[Music] good evening everyone tonight is September 11th 2024 it is 6:00 p.m. almost exactly I'd like to call to order the Columbus city council meeting for tonight please join us for the Pledge of [Applause] Allegiance I pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all would someone like to make the motion to adopt the agenda for tonight so this is Janet I would move to approve the agenda for the September 11th 2024 city council meeting with one minor change that is moving item D2 City attorney report um uh to follow item C1 public forum would you want to move D1 also oh I suppose I could do that you want to get out of here early tonight so I would amend I would amend and is that okay with you Kevin we would move yours up oh you bet right was distracted that's all right so then I would amend the uh motion to uh approving the agenda um for tonight with the change of moving items D1 and D2 to follow item C1 public forum this is Su all second any questions on that concise might I suggest that we follow the easement vacation in case there's any questions on the easement vacation just we can scoot after that okay this is third try third tries a charm uh so I'll amend my amendment to say moving items D1 and D2 to follow item C2 um on the agenda and this is Sue all second I'll call for the vote Ron I sue I I robbi and Jesse I uh so we have that consent agenda I'll make the motion to approve the September 11th 2024 bill payments as presented is there a second Yep this is Sue all second are there any questions regarding the bill payments or discussion I'll call for the vote Ron I sue I Janet I Rob I and Jesse I is there any anyone in the audience or online who would like to speak at the public open forum for tonight's meeting seeing and hearing no one we'll move on to number two the easement Vaca vacation and Jack do you want to lead that or Bill do you want to lead that or Elanor do you want to lead that this this this is Eleanor's topic right here we'll let her lead it off all right Elanor you're on hi um so this is a public open forum or a public hearing for the easement vacation that is associated with a lot line adjustment um in The prer Preserve development um there is going to be a small lot line adjustment to adjust the um lot line between two different Parcels to allow for a larger driveway on one of the parcels currently the line goes right through that driveway and they want to adjust that so that they can continue to have that larger driveway both Parcels are owned by the same um PE people and the easement vacation is simply to remove the mandatory um utility and drainage easement that is on lot lines in between um Lots in subdivisions and when they move that lot line over a little bit we'll put a new drainage and utility easement over that new lot line so basically there's no change no for either property except for the paperwork to make it legal but before we go Bill do we have to read the a public hearing notice or not no you don't we we can wave that and you can go right to the public hearing okay so we have a public hearing thank you for that information does anybody have questions about it I happen understand it because I talked to Elanor earlier about it so somebody's driveway is on the lot line they want to move the lot lines so that it's everybody on paper gets what they have above ground how's that yep very good I guess the only question I have is how did somebody's driveway get on the lot line elor I was I'm not entirely aare of how that happened um both properties were owned by the same people and surveying errors happen um they when they built the driveway they had thought that they were on the right side of the lot line sometimes that doesn't happen and this is an easy way to fix it to get everybody what they want and at the end of the day okay thank you well you would think sorry to pontificate with all the modern technology they would be able to do that accurately if you remember on Lake Drive on the Howard Lake Preserve the first reiteration the lot line went through the middle of every house because the guy on the horse and buggy with whatever they used back then miss I mean he was wrong on every lot but this is all computerized and whatever anyway never mind I got a question do do they have uh setbacks on driveways at all the property we do not they don't you can have your driveway right on the line you can have your driveway right on the line okay learning interesting I would have figured it was 10 at least but y does that mean you can snow blow all your snow over onto your neighbor's yard then just kidding if you don't get caught I mean it might start a fight but yeah all right so any other questions or just discussion anyone and hearing none I'll move to approve we didn't open it to the public oh anybody in the public would care to come up and speak hearing none I will close it with the right to reopen if necessary and I'll move to approve resolution 2411 a resolution to vacate a drainage utility easement plots 12 and 13 block two in prer preserve is there a second this is Janet I second any other questions or discussion hearing none I'll call for the vote Ron I sue I Janet I Rob I and Jesse I thank you elanar thanks Elanor thank you have a nice night okay so now we're going to move the City attorney up well you move both the both Consultants up so city engineer first if you're going to do them an order okay chip sale so we have a estimate for excuse me pay estimate number two uh for our chip seal project uh this payment is we're not closing out this contract quite yet we're going to hold the contract open until the spring we do have an option to um request the contractor to come back and sweep again if after U winter snowplow operations and and all of that uh kick some uh of our chip seal loose uh Jim can make the decision whether he wants to have some areas swept again if needed um we're not necessarily anticipating that or much of that uh but we will leave that contract open until until 20 early 2025 so this is pay estimate 2 we're holding some retainage uh 1% retainage um on the project uh this uh Mount d for this application is $2,516 24 any questions anyone is this for the the whole is this for the whole city or is it a specific area well this is for our the chip cealing project that we did um this summer this summer yep so it wasn't the whole city it was about half of the half of the that we chip sealed so okay thank you I can make the motion if you want mayor mhm want me to make the motion sure all right uh Rob I move to approve pay estimate uh two to Ally blacktop for the 2024 city of Columbus pavement maintenance chip sealing project this is Ron I'll second it are there any other questions or discussion I'll call for the vote Ron I sue I Janet I Rob I and Jesse I all right finally City attorney Mr Mayor and counsel did you have anything else oh anything else Kevin I have nothing further at this time all right finally all right we on a roll um mayor and Council um I'm please to say that uh we have a purchase and sale agreement that's been negotiated with Steve Saunders and um uh let's see I believe it's Patricia Saunders so it's Steve Steven R Saunders and Patricia m Saunders um the reason it's coming to you tonight is um we finally got it uh worked out yesterday and so we didn't want to lose another couple of weeks on the due diligence period so I know that uh Jack Davis sent it out to all of you I'm going to because you haven't had much time to review it I'm just going to walk you through it quickly um so on page one you have the parties as I noted Steve stepen R Saunders and Patricia m Saunders so they're buying it as joint tenants they could flip it to um at before closing they could flip it to an LLC which is often the case but they're buying it personally at least at this point um on page one the purchase price is as you approved 320,000 I believe that is the appraised value so it's a full price offer for the land um what you won't find in here is any use Clauses so uh pursuant to the council's direction um that use Clause was dropped I believe uh Mr Davis also indicated that the council is free at any time to make text amendments and use changes uh through its zoning process they understand that as a developer and um that that was not raised as an issue um the uh down payment or the earnest money is $10,000 um that's held um till closing if they go through the feasibility period which is 120 days and um they don't make any objections then that earnest money we we say it goes hard meaning it's it's non-refundable um if for some reason they do make an objection to title or other uh concerns about the property they could terminate the agreement and get their earnest money back I'm not going to walk you through all the pages of boilerplate um obviously there are Provisions regarding uh investigation of the site uh very standard examination of title very standard they can make objections um to title and then we are bound to correct those I think probably the most sign ific thing is right on the first page uh item two on page one is the fact that as you know we will be working on a joint plat yes uh which which page we working off here we didn't have Co we don't you didn't give us copies he he emailed it to us today okay got no no problem I saw everyone kind of looking okay my apologies um uh on page one paragraph 2 probably the most most significant joint activity we have is working together on a plat we agreed since we were already well into the platting process that that would be sellers responsibility to give them a marketable lot and so the small parcel that is owned by Mr Saunders will be joined with the larger Parcels owned by the city and there will be a plat that is processed concurrently with this due diligence period um there is language that if we don't mutually agree on the reconfiguration uh either party can terminate originally they had only the buyer with the ability to terminate and we said if it's a mutual plat and it's by mutual agreement then either party should be able to terminate the agreement we don't expect that to happen U Mr Saunders has been waiting an awfully long time to develop that small parcel by joining with the city property um jumping all the way to page nine I know some of you don't have that in front of you but there's a very strong all caps provision that says as is this is pretty typical language but it really protects the city from claims that uh they didn't get what they bargained for it's as is there are reps and warranties about contamination so those are accepted out of here we don't we don't have any knowledge of any contamination or hazardous substance on the property it's up to Mr Saunders to investigate whether that's the case don't expect that to come into play one of the things that we went back and forth on a little bit was on the condemnation provisions um we're not aware of any proposal to condem property um but if the buyer has the option if a condemnation should come along during the due diligence period they can terminate the agreement or they can keep the agreement and pay full price but then take the condemnation proceeds um again because the I pointed this out to their attorney because the county just went through and upgraded the roadways and the city just went through and upgraded West Freeway Drive there's really really little reason to believe that a condemnation action is going to come forward in the next four or five months so while we went back and forth on that provision um it's probably not of much consequence um then the closing on page 11 there's a reference to the closing seller and buyer must perform their obligations under this section which is the closing section on the date that is 10 days business days after the expiration of the feasibility period so while there's 120-day period for feasibility that's pretty typical there's a very short time frame to close and and we do believe that the buyer is motivated to get on with this transaction and and be able to market the property the only thing that would extend that um and it's pretty typical in in the real estate Community buyers and sellers of property looking for the opportunity to do a 1031 tax exchange and that's uh to help uh the the of property not incur taxes and so that this property may be used in in that fashion if they need an additional 60 days because of a 1031 exchange they have to give us another $10,000 to make that happen so the rest is pretty standard uh type of Provisions that we've seen in other purchase agreements we did have a little bit of back and forth uh but I think we got to a decent agreement and we're ready to recommend approval um the motion includes a reference to um a preparation of not only authorizing the trans transaction um but uh preparing a resolution um because that has to be done before the property is sold so we'll come back after the due diligence period is run when we're getting ready for closing we'll have a resolution for the council to approve uh but that's pretty standard format are there questions that I can address so I did read the whole thing this morning because I had a little time I had I didn't I had never seen a condemnation clause and maybe I just haven't read enough of these but you had a good explanation of it so thank you um my only other question is that really the spelling of her name Patricia because it's not a correct spelling of Patricia but she's I'm sure she's looking at it and she should have corrected it but yeah it looks like Patria well that was provided by um buyer Council so that they they did the first draft of this agreement so I would just in case she didn't see it you might want to just check because that that would be a error that's interesting yeah it's uh it's carried through to the last to the signature page so maybe it is Patria yeah interesting well you obviously did read it yes I did but that was all I had thank you p a r we think it should be what it is if they if they're the ones that people spell it it should be CIA CIA on the end Patricia if it's [Music] Patricia well call the councel any other questions or discussion I just say congratulations I'm glad we're I'm glad we're getting this one done and Jack did most of the the work until it got to the last couple of rounds with the attorneys so thank you Jay yeah oh I I do have one other question go ahead no that I just that's it um when you do a plat it's not what's going to go on it's just a plat of the actual vacant property right I mean he doesn't he's not platting out what he's going to put there no it's it's a plat and the the prelim the draft preliminary plat has already been prepared if something been work working on and it actually involves City properties one which is north of there which is 27 Acres there's about six out Lots on it so the draft that's been done Eleanor and I talked about that today and we'll be getting up with WID Sith to get them going to get this processed and you should see that plat before us probably within the next 30 days okay all right thank you and if you're wondering it's it's one of the exhibits it's exhibit B of the agreement that's the plat that the city's been working on for some time corre y okay that's the duckhead right yeah or Lon head whatever yes definitely is so I'll make a motion to approve the proposed purchase agreement with Steven R Saunders and Patricia m Saunders and authorized staff and the City attorney to prepare a resolution authorizing closing on this property is there a second this is Ron I'll second that any other questions or discussion I'll call for the vote Ron I sue I Janet I Rob I and Jesse I yay thank you Mr Mayor and councel and thank you for the early exit on this summer night sort of summer night yeah they're winding down enjoy it we'll do all right and good luck on Fall Fest I I don't think I'll see you before that thank you almost here y I hope it's a day like today I looked I looked ahead and so far so good on the forecast so yeah so far so good it's a long way out but maybe we'll be lucky have a good night every thank you Bill thank you Bill see you all right so now we'll go back to number three of 2025 Capital Improvement plan Pages s and 8 in our enclosure well unfortunately our plans that were kind of listed in the the uh packet summary for these items didn't exactly work out the way we hoped I had to be off Monday and Cheryl was off today so the first thing I prepared was a handout that I passed out earlier and it's to show you how we can get to a zero Levy budget and then the decision will be made on if we want to adjust anything on achieving that goal but uh on the first page it says projected 2025 City Levy expenses we're starting out with our current expenses for projected for 2025 at 4, 8539 1880 now if we take the 2025 non-levy revenues which are on the second page of this attachment which show those things that aren't subject to the levy and subtract that from that amount we get uh $4,325 n80 what we're trying to do is get down to the amount that we actually have to Levy for uh Jim and I worked together today on several different scenarios on some budget cuts and we came up with $93,000 in reductions and if you subtract that then from that 4,325 180 we come up with a number of 4,232 n80 which would be the levy expenses that we' be looking for for 2025 uh last year's Levy number was 4,232 386 there's a difference of $594 that we over now which would reflect if we just use that that would be 1/10th of a perc increase in the budget so uh we we want to go and at least get that down to zero we didn't do it for this we it'll be easy to find a place where we can get that reduction uh as far as going forward with this um this is the number we would need to use we would have to add the Eda Levy which before the Eda meeting tonight was $ 76,6 38 it had been proposed for 91,5 38 and it's now been reduced to$ 81,0 638 we'll have to go back in there and add that extra $5,000 and find a way to address that in our goal to get this down to a zero Levy increase the H Levy is proposed to remain flat at $120,000 and the sunrise River SR wmo Levy is projected to go up $240 so we're going to have to go go back and come up with approximately $5,800 in further reductions to get that down to the zero Levy overall uh on our preliminary tax levy the general fund and general does have an L at the end of it uh would be 4,136 752 that was what we would need to Levy for in addition to the Eda that would go up uh the sunrise River and based on those the total tax capacity based levies would be $ 4,232 th000 $232,000 980 in addition to the HRA Levy at the bottom there's some footnotes there that indicate that entprise funds Sunrise River wo H or Eda levies are outside the general Levy the Eda Levy is listed on its own the HRA Levy is listed on its own Sunrise river is listed independently and the Enterprise funds are off budget uh in getting to these Cuts what we did we found a way to reduce the Public Works black top fund by $335,000 fund 406 which is the fire department fund by $220,000 and fund 407 which is our Capal city capital general fund by $30,000 Animal Control by $2,000 and our law enforcement contract by 6,000 and that's the sum where we G gave got got got those cuts and we'll be able to we'll go back and figure out where to get the rest of them and we're also looking Direction too if you have any recommendations on what you'd like to see but this would get us to a 0% Levy increase I do want Cheryl to go over these numbers to make sure we're accurate I did have a few Communications with her today but I didn't want to bother her too much so we'll verify those on Friday but this is what we would propose as far as the number goes for the levy for 2025 nice job um I do have a question though on when on your note on the bottom the things that you reduced more like the black top fund and the um law enforcement I mean that's not going to jeopardize any of our services that you know as far as the black top fund goes we had the first scenario where we had some more deeper reductions but we found a way to kind of smooth those out a little bit better that won't have any effect and then there's also the other way we could use to address these reductions and that would be the use of our general fund excess account personally I would like not to use that because then when you do that you essentially start out in the hole next year there's a revenue Gap but that's another way we could address this so we got many ways to do it to get down to zero and I think we're in pretty good shape uh Jack how did you get the 6,000 off to law enforcement what we did they had U the base cost that they gave us plus what they anticipated in state aid which is another $116,000 so when I did it and we presented last time I just split the difference in that in case they didn't do it typically they've always gotten that state aid so now I just left a $2,000 cushion in there a but I don't think there's any real risk with that thank you and then on the animal control how did you do the two is that just making um the assumption that we're going to be able to recoup some of those impound fees it's an assumption and I also had a conversation uh with uh Renee with Brit well Renee is the one we get the addresses from so we've already gotten the first round of addresses from her on the last bill that we had so we'll follow up on those that we can to get that collection and that's just an estimate so I think we can probably get there but but that's how you did it is assuming that we would be collecting the impal that's correct we'll we'll collect those that pick their dogs up and we'll send them a bill and see what we can do to make that hole do we need to do some an ordinance adjustment or something to reflect that new process it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to have that in an ordinance form any other questions well I just had a question about the the hand out that you gave us just now is that the same or is it with the changes that you made that you noted here is what is reflected in no those we we just finished this up late today those have not been adjusted to reflect this okay and what that will do on some of these these schedules on the transfers that's where it's going to affect it on the Public Works fund the well not the Public Works fund it'll only to be for a year but on the capital fund the city capital fund and the fire Capital fund we'll probably be reducing or looking at reducing some of those transfers we did do that in a rough schedule and we do still have the cash flow and we we can we can tidy this up and get any information you want we'll have that ready for presentation at the next meeting with with everything listed out okay cuz we what's remind me what our um deadline is for the proposed we have to have this prelimin by September the 30th September okay so we got a couple weeks um another just quick question on the sunrise Levy um the 240 increase is that reflecting an increase in the budget that was being proposed by them no that's the that includes that was the extra 240 was what we added to for compensation for the board member oh okay oh for for Tim yes so the other so then I think um I don't remember exactly what the dollar amount was but I I believe that we came up with this figure taking the um allocation that we were assigned in the jpa and then adding um staff time so if that hasn't been adjusted for proposed salary increases in costs of benefits you might want to up that a little bit more cuz it's that's how you get to that 19,000 I think the total that we pay as part of the jpa is just a little bit south of $110,000 and the rest of it is is Staff time and what what we had what the number that I had here was 19,35 before that 240 was added we'll go back and check that though yeah I mean I think I'm just I don't know I don't know I I think it was mostly like Elizabeth and planner's time I mean because we have to do all the permitting in that area so we were we were putting in costs of Staff time and I just think you probably just need to adjust it to reflect cost of living and increases in benefits we we can certainly do that and you know with this and what we've come up with you know if there's a couple hundred dollar changes anyway anything we've still got the flexibility to make those adjustment and still keep this Levy increase zero well it's a separate it's a separate Levy so it doesn't AFF affect our general Levy but any other questions anyone all right thank you Jack thank you thank you so we'll move on to the mayor and city council memb report Ron I have nothing so I have nothing uh I have just a reminder that Fall Fest is coming up and if you haven't already told me that you want to volunteer for something please tell me that um we will be meeting as a last volunteer committee meeting on September 17th where we will will be stuffing Swag Bags and going over volunteer assignments and all those sorts of things so if you're able to join us that would be great and then I've noticed that some of our aset members are on the line so you might I was just going to suggest that perhaps Jack could could share what the um plan is for that resolution they're probably on thinking that we were going to pass it tonight uh Janet's talking about the Anoka County election Integrity team that came to the council meeting last week and presented their proposal uh that resolution will be scheduled for our council meeting on September the 25th we'll have that for the presentation and adoption at that time thank you rob anything no report mayor and I have nothing uh Planning Commission report Janet no Personnel committee report H personnel committe sorry yep I'll do this quick so we're in the midst of uh recruiting for the assistant City administrator I've been helping Lori with that there are a lot of applications that are coming through and it will close next Friday so I think we'll have hopefully we'll have enough in a pool to consider and uh moving forward with I'm I have not gotten through all of the stuff that has uh hit our recruitment email so I can't tell you for sure but it's a lot so that's good news and then uh I'll just move on quick on the Planning Commission report it was a joint meeting on September 4th so you are all there so I have no report thank you Janet uh Public Works report mtw truckwash Mr Mayor and Council um after the Planning Commission meeting I'm going to say last week cuz I wasn't there um there was some discussion about water supply um I between myself and Bill karth we kind of came up with a little scenario on or description of what our water supply is if you guys want to briefly look at that I can answer any questions but um I personally have no concerns about the volume of water that they're going to use affecting the water system um any constant demand that happens on our system is easily maintained by the amount of pumps and capacity that we have at this point if that makes sense what was the problem that you were talking to us about before was that not an in a non-constant demand problem so if you look at so like we'll use the truck wash Demand right they're going to they're going to start running water and they're going to run that for some period of time those demands allow our system to start up and equalize that demand and then maintain it if you have somebody that comes in and we're just going to use fire hydrants per se open up a fire hydrant I crank it open and I run it for a minute 2 minutes maybe and then I shut it back off our system sees that as a high capacity loss and it starts to ramp up and you know you might have one or two or three pumps that are trying to satisfy that demand and then they shut it off so now that basically that Rush of water that's coming to wherever that loss is at just hits a brick wall and and says oh hey we're there's no more demand here and now you got to shut everything back off that creates that water hammer and it's just the quick onof that gives us a lot of troubles okay the the steady supply so you if somebody opened up that fire hydrant and just let it run for an hour not a problem because our system is going to start up it's going to figure out what that demand is whether it's 500 gallons a minute or you know 1,500 gallons a minute and it just you know it will pump that water and it will fluctuate up and down depending on what that demand load is so the longer it runs the better it is for the system the shorter it runs the harder it is on the system thanks for that explanation it's actually a good good thing a help to the system a a steady a steady demand um on any water system is nice the quick on and offs are hard on any water system even if you have a water tower um you know that water starts to rush towards that loss and then when that gets shut off you know depending on how aggressively somebody shuts something off or how quick that demand goes away that can create water hand in the system so that water will be flowing towards that at a high rate of speed we're going to say and then it stops so that water hits that wall then and then starts to bounce back it's kind of like a if you threw a super ball at the wall you know what I mean you're you're going at a rate of speed and then you hit that stopping point and then it comes back and then it hits the stop point on this side and then it just kind of moves around till it equalizes okay so the bottom line is the trucks wash facility shouldn't be a problem waterwise yeah y I have a I have a question so the question of whether they recirculate or recycle the water versus not is that a met Council um what a mandate or that's going to be more entirely up to them up to them as in the applicant or I thought I thought that they had to meet a certain the Met Council might require them to recycle because of the um output to the Sewer but I maybe I misunderstood that and I don't know what their flow restrictions may be the thing that I've seen happen most is if the discharge has some things in the effluent that are hard to treat sometimes they have to do a pre-treatment before they discharge but I think in this case it probably wouldn't be that much overall and what they're going to be adding to the flow I mean when if you look you know they they talked about running 24 hours a day and they gave the number and then they their more realistic number is probably the 12 hours per day and they may not be that may not be continuous and that would be something like 8,000 gallons a day which is in the big picture is very minuscule to what they're receiving even when it gets to Forest Lake so hours of operation always are something that we kind of look at pretty carefully and so if they start off doing I'm making it up 12 hours um are you planning to have a condition that if they go to 24 24/7 they have to come back for approval or how how how do you handle that I think that could be a condition of the cup and I think it's something would be well considered I'd like to see how it's going before we went to a 247 scheduled so if if we could have that as a condition I would I would advocate for that and you know I'm they they may have a better handle on this than I think but I'm not sure they know exactly what to think now in terms of what their usage is going to be or what their demand is going to be uh but to me if it's 12 hours a day and somewhat continuous that's that's a lot of vehicles going through there that would be close to 50 a day so uh and I'm sure there'll be some probably but I'm sure it's not going to be a whole lot at 2 or 3:00 in the morning I wouldn't think but we'll find out well didn't they say it was like every 15 minutes so if they have two bays it would be more like 96 yeah Vehicles if they were constant going through yeah and you know I don't know on the one Bay is the manual Bay you know it may be longer they actually may use more water on that side too I don't know well I know he said that the timing was about the same which I thought was takes me a lot longer to do it man manually than going through the car wash but M any other questions anyone is this is this going to be um sent to the Planning Commission I know that they've this this will be presented to the Planning Commission at their meeting next week okay great thanks see administrator's report Jack uh our contract with career enhancement options in that's Ellen Hendricks who served us in working in some of her HR issues her contract expired December the 31st or August the 31st there's still a balance in that contract and uh from discussions at the Personnel committee we'd like to recommend that her contract be extended through December 31st of this year and uh to exceed the balance it's in there of $2,119 and we could that's I'm requesting that be a motion and requesting approval of that anyone I can make the motion so I move to approve the contract extension for career enhancement options Incorporated to December 31st 2024 with a not to exceed the current contract balance of is there a second this is Sue all second are there any questions I'll call for the vote Ron I sue I Janet I robbi and Jessie I anything else check no that's it on to letter e announcements and reminders Sunrise River September 12th at 6:30 p.m. East bethl City Hall Planning Commission meeting next Wednesday the 8 18 at 6 here city council meeting September 25th 2024 and between those two will be Fall Fest right Fall Fest on the 20th to the 22nd got it so I'll make a motion to adjourn I'll second any other questions or discussion before we leave Ron I sue I Janet I Rob I and Jesse I our meeting is a Jed at 644 [Music]