Good evening and welcome to the Newport City Council meeting. Today is Wednesday, June 18th, 2025. We are meeting on a different day because tomorrow is a statewide holiday. With that, um I call the meeting to order and we'll begin the meeting with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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 Sumar here. Council member Angman here. Council member Taylor here. Mayor Elliott here. Um, the next item on our agenda is to adopt our agenda. Do we have any changes to the agenda this evening? Hearing none, I'll move to adopt. I'll second. I have a motion from council member Sumar and a second from council member Schmidt to adopt the agenda as presented. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed. The agenda is adopted. Next on our agenda is a presentation from True Lens Community Meeting Media, formerly known as SWCTC. Welcome. Thank you very much, mayor and council, for having us tonight. I'm Anne Schweiscu. I'm the executive director of True Lens Community Media. And I'm Lonnie Garland. I'm the technical manager and assistant executive director of True Lens Media. And we've brought to you today our 2024 annual report. And of course, it is in video form because who doesn't like a good video? And we're going to play that now and afterwards we'd be happy to answer any questions you have. Great. [Music] For over 40 years, we have been known as the South Washington County Telecommunications Commission. Today, our team of seven full-time and four part-time staff members introduce ourselves as True Lens Community Media. After rebranding process in 2024, we are excited to have a new name and brand identity. Our board of directors will remain as the South Washington County Telecommunications Commission. No matter what we are called though, we will still provide the same reliable services to our member cities of Woodbury, Cottage Grove, St. Paul Park, Newport, and Great Cloud Island Township. In 2024, we aired on cable TV and streamed online 153 city meetings, completed 217 video productions, and those videos received almost 300,000 YouTube views. Our talented team of multimedia producers received eight national awards, including a regional Emmy for a video called A Friendly Wave, a video about a man named Stan Esserbrook, a veteran who sits on the corner near the North Square senior apartments and waves to passing vehicles. This was the highest viewed video of the year with over 116,000 views across YouTube and social media. True Lens Community Media is funded primarily through cable franchise and PEG, public education and government fees. The commission renewed the cable franchise with Comcast in February of 2024 and changed the PEG fee to 2%. This resulted in a significant increase of $266,534 from PEG revenue. Franchise revenue, however, decreased by $18,735. Our expenses were down 1.1% and we brought in almost $50,000 from outside sources like studio rental and video production services. The board of directors added more than $500,000 to our relocation fund to pay for our upcoming facility move to Woodbury Central Park. We have been working with Krauss Anderson and W Architects and Engineers to create and plan for our relocation in late 2025, early 2026 to this community facility. The new location will feature a slightly larger studio, additional office space, building amenities, and a new radio podcast room, which will be where we will launch our new low power FM radio stations. WWBY and WGRO will hit the airwaves in 2026 and feature music, local podcasts and talk shows, and possibly local sports. As we continue to focus on creating quality video and audio content and provide information to the public, we also need to take time to look at potential future budget shortfalls. We continue to see declining franchise revenue and have concerns with broadband companies using the city rights away. During the 2025 legislative session, we have been supporting two bills to help community media funding. The Equal Access to Broadband Act and a one-time request for funding from the Cultural Heritage Fund. [Music] Thank you to our incredible employees of talented producers and technical staff. And thank you to the dedicated commission directors who represent our member cities and provide essential feedback and direction. To learn more about us, go to true lensmedia.org. [Music] So, it's been quite a year. That was a great video and all the videos you guys do are really well done and well produced and and good job on that one as well. Thank you so much. So yes, you have an exciting year coming up with some uh a new potential location, I guess, or a new location. And is that construction on track for you? That construction is on track and it's just the timing on when we can move from our current location to determine when we'll move to our new location. Great. But that will be happening. Okay. Yes. What questions does the council have for an council member Sumar? I had written down before we got into the into the presentation. Uh what is what is the future for loss of funding? Was that done some time ago? I I don't know what has transpired since you produced that video. We're we're pretty much as far as the um legislation we were working on, neither of those passed this year along with a lot of other legislation that didn't pass this year. Um we will be bringing that back likely to the capital next year and we'll continue to fight for that. Okay, that's one option. We are looking at some other sources as well. So, we're looking at how can we bring in funding um right now we're okay. You know, doing that 2% peg really did help, you know, for the next few years. Okay. And do you receive funding from the federal legislation because I do not. Okay. Because that's just tumultuous right now. Right. And also I wanted to compliment you on the new logo. Who designed that? Was that a group effort or was there a particular person who gets the credit? We actually went through a year-long branding process with a company called Mango Day and uh they created that logo along with a lot of input from our staff and our commission and um some other key people. Very nicely done. Thank you very much. It's been an important addition to Newport to have these meetings publicized and televised for the residents. I get a lot of comments from people that say that they've seen them, not only just in Newport, but also through the community. So, keep up the excellent work and congratulations on your promotion to the management. Thank you very much. Yes. Any other questions? I do want to thank Tom as uh our council liaison um to the board along along with uh Barb Wilchek um our two representatives to uh True Lens. Uh now I like that I can remember that name and remember what order the community and communications and cable goes within the uh within the sequencing. It's fun to show off by saying that. community cable going on for CC CCTV. That's why we rebranded right there. And you I never worried too much about getting it right or getting it wrong. I knew eventually people would kind of follow where I was going. They would. And we will be out at Newport Pioneer Day this year promoting uh the new brand and and everything. So come see us at parade and at the festival. Yep. And I know you were at the dog park too in your uh We were That story should be coming out uh probably next week. Okay, great. Great. Yeah, that was a fun event and then it rained. Then we all left. One more question about the potential for the low frequency or low power radio stations. What are your focuses going to be and what are your audience what are your hours? Yeah, right now we're just in the planning stages of what we need for equipment uh transmitters, antennas. We are starting a group um what are we calling it? A group radio committee. Yeah, radio committee. Um that will help with like programming. We're doing those at events in the community too. We're asking the community what they'd like to hear. Um what kind of programming they're looking for. Um you know it might be a chance to do some sporting events, those type of things. Um I think it's the great thing about the radio station. It gives us lots of flexibility and it gives you um almost immediate feedback. If there was something that would happen and you needed to get a message out, it's immediate. So, a lot of good things can happen with the radio station. How far do you figure it will reach the We'll have unlimited reach because it'll be streamed and it'll be podcasted. So, but there is a 3 to five mile radius as a terrestrial radio station. So on your radio dial 3 to five miles from where the antenna is located, right on top of the bluff in Newport, right? Pretty much. Sure. All right. And we can send you sell you some antenna space. Yeah, it's it's it has been a challenge to find a place that's, you know, accessible for everything. So we're getting there. We we actually have an engineer on um hired as a consult to help us with some of these things. So, right. It'll be fun. It's going to be exciting. So, if you'd like to do a radio show, just let us know. Well, thank you so much for coming out tonight. We enjoyed the video. I hope you're running it on cable as well. We will. Thank you so much for having us. You're welcome. So, next on our agenda is public comments. This is where members of the public can address the city council about any local government topic that is not included on our regular agenda. This is limited to concerns that are relevant to the city of Newport. affairs, policies or practices. We ask that you come up to the microphone uh podium and clearly state your name and address for the record and to limit your comments to about 3 minutes. Generally, council will not take action on items discussed at this time uh but will refer matters to staff if appropriate. Um is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak during public comments? Seeing no movement from the audience, we will move on to our consent agenda. All items listed on the consent agenda are considered to be routine by the city council and will be approved in a single motion. There will be no separate discussion unless a council member or citizen or staff so requests, in which case the item will be removed and considered at the end of the consent agenda. Is there anything to uh be removed from the consent agenda this evening? I'll move the consent agenda as printed. Second. I have a motion from council member Ingamman and a council a second from council member Sumner. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed. The consent agenda is adopted. Next, we have the engineers report. We have city engineer John Herdigan with us this evening. Good evening, mayor, members of the council. Uh nothing formal for consideration, but just a quick update on our street improvements project. If folks have been down in that area, you've seen the the majority of the uh tree clearing uh has been completed. All the stumps have been grubbed. So, it's uh uh quite uh wide open down there. Uh the pavement on Second Avenue has also been removed. Uh the uh traffic control is in place to try to deter people that don't live in that area to stay out. Uh and then the contractor has set up the temporary water uh for the property owners through that will be in place through the duration of the project. Uh we're expecting uh pipe work to begin uh Monday or Tuesday next week. Uh things are things are going well. We're uh currently coordinating with some utility relocation work uh on 17th that uh we were a little surprised that the uh or the utility contractor wasn't a little further along with that than they than they were, but we'll uh we'll we'll work through. That's uh it's something that happens on a lot of projects. So, looking forward to seeing this uh work get going and more importantly get finished. Right. Any questions? Thank you. Next on our agenda is the Superintendent of Public Works report. Uh, good evening, Mayor Elliott and council members. I also have nothing formal this evening. Um, so I'd be happy to stand for any questions that are out there. Council member Sumar, can you get a report on the breach of the levy? How that's coming along and that done? Well, I know it's done, but Okay. But is it is it holding? Is it being washed out? We've had some significant rain since then and also there was some trespassing on the newly newly seated areas. Have that been addressed and taken care of? Um I' I'd say it's going really well. The the brereech itself is holding up well. Um we did uh put more uh seed and fertilizer down before this last stretch of rain is trying to fill in the uh the few bare spots. Um, so it looks like it's uh taking on taking really well and uh we hope to close that out very soon. So that helpful. Oh, absolutely. Okay. We're making good progress on a potential wonderful addition to our parks. Yeah. Okay. Thank you very much, Matt. Um, next on our agenda is the administration report. Uh, mayor, members of the council, a couple items uh for council consideration tonight. The first one is of course the Red Rock Villas project. Uh the um uh land use uh approvals are expiring July 1st. So Nathan first is here to uh give a presentation. Thanks, Joe. Uh good evening, mayor and council. Um so we're looking at an extension request for the approvals granted for Red Rock Villas. Uh I think we're all fairly familiar with that project, so I will spare you those slides. Um, just as a little bit of a reminder for background, the city initially approved the Platin PUD in September of 2023. Uh, in June of 24, the city approved a tiff and development agreement for the project. And then, uh, in September of 24 and December of 24, the city granted a couple of extensions to the approvals to allow additional time. One of the things that uh city administrators noted before is that the environment at this point in time is pretty tough for market rate apartment projects. And so uh securing financing is certainly a very important part in order to get this project to move forward. So a couple of uh considerations for you here in light of the request for another extension. The city has two key deadlines I would say to to its approvals. The first is to uh that final plat for that final plat to be recorded in a certain time frame. The city uh code allows for a m generally allows for two years unless there's an extension granted for typically for good cause. Um we're at this point we're just a little bit over two years from the initial approval. Um, we actually required that initially the plat be recorded within one year to give the city a bit more control about how the project should um should it you know the timelines and should should there be extensions be able to review those. Um so the the plat recording is one key part. The the next key thing is the planned unit development approval. Uh the ordinance that that the city adopted included a sunset clause that the project approvals would um sunset unless a building permits been issued by the city. So, we've got these two different um kind of deadlines, and we can actually in looking at the request and considering how this the to-dos left on our list, uh staff put forward a um recommendation for you about a little bit more of a I'll call it a firm framework for how to get those things accomplished. So, what you see on the screen, and this was in the staff report, these are kind of a step-by-step um process to get everything uh that the city needs done um and also um to get everything lined up for the developer to begin work on site. So, uh before extending the project, staff recommended that the applicant replenish their escrow at the city, which has been done. Uh in addition to that, remove uh equipment, trucks, and debris from the site. and we did an inspection of the site today and found that the property owners made the end developers made sufficient progress in that area. So at this point staff are comfortable with those requirements being met uh to to grant an extension. Uh the next deadline that we would like to recommend to you is that by uh September the final plat is recorded at Washington County. In addition to that, the development agreement should be uh fully executed by both the applicant and the city. So, make sure that those agreement that agreement is done and recorded along with the plat. If that deadline is met, then uh moving into uh April of next year, allowing for um additional time to get a lot of the other things done, including securing financing so that the significant uh fees that are associated with this project can be paid before a building permit's issued. So that's kind of the high level uh that I have for you here. If you have any questions for me, I am happy to answer those. That's kind of a lot of information. So I do have an example motion for you and the resolution that's in front of you is 2025-45. Uh I do want to mention that I noticed something in review of the materials today that we updated in the resolution. Um, I I wanted to make sure that the development agreement was the city attorney had the ability to modify that in order to put the fees in the agreement to be paid on the timeline that we're approving this evening so that everything is consistent with your approval tonight. So, okay. Thank you. Any questions for Nathan? I see we have the developer um with us this evening. Do we have any questions for the developer? Okay. Um any council regarding uh granting this extension or denying this extension? Well, in order to get this conversation going, I'll make the uh motion resolution 2025-45 approving an extension to the expiration of Red Rock Villas preliminary and final plat and PUB approvals as described herein. Thank you. Do I have a second? I'll second. Thank you. Um discussion concerns none. I mean obviously I think I should voice my concerns previously. You know I think I think that if there is what staff is describing as sufficient progress regarding the keeping that parcel from I think that part keep that parcel kept you know without all the excessive uses and random things that showing up on that parcel. I mean I just think I mean the market right now is brutal. I mean for multifamily especially brutal for market I mean I think there is just no denying every bit of data I see. I mean even I'm looking at data from May 2025 and this includes all multif family 22 units permitted in the Twin Cities in May you know and that's a that's a that's you know and so and a lot of what's being built is a you know affordable housing right multif family. So it is I recognize that yes there's I mean if this was a normal market I would not be supporting this but I think given the extreme market conditions I think it's this is the reality there is no other project that's going to come in here right now to look to set this up. So I think unless we were looking to go a different direction with the use which I don't think we are at this point in time I think it's it's the right thing to do to to extend it. Thank you. I think I find the project fairly exciting because it's a different type of housing than what we currently have in Newport. You know, we have lots of, you know, straight up apartment buildings. Um, we have some supported housing. We have some HUD housing. We have, you know, some much older apartment buildings and and this coming in with its its energy efficiency makes it kind of a unique um type of construction. And I I think it's pretty exciting for the community. I think we're all frustrated, not just the council, but the developer as well, that this has taken so long um for this to get done. I'm sure they would have loved to uh be renting uh apartments right now. So um with that, any other comments? I will then call the question. I have a motion from council member Sumar and a second from council member Ingamman. All those in favor of resolution 2025-45 say I. I. Those opposed? Motion carries. With that, then do you have something else before I talk about close session and then move us into council comments and then come back to session? Mayor, members of the council, I have nothing else formal. Uh, but I will stand for questions should there be any questions. I think we're doing good then. I see no I see no hands going up. So, we do have a close session this evening. Um, but before we do that, that's related to the city administrator's performance review. But be before we did you have something, Tom? Uh, I thought the library sign replacement was next that was uh noted in the uh mayor, members of the council. Yeah, I did send a uh an update Friday about the library sign and kind of I received some additional information from our uh what's Sarah Marie's title down there? I'm not sure. But um regarding the history of of the sign and kind of what she thought as far as the community center discussion. So um I did recommend that we have that discussion July 17th. Okay. So, I can do, you know, we can have a thorough memo that'll have all the data. Uh, and then council can hopefully give some good direction on that. So, we just delayed it a little bit. Promise we're going to have a discussion about it. We I did just pull it cuz I thought there was some data. Frankly, the information council didn't have and wanted to make sure council had all the information before making that decision. So, but thank you. You're absolutely right. Okay. Okay. Not a problem. Nope. Good question. So, um, before we go into the close session though, we will wrap up our mayor and council reports, then go into our close session, come back out, take any, um, appropriate action following the close session, and then adjourn the meeting. So, um, I just want to extend, uh, my condolences to Speaker Hortman's family, her friends, her neighborhood, her colleagues at the state, the people who know her, you know, throughout the country. this is just was a very sad weekend and there's nothing that I can add um that hasn't already been said about her and her service to the state of Minnesota um and her commitment to trying to make people's lives better. Um we also send our best wishes for a strong and speedy recovery to Senator John Hoffman. Many people probably don't know, but um I've had conversations with Senator Hoffman. We are a member of the M Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative, which is communities along the Mississippi River. So, we've been at the same meetings. We've had some, you know, kind of after hours um type events. So he's a big supporter of, you know, what we can do to uh keep the river clean and navigable and um supporting commerce. So um again, our best wishes to him and his family and all of those concerned about him. Um with that, just a reminder, our city offices will be closed tomorrow for the Junth holiday. I also want to let people know that we are going to have a free mattress and box springing collection in Newport. It looks like the dates for Newport are June 23rd, 25th, and 30th. Um there's no cost. Rain, snow, sle, hail, you can put that mattress and box spring out. It'll be just fine. And um if it's your garbage collection day, please do not set it next to your garbage bin because uh your trash haulers may pick it up by accident. And Second Chance Recycling uses these um and gets them cleaned up and um recycles them uh into places that can really use them. And then lastly, I was at uh the Newport Head Start program that's run at the Methodist Church in Newport in celebration of Flag Day. And I can't believe we were all once that size because they are just so little. And um it was it was a fun day to be there. There were quite a few speakers there talking about kind of what they did and what the flag meant to them. So that was that was fun. Um with that uh Council Member Ingramman, do you have anything to report? Oh, I have nothing. Council member Taylor, nothing. C council member Sumar. Now, uh, now as the weather is improving and we're outside enjoying picnics and yard activities, if you happen to notice disagreeable odors coming in by strong northwest winds, there is an option to report that on the homepage at the Newport site website. And these reports are very important to get these problems dealt with. So, please take the few moments to make those reports. They're looked at and it's a an ongoing process to get these more effectively under control. Thank you. With that, um I don't Is there attorney here? Not yet. I saw he is. Yeah, he's out. Oh, I mean, good. Excellent. You want me to get him? Okay. Yes. All right. So then uh the last item on our agenda uh this evening is the uh performance review. Um this agenda item is the evaluation of the performance of city admin the city administrator under Minnesota statute um 13D.05 subdivision 3A and the employee is Joseph Hatch. This portion of the meeting will be closed under such statute and I will now entertain a motion to close this portion of the meeting. I'll make the motion. So second I have a motion from council member Schmidt and a second from council member Ingamman. All those in favor say I. I. The uh meeting will be closed shortly. The time is 6 pm. The city council will now go into close session here in the council chambers and only the city council and designated officials may initially attend the closed session. Uh Mr. Hatch, we will proceed initially in close session without you in attendance at this point. So please uh leave the room and inform us where you will be. Then we will get to the portion of the meeting that you can attend which the council will decide. Thank you. So at this time um I will be in the com