Good evening and welcome to the Maple Plane City Council meeting. It is Monday, January 26th at 7 p.m. and I'm calling the meeting to order. Please stand and join us for the pledge of allegiance if you are able. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> I am looking for a motion to adopt this evening's agenda. >> I'll make that motion. >> Moved by Francis. >> I'll second that motion. >> Second by. Any further discussion or questions? Hearing none. All in favor, please signify by saying I. I >> oppose. Same sign. Eyes have it. Five to zero. First item of business this evening is visitors to be heard. Mr. Larson, do we have any? >> We do not. >> Any visitors? All right. Next item of business this evening is our consent agenda. >> Thank you, Madam Mayor. Uh, I'd like to uh offer an amendment to item E for the 2026 uh street projects improvement hearing meeting minutes. Uh, specifically under Bill McGary's statement during the public hearing for the downtown street project. Uh, there should be an additional sentence to that uh to that commentary. Bill did express support for the closing of the Highway 12 access on Butt Avenue and noted the numerous accidents and near misses in that intersection. >> Thank you, Mr. Larson. With that addition, I'm looking for a motion to approve the consent agenda, which includes December 15th, 2025 city council workshop meeting minutes. December 15, 2025 city council business meeting minutes. Uh January 12th, 2026, city council special business meeting minutes. January 12th, 2026, city council workshop meeting minutes. January 20th, 2026, city council 2026 street project improvement and public hearing meeting minutes. And peasants forever great water chapter 0985 LG220 application for exempt permit. >> I'll make that motion with the corrections to the minutes. Moved by Berk. >> Second. >> Second by Francis. Any further discussion or questions. Hearing none. All in favor, please signify by saying I. >> I. >> O. Same sign. The eyes have it. Five to zero. I'd also like to note, I should have said this earlier. My apologies. Um, administrator Schillinder sends his regrets. He is out um very ill this evening, so did not want to share his germs with us. So, thank you to our assistant um city administrator Larson for stepping in to fill in this evening. It is appreciated. All right, with that, we'll get back to the agenda. Item number seven, accounts payable. Before us this evening, we have city bills um for year ending in 2025. And then we have the city bills is for 2026, the street project and the bond payment. Does anybody have any question on any of those? Seeing none, I am looking for a motion to approve all accounts payable accounts payable including city bills for year 2025, city bills January 26 street project and the bond payment. >> So moved. >> Moved by Duca. >> A second. >> Second by Berk. Any further discussion? Any questions? Hearing none. All in favor of approving the city bills, please signify by saying I. >> I. >> Post. Same sign. Right. City bills are approved. Motion carries 5 to zero. Um, next item of business is our staff reports and this is our quarterly staff reports. So, they are in person this evening and um from the fire department. Uh, former Chief Dennison sends his regrets. He has a very important training that he needed to be at, but his report was submitted. um in our packets. If anyone has any questions, we can get those to staff and they will follow up. But also just want to thank the fire department um and especially Chief Jennison for the leadership um during that transition and we are now officially part of the West Suburban Fire District. So going forward, we will be receiving um reports from them. All right. Next, our staff report is from West Henman public safety director, Chief Matt D. Rose and we will turn it over to you, Chief. >> Thank you, honorable mayor and members of the council. Included in your packet is the December 2025 monthly activity report for West Hampton Public Safety. I would like to call your attention to a couple things included within that activity report. Um, and I'm certainly happy to answer any questions uh or address any comments or concerns that you may have. Um really looking at it from a year-to-year standpoint, you can see for the city of Maple Plane, uh we uh handled about 400 more incidents than uh in 2024. If you look closely, a lot of that nearly 75% of that increase as traffic related. So there's a lot more active traffic enforcement and education by our West Henipin police officers, which I certainly appreciate. We're seeing that really across the board. Just to mention, even for the city of Independence, there was 400 more traffic stops. So, an increase of 700 traffic stops in a calendar year is pretty impressive and and something that I am uh proud to report on that is not not all about citations. It's not about arrests. It's about an ed it's about education um and addressing some of the dangerous behaviors that we're seeing out on the road and getting those corrected. So, u that contributes to a significant portion of the increase. Uh I would also mention that um there are some criminal matters that uh we're seeing in 2025 uh increased over 2024 couple of significant crimes uh in the city of Maple Plane including uh the shooting in in late December. That investigation is still active. We're uh we had tracked down and worked through some initial leads on that. Uh that didn't pan out, but that doesn't stop our investigation. We've got additional evidence that we're processing um and and trying to gather and work through that so we can uh determine who is responsible for that crime. Um just at this time we don't have anybody in custody. We have not made any arrests in that but it is still very much an active investigation. Um this will be the last activity report that you see in this format forever. Um, in 2026, we will uh present a new activity report, give it a little bit of a refresh and actually bring it into uh it'll look more like the reporting that we actually do with the BCA and the crimes and the categories and things like that. So, um certainly credit to the tradition of this monthly activity report going back a couple of chiefs. Um but we're going to give it a little bit of a refresh and be able to tell a little bit of a different story. uh not just the call for service and the incidents uh but also really find a way that we can talk about all the good things that we're doing outside of that the community engagement um and the education and and the meetings and things like that too. So that is the monthly activity report for the month of December. Again, I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have. I do have a couple other things to mention, but I certainly uh want to make myself available for any questions that you may have. >> Questions for the chief regarding the report? Council member Duca, >> you you mentioned, chief, that there's the behaviors within the city of of Maple Plane that you're trying to help educate. What trends are you seeing? >> Um, one of the big ones is uh there's a couple of stop signs in town, one near Rainbow Park that was um you know, we get good reports and communications from citizens um but also speeds. And then for a while there with the hawk signal being out, we wanted to make sure that we were visible in that area and just addressing some of those. Speed is always going to be an issue all over the city, all over the state. That's just a national trend. Um, you know, so we want to make sure that we're addressing that, too. But we also had um in my time here just uh the couple of big TZD waves addressing distracted driving and being out on Highway 12 especially officers have found a couple of good places to watch for those behaviors um and address those and and uh you know we don't publish the number of citations but I can tell you that citations are written when they need to be written but really those stops and those contacts are about the education part of it first and foremost. Not everybody deserves or needs a ticket. people that do get them. But sometimes a good conversation and discussion is, you know, the best thing. >> We appreciate that. >> Yes. >> Any other questions for the chief? >> Chief, did you want to share your other things? >> So, two other uh events we kind of talked about uh one here beforehand. Uh this Saturday, I am proud and excited to report that West Henipin Public Safety will be polar plunging for the first time down out of Surfside Park and Mound. I am excited. Uh going on close to 20 years for me doing this in a row. I'm excited. When I brought it up, there were a couple people that actually, you know, absolutely jumped, pun intended, at the idea of doing it. Um there were a couple people that we had to convince. There are some fears that we're going to be conquering. Um and we've got some good support uh along with us. So, I'm excited about it. It is a wonderful event. It is a great way to raise money for a very worthy cause. Special Olympics and law enforcement go back years and years and years. The partnership that we have with them um through the torch run and all the other ways that we can help raise money for the athletes to to participate. So, I'm excited about it. The team is excited about it and it'll be a good way to represent West Henipin and in our efforts to help Special Olympics. So, that's Saturday. Um on Monday, February 2nd, we're hosting a recognition event. Um part of which we need to catch up on some swearing in. Swearing's in. swearing ins um however whatever the the good proper English would be. Uh three officers uh Micah, Dan, and Avery, and then Sergeant Sean Ebling. Um they've all been sworn in. They're all, you know, legitimate law enforcement officers, but this is really the formal ceremony and recognition of it. But we also want to add a little bit of recognition to some of the other great work that was done in 2025. Obviously, some new faces join the department, some faces left the department, and just recognizing that. Um, and certainly opportunity to get together and have some cake, too. So, >> and that starts at 6:30. >> Six o'clock. >> Six o'clock. >> Six o'clock on Monday, February 2nd at Independent City Hall. >> And then one final thing to mention. Um, it is on everybody's mind. It is front and center uh every time you turn on the TV or click onto social media. But just want to acknowledge uh the immigration enforcement in the area. Um we have not partnered with we haven't actively worked with any of the immigration enforcement. Um but we are aware of some uh enforcement or some investigations in the communities that we police. Um no issues that I am aware of whether reported by citizens or the federal government. Um from what it's it seems like based on what the officers have seen it's really been in and out of the communities without much um obvious attention. So um we are in regular contact not only with the henipin chief's association but with the states state chief's association. We're usually on two one or two zoom or teams meetings a day making sure that that communication is flowing. A lot of different channels have opened up uh to be able to um you know make sure that we're in the know with everything that's happening. Um we haven't actively you know had to go anywhere. We haven't responded in in part in any enforcement or anything like that. Um, but the chiefs are all aware of it and we're all here to work together as a team as best we can and we'll support anybody that we can that needs it just as I would expect. Um, other agencies would come to our communities and help us. So, that's really the the status of where we're at. Um, again, we we have seen some. Um, but I think for the most part, a lot of these communities may not necessarily recognize or see the enforcement or the investigations that are going on. I think especially in the smaller towns and some of the bigger cities. It's rather obvious and it's um, you know, noticed more by law enforcement in the community. We just haven't seen that here yet. Um, if that changes, I will be sure to to communicate that and and hopefully we'd have some communication to us as well. But we just know that that it really isn't the case at this time. And >> I think since we're on that subject, it's also important that just to reiterate that our police department is still here doing the same things they did before for Independence and the Cities of Independence in Maple Plane. They're not asking any questions. It's their job um to provide the exceptional service that they do. So any status, that's not their business. That's not their role. So correct. just please don't ever hesitate to call um 911 that they are here to continue with that great service that we appreciate. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Any other questions or comments for the chief? Thank you to you and your staff. >> Thank you. >> Right. Next we'll hear from our city engineers. And tonight we're blessed to have two of you here. So is it Mr. Martini? Mr. Bowman. Who's up? >> Yeah, I'll I'll take this one for the staff report. Uh, so not a lot of bullet points on here, but we've been working on some pretty big projects. So I'll go over kind of briefly the few developments that we're still keeping tabs on and working through. So Baker Trail Villas, there's some modifications going on with the storm water over there. So working through that. Uh, our show gymnastics not listed on here. They sent some stuff last week that we're looking through. And then obviously downtown redevelopment, anything that's coming through there, working with Mark on that as well. um continued review of any uh any grants that might be available. We'll talk a little bit more later about some INI grants with Met Council. Um worked on cost estimate for the city Madina interconnects. Um then we're still getting some trickle down or trickle through people coming through with lead service line reports. So helping them get get that done. And then another thing that'll be on the agenda later is lead service line replacements for the known lead and galvanized services. Working through a project for that. Um and then we also talked at the last workshop about the warming house improvements and some drainage work over there. Then as far as the street projects, we couple held a couple meetings, open house and preliminary hearing for the two different street projects, the downtown reconstruction and the industrial street improvements. and then any and taking some feedback from those meetings and talk more about that later as well. I think that's it. >> Thank you, Mr. Braman. Any questions for engineers at this time? >> Um, in our packets, we have reports from Mr. Medina with public works and people's service and from our city planner, uh, Mr. Cultus. So, those have been submitted in writing. Does anyone have any questions regarding those two reports that we can share with Mr. Larson to get to staff. Okay. Hearing none, we will move on to our administration and finance report and Mr. Larson is going to fill in on that a little bit. Thank you, Madam Mayor, honorable councel. Um, a few key highlights from Jacob's report. Uh, the transition to the West Suburban Fire District officially took place on January 1st. Uh this has uh resulted in the city no longer employing 20 firefighters as a part of the consolidation. Uh one of the long-term uh firefighters, Scott Hartman, uh retired after 24 years of dedicated service to Maple Plane. Uh throughout December, uh significant work uh continued with PAR and the Fire Relief Association. Um just like uh Matt Bad had had just stated, uh considerable planning continues uh on the next phase of the downtown redevelopment. Um a revised building plan was submitted to the EDA uh during the January meeting for review. U continued work on the 2026 enterprise uh fund budget has has taken place over the past uh month. Uh and then also preparation for the city's 2025 audit has officially begun uh with meetings uh scheduled with the city auditors. Um with that I will uh stand for any questions from the council. >> Any administration questions? Right. Hearing none. I'm looking for a motion to receive all staff staff reports as submitted and in person this evening. >> I'll make that motion. Moved by Francis. >> I'll second that motion. >> Second by Derk. Any further discussion or questions? Hearing none. All in favor, please signify by saying I. >> I. >> Both. Same sign. The eyes have it. Five to zero. Next item of business this evening is old business. And this is resolution 2026-0126-01, the ordering improvements and preparation of plans for Industrial Street. And I'm going to turn that over to our engineer, Mr. Martini. >> Yes. Thank you, your honor. Members of the council, uh this is uh just continuing down this uh road of uh the process that we follow uh for the street improvement projects. We have two separate projects that we're looking at and uh last Tuesday we had uh public hearings for both of them. Uh so the improvement portion of the project was uh completed last week. Uh I won't go into the detail that we went in uh to at the hearing, but please ask questions or uh ask me to clarify anything if if I'm being too general, but u just for those who aren't or haven't been following the project, it was back in October 27th when uh the council kicked off this project uh by ordering a feasibility study uh starting with uh the project to analyze the improvements on Industrial Street between Bud Avenue and the culde-sac on the east end of that road. The existing pavement and water man infrastructure elements within the project area were evaluated as part of the report and provided descriptions of the proposed improvements, itemized cost estimates, cost aortionments, and preliminary assessment role. Um the improvements that were identified for industrial were um excuse me, I'm just kind of skipping through here. um a mill and overlay of the pavement surface. Uh some minor curb and drainage improvements along the road and then water main replacement between Bud and um I'm sorry the the road popular sorry um by a method of pipe bursting as part of that project. Um the pipe bursting method uh we're pursuing because it will dis uh reduce disruptions and uh um both uh from a traffic standpoint and uh to the street surface as we're doing that project. Uh from a cost standpoint, this uh has an estimated total cost of $432,375. Uh the accessible amount of the project is $100,465 which includes about $48,500 which is uh accessessible project work that the city uh will be picking up as part of the improvements. Uh the assessment policy does follow uh or the the assess proposed assessments sorry follow the city's assessment policy and are also consistent with past practice. Um, as uh the cost of portionment is laid out, the total city cost for the project would be $380,475. Um, in conclusion, um, from an engineering standpoint, uh, the proposed improvements are feasible, cost-effective, and necessary to maintain the city's uh maintain the city's existing infrastructure. Uh the condition of the infrastructure within the project area is typical given its age, material type and environment. Scope of work, cost and proposed assessments are consistent with previous projects. The infrastructure maintenance is uh at this point reactionary and no longer cost effective and the water main improvements can be made again using a practical construction method uh and maintain service to the properties. uh the next steps for the project. Uh again, last uh week we had uh held the improvement hearing and the hearing was held. Uh he took uh some public comment. Uh he also closed the hearing that same night. Uh which brings us to the meeting tonight uh shown here on our schedule uh which is for you to consider a resolution uh to order the improvements for the project. As we've talked about kind of throughout this uh process, there's different points where the project comes to the council for you have the opportunity to make a decision whether or not to move forward or uh put the brakes on either based on just information that you're hearing or other factors that might influence your decision or comfort level to move forward. So, uh now completing the improvement hearing, I bring that to you tonight uh for consideration to order of the improvements. If you would like to move the project forward, um you have a resolution in your packet that we would recommend that you approve. Uh and with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions specific to Industrial Street. >> Any questions for Mr. Martini? All right. Hearing none, then I'm looking for a motion to approve resolution 2026-0126-01 ordering improvement and preparation of plans for the industrial street. >> So moved. >> Moved by Duca. >> Second. >> Second by Berk. Any further discussion or questions? Hearing none. All in favor, please signify by saying I. >> I. >> Both same sign. The eyes have it. Five to zero. Next item of business this evening is um resolution 2026-0126-02 ordering improvement and preparation of plans for the downtown street project. And I'll turn that back over to Mr. Martini. >> Thank you. Um again, similar to the last project on October 27th, council authorized preparation of a feasibility study to analyze improvements of the following streets. Main Street East, Pioneer Avenue, Delano Avenue, Maple Avenue, Marsh Avenue, and Spring Avenue. And in addition to that, looking at some improvements to the fire station parking lot. Uh again, all the existing infrastructure elements within the project area were evaluated as part of the report, which provides descriptions of the proposed improvements, itemized cost estimates, cost aortionments, and preliminary assessment role. So, the proposed improvements for this project area are a full reconstruction and milling overlay uh for portions and then uh water mane services, water mane replacement and services in the rightway of the reconstructed streets. uh proposing a water man loop to uh complete the water man down Main Street uh to loop up with a water man that's in Pioneer sanitary sewer main and services uh replace within the rightway replace and add storm sewer the addition of a storm water quality treatment basin on the west end of the project uh replace and add some sidewalk within the pri project area which would include a connection of a trail on Pioneer Avenue, streetcaping around the development, uh proposed redevelopment area, lighting, and uh bearing power around the redevelopment block. Uh again, those improvements then uh when you look at it from a full reconstruction that includes Main Street East, Pioneer Avenue, Delanoa Avenue, and Maple Avenue, and then Millan overlay portion of the project is Spring Avenue and Marsh Avenue. project also uh proposes to remove portion of Bud Avenue from Main Street to Highway 12. Um which would allow that intersection on the south uh leg of that intersection at Highway 12 to be closed. Uh it's an area that uh has had some safety concerns over the years that we're looking to make an improvement there. Uh parking is also included in the project area. move forward here to the project cost again. Um total estimated cost for this project is 5,895 or 5,895,745. uh which includes then an accessessible portion of $1,669,821 which includes uh city cost in that assessable portion of $877,649. Again, those assessments uh were calculated based on the city's assessment policy and um is consistent with past practice on previous projects. So in conclusion, uh from an engineering standpoint, the proposed improvements are feasible, cost-effective, and necessary to maintain the city's existing infrastructure. Condition of the infrastructure within the project area is typical given its age, material type, and environment. Scope of work, costs, and proposed assessments are consistent with previous projects. Infrastructure maintenance is reactionary at this time and no longer cost effective, and the improvements can be made using traditional construction methods. So again, um, looking at the project schedule, we're at the point in the process where, uh, you're being asked to consider a resolution to order the improvements if you wish to move the project forward. That I'd be happy to answer any questions you have. >> Any questions from Mr. Martini, Council Member Duca? >> I have one. And it involves the access with Bud Street closing. Um the library is currently accessed off of that and I think currently 5210 main accesses off of that would although our maps don't necessarily show where access points are. Am I correct in assuming that access would then be from Main Street on those properties? Uh yes and and no for sure where access can be provided on Main Street. We would look at that, but also during the design there's that parking lot at the library as well that whether or not there needs to be more of a driveway or something in that little portion of Bud Street. Not not all the way through there, but if if there's a connection that would be needed for the library, uh we would kind of work those details out and design. So, we know there's some kind of some access details that need to be worked out there that we don't have just yet, but we're kind of we're we're aware of kind of the the um >> and there certainly will be access to 5210. >> Yes. Yes. >> Thank you. >> Not necessarily the same access that was there before, but access will be provided. >> Thank you for that clarification. Any other questions? All right. Hearing none, I'm looking for a motion to approve resolution 2026-0126-02 ordering improvement and preparation of plans for the downtown street project. >> So moved. >> Moved by Duca. >> Second. >> Second by Berk. Any further discussion or questions? Hearing none. All in favor, please signify by saying I. >> I. >> I. Same sign. The eyes have it. Five to zero. Before us this evening is our new business and that we will begin with resolution 2026-0126-03 the 2026 lead service line replacement project and I believe that would be Mr. Bowman. >> Yeah, I'll I'll take this one. Thank you mayor and members of the council. Um the department of health oversees the lead service line inventory and then they're then they'll also be overseeing the lead service line replacement projects. And so last, I believe it was last May, we submitted to be on the what they call the project priority list, the PPL for short, and the we submitted to replace all known lead and galvanized service lead and galvanized lines. Um, and so they've approved that we're we're able to move on to next steps. And the way the program works is replacing any piece of the service that is is letting galvanize. And these are generally coming from homes that they did the testing inside and that that's what they found. So we're assuming that it's going to be a replacement from the house out to the street. Um and so so it's crossing private property, but the way the program works is that um the cities need to administer the project in order for the the properties to get the work done. And so there's there's two routes that you can go about it. Either we can set up a a program where they can get their own contractor and coordinate the work. it still all needs to be facilitated or we can work with all of them and then do one contract and it lowers the overhead in the long run. So that's what we're going to propose doing here with the lead service line replacement project. Um it's in the memo there it kind of laid out the um the proposed schedule. So March 31st we have to submit the project for certification to MBH. Um sometime this spring we'll invite all all affected properties for an open house uh to work through the details. In June Department of Health will approve plans and authorized project and then hopefully early July we could be we're working on a ward and in construction August there are a couple projects on county road 19 where the Henipe County is going to be doing a milling overlay this year that we want to get done early. The rest of them don't necessarily have to happen right away, but it'll we'll kind of work with each homeowner and the contractor and what makes sense for their specific needs. Um, I think that covers it all. I did put a copy of the application that we put in here as well that showed I think about 412,000 that we had estimated for cost of the projects that we the properties that we knew of. The Department of Health actually increased that I think to 550,000 for total project costs assuming we may find a few more costs are higher than what we estimated. So >> that I'll stand for any questions. You have a resolution to authorize moving forward with the project. >> Any questions from Mr. Bowman? So, just to be clear that we're going to be fixing service lines up to the house, which would be to where the meter's at of the house. >> Yeah. Yep. Thanks. >> And the funding, if the grant is awarded to us, the funding will be coming from the state. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> Yeah. So, the city needs to kind of um administer and front the money and then the state reimbures it. >> Okay. Any other questions? All right. Hearing none, looking for a motion to approve resolution 2026-0126-03, the 2026 lead service line replacement project. >> I'll make that motion. >> Moved by Berk. >> Second. Second by Francis. Any further discussion or questions? Hearing none. All in favor, please signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed? Same sign. >> The eyes have it. Five to zero. Next item of new business um before us this evening is resolution 2026-0126-04 the INI grant application authorization. And I will turn that over to Mr. Gman as well. >> Thank you, mayor, members of the council. Uh so every two years met Coun Met Council Environmental Services uh holds a grant application for reducing inflow and infiltration also known as ini. Uh so cities are allowed to apply for that based on work that they're doing. So either replacing sewer lines, lining sewer lines, um replacing manual castings, things of that nature that are going to reduce the amount of rain water that's getting into the sanitary sewer system. And so we're proposing to do that. uh applications are due actually at the end of the month here. Um so and then this it's a over it's for any work that's done over the next two years and then we need to submit it by the following March. Um, typically you're going to get awarded up to $50,000 and then there's a there's a certain pot of money that they have and then every other city that submits they'll redistrate the amount that work that we do compared to the other cities of the what's left of the grant that they have available. So it should be 50,000 plus you know maybe 10,000 or 15,000 that would get back for that type of work. I'll stand for any questions. >> Any questions for Mr. Robin? >> Okay. Hearing none. Uh looking for a motion to approve resolution 2026-0126-04 the Met Council Environmental Service INI grant application authorization. >> I'll make that motion. >> Move by Ariso. >> I'll second that motion. Second by Berock. Any further discussion or questions? Hearing none. All in favor, please signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. The eyes have it. Five to zero. Next before us this evening is our council reports and other business. Would you like to kick us off, Council Member Rizel? Uh, >> sure. ready for that? Uh, yes. So, mine's kind of short and sweet, but uh, as you probably are aware, I'm commissioner for Lake Sarah Pioneer Pioneer Creek Lakes Sarah Watershed. It's a cumbersome name. Um, just so you're aware that the M the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has kicked off this week to be salt salt awareness week. So basically if you are they're going to have some programming and some information on the I and there say the acronym Minnesota Pollution Control Agency website. So if you're interested I I highly recommend you looking at it. But all in all it basically it says please use as little minimal salt as possible during these times. We I know you all want to go out there and just dump it all out there because it's you know because of the weather, but do remember that you know what goes on the ground will go into our waterershed. So there's that. And then something more close to home here for Maple Plane is that the Northshore Gymnastics came and discussed their proposed construction of their new gym. They'll be next to Pro Labs here in Maple Plane and part of that part of the construction or they have to go through our ships before they can begin construction and we had approved them. They meet and exceed all the MS4 requirements. Yes, I realize that we are no longer a city of MS4. However, the commission still the standard is that the commission goes by the MS4 requirements regardless until we make that change in a charter of the as in the commission board. for that is still the standard. So, um exciting to know that they'll be moving forward and hoping they'll be hoping should be breaking ground sometime this spring. So, that's all I have to say. >> Right. Thank you, Council Member Visel. Council member Dupa, >> an interesting month of projects that will we'll be seeing for a long time. The street projects. Thank you to our engineers for the wonderful work on those. Um the open houses, the uh the public hearings that we've had, um our EDA meeting earlier in the month where we talked about the downtown development. That development has been off and on for about 10 or 12 years now and it's becoming very real and um a lot of work. I know our administrative group is spending time getting our tiff project ready. So uh some good things that are happening there. And tomorrow morning we'll be spending a little quality time with our police chief. Uh we have our police commission meeting uh with the mayor and I representing the city. Um it's our quarterly meeting. So we look forward to that. A good month. >> Thank you, Council Member Duca. Council member Francis. >> Thank you. Uh attended EDA workshops. Uh we had a rebranding meeting. I also it was my turn for the chat with council. Um, it was it was good. We just had a couple people that showed up, but it was a good conversation. Um, one brought a big thick file folder full of questions and I think we got through most if not all of them. Hopefully answered them to her satisfaction. Um, I like the council chats chance to get to know residents more on a one one basis and to get feedback as to what they think of the job we're doing. I think they have learned that it can be overwhelming, especially when you have a ton of ordinances that have to be updated. Um, thank goodness Mr. Larson was there to help me come up with the answers to the questions because some were a little bit out of my realm. Um, It it all in all was a very good conversation. So, it's been a good month. >> Thank you, Council Member Francis. Council member Burek, >> I'm going to echo on that. It has been a good month. It's been a cold month, but we're motans. We can handle this. Um, I want to just bring up the street projects. This is kind of one of the things that didn't strive me to get on the council, but it definitely made me want to get engaged more. And we have the public hearings. We have the assessments that will be coming up, the wording of the bids. The amount of work that goes into a street project and the communication that goes out to the residents, it's when you're up here on this side, you really get the feeling of how much we try to make sure we communicate that information. And I want to say thank you to the staff on that one because you guys do a really good job of making that clear and I think that does help in some of their questions get handled before they come to this meeting. So, thank you for your clear communication on that. That is where I'm going to end it. >> All right. Thank you, Council Member Berk. Um, as already alluded to a little bit tonight, it has been a busy month with the street reconstruction um, open house um, and the special meetings. So, it's been a busy January to kick off. Um, honored to represent the city at Rotary. We've had some great speakers and service project this month. And also, we just spent um, internally doing like um, club updates and the focus really was on gratitude. And it was just a wonderful way to start the day and we each wrote a letter of gratitude and just talking about so often we forget just to thank the people that we're interacting with and um to think about the people that helped us to get where we are today and um just to focus on something positive especially in light of everything going on. I think that's good for all of us just to pause um before we speak and to remember that we do have a lot to be grateful for and to share that with other people. Um the Orno Healthy Youth continues to meet and advocate for um families um in need and work across all different agencies. Uh weekly meetings with Jacob, working on the agenda and communication. The Highway 12 Safety Coalition met. Um we're really working on securing funding to get more lanes on Highway 12 and just continuing to advocate um for that for all of us. Uh coffee with the Paul Stinson American Legion gentlemen, veterans, always a highlight. love to hear their stories and their history. And then also live music at Blackwater in addition is always a bonus. So great little gems that we have here in our city. The orno coalition um honored to represent on that group and we really worked on our bylaws which great news were just approved by Henipin County. So that's wonderful. And then the 911 campaign. Um I mean excuse me the 811 campaign 811 um just offering hope and that you can text or call that at any time. And that is not just for youth. That's for adults as well. Just reminding everyone that um no one is alone and hope is out there. 988. Oh my word. I got all flustered. Okay, let's restart that. It's 988 and you can call or text that at any time. And um if you don't want to talk to a live person, you can keep it on text. If you want to talk to a live person, that is available. So, it's just it's a wonderful resource. And again, that is for adults and youth and for everyone. So, please don't ever hesitate um to use that if you'd like to or know someone else who could benefit from that resource. Uh the West Henipin Chamber of Commerce, we had Three Rivers Park District Commissioner Marge Beard come and speak to us. And again, we are just so fortunate to live where we are and to have the parks that we have. So, make sure and get out and visit those. Even in the winter, they can still be beautiful. Uh the LMC board of directors really working on our legislative priorities, which those will are out now on the website. So, make sure to check those out. And then we'll have city day on the hill where we can come and advocate for those. Regional council mayors uh worked a lot uh talked a lot about housing and um just things going on within our state and other mayors and how cities are coping and communicating and um trying to keep the peace. um and the calm um for all of our residents in the state. Northwest Henip and Lee municipalities. Uh we had city updates and worked on our speaker schedule as council member Francis mentioned rebranding group met working on signage and excited to hopefully bring that back um to council soon to get something approved and taken care of. uh attended a veterans benefit program at Haven Homes with Christy Jango from Henipin County and again just watching those veterans light up and hear their stories is um just encouraging. last week was able to attend the criminal justice coordinating committee down in Henipin County. Went down with um police chief Warner from Maple Grove and the presentation was about um AI in law enforcement and really encouraging all of us as cities um and law enforcement agencies to look at our policy, what's approved, what's allowed, what's not. Um so you know what your staff is doing and so you know what is acceptable and what isn't. So um was a great presentation, learned a lot. Um, and then there's always the emails and the phone calls and the time spent with residents, which is usually pretty enjoyable. Um, and as Chief already alluded, on the 31st, the Polar Plunge is coming up, but what he forgot to mention, I love it. They named their team Cool Whips, which for those of you who don't know, West Henipin Public Safety Local Talk is whips. So, they're cool whips and it's a great logo. So, check out their page and sponsor them if you can. the recognition um on the 2nd and then on February 8th I wanted to mention the omelette breakfast which is all being hosted by we can and we can uh is serves our low-income families and residents and neighbors. So if you're able to go to that breakfast on February 8th from 9 to noon at the mound American Legion, it's a great opportunity um to help support that. And then also on February 23rd is chat with the mayor. So 400 p.m. Mark your calendars. I'm next. So any other business to come before us this evening? All right. With that, I'm looking for a motion to adjurnn. >> I'll make that motion. >> Motion by Francis. >> I'll second it. >> Second by Berack. All in favor? >> I post. Same sign. The eyes have it. At 7:46, we are journed.