##VIDEO ID:fiM-jSp490I## welcome to the mountain city council meeting for Tuesday November 12th it's uh 6:02 and we're in Mountain City council chambers can we 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 all right thanks for coming out uh we have our agenda do we have any amendments no amendments okay can I get a motion to approve the agenda motion to approve the agenda okay got a motion can I get a second second any discussion all those in favor please say I I those opposed right the agenda is approved and then we got the consent agenda does someone want to go through those items I can do that okay um see wow okay um consent agenda item a approved payment of claims B approve minutes from the October 22nd regular meeting C approve gambling permit uh for American Legion Post 398 D action approving resolution that approves a Second Amendment to the contract with safe built for inspection services e um action approving ordinance amending chapter 105 of Mount city code regarding buildings and regulations to authorize electrical permitting and inspections by the state of Minnesota F action approving ordinance amending chapter 101 of the city code regarding General administrative Provisions amending the regulations for electrical fees to follow the state of Minnesota fee schedule G action approving resolution approving public lands permit and musical concert permit for 2024 tree lighting on November 23rd and wave fees H agreement for prosecution services with Campbell canson I pay request number two in the amount of $122,250 one60 to Whitmer construction for project 24-3 J pay request number two in the amount of $291,900 K pay request number two and Final in the amount of $1,921 to Goodmanson construction for project 24-11 L pay request number two for $3,626 to Allied blacktop for project 2407 and M pay request number two in the amount of $134,000 134,00 $ 51.97 to create construction for project 2408 all right we got all those does anybody want to talk about any of those all right hearing none uh can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda I make a motion to approve the asent the consent agenda I'm sorry got a motion can I get a second all right roll call please call member Larson I council member mckin I council member Pew I council member Castellano hi mayor Hol hi all right thanks all that passes all right next up we got number five comments and suggestions from anybody that is present that their item is not on the agenda if you want to come up and give us uh give us your name and address not hearing anybody all right we'll skip to the next one number six we got West Tonka student presentation welcome welcome guys thank you um appreciate it just you guys can just go ahead if you want great so I'm Stella Miner and I'm one of our student Senate pres presidents this year and then I'm Mason sebasi I'm the other student Senate President this year and yeah we'll be going over some of the stuff going on in the school district so cool yeah so first when you're talking about activities as you can see we had our activities fair starting off the Year this year which was a great way for eighth graders and new students to see all the clubs we have at our high school this year that was on October 7th and yeah it was a pretty successful event then um for yeah mount ofka clubs and activities basically all of them are the same as the past couple years but this year we've added unified club which is more of like an inclusion club for students with disabilities and then gen ed students as we feel there's been a gap there in prev previous years as well chess club it's pretty straightforward they just play chess from what I understand but yeah and for student Senate we've been working on our be the change week last month which was October 21st to the 25th this started and continues to be a be the change you want to see in the world or be the change against bullying week we've also Incorporated some more like mental health awareness aspects into it so we had student shout outs where students can write little notes to each other about things they appreciate about one another or see positiv one another we also posted different mental health advice on to our Instagram as well as our daily announcements and we had a gratitude wall outside of the cafeteria and then for staff appreciation week that's actually going on this week basically we're just thanking our staffs in a bunch of different ways so we're doing shout out cards at lunch where you can basically write a little note to Any teacher staff in the building and like thank them for something simple and then as well we have our like staff breakfast cart so we went around yesterday morning morning with some Caribou Coffee and some I think Costco pastries and stuff and just handed them out to any staff that wanted them and they really like that one as well we're going to write some thank you cards to staff and then like tick Tok with the staff take some pictures stuff like that just ways to thank though prom unfortunately we don't get to know any details about because the juniors are in charge of it but they're working hard to plan it it's the first Saturday in May again this year so May 3rd um they have their location figured out but it's all under wraps right now so um activities updates so we had nine Deca members qualify for ICDC which is basically an international competition I believe it's in Orlando this year they were doing a virtual business challenge which is basically just a simulation where you run different business scen scenarios and yeah we had nine members already qualify and then NHS welcome their new junior members as well as first year senior members on OCT oober 9th and then we did our NHS hunt for Hunger where a bunch of us went out around the community on Halloween night and asked for any canned or non- perishable good donations for the weekend and then robotics also kicked off their season at their preseason meeting and I know they had a great year last year because they went to I believe worlds so hopefully they'll do good again this year and then rotary had their first meeting of the year on October 16th and has been working in operation gratitude for this week over Veterans Day we put up the posters that we've had throughout the past couple years of either people who are related to or are alumni of mwhs students or staff and we put up the same ones every year and then we add additional ones so we have quite a few up around our school right now just recognizing different people who were connected to mdhs and thanking them for their service so that's been a good thing to be involved with this week um for link crew mwhs we have a large link crew body so 113 students basically link crew is just helping out the eth and nth graders kind of get into the role of a high school student and it's basically someone you have to talk to as well the students you know they do different events I believe it's every other Thursday or something like that during our what I need time or win time so you just hang out in the gym and do a different activities and yeah it's a great way to connect those students with our seniors and juniors next we have athletic so these are all of the sports we have going on this year we do have actually a new sport this year which is boys volleyball which Mason's involved with combined with a couple other schools you guys had it last year but this year it's through yes it'll be mshsl and then we might co-op with some other schools which we've done in the past years but we'll see how many numbers we can get um significant accomplishments so football this year we ended the regular season with the 5 and3 record and then from there we were seated number four so then we went went on to play Delano in the quarterfinals we won 47 to zero and then in the section semifinals we played Oro they were a number one seed and we fell 19 to 40 so that was our season I believe Oro was going on to play in the state semifinals this week so they did pretty good and then for volleyball we uh finished the season with a 208 record it was a very good season they beat Academy of Holy Angels in the section quarterfinals and then fell short to Delano um in the semifinals yeah and then soccer boys went 591 girls went 3 13 And1 not a great season for soccer but that's okay and girls swim and dive we don't have this quite updated yet but they had their sections this past weekend and I believe eight girls qualified for State coming up and then for girls tennis they had an 11 and seven season and lost in their first round of sections to Hutchinson for cross country we had two All Conference girls which was Sophia anger and havy hog and then we had three All Conference honorable mention girls which was Anna Reginald Audrey kirst and Brook Garlock and then two All Conference honorable mentioned boys Andrew Finley and Luke sorg the girls also qualified for the state meet which they competed in two weeks ago that that was really exciting I think it's been a couple years since the whole team has qualified so that's exciting and then all state recognition so Carter Klein saer I believe he was recognized for his defensive position which is outside linebacker DN and then for Mia Weaver she's our volleyball player and she'll be playing D1 volleyball next year at Kansas University of Kansas City Missouri I believe so yep they were both All State recognitions and I know for volleyball we haven't had one in a while so that was pretty cool and now for the Arts so here we have a couple pieces that were designed by different Hilltop students we've had a successful year at the um Minnesota State Fair competitions as they have in the past I know there's over 30 ribbons just from Hilltop alone so that was very exciting I picked these out from all 30 of those and I thought this was really impressive to be made by elementary students so exciting to see um theater in West Tona so the Grand View Middle School theater had rehearsals for the fall musical they'll be doing the Newsies junor which I believe is November 21st to 24th it'll be showing so coming up pretty soon and then West Tonka Community Theater also completed a successful run of the Cinderella and then they're looking to do I believe the smackdown at the pageant that'll be their next one coming up last of all we have the mws theater who did the man who came to dinner at the end of October was pretty successful and yeah so new advertisement and then next we have our this is the cast man came to dinner and then for Mount ofka Arts I know the band did their mattress sale which is good fundraiser for for them as well the pet band was playing at a lot of the home football games and I think they showed up to one volleyball game this year but it's always great having them there as well our choir I know we auditioned and named the members for Mad Jazz which is our singing group and then they also have been busy working for caroling in the winter time and last of all art mws artists have been working well and have gotten a lot of awards so yes a lot of things coming up for them I have a question for you when I was driving by and saw this mattress sale I thought that's the most bizarre like do people just buy mattresses up the street I guess it works for them I know I'm kind of shocked too that people are buying also I wouldn't think that you'd be like oh knock on someone's door like oh hey do you need a new mattress seem like it be seemed weird so I was wondering your success rate with with it well yeah I I don't know I didn't talk to anyone in band but they've done it the past seven years I'd say so I mean it's got working for them but it seems really yeah it does seem a little odd we like knows works for them I guess yeah now for our academics so we had four students who were National Merit semifinalists which was R Jordan Rohan Nella jtine and Tor erll and as sem semi finalists these students place in the top 1% of the 1.5 million people who took the pat last year and they're among for rul and Rohan they're among over 16,000 students qualified for the National Merit Scholarship this year and then AP Scholars a total of 60 mka Scholars were awarded this year so we have our AP Scholars with distinction basically that's the highest recognition you can get and then AP Scholars with honor and then last of all it's just regular AP Scholars these are all based off of how many tests you have taken and scored above the three or four on and then they take the average of your score and yeah it's just from all the AP exams we've done in the past three two three years and we scored in the top 10 District in the state for the 2024 MCAS and the Minnesota test of academic skills so it's exciting and I believe that is it do you guys have any questions on stuff we can answer about the district do Council have any questions I don't think so doing a great job thank you very EX apprciate we haven't had you guys out for a few long time since the spring I think so appreciate you coming out and maybe we'll see you again in the spring yeah see what's going on so great thank you guys thank you all right number seven we got Kansas of sorry canvas of city election results um I think everybody's got this in front of them um and I'll just make a comment too um I think she's on the way here but I just want to say congrats first of all to council member elect calano thank you congrats and as well as uh council member elect uh herck who again I think she's on the way she just wanted to say hi um and uh I don't know if anybody has any questions I know Kevin's not here but um does anybody have any comments or questions on our resolution today you know I I sent everybody a thank you note but you guys again Jesse and Maggie did just an awesome job during this crazy election season it was long and uh took a lot of your time so thank you again and also to Kevin did a great job pass all the credit over to them seriously well I saw you scooting food in and out so that that made a lot of the election judges me included happy I took the easy job well thank you again it was it was a big big amount of responsibility yeah I want to shout out to Kevin to um there were five elections this year and so it was a huge amount of just commitment and making sure everything was done according to you know the way we needed to do it and so um I know he put like a tremendous amount of work in there and um yeah it it's been a long year I think we're looking forward to getting back to kind of our day-to-day job you've had a wild first year has been kind of crazy but but it's it's fun too so thank you both so the other comment I want to make is that when I went to vote I went right in I voted L left 3 seconds right so I'm watching the news and I'm seeing in Chicago that they got this you know around the blocks and this and that and I appreciate you backing me on this but we stuck and we said we want four precincts yes um yeah when they went down to three that was rough two oh we went down to two when uh or two right Co 20 it was bad 20 and I waited an hour right outside here oh yeah of it yeah so anyway a couple years after that we we said no we're stay we're staying with four we're not going on a three we're not going on a two thank you for doing that because I know the previous group would have been happy with one or none or none yeah so I'm glad we're still I don't know one thing I wanted to say is I think we ended up having about an 88% turnout and um I believe almost probably a little less than half was early voting I was just going to ask that was my only question on this like am I understanding that right it's like it was almost 50% of people that voted were early mhmh it was how did you guys see it was it like oh as soon as you could or was it like you know in the last couple weeks it just kind of goes like that or like what are people's I would say the last few the last week was very busy okay yeah cuz I've heard that too it's like in the last several years it's like people just vote absentee more and more early and I think the the Monday before I think we processed maybe 300 in a day and it otherwise it was about 100 200 that during that week so was it was busy you kind of knew the count going into election day that hey we've already had I know I talked to Kevin a week before and he said it was like 20% yeah we have a track so it just kept kept rolling I voted there were like eight other people voting you vote early uhuh because Kevin said are you going to vote today and I thought well I guess I might as well you know there are eight other people there I I usually vote on the day of election I I want to say congratulations to Mound residents because we really had a high percentage of Voters when you look at the number of registered voters and who voted we were well over 80% % uh which was the state's percentage in the last election um and also the fact that people downvoted down voted down the ballot because you know with city council being at the end of the ballot sometimes you get to City Council and only half the people are voting but it looks like our folks voted all the way down which is really a good sign of citizenship and and taking their right to vote so I think congratulations all right well any other comments or questions all right so we got a resolution uh I don't know what page it's on but we have a resolution in our hand I think if someone wants to make it make a motion for what uh for the resol make a motion for the resolution I'll try to read it okay um I make a resolution to motion make a mo I'm sorry I make a motion to canvas return make a motion to make a motion to I better not read it I don't have my glasses I can't anybody else want to take a shot okay I make a res and make a motion yeah to for a resolution for a resolution to Canvas returns and declare the results of the municipal election of November 5th 2024 all right got a motion can I get a second second all right any other discussion all those favor please say I I those oppos all right that passes all right that was short so now we have comments and reports from council members uh council member Pew okay well um the glasby center um had a very wonderful um Veterans Day um luncheon last Friday uh was there was probably about 60 to 80 people there and there were representatives from all five um sectors of the government I mean of the military and I just found out that there's a new six um military and it's called the space force oh yeah so I thought are they going what are they going to do the Pentagon building now how did they we get this ex hexagon you know but anyway um and so there were representatives and there was one female she was from the Coast Guard which I thought was interesting uh and the choir the GL singers sang the theme songs for each of the services and the guy the people stood up you know when their song was being played it was really quite Pleasant and very nice and get good to get to know the stories of people in who had served in the military here in Mound um and stuff and then I think that their staff worked with City staff in submitting a grant proposal for age friendly to help them get their website up and going and so they can get better um um marketing and advertisement information out in the community um the other thing is the Parks Commission in December at our December meeting we're inviting the residents who live around Chester Park which is across from Allen almma to come and give us their input as to what they feel we should do with that Park uh the Park equipment is in really bad condition so we're going to have to replace it but you know the question is should we replace it as it is now or should it have a little different theme to it so we're going to be asking residents to give us their input before we move forward on on doing that Park and um and then I think everyone has been going over and seeing the progress being made in our new um Lake Commons park Commons on Lost Lake Park I just got to get the name right here uh which is quite delightful you can walk the little route um on the pavement and the prominade now so I think there's going to be a lot of excitement and hopefully this winter I don't know if we're going to be able to do those Christmas lights that we talked about yeah we are okay so that'll be real exciting too and everything so that's my report all right Council M Larson I would just like to make a public thank you uh to the Mountain Fire Department for their kindness and their services to our family and I would also like to talk about quickly Betty Wallen she has been a of our community she has now passed away at 97 the wolins were fire department people she was on the auxiliary and her claim to fame is that uh she never missed a fish fry 71 times in a row so great woman great family that's it it'll be hard not to see her face I know fish yeah with her little hat all right Council m mcy uh I did talk to Betsy um and we will have a table again for anybody that wants to come to the tree lighting we'll put out the shop local and I'm also going to do a a selfie sign kind of like a vintage um you know seasons greetings for mound or something that we can hold up so that's all I've got cool Council Mar calano I don't have anything okay and the only thing I was going to say was the tree lighting thing just come out in two Saturdays 23rd 23d next next a week from Saturday week from Saturday what meeting this morning oh yeah oh forgot that yeah um we had our fire department meeting upstairs over there council member Larson was there too um yeah I mean it's just proven to be a a task so we'll we'll see we don't really have a lot to report on per se but I think what we're going to try to do is do a workshop to bring it um to council to kind of see you know here's where we're at and then if you guys have any suggestions um so I think we're going to try to coordinate that we got time before the meeting on the 26th as of today so unless something was can be added instead of that we can set that up for five and is is it do you want to just be us or do we want to bring the chief I can certainly invite the chief uh I think he'd be happy to attend okay right so on the 26 so let's do 2 so the next council meeting have five have a workshop have a workshop in okay the conference room you know I'd like to share um you know as you know I chair at the ageef friendly State Council and we're doing um A Five-Year Plan for Aging in the state and um uh last week we had a action team meeting where we had lots of people from all over the state come in and give input and prioritizing around emergency preparedness and we had four Fire Chiefs attend the meeting and it is interesting that this whole discussion that we're having locally is really it's it is a Statewide issue around fire departments have really changed and they're much more Emergency Services responders and when you think about that they end up responding with the police department so one of the things I've been thinking about is to ask our police officers if they could tell us how many times are they showing up with the fire department on calls so we can see because there's like a duplication you can get the fire department with the police and the ambulance all at your home and and it could be a fall but um it's really becoming quite the issue and how to cover the cost for that and the training and the fire departments are the people trained the best for helping people with the lifts because even in the nursing homes the staffs will not lift people anymore so it's it's quite quite an issue and I'm sure will add to the efforts of this commission that we're participating in those are some of the comments that's exactly what we've been talking about um just to expound on that a little bit uh yeah LIF assis are what is it 60 to 80% yeah so it's and it's always in the middle of the night some in the bathroom you know whatever but um and a lot of them are regular customers oh yeah repeats now on that I mean you know if it's me in the middle you know we want to make sure we get there as fast as we can how can we you know make make sure we're taken care of it's a whole debate about you know they you know these companies sometimes are putting that on the the local cities right yeah the the assisted living and nurs those types of places now but there are people in the single family homes too who are and like in the S single family home example this happened actually in our neighborhood and so we we did talk about that at one of the meetings and I said well why we had the whole everybody show up yeah for one for one person that didn't feel right you know and then you know they took him away and you know it's whatever and and I'm again if it's if any of us are going you know if anybody going through it we want to make sure we get you know the first person there so really the police are the first typically that can respond and so that's you know the thought is well whoever can get there get go get there um and then I think usually the fire is probably next second um now you know I know they're trained differently so you know if it's a cardiac issue or you know a fall the police don't really want to pick anybody up the police officers is usually just by themselves right so it's one person and so they're vulnerable in trying to pick up someone especially if it's a heavy lift right but they could do the CPR and some of the other things that um people may need but and then the other thing too they're talking about is like not that a lot of these uh locations need security or securing um but sometimes that's an issue too maybe not for the person that falls in the midd night but maybe for a different situation where they don't know what they're getting into and so a lot of times the cops will go first they'll just show up first because they just the fastest a lot of times um but yeah it's it's a whole we're that's a lot of what we're talking about right now and how do you what's the best way to get around all this um and the question is the dispatchers who were getting the 911 call how are they deciphering and coding the call because that may be one way to help sort of siphon out who needs to get there first um and stuff but yeah fire departments are really it's interesting they have a new vulnerability and it's not about being burnt in a fire it's about like you said not knowing the situation of where they're entering so they know that that there's someone who needs assistance but you don't know you know is it a drug related thing or you know if there's potential danger to the to the fire people um so it's it's really changing the whole emergency services response so if you know if we kind of move continue on the path of you know a partnership with st Bonnie right um part of what we're looking at again this all like very very high level right now but um we have our own full-time fire chief right right um they have a part-time that probably works full-time I mean but he has a full-time other job right um do we do two full-time Chiefs do we have one you know to to split both play is we' one of our comments today was you know if you do just one brand new one you know especially if it's coming from one of the other sides a lot of guys might quit right away cuz you're not telling me what to do I've been listening to this guy for how many years so it's it's a whole thing and we just so you know we do have the uh well some of the guys in there with us that are on the fire department I think we had four today um I think usually we have two um so there you know we we really want to make sure that we're you know that they're getting an opinion on this too so again it's when you bring four cities together it's a whole thing to try to iron out you know four different councils four different opinions of different groups and then what's the best interest for the overall four what's the best interest for our town that we're representing and we've had some back and forth discussions and we'll we'll figure it out I guess um but yeah the workshop we want to bring a little bit more context to you know to you guys in a workshop setting and have Greg come too and kind of say you know how how do we get here in the first place and then just see see the Comfort level because we're we're kind of trying to get to in the next few months if we're going to move down that road we want to maybe do a resolution of support and if we're not then it's time to go our separate ways so how the firefighters how do they feel about this the changes in front of them yeah I mean you know I I think Peterson Chief Peterson has done a a good job I think for a years saying that this is ultimately going to happen down the road anyway um there's some from what I hear that are not terribly excited but I'd say a good chunk are open to you changes part of it is we're trying not to burn them out and that's the the problem too is cuz we run a you know a paid on call deal you know whereas like Bloomington you know they just hire them all right we can't afford to do that I mean we could I guess but we don't um but I mean we got we got a hell of a deal I mean when we do our salary budget line item it's insane I mean they basically working for free and it's it's killing the guys CU they got to show up to a certain amount of percent you know when I went to that retirement party uh for the fire dep dep M um I mean what's the average 50 60 70 80% show calls right that these your son I think was yeah one of those High numbers right and it's like I don't know how you can do it I mean I couldn't do it with my job right but these guys they they're local they work locally and they're getting calls for one to three calls a day sure and so they're showing up all the time right and their employers then have the the other part of that too right you know the employeers are are supportive but you know you can't when you got someone leaving so much so impacts your business so there's a uh statistic that we have you know that our we've come up with the fire department that says that they have to hit a certain amount of calls right or you're gone and it's pretty cut and dry and they don't it is what it is now we can always change that um we also have like you have to live a certain amount of distance from the station again we can change that but we don't also don't want to sacrifice quality of service either like we you know if something happens we want people showing up fast and getting in the truck and going um but again those are things that we can maybe work on either way you know if we do this or we don't those are things that we probably should be talking about anyway and then the other thing is Duty uh uh officers so basically hiring again if we hire one Chief one extra Chief or for the same price you hire two basically full-time staff persons if you do a part-time model they end up going to Bloomington or you know anywhere else because then they'll get a full-time job and is making career out of it right so um it's a whole thing it's it's a lot of you know we haven't even got to the no we just started getting to the money part and not even like the P none of that other pensions or anything else I mean we're just trying to so it's again the average time period is what 5 Years From Start to finish now when do we start this I mean you Greg would say 20 years ago but you know so anyway more to come let's do a workshop and then we'll talk about it more um so that's I mean that's all I really had unless anybody else has anything else um I wanted to mention to Ryan and the group the new re look fabulous they're we're starting to get put up today they're all warm light we're so thrilled and um to the company that puts them up they do a really nice job and they're um they're very proud of doing Mound and they're thrilled that we moved to warm lights oddly enough so am I all right uh number nine do you guys have any you want to add no it was covered I mean I would just say the elections were complete chaos and but managed chaos because of um Kevin and Maggie and and all of our we have I don't 10 people at each uh Precinct and we had people actually working City Hall uh uh you know I'd say that once again talk about a good deal I mean it's practically donated time right right so with that early voting because we just I mean it was we were swamp so nice to be on the other side of it okay um and I'm gonna also keep fighting for with our coun uh commissioner County Commissioner we talked about the elections right and that and I wanted to make sure that um I know some people wanted to go Federal and some or not federal countywide right and some wanted other things so I'm going to see if there's any solutions on that side like maybe they can help us pay more people you know I don't know I mean I know it chaos and it's like that's what we're doing now we're doing early voting I guess I say that in the best possible way to because I mean that's means people are showing up right I mean if nobody showed up would be a a worse uh option I think so anyway and most election judges um I've been doing it for 30 years would be happy to do it for for volunteer mhm right I mean you know it's a lot of money for the cities or by the time you're done but most I think if you talk to most people they would be completely fine donating their time right if that's something we could present to to help cities I don't know with this early election stuff we budget for it every other year I mean it's it's not a huge amount but I I'm just comparing it to like the the paidon call I mean this is people that are doing this because they have a passion for it and then if you can throw them a you know a few dollars it makes it a little bit better I mean people use it for maybe it's Christmas presents or something after this it's you know but um no I mean that's another thing too just having that many people that are willing to keep signing up um is incredibly important so hopefully that doesn't change okay so lastly right in time she texted me an hour ago said she's on the way I just wanted to introduce our new council member elect herck I don't know if you want to say quick something or you don't have to but just I'm kind of done talking I've been talking all day but thank you it's nice to be in front of everyone and I look forward to serving the citizens of Mound congratulations thank you so just so you know we'll um actually the three of us um we're going to have to do the official okay uh thing in January so that'll be January is it 12th or oh it's the 10th I think the second Tuesday Tuesday um so I mean technically you're on January 1 okay but if there's any emergency we'll have to swear in quick so or he'll swear in so um but yeah I just wanted to I was I invited her to come out earlier but she got caught one day I have to go to St Paul well actually tomorrow too so but yeah I'm working from home and it wouldn't have been a problem but so congrats again it'll be more official in January I appreciate it thank you everyone thank you um all right that's it unless anybody else has anything else take a motion did journ so moved okay and a second second all right any other discussion all those in favor please say I I I those oppos all right we're adjourn