##VIDEO ID:Ni4GKmQOrwM## [Music] call this meeting to order I'll rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I 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 there was one change to the agenda and that will be Mr may there's two changes sorry so actually three moving this one so it would be a gambling resolution number 202443 a gambling resolution of mar uh sorry to M's Area Chamber of Commerce uh then there is um seven G 7f is removed 7f is removed 7g is a part-time police officer hire H is for the ambulance and with that can we get a motion to approve the agenda second all in favor say iOS motions carried open for if anybody has something to talk about for okay then we're on to the consent agenda approve the minutes bills purchase disorders Investments there's a payout four for the 2024 Main Street uh Improvement projects from M Excavating there's another pay up uh number five 2023 uh Railroad Avenue streets and utility improvements uh there's two EMT appointments uh there's two gambling resolutions and then there's a resolution for appointing election judges for the general election and a police officer step increase can I get a motion to approve second all in favor say I oppose motion is carried we are on to uh public hearing it is 602 public hearing on the establishment of tax increment financing District number 13-2 within the uh Municipal uh development District number 13 and Adoption of the tax increment financing plan related there to good day good evening mayor and first and foremost I'm Jason Murray I'm with David D Associates uh I want to thank you for the opportunity this is my first opportunity uh to work with the city and the staff so I just uh first before I jump into the Tiff I want to thank you for the opportunity much appreciated tonight May and Council year to hold this public hearing to see comment on the creation of tax increment financing District 13-2 this is part this this tip District uh is part of the municipal development District 13 that was created with the apartment comp here back in 2023 on March 9th of 2023 we are including the remaining 25 Parcels in this tip District um as part of it however most likely those this will be a one part it will be they'll be all conjoined into one parcel uh with Mr roach proceeding with his town homes in the tip plan there's just a couple couple things I'd like to point out council is there's been questions always when we put these together um we get the question there's there's information about bonded indebtedness and bonding and and other financing vehicles but I want to be clear that uh we we make the statement in both section four and section N9 that this is a contemplated pay you go development so it is a uh developers risk it's the city is not bonding for it um the bonded tiveness and some of the financing terms are just broad terms uh related to the the statutary requirements and that so with that we have a budget uh roughly about 2.5 million collection projected over 26 years this is uh this is a little bit different from the original Tiff District that was created out there this Tiff district is complying under the Trad what I call the traditional housing Tiff District 26 years and there are some some income requirements the reason we didn't use the Workforce Development is there's a couple reasons first and foremost um there's a vacancy there's a 2% requirement for that Workforce housing compon that with all your new development here you get the the complex next door uh apartment complexes out to the West we didn't know if we could meet that 2% vacancy plus the developer has asked for some time uh a delayed from a standpoint of a delayed timing for construction so he was looking at potentially starting 26 or 27 uh and unfortunately for the workforce housing it's sunsets in 2027 so it would have been a real tight time frame we graded it now uh we'd have that delay that we' just be eating up years and that so the best fit Council was the traditional housing tax income financing District so it does come with some some uh 20% of the units must be at 50% or 40% of the units must be at 60 and those are ongoing uh annual compliance requirements that the developer want to follow uh the other the other thing I just like to point out is because of the delay in construction there is uh there is note in the uh in the Tiff plan that we are electing to delay to try and align that first year of increment as best we can with the start project so you'll see some election to delay we're delaying that first increment potentially to 2028 with this this plan and we're we're disclosing that U as part of it so there's some highlights in there that you probably seen in the Tiff plan uh that covers that the one change I will will note uh council is on one of theit still list uh The Economic Development Authority is the ownership speaking with Sheila it sounds like the the property all been sold on the City St part so we will make that change based on Final transcript uh file this with the county City so with that Council I'll pause for any questions or step aside for public comment right any questions all right perfect thank you all right thank you so we're at seual 7th it is open to the public if anybody wants to ask any questions all right and is 608 we will be taking action further down the line we are on to reports uh police chief once monthly report good evening August 2024 in our cafeteria 14 citation 68 verbal warnings for the month of August 2024 we received 266 calls requests for service last year's 181 uh we ended on icr 2215 and last year was 1967 uh 22 agency assist pretty in line with what we've been seeing for this year so we are up about uh 250 calls for the year so far so it's good to see that um even though Staffing is um at a lower level that we're still able to keep up with things and that uh it doesn't slow down regardless if we got enough cops or not so um an update on the squat card we were able to get one ordered uh it came in at about $48,000 you uh pre-approved 55,000 for that purchase so that has been ordered uh if things align and the life comes back to where things were it should be a four to five month build um but that's what they said previous years as well so if it were to come in early this or late this year we'd still have funding available and If not we're expected to see it in 2025 um school's going well uh all three campuses at three campuses St Mary's ALC and the public school things have been going well there so it's good to see that at least the early part of the school year people are paying attention and we're not having any issues uh in November our the whole County will be switching over to a new um reporting and dispatching system so we're going to be doing some extra training on that um it's going to be very well welcome compared to our 25-year-old system we've been peac mealing together for decades so um we also will be having some training coming up with our own staff related to inservice or defensive tactics and firearms and all those sorts of things it's that time of year to do that again so um other than that we don't have much else going on hopefully for the remainder of this month and next month questions thank you chief chief City attorney report Scott yeah the only thing in my report is just uh noting the uh the work done with the weof property uh and I we'll be talking more about that this evening uh with more of an update and so I I won't spend a lot of time on it now because I suspect that we'll be spending some more time on it later in the meeting so that's that's all I've got unless the council has some other questions or concerns Sheila so I was going to talk about the road projects but I am doing Dave's uh report for him after this so I'll talk on that a little later um admin and public work staff met with the construction team at Sterns electric last week to discuss the plan um so we've got a really good idea now of when they need electric and when they need water and as promised at last month's meeting things sure did change on Craft drive over the last month um so now it won't be quite as exciting everything is you know shifting internally um we also worked with blue door storage this past month to give them another access point um they have nine sheds constructed with four more planed so a second access was really advisable over on the corner we did submit a Grant application on behalf of the Public Utility Commission to support our work in changing the overhead lines to um underground especially with the tornado that came through this project is really relevant in our studies and our disaster plans so we're working on that the Planning and Zoning commission will be discussing murals uh the Mata members at their meeting last week discussed them and provided their thoughts not necessarily on deciding what is art but where it should be placed and so that's kind of the direction we're going and we really have a lot of strong interest lately in businesses that want to move in expand and come to town so we encourage people to continue reaching out on that in reference to the roach development that Jason just spoke about um Mr roach would like to come to a meeting we talked and I think we are going to close on this property he prefers late November and Scott and I are working through a development agreement so we will see him either at the October or the November meeting to discuss the project and uh come back to town and talk about what he's doing next so that's what I have for tonight good thank you all right then we'll be talking about the same engineer report that's Dave could not make it tonight so thankfully we all saw that Main Street has been paved the last two days um first course went down yesterday um today the second course that went on was actually the first wear course and as it'll stop at that point the final wear course won't go on until spring but the county is going to come on and do temporary striping so it will be striped um there is a lot of work left to be done um there's some sidewalks that have to still go in from third to 5ifth a ton of landscaping and so what we're doing is we are still asking the public to please use the detours try to stay out of the area for the safety of the people that are still working in there so for as much as possible we're trying to keep the workers safe that need to continue the work on Main Street uh the second phase of the street project for 24 is underway and that is down by the bowling alley and so we will be continuing to work on that and up in Highlands uh they're stripping the top soil this week and they will start on the piping next week so that road project is happening up on the North side and that's all Dave had did he give you a time frame for the sidewalks when that's going to be done um sidewalks should be he said the week of the third and the fourth of October is when they were going to be coming back in for those okay sounds good thank you all right City administrator report we are currently hiring for the following positions police officer part-time Street Maintenance it shouldn't say supervisor I think I accidentally said that last time um electric operations director and we are revisiting that that might end up turning into a lead position and then a journey line worker so we continue to be very short staffed in our electric department at this time we did hire a police officer um later on or actually you guys um later on in the agenda you'll see that you also be approving a part-time police officer so that's good our next meeting with asme and LS will take place in October we are currently just waiting on insurance renewals because that's such a big part of how we do negotiations so we're just simply waiting for that we are currently working with the league of Minnesota cities on the power plant repair for the fire that happened at the power plant and then myself Ryan Meyer our former Finance director Susan danzel with our our um engineer for our water Wastewater and Tim vogle who was our former water Wastewater supervisor have all been served depositions by the attorney represent Melrose Community LLC due to scheduling conflicts we are hoping that we don't have to do those depositions until the first week in October see what happens looking ahead to oo um the good news is is they finally did assign a judge to this to this so we finally at least have a judge that's been assigned to this so we'll see what happens um looking ahead just so you guys know we're going to in October we're going to be talking about the garbage assessments the Trap contract and then hopefully we're going to have a l LS Union contract back in October and then Mr Mayor and um the rest of my items are on the uh regular agenda okay all right we on the action items um resolution number 2024 resolution adopting a proposed tax levy approving 20124 tax levy um collectible in 2025 so um you guys uh at as a council you guys met in a work session to talk about the preliminary budget tonight is the preliminary tax um Levy that has to get the proposed tax levy um and what is collectible in 25 has to get approved tonight just as a reminder you can set this and it can go lower but it cannot go higher so the net tax capacity in 2024 was 3,320 188 in 25 the net tax capacity is 3,419 691 which is about a 3% increase from where where we were a year ago again keep in mind that a lot of the projects really from a tax standpoint like the apartments and everything they really haven't come completely online from a tax capture type of thing and they're tiffs so it'll be a while um our debt has gone down a little bit so 90,000 in 24 and it's now at 880,000 that is again the bond for the fire hall the general um fund we are looking at 1,450,000 which is a 50,000 increase from 24 so our total Levy that we're looking at is 1, 530,000 so that is 44.7 74% as far as the tax rate goes that is actually uh just under a percent um or just slightly over a percent uh decrease from where it was in 24 and that is due to um the net tax capacity increasing so the debt again as I said is 80,000 the general fund would be 1, 550,000 originally it was 1,450,000 but after we had the meeting it went to um we added an additional 100,000 based on the the discussion we had at the working meeting so the preliminary Levy proposed is 1, 630,000 which is $140,000 more than what it was in 24 and the tax rate is going to be 47.67 per. so the change in the tax rate is 2.79% and this is preliminary preliminary yes sir the goal is still to keep it yep the goal is we actually have another working session in November need some numbers yet to make sure yep because we don't have the insurance we don't have the contract set up we don't there's a lot of moving Parts still um you know the the other thing is this this is what is used to I think send out the estimated yeah next year correct so everybody gets that it's the same thing every year our preliminary is typically higher than their actual tax bill is yep you know not always but um the years that I've been here I don't I think we've decreed it almost now you know depending on what happens later on the agenda which we'll be talking about we'll have to see but that's all I have Mr um mayor and Council so I'm looking for action on resolution 202 2440 and then again on resolution 202 2441 okay so oh no I'm sorry just 20 2440 Jason's is the 202 yeah just take action on the proposed uh resolution y I get a motion to approve so move second all in favor say I I I oppos motion Carri and the council take action approving the preliminary 2025 budget you have motion to approve move second favor say motion is carried resolution number 2024413044 financing District number 13-2 within Municipal development District number 13 and the adoption of tax increment financing plan related to the development of the Roach Town Home project uh to the accordance to uh Minnesota statute section uh inclusive and amended can I get a motion to approve that so Mo second all in favor CI right opposed motion is carried on to see which is going to be estimate for chipping the city's brush pile so after the August 3rd tornado the city opened the area on Riverview Road for brush we contacted three tree services for estimat to Chip and clear the site Hoffman and car is declined to offer an estimate shping uh tree and stump removal has provided an estimate of 15,000 they have availability to complete the work in September so the area is clear before Leaf clean up and people feel encouraged to use the area for their leaves so um this is one that um yeah we just need to get this taken care of in my opinion it's not a it was it's a non-budgeted item so it's something that we're going to have to use some undesignated funds for however our concern is that if we leave it people are just going to keep piling on and piling on and then where does it end so I know there's been discussion off and on um as long as I've been here we keep going back and forth you know do we just have a place where people can just bring brush all the time um and with the the solid waste provider West Central being able to give people you know their Leaf um bins I guess that that has helped but I do know that's an ongoing discussion but at the moment I just I think um I would recommend that the council give consideration to Contracting with sharping tree and jump removal for chipping of the brush pile on River on Riverview Road I'll make the motion he's hauling the salt too right yes so yep I don't know how how good a quality the chips would be because it's mostly brush but um if we would do this then is there gets pretty dirty does it get dirty yeah so we just don't want it sitting on our wheelhead protection that's where oh yeah all right yeah all right and you you worry about the well protection nitrates getting in the water so yeah get yeah I don't know if I buy into that quite as much but anyway get rid of them then that's fine um but I know somebody brought up why don't we just burn it rather than spending 15 whatever thousand on it can't whether there's differing opinions over there and whether or not you can you can burn that it's not hurting anything sitting there um you could one individual who is familiar with the pile very familiar um told me you you push a part of it off burn it leave it sit over winter let it dry a little bit push part of it off burn it push another part off burn it um I know well had protection you pick up the ashes when you're done pretty simple anyway another option out there I think if we do that future you don't Smack mash it together so tight either cuz like I know a bunch of the city guys are like good luck pulling that all apart like if you wanted to pull it apart and put it on little piles right he's like you'd have quite the task to so yeah I know Mars would run over with their big loader and yeah push it up push it closer to the road if you wanted to burn it but there's just some challenges out there the Wellhead obviously being one of them and then the other one is the and yes it visually I mean we're way the heck away from it but it's the Excel power line that becomes the other issue for us so I think we got to have the discussion though on if we're going to keep going in that spot or right we do this every time and then we kind of just push it down the road yep that's why I brought that up so I'll make a motion to approve this second Travis yeah there's the first and the second all in favor say I hi oppos name motion carried uh Finance director hire so we interviewed three candidates for the finance director position and brought to of the candidates back for second interviews we offer the position to Jackie knel who will be starting at step one which is 9,697 74 on the salary scale and she is to begin on September 23rd I do want to say that we will continue to use Abdu as our Financial Consultant due to the fact that she's coming in new and we're in the middle of our budget that is critical so um and Union negotiations but uh they will work alongside her and if we feel that she's really getting it then you know we have the flexibility to do what we need to do we're not we're not obligated to um have so many hours with Abdu if you remember it's just an hourly contract so I just wanted to clarify that so I would recommend approving approving the hiring of Jackie Neos so Mo was the first second second all in favor say I I I oppose motion is carried okay F which was a grass cutting notice nuisance that is expired and then uh we're on to demolition bidity had some changes so had some changes uh we'll give everyone an update the city council met at a special session on Tuesday September 3rd to discuss 406 Main Street East the city has entered into a consent agreement with the owner to handle the Demolition and assess the property owner for the cost nine companies were approached regarding estimates for demolition four elected to provide the Council on September 3rd authorized a demolition budget of $250,000 uh we were still waiting on more estimates and we said we would probably be revisiting this depending on how the estimates came in so what has happened since then is we have received all the estimates that we believe we are going to get and they do exceed $250,000 um if it cannot be tested and Abad um opats cannot be part of the project um because they are not authorized to tear down buildings that have asbest in them they would have to be tested and evaded first um you also have received the quotes from vet and relle um and then we have the new quote from landweer Land wear's coot quote does include hauling everything away and they do have uh the number in there for fortifying the common wall after it is down and protecting the existing wall that remains and basically putting steel over it similar to across the street after the 400 block fire since all this happened we have been approached by individuals from town who are interested in possibly taking on the project and restoring it um cleaning it out getting it down to its studs and taking on the project of bringing it back to a commercial space with apartments on top basically what it was they are here tonight to talk about they toured the property yesterday some members of the council have been able to get inside the property um the group from town was able to meet with our building official and I will let them address their ideas for the project do you want to come up uh y name and just make sure you say your name up there for public record okay I'll give this to you guys if you want to hand that around that is a rough estimate so what we're coming up with for what's going on what we all got to do with it so well hello everybody my name is Nathan hilner I'm the owner of Northstar Properties LLC I actually go around and I retrofit more or less residential but once I heard that this building was potentially going to get demoed in my home tell and I figured I'd start looking into it and seeing if there's anything that me and my contractors can do so I actually we walked through it with everybody uh Tuesday so we walked through in the morning on Tuesday at that point we kind of had some questions concerns issues like that that we noticed before we even opened it so then we actually met what a half hour hour later with actually the building official and then we kind of talk to him with what he's looking at what our guess information what we're thinking we're going to do or what we're hoping to do this thing to start with yet this year would be fixed what Scott messed up by taking that whole roof off because actually underneath this this is a FAL frame rof so underneath here starting at the back half is 2 by 10 12 or 2 by10 or 2 x 12 12 in on Center and they're actually running clear spanning the full 24t and then throughout the middle here we actually crawled up way on the front where that roof's collapsed and we took pictures underneath it down that Center wall is actually just 1 by sixes that we're supporting a 2x6 going up at an angle so this design is actually dumping all the water towards Jacobs and then actually towards the hardware store so they had the water running against each parit wall and then ran to the back and then eventually made it to a gunner that is no longer existed so what our new thought would be is obviously with that existing 2x 12s that are down there um talking with the structure engineer that was out there with land wear um I was talking about options that we would have if we get this thing opened up he'd have to come through it we'd have to find out what joint were B so if all a sudden we find out where the main water leakage is which obviously we can tell we're have a lot of water in that area um but what he was stating to me which what I kind of have figured is on the 2x 12s worst case scenario we'd have to go in in syst with an LVL so you use laminate Lumber which would give us enough distance to clear span the 24t which is what the building existing is and then we're also contemplating so anytime you use Lo bearing you're supposed to stack everything with the structural guy we're asking them because obviously in here we've got an apartment here kitchen here you go back the main Gathering area I call it the pigeon shoot which is on the side of the building that is where the main Gathering area is for entering those two and there's walls supporting all over in here and he's stating that he would give us permission that he would we'd be able to carry those loads throughout the building based on how it's constructed so really the ultimate game plan on this thing fix the roof we tear everything down to studs we'd have a uh the structural engineer would come in he'd address the scenario of the whole building we'd have every part of it looked over for Life Safety at that point we'd go through new electrical throughout the whole building um downstairs would actually be turned into offices as what our game plan would be or something on that extent to the point of being a commercial space um upstairs would be a two-bedroom apartment again we're I'm still on how to do the entry to those apartments I don't know if I'd want to file it into the back of the existing building and then use kind of this area and maybe reframe a little bit of the apartments around a little bit but my main goal on this thing would be steal it to match outside of uh be existing brick still and we just kind of retrofit it to keep the existing look to match kind of like Jacob's buildings are for that matter of fact so my main thing try to redeem it if at all possible but we're getting to the point of based on rough bids and again everyone's protecting themselves right now because nobody knows until we open this thing up nobody's GNA say hey out 20 grand to do it well then all a sudden you open it up and you're getting 40 or 50 what I'm getting for numbers is going to be everyone's protecting themselves as much as possible and rightfully still um but I on my mind I think it'd be too nice of a building to demo but it's giving to the dollars and Cent part that it might be too far but it's something that I kind of want to talk to you guys about get your opinions on if there's any grant money out there to fix this um as right now the value of the building is negative 380 some, because that's what's going to cost the de so Scott we do have permission to Scott to purchase it so he did give us okay we have a we can write a DA on it um the the biggest concern I have is taking responsibility of it we get into it and all of a sudden the building's too far which according to the structural he said he's not worried about it so when after I I spent about two hours on the phone with him um and he's on board once it's ripped out once we have it all open to come in and really dig into it more right now we couldn't based on obviously Scott didn't want anybody to open anything up so and I know you guys are kind of on a tighter time frame with land I don't know what time frame landw wanted to do this in but to actually if to actually get into it rip stuff trying to dig into it I don't know what my structural guy would be at for time and I know time is kind of where we're at with everything right now as time's going to be the biggest Dilemma on this project the building will not make one more year with that roof like that it will it'll be gone so we the roof I've got if we can do something and make something happen on it I got guys we could have the roof on probably middle of November by the time I'd be able to cut it all out because what we actually end up doing is coming off the ripping the old dri off we' lay plywood across the whole thing and you'd literally be walking across the plywood on top of the 2x2s so you'd be able to safely remove all that top stuff and then you'd have i' actually talk to ARS in construction we'd go in here after talking to structural we'd have to actually put anchor bolts on the outside of the building to tie on ledgers and everything would have to Ledger inside of that existing building and we'd have to sandwich it with bolts and anchors because it will not let you just tie into those old brick because they will not hold you pretty much going to make a sandwich out of it and on the out side we'd have to run probably steel we were thinking like six feet is what we kind of were thinking is we run six feet of Steel down to cover it and you'd have a steel cap up over the top and then back onto that existing Ro so I mean the roof once you get the roof done the inside stuff is pretty cosmetic I mean it would no matter what you're carrying it down to studs you got to get rid of insulation you got to get that all the wood exposed and start dehumidifying it you got to get the moisture out of that building um we talked to Scott he mentioned that there was hardly any leaks in it at all until he did his Bush fix and the bush fix is where the problem came in so assuming based on what he did you can see actually we walked across this we were actually up here today um but you can see all this is all that exposed plywood he never had it tapered up or nothing so all your water after your parit was flooding down and from here it all ran across and down and in so assuming what happened is snow loads here and here and that's what br trusses and they were legitly 2x sixes spanning 14 ft so it was never constructed to last per se but when Scott did a bush fix and got water in it it wasn't going to hold so um I don't know what what are your guys's thought what do you guys want to see out of the building is there anything that the city council wants to see is there anything you guys don't like want to see don't want to see is it to the point of do we even want to it I mean the worst part about it is we demo it off that lot will end up going back to the county in 7 to 10 years to Let It Go tax forfeit and then you guys will get it back and try to sell it for five grand and no one's going to buy it it's only 26 ft wide or 30 ft wide just not a usable space so that's what my dilemma is we've already got Chad with a blank lot that hard next door and time this one out interfering with Jacob's building I mean the hardware store is not an issue that's just got the pigeon shoot as I call it that's just attached to that so there's nothing really with the hardware store that's an issue but it's Shoring up with Jacob's building I mean it just be nice to keep it it' be an i sore to get rid of it but yet it's a heck of a liability to take it on and that's where my it's been a short couple days of thinking about this it's a heck of a liability for my company to want to take it on um and that's kind of where I'm torn on what to do with it for the liability purposes U my estimate I have right now is roughly around $400,000 it would take to renovate it but that would be giving us pretty much the whole building would be brand new except for this brick on the outside but that' give us two new apartments in town with obviously they won't meet they will not meet Ada capabilities to them not putting an elevator in it and we were talking to Bill a little bit about what what commercial codes are going to have to be brought up to keep it as commercial versus what can be kept kept as residential there's a lot of variables still in this that nobody had for sure answers on and a lot of design has to go into this thing but my main goal if we want to do this thing would be get that roof on it get it sealed off get a new door in the back just get everything so the things watertight and then over winter maybe we can come back and review how we want to do the inside or even once we get the process rolling I can work on blueprints we can talk with the structural guy we get kind of everything played out so everyone has a say on what we're kind of doing with it um I'm 100% open to anything I just really feel bad letting the building go to waste because it I mean it's not a huge building but it's 4,000 ft Main Street but I just wish Scott would have said something five years ago this a lot of headaches but um yeah I don't know is there anything you guys have for questions for me or anything that we've seen that you guys want to know how any part of it's constructed we kind of dug into it probably a little more than we should have but Scott when he said he'd sell for a dollar I don't think Scott really cared so we may have looked at few things just to make sure the construction matches what Jacob's did and that's what makes it nice working with Jacob is Jacob redid his and all three of those buildings are all three constructed exactly the same other than Jacobs hasn't been neglected right cons no I I was actually started when I saw the last quote I started questioning well we should be able to save it for that price somebody should be able to and realistic it's it's not and my numbers don't get wrong I'm going to tell you right now my numbers everyone's guesstimated cuz nobody has any clue right I'm going off of everyone's giving me high numbers until everyone opens it I mean we're we're spitballing ideas here how to do it um but everything with the structural guy I talk to him and he's like that's one of the better buildings he's seen um but he's like don't get me wrong they're still going to take time and effort into it same one yeah bread so I talked to him right after I got his number from you uh it was actually quite a long conversation with them because I was asking like cuz Bill did not want Bill pretty much said you did a structural guill go with struct correct yep so my main issue with this building is what I want if we do want to do it there's only one thing that concerns me is getting an architect involved on the project you get an architect that would have to engineer this thing to meet all ADA requirements all that stuff that's where you're going to it's probably $100,000 just in architect fees to get a plan put together so what my ultimate goal would be is to keep pretty much keep it existing as much as possible um probably frame out that back up make it so we can make I'd have to have that PL what I'd want to do is get an architect to look at the Fire Escape part because that's where it come in for the part of the apartments upstairs so we'd have to have that double check to make sure everything meets accordingly we' probably have to cut some different Windows into to meet egress in them um but I I think it's too nice to get rid of it um it does it it is an isore right now but if you look it's a diamond in the rough there's a lot of good bonss in there it's a lot of good building but it just looks horrendous the drop ceilings everything just filled up with moisture and it's bad but you walked it I mean the basement's dry you got a good start and that's even what the building official structural guide all those guys are like you got a good bonus you're sitting on your foundation your foundation's perfect so as long as your block or brick is stacked the outside bearings you're sitting fine um all of our joists are tuck two inches into the brick so that's fine um yeah it's just going to come down to working with the structural guy to get it safe and Sol that's what our goal would be on it um I guess for Electrical Plumbing everything would been brought up to new code it it's going to be a brand new building except for the outside sh but I think for what would look great in this town would be keeping it but at what dollars and cents is what we got to decide so and the liabilities obviously like you said for a business to take this on there's a lot of liability in it so what n didn't say yet to is you know obviously asking me right away being real you know what's the value building after rehab and based off the cas that square footage it's about 300,000 so obviously right now spending $400,000 on it you know he's at a negative 00,000 based on a lot of different factors as far as you know it might nor be 350 it could be50 there just so many unknown could be 250 yeah you're you don't know realistic at the end the day I could still have to demo this thing right and that's where my dilemma comes in I right now looking at it from the outside looking at it it doesn't seem that bad and with what I know and what I've done working for St Rose for so many years I fixed these before it's not it's not that bad but it scares a lot of people because you don't know and the unknown is what's going to either make or break this project so I mean again time frame is going to be key on this project so if land wants to do it it it' be we want to get in there for or either get permission from Scott to go in there maybe open it up a little bit more get the structural guy in there to look and try to do a little bit due diligence on the front side before I go and buy it um it pretty much sounds like Scott's game for kind of whatever we want to do he wants us to try to try to save it I guess but if you want to touch the roof i' feel a lot better but you'll have that so and what would you say if everything went perfectly Ian lit 350 I think by the time I get structurals and get everything approved and do everything best case scenario You' be out of it for around 350 right now I'm at about 390 but again I have a $25,000 contingency in there for oh God unknown but in something like this 25 Grand not that that ain't going to get you very far but I wanted to make sure I had some of numbers are kind of everyone's saying okay worst case there and that's kind of what I put in there but I I don't know it's until everyone can get when we didn't let nobody went inside the building except for me and Jacob and the city members that day and the building official that day I didn't let any subcontractors nobody's even went in there to double check we're going off of The 100 pictures or so I took and sending it to them so it's legitly everyone's just throwing hail Mar's at it to see if we can save this and I wanted numbers to come to the meeting with so at least we have an idea with okay are we 600,000 then it doesn't even pay to even attempt it well we're almost at the same price of demoing it so do we want is it to the point of we want to save the building as a town or do we want to De it I mean I the biggest issue I have is my business is going to take the risk if this thing turns out to be a complete dud and something's just completely way off it would I'd be done that's what scares me just a huge RIS I think this this is obviously going to require a little more due diligence on your part 100% and a discussion with you and Scott on our part yeah I lat on how this how this looks whether because I'd like to see it saved obviously I think Soo that building gets torn down nothing's going to ever get built there again so be a good the way I look at it a few by I'm hoping to do this project over winter so I'd be looking at by April or I'd have it done I'd get the roof on yet this fall right but the Gunning part I'd try to attempt to do over winter and some of that's going to come down to coordination with City help or whatever however we going to place dumpsters keep everything out of everybody's way but try to still keep it as efficient as we can I'm figuring I'd have a dumpster there probably two weeks two and a half weeks and have the whole thing gutted out and starting over and then from there I would just park a dump trailer probably in the alleyway between on the back side of mine and Jacob's building I park a dump trailer there and just haul up a little bit of SCP we have as we're going so try to keep it as inconvenient as we can for everybody um but the biggest the biggest tackling is that roof and I'm coming up with I've got Bulls from anywhere from 150,000 to 200 and some thousand to fix that roof we had two different clat roofers out there today and one construction company so because we'd have to reconstruct it anchor it do everything to it make it correct and that way the structural guy is not on my tush he uh he's really concerned about how capable the brick is is what he's worried about but we only got a couple issues which is right back here where the gutter is obviously that's a water issue so I got money in for tuck pointing those brick we tuck point this area and I'd actually just continue the steal from Jacobs and come straight across so and the west side is like the West side's in amazing Condition it's very good condition it's just just the front is the top six be where it's tapered there's just more water that yeah and we were talking about doing it across your building and mine or this one TI a six foot piece of Steel across it just to protect it so we don't have bricks falling off and stuff like that down the road so all right so yeah is anybody else is everybody no I I mean yeah we know it's not going to get built on otherwise yeah no it's going to sit empty and then the worst part is someone's getting stuck with the burden of the 400 and some thousand right it's it's terrible but you know that's what's going to happen long term but so I'll just add a few things the structural engineer who he was referring to was in the building um it is the same structural engineer that landw used to come in to talk about Shoring up the property uh Travis was along with them so Travis is familiar with this structural engineer he was there that day that we went through it um Jacob imic is here um tonight there is something to be said when working because Jacob probably has the most to lose in this situation one way or another and so Jacob is part of these discussions our building official previously prior to Tuesday or whatever day we were in there had never been in the basement um he had only been on the first floor and so when we had the opportunity this week to go back in with the building official he was able to go into the basement for the first time he was very happy to see there was no water in the basement that made the building official feel very good um also we look back on old pictures when we looked at pictures from August of 2023 this building the roof was bad but there was it wasn't that bad so we also took some solace in the fact that we know the water hasn't been rushing in except for the last few months so it hasn't been accumulating water for 5 years so there is a little more hope of the potential of something being salvageable here so I guess what you all are asking for tonight is time to explore further that's what I'd be asking for if there's any way possible to actually open up certain areas where we think the biggest concern is and get my get that structural engineer back for one more trip just to have them ver y okay guys if we have to put and again not a huge deal if he can verify that all we need to do is put an sister an LVL next to it perfect but the way he the way me and him were talking though is he's going to actually let us use trib tributary bearing points and we might even only have to snag a 2 by1 next to him so he makes it sound like he's not too concerned about anything structurally on it as long as those lock brick are good and that you can physically see on the west side you're not catching bearing on the North or South Wall everything's burying East and West so I think we just would like a little bit more time to open it as Scott who give us permission just dig into it just a couple more give us a couple days to just open it up and really look at certain parts of it before we just decide thaty scrap it and speaking to the land wear question land wear does not have time in September anyway they would not have time till October um is what they told me um I'm also going to ask attorney demic to come up and speak to the consent agreement which was signed with Scott as to how we would proceed from here come up for one more thing sure so I'm going to ask you guys one question I know this is kind of we were talked about a little bit before the meeting but there's easier way to fix this building um it's not going to match the rest of the Main Street this is where I think maybe it's not what you guys are wanting to do so obviously we got two parit walls here these two are both the bearing points on this whole building would the city be opposed if we've got the top of this bearing or this wall is what 2 and 1/2 ft right something like that from top of flat roof to the top of front of our parit about three so would the city ever I mean this is 100% to you guys but it' be an easier fix and maybe a better term long term what would happen if I would take I can go so it's a 24ft wide building so if I went commercial steel I can go down to a six or a half 12 pitch what would happen if I pitched this this way it's still tucked behind the parit you really wouldn't see it and then I gutter this side gutter this side run the tra run the dce bo over to here and dump the water either between these buildings or run gutter all the way down and out if I can do that we can actually just clean up all this garbage up there we can cut holes into that add insulation into there so the insulation then would sit on top of our 2x12 existing this would become blowing fire glass and you turn it into a cavity with the four different heights here what I would do is I'd actually take 2 by 12s treated drill an epoxi down into that block so You' actually drill probably a three foot piece of bar you drill it in every 24 in on Center stack your 2x 12 so it flushes out this height in that height match and then you just run a set of 24 in trusses across it plywood it tie backck it and then put commercial grade steel on the commercial the reason why I'm saying commercial grade steel is I can get down to a half2 and then that way from technically the only people are going to see it is pretty much credit union because the pitch of that thing is only going to be 5 go half 12 from here so from here up from botom trust to this you're only going to be up another 12 in so you'd be up a foot total while the foot's still going to keep us behind our parit wall it' be a better long term for the building itself um it the only issue like me and Jacob were talking is I'd have to gutter it because I do not want to dump water on Jacob's roof and obviously there's an 8ft gap between these two or 6ot gap between them but I'd rather get the water I don't want to flood sharping or uh schonberg's building and I don't want to flood the foundation of this building so I'd like to take that water and come out either into the alleyway somewhere and dump it or do some kind of a water mitigation maybe with the city and find out what we should do with the water well that would probably be more of a Planning and Zoning question anyways okay well I I just figured I'd ask you guys and see if that was at all before you go to them but can you get that approved with AO engineering I mean obviously but the structural guy i' have him I'd have him design it right I would have a choice even that other roof if we do it flat Ro that I would have to have the structural guide designed stating how often I need those bar or the threaded rods on the sides structural engineer is going to have to come out he'll decide whether it's 48 36 or 24 I'm about 99% sure that the um slate pitch roof would be fine I mean I'm I'm thinking the they did do that on the building that that was that that had to fire that time ultimately it's a better better investment for long term of that building uh Jacob same way you like get rid of your flat Earths eventually too it's like what do you the only way to get rid of them is somehow pitch them and it just and it to do with the long way would just be you could the trusses can't do it I have to raise it up in the front to get this SL yeah so we we did this we did the math so this is 110 ft so to get any kind of slope on this we'd actually have to frame a 3ot wall on top that parit that's existing and to me that seems like we're dealing with a wind M that nobody wants to have so that's where we kind of jump that idea so then like I said the other option would be go back in 2x6 this with a real wall run an LVL across the whole bottom set the 2x6 on top of that LVL draw it down and then take 2 by8 and come across and then hang her 2 by8 on the outside wall and hang your uh 2 by8 on top of the wall you be framing in but ultimately my if if the city would allow the best case scenario is with 24t common trusses lay them every 24 in on Center across it we'd eliminate these out so get rid of those blocks clean them up and then just eliminate them because right now the furnace in that thing is a 90% efficient so it's already vented out the sidewall so it's vented out between uh the hardware store and this building so what do you what do you do for snow slide though You' have to put cleat on it so you got have those commercial cleats they go every on this thing just because it's going to be kind of just sitting back in there I probably put two rolls of cleats on it just to ensure that it stays up there okay but that half 12 I I would have a hard time seeing that half 12 really push a lot of snow but it is a concern because we if we try to rebuild that pigeon shoot which I don't think I'm going to I think we're just going to leave that off frame that doorway in and just kind of make it look right um and then try to do staircases from the inside I don't want there's enough there that a little bit of snow Lo with the gutters on there would not hit their building but I still don't like the idea of a big chunk of snow slotting down onto it but I think we put a couple rows of snow CLE on there cuz the AC and everything is actually down on the ground over here so just to keep that area safe I'd run two two rows of snow cleats cu no one's really going to if you really think about it no one's really going to see that because it's only going to be a foot foot above the parit so you're going to be a pretty low profile the only spot you're going to see it again is a credit union building and they don't they look at this right now so I think they'd still be pretty happy with it but so um with that when it go so you want to do a me should we set up a meeting do you guys want to do a special session on it or what do we how do you guys want to approach this I guess I've never done it before you guys tell me what I need let's see probably a little bit [Music] and and speaking to the you know we we've got a consent agreement which is you know we Hoff's permission to go in and demo it and assess him the costs we've got permission but I was careful to draft it to where we are not obligated because when we were putting this together we had no idea what this was going to cost and I didn't want the city locked in to it to the job so this is okay you can do it but this the council I mean doesn't have to do it if you want to pursue this option if this sounds more attractive you can do that you know really it sounds like land we wouldn't be in here till October anyways so I you know and I'm assuming that uh if if it gets opened up and and Nathan finds something that changes the whole plan and he decides that no he'll take his dollar and go someplace else he's not going to buy this building um we still have our consent agreement in place and we can call up Land We and pull the trigger so you my biggest concern looking all that was one of safety and you know if we you know delay things for a week or two to try to flesh this out you know I I think whatever the final decision is people will feel better about it uh at that point than just saying n we're not going to entertain this and uh in just go in and tear it down because I I I I'm assuming you've gotten comments and I've gotten comments for people you know whatever you do you you'll be second guest uh but I think you you probably ow it to the community to explore this idea a little bit uh before just going in and taking it down and I I you know if we're all really wrong and this thing collapses tomorrow night um you know we've got a problem but you know odds are that it won't happen that quick and you you could get come back and revisit this again with better information from uh from Nathan okay currently would the until land would come to town to do that is it between weof and yeah this this is all between the weof if they decide they want to do this and he buys the property and he's going ahead then we're the city's not involved great that's I just wanted to make sure that yeah I mean so it's this is you know whatever he's doing he's got to be NE negotiating it with with weof you so you I think you're just kind of letting the City hay keeping me informed that you know yeah there is another option probably costs as much as tearing it down but if it works we keep the building if it doesn't work we spent the same amount of money uh for a vacant lot right so liability wise the city's not liable for what they want to do in the meantime and then what you're asking is just if there's any Grant which would that be written privately anyway right that's not a yeah whether or not he wants help in the city is something we talk next CP and that could be some of the loan programs and that and that would probably go before mat anyway right it would go before M that would be another two and a half weeks so M time I have a decent I have a pretty good idea if weop will give us we have hold harmless sign with weop right corre so we I think we can talk to him and he'll probably give us permission to go in there and start opening it not doing it not opening anything structural but just getting some of the Cosmetics down and seeing what you've got for bones because that's going to be the biggest question what bones are left and I think it's going to be a lot better than it's just deceiving just because it is just full of drop healing tiles it just looks horrendous I think structurally I think we're going to be all surprised with how while that building was constructed back when it was originally built so so we can uh like you said well we're going to have to table this and then we just put it on the by next counil agenda we should know huh I'll have have a better idea of what it looks like and then we'll make a executive decision sure we come up with off so I make a motion to table I'll second okay there's been a motion in a second to table um this demolition bid all in favor c i close motion is carried all right chief M uh before you tonight looking for counil consideration to hire Alysa lashinski um Alyssa lashinsky used to be Alysa iner who worked for our department uh went to that County and then actually uh left law enforcement um to go into the insurance World much like uh previous employee of our ours as well um she has kept her license active goa's Police Department on a part-time basis and as is looking for um a little more activity as well as um the ability to help us out uh with our short staffing if possible um some scheduling has opened up a bit more from when she originally approached us in like January of this year so it uh makes a little more more sense to explore it now uh we would make the offer contingent upon um successful or favorable psychological backgrounds drug test and all the other pre-employment things that we normally do and then we would work towards uh some short training and we enter into a part-time position all right can you get a motion to approve I'll move second all in favor say I I iOS motion is carried sounds good thanks Craig and then uh for the ambulance department we are on H oh yeah that there is one addition uh before we get to the next action item based on the work session you just had um I making a recommendation that the um I don't have it in front of me that this the U the city go ahead and approve here it is the city go ahead and approve the Bron IV pumps for purchase for the ambulance three of them at $4,299 each for a total of 12628 32 and then the zent so they can get that ordered and that is one zent and that would be 16,18 840 so I'm recommending those be approved by the council tonight so they can get ordered by the ambulance I make a motion second there's a first and a second I'll in favor say I I oppos motion is carried okay update uh M's fire natural disaster recovery fund grants yes at the August meeting you asked that we come back and update you on the existing Melrose fire and natural disaster recovery Grant fund uh before the tornado fund it had a balance before the tornado the fund had a balance of $933 7.20 three applications for500 each were approved and another three applications for 500 were approved the fund now has a balance of $3,337 120 uh we have the same proposals from the initiative foundation and the greater Melrose Community Foundation to set up disaster funds the only other update I have on this um is the women of today have said they don't want to be the vehicle to pass these applications through they believe that there are other entities in Melrose better suited um so what happens now is someone fills out an application they here up at the city with me I send it to the women of today for approval but before they approve the local clergy in town also sign off um the Lutheran Church and the St Mary's Church both have to agree that the applications are um approved and they don't mind finishing off the fund if you want but they're also very willing to have someone else finish off the distribution of the fund or to give that money to something else um whether it's the food shelf or whether it's one of these other two funds as starting seed money you know to get those going but like I said they're willing to finish off the fund they just going forward they do not want to be the vehicle for either of these two funds um both the greater Melrose Community Foundation and initiative Foundation are are still remain interested both would have to Lo use local 501c3 organizations because these funds cannot give money directly to individuals so there would have to be a pass through regardless and so that's where we're at so we can hold where we are keep the funds um or we can go forward with another organization but we just came back to you this month to update you because that's what you asked for all right but there's still an action item uh uh to consider the proposals from the initiative Foundation uh Greater maros Community Foundation to determine if you want to uh enter into an agreement at this time what are we thinking um so the m in um area one is that already formed it is uh the greater Mose uh Community Foundation does exist there's a board of directors okay and they're local they're local okay initiative Foundation local um St Cloud but they would work with through local organizations similar to what they're doing with this existing fund okay they would need a pass through vehicle a local pass through to get the funds distributed I kind of like the idea of having the local local fund um I agree anyway so I guess no other questions com I'd make a motion to go with the marrow's area all right we have a first do we have a second second have first and second in favor wait what did you say Minnesota or greater Community all in favor say I I I I oppose motion is carried sounds good all right vacant building registration okay colen and I are going to work together on this one uh last year on your July 20th 20123 meeting the council decided not to pursue the vacant building registration ordinance given the recent concerns with the collapsing roof on a commercial property the staff is asking Council to reconsider the ordinance making whatever modifications you want to it if we can take the snowbirds out of it we can take residential homes out of it but we're just asking to consider a vacant building registration process so that we can look at these properties before we're at the point we're at tonight um again the intent is not to collect a lot of fees or burdensome registration but to avoid these situations of blight and saf safety and I'll let callings speak additionally to this one so again you know I always you know we joke about this Sheil gets to always be the good cop because she always has a really good fun stuff to say and I'm going to be the bad cop here and by that what I mean is we are passing up on an opportunity if we don't pass an ordinance it's clear that there are other buildings in town brers butcher being one of them where we really do need to have a vacant building this is not meant to be um punitive in any way it's simply meant to work with the property owners create that awareness and to be able to get in those buildings in a timely fashion if we would have had something like this in place perhaps with Mr weof you know 12 years ago or whenever he closed the bar we would have been able to help him at that time or help him with getting folks like Nate and Jake interested in purchasing it so it's simply a way for us to work with those properties owners but also putting them on a bit of notice saying you know what you got you got to take care of your building so again I am strongly encouraging you guys to look at it I'm not saying you pass anything this evening but if you if there are certain things in it that are causing you heartburn please let us know that otherwise as staff and with Scott um our City attorney we will go back and we will look at putting something together I think we have to remove the snowbird and I would say it wooden maybe need to apply to Residents unless it's maybe I mean this is just a couple opinions but unless it's a vacant rental or something like that but well I voted for it last year and I really strongly believe that maybe if we would did this year ago we might not be having this long of a meeting tonight so I'm still yeah sorry go ahead finish go ahead no I was just going to say the um this doesn't necessarily have any teeth we can have the policy in place if somebody doesn't register what happens breaking local ordinance where's the where's the penalty number one where's the penalty um number two you have to prove that it's vacant that it's not being used for anything which on Main Street is probably fairly easy um you could be saying it's being used for storage um three six months is not that long really honestly brers how long has brers been up do you know to long time couple years two or three yeah so I think in my mind I think it has to be quite a bit longer than six months okay um sometimes you have obviously waves in the economy people can't sell their building they don't want to take a big hit on it so they hold off on selling it one as far as scooters goes I don't know that I don't you know I obviously I don't I don't know maybe you would have registered It Maybe not maybe we could do something with it but it's it probably comes to the same point is you can't just tell him you have to fix your roof that's still his property he's still paying the taxes on it you'd have to take him to court like we did and say you have to condemn the building correct Scott if we had this ordinance in place you still have to almost at the end go through the same process I'm not I right it feels it just feels like another another honorous action that it's put on business owners and building owners that if it's well maybe in a period of Time 5 years even um whatever but if you read this through there's a lot of steps that that property owner would have to go through um a lot of you know property rights type of thing that you're probably allowing a lot of communities have this I would say yeah would have to have a good amount of communities that do have this especially towns that are growing we should look into that trying to comat of other problems and I think last time when we talked about this and I was kind of on board with you Tony but it was all the government overstepping their boundaries but now we see what happens if we aren't going to do anything because it could be a $400,000 tax burden on taxpayers well I think I think you got to look at doing something that at least you're looking at right and and I I'm not saying not to do this I'm just saying we shouldn't just rush into it pass it ornament well we went through last well but we didn't really look at it we went through three meetings last year with this and we're not saying all you guys the other thing I would like to do is like long prair has a lot of empty storefronts maybe we should get a hold of long prair see how they're handling it with the empty store fronts I think what what I don't want to talk to Long per I would rather see towns that are growing how do you do to keep these businesses keep these buildings from being boarded up well and just holding them accountable holding these businesses accountable yeah for example we have two buildings we have the old petrol plus and we have brers people from out of state own these buildings and they don't care they don't negotiate and I have a video of rats at brers but do you think those people in New York know that I do have this video if you want to see it no but I could about a so I I just we got to figure out something that's fine I I think we got to I think this is honestly a special meeting thing or a planning zoning thing s work session that you need to Hash this through because so bring that file up get everything that we had from last year from all the meetings and and what the sticking points were for the pros and cons um but I want to hear from towns that are growing not towns that are you know n this was reviewed with planning and zoning and we this is what we brought to you okay so this was reviewed with Planning and Zoning yes so right yeah I wouldn't even I wouldn't be afraid to invite a few Property Owners local property owners that absolutely maybe rent their properties out or invite Nate see what he thinks CU he's he already had his hand up he's volunteer weal this all the time they have rules on them and that's why a lot of the times we get the phone calls Little Falls has a bunch of rules on their properties and you have to fix them they literally have a guy that will flag any of your rentals any business anything if it's not right you have to fix it right yeah St Claude has a vacant building St Michael does Long Lake has one getting heavier popul you have to tweak it accordingly but at one timeos had a rule with Roo the way back when the three tab shingles were around uh or actually McDonald's showed up one day and told me I had to fix it on my house of 104 on First Street stuff like that I think should be I mean obviously there's certain times you can look at it but what what we got to do ultimately is take care of the Town itself and if you don't have something in place not for me I I paid to do it on my dad's place because he didn't have money to do it and that's where some of it comes into a play also but at the end of the day some of it comes down not wanting to do it just negligence on it yeah no I I had the same experience too talk that y it happened to me too and I just remember when that police officer came to my house and he had to give that to me and he didn't want nothing to do with that one but it but I didn't but I didn't realize my roof was bad I just thought it was fine and some people don't want to do it but there are some people that don't have a clue that it needs to be done and and I know I was I was for it even though I got nailed on it because it helped me and it I actually had old certainty chingles and I was able to get a whole bunch of credit on them correct knowing and having that little bit of insight helps yeah so yeah let's bring that to yeah some working session special meeting here soon or budget meeting got a budget meeting you know um the budget meeting is not until November so if you want to I mean but keep in mind that's your budget meeting you guys and that Workshop itself is going to take you an hour for budget so if you want to add this to it we certainly can but that just it's gonna be a long meeting let's see if we can do it prior to the October meeting right okay um so yeah so then that will push that one along okay are we good with that Patty oh motion made okay all right well then we're on a new business um Dave bers wants to give us a little presentation uh we got a mic for you glad you're here Dave thank you this is an excerpt from the opening ceremony it's part of every uh BFW and I recited that of times years and years and years before I became the commander of the BFW and realize what it means um you can do the same thing on a number of things and it it uh you just have to well check your opinion at the door so currently the fire and ambulance building is flying two flags a US flag and a p Mia flag Memorial Park by the City Maintenance building has a US flag a pmia flag and the old state of Minnesota flag the sock River Park had a US flag until recently and now there is no flag and we can see here that we've got the US flag and old Minnesota flag and the City of Mount Rose flag after the tornado in M Rose in August third I was driving around the city looking at damage and noticed us and state of Minnesota flags at the ambulance Bay were gone I wondered if this was because of the tornado a few days later I noticed the flags are back up but the old state of Minnesota flag had been replaced by PM flag this was the first time any other flag other than the Minnesota flag had flown at that building on August 19th I called mayor Joe finin to ask why the state flag was replaced with the p Mia flag Joe said he had received phone calls from a couple of residents who were opposed to the newly designed Minnesota state flag and he was trying to avoid conflict by putting up something less controversial I spoke to the mayor again on September 3rd and was reformed informed that a number of PW Mia Flags had been purchased and that those flags would be used up before any consideration to the new flag being flown as mayor finin and councilman Clon are aware I am passionate about flags and flag etiquette I was 18y old years old when I joined the Marine Corps being in the military gives one the sense of being part of something larger I think many veterans would agree with me in saying that it is in looking back in a time in service that we see what we were able to accomplish representing our nation overseas in the military is where my passion comes from flags are important FL flag show pride and unity the Minnesota state flag was not designed in a vacuum a redesign commission was established by the 2023 legislature the redesign commission had a specific purpose their purpose was to redesign a flag so that it reflected Minnesota's Rich history cultures natural beauty while representing enduring values and aspirations it is public knowledge that the state of Minnesota adopted a new flag on December 19th 2023 which became the official state flag on May 11th 2024 this means that the old flag that was adopted in 1983 is no longer the official state flag as members of the city and representatives elected to this position of city council it is our duty to respect the process of updating the Minnesota state flag as Community leaders we need to show our community that we trust the individuals who were committed to the process of updating the flag as city leaders it is occasionally necessary to keep our opinions and our personal beliefs private maybe you didn't like the new state flag design or the process those are your personal beliefs or opinions and I will respect them as much as I expect you to respect my beliefs and my opinions our personal beliefs or opinions are not a reason for the city of Melrose to refuse to fly the new state flag we need to show unity in our community and show the community that we are proud of our state as I stated earlier I am passionate about Flags public space is not a venue for us to display our own personal opinions or beliefs and I'm asking you as City Council Members to make a resolution to proudly fly our new flag and I kind of went through the the so this was the Minnesota flag for 1893 to 1957 you the expl this was 57 to 83 um essentially it's the Minnesota state seal on a blue flag um this is a 2024 one there were some changes to the the uh Native American and the the farmer um again not much of a change and this is a new flag and like I said it was not designed in a vacuum there was a committee there was a process they had um specific things they were tasked with and they had a time frame and I I guess I would go back to the statement of it would be nice to have the city show our pride and fly the flag all right any questions or not really I guess it's not an action item is it no okay it's a presentation you are 100% correct Dave on what you said about with with um with me what what I said that that that is 100% correct um and and I did say that um I there's enough controversy in my opinion um where I basically don't want to I didn't want to deal with it and that's that's a fact that's that's true what I said um but also you being a marine your son's Marine my son's a marine um like Fridays I I really believe in the the red line that you know shows support to our troops and that's why our water tower lights are red on Fridays for that and and that's why I felt more ominous because most fire stations do fly the you know the firefighter flag and EMT flags and you know we did always fly the Minnesota flag and I didn't want to have to deal with putting two flags up Ems is on the bottom and the fire on top that's another reason why I didn't want to do that either so that's why I did have the Minnesota flag and I'm usually one that's in Char of charge of it and I wanted the P flag for my opinion I love flags too Dave I got I mean you see how many flags I fly also um and that's where I felt my ambition um to support our troops supporter servicemen and that's I just wanted to say that that's why for everybody to know why I resorted to you know we purchased you know P flag stif fire station um Betis again in my personal opinion it seems it's it's a little more on a low and and um I was great to hear that my wife had a preschooler asked why are they we you know why are they flying a black flag at the fire station so she gave a little insight about you know it's for soldiers and Marines and Airmen and and seamen um so I felt like I might have accomplish something but that was before I talked to you so I just wanted to you know I understand question is then when what kind of timeline is there a policy what kind of timeline are we looking at there is a policy I think the statute kind of outlines um something related to that I think you're allowed to keep so the seals the official seal anything that I guess I could I have the statute here um your did um while you're getting that do you have to change your your um all your uh badges now great okay like I said earlier the flag itself that is no longer the official flag um as far as as far as um using up um other things State agencies and departments using the seal its impression or its likeness shall make every effort to bring any seal impression or likeness currently fixed to a permanent object in accordance with this section and set forward in section 404 expendable materials to which the seal is in effect prior to May 11 2024 or any impression seen or likeness of that seal is currently a fixed may be used until the supply is exhausted or until January 1 2025 whichever occurs first all unused dieses and Engravings of the Great Seal shall be given to the Minnesota Historical Society along with all historical information available about the seal to be retained in the society permanent collection so the delay excuse me the delay has to do with the seal it does not have to do with the flag the flag the date for that was May 11th um there are a number of cities flying the flag if you go into s St Cloud um St Cloud is flying it uh we par is flying um we can't ignore the we're in the state of Minnesota um on your private property you can do whatever you want U there is nothing there's no police going to come out and c and stuff you for that um so Dave are you asking us to fly it all the time or can it still be exchanged at all every couple months well I my question is if there was a policy and I it does not sound like there is and so I would like to go back to whatever the custom was before if the custom was to fly and it appeared to me to be that to fly the US flag and the state of Minnesota flag that would be my preference if you want to intersperse that with something else tomorrow is p Mii day perfect day um firefighter week perfect day to fly something else you can fly the P flag under US flag so I'm not an expert on flag etiquette I will say that right away I do have the BFW puts out these handy Flyers pamphlets and I have some of those if anyone is interested it gives flag etiquette it does not cover the state flag and I guess it's up to the council um like and again I I'm just I'll be honest I'm not thrilled about it I and I said it to you I I was not interested in the process of how it went um and since it's not a state building corre I didn't I had no thought or even care about find it on the fire station and I've said that to you um I would I would concur with you on that I I mean we can remove this flag from here put one up I don't know if I so again I would I would go back to the personal opinion and personal belief yep so you are the council and you have committees and you have all of those sort of things and there is a process you know there is a process you've been in those numerous times there's a process yeah it's not a vacu correct there was a comment period all of this was delineated in the Mandate that that redesign committee had all of it was we can at this table start talking politics on that also I don't think we're talking politics we could I mean there that's very very it was very divisive the way that committee was formed by the current legislature in Minnesota so if we want to start talking about that I don't think we have time tonight but anyway we we can we could go down on on that process and start talking about how how we came up with that flag in Minnesota I I shouldn't say we I had nothing to do with it that would be a personal opinion and a belief the the fact is that it is state law you can we don't have but we don't have to fly here no you do not right no you do not right and I think in in my opinion I don't know where everybody else is at but I don't think we're going to fly that here for now okay again that is your personal opinion but it would take five votes or three out of five votes here to make to change that so now have we set a policy is that it no it isn't we set a poliy but if we had voted on it if we come to that conclusion I think that we're going to vote on it and decide whether or not I I don't know we can debate this for an hour and I don't know if we're going to get anywhere um well no different than I thought it should have just been on Minesota state board on what you want the flight to look like and not a committee made up do you make it a vote of the city and if they want us to fly it then they'll vote on it in all of these previous designs they were not voted at at the state level none of them were none of them right but they also didn't change a lot well if you look at the they could have used our new3 to 57 which was there the longest amount of time let me go back that that was the biggest change what year this year but that was always the Minnesota state seal right this one before that and that was the Minnesota state seal though um the seal is different than this okay cuz now I see the seal got changed yes I believe so the same so I'm just I mean part of me is like why didn't they use that the flag and the seal right cuz that's where I question like why didn't they just use the seal they had it on the last flag what was wrong with flying the new state seal so I I I again I would go back to my my one of my original questions of is there a policy what is the policy on public buildings I don't think we have a policy we never had a we' never had a policy and in fact we always only had one flank at the fire station as long as I was been alive except for when we built a new fire station that's the first time we flew more than one flag never flew it before that um fact we never had aica a Minnesota flag in our old fire station or the old one on Main Street I remember that one very well um so yeah there is no policy um I I don't I guess I I would rather ask for other people's opinions um I I don't come to this opinion arrogantly I been involved with politics for almost 18 years um I've always voted for stuff what is the better good for the community I've made hard votes that I personally didn't like but I knew it was for the better good of the community um and and so I never I didn't take this one lightly um so I guess I'm looking for for other people's opinions if if they want to set a policy or not I I I'm the one who's always been in charge of the flag at the fire station being a firefighter for 26 years I was one who got the donations for the flag PS from the legion and the BFW um so that was always just my job and so I basically you know in respectfully I did what I wanted to do because I was in charge of it and we're flying the US flag on all the other polls besides at station that was the only one that really you guys change all the one flag so FL I mean if if we want to make it so hey what does everybody want on the second and make a poll every six months that yeah so I I think that the amount of community involvement you're going to get on that is going to be extremely small right but I mean I guess I don't I mean why should it be us as government officials making the decision what we're going to fly either at that point then I would say you have a list of three you have whatever those lists are every six months and you throw it out as a Facebook poll or something and if whatever gets the most votes that's what kind of flag we're going to put up for that month or for that couple months well the thing is I'm just throwing it all there because and flags aren't cheap though I mean cuz we could fly the Minnesota flag and next month we'll have another person coming in here that's going to say we should be flying this flag or we should be fing that flight where does it end I think it's good at least that you're here now we can get some feedback you know I I think that's one thing because I I have never made a vote I always when I make a vote I try to think of 3,622 people not five or 10 and and and now that at least you're we're talking about it now maybe people can rattle our cages so again not too sound like record but it appears that you're allowing your personal opinion and belief to enter into this it was your personal opinion of a process done at the state level for why you pulled down the old flag right I voted I vote for the people not myself and and again if I would get 1500 people that are going to call me and say I want that other flag up then I would have to do it but until I get that I don't see the love of the new Minnesota flag in a majority of the people in the state or in the in the community and we don't have to fly it no we don't I'm I'm not asking what your opinion of it is so I I respectfully I I don't have to fly it I mean it's it's not that we have to fly it um we do it out of respect we do it out of respect for the process and all of the other things that go with being a community in the state if we had the mar flag I'd happily I'd happily say let's buy the but i' it's cost prohibited I've checked and we've been checking on different prices because I've wanted to fly M's Flags which which is cost prohibitive trying to get these flags um it's been EXP of I'm trying to find different vendors that we could get M Flags I would rather fly m flag before I fly Minnesota flag because I do have personal love for this town I but I haven't found the prices yet that were worthwh and I'm not I mean if it's a question of cost on flying the new flag down there I would pay the flag a mow flag no new Minnesota play yeah no that's not what I'm getting at like I said I don't I don't believe that I'd have the support and and I don't I aut of respect I don't want to fly it I mean I'm being honest I mean I don't like the process the state of Minnesota that's my opinion so we don't have to fight it's sort of like this if if I don't like what McDonald's was serving I don't go back there I'll go to Burger King I don't like what's happening I'm going to support somebody else that I feel is better for a better good and reason why I did it I didn't like the process so I thought patriotism patriotism would be a lot better I'd rather see a p flight because to me we've had a p from M from the Korean war that his body still is not back yet they only declared him dead about eight years ago I would rather have a memory of someone like that you know Mr Brown served our community and he served his country and he died for our country in Korea I would rather put that as respect for him than this and that's can I mean we have a marker over by the tank I don't know if any of you have ever seen it right behind the big Memorial there's a blackard from Mr Brown again you're allowing your personal opinion to weigh in on a public I don't know how you don't see it that way I I do I I said I admit it is my personal opinion and it's my opinion I don't have to put it up I only did it because it was convenient and we've done it it was we've been doing it forever go ahead Scott I guess whatever I'm obiously we need to go personal opinion argument works both ways your personal opinion is that it should be FL out of respect their personal opinion is we've got problems with this and we don't want to do it I'm sor doesn't mean you should keep trying yeah and and I have great respect for you Dave I I think you know I've always had great respect and and maybe I just differ this opinion I don't disrespect you for it I appreciate it and that's why I said I I I was more than happy to give you give you the time so it's it's not just the I'm saying your allowing your personal opinion it's also the change in policy sounds that occurred at the same time but we aren't required to my opinion if we're going to make a policy of what flags we need to fly then it needs to be voted upon I'm sorry that's my opinion because then I want everybody's opinion in the T if 10 only come in and say and vot well that's the same that you get when you vote for president 10 only come in well I guess we tried so it's no different than us getting voted on I mean get what 600 vots well we got a lot more population in tone than that this is what it is that's how many people came in the vote so if if we're going to make a policy that's what I if we're going to make a policy on what we're going to be flying in this tone then it needs to it's going to be a pain but the V on what gets flowing because one person might want to fly that the next one wants I I agree that probably the old Minnesota flag yeah well it's probably not supposed to be flowing anymore because the new one is out and that's what it is but I mean unless you're going to switch them just to the US flag and that's what you fly response to Mr D over here um I'm not saying that we have to fly the new flag I'm not saying as a city that you have to do it right I'm not saying that I want to force you to do it I'm saying that if it is a problem of money I would pay for it to be there and if if it's a policy change then I I don't see how that policy change was made without the personal opinion of the process or what it design is right and it sounds like there's no policy I don't think there is a policy there's no policy been changed because there is no policy so that's how I understand the policy so I think for wrapping up tonight is there's no policy so you don't have to fly it even though Mr Beed would like us to and another or another agenda packet we have to decide if there's going to be a policy put in place and if not then we carry on right everyone has an opinion and you go by that that's how I see it and and I think Carol's going to put something in the paper about it maybe a little heading what are people's opinions that'd be nice to hear from the public too I mean we got to wrap this up somehow is there's no policy so we're not breaking a policy there's any action we're taking tonight right cuz I agree I think Dave's got good points I learned a lot about the flag as well and it shouldn't be about one or two people's opinion but if there's no policy nobody's doing anything wrong currently so let's get that on the next right agenda thanks Dave and Dave I'm glad you're here thank informational items Utility Commission meeting minutes schools and conferences is there any question questions I get a motion to adjourn move second second all in favor say I I I oppose motion carry [Music]