No other meetings. >> All right. >> Meeting is called to order at 5:30. Rise for the pledge of >> allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. [clears throat] >> Roll call. >> Council member Schmidt >> here. >> Council member Summer >> here. >> Council member Ingamman >> here. >> Acting Mayor Taylor >> here. Uh and Mayor Elliot is absent. Uh, is there any changes to the agenda? Otherwise, I'm looking for a motion to adopt the agenda. >> I'll make move second. >> Motion to second. All in favor say I. >> I. >> All opposed. Agenda is approved. Public comments. There is no members of the general public in attendance, so we will skip through that. Move to the consent agenda. All items listed on this section are considered routine and non-controversial by the council and will be approved by a single motion. An item may be removed from the consent agenda and discussed if a council member, staff member or citizen so request. >> Move the consent agenda. >> I have a question. >> Uh how do we go about promoting the two individuals to the assistant fire chief positions? Is that done by the fire department or is that done by staff? Let administrator Hatch, >> uh, mayor, members of the council, acting mayor, members of the council, um, you know, we've been going through some transitions on the leadership at the fire department, and there's been long-standing traditions um, for promotion and things like that, on the leadership of our Newport fire department. with the latest transition of Chief Wy retiring um you know we've uh we've looked at the requirements of the state statute uh and things like that it is required that uh any hiring uh is done uh by the city council. So with that said uh we did a a process uh uh Chief Marson and I did a process um and we're recommending these two. Uh for me, I view this as administrative and that's what we're recommending to the council tonight. >> Okay. >> It was something I hadn't seen previously. So >> I know we discussed at our the fire department meeting that the things like captain below will still be handled within the department. >> Okay. >> As far as decision- making. So it's just just for the chief positions. >> Thank you for the update. >> All right. Is there a second on the consent agenda? >> I would second that. >> Any further discussion? All in favor of adoption. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Consent agenda is approved. Washington County Sheriff's Report. >> Good evening, council members. It's good to see everybody. Uh hard to believe Thanksgiving's already coming past. We're fast forward into Christmas season. Uh a couple things I'd like to bring up. Uh things have been going good in the city. Our troops are out there working hard and making sure answering any calls that the public has. One thing I would ask help from neighbors and neighborhoods is to watch out for porch pirates in a sense. That's really big right now. Uh so a lot of packages being delivered by Amazon, UPS, FedEx, you name it, postal service. Uh if anybody does end up seeing someone going up to a neighbor's house or even their own house attempting to steal a package, we do ask them to call 911 right away. uh if they can try to obtain a vehicle description as well as a license plate of the vehicle and the direction they go, that will help us greatly. The longer the delay of getting a phone call, the better chance that they will get away. So, uh for anyone who might be watching or listening, that's something that we certainly could use help with in trying to catch specifically in our neighborhood in Newport. Thankfully, we have not had much of an issue with that, but our neighboring communities have. zone. Uh, additionally, uh, to pass on to everybody, uh, reminding people to make good decisions with, uh, drinking and driving as DWI is, uh, heavily enforced this time of year. We do usually see an increase in DWIs around the holiday seasons. So, if uh, anybody is out there, we ask them to make good choices in a sense, right? And, uh, stay at wherever they're they're staying at so they don't drive. Uh I did notice in the statistics that in the past four to five years this uh past month in November we had more crashes compared to other months. So with that said uh speed is certainly always a factor but with that is also weather and conditions. So as we get these little snowfalls even as little as they might be that certainly can make some of the side roads slick as well as overpasses that our fire friends also respond to. So, we ask people just slow down and uh pay pay good attention to the road conditions when they're driving. Uh, aside from that, I do not have much else to pass on uh other than I stand here for any questions you might have. >> Any questions? >> Thank you, Sergeant. >> All right. Thank you, Council. >> Fire chief report. Good evening, council and acting mayor. Um, this is my first uh report to you guys as a fire chief. So, bear with me a little bit. >> Uh, just quick overview. Uh, 16 calls for the November that we responded to. Uh the department also did 259 hours of training for the month of November, 140 call hours, 178 activity hours. So a total of 612 hours the fire department put in. Um next thing I have is a reminder that Sunday, December 7th from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. is our Steve Koad annual food and toy drive. [clears throat] Uh that's at Newport Center. And then we'll also have barrels at the Clover Relief Bar and Grill and um Newport Center till December 19th when we'll bring that to the Friends in Need food shelf. That's all I have. I'll stand for any questions from you. >> Uh of the 16 uh calls, how many of those were Newport versus mutual aid? Do you recall? >> Uh there were 14 in Newport and two mutual aid. >> Thank you. >> Yep. Anything else? questions, Tom? >> No, I don't have [laughter] >> Have to have something for acting mayor. >> All right, mayor. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> I have a lot of questions, but uh I think I'll reserve them for later. >> All right. Thank you, chief. >> Thank you. [laughter] >> All right. [clears throat] Next up is the engineers report. >> Good evening, acting mayor, uh members of the council. Uh one item for consideration. Uh this is pertaining to our 12th Street area improvements project. We held our uh improvement hearing for this project back on November 5th and the city uh decided to order those improvements. Uh prior to that hearing, we did begin doing our field survey for the uh uh for the work to try to get ahead of the snow that arrived uh a little quicker than we had hoped. But uh thankfully we're about halfway done with the full survey. But we also went and got all those critical areas that we really needed to make sure that we got uh ahead of that snow. So most of the work that we have remaining is basically topographical work. So we can go right through the snow and pick up that work. Um tonight uh we had requests or we have an item on the agenda to uh move forward with the design of the street improvements. So this uh these improvements include uh 12 street between the Mississippi River up to 7th Avenue. uh Third Avenue between 14th Street and 12th Street, Fifth Avenue between 14th and 12th, and then uh 13th Street between 4th Avenue and uh 7th Avenue. All told, it's about 3,900 ft of street improvements. And it would be a full reconstruction of the street, adding curb and gutter, concrete driveway aprons, replacing the entirety of the water man, sanitary sewer, and adding new uh san or storm sewer collection, conveyance, and treatment. uh the the total uh project cost uh that we are anticipating for this project uh is just a little over 6.5 million and uh MSA has provided a scope and fee proposal uh to do the design and plan development for the work uh as well as the assessment procedure which actually includes the improvement hearing that we've already had. Uh the the total amount of that uh fee proposal is $372,100 and that uh scope and a kind of detailed scope and is in your packet for review and we would look for consideration on that proposal. >> Thank you. Any discussion? >> I'll move with >> I'll second. >> Any further discussion? All right. All in favor of adopting the design and scope and fee proposal in the amount of 372,100 signify by saying I. >> I. >> All opposed. The design is scope is approved. And I'm happy to stand for questions. Thankfully, our construction has uh has slowed. I think we've reached that point. Uh I will I will note that we are expecting to get our water man our flow meter for our interconnect uh in January as well as the power uh will be uh constructed within the Cherrywood development. So uh that will be really the next item for uh of construction for for the winter. Otherwise we we've shifted into design mode at this point. actually. >> So, with the interconnect and turning all that on, remind us again when is like the anticipated enablement date, I guess I'll call it. >> We're anticipating March uh >> to turn it on >> to turn it on. And the water is available. Uh our friends at Cottage Grove have uh have let us use their water to flood our rink because they uh they have a lot more pressure than we have at that location. So, they've been they've been a great partner. Uh we're ob we're obviously monitoring the water use. Uh it'll come at a at a cost, but it'll be at a bulk rate, so it'll be very uh very good deal for the city. >> Thank you. >> Welcome. >> Any further questions? [clears throat] >> We'll now move to the public works report. >> Uh good evening, acting mayor and council members. I have nothing formal for consideration this evening, but I do have a few updates. Um you will probably see some work going on at Bailey School Forest uh as early as next week. Um the watershed has been really working hard uh to team up uh and get some most of it is buckthorn removal, but overall habitat improvement. Um so you'll see kind of some clearing and that kind of stuff getting rid of the the low brush, the undesirable stuff. Um there will be some tree removal um based on the health of the trees and the densities and stuff, but um they've the watershed has worked really really hard and this is the third or fourth grant that we've kind of secured in the last year or so between the utility corridor and making that more of a native grass and pollinator uh type habitat and now just getting into the actual wooded portion for improvement. So, pretty exciting. Um, so if you see work on there, we ask you to just, you know, steer clear and and there'll be there'll be signs up warning and that kind of stuff. But, uh, just a little bit of heads up there. Um, and then also just a reminder to please give the plows room. you know, uh like I said, um we do our best to keep the roads uh clear and clean, but the more room we have and uh less traffic and parked cars, uh the faster and better job we're able to do. So, with that, happy to stand for any questions. >> I hear something about ice rink being flooded. Is that having >> We are. Yeah, we've we've started, but obviously it takes uh takes a week or two to to really get it to where, you know, where we can start using it. And with these uh nuisance snowfalls, it pulls pulls attention away from there. But uh hopefully, you know, very near future and uh we can put those new boards to use. So, >> will the pickle ball courts be kept open through the winter? >> No, the the nets are down already. Okay. >> So, >> does that happen on a particular date or just cold weather? >> We we try and keep them open as long as the weather looks >> realistic for use out there. And obviously, as soon as we get snow and ice on, you know, then it's uh then it's a done deal. So, and as soon as it uh melts off and cleans off in the spring, we'll have them back up and back in service. So, >> do we have some kind of a feel for how often they were used? There is no I mean no official monitoring or or that type of deal. >> Just when the when the when the members of your crew go up there they they see activity. >> They do. But um you know watching that particular thing you know we've got so many other things that we're trying to trying to keep tabs on that you know um if if I asked them to they could but you know again um once the main mowing season is over with the the time in the parks is decreased a lot until we start flooding and then it's too late for the for the pickle balls. >> Okay. >> All right. Thank you, Matt. We have 15 more minutes till we'll start our public hearing for the truth and taxation. Um, do you have anything else on the administration report besides that? [clears throat] Acting mayor uh Taylor and members of the council, we had a uh we do a annual holiday lunchon for staff. uh we did have that this week and is a good time for us to reflect um uh as staff on the good work we did this year and uh break some bread together. So that occurred yesterday and uh we had a a good turnout and and were able to celebrate, you know, we said goodbye to a number of staff in the past year including uh Chief Wy, our former accountant Deb Scholes, uh Ann Bell, and um uh uh Dean Swearing, who was a long-term public works employee and and so it was very nice to kind of celebrate those folks and then also uh welcome uh our our new folks. Uh, so that's something we do each year and, uh, it went off really well. Uh, with that, uh, nothing else formal, but I'd be happy to, uh, stand for questions, uh, should there be any. >> There are no questions. So, we will move to mayor and council reports. >> I have none. >> Tom, >> I have none. H Bill, >> I want to remind people to check the library schedule. There's a number of exciting events going on. We do have our annual holiday event coming up soon. And I also attended a meeting for the Pigs Eyee Dump Cleanup Group. We're moving ahead with our final report that's going to go to the legislature for approval and funding. That's it. >> Thank you, Josh. >> Wonderful. Nothing uh formal tonight. Uh just would kind of next week on Tuesday just to note there's a planning commission meeting and there's quite a bit on the agenda. I haven't had a chance to look through it myself but we have for Red Rock Manor on on 10th Avenue. There's a public hearing for a variance request on 1750 Hastings Avenue which is next to South Suburban just on the north side of that. There's a property that's being redeveloped. There's a public hearing for a drive-through conditional use permit on that site. Daily Electric right near here. City Hall is a public hearing for a concept plan review and probably most importantly the Newport zoning and future land use maps that we have been updating will be go to a public hearing on Tuesday at the 5:30 meeting. Uh the only other item I want to just acknowledge u we've had a lot of chief transitions in the fire department recently and a lot of people know Chief Wley's departure but Jason Joe is stepping down from his assistant chief after 10 years and I want to thank him for his service. uh he's continuing on with the department, but that's it's an important we've had a very steady leadership in the in that department for the last 10 10 plus years in my entire time on the department. I appreciate his service and wanted to call attention to that as well. Uh we have to still wait a little over 10 minutes till the public hearing. So I think we will probably go into recess at this point if we have a motion to go probably a motion to go into recess. >> I'll make that motion. >> Yeah, I'll second. >> All in favor going into recess until six o'clock. >> Yeah. Hi. >> All right. Going to re in recess until six o'clock. Dice from we are returning back to to from our recess to take on the uh administration reports truth and taxation public hearing. ing. We will begin with administrator Joe Hatch giving an overview. >> All right, just pulling up the presentation here. Uh, mayor, members of the council, um, this is the annual truth and taxation presentation for the city for the proposed 2026 property tax levy. Uh, just some background here, Newport continues to provide essential services. Uh the current general fund budget is 36.9% policing and fire so our public safety 16.8% streets uh 14.4% parks and recreation 31.4% general government and about.5% contingency. Fiscal disparities did increase uh well will increase uh almost $100,000 $98,237 from uh 2025 to uh $493,534 in 2026. Um local government aid will decrease about $42,880. Um, this is going from $495,1825 to $452,32 in 2026. And Newport's bond rating continues to be uh double a sta stable uh according to standard and pores. Uh just looking at trends over the last few years here. Um you know we are thankfully kind of level uh with revenues uh expenditures are increasing a little bit here and our fund balance is decreasing fairly significantly. Um but with that said uh we're still well within our policy which would want it to be uh between um above 40%. So we're we're well above that. >> Administrator, can you tell us what the percentage is on the fund balance? Um >> I don't have it in front of this, but it's uh it's well over 50% expected for um 26. I want to say 56 59% approximately. I I don't have that in front of me. I think it might be >> uh it's definitely in my budget presentation. Um but yeah, no, we're we're we're very healthy compared to our uh fund balance policy. >> Okay. uh general fund. Uh you can see the 2025 approved and then the 2026 projected. Uh so the revenue is projected to be 4,182,379 expenditures 4,97,478 transfers of about 439,000. Total expenditures here of 4,536,478. And the fund balance and here it is sir uh $2,686.93 is projected and that's about 59%. Uh which did go up a little bit but we are projecting to be under budget in 25. Other financing for uh sources these are other funds. Uh one is our HPC fund. We're uh proposing $9,000 for 2026. parks fund uh of 150,000 uh equipment fund of 225,000 and the building fund of 55,000. Total uh transfers there are $439,000. Proposed levy levy certification for [clears throat] general fund is 3,86,917. Uh we have paid off the 2013 general obligation bond. We have uh uh 2014 general obligation bond payment of $214,843 uh for 26. Uh 2016 general obligation bond we have a payment of $94,000 in 26. 2018 general obligation bond we have a payment of 264,000 in 26. And then the 2021 general obligation bond of 545,000 payment in 26. Total levy certification is then $4,26,300. Uh historical levy increases. Um you know, you can see we were thankfully out of the double digits here at the 5%. Um you can see the median value home increase was 5.53%. Uh, and the impact for the average or medium home is expected to be $44.55 um for the year. I'm sorry, that's incorrect. The median valued home is expected to be uh the impact is $72.81. Impacts of residential homes, you can see the home valuation here of 250,000. Uh what the impact would be is $56. um 300,66, 327 is 72, 350 is 75, 400 is 85. Uh and this is no change from the preliminary levy. For 2026, the tax impact on a median valued home in Newport will increase $72.81 a year or $6 a month. The change in market value from 2025 to 2026, it did increase by 8.1%. Although not a direct reflection of the tax impact, the local tax rate goes up as market value goes down and vice versa. Our local tax rate will decrease from approximately 53.42% to 51.14%. Um, for questions, please feel free to contact uh, you know, the administration office or the county tax department. >> Thank you, Joe. Is there any before we open the public hearing, is there any questions for staff from the council? >> All right, we will open the public hearing at 606. And I just want to confirm that this is the budget that we're going to be finalizing tonight. Uh >> no, there's no budget for council to consider. As part of the budget process and part of setting a levy, uh the city is required to have a truth and taxation hearing. Um often times the budget is approved the same night. This year, uh uh because of the mayor was unable to attend, um she did request that the budget be considered at the next council meeting. >> Okay. and it's basically going to reflect these numbers that we're seeing tonight. >> That's correct. And I will have a a budget presentation um that will go into detail on the budget uh very much like the budget presentation for the preliminary levy. I will go down every single change that's uh $1,000 or more um [clears throat] in the budget memo and uh yeah, be ready to answer questions regarding that uh at December 18th. So mark it on your calendars. Exciting night. >> It is. >> All right. There's returning the public hearing. There is no one in attendance. Do you want to read? We have one written any written comments. >> Uh mayor >> uh acting mayor uh members of the council. Um we did receive one comment uh from uh a resident Pauline Shop Mueller. Um wanted to express gratitude for code enforcement. um in particular a previous staff person by the name of Anne Bell uh wanted to encourage the city to continue um to use all means including abatement uh processes to uh to go after properties that aren't in compliance in particular properties uh with uh too many vehicles. Um there were a number of examples uh provided um and concerned properties which uh were were passed on to uh our staff that handle code enforcement. Um and uh she's also thank thankful that her property taxes apparently are going down. Um and uh thankful about the great work we're doing with infrastructure. Um, and that's about it in summary. >> Thank you. Seeing no one else in the audience, we'll close the public hearing at 608. Is there any further questions that anybody has of staff at this point? Otherwise, we will further revisit this at our next meeting in later in December and approve the letter as discussed earlier. >> A motion to adjurnn. Is there a second? >> I'll second that. Okay. >> All in favor of adjournment I >> I. [clears throat] >> All opposed. Meeting is adjourned. >> All right.