering needs. At that time, we discussed that um we would look forward to working with Hawinson Anderson and everything coming up in the future. However, we would continue to work with WSB to assist us in the completion and close out of existing projects as well as maintaining our current planning consultants. Night before you, you have three different documents that um are in front of you for approval. The first one is an overall master professional agreement with WSB as a to provide city engineering services. The second one is going to be a task order for planning services with um the city and WS as I mentioned this will be an ongoing service as we will not be transferring this. >> So Hannah will be >> Hannah will be doing that and she is outlined specifically in that task order. >> Okay. The second task order is for the transfer of current information that is held at WSB to be transferred to the city and therefore our um future engineers. This information would include any GIS data, any street information that they may have and so forth. So tonight I'm asking the council to approve all to approve a motion to um allow me to execute all three of these documents pending. I'm I'm going to make one change that I would like included in the motion. Um I would like it included that this is pending um approval from our city administer or in authorizing him to make some minor tweaks to these contract if he has found a few things that he would like to >> Yes. Yes. you haven't um no our our city attorney and I were reviewing this rather quickly um just he just would like authority with listed within the motion to make any tweaks as he finds necessary before I execute the >> Can I ask a second? I I'm just reading speed reading it because I should have looked at this a little bit more closely but we talk about um product document ownership and it's in there that they don't they don't copyright, but we can copy it. >> I actually appreciate that question because that is exactly the question that um the attorney and I will be addressing. There are some questions as far as ownership. Um but there are also some some language in the document that states that they do not stand behind the the um information that will be transferred that they're not held responsible for the accuracy of the information. Um we we did enter we will be entering into a do not exceed amount um that's $2,500 to obtain this information. And so um I would expect that whatever information we do obtain is considered accurate. And so that's something that um John and myself will be working with them in the next weeks to make sure that we are handling this agreement appropriately before it is executed. But overall, like I mentioned, there will be a master service agreement and this will be as um for consulting services. So, as needed, um, if things were to come up, if there was an area in which WSD assisted the city on a specific project and we need to refer to them in years ahead, this master agreement would allow us to do that and we would just pay for the time in which we are using. Um, and then task order one, which was actually very easy, is for planning services with Hannah. And Hannah's rate of pay, I should mention her her billing rate did not change from what we're currently paying. Um, but she was listed specifically what I was happy about and then the the task order which there may be the most changes to will be task order two as it pertains to information. May I make one addition there when it comes to the master PSA? Um there are one or two things that come up that might take a a little longer to transition or might not be cost effective for us to transition. Things like um we've discovered we have some new um renewal requirements on lead and proper mailings and WSBA did all the work for us to get us to this point, but we might need to it gives us the opportunity to check in with them to, you know, update that data and quickly kick the mailing out versus reinventing the wheel a little bit potentially um on future mailing. So, just that kind of leaves the door open for some projects like that where it might as be more cost effective to go back to the generated them to wrap it for the next year. So with respect to that like the master agreement um should automatic upon request not to exceed a certain amount that they will transfer the data because we have the separate request to uh what do you call task for transfer? Can we put that into the master agreement so that it's automatically transferred at a reasonable rate or something? Um, we had a request of that that they would they did ask that it was as a separate task order, but I did we did negotiate the rates and >> but going forward continuing to have the right >> it would be I could have the bill um >> because like when >> the billable rates yes I could I could see if the task order could include um bill rates hourly rates of them. So, not the transfer of the data. The transfer of the data will be done hopefully at one time and as not exceeds. >> Um, but future costs I can I can see if we can include some type of their billable rate schedule or something. >> But no, it meant future data transfers. >> Yeah. >> Automatically. So, we don't have a task order. >> Well, the task order we have for two um task order number two that does include data transfers. Yeah. >> I said is for now and anything in the future that we would ever to find missing because that was also a concern of mine. I'm paying one time as a do not exceed for everything. So if we were to find that information was missed, then that would be included in this original payment. >> How about if the stuff that goes forward if they don't is generated? >> Yes. And I might have to um be better at when that information is generated at that time. Getting your >> the task order at that time. Okay. >> Yes. because we I believe I believe the master agreement every time we do a project with them we might have to do task orders. I don't know for sure. >> Could you put it in there that the to is a part of the project? It doesn't >> I could Yeah, I would check with them. Um like I said >> maybe you don't you don't want to complicate it, but I'm just saying like here we we're going we're go working backwards. Why don't we work forward >> forward in the future? I think maybe it's not necessary because it just can't. >> So, and those are the kind of changes that would be covered by adding the blanket of subject to review and final approval by the city attorney. >> Tim and I will be working tomorrow about these concerns and making sure that >> they don't like to give this stuff because they like to keep it in house because I think that helps them keep continuity with the client. >> I'm just saying not necessarily WSD, but that is a strategy. Well, to be fair, that lead and copper that I was using as an example out of um a little bit of paranoia perhaps on my part was when you did the the most recent mailing, I said, "Oh, by the way, now that we're done, can you please send me the spreadsheet and all the letters and this that and everything so I have it all saved in a file >> right away." So, we also are trying to be mindful of making sure that we're not just taking what we get, but also getting the product behind it. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, yes, just please make sure to add that addition to tonight's motion if you decide to approve it. >> You are all four at once. They're separate. I believe I I had first made had them all listed individually, but Janette said that you can you can do them all as one because they're all relative. So just you can increase them all as one as listed and then make sure to just add um >> approval. >> All right. Massachusett. All right. Excellent. Thank you. Any further discussion? Did WSB try to um talk you into staying with their engineering? >> Um, no. We had a we had a very um honest meeting where they didn't know. We we were able to have a meeting about why we felt it was necessary to make the change and I think they understood. >> So, >> all right. Motion second. Any further discussion? All those in favor? I >> opposed. Motion carries unanimously. >> All right. Thank you, Amanda. Item 7B is adoption of preliminary 2027 payable levy establish a truth and taxation public date to discuss levy and proposed budget. >> Thank you. >> Again, we did discuss this at our work session as well. Those we got some really good background information there. This is continuation of that discussion. >> So, tonight um if you recall, we are going to be approving the 2027 preliminary budget as well as establishing the cru and taxation public meeting date set for December 1st, 2026. Um, this is something that is required by the city every year to be approved by September 30th, 2026. So, I have um I have on the screen for you the 2027 budget levy preliminary budget presentation. So, the 2027 operating budget impact in addition to the inflation that we're all seeing, there are some specific areas in our 2027 budget that are in our 2027 budget operating budget that I'd like to point out. First off is we are going to be recommending the standard 3% cost of living wage increase for all city staff. However, based on unknown staffing changes within the public works department, this will significantly impact um budget line items including wages, insurance and workers compensation premiums. As I had mentioned during the work session, we are currently posting for a lead position which is a higher paid position and that position is what what is included in today's budget. However, um given the unknown scenario of health insurance needs and um who the qualifications of that person that could change significantly. Speaking of health insurance, we have been our premiums right now are projected to increase 15.5%. over last year. Now, we are working with our insurance broker to find ways um to do some some shopping with other agencies, with other insurance companies, and possibly even looking at our own handbook as a staff and seeing if there are ways that we can cut here at city hall and what the premiums are going to how they're going to impact our city. We're planning currently for additional engineering costs as we transition to a new a new firm and start planning for a free project that has is long overdue along with the possibility of needing to bond. Both of these would entail larger engineering costs. One one thing I did not mention in this slide is we are also going to start preparing for the 2050 comp plan and that would be an increase in both engineering and planning costs. Um, in in the in anticipation of a new flower truck, an additional $100,000 has been budgeted in the 2027 budget. This is going to be a 2year a two-year plan, but it is affecting the current levy. Um, parks are seeing some improvements as well. Hullberrook Park hockey, the Hullber Park hockey rink and the Harden Park tennis courts are anticipated are anticipated to completed over the next year. Currently, we have um approved a $20,000 bid for a hardened park. It's not a resurface. It's more of a recondition. It's a rec. >> Um we felt like this is extremely cost effective and a good fit for that park. And lastly, um we will continue to work on the removal of and replacement of ash trees that are infected with their emerald ashboard. I would like to point out here, I apologize, my coloring looks much better on my screen than it does there. So, I will make some changes before we get to the next budget. But these are um budget allocations by department. This is not great notice. So I will I will point out what each thing is right here. This is public works administration which is currently 13% of our city's cost. Down here we have public public works fleet which is 8% of our cost. Our facility is 3%. Over here we have police and public safety at 30%. These smaller sections. Um, I'll go in order. So, city hall facilities is at 2%. Inspections is only at 1%. Planning and zoning 3% and our city attorney is at 2%. Um, administration, this includes wages, um, office supplies, meeting minutes, and so forth. This is at 21%. City Council right now is at 1% and then parks is at 7%. Streets is at 9%. So, and it's no surprise obviously wages um and staffing take up a quite quite a large amount of our city's budget. Here are some um capital planning that I'm proposing for the 2027 budget. As we talked about last year, one of the things I'd like to do as city administrators, getting better at putting money away into our capital fund so that we can prepare for improvements as needed. So over here, right now, uh out of the general fund, the tax levy, I have 415 being transferred into into the appropriate capital funds. And I have split them up over here by which department they're coming out of and which capital fund they're going into. So for city hall facilities and public works facilities, those are separate department. Each will be giving $12,500 to city facilities capital. Um police and public safety. I'm going to be transferring $50,000 to fire capital. Please keep in mind that this This capital fund will be used to for any station one repairs in the future. I'm expecting that we will have to start increasing this because there are some large repairs that will be needed in the next couple years at station one public works fleet into the fleet capital I have $125,000. Um so please disregard where I wrote $100,000 on my last on my last slide because I did notice that as I was reading I had made an adjustment last minute and based on what we had talked about last meeting and did not change it but there will be $25,000 transfer and this is to assist with the purchase of a plow truck hopefully in 2028 in streets. I'm doing a pavement management um out of street I'm going to pavement management capital $75,000 keeping in mind that this is not the only money that we have earmarked as a city through pavement management. We're also um charging franchise fees and we have also transferred some of our um our revenue from Bell tower rent that go right to pavement management. So pavement management is a priority for our city and that does help um the burden on the general fund. However, in addition to pavement management, we've started to transfer an annual $60,000 to steel coating for regular maintenance of our streets. So, that will be coming out of streets and going into the steel coding capital. The next the next um two transfers we're going to see are both coming out of our parks and trails maintenance. We're going to have $5,000 out of parks and trails into lake quality capital and then $75,000 into um parks and trails capital. And as I did mention, this these funds would be used to cover the cost of the replacement of um the the ice rink and the tennis court resurfacing. Um, here is what our 2027 preliminary levy is compared to the 2026 final levy. You can see our adjusted net tax capacity, which would have been a really good slide show because that was directed. um our operating levy amount, our debt service levy amount has decreased because we did pay off um one of our debt service levies of it was 2016- A was paid off. So that is not included anymore. Um and then so our total net levy right now is1,996,097. That's an increase of 180,000 18616 over 2026. Um, but this would be a 9.95% levy increase that I am proposing in tonight's approval. Um, here is a history of the last seven years for the city of Long Lake. what our debt levy has been, what our operating levy has been, the proposed increase over previous years, and what our tax rate would be. So, tonight I'm asking that council approved a preliminary tax rate of 36.47%. Does council have any questions for me? Just to add one note to this of course is preliminary levy only and um essentially functions as they do not exceed. So uh changes can still be made up until prime presentation of the final levy and adoption in December. Correct. Um as you'll see in your motion um this amount can always be decreased but it cannot be increased after approval. Got it. >> So glad that you were able to uh get it in single digits under 10% from since our last work session from our last our August meeting. Um and uh I'd be curious to know um that pie chart that you had if you if that exists for other cities and I'd like to be interesting to know to compare like what areas um what percentages for different departments that is typical. >> Um that' be Oh yeah, that one here. >> Um I was also gonna >> I concur. >> Yeah. I was also going to ask I saw uh health insurance went up 15 and a half%. Are there any opportunities to join forces with other cities and have like a combined health insurance group or something like that? Um does that ever happen or >> um during the work session I did talk to council member Fman. He had mentioned that his his company is actually doing something similar right now and I I mentioned to him that I was going to reach out to him and see what they were doing and talk to our broker about it. There's also um there was another insurance option that we were looking at a couple years ago um that at that time wasn't a good fit, but I think it'd be worth re revisiting. as I mentioned, I did talk to her a broker because I wasn't expecting rates quite as high as they were. >> And so, and she made it very clear that um she thinks that this is just the beginning. Um that with the affordable the affordable care for healthcare that is starting to have an effect on premium. >> I was just wondering if it hits us more because we have so few staff and so if you had a larger pool >> and so you went together with other small cities you know, um that would help. >> And the other thing that hurts us, I mentioned because we are a small staff, we're considered age age based. And so we pay um insurance based on the age of the employees. And the disadvantage of that is as you start getting um employees that are have been in their job a while and are good at their jobs, they obviously are not the younger, cheaper version. And so, um, it makes it really hard because I think that as as we say, we have a lot of employees that stay with the city and it's wonderful, but it does cost the city with small with small staff a lot more than it would. Um, but I will look into that as well. >> Yeah, I think we I thought we did use partner with other cities in their kind of tears. It would be nice because we do, if you recall, we do that for work and comp and other things. We go right through the lead. >> So, I don't know why there isn't more >> often some sort of small city police working together. >> But it sounds like there might be other opportunities. >> Yes. I'm making it a priority. Um, like I said, I >> Is this is this broker that we have? Is this somebody that we've had for a while? >> Actually, we just switched two years ago. Um, the performance human happy. We I two years ago I um switched brokers because the broker we had was very cookie cutters and um we just accepted what they said and we didn't we just didn't have any creative input. So far already this broker I'm I feel comfortable calling them and saying let's look at this, let's look at this. Um, I called her right away. At first, she said, "Do you want any changes to health insurance this year?" I said, "No." Then she sent me the premiums. I said, "Yes. Yes, I do." Um, and she immediately sent me a um a questionnaire that we we filled out and we're starting to look at some creative options based on very specific things. There might even be employees don't know this but yet there might even be a health questionnaire that comes out to employees that might allow us to get into um better rates. So yeah, so we'll see. We're going to do what we can as a city and um work together as try to find the best solution. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. statewide. That makes sense, right? It would make sense that they had more of a statewide program for states. There was kind of this area. >> I will be honest, there aren't we just we we had a very similar situation um when we worked as a JPA with the shoreline because they only have one employee on health insurance and it was surprising to our operating committee at that time how little options there were in, you know, But I do think there might be some co-ops where we can look into possibly um forces >> because yeah the cost is getting extremely extremely high and they don't see it that changing. >> Any other questions? >> Um just on the if you could put up that tax rate history again. >> Yep. And we talked about this at the work session. You know, we can see that the tax rate in 2020 was 36 and a half and and then it kind of drifted down and and we think that that is largely due to um even as you see tax increases went up. um there's significant um growth in in home values and during that time and and now that might be leveling off and so we see then uh there's been a a you know a little bit of a jump up um from last year to this year back to 36 and a half% like it was in 2020. So um you know that's just the fluctuation of the market that sort of drives that um largely. So or I mean of the of property values. >> And I did mention if you look at the history of the percentage um over previous year for the um for the increase last year, if you recall, I I was just in transition during preliminary to final. And so I wanted an opportunity to really understand our budget, really understand the needs that we had of our city before right away increasing um the tax the um levy increase. And so I believe last year was proposed at the preliminary around 10%. Um and at final I got it on a four. I will be honest, I think I was a little over ambitious with the four. um we're going to have it's going to be tied the next couple months. However, had I had I left a little bit of wiggle room in that floor, we could have probably done some of the projects that I had planned that are now being perspective 2027, we could have still planned them in 2026. Um which would have given us more of a level. I think you need to we need to try to um maintain some type of level fluctuation. I think it's it's hard for our residents to have a huge increase at one time. Um, but I also think it's it's good to always be looking for ways to save as a city and make sure that the money we are spending is appropriate because I think we've spent a lot of time and we've talked about this, we spent a lot of money in the past planning for what we were going to do or um but not doing and I think it's it's time to really put our money where it's valuable. Um, but Hope hopefully the clock doesn't level out for us a little bit here. >> Well, I think you've done a good job with the very challenging um you know, economic time that we we're in and uh and in the work session, you know, you went kind of dug deeper and went line by line and I appreciated that. So, I can see that you are are >> And if residents are um curious, the packet Thank you. the packet that is included on the website does include a line by line explanation. Um, and residents are then able to see the 2026 budget, sorry, 2027 budget, um, the dollar change and the percent change. And I'm always available if any resident has questions about a change. Um, I do I work I know these numbers pretty well and so I always welcome any questions. I'd prefer a resident to call me if they had questions versus um just feel uncomfortable with what was happening in their city. So, all of this will be included line by line for residents to see. Um in addition to in your packets tonight are the enterprise funds. We don't have to talk about that a lot with preliminary levy. Those are going to be your sewer, your water funds, and so forth. Um but those are also available for residents if they need if they want to know. um how we're spending their money. >> When does our last debt come off? Like >> it's 2017. >> Yeah. >> Um I'm assuming it's about a year and a half to two years I think when I was looking. >> Oh, okay. Because that's going to be up soon. We can take on >> we might have another one. No, that partial on the back. >> That's >> Yeah, then we'll get full text on that. What? It was like >> I believe Yeah, I thought it was another 10 years. a while. >> Yeah. Well, wasn't it like 13 when we did that? >> Which we probably have another 10 left. >> Oh, okay. I'm just thought we did that earlier. >> No, it hasn't been completed that long. >> It's just a million dollars that we that we owe them or something like that. >> I have a schedule. Um I I have a schedule. But yeah, that that'll free up some or give us >> I think this also feels like a good year too to do a little work on um as far as our social media just putting out more information about how property taxes are um calculated. basically whatever great fact sheets I can find um from the department of revenue because I've worked with some residents before on um you know looking at their property tax bills just working with them directly when they had questions and one thing that's always been um difficult I think sometimes to wrap our brains around is that the city's portion of the tax bill and a whole lot of the ones that I've seen that I've been asked about seems to range somewhere give or take a little bit around 25% of the total bill. So, you know, when people are asking about their increases to their property tax bills, you know, we can say, hey, it's based on valuation, but there's also other factors that we're not in control of as a city and those represent about 75% give or taking of of the property tax. >> So, Henipin County and and >> voter approved levies and Exactly. and you know, taxing jurisdiction. So >> yeah, maybe we could do a little work on that. I was gonna Oh, sorry. >> If we could do a comparison for cities, how they break down, but I've always thought property tax I thought, wow, >> yes, I did. Last year when we were doing the final budget, I created something at that time and I I'm would just be a matter of pulling up um that data and updating it with the 2027 information. as the numbers start to roll in. Um so I will look at something like that too. I was going to mention to council that you were you were asking about tiff. I did list the tiff um revenue and expenses on page 51 of your packet. So, um, the way that tip works is it we receive the money from Henipin County and then a large portion of it is redistributed back to the, um, debt >> the note >> for the fifth note. So, if you'll see up towards the top, we receive for this note 140,000. were ant anticipated for 2027 to re receive 140630 and then we'll turn around and we'll pay 126570 um towards the note and there will be other um fees fees included but otherwise it is a profit to the city right now of 12,600 >> which is basically what that land was worth before they built the >> correct >> on that Right. >> Yes. I think once and once this tip um expires >> um very similar to what we're going to be doing and we'll be talking about it today um when we descertify this tip district too. There are additional funds that are captured that we will be able to if we have appropriate um uses that we can use in our city. And I will just tell you I always find appropriate using >> so >> we will get we will we don't leave money on the table. So >> um that that future but yes residents please take an opportunity to to review the packet and um call me directly if you have any questions or stop. >> All right great. Thanks Amanda. >> Any other questions for staff on this one? each motion separate or >> go ahead. I'll second that motion and a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor? >> I motion carries the ends, please. Oh, the um >> motion meeting. All right, I'll second that as well. Motion and a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor >> I opposed motion carries unanimously as draw. All right. Thanks after work on that for getting the the numbers down from our last meeting and uh more to come here at the end of the year as well. Okay. Item 7 C updates on Minnesota DNR uh pro protect community forest for community resiliency grant application. This is um this is a project that I've been working with our new engineers on. So Steve Hegeland and I worked together. I don't know if you remember um actually a few council members had pointed out the fact that the Minnesota Department of Revenue was offering a um a grant that would offer money to remove and replace trees. Obviously according to our budget that priority in our city. And so, um, with the help of our engineers, we were able to apply for this grant. And our focus in this grant will be, um, Hover Park. I know it is detrimental to our city right now how many trees have had to be removed, but I'd like to mention that um, just in the areas that we haven't been able to remove right now, the contamination is spreading very quickly. And so we want to try to address these as quickly as possible. And the area that Tom would like to focus on for 2027 in this grant would be Hbert Park in the area that you see red. The grant stipulates that whatever trees we remove, we will be replacing which is it was our intent as a city. Anyways, um so we have applied for the grant with the Minnesota Department of Revenue. I believe it pays up to $125,000. >> Is that a matching grant or this? >> It is not. Um, but there will be some costs. Can you see this? My blind one. Sorry. Um according to the estimates from our engineer the total needs for this area would be 227800. Uh the grant requested was 150. Now some of these are obviously um to change um part of this we were required to do a um develop an EAB management plan for the community and um coordinate you know the efforts in the future too. So there that is part of this affiliated and then um our engineers came out and did a rough count of what was out there and approximately how much it would cost and then the planting we anticipated at 77900. A plan will be determined if and how much we were to be awarded. Once we receive that information, we'll move forward to make some decisions. I do have some money earmarked um in our 2027 budget for free removal. Obviously, if we were to receive this grant, this would be our focus of where we'd put the money because once again, we don't want to leave any money um on the table because it's all necessary. >> What you said um what was it a group or something some other obligation that we had under this um um sorry that's emerald. >> Oh, okay. So we just have to come up with a management plan for that because it is such a issue in so many cities that grants department of revenue and other grants similar to this are requiring that not only once you receive these funds but you need to have a plan on what we're going to do to make you know in the future for instance not planting all replacements at all the same tree whichever it is and our engineers will be working with us to help us. Now I would like to just mention so this was applied for this is completed we made it in the deadline. Um I have found one other grant since I applied for this that might also be beneficial. Um and so the engineers might assist me in applying for that one as well. >> Grant it's possible >> there's one met council. I think >> you'll have to excuse me. I have multiple grants that I'm working with them on right now. Um but just rest assure that we are working to try to capture where they are available. >> I know that um taking down a lot of trees already. Um has that that is that just sort of like all throughout the city or is there certain pockets like Harden Park still trees that need to come down or Dexter or or Nelson? >> Yes, the original um the original locations I believe Harden Park is done well done is the wrong word but is not our focus anymore. Nelson Lakeside Park I feel is pretty pretty much controlled areas that um in addition to Hullbrook that are going to be a problem is on the other side of Orchard they all the orchard along the trail we're taking down but there are some city property on the um south side of Orchard you won't see it in this map because we ended up taking it off of this grant um that are also in there are some in Dexter Park that are So, kind of along this area, >> but otherwise taking down and just boulevards are around the city or or has it always been in the parks? >> Um, we we had thought we were going to be doing boulevards and rightaways, but I think parks for a primary. We ended up spending almost $90,000. Um, >> included in that was >> possibly. Um we were we ended up spending around $90,000 already in 2026 for tree removal and I think that um harden was lared tonight I'm asked I there's nothing that we have to approve. Um, I just wanted to let council know that we are we are aware that is an issue in our city and we are working very hard hard to with our engineers to try to find funding deal problems. So, no motion necessary. The grant has been applied. Keep your fingers crossed. >> All right. Great. Thanks for looking at the other one. I think it was Met Council because I thought about it more and it's we're like one of four cities that identified that were that met the criteria for receiving the grant >> that Met Council unless that's changed but I yes so currently our engineers they haven't received all the data from WSB so I'm really utilizing their time on some of this um however as a side note there is other finance officers I've been talking about a company that does grant writing that I've reached out to to just ask how their billing, how it works, what, you know, what what their structure is. Um because in reality, we won't have the manpower to this. There's there's possibilities out there that we just can't capture. And I would like to be able to, if it made sense, um start working with a company that I could just send, you know, available grants as as I see them. So, I've got an entire folder full of possible grants. It's just a matter of I need someone that can look at it with um an educated eye and determine, okay, which ones are reasonable or realistic to apply for that would be a good fit for our city. Um I know that there was a street project one that we were looking at. We might try it with our engineers, but um >> the L >> He said our engineers don't feel like grant was the right road to apply for that grant. He said it just doesn't really meet the criteria. However, a lot of the data is already created, so we might just try it again. But he in his expert opinion, that wouldn't have been one we would have started. >> Enough traffic, >> correct? Because they really emphasize thorough >> um fairway. I think it was a great um but this is something that I think as we move forward we might need to look at having um I like I said I don't know their billing structure but for instance if they were to say we charge 10% of any grants awarded I would sign up immediately because paying 10% on money that we weren't going to capture anyways is worth it to me >> but this is grants are something that we're I am I am you know interested in they try to stay on top of. Um I will also mention as we're talking about grants as a city um we just applied for another grant in partnership if you recall a couple years ago the um soccer association for the dome. They need some HVAC work and they had been working with Henipin County on a youth grant but they need the city to work with them. Um they have asked us to that again that application's been been completed but we'll know more details later if they were to get awarded what what responsibility or partnership we decide to have with them at that time right now the application system so that is what I have >> good updates there >> thanks for looking for money >> I'm looking that's that's the goal >> is expensive and great had been so love to see and you know the parks are important too but like it's also very visible that all these trees are missing orchard laying down and cut down those stumps there and everything. I'd love to >> get some replacement plan in place for that to replace some of those over the years. >> I know that I agree. I didn't I didn't realize that we had left the stump. This is a little disconcerning for me but >> yeah this One of the reasons I like this grant because whatever tree we take down. Yeah. >> Makes sense. >> Okay. We'll move on then to item 7D, award contract for 2026 sanitary lighting project. Back to Amanda. >> So, this was an add-on um on tonight's agenda. I apologize for this. I should have been more proactive. I knew that I had a bid bid opening this week. I just wasn't putting two and two together that if the bids came in favorable that we would want to approve it as quickly as possible so that we could get moving on this project. If you recall, we've been working for quite a while on um trying to get sanitary sewer lining done in district one. We have since had the entire city televised and we have chosen district one as our as um our starting point for two reasons. Number one, um we felt like it might have the larger largest impact on sewer. If you recall, there was also a major repair that had to be done that was over um just north of Wetta Boulevard where the pipes were offset. And we can also utilize some the descertified skip monies for this. Now, um, originally our engineers had projected a project cost of roughly $855,000. And if you recall a couple months ago, we had um a bid opening and the the bid came in much higher than expected. So, we decided to not accept that bid and to readvertise again. So, today I'm I'm happy to announce that we received two bids. Um and we are recommending going with Stewart sure did that. Um they came in at a bid of $990,897. This is still higher than what was expected by 16%. However, considering the other dollar amount that we're seeing, I still think that this is going to be a good bid to accept at this time. I, as I mentioned on um page 58 of your packet, I plan on utilizing a combination of funds to pay for this project. Um the the first would be a a grant that we received from the Metropolitan Council and that we received a guaranteed $50,000 if you recall. Um, anything over $50,000 was was uncertain how much we would get. It was based on how many people what what they put in and so forth. So, I'm only guarant I'm only projecting the guaranteed $50,000. We'll also be using $390,700 of the certification of FIF6. Those are restricted funds that we that are appropriate in this in this project. Um, we will then completely up the sewer sanitary sewer capital fund that we have been putting money away in um of $22,850 and then the remaining 347347 and yes that is correct. It's noted twice. >> Um that will just have to come out of the sanitary sewer enterprise fund which currently has $794,000 in it. >> Um Not ideal, but I think that this will have a a longl lasting impact on our city and hopefully bring our future metropolitan council cost down charges. Um, on the screen you will see the tabulation summary. Um, these are the two companies that bid and what their bids were. There's also a detailed summary on page 62 of your packet. There some discrepancies between the two companies and why some of their numbers per line items are so different. I did verify with our with WSC and they just explained that that you know each company distributes their cost differently that essentially comes down to bottom line there's still the same exact project between the two companies. Does this council have any questions for me about the lead sewer lining in tonight? My recommendation to approve resol to adopt resolution 2026-43. >> What if we had that engineering estimate at 855,000? >> That would have been earlier um in early 2026 >> and we didn't get any bids at that time. >> Um we got one >> and what was >> it? I believe it was 1.3 million. And WSB have an explanation about why they were so far more off. >> Um, they didn't give a good explanation. We did get some feedback from the bidder themselves that they said that the um the scope was a little little hard to um understand. So they had bid high to accommodate for that. And then I went back to WSB with those concerns and um requested changes. If you recall, we have a do not exceed number of for engineering cost for this project. >> We have a do not exceed number with our engineer of a rough roughly $85,000 $88,000 for this project that we um agreed to. And currently we have spent approximately $46,000 in engineering for this project. And that is why we I chose not to transfer this project to the new engineer because we've already paid quite a bit to get this moving. And so >> is there an opportunity to negotiate that price or is the take it or leave it? >> The 990. Yeah, >> I believe it's wonder that large negotiation. I also don't know if and I I guess I didn't look at myself, but is there a chance that the actual project cost might come in a little under based on actual quantities and I don't I don't know. >> Well, it's a firm fixed price, right? uh looking at >> I think you're right. I I I believe it's what their bid is. I would be if it came in under it wouldn't be under for long. >> I don't believe it is negotiable, but I can I will ask >> I was going to ask too you answered the question. I was going to ask if the new engineering firm has might have an opinion about this, but we don't want to I guess we don't want to put it in front of them. >> I just think that in order to do the research, we don't want to be paying for it twice. Um, now future future lining projects, the sanitary sewer televising would be transferred to the new engineer and we probably work with them on future projects. >> So, what districts is this again? >> District one. District one covers um I apologize. I don't have the map up. Insert one is going to be this section um this section of the city. So, it would cover a lot of the business district. I can't recall exactly what the cut off was. It might actually be brown road. >> Um it's also very much an older part of town as well. >> Correct. And we do have a lot of um runoff in this area. We don't you know and so >> and it was based on the when that was done, right? That showed where the community is. >> Yes. Um, now there were there are multiple all districts have multiple issues. This district, if you recall the trip using restricted tip funds, it should be used in an area that was affected because of redevelopment. And I could easily say that district one with both the stacks are causing those developments of on our infrastructure and they just personally agreed that that would qualify as a necessary. So that is why I was really focusing on district one. I will say I'm disappointed because we were told when we started this entire process um last year that the whole city could be done for three million. I'm confident that that is not the situation we were if you recall we were gonna be number three million and we were going to be awarded $1.5 million in the grant as almost a two win and we got $50,000 and now just one district cost >> who was it that I I remember hearing that there was like a complete break and and uh >> was that down here? Yeah, that will be covered in this district. That is going to be over by there's a pond >> I believe. So I re I reached out to the owner. >> Terrible outside. >> Is that the one coming from under an old treatment pond? >> It's over byes, isn't it? >> Yeah. >> One, but then also in there was a section over there by birches that was part of the district, but >> we are adding it. Yeah. >> Because it's so critical. So that will be included in this project. >> One of them, one of them. I'm not saying it's the absolute worst. I do think it it wasn't irresponsible to do this one first. It's equally as bad. Um, now another thing that I was taking consideration and this is just snowball. Um, district 4 is going to be over by Grand Avenue that but what is going to be No, we've already done some of district 4. Um, district two. Some of these that I know are going to need street projects in the near future. I'm not going to pay to do a sewer lining if I know that there will be sewer repairs done in 5 to 10 years. District one is not on anybody's radar. I'm going to set any any resist one is not going to be on anybody's radar for future street projects in the next 5 to 10 years. So I feel comfortable doing a sewer lining when I know that there's not a replacement coming down quickly. >> There are not e emergency pavement. >> No. >> So, what's the timeline that they can get to this if it's awarded? >> Um, we in order to try to keep cost down, we gave them a very flexible schedule. >> Okay. >> Um, I don't know if I have a exact time right now. Um, >> might be till next year. >> It could be next spring. Yes. In order to keep the cost as low as possible, do it when you can. >> Be as soon as October. >> Yes. Which is why we want we want to do the amendment because if for some reason they say they're ready in the fall, I want to go. So >> this is fixed. It can't be adjusted the contract. >> The mouse. >> Yeah. >> I don't know. I don't believe so. I can see if there's any negotiation, but I believe that once you take the bid, you accept the >> um Had we not had the um prior bid and even the comparable bid, I might have been hesitant given what their estimates were. But I think they was confident. I think I think it's what we're going to get. >> Yeah, I think because I think you have to renegotiate with the other veter too. It wouldn't be fair. The other >> correct. I think I think that's the big project and so All right. Well, I'll make a motion because I get excited about motion to adopt resolution 20263 awarding a construction contract for 2026 planning project LLC and city admin to enter into a contract for services. Second. All right. Motion and a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor? I opposed. Motion carries unanimously. All right. Thank you. All right. That does it for regular business. Now we'll move on to eight. Other business go around the table here. Council former newcomer. Um attend the park board meeting. That went really well. Um weather change. >> All right. All right. Uh, just want to take a moment to Amanda and Janette between uh, all the budgeting stuff and the election coming up. Thank you very much for all the time and energy you're putting into it. I know it's a busy time of year. >> Thank you. >> Does not go unnoticed by us and the community. >> Thank you. >> All right, Council Felman. >> All right, Council Dick. >> All right. I just have to say um congrats to the Orno High School football team. Um another big win last Friday against Byron, which is a really good team. Um and uh so we beat them 37 to 14. And uh so now we're 2 and 0 and Big Lake is coming up this Friday at home. So come on out. And um >> I think you're in the conference. >> No, they're non-conference uh games that we've had. >> Yeah. >> But they're in our class like 4A and Becker and Byron the last, you know, our first two games are are two of the top teams. So, we've uh we've done well. >> I noticed the the quarterback is somebody. >> Yeah, he seems to share a last name with me. I don't know. >> Oh, yeah. I think the JB quarterback. >> Were you Were you a quarterback back then? >> I was not. I was armchair quarterback. That's great. Are they ever going to play a team that doesn't start with a B? >> Uh, yeah. Actually, after that, I think it starts with a Z because it's Zimberman, but >> All right. >> Then we get to Delano and Mound and our conference team for >> All right. That's awesome. That's a great start. >> All right. Um, no major updates. just uh yeah, mid midco is very active in my part of the city, our part of the city now. Lots of construction or lots of movement going on there to lay all the fiber lines for MidCo. So excited to see that. And a couple questions from residents what's going on, everything, but I think they've been doing mailings and that kind of thing. So that is Midco fiber internet. I saw there's a um Shan Fire Department open house coming up on October 5th, which is I think before our next council meeting. So, I'm just I think I'll probably attend that if that's something we do notice for. >> Anything else from the board members you want to say about the open house coming up with this? >> We haven't had a meeting in a while, actually. >> Okay. No, we may there's an October meeting, but we may need to do this like late September, too. I It's up in the air. There's a discussion going on. >> All right. I hear more about that in the future. I wanted to mention that I know yeah I think the White Fire Department's having open house tonight is kind of fire prevention month and evening and that kind of thing. So looking forward to that event and uh yeah is that it for me? >> Nothing for me >> nothing. Okay, >> I'm gonna let go first. I have a handful of items. >> All right one of them. you might >> busy around here today, it looks like. >> Yes, indeed. Um our new um doors are in the process of being installed um for both the city hall entryways. We were actually a little surprised earlier today to realize just how much light is coming through the glass through the rear doors, which is nice because that hallway has always been so dark. Um, but uh that project will take a few more days and once that's complete, there's going to be a pause between when the doors are installed and functional and when the painting um takes place, we're working on scheduling that final step. But uh that is officially now underway. So >> I don't seem to match the trim. >> They came close. >> They're close. >> Yeah. there. The final gray should be a little bit darker um kind of a little bit in line with the singles on the roof. So, that was kind of a goal. Um along with updating some of the other metal prints that that's a work in progress anyway. Um but we're excited to finally be getting the doors in and well in advance of um election day so we can submit for our reimbursement. So there about close to half the project is covered by an accessibility grant. Um had a fantastic park for meeting last night. Um early marks your calendars for Friday, December 4th for the annual holiday tree laying event date. Um they'll be early in the planning stages, but who knows, maybe we'll uh be fortunate in attracting a couple more vendors this year and inviting back some of the vendors we had last year. # jalapenos. Many of us remember that fondly. Um so yeah, looking forward to that. Um the park board was um also really fantastic at um we sought their input on looking at some refuge container options for replace starting to replace refuge containers in city parks. So dialed in a recommendation on that um and also looked at um you know working on the wording um and dialing in a survey uh to be sent on a citywide basis um at their recommendation regarding the whole park ice rink area which I know you know we talked about in a previous work session and um how the cost of that project is no matter what we do we are not seeing anything than 100,000 in every estimate we look at. So, um we know that this is a very big ticket um potential improvement to make it truly functional and what does the community want to see? We want to hear from the community. Um so, that's also a work in progress. I think thanks for doing that because I think that's really helpful to know. >> I the board in particular has some really great input on that one and um our board Erica will be putting kind of some final tweaks on the language. I definitely took the board's input today to try to save Erica sometime because I know she's got um she's a little time this week, but I know she's a busy lady and I want to be respectful of her time. So, um just kind of the board on that make some updates and send her something to work from. Um we also have Constitution Week. I know we have some posters up there. Um the box there's going to be a couple social media posts next year or next week so and beginning later this week. So following through on our constitutional week observances. Um if you're wondering why it kicked off on se September 17th uh that is the uh that is officially constitution day. It is the anniversary of the constitution signing. So September 17th I believe it was 1787. If I'm wrong, please don't. But yeah, that's about it. >> Oh, parking zones. Yeah, working on those. >> If you come to city hall, you'll notice there's parking parking spaces. >> Yeah, >> I Sorry, did I take that one for you? >> You guys can take them all. >> I've got a list. So, >> that's great. They're out there bright and early this morning. >> Yes. Um Yes. Um so, the residents will see that we have got parking lot, striping down here at city hall, Nelson Linkside Park, and one of the other parks, which I should know off the top of my head because they just made a bill today. Um I think over so parking lots have been striped. There will also be some street striping done and a few crosswalks. Um I don't believe that project's quite done, but the vendors going to be done with that soon. Um Janette briefly mentioned um park lines. I'd like to thank her because she has been working on parks signs as I know we've been council's been requesting for a while. Um she brought me one and uh with the official terminology and I gave her some really great ideas that I didn't know how to execute and she did and she brought it back to me and she she may have yelled a little bit at me >> but she came up with some fantastic signs that I'm very excited about. >> Um company will actually make them and we do have a quote. We are moving forward. >> We are moving forward. >> The trail and park regulation signs will be replaced. They will be not peeling anymore. >> We are working very hard. So, um and as you mentioned, trash cans and I do want to thank parkboard. They're working extremely hard too. They have um we've just been throwing a lot at them. They came with trash cans that they liked. I did realize they have those trash um per and so we're just double checking on what the cost would be for >> um Sean wasn't very happy in >> just verifying um what it would be for delivery cost but we registered when we were looking at a copier as a city we had not been part of source well before and it's a organ organization where we need so we are going to for trash can. I'm very excited to be able to use those with trips to the center report. Um fire department, we Yes, the open house is on the 5th. I believe it's at 5:30. There is information listed on their website. Um and while you're at their website, I would also um encourage you to take a look at um the video from September 11th. Janette and I got the opportunity to see um the start of the stair climb over at the high school and it was it was very moving and so once again I I thank our firefighters and our fire department um they did a wonderful job. It it was it was very moving and they were they were with the mound fire department which is also um special in itself for the the two fire departments to come together and they do the stair climb >> and yes Jane was there. >> Yes, Shane was there. Yeah. So, um that was a treat and but there is a video online that I encourage everyone to go and see on the shoreline website. And then last but not least, we are one thing change that you may or may not see in your budget. >> Um well, number one, we end up pushing that project up. If you recall a couple years ago, it might actually only be a year. Well number two had a full um rebuild and we knew well number one was was needing it. Um it was in my budget for 2027 but unfortunately um we felt it needed to be done sooner. We were starting to have some issues and considering the water the issues that other cities have had with water and everything we wanted to stay off the radar. Um Sean sent me this photo to show um kind of the condition of the well down here the connections and he said we his we were just kind of holding on by a thread. >> Um he said there were some other that were that were even worse. This was the main >> he actually showed it to me out in the yard too. So I got kind of a walk through. This was the main bottom most important pipe and it's so degraded there. What you can't see in an image is what he showed me in person which is that in addition to not being anywhere near a smooth and completely um >> Yeah, exactly. Um, it it also is like flaking when you touch the metal. And >> this is the old >> This is the one we are supposed to make right now. >> Yep. This is one. >> Where is that located? >> Um, >> okay. So, number one >> that back the background. clean up that you know the other pipe that's connected to >> so lucky it didn't just >> but otherwise the pump stays down >> we are so lucky it didn't just tear so >> okay the pump was taken off and that's how >> I am not super great on all the mechanics and the guy who knows everything about it is not here with us this evening but he really did say to me we dodged a bullet. >> Correct. Yeah. So, well number one is repaired. This is the pipe. But I don't I don't know the logistics. I just think >> I don't know. I got the sense it's that depending on the impact it could be big, bad, and ugly. There's another thing that's not in this photo, too, which is that on the other side of that pipe, there's actually a hole that's over a quarter wide. And you actually, if I don't even do this, I have a good picture of it on my cell phone. And it's got just a big honking hole all the way through it where there had to have been some sort of an impact at the bottom that actually drove right through the metal and it was deteriorating around that as well. So, >> we'll probably get we'll see the bill come through on the next council packet. I'm thinking around 300,000 to care. one is what we have budgeted for 57. I'm assuming they're the same and this will be paid out of but yes a necessary thing. Oh, and um one more thing. I apologize. >> If I recall, 20 years for some reason 20 years is standing out. Um don't quote me. That's what he said. >> Um similar. We just signed a agreement to have the waters tower inspected. That should be done on a regular basis. Um Tom was concerned it needs to be done. So, um, that will be done in the fall as well. >> So, >> how much what kind of bill is that to have an inspected? Not much. Cuz don't we need the painting and everything? >> Painting is that will be a massive bill. Painting will be probably around 500,000 inspections. I want to say like 5,000. That's not an exact number. Um, >> inspection of the interior or exterior. Yeah. When they do painting, it's going to be Yeah. >> I believe I'm sure there is. Um, so the reason I bring this up for another business is as a city as city staff, we are working we're we are starting to work on some of these um neglected areas that we just haven't been spending a lot of time on. So, thank you council for supporting us and doing these projects. >> Thanks for doing it. Yeah. Okay. >> How would we get water from you have to contract with a different >> offline? We work with Orno actually. Um Orno and Long Lake have worked work very well together when there is a need to shut down our well. Now during the inspection we actually chose we chose between two different quotes and we did choose a quote that did not require us to shut it down and we verified you don't need to shut it down. They put something while it's still functioning. But when we do the painting, then we'll rework until it's orno and vice versa. They use >> okay >> we go back and forth. >> Um, one of the signs that says how about the for parks that I noticed a week or two ago. It's hard park right line is there's a large sign there that has a section underneath that has plexiglass on it. You talking about and it's about local businesses. >> Yep. >> It's also on the list. I actually I spent hours uh traveling from park to park, taking photos of signs, doing some measuring. Um that is one that would be on the list. We would likely um get the park board involved in that. Um but after um we'd be working with our city engineers on mapping I think first um before we even start talking about design >> and we want to simplify. We don't want to, >> right? I think listing the businesses individually is a mistake because they change so often and I think we're better off working with more like heat symbols and you know some things like that or >> downtown >> or rather Exactly, you know, stop Long Lake, you you know. So I I'm not sure what the vision of that will be, but it would definitely involve updated mapping and that would be something we'd be working new engineers on eventually. Um, I would say we want to get the parks and trails rule signs out there first and then we're talking about covering the logos on the monument signs and also talk I have a call in the sign company's investigating whether or not they might be able to do a little reconditioning on our sand and west of wood signs which some of them need some very real >> TLC. Um, some of them have had more maintenance than others. Um, but yeah, so still looking at some things there, but >> good. Make sure you noticed that. >> I took photos of them while I was out. So, I sent I really sent photos of everything I could find to the sign company and said, "Hang on to these." Some we're going to need now and some we're going to need later. >> Okay, great. Great. All right. Any else? John, last call. All right. All right. So, our next meeting is on Tuesday, October 6th. Got a work session perhaps and council meeting. All right. So, if there's no objection, I'll adjourn the meeting by general consent. Hearing none. Meetings adjourned at 7:58 p.m. Wow, that was