##VIDEO ID:DfFe6RMbRqc## all right it is 5:30 we'll call this meeting of the city of International Falls order it's 5:30 Monday November 4th first item on the agenda is pledge allegiance to the flag I pledge aliance 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 thank you all right uh first item on the agenda is to approve the oh I'm sorry uh mayor or uh councelor Kaylor is uh absent this evening please note that for the roll call we next item on the agenda is to approve the agenda um I am requesting to have item number one deleted from new business due to the public hearing that we had at uh 5:00 some more information that needs to be uh compiled before uh we finalize that project um so the chair would entertain a motion to approve the agenda with the dele of item number one I'll make that motion we have a motion from councelor Holden do we have a second second second by councelor Wagner discussion hearing none call the question I I I and I will vote Yes motion carries 40 next we go to the minutes from October 21st chair would entertain a motion to approve those move to approve minutes we have a motion to approve by councelor Buller second second by councelor Wagner discussion hearing none call the question I I I I'll vote Yes motion carries 40 next we go to the payments and claims we have uh transfers this week uh from the 101 general fund and that's coming from the 812 lodging tax Fund in the amount of $831 47 we have accounts payable the city of International Falls claims of $61,900 airport commission claims of $155,200 I'm sorry $ [Music] 442743 airport major uh Capital claims project $440 58 and Airport phase three claims $275 for a total uh account um payable of $784,900 next we go to audience is there anyone in the audience that would like to come forward and discuss something that's not on the agenda please good evening Eric strand once again um once again I really feel the need to voice my opposition to the development of the kutasa building for the police department or city office uses first and foremost it is it's located in a residential neighborhood without direct access to a majority of the town except through neighborhood streets the October 21st meeting of the mayor stated it'll be done in phases uh or sections progressing through the building what you're telling people is you have no idea what this thing is going to cost that's that's what you're telling taxpayers my hangup on that is once you get into a project you're committed to get it completed no matter what the cost it's like ripping apart your kitchen and your bathroom and not not knowing how much it's going to be you still need a kitchen and a bathroom you're going to fix it no matter what it costs because you need them so it no matter no matter what the cost that's that's a problem but that's okay it's just tax paare dollars there must have been a lot of a lot of side meetings going on because a property purchase was proposed at the July 1st meeting and the July 15th meeting approval for the purchase for a dollar the $4,999 was awful nice of you folks that's okay it's just taxpayer dollars lots of long range strategic planning due diligence property inspection went on during those two weeks that included the July 4th holiday it's remarkable we can have two legal notices about assessments of one block of Paving in the paper and yet no notice of this building action nor giving the affected Property Owners a chance to speak or disclosing how this gets paid for that's okay it's just taxpayers did Eastward counselor Kaylor or atlarge counselor Holden visit with anybody in the affected area rhetorically you don't have to answer I did and they're not impressed I visited with taxpayers living on N living on 19th Street to 2 Avenue East Second Avenue East to Memorial Drive Memorial Drive to Highway 53 those are the most affected people by this I did not go into the back neighborhoods just on those streets I have 29 signatures of affected residents residents very few didn't sign about six I weren't home for the whole two weeks comments range from it should not be located in a residential area what's next that they're not telling us how much will it cost overall these signers represented $3,865 in City portion of their taxes city tax dollarss paid uh there's a practice used uh when there's really not effective communication or ability to resolve issues it's called decease and assist I believe the city has had that practice in the past I want to uh present this petition as a ceas and assist for the 29 people that I have signed on this document it's clearly in all of our best interests that the city and county work in Synergy for the common good of us all it's also ironic that tomorrow is a day the people can speak towards change thank you anybody else have anything to bring to the council all right we'll go down to the consent agenda we have uh the 2025 license renewals as presented cater For You LLC Erikson's Lawn Care um climate felter Synergy LLC doing business as McDonald's massage by Megan bo bo TK taxi and UPN North Builders chair would entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda make that motion we go ahead all three of you did oh jeez everyone's ready to do that it's a consent agenda yeah it is all right we'll go with councelor Buller and who wants to second that give it to Tim all right councelor Wagner with for the second there's no discussion on a consent agenda call the question I I I and I'll vote Yes motion carries 40 we'll go down to item number two approve contingent offer of employment pending uh satisfactory F satisfactory completion of pre-employment requirements for the vacant uh mechanic position chair would entertain a motion to approve that so move we have a motion by councelor Buller second second by councelor Wagner discussion hearing none call the question hi hi hi I'll vote Yes motion carries 40 we go down to approve designating the director of Public Works as the authorized representative for the city for the USDA Rural Development application process chair would entertain a motion to approve that so Move Motion by councelor buler do we have a second second second by councelor Wagner discussion hearing none call the question I I I I'll vote Yes motion carries 40 next adopt a resolution uh for the routine maintenance agreement between the state of Minnesota and the City of International Falls for fiscal year 25 and 26 chair would entertain a motion to approve that I'll make that motion we have a motion by councelor Holden do we have a second second second by councelor buler discussion hearing none call the question I I I I'll vote Yes motion carries next we have a resolution uh opting to increase the benefit level for firefighters who are vested in the state white volunteer firefighter plan chair would entertain a motion to approve that I'll make that motion we have a motion by councelor Holden a second we have a second second by councelor Buller discussion hearing none call the question hi I I and I'll vote Yes motion carries 40 approval for the demolition of the property located at 8017 Street City attorney uh thank you mayor and councel this is property um that was previously ordered for or approved for order for demolition when it was owned by the property owner icy um it has since been tax forfeited to the county um the Redemption period for that is up it is County property I had a meeting with um the Fire Marshall County attorney and Nathan hiel hiel thank you um to talk about what we do with this property because it's a repeat problem property um the county is in a difficult position after Tyler V hennipin came out which is a case where um Property Owners essentially want a class settlement against the state in certain counties so their hands are a little bit tied that they can't tear this property down um at least at this point um but it is a problem property they I did speak with them they consent to the city going in and tearing it down um and they it would be at the city cost but they would wake tipping fees so I've brought this to you um for approval or direction if we're just what we're doing with this property all right and it is uh tax forfeited so if we if we tear it down we're not going to be able to um put it onto the taxes because it's already tax forfeited it's a unique situation um Tyler D hennipin put certain requirements on counties um one of them is that they do have to try sell the property for the tax assess value this property I think is like 76 close to 80,000 they'll never sell it for 80,000 um certainly our cost could go be reimbursed if that were sold the problem with this property is that is tax assessed at such so much higher of value than what it's actually worth so they have to try for six I think they said six months they have to try sell it at that price and then they can drop the price and then they can drop it again um so the short answer is would it be assessed right now no it depends on what happens with the property we could potentially get it back back if it were to sell mhm um I don't know how likely that is though so I I don't want to put the the county in a in a bad spot on this this one but if if we tear it down and we accept that that cost then they're never going to get that that money so does it just keep going down and down and down and because right now it's assessed with a a building on the property correct if we take it off does that that help them or does that hurt them in their situation for resale yes um it's that would be like a caseby case basis I would say with this particular property um it's not going to hurt the value because the home the structure is not a resalable structure so my other question is there was just a fire um at this property and with that fire um could we go a different route and with our um our Universal building code condemn that and give the county a certain amount of days to tear it down and if they don't tear it down then we do it and we can build yes and no um yes we can do that that would be a court action similar to what we had with I Andy okay I have not seen a successful case where the city would sue the county state or I don't want to sue anybody that's how you do that oh well then I don't want to do that okay I didn't realize it was suing I I I thought maybe it was just based off of what we have in place with our building building codes if it is tore down or if it is burnt we can we can tear it down and then assess but it's obviously different because it's County yeah okay ah all right so I will uh hand this one over to uh the council to make a decision on what to do I am way too close to this one and I will be abstaining but uh I will open for any discussion from the council all right so the chair would entertain a motion to approve for demolition of the property I'll make that motion we have a motion by councelor Holden do we have a second second we have a second by counselor Wagner would this include the garage as well it would be all structures on the property Perfect all right chair uh we have a motion in a second any additional discussion please yeah Jared do you have any anything you can add to this this isn't fixable this isn't something somebody's going to buy and remodel we've been deal thiser for a year and a we had last this time last year um and it didn't get served on the after forfeited um there was an incident there with police last spring was from we boarded up at that time that was March 4th it's been condemned since that time to the property there's no gas to the property there's no water to the property and the host didn't have a fire recently it was a garage um all the windows BR it Mone to it reaber thank you all right I I would like to get bids on and find out what it's going to cost tear down okay um if we're doing approval for the Dem demolition we would still then be taking bids and then we would approve the bid later correct opening of the bids would come back to this body yes does does that work for you Paul all right so we have a motion in a second um call the question hi hi hi and I am going to abstain so it passes with three for the motion and one abstention uh we'll go to the next item on the agenda which is set the canvasing board meeting um and I'm going to call that meeting for Thursday November 14th at 4:00 to Canvas the results of the November 5th 2024 election um I'm going to hand this over to the city administrator just to give a little background because we have a unique situation with having a active right in campaign this year thank you mayor um yes the the city of International Falls um with their uh Vote or their candidates for mayor and counselor at large um we have to Canvas same as the count does between the 8th and the 15th of the month um what is unique as you indicated is we have an official write in and as for our resolution we um the gentleman uh requested and uh that we count those therefore um when it's kind of difficult to explain but when the totals come into the county there's just going to be a wrin total there's not going to be a name next to that total when people go out to the Secretary of State's office because it's write in so that official number will not be known until the city canvases their B um their numbers on that Thursday at 4 p.m. so I I just want to make that that very clear that if uh if there is you look at the Secretary of State's website tomorrow evening after the election and the right in has a th000 votes 5,000 votes doesn't matter that number does not necessarily be the final for the right in candidate because there could be Mickey Mouse there could be Donald Duck so until we get those back to the city in canvas every single one of those we are not going to be able to declare that until the 14th of November is that correct that is correct so if there is more rins then somebody else that's on the list there is a very good chance that that person had won however if one of the the people that are on the ballot has more rins the likelihood is they're going to win but we won't know that until we count all the rins at the the canvasing meeting on November 14th that is correct so at this time uh with the council's approval uh we will set the canvasing uh meeting for Thursday November 14th at 4 p.m. the chair would entertain a motion to approve that so move we have a motion by councelor Wagner do we have a second no second second by councelor Buller discussion any questions on what what's going to happen uh historically we'll get all three of our precincts we'll have uh a list of how they how the candidates did in each one so we'll have the people that are on the ballot and rins people on the ballot and rins and we'll count all of those and at that day we'll find out who the rins are and how many votes they individually had received all right we have a motion and a second we'll call the question all right all all and I'll vote Yes motion carries 40 next request approval of the 2025 uh license renewals for tobacco and [Applause] alcohol all right we have citizens for bacus ab with a wine on sale and a 32 on sale Edwards oil doing business as Lucky Seven General Stores a cigarette license a gas pump license and a restaurant license Super One Foods cigarette license restaurant license and a 32 off sale license excuse me uh Super One liquor LLC an off sale liquor license and a cigarette license the VFW Post 2948 a pool pool table license Gambling License restaurant license Juke boox license license Club license and a Sunday liquor license chair would entertain a motion to approve those licenses I'll make that motion we have a motion by councelor Holden do we have a second a second do you have a second by councelor Buller discussion hearing none call a question I I I I'll vote Yes motion carries 4 Z next we go to the reports of the administrator the attorney and the department heads City administrator thank you mayor just with you know the followup to the last conversation regarding elections um we do have full staff at all of our polling places we are prepared and ready to go um Lisa is um the you know the head election person for the city she's got uh head judges out there we're we're ready for a busy day excellent uh remind everybody to get out and vote okay thank you uh City attorney I have nothing additional to all right any department heads okay we'll go to reports of the mayor council committees boards and commissions anybody have anything to bring forward uh we had a legislation and land use meeting today and we're moving forward on the Cannabis um structure for licensing fees and uh rules surrounding those businesses and the the one thing that came out of land use and legislation today with that that I didn't understand and I'm so glad that we had a deeper conversation um there's going to be basically I think we kind of Ked around about it but 32 THC that'll still be able to be sold in the grocery stores and at the liquor stores but a a um a cannabis store in the community if we get one we'll be able to sell a higher more potent product boggles my mind so anyways that was a really good discussion today uh at land use and legislation uh we will go to audience anybody in audience have anything to bring forward all right hearing none we'll go to correspondence International Falls Rainer and Rainy Lake convention Visitors and Convention bureo minutes are in your packet uh our city offices will will be closed on Monday November 11th for uh Veterans Day our next city council meeting is Monday November 18th and again tomorrow is an election day all of the polls in International Falls will be open from 7:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. if you're still in line at 8:00 p.m. you're still welcome to vote um we by law will not turn anybody away um and uh I just want to say thank you to all of the people that are doing it these are people our friends and neighbors and I think at the national level we hear about corruption in our uh our voting and these are our friends and neighbors these are people in our community that are taking time out to do their civic duty to help so um if you do see anything weird there's uh numbers to call through the state Secretary of State's office but I uh I don't think in northern Minnesota we're going to worry about that so get out and exercise your right to vote and this meeting meting is a journey --------- ##VIDEO ID:BJdLd6QfGbc## all right it is 5:00 uh this is a rescheduled public hearing for the Fifth Avenue West project um we'll uh do roll call uh councelor Kaylor was out of town yesterday we're expecting him back for the council meeting but uh I guess we were kind of counting on him to be for this meeting too so maybe uh he is not going to be able to make it today um this again is the Fifth Avenue West project uh public hearing regarding um the the uh binus for that area I'm just going to handle it right hand it right off to Jason fiser the city engineer good evening mayor councel um yes this was a project that was petitioned for in the spring of 2023 um we constructed it last fall um got everything finalized this year so now we're at the point where uh we're ready to assess this project uh it consisted of uh Road stabilization and um grading and then Paving that uh the stretch uh .9 miles so um in our initial in our feasibility report we had a Engineers estimate and we estimated that the assessment would have been $126 and 39 cents per foot um the project actually came in considerably less than that um so we're going to be assessing if if approved $652 um for these these Property Owners okay and uh with that being said the is the project closed out at this time the project has been finalized yes there be no more cost to it okay um and Ted was just here he coming back just step down okay all right Ted do you have anything to add on the um for the public hearing no okay so at this time I will open it up for city council questions any uh city council questions on the project well I like that the cost was cut in half that's good think that was a conversation we were just having we were just just having that yeah all yeah okay all right thank you gentlemen and then I'll open it up for uh public input and comments um if anyone would like to come forward for uh public input please come forward and uh state your name and address and we'll take input can I give this to you absolutely we got a list the stop perfect I'm Brian Urban I live at 1912 fth Avenue West can we get the breakdown of the cost how you came up with the 52,2 please whoever's got that information let's get pulling over the total project cost was 52,000 well 90 52,2 was the assessed amount we're only assessing 90% based off of the assessment policy so so there was an additional funds that the city's taking yes that that's part of the city pays that portion and then that ,200 was broken down among 800 and I think the question that's being asked is what was the 52,000 like what work was done on that project okay I'll okay well the question I have is because there was a 10th Avenue job put on this same bid and that apparently was not deducted we have it right here in black and white approximately 1180 Square ft pavement along 10th Avenue and he did tell me that he put it on there so that was not deducted apparently what was the what did you say was 10 10th Avenue okay I would have to go back and look at that see and then how about how about this manhole Rim adjustment cuz there was a manhole cover at the intersection of 19th and 5th when it was dirt and now it's gone so that's on here also did that not get done it may not so do we get a refund for that then too or what no contractor would do that so you're going to ask them to do that then y so a lot of times when we doist projects we will add additional binus and if that binous t got added to that then it okay so we had some storm that we had to replace and it was on we call 10 and a half Avenue it's not actually 10th Avenue is so as soon as he said 10th Avenue that I'm sure we added the tonage but now whether that was subra look back to see got so it could reduce that price yes we could reduce that $655 if that those that t was in that price so as a general rule this would be something that we bring up at the council meeting this evening to finalize and we could hold off on that for for the uh yes okay perfect because I think if we're having questions at this point we we definitely need to make sure that they're sorted out before we we assess these taxes so they know the right number so we 100% so um keep going with your list cuz we do have he has 11 things and I think that they all should be addressed so what is the weight classification of Fifth Avenue West for tons per axle is it a 10ton road so we've got a problem then from the 17th Street detour with the water trucks that drove down there for 2 months this summer and they're what about 60,000 lb a piece on a 3A of truck and we've got we're in the water sitting in the street already looks like the truck rad not to mention them running their jake brakes not all of them right but they did right which should have you know so so then that one kind of four and five we need to look at what happened there and what you guys are going to do about that because that wasn't the detour wasn't on us that was on the city on the county the county detoured it not us we're not allowed to detour a County State 8 R okay so but this is I have to say thank you because you the usually these go so fast and I love that someone's taking the time to bring this to our attention we need this so thank you um and then that gets us to number seven we would also like to ask we I guess we were assuming that driveways were going to be hooked up I you know there's four houses on this block three with finished driveways and they were not I mean we got like less than 8 ft between the street and our driveways and I mean mhm I spent over $3,000 just hooking it up myself this summer because it looks stupid with the patch of Rock concrete in my driveway and then a Street I mean that I just assumed that that was going to happen I'm just wondering why that wasn't part of the deal I mean I thought it was going to be mhm I think Terry and Gary probably assume the same thing okay I'm just to us they all got hooked up what happened there don't look at me I don't do all of the stuff but is that something that we can look at and and happened that different design yeah t typically we just bump out we don't go all way um what probably should have happened is we should have approached the home owners and ask if they wanted the contractor to do that but that would have been at their additional expense and a side deal with the contract help help me understand that we're not allowed to extend our driveway they're looking like that doesn't make sense well yeah I don't all right so then that addresses number seven number eight so yeah so you guys replaced a fire hydrant in Justin's front yard last week and I why you didn't run the street sweeper down there and clean up all that mud on the street but now the thieves are whole section of Right There by 20 street is just covered mud and whatever it's nothing that has to do with this but yeah I got you pisses me me off that we have a paved Street and now it's just covered mud you know I mean so and then there's damage on the side of the right next to Anderson's driveway and down by the intersection of 20th Street there's a thing that's busted off the tar is broke already in a year so I don't really know how that happened and I don't know if you want me to get started on the greater because I don't know who's running the greater in this town but that guy needs definitely some training on not to grade the tar because this spring he stopped right in front of my house which would been right in front of tyon gars that's halfway down the block he dropped the blade and graded it all he scraped the tar all the way down to the dirt I don't know left a big scratch down the middle of the road I just stupid mhm stupidity but a brand new street that got scraped like that that's just stupid and then number 11 I this is a police thing but I don't know why 20th Street and Fifth Avenue is the local racetrack we got yeah people kids I'm assuming racing up and down there spinning all over the place I mean if Lloyd were here he didn't show up tonight but he said one guy went right in the ditch on my side of the street and he sat in his living room watching them spin the tires backing up trying to get out of there or whatever he's like I was going to go out and help him he said but it's not wasn't my problem or whatever and I said well good you know but I mean all these things just we were hoping that by Paving that was going to help slow traffic down but apparently the only thing they can't do now is spin around on from 5th to 20th or from 20th on the 5th but they come the other way well and will uh through there and whatever we'll talk to uh the police chief and make sure that he's aware that this has become a situation that you didn't have before so that he can have some people oh it was like this before it's been like this for years but we were just kind of hoping by Paving it it would deter some people but it doesn't matter okay but all right well we have uh do you have anything else to add I don't you you guys got anything okay so number one I I will uh remove this from the assessment from tonight's meeting because we're not ready to do that obviously okay um we will um have have the city engineer and Public Works director address some of these things we'll take a look at it we'll find out make sure that the dollar amount is correct and uh we will move this to a later time so that we can have that conversation and uh um assess the correct amount City administrator you had something to add no just upon you know getting any updated information we would resend out to each of the property owners notifying them of the the date in which that it would be addressed with any additional information that we have put together I I really do appreciate this because like I said we've done we've done three of these in the in the time that I've been mayor it hasn't been until this last year that we've had people petition have the projects done and move forward so I believe this is the third one and it's the first time anyone's came with concerns that they have and this is the way the process is supposed to work so thank you so much for coming and giving us this because we can't fix it if we don't know what happens and six months down the road once it's assessed and people come and say hey this didn't happen this didn't happen and this didn't happen we can't fix it so thank you so much I appreciate it thank you thank you all right um so if we don't have any more public input um again I am going to pull this from uh the agenda this evening we will have a uh we will get more information to make sure that this is correct uh as we move forward and uh this public hearing is closed