Uh, welcome to the June 17th, 2025 city council meeting. I hereby call the meeting to order. Uh members of the public may attend this meeting uh in person or may watch or listen remotely by viewing on channel 8 WCTV and at the city's website at weisetta.orgwv. Public comment during the public forum and or public hearing portions of the meeting may be provided in person at the meeting in advance or by logging into the team's call and raising your hand during the public hearing. When your name is called in the meeting, you will be seen and heard in our council chambers and on the cable channel and online and you'll be asked to unmute and then you may begin your comment. All public comments must include your full name and address. Next, we would uh if stand if you're able for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Um before uh we begin our formal agenda, I would like to address uh the deeply troubling acts of political violence that have recently impacted our state. In solemn recognition of former me Speaker Hortman, Senator Hoffman, and their families, and all who have been deeply impacted by these horrific acts, I ask that we observe a moment of silence. Thank you. Uh, next on the agenda is roll call. Uh, let the agenda reflect that all council members are present this evening. I will note earlier this evening in workshop the council uh discussed the following uh before this meeting. Discussion of our city leadership transition plan. Review of the draft 26 through35 capital improvement or CIP plan. Discussion of the 2024 excess reserves. Review and discussion of proposed amendments to chapter 803 subdivision ordinance and discussion of future workshop council topics. Uh next is to approve our agenda tonight. Uh, may I have a motion to approve the agenda as presented or does anyone want to make any changes? So moved. I have a second. Second. Further discussion. All in favor say I. I. That motion passes. Next on our agenda is the public forum. And just as a reminder to the members of the public in attendance tonight, if you're interested in speaking, see state your name, address, and indicate if you're representing a group and limit your comments to three minutes. If it is something that is on the agenda, uh, please fill out a form in the back of the room and hand it to staff. And those who are watching via Teams, please send a note via chat to staff and let them know what agenda item you'd like to speak about. And a reminder that we we require a camera to be turned on when we speak. We do have several items for the public forum tonight. The first, and many of you are here for this, is the swearing in of Jamie Baker. I'm just going to make a few introductory comments and I'm going to turn it over to city manager Dah. So, so Chief Jamie Baker was officially appointed as the new chief of police for the city of Wisetta effective June 1, 2025. She had been serving as interim police chief since December 24. She has a little over 20 years of law enforcement experience having been with the Weisetta Police Department for about three years becoming before becoming interim chief. And prior to that, Chief Baker had served in the Roseville Police Department going back all the way to 2001. And I'll start the conversation by selling saying welcome, but I'll turn over the formal process to city manager Dah. Mr. D. Thank you, mayor. Good evening, council. Good evening, uh, community members. So great to see so many people here tonight. Um, it's perhaps my greatest honor to administer the swearing in of the city of Wisetta's seventh police chief, Miss Jamie Baker, and continue our department's long-standing tradition of serving this community and Long Lake and keeping all of us safe through compassion, responsiveness, professionalism, and overall just community building. As the mayor mentioned, uh, briefly, I'm just going to go over a little bit of, uh, background. Chief Baker officially started as chief on June 1st uh and has been serving the city for more than three years. Uh more recently, she was um appointed the interim police chief since November of last year. When she started with the city, she was the first woman appointed to the police department's leadership team. Now she is our first woman chief. Before Weisetta and Long Lake, Chief Baker, as the mayor mentioned, served the city of Roseville for more than two decades. Uh some of her duties there and accomplishments including serving as a field training officer, uh being a background investigator, a uh detective uh specifically in family violence, uh including sex crimes and working with and advocating for victims, and also a patrol sergeant overseeing the crime scene team and the K9 unit. So, a variety diverse uh field set that Chief Baker has um significant experience in in Weisetta and Long Lake. Over the past several years, she's been tremendously successful in building relationships throughout the organization and community. She has hired impressive administrative staff, administration staff, and uh new officers in an incredibly challenging uh market for public safety uh recruitment. She has led proactive and efficient community policing here in Weisetta and Long Lake, especially in the busy season, and I can already see the positive results. A few observations about uh Chief Baker, and she's probably not going to like this uh because I know she uh doesn't like this thing as this kind of thing as much. Uh but we need to do this and I'm enjoying it. Don't let her calm demeanor fool you. She's tough as I mentioned before. She has proven leadership uh especially during crisises a variety of a lot of in Roseville and here. Um and a fun fact, she has a black belt in karate. So don't mess with her. I certainly don't will will not and have not. She will kick my butt. She's incredibly personable, a great communicator, and has a great sense of humor. Works well with everybody. Cares incredibly about each individual in the department. She strives for excellence and extremely collaborative, not only just within the department, but with me, her department heads, community members, and everyone really she that she comes across. She knows that she can't lead alone. She relies on her staff, leads on the community, and is well connected with chiefs all across the region. Mayor and council, I know that our amazing administrative staff, police officers, uh, retired Chief Mark Schultz, uh, Chief Baker's husband, Mike, uh, son Thomas would agree. We are proud, thrilled, excited, and grateful to have Jamie as our next police chief. So, with that, I'll administer the oath of office. Um, mayor and council, if you want to say any more uh any any more words, but we also want to let Jamie to uh say a few things as well. Um, and then I think if it's okay, mayor, maybe we'll stop and take some pictures, too. Yeah. No, that makes sense. Yeah, please. So, Chief Baker, if you could approach the podium, raise your right hand, and please repeat after me. I state your name. I, Jamie Baker, do solemnly swear do solemnly swear to support the Constitution of the United States to support the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the State of Minnesota the Constitution of the State of Minnesota and to discharge faithfully and to discharge faithfully the duties of the office of police chief. the duties of the office of police chief of the city of Weisetta, Minnesota. of the city of Weisetta, Minnesota. To the best of my judgment and ability. to the best of my judgment and ability. So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations. Next, before we uh before uh we all cry and and celebrate, uh we're going to have Jaime's husband, Mike, come up and do the badge pinning. Hey, Nice job. The floor is yours, Chief Baker. Thank you. I would just like to point out my husband has 24 years in law enforcement also, and that's the second time he's struggled to pin a badge on me. But you know, who's counting? Mayor, city council members, city manager Dole, thank you for this incredible opportunity to continue serving the citizens of Weisetta in a new capacity. It is truly an honor. The support this community gives, not only to me personally, but to the entire police department, is like anything I have never seen before. It is unique, constant, and deeply appreciated. We feel it every day, and it does make a difference. There are so many people I should thank for mentoring, supporting, and encouraging me along the way. The list is too long to name individually. I've been warned by other city staff that if I stand up here too long and talk, they will cut the mic just like in award shows. To the Wisea Police Department officers and staff, thank you. Thank you for the trust, your hard work, and your resiliency. Over the past year, we have experienced significant changes. Some exciting, some challenging, but through it all, you have shown up, stayed committed, and continued delivering the high level of service to our community. I couldn't ask for a better team of members to be a part of. To my family, thank you for always being my foundation. My son, who could not be here today with us, is currently serving in the US Navy. I am incredibly proud of you. You've always been an old soul, wise beyond your years, and you never once complained about the long hours and unpredictable schedule that has come with this career. Your quiet strength inspires me every day. To my husband, Mike, thank you for walking through the careers of law enforcement, and it hasn't always been easy. Just when we think that we've seen all and done everything, something else comes along to prove us wrong. But through it all, your unwavering support, shared understanding, and sense of humor has carried me through it all. This is a moment of pride, gratitude, and renewed purpose. I look forward to working alongside the members of the police department, our elected officials, our city leaders, and most importantly, the community we serve to continue building on what Weisetta is so special. Thank you. Thank you, Chief Baker. Just just hold there for one moment. I want to give uh council a chance to to weigh in and then we'll pause for pictures and and probably take a short recess to clear the room of your admirers. So So who would like to start? Go ahead, Council Member Parkill. Um, Chief Baker, it's been a pleasure getting to know you over the last few years and um, I think a woman leader is exactly what Weisetta needs. Um and and it's I know that coming from well let me just say that I think that uh women lead in general with their minds and their hearts and I think that's uh an incredible gift and that's going to be an incredible gift to our community. So good luck with your role. It's wonderful to know you and I wish you the most success. I'll weigh in too. It's it's decidedly nicer to call you chief rather than interim chief. Kind of stumble on those words at times. I too say that it's been wonderful to get to know you, especially when you were elevated to interim chief because when we interacted a lot more and really has been wonderful to get to know you, but you're leading a great group of people, many of whom are standing back there, I can tell you I always smile when I see one of the squad cars come cruising through my neighborhood. It gives me a good sense of safety. Uh we are a very police friendly town. I think you know that. Um we are privileged to have you all working for us and I think uh you all are probably blessed to have uh work in this kind of a city. So anyway, congratulations. Go ahead, Council Member McDonald. Thanks, Mayor. Uh, Jeep Baker, I want to wish you congratulations and um just acknowledge how well-earned this um big role is and um I know I'm incredibly proud, but I also want to just mention that the honor is truly ours and we're just so grateful to have you on the team. Well, Chief, um I'm very excited for you. I think the whole community is excited for you. Uh I think we're very lucky to have you as our chief. Um so congratulations. We look we look forward to working closely with you, especially knowing you to have such a really highly talented staff. So congratulations, Chief Baker. When I look out in this room, this, you know, fills my heart. I hope it does you as well about what small towns are all about. Um you know, and uh I'm I'm grateful for your leadership. I've enjoyed getting to know you, especially learning from you and expanding my knowledge about, you know, some of the regional stuff that we've done together. And I look forward to further uh work on that front in addition to our community. And and with that, just say welcome and and you know, the police force is in good hands, and we're grateful. And so with that, um we'll pause and allow for some pictures. Take a short recess for those of you who are here for this and and want to move on. That's fine. So we'll take a short recess for Go ahead. Uh, one quick thing. Sorry, mayor. Uh, for for those that are in the room and then also for those that are watching in the community, we are going to have a not really a meet and greet, but a community open house where people can come and say hi and and get to know Chief Baker a little bit more. Next Tuesday, 5:30 on the Panway, uh, there'll be refreshment. So, you know, even if you don't want to talk to the chief, you can get fed, but I think you'll want to because she's pretty awesome. So 5:30 pan away Tuesday next week. Okay. So pictures. Oh, go ahead. For the members of the police department, you need to stay for pictures. I know you guys are going to try to sneak on. You heard it from the chief. Get up here. So we'll pause for pictures and a recess. So go ahead. Come on. Please force come up for your picture, please. Uh with Jamie. Okay, we will return back in session here and we're still on the public forum and maybe just pause for one second for for Jeff to get back in here and I'll try to to get up. But um the next item on the public forum is the introduction of new employee Peter Zimmerman, our finance manager. Peter uh serves as our financial manager for the city of Weisetta, a position that he has held since March of 2025. He has extensive experience in public finance. Prior to his current role, uh Zimmerman worked as a senior accountant at Wright Henipin from August uh 2016 to March of 25. He's also held positions at the city of Orno, the city of Greenfield, the city of Victoria, and earlier in his career at Children's Heart Link. In additional to his professional finance role, uh this is actually the second staff member. Peter Zimmerman has experience in local government as a city council member and mayor. He is the current mayor um of Howard Lake. Is that right? Okay. And so, welcome. And I'm going to turn it over to city manager Dah for a formal introduction. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And actually, Deputy City Man Jagger is gonna make the uh intro. Sorry. Thank you. All good. All good. Um well, thanks for that overview. Um Mr. mayor. That's um some of what I was going to cover. The one thing I would just highlight is I think we're incredibly lucky to have found Pete. Um recruiting in the public finance world is very difficult. And so finding somebody who had public finance um experience is kind of finding a diamond in the rough these days. So I think we were really lucky to find him. And then on top of that, I feel personally lucky I've gotten to work with him. I actually he was my mayor when I w used to work for the city of Howard Lake. Wow. So, I've worked with him as my mayor and now um with him on staff um here in Weisetta. And I can say in both of those experiences um he's incredibly hardworking. He learns really fast. Um he asks great questions and he's super personable, which is really important for our values here with friendliness and teamwork. He fits right in. He makes a great addition to the team. And personally, I couldn't be more happy to have made such a good hire at a time that we're going to need to lean on him for so much finance expertise through our budget process when I go on maternity leave. Um, so I just want to welcome him to the team. He's a great addition. Um, and you'll get to know him a lot more throughout the budget process this year and in the years to come. So, just want to say welcome Pete and come on up. Good evening, mayor and council. Um, I don't have a whole lot to add after all of that, except for the fact that I can really clear a room obviously without even having to say a word. So, um, no, I'm really happy to be here. I've always admired Weisetta as a community. Um, and and looked at it as, you know, kind of a a place that I would want to work. And so, it was perfect for me jumping back into local government. So, I'm really happy to be here. Um, everyone's been very welcoming, even Kathy. Um, I made this transition really nice. I mean, I'm replacing a long-term employee, so that can be really tough, but everyone's made it really easy and very helpful. So, yeah, I'm just thrilled to be here. Welcome. Yeah. Uh, invite council to offer any commentary. Would like to start? Go ahead, Council Member Park. It's very nice to meet you tonight. It's first time. I'm not sure how we didn't pass cross paths earlier, but anyway, I wish you the best in your role. you seem to be fitting right in and uh enjoying yourself and it's going to be a nice ride especially with your additional responsibilities while um uh Aurora's out. Yeah, thank you. Others like to win just welcome. Thanks. Thanks for being here. Excited for you to get started and share some expertise. Really cool to know you guys have worked together in the past. Yeah. Yeah. I I think I'm part of the credit for bringing Aurora to Minnesota, so you're welcome for that. Thank you. Great. Yeah. Uh I I'll just say welcome and you know, um you're going to be a valued contributor and you are stepping in at a at a unique time where we're going to lean heavily on you and uh appreciate your service and I love the fact that you've been a council member, mayor, too. That adds an extra layer of perspective that I think will be really helpful. Yeah, it's weird being on this side of the JS, but I won't get too used to it. Thank you so much. Thanks. Thank you. Thanks, Pete. Okay, so the next item on the public forum is the presentation of the Centennial Home Awards by the Heritage Preservation Board. Uh the Centennial House Awards are a visible and annual celebration of Weisetta's commitment to its rich history and dedication of its residents in maintaining that legacy. Obviously, the goal is to honor the properties that have reached the 100red-year milestone to acknowledge the owners who play a crucial role in maintaining Weisetta's historic character and charm. And it's a way to encourage and appreciate those who preserve our architectural heritage. It's also an opportunity to recognize the work of our volunteers on the Heritage Preservation Board who play a significant role in this process and just another way that they work to identify, document, and evaluate historic resources and assist property owners in preservation efforts. So, I'm turning it over to you or to Mr. Sharp or uh Mr. Sharp. Okay, over to you, Mr. Sharp. Thank you, Mayor and Council. Uh, each year the city of Weisetta celebrates Heritage Preservation Month in part through two events. one, the mayor's award, which we've already completed, and then the secondarily through the Centennial Awards. And uh if the name hasn't already implied it, Centennial Awards are for homes and uh businesses that have reached 100 years old. We celebrate these as they preserve the community character, and we celebrate their owners as much for the dedication that it takes to take on the challenge of preserving a significantly older home than the average. With that, we'll go through uh properties. There we go. We'll go through uh the following properties. Um for those that are present uh for these properties, we'd ask that when your home or business is selected that you come up and receive your award. If you'd like to make any comments, you are more than welcome. We'll start with 165 Grove Lane. If 165 Grove Lane isn't present this evening, uh we will uh drop off the awards, the framed awards to the homes. So, uh we'll move through these, but I want to make sure that we linger on each one as we did make sure to uh create some unique art for each of these. 137 Huntington, 333 Wise Street, So, thank you very much. You're very welcome. 531 Central, 620 Bushway. Oh, that's cool. 728 Weisetta Boulevard, 8:15 Park. 1220 Wisetta Boulevard East. Thank you very much. Thank you. Please share some history. Couple just uh what's an honor. We had obviously the funeral home in Weisetta and uh the the Weber house kind of the back there was built well a 100 years ago and then in the late uh 50s uh it was made into a funeral home and a few years later than that my my father uh bought the business. So, uh, we've been serving the community for I think we're around 63 years and working with well like Mike Kelly and and the police department helping us get get to the cemeteries and it's just just been a honor to to uh live and work in this community. So, thank you very much. 367 Park Street. [Applause] I didn't realize there would be a painting. And it's really pretty and special. And um everyone knows if you know me that I love our 100-year-old home and um super proud to preserve it and really grateful to the Heritage Preservation Board for putting this on and supporting Boyetta's history. This is my husband Braden. He lives right here with me. And I don't want to speak for you if you have anything to add. No, he loves the house, too. To close out, I just want to thank the Heritage Preservation Board. Their work and dedication uh to helping us pull this all together and really put on uh some fun events. Their work plan this year is robust and we've got new staff that'll help us be able to get through a couple more items. So, this may not be the last that year from uh presentations from their work this year. So, thank you again. Anything you'd like to say or anything you'd like to say or are you okay? All right. Just why don't you give me the opportunity? Oh, thank you. Thank you very much. We're excited for the year ahead. Thank you. Thank you for coming. Enjoy your award. Lovely. Okay, Mr. City Manager, is there anyone on teams for this part of the agenda? Mr. Mayor, there is not. Okay. Um, just pause for one second and then we'll move to it. So, next is uh new agenda items. Uh does anyone have council on council have any new agenda items that they'd like to discuss or bring up tonight? Hearing none, we'll move on to the formal agenda uh which is first up the approval of the consent agenda which includes approval of city council workshop and regular minutes of May 20th and June 3rd. Approval of the uh check register, municipal licenses, police activity report, building activity report, panway dock modifications, and approval of city operations resilience plan. So, I would accept a motion for the consent agenda as presented or if any items need to be pulled. I'll move to accept the consent agenda as uh presented. Do I have a second? Second. Any further discussion? All in favor say I. I. I. Okay. Next is the public hearing. We have no items for the public hearing which then moves us along to new business. And first on that agenda uh section is considering speed hump installation petition of Babcock Lane. And I'm turning this over to Mr. Kelly or to Mr. Doll. Uh Mr. Mayor, uh Director Kelly is going to walk us through this one. Thank you, Mr. Kelly. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Council members, before you tonight, we have the consideration of a petition for the installation of speed humps on Babcock Lane. For reference, Babcock Lane is located on the west end of Weisetta Boulevard, directly across from the future moments of Weisetta, um highlighted as shown in the image on the screen. For a little background, our speed hump policy was put into place in 2005 uh and really set to uh provide a policy and procedure on how we might evaluate determinations for um speed hump installation really based on speed and cutth through concerns. In our policy, we lay out several criteria to determine whether or not a a request meets these criteria. I'm not going to go through them all. They were all in your packet. We then go into a more formal procedure of a request needs to be formally submitted via petition. That petition needs to include a support level of at least 50% of the affected properties. When I say affected properties, it's not just the properties that are in front of or adjacent to the speed humps. It's those properties that might be affected by a route impacted by the speed humps. Um staff then evaluates the request for support level and meeting the criteria. Once that's done, we notify the neighborhood so that they're aware that the the issue will be considered by the council. And then lastly, we bring it to you for your consideration. For this particular evaluation, it does not meet criteria one. Criteria one lays out that the average traffic volume should be less than 1500 vehicles but more than 200 in a 24-hour period. I have a little note there. Why do we have a lower threshold? Typically, communities implement a lower threshold because below that level, it might not be considered a speed or a volume concern. That being said, from May 28th to June 1st, public works installed a traffic counter along the roadway on the east end of Babcock Lane to observe traffic speeds and volumes. And during that five-day evaluation, the average eastbound, because that's the direction the sign was facing, was 65 vehicles per day. Knowing that we were only picking up one direction, not sure if it picks up the direction of cars leaving or going away from the sign, it could be assumed that the combination of east and westbound traffic is closer to 130 vehicles a day. Don't know that for sure. Eastbound for sure was 65. uh on average. Just for some additional information, the posted speed limit on Babcock Lane is 25 miles an hour and the average speed during our observation was 17. Based on past precedents that petitions have only been approved when they meet the guidelines, staff recommends denial of this particular request. Our proposed motion is on the screen and I'd be happy to stand for any questions. Uh questions of staff at this point. Go ahead, Council Member Pleish. Yep. So, as far as the criteria, one of the things that was mentioned that it needs to have at least 50% support by the affected neighbors. Uh I did note in the packet that 100% of the people living on Babcock Lane wanted this. There were a couple of other addresses around there, but I'm curious what area around Babcock would constitute 50% or more for this particular request and that's why it's before you. It is Babcock Lane as the rest of the neighborhood in this particular case have other options to access the entrance to Ferndale Road both via Lake View Lane and Elm Lane. Can you put the map up, Mike, just for context? because I I think I know what you're talking about, but I just want to make sure. Thanks. First slide. There you go. Perfect. Thank you. So, Westwood Lane, Birch Lane, Elm Lane, Highland Lane, and Lake View Lane each have other alter alternate routes out of the neighborhood and aren't necessarily impacted by the installation of speed humps on Babcock Lane. Okay. And you may not have an answer to this, but I'm curious. You know, 100% of the people want this on Babcock Lane, but you indicated traffic volume is well below the minimum threshold, and the average speed that was recorded is well below the speed limit. So, I'm curious what prompts this request. Why do people want this? We don't always get an explanation as to what the request is. Um, I've seen anecdotally that there's a request to deter commercial vehicles. I'm not sure exactly what that definition is. Could it be lawn vehicles or delivery vehicles? My opinion is that speed humps will not deter those types of vehicles. UPS, FedEx, Amazon are still going to need to drive up to the front door of properties where they're making a delivery. and if they're providing a lawn service to one of these Babcock properties, they're still going to use the street. So, I'm not sure exactly what the request is from. It didn't come with a letter that says here's our petition and why. It's primarily we want speed humps on our street. Yeah. Okay. And if I could further clarify, the request initially is for five speed humps on Babcock Lane. In my experience, I've I haven't seen more than three on a particular street, and they're usually spaced out per our our policy. Um, and in an effort to deter traffic, I've never seen more than three on a street. My recommendation just for you, so you can consider all options. If you were to approve this, my recommendation would be to three. However, because it doesn't meet criteria, my recommendation is to deny this petition. All right. Thank you. Other questions to staff? Um I'll go to Mr. Park and then Mr. Mr. Swornson. Um okay. So what other options do these people have to sort of curb um the speed that I mean we're saying 17 miles per hour. Obviously there's been a few instances of more or perception of more. Can if if we did not pursue this um what are their paths forward as far as can we put more signage, can we patrol it more, can we um I don't know what else. Council member Park Hill, council members, uh there aren't a whole lot of options as as I show in my uh evaluation. Our speed sign was out there for 5 days. We included the weekend. I'm not going to say there weren't any speeders. The highest speed along the roadway was 31. It happened twice. I assume it was by the same individual leaving for work between 5 and 6:00 in the morning. Um, most of the time the speeders are the neighborhood residents themselves. Um, with some of the other examples of speed hump locations in town, East Neighborhood and Ridgeview Drive, there were cutth through concerns because it was a bypass to get from one area to another, bypassing some larger intersections. I don't see that as a concern here. Um, the next issue that we're going to talk about, speed limit. Um, we are proposing a reduction in speed limit. However, their speed limit based on our evaluation is still lower than that proposed speed limit. um neighborhood signs. I think things that to your point, perception is one thing. We now have some data. We could put our speed sign out to gather longer term data, but I don't know that it would be much different. Thank you for some clarification, Mr. Sorenson. Um, so Mike, um, is there any situation where this would be considered like a cutth through environment? I I don't see it personally as a cutth through environment. I'm not I'm not sure overly what the concern is here for cutth through. Again, yeah, anecdotally, I've heard that it was commercial cut through, and I'm not sure exactly what that means. And I see in our policy, there was a comment along the lines of and speed humps could cause other issues and problems such as well they they're a challenge to maintain. We have to paint them every year. Our crews have to plow over and around them every year. That what most people don't understand a setup if we were to move forward here with three signs would require or three humps would require eight signs. Um so there there's just more stuff that comes with them. Um, as I mentioned in my memo, the installation of one hump uh cost the city about $2,500. Most communities um contract that out where it costs even more than that. Okay. Thank you. Other questions of staff? I I I have two questions and I I have three actually, but two I'm I'm concerned that you maybe you've already answered them and I missed it. So, I apologize, but how many speed humps are you looking at or is this asking for? The request, not so much on the petition. Again, I didn't didn't get a lot with it. Um is for four or five speed homes is what the neighborhood would prefer. Okay. Following up with them about their petition, it was requested four or five. My opinion if it were to be approved or move forward would be my recommendation would be three based on my experience and and the and the rest of the neighborhood is only notified once they're being put in. No, the neighbors were notified last week that this petition was being considered this evening. H how far away? The entire Highland neighborhood. Entire Highlands neighborhood. And everyone got that letter last week. Yes. And if I could just add, over the last several weeks, we've received three or four emails from various residents of the Highlands south of the request who aren't in favor of speed humps along Babcock Lane, even though it's and those all made it into our packet. They're not in the packet. They weren't really in a form where I could include just their comment. I happy to pass along names if you'd like, but well four separate because as I see it, every person on this street is in favor and that's my main concern is is is how this is going to affect the rest of the neighborhood. And and then one other just question specifically for you is what happens if this isn't working and there's maybe some regret what's the process to remove these? Good question. I'm going to start with who's responded with comments from the neighborhood. Uh Mr. Anderson from Birch Lane. Joe, Mr. Van Loy, exactly where he he is, Mr. Deckman that lives on Elm Lane and former mayor Ken Wilcox who lives on Westwood Lane. So that that's the first question. Thank you. The second question is how do we remove them if there is a regret? It's the same process. Petition process need to have 50% support for it to be considered. Exactly the same process for installation and removal. And again, there then is another cost for the city to then restore it back to the street that it was. Right. And you mentioned and uh council member Sorenson asked for examples too of um more problems than solutions with a situation like this. And one of the problems I scenario I could see happening is people avoid these roads. So then they go down other roads. That other road may take longer. So our instinct might be to drive faster on those other roads while you're taking the long way to avoid the speed humps. Um is that something you would think could be an issue? Absolutely. Uh, initially as part of this Babcock request, it was suggested that speed humps be placed on Elm Lane, which is I don't know if you can just I see just there to the souththeast of um the red line. I don't know if the cursor will show up on there. Um at the very right hand side. Um, it's a very short segment and my response to that was I don't feel that we have enough support. The petition hasn't gone out to enough people to determine whether or not they'd be in favor of that because of that very reason. Westwood Lane, Birch Lane, Lake View Lane, Elm Lane residents may use Elm Lane, and if speed dumps were to be placed there, they may choose to continue south to Lake View Lane. causing impacts down there, speeding volume. So unintended consequences. So for consideration of anywhere else in the neighborhood, I would want broader support because Babcock Lane is somewhat set aside, I feel that the most impacted people because those other residents of the neighborhood have a couple options without speedomes is the Babcock residents. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. Um just one one more quick question is do these residents understand um or know what's our next agenda item about lowering speed limits? Have they made aware of that? Yes. The petitioner that brought forward the petition for uh Babcock Lane was informed that this was going to be on the agenda as well as the speed limit issue. I I'm sorry. Could I have one more? Please. Um, do you feel that these residents would be open to us collecting a little more data? I I would think they would be fine with that. At the same time, we could do it without them needing to know. Understood. No, I know. It's just in fact, most of the times when we put up our speed signs for this purpose, they're blanked out. Most people drive by and think that it's not working, but yet it's still gathering data. Mostly traffic counts, but it is also gathering speed. That way, people can't artificially cheat the system, drive by too many times, drive fast past it, and see that they're speeding to influence the the counts. So, okay. Thank you. Hey, any any further questions? Oh, one more from Mr. Pleish. Well, it might be more than one. Uh, first off, how much does it cost to put these in and how much does it cost to take them out? It's per my memo, it's about $2,500 per hump to put them in. That includes the signage and the asphalt and the labor. Um, so for three speed dumps, it would be about $7,500. uh to remove them is probably I would probably say seven or $800 to to remove them per hump because again you're grinding out the hump itself and having to patch and then labor. And then I'm curious about they asked for five, you recommend three if we were to approve this. Do we have any kind of guideline about the distance between humps? Absolutely. It's in our policy. And what is that distance? it it can range anywhere between 250 ft and 350 ft. Just it depends on driveways and intersections and those types of things. Um if you were to look at some of our other neighborhoods, you might see them a little bit wider apart. If you go into our east neighborhood, uh Lake Street, Central Avenue, they're a little bit closer together. And that's just based on intersection location, driveway location, manhole location, because we can't put them over manholes, etc. Yeah, I'm still baffled why they want this because it's not a cut-th through street. I mean, nobody would take this street as a shortcut from anywhere in the neighborhood and it's a short street. So, I can't imagine speeds get too high and and the speed limits that you register were well below the speed limit. So, I I'm just baffled why they want this and they all do. So, I don't know. It's strange. Um, Mr. Doll, you wanted to offer a comment? Yeah, Mr. Mayor, council, just dovetailing off of um the this and some of the comments that council member McDonald had made. This uh request was a result of a neighborhood meeting that was had that was coordinated by the mayor and council member Sorenson was there as well and really was about traffic safety issues in that general area. One of the kind of the components of it was the Ferndale Weisetta Boulevard intersection which there's you know the Wisetta Boulevard corridor study. There's some things that we're working on with putting lighting around the stop signs. Um, and then there was a concern just within the residential streets. This was a tool that we we relayed to them. Uh, there's other still tools out there. We can look at the intersection of the Weisetta Boulevard and Elm and Ferndale. It's kind of wonky, but this is just one of a few tools that we suggested. um just overall traffic safety, but it doesn't mean we're not working on other things that are kind of related to this as well, like a a tool to fix what problem? Well, I think the problems were related to traffic like like volume and speed. And I think with this additional data and going through this process, we would question whether that is an actual concern on Babcock Lane, right? Yeah. Yeah. I was going to weigh in with similar comments. So, so in part the genesis of this was an a accident that occurred at the corner of Ferndale and Wisettto Boulevard where there was a distracted driver I believe is what the police report uh resulted but the neighborhood was concerned that it wasn't a distracted driver was speed but a crash happened and a car ended up in somebody's front yard and so that triggered sort of concern from the neighborhood about safety and traffic in general. So, we hosted a listing session. Um, Council Member Sorenson was there, I was there, and and several members of staff. What I heard is the most, I guess, broadly articulated concern was the speed coming from west to east. Uh, coming in from 112 on Weisettto Boulevard. When you go past the country club, it it reduces I speed it at least twice. Once 50 to 35. Okay. 50 to 35. But then then you come to this abrupt stop. Um, and then the intersection as designed isn't a standard four-way stop. You've got a yield, a yield, and then you've got these little pieces of land. And so, I think what I heard that was more broadly articulated was this intersection. Then that bled into, but we have broader uh traffic concerns about our neighborhood, not just Babcock Lane. And then one individual took it upon themselves to to begin the petition process because we made them aware of that. And then that triggered this request. So, um I I think you guys are all asking the right questions. You know what? Maybe not to confuse it, but just to maybe drill in a little deeper like from the concern about the intersection, what are we going to do? And then that plus maybe the speed thing that we're going to talk about next might alleviate some of the neighborhood concerns. So, what what are we thinking about doing or what can we do about the intersection? Yeah, I think there are handful of and I don't want to confuse the two issues. Yeah, but but but the neighborhood brought them together, but the speed hump's on hold for just a second. Um broader intersection, we're looking at lighted stop signs just as a um visual cue for motorists that are both approaching the intersection and get and at the intersection to know that it's a stop sign. Um, we're looking at the speed reduction uh that we'll be talking about here shortly. Uh, one of the things that I am planning to implement later this year as part of our mainline striping, I'm going to get rid of the passing lane that we have out there. You don't see a lot of people that do it, but Oh, more than you think. One one simple tool uh that we can put down with paint very simply. Um, broader long-term solutions are an intersection reconfiguration. um as part of our Weise Boulevard corridor study. Not sure exactly what that would be, but some considerations would be a modified four-way intersection, a roundabout, some of those types of things. So, that's what we've shared with uh the neighborhood as kind of short-term, medium-term, long-term solutions, as well as sharing tools for potential um modifications to their concerns within the neighborhood. Perfect. Thanks for that additional context. So maybe we bring it back to the council for discussion about how people are feeling about this. I think what's before us is a recommendation from staff to turn down the petition. We do have the uh ability if we choose to to go a different direction. So who would like to uh start that dialogue um at the DAS here? I can. Okay. Mr. Marco. Um, you know, I I believe I truly believe that there was there is some concerns um and um unfortunately I don't think there's any data that support um you know a consistent violation or consistent speeding or or a need for these bumps. I do believe that that intersection is rough. My son got in an an accident in that intersection. Um um so I feel like that maybe there is a broader picture here that it might be more helpful to look at. Um so I don't see um I don't see any reason to vary from the policy right now. Um, I think that uh I'm open and up for any more discussions related to it, but um I don't think that changing or going against the policy and going against the recommendation of staff is the right move right now. Thank you, Mr. Parkco. Who who would like to win us? Mr. Sornson. Yeah. Well, first of all, I think uh the mayor did um a nice job describing the neighborhood meeting. I mean in most conversation it kind of evolved into this topic but it was really more about boulevard which are I think there are some issues in the intersection which I think we'll talk about more at a at a later date. I also think um the city and staff and public works did a really nice job in responding. I mean we we listened to what they had to say. We took action. We we went out there and monitored counts and you monitor speed. Um, you know, we have many many streets in our community that are similar to this. Um, I mean, this seems this is a this is a perplexing one. Um, but I would I would tend to agree that um the case hasn't been made to really warrant um denying this motion. I think in favor of proving the motion to deny. If we had different type of information or more that would change our minds, I think might might look different. But um it just doesn't seem like uh there's enough information here to for us to um do anything but deny. McDonald. Sure. Thank you, Mayor. Um this is a perplexing uh agenda item. I I've been kind of struggling with this one. Um, and it's a small street with just a handful of residents, but uh, mainly because the neighborhood is in agreement and that's what they want. And it's not a cut through. So, I I don't feel like the rest of the neighbors are going to be impacted that much um, if at all. So, I I'm inclined to be okay with what they want. um fewer fewer speed humps. Um I don't think it's a budget buster and but I also would be okay with us um leaving that speed sign up a little longer. Sometimes seeing really is believing and when you have a a kid out in your front yard and you see an Amazon truck zip by so fast, that's real. And and I think we got a public comment saying that like it does just take one, which is, you know, of course so true, but maybe if um we gave that sign more than 5 days, we could go back with even stronger data that we probably say the same thing. The counts are incredibly low and the average speed limit is 17 miles an hour. You know, I would feel better um saying no to every single person on that block who is in complete unison of their wants um more comfortably than um just 5 days worth of data personally. So, I guess um I'm I'm open for a little bit of negotiating. I guess I I would I would vote in favor of this, but I also would be perfectly fine with studying it a little bit longer if we weren't comfortable moving forward as a group. Mr. Yeah, I'm kind of waited because I I really don't know what to think about this. When I read the packet and I saw that all eight of the people on that street wanted it, plus two others around the corner, I came here inclined to go ahead and just give it to them because it's their neighborhood. they have to deal with it and and they want it. Um but it doesn't meet our criteria and having been a uh a driver on the fire department, I can tell you the fire trucks don't like this at all. Um and um yeah, I'm perplexed about this. I just don't see why they really want it. I I wish I had some of these people say, "Well, here's why we want it." But they didn't give that to us. And and the reasons why I would think people would want speed humps, they don't seem to to make sense here. Uh, so again, I I'm not really sure where I want to go with this thing. Um, if we denied it tonight, would they be able to come back in a month or two or three and ask again or does it basically put it to bed? That's a good question, Council Member Fleckish. Uh, the I think we would allow them to come back. I think we would still need to see that they meet the criteria. The language of our uh policy is pretty straightforward that we really only consider approving these types of requests if they meet the criteria. Okay. Thank you. Um I have nothing further to add. I think you guys did an excellent job of of laying out the pros and the cons. So I think next we would look for a motion to either deny the petition as staff recommended or I would accept a motion in the other direction. So, is there any appetite for a little more data? Um, that's something I proposed. Um, sure, Mr. Mr. Kelly. Yeah, if I could just comment, I I'm happy to work with a couple with the members of the neighborhood to to gather more data if if that's what we all want. Um, again, I don't know that it's going to change the overall outcome of meeting our criteria, but it it's always good to have additional data so that we can make better decisions as we move forward. So, Council McDonald, I certainly would welcome if you'd like to make a motion uh to to to direct staff to to do that. I I would welcome that and see if there's support for it. Um, sure, I will. I just um not sure how I would create that motion out of this um to either approve or deny this petition. So um maybe I could get a little I was going to say uh Mr. Mayor, Council Member McDonald, we could either table the item or approve, deny with any kind of condition you wanted to add contingent upon, you know, um, consistent, uh, traffic data or something like that. Yeah. If I could just offer a suggestion. Um, in my experience, we've been through many requests for speed humps and it's not atypical for us to put out a speed sign for 5 days. That's a standard period. we've put it out for less. We've also had areas of town where one resident made a request and it doesn't meet the criteria. So to council member Pleish's comment, yes, we we've seen areas where uh the entire petition is for it, but it doesn't meet the criteria. Um my suggestion would be that we act on the speed hump request per the policy itself and if there is direction to gain additional speed hump or speed and traffic volume data that we make that suggestion or direction separately. Are you are you okay with that? So like we would we do up or down on on this and then we'd have a chance to then give additional feedback to staff. Mr. Sorenson. Yeah. Just one other comment. um the data we collected you know the the uh 130 plus or minus counts versus the threshold of 200 I mean that's like 65%. And the speed itself around 17 versus um 25 is about 65 5%. So I guess my point is we're not even getting close to the the max. Um I think if we were maybe more data might be helpful but I think in this case I'm not sure it would warrant it. Okay. So just to try to keep this moving along maybe um would accept a motion to approve or deny and then give an opportunity though after that to see if there's consensus to get some more data. Does that okay with everybody? Okay. So I would accept a motion to deny the petition. Um, I'll start there and see if there's uh support of that. I would like to make a motion to deny the petition for the installation of the speed humps on Babcock Lane. Is there a second for that? Second. Any further discussion? I'd like to just make one more note because I I'm going to vote against this motion. Uh, mostly because I'm having a really hard time just flat out saying no to every single person on the block. So, I just will put that out there because I think I know how these votes will go down. Well, thank you for that clarification. And if I can add to it, I know we're in the middle of a motion here, but kind of along your lines, we're about to vote on another motion to lower speed limits throughout the city. And uh if we did that, we would lower the speed limit on Babcock Lane as well from 25 to 20. And I'm just curious if you know if the speed limit currently is 25 and the average that we measured was 17. If we lowered it to 20, would the average come down even further? And the whole point of a speed hump is to lower speed, is it not? And I'm just wondering if we're we kind of got these in reverse order. I'm almost of the point of saying let's table it. Let's see if we pass the next motion and go back to the neighborhood and see what they think because I'm kind of also inclined to deny deny the proposed motion because all of the neighbors wanted it. I'm still perplexed why they do, but I'm kind of that mind. So, I'd almost like to see us table it and go back to the residents, assuming we pass the next motion, and see what they think about it. I don't know. It's my thoughts. Okay, so we have a motion and the second on the table. Um, I think we should just let that play out and then if it if it uh doesn't prevail, then we can come back and and and we'll still give an opportunity to ask for more data. Okay. So, we have a motion and a second to deny. Maybe just to keep it clean since we've entered this since 4:30. Roll call vote real quick and then we'll move on to more information or an alternative path. Council member Park Hill. I council member Pleish. I'm going to abstain on this one. Council member McDonald nay. Council member Sorenson I. Mayor Mullen I. So um it denies. Now let's give an opportunity to talk about additional information that might be helpful to the sum of everything we talked about. So you were kind of suggesting that Molly. Do you want to I mean council council member Swornson puts the numbers in pretty good perspective when he mentioned how much lower I mean he read the same numbers I did but just hearing them aloud to you is um you know like if this next item on our agenda passes perhaps um a new sign posted in their neighborhood could be something so that they see some movement or some action from us to um to um address their concerns. That would make me feel better. But frankly, a counter for another five days. I don't think I was just hoping some of that data would make them believe something differently than they believe, but that's not really fair. So, um, can we just post, if this next item passes, can we just post some new speed limit signs on their street? Well, we get to that in just a Why don't we see if we get there? Absolutely. That would be part of it. We'll talk about that in a minute. Any further comments about information, otherwise we'll move on to the next agenda item. hearing. None. I just want to reiterate that in addition to this uh you know hopefully uh the neighborhood will tune into this meeting and also recognize the other efforts that are being put forward for safety at the intersection uh that Mike and and Jeff articulated. So we're not ignoring the totality of your request and now we can move on to another related topic which is comprehensive speed reduction consideration for the whole city. Mr. Kelly, I'm guessing. Yeah, Mr. Mayor, uh, Director Kelly is going to walk through this one as well. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. My name is Mike Kelly, public works director for city of Isetta. Um, tonight before you, we have a fun topic. I know that uh we spoke with you very briefly at a workshop here recently. Um, to remind you, this is one of our uh key initiatives in our current uh strategic plan. Uh defining speed limits typically uh is based on the guidelines listed here. State statutes, the DOT policies and guidelines, a uniform of manual traffic manual and uniform traffic control devices and engineering judgment. Um recent changes to the statutes have allowed cities some additional flexibility and control in setting speed limits. I'm going to focus or I I'll say I focused on two in the memo. I'm going to shrink that down a little and focus on the one that I think best pertains to the city of Weisetta. If you have questions about the other, it's more of a laundry list based on definitions that are provided in the statute, residential, urban, district, those types of things. But I am going to focus more on subdivision H 5H. I wanted to put this map in front of you to show the wide variety of speed limits that we have around town. Um, there was a comment I heard Jeff mention one of the colors was slightly off. I tried to fix it in my presentation so that it's not confusing. And that had to do with the 20 mph speed limit that we're going to be discussing this evening. But as you can see, we have roadways that are 20 current neighborhoods that are 20. We have current neighborhoods that are 25. Our downtown areas are 30. Some of the approaching areas are 35. We have a Shoreline Drive that's 45 as it leaves uh County Road 15. And then we don't have any 50. 50 is Weisetta Boulevard out by the country club. Wide variety. We'll see this map again. Minnesota State Statute 16914 subdivision 5H is really what we're going to talk about tonight and I think offers us the most flexibility to move forward. Um what it says is that Weisetta has the ability to set speed limits without an engineering traffic study provided it's done in a consistent and understandable manner. We must, to Molly's point, erect the appropriate signs and we must develop a develop procedures on how to set those speed limits. And in developing those procedures, we must consider national urban speed limit guidance, crashes, and an ability to effectively communicate our change to the public. So, what we looked at, several of our communities around us uh have done research I wasn't going to go do a bunch of my own research, so I reviewed all of those to look through. They've all evaluated national trends and have since in implemented lower speed limits within their communities. Some of their those communities are Minneapolis, St. Paul, St. Anthony Village, St. Louis Park, Excelsier, and I believe Edina has it as well. um they looked at all those national trends and guidance and crashes within their communities. Thankfully, we haven't had as many crashes, but as referenced in the earlier item, there are crashes that happen and we know they happen and the primary reason the last line there that we consider lower traffic speeds is to minimize the number of crashes and the severity of those crashes. So based on the evaluation of our other communities documents as well as their resulting changes in speed limits, our recommendation is to use the similar methodology that they used in changing their speed limits which is that section uh 169.14 subdivision 5H. I think the best way to go about that is a category approach which is essentially low, medium, high to set speed limits within Weisetta. This is a similar approach that St. Louis Park used. Um 20 m an hour on our lower traffic roads, 25 on medium traffic roads, and then 30 or higher depending on the situation on high traffic roads. My suggestion is that just based on these categories and statutes that a citywide 20 mph speed limit unless it's post other posted otherwise could be implemented without significant study. In red here it says it should be noted we don't have jurisdiction over county and mindot those speed limits will stay the same. This is how our proposed speed limit map would then look under that scenario. Again, 20 mph citywide speed limit unless otherwise posted. I'm going to point out a couple. Shoreline Drive would remain at 45. Weetta Boulevard in front of the Country Club, I'm proposing to reduce from 50 to 45. That area in front of Babcock Lane would be reduced from 35 to 30. Weisetta Boulevard, Superior Boulevard, Eastman Lane, and our Eastern Frontage roads would be posted at 30 with everything else being 20. You might ask, Lake Street seems like a pretty busy street. Why Why wouldn't we consider that a higher speed limit? We've done some traffic counts and studies along Lake Street, and the speed posted is 30. The actual speed is closer to 24. I still feel that a 20 mph speed limit is appropriate along Lake Street. Again, in the interest of safety, minimizing crashes and severity of crashes. I've put the two side by side here. I know they're a little bit small. Really, all you have to do is just look at the change of colors. One on the left is our existing map. You can see there's such a wide variety of speed limits. What the one on the right offers is consistency and understanding. Not only for our motorists and visitors, but for our law enforcement to know that there's really only a couple speed limits that they need to be paying attention for. If we move forward with this, there's an implementation process. I've spoken with our attorney and he's indicated that provided we follow these steps per this statute in the manner that we've suggested in our memo we would meet the standard to move forward we have to change out our signs I've listed them here how we might do that we would start by contacting our adjacent agencies mindot and henipin county to ensure that any signs that needed to be updated on their roadways days as they approach ours are done first. Second would be anything more than 25 m an hour. As you saw, there are fewer of those throughout the community and then the 20 mph areas. We post those signs wherever it transitions from one speed limit to another. I'll use an example. Right here at Broadway Avenue, Wisetta Boulevard would be a 30 mph roadway as proposed. The neighborhoods on either side would be 20. So, as you turn the corner, you would see a 20 mph sign. And conversely, as you leave the neighborhood or city hall and get on to Weisetta Boulevard, you would see a 30 mph sign. We would need to post those transition areas. Lastly, kind of the icing on the cake, you would see a sign similar to what's depicted here on the slide, speed limit 20, unless otherwise posted citywide. Another thing that need we need to kind of throw into the equation is our traffic signals. Traffic signals are designed to operate at certain speed limits for the design of the roadway. We would need to update ours to make sure they were appropriate for the modifications that we're proposing and county as well. If there are any interactions that would change, they might need to update theirs. So, we would contact them and do that. Enforcement. The one thing that I'll mention just based on studies from other communities and um followup and research from a year or so more of data gathering the speed reduction in a lot of cases is very minimal but there is a reduction which is positive. So for example in St. Louis Park, they did a citywide 20 mph speed uh citywide and they saw a reduction in most cases where it was 25 before it is now 24. So, it's not a drastic change, but it is a change. So, I just want to let you know that people are going to drive how they feel comfortable on a lot of roadways unless we make modifications. back to the example of Ferndale Road Weisetta Boulevard intersection. If something changes there, people are likely uh to travel at slower speeds. Um but our focus is going to be on education of the speed limit through communication and outreach rather than enforcement to begin. I don't know that we have a lot of speeding issues throughout the community and we address them as they pop up and that I've spoken to Jamie about that and that's her intent. With all that said, staff recommends that we that the council approve a citywide 20 mph speed limit unless otherwise posted and direct staff to implement such reduced speed limits citywide in accordance with the procedures outlined in state statute and our memo. And I'm happy to take any questions that you may have. Russians have stopped. Mr. Pleish, I'm just curious what prompted this. I mean, the statute was passed in 2019. Why is it coming before us tonight? I I think it's been a topic that we've uh discussed on and off over the years and I think it really comes to a head when some issues arise a particular accident um a particular neighborhood and I don't know that it was any one thing but as we were discussing our uh strategic plan in 2023 for 2024 it was brought up as a topic of something to consider. So here we are 25 two years later that we're bringing it to your attention and after a little bit of research and evaluation feel that it's an appropriate modification. Okay. I I can't think of another question, but I just going to make a little observation and anecdote near my neighborhood. You the map showed uh Shoreline Drive is staying at 45, right? because that's what it is now and it's not one of our our streets. But here's the curiosity. If you come off Lake Street or Ferndale Road and you swing on to Shoreline Drive, there's no speed limit sign there. So the speed limit you're restricted to at that point is 30, right? But if you come off of Shoreline Drive from 15 for that entire stretch up until that intersection, it's 45. So, it's a confused street. You have to go 30 in one direction and you can go 45 in the other direction. So, it's not something we can fix, but the county should be aware of that. Yeah. And if I can clarify a little bit, I understand the concern. The city manages the roadway along the railroad tracks and what used to be the Blake School up to the ramps. We will provide as part of this process the appropriate signage so that people are informed of what the correct speed limits are and we'll place them where we feel that they are appropriate. Uh further questions of staff hearing. Oh, Mr. Senson. So, um have the has the police department weighed in on this? Yes, I've spoken with Jamie. I've shared our presentation and memo with her. Um she feels that If nothing else comes out of this, safety will be improved and consistency and understanding of speed limits throughout the community will be improved. I think we'll get more speeding tickets. Are you looking for more speeding tickets? Um, I don't know. I mean, as I mentioned before, I think people will still continue to use the roadways how they feel comfortable using them. And in some cases that means speeding. I'm not condoning speeding. I'm that's the reality. People that feel comfortable on a wide street with no curbs and nothing in the way, no trees are going to go faster just by default because they feel like they can. Um, this is an educational tool. I think it shows to our public and visitors that we prefer safety over speed and would are changing our speed limits to show that. Will there be se speed speeding? Yes, speeding will continue. Will it be reduced? I sure hope so. Further questions of staff, Mr. Parkill. Yeah. Um, first of all, I think safety is great. I, um, I'm glad you guys took a look at this. Did you guys consider 25 over 20? I mean, basically 20 is turning the town into one big school zone. seems aggressive. And was 25 an option for us coming down from 30? It was council member Park Hill. The question, the concern that I had and I'm sorry, I'm going to go to the comparison here. The challenge that we have, if you'll look at the map on the left, many of our neighborhoods as they exist today are 20. Changing speed limits to a consistent 25 would actually raise the speed limits in those neighborhoods. I didn't feel that that was appropriate. I felt if we were going to set the tone, we should maybe set the tone to the lower of those speed limits. So if you look at the Holdridge neighborhood, the Highraftoft neighborhood, um, and portions of other neighborhoods, they are currently at 20. So I chose the lower option and I I do feel that that's appropriate. Okay. Thank you for the rationale there. Yeah, as as we saw just as another example, Babcock Lane just recently it's at 25 and many people are traveling at less than. So, I'm hoping that that's similar in those other neighborhoods and I don't think that we'll have um a big concern from neighbors that the speed is slower. Okay. So, maybe if there's no further questions, bring it back to the council for comments, pluses and minuses on staff recommendation. Um who would like to start? I'll go first. Thank you, Council McDonald. Uh, you're welcome. I think uh I I support this. I I think it's kind of a no-brainer. If it makes the job of the police department easier, great. We one of our biggest guiding principles is walkability. And as a as a as a walker in town, um I I welcome it. I'm so surprised to see even my street is a 30 m per hour street. And when you're next to a car going that fast, it's quick. So, um, no issues. Thanks for bringing this to us and I'm going to vote in favor of it. Thank you. Who would like to weigh in next? Mr. Sson. Yeah. Um, I like the um the consistency and the simplicity of it. I think it would be positive thing for the police department and eventually for uh people who are driving cars here. Um you know a large part of me thinks there are experts at this the police and public safety and reaching out to other organizations that have done it and and others that have established policies through research etc are in a better position than us to make a decision about this. So, I I tend to rely on that a lot. Um, community safety is one of our top strategic initiatives and I think it supports that. So, I'd be I'd be largely in favor of this. Thank you. Anyone else like to weigh in? Yeah, I'm in favor of this, too. My own neighborhood is a 20 mile per hour neighborhood, so I'm kind of used to that myself. Uh, I think we might have maybe a couple of small unintended consequences from this, but I think they're relatively minor and it it is consistent uh for the city. It'll take a while, I think, for the city to get used to it. Uh, people ignore it or go back revert back to their habits, but um I think generally it's a pretty good idea. Thanks, Mr. Park Hill. Yeah, I uh I think 20 is pretty slow. Um, you know, as I said, it kind of relates to a school zone, which is really hard to drive that slow sometimes. But, um, I think I'm swayed to support this by the fact that little old Boy Road is at 30, which is absolutely crazy. And there's just inconsistency throughout the whole um, community. and to make it a consistent number and I understand your rationale that you don't want to go up anywhere. So I think the consistency is really important and I know that our police officers are very kind and they issue a lot of warnings. So um I think that with that in mind and the consistency in mind I am uh supporting this. I don't have anything further to add on the pros and cons. I think you guys summarized it uh well. I'll offer another comment though about the county roads. Um so in May uh the city held a listening session for the neighbors on the north side of 394 related to to the county and there's a lot of concerns around speed and safety and you got a school there and everything else. And while the net result wasn't to reduce the speed, I was surprised to see that there was an openness from the DOT and the county to consider it. I actually have never heard them say that before. Um I'm not saying they're committing to it. In no way, shape, or form did they express that they're going to reduce the speed. But it wasn't a hard no. And that that was encouraging to me. But in context, it's sort of the same thought process, which is, you know, you've got this county road where where certain segments of it, you know, merit maybe a higher speed. Certain segments of it when it goes through neighborhoods and schools, whatever need to be reduced. And so I think that in spirit is what this is accomplishing. It's standardizing and also an overall reduction in harmonization which really I think the core issue that I see with all this Mike is some of the examples you gave and you Mr. Plekish about you know the inconsistencies on the the roads that are higher speed like coming in from the country club like the example that you gave. I think those are the places where we really have more safety concerns than going from 25 to 20. But I support this and I think you've got everybody here saying we support it. So, I would I would move to a accept a proposed uh motion on approving uh staff's recommendation on a citywide uh speed reduction. So, move, Mr. Mayor. Do I have a second? Second. Any further discussion? All in favor say I. I. That passes. Thank you. Um yeah, thank you, Mr. Kelly. Uh next on our uh agenda is review of the 24 to 26 strategic plan progress report. And I believe this is going to uh deputy manager Joerger. Thank you, Mayor and Council. Sorry for the old PowerPoint template. You're you're going all over the place. Um but this is our update number two, and I think it's really well timed. The council next week will convene for strategic planning. Um and so I wanted to be sure that both in the packet and on the website, we got you a good status update on status update on where are we today on all of these initiatives. Um, so like Director Kelly mentioned, we met back in 2023. Um, well, uh, and the council adopted um, our 2024 to 2026 strategic plan. Um, the first update on our progress report was last in August. So, we're we were definitely due for um, a progress report update. I'm not going to cover every single thing in the strategic plan because there's a lot in there. I'm going to just try to highlight some of the things I think that have either changed since the last update or I think are matters that the community would probably be like what's the status of that or if they heard about it they'd want to know about. Um so just in general a couple things I want to highlight. We have three strategic priorities. We have desired outcomes and targets and those are really to for us to track and say how do we know if we're making progress on that initiative. And then we have strategic initiatives which are really the tasks. What what did we say we're going to do that we think might move the needle towards that overall goal. So we have three strategic priorities. The first is to diversify revenue. The second is to achieve and sustain operational excellence and the third is to sustain community character and safety. So just as a highle overview on diversifying revenue progress on our targets, one of the main overall goals is that we're looking for new revenue sources to meet our growing needs while minimizing the impact on our residents. So we're looking at things like decreasing the percent of revenue that's coming from property taxes, maximizing our enterprises, things like that. Um, since we've been following this plan and had our eye on that, um, we've actually increased, um, transfers from our liquor operation to our general fund about 13%. Um, our marina revenues have increased about 6% over the last couple of years. We've looked at fee increases that are about 5% of an increase. So, we're looking at different methods um, to um, improve those other revenue sources. Some other examples of that um are in our strategic initiatives. We had a project to assess our fee and fine schedule. Um one of those new fees that we put in place was to charge a fee for ticketed events that are happening on on public land. That's a new concept of that we discussed as part of the special event ordinance. Um, but that's something new that we're trying out to try and maximize if you're using public land, how do we produce a public benefit back to our residents. Um, additionally, we're exploring other outside sources. So, we are looking at at some point pursuing a food and beverage sales tax. While there's been a moratorum in place, um, over this last year, we've been meeting with the um, what is that? A business council. We've had a couple of open houses. And so at some point, you know, that moratorum has now been lifted. So should that remain a legislative priority of the council, we'll continue to pursue that as a way to bring in outside dollars um into this community. Um similarly, we've been pursuing state bonding. I've marked it as we're off track. We haven't been successful the last couple of legislative sessions um in some of the requests we're making, but you don't ask, you don't get. So, um I think that's a fair strategy that we continue moving forward with. On our operational excellence, strategic priority, a couple of things that I would um highlight because we have a lot of different areas looking at our customer service technology, managing risks, um having good communication and seamlessly implemented services are kind of some of the what we're thinking of operational excellence looks like. Um, I would say some of the things that you can even see in this building, um, when we're addressing deferred maintenance on our, um, city facilities, we're in the midst and nearing the end of replacing all the windows on this building, which was a big multi-year project. We'll be we're already thrilled with where we have replaced those windows that they're no longer leaking. So, it's an investment that was worth making. So, we're on track to better our deferred maintenance. Um we've got two of our three succession plans um in place. Our turnover has been reducing and we've got a reduction um in employees saying that they would leave the city due to high workloads. So of the things that we're tracking, we think we're making progress on kind of our internal operational excellence. A couple other initiatives that we've kind of completed um since your last update. We've got those um work plans in place for our um boards and commissions. Um we've implemented NEOGV which is an HR recruitment software that we basically are employ like prospective employees apply for and we've seen our applications go up more than 60% since we've switched to that. So, it's very impressive the difference that just having the right technology makes in making sure we're getting the best hires. Um, we've also transitioned our phone system. Um, and then the last thing that I would say just because it's very timely that we talked about recently, we um are looking at rolling out a 360 review process for our directors. we've now got that plan all the way mapped out, ready to go, but due to transition in the city manager, um that's the person who would be reviewing those directors. So, we've kind of put that on hold, but it's kind of it's a plan that's ready to launch as soon as we've got the right leader in place. Um, a couple other things that I would say is we've made some big progress on our website in terms of accessibility and transparency. We've already put kind of what I would say is phase one of some ADA improvements. Future ones will be coming in the next year or so. You'll see some of that as part of the budget process. As well as the police department had a goal of we want to be more transparent, make sure our policy manual is posted and that has been posted on their website. So, some good progress there. Um, and then in public works, they had a goal to create um basically a maintenance and operation manual and that's been completed as well. And lastly um on um oh that should say um community character and safety not operational effectiveness. Um but some of the areas here that we're looking at is um a after that last strategic planning session there was a real focus on we need to focus on our residents um not just visitors. And so looking at community character, community well-being and safety, full range of housing options. How do we kind of rep prioritize that focus? So, a couple of things that we've um done to work towards that is we established that public art committee and even started dedicating funds towards that. So, that committee's meeting now um and we'll be working towards kind of some eventual outcomes um that they'll recommend. Um we're working on implementing some of the recommendations from the Weisetta Boulevard corridor study. So, making some changes to the Broadway signal. Um there's been some recent meetings with Henipin County um on some changes that they would make to Weisetta Boulevard that we're working through. We don't have those steps exactly, but we've seen progress on that. There was also a piece where we were looking at controlling cannabis licensing and the safe sale in our community. Um the state rulem now has been in place and we've got our ordinances in place as well. So as soon as those licenses are allowed to be in place, we're ready to go. So we've made progress there. Um we've also seen an increase when we know people talk about our thriving commercial core. Um one area that we've kind of we don't have control over but we've been monitoring progress is the occupancy rate in the prominade. Um and since 2021 since we've been tracking this um it we've seen the occupancy rate increase 12%. So, I think there's still room to go there, but wanted to report that we are seeing some improvement in that area. We're on track for nearly all of the specific initiatives in this area. A couple that I'll highlight where we've made some progress. Clapri Park is on track. We've awarded bids. That's going to be done in 2025. Um the vacation rental ordinance has gotten a lot of discussion and and um I think we'll be There will be updates brought back to the council. So then that initiative will be wrapped up. The special event ordinance has now been adopted and has been in place. Um and like I mentioned the public art committee. The last item you just considered was to complete a speed limit study. So that's now completed as well. Um and we've kind of closed the door on exploring municipal cannabis. But we did do our due diligence, looked at that, and then the council in January said this is not the right time. we're not going to take any action. So, there's been a lot of movement on our strategic plan in the last year and there's much more detail on that and examples, but those are a couple of highlights. So, if you're just curious, overall, where do we sit? In terms of our targets, 51% of those are on track or completed. And of our initiatives, we're even further where um 77% of those are either on track or already completed. We will be putting this um on our website so anybody can take a look at it, see how we're doing, and then like I mentioned earlier, the council is going to convene next week and kind of do a status check, see if there are things on here, if there's still a priority, if there are new things to be added, things like that. But this is kind of where we are today. And I'm happy to answer any questions. Okay, questions of staff. Go ahead, Mr. Pish. Not really a question. I'd just like to point out uh something that's not quite accurate. Uh we don't yet have a public art committee. We have a public art steering committee, correct? Which is going to come before council to say this is what the public art committee should look like. Very good point. Um I have a question and it may be directed to city manager. I'm not sure. So, um, at the request of Chair Schuly of the Park and Trails Board, um, I organized a meeting with Marge Beard and Bo Carlson at Three Rivers. And the purpose of the meeting was to get educated on different ways other cities are attacking ongoing funding sources for parks. And something that was new to me, it maybe not new to others, was this whole concept of franchise fees being eligible to fund park and trails. Can you just articulate a little bit on that one because I think that'd be an interesting one to talk about at our off-site given our workshop meeting where we've got red, you know, in that line item and just wanted Could you take that one, Jeeoff? Yeah, sure. Happy to. And uh uh Miss Jagger can chime in too because she's uh worked with that as well. She just wasn't in that meeting so I didn't want to put her on the spot. Yeah. Um the meeting was great because there there are a lot of opportunities to increase and diversify funding for parks or other things. This was predominantly for parks. Uh it was reaffirming because a lot of the stuff we're already exploring or have explored, but something that we've brought to the council in the past few years, but really hasn't because of other priorities um gained traction is a franchise fee. It's still a tax, make no mistake about it, but it's a different type of tax and it can be allocated specifically for parks or something else. That was a new piece of information to me. I knew about the franchise fee. didn't know that parks was an eligible recipient of said funding. Right. So, I think it's definitely something that we'd love to talk to you about in the strategic planning session. Okay. Thank you for that clarification. Any other questions of staff? Okay. Uh, no motion required on this, I don't believe. So, then we move on to city managers report and discussion items. Mr. City Manager. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. A couple events that I would like to just remind the council, staff, and community about. I'll start just in uh sequential order here. Uh this Wednesday, so tomorrow evening, is our first um music in the park event or music at the depot. We have the Jesse Street band performing. It's from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. So hopefully we'll have decent weather, which we haven't had really yet this summer. Uh so everyone come out. Uh the Rotary sponsors it. So the proceeds uh made at the event ultimately go back to the Rotary and all their important causes. Uh this weekend we have of course the Wisetta Art Experience. Uh that starts June 21st and June over uh to to June 22nd, Saturday and Sunday. Uh Saturday it's from 10 to 6:00 p.m. generally and Sunday it's from 10 to 4. So it's going to be a busy weekend in town. It's going to be hot. Uh I I hear it's going to be in the 90s. So drink a lot of water. Of course, there's going to be live music, food trucks, uh beer, beer and wine tent, uh activity zone for families, uh 150 plus art related vendors from all over the gamut of of the artistic world. Uh specifically, there's going to be a boat light parade on Saturday at 9:30, uh when it gets dark. That'll be really cool. And then some sailboat rides on Sunday. So, a lot of stuff going on. And then in the evening um at the uh Boat Works property, actually on the east side in the smaller area uh near the boat landing is going to be uh concerts um Friday and Saturday night. Right, Mike? EDM. EDM. Yes. So, get out there, get your glow sticks, and have a good time. Uh all that information uh both uh for the art experience and the concert is on the chamber's website. So go there to get more information. Um next I also wanted to remind the the council and the community about the open house for uh Chief Baker. That's at 5:30 to 6:30 on the Panway Plaza next Tuesday, June 24th. And then after that, the council uh is planning a a brief workshop as well. It'll be public notice and that will be for continued discussion about our leadership transition plan. Finally, uh a lot going on. So, but one more thing I wanted to mention and this is not an event but I wanted to uh provide special kind of recognition of a a dear friend and service uh uh someone who served the community in in uh many facets for a long time. This is the last meeting that will be televised by our um cable visual audio coordinator uh Fred Miller. Uh Fred Miller has served us with the with various creative skills uh as well as broadcasting these meetings as well as planning commission and other meetings as assigned for more than 13 years. While being a a private contractor, he has really been more of an extension of city staff and our city family. If you've seen any graphics through the years, pictures, images on any of our city media, whether it's our website, cable, you know, portal, all those things, more than likely Fred had something to do with it. Um, for me personally, I think that some of the most memorable achievements have been seeing Fred's photography, uh, which is amazing. Very, he's very talented at that. And some of the videos that he put together uh for some of our big events, things that come to mind are the uh Light Up the Lake Festival um and then Mayor Wilcox's going away party during COVID when everything had to be, you know, through video. Fred, you have been a reliable, responsible, responsive, creative, and incredibly fun to work with uh team member. And for that, we are grateful for your service. I'm looking at you because I know Fred's watching the uh video. I almost wish he'd flicking the lights off and on or something. Hey, Fred. And while it's Fred's uh last uh meeting that he's broadcasting, uh I am excited that he still is going to be working with us uh doing some specialty media uh coverages such as the mayor's quarterly show, Mayor About Town, and who knows what else. So, just in summary, Fred, thank you for your great work over the years. We really appreciate you. Yeah. Well said, Mr. Dah. Uh, Fred, I mean, you're downstairs. Thank you. Um, you know, it feels like you don't don't eat the pizza all at once. But, uh, I want to echo your comments. I mean, I I I like many of us have had a chance to work with Fred numerous times over the years. I actually got to work on a documentary um, with him around the 9/11 memorial, which was really special work. And what I would say about Fred is he's an amazing storyteller. And um this work of operationally organizing these meetings and and is not a true representation of of of Fred's gift. And uh I I really am excited that he's going to stay involved as a storyteller for the city of Wisetta in a number of different ways. And uh I'm excited about that. And so Fred, you don't get to escape too quickly. You probably won't miss the drive too much after you you get distanced from this. you live a fair fair amount away. So, thank you. And anyone else certainly chime in about Fred if you'd like to. Okay. Um, last comment that I'd like to make is, you know, it was announced uh in the last week or so that, you know, city manager Dah is is moving on to another community and uh we're going to have a formal way to recognize Jeff. So, that's not the purpose of of me commenting on it tonight, but just wanted to recognize that, Jeff. And thank you for your over nine years of service. And um since it's in the public domain, I thought it was just appropriate to close the meeting with that acknowledgement and an expression of gratitude for your service. And you're not going to get off off the hook here of making a speech. You'll get to get make several, I'm sure, in the next uh month or so. Um but anyone else certainly can weigh in as well, but thanks Mr. Mayor. I really appreciate it. Okay. With hearing nothing else, I would accept a motion to adjourn our meeting. Not all at once. So moved, Mr. Mayor. Okay. Do we have a second? Second. Further discussion. All in favor say I. I. I. The meeting is concluded. Ajourned.