Evening and welcome to the regular city council meeting for the city of St. Peter, Minnesota. It is Monday, August 11th, 2025. We are called to order at 7:01 p.m. Would all please rise for the pledge. 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. >> Uh, first up is approval of the agenda. Everybody's got a copy of the agenda. Are there any revisions or corrections? Hearing none, is there a motion to approve? >> Second. All those in favor of approval say I. I. Any opposed? The agenda is approved. Next up are the minutes. The minutes appear on pages four through six of the packet. Are there any revisions or corrections to the minutes as distributed? Hearing none. Is there a motion to approve the minutes? >> All those in favor of approval say I. >> I. Any opposed? The minutes are approved. We have time on our schedule as always for visitors. Is there a visitor who'd like to address the council on an agenda item? Hearing none, we also have time for general visitor comments. Is there a visitor who'd like to address the council on a different matter? All right, hearing none, we will move on to the approval of the consent agenda. The consent agenda begins with a resolution that appears on page seven of the pack or a mo a memo that appears on page seven of the packet and concludes with the resolution which appears on page 21. >> Yes, >> let me get to that right page. Um, let's see. The resolution uh approving the consent agenda includes a temporary on sale liquor license for the Nicollet County Egg Society and the schedule of dispersements for July 24th through August 25th, 2025. Um I know Todd has one um item that he'd like to address. >> Yeah, I know the council's indicated that they would prefer that I not administratively approve these licenses and I apologize for that. They did apply for all the rest of their licenses that were necessary for the fair. This one was left off the list. It took a little bit of time to get that recouped and so that's why it's on the list. Um and it was approved by this. Again, this is a recurring license. So, this is not a new license for them. It's a renewal and so that's why it's on the consent agenda. >> Thanks. Uh any questions or discussion hearing? None. The resolution to approve the consent agenda is on page 21. Is there a motion to approve? >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Call the role, please. >> Mayor Noel, >> I. >> Council member Johnson, >> I. >> Council member Pettis. >> Hi. >> Council member Wisenfeld. >> Hi. >> Council member Sharstrom. >> I. >> The resolution is approved. We have no items of unfinished business tonight. Our first item of new business is the Casota lift station equipment. Oh, and Pete is here to talk to us about that. >> Madame Mayor and city council, as you're aware, um uh you authorized plans and uh we prepared uh specifications and bid the project for the Casota lift station. Um we did receive one bid uh related to this. It is proprietary equipment, so it's really difficult to get to, but we did go through the proper channels of advertising and looking at other options. Um, one of the things I want you to be aware of is that this is grant funding from the MPCA, uh, related to flood related activities from last year. Uh, your water resources superintendent, Curtis Thompson, did the heavy lifting to obtain this grant, uh, which is very beneficial to the city of St. Peter. Uh, we anticipate a total project cost of about $167,89. Out of that 157896 will be covered by grant funds. The city will be responsible through the wastewater utility in the amount of 193 9913. Uh we'll also have some other inind services that count towards our contribution of the grant. Um we're asking uh that you uh approve the resolution on page 23 which will accomplish the following things. It'll replace the existing control panel. We will be installing monitors or uh controllers for better flow monitoring and we will be making cellular communications so that we can talk with our existing SCADA system. As you know during the flood, one of the things we had problems with was communicating with that lift station during different outages. There'll al also be a generator installed there to back up power uh should we experience a power outage. So we'll have emergency services there. And as I mentioned, uh, there's a resolution on page 23, and I'm available to answer any questions that you may have. >> All right, any questions for Pete? >> Well, hearing no questions, I'll just uh uh extend thanks to Curtis for his work on this. I think um residents should feel really good about how often our staff seek grant opportunities for for items like this. So, um, hearing no discussion, the resolution authorizing the purchase, installation, and programming of equipment for wastewater improvements at the Casota Lift Station is on page 23 of the packet. Is there a motion to approve? >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Call the role, please. >> Council member Johnson, >> I. >> Council member Pettis, >> I. >> Council member Wisenfeld, >> I. >> Council member Charstrom, >> I. >> Mayor Noel, >> I. The resolution is approved. And Pete, I bet you're hanging out because you'd like to talk to us about the public works roof. >> Yes. Uh during the past few years, you know, we've been evaluating the conditions and the requirements to complete some of the repairs to the public works roof. We've had leaks on and off for the last few years. Uh the city hired uh Inspect of Minneapolis to come in and review and determine what the extent of the repairs would be to get us through another 20-year design life. Uh the original roof of the old Comats building dates back to 1964 with additions that were added in 1987 with the water plant edition at St. Julian there and in 1991 with the parks building coming in and us making a connection to the main shop. If if Todd can get us to the map on page 33, I'll go through some of the areas here that we're talking about. um in areas A1 and A2 which are going to be the uh dark blue I believe it is on the left of your screen up here uh uh area they are we are recommending a new roof for that area uh as you guys know that was tied into the existing building uh with a lighter alumin or a lighter steel uh building in order to make some of the grades and shape work. Uh we also have in area uh B, which is the main 1964 roofing, we have some equipment on that roof there that does not meet the loading that we need to take off of that building. We also use that main area B as a shop for our streets and electric utility. Uh we do need some makeup air units and some exhaust change there in order to be compliant with the new building codes. Um, area B will have roughly uh $390,000 worth of repair. Structure-wise, we're in pretty decent shape. Uh, we'll be replacing some fasteners and adding ventilation in the main shop area. Under A1 and two, which I previously covered, that's where a majority of the expense is. Uh, you got about a $1.2 million repair for that facility in there, which would include a new roof. um areas B and D. Uh the area between the two where the main shop is entered in there, as you know, that was kind of a retrofit that that experiences heavy snow loading and has some damage on top of the roof. Uh that's got about $110 $110,000 repair uh for that area. Overall, the estimated work is approximately $1.67 million. And what we're asking the council to do tonight is to authorize preparations of plan and specifications so that we can move ahead and complete the repairs. Uh city staff had originally put about $450,000 into the equipment certificate I believe back in 2024. Um we have spent about $300,000 of that on engineering evaluation and construction evaluation. Uh so we still have about 150,000 left there, but we will work with uh our new finance director and administrative staff to come up with a financing plan once we get to the point where plans and specs have been prepared and bids have been received, which I anticipate would be probably in the February to March timeline of next year. uh we'll work with inspect in order to make those uh plans and specs available and then we will seek bids at that point. Uh the inspect report is on pages 25 through 46. Uh the financial summary uh just with a breakdown of where these areas belong and what our cost is anticipated to be uh is on pages 47 and 8 and a resolution for your consideration is on pages 49 and 50. and I'm available to ask qu uh answer any questions that you may have. >> Thank you. Any questions for Pete? We've talked about the roof. We've seen this coming, so we've had multiple conversations, but uh again, if there are questions, now's the time. >> Well, yeah, just from a process perspective, you already kind of mentioned this. So this is um a step in the process and then bids occur after this or would we see the financing plan that you're working on? >> We will develop the financing plan as we proceed through the fall. Probably see it at one of your uh workshops or goal setting sessions. Uh we don't have a plan right now because this wasn't the anticipated cost. And so we've got to figure out how we can move things around and make this um easier to absorb. Uh and then before you are um receive the bids, uh you should have a pretty good idea how this would work out for us. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Hearing no further questions, the resolution authorizing it uh inspect to complete construction documents, bidding and construction administration and observation services for the public works uh roof appears on pages 49 through 50 of the packet. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Call the role, please. >> Council member Pettis. >> I. >> Council member Ram. >> I. >> Council member Wisenfeld. >> Hi. >> Council member Sharstrom. >> I. >> Mayor Noel. >> I. >> Council member Johnson. >> I. >> The resolution is approved. >> Thanks, Pete. Our last item of new business is a new light uh a new license. Mayor, members, the information starts on page 51 with the resolution directly thereafter. This would be for a new license for a solid waste hauler. Um, which is a licenseable issue and has been within your city for many, many decades. Actually, um, this is for Franklin Thompson on behalf of Thompson Sanitation. The licensing period would last through the middle of August here to the end of December. These licenses typically roll over in the new year. So, that's why this is a partial year. um background check has been done and we see no reason to reject the application. Um so again, the information is in your packet. The resolution providing approval is in your packet on page 52. >> Any questions for Todd about the resolution? Uh hearing nothing. The resolution uh as Todd said is on page 52. Is there a motion to approve? >> All Oh, we have a motion and a second. Call the role, please. >> Council member Ram. >> I. Council member Weisenfeld. >> Hi. >> Council member Charstrom. >> Hi. >> Mayor Noel. >> I. >> Council member Johnson. >> I. >> Council member Pettis. >> I. >> The resolution is approved. We will move on to reports. Uh my only report is to thank all the volunteers and participants uh in the Nicollet County Fair. It's a great event every year. brings a lot of people to town and uh it's a great opportunity for a lot of our residents to uh participate and show their talent and have fun do everything you do at a at a fair. So uh thanks to everybody involved. Are there any council council members who'd like to make a report hearing? None. We'll move on to our city administrator. Mayor member, I'd like to ask the chief to come up and visit just a little bit about Night to Unite and then after that a couple from Pete and one last one from me. >> Madame Mayor, members of the council, thank you. Um, an update on Night toite. I know some of you were able to join us and we're very thankful uh for your dedicated time to that. Uh, it's one of those events that uh is is really near to many officers and really the department as a whole. And uh it doesn't go without saying uh from uh Kayla and the staff at the recck department to really coordinate that uh to try to get it to a party limit of 11. Uh this year we had 10, we had one back out u uh right near the start uh of that day. So uh we're very thankful. Uh you know the participation of of the parties which have fairly been consistent over the years uh are just growing. uh the visits that we make, we we see that uh the numbers are increasing. Uh we had a new one up in Travers uh park and uh that was very well attended. So uh we really want to try to keep that night uh uh as one big group that caravans across the city. Uh I think it's more noticeable. We have a lot of people talking about it. Uh we invited the Minnesota State Patrol along with us this year. Of course, the ambulance and the fire department and and so uh it is just one big group and it uh it is so much fun. Uh just the chance we get to interact with the community and ask them questions and you know really I try to get uh pointed and say what can we do better? Have you heard anything bad? Um but just having those interactions and that ability to stay with them as long as we can to try to keep on track. We're sorry to madame mayor of losing her in the end. Uh >> to the last one >> of the caravan. Our apologies, but uh so we we try to keep it at right around four four and a half hours uh for that evening. And again, it it's just uh that event that so many look forward to uh being part of >> it. It's a fun night. I said uh I said to the chief, it's probably the most fun night of the year. And uh if only we had more time at every stop. >> You're right. Um and and again, we we we talked about maybe going in a couple of groups and Officer Hughes is very involved in that night um and coordinating with the recreation department and he and I have had those discussions, but we just feel that it takes away um because really I want to try to get to all those parties and interact at all them and so do the officers. So, uh, to your point, Madame Mayor, is that it does restrict us to about 15 minutes. Sometimes we stretch it out to 20 minutes, and that's okay if we extend the evening, too. So, um, but yeah, we're going to probably continue to do that next year, uh, unless we just have an abundance of people that really sign up for parties. We're really trying to promote that and the recck department again does that very well for us in that June and July. But we did share with each party that we visited. Um, sign up early. Really sign up early. So, >> thank you. >> Did you have anything, Carrie? You were there for part of the night, too. >> It was just really fun. And, uh, thank you to the rec department, to officers, everyone who's involved. It's a great night. >> The hosts are fantastic to take it on. >> It's great. It's wonderful. They're so welcoming. volunteers >> and you know when we pull up and just the excitement of the the kids to see the the lights and then hear the sirens and >> so yeah we're we're very thankful >> and I even saw kids who didn't they they were just in their neighborhood they didn't even have a party who were really excited to see sort of the caravan of vehicles go through so it is a >> fun and there are people that follow us into that party of where are we going you know some people are just wondering what we're doing and then they happen to stay so it's it's Great. We look forward to next year already. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Chief. >> Yes, >> Madame Mayor. The next one that I have is Pete um just to provide a short update related to seal coating. So, he's going to talk, I'm sure, about the wise of seal coating and that it's going to get get it's it's rocking. >> It is. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Our streets crew our streets crew is very busy the last few uh weeks here getting everything prepared for street uh seal coating. Of course, what we're trying to accomplish there is to seal those streets up so water doesn't penetrate through the cracks. Uh that that means that we take an extensive look at cracks. We grind those out. We put some mastic in there or rubberized coaul in there, so to speak. Uh we seal those up. Uh and then we apply some uh CR2S and we seal those streets up with rock. And what happens there is we end up extending the life of those streets in many cases. Um, one thing I would ask though is that people that are still parking on the street where those no parking signs are up, please don't park there because we have to pick the rock up. And so if you're parked there, we can't work very well around you. So, um, please don't make Matt come and visit you. That would be one of my requests. Um, but let me give you a little bit of idea what happened here. We put, uh, 42,34 gallons of CRS2 emulsifying oil down. co covered it with 1,500 tons of red rock. And those of you that have been by the public workshop have seen our red rock pile that we put down and then we reclaim and we reuse and then we supplement that with additional rock over the winter. Uh the rock went down last Thursday and part of Friday. Uh the crews were gracious enough to come in on Friday, which is their day off, but because of weather delays, our contractor had a hard time getting here. They really hammered things out on Thursday. Went really hard. Uh, so they only had to work part of a day on Friday, but I appreciate all those guys coming in. Um, the street staff along with uh the foreman Mike McCarthy really had things going. We had very few traffic issues and we had a lot of rock put down in a very short time. So, it really pays that the contractors are giving us decent prices because they know what they're getting when they come in to work for us. and uh that's showing up and is is really minimizing the cost that we have to put into our street maintenance program. Uh crews are out today started picking up rock. We've got about a hundred blocks of rock to pick up. So, we're doing some of that work and uh we're trying to spray it down so there's not a lot of dust. So, if you see a wet street, don't worry about it. We're probably right behind there trying to sweep up and get things going. But hopefully by the end of the week, we've got everything picked up and your streets are looking good. >> Thanks, Pete. Gorman Park. >> Gorman Park, if you wouldn't mind. >> Yep. So, crews are working, as you guys have seen out here. It's starting to take shape a little bit. You can see some of the uh uh process they're making out here. Uh about 50% done with the uh concrete work that's out there. The goal is to be done around August 20th with all the concrete work where they'll start doing restoration. Uh that's if everything holds together for rain or if we have a little bit of rain, they can work around that in some areas. Um after August 20th, we still got irrigation, electrical, and some plantings in the area to improve. Uh the playground equipment has been delivered. It's with the um company that is uh contracted to do the installation. So, as soon as our general contractor Neielson gives them the authorization to come in and work in that area, uh they are ready to roll. And you should see something here that will still be planning to be done by October. >> It's exciting. people I keep hearing uh excitement from residents and people who are surprised how quickly things are moving. So >> yeah, >> we want to remind people that this is a two-phase project and so if people are interested in participating um financially in the second phase, please give us a call. We'd be happy to visit about that and what opportunities there are with that too. But we're excited and it continues to roll along. So that's great. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Thanks, Pete. Madame Mayor, the last item that I have is to um just remind the council that over the next couple of weeks, we'll start presenting to you at workshops general fund and special fund budgets. So, this is the general fund. That's the fund that really takes in tax dollars and some special funds like the library budget and the community center budget are part of that. So, watch for that information. There'll be very thick packets of information that will come to you and um so um anyway, there's lots of work to do. So, be ready and watch for that as it comes into your mailbox. or we send it to you if you if you want a paper copy. Sometimes when we get overund and some pages, people would prefer a paper copy. So, if you'd like something like that, let Kesha know and we'll make sure that that happens for you. Um, but watch over the next couple of weeks. There'll be a lot of information flowing on that. >> Yeah. Krie, >> so with our new finance director, could we uh just a reminder to provide Excel spreadsheets of some of those? Yeah. >> Yep. >> Yep. We'll be ready to go. >> Wonderful. >> All right, Madame Mayor, that's all I have for you for today. Well, our only last agenda item is adjournment. Is there a motion to adjurnn? >> Second. >> All those in favor of adjournment say I. I. Any opposed? We are adjourned. Thanks everybody.