##VIDEO ID:kl5pXEm0-Y8## [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 liy and justice for all on all right was there any changes except I think uh 6i yes Poli vehicle purchase um actually Mr Mayor if you would like there's a declaration oh yeah um number is that you can remove that one as well y six item sixf can be taken off we're take that off I will yep I'll her okay sound's can I get a motion to approve move second all in favor say I oppose motion's carried uh open form if anybody would like to speak you're more than welcome to come on up and I encourage you to come and speak if you have anything um to talk about you want to come on updale we got to make sure you make the TV up bet the podium um my name is Dale sleer ORS for 25 years um my concern is tornado sirens there's been a lot of talk since the last or we had not here um I did a little bit of research and for I learned they're supposed to be for letting people know that are outside um why wouldn't you want to let people know that her inside all storms don't happen during daylight hours everything is about being more energy efficient getting your houses sealed up keeping the elements out guess my concern is I'd like to be able to hear inside we have Pro right outside our back door makes a lot of noise when they do the drills I got to listen pretty hard to be able to hear live e that's myig concern and I've heard a lot of comments from a lot of people they couldn't hear thank you um just so you know normally we don't answer questions you know with an open form but um I think we're just talking there is two more tornado sirens planned in 2026 25 so we are looking at putting more up um not sure if it's replacement or we're adding to it but um I know you talked to me about that last year too so at least we're we're getting at least two more and probably the ones now are probably better so maybe we can touch Bas sometime here when I learn a little bit more Dale and you have my cell phone number so I appreciate it yeah and a lot of other people would to yeah but I do know what you're talking about Dale up there because I used to live up in that area and lined up there it is very loud up there so maybe it's just a matter of us checking the sound up there you know versus because the the siren isn't that far from Dale's house it's right on the corner there so I don't know if it's the siren isn't that far from your house isn't it right off a Dale's house I was told that there was one at one point but when they sub it was removed and never put back up okay so I'm not sure on that thenest okay thank you is there anybody else that would like to speak I did get one letter um that I felt that it was appropriate to um read here um and it's from a citizen Lauren Meyer and I received it on July 31st 2024 um art rendition over the weekend of July 27th and 28th dear Joel I read your Facebook post reart I agree that art is an is a appreciated in the eyes of the beholder however what I see is very uh decisive and very and I feel that is opposite of what it was intended I take issue about building owners given permission I believe the real answer was much more a Nuance I really doubt the majority of the donors and owners of the buildings really had any idea what they were getting into I think they got uh hornswaggled and uh sold a bill of goods and then presented with a faint accomplish with the job was done um I have been doing some pro bono with one of the owners who gave permission she requested a peaceful tranquil uh tranquil beach scene very much uh to the murals of sock Center which are Tastefully done reflect culture history and values of the community I see none of that in Melrose um if the art of Melrose like this I see I would suggest that they take the amtr to the south side of Chicago and get an eye of art I know I asked two two my sisters who live in Twin Cities for a very long time to go on the website and one of my sisters has one child in New York City two in Oakland California so she has been exposed to a lot of inner city culture and art both sisters were shocked by what they saw if I were a new business wanting to locate to marals and I saw these murals I would be asking a lot of question questions wondering if the really where I want to locate my business or whether I should move on I realized the city council had nothing to do with this however I believe it would be very appropriate for Anthony upis and one or more of the art C council members be requested that they attend a question question answer session with the city council at the next council meeting in light of what transpired should the city be more involved in the future I think the pros and cons of this should be debated by the Council Sincerely Lauren T Meer and I just wanted to read that I know it was for me but um I figured um I have enough respect for Lauren Meer to at least read it since he um he did and there might be some valuable points in there so we'll take it for that and hopefully citizens let us know what they're thinking so um is there anybody else that would like to speak at the open form okay I'll just say I've had lots of calls weekend we were out of town when the painting was going on didn't know anything about it started getting pictures I didn't know what was going on so um yeah I've had at least a dozen calls or text messages that are not very happy about most of the words were graffiti that were expressed to me so um likewise I think putting the pieces together I think that's exactly what happened um there wasn't a whole lot of Truth in communication and what was going on what was supposed to happen so I would just uh if anybody else ever feels the need to do this I would hope that gets done in a more respectable manner yeah that part I I I do I do agree with you Tony on on some things um I I do try to defend art in in a lot I I I like people having character um and there's some stuff that I might have appreciated and there's some stuff I didn't appreciate there's no if SS or buts about it uh of course I try to look the good of everything which I'm not perfect by any means um but I I do think that maybe um I I did ask Mr upus if if he would like to um come and and meet up with us I I guess people would like to know what what is the meaning behind some of this maybe if I knew some of the meaning behind some of this maybe I could be more accepting but if I don't understand it I I don't know what to tell you know the citizens um so that that's the one thing I mean like I said I try to look at the good and everything but I mean I I've talked to a few of the owners also that we very disappointed and and and to me that that's sad to hear that so but if you want to talk you got to come up here okay want to make sure everybody hears it on on the TV and all that and I know you are two representatives from the AR Arts Council are here thank you for providing this opportunity appreciate it my name is Liz pman and my colleague and friend is Mary Laken and we are both board members of the Melrose Area Arts Council and the Arts Council was not involved with the art with the street art the graffiti art the aerosol art that has been newly arrived in our community we were not concerned insulted we were not asked we did not approve we did not disapprove we were not involved and it's important to us that people understand that having said that we are interested in supporting art and we understand that some art is not not pretty some art is designed to cause a reaction some art is beautiful and as somebody has already said beauty is often in the eyes of the beholder and what may be beautiful to me may not be beautiful to my friend Mary as a matter of fact fact members of the Arts Council the board of directors we have many different opinions personally about our reaction individually to the art that is newly arrived in town but as a group as a whole we are support generally speaking supporting art supporting the creative expression and individuals of us may have different opinions I know for myself when I first saw the the street art my first reaction was startled startling and uh shocking I did not expect to see that kind of creative expression in Melrose and there are some parts of it that I really like there are some parts that I do not like and I think that that is a common reaction to much much of art so I'm I am uh I'm going to stop talking and let Mary have a say uh some of the history um approximately a year and a half two years ago Mr upus did come to the council and he wanted to do um graffiti art and he had done a sign with graffiti Melrose on it and Colleen was attending our meeting at that time and Colleen said clearly Melrose is not ready for that he wanted to put it right out here in front of City Hall and he was told uh very clearly that Melrose is not ready for that and then we did not hear anything else um I you know I personally um just am so sad that this has happened in Melrose I am it is as the person who founded the whole movement to Art in Melrose uh kind of you know patterning it after a gallery that I belong to up north um I I just don't know what to say I did have a conversation with Veronica at the bakery and she said when Anthony came in he was told that they wanted like a red pickup and a flower that she really loves and some Celestial Rays coming out of the flower and what happened what Veronica said to me was she feels that Anthony heard that but then other these other folks came from wherever and it just got out of control it totally got out of control so I don't know what to do for the next step of it Veronica did approach us and ask us if we would work on revising her wall which we're very very open to that but this is not appropriate for a little town America in my opinion and um I just I just think it's sent all of our initiative back many steps so that's about all that I have to say can I say one more thing what I want to say is that we the the Melrose Area Arts Council we are we're going to be here we're not going away we are interested in being part of the community for the long term and we expect we want to work with people in the community as time goes forward we wish to reach out to our surrounding communities as well and participate with our surrounding communities Freeport St Rose new Munich and others in order to participate with those communities and assist them in beautifying and making those communities also more welcoming and more inviting I think that's all I've got to say thank you very much so in the last tip that I have um I know that U Mr Meyer was referring to a Facebook post that I put I I try to put stuff on there that's respectful to all sides and I'm used to taking a beating when people don't like what I have to say I I guess it's the what we sign up for these jobs but uh one thing that I I did highly um encourage on like my Facebook post is to be gentle to these business owners because I started hearing right away that some of them were very sad or dissatisfied and and just reaching out to the public you know please don't criticize these people because some of them didn't know what they're getting into so I know I've had a couple people I'd say you should not support these business for stuff like that but it doesn't get us anywhere I mean small town America is dying way it is we got to support our small communities and these small businesses um if a business makes one little mistake not knowing what they were doing uh they shouldn't be you know criticized for this um like one of the people that is pretty normal always on Facebook wants to criticize I I think it's wrong and these businesses like the bakery it's a new business they have they have loans they have to pay for yet and you know they're family business um this just makes me want to support them more they thought they were getting something different so um be kind to your local residents um everybody's trying to make a living and trying to trying to do the best they can so but I I do agree that maybe um if somebody would like to come out and you know if Mr upus he's more than welcome to come to the city council meeting and I'm give his side or or just at least you know if there's a way that we can learn about this art and that's first and foremost what I I need to know what this stuff means um maybe people might appreciate it more I I don't know but that is my opinion on open form is there anybody else that would like to talk Judy you're more than welcome to come up my name is Judy I first would like to say I highly respect your opinion and others for their opinion to which I have to say I was told by a certain individual who spearheaded this issue that we are speaking of right now um by him I was told that I was old and I don't have an opinion to that I look over and I see all these people here who are pretty much right around my age and I believe and I respect each one of you for your opinion with that being said I am here representing many many citizens of Melrose um and Joe you had mentioned that you wanted to hear from citizens of Melrose um many of the people that I have spoken to chose not to come to this forum for many reasons um and I said I would be more than happy to go and represent you I have to say the majority of people that I have spoken to are not in favor of what they're seeing in the city of Melrose it doesn't represent Melrose um Melrose is a community where we like to say by local do local be local the individuals that were involved in this art were not local um my heart does go out to many of the business owners to which I myself took upon myself I went out and I walked the street I went and talked to business owners the ones who had had art done on their buildings not all of them I have spoken to but I've also spoken to some who have not had this done they chose not to for many reasons um it's all been negative I I'm very sad to see what's happened in Melrose I've heard many comments from individuals um that don't even live here saying what is happening to Melrose it breaks my heart I've lived here for 45 years my husband and I have paid taxes for 45 years I've also been told by this individual what have you done for the city of Melrose I don't want to get into that we' have all done so many things for the city of Melrose whether it be citizens paying taxes employees um volunteers do we have to go around and Mark our spot around the city such as this again I say I'm speaking for many many citizens throughout the city of Melrose I don't have an answer putting it in your lap something needs to be done thank you thank you for coming I'm Judy Judy thanks Judy is there anybody else that would like to speak all right all right we're on the consent agenda um approval the bills minutes purchase orders fire department bad debt ambulance bad debt uh pay up pay app number three for uh the street improvements from monitor pay up number four 2023 Road uh Railroad Avenue North Northwest improvements then a beta invoice can I get a motion to approve some move second favor say I iOS motion carried Police Department monthly report Chief mous good evening and our traffic area July 2024 we had 14 citations 56 verbal warnings uh in July 24 we had 236 calls requests for service last year is 176 so an increase of 60 which is kind of interesting because last year we were working with three officer Department much like we are this year so uh goes to show that um calls don't stop even though we don't have enough cops to cover most of them um with that being said in July 23 we had 1,786 calls for service this year we're at 1942 so the numbers continue to increase um for us and appears as though we're keeping up with it because I don't have stacks too big on my desk anymore so life is okay uh 15 agency assists those are sitting about normal um some areas to highlight school start September 3rd so let's keep our eyes open for all the people moving about about then and those big yellow machines that have flashing lights and make frequent stops it's keep extra eyes out for those uh because it is a frustration when we do get uh calls in related to bus arm violations those sorts of things we're not so concerned about the bus itself but the people that are around it so um our new hire officer Adam root he has been training for about two weeks now asking a lot of questions so it's good to hear um we do have one open position yet and we're hoping to work towards that filling closer to October November when um officer route should be done with training that way we're not training to at one time and over taxing our officers trying to get people in and out of the door and those sorts of things um other than that I have nothing else unless there's questions from the council I should asked you ahead um what is a typical School Bus uh violation uh as far as a fine or fine it's automatically you got to go to court right it is a court court date yes um General fines are set at $500 okay and then there are sometimes Law Library Fe and everything else it can clear $700 it all depends on what the judge decides though if you can put that in there Carol I know quite a few people have done that in the past and yeah it drives me nuts too so and uh interesting is mayor's bus service has I think five buses I don't quote me on the number but they applied for a camera grant program and they have cameras on their buses now it captures drivers license plates and those sorts of things granted we don't just have mayor Services coming through our town but uh it's been beneficial for the violation that we've had should thanks Craig any attorney report yeah I've got several items uh this evening if you seen my report we've had a lot of projects and we've been going out for bids and you know under state law we're supposed to be awarding them to the lowest responsible did and and some of the contractors that we've been working with are have been difficult so spent some time talked with some other City attorneys you know we're not alone with that and trying to come up with some kind of a of a plan or strategy to uh you know try to identify these folks that are irresponsible and you know try to limit their their appearances here in in Melrose when we've got a history of of trouble in past uh another project we looked at uh the development uh up on you know top of the hill there one of the the areas with the K properties is had a title kind of a question um I think it's resolved but to be on the safe side we asked them to get a title commitment just to uh you know make sure before that they get too far along that they're going to be getting good title from their purchaser uh another issue came up and this coming out of the uh the fire at the utility plant and and just going over some contract language you know again that's another one of those bidding items and a lot of the standard well the standard form contract that gets used often this AIA has got some language that really limited our remedies you know to what basically we just go to our insurance company and file a claim and that's the end of it um we can't you know try to track down and say hey why did this happen responsible and try to pursue that so it's something to be aware of in the future and see about not just signing off on these thick AIA documents without you checking through some of the sections and potentially try to get some modifications one last item that came up after I issued my report and will be coming up again soon uh you know the city staff and the city building inspector have been working on trying to do something with the old scooters building U it's gotten to be serious uh you know the building inspector has been looking at it in the the roof on that building is collapsing uh it's doing it in slow motion at the moment but it's starting to come down and you know as the inspector noted letter that you know if this Falls it's falling for two stories and it's it's creates a hazard both for the buildings on either side of it particularly it has a party wall you know with its neighbor to the East and you know if it comes down what damage does that do to the neighboring buildings and neighboring structures so um we're working the city building inspector said it's got to come down you know that's that's the solution uh we've been working with the property owner uh he's gotten a notice from the city inspector saying this is a hazardous building there should be uh notices posted to that effect on the building soon and you know we've been talking with the building owner what I'm looking to pursue is to uh see if we can't get them them to you know enter into an agreement with the city where they consent to have the city through the Demolition and then assessing the cost against the property the you know it is a hazardous building there is Provisions in the state statutes that we use for abating nuisances um those procedures take time and I don't know if we've got that much time we have to go all the way through a court U you know the thing could fall down while we're waiting to go to court so we're trying to get move this along by pursuing an agreement you know that that will go out to the building owner I've prepared the letter this will come back to the council because you know before we can sign any agreement the council will have to approve it so and don't fill up your calendars too full because if we're able to move on this we probably would be looking at calling a special meeting rather than waiting until end of September to the approval any questions thank you scottt thank you finance director Ryan one last time huh this is this to be the last time with you f uh second quarter results are in for the general fund uh just a quick uh overview of at least the general fund here Revenue side uh we're doing really well again this year with uh building permits it's a lot higher than we expected again there's a lot of movement in town that way also we're doing really well on the investment side as well um when we look at uh the expenses coming out of the general fund I know assessing fees are currently at 97% that's a onetime fee we pay once a year to the county so that's all the higher that one's going to get everything else is sitting right around the high 40s to 50% Mark so we're right on track with budget for everything else uh the full report contains information on all the other special funds uh Debt Service funds tip funds so if you folks had any questions I'd be willing to answer them otherwise thanks thank you for everything you've done for us Ryan good luck on the new Endeavor really appreciate what you've done the last few years okay thank you thank you uh community development director Sheila okay we are past the halfway point for 2024 we have issued building permits when I issued my report last week we were at 25.2 million we''ve had a down a half a million this week alone so we are at 25.7 this week there are three new homes currently under construction we're expecting a couple of more uh the closing of the lot in the I94 Industrial Park did happen and if you head out there Carson's Industries is moving some dirt I believe their footings are done so the building will start next week um today or tomorrow a crane is going to be delivered to the Sterns electric site Sterns electric has all of their footings done their building is being delivered in panels from Wells concrete just from fun facts it'll be delivered in 195 panels one panel per truck it will take two weeks to bring all the panels in so in about three weeks Time Craft Drive is going to look completely different so um Planning and Zoning commission is working on a couple of ordinance changes one concerns cannabis businesses we're trying to work on at since our moratorium is going to expire and the second is we've had some inquiries about electronic or digital Billboards and right now those are not allowed by the zoning ordinance so in order to even consider those we would need to change the zoning ordinance to allow those some more fun facts uh wagon Crossings over on the west side is a 73 unit apartment building their plan always was to open the first 23s the first two3 are supposed to be ready on September 2nd and so that is a total of 43 units that are going to be available on September 2nd I have talked to them over 19 of those are full so of the 2third that are going to be open about half full on what is going to be open they are Paving their parking lot on Monday and so they are busy out there I normally do not have visuals for my report but something came in today that I thought you'd be interested in a tiff hearing has been called for the roach develop which is going to be held at your meeting in September today we got the layout this is the 34 unit townhouse project from roach development which will be on Railroad West they won't be building again until 26 but just wanted you see that we are taking active steps forward with this Steve can now finish the street lights on Railroad on the way out to the apartment building this is something we were waiting for so that we could finish the street lights out there and then finally the last thing I want to do is just to thank the mayor and the council members for being at night to unite last week um and serving dessert at the end of the evening it really was a great celebration of neighbors and Community except for the rain if we could have just skipped that rain we would have been in good shape that that was a very wonderful time with the dancers from St Paul they did a phenomenal job hopefully we can get them back again city engineer all right good evening Construction update for you guys uh railroad West we have a contractor out to do a couple little repairs for us tomorrow they're supposed to be out here today but equipment failure didn't allow that to happen so they'll be off tomorrow finish up railroad West and with that as soon as we get all the grass to grow that we'll be pretty much done so for final payment probably October right September so Main Street update the curb wind in will we call phase two so there is curb and gutter all the way up to Third Street West avue West should say that's in good shape the sidewalk has all been bed up pretty much to the power and that'll be finish up tomorrow everything from first all the way to Second East is to go for sidewalk as well so we're going to open up access to C early next week so to help impact so um good results from the uh detour signage on the hospital ER we've been not hearing any more complaints hopefully you guys have a de that's that's what we're looking for trying to get people know they are signs once in a while the arrows just fix it in the morning and call it good not I'm sorry see changes they did replace a couple broken sidewalk panels on the active Transportation sidewalk up by the by the school uh a couple of those were broken by hyro seating trucks so they repaired those replaced those actually yesterday so in place the guy back open and people using it again so questions for me thank you City administrative report clean so we um have several positions that we are currently hiring for um in our Police Department we are short one officer we are going to be interviewing for a new Finance director and those interviews will take place on Monday of next week we did get several applicants for that so that was very encouraging we're still looking for a part-time Street um it says supervisor that's not correct we're looking for a part-time Street employee maintenance employee um that person would primarily work in the summertime mowing lawns and primarily help the street department in the winter time with um getting snow off a sidewalk so if anyone knows of anyone that is looking for a part-time job um this would be this would be really a enjoyable job for someone who likes to mol lons Etc in the electric Department we are also um looking at a couple positions as well so that's the update there regarding Workforce housing or Workforce housing sorry Workforce sorry just Workforce um on August 3rd at 8:15 an ef1 tornado touchdown in MOS causing damage to many properties I am happy to report that our emergency resp response plan worked very very well and All City departments along with mutual aid from several area communities were able to restore power and clear out trees off of city streets by 1:00 a.m. we then were able to meet on Sunday morning the next morning at 8:00 and start the process of next steps including where residents could bring their brush there's many many people to think but I want to start with um fire chief budy for setting up the command center at the fire hall mayor finin for responding to the media and for all employees from streets electric Wastewater admin police fire and ambulance for their help um just goes to show that when you have a good plan and you have people that are willing to step in um you can make really good positive things happen we have been in contact with Sterns County Emergency Management however we did find out this week that we are not going to be able to qualify for any sort of disaster relief so the costs are still cing coming in right now and we're searching for Alternatives as to what we can do with the brush pile that um we opened up for folks out by kind of in the Wellhead area um by the big Excel power line out there so we're still working through that um and we'll be able to bring hopefully some other news back to the Council next month so that's where we're at on that one the Public Works fire that happened at the um at at the power plant um we did meet with SH in Boulder Creek and as Scott had indicated because it was a AIA contract there's not a lot we can go back to them on however they did have an they indicated a willingness to work with us um and so we'll see what kind of answers they give us as far as um what they come back with for what our next steps are for that particular project so for now that is all I have I have some other things later on in the agenda okay all right we are in action items preliminary plat for KL plot Number One Sheila the Planning and Zoning commission uh on July 29th held a public hearing at the request of KL Properties LLC for the preliminary plat of K plat number one uh the Staffing report as presented to the Planning and Zoning commission was in your packets the commission recommended approval of the preliminary plat with the conditions noted one of the conditions noted is what Scott referred to about the title work and so um there we have a picture of that and later on in the agenda Dave will be talking to you about the bid opening on the Highland Boulevard and so the action we're requesting tonight is the council to provide consideration to approving the preliminary plat for K plat number one okay is there any questions any concerns no all right Council uh provide consideration of approving the plinary plat for KL plan number one k motion Mo to approve so move second all in favor say I all oos motion carried final PL for Ms Highlands North at the June 24th meeting the Planning and Zoning commission approved the preliminary plat for Melrose Highlands North it was approved by you the city council on July 18th since then Sterns County has completed its plat review the two conditions established by the commission and approved by the council have been completed the Planning and Zoning commission recommended at its July 29th meeting that the final plat for Melrose Highlands North be approved and that's why we're here tonight to ask the council for same okay so the council to consider uh approving the plat for the mar Island North and authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute the mails and and the required documents for the completing of the plat can I get a motion to approve so move second all in favor say I iOS motion Carri resolution number 2024 38 a resolution opting to increase the benefit level for the firefighters who are invested in the voluntary Statewide volunteer program for SBF retirement plan Tony you take charge oh sure okay um let's see where should I pick up on this so they're looking to increase it by $100 from last year I believe that leaves it at like 107% still funded uh to the $3,300 level um I don't have a problem with that it's still a very responsible level to maintain in the fund so um if anybody has any questions motion to approve so move second all in favor I I opposed motion carried abstained all right um the ABDO contract so with Finance director Ryan Meyer has submitted his resignation effective today actually is his last day we have advertised for the position as Isa indicated we are going to be um interviewing on Monday however in the interim we are asking that the council approve a contract with Abdu to provide Finance director services this was presented to the Public Utilities Commission at their regular meeting on August 12th and I am simply asking that the council approve the interim the contract with abue for interim Finance services do we have any questions okay um how long are you thinking that well but I'm I'm my hope is um you know depending on how long it takes somebody to get on board I'm guessing I would I would like Abdu to stay on through getting us to the budget in other words getting the you know everything to the county so I would I would imagine it would be probably three or four months okay um you know can we do a lot of this I mean if you can tell them the price of what it is a month otherwise I mean I just want to make sure we're doing our due diligence of saving the taxpayers money and not paying out that full amount so one of the uh it's anywhere the the quote is it's expensive it's anywhere from 12 to $15,000 a month which is quite expensive if you take that and you add the benefits and everything with a finance structure you'd probably be right there but um the good news is is that the person that's going to be leading this is Tessa boing who's our former finance manager so if she's you know she really knows our system well and they they're aware that we want to keep these um you know these costs down as much as we can um obviously that's a very conservative estimate on their part right so it could be it could be less than that um it was asked at the plan uh the Public Utilities Commission meeting well what about people inh house doing that um the the issue that we're going to have there is we have very good capable people but they're not Finance Director people so there's very specific things that have to happen on a financing level and we need people that understand and do that all the time to be able to do that type of work so um we certainly you know our our existing staff is great um their plates are extremely full right now but um we can try and handle like the ambulance side some of that but really when it comes to reporting and that type of thing this is why we need ABD to come in here and honestly to work on with us on the budget so that we're able to get that certified for when you guys have that public Hearing in December okay if we get somebody on board sooner obviously we can drop probably some expense out of oh for sure I think that they would be willing to negotiate and if you want me to have that conversation to make sure that we can do that in there you know if if they we can drop really don't we have applicants already for y we have five our uh I believe five and we're going to interview but it takes you know government counting it takes a little bit a while to get up to speed for it so um I'm sure Ryan would be happy to help all with that um but yes certainly and if if that's um if that's a conversation I I'm more than happy to have that with Abdu right I don't mind I mean obviously we need the help but yeah we also need to get the new new person on board as quickly as possible are we sharing this with P yes you're sharing this with p y and it's like a month-to-month contract no it's a per hour basis so they were just estimating based on the workload what it was going to cost so it's really based on ours and it based on the level of the employee so a Tesla would be the highest some of the folks that work for her would be much less and she understands and will balance that however it is appropriate right okay someone make a motion someone second all in favor say I I oppose motion carried retaining while railing so the retaining well is done that goes down to the police department uh they did a very good job with it however we were not able to keep the railing that has to sit on top of that retaining wall um it does not meet the current code requirements plus it was bent up so there were two options that were presented to you in your packet one was uh architectural designed railing that is very similar to what we have out um by the bridge or on the bridge I should say the other one was just a black fencing that you could put up because that that those walls are 12 and 8ot high respectively so um the Pu did look at this and their recommendation is go to go with a lower quote of just the fencing because we can get that in pretty quickly and that's about $10,000 right I'm fine with that too this isn't a public walkway it's just a more of a safety anyway it'll still look decent it's black pain black so right I make a motion for it so move second all in favor say I uh we are removing the emergency declaration which was F yes and then we're on the G it would be streets parks to department vehicle purchase uh the 2003 silado is due for replacement the4 Capital Improvement plan we received quotes from saxs and Fleet Services on two different track models with their replacement needs uh we are asking to go with the 2025 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD Crew Cab which is a cheaper of the two Ops also with this truck we received quotes to equ it with a service box um receed two different quotes two different companies and we are asking to go with chis the so I'm asking for approval any questions are you going to get rid of that other truck then or oh yeah how you is that trade in or are we going to put it up for put and bid okay yeah that sounds good all right get approval I'll make the motion second fa thanks Island Boulevard extension mid just in case we open bids this afternoon on the Highland Boulevard extension uh project we received eight bids from contractors in the area ranging from 371,000 to 450 4517 so um we originally had estimated approximately with contingency 356,000 so this bid does represent about 15,000 over bid over the estimate basically we use numbers from Main Street project and uh bipe numbers are great asphalt numbers are high that's really where it got us is the asphalt numbers are about 50% more than what we paid on the inst so it's within reasons within a couple percent but at the same time is a little higher so uh I have worked with a little bitter before and a uh a project in oal I had good luck with them they were pretty responsive they are from Handover Minnesota again a of project in the past pretty well so guess I don't cont not something we usually see up here they have been working sock Center recently so kind of close yeah questions um just with any residential development new development area I know streets are always seems like we've got a a number of them within the last 20 30 years the streets tend to not be um have the right compaction densities or whatever subgrade I just want to make sure that we're paying close attention to the subgrade density because otherwise you get roads that are heaving and yeah and I can point to the ones you're talking about I know exactly which ones they are we are we do have a heavier section than was put in the rest of Highlands Highlands previously did not have a sand section below class 5 we do have a sand section planned here because I'm not comfortable putting in without it okay because I will account for that honestly as long as we can stop mother nature from ring from the top I think we build something very nice but as we know that's not a safe bet this year right sounds good um what do we budget for this we were using some of the funds from that sale of the river uh what whatever you want to call it though oh yeah railroad to pay for this right okay what's that and we're assessing yeah and we are assessing yes okay yeah looks good all right can I get a motion to approve that so move second T say I I close motion Carri police vehicle purchase again have to buy John R forer pretty soon H I'm going to order my next six them just now um in front of you is a request for a cap uh not to exceed $55,000 uh they are not making any 24 models anymore which is what we were originally doing our specs off of uh they are going to be building 25 models roughly late September early early October uh the goal is to um just transfer specs over to the 25 model year they said there's minimal changes and that the spec should come over um just fine but we want to get that U idea or at least on the the holder list and then that way if things come back in the 25 models within that $55,000 range or lower um we can move forward with things as opposed to another council meeting to ask again check in that's good Craig is there a reason why we stay keep going with them if we can't get the vehicles like is it any more readily available if you switch Brands and go uh no it all the the three three major makers Chevy for Dodge they're all limiting their Builds on the government side because the private side has been so been going so well for them they did switch that um line of thinking coming into 24 because of interest rates and a slow down on the private side whatever else so they stopped making as much money as they could and they decided that uh well we'll catch up with government that's going to continue to fund us through these slower lower times so um I believe that turnaround is going to be a bit better related to that but they are capping a lot of their production just to um maybe it's to keep the market hot or whatever else but their private side is slowed down so they are going to government side a little bit a little bit sooner a little more consistently now but there hasn't been anybody that I've talked to that's had a good we usually had 120-day turn around nobody's had that yet or gone back to that so the the goal is to get ahead of it and if it does come in 24 as a 25 model year we do have the funds available for it so we're not concerned about that but we would hope for 25 just CU then that cushion is there okay all right get a motion to approve first second I in favor say I I motion was carried all right the Highland Boulevard review by Planning and Zoning yes this is just an information item um because of Minnesota statute 429031 subdivision 2 as we just mentioned we are doing assessments special assessments on the Highland project one of the steps that was required was a formal review by the Planning and Zoning Commission of this particular Street project it was not included in the capital plan originally when Planning and Zoning looked at the plan last fall so we went to them at their last meeting and they have recommended in your packet was a letter from commission chair Jason Sanger reporting its finding as to the compliance of this proposed improvement with the comprehensive plan so this is just an informational item we are following the statute on this project okay all right here on the new business 88 tornado recovery funds did we want to say anything about that um since the tornado City staff have been receiving multiple offers for assistance including help with raising money for the residents affected by the storm in your packet were proposals from both the initiative foundation and the greater Melrose Community Foundation but we also found that there is an existing fund remaining from the 400 block fire that was established by the women of today back when they did some fundraising after the fire so we've been using that Fund in the last week and a half um so far four residents have applied and received funding from that um but also both the initiative foundation and greater Melrose Community have had proposed documents to you offering to do some additional fundraising so we're just here tonight so you can discuss their proposals and we wanted to update you on our existing fund and the fact that we're using it um so will this help like with a couple people that might be a little underinsured for their places you know for their homes to fix two right yes and so far the fund the existing fund that we have from the 400 block has paid out three residents two are the displaced families from the Parkplace town homes and one of them is someone who's underinsured in a different part of town yeah and there are still some funds left I think there was a little over $9,000 in that fund so far in the last week and a half we've paid out about 4,500 so there are some funds remaining so these two would do their own approving mhm they would do their own fundraising people would go to them um to apply for the money and it would be set up as a disaster fund similar to the one we already have and it would just sit there waiting for unfortunately disasters to take place okay so we're we're not looking at having two like one from the initiative foundation and one from the greater greater Melrose Community Foundation we're just looking to maybe have a fund available I I would say so but it is up to you unless you wanted to go with multiple funds no I think that you know the I like the idea of the greater maros area Community Foundation um it's local have local people making decisions raising the money um initiative Foundation is look at where they get their money from and I don't know there's all kinds of weird money Trails but that you never know see so what that tells you is there's probably strings attached with a lot of their uh funding um um I don't know how that would be set up locally as far as like a disaster relief fund but I like the idea of the greater um Ms area well I I I just think the initia fund will probably bring more I don't I don't we've dealt with the initiative Fund in the past we didn't have too many strings attached with them I don't am I wrong no the initiative Foundation has been in town they've helped uh local businesses like during covid um they've been during the so they've been around um they did give us a small Grant to help with the comprehensive plan so they have been in the area um the greater Melrose Community Foundation is just getting off the ground it's a brand new fund that we're starting here in town with local right and at this point in the last two weeks it became just a little less pressing because we like I said using the existing fund that we have well am I wrong I thought the 400 Grant sort of started through the initiative Foundation they held that money for us they did with that egg star and all them they sort of brought the money to the initiative Foundation which created the fund which after it was all said and done we turned it over to the women of today right that's correct I I just want to make sure that whatever we do we have enough you know not us but you know whoever does this has enough funds for was done because I mean I'm looking at a couple of them houses on the West Side um they might on the so I guess I would like to leave it in whoever um speaks with these scripts is it YouTube um I would like to let it in their hands what would be the best for the citizens as long as we have no strings attached strings attached and there's some local control I mean it does we don't have to go applying for tornado happens all what's what's the process to go through the initiative Foundation is that fund managed locally is it do we have to wait two months to get approval do we you know what I mean with the other one it was very quick we just had the meetings and and it was a quick turnaround time through initiative but I think that was after the money was already approved correct or we had we had them go through the application process the city had a group because I was part of at that time they had to meet with us why do you need this is it for legit um so it was us that did it initi should have fund just roll it out as we needed it yeah I don't remember how long that I just want to make sure that that was like five years ago already yeah I would like to leave it up to you to just you know figure out who would be the better so for the initiative Foundation there is a um administrative fees I'm I'm assuming there might be for the Community Fund as well but for the initiative Foundation the administrative fees would be based on 2% of receipts after the first year calculated one for each gift and drawn from the funds monthly um where's One String the foundation may also assess transaction fees for fund specific bank and Merchant costs such as credit card payments wire transfers and H A costs I don't know how the local Community Fund would be set up for that what is your opinion AR I don't know that I should have I'm on the board of directors for the greater Melrose Community Foundation so yeah I guess I would leave it honestly I would like to leave it in your guys's hands to decide what would be the best better good or at this point I mean we've actually had you know cental care we've had multiple people locally that have come forward and said what can we do to help um you know one of the things I guess I would recommend at this time is I think we should use the fund that we have in other words I think we need to get the 400 fund down to zero um you know we could go back to some of these other uh it was magnify it was um centri care and several of our other local businesses have said that they would be interested in helping so maybe we could look at it that way I just don't know as we as a city want to necessarily host that that may be where the you know Community Foundation or something the money could be deposited there but then again that's what they're doing right so um yeah and I agree I think that's kind of the point is we should get rid of we should spend down the 400 block because our Auditors haven't been happy about just this fund sitting there being unused so we'll use that up first and then we'll see where we're at yeah I mean we can always report back next month I don't think we have to take action on this right now I simply think we use the money that we currently have and and then if there's certain things cuz there's also local charities that are helping people with furniture and you know very local people that are you know hey they need furniture they need clothing they need this or that so I'm not sure with either one of these um they're very good organizations but I just don't know what did you say was in the 400 block F there was $4500 there was 9,000 at one time how far does that really go yeah the the way the fund was set up we're only allowed to give out, 1500 per household person or per household y so because I think that the thing with the greater M Rose Community Foundation the initiative Foundation they're going to be looking for the same sources to fund those relief efforts so um you know it's just I think a matter of which one you want to use so okay I'll me your whatever you guys decide or what are we thinking do you want to wait until we wait next month until it's straighten down yeah you want us to report back next month and we can let you know where everything's at Y and just see what are all the fees with both sides yep too and we'll let you know if the 400 fund is gone okay fair enough yep okay then we'll move forward uh billboard design yes staff has been working on a new design for the city side of the billboard on the Sterns electric property the discussion was paused while it was being determined if the billboard could remain with the new layout of the Sterns electric property and its new headquarters it has been determined that the billboard can remain mat discussed designs at its last couple of meetings and at its August 8th meeting last week it is recommending approval of the bottom design of these two um so we're asking the council it is your board to consider and discuss the billboard design for the city side of the board I look lot oh bottom one y we all agree it's unanimous and then the P will be just pering the other billboard right yes so I think that's going to be a joint thing with Missouri River Energy Services all right so uh soone make a motion for the billboard so move for which one the bottom one bottom board all right first and second all in favor say iose motion Carri uh HC request for payout yep so the um there were four exempt employees that put in a significant amount of time during the tornado event typically exempt employees do not get paid over time um and in this case actually there's probably we probably U need to add chief M to this as well so um during the storm event that took place um uh there were there would essentially be five of exempt staff that were hours and we're just simply asking that you pay them out under straight time there would not be overtime it' just be straight time and we're allowed to do that per our Personnel policy there's a section when it comes to natural disasters so again you have four of them here um we we need to add Chief Ms to this as well we left so I didn't hours yeah yeah well that's you know um yeah we do this but also remember it wasn't also a natural disaster so we do got to be careful in the future when we do do it but um but we did have some real hardworking people on that day including chief M oh sorry Chief buddy I'm so sorry I called you that but um Chief buddy was very instrumental going back and forth through town with everything that day I've cross paths with him many of times um he should get a lot of credit to for what what he did through the day and and the rest of the guys on the fire department ambulance department it was busy I mean gas leak there was Hance was constantly going all day you know for a couple days it seems like sirens going everywhere so there was a lot of people that probably didn't get thanked and I thank everybody for what they've all done because yeah it was it was amazing seeing the community come together in such a hurry I mean people helping people that I never would have thought that they would have helped out I mean people really came together as a family here and it was great to see so can I get a motion to approve that some move second all in favor say I I oppos motion is carried information items uh Utility Commission meetings schools conferences can I get a motion to adjourn second all in favor say I I motion Carri meeting jour [Music]