Wow, so tiny. We are about to start here. Of course, I'm going to put my husband's phone on airplane mode. We are about to start. >> [laughter] >> I need to use my gavel. Okay. All right. Okay, I'm going to call the meeting to order. This is the regular city council meeting for the city of Minnetrista of May 18th, 2026. Uh first order, I'm going to ask if you have a cell phone with you, please put it on airplane mode so it does not disturb our meeting. And second, would you please join me for 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. So, welcome everyone that's here this evening as well as watching on YouTube later on. Uh first I want to start with introductions. I'm Lisa Whalen, I'm the mayor. And to my left are council members Kathleen Ruffing, Peter Vickery, Claudia Lacey, and Brian Gover. And then on the end we have our staff. Um we have Allison Fauskey with WSB who is our city engineer and Paula Bauman who is our assistant administrator. And then to my right we have administrator Jasper Crugel and then we have Brian Grimm who is our finance director. And then at the end we have our chief of police Craig Squares. Also participating via um internet is our Gary Peters who is our public works director and Myra Wolf who's our city clerk taking notes. And then we have Sarah Sansola who is um our city attorney and who else do we have? And David Eblis also joining us remotely. And he is our community development director. With that, um Um, I'm looking for a motion to approve the agenda. We're going to add one business item. It's going to be business item 5c and that's approving our master uh plan agreement with um um infosend for services related to monthly billing mailings. Is there any other changes to the agenda? Hearing none, is there a motion to make to approve the agenda with that one change? So moved. Thank you, Mr. Vickery. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Ms. Rifkin. Any further questions? Hearing none, all those in favor signify with thy. I. Motion passes 5-0. Tonight we have two um special presentations. We're going to start out with the um presentation from Alex Carlson and this is in regards to the Metropolitan Council um mosquito control district. I'll just advance it. The clicker is missing. >> So, welcome, gentlemen. Thank you, Mayor Whalen and council members. I'm Alex Carlson, I'm the public affairs manager with the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District. With me is Ben Ludbeck. Ben's a supervisor at our Plymouth facility who also covers all of the Minnetrista area um with our services. So, I'm going to get started and go real quickly, but hopefully you all received one of our new handouts this year, our tick magnets, which help you ID the different ticks that you'll find because even though mosquito control is our name, we also do tick surveillance as well. Um so, we've been around since 1958 and our governance is the county commissioners. So, Commissioner Kevin Anderson um who covers this area is on our board. He's actually on our executive committee. Uh we're very fortunate to have him. Uh our service area is the entire seven-county metro area, about 3.2 million people and 88,000 wetland habitats. You'll understand why that's important as I explain kind of our operations. Uh and our funding comes from property taxes. So, the median home pays about $11 per year towards our services. Uh and those services are include Go to the next slide. Comprehensive mosquito surveillance and control. So, it starts by figuring out where the mosquitoes are. There's a little dipper full of larva. So, we go finding out the where the larva are um then we do the control based on that data. We do mosquito-borne disease suppression, public health is a very important part of our mission, so suppressing the diseases that can make people sick is important. Tick-borne disease surveillance, public education about mosquitoes and mosquito-borne and tick-borne disease, and then we also do services for black flies or biting gnats, which are especially active this time of year. All right, to the next one. So, we have over 52 species that we have established here in Minnesota of of different types of mosquitoes. Not all of them behave the exact same way. Some of them hatch after rainfall, some of them can hatch anytime that there's standing water around, but we really focus on on those 52 about 20 of those will be human-biting. So, means they can bite mammals or they'll spread diseases that can affect mammals. And so, those are really the ones that we focus on. So, we have some species here that don't bother with mammals at all. They'll only bite frogs or birds or other animals that are not taxpayers, so we don't protect them from those those mosquito bites. We focus on the ones that are going to go after people. If you're looking at a mosquito life cycle, when those eggs hatch, especially the floodwater mosquitoes that hatch after the rain, it's usually about 1 week for them to get through their life cycle before they emerge as the adult mosquitoes that we know so well. So, when we see these big rains come in the summertime, it's about a week later that we see that big surge in mosquito numbers. Our program starts with surveillance, as I mentioned. That's the type of water that we're looking for. So, mosquitoes don't develop in large open bodies of water. It's shallow, stagnant water. You can see with that little skim of water there, all that is mosquito larva swimming around. So, it doesn't take a lot of water to produce lots of mosquito larva. So, we really have our job cut out for us. But, we also do other ways to collect mosquitoes. We do traps. So, we have a Monday night surveillance network where we set up different types of traps that collect different species of mosquitoes. We set those up started last week. We'll be doing that every Monday night throughout the summer. We also do a fun way to collect mosquitoes where we do human-baited trapping where we go stand out in our yard every Monday night at a very specific time. It'll be be 9:38 p.m. We wait for the mosquitoes to come to us. >> like a lot of fun. Oh, yeah. Wow. >> [laughter] >> Can't wait to volunteer for that. And the mosquitoes come to us and then we take a net and we sweep around and we collect as many as we can and then I put it in my freezer overnight. And then whatever I find I pick out and bring to the lab for identification the next day. My kids are always excited when they find it in the freezer the next morning when they go to get their breakfast. [laughter] Um but it's for science. Uh so that's why we get all that data. Um and then we bring it back to our entomology lab where we have uh several full-time entomologists that are helping to identify the species. We also hire a lot of seasonal staff um in the summertime that help with taxonomy. So they're identifying those species to figure out which ones are human biting and which ones are not, which ones are disease vectors and which ones are not so we can really focus our program that way. Um we do have the ability to test some species for disease uh at our lab in St. Paul. We're actually um we just got approved for a renovation to our lab so we're going to be expanding our PCR abilities to do more disease testing. So this time next year we're going to be doing a lot more. Right now we can test for West Nile virus only. Um and then we have to determine control. So there's three primary ways to control mosquitoes. Larval control, which is getting them when they're in the water. Adult control, which is the ones that are flying around. Um and then reducing breeding habitat or what we just call source reduction. So eliminating places for them to breed. Um our focus is larval control. The vast majority of the work that we're doing is controlling mosquitoes in the larval stage. Um there's a couple reasons for that. One, we have a geographic advantage cuz we serve such a wide area. Um we can do larval control widespread and it's really effective. Um also it's easier to get to the larva when they're in a breeding site in a wetland or in an area of standing water versus the adult mosquitoes which will be everywhere. Um kind of hard to get to all of them. Uh but the most important reason is the minimal non-target impacts that larval control materials have. So the vast majority of the materials that we use are bacterial based. Um so you put them in the water, they're granules that you put in the water and then they activate um and then the mosquito larva feed on them when they're in the water table and and what stops their digestion and kills them in the larval stage, but it's not harmful to fish or other animals. It's not harmful to bees and butterflies and other pollinators cuz it only activates in that standing water. So, it's a very safe, effective way to do widespread mosquito control and have the biggest impact. So, I brought a little sample. This is If you see our helicopters or drones around, this is what we're dropping, something like this. These little pellets or granules that go into the water. Um yeah, and this just talks about some of those active ingredients that we use. And then our drone program is expanding, so we're using drones more widespread. Um and so you might see some of those out and about. Our main mosquito-borne disease that we're concerned about is West Nile virus. And last last year, actually, 2025 was a record year for West Nile virus. We saw them the highest number of human cases both in the district and statewide that we'd ever seen. Um so, that's concerning and we're going to be doing everything we can to be proactive and prevent that this year. Um but West Nile is spread by birds. So, uh but birds are what we call our reservoir hosts that spread the disease. Most birds are not impacted. Some birds do get sick and die, especially corvids, so ravens blue jays and crows. So, we get reports of dead crows or dead blue jays, could be a sign that West Nile is starting to crop up. Then a mosquito has to bite those infected birds, and that same mosquito bites us. So, that's how the disease gets transmitted. We can't spread the disease among ourselves. Um it only can come from bird to mosquito to human. Um and then there's the specific species of the Culex family that will spread these these diseases. Go ahead to the next one. So, the big stories from last year, uh one, it was a record year for West Nile, as I said, 50 human cases, which was smashed our previous record of 28. Um um 18% of the mosquitoes that we collected tested positive, which is very high. Also, they just peaked earlier last year than normal, which is the big factor. Another big story from last year was the what we call the cattail mosquito's return. So, there's a unique species that only comes out once per year. It's a single brood species, and they actually spend all winter in the water below the ice. And then they work work their way to the surface in the spring and come out right around the 4th of July. We hadn't seen them in 5 years because of drought conditions. And so last year for the first time since 2020, they were back and they were back in pretty big numbers. So if you're out and around the 4th of July, you probably noticed them. Go ahead to the next one. And then finally last year we didn't see a lot of spring mosquitoes and we're seeing that same trend this year. We're starting a very slow It's a little early to say exactly what this spring is going to be like. Uh but last year we saw a very low after a couple years of high spring mosquitoes, we saw some low years uh last year. Go ahead to the next one. This is just a graph of the the the average So the the green line is 2025 compared to the 10-year average. So you can see a slow spring and then our peak last year was the week of July 8th. Go ahead to the next one. Um this just shows the acres of larval control that we've done year to year. So the X-axis there is year. So 2025 we had our most acres of larval control since 2016. The biggest factor of how many acres we do is the precipitation. So every time it rains, that's when we're doing more cuz that's when we find more eggs that have hatched. Um this next slide actually shows the trend with adult control. We've really moved away from doing widespread adult control. Um so adult control is when you're on a with a backpack on the ground doing spraying or sometimes you do a cold fogging from a truck. Um we really have adjusted so we only do adult control when we're combating disease cases. Um so we want to focus on obviously protecting public health by reducing, you know, West Nile carrying mosquitoes. But these have to be very carefully applied because these are broad spectrum. So they can harm other insects. Um so we want to make sure that we're being as safe with those applications as possible and and targeted as possible. Go ahead to the next one. Um yeah, so these are just the totals for the city of Minnetrista and I think thought Ben could give a little more context cuz uh his team's actually the one that did all this work. So Yeah, thanks for having us. Um these were the different sites that we inspected and like what Alex was saying, like a site is can be anything that holds water. It can be a 300-acre wetland or some small amount of water in somebody's backyard. Um so we inspected over 100 uh adult mosquito sites, um treated two acres of uh adult mosquitoes. We're trying to do less and less of that. Um, we're we're our focus is in the larval state with materials like this. Um, like what Alex mentioned. Um, we recycled 131 tires in the area and 671 catch basins. So we have all of the catch basins and storm drains throughout the entire seven-county metro area and we do a lot of that work in Minnetrista as well. Uh and then we respond to calls too and um if anybody has questions for us out in the field, just uh flag us down. Uh some of the things that are coming up uh today we were working with these P35 pellets putting down these materials in in uh wetlands by ground. Um, next week you're going to probably see our helicopter out a lot because like Alex said, we're treating for those cattail mosquitoes. We have If it's not a record, it's a close amount to a record of uh acres that we have to treat. We have over 7,000 acres in the area that we have to treat. So and we fly just east of here at Lions Club Ball Field, you'll see our helicopter um getting loaded up over there. So Um yeah, I just wanted to speak to the field piece a little bit and uh appreciate you having us. Question [snorts and clears throat] we always get is what is the mosquito projection for this year? And so it's very difficult to project, you know, two months out uh what July is going to be like for instance. So we can just kind of look at long-term weather forecasts. Those cattail mosquitoes that we both mentioned is something that we actually can predict predict with some accuracy and as Ben said, we are projecting that's going to be a high number of those mosquitoes again. So we're going to try to do everything we can um to prevent those. Other than that, I think if you click some of the some text will show up. Another slow start to the season. It's been very dry this spring, so we are expecting it's you're not going to see mosquitoes for a couple weeks yet um at least in significant numbers, even if the weather does warm up. Uh midsummer surge is likely coming again. And then the last one and the reason one of the reasons why we were distributing these uh tick ID cards is we're actually projecting a higher incidence of Lyme disease this year in tick population. So, the deer ticks are the ones that spread Lyme disease. Basically, they had a later emergence in the larval stage last year. Um and so, that trends to a higher um infection rate of the nymph ticks, um those kind of the the middle one right there, um that will come out this spring. So, this spring, be on alert. Make sure you're doing tick checks, your preventatives for your pets and stuff like that. It's very important to make sure you're reducing your risk of tick bites. Go to the next slide. Um our last big change that we have this year is our procedure for tire collections. In that slide, I mentioned how many tires we collect. We've kind of become a victim of our own success with tire recycling, where the demand has just gotten out of control. Um last year, we went from we we had a over 110% increase year-over-year in the amount of tires requested for pickup. Um and so, this year, we're transitioning, so we're having people bring tires to us. So, instead of we go out to people's residences and picking up tires, we're holding several events throughout the year, at least two in every county, um where people can bring their tires to us, up to 10 per household, um and we'll take them at no no charge. There's still no charge. Um it just makes it a little easier for our staff and our projections and stuff like that to do it this way. So, all this is on our website. If you go to our MMCD and click on tire recycling, uh you can find out the date for Hennepin County. Other resources, residents can sign up for weekly updates for mosquito surveillance, helicopter alerts, um and then just view our interactive maps, which is really good information for people to have. And yep, this is what a little snapshot of what our interactive maps look like. So, you can actually figure out where all the mosquito breeding sites are in your neighborhood by using our interactive maps. You can click around and see, you know, where are they coming from? Uh you might be surprised. It might not be where you expect. Uh and then yep, sign up for email alerts. We send out a news newsletter every week. Um and then invite us to your events. Uh we're always doing a plug for public outreach. So, we obviously we do parades, but um we do safety camps during the summer, so we come and teach kids about, you know, mosquito and tick safety. Uh we also do you know city events and things like that. So, if you know of an event we should we should come to. We could bring the inflatable mosquito or there in the foreground is our mascot. Her name is Vectoria. She makes appearances throughout the summer as well. So, if you know of an event we should participate in, please let us know. And with that we'll open it up for any questions. I have one. Excuse me. Um West Nile virus, how does somebody know if they have West Nile virus? What are the symptoms? Thank you Mayor Wayland. Uh good question. So, the symptoms are very similar to the flu-like symptoms. So, it does affect the nervous system. So, uh fever, headache, nausea, fatigue are kind of the first symptoms. Um if you get those symptoms in an extreme form, you might want to go get checked out. >> Yeah, cuz I mean if you get bit by a mosquito and then maybe 2 days later you get sick, you might not put the two together. So, yeah. Okay. All right. Claudia. You're very excited about mosquitoes. >> [laughter] >> You're great at this job. Um I got a call from a neighbor. They were out uh running and one of your helicopters went over them and had the canisters and was dropping these uh pellets I'm assuming. Yes. Um and he absolutely freaked out. And so, can I assure them that this uh P35 pellet is like organic or or or what is it exactly? >> Yeah, uh thank you Council Member Lacy. So, uh occasionally if people are right on the wetland they may encounter the materials. All of the materials are safe for people. So, there's no um harm for people coming in contact with whether it's this ingredient or BTI, which is the main ingredient that we use. Um I encourage them to call us when that happens cuz we like to know when stuff like that happens so that we can talk to our pilots and just make sure that that doesn't happen again. Um but there's no human health risk of being in contact with these pellets. These are all what we call general use products. Anybody can go buy these from Menards. Oh. Um and they're called what? P35 pellets? >> Um and the at Menards are Altacide is the product name. Um >> the little pucks. The pucks are the more common ones. Those are BTI and that's our most common ingredient that we use. Um so we typically what I would drop in BTI which is like little corn granules with bacteria. >> that you mentioned that because I actually today saw on the internet Yeah. you took a bucket, put some um weeds in it and some water, and one of those half of the pucks, and then set it away from where you don't >> And so you actually agree that that might work? That that does that will work for the mosquitoes. Um the actually even better you can buy a a trap that will also the basically works the same way but then it'll keep the mosquito that's laying the eggs from escaping. So the mosquito goes in then it can't get out. Whereas like if it's an open bucket, the mosquito will fly and find another place to lay eggs as well. Um but that does have a method that works, yes. >> Oh, that's great to know. Pucks work great. Do you do any kind of spraying for ticks as well or is it just surveillance? Uh thank you Councilman McGovern. We do not do any treatments for ticks. Unfortunately, there's not a uh eco-friendly safe way to do widespread tick control cuz they are in any any wooded or brush area. Um and so what we do is um we do mainly tick public education. We do surveillance where we collect ticks. So we do tick drags where we take a big piece of cloth and drag it through the woods and pick all the ticks off of it. Um that's how we get a lot of our information. Um but yeah, there's not really widespread. Homeowners can do tick control in their backyard. Um so you can you know, hire some private companies that can do some effective tick control if you live especially if you live up against the woods. Um but we don't do any tick control. Ben, do you do ride-alongs? >> [laughter] >> I would say a ride-along. >> It'd be It'd be a fly-along. I mean, a fly-along. Yeah. >> [laughter] >> I don't regret it. All right. Thank you very much for coming. Very good information. Do you have a Do you have a card you want to leave with us? >> Sure, I can leave my card. >> Yeah. I'll take it. And we'll post some of this stuff on our website and Facebook page. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. So, we can call you with questions. So. Absolutely. Okay. Um All right. With that, um we have another uh special presentation this evening, and that is with um CliftonLarsonAllen. That's a CliftonLarsonAllen, kind of like mom and pop, isn't it? Uh CLA. >> [laughter] >> Well, welcome. Thank you. Uh so, happy to be here to present your audit results uh this evening. Uh just quick introduction, um my name is Troy Gaebler. I uh I'm kind of standing in for Christopher Knopik. Um he is in the great city of Hermann Town this evening. So, he just had two presentations, so I'm helping out and presenting with my work with them all the time. Um I have, in fact, audited the city a handful of times over the years, um but Austin uh can introduce himself quick. Yeah, I'm Austin Wolf. Um I am project manager. This year, I've actually had the opportunity to be on the audit the past two or three years, but this year, I've kind of been the one leading the audit. And by that, I've been mostly doing the main communication with Brian, his team, my team, and then just assigning stuff out and keeping stuff move along. All right. Um so, we'll start off. I'll give you some of the audit results, the overarching results of the audit. Uh Austin's going to walk you through some of the numbers and trends that we're seeing. Um and then we'll close it out with some of the upcoming GASB's that everybody loves. Um so, required communications, uh just to start off, audits are reasonable assurance, not absolute. So, we do a lot of testing, and we do that based off of risk, right? We see where's fraud um and errors happening in, you know, other municipalities that we work with or audit. Where's it happening kind of across the country? Um we also then interview management, we'll interview uh one of the board members, and we use that to make a risk profile and kind of drive the testing. We don't test every dollar though that goes through the city. You wouldn't want us to do that. It's not economical to do that. But we do test to make sure that, you know, in general all of your balances are correct kind of to what we call materiality. But so it is reasonable assurance, not absolute cuz we don't test every dollar. Significant accounting estimates, you don't have any that are particularly sensitive. It's not that you don't have estimates within your reports, but they've updated some of those standards and you don't have any that we would deem likely to fluctuate significantly year to year based on the inputs that management has. Uncorrected misstatements, there were none of those. So that comes up if we were to notice something that should be adjusted or slightly different and maybe due to the timing of that or maybe another reason the city would choose not to make that adjustment. That didn't happen this year. There were none of those. There are also no corrected misstatements. That means that when we're reviewing everything and doing all of our testing, we didn't identify something that needed to change, right? So Brian, his department and, you know, basically the books of the city were in proper order and we didn't find anything that had to be adjusted. Difficulties performing the audit, none. So if you ever had like a timing issue, sometimes you would like health episodes or something come up when they're doing audit prep, that's usually when you'd see that. No timing issues, no disagreements with management. And I don't totally actually in my office, I don't work on this audit all of the time, but I know the team likes working with Brian and the team because you guys are easier to audit because you're knowledgeable or the team is. So I do know that they enjoy working with the team. You can go to the next slide. Maybe one back, was it? Nope, you're right. You had it right. Okay. The ultimate result of the audit was you have an unmodified or clean opinion of the financial statements. That's the best opinion that we can provide as an audit for an audit. So, if you had a modification or something, that would mean that we didn't get the proper support. In this case, everything was properly supported. There were no instances where we were trying to test a transaction and we couldn't, you know, get assurance that it was properly booked. Internal controls over financial reporting, we didn't notice any exceptions there, so there weren't any material weaknesses or significant deficiencies. So, as we go through the audit, we kind of review the internal controls of the city, and if we notice an area where you know, say based on how it's set up, we could see an error happening or in fact maybe catch an error happening. That's the type of things that we would then elevate to a meeting like this. We didn't find anything that would likely result in like a significant deficiency or issue. And then Minnesota legal compliance, that's actually kind of rare to not have any exceptions there, too. And usually there's like a couple of findings at most of places I present at. Um, so that means you're paying your bills timely. They actually give us like seven guides to go through, just a plethora of laws each year, and they have us test each of those. So, we didn't have any areas where there wasn't documentation or, you know, if you don't document a closed meeting right or things like that. So, but ultimately, the highlight here is it's not very common we get to go to a presentation. have any significant deficiencies, we get a clean opinion, and no legal compliance items. It's been quite a while since I've had that. So, that is a highlight. That means you got to implement things as they're suggested, as new governmental accounting standards are coming out, you're staying on top of those. That's usually what we Well, Brian, yes. Yeah. >> [laughter] >> We have to give him credit, Brian. So, and then the other financial highlights, everything will be submitted timely from kind of a state reporting standpoint, including the act for four year award that the city plans for each year. And I think I'm going to turn it over to Austin to go over some of the trends that we're seeing. Yeah, I can go over the financial results. Um This first slide kind of just goes over the unassigned fund balance and kind of what that means is there's multiple different kinds of fund balance, but the unassigned portion is basically up to the city and what they want to spend. Um there's restricted, um assigned, committed for and that's reserved for a purpose for future use. So we can see here is the general fund unassigned based on the bar um is at just over 2.5 million and then the as a percentage of expenditures is just sitting at 40%. There's been a slight decrease from 2021, but that is budgeted for. Um and then going into 2026, it's trying Brian mentioned that the goal that was budgeted for a surplus to get that back above $3 million. Then going on to the next slide, this is related to general fund just revenues as a total kind of in different categories. So you can see here the biggest revenue source of the city is property taxes and then it's license and permits and then there's every intergovernmental revenue, user fees, and then all other revenues, which also includes investment income. So one thing here to notice is that it's pretty consistent year over year. There's not really a whole lot of changes, which is pretty good. Going on the next slide, we have general fund expenditures. Again, very consistent overall from year to year. One thing to point out is that in 2025, public safety has slightly increased from the prior year, but that is due to the fire contracts just going up year over year and then also increased police officers in 2025. So this slide is kind of a representation of the past previous slides. This kind of just combines it all together. There are good things to note here is that overall the is growing, which is healthy. If you take it back back to 2021, back to 2025, it's just growing overall. One thing also to note is that revenue and expenses, the ratio has been very consistent. So now we're going to kind of talk about the enterprise funds, which would be the water fund, the sewer fund, and then the storm water fund. So the ending um unrestricted net position is set just over just right around the million dollars for each fund. So one thing to point out is that sewer fund and storm water fund have been fairly consistent, but then the water fund, as you can see, has declined the past couple years. So this year the reason kind of for the decrease was just for capital expenditures. Um so one thing with net position, there's kind of there's net investment in capital assets, and then there's the unrestricted portion, which is basically anything left over. So due to those capital expenditures in the water fund, it kind of shifted stuff over from the unrestricted to the net investment. So that's where that decrease is coming from. And now these next couple slides is going to be more kind of an individual look at the enterprise funds. So for the water fund, that top line you see shows the operating income without considering depreciation expense. So depreciation expense is kind of a non-cash expense. So this kind of shows you on more of like a cash basis side how the city is doing. And then that bottom line shows that the city's at just at an operating loss if they would include depreciation, which would the bottom line will tie and like match the financials. And then the other two, the bars show the revenue and expenses for the water fund. And as you can see for the water fund, the expenses have been relatively the same. And then for the revenue has also been the same, but compared to 2023, that decrease just due to the past 2 years has been wetter. So there's just been less water usage from residents in the city, which is causing that a in revenue. And then moving on to the sewer fund, um same depiction as the water fund. Overall, the past 5 years it has been at an operating loss. Expenditures past couple years has been consistent, and then revenue has also been the same, but this is mostly attributable to just being the revenue sources just being at a flat base fee. And that has not increased since last year, so. And then the storm water fund, which is operating at an income, and then revenues are exceeding expenditures, which shows it's very healthy as a fund overall. And then I believe total operating income was just around that $50,000 mark this year. And then this slide right here kind of just shows the total debt and future debt payments for the city. So, total debt at the end of this past year was $22,260,000, whereas last year it was $24,919,000. So, in 2025, total principal paid on that debt was $1,771,000. One thing I want to point out is that in 2026, where there's a larger jump, is due to there's 2024 bond issuances, and there's no principal yet paid on this this year, so that increase about that $200,000 is from that issuance. And then going forward, there was just the recent debt issuance. So, coming around next year, when we come back and present this graph, might look a little different due to that new debt debt issuance, whereas the principal payments will get added on. And where right now it's kind of a pretty decline, it might be a little more flat next year. And then this slide, this represents taxes per capita, and this compares it to other cities. Um one thing to note here is that overall, um taxes that citizens pays less. Um this is a healthy sign that shows um shows that the team's being financially responsible. And then on this slide, similar to the last slide, but this shows current expenditures in comparison. Overall, the city is spending less compared to other cities. And then this is a good thing as long as like the same services are being provided. It shows that the city is being more efficient in their spending and they're providing same services with that. Does that also include the enterprise funds? That one? Yes, I believe. >> Okay. Yeah, it's it's total expenditure. Total expenditures, okay. All right. Yeah, I mean the the real highlight with something like that is it's difficult to try to keep taxes low per citizen and at the same time keep expenditures under control and still maintain healthy fund balances, which the city has been successful in doing. >> [snorts] >> Um and so I think that that's, you know, that's probably like a, you know, as you looking at tax rates and things to be able to say, "Hey, you know what? Compared to comparable cities, we are charging less per person than a lot of the cities around us um and we're still running a good tight budget um you know, and to be able to provide the same services." So, uh probably more of a community highlight when you look at the comparable cities around you. Good. And I'll turn it back to Troy kind of talking about upcoming GASB pronouncements. So, And I'll keep this pretty brief. Um the the upcoming uh standards aren't as impactful as maybe that they have been the last few years. GASB has been on a uh a parade of new GASBs for a while. They've added like four or five different testing areas in the last few years, which means more areas to prepare for Brian and his team. Um so, a little bit of respite from that the next few years. So, statement 103's applicable next year. Um the big thing there is if you're looking at the full financial report, uh some of the MD&A or management discussion and analysis, it's like the first 15-20 pages. Um some of that will be revamped to talk a little bit more in line with like strategic plans, long-term facilities planning, maybe a 10-year capital plan, and a little bit less about year-over-year variances. So, it'll be a little bit more long-term focused. So, the language will change a little bit, potentially be a little bit more helpful for users. The other big change is when you look at your enterprise funds, the statements for your sewer, water, storm water fund, it'll have all the same information, but there'll be a new section called out for subsidies. It's just the transfers and any intergovernmental round of the news that's there. Those are already on the statements, they're just in a different section. So, not a huge impact, I wouldn't think for the using of the financial statements, just kind of something we have to adjust in how it's presented. And then the other thing is it does also revise what a operating expense, like what qualifies, and what they did is instead of trying to say what operating revenue and operating expenses, the standard essentially really defined what non-operating revenue and expenses and says if it's not this, it's then operating. So, you might see a couple things shift, but overall, the total change would be the same. You might just have an item or two shifting buckets. And then in 2026 as well, we'll have statement 104, certain disclosure of capital assets. Your footnotes already meet the requirements for this, it's just when you break out if you have leased assets, the IT subscriptions, things like that, it's making sure that you don't have leased equipment in the same bucket as regular equipment you own. So, your footnotes are already set up like that. The other impact is if you list land or something for sale, you would then have to disclose that. And then statement 105, you got a couple years on that. That'll just change some of the language if you have a subsequent event like a debt issuance after year end. It doesn't change a whole doesn't change much of the type of things that would qualify for subsequent events. There's small changes there, it's more just the language and what's required to be disclosed with that. So, maybe another paragraph with that footnote. So, nothing too impactful. So, no new brand new audit areas for the city to have to try to implement um in terms of upcoming GASBs. They are working on one, but that'll probably be 5-10 years out where they might change the whole two-statement model. Um but uh that will be more to come and we'll keep you guys updated on that. I think uh Kristen and some other folks are actually on the uh group that is looking at that and providing feedback. So. Great. Questions? Pretty thorough. Thank you very much. So, and I um want to congratulate you as well as Brian and his team for a great clean audit. Um that's really good to know. Good job. Good job. So, good information. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. So, next on the agenda we have persons to be heard and we have two people signed up. We have Dos um Did you want to speak? Next meeting. >> Next meeting. Okay. All right. Then we have Barbara something Schaefer. I'm sorry. Is it Salic? Salic Schaefer. >> Schaefer. Okay. Again, you'll have 3 minutes and we we won't take action tonight. The council will decide [clears throat] what kind of what direction we're going to go. So, thank you. I'm Barbara Salic Schaefer. I live at 6750 Woodland Cove Boulevard, um Minnetrista, and I'm here to dispute the first quarter utility bill, which included $1,952.25 for water. >> [laughter] >> Um Renee uh Newman provided me with a endpoint data graph. Thank you. And we have numerous emails emails back and forth. And um in the graph you can see that there was no usage for most days with a spike of um March 15th of about 600 gallons. I'm a snowbird. I'm not here. I wasn't here for the first quarter of this year, but friends and relatives do occasionally stay at my house. And um so I requested documentation for the water usage for the first half. That graph is only for February 16th through March 27th. So I asked Renee for the graph with the data for the first half of the quarter. And in those emails she explains that it's not available. >> [laughter] >> And that was concerning to me cuz I worked as a medical billing auditor for 22 years and one principle has always applied. If it's not documented, it didn't happen. And the documentation so I'm asking for documentation to be provided to support the 130,926 gallons that I was charged for. I respectfully request that my bill will be adjusted accordingly if documentation cannot be provided. And I would suggest consulting your accounting and legal advisers for review because this is indicative of a systemic water data management problem. And this could be a citywide complaint. Um so I'm just looking for documentation to support my bill was on auto pay. It's been paid. Um I'm looking for documentation to support the charges or to adjust my bill to match the documentation that you have. Okay. Um Barbara, can you tell us the previous year the same quarter? >> it was $181 for the same same quarter last year. >> Okay. Um and then did you call public works and have them check your meter? Yes, they came out and did a bucket test. >> Okay, and it >> It passed the bucket test. >> Okay. And I'm not I'm not disputing based on a meter problem. I'm not saying I didn't use it. I don't know if I wasn't there. Yeah. And you I just I'm asking for documentation to support the charges. Um can we get her those that documentation? I The basically the way I understand it is we can go back and have a 40-day trend from when someone calls or whatever. So that's why you're seeing the But we must know what they used in January and in February, right? I think what she So that's a daily chart. I think that's what she's pointing to is we wouldn't have the the daily chart. We'd have the meter read and then the final meter read, but we have the 40-day history. Obviously as we transition to monthly billing that 40 days will always be covered. But So Okay. >> I I can maybe try to explain. So you know in a quarter it's let's say 90 days Right. >> in general. When we get that read, we only get daily readings back 40 days. So out of the 90 days you can only look back 40 of those days. Okay. And okay. Um so another question. And then all of your appliances are working correctly? Right. Right. >> That just seems weird. Well, since I was out of town, Renee called me and said, "Barbara, you think you live at this address? We think you have a problem. You have a very large water bill." So I had my neighbor run over and shut the water main off and he went through the whole house. He said nothing is running. The toilets aren't running. The water softener isn't running. You know, it wasn't during a time of year when any and I I'm in a villa that I don't pay for water for irrigation anyway. Um so nothing was running. And okay. So it's just that there's the system does not provide documentation to show the the usage usage beyond the 40 higher quarter. Yeah. Well, only for 40 days is what they're saying it shows. Yeah. >> there was 600 gallons used. Yeah. >> [laughter] >> What's the huge >> I've had that happen, too. So, but I did have a toilet that stuck. So. And I'm not and it could have. I wasn't there. When I got there everything was fine. I'm just asking for documentation to support the charge. Right. Yeah. What is this huge spike on on March 15th? My daughter stayed there. She She was between, excuse me, family of five stayed there. They She was between houses and now she lives in Woodland Cove. But um That was the weekend my daughter was there. Okay. So So there was someone there. Was there were people staying with you in at your house in January? On and off, yes. So are you are you you're just disputing that we don't have the record before February 16th? Not that the water was used. >> Right. I don't know if the water was used. >> Well, are you disputing that the meter I'm just documentation. Right, but are you disputing the meter reading at the beginning of the because it's based on the meter read at the beginning of the month and then at the end. So are you disputing the meter calculated correctly at the beginning or at the end? No. I don't have that data and um no. She's just saying she would like to see the um the daily reading from January 1 to uh to mid-February and we don't have that information as what she's saying that. >> wouldn't it be on the bills? No, because they read the we don't have the daily reading for a 90-day period. So the I guess my question is can that happen a 90-day period? I mean and it won't because it will be kind of null and void because we're going to go to monthly readings and monthly billing which will I think help and solve this issue. People will then be able to see their bill and they'll be able to see it every month. >> Right. Like I'm saying it's just basic accounting principle that it's not documented it didn't happen. >> Right. Well, but I mean it is documented because the the meter was read and the meter was read again. So it clearly happened. Is there Does Sarah know are we required to have daily readings? No, we're we're not and it it's a product of the it's called an ERT. It's the thing that transmits the data. It only can store 40 days of data on it and that's that's the problem. It's not a data storage here. It's the the physical hardware at the house that can only store a certain amount. So and no we're not required to have daily daily reads for for this. We just need the beginning and end of the billing cycle reads. >> is why we definitely want to go to a monthly cuz that'll it'll go from day 1 to 31 or whatever and then that way you'll get your bill and you'll see it and then if you want the daily then we'll have it because it's only 40 days that we can store it. So >> was provided that documentation it made me go to the next thought why I'd like to see when the water was actually used. >> Yeah. Did you ask for the next So from March 16th to or have have we looked back to now to their usage? Can we look at that? For the last 40 days? >> Quickly that probably won't solve anything. If there's a software or something whatever the issue was, yeah. >> Okay. Pretty much that. Okay. It's just there's no documentation to >> Right. the usage. Okay. So what what I'm hearing you say is you're not asking us to do anything other than And we don't have what you're asking for. We only have them the quarterly right now and only the last 40 days that you requested. You requested 90 but we don't have that. Going forward we will have the monthly day-to-day storage of of usage. We'll have that because we're going to go to monthly billing which will start July or August. Sometime in that time frame. So that doesn't help you right now. I'm really sorry. Okay. Thank you for your time. All right. >> [clears throat] >> All right. I've got them there. Yeah. Oh, all right. Do you have some? What does this spike equal like is this 40,000 like how much time? I think it's like 600 gallons only, I think. It's just cuz there was probably none before. >> Because there was it was so low. Yeah, it's not a lot of usage for that spike. >> doesn't sound right to me. I don't know what's going on or if we can Well, but we don't know who was there and how much water they were using or any of that. We just know the meter reading at the beginning and then the meter reading at the end which obviously the meter's not faulty so it calculated out the water usage. It's just you don't have the day breakdown. That's what you're basing it on but there should be supporting documentation within that period. Well, no. That's I mean that's what the meter's for. Yeah. And that's why I just want the meter Yeah. Do we want to um counsel any desire to do anything here? Well, wait. As staff we just had this happen last week. >> Yeah, we just had it the other month. A stick and it's a hor- it's a it's a horrible shock to get that bill. Um and you're not alone. Cuz I felt the same pain, but the water was running. And like in mine, the toilet was running under and you can you could not hear it. Um and it wasn't me, you know, it was someone else that left it on. It's like I I I'm in pain for you. Yeah. Yeah, I don't I don't know what we can do. The water did run from your house. >> Let me tell you, if Renee wouldn't have sent me that graph, I wouldn't have my mind My auditor head wouldn't have gone down that path. >> Oh. Hey, where's the rest of the documentation? Sure. No, I get it. >> Yeah. Yeah. All right. did did it an above her job, really. Yes. Yeah. All right. Thank you. I'm sorry. Um so, next uh we have a >> I just realized we probably should have um and that's my bad, probably um uh receive and accept the 2025 financial audit. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Yes. Yes. You're right. Uh I My bad. Um all right. So, let's go back just one step. Um we should receive and accept the 2025 financial audit. Is there a motion to do so? So moved. >> Thank you, Ms. Brafman. Is there a second? Second. >> Thank you, um Peter Vickery. All those in favor signify with I. I. All those opposed, motion passes 5-0. Thank you, Brian. Um in fact, I was going to do that and then I we moved on. So, all right. Um consent agenda, are there any you wish to remove? Otherwise, they will consist of A, approve our work session meeting minutes from May 4th, 2026. B is approve our city council regular meeting minutes from May 4th, 2026. C is a resolution to approve claims. D is a resolution to examine fire partnership with St. Boniface. E is a resolution um awarding the production of the sanitary lift station control panel for lift station number two. F is a resolution to approve the lift station control panel at lift station number two. And G is a resolution authorizing installation of a four-way stop and crosswalk at Woodland Cove Boulevard, Lotus Trail, and Bellflower Drive. Questions? Hearing none, is there a motion to approve consent agenda items A through G? So moved. Thank you, Ms. Befkin. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Govern. All those in favor, signify with I. I. I. All those opposed, motion passes. So, next we have a couple of business items. One is approve a task order 17 and authorize preparation of plans, specifications for County Road 110-151 drainage improvements. This is This is city project number 0426, and I believe that would be Allison. Uh, thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Mayor Council. Um, included in front of you is a drainage area that we've talked about a couple of times at the southeast corner of County Roads uh 110 and 151. Um, the area receives runoff from these county roads, and there is some erosion taking place uh between the properties. Um, and there's also a sanitary sewer manhole in the area. Uh, staff reached out and to Hennepin County and requested a cost share, and I'm happy to report that um, this was approved for 50/50 cost split from the from the county. Um, so included in your packet is a task order to complete the design uh design um bidding services and construction administration for this project. Um, the fee for this is $24,400. Uh, we are looking to get this project designed um yet this year, so that we can go ahead and get this constructed and get everything buttoned up here before um the end of the construction season. I'm I'm sorry. I'm just looking through my council packet to tell you what page we're at. Uh to page 225 of the packet includes the the schedule. So, we're looking for some construction between the fall and winter of this year um so that we can get this um get this taken care of um this year. It's something that's staff's been dealing with on and off and uh um with the cost share agreement, we we are recommending that the council um authorize preparations of plans and specifications. Okay. Good. Thank [clears throat] you. Yeah, the 50/50 cost split is good. That's great. Yeah, that's wonderful. Wonderful. All right. So, see you. Pays to ask, right? All right. And their intersection and their drainage that's coming into it. >> [laughter] >> All right. Um questions? It's not our road though. It's our It's our road though. I mean, it's our drainage too coming off of our land of surrounding their road, but so I think it's it's a good uh a good split, I think. Better than having Both their roads. But, it's water from our land going onto their roads. So, All right. Um so, is there a motion to approve task order number um 17? So moved. All right. Thank you, Mr. Vickery. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Ms. Lacey. Further questions or comments, even though it's their road? >> [laughter] >> All right. Hearing none, all those in favor signify with aye. Aye. Aye. All those opposed, motion passes 5-0. Next, we have the water treatment plant change order number two. Yes, uh Madam Mayor, member of members of council, see a change order number two for the water treatment plant. In this, there's three items. Uh the first item is a pump adjustment uh that that is recommended by both Gary and the engineers that allows the operators to reclaim some of that water that gets used um, more easily. So, I think the the, um, the operators will will like that change. Um, then there's a storm water basin adjustment for, uh, related to some comments we got from the water shed district in having to modify a water basin. And then the other item is a deduct for, uh, some fitting materials, um, on the spray system on the reclaim, uh, tank. So, there there will be a series of change orders that we'll see on this plant. Hopefully, there aren't too many. Um, they've gotten through most of the submittals with only this now is the second one. Uh, but moving forward, I think we'll keep all the change orders on business and we can discuss them and answer any questions. Um, we do have Gary on here as well if if Gary wants to add anything, um, on this change order. Um, just a quick question. So, we had, um, how much for, um, contingencies? Uh, 5% or 10%? 5%. >> 5%. So, where are we at so far? Uh, we're at a plus, let's see, this one was a net impact of 23,000. So, overall, I think Brett I think the other one had a net impact of negative 5,000. So, 18,000, but we can get the we can add that to every change order report to see where we're at. >> You know, hopefully, we don't have too many of these. Right. But Okay. Yeah, I I'd like just a general, uh, layman's explanation cuz I read this and I got that, which is why I pulled that. Yeah, I kind of, like I don't know what reclaiming the water is and then and then the pipes it looked like we're going to smaller pipes, which I always thought bigger pipes were better. So, maybe if Gary could do a, uh, you know, a very rudimentary, uh, explanation, I'd appreciate it. Yeah, it's the >> Gary. It's it's the wasted water or the waste water that's coming off the process. Instead of being sent down the drain, it's sent right away. It goes to holding tank where it settles out and then the water then, um, on the top portion where is reclaimed and brought back in to be sent through the filters one more time. So, otherwise, in the process, either send it all to uh sewage right away, or you do the reclaim process where I say you let it settle out, get rid of the other contaminants, send it through the plant again, and then run it through the filters a second time to try to use as much water as possible. Which saves us on sewer costs to the Met Council as well. Correct. Correct. >> You're not sending as much down the drain, [clears throat] basically. Correct. And then these new pumps can pump the sludge to, it sounds like. Yeah, it they're uh um it's to pump heavier sludge and to uh for a a greater distance, so. Okay. And then how about the pipes? What was uh that totally lost me, but Um, I believe the pipe size shrunk, and then we removed two uh manual control valves that we did not need. Huh. So, what why were the pipes reduced in size? I think that's what Mr. Victory Council Member Victory is asking. Um, reduced in size cuz of the the need now for um the the sludge if you're not going to pump as the water directly out, you're going to reclaim it. You're going to try you know, you don't need as big a piping system then to ship that water out. Okay. >> Okay. All right. Okay, sounds good. >> Thank you. Yeah, and then I asked Aaron, um, just an update for everybody else about the pumps cuz it says the lead time is 28 to 30 weeks, and obviously it wasn't approved yet, um, which I did confirm that. So, he said it won't, um, cause an issue with the contract time or anything. Um, it won't affect the pumps won't be needed until substantial completion until the end of 2027. So, So, that's good. Yeah. So, they have, you know, plenty plenty of time. Yes. Good. Other questions? Comments? All right. Then, is there a motion? Do you You want Just the motion. number two approved, right? >> Correct. Yep. All right. So, is there approval for the water treatment plant change order number two? So moved. Thank you, Ms. Rifkin. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Vickery. Any further questions? Hearing none, all those in favor signify with I. I. All those opposed, motion passes 5-0. So, our next business item, we did discuss this at the work session. This is item number C. It is approving a master services agreement with the with Infosend for services related to the monthly sewer and water billing mailings. All right. Sure. Um, and Mayor and Council, so this um item was originally discussed at the May 4th City Council meeting, and then as the Mayor mentioned uh uh during the work session uh earlier this evening, um it's a contract with Infosend to um have them uh basically take the last step of the monthly billing process of the uh the uh printing and disbursement is dispersal of the process. Um, basically I was uh looked into as ways to potentially be a little more efficient or cost-effective seeing we're going from the quarterly um billings for our utility or our water users to a monthly billing starting this summer. Um, that contract was like handed out again in in in front of you um tonight. Um, it should um it's basically about you know, 80 cents per piece of mailing as as detailed in the the contract. Um, I guess we can stand for any other questions or Just a question. Sarah, have you had a chance to review the contract? Uh Madam Mayor, yes, I have, and we had some changes and they were willing to make those changes. Okay, thank you. Um, anybody else? I found it interesting Infosend reserves the right to increase Infosend fees on an annual basis starting with the first anniversary of the effective date. I think when we talked um, our Madam Mayor, Councilman Rufkin and Council, um, I think it would be if there be a substantial like change to the um, basically the scope of the the of the mailings or whatever. If you all of a sudden we I mean down the road if we would get a big turnout for um, I guess uh, electronic or opt out of paper billings there could be something that could be talked about in the future but I think it would have to be a a major change to the scope and the in the amount of of mailings. >> This says increases in cost of materials, labor and other overhead. It seems they can raise it however they choose. Um, also find it interesting the dis- continuance fee will be equal to two months of the client's average monthly billing for the previous six months of service. And then just to think about this cuz we're entering into a three-year contract. Can we Can we just say no and no on those things? Is what are they going to say? I mean, they might come back and say no but we could ask, can't we? I mean they can say you can And also the interesting thing was should client's actual continuous volume and/or recurring frequency deviate by more than 30% from what the client represented to Infosend, then Infosend reserves the right to invalidate the fees listed in this agreement. And so sir, can we then So that that that clause is if we go down 30% from our mailings, they reserve the right to renegotiate because they're based on an economy of scale here. >> Right. There's there's Good point about I mean, we're doing this based that it'll be a fixed for three years. I mean, it seems like a Well, it won't be fixed because couple things keep in >> Yeah, yeah. Keep in mind we're growing by about a hundred so homes a year. So even if you get, let's say a hundred people a year that opt out, you know what I'm saying? We're growing. There might be some opting out, but then we're adding new as well cuz not a hundred percent of the people that are new to the community adding to our water infrastructure our accounts, not all of them are going to opt for the a paperless billing. >> uh the per piece cost would be fixed. That was my understanding that it would be like that. Not that they can just come back after a year and change I mean, where's our protection I guess if they can make all these changes? What what protections do we have? Well, if they if they don't perform, we can always go after them for that. Um if we don't feel like they're meeting the the agreement that we've signed here, we can always say this is they're not meeting the need and cancel, pursue cancellation. And if they raise the rates too much, can we go back and say well, this is too much of a raise? Hold on. He asked me a question. I'm in I know, but just a second. You need to share this with Just asked in the contract what I read from. I was showing you the page. It's section two item C exhibit B. >> Okay. And so what what was the question? Um if they if they raise the rates set up higher pays than what we think is acceptable, do we have any recourse? Is that kind of Yeah. Yeah, I thought it was fixed per I mean, if if that's the case, then we could say we we don't accept this. Like Yeah. Um if it's unreasonable, they obviously would need to justify and say, okay, postage went from um whatever their rate is per service to you know, 64 cents. Um you know, there's some inflationary things that'll that'll likely happen over the next three years. Um as well us if we're processing it in house, too. >> Right. That would go up, too. >> we we'd look at that, and if it seems unreasonable, we'll ask the question. I I know Brian and his team had direct conversations with this rep, and I mean, I think those conversations were positive. But, you know, it's a risk. Any contract you you go into, there is risk. I I would say either build in that we have the right to terminate if the fees are too high, or get rid of the cancellation fee. Cuz at this point, if they raise it to $100 per envelope, we're still on the hook for 2 months of fees. So, for me, if I'm spending uh Brian's money, which we are, I would I'd have an I'd try to take either put a protection in to give us the the opportunity to get out, or to to get rid of the fee. And especially if Hold on. One one thing. Okay, let me let me Okay, Sarah, can we um how how do how do you read this, and do we have any protections here? Um Madam Mayor, members of the council, I'm looking at exhibit B, that's the fee section of the master service agreement, and it talks in there about how should the fees increase, then um you know, they can change them, but they're supposed to notify us immediately and negotiate with us in good faith to pass on any increased costs. Um should we have failed to agree upon these updated fees, they reserve the right to terminate the agreement with 180 days notice. And how many days do they have to notify us of an increase to a fee? It says that they have to notify us immediately. Okay. And so, then does that take effect immediately? Well, do the increased fees take effect immediately, but we have to give them 180 >> agree to it. We have to agree to it. Okay. We have to be notified 30 days prior to the price increase. Right. Okay. That's what I'm saying. And then and then we negotiate and if it off if the negotiations fail, then we have a right to withdraw from the contract. Well, they reserve the right to reserve the right. We don't This according to this we don't have the right. They reserve >> if we don't want to we don't want to pay them what they want, I would assume they would go away. Go away. Right. Right. I mean obviously if if mailing costs go up, they would go up for us or or to to anybody. So then, you know, you have to look at that and say, "Okay. We understand why you're raising that." But if they say, "Well, um cost of printing has gone up 15 cents a piece." Then we can say, "No, we don't agree to that." But then there's 6 months they'd have to be paying them right till Well, and the other concern, obviously I have several, but the other one pertaining to this is if we do do a good push and get enough people on to do the paperless billing, even though we will be adding more homes, how how long are we locked into paying more if they don't, you know, cuz we're they're based on quantity, right? So I mean if we do get residents to switch over, then what happens? I I think at the end of the day if they propose any sort of fee change, we can just say we don't agree to that. And then it's up to them if they want to kick us out or not. So we're we this is essentially locked in until we agree to increasing it. If we say we don't agree with whatever they're proposing, then they then it's on the them to either terminate or else agree to whatever terms this is. And if we go down this path, we need more than 1 month time to figure out what the another solution would be. So, it's not something that we we can we can do internally once this goes. So, we need probably at least I don't know, at least 3 months I think, probably more. 4 to 6 months to to figure out this and get another, you know, option. >> we would have to agree to to the any increases is basically what it says. And if we don't agree, then we're still billed the original original amount. Is that right or is that Or we're just assuming that's right. >> Yeah, cuz if if they just can have it raised the fee >> say that we have to agree to it. I'm sure wouldn't be in their best interest to just hit a bunch of client. I mean they they This is a national company that we've done reference checks on and people have been happy. I've talked with you know, other cities when they're like they'll give you the straight information if there's a bait and switch or they come in with a low introductory rate and and then up it, you know, a year or two later. And then we've asked these questions and it wasn't it didn't come up, you know, from these other cities we talked to. They were happy with them. They're glad they did it. They're glad that their staff can work on other stuff that's less menial and can actually do things that are more interesting and more productive and versus printing and dispersing monthly bills. Well, I think the I think if we can feel comfortable with saying that they we have to negotiate in good faith, they too have to negotiate in good faith. It's It's not a one-way street. >> We if they're non-performing and stuff Yeah. we can get out. And there's always with any contract if people are being difficult, there's legal recourse and and such. So, Right. I mean, I think they're fair and valid questions the council's asking, but I think at some point we got to have a little bit of a slight leap of faith that everyone's negotiating in good faith. I'm not assuming it's being negotiated in good faith. I just want to make sure the city's protected on the chance that it we decrease usage, we don't like it, we have a way out without spending more money on this. That's I mean I've no doubt the contract's in good faith. It's just some of the wording as I was reading it before the meeting raised some red flags. Um Anybody else? What if 50% of the people sign up for online bills? I just don't think his I mean Jasper talked about it. I think he's been in the work session. I mean it's going to take some time. I mean that'd be great if they do, but I just in this initial 3-year contract, I don't think we're going to have where this is going to come into play would be my Why is it 3-year? Well, they I mean I think they just want some little bit of assurance. And I mean I think it's good on our end, too. We don't want to be switching every 6 months or year or 2 years. I mean I think it's you know, we do a recycling contract with Waste Management for 5 years. We do I mean it's just I think there's [clears throat] a little bit of wanting to have a little bit more commitment. Right. Yeah. Okay. Isn't this also going to cover the storm waters bill, too? Cuz this just says water. >> Right. Yeah, it's on average, I think they're saying. On average it'll be 2,800 mailings, but during the monthly only it'll be about 2,350, and then on the quarterly it'll be like 3,400 3,500. So, it'll vary every >> It averages. That's why they're saying average. Okay. Well, I think we should we should go for it. Um Legal has looked at it. They've They feel comfortable. We've asked the questions. Brian has asked the questions. Um I feel a little more comfortable because now it's like we have to agree to an increase and if not either they bow out or we just continue to pay the existing. Yeah, I'm a little nervous about that cuz it doesn't blank blank say you can keep paying the existing fee until you know 180 days is over and then they get rid of us. You know, it it just says you fail to agree on the updated fees, but then do they come after us for those fees during that 180-day period? Sarah, do you know? >> Madam Mayor one thing is in the regular contract the main contract it does say that and we can just quit paying them and then they'll terminate because that's the grounds for them to terminate the contract. So, [snorts] that's one way to get rid of them. Just don't pay them. Well, one thing is You don't want to go down that road. But but here's [laughter] the thing. We Even even if we have to pay a higher price, let's just say it's 2 cents more per whatever it is, okay? Whatever that higher price is we would have to have at least 3 to 6 months to figure out what we're going to do instead. And so it's going to take us it's going to take us a while to figure that out. It's not going to happen in 30 days. It's not going to happen in 60 days and I think that's what Brian is saying is well, okay and then I think there can be an argument according to the contract that we continue to pay them the original price because we feel it's not their their increase isn't um I you know, isn't valid or you know, so and then we can continue to pay them their the amount that we agreed upon. I I would hate to say that we're going to, you know, not pay them and I would also hate to say that we can't come to terms because we would have to figure out what else we're going to do and it can't happen in 30 or 60 days. So, And if we did stop paying them and breached it, we would be on the hook for 2 months worth of fees. Right. Which isn't all that much when you think about it. Well, we're saying I mean, so what are What are the other options? I I've asked them to get rid of the discontinuance fee or allow us to terminate the contract if we disagree with the price increase. >> [snorts] >> That's what I would build into it at the Okay. I think they would say, "Okay." I'll sign here. All right, well, >> So, what what if if I may, what what section is that under the discontinuance fee? Uh 5.4. 5.4, okay. Um so, remove the discontinuance fee. Then what was the other What was the other term you'd like? Brian. Uh it was either um you know, honestly if you just get rid of the discontinuance fee, that essentially fixes it. Fixes it so we can default on it if we uh don't like the price increase if that's not in there. Okay. We can request that. I think we we I if if possible, I think that we would like this passed on contingent on that change if you if you'd like and then we can reach out to them if they I don't know if they're going to agree to it or not. Um Yeah. I guess I'll ask what what should we do if they say no. They're not going to say no. Yeah, I'm at least in my head at least, you know, from uh protecting the city's money, we should probably ask. I'm I'm comfortable with uh approving it on a contingent basis. You know, with good Okay, and keep in mind, should this occur, okay, then we would have 2 months to figure out what else we're going to do. Or maybe not even 2 months. We would have 30 days to figure out what we're going to do. Or we could stay until we figure out what we're going to do. Possibly. I think we can just ask, wouldn't you Sure. Worst they can say is no, and So, you Okay. So, we're going to approve this contingent on on that, and then if they say no, we're back to square one. Or or what? Or So, what if we can negotiate something maybe in the middle, you know, I don't know. Or something. >> You know, if it's 1 month versus 2. I'm just It is important, if we are going to go down this path, that we can get Renee started on the transition, obviously. So, that's kind of where we're at, but it we can we can talk about this with them. Um I don't know if you can give some guidelines on negotiation, if there is, you know, if we can cut it in half. We'll ask for the full amount, and they might just say yeah, that's fine. Let's let's move on. Um if it's 1 month, is that okay to to do this, or is it is it a hard no? I'd be comfortable with uh 1 month. Okay. It's highly unlikely they're listening to this or they will listen to this guy, so um Go into closed session, not just kidding. All right. But we can we can We'll see if you can get Yeah, and then We're asking for two, and if we can settle on one. >> One. Yeah. Yeah, then we're good. It's like this is written towards protecting them mainly, so Right. I'd like to see a little more of >> Let's say we we'd like some protections, so All right. All right. So, Brian, you're going to make that motion, right? >> [laughter] >> Um So, Tracy, so we want to make it I'm trying to think how how we would even work that. >> Approve the master service agreement with Infosen for services related to the monthly billing mailings with a contingency that we go to a zero or no We're moving the two month discontinuance fee >> discontinuance fee contingent on that. And giving staff some negotiating room. So moved. Okay. I think you said it perfectly. >> Okay. >> [laughter] >> All right. Thank you, Ms. Lacy, for seconding that. Anything further? All right, hearing none, all those in favor signify with I. I. >> I. All those opposed? >> Nay. Nay, and that's Ruff Kennedy. And the others are for it. Motion passes 4-1. Thank you very much. Um so that concludes our business items. We'll move on to staff reports. Uh Madam Mayor, members of council, I don't know I think the mayor can tell you about the bonding request piece, but that was all I That's all I had, so. Okay. So yeah, so we got $3 million from the state. We got three. We should have gotten more, but um anyhow, we'll we'll be glad and happy with three. Um and so I did thank our representatives. I know they they worked to try and get that bonding bill passed and also to get us some money. Um The other thing I want to mention is we had a state of the city address. We had like over 60 people there, very well attended. Thank you for coming, um Ms. Lacy. And um you Mr. Goodwin, anyhow. Um so that was really nice. And then on last Wednesday, I attended the Northwest League and we had three of our uh candidate three of the I think there was five total candidates for Hennepin County um attorney. And as you know, that's been somewhat of a controversial um, >> [snorts] >> seat and elected seat and um, the current one is not running. And so, it's kind of an open field and uh, five uh, three out of the five accepted our uh, the Northwest League's um, opportunity to come and have sort of a debate. And so, we we were able to interview all three of them. I will say I think all three that came um, was anyhow. Uh, I I I wrote the names down and I cannot re-pronounce all the names. It was Diane and Anders Folk and Diane I can't remember her last name and then Hal. So, those three came. All three were very good. Um, and I could see if any of those Look it up, please. Thank you. Um, if any of those were elected, um, we would be in a lot better shape than we are today. And I also want to thank our chief of police for providing me with a few um, very good questions that we asked them. Um, having said that, there's a few things um, I just want to mention is I was thinking because recently we've had a lot of agenda items kind of change after the packets go out. So, here's a suggestion I'd like to ask. I would like for staff to send out a draft agenda, just the draft agenda to the entire council on Wednesday, if you can, Wednesday mornings. That [snorts] way we can see it. There's anything that you would like to have moved to business versus consent or, you know, then call staff and let them know that. The reason why is because making these changes after the whole packet goes out and gets posted can be somewhat problematic and I want to try and erase any um, irregularities or or um, in bad information. And then, if during the meeting, like I always ask, if there's a consent agenda item you wish to remove, if it's just a quick question, that's one thing. But if you want more discussion, we can move that to to business. That's not a problem. So keep that in mind. I know I know you've had questions and that's absolutely um, in order and I would highly recommend and encourage you to ask staff the questions ahead of time, so they can come back with the um, information that maybe all of us need. So having said that, if staff would agree to send out that draft agenda at the beginning, and then take a look at it on Wednesday and let them know if you need any consent agenda And the other thing I'd like to ask, if we could start doing this as well, is at the end of every meeting, if we can then kind of give a highlight me and this might change, I get that. A highlight of what's to expect for the next meeting. Are there business items? Are there special items that we need to discuss? It might not be possible, but you might say, "Well, right now we don't have anything." But it might be good to just kind of get a heads up. This might be coming down down down the path. And so if we could do that for both our work sessions as well as our regular meetings, I think it'll just give everybody a more transparent Okay. So, yes, thank you. So how No, I It's really hard to pronounce it. I think it's How Moon? And then there was Anders Falk, and then Diane No, there was Diane something. She's not listed, but it's Diane. So anyhow, those were the three candidates that came to our discussion. So, any questions regarding the agendas and and that I do have a question. So if we send it out on Wednesday, Uh know, I know Anne likes to get it out Thursday. Most times it's Friday, but do we have a deadline to respond or make changes? >> So, it would have to be like Wednesday. Yeah. End of day or End of day. Yeah. Okay. And again Just before you guys get in it 8:00 a.m. on Thursday morning cuz you're at two. >> [laughter] >> That works fine, too. So, you guys can read it at night. Well, by 8:00 a.m. on Thursday. >> [laughter] >> Perfect. Okay. I'm just trying to re um not always have to post a new packet, see, and or a new agenda. So, then that way it's posted once. Like I said >> We used to get it online the day before it was post We used to get it in our email the day before it was posted online. We used to get it every Thursday. Yeah, but it wasn't posted online until Friday morning for everyone else to see. We got like the soft version of it. Diane Krenz. >> Yes, thank you. Yeah. Um either way, but um it's I think it's nice to to get it on Thursdays and uh whether we get it or um but it has to because of the way we post it now, it actually is public information on Thursday. So, um So, anyhow, I just thought that might make it a little easier for for staff as well as give us a little heads-up as well. All right. Okay, Mayor Wayland, can I ask a question here? Yes. Okay, so with just an agenda um is that going to be enough information because it seems like when there's changes it's when the you actually see the packet item and what the item is all about because the agenda's not going to tell you much about what the item is all about. I think it'll give us enough because basically when we we have kind of standing um consent agenda items, but then when something pops up and we think, "Oh, yeah, that might be a a more of a discussion." Again, like I said, we can always pull a consent agenda item off and add it to business, but this gives us everybody a little bit of a heads-up. Well, and usually consent agenda items are again the regular ones or something we've talked about in work sessions or planning commission has seen and they're Right. >> pretty go-to. I guess I'm the problem cuz I pulled some the last two sessions, but No, but but it just No, but here's the thing. It It got me to thinking and I thought, "Oh, you know what? Maybe we should do something so that we don't have to uh repost um agendas or whatever." I think it's a good thing. Um sometimes people, you know, No, I don't think it's a bad thing at all that you asked to have those pulled. Yeah, I would just say send it out. It's a draft agenda and um we'll get back to you no later than 8:00 a.m. uh Thursday morning and if we'll see how it works. If it doesn't work, we can make a change. Okay. >> Sounds good. Thank you. All right. That's all I have. Um also, the fire partnership meeting again has been canceled. Um there were a number of things that that they're waiting on to try and resolve, if you will. Um and I can if I can bring up my emails, I can tell you what they are. So, they're looking on uh the issues still pending, combining of Mound Fire and St. Boniface pension plans, receiving Mound Fire's 5-year pension plan outlook, both departments working together to create joint duty shifts, and updating the mutual aid box alarms based on the recent ISO audit. So, those are Two of those updates. Yeah. And Oh, sorry. So, those are the things we're waiting on in order to continue our fire partnership discussions with Mound and St. Boniface and Spring Park. That's all I have. You have a fire Yeah, so to piggyback off that, I attended the St. Boniface fire meeting last Thursday. High level points of the proposed budget for 2027 is $644,201, which is a 3.54% increase over this year's. Fireman pay is going up $16 per hour, and they are expecting more calls. They're continuing to grow their capital outlay funds. That has a 10% increase, which has been pretty consistent over the years cuz they don't bond. They pay cash for their items. So, that's why that goes up by 10%. Um Chief Anderson will be the new permanent part-time chief. Um So, originally they were going to hire a full-time chief when if we could work out the partnership with Mahtomedi, but because that's not happening, um they wanted to keep him, and he agreed to do it part-time. So, he'll be working 10:00 to 3:00 Monday through Fridays starting August 3rd. Um and that should meet all of the duties that the chief needs to do, um and not be full-time. He noted it will be his third job ever, so It'll be a change for him. I'm not sure He said that he can make that work. I think he's a little bit hesitant because he thinks it's really a full-time job that he's going to have to squeeze into a part-time job. So. He's in a very positive mood. I know. I know he's very positive, but Um so far this year there have been 99 calls as of the Thursday meeting with about 57 of those from Mahtomedi. Um 70% of the calls have been medical. 70% of the overall calls, not just ours, but overall. Um He said there was a great turnout for Trick-or-Treat Day, and he had more firefighters show up than he originally thought would be there. Um Firefighter-wise, they're currently fully staffed at 26. They always want 28, so there's still the posting out for it. They have two new ones who started this year. They also have one in training, but one is retiring, so that's why they're holding firm at 26. Um They got the two Tahoes, which I believe I updated a while ago that they asked for at the end of last year. Um They're going to be asking St. Boniface for a new um, 6 by 6 side by side. Um, it's in the budget but they still need approval. Um, that kind of goes out on ice rescues. They don't one they have now is very old. They don't use it a lot but when they need it, it's required so they need a new one of those. Um, and then they'll put a new skid tank and pump in it. That's also already budgeted and then they need a new skid tank and pump for the gas truck. Also budgeted but just need St. Boniface to approve it. Um, the current truck they use for that, the gas truck, they'll keep cuz it's in good condition so they'll use that as like the run around vehicle for firefighters when they go to training or conferences or whatever so they don't have to pay as much mileage. Um, the duty officer program with Mound that's being tweaked. The um, they're working with Mound to make sure coverage for Minnetrista is consistent so both St. Boniface and Mound are going to be doing duty officer program for the hours of 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. 7 days a week. So that's a change from the just overnights on the weekdays and then the full shifts all weekend long. Um, St. Boniface just couldn't get guys to do that because as Eric pointed out, St. Boniface doesn't have a school so all the kids' activities of these firemen are in neighboring communities and they can't stay home all weekend to stay near the firehouse so the tweak will be that. Um, he thinks it should be good. It's basically started being implemented um, late January, early February and Mound is doing it too so it seems to be going good. Um, he's already had more firefighters signing up for those shifts so it has the impact that they want. Um, partnership meeting is canceled for the next two years basically. >> [laughter] >> Um, and then this fall Mound is going to start doing duty crews um, with the assistance of St. Boniface so if they can't get three or four people on, St. Boniface will help out. So that's the other update on that. They did do a joint burn with Mound three weeks ago and it went really well. The guys and female It was >> Was down my street. >> [laughter] >> They all worked really well together. The crews are happy working together on everything, so that's good. Um and the call change for the box calls is that now on all fire calls um automatically it rings Mound and St. Bonnie. Before it just used to be either or and then they would call for more help. Now it's ringing them both. Um and that's also for car extrications and um personal injuries or auto accidents. So that's the big change. I did confirm it is not medical, so if Mound is getting tons of medicals, they will not also call St. Bonnie on those. But yeah, it went well. It was good and we agreed um now that Eric is part-time hours um the fire meetings going forward will be around at 3:30 in the afternoon instead of at 7:00 at night cuz that worked better for everyone's schedule. Good. So that will be nice. The next one's November 10th at 3:30. Which just took the fire partnership time slot, so it was perfect. All right. You for maybe they're not merging, but they're working a lot closer together. That's really >> great. And then I Lisa and I were supposed to pick out the new colors for the water treatment plant. Lisa couldn't make it, so I went. The brown looked horrible. It looked like mud. When you stood out there and looked at the big samples and then looked at where it was going, it looked like a giant Well, we went together for the first time. >> and then we said we said no. So the new color is a darker grayish and then this is the same And there's little gray black specs in the brown. Cuz it was it was the color we saw but on a bigger scale it just didn't look good. >> Yeah. It just looked horrible. It looked like a big muddy building. Yeah. It's safe. That was fun. And the site looks [clears throat] really cool. So we'll be doing just a reminder, we're going to do the ribbon cutting. We're not going to have a That reminds [clears throat] me, so we're not going to have a work session next next time June 1st. Instead we're going to be meeting on site at 5:00 Correct. for our ribbon cutting or not a ribbon cutting. Sorry, groundbreaking. You'll have hard hats and >> It's already been broken. Yeah, and it's been broken already, but um so anyhow, so we're going to meet there on-site at uh 5:00 for the groundbreaking. So, come and I think you'll be provided with hard hats if you don't already have one. Which will have stickers. [clears throat] Yes, we will have hard hats and um safety vests for everybody. All right. And there are a couple that already have them, so bring bringers from home. I have I have mine ready and waiting. I have stickers that you can add to your helmet. Yeah, >> [clears throat] >> it's plain white and then we were out there and I was like, we need Minnetrista stickers for the groundbreaking so the photo looks better. Yeah, that was that was me that $130 of stickers in the >> [laughter] >> You did forget to mention the uh fish fry is uh the 6th. Oh, that's okay. Save $5 if you buy your tickets early. Okay. All right. Peter, anything? No, I don't went to Trista days and I I was going to have the chief do a Huge success. Everyone's talking about it. Chief, do you want to give an update on Trista Day? It was a beautiful day, evening, Perfect. afternoon. Yeah, uh Madam Mayor, members of council, yeah, we had a awesome turnout. Um right around 1,200 hot dogs and brats. Um big shout out to Mackenthun's for helping us out. They were absolutely phenomenal. Um everybody showed up. The helicopter had to leave a little bit early, which was kind of tough, but it was still fun watching them come in and and take off and like a a great turnout, great weather. Um lot of comments positive towards having it on a weeknight just cuz so many people are gone on weekends. So, >> especially in May. Especially in May. Yeah. Yeah, so um yeah, that was great. Big thank you to staff and the council for helping us out as well and funding it. So, >> Good. Thank you. We need the mosquito guy to come next year. Yeah. Yeah, a lot a lot of people thought we planned that. You know, that would be great. >> I thought you meant the helicopter cuz they were flying around, too. And >> [laughter] >> yeah. Well, helicopters are better. Exactly. Okay. Thank you, Chief. That'd be cool. Yeah. That'd be great. Any other reports, Council, staff? Otherwise And we still have a planning commission next week? Mhm. Yes. Okay. Yeah. I asked David before. Oh, David, you're there, right? So, we have planning commission meeting next Tuesday. Correct. Yes. Is there a liaison? >> correct. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. All right. And I think Kathleen, you're attending. So, okay. Yeah. All right. And it's at 6:30. Okay. All right. Hearing no other business, um is there a motion to adjourn? So moved.