council meeting to order. If you're able, please stand and join me in 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. >> All right, thank you very much. We do have a little bit of a revised agenda under the consent agenda. I think that's it. Does anybody else have any changes? And if not, I would look for a motion to approve the city council agenda as revised. >> I'll make that motion. >> I'll second. >> Yeah, we have a motion by Robin, a second by Rick. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor, please state I. Anyone opposed, state no. The agenda is approved. Guests and open forum. Jean Johnson is here. If you want to step up, Jean, and >> [snorts] >> floor is yours. >> Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> Hello, council. Great. Few guys, I know you. Um so, I'm just here first of all, um the Farm Friends Barn has taken over the cardboard recycling program. Actually, well, we brought it back. The Cub Scouts um quit doing it, and we were approached by the county if we wanted to take that on. Um so, after about a month and a half of meetings and discussions, we officially began the cardboard recycling program on the site of the history center across from the Farm Friends Barn, and we started that June 1st. Well, >> [laughter] >> and there are a couple of you a couple of you in the room here, which I won't name, that, you know, kind of um maybe said, you know, Jean, maybe you don't want to take that on. Well, our board of we we officially decided we are going to give it a try. It's on a trial basis until January of 2027. Um we have dumped three dumpsters, which is excellent. Um there's been um one instance where the person that dumped his personal garbage in the dumpster, he will be fined. And there's >> [snorts] >> there's no there's no leeway. We called the police. The um the things in the in the dumpster identified him and the camera identified him and um he is a resident in the city of Woonsocket. We also on Saturday another person um they had an event at the History Center and that person dumped plastic in the dumpster. Um Someone else seen it and it was caught on the surveillance cameras at the History Center. And then we had um somebody who put a cardboard box in there and there was Styrofoam in there. So, I mean, we we've advertised that um this is for cardboard only. And if we can prove that you're doing that, you you will be prosecuted. It will go to the It We're calling the police. Um and and and this this program um used to be the Boy Scouts used to um be reimbursed from the score grant for expenses and then they would get money they would get money from Liberty Paper. The way this is set up is Van Co White um they're providing all the dumpsters at no charge. Doesn't matter how many we use. They're doing that for the community of Becker and for the whole county. This is the only city that has this. There's no other cities that has this program in the county. So, anybody from the county which they won't, but could come and put cardboard in that dumpster. Um the history center is providing the surveillance and the property. And the reason they're providing the property is because in their lease with the county it says that their land can be used for recycling. Farm Friends Barn doesn't have that in that lease, so um that's why the history center was was chosen. So, I just want I just >> [snorts] >> I just want everybody know we're serious. And and if stuff like this continue I mean, I don't want to prosecute anybody. Um >> [clears throat] >> but this has been around a long time and people should know this is we have signs. Um it's marked. But, we it is it is temporary. We will only do it until January 27th, and then if if this continues, um Farm Friends Barn won't do it anymore. So. I wanted to give an update on that. And we're actually I mean, we're actually pretty excited about seeing all that cardboard. The other thing, um that I want to mention is that the Farm Friends Barn, um we have some pretty exciting things happening and and and will be happening this year at that site. The one thing, um that happened this year is that the city of Becker donated, um some fencing, chain link fencing to the Farm Friends Barn. When was that? 2 years ago, Phil? And this year we uh we hired a company, we put it up, and Phil said it was 100 by 45. You're wrong, Phil. It was 100 by 50. >> [laughter] >> I'm so happy I could say that to him. >> [laughter] >> But anyway, um we have people that have rented plots out there. Um we'll have more improvements in that going forward, but thank you, council. We appreciate that donation. That's all I got. >> All right. Thank you, Jean. Just a reminder to everybody, if you're going to throw garbage in there, it's going to go away, and boy, we hear a lot about that on Facebook about where can we recycle cardboard? So, we hope people follow the rules. All right. Is there anybody else here tonight that wants to speak during open forum? All right. We will move on to committee reports, presentations, and awards. First up is the EDA, Robin. >> EDA met Monday, June 8th. We talked briefly about a proposed city-owned property swap that we didn't have much appetite for. And we talked about the monthly market update. 21 homes for sale in our zip code, 19 were currently pending, and 12 had sold in the last 30 days. That's all I have. >> All right. Questions for Robin on EDA? If not, public works. Mike, are you taking that? >> Yeah, public works we discussed that closure of the road. Um 150th. Anyway, Phil's got to work out the details with the township and and then we'll have a proposal for this council to vote on. Uh we we got the numbers of recycle day, which you had in your packet. Uh They were actually pretty decent. We We talked about maybe cutting it down to 2 hours uh rather than What was it? 3 hours we had it? Um and we'll be discussing that more. And uh we also talked about briefly talked about doing curbside pickup instead of having a recycle, but I don't think that's going to fly. So, that was pretty much it for for that. >> Okay. Awesome. Park and Rec. >> Park and Rec, we met last night out at the Sandhill Park. Um Josh gave us some just some rough quotes and some ideas for us to look at. Uh he's trying to come up with a plan that the residents in the area want rather, you know, they want a unique for their area. And we're all supposed to go through our stuff and make recommendations at our next meeting. That's really all we did. >> Okay. >> Is that the new park up at the compost site. >> Yeah, Sandhill is what it's called. >> All right. Thank you, Mike. And fire board. Fire board, we met last night as well. Um the uh if you recall two meetings ago the audit, we have to have the audit presented back to us by the end of June. They weren't quite ready for last night or we weren't able to line that up. So, next Monday at 5:00 or 5:30 >> 5:00. >> 5:00. Okay. 5:00 the the audit is set to be presented to the fire board. Uh we talked about the budget. We ran we went through the proposed budget and this is the budget that will be voting on at our joint annual meeting in July. So, we went through that, got um There's a couple of open questions we're looking at, but it's pretty well nailed down. Um won't give away the percentage. I know what it is, but I won't give it away. So, we're we're working with that a little bit, but should be should be a favorable budget. Hopefully, you'll you'll approve it. The grass rig that we've been talking about for how many times is finally delivered. We did get to actually view it last night. So, that's um uh not not the most fuel efficient, but >> [laughter] >> um that's not what it's there for, though. We also we did approve buying three new pagers and that's about it. >> All right. Any questions for Rick on fire board? All right. We'll move on to board committee and consultant reports. First up, we have approving the supplemental letter agreement with SEH for Edgewood Street and the trail improvement project. Mr. Knutson's up. >> Good evening, Mayor and Council. In front of you tonight, we do have the construction services agreement with SEH. Um as typical with most of our street projects or our large engineered projects, once we get through the the bid phase and the contract award, we look at the engineering services that we need to complete the project. In essence, what we're doing is we'll have a rep on site. They'll do all of our staking, verification, inspections. Um There's a a a variety of things that have to be done as well as since this is an MSAS road, there's separate services for third-party inspections as well. Um so we we've done this. You approved one for the 2026 street projects. So we go off of a price not to exceed with SEH. Um this is covered and eligible under the MSAS funding. So I think we're sitting pretty good there as far as the overall budget. Uh but the the total price on the project is a number not to exceed $218,900 for this this project. And for the most part, Jerry Siegfried will be our rep on site all the time. Randy Saybart and Bryce Johnson are here in the the audience as well if you have any questions for them. But we have weekly meetings that we go through all of this stuff and and the bottom line is is we've got our engineers making sure that the city's getting what they're paying for and they're adhering to the contract and the the specifications as called out. So With that, looking for movement on the resolution 2656. Otherwise, I can stand for questions if you have them. >> Can you just give us a reminder for the public kind of when that's going to kick off and how the how construction will work? >> Yeah. I know we've been over it many times, but >> We'll we'll have final details. We have our pre-con meeting the 23rd. I think that's next Tuesday. So after that, [clears throat] we'll get a kind of a better idea on where it's at. They're targeting the week of July 6th. I believe that's the Monday after the 4th of July to start with the the reclaim. Likely they'll work Brenda to Edgewood as far as pulling the paving off to get the pipe work done. And then we'll we'll work throughout the whole corridor. So traffic will be interrupted. It'll be closed to through traffic, but we will make sure that it's passable for all the residents. We've been out in the field talking to some of the residents. There's been a few questions out there with the setbacks and and different things. So people have been good. I think everybody's excited for the project. But again, we're hoping to have have it uh black by by school, but we'll we'll see. The lining [clears throat] up KCS 23 and Edgewood. The county's working on their project from the north end of town coming in this way. They're not going to touch um probably mid-August, late August before they get towards Edgewood and the green tea. So that could be a little bit of a conflict as far as how that comes together and how the water works. But you'll see a buzz of activity starting on that stretch after the 4th of July. >> Awesome. Any other questions for Phil? Would anybody like to move approval of resolution 2656 for the SLA on Edgewood? >> I'll make that a motion. >> I'll second. >> We have a motion by Mike. We have a second by Rick. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor please state I. >> I. >> Anyone opposed state no. The motion carries. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. You're up again, it looks like. >> Yes. Um, so we're looking at a or we looked at a traffic study, mainly a stop sign study on 3rd Street. Uh, requests come in several regarding Bradley and the amount of traffic on Bradley and the tough uh to access. A lot of people use it as a cut across whether they're coming to golf or just using the facility or heading north out of town. Um and so there was conflict on 3rd Street and in Bradley. So for us to to do anything to warrant it, um we needed to to study it. So we we reached out to SCH. As a staff, we've got traffic counters, so we can count how many cars are going through, and we do that frequently just to get uh general counts in in different areas so we know what's happening. Uh SCH has the ability to video and and so we can see movement. Are they coming to a complete stop? What direction are they going to go? It's called out in the report that we we submitted. And uh what was interesting is is the amount of traffic on Bradley that goes uh west to east, east to west, and north to south on 3rd Street as well. So the traffic counts in and of themselves didn't warrant a a a major change. What backed up a change or or recommended a change is there was five accidents at Bradley and 3rd Street in the last 10 years. None of them were serious. It was all uh property damage. But it does elevate the intersection to warrant a a tighter look at that. The other thing that it does is the traffic on 3rd Street and the traffic on Bradley at that intersection is almost equal. Which again is a source of conflict. So after looking at the study, uh what the recommendation came back was Let me back up a second. We looked at everything on 3rd Street from Hancock all the way up to to Edgewood. There's three intersections. We were just going to target Brenda and and Bradley. Back in the day, both of those came off of Highway 10. You could access 10 both ways coming off of there. I think that's what warranted the four-way stop on Brenda. That's since changed. You don't have access to Highway 10 and the traffic out there well, there's still a lot of it, um not as much as it used to be, and there's not a lot of corridor traffic coming through. As long as we were looking at the study, there was one additional intersection we looked at. Uh and we put Forest in there as well, so we could look at the entirety of that corridor from Hancock Street all the way up to Edgewood. Uh so, the recommendation, there's minimal traffic on Forest, the right recommendation was to leave that one status quo. The other recommendation was to move the four-way stop from uh Brenda and 3rd Street and put it at Bradley and 3rd Street. Uh there's also a a uh recommended uh traffic signals or or uh signage to put in place both permanently and then a temporary for for uh warnings for everybody else's 14-day just to give them a heads-up that something's changed in the corridor. So, based on that, uh it was kind of what we thought we would see. Uh it reaffirmed that. So, we did review this at our our Public Works Committee last week. Uh they supported it coming here tonight and we're presenting it uh to see if you guys want to take formal action and put it in place. >> All right. Questions for Phil on 3rd Street. >> You got uh >> [clears throat] >> one, um what about uh um so, when you so, you have the stop sign on Brenda and 3rd right now and um you know, it's a four-way. And so, um you know, pedestrian traffic, I know, would use that, especially to cross. Anybody that's south of there would use that to cross north of there. And now, by removing that, um you know, it would make that more dangerous, I guess, for crossing. Is that something we maybe considered leaving both stop signs? Like, leave the one there and then also add the one? >> You You You could if if you wanted to consider that. You You've got this report or this study gives you justification if you want to decrease it to a two-leg uh intersection. I don't think we can You know, I mean, if we if you want to leave it as it is right there and have two four-way stops, you you could you could do that if you wanted to. >> I don't really like to stop traffic any more than we have to. >> Mhm. >> And Brenda is not that busy. >> Mhm. >> But Bradley is. >> Mhm. >> And and the hard part with Brenda when you go west on Brenda, there's no um uh sidewalks. There's no trails there either, you know, so um it gets a little bit tricky. >> But Brenda would still have to stop. Would still >> Brenda would stop at third, yes. Yes. >> So that So third would be a through street with the exception of that or a four-way. >> Right. The curve would would naturally slow you down a little bit too as you come in it kind of you know curves to the to the east and head straight north again. Uh so it does slow the traffic down. Um the concern is is that you know we don't want to put you know if you if if you keep them there are people going to roll through both of them or are you going to you know use them and stop? Uh we did discuss this. I I I showed the chief the report and I walked through it with him. He he supports if if this goes through. He totally understands what we're doing what was what support that and would help with the education piece of that as well. Uh we would put it out there for residents before we did that just to get on the website, use Facebook, and show that and then we'd also you know go out there and market and our goal would be if you approve it is to get it in place by the middle of August so we could kind of train some of the traffic as school starts to ramp up. >> The school did request this by the way. >> Mhm. >> Yeah, I was just Transportation was the the the biggest voice behind that and then parents kind of piggybacked on top of that as well. Yep. So and if anybody used that I mean that's Brad Bradley's a tough place to be at you know for 45 minutes in the morning and a half hour after school. So. >> Would we uh would we consider um you said 14 days we would leave the um the the change signs up? Can we >> We can lengthen that. That's That's just a recommendation. We we can leave it longer than that. You know, we wouldn't leave them up for you know, 6 months, but you know, it it just lose their their flavor after a while. But we definitely want to let people know that hey something's changed. Be on the lookout. We'd flag the signs themselves and and make sure that people are understanding there's a traffic change ahead. Be prepared for it. So. >> Maybe at least through the first two weeks of school or something. >> That's right. Yeah. 14 days seems a little short I guess for absolutely we can do that and again we're working with PD in conjunction with that to really try and educate and get people to understand what's going on. Ironically at least one of the accidents was somebody that had stopped at Bradley and took off to head south on third street and got sideswiped from somebody on third street cuz they thought it was a four-way stop. It's [laughter] kind of ironic you know that's what we're looking at. >> I'm just thinking if you had people that have driven that for 30 years it's a good point you know just mentally you're like oh this is a throughway. >> It can get us through a couple of events you know sporting events at the schools you know fall ball starting up at the baseball complex and stuff too so absolutely we can we can do that. >> [clears throat] >> We can put the radar control out there as well show people their speed and just a variety of things just to just to bring activity and awareness of what what we're doing out there. >> Sure. >> Yeah I think it's important to note it was a school request. We have a 28 page report with a lot of data so when when we get these requests it's not just a gut feel or we're going to look at it for 5 minutes and we did study the other end of third street too with with the school so when we got the ECFE center and the intermediate school. So we have Gardner Donahue and Ramsey Street down there. The school is going to add one traffic control sign coming off the school campus which would line up with Donahue. >> Donahue. >> Um. >> Oh sorry I get that wrong every time it's Ramsey. >> It is Ramsey. >> Ramsey when they exit Donahue when they come in by the ECFE. >> So when you leave the intermediate school lot you will not be turning right onto third Street. You'll have to go down Ramsey Street cuz we had a lot of drone footage that we reviewed that showed a lot of of [snorts] issues with people getting back in the queue. And they're also planning to change drop-off a little bit where primary and intermediate students can both be dropped off at the primary cuz we have a lot of stacking distance. So, my point being we have dozens and dozens of staff hours. We've spent a lot of money to make sure we covered every base on Third Street. And I'm just I want to thank Phil and his people in Public Works Committee cuz we take these issues very seriously and we studied the heck out of Third Street. So, I I think this is a really good plan and I definitely support it. So, thank you. Any other questions for Phil? If not, this is just a simple Oh, it is resolution 2657 approving the traffic control changes on Third Street. >> that motion. >> I'll second. >> We have a motion by Mike, second by Robin. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor please state I. Anyone opposed state no. And that motion carries. >> Great. Thank you. >> Thanks, Phil. All right. Moving on to administrator and staff reports, we have the early warning sirens, Mr. Larue. >> Mayor Koberger and City Council members, early in 2025 County Administrator Bruce Messelt sent a letter to all the jurisdictions in the county letting them know that the county was assuming the responsibility for the decommissioned decommissioned Excel Energy sirens and we're going to use them basically in conjunction with the ones that the county already had responsibility for with the intent that by the end of 2026, uh jurisdictions would be given the opportunity if they wanted to assume responsibility for the signs, they could. We didn't think that we had we thought we had to the end of the year to to make this decision, but at the mayor's round table last week, it was announced that if the city did not or any jurisdiction did not want the sirens for their area and there are five identified for Becker. And we wanted them removed. If we let the county know by the end of June, they would remove them at their expense when they're removing their own. And so that's why this is on tonight's agenda. Staff has talked about this. If the city wanted to assume responsibility, it's anywhere from 2200 to 2900 dollars a year just to operate them. We'd be responsible for ongoing maintenance as well, so that would be above that. Given that there are numerous ways now to receive warnings, weather warnings in particular, either apps from weather stations, emergency settings on phone, NOAA radios, the staff's recommendation that we do not accept the sirens that have been identified for us and let the county remove them. And I'll be happy to answer any questions. >> I thought they were going to change that to like a yellow alert on your phones. That's the whole system. >> Excel has a warning system. I don't know enough about that, but the letter did refer to a warning system that Excel was transitioning. That's why they were decommissioning the the physical sirens. They were going to a mobile based phone based system. >> Yeah, that's for the nuclear then. >> Yep. >> Yeah, okay. Yeah, I thought I heard something about it. Yeah. >> I think for for me the the thing is the I mean the 20 the 2800 dollars a year isn't isn't a an issue, but these things were all built in the 1960s, 1970s, maybe, and finding parts for them is extremely difficult. So, that's um probably the bigger issue with um with you know, at first I was like, "Well, who cares? It's 2,800 bucks." But >> Yeah, replacement costs are going to be really high. >> That's we've we've found that with other um you know, talking to the county and stuff like that, finding parts for these things is next to impossible. So, um you know, if they break, before we could always call somebody and let them try and go find parts. Now, we'd be on the hook for it, and that's where the real cost comes in. So, that's why I'm okay doing this. >> Let them take them out. >> Yeah, any other I was kind of with Rick. I was concerned, but there are a lot of other ways, and like Greg mentioned, NOAA radios are about 20 bucks if you need a if you don't have a cell phone, you could have one of those. So, >> [clears throat] >> and I don't think we would find parts here, right, Rick? >> Well, you know, the even the TV news stations, they interrupt TV programming for alerts, and my phone goes off the hook every time a storm comes close by, and I don't know. I think we have plenty of ways of finding out the information. >> Right. The big thing socially is now people aren't going to have the siren to go outside and look in the sky and see what's going on. [laughter] We're going to miss that from society, definitely, but >> [laughter] >> All right. So, we're just looking for a simple motion to let the county take them down at their expense. >> I'll make that a motion. >> I'll second. >> We have a motion by Mike, second by Rick. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor, please state aye. >> Aye. >> Anyone opposed, state no. That motion carries. And we're on to the consent agenda. >> Mayor Koberg, or city council members, items for review, approval, or adoption on tonight's consent agenda include the revised hiring Excuse me, hiring [clears throat] and return termination report. Authorize the Tuesday, June 16th, 2026 payment of claims as presented. The claims listing has been provided to the city council as a separate document and is available upon request for public view at city hall. The total claims are $482,914.98. Authorize electronic transactions as presented in the 4:30 2026 journal. The journals have been provided to the city council as a separate document and is available for public view at city hall upon request. Approve the minutes of the June 2nd city council meeting. Approve the summary of the city manager's performance review. Approve the 2026 liquor license renewals. Approve a new cannabis microbusiness license registration. Accept proposal from SILE Insurance Services Incorporated to be the city's insurance insurance agent. Adopt resolution 26-58 accepting the following donations: $1,000 from the Becker Lions Club for the BECC bubble parties, $1,300 from the Becker Lions Club for the BECC laser tag event, $7,500 from the Becker Lions Club for Freedom Days fireworks. Adopt resolution 26-59 approving the cooperative services agreement between the city and the USDA. And I'll be happy to answer any questions. >> All right. Any questions on the consent agenda? >> No. >> Just want to thank staff for reviewing the insurance proposals. I know our last insurance provider or um We're going to have the same provider, but the last uh services we had were good, but I'm really excited that we're able to use a local agency. I love keeping business local. And our standard monthly, once again, thanks to the Lions cuz that adds up to almost $10,000 again for us, so big thank you to them. Any other questions? If not, we'd entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as revised. >> I'll make that motion. >> I'll second. >> We have a motion by Robin, a second by Mike. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor, please state I. >> I. >> I. >> Anyone opposed, state no. Consent agenda is carried. May I have anything further? Freedom Days is off to a good start. Hopefully people have made it around. I know the credit union had something money Monday style, had their lunch today. Things coming up Friday and the grand day Saturday, and it looks like maybe the rain is going to hold off. So, we're hoping. Thank you to all the volunteers with Freedom Days. We've had a lot of groups and uh people step up to help with that, so thank you to those folks as well. All right, if there's nothing further, we would entertain a motion to adjourn. >> I'll make a motion to adjourn. >> Second. >> We have a motion by Eric, second by Mike. All in favor of adjourning, please state I. >> I. >> Anyone opposed, state no. Meeting's adjourned at 5:32. We'll take a couple minutes to get some technology set up and then we'll roll with the executive session. >> I don't know if it's my place to say anything, but Sherburne County has a website where uh Sherburne County residents can sign up for Hyper-Reach. It's an alert system for residents that gives alerts in the storms >> It gives you an alert on your phone? >> Huh? >> Gives you an alert on your phone? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Like I said, I thought I'd heard something about that. I just didn't >> Is it a text or is it an app you have to download? Like when you >> You have to sign up for it and download >> Okay. >> Okay. >> But it's through Sherburne County because of this. >> Do you know if they've had any issues with roll out on that, Don? >> Uh I don't know anything about it. >> Okay. Good. Yeah, thanks for the info. Appreciate it. >> It's good everyone is reacting to it. >> What What's the name of it? >> It's called Hyper >> Reach. >> Hyper Reach. >> What were you saying about rejecting it, Don? >> [clears throat] >> What about rejecting it? Sorry. The sirens? >> Yeah. >> Be a great story for the local paper to cover. >> It already has been. >> I know, I'm kidding. >> All right, have a good Freedom Day, guys. >> You too. Thank you. Thank you, Gene. >> Yep. Welcome. >> I hope she doesn't have more trouble with people dumping garbage. >> Oh. >> But you know what? You prosecute one or two and people learn real fast. >> [laughter] >> Well, and I saw the pictures. It wasn't like one little piece of mail got stuck in your box. Cuz you know, that could happen. >> Mhm. >> Right? You have You have >> Well, the thing with the Styrofoam, that's a little iffy. They might not realize that, you know. >> Stuck in the bottom or something. >> Yeah. >> Well, yeah, it depends if it's Or if it's like the TV, then you know you know if it's the big chunks that come on a big TV, then you know. >> Yeah. >> Yeah, if you throw a whole bag of garbage in there you deserve a ticket. >> It's been a problem. >> That was that was the very first um body camera thing that we did so right after you got body cameras the trailer park somebody over there had a fire and they pulled the dumpster up to throw the burnt down trailer into the dumpster. Well, some guy come along and start throwing his garbage in there and so they called and PD went out there and they had their body camera on and they photographed the guy's mail and the guy's like I didn't do it this isn't my mail and they're like well actually let's review the footage. >> [laughter] >> Very first very first body camera incident. >> I know Chris Few got out there one day when it was up at the fireplace store and crawled up in there and took out a bunch of boxes that hadn't been flattened and of course they've got everybody's name all over them for shipping. Like that's too bad. >> Yes, prosecution or public flogging. Yeah, what do we want to do? >> I'd rather be prosecuted and have your name dragged through Facebook sometimes. >> Exactly. >> People be mean mugging you driving by your house all day. >> [laughter] >> Yeah. >> When we get done with you want me home to get a key? >> [clears throat] >> There aren't too many in a small town so >> All right, let's call the exact session to order at 5:36. And Mr. Knutson's back up. This task is a little bit different so >> [laughter] >> what we're trying to do so Chris Larson from SCAG you recall he was here in February and presented our water treatment plant. Just to kind of give a quick recap we'll go as deep as you guys want to or or stay as as high level as as you want to whatever you're comfortable with. What we're working on right now is bringing us an SLA for for services to the to the council likely the July 7th meeting to review and and consider to move forward with that treatment plant. Um as we've talked before, we we've exhausted most of the options that we can think of to to find potable water that has the quantity and the quality that that we want to put into our system. And instead of continuing to strike out, what we thought would be our best play for the city is to move forward with a water treatment plant. Um has a huge price tag on it. We've talked at finance and and kind of where you know where this would go. Obviously rates, you know, you're going to make it up in in in the short period. You got to start planning for that long term. We do have some some reserves in in water. We do have the PFOA settlement that we could get started with with the first phase of the engineering portion of that. Um I believe [clears throat] if memory serves, we would see plans and specs ready to go by March-ish. >> Probably a little earlier than that. >> Yeah. So we could go out out for bid should we we move the project on. The initial ask is going to be just just shy of a million dollars, I believe is that SLA. >> That's correct. >> Um to get the design phase through the bid process but not construction >> That's correct. >> services, right? Um So I mean that the hard part is as staff we we've since I've been here since I sat up there, I mean it it's been 20-plus years and we've not made any marked movements on we thought we had it with seven and eight. But the water's just not usable to blend into our system right now. So we've not covered any ground and we've we've increased in in businesses, we've increased in population. And so we just really feel that instead of losing more time um that that we need to do something. Ironically, Monticello is is in the same boat. They're they're twice the cost of as what we're we're proposing. Uh Big Lake is in the initial phases of adding is I believe a second plant. Um so it's something that we've been able to avoid. We've had good good quality water. We just can't find any more. And um we can't keep up. So if you've got questions, we'd like to you know, air them out here. Otherwise, we're we're going to plan to bring that SLA. We we've discussed this. I don't think it's a lever that any of us want to want to pull, but it's something that's needed and and delaying it first is going to put us in a a spot where we could have water bands and it's only going to continue to tick the price tag up if we keep going. So um Chris can review uh more details. He's come prepared to like I said, go as deep as we need to. Uh really this was just to give everybody on the same page. Is there anything we we need to talk further about or where we want to go? Like I said, we we started very high level with finance uh knowing that we've got some funds that would would comfortably cover the this first phase of the engineering while we look to where we're going to go likely bonding or or or things of that nature as we really dive into it. But this first year of design phase or the next 9 months would also give us time as we run with what's the financing program going to look like as we as we deal with that. >> I have just have a couple questions. Um if we built no houses and had no additional commercial or industrial development ever. [clears throat] >> Yes. Right? >> Yes. >> We would still need a plant, correct? >> Yes. Our our water guys get they just stress out this time of year. And what we have to start doing is is really enforcing watering restrictions and and really you know, really I I you're you're risking it every year. The other thing that we're we're going to look to do uh we've we've pump house one needs to be refurbished. We've put it off and put it off and put it off. It it houses our biggest well, well number four. Um we're going to we're going to ask for engineering. We've got some money in in the budget for engineering purposes for that, but it's a big number to to do that as well. Uh we've not been able to take that off line to to refurbish anything because it's our number one producing well. We lose that one then nobody's watering. You're going to have brown yards everywhere we go. So yeah, doing nothing is not an option. Not not not for the shock and awe, but it's just it's just not an option. >> If you have to bring that one I mean you're bringing ideas for for that one, but I mean you have to bring it down in the spring and the fall then is that >> What we would do is we would we would thread that needle to say if that comes off line it's likely to get everything ready to roll. So by mid to end of October November 1st at the latest we we've fired that up. When you start to see the air compressors running through town, that's the time that we okay we got a little bit of a comfort level to make that work and put a completion date on there on or about April 1st. So by the time we're we're ready to fire up irrigation again, we're we're good to go. >> With with the P fast issue is there any grant money available? >> We did get a partial settlement on that. So some of that money would sitting there we would we would use for this this engineering portion of that. >> Yeah, the settlement for the city was 585,000 and we received I think almost exactly 500,000 to date. And we would propose using those funds to do the engineering as a partial payment on the what toward the water treatment plant. >> Another question golf course and BAC currently do not use city water. >> Correct. >> For irrigation, correct. >> Separate system that's closed loop for the golf course. We did test the golf course wells is along again we've looked at everything. We looked at the BAC. We looked at the local nine cuz we've got well out there as well. That was not adequate. The wells of the golf course are about 125 ft apart. One of them was like hey, it's promising. It's 250 gallons a minute and maybe we could do something with that. The well that's 125 ft away from that tested high for iron and and manganese just like we're seeing on 7 and 8. So, it's just it's one of those things where we don't want to keep chasing and and spending good money on a problem that we just can't solve. And if if it's not iron and manganese, it's nitrates. And everything that that Chris has walked us through, it's it's preferred to treat iron and manganese over the nitrates. And we can [clears throat] do that. What we would look to do, we do have some well exploration money in our budget this year. We would look to We always look for quantity of water on the on the city on 75. We didn't look for similar water makeup. So, we think we can find another straw out there as well. The plant would be designed that we could bring another one in, you know, and and serve beyond the the 2050 growth rate. So, I think it's going to set us up in a really good spot to to make it all work, but it comes with a pretty big price tag. >> So, you're you're thinking another well on the 75 acres. >> Right. >> Wouldn't we be better off going to another location? >> Not if we're putting a water treatment plant out there because we're right there treating the same stuff, bringing it in the same location. >> but pipe it over. You keep on drawing water out of the ground in the same spot. I think it's going to start draining down your existing wells, you know. >> The recharge has been adequate on those when we were able to to test pump those, but yeah, we we we could look at that. There's other farm well wells out there, agricultural wells that we could take a look at and see where they're at, a little further up the line. But we would look at everything. We're we're trying to be cost conscious. We know going across >> have we spent so far on test wells? Do you know off the top of your head? Cuz we've been doing it for years. >> 40,000 bucks a punch, right? >> Well, once you when we test punch those wells, just just to explore wells, we're probably 250 to 300,000 dollars, but we're probably another 200,000 just to test the wells since I've been here. >> Yeah, but we've been doing this for 20 years. >> Like I said, in in 2026 when we were there, I thought we had a solution when we were when I was sat up there and um it didn't come together. So, we we don't want to go there cuz that's a tough scan for me to pick because that's a that's a tough one. That's a the cost back then was peanuts for what we were we'd be dealing with right now. So. >> Sure. So. Go ahead. >> No, you go ahead, Mike. >> So, the the thought is to go through the iron and manganese treatment at this point, not nitrates. >> Correct. >> So, how much more would be involved if you get nitrates involved in it? Down the road, I mean I I got to believe down the road nitrates are going to become an issue. >> If So, it is a step that you can add. It's not Frankly, they are almost two different things. Uh so, it isn't it isn't like just an incremental like we'll just add another vessel or something like that. So, nitrate is you can either treat it and and we would likely try to treat it biologically, but there's other ways, you know, like anion exchange. Your home softeners are ion exchange softeners, but they're cation exchange softeners. But, so there are other There are ways to treat nitrate. It's just not It's not simple and it's not They are like I said almost two different treatments. Uh But, like Phil said, the iron and manganese removal is a little bit It's It's It's It's less expensive and it's a little bit more tried and true than nitrate removal. So, we think that, you know, uh you know, finding more wells that are nitrate-free that possibly have iron and manganese. >> Well, yeah, but where I'm getting at is in this area, it seems like the nitrates are building as time goes on, more and more wells are getting contaminated with nitrates. And if keep on pumping water out of the ground, that water is going to be replaced with something. It's, you know, And so, my concern is that down the road, we're going to have a nitrate issue that we're going to have to deal with anyway. >> That is, I mean, you know, there is food for thought there. >> So, if we had to say out of our test out of our [snorts] test punches so far, so, we didn't go with them, we we'd probably put it into one of three categories, right? We'd say low volume, maybe just low volume, could be a combination, but low volume, high nitrates, high iron manganese, right? Would those be the three reasons we would have rejected a test? >> On on that site out there, the 75-acre site, I believe we had two other locations that the volume we were like 250 gallons a minute, but similar iron and nitrate, I'm sorry, iron and manganese makeup, but not nitrates. >> Okay, so, leaving volume out of the issue, if we build a plant that can treat the iron and the we have more options. Like, if if we take the test punches, if that replicates out farther and we say, "Okay, we get down and we say, 'Okay, we need more wells. We need more wells.'" We're more likely to find one that needs treatment for iron and manganese current day than nitrates based off of our test punches. Is that an accurate >> On the 75 acres, and we also, if you recall, the 60 acres on that other part of the other Olson parcel that we chose not to buy, that was declined right away because that that iron, I can't remember what it was, but it was it was higher than what we found on the the property that the city did buy. >> And then, don't we have a CO2 issue in those >> And that is a relatively straightforward, so that would be removed as part of this whole process, the CO2. >> Okay. >> [clears throat] >> So, I'm giving it a little bit of thought to that a lot of the infrastructure that you're building in this water treatment plant, even if you were to add a nitrate a biological nitrate removal process, you know, your high service pumps, your clear well, things like that. There are components of the water treatment plant that that you would have had to spend if you were building a pure nitrate removal treatment plant. And and and and the reality is you you could sort of find yourself in the same argument with nitrate, too, where you're saying, well, I like you almost will hope you can find another nitrate well that doesn't have iron and manganese in it. So, I you know, it is a little bit of a catch-22. Uh but but I think I think it would be relatively cost-effective to add a nitrate removal step to a plant that exists. >> I guess where I'm getting at is is it cheaper to add a nitrate removal system to the plant rather than building another plant? >> Yes. And it's cheaper to add a nitrate removal process to an iron and manganese plant than it would be to remove add an iron and manganese process to a nitrate plant. Okay. >> Uh then I'm good with that, then. >> That was a good answer. >> I don't know if it was good, but it made [laughter] sense. >> Um so, I think what we're looking here. >> I have a question on moving forward we will we look at the best I know we've kind of zeroed in on the the 75 acres, but we're a little bit on an island out there, I would say. So, have we looked at the archery range area and other areas just to say that cuz I'm assuming if we our PFAS well went down or something else and we had to pump more to get water to the plant has got to be fairly expensive, I'm assuming. So, is are we set that that's going to be the the best place or are we going to study possible options for the best place for a treatment plant? I'm just curious. >> looked at bringing it closer to town. That's where we tested the 212. Should we put the the the plant on the 212 and bring the raw water there and and treat it and go? But we didn't find we got nitrates. Right? So, we didn't have that. The The 80 acres, I don't have the test data in, you know, on top of mind, but I don't believe we had good quantity. The volume on the top of the hill was non-existent. The bottom of the hill was was muddy water. It was It was pretty bad. The The Martin property was bad. >> That was that testing on the 80 acres went back to like 2009, and that was the part of the issue is we just didn't find I think most of them were 100 at at best maybe 200 gallons per minute, but the the geology and the formation of the soils on your 80 acres were much more variable that we just couldn't find a clear a clear source of water. >> Well, the school has not good water at their transportation building, so it's probably a good sign that we wouldn't get >> Yeah, it is a I think when we did the survey, I don't know Bill, were you here when we did the survey out there that based off all the the wells that people have drilled over the years and the soil composition where they were able to lay out and speculate where the best area where our best spot were you here for that? >> I was I was not. I seen it some of that information that we we pulled back in. >> Yeah, so that was I think the 212 was I think the northern boundary of that was a It was kind of an oval rate starting there and moving east and that kind of in that area there was that um what what that study determined to to be the best guess of where the best water resided. >> I I We don't know what nitrates are going to do, right? And you somebody's farming and they're they're putting something on the on the crop. We don't know what's going to happen when it penetrates or where it's going to go. Confining layers really are non-existent here. Um but the nice thing is we do control the 75 acres. If we just want to put it into berry grasses, we we can do that, too, and stop farming it, you know, so well will that help us? We we don't know, but there's things like that that we consider along the way and then yeah, we we we finish that off and bring that water line up. It's Are we a 14-in line coming in, right? to town, so we we can we can handle a lot of volume coming through there, so the nice thing is is if we get this going, we'll pull back if you guys move [snorts] approval at the next meeting if we keep going there, we'll pull back all of that data that we come through with drought, take a look at what's going on and then see what our best next step would be for that third straw that we would look to poke and what that does with a with the aquifer out there. >> Are we going to have to put a water storage system out there? >> There is a half a million gallon clearwell, which is proposed with the water treatment plant that's priced into the the the, you know, the the construction costs already, so you would have 500,000 gallons. It's not elevated storage, but you'd have high service pumps, so you can get that water into the system as fast as your high service pumps can get it in there. >> Is it a tank, [clears throat] big? >> Yeah, yeah, it's a it's a it's a ground storage tank. It's a big concrete tank on the ground. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> Is that Is that the way to go versus a tower? >> [sighs] >> They're certainly less expensive. Yeah. >> [laughter] >> People can swim in it. You got to replace pumps. >> Uh but so we find ourselves that that, you know, that with that question a lot is it would we be better you know, better served adding ground storage or better serving served adding elevated storage and I elevated storage for per gallon is probably five times more expensive. >> That's a lot. >> But but it's up in the air already, so you it is more it is more useful to you up in the air than it is on the ground, but it's it but then you have to paint it and the ground tank is more often concrete and you're not painting it and that sort of thing. >> I I if all these things were coming together on your 80-acre parcel, then the elevated storage would probably be more what we're talking about because we do have a elevated storage need uh on that side of town. >> That's why I was That's why I was asking. >> Yeah. But at least at the 70-acre site, it's it's a different story. >> No, our tower in the north end of town, that's super large huge. And we don't use the anyways near capacity. Is there any way that we can incorporate that? >> There is. In fact, that's been in your kind of your planning future. Um again, another expensive proposition, but tying in what we call that high zone for Autumn Ridge coming across the river east would have been a long-term plan to be able to leverage more of that storage in Autumn Ridge. The other option we have the ability, if you were coming to Nature's Edge and some of the other subdivisions south, to expand that that that high-pressure zone. Um as you grow in that area, whether it be north of Edgewood or east of the river, there's opportunity to leverage that storage that you have in Autumn Ridge, but it means extending more pipes. Uh >> Which is expensive enough. >> So, in due time, um you will leverage more of that storage, but as it exists today, it's admittedly underutilized. >> All right. >> I just want to get back to your question, Mayor. Uh the first question about the site, is it the right site? You know, the the well seven and eight site. And I I do think as a team that we want to look a little bit at just just as a team saying, "Yes, we agree. We all agree that this is the best site." Uh from an engineering standpoint from my standpoint, like it doesn't really make that much difference if it's because you have that long transmission main coming to the west. Uh anywhere between well seven and eight in the end of you know where where then goes south is is sort of the same to me except that you are there's a couple of you know things that that the size of that water main would limit how much water you could pump to the west. You know if it's a 14 inch whatever the capacity of that pipe is. Uh which is it's a it's a reasonable capacity. Uh and then and then you are converting that if we put the water plant at seven and eight that is a finished water line or a distribution the trunk water line. If you put seven and the water plant to the west it it ends up being a raw water main. So if you wanted to serve houses in that stretch you'd have to go back with a with a another pipe. Yes. >> So even with the a likelihood that someday in the future we would maybe need to use that plant to treat it still seems to be the best location. >> It it it it's a it it is certainly you know yes tied for the best location at worst. >> Okay. That's fair. >> Well there's no sense spending any more money studying other sources cuz I don't think there is anywhere. >> Right. >> Yeah everything over here is all nitrates. >> And we've talked with pretty much every property owner that that we can and the Hammers have been very great to talk with. They've just made it very clear they they don't they don't want to give up that land. They don't want to you know and they can't give up water if you're going to grow potatoes. >> Yep. >> You know which we understand that. So um we we we know that there's not an appetite nor would I even recommend saying hey let's go in there and try and take something right? So we don't want to do that. Yeah and we know that so we want to be respectful of of everybody around so we we've just tried to do everything we can knocking on doors and talking everybody and and um you know, just grabbing samples and and seeing where there's enough your irrigators still running, you know, that what are these water samples are and and you can either look at them with the rust that's out there or you can you know, test it and see what the nitrates are doing. So >> We can't pump directly out of the Elk. >> Oops. >> What was it Jeremy? >> DNR may have something to say about that and yeah, they might leave a ring in your glass. >> Well, they're easy to work with, right? I mean All right. So you're talking July you want to just bring up an agreement forward to to do the engineering and the study and we would see those specs and plans and I'm assuming that all the questions we asked tonight would kind of be covered in that study about here's the recommendations, here's why we're recommending it. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> So it it may be the 7th, it may be the the the 21st because we want to make sure like I said finance we we we've had a a few discussions in a in in one meeting and we need to dive deeper on what that is going to look like and and portray that out over the the life of that debt and and what that would look like. So Um we'd probably want to formulate that a little bit more and say instead of just doing the engineering and and saying we we got this covered, we probably should you know do some due diligence on that so you guys can kind of see a longer runway. >> Yeah. >> Um and it's not fair to to those folks to not give them enough time to to try and work some of those longer range >> Yeah. >> formulas. So >> What's the >> Happy path best case scenario here assuming you know, you get consensus from the DS on everything here. I mean would there be engineering over the winter and actually take this thing to bid next spring for the whole project? >> Depending on where we go and the comfort level with the financing and and how we would look to look at the funding. To me every year if I were to put Jeremy or Spike up here they they would say what are we waiting for? You guys are killing me. You know, they they literally get to this time of year. They love the cool weather, you know, we're getting supposed to get an inch of rain tomorrow. They're they're loving it, you know, but we start to get that 10-day 14-day stretch where it's 92 and and you see everybody running and they're knocking on doors telling people you can't water at this time, you can't do that. We're just in that deficit, you know, and if one of our wells goes down, our firm capacity is going to be teetering a little bit. And that's why they're nervous, you know, well well six, you know, it's on the the radar for the the PFOs levels, they're not firm yet, but we we've been told they're they're coming. So, we may have to take that one off the line. Now, it's not our highest producer, but still every drop helps us with what we're doing. So, that's why we're we're looking at this saying, you know, we feel like we've just been beating our head on the wall and and we've we've been doing a lot of work to try and find a solution. We just there's nothing, you know, we're we're just not as lucky as we were 25, 30 years ago. >> Right. >> Becker was growing, so. >> Yeah, we've probably been in denial for a long time. Clearly we've been treating for >> Nitrates. >> for nitrates for a long time and had ton of issues, had to redo some stuff. You mentioned Bonnie's putting it in, Big Lake's doing it. >> Yeah, so it's not a shock in the area, it's not a shock in the state really, I mean that you're you're going on this pathway, so. >> We did We did submit a bonding request this year. Not unusual to not get it your first request, but it it was um read in or whatever the the term is. So, that request will be there for next year as well. We asked for I think a million bucks for the engineering piece. I think Big Lake got 3 million maybe this year. So, we'll continue to make that a priority in the spring. >> We've asked for a few years, so. >> Yeah, just to mention too that we did apply to be on the uh the drinking water evolving fund loan or or we applied to be in the that program. Uh so there's a project priority list and then like an intended use plan. So we have applied for both. I mean we first submitted a project priority list proposal and then applied to be on the intended use plan. Even though it's called an intended use plan, you're not actually obligated to do anything until you like sign loan documents, you know, so. Uh That makes sense. Any other questions? No, we just need to find more free money, I guess. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, like I said, it's >> a bunch, but I'm I'm biting my tongue. I had a whole bunch of ideas, but >> [clears throat] >> I won't say them. >> [snorts] >> Well, I just showed up in $25 just appeared here, so maybe How much does that get us? >> Yeah. >> All of it's gone, right? We don't have >> [laughter] >> Yeah. >> What's the number on it? >> What's $25 on it? >> All right, well >> So that that will be coming in the next uh you know, one meeting in July for sure. >> Yeah, it's expected. We knew it was coming. >> Yeah, but I this is a good format to discuss it and bring it out, so. >> Okay. >> So again, if we were not building anything in the future, we still wouldn't have enough water and it's not getting used at the golf course cuz when you filled the pond, I got a call right away. What kind of water is going in there? And I said, "Clear." >> [laughter] >> You want to take a bottle of water? You can take a picture. >> Right? Yeah. >> From water. >> Um But >> Only the best for Bavel Creek, right? That's everything. >> I mean people I get, you know, their concern, but same with the BAC. I mean the golf course has helped us there a bunch cuz we keep the BAC very nice and didn't have to add a lot of you know, a well or something and we're not using our treated water for all these other things. So, and and what we'll be able to do at the golf course in particular, I'll work with Jason in the off season to do a recap on by by by lining these ponds and and the ground water loss and the amount of pumping that you're you're going to see a big reduction in that. The DNR will see it. He He's got a report that, but we'll we'll share that with with Council so you guys have that in your pocket to share with folks as well. >> Yep. >> Um so they they see that it's done for that purpose and you'll see the pumping is going to be greatly reduced because of the work that you put in with the >> Sure. Thank you, guys. >> Thanks, Randy. I know you've put a lot of work into it, so appreciate that. Round table. >> I I've said enough. >> Okay. [laughter] I don't think I have anything. Pond looks nice. The new >> It does. Looks very nice. >> It's nice. >> I ran into a few people who were here for the state tournament and as always super impressed, so pass that along whoever's talking to those folks. >> well, looked good. >> Yeah, it's good. It was good. Want to thank everybody. We did end up Rick ended up with Rick took over the grill donation for Friday night's fundraiser and came up with a really nice package, so >> Go pick it up in about an hour and a half. >> So, thank you to everybody who did that. Um I don't have anything else. Motion to adjourn. Yeah, we're 6:05, we're adjourned. >> Adjourned. >> Yeah, with them eggs there isn't anything to really assemble with them, so