Becker City Council — Transcript
Tuesday, July 21, 2026
Police Committee Report & Operational Updates
Public Works Committee Report & Infrastructure Decisions
Personnel Committee Report & Staffing Changes
Park and Recreation Committee Report & Maintenance Initiatives
EDA Committee Report & Economic Development Initiatives
Fireboard Report & Budget Approvals
Governmental Funds Preliminary Budget Overview
Votes (6)
Supplemental Letter of Agreement with SE for Wellhouse Number One Design
Dissent: None
Moved by Mike [7:37] · Seconded by Robin [7:47]
Chris Kudson presented Resolution 2667 for design work to update the 50-year-old Riley Wellhouse Number One, which is crucial for the city's water production. The project aims to improve reliability, maintainability, safety, and long-term operational performance, with design costs estimated at $942,500 over a 24-month process. Timing is critical to avoid disruption during irrigation season, and funding is planned from water CIP, reserves, and PIFA settlement money.
Sherburn County Emergency Response Unit (ERU) Joint Powers Agreement (JPA)
Dissent: None
Moved by Robin [12:12] · Seconded by Mike [12:14]
Chief Lindloom proposed Resolution 2664 to allow Becker Police Department officers to apply for positions on the Sherburn County ERU team. This agreement will provide Becker officers with advanced training in high-stakes situations. Becker PD will cover officer wages and overtime during callouts and an initial $11,000 for specialized equipment, with annual costs of $2,000-$3,000. The agreement is seen as a significant step for county and local agency relations and can be terminated at any time.
Police Department Patrol Rifle Update
Dissent: None
Moved by Rick [14:50] · Seconded by Mike [14:52]
Chief Lindloom sought approval for Resolution 2665 to replace the department's patrol rifles, citing consistent malfunctions, broken stocks, and optics issues with current equipment. The plan is for a full refresh to ensure reliability and standardization across all six patrol vehicles. Alex Pro Firearms was selected for rifles due to customer service, and Keysler's Police Supply for accessories and a favorable buyback program for old equipment, resulting in a net cost of $9,600, funded by the CIP.
Becker Community Center Program Coordinator Restructuring
Dissent: None
Moved by Robin [17:15] · Seconded by Rick [17:17]
Brandy Thomas requested approval for Resolution 2668 to restructure the Becker Community Center's program coordinator model from three part-time to two full-time positions. This change aims to increase efficiency by consolidating seasonal workloads (Aquatics/Adventure Zone), improve recruitment and retention for coordinator roles, and expand youth programming. The restructure is projected to be financially beneficial, saving nearly $9,800 for the remainder of 2026 and almost $24,800 in 2027, even with increased benefit costs for full-time employees.
Supplemental Letter of Agreement with SE for Water Treatment Plant Design
Dissent: None
Moved by Rick [19:40] · Seconded by Robin [19:42]
Phil Kudson presented Resolution 2666 for a Supplemental Letter of Agreement with SE for the design of a new water treatment plant. The city has faced a water deficit since 2002, exacerbated by poor water quality (CO2, manganese) from Wells 7 and 8. Extensive search for alternative sources failed. The design work, estimated at $942,500, is the first phase of a 24-month project, funded by water fund reserves and PIFA settlement money, to secure the city's long-term water future.
Edgewood Street Improvements Change Order
Dissent: None
Moved by Mike [21:36] · Seconded by Robin [21:38]
Phil Kudson presented Change Order Number One for the Edgewood Street improvements project, totaling $25,430. This change is for a water connection to loop the water system, providing redundancy and better service for future developments on Luan Drive. This was identified as an omission in the original design and is considered essential for long-term infrastructure stability.
Notable Quotes (17)
The project would address aging process equipment, electrical controls, HVAC, the building systems to improve the reliability, maintainability and safety and long-term operational performance of that wellhouse.
Again, timing is kind of critical because we just can't be without this wellhouse in the summer.
Well, 50 years is pretty impressive.
Effectively what it would allow is for uh members of the Becker Police Department to apply for positions on the team. Uh there is a very extensive uh testing process that requires a lot of physical testing, firearms training. Um it includes an interview and then um ultimately it will come down to myself and the commander of the ERU team if an individual should be selected to be a part of the team.
The benefit to to us obviously is having that that that additional training for some of our officers, that knowledge and things like that that they can bring back here and then we have somebody with a lot of that experience able to be on staff here.
Well, I just think this is great. I think it's a huge step forward in county and local agency uh relations.
We've had consistent problems with the rifles that we've had for these um, many years. Uh, including breaking stocks, uh, malfunctioning when we're doing our rifle training. Um, we've had a lot of problems with the optics um, like the sights that we selected for them back when we purchased them um, to include falling off during training.
Alex Pro um is really good customer service. So, if there's any type of failure or something that happens, even situations where if an officer would have like an officer involved shooting um and that gun needs to get taken as evidence, um they will come down and they'll replace that until we can get it back.
the reliability here was the key. And it uh it was frustrating at a lot of our trainings trying to do our rifle qualification and have things break and we just kind of can't have that.
One of the reasons being that I after evaluating uh I learned I looked further into it and saw that aquatics and adventure zone that would be the primary consolidation there. Um those are they complement each other very well. When aquatics is slow in the summertime because that's our slowest time of year. the adventure zone program ramps up with the kids being there all day. When adventures zone slows down in the school year, aquatics gets a little busier. So, it complements each other as far as the workload. It's a very seasonal position.
And we've heard that over the hiring process. I was a part of this hiring process for the adventure zone program coordinator last year. And that was one of the biggest things for feedback with not getting highlevel candidates to even apply because of the the position being a part-time non-benefit eligible position.
One of the nicest features here is also the restructure is financially beneficial. So going into if we if this is approved for the remainder of this budget cycle 2026, we're looking at 9,794 in savings for the remainder of the year. Looking ahead to the 2027 budget... we're looking at a savings of $24,797.
After we got those wells into production, the water quality wasn't what we anticipated it to be and uh a surprise came along in the in the form of CO2 in there as well, which pulls some of the uh um the sediment in solution uh out uh kind of gave us a little bit of a tinge and also the manganese quantities in the uh those wells was a little bit higher as well. when we tried to blend that water together, uh it was a little bit cloudy, uh it was a little bit orange, and we've we received immediate feedback from our citizens, uh what's going on.
We've been in a water deficit since I was on council when I started in 2002. Um, and nothing's changed. We've we've grown. We've added businesses. We've added rooftops and we've not not added to our our water supply system.
I would just say thank you. I know you've put a lot of work into this and uh all the water staff and public works staff and um I went back and looked at the study that was presented and it's thorough. It explored every option.
if we can loop [clears throat] the system, anytime we can loop the system and backflow if we need to, it's a benefit for us.
It's the right thing to do. It was just an omission as we we got to together on the uh design originally.
Ordinances & Resolutions (15)
Agreement with SE for design work for Wellhouse Number One update.
Authorizing staff to accept and execute an SLA with SE for design work for Wellhouse Number One update.
Agreement with Sherburn County Sheriff's Office for the Emergency Response Unit (ERU).
Approving the Joint Powers Agreement with Sherburn County Sheriff's Office for the ERU team.
Approving the patrol rifle purchase and old equipment buyback for the Police Department.
Approving the restructuring of the Becker Community Center program coordinator roles.
Approving the SLA with SE for the Water Treatment Plant design.
For Edgewood Street improvements, related to a water connection.
The primary document under review during the executive session, outlining financial plans and levy proposals.
Referred to in Fireboard, Water, Park, Golf, Streets, and BCC budgets for future projects and equipment.
Required update every 5 years for EDA-owned property, funded by reserves.
Required for the 212 acres owned by EDA to enhance marketability and reduce future development timelines.
Software used by Planning and Building Inspection departments, contributing to increased licensing costs.
System used for scheduled step and grade changes in wage input assumptions.
Government Accounting Standards Board statements requiring actuarial studies for OPEB and evaluation of leases, impacting accounting fees.