[Music] we are right at 7 o'cl so I'll call tonight city council meeting to order angelene can we have a roll call please council member Ericson here council member husnik here council member valento here council member Roberts here mayor ban here I'd like to invite everyone to rise and join us for the Pledge of Allegiance Al to FL of the United States of America and to the stands indivisible andice Council we have an agenda before you I will entertain a motion to approve or any changes a motion to approve the agenda I'll second motion and a second all those in favor sign no by saying I I oppose and our agenda is approved first item this evening is our Awards presentation and CH Peterson I'll turn it over to you uh mayor and City Council Members good evening tonight we do have an awards presentation and immediately following uh I'd like to invite all of our guests upstairs to the the community room for some light refreshments and with that being said I'd like to introduce Sergeant John gladder thank you Chief good evening mayor and city council members family friends and co-workers thank you for being here this evening to show your support to officer Tim van griman as you recognize him for his outstanding life-saving police work Officer Van griman started with the Forest Lake Police Department on October 18th 2022 entered field training and soon after was certified for solo Patrol on December 23rd 2022 going into 2023 Officer Van ginsen was assigned as a patrol officer working the night shift in 2023 Officer Van grinman investigated over 30 driving while impaired traffic contacts this outstanding work led to the Forest Lake Police Department recommending him to the Minnesota Department of Transportation Office of traffic safety for recognition as a 202 3 DWI Allstar so far this year in 2024 Officer Van griman has investigated over 25 driving well impaired traffic contacts these contacts do not include the number of of Investigations officer grinman has assisted his partners with seeing his work towards Traffic Safety Officer Van ginen was selected to attend the International Association of chiefs of police drug evaluation and classification program where he was certified as a drug recognition expert in April of 2024 this this training and certification supports Officer Van grinman and his Partners through drug related driving while impaired investigations it was not long after Officer Van grinman began working in Forest Lake that it was apparent that he has a passion for Traffic Safety his dedication to seeing motorists drive safely through our community enforcing the laws and ordinances of our city and educating current and new drivers has without a doubt led to safer roads in Forest Lake today Bill hamus who is the toward zero death law enforcement Lea on for the office of traffic safety is here with us to help recognize Officer Van grinman for his work I'd like to invite Mr hamus up to say a few things thank you thank you sorry glad well good evening mayor council member City staff thank you for giving me a few minutes today um I want to start this out just by letting you know why this is so important so far this year 386 people have lost their lives on our roadways in Minnesota compared to 321 at this time last year at the rate we're going we will probably break 450 this year fatalities you got to go back to 2007 to see that kind of a number in the 8 Metro which is where I work we've lost 116 people and six of those have been here in Washington County yeah and you know people say well it's only six well that seems like a small number until it's somebody you know a relative a family member a friend whoever then suddenly that number be becomes very very big and that's why we do that so at the office Traffic Safety we have some recognition programs that we like to to present to officers throughout the throughout the state of Minnesota one of them is called the DWI Allstar recognition and what we do is agencies nominate officers to receive this recognition and that's the word I like to use is recognition because I consider this recognition of life-saving police work so agencies nominate officers in the top we'll call it performers in the state of Minnesota are selected and they are taken to a Twins game and I will tell you that the tickets are paid by private donations they get to go down onto the field they're they're recognized out at the field so 56 officers and two prosecutors were recognized at a Twins game this year we don't want to leave anybody behind though on this because this is too important so 26 officers were selected here in the 8 count metro area my area and those 26 are responsible for removing 8 102 impaired drivers last year off from our roadways officer and I'm going to look down van grinsven I I I know I'm going to mess that name up if I don't look at it real quick last year he arrested 32 impaired drivers and with that said I just want you to look around this room and ask ourselves this which one of us is here tonight because of the work that man has done last year I have no doubt people are alive up in this area because of this unbelievable work that he has done so with the honorable mention that's what these 26 are we have what we call the DWI Allstar towel and pin and that's why I'm here tonight to present so if you would come up here on behalf of the office of traffic safety I wanted to come here and just say first of all thank you for the work you've done and present you with this towel and I have the DWI Allstar pin right here for you I just want to say thank you keep it up you're saving lives and that's what this is all about and thank you all for letting me be here and thank you Chief Peterson and Sergeant for helping me set all of this up so with [Applause] that I'm going to make you come up one more congratulations once again and thank you for all of the great work work here in the city of Forest Lake we much appreciated I say this every time you are all welcome to stay we have a very entertaining agenda I also know that there is Refreshments upstairs and so if you want to take a few moments and go by all means thanks for being here all right next on our agenda is open Forum open Forum forum is any interested opportun interested parties opportunity to address Council on any topic of their choice is there anyone signed up for open Forum this evening good evening good evening mayor and councel thank you for the opportunity to give our opinion on certain things when I noticed it was going to be on the agenda the belts Park uh site design I thought I would call my former pro Commissioners that I dealt I served with to get their opinion and I was correct because I remember at the time we had come up with this idea of the parking lot and pretty much looked it over and decided it wasn't the time we didn't know if it'd be forever but for right now it wasn't the time time they wanted to use the grant money for the playground and the U Ada and so we're all hoping that tonight you'll give that the uh the right the red light no the green light he's got me all consumed with the traffic we have the green light that you'll go with option one thank you thank you anyone else for open Forum this evening and anyone online Jolene just want attendee online but not indicating any wish to speak okay with that we'll close open for and bring agenda back to council Council for your consideration this evening is our consent agenda we have items 7A through 70 on consent open to any motions or any changes I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda uh 7A through 70 second there's a motion and a second all those in favor signal by saying I I oppose and motion carries moving on to our regular agenda our first item this evening is item 6A consideration of the Delong sea um and ski base and the forest lake lake one letters of agreement and jelene thank you madam mayor members of council um this evening we're joined by Erica Delong who has requested that the city sign off on two letters of agreement related to the Sea and ski base private airport located at her home on Forest Lake um so the airport commission did review this this request at their October 2nd meeting they did recommend city council approval of the mayor's sign off on these letters of agreement a little bit of background um Miss Delong obtained her private airport license for this SE ski base and um this license is already approved it's not before Council for consideration um she's requesting that the city approve the letters of agreement which were provided in September and these letters of agreement would allow for this sea and ski plane base to operate on the same radio frequency as the Forest Lake airport and it would also reduce traffic pattern conflicts and remove traffic pattern overlap um traffic pattern overlap was a concern of the FAA it which resulted in them issuing an objectionable determination related to safe and efficient use of the airspace um the objectionable status was not a disapproval of this private Air Base it's just a recommendation for some um remediation to reduce any traffic pattern issues um again this request was reviewed by the airport Commission in October they did recommend approval to the city council for the signing off of these letters and Silas P parar of boltman M has also reviewed the same and has no concerns with the city moving forward with signing off on these letters um Miss dong is here this evening and is happy to answer any questions because she can speak to this much better than I can understood thank you Council any questions before we ask Miss if she has any comments for Council to consider this evening not seeing any questions from Council is there anything you want to present specifically to us certainly want to give you the opportunity if you'd like to mayor thank you and city council thank you um very excited to put the uh C plane base back on the map it was on the map for the last 60 years with uh Aviation it uh gave a specific spots so we could communicate with our SE planes also with the Forest Lake Airport it also gave us not only the location but it also gave us the elevation of the lake and also gave a point of contact so we're excited I'm excited to be able to uh carry on the tradition there I am a resident I live at 7353 Northshore Trail North and so I um uh ask for uh the approval normally this would be done um amongst uh uh Airport Manager to Airport Manager I'm the airport manager at my airport but we don't have one currently so that's why it was escalated up uh to you uh mayor Bane uh for your signature um and I I would thank you for that in advance just thank you while Mr long is still up any coun Council any questions all right thank you for being here this evening thank you there aren't any questions I think we're ready for a motion if if anyone's ready for that Madam M I make a motion that we approve the request as stated uh making sure that we are using the uh local fre quy at Forest Lake Airport second we have a motion council member husnik and a second from council member Ericson any further discussion hearing none all those in favor signal by saying I I I oppose and motion carries thank you for being here tonight all right our next item on our agenda is item 6B which is consideration of the network now comment letter and Abby thank you mayor B uh members of the council as a council's aware we recently provided some comment to the Metropolitan Council regarding their long range imagine 2050 plan they've released a new um the division of uh met Council met Transit has released a new concept plan known as Network now which is kind of a more shorter term plan the idea would be let's build their transportation system for the the needs that we have now as opposed to that long range 2050 plan um included in your packet tonight is a comment letter that I prepared on behalf for the council to submit to Metro Transit the Metropolitan council member and our sector representative so noted right away is met Transit routes 275b and 288 have been suspended since the pandemic and met Transit is proposing to eliminate those Al together so those are the two routes that run through the forest lake service center one of them that goes then into Columbus both of them going down into the cities um included in the draft letter indicates that we are not in support of this clearly we'd like to retain our mass transportation options and options for our residents even if they had been discontinued for some time um I note in the letter that even though we are an outlier maybe a little bit considered maybe more rural community in the Metro region we do have 50,000 people within the Forest Lake School District we're serving a regional influence and people are coming here to Transit down into the city um the Met Council requires us to develop an urban density and as such we should be providing those Urban amenities we have already been developing with higher densities around the transit center and now we're just requiring all of our existing and our future residents to be very car dependent um we I note that significant public investment has been uh has occurred not only in mass transportation but also public housing subsidies in the area of the transportation center and then um even though our op uh we we have the option of Transit link that's a door-to-door direct dial it's one of those services that most of our residents eligible to use um do have to schedule in advance it's typically that they're unable to accommodate same day services and then if they want to go to some of our neighboring communities outside of the Metropolitan region they're at a loss just for an example going to the hospital in Wyoming um I do also put into the letter at the request of the Planning Commission who reviewed this last week that met Council and met Transit if they are going to be removing the Mass Transit Transit opportunities in Forest Lake they should be considering um not requiring us to pay into the transit taxing district as well as uh eliminating or reducing the urban density requirements um simply put we're we're asked to being put into a system that our residents aren't directly benefiting from so um my recommendation for you is to discuss the draft letter see if there needs to be any Ed to it and then um essentially just providing me direction to submit that to the m Council for their Network Now concept plan thank you Abby Council any feedback that you we have for Abby as part of part of the feedback letter I um in reviewing the letter um I I think you've certainly struck the right tone and I I think the recommendation of the Planning Commission to include the if the service isn't going to be provided we shouldn't be paying into the the system that provides the service um I also just reflect on my own personal use of what what had been previously provided into both of the downtowns um there have been times where I personally have used those and like many times those those lines were at capacity and so um it's it's not just a what's needed but also historically we' demonstrated great utilization and over capacity utilization and so um what's frustrating is they have those numbers already and so certainly they know that and have choosen to not take that into consideration um but us to point that out that you know we have established a history of just High ridership um it would would have been my only ad would you like me to amend the memo to the letter to include that I don't I don't I'm open to council's feedback that would mean you're you're on signing this and you've actually ridden it wrote that so I think that's good feedack I mean it was there were there were days where I would choose to drive because the wait for the next bus was too long and it was likely I wasn't even going to hit the next bus and so I'm just going to drive in today um again this is dated but um our our population has only grown and um I would envision if those lines were to be restarted we would have a similar level of enthusiasm for it so um that I some you know some something of just specifically pointing to Historic ridership levels um that they were High um and I certainly can incorporate that and then any other changes that the commission or the council might like to see and then I think I just bet it through you mayor Bane that you're comfortable with the final draft question and maybe if I miss this is in the packet I missed I apologize but the the idea is this uh lack of funding or is it or ridership are they saying the contrary that the ridership just won't come back after the pandemic um they um the pandemic definitely changed patterns um they haven't done any testing in the forest lake Market but essentially what they're saying is that they want to concentrate their resources where there's the most amount of users and so I think that they're really concentrating them in high population centers um we would have access to facilities our residents and regions residents would have access to facilities in the Lio Lakes um service center and then in Blaine however it's really um the only area that I can see in the metro area when I'm looking at the network can now plan plan that we're just completely cut out um of anything to the community there's other communities that may have also had routes eliminated but they have a much shorter distance to a Transit Center or a route 10 minutes or less um so I it's really about them placing their resources where they have the highest amount I think of people um that's the only thing I can think of there really wasn't great explanation for it thank you I I would move that um Council approve the um the the feedback letter um with slight modifications as we've discussed tonight um be my motion is there a second I'll second it motion and a second any other discussion hearing none all those in favor signal by saying I I oppose motion carries Abby we can just work together on what that language looks like all right um next item this evening item 8 C the Fire Relief Association benefit level increase and chief mayor members of the council up for consideration is a benefit level increase uh for the fire department uh retirement account from a benefit level of $6,100 which it is currently $6,300 uh the relief Association is a nonprofit uh organization separate from the city of Forest Lake that's primary purposes to provide retirement benefits for uh firefighter once they've uh either reached the uh age of retirement and at least 10 years of service for a partial pension uh up to 20 years of service for a full pension the main funding source for the relief Association comes from a 2% tax on fire Insurance that's paid throughout any uh insured uh property in the state the relief Association is managed by uh members of the Forest Lake Fire Department through a board of directors uh the forest like mayor on that uh board of directors the fire chief the city administrator uh we meet uh up to 12 times a year and uh basically discuss and invest uh money for the uh retirement Association every year we're audited by uh third party auditor which is ABDO EAD Myers for the city of forest does auditing for the city of Forest Lake as well and to give you history where this benefit level increase uh that we've come up every year in approach counsil on is back in September 19th the relief Association approached the joint fireboard looking for an a mechanism where we could do automatic in small increases in the retirement uh fund if we're able to uh so that we're able to be funded over a certain uh percentage which is 150% uh funding level and that we would bring our audited results to the Joint fireboard each year and if we did reach that amount then they would vote to increase that funding um in September of 2024 we went to the Joint fireboard this year and and brought the edited reports which reflected 276 fun which is well above the 150% funding ratio and the joint fireboard unanimously approved to increase uh the retirement funding by $250 which would bring that um retirement annual uh benefit level to $6,350 and a requirement of the state is it needs to go in front of the council for ratification and that's what I'm here uh today for is to see if the council will approve that new benefit level of $6,350 thank you Chief um just one other point of context I would add just onto Chief's report is when the joint fire board reviewed the funding levels um there were a number of different um uh um Actuarial numbers that were presented that provided kind of three different perspectives of the funding level um and we were well above all all of those so it wasn't just we have one report that happens to show a you know a significantly overfunded status but there were three that are all showing various degrees of conservatism but all showing a a very healthy um fund balance which was really part of the discussion of if the goal is to increase um retention of um paidon paidon call Firefighters um let's put this money to work and let's increase the benefit minimally this year and maybe consider a um suggested change in the future um when we started this staged approach we thought you know let's start with $200 and see how it goes um I think there's some good evidence that that should be increased um we didn't want to make all of that commitment in one year so hence the modest increase to 250 and a commitment back to the fireboard to continue that conversation in in 20125 so um with that I would move that Council approve the fire benefit um relief level increase as presented by Chief oh second um and any discussion I jumped right into making a motion but no this this has been well funded and the numbers are are there and and uh when I served on the joint fireb too it's been well uh managed and certainly has my support So any other points of comment questions all right we have a motion on the table and a second all those in favor signal by saying I I oppose and motion carries thank you Chief um next item this evening we have two items related to belts Park first is uh related to the site approval and Madame mayor I think you um went past oh I did I did let's go let's back to um 8D thank you um the fla Fe fee waiver request also babes Mar c so as as you know we enter in a a prior to use agreement with with fly every year um last year's agreement had them paying the city $30,000 for that prior to use um as you also know we did a field rehab out there this fall which uh ended up closing the field so uh fall ball could not happen and football moved to the high school so with that happening uh flah has sent a a letter which is attached to the the memo uh requesting relief uh in the amount of $15,000 for their their portion of the Fall Sports uh Cal did looked into the agreement and looked to what they're they're charging their users he came up to a total of $12,900 that the that softball and football paid into this agreement to use these fields in the fall um so yeah it's a a it's a shortfall for us just being that we plan that that $30,000 it goes into the scheduling system that we have a contract with the school district we also use that to um do the treatments of weeds and and fertilization that contract happens so we roughly spend that have spent that already this year um so the city would be we short that that that whatever we return back to them and also um the city also put a almost a substantial amount almost $200,000 in those fields too so really here tonight to to get the council's way in um on on what what you would like to do and we could bring that back to memorialize that that agreement thank you Dave Council feedback for da and are you looking for a recommendation tonight or are you looking for an action are you looking for an action uh tonight we're looking for recommendation then we we' bring that bring that back in the form of a resolution or a motion Council feedback for Dave just so uh Dave if you could uh reiterate we have spent those funds I mean the funds of what the dollar amount that they're requesting that be sent back is those dollars have been spent y we spent we spent approximately believe $122,000 for field scheduling and the feralization was just right approximately $115,000 and then the balance use either goes into programming or just maintenance to offset all the other activities we do out there so this project out there has been in the works for quite some time what's the communication been like between all you know impacted parties yep so uh Council that approved the project in I believe May or June the contractor said they were going to wait to do it about September um Kyle who did work at the school district uh put every on a notice at the beginning of August that uh the fields would be blocked out beginning of September 1 and was trying to coordinate with them to use School Fields that's how the football got to the high school and softball had fall on some other place I think one League just didn't have fall ball in this area and traveled somewhere else Abby just to clarify Abby just let me know they so they haven't paid the $15,000 they paid the first $15,000 they have not paid so they're asking to not pay at all or whatever the council decides what what that that amount would be so how longstanding has this agreement been this is I don't know what it's been two or three years that this agreement so they didn't sign the agreement till March everything's been lagged back for past few years where agreements didn't happen till March or April the prior year this year we're hoping to have it approved by the end of the year so we have this figured out I mean we we budgeted for this last year you know so I mean we've known for a year that this was going to happen um and that fields are going to be unusable I guess I don't feel quite right accepting money from a nonprofit that wasn't even able to use the fields which we've all known is going to be the case for a year so it's my my only yeah my my only hesitant is on the timing of the request like in a perfect world this would have been thought about you know by both parties upstream and we wouldn't have budgeted for it knowing that the fields were going to be unusable um but that didn't happen and so because this is this the first time that we've had any in the letters dated the second is this the first inclination we've had that this was that this request was coming they had just given us the notice we maybe knew a few weeks before we got the letter okay um to council member Ericson's Point um we did sign the agreement after the budget was adopted I don't know necessarily if the communication was the most um we were maybe behind on communication there we certainly knew the project was happening but this is just another example of why it was such a great move to move parks in into one division or one Department right the the we didn't necessarily have that cross communication going on um I will also just note that um we've had the agreement the use agreement with fla since 2021 um we did do the analysis of the $30,000 about $112,000 is dedicated to those fall Sports so um it there would be probably a few thousand dollars that still would have maybe be applied to those spring sports that were able to use the fields what do we do with the um what if we approve this where does that money come from how do we fill that Gap right now the the 30,000 is split between Public Works and Parks programming so the shortfalls have to make up somewhere in one of those two departments as the memo said that we didn't have a park and R coordinator for three months so my next question question what 6 months felt like longer uh so I mean yeah you have that available fund balance so the money that was dedicated for has been spent but there there's there's probably funds available to to make up for that shortfall it feels to me like it's the right thing to do of fields weren't available let's not charge the typical fee and let's wave the typical fee um even if it is a bit of a last minute request sounds like there are some options in fund balance given some staffing vacancies to fund it um do we agree to wave the whole 15 or just 12 that's tied to the false boards 12 their number is 12 our estimation of their number 12 is the number that Kyle got from flaw for the what those what flaw would charge these user groups for for the use of fall sports but they're asking for 15 they're just asking so we the payments come for spring and then fall they just split it in half so they're asking just the W of the Fall payment and K has done the math to say this is technically what the fall Sports pay for it's not to aby's point it's not really split 50/50 and usage it's heavier in the spring I could go either way yeah you know the the fact that they had some issue with not being able to use part of it I mean that makes a difference too so um that there was some kind of a compromise i' sure think about that um maybe not the full5 maybe I don't know and last thing I want to do though was get into a I know this is a this is a many many many year relationship that um has gone very well and um they do a lot of great work so I'd hate I I can see an argument for 12 I'm going to be hard pushed to make that motion I if I'm making the motion it would be 15 but I support that I would move that I move that um Council approve the payment relief of $155,000 as requested by flaw is there a second second we have a motion and a second any further discussion hearing none all those in favor signal by saying I I I oppose and motion carries okay uh moving on to eight now moving on to 8e our belts Park items and let's start first with our site approval um for the site improvements Dave you want to start us on this yep uh we were here on October 14th uh brought up four different options for site plan um city council kind of throughout the do nothing and throughout the doing last year's option the one with the brand new park on the bottom and additional Trails so we we kind of focused in on option options one and options two do you want me to put them up on the screen so everybody can see them or you have them there you could pull them up that'd be helpful this would be option one that has takes advantage of the existing pedestrian facilities when we did the the Court Rehab we made that the courts 8 and2 bigger on the north than um East Side to accommodate ADA Compliant uh sidewalks this would extend that trail to 11th Avenue Southeast TI in the Pavilion and then provide a 10-ft trail down a cshore drive redo the the sidewalk along cell Shore Drive to make it an 8 compliant and add a trail or pedestrian facility feature to the the existing ball field as all all the men at the park have to be 80 accessible option two is identically the same with everything I said except for adding a 24 spot parking lot central location inside the park at that last meeting I said I was going to try to get better costs for the playground itself it seemed that uh city council is all in favor of getting that exact quote for a playground and Bolton M provided estimated prices for option one and option two so on the screen is with option one um adding the playground plus the site work minusing off the $300,000 Grant would give the city cost and that final final uh role so option one the city would expense 40 444,000 approximately to do uh the playground and the pet facilities and option two this city would pay 579,000 to add the parking lot in which is roughly $135,000 uh just to point out too I know the last one uh last meeting we got in the weeds a little bit about the parking agreement um neither one of these options require a shared parking agreement um both of them meet their ADA compliance would meet the grant requirements to get that $300,000 so they're partially intertwined but they're they're separate of each other so the city could overall they could pick option two with a parking lot and still have a shared parking lot agreement or pick option one and decide not to have a shared parking lot agreement they're they're together but they're for Grant purposes and for the site work they're not they're that's not required to do either have an agreement or not have an agreement it's been brought up with the parkks commission as we've gone through this a need for parking um but it's but the facilities that we lay out on option one and two will both will both meet the grant requirements rest of the stuff we've kind of gone through a bunch of time so I'm here to answer questions staff still uh would recommend option two just for the summer and winter sports with the parking lot decentralized location having to only do storm storm water um bmps once and just a like I said a centralized location for for these future facilities but we're looking for direction from Council the night to either go with option one and option two and bring this to the DNR to get approval which other option we have then we come back uh seek approval for plans and specs uh to put them together work with the Watershed to um meet their St water requirements and hopefully come back hopefully January February with um authoriz and for forbid thank you Dave yep Council um I uh I made a motion in our last meeting to move ahead with option two and then we ultimately decided to table that um just some additional visibility of information that um council member Ericson and I were able to um obtained when we sat down with staff as part of our kind of in our role as the the administration committee and talking with staff um what became apparent was that we have we H we meet the requirements for the grant and we meet the requirements for parking um without a parking lot we don't need the parking lot to do that um as Dave pointed out we also don't need the parking lot agreement with the church to do that either um and so there really is a a fair number of options for parking um and personally I I just think about where we are with this plan and needing to make some concrete decisions on belts Park um I have appreciated the reminder that the cost of the playground equipment that is on our agenda tonight has only continued to increase and it's and also we are due for another price increase and SO waiting is becoming very expensive um and if you look at the diagram on the screen the amount of real estate that is to parking is a fair amount and might be a good idea may not be a good idea um we have potentially new staff coming or new Council coming on board here with after after the election will be seated in 2025 um new city administrator um Parks Commission that will be seated there are a lot of new people that will be at the table um that may have all sorts of opinions on whether Park how we support parking longterm um that there is some benefit on getting some of that feedback and a more consensus of what the rest of the park layout is going to look like it's kind of got me pivoted back to option one of Let's um do the playground equipment I do think in the short term we should enter into a we should pursue a short-term agreement with the church we don't need to approve that tonight but I do think it is something we should consider um but I parking lot or no parking lot there are some broader part considerations that are impacted by that decision it's a lot of real estate if we make that commitment tonight that real estate doesn't come back um we don't have to and yet we can still move ahead with a great you know playground and some of the improvements that we've Wanted still taking advantage of the grant um to me option one is certainly the bright light we should do this option um if we felt like we had consensus that parking I think now is the time to make that decision I just feel like we're not ready to make that decision and again with new entrance coming on um here early 2025 we could still decide that but we don't need to decide that this evening and it's a pretty foundational part to the park one thing about option one I mean as far as the real difference between the two is just the parking area it is it just seems to me that uh there something didn't work out with option one that you could always that could always be in the background someplace you know and so I I would agree that we could try option one and I go from there yeah and I I think also the clarification that the parking lot isn't required for the grant I think preservation of you using those Grant dollars was important and so having that Clarity that that wasn't needed helped me to kind of evolve back to we can have a great option here in the short term and do some great work on option one that would be my preference I I agree and what scares me about um I think that clarification is great because I think the last time we met on it and I wasn't here how I read the packet was it meant to be that the parking lot was needed in order for for us to get the Grant and so I'm happy to hear that that's not the case because looking at where the parking lot goes in this green space it takes up a lot of green space for the park um and so I think as you and council member husnik both mentioned we can always add it on in the future but I think this is just the safe bet of we get the grant it still moves us forward and we are finally doing something with bels Park yeah I I I would agree I've been supportive of of one from last me nothing's changed there it gives us more options it tell your points mayor about bringing and you know have a new new people at the table here in a couple months and and let's get it built out right and get everyone's opinion and not Corner ourselves or make a decision where we have to now all of a sudden Design This Park based on this this parking lot yeah I appreciate that um what you know I I appreciate staff's kind of made it clear what we need to decide on what we don't need to decide on um although it's not a requirement that we enter into a parking agreement I think we should at least explore to see if we are able to come to terms on a parking agreement um and so I'd like whatever motion that we make tonight to also be to instruct staff to continue those conversations to see if again we can reach those terms um let's I'd like us to bring that at least have some options of deciding if that's worth bringing back um other than one of the options is not pursuing anything and I think that's I I don't know if we're at that spot here at least in the near term um I think there's we should explore what that looks like because clearly we we have a shared parking lot and our users of the park are using that parking lot and so what does that look like um and are we within a if we're able to come to an agreement I'd like to see us do that I would agree any other points of comment or clarification questions for Dave well I've I've talked about the motion I would make so why don't I just do that um I would approve I I would motion that Council approve option one as presented in our packet and instruct staff to um pursue a parking lot agreement with the church bring that back to council if that is a viable alternative a second have a motion and a second any further discussion hearing none all those in favor signal by saying I I I oppose and motion carries all right quick followup to this item is approval of the playground equipment Dave do you want to walk us through what's in our packet Yep this is the portion two to the the grant project is adding this playground and um surfacing as you read in the memo this this playground was approved back in 2022 uh the same playground was approved in the new container that they were they were going to build on the South Side so um staff doesn't have any thought that the DNR is not going to approve this it's already been approved once uh the only change is that it it moves to the existing container up on top I can show you so in the packet uh just for folks at home to see this as well this is this is that container that's existing up right now with the fly wood railing and other pieces that are falling falling apart it would the the wood or the rubber mulch would all get removed by public works and repurposed at fway Park Cedar Park Clear Lake to top all these containers off so we'll take advantage of all this extra rubber mulch in that that playground uh the and the surfacing all be poured in place on top like I said this was all um approved this layout was approved by the Parks Commission um this this vendor this this layout with all the same components the only thing that was taken out uh last year to try to buy the price down was the the shade structures and we added them back in it's it's I think important people ask for that all the time of where shade and my Parker you know the kids are playing out in the sun so we added them back in on some of those features as you can see uh over the 2 to five and then over the the 5 to 12 that would be the only change that would was initially approved we removed it to try to buy that price down and and come back up we also went out and um this is a little TI structure we also went to game time to and gave them the requirements for the the grant uh they came back with a price of about 585,000 so this is what ex what originally was uh preferred there and does show that it's uh cheaper than at least a lower lower cost and another competitive bit uh prices do go up November 1st uh as the mayor had said so uh if approved tonight we would sign that that quote and get it over to North End Rec for them to place that order to to save another markup um figer 13 weeks for to build it and the ship it if it gets here before spring we will just store at public works and then um they will install it once spring come summer comes along you may have to figure out how we if we want to do the site work first and have them come in second or do this first and then have the site work second we'll just have to figure out that staging but either way both will'll have no problem getting done in the summer and wrapped up by by next fall uh any questions you have for me um otherwise just looking for a motion to approve this plr thank you Dave Council any questions for Dave no I'll make a motion to approve the purchase of the playground equipment and servicing for belts Park from Northland Recreation for $533 753 second there is a motion from council member Ericson a second from council member husik any discussion hearing none all those in favor signal by saying I I I opposed and our motion is carried that ends our regular agenda we are going to move into a discussion topic this evening I'm just a reminder the discussion topics are more of a working session of council informal in nature anything we talk about that will require official action will come back before council at a future meeting um and then we will move from there into staff updates and then we do have a closed session scheduled for later um at the end of our agenda as well um um with that let's move into our discussion topic and um Kevin and Dave I think your tag team in this yes it's mayor in city council uh so it's a brief introduction at the workshop last week um discussing the media landscaping around about refresh project uh there's a question brought up about possibly bonding for this project uh so included uh in your packet is uh this a couple bonding scenarios on what that would look like uh the first scenario is a $1 million Bond being paid back over 20 years at 3 and a half% uh you'd be paying interest of just over $400,000 estimated um in that case and then also if it would be paid back over 10 years instead it would cut that interest down to about 227 estimated so uh this was information requested from Council so Dave and myself are here to answer any questions that you have regarding this funding or the project itself thank you Kevin Council we had a lot of discussion on this topic at our Workshop um interested in hearing how thoughts have evolved on the project timing of the Project funding of the project um anyone wake up wake up the next morning with any ahas um so uh to answer your question yes uh Sleepless that night after a discussing this it was my idea to potentially bring this to a bonding situation and it was probably more getting caught up in the excitement of what could be done and get it get the project done and and do what we want to do by rehabbing those medians um I think though we need to hit a pause button here uh this dollar amount has gone up doubled what was projected or what what saff had put there as as a placeholder for the 10-year budget uh and so what started really from just uh myself and council member Ericson specifically asking for some more maintenance and rehab and weeding of these medians in certain public areas uh escalated quickly to to doing a uh uh looking through the looking at this doing a study and then next thing you know we're at $1.4 million and so uh I personally think we need to put this on pause I think we need to put some of that money that was budgeted to if is requires hiring additional uh seasonal help in public works uh going through those we have we did do the study which is great to have we can maybe just pick and choose as time goes on but this is just with all the other issues going on in the city as much as I'm all about Aesthetics and wanting this to to the city to look better we need to still move forward and kind of take it in Little Bites um but this this dollar amount just is way more than I had anticipated uh when we agreed to do the study other thoughts yeah I think you know that having having had that study done and seeing an outsider's view of what could or should be I think is very valuable um I think we during the workshop we talked about a number of different ideas about engaging the state and the county and you know sequencing some of those aspects um to get their timing and their possible you know partnership on some of that stuff so I think that's still definitely needs to be pursued um I think there's some relatively easier things about that you know like concreting some of those fingers that would just clean up certain areas so I would I would like to see us take a more phased approach um still pursue this um but probably not at the the clip that we were all talking about last week um or the at the at at that level of expense Dave I know this hasn't been a very long time but did you talk to the county Folks at all or so the the estimate that was brought up by staff when we did that estimate it it didn't tie in the North and South roundabouts so that wasn't included in that original estimate and it didn't uh take into account that parking lot and adding that that planter so we are working with contractors the two irrigation sites that I think will also bring that down I still think that we're pretty close to that original estimate minus those two roundabouts those are just kind of added on of hey since we're doing the study let's let's add these on the two roundabouts meaning the 97 roundabouts 97 and 61 so they weren't part of that first estimated 775 and then like you said that we added the parking lot and and that other container you know for public parking too so that that wasn't initially part of it as far as timing goes and staging out I think I still think that's possible I think like the Seventh Street we'd want to try to grab that when the Count's doing their rehab just because I don't think we're going to want to go on there and and pop curb after the fact they come through um the concrete and the medians can come at a different point in time where we can you know hire a contractor and set up traffic control and dig them out and kind of creep them in um if we can if we keep that funding for the next few years I think after our next Workshop if we have a more accurate number and trying to see those blocks I think we could still take advantage of these junks and you know adding trees and fixing irrigation and stuff like that for that that dedicated amount I I wouldn't want to just walk away from it I think we could we could probably still do upgrades and I don't think it'll be that that million dollars um and just uh CS point there might be some where we can get in on other people's projects and help buy down some of these costs too so really that study is we're hoping to get a yes we like this plan let's go with this plan and then after that we can try to bite bite those chunks off but I I I just don't want to see us walking away from that at least I mean I I can see the increased maintenance and and doing stuff but if we have a plan and we have some funding dedicated for it I'd like to see if we can as a group figure out which ones we can kind of pluck off and in what kind of staging to do that so it's just my two cents in that whole thing how much Dave in so on one hand I I I think one of the reasons we ended up in the conversation we ended up in our last meeting was because PE I think everyone liked the plan I think we like well yes let's do it and also while the county is in doing Broadway let's Maybe take a big chunk and hence the question came up of would we just you know do while we're doing it let's just do it all um which now we've seen that number and have had some time to reflect and that's too much but if if we say we like that plan is there a financially feasible option that makes that plan still attainable I I wouldn't want us to kind of give a nod to a plan if it's just you know the plan to drive a Maserati and we're just never we're going to do that um but if there's a way that we can take that plan and over longterm phase it in then I'm I'm more comfortable with us saying that it's the right one yeah and I and I think dialing those numbers in we're going to get a better idea of what that irrigation repair is I I think even when I looked at it on the workshop I thought well that's way too high concering what you know was originally kind of my estimate out of there um I mean it could be a a project the 12th and Broadway comes in at you know under six figures to redo all the entire irrigation and plant some trees right and then that that could be it then we have that chunk done and 19th Street was not only but it was planting five trees and residing the the median and then adding a tree in the middle you know so there's if you break them off and kind of back down to those smaller chunks and try to to chip away at them and then also take advantage of if there if the state does the roundabout where we could grab all of those fingers maybe they'll stay mulch for three four five years until they come through there but then you can grab them when it happens but if you at least you know the plan where it's guiding you where you can PL stuff even to the parking lot if we're in the neighborhood of a road project where we could add that to the project you know it's stuff like that but if we don't have a plan then it's hard to try to interject when we can to try to find ways to pay for it so that was really that main goal of these workshops is to and I and to your point I think you guys all liked it it's just that final step of saying yeah this is what we like well let's figure out how to do it as you know economic as possible and and improve it as we go other points of feedback so we have a compon there is a component to 2025 that is for this project right it's is it 10,000 um we have a tax levy of 145,000 in the 2025 budget currently and so it and that's over five years oh right so it seems that so Council I'm just trying to condense our feedback here is overall still favorable to the plan we would appro we would prefer a phased approach that more closely follows what's currently built into the the 10-e plan from an annual spending does that feedback give you enough for where we sit today so we have that upcoming Workshop in in November and that'll hopefully we'll have refined costs all for the irrigation and talking with we talk with the county and minda to see if any of that you know will will come out of it and to help some cost savings so then hopefully in that chart that he has it kind of breaks down each stage as they'll have be a little more ACC accurate you know and then hopefully that approval of the plan and then and then figure out what we want to implement first of that 145,000 what would we like to do which I would recommend that sth street to to probably do that one and and then whatever else we want to kind of add in for that year makes sense just to confirm that that that what we'll see next will come a little bit more detail than just hand sketched drawings on there or do you think that would be that would be I I directed him to come to that Workshop to come up with a quote to turn these sketches into an actual artist rendering slash um Landscaping plans you know and that's that's what you would bid your work off of those plans so basically he's for what we're paying him right now is his Concepts like he's doing drawings over top of Aerials that next step would be you know hopefully on the 25th to you know approve approve the actual plan and then maybe part of that 145,000 is to have them design plans and specs and artists rendering to to have that anything else Council anything else on this topic staff anything else do you need of council yeah there's anything else you want us to look into between between now and that Workshop in November just just let me know or or let Jolie know and and we'll do some more math or do some figuring or how you want stuff broke out just so we have everything you want to look for for that Workshop so we everything put together right very good uh let's move on to staff updates and we'll start with Jolene um just sure you all aware we're in the home stretch for 2024 election season here so early voting remains open at the service centered down the road um they'll be open on Saturday and Sunday as well to uh process ballots for early voters so do you know the hour on long today what do you know the hours on the weekend I believe 9 to3 I'll verify and send that out the weekly update and Saturday and Sunday correct fabulous other updates though um the only update I have is we have released uh the hometown holiday save the date the sponsorship opportunities and volunteer opportunities you all get an email yet this evening it's drafted I just got a hitson as well as Planning Commission Eda to share that out with your networks that we're looking for people and um volunteers or volunteers and and money to help U run the event so thank you thanks Abby Dave I just want update the seems like the leaves all decided to fall just last week all at once same day so uh we have two two sweepers out trying to knock down the streets and the compos is is full we had to come and push up on Saturday night they couldn't get their cars around the circle through there they had leaves packed up all the way to the the Hut we had out there so hauling leaves uh transferring them out and street sweeping is taking up a lot of our time right now uh just one update and at Friday at 7: a.m. Force like fire was requested out for a structured fire on Northshore Drive when h fire Crews arrived we had a uh fairly well involved structure uh ended up having seven received Mutual aid from Seven uh fire departments Force slake police M Health uh assisted with it uh no injuries rescued two cats um unfortunately the house is a total loss and uh fire is currently under investigation fire Crews cleared around 10 p.m. that night wow that was a long day 10 pm. it's a long day thank you Chief yep um Amanda yeah Council just a reminder that this Friday is uh interview day for the city administrator position uh so lunch will be at noon and then the interviews following that and then Council deliberations um I believe shortly before this meeting uh Carl sent out the sort of final final packet on each of the two finalists so just a reminder a lot of that information is still confidential for For Your Eyes Only the um department head panel and the stakeholder panel won't be getting all of the same information that you have they will have the resume but they won't have that that thorough background check analysis um this week I will be sending you or Julene one of us will be sending you the questions not that you have to follow them but you know just sort of some recommended questions to think about for your interview likewise we'll be providing questions for the stakeholder and the department head meetings the plan is that I will be with the stakeholders jilling will obviously be with the department heads um and similar to last time we'll run it where there'll be a representative from both panels who can um provide you with some feedback um at your 430 deliberation thank you questions about that day just reminder for those watching that that meeting is open to the public public is welcome yes absolutely thank you um Ryan mayor state counc just a couple updates uh well we got through the bulk of the work on Everton Avenue or County State a Highway 33 it's a realignment of Menard's driveway is nice if you haven't had a chance to drive that yet extra queuing distance between Broadway and their entry into their main store is definitely a nice safety Improvement there and hopefully that's uh works very well moving forward uh also we had a meeting with washingt County last week they received some federal funding in regards to go to the intersection of trunk Highway 61 in County Road 50 so they'll be sending out an RP for Professional Services here shortly and then they'll be working through a design process the project does need to follow the federal process and with the airport and mot so they're allowing some ample time there into the construction season which they're planning a 2028 construction project uh without looking anything or doing an ice uh study they'll do a intersection control study as well but uh most definitely looking at some sort of a intersection control change and Improvement which will would either be obviously a roundabout or a signal so that's kind of in the works you'll hear more about that as that proceeds but just want to give you guys an update there is some things going on there because I believe we actually just had another recent accident in that location too so Hope's coming that's all I got yeah as as that project opens up for public comment and com public is able to weigh in um I know that there's a lot of feedback um when the project is ready for it on Project intersection control Washington County knows that they they should be uh thinking ahead about public engagement meetings up here they do a good job so that's good did you say 2028 is the anticip 28 construction 28 okay very good uh Council I almost forgot you Kevin my apologies go ahead U this one update for Council is a reminder that the budget online survey is open through October 31st so if you see any residents or anyone listening I encourage them to fill that out so then we can have that uh to council for our meeting on November 12th after our inperson uh budget open house thank you Kevin Council updates council member Ericson no no updates tonight council member husik I attended a u Schoolboard meeting it lasted about 45 seconds last time I just happened to be there because of there was a football game for my grandson so this is was their their second meeting and they just go pay the bills and take care of the cons Jen and that was so that was it thank you very good council member valento no updates tonight council member Robert I'm sorry uh no updates I do just have a couple questions for for Dave uh it we each all received emails regarding some concern on screening at the new uh portable bathrooms locations at Castlewood uh any thoughts on that and be able to work with the resident there and then the other question is has the we been had chance to meet with the contractor out at the pickle ball courts uh as far as the pickleball courts the contractor hasn't been back in town because they got the wrong screens or the wrong fence it's supposed to be 10-ft fence and 8ot fence showed up so he went to other projects so I did talk to him last Monday or Tuesday and the next time he's in town we will go over there and take a look take a look at that so either whatever needs to be done should not get done until next next year anyway so I mean it would still get an idea of what to look like but there's definitely not a rush on trying to fix something in this temperature as as far as screening I mean we can depends what we want to do if we want to screen all of our enclosures um I mean those closures were out there for 25 years they didn't have screening on it um we're just we're just following our code and that residence about 500 feet away from that enclosure so I guess I don't I would be looking back for direction of how when we want to try to make four-sided screens or or which direction we just follow the code and don't face it towards the Streeter and Jason Property Owners um if if we want to add more it just adds cost and then it's do we do we make that a standard where every enclosure we have we we do that or is it on complaint based or I guess I just I don't know I I need direction on on what to do there um how many many are there I mean what is the if we were to say yes we want to move from and I don't expect you to have this number off the top of your head but be helpful to know like is this a decision for five structures is this a decision for 50 structures say it's between 15 and 20 say and currently we are enclosing on three sides three sides where the door is and just for maintenance so right and to get them in and out during the winter time because the only one that stays year round is belt spark and then the the the challenge in this particular property is that the person that has reached out is on the side of the fourth side it would be facing yeah so it's there's a house to the north there's a house to the South the street is to the east so we faced it down the Fairway to the west and the houses are off to the side so indirectly facing that direction and the reason why they well number one they're 25 years old so they're falling apart but number two we move we moved locations for both of them to get them close to a golf cart path because last year we couldn't maintain them for about two months because they were in a such a spot where the service truck couldn't get to them so it's it's some of it's screen and some of it's just it's in a new spot right it's not not where it was for the last 20 years and now it's noticeable it's just in a different spot there just two at Castlewood there's two correct yep it's just a in our Park system we have them everywhere that are facing in directly at people's houses so if that's why I said I just I need direction of is do we set our new standard that we do foursided or do we wait if someone complains then we decide if we want to make them foresighted mayor I drove out there no please go ahead I drove out there yesterday morning and I mean the one structure that's closest to the road you can see it's falling apart and that's Facing East um to the houses that across the street and the new one is just a little bit further north it's still facing the same way right I mean the bathroom doors faed houses across the street for 25 years the other one it's on the same green it's just pointing in a different direction the new structure correct it's moved a little to the Northeast and then it used to face the opening fa North and now it faces West and there's houses there that it faced as well I mean you I actually like the idea of maybe workshopping get clarity of how many of these structures we have because I think of the one nearest you know bayew Park that's facing a home you know and you know maybe there's something to be said for planting a couple of bushes around them or yeah you know doing better screening better screening um they're in proximity to you know X distance so I'd I'd like to see this Workshop this and just figured out because I don't think it should be complaint based but I also think we complain based probably could you know there's a pathway to better appearance May yeah I just wanted to add I was going to suggest that we bring this back to council for a more robust discussion so that Council can actually provide direction to staff on these kind of items um we also would like to bring back just to get formal council approval to move forward with some more in-depth clearing of the property at the airport the house out there um just so that we're getting all of council updated on what some suggested directives have been but getting the full Council on board with directing staff to move those initi Ives forward so I would suggest that we bring the request for looking at some other enclosure options back at a future meeting or Workshop November workshop's getting a little tight so we could either add it on as a regular agenda item um at our last meeting in November or discussion but that wouldn't provide Council the opportunity to give any directives or make any action so agree that's my suggestion bring back up bring back both topics to fut future meeting with broader discussion yeah okay um anything else okay uh no updates from from me either um and so that is the end of our planned agenda and we can move into our Clos session um I would move that Council move into close session persu to Minnesota statute 13 d 03 for consideration of Labor negotiation strategy a motion is there a second a second a motion and a second all those in favor signal by saying I I oppose and motion carries we're in close session we will come back into open session after that meeting just to adjourn um because we are at the end of our agenda we're in close session [Music]