e e e e e e e e e e all right good evening uh this is the June 5th 2020 for our cotage Grove City council meeting which I'm calling to order our first order of business this evening is the Pledge of Allegiance so You' please rise 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 jce WR all right will the clerk please do the role council member kada here he here council member Garza here mayor Bailey here thank you uh next on our agenda this evening is open Forum this is the opportunity uh if someone wants to speak on something that's not on tonight's agenda uh is welcome to do so at this time uh we did have a signup sheet out in front but I know Mr smage wants to speak to us though he didn't sign up uh so I think what I'll do is I'll first uh go to Mr Jean smage and if you want to just go up here Jean and state your uh name and address for the record that would be fantastic and welcome thank you my name is Jean smallage I reside at 10992 Point Douglas Drive in Cottage Grove I'm here to tell you 3M has not been a good neighbor this is in regard to weeds for the last 40 to 50 years there have been six of us farmers in South Washington County that rented 1,400 Acres from the 3M Company I believe we all kept it in uh good aesthetically looking shape and in 2022 we all got notice saying 3M would no longer rent land to Farmers this was worldwide which encompassed a lot of acreage in the meantime 3M did little or nothing to uh keep the land in a weed free situation I want to take you on a visual tour of some of the 3M land as well as some neighboring land and and show you what can be done uh can we have the first slide there this is adjacent to Innovation Road I rented this field for 33 years from 3M when they approached me in 1989 to rent it they said no wheat no corn no soybeans this is the gateway to our 3M facility we want it green and growing and beautiful to year around and that's how I left it last year they got around to mowing it about the 1 of September when it all went dormant and dead and at that time was a serious fire hazard when I operated it I mowed it and bailed it for hay twice a year and if there were any weeds I sprayed it to eliminate them next slide please this is on 100 Street across from the Anderson renewal parking lot I farmed this land for many years last year at my begging they mowed it when the weeds were 7 feet tall at the end of the summer when the weeds have all gone to seed this year I made three calls to the city two calls to the county two calls to the state Department of Agriculture and I finally got them to start mowing this is what their mowing job looked like you can still see the flowers on the weeds there next slide please here where they've already mowed in the center of the picture that's Canada thistle which is a noxious weed designated by the state of Minnesota that you must remove from your property next slide please in the center of there is bull thistle in both cases after they mowed they haven't even touched either of these species next slide please and here you see a ribbon of yellow where they totally missed a strip next slide please I have an Al Alpha field right next door to their property where I still Farm I don't want contamination of my Fields with their weeds next slide please after they got done mowing you see they left me ample flowers a Jes a weed called Hawks beard it's a biannual it sleeps the first year which it did last year and it explodes in year two those yellow flowers soon turn white and they blow just like dandelion for Miles next slide please the first call I made to Cottage Grove the staff person I talked to said we've entered into an agreement with 3m they said they're going to plant their acreage that was previously farmed to native grass native Prairie Grass so that they would have minimal maintenance this is a prairie grass that I planted many years ago it's right across from Anderson renewal on the corner of 100th and ideal Avenue I want to tell you there's nothing minimal maintenance about having a clean Prairie Grass uh your Public Works director and I toured some of these fields a week ago at that time I told Ryan I'm going to give you a dollar for every weed you find in my prairie grass field I think he had to use his own money for lunch that day next slide please uh we think North Point development company has attempted to do a good job they rent land back to me and west of Ideal Avenue they offered this land to me I referred them to another farmer and he's doing a good job with a rye crop that's totally weed free at this point but that yellow flower will blow for miles and it will be in these fields in the future next slide please this is what most of 3m's fields looked like before they mowed however they mowed too late most of the weeds had already advanced to the flower and Seed stage so it does little to control them they're going to have to get a mowing program where they mow almost like you mow your lawn in order to get ahead of this or else use some serious herbicide applications uh they aren't the only ones there's uh developers who uh like the yellow flower also next time you drive down County 19 at the intersection of 90th Street the housing developer there has plenty of yellow flowers also if we don't already have it I would hope we would get an ordinance with teeth in it that would require 3M developers Farmers everyone to control weeds on their property thank you so much for your attention thank you Jean and I I do know our staff was uh working with you and I believe 3M in the state um so I we'll we'll obviously respond back to at that point but thank you for bringing to our attention I will just share with you it's interesting that that yellow uh flower if you will is a weed because I would assume most of us look at that and go oh that's really pretty but it's not now the thistle stuff I don't even touch that stuff so all right thank you Gan all right so was there anybody else that did not by chance sign up under open form that would like to speak this evening all right I will go ahead then and close open form and I'll move to number five which is adoption of the agenda move the agenda second all right so I have a motion by council member the second by council member kada all those in favors uh signify by saying I I I opposed motion carries uh six is presentations we actually have three presentations this evening the first one is the public safety board scholarship presentation so uh while Ryan Pierre um uh steps up to the podium up there uh I think Council will join um the Public Safety Board in front of the council here so and we'll let him get started Perfect all right thank you honorable mayor and council members I'm Ryan Pierre I'm our community engagement officer um just here to do a quick overview and awards deal for uh Public Safety Board regarding the Craig willery scholarship um public sa cat public safety board made up by multiple members of our community um the board is a nonprofit 501c3 organization like I said made up of Citizen volunteers from various backgrounds um they have Liaisons from the police department along with fire and EMS the public safety board meets once per month and works together to promote the partnership between citizens of Cottage Grove and the public safety department in support of sorry about that of A Safe Community uh the mission of the public safety board is to provide financial support for equipment training and programs to enhance safety and to provide crime prevention and safety information to Citizens um some Community engagement educational opportunities that they are involved in would be Strawberry Fest along with other parades Night toite Safety Camp police and fire open houses and other community events um some of their fundraising efforts come from Grant opportunities um variety of fundraising including hosting Bunko events uh K9 plushies and challenge coins cancer and autism awareness patches and other citizens donations uh most recently they had a um fitness equipment that was donated to the cottage Ro Central fire station uh they've also donated for Port portable speed signs a large supporter of the K9 program including purchasing dog and Equipment firefighter particle hoods and the Craig wery scholarship like I said most recently the public safety board donated $115,000 for to purchase fitness equipment for the fitness room at the central fire station located off of 8 Street the former equipment was donated from an exercise business and is at the end of its life expectancy the firefighters worked closely with the board to determine the needs and update the equipment to include free weights and squatting wreck um the purpose of the public safety board is sorry the reason we're here tonight the C gr Public Safety Board is pleased to offer the the Craig wery scholarship to residents of cage gr pursuing postsecondary education and law enforcement emergency emergency medical services and firefighting the K Public Safety a welcomes and supports diversity in the application and award process um here's a copy of the application and which is due May 1st of each year um you must complete the application submit an essay and a letter of recommendation and as mentioned before it's for residents of cageo pursuing postsecondary education law enforcement EMS and firefighting there's more information on their City website for that and at this point I'll turn it over to the president of the board Julie rice thank you thank you council members Chief corer family members and guests of our recipients we want to thank Justin and kimson for asking the board to present this scholarship to the community and to raise funds for it so the Lions Club several board members other excuse me citizens of the community have donated funds so that we can give the scholarship award this year we um went in and looked at our funds and we were able to give four scholarship winners the award this year and each one of those Awards is $1,500 all of them are pursuing a career in public safety we have two high school students that started in an Explorer Program Now The Cottage Grove Explorer program is run by police officers Ryan sisterman is one mcken Foster is another and they help train young high school students between the ages of 14 and 20 who are interested in pursuing a career in law enforcement or EMS or medic school whatever EMT that they want to go to so this year the excuse me the program enters a state competition with about a hundred other explorer programs throughout the state this year our program took fifth place in traffic crash third place in embedded social worker and Public Safety model second place in Street decisions and first place in suspicious activity now each one of these um potential Law Enforcement Officers meet every Sunday that's a big commitment for high school students to put in a Sunday every day every week to come and do their training so we're very proud of our program we help sponsor them they do their own fundraising as well so two of our per um our recipients are Avery kristopherson and Colin Schmidt so if you want to come up right now they were awarded their prog or their Awards also at the high school last week so they did find out they got the award until that night so now they're getting an official scholarship [Applause] presentation our explorers also will police the parade routes and help out at other events so if you see them give them a good high and throw them some candy in a parade because they do a great job so thank you you for all of the training that you've already gone through and that you're going to be doing next year to pursue your career thank [Applause] you our next recipient is Payton Taylor come on up Payton is a current CSO for the city of Cottage Grove which means she's a community service officer who goes around and helps on dog calls and um the neighbor left their sprinkler running too long and any kind of calls that the police don't take so she was um by Sergeant Nels torine she was uh recommended and she has a great positive attitude for her work and she makes a an effort to meet with the public and help them solve their problems so thank you Payton continued she's continuing her career at 9:16 yes okay and our fourth recipient is um already a member of the police and fire department Med as a medic paramedic Chris verling come up [Applause] thank you Chris Chris is a continuing his his um career and training and schooling you just don't get a degree and go to your job it's continued classes continued training keep up to date with life-saving efforts so that they can help the citizens of Cottage Grove and Chris has been with the fire department since 2016 and fire and medic so anybody that needs lifesaving he's ready for you so we just want to thank all of our recipients continue with your career make us proud to have you as citizens of Cottage Grove and hopefully you guys can return as police officers for Cottage Grove thank you [Applause] well before we do the uh the handshakes and such I do want to thank you the board uh for all the tremendous support that you give our Public Safety department as a whole whether it's Fire EMS uh police um I also want to thank uh personally uh council member Olsen who kind of got the Craig willery scholarship uh jump started if you will and it's just continued to grow and grow and uh it really does you get to see the the hard work uh council member Olson of the work that you've uh put forth uh getting the message out there uh because it's going to help these uh I'll say young individuals Chris Chris used to work for me at a different company a long time ago so uh these young individuals uh to be able to uh have a career in uh law enforcement and Fire EMS so but to thank you uh for coming here this evening and presenting uh Council MOS would you like to say a few words briefly briefly Chris should have got the scholarship for that mustache alone I think it was pretty good yeah um I'm so happy to see you all standing here and I'm so grateful to uh The Cottage Grove Public Safety Board for managing this scholarship program when my wife and I started this uh in honor of uh former public safety director Craig willery we did so with the intent to have young people including you Chris like you um from the community or who work in the community pursuing a career in public safety get at least a leg up you know I I understand that uh school is very expensive books are expensive Etc and then you have your post training you have to do if you're going to go into law enforcement you're going to have continuing education training that you need to do to maintain your medic certificate which you recently received so congratulations on that and uh hopefully this is just one small way for us to demonstrate that we believe in you we're grateful for the work that you do for the community today today and uh we look forward to the work you're going to do for the community moving forward and hopefully this is going to help you out a little bit thanks awesome let's give them one more round of applause and I'm going to go start doing the handshaking conratulations congratulations L congratulations thanks guys thank you thank you all right it's always fun to be able to do that I was had the opportunity to be at the park High um senior event as did you counil Mar Bros and and see all the scholarships from the different companies and groups and such uh this was also pretty awesome so uh the next item under uh presentations is e Strawberry Fest presentation and I believe uh one of the key members of the Strawberry Fest committee is Willie tennis uh so Willie do you want to come up come up front and share with the us all the excitement of this year's event as you're walking with that boot welcome good evening mayor councel staff um thanks for the opportunity to get to talk about our event Strawberry Fest uh I've been on the committee for I don't even know how many years 1450 something like that but uh this year is 40-year celebration and so we're pretty proud of that that it's gone on on that many years Thursday night event keeps growing every year we have a lot a lot of events for kids and as you can see on the presentation here I won't name them all off and then uh excuse me Friday night or Friday uh one of the big things uh is Marketplace for uh business expo and businesses to show their showcase their businesses and uh the lady we got in charge now has been doing a fantastic job three years ago there was like 93 last year she got like 105 this year she's got 119 vendors coming so it's phenomenal and then uh bands is another thing uh one of the leadoff bands is called distilled and that happens to be some local people right here from Cottage Grove so that's pretty cool and Tim Seager he was here last year on Saturday night but he's going to be this year on Friday night but they told me he's a country band and I personally don't like country but anyways he plays a variety I really like the guy he was he was great last year just unreal so he plays a little of everything then we have our ambassadors um they'll be selling buttons and uh with buttons this year there's discounts from the food vendors um different each one has different ones but some of them have them up to 20% off and then um they'll be going around greeting people and doing what they do and then food vendors we have a a new lady in charge of that last year I forgot how many she had like 14 this year she's got like 18 food vendors so everybody come hungry there's going to be a lot of varieties of food and then um Saturday one of the big things of course is the uh Grand parade then after that uh we have something new we have a BMX bikes they're going to set up in the middle of the parking lot and do all sorts of jumps and flips and it's really exciting it's going to be a really fun event and then uh car show pet show um the bands for Saturday night are Stone Daisy and those pesky kids and then we'll have the fireworks at 10:30 as usual on Saturday night and then uh yeah apologize for the events that I think you page down that other page has the there you go all the different bands and so forth people can see how uh um some of that information yep and then I apologize for some of the events I didn't mention tonight but there's so many but then also make sure you come Thursday because we have the park Port Lions and the Cottage Grove Lions selling beer and other little kind of drink things so uh each year gets keeps getting bigger and bigger and uh it's just a really fun event for the community so hope everyone has a chance to come out and enjoy it so thanks again Dave my partner in crime there at the festival you have something to say good job Willie oh thank you so uh so yeah those those people get the Cottage Grove reports okay inside the Cottage Grove reports is also a a a flyer that tells you about some of the different things that are happening at uh at strawberryfest and uh and also if you page this up that that uh was up on the screen okay uh we're going to have that in a few different places that has a QR code because you know you can find a lot of information at cottag grov strawberry fest.com which we've been we've been thinking about trying to shorten that a little bit make it a little easier to type it out but with the QR code you know you can just put your your camera on that and most phones will actually go to that that website so that's a that's the easy way to get to that website and uh so I I've uh I've heard that we're going to have fantastic weather again but uh so we'll we'll we'll see if that uh that holds out and uh we've had uh we've kind of gotten lucky the last couple of years but but uh so um yeah it's going to be a fantastic time again uh Thursday night we've been been getting some things uh you know again set up for that we're GNA have even have some entertainment did you did you mention that that the Jazz did you mention so we're gonna have actually some jazz music and that too on uh on Thursday night and be besides the different events and and so forth so uh um you know it's and it's and it's free entry and everything like that you know it's it's it's a fantastic time so you got to just kind of round up the kids and and yourselves and and get on out there and have a great time the one thing to remind people is that usually over the last few years it's been on Father's Day weekend and this year because of how the the calendar shifted it's a week after Father's Day weekend so you know people came can't use the excuse that that they can't come because they're gone for the weekend because of Father's Day so you know grab Dad and and the week later and and get out there and and have a great time fantastic well thank you thank you both and uh it's been amazing every year it gets bigger uh was there were so many people there last year I do specifically remember there was vendors that had to close early because they ran out of food yes uh there was so many people there so that's uh that's a really neat thing to have and and then I did notice that I don't know if I got brought up is uh once again the carnival is here um so if you want to um get some carnival ride tickets or pre-sale tickets I believe you can get those here at City Hall right and you can actually get them online too if you go to the website and so forth you can uh get tickets online also perfect and the only other uh comment I want to mention that's more about I'm going to say about Willie and his business tennis sanitation um you know since he was here tonight I was I'm going to bring this up a little bit later when I talk about the Fourth of July fireworks but I did want to since you're personally here I want to thank you and your your company because every year that I have asked um for uh the the uh $5,000 donation to put towards fireworks uh Willie is like just like that so tennis sanitation other than all the things that you're doing and the financial pieces that you deal with strawberryfest 2 that you support I just want to thank you personally uh for uh your support as well as the uh four other businesses that are stepping forward to uh for $25,000 towards the Fourth of July fireworks so another big big show coming this year uh so very happy with that so thank you Willie you're welcome we enjoy giving back to the community that's part of the reason I'm on Strawberry Fest just helping out the community and I enjoy working with Dave all right does he do you gonna give money here for that I was wondering if that was coming next time I need something he owes me all right thank you thank you so much for coming tonight fantastic so uh hope to see everybody there for another big uh big event this year all right our last presentation this evening uh is the 2023 annual comprehensive financial report and Brenda melanowski our finance director is going to uh kick us off here so Brenda welcome thank you mayor members of the council uh tonight uh I have Rebecca Peterson here uh with red path and Company uh new face uh we have a new audit firm this year uh State statues require us uh to have an annual audit each year and so that has just wrapped up um and so she will be giving um a review of that audit um at the end of her presentation uh I do ask you to make a motion to accept um the report for 2023 and with that I will turn it over to Rebecca welcome Rebecca thank you thank you for having me here tonight um I'm going to go through a summary of the reports that we issue in conjunction with the audit and then some highlevel um Financial summary information you know we work closely with Finance staff during the course of the audit but we really do work for you as governance of the city so as I'm speaking if you have questions please feel free to stop me and ask me on point um or you can wait till the end whatever works best for you there are four reports that we issued in conjunction with the audit this year and I just want to mention that some years there are there's a fifth report that's required to be issued anytime the city expends more than 7 $50,000 of federal money in a given year you're subject to a federal single audit or a federal compliance audit of the those expenditures the city did not reach that threshold for 2023 so there was no single audit this year the first report that we issue in conjunction with the audit is an opinion on the financial statements and this is really our primary purpose of the audit um is to provide an opinion as to the fair presentation of the city's financial statements it would be time and cost prohibitive for us to look at every single transaction that the city enters into during the course of the year but we perform a variety of procedures to enable us to provide an opinion that the city's financial statements are fairly stated um and provide a reasonable level of assurance um the result this year is that the city's received a clean unmodified opinion it's the highest level of assurance we're able to provide and in summary it's the result you want I want to mention that on an annual basis the city submits its financial statements to the GF OA um the gfoa has a award program and the 2022 financial statements received a certificate of excellence in financial reporting we anticipate that the 2023 statements will qualify for the award as well the second report that we issue in conjunction with the audit is a report on internal controls we do not audit the city's internal controls but as part of our audit we gain an understanding of the controls that are in place and the processes and the procedures and we do test some of those controls to a limited amount and if anything came to our attention that we thought you should know about or we identified any significant deficiencies in internal control we would report them to you in this letter there is also one item that we are required to report as an internal control finding and that is any time that during the course of the audit we as Auditors identifying a material adjustment to the numbers within the financial statements that's extremely common in local governments um but were're required to include it in this report and this year there was one material audit adjustment related to project costs um and the accumulation of those there was no errors as far as vendor payments or anything in that regard it was simply a tracking methodology and how expenses were recognized so one finding this year that's been resolved the third report that we issue in conjunction with the audit is a report on Minnesota legal compliance the office of the state auditor has a series of requirements that they request us as Auditors to look at in conjunction with our audit we're not attorneys we're accountants and so we look at this from an accounting perspective um we're not providing a legal opinion but if any instances of non-compliance came to our attention during our audit we would report it to you this year there were no findings of non-compliance reported which again is the result you would want the final report that we issue in conjunction with the audit is a letter from as Auditors to you as governance with some key information about current year operations and just required disclosure information it is a highly technical templated letter um and so I've called out just some of the key points here really what you need to know within the length of that letter the first item I have bulleted here is to let you know that the city had to implement a new accounting standard this year gby 96 on spitas which is an awkward acronym but it stands for subscription-based it arrangements and what this new accounting standard does is it recognizes that local governments more and more are entering into longterm agreements for software maybe cloud-based software or other types of um contracts and when you've committed to enter into one of those agreements for a long period of time there really is a liability that the city has that the gby the standard sending body wants to see accumulated on the financial statements so the city had to go through um a fairly t intensive exercise this year to look at the contracts that are in place and determine if they qualify for acrel the result is that there were was an agreement that was eligible to be reported on the financial statements the net impact is about $155,000 so not significant to the city's financial statements at all but it's good for you to know that there was a change the next item I have bulleted here is ACC counting estimates in the financial statements as a reminder that some numbers in the financial statements are and known amounts and other items are estimated two of the most significant estimates are both actuarially determined numbers the first one I have identified here is the net OPB liability OPB stands for other post-employment benefits and it's really the impact of the city having retirees and the impact on the health insurance offerings it's as I mentioned it's an actual aial a determined number that's really paid over time the city is not going to have to pay $942,000 the second I item I have bulleted here is the net pension liability and this is the impact of city employees participated in the state pension plan perah on an annual basis perah obtains an Actuarial study to determine what their net pension liability is and then they allocate that liability out to all participating employers and so this $15 million liability that the city is reporting is really your share of peris's liability and that fluctuates heavily over time depending on what the investment Market is doing and what the Actuarial assumptions are but PA is not going to come looking for a $15 million check this is just really representative of the future liability of having participants in the plan and it's paid on a payroll basis when you make your employer contributions to the plan the next required communication I have for you is difficulties encountered in performing the audit if we had any difficulties we'd be communicating them to you but happy to report that we had n and staff was great to work with next bullet is any disagreements with management if we had any significant disagreements with management during the course of the audit that we thought you should know about we would also be informing you um and then finally any other matters if there were items that came to our attention that we thought were important for us governance to know about that didn't fit in any other category we would be communicating them here there's nothing communicated this year but I want you to know that we would be sharing that information if we had anything moving on to some highle financial information first I have some financial highlights for the general fund the um in City overall the current property tax collection rate for 20123 was 99.64% which is very high that's a nice healthy property tax collection rate um then the city has a fund balance policy that within your general fund you want to be maintaining fund balance reserves of 45 to 55% of subsequent Year's expenditures at the end of 2023 your unassigned fund balance was equal to 50% of um next year's expenditures which is right in the middle of your policy in a nice healthy spot to be in here I have some summarized budget to actual information for the general fund just's a couple items I want to draw your attention to if you look at the total revenues line and go up to investment earning budgeted was about 125,000 and actual results um was over half a million it's a nice healthy um investment results for the year and it really is impacting overall fund performance looking at expenditures you'll see Public Safety was over budget um by about $200,000 that really relates to C some CSO time and other um charges within Public Safety but my understanding is that the Departments really worked hard to toll the line and not fill vacancies that didn't need to be filled to help maintain the general fund budget and at the end if you look at the very bottom for actual results you'll see an increase in fund balance of about $2.1 million for this year there's really two significant items impacting that first it is the investment earnings that I mentioned and secondly it's the public safety Aid that the city received right at the end of 2023 um the city received approximately 1. 7 million of Public Safety Aid that was eligible to be recognized as Revenue this year but it's really restricted for spending you can't spend it on whatever you want as restricted for public safety items but it is impacting the results of the fund um here you can see the general fund expenditures by function um that green bar is Public Safety and similar with prior years um it is one of the most significant expenditures within the fund this next graph looks at the trend for the general fund that blue bar is total expenditures within the general fund and that green line is total revenue for the fund so you can really see that your revenue is covering your expenditures and your operations for the year and then that gray bar is total fund balance um you can see fund balance is up a bit from last year which is really where you need to be you know with your fund balance policy of 45 to 55% costs aren't decreasing you know and so in order to meet that policy your fund balance really needs to increase incrementally with inflation and uh the budget itself next up I have a similar graphical representation for the streetlight fund where that blue bar is your operating expenses without depreciation and then the gray portion on top is depreciation expense with the red line or sorry the green line being operating Revenue um in your um Enterprise funds you really want to see your operating Revenue covering your operating expenses plus some um especially with the Enterprise funds they're Capital intensive or they can be and you need that gap between operations to help um fund future capital and here we have um your fund balance or your unrestricted debt position for the street light fund next have the EMS fund again the blue bar is your operating expenses and the gray portion is your depreciation the green line operating Revenue you can see it fluctuates heavily over time um there's a couple different factors impacting this one is the ability to collect on um your receivables you know the city changed ambulance billing providers within the past year or so which is impacting this but also your ability to realize Revenue here is really impacted by the market there are some um entities that are paying these ambulance bills that really cap out at certain levels and you can only realize so much um you'll see that your operating Revenue um this past year was not covering your operating expenses or your depreciation and that's really typical for local government ambulance services that you need property tax revenue or other sources to help fund that Capital difference because operations just don't generate enough to do so um and here we have a fund balance history of the EMS fund you can see it's dropped over time but it is still positive and I do want to mention that the fund itself had positive cash flow this year um some of the decrease in fund balance that you're SE scen really relates to non-cash transactions such as depreciation there was positive cash flow within the fund next up I have the water fund similar structure with your operating expenses being your bar and the green line being your Revenue you have a nice healthy gap between operating expenses and your operating Revenue to help fund some of that those Capital items here's your fund balance of your water fund and then we have the sewer fund um different than the water fund you will see that that green line your operating revenue is much closer to your operating expenses my understanding is that there's a rate study that might be looking at some of this but it really is important I want to emphasize you need to have a gap there to help fund that capital in the future and your sewer fund balance then finally I have some comparative information um the office of the state auditor puts out some nice summary information over time they did not have the 2022 actual numbers available yet when I prepared the presentation so I used um Statewide budgeted amounts versus actual um and what this graph or chart is looking at is revenue per capita and I'll draw your attention to property taxes you have a healthy property tax revenue per capita um at least from a Citizens perspective probably um and as we go down you'll see intergovernmental revenues is higher than both the cities past Revenue per capita and State amounts and this is really heavily impacted by some of the settlement funds that are being put towards the water um treatment facility and other intergovernmental revenues and then charges for services as well is above um Statewide budget and Statewide actual amounts and that's really impacted by some of the recreational offerings you have that other cities don't the golf course the ice arena and some of your other parks and rack offerings are playing into this number where it might not be Apples to Apples comparison with with other cities Statewide and then next up I have a similar comparison for expenditures per capita um I'll call your attention again to this capital outlay and construction number right here about $1,000 per capita which is significantly higher than prior years and state amounts and again this is some of those significant Capital Endeavors that the city has undertaken this year the water treatment facility um I think there was a golf course project and other items that are playing into that number so it is a planned um increase there from prior year that's all I have prepared ahead of time for you but I'm happy to answer any questions you might have all right uh first of all thank you thank you for your first one with us as the new uh person so uh councilor do you have any questions I'll start with I guess council member Olen thank you very much uh took a little getting used to we we had the the other fella for a long time so um you did a nice job thank you two things that stood out to me and I'd like to just um ask a couple of questions on those first uh you mentioned that um from a comparative Revenue per capita perspective we are at uh 492 versus what I believe to be the Statewide um average of 557 for communities of our size is that accurate um so this 557 number was from 2021 yes yes y that would be the comparable number okay but if I look at the uh 2022 number you use budgeted amounts and we're still below that 514 correct so what that says to me and this is where I I need your help um that that means that in terms of what people are paying in property taxes uh they're paying less than the average if they live in Cottage Grove cor correct that is what this represents and on your next slide you had the expenditures um so you had uh uh expenditures at the bottom total debt service um we at 108 versus um the um the 144 number over that you had for 2021 so that's saying that in terms of our debt service or the debt that we issue we're issuing less than the average accurate correct okay perfect perfect good and the reason I asked both of those questions is because one of the things we're very proud of here as I'm sure you heard a time or two is our AAA Bond rating and um that's something that the staff here works very very hard to maintain and uh you know the bond houses tend to look at that sort of stability uh as one of the key components whether or not they're going to help us maintain that and it doesn't look to me like you found anything that was out of the ordinary that might um put that AAA Bond rating in any kind of Jeopardy in fact we're still continuing to operate at lower than average expenses and uh therefore the property tax charge to the average property tax payer is less here than it is for uh the rest of the comparable cities and the last thing I wanted to ask about is um fund balance so our fund balance is currently at 50% based on your audit we have a policy that says 4 45 to 55 in your experience is that uh that 50% is that typical uh atypical what what is it extremely typical okay um I would say that the average ranges of fund balance I per policy is 40 to 55% would be the range of policies so you are right in line with um generally what I see cities use for their fund balance policy perfect and you know that fund balance is sort of I guess called the rainy day fund right if anything weird happens like a global pandemic let's just say were to happen um you need to have that fund balance in order to continue to operate and pay the bills and um from what you just said it seems like we're right where we need to be yep very much so perfect good well thanks for all the good news uh you know I like I like going through these reports because I think it just serves to underscore the fact that uh the team here at City Hall and and throughout the the city um does just an amazing job of you know watching their nickel and dimes while they still provide a tremendous amount of service to the residents of our community at uh less of a cost than they would get in you know several other communities if you just look at the averages and that's our goal uh we we want to make sure that people find Value here and these numbers reflect that they do so I appreciate that very much and look forward to having another good one next year thanks council member the yeah staying on this this uh uh chart right here just want to go back to to the uh capital outlay and construction and that's a significant jump but a lot of that is actually has to do with the the water and our our treatment plants and and it's actually money that's you know not necessarily coming totally from the taxpayer it's it's coming from the settlements like on the chart before before that you were showing that the the money the the revenue money is coming from like the 3M settlement so forth is funding that that jump that we see there right correct there are external funding sources that are helping support this significant increase here right good okay any other questions for you too I I had two just maybe there more comments and I'm not sure if this is really directed at you or it might be at our staff uh well one's I'll start with a comment uh so the Ambulance Service uh we've been having numerous conversations I mean obviously you're auditing back for 2023 we're now you know in 2024 and we're still trying to to gather it um the I'll say if you will the concerning thing I think for the council uh has been and I know our staff uh is the same is as you acknowledged on the reporting there even though we had some cash flow that number is sign it's very very tight uh where we used to have a a amount of money in there and the and the goal of that having that extra money if you will in there over the years has been to be able to pay for the ambulances and such right uh we're unfortunately at that point now where um because of you know Medicare Medicaid all those kind of different things out there that are having as uh a negative effect on our on our budget uh specifically for the ambulance service that we we're probably now at that point where we're going to have to start using our general taxpayer dollars uh to support that that fund um the other thing I did want to share with the the general public though and and that is um Cottage Grove does not just cover Cottage Grove in this Ambulance Service we're required uh by law uh that we have to cover SLE Park Newport gray cloud is that it I just covered those three um and because of our requirements on that they do not pay anything their taxpayers do not pay anything into this fund they're not required to um the only good news thing I'm hoping that we're going to see here is our Senator uh our state senator um uh was able to get a bill through that might affect or help us uh not just Cottage grow but as a state uh for those especially those rural communities that are having very similar situations as us uh with not being able to cover the costs um to be able to get some of that additional funding that might be able to help us sh up some of that that that amount so I just wanted to let our public know the citizens of cottage grow of that uh we don't have the choice unless we want to get rid of our Ambulance Service and we haven't decided to do that we prefer being in house um and uh we're required to cover other communities that do not pay us for the ambulance service and then the last thing and this is the one I'm not sure where I'm going with um on the sewer rate one I know the sewer uh that's predominantly uh the Met Council am I correct so this is really pretty much whatever the bill is so to speak for using the super super Services it just no pun intended it's flowing right through so the the citizens um whatever they're paying to that fund is paying for whatever the cost is by that the Met council is charging um the city of Cottage Grove or any other City out there so I just I thought I'd throw that out there so there isn't a lot of if if you notice there's not any fluff in that um uh particular it item there and that's because it is pretty much a straight uh flow through uh in that case so anyway um that is it so thank you that was it for my comments unless there's anything else from councel Jus question Justin did yeah there you go yep there you go so um uh Council if you would uh one of the requests for us was to uh make a motion to accept so moved all right we have a motion by council member Olsen oh second second by council member Garza uh to accept this financial report for 2023 all those in favor signify by saying I I I opposed motion carries than Youk you Brendan team thank you so much another great great year all right so Council uh the next item on our agenda is seven which is consent is there anything Council wants to pull off of consent for separate discussion I'll move consent seeing none I will I got a motion by council member Olson second by council member any other discussion seeing none all those in favor signify by saying I I I opposed motion carries so if you are here for anything on tonight's consent agenda all of those items have been approved uh eight is approved dispersement or paying the bills who would like the motion I'll make a motion to pay the bills all right so I heard council member Kat beachi on that one Sor uh made the motion you can take the second council member Garza uh any discussion on bills all right say n all those in favor of signify by saying I I I opposed motion carries uh public hearings are arone this evening bid awards are arnone this evening uh 11 is the regular agenda we do have one item this evening uh which is the Enterprise energy Community solar garden and Conor Jake our associate planner is going to walk us through this one so welcome Connor uh thank you Mr Mayor members of the Council uh great to be with you this evening the application for this evening is an interim use permit for a proposed 5 megawatt Community solar garden the subject site is located in the eastern agricultural area of the city um adjacent to 100th Street South as well as Lehigh Road South and about 3/4 of a mile east of Kimbro Avenue South little background on the site the site has been utilized for agricultural purposes um as far back as City files indicate I'll note on screen there are two Parcels currently for a total sight size of 155 Acres a condition of approval will require that these two lots be combined into one parcel in order to meet the required 300t setback uh from the property line to the solar panels um before we jump into the site plan um and walk through the rest of the application I thought it'd be beneficial to talk through the ordinance regulations and just U walk through the history of our initial ordinance and then our revisions so in 2015 um a few of a few of you may recall that we adopted a solar energy system ordinance which um regulated Community solar Gardens that ordinance was then revised in 2017 and there were two uh major differences um that would apply to the application before this evening one of those differences was the setback from the property line to the panels so in the um 2015 ordinance that setback was the principal structure setback which in an agricultural district is generally about 75 ft so the revised ordinance in 2017 which is the current one requires a 300 foot setback so creating a larger buffer um of those solar panels from the property line um to negate any adverse impacts second major difference was the requirement of a vegetative management plan which details the maintenance of plantings the seed mix um and other various factors relating to um the growth of that seedx ensuring there's no weed growth and maintenance of that so those were the two major differences um the requirements for a community solar gardener on screen before you I would just point out also um the site has to be located within the designated areas of exhibit a so that map is shown on screen the red areas are where a solar garden would be permitted or allowed with the interim use permit um and that area did not change from the 2015 ordinance to the current ordinance and again those areas are um or were designated based on the Musa and that um we don't Envision utilities being extended to those Parcels within the near future so allowing an interm use toop right there um recognizing utilities won't serve um within the near future the site is zoned um egg1 Agricultural and guided as agricultural in the 2040 comprehensive plan the use is permitted with an interm use permit the proposed length of the use per interm use permit before this evening is 25 years and then a possible extension of up to 10 years after that 25 years so a condition of approval um does note the length of 25 years and then that extension of up to 10 years U which would be granted by the city council and then I would note that condition also um adds within that extension period that if a development application is received on an adjacent parcel the solar use would have to cease and be removed following the decommissioning plan and then restored to its current state um of preconstruction moving into the site plan um the site plan is on screen before you how however before we jump meeting on May 14th there were four residents in attendance and um I'll kind of talk through the concerns and how the applicant has work to mitigate those um as we move through the site plan um so the proposal is for a 35 acre array area on the 155 Acre Site you note the array area is where the panels are located um that does meet the 300t setback after the parcels are combined that setback is indicated by the red dash line um on the site plane before you the rows of panels are um proposed to run north and south and pivot on a single axis to follow the sun um horizontally the maximum height of the panels would be 10 ft at Full Tilt um this design is lower profile than the um kind of fixed panels we see um within the community so lower profile um less visual impact to adjacent property owners and um Vehicles traveling down roadways where you might see the project and the other thing I would note is that there's no noise created from that pivoting motion we actually have uh one solar farm within the community that does have this kind of pivoting motion and we haven't received any complaints related to noise or um any other complaints on that um site the applicant is proposing five equipment pads each is 200 squ ft in size and all of them are located within that secured array area the array area is proposed to be secured by a six foot tall chain link fence that will be black coated um a concern at the neighborhood meeting was the color of the chain link fence so ensuring that fence Blends into the environment and we keep that country feel um within the area so the residents request either black or green coated um fence they has um agreed to provide that black coded fence in a condition of approval does require that fence be black coed as well and then um again just to note that Fen is um proposed to just surround the array area so the 35 acres and not the whole um site moving into transportation and site access um access is proposed off of Lehigh Road South um and proposed to be a class five that would run along that South Boundary and then up into the um solar site to provide access I would note a concern at the neighborhood meeting was related to Construction traffic in the current condition of both Lehigh Road and 100th Street South um and ensuring there's no um adverse impacts from the construction traffic so a condition of approval will require that the applicant enter into a memorandum of understanding which will detail um the applicant's responsibility to document that um designated route pre- construction traffic and post construction traffic and then restoring that road to its uh pre-construction traffic State um I would note that staff hasn't designated or um decided on a designated construction traffic Route whether that flows um from Lehigh Road into the site or Kimbro up to 100 Street um will be determined as we work through um the proposal and that memorandum of understanding but the applicant would be responsible for those repairs and ensuring there's no um the road isn't in worse condition after the construction traffic terms of traffic the majority of that traffic will be um construction traffic after the site is constructed and completed um access to the site would be minimal um the engineer um of the site would access approximately two times per year just in Ure it's um operating as intended fix any panels um along those lines and then uh concern at the neighborhood meeting was also related to weed growth and mitigating um weeds and the concern there so the applicant did agree that maintenance crew maintenance Crews would access the site once per month to ensure that um weed growth is being managed mitigated and then also that vegetative management plan um is being followed and so I mentioned that a requirement of the current ordinance is a vegetative management plan that details the seed mix um ensuring that meets state requirements and then um um just that restoration plan for the array area itself and so the applicant did submit a detailed VMP um that meets code requirements proposing a native um pollinator friendly seed mix and they've also provided a detailed maintenance plan um both for the establishment phase which is years 1 to three and then the um maintenance phase which is years four plus and so we have our consultant reviewing that and ensuring that meets our standards and then providing um an inspection protocol that we would follow to ensure weed growths being mitigated and um that seed mix is really taking and being established as intended city code does require a decommissioning plan to be provided which outlines um the restoration of that land to its preconstruction condition um the outline of that process is on screen before you but the one thing I wanted to note is that um the city um the application does require that we receive a decommissioning letter of credit um which is the amount of 125% of that decommissioning estimate so if at such time when that interm use permit would expire we would then have the money on hand to remove um and restore the site if the applicant um or owner at the time doesn't do that so as mentioned previously the applicant did hold the neighborhood meeting um with four residents and attendance the main concerns are listed on the screen before you um just to talk through those so construction traffic being mitigated through that memorandum of understanding um proposed utility poll locations um so we started with uh the applicant original proposal had those polls on the south of the access road we then moved them to the north to concerns um with those polls located in the area between the road and the property line which is about 27 1/2 ft and um a condition of approval will require that those lines be undergrounded um so no polls would be allowed um as we work through that process pursuant to city code um management to weed growth will be dealt with through the vegetative management plan as mentioned and there was one or there was a concern related to water runoff to adjacent property so the applicant has submitted a detailed storm water management plan that will meet City roow requirements and would not allow for um additional runoff to adjacent properties with that I'll leave the recommendation on screen before you staff's available for any questions the applicants in attendance as well all right uh thank you uh uh Connor so first uh Council yeah we'll start with Council questions for staff um council member Garza you mentioned the um first off thank you for the presentation very a lot of good information um the fencing you said that it is going in green but the residents as or going in black but the residents asked to possibly blend in was there a reason why they couldn't do green or uh yeah as we work throughout the neighborhood meeting um councilman orara um the residents and applicant um kind of prefer that black fence to blend in more with the darker color of that so it's preferred to have the black over the Green from Resident point of view and then you also mentioned about the weed mitigation so we just had the young man here with his situation so I'm just hoping that we won't find oursel in that situation with this place that's only being maintained I think it said twice a month or once a month uh yeah cons M Garza um so we at a minimum will require the maintenance crew to go once per month however um we would be out you know ensuring that site has minimal weed growth um if receive complaints we would obviously address those within a timely manner um but then we actually would have our consultant conducting um Regular inspections of that site ensuring the seed mix is um taking and then the weeds are being mitigated and part of that plan and what the inspector would do in that case is create a map that shows hey here's where the weed areas are we need to mitigate those and then um work through that process so thank you okay uh Council I have something just add but any com comments um I was glad you brought up about the polls I I was reading through the the packet from the Planning Commission and I know there was some discussions about the the polls and I know my Council I knew Council the with having overhead power lines is a pet peeve of mine especially in any new development and and in this particular case I'm glad you have it in there because we've required it with every other solar array that we've done in cottage growth so I just I know there was some conversations going back and forth about that um back then but you know I would not personally want to um have polls above ground when we required all of the others to be below ground with uh with that being said so I was glad to see that that even though that was discussed a bit back and forth during the Planning Commission I did uh note that I did notice that uh condition number six uh is uh basically stating to follow the the city's uh policy and the city code so I just wanted to mention that from a standpoint there and I don't think we've had just from a weed standpoint and such I I think the other solar rays have been well received and that we haven't had any complaints uh Farmers or anything in those particular areas correct uh Mr Mayor I'll just note um so we have four four solar Gardens currently um there's one to the southeast of this project um that we have received complaints related to weed growth and so um a letter was actually sent um two weeks ago after receiving that complaint and um they were working through that process had a deadline of yesterday so um we are aware of that one and working through that process but the rest of them we haven't received any complaints perfect so when if somebody does reach out to us like like Jane did we're going to react to it yeah yeah that's correct yep all right sounds good uh Council any other comments for the for Connor uh would the applicant like to speak at this point and just uh state your name and address for the record hi uh my name is Evan Carlson Enterprise energy 2925 Dean Parkway Minneapolis Minnesota I am the owner and founder of the company uh we're uh one of three Partners in it now um Minnesota company not going anywhere I've been developing in Minnesota for almost a decade uh ventured out on my own more recently uh these are company's about two years old but these are still very early projects in the history of our company and they're very important to us uh our reputation is very important to us we want to do a good job um and uh we've done uh in my experience of things that uh people like to see you know the neighborhood meetings and addressing certain concerns um between the uh the takeaway from the neighborhood meetings one was the road right so that was addressed by condition uh the other big one was Weeds and um that was we actually amended our vegetation management plan between the uh public hearing and now to better address those concerns so um what's unique about this is the big setbacks you've got 300 foot setbacks to all property lines and in most areas those are going to be farmed so the landowner you know he's got a he's in the agricultural business and um he intends to continue egg production on them but there are certain spots that we added to that VMP to make sure that you don't have weed issues uh particularly the area uh between the aess road and the parcel line because the AIS road is a setback from the line so we wanted to make sure that was addressed we added that and the area between the poles so uh you know you got those interconnection poles if you have them above ground or any equipment so point is that if it's not getting farmed it's going to be planted um so that better addresses it um as far as color of the fence I'm open to whatever people there in preference for black but um you know makes no difference perfect well I do appreciate you uh coming here tonight and sharing and it sounds like after you did the neighborhood meeting what I'm hearing from our staff you went back and addressed them so thank you for that because that obviously helps uh those that are going to be living near there feel comfortable with uh you and your company yeah thank you I think it was a very productive meeting yes thank you awesome Council any comments for the applicant all right thank you sir thank you so at this point uh Council um unless you have any other questions for staff um you have a a recommendation up on the screen uh obviously with the conditions that were're already set forth uh anybody I'll make a motion I'd like to make a motion to adopt resolution [Music] 2024-25 megawatt Community solar garden to be constructed on approximately 35 Acres of a 155 Acre Site adjacent to 100 Street Lehigh Road and approximately 3/4 miles east of Kim Avenue as shown on the development plans dated April 19th 2024 all right so I have a motion by council member combiner do I have a second second second by council member theti again any further discussion seeing none all those in favor signify by saying I I I opposed motion carries good luck all right uh so next on agenda is number 12 which is Council comments request I will start with my my Council colleague down there Mr Kata thank you mayor Bailey I just would like to start by saying you know as we um hear from constituents many times about you know why our taxes going up or you know uh how is that money being spent it's it's always uh reassuring to know that um or I always like to reassure them that we strive to be one of the lowest priced cities in the county um we're the second largest city in the county and our the city portion of the tax is significantly lower than our neighbors to the north um and I think we offer great services for for what for what we charge um additionally uh I want to give a huge shout out to staff um for again you know getting awarded on our accounting practices and continuing to do a great job there um that also helps to maintain our AAA Bond rating and then lastly uh for anyone uh listening or watching that wants to an opportunity to meet up with um maybe the mayor or or council member uh Thursdays we have our um our food trucks here from 11: to 1 tomorrow we actually have the egg roll Queen which is my wife's favorite from 11:00 to 2 uh so I'll be here tomorrow at City Hall and um I'll hang out and if anyone wants to pop by and um ask any questions I'll be there and then uh lastly June 8th uh which is uh the Saturday coming up uh we're going to have uh Community night at uh the St Paul Saints stadium so I think that we get there a little early but I think the kickoff is at uh 6:07 p.m. so if anyone wants to come down and catch a baseball game it's a great opportunity to get your kids out um enjoy some snacks and hang out with some of the city staff fantastic thank you Council M goat Council M Olson thank you yeah look I'm looking forward to that Saints game we uh we've had a lot of fun uh as our Discover Cottage Grove team uh or the convention and visitors bureau the last few years that we've been there for Cottage Grove Community night so um I'm going to count on Dave to deliver the good weather and uh I know that our staff will be there with lots of goodie bags and handouts for people to um let them know about all that Cottage Grove has to offer and invite them to come enjoy Strawberry Fest this year I also wanted to take a moment here mayor to um give thanks to uh all of the participants who helped out with this year's Memorial Day event we had a little bit of weather so we had to move the event indoors here at City Hall in the training room and it was full um we were really lucky to have a great speaker in herb reckinger this year's theme was a salute to Vietnam era veterans and Herb knows uh just so much about that era and has done tons of great work with the Vietnam veterans memorial fund so um having him as our speaker this year I think was uh really an asset and then we had a lot of help from the Washington County Sheriff's Department Honor Guard we had a lot of help from The Cottage Grove Public Safety team Cottage Grove Administration Cottage Grove uh Park and Recreation team putting it all together and uh I think the event came off as well as well as it could being indoors our beyond the yellow ribbon team for the Mississippi Valley here uh sponsors that event each year but we couldn't do it without all that support so thank you I also wanted to congratulate the recipients of the scholarships uh for Craig willery this year through the public safety board uh just so happens that on the evening that we awarded those uh two scholarships to our high school friends um as the mayor mentioned I was able to be there with our Cottage Grove Lions Club to hand out five $2,000 scholarships to Park High School students and their names are Tori stepa who also um if you're interested uh was the recipient of the park High Hall of Fame scholarship Macy coffinberger hard Riley simek and Amelia reckinger who just happens to be her breer's granddaughter so it was a really fun night there uh we were really um pleased that we were able to hand out those $2,000 scholarships and it was awful fun seeing all of the uh Community Partners that were there to support our graduating seniors this year I also want to take one second uh just to say thank you to our public safety director Pete Kerner um today we had the opportunity to go to the city of burnsville's police department and deliver a check on behalf of our Cottage Grove Lions Club and all of the other clubs in our district which is District 5m6 to um Dan anan's Brother Captain anman uh for the Burnsville Police Department in support of all that they're doing to take care of the families of uh the three First Responders that we lost in Burnsville here a short time ago and Pete coordinated all of that uh he made he made all the calls he ensured that we uh had a nice representation from our Lions Club there and um it was it was a really special moment so I'm grateful that uh that Pete put that together and I'm also grateful that Pete drove so thanks very much for that um and then the last thing that I wanted to mention mayor is um we lost another officer uh we lost a Minneapolis Police Department Officer last week uh his name is Jamal Mitchell and um I know that I've talked about this at the council they many many times but um I think it's worth noting that you know he was killed in the act of actually trying to provide Aid to somebody who uh he identified as um you know being the victim of uh potentially a a shooting and as soon as he arrived at the scene and he attempted to uh provide Aid to this individual um that person uh had a firearm that they pulled out and um they emptied it and unfortunately officer Mitchell did not survive this is yet another example of the reasons why it's so important that we as a community stand behind our public safety personnel whether it's police or fire or EMS um these folks are the ones who uh they they come running when you hear that bump in the night and you're not sure what to do about it and they're willing to put their lives on the line to to save others every single minute of every single shift that they work throughout the year and uh officer Mitchell is just an example of um another one of our public safety personnel who died a hero so um I anticipate that the our Lions Club will be making a donation in his honor as well um but I would encourage anybody watching this at home or listening to thank a police officer a firefighter uh a medic an EMS person whenever you see them uh because what they do is uh they run towards the danger when most people's instinct is to run away and sometimes it has deadly consequences with that Marl turn it back to you all right thank you council member Olson uh c m uh theti well we already talked about Strawberry Fest so again just make sure it's it's only two weeks away and and uh make sure you mark your calendars to to get on out there because it's going to be a great time and I guess that's all I got all right how about uh council member Gara I will just mention um we have a lot of events that are happening here in Cottage Grove coming up and The Cottage Grove Chamber of Commerce is actually have having the swing for scholarship um tournament golf tournament coming up as well as the bags tournament so that's on June 21th and that's a lot of fun I went last year so if you guys are into golf or even into bags I'd say to check that one out it's at Royal Oaks or excuse me at River Oaks and so it will be a lot of fun yeah don't you dare be sending them to Wood no we're not River Oaks Cottage Grove anything else no thank you all right so I have a I have a couple things today I just wanted to mention um so first of all um uh once again this year we are going to have movies in the park uh which uh the first movie is going to be June 28th at 700 p.m. what day is that is that Friday all Friday nights Friday nights yep uh so June 28th uh at 700 p.m. and it's at the Highlands Park uh in uh off of 70th Street uh the uh I I noticed in the in the pamphlet obviously you can bring your blankets and your chairs you can obviously go out there to enjoy that with you and your family there's a big screen I I've been there a couple times now for the last couple years uh the it the the event kind of kicks off at 7:00 but uh the movie actually starts at dusk the the first movie on June 28th uh which is that Friday again is trolls so if you're interested in that or your kids I'm I'm sure they will be uh the one that I'm interested and not not that I'm an 's Trolls but uh July 19th at 7 p.m. uh is migration I my grandkids have seen that and they said that was an amazing movie and uh then as you look forward and we'll keep bringing these up as we get further into summer August 16th again at the same park is Wonka and I did get to see that in the movie theater it's an amazing movie so um wanted to wanted to mention that um there is popcorn and there's events and things that are happening in the uh in the park kind of leading up to the uh to the movies um but I also noticed on on the flyer that was given to me that uh there will be some food uh vendors there uh food trucks looks like for the June 28th one uh would be the 328 Grill and Mike Bart which is uh based they are the ones you see that drive around the city a lot of times and they have little space down in St Paul Park so um if you have questions or want to um participate um there are some other opportunities I know out there um please call 76351 9278 uh for more information okay I'd like to also mention that um yes it's free popcorn free lemonade and free glow sticks there is um the food truck that will be there and there's also usually anywhere between 10 to 15 vendors that are out there before the movies that are doing fun family free stuff so there's always a lot of fun that's happening at the splash pad park there you go thank you thank you for that uh the next item I wanted to bring up um was uh Fourth of July fireworks I kind of mentioned it uh um Mr tennis Willie tennis is still in uh the audience in front of us here um I pleased to announce for the rest of the council and and brend already knows us because we chatted which is awesome uh that once again the vendors uh my goal was to raise 25 ,000 uh for the Fourth of July fireworks uh show which will be at Kingston Park uh this year once again uh and um all vendors uh that offer that have uh put $5,000 towards that uh fireworks event are all back again this year so uh want to once again thank Willie uh with ten of Sanitation uh Renewal by Anderson uh 3M uh has also done that uh North Point which is the major developer in the business park and the one I just finally heard of officially uh this week was hiy uh so all of them are donating $5,000 to the community uh to make an amazing uh fireworks Fourth of July event so I want to thank all of them uh and I know our staff will be working to get the information out uh to the press and that so that we can um identify them I would also even though Will's in the audience here but uh if you know anybody that works for these companies or you see somebody that uh is uh a part of of that company uh please uh stop them and say thank you um they didn't have to donate but they did and so I wanted to I wanted to throw that out there and then the last thing I wanted to bring up and that's my phone keeps popping out is um so uh customer rson did a fantastic job this year uh with the uh Memorial Day event uh him and the team there and uh the guest speaker uh her um her uh is uh somebody that I've spoken with on a a couple different times uh he is on the um I believe he's our chair of the historic chair of the historic preservation commission uh the one thing I wanted to bring up though that he has also been very passionate about and I'm going to put a little plug out here right now because I'd love to see this happen in Cottage Grove um he is involved with What's called the wall that heals uh the wall that heals uh is a traveling uh 3/4 uh scale of the Vietnam uh Veterans Memorial uh in Washington DC and uh we would there is a tour schedule that they set up every year and so of course the rest of this year is already booked out so they're always a year in advance uh and if we wanted to host um the wall that heels to come to Cottage Grove uh we can we need a kind of a group or people that are passion about it to get together uh and um we can uh be in queue if you will uh for uh 2025 summer of 2025 and uh we would have to get in line if you will to make sure that that's the case for 2025 uh we have to get our application in by uh September of this year so if anybody out in the audience that's listening or watching uh is interested in in making this become a reality here in the city of kage Grove uh you're welcome to reach out to myself uh obviously herb did say we can get a group together he would he obviously would help spearheaded he is part of that group that has it travel around the country um if you've not been to Washington DC and and uh walked along the uh Vietnam veterans memorial wall it is a very moving experience I had the opportunity to see it last year and so I encourage you to if you want to see the replica of it it is pretty significant I've seen pictures you can go online and just look up the wall that heels and you can see uh the information and what cities that it's currently going to so I just want to throw that out there for anybody that's interested at this point okay all right and no other comments uh next uh we do have 13 which is a workshop which is open to the public uh we will be discussing uh parks recreation uh project Workshop uh that will be in the uh training room uh when we are finished in here uh we do not have any uh workshops closed to the public so we will not be adjourning in the council chambers here but we will be adjourning once we're done in the training room so uh everybody have a great evening and we'll see you soon e