[Music] with the D 7:00 I'm going to call them meeting to order uh we're going to do this in a little bit different order this evening uh I would like to just make one comment to the council we've been hearing a little bit of feedback about the not being able to hear us uh on uh on the YouTube feed so if we can make a point just to talk directly in the microphone just be easier for for residents to hear us that AR here uh so we our first uh action tonight is uh o of office for Kevin Miller many of you may be aware that uh once my uh election was elected to Mayor I had a two years left on my remain in my seat uh so with that after I was sworn in earlier this month or in January um we did vacate my seat uh we took the couple different ways we could have done this we could have done a special election we could have just appointed someone or it could have asked for applications so we went the route with asking for applications during that we had 11 people apply uh at our last meeting uh council meeting we put got that down to five finalists uh last Thursday we interviewed all five of those individuals and with the results of that we voted anonymously to uh offer Kevin Miller uh a position on the on the city council so um I think just a little bit of History uh Kevin's been in real estate for years residents for years um uh member of the Planning Commission has really served this city well I think that in that knowledge and his time here is going to serve us well as another member of of the council here so with that said I would ask that Kevin come up and Jolene is going to uh do the O office e [Applause] all right great now we'll uh get this meeting going how we normally do can uh julan can get a roll call council member Erikson here council member Larson here council member Miller here council member valento here mayor Roberts here and if you're able to please stand for the pledge allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the repic it stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for all hey Council we have a agenda in front of us can I get a motion to approve I'll make a motion to approve the agenda second all in favor I I I opposed great next uh agenda item open Forum this is an opportunity for citizens to come up and speak to any City related matter we'd like to limmit it to 3 minutes uh and uh when you come up please state your name and your address right anyone interested in speaking tonight right thank you uh next item seven consent agenda uh is there a motion to approve the consent agenda I'll make a motion mayor second I'll second any discussion all in favor I carries regular agenda item uh so we have the Vets Memorial committee update and Dave Adams I think you're going to introduce this yep uh we have Ron Miller here from the veterans Mario committee and he's going to give a brief update on the project so far welcome Ron hello mayor and councel so I'm Ron Miller the chairman of the committee uh we're a group that were organized in 2008 under the prodding of World War II veteran Al eward he's now deceased but our goal was and is to honor US veterans either living or deceased by having a memorial site in Lakeside Memorial Park we installed we reinstalled a bronze plaque that was done in 1977 and we put that plaque on the southwest side of the Gazebo there's a rock about this high and it's on the north side of that it's a plaque about two feet by one feet has a listing of uh like think 24 or so individuals who have uh died uh in service our country uh since 2009 we've had a Veterans Memorial um favers program where anyone can honor individual US veterans by purchasing a p uh which is then engraved with the veterans name rank service Unity Etc in their time of service they uh those new paper orders are they order them at the city desk here and then twice a year I collect up those orders uh one time in in March and then again in in August and then I'll call the person that was the point of contact for that veteran that they want to honor and I talk through which of the the engraving should be uh for that person based on how much we can fit into the the space whether the large one which is 16 in by 8 or whether it's a small which is 4 by 8 um so anyway then then we go ahead twice a year Memorial Day and then again in Veterans Day we we um dedicate those papers they were placed uh along with the 370 plus pavers along the sidewalk there in front of the uh the beach area in the restroom park there and our next phase will continue the p sales but we will uh put the pavers in a raised area the ones that are there now we'll we'll pick those up put them in a raised uh raised area when we're done with the upper so our next phase though will continue the those sales but for the past few years we especially Mark fman have uh been designing the next phase best describing it is a three-minute video which Paul of uh LV uh has made for us and and we go so is that coming out where you can see it you guys see it too how do we get the sound up louder is that on support efforts now we stand at the threshold of attribute like no other here in this dedicated space we envision a memorial that speaks to the courage and strength of Our Heroes the central sculpture will be a focal point surrounded by a stunning arrangement of Sentinel Stones symbolizing the unwavering presence of those who have served as you take take in the view from the West the memorial stands proudly a powerful reminder of those who have given so much each detail has been carefully considered designed to evoke deep emotion and reflection the central raised Podium is inscribed War ravages the world around it yet the spirit of service love and freedom endures they emerge from the chaos at Top This Podium rests two more damaged walls that are collapsing inward yet a core brace with emerging bronzed Eagles holds them at Bay denoting the American Spirit rising from within a military family is shown separated by War emerging from each wall from subtle to full dimensioned bronzes displaying strength and patriotism a male soldier saluting the American flag before him stands at one while a female soldier holding a child guards his back on the other the American Family Rising above the chaos this is more than just a design it's a message a tribute that will endure for generations to come together we will create a space that forever honors those who have given us so much we are so close let's finish this Mission together [Music] see I couldn't do any better than that when you know you know when you're going to be outdone you you go ahead and yes anyway so we've raised over 80% uh of the funds that we that we need to build the the Veterans Memorial to be complete uh donations are continuing to come in and our group is confident that 100% will be reached uh you know the summer summer fall uh even if that it's not if the 100% isn't achieved the current amount that we have will be enough to complete everything except for the center sculpture which you could always have the base done and whatever you could always put that brass big Center sculpture in there later on if if if you don't have enough money um so we are asking the city council to approve the the city staff to prepare the plans and specifications for the project final plan should be completed by late spring this spring early summer 2025 and will be brought back to the city council um for the plan and uh specification approval and authorized advertisement for bids we would like to do the underground site work this October and then complete the project in the spring of 2026 with the pavers and Sentinels and and sculpture the on the funding side the Minnesota Legislature has appropriated $350,000 of of funding in two different types of groups um and our city uh said before that you guys would cover the you know like $100,000 which would be that underground utilities work there's a large 6inch water pipe and a valve right there where we are that needs to be rerouted uh we can you know abandon it where it is but reroute it with the um new pipe and a new valve other donations uh we've gotten uh recently include the Hallberg Family Foundation $25,000 and they're going to do two more uh installments uh the American Legion $10,000 we're going to do another 10,000 the legion is um running Ace is 10,000 lions lions and Ma Masons combin 10,000 the VFW 5,000 Carlson Family 5,000 Roberts family 3500 thank you uh Mary Lindberg trust 2000 then there's also a bunch of donations that are less than 2,000 and then also the profits so to speak of the P sales is is around it's over 70,000 that we've done over the over the years um so we need about $120,000 additional funding to complete the memorial and we we believe that we can we can get that done and and go to the rest of the way so so we're at that that ask and uh Dave knows the particulars uh on that is more than I do so you want to Dave you want to mention go from here yeah he covered pretty much all of it just that why that 120,000 they have left the the center sculpture uh the estimate was about 106,000 so you had your 10% that gets you right around 120 um everything we've heard and seen and talked about that that can get put on right away or at a later point so I think if they still want to keep this timeline um with the funding that they're getting from through the state and these donations to try to keep that moving get those plans and specs done and then you know whether or not even if they don't have that 100% get that site work done get the water main relocated all that below ground site work done this fall you know wait till after Labor Day till you know the park the usage goes down and then and to make your mess and then in the spring finish up your mess and then restore it so really should be all back together by you know summertime next year and know that timeline we want to try to stay on that so we're not Ball Park all a mess and I see it the issue too with people running around if you got all tore up all summer long are you looking for a motion here tonight at all is just an up strictly an update it's directing staff to uh myself and Bolton M to to create plans and specs um you'd come back in a formal motion to approve those plans and specs and authorize uh advertisement for grid so you'd have one more chance to look at it and approve those plan specs and that we make put that out for put it on the street for for contractors of that on coun any questions of either Dave or Mr Miller uh no questions for me um I would like to say say just for the record I do have a uh my father-in-law has got a memorial stone over there so I'm all in favor of this no no we don't need a formal motion just want Direction I mean I think or would you prefer let's make a let's make a formal motion to approve uh staff to prepare plan this okay and I a motion on that I'll make a motion that we direct staff to prepare the plans and specs for the work to be done that's as is been late up tonight second I'd second that discussion all those in favor I iOS motion carries great thank you for all your work on this we're it's exciting and looking forward to seeing things start to come out of the ground down there yes thank you thank you very much great uh so gender item 8B 2025 commission appointments so as uh many might know or may not know uh we uh are V have very valued commissions that are set up throughout the City Planning Commission uh Parks Eda uh cable commission I airport commission uh so each year um there's seats that come up du uh we uh uh went through an interview process with the with the liaison to that commission and then the chair uh we've done those the last couple of weeks uh there was somewhat of a heavy lift uh to get these the Park and Recreation Commission uh reinstated uh some of you may know that we've not had that in place for two years so it was a priority of of the council here to get that in place and so with that said um I don't know Julie do we need one motion for all those or do you want each individual or um each individual commission to be appointed that would be up to the council I I think you can certainly do it in one motion if council's in agreement with the recommendations you've laid out in your memo okay it just a a couple other items to mention um on that Parks Commission just because it's brand new a startup we did do tiered so that that all the commission members don't come off at the same time so you'll notice that there's some of that are at one year a couple for two year and then three for for three year um so any discussion how you want to handle this Council you want to do one motion or go through all each separate commission I think it'd be acceptable to do one motion for all I agree um I'll just if someone wants to make a motion I'm just going to read off the names just for the public record who who we' have um up for appointment uh airport commission is Curtis mson and Mara Bane Eda is Jonathan Wright Parks and Rec commission Karen Morehead Sandra Matson Sue Hardina Aaron eart Don th Tim Gary and Melissa Landmark before we motion I just want to thank those individuals for their willingness to to give back to the community in this way it's very valued to have that input for the council to make these decisions so thank you and there's two two uh in the crowd right now tonight so I appreciate that I get a motion I'll make a motion that we approve the uh commission members as recommended in tonight's meeting I'll second motion second discussion all in favor I I opposed motion carries item 8 C Congressional staffer space at City Hall Amanda you're going to lead us thank you your honor Council uh so the uh Congressman Pete uh Pete stabber uh actually approached the mayor wondering about uh renting some space in City Hall for his district office and uh so congressmen um have uh district offices throughout their district and it's an opportunity for uh the constituents to be able to have access to their staff and um for them to have you know locations within their their area that they represent where they can connect with the community and things like that um currently he has offices in Washington DC obviously brainer Cambridge Chisum and hermant town he is interested in moving his Cambridge location to Forest Lake and specifically uh Forest Lake City Hall the US House of Representatives has an office called the office of administrative counsel and they provide sort of the rules and the guidance on how something like this would happen they have a boilerplate uh lease that they do um they do have some unique requirements for their lease terms um but nothing that I think is is of significant concern the benefits to the city in considering allowing um the congressman to have a small amount of space here at City Hall is is pretty obvious right it's the access to uh his office it's his exposure to this very City to the downtown his staffers will be going to Stewie for lunch or whatever you know that kind of thing that that's a really um helpful thing for the city this is not an anyway partisan um his the way that it works if if the city wanted to do this I would out to his office to get the lease going although like I said we would use the boilerplate from the office of administrative counsel um and it's just for his term so it ends in January of 2027 at that point whomever is elected to the seat they have the right to choose where they would want their district offices um again it's not a party Affiliated thing um a couple things to note actually just today I reached out to the the county um property taxx County Washington County um assessor to make sure that if we lease him space we don't somehow lose our uh tax exempt status for the city hall her answer was definitely not if we lease him at a no lease rate or a nominal lease rate potentially if you want to charge him a market rate rent looking at what uh Cambridge has done and Chisum has done the Cambridge lease was for $500 for the year Chism was 2,400 for the year neither one of those would be market rate rents what uh staff has looked at is allowing him to utilize one of the conference rooms upstairs and that would become his office space other than when we were doing interviews for the city administrator situation I don't think we've ever had all of the conference rooms used at the same time so from a city staff persp Ive we don't see that being you know an issue in terms of space so uh and I'm so sorry I should have gone down there and talked there I just realized I didn't my apologies um so so anyways the the um the question to council tonight is is this something you're interested in doing you have no obligation to do it but if it's something that you're interested in then if you could give me authority to reach out to his office and work on a lease that would would then be brought back to the council for consideration it would I think we could get a turnaround to be at the next you know at the next meeting this month and if not that's okay too no you know no harm no fou either direction I stand for questions I sit for questions any Council any questions for Amanda to start no questions I just think it would be a nice addition to to the community and you know knowing that we've got the space I guess I'd like to to see us move forward with this correct um so yeah I guess I don't have anything for Amanda so I'll just open up for just general comments and I guess my comment would be and I think Amanda you answered it but I guess I defer to staff you know do we have the space would it be a a problem if we rented that space or or somehow work that space out and and do we have it in a private room where not uh I'm not sure what they'd be looking for you know most of our conference rooms aren't they mostly glass they are council member they do have glass windows um they do have Shades that we can pull over those windows the space upstairs is very seldom used especially the smaller of the two conference rooms up there um I I don't Envision that if these staffers are here it's not going to probably be 40 hours a week it'll be sporadic and and I think it'd be a good use of that space and unfortunately those rooms sit vacant quite often so to get some activity up there I think would be a positive here at City Hall then my only other question would be you know pros and cons you know not trying to be trying to be more partisan what would be pros and cons to the city of the income would be nice to have maybe getting more attention to our city yeah I if I get so my thoughts on that very Pro and this just to be clear this would be regardless of if it was a republican a Democrat or independent that was you know in that in that office I think it's just to have that open connection to someone who's in in DC to have our staff have a connection or be able to go upstairs and talk to his staff on on items I think is great and then just an extra service I mean the taxpayers have paid for this building so for them to have that ability to come into this building and talk to a staffer from a congress you know one of our our congressmen I think is really important and so you know we would be clear that it it is it is nonpartisan we would it would open this offer would be open to anyone that was in that seat uh and they were real I mean I don't know how it does happens with you know we do have elections in that room I think so I think that that I don't know how that works if that office would be closed during those days or something I'm sure other City Halls do that and they did make in my conversations with Congressman it was very clear this is not um campaign office at all it's strictly business of the district and then just one last question do we know on average how often the congressman might be here other than staff uh so just with my knowledge of getting to know uh congressman uh stabber you know he does drive he does typically drives from Minneapolis to duth where his main office and where he lives so his idea too is part of the reason of moving it here is being able to get to this office much easier than the current office in Cambridge um and he pointed out that Forest Lake is um the second largest city in the district behind duth so that's important to him to to be able to be closer closest to where the majority of the people are in the South and so I would sus he'd be through fairly often the motion on that or just giving to direct do you want a motion to yeah if you could just make a general motion that you'd like me to move forward and one just one point of order because of uh because of what I learned from the county today on the tax exempt status I'm assuming Council does not want a lease that would uh remove our tax exempt status for City Hall so whatever the lease rate is it's going to have to be low enough that the county won't um have a problem with it and I can run that you know through the county once we get a number but just confirming we got to keep her it's going to be low all right with that said um anyone want to make a motion on this I'll make a motion for Amanda to reach out to the eth district Congressional office um for them to have an office here okay any discussion all those in favor I I opposed motion carries have um resolution to accept donations for the uh Veterans Memorial Mr Miller had mentioned a number of um let me find where the um sorry number of people have donated um we've been doing these here the last couple meetings uh so um I'm going to just list the donors in this uh resolution so uh Roberts Funeral Service 3500 halberg Foundation 2500 Running Aces so I would make a motion to accept with gratitude resolution 021 0252 accepting donations for Veterans Memorial project is there a second second that discussion uh Blake i' would ask that you consider amending your motion you mentioned halberg Family Foundation for 2500 it looks like it's 25,000 thank you for that correction yes 25,000 thank you have second I would still second that motion okay all right uh no discussion um all in favor I I opposed motion carries so we've moved on to the discussion part of our meeting uh after this no decisions will be made this is just strictly discussion um we had asked with everything going on there's a lot of different projects coming up in the next year or two getting started this year so asked uh Ryan uh Goodman from Bolton mink to give us an update on where things are things have been changing calendar wise and for different reasons so uh Ryan give it to you good evening May City Council I'm not going to read through it word for word so definitely asking questions you might have but I'll just start with Eureka Avenue uh basically we're in a holding pattern right now where an easement documents have been sent off to the DNR that was were submitted in October or August of 2024 and uh having to go through the federal review process that sometimes can take over a year uh if we stay still stay within that year uh we're looking to then you know have the project bid and what would occur in 26 would be a sear charge being placed out on the area where the road is being widened to accommodate for the the trail facilities um so that would just be the only work in 26 Road still would be open to construction we're still uh targeting 2027 for construction and that will stage well with the Highway 97 project too get to lastly uh Northshore Trail and local Street project um that's been you know discussed for a long time since a local Street projects in that area will'll just bid it as one project so we're not having two contractors run over each other and just do a dual process for no reason same scope of work uh Tuesday uh uh February 18th you guys are off Monday Tuesday February 18th will be our public open house for this project uh from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. upstairs in the community room so if there's there'll be a short PowerPoint presentation just kind of give a over Brad view of the project what to expect during construction what type of construction process will be going on and stuff like that so so we plan talking about there and then Broadway Avenue maintenance project remember that project was bid by the county last uh year but the pricing came in very high so they uh relooked at that project delivery and rebed it and are ready to uh move into construction this this spring and hope to have everything done well before the 4th of July and just hot off the press today they finalized uh the public openhouse dates um will be March 4th it's actually going to be held at the Forest Lake Area school's Early Childhood family education building 4 P.M to 6: p.m on March 4th that's so they're holding it in the school just so it's close to the business owners with the idea maybe that some might walk over or stuff like that just trying to mix it up we've had a quite a few public open houses here tendance has been zero to five so change of scenery closer to the businesses hopefully maybe we can attract some uh interest in that just so they're more up to date on everything obviously they've been mailers and other communication as that project has proceeded and timelines with that quick question did they change their budget for that or did they change the scope of service they did take out some of the stuff that was on the very West End and the onramps off Rance uh the bridge deck area that they couldn't come to an agreement on what requirements would be for traffic control and minda and how it could affect other things going on in the area because of other projects uh so they just eliminated that portion of the project for now and just going to focus on the area uh basically where Chase Bank's being built to the to the roundabout up here and nothing within the roundabout right now unless mot words to package something and come behind them but right now it's not anticipated to be included in that Highway 97 project uh that's the big one that's going to be a two-year project that's going to start in 25 uh and they'll work on the West End that's what we first heard right for staging and this is the one and it flops looking potentially do the east side first uh but now they're going to be working on the west end in 2025 from Hornsby to Fenway and that will be completely shut down when they build that because of the depth of poor soil excavation that needs to occur that you couldn't possibly Bridge traffic way up there and have workers going on it or even if it not even if you had sheet piling along the whole entire Road it would be have to be way higher than the road otherwise stuff was going to fall in we got some spots 20 ft um a lot of long spots of 10 foot of excavation of poor soils that'll be taken out of that area and then in 26 they'll come back with the East End and that'll be from Fenway to Forest Road so that'll be a great improvements and if we're not that familiar with that scope of work or that project that's going to go on yet or need a refresher they are having a pre-construction public open house March 11th 4 P p.m. to 6 p.m. right here at City Hall up in the community room so that'll be another good one to get some information ATS those kind of the high level of the major projects that are in the area um High Highway 8 is probably going to be due for a update here soon based on what we might know or not um as they work through the environmental documents so some of that will be coming here within the months and one of that's not on here is because it's a little further out is County stated Highway 32 also known as 11th Avenue or 220th depending on what map you look at right here about across winck that's a 27 project and that's uh was year marked for that year just so it avoids the Highway 97 project and stayed away from the Broadway maintenance stuff as well for your lease agreement you just approved if you want to tie something into that that you have to say yes to our funding in March that would be better than any rent we could ask for so that's that's the big milestone of that project uh we're hoping to hear positive news in March of this year on whether or not we got a bunch of extra funding for that project that would allow us to do the ultimate scope of the work that's been presented at the public open houses and other stuff that's kicked off almost since we've prepared this is you know the Count's working forward on an RFP down at the intersection of County Road 50 and uh trunk Highway 61 that's leading up to a potential 2028 or 29 intersection project there so you got that going on into and then mot's also in the middle of an RFP for a study from Highway 8 to uh 180th so Dave and I have met with one of the Consultants that you know they're trying to prepare their proposals they've come in and asked tons of questions about the corridor local issues concerns things that need to be addressed in that study so uh so that's in progress too so lot of Transportation stuff which again lines well with who might be sitting up in City Hall here in the next whatever time frame but uh definitely going to be a lot of funding needs and requ cost to that study is that part of a potential turn back or is that separate this will be separate uh but that County study that's what included the turn back stuff that's U those got to get ultimate finalization so what's the plan for rerouting traffic off 97 for the next two years they'll have a local D2 set up and then uh a major detour so the detour in the past when we've had some of these major Recons even that the two double roundabouts goes out as far as Manning Avenue and down to County Road 4 sometimes or the highway eights uh will be in and out with the 97 project before too many impacts start happening on Highway a it's still hard to tell where they're at with Highway a and environmental stuff uh that'll be stuff that'll be talked about at this project um um or at the public open house too but there'll definitely be very well signed detours in place and those are coordinated very closely with Public Safety even when we just did the 35 project or some of the other bigger County or state projects in the area they were very uh engaged with Public Safety fire and police um even just when they would stage traffic on that 35 project just because of our joint agreement with Columbus and other areas they got to get to so they would know how to access those areas during construction so there wasn't any surprises there's weekly meeting um construction meetings that go on with these types of projects that usually Public Safety attends these there might be one just with like the contractors and then before after that same one each week is the one that's a little bigger that includes more staff and Public Safety or School District officials too as well has and some of those businesses on 97 that are completely any push back or conversations with like quick trip and grun Hoppers and quick trip knows very well about the project coming up with our conversations with them we've been working with them oh year over year and a half now at this point in time on their application and they already went and they knew about it coming up and you know ultimately what's coming in front of them and they had to decision whether to move forward or not or sit in tights or do at the same time and they finally actually just submitted today their final application to the city to through their uh their site expansion no building expansion but parking lot expansion and they already gone through the permitting with the Watershed because they wanted to get all their other stuff done before they came back to the city so that anticipated that was going to be at the Planning Commission in March or quick trip site approval what um what has cities done in the past especially more so on the smaller smaller business in that strip mall to help promote detours or just something I mean to be completely shut off I know you can get there from the South but that's going to be the impact for them is just going to be horrible yeah so uh they'll have access you know from different routes and we'll want to publicize that on our social media avenues that we have they're obviously going to do a very good uh process with that I don't know if they'll be hiring specifically uh out or consultant to handle their Communications they did do that on the I35 project uh they have built up some internal Communications teams too but there will definitely be a lot of communications from mots or a consultant they hire separately too or it might be part of their bid package that the contractor has to do some of that stuff as well but there's it's not going to be like you're not going to know where we can't go or not go it'll be Maps available uh that we posted out they'll be you know sometimes they even hand out extra maps to hand to the businesses to the customers uh there'll be QR codes to bling to get uh you know up to date updates as the project proceeds and ultimately if somebody is struggling with all that they they'll probably call City Hall then it'll just get you know forwarded to me then we'll just make that one-on-one personal connection we have to to help whoever we need to during those types of projects and missed what when 20 when this year that West End be closed uh well they can't do anything until spring load restrictions get off and it's awarded so you know I don't know what their exact start date is at this point I would anticipate they're probably going to hit it in May sometime plus or minus 15 days in there close down only Clos down is May May to easily July octob to October depend on how well they get through those soils and that area gets full curbing gutter too so there's it's just not come in and bring your aggregate base and build the road and shape it and then go pave it like a traditional Road out in the middle no in a rural area uh concrete curbing gutters uh was the design Choice through there because of the perating requirements they needed to shrink up their footprint because of the impact to the the wetlands in that area that's a very prestigious Wetland complex and you our land in there and it's been very hard to permit anything in there so to get a trail on the entire South Side through that projects to the project team there because that was not easy and they have just amount of different designs and Concepts and cross-sections they had to go through and which takes a lot of time and money but ultimately we're going to have a 10-ft trailer that's going to connect all the way through and then that uh interchange there at 35 and you can get all the way to Columbus West Side now and here you can now go hit the hard Creek Trail when this Project's done and then down the down the roadway after this Project's done and your Capital Improvement plan we have Fenway Avenue that includes that trail extension along with that pavement maintenance project so now we'll be connected all the way down to head you're going to have some really nice Loops when these Transportation projects are done in here questions for Ryan this uh and maybe I missed as well starting on Northshore what what do you have a date on that uh we would hope to be able to start in may you know I don't hasn't been terrible winter so maybe you could start a little earlier but generally get going pretty hard ated me and is that in sections too where youly close at one time or at all or do you know that y we'll talk about that at the public open house too but uh first thing we'll Target the storm sewer Crossing so there will be temporary closings for that but we won't come and reclaim the road at that point in time until we get closer to that stage of construction so all your Crossings we want to complete first uh in one section of Hayward there's a sewer pipe at about 140 ft that needs to be dug up and replaced it's not flowing through there and it's been an area that we've known about for a long time and it's kind of been pushed to that actually lines up well with this project but we just didn't have the funding in place to deal with it until now and with all the other roads going to be done in the area you got to deal with it now otherwise you can come back and go run over all your brand new roads to fix something that's been there 15 plus years we've known about it from because Public Works are go out and do televising the sewer lines when we know we're kind of going with our next three projects so if there is something major like this we'll deal with it and uh set of just put a new Surface on the road some of the stuff we can deal trenchless but this is too big of pipe at flat of a grade you you got to go down and get it so I know early on we talked about potentially a shift in the road so that there potentially could have a larger shoulder on one side is that still in the go that out the footprint member is not getting any wider right but I thought we we would shift the lines over so one shoulder potentially could be wider than the other that was I thought a conversation at one point that we had I can look into that I don't think that's been account for yeah so not to to no no larger footprint but if the idea would be to narrow push it to one side and then the other side you'd have a larg your shoulder just more safety for p pedestrians and bike um I think it's something we should look at potentially just to because we couldn't get that trail through there that's an easy change and I didn't get into the striping plan so maybe they even narrowed up the the driveway lanes for what they are right now so that's one thing you can do it's a state aid route so we'll look at you know you know anly da and anly daily traffic to you know to make sure that we're in uh all those rules and requirements but uh you you can sometimes go a little narrower than what they had out there or we could shift it one way two so we'll bring that back before we finalize that that's no big deal questions Brian thanks for the the updates appreciate that problem right uh we're not staff updates uh and we just have two staff here well obviously the but You' let a lot of people have the day off so that's great the evening off so julan go ahead uh just real briefly mayor councel um just a note City Hall is going to be closed on Monday the 17th in observance of President's Day we're back on the 18th which is when our new city administrator Mark stots will be starting um followed that day by the open house like Ryan mentioned for the NorthShore Trail project here at City Hall upstairs and immediately following that open house we're going to roll into City council's Workshop so busy day on Tuesday the 18th that's all I have unless anyone has questions for me Dave anything uh nothing major other then we got a bunch of snow this weekend plans are to be have downtown cleared out by the end of this week wait for temperatures to go back up it's down there when it's this cold out so you had a bunch of clean up around town to pick up snow piles and keep cleaning up Trail so but by the end of this week we should have on on all that for everyone uh Ryan anything else I guess the only thing I would add it's you can just feel it and amount of conversations and stuff that's coming forward it seems to be a very residential subdivision stuff seems to be getting hot right now um so I would anticipate a lot of those steps coming forward to you guys guys uh some are some are in concept PL some are obviously going through building permits and then there's some that are uh getting pretty thick into the Weeds on some other Parcels so it' be a good year for that Vanda you have anything yes so in your um weekly update was kind of a longer update regarding some work that I've been doing with the Forest Lake Police Department related to cryptocurrency kiosks um that are located within the city and just the significant amount of fraud that is going through those machines mentioned in the update that in 2023 and 2024 in the four machines that and actually only three of the machines in the city over $300,000 was um fraudulently stolen so this is pretty significant um I have reached out to Mr Department of Commerce and the league to try to get some assistance from those two groups but um detective olad is um incredible and he's he's been doing a ton of work behind the scenes to try to do more than just say I'm so sorry your money is gone uh um we've been working also with Woodbury Woodbury uh since 2021 has lost over $6.6 million in cryptocurrency fraud these are huge numbers um so I I realized before we get too much cart in front of horse I wanted to give the council Al the opportunity to ask any question just sort of you know uh preliminary questions tonight the intention is uh that he and I will be presenting at a work session I want to wait until Mark stats starts trying to get him caught up but ideally within the next 30 days we're in front of you with some ideas for I hesitate to say Solutions because this is a problem that is so much larger than just the city but at least um some ideas to protect the people who live here uh overwhelmingly the victims are elderly or vulnerable populations um and some of the stories we will share some of the the stories but um are just gut-wrenching uh but for the purposes of tonight I I wanted to give you all the opportunity if you had some just really preliminary questions or concerns that you know you give give me a heads up now so we can pivot if needed or whatever question so I mean if they're these kiosks are president in our city they must some level be legal and authorized true yes so obviously cryptocurrency is not regulated like traditional forms of currency um and that is its Allure and it's also part of its um part of why fraud people who are committing fraud are very interested in crypto uh the state did pass some legislation this last year requiring crypto kiosks to be licensed with the state what we are suggesting is not going to license them because that's we basically preempted by the state in that capacity um they were hoping they could create something things in this uh statute that was passed us last year to protect uh these the victims and unfortunately uh immediately there was a very obvious workaround in terms of what was created and so it has not been helpful the kiosk themselves um I don't know how familiar are with cryptocurrency but the kiosk themselves you go you put in cash that's all you can't pay for it any other way you put in cash and you buy crypto in the machine uh the machines that we have in in Forest Lake do not allow you to cash out your crypto so it's not going to go the other way in other words I can't go and say I'm going to sell my current my cryptocurrency and you're going to to shoot out $10,000 at me it's it's just one way um there are machines that do both but that's not the way that these are set up uh but something that I think is important to know the vast majority of these Machin have a markup of 30% so in other words if I'm going to purchase my cryptocurrency through this machine there's a 30% markup on the price versus if I was just going to go online and buy it so from a investment perspective there isn't a lot of legitimate investing that's going to happen through these machines because a Savvy investor is not going to pay a 30% market and and that's not something that cities can ban or do go I me that kind of yeah that was the original call from detective was can we ban these and I said oh I want to say yes so bad um but I think we're going to run a f of the Constitution and a couple of things uh so but that said I do think we've come up with a really good idea um where we regulate kind of indirectly but that regulation eliminates anybody who basically allows fraud to run through their machines because interestingly enough we do have one machine in the city so one that's located in Kuts that has never had uh complaints of fraud so what's different in how they run their machine I couldn't begin to tell you but there's something because it's a machine that these frosters are not telling the victims to go to they're having them go to other machines and there's some machines that have maximum limits so in a day they might send their poor victim to like six or seven machines not just in Forest Lake but in Columbus in Woodbury and other communities and so that is why um we're trying to get a larger group uh like a detective ol said is part of a cryptocurrency sort of forum group that he's on and everybody on that group is asking what's an what can we do you know what's an ordinance and so we are asking the council to to consider kind of being on the Forefront of this this is something that is going to take more than just State action or federal action because of the the nature of this fraud it's it's just kind you know I think everybody's going to kind of have to work together to protect these populations that are being targeted um Woodbury the Woodbury um their detective unit and their Chief has already told me as soon as you have this ordinance I want to see it like let's go we're ready to um because there's going to be a strength in numbers on this one anything that the league is working on they are resistant to pick it up because they have already established their legislative priorities for the year and this was not one of them and they do not want to add anything to their list I have instead what I'm trying to work with the league on is if we put forth an ordinance and it goes forward um aside from all of the vetting that I'm doing from the Department of Commerce and getting the their general counsel to bless the ordinance and give me some nice words we can put in a um in a staff M and thing like things like that I want the league to cover us if we get sued and so that's sort of more where I'm going with the league is I want you need to cover this if we're trying to protect people if we need your help so that that's kind of where they've reluctantly been more willing to how how concerned we need to be about being sued by people committing fraud well committing the fraud they're not going to sue us um they're they're overwhelmingly not located in the United States right they're presumably someplace else and by the time I mean the money is gone you know well interestingly it's not though because somebody has deposited cash into that machine and so there is tons of cash sitting in that machine and somebody's picking it up so uh Iowa and Ohio are actually seizing these machines their police departments are as uh uh instrument in the crime the so far the direction um that the the you know police have here is they're not really comfortable doing that they that becomes a bit burdensome in terms of actually seizing those machines and there's some reasons why that might not be the best solution right now it's also being thought about at the Supreme Court so they were sued for taking those machines and we'll see if that's going to stand or not but um yeah so so there's there's there's a lot of really interesting things about this but it's definitely that's happening all all the time I mean it's surprising how many of these um victims are out there that according to detective all said they estimate that the reported reported amounts are about a third of what actually is happening there communication plan that we have whether that be through the newspaper or you know I know the police department does scam training at the community center what have you I mean is there communication plans possible around this yeah that is um something that the detectives are also working on is in terms of getting this in front of a larger audience and and absolutely they are doing tons of trainings with they partner with AARP and they do trainings uh with them U on this on the kiosks right now we have signs that say you know warning basically be careful all that kind of thing but these scammers are incredibly sophisticated and that's not going to be enough but largely because the scams are um telling the victim that they are the law enforcement and so they're pretending that there's some outstanding warrant or there's something so they're they're already acting as though they are the the law um so it's it's incredibly heartbreaking frankly but the good news is you guys have some amazing detectives that are not willing to just sort of Stand By and let it happen thanks for that Council Jeff do you have anything I have nothing thank you no not tonight Kev I have nothing nothing for me um I just have a few things um Jolene mentioned that Mark will be starting with us our new city administrator Mark stots uh it's been a while it seems like a long time ago that we hired him so it'll be great to have him on board um he will be has been said before drinking from a fire hose there's a lot of things for him to learn but um I just want to thank Jolene all you've done especially since September but really since you've been here to help us get through this I don't know how we could have done it without you from the the hiring process to running day-to-day operations and really all every staff member especially department heads have all stepped up and and played an extra role so but thank you so much for that so and just one more welcome to uh Kevin looking forward to working with you and uh doing some great things thank you I'm looking forward to working with all of you so I I uh joen gave me a a little trick about how closing these meetings we could change that up a little bit so with no other uh no other business coming forward I'm going to journ the meeting at 7:58 [Music]