All righty. We're going to go ahead and call to order the regular meeting of the Oak Dale City Council, August 12th, 2026. Sarah, will you please take the roll? >> Councilmember Moore? >> Here. >> Councilmember Malcolm? >> Here. >> Councilmember Sieverson? >> Here. >> Councilmember Rich? >> Here. >> Mayor Zabel? >> Here. Please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance >> allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic [clears throat] for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Those chairs want to roll away from you. Uh first up tonight, approval of agenda. Councilmembers, we have a slightly amended version in front of us. Can I get a motion to approve the agenda as amended? >> So moved. >> There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion and second. All those in favor say aye. >> Aye. >> Opposed? Agenda is adopted. Uh next up, approval of meeting minutes. We have three sets in front of us tonight. Oh, we had a busy July. Uh let's take workshop minutes from July 28th, 2026. Uh Councilmembers, any changes or corrections here? Seeing none, can I get a motion? >> So moved. >> There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion and second. All those in favor say aye. >> Aye. >> Opposed? And those minutes are adopted. Uh we'll move on to regular meeting minutes, July 28th, 2026. Any changes or corrections here? Seeing none, I'll look for a motion. >> So moved. >> There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion and second. All those in favor say aye. >> Aye. >> Opposed? And those minutes are adopted as well. Last set of uh minutes are from our special workshop or budget workshop on July 29th, 2026. Any changes or corrections here? All right. >> All right. Parents, make sure you're right here in the middle. I'll just push a little bit over here. Yeah, you can hold your belt buckle. >> You good? >> All right. >> 1 2 3 1 2 3 >> And that's it. Thank you. Thanks again for coming in. Dwayne and Tammy, would you like to join us? All right. A little more room. All right. This is going to be a Christmas card photo, right? >> There we go. 1 2 3 1 2 3 Perfect. >> Fantastic. Congratulations again. Thanks for coming in. >> Thank Congratulations. Glad you guys are my neighbor. >> [laughter] >> Put them to shame. >> All right. Except for the half of the forestry team, our public works director Corey Beese. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. Hey. Thank you. >> Sarah channels her best. One, two, three, four. >> Uh and before I move on, I just want to say a big thank you to um everybody that nominated properties. Uh we accept nominations all year long and so uh this award would award would not be possible without um our residents uh sharing with us what they see, which is pretty cool. So, a big thank you to them. Uh we're still under open forum. If there's anybody joining us tonight uh that wants to put the podium back um >> [laughter] >> uh and share anything on your mind with the council, please feel free to do so. Um house rules uh ask you to keep your comments to 3 minutes or less and please begin by stating your name and address for the record. Course we got a podium on wheels. We're smart like that. I love it. Uh is there anybody joining us under open forum tonight that would like to step on up to the podium? Please feel free to do so. Seeing none, we'll move into consent uh move into the consent agenda uh A through E. F was pulled off. Uh council members, are there any of A through E that we want to pull for individual consideration? Hearing none, can I get a motion? >> Uh Mr. Mayor, I'll I'll move we approve consensus motions A through E as presented. >> There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. >> Aye. >> Opposed? And those agenda items are approved. Uh we'll check in with our advisory boards and commissions. Uh it looks like the only one that met was our City Planning Commission. They met on August 6th, 2026. Council Member Sieverson, you are their liaison. What's our Planning Commission up to? >> Uh yeah, well, they did meet last week as you mentioned, and they had uh four public hearings. Uh I'll just run through them real quick. One was the uh Les Schwab Tire Center at Marketplace. Uh they also had a public hearing on uh conditional use permit for uh car wash at 7999 11th Street North. Uh also conditional use permit for a Droziya Center, which is a uh house of worship at 533 Hayward. And lastly, a electronic sign uh permit for uh MC Club on Geneva Avenue. >> Fantastic. That's a full agenda for that uh meeting. >> had a big agenda, yeah. >> Did they meet in July? >> Yes, they did. >> Oh, wow. >> Just a lot going on in our city. >> going on in Oakdale. That's what we like to hear. All right. We'll go into award of bids tonight. We have one in front of us. Do we have a staff presentation? Hannah, welcome. Please walk us through the Tower Park uh playground improvements and Golf View Park playground improvements. >> Thank you, Mayor and Council. The item before you this evening is to award the bid for general contractor for Tower and Golf View Park's playgrounds and improvements, city projects P202602 and P202605, and approve a budget amendment for Golf View Park. For background, the City of Oakdale completed a park system plan last year, which is a comprehensive roadmap for park improvements. A number of improvements from Tower and Golf View Parks were identified in the adopted 2026 to 2030 Capital Improvement Plan as 2026 projects. Improvements at Tower include replacing playground equipment, upgrading surfacing from sand to engineered wood fiber, adding seating opportunities around the playground, and adding an accessible trail from A Street North to the playground. At Golf View Park improvements include replacing playground equipment, keeping surfacing as engineered wood fiber, and adding a small concrete plaza with seating and shade. The funding sources for the two projects are park capital fund and a transfer from charitable gambling. At the July 14th regular meeting, the council approved plans and specifications for Tower and Golf View Parks, and authorized the advertisement and collection of bids. The bids were advertised from July 15th to August 3rd. Six contractors submitted bids. Their bids are shown in this table. The lowest bidder was Pember Companies Incorporated with a total bid of $248,894.39, which includes the includes the base bid and one alternate for Tower Park. Tower Park accounts for $150,581.26 of the Pember Companies bid, and Golf View Park accounts for $98,313.13. These amounts are lower than the costs for construction and general contractor services that were anticipated prior to bid. So, that was very exciting to see. I will note that the alternate for Tower Park falls within the overall project budget, and staff recommends accepting it. While the Pember bids came back in lower than expected, a a budget amendment for Golf View Park is still needed. The original CIP budget was $279,208. However, it needs to be increased to fully cover cover the Pember Companies bid and provide some construction contingency. If approved by council, the amended budget will be $305,655, which is an increase of $26,447. The budget for Tower Park does not need to be increased at all and can remain at the approved CIP number. To reiterate to reiterate the action before council members this evening is to one, award the bid for Tower and Golf View Parks, City projects P202602 and P202605 to Pember Companies incorporated in the total amount of $248,894.39 for construction and general contractor services. Two, amend the project budget for Golf View Park to 305,000 um and 655,000. And three, authorize the mayor and city administrator to sign and execute the contract with Pember Companies. With that, I'm happy to answer any questions. >> Council members, any questions for Hannah? We've been working on these for a little while, uh including a lot of um resident engagement in those neighborhoods. So, it's nice to see this come up for awarding the bids. Uh if there are no questions, uh two actions in front of us tonight. Uh who would like to make those motions? >> I would love to. I will start by making a motion to wave reading and adopt resolution 2026-50, awarding the bid for city projects P2026-02, Tower Park playground improvements, and P2026-05 five, Golf View playground improvements to Pember Companies Inc. in the total amount of $248,894.39, base bid plus one alternate for construction and general contractor services, and amending the project budget for P2026-05 to 305,655. >> There's a motion, is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion and numerous seconds. Uh any final comments? >> Yeah, if I could. >> Please, Council Member Malcolm. >> Yeah, this is exciting. Um not only because it's a big step in a long process of reinvesting in our parks, but we've been able to go to Willow Brook. Willow Brook is uh a new crown jewel in Oakdale, and there's the park in the south as a result of development. This is the first major reinvestment into our parks in over half a decade. And maybe it is almost 10 years. So, it's exciting to see that all of the engagement we've done is coming to fruition. We've got our vice chair from the Parks and Rec Commission, uh Mr. Prosser here with us, too. There's a lot of people celebrating this, so I'm excited that we're at this point. >> Um you know, the only comment I would add is I think a lot of residents um don't always realize, you know, our some of these playgrounds are 25 years old. Um you know, we built uh or the neighborhoods in these areas were constructed and the playgrounds were added and they haven't been touched for a quarter of a century. Um the driving force behind the park system update was to get a full understanding of our equipment in the city and put it on a replacement schedule um for many of these parks for the first time ever, you know. Um we're really seeing this year being the start of that replacement schedule. So, when we look at other playgrounds around our city, we want our residents to just keep in mind that, you know, everything has its place in line. Um sometimes there is adjustment to that, but we are really truly making data-driven decisions about what has to go and when. And for the start of this park system plan putting it into action, it's going to be those oldest playgrounds, including, you know, Tanner's, which is I think 31 years old. Um Golfview and Tower, similar. Um they're they're long overdue. So, it's great to see reinvestment back into these neighborhoods on equipment that has served those neighborhoods very well for decades, um but is now being replaced. We're also seeing improvements that are just a sign of the times. You know, when we think about accessibility being a huge priority of our playgrounds to get rid of the sand and to um put in the the artificial wood product or the poured surfaces like we have at Wilbur Commons. It's our city's commitment to making sure that every kid in our community can play in these play spaces. And so, we're we're thrilled to see those improvements come to fruition. So, um We got the bid. We got the motion. Was there a second? Did somebody make a second? >> Mhm. Katie. >> Councilmember Rich made the second. Uh oh yeah, had comments. Any other final comments? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Resolution 2026-50 is adopted. One more action, please. >> make a motion to authorize the mayor and city administrator to sign and execute the contract with Pember Companies Inc. >> There's a motion, is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion a second, final comments? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Let's get those contracts signed and we can get this work going. So. >> That's this year still? >> Yeah. Yeah. Uh staff reports, community development. Oh, more playgrounds. Uh Hannah, are you walking us through this? >> Yes. Yes, I am. I will start >> to do the work at these sites, but you actually have to approve the equipment, too. >> [laughter] >> Take it away. >> Thank you, Mayor and Council. The next item before you this evening is approving the purchase of playground equipment and shade from Landscape Structures in a total amount not to exceed $182,633.40 and installation services, surfacing, and site furnishings from Flagship Recreation in a total amount not to exceed $75,261.96 for Tower and Golfview Parks, City Projects P202602 and P202605. Playground proposals for both parks were solicited from four different vendors, and ultimately the City Council decided at their May 26th workshop to select Flagship Recreation, whose vendor is Landscape Structures. The final playground designs were influenced by gathered from the community, park users, neighbors, the Parks and Recre- Recre- Recreation Commission, and City Council. Um so, community uh feed- feedback played an important role in shaping the designs of the playgrounds. Um there was a survey uh for both parks. 44 participants shared their feedback on the future Golfview playground, and 64 participants shared their feedback on the Tower playground. And then a pop-up uh event was held at each park um where city staff and LHB, the city's consultant, engaged people in person on playground elements and features. Four separate purchase orders are required for the two playgrounds. Two will be with landscape structures for playground equipment at each park and non-playground shade structure at Golfview Park. I'll briefly touch on the different features at each playground. At Tower, the playground includes a container with a main K through 12 structure and then another container dedicated exclusively to swings. A portion of the main structure is more traditional platforms and slides and the other part is ropes, climbing features, and overhead play. At Golfview Park, the playground includes a swing bay with six different swings. I can pull that up. There is a K through 12 structure and a pre-K structure and a number of spinners. At both parks, shade was really important and is located throughout the playgrounds on the play structures and then a separate shade umbrella for the seating plaza at Golfview Park. The other two purchase orders will be with Flagship Recreation for the installation services and the surfacing at each park and then site furnishings, which include picnic tables at Golfview. With these playground purchases and the recent council action this evening to approve the bid for a general contractor, Tower and Golfview Parks are ready for construction, which is a very exciting step. So to summarize the action before council members this evening is approving the purchase of playground equipment and shade from Landscape Structures and installation services, surfacing, and site furnishings from Flagship Recreation for Tower and Golfview Parks. >> Council members, any questions for Hannah? None? Okay. Uh who would like to make the motion? >> I can make the motion again. I'll make a motion to waive reading and adopt resolution 2026-51 approving the purchase of playground equipment and shade from Landscape Structures in a total amount not to exceed 182,633 and 40 cents and installation services, surfacing, and site furnishings from Flagship Recreation in a total amount not to exceed 75,261 and 96 cent cents for city projects P2026-02, Power Park Playground and Improvements, and P2026-05, Golf View Park Playground and Improvements. >> There's motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion and second. All those in favor say "Aye." Opposed? You're good? >> Yeah, we're good. >> All right. Motion and second. All those in favor say "Aye." >> Aye. >> Opposed? And Resolution 2026-51 is adopted. >> Thank you. >> Two new playgrounds coming to Oak Dale. Uh Public Works. We have one item on the agenda tonight. Corey or Mark? Mark, you're going to walk us through this. >> Good evening, Mayor and Council. Uh I brought my laptop in case you needed to see anything, but I think I can get through this without uh a visual. Um tonight in front of you, we have the intersection improvements at County Road 14 or 34th Avenue, and um it's two roads. There's Highpoint Drive to the south and Marketplace to the north. Um and we are here because uh we had some foresight here and and thought about uh the eventual build out of that area to the north of this intersection with retail type outlets. Those are now um multiplying. There are more and more each day, and um some very nice uh and attractive places to walk to. And so, um the folks on the south like to get to the areas on the north to enjoy those amenities, and um it's becoming a more pedestrian-heavy uh intersection. And so, um we planned ahead and put some money away and um received some money from developers to help with pedestrian improvements at this intersection. And tonight you're being asked to um sign a cooperative agreement with the county to implement those. And so the improvements are really just centered around pedestrian and safety and along those same lines we're doing a little bit of a modification to the signal system and a few geometric changes to the intersection as well. So happy to answer any questions but the long and short of it is we put away about $200,000 to do this and we've been working with the county to keep that cost at that say we can do that so. >> Anybody have any questions? All right, who'd like to make the action? >> I'll move we authorize the mayor and city administrator to enter into a cooperative agreement with Washington County for the construction of intersection improvements at C 714 that's 34th Street North and High Point Drive Marketplace. >> There's motion is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion and second final comments? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Opposed? And that authorization is given. We will get that cooperative agreement signed. Thank you. Let's check in with our city attorney joining us tonight Rachel. What do you have for us Rachel? >> I'm just happy to be here. I don't have anything [laughter] for you today as usual. If you have any questions I'm happy to answer them. >> Anybody have any questions for Rachel? No seeing none. All right, let's check in with our city administrator Kelly. Kelly anything for us tonight? >> Thank you mayor and council. No, I do not except congratulations again to our acorn award winners. That was great to get to go out and experience the the yard of course for our residents and and the high vo is really a great experience. >> Yes, anybody have any questions for Kelly? All right, council presentations. Council members anybody have anything? >> I have one. >> Council member Moore. >> I just want to celebrate once again night to unite. Our police department our fire department did an incredible job interacting with all of our neighborhoods. Thank you Mayor for coming to my neighborhood to delight everyone there. No, I just it's such an exciting event and when my 12-year-old gets excited over something, man, that's something you do, right? You keep up and you and you continue and it was just a fantastic night and visiting the residents and the parties that I went to was really cool. So, just wanted to congratulate everybody who and thank everybody >> who participated in National Night to Unite. >> Always a fun time and perfect weather. Oh my gosh. It was stunning this year. Yeah. Always a good time. Councilwoman Reich, anything? >> Mhm. >> All right. Jens? >> None for me here. >> Nothing, nothing? All right. I have some announcements regarding stuff going on in the city. First and foremost, we hope everybody can join us tomorrow, Thursday, August 13th from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Fire Station 1 for the community picnic. Fire Station 1 is located at 5000 Hadley Avenue North. Always a great event hosted by the Oakdale Area Chamber of Commerce in partnership with Oakdale Fire. It's a great opportunity residents come out, mingle with local business leaders, catch up with neighbors as well as city staff and official. And if that's not enough, there's free food, free hot dog meal. We hope you can join us for lunch. I think the weather's supposed to be really nice. So, always a great time. Big thank you to the Chamber of Commerce for hosting that once again this year. On Friday, August 14th, we encourage everybody to bring your blankets and lawn chairs down to Walton Park bandshell for another one of our movies in the park. This time we will be showing the viewer's choice winner, Lilo and Stitch. Oh, that's a good one. Oh, it's a classic. It'll be taking place under the stars on the big screen. The movie will start at dusk, which should be around 8:50 p.m. because, you know, it has to be dark enough to see it on the screen. So, the event is free hosted by Oakdale Recreation and the Oakdale Police Department. Concessions will be available for purchase uh the Maplewood Oakdale Lions Club. So, we hope everybody can come down and join us for that. Uh just a heads-up, next Wednesday, August 19th, city offices will be closed uh from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. that day uh for staff training and a staff appreciation event. Uh we appreciate everybody's understanding if you're planning on coming in and taking part of any of our city services, but uh very important for our staff to have time to to get together and and celebrate their wins as a team. So, uh offices will be closed 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. just a small 2-hour block on August 19th. The Oakdale Farmers Market continues every Wednesday from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. at Walton Park West or at the Walton Park West parking lot off of 15th Street uh now through mid-October. Stop by for a array of fresh produce, baked and canned goods, flowers, and more from local vendors. Last week I got some sweet corn. It's that time of the year. It was good. Yep. Uh lots going on down there, a lot of great vendors. Um so, we encourage everybody to to check it out, do some shopping, uh and support some uh local producers. The city's Oakdale or the the city's summer concert series at the Walton Park Bandshell continues next week as well. Um so, you can go down from the Farmers Market, come back a little bit after that for a free concert. Uh it'll take place Wednesday, August 19th at 7:00 p.m. with blues rock by Retro Soul and the Westside Horns featuring Big Mike Mothershed. I was really worried I was going to stumble [laughter] on that one. Um yeah, blues rock. Hm. They've got an interesting lineup this year. Um I saw the photos from the Latin night uh a couple weeks ago and the park was packed. Um so, another great uh summer concert series offering down at the Walton Park Bandshell. We hope you can join us on August 19th at 7:00 p.m. Uh finally, mark your calendars, join us for our annual Touch a Truck event next Thursday, August 20th from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. in the Walton Park West parking lot off of 15th Street. Uh kids can climb and explore large vehicles and enjoy free frozen treats. This year's event is completely uh sensory-friendly with no lights or sounds. Um, that's a piece of feedback we've gotten from some parents in the past that uh, we could get a lot more kiddos out there um, if we made it sensory friendly. So, we're going to go ahead and do that this year. Also, at the same time Washington County is hosting their back to school event um, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Walton Park offering free school supplies, haircuts, food, and activities while supplies last. Um, I think this is maybe the second or the third year uh, we've done Touch-a-Truck in conjunction with that county event. Um, always uh, a very popular um, dual event in our community. So, we encourage everybody come on down um, check out the big rigs uh, take care of any, you know, before uh, school haircuts you might need. Um, uh, and a big thank you to Washington County for once again hosting that event at Walton Park. Uh, we really do appreciate it. It is always packed. That's all I got. We got to pay some bills. Uh, we have a claims roster in front of us from July 29th through August 12th in the amount of 1.9 million and change. Uh, council members we got the claims roster. Was there anything that we saw in there that we needed to pull up for additional information from staff? Seeing none, I'll look for motion. >> Make a motion to approve claims as presented. >> There's a motion. Council member Rich, would you like to make the second? >> Second. >> There's a motion and a second. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed? And the bills are paid. Uh, next up on our agenda it's a little we're going to have some back and forth. Um, so the city council is going to be going into closed session um, a couple different times to um, talk about uh, a couple different matters. Um, so for anybody watching on the live stream this will be where it ends um, because we're going to be moving into a separate room so uh, city staff can tear down this room. Um, so I'm going to follow my script this time cuz staff prepped it for me. Uh, the next item on the agenda is pending litigation City of Oakdale uh, and City of Oakdale employee Jeff Cousling. This portion of meeting will be closed pursuant to Minnesota state statute 13D.05 subdivision 3B. The grounds for closing it are as follows. The city's need for absolute confidentiality outweighs the purposes served by the open meeting law in this case based on the following. Absolute confidentiality is necessary so that the city council and legal counsel can have a candid and open discussion to determine the available legal options to handle this litigation including response strategy and possible areas for reconciliation. The purpose of this meeting is not to make a decision behind closed doors, but instead the purpose of the meeting is to determine the legal options for handling the litigation. The only business to be discussed in the closed session is the pending litigation. An open session would be detrimental because it may take place in the presence of individuals involved in the litigation. A closed session would benefit the public because the ultimate outcome of the litigation may impact the operation and financial finances of the city. At this time I will now entertain a motion to close this portion of the meeting. Can I get a motion? >> So moved. >> There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion and a second. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed? At this time the Oakdale City Council is going to go into closed executive session. Uh