##VIDEO ID:QwQFNtZRKuw## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e good evening and welcome to the Newport city council meeting today is Thursday September 5th 2024 we'll begin the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all will staff please call the role council member suner here council member Taylor here council member Ingman here council member chapalain here and mayor Elliot here the next item on our agenda is to adopt the agenda are there any changes to the agenda this evening hearing none I'll make a motion to accept second I have a motion from council member chapalain and a second from council member suar to adopt the agenda as presented all those in favor say I I those opposed the agenda is adopted the next item on our agenda is public comments as we don't have any members of the public in the audience today we will move on to the consent agenda all items listed on the consent agenda are considered to be routine by the council and are approved in a single motion there will be no separate discussion unless a council member or staff or citizen so requests in which case it will be removed and considered at the end of the consent agenda is there anything to be uh removed from the consent agenda counc I'll make a motion to council member I have a question on on D just a real quick question pull that just ask it now yeah okay when do we expect that person to to come in I know that he has to pass some tests and so forth do we have a start date we hope um crossing our fingers depending on this how how this consent agenda item goes U mayor members of the council I believe Monday September 9th all the tests have been done yep okay so we're uh we're excited okay good that was my only question yeah that that that's perfect I mean like if it's policy discussion then we need to pull it but just a quick clarification simple so I have a motion from council member Ingam do I have a second second I have a second from council member chapain to adopt the consent agenda all those in favor say I hi those opposed the agenda is adopted next on our agenda is the Washington County Sheriff's Office report and we have Sergeant Harold with us this evening good evening mayor members of the council I just wanted to update you that the surveillance that the city invested in um for this building and the Public Works actually did us some uh benefits we had a dumping complaint up at Public Works and we got some high quality video from it that identified the the vehicle that was involved unfortunately we don't know who is driving it yet but without the surveillance we wouldn't have had any leads so it was a huge asset to a to the investigation so um and then with school starting I'd like to remind folks to slow down especially in the morning and afternoon pay attention for the kiddos out there otherwise I'll stand for questions okay council member SAR when are the buses running in Newport for the kids pardon me when do the buses run to pick up kids in Newport do you know I know they drop them off starting at 7:25 in the morning and then they pick them up at 2:25 in the afternoon I don't know the specific routes I know vaguely where they run but I don't know the times and you have lots of several different schools they middle schools high school elementaries that they're picking up for so yeah so there's a lot of school buses in talf for not just our elementary school but sure um I was just there's three buses that deliver to Newport Elementary so I was just trying to get the public an idea when the kids are going to be out on the corners how about we just drive slow and safe all day let's just do it that way how about that always yeah that might even work maybe maybe you never know keeping it simple okay thank you yeah that was all I have have a good night thank you next on our agenda is the fire chief's report and chief Wy is uh also with us this evening good evening mayor council members um start with a quick recap of calls from August so we responded to 26 calls for service during the month so just I have a call a day um seven of those calls were during the storms that swept through last Thursday evening Mutual Aid wise we um had seven Mutual Aid calls um two of them we Prov we requested Mutual Aid and we received aid from Woodbury um Grove in St Paul Park and then five out bomb Mutual Aid calls um one to Woodburry and four to Cottage Grove and all four of those for Cottage Grove uh were the night of the storm last Thursday night we assisted with you know some of they were pretty slam so we assisted with a few of their calls great but glad to hear that yeah we were able to assist yep um and then the other thing I have if there's no questions on the calls is um booya coming up right so um booya is Sunday the 15th from 11: to 4: um we will um just have a brief parade through town the night before starting at 5:30 and then um some of our special guests is here at booya will include I think it's Bolton and M we'll have a booth there to talk um to engage with the community on parks and trails um the Newport um Library will have a a community interaction booth there as well and then our friends at Washington County Sheriff's department will be putting on a can9 demonstration at 12:30 and parks and trails will have a boat or some other form of equipment here during the booya as well okay and the booya is at this building here is where it is at 20601 Avenue perfect will there be a a voice of buoya interactive Booth or a voice of booya well see you you are a voice of booya assistant future voice of booya so yeah he'll be there yep voice of booya has to be there so it wouldn't be the same without Tom and I understand this is an anniversary year for the booya correct this is our 70th Annual Old booya um would have been last year but we skipped a year due to covid in 2020 so this is the 70th actual booya that we had even though it's our 71st Year great as a fire department yeah congratulations on that thank you okay may council member SAR how many containers of booya uh we have a different configuration this year so um we had a conflict with the kettles that we normally get so we're getting kettles from a different different Source this year so it's one less Kettle but bigger kettles okay there's such a demand for the spicy stuff yep we'll have 160 gallons of Cajun booya oh oh excellent okay get there early before they run out oh yeah that's right okay well thank you very much thank you have a good evening uh next on our agenda is the engineers report starting with the sanitary sewer project thank you mayor good evening uh members of the council uh two items for formal consideration uh the first being the sanitary sewer manhole and lateral replacement project uh we are currently working down on 9 Avenue uh most of the work excuse me 9th Street uh most of the work uh north of 9th Street is complete with the exception of a couple manholes that they're uh waiting to get some different equipment in to uh to construct those manholes and then everything uh north of 16th Street has been patched so they had a a a p come in last week to uh keep up on some of those open areas which was uh which was appreciated cuz things started we had we had a lot of open ground so uh we are approaching a little over halfway I think we're over the halfway point uh with uh both the manholes and the laterals uh we had a couple done here yet this week and pretty soon we'll be jumping to the south side of the Fourth Avenue Ravine probably beginning maybe next week or or the week after um still on target to uh meet their completion date which is the uh end of end of October um the big the critical piece there is to make sure everything thing get patched here uh but while the black top plants are still open and before it gets too cold so still on target for that uh the contractor submitted a second payment application uh so the uh the current contract amount with approved change orders is 1,391 6528 and less the previously paid amount and then the uh and 5% retainage the contractor has requested a payment of 300 5 5,471 188 I'd be happy to stand for questions on the project otherwise looking for a motion to approve that payment okay motion to approve I move to approve partial payment application number two for $355,100 every time you go every time you go underground there's something comes up and we we've learned that there's bedrock in many surprising places and lack of equipment sometimes but if things gone relatively smoothly I would say as good as can be expected we've had surprises you know utilities are a little closer together than we had anticipated we have some uh some utilities that uh uh private utilities that get marked a little bit differently on the surface than they actually are on on the uh where they're buried so it's it's slow digging and kind of sensitive digging I think the contractors's done a a good job all things considered about working around the the constraints and had to get creative at times to make sure that we can get the work done so it's uh I think everyone is is kind of cautiously optimistic that we have a good handle on what to expect when we go in there so even if things are a little bit different we're able to react pretty well and this is the same contractor we've had throughout the projects yep same contractor they they started out running uh two separate excavation Crews they're down to one now and we're hoping to get that crew back um later on this month perhaps um but the the crew that they have working is is doing a doing a great job get back a second crew you mean yep the second crew to start uh yeah splitting up the work and moving a little quicker okay those were my questions toight other questions okay so we have the second from council member or a motion from council member Taylor and a second from Council member chapal Lane all those in favor say I I those opposed partial payment number two is approved and then secondly for our 2025 Street and utility improvements project uh at the last council meeting uh Council uh directed staff to begin the uh survey fieldwork for this project as well as completing a storm water study uh tonight we're looking for for Council to direct the uh preparation of the feasibility study uh this is the the the first step in the um the Minnesota statute 429 special assessment process so we have to complete this feasibility study a lot of that leg work is uh has started and as we kind of scoped out this project but we do need a formal action from the council to direct the feasibility study and then following that preparation of the Fe feasibility study is to have that first public hearing the Improvement hearing so I I tried to lay out a an approximate schedule um uh presuming that the the council considers ordering that feasibility study tonight we'd be looking at uh trying to complete that the study in about a month and then looking at the end of October uh for an improvement hearing depending on uh noticing requirements that'll put us in line to uh uh if the project moves forward we we would be hoping for an early I guess an early uh 2025 bid maybe in the in the February time frame to try to align us with the uh kind of the most competitive time for for bidding projects so we had uh estimated that uh the cost to prepare that feasibility study at about $6,500 so looking for Council consideration if it'd be appropriate to order the feasibility study now and then uh direct staff to uh to complete that and bring it back to your first meeting in October okay I'll move resolution 20 24- 61 which is the resolution ordering in the preparation of a feasibility study I'll second thank you discussion any questions council member s this is a continuation of the same type of work that we've been doing it's just a an ongoing aspect of it right yeah an ongoing utility Improvement project this is a little bit wider scope than what we've been doing in the in recent years with focusing I or strictly on on inii and the sanitary collection system this project will be in addition to the sanitary sewer we'll be replacing water M and adding storm sewer adding curban gutter uh and then pavement Rehabilitation as well one question I mean I just looking at that you're anticip you know come that maybe October 24th meeting you might be able have a ballpark what this might cost people is that kind of true or not yeah so we have a couple different trains that are hopefully going to arrive at the station at the same time the the storm water the storm study and the survey will help us get a good handle on on what the overall scope of the Improvement will be which will then uh hopefully we can we can get a get a definitive scope and identify a cost for that one thing that we won't have is a firm handle on the assessment rate uh and so we we hope we we've engaged some appraisers we're hoping to get a uh um benefit appraisal quote uh for the council to consider at their next meeting uh but they probably won't be able to provide us that information in advance of that Improvement hearing so my hope would be that we can kind of use what we've what we've uh the assessment rate that we've used in the past as kind of the low end and then that 20% of the overall project cost as the highend with the you know kind of filling in that Gap with that benefit appraisal that would probably come likely in the early part of 2025 in advance of the assessment hearing yeah I think people have been talking to they're they're excited about the project you know but yeah that is the big question so if we just the range would be and as long as we can communicate when they know that more you know I think that's all they want to know was I've been kind of saying later on this maybe yeah was expecting to be this early so that's that's good though that we can start to give them an idea yeah and I think in this case I did uh in that schedule that we put together we had um we had identified an improvement hearing possibly at the end of October and then have another public engagement meeting uh less formal uh but uh at a point where we have the plans pretty close to being done uh maybe 75% so we can give the uh give folks a little bit better idea of what's going to be happening right in their in their front yard and at that point I think we can also provide a little bit of information on where we're feeling those assessments going so again nothing formal but just getting a little bit more information out there great council member semar haven't in the past we set an upper limit on what these assessments were going to be or because this is multiple projects is it going to be multiple assessments that people will be facing I I think we've always set a range on the front end of a project uh which we'll be doing here as well this in previous projects the range has been a little tighter I would expect this one to be a bit of a broader range that we that we uh narrow as the as the project or as we get more information about the the benefit um generally once we have uh reached the assessment hearing it is is a defined there is a definite number it's we've we've never had kind of an upper range uh you know at the assessment hearing but we we want to set a reasonable expectation but we never want to set the expectation at the Improvement hearing that is going to be one number and then it goes up at the assessment hearing we always would like to have that number come in lower so does that answer your question sure okay other questions okay with that I have a motion from council member ingan and a second from council member suner um all those in favor say I I those opposed the resolution is adopted and that's all I had formally mayor but I'm happy to stand for questions well like the site plan you had on this though that was very helpful to see the project areas certainly um with that okay with that we will move on to the superintendent of Public Works report uh good evening mayor Elliot and council members I have nothing formal tonight uh but I do have an update uh related to the same storm that uh Chief Wy was referring to um we have uh offered we offered Mutual Aid to Cottage Grove and St Paul Park from from Public Works um today is the first day that uh Cottage Grove took us up on that offer we provided a uh Public Works operator and the Tandem and St Paul Park came yesterday and got our grabbed our skid loader with a grapple bucket on it just to help them with cleaning up so um just trying to be a good neighbor and help them out in the you know in the tough times when we uh didn't get hit nearly as hard as they did so uh they're both very grateful and you know hope not to need the return of service in the future but yeah glad to be able to help so yeah and I think it it's great to have these Partnerships where you can rely on each other and it it saves everybody saves taxpayers and gets work done quicker and a lot of benefits correct so with that I'd be happy to stand for any questions okay questions for I think you're off the hook thanks so much next we have the administrator's report mayor members of the council the first item tonight is a an abatement uh discussion regarding 1490 Hastings Avenue um and we have assistant to the city administrator uh an Bell will be providing a presentation on this topic good evening mayor and members of the council we are going to be discussing the abatement of nuisance code violations at 1490 Hastings Avenue so since 2021 this property on 1490 Hastings has had numerous code violations and so they've ranged from um inoperable vehicles on the property or on the street parking of more than four vehicles on the property as well as open storage and accumulations of many nuisance items things like discarded Machinery uh tires vehicle parts construction material scrap wood canisters furniture and just other miscellaneous garbage and debris and so uh the property owner and tenant have received many nuisance code violations as you can see so since July 9th 2021 there have been nine correction notices uh three different administrative citations and then in April 18th 2023 there was a scheduled uh hearing for a major abatement that was postponed due to the tenant um showing some progress in uh abating the issue and so then in 2023 September 22nd another administrative citation was issued and then this year in 2024 a notice of abatement hearing and correction notice was issued on August 15th and then on August 20th a criminal citation was mailed to the tenant for the parking of an inoperable vehicle that was on the public Street if I may I think there's one element missing on that I think there is also a um a citation for uh multiple vehicles that are deputies um issued earlier this year and there was a criminal uh citation issued on that unfortunately I've been told that that person never showed up to court and they did receive a a warrant for that okay so I wanted to just make sure Council was aware thank you so then to the current code violation so as of earlier today uh 239 p.m. the the the nuisance violations are open storage and accumulation of buckets containers prop Point pain tanks Furniture um there were scrap wood pallets some scrap metal tires tarps and then some other debris the the tenant has shown some progress in uh fix abing some nuisance code violations such as the inoperable vehicles but as mentioned as of 2:39 p.m. today there were still uh issues present and so you can see here uh a photo of the front of the property uh there are um containers Furniture propane tanks um I'm not quite sure what those black sheet things are they might be GL uh yeah I'm not quite sure what those are but they have some um household furnishings and things like that and you can see some scrap wood and then this is uh their driveway and you can see uh amongst the vehicles and alongside the boat there is uh tires um and there are some other scrap wood and other debris and then here this is uh behind the house a bit more that you can see uh the the driveway is over to the this area right here there's that boat but then back here they have piles of pallets other uh junk debris scrap metal there I think look like some cinder blocks and so it looks like there's an intent to maybe do a fire pit but then fire pits can only a recreational fire can only be approved wood um which pallets would not be approved wood and um they can be maximum 3 feet by 3 feet so we believe that to be out of compliance as well and so staff are seeking a motion to authorize the abatement of junk debris and other nuisance items at 1490 Hastings Avenue and so we have received a quote from a junk company uh the quote is for 1,460 but the amount may be higher or lower depending on what is there and how many truck FS of uh that they're able to fill on the day of abatement and so the work would include disposing of all junk debris Machinery equipment Furniture Tire tires everything that you saw there that was a a Nuance item and then if the invoice is not paid by the property owner within 30 days the cost of the abatement would be assessed to the property thank you I stand for any questions questions council member SAR is that property owned by a by by a Newport resident it is the the resident is not or the um the property is not owned by a Newport resident uh but it is rented and it's a it's a yeah rental property okay yeah so these citations have gone to the owner both okay MH who's been responding both or neither neither as far as I've been part of the city staff maybe uh administrator hatch can speak to some more history there previously when we had the postponed uh abatement hearing um it did take me going out there and meeting face to face with the tenant um and I had a thorough discussion and let him know that this would be the next step and you know he did make progress at that time unfortunately we saw you know within just uh you know 68 months it returned to the issue I've had numerous conversations with the owner of the property and the owner has been um essentially has told me that that's my job to go and talk to that tenant and get it cleaned up um and you know uh and I've uh let an know that it's actually her job I'm teasing so I I just feel like you know unfortunately you know we've sent numerous citations um we haven't had the responses this is kind of our last step From staff's perspective uh it's certainly very serious um you know we've our our job is always compliance our goal is always compliance and we certainly don't want to be punitive but at this point you know we're we're at the point we've had numerous uh complaints from residents and and folks in the area so thank you other questions I've got one council member SAR when the citation was issued by the deputies was that for a vehicle that was on the street or Vehicles inoperable vehicles on the property itself a multiple vehicles on the property that itself okay yep and was that corrected no it the it was uh so the citation was issued and then there uh it was a a criminal citation it went to court multiple times unfortunately the person did not attend court and there was a warrant issued for that person's arrest for not responding and that was all within the last I'd say 60 days and they haven't come back to Newport they haven't the deputies haven't been able to to find that person the streets you know a misdemeanor or a petty misdemeanor for too many vehicles uh parked on a property would not be a priority for our deputies um um that's not the type of thing where you know now if we interact I you know I believe in conversations with Sergeant Harold and there's an interaction and and something happens they they may detain that person but it it would not be the a priority for for our deputies and to add to that there was a uh another citation issued in August for an inoperable vehicle on the street but then um that has since been that is one of the vehicles that is now in the driveway that looks to be operable okay okay with that I would um entertain a motion for I ask one other one other question prop owner have other properties in new uh that's a good question an I are you aware I'm not aware I'm not sure um I know they own another non-rental property that's a a business um located next to it but I don't know if they have any additional rental properties in the city okay because sometimes or I understand that there may be some Property Owners with multiple properties in rental properties is that true yeah yeah I I agree that does happen in a lot of communities and we we probably have people on multiple problem I just wonder if they had others what would the condition at the other properties but we're we're understanding I think we need to just focus for the moment on this particular property but I I understand where you're going is is do we have a nuisance owner versus a nuisance property but but for today I think we just have to yeah focus on this one so um so with that I would uh entertain a motion to approve the resolution here it is I'll make a motion we accept resolution 202462 resolution approving a bement of nuisances at 1490 hings Avenue Newport men 55055 I'll second have a motion from council member Chapan and a second from council member Ingam and any further discussion um just one thing an you're kind of new to this game um I did it for a number of years in different ways um it can be dangerous I mean are you are you good at knowing what's going on around you and mean you're standing out in the street taking pictures and that can upset people and their response can be any number of things yeah yeah I fully understand that and I'm um you know practiced in how to practice a good safety system um it's part of my uh background in Social Services with practice safety and working with the public and I also have a city vehicle to identify myself as well as a badge and then for um certain Properties or you know times where I feel uh having a little bit more of a safety system in place is necessary I can use law enforcement to escort Perfect all right I just I'm glad to hear that but uh there was times when I was in those positions it's like take the picture as quick as you can and get the heck out of okay with that um all those in favor say I I those opposed and the resolution is approved the next item is to go into close session before we do that um a couple things do do you have anything else that you the only item I wanted to share is uh with the mutual Aid we did receive a letter and an email from the administrator and mayor of Cottage Grove thanking Newport it's addressed to the mayor here I just got it this afternoon but I'll be sharing it with the council tomorrow and they they're truly gracious they had 179 trees that were down blocking streets and as Chief said our fire department and now today our public works department when helped out a neighbor so just they're very thankful and grateful that Newport was able to help out in their time of need I wanted to share that with the council nice to hear um I will move on to Mayor and Council reports uh before we go into Clos session um so that we don't have to sit and have people wait to hear all the exciting news from the mayor and Council um I only have one thing to just update on uh we've got our subcommittee working on the next survey related to our parks and where we want to uh go next with our Park amenities and constructions so more to come on that it's uh hard to get seven people all scheduled on a single day and so we've had a little bit of delays uh trying to get our second meeting uh together but uh that uh project will move forward in the next couple of weeks um with that committee and then following that we'll be ready for the survey phone calls to be made uh council member ingan I have nothing council member chaan nothing to add either council member Taylor nothing to report council member uh suar I attended a community advisory panel meeting at the refinery and I thanked them for the work that they have done supporting us with the Busy Beaver Park and also the dog park I told them of an incident where I had gone and I was just looking at the parks and seeing who was using them and so forth but as you mentioned you got to be careful when you're taking pictures around nuisance properties as a old man I got to be very careful hanging around the city park i i i i Cruis by very quickly but I did observe a young person at the Busy Beaver more than just a kid it was probably a teenager let's say 14 15 on the swings and that person was just swinging as high as you can I I'm sure we can all remember moments as a kid when you were up on a swing and just enjoying the beauty of the day in the fresh air and it was just a beautiful thing to see and it reminded me of taking my grandchildren to the parks and watching them enjoy the park so that was just wonderful to see okay and then I went and trimmed trees with Mike wilinsky and Su lindu we got quite a bit the Public Works came the next day and picked up a lot of a lot of brush that was that was trimmed and then I attended a library event which had schoolie and the Arora which is Minnesota women's soccer team Representatives showed up so those are a couple things that I've done for Newport okay thank you so much so um up next for us then as we will go into our closed session um following that if there's any order of business that comes out of that closed session we will have a formal uh motion for that outside of the closed session but then that will be followed by an adjournment and again whether there's a formal motion or not is is up is up to up to figure out within the closed session um so with that uh pursuant um let's see how do they like me to do this um the next uh agenda item for the this meeting of the city council is to develop or consider offers or counter offers for the sale of real property located at 1846 4th Avenue in Newport this portion of the properly noticed meeting of the Newport City Council will be closed pursuant to Minnesota statute section 13d .05 subdivision 3 C do I have a motion to close this portion of the meeting I'll make that motion I'll second I have a motion from council member chapalain and a second from council member ingan any further discussion all those in favor say I I those opposed um so the council meeting is now in closed session so filming will stop and only those necessary to be in the closed portion of the meeting uh are allowed to stay in the council chambers e