##VIDEO ID:ouMm56GTHHs## e [Music] [Music] good evening welcome to the September 3rd city council meeting if you join me for a moment of silence in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to stand indivisible andice for okay mrki roll call please Michelle vul here Luke kellier here John John burmel here Dan Walter Joshua Lee okay uh we'll now move on to item number three citizens comments and opportunity for anyone to address city council for up to three minutes okay anybody online by chance no okay moving on uh additional agenda information Mr Miller mayor we're going to be asking that you remove item 6 E from the agenda uh this is an agreement uh related to Hass and that needs to go to the arena board first Okie do and with that we'll move on to item five presentations introductions and we'll turn it over to our Parks and Rec director Joe Macy Arin for the parks and wreck quarterly report good evening uh excited to uh give you my first presentation as the Parks and Recreation director and we'll start with uh Administration uh so talking about some of the things that we've been working on in the department uh starting with Grand Prairie Park construction uh so Grand Prairie Park construction uh has been running uh All Summer Long uh the schedule continues to shift though due to the weather uh there have been significant soil Corrections and Grading uh that's been completed and the uh main building footings were installed last week uh we anticipate that the grandstand building footings will go in in mid-september and the field support building will go in in mid October uh staff has been preparing though for the opening of that facility which will come in phases partially in 2025 partially in 2026 uh but in preparation for that um we have been working on policies for the splash pad and our staff have already gone through uh some of the training for the splash pad itself uh a certification that's required to run that which is a 5-year certification uh so they'll have to renew that every every five years and three of our staff have gone through that already uh staff has also been working on the planning and design for Voyager Park um so we've been working with srf on that design uh for the design and specifications for the park that's a new neighborhood park uh that'll open um in 2025 or we'll go into Construction in 2025 and that's at uh the Voyager Farms development some of the park amenities that are being considered would be a small sledding hill shelter playground half basketball court all of that is still kind of in review and uh the recreation staff have been uh doing quite a few Park tours this summer a lot of new facilities have come online in the past few years so we've been visiting those parks and park amenities including the North Creek Greenway uh Grand Pre Park construction site uh the Knob Hill Park Pinnacle Reserve Park and spy glass Park uh that's phase one phase two will be coming out online in the next year or two and we've been working to familiarize staff uh with those Park facilities and assets so that they can better answer questions from residents and uh handle reservations and those types of things moving on to park maintenance itself uh it's been a busy summer for them obviously with antlers Park coming online uh staff supported 224 shelter rentals in June July and August uh 37 rentals at the John henon Pavilion during that same time frame uh and aside from that we've been working to respond to the usage of the park so looking at increasing the number of receptacles for trash and recycling in the park um working on new parking control measures and then this fall we'll be working on uh an adjusted Ada access ramp as well as doubling the number of bike racks that are in the park uh needless to say and as you all know it's been a a busy uh facility for us this year uh summer operations though for the the park staff continue to be busy uh this year they striped an estimated up 101 athletic decks um keeping those um maintained throughout the season and also working on uh quite a number of tournaments including the Father's Day cup the last call at Kenwood and Grand Slam uh Park maintenance has also been working on uh quite a few special events including Pana prog um so panag this year they assisted with prep for beer BRS and& Bingo uh the ping pong ball drop the Fourth of July fireworks the art show and quite a few other events that are held in the community uh they also assisted with site prep for Taste of Lakeville and uh in two weeks they'll be working on prep for for the art festival and moving on to Recreation uh again a busy summer um so this year in total uh there were 3,383 registrations that's 27 New programs uh some of the most popular programs though include rev sports with uh 783 participants the tennis program 247 pickle ball lessons uh 81 and then the Puppet Wagon which is not represented in the registration total uh over 3,000 attend uh we track that at every stop each day and uh it's been quite a summer for that uh that program uh the nature programs at Ritter there's been quite a nice increase there as well uh so this year 20 new programs at that site um so at the ELC uh that's a 35% increase over 2023 uh 449 registrations and some of the new popular programs that were held this year included uh Nature's Classroom series Raptors hunters from above and herbology not just for wizards uh and speaking again about the Edo environmental Learning Center uh we've been working with the communication staff and environmental resources staff on a new campaign on social media to help boost the visibility of that facility uh focusing on the fact that it is now a year- round facility there's a whole new series of programs that are being developed and right now that's being marketed towards uh people 30 and older uh the first month that that campaign campaign ran we reached uh 23,000 views of the campaign around 610 clicks to the website and the second month around 26,000 views and 572 clicks to the site it's one of those ways that we're trying to track connection to registration it's a really nice way for us to be able to get more advertising out for those new programs in the facility and be able to track how our marketing dollars are spent as it relates to uh registrations and for adult athletics this year a total of 306 teams up 204% over 2023 uh that increase is primarily due to uh the return of the sand volleyball um that uh was on pause last year while antlers Park was being reconstructed as well as an increase in pickle ball uh this year though 232 teams for pickle ball sand volleyball 51 teams Bachi uh nine and softball 14 and moving on to the art center uh so as you know the art center staff over see the live at the lake series the concert series that's held at casperson Park uh that series ran uh for 12 weeks starting on June 12th there were 12 performances actually 24 performance groups there's two per day uh 15 food vendors and in August this year they did a test run on a new beer and wine sale um that actually went quite well um they did uh we're pleasantly surprised on how that went uh but the intention is to run that as part of the series for all 12 weeks next year and ultimately the funding for that goes directly back into the series as a way for us to increase the quality of the performers offset additional performance fees those types of things program numbers for the art center were really phenomenal this year it was and I'm sorry 30 new programs uh were offered this summer 157% increase over uh 2023 total participant registrations 1,298 and they ran programs uh like Gap care providing uh care between the programs so you could drop off in the morning pick up in the evening the pottery programs which continue to be incredibly popular uh 48 sessions that's an all-time record uh 441 participants and the performing art programs um those are the theater programs 418 par participants excuse me uh so the summer program Trends though are um quite impressive as well uh I'll point out the 2023 and 2024 figures uh in 2023 there were 750 unique participants uh the previous number was uh taking into account that multiple families register for multiple sessions so 715 participants 75,000 in Revenue in those three months of their programming 2024 847 uh participants and uh 177,000 in Revenue so a a decent jump this was really all contributed to the fact that we now have the Fine Arts Building they were able to increase the amount of u performances and the number of classes run in the performing arts building so this was expected but it was good to see that it uh came to fruition the art center also manages the uh Operational Support Grant through the Minnesota state Arts board uh they just completed the third year of reporting on that Grant um so that would have been from July of 2023 through June of 2024 uh and according to those numbers uh 658 teachers and performers so that it counts every uh Youth and adult that participates as a performer in our series as well as all of the instructors uh 24,000 uh participants in uh the visual arts and Performing Arts programs unestimated 5500 of those are ages 0 to 18 and this year's a grant award which uh started in July was the highest that we've received from the state Arts board at 9,969 the art center staff also oversaw the installation of three community art pieces uh one being at the Fine Arts building one being in the antlers Park roundabout and one on the John henon Pavilion uh so those are up and visible for the community all year round there is an interactive art map through the art Center's website that you can view all of Lakeville public art um and that's a great place to find more information on all of [Music] these uh we'd also ask you to save the date the Lakeville Art Festival as I said is coming in two weeks uh so September 21st and 22nd that again features uh 100 more than 100 jured artists uh community art project youth art tent uh art instructor demos live music food and beverage vendors uh but that's always a great event to see Lakeville showcase its uh support for the Arts and on to our active adults uh our outdoor groups and clubs uh well first uh current membership really hit an all-time record this year um to date we're at 1,520 members at the Heritage Center uh but for those outdoor groups and clubs uh that includes bot ball um bean bag uh The bicing Club at 73 participants uh Golf Club at 178 um motorcycle club pickle ball uh and walking Club again though you can see the popularity of pickle ball with uh 258 participants registered and as far as other programs and events at the Heritage Center uh that would include the diamond dots uh paint and take uh puzzle palooza the Lakeville luncheons ice cream social and peach perfect Comedy Hour uh but quite a variety of activities that are being offered at that facility at all days uh all hours of the day and also using quite a few of our other facilities for some of these and just looking ahead uh make sure to keep an eye out for the Belgian waffle breakfast fundraiser that'll be October 13th uh that's uh managed and run by the Heritage Center staff uh the haunted forest Festival which is October 26th that is managed by the the uh Recreation staff and then the uh annual holiday art sale which is December 5th through the 7th that's run by the art center staff and with that I'll stand for any questions uh Council any questions com yeah Dan um not a question a comment I'm just astounded by the numbers so kudos to you and and and the team there um you know for me this these programs were kind of a hidden treasure just when I started on the council because I didn't know much about them but clearly a thousand of people participating they're not that hidden so um good work thank you I just had a quick question about the advertising and marketing is that just focused on Lakeville or are we trying to reach people outside of Lakeville yes and if so have you talked to visit Lakeville about partnering on doing some promotion we haven't talked to visit Lakeville that's a good thought uh we uh started by partnering with environmental using some funds that they have available and uh no it is uh we set a 25 mile radius from the facility is what we set okay uh and the marketing is really GE geared at this point to females 30 and above is how it was designed um and we thought we'll in these next few months continue to keep an eye on how that's going and if we're reaching residents outside of the area so very good thank you appreciate it exciting thank you you okay uh moving on to item six the consent agenda is there any comment about any issue that we want to address not I'll take a motion to approve the consent agenda minus item E I move to approve the consent agenda minus item me okay is there a second second any further discussion about the items on the consent agenda okay seeing none all those in favor say I I I opposed we have passed the consent agenda now move on to item 7A public hearing and resolution adopting assessments for unpaid special charges and that is our instructor Julie stall for the presentation good evening thank you Mr Mayor um the first item here is something that we do the city does to minimize our losses due to bankruptcy and that is assessing the unpaid special charges this is allowable by State Statute and therefore we do have to follow those procedures um part of the procedures is public notice of the hearing so that was mailed to the customers who were delinquent posted on the city website and also published in the newspaper um the certification process this year was a little different we had to move it up a month which created some issues but it also saved a lot of manual processes what drove this was our Erp implementation our software implementation moving to that new software in October um and then to minimize the amount of manual labor in between we had to move the certification process up a month what that meant for a lot of utility customers a lot more people received the letter so so um for instance the the cycle one which is the largest portion the bills were um mailed out May 31st and they had till June 27th to pay the bill um we had to in order to get the Letters Out by July 15th there was less of a grace period they could they could be late just a little bit and they could be a late even up to July 14th but um in order to get those letters mailed out to do the this whole certification process we had to be really tight with our time frame so that did create a little bit there's more um the number of accounts that got certified for utility billing is up and you could see that in your um packet we are up to $97,300 utility accounts compared to last year which we had 893 accounts so it is up um and it does represent like 6% of the utility customers however they do have um and they did have until August 16th to pay the bill and be removed from this list that got put in the council packet um so this these lists that are in the packet are still the ones that had not paid up until or after that had not paid before the August 16th date um so in addition to the utility bills we've got the false alarms and the nuisance charges those numbers um also a little bit up and actually well the nuisance abatements are up um so we're at $2,078 with eight um number the count on those the false alarms are actually down um a little bit from last year's so a total of $424 with four accounts being affected um after we do this public hearing if there's any comments or public can comment we will um ask the council to adopt this assessment rules and um residents still have until October 3rd to pay the assessment off and not pay or not incur any interest or pay any interest um they would still pay the $50 administration fee that we go through this whole process and what that covers um but after October 4th um and before November 30th they would only pay interest up to the date of payment at that point then we're having to certify it to the county and it goes on to the property taxes uh so with that I'll see if there's any questions from Council and then open it up for the public hearing okay any questions this is a public hearing so if you have a comment how is the time see none I'll take a motion to close the public hearing I'll move to close the public hearing there a second second all's in favor of closing the public hearing say I I I name opposed motion prevails uh any further discussion about this otherwise I will take a motion I move to approve the resolution adopting assessments for the unpaid special charges is there a second second any further discussion Joshua thank you for walking us through the timeline because I think at first glance the move a month early seems like a lot but the opportunity to pay these without uh additional charges and fees well I should say without interest um is helpful to know so so thank you for outlining that specifically okay and with that roll call please vul hi helier hi bural I Walter I Lee I okay and now we'll move on to Item B resolution approv approving the preliminary 2025 property tax levy and preliminary 2025 budget and Miss doall is still on Deck thank you Mr Mayor uh as we went through with council at the work session last week uh we have got a budget and Levy that we are asking to be adopted at this preliminary setting this is the budget um that would then set the the amounts that are on the notices that go mailed out to Property Owners um in November so keeping that in mind tonight we can only decrease the the levy from this point forward we cannot increase it um we keep it flat or decrease it so with that just noting um we are looking at our overall Levy increase going up 12% um so the amount of the total Levy is 48,8 15,50 the general fund portion of the levy increase is 8% and that's uh roughly $ 32,9 77 we do have our our debt and our Park referendum levies and the park Le Park referendum debt alone was 2.4% of the 12% increase so um the amount of those levies is 12,773 th000 the remaining 3 million um that makes up the rest of the levy is for our Trail improvements pavement management technology and our Park Improvement fund so um just touching on some of the key points of what drove the budget this year we are meeting our growing cities demands and we have the fire department model changed to adding more full-time so we were adding another six full-time firefighters uh we had um added six uh three captains and three full full-time firefighters last year um so recognizing that full year now in 2025 of those initial six and adding now another six full-time fire um also uh continuing to support our Police Department in those Patrol positions we did add one Cadet uh we got a grant for $50,000 to help pay for the training of that Cadet who would then move into a patrol position after they complete all their training so in addition to the public safety costs and just a note that those um the total Public Safety expenditures uh were a 133% increase from the 2024 budget so it's quite a significant investment in those services and much needed so um other than that we had a 3% cost of living adjustment on on wages um so overall our general funder expenditures went up 3.3% we are using zero of our fund balance reserves so no transfers out no supporting use of fund balance to have the balance budget and we are also keeping our fund balance rate IO at our at the top level so at the end of 2024 we're expected to have a 50% fund balance ratio of the 2025 expenditures and then forecasting at the end of 2025 uh 48.5% fund balance so still very high up in our our policy is 35 to 50% of fund balance reserves uh just another note for something that's new this year that a lot of our um homeowners will see and and right now so the median value home in Lakeville is 41,000 that falls right in the middle of what used to qualify for the Homestead market value exclusion the the limit used to be 43,800 for the market value for that exclusion now the state has bumped that up it's 517,000 um there's nothing anybody needs to do if their house Falls in within that range they'll just see that market value credit on their tax valuation just brings down the taxable market value of the property so there's just going to be more people realizing that again if they their house went above that $413,000 value for the last few years they wouldn't have seen a market value credit so again nothing they need to do but just something that they would notice excuse me notice on their property tax valuation um with that so if we're adopting the budget as it is tonight and the levy uh the residential impact on that Medium value home would be increase of $132 a year and that's the city portion of their property taxes um so with that I will gladly answer any questions that Council may have Council questions comments about the budget Joshua thank you um again a lot is packed into this um last week at our work session we asked for a decrease from that proposed budget by a percentage could you walk us through what changed from La what we saw last week and what we see this week yes um it's it's quite um easy to identify we um looked into the liquor fund as far as what it could um help transfer in instead of levying for so we increased the transfers from the liquor fund by 400,000 and reduce the levy ask by 400,000 that was a part of it um we are taking 200,000 out of debt service reserves um available um just to help instead of levying again it's not jeopardizing any Debt Service fund balances um they're still well above their 105% required minimum uh for the next year's principal and interest and then we reduce the building fund Levy by 100,000 we s some ability to have some savings there so those uh that 700,000 was the decrease in the levy amount from the work session very good thank you other comments well I um I just like to say I want to extend my gratitude to all the directors and to the administration for putting together a very thoughtful budget you know obviously with uh challenging economy things it makes things uh certainly between Cola and uh cost of health insurance going up and all those things and at the same time still maintaining uh all the critical infrastructure in our city public safety and then also thinking about the future so I appreciate that and I also thank you to the staff for taking the feedback we had at our work session as Joshua mentioned um on on scaling some of that increase back so I appreciate that um and with that I will take a motion to approve the resolutions and as a reminder to folks this is the maximum and we will set a final that cannot be greater than the 12.05 later this year Joshua move to approve resolution establishing the preliminary 2025 property tax levy and preliminary 2025 budget and setting the budget public hearing to be held on Monday December 2nd 2024 at 6 p.m in the council chambers okay is there a second okay any further discussion about the preliminary Levy and budget yeah Dan um I just want I to me this is still too high um I understand that this is the highe this is the process you set the the high part and then you work for a couple months to bring it down uh and and hope things align so that we have more more liquor fund or or other things happen um I I you know just talking to people people are struggling um with the cost of living and I'd like to think that the city of Lakeville would not um add to that um through this however I mean as Julie pointed out the um um to me the the the public safety which for me is a top priority those costs are significant they are a meaningful investment it's you know at the doors that I'm at that's what I hear from people that they um that is a that's a priority for the for the public as well and um so I think this is um this is appropriate so thank you thank you John yeah I just uh this really uh presents a tension between wanting to keep it as low as possible I appreciate the uh the drop down to the 12.05 and you guys did a lot of hard work uh to meet that um but Public Safety is also a priority and so I look at this and I I for me it's it's always you know what do we do is this reasonable and I do believe it's reasonable I believe a number of our our citizens that I've talked to understand that investment and that uh it's a worthwhile investment and I think people appreciate the transparency I really appreciate it hearing how the different parts of this live when you hear one number it's like whoa and then you hear what that consists of and it's starts to make a little more sense and become more reasonable so I I wish it were lower uh but I think there's an e economic reality at play here and so we appreciate the hard work to uh to keep this reasonable um and and to uh also help to preserve uh our cash balance and that impacts our bond rating and all that so I think you guys have have done really well other comments okay with that roll call please bermill I Walter I Lee bulk I heler I thank you thank you um we'll move on to eight and N unfinished a new business see none and uh announcements next city council meeting is Monday September 26th and our next work session is Monday September 23rd and with that I will take a motion to adjourn it's all moved second all those in favor say I I post we're adjourned [Music] [Music]