[Music] I'm calling to order the Columbus City Council meeting. The date is October 8th, 2025 and the time is 601. First item on the agenda is the pledge of allegiance. Should everybody stand up? I >> pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Item number three under section A is the adoption of the agenda tonight. Is there anybody who wants to make a motion? >> Um, so this is Janet. I move to approve the city council agenda for October 8th, 2025 with the addition of item G, close session and the removal of the supplemental bill payments from the consent agenda. >> This is Jenny. I second. >> We got a motion on the floor. It's been seconded. Any other discussion? Hearing none, we'll go for a vote. Jenny. >> Jenny I. >> Scott I. >> Janet I. >> Rob I. >> And Ron I. We'll go on to item number C. No, the consent agenda. I'm sorry. Um, somebody want to make a motion on that. >> This is Jenny. I can make a motion. I I move to approve the October 8th, 2025 consent agenda. >> Scott, I'll second. We got a motion on the floor. It's been second. Any other discussion? Hearing none, we'll go for a vote. Jenny. >> Jenny I. >> Scott I. >> Janet I. >> Rob I. and Ron. I we'll go item number C, presentations and items for council action. Number one is the public forum. Is there anybody out there that'd like to come up and make a comment to the council? Seeing none, anybody online who would like to come forth and make a comment or statement? Hearing none, we'll close that. Go on. Item number two, Anoka County Sheriff's Office quarterly report and 2026 law enforcement contract pages 1 through 10. And we want to welcome Lieutenant Jessica Slavic. And it's Matt, right? >> Yes, sir. >> I can't pronounce your last name. >> Verina, Deputy Verina. >> Okay. That's common spelling. >> Yeah. Okay. The floor is yours there, Jessica. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um, again, my name is Jessica Slavic. I'm a lieutenant with the Anoka County Sheriff's Office. I'm assigned to our criminal investigation division and I am also my office's leaison for the city of Columbus. Um tonight I've prepared uh the last quarter third quarter report for calls for service in the city of Columbus as well as um prepared the 2026 law enforcement contract and to discuss those numbers. Um I just wanted to start out with some general announcements. I do come bearing some good news. Uh many of you may remember Deputy Christopher Yantos. He was a uh a deputy assigned to the Columbus contract for a number of years. Um he has just been selected as the next patrol sergeant. Um so that um promotion process has been finished. Um he was selected his prom motion date has not yet be been determined. Um but he will be assigned to the patrol division. So if you do see him out in the city in the next couple weeks, make sure you congratulate him. Um, I also wanted to share that on October 25th is our prescription drug takeback day. Um, so we do have an event at the sheriff's office. It's from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. It's a drive-thru event in the front of our public parking lot. Um, where you can drive up and no questions asked, disposed of any of your unused prescription medications. Um, and that also includes if you have any medications for your pets. So, we'll take those as well. And uh moving on to calls for service. I've provided everybody with some of the stats from the last 3 months. Um as you can see, deputies are averaging about 200 calls for service each month. Um this includes eight theft reports, seven damage to property reports, and one burglary. Um deputies made a total of three felony arrests, eight gross misdemeanor arrest, and two misdemeanor arrests in the past quarter. And additionally with traffic, um, they made three DWI arrests and also five warrant arrests. On top of that, there were 42 traffic arrests and citations issued. Any questions on the stats before I move on to some specific calls? >> Was the burglary a resident or a residence or was it a business? It was actually a job site. >> It was a job site. Okay. >> Yes, I have that in here. We can talk about that right now. If I can find it. >> If not, I know which one it is. >> Yeah. >> All right. So on July, sometime overnight between July 29th and July 30th, um there was a theft of a job site located at the 15100 block of West Freeway Drive. Somebody had entered the job site and stole over $2,000 worth of equipment from um the drywall tapers and the electricians combined. Uh the suspects are believed to be former workers on the site. There was no forced entry. Instead, they made entry using the key code. Unfortunately, the foreman on the job site said that they had had over a hundred employees coming and going since working. So, it's been very difficult to determine who it was that had access that shouldn't have and took those. Um, and there were no cameras or anything on site for surveillance purposes. So, it's a an unfortunate loss for the uh the subcontractors that were out there working that day. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Um, I did want to highlight before we get into thefts and um, those sorts of things, just some suspicious activity reports that have come in from our citizens because I I think that this is just it's so crucial when people call and make these 911 reports and we can only be in so many places at once and the public is our eyes and ears when we can't. And sometimes you might think you're reporting something that may pan out to be nothing, but in other instances, 4 or 5 days later, it's a good thing to look back on and might develop a suspect in a different case. Um, the first uh suspicious activity call that came in, we had a 30-year-old female who lives at the 9,400 block of Howard Lake Drive. She was followed home from Target on September 27th by a 62-year-old male. the female and her boyfriend um pulled into the driveway. The 62-year-old male followed. Um they jumped out and asked him, you know, what are you doing following us? Um and it was really weird. He said, I'm following you because the letters on your license plate match the letters on my license plate. Um it should be noted that the numbers were different and obviously it's very common that you can have um some similarities between license plates. Um anyways, they found it to be very odd and they asked him to leave. Um the female did grab his license plate, documented that, um and called in. So we do have that on file if this gentleman continues following people home and acting strangely. Uh then on September 15th, we had a resident report that a suspicious vehicle pulled into her driveway. She said that this was very odd cuz she has a very long driveway. Um it's in a very secluded area. and the driver and the passenger stayed in their vehicle and just laid on the horn a bunch of times until she came out. Um, so she walked up to the window and asked, you know, what are you doing here? They said that they were a paving company from Indiana and wanted to know if she wanted a quote to have her driveway redone. Um, she asked them, you know, like what kind of a solicitation is this? Why didn't you come to the door like a normal company would do? Um, and they told her they were unsure if there were any dogs, so they felt it was safe to sit in the vehicle and honk the horn. Um, the caller did take a photo of the license plate. Unfortunately, the license plate was covered. It looked like it had been handwritten or homemade to cover up the actual license plate. Um, so he ended up leaving without incident, but I have no doubt that this was a tactic on these two individuals just to see if somebody was home. um to scope out to see if there was any surveillance ring cameras if anybody was going to come out of the house and then if it seemed like the coast was clear that they would have conducted a burglary um especially with covering up their license plates. So um I'm glad that that was reported and interestingly enough around that same time there was a theft of a trailer um about approximately two blocks down the road. Um, so that trailer theft happened two days prior on the 15th and this call came in. Oh, no, I'm sorry. It was the same day. So, it was just earlier in the day that the trailer was stolen. Um, and in that instance, we had a resident on the 177th Avenue, so just north of where this um, previous call was, reported that his 2024 aluminum trailer, valued at approximately $6,500, was stolen overnight from his yard. Um the trailer had been secured with a locking mechanism, hopefully making that more difficult. Unfortunately, the suspects were still able to get away with it. Um again, there was no um there were no suspects. There was no uh surveillance video. Um but because the trailer was registered, um luckily St. Paul ended up at a resident um off Howard Avenue North and they recovered the trailer, so he did get it back. I'm leaving the suspicious activities and going into some more thefts. Um, this next case I want to talk about really highlights how helpful our flat cameras are. Um, we have automated license plate readers um, at select intersections throughout the county. Um, and essentially what that does is it reads the license plates and it gives our deputies real-time alerts. So, it's running all of the necessary um data that it does just as if a deputy was running a license plate from his MDT in the squad car. Um so, a flock alert came in that there was a recovered stolen. Um our flock cameras are located in Columbus at West Freeway Drive, >> West Freeway and Lake. >> So, the interstate >> and nice and close to Ready Nasis. Um, so deputies received the flat camera alert on a 2014 Audi. Um, that was the vehicle had been reported stolen. Deputies surveyed the Running ASUS parking lot and they spotted the vehicle. Um, learned that it was stolen out of Wasika. They worked with the running ASUS um security staff and they were able to look at surveillance and identified the two individuals associated with that vehicle that arrived in that vehicle were sitting inside the casino at a Jack Black table um and they were detained without incident. The female party stated that she was unaware the vehicle was stolen. She was released at the scene. Um the male party unfortunately um dug himself into a deeper hole. He gave a false name to the deputies and he was then later arrested for felony receiving stolen property, false information to police and then he also had some outstanding warrants out of Steel County. Um the stolen Audi was secured in the parking lot at the owner's request who came and received it at a later time. Any questions about the flock or I know that's kind of interesting that those exist now and you can see them at select intersections and it's a they're growing in popularity. >> So how long do they hold uh that data? I mean so let's say you had a burglary and 4 hours after that you're looking at the flot someone's seen a blue van or something. Would that hold that data? >> It does hold it for a significant amount of time. I know we've used it in the criminal investigation division where we will have a suspect vehicle and then when we're trying to figure out the route traveled, we can enter in the description of that vehicle and if we know the plate and if there's a flock camera where that vehicle has passed, we'll get that data and then we can go and get that surveillance and then we can continue following up. So, if it's by commercial buildings and the holiday gas station has surveillance or anything like that, we can keep um obtaining surveillance video and build a timeline for that suspect. >> I know that Forest Lake just got it. So, do you guys talk to each other a lot about that or >> Well, they're all connected. All of the flot cameras are connected. So, we can contact um the flat cameras in Blaine are accessible to our flat cameras, too. So, and then we also have the real time center that we're in the process of developing. Do you want to talk a little bit about that? Do you know anything? >> I know a little bit about the system. So, it's actually it's pretty neat. So, each agency is the ends up being the responsible data party and it's their data. So, that each agency makes its own rules. And honestly, I'm not familiar with our agency's rules on retention. But that being said, you do need a valid reason to search into it. You can't just search in it for no reason or for personal reasons. It's all documented and auditable. And say I have some kind of person crime or something that happens at my casino. I see the car going into Force Lakes maybe when Highway 97 finally reopens and then you can put that information in >> and connect you get it'll connect to Force Lakes cameras as well and then we can send Force Lake to where their last location was or we can go into Forest Lake. It's a very very powerful tool with responsible guidelines on it. It's been very helpful for patrol and I'm sure C is >> Yeah. And there is some case law that's starting to be developed out of this too, especially when you're doing those reverse searches um and whether you need a warrant to be searching for that data. So that's kind of interesting too. There's a case I want to say out of Shakipe involving um what's the casino out there Majestic on even just a DWI arrest. So, there was a DWI call um by a citizen they were no longer following and the law enforcement agency used Flock to try to locate the vehicle um found them at Majestic uh Majestic Casino and um place them under arrest and it ended up getting overturned because it was determined that a warrant was needed to do that search. So, interesting case law coming out of new technology. So, in the case of the car that you mentioned earlier where they had um altered their license plate, could you put that number in that system? So, >> you'd be able to find them and go like, "Hey, what's with the license plate?" >> I don't think we'd be able to enter the license plate cuz it's not a real one, but the vehicle description, too, right? You don't necessarily have to have a plate to do a search or reverse search. >> You don't need a plate. You can put in black Dodge pickup truck and it'll show up with every black pickup truck every black Dodge pickup truck and it is whatever flocks proprietary. I don't I'm going to guess AI, but I honestly don't know. Um, but you can still enter the plate number in. I would be curious to see if it would work. I >> I just wonder if it would be able to read it if it there's a certain, you know, paint or something that it it can pick up >> like a cover. It won't read it. It's I mean, it's still just a camera. Yeah. So, and it's not infrared or something like that. So, it's just like the normal cameras in our squads. And I will say it's definitely very successful compared to the ones in our squads. So, >> huh, interesting. So, if you have a license plate cover, like a clear plastic cover, it will hinder >> the clear better, but like if it's one of the like blacked out ones. >> Oh, interesting. >> Those ones, yeah, they are illegal, even the clear ones. But it it also messes with our plate recognition software, not just the flock, but all of them. So, sometimes you just have to use your two eyes while you're driving and type the plate in. Um, we also had a theft by fraud. Um, kind of one of those Facebook Marketplace warnings. Um, we had a resident um who was selling his PlayStation 5 through uh Facebook Marketplace. The suspect was described to be a young male in a black Tesla SUV. He paid for the PlayStation 5 with $100 bills. Um, after he left, the seller realized that those bills were counterfeit. Um, the suspect's online profile information was also false. Uh, so trying to follow up on that and follow that transaction was unsuccessful. Um, and the suspect's unknown. So, I bring this up mostly as a safety tip that when doing marketplace transactions, especially if it's a high dollar amount, not to accept cash. Um, and making sure that you're you're doing that transaction in a public place and using utilizing tips and safety and to ensure that um you're not getting frauded during those instances. And then we there was a theft from vehicle on August 27th. This was a running aces employee. He reported that several items were stolen from his vehicle during his shift. Um, this included an airsoft pistol, Pokemon cards, a ghillie suit, and a PayPal credit card. Uh, surveillance showed two suspects walking through the parking lot, checking vehicles in the lot, um, looking to see if any were left unlocked. Um, once finding the victim's vehicle, they entered the victim's car, making multiple trips with the property. Um the s same suspects were later seen on surveillance at the holiday gas station in Columbus um where they attempted to use the stolen credit card. Um the primary suspect was identified as a male out of Wisconsin. Um he was identified because the vehicle he was driving registered to a family member of his. Um and they were able to to do some open source investigation and determine who it was. Um the second suspect has not yet been identified and the case does remain open right now with the patrol investigation unit. Then on July Oh, we already covered the um theft from the job site. Um moving on to some arrest on July 3rd, while on routine patrol at Running ASUS, uh deputies ran a license plate that came back showing that the registered owner of that vehicle had an active warrant. Again, they worked with the security at running ASUS and located the owner of that vehicle inside the casino. Um, they entered the business and arrested the male. And then, uh, Deputy Vertina, I'm going to have you talk about the September 27th arrest. >> Yes, of course. >> All right. So, deputies were working the Freedom Fest security detail at Running Aces. There was a heavily intoxicated female refusing to leave. Um despite being asked by both security and deputies several times to leave and work with deputies to get a ride instead. Uh running aces requested that she be trespassed, she was escorted to the parking lot. She was advised to call for a ride. She became uncooperative, began cussing out at the deputies working at detail and yelling at them. After working with her for eight entire minutes where she refused to call for a ride, she was eventually arrested by the deputies working at detail. I went down to drive her to jail and she began to be uncooperative with me and kicking my squad car until I got to the jail. And that one she's just booked on the misdemeanor trespass. There was no damage to the squad car, but it was not a fun day. Talking about some traffic we got. Um, I'm going to talk about the Toward Zero Death program, which is a state sponsored program where officers and deputies just concentrate on a certain area or city and pull as many people over as you can to try to look for uh reckless driving, speeding, and of course, DWI. So, on July 1st, there's a tor zero death detail. Deputy was on patrol in city Columbus while he's westbound on Broadway Avenue Northeast. He noticed there was a moped traveling in the lane well below the speed limit in PD traffic. He was pulled over and his driver's license status status was cancelled. IMA not safe for the public because of how many DWI arrests IMA could pull to public safety. I think it is. It's hard to pronounce. >> Yeah, I miss >> IPS canceled IPS. >> Uh he was taken into custody for that. >> On 73 of 2025, there's an employee at Holiday called in a drunk driver. He stated that the driver almost hit a sign before pulling it to the gas pump. I arrived and made contact with the driver. I know his signs of impairment. He agreed to field sobriety tests where he failed. He is transported to the sheriff's office to conduct a breath test and he refused that as well cuz quote I am sober unquote. Uh he was arrested and charged with DWI refusal to submit to a chemical test. On 91 of 2025 at Lake and 135th Avenue Northeast, a deputy stopped a driver for speeding 72 mph and 55. The deputy turned on the vehicle and it pulled over, but the driver got out and started walking away. The deputy ordered the female back and she came back. She was identified. Her license had expired in 2023. She smelled like alcohol. She stated that that was normal because she grows oysters. She then fought with deputies on scene. She failed field spread and she was arrested at.15. And then I have another DWI case that technically is in the city of Lo Lakes because that's where I ended up pulling her over, but I wanted to highlight it because it started in Columbus. On 7-Eleven of 2025, I was called to a DWI complaint with a follower at Lake Drive in Kettle River Boulevard. They stated that a vehicle was swerving heavily um almost going into oncoming traffic and they were very concerned cuz they saw a car seat in the back seat. I caught up to the vehicle and began following it southbound on West Freeway Drive. Eventually crossing into the city line of Lakes where I observed the vehicle failed to maintain its lane and almost go to oncoming traffic a couple times. Conducted a traffic stop, noticed signs of impairment. There were two infants in the back seat and car seat. One was 6 months old, one was a little bit over a year old. I conducted field sobriety tests with the assistance of the Lina Lake Police Department. She ended up failing those tests. Um she was arrested for DWI. Her car and her children were released to her mother and she ended up taking the official test at.36, which is 4.5 times the legal limit of 008. >> Wow. >> That's a secondderee gross misdemeanor DWI. But that really does highlight a lot of our traffic complaints. A lot of people don't want to call it in. It's okay to call it in. If I can get to it, especially in a case like I see the notes saying there's a car seat in the back seat and I'm in the area. I'm going to find that car as best as I can. Of course, realistically find that car, follow it for my own conduct. And then obviously she ended up being heavily intoxicated. And she was talking and walking normal, too. >> Oh, wow. Okay. Um, I want to share another case that we had um in the city of Columbus. This is an online solicitation case involving a 15-year-old female. Um, this is also Deputy Vertina's case. Um but he responded to the location where the 15-year-old and her family were making a harassment online solicitation report. Um she had been involved um with a couple online chats over I want to say Discord and Instagram um with two uh unknown males on these uh various platforms. um they had been exploiting her to send some nude images and videos and also um threatening that if she didn't cut their names into her skin, they would conduct what is referred to as a swatting. Um so have a swatting at her home. Um, so swatting is when someone makes a malicious hoax um and calls 911 to falsely report an ongoing emergency such as a in progress violent crime um with the intent to deploy a bunch of law enforcement resources such as the SWAT team. Um so while Deputy Vertina was taking this report from the 15-year-old and her parents dispatch actually received another call from a crisis center. Uh the crisis center reported that they were on the line with a male and he was reporting that he was at the same Columbus address that he had just killed his sister and then was going to light himself on fire. Obviously, Deputy Verina was there and knew that that was not the case. Um and it was quickly determined that this was just a hoax to try to get the SWAT team to come to the house. Um so I bring this up. Um we were this is in um currently with the criminal investigation division. Um the two males have been identified. They are out of state. Um also juvenile. Um but just please ensure that you're monitoring your your teenagers and your children's online activity and that that's being monitored on a regular basis, especially with all of the different platforms from Snapchat to WhatsApp app and all of these things. um because it's very unfortunate what that young girl was going through until she finally came clean and told her parents about the harassment that she was receiving. And it also makes me wonder if you weren't already at the house and dispatch re received that kind of a call and instead our deputies were dispatched with a phone call of a male identifying himself as just killing somebody and wants to know set himself on fire. What type of a response would have would have occurred on our end. And that one did start with just a phone call cuz she didn't want me to talk to her parents. I obviously had to convince her that that was the best option for all of us. >> There is so much of this. I can tell you working in the criminal investigation division, we probably average over a dozen of these a month types of cases. Not the swatting, but the online solicitation and sharing of pornograph or nude images, I should say. Um, and then lastly, I wanted to share, I know we usually talk about cases that have happened in the last quarter, um, but I got a sentencing memo from the county attorney's office on a case that happened in February of last year. Um, this was a criminal vehicular operation. Our deputies had responded to a single vehicle crash on 147th and Abalene Drive Northeast. um where a vehicle had been traveling over 100 miles per hour and a 35 mph zone and had crashed into the public works building. Um that individual was detained um determined to be under the influence and had a blood alcohol concentration of.138. Um he was found guilty on the criminal vehicular operation. Um he was sentenced to 365 days in jail. However, he had credit for 6 days and the other 358 is a state sentence. So, he'll be on probation for four years. Um, a state sentence meaning that he won't have to serve any of that time as long as he's law-abiding and um doesn't have any probation violations. Otherwise, he'll have that year hanging over his head. So, little sneak peek into some of the sentencings and what is sometimes considered justice um in the court, but that sometimes you have to balance what is best for the community, what's best for the defendant and um the victim um and all of that sort of stuff. So, but yeah, it's interesting when those sentencing memos come in because it takes so long sometimes for things to make their way through the system and a lot of the, you know, misdemeanor and gross misdemeanor cases are handled at the at the city level. And so, our county attorney's office sends disposition memos and sentencing memos on our felony cases. So, a lot of times I don't know what happens to the misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor convictions um or what kind of pleads or dismissals occur unless you actively go and seek those out. So, I thought that was interesting and I know that you you are familiar with the damage to the public works building. So, I thought I'd share that. >> Um any questions on calls for service before we move on to the law enforcement contract? >> Can I just ask one question? So yesterday we had a workshop and um Noa County Highway Department was here and they talked about um sort of with the status of some a number of of um street projects were uh that were um proposed to be done in Columbus. So one of them is PTOAC. So, one of the things that we had heard from them is that because of the current um uh there's no shoulders on that road that um you are not doing any sort of speeding enforcement or anything like that. >> That's not what that No, >> that's not true. >> So, I could still do speed enforcement. I'm aware of Howard Lake Drive atomic especially. >> Um >> it's more difficult to conduct truck stops safely there simply because of lack of shoulders. I know there's a whole thing behind the scenes with the redo of PTOIC. Obviously, that's not our place. >> Um, if I conduct a traffic stop on PTOIC, I'm hoping that the person knows I want them to pull on the side street. Otherwise, I just have to keep following them down to either Lake or Broadway or camp, something more safe than just uh PTOIC. >> Okay. Uh it just ends up being there's no way for me to do stationary patrol of sitting on the side of the road with the radar running and then that way that's just very straightforward. I can just pull them over right away. But I still conduct speed enforcement. I'm sure Deputy Guru as well. >> Okay. >> Um it's just >> not as easy on say Lake or Kell River before Broadway Avenue. It's just a little less safe. So that's my two cents on that. >> Okay. Thank you for clarifying that. I appreciate it cuz it was, you know, we know that those I mean there's speeding everywhere. >> Um but uh PTOAC especially and probably you can speak to Howard Lake. I know you've been saying there's been a lot there too. >> Yeah, I'd love to follow up on that. Thank you for for opening that up. So first of all, we do get complaints from people on Howard Lake Drive and I know staff has mowed a spot for the sheriff's department of park where the old park was. I don't know if you use it, but I've personally seen you on Garrick facing Howard Lake running radar recently and also actually making a traffic stop on Howard Lake Drive, which does put you at risk. Um, so uh that confirms for me that uh the sheriff's department is doing what they're they say they're doing. Yeah. >> Be a little creative with those roads. So I have been sitting on Garrick since it's a little bit less of a used road. Obviously, if someone's trying to turn onto it, I'm going to get out of the way. Um, but that allows me in our squad cars, we only have front and rear radar in parallel. I cannot run radar perpendicularly. So, I have utilized a spot that has been graciously mowed out for us on the other side of West Iverson. Uh, that the problem with that is just we can't conduct radar there, but it's still a deterrent, a physical deterrent. Now, that being said, I've gotten creative with going on the side of Gerri and so then I've been conducting traffic stops. I just follow them on to um Kettle or follow them into Forest Lake wherever safe over there. So, I have been conducting more speed enforcement and I've been talking to my partner, Deputy Gruy. I just unfortunately don't get to see him because he works literally opposite of me. So, I know we are we are well aware of Howard Lake and Tom Mcamemer. >> Yeah. And always we always offer there's several residents on Howard Lake that offer their driveways and turnarounds. So, uh, if you ever need a place to park, I can tell you where to go. >> But it sounds like you're figuring it out on your own. So, much appreciated for following up on that. >> And if you want to get those addresses, I can always share that with our patrol sergeants. They can roll call that because a lot of the countywide squads, especially outside of the contract coverage time, could also be out here during the morning hours and especially when school buses are coming and picking. I'm guessing there's school bus stops and stuff on Howard Lake as well. So, I know that that can be >> I will follow up with those people who have offered that in the past and make sure they're still offering it. Wonderful. Absolutely. The other question I have for that is um how do we handle commercial traffic cuz with 95 shutdown, we see an increase in semis and commercial traffic coming down Howard Lake now too. Uh hopefully it's only temporary, but um is there a way you guys handle that or can handle it? Honestly, I can't say I have much experience in the commercial realm. Um, I can certainly I will have to do some research on what I can enforce and realistically how I can enforce commercial cuz I don't have any training obviously with anything like that. Um, I believe there's a sign on Howard Lake that says local traffic only for the trucks. Oh, and I'm also aware of uh off of Horn Hornsby where it turns into line next to Forest Lake. We also have issues with semi-truckss cutting through the dirt and that's ruining that road. Um, so that's another thing I'm aware of, but I honestly have to do some research. I don't really know commercial laws. >> Do you see a lot of them, Matt? >> Semi trucks on Howard Lake? >> Well, like cement trucks or whatever. >> I haven't personally. Um, I've been making it a goal of mine to at least start my shift out on Howard Lake and do some traffic stops right at about 2:33 4. Um, I haven't seen any trucks on there. I've seen plenty of trucks though by the Loves going going south on uh Hornsby and I'm just personally not aware of what, >> you know, and I think where we get the complaints from the commercial traffic is probably more during business hours and outside the contract hours. uh uh particularly on weekends, believe it or not. So, I I believe that Yeah. you that you probably don't see it as often as it's happening. Yeah. >> But certainly I'll talk to our countywide deputies and see they also have a little bit more experience than me too, so I can bring that up to them and we can come up with some kind of solution. >> And I'll make sure this makes its way to our patrol sergeant so they can roll call it for the other shifts as well. >> Mr. Mayor, Mr. Mayor, Council Member Bush has his hand up. Oh. Rob, go ahead. >> Hey, thanks. Thanks, Mayor. Thanks, Aaron. Um, say Matt, uh, are are you in a new patrol car now or in a patrol SUV or is that someone that's just filling in now? So, I did notice like like we're talking about Howard Lake and Iverson. I think it was Sunday afternoon. Uh, somebody had come by in an SUV that looked a little different than what we we've had in the past. >> We got a new 2025 Dodge Durango probably four or five months ago. So, we no longer have the charger. Uh, that >> Yep. And it says serving Columbus on the back. So, that's how you'll know it's the assigned car for the city and deputy Guru and I. >> Okay. >> Unless we have a spare squad that day. Um, but no, we have a new 2025 Dodge Dodger. It's very nice. >> Yeah. No, no, it just looked different than uh than the patrol car. So, I was just curious if that was a regular or not. And uh appreciate it. >> New uh color scheme I think that they came up with last year. It's uh it's a little bit darker. It doesn't have the black and white anymore. >> Yeah, it's parked out front if anyone wants to check. >> It looks really >> not quite as sneaky as Forest Lakes blackout letters, but it's uh >> you can't quite catch it right away. So, it looks nice. >> That nice ghost lettering on the side. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Do we still park that at the far hall here or now that you have your new station, are you parking it up there? >> We are. So, we are stationed out of the Lion's Club area. Yeah. >> So, we still park inside of the fireh hall in that first spot. >> Okay. >> Jenny, I have one more question. Um, so I had a resident who lives near me. It was um early I want to say mid August. Um, noted a person with a very nicel looking Tesla was going around our neighborhood taking photos of every every property or of every home. And so he observed the vehicle, thought, "Okay, that's a nicer vehicle." I, you know, didn't really suspect anything. Um, and then well, you know, was out at Mo's lawn, but kind of stopped and watched and observed him going house to house. Um, not approaching any properties or anything like that, but just taking photos. And then finally made his way back because it was a dead end. And I don't think he realized that and had to loop back. Um, and so he stopped his vehicle and asked him, you know, what what are you doing? I'm just checking in. And, you know, I live around here. What, you know, can we help you with anything? And, um, he said he was looking for somebody who owed him money or something to that effect. Um, and so I was just curious if you've seen and and I I don't know if that would be assumed to be something like theft or setting up for, you know, potential theft in our neighborhood or something like that. He did post in our community page and he said that he reported it. I don't know who he reported it to per se, but um I want to say it was the sheriff's office because he said that they were aware of the Tesla and he gave the license plate and took video of the person. He had his phone like sneakily off and so he had um uh video of his face and took video of the vehicle as well. So, I was just curious if you've heard of anything like that at all. >> I personally haven't. Do you know what street it's on? >> Uh, it's right off of Furman. So, over by the elementary school, Ferman and 174th. >> I can't think of any related reports. >> I can't either. And I get a email every morning of the Columbus reports that I read to see if there's anything of immediate interest or any, you know, damaged fire hydrant or anything like that. So, I can notify the city right away. and I don't remember reading anything like that. >> I'll see if he can send me the video and maybe I'll just forward it on to you and give you his information just to have the information about the vehicle because um I want to say that they whoever I'll I'll get the information for you because I thought he said he had reported it and I think it's important just because it the whole thing seemed very odd. Um but just in in taking photos of all the houses and all that, we were just trying to he made sure to post it on our neighborhood page um so people are a little bit more vigilant, but during the day not everybody's home. So, I was just curious if you've heard of other incidences of, you know, home like what that would be if it's more about theft or what that would look like. >> Yeah, I think it would be good to get that reported and get that video uploaded so we have a copy of it. Thank you, Jack. >> Thank you very much. >> We talk about the contract. >> Let's talk about the contract. Does everybody have a copy of the contract and um the numbers showing the the cost of the coverage? >> That was right there. >> If it works, I can just sort of start at the top with personnel and discuss the uh the changes and where the increases are. Um starting with personnel um for sworn deputies, the deputy contract was settled. they went with a 3-year term. Um, so that in included a 5% increase in wage for 2025, 5% for 2026, and then 3% for 2027. Um, so that's where you're going to have a little bit of that increase um for section A1. And then if you look at section A2 where it says uh 10 hours of overtime on average, that has increased. Um it used to be 7 hours in the previous year's contracts. Um that increased for a couple reasons. Um the first is because of the postmandated training. So deputies are required for their licensing to have so many continuing education credits and the state mandates certain types of training and that has been increasing. Um, so over the years they have added on autism training, crisis intervention, officer wellness, um, mental health, all of those sorts of things on top of use of force and qualifying with your firearm and that sort of stuff. Um, so that did increase to 10 hours and then also for um, when the deputies have to respond to court to testify. Um so with an increase of omnimous hearings and those sorts of things per the deputy contract when they respond to court even if they're only testifying for an hour per their contract they get 3 hours of overtime for call out. So that is where the that increased from 7 hours to 10 hours and then obviously for nonsworn cso is zero um for that piece. Moving on to the benefit portion. Um, this is a little bit out of our control. Our health and dental insurance increased 5%. Um, this is for a couple reasons. Um, so as you all probably know, health insurance is becoming a little bit more expensive. Um, as Americans age and claims uh increase, the trend we were looking at was about 8% each year. um that's moving now to about 10 to 12% increase of health coverage each year. Um another factor that's infecting this decision is the federal government has reduced the amount of reimbursement for Medicaid. Um so this increase increases the health insurance cost for employers um as insurance providers raise prices to help offset that loss of revenue from the federal government. Oops. Sorry. >> Sorry. That would be our active 911 paging system for any overtime or major incidents. Um, any questions on the benefit portion? >> Do you need to take that call? >> No, it's just an overtime opportunity. I Okay, >> I'll get it after. >> Okay. >> So, this is this is Rob um council had a had a question in regards to that. So is that does that increase come on behalf of us or is that something that you you bargain through your collective bargaining agreement and then is allocated uh to your health fund or how does that work or is that just an added cost that's put on by by the county and and imposed to us? >> Yes, that's an added cost put on by the county. >> Okay. >> So it's it's not something that you negotiate through your CBA. >> Unfortunately, it's not. And I know for um for even us, we have our open enrollment coming up and there's increases on both the employer and employee side for for health insurance. >> Okay. Yeah. And more more curious, you know, uh dealing with it on my my side for work too with with CBAs and how the it's Yeah. It's hard to juggle right now. So, thank you. >> And that's for all county employees, not just sheriff's. >> Yes. All county employees. Uh moving on to the vehicle expenses. Um so the squad cost did go from $50,000 to $55,000. Um we're replacing the squads for the or the squad for the Columbus contract every 3 years. Um so they are starting they are lasting a little bit longer. Um but part of this increase is because we are having such a difficult time getting squads. Um, I know for our our um detective units and administrative staff, um, we just we it's hard to get the the Explorers. It's hard to get the Tauruses, the Dodge Chargers. Every time we need to replace fleet, we're putting out bids and we're we're fighting to get what vehicles we can get, whether it's a Tahoe for a crime scene unit or um what that has. So, because of that demand, the prices have gone up. Um, and we're also getting creative in some areas too outside of patrol. Um, we're utilizing Mitiguchi Outlanders for detectives and we're just we're getting really creative cuz it's hard to get to get a a fleet. So, we're we're getting really creative with that. Um, and in addition to that, that's going to include the entire build. So, putting the graphics in the docking station for the laptop, the light bars, all of the accessories that go in um to building out a squad once we get the shell of the vehicle. Um so, that cost did go up $5,000. But the good thing is is that the squads are lasting longer. So, we're only replacing them every 3 years now. Um the in including this, the equipment cost um also increased 500. that went from $1,000 to $1,500. Um and then the PSDS costs also slightly increased for each um community in Anoka County. And this is something that's also out of our control. Um this is based on calls for service over the years. Um so fire and police get build this each year and essentially what they do is they take five years of calls for service um and then that average gets divided and that is done by the JLET committee they're the ones who determine that number the joint law enforcement executive committee which I believe Columbus has a representative on correct is somebody on JLE >> with the city >> I don't believe so >> okay did was somebody used to be on JLE I I thought somebody was on that. I >> think so. >> No. Do you guys get their emails? >> No. >> Oh, okay. >> We should. >> Yes, I will write that down and follow up on that, too. So, you can get meeting minutes and all of that stuff. >> Are those open meetings? >> I don't believe they are, but I can ask. I'm not sure. I'll ask. because I do get the meeting notices, but I don't know if they're open. We could go. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. I would because I I've only been to a couple of them, but there's representatives from all the different cities from Spring Lake Park to >> Yeah. >> the county attorney's office, different departments within the county. It's It's a pretty large committee. >> Mhm. Any questions on any of those numbers? >> No. Except I think 7.3% for the year. We can probably look forward for the next three years going up 5% at least. >> Somewhere in that range because of the wages then. >> Yes. And then just that depending on you know how everything else increases with healthcare. >> Yeah. How did they come up with 50,000 for a car? I I I hear higher numbers. Are you depreciating the one you're getting rid of and or whatever? I I mean, that seems pretty reasonable or cheap >> for the for the increase of the 5,000. >> Well, just 55,000 for a squad all all fixed up and >> but that's over the course of the three years though, too. So, it'll be that. >> So, it's averaged over >> Yes. All right. Cuz I've heard them being 110,000 just to get them on the street and equipped. >> Yeah. Well, yeah. So, this would be, you know, reallyund what 65,000 for the course of the 3 years, but that will also include all the maintenance that's done at County Highway and the preventative maintenance on the vehicle, too. >> Okay. >> Yeah. At the gas as well. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Except uh Jack, we found that little error on page was what is it? Five. >> Page five. >> Item four there. >> That that's just a typo error there where compensation. >> Second line. >> I'm sorry. Page five of the contract. The actual contract or page four. Did you say >> the actual contract? >> Yep. What page? >> Page five. on their compensation term. >> Item four. Yeah, >> item four. Down there, the second line. This must be a typo though. Where you read the line, municipality here agrees to pay the county the sum of 482,000. Then if you go over and look at the the number in parentheses, it's 5,000 something. But didn't what would the site on Jack was? >> 531,000. Yeah, it looks like when the contract was updated. >> Yeah. So, we >> entered the number but did not change the written out number. >> Do we get an option to choose on that? >> Right. Check. >> Right. Yeah. The correct number is actually an attachment A, >> but we'll take that 40. >> Yeah. Or 100 there. >> You want to make a motion to approve real quick? >> What I can do is I can have this edited and sent over tomorrow or is this something that you guys can You can wait. That would work. Okay. >> Any other questions on the contract? >> Rob, you got any questions? >> I I'll just say five 5%. I remember this was a long time ago in the '9s when the LGA went away for two years, you guys had zero and zero. >> So, um I personally I I think that 5% is well earned. >> Thank you very much. Much appreciated. >> No other questions, I guess. >> Nope. >> That's the end of the show. >> All right. Well, mayor, council, we got to approve it. >> Well, yeah, that's right. We got to go back. >> I think that's what they're here for. >> Yeah. I I can make the motion. >> Go for it. >> All right. I'm trying to find my spot on here. There we go. I, Scott Wendell, move to approve the 2026 and Oka County Sheriff's Office law enforcement contract for the city of Columbus with the change to page five, item number four, so that the correct amount is listed in the amount of 547,973. >> I thought it was a little different. >> 531. It's 547, but then there's 16,000 of police state aid that comes off that to make the grand net total of 531. >> Okay. >> So that what's the correct number then? 531. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> See what I'm talking >> Yeah, I see. But we're referencing this number, right? >> Okay. >> Yeah. The deal is we're subtract. >> We didn't subtract that 16 here. Yeah. >> Okay. So, we want the amount 531,089. >> Yeah, >> that's correct. >> Correct. >> Okay, >> this is Jenny. I second. >> I got a motion on the floor. Uh, any comments, any questions? Hearing none, we'll take a vote. Jenny, >> Jenny, I >> Scott I. >> Janet I. >> You out there, Rob? >> Rob's on mute. >> Rob I >> motion passes. >> Thank you very much. Thank you for all you do. Have a great night. >> Can I say on a personal note as well with Fall Fest, what a fantastic job you all did and you represented so well and brought so many explorers and we had a lot of good compliments from all of our residents and I know you dealt with some bee issues. We had some um we had some wasp issues that and everybody did and Becky especially I know. So we just wanted to thank you all and you were there as well, Matt. So thank you very much. >> Well and thank you. I really appreciate the being included early on in the in the planning committee. That was very helpful to bring our reserves and >> get everything situated. So, we look forward to next year. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Thomas. >> Have a great night. >> We'll go on to item number three in the section C, Employee Handbook, Holiday Calendar Amendment, Christmas Eve, pages 12, 11, and 12. As listed in the city's current employee handbook, Christmas Eve is included as a half-day holiday. Past practice of staff has been to request that city council close city hall for the remainder of that date that is not a holiday. And in return, employees are required to take a half day of their leave to compensate for the closure. Christmas Eve is not a federal holiday and the decision to observe this date is made by individual cities and counties. Local mut municipalities of St. Francis, Forest Lake, East Bethl, Isani, Cambridge, Chicago County, Lynwood Township. Now then, Stacy and Scandia grant Christmas Eve as a full day off for their employees. Staff recommends that the city holiday schedule be amended to include Christmas Eve as an entire day off based on the following. This change would be consistent with the vast majority of our neighboring municipalities that recognize Christmas Eve as a full holiday. This change would eliminate the annual need to go through the process of closing city hall on December 24th for the half a day that's not designated as a holiday. Public demand for services on Christmas Eve is very low and emergencies would still be addressed by on call staff. Half-day holidays are not conducive to staff efficiency. Providing a full day off shows appreciation for employee contributions throughout the year. And Christmas Eve is an important day for many families. It is often time for travel, family traditions and spiritual significance. >> Anybody have any discussion on this? >> You know, I in fact when we talked about it earlier, I thought we I thought we had approved this last year, but I think we just did it >> the closure. >> Yeah. So, I'm all >> I think I think it was a case byase basis last year, Jana. Like we just approved it for the year, right? >> I think I think you're right. I in my head I thought we had just approved it. I think you're right. I think we just approved it for the year. So, I'm glad we >> So, was it And was it last year, if you'd remind me, uh did they do a half day of their PTO and the other half was covered by the city or is it all PTO for that day off? >> No, they would they would pay a half day holiday pay and they if they took the full day off, they had to use PTO is my understanding that was how it was. >> So, is that how this is going to go this time? No, they would get full. >> I don't think it's difficult that everyone gets Christmas Eve off. >> Well, so that >> or maybe it's anything. I don't know. >> So, that was what what Jack just he gave us the list of nearby um communities that give a full day, but it's not a federal holiday. You're right there. >> Um and I think different municipalities have done it differently, but I I agree with Jack. I mean, if you're not getting people coming in here, you know, being open for a half a day doesn't really make sense. >> Yeah. I I don't know a lot of people that are going to be looking for a building permit or worrying about their water bill on Christmas. >> No, it's >> Yeah, I hope not. >> Okay. Thank what's happen. Like I stated, there's almost no traffic at all that comes to the counter on that date. And uh I think it's been past practice so that we close anyway, but staff is required to take half a day leave time >> to get the full day off. The city pays the other half. But to keep it standard and it's kind of a tradition now around here, two cities that we didn't mention, Ham Lake is open half day, but they also give the day after Christmas off. Wyoming is open half day Christmas Eve, but they also give half day New Year's Eve off. So most of the cities observe Christmas Eve is a full holiday. >> Yeah, fair. Thank you. >> Is this something Erin, that you could post and just make sure that it's communicated out that it's closed. Yeah, with you do a great job with that. Yes, posting. >> We'll amend the calendar as soon as you approve it. And >> now I can get the Ludafisk ready. >> Thank goodness. >> I need that whole day. >> Um I I have one other question. So, typically if New Year's, not New Year's Eve, Christmas Eve is on a weekend, you're still going to keep two full days off. >> That's correct. Let's let's say that Christmas Eve was on Saturday, then we'd be closed Friday and then Monday >> and Monday. Okay. So, in the handbook that will be addressed. Good. >> It' be the same thing if it was Saturday. Christmas Eve was Saturday and Sunday to get Friday and Monday. >> Okay. Any other questions, comments? Well, I'll make a motion. I Ron Hanograph move to approve that the city holiday schedule be amended to approve Chris to approve Christmas Eve as a full holiday day. >> This is Scott. I'll second. >> We got a motion on the floor. It's been seconded. Any other discussions or questions? >> Hearing none, we'll take a vote. Jenny. >> Jenny I. >> Scott I. >> Janet I. >> Rob I. Ron I passes unanimously. Let's go on item number four. Call for a special meeting 2026 legislative priorities page 13. Mayor Ron Hanigraph is requested to call a special city council meeting to discuss the priorities and strategies for the 2026 legislative session for those items relative to the city of Columbus with city attorney Bill Griffith and Margaret Vessel, Larkin Hoffman's managing director for public affairs and state senator Michael Kun. This discussion will focus on the city's continuing efforts to seek relief from the current inequities of the physical disparities program and to consider a request for the city to be placed on the 2026 bonding bill for the Hornsby Street project. The 2026 Minnesota legis legislative session will convene on February 17, 2026. Mayor Hannigraph is requested to call a special city council meeting on October 20th, 2025 at 5:30 p.m. to discuss the priorities and strategies for this session for those items relative to the city of Columbus. >> Any discussion on that? Any questions? Hearing none. Um, I, Ron Hannigraph, make a motion to call a special meeting to discuss the priorities and strategies for the 2026 legislative session for those items relative to the city of Columbus on October 20th, 2025 at 5:30 p.m. at city hall. >> So, this is Janet. I second. >> Got a motion on the floor. It's been seconded. Any other discussion? Hearing none, we'll take a vote. Jenny, >> Jenny, I. >> Scott, I Janet I. >> Rob I. Ron I we'll go on to item number five hidden park comprehensive plan amendment and resoning >> city council approved the hidden park comprehensive plan amendment on August 27th 2025 following a public hearing before the planning commission that was held on July 16th of that same year. The approval was contingent upon the review by the metropolitan council. The associated reszoning ordinance 25-02 also received a public hearing before the planning commission on that date. Approval of the ordinance was also contingent on the mech council's review of the comp plan amendment. On September 23rd, 2025, the city received a letter from the metropolitan council confirming that the comp plan amendment is consistent with regional growth plans and may be adopted by the council. At this time, city staff recommends that resolution 2514 adopting the hidden park comprehensive plan and publication sum area be approved. And following that discussion andor approval of that motion, there's a following motion that will be introduced. >> We'll do the next one after that. >> Yes. >> Any discussion on that? >> Uh hearing none. Well, I'll I'll go on with the motion. I, Ron Hanigraph, move to approve resolution 25-14, an amendment to the city comprehensive plan to change the land use designation of Hidden Park from Park to Rural Residential. >> Any question? Oh, we got a second. >> This is Janet. I second. >> We got a motion on the floor. It's been seconded by Janet. Any other discussions? Questions? None. We'll take a vote. >> Uh Jenny, >> Jenny, I. Scott I >> Janet I >> Rob I >> Ron I >> the >> the second item on there is request for approval of ordinance 25-02 amending chapter 7A of the Columbus city code to reszone this property from park to rural residential >> I'll go on in a motion here I Ron Hannigraph move to approve ordinance 25-02 an ordinance amending chapter 7.8-Zoning regulations in the city of the Columbus city code. >> So this is Janet second. >> We got a motion on the floor. It's been seconded. Any discussion? Any questions? Hearing none. We'll take a vote. Jenny >> Jenny I. >> Scott I. >> Janet I. >> Rob I. >> And Ron I. The motion passes. We'll go to section D. >> Wait. have a question on. So, have we put the the letter out to the adjacent land owners or did this have to happen first and then we're going to >> We're waiting on the appraisal to come back. That's in process. So, as soon as we get that, we'll send that out. Good. >> We'll have a discussion on it probably next week as to the process we want to actually follow. >> Okay, good. Thanks. >> Any other questions? >> No, I just lost track of where we were in all of that. >> We're down to a city attorney's report. Megan, >> Mr. Mayor, I have nothing to report on this evening. >> Pardon? >> Mr. Mayor, I have nothing to report on this evening. >> Oh, okay. Well, we're moving along quickly then. Thank you, Megan. >> Uh, mayor's report. We'll go to Jenny. You have anything to report? >> I have no report tonight. >> Scott, >> no report. >> Janet? >> No. >> Rob? >> Uh, thank you, Ron. Uh just uh briefly, we met, Ron and I and uh Jack met with uh residents in regards to uh some issues with the road and parking issues on uh believe it's 165th in Zodiac. Um kind of a reoccurring issue. They had had issues of grading on that road, but this was a a separate separate resident with concerns about parking and uh buses not be all getting turned around and things of that nature. So Ron and I are uh working through that. We're going to uh talk with Sean next week and see what we can come up for resolution to satisfy those residents at the end of Zodiac down there. So, that's all I have to report. >> Thank you, Rob. And uh I have uh nothing to report at this time. We'll go on to EDA report. >> So, Jack, this EDA report, are we going to there really no report? >> No, there's no report. just that there is will be a special ADA meeting on October the 14th. >> Okay. And then when we go to item number four, personnel committee report, Janet. >> Um so this will be short and sweet. Um as you all know, we had the uh deputy city um clerk posted. It closed on October 1st. There were 26 applicants that the staff scored and we interviewed four of them yesterday. Um so because of the workshop we did not have much time to get beyond just doing the interview. So you will be hearing more about that um at our the um October 22nd meeting. We'll come back with a with a uh hopefully with a proposed uh candidate that we can make an offer to. >> That's it. >> Yes, sir. >> Thank you, Janet. Uh we'll go on to item number five, the planning commission report. >> That's me. this month. >> Okay. June this month. >> I believe it is. Okay. >> Is it not? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Uh well, as you know, it was a joint council planning commission meeting. So, I'll make it brief here. Uh first item that came up was the public hearing for the Verizon small antenna cell tower on in the parking lot of running aces on their uh lights. that will be uh on the agenda for the next planning commission meeting to take a vote on. Uh we also had a discussion about uh the fences along the major roadways uh in the city here. Um basically a lot of conversation around the aesthetics, the sight line setbacks and the height of those and uh discussions regards to that. And thirdly, we had the uh discussion about updating our farm animal ordinance. Uh and I think it's safe to say that there was a consensus that both the planning commission, city council, and staff needed to be very proactive on getting feedback from the public on this. Uh and so that will uh process will be continuing hopefully getting lots of public feedback. That's it. Thank you, Scott. We'll go on to item number six, the public works report. Jim, >> Mr. Mayor and Council, public works director Jim Winningstead. I heard some conversations about um truck traffic on Howard Lake. Ironically enough, I had reached out to the state again and Forest Lake because of the location and and I'm just going to ask this question. Do you see more traffic going westbound than eastbound on trucks? Yeah, I think we had that conversation before. The signage is not in a place where trucks can turn around. Um, we see it both, but you are right. It would be more westbound. So, so I reach out generally once a year or twice a year and say, "Hey, can we move these signs?" And they've not been very receptive. So, I haven't heard back, but at this point, this is my yearly reach out again to say, "Hey, we're having some issues." And, you know, really by the time they see the sign, it's too late. So, so I I mean I feel for them at that point. They're they're doing it. And we were doing some work down there yesterday, so there was a bunch of flashing lights and we had a couple of trucks drive by and like they don't even make eye contact cuz they know that they're not supposed to be there, but they're stuck. >> Mhm. >> So, I'll I'll see if I can push a little harder again this time and see if we can >> get some action to try to move it. So, I I'll let you know if if I make any headway. >> So, a question for you on that, Jim. Do we have in our city ordinances weight limits on that street? >> It says on the sign um >> the 26,000 >> no truck traffic um over 26,000 lb or 26,01 I believe it says >> and then it says except for local deliveries. Mhm. >> So, if you had a semi driving to your house because you ordered something large off of Amazon, that that's that's a legit delivery. Um, you just can't have the through traffic. >> So, I that's not what I'm asking about though because that technically you could write them for a disobeyed traffic control device, right? But we'd never be able to prosecute that, nor do I think we'd want to because the sign isn't fair to the drivers, right? What I'm asking is if there's a public ordinance, regardless of whether there's a sign with weight limits, that's enforceable, I think. >> Not not that I'm aware of. >> Okay. So, we we have a few roads in town that we've posted as, you know, no truck traffic, local deliveries only. Um, one being Zurich Street, um, Howard Lake and, um, Notre Dame and 181st, I believe, are posted that way. So those are the only roads in town that are posted that way. And it was just because we had had some difficulties with, you know, large vehicles. So >> Jim, do where would you put a sign that says no trucks would on their property there? Is that the deal? >> Well, that so the hard part is is you have state and local area over there, right? So you have the the state facility. It it's it's really a crappy area, right? When you get up to the top of the just before the bridge, you know, you have that whole intersection with traffic coming and going and it's, you know, people are paying attention to all the vehicles around and you drop a sign or two in there and we all know that most people don't normally normally pay attention to signage, right? So, it's just not a great area. And you know, Forest Lake, I think, would be receptive, but it's not really their property right there. And by the time I get to Forest Lake, it's too late again. So, it really needs to go onto the state. Um, and they're just not receptive to allow anybody to do anything. >> Well, you'd want the trucks to turn up to Everton, right? >> If they were coming westbound. So, wouldn't you stick one on the corner there? Is that too late? Or you'd have to have it on the other side of the bridge? I I'm not really sure what the I mean there in lies a real difficulty too, right? I I don't know that I can put it on the other side of the bridge because then you know if you see that hypothetically where does that that starts right there then? Right. So So we don't want to allow no truck traffic there. So it really needs to go on the west side of what' you say it was Edertton. >> Everton Everton. Okay. So, it really needs to go on the west side of the intersection there, but I think if they allow me to do it, it's going to be more than a 12 by8 sign. It would have to be a virtual billboard there. And so, I I think the real crux of the problem here is 200, which runs into Howard Lake Drive, there is a curbed and I believe that might be a 10 ton road. So, it's illegal to drive a truck there. >> Yes. And then you hit the the Columbus border which is there's no intersections or anything there. It's in the middle of nowhere so to speak. So you have that sudden transition to uh you know we have a very we're not able to support 10 tons on that road. So >> no >> I think that's the crux of the problem cuz Forest Lake doesn't want us to say you can't go down 220th on their row. You can >> right >> but it leads to nowhere. >> But they don't want you to turn. I'm sure they don't want you to turn into that housing area there. >> That's correct. >> So, you would have to have it before there. So, if you put it before Everton going west, >> but that option >> couldn't you have a couldn't you have a sign that said um like weight restriction x number of feet ahead, you know, no no greater than something so that so that they see it, they can turn off on Everton and get to where they're so they have, you know, they have an option versus just seeing it and going, "Whoops, too late." Now, >> the the biggie for me is getting them to allow me to put in a sign. >> Yeah. If they allow that, then I'll figure out what it needs to say to try to divert as much traffic as we can from there. But the the real crutch of it is is they're telling me no. >> Is this Mandot or who's who? >> Mindot. >> Is that the one out of that district office there? >> Yeah, >> it is. >> Seems to me that when we've had problems getting through the mind, we call our good friend Joe McFersonson to pull some strings and he seems to be able to. you might want to see if he knows somebody there that might be a little bit more receptive and you might get somewhere. >> I I I'll be honest with you. I think I'm wearing them down because I bug him every year. So, I I mean, I think I think we're close. But nevertheless, I >> once once we get them to agree to it, um then we'll really try to figure out what do we need to do, how big does it need to be, how many do we need there, cuz you know, maybe we put one on each side of the road so it's very visual. Mhm. >> Um, but we'll figure it out. >> So, that's all I have, Mr. Mayor. >> Thank you. City administrator's report. Yeah. >> I have nothing to add. Thank you. >> Okay. Go on to item number E, the city council minutes. We'll go to number one there. You going to take this, Aaron? >> Uh, yeah, sure. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, presented for you is, uh, the draft minutes with edits for the June 25th, 2025 city council meeting. Staff would be looking for uh the council to review the presented minutes with edits, make recommendations, and or an approval. have any discussion? >> I I can make the motion. They're my edits, so I'm okay with them. >> So then I would move to approve the June 25th, 2025 regular meeting minutes of the council with the edits as presented in our council packet. >> It's Jenny. I second. >> We have a motion on the floor. It's been seconded. Any other discussion or questions? Hearing none. >> Mr. Mayor, if you do you mind? No. >> Um I still have a hard time with the length of the minutes and the content of the minutes either by staff uh or by city council um maybe not accurately reflecting. Um I I will make uh a vote to approve these, but I'm wondering if we could have a discussion on the meeting minutes again at a future workshop and and talk about it some more. I think that would be a good idea because it comes up at every single me meeting and so and I think the part that's been difficult is >> defining that sweet spot between length and and having um enough in there that that the motions make sense. So, and I think that's the thing you struggle with when you draft them. >> Yeah. And I can say that this version from June um was it was a long one. There was a lot of discussion. There was important and relevant things that I thought were for each topic to make the motion happen. You will notice uh as we move forward in this packet, uh these three sets of minutes will get us caught up to tonight's meeting. >> Thank God. >> So, um I the next couple of sets aren't as lengthy. uh we've been refining uh details and and content as we keep going here. So, this would be the last real lengthy one that you're going to see uh from here forward. So, >> yeah. And and just so I can briefly explain where I'm coming, there are things that in past minutes where I wish what I had said had been in the minutes because it counter it was a discussion and the opposing side had their comments in the minutes. Mine were left out and and um vice versa I think sometimes too. So I just want to make sure that we're accurately reflecting what gets said. Well, and I think >> and and that was not because of a council member. That was because of whoever was doing the minutes. And it might even have been AI wasn't picking up on that. So, I just want to make sure we're we're being accurate. >> Well, and I think I think in any of those cases, I mean, we all have the opportunity to add, subtract, edit. So, if you feel that way and we're getting those draft minutes out, I mean, by all means, suggest that. >> That's just one one piece. And I think that's worthy of a discussion, a deeper dive. >> Yeah, why don't we do that? We'll set that when we got time for a workshop meeting. So, >> yeah. >> Okay. >> Good. >> Yep. >> Jack >> and Megan, maybe I don't know if there's any like little tutorial or some I mean, it would be really helpful, I think, to have the attorneys weigh in as to and and Bill has when we've when we've talked about this, you know, what are you guys looking for? because you use these minutes when we get ourselves in legal trouble, right? So, I think I think one of the, you know, one of the purposes of them is that is that they're the official record and from a from a legal standpoint, what is it that you're looking for? And then we can talk about it also in the context of, you know, communicating to the um to the uh public what's going on as well as, you know, having a record for the staff to go back and and use too. So, >> well, we could probably do that at a discussion. >> Well, that's what I mean. >> Y absolutely. We can prepare a memo that outlines sort of what the underlying rules are for open meeting law purposes and then our best practices and recommendations in terms of content. >> Okay, sounds good. We got a motion that was seconded on the floor other than Scott's discussion. Any other questions or discussion here? Now, we'll take a vote. Jenny, >> Jenny, I >> Scott I. >> Janet I. Rabbi going to the next one, Erin. >> Yep. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, in your packet is the July 23rd regular city council meeting minutes with recommended edits. Um, staff would look for council to review, discuss, and potentially approve the uh minutes in the packet. Um, so this is Janet and I would move to approve the July 23rd, 2025 um, regular council minutes um, with the edits as presented in the council packet. Um, and also the two comments in here about just spelling out the definition of a couple of these abbreviations. I would like that done. I It was a question that I posed in there. So it was on page 36 and page 37. So that's part of my motion that you you spell out what DK is and what ACCE L A is >> before they are published. We will make sure to get those identified. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> I I assume DK is drunk. >> That's what I would assume as well. >> I >> did you do these minutes there? Uh >> I did not. >> Okay. I was going to say that's a cop term there. I have it says drafted by Aaron. No. Did it Did I >> It says It says drafted by Aaron. >> All right. I I'm responsible for that. Yes, that's >> I was going to say I don't know who else would would come up with a DK for drunk. I That's what I thought, too, but I thought I've never seen that before. >> It's It's very possible. >> Okay. >> Shorthand. Yes. >> Okay. So, we have a motion on the floor. Is anybody want to second it or >> This is Jenny. I second. >> We got a motion on the floor. It's been seconded. Any other discussion or comments? Hearing none, we'll take a vote. >> Jenny, >> Jenny, I. >> Scott, I >> Janet I. >> Rob I. >> L I. [Music] >> And again, Mr. Mr. Mayor, uh in your packet is the September 24th, 2025 um regular city council meeting minutes with suggested edits. Uh staff would look for council to discuss, amend, or approve uh the suggested uh version of minutes for publication. So before we I make a motion to approve it, but can you go to page 45 and answer the question that I posed um in the comment? I think I think it should be decrease, not increase, but somebody answered that question because I couldn't I wasn't sure and unfortunately I think maybe this wasn't one. The other thing that I'm I'm finding is when I don't like when we get minutes from 6 months ago and I like I don't remember. I have to go back and look at the video. The videos are truncated. So some of you know if you have a 2-hour video on the agenda they will say you know the time that each of those but the the thing might end at 1 hour and 45 minutes and it doesn't go on to those. And I've run into that a couple of times. So I don't know who to tell that to. I'm telling it to you so you can talk to Paul. >> We we will have that discussion with uh Lakes Area TV. >> All right. So anyways, if you could answer that question then I will know how to do the >> Yeah. And so I will tell you that this version with these bullet points was pulled directly from the staff report and added to the minutes. So if the word increase was in the staff report, that's it got transported right to uh this version of uh the minutes. So, I thought that was a decrease though. >> Yeah, I think it should be decrease. >> Remember, Jack, the levy when we H if we took that out, >> it would decrease the levy. >> Isn't that what you meant to say? So, read read that bullet because when you read the bullet, it's like >> 45. >> It seems like it should be a decrease, not an increase. >> Well, I remember decreasing. >> Yeah. Yeah, I know. But I think >> Yeah, you're right. And it says it. >> Well, you're reviewing that. I'll pull up the staff report from the meeting so we can compare. >> Well, there were a couple things in that staff report that were incorrect that we corrected during the meeting. >> That should be decreased. >> It should be decreased. That's what I thought. All right. So then >> um and then the other thing I had the question on was on page 44 and I crossed it out because I thought I remembered that that was not a transfer. the 663588 to fund 402. Didn't we didn't we determine that that wasn't supposed to be a transfer? That was the cost of the that was the expense of the um projects. >> That's correct. >> So, so, so crossing it out is the correct thing. Okay. Thank you. Because this was I, as you said, this was taken from the staff report and it just wasn't updated. Okay. So then I will um move to approve the uh minutes for the 92425 um city council meeting uh as presented in our packet with the suggested edits and um to affirm that the uh >> second bullet point um on page 44 should be crossed out and the um increase on page 45 in the 1 2 3 4 5 sixth bullet point. Increase should say decrease. Your motion's not going to say all of that, but I'll make it look pretty. >> I'm Thank you. Just try to get it all in there so you can publish the darn things. I never want to see a set of minutes that are more than two weeks old. >> Jenny, I second. We got a motion on the floor. It's been seconded. Any other discussion, questions? We'll call for a vote. We'll go with Rob first this time. >> Rob I. >> Janet I. >> Scott I. >> Jenny I. >> And Ron I. It passes. >> Yay. >> We'll go to item number F. Announcements and reminders. EDA special meeting is October 14, 2025 at 4 pm. The planning commission meeting will be October 15, 2025 at 6 p.m. The city council special meeting will be October 20th at 5:30 p.m. City Council meeting October 22nd, 2025 at 6 p.m. The local government officials meeting October 29th, 2025 at 6 p.m. Bunker Hills Activity Center. Then Sunrise River Water Management meeting will be October 30th at 6:30 p.m. East Bethl City Hall. We're going to go to item number G, which is a close section session, and we're going to ask everybody in the audience if they would leave the room. >> You got to read the You got to read the thing. The city council meeting will be closed to consider matters relating to the sale of city-owned real property identified as 24-32-22-11-00006 pursuant to Minnesota statute section 13D-05 subdivision 3C parenthesis 3. Thanks for coming tonight. >> Hold on. Mayor, can I can I draw your attention? This young lady was at our last council meeting waiting for the public hearing and she missed it and now I see she showed up and missed the public hearing again. Do you have any interest on >> is there a way to let her >> open form >> or the open form? >> Yeah. >> Anybody have any questions about that? >> Well, you just closed the meeting. Do you have to reopen it? >> We can reopen the meeting and then we can close it again. Absolutely. And I'm not sure what the subject is, but she has been here and trying to to speak to us and she's that late. >> Is that what you want to do? >> You guys can. >> The last time she got the wrong she her per the person that told her the wrong time so it wasn't on her. >> Okay. We're going to reopen the meeting. We're reopening the meeting. We will later go into close session. Um and this point in time you you are reopening uh your your public hearing portion of your >> open forum. >> Your open forum. Y absolutely same thing. >> All right. So, you have to give your full name and your address. And according to our rules, it's 5 minutes. So, whatever. Go at it. >> Thank you for reopening. And you need like numbers as well. Like full address. >> Full address. >> All right. Um, hello everyone. My name is Lucille Dunaway. I live on 15173 Zodiac Street Northeast in Columbus. I am a senior at the Forest Lake High School and I am here today representing our chapter's FFA. Um, I'm here to ask for your council's financial support in sending myself and seven other members to this year's National FFA Convention. The convention takes place on Augugust October 28th and it goes until the 31st in Indianapolis. The convention costs around $800 per person to attend and it offers workshops on leaderships and holds the nation's largest youth career fair. Um, personally being involved in FFA has benefited me in multiple ways. A year ago, I most likely would not have been able to sit here and speak to all of you lovely people like this. FFA also does an amazing job of providing students with experiences and opportunities they would not likely have otherwise. Um, as an example, I worked at the CHS Miracle of Birth Center over the summer and got to work very closely with some veterinarian staff and professors that I hope to take class from in the future as I pursue a career in being a veterinarian. Um, by attending this convention, me and the other members hope to gain more qualities and leadership and learn new ways of communicating that will help benefit us throughout our careers. Thank you all for listening and for your consideration. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. I have um a couple handouts. Well, it's the same handout. It's a letter drafted by my adviser with some of the more like nitty-gritty nitty-gritty details of what it is. Unfortunately, I only have like four because our printer died on us today. But yes, that is what I have to bring to your guys's attention tonight. Can you speak to her request because I don't know what the rules are on that. I was looking to see if there was any potential exemption for enterprising FFA students within our district. Uh so thank you so much for your request and for taking the time to speak with the city council this evening. Um one of the restrictions on city councils under Minnesota law um is that they can only utilize public tax dollars uh for public purposes. And public purposes are really very narrowly defined. Uh and unfortunately um they're either a statutory list of of things like a economic development agency um or a food shelf is something that's permitted under Minnesota law. Um but individual travel of residents from a city uh to even if it is supporting a clear community purpose and community growth um is not something that is uh permitted under Minnesota statutes. Uh and um at the same time um the city council uh individually uh are great connectors of of uh its citizens and the people in it in its city uh to uh to other members of the community that do who are not bound by Minnesota law in that way. Um, and so you sharing this with the council tonight creates the opportunity for other people to hear of the needs uh and and certainly uh provides the opportunity for you to be supported by people outside of of this local government. >> All right. Thank you. And >> so I was just thinking that, you know, if you if you provide the the handouts and your contact information to Jack um or Aaron. I mean, I'm sure there's some of us that could make those connections for you and then we would know how to reach out to you and see if we could do that, right? >> Is your dad's name Sean? >> Uh that's my uncle. >> That's your uncle? >> Yeah. >> Kyle is your dad's name? >> Neil. >> Neil. >> Neil is my dad. Yep. And Kevin is my grandpa. >> Yeah. Mr. May Rob. >> Oh, Rob, go ahead. >> No, I I just wanted to I was wondering uh how how could we promote this as a city to to get it out there? Is is there any way for us to do that, Megan? Legal legally wise, uh as far as like on our website, like, hey, the local FFA is looking for help and support uh to reach their goal. Is that something we can do or is there legal things against that? >> So, so a city cannot participate in a solicitation on behalf of a nonprofit organization. Um, but at the same time, the city could certainly advertise that that there was great community engagement this evening um at its meeting and put and put this snippet up on our Facebook page to say, "Look at what great things people in our community are working on." >> Yeah, I'd be happy to donate towards it. >> I would, too. >> Yeah. Yeah, I assume it's okay for us as individual citizens to make our >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. You can leave some forms here for us. >> And I think and there's probably some businesses that would be, you know, interested and not prohibited from from uh doing that, too. And I I think that's where we could maybe make some introductions for you. >> All right. And can I ask, do your forms explain how to donate to you, or do they have the options for what that would look like if a resident were to want to do that? >> Uh, yes, they do. they have as well as having the number of our like education agricultural education department so you can reach out directly to my adviserss >> um but I believe there's multiple different ways and we're very willing to work with um however you guys are able and willing to donate >> okay thank you very much >> are we donating to you or to the program >> to the program we typically say that it um this itself is like a individually thing there's only eight members and one adviser attending Um so obviously if people wish to donate to one specific member we don't tell them no. Um but typically it goes to the the general pool. I am speaking to you guys and a couple of the other members have spoken to um different businesses or organizations as well. >> Well thank you. Is your chapter doing any fundraiser events, pancake breakfast, garage sale, something that the mayor could attend in person and we could advertise to join the mayor at? >> Yeah. >> You talked at Alliance Club at all? >> That's actually who I was supposed to speak with last week and had the wrong information and was at this meeting instead of their meeting. >> Ah, okay. There we go. >> Yes. Well, >> um, as far as events, we have trying to think of some of the upcoming ones that deal with community outreach cuz we do a lot within the high school itself. >> Mhm. >> Like our right now we're doing fundraising for we're selling like meats, Jesus, and a couple other things as well as like poinsettas and holiday decorations. But that goes back to the high school's chapter. Um, I could look into that and if I have somebody to reach out to, I can send more information cuz I don't know off the top of my head what we have coming up. >> So, I can creatively work a social media post to join the mayor for a cup of coffee at your fundraiser. >> Okay. >> They want to make money. They don't want to lose. >> Yeah. I I got to say you're incredibly brave uh and very articulate for for such a young person and and to sit out here and and and wait patiently for your opportunity. I I applaud you for that. >> Yeah. >> And thank you for calling that to our attention, Scott. >> Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for that. >> You're welcome. >> So, were you able to make contact with the Lions after missing their meeting? >> I did. I had like reached out and was like, "Hey, I am here, but I don't fully know where to go." So, I'm waiting in the hallway and she responded much later that night, the woman that had been in contact with saying that yes, I had been at the wrong building because they were in the maintenance building and that she was hoping to reschedu >> and I have not heard since after I responded. >> Was that Gina? >> No, Dana. Dana or Dana Arnson. Well, this is on cable TV and it gets a lot of views. So, >> yeah, >> good luck. >> Yeah, >> thank you. And >> Very good. Thank you. >> And these to >> Jack right there. >> Jack or Aaron? >> Aaron. >> Okay. >> Thank you again. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Great job presenting. >> Yeah. >> Is your contact information on there? >> Yeah. Put that on there, too, please. And I think a couple of us know uh the Gina from the Lions and can probably try to connect you with her as well. >> Mhm. >> Do we need another motion to adjurnn? >> Yeah, let's we Well, let's have a motion to adjurnn. Let's keep our record clean. Uh and then Mr. Mayor, if you would read the meeting closure statement for me again. >> Again? >> Yes. >> You need a to adjourn in a second before that? >> Yes. >> I didn't adjourn, did I? >> Well, you are now. Move to adjourn. >> We're going to item G, a closed session. The city council meeting will be closed to consider matters relating to the sale of city-owned real property identified as 24-32-22-11-00006 pursuit to Minnesota statute section 13D.05 subdivision 3 parentheses C line three. >> Thank you. Have a good night. Bye. [Music]