[Music] Welcome to the May 14th, 2025 Columbus City Council meeting. I, Mayor Ron Hanigraph, will call tonight's meeting to order at 6 PM. I don't know if I was supposed to read that or not. Council members that are present are Janet Heglin, Rob Bush, Jennifer Latin, and Scott Wendell. Our second item is the pledge of allegiance. Will everybody stand and join me? I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Item three is the adoption of the agenda. If there is no additions or corrections, I'll look for a motion to adopt tonight's agenda. Uh, I, Scott Wendell, move to approve the agenda for the May 14th, 2025 city council meeting as presented. We have a second. This is Jenny. I second. We got a motion seconded. We'll any discussion, any questions? Having none, we'll take a vote. Jenny, Jenny, I, Scott, I, Janet, I, Rob, I, and Ron I. Moving on to item number B, the consent agenda. Anybody have any adjustments on the consent agenda? Go ahead. Uh, I think we need to pull the February 26th and the March 12th minutes for additional edits and corrections. I would like for somebody to make that recommendation to pull those two items. Okay. So, on the agenda then it'll just be item number one and n number four. Correct. We have a motion on those two. What was that? One and four or was it two and three? One and four for consideration. Okay. Four. Anybody want to make a motion? I can. This This is Jenny. I move to approve the consent agenda as presented and supplemental um or and we're striking two and three. Um have we addressed four though? Did you want to address four separately? No, it'll just be an Okay. This is Jenny. I move to approve the consent agenda agenda and the acceptance uh resignation of planning commission member Link Carver Quinn um which was distributed to the council prior to the May 14th 2025 meeting. Anybody second it? I think you have to remove items two and three from the consent agenda. They moved them. Yeah. So that was part of the motion. That was part of I didn't Sorry, I didn't hear her say that. Yep. Anybody want to second this? I'll second. Janet. Okay, we have a motion on the floor. It's been seconded. Any other discussion? Any questions? Hearing none, we'll go for a vote. Jamie, Jenny, I, Scott, I, Janet, I, Rob I, and Ron I. We'll go to item number C. And number one is a public forum. Is there anybody out there in the public that'd like to step forward and make a comment or a statement to the council? Having none there, we'll look at the uh Zoom. Anybody on Zoom want to make a comment. Hearing none, we'll close the public forum. Should we uh announce who's on there for the record? You don't need to. No, you don't. Nope. I've I've got a list of them for recording for when we do the minutes. Okay. All right. We'll go to item number two under C. Love's site plan review pages 6 through 20. Thank you, Ron. Lo's travel stops applied for a site plan review on March 6, 2025 to add an additional four fuel stations to their existing fuel pump island. The site plan review was approved by the city council on April 23rd, 2025 after receiving a recommendation for approval from the planning commission. During the site plan review process, multiple discussions were had with Love's Travel Stops regarding the need for an updated screening and landscaping plan specifically surrounding the southwestern corner of the property. This was not a condition of the site plan review, but rather a notice that the site is unlikely to reach the 80% opacity screening condition by the deadline set forth in their planned unit development conditional use permit. City staff received fencing details from the property owner Dylan Schwarz to aid in the completion of the original screening requirements on April 30th, 2025. Staff received answers to a request for an additional information on May 2nd, 2025. Love's Travel Stops is anticipating construction of a fence and replacement of dead and dying trees to begin as soon as possible. Per section 7A-501F of the Columbus City Code, the zoning administrator is allowed to make modifications to prior approved fences. Screening or landscaping plans provide the modifications are consistent with the intent and scope of the prior approved plans. The addition of the fencing elements to the screen plan is intended to better comply with the previously approved screening. However, due to the high level of interest and importance of the community interested in this matter, city staff is requesting comment and approval of the proposed fencing elements. There were findings made on this. The findings were love's travel stops will not be removing any of the live trees from the original plans. However, dead and dying trees will be replaced. Any removed balsom furs will be replaced with black hill spruce per recommendation by the planning commission and a private arborist. The proposed fence they would plan to install is 8 ft tall made of a composite material in a warm brown tone. Examples of this are shown in the attachments in your packet. There are no gaps in between the slats and the fence is 100% opaque. Additionally, there's a clean finish appearance to both sides of the fence. The proposed fence is consistent with the general commercial zoning district's design standards. The new fence will replace an existing 4ft chain link fence along the western side of the truck parking lot. Due to the height of the fence, Lo's travel stops will be required to apply for a build fence building permit. The fence will need to comply with all building code standards and will be inspected for consistency with the proposal. A gate of similar style to the proposed fence will be installed near the southwestern storm water pond to allow for snow removal. Love's travel stops provided a landscape audit report dated April 1st, 2005 detailing trees that will need to be replaced in conjunction with the fence construction. [Applause] Consistent with the conditions set forth in the Lo's Travel Center planned use development conditional use permit. Truck parking shall be be screened from the view of the joining roadways, particularly the western boundary of the property. There shall be no less than 80% opacity screening by August 17th, 2027. The addition of high quality fencing will provide instant screening while the natural screening matures. The fencing is consistent with the style and color scheme of the existing building and aligns with the intent of the conditions set forth in the original PUD CUP for the site. The planning commission has recommended approval of the Lo's travel stops updated screening plan on May 7th at their 2025 meeting. Council is considered to consider this request for approval. Thank you, Jack. Any comments? Um, this is Janet. I do have one question. Um, I think the fence is a great solution for the screening on the side that um, runs parallel with the freeway, but I'm wondering whether or not the existing trees that are on the Hornsby Street sign are going to meet that 80% opacity because it was all adjacent roadways that we were trying to reach. That was a condition. And I know that from the site plan that they provided, they do not intend to put a fence along the Hornsby Street. So, when I looked at the aerial view, it looked pretty sparse there. But I have to admit, I haven't been I haven't driven by it. So, I was wondering whether what what the um what you thought about that if you had anybody go out and take a look at that or if they addressed that side of the property. Uh I I can't say that. Zack England is with us tonight. And Zach, if you can speak to that question and answer Councilman Hegel's question, I'd appreciate it. Yes. Can you hear me? Yeah. Thank you. Yes, we can hear you fine. All right. Yeah, Zach. Sorry. Um, so I would have to look at the conditions. Uh, cuz from my understanding the condition, the 80% screening is for the trucking side, not the gas side. Um, so I'd either have to be corrected on that or uh taken into effect on looking at that. Um, if it is also the Hornsby, that's a different um topic that I need to look at into. So as far Oh, go ahead. No, no, go ahead. Oh, I was say as far as um with the fence um so 80% needs to be blocking um and yes, the fence alone would make it almost 100% up to that 10 ft from there. Um we would be putting in all new trees uh essentially along that whole fence line. Um, and I spoke about this a little bit last week with a few council members. Um, that kind of the better plan because on what happening is also on the inside. Um, on our side, the trees are actually dying a lot faster because one, the wrong trees. Two, uh, during the winter months, the harsh winter months, we have, uh, salt spreading, um, with massive trucks and that's literally burning through and also killing the trees as well. Um, and then of course we have our uh the truck drivers that back into it as well. Uh, so I suggested um that what we would be doing and my company was totally fine with this uh printing pretty much all the trees that are on our side, removing all of those um and just making it grass cuz it's going to be a continuous issue. And then just layering it up on the back side with nothing but the spruce trees. um the black or the blue uh probably the black sploo trees all the way along the back with the fence. Um and we putting irrigation in there as well uh directly for them uh cuz we only have irrigation on the front that shoots through the um chain fence. But with the new fence, we would have to put in all new irrigation on that marsh side. Um but that would keep those trees 100% healthy and grow. And then by time the um depending on the height they'll meet that requirement. Um so on diesel side that was the plan or is the plan and that way 100% coverage is really uh maintained and mean that 80%. Um so Zach this is Janet again. So what I'm looking at is the aerial view that we that we have in our packets. I think it may have been in the packet for the planning commission also. And so the part that I'm that I'm addressing or that I'm asking about is isn't by the the pumps. Um it's on along Hornsby Street where there's semis that park along that road. And I'm I'm just saying that when when the first um when the cup was first approved by the council, there were some members that felt pretty strongly that that that should be part of this um area that's screened. And when I looked at the um condition that's included, it says, "Consistent with the condition set forth in the Lo's Travel Center, planned use development, conditional use permit, truck parking shall be screened from views of adjoining roadways, particularly the westerly boundary of the property. I know that it also included the the um boundary that was adjacent to um to Hornsby Street. What I wasn't sure is whether or not there was, you know, I know that you're still two years away from having to meet this requirement, so this isn't anything you have to do immediately, but I think that those it doesn't look like there's much screening along there along that street. And I mean there's different ways we can, you know, we could reopen the cup and amend that condition also, but I I was more interested in hearing if you guys had talked about that and if that was in the plan, but just later on down the road. So, as far as I know, that's not a condition. Um, but that's something that we can revisit. Um, again, that's trying to add something into it, forcing us to do another screening on the other side of the street. I get it. Um, that would just have to be something that's taken off with corporate and with you guys as well, which I'm sure they're open to it, but um, as far as we know, the condition, as it says there on the west side, um, which is the freeway wise. Uh, so that would have to be a later discussion as well. Would it be helpful if if Jack sent you what the condition is and just highlight what I just read to you? That that is the condition from the CUP. Mr. Mayor and Council, as I'm hearing council member Hegeland read the condition, if that is uh within the approved entitlements, then it is a requirement. it. Of course, as council member Hegeland said, it's still two years. Uh, but I think it would be helpful for there to be a dialogue with the applicant and owner to see how that condition is going to be satisfied, particularly as you describe the conditions out there and we as as said we the city can provide uh those conditions to you. This is uh Bill Griffith, the city attorney. Copy. Yeah, that's uh definitely need to be uh highlighted and known. As far as we're known and everyone on my side uh loves, we're we've only been focused on that one side or told about the um west side. So, if it is a condition for the other side as well, um that is something that we will have to address and go from there. That sounds good. I I um I appreciate the the addition of the fence on the other side. That's going to look fantastic. So, thank you for Thank you for that. Anybody else? Yeah. And we have that fence on them. We have that fence if you ever want to visit our property. That fence is actually installed already. A shorter version, but it's the fence that runs along from the building um where our drive hardy drive-thru is um towards the kind of the front. So, it's that same type of fence. Well, I'm at your place a lot, so I've seen it. It looks great. Yes. This is Jenny. I just wanted to also thank you for the speediness in which you are re-evaluating everything. Um, I think it's impressive that you were able to put everything together so quickly from the time that this was addressed a few months ago at the planning commission meeting. Um, so I just wanted to make sure that we also thank you for for everything you've done on your end and we appreciate that you're willing to review this again. Yes, of course. Our pleasure. We're part of the community, so whatever we got to do to make it, you know, whole for everybody, that's what we're for. That's what Labs is known for. And appreciate you guys working with us and, you know, you know, I appreciate it. Scott, do you have anything? No, I don't have anything. Thank you, Rob. So, Jack, we can just make a motion to approve this one side. That's correct. you approve the one side and then we'll deal with the other and then we'll deal with the other between now and 20 they have until 2027 to meet those requirements but it'll have to be dealt with between now and then. Okay. No other discussions. Somebody want to make a motion or I can do it. So this is Janet. So um I Janet Hegeland I move to approve the Lo's updated screening plan with their conditions recommended by the planning commission as presented in the staff report for this item. Um and then to direct staff to continue to work with um to Loves to make sure that there's clarity on the condition regarding the side related to or alongside um Hornsby Street. Is there a second? This is Jenny. I second. Got a motion on the floor. It was seconded. Any other discussion? Any questions? We'll take a vote. Rob, Rob, I, Janet, I, Scott, I, Jenny, I, and Ron. I, we'll move on to item number three under C, which is the city all generator bids. As part of the preparation of the 2025 budget, the Columbus City Council discussed the need for a backup generator to serve city hall, city council chambers, and the senior community center. This item was deemed a need and $45,000 included in the 2025 capital improvement plan for the acquisition of this equipment. City Hall building was constructed in three different stages and is served by two separate electrical feeds and service panels. As a result, there are individual services for the senior community center and an individual service for the city hall offices and council chambers. City Hall and public works building each have their own generators. The consideration of the generator purchase includes the three following options in your packet. Option one would be to install one generator to serve only the city hall offices and council chamber. Option two would be to install a single generator to serve the city hall offices, council chambers, and the senior community center. And option three would be to install two separate generators, one to serve the city hall offices and council chambers, and one to serve the senior community center. The bids for this project were obtained and were presented to city council on April 23rd, 2025. And after discussion of the proposals, this item was tabled to enable staff to investigate the availability of grant funds for this project. Staff contacted Terry Stoulsman and Oka County Emergency Management Director and Mr. Stolman informed us that with the changes in the presidential directives, grant programs for these types of projects have been frozen or reallocated to other federal emergency management agency priorities. Mr. Stoullesman also stated that due to the physical policies at the federal level, the outlook for future grant opportunities, especially for local hazard mitigation projects, is not encouraging at this time. At the April 23rd, 2025 council meeting, staff recommended that council consider approving the option three proposal of Kodiak Power Solutions for two separate generators that would serve the city hall council chambers and the other to serve the city senior community center at a cost of $28,23928. That proposal still remains the option recommended by staff. However, a second a second secondary recommendation would be to consider option one, which would be to approve the bid from Kodiak Power Solutions to install a generator to serve only the city hall offices and council chamber at a cost of $14,330. Funds are available for both options from the 2025 capital improvement plan general fund account. And in your agenda, there's two separate motions for consideration of either option one, which would be the single generator to serve council chambers and the city hall offices, or option three to serve the entire building with two generators. Well, I I this is Scott, Mr. Mayor, I think at the at the time this came up at the uh previous council meeting, I I think I voiced some concern that um a it's important that government continue to function in the event of a power outage. So, the option for the city hall is is um necessary. I also thought that um having generated power in a power outage for the community center was not essential and therefore um an unnecessary expense uh for the city. Uh I greatly appreciate that the city staff went to emergency management and checked with FEMA and I think I expressed then that you know uh given the current climate uh with the federal government that that may not be available and it clearly was not. So, uh, at this point, I'm still in favor of option one. Um, uh, based on the fact that we're not using the community center for essential public functions or or city functions to make sure the city continues to operate in the event of a power outage. Okay. Any other uh, discussions? This is Jenny. I tend to agree with Scott. I think we uh we had similar views a few weeks ago when we reviewed this. Um very similar opinions as well because the we really aren't seeing the usage yet out of the community center. Uh I just don't see it as a function for spending at the current moment. I know we have the budget for it, but I just feel that it's non-essential. Uh and so I'm in agreement with Scott that option one seems to be the the better way to move uh from a budget perspective. Bob, do you have anything? Uh yeah. I know why too and I had expressed it in that last I believe it was a workshop meeting that I'd rather go with just the one generator that could service city hall as well as the council chambers. I'm not seeing uh the community center as a super essential. If it if in the case of FEMA, we could open up the fire department as well as the uh public works. I I would say so. Janet, um so I would uh respectfully disagree with uh the other council members. We passed a budget for this item which is well in excess of the amount we would need to do both. And I think it's pennywise and pound foolish to delay something that we'll probably ultimately end up doing and will cost us more money down the line. I also will tell you that I'm in multiple meetings every week in that um in that community center. We use it for um overflow when we have larger public public hearings. I don't think it's just a community gathering spot. I think it is an essential um space for the for the city um to have and the amount of the difference between providing backup energy for both parts of the city hall versus just the the sta uh city hall offices and the council chambers seems negligible negligible to me. I think it's I think it's wise to get it done now so that you know for the next few decades we are in a good position. um should there be a power outage and it can be a power outage that is is related to weather. It could be from snow. It could be a lot of different things. So um it gives a lot more flexibility to the city in terms of where they'd be where they'd be able to do business. Thank you all. I um I'm looking more at uh where are we going with this building? You know, what what's the future of this building? That's what I'm looking at. I I don't know how much repairs we got to put into it in the future in the next two years down the road or three if if this building's worth investing in yet. Hopefully, it is. It's the easier way out. But do we need three generators or two generators? Sure. If I'm right, uh I can speak to Jim or to uh the public, uh works director or I can speak to Jack, these generators can be transferable, we can but if we get one big one or whatever to cover the whole building or So, so this is Jim. Um obviously one bigger generator would be more usable elsewhere. Correct. Smaller generators have different purposes. Um basically goes off of you know power usage. You know how many how much power do you use in this facility? You would have to find another use that use that same amount of power and you know same same power voltage. So So there's some there's some nuances. Could it be retrofitted somewhere else at a different time? Potentially, yes. But, you know, it's going to be a harder fit than if you went with option two and that bigger generator would be an easier fit somewhere else, too. Does that make sense? So a smaller generator would be more along the lines of a bigger house usage versus that other generator would be, you know, double the double the amount of output versus too small. Does that make sense? So this is Janet. It sounds like you're recommending option two then. Well, so option two is more money than option one and or is more money than option three. So once you start when you start climbing in size um on generators, they start extrapolating in price quite a bit more. So you can buy two small generators cheaper than you can buy one bigger generator in this case in both from both um parties. And it's closer with Kodiak than it is with I don't remember the other Midwest. Midwest. Um they were like $50,000 versus Kodiak was 38,000. You can buy two small generators for 28,000. So, you know, it's cheaper. Um one bigger generator potentially has more use um elsewhere, but you know, you're not going to use it at the public works building. you're not going to use it, add any lift stations or anything like that because those are all 480 3phase power. This is 240 singlephase. So, I mean, there's a lot of lot of thought process that you would have to put in if you were going to try to utilize them somewhere else. Could you sell them? Absolutely. So, we could get our money back if we I don't think I don't think you would get your $14,000 back, but you know, you would you would get some value back from them, not not what you paid, though. Another way to look at this and relating to what Jim says, and I think we both agree that we think the best option is to go with the smaller generators. If we knew we weren't going to be in this building for another after five years, probably the best option would be to go with the bigger generator because it would transfer easy to serve a newer building, but we don't know that yet. So, uh that's why I think our recommendation was three based on because we do have some use quite a bit of use in the senior center. But if that's not the one you want to go with, definitely with option number one, that would give us emergency power backup for the city hall offices in this part part of the building here. You know, if if I might, this is Jim. I think to to go off of what Janet says, that room gets used a lot more than it's called the community um senior center. the community and seniors don't use her very often, but the city does. Um, we hold a lot of meetings in there. Um, Janet probably more than anybody lately, but during COVID, that's where we held the council meetings. So, anything that you're doing a Zoom in a group, that's where it gets held. It doesn't get held in here. So, it gets used more than what most people probably think. So I I mean Jack and I talked about this and option three was our recommendation because you can operate a normal day no matter what. So if the power goes out due to weather, snow, rain, you know, whatever, we can operate here as as a normal day. And that's why we recommended option three. And I think as we all look at it, this is all emergency. So we could go 3, four years without ever using it. I think if you look at anything that I bring forward is probably almost always emergency, right? So you know, snowplow equipment, um, road graders, all of that stuff goes out only when we need it to. We don't necessarily want it to ever go out, but when we need it, we need it. And you know, I've sat through a handful of meetings in my time here and the power goes out, you're done. So everybody, you know, you everybody goes home and you don't, you know, then you reschedu and and start over another day. So that's happened more than one time. And you know, during the during the day, we've had power outages here where the city staff just ends up leaving. And you know, public works is here cuz our work is outside and you know, we we continue to work, but you know, most of the services stopped. Well, I remember once we had a planning commission meeting, it stopped. We had to hold off the meeting for it was a public hearing. Public hearing and we had to hold the meeting off for about 15 20 minutes. It wasn't the power so much as it was the uh internet. internet. We had sat around and and had to make a decision whether to keep the meeting going or or cancel it. Mr. Mayor, if I might, so a planning commission would not be affected by a power outage if we had a generator for city hall in the council chambers. Right. Correct. Right. Yeah. Right. I think most planning commission meetings and I think I think a lot of meetings are held in here. you know, public works, park board, planning commission, obviously city council, but off meetings are held in the community room meetings during the day. Um, where you need more more private private setting, it's all done over there. And Jim, do you guys still, this is Janet, do do you still um hold like your developers meetings? Like I that was one thing I wasn't aware of because I don't go to those but like when you're when there's a big project and you need to bring in you know the developer public works the engineer the you know maybe the um county road I mean that's where you meet. All of my meetings are held in the community room because it's big enough and you've got the setup to do it, you know, and and again, this is Jim up until, you know, co we never really used that space because it was it was the senior center and it was set up for that all the time and then at some point we switched to community center. We took that over. Then COVID hit and then we started using it and really have never stopped. Well, and it was because uh this is Janet again. So, you know, it was when we got the reinterpretation of the grant um conditions for the use of that building that we were able to start using it more than just 4 hours a month or a week or whatever it was that we were limited to before. Well, I don't know if anybody I I probably go with the two, but uh is that item number three or a bid option number three for two generators? Correct. Right. So, I somebody wants to make a motion or do you think we discussed this thing to the or does anybody else want to make some more comments? I I know that we seem to have three that want to go with one and that's the way it goes. That's the way it goes. So, somebody wants to make a motion. Before I make a motion, can I just I I'm torn because I I this is Jenny. I understand obviously you're here every day. So, I I want to listen to that as well, and I I want to acknowledge that. So, I mean, I obviously the importance of city staff utilizing that space. And if you feel that this is something that's truly important to the city um and would be somewhat negligible if we didn't move forward with it, I guess that that's where I'm torn because from a budget perspective to me I I don't see the use, but you see the use. Um and so that's where I do feel I I understand both sides, I guess, is what I'm I'm saying. Um, not that that gives anybody any direction, but I I'm I do understand and if you feel that it's important, then I I do want to acknowledge that as well. This is Jack and I understand your deliberation and I think that all of them are very worthy points and I think that area is used a lot more than most people realize. It's our conference room. We don't have any conference room facilities in this building. So just about anytime we have a meeting during the day with anybody that's a group uh or people coming in, it's usually held over there. It's also the lines use it for their pancake breakfast. We've also had discussions with the seniors who want to try to come back here and utilize that building starting maybe at least on a monthly basis. We're in discussions with them then. So it may also be used as the senior center for some of their activities going forward. Uh the critical aspect of the generators first and foremost are city hall and this but I do think that that space over there gets utilized enough to have it considered for being serviced by emergency power. This is Ron. I I I I see what Jenny's coming down to. You know, when you really look at the long game of it is it's just an emergency. Otherwise, we're still going to use that room back there. And I use it. I mean, I've been in there on a lot of meetings, too. And all we got to wonder is, do we need it during an emergency? Yeah. And Mr. Mayor, this this is Scott. You know, my motivation for this is simply, you know, we've knocked on doors even this last weekend. Discussions with our our constituents. Taxes are still the number one concern. I realize this is not a huge spend uh by comparison. Uh I I also realize that it's budgeted. Um but and if if this is determined to be not necessary for regular operations, I think it's we have an obligation to respond to keep our taxes as low as possible regardless of how much it is. And that's that's I that's why I think we need to be able to convince our constituents that it's it it's of value for their tax money. Jack, it's already been levied for. Is that correct? What's that, Jack? because it's in our budget. We've already levied for this. That's correct. So, they've they've been taxed on it already. They've been taxed for 45,000 or whatever it is in the budget and we're going to be spending 28. Mhm. And I think, you know, Jim, you said something that that kind of caught my attention. It's like if you want to continue operating at full boore through any emergency, then you need to. Otherwise, you're going to have to make choices about what you're going to do and what you can't do. you know, if you can't if you're having a meeting where um you know, it's a sensitive topic, it's over the lunch hour, staff go in there to heat up their lunches and things like that. You can't they can't do that when you're having a meeting like that, which is why I think a lot of times those meetings are held in the community center so that it doesn't disrupt the use of this room by staff. Yeah. It's also just not set up very well for Yeah. larger meetings. Yeah, Mr. Mayor, just another question of Jim. What did we do before CO for meetings? So, so we held we used to have a conf conference room, but as we've grown in size, those those rooms have been taken up by employees or, you know, we've moved the offices around and changed things. And, you know, Cheryl's office used to be the conference room. That's where I interviewed when I started here. Mhm. Um then at then at one point that well that was the lunchroom and the conference room. So all meetings and everything was held in there. And then our building official needed more space. So he moved over and then, you know, we had a, you know, another a full-time accounting person. And then they moved down to where Leon was. And you know what I mean? We just started moving people around and and ultimately ended up growing, you know, potentially out of this space. And you know, we have to just get creative. We turned a closet into a lunchroom slash um you know place for people to store things. Got rid of the old um kitchen, turned that into an office. So So I mean we've moved stuff around here a fair amount to try to accommodate people and then in turn have wiped out you know spaces that we used to use for meetings and things like that. So, you know, then you bounce around and, you know, I'll come in here during the day and I walk through that door over there and I'll wheel in here and oop, there's a meeting. You know what I mean? And there's another meeting in the other room. So, you know, thing things happen. Uh, if we weren't to put power over there, we'd figure it out, you know, and be we don't have power here now. So, basically what happens is if we lose power in any portion of this building, we shut down for the day. We can all agree that option one is a is a necessary, right? Um, option two makes sense to us because we utilize that space. It doesn't you're not going to hurt my feelings in any fashion. If you say we're going with option one, we'll figure it out. If you go with option three, it's just business as usual for us. And at the end of the day, we hope that they never have to run in an emergency. So, I mean that means that means everything's good, right? So, re really, you know, we're we're throwing these things out there for in case of emergency and hope that they run once a week just to make sure they run. I'd like to just throw two cents in that uh I know a lot of the council members, well except for Janet come in here during the day, but when they did the audit, those auditors were sitting in here for what two three weeks. Yeah, a fair amount of time. And they might I think they're still here. I don't know. No, they're they're gone. They're gone. But I would come in to go to a meeting over there and they'd be back here or up here or whatever. So, we do use it. So yeah, and and this is Scott again, Mr. Mayor. It just just one other observation. So we still have to refer to this as the senior center. And so that might be where some of the confusion is, too. So we're holding city business meetings, I guess, in the senior center. Well, it's it's the agreement we had with them is we would refer to it as a senior/ community center. they just didn't want to it to be just the community center. I think they felt um that it was built originally with the intent of providing a a resource um for seniors and they didn't want to lose that. So when we made made the agreement with them um we just promised them that we would continue to refer to it that way. But there's no legal binding reason to, you know, that we have to not like it was when it was part of a grant agreement that actually funded the building of the of the center over there. The ter granted it semantics, but but semantics may be misleading. You know, I mean, you talk about how much you're using it as city staff. Um, who would think city staff is holding meetings in in a senior center, right? The uh distinction is that when the lease was done, it became part of city hall, right? That it's it's really part of city hall. It's not a it's it's for all intents and purposes used daily as city hall. Okay. And the name designation only identifies it as a room and that's it. As Bill said, once the lease expired, we were released from any obligations of devoting that specifically in first come, first use for the seniors. So, we can use it for any purpose that we'd like to. Now, I would also just remind everybody too that that's our polling place during the um absentee balloting period. So again, if you don't have power there, you would not be able to do you would not be able to carry out that function if there was a power outage during the 14 days that people can pass their their uh ballot in person. This is Jenny. Can I ask not again you may not be able to recall but in the last four years since CO how many times has the senior center been impacted or have people not been able to utilize the senior center specifically because of a power outage? This is Jim. I can tell you off the top of my head in the last four years, we've potentially lost power maybe a half a dozen times for some for some period of time, whether it be minutes or hours. Um, never days that that I can ever remember, but some period of time we've been out due to generally bad weather, you know what I mean? I don't know that I've ever seen it go out in the winter, but mainly mainly summertime due to weather. And this is Jenny. And that would have impacted obviously usage within that, but no, it wasn't during any specific meeting or anything like that. And again, not to say that it can't in the future, but and again, I don't want to sit and argue points, but as a general rule of thumb, I'm not over here all day, so I I don't know if people are in there when the power goes out or not. So I about a half dozen times. I I'm just a guess. Um and like I said, generally, you know, anywhere from minutes to hours, never never generally longer than that, though. you know, the power companies are always pretty good at, you know, getting that stuff back up. Thank you. So, this is Rob. If I could touch on it again, um, we currently have rotten posts along the back. We don't have gutters on this building. We have panels that are loose on the roof. We have leaking water coming through the ceiling. I think that that would be a better way to appropriate our funds and put it towards fixing that roof and leaving that senior center for later because why why put a generator on something that we're going to have mold damage on in the next few years because we have a leaky roof, loose siding, loose panels. The center part here needs to be redone. It's been sprayed already once. Um, I I do understand Janet your concern there with with using that, but I think we need to fix our shell before we're putting too much money into this building and we have a much larger issue. I think we did budget for that, didn't we, Jack? We there is a budget for that under the capital fund. There's about $400,000 in there. Uh that is going to be a topic on our June work meeting session is to bring that report back that we got last November and start looking at that in earnest on what we need to either do to fix this building up or look at other solutions. Uh currently in the budget there's that money is in there for the generator and there's also money in there for a $25,000 for a feasibility study for this building on what it's going to take to bring it up to meet current needs and keep it dry and safe for the next hopefully 10 or 20 years. So this is Janet. I mean, it it's like anything, you know, people have different levels of risk aversion. It it's $14,000 more to do two generators that could carry us into the next 10 or 15 or 20 years. Um, that would allow us to conduct business as usual if we have the power outage. And the problem with power outages is when they happen, you don't know if it's going to be minutes or hours. So, if you're in the middle of a meeting, most people aren't going to sit around for an hour to see if the power comes back on. They sit around for about 10 minutes and then they're like, "Oh, I'm done. I'm out of here." But if you have a generator, you can pop things back on and keep on going. Yeah. And and I think an even bigger consideration too in terms of daily use, if the power goes out during the days and unfortunately now if computers go down, you're essentially nonfunctional and people are coming in for permits or things like that are not going to be able to get some of that stuff. Uh as to your question a minute ago, Jenny, regarding how many times have we experienced a power outage, my experience in here has been a year and a half. And we had one time during the day where the power went off for maybe 3 to 5 minutes. And then we had a public works advisory board meeting last summer where the power went off and was off for about I'm going to say four or five hours. It was either lightning hit a transformer or there was a car that hit a pole and knocked it over with the transformer on it is in a bad storm. So again, you know, you may have we may be have 10 power outages in in a year and we may have none. It just all depends. All right, I'll throw I'll I'll be brave and throw a motion out and we can see where it goes. So, I Janet Heglin move to approve the option three proposal of Kodiak Power Solutions as exhibited in attachment three of the staff report for this item um for the purchase of two generators to serve city hall council chambers in the senior uh community center at the cost of $28,23928. This is Ron. I'll second that. Any discussion? Any questions? Take a vote. Start with Rob. Rob Nay. Janet. I Scott Nay. Jenny Nay. Ron. I don't even have to vote, but uh I You do. Okay. Failed. So, uh the motion goes down. Somebody like to make another motion. I'll make another motion. This is Scott Wendell. I move to approve the option one proposal of the Kodiak Power Solutions has exhibited attachment one of the staff report for this item for the purchase of a generator to serve city hall and council chambers at the cost of $14,330. Rob, I'll second. We got a motion on the floor and it was second. Any discussion? I'll make a discussion. We need one so it doesn't make much difference. So, uh, that's it. Uh, we'll take a vote. Jenny, Jenny, I. Scott, I me. Yeah. Nay. Janet. Rob. And Ron. I. So, the motion passes for one. Nay. We'll go on to item number. Where am I? Here. Number four. And that's the accept a donation of Columbus sign pages 46 to 49. Jesse Priner 8220 Lake Drive is offering to donate a well-known Columbus sign to the city. The sign is currently at the entrance to his residence on Lake Drive and a photo of the sign is exhibited as attachment one. The sign is in excellent condition is approximately 42 in by 84 in. There was a little handout on your in front of you. The value of the sign is $525. The terms of the donation would be removal of the sign from its present location, transportation of the sign to the side of the relocation, and installation the sign at an appropriate location on city hall or other prominent city property. Minnesota statute 465.03 03 requires that any city, county, or school district, or town may accept a grant of real or personal property and maintain such property for the benefit of its citizens in accordance with the terms prescribed by the donor. Any acceptance must be approved by resolution of the council by twothirds majority of its members and expressing such terms in full. And with that, staff recommends that city council consider the approval and donation and approval of resolution 2025 25-05 for the acceptance of the sign offered by Mr. Prime. [Applause] Any discussion? Rob. Yeah. Uh, I do have a few questions on this. Um, I know it says that we'd be responsible for the removal. Um, do we have an expected cost of removal, cost of reinstall, and who will be doing this work? We would exceed the cost of the sign. We would be doing the removal and the removal would probably take 20 minutes. The posts are not concreted in the ground. So, it just be a simple matter of detaching the signs from the post and pulling them out and just putting some fill back in those two holes. And as far as the installation of it in another location, that'll be another topic if we agree to accept this is considerations on where to put it. That has not been determined yet. Yeah. Thank you. Any other comments? I I have one. And um is there a requirement that we put it up? I mean, if we can't find a place or can't make a decision, if we can't make a decision or don't have a location, we could add that as a condition into the the to store it until we did have a a place to put it. So, there's no timeline on that. No, there's no timeline on that. Any other discussion? Uh yeah, this is Scott. Any idea where we might put it? Well, I was thinking there may be the possibility of putting it around this building somewhere. Maybe out in front uh to break up some of this big space where there's no windows between the city council double doors here and the office entrance doors there. I think there's maybe a space out around the flag pole. Uh, this is what I'd want to have the discussion for at the work meeting to explore those options. Again, this is Scott is this is just off the top of my head, but do we still own the park property on Howard Lake Drive at the border of Force Lake? We own two lots there. That's correct. That might be a place to put it. That's so This is Jan. I mean, I it would be nice to put it at a sort of gateway into the city and that would be one. So, that's not a bad idea. Hadn't thought about that one. I That's a good idea, but this is Ron. I I really like to sell that property, get rid of it. We can move it again. I think that this this would be an appropriate topic for our work session. We could have more time to go into this, explore all the options. we can identify where those sites are or other potential things that would be an identifier at one of our corporate limits entrance locations that may be a better place in here on the city hall property. Thank you. Any other comments, discussion? I think it's a pretty nice sign. So, I'll make the motion. I Ron Hanigraph move to approve resolution 25-05. a resolution authorizing acceptance of gifts received by the city of Columbus and to authorize the city administrator the gifts in accordance with the terms prescribed by the donors. This is Scott. I'll second. We got a motion on the floor that was second. Any other discussion, comments? Having none. Jenny Jenny I. Scott I. Janet I. Rob N. Ron I. We'll go on to the next item under column C, city engineer. Brian, do you have anything? This is Brian, uh, consulting city engineer. I have no written reports this evening, but I can share with you since the last council meeting, I have conducted one, uh, site inspection on a home that's being under construction. also reviewed uh two site plans for projects that are going on in the community and also the plat on the northwest quadrant. Reviewed that and provided some comments and I've been working with uh public works director Jim on uh preparing to submit a DNR appropriation amendment for our our water permit. With that, I'd stand for any questions of council may have. Any questions? Hearing none. What what's the appropriation amendment? Is that the amount of water we draw? Is that what it is? We're we're increasing it. Is that what we what we have to do? Will be to increase it to address some of the new developments that are going on. Primarily the truck wash. Truck wash. Okay. I mean that was we all discussed that during the that time. So, okay. Got it. Thanks. Is that it, Brian? Yes. Thank you. And then we'll go to the city engineer. Bill, do you have anything? Uh yes, Mr. Mayor and Council. Um just a quick report on the legislative session. It's hard to miss the uh headlines that it's likely going into a special session um and that they won't wrap up um on Sunday evening. So, um what does that mean? I talked to Margaret Vessel. Um they're working on funding targets. Uh they're still talking about a bonding bill. The position of House leadership is there would be no local projects. That doesn't mean that it doesn't happen. It just means that's a position in the negotiation. Um it would be it would be more likely that um we would be uh included in Senate discussions although obviously both of our our uh rep our representative West and Senator Kroom both support the local ask for Hornsby. Um Margaret feels comfortable or or at least positive that if if transportation funding moves forward in some form that we would be included because our ask is relatively small. It's a key piece that was left unfunded. So she's still she talks to Senator Kru and uh Representative West on a regular basis about this request. So with that it it means that we'll be track continuing to track uh this issue through a special session. That's it. Thank you, Bill. You're welcome. Next item under C is uh council's report. Jenny, do you have anything? This is Jenny. Uh couple things. On 4:30, we had a local government officials meeting. Uh received updates about road projects. Um and other updates that were countywide. Uh not any really mentioned very specific to Columbus. A lot of other road projects going on throughout the county. Um but it was a lot of information gathering at that point. Uh as well as 512 I had a Creek wershed meeting um noting Minnesota has the highest risk for natural disaster in the country with uh flooding and fire uh which was fascinating given that we aren't in um a hurricane area or anything that way. But they said because of the amount of water and they specifically called out Columbus having um water. We also have a lot of sand. Uh but just one of the interesting tidbits in that meeting. Um and they also have project grants available for residents um and just approved one for um uh basically a a garden for pollination. Um so just note that there are project grants for residents out there um who are in the Creek wershed area. Is that it Jenny? That's it. Well, thank you Scott. Uh thank you Mr. Mayor. Just the only thing I have to report is tomorrow I'll be meeting uh with Paul from the Forest Lake Cable Commission and uh another one of the commissioners from Forest Lake at their studio facility at the high school and take a tour of that and there may be some opportunities there for us to uh get out some some type of communications uh uh uh with regards to city activities. So look forward to seeing what options we have there. Is this the podcast option is that he talked about Don't let the genie out of the bottle yet? That that is one thing I want to talk about. Yeah. Great. Oh, great. I'm glad you're following up with that. Is that it, Scott? Yes, Janet. Um, mine is just anformational item. You all have copies um on this MPCA uh cumulative impacts meeting. So, I got this from um Shelley Logan, and she thought that maybe there would be some interest from uh council members to attend one of theseformational meetings. They're actually taking comments. It's virtual on May 20th from 6:00 to 8 um p.m. It's a Zoom meeting. So essentially from what I could tell um there is uh some rule making that's going on at the MPCA to better define cumulative impacts um to include more than just environmental impacts but also social impacts and economic impacts and public health impacts and things like that. So, um they're doing these sessions to get um uh comments from the public and this would be an opportunity to weigh in on that. So, certainly not anything you is specific to Columbus, but we we do get um businesses in here that have some type of impact and it's um you know, I think it's it would be maybe an interesting thing. So, I'm just handing that out for your consideration. It's coming right up. Thank you. Thank you, Janet. Rob, do you have anything? Yeah, thank you, Ron. Uh, I guess just for the sake of us both being on the uh fire board uh and board members. Al Newman has sent out an email to uh board members and I know Jack forwarded on to the rest of the council, but fire danger is super high right now. So, they're saying only a 3x3 by three tall fire. um can happen right now, but it is very high with what's going on in in northern Minnesota and things of that, but just if there is any public on I know there's a few in the crowd just sharing that. So that's all that's if we do see somebody burning more than a 3x3, is there something we should do or somebody we should call uh to that? I would think it would be probably to the city first and then it would get uh passed on to the fire department. Would that be correct, Ron? Well, the way I understand it is that uh the sheriff's department gets a copy of all these fire permits. Yeah. If if you see that the 3x3 by3 is a recreational fire only. There's no burning debris or any types of brush fires. And if you see something like that and we want to report it, the sheriff's department enforces that part of our ordinance in the fire code. So, just call 763-4271212. That'll put you to the non-emergency dispatch and they'll dispatch a deputy out to investigate the fire. Thank you. I only have a couple things to say is uh number one uh this construction on Lake Drive has caused a lot of headaches for our citizens in Columbus with the detour especially on Pine Street. And I gather, Jack, that's going to be finished this Friday. That's what the direction we've been given by the Lo Lake city engineer. They're expecting that to be finished a week early and the paving to be completed Friday evening. So, Lake Drive then would be reopened to through traffic. Uh, I did have made several trips down to Pine Street, talked to a few residents, and uh, if you went down there during peak rush hours, it can be an exciting trip, especially when you're trying to exit on Main Street or in Columbus on Lake Drive. those intersections get fairly congested and uh it'll be a relief to those residents once that traffic is going back down Lake Drive rather than those residential streets. Again though uh even though it directly impacts Columbus, three4s of the streets are in Lo Lakes, half of Pine and all of Fourth Street, but we still get the impact of the traffic. Yeah, this Rob I think crossways got pretty heavily impacted too. I kind of screwed up and went out that way. It's like, which way am I going to go? Pine Street or crossways, right? And there was more cars than I've ever seen on crossways. We probably have more complaints than Lino. Yeah, I bet. So, it's a it's a main way to get in and out of town. So, yeah. The second uh issue I want to talk about, but I'm going to leave this to the public works director, and that's about uh dusty roads. And I got a email from a distraught client been here for 50 years, but I'll let him address that when it comes up to that. Next, we'll go on to um planning commission report. Janet. Uh so, the planning commission um met on May 14th and on their agenda was a um public hearing for a um business called equipment uh share. It's a planned unit development conditional use permit application at the property that used to be universal services and before that it was CST um right on Lake Drive. Um so and Jack you can maybe fill in some of the blanks here because I I listened to the to the um dialogue and then I had some questions and they didn't really get brought up in the planning commission meeting. So maybe you guys have done more work on this um after the fact, but um it's a there's an existing cuppud for this property. My understanding is that they are um equipment shared is planning to um fit into that cuppud. So the first they're a different kind of business. So you can explain how that works because originally CST was a landscaping business and then Universal Services is underground um uh fiber optic lines and things like that laying lines. And now this is a this is a rental business. Um the one there there was some good discussion. There was one um uh property owner, the um property owners that uh adjoined on the back side of that property um uh Rob uh Alberg and his wife and they have lived through now three prop three businesses being there. They had some very specific questions. Um I'm not so sure they were very satisfied with the answers um related to the hours of operation and the potential for backup beepers as they're loading up equipment um early in the morning. The stated hours of operation um are 7 to 6 or something like that, but um upon further questioning, the owners acknowledge that they sometimes are loading up equipment at 4 or 5 in the morning. So, if they're backing things up, that's pretty loud to be woken up right behind right behind them. The other um thing that came up was they have a quite a large number of um large pieces of equipment that they'll be storing there. They are primarily a business that that rents to other businesses, although they said that they're open to the idea of renting to to residents um at some level as well, but they have a lot of lifts. So those lifts are up in the air and you will see them over the fence easily. Um, so I don't know that you can adequately screen something like that, which in the past with the two prior occupants in that screening was a big deal. And the the fence that we made them put up was specifically with universal services, they were not allowed to stack things up higher than that fence because we didn't want it looking bad from traffic going down Lake Drive. Um there is in the existing cuppud they are waved from having to have a dumpster enclosure. Um the neighbors brought up the fact that there's been problems with uh litter um blowing into their yard things that was um I think when universal services would come and unload from their work sometimes they weren't getting things in that enclosure and it was blowing into their property. So, they were concerned as to whether or not that was going to happen with this. They're different kinds of businesses, so it seems like maybe that won't be so much a problem. Um, and then, uh, they had some question about the lighting. They said that the lighting was never properly shrouded and so it it shines. Um, and I remember that was a complaint. I think it was prior to when we had Shawn. We didn't have anybody to go in there and check it out. I don't know if we've sent Shawn out that way or not. So maybe you could do an update um and see tell me if there's any more information since that meeting for the council's sake. Uh there there hasn't been but I think you pretty adequately covered that. Uh, and essentially their business is going to be essentially their business is equipment rental. And they're more geared for contractors than they are residential use as you'd find at a normal rental place where you can go maybe rent a small tractor. This would be bigger and more specialized pieces of equipment. They are a nationwide company and uh there was some concerns about storage. Usually these companies here, if they have equipment that's not sitting around being rented in one local spot, they'll ship it somewhere else where the demand is higher. But, uh, I think you pretty well touched on most of the concerns and issues and those are things that, uh, LA is starting to look into. Now, can you more for my own curiosity sake, why why would they be able to why would this be able to transfer on to them? Is it because they're they really are a different kind of business than what the prior one was? I would have to look at that more closely to see what those conditions were, but it seems like it should be somewhat transferable. There may be some things that need to be modified a little bit, but uh you know, it seems to me at least it's going to be a more palatable business maybe than CST was. I don't know about the previous company but uh they will have some noise associated with it uh especially in loading stuff and backup alarms maybe going off earlier in the morning. I don't think they would have maybe the kind of hours but uh there there will there probably whatever goes in there is going to have some issues and it's up to us to try to find some conditions maybe limit that and limit the impact on the residents in that surrounding area. So, one of the one of the findings of facts that explained the um PUB was it'll continue to wait that we would wave the dumpster enclosure requirements in exchange for existing complete storage yard screening. So, that's not going to be true for this equip for this business. So, I'm wondering why the PUD like what's the tradeoff that would that would fit under a PUD um format? that that's what we're still looking at to see what we would get in exchange for granting them some of these conditions because I haven't seen anything that we're really getting back in return for allowing this to be a PUD. Okay. Um and then the the other thing that they talked about was the um the love screening plan which we've already covered so there's there's not really anything more to talk about there. I mean, the the folks that they brought a lot of people. They were very cooperative. They answered a lot of the questions. They have a um location, I think it's in Lakeville in Minnesota, as well as several out of state locations. They seem like, you know, a really good company. I just think that um there were some questions related especially to the many many big booms that they have that kind of look a little Jurassic Parky looking over the looking over the fence and and then some of the noise um which I really do sympathize because they're close and um there's no screening out those backup beepers and if they they're starting that at 4:00 or 5 in the morning that's going to be pretty tough. And there's no diminishing that sound. Sorry, there's no diminishing that sound. That carries for a long, especially early in the morning when it's calm. Uh the one good thing that they won't have probably there is trucks that constantly raise their beds and rock their tailgates back and forth to clean material off, which is a truly annoying sound. It doesn't appear that one will be there, but there will be some issues with backup alarms. Yep. That's that's all I have. Remember Park Construction when they came? Mhm. They had something they called maybe Rob would know. It doesn't beep. It just shakes. We We tal I brought that up. I couldn't remember which company it was. They had like the strobe lights and call like a squash beeper. It go like that. It's still noisy. Not as bad. It's not not as pollutant. Still annoying, but it's it's quite a bit quieter. Yeah, he thought that that was a problem with OSHA. So, I don't I don't know if because they're renting out their equipment, whether or not that's, you know, why it might be different for them versus it's your own equipment. I don't know. Rob, do you know if that's OSHA approved for all types of equipment? I think that because like like Samstone or Egg Industries, they've switched all their trucks over from that beeper to that kind of a I don't know even know what to call it, right? Um but that has kind of been a standard industry change, right? Especially down in the in the Twin Cities where people are starting to work at 6:00 a.m. and there's people in condo towers and things. They don't want to hear the beep up alarms. They've switched to that. So, I don't know that that's a there's a there's an alternate to it, right? Other than that loud beeper. So, but I don't think that's an OSHA standard. I think that's a best practice probably for liability reasons. Yeah. I don't 10 or 1924. A lot of guys in the field that got questioned by OSHA because the first thing they do, they'd get that lift off the truck. They didn't want to listen to it all day. They'd just unplug the beeper and then they they would get questioned by OSHA. We never were cited for it, but yeah. Well, but I believe you have to have an alert. That could also be a some kind of alert. Yeah. Horn when you're backing up to something like that. Is that all you have, Janet? Yes. Well, thank you very much. Public works director. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Council. This is Jim Winningstead, public works director. um to address a little bit about what Ron alluded to. It's been very warm and dry the last few weeks here. So, we are starting to get inundated with calls about dust. I'll kind of give you a little rundown on what a couple of projects are that we have. So, before we do dust control, we generally gravel some some amount of roads every year. Last year we were um contacted by our contractor that we were uh graveling with to say, "Hey, we're done early. Do you guys want to do more?" So, the city council opted for us to do more graveling last year. Um which is some of what we would have done this year. So, the amount that we have to do this year is less. Since the weather is nicer, we're going to start slightly earlier this year than normal. So, at the end of this month, we are going to gravel two roads. Um, Rondo, North Rondo Lake and Pine Street. Once we're done graveling those roads, we are going to shape up the rest. And then our process of calcium chloride will go down on the end of June, which is normal every year. People may think that it's different than that, but it's the same time every year. I've gotten numerous calls on that. And we had this discussion during budget time last year about potentially doing more than one application. I wouldn't be surprised if somebody shows up to talk about that at some point. Um because a lot of people that I've talked to in the last couple of weeks have have asked me that question. My recommendation to anybody is to always come and address the city council because that is their right as a taxpayer in this community and if they want something that we're not currently doing then it's up you know then they should come and bring that forward. I don't know if we'll see anybody or not but that may be a topic of discussion for budget time this year. We currently are budgeted for $65,000 to do ev to do not every road but every road that we currently do. There's a couple of roads that we don't do and you know they're just very light traffic um no housing stuff like that. So those are the reasons why we don't do those and and they don't complain about it. So the you know that subject may come up and and at that point my recommendation to you would potentially be that maybe we do an early application at a half rate of what we would normally put down. So if we put down I'm just going to pick a number. If we put down a a gallon a foot now, I would say that we do it at a half rate earlier. We do maybe a half a gallon and as a hypothetical, your cost would be somewhat less. But the more you buy, the the better price you get, too. So, you know, that that number kind of changes a little bit. But I don't know if I don't know if anybody will come in. I'm not going to ask you for it, but if somebody else comes in, that might be a topic of discussion. And with that, if anybody has any questions, I have a question. Is that stuff something you can just pick up the phone and say, "Send me a tanker of calcium next week and we're going to do it." Or do you have to order it 6 months a year ahead? So, generally in February, I start going out for bids for gravel and um calcium chloride or, you know, any of those projects that I generally do every year. um crack filling, things like that. I just I know what I'm going to do and I just start getting those bids early and try to lock that stuff down. Um the, you know, if I if if our budget was $200,000, it wouldn't matter. I would go out in the, you know, in February or, you know, January, February, March and and ask for that stuff and I and I just get my pricing. So, but but that's the way they work. I mean, you could call them up and say, "We're going to move it up instead of June, the end of June." Yes. And you you could do it. I I I pick a day and say, you know, it always used to be January, like January 15th, but I'm a guy that knows that most people have parties and do things like that. So, I moved it up um from prior public works directors or superintendent to say that I'm trying to cover and help those people out to make sure that we're done early. As a general rule of thumb, we don't go earlier than that because, you know, it's generally rainier than it is lately. So, if you calcium chloride is very weather dependent, too much rain washes it away. not enough rain, it, you know, dries out and blows away. The perfect amount of rain is, you know, if you got a quarter inch of rain a week, it'd be fantastic and would last, you know, a fair amount of time, but mother nature doesn't generally play that role very nice for us sometimes. So, so when you ordered it for this year, you ordered the whole load. Another I did. All right. So, it's not you can't say, "Hey, can we split that load?" And I Well, I probably could. Um, so so what I mean, you're asking that I do half now and half later. No, I just wondered how it goes. It's like salt. You had to order salt ahead of time. You just don't wait till the fall and order it, do you? No, I ordered So, I've already ordered salt for next year or for next snowplow season. Every every March is the is the order period. we're some years not even done plowing snow and you're ordering salt for the next season. That's more of a that's more of a targeted, you know, they're asking you for that and they're trying to, you know, compile, you know, every city or township or county in the state to try to figure out who's buying what and then they use that as their volume by. So, so I could I could call Northern Salt, which is who we're going to use this year, and say, um, I want to break it up and do half now and half later, and they could probably do that, unless they're working somewhere else. So, that's who does the chloride. Northern Salt is who. So, the calcium chloride business has changed a little bit since I've started here, but environmental technology services or something and biotech was the main player and they had all of the calcium chloride. other people would buy from them and you know that in the game here is you got to get more than one bid and Vrotech would always win because they were selling to everyone else that you were that you were getting bids from. So, you know, they won every every year and then Northern Salt got into the game and now they kind of it kind of bounces around a little bit between, you know, who has a better price. But it's generally by a half a cent difference in price as far as which one of those two will get it. But if anybody else that gets into the game, they're buying from one of those two players. So, you really only have two people that you can work through at this point. Well, to add to that, uh, not only in that complaint, and you hear it all the time, there's speeders and they kick up the dust. Even the school bus has got it this time. So, I don't know what else to say but to tell these people, come to the meetings. Come to the meetings. You know, the what's the what's the best thing you can do? Black top your road. I mean, then then you're not, you know, then then you get plowed out sooner. I mean, there's there's all sorts of variables that that can come into play. So, we have about somewhere between 23 and 25 miles of gravel left. Uh I'm pretty much guessing that in my lifetime here. We'll probably end up at 20 miles by the time I retire. So, there's just no appetite for people to pave at this point. I have I've sent out our our process to a couple of people this year, but we we never see anything from it. You know, they'll they'll go out and, you know, there's a couple people that are hot and heavy and they'll knock on their doors and and uh nobody wants to do it. So, you're just kind of stuck. Any other questions for Jim? Um, one question. This is Jenny. Um, talking about Notre Dame, I had a resident reach out about Notre Dame and I think we talked about that a little bit a few weeks ago. Were there any updates on some improvements to that? I think there were some potholes and some things. So, I hired a contractor to do that. I I haven't touched base with them to see cuz when I signed the contracts, then I was doing some things and then I went out of town. So, I haven't touched base to see when they're going to start, but they are going to do a process. It's called Mastic and it's it's kind of a it's a wide band and it's a a harder I'm going to call it a harder rubber. It's not like the crack steel rubber that you can grab and it's real stretchy. It's more of a it it's almost like it would be a liquid plastic that they put down. It fills the holes and it's somewhat malleable but not like the rubber and that holds up better. Not saying that there isn't going to be some of that that peels out or you know what I mean. You just you're kind of destined to moisture that gets into the roads and the sun gets hot or it gets cold and you know that stuff just starts to pop and I mean it's just it's just asphalt. So So that I I will make contact with him probably tomorrow because I I kind of want to know and I want it done sooner than later. So I'm saying probably in the next four weeks. Thank you. Adding on to that, is there any warranty on the the last one when they patched it or did when did they do that road? 2015. 2015 was 2014 they paved it. So, did they ever give a warranty on those things? Tail light. No, gen generally generally you get a year or you know two dep depending on um what you what you put in your in your bid process. Anything else? No sir. Is the administrator Jack? Do you have The only thing I've got to add is kind of a followup on road projects is that starting next month, the work will begin on Highway 97 between here and Forest Lake at 61. Half of that road will be shut down for a year and the other half will be done the following year. The first half is going to be from Lake Drive to midway through that point. Probably the assigned detour will be Interstate 35 North Broadway and then back around, but uh we're going to be prepared to get a lot of traffic on Hornsby and Eureka Street during that process. Do we have a date yet when they're going to do Hornsby or Eureka? They going to wait for two years. They're going to do the searchcharge work this year yet sometime this summer. That pro that part of the project will be in Forest Lake. They'll do that this year and then they'll do the construction next year. So this is Rob to that point that search charge will shut that road down because that's stock piling of dirt and gravel. Some of them a lot of it's going to be kind of on the shoulder areas. So there will be at least one lane and possibly two lanes maybe open for the whole process with that. Thanks Jack. Is that it, Jack? That's it. Well, we got some announcements. Item D, the park board meeting is May 20th, 2025 at 5:30 p.m. here at City Council Chambers. Planning Commission meeting will be May 21st, 2025 at 6 pm. Memorial Day holiday, city offices closed May 26, 2025 and city council meeting May 28th, 2025 at 6:00 p.m. at the same location. Anybody want to make a motion to adjourn the meeting? Rob, I'll move to adjourn. This is Jenny. I second. Any discussion hearing? None. We'll take a vote. Jenny I. Scott I. Janet I. Rob I and Ron I. Meeting is over at 7:29. [Music]