welcome to the m city council meeting for Tuesday April 9th at 7 o' can we rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the repblic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all all right well you say you wait till the last minute to say updates and stuff but I just want to say one thing right away uh our technical bonding Bill correction was passed out of the house this week so we're one step closer to hopefully getting that pass out the Senate and then signed and we can start using that 10.3 million so anyway wonderful update there uh we have the agenda do we have any amendments no am okay can I get a motion to approve the agenda I make a motion to approve the agenda okay and can I get a second second okay any other discussion all those in favor please say I I I those oppos all right the agenda is approved and we got the consent agenda does someone want to go through that um I can go through that um consent agenda 3 items a approved payment of claims B approved minutes from the March 26 2024 regular meeting C programmatic maintenance agreement storm water management facilities and Wetland buffers between the minihaha Creek Watershed district and the City of Mound okay got the consent agenda uh does anybody want to talk about any of those all right can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda yes like to make a motion to approve approve the consent agenda okay and can I get a second second any any other discussion you know what I'm sorry I do have a question Matt maybe you can answer um when I was reading through this maintenance agreement I'm just kind of wondering we got to pull it first oh I'm so sorry okay I I'll just I'll just ask you afterwards I just have a curious question about it okay so we're going to pull that uh item C so we're going to approve A and B and then we're going to pull C and then we'll talk about that second uh can I get a roll call please council member Larson I council member mck I council member Pew I council member Castellano I mayor h i okay those two are approved and go ahead with C Matt I read through all this and my question mostly is what perpetrated this I mean have you always been in congruence with them throughout or is this kind of a new thing so whenever whenever we're doing a project that needs a um storm water component to it we typically have to fill out an individual agreement for each one of those and so the everything that's in that agreement is are things that we should be doing already anyway as part of the ms4 the Swip um npds permits so we just wanted to have one single document so we don't have to track one for all of the the individual Pro I figured it was for ease but I was just curious if they were adding things or if it was just duplicit been part of their rules they're just we're just trying to stream okay that's great yep thank you okay any other discussion on that okay can I get a motion to approve uh 4 C on the consent agenda so moved okay can I get a second second okay any any other discussion all those in favor please say I I those oppos all right 4C is approved number five we got comments and suggestions from anybody that's the Topic's not on the agenda don't see anybody I'll give it a minute all right moving on we got number six orol Police Department activity report for March 2024 welcome thank you may Council and thank you for unreacting everything it all got fixed it sounds like wonderful sna his fingers it sounds like there was followup on on your guys' end too so things worked out good it heard it from a lot of angles so we got it taken care of so yeah um so I don't have that with me tonight I don't have the truly redacted copy but I did look through a lot of it um as far as uh March goes pretty consistent from last year I think we're actually down in numbers as far as calls for service our our scyth our self-initiated field activity remains higher um for usual that tends to Trend higher than our calls for service in the area um thefts and and mental health are kind of the Stark uh no bits on there that you'll see uh that we we were starting to see that increase we're getting close to Summer it's getting hot people are out and about um so we're going start seeing a smidge of an increase in that so I'll reiterate like I did before make sure people are locking up their their houses locking up their cars is a very safe Community but things happen people do find crime of opportunity and that's truly what we're kind of dealing with is petty crime of opportunity at this point so cool have any questions are you guys um I think last time maybe two meetings ago we were talking about like Staffing and all that stuff are you guys still like fully staffed and yes yeah actually we're looking to go plus one so so we're at that point now we actually just got a proof from a grant uh to add an additional uh party to our uh PD and I don't know I'm sure you guys are familiar maybe you're not but we'll be adding a k9 uh program to our team a non non uh physical apprehension dog it'll track and we can sniff we do all all sorts of fun stuff with it but it's not will not be a bite dog for a lack of a better way to put that so so we are we are transitioning to that now we're doing quite well with that we're our retention is very good and cool um people people seem to enjoy working here so cool all right great thank you appreciate it thanks all right got number seven 2024 lift station improvements bid approve bid review and approval thank you mayor and members of the council uh last Tuesday April 2nd we held uh bids for the 2024 lift station improvements project which it just remind you that's at the corner of Sunset Lane in um Sycamore and uh we actually got nine bids so that's very good result and the low bid was Whitmer construction for [Music] $399,800 they are a um responsible contractor and they've constructed several lift stations in the city before so we we do recommend awarding to them and then as part of the resolution in your packet that it also notes um authorizing direct purchase of generator um pumping equipment and control panel those items there so went through that pretty quick through any questions was it like 550 with the additional purchases I think um if we like if we go with with yeah so so one right around 154,000 for the additional items on there and then engineering on top of that yeah so but uh yeah so we were that their low bid was uh little over $160,000 dollar less than our estimates cool good job all right does anybody have any other questions feel like I'm going to ask you this every time but how many are left after this one 20 oh after this one three reconstructs and one re sweet wow all right got a resolution on page 850 someone wants to make that um can do that um I'd like to make a resolution accepting bid for 2024 lift station improvements city project number PW 2403 all right got a motion can I get a second second okay any other discussion all those in favor please say I I I those opposed all right that passes thanks all right number eight we got rental watercraft business license ordinance and fee schedule update so this is just a followup from two weeks ago um the ordinance looks a little bit different from last time it was here just um Kevin Kelly city clerk wanted to clarify vehicles that are uh Towing the boats and things to keep um to basically stick with the code and statute that we have licensed vehicles on the road versus um unlicensed ATVs or something that might be using city streets to access uh launches and then there's also a resolution for the fee schedule to put in place a $200 fee that will be annual um April 1 to March 31 so other than that I there's no real differences I don't know Scott if you had anything that you thought you needed to jump in on but otherwise it would just be a motion to approve the ordinance and then a second motion to approve the fee schedule resolution we would need to publish it in the paper and then it would go into to effect um as soon as it's been published and we will you will include that in letters that will then go out we were kind of waiting to send out letters from Andy to make sure that this was going to either pass or at least continue on in some form so so the only change to the fee schedule is adding in the 200 correct okay you know i' I've gone back and forth in this and I I just want to bring it up when last time I know I've talked to you a little bit about this Scott but you know I think it just do a perfect job at leveling the playing field for everybody but I still am questioning the two businesses that have gone through the process to get cup agreements and are already paying taxes to Mound if if they could be exempt from the $200 registration fee you know they employ a lot of firsttime kids for mound they've both been in business since 2013 longstanding businesses and I I just feel like they they're already contributing to our I guess what we're trying to improve on and that's getting everybody to kind of pay equally for our streets and everything I kind of feel like they've already done that so I want to talk about that a little bit um to see if I know I've kind of brought it up I don't know I feel like it would be something that would be easy to add an exemption for those that have gone through a cup agreement and have a brick and martar so the cup is not specific specific to what we're talking about here no I I understand but but they're already paying taxes to M where the other businesses are not I mean but hyp so then now we're kind of picking and choosing I mean legally is that even an option well um an example may be where a city may have a community swimming pool and would charge residents a different rate than they would charge non-residents mhm so there is precedent there because to um have you can have some differencing in be because of um of those say a business that has its its loc you know has its location whe was a brick and mortar or they're running a home occupation you know they're out of you know they citizens so to speak or resident uh businesses I mean you could use that same logic for that too well I think this only and and Jesse maybe you know this but I think it only has to do with two businesses and that's Metro lakes and Bay rentals I those are the only ones that have cups but then we also have at least one that is operating under a commercial license because like alen alas has a you they have boats in the water so I mean oh that's true yeah so I I guess to your to your question is you know you're kind of trying to figure out how local brick and mortars would work with this ordinance versus nonresident because I I I would I would just caution to I'm I don't want to say too much but I mean you know if depending on how you want to get into language on it you know usually it's resident versus non-resident um the two businesses we're talking about have brick and more ERS and cups for those businesses so I don't want to I would I would want to think carefully about creating a loophole accidentally um with the language in the ordinance well I would defer to Scott and that and thank you Jesse I I just wanted to bring it up one last time because I go back and forth on it your comment for me like resonated like leveling the playing field for everybody and I don't know since it's only I mean I want to say only $200 but like it kind of seems like that might give others a reason to say that the playing field isn't level if they have to pay and someone else didn't and I if if it was if I were like living in Mound in my business too I'm think it might it might be a good idea just to pay that so that everyone's on the same you know if it was $1,000 that's a little bit different but I don't know the ins and outs of an accidental loophole or anything you know well I just wanted to bring it up for discussion yeah so um I mean it would take some thought with regards to structuring because there are it it I think when it comes to non- business situations it's easy do you have a driver's license or utility bill shows where you live you're you know you know a citizen um businesses can be I mean they may have they may maybe they run out of uh what happens if they run out of uh Mound but they're they're registered agent in Long Lake you know and and so it's it's it gets there has to be some thought put into that how to make it work I do know that the discussion with regard I believe the discussion that we had prior is we wanted to have some type of fee enough to at least cover the ad administrative costs and not and that's what it was looking at it wasn't in effect trying to be I mean at this point to be skewed with regards to you pay taxes for the city you don't right and that's something that that did come up so I think I think um if we were looking at doing something staggered I wouldn't want to do it on the fly right here um it's something I want to take a look at um because like I said we want to make sure we do it right if if that's the direction you want to go well and this is also new maybe you know we may come up with all kinds of things that need to be looked at but I I just wanted to have one last conversation about because like I said I keep going back and forth and I kind of forgot the 200 fee is really to cover administrative costs so anybody else have any thoughts on that um just change the subject a little bit if I may um mayor and members of council just along with the change that uh uh Mr Kelly asked for with regards to making sure that the vehicles that are Towing are not are licensed and operable vehicles that can be on rways and and streets um I also added in a section besides some some other minor changes I added a section and under it's on page 853 D some objective standards for basis for denial so that which would be they have to the applicant has to be above 18 um they have to the applicant has failed to provide all they didn't require the the proper information um let's see the applicant provide misleading information the applicant is prohibited from doing it by law or they've and I I just I picked a number I said the applicant um um has had the license revoked the previous two years so we don't want you know I I pick two years in there we'll see how it works it can always be changed and these are just some of the standards it's if you take a look at it it does say including but not limited to so it just it helps provide staff at least some benchmarks they can use MH what was our original goal for like for this agenda item was it to amend the fee schedule today or not and then still continued discussion on finalizing language or just finalizing both I think the idea was with regard to the ordinance itself and the fee schedule my understanding was to have it um ready for adoption by the council okay guess we have it ready for the season because I I think that there's also a timing issue with regards to getting the Letters Out oh sure voting season start okay any other discussion do we want to keep the be the same for everybody yeah keep it at 200 okay all right well if there's no other discussion I'll take a motion to approve page 852 we're just doing these separate yeah okay uh I'd like to make a motion to app approve the ordinance on P page 852 all right any can I get a second second is that good enough Jesse I saw your face works for me yeah is that okay do we have to say it or it's identifiable all right we're doing the motion on H 852 got a second any other discussion all those in favor please say I I those opposed all right that passes then we got another one at 857 if someone wants to do that can do that okay uh I'd like to make a resolution um page 857 amending the fee scheduled for 2024 all right got a motion can I get a second second okay two seconds and uh any any other discussion all those in favor please say I I I I those opposed all right that passes too thank you what I was going to before we move on fully just to remind the council that in the packet is a letter from the lmcd regarding their ongoing licensing yeah um so I sent it out to everybody separately I I guess it's more informational than anything but they are are really requesting feedback or comments I think at some point probably a letter from either me or the or the city depending on on what we prefer uh I did re receive a letter from the chief of police yesterday supporting the CD's efforts so think they're just trying to make sure everybody knows what's going on um they said by the end of the month so I guess no real rush but if there's a comment you have otherwise like I said you can reach out to me directly we can do it here you prefer I just had one question on it I mean it's not it was pretty straightforward like you said reading it but the Port of Call like where would we have to declare what that's going to be for Mound and is like I don't know how people go about they have to make sure they know where that is and it's kind of interesting but it's going to be yeah interesting but that's that's generally the idea that they're going to be they being lmcd are going to be looking for the cities that are affected by this which believe there's 14 of them to determine where these business activities can take place I'm just curious if it's like you know each city has to have one or if it doesn't work like that and you know cities that have more Lakeshore have to have two and maybe someone doesn't have to have two I don't know not just yet it's I mean it's in draft form but I don't think that they quite know yet how how to work but um yeah it's it's interesting hearing some other cities talk about it and hear about some of the other launches I mean it's nice to know we're not the only ones dealing with it to to get this this feedback quickly too was was was good so I had a couple of questions too I was curious about the renewal license cost I don't know that they have any I I didn't wasn't sure if they did either and also I'm sure they've been working with alen alas on this but and this might be just about piloting but no watercraft in excess of 30 ft shall be rented on the lake so my understanding is it's going to be separate from their cuz the lmcd licenses alen Alma separately okay um we actually sign off on that through the lmcd actually just this week so that's a different type of permit but they so they are already taken care of that so I would guess this does not affect okay I mean a 30 foot boat isn't very big so yeah if you're renting it out for parties and things you probably have much bigger so okay that's great those were my questions thanks all right number nine we got storm sewer rate study mayor and councel so this item really is just um I want to bring this back just for kind of a discussion and an awareness um of kind of the uh as we navigate the long-term financial plan internally and the rate study um we've been working on that as you know for the past few months um so as we've been navigating that we've been um really doing a deep dive into to a lot of the city's financials kind of the and that includes um you know as part of this plan being proactive with capital planning that's like our buildings our vehicles our um you know our infrastructure like roads um our you know our water infrastructure our sewer and so we're doing we've been doing a deep dive into that we've been doing a deep dive into our debt schedule kind of our you know current debt future debt Tiff districts really trying to bring that all together and so um we've been meeting pretty pretty frequently over the LA past few weeks as our goal is to bring um bring it back to you at the beginning of May for the first review of of these documents and this will be kind of um that initial discussion um to show you what we what is in those documents but then there's going to be questions for you as well uh as as those documents continue to wrap up um and so I guess as part of this uh in your packet I did include a timeline kind of on those discussions and how we specifically got to the rate study um and the goal of both of these studies um and so I guess when I'm sitting in on those meetings and I know I'm newer to the city I'm learning a lot about kind of past decisions and what that means now and um I mean honestly I think you guys are in a tough place is hard you guys are having to make some really tough decisions because you know as you know our where our utilities are at right now they need to be brought back up to um operating in the positive we're we're and you already know all this it's it's we that's why we're doing these plans um I I guess the one thing when it comes to storm water and I'm very respectful of the decision that was made last fall not to do the study but I just wanted to bring back I guess a little bit more awareness cuz again when we talked about it last fall I didn't fully understand um that we are still leving for capital for the storm water on our general Levy so I guess before we bring it back to you in may I just wanted to make you aware that if we were to um present it that way it would for the next 10 years that um 1 to 2% would be part of the general Levy for Capital and that's your stor the storm water projects that we we need to cover on a yearly basis um that includes projects that are kind of preventative maintenance but also when we redo streets um you know kind of the cost associated with that so as in in the packet I kind of explain you know again past decisions to help residents with their utility bills um so again our our fund unfortunately is sitting in the negative 1 million and so we do need to get that sustainable again um I think regardless the plan will come back with a recommendation that we do need to increase it um we do need to we need to get that out of the hole um I don't know what that looks like yet that's kind of part of the again awareness piece tonight um one question I have is are we wanting to get that 1 to 2% off the general Levy um that essentially would reduce your kind of the general tax levy but again bringing that back into Enterprise fees that's potentially is G to affect your storm SE rates so one thing that happened in 2018 is I think we were we were at about $358 per quarter per bill that got put down to $3 a quarter and that's for I think every property and so again that's kind of why we saw that downward Trend and why we're we're not going to get any we're not going to get this way anytime soon if we stay there and so one I just wanted to create that awareness um and then I did provide some notes you know we have a 10year average debt payment of about 237,000 in that fund our storm rate revenue is only bringing in 140 how much are we spending on interest on the debt alone I that's okay I can get that for you I don't know off to it's yeah and so um yeah that's something I can definitely uh look at for you thanks but um so I guess as we're wrapping up a lot of the like the big items to to get these documents in front of you I guess my question is um one do we want to get that Capital cost off of the general Levy do we want to bring that back into the fee schedule and I guess the fees schedule is I I think ultimately we can come up with something internally as as far as where we think rates need to be to get us out of the hole I just don't know you know a lot of cities do an analysis as far as like commercial versus residential because commercial lots are generally a lot bigger and produce more storm water and so I just don't think you would get the like that Equity like who's paying for their the amount of storm water that they're producing and so I guess is you know it's a it's not an easy thing to ask I think one thing is Staff it would be nice you know to get this all done at once and just have it all right right away and so that's kind of my perspective um but I do understand too that that's a cost and so um I do believe you know with the studies that we've been doing I think you know internally we could figure out some sort of structure to get us out at least um but I don't know if it would be like that I don't know if we'd be able to create something that's truly capturing exactly like what everybody's producing as far as store mod and if it's going to be Equitable but I just wanted to bring that to your attention because we are getting closer to bringing those documents to you and I think I want them as far along as possible before we start asking questions about um you know where do we want franchise fee Revenue to start going in these and you know if we're putting franchise fees towards our water rate study or our rates or our utility funds you know how does that affect rates does that bring them down how much is it bring it down or if we put it towards our Levy how much how does that affect taxes so there's some decisions that will come back to you as far as shifting I don't know it'll help you visualize where everything's at but then we just need a little bit more guidance as far as um those the you know that extra Revenue you guys decided on and you know again different rate structures and how how you guys feel moving forward with kind of what they've put together so I guess tonight was about bringing awareness I would appreciate some guidance if you were willing like again you can keep it the same I just wanted to tell you that that's how it would show up if we didn't make any changes but I at least wanted to bring awareness that if you wanted any changes to that document before May that's kind of where I'm at um as far as what we could do and what we you know if you want to see things changed a little bit before that first meeting so Maggie we we've talked about this me and you but uh how normal is this how we're doing it now um that we're running in a deficit well that but then also that we're running it out of the levy um I mean it's not recommended that you do it long term that you're supporting your Enterprise funds with your general Levy like best practice is that you would support everything Enterprise by fees um because those are the users of the utility and they should be paying for that instead of on their taxes so typically with any Town Minnesota this isn't normal How We Do It um I mean it's not like I haven't seen like I've like I did work for a city once that had sewer debt that did pay sewer debt off the levy but the plan was always once that once the debt was done then they would pull it off it's it's not so much um for operations and capital um so I've seen cities do it but i' you know I've never um I but I've a lot of cities don't and so again the I think best practice and I think a financial adviser would advise to best practice is that you cover all of your Enterprise funds out of fee based like making sure your fees are covering your operations and and get rid of the debt yeah and get rid of Deb yeah so we went from 30 to 3 in was it 2018 2018 yeah so they cut it and then do you remember at that time how negative we were already I don't know um I just know when talking to Noah like by cutting I think the cuts that were made in 2018 um to I just know that the cuts that were made they just caught up this year I guess to 2024 like so the rates back then that were cut are now where they were then so it took six years for it to kind of get work so but long story short by by making some of those decisions are it just made both of our funds unsustainable and that's why we're seeing the big deficit that we're at right now and unfortunately we have to go door too right when we went door to door for everybody house in Mound the first thing well that can I drink my water and then why do I pay so much for water I can't drink right yeah so that's one of the big issues and you know next time people like us run for election you know don't overpromise and cut rates that you can't sustain so well and one thing I want to bring up to you is just BEC You know if if we're going to take this step uh any of these changes like we're we still have plenty of decisions to make with regards to rates and um again one of those will be what do we do with our franchise fee Revenue that we are that we approved um in 20 moving forward with early in their year so um you know if we're seeing the rates kind of higher than we want them to be the discussion will be do we want to take some of that excess Revenue that we're the new Revenue not excess new Revenue that we're going to be seeing and putting that towards our utilities to help keep our rates were at a better reable level yeah and and at a staff level too we've been talking about that as well you know we've been having discussions about the future of our you know uh Utility Billing as well you know we we need to consider that in this study do is it does that does that mean going monthly and if we did go monthly what does that mean and what do but it would make a lot more sense if this the the three were in one deal versus we keep the sewer out I mean I would say if to me and I'm just speaking more as like a financial thinker like um that's why we hired you yeah and again it's I think either way is doable I just think like again I understand it's money but it and I don't want I want to be really respectful and mindful of that I think when you are doing a deep dive like this and things you know for me I'm learning a lot about kind of how our funds are talking to each other and and kind of um kind of you know the nice thing is is is what we've been able to now capture our needs for the next 10 years um and visualize that again being proactive with maintaining our infrastructure replacing Vehicles responsibly making sure we're you know I think that's um kind of the responsible way of of managing assets and and your finances and so being able to visualize that and see how all of these documents are working together I think um by adding that other piece in in a sense you know it it's completing all of the whole vision of your finances again it's you don't have to do it but I'm thinking if you're if you actually do a deeper dive and you understand the storm water impacts of all these properties and you're setting your structures now um to set yourself up for a solid 10-year plan um I think that that that adds a lot of one it allows you to speak to your residents with hard data on hard topics um and again I think there is a way out of it without this study but again I think to me I'm just seeing like once we're done with all this work hard this analysis this hard work and connecting all of this data you'll have a solid plan for quite a while and these and I've worked on these plans in other cities it's it then just needs um I think every every few years you kind of do an assessment just to make sure assumptions are still on track but I mean you're doing the hard work now and you're producing a document that'll last well into the future that'll provide so much guidance for you and and again your residents will could ask um again where did how did you set these rates how did we get here where are we going and I guess I'm just again throwing out what I believe would be um would create like the best data possible for you know well into the future but again keeping in mind that there are other options as well um it it's just I don't know I guess I'm not really sure where else to go with it but um it was just something I wanted to create awareness to and um as we're kind of getting close to bringing you all together with the final drafts or preliminary drafts and so we're going to be talking with Ellers doing a couple workshops in May yep that's the tentative thought early May yep and actually one of them we're looking potentially at the in between meeting of April and May I think we have a 3-we buer right8 uh what's the DAT April 30th would be the extra Tuesday in between there okay so if it works for everybody and them and but you can't well I se treat the day before oh yeah you're just yeah well we'll shoot out days I I should be okay I think you have show the day before yeah it's just on my right eye so well well we want to make sure we have but um so obviously we talked about this back in November and we said no we don't want to do this yeah um but again you're convinced looking at what what you see in and going forward that you still think we should take this on we had the Seven Grand do the study have hard data we can bring it back and then most likely what that would eventually do is also separate that out from the levy side it saves what did you say 2% it's about 1 to 2% yeah I mean obviously there's still Le got a paid over there but um but it's actually kind of ripped the bandaid off just do it now is there any other way to do this without paying s grand um yeah like I said there's but without St stay in the same way uh I mean regardless we're going to have to we're going to have to figure out rate like different rates I just don't think it would include like right now we can't have all properties paying like commercial and residential paying the same fee and so we would have to figure out a structure internally over the next 10 years that at least gets us in a better spot than where we're at um I just don't know if that analysis will if we have the capability of doing it in a way that um analyzes like property sizes and um type of you know it would I think it would get us to where we need to be but it wouldn't be again that that in-depth analysis that makes it more Equitable between um I guess properties and I don't want to like scare the I don't want to like you know make that seem like a again like I just I don't know what I'm trying to say I'm it's possible yeah that we can find a fee structure that gets us in a more um uh that we sustainable I guess over time and gets us out of the hole um fees have to go up no matter what um we can't keep them at three I just uh again if we want something that is is taking again property size and storing like what these properties are producing for storm water into consideration so that they're paying for what they're producing I I think that's what the study would do I don't think we have the capacity to do that internally kind of like the franchise fee study where it gave us like three options to Y you know when we chose one and have a plan to look back on yeah so that that kind of did the same thing where it took property size into like what they were using into consideration and their demand on the system and you can't just piggy back on the water and the uh sewer the sewer right I mean you can't just piggy out back on the data from there or is that what they're going to do anyway but it still cost s Grand no uh water and sewer are more integrated together like they you sewer relies on water usage right this is more I think this analysis is more on what like more on storm Water Production which it doesn't have to do with kind of water use or so it's it's kind of its own it's its own animal that's why we didn't include it last time because we because we were able to say at that time I think it was discussed that it's they're not connected enough to like we can do it without it because it's not connected to Water and Sewer so really the big thing I'm hearing is you again this is what you're doing you're looking at all the data you're working with Ellers to figure out where we want to go and you're saying rip the bandid off now and just be done with keep it on the lobby side and move it over to the Enterprise side is one thing right yeah I mean what that's my recommendation is to move it over do that and then the other thing too all these franchise fees that we just talked about before my big deal is I don't want you know all our rates to go up I know we got to pay for it but I don't want to like go oh my God you know my you just doubled my rates again right so I wanted if we're going to do it we got to do it smartly and but with these franchise fees that we're pulling out of this pocket over here if we can use those like you said it's pretty versatile on what we can use those for MH we can you know potentially control our hikes in water slew or storm right yeah yeah yeah it's it's again that'll be part of the discussion kind of where that new Revenue will and we'll talk about it in the workshop so yeah Maggie you were saying that um on the levy side that we'll never really catch up with the levy to pay off the debt is it oh um um I don't if we didn't do anything if we didn't do anything you said if we keep it at three yeah I mean I'm kind of feeling like on page 879 there's those two paragraphs I think that you mentioned like what happened in 2018 so we're like stuck in clawback mode you know Frozen and and lowered rates right and I don't know what the interest is on that debt but I don't know I honestly don't know what any of you guys think about the opinion of spending 7,000 but to spend the 7,000 to get us to show us a plan we can reference to where we need to be I mean there a much greater benefit to the residents than actually $7,000 long term and I don't know like time is money too I mean I I would be in favor of having ERS do this study I mean Maggie and Essie and Noah have a lot to do and I don't know that this is should be at at the top of their plate too I mean they've got a lot of other stuff to do um it seems like it's having like you said conversely a negative it's having a negative effect on all of our funds until it gets made right yeah and I want to say too I I think you guys are in a tough position like this and and you know decisions from previous councils um like I understand why they were made um and so it's a tough situation because um you know you kind of have to redirect kind of some of some of the decisions and you have to um you kind of have to get the funds healthy again and and unfortunately the decisions that were made it's kind of where we're at we this is the reality of the situation and we have to um figure out a way I guess a way forward and it's it's a tough it's a tough decision because we have again our water at almost four like over four in the whole four million in the hole and we have our s our storm water over 1 million and so it's not easy to see that and but it's understanding that our general it again it's not sustainable long term we can't we can't keep on this path and you know that and that's why we're doing the study but I know it's not an easy decision and um I read over it and just made the like a little pros and cons list of you know spending that seven Grand and I mean we're get the rate study with options and then we can that doesn't mean that they're telling us what we're doing with it we get the study we get you know I don't know three options let's say and then we can pick you know just like we did with the franchise fees and can fine-tune it I mean you don't have to have a line in the sand about what you're doing with the rates just the minute that study comes back either but at least it gives us a plan you had mentioned you know if we didn't go up the 7,000 you had some options what what would those be incrementally getting back up to where we should be or what what are your thoughts yeah I think it would again it would be more of a staff analysis um you know what what are what's reasonable to get us out of the negative Trend um and get us healthy again I just don't think I just I don't think we can guarantee that the rates would be like that they would match what the properties are producing as far as storm water like I just I don't like an analysis would be more on track to to match um like what storm water is coming off of properties our goal I guess would just be to um get a structure in place that gets us where we need to be in the long term it wouldn't it wouldn't look at kind of the you know what each property is producing or into the storm system if that makes sense kind of similar to what our it'd be a big guess Water and Sewer yeah it would be like a guess well right now everybody's paying $3 so you're you don't feel comfortable saying okay businesses I don't care how big your business is you'll pay 320 and residents you'll pay 310 you don't feel comfortable making a decision that way I I again I think we can I think we can get somewhere like we can structure it in a way that will get us where we need to I just don't think it'll be it'll be more guessing and it'll get us out of the hole but it wouldn't be like if somebody was like a commercial business came to us and said why is my rate this I don't think I could say well you produce based on our analysis you produce this much into our system and therefore you need to pay this much to support the system um versus you know we would to say you know this is a structure we we establish because you know we have operating costs we have Capital costs we have debt costs that we need to cover and so this is the you know the structure that works to get us where we need to be I I don't it it just I think it depends on the philosophy like the way I usually see these structures set up is based on uh it's based on what these properties their impact Into the Storm sewer uh so like again like the property size and when when rain events happen there's calculations that kind of kind of assume how much water then is going to coming off of those properties into the storm system and so in this $7,000 Ellers would go look at every property in Mound and determine how much storm water I they're able to they're able to take property size into consideration kind of taking um pull the usage from all the properties in Mound right no not not not for storm water it's it's like a based on a algorithm that you can look at property size and I don't know if Matt knows well part of it in The Proposal here yeah I think it's just it's cons taking into consideration uh again property size and and based on kind of storm I think data kind of like rainfall like what those properties produce and their demand on the system property size and use too yeah I think it's like Demand on yeah what what kind of stress they put on the system I guess um based on how much storm water they likely produce but again I we can get there I it was more of just an awareness one that we are supporting it to that um again if we did take that off there is we can't keep the rates where they are we need to increase them and while while I know we can get there by you know coming up with something internally I just wanted to again bring the option that there is another option that Ellers could do a more comprehensive plan that would be take into consideration more more than I think staff could offer okay any other discussion on this is there a motion are you just looking for direction or um I mean I guess if we want to do a study the study would require a motion I guess I'm trying to in general get guidance on maybe do we want to see a long-term financial plan that takes that capital off of the general Levy um I would say yes but I mean I think either way we should give Maggie an opinion of which way we want to head just to get May on keep May on track right whether we do the additional study or not I mean I personally would vote that we do it okay but that's just me okay counc may Pew um yeah I I um I I want to make an informed decision and so the study I think brings more light to the decision but I think we we do need to um we need to to be aware of all of our options for this um well and one of the things too is that um maybe bringing the both documents as is is what we need to do and that'll maybe give you more of a visual of of how that 1 to 2% affects the general Levy over the 10 years and then um you talking about doing the study no I mean if you if if you if you are not for the study right now like maybe instead just bringing the documents as is and then I think so you could bring them to us you would see when we do our first meeting with Ellers what and then we could do a rate study after it yeah I mean is it too late I don't think it's too late but I think it would it would delay things a little bit more but at least it would provide you a visual of I guess more of a visual than I can give you tonight as to where things sit I mean maybe maybe again we can as a staff do an internal preliminary fee schedule what we think it is and how that affects utility rates um and I don't know I'm just throwing out some options um because I I think it is kind of hard for you guys at the moment um I'm sensing um because it it's hard to visualize I think where how that's affect affecting your general Levy and your rates but um okay cons m i mean we don't even know what ERS has done for us from the their last study so I'd rather listen to what they've got to present in May before Comm committing to another $77,000 for them sure and like to see other options possibly from you and Noah on what could possibly be done okay but but yeah I wouldn't I wouldn't want to make this decision to spend more taxpayer money until we at least have a initial conversation with Ellers yeah right Council M Lars I think you're doing a great job and I would trust what you would suggest without spending $7,000 I think uh there's other ways that we can reduce the debt in this city and I think we've asked for this before in the previous group what assets does the city hold right now that we do not need but we continue to pay insurance uh you know our liability insurance and do I dare say perhaps okay mayor Holt's good he just talked about that yeah yeah yeah are we going to talk about that we can yeah yeah I literally just talked about that today oh you did did I not hear it no oh I didn't talk to you about it no no yeah I'll talk to you about it in a minute oh in a minute okay let's do that I just think we have a lot of City owned property out there that we could put up for sale and I think we could at least put a major dent in my humble opinion uh in to this that we have and if you could quickly tell me if you know back in 2018 those were decisions being made obviously not by us none of us were on the council in 2018 right do you know what their philosophy was why they had it so low um I was it political reasons they wanted to get reelected or what was it I do know don't know offand all I know is I from conversations with staff I think that there was at the time residents who came forward um concerned about their utility rates and I think that was the solution at the time was to make those cuts um knowing that we'd be here and we' talked about this for a year well and that makes sense because when I campaigned in 2018 and went door too the first thing everyone said to me was the water rates were too high I mean consider instantly you know it's like 90% of the doors I knocked on that was your number one issue yeah I'm going to say that this Council made some hard decisions on the levy moving forward and I think we I think we have to make a tough decision here um whenever this comes up but we'll discuss this at a workshop is that what we're let's talk about that in a minute yes okay yes yeah so it'll come up and I and again even though um I think it was just good to kind of talk through this a little bit more um again I want to get you the best documents possible when we meet again and um so this has been helpful so just to confirm it sounds we're about half and half doing the study or not right if if we wait till the workshop of Ellers and we talk about this for two hours what they've come up with can we say oh by the way we don't like what you're did over here with you know how we're currently doing our our deal right with our storm water storm water sewer can we pivot and be like fine do the $7,000 study fix us whatever yeah I think it's always possible to do the stor monitor later later um just keeping in mind that things would likely get delayed um as far as as far as just getting the final final document done okay well let's I think that makes a lot of sense that why don't we see what they come up with finally mhm and then maybe we just add this as a addendum down the road yeah I think that's a good idea as long as you don't I mean I'm sure they'll take our money three months from now if they want to do another study so yeah and I and and I I do like getting it off of there and I do like making the hard decision we've already made a lot of these I don't like spend spending another seven Grand though but at the same point I want to trust your opinion too cuz you brought this back up after I did I I think it I mean it was kind of hard for me to do that but I I do want to be open and honest like and I want you all to be aware of you know I want you to get the documents that you want out of this and I want you to be comfortable with it is hard decisions that you guys have to make and so I want you to be comfortable as comfortable as you can be you know with this process and getting where we you know want to be in the end so um I think bringing it up was was very helpful for me and hopefully you know brought some a little bit more information to you and again we'll be meeting in probably end of April and I think that'll be a really good opportunity to to get a lot of that information to you and to ask more questions and kind of keep moving forward okay well we appreciate all your time and energy and we look forward to a couple weeks y thank you okay so now we got comments and reports from Council Members council member Pew um well I attended the uh glesby Center's uh board strategic planning session they're moving forward and um reshaping their vision and Mission so I think there's a bright future ahead good counc Larson uh I have nothing this time counc okay in tandem with Miss Miss Pew's comment as everybody's noticing they're making huge efforts and doing a lot of fundraisings at Gillespie and so we're going to be trying to keep those on social media to get people over there to all their events and they have a lot of them coming up so thank you to everybody for going don't finish house I was just going to say they did get um you know they have the bread shelf with the bakery stuff well Cub Food and Mac whatever the new store is meadus have um started contributing on a daily basis five days a week so they have lots of bread and some um Meats even from those new um donators to their program so people who are in need of stuff go over there and it's it's uh you know the revenues from it put your small but they're sign to them have like doubled can anybody do that or is that more anybody can go over they just ask you to make a donation oh okay yeah you I don't have anything all right um so I'll get to your comment okay I just asked for a workshop today didn't I um so what we're talking about big secret right um we we've talked about this before of we own this building that we're sitting in and we basically are about flat on it I mean in other words you know we we spend all this time doing all this energy in and out work on this for about a flat but it takes all their time and energy to run this place right now we do meet here um last time I checked we have an upstairs conference room at the our new building which we probably should have merged to there a long time ago the other thing too is we also have uh you know potentially the pack right at the high school I mean there's places we could beet um as you can see we have so many people here um and even when we don't that's about the same amount of people that could fit up there yeah um do we have to be on a nice bougie you know whatever we'll bring it up there if you want to if we don't we'll just sit in front of a table I don't I'm not really that worried about it um the tech and all that you know so what I want to say is I think we should probably Workshop that if that's something that we're interested in talking about if we're not it's a suggestion that I think me and you talked a while back yes that so more specifically talking about like what exactly we own this building Y and we own it because we used to be here now we're here for this that's it now there's other groups that use this and you know we do have contracts that would end if we did sell that type of thing um we we would I don't know take a guy guess what this thing's Worth right I've had our old Finance director run numbers on all the expenses that we have spent M uh dayto day month by month but then also you know there's out you know the up the elevator right was who even used it you know but there's you know that's a ton of money to fix that or maintain it there's light bulbs and snow plowing and this and that so it could be used for someone could just keep it the same way and rent out space someone could take it down and put some else here I mean there is issues with uh um zoning right um and how it's well there's not issu we'd have to change it right because it's it's zoned a certain way if you look at it kind of how we are and I think that we ran that by you no we're gonna we're going to run a by yes okay to see if that's so first thing I guess would be maybe a you conversation um second would be I think it'd be good to get this on a workshop just seeing if there's any I guess three of us have to agree on this yeah mean I'm open B workshopping it for sure like you said it's there's other places to meet but then like the tech aspect too you know got to figure all that out we can figure it out can we Workshop it just before a council meeting yeah that's on well remember not a separate day now we're going to be 6 o' not till May so it' be 5:00 well I'm thinking this is going to take a minute to get this is probably going a thing yeah can you put together a list of other properties that we could include in this Workshop bu proper put up for sale we've asked for that we've asked for that multiple times and didn't get this is before pardon me before Oh before I mean there are there's a lot of M land there's a lot of land out there parks that aren't used so the land remember we did do we did that was that last year that year before where we said if you're a neighboring property that we're we want to get rid of those so we've already kind of done some of that and these are the useless properties in between two people's properties right that's one thing we don't really have a ton of other just vacant land and correct me if I'm wrong but I don't know of a whole bunch of actual usable property that you can like build something on um beyond that other buildings I again I don't know where what you guys are thinking of but so you meant like workshopping like this property and others like just kind of getting I'm saying this one for sure but yeah we could add in other well I mean if you go on the property map there's a lot of property that mound owns so it would be interesting to kind of look that over you're talking about the ones in between everybody's houses well no but even like off 110 over there I guess they they are now building on that property but it would be I think you useful for us to acknowledge what all they are and to see if we have any opportunity okay Jesse you're going to had to pull what we did it was either last year the year before where we got we we already requested we don't want all these extra properties for no reason um even if there's an easement or something we'd still keep the easement but you here you neighbor you take it you own it you mow it mow it but they yeah so I think we did already do part of that and there was a ton on there yeah let me put a caution to this I think it's it makes sense to to look at your assets and get rid of assets that aren't valued but I remember being gone during the 80s and coming back and seeing how this city sort of divided up all those lots on Island Park into small Lots the Lots on Island Park are smaller than Lots in the City of Minneapolis and so I just want us to to be deliberative to set some standards once we find out what we have and not just say let's just sell it all I think we have to be um good stewards of what we sell I agree with that but I think a comprehensive look at just assess you got to look at it and then kind of pick I just don't want us to look and then start selling so we we did agree with that we did do it we already did it do you remember it you weren't there we did it within the last three years cuz I was here and we looked at there was a map and there was all the different in between properties and so we would not be subdividing those into a separate lot it would be the neighbor on this side this side this you know that's the only person that has interest between properties that's what I'm talking about we we have other proper we've already done that yeah so I'm just saying maybe you shoot it out to us what we already did yeah let take a look well is there anything left to do well that's the thing with the inet there no we already have a policy on how we get rid of so we just did that um you you here I think so I remember I don't remember what the lot was but we were all here for that right it was like the sealed bid thing about yeah how we get rid of there's two neighbors they if someone's not interested then the other party gets it or if they have a bidding war you know yeah yeah so you were here so we all did that last year we just all forgot about it um the other more meaningful Lots we don't have a lot of unless again you guys can come up with them but um we don't have a ton of like buildable properties per se that are actually like that we own yeah um anymore so these most of these are a little scratchy in between things and we came up with that policy last year so can you find that policy and email to us and then if we want to look into that deeper add that to the workshop as more of a discussion we can do that um again not saying tomorrow we're selling Centennial but I'm just saying it's it's something that we should probably look and we talk about it's paid off um there's a lot of money in this potentially worth something that we could take on all this you know we just talked about how much debt we got in all these different places so I think it's worth looking into and literally this is what we use it for what we're doing here and planning and Parks so um now we did have uh West Tonka Historical Society remember we did just sign a contract now made sure that the contract said that if we don't own this anymore I mean we'll give them a notice and you know we're respectful but uh as well as there's other you know groups in here and then the basement has a bunch of stuff from us that we'll have to move over there okay so okay um but yeah let's Workshop that do you want to shoot a day that we could figure that all out yes before meeting yep and um so we are moving to six and believe we decided to do that for the second meeting in May because it so it would line up better with our um the mountain Compass coming out which comes out the beginning of May so that we didn't want anybody to get a a notice a little too late but yeah so that would be the only caution I think somebody mentioned it but if we do get into that later into May we'll be if it's if it's before our council meeting it'll be 5:00 P p.m so but currently there aren't any May workshops on the books prior to either of our meetings that I can think of so okay I should mention too that we've talked about this in the Planning Commission and they have decided they're not going to move to 6 o' until they kind of get a track record on how it's gone for us oh so they'll consider it after we can give them some feedback on feedback from residents so they'll then look into it okay um so that's that so we'll do a workshop um the other thing we are going to do a workshop on is that next the fire thing next week April 23rd 6:m before our regular meeting Chief Peterson will be here to kind of talk about the future of Mound fire department he's been talking about it for years but especially as it relates to duty Crews and how we can continue to stay staffed in the way we are uh continue to recruit and um mostly just retain those who are on as people continue to look for new houses um our neighbors in Minista are are growing very quickly and there's been some of our members have have looked into moving into Woodland Cove and he's he's got a very good um presentation of seen it I think you'll all um be grateful for his time so we've been trying to get him on the books so that'll be 6 p.m uh April 23rd so I was in that meeting as well and we had a few of the other Mayors uh from the other towns what I said specifically was we Wen we're not doing anything until we get the five of us to talk about this in a workshop if you read the paper the other day sounds like other cities are moving and creating committees and stuff already I said specifically he was there and so was Peterson that we're not moving anything we're not even doing anything at all until we all talk about it the work you know the five of us so that's what this is and I unfortunately because he was out of town we would have done this about a month ago but it got pushed off because that's what worked for people so if you see that ad in the paper or the article um other cities starting their own Fire Commission or whatever um we're not there yet but hopefully we get there but we'll we'll see we'll see what we all want to do so um I'm going to meet with Council M McAn and Maggie uh Thursday morning we're going to talk about some options that you've come up with for a website kind of refresh and uh you know excited to do that so um and then last thing I don't want to talk all night here so just uh I'm looking at our Council priorities and um maybe next time we can kind of go through a little bit more in depth but uh if you guys remember kind of what we're trying to be doing I mean release the money for the 10.3 One Step Closer today um once we get that released design watermain workor that kind of thing uh get more money from the this year's bonding Bill working on it again we got the million from the the FED side um we never kind of went down the lobbyist route right so right now should I just kind of scratch that for this year I would say at this point it's probably too late in the session to consider it okay so I'm going to kind of scratch that out uh what another thing and again this is a number one of what we're talking about one was test for magines again we just talked about that we did that um our whole budget section we just kind of talked about with that a little bit uh we'll talk more obviously into this next month and stuff number three is communication with website and stuff we again just we're we're cranking through these things Facebook uh Instagram is another thing we're going to talk about uh Maggie correct me if I'm wrong but fire fire department uh liquor store did they introduce the city I know the fire department actually I think both of them did yeah both of okay so that's good so I'm going to take that off um the other thing is meet the staff uh Wednesday like a push on Facebook meet meet the city staff so I'm just trying to remember these things so we can get we're doing that we're kind of waiting to launch that with Instagram okay good uh newsletter get you know more pages Park feature that kind of thing uh digital newsletter which again we'll probably talk about with the new website um you know Skip I mean Public Works director you just put put an ad out Court enforcement we're always working on that mountain ciem of the Year tree light ceremony um you're going to be working on that with WCC email signatures I sell your email signature good job uh state of our water update that's number 11 we just did that uh development we are open for business our moratorium is off I just talked to Jesse um he's going to reach out we we had a couple groups that were interested in doing stuff like literally like the week before before we did that so I said well why don't you just call them and say hey we're we're open you know if you guys want to resubmit something um spe of leges so I anyway we can go through all that a little B but I'm just my point is it's only April and we've crushed through a good chunk of this so I think I'm happy with that if you guys want to add anything or talk about oh statute store a versus B we just talked about that and move the council meeting to six instead of seven number 18 so we've done a lot of these things so um pretty happy with that I I do have one request um yeah the the library when it closes we don't have a date yet but they're projecting it's going to be closed for about 15 months y um so I think I would like for us as a council to write to our one well soon we may have a second one um Canan County Commissioners as well as the facilities director um saying that we really think it's important there be a temporary location during the time that the library is closed and there is commercial space yep in the town that can accommodate them but I think we have to really push that that that's an absolute need um to have that um you know people have that access and because a lot of people go there and use the computer specifically as well as the you know getting the books is is something that can be done sort of remotely and by phone but if people need to use those computer sources resources that's not because they have a space where they're at so I'd like for us as a council to send a letter to those individuals and just you know I've had some conversation with Kevin can't remember who it was but they um it was about renting the old Tonka toy there's a spot in there that that would I don't know I mean they got to figure out if that works for them if they can afford it whatever but I know Jesse's had conversations too so we are making a little bit of noise but yeah it doesn't hurt for more people to say that uh uh commissioner Anderson yeah Kevin um is South South no he's he's the North Park he's the North Park okay he's part what is it it's a part of Mound um west of one Tim that's part of maple Gro and then the other part of M is part of six which is with minaka and other Lake Cities uh last thing I had a I had a meeting with the boys and girls club uh group um they keep saying mountain and I said well you is it it's like Ben TR isn't it like the next thing over it's it's on the border it's anyway but anyway we talked about that and they're kind of sprucing up their programs and stuff so was good to good to meet th those folks and it's a beautiful facility and I've never been there and I said well you should invite us all out sometime so I said well maybe we might do that so uh anything else you guys want to talk about not me all right uh do you got anything I would only add I believe commissioner Anderson is going to be here at for our next council meeting actually so that's Timely and um I didn't know how concerned you were with seeing I was the mayor walked in on me earlier trying to I was doing some mockups for uh signage down side it's it's really nothing impressive but uh I was asked to bring it back this me so I have it do you have it up yeah can you bring it up um basically uh Andy and I were out there in the winter and so that's the sign when you first come come in so we're trying to do something to basically add a zoom in oh yeah I can make that bigger sorry try to this is the first thing you see when you get into the to the parking lot so we're trying to do something like this to reference the code the license requirement get as much on there without being too wordy cuz um I mean really the point is to have something there and that way the police can enforce it uh that was the message we got was if you know even if people want to claim they haven't seen a sign you know you can point at it when there's not a clearly indicated marker there so we'll do something similar to um over in the park or sorry it's it's there's this would be if you're standing in the parking lot basically facing uh Surf Side park to to uh get more into the uh no soliciting portion of the code we're just trying to and then there's one smaller poll that was tough to just to show on a display really quickly it's going to look nicer but uh we don't the point is we're going to try to make it as obvious as possible without being really annoying um utilizing current signage spots so and not interfering with any sight lines tooo because it's kind of a tight little parking lot there so um otherwise I don't have anything great thanks yeah thanks and I agree that less is more just to show the code so the police can point at it and say it's right there hopefully all right if there's nothing else I'll take a motion to adjourn so moved all right uh can I get a second second okay any of the discussion all those in favor please say I I I those oppos all right we're [Music] adjourn