##VIDEO ID:JXSBOOBDRSE## e e e e e um I did eat pumpkin pie but I didn't have a dinner no he's just waiting there I know yeah yep and cider so we'll just adopt adopt the agenda and then move on to that yeah here let me say it youum okay we're ready all right it's uh 5:15 going to call the workshop to order roll call please council member Cole here council member schweer here council member Wong here council member nordby here mayor mongi here thank you very much can I get a motion to adopt the agenda please so moved so move council member swe second second council member Norby all those in favor say I I I thank you start with our topics do you want to read our little thing on the way out the door thank sir uh we have two topics tonight first one is going to be a closed meeting the meeting will be closed as permitted to section 13d 03 to discuss the city's labor negotiation strategy related to the city's negotiations with Teamsters um the teamsters Public Works and law enforcement employees union local 320 which is public works and Electrical uh law enforcement labor Services local 211 which is Patrol and local 298 which is Sergeant all right move to do I need to move to motion to go to the can I have a motion for close council member Cole second second council member Wong all those in favor say I I I we'll be back e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e now I got to remember my password H now I got to remember my password did do I have to journ back in motion back in then or open back up yeah open back up open up the meeting at you ready 5:33 reopen the meeting we need to vote on it or we good to go go ahead thank you sir uh next topic Item B is 2025 internal service funds and other budgets I'll turn that over to finance director Mr Winnick mayor council members uh thank you very much uh tonight we're going to be going over uh the internal service funds we have five of them and then we're going to go over our other budgets um we have five of the other budgets I'll kind of uh describe each one of them and kind of give you a high overview um and then we have the privilege of having Ava here tonight and she'll go through the event budget in which he has planned um for the proposed 2025 budget um at after tonight we have gone through all of the budgets um and then what we'll have uh on the special will be the CIP um the capital Improvement plan um we just recently got uh the facility assessment information and we're still going through that and making some adjustments to to uh that um we also got um from uh the Park and Recreation Commission um they put together a CIP plan so we're incorporating that within our CIP which all of that will be presented to you on I believe it's the 13th um so we'll do that and then um we still have to have um a time where we go back and talk about uh where we want um you know the levy and the general fund to go because um obviously there's some changes um with the Union negotiations um we kind of left some options that we could reduce um The Levy and there's also some um options that have been discussed by uh a few of the uh council members of uh potentially um adding different fees um to our fee schedule which will be coming up uh in November to um that may have an impact on on the revenue sources for um the the city's budget um so I'll start here um and kind of go through a high level overview of the internal service funding the other budgets uh internal service funds um you know by de definition they account for the financing of goods and services provided by one department or agency to another department so it's internal um and it's uh based on a cost reimbursement basis um we have five of them the information technology the insurance internal service fund equipment City mechanic and the building maintenance um internal service fund uh high level Information Technology uh revenues uh for are proposed for the 2025 of $524,000 that's an increase of BU 28,000 from 2024 um the budget of 541000 that's an increase of 45,000 from the 2024 uh the fund balance um based upon this it's not a balanced budget would decrease uh$ 17 ,000 the fund balance as the end of 2023 was $263,000 so we can afford to um use some of the fund balance to um balance this budget uh the significant change here is uh is once again Metro IET Services have increased um approximately $44,000 or 133% from 2024 didn't we have a big increase the year before that we've had and the year before that when they pass the budget I went to the meeting and I had brought statistics I can't remember off the top of my head I think we've gone up something like I was it was unbelievable uh I'll just say it was like 61% since the in like three years three or four years um so I I had it so read it off the statistical information so it was in their minutes um because that is something that uh yeah it's uh it's hard to believe and um that we keep getting those increases one of the bigger increases I know last year was because we added um because of how they do their their their charges um they do it on connections and we added um all of our council members to have email access um and that's one of their driving factors and of their charges is the charge per user on the system um so that gave us last year a big increase um this year um you know and and remember what I said last year um you know they're kind of anticipating that a lot of their contracts um in the software are going to be going up like 10% we're seeing the 133% increase on our side to it um because we haven't added any users from last year to this year is this the one where if somebody leaves everybody has to absorb they leave uh yeah I mean their their cost model is pretty much like that um in some of the meetings they've kind of discussed um and they're and they're currently going through a strategic planning process to but their model and what they've said is that um their Staffing level they're pretty much maxed out um so adding additional cust customers wouldn't necessarily um benefit them they would end up having to add additional costs but you're correct if somebody drops out on and they don't reduce their cost they're shared amongst everybody else one of the interesting pieces that they did show as far as um you know using some sort of statistical data is that they took all of the participating cities that are in this or you know in the Metro IET um they put um what their percentage of the cost is and they compared it to um the percentage of use that um that City use utilizes and it's very eerie because it matches up pretty well to what the the cost model and the usage pretty much matches up across the board um so we're one of the higher users we're in like the top I think five CU we're that you compared to the whole thing we're about that big we're fifth or sixth and we're that's about our usage um in comparison uh now they didn't give a breakdown of you know what department is creating um you know that need or or that um you know that service request but um it does line up pretty well with with the overall cost component to but yes you're absolutely correct if somebody were to leave um unless they were to reduce staff um the cost would be redistributed amongst everybody okay I was just just like Council memb s her business is HR mine is technology so I look at some of these numbers and compare what we do and different things like that and sometimes takes my breath away with the amount that uh the increases increases in what it's at and having you know this many users and having a full person you know that's here quite a bit and that type of thing well most stuff is you you know can be done remotely so I think that's something we need to look at and discuss and try to understand a little bit more how this is broken out thank you um then there's the Insurance Fund uh revenues of about 592 th000 that's actually a decrease of 59 but that's kind of misleading decrease because if you remember last year um we had good results on our um insurances um and we had a savings from what was projected in the budget because you remember the year before um we were with peep um and they went up 50% um and and we went out for an RFP um we we got out of um out of that at the 50% part to it uh so uh City Council made the decision not to reduce um the expenditure side for all the Departments for insurance but to transfer it into um the Insurance Fund and that was about $125,000 uh the budget um is 68,000 that's an increase about 82,000 um this is uh this would uh decrease our fund balance about 17,000 our fund balance at the end of uh 2023 was 166,000 um the significant changes on workman's compensation Insurance we've had a number of claims um and so it's driving our are increase up and we were a little bit underfunded for the 2024 budget so underfunded 24 and it's increasing again for the 2025 uh the equipment um budget uh internal service fund the budget's uh 964 th000 all of this information is is incorporated into the capital Improvement plan uh what we have on equipment uh for the Departments that are part of this equipment fund uh there's the Freightliner pumper for the fire department uh if you remember the city council authorized earlier this year um to proceed with the purchase of that and um so this is the remainder of that I think the total is about a little under 800,000 the city council authorized them to start building it um there will be a payment coming in I think in November or December about 250 260 $50,000 and this is the remainder that would be after the total completion of the build for the freight liner um pumper and there's um a a bobcat tool cat for Parks and Recreation it's estimated at 87,000 there's body or cameras for the police 8600 um there's a black top roller for for streets um 25,500 and then there's a a for streets there's a Ford um F750 um estimated at $323,000 so that's what's being proposed to be expended as far as equipment um from the equipment fund um we generate revenues of about [Music] 537,500 million um in in addition we have $542,000 that's restricted for the public safety so so the intent is to utilize um that uh $542,000 on that freight liner pumper so then we've met the criteria um from for the state of Minnesota on on uh the public safety dollars that was that were given to us last year um and then there's a city mechanic now the city mechanic position itself is actually allocated to all the Departments that utilize the city mechanic this is this budget is really just for their supplies um that are not allocated to departments um it's a balanced budget of about 44,000 um just a slight increase of $1,300 from uh uh from the 2024 um and uh the fund balance at the end of 2023 was $49,000 and then there's the building maintenance fund that has revenues about 562 th000 that's an increase of 6 $8,000 um the budget is 428 that's a decrease of 202 uh now uh with the building maintenance fund significantly of why you're seeing that decrease of 202 is because there were some items that were in the CIP that um were approved part of that if um if you remember um from the last year um and so there's less requests that are in the CIP for the building maintenance when we get into the CIP what we're going to look at my suggestion is to move um Capital expenditures especially when you see some of the costs that are going to be coming for our facilities in the next 10 years um there is a different fund there's an asset preservation fund that was established um for preserving our assets um and I think really we should be utilizing that for our Capital expenditures and this building maintenance just for the mainten truly maintenance type of items for our facilities um and so that's kind of how the the budget's being set up uh the fund balance here would increase $134,000 uh fund balance at the end of last year was $143,000 that is all of our internal service funds and then the other budgets that we that we budget and get approved by city council are the community uh Community Center fund the community event fund Fire Relief Fund Park fund and the Street Maintenance fund uh and the community center fund the community center fund was created in 2020 um and it was to account for the costs and the in the revenues for the community center um you know this 25 budget um shows no rental Revenue um it has $997,000 in operating costs um the fund balance at the end of 2023 was $1 166,000 um however this budget this year um again because there's no Revenue coming in anticipated using about $887,000 of fund balance if we combine the 97 and the 87 you can see we're going to use up all of our fund balance so um the budget has been has been um set up with the establishment of transferring $20,000 from the general fund so we at least make our we have enough money to pay for um 24 and 25 um budget until City council's made a a decision on what we're doing in the future of the community center uh Community event fund this is just a high Lev picture of it able will give more of of the details of uh the event component of this but the community event fund is used to account for Community event sponsored by the arts and culture committee and the Park and Recreation Committee in addition um it shows the expenditures and the revenues that are related to the North St Paul um car show um we estimate revenue of about 14,000 by budget of about 29,000 20 of that is is what able will be talking about for um some specific events um it utilizes fund balance of about 15,000 fund balance at the end of 2023 was about $74,000 and we have the Fire Relief Fund Fire Relief Fund is basically a pass through fund um we receive uh fire state aid um that ends up getting passed on to the fire relief Association um in this year in 2024 um between our regular and our supplemental we received $98,000 which is actually a significant increase from what we had last year we last year we were at about 84 um thousands so um The increased um State increased uh state aid we also see the saw the increase in our police Aid to that we um that we received for 2024 and then there's the park fund um and the park funds uh Park fund Parks have really two kind of funds one's a park dedication fund um we really don't utilize that unless there's a specific need for something that's new um but then there's the park fund that um that was created to finance Capital Improvements related to the park system um the funding um was initially donation driven but is grown to include res reservations for Park facilities and we estimate that at about $887,000 they they get local government Aid of $100,000 and then there's $75,000 in Levy remember we have a percent dedicated split between facilities and park um and so in 2025 the levy for parks would um be $75,000 uh and then there's a transfer of approximately $65,000 for the debt payment related to the Casey Lake Pavilion um projects that are included um based upon the uh park and rec commission um was a total of $650,000 I think it's $500,000 for the mcnight Field parking and $150,000 for the West End passive Park and then there's the Street Maintenance fund um and the Street Maintenance fund provides funding for our pavement preservation our pavement rehab abilitation programs um this fund receives the annual state maintenance allocation of approximately $159,000 uh receives uh some local government Aid approximately 55 um in 2025 uh there's a levy of $835,000 uh for the Street Maintenance that was part of our 10-year plan um it'll go up and down based upon our debt um to keep our debt uh Levy um component to it flat um and and uh the projects for 2025 um include uh $105,000 for Parks playgrounds and paths and open spaces and that consists of uh $45,000 for improvements to the Gateway State trail access $60,000 from mcnight Boulevard sidewalk um it also includes uh $411,000 for payment preservation $210,000 for the sepel sepa parking lot between Margaret and Helen and $100,000 for uh saa's quarter study um you know this year um coming out of this funds that $1.1 million that was transferred from the electric fund um it's down this year because this is this 2025 will be the bonding year for the major reconstruction project and then you'll see in 2026 where then we we do we pick up more of the pavement rehabilitation program um like we have going this year and they're doing and the the plan that WSB had put together had that um I think major reconstruction for 25 27 29 and then the other years are the pavement re Rehabilitation and then after 2029 it appears at least through 2034 that it would be on the pavement Rehabilitation um program to it but we've seen um that 10-year look already with um wb's new numbers um to try to raise our road rating up a little bit but we'll have more of discussion on that when we get into the CIP so all of this information um is also incorporated into the capital Improvement plan um that will be um discussing um next meeting uh we'll see all of that information so I'll take any quick questions um but then I want to give some uh give enough time for AA to be able to go through events um I think she she started here she's she's got all that energy she's uh made and had some fantastic events for the city um and I think we're seeing the communication um you know really painting the city in a a very positive light and which it should be so I want to make sure that she has enough time to go through that but I'll take any quick questions um if there's time um after she's done I certainly will take questions again after um AA has had an opportunity to present any questions for anybody if not move on all yours AA thank you welcome thank you nice to have you here tonight okay can you guys see this on your screen here no yet I'm not sure if the mak's on green button green button green button is on all right great fantastic hello Council my name is Ava gemer and I'm in charge of the planning and implementing All City events today I'll will be presenting the proposed 2025 event budget that is included in your packet so I'll be highlighting the changes made to the way we plan and implement the events that and that affect this year's budget and there will be time at the end of this presentation for questions so on my first day here I was told about all the great events that we used to host like the Silver Lake beach party I heard about the community coming out to enjoy time together and participate in local activity and how people felt connected to the city in a way that is maybe missing now due to circumstances out of our control the last few years have seen a slump in the number of quality City run events this is a missed opportunity to engage the community that we care so much about we have some Stellar ongoing events that I know will only get better with time um and I don't want to miss our chance to grow with them in our city I believe that we can once again host events that create connections Foster Community Pride and that are anticipated year after year to support support this trajectory we need to have three things in place first the right funding second thorough pre pre pre-planning and third City staff commission and support this event budget is my plan to re-engage the city in a way that will build connections get people excited to come back and make res residents feel proud to live here so the proposed 2025 budget is different from the 2024 budget in three very distinct ways so the first major changes had to be made to the previous year's budget as it didn't work for 2024 and will not work for 2025 highlighted in red on the budget labeled edits to the 2024 event budget in your packet are items that were either overestimated events that we don't contribute City funds to run or participate in events that should have been included in the budget but we're not or the or were underestimated in their projected cost because the 2024 budget was an unreliable guide this year's event budget has major changes to both the event list and the cost of the events the proposed budget is a more accurate picture of what we actually pay for and what it will take to run these events second I have assigned a commission to each of the proposed events to help with the day-to-day uh with the event set up as well as their involvement in the planning process as the event coordinator I will be more active in working to get the commission's input ideas and to create events that are excited that we can be excited to help host um so I'll be planning and managing and implementing these events but I definitely need a team of dedicated people who know what is going on during the event to help me pull them off I cannot make these events happen without the support of the commissions um as one person cannot successfully run large scale events by themselves I'm requesting your approval to designate our various commissions as team leaders for our events leading up to and on the day of the events this will ensure that everything runs smoothly and is a win for our commissions as the event will be an extension of what their commission is already passionate about and lastly um I've added a no uh funds required section to the events budget as we participate in several events throughout the year that do not require City funds but do impact City STA and staff time and resources I will need your approval to continue to pursue these events noting that they will not financially impact this year's budget so with these uh changes approved I can confidently pull off the proposed event lineup outlined in the budget that you have I know we have the drive motivation and resources needed to make next year's B uh events ones to look forward to but to make these events happen I need you to First approve this budget second agree to mobilize your commissions to help aid in City Event efforts and three sign off on our no events required list with these three things in place we'll be able to build connections make people excited to come to our city and if re residents feel proud to live here through our amazing City events um so please let me know if you have any questions about the funds needed to make the upcoming events list a reality um or the addition of the commissions thank you for your time and I look forward to working with you and your commissions more closely in the future any questions thanks for your presentation um a lot of great events um and really appreciate um you just jumping right in into all of them um I'm wondering kind of what the feedback was with um some of the commissions and um the um designated um events um and what what that conversation was like yeah so we haven't had it yet um this was something that I brought up to um the city manager that um when I was running some of these events in the summer for example the outdoor movie night um I was doing it alone and I couldn't be in two places at once and I desperately needed to um and so it was brought up that you know the commissions um would be a great source to bring in to help um run these events and so um going forward I'd like to come to each of your commission at the start of the year in January propose the the events exactly outline what is required or expected of them um and then really plan and get excited for what we have um going forward so the commissions feel like they're on board and have uh the opportunity to give their input but also are willing to say yes I will be there I appreciate the orientation component of it I think that's something that's been really missing from a lot of our um commission activities and so to have something kind of standardized um people are on board and understand um what is expected of them so um I appreciate you taking that approach um I'm also wondering um with those existing commissioners um you know sometimes they're uh they have their own expectations having had already come in with maybe it's the existing bylaws or whatever um how do you um navigate that with some of the Commissioners that may have some hesitations of these these asks yeah um I think that it's a conversation um and it's one that I'm actually really excited to have um I think that you know the commissions are groups of people that have already said yes we're committed to the city and we're passionate about these specific areas you know I'm not asking parks to be excited about art I'm asking the Parks Commission to be excited about Parks about getting people into green spaces and really enjoying what we have so I think that um framing it in a way that says hey you know this is already an extension of what you're doing it's just a different way to do it um and working with with the challenges when they come thanks I think you've done a fantastic job with your communic the communications you have through the city and what you've done with the city coming to the events representing everything taking the time away to do that uh I'm looking at some of these newer events that you're looking at and um I think these are fantastic you're going to get some push back they're going to say well we've tried that we've thought about that and as I'm speaking about it but I also see you and I've seen your energy since you've been brought on to the team I truly do believe that you will be able to have success with these with the type of communication that you continue to drive with the city thank you keep up good work thank you um great work I I got to watch you work um at the um Autumn Arts Festival so that uh TR truly couldn't be happier um two of the things I'd like to put on your radar um that that I was surprised um weren't on here it and I'm going to need some help because I don't remember the name of one of them um but a is crazy days and B what was the um the volunteers called that used to go around and do all the flower boxes on Main Street oh it's the Garden Club Green Thumb green yeah North St Paul Green yeah and if if you choose to bring either of those back um please let me know I'm happy to volunteer or do whatever I can to help that's great um I personally have not heard of these two events um if this is something that you're passionate about or interested in I'd love to hear more about what that looks like um obviously this is the 2025 budget so I don't obviously um yeah don't know if it's going to get put into this year but um i' would love to to hear about them no totally understand um you're hitting the ground running couldn't ask for more just two things to you know put put notes on look into does make a valid point with crazy days um I ran into some community members too and this is this coincides with the um Autumn that fall Roundup parade that time of year um that they just had big festival and it was something big in the city so a lot of the older residents I have been longer term residents I should say are very much well aware of this and I've asked why don't we have that anymore so something to put on your radar for next year for sure MH sounds good and I'm sure we could probably get Sue springborn um she's a gem she's a city historian she's awesome she' probably give you a little bit more insight she's on Park and rack um she's president of the History Center right did I say that right historical yeah so yeah wonderful well thank you for all the hard work appreciate it thank you for having me awesome job app thank you Ava uh if you have any more questions on anything on on these budgets hopefully you don't it's tough to follow that and that's why I went first uh but if you have any questions uh certainly we'll try to answer those we're all good oh no oh you know I do well I'm just curious as like we have discussed um well I've broughten up a couple times on the um Revenue component of the community center um in the past we've had different uh um people who have occupied it for different activities Etc it's um covered some of our expenses um and as you had mentioned we're kind of down to a situation where we don't have any any Revenue um but uh our residents are are clearly still paying for it if we have to transfer $20,000 um to cover that so I'm just kind of wondering like what is feasible for us to kind of recapture some of that because um that Revenue um because I'd hate to yeah miss out on between 100 and $150,000 um in there I'd be happy to jump in on that and actually I'd like to have you come up here Ron a little bit uh so part of the issue was some of the um equipment issues that we have in the building whether I mean clearly we have uh an elevator but you know if we even if we keep things on the first floor many of the issues that we had were the Heating units going out um you responding to these at 50 some degrees when they were trying to play volleyball in there don't we have several pumps that are also very expensive uh that were either on their last leg or just plane not working now that helps heat the building itself yes um right now well hi everyone hi hello um yeah there's a there are two Heat pumps that are in the ceilings that are out right now and we haven't repaired them we got by the cooling season we could get by with that it has more to do with the heat than the cooling um we're getting by now we're going to see how it holds out we we haven't stuck the money into them I believe one of them is $25,000 and I think one is $20,000 um we're going to see how they do if it's unoccupied uh the the HVAC contractor thinks we can get by without anything freezing but if it's occupied he said we probably have to are going to have to do something with those to make sure that it's comfortable or it'll keep up with the heating um that we need there um the gym floor there's some holes in the floors that would we have to repair that you know so that could be usable like I said the elevator I the elevator is out of service I mean we have it off right now and the to fix that it can be anywhere from $10,000 to $150,000 is with the range I mean it could be $10,000 for us to find out for sure what's wrong with it you know really what's wrong with it so um there are just a lot of things that we'd have to do just to make it habitable for people you know to to be in so and we haven't done it because we've just been kind of waiting to see where things are going to go with it so and the responsibility to anybody who would would PID money to rent it there to try to keep it up and if uh I don't know it was kind of the where do we stop and start I know a couple of you have mentioned about that we have these things that are issues um do we dump that money into it and do it um I'll take you guys' recommendation how is it that the library is in there and we're not fixing heat on the other side it's a totally separate system because that was an addition it's a totally separate system that's on there there's a separate system basically for the gym and then in that takes care of the gym area and then there's a boil there's multiple boilers in there that have these heat pumps in there and I'm not an expert on these but there's like booster heat pumps that are throughout that building and um in kind of some of the like the Fireside room or the the common areas out there not the gym that requires the boilers and the heat pumps and I know a storage area off the gym and the um offices up on the upper level are affected by these heat pumps that are out so the gym can be taken care of with the two units that are on the top of that the library is a standalone basically system for them that money that you put in now if something does go forward you don't get back correct so I don't know how sorry why is that because they don't reimburse you for the after the grant for the the bills now do they not correct before you receive it right so um I so my question I guess is like with all the assets that we have as a city like when there's a need do we make decisions not to U not to fix things often times like that's pretty common practice you would say cuz like I feel like this is a a Community Asset this the residents are still paying for it um but they're not really benefiting from it at all and it's just sitting there not benefiting our community even though it's it's highly desired there are people who would use the gym whatever so I guess my my question is if it's already an asset within the community within the city why why not care for it if it's a need right now why keep taking the can down the road and not fixing something so it continues to be broken and get broke more and more so then we just kick the library out at some point and say sorry we can't have you anymore can't the roof can't do this I mean at what point you shut the whole building down I mean that's not what we're doing here we want we all there was a majority vote that said let's move on with the feasibility study but we're not going to fix anything in the building that's needs fixing so we're g to have pipes freeze this winter I mean I don't think they said that because we're going to if we keep it down it's going no no and like I said it it's something where it can get by right now but if it's we're going to have to see when winter comes where that is going to be I and you know we have just been kind of following along to see what's going to happen and where things are going to go I mean it's not being utilized at all right now so um you know I it was like Hey if we're going to stick $50,000 into here I you know I talk with both Brian and Dan when you know this stuff happen happens and say Hey how do what do we want to do here how do we want to uh move forward with this so it's just been I mean yes we definitely keep up on stuff there's stuff that's gone bad on City Hall and on public works and the stuff is taken care of because it's being used on a day-to-day basis you know I come in here at City Hall and people are wearing gloves because you know a boiler went out it you know we fixed it as soon as as we could but it also I mean it comes back to you know with this year's budget with doing the facilities assessment you know I keep going to Dan and Brian and saying hey there's another $28,000 it's another $30,000 and this was money that was never set aside in the past and I don't I don't like to spend that money that's not budgeted for but I mean people need heat they need to be you know cool like I said the last council meeting uh the air conditioner was out up up on on the roof and we went up there and and and I put a new belt on there and just kind of figured it out and got got it going so I mean we take care of stuff I don't want I mean I don't think it's fair to say that we're not taking care of care of a building that people are use are using um there's just no one in there so I proceed with caution on spending money on that stuff when it goes out you know have a conversation and say hey what should we what what should we do here so yeah and I definitely appreciate all the work that you have done on that building um you've been on the roof in the middle of winter um when it's freezing cold just trying to patch the roof for the volleyball team so I know that you've certainly been working uh very hard to keep the squirrels out you know among a ton of other things um I think you know it's very understandable that um there would be hesitation around spending funds because there is hasn't been uh Ace practice of doing a whole lot of um maintenance around the community center period I think that's pretty understood over the history of of the community center and that's why it's in the condition it is in again though it comes down to uh why aren't we caring for our stuff because it's still our responsibility to care for it um even if it ends up the feasibility study is okay we have to sell the building it's not going to really work out um you know all these upgrades or whatever we have to do um that can be tacked on to a sale price as well so I mean again I just don't know um why why it couldn't be a benefit for the community when we're already paying for it up to this point there's been discussions both ways on whether or not this was going to move forward um so there are times said it was not definite that this was going to be something that we were going to move forward with um so it's moving forward with caution I guess to this point what would it take to for the gym floor is that um adhesive that's on the does that have to be scraped up then too because of the paths we' probably have to do something with that um adhesive is really on probably a third of the floor um the rest of the floor is just worn it it just worn from the the sport court type product that was on top of it um you know in that third of the floor that's got the adhesive on it it's been filled in there was walls in there there was like um flowable floor leveler that was put in there you know so there's there's some plywood that's in there for the different remodels that have been done on like I said a maybe a quarter to a third of that floor um that could be section off at that point you know not to be used as you know it's not a full basketball court just but it could be sectioned off if we wanted to do something you know like that to have some you know a 3/4 of the gym floor operational I guess but um I guess it would depend how we wanted to utilize it or what we were looking at you know for it so how would that look for our liability with insurance and things like that is there any issues with that um I would confirm that with Gary insurance and call them about it I mean for me I understand the direction that council member Wong is leaning um it's underutilized because it can't be utilized it's not in condition enough to um to for the for the building to be utilized we've had interest from outside sources look for um you know look to utilize the the gym facility Etc um so are you recommending that we set aside additional funding a lump dollar amount towards moving towards repairing what's there so that it can be utilized is that a my understanding you correctly yeah I think so I mean it's it's still being requested as a a resource in the community again um if it's least able someone else has a sport court whatever um then you know that again it's it's trying to cover our costs that we are again paying for nothing in return um not even many social benefits so um to me it's just a complete yeah we're just throwing money out the door is I would support additional funding be set aside against getting some of these repairs up up to date and making the building usable I don't know what those dollars look like but when you say resource do you mean talking for people to use it like how are we Staffing it what kind of resources are you trying what are you trying to what are you talking about as far as like people wanting to use like the meeting space or uh like gym space I think of it's very similarly um to like our park building for example you're talking Staffing we don't staff the park building though well we can't park we don't let them in the building unless somebody rents it this is completely different is are you talking about having residents be able to use it inside like go and play in the gym yep yeah people to use the use the space they can rent the space kind of this a similar Co dead rent out the you're talking more of a company to rent out not for residents to use that's what I'm trying to get I mean again that's uh something to you know explore as a model but I think yeah like the two options that would be easiest one is to lease it to somebody um or to you can have it kind of uh open on a calendar like we do our other buildings and people rent it out that way again it's it's just um how do we make sure that that this resource we have is cared for and it's it's used anything for myself I just by the you add that kind of money and what you're able to do with it I think we just need to understand what the RFP does so I we should leave it closed and I guess I I look at it too we leave $97,000 on the table by not having the building up to speed to be able to utilize the space so if it cost us 100 to get 97 we broke even and then we've got a building and and Equipment that's up up to speed where it should be um to talk about the expense and to not talk about the loss of Revenue is a disconnect so that would be my recommend I I don't know what the dollars would look like but I would certainly entertain further conversation about spending some money so you don't have to spend January on the roof and do some of those types of things to get it up and see if we can and until we have visibility study done until we determine what it is there's absolutely no reason if the few things aren't repaired we couldn't have a tenant back in that building I don't disagree we haven't correct me if wrong we haven't rented it out at all this year can't it's not easy right but we had revenue from last year with coko specifically they have a new facility so it's lost Revenue right now we can't because again stuff is up to par but like you just said you get up to par will maybe Break Even probably won't because then you have you know your electric all that cost going in there but then we can continue to rent it all right now until we really do figure out what's going to happen we'll pull we'll pull those numbers together we'll get a complete list um bring back to you thank you Dan while you're here I do have one question on a different topic unless anyone had anything more on that topic okay um the the money for the mcnight field the 650,000 had that come before the council or is that I I I wasn't sure where that was coming from it will be coming is part of the capital Improvement plan but it's incorporated into the budgets right now which nothing has been approved obviously and won't be approved until December so that's why um the next meeting will will'll look at the capital Improvement plan um and that's where your input your questions get finally if there's adjustments to that and I'll just use it since you brought up the mcnight field if the decision were not to support that and pull that out then the budget would be adjusted to reflect that um by the same thing is that because the CIP is kind of the driver we've heard on the community center um that there's some items that would need to be repaired um we should incorporate that into the CIP that you see in the next meeting um to be funded in 2025 and it's up to you to make the decision whether you want to move forward with that or not um but that's kind of how the how it would work um so it hasn't nothing's been approved and and you'll you'll see that with the CIP you would have seen the CIP much earlier it's we were waiting for both parks and uh recommission and more importantly for that facility assessment to get done which just got completed not even about little over a week ago um okay it just seemed like a big line item to have no discussion and all of a sudden just be in a budget yeah so you'll you'll see more of a discussion on the CIP itself um and again any decisions off of that everything else then gets adjusted accordingly on your your discussions anything else if not call for adjournment so moved so mov I don't know what second so move W Cole those in favor say I hi --------- ##VIDEO ID:GksuDElkdJY## e e e e e e e all right are we ready up here yeah all right 6:30 let's call the meeting order to do the Pledge of Allegiance please stand I pledge alleg to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible andice thank you roll call please council member Cole here council member schwe here council member Wong here council member nordby here mayor mongi here can I get a motion to adopt the agenda please so move so move council member schweer second second council member Cole all those in favor say I I I I all right all right thank you m next up a consent agenda item a October 1st 2024 Workshop minutes Item B October 1st 2024 city council meeting minutes item C General claims of 1, 15618 393 item D HRA claims of $ 32,43 624 item e resolution approving the 2025 scor Grand application item F resolution accepting donations for September of 2024 item G application for a temporary on sale liquor license for exempt permit for the North our Northstar Museum of scouting memorabilia Inc Saturday November 9th 2024 item H application for a charitable gambling permit to conduct excluded Bingo by the Knights of Columbus Council 4967 on November 23rd 2024 item I approved conditional use permit application for 2586 7th Avenue East item J approve purchase of class 202s electric meters uh item K Ramsey County roadway classification change resolution of support uh item L building permits for September 2024 item M approved labor contracts andus between the city of North St Paul and Teamsters public and law enforcement employees union local 320 which is the Public Works in electric and law enforcement labor Services local 211 which is Patrol and local 298 which is Sergeants thank you very much any council member want to pull anything I would like to pull item I all right anybody else not throw ey down there make that what d uh y all right can I get a motion to pass the consent agenda so moved so moved council member s second second council member Norby all those in favor say I I I thank you we have our three minutes open to the public we'll start with uh Dean Madison I said mat excuse me come on up address please welcome hi my name is Dean mat and I live at 2096 mcnight Road it's a Southeast Corner 7th Avenue mcnight Road um we got a problem with the the big trucks coming down mcnight Road from the project up there on ler mcnight they're skidding down the road they're running their Jake breakes and so on so forth and there's been a problem with people running the red lights at 7th mcnight there's been loud Vehicles not only motorcycles but all kinds of has allowed vehicles at all hours of the night I've contacted the police department three separate times nothing's been done that I can notice but I just think somebody should be able to uh uh Patrol that a little better because somebody's going to get her or get killed okay see manre will take note of that yes we will all right appreciate you thank you thank you for coming John schul John schul 2750 Chisum Avenue I'll take uh POS or a statement that I agree with that I came from somewhere on mcnight man those big trucks that are on there holy cow you've all seen this has been provided to you in various emails this was just one item that I pulled off it's not just myself that works on this there's a member of our group that loves doing data requests and then shows it to us but this one got me I just couldn't believe it this is a request for a credit card purchase in the form say says right on the top $2,000 no more than $2,000 and you can see what the request was for 26932 now I've attended a lot of meetings here that have dealt with the problem with the credit cards that the uh office of state auditor issued a letter in May of 19 or 2023 that you didn't get to until sometime in July to take it up or was it August God knows what the length of time it was that the uh you took interest in seeing what it was all about but this one is just gross a $2,000 limitation on the form and it says that there's going to be a purchase of $2,600 and it's for the LMC annual conference for Zoom what are we doing with the leag of Minnesota City uh you know this was part of your uh analysis of what's going on I'll uh council member nney nordby asked do we have any responsibilities in this and the uh City attorney said nope just go ahead and do whatever sign off who cares does anyone care thank you all right next anybody else no all right next up is a special hearing um special assessment hearing for unpaid bills and authorizing the city of North St Paul to certified the County's auditor's office off all unpaid fees did you want to talk to that at all Dan Finance director Winnick good evening mayor um council members um this is the annual process uh to uh certify onto the property tax system for any unpaid bills they include the water sewer garbage does not include our electric um if you remember we had a a there was an item for holding of the public hearing um by Statute we have to send out letters which we've done to all of the res ents um that um are identified underneath this um they have time um to contact us to make you know payment for it even after this public hearing they have 30 days um to pay if uh there's even part of the statute that if they were to um dispute it um that there's avenues for them to do that too but at the end of 30 days whatever hasn't been paid we will certify and it'll be on uh the property taxes that are paid in 2025 um there's three resolutions that are here um one for uh North St Paul properties one for Maplewood properties and then there's one uh for it contains one North St Paul property that's actually built by the city of Oakdale um for water um and so uh they have given that to us because we're in Ramsey County we can certifi to Ramsey County they're in Washington County so that's why we end up having that one um right now the totals of all of those items is a little over $26,000 without any interest or fees and again if they pay it in the next 30 days there will be no interest and fees um after that point in time then um there's interest that'll um be applied um to that 6% for the solid waste and 10% for all of the other um fees so need to have a city Council take action um to pass these resolutions and again um they have 30 days to pay at the end of that point then we will certify that amount to Ramsey County and be put onto their property taxes and in the last packet when we had the public hearing had put together this was um asked a few years ago so we did it last year we did it this year kind of given some sort of historical information I think actually council member Wong had asked for for this this to kind of look at what kind of the dollar amounts um that have been certified or or been put out there in public Hearing in the past uh there there was an uptick in 2023 um prior to that it was um you know about 16,000 22,000 and 21 a little over 15 and 22 last year it ticked up to 31,000 this year we were at 299 to start the process um we're at 26,000 now um and then we do anticipate that it goes it and it has it goes down um before the 30 days are up and that we actually certify it um there actually are some property owners that um like it just to go on their property tax bill and then they end up paying it um but um yeah so um again need to have uh the three resolutions um and again we'll certify the exact amount that's owed um after the 30 days expire any questions with that no no any questions any do we have to do each one individually you have to open it up to the public correct so yeah yeah you have to open it up to the public y there's any public comments on uh 6:42 is open up to the public any comments about this if not we will close the public part of it at 642 643 give a minute thank you all right now we need to do the votes on it um yes on the that there's three resolutions would you read the first one I'll just read the front top to it um so it is um it is a resolution approving assessment to properties for unpaid water Wastewater Environmental uity uh street lights Solid Waste and Recycling for North St Paul properties all right can I get a motion on this please so move so move council member Wong second second second council member Norby all those in favor say I I I uh the second resolution is a resolution approving assessments du properties for unpaid water Wastewater environmental utility and recycling for Maplewood properties so moved thank so moved by council member Cole second second council member Wong all those in favor say I I I and the third is a resolution approving assessment to properties for unpaid water Wastewater environmental utility street lights Solid Waste and Recycling for North St Paul properties build by the city of Oakdale can I have a motion please so move council member swe second second council member Norby switched up a little bit that's good all those in favor say I hi hi thank you on the ball that's right trying to screw me up with the names once again thank you thank you did I I heard all right I didn't say sh forgot the SH in your name so why we SH now all right next all right uh move on to the city business action items and recommendations first item up is discuss Community Center feasibility study consultant so we posted for a feasibility study um we ended up getting six um proposals back from uh contractors so we formed a committee internal to the city of five people and uh we created a list to um base that on uh what their scores were for the criteria um so we based it on consulting firm and key project staff experience proven track record in completing similar projects uh project approach to comp or to completing the project Consultants familiarity with uh recreation facility programming and architecture uh proposed project schedule and proposed consultant cost um so we did score these with that group uh the riew of the committee came up with uh several key staff to review the proposals uh staff committee met to discuss the findings and share the overall score results the Review Committee discussed the following items when scoring the propos community outreach and engagement strategies uh overall programming and operational costs does the consultant have the ability to carry out the defined scope of the services what expertise does the consultant have in similar industry areas public versus private uh has the proposed Consulting team worked together in previous projects in similar industry um and after to discussion and scoring City staff reviewed the committee recommendations and the to the city council as being eapc Architects um so City staff is looking for direction from Council to proceed with creating a feasibility study agreementcontract with them U with the selected consultant final agreement will come back to the city council for formal approval at a future meeting date can you speak to some of the um uh uh different features or um type of work that you appreciated about this um firm compared to the others why did it stand out um they were pretty close between that firm and one other firm but overall um you know it was their layout their experience with um other actually recreational programs um and Community uh centers um they had a pretty in-depth approach to the projects um and keeping staff up to date as they're working their way through that process um just good round experience for something like this specifically so great thank you yeah um and just for my own understanding of sorry a vote today means that you contact this company you negotiate all the details of the contract with them and then that contract is brought back for us is that an statement corre that's correct yes thank you and when do you suspect that contract to be ready so we're going to get together back with the committee that we put together um and reach out to see if they have any other specific questions that maybe to set up an interview with them and bring in a representative from that company and then um talk details and make sure that uh they're covering areas that the city finds important as well um for me I'm a little concerned of $90,000 we're looking at here just under correct just under $90,000 which is what a one and a quarter per would be considered our levy on that type of thing so and what was the range so we can hear it from the range of these different ones the six uh anywhere from 28 to 172 was the range of the six different proposals it's quite the range very much so I just my concern is that the price of $90,000 seems to be quite steep so looking for a recommendation for approval of working on pulling that contract together to bring back to you so moved it's all moved Council member Wong second second council member schweer all those in favor say I I I against nay all right next item up is Item B the 2024 crack seal project approved change order number one city engineer Morgan Dolly here just discuss thank you Mr Mayor members of the council um as has been done before this is uh the next two items on your agenda uh go together so if it's pleases uh Council I'll run through both of them and you can have two separate considerations for action on each of them uh this is pertaining to the 2024 crack sealing project so just regular Street Maintenance that we do every two to three years uh on different roadways um the first item under our consideration is a change order uh to increase the contract amount to include some additional work that Public Works wanted to include in the project and identified separate uh funding for in terms of unspent uh Street Maintenance dollars uh pretty much the contractor did all of the streets as a part of the project and uh we were right on the button in terms of the quantities and the amount and so they finished all the street work actually went a little bit over but they agreed to tow the line to the contract amount uh but Public Works um wanted to have a look at the Public Works parking lot so that area of the yard there um could have been included but was not originally intended as a recipient for crack ceiling however doing it now um would be able to potentially uh secure the pricing in this particular contract as opposed to waiting for future years uh so looking for the ability for the contractor to complete that work with the bid prices and we negotiated no additional mobilization charges it was a favorable opportunity to get that additional work done at the same time right and so change order number one is in the amount of uh 4 $ 1,121 184 to cover that additional uh square footage area within the Public Works parking lot yard uh that ceiling of the cracks is something that will be good for another three years I don't remember the last time it was done but we help uh lengthen the lifespan of that parking lot before any sort of like significant major maintenance is needed on the parking lot uh pavement um so again that's your first uh consideration is approving change order number one and then uh following that is just approval of uh pay vulture number five and I think it's five and final so it's a just one and done or I'm sorry number one and final so it's just one payment and a final uh to cover again all of the street work that was done is originally conceived plus the addition of that uh additional parking lot work so with that uh I will stand for any questions the council might have prior to considering both of those items and the second item of the two is a resol ution in keeping with kind of standard practice we do uh approve final payments by resolution sounds good any questions anyone if not can I get a motion for the first one to approve the change order for number one so move so move council member schweer second second council member Norby all those in favor say I I thank you very much number two pay approve the final voucher and final payment okay have a motion so moved so moved counc member Norby second second council member Cole all those in favor say hi hi thank you thank you Mr Mayor appreciate your time all right and item D brought down from consent and consent agenda for Approved conditional use permit application for 2586 7th Avenue East um I am the one that pulled this um so I'd like to start out with um I pulled it but I strongly recommend everyone approve it I did not pull this because I am not in favor of it I I think um it is my intention to vote Yes and make the motion to approve this um the reason I pulled this is because this highlighted um in in my two years here some of the more complaints I've gotten as a city council member that the businesses along main seat Street um can somewhat cause grumblings from the residents near them now um I they also bought house right next to commercial property so in cases like this you have building owners and residents doing everything by the book doing everything right and coming ask for a uh permit but it still is creating a little bit of friction we'll say with with the local residents and um there there's nothing more that the building owners or residents of those buildings can do um so I because of the thought process I just wanted to pull it and bring it to your attention and my thought is maybe in the future we could have a workshop um to discuss residential parking near the downtown area to see if there was something we could do to alleviate some of the friction when we have building owners and residents um doing everything by the book and and everything that we ask of them and more so um just talk about it like I say as a council member over the two years this is probably one of the top complaints I've gotten for the people that are by or whole downtown um the amount of commercial proper parking that is happening in front of their residents so like I say um I'm going to make a motion to approve this um just wanted to bring it to your attention and thought that this might be a good Catalyst for a future Workshop to talk about um the residential Park in buyer downtown thank you I know we did a parking study two years ago whenever I started and we counted up like was at 700 and some spots in public parking so I think people are just used to just not wanting to walk and move so if we can you know that's the type of thing I think if we'd get out there more we have a lot across the street from that samberg's we have the lot behind it we got the big lot behind K&J so I think we do have plenty of parking it's just we have to make sure people know and we can have respect towards the res I think that would help indeed okay all right can I get a motion for this council member schweer second council member Norby all those in favor say I I I thank you all right next up is reports of city manager and departments uh start off with uh our electric director just welcomed their second new baby so he's off next couple weeks with the new Avery so beautiful little child that he has there got some pictures which is great um also we had two of our linemen that responded to the mutual Aid request down in GMI Florida they did go down there and help um there was uh so there were 14 utilities with 28 um people from Minnesota that went down there but it went from 22 different states they had over 700 Public Utilities that responded um and they had 40 to 50,000 line Personnel down there that went down to help um so CMI is kind of in the middle of the State uh the storm did kind of wobble a bit right before they made landfall and it went South further so they didn't get hit as hard as they thought they were going to get they worked for a day there and then uh requested help for the or Orlando area and within two days they got back what they needed to do and they hit the road and came back so then they just got back this afternoon so uh I think they're taking a day to rest they've been pretty busy well deserved yeah they did a great job seen one of their pictures of a nice alligator in the middle of a pond where they were working by so um aa's been busy with uh website update uh just starting that process now about every couple of years that they do that so expect more to come when you people come to our website um we also have a candidate Forum coming up on October 24th at 6 p.m. at the legion if anybody's interested in seeing the new candidate out there um Community Development they are working on fee schedule update um and also working on a new residential guide for people coming to the city maybe having a packet together for things to expect phone numbers to have um so we used to have that once upon a time that was a while ago but putting that together um finances working hard with all the budget stuff of course uh working with the department heads getting together sip numbers and now pulling together all the facility assessments numbers um electric has been busy with their underground they have kind of much finished up the Hazel area over in Maplewood Jennifer Lane area that was a big project for him um they'll be jumping over to Delaware and 17th getting the power uh all set in place for the new duplexes that are going in over there um they also started digging in for lights up at Casey lake so we'll be adding that soon hopefully have that lit up before the winter sets in you can't walk around the lake in your jammies anymore ccil member Cole we'll see you hate it when that happens uh as part of sip funding electric has uh picked up uh their one of the bucket trucks and also a generator today that came in so that's good for them uh Public Works been busy with hydrant flushing they're about 3/4 of the way done through the city uh pavement preservation with uh 6 Street Charles and Eldridge is underway they've got the first layer down they're raising the irons and they'll get to second layer probably next week um for out of the six hydrants that uh they're replacing right now is done um and the EAC grant money is complete now they have they've ground out the stumps and planted the new trees for the city part of it so they had was it 90 Boulevard trees that were removed per that grant that was really great uh PD there uh newest officer that they brought on board uh is now fully trained in and can be out on his own now um they have two more starting um these will be not laterals but they're new PD Officers coming in starting the 28th so they'll be in the academy for the first two weeks and then starting to work out in the field um they've been busy also working with the career days around uh Hanah and Tech had one and they sent over four officers and had some good response to that and people making phone calls and getting a hold of them um fire had two Captain positions that they just filled for the pay on call um they got three new applicants for the fire personnel and they just finished up fire prevention week last week by visiting all the schools and then at the second council meeting in November we'll have the poster contest yeah that's always fun and that's all I have thank you very much we'll take a lot of pictures for you so you can see the I know aren't they that's for sure cut yes also Orby um the last Planning Commission we had uh we just voted on that uh the conditional use permit for the uh property on 7th and the next Planning Commission will be November 7 thank you very much council member Wong um the last meeting the group kind of was wrapping up some of their projects and um I think they're trying to get one more utility box wrap before the end of the year um and then um they're yeah going to meet uh see I think they're taking a little bit of like rest now somewhat um but I think the next meeting will be the first Wednesday of November which is November 6th here at 6:30 in the chambers thank you very much Cil M I don't have anything for W the meeting is next Wednesday here in council chambers okay member Cole the October 8A meeting was cancelled uh so we look forward to everyone on November the 12th here in Council of Chambers 4 o' nice thank you very much General business council member Norby um the next uh city council meeting would be uh November 5th but because that's voting day it is not happening that day and I just encourage everyone to go out and vote thank you council member Wong like the way I stopped there I just B did it well done thank you um let's see I attended the um Community input session at the um Casey Lake Park with HJ on Thursday I think it was one of two but talking to some of the Commissioners and they said that like turnout was really good particularly on the first night so um it sounds like they're getting a lot of good feedback from from the public so um it was it was good to see people out there um and putting their stickers on there um and voting so um and I think other than that I don't have anything okay thank you very much anything I don't have anything remember Co have nothing tonight nothing tonight all right it's five weeks until we're back here I know yes um for us we had the booya that was there unfortunately I was at an event so I called him up and asked him if he could grab me a couple to goers containers and he said they were all sold out so that it was the mixed emotions I was glad that they sold out but I wasn't glad because I didn't get any so that was uh that's when I called Jason fire our fire chief Jason um I met um Brian and I met with the school board superintendant so the superintendent and the mayors of with was Maplewood Oakdale and myself there so we talked about the school year um starting off so far they said the school year started off pretty well so everything is is going going along well so she said they're um able to uh meet the expectations that they were doing there it's uh it's been smooth so it's been very nice so she appreciated that um we did get into the discussion about fields and we got a discussion about the community center as well and I asked her about you know the community center and um there they don't want to partner with us because um I asked that question be able to use it every once in a while was something that she mentioned but uh we talked about partnership and uh they don't have a need for that right now as far as how that goes maybe every once in a while type of thing would be all they would need so we discuss that plus the fields and everything else so anything I missed as far as the what we talked about just a good chance to get together yeah you're puty talk about concerns and Direction they're moving so it was just a good meeting it's a real good meeting they um all of us together all the all the um administrators managers plus the the Mayors so it was a good it was good good to get together be able to start off the school year we're going to do that in the spring again we're trying to get back to the twice a year so that went well if there's nothing else I encourage what council member Norby said get everybody out to vote and it's it's coming quick and uh nothing else called for adjournment so move so move council member Wong second second council member Cole all those in favor say I hi I made it through a meeting woohoo