Minnetrista City Council — Transcript
Wednesday, August 26, 2026
Police Department Records Management System (RMS) Replacement
Mound Fire Budget Discrepancies and Contract Renegotiation
ADA Assessment for City Facilities
Recreational Vehicle (ATV/UTV) Ordinance Revision
Votes (4)
New Police Department Records Management System (RMS)
Discussion centered on the necessity of replacing the current outdated RMS, which suffered a week-long outage and is no longer being developed by its parent company. The consortium model was highlighted for cost-sharing and information exchange. GTEL Advisors is guiding the complex process, which involves data migration and new business processes. Budgetary estimates for individual cities range from $120,000 to $900,000 over three years. The importance of selecting a vendor with specific Minnesota and Henepin County integration experience was stressed. The current system is being moved to local hosting to mitigate immediate risks and costs. Minatrista has allocated $125,000 for 2027.
Mound Fire Budget Discussion
Council members expressed shock and concern over a sudden, poorly justified increase in administrative fees from the Mound Fire Department, from a historical $20,000 to $155,000. This increase came late in the budget cycle and was not transparently itemized, despite also seeing cuts in other fire department budget lines like capital outlay and duty crew. Minatrista views this as unacceptable 'business behavior' and seeks to formally challenge it. The discussion highlighted the lack of Minatrista's voice in the Mound budget process and the need to renegotiate their contract for 2028.
ADA Assessment Update
The council reviewed options for an ADA needs assessment, noting Krauss Anderson's more favorable proposal. While an internal 2018 checklist exists, it may not cover current Minnesota accessibility laws. The assessment is viewed as a risk management tool to develop a capital improvement plan and access grants. The council decided to narrow the scope of the Krauss Anderson proposal to focus specifically on ADA compliance for City Hall and the Police Department facilities, excluding garages, and directed staff to bring back a revised proposal and contract for formal approval, with a plan for phased implementation.
Recreational Vehicle Ordinance
The council debated changes to the ATV/UTV ordinance, specifically the operating distance from neighboring properties and continuous use limits. A compromise was reached to change the operating distance from 300 feet from a property line to 220 feet from a primary structure of a neighboring parcel to accommodate narrower lots. The 2-hour continuous use limit remains, with a new 'de minimis' exception (15 minutes within 60 minutes) for parcels 1 acre or less, recognizing short utility-based usage (e.g., plowing, dock access) separate from recreational riding. The goal is to balance resident use with neighbor quietude, acknowledging the challenge of enforcement for such specific distances.
Notable Quotes (15)
Our current RMS is old and the user technology is much the same today as when it was introduced. In addition, we want to make the change before the parent company of our RMS uh decides that it's end of life.
It's a very complicated process because it's not just about lifting and shifting the data. It's about introducing a whole new system with all new business processes, connections to Henipin County, all of the different things that the state that the police department has to connect to.
On the very very low side, you were looking at about 110 or 120,000 from the least expensive vendor. Um that's not necessarily the one that the group would select, but just to give you an idea. And the most expensive vendor of the three was um for three year that was a three-year roughly cost about 120,000 for the low side and then it was a um about 900,000 on the high side.
You do get a quantity discount and the hosting is a lot less expensive the more people you have on one shared system because you can have one set of infrastructure for a set number of people.
Even if you got the cheapest product that can't accomplish that, then you're in way worse shape and you're going to end up buying it twice cuz you're going to fail this.
So, we're sitting there virtually in shock because we're like, 'What? This means like a six for us because we're 27% of the budget. We're looking at this saying this is an additional I don't know what that is, but anyhow, X number of dollars.' We're like, 'That doesn't make any sense. How come it's been 20,000 all these years and now all of a sudden in the 11th hour you're telling us it's going to be increased from 20,000 to 155.'
This kind of activity is is not I would say almost unethical. Um I don't want to say they're I would I would say I'd carefully say it's it's not good um business behavior, put it that way.
I'd prefer if there's hours justification but it's really just a the way I understand it is just like a percentage allocation from each of their items that they think are related to the fire and based on the budget number of people just the couple other metrics that they're using to justify it.
Krauss Anderson in their proposal has uh ADA with facility needs as well for that $10,215. Um so if it's just strictly an ADA, um there's a there's there's probably a conversation that could get that to be even a little bit lower.
It is Minnesota Disability Law. They had people go out to different polling places to make sure is ADA accessible. So for elections for general, we weren't on this list. I don't know how these places are picked. Um but it could be a possibility of people coming to polling places to make sure we are in compliance.
Yeah, I think we should go ahead with it. And I like the idea of kind of chipping away at at these projects. It seems like we shouldn't have been grandfathered in and we should be proactive.
One of the, you know, kind of talking point distance changes is to change it from 300 feet from the, uh, property line to 200 feet from the, uh, primary structure. So that, uh, in the case in the example that was brought up at the last, uh, work session, that would allow for that um, resident that's maybe having some some difficulties operating a recreational vehicle on their property because of a of a neighbor um, maybe not not really wanting it. that would open up the majority of the of the property to being able to use those recreational vehicles.
The issue here is really not the ATV or the UTV, it's the noise and the right being disrespectful. It's not really the feet.
The state statute that defines recreational motor vehicle uh says any self-propelled vehicle used for recreational purposes. So plowing is not plowing and lawn mowing.
I and I'll say it again, they don't want to aggravate these neighbors. that I'm they don't want them out there with cameras and videotapes, but 200 is a normal square number. I'm quite 300.
Ordinances & Resolutions (14)
The existing and planned system for police records management, undergoing replacement due to obsolescence and reliability issues.
Agreement for expert guidance on selecting and implementing a new RMS for the police department consortium.
The annual financial plan for the Mound Fire Department, scrutinized for unexpected administrative fee increases and lack of transparency.
The agreement governing Minatrista's contribution to and relationship with the Mound Fire Department, slated for renegotiation.
A proposed study to identify accessibility needs and plan improvements for city facilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
A bid from Krauss Anderson for conducting an ADA assessment of city facilities.
A bid from CRBPS (through WSB) for an ADA assessment, significantly higher than Krauss Anderson's.
An internal checklist previously created by city staff to survey ADA needs, now considered outdated and potentially incomplete.
State-specific regulations related to accessibility, potentially more restrictive than federal ADA, that need to be considered in assessments.
Building regulations that tie to ADA and Minnesota accessibility laws.
Federal legislation related to election administration, under which polling place accessibility is reviewed.
The city's long-range plan for infrastructure and facility projects, where ADA improvements would be integrated.
The city code governing the use of ATVs and UTVs on private property, undergoing revision.
Legal definition distinguishing recreational use from utility use of vehicles like UTVs.