[Music] good evening everyone tonight is August 14th 2024 it is 6:01 p.m. and I would like to call to order the city of Columbus city council meeting for tonight our first shorter business will be the Pledge of Allegiance please join [Music] us I pledge Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic [Music] Nation uh our next order of business is letter B the consent agenda would someone like to make a motion to approve the agenda I I move to approve the agenda for August 14 2024 city council meeting is there a second this is janed I second uh I'll call for the vote Rob I Rob yep Janet I sue I Ron I and Jesse I uh so the next is the consent agenda I'm sorry the next is the consent agenda y I'm sorry uh would someone like to make the motion to approve that so this is Janet um I move to approve consent agenda removing items number one and two due to numerous errors so it' be just number three approving the bill payments this is Su all second we have a motion and a second any other questions or discussions I'll call for the vote Rob I Janet I sue I Ron I and Jesse I the mayor I request um permission to just make one more motion sure go ahead um so I think you have all noticed that I pull the minutes almost every meeting and it's um due to not not having them be at the at the level we want them to be we had uh engaged in a contract with um Time Savers hoping that that would get us our minutes faster and they would be um well constructed but we've had problems with lots of errors and so I would like to uh make the motion to terminate the contract with timesavers um in the interim we'll check with our contractor um our media contractor to see if she's capable of taking this on I think she did that when she was in monacello um or if she knows somebody who isn't and the staff would have to um you know take on this until we get another vendor in place can you clarify who the backup is the interim who did you say was going to do it oh I was going to I'm meeting with Haley the um media consultant that we hired and she I believe told us that she did this um this was one of her jobs when she was in Melo so she may be willing to take it on under her contract if she's not um then the staff will have to take it on just like they did the past until we come up with another solution okay so Rob here uh the question I have on that is uh would that that Haley would that just be for their interim until we got someone hired to help Jack with that assistant administrator position and then roll it back to them maybe or it's that's possible I mean I I I'm not I don't know if she will be willing to do it um but I think you know we could we could approach it as an interim solution and if it turns out that she's she's willing to do it ongoing that that'd be fine with me too okay one one one other option we could look at too on that is that there may be somebody local that does that so we could actually put out some ads and uh advertise it but I think what Jan's proposing that haly would be considered an interim solution and staff would be a backup okay okay so that's my motion okay I'll second that so we have a a motion and a second any other questions or discussion I just I just want to be clear cuz I I don't want to confuse this because I voted against hiring that Haley cuz obviously you all know I bring up the fact that I want to keep stuff in house and not contracted as much um so that is why I'm going to vote no on this I just wanted that to be clear why I was going to be saying no so thank you for that clarification so you're not hanging out there like what's going on yeah so Rob no Janet I sue I I and Jesse I thank you uh public open forum is there anyone online or here who would like to speak at public open Forum the Columbus Lions would we're not on the agenda is this not what we would jump in you're not on the agenda we are not Oh I thought they were no that's the Forest Lake Lions okay sure come on sry lions lions everywhere for Lake lions are stomping on your ground pull your microphones real close so we can hear you so lion Gina Sherin and lion dick how from the Columbus Lions we are just here to see about getting our liquor license approved for both us this year I think all of our documents have been submitted to Lori and as far as I know we have nothing outstanding so okay so when will we approve that next meeting can we we can or do we do it tonight what is the application for Gina the liquor license for the Fall Fest we'll have to get that we'll we can approve that that's be on the next agenda meeting because we like to do some notifications on that so when did you get that to last week okay and it may have been the everything went out I think I got it to maybe last Friday and we'd already put the the packet out and we said we could do it on the 28th then okay of August of August correct y okay so I I I'll get up with her make sure we have everything and we'll get that on the meeting for the 28th okay should we be here then or do we not need to be probably be a good idea in case somebody had any questions questions okay perfect yes yeah we definitely want to get that ped yeah we can't have so we can make it bigger and better yep we're excited yes there are too so good all right thank you we'll see you on the 28th yes anyone else for public open Forum all right and then we'll move on to the Forest Lake Lions Club tipboard sale that's Pages 1 through five in our packet thank you Jesse the Lions Club of forest lake has submitted a request to the city of Columbus to conduct the sale of tip board tickets pursuant to Minnesota statutes section 349 171 in connection with the city Fall Fest event on September 21st 2024 the Lions Club of forest lake is a nonprofit organization and has previously submitted a Minnesota lawful gambling application to the gambling control board there have been no problems with previous City one-day Gambling License reviews and approval recommendation to the State Office of alcohol and gambling enforcement for the Forest Lake Lions Club sponsored activities State Statute 39.2 one3 requires that a city approve by resolution and two-thirds vote the approval of an off-site gambling application within its jurisdiction staff recommends the city of Columbus approve the gambling premise permit for the Lions Club of forest lake to conduct the sale of tip board tickets on September 21st 2024 at 16319 Kettle River Boulevard Columbus men Minnesota in accordance with the terms and requirements of the Minnesota gambling board okay I'll make the motion that uh we approve resolution 24-7 for the foresake lands tipboard sale is there a second Rob I'll second are there any other questions or discussion so can I just ask what a tip board ticket is it's for the meat raffle that's for the meat Raff just a term that they use so that and that will be at the Fall Fest because it's on our Fall Fest day that's right okay yep all right I'll call for the vote Rob I Janet I sue I Ron I Jesse I all right we're going to have a meet ra uh item number three uh Fall Fest B license and that's Pages 6 through n in our packet the Lake Center for Youth and families has submitted an application to the city of Columbus to conduct bingo in connection with the city Fall Fest event on September 21st 2024 the city of Columbus did not find any outstanding issues or does not have any knowledge of adverse consequences related to issuance of gambling permiss premises permit for this group the lake senent for Youth and families is a nonprofit organization and has previously submitted a Minnesota lawful gambling application to the city and the gambling control board Minnesota statute 39.2 one3 requires that a city approve by resolution and a two3 vote the approval of an off-site gambling within its own local jurisdiction staff recommends that the city of Columbus approve resolution 24-8 an off-site gambling permit for the Lake Center for Youth and families to conduct excluded Bingo on September 21st 2024 at 16319 Kettle River Boulevard Columbus Minnesota in accordance with the terms and requirements of the Minnesota gambling board so I'll make the motion again to approve resolution 24-8 for the lcf fallfest Bingle license is there a second uh this is Janet I second any questions or discussion um I just wanted to add one thing so they are going to do um two types of bingo this year one is for kids and one is for the adults the kids is not going to be a gambling thing it's just a fun way for them to play so I just don't want I don't want anybody to get confused when they start talking about the kids Bingo that that we're encouraging kids to gamble it's not it's not going to be for money or anything like that so all right anything else anyone I'll call for the vote robbi Janet I sue I Ron I and Jesse I we're going to have Bingo number four LMC tort liability waiver Pages 10 and 11 and our packet the league of Minnesota City's Insurance trust members who obtain liability coverage from the LM CIT must choose to wave Tor liability limits to the extent of coverage purchased the decision to wave or not wave the statutory Tor limits must be made annually by city council attachment one contains an explanation of the waiver options the city of Columbus has historically not waved the monetary limits is set forth in Minnesota statutes 46.0 4 at this time city council is asked to approve the non waiver of the monetary limits on Municipal Tor liability established by Minnesota statute 466 6.04 so I'll make the motion to approve is there a second do you need to read the whole thing yeah I have a question for Bill go ahead I don't know if it would sway my decision but so what this is saying on page 11 is that that first bullet is if a member does not wave the statutory toward limits that's what we're voting on that's what we normally have done correct okay so that means that an individual could recover no more than 500,000 on any claim but if the member in the next bullet if the member waves the statutory Tor limits and does not purchase excess liability then a single claimant could recover 2 million so that's quite a big difference and I mean I would want a claimant to claim 2 million if they're owed 2 million so how much more is that cost for our insurance if that goes up generally when you don't do that you have to purchase the excess the excess insurance and most cities do not do that okay and there are some that do that will add an additional million dollars to their policy historically Columbus has not done it so we're basing that recommendation on historical precedence uh there is maybe a little bit more coverage I'll let Megan address what some of the risk may be if you don't do it but uh I'm not sure it's worth doing the extra purchase for the excessive Insurance okay so so it's a minimum of at least 3 and a half% additional cost uh if you wave the statutory Tor limits um and it does not have any technical benefit to the city it is only to the claimant okay but the claimant would be a Columbus resident right well not necessarily not necessarily right how about do we have any history of claimants not to my knowledge uh I think Columbus has probably been at least from what I know for the past two years has been relatively free of any claims filed through the league on any issues okay I'm looking at Jim for a historical perspective Ive here and and this this does not include workman's comp claims okay I don't believe that we've been sued for anything since I've been here not that not that I'm aware of okay knock on wood and we exactly right okay that was all the questions I had thank you anybody else so I made the motion was there for a second do not this is Janet I second and it's seconded any other questions or discussion I'll call for the vote Rob Rob I Janet I sue I Ron I item number five ordinance 24-02 chapter 7A updates Pages 12 through 20 we have our um Elanor Han has joined us remotely and I will let Elanor present these next two ordinance issues Elanor hi can you guys hear me y perfectly perfect so uh we have discussed these two ordinances these two housekeeping ordinances a few times now uh is there any lingering questions that we want to address off the bat none from me good sorry Jack did you switch the screen sorry I don't have the ordinances pulled up in front of me unfortunately okay that's okay um so the first one is primarily uh regarding 7A and the um housekeeping amendments for clarity readability and errors that were made in different um iterations going to the uh codification proc process and um finally on to the website When redoing the CI light district and so it's a lot of that and then um fixing up the table of contents to make that a lot clearer and then the second one before you right now is for the sign ordinance we've done a lot of housekeeping on that since it hasn't really been touched in quite a few years and our districts have changed so clarifying those two so we went through all of this at our Workshop quite thoroughly correct does anyone have any anything you saw that you would rather discuss tonight no good job with all those edits thank you yep in that case I'll make the motion to approve ordinance 24-02 chapter 7A of the city code reformatting and prior code error Corrections is there a second this is who all second any questions or discussion Rob Rob I Janet I sue I Ron I and Jesse I then flip to number six on the top of the next page uh I'll make the motion to approve ordinance 24- 03 chapter 7B of the city code with updates as included in the staff report is there a second this is Janet I second any other questions or outstanding items anybody saw if not I'll call for the vote robbi Janet I sue I Rod I and chesse I uh on to number seven pages 32 through 35 in our packet Jack would [Music] you again I will turn that over to Eleanor to give a report on the setting the public hearing to vacate guidance homes drainage and utility easement it's exhibited in Pages 32 and 35 in your packet Elanor yes so this is a fairly simple lot line adjustment these are handled administratively if they follow a certain um number of qualifications um just moving on line a little bit to give some more access to to the north properties driveway um unfortunately since this was already ploted well not unfortunately but since this was already platted there is an existing uh drainage and utility easement these need to be vacated and then reestablished along the new line uh and that has to be done through city council the first step is setting a public hearing unlike um cups and iups in that there does need to be a formal resolution for that and then it needs to be published in the um newspaper twice um for those vacations um it's the same process as vacating a street um which you would need a majority of the people along that street to sign a petition to get that easement or that street vacated um both of these properties are owned by the same person so that petition is just one signature it's a pretty straightforward move the line a little bit move the EAS a little bit um and it will come back at a public hearing on September 11th if the resolution is approved to do so do you have any questions yes so this is Sue are my question are we voting on vacating it or we voting just to set the hearing date today it would just be setting the hearing date okay thank you during that um public hearing there will be a little bit more information if you guys would like about that lot line adjustment but the actual lot line adjustment um is usually done administratively but since it has to come before you guys for the vacation of the easement we can we can go over that as well okay thank you so uh Elanor what what development is this so this is um Piner preserve okay um which is why the lots are fairly small they do fit all of the zoning regulations for um the mixed use high density and The prer Preserve PUD okay so does this does this affect anything if there was a house to go in there I know it's it looks like it's a lot of record is that just going to make that lot smaller and we'll still maintain that easement is the idea the idea is yes um both Lots will I mean one does become slightly smaller but but but still build with with uh still buildable okay cool another rof top You Know M any other questions it for me then I'll make the motion to approve resolution 24-9 to set a public hearing to vacate the guidance homes uh du easement is there a second this is Janet I second I'll call for the vote Rob I Janet I sue I Ron I and Jesse I uh number eight 2025 budget discussion uh 2025 Capital Improvement plan Pages 36 through 37 in our packet thank you the proposed 2025 Capital Improvement plan will be discussed tonight and reviewed at our council meeting the plan consists of seven items the Public Works equipment replacement fund the Public Works Paving and reserving fund the parks Capital fund the parks dedication fund the Fire Equipment replacement fund the fire hall Capital fund and the general fund Capital plan the Public Works Paving and reserving fund which is also known as the black top and gravel fund uh was sent to you earlier this or later this afternoon and there were some errors in the format in the spreadsheet that didn't allow us to do some edits so we apologize for the delay in getting that out to you uh the park dedication Capital fund were also had some adjustments to be made and there were some errors and some of that that had to be adjusted before it was sent out so you have those uh they're also in those spreadsheets before you too so staff will be seeking direction from Council regarding inputs adjustments and modifications to the proposed 2025 Capital Improvement plan and at this time we'll open it up for any discussions or questions you may have regarding the public works Capital Improvement plan [Music] [Music] [Music] I have a couple of questions I can start off with um the first is what's the highlighting supposed to tell us there's two different colors here I wasn't sure like if that was meant to say to have a zero in on it but I is it just like left over from say say that again the highlighting on the spreadsheet so you have brown highlighting you have yellow highlight the the highlighting was left over from okay so does there's no me PR presentation last year okay I think it just kind of deciphers different equipment so like if you look at the brown or the orange whatever color your eyes see those are plow trucks you know the other things are equipment okay so I I mean no other reason than to try to break it up okay I just wasn't sure if there was something that wasn't that wasn't me that did that so so it's not a way to code it or something like that okay okay so then the other question I have is um I've been looking in the note section um so the replacement every 12 years for snowplow trucks I know that that's just sort of a guideline it seems like we're going longer than that is that right what we do so a handful so we used to always only run two plow trucks mhm and then you know we had some breakdowns and then we decided that we were going to keep a plow truck as as a as a third you know what I mean so as a backup if we have a lot of snow sometimes we'll run three trucks sometimes it's just a backup so we don't always use it but we have it here um so as a general rule of thumb it'll look like we have one longer because that truck just we sell the old one and then the truck that we're replacing moves down does that make sense yep so so you are trying to stick to the 12E schedule yes okay and then my other question and it's it's it could be 13 you know what I mean but as a general rule of thumb we're we're trying to stick into that schedule you know I was asking because it looked like the um 2026 that was for a 2016 so that's I don't know if we bought it in 2016 but that's a lot further out that's 10 years instead of right um that is 10 so I wasn't sure if that was in error or there was a reason that we moved it up by 2 years or so so that was my first question and then the second question is under the note section um 2022 we must have sold the 2005 Chev 1500 whatever that is I'm assuming it's some sort of truck but I didn't see the $7,000 on this on the spreadsheet for the equipment sale and I don't know where are you seeing that we I'm seeing it under notes where at notes on the bottom oh okay the two thou yeah in the middle so it shows it shows $7,000 um for the sale of that but I didn't see it in our schedule and I wasn't sure if that meant There's 7 so what we did in the notes is I take a stab at what we're going to get for it uhhuh I I say that we're going to get $7,000 right but this was in 2022 so it already happened it did already happen did we get seven huh did we get seven no we got like 15 okay well it's still not in here there's no there's no entry for sale Revenue that's what that's my point in 2022 so I don't know if that's I don't know why that is but maybe there's a grand or two hanging out somewhere that we actually it's actually in 21 it's 15 130 online in that top section where it says equipment sale trade disposal and then it's 15,30 under actual 2021 okay so the note is wrong wasn't in 2022 okay that's fine so then going back to the 10year is that is that on purpose or that should be 12 okay so that should get moved out to 2028 yep okay so that truck that was the one we sold on that Min bid right yes yeah so we so we started selling stuff on in bid a handful of years ago and we've been pretty successful with the dollars that we get for equipment so I mean at this point I see no reason not to keep doing that um we've we've been fortunate and hope to always stay fortunate that way so so the only thing that we have planned right now for 2025 budget is a F450 Ford with utility box correct okay and that so that that piece of equipment is the utility truck that gets used in public works uh sewer and water so the dollar value that you see here for 2025 is 1/3 of the cost so 1/3 goes to sewer 1/3 goes to water 1/3 goes to public works oh okay does that make sense yep mhm Jim that 15,000 that is not from your pickup that was for the sale of a dump truck the dump truck of a 2000 GMC one ton yeah that's that's the truck so question on The Grater did we didn't we just purchase a new grater cuz this is showing it as a 2011 did we traded that one in right we did did so that's thought we updated that too we talked about that yeah that was last year two years ago last year cuz it was at Fall Fest I'm kind of wondering if there's something funky with our sheet here cuz Jack and I sat down and we made updates on this and I told them to change the 2010 and I watched him do it to a to a um a 150 cat grer and then make that a 2023 so there's something funky here with our spreadsheet I think well and my question too was that you have it looks like we're trying to buy it again 7 years down the road which seems do we really buy I know seven years okay so that was a that was a question is I know that you do the buyback program yeah so so the do we want to discuss that a little bit more like do we want to continue that or I know Jackie you had some ideas about the buyback program and whether or not that was so the buyback program we are not locked into anything just so we know that M what we do what we say we do do if we're going to do a seven-year buyback we buy warranty for 7 years and then at the end of that mhm we don't have to do anything we just run out of warranty at the end of seven years so the previous one was a 2010 and we sold it in 20123 mhm now that said um I'm we are fortunate that we sold it in 2023 because the company that bought it put between $40 and $50,000 into it because it broke not long after we sold it to them so we knock on wood got got lucky on that one so um that's that's the main reason on having the warranty right so once you start getting out to that seven years now you're going to start replacing tires to the tune of 12 to $116,000 um and just more general maintenance than oil changes and filters well and you know but again we're not locked into anything right Jim there's no lock in that requires you to do that or participate in the repurchase at that time but as part of any due diligence we would look at the condition of the grater and see if it's cost advantageous to us to either participate in the buyback or to continue on keeping that equipment and purchase sell it on down the road somewhat like the previous grader was done so I guess my question is you know if we have it um on the spreadsheet to replace in seven years we buy these things cash so we put money aside if it's really going to be 13 years likely um we're putting a lot of money away that we might not have to so that's why I'm raising the question whether seven years is the right interval to be budgeting for a replacement TP typically the answer would be no but you know as we discussed yesterday what I want to do is is look at these to see if it's advantageous to do this on a repurchase agreement or if there's value in keeping it for an extended period of time and a lot of that's going to be determined on the condition of the equipment and you know may maybe it's a lemon and you know we're starting to have lots of expensive repairs but I think this is something we need to do on each each one of these and uh we need to evaluate them uh even though they may be scheduled for 10 or 12 years or 7 years or 15 years whatever some of them may have some more life and some of them may even need to be sold before then but this is something we need to do before this time arrives so we'll know exactly what to do so my question is do we want to leave it at 7 or do we want to push it on it sounds to me if the last one was did you say 13 years I mean I don't know what the track record has been but seven seems too short and it's a lot of money to put away or something that we're really probably not going to replace in seven years I I don't know if we can do that I don't know what kind of agreement we have with cat on the repurchase agreement if it expires we don't have any agreement with okay so they call it a buyback program they they just guarantee to give you a certain price right I wouldn't probably sell it to them anyways because I can sell it for more money outright so it's just like trading in a car right they're going to give you $88,000 and you know you can sell it for 10 or 12,000 on your own and that's kind of the that's kind of the program I don't know that I would ever trade it in unless I and on that in the past we had offered it up to local contractors first right and it was like a sealed envelope bid system right it's kind of how we did it in the past yep and I know I mean maybe Cheryl you can speak to this but I'm just thinking if this shaves moving this out two years or four years or whatever is the right interval shaves 2030 $40,000 off our Levy I'd be all for that yep and would um we received $7,800 for the old pickup um in 2022 just so you know Jim so what Elizabeth had uh written down the 202 two different Vehicles though correct 15,000 for the dump truck 7800 for s for the other pickup and my point is the 7800's not showing up on the spreadsheet 7800 was actually put into fund 120 Public Works it was not put back into fund 401 was that by mistake or just on purpose I don't know I wasn't here seems like it should be in the equipment Capital Improvement like the rest of the S sold equipment is I I can tell you that I don't know why it wouldn't have been put back in here yeah no I don't know why I don't and and it's probably I mean it's been audited and stuff you don't want to mess around with it now but okay you could direct me to do a funds transfer to account for the money okay well I'll keep that in mind when we get to our motions I might just do that okay as a as a general rule of thumb whatever's sold mhm rolls back into this fund so in 7 years hypothetically we're talking road grader yeah if I sell the road grader for 250,000 that 250,000 goes into here and that I I'm not wearing my glasses now so the 425,000 is now you know if we sell it for 200 is only 225,000 okay so um going back to my question on the greater so will we just see a different proposal when we're seeing this for the final or do we want to tackle that tonight what we can do is we can bring it back up to you on the 24th and we can see what the difference it makes in in the levy by moving it back out 3 to 5 years okay I can tell you that I wouldn't feel comfortable reducing the amount that we Levy for equipment because it's only going up it ain't going down and if you move the road grader out call it five more years it's probably $550,000 so I mean there're they're not dropping in price in any fashion so I I could I would concede that we're on the light end and we're trying to be as creative as possible to make it um cash flow we'll say yep and if you reduce it it's just I mean you can clearly do what you want to but I I would Advocate not to just because I think at some point I'm going to come to you and say I need to I need to raise it by 50 then I think it'd be good to see the number but I don't think it's going to have a big effect on it because if you look at this if you go beyond that when you're looking at cash flow if you can project that far out we're going to be running in the negative so it would be interesting just to Compare the numbers though well I think you can do a present value analysis and determine whether or not it's worth it or not without sitting here guessing about it so maybe Cheryl can do that and then we'll actually have some numbers to look at and and I think that would be good but but I I do agree with Jim is I think a reduction in the equipment replacement fund transfers since we've kind of got it established is probably we want to think twice about doing that and make sure that we're doing the right thing and again with any piece of equipment on here this is what we're calling a placeholder that doesn't mean that we have to buy sell or replace anything at any point I mean if it's a good piece of equipment we've hung on to it in the past if it's not we send it down the road or we use it as our we'll call it our spare um and and that's what we've done in the past but well and I and I you know obviously we can do anything we want right yeah well and I I agree with all the you've done in the past but I just think that um it it's worth looking at it again and look at whether these intervals make sense I mean it doesn't do us any good to sit there and tax you know tax our residents more money than have the money just sit there for several years I mean it's it's a balance right and I think that present value analysis could be helpful in determining whether or not it makes sense I get what you're saying too and I'm not I'm not trying to cut you know undermine your uh your equipment um replacement strategy at all but I just think that we don't we don't want to be just sitting on a bunch of money um if you look at the bottom we're not necessarily sitting on a bunch if you get to the road grader line item we're actually underwater so so I mean it es and flows there's a little bit of money in it this year and then we spend it down and then we're you know at 100 Grand and then it's at you know 600 Grand and then you buy something and then it's you know what I mean it's it bounces around the whole the whole intent of the capital Improvement is to keep a flat Levy and not absolutely not a you know what I mean y I am all for that too but I think seeing it on paper spelled out will be really helpful to me and might just go back to exactly what you have right now so so so just so I'm clear what do you want to see what I want to see is taking that seven years replacement interval and pushing it out more consistently with what actually seems to happen which isn't we plan to buy in seven years then that if I'm understanding how you do the projections that affects how much we Levy every year to try to meet that dollar amount and yes you're right if you push it on a couple you know several years you're going to have to increase that amount because nothing goes down it only goes up but I don't know I don't I without seeing the numbers I can't say whether that makes or not so I just want to see that strategy and compare it to this just back history um when I first started here in 2006 we were doing a fiveyear buyback every five years we rotated out graders we did that for uh so it got one the first year that I was here and then so we did a few when we got to this 2010 that's on their spreadsheet today the previous Council said no we don't want to sell it because the next model was going to be the new emission model which has the de fluid and without getting into all that um that was kind of a a contentious change over so so we ended up hanging on to it that's the first year that we've not done the buyback program um and then when we bought the loader we talked kind of extensively about doing the warranty and the buyback program which is why we ended up doing the same thing with the road grader um that was all topic of conversation so um again we can push it out but that's just kind of the backstory on how we got to where we are today and and and and I agree I think it'd be good just to do the PV analysis just to see what the numbers show another Factor though you look at in replacing equipment sometimes is there are major changes especially in emission controls uh know we Advanced the purchase of a truck one year because they were coming out with new emission standards that had to be met they were going to raise the price of the vehicle about $70,000 so you know you get out Beyond these other things and and these these are not to me they're not set in stone that on this year you're going to do this it depends on all these other factors involved and the other ones the analysis of it so right we can certainly furnish those numbers and take a look at it and go from there yeah and and don't misunderstand I'm not suggesting we do it different I just want to see the numbers both ways I mean we make we make decisions all the time some are good or and some ain't and we and we all do it right so you know fortunately we got rid of the last one in the nick of time right and not saying that this one you know that that contractor is going to run that thing for another 20 years and he's going to put money into it or or not you know what I mean but you know you equipment runs for years years and years and years it's just you know the the thought process that we have in public works is whatever we buy is an insurance policy if it never leaves the shop we know that things are going fantastic in the construction world if they never leave the shop they're losing money hand over fist so it's just two different thought processes um my last question is about the skid steer so there's $90,000 in the in the 2024 budget and then one 2 3 years later there's $81,000 I just didn't understand that why 3 years later it looks like we're buying it again can't answer that is that a mistake must be okay that's why we do it so we we can take that one out okay yes let that's the end of my questions anyone else um are we looking are we just looking at the first page right now or we going to all of them we'll go through all of them okay I don't have any other questions on that page do you want me to make the directions then that we talked about yes for this one so then I would Janet if I could I just have one more quick question before you make a motion this Ventra 4520 tractor storm water pond maintenance oh to 2026 we're looking at a $45,000 budget what what exactly is that cuz does an RVs cut the roundabouts right now not necessarily the roundabout this this is we're calling it a placeholder we may or may not ever buy this but we have to do pond maintenance and we've kind of been bouncing this one from like 2022 and we just keep moving and out we're trying to figure out one how many pounds that we have to maintain um we know that we have a few to maintain and we're really trying to figure out the best piece of equipment to do it cuz we don't necessarily have a great one to do it if that makes sense okay so some some of these ponds that you're maintaining are in people's yards or are right next to houses and to be quite honest with you the mowing equipment that we have throws a lot of material around so I don't really want to run those next to somebody's house and take out windows and siding and you know what I mean so yeah so we're really trying to figure out what is that piece of equipment we just don't know what it is yet so that was one of the things that we looked at we're actually going to demo one um so so we put it on there that seems to be the most logical um I know Running Aces has one and they use theirs a lot for brush and grass and so I mean it's pretty versatile um It's kind kind of an open cab so you're out in the element so if it's 100° outside you know what I mean there's it's not like it's a cabin air sucking that dust and you know what I mean so I I mean I I don't know what this piece of equipment is but that's just kind of a placeholder and in 2025 when we're talking about it it'll probably move out to 2027 so yeah no and and I appreciate the explanation on it and then so so it's for the pond the pond maintenance this isn't like a a a two-fold item where it's the vent track and money for funding for them storm Waters cuz we talked that we're going to have to dredge those out at some point too right that is just for maintenance so so you need to do mowing right you need to knock all the weeds and trees down and things like that and then then there is maintenance at some point um we've talked about storm water utility uh fees and all sorts of things in years past but you know we've not not ever done anything with it okay thank you Jim mhm one of the other things that we're going to do and I talked to Janet and Jesse about this the other day is we're going to determine on all these storm water ponds which ones are City responsibili and which one may be private responsibilities cuz we need to know that and how many we're going to do and like Jim says this is something that's out there that we're looking at but it's not really a priority for purchase at this point until we get some more information very good thank you ready so then I would uh move to direct uh Cheryl to do a funds transfer um from the public works budget to the um 401 fund to reflect the sale of the 2005 Chevy 1500 in the amount of 78,000 $800 I'll second it Rob I'll call for the vote Robi Janet I sue I where r r Jess I and then um I would also move to direct Cheryl to um uh push out the 2010 cat grader replacement whatever number of years makes sense you can 12 years 10 years whatever it makes sense is this a motion this is a motion okay so push it out and then do the anal 2023 okay well I'm just reading what's on here I know it's not right so I just want to make sure that the motion's clear okay so thank you so the 2023 cat grader um out to reflect uh what the actual lifespan is probably going to be and then show us what how that would impact our Levy so I'm not suggesting we do it I just want to see the analysis to side by side that's my motion and I'm sticking to it this is Su all second I'll call for the vote Robert so uh discussion on that help me understand that so we'd be pushing that from 2023 out to would it be 2030 nope we would be looking at the one that says 2030 which is just 7 years from and then push it whatever for I don't know what the right number is I'm you're saying the last one was 13 years maybe 11 years is the right compromise I don't know between you and and Jack you can come up with a reasonable number because I mean some I know you wanted to the 1960s so I know just pick a number that makes sense okay V been seconded uh I Rob Jed I sue i r i Jesse I right do I need to do anything about the ones we've talked about that were erors or did you get those we'll figure out the okay great cuz as part as part of your request I'm going to have to throw values in for vehicles for sale prices and then try to come up with values for new prices that sounds like fun oh yeah that's a ton of ton of fun it's oh by the way it's going to be a gas too I mean cuz nobody knows what it's going to be right yeah I know that's for sure let's flip pages then to fire fire equipment capital we'll have to do this one from the paper somehow we're locked here so okay we're going to be discussing the Fire Equipment Capital fund the the uh Jesse and Ron and I met with the forest lake fireboard or the fireboard back in March and were giv notice on some of these equipment purchases and then back at the end of July then Jesse and Rob and I met with them and they outlined what their proposals were and for 2025 it was to purchase two util two brush trucks brush Rigs and one utility truck and to purchase some additional radios I think their total purchase price for this was something like $288,000 our Shar is 20% So based on that for our Capital cost for that participation was going to be 52 or $53,000 you'll have to pardon me cuz I'm doing this from memory but Cheryl's got the sheet she can correct me if I'm off too far on the dollars but the proposal for that for our share of the fireboard would be I believe $52,000 51 $1,950 for those three pieces of equipment and the radio purchase and then you can see in the subsequent years what their plans are their purchases going forward for 2026 and 2027 um are not substantial and Al said you know that's going to be the end of their big ticket purchase items until I believe there was another bigger purchase that was done going to be done maybe after 2031 was a ladder truck but now when you're talking about a ladder truck you're talking $3 to4 million but that's not on the horizon at this point so our share for this year would be $52,000 and all the other numbers that this based on what their their Direction what they gave us so we don't you know we can't say no you can't buy one of those I mean we could vote but our vote I'll vot us yeah and you know it's it's based on the the fireboard vote and uh I think the explanation given by Al was very reasonable and Justified so I think we approved that and 52,000 is not a lot of money for having access to three vehicles and I think it's five or six radios that they're purchasing those radios are like about 3,000 bucks a piece M okay and so the difference between the actual projected expenditure and the levy is putting the money aside for those bigger purchases in the future correct right cash flowing those but there there will be one big one coming up but it's it's going to be further down the road but unless you start keeping doing that aside then y i agre a big deficit got to save up for it yep so I got a question Jack and maybe you can help me or Jesse um with the six it's under the 2025 proposed budget and it's for the three purchases 16,100 so are those after they trade in or sell a different vehicle that's what say that would go down that does not account for what they would get for selling those so that would be the high end of that I'd like to know where you can buy a truck for 16 Grand well that's just our 20% oh okay multiply that by five and you get the price there we go thank you you wanted a piece of that didn't you where do we get these deals so no Rob that does not include okay that's just our 20% and actually they've already sold that utility one truck that they're proposing about replacing so it be involving the sale of two of those brush trucks right right I recall that yeah next one so are we on the fire hall Capital now do we have to make a motion on this page are we doing it by Page or just the changes the however you want to do it I think the fire hall capital is the next one on the list okay now you can see from that we did have an expenditure this year and that was for the roof replacement on this fire hall fortunately we had a little we had over $100,000 in that account so that covered that and uh that's why we're starting this year out with a lower fund amount so we don't have any proposed projects for this year no and we've doesn't look like we've ever budgeted for like improvements a regular number I mean just a projected number no you you you you can see though that uh there hasn't been a lot spent out of that fund which is good I think there was a was there not a furnace replacement or something done not too long ago and then the roof uh how old is that building Jim 1998 well it's still it's 32 years the RO the roof was probably overdue and of course inside you know it's concrete floor and masonry so there's probably not a lot that can go wrong with it but uh unfortunately when something does go wrong it's a pretty big ticket item and and and in relating to that roof um I think we got 12 years extra out of it is what central had said it was more of a 20 year 25 year roof so maybe it was a little less than 12 years that EPDM yeah I don't remember what it was but yeah okay but I know there's a warranty on it what is it 20 years or is it a 30-year warranty where we had to pay for labor but the the fire stone or whoever it was would cover the product so we do have was guaranteed for 30 years I believe yeah but then we would just have to pay for the labor for them to replace it but not the product itself so we got a little buffer so it doesn't look like there's much on that one no moving on on to the next general [Music] fund we we skipped the par ones I think we pretty well covered those unless you have any other questions um no I think we just need to have the the revised sort of version of it I mean I I see this here but it's hard to tie all those together with what their priorities are we'll get that to you for the next meeting so is just the last one uh so this is just a general Capital fund that we have uh and it's a essentially involves parking lot pavement there's for expenditures for Ada a door buttons in the past computers printers copers uh there was a proposal in here for a security system I know it's been discussed before I got here I don't know what council's desire is to continue any proced suit of that but those are what this item covers yeah we didn't we didn't do that so I know we had a presentation on it I can't remember what the outcome was if we were waiting for more information or we didn't we never brought it to a vault and you know I guess it probably comes down to you know what the feeling is for the need for a security system our current security system is we did put signs up outside that say you're currently being recorded but there's no of course there's no camera system there has that helped we had some vandalism I mean that's what prompted the whole discussion is that there was a couple of incidences of vandalism so that was the idea behind the cameras and the security system from from that aspect or for whatever other reason sometimes you have vandalism and then kids grow up and get their driver's license and they go vandalized somewhere else maybe that's the part of it I I don't know if it's head but there's been no vandalism here reported vandalism on the building at least in the past eight months so okay maybe that's something we wanted just to keep hanging out there you know maybe at some point with the way things are and you know lots of people everybody gets home security systems and uh at some point it may be necessary to consider that do we get any discount on our insurance if we have a security system I can't say for sure I think as a home owner you get discounts for your insurance if you have a that in place I would say it would probably be something that uh that would apply here too well we could move it to next year and then have more discussion about it okay do we get the new fiber line this year was that actually done no and was so is that because we didn't need it or we just haven't done it yet it's appearing that we don't need it oh so Phil Our IT guy has been testing it and collecting some data but um in the last conversation that we had about a week ago he said that the fiber line is appearing to be just fine that's good news mhm yes well then do we take that out or do we need it in 5 years I don't I'm not a fiber guy I don't know how long fiber lines last so I mean are good for 30 years they I mean I I don't know is this is this between City Hall and the Public Works building yes okay so it's not basically all the internet um the server all of that stuff is hosted in public works so that's the that's the connection okay and pretty soon we're not going to need fiber lines anyway cuz we we're going to have some kind of satellite internet oh yeah starlink that's in the future they already have starlink it's to say going to have a new public or a new city hall over by Public Works no what one one thing that we might want to look at just start investigating though is the possibility of a need for a generator for this building and if we do have a major storm event I know we have one over at public works but most of our records and things are over here this is going to be going to be maybe command Central uh this was kind of exacerbated their last Public Works meeting when the power went out and we had to cancel the meeting while we were in process so uh I think that makes the most sense I totally agree that that would be a a good use and you know what what what we can do is start getting some prices and information the one you know one of the issues here is we have I know we have two different electrical systems we have a separate panel for the community Senior Center and another panel for this room room in the office space so there'd be some switching gear stuff that would be probably a little redundant or duplicated but I think that's one thing we just kind of need to look at and at least get some information on what the cost would be M and are the generators in public works what do they run off of diesel or what do they run off of gas so we have we have natural gas and gas oh you do have natural gas okay separate generator that sits here so it would be the permanent generator that just sat here power goes out transfers you may or may not I mean You' notice a little blip but that would be it okay yeah I think we should add that I agree so on that fiber line I just looked it up quick just generic Google search and it said the lifespan at very high low is 40 years so oh 40 okay my Google said the same thing so looks like we're set for a while you know there were some things that we've talked to Phil about I'm assuming those are not in a in the capital fund they're just under the general fund okay so we won't talk about those tonight so do you need any more direction from us on this you got what you need I think we have enough to get you what you need for your next meeting okay [Music] good lady engineer good evening um one item that I have is the close out of our 2022 Kettle River Heights uh project um so we have the final documentation before you uh the final payment would be in the amount of $4,899 uh the final contract amount is about 8% higher than our original bid amount we did have to do some additional Paving um on Vasser just to address some drainage issues there we did replace an additional covert on the project and we had to use some additional top sell for edging along the new pinous payments that those are some items that resulted in that um overage on the on the final contract amount but I do recommend final payment for this project [Music] so we need a motion for that right so is this all going to Valley Paving is that the is that who the pav that's correct yes payment is going to yes so then I would U move to approve final payment in the amount of 24,000 893 98 to Valley Paving Incorporated for the um 2022 Kettle River Heights project and this is Su all second any questions anyone I'll call for the vote Rob I Janet I sue I Ron I and Jesse I I have nothing else City attorney good evening Mr Mayor members of council I do not have any updates but I'm ready to answer any questions that you may have no questions nope no all right but good to see you yes it is City Council Members Rob uh I have no report mayor Janet I have one thing um Jack and I met with the Anoka County election Integrity team on August 8th last Thursday we have a couple members of the team out here in our uh in our audience um so the folks that we met with were Brenda Miller which Brenda's out there um Lisa Hendrickson and Lisa's out there and then Dave torman I hope I pronounced that right pretty close I can spell it I know I spelled it right in my notes anyway um if you remember a few meetings ago we had uh Derek from the same group that came and did a little uh presentation during public open forum and the question he left us with was whether or not um we would like to have a a more in-depth presentation and so Jack and I took the opportunity to meet um with with Brenda and and Lisa and Dave just to hear more about what it was that they were that they were trying to accomplish you have a couple of handouts that we got um from them and um I would have to say that I've walked away with a much better understanding of what it was that they were trying to accomplish and um I think and you guys can certainly pipe up if I get this wrong but my what what I felt at the end the meeting was that the goal that they're really trying to um uh promote is to give our residents in Columbus uh confidence that the election results that end up being published are the real thing and they talked about different parts of the election uh process including um absentee balloting and things like that but I think the main focus of the discussion was on uh hand counts so there are um Anoka County as part of their sort of quality control does select a few precincts and and do some hand counts um not for all of the offices but for selected offices so it may it may or may not include something for Columbus and I think um the group's feeling is that we want to know that Columbus's election results are are accurate and you know I think think you can go down the list of all the different things where the system could break down I mean I've seen Lori has walked me through the process and I feel really comfortable and and um confident of what the staff is doing and what's Happening Here the part I don't feel as comfortable and confident of is the um the systems vulnerability to hackers because if you you think about all the different huge organizations that spend millions and millions of millions of dollars on Security even even security uh companies that get hacked I don't know that you could ever really be sure that um that any system is is immune from that and I think um what they're proposing is that if if there is some process that um is in place to not do a complete recount of everything but to do you know kind of a systematic check that maybe that would detour um a hacking situation cuz they'd know that we would catch it and um and I don't think that's I mean it's a it's a proactive strategy and so uh what I'm you can look over their materials but what um they would like to do is actually come and kind of share with the entire Council what they shared with Jack and I maybe a little bit abbreviated version and then the ask would be whether or not we would be willing to um pass a resolution after hearing their presentation um to request for in NOA County that we would do a post elect postelection review which is a a selective hand count of offices in in our one Precinct we would use the um election judges that we currently already have certified to do that hand count and we just did some sort of back of the napkin figuring of what it would cost it would be somewhere around $1,200 if if uh if we pay them what we pay them to to be election judges which we would have to bear but I think you know the the question before you today is not that question the question is you know are you interested in hearing more I think it was it was a very worthwhile um presentation in my opinion Jack you can speak you know from your perspective and then after that presentation you you would um decide whether or not you would consider that resolution and that would be done at at a council meeting when I looked at the calendar um the next Workshop that we have is I wrote this down uh September here it is um September 3rd and then our next council meeting after that would be the 11th and Brenda so speak up I know you said you had a tentative date with the NOA theity did they did for the okay so that's off the that's off the that we can't have a presentation that night the other option would be to have the presentation on the 4th when we do our joint meeting that would allow us to take action on the 11th if we decide that that's what we want to do um and that is the fourth is okay with it seem to work okay um or you or you could say no thank you I mean so I'm I'm throwing it out there um I I would recommend that we have them back to do the presentation for everybody um but and we certainly have the experts here if you have specific questions you want to ask yeah I think that would be good I I agree I think it would be good to get the get the presentation and I am in favor of making sure that we are uh give our uh residents confidence that we're doing the right thing and I think that's that's that was the consensus after we heard it too that you know $1,200 is not a lot of money to spend to reassure our residents that all things are well in in Columbus J September the 4th is a Planning Commission meeting isn't that the joint meeting though we had the joint meeting they have a joint we have a joint meeting scheduled for the fourth too okay all right is that is that an okay yeah that's fine I I thought the other one was the one that was the joint meeting yeah at the last one we had we set the next one which was on the fourth so Janet would this be more of a little deeper dive than what Derek did I think it was a meeting or two that it would be request Q after y we're doing ly next week and I think we have an hour we have 45 minutes at l on the 20th yeah and I was thinking 30 minutes would work well because we're this is a joint meeting so we've got to make time for the questions that are from the Planning Commission too but um Ron do you have anything you want to chime in on uh no thank you I agree it would be nice to listen okay so then if there aren't any other questions or discussion then I would just um move to add a presentation by the Anoka County election Integrity team um to the agenda on the September 4th joint meeting and then after that um you guys can decide whether or not you want to consider a resolution at the following council meeting and this is Su all second any other questions I'll call for the vote Rob I Janet I sue I Ron I and Jesse I all right we'll see you back on the 4th thank you so much before what time put them at the front of the six I I think that would make sense so that you don't have to sit through the whole thing so it' be at it's 6 o' right y yep here yeah yeah thank you for coming and thank you for sitting through the whole meeting until the last I know I know and also thank you for what you're doing I mean there's 20 people that meet like every week on this topic and I is if any of you have tried to break through the wall of government trying to get information I mean there's I give you guys credit you you have done a lot of work and and have uh shown a lot of um stamina in trying to break through all of that and create the relationship so thank you so much it's been years yep yep yeah thank you thank you sue um I do have one thing so I um attended the Forest Lake cable commission last week and we actually had another meeting just a few weeks before that um the Columbus resident that is one of the commission members um said he needs to put in his resignation so I'm working with Jack to put a posting out there on our website for a replacement for him um but we already have identified someone who is willing to do it that I spoke to so it's just it's a bit of a formality um but we are going through the process so just wanted to give that update thank you Ron anything from you well all I can say is thanks to Jack and uh Cheryl for allowing me are figuring out how to do this Zoom never done it before and I apologize I'm sick tonight but uh other than that I have nothing thank you thanks for joining yeah can I add one more thing M our next Fall Fest uh committee meeting is on the 20th of August at 6 o' in the community center um we had agreed on that date at our last one but I'll send out an email to everybody on the group which includes all of you um just to remind you it'll be the time that you'll be signing up or they everybody will be signing up for their volunteer duties and we'll get an update from everybody on where we're at with things so it's coming quick okay yeah I know I haven't been at attending those but uh I will be helping just to let you know okay well if you show up on that day we'll actually have you sign on the dotted line good and it sounds like the the car show guys are doing their their thing and expect to even have a bigger turnout than last year so it's going to be fun and if you come again this time there's going to be a petting zoo and there's going to be a trout pond and so you bring your little kitties with you and your Kitty friends and they'll have a good time along with the other things the bouncy house and the face painting and a balloon artist I have already had a specific request to make sure we put it on the calendar so we will be there okay good good job good Jim Public Works no report Mr Mayor Jack administrator's report the only thing I have to report is the election for the the county and state primary went very smooth was executed flawlessly I'd like to give credit to our staff for a job well done on that especially Lori Spangler Chrissa cran uh were here all day Saturday and then they worked Monday late and then the election was done very well and we had no issues so my has offered our staff for a great job they did and you said there's 245 people 225 25 yeah which is like about a 9% turnout rate and does that what does that compare with our other I mean it seems hi for a primary it's probably about normal from what I've seen from the other cities especially in the nor Northern NOA County and uh we didn't anticipate uh a stampede but uh you know it was It was kind of steady and but uh again it was a good trial run for the general election and that's it anything else [Applause] no then I will uh or take a look at the announcements Planning Commission the 21st Eda 5:30 and a regular meeting at 6:30 on August 22nd Public Works on August 27th city council meeting on August 28th at 6 if there's nothing else would someone like to make the motion to adjourn so move and a second I'll second all the vote Rob I Janet I sue I broad I and Jesse I our meeting is adjourned thank you [Music] everyone e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e for