You >> up first? >> No. >> Oh, yeah. >> Oh. All right, everybody. Let's start the meeting. We'll start with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance 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. [clears throat and cough] All right. Thank you everybody for coming to the regular city council meeting, St. Paul Park, Monday, February 2nd, 2026. First item on the agenda is approval of the minutes of the January 5th, 2026 meeting and wave the reading of the same. >> So moved. >> Second. >> I have a motion and two seconds. >> Um any further discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Motion carries 5-0. >> All right. Items from the public. Item number two. I already got it, Jeff. >> Thank you. items from the public is for people that need to speak on a subject that is not on the agenda this evening. So this evening we have Gary Lane. Um Gary, if you want to go ahead and come up to the podium over here on the end and then give us your name and your address and Gary Lean 80084th Street St. Paul Park, Minnesota. >> Thank you Gary. Go ahead. Okay. As a part of the Heritage Days committee and a longtime resident of St. Paul Park, we were have had heritage days up in the park, Heritage Park for the last two years. And we have come across a couple different issues that people have requested to us being vendors that come door the thing and everything else that um they're looking at the access getting in there over the BMS off of 13th and off of Lincoln on the top side and we were wondering if there was a way that we could probably cut maybe a 20 foot gap in the center of it so it' be an easier pass through going into the park off of the side streets. So that's one of the requests that we've gotten that from. Mainly the vendors would be on that side and residents that are trying to get in there be for the softball games, national night out, everything. When you can't park inside the parking lot, you're going to be on the side street. The other issue would be for ramps going in there over the curb area for like maintenance ramps that so people could pull carts up inside there and bring stuff in and out of there easier. There's uh one maintenance ramp on the end on 13th down there and it's kind of narrow. We'd like to see if we can get it widened up and make it easier for accessible going in and out of the to uh set their stuff up in there. [clears throat] Um I mean I think this improvement will happen for everything. Like I said, night out baseball games going on up there, any kind of events, people going up there having renting the park for graduation parties or just going up there doing what they do, uh holding their events when they rent it and stuff. So that's what we were looking for if we could have a couple things and work forward to making it a place where Heritage Day is can continue being up there. It's a nice park. It's the only big park we have here in St. Paul Park. And I think we need to make the place for an event and suitable for everybody. Easy access, easy in and out all the time. >> All right. Anybody have any questions for Gary? >> Did you visit with public works on this request? >> Um, not yet. No, >> I was going. >> Do you plan on to >> Yeah, >> we can. Yes. >> Okay. >> Yeah, we can. >> So, I mean, if they Yeah. to cut everything out and show them diagrams where we want stuff. Yeah. >> Right. That'd be great. >> Okay. >> All right. Thank you, Gary. And I will point out that everybody else over here to all the council members, they are all here to represent with Gary. They just did not all want to come up and speak individually. So, that's what this group is all about. Um, just for everybody's information. Um, yeah. Everybody gonna come come up and speak then? We'll start with Cindy. [snorts] [laughter] >> All right. Thank you everybody. Yep. We'll pass that along and we'll take a definitely take a look at that. >> I'm already coming up with some ideas in my head, but um we'll get to it. Thank you. Thank you for coming and voicing your concerns and your ass. That's that's what we ask and that's what we need is people to voice what will help this city along. So, thank you. All right. Item number three, the consent agenda. This evening on the consent agenda, we're going to pay the bills through February 3rd. Um approve the special event permit for the Lions Winterfest. If you have not gotten your teams together, please reach out to the Lions. They're going to have botchi ball, um, cornhole, boot hockey. Go ahead, Tim. >> If I could alter that just, uh, from your knowledge, it was decided last night that, uh, due to a lack of signup that there won't be any volleyball and there won't be any botchi ball. What they're hoping for is more bean bags or um, I or boot hockey. >> Boot hockey. And um if there was like whole teams that uh were going to play volleyball, I think there was only one or two at the most signed up. You know, all you need is two people for a team. So, anybody that could do that or would like to do that and come down and be a part of it would be greatly appreciated and I think they'd have a lot of fun. There's going to be a food truck down there and >> [clears throat] >> um so they go through a lot of work to try and do it. It's the I think the third season that they've done that so I think people would have a good time. >> Nope. And any businesses out there that want to sponsor? I know Frankie's a sponsor and we just filled out the paperwork. Couple cornhole teams and some boot hockey teams and we were the very first champions of the food hockey tournament. I just have to throw out there. Um anyways, yeah, it's a good time and another good event put on by the Lions Club. And then all right, we will be approving a city license. Um I had that in here. I just wanted to make sure to recognize the business. Got to get through all these bills first. Yep. 3D Print Works LLC. New business coming to town. Um, check them out. We will be approving a pay request for Gryinger and Sons and sending a support letter to partner with the St. Paul Farmers Market on a new potential farmers market in St. Paul Park. So, great ideas coming out all over and all kinds of things for the community to do. So, very happy to see that staff worked very hard on that. Um, one of our newest employees, Monica, did a great job on that along with Hugo and and, um, people showing up to take part and once again, um, we just really appreciate that. So, that's it for this evening on the consent agenda. >> Mr. Mayor, >> yes, Council Member Swanson, >> I move that we approve tonight's consent agenda. I second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? >> Yes, Mr. Mayor. Three points. >> Council member Swenson. >> Um, first of all, u was this letter of support with the St. Paul Farmers Market. There isn't any it is it anou or something that we're agreeing to use their vendors or their laws and rules or what is that? >> Hugo. >> Um, mayor and councel. Uh, very good question. So, um, if we partner with the St. Paul Farmers Market. Um uh the providers or the vendors at um the farmers market would be members of their association. Um and then um they would it's basically from the city's perspective a turnkey operation. They would provide musicians or buskers um food trucks etc. So it's it's um they're looking to expand their their footprint um footprint etc. We did ask if we could have local people participate in that as well. Local our own local vendors and we had an openhouse meeting here at city hall and um the folks from our community who wanted to be part of that did not sell food stuffs which is what it's limited to. They were more crafts or knife sharpening and and those sorts of things. So we're working with those citizens to find an alternative way to get their wares out and participate in in different events. So, um uh it is a if if um the St. Paul Farmers Market Board um approves um after a site visit uh um uh moving an operation to our city. Um we'll find out mid to end of February and then uh this will come together. So, I'm not sure if that answered your question. I was >> just I'm concerned that local residents who want to partake in this would have to run through hoops with the St. Paul Market group. Well, they were mostly that came here. They were mostly crafts and we did tell them, you know, we told them about Heritage Days and then we have a garden, our garden event. We have crafters that come, which is a free event. So, we let them know about that. And then, you know, we talked about, you know, maybe we could have one down at, you know, a craft show down at vets, you know, on a car show night because like one of the ladies said too, if you're c I mean, crafts are a lot, but you know, people when they do crafts, they do it like one craft show a month. I mean, this would be like, >> you know, going every every week, you know, having your to set up every week. So, they said that might be a little overwhelming, too. >> But we can get the locals to do the do a craft show. That'd be great. >> Okay. >> The farmers market, it's it's a great idea. Plus, the SNAP, if you have SNAP benefits, if you spend 10, you get 10 more. >> 10 for 20. >> Yeah. So, >> okay. I think it's a great idea, especially if you know they'll have to look at our parks, assess it, see which one would be best, and then go from there. >> Okay. Well, thank you. Uh, actually, just one more question. Mayor, exactly what did you have to do with the championship? Uh, uh hockey or the boot hockey team >> ice. >> What part did you possibly sign the check? >> Okay. >> And then I stood on the sidelines cheering my team on. >> Okay. Yeah. So, you didn't have a stick in hand then? >> No, >> it's kind of a Craig Leopold thing. >> Okay. >> All right. Okay. >> Yep. >> And then it, you know, just like Craig Leopold, it was downhill from there. So, we're still working on building back. You know, we got a couple trades in the works and whatnot. But, all right. Any more discussion? All right. [snorts] All those in favor say I. I. >> I. Oppose. Motion carries 5-0. All right. On to new business. Um, under new business, we have adopt resolution 1767 accepting the bid for the contract for the new Lion's Levy pedestrian bridge replacement. Yes. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. >> Morgan Dolly here from WSB. >> Uh, yes. This the next item before you is to consider uh receiving the bid received and awarding a construction contract for the Lions Levy Park pedestrian bridge. You may recall that this is a rebid situation. So we had received bids back in uh November that were above estimate and so the decision was made to reject all those bids at that time and rebid it. Uh I'm happy to report to the council that the bid received the second time around was more in line with what uh staff was expecting to see for a grand total bid of uh just over $320,000. So that's over $400,000 less than the lower bidder received earlier in the season, right? So rebidding it was a good decision. I think there's some certainly some cost savings there. Um and in terms of there's some information in the packet here, but just as a regular update for the council. Um there are some uh constraints with respect to timing that have become made apparent to staff with respect to endangered species muscles specifically on the banks of the Mississippi that the DNR had flagged for us. Now, the comment period ended for the DNR in late November, and we hadn't heard anything since then, but early or mid January, we heard from them, and we are going to have to do a an endangered uh muscle species survey and potential relocation uh in advance of the work. So, um, that's not going to necessarily hold up the need to award the contract because the contractor does have to fabricate and build a lot of the bridge in their shop even before it comes out on the site. So, that's why staff is still recommending award of the contract so they can get started on that. Uh, the DNR has stated to us that the muscle survey needs to happen when a water temperature is 40° uh or above that. And so they are estimating that's going to be uh late April, maybe early May at the earliest that they can do that. So once the muscle survey is done, and we've talked to a specialist subconsultant that does this work all the time, it's possible they can uh do the survey, scoop up the habitat for the muscles, and relocate them all in one day if everything goes well and according to plan. Uh so again, so there's some things that are pushing this back a little bit. Last time I uh presented in front of the council, the hope was at that time to get the bridge done and installed and you know open to the public potentially by midsummer. We don't know exactly how this muscle survey is going to go. Um but it is going to probably push things back. So, we're hopeful that by the end of the summer now with this extra work to make sure that we're not doing anything uh undo from the DNR's perspective with respect to muscle habitat, uh that it's not going to push out too much further beyond that. Again, there is work that the contractor can do in their shop from a steel fabricating or getting it ready standpoint. uh and they wouldn't really be able to do much field work anyway until the ground thawed because there are concrete pads on either side on the island side on the park side uh or the parking lot side. So, uh that is uh schedule impact. There are some budget impacts. We have to hire a subconsultant to do the the muscle survey, that sort of thing. Um at this point, we don't know exactly where it's going to come out. We have sat down with city administrator um the budget impact. Well, right now we have $50,000 left to go within the grant that was received from uh the state to fund the project. If everything goes well with the muscles, no, you know, not too many extra additional costs with respect to relocating and that sort of thing. Uh we still may come in under budget, but there is a chance that we could go over that um uh budget cap, I guess, from the grant standpoint. But at this point, it's too early to tell. So, we'll be tracking that closely. Again, keeping city staff, uh, public works, and city administrator well informed with that. So, uh, much to keep track on, but the action item in front of the council again, as I mentioned before, is to consider, uh, awarding the contract to Twin City Marina, who's just north of us on the Mississippi River. Um, coincidentally, that is the same contractor that put in the log boom uh several years ago when that was done right off of this existing bridge. So, they're familiar with the area. They've done work for the city before. Um, this is slightly different because of the state funding. We had to kind of offer the contract up in a specific way that might have been different than how they worked for the city before. But, uh, we've talked to them. They're excited to get started. uh they're looking forward to the work and uh we're confident they can do a good job. So with that, I'll stand for any questions the council might have. >> All right, any questions? >> No. >> Thank you. >> So the resolution is uh available for your consideration to receive the bids and award a contract. >> All right. I'll make a motion to adopt resolution 1767 accepting the bid and awarding the contract for the new Lions levy park pedestrian bridge replacement. >> I'll second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All right. I would just like to add um I want to thank Representative Rick Hansen for working with me on this um and um getting us this money. um it's going to be very helpful in taking care of that island and manicuring it and maintaining it a lot better. And uh as far as the concerns, we're not sure, but we're we're looking into and I'm looking into with some others on it this muscle thing. Um if there has to be a relocation, could we potentially get some other monies and some other grants to maybe offset some of those costs depending upon whether we're going to go over budget or not? Not. But we're looking and we're hoping. So, um I think it's going to be a good thing. And once again, just want to thank Representative Rick Hansen for all his assistance on this and and [clears throat] making sure that we can get this done. So, and thank you, Morgan. >> Lots to do yet, but thank you. >> All right. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Motion carries 5. >> All right. And item number B, Nate Sparks, 940 Hastings. Good evening, honorable Mr. Mayor, honorable members of the council, honorable members of the audience, and honorable members of the public watching at home through the marvels of modern technology. What we have before you this evening is 940 Hastings, a conditional use permit. That property uh used to be the Sims uh office building warehouse and you used to be able to go there and buy stuff from them. It had been purchased by Evident Health Care, a behavioral health company where they provide offsite treatment to uh people uh for chemical dependency and other uh behavioral health issues. Uh there is the area of the building however that was a large storage area that was used by Simics before them that's currently not really used by the current owner. It's a old like kind of um warehouse type addition onto the building. And they applied for a conditional use permit seeking to convert that portion of the the behavioral health center into uh a banquet hall where they would host uh dances, events, just like any sort of uh banquet rental facility. And so it'd be about half the building would be converted to that type of use. Now, that triggered a whole amount of other things that would have to happen because then you're adding that to the facility, which means you have to add more parking and they were working out some of those details. We held a public hearing at the planning commission meeting back in November. At that meeting there was a large number of people who lived across the street and large number like there was like six people here who lived across the street. Large number for the scale of one of our planning commission public hearings I guess. Um who were complaining about how the facility was already operating prior to getting the approval and how they could hear the noise and everything from it and it would go really late into the night. And so the planning commission tabled it to try to gain a better understanding of what was going on. And it had another hearing where some of the uh concepts were addressed that were being discussed. And then it [clears throat] was set to come to council. And then the u operator of the potential operator of the facility uh had requested that it be delayed until now. And in the meantime, the city adopted a new ordinance around banquet halls that capped the number of visitors at 200 and uh capped the hours of operation to be end at midnight. It's part of a code update that touched on several other topics as well in the BC zoning district where this is allowed. [sighs] And with those changes, uh, the applicant has indicated that they're not sure that their facility, the way that they had, um, envisioned it would work and they want to take a step back and reook at everything. And with that, um, I guess that kind of brings us up to date on the whole thing where we had presented this to you with some options to approve or possibly deny the request. The denial would be based on the fact that there were some things with the plans that were not completely meeting code requirements and that they did not indicate that they were uh going to operate in the manner that your code requires. And then the approval would be just on condition that they fix the things that's wrong with their plans and have to operate by the ordinance because that's the only way you allow someone to operate a business like that by code. Right? So those were the options we were set to discuss. But then the applicant has now indicated that they want to withdraw the application, re-evaluate what they want to do and then perhaps reapply in the future. Now, if they were to come back, we would be again talking to them about how are we making sure that the noise doesn't impact the neighbors because it's a residential neighborhood right across the street. So, that's a concern. how they can fit everything that they need to fit on the site and how their building plans uh would fit with the uh cap on the number of visitors and hours of operation that they would consent to and promise to operate in that manner. So, those would still be the things that we'd be looking at if they came back, but as it stands now, they've withdrawn the application. So, as of now, you do not need to do anything other than just accept that withdrawal and and then we can uh close this application proceeding up and then uh wait for them to reapply. So, if you have any questions for me on that, uh that's kind of the history of how we got here. Um, you know, there's a time frame by which you're required to act on an application by state law and we're pretty much out of time on that. It expires later this month and we gave oursel enough buffer to where we could go to the next council meeting if need be, like if there was some issue, but we have to be done with it generally right around now. And so the applicant was asked, "If you're not ready to do this, just withdraw and then reapply later." and that's what they've decided to do. >> All right. Thank you, Nate. >> Any questions for Nate? >> Um, could you tell me what happens in the meantime? Um, there was, um, some examples of them operating even without the COP. Um, is there anything that prevents that from happening between now and whatever time they should, if they decide to reapply? Well, technically, um, it would be illegal for them to operate without the cup, but it's also not legal for them to operate in that facility cuz it is a storage area. There's occupancy classifications for different types of buildings. Uh, so when you have like a storage building, you're not allowed to host events or turn it into a restaurant, put tables in there and serve people because there's fire code and building code requirements. Like you got to have the right exiting, you got to have fire suppression, these things that you may not need to have in a storage area, but you're required to have in an area where people assemble. And those things were never done to the building. So it was technically not legal for them to be operating in that manner which was a great deal of the conversation at the planning commission meeting as Mr. Conrad remembers that being the liaison to the planning commission. And so if there were to be events happening there, there would be something that the would be just like any other zoning and building code and fire code violation and that we would be as a city within our rights to step in and they could receive a ticket. They could we could take uh an action through the zoning ordinance. Any type of means of code enforcement that uh would the city administrator and city council would like to do, we could do in in that aspect. >> Okay. >> What about what about the parking? >> What about the parking? Because the parking, you know, I drove by it that one day. I mean, it I mean, there were so many cars, but it's a county road. Is that something that the county is going to have to >> Well, with the parking, so another thing is is like buildings are required to provide a certain amount of parking based on the use of the building. So, our parking lot here at city halls based on it being an institutional government building, but if I were to buy this from the city and turn it into my nightclub, it's going to have a different parking demand requirement. So, I'd have to add a bunch more parking to the site. And if I can't figure out a way to do it, I'm not allowed to use it for that. Right. >> Okay. >> So, with what they were proposing to do, the type of use that they wanted to put in that storage area, because a storage area is like one parking stall per,000 square ft, but the use that they wanted to put in there was a hybrid of one per 80 and one per 40 square ft. So, as you can see, that's quite a bit more parking required than what would have otherwise been. And so what they were going to do is on the side of the building, uh, they were going to put in another parking lot. And that parking lot was going to hold a significant number of cars. And one of the things the planning commission had been discussing with them was that no matter how they had configured it, they were a couple parking stalls short. So, they needed to figure out a way to either reduce the size of the event space or increase the size of the parking lot. And based on some of the comments from the county where they have three access points and we're going to have to go down to two. It is likely that those parking stalls were going to come from where that third access point was going to be removed, which is likely how that would have worked out. But we hadn't gotten to that point yet with the applicant. So they would have had to provide off- streetet parking on site and then if there were issues with too many cars parking in the street it would have been signed no parking there. >> Thank you. >> All right Mr. Mayor Swinson >> question. This might not be for Nate might be for but generally in businesses like this there's a quite a abundance of adult beverages served. um now would they be requiring a liquor license? Would they be requiring an event uh permit every time they had an event? How would that work? And and let me follow the last question is is let's say we have more activities that are unlicensed there and they are selling beverages. What would be the penalty for that? >> Um mayor councel um uh excellent questions. Um right now the building is placarded that they cannot have any assemblies. Uh and any tampering with the signage is is a violation. In addition to the penalties and sanctions that um Nate had had mentioned uh as well. Um uh there are a plethora of liquor law violations. Should they provide or uh share or distribute uh alcohol um in in the premises as it currently is placarded uh for no assembly. Um and I have had conversations with um uh the owner of the property and uh they assure me although we did have some events there previously that uh no events would be going on until um their process has has played out through um through through the actions with the council. Okay. [clears throat] But would they if if it was an ongoing concern, would they require a liquor license or again would they be in every week getting an event permit? >> [clears throat] >> uh Nate would probably have the nuance of that better better than I, but they they would have to um in my opinion get a liquor license if they were going to uh sell it themselves. If they were going to have somebody to cater it, then I think that falls into the permitting uh process. So, it kind of depends on how they would go about doing that. So, um, >> yeah, with the there's a thing called a caterer's permit where somebody who holds a liquor license can cater event and serve the liquor from the place where they hold their license in another location, which would be likely what they would do if they didn't have a liquor license. And when you do one of those, the caterers required to notify the police department of the jurisdiction where the event is going to be hosted and tell them that they're coming and doing that in advance of the event. So there wouldn't be an opportunity to circumvent that uh because we would be notified of it as the city and otherwise they would have to pursue a liquor license which would be something that would be brought to the council at that time that if they ever were to get this approval that they could pursue that and that would be something that you could consider with that. Uh but you know, absent the change in classification of the building and the cup, there's really nothing no uh type of service that they would be legally allowed to do. >> Thank you. >> All right. Any more discussion? So, we need a motion to >> Yeah, it might be just a good idea just a motion to accept the applications withdrawal as of today's date and then >> I move that we accept the application to withdraw for 940 Hastings for the CUP. >> I'll second it. >> All right, I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Motion carries 5. Thank you, Nate. All right, reports from the council. Council member Hagerty, public works. >> Public works commission. Uh, our next meeting uh is scheduled for March 3rd at 6 p.m. So, make sure you come on down before then uh and just give us more details on what you're looking for, Gary. All right, cool. And then, uh, we still need one more member, uh, for public works as well. also come down and apply uh to be on public works. >> Thank you, Council Member Hagerty. Council member Swansson, public safety. >> Thank you, Mayor. Nothing new to report since our last meeting. Public safety is uh scheduled to meet this or March 5th, Thursday at 6:00 here at city hall, and we're looking for people to come join us. Also, >> thank you, Council Member Swanson. Council member Conrad, planning. We had no meeting in January and our next meeting is at 700 p.m. on February 9th here at city hall. >> Thank you, Council Member Conrad. Council member Whit Hamson, parks and wreck. >> Um at our last meeting, we talked about um our garden again. We're we got some grants that Monica in the front office helped us get. So, we have some beds that we have ordered and they'll be delivered. Um, we're still waiting to have Winterfest and hopefully a sledding sledding day. We just will notify you when we when we get some snow or it's not so cold. And our next meeting has changed from the 12th to the 11th of February. And that's it. >> All right. Thank you, Council. Brad Hemingson. Um, yeah, I don't really have much to add. met with uh Commissioner Bingham and our neighboring mayors. Um kind of went over a bunch of shared interests and what we're all kind of dealing with and going through and then kind of making some plans coming up over the next year. Um we do that annually. Uh also been in contact with our state legislators um kind of about what our needs and agendas might be going forward. Um working with Hugo on several different things. Um I think we have some meetings coming up with the refinery um and some other things just kind of touch base on some issues. So just the usual. Um so yeah that's all that I got. Item number five comments and requests. Anybody have anything else this evening? Do not >> No. All right. Nothing more before this council this meeting's adjourned.