I'm going to call the meeting to order. This is the meeting for uh January 7th, 6:30 in Minista. >> I'd like to ask you to join uh our pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> [laughter] >> That was great. >> So, as you can see, we have some very special guests here this evening. Um, I'm going to start out first, um, a reminder and myself as well to, um, if you have cell phones, uh, please turn them on silent or airplane mode so that they don't disrupt the meeting. And then I'd like to start with introductions. I'm Lisa Wh and I'm the mayor. And to my left are council members Kathleen Rifkin, Peter Vickery, Claudia Lacy, Brian Govern, and then on the end we have our city engineer with WSB, um Allison Falsky. Gary Peters is our director of public works. And then we have our assistant administrator, Paula Balman. To my right, we have Jasper Krue. He is our city administrator. Brian Grim is our finance director. David Ael is our community development director. And then on the end, we have our chief of police, Craig Squires. So with that, um, we I'm looking for a motion. Are there any additions to the agenda? Any changes? Hearing none, then is there a motion to approve the agenda as presented? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Mr. Refin. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Mr. Governor made that second. Any further questions? All those in favor signify with I. I. All those opposed. Motion passes. So, as I said before, first item on our agenda is a special a special presentation. We have two young men with us this evening. They're uh two of the three that were um awarded the they got the top uh they were the winners of mayor of the day essay contest. So we have um Matthew and Nico with us this evening. And if you would like to I think we're going to start with Matthew. Matthew, if you want to come to this podium over there um and he's going to read us his essay. >> Okay. Dear Lisa Whan, do you think you could be a good mayor? I think I can. And I think mayors take care of our community and make it better. They should help people be safe and help them have fun. They should also keep the community clean. If I were mayor, the first thing I would do is make a new beach and clear the weeds out from the beaches. One positive thing that would happen because of this is more people would have fun and want to go to the beach. Another good thing that would happen because of this is the businesses around the beach would be thriving. I think this would be beneficial to people living in Min in Minitrista because some teenagers need to get off screens and have some fun. That is why I think I would make a terrific mayor if I were mayor. The second thing I would do is make everyone clean up parks, beaches, and streets on the first of every other month. One good thing that would happen because of this is we would have a cleaner environment. Another positive result that would come um from come about because of this is it would make less animals die because of pollution. I think this would make Manchester a better place to live because it would be a lot cleaner and more people would want to come here more. These two reasons are why I think I would be an excellent mayor. As you can see based on what I've written in my essay, I would make a terrific mayor of Minatrista, Minnesota. I am someone who is nice and smart. I have good ideas that I could put into action. Therefore, I think I would make a great mayor for the day because I would make miniaturista a better place. Thank you for listening to my essay. >> Thank you. And next we have Nico. Do you want to read yours? Thank you. >> Don't be nervous. It's okay. >> Dear Mayor Whan, what I would do if I were mayor for the day, it would actually surprise you if you gave a kid a chance. A mayor is someone who cares about their job and community more than people think. That is something a kid with dedication could also do. A mayor should be keeping his people happy and healthy, and he should help promote the town for more people to join. If I were mayor for the day, I would focus on many different things. I would make the water quality better and more healthy. My mom is really serious about that kind of stuff. And ever since my mom bought a new water filter, I realized how bad my old water and water filter actually was. It tasted like plastic. Also, it could save families a lot of money with clean water so that they didn't have to buy a new filter. Unhealthy water can contain lead, copper, fluoride, and more. These dangerous chemicals can give you serious health effects such as cancer, kidney damage, and even neurological disorders. Unhealthy water can make or break a town's morale and health. What I would do is fund more money into filtering water and cleaning it. Another thing I would do is expand the roads and add more biking lanes. Specifically to Kings Point Road, my mom really lets me bike on it because of how small the roads are and also on how much more on how much reckless cars go through there. Ever since ebikes started to be the quote unquote trend, there are more people who have started to bike to different places. This means with no more biking lanes, people people will most likely get hurt. Especially with how fast and reckless people drive, getting hit can cause severe injuries and could even be life-threatening depending on the situation. Manchester has many kids that love to go places, and I would love to have them go where they want, but it needs to be safe. The last thing I would do if I were mayor would be to fund schools and sports and activities. Funding in in school sports and activities can benefit students by helping them with their physical and mental health. It shows crucial life skills such as teamwork and discip discipline, participating in sports. It could also increase academic performance. My school only has one football league and it is only for a month or two and it would be really nice if I could change that. I would have it be longer and there should be more equipment to help us get better. I feel like the more sports and activities that are available, the better. This is because the more options and opportunities there are, the more likely someone will choose from them. As [snorts] a kid, we are still finding out who we are and what we love and want to do. More sports and activities can be a huge game changer for us. The possibilities are endless. And I think this is a really good idea. [snorts] Now, if you um two young gentlemen would like to come forward here. >> All right. So, I have a certificate for each of you. Um Matthew Thank you for participating. Excellent. Excellent. Thank you. >> They want me in. They want to see in the background, not me. [laughter] >> And you're welcome to stay for the rest of the meeting. should be fairly short, but if you'd like to leave, you're welcome to leave as well. So, again, thank you all for coming. This has just been a very enlightening and a pleasure. So, >> thank you for having us. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. So, next on our agenda, um we don't have anybody signed up under persons to be heard. >> Yeah. Um otherwise, uh we're going to move on to our consent agenda items. Are there any you wish to remove? I would like to talk over item H and not remove it. >> Okay. Well, we'll just take it out then. That's fine. >> Okay. >> Um so that then consists of um item uh consent agenda item A, approve our work session meeting minutes from December 8th, 2025. Um B is approve our city council regular meeting minutes from December 8th, 2025. C is approve our appointments and designations. I assume everybody is okay with those. Great. Thank you very much for your participation and and your extra work on those. [clears throat] And then uh D is approve our members of understanding with the various union groups employed by the city of Minatrista. E is a resolution to approve claims. [snorts] F is a resolution to uh street improvement project and accept improve um improvements and authorize final payment. G is a resolution to award salt storage building fabric replacement. We'll move on to I then and that's a resolution for the planning commission appointments for 2026. We only had we have two vacancies and two applicants. So, it's kind of a no-brainer. Um, and then we have uh J, which is well number seven, re rehabilitation project. Accept the improvements and authorize final payment for those. And then we have that's it. So, is there a motion to approve items A through J without H? >> Thank you, Miss Lacy. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Miss Rkin. All those in favor signify with I. I. >> I. All of those opposed. Motion passes. And Mr. McCickree wanted to questions on H. >> Well, um I spoke with Nick Wilson today about the pvious pavement agreement. So I wasn't real familiar with how that works. And um so he explained and David you can correct me if I got this wrong but he explained that um uh if you have a a pvious pavement that qualifies for 50% of hard cover um versus 100% if you have concrete or asphalt. And so um my con and then um you have this agreement that is before us and the idea there is that the pvious pavement needs constant attention of cleaning it out every six months or a year so that it doesn't clog up and then become impervious. >> Um but that's strictly up to the homeowner to uh to do that. I I don't think the neighbors are going to call them out on on it. um you know if they don't so I I don't think it's a problem now. You know Nick said they're just a few uh of of these situations but but I could see where of course people want to have as much um of a home as possible build as large a home as possible. So we might end up with a situation where they use the per impervious pavement to get that bigger home and then don't maintain it. And uh so I I don't think it's something as a problem right now, but I I think in a few years, you know, it it could be. So I I don't know if there are solutions for that. Uh we don't have the staff to really police all these things, but um you know, David, if you have any thoughts on that, >> you nailed it. [laughter] >> Oh, I'm hoping for an answer. You want to change the city code then so they don't get >> I think if we start to see more of these that um [clears throat] then I think we should think about how do we police that so that we don't end up with uh uh houses taking up too much uh pvious land and then causing problems for the lake. And there and I think that would be a good discussion for a work session because um maybe there might have to be some cost associated with that. Um an annual or maybe by or every two years an inspection that the homeowner would have to pay for something like that might be something might be a um a solution for that. >> Okay. >> Or we could just decrease the amount of credit they get. >> Well, sometimes that's not possible. Um, I mean that might be another option too, but >> I think we want to encourage people to use the uh pvious pavers when they can because I think it's a good idea, but it it does need maintenance. >> It's I think they get 25% pvious surface, correct? For the north [clears throat] Oh, it's 50 for the shoreline um district or >> Well, any anywhere anywhere. Yeah, it's not. >> Yeah, but it's especially um I mean we really need to pay attention when it's shoreline. Well, that's where a majority of them are because there's a harder there's a more intense uh requirement for hard cover. Um we we have um come along I mean historically we didn't even have the maintenance agreement that went along with these. So we we have taken some steps to ensure that there's something recorded to the title of the properties. Um so we we have done some things um to to do that. So historically they they would just show it on the survey and there'd be no agreement. It was >> kind of on a honor system. So, we're making progress, but uh to your point, yeah, you'd have to have some sort of uh whether it's annual or every couple year an inspection uh with uh demonstrating that they are indeed doing the maintenance. And as you said, that would take time and money to do that. >> Have we gone out and inspected any of the ones that we've given in the last like year >> or we just issue it and then assume they're following? Well, we once once it's installed, we ensure ensure that it's installed to the spec, the engineer spec, but after that, we we have not been out to inspect them. >> So, like in the future, like I said, we could maybe add that to the agreement >> and it's and it's hard. Well, correct. Correct. And and again, there's cost associated with that, right? >> I mean, it might be and again that would have to be on the homeowners um nickel. So, >> could our Sorry, now I'm thinking. Could our engineer on staff do that? >> We could look into it. I'm sure we could get trained to inspect previous papers to to do it on staff. But yeah, um I don't know. I don't know what that process is right now. >> Well, the big thing, excuse me, if uh I may, I mean, the big thing is the maintenance and documenting it. You know, when it when it's happening, it's, you know, anyone can go out and look at it, but you still don't know what has been done and that sort of thing. So, it's more the documentation and making sure it's done right and then someone reviewing that. Yeah. >> Right. >> Is there any requirement that maintenance has to be done prior to conveying a property with impervious? >> No. >> Yeah, that's a good point. >> But they do go so they don't even go out and inspect it once it's been installed. >> Once it's been installed, >> then they have Yeah. >> Right. But not at point of sale. >> Right. Right. >> Yeah. That might be a good idea having to get it inspected before you sell the property. >> Yeah, that [clears throat] might be another Yeah, another option, too. >> If you have to clean out your septic tank, then makes sense to do something like that as well. [laughter] >> But it could be years, you know, it could be years before it sells. If somebody lives there for 30 years, who, you know, maybe an annual or um every other year inspection might be a a better option. Again, if it's um documentation and inspection, it might be $100 or $120 or something like that. So, might be something we should add to the agreement. >> Okay. Um with that, >> well, I propose a motion to approve item H. >> Okay. All right. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Govern. Um any further questions or comments? Good comments. Thank you. Um all those in favor signify with I. >> I. All those opposed? Motion passes. Um so next we move on to our business items and we have one and that's a street improvement project and those are approving plans and specifications and authorizing advertisement for bids. I think that's Miss B. >> That is Thank you, Mayor Whan. Um I have a a a short slide deck. I promise I didn't want to keep counseling here too long this evening. Um so here this evening we are here to talk about the proposed street improvement project for this year. Thank you. Um and this is uh the action that we're requesting uh council do this evening is to approve the plans and specifications and authorize the advertisement for bid. Uh here's a map. Oh goodness, I'm already trigger happy here. There we go. So, um, this is a map showing the streets that are included in this in the improvement project for this year. Game Farm Road, North and South Saunders. Note that we did add West Edge Boulevard um per the council's um staff's recommendation and council's uh direction at the last meeting. Um, and then Pinnacle and Lakeside down at at the bottom of the screen. The majority of the work is um a mill and overlay or or an overlay in the case of of Game Farm Road. Um but we do have some sections of roads within um both North and South Saunders and Game Farm Road uh that will be doing a full removal and replacement of the pavement based on the information obtained in the in the um so uh the pavements uh pavement. Um so [snorts] that's all been incorporated into the project as well. So, the street improvements. Um, here's a couple of shots from the last um this past year's project. As I mentioned, milling and overlay of the majority of the streets. Um, we did talk with um public works director uh Peters about uh game farm road and just instead of milling that that game farm road, we're just going to go ahead and put 2 in on top of it just to get that beefier pavement. Um, but we will have to mill down next to the driveways to get that grade to blend in. Um, and then as I mentioned, Game Farm Road, Basswood Drive, North Saunders Lake Drive, and West Edge Boulevard. There's a portion of those roads where it'll be full depth removal and replacement. We've also included a budget for some uh spot curb and gutter repair uh to damage sections that are holding water or have broken away and no longer able to convey water adequately. And then we're also including a bid alternate for um an under seal on Game Farm Road. And what that is is it's basically like a seal coat between the the bottom layer and the the top layer of um asphalt because we are starting to see that um that that under seal helps um mitigate what we call reflective cracking. So, if there's cracks in that bottom layers of the pavement, um we're seeing that that uh under seal will will prevent help prevent that cracking from coming through up to the surface. And as we know, um we want to min minimize the amount of surface cracking on our roads to keep water from intruding into the pavement and deteriorating it. So, we also included in the project um some trail improvements. Um we're which included pedestrian curb ramps um in the in the Saunders Lake area and West Edge um to make them compliant with the American with a Disabilities Act requirements and then also mill an overlay of the trail along Saunders Lake Drive north and and West Edge Boulevard as a bid alternate. Um we want to see what that pricing comes in at um so that council can use discretion if if we get a good price to go ahead and do that work. um it's it's not something that necessarily um it's different equipment that's used for that and so that's why we included it as an alternate because we think that um you know it's it's just nice to have that flexibility in in the bidding. And then we're also looking at some minor utility improvements um inflow and infiltration barriers and sanitary sewer manholes. You'll see a picture of that on the top right corner um to prevent water from getting into the sanitary sewer system. And then we're also uh we also included replacement of two culverts under Game Farm Road and cleaning some of the inlets there. Just some maintenance activities um on that rural residential or pardon me on that rural uh rural road section. And then we've also included a bid alternate to relocate the hydrant on Game Farm Road um just near County Road 110. So, um that's a screenshot there of the street view uh looking west from um County Road 110 would be behind you. So, you see that hydrant is in the trail next to a um there's a retaining wall there. So, no no great opportunities to move that north. So, we are taking advantage of this street project to get a price um to move that to the south side. And again, with that being a bit alternate, um we're looking to get to, you know, see if we have a contractor that'll have a utility crew out there to do that storm sewer covert work. And so, we're hoping that we'll get some good pricing on that so that uh we can go ahead and get that moved out of the trail. >> Wouldn't that be I'm sorry. Wouldn't that be a safety issue, too? I mean, it seems like [laughter] it's question there. >> Any idea, Gary? [laughter] >> No. I'm assuming that when it was put in back when they redid 110 in this area in here was put in for convenience. The water man is right there and it's the easiest spot to put >> no one considered it, you know, to be an obstacle at that time, which I don't know why, but >> Well, let's hope we can move it. I mean, that just makes sense. >> Yeah. and and you know kudos to to um to Gary on on identifying this is hey let's let's take advantage of this opportunity to see if we can get that moved out of the way. >> Thank you. >> So um included in the packet and on this slide um show the projected cost and funding. So we have sent several funding sources for this project. City funds uh state aid funding which is for uh game farm road. Um, you'll note that the um that underseal that I mentioned we're using as a bid alternate that is eligible for state aid funding. Um, but it's not a it's not a 50. I didn't do the math on what that split is, but that's the the state aid funding we can apply for is shown in this um in this table. We have some other funding identified um through special assessments at uh 140,000. And I'd just like to make mention that this is a variation from what council saw with the feasibility study. We had um $10,000 per unit in the feasibility study, which is consistent here. But in the feasibility study, we had 15 parcels proposed to be assessed. And since that time, one of the property owners has indicated and and has um combined lots on off of Game Farm Road. And so that would be reducing our accessible parcels to 14. So we will update that with the final assessment role. Um I have a note to do that. So I but I did want to make mention of that to the council. Um just so that you can see um you understand that the variation the uh uh special assessments that we're proposing to um to uh levy for this project. We also include um a portion from the city of mound just under $82,000 and that is because West Edge Boulevard, the east portion um part of the east portion of West Edge Boulevard is in the city of Mound. Um and so um public works director Peters has been in contact with the city of mound with that and then we'll work with finance director Grim and the city of Mound to make sure that we get all the necessary um approvals through city of mound prior to award of projects so that the council can be assured that the city of Mound is indeed on board. >> I was going to ask that. Yeah. Yeah. [laughter] Right. >> We we just don't want to but I I just wanted to >> Don't make an assumption. We won't. [laughter] >> Okay. Um that part of the road. >> Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right. >> Put a blockade in. [laughter] All right. >> Um so so that's the funding sources. Um we did look at um with the preliminary assessment. Um or pardon me with the feasibility report we were at 3.37 million. Um we're just over 3.5 million. But um again we've added some scope of work with the underseal as you can see. Um the West Edge Boulevard was added. So, we're we're pretty you we're fairly close to what we had in the um feasibility report for budget and our preliminary budget amount. Um before we even put pen to paper on on the feasibility report, we had 4.4 million. So, we're still well within uh what we had anticipated for budget. and um again conveying some of these numbers to uh finance director Grim so that his team would have accurate numbers when they go to um issue the bond sale for this project. >> And the other issue didn't which one did we have we had like a $200,000 savings in one of our um other projects. >> Yeah. The one on the >> right. Yes. We've we've been we've been doing well fortunately. I I hope to keep that record going. with street improvement projects >> kind of makes up for this is what I'm getting at. Yeah. [clears throat] >> Correct. Correct. So, so we are looking good with that budget and and rest assured that um if council's on board with it, staff would be happy to find additional road projects to [laughter] >> use that that um cost. >> We'll have to look at our balance next year. >> Yeah, >> that sounds good. Um so, uh with that, we are looking at um here's the project schedule. So, we're looking to open bids early February, and I think that's a great time frame for this particular project for a couple of reasons. Um, one is it gives contractors an opportunity to um get some of those bigger bigger projects, meaning street reconstruction, utility work in January. And then this is a nice big project that come February bid opening. Um, it's an attractive project because it's mostly street work. And so I think that's a good timing for for a project of this magnitude and and um of this scope. So with that, we would be we're still in a great bidding environment in early February. We'd be bringing this back to council to um uh order the assessment hearing in February. Uh hold the assessment hearing in March and accept bids and award contract at that time. And then um the construction window for this project, similar to what we've been doing historically for the past handful of years, is May through um end of August of this year. And then limiting the contractor in the contract documents, what we put is you you either complete the project in 10 weeks or each phase of the project, you only have three weeks to do that. And what we're do doing is we're preventing the contractor from going in doing all the pavement removals then leaving for three weeks and and so that was the intent was to give the contractor some flexibility and so which means good pricing for the council um but also meaning that we're disrupting um to the minimum um to the least extent possible with to the residents. Now, the only other thing I might remind uh staff too, I had made a a recommendation that what we do is send out postcards to all the property owners within the um area that we're doing and just to let them know what we're doing and maybe in the time frame um because I know a lot of people call or call me um [laughter] and I just [clears throat] say call Gary. Um so anyhow, it just would be nice if we sent out a postcard and just say this is what we're doing. this is a time frame. Um, this is why we're doing it. Just real simple, real quick. >> Certainly that. And and mayor, we can certainly do that. Um, and and assuming you would want that after the contracts awarded. >> Yeah. Okay. Yeah. >> And and most of the residents should have heard about this because we do send out a um when we're doing the feasibility report, we send out a questionnaire to residents asking if they have um [clears throat] if they have dog fences. Um it's it's it's a long list. So So hopefully they'll remember that, but we'll certainly do a postcard as well. >> Yeah. >> And they have to um pay for their own sprinklers and all that stuff now too, right? Based on what we >> if it's in the right of way. >> If it's in the right of way. And the good thing with this project is we don't we don't really have any util. We have a couple culverts on Game Farm Road, but we don't have um it'll come into play if we have curb and gutter replacement. So, we'll have to start coordinating that once we start marking the curb and gutter replacement bill. >> Okay. Other questions or anything else? >> No, I'm finished. >> All right. >> Anything else? Council questions, comments. All right. Um, then we're looking for approval to um approve plans and specs and and authorize advertisement for bids. >> So, moved. >> Thank you, Miss Refkin. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Vicky. Any further questions? Hearing none. All those in favor signify with I. I. >> All those opposed. Motion passes. 5. So, next we'll move on to um few reports. I'm going to start with Miss Falski. You said you had a fewformational items. >> Thank you. Um Mayor Whan, um I just wanted to let the council know. Um, we had a a couple drainage issue discussions last year and one of them was for a a drainage issue on County Road 110 and 151 in the souththeast corner. It would be um and what's happening there is there's a culvert that goes under the roads. um and it's it's uh it's eroding as it makes its way um towards Lake Minnotonka and there's a sanitary sewer manhole and the the residents are unhappy with that and I'm happy to report that uh we did submit I did submit a request to Henipin County for cost share of $40,950 and was notified that um we were approved for that. Okay. So, um, with that, um, again, uh, public works director Peters and I will will take a look at what we're what we want to do for scope. We'll talk to my colleagues in water resources. Um, Henipin County has some follow-up work with that and then council can expect to see um, a task order request to get started on that design probably within a couple of months here and then um, late fall, early winter project. >> Good. Well, never hurts to ask, right? Great. There you go. Thank you. Um, other staff reports. >> Yeah. Um, Allison, if I can ask you to advance the slide. I have a few items I want to talk about. Thank you for moving that along. Um, so one thing that we do annually is, um, [clears throat] strategic planning session. So, I kind of want to plant that idea. Um, we should probably set a date if we can. I don't know if you guys are okay with opening up your calendars right now or if you want me to send out a doodle poll. I can do either. Um, but generally we do that at the end of February. I know that there's some vacations and time off and things like that occurring that we all have to coordinate. But usually what we do is we start it um a little bit earlier in the day like at 3:30 um and then we we can run into, you know, 6:30, you know, generally we try to keep it about 3 hours um give or take. So um so kind of keep that in mind. I'll take input from the group to see what they want to do. Um if if if if it's easier just to send out a doodle poll. If I kind of get a general idea, I can send out a bunch of options. Um the second thing I want to talk I want to do something a little different. Oh, do we want to do we want to do it? Do we want to look at the calendar? >> Are people available the end of February? >> Okay. >> Last week and available. >> You're not. >> Or I am. >> Oh, you are. Okay. So the last week so >> and probably [snorts] the the later towards the end of the last week as well. >> Okay. So like the 25th or 26th. >> Okay. Brian, do you know? >> Uh 25th and 26th both work for me. >> Okay. And >> either of those are Wednesday. >> 25th is a Wednesday. >> 25th is Wednesday. >> Not the Wednesday. The 26th. [clears throat] >> 26. Okay. >> All right. 26 everybody. I Okay. 26th of February. >> So 26th at 3:30. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Send out a >> I will >> meeting invite. Okay. >> Um and then >> sorry. So on that so the meeting invite Paula, can you start putting the council meetings on an invite so they show up on our council calendars? >> Thank you. Yeah. [snorts] Um, so one thing I want to do differently this year, I know generally I've sent out kind of what some of the staff priorities that we come up with are and then ask council to give input. I'd like to sit down with each one of you for maybe an hour or two or whatever it takes to kind of um just talk about strategic planning in Minotarista, what we want to do, kind of some big picture ideas. um kind of setting the table because we have a comp plan update coming up that's going to get started probably the end of this year and just kind of like talk about those things and and maybe just take some time and and see what everybody's priorities are and what they think that we should be working on in the next you know one to threeyear time frame. Um, so I'll reach out to each one of you individually to see what works for that and then we can kind of develop a work plan. And um, you know what happens is a lot of things staff comes up with and then council comes up they get combined and then we try to create an agenda that is conscious of everybody's time that we can talk about. So um, so we have that the strategic planning good thing we got the date and then the individual meetings. I'll be sending those out probably this week or next early next week. Um there is I think Paul has sent out something regarding the elected officials institute if anybody's interested in doing that. It's a it's a good refresher on on some things you know related to local government. There's a beginner track and then there's an advanced track. I think everybody's advanced. So if if you want to do it, you know, let us know. We can sign you up. Um see if there's a date that's available. Um and then um lastly, our last police advisory meeting that we had, it was uh kind of discussed with St. Bonnie that we should maybe think about doing a a joint city council meeting um with them. Um just to talk about a couple things. Um their mayor has kind of talked about maybe trying to annex in some of Minatrista's property into and don't get too freaked out about it. >> It's a property that is just kind of in I'd consider it in kind of >> a little tiny >> no man's land um on the south side of >> completely surrounded by St. Bonnie. >> So there's that piece. There's the water interconnection agreement that we're currently working on um in the background to try to um finalize and get that moving. And then um maybe a little update on the the joint powers of JPA for the fire district and and talk about that. Um it was something that came up at that meeting. I don't know, mayor, if you want to talk a little bit more. I think those are the three kind of general topics that we talked about. So I I just thought it would be a good idea to kind of um also help with relations with St. Bonnie because we are we completely surround them and the water water um interconnect issues. Um I think we need to talk to them about it. Um so that was kind and then um Mayor Eer kind of brought it up about this little tiny sliver that they have and I said well maybe we could talk about that too. So, um, so I just thought it might be a good, um, a good idea to do it. We used to, I mean, years ago, we used to do joint, um, council meetings every once in a while. So, this would be good, I think, to kind of all get on the same page. >> What are there new issues with the water incon? >> Well, it has never been resolved for various reasons. I won't go into those reasons. Um, and so I think it would really be in in everybody's interest to really make sure that the St. Bonnie Council and the Minotarista Council understand the implications and that we're all on the same page and maybe we can come to a resolution at that meeting. It's it's about the the dollar amount as to what the current administrator um city administrator is proposing and what our administrator is proposing. So, I think it might be good to get the council all um together and say, "Hey, this is what's happening. What do you guys think?" So, >> when is Brenda um >> January the end of the month, but and the other thing is, you know, we have three other interconnect locations and just kind of making sure everybody's on the same page as far as when those will get done. I think St. Bonnie thought that maybe they would get done sooner than what they are, but we talked about it. It was quite expensive and we said we're going to pair it with a with a maintenance project of some sort. So, we just want to make sure they understand that and and we're all on the same page and like Mayor Whan said, just good good community relations with our neighbor that we completely surround. So, um so with that, >> the other thing we could briefly touch on is the Highway 7 corridor coalition, but um there's not a whole lot and I can talk a little more about that later, but Okay. >> Yeah. So, um likely we'd have to have it be a special meeting. Um compare it with this. Um location is also a challenge. I mean, we have five of of you here, and I think they have five as well. So, there's 10. Um, we could all come in here and kind of do a roundt thing. Uh, that would work. So, or if they have a better space, we could do that. But coordinating that, we'd have to work with them. You know, a lot of lot of coordination of when it works for everybody. So, but likely it would be on a on a day. I don't know if there's a preference that you could give me as far as a night that would work that isn't a normal night that we work on city council, but um as you can imagine, getting 10 people to all agree on a time is quite hard. Um but um I'd like to just kind of get some general general guidance and maybe this happens in um February, March, April time frame. Um I don't think there's anything imminent like we need to meet right now, but um I think it'd be good to to do and get in the schedule. So I can I can send out some dates and work with work with they did St. Bonnie did hire a new administrator who actually started I think this this week. So >> yeah. >> So um maybe if you have uh vacation plans that might be uh send those to um [clears throat] Jasper so he knows when when what weeks you may not be here and then after that he can look at city calendar and maybe pick five, six, seven times and dates. would would an I'm going to guess that maybe an evening might be better for I don't know the council in St. Bonnie very well but if they have jobs and they need to work then maybe an evening would be better so we can either do a 5 or 5:30 start maybe if that would you can check with them um and then we can throw out some dates. >> Yep. I can >> All right. >> What date do they usually have council meetings on? They have a Wednesday. >> I thought it was Wednesday. >> I think it's Wednesdays. >> The second or third win or two a month. >> I think some >> I thought it was almost in parallel with our or >> week off. >> It's one week off. So they I think they met last week Wednesday. That that was I don't know. We have to look. But >> you can check with Yeah. Okay. >> There's no way they met last Wednesday. >> No. >> Yeah. [laughter] >> There's no way that happened. >> One other council member owns a bar. [laughter] I definitely wasn't in a council meeting. >> All right. Any other? And then um I think I will be the leazison to the planning commission. >> Okay. >> So do is there a park commission meeting prior? >> Um no there is not. >> Okay. And so we have several things on the planning commission docket I think in IUP. >> Um and is there a sketch plan or preliminary plan? Okay. >> Just a sketch plan and comp plan amendment. >> Okay. >> Varian all right. Um, so I will be there at 6:30. >> Correct. >> Right. Okay. Um, any other staff reports then? All right. Um, council reports. Was Brian? >> Nothing. Claudia. >> Okay. Peter. >> No. >> Okay. >> So, um, so today was kind of a full day for both Jasper and I. We started out at um 8:30 out in Mayor and uh we met with um some people from LMC and the mayor um from mayor the mayor mayor and um also some people from uh a couple other smaller communities in the area. Uh just talked about some of the issues uh pertaining to cities and we mentioned a number of things. Uh, one of the things that we mentioned, of course, um, we want to keep a close eye on the middle missing housing bills, and I made some suggestions. Um, and I've also talked to our senator regarding that. I'm hoping to get a meeting together um, with uh, the senator as well as with um, some of the organizations that are part of the coalition that are pushing this middle nesting housing bill. And the people that I would like to get together with are are the uh people that are for affordable housing because I think there's a disconnect or that there's a um there's there's a group that that there's the de developers and builders and they want affordable housing for a different reason. And then there's a group of um organizations that want affordable housing because we need more affordable housing in Minnesota. So, I thought it would be a good idea to meet with those people and find out if there isn't some common denominator and common ground where we could um somehow um work out some kind of legislation that would help them but also retain um the city's um um how do you say um authority for planning and zoning because we don't want to lose local control over local issues. So, um I'm hoping that meeting will take place sometime in January. I have to um circle back because when I talked to the senator that was back in December and so I'm going to circle back with her. Um and hopefully that will happen in the near future. Um the other thing we talked about today was also the um FMLA and the PFMLA. And so I don't know if all of you are really well um educated on those. It's kind of complicated. But um I was thinking if um if we could do a work session where either um our HR of course um Paula would enlighten all of us on that and then also um if need be we could even invite the um person from HR from LMC to come and enlighten us and educate us on that and that's the other thing um I think we all agreed today in the meeting that there needs to be some tweaking to that. So, um, >> getting rid of >> Well, >> getting rid of it. >> I am being nice [laughter] and so um we're we're just going to talk about that and um uh that'll be on their radar. The other thing is tomorrow morning I have a meeting. It's a town hall meeting with Senator Not Senator, I'm sorry, Representative Deers. >> I'm going that too. [clears throat] >> Okay, good. I was going to ask whoever is going and um that's also one of the things that I would like to discuss with him to see uh what what their ideas are and how we could maybe uh change it or tweak it or make it a little less um well we'll just talk to them about it. And then um then the other meeting that we had was uh with the Highway 7 uh coalition and we talked about a lot of different things. Uh, one of them was uh how we move forward and also um branding. We talked about that and blah blah blah. But um we also talked about uh finances and funding it. I made it fairly clear I think that in 2026 we probably wouldn't have a whole lot of money to put into this. Maybe if it's a,000 or 2,000 maybe. But I said um and then going forward we would have to really look at the formula. >> Why why would we have to put any money into this? >> Well, so there's different things. Um, and that's that's the other thing we added. Well, we asked, you know, one, give us a list of what what things would cost, why they would cost, what, but they would, and then also um kind of a budget and a budget moving forward. So, we'll come back to [clears throat] you with that. Um, >> that seems ridiculous. It's a state highway. >> Well, and that's all up for discussion because >> Oh, [laughter] yeah. So, but I think I think we need to look at it because if we want to promote safety um along uh the corridor, I think we also have a stake in it. So, we may have to pony up some funds. >> We pay taxes. >> I know. >> Going to gosh knows what at this point. Like, absolutely not. Should more of our city money go to fix the road that they >> It's not fixing the road. >> Fixing the access points on the road. >> No, it's not fixing that. That's not what it's for. It's for us to to um lobby federal and state people to fix the road. >> Even worse, we have to lobby our own state to fix the road. >> Yes. Because there's a lot of roads to fix. >> Well, they can stop the fraud and then we'll have a lot more money for the roads. Well, let's let's just get the list and get the dollar amount and then we can we can discuss it because um I think um we ourselves don't have the resources to go to state and then it would cost us money to go to the federal level and go to the state level lobbying for >> representatives. I understand that, but we also have to be able to not only lobby the two that we have, but we also have to lobby the committees and the committee chairs and and other people that are making decisions. So, that's why sometimes it's helpful to be a coalition and that's and where sometimes it's helpful to be more than less. But like I said, we'll bring back those numbers. We'll we'll just we'll talk about it more in a work session. we don't need to make a decision now. We can bring back those numbers at a maybe if in February or whatever um work session. So um then the other meeting we had was with the Holstead group and we talked about them and their early grading permit requirement and we went over everything very very detailed regarding what is required for them. They're hoping to come back on the 21st of January. they may not make it here until the 2nd of February, but um they we made it very clear that they need to get their act together to get everything lined up, get everything done before they come to the council because we can't approve anything with certain signatures and certain uh property owners approving approvals. So, having said that, we're hopeful that they'll come back. We're hoping, crossing our fingers, that they'll come back either the 21st or the 2nd of February. Having said that, if they don't have everything in finished by the 21st, we may have to make a decision as to whether or not to extend their preliminary plan approval because [clears throat] it expires between that meeting and February 2nd meeting. I was going to ask you, David, when if we were to um extend that approval, can we put a time frame on it or does it automatically extend the six months or can we say >> the discretion of council? >> Okay. So, we may want to put a time frame on it, maybe 60 days or or whatever, and that might come back on the 21st. So, um those are the only things that I can think of. >> So, quite a bit. Going back to the coalition idea. >> Yeah. >> What's the mindset on not signing the mayor's letter that's going around on the fraud then if we're stronger as a group? >> Well, first of all, um there's a lot of reasons why I'm not signing it. Um one, I would never sign a letter like that um before I discussed it with the council. But two that letter is clearly um I felt that there were a lot of missing pieces and uh those pieces are one uh first of all consider this we are we are and it's not just a fraud it's not just addressing the fraud which this which the house and senate and our legislators are addressing right now and already have addressed but the other thing is um we are asking our representatives and not just our representatives, but also people on committees that are making these decisions for any bonding money. There's no reason for us to go out and attack them for past, if you will, ne negligence. Okay? I think we need to play nice. We need to ask them nice, but this letter was more attack mode. And as you know, we're into a election year and I think we need to wear our neutral hats. And I didn't think that this letter was neutral enough. And the other thing is it didn't offer up um data. It didn't offer up examples and it also didn't offer up um solutions. And I think if we as a council would like to send a letter, then I think it needs to have all those things in there. And I think it also didn't focus on what we need as a city. We need bonding money and we are very concerned about the middle housing bill. Those were not included in there. And that's why I didn't think it was in the best interest of Minatrista. So if you would like to discuss it in more detail and more depth, we can do that at our next work session. >> I won't be at the next work session. >> You don't want to discuss it now? No, because it I think it needs if you want to discuss it in more depth then I think we need to do it at a work session. Any do you want to discuss it or is it pretty because I'm not going to sign that letter. >> No, I just uh not talking about so much discussing it but just a comment maybe from each of us. Um, I think, you know, we dodged a bullet by not signing because he's not running for re-election, but I don't think solutions. I think he's allowed so much fraud to take place in the state that we he should go. And and I mean the way you run the city, it I can't imagine that level of lack of oversight could happen. I know Minister is much smaller than Minneapolis. >> But if fraud were to occur, let's just say here in the city, would it be my responsibility only? No, it wouldn't be. It would be all our responsibility all [snorts] the way down >> multiple businesses in >> again this is but this is what I'd like to if if we want to discuss it I'd rather discuss it at a work session where we can then get all of our ducks in a row we can get all of the data we can get all of the information but this letter wasn't only about fraud and like I said that ship has sailed and they've t and I've talked to our senator um an Johnson Stewart and I've asked her I said okay I want want to know what steps have been taken to um prohibit or to um potentially eliminate this in the future and what has been done and what will be done um now and in the future. >> So, what did she say? >> I haven't gotten I asked her to give me that information. I only texted her on Friday, so I haven't gotten that back yet. Um and then um there was other things in the letter, too, that are you know, they want transparency. There is transparency. I mean, come on. you know, you know, everything is is public information just like our budget is public information. But I I'd be happy to sit down and we'd be happy to discuss it at a work session. I just don't think we need we need to put on our neutral hats and we need to be um step aside, step back, take a step back and say, "Okay, um how could this have been done better?" Um >> I'm sorry, Peter. Oh, could we get some input from Andrew Myers that since the two >> Oh, I'm gonna ask him tomorrow. [laughter] >> I one quick [snorts] question. If and I'm not saying we do, but if everyone on the council thought that should be signed by the mayor of Minista, do you still say no? >> I would say no. No, it's true. So, and the reason why we are not Republicans, we are not Democrats. We are neutral. And I have to look at and you have to look at what is in the best interest of Minotrista. That's our charge. And I see this as a flagrant attack on Democrats. And we need them to help us get that money. >> And they haven't ever given us any any money. >> We've never asked before other than now for the water treatment plant. We've never gone to them asking them for bonding money for for for a project that we've done. And now we're here and we're asking we're asking for $14 million. I don't want to take the chance that we're going to not get it. And I think it's far more productive to talk to not only our senator, but to other senators that are in positions of giving us that money and talking to them in a positive manner versus in in a generalized letter. Um I I just I I don't see that's going to get anywhere. It's going to I mean, think about it. If somebody came here to us and started attacking us on whatever it might be, asking us to change how >> a couple years >> Yeah. And and how how how are we going to react to that? We're going to say, gee, you know, you want to you're coming here with your gloves on, but you're asking us for a favor. So, I mean, think about it. >> I thought a lot. >> Yeah. Well, so if you want me to sign that, we're going to have to have a discussion. >> I don't necessarily want you to sign it. I thought it should be discussed. And I think it should be I I think no matter if you're a Republican or Democrat that it should be very clear that we're against the level of fraud and the lack of oversight that's going on. I mean, >> I don't think anybody would disagree with you. >> No, that people won't say it. I don't care who commits fraud. I think there's horrible fraud on both sides of the aisle. I don't care who they are or what political affiliation they have. And I don't I asking for money from someone that's been so unbelievably derelictked in their responsibilities and and worrying about I'd rather have him out and then someone else take the place that's going to watch our tax dollar. We pay really high taxes in the state and the fraud is so unbelievable. Um, >> but that's not the only thing that was in the letter as well. >> So, let's ultimately was him stepping up. >> Well, either way, like I I I'm curious to know what Ann responds to you. I I want to know that. >> Bring that back to the um next work session. Okay. >> Yeah. >> All right. We'll bring that back to the next work. I can even invite her to come if she's >> get that one. I have to go to Michigan for skating. [laughter] >> Well, then we'd have to wait till the middle of February. So, I don't know if you want to. We could do that because I won't be here on um February 2nd. So, we'll bring it back to the February 18th um work session and I will invite um Ann Johnson Stewart and Andrew Myers to be here >> if they Okay, you won't be there. >> Both of me. >> Where you going this time? [laughter] So, And I and I was going to say if there's if there's a resolution or something that the city council wants to pass and that's something that we could then you know that that that would be just fine. Um and I know some cities are doing that and you know there's >> right >> that's that's perfectly appropriate if that's what we choose to do. >> I just think we should or we owe it to our residents to know to say we're we're addressing it with our representatives. We've asked them for answers. Here's what we're trying to do. And granted, it's not happening in our city. To our knowledge, we don't have any businesses. I'm assuming we don't have any of these operating here. We we still owe it to our residents to say, "We're trying to help. We're looking into it. We know it's wrong. We're reaching out to our representatives >> and we will be talking and like I said, I've I've talked to an um Johnson Stewart, our senator, and I've and we and I've already talked to Andrew about it because we also had a meeting um at Northwest League in December that um all of our representatives were there. We had Senator Limer, Senator John and Johnson Stewart. We had um Representative Meyers, Representative um Nidau, and Representative Robinson there. and we talked to all of those representatives. So, there's five people there that we've already talked to um expressing our concern regarding fraud reg um and other issues too. So, um and that's not the only issue in the state that that we need as a city need to be concerned about. So, um we'll put that on the um docket for February 18th or or or Okay. [laughter] Or or or [clears throat] Okay. >> The ne the next well we could do January 21st >> that you're going to be gone. Then February 2nd >> mayor's going to be gone. 18th >> Peter >> Peter. Um what about March 2nd? Are we going to have a full council March March 2? >> I [laughter] you know I I mean I work the first seven days very I cannot leave early. We start at 5. I'm going to be at 5:15. Okay, that's fine. >> You can agree to I don't like walking in late. It makes me feel bad. If you want to make the meeting at 5:15, I'm in. >> Okay, we'll do that. >> We can start at I mean, it's up to you. That's fine. >> If we want to start at 510. >> Yeah, that's fine. >> Just can't do it on the March 2nd. >> That'd be great. >> Sure. >> I kind of wonder why we're having the discussion if you're saying there's no way we can change your mind. I mean, >> no, I think but I think we could send out a resolution from our city. Um, and then that would also demonstrate what our concerns are, but I think it needs to be done in a more positive manner. That's all I'm saying. Okay. So, with that, we'll put that on the March 2nd work session. Um, don't think I have anything else. So, we can sit here. [laughter] Um, with that, so here's the other thing. I've only been doing this 24 years and I know that there's there's a lot of people with a lot more experience than me, but I can tell you that you're going to get a lot more accomplished with with honey than vinegar. You're going to get a lot more accomplished. You're going to be respected more. You're going to be listened to. Now, I don't think whether our our um whatever letter we send is going to make a change or not, I don't know. but the other one won't make a change. So that's just my opinion, but we'll talk about it on the second. Thank you for um all of your comments and bringing that up. So with that um is there a motion to adjurnn? >> So >> thank you. And is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Vickery. All those in favor signify with I. I. All those opposed. Motion passes by vote. >> We'll see you on the next meeting, the 21st. And then we