[music] [music] [music] [music] >> Okay. Good evening. Today is Monday, June 22nd. This is a regular City Council meeting. Um Oh, I have to I'm going to call to order. And those of you who are able, please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Ms. Larson, please call roll. >> Romilly. >> Yes. >> Coakley. >> Yes. >> Maxwell. >> Here. >> Wilburn. >> Here. >> Calvert. >> Uh here. >> Foster-Bolton. >> Here. >> Um Before we start with the approval of the agenda, I just want to talk about if you wanted to speak tonight on item eight, there are cards just outside the door. You can fill in your name and address and hand it to one of the staff and we'll um we'll read it. Um and then if you're here for the item 14B, the concept plan for Roland Road, we won't be taking any public comment tonight. Um but there will be ample opportunity if you didn't get a chance at the planning commission on Thursday, the planning commission meeting on Thursday. So you're welcome to stay and listen, but there we won't be hearing any public comment. Okay, so uh we're looking at item number four, Mr. Funk, approval of agenda. >> Uh thank you, acting mayor. Good evening, council. Tonight uh is a rare night where we do not have an agenda for your consideration. So with that in mind, the agenda presented is recommended for approval. Thank you. >> Okay, any motion? >> Uh thank you, acting mayor. I move approval of the agenda. >> Second. Oh. Council member Wilbern. Ms. Larson, please call roll. >> Ramealey >> Yes. >> Coakley >> Yes. >> Maxwell >> Yes. >> Wilbern >> Yes. >> Calvert >> Yes. >> Foster Bolton >> Yes. >> Okay, moving on to item number [snorts] five, approval of minutes. Mr. Funk >> Uh thank you, acting mayor. So the minutes are presented uh as submitted in the council packet. So mayor, uh just ask for your uh approval of those minutes. >> Um Council member Calvert >> Thank you, acting mayor. I um gave Mr. Funk a couple of uh uh revisions, uh very minor, and um I'd be happy to move the uh minutes as revised. >> Thank you. And I have a second. Council member Coakley. >> I'll second. >> We have a motion from Council member Calvert and a second by Council member Coakley. Ms. Larson, please call roll. >> Remley? >> Yes. >> Coakley? >> Yes. >> Maxfield? >> Yes. >> Willburn? >> Yes. >> Calvert? >> Yes. >> Foster Bolton? >> Yes. >> Moving on to item number six, special matters, which is Tour de Tonka, and the presenter is Kit Carlson. You want to come on up? >> Good evening, Acting Mayor. >> Thank you. >> City Council. Uh my name is Kim Carlson, I'm in the executive director of the Minnetonka Public Schools, and I have met some of you before, but others um are new to me. I This is my second year coming here and presenting about Tour de Tonka. And uh it's the 21st year of Tour de Tonka in in Minnetonka. So, we're excited to have it. Um I can go to the next next slide. Um here is our sponsors this year for Tour de Tonka, and um without the the sponsors help us keep the price point down for our riders, and so this year we anticipate about 2,000 riders in our Tour de Tonka, and so um as I said, Domino's is one that uh also brings us pizza. We have Scheels that comes in and has uh has bike mechanics. Boyer puts up the big American flag and also like this big arch at the start. First Student helps us get back and forth when riders need uh help or are maybe calling it quits or ready to to get back sooner. Maynard's, of course, gives us gift cards for all of our volunteers, and uh the rest that financial donation, like I said, really helps us keep the price down for families. And this year it's the same price as it was last year. Go to the next one. So, last year, kind of a recap, um there were riders from 22 states. So, you can see all the different states listed. Um but 94% of the riders are from Minnesota here in about 113 cities in Minnesota. Um we always survey our ridership, and last year we had 2,300 riders, and we're really proud to say that this event got a really high mark saying we were the event was well-organized and well-planned. And uh we continue to uh we have a great team. Uh Ben McLane is with me tonight. He's our new rec coordinator for Minnetonka. And uh just a well-run team, and we have we can't do it without our sponsors and our safety partners, and I'll share that a little bit, but um really appreciate the community's support in Minnetonka over the years. Uh something new, a couple things new in 2026. We have cheer zones, so we found some areas where we can invite families and people and find safe spaces for them to cheer along the route. And so, we'll we'll have those designated. We also have a uh family zone, a kind of a post pre-and-post ride family area where people can bring their kids or what and families and uh enjoy some kids activities. We'll have an online apparel with some exclusive merch. And this year, uh one of the bigger changes is that we have four routes. So, ranging from 16 to 58 mi, and um so, we no longer will have the 100 mi. Um uh but we still have great uh ridership and participation, and uh we still anticipate about, like I said, 2,000 riders coming in. Here are the routes. They haven't changed uh much in many years, but of course, I've only been here too, but these are the same routes that we've had from year over year. You'll see um we start and finish at the high school. We used to also have the higher mileage over at Scenic Heights Elementary School, but this year we'll start and finish at the high school and the rest stop in this community will be at the MME, the Minne- Minnetonka Middle School East. And we can go to the next slide and I'll show you we have a pretty exciting this one's new a women's women's drum center is coming as the entertainment for the rest stop. And uh this rest stop will host the 16-mile and the 24-miler routes. Of course, all of the riders visit through Minnetonka and uh Zach listed some more of the states that are signed up this year. And again, we really need volunteers. Um without them uh and the feedback we're getting is people notice that we're it's safe out there. We have volunteers showing us where to go, calling if they need help. So, right now we need about well, not currently. We've saved We don't need 400 right now, but we have about 400 volunteers that are needed and we still have plenty of spaces available whether you want to just do packet pick up or go out on the actual route. We have route captains that kind of make sure things are going safe along the four routes and then rest stops, too. So, there's a QR code there if anyone's interested if you want to share that we need volunteers. Um this community always responds and we always have enough, but uh just wanted to put a shout out for our volunteers. And then uh we do give back. Part of Tour de Tonka the uh part of the funds is goes towards the ICA food shelf. So, over the years we're proud to say we've gotten over $105,000 to back to the food shelf. And uh just thanking our safety partners and our our law enforcement. These are some of the feedback quotes from last year. Just really felt safe that the police were at all intersections and they just really saw staff out there and felt good about it that they were safe on those routes. In particular, Chad Fierce Sergeant Chad Fierce and Assistant Chief Aaron Morris and I met yes this week uh I believe it was at the station and just went over all the safety, the routes, where our officers are going to be, the volunteers are going to be, looking at our parking, just everything and and Sergeant Fierce just did a great job. He's very well prepared and I really appreciate his time and and consideration along with the Assistant Chief Aaron Morris as well. So, it was a great meeting and we're in good hands with with your team from the PD and fire department as well as Andrew from public works. So, that's it. Well, we're we've been busy planning since August 2nd last year and it's coming up fast. And so, if you have any questions, you can go to our website and send people there for volunteering or come ride. Did you have any questions for me? >> I don't think so. >> Well, thank you again for all your support. I know it's a big uh presence in your community in our community, but it's a lot of fun and we bring a lot of people together. So. >> Great. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Mhm. >> I did the tour to Tonka and I I won a raincoat. >> Oh, nice. >> Yeah, [laughter] it's really nice one. >> I don't think we have raincoats this year by the >> Oh, too bad. Can't do it. Okay. Um moving on to item seven, reports from city managers and council members. Mr. Funk. >> Thank you again, acting mayor. Good evening, council. A couple things for you this evening. I think last time, I say last time, last meeting, I had mentioned it was our first opening of our farmers market. It is in full swing. We've had some beautiful Tuesdays. Our first opening day of farmers market, I think I had mentioned last time, we had over 800 visitors. Again, similar numbers last week. So, really excited about the change in the parking lot layout and it's attracting more folks than we've ever had. So, vendors are happy, customers are happy. So, really great job to our staff on that event. Want to switch gears then to recognize Detective Pat Ingleston. He was awarded or named the 2026 Glen Lake Optimist Officer of the Year. Some comments made about Detective Ingleston is that his commitment to excellence, leadership, and teamwork has made a lasting impact on our department. So, a real shout-out and thank you to Detective Ingleston for his dedication to the department and that of the city of Minnetonka. Congratulations to him on that well-deserved recognition. Council, I think you were provided some information this last week on population growth. So, I just wanted to share that here publicly that each year we do get population increases or population information. We say increases cuz we continue to see increases in our population. The latest preliminary Metropolitan Council estimates show that as of April 1st, 2025, I say 2025 cuz it does lag a year with their with their counts, Minnetonka has 56,327 residents. I think our population signs or entrance signs to the community likely note 53,000, so that's now 56,327. There are 25,593 households and 27,130 housing units with an average household size of 2.19 people. It does not mention pets, but as I'm sure, just people. Uh Minnetonka Boulevard trail, so a couple items related to construction. Uh construction begins next week starting your Tonkawood Road and progressing east towards the marsh. So, folks that are traveling up and down Minnetonka Boulevard uh will notice that trail construction happening again starting uh next week. Related then to Highway 12 project, uh certainly as you travel up and down I-694, uh two ramps will reopen on June 28th, which is the westbound Highway 12 to southbound I-494 and Gleason Lake Road to eastbound Highway 12. That's one update related to Highway 12. The other is then beginning June 29th through late July, the ramps from the southbound I-494 to westbound Highway 12 and then again from Carlson Parkway to westbound Highway 12 will close. Sounds like a mouthful, but a lot of construction as you know happening in that area. And then last is what I mentioned this coming Saturday. We're always happy to announce the annual Summer Fest. So, our staff is beginning preparations for Saturday, June 27th. Our festival starts at 4:00 and will end at 10:30. Love the fireworks at the end of the day and we love seeing the families and the kids and just a great turnout. Looking at the weather forecast, it's supposed to be 80 and a 20% chance of rain. We always seem to fight the weather every year, so we're going to keep our fingers crossed that our event will go off without a hitch. So, with that Mayor and Council, turning back to you. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Funk. Council Member Calvert? >> Thank you, Acting Mayor. Um I got a text from Mayor Shacks um and she asked me to read something because she is unable to attend tonight. And it is fabulous news. So, she says, "Even though I'm not able to be here tonight, I want to make sure we acknowledge the tremendous contribution made to ICA Food Shelf last week by the founder of one of the longest-standing businesses here in Minnetonka. Tonkadale Nursery has called Minnetonka home for almost 80 years. They've been an amazing community member, and last week their founder, Bill Maruska, and the current owner, Bill's granddaughter, contributed $110,000 to ICA. I'm in awe of their generosity and commitment to the most vulnerable among us in our community. Thank you to Bill and the whole crew at Tonkadale. We are so proud to have you here in Minnetonka. And >> [clears throat and cough] >> I I just think that's just so fabulous, and um I was I'm very glad I was able to read that on the mayor's behalf. Um and I also just wanted to mention that many of us here, possibly all of us here, um just prior to tonight's meeting took a tour of a an affordable duplex that the city um undertook. We had a a property um on Rowland Road, and um it had a it had a home on it, and now it has two incredibly beautiful homes um that we took a tour of, and it just makes me very proud because it's affordable. It took a lot of ingenuity, and um we found a wonderful female-owned um business that um did the that constructed the project, and I can't tell you it will make such two beautiful homes for two families here in Minnetonka, and um I'm really proud of the work that our staff, um especially Julie Wishnak and her entire team, on um in the economic development department did to make this happen, and um so I'm very proud, and I'm very proud of our officer for winning um the Glen Lake Optimist Officer of the Year um and I'm just glad that we recognize our hardworking um uh public safety personnel. Um, it's not an easy job especially nowadays and I'm glad they get some recognition. And I hope you come to the Summerfest. I can't go because my son's getting married but I hope I'm really glad that it's knock wood going to be good weather and please come and um support it and and tour Detonka. >> Thank you. Anyone else? >> Councilmember Romali. Thank you Acting Mayor. Just wanted to reiterate the Summerfest. There's going to be much more than the usual things there. We're going to have the everything electric event that's going to be happening there as well. All sorts of information on you know sustainable energy upgrades and things that we can do for our homes to meet our climate action and adaptation plan goals. So hopefully anybody who is here or listening will come and look for those things as well as all the great food and entertainment. So I'm looking forward to seeing everybody there and also just wanted to note at the farmers market really some great vendors. I was there last week and a lot of people were selling out. So make sure you get there early if you're going to go. >> Thank you. Anyone else? Okay, on to item number eight. Citizens wishing to discuss matters not on the agenda. I'm going to read this um before we Indulge me here. Um Before we hear from speakers in the audience tonight, I'd like to take a brief moment to provide some guidance. This meeting is a limited public forum. Um And this is the point on the agenda where we invite members of the public to address the council on matters that are not printed on the agenda, but still relate to the affairs of the city or are pertinent to city business. For example, this could be any matter within the legislative, fiscal, operational, or regulatory purview of the city. I'm also going to ask speakers to limit their comments to 3 minutes. We are not going to take action on items presented to us or respond to any questions asked, but may refer matters to staff for appropriate follow-up. Um and I think you can see the timer in front of you. Um So, I'm going to call Gary Cohen. >> Uh acting mayor and members of the council, uh I live at 5810 Salisbury Avenue in the southwest corner of Minnetonka. I've been there 25 years. Since the middle of May, um one of the neighbors two doors down has had parked in their driveway what was built as a full-size school bus. It is painted in rather gaudy colors with images and symbols of the Minnesota Vikings. It was towed into place. It does not run. Uh it is a nuisance. Uh it's an eyesore. Uh one of the neighbors has gone to code enforcement uh in Minnetonka and told that as long as this is registered as a recreation vehicle, an RV, it meets code standards, end of story. I question whether in fact it is an RV, whether the weight might exceed the the the limits for an RV, and whether further action ought to be taken, perhaps legal action to declare it a public nuisance. Another one of the neighbors has signed up to speak tonight who has a petition signed by a large portion of the residents of the immediate neighborhood. I understand that this bus was parked for a long time on Excelsior near the fire station, and it didn't move there either. I think the city has been very tolerant of this for probably far too long, and I would like to see the council and the staff take some more aggressive action to deal with this. So, thank you. >> Thank you. I just want to make a the John White who was here at the beginning of the meeting, I talked about if anyone was here to talk um on item 14B, which is the Roland Road. We this is a concept plan review, like I said, and we won't be taking any public comment. I hope you stay engaged, but and this is not the last opportunity to speak. There'll be plenty of times if you missed the your opportunity at the planning commission, but we won't be taking any public comment for that. For for the Roland Road. Okay, moving on. Bernadette Powers. Acting Mayor, Council, thank you. Um I'm here on behalf of our neighborhood. Um Julie has passed out some packets to to you to see. We have a petition from the entire neighborhood about the large bus that came in on a tow truck and is sitting there. Our neighborhood is a no-outlet neighborhood. Majority of the homeowners have signed this petition except for the few that have been out of town for the Father's Day weekend. Um Page two just gives you all the bullet points of when we went to code, when code went to them. Um when uh all of a sudden the license plate on the bus changed from an H-class to an F-class in one day. Um and the owner approached my husband and I at the end of our driveway sarcastically saying that we went to code and it wasn't necessary because I put in print the bus was not moving because he had ins at City Hall and the bus wasn't going anywhere and that we should sort of mind our business. He gave us an expletive and drove away. Um Uh you can read all the packets. I'm not going to you know, you can read it for yourselves. What I'm just going to say to wrap up is the way the the way it the code is written there is um the well-intentioned ordinance is enforced through the Department of vehicles and they are not weighing this vehicle. We don't know when the last time this vehicle was weighed, but the average weight of these vehicles is 12 to 15,000 lb, just the chassis. Doesn't mean anything else that's in it and there is things in it. Um and we would just like you we just plead with you to take a closer look at this ordinance cuz there is something's not right and the Department of Vehicles told us that they do not question when someone comes in to change the tag. They don't ask for pictures, they don't question why the weight changed. I just don't know why it dramatically changed in one day. Code Enforcement was there on the 8th and on the 9th he had new stickers and um also and one last thing, we have not spoke to him at all except for when when he approached us in the driveway. Yesterday he approached me when I was alone and told me that he was going to call the police if I looked at his vehicle, um charge me with harassment, take me to court because that's what adults do. And um it's just not I've never had lived near a neighbor that I felt threatened by. Um uh and I just really would hope that you would take our whole neighborhood into consideration and try to figure out get to the bottom of this to see what the weight when this was weighed. And the only way it can be weighed is to go on a truck to a weigh station, go in the neighborhood the way it came out on a tow truck. Um I appreciate you and um I just hope you really take our little neighborhood into consideration. Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay, moving on. Um to number nine, bids bids and purchases, we have three. Um and that's for Mr. Manchester. >> Good evening, acting mayor and council. Can you hear me through the mic? Okay. Not Okay. Okay. It doesn't seem as loud as normal, but there we go. Okay. >> Um before you item nine is our Waite Road Gate Force Main Replacement Project. Um you've this item before um to approve it to this point to go out for bid. We have two motions tonight. Our first is to award the contract for the Whitegate ForceMain project number 25907 to GM Contracting in the amount of 512 836 and 57 cents. And then our motion uh to authorize our Deputy Public Works Director to expend the funds provided they do not exceed uh the project budget of 800,000. I did want to note there was one reference in the report um that was a 38 cent difference. I just wanted to clarify that. All the numbers you see um this evening, the 512 836 and 57 cents is accurate. There was one reference to 95 cents. So, 38 cents cents different. I wanted to note it just to make sure you've got it, though. Um related to the strategic profile, um that it supports our initiatives to maintain our capital assets and then preserve our investment. Uh you've seen this before, but the project description, it was from 1973. Uh this project would replace uh the pipe that's there currently through directional drilling to limit the impacts. This is located uh near our border with the city of Wayzata along Gleason Lake Road. And there it would be an anticipated closure just to get the work done as we make the connections in that area. Um our low bidder GM Contracting um has done work in the past. We did receive a number of bids for this project, um but GM has uh done work in the city in previous projects. Uh as mentioned, you did see this project in May. Uh the action tonight is to award the contract and then construction would begin shortly after and be completed this fall. So, I'll keep it short with that. Um turn it back with the recommendations to uh Acting Mayor for any questions. Thanks. >> Thank you. Any questions or a motion from the council? Councilmember Wilberg? >> I I move that we award the contract for the White Gate Force Main Replacement Project number 25907 to GM Contracting in the amount of $512,836.57 and that we authorize the Deputy Public Works Director to expend the allocated funds for project costs without further Council approval provided the total project costs do not exceed the project budget of 800,000. >> Council member Romali? >> Thank you, Acting Mayor. I'll second and just want to make a quick comment that, you know, just draws attention to the fact that again, when we talk about city infrastructure, um looking at a project that's very necessary, yet serves, you know, 50 homes and it's going to cost $512,000. So, I ask that our residents keep that in mind um as we go through that budget process and tax levy consideration, just knowing how much these projects cost. And with that, I'll second the motion. >> Thank you. >> We have a um motion from Council member Wilburn and a second from Council member Romali. Ms. Larson, please call roll. >> Romali? >> Yes. >> Coakley? >> Yes. >> Maxwell? >> Yes. >> Wilburn? >> Yes. >> Calvert? >> Yes. >> Foster Bolton? >> Yes. >> We'll move on to um item 9B and that goes to Mr. Banister as well. >> Yes, thank you again, Acting Mayor. Um before you tonight is the Red Circle Drive Sidewalk Improvement Project. You have seen this project before. We We had a rare occurrence we don't see too often that the contractor actually called us uh since your April approval and asked to withdraw their bid. Um and so, before you tonight is to um three actions. Uh the first is to withdraw the award that you approved from the Clark companies on April 27th, 2026 and then uh move forward with our second low bidder who with the motion for the project to Newlook Contracting in the amount of $359,869.50 and then finally our motion to authorize our city engineer to expend the funds for the project cost provided the total cost cost do not exceed 660,000. Um again, this is infrastructure related. So, it creates the sidewalk connection. And then it's in line with our desired outcome 5.3 in our strategic profile. Um again, the project is along Red Circle Drive. You did approve this already. So, I'll just do a quick summary. Um it adds the 8-ft sidewalk, connects the trail gap, and then it does provide storm sewer and road improvements for the project along Red Circle Drive. Um there is a change in the price. It does still fall within the budget for the project. But as you can see, the Clark company's bid um previously was around uh 60,000 less than our second bidder. But it is within the project budget originally in the capital improvements program. Uh the estimated cost, as I mentioned last time, there is some cost additional to relocate the monument sign, restore the parking lot, and complete restoration. So, that's some of the additional beyond the actual contract amount as well as uh look in in lieu of easements. The award uh tonight, if you decide to go forward, construction will begin shortly after and be completed likely this summer. Uh uh like all projects, including the previous, we would continue our communications uh plan, email updates, newsletters, and then the project website would be the go-to for information for it at any time for updates. So, keep it short. Um this is identical almost certainly with the change in cost um outside of withdrawing the previous bid. So, the three actions, I'll turn it back to the acting mayor for any questions. >> Thank you. Okay, yeah. Any questions or comments for staff first? Council member Calvert. >> Thank you. Um I did talk to Mr. Funk this morning because I could not recall a time when a the um withdrew from a contract that we had already drawn. And I know that there were some staffing issues. There there was an actual obstacle to them completing the project. So, I just want to comment that you know, that it's very unfortunate because it it will now cost the city significantly more money and it's still within the the estimated budget. Um and it to Council Member Romilly's point about, you know, how much things cost, um this is just another example. This is a uh relatively short um area of sidewalk with some other engineering with curb cuts and and whatnot, but it's tremendously expensive. So, I just I just want to thank staff for sticking with it, bringing back. It's something that, you know, will benefit that corner of the city at Red Circle Drive and make things more uh make things safer um for pedestrians and so forth, but um it's just very unfortunate that we couldn't stick with the original contractor. >> Thank you, Council Member Calvert. Anyone else? Anyone want to make a motion? Council Member Calvert? >> Thank you, Acting Mayor. I'd like to make the motion to withdraw draw the award approved by City Council to Clark Companies at the April 27th, 2026 City Council meeting and make the motion to award the contract for the Red Circle Drive Sidewalk Improvements project number 23607 to New Look Contracting in the amount of $359,869.50 and make the motion to authorize the City Engineer to expend the allocated funds for project costs without further council approval provided the total project costs do not exceed the project budget of $660,000. >> Council member Romali. >> I'll second. >> Thank you. We have a motion from Council member Calvert and a second from Council member Romali. Miss Larson, please call roll. >> Romali. >> Yes. >> Coakley. >> Yes. >> Maxwell. >> Yes. >> Wilburn. >> Yes. >> Calvert. >> Yes. >> Foster Bolton. >> Yes. >> Okay. We have one more. >> All right. Here we go again. Uh our our last one uh bid tonight is the Shady Oak sidewalk and it's nearly identical to the last one. So, Clark Companies had originally had the bid that Council approved in April. Um again, they chose to withdraw um withdraw because of staffing issues is what their letter said, which we've attached in the packet as well. So, three motions tonight to withdraw uh the approved City Council previous action for Clark Companies from the April 26th or 27th meeting and then a motion to award the contract uh for the Shady Oak sidewalk improvements project number 26607 to Newlook Contracting the amount of $235,728 and then a motion to authorize uh the city engineer to expend the allocated funds provided they don't exceed uh the project budget of $465,000. Again, related to infrastructure um this improves our sidewalk connections and provides safe transportation per our strategic profile. Um you saw this back in April uh when you had approved the original. It does provide for a sidewalk replacement and widening with a a boulevard for safety purposes along Shady Oak Road. It does include storm sewer improvements and then there's some pedestrian signal modifications included uh with that as well. Uh as you can see, it does increase uh the total bid uh by around 235,000. So, again or excuse me, 35,000. Um the total of 235,000 for the project um to New Look who again was the second bidder similar to the previous. Um, this is not a pre typical um for the project of this size. There's some additional costs. Um, the signal and traffic control we do have to have specialty contractors and consultants look at those type of items. And then as well as working with Hennepin County as I mentioned last time there was some additional design design work for some intersection improvements uh that we did not move forward with. Again, uh tonight is the contract award. Construction will begin shortly after and uh be completed this summer. Again, our communications plan, email updates, newsletters as well as the project website is a a go-to for the information. So, turn back to the acting mayor um with the three recommendations tonight. Thanks. >> Thank you. Any questions or comments from the council? No? Any a motion? Council member Maxwell? >> Yeah, I'll make the motion to withdraw the award approved by City Council to Clark Companies at the April 27th, 2026 City Council meeting uh to award the contract for the Shady Oak Road Sidewalk Improvements Project Number 26607 to New Look Contracting in the amount of 235,728 dollars and to authorize the city engineer to expend the allocated funds for project costs without further council approval provided the total project costs do not exceed the project budget of 465,000 dollars. >> Thank you. Um, um, Council member Romilly? >> I'll second. >> Thank you. We have a motion by Council member Maxwell and a second by Council member Romilly. Ms. Larson, please call roll. >> Romilly? >> Yes. >> Coakley? >> Yes. >> Maxwell? >> Yes. >> Wilbern? >> Yes. >> Calvert? >> Yes. >> Foster Bolton? >> Yes. >> Moving on to item number 10. It's a consent agenda item which we only have one. And this is the um sorry property assessed clean energy And do I turn that over to you, Mike? Mr. Funk? Sorry. Sorry. >> Acting Mayor and Council, so with this agenda item, this is on your consent item. You have one consent item for your consideration this evening. Um so, I'd recommend Acting Mayor is to read the read the agenda item into the record and seek Council action on that. Thank you. >> Thank you. So, the property So, item the consent agenda item B is property assessed clean energy PACE special assessment for 10650 Red Circle Drive. Um anyone Kimberly? Sorry. Council Member Wilbern. >> It's fine. You can call me Kimberly. Um [laughter] and I don't want to pull it. I just wanted to comment. So, Mr. Funk tells me that the the county is there's been a change in the way that county handles these things, so we're starting to see these. And I just appreciate any anything that helps our our businesses to be more sustainable and environmentally friendly. And so, that's it. And I will I will make the motion that we approve consent agenda item 10A. >> Thank you. Second by Council Member Calvert. >> Uh thank you, Acting Mayor. I second. >> Okay, we have a motion by Council Member Wilbern and a second by Council Member Calvert. Ms. Larson, please call roll. >> Romilly? >> Yes. >> Coakley? >> Yes. >> Maxwell? >> Yes. >> Wilbern? >> Yes. >> Calvert? >> Yes. >> Foster Bolton? >> Yes. >> Okay. We have item number 11. This is another consent agenda items requiring five votes. Um this is a resolution for the Marsh roof project. So, any comments or questions or motion from anyone? Do I read the motion? The the recommended action? So, we're looking for a motion to adopt the resolution ordering the improvements, accepting the plans and specifications, and authorizing the advertisement for bids for the Marsh roof project number 26209. Councilmember Romalli? >> Thank you. I'd actually like to pull this quickly briefly. Um if I may. My question was and I spoke with Mr. Funk about this earlier today is seeking information as to other energy and insulation improvements that we might be doing and also looking at the possibility and uh additional investigation to a solar ready roof if if we are indeed a candidate for that. >> Um Mr. Manchester? >> Sure. Yeah, Councilmember Romalli, Acting Mayor and Council, this is essentially an insurance claim and so we're looking at the replacement, but the your question is not lost. It's certainly something we would consider in the future for other improvements. We are just looking at using the insurance as a replacement uh for the shingles themselves. Um but certainly, you know, if there were it would take additional funds to do a structural analysis and look at some of the stuff at this time. Certainly something we could look at in the future, but uh it doesn't prevent it from occurring in the future. There's other areas uh of the roof. This is just a portion of the roof where the shingles exist. There's some flat roof areas too that we would certainly look at in the future as well. So, none of those are out. Just at this time it's just a replacement of the materials. >> All right. Thank you very much. And with that I'll make the motion to adopt the resolution ordering the improvements, accepting plans and specifications, and authorizing the advertisement for bids for the Marsh Roof project number 26209. >> Thank you. Council member Coakley? >> I'll second. >> We have a motion by Council member Remely and a second by Council member Coakley. Ms. Larson, please call roll. >> Remely. >> Yes. >> Coakley. >> Yes. >> Maxwell. >> Yes. >> Wilbern. >> Yes. >> Calvert. >> Yes. >> Foster Bolton. >> Yes. >> Okay, we're moving right along here. The number 12 is introduction of ordinances. We have none. Item number 13 is public hearings. Um temporary on-sale liquor's license for Boom Island company, 5959 Baker Road. Um Ms. Wishnak, this is your report this evening. >> Thank you, Acting Mayor and City Council members. Just a short report here. Um Boom Island is requesting a temporary license to hold what they call the block party on July 11th, and it's really to celebrate their 15th anniversary of um being in business, but the sixth year at that location here in Minnetonka. And they're going to have live music and various items of events um throughout the site. They will be finished with the live music by 10:00 p.m. We haven't had complaints in the past about uh the event. Um and they are allowed to do these events every so often, and you do see them from time to time from Boom Island. We are recommending approval of the license, and with that, I'll turn it back to you, Acting Mayor. Thank you. >> Thank you, Ms. Wishnak. Any questions for staff or comments? No. Um Okay, so the applicant is present, and would you like to share any additional information about this proposed event? >> Acting Mayor, Council members, thank you so much. I'm Laura McCauley with Boom Island Brewing at 5959 Baker Road. As Ms. Wishnak mentioned, we are celebrating 15 years in business as a brewery. Very exciting about that, and actually 7 years >> [laughter] >> in this location. No worries, no worries. We will have all day live music starting with Static Jones, Josh Tracy, and finishing with the ever fun Grunge Unplugged. We'll also have a backyard, well, I suppose front front yard cookout with uh SmokeStack Express uh barbecue and desserts by Unbakeable and Cottage Delights. We'll also be doing raffle prizes and photo opportunities, other fun things um and fun beer releases as well. It is a free event event to attend, and we are looking forward to celebrating with everybody. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um council, any questions for the applicant? Council member Calvert. >> No questions, but every time I go and they have an event like this, it is super fun. So, I just encourage people to go. >> Thank you. >> And congratulations on your anniversary. >> Thank you. >> Okay, this is a public official public hearing. I will open up the public hearing. Is there anyone here that would like to provide input on the temporary liquor license? Anybody? After three times, yeah. Anyone? Anyone? No one? Okay. Seeing none, I will close the public hearing. Boom, boom. I will bring back I'll bring it back to the city council for a motion. Mrs. Romali, I mean, council member Romali, sorry. >> Thank you, Acting Mayor. I'll make the motion to grant the temporary license to Boom Island Brewery. >> And a second? Ms. Council member Maxwell. >> I'll second the motion. >> Thank you. I have a I have a motion by Councilmember Romilly and a second by Councilmember Maxwell. Ms. Larson, please call roll. >> Romilly? >> Yes. >> Coakley? >> Yes. >> Maxwell? >> Yes. >> Wilburn? >> Yes. >> Calvert? >> Yes. >> Foster Bolton? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um item number 14, other business. Um accept the 2025 annual comprehensive financial report and related audit reports with the city's audit from BerganKDV. And Mr. Funk, I think that goes to you. >> Yeah, thank you, Acting Mayor. Again, good evening, Council. Just want to kick things off before we turn it over to Mr. Nelson, our Finance Director, and to our auditors. I just want to say first, really happy and pleased to present the 2025 audit report. You know, as City Manager and as I work closely with Finance Director Nelson, it goes without saying that our work as staff and in conjunction and partnership with the council is all about taxpayer funds and how we are stewards of taxpayer dollars. And so, what this report symbolizes is our activity in 2025. I think you'll hear from the auditors and from Mr. Nelson the coming minutes really about our financial strength as a city. The city of Benbrook has been known as financial good financial managers, good financial stewards of the city's money. And it goes without saying, I think you'll see in tonight's numbers the same. First, I just also want to point to our strategic plan. Financial strength is a pillar in our strategic plan for good purpose is because we want to be an organization that's financially responsible for delivering results and delivering services in that. I think the other part of our strategic plan worth noting is our infrastructure and asset management. So, in our numbers, whether it's utilities or in our general fund and our capital improvement dollars, really making sure that we have a reliable, high-quality infrastructure. And so, what we do as staff and working with our council is to manage these funds in a way that is prudent, responsible to the taxpayers, and hopefully that confidence is instilled back towards us as a city as we again go through our annual budgeting process. It is a long process. We're in the midst of our 2027 budget process. A lot of time and effort goes into this. And so, I don't want to belabor my comments and just want to also end with saying I want to thank personally thank our finance director Daren Nelson, our assistant finance director Joel Merry, our entire finance team, and then all of our directors. You'll have a highlight here this evening where we'll touch on the general fund. And our general fund is managed not only just by Mr. Nelson or myself, but it takes our directors as well. So, I do want to acknowledge our directors. They're responsible for their budgets, and again this year we came in under budget. So, we're very proud of that fact. We manage the the city's finances very well. There's a reason we're a AAA bonded city. There are less than I believe 30 cities in the state of Minnesota that are considered AAA bonded. Part of that is our financial health. Part of that is our financial management. And so, with that, acting mayor and council, I'll turn over to Mr. Nelson for a few comments, and then you'll hear from our auditors. So, thank you for a few minutes of indulging some of my comments, and these are one of these moments that are are proud for us as staff cuz we can certainly show to you and to the public just the work that we do in managing the city's financial affairs. So, with that, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, city manager Funk. Acting mayor, Foster Bolton, council members, thank you again for taking the time to meet with us tonight. Aaron Aaron Dahl from BerganKDV will be presenting our audit findings on that end of it. Mr. Funk did a great presentation overview of kind of where we're at on on that end of it, so I won't belabor it anymore, and I'll lead it into Aaron, and we'll both be available for any questions after his presentation as well, too. So, thank you so much for that, and more to come here. >> Thank you, Daren. Thank you, acting mayor and uh members of the council. Uh as alluded to, I'm Aaron Doll, a manager with Bergan KDV, and I'll kind of walk you through the audit audit presentation here for 2025. So, starting with the audit, we did issue an unmodified opinion on the city's basic financial statements, which comprises the city's governmental activities, business-type activities, each major fund, uh the aggregate remaining fund information, and the budget-to-actual comparison for the general fund. So, uh with that unmodified opinion, which is the best opinion we can give as auditors, it's stating that the financial statements do present fairly in all material respects the financial position and changes in the financial position of the governmental activities, business-type activities, each major fund, and the aggregate remaining funds. Along with that, we issue an a report in accordance with government auditing standards. Um I'm happy to con- happy to report there were no findings and when we looked at internal control and compliance findings. Uh we also issue a report on Minnesota legal compliance, so that's where we take a look at things like bidding, uh conflicts of interest, collateral, things of that nature. Um I'm happy to report no findings there as well. So, a great job, um as Mike was alluding to, uh by the finance team getting all that squared away and presented um with no findings uh to report for 2025. The last report we issue relates to the communication letter, um and that's kind of where we'll focus the majority of my attention here tonight, kind of taking a look at some of the financial trends and analysis uh for the city. Uh the first chart we have here relates to the general fund, um and the unassigned and assigned fund balance. Um at December 31st, 2025, that uh fund balance was at about 29.6 million, uh which was an increase of about 7.6% compared to the prior year or a little over 2 million. Um as you can see on the chart, that was the high point um, in 2025. Um, and it has increased um, by a little over 3 million uh, taking a look back at 2021. So, um, we'll get into some of the revenues and expenditure detail um, [snorts] here in the coming slides, but um, it's good to see that that assigned and unassigned balance did increase there in 2025. We also have it presented here um, in comparison to annual expenditures. So, um, for 2025, we compare that to the 2026 budgeted expenditures, but uh, as you can see uh, based on that the percentage of expenditures, it did end at 49.3% there in 2025. So, um, you can see it had kind of been trending down um, ever since 2021 um, from a high point of 63% um, and it's down uh, to 49.3% there uh, for 2025. Here's kind of similar information just kind of in graphical form there. So, again, um, taking a look at that assigned piece um, in blue um, and you can see that has increased from 26 million up to 29 million in comparison to the expenditures. So, kind of the five-year look back there was a little over 41 million in 2021 um, with it budgeted to be at about 60 million coming up here um, in 2026. Here we have the five years um, for general fund revenues. Um, so overall revenues did increase by about 5.2 million or 9.9% compared to the prior year. Um, that increased from a little over 52 uh, {point} 4 million um, up to a total of 57.6 million. So, we have it broken down here kind of by category. Um, property tax revenue increased by about 3.7 million during the year due to the increase in the tax levy allocation there for the general fund. Property taxes are the main source of revenue uh, for the general fund and the fluctuations in other sources that can be heavily relied upon. So, um that's always important to note. The other revenue category increased by a little over 781,000 um as a result of an increase in investment income for the year. Intergovernmental revenue increased by about 480,000 uh due to the timing of grants as well as increases in state aids for public safety and road maintenance. Similarly, we have the expenditures for the past 5 years for the general fund presented here. Um there was an increase of a little over 13 million or 26.5% compared to the prior year. Um you can kind of see the main driver there is in that capital outlay line. So, that was kind of new for 2025 and we'll kind of touch on that with the budget as well. Um that had the largest increase in expenditures of a little over 8 million as a result of significant public public safety equipment related software subscriptions that commenced during 2025. So, um as we'll see with the budget, there is an offsetting other finance source. So, um that's not an actual um expenditure and um detriment to the fund balance. Public safety expenditures um increased by a little over 2.9 million in 2025 with an increase in firefighter salaries going from part-time to full-time as well as filling some vacant positions there. Public works expenditures increased by about 742,000 with an increase in salaries noted there uh for that program. Parks and recreation increased by about 740,000 with an increase in uh natural resource service contracts. And development services increased by about 336,000 um as a result of an increase in salaries as well. Here we have the general fund budget to actual results. Um so, for the year ended 2025, uh budgeted for expenditures and transfers out from the general fund to exceed revenues and transfers in by about 19,000, so kind of the bottom left column there. Actual revenues and transfers in exceeded it expenditures and transfers out by a little over 3 million, so a positive budget variance there of a little over 3 million. Revenues were over budget by about 1.8 million or about 3.2%. Licenses and permits were a big driver there being over budget by about 1.5 million as a result of some conservative budgeting there on the building permit side of things. Miscellaneous and investment income was over budget by about 600,000 again kind of related to conservative budgeting and always tough to predict those markets. >> [snorts] >> Taxes and assessments revenue were under budget by about 515,000 due to the timing of delinquent payments and tax tax petitions. On the expenditure side, you can see overall expenditures were about 6.7 million or 11.9% over budget. Again, that capital outlay shows up there being over budget by about 8 million. As a result of not budgeting for those equipment related software subscriptions. Kind of in the bottom there, you can see that Sabita issuance line. So that's kind of the offsetting revenue. So the way that kind of works with the new accounting, you have to show that capital outlay to kind of get those capital assets on the books, but there's an offsetting other financing source for the same amount. So I know it looks a little a little goofy when you take a look at the expenditures and that other financing source, but they do cancel each other out and don't have an impact on fund balance. Let's see, the public works expenditures were under budget by about 578,000 due to some conservative budgeting there relating to the fleet services. General government expenditures were under budget by about 520,000 as a result of conservative budgeting on contingencies as well as other professional services there. And then development services were under budget by about 333,000 as a result of vacant positions during the year. Next we just kind of have a little bit on the marsh fund, so budget to actual results there. You can see the final budget called for about 1.8 million in revenue with actual amounts exceeding that coming in at about 1.87 million. So positive variance there of about 79,000. On the expenditure side, final budget was about 2.2 million and pretty close with the actual amount just over 2.2 million. So the projected budget around a deficit of 396,000 while actual amounts came in a little better with a positive variance there of about 65,000. Next we'll jump into the enterprise funds. So starting with the water and sewer utility operations. So here we have the past 5 years of revenue, operating expenses, and then operating income both including and excluding depreciation. So here revenue you can see came in at a little over 19.5 million which was down compared to 2024. It looked like hookup fees was down a little bit from that standpoint. Operating expenses increased up to about 12.6 million. The end result was operating income before depreciation of about 6.8 million and operating income after depreciation of about 1.7 million. So did decrease a little bit compared to 2024 but relatively kind of in the middle when taking a look at the last 5 years. Next we have the environmental fund operations. So here we had revenue increase up to a little over 2 million. Uh it looked like recycling fees there increased on the revenue side. Uh similarly for operating expenses, that increased up to about 2.2 million um as collection costs increased as well. Uh the end result was operating loss of about 114,000. So, kind of a low point there um when taking a look at the operating income there in 2025. Next, we have the Williston Center operations. Uh here we had both increases in revenue and expenses. So, revenue is a little over 3 million. Uh operating expenses a little over 2.6 million. Um so, we had operating income there. Um the two figures 468,000 before depreciation um and after depreciation income of about 274,000. So, again, positive trends for each of the past uh 3 years there for the Williston Center. Next, we have the Grays Bay Marina operations. Uh both revenues and expenses here actually went down uh slightly. So, um operating revenues of about 264,000 with expenses about 206,000. Uh the end result there was uh operating income of 57,000 with uh before depreciation and then operating income including depreciation of 32,000. So, um across the board, pretty consistent activity for each of the 5 years there um with operating income around uh 28,000 um up to a high of 35,000. On the storm water storm water side of things, uh increases in both revenues and expenses here. Um revenue ended at about 3.2 million. Uh expenses jumped up a little bit to a little over a million. It looked like some capital activity and some maintenance there on the storm water side of things. Uh the end results there were um operating income figures of 2.2 million and then 1 million um including deppreciation. Here, we just kind of have it broken down um expenses as percentage of revenues for the enterprise fund. So, just a little further analysis there. Um taking a look at the utility fund came in at about 65% at the end of the year, which was kind of the median of the five years presented. Um environmental was at at about 105%, which was the high of the five years presented for that fund. Uh the Williston Fitness Center uh came in at about 85%. Again, kind of consistent over the past three years there. Grace Marina um kind of holding steady there at 78%. And then stormwater was actually at a high there of 32.2% uh for 2025. >> [snorts] >> Lastly, for the enterprise funds, we have the unrestricted net position figures. So, kind of the amounts available for each of those funds um to spend outside of kind of the capital asset side of things. Uh the utility fund uh went up about 9 million. So, um ended at a little over 28.6 million at the end of the year. Environmental fund kind of dropped as we kind of touched on earlier. That ended um at um a deficit of 71,000. The Williston Fitness Center uh was up about to 302,000. So, that reached a high and was positive for the first time at 152,000. Grace Bay Marina was up about 97,000. Um and again, that was at a high point um a little over 1 million at the end of 2025. And then stormwater was up about 2.1 million. And again, um a high there as well um ending at about 7.6 million. Next, we have the cash and investments for each of those. Um those kind of tend to go in the same direction as the unrestricted net position. Um an increase for four of the five funds there with only the environmental fund uh kind of decreasing. Uh that actually had to borrow at the end of the year um with a due to other funds set up there for about 164,000. And then lastly, we have the tax capacity and tax levy for the past uh 5 years presented here. So, the tax taxable tax capacity of the city has experienced a steady increase over the last 5 years. Um while the city has increased the levy during this period, the tax capacity rate has increased by 1.4% um due to a larger increase in certified tax levy than in tax capacity. So, kind of that middle blue line there um shows the tax capacity rate. So, that increased from about 35.5% um up to almost 37%. Uh similarly, um the market values or the total tax capacity has increased um each of the past 5 years. So, kind of taking the 5-year approach there, you can see in 2021 um it was at about 118 million. Um while in 2025 it was at a high point of 148.7 million there. Uh similarly, uh the tax levy has increased um each of the past 5 years as well. So, um about 42.4 million in 2021 um up to a high point of a little over 55 million for 2025. With that, I can open it up to any questions or comments the council may have. Council? Council member Wilber? Thank you. And it's I don't know if if Mr. Nelson wants to take this. Um but I just wanted to uh make sure that that anyone listening um understands the the capital outlay expense and that it was that it's a subscription over multiple years that we didn't that we didn't run an $8 million deficit in in any of our funds. I'll say >> Correct. I thought you were going to >> Yeah. Uh acting mayor uh Council member Wilburn, yes, that is correct. That is a subscription. So, we're paying for that over 10 years. We just have to recognize um that full expense on the first year along with the other financing source that came in to to offset that. So, um there's a new accounting pronouncement that came in a couple years ago and it was a new transaction for us on that end of it. So, we didn't obviously budget for that, but um in the end it doesn't necessarily affect your total fund balance. It just shows high expenditures of the along with the offsetting other financing source on that end of it. So, >> Yeah, and you can kind of almost look at it as like a bond issuance in a sense. You sold that um bond sources and revenue coming in um and then similarly you'll kind of pay it off um over the term of the bond. So, again, another pronouncement that keeps us on our toes and kind of changes the way things look sometimes. >> [snorts] >> Anyone else? Questions? Thank you. That's a lot, but thank you. >> Yep, thank you. Mayor if I could acting mayor if I could for a second, just give a shout out or a thank you to a few people as well too and um Mr. Funk touched on a few people as well, but um just wanted to take a minute to thank a few people um for making their the making their efforts in making this another clean audit and a and a set of well-prepared financial statements. First, thank you to Aaron Doll and Burton KDB staff. Um they're a first-rate firm. We've worked with them for a number of years. Um we lean on them for their guidance um throughout the year along with the other financing source that came in to to offset Second, I would like to thank the department directors and their staff. These audits don't come just from the finance department. It makes up all the employees throughout the organization. They adhere to internal control policies. They you know, auditing or accounting processes and procedures throughout the departments. Um those all make that day-to-day transactions worthwhile to make us um receive that clean audit and um Um, wouldn't be here without them on that end of it. Uh, third, a thanks to my accounting staff. Um, my account accounting specialists, Karen Rackliff and and Tiffany Bredahl. Um, they do a lot of the day-to-day work and really get these transactions in the the account codes they need to be and and those types of things. And then lastly, um, our senior accountant, Zach Hexall, which um, he left the city here at the end of May. He's been instrumental in preparing this um, financial report for the last number of years on that end of it. Um, he really um, gets into the point where it was um, just needed to get through the the end line here on that end of it, but we want to thank him for that and then lastly, um, our assistant finance director, Joel Merry. He um, oversees the whole accounting processes and procedures and oversees the audit on that end of it. Um, and he is leaving for a finance director role in another city, so a promotional uh, piece uh, um, promotional uh, position for him on that end of it, so we're going to miss him here. We wish him all the best on his new role. He's been with the city for about 13 years, so instrumental in preparing the act for every year, um, out of those 13 years, so um, I I don't know that we have We haven't had a finding since I've been here and that's been, you know, six or seven years on that end of it and I know we haven't had uh, one or two findings uh, throughout his whole tenure on that end of it, so a pretty remarkable job and uh, really thank you to him and um, his efforts over the years, so just wanted to get that in there real quick. Um, I know you got an agenda, but um, just wanted to uh, give him a quick shout out and to the rest of the staff as well, too, so thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Nelson. Um, wait. Council Member Calvert. >> Thank you, Mayor. Yeah, I I just I also wanted to get some thank yous in. I actually uh, work in the finance department for the city of St. Paul and um, I'm very peripheral to the audit process, but I'm also somewhat in you know, I I support the um, leadership team in uh, finance and um, it is a all hands-on deck, all city effort and um and it is not easy. There are many, many cities that do not have AAA bond ratings, do not have clean audit findings, and so I just want to congratulate everyone, and I wanted to make sure that I particularly took note, first of all, of the fact that there were there was savings in um the economic development department because of vacancies. So, um that just means that there's a lot of extra work going on in the for the remaining staff. And um I'm sorry that you're losing so some wonderful staff um in the finance department here, but it just also goes to show show that we have a wonderful staff where people can move on to other cities and take leadership roles there because they we do such a good job here. So, just thank you to everybody for all your hard work and for the departments that were uh conservative in their budgeting and helped us uh save money and get us over the finish line with a clean audit. It's a huge undertaking and a big accomplishment. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Anyone else? Okay, moving on. Wait, we need a motion to um we need a Okay, to accept the plan, yes? Council member Calvert. >> Thank you, acting mayor. I'd like to make the motion to accept the 2025 ACFR and related audit reports with the city's audit firm, Bergan KDV. >> Council member Maxwell. >> I'll second the motion. >> Okay, we have a motion by Council member Calvert and a second by Council member Maxwell. Ms. Larson, please call roll. >> Remley? >> Yes. >> Coakley? >> Yes. >> Maxwell? >> Yes. >> Wilbern? >> Yes. >> Calvert? >> Yes. >> Foster Bolton? >> Yes. >> Motion carries. I forgot to say that. The whole night I forgot to say that. Should we start the meeting over? >> [laughter] >> Sorry. >> Nope. >> [laughter] >> Everything has been carried. Okay. I'm going to turn this over to Mr. Funk for a minute. >> Yeah, thank you, uh, acting mayor. Just real quick, just to, um, I guess finish the conversation on our audit report. Last thing I just want to mention is in the in the packet tonight, uh, Council, you did receive a number of supporting documents. One of those is the what's titled the annual comprehensive financial report. ACFR is the acronym we use. Uh, for anyone that might be listening or watching the meeting, we do post our audit reports on our website. So, anyone that has wants information about the data that was presented here this evening, we do have that on our website. It's a hundred and almost a hundred seventy page document. And so, uh, tonight's presentation, we do try to break that down in a way that's, um, understandable. I was talking to a couple of Council members today just on how broad and depth there is to our accounting and finances here in the city. We we have generally, uh, rough or I should say roughly over 40 different funds. Those are broken down into the general fund that gets a lot of the attention here this evening because that's where a majority of our tax dollars go. So, we we tend to focus on the general fund uh, reporting. And then we also tonight, as you saw, with the enterprise funds. And our enterprise funds are ones that are separate from the gen Excuse me, separate from the general fund and are more stand-alone business-type units. And so, those rely on fees for support. And so, we treat those in accounting-wise differently than our other funds. So, we try to in about 20, 25 minutes kind of highlight the major funds, but there's a lot more detail to our finances. And again, we'd encourage anyone to, uh, visit our reporting, uh, and that is available on the website. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Funk. That's that's important information. Okay. Next thing, um 14B. So, what I'm going to do is a concept plan for 5900 Roland Road, but I'm going to review the steps in a concept plan review. So, what happens? First, staff will provide an overview of the proposed concept plan. And as you are aware, no recommendations are provided at this time. So, then after the staff presentation, I'll invite the developer forward to provide an additional to provide any additional information about the project. And then we'll bring it to the City Council, in which they'll have an opportunity to provide feedback and answer the questions provided by the staff. As a reminder, concept reviews are reviewed by residents and surrounding property owners at a neighborhood meeting and at the Planning Commission meeting. So, therefore, there will be no additional testimony will be taken this evening. Thanks for letting me review this, and now Ms. Thomas, will you please proceed with your presentation? >> Yes, thank you, Acting Mayor Foster Bolton, and Council members. Um Expanded Ventures has submitted a concept plan to redevelop this site. It's in the kind of the southwest not really corner, but southwest area of the Roland Road, Bren Road intersection. The site is 4.2 acres. It's actually located within the city's shoreline overlay district because of its location relative to Nine Mile Creek, shown in blue here on this aerial photograph. The property is zoned B1, which is office, and it's also guided in our 2040 Comprehensive Guide Plan for office type uses. The site does contain a one-story, at least from the front, about 12,000 square foot office building and then that associated parking lot. It also contains several natural features on the site. Most notably the steep slopes on the property that are actually, because they're in the Shoreline District, called Shoreline bluffs. And that's a DNR requirement there. Shoreline bluffs, same thing as our steep slopes in the rest of the city, are slopes that rise at least 20% or, excuse me, 20 ft and over that a 20-ft rise have a minimum grade of at least 20%. The code does not actually distinguish between naturally occurring slopes and slopes that may have been created through other grading activities in the past. In general, our ordinance allows minimal work to occur within 20% slopes, which are shown in yellow here on this diagram. But the city can and historically has not allowed any type of activity, grading or otherwise, in 30% slopes, which are shown in this kind of red salmon color on this diagram. In the Shoreline District, even further protection is given to steep slopes. And that is there is what's a called, again a DNR requirement, a bluff impact zone, shown in dark green on this diagram. We actually have a setback from the top of those slopes. So, a lot of slope information and a lot of slope activity on this site. Here there are some photographs that uh senior planner Drew Ingvalson took of the site recently. Uh, this is from the parking lot looking southeast towards that existing office building. And then from the parking lot looking north towards one of those, uh, steep slopes. There's also a, uh, trail that, uh, kind of runs along 9 Mile Creek. And so these are the views of the trail. On the right-hand side, you can kind of see the building, uh, through the trees, uh, from the trail there. The Expanded Ventures, uh, concept plan, uh, calls for removal of that existing building, which you can kind of see, uh, trying to find a mouse here, in, um, the dash line shows the existing building on this diagram. They would be removing that and constructing a six-story, um, 100 to 130-unit, uh, senior rental building. Some more, um, depictions. This is not an architectural rendering, but a massing study, uh, for the building, uh, looking from Roland Road, um, or I should say more from the west side on the left-hand, um, photos or depictions. And then the um, easterly side of the site looking south shown on the right-hand side of your screen. If this concept were to move forward to a formal application, there's a variety of applications that would come before this body. First and foremost would be a comprehensive guide plan amendment. You'll recall the site is guided for office use. So this would require a re-guiding to high-density residential. It would require a re-zoning then also from office to high-density residential. It would require site and building plan review and then also a variance for um some grading, some potential tree removal, some um of the building being located in that 30% slope that's shown on um the north side of the site. You can kind of see it here in red. When a project whenever a project requires a comprehensive of guide plan, um we actually require a developer to go through this two-phase development review process. For other bigger projects or projects we think might be controversial, we encourage developers, but whenever there's a comprehensive guide plan amendment um associated with something, we require this concept plan process. And as you noted, uh acting mayor, this is really an opportunity for uh area residents and property owners, the planning commission, and city council to provide feedback on a general idea. And those comments may um inform future uh plans. To that end then, the potential applicant did host a neighborhood meeting in um May. There were over 50 um area property owners that were invited. 19 Or excuse me, nine people attended. The primary questions and concerns raised during that meeting were about uh traffic on Roland Road and and increases that may be caused by this use, the height of the building and its size, particularly as viewed from the residential properties to the north, uh light and noise pollution that may be associated with a building again of this size, and then a a concern for sustainable building practices being used. The planning commission reviewed the concept and provided some feedback. uh Um, area residents did have an opportunity to address the Commission. They raised similar, um, comments and concerns from the neighborhood meeting again, talking about traffic, buffering to the neighborhood, again primarily to the north, building height and size were again noticed, and then, uh, some conversation about wildlife protection, particularly, uh, given its location, it meaning the site's location relative, uh, to the creek and the trail. The Planning Commission, um, seemed to believe that a residential use of this property in some way may be reasonable, so that comprehensive guide plan may be reasonable. But they raised specific points about the visual impact of the building height, um, site access, where that site access would be uh, appropriate, how emergency vehicles would access the site, and then had comments about impacts, uh, to the slope. So this evening, um, we, uh, the potential developer and staff are looking for, uh, the Council's general feedback, and, um, kind of focusing on these three questions. These are slightly different than the questions you've seen before. Um, because really the the big question on this concept is how does the Council feel about a comprehensive guide plan amendment? Um, if if if the answer to that question is, um, in the negative, the other the other questions don't necessarily, um, follow then. Um, if this is a comprehensive guide plan may be something that you feel is appropriate, then the questions are what aspects of this concept site plan may concern you, or conversely, what do you think would make the site plan better? And then a follow-up, are there aspects of the building plan, understanding that we just have a massing study right now, that concern you, or what aspects do you think um could be improved if this were to move forward? And with that, I would turn it back to the acting mayor. >> Thank you, Ms. Thomas. Um does anybody have questions for the staff? Uh Councilmember Wilburn. >> The inner packet you um included a a zoning map that of the of the properties surrounding um and if you look at the map, it's it look it's sort of this one little zone for office and then um surrounded by some mixed-use and uh commercial um and then medium-density and other residential and P U R D um so could you explain what P U R D is? >> Uh Acting Mayor Foster Bolton and Councilmember Wilburn, I'm going to give it a my best shot because it's actually not a zoning district we use anymore. It was a zoning district that predates 1986, but we had a lot of property that was zoned P U R D, which is just the same thing as P U D, but they added the word residential in there. So, planned unit residential development. Um when that zoning district went away in 1986, um the city did not undertake to rezone those properties to P U D, just left left the R in there. >> And that just just to follow up, so planned unit development like does >> Yeah. >> So, if everybody understands what we're talking about. >> Correct. So, um, the the zoning district that we would use these days is planned unit development. And as the council knows, um, those developments are reviewed very specifically, very uniquely, and individually, and development, um, allowances or restrictions are based on the specific development, not on the broader zoning classification. >> Um, Councilmember Rumley. >> Thank you, Acting Mayor. Um, just a couple of quick, hopefully, questions. Um, regarding the it's currently designated the parcel as B1 zoning, correct? Okay. >> Yeah, correct. >> And so, could you just confirm my understanding, um, for B1 zoning, um, that could accommodate a building up to 45 ft high, is that correct? >> Uh, that is correct, Acting Mayor Foster Bolton and Councilmember Rumley. In the B1 district, the height is limited to four stories or 45 ft, whichever is less. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, and then one thing I just uh was hoping you could help me understand kind of the the bluff zone, um, issues right now. It looks like if you go back the old building and the proposed new structure would encroach roughly within 400 ft of the same amount to the bluff zones, but the bluff zones are different. The uh current one is in a less steep uh what is it? That's in the mostly in the bluff zone setback setback and uh slightly into the 20% steep slope steep slope zone. Say that 10 times fast. Um, and then the proposed building would go uh slightly in slightly less than the current, but it would be going into that um 10% or is it the No, 30% zone or am I getting something wrong? Can you just explain to me if there's a difference in the slope? Yeah. >> Acting Mayor and Councilmember Amelia, I would say that that's generally correct. The existing building is located partially in a 20% slope. Um based on this diagram, a portion of the building would be located within a 30% slope. I would point out that that's just the building. This we don't have at this point any type of grading proposal. So, what that ultimately that impact would be um we couldn't say at this point, but in general your your comments are correct. >> Okay, thank you. That's helpful. Any other questions? Councilmember Wilburn, that's okay. >> Um so, in the um planning commission comments, the chair Wanderman had stated, let me find it. I'm not seeing it. Uh oh, here it is. He's not too worried about the minor steep slope encroachments in this case since the proposal would improve what is there now. The proposal may bring the site, which is currently does not conform to ordinance requirements, now into conformance. Um is that correct how would it how would it bring it into conformance? >> Um Acting Mayor and Councilmember, I'm I'm not sure I can speak speak to that. I believe I can speak to the first portion. Uh the the photo that you're seeing on the right is a portion of that steep slope that's on the north side of the um parking lot. And so, I believe that is the slope that he was referencing in terms of not being as concerned about that slope as it's seemingly less natural um than other slopes on the site. Um but, I I I don't want to take a stab on what the other comment meant. >> That's fine. Um and this may be later for the for the applicant. Do we know I I know it's a six-story building. Do we know like what the actual height would be? >> Uh Acting Mayor and Council members, I do not. Uh I believe the architect for the applicant is here this evening and may have have a sense uh just at a concept level. >> So, any more questions for staff? Okay. Then, we can invite the developer forward to provide additional information about the project. >> Good evening, uh Acting Mayor, Council, staff. Thank you for your time tonight. My name is John McGarry with Expanded [snorts] Ventures and our proposal at 3900 Rollin Road, uh currently a uh a working title. Um uh we did have that neighborhood meeting and uh the Planning Commission meeting, and I would agree with Planner Thomas uh in the assessment and and summary of of those meetings. I would add um some of the paraphrased quotes that I found in those meetings were this site is potentially underutilized. Uh impacts are limited. And uh many of the members absolutely believe it has merit. Um we are looking for a 130,000 square foot 121 unit 55 plus building at this time. Um our goal was to move as much of the existing structure away from uh Nine Mile Creek and into what I would say is a artificially 30% steep slope, but uh that is the definition by the city. Uh and so our our goal again was to get away from Nine Mile, even though we are impacting some of that um kind of boulder uh area that uh produces that steep slope. Uh hard cover itself is is similar uh to what we have currently. We don't have a final survey for that at this stage, um but it is a a piece that we would study and hope to uh rain in. Uh I also have uh Evan with Tushie Montgomery Architects here for any additional um numbers or details on the building itself. And we're happy to answer any questions. >> Okay, stay there. Any questions for our developer? Yeah. >> Do you know or do you have an approximation of how tall the building will be? >> Good evening, acting mayor, uh council members. Evan Jacobson, Tushie Montgomery Architects. The height would probably be between 65 and 68 ft from finished floor of the first floor to the top of the roof deck. That doesn't include any architectural features, parapets, or rooftop decks, or anything that may extend above that top roof deck, so 65 to 68 ft. >> Council member Romaine-Ley. >> Thank you. One thing I forgot to ask, are you uh foreseeing uh parking Did you guys say under the building or first floor or kind of what? >> Correct. The the current proposal contemplates two levels of underground parking actually. >> Okay. >> Obviously a very tight site, very compact footprint, so that would necessitate us to go two levels below grade resulting in a very limited amount of impervious area at the site. >> Great. Appreciate that. Thank you. Anyone else? Nope. Oh, okay. Well, not yet, but just >> We'll be close. >> Okay. Thank you. Um So, now I'm bringing it back to the council for feedback and answer the questions provided. Council member Calvert. >> Thank you, acting mayor. Um I don't know. I feel like it's kind of a mixed bag. So, uh positive feedback, I'll start off first. Positive feedback is um in the very primitive tree preservation map that we were given, the tree loss looks to be minimal. Um that's without a grading plan, and I if that's what it ends up being, I'll eat my hat, but uh I do like that. Um I like the demographic that we're hitting. Um in terms of changing the comprehensive guide plan, I think actually I mean I think actually residential has a place there. I kind of agree with planning commission on that score. Um and uh So, what concerns me? I do the height concerns me. And I you know, I think about some plans that have come before the council a long time ago. I I think about some of them that I think we're coming to the Glen Lake area, and they didn't sort of think of the environment of the landscape. They saw the landscape as a view. And so I sort of feel like that's what this is. They're looking at, you know, this wonderful amenity of Lone Lake Park down below. Uh, you know, looking out from the rooftop amenity or your windows. And I think it would be beautiful to look out on it, to look up at it. Not so much. So I was walking on the trail. I I have I was very familiar with this area and um what would make it better to me would be not basically not to exceed the tree line on the berm very much. Um, there are single family homes right across the street. Um and I just think that it would just be too too imposing and just very out of place to have a six-story building there. Um, as we go east and we get into Opus, we start getting into the really high-density residential, the all of that transit-oriented development. Um, and I think we're still in that transition zone where the profile has to be kept uh, somewhat lower. Um I also, on the trail, there is a magnificent magnificent oak tree. I think it's in the 30% at the bottom of the 30% zone. It's, I don't know, maybe 4 ft across, maybe bigger. And I would be extremely concerned about um, any impact to the trees in Lone Lake below there. Also, um in my mind, I I'm pretty averse to um variances, steep slope variances um for a variety of reasons and some of them have to do with the steep slopes behind as you go down into Lone Lake Park. um So, no to steep slope variances in in my view. um Another thing I like is the the compact uh footprint. I do think however that this developer if I remember right has come forward with other proposals which also were very compelling and just maximized the space to the point where people didn't feel that the landscaping would survive and I do want to make sure that we may need to make the footprint yet more compact to make sure that there's sufficient buffer on all sides for the neighbors because there are um medium density residences to the east, single-family residences to the north and so on and so forth. um and I just want to make sure that the sort of uh natural that there's a sufficient natural buffer that things like light um and so forth that some of the neighbors have talked about don't encroach on their neighborhoods um but um I do think that um that high that a residential use is appropriate for this property and if a four-story building is considered high density then yeah, maybe. I mean, I think I think Councilmember Remedios kind of obliquely pointing at, you know, sort of an acceptable height for this area. And so, I I'm I'm sort of leaning in that direction. And that's all I've got. >> Thank you. Councilmember Remedios >> Thank you, acting mayor. Um yes, I uh I'm Well, to answer the first question, yes, I believe a high-density residential use is appropriate for this property um with some caveats, I guess. Um are there aspects of the site plan that concern me? Um Well, first I'm going to start and then what can make it better? Um I I like that it's, you know, close to a major transit route. So, I think that's, you know, we're we're we're close to a highway. This is exactly, you know, kind of the thing we want to do in terms of kind of smarter density. So, that's a good thing. Um So, I like the fact that we're, you know, residential transitioning from office space, which we know is is is disappearing or changing drastically in in in the modern post-COVID era. Um and we need this this general uh type of of housing and this type, you know, for both our age our our seniors. And we also need it at affordable price point. Um so, that we can encourage some of our single-family home folks uh to move into uh apartments and and downsize and free up some of our housing stock for for younger families. Um but for them to do that, so it has to be kind of at a reasonable um price point that they can uh see doing this. But that's probably a little bit farther down the line. I do have concerns about uh the slope. >> I'm sorry, Councilmember Romali, can I just stop you for just 1 second because before we go on, I just want to make sure that everybody that that that we all agree on the high-density residential because if we don't, then the other two questions are irrelevant. >> I said yes. >> No, I know you did, but I want to make sure the rest of the council does. >> Absolutely. >> So, Councilmember Coakley, could you just answer the Do you think that a high-density residential use is appropriate? >> I'm going to answer it the way Councilmember Calvert stated. She said if it's four I think she said four-story, so that's where I'm at as well. >> Okay. Councilmember Wilbern? >> Yes, I think it's an appropriate use. >> Councilmember >> Yes. >> Uh agreed, yes. High-density residential I think is appropriate. >> Sorry for the interruption. >> No, no, no, that's fine. Um >> Go ahead. >> So, yeah, I do have concerns about the slope. Um I'm not going to say for me at least at this point it's it's not a deal breaker, but I would want it minimized. Um and then, you know, I'm concerned about the grading especially around the north side if possible. I don't know, you know, given if it would be better from an environmental impact point of view to pull it back southward back into more of that other 20% zone or not or some I'm sorry, what? >> It's on the park, pulling it back into the park. >> Yeah, I know that, but it's where where it is now versus, you know, some you know, trying to condense it. I understand there's there's vehicle movement and parking lots and all of those issues there, but that is a concern for me, so I'd like to see that addressed. The height First of all, I want to applaud you for doing parking underneath. That's more expensive. I get that. Um and it'll also make for less, uh, you know, impervious surface, so I appreciate that as well. Um, you know, as I I alluded to, as it is, this is zoned for a 45-ft structure. Um, and, I would, you know, as much as I I I do appreciate residents' concerns about this. Um, as we've said often on this council, we don't we own we don't own our own view shed. Um, and so, um, if I were to consider anything higher, and there would be some tradeoffs, for doing that, um, I would want to make sure that it's, uh, very well-designed structure, not kind of the massing box that we see, something that would be obviously attractive. Um, I'm not, like I said, saying no, it's not a deal breaker for me right now, personally, but, um, I I would want to see some things kind of in return for maybe that, maybe seeing either a five-story, or maybe a six-story, but I there would be some things I would would hope to see, um, if that were to happen. Uh, in terms of going forward now, again, the light study would be great to and the traffic study. Um, I don't foresee issues given the the distance, um, and also in terms of the light, and I don't foresee huge issues in in terms of the traffic, but I think those obviously need to be done. Um, you know, traffic's going to obviously increase, I understand that, that's hard, you know, as our former mayor, uh, used to like to say is that we are change managers. We can't stop change, what we can do is try to manage it as best we we Um, and so that's why we would need a traffic study and to see how that would be handled. Again, I applied the goal to protect creek and wildlife and trying to pull it away from 9 Mile Creek and I think that's it going to be a selling point. Um, I would love to see if that's going to be the case. What is the plan to kind of idea and protect environmental um, you know, values and and species and things like that. How How How are going to meet up a goal to minimize impact or even to maybe enhance uh, birds, you know, wildlife. I think there's a great opportunity here to do that. There was some concerns expressed by residents. So, I think there's a great opportunity here to do things like, you know, put in minimal or low input grass and use uh, landscaping that would attract wildlife and birds and pollinators. Um, using storm water perhaps for irrigation, um, you know, using permeable pavers and things like that. Um, and then in terms of things if this goes forward, I would very much like to see would be an extremely tight envelope. Um, EV chargers for resident spaces, uh, solid number. Um, electric appliances and heating, um, a solar ready roof if it's a candidate um, and or consideration for geothermal and I hope that um, our staff and others can help uh, the developer maybe identify um, resources for that. Um, that's something that's uh, high value for us as a city and and I as much as we can encourage developers to follow that path, I think it's a good thing. Um, yeah, I think that's it. Thanks. >> Thank you, Councilmember Romeo. Anyone else? Councilmember Wilber. >> Um, yeah, I will just uh, echo a lot of what Council Member Remley said. Um, would like to if if we do consider additional height to have some of these environmental and sustainable um considerations. I would also like to see some affordability uh include inclusion of affordable units within the within the um building. Um, otherwise I yeah, I pretty much echo that. I can the concerns that the residents have brought up, you know, traffic, noise and light pollution, um concerns about the wildlife. Um, all of those things I I think we need to need to be addressed and get some get some assurances and some plans on on how those will be how those would be addressed. Um, I think that's it. >> Council Member Cockley. >> Thank you, Acting Mayor. So, for me it's pretty much the same. I really want to make sure that we're addressing residents on the issues that they brought up in the packet. Also, I did see in the packet it said that it was going to be market rate rent for 55-plus and our development in Minnetonka we asked for 10% in a unit like this. You know, maybe a little bit more for me. I think it's always important to make sure that we're addressing affordability even at 55-plus especially because 55-plus well, Minnetonka's a different environment residents far as income, but in some some cities, you know, we have elders are being pushed out and just really can't afford to keep up with where we're at with price points. And so, maybe well, I think Minnetonka got has the same issue cuz I do talk to my neighbors and they do talk about the same thing. So, so this is for Minnetonka residents as well. So, hopefully we can make sure that it's affordable and then also just really addressing um the comments that I saw in the packet, the nine residents who showed up, at least making sure we address those comments. >> Thank you. Council member Maxwell. >> Yeah, I won't repeat what's already been said, but I do think high density makes sense here. Um and I think to reduce the massing and potentially even do that maybe half the building where you've got a step down might be a way to do that where you can have it hidden behind the trees on the higher side, but then where it's exposed um be a little lower. I appreciate the underground parking for the reasons that we've uh that have already been mentioned. I'll I'll leave it there. Everything else I think has already been said. >> Yeah, I think so, too. Um to to me, when I look at it, it seems really too big and I also agree with Council member Calvert. I don't know how that's going to happen to build that kind of a building without um messing with some trees around there. I don't I I I would I don't see it, but you know, you're probably way smarter than me about that. It doesn't look like it to me. Um but I but I think that high density residential use is appropriate for this property as is um a building like that. But smaller. But that's all. Um Miss Thomas, do you have what you need? >> Yes, thank you. I appreciate it. >> Okay. >> Um moving on to um what is appointments. Sorry. Appointments and reappointments. >> Appointments reappointments, which we have none. So, item 16 is adjournment. Council member Romaine. I mean, oh my gosh. [laughter] This is a lot of words, okay? Like, this is a lot of words. >> [laughter] >> Well, easily confused. >> of council members. >> You are, you look like twins. >> We're twins. >> [laughter] >> Wilbur. >> I move adjournment. >> [laughter] >> Uh, everybody who agrees say I. >> I. >> Thank you. Is that good? >> You have say we are adjourned. >> We are adjourned. >> Woohoo. >> [laughter] [music] [music]