[Music] good evening lady and gentlemen and council tonight is April 10th 2024 at 6:01 p.m. and I would like to call to order the Columbus city council meeting for tonight our first order of business will be the Pledge of Allegiance please join us I pledge Al flag of the United States of America the for it stands one nation indivisible withy and justice for all our next order of business is the adoption of the agenda would someone like to make the motion um I can make the motion but I actually I'm Cur I need a clarification on the letter of support to the city of Ramsay because I thought that that bill was dead that came as an email yesterday so I don't know the status of hf4 z9 it's accompanying Senate Bill Mr Mayor and Council um I also heard that it was dead um but things have a you know strange way of popping up MH um so I don't think there's any harm um being on the record on the other hand we can we can continue to track it um we're you know we're tracking it through the legislative process anyway so I don't know if you want to keep your powder dry and and uh you know wait till next session or wait till it to see if it comes up again well I think of the if the bill is dead it doesn't make any sense to send that letter the letter was long and rambling I don't think it was a very good letter anyway I mean I agree I agree with the premise but I should I mean if we don't need to make a point of it I wouldn't want to sign on to that letter so how dead is it counselor you said it comes it's uh as I say in the movie Princess Bride it's mostly dead so I I I think that's the right um I mean I would agree with that position if we were to send a letter we'd wanted something that's more tightly written I think it was given as an example um but I think that uh we can continue to monitor the bill as we have been doing all right so we have a motion accepting that correct Jenna um well you don't need to take any action yeah so I I would just move to approve the agenda it's not on this agenda right we were going to add it well it isn't it's on there G5 it it would be a request added if you want to discuss it oh okay maybe say excluding so I'll just move to um adopt the agenda as written this is Su all second I'll call for the vote Ron I sue I Janet I Rob I Jesse I uh letter B consent agenda so I'm going to do that one CU I reviewed the minutes and I would like us to pull the March 27th minutes because there's some very substantial edits to it but I would approve consent agenda one and three I'll second that any discussion or questions I'll call the vote Ron I sue I Janet I Rob I and Jesse I is there anyone online or in the chambers who would like to speak at the public open forum hearing none we'll move on to the uh oops we have uh Sean lard is he going to present Sean is ill and will not be able to present the report I would recommend that we table this until the next meeting all right okay good because I did have some questions on that so I can answer most of them generally but he'll be able to go into detail with them okay we can wait number three special meeting date cancellation Pages 30 13 and 14 in our packet this is a call for the special meeting that we discussed at our last council meeting the special meeting was called for September the 30th not excuse me April the 30th 2024 and this conflicts with the date of our local board of appeals and Equalization meeting so I'm going to make a recommendation that city council consider cancelling the special meeting called for the 30th and we'll reschedule that at a later date and uh there may be some comments that uh council person Heen would like to make after we act on this so the this is the special meeting for uh the discussion on the finalists candidates for the our um permanent City administrator so we did talk the Personnel committee talked and thought potentially we could do it on the May 8th regular council meeting um so we we would request to do that at this time with the option of in two weeks if we feel like we need more time then we will push it out a little more that's okay and we we we can call the special meeting at any time with three days notice so that's that's not a problem but we do need to go ahead and cancel the one that we did call for which is the April 30th meeting correct and then we can go from there on when the next one's going to be held do we need a motion to cancel yes and I can do that J Janet made the motion to approve the calling so I would recommend that she makes the motion to cancel so so I move to approve the cancellation of the April 30th 2024 special city council meeting due to a conflict with the local board of appeals and Equalization meeting scheduled for the same date um originally the mo the yeah second Rob any other questions or discussion I'll call for the vote Ron I sue I Janet I Rob I see I do we need a motion to to just move the agenda item the item that we had planned to discuss on the 30th and have you put it on the agenda for the the regular meeting on May 8th or if it's a regular meeting we don't need to do that we'll just put that as part of the agenda perfect thank you item number four the Eda special meeting scheduled changes Pages 15 to 20 the schedule for the 2024 Eda meetings was approved approved by city council at their December 13th 2023 meeting the Eda regular meetings are currently scheduled on the day of and 1 hour prior to Council meetings on April 10th August 14th and November 14th 2024 Eda Workshop meetings are scheduled on May 14th September 10th and December 10th 2024 and run concurrent with city council Workshop meetings as Eda meetings are trending to be longer than time allowed them Council meetings have been and can be delayed beyond their scheduled start times and items on the Eda agendas may not receive the time required to address them to avoid this conflict along with the restricted meeting time it is recommend that city council move the Eda workshop and regular meetings to Thursday August 22nd and November 21st 2024 and start these at 5:30 p.m. and the April 10th Eda regular meeting which was celled be scheduled for May 14th 2024 along with the Eda Workshop meeting at the same time the workshop meeting will be the first on the agenda and the regular meeting will begin upon the adjournment of the work meeting the proposed date changes do not fall in weeks in which more than one city council meeting is scheduled pending approval of the request for the meeting date Chang the new schedule will be published in the forest lake times and revised on the City website staff is requesting city council approve these meeting dates for the Eda as exhibited in your calendar in your packet um and just to clarify and thank you for doing that I did look through and I already added all these to my calendar and I was free all of those Thursday so that works um but you did mention May 14th but it's May 16th um is the one that the April 10th one was can cell and then we were going to reschedule for me that's correct we're we're changing that it's on May 16th both of them will be on May 16th yep okay any other questions or I have one question do we need to set a beginning time for the regular Eda meeting for the purposes of the public if they wanted to attend so there'll be a workshop meeting that starts at 5:30 I think is what you said but then does there need to be a a time set for the Eda meeting to we just can't let the two run together correct okay and I think the time would be very dependent on how long the workshop meeting takes so it could be a TBA but uh we could give a range uh to give a specific time unless we just want to cut the workshop meeting off at a certain time it's however we want to handle that Mr May CC I would recommend that you have a a a certain time for both meetings um they can run a little long and then you just give the public notice of that um I the requirement is that that it's time certain so so with that I would recommend that we have the E regular Eda meetings then start at 6:30 the workshop start at 5:30 and is there a city attorney stated if the workshop meeting runs a little long it can be so noted sounds good to me okay would someone like to make the motion I move to approve the change of the Eda regular and workshop meeting dates to May 16th August 22nd and November 21st 2024 at 5:30 p.m. and publish this scheduled change in the forest lake times and on the city website do we want to add in 6:30 p.m. so it'll be 5:30 with for the workshop and 6:30 for the Eda yep 6:30 p.m. for the Eda meeting second that any other questions or discussions I'll call for the vote Ron I sue I Janet I Rob I I staff and Consultants reports city engineer Kevin yeah good evening mayor and council members uh Kevin bner city engineer uh last week the um state came out with their announcements for the lrip grants uh we did apply as you recall for our remaining segment of Hornsby North Hornsby Street up to the Forest Lake City Limits uh that application was not successful um and looking at the awards it's pretty obvious that they do try to distribute those funds throughout the state and also if you look at the amount of the awards um Anoka County had a couple projects in there that were legislatively selected um in last year's session that amounted to 35 million worth of award um on the Highway 65 project uh there weren't any other inoka County projects on the list so I suspect that they said Anoka County has got their share so we'll have to rely on Bill to try to get an award for us here uh in this legislative session if if that's successful um so so anyways uh that's that report um Street Maintenance contracts um the mayor's probably hand is probably cramping up signing our contracts that we have for chip sealing crack sealing and micros surfacing uh Jim and I are trying to get precons set up for that so that we can get those projects scheduled uh this summer spring and summer um also uh the brown beagle project down in South um West Freeway Drive uh they're they're putting in footings and and uh starting that work uh on the buildings uh I've been told that their work on our Public Utilities sanitary sewer and water is going to start um sometime in early May so um that project will be is underway and and the public side will be getting underway probably sometime in May as well so that's my report I just have a quick question and were they able to start early because of the winter that we had I mean is the frost out and they were yeah it's it's pretty obvious that uh that was very beneficial for them getting in and doing footing work um you know I think probably a year ago we were we still had frozen frozen lakes and probably still fros in the ground but uh not so this year so okay yes thank you Kevin city engineer report um that was a city engineer sorry see youor see thank you we're pretty much in or whoever you are whoever you mayor could I just add a couple questions that spilled over for the engineer from last night um on that on that uh pump host repairs have we got bids back yet oh yeah that was another item I was going to mention too yeah um so we are soliciting um a couple bids on that project since it's um under the U Thresh that we need to do um sealed bids we we requested uh bids from a couple different um wellhouse contractors the one Rice Lake who who actually built the building and did the temporary repair and also um magne construction uh we' we've requested bids from both of those companies so I expect to get those back probably sometime next week so okay and then thank you so much for that and then uh the other was on the presentation from last night um with the water tower and us talking about doing some changes with with the water systems that and maybe it's maybe it's for Bill or or Kevin but curious if there's funds out there with the DNR being if there was wildfires they'd be pumping that water Columbus is the closest spot that Carlos Avery has to get water is there any M heard I don't have a quick answer um but it would behoove us to look uh for funding sources I I don't know if Kevin has the answer to that yeah I don't I'm not aware of any funding source um from the DNR for those types of projects um the one source that we talked about was the Department of Health and that's related to the magnet manganes um levels in the water which uh actually the Department of Health representative was out today uh to draw a sample to get those tested um from all the wells and he'll be back again in two weeks to draw samples again uh to to test for manganese to try to get confirmation samples um so we'll probably hear the results of those and and he said their lab was pretty well backed up so we'll have to uh it'll be at least a couple weeks before we get the first set of samples test back so we we've done our own testing uh but to be eligible for if we were to go a treatment plant route um which obviously you don't have to decide that yet or um but it has to be a test that's pulled by the Department of Health in order to be eligible for that Grant so okay thank you Mr Mayor and Council I I'll address this in my report but um sitting through a couple of the bonding hearings the you know you see The Usual Suspects the larger suburbs the bigger cities they have two or three or four bonding requests every year they do make a point about Regional impact um so when they're kind of setting the stage for the request they'll identify something that has a regional impact and I think the water system because um Carlos Avery is a regional facility and it has gone up there have been fires there in the past I think there is something to that point that if we if we want to you know as this progresses if we want to look at a bonding request we can identify the fire saving capabilities for regional facilities like the racetrack like Carlos SA because that's kind of the the method to the madness as we see others present well this this has a regional impact so therefore we're you know we're putting up this much as a local investment and we're putting up we're requesting the state you know provide some sort of match so we can strategize a little bit with the city engineer on that as this moves forward anything else B yeah I have a couple of items under the City attorney uh one is the legislative update the mayor did a fine job um spent a lot of time in the capital last couple of days um and we had him running between two floors um so well he had himself running between two floors we were just helping him get there uh first was the uh capital investment Committee in the house we met with uh representative Nolan West before that testimony just to make sure we kind of knew what he was going to say and what we were going to say and he did a nice job introducing the project um he also indicated he he started uh his testimony by saying we're one of those cities that doesn't get any state money which was maybe a little bit of an overstatement but it's pretty close and uh kind of like we're never up asking for anything and uh that that was a good way to start because as you know we we don't get Municipal Street money we don't get uh we don't get state aid um local government state aid and we don't and we contribute to fiscal disparity so you you all know that storyline but he did a nice job of introducing the mayor the mayor was very succinct we had a couple of boards ready to show people answer questions about where the project is uh and and there wasn't any interest we were the second to last bill on a long list of bills so we didn't we didn't use sorry Kevin his office scrambled to put those together better to be ready than not we we have them for the Senate so the next thing to happen will will be a hearing similar Hearing in the Senate uh Capital bonding committee and then also we would like to get a hearing on our fiscal disparities bill so things are moving um go ahead no I just said nice oh nice okay s out Margaret I talked to Margaret just before the the meeting just to make sure I was up to date she said there are 18 days left on the calendar so it's it's going to be uh a scramble and um because uh they only have 18 days left uh they may actually adjourn early this year because uh they don't have enough days to get them all the way to the 20th of May so we'll see um that is the legislative update any questions on those matters then um I was also asked to just give a quick summary on remote meetings um the the law did change in the last year so I think it's a good topic to bring up um in terms of uh open meeting law and Council attendance at meetings there's a clear preference for in-person attendance whenever possible um if you can't attend um and would like to attend uh if you can't attend in person and would like to attend remotely we should be providing the public a notice because the first preference is that you attend in a location that is open and accessible to the public so what would that mean let's say you're at a conference downtown you'd find a location ahead of time you'd scope it out you'd say okay the public can get here whether it's the government center or a Convention Center a place that's generally open and accessible to the public it's an odd um requirement that goes back many many years because the the preference is always that the that because of open meeting law requirements that the public can kind of watch and see each member participate um that law was updated because of the pandemic and uh so an exception to that if you cannot be in an open and accessible location up to three times a year you can participate remotely from a call it a private location or a location that's not open and accessible and this is this is the catch uh either because you're serving in the military or because you've gotten doctors um Health Care Professionals advice that you shouldn't be in uh open and accessible location so maybe you've come down with covid or and you still want to participate um so we we actually saw that happen right during the the pandemic um and and in all cases the minutes need to reflect the reason for the remote participation and and that's so uh the public can know you know okay has someone done four of these and were they following process now I can tell you I was just in another meeting in a fairly large suburb where two members participated from a convention spot I don't know that it was open and accessible to the public and I know that um some community are actually asking for more flexibility so there's bills that have been introduced for more flexibility so until such time as we have more flexibility um I'm just going to recap the requirements we need to provide a notice to the public so that would require that you check in with Jack when you when you can't participate in person um best you know best case you find a place that's open and accessible to the public and that's provided in the notice if you can't do that you better have a doctor's note you know because you you need to be ill I don't know that you need a doctor's not but it should be you know based on Health Care advice you know youve you've come down with Co or something similar um and then the minutes should reflect the reason for not attending remotely so if you can follow that then we're going to be in the four square corners of the law and if not we're going to you know we're going to be outside of the requirements um m question is does it only apply to the City Council meetings or is it also apply to like the Planning Commission and how workshops applies to yeah to all the public all of them okay yep so anybody who's appointed or elected I think some of the ad hoc meetings that we have probably not you know where it's kind of a blend of staff and councel or certainly Personnel committee would not fall under that requirement nor would um fall FAS fall fast right but but workshops do workshops do as well so that's a lot of those yeah I think it's it's always timely to bring this stuff um back to the council from time to time because we want to make sure we're the thing we are clearly doing is providing the information for interactive um participation by the public and so and taking the votes as you do by roll call um is helpful because then the public uh is able to monitor the council meetings from locations we've had you know developers participate by interactive um means so all that's good but just a just a reminder um I remember and I don't know what the current rule is or even if there is a rule but at one point I remember there being debate about whether you have to have your camera on or off does it say uh it doesn't say but it implies on because because um they want to be able to have the public see you interact that's what I thought that was what I remember from the prior um discussion but I don't I I just didn't know where they landed on that yeah it doesn't specifically say cameraon it says to allow the public to monitor your actions so you know and occasionally somebody raises a hand or you know signals uh an affirmative nod you know it's preferable that you speak but you know that way the public can see you nodding or what whatever it is that you're you're doing so that is that matter unless there are questions um the next is uh we've been you know working through the the ists you know called the septic ordinance a lot of questions have come up in in the meantime um and so that was deferred on on last night's Workshop we want to make sure we get a good complete review of the ordinance um but we were asked to look at um how how we can streamline the approval process for these um variances what's happened traditionally is we've treated them like land use and Zoning variances and so they've gone to um the Planning Commission and they've gone for public hearing and then they've gone to the council that's not required by Statute that's a practice that was adopted here I don't know how many years ago we also have the ability in our code today without amendment to have um um Varian is approved administratively and I think we've utilized that in in many cases um that requires not only the um building official to sign off but it requires consultation with our city administrator as kind of a check on the appropriateness of granting administrative variance so we would like to if if the council so directs we'd like to include and clarify that process in the ordinance update um and one of the things we should think about is when the default of doing administrative variance is referred to the council we wouldn't we wouldn't take them to the Planning Commission anymore we wouldn't require public hearing because it's not it's it's a technical approval and it's not something really the Planning Commission needs to weigh in on so the the two questions are um are you comfortable there's uh the Darwin Smith matter right are you comfortable uh with direction that staff uh look at that an administrative approval on that one um and also would you direct us to amend the code to provide for continuing not only administrative variances but when they are referred to the council that they are directly to the council without need for hearing and Planning Commission review I would say yes this is the mayor I agree with both of them M anybody else yeah I I agree with both I do too I I think n dul was stretched out too far you that's been five years five years oh no I'm talking about the variance on the septic system y but it's when did they apply for it and it's still going on where it could be done yeah did that did this kind of spur from that that Planning Commission meeting with the with the sewer with that stage two deal or that that was one of the reasons and the other reason is is something that I brought up that in places that I've been before yeah that the Planning Commission generally just deals with land use and zoning regulations and these septic variances have gotten to the point where they're very technical yep and generally they're going to have to be reviewed by the inspector sometimes the engineer has to come in and asking the Planning Commission to rule on these where they don't relate to land use or zoning is probably asking them to do something that they may not be comfortable with and we're probably going to have to use these gentlemen anyway and it extends the process by probably anywhere from 3 to six weeks okay and this this is just in relation to the variance portion correct correct okay cuz I had recently one of the local sewer companies brought forward the fact that there was a local uh entity in mpec was telling them that they had to get some test that's not pushed by the state of Minnesota but Min specs telling them they have to do this secondary testing and that mspec is a secondary testing for the septic and that they needed to hire them to do this have you heard anything about that or is anyone else I I I I haven't I think that think it was relation to down the road here yeah and I I have heard that I haven't heard that mpect required them to do the testing but they they can't require them to do that they can't require them to do their use their own company to do that they can get whoever they is qualified or certified to do that okay I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't tied in with that because it was a big concern so thank you no I'm good I'm I'm good with it I think um I mean we had a bunch of variances for type three and now that were administratively handled and now I think you can just do them right I mean you don't even need a variance for that so I think as time goes on these things sort of become more accepted in common so um I think that's I think that's fine to fine to handle them administratively I think it's fine and and actually really good to get it clarified in the ordinance yep I'm good so do we need a motion or a recommendation or what Bill nope I we've got your direction staff was looking for Council Direction on both topics with that we'll um you'll be able to pass on the language when you see the updated ordinance come back to you um we're also looking at um whether there's H some guidance maybe guidance maybe standards that can help uh determine when a system is deemed failing oh thank God I'm so glad if you can get a definition for that I will be so happy we're looking at that um generally what we like to do is pull from either State guidance or kind of industry standards and so that's what we're really looking for is there is there good guidance on that we might contact the city engineer see if he's got some resources but we want to we want to come with something even if it's um not written in the code that it's adopted as policy so that so that there's some guidance so so both the homeowner and the staff know what's expected so just for your sake Kevin what the current definition is is if it doesn't protect groundwater but when they do the compliance checks they don't actually they don't test for that so then that's just like a inspector call based on nothing other than their opinion so what's your question I guess the question is how do you better Define a failing system so in Columbus you have a lot of systems that were put in in the early 90s or before and there was a different uh rule that they had to follow for the you know separation of the soils and so now if those if if those uh systems that there was a compliance check on those systems for whatever reason they're going to expand their house or whatever um the inspector would say they're failing because they don't meet the current three- foot requirement it's like well they did back when it was built and if they're there's no test to see whether they're actually I mean it's clear if they're leaking or they're bubbling up to the surface or there's something like that but I think saying that they don't meet the current standard when the standard has changed but they did meet it back then when it was thought to be fine I I think that that's arbitrary so we've been trying to figure out if there's a better way to define that and I think um you know the inspector wants to be able to exercise their judgment they don't want to be too specific and we've not landed on good a good compromise on that yeah yeah when when Bill was looking at me for potential of input on that I I would probably consult um a couple other individuals in our company that are actually certified um septic tank designers uh there is a special certification for that and I don't have that so I'm probably not the most qualified to answer your question at this point so I just wanted you to know where it was coming from because I mean we we're we're looking for more specific I think the default answer will be you know if if it's failing it doesn't meet the grou requirements it's like well there should be a way there should be a better test than just that mhm doesn't protect groundwater oh gosh that's pretty broad Mr May and Council and what I was thinking was just that that we would look to what is the guidance that's given to someone who's a certified inspector what are they taught to look for uh signs that it's failing that there's you know um affluence uh present that you know what what is it that they're told look for right in their certification and and maybe we'll find out that you know it isn't as neat as we think but we're going to certainly ask the question and then then then the question for the council will be all right do we write that into code or do you adopt it as guidance a policy that sits next to the code so that there is some discretion so it's not black and white in the code so it leaves some discretion but it also provides guidance at the same time that's that's probably the happy balance but we'll see if we can get there so Janet just question on that to try and help me understand are you talking about like when someone pulls a permit and then they have to have a like a compliance inspection through their sewer yeah where they have to get some sort of either hey it's good this mound system meets an extra room in the house is that kind of what you're getting at it kind of came up because of Mr Smith's situation where he pulled a building permit it wasn't you know our our ordinance wasn't written specifically in enough to say well if you're not adding on a bedroom or a kitchen or a bathroom something that puts more pressure on the system yeah um so according to our current ordinance he had to have a compliance check and his system was deemed to be failing because it was built back in the day and it didn't meet the soil separation but there was no obvious failure yeah he wasn't adding extra rooms or yeah and so if our ordinance had been I think the intent to the ordinance was not the way it was written so if it had been written the way the intent was he wouldn't have even needed a compliance check and there's so many there are so many systems in Columbus that were built in that era that are functioning and not creating problems as far as we know we don't have any big outbreak of contaminated Wells or things like that I mean so so it it raised the question and I think um since we're updating our ordinance in that the septic ordinance it's worth trying to get a better definition than what we have and it still states that if say someone's making a sale of a home that they need the point to sale Would Still Still trigger that okay good deal I got a question for you then so when somebody comes out to pump a tank and I've had this happen before that they can fail a system can they well they they're they're supposed to do an inspection so you know they check to see that the Baff are you know still there and working and there's no big cracks and I mean so yes they're supposed to do an an inspection and if they saw that the the tank was cracked or the baffles weren't in place or whatever or there was clearly leakage then I don't then they would have to report that and that would be considered a failing system there there are those words in in like the state in the County ordinance if it's leaking if there's you know damage to the to the system if there's ulent you know bubbling to the top those are obviously all failed systems but then it then the other one is if it fails to protect groundwater well that's pretty broad but I always we get our septic systems pumped every three years y okay so I mean mine failed and it failed when I had it replaced they told me I mean that so how long have they been pumping it and it's been failing and I didn't know it yeah are you saying whoever pumped it didn't didn't catch that well I I I don't know if they if it they didn't catch it or whatever but it it's just the idea that are we putting responsibility what do they other than pumping and letting the city know that we pumped it are they required to say oh I seen this yeah they're there's supposed to inspect it that's included in their pump report that they submit back to the city well if I had a couple of them that pumped and they never yeah I remember I wanted to get credit for it you know so I quit getting letter and they didn't even they had to come down and get pay the 10 bucks to get to fill it out yeah did and I mean I wonder a lot of that's going on you know so I I've talked to Carissa about this because she she said you know she looked in my f she Sayes you don't have any pumping reports other than and it's like I have every single sheet of paper they've given me and so if they're not sending them to you then they're collecting 10 bucks for no reason so I'm bringing all my I'm bringing all of my my reports and she's going to cross reference it and then if if that's the case then she's going to make some phone calls to those well I had I had to same thing happen but I mean I we didn't know it was failing until we tore it up MH I said this this thing's been failing for years I I yeah what do you do don't stick your head down no well if you do don't breathe anything else bill that's it thank you all right thank you well I mean to your to your question too I mean that's this is one of the things that Sean's been tasked with too is to figure out how the city should be enforcing that part of our ordinance because we send out reminders but I you know we haven't really taken it upon ourselves to follow up to make sure that they actually get done and I think that's what I think you guys have had some conversation so I think he's working on that process are there a lot of them J that people don't get it done there's probably more that don't get it done than do get it done scary and that's what we had some initial conversations with with Sean to see if there's a way that we can monitor that and make sure if nothing else that people are notified that your tank needs to be pumped this is the third year or if it hadn't been pumped we ran into one we were looking back and it hadn't been pumped since 2014 was the last inspection report we had now the other thing we probably need to look at too is sometimes the Pumpers don't always return their pumping Reports most of them are pretty good about it but it's an honor System thing it's it's not something that they are they're supposed to do it but there's no mandatory requirement for them to do it well there should be because they're charging you for it they're charging you 10 bucks every time they come out and do it so that they file a report with the city and so if they're not filing that report there's a problem there and then that then that that's where we need to develop our process for is to follow back up with the Pumpers to make sure that they've Supply us with those reports after their pumpings are done y like you know Janet once you buy a new one you get it pumped well you know if for no other reason pumping it every three years helps protect your system I mean they they are not cheap to to replace so you should really take care of them all right uh City Council Members report Ron uh I only one only thing I got to report is that Saturday I did stop in at Fixit clinic and I there was 22 people at 10:30 when I was there and an open 10 and uh I seen I never knew there was that many vacuum cleaners that broke down but uh I seen everything from vacuum cleaners to um blenders and somebody had some clothes being sewed and I noticed that one person was some Hugo so it's not just a forest slake thing it's they take anybody well in NOA County sent um a card down I think to everybody in the county saying they County fix it Clinic is here yeah I seen that but you're right Hugo's Washington County I know but I think you know talking to Lori I she was here and I was talking to her and it seems like it's a state deal somehow it's like U it's like this new uh Washington County's building a a new recycling place over by the uh library on 61 now we can take our oil fluorescent lights and all that over to there and and we don't have to go to Blaine oh that's nice so I mean I gather they're all kind of tied in together they take you whatever wherever you're at well that's good but anyway it looked pretty successful I it went till one o00 what did you bring last year last time you were trying to get your microwave light I had the microwave in the in the back of the truck still not but you know I thought about it was so busy and I thought these other people had other issues I'll just throw you know so you still have a dark microwave did you leave it in our dumpster huh you leave it in our dumpster it's in the well I wouldn't throw it in a ditch on 165th though because I know that JW would have one of the guys picking it up so Y no it was real successful it was uh looked really good that's all I have no report um I think I'm going to talk a little bit later or we'll talk a little bit later about the Personnel committee but I just wanted to let every know if you haven't looked at your emails you all got the first fall fest announcement email I sent it out unless it's still in my drafts folder sometimes that happens telling everyone who is involved last year um that we are going to have our first meeting on the 18th and naming some of the new things that we're adding and um inviting people to bring anybody any friends or family that they think might be invited and I have one question question for you because I've never got a response from you are you going to help yeah okay I'll be there good thanks what time is it on the 18th 6:30 because there's a uh not um for like cable commission thank you cable commission meeting that ends at 6 so Paul usually comes to those meetings and Su was coming and she's on it so we're going to start at 6:30 in the community room may I inter reject I went to Manards so I was coming back and I think where K River and Howard Lake Drive meets there was a sign that says craft and oh yeah something sale that's at uh Crossroads Church Church Crossroad I don't know why they put them out it's on the 20th and they put them out a week ago but anyway somebody should go Lurch around there and see maybe some of those people could be the people that come to our yeah handcrafter section or whatever well and I know Lynn Lynn has connections cuz she does crafts and she sells things and so she knows that but I thought the same thing and I also I also sent a email to the pastor up there because after our um Fall Fest last year he emailed the city and said hey you know we'd really like to be part of this um so I I sent him an email and invited him to the meeting on the 18th and said if you can't make it just give me a call and we can meet you know offline on it it may be a good way you got 20 or 50 people all together you can pick out the good stuff from the bad stuff and invite the good ones get them to sign up and that could solve that whole problem yeah no I think I I was I was thinking the same thing good idea all right sorry that I'm that's all I have all right well no report mayor the only thing I can I'll have a little bit of a report so I was at the capital for two days goodness sakes so I have to tell everyone bill and his team couldn't have made it easier I mean once I got to St Paul they took over this building that building Upstairs Downstairs we had the papers we had the speeches we had the photograph or the words and all of that so thank you Bill it was and I went one day with somebody else and it wasn't the same experience so anyway there's a difference and it couldn't have been any easier so thank you thanks for going yeah yeah well you really get your steps in I'll tell you Public Works Jim no report Mr Mayor interm City Administration report I want to remind everybody that on September the 30th at 6 o' the local board of appeals and Equalization meeting is held here at City Hall if there's anyone that wants to appeal their tax valuation or their tax classification this this is where you come to do it it's the only meeting we have each year to consider these appeals and if you miss that you can go to the county the county does like for you to come here first to try to get it worked out uh if you're having questions about your tax valuations on your tax statements the first and best thing to do is call the county assessor let them know your problem they'll try to work something out with you but if you can't get anything resolved with with them then plan on coming to the meeting and present your case before the council who will be acting as that board and they can make adjustments as necessary to what your problems are if you can justify your case so please don't forget that meeting because it's the only one we have every year and it's your only chance to do it here in Columbus and Jack that's Monday the 30th September it's Thursday the 30th I believe April 30th April I'm I'm I'm hooked on September for some reason that's CU you're thinking Fall Fest about Fall Fest I know so it's April the 30th I apologize all right no problem it's on your list of meetings announcements and reminders and the only other thing I have is there's going to be a groundbreaking on Thursday April the 18th at the in NOA County Highway Department's Lake shop uh for their new maintenance and park building uh it's at 2:30 p.m. and uh anybody that wants to go to that it's open to the public could be a big day for you sue you could go to three different meetings three different things there one other thing we should put out there what Kevin said and I think you put it down that next Monday night is Forest Lake deal oh Eureka Street 4:30 to 6:30 the open house they'll probably have cookies oh for sure so what are they doing on the street that goes to Manards it was half shut down oh it Everton they're make they're moving Menard's exit down the road down Everton to I don't know how far but I think it's going right where Keys is that that you go up there to Taco John this is supposed to solve the problems at the stop light but I don't I don't know I just heard that a long time ago that they were going to make a new exit out of Wendy's and straight across yeah I think if you Google the street there was like a whole deal because they said it was Clos and so I had Rochelle we're in the car I said hey we look into that and it there is like a paragraph online about what they're doing there part of a county project I think there's some utility work being done too cuz that further down they were they were looking like they were doing utility type stuff all right and personel committee report you want to do it or you want me to oh I wasn't planning to give one I it's not really much of a report it's more just of an update so um we are coming down the home stretch you guys we have the semi-finalists that will be um interviewed on the 14th and 15th of April virtually by Ellen and what I handed out before the meeting was just sort of all the all the tasks that are left to do in this process um so we we scheduled the special meeting it's not really a special meeting anymore but going to be shooting for the May 8th to select the finalists we have interview questions drafted for those I we're just kind of waiting that for Ellen to get back so that she can weigh in on them um you will get as I said last night you will get a link to a folder on the city's one drive and that's where all the information that you will need to evaluate the semi-finalists will be um and then we will select the finalists and then there's a whole bunch of stuff that happens afterwards which um we're going to have to talk about at our next Personnel committee meeting to kind of get a sense of how long these things take but I'm thinking that it's probably going to be maybe early June or so or mid June by the time we get through all these things that we'll actually be ready to select the the lucky winner so just hadn't really talked so much about what where we were at and and sort of when the end of this is going to happen but that's my best guess um I was going to mention if um I know we were you said about the one drive that everything is going to be on can we give them the one drive before the interview so they can start looking through the resumés that's a I we certainly can I guess the question is whether or not you want to do that because I don't know I find it easiest to go and look at everything when I'm thinking about if I were to look at the application and all that stuff now and then a week and a half from now start looking I I'd forget it but if you guys want it I certainly can give it to you I like to read everything through first one time and then go back and then do it slower so I I I just kind of get it that's just how I do it so I don't know everybody's different yep it's I mean it and time wise too I mean if people don't you know we want we're going to Crunch that time and there's going to be a lot of stuff to go through um there'll be at least six hours of interviews to watch so it it's not going to be something you're going to be able to do an hour before the meeting but but you know the the folders are set up I moved all of the application material materials into those folders so there that's there now what will be added is the video um audio video of the interviews and the results of the um personality Styles assessment and then a summary sort of um of Impressions from from Ellen so those will be the three things that'll get added to that once they're they're done I was think the other reason I was thinking that is some of the um I don't know if anybody is technically challenged and could have an issue with getting on getting on to the one drive getting it to work you know maybe having issues and getting those resolved so they have plenty of time just looking out for everybody yeah so this is a similar one drive to where you get a you know you open a tab and then you can click on the links on top bars no so what you'll get from me is a email that says you know here's a link to the folder City administrator semifinalist and you'll click at the link and then I have and it will be your Council email address that will be tied to it and then it the the problem that we had when you and I were doing it with the application or we started in Google Drive or something no we we I did it in one drive but when when it was asking for me to approve it it was going to the spam folder oh that's why you kept saying you're supposed to approving it's like I can't find it anywhere oh gotcha so now I know to look in the spam folder so I end up approving it and then you you have access to it and so it's it looks like folders so when you click that it's going to be this way look like little manila folders and they'll be labeled we be able to access it on an iPad you should be able to access it on the iPad sure yes I I well actually I take that back check and see if you have one drive on your iPad if not you might need to download it and you might need to get Phil or whoever to because it'll be the City's License I know that on my Outlook um on my desktop I there's a that's there's a one drive app and if you assign it to the city you that that's one easy way to get to it you just click on that on that little one drive app and it'll bring you right there so if you have an issue who do we call Ghostbusters who do we call I can help you with it Ron I had to figure it out myself I know that Jesse has a technical support person at home that can help him I'm sure you know how to do this so I don't have any 13y olds around the house anymore shoot they're so handy if if you want we could schedule fill in here for a specific date yeah one morning or a time that's convenient for anybody and and have him help them walk through that process too you really don't you really don't want this all in paper because it will be a lot of paper I mean I like paper but I wouldn't have wanted all that stuff in paper I did it all online all right anything else anyone before we adjourn your announcements and reminders on the back page there's a whole bunch of them and they're all for April and a couple for May and if there's nothing else I'll make the motion to adjourn is there a second oh I'll second I'll second that third draw I'll call for the vote Ron I sue I Janet I I our meeting is adjourned for this evening thank you everyone who attended somebody must [Music] h e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e