[Music] Good evening everyone. It's right at six o'clock so we'll get started. Jolene, would you please take roll call? >> One moment. Mics are unmuting. >> Council members Ericson >> present. >> Larson >> here. Miller >> here. >> Valento >> here. >> Mayor Roberts >> here. And if you're able, please stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right, council. We have a an agenda in front of us. I just want to mention one thing for the public. We had an item for Chestnut Creek that was proposed to be on this evening's agenda that was pulled by the request of the developer. So, that will not be uh on tonight. So, if you're here for that item, uh we will uh let the neighborhood know when we'll have that up next time. Uh with that, uh anyone willing to entertain a motion to I'm willing to entertain a motion to approve the tonight's agenda. >> So, moved. >> Second. I have a motion, a second. Any further discussion? All in favor? >> I >> opposed. We have an agenda. Our first item this evening, awards and presentations. Uh tonight we are honoring our senior uh center volunteers. So uh on behalf of the Force Lake City Council, I'm honored to recognize the dedicated volunteers of the Force Lake Senior Center. Your generosity of time, compassion, and commitment to serving older adults in our community has made a lasting impact. Through your efforts, you brought joy, support, and meaningful connection to our lives and those you serve. On behalf of the city of Forest Lake, I want to extend our deepest gratitude for your service. Uh our community is stronger, kinder, and more connected because of your contributions. So with that, um Jill, I would ask you to come up um and we will greet everyone down there down below. So if you want to announce that >> can I say something quick? >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Okay. So all right. I I get so nervous standing here. When you guys aren't up there, you're good. When you're up there, it's different. Um so I just want to say that uh the senior center is just it means so much to me. I just love everything about it and they all know how much I love every one of them. How they have become family to me and I just thank you. Thank you for just giving me the opportunity to even spend the time that I get to spend with them and learn from them and be around them. I just you guys are amazing. You know how much I love you. I tell you every day. I just thank you just for you. >> We thank you. >> Well, thank you for just allowing me to be in your lives for just everything you do being you. Just I thank you everything about it. Thank you. >> All right. We'll join you then. Thank you. Council, >> do you can say something if you want. You can when you come up, you can say something when you come up. Anything you want. The mic is yours. Okay. So, one by Okay. We'll go this way. All right. So, first up, Tom, you get to come up here. Thank you, Tom, for all your efforts, for everything you do, for your picking up donations and bakery and just being you. Thank you. You want to say something? You got to go up there and get your certificate >> now. Walk down the road. >> Walk down the road. There you go. >> All right. Next up, Wilma. Come on. Thank you for all your efforts, for all you are, everything. Thank you. >> Do you know she used to fly planes? >> Yeah. And she rode a Harley >> and owned a bar. >> She's a wild one. All right, Janice. >> Not Janet. Janice. No, >> Hammond. [Laughter] >> So, Janice is one of our newer volunteers. Um, you've been volunteering about a year. >> Yeah. About a year. Yep. and she's been a member of the senior center about three years now. >> Correct. And she lives right in the apartments next to it, so she comes often. Thank you. I just >> Thank you for all you do. >> I appreciate it. >> All right. Next Jean, come on, girl. Get up here. So, Jean has become like an adopted grandma. I spend time at her house. I go there on holidays. Um, we just hang out. We pick strawberries. We do all kinds of stuff together. And I just >> Well, just thank you for just allowing me into your life and just being who you are and gracing me with your presence. Thank you. I am >> Yes. No, >> it was a rough strawberry picking day. We struggled. >> All right, next up, Rick. So, Rick. Ah, Rick. Rick is our our resident uh convertible driver, wild man, golfer. He actually dropped off his convertible last week for me to drive. Um it was a nice little BMW and I enjoyed it thoroughly. >> Um but Rick, thank you. I couldn't do it without you. You are a godsend. >> Thank you. I'd like to say I've been on the senior center probably 20 years >> and the previous manager of the senior center I was there maybe five or six years. I never knew what she looked like. Jill has brought that place alive. All right, Gwen. So, Gwen, she actually has a part-time job, which >> she doesn't need it, but she works because she needs the time. So, um, she volunteers on Wednesdays, every other Wednesday. And she is my calm. >> I love it. >> She is my calm in the force, let me tell you. Um, thank you. I love to be with people and if you have anyone a senior in your life that is lonesome that is the place to go. They are welcome. They are safe and we have a vault. >> Thank you. All right, Debbie. So, she's like the mom of the group. She's the the mom. She's a mom. She helps at lunchons. She helps at bingo. You cover things when I'm losing my mind, which is some days. And I appreciate you more than you know. I appreciate you, honey. Thank you. So Judy is next. Judy is our youngest member. Clearly not 55, but she is our bingo caller and she makes everybody enjoy themselves when they're doing it. She's incredible at it. She makes these really cool diamond art things and brings them in and she's made beautiful, beautiful things for me. Um, and I just I'm so thankful for you. You're like my kid and I just adore you to no end. So if you just know I'm always here, you know that. >> I always wish you could hurt you. and root or what is it? 066. >> Get your kicks at Route 66. >> Yeah, I'm the B1 B2 because all I think of is bananas and pajamas are coming down the stairs. It's really dumb. Um, Barb, so Barb has been a member for a very long time. I actually went to Florida two years ago and stayed with Barb for a week at her beautiful home. We had a very good time. Um, my exchange student came with. It was a interesting week. However, um, Barb is a big volunteer there. She helps out. She saves me on lunchons, on potlucks, on bingo days, on Tuesdays when I cannot seem to get it all together all the time. You save me every week and I'm so thankful for you. I couldn't do it without you and I just appreciate you more than you know. >> Thank you. And I appreciate you all. >> You guys make the world better. >> Well, we try. >> You do a good job at it. And >> so this is Janet. >> Janet is one of our volunteers on Mondays, Tuesdays, >> play cards, Wednesdays, Thursday. Yeah, >> I use this in there almost every day. My second home. >> Yes. Um she's very involved there. Um Janet is our miracle there. She had numerous strokes and should not be able to walk or talk >> and I would be terrible with >> and she defied all the odds and has done nothing but get better and better and better and I'm so glad. I'm so grateful for you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I walk and talk. >> You can walk and talk. >> Our feelings go back a long way. >> She's the best. She told me today. >> So then, do you guys all want to stand up? We're going to get a picture quick. >> So you guys set all your certificates down. We're going to grab a picture. We're going to grab a picture quick because the last time uh we didn't get one and we want one. So everybody set your set yourself down. Set it down. Come on everybody. Everybody Ready? >> One, two, three. >> Thank you. [Applause] because that way they can get home safely. >> Yeah. If I can just add real quick, obviously everyone can see it, but um for we appreciate Jill's service here and it's not just for a paycheck. It's very clear. So, thank you for everything you do for the seniors and the city. >> I love everything about it. I just think I'm so lucky and I don't think people get to >> Oh, stop Jean. It's most people most people go to their job every day and they, you know, think, "Oh, I don't want to go. I don't want to go." And I just look at it and I get to get up every day and spend my days with them. That's the best. And I learn the coolest stuff every day. >> Who gets to do that? They're just they're so great. >> They're so great. So, thank you guys for the opportunity to do it. >> Yeah. >> We'll just give a minute or two to >> Are you guys ready? >> Thank you for coming tonight. Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. Our next item is open forum. This is an opportunity to anyone uh to come speak to the council on any city matter. Uh, please give us your name and address and leave it to the minimize of three minutes or so. Anyone? All right. Next item, consent agenda. Anyone interested in making a motion on tonight's consent agenda? >> I'll make a motion to approve items 7A through J on the consent agenda. >> I'll second. >> We have a motion, a second. Any further discussion? >> Right. All in favor? I >> opposed. We have a consent agenda. >> All right. Our first regular item is an interim use permit uh for Smoky Oak dispensary. Um with uh to avoid the perception of there being any type of conflict of interest, I'm going to turn the meeting over to council member and acting mayor uh Valento. And um I'll be back after the next item. All right, we'll give Blake a couple minutes to leave the room. And madame acting mayor and our city clerk, just to maybe make a note of it for the record that the mayor has actually left the premises or left the room to the court ruling. >> And with that, Abby. Thank you, acting Mayor Valento, members of the council. Um, tonight before you is consideration of a resolution that would authorize an interim use permit for Smoky Oaks LLC to operate a retail cannabis store at 115 Lake Street North. So, I know this is our second request that's come before the council. So, just a bit of an education piece. The city has adopted regulations to allow adult use cannabis in various zoning districts throughout the city. Not every zoning district allows for every type of use, retail use, uh manufacturing and so so forth. The downtown mixeduse area does allow for retail uses and uh Smoky Oaks has applied for an interim use permit. An interim use permit is a use that's allowed in the district. we can put conditions on it and we can put a a cap on the time frame. It's a little different than a conditional use permit in that there's going to be a a time frame on which we say you cannot do this anymore. And the reason that the city elected to do this by interim use permit is we have a hunch that regulations may change in the coming years and this will give us an opportunity to re-evaluate these as those regulations change. Um, so just looking at the application included in your packet tonight, generally speaking, the application conforms to all the standards we've adopted for the issuance of retail cannabis um, IUPs in the city. The only thing, as noted in the staff report, is the signage on the building. The city does not allow for signage to be on roofs, including that fauxfront kind of parapit roof. Um, and so we are working through some of the signage opportunities that the applicant does have. This is not a tied the IUP's signage is not tied into the permissions. That's an administrative approval for any type of use. So, um, included in your packet tonight is a resolution 0922501 has 14 conditions that would authorize a retail cannabis IUP for Smoky Oaks at 115 Lake Street North with 14 conditions for five years. Staff is recommending uh the council approve that resolution. Just for reference, the planning commission did hear this matter, held a public hearing, and did also make the recommendation of approval to the council. Do you have any questions for me? >> Not seeing any. >> Then I'm looking for a motion. I'll make a motion to accept resolution 0922501 with the included in the 14 uh conditions for the use permit in use permit. >> There's a motion. Is there a second? >> I'll second it. >> There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? I All those opposed hearing none. We'll move on to the second item and then we can get >> Mayor Blake back in. Right. Next item 8 B. Primary budget adoption and Mark >> for Yeah, Mr. Mayor Council, I certainly put this on the agenda with my name on it because um you know, our finance director's only been here a week and a half, but she's doing great and so she could probably just as well handle this, but I think we'll mix and match her a little bit. Um, as you all know, uh, the state statutes require us that, um, to put forward a preliminary budget for the county to, um, be able to send out tax notices to folks and and then have a hearing in December, um, a taxation hearing. And so, um, the idea here is to set the maximum budget so we can go down from here, but cannot go up. And of course, that's so that people get a surprise upward with their estimated tax that they get in the mail and have the opportunity to come and talk to you about. So, um tonight we're proposing the budget we've been talking about for quite some time um in terms of the same uh hires and uh purchases and maintenance items and um staffing levels. So that's been the topic of our a number of work sessions and we've worked through some of that but for the most part what you see here is um you know roughly what has been laid out in the last couple work sessions. Uh it amounts to a 12.59% increase in the levy and then there's some information here in here as well about what that looks like in terms of an effect on an average homeowner. Um Uh that information again is is presented here in the packet. Um there is some you know u things that are a little bit tougher to understand sometimes in terms of the tax rate versus the uh levy increase and u that gets convoluted mostly because of fiscal disparities which is a sort of a revenue sharing or tax base sharing that the state had put in a number of years ago to make make sure that cities aren't fighting tooth and nail for commercial and industrial properties. And so there will be some sharing in the region of that tax base. And so um the increase you have to your budget is a little different than the increase in actual taxes or levy that you're going to put forward in terms of the net levy. Um but if anyone has any further questions, I'd be glad to answer them. And then um we have some information here as well on the property tax survey that we uh put out online and have some results in front of you here. We can kind of run through those quickly. So what's in front of you? Um they're not on the slides, are they? This is printed out. >> They're on the slides as well. >> They're on the slides as well. My fault. you want to I think it's the next slide. >> I'm going a little out of order here. Here we go. >> Right here. >> So, uh the percentages will be just a little bit different here just because there's been some um responses since uh this was put together um in the first place. But um so first of all, we've had a a very nice showing. Last year, I think we only had a couple dozen responses. We've already got around 100. Um, so question one was asking about what do folks want to see in terms of would they support increasing taxes? Do they want to see taxes decrease? Would they be okay with an inflationary increase? Um, and so as you can see, most respondents felt like a inflationary increase and maintaining current service levels was appropriate. Um, there were 34% of the respondents there that thought that a increase in property taxes and reduction in service levels would be appropriate. Um but overall it seems that most folks were okay with some form of increase. Um number two, top community priorities. As you see, there's still very strong support for our public safety um roads and and parks. We're also very strong indicators of public support and also some support for economic development type activities. Question three, um specific to a little bit more specific on public safety, um noting that this year's uh the 2026 budget does include uh four positions in the public safety department, um including two officers control sergeant and one administrative position. And um as you can see um at least somewhat or strongly support makes up a vast majority of the responses. And so uh it appears that many members of the public do support those additions to our our staff. Finally, uh questions four and five were a bit more open-ended and um we tried to summarize some of those responses. The survey did require you to type something in and so there were a lot of just nos or nopes or quick responses just to get something in. No one had anything further to say. Um plenty of responses, you know, along the lines of wanting to limit spending and keep taxes under control. Um you know, a general sentiment is reduce or control spending, avoid additional tax increases. Um others uh sort of responses were more general and um didn't fit real neatly into a category, but you know um I want to make the council aware of a lot of those and and know that uh staff is responding to those in a in a way that um you know we're looking into each of those issues. Is there something we can do at low or no cost? Is it something that we need to just do some more public outreach about our involvement in those issues? So certainly those comments don't um go to waste. We're certain to those comments, but they weren't real trackable. Uh, parks and recreation got a lot of responses and lots of folks wanting to see investment in our outdoor amenities, including trails and parks. And then, uh, as kind of played out in the earlier responses as well, roads and infrastructure, lots of folks wanting us to see investment in those assets as well. Um, finally, public safety did get a number of responses as well and general support for additional staff and that kind of thing. Um, with that, we take any kind of questions on those. I know Ellie did a little bit more of the deep dive on that. So, she can certainly answer any questions you might have on any of those specific responses. >> Questions on that. Otherwise, I'll roll back through just a little bit. >> Just just um real quick on this one here. multiple mentions of trails, Northshore trail and recreational opportunities. Did when they say Northshore, I mean, is that talking about that potential trail that we are contemplating? >> Yeah, I think I think both finishing the trail and the road, is that right, Ellie? >> Yep. >> Yeah. So, I think I think both mayor just not just the trail portion of that, but also just finishing the road project there. I think people want to make sure we don't forget that we cut that portion out of the project and are wanting to come back to it at some point in time. So with that, maybe I will um take us through our slides again here. I I jumped the gun a little bit on some of my comments, but um so couple of things we'll cover here are just the results that we just looked at um the tax levy and go through a little bit more in depth about the levy and then some next steps here. So, we have a legal obligation as I mentioned um to have a truth and taxation um hearing and we'll have that uh in December. Um again what we do is we send the preliminary budget to the county. They lomerate all that information including our information with the schools and their own levy and then send it out to taxpayers. Um and the whole purpose here is to be transparent with taxpayers, let them know what's coming, give them an opportunity to speak on that um in a formal setting and um then you as the council can react to those comments and make any adjustments uh in December. And then um by the end of the year we're required to then adopt our final which again can be lower but cannot be more than our preliminary. Uh the city has a fund balance policy as many cities do that uh says we should maintain a general fund assigned fund balance of 50% of the subsequent year's total budget expenditures. That's a lot of words to say. We want to have half our budget in reserve. uh reason for the fund balance is that we only get paid so to speak um twice a year. So we get the property taxes that we collect as you pay your own property tax rate. You can pay in two chunks if you want. Um kind of a spring and fall version of that. And so we get that money from the county in two chunks as well. So as you can imagine we have bills that don't for six month intervals. And so we have to pay those bills. So we want about six months worth of money to be able to make sure we can float those bills until we get our funding from the county. Um other part of that is that it's not 100% of people that pay their property taxes on time either. So usually that's in the high 90s, you know, even during recession times it's mid 90s. Um so there is a little bit of that. It's a small can be a big dollar amount when you're talking about millions of dollars, right? Um the other reason is it protects our bond rating. So we have a very good bond rating here in the city. When we borrow money, we get good rates because of that bond rating. So having a some reserves tells the bond um issuers and the folks at bidding on those bonds that we're a reliable source um to repay those bonds and that gets us better Um, our levy again is just the this is the amount of money that we're dividing up amongst the taxpayers. Um, the taxpayers are folks that own property and uh the taxes are divided up amongst those properties based on valuation and on um what's called a tax class. So, um, a business is different than a residential property is different than apartment. There's a number of different tax classes. Um, those are sort of multipliers or factors on that valuation. So, a half million house and a half million dollar business are taxed differently. Half million dollar house is taxed on that half million. half million dollar business is taxed twice that department half million from the department is taxed at 1.25 times the normal rate. So there's a few other iterations of that but you get the general idea that is based on valuation nothing else except that tax rate tax class. Um this graph here kind of shows you just um some history of our levy. Um we put the population in the background there as well just to show that there is of course a correlation between more people and a larger levy oftent times um tax rate on the uh average home of 391,000 you can see the estimated increase on the the home there $165 annually or about about 13 or 14 a month as I mentioned our tax capacity rate um is something which we track and and want to make sure that we understand. This is sort of a history of that. Um you can see it it fluctuates greatly. Um so it's kind of the graph here. The table here is kind of goes from right to left so to speak. So 2021 you can see our tax rate there at 40 and a half or so um and was fairly steady. and then all of a sudden 2023 there's a precipitous drop. That's not because we cut spending. That's because what I would call the denominator in this equation uh went way up, right? So the larger the denominator, the lower this number. The denominator is the total valuation of the city. That was because if you remember um everyone's home valuation went up 20 to 25% one year and so we have this big drop in the tax rate. So this is an important number for us to consider the tax capacity rate. However, it's also a volatile number and it has a lot more to do with the valuation than it does our spending. It is a combination of the two. But I think it's important to remember that there's many factors that go into this tax capacity rate. I think the reason it's important to think about is just that it it tells us a little something about the affordability of our taxes. the average home. So, there's a certain amount of um logic that goes into saying, okay, the if you have a home of this value, you could probably afford taxes of this amount. And I think that's what most cities try to do. I know Hugo does a lot to try to keep their tax rate at a certain level. Um, and some cities adopt that philosophy. Of course, what that does is that means your budget can fluctuate an awful lot just based on the whims of the the market. And so in 2023, all of a sudden they had a lot more money to spend. In recession times, they're they have a very flat budget. So it's it's one philosophy. Um I'm not sure it's the best for a growing city, but that's for you folks to decide. This is a recap of how our our funds are allocated in terms of our spending and our revenues. Um, as you can see, most of our our revenues do come in in the form of the levy, which means stuff we're taxing to our residents and business owners. We do have money that comes in um to other funds as well. And then we have debt levies, which are are repayments on our debt that we've issued. So, this is think of it as a loan payment. Those are obligations you have um to pay back those debts. So those are sort of fixed costs that you have. Um you see the total there of uh 2026 preliminary levy of 18.4 million. And um then there's this adjustment that I mentioned before of fiscal disparities. It brings that final levy or the net levy down to 16.8 million. So um in a sort of broad sense we're a quote unquote winner in the fiscal disparities game. We everyone puts in and get some valuation back. We essentially win in that transaction. Other communities maybe say Woodbury or people like that are probably losers at this game. This is just a quick um pie chart of some spending by department. Um as you can see, public safety does make up a large portion of of the graph here. I know I'd be remissed to not remind myself that I had a council member at a former employer who always wanted to mention he was a part of the public safety department. He was a firefighter and always reminded us that um this is a graph of the spending not the net cost. And so there is some pass through that gets caught up in here that there's a large amount of state aid grant that we get to offset some of the costs for public safety. Uh but even after that net um generally speaking many cities you'll see this graph look very much the same as ours which is about half of their cost is public safety and that's police and fire. 2026 increases again um these are what is in your 2026 budget and kind of what's affecting that increase. the elections. Obviously, the the percent increase there is a little outrageous, but that's because we didn't have an election last year, of course, and had very little expenses. Um, so the dollar amount isn't that large, but the percent increase is. Um, most of these increases have to do with the staffing additions that we're proposing. So, um, the next steps here are, uh, to recommend approval of the, um, resolution that you have in front of you and setting which also sets the date for the truth and taxation meeting. Um it will be held concurrently with city council meeting and you will be asked at that meeting to also then set the final levy. you could choose to hold another meeting if there was if you got a lot of comments and really had you know felt like you needed to think a bunch of things through um you know there's always an opportunity to hold another meeting but of course um the second meeting in December is often due to the holidays so with that question >> any questions council looking at here this evening. >> I one quick question as I was going through the the budget report and I just noticed there's a line item for compost and is the 25,000 in there is that the monies that we've set aside for dealing with some of the dead ash trees. >> Is that enough? >> Right now we spent about half half of that 25,000 from 2025. So we found that we can public works can take down a lot of them. We probably take a little more than 50% of what's probably 50 have gone down and we've probably taken 30 of them. >> So I think that 25 is kind of fear that a lot more were going to come in but it's kind of a a slow pace and I think we're keeping up with that and seems like a pretty decent number right now. Okay. >> All right. That was the one budget item that we had talked about that I was kind of curious about. questions, thoughts, you know, um I would like it, obviously not in this budget, but you know, to explore that Hugo, how Hugo does their their budgeting down there. It does make sense in that, you know, that's where I struggle on this 10-year plan where we can make adjustments now when we know what the environment is, what the economy, and how people are doing. Um and it's so it's we're always told if we do that then we have to you know it's going to affect down the down the road. Um but it makes sense to on other than the potentially could make sense other on the growing part of it to uh you know tax people when people are doing better. It's just easier for them to stomach those increases and so I I would be interested in exploring that down the road. Yeah, certainly. >> My only push back to that is I remember those conversations when you know everybody's home values popped and they didn't feel it, right? They didn't feel richer by any stretch of the imagination. And of course, it was we've been talking about a recession for five years now. So, um there's it would have jumped our our tax bill quite a bit if we maintained the levy back then. I remember just looking at the numbers. It was it would have been a significant jump for families. Um but it's worth exploring. I guess, you know, I'll make a couple comments about the survey. I do appreciate the number of people that did respond. Um, it's obviously gaining traction. Um, but I think that there's, you know, it's it's tells two two stories, right? Nobody wants to see their taxes go up. Um, but they also pretty resoundingly said, you know, we want to support police and fire. And that's the line share of our budget increase this year is getting a a succession plan for in the fire department. And that's in my mind a non-negotiable and then giving police the support they need with the significantly increased numbers um that they're running to. And so I don't know how you do that and decrease taxes and it just doesn't work. So um and everybody on this everybody sitting up here pays taxes too. Um, it's we're we're voting to raise our own taxes as well as everybody else's. >> I'd have to echo the same thing with council member Ericson. Um, we're sharpening our pencil as best we can with things. Uh, I appreciate your responses uh to the budget survey and things, but when you do have asks uh that require uh taxing and and spending and such, we just we try to do the best we can with what we have. And uh we live here, too. So, we're uh trying to do the best we can with everybody's uh thoughts and wishes in mind as well. >> Add anything. I so I echo some of those same things that you know this is as as administrator stats mentioned this is the high point. Uh we can go lower and I think we need to we owe that to our our residents to try to sharpen the pencil a little bit more. This is uh there's a lot of new positions in here which I I think we can all agree we need but it's whether we can afford them all in one in one year and there's other opportunities to to maybe look take a deeper dive. We have three months and there's plenty opportunity for the public to come speak to us uh personally emails uh the truth and taxation. So we're all ears and want to hear as much input as as possible the next couple months. >> Yes certainly Mr. Mayor if I could just add that you know while we have the truth and taxation hearing that'll be scheduled and that's the formal spot for people to come and give their input we would always take public comment either through our city staff or through you guys. Um and you know quite frankly the the sooner we hear that input the easier it is for us to be prepared in December um if there is any adjustments to be made right and so um while we would welcome you to encourage you to show up to that truth and taxation we would also welcome those comments earlier and often. All right. With that, is anyone want to make a motion? >> I'll make a motion to approve the preliminary budget resolution 0922503. >> Motion. Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> Any further discussion? All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. Thank you uh both Ellie and coming in at the 11th hour and trying to help us through this. appreciate that getting up to speed and then uh Mark your your time and and all staff and department heads getting us to where we're at tonight. So, thank you. >> All right. 8C Parks Plan Consulting Services and Dave >> Y mayor and councel um the parks commission and in June or July asked staff to get some uh cost to complete the master plan. Uh if you recall u there was a 2022 master plan that was probably between half and 3/4 completed. Um, and that that commission disbanded in that late fall of 2022, so it it never got completed. Uh, it was kind of a priority for Kyle and myself to to get this this plan finished off. It's quite beneficial for not only the commissioners but city council planning, public works, a bunch of a bunch of groups to to kind of know the direction of where you want trails, where you want parks, what kind of parks uh you want in certain areas. Uh it also goes through demographics and and all this stuff. It's a it's a really great plan u to have. Uh so we reached out to Bolton Bank. um they they did the 2014 plan that was completed and they were the ones who were working on the 2022 plan. So, it's helpful that they're kind of the ones who had put this together. I think you'll see some cost savings on that where they already have the information. They've done done the a lot of the back work on this. Uh they provided a scope of service for $28,500 and that was to complete the master plan, but they also gave a few more options. Um, one was to have an open house uh for give the community a time to comment and before we make that final plan. Um, and then the the next two were more linked to the comprehensive plan, the update to the trail search corridor and just other updates that would be needed for the comprehensive plan. Abby will need these in 2028 for for the update to the comprehensive plan. So, it would make sense just to this as part of the master plan since you're kind of in that arena anyway. Um was presented to uh Bolton Bank. Josh Shields from Bolton Bank did show up to the parks commission meeting and presented and um unanimously the commission uh voted to recommend council approve uh their scope of service including all the alternates. Uh internally staff is also um with all this development coming have a haven't really looked at um park park dedication fees probably since I've been here. Um so in speaking with Abby again on that I think it's a good time to to analyze that and see where we're sitting with um other cities and and try to get a a more dialed in uh rate for that. So staff is recommending adding that on as well um to kind of just have one big lump project done. So the total for the updating the master plan, the four alternates and adding in the um analyzation of the park dedication fee would be $55,800. And because this is considered planning for future development, um we would use park dedication funds to pay for this the services. It's a lot there, but if you have any any questions or any uh want any further information, >> Mr. Mayor, if I could just add that I I I think this is important work because um in order to uh charge a park dedication fee, uh you really need to have a justification for that fee. It's nice to look at what other communities are doing and and try to be competitive in that realm. Um, but that's not the only test that you are required to have, right? And so if you just charge whatever the neighbors are charging, developers can certainly challenge that park fee and say, "Where's the justification for this fee?" Um, having the study is the exact justification for that. And certainly we have one already and that has been, you know, updated along the way in terms of kind of keeping track of the CIP, but every so often you do need to really refresh that and make sure that your fee is aligned with that plan. And the more closely aligned, the more defensible that fee is going to be if it would come up in any sort of litigation or anything like that questions. Um I tend to get a little leer when it's just another study after another study after another study, but um this makes sense. I think we there's a lot of value there the comp plan things and that that we need to be doing anyway and and the point that administrators just made. So um I would support this this evening. Anyone want to make a motion? >> I'll make a motion to approve the parks plan consulting services proposal. motion. Is there a second? >> It's a friendly amendment. Are we approving up to 55,800? >> Do you want us to >> mean that that's what >> up to um what is it? $58,200. >> $55,800. >> $55,800. Thanks. >> We'll second that. >> Any discussion? >> All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. Thanks to the parks commission for all their work on this as well. Parks and reccks commission. >> Yes, absolutely. >> Nine. We don't have any discussion items this evening. So, we will uh go right into staff updates and I don't know where to start here. It's kind of it gets a little Maybe we'll start this way and go this way if that makes sense. So, Chief Newman, >> no updates. >> All right. Chief Peterson. >> Yeah. Mayor and city council members. Uh last week we received a notice that uh one of our longest serving police officers is going to be retiring on September 30th and that's uh Sergeant Jake Ays and this is the last city council meeting um before he retires and I just want to thank him for his 31 and a half years of service with the Foresight Police Department. And that's all I have for updates. >> Dave, anything? >> No updates. Abby. >> Uh, just a few quick updates. Um, last fall we had conversations with the planning commission, EDA, and the council about the use of our local affordable housing aid dollars. And at the time, the all three bodies said, "Hey, we really should probably partner with somebody else to be utilizing these funds and using them in the community." We do have a draft agreement with Washington County CDA who is um willing to disperse the city's funding through their existing and a newly created program at no cost to the city. So on the next within one of your meetings in October, that agreement will be before you. But I bring it up tonight while we're on TV to start to um kind of draw attention to the fact that we will have some more housing aid dollars for um families in the community to improve their single family and then also multiple family housing in the community. So trying to work with them and uh we'll work with administration the best we can to kind of get more information out about those programs. Um secondly, we're doing interviews for a couple different vacancies in uh the community development department still. And so hopefully in the coming month maybe we might have some more um appointments for your consideration. And lastly, this later this week, Wednesday through Friday, is the state planning association conference. It's the only statewide conference for planners. So there will be a gap in services. there's just no way to kind of cover um the planning and zoning offices during this time because it's really the only educational opportunity for planners. So, just wanted to let everybody know that as well as the public, but we'll be back uh early next week to catch up on what we may have missed. >> Jolene, >> no updates this evening. >> Ellie, >> just really want to reiterate what um Mark said. If people do have questions, comments, feedback on the presentation that was presented tonight, my contact information is now up to date on the Forest Lake website. I would love to have those conversations with you. >> Thank you for that. >> Amanda, >> no update. >> Mark, >> I just I want to kind of just uh make a general comment that I want to thank the council for all the support and the staffing. I think uh the energy in the the building right now is just a lot different than it was a few months ago. There's just more um there's more of a buzz around and and it's great to see the smiling faces and not vacant offices and all that kind of stuff and it just makes it feel like um you know we're a we're an operation that's running the way it should be and we're not quite there yet. We got a couple more spots to fill but we're we're getting a long ways from where we were. So, thank you for all that support. Council member Miller, >> no updates. >> Um, just that the cable commission meeting was scheduled for last week and due to lack of quorum, we weren't able to meet. So that meeting will get rescheduled to most likely October. >> Council member Larson, >> uh, nothing to add. Thank you. >> Member Ericson. >> Nothing tonight. >> I don't have anything either uh, tonight. Uh, we are at the end of our regular agenda. We do have a closed session. Uh so we will be uh closing this meeting at the end of this closed session. Uh coming back into this room and ending closing the meeting of that. So we will not be recording moving forward. Uh so is anyone willing to put us into close session? >> I move to close the meeting pursuant to Minnesota statute section 13D.05 05 subdivision 3B as permitted by attorney client privilege to discuss obtaining administrative warrants against PIDS 09.032.2143.0014 and 10-32-21-41.022. Close session will be held in the four slate conference room. It will commence immediately. Once the close session is completed, the city council will reconvene the regular meeting in council chambers and as there are no other items on the agenda, we'll adjourn the meeting. Have a motion. Is there a second? >> I'll second it. >> Motion second. Any further discussion? All in favor? >> I. We're in close session. [Music]