##VIDEO ID:f38hC1KXGVI## evening and welcome to the regular city council meeting for the city of St Peter Minnesota it is Monday September 23rd 2024 at 7 p.m we are call to order would all please rise for the pledge I pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all um let's see next up on our agenda is the approval of the agenda everybody's received a copy are there any revisions or corrections to the agenda hearing none is there a motion to approve the agenda as distributed so move second all those in favor of approval say I I I any opposed the agenda is approved moving on to approval of the minutes everybody has a copy of the minutes they appear on pages six through seven of the packet are there any revisions or Corrections hearing none is there a motion to approve as distributed second all those in favor of approval say I I I any opposed the minutes are approved we have time on our agenda for visitor comments is there any visitor who'd like to address the Council on an agenda item hearing none we also have time for General comments is there a visitor who'd like to address the Council on any matter whatsoever hearing none we will move on to the consent agenda the consent agenda begins with the memo on page eight of the packet and concludes with the uh resolution that's on page 32 of the packet the resolution includes uh installation of a no Outlet sign on North Third Street north of St Julian Street to be approved the installation of a no passing on right sign and traffic control uh delineators at the intersection of North Washington and flandro to be approved uh the following employee appointment Liliana Figaroa Community Service Officer at a wage of $24 per hour and the schedule of dispersements for September 5th 2024 through September 18th 2024 is there any uh discussion or questions regard regarding any item on the consent agenda I guess I I'll just ask um because it is going to be so visible in our community for a little more information about the no passing on right sign Madame mayor i' defer to either the chief or to Pete on that matter this really has to do with enforcement activities and challenges that we've seen I think more this year than ever in that area on Washington near North element so Chief yes madame mayor thank you members of the council uh in regards to that intersection uh we've been challenged and often times you can see an officer directly in that intersection uh before and after school uh what we have found and what we have observed and what we have taken enforcement on as people are traveling north on North Washington approaching flandro street flandro street runs on the south side of north intermediate they're preparing to take a westand turn so that traffic begins to stack up one to two vehicles and now if there's a third vehicle that well they don't want to turn to go to North Elementary they are going around those two vehicles and on two occasions that we observed have come into the crosswalk when students are crossing to go west towards North Elementary uh one particular incident was uh the person that stands at the middle of that uh street with a stop sign has uh actually been close enough to hit the car with the stop sign so um it it's one of those and Pete uh came up with a great idea of doing delineators and we're going to do some uh paint and some striping in that area so when the delinear came down if it is approved uh that there will still be a natural flow to stay to one lane and really provide that safety that we've been seeking in there for the last um maybe half a year but certainly this year people seem to be more in a rush and there's just more danger for our students at that intersection so I want to thank Pete for his work uh and ideas about that yes Josh so unlike the projects on Third Street and Front Street the idea here is that this will be a more permanent installation for the time being not necessarily coming down in October or being reinstalled in the spring after the snow and I would defer that from Pete but in learning as much as I have from Pete the delineators will come down as when we get into that snow removal but we still will have the paint and certainly if that's covered by snow maybe there could be some reflectors within that area but yes the we're expected to take the delineators off of that intersection um and hopefully by that time uh if uh council is in approval uh there'll be some education within that because really at the roadside with our enforcement we're really trying to educate people we think with the signs in addition to the delineators and paint people will understand no passing on right sounds like a good good partnership between PD and public work to to make to identify a problem and come up with a solution that is hopefully going to help our students be safe as they walk to school yeah yes I've learned a lot from Pete that is for sure great um any other questions on this or any other consent agenda item thank you and I'm very excited for our community service officer by the way thank you uh hearing no further discussion is there a motion to approve the resolution on page 32 so move we have a motion and a second call the rooll please council member Pettis I council member ramp I council member weisenfeld I council member shr I council member DeVos I mayor no I M Johnson I the resolution is approved we have no items of Unfinished Business tonight so we will move on to new business the first item of new business is the adoption of a resolution approving the sale of 2024a General obligation bonds and Shannon sweey is here to talk to us about that tonight thanks for coming to St Peter Shannon thanks for having me uh good evening mayor and members of the council uh about a month and a half ago you initiated the process to sell bonds for a variety of needs including the pine Klein and colon Street projects uh and some equipment purchases the most significant of which are substation equipment for the refurb of an existing electrical substation uh the total amount that was authorized at that time was $7,650 th000 and ultimately we established today as the sale date so this morning we did receive bids for the purchase of the bonds and ultimately we received five bids uh one of which couple of which were not traditional biders unless we see some size and this this issue is of some size and so ultimately the low bid submitted on this tabulation sheet that we handed out came from uh the Bank of New York melon capital markets at a interest rate of 3.49 77% uh on your preliminary schedule that month and a half ago when we set sale we had said that this was going to cost us 3.72 24% and so bids or interest rates I'm sorry have come down a little bit frankly last week mostly is when it's some of it got priced into the market before that but last week was helpful uh for selling a large bond issue like this and so we perform better than projected uh I think the competitive sale uh is a bit unique that in this instance the spread between the low and the high bidder and even the cover bid is 10 basis points or a tenth of a percent and R you know we usually don't see that kind of distance between biders when we're buying bonds and so I think that proves that our competitive sale probably worked in this instance and we and we got somebody from the East Coast that was very interested in buying our bonds today and so we do recommend awarding sale if you're wondering what the difference is between that PR preliminary rate in this one uh it's $229,500 [Laughter] well deserved so more than happy to answer questions thanks very much Shannon Brad I'm not sure Sally so when we uh did this budgeting last year did we estimate about 5% on on it at the time for for interest rate at that what he had on this one was 3.7 yeah but I'm just saying when we were doing the budget process last year I that we I'm just saying it seems a significant savings over what we had budgeted for it so I I think we did an excellent job obviously your services are serving us well as they always do so we we if you um really want to know that number we can go look that up but I don't know that we know that one off the top priority cly much higher than this and the environment was a different environment at that time exactly and that's why I'm saying this is you know very positive uh very positive from where we were looking at last year and budgeting this so for sure uh daral what do we do with the bond premium are we keeping that or is that going towards the pay down the debt we uh yes to all that uh partially we had more premium than we cared to keep and so some of that was used to reduce the size and so you'll notice in the award resolution we're approving an issue of 7,5 55,000 rather than the 7,650 that we set sale with ,000 took off yeah we yes and we are keeping approximately $300,000 in premium as contingen see on our construction projects if that is not needed it will go to The Debt Service account can be used to offset levies used to cash flow uh special assessments that come in on an erratic basis in some of our development areas and so uh we did keep some of the premium thank you appreciate it you're welcome any additional questions all right hearing nothing further the resolution approving for the issu providing for the issuance of sale of 7,650 th000 General obligation bonds series 2024a pledging for the security thereof special assessments and leving ATT tax for the payment thereof appear on pages uh 34 through 53 of the packet is there a motion to approve so moved second we have a motion and a second call the RO please counc icis I council member I council member I may IC Johnson I council member Pettis I the resolution is approved thanks so much thank you thank you next up adoption of a resolution approving the 4M fund to be an additional depository and Sally's here to talk to us about that mayor Noel and council members um I'm here to ask you to approve the resolution establishing the 4M fund as an additional depository on pages 55- 56 with the issuance of the bond you just approved um we're going to deposit that we would like to deposit that money into the for am fund um this fund helps us with um Arbitrage and some other cash flow issues and audit requests that come through with um loans of this size and different projects that it's being used for so the 4M is through the league of Minnesota cities um the city has used them in the past I have not used those but we have used them in the past and they do help us with arbit as I said Arbitrage and um some reporting that we need to meet requirements with this size of a bond issuance so we're asking that you approve the resolution of a 4M fund for additional depository for the city of St Peter uh questions for Sally Brad um Sally so for the people who are watching can you explain what you mean by uh it assist with ARB Arbitrage that's when we are paying less interest than what we're earning on the loan and as it goes out and comes back in so there's some timing on that so um as Shannon said we're getting 3.4% right now forum is paying close to 5% on liquid assets so there'll be some of that going on right now okay thank you additional questions let's see hearing nothing further the resolution reauthorizing membership in the 4M fund appears on pages 55 through 56 of the packet is there a motion to approve so moved second we have a motion and a second call the rooll please counc wi I counc member I council member I mayor Noel I council member Johnson I council member Pettis I counc member I resolution is approved thank you and uh next item of new business is the adoption of a resolution approving the 2024 preliminary Levy payable 2025 mayor Noel and council members um we've gone through this you have a Pack with a lot of detail in there we've gone through this at a couple workshops um and discussed where we're at for the preliminary Levy but under state law the council must take action by the end of um September to set the preliminary Levy um and the final Levy will approve in December um it can be equal to the preliminary Levy dollar amount but not any higher so what we're looking as we're setting the cap for our um Levy um for 2024 payable in 2025 right now we're proposing a budget and suggesting the levy that will result in a t in an increase tax rate from 44 or 46.9 n to 48.6 6 or a gross Levy increase of 269,900 37473 um in the calculation we assumed a 3% uh tax capacity increase for homes uh based on market value um again as we get closer to December the county will come out with um the actual uh increase on estimated market value and that will adjust the levy um rate not the dollars so we'll still be working with the same dollars that might change the rate up or down depend upon where that comes in and what that means to a um homeowner whose property value hasn't changed from from 2024 their City share of a tax bill of a $250,000 home would decrease approximately $6 um and that is due to a rate or uh the state legislature approved uh change in the formula so your homestead amount that's backed off went from 9,600 to up to 95,000 so there was an adjustment in that rate so your taxes would go down if your tax um if your home value did increase the the 3% your taxes for 2025 would go to 337 up $33.75 for the year uh we continue to look at general fund and special fund budgets as a portion of our business in 2025 wages and insurance accounted for almost 100% or it did account for 100% of the increase um the increase for wages and benefits was 282,000 700 the general fund increase was only was 256 uh over the 2024 budget so basically wages went up 3% and medical insurance is up 6% year-over-year uh the other one all the other budgets St relatively flat we have added one position in 2024 for a human resource and that is split between um general fund 25% and then Enterprise funds the other 75% and then we're also looking at 2025 adding a sustainability and Communications person also split between general fund water Wastewater and electric um the recreation department is adding some part-time employees for guest services to get better coverage and these and this is going to be um covered with a portion of the cost will be offset by rate fees um elections are down 177,000 and that's just due to the year that we're in um 2024 is an election year with presidentials and primaries next year it's just school board and city council so we have less we have one election versus six this year that we're funding um maintenance for the building at uh City Hall increased about 26.4 maintenance continues to um have be done at the building um but this does not include any potential costs for City Hall moves or upgrades to take place that would be done in approved in probably 2025 and then funded in 2026 or next budget cycle um Park equipment is flat year-over-year you hear about Gorman park at 2.2 million of which 1.2 million will come from arpa funds the rest we're still working with the legislature to get um in the bonding Bill to cover it and if not we will look at other and phasing that work over the next three there's three phases so we'll keep working on that to get that fully funded um Police Department there's some funding from um Public Safety funds and that's where they will be use we'll use those funds to purchase one new squad car for 60,000 and then they're also purchasing 13 body cameras and five squad car cameras for for 140,000 so 2,000 of the money of the little bit less than 600 that we received for Public Safety funds will be used for for that fire department increased about 30,000 again most of that was due to benefits and then we'll also continue to fund um contribute to 7,500 in the nth year of replacement for some turnout gear and 15,000 is in its fifth year of fif the fifth year of 15 years for SCBA equipment as that equipment expires in 15 years we're trying to build a fund so it isn't a one-time hit to us when we do need to purchase that and we want to keep our fire Fighters safe with everything else and then we also plan to use 25,000 for radio and pager Replacements from the public safety fund um Parks Community Spirit Park um we use no reserves to cover that that expense um that's in the park fund and um we are funding the school is help funding one school resource off officer for the school year or for the calendar year and the District covers 70% of the wages and benefits for that officer uh local government Aid unfortunately is staying flat with no increase um which is talk to your legislators to try and increase because we're very dependent on local government Aid we've also made some changes to training and educational dollars as staff turns over we need more education and then there's also just being part of a progressive or organization and training our employees um community outreach events continue to be funded by the city council and City administrator um equipment certificates planned for next year we're planning on buying a half ton replacement truck with reversible plow for streets a brine sprayer for streets a skid trailer for streets transfer switch for the community center um and a building Control software um those two are 310,000 um combined and that's going to be over 10 years um the rest of these are over five years and then we're doing a tractor for parks and a mow for parks for 990,000 so total amount of the equipment certificate will be 682,000 um we also have a stump grinder for parks for 20,000 for there the council had specific discussion related to the transfer switch and the building Control software because it is included in this budget and at least for all intense purposes as a part of this planning process it's a net zero um the council will potentially take action on the future on that and we are doing some more work with your electrical engineer dolish who's doing that work so we'll have a more um evolved report for you when we get to the jump but for now it has a it does have impact but it's a relatively minimal impact and we prefer to keep that the way it is based on dol's current recommendation again we're asking them to do a little bit more work and that will come back to has with any projects of that size those come to the council for approval before so this doesn't of approval it just provides an opportunity for funding mechanism going forward I hope that provides an explanation about where we're at with that thank you s yep no problem um our financial position is today as as we reported a couple weeks ago with the auditor is in good shape the general fund ended 2023 with revenues higher than expenditures by 18 97,7 3 and reserves increase to 4,555 971 um projected change to the fund balance in 2024 is is anticipated to be a decrease of 48 4,870 there was a larger decrease of 363,462 24 so we believe we're um managing the budget and doing the best we can with taxpayers monies um 2025 budget is not balanced um expenditures are greater than revenues by 6,043 um and we'll use reserves to cover that 6,043 and we're well within the Reserve balance of 35 to 50% um projected fund balance of at the end of 2025 per budget will be 4 million5 522,000 558 um our current projections Reserve Target at the end of 202 24 will be at 48% Which is higher than budget and then at the end of 2025 will'll be at 46.4% as I said that's well within our um bandwidth of 35 to 50% um and we'll continue to manage to the best of our ability um again it we don't just spend please note that that does not include the 1575 that we are putting away for fire equipment for this SCBA and turnout equipment um again it's important to note that 282,000 of the increase compared to budget is for insurance and wages again the library fund the special funds library is allocated to increase the levy 25,000 over 2024 again Library expenses will still be above revenues by 57,000 301 um and we're continuing the same level of programming so so we've got to work and slowly um come into um slowly keep increasing that Levy so we can get the library to at least a break even year-over-year but we're working at it slowly um we can also work at asking watching for Grants or other things or work with the county to try and get additional funds for the Library community center is funded with 170,000 in tax levy same as 2024 and again the equipment certificate includes 312 to replace the transfer switch and Control software um rental income and transfers from other funds help the community center and we are at 100% uh full with our renters so we aren't losing anybody as of right now there was talk with the school but that is not going to happen so we should be good um Community Center expenditures will be 11364 above revenues but that does include 100,000 or 999,000 of cash Capital expenditures for bathroom Renovations and $25,000 for brof um again this building is aging we had the 20th anniversary last year or the year before so um as the building ages we need to replace we are looking at replacing carpeting but right now we're in good shape it'll probably be in the 25 or 26 budget we'll keep evaluating that as that goes in different rooms um we are here asking you to approve the resolution of the preliminary Levy for 2024 collectible and 2025 on pages 155 through 156 in the amount of 4, 317,000 370 three $473 to be in compliance with the setting the preliminary Levy by the end of September the final Levy again will come back in December but it will not be any higher than the 4,317 473 questions Sally questions for Sally or Tod or any discussion I will mention Madame mayor I think certainly staff and Council put a lot of time and effort into this uh we talk about a lot of different Alternatives related to this and this is not just about the numbers this is really uh more about the work plan and the expectations for the amount of work the quality of work the materials that are needed to do that work in the next year for your general fund um as you know uh Enterprise funds will be coming to you in the not too distant future general fund is done on a one-year cycle where your Enterprise funds uh are done on a 2-year cycle so those will be coming to you before the end of the year as well it's also important to note that your Enterprise funds do contribute dollars towards your general fund that's really based on has been discussed many times by this Council and previous Council that's really done based on the idea and fact set which is that um more than 30% of the property in St Peter does not pay property tax and so comparatively speaking you um need to have additional Revenue generation and your tax worth um from an estimated market value standpoint on taxable property is less than most communities of similar size and um again we're happy to answer any questions that you might have but I think those are some really important points as we continue to talk with the community all of this information that Sally talked about is within your Council packet and so anyone in the community can read this see all of this see the tables and charts see the line item how much does the city administrator's office spend on stamps all of those things are available uh within the packet so we really want to encourage people and I know you work really hard to be good stewards of those resources well just really quickly for people at home what's an Enterprise fund Todd an Enterprise fund is a fund that um are is essentially owned by a local unit of government and it's designed to be at a break even the fees that are charged um the bill that you might receive for electricity pays the costs related to not only the electricity but maintaining the system where General funds require taxes typically the phraseology we would use is advalorium taxes so um taxes that all of us pay help fund these types of resources there's no fee to use the park essentially there's no fee to um um drive on the street drive on the street yeah thank you um and so those are paid for by taxes the maintenance the people all those things are paid for by taxes not by a fee associated with its utilization so in summary an Enterprise fund is typically Utility Fund it's typically a Utility Fund we have others as well but typically that's correct for most people yeah yeah most people would recognize it on their bill at their home a utility bill yep that's the fee a utility bill thanks I think it's helpful for people to know that's something that I didn't really we're just so used to talking about it we do we do we get you get in the lingo and all that stuff but for people at home it's helpful to know some of that um I wanted to thank you um the last month we really challenged you to go back and reexamine where the funds were going and what the increase was going to be to make sure that we were having the least impact on increasing that tax rate so thank you thank you any other comments or questions hearing nothing further the resolution adopting preliminary 2024 tax levy collectible in 2025 appears on pages 155 through 156 of the packet is there a motion to approve so moved second we have a motion and a second call the rooll please council member sh hi council member deos hi mayor Noel I council member Johnson I council member ptis I council member r i council member Wiis I the resolution is approved thank Sally thank you Sally uh next item of new business adoption of a resolution approving the purchase of body and squad car cameras so my members say the chief comes up I know you spoke about this at at quite a um length at your last Workshop it has been something that You' talked about before so more than just at that one Workshop um it's been something that's been under consideration for a couple of years um this year we do have state public safety dollars that are helping in the purchase but I'll let the chief explain that and then utilization of this equipment now we're going to move forward so Chief if you wouldn't mind Madame mayor thank you members of the council thank you too as Todd pointed out uh the memorandum is found uh found on page 157 and 158 with a resolution found on page 159 again just getting back to our workshop last week uh it was more of a educational time uh for many of us to really stand understand uh the body camera system a bit along with our squad car system I think the the mention of uh the age of our current watch guard system for our cameras and certainly uh uh the challenges we've had from our current body mic camera uh system it is time to uh look at in the research that uh I and many members of uh the staff uh have done uh through uh meeting with a number of different vendors vendors and then ultimately selecting Axon uh as you can see in your packet um uh it's been challenging and I think uh the one thing that uh we also should include is is some of the money that yearly as I mentioned last week that we're going to be saving as a department in the course of a five-year program or warranty that we have with axon is roughly 25 to $30,000 of two systems that are currently in operation uh that we can essentially dismiss and all collectively use with the axon system um I don't know if there's any further questions that the council has I know we had good discussions again last week uh but I'm looking just for the approval of the axon body cameras and the squad carard camera system uh that is going to be covered Again by the public safety fund that were provided to us by the state of Minnesota uh for that figure of 147 thou $140,300 and 52 time so um if I me Chief so there's a number of policies that have to be developed for this related to its use and that's not just according to State Statute but that's really a best practices issue and so you're feeling good about where the department is relative to those policies currently yeah and we've had that time which which I've been thankful for and reviewing a number of policies from a number of different departments uh that really get direct and specific when we come to the data request that we feel is going to be a part of the operating cost with this system uh however not significant it changes from Department to Department uh but really understanding uh the costs that are associated uh with that and really finding uh those type of policies that really cover everything imaginable to that system and so I've had an opportunity to uh almost have prepared our policy and procedure manual uh with uh this particular policy so uh I'm comfortable where we're at I'm comfortable in looking at uh what the state statute requires to have that public uh time for comment uh and we look forward to having axon along with me and other members of the department uh provide a a date and time if it's not at a council meeting but certainly here probably at the community center for that public comment so we'll we'll enter that phase sometime in October or November to get the public comment uh and we're really looking at implementing that in J probably January February of 2025 so um Chief I think what you just said is that there'll be a public meeting where people could come and talk about the policy maybe understand a little bit better about how the systems work sure and then um if the council approves it tonight implementation of not just the policy but the equipment itself is likely to occur in in January February of 2025 and so that would include training for all the officers and others um and installation in squad cars it's about a 2 to three day installation and training program so what's nice about Exxon and and another part of choosing that vendor they come out to our department so we don't have to take our squad cars off of line um and so they come right to our department they train us um and they set up the system for us right in our police garage uh so that is very nice so they'll come in from California and be here for usually two to three days and we will be up and running on that system when they leave our Department chief if I can Med one more question um one of the nice things about this system and if maybe you can explain this a little bit more is the opportunity for the storage and how we can then ship that information or allow access to that information information to the City attorney County attorney and others that really has been part of our research is not only reaching out locally to the city and and the county attorney for those cases but having that accessible in the cloud and really uh being able to save time and putting together an entire investigation by really as we understand it clicking a couple of buttons to get that case in full presented to our County attorney so what that means is we're no longer having to take our Olympus digital system where we record our interviews on because they will be now available through our axon system and on our cell phones and so we eliminate that process we eliminate having to make extra CDs that we're still doing to provide for pictures to the county attorney so all of this comes through it's it's uh a field within the Aon system it's called evidence.com and so all of the interviews all of the pictures all of the videos If we have crimes that occur in their surveillance video from just as an example I'll just say a local business we can get that downloaded through our system and in the cloud we have unlimited storage and we send it again in that really nice looking package to them so they're not asking us and other staff hey we didn't get this because we have to click those boxes that's it uh when it's included and so the County Attorney has been very helpful as other departments within Nicola County including the State Patrol is on axon they immediately said axon is the most easiest system and foolproof to learn they've had a lot of uh issues with some of the other uh vendors maybe it's not as significant as it was in the beginning but they really preferred axon so we took that into consideration as we went through this bidding process and learning as much as we could about these systems and chief the warranty on this equipment and stuff is about what five years it's a fiveyear warranty and I know that there was a council member that had asked about uh when the Gen 5 camera would come out and uh are we able to upgrade that and we are through sort of the package and the quote that we got from axon so uh when that new camera and the new system comes out we will get those new cameras at no additional cost so the quote and the estimate is what we have for five years that will cover us Ben what's the estimate after the five years what's our what's our estimated monthly annual upkeep um as as uh the rep with Chandler uh talked about um last week you know roughly it's about a 4 to 8% increase and so Todd and I have had many discussions related to what do we do after five years I really think the market is going to be competitive I think per perhaps these other uh vendors uh might catch up to axon in my opinion uh and I think uh on an annual cost I think within that 5-year period again I don't think we'll have the ser expense because we're really hopeful that our squad car cameras are going to last beyond that 5year so we will not incur that cost and so my guess is in five years we'll go into another five-year contract and my hope it is that that could be maybe around $100,000 that we're looking at depending on where we're at with the new cameras and to include all the the systems that we need to have to operate Axon so many departments I know they just reestablish a new contract uh for uh the research that I've done so when their contract was up as an example in five years they're getting a much lesser amount but they're continuing the services through axon so I don't have that specifically and correct me if I'm wrong the cameras that we're getting um those were released approximately two two and a half years ago they they were released I think it was 20th months ago so right in there months yes and the new ones will come out in about two two and a half years and we'll upgrade to those when those come out correct So in theory two and a half years after those come out will be done with this 5year contract I would I would believe so yes by that cycle if they run in a similar cycle they'll by the time we're done with our cycle right 2 and a half years after right we would get into a new agreement they would be coming out with a new camera I would I would believe that they would well hopefully they would and you know they really back their product uh if it's one of those things that if part of the system goes down uh they're available at 24 hours a day 7 days a week uh and if they can't fix it remotely they come out to repair it they do come to us which is very nice and so if a body camera goes down as we know we're getting 13 body cameras we can take that extra one that is on the charger and just look to get that one replaced and they do that within 24 hours to get another camera back to us if we're having problems with that particular body camera so was it was exciting to learn as much as we did to really understand how it really uh can incorporate uh our services as a department and really to save those expenses and that time officers along with our communication staff and officer manager are are involved in getting cases to our attorneys and it's significant Carrie would you say the goal of the upcoming community in community meeting is to is less about input and more about transparency and building awareness of the new implementation of the body worn cameras and then also the policies and procedures assoc associated with that because it seems like you know the opportunity for input from the Community was tonight if folks wanted to show up um but the goal of this next step this meeting would or this community opportunity to learn would be more about increasing transparency and awareness and Todd and I had a a chance to discuss that because statutorily we made uh be uh have fulfilled that obligation but again we want to take it one step far we want to have uh the public have an opportunity to come in and see it certainly we can post it on our social media and Facebook Facebook that we are intending to go to this and we can provide a comment uh section for them and we can I believe it was 10 days other departments have held it over please provide your comments but I really want to see uh if there's an interest and we will be made available uh we will have a PowerPoint together uh uh Chandler has has commented that he would send out uh even a body warn camera this is sort of what it looks like this is where it's going to be placed on the officer we'll have an officer there in uniform uh and have it placed and if there's specific questions CH Chandler if we're not able to answer those would be available during that uh period of time but we'd like to always include the public on on this big of a decision this is uh something that we have never gone to obviously within this department but what's so encouraging and I've shared this with uh members of the councils that the officers have been waiting for this uh there is no hesitation to have this camera because they see this as such a safety issue as well and a liability Savior for the city too so we're excited to have it in and just to follow up just on that point um so we've heard that the officers are very supportive and have been waiting for this to be implemented it's really great that we have the opportunity of the public safety dollars to use those funds for this purpose um but what have you heard heard up to this point from the community um has the community said oh we've been waiting we've been waiting or has that engagement with bodyw warn cameras and some of that kind of um dissipated since 2020 yeah we've only had a little bit of feedback and some of the comments uh that I could share just off the top of my head it's like you don't have these yet or maybe it's about time uh and so those those are the specifics uh that have been shared and talking with uh rounding Chiefs of police that have had that public comment section there hasn't been a lot so hopefully St Peter might uh have a bit more interest uh in that available time for them to come in and ask those questions but historically from uh many chiefs uh that have had that uh sort of that get to know that educational or that question time uh no one has showed up but we'll be available uh we hope that they do um and uh get their opinion and as we always strive for uh we always want to be better we always want to be better in our service and how we Implement our services so I think this is just uh just a great positive step for us as a department to be really up Tod date so I'm excited for it I really am I was just G to make a a point of emphasis on this um we've talked about it being the public safety dollars but this is specifically a grant so this move that we're making we're using State grant funding is not costing our taxpayers anything that is correct which is amazing it is amazing uh to have uh those grants uh that were uh provided to us um it really came at a time and Todd and I immediately started talking about body warn cameras and squad car systems because we knew we were at uh the length uh for our watch guard system it was beginning to fail we were having problems as I mentioned even with our uh body mics and even getting reports as I've uh talked about last week so this is coming at just the best time possible to the taxpayers having these Grant funds uh available uh for this and not incurring that increase in our budget your timeing just happened to be after Sally went through every one of our budgets right we will take the luck and in this case it was very lucky to get those Public Safety dollars and us being able to use them may the last item that I'd like to mention before we ask you to consider the resolution on page 159 is that as you know this is not just body warn cameras this is also for your squad car cameras and the Chiefs mentioned that as being a watch guard system it is important really for efficiency and because of the age of our watch guard system that these two things move at the same time so this is not just body cameras it is also cameras for your squad cars and again Madam mayor members the resolution for this is on page 159 uh the only thing I the only question I have once that uh public uh meeting is scheduled people can find that information about that the usual places hot sheet Facebook things like that so just stay alert for that more to come thank you um seeing no further raised hand uh the resolution purchasing body and squad car cameras and software from axon Enterprises using public saf safety Grant funds is on page 15 n of the packet is there a motion to approve so moved second we have a motion and a second call the rooll please council member I mayor no I counc M Johnson I counc HIC ioun hi counc hi the res solution is approved thank you so thank you so much everyone thank you next up adoption of a resolution accepting the npca storm water resiliency plan oh and we've got Pete and Curtis here to talk to us about that tonight Madam mayor and city council uh Curtis Thompson our Water Resources superintendent is going to do a little review of what we've been through the last year and a half here on the storm water res resiliency planning I'll tell you a little bit about where we're going with this in the future future as well and then we'll open up the questions Curtis uh good evening mayor Noel council members so as most of you are aware in April of 2023 we did receive a mpca planning grant for storm water resiliency uh through that we were our goal was to study and quantify storm water runoff into our drinking water supply management area or our dsma that's located just west of town here our biggest goal for our for us as a city was the nitrates that are being leeched into our Jordan aquafer uh through this process we retained isg engineering uh we held a public kickoff meeting in July of 2023 as well as two stakeholder meetings in February and March of this year uh with those stakeholder meetings there was members from the City misso Department of Health Department of egg the nickel County Soil and Water Conservation District uh and Minnesota Rural Water Association through those kickoff or those St holder meetings we developed a multi-purpose drainage management plan and used that to identify best management practices uh those bmps were identified and ranked in order of uh several different factors along with cost Effectiveness maintenance just there's seven six seven different categories the highest scoring ones were storage ponds saturated buffers two stage ditches and then along after those came dams wetlands bioreactors and wascs the problem we run into with any of these projects is they all do hinge on land owner participation all of these projects would would happen on privately owned land so without their without their participation they kind of die right there uh the goal with this would be to create shovel ready projects and kind of this our plan kind of creates a road map for us to have those shuty shovel ready projects to hit the ground when there is uh grant opportunities available uh through this the cost was $63,800 of which $557,000 $57,000 of it was reimbursed through the Grant and $6,100 was through in-kind Labor from our storm water fund as Curtis mentioned here and what our goal is tonight is to have you accept the plan as complete authorizing staff to submit for Grant funds um we should be able to do that in a fairly quick turnaround uh we'll also be looking at other grant opportunities that are related to the information that was collected here so this is the first step that leads to many other Solutions we hope um we also uh plan to share this information with four of our main Partners uh the department of egg uh the so Soil and Water Conservation District uh the Board of Water and Soil resources in nicholet County uh we'll need those partn ERS as we proceed as you know the department of a is currently uh monitoring Wells and nitrates uh for us in the western study area and so we are measuring the flow that's coming through underneath uh magar Parkway as part of the Culvert installation and storm water activity we did out there we did have flow monitoring equipment installed in there so now we have a real good quantitative measurement of of the flow that's going on there uh this could lead to storage uh additional storage uh West and uh uh on the Pluff so to speak of the storage area or of the uh control area uh and hopefully what we can do is reduce a little bit of the flooding that we're seeing in a pretty consistent measure uh down on the sand Plaines and so with the decision Matrix that uh Curtis had talked about here they've got a variety of plug andplay different tools of information that we can uh go after uh what we're asking for tonight is that you approve the resolution on page 62 all righty questions for Peter for Curtis Carrie um this year it seems like we've been talking a lot about storm water and water runoff and there's been all this public engagement and there's the one wat should plan how does all of this tie into that this larger Regional effort yep so basically with this plan that kind of helps us once we get the one watershed this will kind of work hand in hand with the one Watershed plan to identify those projects for the funding purposes and So the plan is also a means for us to get Grand money so that we can put work toward the plan basic essentially correct I would add that it's also part of our overall sustainability sustainability and climate resiliency planning and so this might be a smaller portion of it um but as you know we're building in other areas in all of these are important overall in that sustainability work that the council's wanted to see move forward yeah we don't we don't really exist on our own here in St Peter we're impacted by all the the land around us and the place we are and so it's really important and I thank staff for all the work that they do to collaborate with um our regional partners and and other stakeholders and uh not just this work but a lot of other things M May resolution is included in your packet on page 162 are there any further questions hearing nothing is there a motion to approve the resolution accepting the St Peter storm water resiliency plan and authorized staff to see Grant fund reimbursement moved second we have a motion and a second call the rooll please mayor no ioun Johnson I counc hi hi hi hi I the resolution is approved thank you uh we're going to move on to the adoption of a resolution approving a private property and hazardous tree program and Pete's here to talk to us about that sure um as you are aware um Madam mayor and City counil uh we have had an EAB plan since about 2018 um we've been watching EAB since about 2015 uh keeping our eyes on how this Activity Works uh in to tell you the truth I think we're doing fairly well in the RightWay and in our city parks I mean we've been fortunate to get grants again working with our partners at the DNR um receiving help to help us Mark trees to coordinate GIS information on our our system and just manage our overall Urban Forest um the one area that we don't have a lot of um attention to yet is private property and as you know uh um a lot of homeowners don't have the resources that are necessary from time to time to manage trees uh so what we have done is we've gone out and worked with a couple of property owners who we can see are uh visibly impacted by uh not only EAB but other hazardous trees trees that may die on private property or become a hazard to people that are either in the public or to your neighbor um is what we consider a hazardous tree and we're trying to develop a program where we can fund a certain amount and through a waiver of assessment the city would carry some funding to remove or have somebody come in under a contract and remove trees on private property now this would only be done by waiver so it's the us working with the homeowners or the homeowners coming to us and asking that we can be of assistance we would then coordinate with private contractors uh who would then remove the trees and or remove remove the stumps and or replace dirt and grass in customer's yard depending on what the customer really wants to have done on their property the city staff itself would only be administering the program there really aren't intended to go on private property our storm or our uh forestry and hazardous tree ordinance tells us that we can uh we'd prefer to have a contractor come in and do that they're more familiar working in those surroundings where we're pretty much uh working on the street most of the time or in a park um so what we've proposed is uh put some information on our regular assessments on page 163 so you can kind of see what the uh proposed assessments are on page 164 and this could be a variety of different activities again as we talk depending on the number of trees that a customer may want to take down uh one of our uh test plots was about six trees on private property so we're working with a homeowner wanted to identify that scope we went out and got some bids in and it was a little over $3,000 uh so they will get up there if there's multiple bigger Lots but most the time when we're dealing with situations like this it's going to be a one or a two tree removal process um with that what I'm asking for is the uh approval of the assessment policy to move forward with this project and there is a resolution on page 165 that explains uh uh the budget amount of $30,000 and the process moving forward for Assessments in years all right questions for Pete Brad um so Pete how are homeowners obviously you're working with one but how how is the average homeowner going to know this is available how are you going to communicate out this program social media again um we'll also have our Forester uh during the winter months goes out and does some of the assessments most of the dead trees you can still see in the winter time as far as how that goes um but also during the year like now we've targeted certain addresses and and our uh Community Corp person has looked at trees on property and said uh if you look on ours there's one dead tree at this address and then we'll go out and and work with them again it's kind of fund restricted and or assessment restricted so people got to want to use us uh and so what we'll do is take whoever is willing and wants to participate in that area thank you um one request I would is um if the $30,000 runs out quicker than you thought it would I would ask that you would come back and talk to the council versus just shutting the program down and waiting for funding in the next fiscal year um having been around in a couple of other communities um some of these communities are really affected I really don't know how quick it's going to take in this community or take over with all the dead trees which you we run run out of funds fairly quickly and I want you to come back then and request additional dollars instead of waiting surely comment I'll second that well I just want to say how excited I was when this was brought forward to the council for discussion as a property owner myself we had six mature ash trees that were our they were on our private property not the cities and so we were responsible for removing uh all of those trees ourselves and it was a very big big expense and I can imagine there are Property Owners um throughout the city who who would be able to use this and uh would be very helpful because it can be uh a big blow to the family budget when you suddenly have to remove uh remove some trees Carrie just on that note having also removed two ash trees there's just things that if you haven't removed trees before that you don't think about you might if you go through the licensed Tree Service there's the cleanup there's the filling the hole there's the grass it's not just the expense it's all of the work that that tails and that's sometime and I think there's just a benefit um I would think to go through the city who chooses contractors that you know are going to do a good job right and we would we would take a um like the homeowner in in my neighborhood that's that we're working with on a test project is they have certain resources they wanted to do and so they can pick and choose what fits for them and that's how we work with the contractors and it really uh depends on how the contractor schedule looks because we've got very competitive bids on a lot of these situations where contractors don't have to make special trips they can come in and do 10 15 trees at one time and that cuts the cost for everybody along the line so we're hoping it's beneficial yeah M if I can um this runs very parallel to other programs that you have related to assisting folks who might have uh sewer private service that's broken down or a water service that's broken and we've traditional is sensitive though is this is moving this tree effort and your Urban Forest really into the realm of very much like a utility and allowing it to be assessed and helping move the whole Community forward and so um Pete's done a very nice job with this and I know we'll have interest and unfortunately there are still lots of ash trees out there once you know what a diseased ash tree looks like you see them around and I see them in a lot of other cities that have not been as proactive and have not managed EAB as well as St Peter so um residents watching at home should feel really good about the work that staff has done to manage EAB in St Peter how your staff pursued Grant funds to make it possible um you should feel really good about the work has that has done yeah our staff has done a really really nice job absolutely uh if there is no further discussion the resolution uh let's see the resolution on page 165 approving a policy to assist with private property tree removals and waiver of assessment payment schedule is on page 165 of the packet is there a motion to approve we have a motion and a second call the rooll please Johnson HIC I council member r i council member w i council member sh ioun I may I resolution thanks thanks uh next up adoption of a resolution approving an amendment to resolution number 2016-8 to Travis Green Lot Sale mayor members this is a policy and a resolution that was passed obviously in 2016 um that's become an obstacle to transfer of property in the Travers green neighborhood and so your um Council um has looked at the resolution is proposing a modific that would assist in the sale and transfer of these properties and essentially move the payment of the building permit to the permit Point not the purchase point so um your assistant City attorney Steve Winkler is here to talk about it and certainly answer any questions that you might have uh thank you uh Mr pry um as is outlined in the memorandum it explains sort of the history beginning with the Pine Ridge Subdivision um and the the resulting issue with speculation of those properties when they were purchased in the 1990s again the the use of um the requirement of the purchase of a of a of a of a building permit at the time of purchase uh was one option or uh one strategy in com combating this uh speculation uh and again uh since the development of Traverse uh green and the require that full purchase price in order to get a deed um and construction um is been an effective tool in resolving this issue so uh the it it's no longer appears necessary to to uh include the uh building permit so that's um was the conclusion reached um as outlined in the mandom and I think it's fairly self-explanatory but if there are any questions I'm happy to try to resolve them for you um so P they were able to buy the lot but not pay the special assessment at the time is that the way the Pine Ridge was functioning yeah if I can it it was um slightly different than that but in essence that's how it affected purchasers and we had one or two or three purchasers that would then buy four five six seven eight Lots at a time and so that taught a lesson related to how do we ins sent folks to turn those lots over appropriately we have other mechanisms in place as Steve has articulated so we don't need to have that in in place um for the purchase of the um building permit I'd also like to mention that purchasing the building permit in advance sometimes causes problems because people change their plans they buy the lot and then they change the plan and therefore the cost of the home changes therefore the permit changes and so often times it has to be redone or other dollars exchange hands both ways um and we also have rules related to how this works and so at the time it seemed like the appropriate solution and it did work U but we don't need it any longer and it just is now cumbersome in transferring the lots that we see in Trav screen and you don't see us having exposure with like the Cullen Street expansion I don't see us doing that because um how it is set up is dramatically different and we would not sell um 20 Lots at a time to a Speculator great would you just would do that additional questions hearing nothing further the amended resolution establishing sales price for development Lots within the first phase of Traverse green subdivision dated May 9th 202 uh 2016 appears on pages 168 through 169 of the packet is there a motion to approve so moved second we have a motion and a second call the rooll please counc member Pettis hi council member r i council member Char hi counc MOS hi mayor Noel I council member Johnson I the resolution is approved uh next up adoption of a resolution approving a city ass approving City assistance for the Mill Pond hay ride mayor members the information is including in your packet started in one p on 170 this is through the nicholet county Trails Association you've worked with them in the past they've utilized your Park in the nature area in the past um for a number of years for the haunted hay ride this is different than last year not in practice or how they want to operate but actually serves an additional weekend as compared to last year so that tells me that their volunteer base must be growing so we're happy about that I'd also mention that any dollars that they derive not only go to the Nicolet County Trails Association but they also work with many other groups and associations within the community to work some of the stands or sell food and therefore they make make some money besides having a great time the other fun one that councils have um tended to gravitate towards is that this is one of the few haunted hay rides that we've seen and certainly one of the first in the area that was handicap accessible so if you had a wheelchair you could get on the hay rack too and go and have fun uh get scared with everyone else I guess and so um that's a great thing um it's worked I think very well um they are they have evolved in the impact that they've had in that nature area staff has worked with them very closely uh to minimize any impact in the area that is generally South and uh east of where City Hall is located there's a residential area back there behind where the Napa store is and further down into part of the residential area um where the trail occurs um I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have but keep in mind they're required to have insurance like all other groups of this type and their request is included in the packet and again they've been good partners in this in the past the resolution starts on page P 174 all right questions for Todd I don't have a question I just want to thank staff for working um diligently with the with the organizers who uh we have at times had feedback for them and they've always uh responded and so I greatly appreciate that and it is a it is a fun event so um if there are no questions or discussion the resolution approving a request for City assistance for Nicolet County Trails Association haunted hay rides appears on page 174 through 175 of the packet is there a motion to approve second we have a motion and a second call the rooll please council member Ram I council member sh IC I may I counc Johnson I counc member I the resolution is approved we will move on to reports and I'm going to make my report really brief tonight because I've talked so much but we've just recently had a few events in our community which have really brought to light to me the importance and the good work of our First Responders our Police Department um our EMTs our fire department um if you don't have to think about the work that they do you should count yourself lucky because you haven't had um a tragedy or uh a really traumatic event happen in your life and so I just wanted to take a moment to reflect on that and to as long as our chief is here to say thank you very much so um now I will give time for any council members who have reports Brad um Madam mayor um I would like to add to that um I was witnessed to the tragedy of last weekend um I will say our St Peter Police Department was on the scene within minutes there were two police officers there before the ambulance arrived um they tended to the victim they secured the scene um then they tried to then then they worked on figuring out you know investigating what happened if you're wondering what our chief of police does on a Saturday afternoon he's still serving years because he was on scene as well um yes we are lucky any other reports from Council Members we will give time to our city administrator mayor members I have two things that are listed then two quick additional things but the first I'd like to turn over to if anyone from the council would like to participate but certainly to Pete we had the ribbon cutting um for the solar array that is located on the south side of the wastewater treatment Pond which is really something that we've been working on for a long time and just a beautiful day and I think a really nice event P to our members if you have anything you'd like to share three counil members here Todd it took a lot of teamwork to make that go and we had somebody cutting and two people pulling the ribbon because you know it's a fake scissor and all those things it was wonderful it was really nice it was not a cutting scissors I mean it was a real scissors it just wasn't able to cut I don't know if anybody has a comment we had a really nice turnout ni turn turnout people interested in it some good press great turnout um great work uh from City staff Jason Lee our electric superintendent managed that project from start to finish working with Clint schacher from simpa um we had total Buy in from simpa on this project uh from the beginning which really made things go easy we had a great partner in solar connections who was also working with us on the other uh 50kw solar uh process that we're working on up by the Broadway water plant and they're working with gustavis on the one megawatt system going forward there uh talk about patients uh we've probably been working on this project for almost 5 years uh to see it uh become reality and just to be done sometimes you just want to be done with stuff after they're out there for that long uh because every Tuesday Brad would come to superintendent and asked me where this was so um but but today it was working at full capacity it was 100% which was great and off it went and right now it's resting and and uh we're very happy with the the product that we have there going forward so there's a lot of solar energy going to do one of the most important things that we have for the environment in St Peter which is treating our Wastewater in really one of the best wastewater treatment plants within the state of Minnesota and you've been there you've seen it and so it's kind of a cool connection so and I think there's a story about it in the Free Press if people want more information right I believe there was free press or I'm sorry sorry the Harold oh sorry the Harold did I say Free Press yeah I me I meant Harold probably you with the big scissors Brad yes I would like to make jokes um uh I I have been riding Peak kind of hard the last four years on this topic um um and I commend them for the work they put in um St Peter is recognized by some soul installers being rather Progressive I found out an interesting thing that we have over 30 solar arrays in town now which I think when I put mine on we were around 12 um our our Jason Le are uh superintendent is seen as being easy to work with um which I think is a testament to trying to embody our values of improving environmental sustainability the other thing I will note is that uh Pete told a joke at the beginning it was received so well that people recommended that he and I take our comedy act down the road a long long ways down the road it's the last joke you'll hear but anyway thank you Pete and thank you to your team and and we know that not everyone can participate in these all the time but we thank uh you when you can and um those are great events we don't frankly we probably don't celebrate some of these things as much as we should so anyway thanks for that next one I have Pete don't leave Cullen street so this is the area of the residential subdivision that you've been talking about and this is a project too that's been in the making over 5 years and so Pete what's the update on when grading is going to start on col Street we hope it's going to start this week uh part of the provisions of our contract where the we're trying to wait for the beans to come out that are currently in the field where we need to make drainage improvements sorry yeah so um our plan would be to start dirt work this year uh they hoped that they're going to be able to get utilities installed this year and get it to a gravel surface uh which means next year what would be left would be curban gutter asphalt and sidewalk um and we'd be ready to roll hopefully by July and uh have some homes going up here next summer may members through the next steps for you will be um information coming back setting the prices of lots and the rules and authority to sell Lots um before they really are even buildable and uh we're feeling really good about at this point so watch for that information to come yet here in the next month or so and um um will be set to go on a project I'm not going to say it but um certainly has some risk uh but we think we've mitigated that risk to the greatest extent possible and are feeling very positive about the opportunity for the community in additional housing um other two items that I have Madame mayor just quick is the Rita annual meeting happens in St Peter uh and so that's on Tuesday the 8th and so folks that might want to attend oh it move to mano what in the world well then don't go I was going to say if you wanted to sign up um Now's the Time and let us know uh ker Ryan will help you get signed up if you'd like and then um in 2025 it'll be back here um again that's Tuesday October 8th Reed is a really important Organization for us which is the regional economic um Development Group may I make a comment um there's an opportunity to have a table this year if we are interested we usually have um almost enough to fill a table so there's usually members of the Eda that come and then City Council Members so just keep that in mind we could was the date again October 8th it's in the evening 5:00 I believe so yeah there's a Social Hour in advance and meal and then presentations and there's really usually a very wonderful learning opportunity about some phase of Economic Development within our region they do a one they do a wonderful job organizing that meal it's super learning opportunity great networking opportunity and so um I highly recommend it even if it's not in St Peter this year all right Madame mayor the last one that I have is just a reminder of the simpa annual meeting which is happening on the um I believe it's the 16th and 17th of October so if you're interested in participating I believe information went out to you about a week and a half or two weeks ago please let us know if we can help you out with that again it's a great opportunity to continue to learn and work with our partners and we talked about simpa earlier generally there's fantastic information provided relative to the electric grid or or myo or other opportunities within Electric utilities this will be one of the times when simpa continues to talk about their forward momentum on use and growth of Renewables and so we continue to be excited about that that's in Bloomington um so anyway we encourage you to participate in that if you have the opportunity Madame mayor that's all I have for reports but I do have a request asking for a closed session to discuss real potential real estate transactions at one scholarship way um this the meeting is set up tonight that I don't anticipate you will come back and take action on anything um but certainly I want to provide an update related to any negotiations that may be taking place and so the resolution is included on your packet it is the last written page of your packet will we be staying up here we'll be jing a joury downstairs to the Travers to Su room um it's after 8:00 so we're going to the Travers to room all righty uh the resolution as Todd mentioned is on page 176 of the packet is there a motion to approve move second we have a motion and a second call the rooll please council member Char hi counc member hi mayor no I counc member Johnson I counc member P IC the resolution is approved we will it is 8:20 p.m. and we will adjourn to close session hey