##VIDEO ID:gUQDmgisaqo## e e e e got all right thank you what happened what's his name okay call to order city of Canon Falls city council meeting for Tuesday September 17th roll call gu me here grot here jeffson here Johnson here cronenberger here londelle Montgomery is absent stand for the Pledge of Allegiance pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all so can I get a motion to approve the agenda could I make an addition to the agenda please sure I would like to add um Canon River Raceway discussion and with that I will approve make a motion to approve the agenda with that addition I'll second okay so with the addition of Canon River wasteway Raceway Raceway Raceway race Raceway the go-kart truck got it second discussion all in favor I opposed carries okay public input is intended to afford the public an opportunity to address concerns to the city council the public input will be no longer than 30 minutes in total length and each speaker will have no more than three minutes to speak speakers May address topics relevant to the governance of the city speakers must be signed up in advance and must provide their name address and topic they intend to address comments must be on topic respectful pertinent to City business and adhere to the applicable data Privacy Rule rules any speaker that violates these rules will be asked to sit down and if the speaker refuses to comply they may be removed from the meeting speakers shall not address topics that are the subject of a public hearing all such comments shall be made at the public hearing city council will not generally act on issues raised by the public input but may choose to schedule consideration on a future agenda item um Josh yes hi my name is Josh cre I live at 1221 State Street West uh I'm here tonight to talk about the property that joins mine be the Terrace um it's been a point of contention of mine for about two years now currently have an individual that's taking care of the property and it looks phenomenal but what he's bringing with that is my concern um he's got people coming in and out of the area all hours of the night and it seems to me that it's nefarious activities and I'm concerned that things are going to escalate and get worse I was wondering if there's anything that the city can do to help me with this problem I've exhausted the Canon Falls Police Department I feel like I'm annoying him at this point with all the calls that we've made about this guy and the things that he's bringing around um he's collecting garbage back there at this point um guess that was that's about it for me okay thank you thank you thank you okay that brings us to the consent agenda consent agenda items may be adopted under one motion as presented or may be removed for discussion and resolution as Council business a just and correct claims accounting oh wait do I read them all first and then it's been a minute accounting period ending September 11th 2024 meeting for September 3rd city council meeting C second reading and Adoption of ordinance 405 and summary of publication and ordinance amending city code 152648 to allow religious institutions as a conditional use in the B2 Highway business Zone D resolution 2780 accepting of bike racks from the Canon Falls Chamber of Commerce e approve well number four inspection and repair F resolution 2781 approving agreement number 10568 39 with mindat for snow and ice removal G resolution 2782 denying conditional use permit for an eating disorder facility that's can I get a a motion to approve the consent agenda or did anybody want to bring anything down motion to approve second motion to approve by GMI second by Ryan all in favor I I opposed carries so that brings us to item a city business um the Canon River Raceway yeah I just you know we didn't even really get a chance to discuss it last meeting because they withdrew their uh zoning request but um this issue isn't going away I get stopped almost every day asking are these races legal if not why is the city still letting it happen what's the plan going forward so um like I said it ain't going away I figure we might as well discuss it I know Shelly is on Zoom with maybe some information for us so I guess my main question is are these races legal or not and then we can go from there if Shelly could help there she is sure um good evening Madam mayor proem and council members uh thank you for allowing me to to visit with you over Zoom this evening uh the issue of the racetrack has uh We've we've looked at it on more than one occasion initially um my thoughts went towards a more lawful conforming use I spoke with the council I think last year about that after the meeting we dug deeper we visited uh with the county we visited with individuals involved with other uh county fairs and racetracks and I've come to the conclusion that the racetrack use is in fact contrary to what our city code allows in their Zone um so what we've done thus far is issue a notice uh pursu to city code that not only does the use and specifically the racetrack I don't want to get into or it hasn't been brought to my attention to view the legality of the fair as a whole just talking solely about the RAC trck use it does uh qualify Rec constitute a public nuisance under chapter uh 97 of the city code but I think more importantly it's a violation of the zoning code it's an unlawful use and we did put them on notice um early uh August that we viewed it as such and so my and without the uh approvals from the last meeting my view and my opinion is that it continues to be a nuisance continues to be an unlawful use and the city does have enforcement Authority can the city be sued or held liable for not for allowing them to keep going council member londelle it's it's difficult in the sense that I don't want to give an an illegal opinion on whether or not the city would be uh subject to a lawsuit uh note that the city council has great discretion in this area as to determining how to proceed and that would of course include uh enforcement proceedings in the district court if it so chose okay are they in are they in egg Society or does that have bearing on what we're doing yeah big girl it is are they an egg Society yep that's an excellent question our view again is that based on additional materials that I've reviewed discussions with the county it is not an Agricultural Society as that term is defined in State Statute there can be only one official Agricultural Society Per County and that already exists so at best this is a fair Association and under the pl in terms of the statutes Fair associations are not granted the same Authority as agricultural societies and essentially that's because an Agricultural Society acts in more of a legislative capacity more of a city type capacity the powers to um you know take condemn property for example uh that doesn't exist for the fair Association type entity and along those lines then Fair associations are not exempt from local ordinances as would be the county in its capacity or the county uh egg Society so they still need to abide by city ordinances and like a noise ordinance the fair Association would yes as well as anyone operating or reportedly to operate through the association or on the association's property um Michelle did you or anyone on behalf of the city actually contact the Minnesota Agricultural Society and ask for a list of the members in good standing and for the booklet on that governs them um Yes actually we I don't know that we had to ask them all of that is available on their website online I could not as public documents what what website is it I've tried Minnesota Department of Agriculture Minnesota Secretary of State and I cannot find an actual website for Minnesota state Agricultural Society just the Minnesota I don't call off the top of my head I have found it um it gets a little confusing because of how much the the state fair is ingrained in all of this as well yeah it and obviously this is something separate and distinct from the state fair itself but I do know and I did find this County uh Fair Association and the list of county fairs but I think we have to go back to what the statutes say in terms of what qualifies and what doesn't Okay because I I found on my list of us or Minnesota county fairs that there are several counties that have more than one one is called a County Fair one is called a district fair and they all are members of the Minnesota egg society as far as their B and that may be the case oh sorry yeah I mean and I downloaded that set of bylaws that I was able to find and in order to be a member of the Minnesota county fair Association you have to be a member of the Minnesota state egg society and that seems to have in in some cases more than one per County yes and And to clarify there can be more than one Fair Per County but under statute there can only be one Agricultural Society Per County so there can be one Agricultural Society and many Fair associations I think Diane I saw that website too there's a Minnesota county fair association yes that's just a group of fairs you can also be an associate member I know a lot of vendors are that's just a group of fairs that work together it's not a legal thing like bylaws yeah the bylaws state that they have that's state law though that the egg Society is this is the official that's just a group that gets together I guess said I would like to see the list from the actual Minnesota state Agricultural Society listing their members and I would assume somebody from the city can get that well I asked someone on the fair months ago probably last year too and they just said oh we are but they could never show me anything so it tells me they probably aren't I mean if if they were they would have brought it a year ago wouldn't they I don't this would all be moved so that tells me they're not so what about a conditional use permit then for the Rees I think one of the things that I asked um the goodu county fair if they were under the same bylaws if this was under the same bylaws as the ones they're running under and and they said no they're not and that was the first thing that the um U the gal down there looked at cuz I believe and I I don't remember and so I think you can have two of them if they're running under the same bylaws like in is it otter tale County where they have a it's a big County and they got an East and a West or whatever it is so um the lady down in in z BR did check that um if they were running under the same bylaws and they're not in their bylaws it's my understanding because the Minnesota state statute 38 does say at the last under a the last line says you know this limiting one per county says this section shall not be construed to preclude the continuance of any Agricultural Society now existing which means I it sounds like a grandfather clause to for old prior existing it depends what year it was written this is the state statute I know okay but what year was it written the current website unless they changed it the last six months I'm see some of the law is could be 100 years old well anyway I don't know I just wanted to discuss it because this ain't going way at some point either we we need to make a decision on if or what we're going to do anything I know they only have one race left this weekend um so that's why I wanted to bring it up I guess should they have a conditional use permit to do the races it's not even a conditional use or yeah it's not a conditional use for that zone um what was Kurt bisil he referenced a law in 1994 about racetracks I don't fully remember what it was can you hear that Shelly I did and I'm not familiar with it was a 96 something after 1996 uh RAC tracks can't be built or something I found it online if you give me a minute here I might build to find it again yeah it basically said anything before 96 wasn't some noise ordinance weren't relevant to it but anything after they were see if I can find it so that sounds more more in terms of a noise ordinance here we're again we're talking about the underlying use itself um and the Planning Commission did go ahead and deny their requests for a conditional use permit at its last meeting or the meeting before that Yeah well yeah like I said I mean to me it whether you want the track or not that's really irrelevant it's are they allowed to have it and as a city like we may not agree with every ordinance I'm sure the police might not agree with every law they have to enforce but if it's not allowed it's not allowed because we would expect any other business or homeowner to follow the rules too so if we want to change the rules fine but until then they need to follow them so how how do we go um forward here we have to get a definite answer to if they are an EG Society or where they're fall under our codes or ordinances so um Shelly what uh what do where should we go from here do we have to prove that they're not or do they have to prove that they are that's a great question and how this would go is that we would initiate a a legal action uh under the context of unlawful zoning uh and nuisance and I suspect that issue of whether they're a permitted use uh including what's been stated tonight whether they're an EG Society or not whether they're grandfathered in or not or whether the that racetrack ordinance applies all of those issues would be decided once and for all by The District Court you would have finality and you would have um a determination by the courts that would be binding both on the city the fair Association and the racetrack vendors that would be my recommendation you can you know you can do nothing you can uh take that legal course um I think at this point there's so much disagreement between uh the fair Association in the city that I'm not sure that there's going to be a meeting in the mindes on this use uh so you know to have that finality you may seek it would be done through the legal process through a civil process the criminal process would not be appropriate here for you know a lot of reasons other than you know primarily it won't give us the result you might be seeking is that definite answer on what is and is not allowed so so we have to decide if we want to do that or I think I was going to say being this was addition to the agenda I don't think we can I don't think we should I don't even know if it's all but I don't think we should make any decisions tonight we can ask for more information and talk about the next meeting but actually let's not at the next meeting because I might at the most I'll be on Zoom oh let's do it next meeting yeah I think you're right I don't think we can make any formal decision because it's just a discussion well I think um she gave us some valid points on which way to turn and so can get it nailed down right yeah okay so should we put something on next meeting's agenda then how about let's do it a month from now so we have time to get information not that meeting that one's going to be bad enough H why why that's when we hire our new city administrator huh oh yeah that one well we can't wait forever yeah well we can we should if the last race is this weekend then indeed there's no pressing need until next spring season again I mean it would be good to have things settled but Jed told me it was this weekend and he's never lied to me way to go Jed it's Friday right Friday and Saturday okay what would you like us to do as Staff first of all get a list from the Minnesota uh State Agricultural Society of all their members in good standing should we also see if they because it also says in there that they're exempt for Stuff during their fair but not necessarily year round so even if they are a member I I don't know that they're allowed to run events outside the fair either and especially if they're sublate to someone else so there's it's more than just are they an EG Society anything for Agricultural Fair purposes which includes the management of the property yeah but not events these are those gray areas and I think Bruce hmer said he saw a copy of the Minnesota state egg society's B thing of rules and regulations governing members and that would be nice to have also do we want to just not enforce the rules for this weekend's race just let it go well I don't want to be a party killer so well I think we'll probably next time someone wants to build something that ain't allowed they might say well you let them have races there all year what was the the ceas assist I guess I wasn't aware we did that they got that like a month or two ago as far as I know they just threw it in the trash because they think they that's not something that city council would have had to approve or been aware of we uh we sat down with one of the fairboard members and here's how I phrased it um what we feel that they were doing was uh out of the zoning code and I handed them a ceas and assist from City attorney and I said until we work through this process this is more of a friendly ceas and assist assist excuse me and uh until we come to a conclusion um you need to have this because uh um what we feel is outside our zoning code we have to address and that that comes from the city attorney and and staff and so with that said I did talk to him and I say you know what this is more of a friendly ceas and assist um until we work down this process well that process ended last Friday when they submitted their Written Letter of pulling their application so now we're back to square one so is it like zoning violation then for what they're okay what's the ramification for that well here we are yeah okay we we got to figure it out yeah and uh you know it's it's it's really straining relationships in town if anybody hasn't noticed and uh the longer it goes on it doesn't get any better so you as a governing body need to figure it out um we as staff need to provide you with that information and do what you guys want us to do and uh so that's why I ask when do you want to take care of this what do you need and how do you want to do it and shell will provide you with options um in that course staff will provide you with the information and uh unfortunately it's going to be your guys' decision um so well it's my understanding that they pulled the their permit request because it was never their intention because whatever they had applied for would have given the Authority for a racetrack to be anywhere in the city right something like that so and that was not their intention that's why they pulled their request so do we know what their intention is moving forward I mean are they going to reapply more clearly stating that they only are looking for that area to be zoned differently or we don't know well then you'd have to create an all all new Zone because right done before right well we've created PUD um so that's what your guys's decision will have to be but they they have to come forward to us we can't recommend what we went down the road we went down was the existing Zoning for that particular area in fact that bigger racetrack is split right down the middle one is R2 on one on the south side and Ur on the North side it's split right down the middle and uh so in order to have that racetrack on the north side of the other racetrack that's in the UR Zone they would have had to get a zoning Amendment for that particular Zone um and with that would have come a conditional use that's the that's the route we went so but then anyone in that zone would have been allowed to corre build a racetrack and their their point was that was not their intention well at least that's what I heard okay okay how did that get zoned that way in the first place you are is a let's put it this way it's a kind of a holding pattern um when you bring property into the city you don't know what you're going to do with it you see you just put it into urban Reserve gotta that's what you are is if if we're asking for what we need I I guess I would be much more comfortable if uh if our attorney would actually write up different options so we had it in print as opposed to just orally which sometimes I get confused and if I can you know go back and read at least I have some hope of understanding we can do that thank you when do you want to review this again first meeting in November is that too far there's one race left I guess but that's your guys's call well do we have one on the first Tuesday of November is it not the election oh that is an election is it am I wrong yeah did we move that it'll have to be moved yeah yeah we're have to move that meeting anyway because it's we're going to have to um accept the election results so we are going to have to move that meeting probably later that week okay okay good is that what we're doing yep sure that work for you guys i' do it earlier but that's fine you want to do it in October Derek well I just I mean I just if this takes if this takes two three meetings to resolve all of a sudden we might have four all new people jumping in to take over for us for something they don't know anything about yet so but maybe you know that's if it takes more than a meeting or two to figure out just four it gives us four yeah yeah that's probably enough yeah that's fine first meeting November whenever that is whenever that is yeah probably be a week after the election so I think there's a statutory time frame they shortened it so that's why I'll have to look at that well the day after is too soon yes that is too soon I don't think they finish counting usually takes the county needs so much time in between from the election until when they canvas them and then we'll we'll have to Canvas after we get the official paperwork from them so it depends and I I I am not sure I haven't looked at all that yet to be honest so I'm not sure typically it is a a week but I know some of those laws have changed of when we have to Canvas them so it may still be that same week oh okay that it typically is so well I'll I'll let you know I'll review that and let you know for sure okay okay so that moves us to reports um he's not here from the chamber does anybody have anything from her by chance um Eda met on September 5th uh basically they just gave an update on the housing situation correct Neil do you remember they said a a public hearing for the 23rd right 23rd for the 23rd yeah on sale of lots yep in hardwood Estates that's about all that was about it too wasn't it one some of the financials yeah okay and Public Works met on September 5th um that was a short meeting but we had the discussion on the well inspection anything else Derek that you can think of and the yeah um Library board yep um they need a new drinking fountain so they're going to budget for that uh they'll be closed for inventory and on October 5th and doing a meet the candidates this weekend that was it it is my birthday so I will not be there in case they ask okay um and then Planning Commission met on September 9th yes we just uh had one item and that was a uh discussion in an application for conditional use permit for a a rehab eating disorder facility at the old nursing home it was uh denied in our consent agenda it was denied at the Planning Commission meeting and voted on tonight as a resolution on the consent agenda that was it okay um go around uh officer Berg anything well we've had a good start to the school year so far we're extra patrolling a lot of our school bus stops as we had lots of bus stop arm violations last year so everybody knows every single bus has awesome cameras it makes our job a lot easier um so if you choose to see a bus with flashing lights you should probably stop otherwise we'll be giving you a call so that's all I have thank you Miss Pier uh absentee voting begins on Friday the 20th so um to absentee vote within the city um that goodu county has taken that over so um if you would like to absent devote you can go on the Secretary of State website and fill out an application and then one will be mailed to you or there is a paper application that can be picked up as well so Neil got a request to do a work session on October 9th what's availability it's kind of a uh probably a needed General development and planning work session um 6 o' it's a it's a Wednesday so we're trying to shy away from sporting events and um things like that I know it's a church night but it's it's busy all week long we got other meetings and I'm available it's fine I'm good can I get a motion to set one for make that motion October 9th at 6 o' o' six how about four she not kidding six 5:30 five I can do whenever tough crowd I know all right all those in favor of an October 9th meeting at six work session hi hi hi I'll oppos I'll opposed all right motion passes thank you that's all I got I mean it still would have passed and I could have made my voice right Zach tonight dad um so this year the mpca is a sponsored uh sampling for p um I think well it's been several meetings ago we talked about our high sample that came back but we just did another round of eight samples and kind of narrowed down that high sample coming from the North Industrial Park um we would like the MPC is sponsoring a grant they have about they started out with $2 million availability Grant up to I think 125,000 um to uh to do more sampling and uh so we can narrow down the grant is called a uh past Source identification and reduction Grant um but I'd like to uh request we have whks uh uh apply for this Grant on behalf of the city so that we can uh figure out where um where we're getting this peass from especially this High one so we just we just did eight more samples and we had one over uh two two million micro micrograms per liter just insanely high so and every sample this is the third sample they've done that has come back so um we did talk to whks they they feel that we would um qualify for this grant we'd like to uh apply for 75,000 plus or minus um and then that would pay for samples um each sample is over $1,000 per sample um and then uh probably some sampling equipment as well um so I'd need a motion tonight uh to move forward to having whks apply for this grant I don't know if you mentioned it's a first comfor serve and 99 yeah yeah I have it right here I was getting to it but it's a 90% mat or uh 90% we' have a 10% match so that's why we need a motion I'll make a motion to uh have whks apply for that grant for us second motion by Derek second by Diane all in favor I opposed carries thank you um and just the other projects in town John Birch Park the first base Dugout has three walls up they're finishing the retaining wall to go back around it you know the structural or to hold back everything it's moving along um they decided on a color today um but now it's camel back yes is the color so um our 2023 2024 Street project is moving along they uh we're got three quarters of the curb put in today um they'll finish that tomorrow and possibly at the earliest might be able to pave on Friday but probably next week um Timber Ridge uh they got small utilities being in installed electricity uh gas and and your cable internet and phone whatnot and then 72nd Avenue way they are going to next week start working on the the turn lane um they had some issues with the when they put the first uh lift of asphalt it didn't work out very well for them so they got to tear out a couple chunks of it and redo that um so they're going to redo the turn lane there make sure they all the the soils are soil Corrections whatnot and then we're trying to encourage them to do it sooner but they plan on Paving 72nd Avenue way in two weeks uh the week of the 30th um and that is all I have for now okay thank you Derek um just a question for officer Berg have you guys looked into the what they were talking about with the Terrace if anything fishes going on there yes we have been working with residents up there addressing their complaints and okay that the challenge was the owner is allowing him to be there so we'll look more at the junk that's around there and serve that order and hopefully he can organize that better than what we're seeing right now today so okay thanks that's it Diane that was the only question I had so thank you GMI um well it's a sure sign of fall the bombers are doing great but uh a sad thing was watching the uh flower baskets come down from the boys today so it's a sure sign of what's ahead that's all I got nothing Ryan no Lisa no nothing laa oh I am just good so uh with that I'll take a motion to adjourn so moved second motion by Lisa second by Diane all in favor I opposed