[music] >> Call the Shakopee City Council meeting for February 17th, 2026 to order. If we could take the roll, please. Council member Delaney. Here. Council member Whiting. Here. Council member Contreras. Here. Council member Lara. Here. Mayor Leeman. Here. Item number three, join us 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. Sorry for the rush over there. Got to run and choose on, we're good. >> better next time. Item number four, approval of the agenda. Is there any changes to the agenda from staff? Uh we have a couple things to update council on. Item 5J uh now has the contract for tree removal for the Minnesota River Bank project that actually occurred, the opening of the bids after the agenda went out. Uh and 5P, there was a dollar amount in the memo for year three that was incorrectly stated. Uh the dollar amount should be $40,574.60, and that is as stated in the vendor actual renewal form itself. It was just a a uh error in the memo itself. The resolutions [clears throat] are the same? Correct. Yes, sir. Okay. Changes from council? Mr. Whiting? I was going to make a motion to approve the agenda as amended. Second. Seconded by Councilor Contreras. Discussion? Any discussion? All in favor, say I. I. Opposed? Motion passes. Item number five is our consent agenda. Any changes to the consent agenda? Nothing that hasn't already been mentioned, Mr. Mayor. >> Council, Mr. Lara. >> Make a motion to approve the consent agenda. Is there a second it? Mr. Delaney? Mr. uh Reynolds, would you read the consent, please? Yes, sir. Mr. Mayor and members of council, these are the consent agenda items for Tuesday, February 17th of 2026. 5A is certification of our delinquent sewer and storm drainage accounts. 5B is the monthly financial report for January of 2026. 5C approves plans and authorizes bidding for phase three of the downtown ADA lighting and tree rehab improvement project. 5D is the school resource officer renewal agreement. 5E approves the 2026 tree purchase orders for our annual resident tree sale and tree replacement program. 5F is the recycling grant for cleanup day events in 2026. 5G approves on sale and Sunday liquor licenses for Shakopee Entertainment LLC doing business as the Mystic Lake 5H is authorization to add three full-time firefighter positions. 5I is the strength equipment replacement for the community center. 5J awards tree removal contract for the Minnesota River Bank stabilization project. 5K approves the engineering traffic operations policies and procedures manual. 5L is a fee schedule amendment. 5M is approval of the February 4th, 2026 City Council minutes. 5N approves change order number one with the Dock Doctors for marine marina materials for Minnesota River Bank stable improvements. 5O is resolution of support for the State of Minnesota job creation funding for tenant at 52025 52025 Dean Lake Boulevard. And 5P is the laser laser fish licensing and maintenance renewal agreement. Thank you, Mr. Reynolds. We do have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor, say I. I. Opposed? Motion passes. Item number six is public comment. If you're here for an item that is not on the council agenda and would like to address the City Council, now would be the time to do so. Is there anybody in the audience that would like to address the City Council on something not on the agenda? Please. Make sure you pull that mic up, have a comfortable spot in that chair. Would love to hear hear from you. It's got to be really close to you. Yeah, you got to pull it close to you. All right, is my volume good? Yeah, pull it close to you. All right, what about now? You can You can move it on the table. Oh, okay. There you go. All right, thank you. Uh hello, esteemed esteemed council members. My name is Oluwagond and I'm here representing the Shakopee DECA chapter. Uh DECA is essentially a club at Shakopee Senior High School that is focused on business education. And this year we've kind of taken the route of advocating for something called CTE, or career technical education. Now, as a quick summary, CTE is essentially learning outside the classroom. And kind of the best way to put an example of this is the CAPS program that's currently in place at the high school. So, the CAPS program is essentially taking students out of the classroom and giving them real work experience. And the data shows that CAPS is like a form of CTE, and the data shows that not only does it increase the graduation rate of students in high schools, but it makes them three times more likely to get employed by like outside people because they have the skills that is necessary for actual jobs. And what we at DECA really try to focus on here is that increasing the funding for CTE-related programs and extracurriculars. And kind of the benefit of this is that it gives exposure to more students, especially in Shakopee High School. Because right now the problem with programs like CAPS is essentially scope. Um they only hold about 200 kids for the senior class, while there are about 700 kids in the class of 2026. And I think by providing more funding to programs like CAPS or extracurriculars like DECA, it they can increase their scope and end up recruiting more kids to learn more about business, health care, science, and the skilled trades. And I think the best way to do this is increasing the funding for programs like CAPS in the future. So, we I do urge you guys to try and consider diverting more funds or more money towards nonprofits like CAPS because they are really working to make the members of our community a more skilled demographic. And because of that, not only will it increase like the development of Shakopee, but also it makes increases the reputation of Shakopee High School as an area where learning happens just outside the classroom as well as within it. So, if you guys have any questions about it. Questions? Mr. Whiting? No, thank you uh for being here. You know, we typically don't comment uh on someone that comes up right away, but I do support the DECA. I mean, in uh my industry, a lot of people came up to learn how to be a printer, uh run a printing press, and uh um have great careers doing that. Now, uh at Shakopee, we're working towards an innovation center that might have a lot to do with uh some of those uh uh bringing people up and teaching people how to learn a skill like you're mentioning. So, uh we I support it, and I would ask the rest of the group to weigh in as well. All right. Anybody else? Typically, funding educational funding would come through the school from the State of Minnesota. So, I would highly encourage you to contact your state representatives and and senators uh on that particular piece for educational purposes within the various school districts. Um and yes, the uh downtown innovation center that we're working on for a while now. Um For last four about four years now, I've been really kind of pushing the the trades part of that. And we're starting to see now where AI is going to come along in the next year, year and a half, and really replace a lot of the white-collar jobs. Um and the the the trades are going to be extremely important uh for building the infrastructure that keeps the country operational. Um so, I'm totally on board with the trade side of things. I myself went to trade school. Um so, that would be the avenue I would approach. I would I would definitely uh get yourself on the agenda of the school board. They're the Yep. They're the elected governing body of of the school district. And uh you know, they might be able to give you some ideas to tweak or even better what you're proposing. Uh and it might be more uh palatable to the state leaders for pu- pupil funding. Okay? Yep. Appreciate you coming down. All right, thank you so much. >> Thank you. Is there anybody else that would like to address the City Council on an issue that is not on our agenda? Seeing none. [snorts] Item number seven is business removed from our consent agenda. We had none removed. Item 8A is a resolution of appreciation for Shakopee Chief of Police Jeff Tate and acceptance of his resignation with regrets. Chief Tate, can I have you come in and have a seat, please? Well, Mr. Mayor and members of council, Shakopee Chief of Police Jeff Tate has faithfully served the residents of Shakopee for over 28 years. Almost 17 of those as chief. His career has been defined by steady leadership, quiet strength, and an unwavering commitment to the people of Shakopee. He doesn't just wear the badge, he embodies the concept of community policing, and he has carried the responsibility that came with it every single day. Despite significant growth and change within the city and the profession, Chief Tate has led with steady resolve through civil unrest, a global pandemic, evolving community expectations, and a challenging staffing climate. Through times of growth, challenge, and change, he has led with integrity, professionalism, and a deep respect for both his officers and the residents of Shakopee. Under Chief Tate's leadership, the Shakopee Police Department has continued to evolve while staying grounded in its core values: safety, honor, pride, integrity, and the golden rule. He understands that public safety is not just about law enforcement, but it's about relationships. It's about listening, about showing up, and about doing the right thing even when it is difficult. The award-winning innovation he brought to the department during his service has been internationally, nationally, and locally recognized. Some of the numerous awards he and the department have received are listed in the resolution. But the most important work is the impact those innovative programs have had on this community. Sober ride home, the recovery assistance program, team up against graffiti, and the gift card ordinance all positively impacted our residents and have been replicated in other communities. And I I'd ask you just to think about the gift card program. Jeff fought really, really hard for that program because he thought it would make a difference. And it was not easy for the council to make that decision at the time. And there were people that were very much were not in favor of that single program, and yet it literally slashed the gift card fraud in this community by over 95% in a year. That is true innovation. To the officers and staff who worked alongside him, Chief Tate is a leader who sets high standards and lived up to them himself. He leads by example. Mentors with purpose and has never forgot that behind every uniform is a person, a family, and a calling to serve. To the community, Chief Tate has been a steady and reassuring presence, someone you could count on in moments of uncertainty and challenge. Shakopee is safer and stronger because of his service, as evidenced by our continuing low crime rate in the last few years, the lowest crime rate in the city's history. Chief Tate's impact will be felt long after today. His legacy lives on in the department, the leaders he mentored, including our next police chief, and the community he served with such dedication. On behalf of the city of Shakopee, Chief Tate, your colleagues, and a very grateful community, we simply say thank you. Thank you for your leadership, your sacrifice, and your years of service. We with you wish you nothing but happiness, health, and new challenges in your next chapter with the County of Scott. Congratulations on your retirement. You've truly earned it. >> [applause] [applause] >> Any comments, Mr. Tate? Mayor, Council, Administrator Reynolds, I was kind of hoping to do this quickly and not give a speech, but um you know, what I I've always said and I always will say, Shakopee is a special place. Uh I just talking to all my colleagues around the state, you know, the things that we think are big issues here, uh those other cities would give their left arm to have those be the the types of problems that they deal or their biggest issues. That says a lot about our community, our leadership, um and I've just been very, very fortunate and blessed to work in this community for this time. And that that comes with uh great people, present and and past, uh department heads, uh different departments in the city, also just uh you know, the people within the police department. We've really had wonderful people. They've been real supportive and made my job a lot easier. So, I am just grateful for the faith uh you and previous councils have had in me over the years. Uh I've tried to work hard every day and give the make sure the taxpayers got their money's worth out of our me and our department. Uh tried to do that the best of my ability, and I also want to thank the community. I mean, we have had outstanding partnerships throughout the community. These awards, you know, Bill mentioned, that's a we. Uh that's that's the community, that's our department. Uh the partnerships that we had, I'm proud of the accomplishments we had as a as a community. So, uh I'm know the department's in good hands moving forward, and um again, very, very grateful and blessed to have served this community. I'll never forget it. Thank you. Thank you, Chief. Council? I want to go first. Go ahead. Thank you. Um that's the first thing I'll say, and just the relationship that you have helped build with our community in these tough moments we're living, um we've seen it. I love how our department, even though we know there's many times you can't do much, but just having them there, just having them there. But you have instilled in them such great it it it's in the it's in it's the culture of the department. Just the idea that just be there, and people will the community feels safe. You know, it's that connection that we have, and just to see them, I know they're not going to hurt me. I know even in my lowest moment, they'll be there to like you've said, pick you back up and dust you off, and let's go. And and and that's something that our community feels. I feel safe, our community feels safe, and in these moments I've heard it. And many times it's like, was police there? Was police there? What did they do? And it's just the idea that you have built that culture to to build our community and to make our community feel safe. So, for that, thank you so very much. Nicely said, Mr. Lara. You stole my culture. >> [laughter] >> Um you did exactly that. Um every time I'm watching the news or I'm reading some I and the different problems cities are having, I'm just I I'm so grateful that we, knock on wood, never have those issues. We never come up on um any news articles or anything. Shakopee is always the gold standard, and that's really something to be said. Is that standard you set. So, thank you. Very good. So, Mr. Delaney? Well, well, we have some other things already been said, but but thank you. The community policing in this city is just phenomenal. I don't know if that's me ringing here. It's phenomenal. I I really appreciate it. I know our community appreciates it. I know when I go out and talk to some of our neighbors in the community, they love our police force, love what they do. And I know when we go to the events where other cities do talk about the police force, um we we are so blessed to have you and have the officers that we do have in our community. Again, thank you so much. Well, it it's all been said, so I can good luck. I I I will just wrap up, Mr. Tate, by saying that I've had the the honor of working with you all of your uh years as chief here, and many of your years before that. Um there's a couple of highlights that I think are really important for what sets Shakopee above others. And it's a that no single one of these is more important than the other, but I think the combined uh mythology behind these things combined is really what does it, okay? I think it's the five golden rules. I think it's the city councils, past and present, that have been supportive of our police department and their their vision and focus. Um that mentality of you're going to treat people with respect, even if it's the bad person that you have to tumble on the ground and wrestle with, you pick them up and you treat them with respect and go through the process. That's very important to the people that we Shakopee Police Department serves, and that has built the relationship over the years with our community of trust, and that trust is critical. And we're seeing that nationwide now, um of just how important that trust is. You know, we've always had frontline training opportunities for everybody, which is important. You know, I think we as a as a city try to take take care of our our people, not only this department, but all of our departments. And you know, so there's a lot of different things that go into this. Community policing came about way early. Um Former Chief started it. He He moved on, Mr. Hughes, and you picked it up and just ran with it. So, kudos to you for recognizing that. I've been a strong supporter of that, crime prevention efforts, crime prevention board, all of these efforts combined really do make a difference and it shows in our communities. So, thank you for your leadership. Thank you for grabbing these these things and holding them dear and making it part of the culture because it's very important and you did a very good job at doing that and we appreciate that dearly. And I'm going to continue to vote against this resolution just to be consistent with some very good past department heads, Mr. Loney, Mr. McNeal and so on and so forth. So, nothing personal, just want to be consistent and I certainly obviously don't want to see you go, but it's not my choice, it's yours. So, thank you for all you do and we'll have to look at the rest of the men and women in blue do carry your legacy forward in everything that they do every day. It is very important and we appreciate everything all of you do for the community. Thank you all. Wish the council, Mr. Lara. I will make the make the motion to approve resolution R2026-029, resolution to of appreciation of Jeff Chief Jeff Tate and the acceptance of his resignation with regret. Is there a second to the motion? Second. >> Mr. Delaney seconds the motion. Discussion on the motion. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. I. Opposed? Myself. Motion passes. Congratulations, enjoy retirement. >> Mr. Thank you very much. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Let's uh Let's take a picture if we could, Chief. All right, smile pretty. One, two, three. Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> Want a cake? >> [laughter] >> Next week. Everybody set? Okay, we are up 8B, preliminary and final plat of Southbridge Crossing 6th Edition. Mr. Svoboda. Floor is yours, sir. Uh thank you, Mayor Lehman members of council. Before you this evening is the review of the preliminary and final plat of Southbridge Crossing 6th Edition. Uh the site is located at the intersection of Old Carriage Road and Old Carriage Court North is bordered by County Road 21 on the east, Old Carriage Road on the south and Old Carriage Court North on the west. Uh the building that you see in the aerial photo is the former Best Buy building. It has since been removed from the site, but that is the this is the redevelopment of the Best Buy site. And the applicant is Nam Lee of HR Green representing Chick-fil-A restaurants. The address of the site is 8100 Old Carriage Court North. Uh the owner is Chick-fil-A Inc. The total site area is 4.43 acres. The zoning is B1 highway business and for the 2040 comp plan, the site is guided for mixed use commercial center development. So, some additional background on the project. Commercially zoned land is required to be subdivided by a preliminary and preliminary plat and also or a registered land survey. Uh Chick-fil-A has already applied for their building permit and gone through the review for a 5200 square foot restaurant. They are waiting to start construction and coordinate the construction with the roundabout that's at the intersection of Old Carriage Road and Old Carriage Court. Uh the property is being subdivided into two lots, a 3.2 acre lot for the Chick-fil-A restaurant and a 1.23 acre lot for a future user. That is lot one. So, some additional details on the site. Pedestrian access will be provided to both of the lots in the subdivision to the sidewalk that's along Old Carriage Court. You'll notice that through the construction and demolition of the of the Best Buy site that the existing trees along County Road 21 were preserved. We worked with the applicants for the demolition and also Chick-fil-A to save those mature trees. Uh vehicle access to the site will utilize the existing accesses that are already in place, which is a right in only on Old Carriage Road and a full access to Old Carriage Court North. So, this is the preliminary plat drawing that shows the site plan for the development. The southern lot is the Chick-fil-A restaurant. They're utilizing some of the existing parking lots that are in place and re-doing some reconfigurations of others. The southern portion of the property is encompassed by power line easements for the Xcel Energy transmission lines. And the lot two for a future user, that is the smaller lot that is to the that is to the north of the site. So, this is the site plan showing the footprint a bit closer and more detailed of the Chick-fil-A restaurant. They've got a significant queuing for a double drive-thru. As I expect you're aware, the Chick-fil-A restaurants are quite popular and especially for their drive-thrus. And so, this site is set up well to accommodate a large amount of drive-thru traffic. Uh significant amounts of work between the planning department and engineering department and the applicant have taken place and we're pleased with how how the design is has moved forward. So, this is the final plat drawing showing the two lots, lot two and lot one. Uh so, the planning commission reviewed the on February 5th. Planning commission reviewed the proposed preliminary and final plat and gave a positive recommendation to the city council by a vote of six to zero. Uh with that, I will turn it over to the council for questions. Thank you. Questions to staff, Mr. Lara. Just comment. Um thank you to you guys for seeing that those mature trees were saved. That was one of my concerns when I found out about this project originally and that they were going to be demolishing the building. I just wanted to make sure that those big trees were saved and it sounds like that will be happening. So, thank you for seeing that through. Mr. Whiting. Uh parcel two or lot one, I think that's how it's it's spelled out. Is that going to have shared parking with Chick-fil-A or will it have enough parking to support its own building? Uh Mayor Lehman, Counselor Whiting, they will have parking on their own site. So, they have enough Yes. Yep, without shared. Okay. Can you pull up the slide of the actual overhead of the site that you have There you go. The double drive-thru I'm thinking light wash to traffic on 21 going south. Yeah. Do we have any headlight wash issues out of that? Uh Mayor Mayor Lehman and members of the council, I don't expect that there would be. There is existing landscaping that's in that's in that area and also the site's at a different grade elevation than the highway. Okay, and then the other question I had was it where the roundabout is going to go on Old Carriage Road and Old Carriage Court, what is our distance to the driveway, the full access driveway and what does that look like with the roundabout? Do we looked at that, I assume. Uh Mayor Lehman, members of council, yes, we did look at look at that. I would defer to Alex Jordan on that. He was intricately involved in the design of that. >> Okay. Uh Mayor and council, we did take into account that driveway location as we designed the roundabout. The roundabout skews slightly to the south of where the existing access is. So, it will function appropriately and that access on Old Carriage Court is actually just a right in right out only access at that location. If you can picture across from the Sherwin-Williams paint store. Okay, on this map here, it's showing the in and out on Old Carriage Court at the property line to the next development next door. Yeah, that so the the driveway that you see with the two arrows, there's a a right arrow and a left arrow. That's the first driveway entrance, that's a right in right out only. So, you're only able to turn right out of the Chick-fil-A. The next driveway is actually not shown on this image. It's further to the north of there. Okay. Mr. Whitey? The one on Old Carriage Road, the before the roundabout, that's a right in only, it's not a right out, right? Mayor and Council, that's correct. Okay. >> only, one way, yeah. It's this one here and the roundabout here. >> I just heard it wrong, maybe. Okay. And Mayor and Council, that the queuing from the roundabout will actually not back up to that driveway. So, in the worst case scenario, the roundabout queuing will not block that driveway from accessing off the highway. That was a main consideration that we worked with the county to ensure that that wasn't going to cause negative impacts on the county road. So, the other drive that you're talking about north of the that's not showing on here, is that going to be in the the lot further to the north? Mayor and Council, there's cross access easements on the adjacent properties that will allow vehicles to exit the Chick-fil-A site and drive through private properties that are not as part of the plat in order to access that full access driveway. Can you show us on this map where that would be? Uh I can. Sure. Sorry. Oh, there's a private drive that goes across there. Okay. Yeah, Mayor and Council, you can see let's see you can see the mouse through here in this location. There is existing cross access easements that connect to this full access intersection through here. Okay. Very good. Thank you. Any other questions of staff? Wishes of Council? Mr. Lara? I'll make a motion to adopt resolution R 2026-024. Is there a second? Second of Counselor Contreras. Discussion on the motion? Discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. I. Opposed? Motion passes. People have been talking about that for a long time. Yeah. I've never tried it, so I guess I keep showing up on a Sunday. Don't. >> [laughter] >> Don't. It don't work. 8C, monthly financial report. The number one rule, don't go on a Sunday. It's closed. Mr. Reinhardt, floor is yours, sir. Sure. Good evening, Mayor and Council members. Presentation tonight will cover the financial results through December. These are preliminary results as we'll be posting journal entries and adjusting for payables and receivables over the next few weeks. So, these amounts will change. None of our financial numbers have been audited at this point in time. Our auditors completed their preliminary work a few weeks ago and then the full audit is scheduled for the second week of April. The final numbers and the audit report is typically presented in June, so still a couple months before everything's finalized. And [clears throat] I know we had this on the consent agenda at the last City Council meeting, but the city recently received the Government Finance Officers Association Certificate Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting, which is our 40th consecutive year of receiving that award, which is a great reflection of City Council, department heads, city staff, and then more specifically, I get to work with a high-performing finance team every every day that makes this possible. I think as we're now in the kind of the middle of wrapping up year-end numbers and getting ready for audit, it's a good time to mention that nothing has really changed over those 40 years from when I first applied for the program. We're still committed to reporting in accordance to government accounting standards, accurate and timely information, and full transparency. So, even though we've got this 40 years in a row, none of that has changed from 40 years ago. I just one additional slide here, which I simplified quite a bit, but I wanted to illustrate kind of the year-end process and why it takes 5 months from the after the year is over for us to have a financial report. So, cash and investments, we reconcile those shortly after year-end and adjust those for market value and accrued interest, but those numbers really don't change. The items that are constantly moving pieces are bills that are being received for services related to 2025 and then money being received that's related to 25, kind of which is where we're at today. So, any invoice received after year-end related to 2025 we record back to the previous year. And then anything that we bill related to 2025 at this point also gets reported back to last year. There are a number of adjustments we make through journal entries, which often we have to wait till after we get these receivables and payables all all booked. Just a few examples, waiting for the final contractor payment through December 31st so we can book retainage payable that we've been withholding. Software agreements that may run via one-year agreement that run June June through June, moving that 2026 portion to 2026. And then often we get grants that are on a reimbursement basis, so not only do you have to wait to get the final invoice and book that payable back, but you we also have to book it as a receivable for anticipated grant revenue for that those expenses. And then finally, after we get through all those items, we can get to the audit, which again this year is scheduled for for mid-April. So, with that being said, I'm going to go through preliminary numbers for 2025 based on where we were at last week, knowing that those those numbers will change. So, here is the general fund through December. Our preliminary results show we ended positive for the year. The fourth column over, which is the budget budget balance remaining column, shows the 2025 budget variances. In total for revenues, we're at 110% of our budget or a positive 4.1 million. In expenditures, we're under budget at 97 97% or 1.2 million in terms of dollars. And then the net positive for year, so if you look at the third column over, the 2025 year-to-date, then go to the very bottom number there, that's 4.8 million. So, in all likelihood, this number will probably come down as we go through the process, but so far a very strong year financially. And then I do have individual slides to just go over revenues and expenditures as well. So, majority of our positive budget variance was on the revenue side, about 4.1 million. Taxes, which is primarily property taxes, but also includes franchise fees for cable and a few other things. We ended up below our budget targets, which can happen when you have larger tax petitions or tax appeals that get resolved since they can go back for a 3-year period. Licenses and permits are exceeding the budget amount, but a little bit under what we did last year, primarily as a result of building permit revenue. In 2025, the city received permits for five commercial buildings, 24 town homes, and 263 single-family homes. That total permit value was 258 million. Compared to last year, that was or 2024, that was 311 million. Intergovernmental revenue is currently ahead of budget targets. The three three items I noted there was state aid street maintenance, police state aid, and then fire state aid were more than budget. And then charges for services ended up ahead of budget targets as well, primarily related to engineering fees related to private developments. And then miscellaneous includes investment earnings and the market value adjustment for an unrealized gain, which is the reason for the positive variance there, which I'll talk a little bit more when we get to the investment slides. On the expenditure side, again we're at 97% or about 1.2 million below budget. We're currently just showing one uh one department over budget. However, that overage is is relatively minor in comparison to um the other financial results. That one department being the police department. Just checking to see if Jeff Tate was still here, but but typically they've been they've been under for the past few years. This just happens to be the one year where they're slightly over, only about 1%. Those areas were building repairs, training, and and software. And then all the other departments came in under at this at least at through this point. Several departments, Mayor and Council, City Clerk, Facilities, Engineering, Fleet, and unallocated, which is basically contingency, were all under budget by 10% or greater. So, at this [snorts] point, things look pretty good. The previous slides, I showed the general fund currently at 4.8 million ahead for 2025. As mentioned, haven't had the chance to fully dive into the numbers and there will be adjustments, but I can give you a best guess on where we end up based on where we're currently at. So, in addition to booking the payables and receivables, there are a couple of fund balance adjustments. The committed fund balance for building permit revenues, which is our set aside for open building permits and the related expenses that come after it, we've actually will see a decrease in that. Our fund balance policy also requires the city set aside 35 to 50% of general fund operating expenses based on our 2026 budget. If we want to maintain that 50% level, that would require a 1.17 million increase. With the acceptance of the SAFER grant for additional firefighters, part of that resolution called for setting aside 550,000 of fund balance for the city cost share as well as cost associated costs related to hiring those 12 new full-time firefighters. And then [clears throat] um just to mention, it's been the city's past practice to put any excess funds towards one-time expenditures. We typically use those towards capital project needs. So, when we have our numbers kind of firmed up, we'll circle back with um some recommendations, but it does look likely we'll we'll see um um somewhere in the in the ballpark of 3 to 3.5 million that might be available. Questions for staff at this point. Councilor Whiting, the the cake with the police department over there. >> I saw that. Yeah, and that they better not do that now. Mhm. Okay. Thank you. Um and then with this being uh kind of the end of the year, we have our um quarterly investment report. Um so just going through the same couple of slides that we go through, right? Uh but this slide shows the interest earnings uh for the year in comparison to the previous 4 years. Uh green line being 2025 uh for the year we're at about 2.8 million, uh which is up a little bit from last year. Uh city's investment earnings um definitely benefited from higher um interest rates the past couple of years. Um but I would say um just based on our investment investment mix um even if we see the rates come down a little bit, and we've already seen them come down a little bit, I would expect this this line to be similar next year as it is is uh is to this year. And then the one slide on um unrealized gain or your your market value adjustment at the end of the year. Uh again, the green line being 2025. Um I [clears throat] like in 2022, um we had a pretty significant unrealized loss due to the upward uh shift in interest rates. Uh 2023 we saw rates decline, which resulted in unrealized gain. And so far in uh the past couple of years we've seen um the rates um come down again, which uh have led to unrealized gains. Uh for 2025, um that number is about 1.8 million. Um and then just a reminder, uh the adjustment is really just on paper as we do intend to hold all investments until maturity. Um and it's only recorded once a year on December 31st. Uh so if you combine both interest earnings and the unrealized market value adjustment, uh we're at a total investment gain of a little over 1.46 million. Um and again, right now um expectation is we'll see short-term rates stay either relatively flat or potentially decrease into 2026. Uh if that was the case, you'd likely see another unrealized gain for 2026, but probably a more modest than what we saw this year. So with that, I can stand for any questions that you you might have. Seeing none. Thank you. Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> Item 5D, public works and by the way, to the finance department, congratulations on the 40th year of the financial >> Thank you. government accounting standards award. That's outstanding. That's how many different finance directors have we had? Two or three that have done that for 40 years, you said? 40 years, so you've probably gotten through even more than three now. >> That's uh that's amazing. Good job. Good job. Item number 5D, public works and engineering annual report presentation. Thank you, Mayor and Council. Bill Egan and myself are here before you tonight to present the first ever engineering and public works annual reports. I left a copy of those on your desk before the meeting, so you have a hard copy before you. That's hot off the press. They were delivered to us this morning, so um they're still warm. >> let's be sure to note that this is the first, so 25, 30 years from now, these things are going to be worth big dollars. >> [laughter] >> A lot, yeah. Don't throw them away. Um I I donate them to the historical society, I think. >> [laughter] >> I would like to say that this project only happened in partnership between our engineering and public works departments, but also our award-winning communications department, specifically Amanda Lilly and Deb Noble putting a ton of effort and work on this to make it look very pretty and professional. Um Bill and I could not do that without their help, so uh kudos to them for really making this stand out, and really was able to highlight a lot of the really good work that we do in our public works and engineering departments. Um this uh this report is really supposed to be our way to to showcase our staff. Um the amount of time and effort and dedication and commitment from our departments um that they put in day in and day out is is something that goes unnoticed. Um and this is really a true testament to their efforts, and a really a small sample and and showcase of of what they do to make Shakopee such a great community that it is. Um without their work and and what we can do in public works and engineering, uh people would not be able to drive safely to school, to work, uh to turn on their water faucets, to flush their toilets, to drive in a snowstorm. Um all of those little things that our staff do day in and day out um is something that we're really proud of as department heads. Um and again, this is really just to showcase their efforts. So if you do see any of them, uh please thank them for their work. Uh so I will not flip through this entire annual report, but I want to go through some highlights of what's included, some of the accomplishments that we were able to achieve in 2025, and what we're going to look ahead to 2026. I just want to state up for the record, I have not got a hard copy yet. >> [laughter] >> Um to resonate with Alex is saying, um we really thank the communications team a lot. They helped us do the template, and hopefully going forward, um it's a lot easier in years to come. But we want to start with our staffing. Um on the public works side, we have 31 full-time um employees. We do the parks, the streets, the fleet, the storm and sanitary divisions, then we work alongside um some of Alex's team with the natural resource side. Um Part-time, we have Go back. Part-time, we have about double in the summer. We hire about 20 seasonals, 20 plus. Um and they do a lot of work in a short amount of time. One thing I want to point out on on this organizational chart is it includes uh years of service for each of these team members. I believe I counted on here, there's 13 members of our public works department that have put in over 20 years of service, which really shows the testament of their commitment to Shakopee and the institutional knowledge that they keep. Uh our engineering department has 10 full-time staff members. We do have four seasonal interns. Um those are all listed on on the left side of the organizational chart. Um the next thing we want to get into is employee awards and recognition. Um uh one person that I want to highlight on here is Barb Kramer, who's the public works administrative assistant. She was recognized as the employee of the year for 2025, Derek. So kudos to Barb. Um also, I want to highlight our our graduate engineers who both passed their professional engineering license test this year, so that they're able to become licensed registered engineers. So back to this one, Alex failed to talk about himself. He uh also won administrator's award. Um great job. Alex has been with us for for a few years now, and he's doing a great job, so um and back to Barb, she uh Of course, when people call us, they usually have an issue. Um she's very calming. Um if anybody's had the pleasure to call us, um she she does a great job, and she'll get the answers in a very professional way, so. Um Alex alluded to years of service. Um the three faces you see with the yellow shirts on there, um they have a lot of years of experience. Glenn Eida, 40 plus years. Um he's actually almost 41 full-time. He worked 6 years seasonally before a job opened up. Uh Keith Weckman, he's got 32 years. And Dean Bizik, 28. They've all done great great things for us. Um I see them every day. I see what they do. I see their ideas. Um hopefully you've read all the articles on them. Um they've all got unique talents, and they've been great. You can see some of the old equipment we used to have. So we've come a long ways there. So what's outside of our full-time staff, we do have a multitude of seasonal staff that joined us throughout the summer and winter months. Um on the engineering side, we had three interns this past year, Ally, Jack, and Bodie, who were awesome uh members of our team. They helped out uh as an extension of our staff, and really supported us in in our efforts that we did. Um and on the public works side, As I mentioned, our seasonal staff in the summer, um you guys are downtown, you see all the pretty stuff down there. They're down there daily. Um Along with the parks, um things you might not know, like we have seasonal staff that goes and checks out every building um every day, make sure everything is in order. Um they just do tons of stuff. We have a lot of new roundabouts now that we maintain. Um They're busy every day. Um some of the new initiatives and technologies that we highlighted in this um are some really uh innovative ways that we're able to do more with less. Um one of the things that we want to highlight is the new weather stations that we installed this past year. Uh what these do is help monitor the pavement temperatures and conditions in the winter months to help our public works staff inform their decision making on when to clear snow, how much salt to put down if it's going to be effective on the roadways based on the temperature, and what the forecast is. So, we use in-road pavement sensors to monitor those pavement conditions and also a centralized weather station that uses radar to to measure the actual pavement grip and surface state of the roadways. This was done through a grant that we got through the city of Shakopee. So, it was something that is designed to minimize or reduce the environmental pollution with over salting. So, this really helps our public works staff dial in the amount of salt that we can use to effectively treat and manage our roadways. This is our first year of using it. So, you know, we've been blending everything together with other forecasts and trying to see how to use this. So, it's a learning curve for us, but the company that we got it from has been great about giving us resources and training. Next is the credit accreditation. So, we've been working on this for a couple of years. Our goal is to bring it to the finish line this year. We've been working hard lately trying to get our practices finalized. So, it's been been hard. Pulled a few favors from other departments and they've been great helping us. So, hopefully good things happen in 2026 with us along with the Capra with Park and Rec. And then the last one on the slide, the GPS sprayer. We actually purchased it in mid-2024. We've got a good understanding of it now. We ran a lot of calculations prior to buying it. Those numbers don't always come true. This did. We saved a lot of paint and a lot of time. It's been fabulous. Great technology for our department. There's a lot of really cool statistics that we highlighted in our annual report. Some things that I'll I'll point out here is that the total miles of streets that we added to our system was 3.1 miles in 2025. Our public works staff spent 828.7 hours plowing streets in 2025. We currently maintain 103 miles of city-owned sidewalks and 36 miles of sidewalks that we plow annually. We have 156 miles of sanitary sewer of which we televised and jetted 20 of those miles in 2025. There are more statistics that we highlighted in here. One of the another ones is we own 5,659 street signs throughout the city, which is a significant number of street signs to to ensure they're functioning and maintained throughout the city. So, I encourage you to take a look at all of those numbers because because again, they go they show a testament to our staff and the amount of infrastructure that actually needs to be maintained. One of the things that I wanted to highlight just just for you all is the amount of external funding that we're able to capitalize in 2025. In 2025, we awarded construction contracts in the amount of 3.96 million. Of that, 5.1 million was funded by grants, which really offset the amount of costs that are expended based on property taxes. So, that really goes to show you that again, we're doing more with less, bringing in that external funding, and and supporting the city with that grant and external funding really reduces the stress on our public taxpayers and allows us to ensure that our streets and our public infrastructure is maintained. Partnerships, it's a big one for us. It brings a lot of togetherness right in the community. We've had church groups and you know, Boy Scouts. Can't name them all, but we've had a lot of volunteers help us with a lot of park projects, planting trees, so on and so on. It's been great. We work with the Park and Rec with Adopt-A-Park program. So, we couldn't do it without them. Some of the equipment as you see on the lower left there, we've got some pretty impressive lifts. They're column lifts. Our biggest ladder truck, you can see. It's a pretty neat picture there. Hopefully, it's not up on those things too much, right? We want it on the ground, but when we need to work on stuff, it's very they're very versatile. Um Mechanics love them. The plow trucks, when I started, we had levers with cables, you know, to a valve body. Everything's electronic now. They can read road temperatures. It's all part of the smart salting stuff. We've converted all of our equipment over. We have the liquids. I mean, we have the latest and greatest equipment with with it. The one thing that we can't predict is the weather and temperatures. That really affects you know, how salt works, and we've seen some of that this winter. In the lower right is our fully outfitted plow truck ready to go in the summer there. But, just for the record, we've used more salt this year than we have the last two winters combined. We just had a lot of cold temperatures this year. Getting into the the really fun stuff is all the projects and initiatives that we're able to accomplish. Everyone's familiar with the Marystown Road project that we were able to finish the first year of and open this November, and we'll be finishing that in 2026. We're able to stabilize a stream in the Arbor Bluff residential subdivision, and we were able to add some really cool walking trails along the creek. So, if you haven't been out in to that open space area, I can take you on a tour if you'd like to see it. It's a really cool project in the spring. And it's a it's provides a really great opportunity and a natural area for residents to enjoy. Speaking of natural areas, the city manages 85 acres of um natural native landscaping areas within our parks and and other city properties. These are pictures in Shakopee that our natural resources technician Lindsey took. They're really cool pictures of flowers. I made sure that they were flowers and not weeds when I put them in here. I'm not a keen eye for that, but she she's done a really great work in minimizing the amount of turf that we're maintaining for no reason, especially in areas that people can't really go and enjoy, and we're converting those to areas where we don't have to irrigate, spread fertilizer, and they're areas that people can actually enjoy now with native seeds and flowers. And then looking ahead to 2026, 2025 was a busy year. I'm really excited to present the 2026 annual report because we have a lot of really cool projects and initiatives that we're going to be completing this year, including starting the Riverbank stabilization project. You you awarded the tree removal contract tonight, so that's officially ready to kick off and begin. We'll be completing the Marystown Road corridor improvements and finishing both of the next two intersections with that project. We talked about the Chick-fil-A project and constructing the roundabout on Old Carriage Court. We'll be reconstructing 12th Avenue and Crossings Boulevard as part of our pavement management project this year. We'll be completing a safety study along 10th Avenue, which we got a grant for. We'll be reconstructing the parking lots in Lions Park and completing safe routes to school infrastructure improvements, and then converting Eagle Creek from four lanes to three lanes as part of the Canterbury EAW. So, those are just a small snapshot of our upcoming projects this next year. You guys haven't awarded all of those contracts yet. Those all those projects will all be coming before you if you haven't seen them yet. But, this is just a snapshot of things that we'll be looking to achieve in 2026. So, with that, I'd like to to thank the city council for your support, not only on these projects, but supporting our staff and ensuring that we feel like we are supported and and there's the confidence in us to ensure that we can do what we do every single day. And we're really looking forward to next year. And we're happy to stand for questions. Questions, staff? No, great report. >> Just great. >> I would I would just point out that the other things that you didn't really hit on that you do is the storm water run off. A lot of them ponds, you don't really notice it in the old area of Shakopee because it goes down the drain on the side of the road and the curbs and goes away, but the newer areas, they have all them big holding ponds where you really got to get in and clean out the outlet channels so that they don't overflow and flood and and riprap them and stuff like that. So, there's that effort that you're also doing along with all of the mowing of the parks and stuff. So, there's a lot more that you do than what's just in this book, and often times, this department is the not always seen department, but it's critical behind the scenes. You know, these things that that you do are so important that on one hand, it's some of it's taken for for granted even though we don't see it actually happening, whether it's, you know, the alley getting plowed or the drain basin getting cleaned out or or some of these other things that people just don't see happening that are happening on a regular basis, cleaning the sewers, keeping them so they're working properly, lining them for longevity, some of these other things. So, great work, very important department. It's it's the infrastructure of of the city, actually. So, appreciate everything all you guys do. And anybody else? Mr. Weidell? Great work and a beautiful annual report. Kudos to the team that put that together. Great piece of history, but also a lot of great information in there. So, thank you. Keep up the great work. All right. Thank you. Thank you. 9A, city bill list. No questions. Over here, city bill list? Good. Okay. News and announcements, Counselor Contreras. News and announcements, let's see. Tree pruning project, the 2026 tree pruning project will be starting on Tuesday, February 17th, 2026. Carr's Tree Service will be doing the work. They are required to provide a minimum of 48-hour notice to adjacent property owners. There you go. Thank you. And these are city-owned streets on city easement or city property. Mhm. All right, very good. Did I miss I miss liaison all the liaison reports? Which end did I start last time? I think I started here, didn't I? Go ahead, Joe. Okay. Um not a whole lot on 169 coalition. You know, we have our the last meeting next week. I think everybody got the email invite, so if definitely be there if you if you can attend. Um nothing for Shakopee Utilities. I did get the opportunity opportunity to attend the um Elected Leaders um LMC. That has some great information. It's always great um to meet some other council members and mayors from other cities, but this one was really uh Bemidji and Mankato talked about their natural disasters and some lessons learned, and there was some incredible learning there. Um from be accessible to the community looking for stability after that to of course focus on residents, um limit distractions. Um and also we learned about leading with heart and vision from Daniel Jasper from the Mall of America. That was really a good good opportunity to to learn more, so. Very good. Thank you, Mr. Whiting. Uh thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um happy to report uh MVTA will be having a retreat um on Thursday this week. Uh a couple weeks ago I was elevated to the position of chair of the Minnesota Valley Transit. And uh we're working uh on many different projects, uh improving our uh Burnsville Transit Station and some other things. I don't have a report, but a lot of things in the lot of irons in the fires, yeah. Capital. Yep. Very good. Counselor Contreras. Thank you, Mayor, but I don't have one today. Counselor Lara. I do not have one, either. All righty. Then I'll be consistent and hold off with mine until the next meeting. Well, actually, you know, I will just hit one point. Um talking with state leaders, um it's going to be an interesting legislative session, I think. There's not a lot of clear direction from one party or the other, but I think the one common denominator is they both recognize they've got some financial issues they're going to have to hammer out. And uh we'll see how that goes and how the potential loss of federal funding to the state, if that happens and how all this shakes out, I'm not really sure, but I guess time will tell, so we'll keep an eye on it and report back whatever we learn as we go. So, it's all we can do on that. Any other business? Mr. Reynolds, did you have anything? No, sir. Any other business? Wishes of council? Mr. Lara. I'll make a motion to adjourn to March 3rd, 2026 at 7:00 p.m. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Mr. Laney. Discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. I. Opposed? We're adjourned.