##VIDEO ID:bdr_4iBpYPE## for okay I will turn this on I know Jennifer should i s i can I mean it's fine here is it fine Vern or not I already have this stuff set up that's true that's true ver okay I'm going to press this thing on push down turn on press the red button test one two check one two okay let's call this meeting to order uh welcome to the Eagle Lake City council meeting tonight uh we will start with the Pledge of Allegiance i al the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and J um Jennifer will you read the roll call yes uh mayor protm Steinberg uh council member roic council member white council member Wedington here here here here um do we have any public comments this evening no okay uh we do we have an approval of the agenda for tonight I'll move I'll second uh what do I say now oh yeah okay that motion carries uh I should have took notes when Lisa was here um just all in favor yeah all in favor I hi I okay that motion passes uh approval of the meeting minutes for September 9th 2024 I'll motion I'll second okay we have a motion in a second everyone in favor I I that motion passes we don't have a public hearing tonight and we will move on to our presentation with Shannon sweing uh may I interrupt mayor protm just one more motion for the consent agenda okay otherwise consent agenda I'll motion the consent agenda do we have a second I'm going to abstain since our company has um a bill in with the accounts payable um second okay motion on a second all in favor I okay the motion passes now to shanton asses to drive temporary financing for water treatment facility ultimately we looking to fund some design costs in advance ofing bids at time you would potentially St ultimately as part of this process we do reach out to the Minnesota Public facili Authority which we did two weeks ago just to seek their consent ultimately for doing temporary financing in advance of their funding for a project the standard answer have Comm for City uh but these costs are eligible should we haveing available believe it or not they do tell us not to do temporary financing on occasion if it's a project that isn't scoring well no guarantee that they'll haveing for the end the they so ultimately we're looking for 95,000 of engineering design whilea outet ful anticipate that we should haveed c bonds we do compare this to a competitive s rating we would seek bids fromers for the purchase of the bonds and at the end of the day it's competive sale that demonstrates that we're getting the best deal of the day because having folks bid on the purchas to do that c000 insur so we compare the two and we were confident that the offer proposed by Cornerstone St St interest for years Council any questions so it looks like you've kind of already rolled Us in so we're we're pretty well covered if we don't get a bonding bill again this this session okay I think' heard press not I hope so but the folks same folks that we're trying to receive Project funding from are the same folks that many many in the state of Minnesota are seing to have their projects progress with and since they are the primary enti that funds wastewater treatment water treatment it's critical okay so they saw where we were on the list and everything so they took that into account with their response to your inquiry yes I think if uh if we weren't if we had made progress through their process they would say you're getting ahead of yourself okay perfect thank you Shannon and um mayor pm steber and Council I should also mention um we did receive an updated resolution from um Bond Council today there was a reference on page uh 99 to finson Minnesota but it's actually lour Minnesota is what should have been in there just we have the okay I didn't even catch that but just know that that that correction is made well if there's no more questions com iable okay so that rolls right into new business number one and uh do we have a motion to accept that motion all second we have a motion in a second all in favor I I I the motion carries thanks Shannon on to new business number two quote for new meter at wellsite for the generator all right mayor protan city council attached in the um packet here you'll find a quote from CenterPoint Energy um and that is for a gas meter at the generator or for the new generator at the Well site um the new meter will replace the existing meter due to added generator generator load um the quote for this new meter is $110,100 uh we do still have monies available um in onetime public safety Aid and I don't know if you recall but when we brought this forward to purchase the generators um we knew that there were going to be electrical costs U meter costs we just didn't know what they were at the time um so there is still um of the $143,600 received in the onetime public safety Aid uh we currently have $ 36,44 42 remaining of which the cost for this new meter would be deducted um as far as the generator for City Hall I did have a quote um that Andrew and I had received uh within the last couple weeks and that was for 3500 so about um you know $13,600 will be for meters coming out there so with that I need a motion to approve the quote from center point energy for new gas meter um I should also note that Public Works director Hartman and I have been in contact with Center Point Energy it's the last piece to getting it connected and we are currently still renting the other generator right now so just waiting on this meter and um as soon as we get approval this evening I will get that off to them tomorrow I'll make that motion to approve the quote from center point energy for a new gas meter I'll second motion and a second all in favor I I that motion passes new business number three Minnesota Transportation Alliance membership on page 115 all right uh mayor and city council um in the packet you'll find a Minnesota Transportation Alliance the abbreviation is MTA it's a membership application form uh for the city of Eagle Lake with a annual membership cost of $325 um the dollar amount isn't the reason I brought this to the council it's simply because it's it's a new membership we um I'm not aware of the city having been a member of Minnesota Transportation Alliance but um following um uh recent um Highway 14 meeting talking with the blue County engineer he suggested that with um the process we're going through for Highway 14 and if we are able to get some recommendations to do uh make some safety improvements that we should definitely look at um becoming a member of the Minnesota Transportation Alliance they help Lobby for um funding for transportation issues um and I took a look at their website just to give you an idea that of some of the other cities that are members uh like New Alm St Peter North Mano um and then BL County engineer and the Mano engineer also members so um with that um I would recommend that the city of Eagle Lake become a member and we've got money in the budget uh to send that in right now and so when we send it in our membership will run for 12 months it doesn't go by the calendar year so um we'd get started on that and just become a part of that whole um process and let them know our needs in Eagle Lake and Highway 14 and especially with this upcoming legislative session both um at the state level and and the federal level so okay uh Council any questions on that so uh that's a just a yearly thing and we'll be in that until this Transportation study is done probably yeah yep it'd be just a good opportunity to have them help us um as a member they'd just be another voice for Eagle Lake and they have lobbyists would they charge us more to to lobby for if they if we needed them to Lobby you know I that would probably be I mean if you're I think they would be an advocate for you but if you want them to specifically Lobby for your city and your project then yeah I would think you would have to hire somebody some Lobby yeah well if there's no questions does anyone have a motion a motion to join the MTA I'll second we have a motion in a second all uh all in favor I I the motion passes new business item number four updated person Personnel policy handbook all right mayor protem and city council include with the packet uh is an updated city of Eagle Lake Personnel policy handbook um as stated on the cover it was adopted in 2016 and is you know updated um on a frequent basis as there are needed revisions and updates um it's always recommended that the city review and update this on an annual basis um and then consider major revisions and overhauls at least once every 3 to 5 years and um so right now what you have in the packet um just went through um uh annual update I had staff look at all the policies we've adopted and then just update different things that are no longer relevant um such as references to Eagle Lake Police Department um and just making sure that our language is um you know reflects current state law so I think this is something that we would like to have the municial Valley Council governments work with us on and do a major um review but for now this is just um just kind of a Light review if you will so but yeah as you go through you'll see um the areas that have been updated uh wording has been struck out um in different places you'll see with references to like the police department um let's see what else that's a lot of it um we have some refence references in our time reporting um let's see what else pretty standard nothing un super unusual um but yeah if you have any questions you know let me know or anything that you think that we should address in our policy that hasn't been updated or changed um we can add that to the list and we do more thorough review Jennifer on the bottom where it says adopted and revised I notice some of the pages are different is each page reflected of that specific page was revised on that date nope you're that's a good question it should all say the same so we'll go through and make sure that's right I'm not sure why that yeah you're right that cover page says July and the other one says may yeah we'll make sure it should all be the same we'll get that changed thank you at what point would you work with that other group to help redo this one or is this is I assume this is temporary then or nope nope this is our our ongoing Personnel policy these are all just minor updates as far as like just updating the language but it's the foundation is there it's based off the league of Minnesota City's model Personnel policy we would just work with them to kind of make sure that um you know with the just different change changes with legisl ation um you know state and federal that all of our policies accurately reflect that and then you know from time to time there's just different things that come up different things we should be including the policy that we haven't had I know in recent years we've had to make changes with the drug um references with drug testing um things like that so nope this is all this is our policy it's in effect and we would just want them to go through and just do a deep um or more thorough look at everything Jennifer did you sorry did you update the leave table I didn't see any strike out the vacation leave I think that one had already been updated let's see I just didn't see any strike out I thought that was right but I wasn't I couldn't was that changed just recently yeah it but it's already been updated here so I just didn't see any strikeouts I think a lot of it too is we've we've been updating or we've been adopting policies and then we've had policies that haven't been put into the personel policy now it's kind of all in one like a One Stop shot I just didn't see strike out so I want just yeah nope that's a great question Anthony Beth questions comments concerns no I I think for me it's just looking at it a little more closely than quickly because I mean just some of them Public Works um hours of operation which I know we've adjusted summer hours versus so it's like how strict are we getting with those hours or does that not need to be in here and listed you know what I mean like so I think it's just some of those questions that can just be relayed right to you and say hey we need to adjust it or not I think we decided to leave it um so because once it gets into the policy it sometimes it's hard to change it so I think we were going to kind of leave that discretion but we can add that to the list when we meet with the Cog and see if they have any suggestions on you know what to do with that's question I I think specifically to that might be a followup now come fall on how did that go what do we want to do for next year did it work you know so some of those followup questions that can be in a separate meeting too okay yeah Andrew and I proba Work Director Harman I did talk about that and I think it went really well and probably the plan is to do it again next year so we appreciate you guys being flexible and I think it helped I think vague is good there especially with public works because snow and leaves and all that stuff changes so great well if there's no more questions do we have a motion to adopt the updated Personnel employee handbook I'll second we have a motion a second any discussion all in favor I the motion carries Guess the only comment I would have which I'm sorry for being late is just check on all the dates because the pages the the revised dates are kind of all over the board on all the pages yep I will have City staff um make sure that that's all consistent and then one we one it you know we can get you guys I'll just email you a copy so that you guys have one and you can save it on your end and anytime you need one just let us know so okay on to new business number five City cost share portion of The Pedestrian Rams and Fox Meadows Housing Development on page 208 Jennifer can you give us a sure synopsis on this uh mayor protm seinberg and city council we received a request back into 2023 from um a resident that lives in the um adjacent to the Fox Meadows development and at the time it was planned that the sidewalk would be on the North side on blae um the new bla Avenue that goes into the development we were contacted by the property owner with a concern about snow removal and um just questioning whether it made more sense Mo to the southide because of the private drives and for walking um so there had been a meeting back in 201 23 between the city engineer um myself and um uh the developer and the resident and at that time we talked about the consensus of everybody there was yep it makes sense Let's Move That Sidewalk over to the South side and um then was brought to the council and we didn't have the cost of the exact cost of what it would be to add those pedestrian ramps because there's two private drives on the excuse me the south side and so the the discussion was that the consensus of the group that met was that this is the right thing to do our city engineers said yeah it makes sense move it to the cell side um but we never took any formal action because the um we didn't have a solid price but now we know what the price is and I should have brought this back to you sooner um but it was in oversight um but it it was $1,225 per ped ramp and there's four ped ramps in on that stretch so we're not talking a big chunk of money and I remember Brian sarf when he was at the council meeting and talked to us about that he said you know he didn't think it was going to be a big cost and something the city should probably just do because it does make more sense um for pedestrians to have it on that side plus it was going to alleviate an issue with uh property owner so I think it all in all it turned out for the better um but now where we're at is we need to look at the city um discussing how we want to handle the cost for that so so when it says cost share is that a is the $1,225 a split well that's up to you guys what is the cost share well it's up to I think per ped ramp and we had four of them y there's four city right I don't think there would have been any of those because um it's because of the private drives is why they had to put put those pedestrian ramps over on that side so and that's that was the argument of the developer as well that I'm now in curing additional costs and at the time I think he thought was going to be like $20,000 or something and and Brian sarf had our engineer had indicate he didn't think it was going to be that much and something the city should probably just absorb and and he was right it's not that much so I we get this done before the platting is done and absolutely just and not to interrupt you B then I'm sorry I my mind I had to get out my calculator here just to make sure I did this right it's $4,900 that the city would be responsible for okay we have a motion do we have a second a second Motion in a second do we have any discussion I second oh I said Do we have any discussion oh sorry I suppose what Beth said about making sure we cross lrts and do our eyes right um okay so that let's let's vote on that motion all in favor I the motion passes no that's okay uh on to new item or new business item number six public purpose expenditure policy on page 209 all right mayor proem and city council um I had intended to finish I started working on a public purpose expenditure policy but I was in the office by myself today and it did not go as planned so I'd like to request that this matter be tabled and I bring it back to the um November meeting but basically just in summary the reason I wanted to add this to the agenda it was a while back um the council had talked about um looking at doing some sort of an employee appreciation event and so I've talked to some other cities did some research and it is possible to do those sorts of things to have like an employ Employee Appreciation lunch uh but to do that we'd have to adopt a policy with that language reflected in there and I also wanted to add in some other language um just on our expenditure policy to give more clarification to department heads and staff um so I would like to just table that and move that to the November meeting would a council member like to table that we have a motion in a second any questions discussion comments uh all in favor I I the motion passes and that is tabled and mayor protm seinberg I just um was talking to Public Works director Hartman he mentioned that there was an item that got missed on the agenda um so if it's all right if we could go ahead and add that I'll let Andrew um public director Hartman talk to you about what he's got here yes go ahead um so I got a bid from um go back here uh from Corin Maine we have one hydrant that is inoperable right now um so we got a bid to replace it um the way it was currently installed was incorrectly where um there wasn't a a traffic section on the cone so there wasn't an actual breakoff on it luckily it broke to where we can um put a modkit on it and bring it into a traffic style um hydrant um the bid for that was $ 7,640 um I only got one bid because it's took quite a while to go through manufacturers just to get um to make sure we were on the right track with what we need for parts and everything and um so yeah okay so this is for a broken fire hydrant correct where is it at um Peggy Lane and Linda it's been broke since about June it took a while to kind of figure out what we need to hybrid this hydrant to make it correct and it was installed wrong right yep so there's an emergency That Fire H that hydrant out of commission it's not even there right now it's like broke off broke off and no one ran over or anything it just no um so when our sewer cleaners were in um doing their work they kind of just pick some hydrants and and use them and they started to turn this one on and the whole top lifted off and was it like the movies were shoots up right and you can we could tell somebody sent an email and said it was broke and we or that it got hit but we could tell when we went to pick it up um that day that you know there was a nice rust ring around it and it was it's been broke for some time and just hasn't been new and I should also add we did get a complaint at City Hall about that fire hydrant claiming that the um overline overl Sons had hit it and after talking to Public Works director Harman he said that's not true so I just want to clarify that too we did get a complaint that they hit it with their vehicle and didn't fix it but it turns out that's not true no this isn't something we need to have multiple uh quotes on I don't since it took so long to right I don't think so and I mean it took from the middle of June till um I don't remember the date this isn't the same company that installed the broken one right no no no so so what this what this company does they're just basically a supply house and then their salesmen are trained in fixing all of these so we basically pay for the parts and then they come and help us fix it at no charge um so it works out pretty so it's basically an in-house repair with parts yep I'll make a motion to a approve fixing the H do we have a second I'll second we have a motion of a second any discussion so this is a fix fix it's not a patch fix correct okay perfect okay we have a motion in a second uh all in favor I I I the motion carries I have one question regarding the hydrants because I'm noticing in man they're painting some yellow is there and I know on ours we had some blue and some red based on fittings so is that what they're doing like we don't have any are they going yellow now or we okay only only okay and with with the colors is also depending on how much flow they get through the hydrant so with them doing some reconstruction and stuff they're getting more flow out of some of their hydrants so they can you know paint them in different color and it designates the different gallons per minute that they can get out of them okay we can move on to the city of administrator report all right uh first item I have on my report I just want to give you an update on our health insurance rates for 2025 um we don't find out our health insurance rates until October each year and so that's kind of hard when we set the plary budget um but found out last week after meeting with our insurance agent that they're a little bit higher than what he was thinking for 2025 we're still ran the numbers and we're still fine with what we have budgeted but obviously we want to get the best um you know bang for a buck and look out for um our our taxpayer dollars and so um we talked about getting a bid from South Central service cooperative and um as I understand it wouldn't be with Blue Cross Blue Shield that's who we currently have it would be with Meda uh but the plans would be nearly identical so we'll make sure we bring it back to the council and we review it with employees make sure everybody's on board with it before any changes are made but just want to give you an update that uh probably at the November meeting we'll be bringing that and have the health insurance agent come to the meeting and talk to you about um the bid that he obtained for us um next item Community Development hiring update wanted to let you know that we did extend a conditional offer um to an individual for the position of Community Development coordinator the individual accepted the offer and then just as of last Friday um reached out and said that he was very excited to work for Eagle Lake but his current employer counter offered and it was an offer he just couldn't turn down so um so now we're kind of back to square one I'll be working with the Cog to talk about reposting and going through that process again um but in the meantime I'm confident we're going to be fine um we we can get through it um it's just it's going to take a little bit longer but we want to make sure at the end of the day that we've got the right um person working in that position it's an important position for the city so just make sure we take our time and do it right um next item climate resiliency project um again this is in reference to uh the grant we got from mpca and um just right now at the stage in the process is trying to get as much public input as we can um it's just um an important project we need to stay on top of storm water protect our infrastructure and plan for the future so if you guys haven't done so already please take time it doesn't take that long just fill out the survey encourage friends family and Eagle Lake to do the same um next item rural Child Care Innovation program um we have a survey with that in upcoming town hall event so again just trying to push out anybody that you know within your network in Eagle Lake please encourage them to take the survey and sign up for a town hall event um doesn't have to just be people with Children Of Child Care age it could be prospective parents uh grandparents caregivers um you know obviously child care providers we want there too so we're really looking for that public input right now uh next item upcoming tree identification walk at Lake Eagle Park I've asked Luke our community forestry member to um host a tree identif identification walk at the park so he's going to be down there um anybody that wants to go and learn a little bit more about trees and how to ID them we still got leaves on the trees so um we did this a couple years ago with another Community forestry member and it's actually really interesting so if you guys have time and want to attend it's there probably is an app for that but it is fun to go down and I've learned a lot since I I had went through it the first time it's it's kind of nice to know Jennifer do you still is that was that map ever going to be given to people we didn't put it on the website but I can get you an updated one um so our new member Luke has went and he's already I think put in like a thousand more trees in there so it's been updated and I will um get that to you um so if you can make it to that that would be great and we've got a Mayors and clerks meeting coming up this Thursday at City Hall um there's now four meetings a year and usually Eagle Lake gets to take a turn hosting one um our uh guests or present presenters I guess will be Bluth County Sheriff Jeff worel the deputy County Administrator I'm forgetting his name right now Josh Milo and um uh Deputy sukul is going to be doing a k9 demonstration so that' be kind of neat to see and that'll be here at um city hall and then last nope second to last we've got the fall Coalition agreement Minnesota City's conference coming up in Alexandria uh council member John Whittington I will be attending that if anybody else is interested let me know it's kind of a nice quick conference it's um just one night um two days and um they do a really good job of keeping us posted on legislative issues and seeing that this is right after the election I think it'll be super interesting um depending on the outcome of the election and kind of what their projections are so I'm really looking forward to that and then lastly year-to date expenditures and revenues um you guys know the drill if you have any questions just let me know and that's all I got thank you City administrator bromin um at this point do we have any Council reports I don't have a ton to share I would say from Community Ed and W meeting um nothing that needed needs to get pushed out to the community just our kind of normal meeting they give us updates um left that meeting early though to attend the emergency response meeting or whatever that whatever that one was um which was very enlightening to um hear and talked to minister Bowman and John after um that saying that once once the the new Council um first part of the year I think it really needs to be hit hard on um expectations protocol if something minor or major happens um what especially our role is because we're not in that day-to-day operations piece where we're not overstepping but we're being part of it so it was nice to hear um that end of it um Park Board you guys have all the meeting minutes I would say there's some fun exciting things coming in um I would just reference the the meeting minutes and see what's happening and we have another meeting coming up Thursday so um other than that I don't have anything yeah so within the Eda uh we met we're still working with you know the rural childhood care Innovation really came out of the Eda we're looking at child care as really being an e an excuse me an economic driver um it's just such a shortage right now so if you can get people to respond to the surfy and those kind of things I think you know that'll be great um the more information we can get the better we can kind of you know see if we can put a solution or moving toward a solution for child care because it's just getting worse and worse right so thank you um Jennifer do we have any special announcements minus the regularly planned meetings on the list here I don't believe so okay um of motion to adjourn we have a motion in a second all in favor that motion carries we are finished [Music]