parking area. >> All right, you ready? >> Yeah. Check your crew. >> Okay. Good evening everyone. Calling to order the March 3rd, 2026 meeting of the Lakes City Council at 6:33 p.m. All council members are present this evening. Item two, please join me in the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America for all. >> Okay. Item three, mic's on. Mayor comments law make news meeting review and updates. First of all, we just finished a uh work session along a council work session where we discussed um a request from XL Energy to potentially put underground power lines near the loose line where it intersects with Harden Park. Nothing imminent with that yet. Still more discussions to occur. Uh we also had a review the council reviewed sanitary sewer televising result from over the la the past year or so and saw some improvements and some some lining that needs to be done and some of our sewer lines in different parts of the city. And then finally we had a discussion about um some street improvement projects um Grand Avenue being one of them and and learned about some costs associated with that and that's early on as well. um staff is going to do more research into some of the cost estimates and before we determine what kind of uh street projects we'll authorize. So that was the work session. Other than that, nothing too major occurring in the city over the last uh two weeks or so since our last meeting. And just one update, just a meeting update on my end. The day after our last council meeting on February 18th, I attended a meeting with our congressional representative, Kelly Morrison. Um she held a meeting with mayors from her congressional district uh as she does on a regular basis and got some updates about you know what's going on in Washington DC and that sort of thing and she heard updates from us as mayors as well about things that are occurring in our city that are of interest at the federal level. To be honest, a lot of discussion at that meeting was about, you know, the ICE enforcement that have been occurring in the Twin Cities because it was pretty pretty fresh at that point. And I know a lot of the cities, a lot of the mayors in her district spoke up regarding um different situations and and you know, impacts that uh as a result of the ice activity in their uh cities. Ours was not as much. I know we had I think activity a restaurant or two, but quite a bit at some of the other cities in our district. That was kind of the main part of that meeting. Other than that, nothing major to report since uh again our last meeting. So with that, we'll move on to item four, which is to approve this evening's agenda. And I'll make a motion to approve this evening's agenda with the exception of item 7B. Uh we will table item 7B, which is a further discussion regarding uh professional services with regarding a pavement management improvement project because as I mentioned earlier, a little more research to do with that. So motion to approve with tableabling item B. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. Motion and a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Motion carries unanimously. Okay. Item five, a consent agenda. A couple items tonight on the cons consent agenda. wanted to appoint resident Kelly Grady to the park board for term effective through December 31st, 2028. We appreciate Kelly stepping forward to serve on the park board and likewise appointing resident Travis Michaels for the planning commission for a term effective through December 31st of 2029. I know Michael had planned on attending tonight but was not able to or I'm sorry Travis I plan on attending but wasn't able to do it kind of last minute here. So, we appreciate Travis's interest in serving his community and then also reappointing resident Lori Goodsell to the planning commission for a term effective through December 31st, 2029. So, thank you to Lori who served on the planning commission for several years for continuing to do so. And then lastly, um, besides items A and B, lastly, approve the purchase of a 2017 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck from Davis Chevrolet of Delano. So, thanks to Sean for your work on that. Any questions for staff regarding items on the consent agenda this evening? Not entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda. Second. >> All right. Motion to second. Any further discussion? All those in favor? I opposed. Motion carries unanimously. Terrific. Okay. Item six, open correspondence. Open correspondences agenda during which the public may address the city council. No formal action is taken by the city council and comments should be limited to five minutes or less. And open correspondence. Comments may also be emailed to city staff by noon on the date of the meeting. Anyone wish to approach? No. Any submitted open correspondence? >> There were none. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. Okay. So, we'll move on to regular business then. Item 7A, Henry County updates from Commissioner Heather Eden. So, good evening, Commissioner. Step on up when you're ready. Thank you for joining us. Amanda connect. >> Yes. >> Back. Okay. So, um I don't usually do my own power. I mean I put together. >> Okay. >> Is that going to work? >> Sounds like you have a choice to make. >> Yeah. Windows. The Windows button and P. Did you do that one? >> I hit a unplug again. >> Yeah, you got you got an apple. So, you're the apple guy. You need to walk. >> I know. I'm a person. Here also. Let me just quickly see if I can find >> I believe you already did. Right. >> Save the day. >> Being clear. I thought we were going to avert any problems. >> Things always happen when >> we go. I think I got it. Okay. >> Start mirroring. I think I got it, you guys. on the back. >> Oh, no. I have to hit that. >> Yeah, hit that again. And then >> Oh, something's happening. Look at that. >> Look at that. >> Okay, hold on. Now you're Hold on. What I have to do >> show again. >> There you go. >> It's not quite right, is it? >> Huh? Well, how about we'll just go out. We're gonna go out of this and um we'll just do it >> for most smaller. We're going to do smaller. Okay. >> All right. Okay. I'll just make it a little bit thicker and then we're going to roll with this as >> Yeah. You Yeah, there's >> Oh, I can show you my kids. There's some good ones. >> Sure. They would love that. Um Okay. All right. Well, we'll just kind of go with this. I wish there was like a slightly thicker, but can you guys see it? >> All right, good. Thanks for rolling with me, guys. >> Oh, okay. I mean, this is this is not terrible. >> I mean, it works. >> All right, let's go. Okay. Well, good to see you guys. Um, Heatherson, I'm in June will be on my second year, if you guys can believe it, my second time coming, um, to come present. So, it's good to see you all. Uh, all right. So, today I'm going to hopefully walk you through and let me grab my notes. I write up wrote up some notes. I can I forget to say certain things that I want to make sure I'm telling you. Um, and then before I start too, I'm gonna I'll mention that when I'm able to if you wanted to I could possibly zoom it from here if you would like to try. That would be easier for you. >> Sure. for them. >> Okay. Whichever one. >> Okay. Great. All right. Perfect. >> Okay. Um All right. So, I'm going to take today I'm going to be talking about the 2026 budget. Um you'll see the overview here. State and federal platform and challenges that we're facing. You've probably seen the news. Hmc. We're having some issues um financially with the hospital county highlight community investment. And of course, I would love to hear questions and also feedback from you guys on ways that we can continue to partner better um as I go into the second year. I you think we're always continuing to improve and I want to make sure I'm doing what I can for our community. And so here's just some highlights about Hettipan County. We're established in 1852. We have 45 cities um and 1.3 residents, 100 lakes, 67 square miles, 8,500 companies, and 11 district. I have to tell you before I got to the county, I had no idea what a watershed district really did. I just didn't worked on much different policy. Uh all right. And so here, um I I did I have my staff member did a word cloud. Have you guys ever done one of these? I think they're helpful to see all the different things the county does and I just want to highlight a few um things that that are relevant for Long Lake. Um like we do our the county does the 911 dispatch for Long Lake. We have capital projects. We have search and rescue. Um we do water patrol. Um we're safety net. We uh have adult protection, water quality issues. We deal with public safety SNAP benefits waiver waiverss permits. records um and when you get your driver's license for court security prosecutions so many thing here um and so n the county has 9,000 employees and um we we do a lot of partnering with cities met council watershed state and federal agencies and I was I was trying to think of like a good way to explain this as I'm trying to look at what the county does and it's so vast and so big and we have so many departments um but We what we do is we're the quiet part of government that doesn't make headlines, but we do this vital connection with between communities, the state, and the federal government. We create an economic an economy at scale that allows regional investments in prevention, intervention, and long-term stability. So, we're not always seeing the things that the county does, but there's a lot of prevention we're doing. An example just would be and you probably read the news with the sper department. There's been with the ICE enforcement that we've had. There was um some conflict that happened on Sunday. And one of the things that I did today was look and say, okay, how do we take our faith community funding that we have and how do we have um go and intervene because there's been a lot of trauma that's happened and people still don't trust because they're not getting clear answers from every level of government on what's happening and how many agents are currently here. And I don't see that they're seeing law enforcement. I think there there's a blanket um way that people are seeing uh law enforcement in in the sheriff's department is not the same as ICE. And so trying to figure out how we can intervene because people completely have every right to be upset with ICE, but they also don't have the right to throw things at our our sheriff's deputies. And so it's this it's this conflict that we're having right now that safe communities is able to go and do preventative work. So if we don't see another headline in the news, that might work. But it doesn't mean that we're not doing anything. It's just that it is working. And so it's hard for the community to see that there are things that that happen behind the scenes that aren't going to make the paper. Um so we'll keep going. Here's the the 2026. This is the revenue of and so you'll see I the property taxes is where I have passed out that handout. So for Long Lake, um I'll just if you can talk to your handout that I just sent you, you'll see that Long Lake um residence market value in Long Lake increased modestly at 1.3% reflecting a steady and healthy uh housing market. One um with the overall net change was 5.7%. So it was on roughly an average of 95 uh dollars per uh per home. Again, that's just an average. So I'm sure that some people that bother their property taxes go up more than that would would dispute it but again it's an average. Um so that is what we're looking at. So some of the stressors on our budget um have been I'll go to my next slide here. Um some of the expenditures that we've been seeing um increase on um human services is health and human services is 48% of our budget. We've been seeing um challenges around human services um that I will talk about more uh unpredictability with the federal government and cuts the things that we have already paid for um is a struggle. We also are seeing increased needs for our public safety. That section has been growing. Uh, and I have to be honest that it's challenging to figure out how we are going to slow that because the sheriff has a an obligation a state obligation to provide certain services and so to try to reduce like we can in other departments because right now we are looking at how can we reduce costs. It's really hard to do that with the sheriff's department because we have public safety needs that are actually growing and not reducing. And so how we can't just cut and say that we're not going to hire any more deputies. So it is a challenge that we're trying to think about how we address. Um but I just want to highlight when you think about our budget increases. I also will say the hospital has been a stressor. It was one um levy point which is $10 million last year and uh that is something that we are right now we're actively working on our budget and it's one of the things that we're looking at. So, our goal is to reduce our reliance um on property taxes to continue to increase um we don't want to see continue to increase because otherwise we're going to price people out of their homes. And we we I very much know that u I believe our district would like to have fiscal responsibility but also make sure people are taken care of and I'm taking that very seriously as we approach this budget session um or budget season. So um we are also looking at if you look at the other items um I did a bar which is essentially our county it's it's a board action resolution it's essentially how we do our county laws and I brought one about gun gun violence pre prevention um it was an issue um annunciation was actually close I live in Edina was close to where I live and we have lots of families that were impacted um by that we've seen school foodings go up dramatically ly and so I think the county could play a really important role in working at how we can collaborate to see reduced gun violence. Um so with that I brought a a prevention um resolution and we are working and trying to collaborate more on what we can do um to make sure that schools and counselors in schools as well as communities and police department are supported in the work that they do around prevention. There's also wavered services working group. Uh the state of Minnesota is looking at a wavered reimagine which will reduce um the amount of services uh funding that um people with disabilities and people uh seniors would possibly get. And while that saves state saves the state money, it could also be a quite a big difference between um what people are receiving now to what they would receive. So these are some of the cuts. I'm going to talk about those now. So in 2026, these are this is funding that we've already um there essentially we've already allocated and and are are paying for. So the cuts are real um again that's a levy point um because so SNAP we've had a cut of 8 million and for SNAP um these are services. So, just so you um know, so SNAP is a supplemental nutrition program and uh what with that the county does not the funds don't come from the county. This is a federal program that the county is mandated to provide. We we check eligibility if people if they qualify and then we connect them with services. Previously, we were compensated for um the services for education outreach and to try to help people get uh employment, things like that. We were also compensated for the staff and time that it took and a lot of the cuts are coming out of that now saying they're not going to happen. Um and then terminated FEMA grants and just so you know those are disaster relief hazard mitigation grants um cuts to emergency food and shelter programs permanent cuts as of right now. We haven't received clear answers. Um we we did we were able for SNAP benefits we were able to bring a court case there was a cut saying uh there was a under house file one I believe it was um that might have been a honestly it's really hard to track there's so many different changes um there was a change where we were going to have to reertify everyone um that would be SNAP benefits in one year it's it would be incredibly challenging for us to do that um and so we were able to um get get a court case to stop that from happening so that's been very helpful um people have to renew their certification, but having completely renew everybody the whole application process in one year would have it would have been a tremendous list. Um all right, and then uh 2027. So these are the things that we're looking for um as we look to next year. Um these are Medicaid uh as you you can see at TBD. We are still working on the financials of that from House File One um or excuse me, House Resolution HR1 um but for SNAP food security. So it's the error rate and I would if you guys don't mind me a little bit of leniency here to explain to you what it is because I think it the error rate can be really confusing unless you guys I'm just going to explain it because I'm going to assume that you guys don't know because it took me a while to completely understand. So the error rate so what house um the cutout one or HR1 did um was it said that the it has to be 6% or less. So Minnesota is has an air rate of 8%. Now there's 33 states of our 50 states that are below Minnesota. So they're actually they're they are we're actually just about average. We're just seeing we're just a little bit below average. So 30 33 other states have worse air rates than we do. So if we're at 8.9% and then they want us to get to 6%, but they said you have to get to 6% by January 2027. So air rate, this is what it is. So, an air rate is it's either overpaying or underpaying for SNAP benefits. Now, the challenge with getting this completely accurate um it goes into a system called um MET and MET is an archaically old system like most government systems are. And what it does is it verifies with the IRS the amount of money the person is claiming on their taxes. Now, it doesn't do that right away. Um, and so this person is what they're doing is supplying us with their maybe last two pay stuff. And so we are getting a report of what their income is and sometimes that's inaccurate. And so they're saying you're responsible if that's inaccurate. It's very challenging to try to figure out. So right now, Minute is working with us too to have an overlay on that. The SNAP benefits um are also coming from the same the MET system also does your health benefits. So it does um medical assistance as well. So those two are in one and then we have another database for all the disability waivers which is actually much more flexible um even though it's old. So um that's something we're facing for the SNAP error rates. So 20 million is quite a bit of funds and that's that's troubling. Um I just got back from Washington DC. Um we were working with uh the lawmakers, national county um kind of like you guys do for the council of mayors and the cities coming together. We have the national association of counties coming together and one of the things that was highlighted is is the HUD changes and I saw the assistant secretary um Ronnie Kurts there and I was able to speak with him about some of the cuts to what it is is to stable permanent housing. So that's housing that where we have people with disabilities and chronic mental illness who have homelessness and they cycle through our system which can be very expensive and um that these uh these residents will lose the funding and potentially the housing if they don't if they can't feel that they can work a certain amount and so um which is incredibly challenging. So we've made a lot of progress on housing people stable housing access taxpayers a great deal of funds and so that's been a challenge. I've been working with the assistant secretary to try to see if we can find another path where people could give us more time as we can kind of flush out what the collateral consequences could possibly be on this. Okay. And here is the medical center HMC. Uh so we're at the right now you can kind of see what we're at. August, the county board became the hospital board, which I will tell you I was the one vote against that idea because of a financial liability if I'm honest with you. Um, and I I wanted us to have a path forward because now we are the hospital board. Uh, we had an obligation as a county. Uh, but now the financial obligation is even more challenging. And this hospital, as much as I want to say it, can also um It's going to be very expensive if we have to close it as well. There are there are it's going to be a whole windown process if we have to close. But what you I just want to highlight to you um kind of to the end of where we are through 2027 by the end of this year 100 million has to be cut and I would also say I wish that we would have made some um cuts earlier on. I was advocating for it because healthcare is a business. Um, and as much as we want to keep it maintained, compensated care is growing where people are uninsured or underinsured, those those amounts are growing and we don't have funds to pay for it. The state is not helping us with that. And so when you think about what we're doing here, um it is challenging. So what we're asking for the state legislature right now is to provide us right now there's uh for the ballpark the Twin Stadium, there's a 0.5% um sales tax that that exists. And what we're asking for is a a 1 cent sales tax. So we don't get any of that to fund for now, but the ballpark is paid for. And so what we're asking for is to continue that sales tax, increase it by 0.85 to make it a 1-centent sales tax to help us pay for this because if this hospital closes with the Medicaid changes that we are are seeing, all hospitals will be suffering. And this is not a lucrative business we're in. But it will be costly for taxpayers if it closes. It will be tax it will be costly because it's going to have all the residents are going to have to go to a different hospital and they're going to have this spread out and it will be hard to we'll be playing whack-a-ole with the problem. >> Can I ask you a question? Is there any interest in like prioritizing part of it? I mean there's a huge infrastructure in this building. >> There is a huge infra we're having conversations with people but but the reality is is again hospitals you tell me a hospital outside of Mayo that's making a lot of money right now um and in the state of Minnesota. So privatizing it um for us to become a private it wouldn't be possible for us. I mean the reality is we've tried to change lots of different things but if for somebody to come in and buy it um yeah it's absolutely a possibility and it's one that we're it's kind of our I would say option C um to explore but it's the who the client that that go to HBMC and there's four or five different hospitals within five miles of HBMC. I think it's a hard market to get into right there. >> No. >> Does that answer your question? I apologize. >> I actually started going to HCMC to see um medical providers and they provide on the record really good service. >> They do provide very good service. Yes, I've been there multiple times. >> Yeah. The other hospitals certainly don't want ACM to shut down either is my understanding. But then they get all the from that. That's cost of them. Absolutely. And the other thing to think about too is we get directed pay. So all the other hospitals, what that means is with Medicaid reimbursements, we actually get double Medicaid reimbursement. So the other hospitals want that. They don't have it. But the only way to keep that if it closes is to transfer it to another um government entity. So maybe the University of Minnesota would be is something that I'm thinking about because we could keep the direct pay. So directed pay it would have to be a level one trauma center. So, as we're cutting, there's parameters that we have to cut within to make sure that we're still a level one trauma center, still able to get that match from the federal government. Um, is incredibly tricky. I mean, you think about all of these other things about government we have to know and then hospital government as well in a hospital, how it a hospital operates. It's spent a lot of my time just trying to figure out how to be on a hospital board and understand the economics of it. Um, okay, I'll keep going. All right, so state and I've already talked about that. So, you'll see ballpark sales tax extension is something we're asking for as our number one ask. Um, and then just so you know, from that we would there's a revenue of about 300 million annually from that. And then we've been meeting with the twins. They would have capital improvements that would would total about 9 million a year. So, that's their ask from of these funds. And then we would continue to have um right now you know the play grants that we have that we award grants on that comes from the sales tax we would continue that as well. So um ideally even possibly bumping that but you know if we don't get 1 cent a lot of sales taxes are at 0.5 um that would also help us at giving us about60 million. So that would also be very helpful and that could help sustain the hospital. And then um yes and then for federal it's it's working to reduce the amount of cuts that we're seeing um or give us more time give us more time so that we can plan. Uh so we this is just a high this is a slide that I took from somebody else and our staff. I was like oh that's a great slide. So we have grant programs that totals about 75 million um in grant funding. And so that's looking at prevention, flood mitigation, storm water systems, public health, culturally appropriate mental health. We have added 942 affordable housing homes um working with uh suppliers like Beacon Interfaith um on on providing affordable housing unit and then contracts that we've awarded about 33.5 million. I'll be honest with you, we're uh re-evaluating every single one of these contracts because we have uh we have to cut our budget and so this is one of the first areas. So that that number I what we're doing right now is we're separating what is mandatory to provide because again I just want to highlight the county I want to really make this clear the county most of our budget is mandated for it's federal or state has required us to do something so we're we're we're taxing you but it's not always our fault to be fair it's sometimes the federal and the state government saying hey you have to do these things and we're saying you're not giving us enough money to do it we have to tax for it kind of like you guys probably things that you have to cities have to do. You know, it's the one area of government I have not served in yet. So, >> right. There it goes. My next step. Uh and then we opened the youth crisis stabiliz stabilization center um in October or sorry, in December of this year. It only has 13 beds. You probably thinking like I was very small. But what I just want to give I want to set out a little bit of a picture of what was happening before. We have these youth that have uh very complex uh mental health concerns where they were interacting with our criminal justice system and sitting in the juvenile detention center and otherwise sometimes at hotels and they were we were had county staff that were staffing them because they couldn't be at home but there was no uh residential treatment facility for them. We have a shortage of residential treatment facilities in the state of Minnesota and again we have to provide supports to families. Um so this while it was expensive and while it is small is going to provide a really great resource to um the community in keeping kids out of the Disal Detention Center which is not where people want to go to heal. I mean we have it's so interesting. The Disal Detention Center um has changed so much from when I was growing up. Kids were sent there for like you got into trouble with maybe like a minor thing like underage drinking. That doesn't happen anymore. We have under 20 youth there and all of them convicted of very serious crimes like rape, murder, uh attempted murder, things like that. So, um this we you don't want somebody that's having a mental health crisis with somebody that has committed a very violent crime. Um so this this facility if if you're interested, please do let me know and I can set up a tour um sometime this summer. And okay, so now we're on to Long Lake project. So current project the chip steel pavement preservation along Wisetta Boulevard and then um we have the county road six replacement to enhance drainage and we have additional um the mayor and I had a great conversation about the gates. We were able to come to an agreement that we would match as well as the mindot I believe that's going to match as well as the city is kind of coming together with that other part for the gate repair. Um, I would love to hear like what the update on that is when you have a moment, maybe today, you know, when we're done. Um, and then looking at the bridge repair, the replacement bridge along Brown Road over the um over the trail. And then it sounds like the It's so funny. I wanted to pull more details on this, but our website is being redesigned right now. And I click on so while I'm next slide is like is No, it's two slides down. I'm like, "Go to this website and you can tell you all the details." It's actually not working right now. >> You don't know when that bridge is going to be. Did it say when it came this summer or? >> Yeah. I need to follow up with you, mayor. I mean, I I really wanted I know it was like one of those things I was like, "Wait, hold on. This isn't working." The bridge. >> Yeah, it's made of wood. Right. Right. Thank you. >> Yes, we've been having lots of conversations about that bridge. So, um I'm going to get Let me get the exact date for you. It's it's on our capital improvement at being added and so um yeah >> so good. Okay. Um so county aid and municipalities this is something last year I wish I would have known about like right memo when somebody when you're taking over a job for somebody else would be really nice if somebody gave you memos on what were really good things for cities to know and county aid comm municipalities I think is a good one. Um, so Amanda, you know about it, but I think council members, there's so many things that you have to know about. This is a really good thing for um cities under 5,000. Um, knowing that uh that you get local um government funds that we send to you, it looks like the balance is 18,369 that you have now. Um, and then we should be updating, just so you know, Amanda, as well as council, um, we should be sending an update on allocations in August of this year for what you'll be getting this year. And that happens every year. Uh and then for if you look on the right hand side, Henipin County cost participation policy. we are working I've actually talked to the mayor of Deep Haven and but this is true for a lot of cities is when we are redoing a street um the city's tax participation can be high and it can be challenging for cities and so looking how we could subsidize that uh as a county and we have on the participants on the working group which we're hoping to have an answer um by the end of summer on what that policy will look like. So if you have ideas um you can let the mayors of Weisetta or know or or their city manners managers know um Sorwood and Eden Prairie are all D6 cities that are participating. Um just so you know too for uh deep haven and in cities that don't have there there's some cities that don't have a county road and the mayor mayor Carlson actually brought this up and I thought it was a good point. They're paying into taxes but there don't have any county roads. I'm not going here. Hold on. I think I got it. >> What's the button? What's the button again? >> Hold on. I got it. I think um >> push the green button. >> Push the green button this one. >> Um but so good. Okay. All right. I'm saying I hate when people do that. Uh yeah. So, we are having this this meeting to figure out how we could have that cost share. But also, if cities do not have, and I think it might only use Deep Haven in our district that doesn't have a uh a county road, they are able to apply for funds to they used to Minnotonka Boulevard and Vine Hill used to actually be county roads. And not that this impacts Long Lake, but the mayor at the time, the city council find it took it on. And uh so I I think that the current council is not very happy about the former council's decision. Um I know that would never don't so don't my advice to you is don't sign over your county road or don't take the county road as your city road. It's not a good idea. You'll regret it. Um and there we are. There is the website I was going to say that you'll be able to uh access with more information, but it's not working right now. We'll be hopefully working in the next week. We're just redesigning right now. We're switching over from um us to.gov. >> Yeah. All right. And these are just boards I'm on. If you're if there's anything that comes up for the mosquito control board, one of the best boards ever. Um but if you feel like mosquitoes are heavy and you need you need a little bit more coverage, let me know and I can I can bug um bug and make sure that they Yeah. Seriously, it's actually It's really it's a fun board to be on. I mean, we get to put on like mosquito gear and everybody kind of collectively agrees that we don't like mosquitoes. >> Yeah. But heading home, you know, we don't have to go through all of them, but canvasing board also I certify elections and that's one of the things that we do at the county, which is really interesting. Again, another thing I didn't know and I would love to hear feedback, questions, anything. And I have a pad to get your feedback. Are there things you have questions on that we didn't cover? Things that you would like to hear more about? >> I have a few. >> Yeah, I got ahead. >> The county road six um uh drainage Yeah. >> project. Is that tied at all in with the Minha Creek wershed district um working on there some holding ponds on County Road 6 that they're um trying to improve uh that impacts the flow into Long Lake uh and the phosphorus uh issue that we have or is that completely separate? >> Uh council member I do not know but I can follow up. I can just call give James a call and connect with him from the wershed district in Douglas. I guess we're working together. >> Yeah, because you know we have a big issue with um with >> the water quality of Long Lake and and uh and all of the runoff that uh is going in there and and phosphorus that's already in there and um how to improve that because that's really our central, you know, greatest natural resource for our little city here to have. um that we'd like to preserve. And and so we're we're glad to see that the wershed district is doing um they they have a long-term plan to try to improve the water quality of not only lake but the whole wershed district um or the whole wershed um including the other lakes that feed into Long Lake and then Long Lake feeds into feeds into Vanager Lake in Lake Manka. So it impacts everything downstream from it. So um that was one question. Um the other question the CAM that you were talking about um is that $18,000 balance is that do we get some annual amount? >> I was just looking and I don't believe we got any last did we offset >> but we can use that for our own u pavement management >> and so we get roughly 7,000 a year then or is that >> roughly? Yeah. I didn't know invoices from our coding project. Some of that's for digital speed limit signs that we're looking at putting on orchard. That fund was going to fun. We didn't have to uh put that in our budget. So, it's sitting there waiting to be spent. >> Could we use that to uh put in that crossing uh um you know? >> Yeah. at the at Worer Trail like we've been talking about for years. >> But that's a county that's a county decision I guess. >> Yeah. >> So tell me tell me what >> So uh so there's a a trail crossing right across from our lake. uh we call it wars trail and we've talked for years and years and years about having a meter you're like a you know a button that they pedestrians can push to to cross there and at one time they said no they can't because there's one that's down by the red rooster which is kind of too close so that's going to impact traffic flow and but I don't know if I bought that >> yeah I don't know at one time right but this was probably 10 years ago have um do you have more of a a specific you guys? I apologize. I have a huge district so I don't know every it's 112 right here. >> Okay. So, right by 112. >> Yeah, it is. >> It's on 112. >> Yeah, on 112 um along the lake and there's a a crossing there and there is a there is a median there or like a island of refuge I guess they call it and there's a crosswalk there. So, I mean, traffic ought to stop and we actually put up those uh you know, signs that say stop for pedestrian and crosswalk and but we've always thought it would be safer to have, you know, a a button with flashing lights. If you were to draw a pass on your way here, it's probably it's you know, you got right past birches and go down the hill and then get to the lake and then there's it's kind of right there once it flattens out a little bit. >> 30 mile zone. >> Yeah, they're supposed to be 30. But, I mean, you're coming down of a 40 and coming down the hill. So, usually people are >> I'm going to call the mayor tomorrow. I'm going to zoom in on those on the on the map and make sure I have it and I'll may I'll give you a call. >> Signage has been replaced I don't know how many times. >> So, we want a pedestrian um flashing not a red light or anything just you know the thing that flashes. >> Isn't there one up in the trails like this or something? >> We have it at the Rooster Milster, too. Yeah. So, >> okay. >> Yeah, that's good. >> Um, and then yeah, so many questions. I was curious about that that cam. I didn't realize that because you know, as far as local government aid from the state, we've been shut out of because uh I never understood those formulas that where other cities get local government aid and we don't apparently >> criteria that has to be met in order. >> It's a complicated formula that nobody understands. So, part of I don't understand. Can you fix that too or not? >> I left the paper. Glad I'm not there. >> Well, that's the current balance, >> right? >> That's currently what I just checked with county stats and that's currently what the balance show is that you have >> that we have in our invoices that the the invoices are way more than what's available. It'll drain it to zero in >> right but we have that to use. there ready for us to use. >> Okay. Nice. Nice. Um and then my last question is what what was the total tax um revenue that you had last year um from taxes? >> Yeah. >> So my stat revenue there it goes. Oh. >> Okay. And that was an increase of 5.7%. >> Which is you know what 150 million. And so I'm just curious about why there's all these cuts when the uh when the when the taxes went up by 150 million. >> So what what what is it that's gone up so much that requires $50 million in cuts at HBMC for example, you know? >> Oh. Oh goodness. There's so I mean it's it's from a lot of different areas. Um so we have again there so 13 million is specifically for the syrup. Um you have you have HBMC had over 10 million, so they were a little bit more than a levy point. Um, and then there was a lot of human services um aspects in there. So, there's a lot of different things that are going up. The cost of the capital improvements to do some of them. Um, we've seen some budget changes that we weren't prepared for. Um, >> just there there's a lot of it was death by a thousand paper cuts, unfortunately. that it just seems like I wasn't expecting all those severe cuts that you presented and I was thinking well wait a minute if it's gone up by 5.7% which is math guys I was trying to aggregate the amount of cut >> well a surprisingly small number so I >> oh for the federal for the federal government >> oh well that's not including the state government so I didn't include the state I mean you know ultimately we want things from the state so I'm going to be very positive right now about them but we've also had cuts interest there. >> I wasn't aware of that. So 150 million add on the Fed was like 1% cut, right? And then unknown. >> Do you have an idea of the aggregate of >> of the actual state? >> What do you mean? >> Like the total cuts that you're expecting? >> Oh, the total cuts that we're going to have to do. Honestly, right now, um we are looking at a 12% levy increase um if we do not somehow get our budget into place. So that's where we're at. We're having monthly meetings. I mean, the problem with county government is you see, we we have we have our our areas. I mean, like, look at this. Look at the span of of all the different lines of business. So, we have libraries, we have public works, we have capital improvements, you have law, safety, and justice. Um, you have health operations, disparity elements. There's a lot of things in there. And then human services. There are a lot of things that are very complicated within each all of in each of those mechanisms that the cost goes up. And then also we have 9,000 staff. Um we collective bargain with them and their the raises and their health care costs have gone up. That's something I don't have on the slide. Um so those costs alone those are six levy points just for our just for our staff by itself. So we have a hiring freeze. So that's the thing where you're like you're looking at it. We have unexpected cost. We have a very large amount of staff. And the county is run by people. It's really run by people. Can you explain what operations and disparity elimination? What what does that what falls into that bucket? >> Yeah, so it's a lot of operations and and public and disparity elimination. It's interesting because Alpha News had did a story about this and I I responded to several um constituents about it. And I do think we should have a little bit more kind of breakdown of what each one is. And actually, we do have a book about it, but disparity elimination is where we're going and we're we're investing with certain communities and saying, "Okay, we know that um we're seeing higher amount of homelessness and higher amounts of uh police calls and sheriff calls here and we're looking at how do we reduce um things there. So, I mean, it's a very vast and broad. I can actually sign you the line items of all the different things that we do within it." How is that different though than human ser that's >> very different very different yeah because so human services are are are waiverss it's child protection it adult services that's that is completely different than the things that we're seeing where there's poverty the very specific poverty things that we're trying to intervene with so that's a lot of our prevention work is disparity elimination because I've been getting a lot of calls from residents and um business owners specifically I mean disparities is something that I know a lot of business owners are extremely upset about right now. They just got their tax returns and or their tax dat >> and I see this and it's 12% of the budget going to capital improvements which I know for our city capital improvements is a huge >> that's most of our state that's our government is tier four is capital improvements of infrastructure and so forth. >> Um and only 6% going to public works. So I I think a lot of our businesses in town are starting to feel like their aren't being heard and that they're, you know, between both property taxes and then fiscal disparity tax that a lot of their money is. >> We don't have a separate tax for the public disparities. That's not >> on property tax. >> No, on property taxes is built within we don't have a separate we don't I mean it's all like the 7.79 went up that was built within the whole framework. So what I would say is the disparity elimination is so the county is not like a city. The county is absolutely there's no way a city could do what the county does. It's just it would be incredibly expensive for cities to do that and the state couldn't do it because they're too far removed. The state is the day-to-day how they run a government is very different. So with the disparity elimination, I think getting you know getting you the line items on what that actually is um I think will be helpful. But yes, I it's it's it's very challenging because human services is very different than what we're doing in disparity elimination. Um, and I should be able to explain that better to you, but there's a lot of things that I have to know and I can pull it up really quick for you and actually talk to you off if you want. >> No, this was that was you answered my question. And then the um facility that was built at 13 which which category did that falling say? Remember last year you mentioned what was the protocol for that one? That one was I believe it was 15 million 15 or 50 >> what the public safety facility >> all the juvenile >> hold on let me just tell you was um I'm telling you in the house of representatives you didn't have to know about 18 different lines of bill like this it was it's a very different thing. Okay. Cost it was 20 million. 20 million. Yeah. 20 million. >> Another question about the hospital the shortfalls there those fall on the count right now. Do we have an idea of what fraction that's trauma center services huge area. We have an idea of what fraction of the people using that facility from Henipin County versus >> Oh yeah. 20% are from outside of Henipin County. So it's 20% of the of of who is using that. So they could be from South Dakota, they could be from greater Minnesota. >> Ramsey County >> Ramsey County. Yeah. I mean they have they have regions but it's not as sorry. I mean the burn unit that we have um a lot of different things at HMC are I mean we're training hospital we we train so many of the physicians that are coming um in being in the medical field >> as a regional service becoming effective I'm just thinking let's employ like the fact that it is a service why does that fall in pen county >> tax we're no long we're no longer allowing them to come right now we've actually cut services So if you if you unless you live in Henipin County, we're not accepting you. We just did that. Yeah. >> And so we're talking to the legislature about that. I mean, we're having to make again 100 million by the end of this year. And so no longer can then can taxpayers continue to pay because it really is on on our residents to pay for it. >> Yeah. Exactly. It becomes a state issue if they're not putting their big pants on. >> Yeah. And it's and it's stressful. I mean at the hospital um the workers are are you know really helping but it's we've been we've tried everything to try to look at how we can be really efficient. Um but yeah we're looking at you know over a thousand layoffs probably coming soon and I think all the unions know it too and it's it's not a it's not a great place to be. Um question, one question I have is our city clerk is not able to join us tonight, but I know she was here. She would ask about the um elections and as far as any any move forward movement on county providing assistance to smaller cities like ours regarding um you know absentee voting and and voting before you mind. >> Yeah, perfect. Go for it. >> You're going to go into my folder because Greenwood asked about this and I put it in my presentation for them. Let me just see what I have. Um Greenwood. Um so you can see Greenwood. Um I'm going there tomorrow. Uh Greenwood elections. So here's what we're doing. So they've been having conversations with um the mayor of Greenwood. Did I go by it? You guys where >> increased support from >> There it is. Okay, perfect. Okay, good. It's been a long day. Um, okay. So, here's here's what we're doing. Um, assessing hiring needs. So, we're not actually taking over making the city clerk some. So, we're doing some of the training um looking for preparations for the support, but we're not we're not going to have um voting locations where they can come to the government center. Um, and I think Greenwood, I don't want to say what they're totally doing publicly because I'm not 100% sure if they shared with the public, but they're looking at how to make it more early voting more reasonable within their community. Um, so I think it, you know, we're doing this as a first step. Um, so we should Amanda, why don't I'm gonna add that. So, um, I'm gonna connect you with Dan. So Dan on elections, but I think that we should continue the conversation. I'm not sure who asked that, mayor. Is it you? >> Yeah. >> On this. I think we should continue the conversations because I think trying to I know with my election that was a nightmare, right? It was like the special election, then there was a primary. Um, and so it was multiple things that had to be and that's very costly. I mean, I think the I looked at it, I was like, how expensive is this? and it was nearly 300,000 that it took just for the election, the special election when Crystal Congress stepped down. So that was quite costly. Not a great time to do that. >> And also the required hours. I know that that's been an issue for her because I know in early voting that that you require um a few Saturdays, late hours. Um and so for a city of our size, our employees, we have one employee that doesn't he has to come in on Saturdays and some nights work till 9:00 p.m. um to adhere to those regulations. participation in those hours. >> Well, and that's that's the thing because I remember when I was in the legislature then when um Representative Green's men did that. Um and I you know you would wonder that there would be some exceptions for small cities. >> That's what we were Yeah, that's >> we should we should connect on I'll email you on that. Um >> can make an appointment that seems more reasonable. >> It's not it's not doesn't qualify. >> No, I know. But if you were to kind >> Okay. Yeah, it's that last bullet that really deploy a larger county role in early voting administration. That's kind of what we're, you know, talking about. I know it's been pitched, but and maybe it requires legislative change. I'm not sure, but >> I don't know that it does. You know what's interesting? We should we should check. Let me I'm going to check and circle back with I'll just send you both an email and you guys can figure out who gets the information. Um because I think I looked up with Greenwood, the mayor of Greenwood has said I looked up the state law and I don't I don't think that there's a uh prohibition from us actually saying is Rdale is the early voting location. So I think I I'm going to touch base with Dan though before I email you guys and see I looked because I was curious about that and and so you'll have times um Amanda where people just are not you're you're you have to staff it but no one's coming in to vote. >> Correct. Yeah. And it's the the staffing during regular business hours isn't isn't necessarily as big of an issue as the Saturdays night. Um and even when the regular business hours are all expected to be all day, Monday through Friday makes it okay. Oh, I will follow up on that as well. >> No lunch. >> Yes, exactly. No lunch >> during the regular business hours. Nobody shows up. That's easier than nobody. There's this reasonleness that needs to be >> Yeah. Yeah. Agreed. And and maybe like on the weekends when if that is the case because I think of course the Anyway, I'm I'm I'm going to not speak about it because I have to have the law in front of me before I >> And then playground grants. Any updates on those? That's still I think it's an annual rich bill, right? And I think we're intrigued about applying for what um that this year. Those haven't been cut or anything like that. >> No. And and one of the things that we're trying to because they are so successful. They're a great way for the community to see um some again just like the CAM when I found out about this I'm like my cities need to know about this because ultimately I didn't totally know about it but I think playground grants are a great way for us pe for residents to realize some of the things that Henipin does too in ways that are impactful because I think like to the point Amanda about your business is they're like I don't feel like I'm getting it. What is this fair illumination? What am what's in it for me? And I I agree with trying to figure out what we can do that people can actually see it. So, um, let me we we are doing that. We are going to continue it. And I'm not sure if we're supposed to try to increase it with this ballpark sales tax extension. I'm not sure if we were going to try to increase the amount that we're doing. I know Greenwood has a park that they're trying to get funds for. Is there um something that you guys are looking for for the playground grant? It's opens application in August. I just looked and then it looks like answer comes like September 30th. There's there's a lot of our infrastructure that need to be replaced, but there's also some redesigning that we're working on. >> Okay. So, you you'll you be ready to apply in August. >> Yeah. So, August opens. It didn't say the exact date, but plan for August. And please do let me know when you apply. Um while I'm not absolutely able to determine, I I will definitely I'm still feel new even though I'm two years. The organization's so big. Uh, but I'm figuring out how to get I I want to get as much playground grants as I can for our community. I'm figuring it out a little bit. >> Great. Thanks. >> Yeah. As far as update, you asked about the the gate again. We appreciate your advocacy on that and we're I think we're just waiting for the spring thaw here. >> Um, yes. And I did get confirmation. I spoke to um with Henipin County. Um, and Henipin County has committed to pay 5,000. I do believe a third of it would have been 7,318, but Henipin County has approved,000. >> Yes. I didn't know that. >> Oh, the cost went up. Okay. >> The total bill is $21,954. >> Okay. We can we can we can see if we can do that. >> Good enough. Can you send me just an email to to say that it's up? >> Yeah. And that was um the quote the final quote has been completed and you know it to me it's just how the mechanism works. I have to I have to know about it so I can use the authority that I have. >> All right perfect any other things I should know about or you guys want to know about and I can give you all my cards. Please always reach out to me throughout the year. I genuinely am trying to do as much as I can for our communities. This a hard job because you're you're far away. downtown. I'm trying to know everything. So, always keep me updated. >> Great. Thank you. I got you in speed dial. So, I your number, but else let me know. I can pass that on to you. All right. Well, thank you for taking time out of your your day and evening to give us an update. >> Of course. Thank you. >> Thank you. Well, good to see you all. >> All right. Good to see you. Have a good night. Okay. And we'll move on to we're tableabling 7B. So, we're going to move on to 7C, invitation for city council representation on the Minia Creek Wershed District Policy Advisory Committee. >> Yes, I will be um discussing this with council tonight. So, recently the Minha Minhaha Creek wershed district has met with Mayor Miner and discussed launching their 27 watershed management plan update initiative. During this meeting, um, administrator James Whisker extended an invitation for members of the city council to join on the MCWD's policy advisory committee. So, tonight we are asking any council members if they would be interested in representing the city of Long Lake um, in this advisory committee. >> All right. notes here. Time commitment is scheduled during daytime business hours approximately five or six meetings between now and December of next year. 2027 is the meeting. That's not a lot. Maybe three three meetings. Two, three meetings a year or something like that. >> Seems like they might discuss, >> right? Runoff and lake and water quality. >> That makes me think of you. Were you looking down there at these guys or >> I'll look at >> I can give an update. >> I think we might have conflicting priorities. >> I can give an update on some of the information that I've worked I've seen the wershed already um work on and they are looking for three focus areas within Long Lake for this project. One of them being Park and that would be in enhancing the their walking path a little bit in that area. and um some of the wooded areas. >> Well, that would be to address some of that. >> All of this is what they're trying to do is try to get more holding ponds and um water relocation so that it's sitting in streams longer. >> Trying to probably be able to be a better um resource for a lot of this. There are three areas. They're going to be Hber Park. They're also looking at the downtown area because a lot of problems are coming from the industrial district right now. And so we're looking at ways to try to eliminate that. One of the ways we've talked about with them is there's a pond across the street that's kind of up in the air. Mot donated it, not donated it. So there's a pond directly across the street that they might be looking at utilizing. >> Um you can't really see it. >> It's a hole. It's a hole by the bridge. So, we're going to be better utilizing that. Um, >> there's also another one across the freeway very eastern edge of the walking trail where it runs out of that wood section underneath the walking trail that goes to that there. >> So, that's one of their areas. Another area is going to be Nelson Lakeside Park. We're looking at different ways to um to move the streams a little bit to try to make better use of that. And then the third area, which I thought was pretty interesting as part of this downtown area, we've talked a little bit about the BP lot and um a possibility of maybe making that um storm water beneficial and maybe making a some type of structure that would be more aesthetic and functional and leaving it properly. >> Maybe waterfall. Is that the same word? >> Underground. >> Oh, I no I don't know. And they were t they had all these wonderful drawings and stuff. So, anyone looking to join the watershed committee, it would be helpful. Um, it would be helpful to myself and the wershed to help us determine what the council's goals are for these three specific areas as they start discussing ideas to Do we know if um resident Dan Ju would be part of that as well? I think she's kind of a community representative to the Washington district. >> She has not she has not been at um >> she hasn't been at any of the meetings that I've been at, but I don't I wouldn't have opposed to inviting her to join in any future meeting. >> Well, you have some representative from the Long Lake, which is she is a member of right. She would call you a good speaker on this email, >> right? >> That's about I think she had a quas official role already. >> You might haven't seen her at my >> That's why it makes sense. Yeah. For her to be tied as well. But maybe that's not the same as this advisory committee position here. I think ideally they're looking for somebody from our city council. It says, "Thank you for taking the time with me and Janet." So, I I I wonder too if she is >> on the board, >> but hasn't gotten official email yet. I guess I haven't heard if they were if they filled that position because she she' applied to be on the board itself and she had previously or maybe currently is a is like a citizen representative and I don't know if they've named that position yet as far as the board member they appointed that. >> So from a staffing perspective um like I've only been to one meeting with a large district and it was pretty much just drawing coloring the following ideas in the future. I think that it would be beneficial as staff. I'd be bringing Sean in in some situations in in some situations as needed um when when we start to things that are pertinent and I would use their expertise in those areas. But I do think that the representative from the council would be extremely helpful. We have a um maybe you know how we've done in the past it doesn't seem like a lot of people are jumping with it. >> Um maybe an >> a primary and an alternate. >> Yeah. I mean if there isn't strong interest. Um I don't I don't have it sounds like it's not that big a commitment. Daytime hours is difficult for me but um I can try to make that work. Somebody else was also appointed as I would be the ones I'll take that one alter primary. >> Yeah. But then and then uh copy me on any thing that's happening or minutes or whatever that come out of that or maybe you would do that. >> I can do that. Yes. Nothing's happened yet. >> I think we're sorry. >> I think we're still I think it's still working. >> That hasn't come up yet. >> All right. I'll make a motion to appoint newcomer as the primary is the back up to the wershed district healthy advisory committee for 20. I'll second that motion and the second. Any further discussion? All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries unanimously. Great. Thank you gentlemen for stepping forward for that. Okay. So we are done with regular business. We move on to item eight. Other business going around here. Council member newcomer. >> Good. All right. Councilman. >> Good. Thank you Diamond. >> Well, just on that related topic, I know Todd, you're the Long Lake Waters. Um, but I was uh in on this meeting that uh they had with Lake Restoration. Were you in I don't know if you were here our last meeting or not when I I just gave just a quick summary um of that and and we met with this company called Lake Restoration that does alum treatments for impaired waters and um and he has a you know sort of started a plan or sort of laid out a a plan that he would recommend to for doing that and that you know that's not on the the water district's plan at least in the near term. Their position is, you know, you fix the the long-term problem and and you know, of stuff going into the lake and then you fix the lake and but there are those other others that believe that you can one isn't necessarily exclusive of the other and what and you can do things in parallel. You have to fix the long-term problems, but but if we can do something that improves the water quality and takes it off the impaired waters list like they've demonstrated they've done with other lakes, um you know, that's something that ought to be considered. Now, there's a cost for it and uh it's it's not uh cheap, but it was less than I thought it was going to be and and uh so there was there's going to be some um investigation by uh some from the Long Lake Waters Association, some myself perhaps to see what kinds of grants would be available u to help with that. You know, what what city participation between Orno and Long Lake and even Madina might be. And what kind of fundraising you could do. Uh so so even though I'm not the official Long Lake Bar wers association leaison, they they pulled me into that. So um but I can I can send to you what what what they u what that presentation was. Um, and then I think Amanda or Janette has reached out to them about coming here and presenting somebody from the waters association coming here and presenting that um that to our council at some point. Um, but um I said that because I guess I think they they don't want to go down that road if the cities are not interested, you know, and and again, you know, we probably wouldn't have a whole lot we could to it. But I hope that we would step up and do something if if that was something that everybody agreed to and that Orno would do the same. Um and that um that you know maybe um so anyway that's >> no I it's neither does a permit have to be issued by the DNR or something. Yeah, I think there's a permit that needs to be >> uh we put Allen into a body water. They're wanting to know about it. >> Yeah, but I mean it's it's not from the way lake restoration presented it. That's not going to be a major hurdle or I mean it's it's it's going to take the lake off the impaired waters list which everybody wants to see. And and there were yeah there was there was actually questions about that. Allen, you know, is that considered a pollutant or or is it a dangerous thing in my head of the water? >> Oh, no. I don't want that at all. >> Yeah. Well, then I would say that >> Yeah. I don't know. really discovering body before you add a chemical to the water. >> It's not it's it's well it's not a chemical. It's a it's a it's aluminum sulfate. It's it's a it's just a um it is a chemical in sense that everything's a chemical, but it's not a it's not a hazardous material. It's it's just a a compound that that combines with the phosphorus and then contains it and just drops to the bottom of the lake and and it just stays there and um it's certainly not more toxic than what you know the phosphorus itself. So, but that I guess that's a valid question. I I don't know that I've ever heard that anybody would say they wouldn't want to do an Allen treatment. generally the the the issue is the cost, you know, and coming finding the the money to do it. But yeah, I'm sure there's a permit in involved, but um I I I've never heard of a permit being denied um by a governing body, you know, maybe if there's a large group that was not interested in doing it, I'm not sure why I would be against it. But um alum treatment was done here in the 90s. Yeah. And and actually prior to that in the 70s, I think. And if it's done right, um you know, it can last 10 to 20 years. And and uh and it's like an almost instant improvement of of water clarity. Now, the problem then you get is if you got clear water, then you get a lot of weeds. And so people might complain about, oh, you got all these weeds suddenly. Well, that's the that's the price you pay. Either either you got m water or you got weeds and so you know which is which is better. Um so well and those are questions that we could ask when when if they come and present to us. Um so yeah maybe maybe it does require the water district permit or something or or DNR or or the MPTA. I'm not sure but uh >> I would make certain of that before you anything really. >> Yeah. Well, I mean that the lake lake shore restoration is doing this currently as we speak with a number of lakes and other pound treatments have been done and about every wastewater plant the state uses all the discharges out of that all cover >> they also use another chemical which is about 10 times stronger is chloride Well, I don't know how that works. And and uh >> well, okay. I haven't heard that, but you know, the the the interesting thing that I learned about the at least how he's laid it out for Long Lake is that you only put this in in the deepest parts. You don't. So, people thought you cover the whole 270 acres. He says, "No, you don't. You you do um the parts that are deeper than It was either 20 ft or 15 feet because it's those deep parts where the phosphorus comes out of the sediment. The the shallower parts, it's it's not nearly as as um severe. So So he he kind of laid out it was about 90 acres that you would actually put the ally in treatment and you do it two two applications over two years. And um to get the most effective locking up of the phosphorus and uh and you know they said that's what they've done on other lakes and and it's taken them off the impaired waters list and improve the water quality quality drastically and so um anyway they're the experts not me but um but as I understand it it's not considered you know material or harmful to fish or people or anything like All right, >> I'll send you the presentation. >> Just give me a quick update going next next Wednesday from tomorrow going to the big Minnesota city city day in the hill done the last year or two kind of for city officials to go to and learn more about what's happening at the capital and bills in the legislature and things like that. I'll report back anything I get out of that. >> Have fun. >> Yeah, fun, isn't it? But no, besides that, nothing. Um, report on my end. >> Tomorrow, >> it might be to point. I don't I can't think of any other project. >> Okay. Nothing for me. >> All right, >> I don't have anything significant. I was going to let me drive know that I I am reading an email from Jane Davidson where she was invited and she asked to be able to present at a later date after she has her board meeting and some of the details are cleared out. So that is already in the works as far as getting organized. Other than that, I don't have anything else. >> She'll present to us to the council. >> Correct. Yep. She would just like to get some of the details established. So it will probably be at few months a few months. >> Great. And I'll just add to that. Um so the you know the sudden strong interest in the Allen treatment is because of the blue algae that we have and that's certainly extremely toxic and harmful to certainly dogs and and you know people too. And so you know they want to try to eliminate that from happening every year. And I do know that and you and I talked about the phenova is also working on quite a bit of money side this year to do a treatment I believe. >> Oh yeah or >> I can't recall now. >> Yeah. One of their like >> one of their set aside quite a bit of money because they also had the same problems working on um a similar project. I understand we have lots of applicants for this administrative position. Good. >> Yes, we um we have been pleasantly surprised at amount of qualified applicants for the city the assistant position. I think it will be it will be a very hard decision on our part, but I'm looking forward to getting someone hired and getting them trained. Nice. >> And just to clarify, it is not if you believe in the paper it was marked as um an administrator's assistant is not I don't >> is a um administration assistant office assistant. >> Okay. Clarify that. I do know the paper. >> Okay. Uh Janet's done a really good job of advertising that position as well as our public works position as well. Maybe not as many applicants going in for that yet. >> We have not. I wasn't going to mention that. We have not yet. We're still hopeful that the right candidate will apply. >> Great. >> All right. Speaking of bird, Sean, anything else you were saying on going well? You put >> been busy busy busy trying to keep the chips full. >> Yeah, appreciate that. Got the snow plows taken off to the summer. Are you going to wait on that? >> Not yet. Got uh some repairs to a couple of them that we need to work on. We our beloved tool cat, the main wiring harness cooked out of it. be about 12 grand that >> you're getting. >> Well, not a new >> What's that? >> You're getting a Silverado, I see. >> Yep. I just bought a very mint condition 2017 Silverado. If it wasn't such a good such good shape, I would have walked right by it. It made me do a double take and go back home. We better look at this one. >> You have to get that wrapped. We are not doing we're not doing wrapping. We ordered um I don't >> and so yes put a beacon light on it just like the rest. >> Okay. Yeah. And I guess I was surprised that we bought a used vehicle. I was in I was maybe we vocalized this but we set money aside last but this year I was thinking maybe you know, 30,000 this year, 30,000 next year equals 60,000 go buy a new truck. But if if you wanted to buy used, then I guess I was very happy with it. We got an extended warranty with it. Um the trucks that we bought in 2018 when I first started, they've only got 30,000 miles on them almost 10 years later. So if it goes beyond that, um or up to that, covered. So, no surprises there. And we are under budget by about three grand, four grand after all said and done. And that was sure they'll be going somewhere else, right? And then um I don't know if anybody's noticed um I've been leaning more towards using less sand and more salt for ice control this year. And just for the I don't have time to go around 14 times and resand everything trying to let uh chemical reactions and sunlight do a little bit more of the work. So um within two or three days the streets have become pretty much black again. So, um, we purchased 60 tons of salt in February. Actually allocated it back last summer and had it delivered in February and I think we still got about half. So, it's not really that much additional funding required. So, I think we're going to keep >> So, sorry. More salt, less sand or Okay. more so minuscule in the equation in the metro that for instance I think uses 1,200 tons about 60 >> okay one one question that came up previous council meeting is when you use when when you do the street sweeping Um, where do you dump that? >> So, does that eventually just kind of get back into the system? >> We actually had a local horse farmer that would take it and use it as is tall fluffing or whatever he wants to call it since died. So, we're still using it for clean and taking it to authorized places. is one of them. >> And when this place all ready to go for 2026 for compost and I'll probably be hauling another 100 trees under this year. Are we going to be using that sub subcontractor again this year? >> We will be. >> There's a few that you've identified in certain spots that a little bit more than we can. So, we're going to bring that back in. Charlie's auto cutting it down one day. We're trying to, but what the outcome was. >> I haven't heard a words. I just look at it as I drive by. >> Okay. that um just plain winter operations. Um Dean has been uh graciously coming in and helping us plow and his uh saying was when he used to work here it was paintings from heaven and now it's inflation now it's quarters from heaven. >> He's been in three or four times to help us out and the bigger ones been significantly appreciated. It was just like him jumping back. >> I think he kind of st the big rig stled up right in front of my driveway. >> Yeah. And he slid down the hill on Green Hill and smuck the pork chop at the bottom. The last fall about 45 minutes into pling. also had to stop and spend an hour and a half putting that back together with a welder and a torch and everything else. >> It was quite the chaos that morning 4:00 in the morning. >> So, he still comes in. >> He was my source for uh Grand this afternoon. I was talking on the phone on the way back from St. Bob and he lived on Grand Avenue since he was a little boy and then he worked for 45 years and I can't ever remember that being repaid. It was paid when he was a little boy. I believe it. I believe it over 70 years. I It's crazy. All right, last call. So, next meeting is Tuesday, March 17th, also known as St. Patrick's Day is that we then like official holiday or something we reschedule that or not. Uh so maybe a work session we'll see before that but maybe not. All right. So if there's no objection I'll turn the meeting by general consent. Hearing none means journ at 8:00 p.m. Sorry.