##VIDEO ID:JLW_L2ujMTk## [Music] call the meeting to order all rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all [Music] roll call all members are present approval of the agenda is there any changes to the agenda council do I have a motion to approve the agenda as presented motion to approve motion by Joe second by Diane call the question all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed motion carries five in favor none against approval of the minutes of the November 20th 2024 regular meeting is there any questions or Corrections or any clarification needed within those minutes hearing nothing do I have a motion to approve the minutes of the November 2 20th meeting motion to approve motion by Heidi do I have a second a second second by Diane call the question all those in favor favor signify by saying I I oppose motion carries five in favor none against this now brings us to our public open forum is there anyone that would like to speak to the council is there anyone that would like to speak to the councel call a third time is there anyone that would like to speak to the council seeing no one our public open forum is now closed we'll then move on to public hearings we will recess the regular council meeting and enter into our public hearing we have one public hearing before us this evening in accordance with the official mailed and public notice in the matter of proposed budget and Levy for 2025 it is Our intention that everyone has the opportunity to be heard if you wish to speak please sign in on the signup sheet at the back of the room procedure is as follows presentation by staff followed by questions of Staff then public input raise your hand when recognized by the mayor approach the podium and state your name and address for the record State your comments and position no one will be allowed to speak a second time until everyone has had a chance to be heard first we will hear questions for clarification second public in favor of the proposal third public speaking against the proposal after everyone who wishes to speak has had the opportunity to be heard the hearing will be closed after closure of the public hearing the council will deliberate and take action as appropriate members of the audience do not participate in the council's discussion unless a majority of the council concedes to hear additional information or questions the hearing is now in session Vick good evening so as you know this is the public meeting for the presentation of the budget for 2025 and uh this as you said will give the public an opportunity to be heard and to ask any questions so first I'm going to go through a summary of the budget I'm not going to go through all 63 pages of it I'm just going to break it into sections on your in budget worksheet or packet that you got on the page that's called 2025 budget revenue and expense comparison that's the that's the groupings that I'm going to address tonight A Part One is the general fund which is the general operations of the city including police fire General Administration Planning and Zoning streets parks and related operations there under the general purview of General government this budget saw an operational increase over the prior year of 4.56% factors of play into fluctuations in the general fund include wages Insurance utilities and other General operational expenses as you know our wages are Set uh the union contracts were in the second year of a three-year contract and and so then we just had to plug those numbers in insurance we kind of at the mercy of the insurance companies although we did go out to bids and we're were favorable in there as well uh part two of the of the budget is the special Revenue fund section this includes the library the fire department the Eda the airport ambulance Senior Center and Hospital fund as well as some Grant funds storm water utility sales tax so those are kind of more individualized that are not General operations of the city but individ ized departments those funds remained fairly consistent with a few exceptions which are related to Capital Improvements because this year we are purchasing an ambulance in 2025 we had to order that in 2023 it will be here in 2025 and so there was an increase there but then we had a reduction in the storm Water Utility Fund because we are not doing a project which this last year we did that project at the truck stop so this actually has an overall decrease in expenses in the special Revenue fund of 7.67% uh part three is the Tiff District funds there's three open Tiff districts and one closed District in the city this funding is in funding is essentially a pass through the total budget saw an increase in Tiff payments to be paid due to the completion of a tiff project so as those taxes come in they get returned to the developer um however the overall Tiff funds reduced because of the completion of a project so um it's not a real fair comparison on the Tiff because of that completion of a project resulted in a huge reduction of 89% so and then part four is debt total debt is down by 1% in 2025 due to one Bond dropping off but you can expect an increase in future years due to the new Bond coming online for 2025 so although we don't have aren't projecting an increase this year there will be an increase for 2026 when we start paying off that new Bond and then the final section is capital projects and the total of capital projects saw a large increase due to the city taking on the 2025 merch and Pine Street reconstruction along with a box hanger project at the airport and then the anticipated building Improvement project that we're talking about tonight capital projects see the biggest swings every year due to planning projects in one year and then actually building them out in the following year or two the anticipated project expense increase is $8.9 million due to plan projects that will be funded through a bond issue grant funding and utility so the grand total for all expenses for 2025 is $1,769 for9 97 so that is a very significant increase simply because of that large project that we're going to take on the proposed budget however to support it is 2.68 4 million um which is broken down 1.96 n731 for the general fund 1885 for special revenue and 526,000 for Debt Service this is the levy adopted at the preliminary budget this is an increase of 7% in the levy over the prior year as you know everyone % is about 25,000 and some change to the city when put against our tax capacity the other thing that I just wanted to point out would be on the page prior to that page in your budget um you always like to see where does sock Center fall in the tax rate trends compared to other cities we're still right in the middle with uh the lowest tax rate St Anthony and the highest tax rate in the county at weight Park and we fall of those 30 right at number 16 and then also I have the County city and school rates and then the city's rate all the way back to 2006 so you can kind of see the trend um we're kind of holding our own as far as the tax rate that gets applied it's just that it is more money that we're leving simply because of growth that we see in the city everybody was given their property tax notice and what it specifically meant to their particular parcel that's a com It's a combination of our increase in Levy the school the county the water shed and also any increase or decrease in the value of their property all of those things factor into their rate so um do anybody have any questions regarding the specific budget numbers that I gave to you tonight questions yes not good and I'll open it up to the public is there anyone here that wants has questions needs clarification or want wants to vote in favor or against the proposal the budget presentation is there anyone that needs clarification wants to speak in favor or against the budget proposal call a third time is there anyone that needs clarification wants to speak in favor speak against the budget proposal Council have any last minute questions comments no okay then our public hearing is now closed we will reconvene our regular Council me meeting go into reports Eda report so the Eda met today in regular session at noon now it's a regularly scheduled meeting a couple of things on the agenda they discuss the progress of the Quick Trip property phase one is complete the closing is honor before February 1st of 2025 so we still have some time to pull that together as well as continuing to work with with Tractor Supply uh that's the property next to Walmart there's some some property line to determine exactly where their property line is going to go and then also some discussion about the roadway that's going to go in there um we also reviewed a potential small City development program grant for residential rehab for low and moderate income housing this would actually be a 2026 funding but people in that in that category would be able to get grant money to to do code deficiency of their house insulation Windows roofs those types of things same type of Grant we did back in 2006 and 7 this would just extend it Citywide versus in the specific area we also looked at the Brownfield grants um that's a grant opportunity that's out right now at the state that um to R to redevelop property with possible soils issues there's a lot of different kinds of businesses that have soils issues it's not just gas stations and dry cleaners and Photo Labs there's other kinds of businesses that uh impact the soil and so we're looking at what potential development opportunities we have where this grant would help them and and then we also discussed a potential housing Tiff project for main streer Apartments phase three and so that would be north of the existing apartment uh we're discussing with them a 24 unit project up there so it would build out the rest of theirs and then also we uh looked at the lot sale progress at author's Edition we have nine of the 19 lots that are sold uh we have no action for the council tonight from the Eda questions comments okay Park board report uh the park board met in regular session Tuesday December 3rd which was last night uh they received their annual report or their monthly reports from public works and then the campground activity uh they also discussed briefly the tower viiew ball Field improvements that is ongoing working with the baseball association and the school of improvements to those B baseball fields they did make a recommendation on the fee schedule for the camper cabins and the council will be adopting the fee schedule at the next meeting but this was their last meeting and so they did make a recommendation to that um they discussed a little bit the potential improvements by the freedom Rock uh they reviewed the Conservation Park Shoreline uh the Conservation Club has in uh approached us about what can be done to the Shoreline at Conservation Park to make it more accessible to fishing and then also they'll be working on the recommendation for trail and improvements for 2025 so we have nothing for tonight's meeting their recommendation will be at the next meeting okay questions concerns okay then we'll move on to our action item 7A approve resolution 2024-25 Levy so this Levy that I'm presenting tonight is the levy that you adopted on September 4th so I brought that Levy forward as I said in the in the uh public ing the general fund 1,969 731 special Revenue funds 188,00 and Debt Service funds 526,000 for a total 2025 Levy of 2,684 231 and that's in front of you as resolution 2024-the resolution number 2024 4- 94 motion to approve I'll second motion by Heidi second by Diane call the question all those in favor signify by saying I I oppos motion carries five in favor none against 7B approve resolution 2024-25 budget um I won't go through all the individual line items but you have them in front of you it's for the general fund the special Revenue fund the TI fund The Debt Service funds and the project funds the one thing that is not on there that was the last minute ad was the 2025 box hanger so that's actually $1 million higher so the total all funds and expenses is is 8,769 49761 and that is resolution 2020 4- 95 questions comments do I have a motion to approve resolution 202495 I'll make the motion to approve motion by shallon do I have a second I second Joel Second by Joel call the question all those in favor signify with saying I I opposed motion carries five in favor none against 7 C approve resolution 2024-the Roofing so the replacement of the membrane roof that's the flat roofs at City Hall and the Civic Arena have been on the planning stages with preliminary estimates obtained and we wrote the specifications the city council approved the specifications and authorized that bids be sought at its October 2nd 2024 meeting bids were advertised on the city website City Facebook the sock Herald and the Commerce and finance magazine bids were publicly opened and tabulated on November 13th and the bid included two options one was to replace the existing ballast roof with which is with rocks with an option to upgrade to an adhered roof option the benefit of the adhered roof over the ballast roof is the roof will last additional 7 to 10 years along with eliminating the weight of the rocks on the roofs of the structures so you have two sections in your in your report the ballast options uh go all the way from 303,000 to 801,000 and the adhered option goes from 370,000 to 810,000 so you have all of the bids in front of you there uh we are recommending that we proceed with the adhered option uh for the two reasons of the weight reduction and the roof Lifeline or lifetime uh that we would get from those roofs so what we have in front of you is resolution 20249 six awarding the bid to the membrane roof project uh for the adhered option to buttweiler doal for 370,000 370 questions concerns I think for the difference between the the 370 for the adhered versus the 303 for the ballast option and the lowest bids it's worth the the 10 years for you know less than $10,000 a year of of life to extend it any other comments I think Heidi said what I was feeling as well okay do I have a motion to approve resolution 2024-the option I'll make a motion to go with the low bit on the adhered option okay I'll second Shon seconded by Heidi call the question all those in favor signify by saying I I oppos extensions motion carries five in favor none against 7D approv resolution 202 24-96 awarding the bid for the shingled Roofing so uh the replacement of the shingle grff which is the main section of City Hall plus the hose Tower and a couple other little ancillary areas of City Hall uh that had been in the planning stages stages and preliminary estimates were obtained and specifications written the city council approved those on October 2nd we advertised on the city website the Facebook and the sock Herald as well as sending out um requests to all the people that we knew in the area that did that type of a project we received five bids for the project all the way from $49,000 750 up to 84,500 and we are recommending that the city proceed with a low bid that's in front of you resolution 22497 to St Rose Al Lumber for $ 49,7 questions concerns do I have a motion to approve resolution 2024-25 call the question all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed motion carries five in favor none against 7e approve resolution 20249864 website Facebook the heral and then the finance and commerce magazine uh we did have options in there one was for a natural gas unit for efficiency and also with a control unit that the computer to Monitor and control various areas of the building which is our preferred method because then you can instead of one size fits all for the whole building you can turn certain areas down especially with having the police department in here and the building occupied different hours of the day that'll give us better control um so that is the option that we were looking at uh we had five biders for the project and they went all the way from 241 683 up to 394 545 and so we're looking at awarding the bid to ellingson's ellingson's plumbing and heating for 241 683 and that is the option with natural gas and with a computerized control and that's resolution 20249 questions comments I'm kind of concerned about Ellingson I had them put in furnace for me and uh it had a cracked heat exchanger and the guy missed it entirely I had to have somebody else come in and do the job over I not sure their quality is there and I filed a complaint with a Better Business Bureau when I did it I don't know maybe they've changed maybe they've got new people I have no idea okay do we have I am sure this the the bid included some sort of a warranty on yes they all come with warranty work in performance bond right you'll need it okay so we'll make sure that we have the warranty in place okay thank you any other questions or comments I think the natural gas you know makes sense you know those part of the conversation we went to bid and then uh I am familiar with this computerize control uh unit we see something similar with what we have um at my employer and so and we actually work with Ellingson on that and so I'm familiar with that software and we've been successful in that okay any other comments do I have a motion to approve resolution 202 24-9 motion to approve motion by Joel do we have second I'll second Heidi Heidi I'll second you two fighting I okay second by Heidi call the question all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed exensions motion carries five in favor none against 7 F approve resolution 2024-the purchase of an 800 mahz radio so the city ambulances each have an 800 megahertz radio with each rig which are actually quite dated uh one of the units has failed and so we reached out to granard electronics who give who can give us the state pricing on that and they they gave us a bid for 5,968 so we're looking to approve resolution 202499 authorizing the purchase of that radio questions concerns this is for all of the this is for one oh this is for one are the other ones just as old as the one that failed uh yeah we'll be working on that okay this one failed so we need to get that one taken okay how soon can how soon is it GNA how soon will it be here okay there you go 30 days okay hold him to it yeah um any other questions or comments do I have a motion to approve resolution 2024-25 in favor none against 7g approve resolution 2024-the purchase of power cot so if you recall in November of 2023 we authorized the placement of an order for a 2025 ambulance it is scheduled to come in 2025 in the window of June to December so we kind of have a a window of opportunity there uh so that is in the in place but then as you know we do have power Cuts in there so we're looking for the new power cut for that as well and so they went out for bids and they went to PSV Premier specialty vehicles and lifeline and after trade Lifeline has the low bid of $6,250 so we're looking to approve resolution 20241 100 authorizing the purchase of that power Cod questions are they both the same cot are they both the same cot that we're getting for that price they both a the striker cut yeah stri cut okay any other questions do I have a motion to approve resolution 202 24-100 I make a motion motion by Diane do I have second second by Heidi call the question all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed motion carries five in favor none against 7h approve advancement of EMT um Kathy stford ambulance director has submitted a request to advance Jackie endorf to emtb level two and her her comments are effective December 19th I would like to recommend Jackie asendorf be promoted from emtb level one to emtb level two for the sock Center Ambulance Service along with the pay increase according to the city's pay policy Jackie started with her crew on December 19th 2019 she continues to stay active on the crew taking call and backup and as you know our ambulance crew has a fiveyear you know your fiveyear at this pay rate then you advance to the next pay rate so she's at that fiveyear window so we're looking to approve the advancement of Jackie endorf to emtb level two effective December 19th 2024 comment concerns otherwise I'm looking for a motion motion to approve the advancement make a motion to approve motion by Diane do I have a second I'll second second by Joel call the question all those in favor signify by say and I opposed motion carries five in favor none against unfinished business building improvements so this was the building improvements that you just went through I feel like we were kind of really going to town there on a yeah spending money but anyway with that with that project and those bids out there uh then then there's some other potential projects that could be incorporated into the same bond issue uh this Total Bond that we just came out to had a total uh of 734 633 that factors in permits contingency and the transfering of some arpa money so that was and so we identified some additional projects uh you typically if you're going to bond to make it worth the money to bond you get a little bit close to the million than the 750 we just kind of identified some projects that might be considered one would be the library Windows those original windows are from 1902 for the last 10 years we've been wrestling with how to get those windows replaced yeah um there is a federal mandate that we have to have controlled access door system in the PD you know that might be something we want to look at uh there's also the flooring in the PD and then um there's a membrane roof at the senior center there's a carpet in this building there things related to the specific building that we could include I'm not asking you to make a decision tonight I just wanted to put it on your radar that maybe these are some things we could look at if there's something you think we could then we would get a little bit more specific on what those costs might be um I'm not necessarily advocating for all of it I just kind of put it in here kind of in the order that we kind of see as importance and uh you kind of take that and noodle it around and and we'll be in we'll be in touch to maybe at the next meeting to talk a little bit more in depth about what that might look like so I have no action on that tonight just kind of getting in front of you any qu comments or anything on this I guess my first in incl inclination when you said the library windows that you're right I feel like that's been discussed for ever ever yeah right whatever so I oh sorry go ahead Joe I was going to say I would wonder if um these uh PD controlled access doors if it's going to be a federal mandate I would wonder if there would maybe eventually be some grants with that that might just for so much for that then I know one thing with the PD flooring that definitely is breaking up and not good yeah um Senior Center membrane roof it's you know it's about the same as what city hall in the hockey arena um and Main an upper level carpet it's original yeah it's been there for 20 years we kind of asked a lot for that so I think a big part of this too is the fact that we're we're going to be bonding uh we we earmarked 1.2 million even if we did all these we're at a million dollars um we know nothing gets cheaper as we we delay and we wait um gives us an opportunity to get this done you know now versus waiting for increased costs or borrowing costs or whatever may be or we just never get around to doing it um now again whether we decide to take action on it at any point that's that's for a later discussion but think I think it's worth exploring these things and uh you know the library Windows obviously that's right kind of a big deal when you got what do we got 22 year old windows yeah so one of the things is is if we add these on to the bond from what the projects we're doing now it might help us get a better rate right when we go off for Bond yes okay so I know that she's asking us just for consideration but I've been hear and a lot positive I'm just going to make the motion that we add those five into it I agree and how about I get some um a little bit better numbers too yeah before you make a final so do we want to wait on that and maybe get some numbers at our next meeting and then we can can if you you know we're not going out to bond until when for the other project April April yeah so we got a little time but I definitely think we should need we should look at all five of them I yeah General consent and I'll resend my motion that way it's not on record okay any other questions or comments we have no new business we have the consent agenda we have a schedule of claims unpaid claims of $ 64,65 42 cents for a total of the same we have uh resolution number 2024-25 from the men's card playing group to be allocated to the senior center $200 from Janette and Vern feffer to be allocated to the police department $2500 from Walmart Shop with a cop to be allocated to the police department $100 from First Lutheran Church to be allocated to the police department uh Sod at a value of $368 from upus sod and Landscaping to be allocated to the fire department Memorial and donation on a repair of the real $300 from Center AO Incorporated to be allocated to the fire department and on behalf of the council and City I want to thank those groups and people for their donations uh we have Gam application for exempt permit requests from the sock Center Alliance club for a raffle on February 26 2025 at the sock Center American Legion is there any questions or concerns about the consent agenda do I have a motion to approve the consent calendar motion to I'll second motion by Joel Second by Diane call the question all those in favor signify with say and I I I oppos motion carries five in favor none against informational I have nothing first meeting of the Year first meeting is January is a th first meeting in January is a Thursday January 2nd th oh y okay because the first is on a Wednesday so everyone has that that brings us to the end of our agenda do I have a motion to adjourn I'll make a motion to adjourn motion by Sean seconded by Diane call the question all those in favor signify by saying I I oppose motion carries five in favor none against meeting adjourned [Music]