Good evening everybody. This is the Thomas City Council meeting for March 25th, 2026 and the time is 6 p.m. And the first thing on the agenda is a pledge of allegiance. Everybody stand up. 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. >> Third item on the agenda is the adoption of the agenda. Anybody want to make a motion? >> Mr. Scott, I move to adopt the agenda for the March 25th, 2026 city council meeting with additions of item C-6, bond transfer enclosures, and item D.5, personnel committee recommendations for compensation and position hires. >> Jenny, I second. >> So, we have a motion on the floor. It's been seconded. Is there any other discussion? Hearing none, we'll take a vote. Jenny, >> Jenny, I. Scott I >> Karen I >> Rob I >> and Ron I. We'll go down to item B the consent agenda. Anybody want to make a motion? >> Miss Jenny. >> Oh >> no. >> Oh we didn't. >> You're right. >> Miss Jenny. I move to approve the consent agenda as presented for March 25th. >> Rob. I'll second. We have a motion on the floor. It's been seconded. Any other discussion? >> Hearing none. We'll take a vote. Jenny >> Jenny I. >> Scott. I >> I >> Rabbi I >> and Ron I we'll go to item number C presentations and items for council's action. Our first item on the list is the public forum. Is there anybody in the audience that'd like to come up and make a comment to the council? Nobody's coming forth. Anybody on uh Zoom like to make a comment? Seeing none, we'll close that public forum and we'll go to item number two, the liquor license renewal. 3.2 two off sale liquor license for Holiday Station store number 2746408 and Lo's Travel Shop stop number item number 832 and an on sale license for North Metro harness initiative LLC ABA Running Nations Casino Hotel and Racetrack. So, at the time, we're recommending that you hold a public hearing so that anybody in the audience or online may comment on this subject. >> Okay. Is there anybody We're going to open the public hearing at at 602. Is there anybody in the audience like to make a comment or a statement concerning any three of these liquor licenses? Seeing none, anybody online would like to make a comment about the liquor licenses on any of these three stores or hotels? Seeing none, we'll close the public hearing. Okay. As the public hearing has been held on the liquor license and has been closed and no matters have been brought forth relating to local ordinance or state statute for non-compliance, council is requested to consider the approval of 3.2 Two off sale liquor license for holiday store clubs and on sale intoxicating Sunday 2 a.m. liquor license or running nations casino hotel. All application materials have been submitted. Background checks have been completed and the city needs to maintain for the off sale as exhibited in attachments one, two, and three in the packet. There were no issues with any of the submitts that be of the license and renewals expire on March 31st, 2026. Final approval of the license of alcohol gambling enforcement state commissioner public safety approval of councils required prior to action. This time staff is recommending approval of the license as presented. >> So that's all three. We don't vote on each one separate. We vote on all three of them. >> We can vote either way. They're all the same topic. So, I'll just put them all three together. >> Bill. >> Okay. It's okay to go with all of them. >> Right. If there was any concern that you had with any of the licenses, call it out separately, but if you have no concerns and adopt the staff recommendation, then one motion would be sufficient. >> I don't we haven't heard anything from Anoka County in reports of any issues. So, >> no underage sales or anything like that? >> No, we've had no there were no compliance issues, reports of sales to minors or anything was in violation of our code. So, I can make a motion that uh Iron Hograph move to approve renewal of a 3.2 and two off sale liquor license for Holiday Station store 27464 08 and Love's Travel Stop number 832 and an Onsdale intoxinating Sunday and a 2 a.m. license for running ASUS racrack and Motel Rob. I'll second the motion. >> We got a motion on the floor. It's been seconded. Any other discussion? Hearing none, we'll take a vote. Jenny, >> Jenny, >> I. >> Scott, I >> Rob Iron I. Pretty quick, isn't it? Everybody comes here and it's all over. >> I love it. >> We did that in five minutes. Oh, >> good luck. Thank you very much. Appreciate you showing up. >> Thank you. >> We'll go on to item Oh, I lost my train of thought. Go on item number three. Urban Companies LLC conditional use permit 1396 Lake Drive Northeast. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Members of the council, we'll slow you down a little bit now. Uh the city council has received an application from Urban Companies LLC. Uh Greg Urban for a conditional use permit to operate a contractor shop with Accessory Contractor Yard Limited at 13960 Lake Drive Northeast. as you identified. Uh the subject property contains approximately 6.13 gross acres and I have included the legal description. The request uh proposes to convert uh an existing single family residential structure into a professional commercial office and the or the operation of a contractor shop with accessory contractor yard limited. property is zoned commercial uh industrial light and the existing structure um residential structure is a legal non-conforming use uh as a residence. Uh as I said it is proposed to be converted to an office. Um the property maintains existing access onto Anoka County State Highway 23. Um the applicant I received information today uh from Anoka County that their plans have been approved for configuration or reconfiguration of the access. Uh the property served by a private well and on-site um sewage treatment system. Both systems will be evaluated and brought into compliance for commercial occupancy. uh any any disturbance within the regulated wetlands area will require approval of the Rice Creek wershed district and there's already a conditional uh permit approved for the wetland disturbances. A public hearing notice was uh held by the planning commission on March 4th and the I have included a listings of finding the fact along with uh some uh general recommended conditions. uh at the conclusion of the March 4th planning commission meeting, they decided to extend it to March 18th for further consideration. And at that meeting, following additional discussion, the planning commission approved the findings of fact and adopted a recommendation uh and recommended that the city council approve uh the conditional use permit with the identified conditions. City Council should adopt the planning commission's findings and approve the conditional use permit for a contractor shop with Accessory Contractor Yard Limited at 13960 Lake Drive Northeast in Columbus, Minnesota. >> Thank you, Aaron. Uh, is this Greg Urban? You want to come up >> for the record? Does he have to give his name and address? I I would say so. >> Yeah. If you could give your name and address, Greg. >> Sure. Uh Greg Urban, 3781 Labbor Road, Badness Heights, Minnesota. >> Thank you, Greg. I uh I don't know if any other council members have any questions, but I have a couple. I went to the planning commission meeting. I just got a few questions that they didn't ask that. And one was, are you going to do any maintenance inside there on these vehicles or is it all just parking? And >> it's it's largely just parking. We don't have the uh capabilities to do a lot of maintenance unfortunately just because everything is needs factory computers and whatnot. It usually ends up on the other side of your town at Ziggler or Truck Align. So the equipment is largely going to stay in the city, but we we do not have significant maintenance capabilities. So >> you're not going to change oil and tire. It's it's possible we could change oil or something, you know, um like like that, but our capabilities are are limited to about that. >> My my second question was nobody asked what size trucks are coming in. Are these 18 wheelers, tractors and trailers? Are they >> Yeah, dump trucks and you know, your standard contracting trucks. >> Okay. And then there was some loads that were going to come in that might be loaded at night or I I remember in the planning commission I thought you might be bringing some loads in for the morning to get out or was I misinterpreting something? >> Yeah, I no I don't that's not my recollection. Um, you know, generally speaking, you know, we our crews work standard construction hours and basically just need to leave there and, you know, be at the construction sites, you know, for the standard working time. Um, but we're we're not anticipating much if any night work. >> I know that there there was talks about putting tops on the trucks, the load covers, you know, so without leaky loads. Maybe that's where I got the idea >> that you were bringing something in. So that's about all the questions I had. Uh, anybody else have anything? >> Yeah. What uh what type of products you hauling or what type of work you doing? Is it heavy trucking or is it >> the nature of of my company is we're a kind of a landscape and excavation contract is the best way to describe it. I guess where we find found found our niche in the market is where you know some of our neighbors you know are really volume based and can really move some big mountains of dirt. We focus more on kind of smaller technical projects um that kind of combine earthwork, landscape, concrete, utilities and um and kind of can go in and do some technical stuff in you know maybe some kind of different areas and uh um so you know kind of a variety of of projects that that we work on. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yep. >> Miss Jenny, I have one question. Um, I was also at the planning commission meetings and um, I just wanted to note as well that I appreciated that uh, one of the things you noted was that you were going to try to not remove a ton of foliage. There are a lot of trees on the property and um, so in essence would be potentially hiding a lot of the equipment um, and it wouldn't have a lot of visibility on the road. Um that being said, do you have any concerns about parking um large trucks for uh offloading or unloading equipment on the road because I mean Lake Drive gets to be so busy and there isn't a lot of room there. Uh do you I guess can you talk to that just a little bit? >> So uh as part of our plans I mean we're going to have a heavy duty entrance that will go into our storage defined storage area. So there will be no loading or unloading or anything of the sort off of Lake Drive. Yeah, we have some other businesses that do unfortunately load an offload and so just because there are also large there's a lot of large equipment on and traveling on the road. I think that's just one of my major concerns. So as long as you don't have that, I'm not concerned that. >> Yeah. No, we have a wide entrance coming in and Noa County has reviewed that and uh they're all good and and like you said uh in regard to the amount of trees we're leaving, I know Mr. Berg at the planning commission pulled up the street view image of it and nobody's going to know we're even back there based on the amount of trees in the in the front of the property. Um almost all of which are staying and then we're also leaving uh a significant amount of trees along the property lines too. So I don't think anybody is going to know we're even even there. So that's a good thing. I just in in developing this, I mean, certainly we've worked with a lot of other Columbus businesses and it's, you know, been our understanding that the council has um, you know, been looking to improve the appearance coming along Lake Drive and um, certainly I I think this really um, meets that goal of doing that cuz it's it's going to look pretty nice from the street and just being kind of a wooded wooded lot. One of the neighbors did um speak during I think the initial meeting and I think that potentially is partially what pushed a second meeting at the planning commission level for those of you who weren't there. Um I know that that neighbor mentioned some issues with the prior owner. Um and I know that you had addressed some of that as well. So um the prior owner had said that there was maybe some parking over property lines and some things that way. Um and Mr. Urban really addressed a lot of those concerns. Um talked about wanting to be a good neighbor and things like that. So, I don't know if you spoke to him after or anything that way, but can you speak to that a little bit? >> Yeah. No. Uh, so a couple things. It sounded like the previous property owner never even had a survey done of the property, which probably wasn't ideal, and that's included in my application here. And, uh, you know, that that's obviously staked and will be important for the screening that we have going in. Um, we've spoken to him and actually we're we're good friends. I got uh Tom here that that works for me. And I guess they have what's called Mickey's Monday. That's their favorite alcohol of choice. And so we've even been invited to Mickey's Monday now uh a couple times. So I uh I think we're sitting sitting pretty good with the neighbor there. And uh we've already used the services of his his repair shop, which he runs out of the property, too. So I think I think we'll be be good neighbors together. >> Thank you very much. >> This is Karen. Um, hi Greg. Um, just a question. Is your business residential and commercial or is it just res residential or just commercial? >> Uh, it's mainly municipal. >> Okay. >> Municipal, a little bit of commercial, mainly municipal. Um, you know, and I think one thing where we're going to differ a little bit from the previous neighbor or uh previous property owner in a you know, in a good way is you a lot of our equipment stays out at projects. When we go to a project, we'll be there for months. I mean, you know, a lot of my customers include the different park boards of Minneapolis, St. Paul, things like that. And and so my staff reports to work at the uh at the job site. You know, they're not all coming to the to the shop to the office in the morning going from there. And I think that's where some of the kind of issues that were complained about um before we're were coming from. But uh but the short answer to your question is we're largely a municipal contractor. Thank you. >> I I had one more thing. So I might be confused on which parcel is this. Is this doing business as dim key? Is that your outfit? Different one. >> That's too separate. Okay. So I got them. >> Yeah. They were um their initial um meeting uh for the planning commission were on the same night. >> Okay. Fair. Okay. Thank you. >> I have just one other and you might uh Rob remember this. Uh the performance standards when you take a residential place and make it into a commercial place is they're kind of tough. But you understand that, right? I I mean with the front looking >> front facing masonary and stuff. Didn't we have a we got into a little problem with somebody that did this before many years ago about four or five years and did so you understand what our performance standards are and turning that thing from a residential into a commercial. >> Yeah. No, we've worked with uh um the architect and actually uh the design is in the >> I seen that in there, but a lot of you know when you have to have the brick 4K up front and you know all that. Uh I don't know why, but I remember last time we had them coming in a lot and complaining because you have to have this and you have to have electric and you have to have handicapped. You understand that? And it looks like you have to code on it. I mean, but >> yeah. No. Uh, between our architect and civil engineer, we've we've designed everything to code and that's part of the uh plans we've submitted and what we we've spoke with the uh uh the contract building people that represent the city. So, we're we're in good shape with that. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh and and Aaron, that one word was removed from there, right? That uh >> we we did remove the probationary language that was discussed before after consultation with the city attorney. um he was comfortable with uh eliminating that portion of uh the conditions in the conditional use permit. >> Okay. Any other discussion? Having none, where is it? Right there. Uh, I, Ron Hanigraph, move to approve the conditional use permit CUP for Urban Companies LLC for a contractor shop with an accessory contractor yard limited at 13960 Lake Drive, Northeast Columbus, Minnesota, subject to theition conditions of the CUP. >> This is Scott. I'll second. >> We have a motion on the floor. It's been seconded. Any other discussion? Hearing none, we'll go for a vote. Jenny, >> Jenny, I, >> Scott, I, >> Erin, I, >> Rob I, >> and Ron I. Passes unanimously. >> Good luck, Greg. >> All right. We appreciate everybody's, uh, especially Mr. Berg's effort. We appreciate everybody's votes, but, uh, Mr. Berg's efforts here and taking the reigns from Eleanor there. So, uh, we appreciate everybody's help here and we're glad to be part of the community. >> Welcome. >> Welcome to Columbus. >> Thank you. >> We'll go on to item number. Four, set agenda for April 7th, 2026 work meeting. I >> think that's the next chair. Jack, the city council workshop meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, April 7th, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. Staff recommends that the following items be included on the agenda for this meeting. W Architect City Hall renovation update, 2027 preliminary budget discussion and Kexus substation site discussion or other items as requested by council. >> This is Karen. I can make a motion. >> Sure. >> I make a motion to approve uh the agenda for the April 7th, 2026 city council work meeting. >> Jenny, I second. >> We got a motion on the floor. It's been seconded. We don't want to add nothing else to it. Anybody? >> If you want to if you think of something else that needs to go on there, we can we can add it because we we got room in time for it. >> All right. So, the motion's been seconded. No other discussion. We'll take a vote. Jenny >> Jenny I. >> Scott. I >> Rob I. >> Ron I on the next item. >> Boy, where are we? >> Recycling. Recycling >> item number five, uh, 2026 recycling events and schedules. >> Each year, the city host multiple opportunities for citizens to participate in citywide recycling events. These events are communicated to a newsletter postcard distributed to the residents. The city is proposing seven events for 2026 and those are exhibited in attachment one. Attachment two is really a handout that was put before you which uh shows what some of those are. The attachment one is the schedule events and staff is requesting that city council consider approving the 2026 recycle event schedule. >> Well, I think this is one of the best events we have in the city. You don't have to throw your stuff in a ditch anymore. here. >> Well, some of it anyway. You can bring in your mattresses and the whole works. >> Anybody have any discussion on it? >> This is Karen. I just have a question. Um, do our fees cover our expenses to get rid of the stuff or >> Most of this stuff is paid through by the score grant that we get from the county. Uh, whatever fees we got cover the rest of it. >> Okay. >> But there's minimal fees associated with this. Most of it if not 90% is paid by score monies received from noa county. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Well, sometimes we get u if we get too a lot of stuff we get some bonus and they give us more. >> Sometimes we do get more and a lot of it depends if somebody else doesn't use it too. They'll notify us and we'll put in a request for the additional funds to either cover maybe some extra costs or more importantly maybe to cover some additional services we can offer. >> Great. Any other discussion? >> No. I'll make the motion if you'd like, mayor. Uh I, Rob, uh Bush move to approve the 2026 recycling event schedule. >> Is Jenny a second? >> We have a motion on the floor. It's been second. Any other discussion? Hearing none, we'll take a vote. Jenny, >> Jenny, I. >> Scott, I >> Rob I. and Ron. I go to item number six, bond fund transfers and closures. This will go to Cheryl. Good evening. I am requesting to transfer $152.88 from the bond fund 314 to our bond preserve fund 377. The $152.88 88 cent amount is interest that accured in our Baker Tilly money market CD account during the fourth quarter. Um and this will bring this account to zero and it will allow it to be closed. And then my second request um from you is closure of an additional bond account um bond fund 310 has a zero balance and the auditors and I would like to close out that account also. That sounds simple. >> This is Karen. >> Any discussion? We >> done. Well, I'll make a motion. >> And actually, Mr. Mayor, there will be two motions on this because one is for a closure, one is for a transfer. >> Okay. All right. I, Ron Hannigraph, move to approve the transfer of $152.88 88 cents from bond fund 314 to the bond reserve fund 377. >> Scott I'll second. >> We have a motion on the floor. It's been second. Any other discussion? Hearing none. We'll call for a vote. >> Jenny. >> Jenny I. >> Scott I. >> I. >> Rob I. >> And Ron. I. Anybody else want to read motion number two? >> Yeah I will. Um this is Karen. I move to make a motion. I Karen Fleming move to approve the closure of the bond fund 314 and the bond fund 310. Jenny I second. >> Got a motion on floor. It's been second. Any other discussion? Hearing none. We'll take a vote. Jenny >> Jenny I. >> Scott I. >> I. >> Rob I. >> And Ron. I. We go on to item number D. Consultant leazison on a staff reports. We'll go to Brian. City engineer report. >> Good evening. >> Good evening Mayor and council. Um there's only two items I was going to report on verbally. One being Notre Dame. We are currently advertising and collecting bids for that project. bid opening will be on Wednesday, April 8th at 9:00. So, um we're looking forward to that bid opening. It has been advertised in the uh local newspaper and also in the trade magazine, the Q bid for the um electronic bidding. Uh the second item I was going to report on is the water tower site borings have all been collected. The samples have been in the lab. Uh they're currently being tested this week for compression and consolidation. and we should have the results next week. So, uh, we'll have a report at the next council meeting, uh, regarding those test results. With that, I'd stand for any questions the council may have. >> Do Can you see how many bids are coming in for the Notre Dame? >> Yes. Yes, we can. Uh, I didn't look this morning to see. Generally, they wait till the last minute to submit their bids. I will say there's there was at least six contractors that had pulled plans for the project. So, and they continue to pull plans up until the week before. >> Is that normal or is it >> Yeah, >> it is. >> Okay. So, we have people interested in it. >> Well, good. Good. >> Anybody else have questions for Brian? >> Well, thank you, Brian. Welcome. >> Appreciate it. Move on to the city attorney report. Bill, >> Mr. Mayor Council, I talked to Margaret Vessel um to try and nail down kind of the week or weeks that would be available for Day on the Hill and she offered up uh the week of April 13 or the week of April 20. And I was just looking at your calendar. It looks like you might have two meetings on the week of April 20. So perhaps you want to focus on the week of April 13th. And so if you want to give feedback now, we can get that scheduled. And if you want to take time and consult your calendars and provide feedback after tonight, that's fine as well. While you're looking at calendars, um I would just say that uh the bonding bill is uh according to the governor today is his top priority for the session and it's been a while since we've uh had one pass. And so um I think that's a good opportunity still for the city of Columbus with our very modest request for North Hornsby. I don't know if that's been uh moving forward or not, but um I think if there is a bonding bill uh we ought to be in it and uh so we can talk more about that when you come up to the capital and meet with your representatives. >> So that bonding bill or the one we put that Brian that bill you put into DOT, when do we hear about that one? >> We should be hearing something soon. I thought it was the end of the month, the end of March. We should hear something. We were told they would make that award announcement the end of March or the 1st of May or 1 of April. >> April. So >> I would anticipate something be next week or shortly thereafter. >> It would be well before anything's approved on the bonding bill. >> So what do you do? Withdraw then the other one or just let both go? No, I think you would certainly nail down the the grant um because that that would then be uh certain funding and then we can decide whether we want to do a piggyback bill or just uh let that let that be uh because it won't be fully funded, right, Brian? >> No, it's not 100% fun. >> We can make a strategic uh decision at that point, but obviously there's there's less justification if you just uh you just got a grant through the state. So, >> well, well, so the Bonnie bill would be the full amount. >> It could be. Um, you know, we would uh we would see whether there's an appetite for that with our senator and a representative. They've been uh very good about including us in any bill. It's just they haven't passed yet. So, um we can talk to them strategically given the city's size, the the work that the other work that the city contributed to on on Hornsby, which was significant. Um, so there there could be a decent argument for funding the rest of it. >> That it, Bill? >> Uh, it is, unless you you want to give me a date. There are dates that >> Well, I will say if we could stick away from the 16th. It's a Thursday. We're meeting with uh Wald Architects that day. >> Yeah, that's true. >> How about the 14th? Anybody on the 14th? >> I mean, is that okay? It's a Tuesday. I'm available. >> We got the planning commission on the next. Whose month is it on the planning comm? >> Me. >> Yeah. On 14th's out for me. 13th is a Monday. But >> that that one I can't make to 13th. >> You say no on 14th. Scott, >> let me I'll make it work. Yeah. If that's what works for everybody else, I'll make it work. >> Thank you. They don't do it on the 17th on Fridays. >> No, you wouldn't find anybody there. >> You got to bug out and head home, especially if they're upstate. >> So, what what time we look at same time coming down about 11 and >> uh come down for lunch at our office and then meetings will be scheduled thereafter. Usually Margaret likes to give you a little bit of what's going on over lunch and then um then head over just walk over to the Senate and then uh the House. Yeah. So make the rounds and um and we'll know as as said we'll know about the uh grant application whether that was successful. >> Sounds great. >> Thank you. >> Thanks for the date. That helps. >> Uh there Oh, mayor and city council report. Uh go to Jenny. >> Uh for uh council report, I have one resident uh that I'm working with that is also going to be something I will be working with. Rice Creek wershed on relating to some uh farm animals that a resident has in relation to a pond. Uh and so there is um there will be some updates on that as I reach out to Rice Creek. So I I am working with the resident now. Beyond that, I have nothing to report. >> Thank you. Scott, you have anything? >> Yeah, I do. This this week, mayor, thank you. Um, Cheryl Jack, general counsel and I uh got together briefly regarding the scope of work with the Forest Lake Cable Commission in their uh finances. Uh, briefly discussed that. We had a meeting request or Jack did from Paul. Uh, we just wanted to make sure we had our ducks in a row before we meet with Paul. I think that's tomorrow, isn't it, Jack? >> Tomorrow 2:00. >> Yeah. And uh then we'll have uh some more information to share with the council after that meeting. So, >> thank you. Karen have anything? >> Yeah. Um, I had a meeting this week with uh the lower St. Croy wershed. Um, it was actually at the Washington County Public Works Building. Um, the Sunrise WHED was requesting from the lower St. Cry wershed, $72,7727. Forest Lake was also there. They were requesting like 190,000 from them as well. Both of them got turned down. Um, Sunrise Watershed is not part of the lower St. Croy. They were at one time and they're considering being part of it once again. So, that'll be a future discussion, but at this point, they were uh turned down for the money. So, >> that's all I have, Mr. Mayor. >> Thank you, Karen. >> Rob, >> thank you. Uh, so myself, Jack, Aaron, Cheryl, and Jim met with uh old architects representatives today. They had a couple interns there. the gal, I'm drawing a blank on her name that was at our meeting and did the presentation. Um, Jonathan, who was here previous, he wasn't, he was at a different meeting. Um, but, uh, just kind of went over some options of, uh, building, you know, whether remodeling this or what a new building would look like. Um, I think we're going to meet we're going to meet again on the 16th um to kind of try and get some odds and ends tied up so we can clearly present uh and me and Ron can be um up to speed on what we're presenting that day so we know the ins and outs. Um but there's there's some good options. Just cost money. >> So >> everything costs money. >> Yeah. done. >> Uh I >> that's all. >> Oh, thank you. Uh I have nothing because I'm going to go on to the next one. Number six for Brian and they're filming it. And uh this is the uh park board report. Uh really not a lot to report other than they're going to change the numbers on the baseball fields to make them more plausible or read that. >> Yeah, I thought we did, didn't we? Jack, you were there. I think we thought we'd just leave them the way they are because we're going to have to change some signage. Well, >> maybe I went to a different meeting. We >> talked about a lot of >> Oh, that was it. Changing the signs. >> Yeah, I thought Yeah, that's right. Some of them were out. Okay, I'm corrected. Uh bad me. And then the uh other item we just talked about the Matt Revard was there from uh FLA on the dugouts and they're going to start soon as the ground gets cleaned up and that and then we talked about uh the park cleanup day on April 23rd and if you look at those buttons I gave you if hopefully uh we have a good turnout we're going to get u little help from one of the city employees that's going to be out out there through the maintenance garage and If I can get a hold of Aaron, we're going to make up some signs, put them out, and get on the website. And I'm still kind of talking with the Lions, maybe coffee and donuts in the morning, and we'll give out these buttons and hopefully we'll get a good turnout. Hopefully everybody from council's there. Do we have to do anything like make a notification that >> we'll have to post that that there'll be more than two council members present. There's a standard language that we use on that, but we'll get that posted on the board here next week. >> Well, I hope all all my counterparts here come and help me pick up poop. You know, >> well, Rob better. >> It'll probably be 8 to noon. >> Yeah, I didn't bring my dog there. >> Uh, but question on that time. >> It'll probably be 8 to noon. >> Oh, okay. >> 4 hours. I thought if it's nice out, we get out there early. And we're still trying to drum up how to divide the number of people. I mean, I'm I'm just saying if the whole council comes, that's five. And I know of 10 other people that are coming. So, we could get up to 20 or 30 people. And if you keep we get good advertising, get on the website, we could have a lot of people, but we divide the parks west and east. And maybe the uh west one is more dog problems and the east is more raking and picking up sticks. >> And right now talking to Jim, we're kind of talking about piling it up in piles and we get this new employee because it's the 25th. If a new employee for the parts come, he can kind of finish it up. But it'd be nice to have it ready for him kind of. I mean, I hate to see him walk in there and oh, I got to start where? Mhm. >> But, uh, hopefully we'll have the dugouts done by June or whatever. So, things are looking good. Other than that, uh, not much more except that, uh, we're going to, uh, one of our park board members is going to be leaving pretty soon, so that position will be open and we'll advertise for it, I guess, right? >> Yeah. When whenever she turns her letter of resignation in, but uh, we had a discussion, too. Everybody be thinking of somebody that might be a good replacement or do some recruiting and help us get more candidates that'll be >> I did some recruiting this morning. So the more the marrier we get going. So uh that's all I have on the park board. Now we'll go to Jenny in the planning commission report. >> Um this is Jenny. I don't really have a report because um our one presentation that we had was tonight. So, there really isn't anything um else to report from the planning commission uh that I'm aware of. Beyond that, I just um kind of backdated and went back and presented to the planning commission uh everything that had been updated by the city council for February, March, so they were um updated and aware of the things that had been approved. >> Thank you. And thank you for your service that two months and now Scott gets to go on on the board. Uh the next item is the public works. Jim, >> uh, the only thing I have Did anybody happen to notice anything new outside? >> Yes, I did. >> Did I put up or Brady put up the new flag? >> So, >> I didn't really notice what somebody told me >> and that was somebody in his room. >> It's out there. Um, other than that, public works is now we're just kind of transitioning now to hopefully spring summer stuff. So, we'll get things done this. You know, I I I washed my car and I don't have to go through a gra uh a gravel road, but for some ungodly reason I did. And it was pretty dry, but it was wet. The whole thing was wet. Is that the frost coming out? >> It's coming out. >> Oh, man. You get that dirt on your car and that's something else. >> We have a petition for paving if you'd like to throw that on top. >> I put a note on my dash. It said don't put turn there anymore. Okay. >> Well, thanks, Jim. >> We'll go to the city administrator's report. >> Would you want to do the personnel committee report before that? >> Yeah. Did I? Oh, yeah. Do the >> the whole column. >> Yeah. How come people know call me on this EDA report? We don't have a report, but next meeting is April 16th. Oh, Jack, we'll go to personnel committee report. >> Thank you. The personnel committee consisting of mayor Ron Hanigraph and council member Jennifer Latin met on February 10th and 17th and on March 10th and 17th with city administrator Jack Davis to discuss the job classification and wage compensation study prepared by David Brown Associates regarding compensation for the city finance director position. City Finance Director Cheryl Jenkins was hired as a senior accountant for the city of Columbus in July 2022 and was promoted to finance director in February 2024. In addition, Mr. Jenkins is a supervisor for the accounting technician and permit coordinators. Mr. Jenkins has a BA degree in accounting and previously worked at the University of Minnesota as a senior accountant, the Minnesota Department of Revenue as an auditor, and Kabic County as their fiscal super services supervisor. She has spent more than three and a half years with the city of Columbus working in our system and has been responsible for the last four city audits, all of which have been clean with no material defects. She has developed and implemented new accounting procedures with numerous accounting system upgrades and changes to comply with current accounting standards. She has performed her job with professionalism and and excellence. On December 11th, 2024, the city of Columbus commissioned a job classification wage compensation study with David Brown Associates. This was study was completed in March. The draft was completed in March of 2025 and presented to city council in July of 2025. In doing this, it was pointed out too that many of the comps for the finance director position were not equal. Uh therefore the pay grade rating that they assigned Miss Jenkins finance director's current job was well underneath what it should have been. As a result of this, city staff conducted their own market study. Based on comparables from cities that are in the north metro area and three open positions, we reviewed the salaries from these neighboring cities and the current jobs on the market and determined the market rate salary for this position was $134,000. Miss Jenkins, through her many hours of extra work and individual efforts, has moved diligently convert our accounting practice to correspond with all the Gatsby standards. And this recommendation to bring her salary in compliance with this current market rate is to address the salary structural issue and the adjustment is not a merit or performance base, but one necessary direct correctness of Jenkins compensation to align with comparable positions in the job market. In addition to correcting the pay discrepancy need to retain our employees, this action also addresses pay equity relative to state compliance audit for employee compensation. The salary adjustment recommended for Mrs. Jenkins would be budget neutral for the fiscal year 2026. Expenditures allocated for the open accounting technician position would cover both the hire of the accounting technician in May and residential fund would cover increment increases for Mrs. Jenkins salary. The personnel committee recommend city council approved increasing Miss Jenin salary to $134,000 retroactive to January 1st 2026 with Miss Jenkins being eligible for any step cola or other increase as afforded to all city employees. >> So I I'll kind of ditto what Jack said. I I remember when we started looking at compensation for employees. I think one of our top goals was to pay our employees what they're worth. And uh we can look at Cheryl, but we don't have to look at Cheryl. We can even just look at the job if it isn't comparable to what the market value is out there. I I mean that's one thing, but she's doing a great job. But, uh it's like a no-brainer. If we want to keep good employees, you got to pay the dollar. And uh I wouldn't look at the increase as much as I look at bringing it up to where it should be, you know, a starting point because if uh Cheryl was to happen to leave us, I don't know where we'd get anybody that qualifications at the price. >> To your point, Ron, if I could, um we did have an instance where we didn't have a finance director what the previous role was and we were paying substantially by the month. We're also caught in an audit at the same time to where we were paying for a service and it was very expensive. >> Right. Right. Yeah. >> But we don't want to be without because there's other opportunities, you know, >> and talking to Cheryl, I think when she gets it all in order, I mean, it was pretty mixed up, but when she gets it all in order, if and ever she does leave, the next accountant should come in and just fold right into it easy instead of the mixup that you guys went through about four years ago. Yeah. >> Or whatever. Just put it in perspective. I know it's a bigger city, but Forest Lake starts theirs at 147 and tops at 178. And I mean, we're only a mile away doing the same thing. And they have four assistants underneath the accountant. So, I think it's I support the raise and I think it's the right thing to do. >> I agree. >> Do you have anything to say? >> Um, no. I just I appreciated working on this with you just because I think um I'm a big believer in the data and so I think you know obviously talking about Cheryl as a person but also just talking about the position itself. Um, I know that DDA when we went into everything, it talked about, you know, anything over that 15% is major misalignment with the market, right? And I think hers was over 20% u misaligned. And so, I think for what it is, it's just really important that we do work to address some of these things. So, I'm I'm proud of the work that's been done because not only for her, but for city staff in general, we want to make sure that our staff has faith in what we're doing and and that we are keeping current just for what it is from an ethical standpoint. >> I It's uh we got that. I think that's right. You hit the nail on the head there, Jenny, when we look at all the numbers and stuff like that. But we have other things to do too with compensation with the employees to get them up to date. And this is one of our first major goals to work on this one and we'll work on the other ones too. So any other discussion? >> This is Karen Cheryl. I just want to say thank you for your service and thank you for helping us out in our city. We really appreciate everything you do >> and we do we you know we leave these meetings and we see your car out there a lot. So >> thank you. So, uh, I'll make the motion. I, Ron Hanigraph, move to approve the salary adjustment for the city finance director as recommended by the personnel committee. >> Rob, I'll second. >> We have a motion on the floor. It's been seconded. Is there any other discussion? Hearing none, we'll take a vote. Jenny, >> Jenny, I. >> Scott, I >> Rob I, >> and Ron I. The motion passes unanimously. We'll go on to the second item which is city the assistant city administrator Jack. The personnel committee consisting of Mayor Ron Hanigraph and council members council member Jennifer Latton met on March 10th and 17th, 2026 with city administrator Jack Davis and reviewed a recommendation to consider additional compensation for Aaron Berg for his additional work beyond the 8 to four city hall office hours and for duties not included in his job description. With the resignation of Eleanor Han on December 23rd, 2025, Aaron Berg, assistant city administrator, has been serving as a temporary city planner since December 29th, 2025. This assignment is in addition to his normal scope of work and not included in Mr. Berg's job description. Mr. Berg has been able to work around his prescribed duties to prepare items for planning commission meetings, but has had to work extra hours for meeting preparation, attendance, and preparation. This hasn't been a temporary addition of job responsibility to address a short-term vacant position, but an ongoing one for the last three months and could continue until the end of this year. Is recommended that Mr. Berg receive further compensation for those extra hours of work related to city planner and planning commission activities. Mr. Berg spends approximately four hours per planning commission meeting outside his normal work schedule. To date, Mr. Berg has attended and directed all planning commission meetings from January 7th to March 18th of this year. Even though there is a proposal to hire an associate planner by the end of April, it is anticipated that this hire will need to work under the tutelage of Mr. Berg perhaps through the end of the year. This would require Mr. Berg's personal participation and presence at up to possibly 16 more planning commission meetings this year. The personnel committee recommends that Mr. Berg be compensated for his duties related to planning commission activities beyond normal working hours. This compensation is recommended to be $200 per meeting and retroactive to January 1st, 2026. The estimated total cost would range between $4,880 to $5,800 depending on the number scheduled for the remainder of the year. Total cost also includes social security and payer withholding. This addition additional compensation add no additional expense to the 2026 budget as this cost will be paid from funds available from the fourmonth vacancy of associated planners position. Staff recommends the city council approve this request for the additional compensation for Mr. Burke. >> Any discussion on this? I know that uh uh I think Aaron was at the EDA or no, was it the EDA and anybody afterwards you had a fall fest and he went on into that and it's extra hours. >> Yeah. I mean, so for what it is, I know that Aaron goes to and participates in a lot that isn't within his job requirements. Um so obviously the city owes him a lot of gratitude for that. But for the, you know, just noting that $200 per meeting, I think it also goes into the time invested in preparation with uh the planning commission. So, in meeting with residents and doing a lot of the things outside of his general scope, he's really picked up a lot of what that looks like because not only do we not have Eleanor, we don't have Dean. And so, he has taken on the role of both um in the interim. So, I do want to thank you for all the work you have done as well because I know you've been meeting with residents and and doing a lot um that you know you weren't necessarily signing up to do. So, thank you for that. >> Any other discussion? >> Having none, I'll make a motion. I uh Ron Hannigra move to approve the additional compensation for the assistant city administrator for additional work outside normal hours and beyond the job description for his position. Jenny I second. >> We have a motion on the floor. It's been seconded. Any other discussion? Hearing none. We'll take a vote. Jenny. >> Jenny. I >> Scott. Iron. >> I. Rob. >> I. Ron. I. And as Jenny said, Aaron, I appreciate everything you do. >> Yeah. Thank you, Erin. >> And Cheryl too. both the uh stepped up especially when the planning commission when you started that new process of telling where the uh the ideas or the permits or what where they went to the planning commission before they never knew they just went out the door whether they approved or not but they like that go on to number next item hire of hiring of the planning technician >> Lillian CL letter. A 2025 graduate of the University of Minnesota with a BS degree in urban studies is one of four applicants interviewed for the position of associate planner on February 26, 2026. Miss Clutter was selected as the most qualified candidate and had a second interview on March 6, 2026. The initial interview panel consisted of Mayor Ron Hannigraph, Jack Davis, and Aaron Berg. At the conclusion of the second interview by Jack Davis and Aaron Berg, a tentative job offer was tendered to Miss Clutter. Miss Clutter acknowledged and signed the offer and was noticed that the hire was pending council approval. Her resume, application, background check, and references were thoroughly reviewed by the panel, and she was found to meet the essential qualifications for the position. Her interview demonstrated her communication skills and her related educational and employment experiences. Mrs. Clitter exhibited she has the people skills that are vitally important and as important as the planning experience for this position. It is the recommendation of the interview panel that Lily and Clutter be hired as the associate planner of the starting wage of $2921 per hour step one of the current 2026 city plaid plan including the benefit package provided to all city employees. Miss Clutter will be eligible for a step increase at the end of her six-month evaluation period subject to a satisfactory performance review. A statement of the wage and benefits offered her is attached as a written recommendation of this hire in your packet. Uh city staff recommends the hire of Mrs. Clutter as the associate planner with a start date of April 27th. >> Any discussion or questions? Hearing none, I'll I'll make the next motion. I Ron Hannigra move to approve to hire the hire of Lillian Cletter. Is that how you pronounce it? >> Letter. Uh for the position of planning technician at step one of the current city pay plan, $2921 an hour, including the benefit packages provided to all full-time employees. >> Jenny, I second. >> Have a motion on the floor. It's been second. Any other discussion on this issue hearing? None. We'll take a vote. >> Jenny I. >> Scott I. >> I. >> Rob I. >> Ron. I. Motion passes. We'll go on to the next one. I a public works seasonal employee. >> Uh Mr. Mayor, I would recommend that this item be tabled. Uh there's been some things we want to uh review regarding this person's reference. and be brought up again at the meeting on April the 8th for a recommendation for another hire. >> We'll do, Jack. Thank you very much. >> I would go up to item number six, but we already went through that. 6, 7, 8, and we're down to nine, which would be city administrators report. Jack, >> I've got a quick one. I've been had two meetings with Bear Home. they're ready to submit their application for the myth project. Uh we discussed this the last time at our work meeting very thoroughly and left I think with the consensus that we want to be or could be the project sponsor. But what I want to do is include this as an action item on our next council meeting to specifically endorse what we're going to do in this. Recommend that we be the sponsor. And I want to meet with the city attorney, too, to have an agreement drawn up that will specify the duties and obligations of each party so it's clear who does what, when, and where. But >> I'm watching your eyes. Anything else, Jack? >> That's it. >> That's it. I guess we go down to E. Announcements and reminders. Planning Commission meeting, April 1, 2026 at 6 p.m. City Council work meeting, April 7th, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. City Council regular meeting, April 8th, 2026 at 6 p.m. And local board of appeals and equalization, April 20th, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. >> Also, just a reminder that April 23rd is uh a Columbus. Could I say something about that local board of appeals and legalization meeting? For all that are listening, that is the time and the only time of year that the city can consider an adjustment in your property tax classification. So, if you have any concerns about what your property was valued at, now is the time and come to petition before the city council, which is the local board of appeals, and request that this be evaluated and modified. the uh city or the county tax assessor and their department will be here to answer help any questions. But again, this is not about your property taxes. This is about your tax devaluation of your property. It's the only time that an appeal can be considered. So if you think your property was valued too high and now's the time to come and see if that can be rectified. >> I want to add one more thing to it, Jack. Do we we some of us have to be gone through that class? Do we have enough people? >> We have one that's Jenny. She's certified. So, she's our one that's uh meets >> it once, too. But is it ongoing forever or do you have to keep going to it? >> When's the last time you went? >> Well, it had to be when I became the coun on the council. So, it's probably my first year in the council. So, it probably >> I think it's good for four years. >> Okay, then. >> So, so we got two. So, that way we're covered. But anybody else need to be on it? >> No. But if anybody else wants to take that training, you can do it online. I'd say it takes what, an hour. >> Not complicated. >> And it's it's kind of good experience. It really helps you before the meeting sometimes to understand the way some of those things are done, why they're done, too. But if you're interested in taking it, get up with me and I'll give you a link to where to look into that. >> Is that the League of Minnesota Cities you did it with? >> I remember right. I think so. Yeah. They had little quizzes. >> Yeah. I >> think you're right though, Jack. It does make it a little more you understand more of what they're doing. >> It's It's every four years. >> Uh, yes. >> I feel like I did it the first year I was on council, but it' have to be renewed after >> it has to be renewed every four years. >> You want me to send that to you, Rob? >> Please. Yeah. >> Okay. >> I'd be interested as well, Jack. >> Okay. I'll send it to everybody. >> Okay. >> Why don't you send it to everybody? I don't mind watching it. I appreciate coming back up in case anyone has questions. >> Not only that, these wins are on. There's nothing better do watch equalization or taxes. Uh, anything else tonight, guys? >> No, I'll make a motion to adjourn the meeting. >> This is Karen. I'll second it. >> Got a motion on the floor. Any discussion? Hearing none. We'll take a vote. Jenny Benny, I >> Scott I. >> Rob I. >> And Ron I. And the meeting ends at 6:59.