##VIDEO ID:U1nzdWGTMXY## e okay we'll call the city council meeting for Tuesday October 15th the regular meeting to session if you all please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge Al United States ameres America to the Republic for which it stands one nation and Justice uh first order of business is to approve the amended agenda uh councilman Hall will be attending remotely from 24 Main Street yappa Colorado Mr Mayor I make a motion to approve the consent calendar as amended the agenda the agenda agenda excuse me I'll second all those in favor I oppos carried next item is the consent calendar all matters listed are considered routine by Council and be enacted by one motion unless there's a question I will uh look for a motion to approve the consent calendar Mr Mayor I will now make a motion to approve the consent calendar as presented I'll second all those in favor I oppos carried next item is open form this is time for public comment on any items that are not on the agenda um there are um I don't if anyone's here if there's an item on the agenda you wish to address um we'll do give you time to do it when that item comes up so it's at that time and mayor R if I could just remind anyone here um who wishes to speak on the public hearing items number one and two under new business to please sign in the signin sheets that are right outside the door um before we start the public hearing we will um go by that list for those who wish to speak specific to the bond conversation thank you okay so public comment or open for is open is there anyone that wishes to speak to the council we do ask that you try and keep your comments to about five minutes oh we can do this and less than that okay I'm I'm Don manager I live here in niswa down on Pine Haven Road across from Viking label lived here since 1988 and I've watched this city grow and and it's a it's a it's a pleasure to see it grow and all the new businesses and everything but I heard a rumor going around uh matter of fact I read a little bit about it in the paper that we're going to purchase some property and we're going to move some employees from where I'd like to know it's just a question and you know see what's going on in the city I didn't read anything about it anywhere uh could you help me out here certainly um and that will be part of the presentation for the public hearings um so we'll we'll definitely go through all of that information for you in a little bit okay all right all right thank you you're welcome thank you do anyone else see no one we'll close open form uh next item on open form is niswa Garden Club update uh good evening thank you to the npal city council for allowing us to speak at your meeting tonight my name is Mary Williams I'm president of the Nisswa Garden Club along with me is Jane Kimble who is the chairperson for the Nisswa gardeners Jane is in charge of the beautiful plantings that that everyone enjoys so much in this swwa we want to share with you what we are and what we do for the city I want to give you a quick history of the niswa Garden Club we were organized in niswa 1939 by 10 women in 1940 it evolved from 10 interested members to a group of 39 women who were interested in Civic and home beautification projects flower ranging and practical knowledge of flowers fruits and vegetable gardens 40 years later the members decided to encourage men to join their hard work interest and dedication along with their talents provided valuable impetus and inspiration to the club today there are more than 75 men and women who are members of The niswa Garden Club the Nisswa Garden Club supports a variety of activities and scholarships the Nissa Garden Club gardening committee works hard all summer long to beautify niswa by planting and maintaining many Gardens in the areas such as we do the community center Gardens on either side of the community center entrance the Gateway sign at the niswa elementary school the Gazebo and Trail containers as well as the garden beds at the south side of the chamber building the Memory Gardens Now new in 2024 we added eight large self-watering pots at the upper level of the downtown pocket park we also added three Dogwood shrubs the planting committee also filled the Terrace Gardens beds with the sides of the side steps leading down the tunnel including ground level perennials along with in the western North walls in 2024 we also introduced both the chamber and the city a guide to the different plantings we do the niswa gardener committee are all volunteers who do the planning ordering purchasing delivery planting and the fall cleanup volunteer hours for 2024 currently are at an estimated 124 hours with another 6 8 hours to finish cleaning planning time for the 2025 ordering and purchasing estimates about five months Al together to get it all put together our planning committee spends a lot of time in um price comparisons for all the spaces that we plant go ahead okay so right now the um city parks and wreck uh give us $900 and that with that money we plant all around the chamber uh the pots on the trail Community Center and the school uh with the addition of pocket park we were granted uh $5,000 from the pretty good fund with which we purchased some large self-watering pots and did the plantings and the feedback has just been tremendous every time we're there we get so many compliments from business owners and locals I I was amazed at the traffic that comes through that tunnel on bikes or strollers or you know just walking so um the thing is with the volunteer hours if you would um have to pay an employee to do that it would be a considerable amount of money um even if you contact one of the bigger landscape firms um when I left them more than 15 years ago it was 75 an hour so I think the time that we give to the community is is well wor our effort um we have been uh found out that unfortunately the pretty good fund is not going to be able to fund us anymore so we were hoping that you would consider uh some options for us for to continue planting that pocket park and do the maintenance there for you um and one of the biggest hurdles that we had this summer was watering all of our um new plantings as we know at the beginning of the summer it was great we had a lot of rain but once the rain stopped um the irrigation system wasn't always working down at the pocket park so all of these and most of the volunteers are are women an older variety of women well we had to um take jugs of water fill the jugs of water and go um plant so um I'm not sure what's going to be happening with uh with the water system but that's something we like to be thought about is maybe work on the irrigation system but we were just hoping that you would consider helping to fund us to continue the beautification project um I mean it's just amazing all the constant feedbacks we have on positivity from what it was a few years ago before you started to do your cleanup so um that's pretty much what we're we're asking you to think about to continue the projects with us and our volunteers are glad to help and and that would save you hiring a employee or two or even this your summer help would save quite a bit so yeah we enjoy doing it and it's it has beautified great so I thank you very much it does look nice you do an excellent job I was com I was at the chamber today and I was looking at the flowers the the um pollinator portion of it on the south side is beautiful um I think that it's something that we should definitely have staff look at and see what we can do between um uh parks and wck and maybe um Tom with public works yeah we Tom quite a bit yeah I know irrigation systems for some reason this year was hard on them I don't know why I don't know but we'd like to help work with you to try to you know mitigate the situation if you would help us by funding a little of the planting material I don't what through rest the council thinks but I think we a great idea look into it have staff get back to us I believe staff is supportive of that as well okay great thank you very much thank you uh next I uh Pickle Factory annual presentation Terry well good evening here we are again uh 75% of the year is over and uh I'm looking to meet and or exceed uh my budget expectations for the year um go and hit the next one right now we're at 1.2 million for the year uh my budget's at 1.5 and I don't see a problem in the forecast for not reaching that um there's the numbers right there uh next one so what's working for us um well we've had our three biggest days of the year Well three the three biggest days of the year are uh Freedom days Ribfest then the City of Lights this year we set a record on the freedom days far as total sales then we beat that again on the third or the RibFest by quite a bit there's like 2200 pounds of rib sold that day um my my bartenders took care of the VIP tent which was formerly ran by Main Street and uh we made enough money to pay for all the events outside which was a huge success for us you can see on that last one uh the we had quite a few weddings at the community center this year and you can see by how it was decorated for this one you can really do a lot of things there to make it look nice uh we've had quite a few compliments on the kitchen over there that was redone here a couple years ago and um it's really a really a great event over there so here's a couple pictures for the RibFest the way we uh we're always running specials uh the main reason the offsale is up 28 well it averages 28.8% profit in the off sale is uh selected Bourbons uh allocated Bourbons right now I'm uh promoting a bourbon that we put together at the liquor convention through Makers Mark uh we took two hours and we had groups select a select a recipe for that and uh it's probably one of the finest Bourbons I've got at the store right now um for 110 proof it's super super smooth uh we're always running specials we got beer bucket specials we got Seltzer bucket specials we run happy Art specials during the football game for the Vikings which are actually really doing well this year you just jinxed it well I'm sorry but uh I've been eating a lot of crow this month is uh Breast Cancer month and I never thought that MC Ultra would sell on tap uh today's the 15th we've already tapped our third keg uh the profits will from uh through Budweiser will all be distributed locally this year so uh most of the bars in the area have MC alter on tap and a certain percentage of each keg will go to that uh charity nice um this year we set a new record for the city of niswa and The Pickle Factory we're raising the most money in the state of Minnesota through our municipality for our local fire department uh last last year we raised just about 21,000 this year we're at 336 uh second place was Longville we beat them by $3,600 so between Pickle Factory and Longville we raised 60% of the money for the whole state of Minnesota if Brian from Spirits who raised 20 who raised 5700 if he'd went on his own he would have came in third so I don't want him to come in third I want him to promote ours so but they did really really well if you want to show the next one uh there's the advertisement for outside the flames and everything and those uh yellow stickers those were personal donations from people that would come into the bar so we'd promote Spirits was on the left or on the right they just did a fantastic job that whole store was full um absolutely amazing there's a couple checks those are the ones I'll be sending to the country Echo um what's next so how we stay current well I'm also a director with the mmba and there are a lot of trends that uh that are going on in the state with the legalization of marijuana and THC products that's one of the biggest hurdles right now I'm just going to tell you I'm not a cheerleader for this but there are a lot of other municipalities that are making bank on this so it's something that we're we're going to have to put together at least apply for the permit to sell it even if we don't that's going to be up to you guys um there's a lot of there's a lot of city councils that or a lot of municipalities that didn't even go to the city council because you're selling a legal product so it's just one thing that they're looking at us and a couple other stores that are like what are you waiting for it's like well we have a moratorium till the first of the year but I'm correct so it's just something that we're going to have to put our heads together and figure out what we're going to do um probably had the best the best staff ever this summer uh with our college kids coming back um they're hard workers it was hat I hated to see them go in August but uh they're all excited to come back next year so any questions anyone have a question no thank you very much all right appreciate it Harry Nice Work um next item on the agenda reports City administrator thank you mayor Ryan good evening again members of the council welcome everyone here tonight uh for the council's information my report is in your packet uh there are a handful of items that we will be discussing during um new business later on I did want to highlight that um our Parks direct Department uh the commission had um an informational session on October 3rd with the brainer Lakes Area Community Foundation that was well attended and that video is online for anyone who wishes to watch that and learn more about the parks initiatives that are happening uh the police department had their open house tonight look like a great turnout from what I could see um throughout the uh the evening here and then there are two important um meetings coming up on the Public Works committee's agenda um October 30th there's a presentation on City infrastructure planning and a public information meeting on November 27th regarding the 2025 Road Bond so I just wanted to highlight that um a couple of other things uh there is um a document out in the entryway on the table for the public it's a 2025 budget in brief so it provides a high level summary of some of the city's budget information and corresponding Levy impacts um hopefully it's a useful tool and a reference for anyone who's just looking to get a little more familiar with the city's budget process um a couple more things just to highlight um it is the time of year where the league of Minnesota cities does the mayor for the day essay contest so I have shared that with Molly rasy at niswa elementary and if any of the niswa um Elementary fourth graders participate they will let us know and hopefully we can invite one of their students here to a council meeting again which is always fun I believe lastly what I have for the council is something to think about that we will revisit likely in December um it's the time of year where the League does their 2025 City policy review and they will set their legislative priorities for the upcoming year uh city council might want to engage in a conversation about if you have priorities that you'd like the city to focus on for the upcoming legislative session potentially housing might be one of them uh we can discuss that in December more and um and and set some priorities that the council is inclined so just wanted to share that and happy to um talk with any of you further if you have more questions on that or want more information um aside from that I think um I will speak on the downtown Master Plan update next but are there any questions for me on any of the items I just mentioned no I'm good okay great um I did provide in your packet a separate document with an update on the downtown master plan process um the committee had a great couple first meetings and then we met about a week ago uh two weeks ago maybe now and um um felt like we probably jumped ahead a couple steps in the brainstorming you know concept design process so I've had conversations with some of our committee members um some of the business owners and with width and we are working to readjust the approach uh we will be putting out two surveys for the public one for the public residents visitors part-time seasonal all of that and then one specifically for business owners to get some feedback we will share that with the committee and then we will continue to build upon the information we're receiving and then Building Concept Designs more in partnership with the committee members um to help you know have them help us walk through that process uh WTH will launch the interactive project website mid November for the project so we'll have a lot of that historical information and then um the survey information and more as we continue through that process as well and I'm working with Cali from the chamber to set a downtown business listening session um she and I corresponded today and that meeting uh will be Wednesday October 30th at 9:00 am we'll create a flyer we'll get that out disseminated to all the business owners but we'll facilitate a conversation here at City Hall for those who want to be here in person um again we will have a survey specific for business owners if you'd like to just complete the survey that way there'll be a couple of options lastly the question I have for the council is at the end of my memo I mentioned men that there's two approaches we can take with how we finish up the planning process the original timeline reflected completion of the process late winter early spring it's a pretty quiet time of year and there are pros and cons to the timing of that um people are less busy and potentially from a you know local community business owner perspective um might have more availability to provide input because it's a slower time of year however it's also a slower time of year so you might not have as many people in town to actually give comment and feedback on the concept designs um so we can push that out a couple of months to you know more like early summer I don't know that that would impact anything really but would like to gauge your thoughts on if you have a preference or if you'd like the committee to to look at that further what what are what is the business Community think um I can ask that question in October certainly and get their feedback if if the council doesn't have a strong opin opinion either way we'll we'll work with the committee and and we'll uh and we'll adjust as we need to but I thought I'd ask the question in case you felt strongly either way I guess I have a question putting it off a little bit until people are back the snowbirds are back the people because that's one problem that the city's had for a long time for many many many years y as far back as I can remember even in the 80s is people that are gone during the winter come back and it's like well when did we discuss that I think making sure that they can be part of that conversation um getting this information out and to the people that are here you can sign up on our website and you can get notifications every time something new is posted to the website it will shoot a notification out to you that says hey this was just updated and then you can go in there and you can look at that and that's for every portion of every Department within the within the city can do that we still have that option um so you can get notified but I would think waiting until like the late spring early summer to make final determinations if we're at that point by then okay um would be better okay I think council member Hall had a comment as well Joe yes I guess my question is um you know I guess first my first statement is before we go any further with this I would like to see it paused actually and us as a council have a conversation on on what our goals are out of this because I guess what I've come to learn and discover um that even our goals right now aren't the same as when maybe Bethany was involved and had presented what her goals are and so I would like to even back this up a step further hit the pause button and see us as a council have a you know a workshop or something on this what's changed with their goals um nothing has changed um The Proposal the RFP that was originally um presented by Bethany that was how WTH responded to it ultimately they were selected as the consultant and we've been operating with that go you know since that time so um I think part of the last meeting though might have um you know pivoted in a way that was confusing to the committee and so that's I think the point we are taking a you know a step back to make sure that we are oriented with the goals that were established on the front end and then moving forward and ensuring the committee doesn't have questions and they feel um you know engaged the right way and that we're all clear on that so that is a part of the upcoming meeting conversation my question though is how do we know I I I think that there is a misunderstanding between the council and you and the committee I don't I don't I don't know that I'm aligned and you know you saying that there is a pivot it's going in a completely different direction than I was in the understanding that this was going for and if we're going down the road at all where it's already LED I'm completely opposed to this it's not what I voted for I think the council member Hall's point a workshop could definitely be warranted we have a new council member in the past few months that's been on board I was not aware that there was pivots and that there was I mean what the only thing I was aware of is that there was a presentation at the committee meeting that took the entire committee by surprise I believe I mean it wasn't like why how did we get to that point and that's why um the city administrator who actually kind of got this dropped on her lap because our city planner left um had some conversations with those principles involved and there was that's the reset that I think she's referring to but um but even that committee members um to day that sent us all the email that we all got and well and and even with that John I want to say time out we have a new we have a new person in that position for Bethany and I think bringing him up the speed to take the Reigns on this would be the appropriate thing because Bethany was taking the Reigns and once again we're not underneath any timeline as you just said in the spring so in my opinion the appropriate steps would be to get the new staff member up the speed that this really Falls underneath that's fine we Jo we can have a a workshop I have no problem with the workshop at all that's fine me so but one suggestion is we could at the end of our agenda the council will be setting a uh meeting to Canvas the election results you could potentially piggyback uh Workshop onto that evening y um otherwise we can work to schedule a separate date um or have it before the regular November meeting whatever the council would like to choose and certainly can have we can do it on the canvas results that'd be fine just as that works for me I I'm assuming I'll be here I don't know if everyone else you know okay but I would also encourage the committee members to be here too Lee I think at a workshop can do yeah yeah absolutely okay y well anyone I mean the business community at whole so okay thank you okay okay next item uh City attorney good evening everybody I don't have anything to report at this agenda item okay city engineer uh good evening everybody um I guess I've been working on the 2025 Street Improvement projects our survey crew has completed all of the streets except for the ones um in the upper Roy Lake Road area uh they should finish that this week and in the meantime we've been taking the toppo that we have and working on some design they're trying to figure out um just trying to get a preliminary ideas as to what the roadways are going to look like and hopefully have a meeting here in the very near future with staff um the other thing I've been working on is the Don master plan that's it okay new business we are on to public hearing proposed property tax abatements um resolution approving property tax abatements okay so first step is to open public hearing cor yes okay so um I'll need a motion to open a public hearing Mr Mayor I still move second all those in favor I I we are now public hearing is open presentation by staff consultant turn this a little bit so I can speak to everybody um throughout their presentation so good evening everyone thank you again for being here um for those of you who don't know me my name is Jenny Max I'm the city administrator here and we'll be providing an overview of the property tax abatement Bond and the capital Improvement plan bond that we will be discussing tonight as far as process um again I'll provide a project summary and then I will turn it over to Heather casperson and or John berer from pfm financial advisers they're the city's adviser um for any um debt issuance or things like that and um we will complete our presentation the council will open it up for public comments so you'll be able to come up we have a couple names on our list and then if there's anyone else who wishes to speak you can do that the council will then close the public comment period close the public hearing they will deliberate and then decide what action they would like to take on the abatement Bond and then we will do the same thing with our Capital Improvement plan Bond so first I would like to just take a half a step back to ensure that everyone has perspective on kind of the city approach to um what oftentimes takes many years to get to a certain point in time and in 2021 the city adopted a strategic plan and the reason we did that is because we had a comprehensive plan that was the 30,000 foot View Vision of the future of the city of niswa and we had our annual city-wide budget that really identified you know the the daily monthly you know operations of all of our departments and trying to connect those two sometimes can be challenging going from very day-to-day items to very very long-term planning efforts and so with that we created that link which we refer to as our strategic plan we have five categories within that plan our long range infrastructure plan policy and ordinance synchronization plan employee retention and satisfaction plan operations efficiency plan and safety plan the longrange infrastructure plan back in 2021 was probably the highest priority most in need identified by the city and when we talk about infrastructure we're talking about equipment buildings and that public infrastructure that everyone uses roads sewer lift stations all of those types of things and how do we start to create our 10-year Capital Improvement plans so that every Department that has infrastructure um knows what is needed over a 10-year period to maintain and replace on a cycle established um for each of those Department operations it's really important and we came to realize pretty quickly after a couple of years of doing this that it's very expensive it it is very expensive to to operate all of our departments when we truly inventory all of the infrastructure that we have so we started that conversation in 2021 in the spring and in October kind of getting back to that long range infrastructure piece we thought it would be important to start to have conversations with um property owners and developers um specifically in the commercial Corridor is what we refer to really that Highway 371 1377 intersection and there's different you know quadrants if you can think about it that way um within potential development opportun unities and working with our engineer width um we created a projected Street and utilities expansion and this includes um Street New Street potential um new sewer liation additions and um conceptually city water we'll talk more about City water in a few minutes in October we held a couple of public information meetings with mostly focused on the business owners uh Property Owners um along that Highway Corridor but they were public meetings and open to anyone to kind of see what we're talking about and really the Hope was to hear about what those Property Owners potential plans might be so that we can align our efforts with possibly their development needs or initiatives from there the plans and the ideas just kind of sat for a little bit a little while and in mid 2023 so about a year and a half later um a section of property along the corridor Highway Corridor came on the market was 134 Acres and a mix of current at the time Highway business and urban residential zoning um here's the map of that property um it's owned by Stuart Mills I'm sure many of you are familiar um and something that the city wasn't expecting to come on the market but it did and started to um the council started to talk about how does this in what way might potentially align with some of the infrastructure conversations the city is having has been having over the last couple of years and so some of those conversations that we've been having for the last couple of years involve um back to our strategic plan so not only long range infrastructure but we think about operations efficiency and one of the challenges that we're seeing and we've talked about over the last few years is um our Public Safety operations and the fact that they're currently located downtown our police department and our fire departments are seeing increases in call every year and because they're House downtown where we're seeing an increase inre in activity more than just those three busy summer months during the year I mean we're seeing it year round I think we can agree that it's continuing to increase which is wonderful but how does that create does that create challenges with how we operate how we respond to calls provide service and operate those departments um so those that was specifically one question we were talking about and we had been talking about if we needed to build a new facilities for Public Safety Services where could they potentially go also in conversations that we have throughout the year and especially during budget season is what is the likelihood of development occurring along that Highway Corridor in the next 5 10 15 plus years and truly at the end of all of this I think those bottom two questions are really important and key to all of this what is the city's role and What needs can the city anticipate and how Proactive or reactive are we going to be uh with development opportunities so that we have a a stake and a say in how our community is developed so we maintain it in that with that character that we all know and love here's just another map of essentially what is quite an opportunity for potential development in the next handful of years and how much do we want to be involved um actively in that process to ensure that niswa develops the way that our community would like to see it developed um so as I mentioned in mid 23 the property came for sale and of just over a year ago I would say kind of in the fall of 23 the city started to engage the property owner in a v in a variety of number potential scenarios of what types of property might the city be interested in looking at acquiring fast forward six to eight months later lots of conversations and and back and forth um the city entered into a purchase agreement in May um with Stuart Mills uh for 70 a half acres for 2.1 million that is essentially um half of the property available and it's the northern half just just south of Sportland bait um in that section there since that time uh some of the um components of the purchase agreement outlined that the city would need to go through quite an extensive due diligence period so we completed an Alta survey phase one environmental study archaeological study a wetland delineation and all of that information had to come back um satisfactory to the city council in order to move forward to um potentially issuing a bond I believe in early September the council reviewed that information and determined that that was satisfactory based on the information we received and so authorized the um Next Step which would be the bond issuance that is still one of those um caveats within our purchase agreement a successful Bond issuance which are a number of steps um to complete that tonight is one of those nights to have that public hearing with the bond issuance and with respect to the the 70 and a half acres um the city doesn't see a need to retain all 70.5 acres for future city use but we recognize that we're going to need to put in infrastructure and we're going to need to work with that property in order to set things up um to be as successful as possible we've determined that a approximately 50% of that acquisition will be needed and retained by the city so about 35 Acres of that so with this potential Bond issuance we would separate that 50% as a taxable Bond and 50% as a tax exempt Bond the tax exempt Bond offers a lower interest rate because it's property that the city is going to retain for our future use for our facilities infrastructure Etc and then the taxable Bond would be for potential land that the city would look to resell sell um in some point in the future and um be able to um not keep as we don't need all of that property so the idea is that if we complete the acquisition of the property we would then move forward to planning out the infrastructure um roads and Sewer specifically at this time and then that property would be um available for sale um with that property along 371 and I'll show you a map here in second and the goal is ultimately to recoup some hopefully most of the costs of the land and the infrastructure that we put in by selling that property um that isn't needed for our use and that is um highly desirable Highway Frontage so in concept um this is what we're working on to determine what that percentage split is for City and non- City future use and as you can see Highway 371 is at the bottom of that picture there um that land just above that is is the largest section of future development that we would look to sell and recoup some of the investment that we're making in that um I will speak to some of the components from the city side of things I've mentioned um Public Safety needs um ideally putting uh potentially putting a public safety building in this area would allow for very efficient response to calls to the Comm throughout the community um because of the access easily any direction in our city um right being right on the highway like that um we do have a placeholder for um what says City admin it's a future city hall that's long long term in the future but it's nice to have some land and opportunity if and when a future city council might need to have that conversation that City Hall is not best suited here anymore because of community growth or other things we would have some potential options there and then with respect to City Water um the council has had conversations at a high level to say how do we best set the city up for future success if and when that would be a conversation that the community wants to have as I mentioned a couple slides ago there is a lot of development that could be uh there's a lot of property that could be developed over the next five to you know 20 plus years and wood City water in that commercial area specifically um help support that and also help address environmental concerns and other things when we're not constantly adding new wells um in the area if we had a system that made sense that was planned out um does that make sense um so that is the idea is to have that for the future city councils to use if and when uh we don't have any specific plans or timeline for that there is a lot that goes into excuse me really any of these components and I know that we've had conversations during our budget meetings and things that the council would really like to see applying for grant opportunities State bonding potentially federal dollars what Avenues are there to generate Revenue to accomplish some of these bigger tasks um and that would that'll that'll take quite some time but once that land is sold and developed we don't have that opportunity anymore um another reason that City water is a good candidate for a location here is because of the elevation you can't just put a water tower anywhere it has to be in the right spot to facilitate how water treatment systems work that's about the extent of my knowledge on that I just know that you have to consider um location and it can't just be placed on any vacant property there's a lot of information um about infrastructure that we are working on putting together um a full presentation about roads sewer water that will happen at our Public Works committee meeting on October 30th I hope you can come it will also be live streamed so you can watch it um but we'll provide a lot more information for you if you're interested in knowing more about that that is the end of my presentation um just a reminder to the council so following public comment and your deliberation um the question is um if the council wants to approve a resolution approving property tax abatements in any amount not to exceed 2.3 million the purchase price is 2.1 million um but we do have Bond issuance costs we've had out-of pocket costs for all that due diligence work that was completed so we would look to recoup our out-of-pocket cost as part of this Bond issuance and with that I will turn it over to Heather um or or John um who has just a couple slides on really the technical components of the bond um just to make sure everyone's aware of the statute Authority and some of those variables um and then you can open it up to public comments okay thank you can I just say one thing yes um I just want to let everybody know out there I know I've heard people say that why weren't we looking at other land why did we just jump on this um we had been looking at other pieces of property um and then when we uh talked with Public Safety um they noted that certain Parcels wouldn't work um so then when this property came up for sale we conferred with them again and they said that would be an excellent spot to have it so that's when we got into negotiations thank you Mark um Heather or John you can take it away and I will work the slides for you if that works great thank you Jenny and U thank you for having us here tonight um I just have a couple of slides as Jenny said I'm going to focus on a little bit more of the technical aspects of the bond issue um I believe she had introduced us earlier but my name is Heather casperson my colleague John Burmeister we are with pfm financial advisers as the municipal adviser to the city and going through this process and potentially selling bonds so what is proposed and what this public hearing is about are what's called General obligation abatement bonds and I wanted to provide the authorization um so the city is authorized by Minnesota statutes the chapter 4691 1812 through chapter 4691 1815 and that provides the authority to issue abatement bonds for various purposes which includes the acquisition of land as Jenny already mentioned and as the public hearing has already been opened a public hearing is a requirement for selling bonds under this Authority there's also a maximum term limit for the amortization of these bonds so if the city council approves to move forward the maximum term would be 15 years that these bonds could be they could be shorter as well but that is the the longest the could be and then there's also a restriction so in the abatement statute there is a requirement that for your annual Debt Service so your annual payments of principle and interest of all the abatement bonds which are outstanding and I will just mention that there are no more abatement bonds outstanding for any folks have been around since um 2013 in the city there was an abatement a similar abatement Bond utilized to do some improvements to the community center um so those payments are now uh the last payment was made earlier this year so if the city moves forward these will be the only abatement bonds that will be uh have Debt Service restricted to either 10% of the city's net tax capacity or $200,000 whichever is greater so on the next slide you'll have seen in the notice for the public hearing tonight that there are some parcels identified which will also be included in the resolution and that is part of the process for abatement bonds those uh Parcels of property the total amount of their real estate taxes will equal the amount of the maximum annual principal amount that's being paid over the life of these bonds now that does not mean that there is anything specifically occurring with those Property Owners um it is just that they have been identified to come up to the dollar amount needed for this authorization so these abatement bonds as I've already mentioned can be issued as General Obligations of the city which means the city's full faith and credit will be pledged also called a adum tax pledge um and if we move to the last slide then so when the the city issues General obligation bonds which these would be General obligation abatement bonds the the levy uh the resolution would include a levy which would have the Ador property tax be repaid on all taxable property within the the city not just those Parcels identified thank you heather appreciate that information um so now I will um refer the council to um those who have signed up to start for the public hearing and then we'll go from there correct first on our list is Bob fear signed up okay okay no comment forab not a problem uh next we have um Kent wiling good evening um so it sounds like you have purchase order already signed for this property um I think this would have been something that the voters in this community should have had a say in um I'm not sure if we can uh go out and get uh try and get a reverse referendum on this you know to have the voters have a say I think if we get what 10% of the last uh election if we can get 10% um sign a petition I think we can bring this to a reverse rest run is that possible I'm going to defer to Heather or J I just I know some Bond authorities allow that some don't so if you happen to know that' be great yeah the the abatement bonds the public hearing that's being conducted right now is not subject to reverse referendum um I will say that following this public hearing there is going to be a public hearing on Capital Improvement plan bonds those bonds are subject to what you're describing as the reverse referendum there's a 30-day period for which if I believe it is only 5% of the voters in the last general election if a petition is put forward with that amount of signatures for a the next public hearing the capital Improvement plan Bond then that one would be subject to reverse referendum okay um is there you know what your interest rate is going to be on any of this money joner Heather do you happen to know off hand uh I haven't looked at it lately but I would say it's probably less than uh like 350 is 3.5% hether does that sound sound accurate with what you've seen so I'd say around three and a half percent yeah and and that's he's providing a a combined uh for both so as Jenny mentioned since the city is considering with this land acquisition not retaining all of that land we uh on one of her slides it talked about that there'll be a taxable series of bonds and a tax exempt series of bonds so the taxable series of bonds are a little bit more expensive than the tax exempt but we're looking at this together so the rate was for together just wanted to clarify thank you I really don't have a whole lot of other questions just the fact that um you'll find nobody that's a huger supporter of law enforcement Fire EMS I was in 42 years in law enforcement myself um I will question a little bit on the location um just with my experience and um you know that purchasing the land is is one thing putting up a public safety building um I'm not sure if you got estimates on that but I don't know that you'll touch it for 10 million um maybe even higher um if you're talking about a water plant um I've heard you know and you you go by what rumors are or whatever you're talking to do that $40 million you won't touch it for 40 million either um I think before anything is done with a water plant I think that needs to go to the citizens and see how many actually want this if this is just for new development um that's fine but don't put it on my taxes um and try and push it out if it's something that I really don't want um because I have heard some people say that they they don't want you know the city to have a water plant um and with that it's going to mean more employees you're going to have to have somebody certified to run that water plant if you're going to chlorinate the water um so that's more employees that are going to have to be trained um like I said I I sounds like this is pretty much a done deal um I just hope that uh whatever you guys do you bring it back to the people that put you in uh those seats because if you don't you might not be in those seats much longer um because you know the people that are paying the taxes um I think you know we do elect you to do a job but when you're talking this kind of money and ra in the property taxes you know the right now you're not to exceed is what 16.11 that's that's pretty high um you know and uh like I said I I worked with budgets for for 30 years um the last 15 years I was told to keep a 0% uh no increase which I did um and I I was here a couple years ago last year and year before asking the same questions keep it at a 0% if you can I understand you can't do anything about wages um you know on uh Union contracts that's that out of your hands but things like this that's things that you guys all can control and um I think sometimes you just have to listen to your your citizens um and ask what they want also thank you uh mayor ran we don't have any other signed up you could offer one more opportunity if there's comment is there anyone else that wants to to come up at this time okay oh please please do you could state your name and address please yeah my name is Gregory Cameron I live at 4513 lowland Lane in nisah um my family's own property in the city since 1968 um the uh uh typically when people hear water tower water treatment plants the first thing that comes to my mind I am a building contractor it's first thing that comes to my mind is City size lots and uh if I'm not mist taken the uh uh the current currently to have a septic system on a well on a on a lot I believe it a minimum one and a half acres is that is that correct Jenny I don't know of hand oh sorry sorry but uh uh I I I have seen developments that do have well in in in septic I've never seen one smaller than than one and a half acres and I think uh uh the the with having a a water tower uh or a water treatment plant or the only way that that uh really makes sense is to have uh city-sized lots and I I don't believe that that would totally change the character of the city from a small town to a a uh either a a small city or a bedroom community for brainer bter and uh as previous speaker mentioned that's just not that's something that I think if you put it to a vote of the citizens I I think a vast majority would be opposed to having a water treatment plan that's all I've got to say thank you for allow me to speak thank you yes sure on up my name's Bruce imholt I'm at 25 648 Wooddale Road my wife and I just moved to uh nisah from Detroit Lakes we picked NIS particularly because we like the community here we think it's a dynamic community and we were happy to move here I guess I would probably comment on the water plant we were disappointed to hear that we could not have City water when we were here we're happy to have city sewer but since we were in town we didn't have City Water we the lot we lived on in Detroit Lakes was an acre lot when we bought that in 1982 we didn't have city sewer or water we were able to get that and we were very pleased to be able to have city sewer I just think it's a lot easier the other thing I would tell you about your building where you're building in Detroit Lakes we built a new police department uh we went to for sales tax we expected it to be 8 to n years to pay that off it's paid off in four years so I would encourage you if you're looking to build some of these you can get if you can get the authority from the state it does have to go to a vote of the people but the sales tax to me was a fantastic way to build a facility because Detroit Lakes is like Nall we get a lot of people in the community that are seasonal that are tourists and you're providing service to those folks and to be able to have the sales tax rather than the property tax to pay for it I think is a great way to go so I commend you by the way for looking ahead um I was on the city council for 20 years in Lakes this is exactly the type of thing that I commend the council and staff for looking at thank you in case people don't know there is a moratorium in the state on local sales tax right now hopefully it comes off this year because that's one one of the things we were contemplating doing um there's not anyone else we'll close public comment and G have a motion to close public comment please can I get a motion yes close public hearing I say we move a second all those in favor I did we lose Jo nope he's I believe he's still here so okay I know yes so so now the council can discuss and certainly if you have questions um and ultimately um proceed with a motion okay either way Joe yeah I'm here yeah did you wanna did you wantan to uh we're at our Council discussion phase did you want to go first the your yeah I don't on on this motion I don't have really any discussion right now okay Jesse it's tough to look Ahad ahead and be able to plan out the future but I think we all in this room see the demographics of this city changing many of us born and raised in this community it's a difficult decision to be able to plan ahead whether it's 5 years or 30 years those are going to be many council members that are going to be here after us whether any of us are reelected or we are not we want to try to set up the future for this city to be able to succeed and ultimately we believe that this is a path forward to be able to get the infrastructure to properly accommodate what the community's needs are response times and speaking with many on the fire and the police but specifically the fire you have major events that are in this downtown community that are very bustling it's difficult not just on those specific weekend events but for us to be able to plan ahead and have a response times in the event that there's incidents or major accidents that can be potentially uh death on Highway 371 Corridor just on the previous meeting we had this is going to open up a better opportunity City water larger projects like that those are larger projects that are still up for large discussions before we make any sort of movement on that but this was the best opportunity that the city was presented and with that um I think we spent a lot of time de uh deliberating what's the best step and what's the right move forward so that's all I got Mr Mayor okay Bruce f mark okay I have to agree with what um Jesse said um City water is I it's just if and when it ever happens that's that's where we need to put it it's there um if it ever has to happen um it's not definitely not something that I'm you know that we haven't had a down I mean I mean it's beyond 30,000 foot view at this point um it's it's it's high up there but I just there's been comments just so everyone's aware um from 2007 18 19 myself and a previous council member had meetings with various contractors developers land owners in the city and that was one of the things that they said to us um with some of the development that they're thinking they may want to do at some point in time um it's going to require fire suppression systems inside um to do that on an underground storage tank possible but um they have said it's it's just not it's not economically feasible as much so as so of having City water but not that to do that's not the reason to build it okay but so listening to those kinds of comments and what and what and was one of the things that well led us from the city council from 200 16 17 on if it ever happened where would it go that's the spot it needs to go um and since the land's available and we're looking at the fire sa fire uh or Public Safety buildings again to Jesse's Point thinking down the road 20 30 years where is it at I don't know what the future councils or the future people of the community want but at least you got what you need if you need it so that and it is expensive I understand um but like so many other parts of the infrastructure and I know it'll happen at the infrastructure meeting with the commun with the public works committee you'll find that there's been a lot of in in discussing this with people downtown business owners land owners there's a lot of infrastructure that the city over the years probably they should have put in that they didn't put in so um you got to think that down the road and it's hard and I understand that so but definitely something that the community has to have a say in before you even approach the idea of of putting up a water tower but that's not even on my Horizon so I I don't see it um happening you know at any time in the near future personally so but um that's my that's my two cents anyway so um so the next item on it is to call for a council motion um so where am I at here we are so what do we what's our pleasure gentlemen I'll this a typical motion or is this a roll call it it'll be a roll call motion but it'll be a roll call but it's um a motion if the council's inclined um basically you can just read off item number one um a resolution approving property tax abatements if that's the direction you'd like to go so we need a motion in a second and then we'll do a roll call vote Mr Mayor I make a motion to approve property tax abatements as presented second any further discussion then we'll do a roll call Vote Yes all those in favor oh no so you need to oh ask each councilman excuse me councilman fry hi councilman London hi councilman Jesse sorry Z hi councilman Hall Joe did we lose him can you hear me there we go now we got you can you hear me y we have the motion in a second um oh we just lost him okay well technology y great now I'm looking at Tom procedurally do we just proceed with mayor's vote and or should we give just give him a minute okay okay great anybody here know how to operate a telegraph I don't I know Morse code I can send that just is he available Kiki or yeah probably a text yeah so can you hear us drill Murphy's Law kind of can we hear you now he you can you hear me can you hear me no I can't yeah oh can you hear me yep we can ask if what his vote is what is your vote Joe yeah yes okay okay thank you great thank you all right and I am also a yes is he trying to say so motion carries okay so motion carried all right next item on the agenda is public hearing for Capital Improvement oop excuse me Capital Improvement plan Bond so I will make a if somebody could make a motion to we need to open a public hearing on that one as well Mr May I'll make a motion to open the public hearing on the capital Improvement plan bonds as presented second it all those in favor I I okay again presentation by staff and consultant okay um thank you we we'll get to the second one oh I got let me to scroll through quick I have a few less slides for this project okay uh so now we will be discussing the 2024 Capital Improvement plan Bond again I will provide a project summary and then um Heather from pfm will provide some of that technical overview information for the public uh so this bond is specifically relating to imp improvements that are needed here at City Hall City Hall was built in 2005 um so that is almost 20 years old now and as part of that strategic plan that I mentioned earlier um staff has been working to complete assessments across all of our city buildings to determine um you know remaining useful life for much of the components um that you would need to maintain a building so back again in 2021 another thing that we did was we had with Seth complete a city hall facility report and part of that report included identifying any deficiencies um that existed in our facility at City Hall so they looked at the exterior envelope of the building in the property interior conditions we looked at building code and accessibility uh we did a site review and assessed mechanical and elect electrical systems along with Access Control kind of cameras um you know electronic control um improvements that might be needed um we left that kind of sit and staff gave it some time um meaning kind of another year and a half or two years to to think about that so did the council and in 2023 the subject was uh reinitiated and the council discussed some ideas on what types of improvements would make the most sense for Hall and we talked about a lot of different options we talked about accessibility and security we talked about exterior needs interior needs we even talked about potentially expanding the building for different uses that we were experiencing or wanting to brainstorm so we really I think you know kind of covered the Spectrum on um let's throw all those ideas out there and then see where we landed um at the time we really didn't land on anything specific and and nothing really felt like that was the right answer and so we let that sit again for another winter season and in Spring of 2024 um the staff re-engaged that conversation um mostly with from the perspective of the exterior building issues the primary one being we have a leaky roof we've had it pretty much since the building was constructed it's been an ongoing challenge um and pretty much have troubleshooted any which way we can to repair it um we need to come up with a new new solution in order to um eliminate the problem the city um applied for with the council's approval and received a $50,000 Grant from sourcewell to help with those these building improvements um which is wonderful and the council then directed staff to review and assess all of those initial ideas and thoughts that we had a couple for the last couple of years to come up with the final list of recommendations and so staff brought these recommendations forward to the council um essentially saying that the exterior issues are the highest priority um keep the internal flow of the building as it is for now um if it's in repair fix it correctly so if for some reason let's say something doesn't meet current accessibility standards now that maybe weren't in place 20 years ago like we need to address that and make sure that it's um meeting all of those standards um if it's part of something that needs to be repaired and then also look at access control and cameras the council um approved those recommendations and also established a building committee we are utilizing the gordian contract through sourcewell in partnership with width and that allows us to um directly contract with um a contractor um that has already preset determined pricing it's met the state bid contract requirements and provide some efficiency within that overall project um Council also directed that we work with width to develop recommendations for the contractor that um is to be selected and the timeline which is included in our packet for later on under new business um for Council to approve that the scope of the project here is identified and an estimate with an estimated cost of about $500,000 um essentially most of these items are related to exterior components of the building replacing damaged concrete tuck pointing exterior Mason um addressing the roof issues items three and four replacing exterior windows um we have windows that are inoperable now um they're letting in um the elements from from the outside into the building and so we we want to make sure that we're addressing that um repairing any interior finishes um again as long as if it's tied to a correction with an exterior component we want to make sure that's a fully kind of completed thought and make sure that that all ties together well um and also o uh correct a couple of exhaust fan thermostat issues and ventilation issues we have in the building um primarily very focused on the exterior um Integrity of the building to keep it functioning and and working for the city here for hopefully many years um so with that um I will turn it over to Heather in a moment but following that um will be then the council's opportunity to uh approve the resolution to give preliminary approval to issuance of General obligation Capital Improvement plan Bonds in an amount not to exceed 550,000 and adopting the city of NWA Capital Improvement plan that's been included in your packet for the years 2024 through 2028 uh just to address the 550,000 it's the estimate cost of 500,000 for the repairs and then again the bond issuance cost and some of the consultant fees um working with width architectural that kind of thing that um we would are outof pocket cost as part of that not to exceed the 550 and with that I will turn it over to Heather thank you Jenny um mayor and members of the city council so I'm going to have the same overview of this General obligation what's called Capital Improvement plan bonds also known as CIP bonds so the city is authorized to issue Capital Improvement plan bonds through the city Stat or Minnesota statutes chapter 475 spot 521 and that allows for various purposes which includes improvements to its City Hall um similar to the abatement bonds a public hearing is also required in advance of selling any bonds under this Bond Authority and as Jenny mentioned um the city must create and adopt a capital Improvement plan which covers at least a five-year period so similar to the abatement bonds General obligation Capital Improvement plan bonds also have a cap as written in statute the maximum amount of all outstanding CIP Bonds in any year that is the principal and interest payments they should not exceed Point 0.16% again of the estimated market value of the property within the city so from the County Auditors Office we've received uh an amount for your estimated market value is currently at the 1 Bill 228,000 182 400 sorry it's a very long um number to to speak in words so the .6% which is the amount which your debt service cannot exceed in any year is roughly $1.9 million the projected Debt Service on these proposed Capital Improvement pen bonds are estimated to be about 245,000 and you have some similar CIP bonds outstanding but together those will still be very much under the limitation that's allowed by Minnesota statutes and then these bonds also have the ability as general obligation bonds to Levy by resolution a general ADV alarm tax which is going to be on all taxable property within the city to repay any bonds issued of this type thank you heather I will include the council action on the screen but then we can open it up to public comment so we will open it up to public comment at this time you have a I do I have um one name um kening I think I saw him walk out oh okay no that is all on the list if you'd like to call for any anyone else that wanted to that didn't get a chance to get on the list that would like to appr or address we are currently open for public comment on our um General obligation Bond if there's anyone that wishes to address this at this point they certainly okay none we can close public comments um you get a motion to then close public hearing so moved second it all those in favor iOS Carri Council discussion Jesse I have none go I have none can you hear me yeah yes yes all right okay sorry about that earlier it just fluked out at the bad time okay technology man um okay I have nothing at this time myself so I would entertain a roll call vote first we need a motion to approve the resolution um so you can read from the agenda that's helpful Mr Mayor I'll make a motion to approve the resolution giving preliminary approval to the issuance of the general obligation Capital Improvement planned bonds and an amount not to exceed $550,000 adopting the city of nisah Minnesota Capital Improvement plan for the years 2024 through 2028 now second all those in favor hi it's all right it's all right got to go in favor we're going to do a roll call vote councilman Frey hi councilman London hi councilman Z hi councilman Hall hi and my Sal I unanimous carries thank you thank you John and Heather appreciate you being here tonight thank you thank you um next item on our agenda is cannabis the ordinance draft this is Council information thank you mayor R this is Council information however we have a few things to uh get some Council feedback and certainly feedback from the public as well as these are um um clearly drafts and wanting to staff wants to get some Council feedback and input before we work to finalize the drafts that we will present to the Planning Commission for public Hearing in November um and so I will highlight a few sections specifically that I am looking for did I make something okay okay um Council feedback on um first let me just note that there are two ordinance drafts one is specific to cannabis and one is specific for THC uh we will probably seek feedback from our city attorney on if it makes sense to combine them kind of section one section two or if we should leave them separate for now they're separate um but they're the model ordinances that came from the office of cannabis management working to modify them to meet the city of nissis needs um I want to highlight for the council um section three page s um outlines the on the Cannabis ordinance outlines the minimum buffer requirements so there are some buffer requirements for um where we would prohibit the operation of businesses from a school from a daycare Residential Treatment Facility uh public park and um another cannabis retail business uh certainly those buffer requirements are up for Council discussion if you'd like those changed at all um any feedback on that would be helpful mayor R would you like me to pause after each one or would you like me to go through I just have a list of about a half a dozen things that's up to I just had a question on the buffering you know we have a th feet from a school but only 500 feet from a daycare why the difference that was in the model ordinance I just left that as is I think that's can certainly be adjusted if you would like I would like to see it a thousand feet from a a daycare i' I'd like to see it a thousand feet from work kids would be anywhere might be statuto yeah I think the school is statutory said but I would like to see it thousand feet from a daycare that's my opinion so long you know how I stand on this anyway so yeah so as long as we're not restricted by statutory you would like to see the increase in right buffer okay but and I know some municipalities their ordinance went in and the state had issue with some of the things so I just want to see see if that will fly okay I guess on distances then maybe we should find out what we can do right I mean I I don't disagree with what you're saying at all but at the same time based on how our business district like Highway business district that's currently set up I could see where that might end up being conflicting where we might be I don't know so maybe we should find out what we can do with dist or are we like saying are we stuck with sure anyone looks like yeah so the office of cannabis management has a couple ranges for certain items for the Cannabis business offer we can be within zero to a th000 feet of a school um 0 to 500 feet from a daycare 0 to 500 feet from a residential treatment facility 0 to 500 feet from an attraction within a public park that is regularly used by miners including a playground or athletic field and then we also have the option to prohibit um and Implement a buffer between another cannabis business if we have one already for example like a th000 feet as we're recommending so statutorily this is all we can do from the office management office of Canabis management yes that their recommendation or is that actually statutory I believe it is statutory it sounds like it is I'm guessing if it was in the model ordinance that's probably the maximum we can allow not like everything else with this we won't find out until January anyone have any other questions on this item for the city administrator maybe I just have one question maybe uh with these distances could we look at some sort of overlay of mapping so we can see what really that thousand feet in covers I think that's possible yeah we can probably work with I think maybe WTH on some GIS buffering tools if we can get some addresses for things like daycares that are registered um with the Minnesota Department of Health and then come up with a a rough map yeah because I'd like to see it also the maximum distance from all those things I agree yeah we can get that back and be great in fact if we can get it sooner I believe this is the maximum so I think we'll we'll work with this unless we find otherwise we'll bring that back to the council um but then having that map we can at least have information about where some of those types of operations are great uh the next section just below that um reflects zoning and land use for C cannabis businesses specifically uh We've identified Highway business um as the zoning that would um allow through a conditional use permit process um to operate in that zone any feedback or adjustments are welcome I agree with that okay uh the next section section three page eight hours of operation uh just provided some framework I have to keep track of what page I am on 3.3 AR hours of operation yes aren't most of the hours of operation set by the state didn't they have their guidelines set there there are guidelines I left that in the packet in italics right um I think you can be more restrictive if you would like from my understanding so I proposed something not quite as extensive to selling till 2 am um ending that at essentially 10 p.m. every day um is the proposed but certainly Council feedback if you'd like that to better match the state or something different this is coinciding with Spirits for example these hours would say um not specific to THC so we'll get to THC this is full cannabis licens so those those products right wouldn't be are the hours similar to that of spirits um yes yeah except Sunday Sunday is 10 Sunday is 10: a.m. to 6 pm. yeah that's good 11 to 6 11 to 6 okay after church uhhuh um I would be more in line to try to align I would be more in favor in trying to get these hours aligned with what we have for our Municipal liquor operations um I don't I'm not even going to be able to provide more of a context to that just more than personal preference especially looking at these hours that could go into 1 a.m. 2 a.m. that is lucous the same recommendation is 10 p.m. correct but on Sunday I think Sunday you can limit that more yes okay Sunday 11:00 am. to 6 PM proposed on Sunday is my recommendation I would one one thing with that though one thing with the time one thing with the time though I would also align it you know let's say it was able to be in the downtown area um with our setbacks I would more in line it with current downtown business hours also if it was you know so maybe different hours of operation within different business districts of the city I guess I'd be in favor of looking at something like that the current the current draft doesn't allow it in downtown at all it's only Highway business okay for full cannabis for the Cannabis not for THC correct correct and yes our THC draft does reflect um being able to sell um consistent with the business's normal hours of operation I figured that would be fair and reasonable right so hopefully that helps yes okay excuse me uh the next item is yes oh I'm sorry go ahead no go ahead there's certain hours of operation certain times to by state that like I believe it's Christmas Eve you got to close at a certain time they would be restricted to those two then we restrict mean if the pickle Factory for example we can't the bar has to close by 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve then would the same be true we could could we make the same thing through on those days that they're Limited in operation I think that would be implied that you have to follow state law for things like that looking at with that but is are they saying that that's what it is I I I couldn't find it in there I just don't know off hand if our liquor ordinance states that specifically but we can I guess we can just also add it or as required by law can we find that out and see if we make sure we can be sensible yeah well it makes sense I can't serve a beer after a certain time then why would I want people buying marijuana me it's still the same thing sure okay agreed great okay um then the next section I have for you um section four page nine temporary cannabis events uh we would like to add um setback requirements consistent with the ordinance um so that if there are temporary cannabis events that they would be restricted similar to the restrictions that are in place with the schools daycares Etc so we would specify that in here so we will add that component and um I also we also noted in here that temporary cannabis events shall only be held on private property with like Council feedback um consideration for um sometimes there are I think temporary cannabis events um renting out either a city facility the park um using a street for some kind of event uh this is noted at this point that it would only be allowed on private property with the consent if the property owner Council can choose to adjust that annabis event I don't really know Mark so I'm not sure but um I've seen some yes I'm just saying I don't want cannabis events I guess I I have one thought on that as I was reading through this too also just like with any other temporary events in the city we can require I would think uh temporary use permits you know pedaling license you know something along that along with a fee Associated to that event and could we not make the fee five grand 10 grand for the ler for the temporary event is that doable uh typically the fee needs to be kind of relative to the type of event so you can't just place an exorbitant fee that's not you know consistent with a temporary liquor license or something similar to that so but yes we could certainly add that to um our city permits and the council could decide if you wanted to allow it or not depending on the circumstance U we could add that to any one of our existing forms yes if you wanted to potentially yeah I F aside I definitely think that we want that additional paperwork done if something like this is going to happen I think the question is does the council want to leave this as it's on private property only or would you like that option that would just be reviewed by the council if someone were to apply I would like it reviewed by the counil you're going to have to allow them having them at private property period is fine but can we put limitations like the distances again I don't want you don't want private property could be right next to the school right next to we will add the setbacks yes we will add the setbacks but but even if it's on private property our ordinance still dictate a lot of these fees and special licenses to even run a event on private property yeah Mr City attorney do we run the risk of potential discrimination Pursuits for discriminating cannabis versus what we're already approving for liquor uses on any permit basis within the city are you talking about in regards to specifically higher is that what you're asking J well that for example being one but additionally if we're going to give a certain treatment to a liquor an event that has a liquor license or a temporary one posted for it do we run the risk on the same thing with cannabis if we're we being somewhat discriminatory towards them yeah are we being so is there any is there any risk well we have to see what the read of the final what the final draft looks like but if you're for instance if you're talking about tying higher fees to these sorts of events than you would for a liquor event then that's a problem yeah problem those fees really have to be tied to the administrative costs um of administering the permit is there anything else above and beyond just those fees that we need to be fair and Equitable across the board you know I think you're in Uncharted Territory I don't know what um municipalities are going to try to do with these things along that line I expect that it's like with any new set of laws and administration of those laws will come lawsuits over things like that right it's untested in different cities that'll then be implemented here right guess I just don't recommend doing something that would appear to be punitive yeah well we got to make sure that it's enforceable I mean right I mean like our old policy where you couldn't Park [Music] unless okay um just a couple more there's a few references in the Cannabis ordinance referencing um low potency Edibles we will move those to the th C draft just to clarify that portion of it and then with respect to the THC draft um just a note for the council section A which is Page four item number two the setback here is located uh is identified to a business located within 300 feet of any public or private elementary middle or high school that's the same as our liquor ordinance so that was trying to be consistent with with that potential is to say let's make that setback the same um so certainly feedback if you have it but that was the rationale for that one um we will add as mentioned that THC sales are restricted to the same hours as the business's normal hours of operation um and we would add to the language that the THC license from the city would require a license from the office of cannabis management first so they could get obtain that license and then come to the for uh approval for the THC license and there's one license permitted per town of population 12,500 and under for cannabis cannabis not for THC THC is open to anybody gota correct yes it's the Cannabis I mean basically it's the same thing but so if you want to if you want to sell your flour and smoke it got to have your permit and that's for every 12,500 people THC gummies that kind of stuff infusions no but we're actually we have to allow if a business wants to come in or and meet all of our requir and everything and they want to produce basically grow it we have to allow one of them we have to designate where we will allow it and we also have to allow Le One retail retail business yes and we don't have a choice in that the state no dictated that well the hope is that the county will get all their permits out and there won't be any left forness well okay I'm just saying I know also with respect to zoning uh we have identified Highway business and Central Business districts for THC that's certainly if you have feedback on that and we have that set up to be in locked cabinets I can't yes for for Edibles they are required by state law to locked cabinet behind the counter type of a thing yes yes um and I think the age what is it 21 21 and okay that'll be interesting um thank you Stephen for helping me with that I don't know if Council has more questions you might have questions uh from the public if they have comments on the ordinance we'll have some resoning requests come through I'm sure in the next couple years won't we see if uh maybe is there anyone in the public in the audience that wants to address this well can I just add some things sure yeah so I mean the whole thing about you're getting a whole new type of person that buys this people that don't drink you've got a whole they still want to be part of the party okay so you've been I'm sure a lot of people have been stoned before whatever there's going to be less people killed drinking this than drinking alcohol you know what I'm saying alcohol is still the most dangerous drug out there by far so all this is all we're doing or trying to do is just make the city more money that's all we're doing by applying for this like there's some cities that are um like holding Ford for example they charge their Municipal $10,000 for a THC license to have that to sell that product in their off sale now the reason the city did that was to a prove a point that the city's going to make a lot of money selling this product but it also defers other people let's say schafers or somewhere else for applying for that license because it's going to you know that's 10 grand is a lot of money so and we're have to do our due diligence too as a city to figure out what that price is going to be so that's that's the whole thing with this THC deal so but the the dispensary you're right 12,500 people braer is probably going to get it who knows I don't know so that's what that's what I know about it so so this isn't discussing this is discussion I appreciate Council feedback um maybe just want to make take one more opportunity make sure there's no other public feedback for the Public's awareness we will update the drafts and they will be presented to the Planning Commission since a lot of this impacts our chapter 20 land use ordinance um Stephen will update the land use charts to incorporate these new uses that will be when is your commission meeting date REM November 6th November 6 thank you that will occur on November 6 and then if the Planning Commission approves um the drafts or even if they modify them in some way then that will come to the city council in November for final adoption effective january1 25 so there's more time for the public to review this um any other feedback that comes your way feel free to share it with staff and we will work to update that have you know we've discussed this at a council level multiple times about do you know what do we want to sell do we want to there's the moratorium um at the liquor store do we want to sell and fused things what are we going to do when do we want to have that final determination is that in November well sorry go ahead didn't didn't didn't Brian already come up and we we discussed that that if he wanted to go for the permit to go for it um yes the council noted to our liquor managers that if they would like to apply for the permit they should bring that application to the city council to approve and then um at least then they have the permit right but the question still comes to the council I think do you want to allow that to be sold in our liquor stores and I think that's a great conversation to have in November with the ordinance I encourage council members ask the liquor store managers to call them and what get their input yeah I want their input get their input your ID if you got concerns or questions let them know what they are they're they're looking into this stuff from other stores all around the state let's get their input that's what they do they know I thought Brian gave us some good input last time in regards to what the what the Nets or excuse me what the gross revenues are going to be versus the net profits like look at at data from these other munies it's it's not moving my my proverbial needle of saying absolutely we must go on that that is a hot Trend it's going to be able to be a killer for us it was not something to that effect for me but I want to be considerate of those in the community and I know that we have a very traditional Community here family sense uh I hope the days are still there were kindergarteners well probably too young but fourth fifth graders from this while used to be able to walk across the street to go play groom ball or pond hockey uh like I did when I was a young man growing up and we never saw that around town we never had to go through really any sort of uh base where there was drugs or even alcohol or people of threat in town um want to make sure that we're getting a enough good feedback from the community to to be considerate of them and what they like used to be able to Doo wasn't a problem yeah okay anything else from us okay uh next item on our agenda except go final split betweener can I make them yeah I'll make a motion to accept the go Lake TR f a cost split between n and Lake Shore as present any further discussion all those in favor say I I Carri uh recommendation from the building committee reference contractor selection oh you missed one number five b thing oh commission I'll make a motion up sorry no problem I'll try to be brief here um you have a recommendation from the park and wreck commission regarding um going through a pro an RFQ process to find a vendor for playground this would tie to getting the plans required to apply for a grant um if and when we have the funding available so you have the sample RFQ it's very similar to the gordian process proc for the building the price tag for the playground we anticipate to um need to satisfy the bidding requirements and this would allow for that Amber can correct me if I'm wrong but I think at the last Park and Rex meeting we had a um we broke the record for amount of public attendance yeah 16 we were excited I think Crow since we've never had anybody at the meetings before anyway so it was quite interesting I wish more people would come to meetings entertain a motion Mr Mayor Al second all favor I car thank you recommendation from the building committee reference contractor selection um thank you so um in your package you have uh the two proposals that were submitted um for our city hall Improvement project one from Hightech and one from noron the building committee met on October 8th to review the submissions received um ultimately the committee recommends selecting high-tech construction um and I think that's all I'll motion m Mr Mayor also moved to accept accept the recommendation from the building committee for contractor selection which was high-tech as presented I get a second I'll second it all those in favor I car additions report on the pocket card group effort this was a group effort um so you have a memo um with some pictures after our last budget Workshop um Tom and I met with uh Dave Rees from WTH as well as council member Hall to discuss the conditions at pocket park um so we're just looking for additional information we do think there's kind of an immediate need and Tom's had some ideas on how to deal with that but also looking forward as we engage in the downtown master plan and some of those things just getting an idea of how we want to move forward um wanting to make sure everyone's on the same page and uh deal with some of the immediate needs as well as planed for the future one thing I would add to it um I had a brief discussion with some of the gentleman from mot here tonight too because whenever we do the pock Park was built underneath the do project when 371 was expanded four lanes so um they're going to be checking on their end to see what if anything they if they have any involvement in in some of the improvements we need to make and they'll be getting back to us soon um the only thing when I was looking through this looking at that I've been down there number of times looking at the pavers all throughout the whole thing um would we be potentially better off having like say a pour cement edging and then papers in the center you know kind of so we don't have the papers that are all falling off the side the way they do and stuff far is that going to pretty much depend on whatever the wall has to happen I mean we're not even closed to I'll say that's uh definitely something Tom and I have looked at um the paver situation um also look looking at if the paper should be removed in general and if concrete should be poured in place um so part of that is the drainage system that exists there um there are supposed to be perious pavers which they are no longer um and so that would be part of the long range planning if there's an interm solution but as well as the entire drainage all together throughout the park and that that was one of the questions I posed to mot tonight too can we modify that underground drainage in anyway with any of the improvements we want to make such as pouring concrete and so they're going to get back to us with that I see that you want Council motion but is well are you looking specifically at items one and two to install the no parking signs and add a curb or what what's the short term like you want the okay now I think there's a larger planning effort right to come sometime in the future or do we want to make a motion to allow them to take whatever remediation needs are necessary for now basically what you just well I how open-ended would that be well I'm just I mean for I think they wanna they wna stop the water the damage from continuing right that's the goal is to make sure that that is addressed as they come up with their longer term as I think with any other city property or building even a landscape piece like this that can pose a safety risk as it almost crushed as you guys were mentioning last meeting when you were out there with I think M and do right when it fell over that wall last time yeah so I was excuse me I was not there when that happened but what we have is in particular the wall closest to Big axe yep um traffic likes to drive Park on what is a drainage sale there well that drainage sale is pushing is putting pressure on that retaining wall there got it it was never meant to withstand that we had no parking signs in place at one time and they've been removed by various people that used to be a oneway the alleys were oneway um we probably need to go back to that that's part of what's causing the problem and why the parking no parking signs are being REM moved just because they they're feeling that they don't have enough room to make a corner anyway temporary solution that we have to get us through probably this winter um we talked about possibly getting quotes and fixing that wall yet this fall I don't know that we're going to get there especially when we have to check with nimock it's going to just take some time to work through this so what I'm going to do is probably have our guys um sandbag that for this winter to make it through so it doesn't wash out completely um that will probably act as a curb having a stack of sandbags there and then through the winter we'll be engaging with WID to for an actual plan to fix that wall make it more robust and so that it works well with the underground drainage if need be and with whatever uh requirements mot might have with that um by Springtime we should have a workable project and we'll get quotes for that and uh hopefully fix that part of it the remaining parts of it the the U handicap pathway the ramp going down uh we'll be working with that some more and in the remaining walls I think we're going to be doing this in stages um or we might try to work it as a project that we can include probably with the uh 26 or 27 road Bond if if that's allow MH so with that that curve your hopefully we get enough snow this year where you can pile it up there so they can't park in that area but this is a no this is a oneway ro oneway alley wasn't that pass by orance it's stipulated in ordinance that it's a one way yeah I believe it's I don't remember where that one way distinction came from right I think it was just painted that way way back when I started way before me probably but um whether it's because it was repaved or whatever the markings it made it a oneway or have disappeared and people started to use it as a two-way and people really liked Park in the shoulder around big a y um one of the reasons we had put the no parking signs there is trying to keep an alley try to keep the alley open for truck traffic for deliveries and such it's it's a CH okay I think what we would like to do though is reestablish the one way okay so you want a motion to accept what they're asking for or do we just you need a motion for that I I think at this point it's just information we don't really need yeah it's just information it does I think though if you from an the Aly with the one way if you want to implement that I think that would be appropriate for the council to that because then staff has the authority to say that was approved but the rest of it yes is pretty informal I have one more Amber would you be under the opinion that piece of that pocket park especially the ramp going up to downtown part of the trail and if you did and you left over excess funds would that be able to be applied to this piece to be able to get it back and repair um you can come back to us I don't believe there's excess funds um can definitely look into that it is a transitional Z but we have uh we have contingencies in this for the trail we look at it a lot from both the park lens as well as the Public Works lens it's very much a joint oh yeah joint effort of I can pull a little from here public Earths can pull a little from this and that and trying to pull enough to make it happen um but yeah there's definitely other avenues hopefully that we can pursue but yeah it's probably as council member Hall said it could be a very Hefty project and it's something um that the parks plan calls for planning for infrastructure replacement on I would say the DNR approval did not include pocket park so we'd probably have to go back to them if there were money left over but we can keep that in the back of our mind for sure um one idea we had just talking about it a little bit more um and this is by no means committing this committing to this but just a a question probably more than anything as you know we we put aside some money to uh match State and and County projects this was originally a joint project you could consider possibly using some of that okay greata yeah so if we want to give them the authority to make it a one way do we need to do that by ordinance Tom no just by motion well I will entertain that motion I will so move I'll second that any further discussion all those in favor I I oppos car thank you Planning and Zoning request reference ssts ordinance Amendment good evening again um so my first item here of two here would be to address the ssts setbacks currently table 20-8 shows lot line setbacks of ranging from 15 feet up to 30 feet in different districts which can be um kind of confusing for property owners licensed individuals such as designers installers and inspectors in our municipality currently code 78. 2150 pertains directly to property line setbacks in code um it would be my recommendation to bring this um open for public hearing at November 6 Planning Commission meeting to reduce it to the code minimum of 10 feet um to again kind of make it consistent across the board licensed individuals don't need to wonder what property zoning they're currently standing on in order to make that call um in the permitting process we would just be looking for that property line to be Stak if they're hugging close to it or a variance if we're encroaching upon I if anyone wants to say anything otherwise make I was not an attendance planning zoning this month as you know um but one question I had for you I meant to ask ahead of time is The Proposal from Chris Pence for both this this ordinance and your next topic is that so that was an element in the next item um to contract with Chris Pence um under the next business think this was one that um would be more of a sooner introduction as an ordinance Amendment and it's pretty straightforward All Things Considered some of the other ones are very complex right so we need more time but this one was a pretty clear discrepancy and so that's Stephen wanted to present this to move this one forward faster yeah um you know mind I'll make a motion Mr Mayor to approve the ssts ordinance Amendment as presented second so it'd be a motion to bring It Forward not we are not holding public hearing bring it forward to the next Planning Commission meeting on November 4th November 6th November 6th second second any further discussion all those in favor iOS is that would be a Wednesday is the 5th man it's going to be Christmas in a week and the set back St has been um recommendation from the Planning Commission reference ordinance update Services yes so we had reached out to Chris pens who had been involved in previous ordinance Amendment processes um looking to bring the ordinance revision into the Final Phase to bring items that the DNR is looking for compliance on such as FEMA flood plan standards and others um full circle the other items would be buildable area driveway sidey yard setbacks um any input into cannabis um the land use table getting certain definitions that are in our land use table um defined at the final part of our chapter 20 ordinance um but C ifications on subdivision processes future status of the plan development District uh and a zoning map update perhaps so total cost on Chris's proposal which is also attached um was proposed at $7,500 um it'd be my recommendation to um move $7,500 from the Professional Services fees budgeted to 2024 into the capital reserve fund the final payment to Mr Mayor I will make a motion to accept the recommendation from the Planning Commission regarding the ordinance update Services as presented I'll second any further discussion all those in favor I I oppos uh next item is resolution for Squad card I'll make a mo I'll make a motion and accept it purchase it I'll second okay any further discussion all those in favor I I oppos Carri um item 11 uh approve P for RO approved ports for road work I'll make a motion to approve the Court's Road workor as presented in the yeah okay well just for clarification we're looking at Anderson Brothers for $1,566 yes okay yeah the project is already done it's done okay we have a second I second it second it any further discussion all those excuse me all those in favor I I oppos Carri um item 13 accept the notice of retirement for Dallas Mike Wagner number 12 please 12 12 approve memorandum agreement Withers the union got take last okay approve memorandum of agreement with Teamsters reference vacation approval I'll make a motion to accept it second all those in favor I oppos Carri okay now we're going to get uh I'll make a motion to accept notice of retirement for Dallas Mike Wagner as presented I'll second okay all those in favor I I oppos Carri approve Wastewater supervisor job description updates Mr May I'll make a motion to approve the Wastewater supervisor job description update as presented any further discussion or I need a second yes I'll make a sec I'll second it um any further discussion on it all those in favor I I I oppos Carri Public Works memo accept the recommendation uh reference Public Works Wastewater staff hiring transition plan anyone have a chance to look at [Music] that I thought it looked good Tom did you wanna I'm just here to answer any questions you might have does anyone have any questions for Tom Mr M um Mr Mayor I'll make a motion to accept recommendations uh from Public Works Wastewater staff hiring transition plan has presented I'll second it okay question any further discussion all those in favor hi hios car thank you special Council leading to Canvas election results uh November 12th 5 p.m. potentially there will be a workshop associated with that which we discussed earlier yes I do have to we can plan on that and schedule that I do need to confirm W set would be available um to present um but we can proceed with that and I will confirm with the council if the 12th at 5:00 pm works we do have a set window where we have to canis the election results um so that's why that's recommended have to do another date for the workshop potentially potentially but we'll okay likely they should be available so November 12th does that work for everybody no we just need a quorum huh in the woods uh we need we need to do the canvas between the 11th and the 18th the 11th is Veterans Day so not the 11th um if the council would like to pick um a different date 13th 14th or 15th or 18th is Monday might work well what the latest you can put it on if I understand we just need a quorum correct correct but if we're trying to have the downtown master plan conversation as well I think it would be I forgot about that yes yes advisable so does the how does the 18th look Monday the 18th good good change it to the 18th if that's 18th available make whatever date you need okay looks good with me yeah we just need a quorum it's fine yep I mean I'm good for any so I can make it work on we can even just canvas on the 12th and we can schedule the downtown master plan workshop for another day y if that's yeah makes more comfortable to I would I mean I would would be better okay I'd like to get it done quicker too okay if you're okay with that you'll be gone on the 12 be gone okay but I'm available on the I'm available it's a I'm available minute meeting to approve the we're not waiting to the last minute so staff has time get things done I will confirm some dates with width and follow up with the Council on the workshop okay the 18th Workshop no I will no I will follow up I will follow up yes okay let me know so a motion to set the canvas date for the 12th at 5 Please Mr I'll second um then bu Mr Maro make a recommendation to move to close session pursuant to Minnesota statute 13d 05 subsection 3C regarding consideration of offer of for property purchase I'll second all those in favor we are now in close session so we'll take a short recess yeah corre yes I'm I apologize I need to give you theid partial IDs one moment because I have it right here uh so PS I'm going to just State for the record real quick 28150 636 28156 36 7 281 15547 28150 604 We'll add to the motion yes and now we are in close session and we'll take a five minute recess y thank you --------- ##VIDEO ID:PXXhcj_UfPc## e e e e e e e e e okay we will call the October 15 2024 6 PM Workshop to order uh presentation from the Minnesota Department of Transportation reference the highway 371 Corridor study Denny thank you mayor R um good evening members of the council and welcome back uh minda to provide an update on your Corridor study progress um I will turn the meeting over to them here shortly just to provide their presentation I want to remind the public for those who are watching online we will be sharing the presentation um so you can see that as um they walk through that information but then we will stop the zoom recording because the council will be gathering around the table to view uh the concept plans and so it's difficult to capture that online so we will do the presentation and then for those who are here today we'll be able to to look around the table and and talk about the concepts so just want everyone to be aware of the process for the workshop and with that I will welcome Bob Rogers and Tom Kook shank to um begin the presentation thank you yeah yeah through sorry about the wire it's just you just your next screen terrific Jenny thanks uh mayor and council members thank you I just want again just want to express uh a sincere thank you to uh all of you and and and to staff for U you know all the hard work that we've been doing for almost a year and a half we've been at this um time flies when you're having fun this is this has been a incredible exercise and even for our uh District staff that's here today you know we've we've worked together as a pretty good team I think through this process we're not done yet there's still work to do um but again thank you for the opportunity to to have us back to visit with you again again you know we've done we did a previous Workshop we call these workshops because we want to have it as a open conversation um this will be another round of workshop with you again tonight to again Bob's going to give you a little bit of background information to you know how we're at today where we've gotten to where we are today and then again we want to kind of you know again we roll out the big plot maps so that we can again talk to all of you about you know again any new issues that might have occurred since last time we're visiting with you but also just to make sure that you all understand what we've been working on so that if you get questions from your constituents um you're prepared to answer them or if you have other questions for us we have a chance to you know again either try to get answer it tonight or um you know we'll we'll fetch the answers and get them to you or if it's something that we don't have an answer to you know something that we can have our team work on so again I'll turn it over to Bob but again thank you we sure appreciate the opportunity to to be here again tonight and um um you know again again this is conversational we'll try to again hopefully get this done in time um certainly for you to have a little break before your seven o'clock meetings Bob all right um yeah thank you for for having us back um just real quick I'm Bob Rogers Bolton and mink uh I'm the project manager for the consultant team uh helping mot out with this project so you met Tom he's the uh the district planning project manager also with us Mike kinnedy the the district engineer Jim hogard I don't know your official TI are you program manager what is your ad oh ad that's right yeah and Steve boss the U District planner uh director as well so they're all here to answer questions to hear input and so yeah we really want to you know spend most of our time at the layout going through um what we have covered in the last number of months I think we were last year in April and at that time we were still kind of in the early stages of the of the study and and I'll kind of go through the different phases of that but uh we have made quite a bit of progress but again this is a good check-in time just to make sure we're tracking uh the way we should and the way you would expect uh to see some of the outcomes and uh what that means for your community you know now and into the future so um do I have control here do that oh I did did something wrong oh I'm going to scroll there we go all right so I think again last time we did a little bit more detailed presentation for you provided a lot more study background and all I've just got a couple of slides tonight just to again kind of set the context of of the study what we're doing why we're here and kind of where we were and where we're we're headed so um as you all know we're doing this Corridor study it's a planning level study it it goes all the way from um the county road 18 signal here in nisah South to the South bter limit or the the the river bridge so it's it's quite a long Corridor study that we're we're looking at here um you know we started like Tom said roughly a year and a half ago and really we're looking at what types of you know future improvements can be made to maintain you know the the the the safety and the efficiency just the mobility and all for um people driving uh along the corridor and throughout your community and all that too so it is a visioning study so we're not at super super detailed uh level Concepts and you'll see that as we we get at the at the layout in a little bit went too far so our study goals were pretty simple I talked a little bit about that we are looking at a multimo multimodal corridor needs so not just how the cars and the trucks and all uh utilize the roadway but we know we have other users in this area too we have you know snowmobile traffic we learned throughout you know within NIS you all allow um you know golf carts to to utilize some of the public roadways and things like that well they in some cases have to cross over 371 so we want to make sure we're we're accommodating for all users that uh could be you know uh you know located up and down highway 371 we're also looking at you know what the like I said the future Concepts would look like developing recommendations for the corridor and then ultimately helping inform some upcoming projects that are per you know uh currently scheduled uh at the South End of the quarter we got the large interchange project I'm sure you're all aware of and then also men. has a corridor pavement project in a number of years that is looking at this entire stretch so again what types of improvements can even be built into to those projects um and then also just again preparing the the communities for you know as you have developments come in and and other things you know what can be done in conjunction uh with with some of those those types of uh projects as well so phase one like I said uh was was that early identification of of issues along the corridor that was really what we were here back in April talking to you about what we had heard uh and found uh we're currently wrapping up really the the the phase two which is the the development of Design Concepts and evaluating those Concepts and then you know we're kind of just like I said just starting into to kind of phase three with the implementation planning and then ultimately a quarter study report that that outlines again what would be what would be considered uh for future improvements uh so what did we hear you know we did hear loud and clear in our early phases of of Engagement about safety um and and you know we learned that in in our analysis uh with the number of crashes that are out there um you know we've had hundreds of crashes over a five-year period uh number of serious crashes as well um even since the the the corridor study started we've had a number of pretty severe crashes along the section of roadway a couple right here in town that uh you all again probably very well aware of um at the 77 intersection but we've had others as well with another uh fatality down near the backer area um Mobility was another real concern you know traffic volumes really kind of fluctuate in this in this Corridor we're you know the the lower teens uh of thousands in in some areas to over 30,000 and we know that that you know changes seasonally and we know that that changes you know just even on the weekends and and everything else so that's part of our study process too is looking at those those seasonal fluctuations or or daytime fluctuations and all too um we did look at growth um for for uh traffic volumes and all and just you know not that that's all important to you but again it it helps us ultimately plan out what types of improvements will be needed and so we are looking anywhere from a half% to 2% growth along the corridor and that's annually and so it doesn't sound like a whole lot a half percent doesn't sound like a but you start adding that up you know year after year after year and it it becomes you know quite a a substantial amount over a 20-year kind of planning Horizon so that higher growth rate really was um more on the the south end of Baxter where they were planning um some higher levels of of Urban Development and all but we recognize that you know there's quite a bit happening in in is SWAT too so there are areas where we looking at is is the half percent right or should it be you know slightly more um other things we're looking at just besides Mobility is access management um You probably all have heard that term before it's really looking at you know managing how people get on and off of of the highway you know where's the appropriate spots the safest spots uh for all of that and so um you know we can also not only you know preserve our our our corridor's Mobility but we can improve safety through some of those access management types of strategy so that's part of our study process not scrolling very well here I'll just uh so stakeholder involvement we've had a pretty robust um level of stakeholder Outreach on this project our first phase uh was kind of last year and that bar chart there you may have seen that at the last presentation where we did see you know really heavily the the public and the other stakeholders are really concerned about safety on this Corridor so that is really a strong emphasis as we are looking at you know kind of phase two in all of our Concepts the the next number of of kind of higher level responses that we got there are all kind of Mobility related when you talk about vehicle flow and and accessing property and and crossing over the the highway uh to get from one side to the other so again the mobility and safety as some of those primary needs most recently we just finished up our phase two engagement I think just recently we sent actually the city a summary of a more comp comprehensive uh kind of documentation of our Phase 2 engagement um I should have mentioned like in the the the first phase we had like over 1,800 online surveys completed in our second survey not quite as many but it was still upwards of 5600 people responded to our survey and provided feedback so again getting a pretty comprehensive uh you know you know knowledge back of what people think about what's being proposed um I didn't slip it in here but we did create kind of a a map because we did ask you know people to share some information about themselves and we have a zip code map which is really interesting how many different locations throughout the state and region um that people actually are interested in this Corridor and what's what's being planned for the future I mean obviously the heavy Focus was right in and around the area um but it is far-reaching because we know this is a kind of an inter Regional type of of facility but um so the the second survey here in phase two was really focused on the concepts and the improvements that were being proposed and asking people what they thought about you know the more the acceptability not necessarily like ranking specifically I Like A over B but hey is this an acceptable approach to you and knowing that most of our improvements out there are for safety improvements um we generally had a pretty high response that it was an acceptable approach um you know and doing uh J turn uh types of intersections or right in write out conditions in some areas you know changing how people will actually you know get on and get off of the highway in a in a number areas so um you know 90% of of the responses also supported some of those local connections too we were talking a little bit about that before the meeting started here that you know we can't solve all the problems just by making a few spot improvements along the highway it is really that you know people move throughout your community in this area on a system of roads and that system of roads really has to all work together um and so there are some local improvements and generally people again if they're only planning to to travel down the road a mile is the best thing for them to get on the highway or is some other type of roadway facility uh backage Road Frontage Road that can can serve that trip too and so we've identified a number of of those Improvement opportunities as well um so in the north segment um which you know we've got layouts for the entire uh Corridor area see you got the the the ones on the wall as well um I would say those are very close to what we're going to be looking at tonight over time we've made a few tweaks here and there um but in the north segment we have a number of locations um that we are proposing a number of uh kind of changes to to the again access and intersections and all and I just have some of them listed here I don't have every single one um but you know a new location at at Hazelwood and smiley we'll look at uh that location which is kind of between County Road 18 and and County 77 those two signals uh some some improvements at 77 we do recognize again um there has been some more serious crashes just recently um and so again planning longterm you know maybe maybe shortterm nothing happens at that location but longterm if there was you know continued to be a real safety problem there what types of improvements could be implemented uh to maybe correct some of those safety problems um we have a an intersection just south of 77 uh into some newer Development Area uh within the city on the west side and the East Side um and so we'll look at that that location have a couple design options there nashway is a a real problem intersection in terms of safety one of our highest crash uh severity locations on the corridor um historically and and you know even more recently we've had a couple of serious crashes there too so we got a number of options and then uh as you continue South within the community uh just in that general area of gall Lake Tall Timbers Mission uh Columbus uh Columbo um again what types of things can be done to maybe restrict some access um improve safety conditions while you know not making it really inconvenient for people to get on and off of the highway but um a change from what the existing condition is in some areas and then like I said some of those local supporting roadways and kind of got a list there of of some of the options that we are are looking at and we're talking with your staff about uh you know implementing over over time a lot of that can be development driven and just you know opportunity driven uh when when things change on a certain certain location so that's generally the the update that we have um again we'd invite everyone anyone to come up and and circle around we'll just kind of walk through the north segment if there are things within the middle uh the middle segment which is more the uh the the the fat area or the unorganized uh area of the county or even down into the Baxter we can talk about those too like I said we have the layouts but thought you must be uh most interested in the in the northern half here so that's the the purpose of tonight's meeting is to just share these these improvements with you so that's what we have for presentation so offer if you'd like to get up and circle around the table we'll do the work sessions that part now too yeah unless there's questions right now we can answer questions before we we get down in front of it all so go ahead I know there's been discussion to shut close off the Hazelwood turn on to 371 understand that but then you've you're talking about the concept of extending that to a non-existing North South Road where do the funds come from for that extension of Hazelwood in this non-existing right now North South Road that connects to 77 yeah and again you know again at the time that those changes would be made some of these improvements have to be you know set in in place to happen right and we talked a little bit about funding and opportunities you know mindat is really and I don't want to speak for mindat solely but you know for them to participate in things they got to be able to show benefit to the trunk Highway and so if there's a situation where we can create a a safer condition by closing certain access points points changing intersections um moving some of the trips to another location they can participate in some of that they're probably not going to fund it entirely but they have some some benefit to the trunk Highway then they can start talking about all right what's the formula for City costs if it's a County Road County cost versus a Mot state level cost and all that too um again some of it is going to be the city's responsibility um some of it is hopefully part of your you know future development plans working with land owners making sure that right away is is maybe set aside if a development is being proposed maybe part of that road gets built with the development and and things too so at a planning level study we don't have the cost participation all figured out um I understand that but I mean I'm just looking for the future I mean yep because that could be a large cost to the residents of niswa you know and something that is suggested by menot for us to do in a way you know we're going to shut this off proposing to extent like that so I just want to know where we're at on that one but that's I understand yeah and and I will add you know maybe minute want I mean there are different programs out there too again that are are State you know Economic Development grants or other Transportation type of grants that assist local communities with some of these these types of projects as as well so again I can't say that this is the exact grant that would apply to that that um you know Frontage Road or backage road type of connection but there are some some opportunities out there to find some some funding assistance as well you have anything to add on that I me yeah I guess Jenny if you don't mind I I guess kind of secondarily you know one of the tasks that we'll we'll do as we're kind of wrapping up the study and taking all these Alternatives and packaging them together is looking at say some priority order of of where those safety improvements are and maybe doing a little bit of cost benefit analysis to you know can we get the best bang for a buck for the development Improvement that we want to pursue first and it might be a combination of those that have the highest safety risk get those going more quickly you know if that's the case then we might be a little bit more motivated to participate kind of back to your question uh council memb is you know again where does mindak come into play here and it might be that you know again if we find that there's more safety benefit to doing a certain thing and get that furniture Road built you know then then we try to pursue that a little more aggressively and uh you know try to get that going first and you know again might be a pursuit of some grants uh I know that we're working behind the scenes and be working with our Consulting team on on some Federal grant opportunities to perhaps start initiating maybe even sooner than pavement work for the highway maybe start initiating some of these uh intersection related safety improvements and if if we're lucky enough to be awarded uh some of its money that probably brings us back here to sit down with you again to talk about okay if we do this intersection Improvement maybe those related Frontage Road or backage Road uh type improvements that are connected to it need to be packaged up and part of that too um yeah it's it's a gray area for right now I don't have a number for you but I can tell you that it's something that we'll have to partner together and work together on um as as well as Crowing County you know again if these are County Roads 1377 you know if again if we're talking about some of these new intersecting roads that connect to that uh I know in our similar work session with County Commissioners that we just did a few weeks ago Bob and I had similar conversations with them it's on their radar too um so it it might be that we end up getting everybody you know the county and the city and us together to you know work as work in a partnership to try to deliver some of this stuff it's certainly not going to be done in a vacuum that's for sure other question questions mayor council members May Ryan can I jump in with the question sure um I think this might be something of kind of broad interest to a lot of individuals and and Bob you mentioned it as part of um the work you've done is just the um recognition of some of the crashes that have occurred in our community in this past six months um I was recently also um it was shared with me that um I think some adjustments were were made um kind of may not made the effort to adjust Justice signal lights and how and the approach to that to maybe try to help and I I believe that also occurred recently at um 371 and County 18 that the signal light has been adjusted and um so there's there's been a change and I think some people have recognized that I don't know if you're able to speak to kind of when and how that happens or just sharing some feedback on on on when that when that occurs how you sort of respond to it I don't know do do we want Mike do you want to kind of address that from the engineering level Jenny I'll ask Mike kinnedy our district engineer maybe talk about that a little bit great get from the engineering stuff that went into that yeah sure so um kind of working with the county and the County engineer Tim Bray um recognizing some of the concerns that resulted out of the basically the crashes on 37177 13 137 um resulted in because the both 77 13 and County Road 18 on those signals have what's called like a um flashing yellow so if you had um the Green Arrow and then it would for left turns um once that got went through that phase and then they went through through Lanes the green for a through lane or the through traffic the yellow the arrow would go to flashing yellow and what that's uh there's been some it's posing some problems and we're looking at even across outside of this area too um so that now is there's no flashing yellow so it's just either you got the Green Arrow it goes to red and so it it does um because particular in 18 there's not a lot of through traffic so it'll basically just have the Green Arrow and then red and so anybody's caught in the left turn lane they sit there 371 shut down while they have the green through them so I think our signal people are looking at that continuing to Monitor and figure out how to adjust that to make make the bit operate more efficiently great thank you I I just maybe just a quick clarification on the unfortunately we had a fatality here just a couple of weeks ago um that that was not related to the flashing yellow arrow I think that was Rel to a perhaps a turn was made on on a red light so but again it's an unfortunate situation I mean we're in the study talking about safety and we have these incidents occur so I mean it really it brings to our attention the fact that uh safety is very paramont I mean it was very obvious when we started this process that the public recognized that right away when we started last summer a year ago summer um so that's why again you see a lot of focus on those safety improvements as as a very important element to the vision for this corridor from this wall all the way down to Baxter um because you know again we know we recognize traffic volumes are not going to decrease they're going to continue to go up our our areas continue to grow um you've got additional Commerce especially you've got all this vacant land that's going to eventually develop it'll it'll increase your traffic in the area so if we have a plan for how we accommodate it now and into the future I I think that's very important because then we can strict to implement these things so that we can try to you know again incorporate as much safety Improvement to the highway as we possibly can to make it as safe as we can again based on what we can afford to do and and all those other factors thanks Mike thank you you want to take a look at it every let's do it so people from the audience want to come up and look at it as well please please do join us