Good evening and welcome to the Newport City Council meeting. Today is Wednesday, November 5th, 2025. We'll begin the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance. I aliance 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. >> Will staff please call the role. >> Council member Schmidt >> here. >> Council member Sum >> here. >> Council member Ingramman >> here. >> Council member Taylor >> here. >> Mayor Elliot >> here. The next item on our agenda is to adopt the agenda this evening. Do we have any changes? >> I'll move to adopt. >> I'll move it. >> A second. >> I'll move. Yeah, I'll second. >> I have a motion from Council Member Sumar and a second from Council Member Ingramman to adopt the agenda as presented. All those in favor say I. >> I. Those opposed. The agenda is adopted. Next on our agenda, we have a special item, a resolution of appreciation for fire chief uh retiring fire chief Steve Wy. I'll come down front. Steve, you can join me. >> Do you want a motion to approve resolution? >> I guess we should do that. Yes, >> I'll make it. >> It may not. Oh, >> I thought it was a done deal. Okay. So, second >> we have a motion from Council Member Ingamman and a second from Council Member Taylor. Any discussion? >> All those in favor say I. >> I. I >> those opposed. >> I >> The resolution is adopted. Now I will come down front. >> Yeah. >> Minister, you want the She'll tell us. Elizabeth, are you going to take pictures? So, um, this resolution is a resolution of appreciation for Fire Chief Steve Wy upon his retirement. It says, "Whereas Fire Chief Steve Wy has faithfully served the city of Newport fire department for 39 years, demonstrating unwavering dedication to the safety and well-being of the community. Whereas during his tenure, Chief Wy provided outstanding leadership, guidance, and support to the members of the department, fostering teamwork, professionalism, and a strong commitment to public service. And whereas Chief Wy has responded to countless emergencies with courage and compassion, ensuring the highest level of fire protection, emergency response, and public safety for the residents of Newport. Whereas under his leadership, the fire department has advanced in training, equipment, and service delivery, leaving a lasting impact on both the department and the community. And whereas Chief Wy has earned the respect and admiration of his colleagues, city officials, and community members through his integrity, dedication, and tireless service. Now therefore, be it resolved that the city council of the city of Newport extends our deepest gratitude and appreciation to Chief Wy for his many years of exemplary service. Be it further resolved that we congratulate him on his retirement and wish him continued health and happiness in the years ahead. >> Thank you. >> I'll hand this off to you. Congratulations. One more presentation. >> This one takes two people. lead the way >> and I will assume the role of microphone holder. Who would like to read or would you like me to read or >> go ahead? >> Okay. Um this is an axe representing uh you know the firefighter um field of service and it says presented to Steve Wy in appreciation of your 39 years of dedicated service and leadership to new the Newport Fire Department and the citizens they serve. Your time, effort, and leadership will always be remembered. So >> thank you. I think it would be nice if we could get the other council members down here so we can do a group photo >> and I think as they're making their way down here just um we had a little reception for Steve a little earlier and you know some of the things I commented on is with this building Steve was integral to what we ended up with for the fire side um of the construction, how things were laid out, what kinds of uh things we would need both today and in the future. And I know he's left a really important mark um on the community because of his wisdom and his experience within the uh fire community and understanding fire service and um for that I think the residents need to be very grateful because that's going to serve us for many many decades to come. So thank you. >> Did you get that? >> I got some good ones. >> There's a number there's a number of members of Steve's family here. So I think it'd be great if we could get you to come up and we'll take a photo with that as well. I I want the family to be up here because anybody as Tom, you know, and I both know, family and fire departments are not easy to weave together and your support of Steve for 39 years, not the full 39, but it's it's so instrumental, you know, to the the support of the family. So, I want to make sure that you're recognized as well. Hope this film. >> Wonderful. Thank you all so much. Somehow afterward I'll have a better picture. So, I'm going to have Steve say a few words. Um, this is his very last council meeting uh as fire chief. So, um you have the floor. >> Thank you, mayor, council. Um, wow. you know, when I look back to 1986 when I joined, I never thought I'd be, you know, here at this point. So, you I like to say that, you know, the years went by really fast, even though there were some pretty long days, you know, woven within there. So, um, thank you and to mayor and council for the proclamation that means a lot to me and then the the gift of the axe. Thank you so much from the city. Um just a word on um Chief Marson who will be replacing me. I'm extremely confident that he is the right guy for the job. He's been assistant chief, you know, the entire time I've been chief, done an excellent job and he's the right guy to move this department into into the future. So, he'll do a really good job. some folks I want to thank. Um, first of all, I'd like to thank the citizens of Newport. You know, first and foremost, for allowing me to serve for the past 39 years. I've shared, you know, both some happy times with our citizens and some pretty sad times with them. Um, but it's it's one really when I look at my life, you know, serving the citizens of Newport's really one of my greatest honors. So, thank you to the citizens. Um, thank you, Mayor Elliott and the council for your support over the years. The fire department would not be the department it is today without your support. Um, so thank you very much. Um, thank you city administrator Hatch and your staff. I mean Jill, Christina, Na'Vi, you know, are absolutely fabulous and, you know, that's a, you know, a reflection of the culture that you've built. So, I want to thank you for your leadership for the three years plus that you've been here. I've really enjoyed, you know, working for you. Um, thank you to Matt and public works. Um, you know, we do a lot of collaboration. people might not realize it both, you know, at fire scenes and then, you know, community events, different things. So, um, really appreciate the the collaboration. You guys are awesome. You've been awesome. So, thank you, Matt. Um, I'd like to thank Sergeant Leot, who's in the back here, and his deputies. So, they've really been great to work with. Um, you know, and it's not always the best of times. We worked together in some pretty stressful times. So, really appreciate the professionalism and working with the deputies here and I'd like to thank the Newport firefighters. Uh, their dedication and professionalism is second to none. You know, it's not just me saying that. I hear that from citizens, from our mutual aid partners, from, you know, outside companies that come in and train. you know, everything they do, whether it's at fire scenes, at training, you know, they represent the city with pride and professionalism. So, they've made my job, you know, easy really over the years. Um, last but not definitely not least, I'd like to thank my family for their unwavering support and sacrifice for the last 39 years. I wouldn't have been able to do this without their support. uh spe very special thanks to my wife Elizabeth um she helps at the station booya you know just countless ways that she's supported behind the scenes that I don't think anybody you know really knows how much she's done you know for the fire department and for me in particular um I mean she goes beyond anything I could ever imagine. So when the pager goes off in the middle of the night, I tell this to people and they tell me don't firefighters and they tell me don't tell my wife, you know, but I mean she'll get up, turn on the lights, grab my radio and my phone while I'm getting ready to make sure that I get out the door as fast as possible instead of just, you know, sleeping through the pager, you know, she gets up and supports me as I get out. Um, it's really, you know, truly unbelievable and I appreciate it. So thank you. And for the very last time, I will stand for questions. >> I don't know. I got the fire chief report a little later on the agenda. >> I will stand for questions. >> Well, I got a chance to say a few words already. I don't know if other members of the council would like to say uh something. Council member Sumar. >> Well, I've deeply appreciated the professionalism that you have brought forward to this department. And I've asked you personal questions about the about the staff and so forth. And you answered me in ways that enabled me to understand the respect that you have for the firefighters and that has translated into the excellent job that they do. And the citizens of Newport are extremely fortunate to have someone of your caliber leading the people that make our lives safe and we are deeply indebted to you. Thank you very much, Chief Wy. Thank you, Council Member Sumner. >> Council member Schmidt, >> I know it's been brief, but I just wanted to say I I very much appreciate everything you've done for the city of Newport over the last 39 years, and um it's been wonderful getting to know you over the last couple of months here and and I wish you the best retirement. You've earned it. >> Thank you, council member. >> I'm sorry. Everybody has to say something. I mean obviously chief you've been my only chief in my nine nearly nine years and it's just like you're going to be how I measure everybody you know as long as I keep doing this. I mean, and you set a high bar and it's just and I think it's you were sharing a little bit like your story with Elizabeth the pager going off in the middle of the night and it's like I think that's one thing Chief is not just somebody that's in charge but those middle of the night calls he's the one that's most cons consistently there for the smallest call the biggest call every call you know it doesn't take one and that's hard to do in this in this job and that's I think that you know that kind of that care when nobody's going to expect you know a chief to hop out of for a small a seemingly small call. He's done that and he and that that is going to be missed. So, thank you. >> Thank you, council member and firefighter Taylor. >> I would say something, Steve, but you could have joined a lot sooner. >> Yeah, I think I and that is true. you know, when I I moved into Newport when I was 21 years old and my neighbor was a young training officer with black hair and you know, he almost immediately recruited me to join the fire department. I was talking to council member Schmidt about this earlier and you know, yeah, I could have joined, but I'm a firm believer when you're going to make a commitment, you have to be at the right place and ready to make a commitment in your life. cuz you know if I would have joined when I was 22 or whatever I may have you know lasted who knows how long and been gone and not even a memory. So you know I I joined and um well 39 years later. So >> thank you Steve. >> Thanks Tom. Council member Ingaman. >> That's wonderful. Thank you. And also again, thank you to Elizabeth for your just really unwavering support of Newport Fire and um you're right on Chief Wy. So you are chief wife and um that it takes a lot of people behind the scenes to make all these activities and events happen and and I'm know we have wives of firefighters that are also stepping in at these events and making them successful. So thank you to all of them and you as well. So with that, we'll let you have a seat for a moment or so. So next on our agenda is public comments. Is there anyone in the audience who would like to uh speak during public comments? And this is where you can address the city council about any local government topic that is not on tonight's agenda. We ask that you limit your comments to things about uh relevant to city of Newport affairs, policies, or practices. Can come to the podium. Please state your name and address for the record. and we ask you to take about 3 minutes uh in that conversation. We generally don't take any official action at this time um but may refer things on to staff if appropriate. Is there anyone who wants to speak during public comments? >> Okay, with that I will move on to the consent agenda. Is there any changes to the consent agenda tonight? >> Hearing none, I'll move the consent agenda. >> I'll second. I have a motion from council member Sumar and a second from council member Ingamman to adopt the consent agenda as presented. >> All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed. The consent agenda is adopted. Next on our agenda is a report from the Washington County Sheriff's Office and we have Sergeant Leot with us this evening. >> Good evening, mayor and council member and friends. It's good to see everybody here today. Uh real quick, things have been uh quite well out here in Newport. Um not a whole lot to report, which I'm happy to say. Uh but just so you know, a little statistics uh this year uh I know traffic enforcement is always a key topic with neighborhoods. And uh this last month, as in just in October, we had 238 traffic stops. M >> um and of that we had uh 70 citations and also an additional 80 warnings that were issued that day. So in in addition to some other stuff. So we are out there enforcing uh the traffic requests that a lot of the neighborhoods have and certainly doing our very best. Um and if it's okay to take this opportunity, I figured I'd just like to give my little two cents for Chief Wy. This being his very last city council. Um, I figured I'd start with uh, so 1986, I was five. Um, and just some key things that happened in 1986. Uh, the Chernobyl incident happened. Uh, the space shuttle Challenger tragedy, which is not a good start with this year, right? However, Fujifilm introduces the first modern disposable camera. Mhm. >> I thought that was good to know. Uh Teddy Ruxpin was the first bestselling toy if anybody remembers that. And it was a talking toy considered cutting edge technology. Top grossing movie was Top Gun. All right, a lot of us know that. The bestselling car was a Chevrolet Celebrity. Some people will know what that is. Uh Microsoft goes public on the stock market and Nintendo Entertainment System was released. So interesting things from that year. Um, but what I did want to pass on is I've only gotten to know you for a short bit, certainly since January of this year. And something I'm very appreciative of is that you have been very open and welcoming and letting me come into this community and work with everybody, especially your fire department. We do work closely together quite a bit. The calls that we go we go to, you go to as well. And we do see quite a bit, good and bad. And something you should be super proud of and I hope you walk away knowing knowing this is that the commitment you've had to this community as well as to this council and everybody out here and our neighboring agencies is impeccable. What you've been able to do with this agency is in the Newport Fire Department is something that a lot of people haven't been able to do. You've got it to where it's at and that is impressive. You have now set the stage for interim chief Marson to just continue on that trajectory that you started and that is something you should be proud of. Though I might have been the reason for a few more gray hairs. I fully understand that. I am very proud to have been able to work with you in the short time we have. So congratulations and thank you for that. So with that st there I stand for any questions from the council. >> Questions? Looks good. Thank you, Sergeant Le. >> All right. Thank you. >> And for a repeat performance, do you have any stats from last month you want to share with us? >> No fires, no mutual aid, no nothing. >> Mayor and council. Um, so I'm not made a liar, I will not stand for questions at the end of this. So, October was a relatively I did not prepare. So October was a relatively slow month for us which is a good month for the community. >> Um we provided two um outbound mutual aid uh one to Cottage Grove and one to Woodbury uh structure fire and a large brush fire along County Road 19 in Woodbury. Um this past weekend we also provided mutual aid to um St. Paul Park and again it just was a you know excellent example of the professionalism of the department. You know our our department was first, second and third crew into that structure fire >> and just operated extremely um professional and commendable. So um that's kind of what was going on on the fire side and that's all I have for tonight. >> Okay. >> And yes, I will stand for questions. Any questions on that at all? You will truly be missed from this community and um don't ever doubt that for a second. You've made a real difference here. So, thank you. >> Thank you so much. I appreciate it. >> Good night. Um, so next on our agenda is the engineers report, but that involves the public hearing and that's not scheduled to begin until 6:00. So I will um step over that and move on to the public uh superintendent of public works report. >> Uh good evening, Mayor Elliot and council members. I have nothing formal this evening for consideration, but I do have two updates. Uh the last day for the compost site to be open is this Saturday the 8th. >> Um with uh daylight savings time, it's pretty tough to uh operate in the dark. So, uh, and the other one is is we were finally able to move the, uh, tree that we had planned to move to Busy Beaver two years ago upon completion, but, uh, due to some technical issues and health issues and a string of, uh, excuses, we were finally able to put that all together. So, uh, and I'd like to like to thank Willie Tennis for donating his time to do that. So, I think it looks great. If you drive by, you'll definitely notice it. It is about twice the height of the pavilion. So, um, it grew some in the last two years. So, uh, with that, I'd be happy to stand for any questions. >> Okay. Thank you, Matt. Any questions for Matt at all? Council member Sumar, >> tell me about the tree. What kind is it? And how tall is it now? >> Uh, it's an oak and I would guess it's uh 25 feet, >> you know, something like that. So, um, like I said, it was when we picked it out, it was quite a bit smaller. And uh >> so what did Willie Tennis provide? Did he have the tree moving tools? >> Correct. Yep. So he he I had planned on I mean we had talked about a price going into it and uh when we finished it up he said well it I'd like to just donate my time and effort to do that. So >> neighbor. So, he's been been great to work with over the years and and so, like I said, happy to put some shade on the playground and hopefully, you know, >> wonderful. >> Hopefully, it pulls through because I don't want to move it again. So, >> okay, other questions for Matt. >> Okay, thank you. Um, next we have the administration report. >> Mayor, members of the council, uh, nothing formal tonight. Um, and I will stand for questions should council have any. >> Any questions for our administrator hearing? None. I will move on to um council comments. Let's see here. What's been going on? Um, we did have our annual meeting. Uh, staff and I had our annual meeting with the sheriff's office and uh that went very well. Um, Sheriff Star, as many people are probably aware, is not going to be running for reelection next fall. Um, but he felt like the transition to a new sheriff will go very smoothly and most likely no changes in sort of philosophy and how the department runs and serves the the communities that it's responsible for. Um, I appreciated that Sergeant Leget talked a little bit about uh the speeding and the speeding enforcement. We are hearing complaints from neighbors on a number of roads within Newport that people are driving too fast. They also uh sponsored the uh drug takeback event on the I think it was the 25th of October. Sounded like they had a really good success there. They said they filled an entire barrel. So I want to thank everyone from Newport who kind of dug through those medicine cabinets and found those things that you were no longer needing and using and making that also a really good day. And we talked a lot that in general the numbers are down in terms of crime and um things going on in Newport. So that was also good news. Um also earlier today I was at a 3M meeting and it was what they call their annual meeting. Um and originally we were going to do water interconnects with the cities of Cottage Grove and Woodbury. Unfortunately that didn't really work out. So we are um currently in the feasibility study place of determining uh when and where to do a new treatment plant to treat Newport water. And so more to come on that, but this is a very uh slowm moving um process and it goes through a number of hands down at the state um these feasibility studies before they approve and and come back with questions and recommendations. So, and um I'll let you talk about the zoning code update because that's kind of a planning thing. So, um with that, Council Member Ingamman, anything? >> Uh no, I have nothing. >> Hey, Council Member Taylor, >> I guess I have to address that. We had a joint a final joint uh session between the planning commission and the council as part of a major zoning code update that builds off the 2023 area study. And so, I think their res, you know, res There'll be many shouldn't be hopefully major changes that make impact too many people but a lot of a lot of refinement focusing more on more on residential and business districts less mixed use and there'll be some other changes as well but the public hearings for that will be for upcoming so your chance to to the public's chance to weigh in will still be coming so please stay attuned for that >> thank you council member Schmidt >> no nothing to add >> council member Sumar >> I wanted to remind new Newport residents that we're quite fortunate to have a active involvement with the library uh community center manager and there are a number of exciting events that happen on a weekly, monthly, and even once in a season time frame down at the library. So, check the calendars. There's many things to happen that happen down there and enjoy the wonderful community get together that we we have available to us. and also I attended the the council planning commission meeting that member Taylor spoke about. >> Thank you. So, it's about uh 2 or 3 minutes to six. I think we'll just go into a quick recess for a couple minutes. We'll come back at 6 o'clock and we'll start the public hearing. Do I I think I need a second on a recess. Second. Yeah, second. >> Thank you. All those in favor say I. I. We're in recess until six o'clock. Thank you. Thank you. We are back in session and it is now 6:00. Uh we're going to start with our city engineer. This is for the 12th Street Area Improvement Project. This is a public hearing just so that people understand the process that we use. um our city engineer will talk about the project um cost, how we got here, and essentially what the project will involve. Um the council will ask any clarifying questions that we need. And at that point, then we will open the hearing up for uh questions and comments from members of the public and uh John will answer those questions. And after all the questions have been answered, we will go into um we'll close the hearing and then move on with any business that is appropriate. If you're going to um ask some questions, we do ask you to come up to the podium uh state your name and address for the record and then go ahead and make your comments. And I understand not everybody likes to be at the microphone, but for people who are um watching these meetings online or later, they can't hear you when people are just speaking out from the audience and so they hear an answer that they don't understand what the question was. So, we do need you to come um up to the podium to do that. So, with that, I will turn it over to our city engineer. >> Thank you, mayor. Good evening. Uh good evening, folks. My name is John Herdigan. I'm the city engineer for Newport. Uh thank you for making time to uh to come down to city hall, learn about the project. We're uh excited to share some details with you and and more importantly uh solicit some feedback. So I have uh a short presentation. Uh we're going to go walk through uh the project location, the project scope uh as well as um the uh the process for the uh the public improvement. Um so our agenda this evening I have uh quick introduction uh again going through the proposed improvements uh going through the uh total uh project cost summary. Uh I have some uh information on proposed assessment rates uh next steps and then we can open that public hearing for folks to provide their uh uh feedback and testimony. So the special assessments, this is a process that is outlined in chapter 429 of the state statute uh that allows municipalities to uh assess benefiting property owners from public improvements. Uh the assessments for any given uh project represent only a portion of the uh total project costs. We'll review those uh uh in a moment uh toward the end of the presentation. uh but overall it is a uh proportioned benefit for that public improvement. So if that's a a street improvement, a water man, sanitary sewer or other info in infrastructure. Uh today we are at the first public hearing. So the the council has uh commissioned a feasibility study. Uh we did a a high level um evaluation of the project uh project scope and proposed improvements. developed some highle costs uh and then determined whether or not the project is is cost-effective uh and necessary. And at the uh the conclusions made as part of that feasibility study deem that this was a cost-effective project and at this point is the first of two public hearings that are required for the uh for that special assessment process. Uh the second hearing will be an assessment hearing normally at the end of the project and at that meeting uh you will receive a a notice similar to the notice that you received in the mail for this hearing with exactly the assessment amount that would be um that would be assessed to your property and then you would be able to come in similarly provide testimony uh and feedback for the assessment itself uh in the uh Between these two meetings, once we uh move forward with the design, we will have another neighborhood meeting, less formal. We usually have that downstairs where we can lay out plans and solicit feedback on specific questions on the construction plans. To be clear, we have not started the design on this project yet. We've done some highle estimating, but we are still in the very uh preliminary stages of the project. So, this is the project area. uh generally around 12th Street between 7th Avenue and the Mississippi River. Uh we also are looking at 3rd Avenue between 14th Street and 12th Street. Fifth Avenue between 14th and 12th and then that portion of 13th Street there uh between 7th Avenue and 4th Avenue. All told, it's about 4500 feet of street and roughly about 80 uh properties are adjacent to the improvement. So, the proposed improvements uh if folks want a firsthand uh look at what these improvements look like, you can take a look at Second Avenue between 15th Street and 17th Street. Uh that was uh constructed earlier this year. Uh so the surface improvements include adding curb and gutter along the uh edges of the road, widening the street from approximately 22 feet wide out to about 28 ft wide. This provides width for two driving lanes and then a uh a twoft shoulder on on either side of the road. Uh we also add uh concrete aprons for each driveway. So those concrete aprons are are shown here on the bottom uh bottom example uh where they have the first four feet of the driveway uh is paved in concrete and that keeps uh it works with the concrete curb. So if water starts to uh fill up the curb line, this concrete apron keeps that water from running down into the driveway and into into your property. Generally for driveways, we uh improve those driveways up to the right-of-way line, which is roughly 33 feet from the center or 30 ft, excuse me, from the center of the road. In some cases, it's a little bit wider. Um, and we we improved that with the same material that is there now. So, if you have a batuminous driveway or a black top driveway, we we would put in that concrete apron and then extend black top pavement to the property line. If you have a concrete driveway, we would replace that with with concrete. Uh if you uh have a gravel driveway, uh we we do uh pave that or put batuminous pavement up to that rightway line just to keep some of that gravel from washing into the road and and uh and damaging some of that new pavement. There are times where we have to go further into your uh up the driveway to make sure that we don't make the driveway too steep or in some cases too flat or uh draining in the wrong direction. Uh we try to minimize that to the the best we can. Um, but uh when we're especially when we're trying to reconstruct existing roads that the road has been there a long time, houses have uh have con been constructed before and after the road, we we try to make a best fit for all of the uh homes. And so in some cases, we do have to go a little bit further up the driveway um to make sure that we we don't cause any uh any drainage issues. Um, we do have uh the the city's policy is to have a single uh driveway for each uh for each parcel. Um, corner lots are the exception. Uh, corner lots may have uh up to two driveways. Uh, but they they should be accessing a uh a garage or or an outuilding. Uh there will be uh likely some tree removal and then we do replace those trees. um uh outside the rightofway. Uh some trees that or the trees that we would be replacing generally are within the rightofway which usually is about 60 ft wide. We uh we remove those trees because they're generally in conflict with the utility trench that we need to uh uh dig to replace the buried utilities. Uh what we want to avoid is even if the tree isn't in direct uh conflict, we want to make sure that if we don't want to damage a root system and then weaken that tree and then the next year or the next large storm that tree that tree uh falls down and and would potentially injure or cause property damage. So when we have to replace those trees, we will uh we'll replace those with new trees, but likely outside that right away so we don't run into that issue in the future. The city's water man uh that's generally shown in blue here. I'm sure that's a little bit challenging to see, but uh the entire prop project with the exception of the short block of 13th Street between 4th and Fifth Avenue uh has water mane. Most of the properties uh adjacent to the uh project uh get their uh water service from this water man. The water man was constructed back in the mid 1960s. Uh it's a cast iron pipe and it's uh it's rather brittle and uh and subject to uh breaking especially during winter months when the ground's moving around a little bit and the uh and the presence of shallow bedrock. Uh we have a number of water mane breaks in this area. I'm uh sure folks are um whether you've been here a long time or been here recently, you've probably experienced a water mane break when public works staff has to shut down that water in the in the middle of winter, dig down to the uh to the water man and patch that. That's uh a very challenging uh maintenance routine that that public works has to go through. So the the proposed improvements under this project would be to replace that water mane uh with ductal iron pipe which is a much more uh durable pipe. Uh, in addition to the water man, we'd be replacing all the valving, all the fire hydrants that are are there, potentially adding additional hydrants and and water mane to or excuse me, valving to the area to minimize the amount of uh shutdowns that we may uh have to uh that that we'd have to do in the event that um we would have to isolate a portion of that water man, trying to minimize the amount of people that would be out of service. And then we would also be replacing that water service line between the main uh toward your house up to the property line. Uh we'd be replacing that with a 1-in copper line and then replacing the shut off valves that are uh in the front yard usually right on that property line. So it can be uh so public works can easily find those and uh and and track those for uh um if they are needed in the future. This is our sanitary sewer. Our sanitary sewer lines again uh run the uh entire length of the uh project area. They're they're shown in green. Uh this again uh this was constructed at the same time as the water man in the early 19 or mid to early 1960s. Uh and it's constructed out of a clay uh a clay pipe which as you might expect is also very brittle. Um, and we would be looking to replace that with a a PVC or a plastic uh a plastic sewer main. Uh, in addition to the sewer main, we'd be looking at uh replacing the uh concrete uh manholes that are at each each uh pipe junction. Uh, and that would be replaced with the pre-cast uh manhole structure. And again, similar to the water services, we will be replacing that sanitary service uh from the main up to that property line. Uh if you may be able to see that uh red line there that extends uh from uh between Second Avenue and the river uh east over to 4th Avenue, that's a force main. the there is an existing lift station uh there at the west end of that uh force main that uh collects uh waste water from the from the neighborhood and then pumps that up over to um over to 4th Avenue and then it flows by gravity south to the uh the main lift station that uh eventually pumps up to the uh metro uh wastewater treatment facility. that uh man or that force man would also be replaced as part of this project. And there uh uh some folks may have uh been involved with a sanitary sewer lining and a lateral lining project that we that's taken place over the last uh few years. Uh the city will be preserving those improvements. So if we have gone in there and line that pipe, uh we won't be replacing that. We're we'd look to try to maximize the investment the city's made on some of that that pipelining. The storm sewer is uh shown here in kind of that pink purple color. That is uh there is currently no storm sewer uh in the area and uh I'm sure folks have seen some localized flooding along the side of the road and uh in lowlying areas. Uh, one of the primary goals of the project would be to uh to install new storm sewer to collect that water, do some level of treatment as required by the uh by the watershed district and then um and then eventually discharge that out to the Mississippi River. Uh I want to be very clear that the the pink lines that that you're seeing here on the on the screen, those are very conceptual at this point. We have again a very high level. This is this is where we think we might be putting some of that storm sewer and some of those treatment areas generally shown in those in those blue areas. But we really have to move forward with a a full design uh before we know exactly where those are going to be. Um we also uh on the very west end of 12th Street, again as many know we have an overlook uh that occupies a lot of that rightway. So you see that on the very east end we have a bit of a jog in that in that uh purple line to go around the uh around that uh overlook. Uh we're working with the the state historical uh office to make sure that we can work in and around that uh overlook uh to to make sure that we can get this storm water discharged out to the Mississippi while preserving that uh that that historic uh entity. Um we are also working currently on a a storm water study. There are there is some existing uh storm sewer on 4th Avenue which uh uh extend or which goes north from the project site and south. We're looking at what kind of capacity we have in in those existing lines to try to minimize the amount of storm storm sewer we would have to construct as part of this project. Uh and also I had mentioned it previously but looking at trying to make some small um uh rain gardens or bofiltration areas where we can store water for a short period of time uh before uh releasing that water into the storm sewer. Our goal there would be to have uh water uh retained for about 48 hours and then slowly discharge into the storm. uh that is a requirement of the uh of the watershed and also it helps with the uh downstream capacity. Holding that water back allows some of that initial water to get out through the system and then the discharge from this site or this project could follow um and prevent some of that localized flooding again. So this is a lot of numbers uh but we've uh broken down the uh the the total project costs into uh four different schedules. Uh the the street portion, the sanitary sewer, the water man, and the storm. And then also by street. Uh so the upper section here is what we've estimated as the construction cost. Uh so we're looking at a a construction project at about $4.8 8 million uh for the um for the improvements. Uh because we are at a a conceptual level uh estimate, we add uh contingency uh to those uh to those numbers as well as some inflation. Our estimates are based on the bids that we received for similar work this year. And as I'm sure many are aware that in inflation is always a uh um it it seems to never go down. So we want to account for the uh inflation to provide a uh a an accurate or as accurate of a total project cost as we can. And then overhead uh for uh design costs, any kind of property acquisition, utility relocation or uh private utility relocations fall into that that overhead number again as a percentage of construction. So a total project cost for these improvements is uh uh just uh a little bit less than $6.6 million. And I should have mentioned this earlier. I see folks are taking some pictures. is we will have this presentation available for folks on the city's website following the uh the hearing tonight. Um we can we can work with staff to get that on there if you want to take a little bit deeper dive into some of the uh some of the information provided our proposed assessments. And so we we break the assessments down into those same four schedules. The the street, the storm, the water, and the sanitary sewer. Uh these assessment rates are based on a benefit appraisal that the city conducted for their 2025 street improvements project that's ongoing now. And the uh the purpose of that benefit appraisal was to determine what is the benefit for the property when these improvements are implemented. So when we improve a street and we add curb and we add uh storm sewer collection or we uh repair and replace that that sanitary sewer, what is that benefit to the um to the individual properties? Um again these rates uh both the total rate as well as the individual rates match the same rate that was that was used on on this year's project. Uh the map itself is uh our first attempt at identifying the uh the which uh schedules would be accessible to each property. Uh we don't um you know we we do need to go in and verify that uh for instance you know in some areas if there's a a sew or a water or sewer connection coming off a different street that wouldn't necessarily impact or benefit that property. Um so this is subject to change. Uh it's also we do have another assessment project that has been completed uh within the last 10 years and so for some of those corner lots where they were previously assessed uh they if they were assessed within the last I believe it's 10 years they would not be elig or they would not be um able to be assessed again. So again this is a preliminary evaluation. Generally speaking, we want to cast a little bit wider net, especially when we're notifying folks so that you can come in, we can have uh, you know, be a part of this uh hearing and then if we if we determine then that it's uh any one of these schedules is not applicable to your property, that's something that is updated at that assessment hearing that that I spoke of early on. So walking through the proposed assessments uh in relation to the different improvements and a percentage of the total uh project costs. Again, those uh the total project costs for each uh for each category listed along the top with a total of uh a little under 6.6 million. We have our estimated total accessible units. And so looking across the uh um the middle row, if the uh if an individual property was uh to be uh benefited by each of those four um the four categories, the that total assessment would be $9,000. That is uh the assessment uh is there's options to pay that. That can be paid upfront. It can also be paid as part of the part of the prop your property taxes. uh if it is paid as part of the property taxes, there is a uh there's an interest uh component that um that goes along with that um that twice a year payment. And again, during that assessment hearing, we we'll go through in detail all of those um all the options and what those costs and what the uh um the the individ or the twice a year payment would look like for the for the different scenarios. uh running down the that last uh that last row uh gives a a percentage of the um the co project cost that is assessed to the the benefiting property owner. So it it ranges between about 5% to just under 10% for that storm. Uh part of the reason why these uh these project costs are driven uh are are are significant is because we we do have very high bedrock. Uh, I'm sure if anyone's tried to build a fence in their yard, they're probably familiar with how close the bedrock is to the surface. And the existing uh utilities, the water man and the sewer. Uh, those uh those utilities were constructed already. Uh, the the bedrock's been removed around those. For the storm sewer, at times that's uh that's new storm sewer. So, we would be going right into that that bedrock. So generally our local improvement policy guides that uh that improvements uh should be assessed around 20% to the benefiting property owners. But because we have uh significant costs and those and primarily that bedrock removal, that's why you see those uh assessment rates uh lower than what our uh what our improvement policy uh guides. So, the next steps, we're at the improvement hearing this evening. Uh, so, uh, following this presentation, we'll be looking for council feedback. Uh, the council at the close of the hearing, we'll consider whether or not to order this improvement. And at that point, uh, if the council uh, if the council chooses to move forward, we would begin uh, with developing plans and specifications. Uh, one item that I mentioned earlier that's not on this list would be that neighborhood meeting. We like to get about uh 60% complete with our plans and then bring folks in to provide that feedback to um to our designers to make sure that hey we uh we understand uh from from the public's point of view and from you know the people that live in this area. Let us know what we don't know about this area. how this is uh how our design is uh is going to work within that within that area. So that's usually something that takes place in uh probably February or maybe early March. Um we would uh look to solicit bids from contractors uh this spring uh around that April time frame and construction whether depending uh likely beginning in that May to uh or April May uh 2026. Uh this is a rather large project uh and it's in the city's advantage to um to I guess design and bid this in a way that we can attract the the uh as many contractors as we can. So, we're looking at likely doing this as a phased project uh to allow a contractor, if it's a larger contractor, they want to take on the entire project in one construction season. We'll have certain milestones that they have to complete before they can move on to other portions of the of the project, but we'll also allow uh smaller contractors that maybe want to um still want to bid on the project, but maybe they can't uh put as much manpower to toward the project as as a larger contractor could allow them to do a portion of the project in 26 and then and then finish the project in 27. Um, so we are that's why the uh the end construction date of that nove October November time frame uh is listed there in in 2027. That could be sped up depending on which the contractor that would uh would ultimately receive that bid. And then it would likely be a couple years from now uh in that uh this time of year, maybe late October, that we would be looking at holding that assessment hearing uh to again bring folks in uh and provide that feedback once you have a clear picture of exactly what those assessment rates uh and other information involving the assessments uh are. I have some contact information for myself uh administrator Hatch and our public works superintendent uh Matt. Um, so that's the end of my presentation. So, as the mayor mentioned, uh, we uh, after um, receiving any comments or feedback from council, we'll open up the public hearing. If you could please approach the podium, uh, let us know your name and and address and then provide that feedback. I'm happy to try to address any questions that that you might have at this time. And then following any of that te or any testimony, uh the uh mayor will close that hearing and then the and then the council will uh consider potentially ordering that improvement. So with that, mayor, I will I will turn it back to you. >> Thank you. Um any questions from the council? Uh yes, uh council member Schmidt. >> So real quick one, John, thank you for all of that. On one of your earlier slides, you had a nice aerial view of just kind of the whole project scope. Might have been slide three or four. I want to say this one's fine. So, if I if I heard correctly, we're going to widen from 22 to 28. >> Mhm. >> And then um you mentioned two foot shoulders. So, is that implying we're going to paint the roads, lines, all that stuff? >> Generally, no. We haven't uh we on our residential streets, we have not done any striping. >> Uh uh and we we if this is a next question, we also don't necessarily uh have parking on either side of the road. We don't restrict parking. We would just ask that, you know, folks don't park directly across from one another. But that that 28 foot wide allows for at least one car to be parked and then still get a couple cars um uh around it. >> Okay. Yeah. I I just want to confirm that because adding a curb and then not striping it, that's going to get a little tight if you have parking on both sides. I was just curious how that was. But we're not painting and we're not striping anything. we're not affecting parking in that way. >> And we've I think uh this is we followed a similar approach on on a lot of our recent improvements and and just allowing the greatest degree of flexibility for for folks. You know, we don't like to push parking on one side and then everyone's trying to no one can get to their their mailbox or their driveways get obstructed. We found pretty good success. Uh neighbors neighbors are neighborly and they uh and they figure out a way to make it work for everyone. >> Wonderful. Thank you. >> Any other questions for John? Okay. Um, John, you mentioned the benefit analysis. Is that something your company did or do you contract with an outside firm for that? >> The the city contracted with an outside firm. That's that's not a service that uh MSA uh provides. So, we we worked with a specialty firm that does appraisals uh both uh individual home appraisals and then they do a large scale analysis. Okay. uh like we had received a year about a year ago. >> Great. Um and the reason I bring that up is without that benefit analysis, the assessments would have been around a little over $16,000. This is just very quick math. Um total project cost divided by 80 properties equals $16,000 plus dollars. what the benefit analysis does and I think it's important to differentiate that this is not something that John's firm is going in and and you know trying to make numbers work in one way or another. It's an independent um appraisal company that comes in and says what is the value of an upgraded street? What is the value of better sewer and water? What is the value of having curb and gutter? What is the value of concrete aprons? how does that impact um the individual homeowners? So, as a result of that benefit analysis, instead of being at 16,000 plus, it's at $9,000. So, that was something that was very helpful, I think, to homeowners to bring that cost and that assessment down. Um, and I know when we first started this a year or two ago with some of the work we're doing right now, we started at 16,000 and we got to 15 and I think it was at 12 and by the time we got all done it was it was sitting at 9 9,000. So that is that benefit analysis something that really um did help and does help home homeowners. So I think with that I will open the public hearing. Uh the time or for open for public comments. The time is 6:31 p.m. So, feel free to step up, ask your questions, comments. Um, I see we have someone approaching the podium. Thank you. >> My name's Rick Bleinger, 34512 Street. I didn't understand them areas where you're going to retain water. I don't understand what you're talking about below ground or above ground. Thank you for the question, Rick. Uh, so that would be at uh it would be a a slight depression. Usually they're about two two and a half feet deep. Uh, but we uh we would dig them a little bit deeper, put in a drain tile, so a perforated pipe and then put sand on top of that. So the water would be would be sitting on the surface in a depression and then slowly drain down and then out into the storm. >> Glad that's not my yard. Okay, who else has a question or would like some additional information? >> I got two questions. Um Paul Vanfleet, 13th Street Avenue, um 55013 Street. One is if everything is going to be affected on my street, the assessment cost would be $9,000. Correct? >> Yes. >> Yes. Now, what is the timeline that that full assessment has to be paid? Is it you said there's kind of a two-part like you could pay it in a chunk and a chunk or nine grand right away or when would we see that final bill to be paid? So the after the assessment hearing, uh the the council would uh would certify that uh assessment role to the county. >> And so then the the county takes that assessment role and they apply that over uh on your first payment of your taxes in May the following year. So the the city sets the term. Mhm. >> So that I uh at the assessment hearing is when that term gets set. Typically the the city has done a 10-year term. There is but the the council could say that's a 15-year term. Uh so the city tells the uh the county how long that assessment could be paid for or the longest period that assessment can be paid for and then you make equal payments across that that term. >> Okay? at any time you can pay it off in full. There's no prepayment penalty. Uh but if the if you do go the route of paying it through your taxes, then there is an assess or there is an interest uh rate that accompanies that. Again, that interest rate is uh a couple points over the um generally again the council sets that at the assessment hearing. So I'm I'm talking in generalities now, but generally that is slightly over what the market rate uh interest rate is that the Fed generally sets. >> Okay. >> So if you uh but again, you can pay it off at any time. Um but if uh if it goes the entire course, then it's it'll be paid for over that term that the that the council sets. >> Okay. Thanks. I think also if you have a mortgage, your mortgage company will apply this over your mortgage payments in in 12 month segments. If you own your home, then it's going to come due with the May and October um property tax statements. >> Okay? >> But otherwise, the mortgage companies usually they make sure that the assessment they're collecting enough money to pay the assessment. >> Okay? I know John is hesitant to speak for the council with the duration, but I mean we're when the second avenue assessment hearing comes fairly soon, >> the precedent that we set in that which we've discussed 15, but until we do that will carry through to this project. I expect that. >> Yeah. >> Whatever we do for the second that you know, which again so you'll I mean we'll know fairly soon, but that's why he's hesitant to give an exact number a year because we have to we have to be the ones that do that, but I know that we've discussed have discussed longer than 10. So what I would Okay, >> I might lap on here too just for clarity. So a 10year at a 9,000 is 75 bucks a month plus interest. At 15 is 50 bucks a month plus interest. So just for transparency, that's what that would look like. >> Basically just breaking down the 9,000 over a course of >> of of 10 years time or divided by so divide by 10 divided by 12. >> Okay, >> that's Yep. >> Yes. >> Hello. Uh Troy Lambert, 5112 Street, Newport. Uh, is that assessment going to be for both sides of the street on a corner lot? So, would that be 18,000 for me? >> Uh, no. We the Newport's policy is to assess per unit. So, regard if it's only if you uh you'd only be assessed once. So, >> okay. And then uh if there was a future improvement within a time frame and I believe that's 10 years that uh you can't be assessed for improvements to the adjacent street. >> So is the property going to be divided equally on both sides or one whole side lo? >> Sorry, I don't understand that. >> 12th Street 511 on Fifth Avenue that runs down. >> If you want to call up the map with the dots on it. >> Let's let's pull that up. I want to see how much drag lane I'm losing >> because I think what he's asking is the neighbor across the street going to be assessed the same amount that I'm going to be assessed >> and it's going to depend on the dots that they have. Are they getting street and sewer and water >> and storm? >> Yeah. So, regardless of the the width of your lot or if you're a corner lot, every everyone that is uh that would benefit from the improvement is treated as one unit. >> Okay. And this benefits me how I'm just curious. >> So the again based on the on the benefit appraisal having having an urbanized street with curb and gutter. >> So that's going to raise my property value or my tax value. That's what I'm asking. >> I've been there 22 years. >> Yeah. Uh the analysis uh uh that that the city conducted says that that would raise the property value by the amount that we're assessing. >> Okay. And I I think the the biggest value you'll see is uh like a new sewer service. You know, I don't know if you've ever had a bad >> I've the only problem I've ever had was when you redid fifth going the other direction and one of your connectors plugged the pipe. >> Oh, no. Sure. Um and >> I think I think you were around with that one, >> right? Yeah, both were. >> Yeah, it was pretty shitty, but >> that's the only problem I've ever had. Right. Right. >> So, that's why I'm looking for what's the benefit. >> Yeah. And knock on wood, you know, I mean, like like I said, you can talk to somebody that has had a backup and, you know, you can easily have a5 or $6,000 bill to repair your just your sewer service, you know, and then you don't have a new street, you don't have curbing gutter, you don't have, you know, the uh convenience of not having water main brakes, you know, not that you can't have a water mane break after this, but the chances of it are substantially lower. So, That's that would be my best way to explain it, I guess. >> Right. Well, you know, thank God we've never had one over there. So, >> Right. And I hope you don't, but you know, like I said, anyone that has can tell you what a what a difficult situation that can be. So, >> okay, that was just that was my question. Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Oh, another question. How many of you guys live in Newport? >> You have to live in Newport to be on the city council. Good answer. >> But you'd be surprised how many people ask me that question. You know, where do you live if you're the mayor of Newport? And it's like, no, you have to live in Newport to be the mayor. So, yep. >> Um, other questions, just even clarifications on things that were said. >> Hi. >> Hi. I'm Morgan. Uh 549 12th Street. We just bought the house last year. Um the driveway max is 24 ft. My dad lives right next to us. His driveway is a lot longer than the 24 ft, but it's like a walkway that leads up to the path in between the houses >> and then our driveway is a little bit longer than 24 ft. I don't want it to get closed off is the sense cuz the max width that you guys put down was 24 ft. M >> how is that going to be addressed? Cuz it's different for each property. >> Sorry. >> So, the the the city's ordinance the the maximum width that uh of of any given driveway is 24 ft for residential driveways. Um I don't know that I can give you a definitive answer until we can start that design and move forward. And so that's that's a question that I think we can really dive into a little bit more uh in details once we have that that neighborhood meeting. >> Yeah. >> Um so I again I I I wish I could provide a good answer but I I the best answer I can provide you now is that we would have a that we generally make 24 foot driveway openings. >> Okay. >> And then tie those back into the existing. >> All right. Cool. >> Yeah. I think what's nice about the neighborhood meeting is you can come in with individual questions about your property if something's a little bit different than sort of standard. Um, and I know John is very good at at listening to those concerns. Um, two of us up here have been through projects on our street and John was the engineer at the time. I wasn't on the council at the time. I don't know if you were, Tom. >> Yeah, I was. >> You were. Um, but you know, it was really some of my first interactions with John and and he was just very helpful and he listened carefully to what my concerns were and and uh, you know, worked out worked out a solution. So, um, don't don't hesitate to ask him or contact him or come to the neighborhood meeting with your your just individual kind of idiosyncratic uh, property issues. So that's we have a lot of that in Newport. A lot of you know different shaped lots and um so >> okay. Hi Jay Miller 1310 Fifth Avenue. Uh I couldn't see the map very well. So just clarify I'm on the corner 13th and 5th. I understand you got four dots. You only get assessed once. How wide is that the Fifth Avenue going to be made? 20 28 feet is our standard. >> Okay. >> Um now it again through that design process if there's a compelling reason to construct that narrower or wider we can we consider that but generally for the purposes of the study and the purposes of developing costs we assume that we're pushing that through from from a standard. Um, and forgive me if I'm not taking it this in the direction that you were that you were going to take it. In some cases, you know, when the there's not a lot of people uh accessing the road, right, >> does it need to be as wide? Um, that's that's an evaluation that we'll work with public works staff and the and the council to make some of those considerations. >> Okay. I'm just wondering if I'm gonna lose the big trees in front of my house. >> And and thank you for that as well because what what I would also say is that generally speaking, we put the we put the road in the center of the rightway. So what folks are looking at on the screen here, this is the county GIS. And so these are all your individual properties. And then the the space uh on either side of the road, that's the right of way. It's the public right of way. >> Most cases, this is 60 ft wide. There's a portion here on 12th Street that's 80 feet wide. So we uh design that road to be right in the center of the rightway. >> I gota >> is what we try to do. We feel that's the fairest for for everyone so we're not cheating the road to one side or the other. But that's not to say that if there's a compelling reason to move it one way or the other, if that can help the driveways on one side or if it can save a significant tree. That's a That's a good picture, though. I can see the trees will be gone. >> Well, and but you know, if you uh I I Yeah, I don't want to set the expectation that we're going to be able to save all the trees because we won't, >> right? >> Uh but also a lot of those trees the roots are growing into our our >> I understand. I just I get it. I just just wanted to be a little clear. But again, if uh you know, it's it's interesting at those neighborhood meetings, we have a lot of folks that say, "Boy, I'd really like to keep my tree." And almost as equally number of them say, "If that tree can go away, it would be it would be a welcome uh welcomed in the neighborhood, whether it's a nuisance tree or whatever." And so that's a lot of the information that we seek. If we if we're on the fence about a tree and it's a and it's a pain in the butt toh have that tree there, it makes the decision a lot easier. Or, hey, if we if we move the road over a couple feet, >> maybe we can save that tree. We can't do a lot with the utilities cuz they're already in place. >> And I can I can already tell by knowing how big everybody's driveways are. Mine's a lot bigger. >> There we go. >> Thank you, J. >> Thank you. >> Oh, certainly. And you said forever tree that you take down, you would replant it. >> Could I get you to come to the podium? Thank you. >> So, every tree that you take down, you said you would replant one. Is it kind of a one for one if you can make it work on the property? >> It's not necessarily a onetoone. There's a few factors that go into it. Uh again, with that high bedrock, we at sometimes we can't dig deep enough to plant a tree and we know from experience that if the bed even if we can plant it, the roots have a hard time penetrating in. So, we don't want to plant a tree to see it turn around and and and die, you know, in a few years. We also try to try to balance the the neighborhood as well. If if someone lost a really significant tree, provided a lot of shade for the house and for the yard, we're definitely going to try to get in there and and plant a tree. But if we had if we lost, you know, a couple trees, we may not be able to fit two trees in in that yard. So, it's not always a one to one. Uh but generally we try to get you know we we plan to we have in our bid to try to do a one one but many times that gets that gets stepped back. >> Okay. And then this may be too far in advance but if you do if it is able to replant a tree what type of tree do you guys normally plant? >> So we have a list uh and and some of our construction staff uh which you'll get to know very well if the project moves forward. They'll be on site virtually the entire time. We have a list of probably about eight to 10 different tri types of trees, both deciduous and evergreen, that we can that folks can pick from. >> Uh so we do we do a lot of a lot of maples. We do um >> hackberry. Um a lot of oaks. Um we stay away from ash. Um elm also >> are still recovering from >> Dutch elm. So those typically don't. But like I said, a lot of hackberry, um, some maples. >> And you said the homeowner would get to pick the tree. >> Okay. >> If we're putting Yeah. If we're putting a tree in your yard, and again, this would be in your yard. So, it' be outside the right of way. We, you know, we work with the homeowners to pick the type of tree and where that goes. >> Okay. >> Has to be in the front yard. We can't stash a tree in your backyard that the uh the rest of the neighborhood can't uh enjoy. But um >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> And also have to avoid utilities. you know, we don't want to put it over your water and sewer service coming in, right? You know, or your phone or gas service, that type of deal, too. So, um, but >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. And Matt, thank you. You joged my memory on on something that, uh, Excel, uh, gas often times, uh, piggybacks on city projects. So, we work with them. Uh, they often will replace that gas main. They'll come in ahead of us and start replacing the, uh, the the gas. It's usually an old steel gas mane on one side of the road. So, the services going to the opposite side are longer and they go underneath the uh the pavement. Many times, and we don't know this yet, but it's many times Excel will come in and put uh new plastic mains on both sides of the road to avoid those crossings. So, that's not work that the city necessarily does, but Excel likes to take advantage of uh city projects so they can minimize their restoration and they don't have to cut into our brand new road anytime in the future. So, you know, the project sometimes gets kicked off by Excel and they'll be the first people that you see. Um, but we can we'll certainly coordinate that with uh as best we can with folks uh should the project go forward. Other questions? I'll give you a few more seconds or so to think about it. And again, if you don't uh speak here, you've got you'll have John's contact information. We'll get this uh PowerPoint up um on the website. I see John just put out a stack of his business cards. Wow. He brings the whole box with him. That's That's impressive. >> Well, um >> they're also available at the at the front desk here at city hall. I need to replenish down there, but if one now, but feels please feel free. >> Right. >> Right. >> Yeah. And there is no bad question. So, you know, don't worry about that. So, >> with that, um I will close the public hearing. The time is 6:49. And um council members, any questions or comments uh for John before we move on to considering the resolution? >> So every I just guess one question. I mean obviously a little details get the details of the map, but so if you've had the lateral lining, you wouldn't be getting assessed for the sewer portion. Is that >> correct? All right. So, I know I think there's some some I know some, you know, like Pennies I know has that. So, I just I think there'll be some updates in that map in that little area, but yeah. >> Yes. >> So, all right. >> Good. >> Okay. Well, with that, um, and I will note, um, in our packet, and they'll get this corrected, this resolution is number 2025-78. It's actually resolution number 25-77. Um, so do I have a motion to approve resolution 2025-77, currently numbered 78 in the packet? >> I'll make that motion to get things going. >> Thank you. >> Second. >> Thank you. So, have a motion from council member Sumner and a second from Council Member Taylor. Um further discussion on this by the council and >> and mayor for the record this is a resolution to order the improvement and to uh and to begin preparation of plans and specifications. >> Thank you. >> And can we state again approximate timeline? >> So there was a page with a lot of time. >> Sure. If the uh if the council decides to move forward with the project, we'd begin that design uh right away and then would uh hope to bring plans back to council uh in early April for approval and then uh bid that pro or bid the project or solicit bids in the uh April to May time frame. >> 26 >> 26 correct. >> Okay. >> Because I one thing I just like as somebody who lives in this neighborhood, right? I live uh just on second avenue by 12 street and you might look wonder why are we doing all these street projects second this year we have third avenue going next year 12th street and it's part of a bigger effort to control inflow infiltration which think about rainwater clean water getting into our sewers that goes to Met Council or the wastewater treatment plant we pay we pay extra for that we've been fined heavy in the past for that Newport was I think about a decade ago when they started having a major storm event Newport was the worst culprit in the metro. So the penalty the good the plus side of that has been in recent years and the mayor and the the city administrator been and John and others have been working very hard to get grant money to help address this problem. Without that money, these projects don't go. So that's allowing us to take some of these projects on with minimal bonding to this point. And so it's it's kind of an opportunity to address this need and that's you know we're tackling it very aggressively. So these streets are, you know, I think most people are going to you're going to enjoy hopefully enjoy the street when it's it's a disruption. We know that, but it'll be have some benefits to you, but it's also the there's a bigger city issue that's driving this as well. And that's again helping us to pay for it fortunately as well. So I mean I just kind of want to give that context as you know as you but I mean I know that's not what you're going to think about. You're not going to think about infil infiltration on your property but that's one thing concern that we need to address at this level as well. So >> yeah, we still claim the title of worst offender. >> Yes. And I council member Taylor is correct. We do go out and we advocate for Newport. The benefit of not bonding means we don't have to raise utility rates to cover the cost of paying those bonds. And in fact, we're meeting on a Wednesday night, uh, which is out of our typical meeting order. Um, but we will be having members of the Minnesota House uh, bond and committee or they're the capital investment committee is what they're formerly called. will be here um tomorrow and I will be making a presentation to them essentially during what would have been our council meeting time um to talk about our needs and to try to get some state bonding funds to help us with you know not only this project but future projects um of this nature. And my goal since becoming mayor has really been to address this issue from the river um to Highway 61. And so that's a lot of projects and we just we move as we get funding available and if we don't have the funding we don't move as uh council member Taylor said. So it's an it's it'll be an important presentation tomorrow and hopefully um some success and I periodically talk about this as well. We also have requests in at the federal level and we have been included on uh Senator Clolobashar and uh Smith's uh list as well as Representative Craig's list uh for what they call community development grants. We kind of call them earmarks um or community funded projects. Um and it's the first time we've been on all three lists. So, if that bill does get approved, um you know, we have a much better go at it when it's on all three lists uh for us. But that again is all dependent on what's happening at the federal level. And um so we always we cross our fingers right now that dollar amounts to a little over a million dollars. So So we'll wait and see. We've been on the list before. We've never had all three um representatives and senators support us. So, I'm I'm always hopeful. So, thanks for that entry into that, Marv. I just I just want people to know that we're working hard and we have people who are working hard on our behalf as elected officials at the state and federal level as well trying to help us out because I understand the need. So, um John, did you have any other updates for us? I just see on here engineers update. >> Oh, I think we have a motion on >> Oh, I'm sorry. We have not voted yet. Okay. Any further discussion? I'm sorry. All those in favor say I. I. >> Those opposed. >> So, the resolution is adopted. >> Okay. John, do you have any engineering updates? >> I have two. Uh, one is our water system interconnect with Cottage Grove. Uh, and that's also tied to the Cherrywood Development up off of uh Century Avenue. So, we have all the water man uh is installed on the on the interconnect. And we received the uh the uh volts for the meter as well as the pressure relief valve earlier this week. Uh both are uh either getting installed or installed at this point. Uh the uh the meter itself, we're expecting that to come in the spring. Uh and as well the uh the power uh to supply uh uh well to supply power for the uh for the metering vault is getting constructed or getting extended as part of the Cherrywood development. We're getting word from Excel that they are probably not going to get there till spring either. So, a little bit of an or extended construction window here to get that up and running, but it seemed to make a lot more sense to piggy back off of the the Cherrywood development for the power supply than to run a temp line all the way from uh almost up to Glenn Road. So, um if you haven't been up in the uh in the Centry Avenue area recently, it's getting rather transformed. They have curb and gutter now on uh on Century Avenue. Uh they're looking at getting that first lift of pavement done uh early next week, uh probably Monday or Tuesday. Uh the um they'll also pave the first lift on the Woodbury side of the development in Cherry Meadow. And then they're working on utilities on the Newport side in Cherrywood. Uh I think we have three different building permits pulled. So they uh they're going to be hopefully working through and getting some model homes constructed here through the winter. I think the developer is very uh eager to try to uh match the prey to homes in the in the spring. >> February, I guess, is spring in their in their mind. But uh and then secondly, the uh the 2025 street improvements project. We got our second lift of pavement down on the uh on Second Avenue. Uh the contractor is going to return uh right after Thanksgiving. Uh and then they're going to put in the storm sewer line between Cedar Lane out to the river. Uh we're hopeful at that the river is down uh as far down as it's going to it's going to be to allow them to minimize their deatering efforts. And then uh they'll also be placing the storm water treatment device, the grit chamber there uh in the uh in the kind of the green space just south of the the tank farms on the on the west side of Cedar. So that work's going to be coming up here in a couple weeks. Otherwise, it's going to be pretty quiet over in that that neighborhood, which is a good thing. I think about >> that. All sounds very good. Any questions for John? Well, thank you. With that, um, we're to the end of our meeting, so I would take a motion to adjurnn. >> So, move. >> Second. >> I have a motion from council member Ingaman and a second from council member Sumar. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed. Thank you for watching. We're adjourned.