stand 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 any changes to the agenda? >> Yes. Uh Mr. Mayor, council, you'll note that there was a revised agenda. Uh we added authorized hire of a police officer under general business based on the resignation of an officer last week. >> All right. Can I get a motion to approve as revised? >> So moved. >> Any discussion? >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? Hi. >> Hi. >> Uh, we have one presentation. Are you Prague Area Schools? >> Floor is yours, sir. >> Uh, thank you for having me. Um, I'm sorry there's a little uh mis mishap on the time. So, if you came a little early like a couple of my bosses did, I I apologize for that. Uh Andy VMA, superintendent of the New Prague Area Schools and happy to be here. I'd also like it noted that every time the Vikings play on Thursday night, I I come to this city council meeting. It's like a yearly event. So um note that on my evaluation this year, please. Um I'm happy to be here. I would mention that we have two board members here, Karen Steinhoff and Kim Holden as well, who are a part of uh the New Prague School Board. So um I will run through our our proud tradition and promising future referendum campaign. Tom, this was going to be our signal, right, to uh to go to the next slide. Um, it's about two and a half years of work that I'll do my best to condense to 15 20 minutes and I'll try to take a few uh questions at the end. I'll save some time. I'm not here tonight to tell people how to vote. Um, I'm here to share information about what I think is and what I have said now for the last several months is missionritical to our school district. Um and you'll see we have two different logos on the on the left hand side um is our information campaign. We have we have people who are working at the site level. We have people who are working um at the district level. On the right hand side, my headside is the advocacy group. That's a group of citizens who are volunteering their time and they are indeed encouraging people to vote yes. I'm not here tonight to do that. I'm here to share more information about our campaign. Um there are three issues that school districts across the state are facing and you'll see there are 329 school districts in the state of Minnesota. Um and and of all all districts are facing these three issues becomes a little bit more interesting and a little bit more dynamic in New Preg because we don't have declining we've had declining enrollment but we have flat enrollment. So uh Mr. Terry and I were able to connect earlier this week and very excited to see the level of development happening in this community. Uh that's good for the community. I believe I think it's also good for the school system. Um but the three factors are listed here. We've had funding that has not kept rate with the fl with kept up with the rate of inflation and that's really a 20-year issue. If you look at school funding over the last 20 years, um it's been a little better the last couple of years, but on average it's been about 2%. And we know inflation is at least 2% and so our expenses um have hardly been able to keep up with our expenses because of the funding that we've had. We have partially and and unfunded mandates coming from the state and federal government um that are challenges to us. And it's also costs more money to educate kids. I started in school administration way back in 2004 in Rochester and I tell people we had a computer lab. We had 25 computers and people would go, you may remember them, um, and people would go into their Apple 2e and you would you would learn how to type. And now every one of our students has a device. And so there's there's infrastructure costs in terms of high-speed internet, there's the device costs, there's the repair, there's purchasing new devices, and then there's also costs for professional development. So we're not using just those devices just for for word processing. we're really using them to change the way that we educate. Those three factors that are listed there are are challenges that schools across the state, across the country are facing. It's been more of an issue in New Prague for the last decade plus because of enrollment. Um, you can go on. So, the school board has done their best to use as use data as much as possible to inform themselves as to what their next steps should be. And you'll see on the next slide that our request is uh a $2 million a year request for 10 years which will bring in $510 per pupil. Um it equates to about $2 million a year and it's a so it's a $20 million request and there is an inflationary factor built into our request. Um I think as you will see later on that I would argue this is a modest request all things considered. Um and there is obviously a tax impact. So, the the tax impact when we look at the 160 square miles of the new Prague area schools, uh the average home value, $400,000 seems to be a fair number. And so, it might be lower here or higher here, but when we look across all of the the the communities that we represent, $400,000 is the number that we use. And this is a great plug for our our the information pages on our school website. I think there's a lot of information there, a lot of really good information there, including a tax calculator that people can go to, type in their address, and see what the actual tax impact would be. So, um, how would we use this money? Um, this is really a maintenance request. This is about maintaining uh the programs that we think are important, that our families and community have come to expect. Um, it's a harder cell because it's about maintaining. It's not about adding a new school or uh adding a theater or some sort of athletic facility. This goes into the positions and programs that we currently have. And in order to quantify that, we have those in these four buckets. They are maintaining class sizes, which we'll go into, maintaining our transportation services, maintaining programming, and invo avoiding future budget reductions. And what we have said is these are generally specific, right? So, I have said to the school board that if and when we need to make a significant budget reduction, we're talking a million dollars plus. Um the I don't know what that number would be because our funding is based on the student enrollment that we have and it changes. It's a dynamic. It changes yeartoear, but these are the buckets that are going to need to be negatively impacted. One would be class sizes. You can see on the screen, these are the average class sizes for our three elementary schools, our one middle school and our high school classroom in our high school. Um, and they are averages. There are some classes at New Prague High School that are closer to 40 than they are 30. And so if we need to reduce increase class sizes, we do so by reducing staff. And that means our class sizes go up. And we're hoping to maintain these averages. The next is transportation services. Uh we were doing great thing. We continue to do great things. Our our transportation fleet travels about 867,000 miles last year which is I think is quite amazing. There's 160 square miles and you think about just the dayto-day plus the activities, the athletics that our transportation fleet um moves students to and from. Um, right now we have a walking distance of about a half mile at elementary and 1 mile at secondary. If we needed to make reductions, we could make that 1.0 and two. And so that not only means that students would who live in town would walk longer, they would have a longer walk. It also means that if you don't live in a in a if you live in a rural area, you're going to be on the bus longer. So what this does is this means that we're going to have to take unfortunately take out additional bus routes which means kids walk if you're in the city and chances are that if you are in one of our rural areas you're going to have a longer bus ride. The third is programming and and um this is this is harder to quantify um but I'll say this to you that we benefit from the seven period day. I would say this our students and our families benefit from the seven period day. So, a student who enters into New Prague High School has an opportunity to take 56 classes during their four years at a new Prague High School. Um, the seven period day is a model that we would like and we would like to continue to support. Um, but we don't know if we'll be able to afford to support it. So, a logical step would be if we can't afford this, we would go to something like the six period day. In a seven period day, you have 56 opportunities. In the sixth period day, you have 48. and you need 47 to graduate. So, your electives, your exploratories, your things like the arts where you get to do things where there it's your passion, um automotives, construction trades, those types of things. Plus the fact that's usually where our students take their PSO credits, um their college in our schools where they're able to get credit before they go on to a postsecary if that is their hope and dream. those opportunities are significantly reduced. Um and so we would hope to continue to support the seven period day at both the high school and the middle school. And we have made and you can go to the next slide, Tom. Um by doing these things, we're hoping to avoid budget reductions. You can go on. I know that my time is limited, so I'll do my best. Um, we have made over $7 million in reductions or close to $7 million in reductions um since the spring of 23. Um, and it's not just uh one of the questions that I get from the community is if your enrollment is going down, why aren't you making reductions all the time? And we are. Last year we made over $500,000 in reductions in cost containments. we would refer to them as um we didn't need to do it, but we did it in preparation for um future budget reductions that may have to take place. And we did that because we have fewer elementary students this year than we did last year. So, we didn't need as many elementary school teachers. So, we contained costs looking at where our our our ratios were and we made the unfortunate rout and the difficult decision to reduce about six and a half of our elementary school teachers. So, um, if you are interested in school finance, and my running joke is I don't know why you would be, um, but this slide is here for you. Um, 83% of our resources come from the state. Uh, 12% are local and two are f federal. Um, of the school districts in in the Minnesota, the numbers fluctuate a little bit percentage-wise one way or the other, but this is structurally how schools are funded. And as I talk about being an advocate for for public education, um this next slide shows that we're not alone in this. Um all of our neighbors are going out to their constituents and I and Mr. Bowman was here, I understand, a month ago. Um is that right? I I think Mr. Bowman is a lot faster on responding to Mr. Terry. He must have known the Viking schedule than I. So um he had first crack at it. I'll give him a hard time next time I see him. But there's an issue. Every one of these districts are going to their voters asking for more money. And there are two who are not, Jordan and Northfield. Um, and I won't pose the question that I posed to everybody else. And why aren't they? It's because they did last year. And Northfield's request was for $130 million. $20 million is a lot of money. It's a very reasonable and I believe fair request for our school district as we go forward. So, um, taxes. No one wants to talk about taxes and no one wants to see their taxes go up. And I will tell you that on behalf of our school district, who I have inherited a history of being very fiscally conservative and I would argue being very good steward of taxpayers investment into our schools. As taxes have gone up, the school district's contribution to those taxes have actually gone down over the last three years. Part of it is because of enrollment, but part of it is because of our good financial stewardship. We've had debt fallen off. And so on an average price home in the 160 square miles of our school of our school district, taxes have gone down by $15 over the last three years. I'm going to make the case and I'm going to ask people and we're going to ask people to consider for that $15 back plus five more. And that is our what I would like to say reasonable request. So I'm just about done. You can continue on please. Um again and we would argue and we'd make the case that this is reasonable comparison. Some people like it, some people don't. Uh Tom, you can just cycle through this. Um if this funding is approved, you will see that we're still in the very bottom half of not that fast. Um uh we're still in the bottom half of where we are in terms of our local comparisons, which you'll see on the left hand side of the screen. Uh the statewide average is 15,412. The local average is 13,711. And if this were to be approved, we were at 12,333 knowing that a lot of our neighbors are asking voters for additional funds as well. I think this is a great testament to the work that the new area schools have done well before I got here. If you think of the class sizes that we benefit from, the facilities that we have, um, the seven period day that we've been able to support and the revenue that we have is is is lower than than most school districts in the state and our neighbors especially. And to have the all those things that we have benefited from that our community expects from us, I take as a great is a great tribute to the work that the people have done prior to me coming here. I really do. And so, um, this is a, we would argue a modest request. I said before there are 329 school districts in the state and we're in the bottom 4% in terms of the revenue that we receive. If we were so fortunate, um, I it's a couple weeks from now um, to have this request approved, we would maybe be in the bottom 15%. So, when we look at this in comparison, if that's helpful to you, in comparison to where other school districts are at, um, this is this would bring us up to, and like I said, the bottom 15 to 20% if that. And the last thing that I would say before I open it up for any questions that people have is that um, one of the things that I think people should be very proud of is this chart right here. 47% of our money goes to our classrooms. And when I talk to teachers, I talk to families, I talk to community members, I would hope your head is going like this because that's where you want the money to be. You want the money to be in your classrooms, right? And when you look at our local average, and you can see the statewide average, 48% of our budget is going into the classrooms. We provide some of the best special education services um that I have seen. And I've been I've been had the benefit of working in several school districts. and we do it at a at a less of a rate than local and state average. Our administrative costs are actually less than this because we just had a position that we didn't hire back. Um we can't run a close to $7 million with less administrators than we have and our money is in our classrooms. That's a tribute to the what I've inherited, what we've continued to build. It's also our biggest challenge. So if reductions have to be made, I don't make threats and I don't make promises. But what I have said to the the many of these presentations that I have have had the opportunity to give is if we need to make additional reductions, they will come from our classrooms. That's just the logical spot where they will have to be. And this chart, I think, just reinforces that point. We're pushing early voting. We encourage people, everyone, to vote. Um, we're not telling you again how to vote. We have made it, I think, as easy as possible to vote. Um, I know it's a challenge. There's a distance challenge from Elkun New Market to come to the district office. Um, but we're encouraging people to get out early and to vote and you can see the information um is on your screen. And again, I just want to thank you all for the work that you do. Um, I get an opportunity to to meet with Mr. Terry quite often and I think we've got a good working relationship that I I have appreciated. Um and uh we want to continue to be good partners with you um as the city grows and as hopefully the school district continues to grow and prosper. So I will take any questions that you may have. And I'm really proud that I did that in only 16 minutes because that's about as quick as I've done it. So >> I'll ask a question. Uh and I heard Josh was going to give rides to New Prague. So, uh, people need voting. >> So, we're going to need an increase, too. >> Okay. Um, so you touched on the early voting, uh, latest numbers. I think I heard some this morning, but I'll let you say. >> Yeah, I think I don't I don't remember the latest numbers. I I think they're they're they're good. Okay. >> They're solid. I've really challenged people to get to the polls and to get the polls early. Um, you know, one of the things that isn't in this slide deck that I would remind people is that, you know, um, I'm going to leave here and watch the Vikings game. I want you to know that. I'm going to listen to it on the way home and as you guys are here, then I'm going to watch it. >> You're going to watch us on YouTube. >> Yeah. Then I will watch this, too. But but being a superintendent is a lot like being a a quarterback. And I get a lot of a lot of credit. Probably too much when something goes well. And I get probably too much blame when things don't go well. Right. It's the nature of the job. And I and I accept that. I've heard, you know, all the different reasons why we didn't pass in the fall of 23 and we lost by 36 votes. Um, and I'll be honest with you, the reason why we didn't pass in the fall of 23 is our families didn't go to the polls. >> 39%. >> 39% of our families voted in the election in the fall of 23. And again, we lost by 36 votes. So, um, we have been I have challenged our staff and our families, uh, especially our families that this is important to you. You need to get to the polls. >> And, and I bring up the early voting because I'll be the bad guy here and say that only 16 Elanoo Market residents have shown up for the early voting >> out of the over a thousand or how whatever the the good number is. >> I don't know if that's true, Mr. Berg, but >> it's super low. It's unfortunately low. >> Last time I checked it was 54, but that's a whole another story. um not 16, but uh >> whatever. I heard 16 when Adam >> Yeah. Yeah. Your numbers might be a little off, but uh >> anyway, I guess my point is we need to get people out to and I say this with a huge asterisk. I live in the Lakeville school district and open my three kids to New Prague. Uh so I'm going to pay the Lakeville school district increase if they pass theirs and I'm advocating for New Prague's uh increase for the three kids that we have. But I mean that 39% just sticks. Like it is just like come on, man. you can't even get 50% of our families. I mean, 50% is like shouldn't even be a stretch. So, I mean, we got to get people to show up and care. And I think one of the things when you we're talking about the bus routes and and or the walking, you know, maybe we haven't felt it as much here um because of the distance where Eagle View is to some of our neighborhoods, we will feel it. And I want I'm tempted to go hand out or take like little tape and or the tree marking things and hang it on people's doorork knobs of you will be within walking distance if we have to increase the bus routes this time into you know that neighborhood right there any new developments. So we will feel it. >> I think I think that's one thank you for that and I um I would hold off on that door knockocking just yet but that's up to you. I think that I think one of the challenges is when when when school districts and this we're no different when you make budget reductions, you do your darnest to keep them away from the classroom so people don't feel them. Um but they're they're felt they're significant and again um people have instead of running a campaign where where we're trying to scare people um that's or threaten people that's that's not what we do. I don't make threats. We're really trying to remind people that this is what is important to you and this is what you appreciate and this is what you expect and this is about kids. It's not about anything else. It's about the kids that are in the new Pragary schools and it's about the students and the families that are yet to come. >> And I say kudos to just everybody getting the information out whether it's just theformational or the the advocacy folks. I was getting my haircut Savage the other day and somebody was saying, "Hey, I actually saw it on Facebook this year and I didn't see it as much or or whatever social media thing a couple years ago." So, I think whatever is changed or the extra steps that are happening are hopefully going to pay off. Thank you for that. Any other questions? If you have other questions that um you anyone has um whether they're members of the council or or or greater community, um you can always email me. There's also information on the school web page. I think it's nplevyd721.org. When we receive questions, we do our best to respond as quickly as possible. And we would encourage people to to become informed and to vote. So, thank you very much. I appreciate the partnership and I appreciate the time. Thank you very much. >> Enjoy the game. >> Thank you. >> It's still 00. >> How do you know that? >> Check. Is there anybody else for a presentation? No. No. Is anybody here for a public comment and for anything that's not on the agenda? >> None. We'll move on to consent. Um get a motion to approve consent agenda. >> I'll motion. >> Second. Any discussion on A, B, or C? Hearing none. All in favor? >> I >> I. >> No public hearings. Move on to general business. Start. >> Give me a second here to share my screen. >> Absolutely. All right. So, this discussion item um is regarding the old PD building and property located at 26518 France Avenue. Um for reference, if you're unfamiliar, that's just south of Quicktrip and the racetrack. Um so, The building is a one-story structure enclosing approximately 4,800 square feet on a 1.86 acre parcel. Uh the building formerly served as a school as a post office, city hall, and police department. The building includes an original structure, an addition on the southwest corner, and a garage. Uh the date of construction of the original structure is approximately 1910, and it's suspected that the addition was built in the 1970s or 80s. Um, in the early part of the last decade, the city council decided on a phase remodeling of the building for continued use as a police department. Uh, the work was planned to be phased out over a few years. Phase one was to make the police station handicap accessible. Handicapped accessibility was improvement to the front entrance was completed in 2013. Phase two is to construct the garage. Uh, this happened in 2014. Phase three was tuck pointing the exterior of the building completed in uh, the summer of 2015. And phase four was intended to be the interior improvements to meet code OSHA and ADA standards which has not yet been completed. Um during the initial in design effort for phase 4 in 2019, it was determined that it was a better alternative to relocate the police department as an addition onto city hall here and what will become the future municipal campus. It was decided in 2021 to complete mold remediation, demolition of interior walls, and structural work on the building to preserve it as an asset until it could be repurposed for a future use. Uh here are some present day photos of the building. The former police department garage is currently being leased to hope for the community food shelf. Uh several facilities are being leased by OK Baseball Club and a portion of the main building is being used for city storage on an intern basis. At the March 28th, 2024 city council meeting, um staff sought feedback from the city council on the future of the property, specifically on the composition of an advisory work group composed of stakeholders that would discuss the future of the building and property and bring back the item to the council with recommendations. The recommendations the group intended to formulate involved a recommendation on the current structures featur uh future the future use of the site and recommendations related to layout and design to accompany that future use. Uh council direct directed that group which we've called the old PD study work group to be comprised of the following stakeholders. U a council member, a parks commissioner, planning commissioner, a representative from hope for the community food shelf, representative from Elco baseball, and three at large citizens. The city council approved the following committee members at the May 23rd, 2024 meeting. Um, council member Gina Styles, who was replaced by Amanda Novak. Um, parks commissioner Paul Hokes, planning commissioner Melissa Hansen, Jim Malin for the hope for the community food shelf, Brad Frederickson, Elco baseball, Jimmy Dulus, Josh Smith, and Jod Lucast as the atlarge citizens, and then myself, Tom, and public works director Corey Schwike. Uh the old PD study work group met a total of six times from November 24 to May 2025. The work group was tasked with the overarching question of what does the future hold for this building and property. Uh the group determined three highle options to the question demolition, sell or save. The group utilized a decision tree to help work through the process and use these three options as a framework for which to ensure ensure that every one of these three options was vetted thoroughly. Uh the f the first of the three core options the group vetted was demolition. Some considerations for this option are as follows. Would it be a partial demolition or a full demolition? What would the property be utilized after the demo? The work group established that there were two options for demolition. Sell the lot with demolition of the structure as a condition of the sale or demolish the structure partial or whole and maintain ownership. The work group created a list of pros and cons which are shown on the slide. Uh the pros include allowing utilization of the property, enhanced remaining uses in the event of a partial demo, potential cost savings, more open space and parking, and it created the opportunity to construct a new uh structure. The cons include the cost to replace the space, loss of value, loss of history, throwing away previous capital improvements, and displacing the food shelf. One of the major cons noted was throwing away the previous capital investments that I went through a few slides back. Um the total cost of these improvements is approximately $425,000 over the past 12 years. Um noting that all the work done through 2015 was completed under the assumption that the structure would be used as a police department building. So there are several cost factors that are relevant when discussing demolition. Uh the three main costs associated are asbestous and regulated waste inspection followed by the abatement of the asbestous and hazardous waste and of course the demolition itself. It is impossible to know the actual price without going out for bids, but staff estimated a total cost ranging from 60 to 100,000 based off two home demolitions done in 2024 by the city and an estimate from a industry expert. The list of considerations comprised by the group uh regarding demolition and keeping the property in city ownership is as follows. Full demolition displaces the food shelf and creates an additional need for city storage. Partial demolition eliminates city storage and creates a need for additional space which also has costs associated. Partial full demolition both incur a loss of the structure which was used as an old school building resulting in a loss of perceived history and city pride. Um also cost to replace the space. So cost varies depending on what would be constructed but a range of $4 to $500 per square foot approximately be the cost to build a new community center for example. Uh the current building is approximately 1400 square feet resulting in approximate cost of a new building of similar size at just under $2 million. A list of considerations comprised by the group regarding demolition and selling the property is as follows. Um adjustment of the property line would be required. I'll go into much more detail about that later. Um for now I'm going to skip it. Uh the second of the three core options the group vetted was the sell option. There are two main uh options outlined as part of this option. Sell with demolition as a requirement or sell asis. The city has some control over what could be built. Um utilizing zoning, the city can zone the property to a district found suitable. The work group created a list of pros and cons which are shown on the slide. The singular pro identified was possible revenue from the sale. Um, the cons included loss of an asset, limited options for reuse based on acorage, ball field, and parking, and the need to amend the current lease agreements the city has with both the food shelf and with Elco baseball. Uh, listed considerations are as follows. Um, proximity the b the baseball field has a depreciating factor. Uh, variances would be required for both the buyer and Elco Elco baseball due to the lack of setbacks. Elco baseball would lose their parking area. Um, an encroachment agreement would likely be necessary to accommodate for a new parking area potentially to the west. Um, staff met with multiple real estate agents to garner feedback on the potential sale. The real estate agents had varying opinions and the results are as follows. The highest and best use would be either multif family housing, potentially a triplex or a daycare. Uh, one of them recommended to sell as is rather than to sell and demolish. um limiting value in selling stating that it would be best demolished if there is no viable use for the city. The approximate resale ranges um from 2 to 300,000 as it stands today. Uh additionally, the group considered who the building would be sold to. The options the group discussed were a developer, a housing agency or nonprofit, Elco baseball, and some other options were also briefly discussed. The final option discussed by the old PD study work group was the save option. Throughout the process, the group kept coming back to this option. Um there was an immense amount of community pride ingrained within the group. Keeping the property and city ownership and the structure intact was an impactful factor uh in the decision-making process. The work group created a list of pros and cons which are shown on the slide. The pros identified by the group is preservation of city pride and history, keeping the food shelf operational, keep temporary space for city storage as we utilize the existing space uh while we prep for the refurbishment. The property appreciates in value and we could potentially add a much needed community space for our residents. A list of considerations by the group uh regarding saving the property is as follows. What should the building be repurposed to? Does the garage remain available to hope for the community? and does city storage remain or is that room included in the repurposing? Uh there were various options discussed as it pertains to what the use of the building and property would be if it were saved. Um shown are the core options that the group discussed. So flexible community space, business incubator, expanded city storage, community education space, daycare housing, and a free store, which is like a retail like store where people can take items they need at no cost. The work the work group continually discussed flexible community space throughout the process and it was acknowledged that there is a lack of this type of service within the city. The final decision made by the group was to recommend that the city retain ownership of the building and repurpose it into a flexible community space. As I've stated, uh this work group was inundated with city pride. The group discussed the desire for an area located within the remodeled structure that would be a kind of like a museum-like relic of historic Elco and historic New Market with potentially photos and newspaper articles. Um, this would be included as part of the recommendation to repurpose the building into a flexible community space. Uh, the group also made the decision that if we are going to remodel the building, it makes more sense to do the entire thing, including the area used for city storage. Um, so staff would recommend that an alternative space be constructed for city storage prior to the remodeling of this old PD structure which would be included as part of the cost factor of the project. So staff intend to approach the project as a two-phase remodel. Um, phase one being the concept development and cost estimation for the repurpose structure and phase two being the actual remodel and construction work. Uh, city staff met with three architectural firms to discuss phase one with two of those firms providing us with a sample um scope of work and cost estimate in a timely enough fashion for me to use it in this discussion. Um, Bradley described the scope of work for phase one would include a concept level plans and visualizations, a preliminary cost estimate um, and approximately two meetings with the old PD study work group to discuss visioning and programming. Uh the cost estimate for phase one provided by the architectural firms range from 18 to 24,000. There are two current lease agreements associated with the property. Ok baseball club and hope for the community. Um Hope for the community is a nonprofit food shelf organization that utilizes the garage uh to meet the needs of their food shelf operations and storage and assembly of food on an intern basis. They entered into a 5-year lease agreement with us on January 1st, 2021 with no rent being charged and the lease was amended in late in 2023 to grant the LEI access to the bathroom which is located inside the building. Uh the recommendation from the work group is to allow the food shelf to remain and continue operation as is. Uh, Elco Baseball Club is currently in involved in a lease agreement with the city to gain access to the field, use of the parking lot, use of the pavilion and concession stand, and to allow for various structures to be constructed on what is technically city property, such as the grand stand. Uh, the the 30-year lease entered into in 2004 for the sum of a dollar was changed in 2014 to a 5-year lease, which automatically renews for one-year terms beginning in 2023. So, now we're on a perpetual one-year automatically renewing lease. Um, the club also pays an annual fee of $150 to the city to assist with maintenance and improvements of the parking lot area. Um, Elco Baseball has expressed interest in adjusting the property line to encompass the entirety of the field along with their structures that are currently located on city property. Um staff assumed that if the city council was willing to sell a portion of the land and reconfigure the property line that the new west westerly property line would fall somewhere between the old PD building and the concession stand. Can't see my mouse but um it's the only logical spot really. >> Uh some considerations to factor in when discussing this item. Um the city attorney made the determination that since this land is a public asset in the event of a sale, the city would be required to sell for fair market value. Variances, an encroachment agreement and a parking agreement minimally would be necessary to fulfill this change. Additionally, the building official has indicated potential associated costs due to the lack of setbacks between the concession stand and the OPD building, which would put the property line somewhere between three and four feet for each from each structure. Um, some of these costs associated would be includes a 1-hour wall which involves fireresistant construction. It also includes potential concerns of occupancy loads when the structure is fully operable which would require two exits u logically one of which being the back door that already exists that leads to where the property line would be located um if it were moved. And these exits are supposed to go to a public way, but under these pretenses, this would that exit would not achieve that. So, the recommendation is to bring this item back as a standalone item at a future city council meeting for further discussion. Um, that is if council is interested in exploring the option of moving the property line. Um, so the city council is being asked to discuss and provide direction as it pertains to the recommendations laid out by city staff in conjunction with the old PD advisory work group. The recommendations are as follows. The work group recommends this structure be owned by the city and remodeled as a flexible community space. The work group recommends adjusting the Elco baseball property line to encompass the entirety of the field along with their structures that are currently located on city property. Uh staff would ask the council to consider this as a separate item that would be brought back in the future. The work group recommends extending the lease for hope for the community to um to continue their food shelf operation out of the garage. And finally, the work group recommends the construction of alternative space for city storage prior to the remodel. Um that's it. Um let me know if you have any questions and looking forward to discussion. take each question. >> I mean, I agree. I was on the committee. Brandon did an awesome job hurting cats. Um there was a lot going on in those meetings. Um he did a very good job. Um but yeah, so I mean my grandma went to school there. I have a lot of like feelings about the building. So I wanted it to be kept. I'm sure that my family will be able to contribute to the, you know, history section of the building. I know we're a ways out from that, but yeah, so I was on board with this recommendation. >> I'm on board, too. >> Well, I mean, just looking at the the save slide, obviously that was going to be the recommendation because they only came up with one con. I wrote down a whole list of other not necessarily con because I'm I'm totally supportive of of keeping it. But I mean, we got to be realistic, too. It's not just the cost of the remodels, the loss of revenue from the sale, but then the ongoing taxes, the maintenance costs, the utility costs, you know, the resources, you resources of the concept development and implementation. So, a lot of that stuff, it doesn't sound like a lot, but in totality, that's a lot of time, money, and effort. So, I mean, just to be cognizant and aware of that and which is why then I think we need to be looking at like a bonding ask or request for other sorts of funding streams to come in because I mean that just seems logical but I'm totally support of keeping it but I think that was a very it was a nice recommendation and but it just there's a lot of details left to be determined obviously which I'm >> I will say that it was it was tough to get the group to play along if you will with the or the opposite >> making a cons for not having that as an option. >> So if the council's direction is to continue to move forward down that path, um staff's recommendation is that we should do some phase one architectural work, which is essentially identifying conceptually how it would be remodeled and then identifying a cost to do that. Those are the two basic things you need to be able to have policy discussions or have community discussions related to it. As Brandon indicated, we contacted a number of firms that do that kind of work. Um, and uh, we had three that came and talked to us and two that actually gave us, you know, took took the time and effort to give give us an estimated budget. Um, but it'd be 18 to $24,000 $25,000 for 24. So, as we talked through the budget process at that time, the council said, "Hey, Tom, how much is this going to cost?" And I said, "I don't know." And now we have a number. What we discussed at that time was that it's not currently within the preliminary budget. You have basically there's three options that I think they're out there. One, you can utilize contingency that we currently have still remaining within the working budget um to fund this and we adjust the budget accordingly. two. The council had also discussed that we could evaluate where we are mid 2026, third quarter 2026 and determine whether or not there was capacity within that budget um to do the work at that time or just simply wait until we develop the 2027 budget and then incorporate the necessary resources at that time. So if you want to move forward, our recommendation is you need to fund it, but when and how do you guys want to do that? that and then we would bring something forward appropriately. >> I mean I I I think we have to do it now because I can't know how to look at two three four without knowing what the costs are going to be for and what we could potentially build this into because if you know we determine it's going to be better this we don't want to give up that property line. I don't want to go down that path. Or, you know, if we want to reconsider extending a lease, which I wouldn't recommend we do at this point, we got until 2026 and so we get closer to that. So, I mean, I think this is an absolute must and I say take it from the contingency and and then we have it. >> Josh loves the contingencies, >> but the contingencies for things like this, things that we didn't plan for. >> But wait, Josh, when she's saying that we should get rid of the contingencies, >> I was we may getting rid of. >> So just so staff is clear, what I'm hearing is direction from the council that we should move forward within the working budget to accommodate the expense for this work in what we bring back to you in final draft budget in December and then you can make more decisions at that time. Okay. I just had a question because I know legally we'd have to sell it. Do we have an idea of like no clue? >> No, I think on this particular topic I would recommend that the council schedule that for a future discussion. There's a couple of reasons for it. One, there's no representatives from the ball team here tonight. Brandon and I know from past discussions and Amanda will confirm this, they would like an opportunity to make their pitch is to to move it. Um, also Brandon through his research on this had identified a number of complications related to it. It might be good to provide us time to if the council's interested in this to flush those out a little bit a little bit more. Um, from that standpoint, one thing to point out is, as we can see, they can do everything and continue to operate as they've operated today. Um, uh, the question the council might want to ask is why do we need to move? Why is it necessary to move the property line? They've, I mean, they've indicated they would basically what they say, we'd like to own the whole ball field and its associated facilities, lock, stock, and barrel. That's that that's the explanation that they've they've provided, but there's a lot of moving parts on that. So, we would suggest that that should really be a freestanding discussion if the council's agreeable to that. >> Yes. >> For me, >> I see heads nodding. Yes. >> So, we won't talk about that one for another time. >> We'll schedule that. That could be a that would be a December January discussion at this point. Brandon, what would you anticipate? >> I mean, yeah, that sounds about right. >> Yeah, December >> extending the lease for the community. >> I think that's a nobrainer. >> Is this a yearly reup, right? So, >> I believe so. We could amend it to the initial five years and do an amendment that it would be a yearby-year after that. That would still provide the flexibility that Josh was talking about. But if it takes us a period of time to pull this together, >> which it will, which it will um then thing then there's lack of uncertainty in their future as far as how they're they're operating. Is there an issue with use of the bathroom if you want to go forward with remodel? >> I think where Josh is going with it is once we know what that might look like, I think that would be a consideration in the actual design, it would have to at least under the current lease and the recommendation accommodate their ability to continue to have access to the bathrooms or to provide separate bathroom facilities. Just something that you might want to consider if you're going to extend it or provide some sort of an amendment that would recognize that potential and the need to go back to basis >> which is why I mean it always feels like a separate standalone discussion which would be normal part of the renewal of the the lease and then you know maybe instead of a fiveyear let's do a year or two so that it's more reasonable if something changes with path that we take with this. >> Would you guys want to wait some period of time before you actually took action on any sort of amendment to the lease or would you want to take an interm take an action on an interimm amendment that would get us down the road a certain distance? >> I think an interimm makes most sense if we're going to move forward with we don't know where we're going to be in 24 months from now if we give them a fivey year. >> But what I'm hearing is an adjustment that provides us maximum flexibility if we need it. and assurances for them. I mean, for the same reason the buff the team wants to own that is because they don't want in five years or 10 years, we say, "Yeah, we're taking the half that's ours or whatever >> the first base, >> right?" So, I mean, for the same reasons, they need the assurances, too. So, I totally get that. >> The last item maybe I'll point out. So, right now, we use roughly a third >> of the interior space of the main structure for storage for the city. Um, logically, if you're going to remodel that to an alternative space, you have to have someplace to go with it. We don't currently have a place to go with it. We went there because we ran out of space where it was. So, as councils know based on my updates, um probably December, probably most likely January, we'll be returning to the council to start talking about um additions to the public works campus for facilities. Um that facility was basically built with no elbow room for expansion a decade ago. um and we're at the point where we really need to be looking at something some one of the options that will be presented will would be to actually um provide at least on a longterm interimm basis a place to go with that type or create space to meet those types of needs. So on that one, I think it's a lot I don't know that there's much direction that we would need at this point except to make the council aware of it and a possible solution may be presented as we begin discussions about the public works campus. >> Okay, >> if you guys are okay with that, >> I'm okay with that. I'm just working it out of my head. >> I I would like to echo Amanda's thoughts. This was a large vague project with a variety of great people but wide variety of opinions and so getting some level of consensus and clear recommendations was a bit of a challenge but I think you did an excellent job at that. >> Okay, we got that one good. >> I think so. Okay, thank you. >> Authorized hire for a police officer. Uh this is an item that would normally be under consent agenda, but given the timing of it, uh we placed it under general business because it was um late to the agenda, but we did have one of our officers resign last week. So that creates another vacancy um in the department. We'd be asking for council authorization to fill that vacancy. As the council's aware, we currently have three off authorized positions that are vacant. One was an expansion, two were existing positions. In practice, this would simply mean that we would continue hiring process until we fill them based on the applicant pools and our bandwidth within the department to move officers, new officers through field training. Based on discussions um in the department, uh the sergeant and chief have indicated that the maximum number of officers that we can have in field training at any point in time is realistically two. So, it's not like we're going to hire three people at the same time unless there's some sort of a staggered timing on their hiring. So, >> okay. Need a motion or >> uh we just need a a motion to authorize hire authorize the city administrator to fill the vacancy. >> So, moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? I concludes general business reports. Um I had sent an email to council uh related to the grand opening event for Niagara um for an RSVP. Um they've also asked whether or not the city wants to provide any remarks, which is typical when you have um large projects or any grand openings. Um I've asked the mayor for direction on that. Um and also would ask the council that if you are planning to attend, please RSVP in the immediate future. Couple reasons. one, they need to know for planning, and two, we need to know if it's something that we would need to post um as a public meeting. >> Okay. So, that's I'm going to try to make it. Who else is going to try to make it? Just so we know. >> I will not be there. >> So, we just need to hear something from Kate. Okay. All right. Anything for public works? >> Uh Corey had nothing. >> Josh, >> I have three. Um one is uh we are doing the open house with the fire department on Sunday and uh we've got our interviews on Tuesday. And then the third one is I just want to formally acknowledge Tom's punt about the pitching during the discussion of the baseball team being in the meeting because it was criminally under I appreciate that. >> I can always count on you, Josh. >> Uh, no fire. >> Floor is yours. You got your dad joke? >> Uh, yeah. I, you know, Kate's not here to enjoy it, but I'll I'll still I'll give it a shot here. And I I was going to go with a Halloween theme one here, given that the season. Um, why don't skeletons fight each other? >> It's because they don't have the guts. That's all I got. So, unless you guys have anything else for me. >> Luke, could you provide an update on the construction at the Highlands? >> Um, yes. I'm Rich is a little bit more in tune with that one, but they were working on storm sewer. I know today was going back and forth with our inspector a little bit out there on that one. So, uh, things are progressing here. Um, I would anticipate that they'd be moving into street grading and stuff here within the next week or so. >> All right. Anything else for community development that we haven't talked about already? >> Um, community development. Uh, we are working hard still on the Sullivan concept plan for that 80 acres. He's very anxious to get that property annexed in the city so he can uh proceed with his public hearings related to actually uh developing the property. Um also we're starting some code amendments now that uh summer season is over. Uh planning commission meeting next Tuesday just push put out a packet. The only thing on the agenda is to begin the discussion on min minimum lot size uh adjustments, see if they're needed, get some direction from the planning commission on that. Uh then we'll move into uh possible Shorland ordinance amendments and reviewing our sexually oriented use um code. >> Was there any how about parks? There's a line item there. >> Um nothing uh specific beyond that. Just the next meeting will be in December and they'll be reviewing the revised concept plan for Eel View Meadows, Joe Sullivan's project. Basic the the major changes uh related to as you know was related to the park area and the developers attempt to respond to the comments from the parks commission and council. I would also add that at the last uh parks meeting we had, the group made a decision to um go forward with temporary pickle ball net at Rowena Ponds Park. Um so first the first idea floated around and discussed was um temporary nets and paddles. We went they said no to that. So we brought back an alternative option of a semi-permanent net that's moved seasonally um before the ice is filled and then when it becomes nice out again in the spring. So, um, we have money in the budget for that for 2026 and we plan to do that. So, >> so we're going to have pickle ball. >> Have one pickle ball now out there >> because before it was like bring your own. >> Sign up for it or something. >> I don't know. >> No, it's first come, first serve. >> First come, first serve. Before it was a bring your own, but there's three courts out there and there's one that's nicer than the other two. >> There's going to be fights. >> Well, they play indoors three times a week at the elementary school, too, if anyone wants to join them. >> They're fun. That'll be fine. But yeah, so you can still bring your own net to the other two, >> but there's only two over at New Market Township and that's I mean and it's busy, but you know when to go there when it's quieter. >> Yeah, this isn't final product. It's just uh getting us through now. >> Fair enough. CC, >> we met this week. Um we discussed the uh fire rescue day is coming back into the committee and so that will be happening and we'll start working through that. Um the biggest topic was the Halloween event that is this Saturday from 10 to noon. If anybody wants to volunteer, we will take you. Um, but yeah. >> What do you go as? >> I typically go as a whole lot of nothing. >> The costumes are optional. >> Well, I mean, yes, they are optional, but >> it's a good time. There's um I'll just say that we have I think it was 20 Oh, I'm gonna get the number wrong. There's a lot of sponsors this year, which was really fun to see. So, >> okay, >> that's what I got. >> All right, scale back. >> Uh, service delivery for this month was cancelled. Um the executive committee meeting was largely a discussion of um upcoming topics for scale and prepping for the um regular meeting related to the legislative platform. >> I35 >> I was out of town. Did you go? >> Were you at the corner with Tom and >> No, we missed it. So, nothing this month. >> No, you were at the corner. Saw it on the Facebook >> for the corner >> 35 thing. >> Oh, >> yes. So, >> yeah. Yeah. >> Yep. So, we had >> like what corner are we talking about? >> They were watching in the morning. It was on the Scott County page. I can say that I did not expect that many people to be there because I drove through and I was like >> a big curve. >> Why are that's why I brought up >> there was a lot of reflective vest. Yeah, >> that's why I brought it up. >> Yeah. So, um the county was able to get um some high ranking officials, staff from MDOT to come down and actually observe the function of the interchange. We had the deputy commissioner. We had the south metro manager um senior engineering staff as well as our county commissioner um our state representative and um pretty much most of the relevant senior county staff um related to the topic. And um we feel it was a good opportunity for them to view what was um going on. Um whether or not it has a long-term impact on the process of securing funding for the interchange will remain. Um the the county and especially Renee lobbyed heavily for like a 2030 2031 uh time frame. Um, and uh, really just making the point that it's not just about re-upping the planning documents because they'll just expire again. You have to do something with them and we can't wait 15, you know, I believe a certain person said, if this is what it looks like today, what's it going to look in 10 to 15 years? So, um, I think we made an impact. We'll just see if it has an effect. And we do have to appreciate everybody that came out because it was not a nice morning. So right LMC nothing new. All right. Discussion >> the line item. >> Yes. I'll be quick but just something been thinking about is doing some sort of like council conversation or connection outside of regular meetings. Um, so wanted to discuss potentially partnering with city and staff on that if there is interest from other people. So thinking like maybe two times a year, potentially three, doing something at the library, potentially also coinciding with family fun nights so we can like bolster attendance. I know oftentimes these things aren't typically well attended, but I think people might have questions and if they just see, you know, the city off to the side or in a separate room, they might be more willing to to ask those questions versus coming and sitting into a full sometimes intimidating meeting or speaking to a room full of people. I think one-on-one you can get a lot more done. Um, so I know turnout could potentially be low, but just wanted to bounce the idea off of you all and see. I'm more than willing to volunteer my time, but if others want to too, just want to open the floor to that. So >> I would like to tag with you on that because as we go into the comprehensive I want to start mapping out public engagement for next year to get community feedback on all the various comprehensive planning components from parks to utilities to land use. Um so I also have been thinking about ways we could be off in the corner maybe um at community events. I think that'd be good for marketing too of like marketing them as like we have public works this time or you know now we have the police chief and like different issue sets that if people are like oh I actually do have a question for that individual and then I think it makes us more relatable too I think oftentimes those one-on-one conversations don't always happen and obviously we have some intense meetings so it's good to provide other opportunities for feedback but >> yeah that family fun day would be a great opportunity it was >> approximately how many of those we they have each summer >> or year >> seven >> although next year I think the number is going to reduce um uh if you recall previous update we're seeing the attendance at those go up substantially and so they're getting harder to manage in that number so from a resource standpoint so we may have to have fewer bigger events than the number that we have but it's usually five to seven >> and I'll just say they're usually on Thursday nights so if we want to attend council members, they would have to be scheduled differently. >> That has been >> Saturday afternoon one. >> Uh that's the community picnic. >> Maybe that one >> the uh the Thursday night to be honest was a pure function of um former city administrator Mark Nagel being here for council meetings and he could double team that evening. Um there is no other specific reason that I'm aware of as to why it has to stay on Thursday nights. It's just been traditional at this point. >> Yeah, maybe schedule that community picnic. That would have been a great forum where we could have all been there and answer any questions. Something to think about next year. >> Anything else? What do next steps look like for that? Then, Tom, >> if this is something that the council wants to do, uh, we can put together a proposal. Um, I can talk to Jess about events that she has coming up and when she might have a schedule and we we can put together some knowing that you'd be looking at maybe two to start. We can always add more. Um, we can put together proposals as to where and when and what the specific topic might be. I would suggest doing things that people really like talking about. Like our special guest might be the police department. You know, public works, they don't get nearly as much exposure, but when you talk to residents, a lot of the questions you actually get are related to that and and development. >> With public works, we should do something over at the public works facility, the water. Like I think it's fas. I would love another tour and I probably had two >> and I think people would so dig it and we would get people there and >> yeah I think I don't know if there's liability craft that we got to worry about but that'd be fun. >> We uh we did that when we opened the facility. Um and we did get some we promoted it really heavy. We did get some turnout. I would say maybe 20 30 people that came through at the time, which actually in today's world is a lot of people, but that might not be a really that might not be a bad idea. >> So, thank you for that suggestion. >> It's a great suggestion. >> Let people see stuff, climb on it, walk through it. >> Yeah. Um, it's not the same, but sort of piggybacking on Megan's idea is that I feel like we should post like the city should post the agenda, the packet on social media as soon like as when we get it then it can go out to the public because maybe we'll get more engagement. Probably not. But I just think we continue to hear like I didn't know that that was going to be talked about and I didn't. It's like well >> one one easy way we could do it is we could just post basically a screenshot of the agenda >> and then put a link to the packet right there. >> I'll speak with our Facebook person >> expert. >> I like that idea. >> Thanks for having Anything else? Anything else? I just have one thing. Last meeting, I recognized this side of the room for the Niagara concerns, but I didn't recognize your guys on this side of the room, and I realize it after the fact, but I want to recognize your guys' effort, too, over here. Um, because I think the the baseline starting point was fantastic and we had to start somewhere and collab collaboratively, we came up with a great plan. So, I forgot you guys. I don't apologize for it, but officially recognize that. >> No. And I guess I would double then down on just the the open house just a couple days ago and obviously I mean we're going to piss off some people no matter what we do and how we do it. Um but you know I had people there that told me afterwards that they appreciated it and they appreciated the ability to talk one-on-one because they are in intimidated. maybe is too strong of a word, but like the certain voices drown out some of their conversations and questions that they wanted to have uh that they didn't feel comfortable having in that big group type setting. So, um while many may not appreciate uh the format, many did appreciate the format. And so, I think we just got to keep trying. >> You got to start somewhere and I think that was achieved. >> Thank you for what you did. All right. Do a journ. >> Did you make it? I'm making it. >> Oh, I'm seconding. >> All in favor? All right.