##VIDEO ID:H0Wf_atT7-8## e e e e e e e e e okay welcome to the Tuesday September 17th 2024 uh Nisa regular council meeting if you all please rise and join me the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge of aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the rep stand one nation under God indivisible withis thank you very much okay first item on our agenda is to approve the amended version three agenda Mr May I'll make a motion to approve the amended agenda as presented I'll second all those in favor I I approved next item is the consent calendar these are things that will uh are just considered General regular day in day out work if anyone is it'll all be done in one vote so if there's aren't any questions I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda Mr Mayor I so move second all those in favor I oppose carried open form this is an opportunity for anyone from the public that wishes to uh speak to the council about any item that's not on the agenda um to come forward and do so if you have a question about something on the agenda we'll definitely give you time at when that item comes up to uh to speak ask that comments be kept to five minutes please open form is open is there anyone present for seeing none we'll close open form second item under open form is the spirits of nisma annual presentation Brian thank you Mr Mayor and Council what's Spirits in this in the retail business it's been a little bit of a challenge this year but we found ways that we feel that we are really thriving and I I feel we're over over um producing according to other liquor stores and first of all the best way is with a great staff literally I've been with city of nah for 10 years now by far not even close this is the best staff we've ever had and it is so much fun we have some business people up there when you have good staff going to work is a lot more fun with Josh and Mary as support with um with management every one of us has different strengths Mary strength is she's a rule follower this this this and this and Josh his computers and is managing the staff and I'm an outside the box thinker and looking at the future I think that system works really well and pretty every one of our staff enjoys working and then when they come there they have fun that is pretty much one of my main goals is to make sure that people come to work they feel valued they feel safe and they have a good time and they get their job done and if we can do all those things hey it's it's a fun time so looking at sales if we look at I'd like to go back to 2021 and we were up 140,000 about in sales and our numbers are going to go up and down depends on what the economy is doing unfortunately we did have a pandemic that affected everything so in 2022 it seemed like things kind of balanced off a little bit people are realizing hey we have to get back to the way we normally live so our sales did drop a little bit in there was almost $50,000 but then you look at 2023 we just had a banner year and one of the main reasons besides the sap there is we had a fantastic summer every weekend and every day last year was just record heat and people drink more and they had more fun out on the Lakes when it is hot so I would like to say um you know the weather had a big big impact on the $142,000 increase now this year we have a $25,000 decrease and this is is I want to point this out this is just a snapshot in time because when I did the report that is in everybody's um packets our sales and our our sales were up at the end of August our sales were up but this is a 35 week so it covers one more weekend in there so I don't like to get too bogged down on if the numbers are up 15,000 down 20,000 because it depends on when that weekend fell and um what was going on on that weekend so right now we are $25,000 down like I said but um I don't get concerned at all about that the number I always like to really look at is the end of the year number if we go to the next slide our customer count so once again it goes all over the board and if you look at 2021 to 2024 this is called a customer count for the year now we don't count every customer that comes in obviously but what we do is we look at transactions and there's a lot of times somebody will come in and they forget ice or they forget a a bottle a pop or whatever the situation is so that's another transaction but from 2021 to 2024 approximately about 2,000 less transactions in there the thing that um that I look at is um if well I'll get to that I just got to hold um hold off a little bit over the last literally um six years we've hovered around 28% and this year has increased it up to 28 typically we're at 27.6 on an average and this year every month we've been hovering around 28.6 so that's one extra percent and what I look at that and it really makes me smile because we gross about 28% but we net about 8% and if we can increase that by 1% that's a big deal so our average sales per customer H if you look at it in 2021 it was $34 and right now we're at $38 it's about a 15% increase actually I would like to see that number a little higher because the inflation that we've had over the last few years we're I don't think we're gaining a lot in that area but we're holding our own so one of the things that I really like to do is get out into other liquor stores and we were looking at um expanding this year so I was in a lot of stores nor normally I get out to um quite a few of them throughout the year but I would say this year it's quadrupled that amount in the stores that I went out and visited and looked for what they're doing I always say if I if somebody comes in our store and they see what we're doing and they copy me I'm like great I'm doing something right well it's the same way if I go into a different store and I see what they're doing and if they're doing something good and I can copy it hey good for us type thing but with the non-alcohol segment people are trying to be a little healthier they're trying to be um if you're like myself you get a little older you can't handle alcohol as much it affects you so you're just trying to um figure out way is to fit in and enjoy a party atmosphere so we feel that um the alcohol section has really grown and we have people come in they ask where our non-alcohol products are and we show them they're like wow this is the best section that I've seen even even in the cities so we feel that it really brings people in we're fitting we're um filling that Niche area right there and to be real honest a lot of stores do not have the space that we do for na because they have taken a lot of their space and they put it into THC products we don't sell THC products so we were able to capture a different category that is growing the other Trend that um is out there and it's been going since 2015 16 is the ready to drinks rtds started off with white claw The Malt base and then they moved into Spirit base and with Spirit paste the leader in the category is High Noon our sales rep said we are by far his best account and he thinks that we we probably in the top five accounts if you would take out the huge chains like Total Wine in the cities we're probably in the top five accounts for High new granted we do live in Lake Country people love to take those things out in their boat or um whatever camping situation they're in so the point probably that I should be making is it is an area that we can thrive in and we definitely are so this is what this is the firemen fundraiser Terry is pretty much the champion of this and Sean and Terry they've came to me this year and they probably did last year too but we didn't jump on the bandwagon so this is our first year help out with the nwell fire department fundraiser and we raised $5,700 in a little over two weeks typically in the past we just asked for a dollar amount from our customers this year Josh said hey let's try something different let's just ask them how much they want to donate and if you look at we had 1683 donations and we got $ 55700 so obviously that has worked very well and we will take that strategy into the future we want to do something with parks and wreck and um next year we'll do the firemen again but I really see that that was a success letting people decide how much they want to donate some people just rounded up some people gave $20 so what we have here this is probably brand new to everybody but we were just looking at ways that we can support parks and wreck and with the liquor store we obviously we lower the levy by a decent amount but we still have money at the end of the year and I have a couple sheets here so if I look at last year and um in 2023 in December after we paid all our bills paid all the wages and gave our amount that we like to give to the city and contributed to our Capital funds we had 110,000 left over the year before I believe it was 220,00 I would like the council to think about this or if they want to decide tonight which I doubt you will but um we're a deal where we can go to our vendors go to our suppliers and say hey we would like you to contribute to the campaign that we have in nisah for parks and wreck for our community which if our community thrives the liquor Source thrives and that'll help them also but um hypothetically if we could have $100,000 at the end of the year this is if we have that amount in our budget or if we have this amount on profit after paying everything we could take a $100,000 and ask our vendors to match that in one form or another we could give a decent amount back to parks and W now that would be like a one example if another one that was running through my mind going back to 2023 if we take once again we paid all of our bills everything and we in 2023 we had $110,000 it'd be nice if we could say we're going to take 50% of that or a certain percentage of that and give it to Parkson W I know a lot of other cities do this where they buy fire trucks and um police cars and different things where it would be really cool if we could tell customers coming in yeah we take this money we lower the levy and then we take 50% of that and we help out parks and wreck to um help our community out there so it's a brand new thought for you guys and um something for you to think about we have a little bit of time until the end of the year obviously so promotional videos if anybody hasn't seen them it's um it's backyard humor we like to just do um just do something kind of offthe wall funny Josh um we were actually going to have some sample ones but we we I emailed it wrong to um Kiki so she didn't have those but um Josh had this one where he had an imaginary employee called bardy and we were giving away this board and you can jump on her site on her um Facebook page and look at those because it's hilarious and then him and I we did one with Grain Belt giving away a boat we didn't give the boat away but Green Belt was it was just a fun one we went out to the lake and we called ay 12pack of beer out of the lake if you can go to the next slide please so Taste of the holidays that has always been a very successful event and we plan on doing that again this year people ask us about it all year long one of the ways that we decided to try to get not that we necessarily need a lot more people there but we'll always take more is if somebody's really in interested in wine I I ask them hey do you live in area do you come up in the winter time and what we do is we get their name and phone number we're going to send them out a text reminder a month before and the week of and that way they can put it on their calendar if they want to partake in that event or not our Learning Management platform throughout the summer we definitely have to put that on hold because we just don't have time I always like to say the summer months is when we make make a lot of our money and at survival mode so we don't do a lot in that but coming up in our off seon Josh will be working a lot more on the Learning Management platform for us it's really important that our staff and ourselves that we know about product and know how to explain it to them what is the difference between a Shard and a unok A Shard that's at an age in Oak one that's been um buttery and there's a lot of areas that um is's more knowledge out there than we will ever learn and we just have to strive to learn a little bits of it every day thank you very much I am definitely here to answer any questions anyone questions for Brian I don't see any thank you Brian very much appreciate it okay uh next is reports City administrator thank you mayor good evening city council uh my report is in your packet I would just like to highlight a few things um you might have noticed kind of from the number of City projects listed we've got a lot going on right now which is great um there was an article on housing from the Coalition of Greater Minnesota cities that I thought you would find interesting it's about some surveys that were conducted during the State Fair and just gives you a sense of maybe some feedback that the Coalition was receiving from uh you know or the the house and the Senate were receiving from um constituents and uh Minnesota residents throughout that so I just thought it was interesting as I'm sure with the new session upcoming we will be once again talking about housing so I wanted to provide that information to you um I have met I met virtually um about a week ago with um staff from the University of Minnesota extension regarding the city's local option sales tax report uh they are finalizing that and we are planning on presenting that to the council in November I think that will be great information for the city to have um if and when the legislature lifts the moratorium if the city wants to pursure something pursue something like a local sales tax it will be great information and data for us to utilize with that uh just reminder on a handful of things you might have noticed on your agenda at the end as well that there are a lot of um really good public meetings throughout the different departments that are upcoming in the next couple of months so one of them is the workshop that the council will have in October with mindat so they are going to come and bring updated plan sets for the council to review for you to give feedback and input on if they work towards finalizing that project on October 3rd the Parks Commission will have an information session with the brander Lakes Area Community Foundation and Amber will be presenting about the parks plan and the foundation will present information about how to participate in um that project we have that we're developing uh there is an open house that the police department is hosting on October 15th from 5: to 7: so if you want to come before the meetings you can go check out the open house and then come to our meetings later that evening and then there are a CP couple of important upcoming meetings for Public Works uh one there will be a presentation on October 30th regarding City infrastructure planning um into the future as we start to kind of align all of these projects that we are looking to do and talking about sewer roads City Water potentially things like that and then there is a public information meeting for the 2025 Road Bond on November 27th so um I would be happy to send calendar invites for council members and feel free fre to accept them if you'd like to have them just as placeholders so just know that will be coming so you'll have that available to you I will that is all I have otherwise I will stand for questions thank you questions for the city administrator no okay uh next would be City attorney hello everyone I don't have anything here but I'm involved in other things down the agenda okay city engineer hello everyone um I guess I've been working on the downtown master plan with our landscape architect and um basically with the city and a pretty good team of people that we have involved in that um also working on the 2025 Road bom project um so where we're at is uh go State one call has been notified they've located they should have located almost all of the utilities our Sur crews are going to be getting out there soon to locate the or do the topographical m maing of the roadways and hopefully start beginning the design as soon as we can after that thank you all right thank you um there's no questions for anyone um we'll start in on new business first item under new business is resolution approving preliminary 2024 tax levy collectible in 25 so Mr Mayor the amount per the council Direction at our Workshop uh reflect the 16.15% increase will be 3,950 369 do I have a motion I will entertain a motion Jenny when is the next uh scheduled what meeting uh will we be discussing this again next do get the second round great question we I think had a placeholder in November um we could certainly move that up if the council would like we have some workshops already scheduled so we might have to come up with a separate evening potentially but um any feedback the council has on how soon you'd like to revisit or would you like to give maybe a little time for staff to look at budgets for 24 I would suggest end of October maybe at the earliest just to let some of that play out but if you'd like to have we don't get into November on this schedule but if if November feels too late you could still have two workshops before the final Levy if you wanted to look at November I don't think to address anything right now okay however keep it on the radar that can change yeah yes okay per sentiment of the rest of the council so and I think again make sure council members give your feedback to staff if you're you're liaison to Department give your feedback to them you know find out what's going on you know what can or can't be done and you know so my only ask Jenny would be to provide us the actual updated information with the figures um the email whenever that time comes and then I think that can spark some questions individually and she can then again gauge sentiment to Warrant another Workshop okay uh but assuming that that's that uh Mr Maro Mr Mayor um make a motion that we approve the resolution for the preliminary 2024 tax City collectible on 25 at the 16.15% I'll second second any further discussion all those in favor say I I I oppose carried next item is set truth and Taxation me meeting date for December 17th 6: p.m. which I believe is the regular council meeting date just an hour earlier Mr Mar I'll make a motion to approve the set truth and Taxation meeting date on December 17 2024 at 6m I'll second all those in favor I oppos Carri um next item is approve the final Ada transition plan report this final report that is being presented reflects the information that was presented to the council last month in the information session there was no public comment received during that period of time that it was open um but it does outline um the city's goals the plans and how we will incorporate this into our future work and also outlines uh grievance procedure plan and how staff will address any questions or concerns that are brought to the city um but certainly happy to answer questions we do have Alex bitter here from WTH if you have more technical questions that's I I've I've got a question so I was just wondering they're talking about four ramps at the Paul bunion Trail South Clark Road and Clark Lake Road is wondering why are ramps being put in there when everything is flat there is no need for ramps at that area so when you say ped ramp is a very general term um it's more of a pedestrian fa facility uh what that is is it's sending traffic on a trail into public traffic so you need detectable warnings there to so visually impaired people can detect those warnings know that hey once I hit these uh truncated domes then I know that there's traffic coming perpendicular or in a direction they're usually lined up with the Doms so then that's I say ramp's a general term yes it's flat but it still has Landings it still has um typically curban gutter which is a portion of that ramp and then truncated domes yeah so there's no curb there's no G gutters there nothing okay so basically what you're saying is is if I happen to be visually impaired going down the trail I'd be able to hit something and know that the traffic is crossing right there okay yep techable warnings correct because if they were saying ramps actually to be put in there I would call that BS so I just wanted to have that clarified we use it as a general term okay that's all I have anyone else have question I'll entertain a motion I'll make a motion to approve the final 88 transition plan report as presented second any further discussion all those in favor I oppos carried thank uh next item is nisat Crossing's First Amendment to development agreement if I miss something the City attorney can mention it that might be relevant but uh we have a First Amendment to the development development agreement uh mainly due to the letter of credit that originally was set to expire at the end of August maybe September 1st and due to the extension that they did put in place for the letter of credit we have to amend this to reflect uh that new timeline essentially that's correct Tom uh yeah Jenny's background info and her Memo to you is is correct it's just um reflecting the fact that a large portion of that project is now built out the line of credit has been reduced incrementally as that's been built out over the last year um that development agreement that's revised now reflects how much work is left what the dollar amount is the line of credit from Riverwood Bank uh reflects that as well so it was just necessary to revise that original development agreement and the exhibit to it and that's what this is so nothing else has changed other than the dollar amount and the the the date well it's gone down yeah okay okay Mr I'll make a motion to approve the niswa crossings First Amendment to the development agreement as presented I'll second any further questions all those in favor say I I I approve opposed carried recommendation from building committee reference City Hall improvements F five please did I skip five oh I crossed out the wrong one sorry recommendation from Planning Commission reference city of nisah property purchase any required by Statute uh the city did present the proposed purchase to the city coun uh to the Planning Commission uh for its review and recommendation um as part of the overall process to meet statute guidelines so the Planning Commission did review the proposed plan that the council has been working on they did forward a recommendation to approve that uh certainly if you have further questions for myself or Steve our city planner be happy to entertain them otherwise this is just acknowledging that they have made a recommendation to approve it and the council can accept it okay anyone have any questions for a city planner okay I'll entertain a motion Mr May I'll make a motion to approve the recommendation from the Planning Commission regarding the city of nwah property purchase as presented I'll second any further discussion all those in favor say I I I opposed carried recommendation from the building committee reference City Hall improvements thank you so we have three recommendations for you tonight for consideration uh with respect to the City Hall Improvement project so uh witth has provided a proposal in the amount of $16,500 uh Mike angland would help facilitate construction documents um bidding with respect to just working with the selected contractor on um that process and ensuring all of that paperwork and documentation is complete and construction Administration um just assisting the city on on that end of it as well um approve the general contractor request for quotes using the gordian sourcewell procurement process that is attachment to it's basically a one-page RFQ that we would send to the um contractors who um have been approved as part of that gordian process to solicit interest and availability from them from there we would review the submissions and then um bring forward a recommendation to Council on which contractor we would like to proceed working with on this project and then there is a proposed project schedule to complete the improvements uh meeting the deadline of June 30th 20125 uh per the source ball Grant stipulations uh so with that I will um pause for questions Mike angland is here tonight as well if you have questions um for myself uh Mike or Tom is here as well any questions for none I will Rec I will entertain a motion I'll make a motion to approve the wood Seth contract the force do you want to take each item or you could do it as a set of items for the recommendation is that okay Tom yes so you can either approve all three recommendations or you can do one at a time I'm not sure with council member Hall if what you just make a motion to approve all three all three okay great also second any further discussion all those in favor I I opposed Carri seven a resolution calling for public hearings thank you um sorry for the couple additions to our agenda um been working with pfm and Taft who is our bond Council on the resolutions for two public hearings that we will schedule in October for our upcoming Bond issuance so the first one calls for a public hearing on the proposed property tax abatement Bond um that is a not to exceed amount of 2.3 million so the purchase price is 2.1 we're allowing for costs incurred for um legal engineering some of just the costs that we've been incurring so far so we're trying to wrap all that up together um certainly once that is finalized the more specific amount will be Det determined um but that is for the property tax uh property tax abatement bond for the property purchase and then the second resolution uh calls for the public hearing for the general obligation Capital Improvement PL Capital Improvement bonds for our city hall project at a cost not to exceed 550,000 that incorporates the wood Seth contract that you just approved leave some room for any additional funds and will be finalized uh before issuance of that Bond so both of these public hearings will be scheduled for October 15th your regular meeting date okay quick question did you say 500,000 or 550,000 550 so that accounts for administrative costs for the bond uh the WTH contract that was approved so it's just allowing that EXT for those fees and then as we finalize all of that again with the construction amount then we bring in a final cost for the bond that also take into account if we get into the project and we find out there's more damage inside there a little beit extra in there is that going to be something we tackle down the road at and when we find thing I think we all anticipate finding issues Behind the Walls that kind of stuff sure I I think we're we've well accounted for um that contingency but if in the event something major we'd probably have to talk about just some City and Reserve funds I don't anticipate that at this time um I think it would be um helpful mayor Ryan if we could just take each of those resolutions separately that'd be great yeah so uh I'll entertain a motion on resolution a calling for the public hearing on the proposed property tax abatement Mr Mayor I'll make a motion for the resolution calling for a public hearing on proposed ta property tax payment as presented second any further discussion all those in favor say I I I opposed carried second item is uh 7B resolution calling for a public hearing uh on the attention to issue General obligation boms Capital Improvement propos Capital Improvement project as for the City Hall so moved did I make okay I'll make the motion you make the second I'll second that then okay you took the words out of my mouth anyway um any further discussion all those in favor say I I I oppos carried um approv fees for the 2024 bond issue thank you um I wanted to as I received today the proposal from pfm the engagement letter excuse me uh for from pfm for the bond issuance um I thought I will probably likely also receive an engagement letter from Taft law Bond Council and there will be costs for our credit rating process um and underwriter discount pfm has estimated the total cost for all of those things to be $69,900 um so I figured I would just request approval for that estimated amount and when engagement letters come in um I can just execute those and keep those moving forward um but I did include PM's engagement letter with this information that I received today and I will do my best to answer questions isn't is some of these funds going to be inclusive of what we just discussed for the city hall Improvement yes so that 550,000 includes some of these costs Al as well as the property purchase where I said 2.3 million so we're accounting for these costs and other sort of outof pocket cost that we're incurring as part of the bond issuance is incorporated into those numbers understood there any questions for the city administrator otherwise I'll entertain a motion I'll make a motion to approve the fees for the 2024 bond issue as presented second all those in favor I oppose car uh under old business um Verizon cell power alternate site and ordinance review uh thank you as requested in August we wanted a little bit more time to review the information um with respect to this project to try to provide the council with some feedback and information to use is part of our discussion tonight we do have Woody here as well from bu consulting which is great and hopefully uh between myself Woody and Stephen we can help give some Council Direction H so Stephen and I did a review of the city ordinances and provided the city council with some suggested Amendment language to potentially clarify clean up some of the communication or uh Tower ordinance language um also looking at potentially modifying the setbacks uh for where Towers can be placed we did confirm that there is no outside jurisdiction that is requiring the setbacks that we have in our ordinance so these are city of nesa ordinances that we can or the council can amend if you're inclined to do that so nothing from the DNR regulating that kind of thing um we also discussed uh some coverage needs um that we've received feedback from residents from time to time and also trying to understand more of um Verizon's goals with improving coverage within our area so their initial goal was to enhance the coverage right within our downtown kind of Main Street Corridor area upon discussing some of the other needs that we have uh reive feedback from our residents over the last handful of years um there is consideration to potentially increasing the height of the Tower so that the coverage area can expand and certainly Woody could probably speak to that more as far as um using that as a as a mutual goal that we'd like to also accomplish we did talk about that and there's some feedback um that was provided on that item as well probably the the biggest item for Council feedback tonight is consideration of an alternate site location so staff has looked at um possible sites um that gets outside of potential Parks land impact potential impact to the pickle building if there's a new building constructed and we propose the idea of um in the corner of the fire hall parking lot area um to Verizon to see if that would be potential I guess that was potentially um suggested a couple of years ago um and for whatever reason at that time was deemed not a good location but it seems a potential solution uh for both the city and Verizon and we can certainly let Woody share some feedback in that regard I did speak to our fire chief and our Parks director about impacts with that site and they both said that um there wouldn't be any adverse impact to their Department operations so wanted to ensure that that was not going to create any new problems in that regard um but I certainly would like some Council feedback on that location idea and if you're amable to that we could continue to work with Woody um on this on this item I think a lot of the potential challenges with the existing site proposal could be improved with this new site proposal um I don't know that we would get away from potentially all variance needs but certainly ones that are workable within um the process of requesting a variance for say um um distance from Residential Properties that kind of thing um we do have a question outstanding about the DNR easement um that exists so we want to make sure that that is covered as well and we would work through those details if the council was open to this consideration of a location so with that I will stop and see what question questions or feedback you have and we will be prepared to to give some information as we can thank you questions people Mark I have no questions I like the new proposed site by the fire hall as you said Chief Bailey says there'd be no conflict no problems with it there so I'm good with that site no questions I'm good with what Mark said as far as putting it by the Jesse question for Joe has there been any discussion amongst the fire department in regards to this that you can share no not really I guess you know we have the other tower out back I'm just wondering if we could take that one down and put the little bit of equipment that we have there on that one and eliminate one Tower in that area most likely be able to do that it would depend on what right you know height Verizon is versus your height it should be a nonissue we did that a lot of nor when I did communication stuff with the PDS it was just a matter of omnidirectional versus directional antennas and what you need to do right but yeah is there some agreement with the city to do all that yes well we should ask what he what he thinks about that preliminarily but yes that that would be my only suggestion with it is eliminate the other Tower from behind the fire hall already yeah no I like the idea would you would you have any initial feedback on that sure um yeah I have noticed that small Tower in the rear of the fire hall building and uh was kind of wondering about that um uh I don't know what your thoughts are about possibly putting the new tower back there where the old Tower is and taking the Old Tower down but uh you know that that could be a possibility or or uh you know in the front for lack of a better term I guess we're looking at the front area of the fire department now that would work as well and yes we could put uh uh you know transfer the Fire Halls uh uh antenna or antennas to the new pole uh uh for sure so uh the the main concern I have getting to the fire department is which you have already addressed Jenny is the the DNR easements uh uh I don't know I know yall are researching that but uh uh you know a lot of times there there's limitations or restrictions on you know who can use those easements so that that's a a big concern obviously or or maybe we might have to get that amended with or you you would have to get that amended with the DNR if currently we're not allowed to use that but uh but yeah uh we could easily uh build into the the uh the project to add the antennas on the new pole and possibly even take down the old Tower you know with with some rent abatement consideration or something along those lines what do you what is the what is the frequency the typical frequency of access needed to that new tower site yes it's very once the tower is constructed and on the air and operating it's very low vehicular traffic uh to the site you know it might be one one guy in a truck once a week you know three four five maybe times a month uh it's very very low traffic you know almost non-existent quite honestly on that easement my preliminary review and I'll I'll give you a more of a formal opinion than that is that that that DNR easement isn't going to stop access to that tower for maintenance purposes it's a typical DNR easement which says that it's revocable on 30 days notice just like we experienced with the go Lake Trail acquisition um and I don't see anything in my quick look at it that tells us that we couldn't use it for Access for maintenance to the tower um but but you have to take into account that if DNR ever revoked that easement which is unlikely but if it did then it would reroute that traffic a different way correct but there is a different way in there yep that doesn't require the easement yep what would it look like if you expanded the coverage from downtown how much taller would you go and how much farther out would that ring cover yeah good question um I would have to get what I was but to answer that question what I would would suggest is um maybe yall can give me some guidance on what Heights you might be agreeable to up to the 150 foot ordinance limit but if you I was thinking what in order to answer your question I was thinking you know I could request from Verizon some coverage maps like the ones you currently have in your packet showing the 80 foot Tower at the Ballfield location um I could request from Verizon uh projected coverage maps for at 100 feet at 120 feet 140t and 150 ft whatever elevations y'all think you could live with for the for the new tower and then I can get those to you to show you the uh you know in graphic detail the uh uh improvements the higher you go does that make sense yeah and I guess I was I have a Verizon I'm a Verizon Customer myself and like when you drive out of town on 18 towards Pelican if anybody's ding out that way everybody knows where the Verizon called drop and cut off out there as you go around the corner and swamp and mhm you head up towards the intersection of Sunset Valley there's about that half mile dead zone out there if you're put a tower in town I guess it'd be my recommendation I think most people know about that spot that this would solve that dead zone and then flip-flop it goes over on the other side of nisell Lake over towards the sewer Pond and there's a dead zone that runs over there kind of more towards my property that's equal outside of 18 so my recommendation for you would be to explore those dead zones and then come back to us with what height you need to fix that in our local city and area would be my suggestion okay um yeah so um just a little uh more detail about the the you know I'm not don't let me insult anyone's intelligence or anything here but you know the higher the higher the tower generally the the further uh the transmission uh of the signal the the efficient uh uh transmission of the signal can be for a further distance because the higher you're getting up higher above the tree line tree trees are a huge uh uh signal killer because you all the leaves it's all water the S anything that's uh the signal has to pass through degrades a signal and you know the the all the water and foliage is a huge signal degrader so you know if we can get up significantly higher above the tree line that's going to help the signal transmit further and cover a larger area um so I will uh I will go back to Verizon with uh and they're well aware of the Dead zones that they have trust me uh uh uh and uh uh I will ask I guess I will ask them then if I'm following what you're requesting I will ask them to tell me what height they would want to be in order to fill in the dead zone uh on either side of uh of of Nisswa yeah I guess that that's what I would my recommendation would be let's try and fix the issue in the area and you tell us how tall the tower needs to be the to fix the issue right very good I will I will make that request now um we had passed along and it's in your packet that uh uh Verizon does have uh plans for a new site towards Pelican uh you know it's not in the works yet uh it's in the pipeline to eventually uh uh look for a new site in that area so you know that uh that dead zone is certainly uh on their radar and uh you know in line uh for a new site uh and the other area that Jenny had mentioned was the uh neighborhood to the north Northeast I guess of town uh uh forgive me but the other area that you mentioned councilman was was that more to the west across towards let's see towards Grand View Resort across Nissa Lake towards the city sewer ponds headed towards Grand View there's another dead area over there in spots okay west southwest okay great all right thank you for that well good thing the city will have some land over there we could put another Tower in motion yeah we'll entertain a motion on a recommendation or excuse me on the alternate site plan and ordinance review I just want to ask one question so you brought up possibly relocating this thing to the back side of the fireh hall and I noticed on their plan that they have a backup generator backup generator for the fire hall is aging is it POS you know we had talked about that when in the first location of possibly sharing the generator for this building and the pickle at the time that didn't work but this might be a better fit if they're going to have all their equipment right there that's right where our generator sits if that's something that can be considered or talked about or if it's ruled out that's fine I just think it might be a good thing to discuss or look into specific for the fire hall you're saying okay got it yeah I don't think that'd be a bad thing to look at can they will they well I think the question would be for the fire hall or whatever is we'd want to get hold a North Memorial and see then if they would land there because we use the back side of the fire hall as an LZ for the helicopter and so with that little Tower they'll land there but depending upon how tall you go they don't like having a larger Tower right next to where they land so that would I I would think that would would be the determining factor that was brought up to the fire chief right right but it's on the front side so it's away but if we what Tom seen then it would be moved back to that the generator would or the power that's where the generator sitting right now is behind yeah yeah where this little tower that he was discussing about taking down right you know if you were to do that you almost need that spot where the generator is sitting currently might might be something to look into I'm sure we can definitely include that in the discussion and just see work between the two and see where that coordination if it does or doesn't work we can review that I can offer some information uh uh on that topic if if you all like so so um yeah so you're saying the generated a current fire department generator is in the rear by the existing small Tower correct okay and and that is in the in the stages of needing to be replaced is that am I following that correctly yeah it still works it's it's fine but I believe it's approaching 20 years of age if I'm not mistaken yeah so what what has happened in the past and and uh I believe Verizon probably would be open to is a a shared generator situation uh where they could possibly replace the the your existing generator in this current location and leave that there and but then have the you know the new tower site in the front uh I guess up closer to Paul bunion Trail if if I'm following uh orientation correctly um you know and not not put the tower in the rear of the fire department uh uh due to the helicopter landing Zone issues and whatnot so so you'd be removing the the Old Tower from the back having the new tower in the front which would I guess is be preferable for the helicopters um and then share share the generator uh that's uh certainly something that I know has been done in the past and I would imagine they'd be open to doing again that' be nice okay good catch F okay definitely look into it why not put City buildings next to W rizon Towers be to go mayor ran if I could just briefly I don't think that un unless the council has some specific Direction on the ordinance Amendment piece I don't think we will need an ordinance Amendment at this time uh we will probably have a variance requirement for the Residential Properties regardless so we'll have to work through that process um but I so I just saving a step on what's needed I think we can move forward with this location reviewing with Verizon without an ordinance amendment process as well so we don't need a motion or we just want not for the ordinance Amendment the alternate site plan but just the council are you are you asking the council for concept approval for this site plan or for them to approve the site plan concept approval we want to vet this more with Woody and make sure we're covering all our bases yes just want the acknowledgement yeah I'll make a motion that we accept the concept approval of the alternate site plan I'll second any further questions all those in favor I opposed motion carries uh the next item um will be moving into closed session when we come out of Clos session it will be only for uh adjourning so for Council reports Joe do you have anything no Jesse No Sir Mark okay none all right I just want to remind people and public mind do you can see it behind us again if you haven't gone online and done that mind do survey please do so please get out there and do the men. survey they get the feedback out there all right all right so um Mr R make a motion sorry I was not not prepared so we need a motion for closed session corre um four Ps 28150 636 28150 637 281 5547 28150 604 as presented all second all those in favor I we're now in closed session are we going to need about 5 10 minutes just to get ready for the camera okay --------- ##VIDEO ID:X8gPMtTEfk8## e e okay we'll call the Nisswa City Council budget workshop for Tuesday September 17th the order uh first item on the agenda Item B um 20 2025 budget and 2024 pay 2025 preliminary Levy presentation Janny thank you mayor good evening members of the council um tonight is an important night for the council um as regards with regards to um decisions about our 2025 budget and specifically our 2025 Levy so our preliminary Levy tonight can be the maximum Levy that is set for the upcoming year so as we've discussed um the council can lower the levy between now and December before the final is adopted but we will tonight need direction from the city council on what you would like to set the preliminary Levy at we will do that formally at the regular meeting but conversation can happen at the workshop give some direction consensus from the Council on what you'd like to see from that and then we will plan to have that ready for the regular meeting the workshop agenda here is um provided for you I will spend my time going through the first three items uh in a little more detail but information has been provided to you in your packet um from different departments regarding the conversations that were had at the last budget Workshop so if you have questions on those items or want to talk about them we surely can um if that helps you with decision- making uh throughout our conversation tonight so just let me know if there are things within those um three three items under number four that you'd like to discuss in more detail we always do a quick check on the CPI index uh it's been pretty steady throughout the year uh for the first eight months so we're at 2.6% uh through August included in your packet and on the screen is an updated new items list uh from departments just based off of feedback that um the council shared with staff at the August Workshop um so a few items have been adjusted from this list um I did um remove the intern program with the pequ Lake School District uh from the budget can can we put that back in that certainly up to council I didn't get feedback good or bad and just trying to think through um how to how to make the budget work where possible but certainly that's something if you're interested in we can talk about some more or whatever like which line item was that um the first one on the new items list the intern program the $3,000 item and maybe as I'll just go through and certainly as a council if you want to at the end of that you can discuss as a whole if there are things you would like to include or not include different than what we have reflected up here for changes um parks and wreck will remove the replacement of the maintenance garage roof we will keep an eye on that and hopefully with a little more planning work that's ongoing with the uh Parks improvements that we're working on we can see if we can incorporate more of a larger plan into that before spending the money to replace the garage roof and then in public works uh we will we have reduced the number of new pickup trucks from two to till 1 and then we'll schedule the second truck in the capital Improvement plan for 2026 for sewer we will move the lift station one panel to lift station 7 to 2026 that's not a general fund impact item but just planning wise we'll try to keep that budget as low as possible as well with the other with the other items here's another way to look at the new budget items kind of by category as we talked about last month um wages and benefits our Capital Improvement plan the growth in that investment reinvestment in that plan is continuing uh some small increase for utilities Insurance things other other similar items to that effect um so we have included those kind of top bucket items and then the other items listed below are sort of those newer um items from the other sheet the oneoff things and where you don't see percentages is because those purchases are rolled into our Capital Improvement plan so it's not as if necessarily that's the amount of cash outlay from the plan in a given year but because they're new items it's important for the council to be aware of that um so they're included on the cost but don't necessarily have a direct impact to the levy because the capital Improvement plan is a is a bigger system that we have in place with that I will pause for a moment and see if if there if there's any other feedback um like Mark suggested with items specifically that you would like to see or not see or I can continue and we can Circle back at the end but I will just take a moment okay go ahead more let's we'll yeah we'll keep we'll keep going just just pause when when when you quick I mean the one Mark brought up I guess I would be opposed to hearing about and then I would actually put the 3,000 back in for that but removed the 15,000 for that software package the software package was something we planned what was that all about can you explain that uh so the idea with that is um talking about trying to make our department operations more efficient based on the Staffing levels that we have this kind of stemmed primarily um from feedback from our former city plannner saying Departments of one have a real challenge in managing a lot of the processes because um one person has to do all of it and so how do we make their jobs more efficient and streamline the experience for the customer the public so that we can digitize more of that and make that electronic so in order to do that um the first step would be to update our website because that would be the Hub of then future growth with um Planning and Zoning community development software modules um agenda management software packets things like that um this would coordinate and integrate with our codification program that we're already using um so it would integrate all of those systems and so we'd have to take a phased approach and say let's do this one first this one second so the website would need to come first um there are two modules in the administration department so those both don't necessarily have to happen initially um but the website would have to come first in order for Planning and Zoning to then be able to implement and Court in connect with that if that makes sense those are both items I think that can be paired down we just haven't quite got there yet um working on the details with that so I think those are high estimates ballpark um but certainly if you wanted to just focus on the website and not the agenda packet modules that would allow success for Planning and Zoning in 25 have we got any bids or quotes on the website work from M Bay um the website from Civic plus who would that's the integration module so that um then all of that could feed off of that um that's that's about half it's about 7500 of the 15 so they're about half and half cost and that's something we've been discussing prior to this too to help out one of the issues that has constantly been brought up by some of the members of the council has been that plan zoning doesn't work at the speed at at a speed business it doesn't work efficiently and effectively and it's been a constant you know and it's always trying to figure out how we do that and I know that Bethany was had looked at this program I believe she had worked with this program before hasn't she not this one but I she I did get feedback on this that this would achieved those goals that she had given us feedback on okay I would say with that that really wouldn't have to do with a program that would have to do with a timeline on you know filing right now for two months out you know a couple years ago the filing deadline got changed with planning and zoning and that is the biggest hindrance that doesn't work for business and planning zoning is the long duration that you have to file to get on the agenda the timeline's too far out what do you think you're the lead on Planet Z I mean I I think that there's a pretty solid process that we have in place um you know from my recollection of discussion with Bethany in the past on that not having the opportunity to talk with Steve about it yet it has been a desire above and beyond that I mean they're doing she was and now Steve will be doing the best in the timely process toble get that pushed through I mean even for a per from my my home that I'll be building here shortly they push it in and through very very quick so yeah but a home permit is different than like a like a building permit so Steve's you know for you know here but like right now let's say a business wanted to do something in downtown you know we'd be looking at the November meeting right now here in September to try and get on in November December right and that time frame is too long with the short of Summer that's what this rule just changed a couple years ago this it always hasn't been like this I don't know when the change happened two maybe three years ago on this timeline correct Jenny that it got pushed out it's it's been a real short amount of time had to think about that yeah it it was extended just to allow time to review and to determine if it's a complete application or not right so I guess you know kind of pertaining to this but that's the biggest factor to go back to the old timeline that helped the businesses out the most a system like this would allow would say let's just say for an example that there's five items required for a an application submission for Planning Commission it's going to list all five and you're going to have to put in documents for all five so if you don't as the applicant you know that you're not complete so part of that is now currently a lot of things get submitted and it takes somebody to review it before then it's saying it's not complete and then you do the back and forth thing so that does also create a little bit of so would this program help with that timeline to remove to move that back to what the previous states were up until a couple years ago is would that be one of the goals of this program because if that would be one of the goals then yes but if that's not going to be the goal then no the goal of the program is to make the department more efficient correct right so well one of the goals certainly we could we could evaluate it for that and look at it specifically that way I don't really think we we have done that yet but that's a good question and could could see if that would be helpful because that makes things more efficient for both sides so yes who currently puts the agenda packets together for Planning and Zoning the city planner city city planner so if the council is inclined to keep that in for now again still placeholders as we move forward that process we can evaluate it for that and give some feedback after the fact yeah I guess I'd like to know that information before I made a decision because we do need to speed that process up and if software would help sure then I'd be for it but if we're not going to speed that process up for businesses then what are we doing with the software what's the motivation has the new city planner had a chance to review the information about the software and stuff and whatnot um I've shared the gosh um I don't even know if he's here did I send that software information to you so quick video just to highlight what that looks like so no we haven't spent time diving into it but I did share the this is kind of something we're talking about certainly want your feedback when you're ready I would be in favor of leaving it in there for now and then have encourage council members to talk with the city planner about it and get educated on it to see if it's with what staff's ideas sta staff's opinion is if they can do with one module and not the other one right now great if they if there's then we can make a DEC better you can we can all make a better decision if we have a chance to talk with staff what works for them because staff you know want to give staff the tools they need if we can and you know I know we've been talking about this for more than a year about trying to speed that process make her more efficient more efficient so I would leave it in for now me personally right on I was just going to say for the um packet and agenda software to like Kiki does council packets Amber does Park like maybe to get their feedback on if they think that would be valuable save them time or cost this would be usable for all Department packets yeah do either one of them have an opinion on it or have a looked at it no we have not gotten that far with that yet so certainly those are um opportunities as well yes so I think the idea that it sounds to me like leave it in for now okay but to me I don't know else has anything else yeah the uh intern I'd like to put that back in I just think it would be good for us it'd be good to get younger people somewhat interested into our city Works um that's why they're out there but that's just me yeah I'd agree with that I don't think it's a for the dollar amount I don't think it's a bad thing to introduce today's youth to stuff MH Jesse John Bruce that'll add .15 % to the levy .15 three yeah okay I see where you're coming from I was doing it backwards the other way sorry if nothing else the I'd like to see it left in there you know the $3,000 we could we could leave it in for now yeah if we got if we decide we got to cut later reserves Well it can't come out of reserves if it's being budgeted in right but if it gets at from the budget could always do something along that line yeah get a program going and see how it works yep okay can do I will cont do you have something can I go down the list of of course yes I didn't know how how much we wanted to go through it so please no I just wanted to ask Chief Taylor um with the uh uh are there any funds any anywhere that can be used for the shed that you which is needed I'm going to request that the should be taken off you want it off yeah you can take it off we'll make other arrangements and we'll be all right you sure sure should can we negotiate with my other stuff no no no I I just I I was just wonder if there were other ways we could get the shed done an effort of Goodwill I'll take it off I got a question can we back up going in order with planning zoning the code enforcement module can somebody speak to the code enforcement it's all it's all combined into what they call Community Development so it's permitting it's code enforcement it's just it's it's a way to manage property activity all in one before we do code enforcement though aren't we going to need somebody licensed in the city for code enforcement so this would just be violations um any sort of issue that comes up would be how we how we um organize and deal with we have violations now we deal with we would keep that more housed within a software program so when somebody puts a deck too close to the lake kind of a thing you know that's how you would navigate through that through the software instead of just in paper so not I understand all that currently the city doesn't have anybody licensed from the state level to enforce any codes building codes correct building Cod so that's that we're talking about code enforcement is just violations of city ordinances okay anything so we'll go down the line anything parks and wreck related questions for Amber the new retaining wall or the boulder wall in the pocket park yes has anybody talked to mot about that that was Tom has come up since talk to one other guys about some Paving work that we're having doing unrelated but he's going to get with their higher ups and find somebody who can give us some estimates on the repairs at the pocket park okay yeah my thing would be I guess I would see about reaching out to mind do when that was originally installed it wasn't installed per plans to what the city had first wall fell over on site almost hit the individual standing there when that happened um and that number is not a realistic number to replace those walls so I guess maybe I would put that one on hold till we can have more conversation and the rest of the council that doesn't know the full backstory with that would get up the speed because I understand that it was all park or whatever but when that happened you know Tomy you were here most of the other people in the room maybe weren't but I think it'd be a conversation to have with them in my opinion it was it was never put in correctly from the get-go and that was well documented in my opinion yeah I when I look at the wall now I I can't speak to it for specifics exactly but I do recall that it does show something about rock the bigger Boulders with landscape fabric and that pck behind it and that could have even been a change order too I'm not positive about that but um you're starting all if we're starting from scratch with it then now I mean that's right you're talking yeah that number is not going to be accurate No hell no it was it was complex right be hard to we of that here I think well I think there's several things going on so one we have the downtown master plan that's investigating pocket park as well we have it from the up top the road aspect if there's something from Tom's budget c um Road things signs things like that all playing a role with the downtown master plan and then if we take it out of the budget we're waiting a whole year to have funds to do anything and so I don't disagree I didn't know any of that about um mind do and what happened then so we should certainly investigate some of that stuff and the plans um but we're looking at it from multiple angles right now and so we don't think it's going to cover the whole repair um but at this time to have some money set aside for 2025 if we do need to do something that gives us a little bit more time to investigate it and let it some of these other things play out my guess too is typically when we have projects like this with another agency there's going to be some kind of maintenance agreement that usually leaves the local with the responsibility but we will look into if there are agreements and what they say and see if there's any coordination that we can have with mot but yeah I don't think the intent was to fix or address the whole thing it was if there's an immediate issue we need to solve and make sure it doesn't become worse that's what this was for how soon can we get a something back from mind or do you think you how how looking into the initial construction what it what the contract said Etc what are we responsible for ETC we can reach out to mind tomorrow and see if they'll easily be able to come up with the documents and then we can also search on our end I mean I don't think it would take too long to at least find whatever final paperwork there was for the project to see who's left with what to deal with there was several special Council meetings dealing with that at that time too to look at I know mind not never wanted it there in the first place that was a city request okay so what do we want to do do we want to just leave it in there for now do we want to pull it what people want to do I mean again this is another thing that you know want to look at it and then and and give your feedback back to the city administrator and the department head that's responsible for it and then they can go from there before we have to make a final decision remember once this preliminary Levy is set we can't raise it my personal Al opinion would be you know for what we're doing with that talking about it the quote I think the decimal points just even in the wrong space on that for getting that repaired I think that we're by six figures and so I don't know what the point to leaving it is when we're just taking a stab and it' be my belief that we're so far off on our numbers and I think that would ADV eventally be a project that we'd maybe have to look at even with sourcewell or some other Grant or some other funding or state money or counting money or seeing who could partner with us on that if we're going to truly repair that that would be my belief on it that we're just a little ahead of the game I mean it's not that big a number but I don't think that we're even close to accurate that that was truly Minnesota partner Transportation yeah they did it they turned it over but I mean those walls going in they were actually supposed to be masonary they were supposed to be Terrace different the back fill was supposed to be different it got all filled with PE gravel wasn't supposed to be filled with PE gravel I mean I was the contractor on the site doing the plants the original wall that fell in over when we brought it there their attention it literally tipped over as do the architect engineer and stuff they almost got taken out the kneecaps when it fell over the first time by the other contractor I don't know and HED some contractor to put all those walls and stuff in and so there's there's a lot of background information there that all of you need to be up the speed on because it's it's if we go after that as a city I'll tell you right now it's opening a huge can of worms that you all know nothing about Joe I just want to clarify so and what Amber has the money in the budget for and what I'm talking about is just this little short one right by big axe right where the water blows over and doesn't go into the ditch yeah not the bigger one in the center right is that what you're talking about or no I'm talking about all that hand dry stacked rock walls and like where it blew over there that was originally supposed to be a drain put in there and it didn't they put that scour stop it's an erosion product down that ditch if you dig underneath it you're going to find it's an engineered erosion map it's been growing over and covered over are you familiar with that product yeah that was kind of a a last minute change but a a ditch and curb and all that was supposed to be put in there that wasn't to stop that water from going over there at Big A and so yeah if you dig up the original plans and we start to look what was supposed to be done and then what wasn't like I say there are several Council meetings here with it it's very well documented is back when Lauren Wickham was here obviously and and stuff but that was all supposed to be different didn't look anything like it does today and that those were the plans that were drawn up approved by the city and it was an on-site switch by the landscape architect out of the Metro I can't remember the exact place at the time but what we got and what we were told to get for maintenance are two different things and like I say we're opening a can worms even in that even with that wall so little background what are we so that we're talking that's short wall right Tom right yeah yeah but even all those pavers are supposed to be in privious they're currently plugged and filled that whole thing's not working properly it's never been vacuumed never been cleaned properly the whole the whole the whole thing's failing so if the if if parks and wck has to do something where do they pull that money from then if pull this out I am just suggesting so that's why I'm just wondering I'm just suggesting that the council look at this a as a whole and help parks and wreck out because this is such a bigger issue I believe than just parks and wreck and a lot of engineering that needs go in and and we'd need wsn's help with this and stuff I'm just saying it's it's a much bigger project than what meets the eye so the way you're describing it sounds like it might end up being a standalone Bond actually to fix it correct possibly okay okay I I'm in favor of removing for the time being until we have greater clarity as to uh this is news to me right and I appreciate it I I I did not know this and uh yeah people to look it up if we remove that we're now under 17 just by quick I have no problem removing it and if we have to revisit anything that's going to be in there and we may have to give Amber the funds to do what she needs to do out of unallocated just so we're aware um because if something does fall apart that has to get put back together even temporarily we're going to need to do it so but the city can do it and not affect her budget fine but so Bruce you want to pull that one out you want to pull that you want to pull that up and then the new records uh new record counties the record system I understand that we're actually going to get the chief's going to get a grant for that yep but we have to put it in there so we pay for it up front and then he'll get reimbursed for that once it's all up and run into that we can't net the two from from an accounting perspective so we have to show the expense we have now added the 20,000 in revenues into the budget we didn't have that last month so both are accounted for an in there now okay still it's just a new addition that's just why it's here it's required but yeah do we have to include it on this Levy or would we be able to pay for that upfront out of the reserve fund so we can try to keep this percentage down yeah thoughts on that thank you that was my next sorry oh you're okay so not included in the budget at all correct okay we can include in the budget but doesn't need to be added to the mean right now it's basically net almost Net Zero 20,000 in Revenue 21,000 in expenditure correct however that's it's still being reflected on the on the levy percentage correct yes so for public Optics would we be able to remove that line maybe do a ledger adjustment if you just don't want a budget for it knowing it's coming and we're we just will have an addition in our budget next year and on unanticipated cost even though we're going to anticipate it I mean you so we're gonna have so this is going to be what we're paying every year roughly yes I'm sure it'll might adjust up or down whatever okay y okay but yeah you're saying it's coming in going out why add it well specifically it's going to have to be added next year anyway right but specifically for this go around right now if we were to remove that from from this Levy yeah I see I think you gave my point right Jenny yeah yeah y now traditionally I would say what doesn't matter but we have another public Optics on this sure because the higher that this thing is sure looking at the percentage increases for the past 10 years y just blows them up out of the water Don Jacobson would be very unhappy with us so if we're if we're all understanding what that is it would be then an added budget item for 2026 consideration knowing that we have this one time covered okay I'm in favor of doing that it'll decrease that percentage amount uh not quite 1% uh 75 yeah is Mark what do you think I'm fine with that we'll just have to roll it in 2026 well for clarification not roll to 2026 the the first ACR cost that will have that's not being covered by a source wall Grant will be in yeah there's no choice in 2026 it is a have to yep okay okay um going over everything else that I have in Tom appreciate the the feedback that you provided to us somewhere here thank you um I don't have any more items on public works that I would consider removing he's got the new pickup trucks uh the two of them moved and down to one and then again sewer was moved to 2026 so I I don't see anything else on my end for suggestions of TA in sadly I think the back end is the new budget expenditure items are what they are so I guess my only question other question on any of the items is that do we have other funding sources that we could you know Nick some of these things off with and I would just ask staff to look through their budgets look through the what they have what can they what can they take off of here because you know the public is getting tired of large Levy increases we also do look to this time of year start to see if there's any spending we can do out of current budget that we haven't spent to offset and remove from future so we do start that now this time of year after summer and if there are smaller things we can we can do to help minimize the impact we certainly do that so we will we will make an effort to do that too question have we looked into any of the contract work for mowing or part-time work and seeing how those numbers affect or are these lawnmowers too that you need for snow removal and stuff in the winter time or how does how does that work you know so they are set up for winter work too okay um there I think if you see it in the memo there I I lay out that they're set up with a snowblower and a broom and they used in the Pocky Rank and on the sidewalks um but sure we buy that equipment below the cost most contractors can buy it at so I'm curious how anybody would come in here and honestly price mowing cheaper than we do it and do as good a job yeah it's just a question it seems like there's a thousand lawnmowing Services out there right now and and with the added extra sell help you add the labor and then the extra truck or trailer on there so it's not just the lawnmower it's you know moving them around town all that combined spense for that just looking at seeing if an outside Source would come in there I mean I don't know I'm just looking at other big things um a lot of other places have gone to some of that contract stuff because because of that but I don't know if that's an option or not or something we want to look at just however we can save money I guess yeah I I just you know from my point of view the mowing is pretty widespread and like for instance in the cemetery there's also some I would say it's a sensitive area to moow I don't want some of the lawn services I've seen operating around town Walk working out there um we Al have some sensitive areas that they would have to access for instance at the sewer Bond so it would create at least short [Music] term more work for us I think than just staying where we're at you know labor wise we we hire people for about the same money that they do I believe uh we're using seasonal staff that aren't paid benefits so hourly I don't see how we're paying any different our equipment like I said is less our gas we pay the same or less yeah we have a pickup to move it around but they'd have to have that too they're not going to drive a lawn nor from the waste department out to here so I mean we do contract some things out for instance I point out that uh fertilization and spraying we've contracted that out so there are things that we do contract out it's not that we don't look at that but I think when we're trying to get tens of thousands of dollars out of a budget I don't think we're going to get that out of switching how we mold Lawns so sure I have no problem with the the way we're doing it now I think our staff does a good job and the nice thing about it is if something comes up there's always they're always able to jump in and come in and take care of it and I think that's been the experience I've seen around time is public works and the parks department work together one mower goes down another you know they they just you know they just help each other out and I think it flows really good you're not necessarily going to get that out of a contracted service they're going to come in once a week maybe twice a week whatever you contract for and if you need something between those two times you may probably not going to get it um that's been my experience working with contracted mowing services and and the one that I work with is exceptional but they're just busy the good ones are busy they so I I'm not saying I'm closed-minded to the idea I just right I have a hard time seeing where it would benefit us to to go there so Jenny where does that put us for our Levy presented right now I haven't been tallying I was hoping maybe you were well I thought I was but now I'm looking now I'm looking at the backside of this page I mean we're probably 20 25 budget expenditure new items total on here is 14.32% increase right now is at on the sheet it's say 17.65 so Levy Revenue correct expenditures side so they're not they're not going to always be the same so it's the revenues we need to generate to cover our budget um sometimes so in 24 we did have onetime money that we didn't get again in 25 so we have to account for not having that revenue from 24 to 25 so there's other variables that come into that which is why that doesn't always align so I'm thinking quick math I mean you're probably at 2% less at least maybe two and a half based on the things we've taken taken off so far so do you have a list of what those other revenues are that are coming forward somewhere other re well General we just have general fund Revenue so fees for services charges for um you know Planning and Zoning fees Cemetery fees other revenues we bring in we get small revenues from the state for various things minor things so we roll all that together interest income miscellaneous revenues roll all that together and then the difference between that and what our expenditure budget is is what we Levy for cor do you know what that dollar amount was last year um that was I could look I I want to say was about 715,000 in around and it's a little bit less this year I I could I could look I don't think I have detail do you see it somewhere I don't see that number any no it's not because the revenues here are just total General revenues you know at some point it's just so much information I'm trying to focus on High level big picture type thing you don't say well so I I've been subtracting from I've been subtracting 794 my apologies 794 is our general fund revenues for 25 that's just my slide oh to break it down so the 3798 matches the 3798 on this summary sheet you have so we take that general fund Levy we bring it down and then we add our debt service Levy numbers upcoming for the year you will notice that I have a bond listed for 2024 for our property bond I don't have a 2025 Road Bond listed I cannot Levy for a bond that's not going to be issued in this calendar year so that will be a 25 Bond um I will maybe quickly walk the council through just a couple of things with respect to bonding so you have kind of a preview of what's going on there um but that that top half there will show so that shows you the breakdown so the 794 is what we bring in in charges for services and other things throughout the year and that difference is the property tax levy and that 4,169 should be what you see on your Levy sheet for the 17.65% okay so essentially the Levy percentage before we did anything that's 17.65 that's where we're reducing down from that's what I been yes that's where we from plus or minus a basis point or two yep uh 16.15 okay okay which puts us at a 10e high ly raise yes so here on that that she the council has here on the screen so um shows at 17.65 as of when we put this together and then it does have the breakdown because a good portion of that is attributable to that land purchase bond that we are issuing so there's a breakdown between the general fund Levy and our debt service Levy um to get to that 17.6 if we're right around 16 at this point um that will only improve these next couple slides so we look at our tax impact model using that 17.65 so the numbers would be less at 16% but just to walk the council and the public again through this if you look at a $200,000 value home at the 17.65 it would be $66 in increased taxes for the city portion that's not the total tax bill but just for the city portion so that would be a little bit less if that was 16 and then for a $400,000 home that 17.65 translates into $145 in new tax due from Homestead proper what's the county amount what is the county amount at again it was surprisingly lower I don't know actually well we talked about last meeting they were three point something I thought really they anybody know yeah so three yeah yeah do you have any more uh our Homestead value on average in the city of Nisswa I believe on that model that we got from forgive me County the board of yeah what what was that average Homestead value in the city of Nissa I thought it was like 561 or something off top of my head so you could look at that I mean if you just we could just go with 600,000 if and so if we looked at the sheet that would be $226 at the 17.65 so it would be less at 16% quickly I will walk the council just through some upcoming information on bonds I think it's good information for you to have and then I think the council should take a few minutes and determine at the 16% where you want to be or if you have other um ideas um certainly so um just to walk through the sequence of what will be likely of coming certainly there are things here that the council will still need to approve in the next couple of years but in November of this year we are moving forward towards the land purchase acquisition and issuance of an abatement Bond uh for that purchase we are um also incorporating the a Geo Capital Improvement bond for the city hall improvements that we are working towards um completion so those will both happen together in November then in July is when we would plan to issue the road Improvement bond for 2025 um the contractor would have been awarded the project things would be moving and in place typically July is when we typically see a first pay request application and so we are wanting to align um obtaining the bond proceeds at the time when we would need to start spending that money so we don't incur the capital cost uh interest costs before two and then we need to do that that would then be incorporated into the 2026 Levy pickle building is still to be determined as far as um timing but I think we are looking towards um just over a year from now to potentially issue a revenue bond to build um a new building a lot of things come into play between now and then um lift station one rebuild and lift station 12 looking at trying to coordinate those projects for efficiency um just based on the type of contractor we would need and look at once assuming the land acquisition process is complete in November then looking to say how do we develop the roads that are needed within that property so that that property is ready for resale to private developers so the city can sell the land we don't need so we'd be working next year to then put in place uh potentially both of those projects to get that going and because of the timing with those projects then the question becomes can we still accomplish a road bond in 26 or do we need to um push that into 27 so we're talking about that internally we've been talking with city engineer um timing we don't have the go like Trail included in here as well so it's another major project so trying to align the projects and the timing uh with capacity and bonding and all of those things just want to give you a head up on some of the vision the idea for moving forward certainly more conversations we will have about that but just to just to give you a feel for the next couple of years there's a lot to get done I he High LEL yes um high level budget um with respect to this sheet I did because of the slide prior um I did pull out Debt Service Reven and expenditures from the general fund so it makes more sense to do that I know our Auditors when they do our financials they end up pulling that out anyways so this is just specific to the general fund the budget itself increases around 9% but it's a balanced budget which is also um a goal of ours each year and then The Debt Service fund I have separated out and identified here um we are levying for both a 2025 and 26 amount in 20 because we have to have that cash on hand before February of 26 so there's a timing thing that's happening there we go into our Enterprise funds certainly can answer questions um with staff that's here and our non- major funds with that we've talked a lot about um some of the council questions and thoughts on budget specific items so I appreciate that it's been very helpful um some of the guiding questions I just included in my memo for you to think about reduction in budgets I think we've accomplished that with some of the new budget requests um increase in revenues talking about if there's opportunities to do that um and then I did pose an idea to the council just for your consideration if we consider alternating budget requests from departments um just to minimize the number of things coming forward each year saves staff time potentially too just an idea trying to make the budgeting process a little bit easier um but with that I will pause there and leave it to council for discussion feedback and or final decision on what you'd like the preliminary Levy to be given the time frame we have left we better start discussing what we want our preliminary Levy to be can you go back to that slide with the numbers on one of the first ones there uh no though though kind of high level one this one one more oh you tell me I'll just sure that one would be fine yeah okay right there real quick for Tom with the road improvements right because as Government we're here to provide roads and streets and stuff so that has to be a priority what is the set timeline to keep on our rotation schedule is that 27 does that jive with what you know it can and what what way we've had it set up is we're trying to keep all the roads on a 30-year rotation they had been on a 40-year so we're shrinking that sum mostly because 40 years is unreasonable roads just won't last that long so everything uh we're set to about seven years if we go one year shorter or one year longer to make it fit a budget cycle or say we had a a spike and asphalt prices or something it's okay to be one year one way or another um my biggest concern probably are some of the roads in the 26 or 27 Bond um are in really tough shape and pushing them out any further some of them should be paved now like for instance the roads through Grand View are pretty rough if you're familiar with that so right I would I certainly wouldn't push it out further than 27 if we can avoid it and we did talk about some interim Solutions we just might need to consider that for some very specific needs but yes is the grant money showing up there in the City Hall number is that taken into consideration the stuff with source so um this is just as we're working towards an actual final cost this is an estimate it won't it shouldn't exceed that but um that's just the ballpark that we're working with so we won't issue anything more than we need once we get that final amount and then um incorporate this sseell grant into that final number so for final Levy or initial Levy for that we have to decide on coming up here in the next meeting um I don't know where everyone's at we're you know I know we we can see we've dropped it from 16.75 or 65 already 17.65 roughly 16.15 is that what we figured okay um again remember broken record but we can't raise it once we we can only lower it so um I don't know where everyone's thinking what they think they want to do um Mark any ideas your your feedback said it no feedback at this time okay any idea what number you're thinking of Bruce I guess this is the first budget meeting I've been at so I'm kind of new to this okay well I I'm uh you know I'm I could I don't like the idea setting it at 16 but that's where I would I wouldn't go any higher than that it's going to mean some more cutting but there are still things that we can other other things we can do you know if the Departments have money left over and they can make some of these purchases they want or some of these purchases are one-offs and we have other monies that we can use or if we need to draw from unreserved for something smaller you know may we can do that but um there's you know I just um that's my two cents 16 would be as high as I could go and I'd like to see it a lot lower than that when we do our cut but then we have time staff has time and we have time to educate ourselves with staff and go in and talk with them and see what you can do so that's where I'm at Jesse proceed with the preliminary 16.15 plus or minus what did we set the preliminary at last year Well Jess I the only ones here so I think we said it at 19 and it came in at 12 yeah that's I thought it was 189 was very high it was very high because we he it on the side because of We There was few council members that were not here at that time so we heard on the high side to be able to make sure that their voices were heard there was a lot of backlash from that but we got over it this is the number that Bren is going to publicize and uh this is this is what we're going to be questioning on so I encourage everybody here to be confident in leaving the next couple minutes before the council meeting that this is something that you are comfortable with explaining and defending so and I actually I'll put an answer to that it's it's not that I don't think any of us are comfortable with it but we understand the economic circumstances that were in and that have been uh bestowed upon the city from the macro sense so it's not exactly that we have options look at the total market value of this what is it 19 square mile 18 square mile town of ours 1.1 billion you kidding me come on SO Joe yeah I mean I don't want to set it that High um and then you know going through we have the list in front of us so what we're going to cut over the next couple months and so you know 161 what's that 16 161 and whatever what was it you said 16 not gonna be exact but roughly 16.15 is what I have for my chicken scratch I concur I guess my question back to everybody does people have an overall goal do we want to try and match what we were last year or whatever over the next couple months so you know I don't think you're going to see a reduction like last year no it's not going to happen there's too many factors against us um part of it is the investment we've made um in staff and in wages and and things part of it is uh infrastructural things that we're doing part of it is you know not an insignificant part of it is the bonding that we have to do I mean we're there I I don't think we're gonna we're not we're not going to be able to get down to 9% for example I just I I hate to say that I don't know how we do that Jr floor is 11.14% is that not correct floor R4 there's the levy increase there's no floor I mean I'm factoring in what we have for the wages and benefits the capital Improvement plan and then utilities insurance and other 278,000 I see where you're going with that I mean it doesn't fact you know that doesn't factor in the reductions in the budget that that we've experienced so the budget the general fund budget at this point is increasing overall by %. because we have reductions we have additions I just highlighted the additions summary by category well basically if we cut everything except what we can't is what you're saying right yeah see that's I'll be the dirty person do we just say 17 or I mean 16 sorry 16 one or 16.15 anybody else has any other suggestion I don't 16.15 yes that's what I come to well that's what we'll vote on in the next meeting in within 30 seconds or whenever Kiki gets it rewind yeah we you can take a minute or two break if you need but yeah thank you appreciate it okay so um we will adjourn I'll make take a motion to adjourn this meeting and then we will take break until we can is so move second all those in favor I close