##VIDEO ID:aBAJFwWxhM8## and start with the pledge flag of the United States of America and to the rep for it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all all right um we are going to get started with um the public forum I have one statement I would like to make first um since we've had um some rather well publicized discussions at open forums um the city wiri values transparency and accountability and we take all complaints seriously however we are also committed to protecting the Privacy rights of our employees as is required by law this means that while we thoroughly review and address every concern we may be limited in the specific details we can share with the public about Personnel matters there is a structured process in place to ensure complaints are handled fairly and appropriately we have secured an impartial entity to review the complaint process requests from residents or individuals seeking information that cannot be legally released is not allowed we do ask for your patience as a community and Trust in this in your city council as we work to address concerns while still upholding our legal and ethical standards so basically um I just wanted to assure everybody that we are following all the steps and there um we were not we are not ignoring anything that's been brought to our attention so um with that we can open the public forum does anybody have something they would like to bring to our attention going once twice all right we can move on to approval of the agenda does anybody have anything to add Michael Heather no C no all right somebody like to move to approve I'll make a motion to approve the agenda second motion by Jenny second by Kelly any discussion any discussion any discussion all those in favor please say I iose same sign motion carried uh the consent agenda we have minutes financials I just would wanted to speak about the the waste processing rates so I included in your packet also the the budget that looks at the specifically the waste account so um the Minnesota waste Processing Company is telling us that they're going to increase their rates we as a staff looked at it and I don't think we need a rate increase we currently are covering our costs um asso assciated with garbage including printing bills and um uh the extra collection days that we do in the spring and the fall which residents are able to use um we're Plus in that account so we are not asking Council to pass a rate increase but I wanted for information purposes to let you know that it is increasing so move to approve the consent agenda a second all right motion B second by dawn to approve consent agenda any discussion any discussion all in favor please say I I oose same sign motion carried public hearings the first one is public hearing for the 2023 utility and Street Improvement project assessments now used to do St so is this okay get on camera absolutely oh yeah um good evening everybody my name is Brian petzel I'm civil engineer of and I was the engineer for the 2023 Street project uh we're here tonight to discuss the proposed assessments and um I'll briefly touch on the improvements a part of the project and then hopefully if there's any questions I'll be able to answer those at the end um so if we review the project scope it included Second Street basically the entirety of Second Street all the way from Brown Street to henen Street and then it did establish a utility Corridor Corridor between henin Street and County ditch 42 um that was in order to connect to the ditch for the storm store outlet and also there's a sanitary sewer Interceptor pipe that essentially parallels the ditch that was connected to as well in addition to that there was the alley next to the post office was improved and the city parking lot was also improved so the improvements it was you know essentially a full full scale reconstruction project utilities and Street both uh sanitary sewer water M storm sewer uh subsurface drainage was added to the project that was something that was not in place before the project uh again the the alley was reconstructed as well as the street and and then there are some down downtown streetscaping um items that were also included as part of the project so if we look at the sanitary sewer improvements uh a new trunk main was installed from Brown Street all the way to the What's called the East Side sanitary sewer Interceptor and again that's that pipe that essentially parallels the the county ditch the pipe range is in size from 18 to 15 in which is similar in size to what the existing uh trunk line is that's essentially located on First Street so this this project more or less takes that existing trunk line on First Street and relocates at the Second Street for for a few different reasons one to allow for DFA to expand potentially in the future uh because of constructibility issues with having the silos uh directly behind the curb on First Street and then also um and whereas Second Street has about 80 fet right away to work with so essentially double the right away um and and the cost associated with what would what what it cost to do like trenchless methods of installation of that sanitary sewer next to those Asos um so for various reasons that's that's why the the trunk m is being moved to Second Street um and and because of that there's some topography changes so that also results in then some of that um extra deep sanitary to up to about 35 ft deep at the highest highest point of Carver Street um pre-cast concrete manholes were installed Services were replaced the right away uh it also accommodates some future rerouting including rerouting that existing trunk trunk main on First Street 2 Second Street as well as elimination of that nicholet street railroad crossing um and then it also provides addition dep for future Upstream improvements because as as we've helped the city with some future planning we've identified some areas on on Third Street actually that have uh some depth issues and some backup issues historically in the past so this will provide more depth for the system in the future with additional improvements to come moving on to the watermain improvements water M was installed again similar to the sanitary sewer from Brown Street all the way to Hon Street and then additionally there was a leg that was added between Brown Street and Pleasant Street to add another fire hyr there for some additional fire coverage um new hydrates and vals were were included with the system and services again similar to sanitary were replaced to the RightWay line for the storm swer improvements again a new trunk main was installed all the way from Brown Street to uh County ditch 42 pipe sizes rang from 72 in to 24 in and again in that same Carver Street intersection area gets pretty deep just because of topography uh and it gets up to about 31 ft deep there a re outer portion of the the um system that currently drains to the that previously drain to that existing storm water Pond uh just I guess southeast of the the county shop there weed some of that at County ditch 42 there are some known um flooding issues in that area of Brown Street or between Brown Street and and the county road and then additionally there was some some improvements that or some drainage issues that were previously identified in the niichel Street intersection area that this this project should hopefully help to U improve so so previously the previous storm sewer system was essentially Des designed for less than a 2year storm so less than a 2.8 in rainfall event uh in in a 24-hour period where this this system was designed to handle a 10year event which is a little over 4 in in a 24-hour period uh similar to the sanitary sewer also accommodates future re outing of the storm sewer from First Street to Second Street which will help eliminate a couple of railroad crossings in the future um and then also kind of as as a result of that then eliminating those uh railroad crossings the future and even now with just intercepting some of that flow it will at some pressure on the system south of the railroad tracks which also has some areas that have been identified as having some some flooding issues subsurface drainage improvements as I mentioned earlier there was no subgrain system with the previous road so with this one um with this project similar to previous uh or recent City projects we've installed subdrain behind the curb line on each side of the road which helps provide drainage for that that subgrade of the road to help prevent frost heeding issues and maintain uh or help maintain the life of that that pavement section and then additionally it also um allows us to provide Foreign Service STS to every property so that um residents can hook up there and Property Owners can hook up their their some pumps directly into uh that subsurface line so that it keeps that out of then the the sanitary sewer system Street and Alley improvements the the non-count state aid Highway portion of the road so Brown Street to Redwood Street that was construct or designed to be an 8 ton road section where the county state a portion was designed to be a 10 ton section and to meet state aid design standards as as I've noted in several of the the most recent newsletters the the spring is when the W coures plan to be paid so because of all the trenching and especially some of the deep trenching we want to make sure that the the the trenches have have the opportunity to go through a freest style cycle so that if there is any differential settlement or any settlement that we can address that before then that final W course is paved in the spring uh all streets were replaced provided with new curbing gutter sidewalks and driveway aprons and Alley aprons and again the the alley was um improved next to the post office and installed and concrete pavement was installed for that entire alley half previously was I believe half asphalt and half half concrete the downtown streetscaping and parking lot items um so some of those items included the curb bump outs and intersections which is is largely to help produce um or reduce um I guess danger to pedestrians so what it does is as I'm I'm sure some of you folks have been driving in that area now at the bump outs that it does help produce um slower speeds because it creates kind of a traffic calming effect just because of that tightening of the roadway and also it provide shorter Crossing distances for those pedestrians some of the decorative features that are included in the project are listed here Planters um plantings themselves bench swings decorative panels and and the benches of the street quarters uh the parking lot was previously just a grav a lot it was upgraded to have the two minutes pavement and govern G so for the remaining project schedule we're here tonight obviously for the assessment hearing and then if if um all goes well I guess or if the council decides to move forward with the adopting the approved assessments that would be done tonight as well or could be done tonight and then final completion again would be in Spring of 2025 when they can get out there take care of any uh warranty items that maybe have popped up over the winter and get that final payment LIF installed so as we look at the total project cost the total projected project cost cost is just just under $9 million so 8,753 th000 and that's largely based on work that's already been completed but then because um there's still that final LIF of pavement to be done in the spring and a few outstanding um items which we have a pretty good idea of what those are going to be uh we had to project out the final project cost so so for the most part you know the Project's 95% call it done but that extra 5% is what we had to project out so this includes all costs with the project not just construction so surveying engineering ing testing construction observation permitting financing fees uh essentially um everything that's that's involved with the project except the land acquisition cost for the few properties that were purchased um outside of the the um Bond and again um the good thing about this is that it it's it's trending under budget so at the after the project was bid we had that set essentially the project budget and we're we're trending lower about 7.7% under budget um based on our projection so the project will be funded through through various different sources uh primarily through a bond issuance which will be paid paid through property taxes utility funds and special assessments um the reason we're here tonight is because of those special assessments uh which have to follow statutory requirements of Minnesota statute 429 of which this hearing is a requirement um and then a portion of it will also be paid through County cost participation because about um well basically the entire Road from Redwood Street all the way to henen street that is a County state highway um so the projected County cost participation is just over $3 million so 3.175 million which accounts to approximately 36% of the total project which leaves the remaining um 5, 578,000 would be City F so moving on to the special assessments um the total assess amount is calculated to be the total project cost the way the city has historically and the way their policy um States is that 25% of the total Street project costs are assessed so that does not include utilities um it does not include any of the street scaping items the parking lot or the alley improvements uh the utilities are paid for out of their respective Enterprise funds and um the special assessments are are are uh placed on the properties that are directly adjacent to the improvements so the way the city calculates their assessments is on a unit basis so um every every Frontage essentially has a one one unit uh if it's a side Frontage it's a half unit uh the only the only exception to that would be the sly County parcel because that is much larger than any other individual parcel so that was that was given two frontages or two units basically um which is consistent with with how the city has um treated similar situations like that on previous projects um and then as we look at the propos versus the preliminary assessed amount so back if you recall the last Improvement hearing we had I believe it was about a year ago today um give or take a week or so the preliminary assess amounts back then were calculated to be or estimated to be $627,500 where we're showing um today we're calculating those out to be um about $1,000 less so um you can see that I didn't bring it with me but on the maybe have it on the last slide here the one unit then the assessment for one unit would be $3,382 is what it's calculated at the special assessments are proposed to appear on the 2025 tax statements uh at a rate of 4 a. half% interest for a 20-year term um Minnesota statute 435 does allow for the assessment special assessments to be deferred for a couple cases including if the owner is 65 years of age or older or retired by virtue of a permanent or total disability or if the owner is a member of the Minnesota National Guard or military reserves in their called back to service um the assessment role which was sent to you um as part of your notice and as provided here at the table if you if you didn't bring a copy um provides an estimated amount for assessments for each person so I ran through everything relatively quickly in the interest of time but are there any questions from the council or the group on the special assessments you said what do you mean by military reti no if you're call if you're on Military reserves or National Guard and you're called into active duty service okay thanks BR uh we had two people sign in to the public hearing for the 2023 utility and Street Improvement and I apologize I think Dan Meer is the last name yeah no did you want to speak no okay I don't have anyone else on the list that wanted to speak okay um and we don't have to read down the list or anything no okay if there's no more comment on that we can close that he close that portion do we need a motion to do that or can we just move on to the next uh we can just move on to the next and close them all at once then we will move on to 5.2 public hearing on changes to city code chapter 2 op operations and administration so chapter 2 um really guides city council for City Council meetings it establishes our Police Department our fire department our ambulance department um and last year if you don't remember we started updating chapter 8 um it was the nuisance chapter and we felt like chapter 2 needed some additional um changes um so the first change I have highlighted was it we had changed it to the fourth Monday I'm asking city council to put it back on on the first Monday instead of the 4th um same time um we're basically keeping all the other mandatory um established rules for that um the order of business we took out things like miscellaneous um uh and some of the things that just were just not required and that we really haven't used for quite a while I think miscellaneous we stopped using an early of 22 um just because it it caused us to make decisions as a council um that maybe weren't really well researched um we're going to just highlight um under subdivision three on the agenda um that really to get on the agenda you need to let uh the city clerk or administrator know three business days in advance um that's really no different than what we were doing before it's really the Wednesday before the council meeting is when we need to know it gives us time to properly prepare the documents or if need be say hey I don't think this was ready for a council agenda let us float it by the council um maybe it needs to go to a Committee hearing um for instance if someone is coming in and saying a I want a new fountain in the middle of the park um you know put it on the council agenda let's get it going well really that should be to the parks committee first and we did that with um the donated um Memorial funds uh that pretty much all went through the park committee before it went to council and so we would treat those additional agenda items um with the same care that we would do any other time voting in Quorum is all the same um this is where things change a little bit in 201106 the Committees so because we have a smaller Council and um because most of you sit on the same exact committees uh I am asking that we collapse some of the Committees so there used to be for those that didn't know we used to have six committees one of them was for police one of them was for fire and ambulance and so those two committees would have to meet separately on those issues and post meeting dates separate and so what we're asking um city council to do is form three separate committees one would be Administration bargaining and personnel number two would be utilities infrastructure and parks and three would be police fire an ambulance so that when with those committees met we would be able to um talk about all of those things on on a needed basis um uh the membership uh really doesn't change I just took out the Safety Committee section we actually don't uh form a Safety Committee anymore and I don't know if we have since the 90s um so I'm just asking to clean up the language there um we talked a little bit uh before I think at a I don't know if it was an open public forum Forum or if it was um during one of the vacancy fills so this vacancy policy has been in place since 2007 I highlighted in green I didn't um change any of it but if Council wished now would be the time um but you know it it really does lay out how a VY is is filled and they've been doing it that way well since 2007 and I believe that is about it um the rest of the chapter really focuses on police fire ambulance um and uh that would be the updates to chapter 2 at the Safety Committee um I thought there was a reason we had to have a a safy commit yeah there there definitely used to be um the league of Minnesota City's Trust Insurance used to have each City have their own Safety Committee um it was in compliance with OSHA standards when it comes to fire an ambulance um those responsibilities really are now on the fire chief ambulance captain and you know us as Administration in Troy um and because they're I would say so involved especially like with fire OSHA compliance it is extremely involved um it's a daily thing now and not a once a once a quarter thing so most most cities got rid of this quite a while ago anybody else have any questions any and I didn't have anyone sign up for that one okay I think rearranging the Committees is very wise because that will make it I think much more workable for everybody all right um if we have nothing else on that public hearing we move on to 5.3 public hearing on truth and Taxation 2025 yeah um so we set the ponary lovey uh at 6.3% um that is um currently 4 14% below what our estimated budget was this last year there was some inflated numbers in there for streets um because we knew we were going to do some corrections on Grant Street um there was just there was just a lot of things that we cut and I I just want to say with council's help the last two years we've actually cut um a lot of the expenses almost by 22% so year over-year the last two years we've reduced costs by 22% and we did that strategically for a lot of reasons um our lift station is one of them you know we put a lot of capital into correcting the lift station the seals um the general maintenance of it the the lift station right now is using 30ish % less energy um year-over-year than it had before now we were in a drought this fall so it's not a really great um comparison but you know even the windows in City Hall you know um people were a little bit concerned our Energy bill and we can show it on one of these other slides too is considerably down over the previous years I'm talking like $10,000 less on energy costs um so some of those things that we put into for our Capital Improvement project with the help of isg um we have really identified things that need to be replaced and that we stop really patching things even water main brakes you know we did some stuff in the water plant that was pretty inexpensive but really effective knock on wood um since since the early 2022 we have not had a major water main break the one that we had up by uh 8th Street um that was actually due to someone slamming a water shut too fast it wasn't necessarily an infrastructure problem um so anyway that really reduces how much we have to operate with each and every year we also took a look look at our Capital reserves when it comes to um our department heads and what we really need in the future and we determined uh that we could lower that so we lowered it by 11% this year it's a $20,000 uh differ difference our total um budget if we just stuck with it right then and there U would be about 14% less than it was the year before so um what I will say about that is uh this is actually inflated we actually reduced costs much more than the 14% uh but things that went up were Insurance were comp um property insurance went up because we didn't have some um major assets listed so our property insurance did go up by almost 20% um so I think the department heads did a really good job at at reviewing them uh Revenue so revenue is down 15% um that is predicted Revenue in government is not always easy if you look at building permits alone we have it set really low because Heartland corn products the last couple of years have done pretty major projects and that means that we get a considerable amount of Revenue off building permits which then goes to the state but that why um that one is sitting solo uh I I would say our local government assistance um and the rest of our revenue is fine it was really um it was really the building permits that you know we can certainly adjust and we can look at that as well um so the special sales for Debt Service and bond this comes out of U multiple bonds um we are making this more transparent so people understand um where those Geo levies are are at um before this was a category within our general government and we really pulled it out so that people know where the project costs are coming from so this is just a reminder that that 17870 is only for the general obligation so from projects from 2015 to now well a little bit earlier than that there were some other ones um so like our 2020 project when we did nickolet and or um sorry Carver in henpen uh th those costs are associated in there as well so that is it costs the city on just the general obligation Bonds on their projects is about $170,000 so that's 100% increase but that was actually in our general lobby at one point so um what we're asking Council to propose tonight is um the proposed tax ly at 960 $9.56 I don't know if the 56 cents is necessary um a 6.3% increase which is 57% and again a lot of that came um to due to insurance cost increases and some Revenue decreases what was the difference last year and this year uh with LGA the local government uh we got about $330,000 more than we did last year I believe yeah it was about 30,000 what do they base that on anything I like the laugh yeah so it's a very contrived um formula that they use they use it on based on population but there are 23 different factors that go into it including infrastructure how much we have done and increased um so for instance the city our size same size um may get more LGA because they've done more to um fixer streets sewer sanitation and they we apply for that or do they no it's one simple form and was something like this project would they take a look yeah maybe next year or the year after but they also look at how much staff you have and how much payroll is going through there's yeah there's 23 different categories that go into it but it did increase for the first time in a while are there any specific questions about um a category maybe that you want to look at uh I will um I I do want to pull up Parks because there's some um general interest in Parks um in our Park budget um you know we currently have uh an extra around $30,000 and the reason that we put that in there and that's impacting the general Le Levy is um because they have a what I would call significant project with a splash pad um you know that's not going to be without some errors um here and there so we did add that um to it so that'll pay for some of like the piping and some of the water that needs to be um taken from the water tower um the other one is Farm City FunFest again Council um gave the okay in the need I guess to continue to fund some Pharm City FunFest activities to the tuna $10,000 again that was about what we spent this year on tent rentals I can tell you that that committee which I'm now ad hocle on is um very much looking at costs um they are looking at five less tent rentals this year than they did the year before um they're red doing the um the um the raffle tickets a little bit more um to towards a cash prize to try to make up some of those um so we are they are working I think pretty hard at kind of turning that around so they're not dependent on the city the other thing um that uh city council heard last meeting is the um looking for it is the the Historical Society the Historical Society asked for 6,000 right now it's only budgeted at 5 where did the extra thousand come in and what did they I can't remember what that was um it was just extra added expenses year over year mostly utilities yeah they what we decide about that if they turn five internet expense that would be almost $1,000 right there and if they don't have a lot of visitors I'm not sure what they're using it for so can we cut it to I mean you can propose however you want I I think they I think they probably need to know that you know they should be making some other plans in the future I would say just leave it at this point but we need to tell them that you know going forward we need to be putting that back the 30,000 that's in the park I mean yeah that seems high what kind of yeah so that's going to play pay for some of the plumbing so storm is going in next year so is um some sewer sanitary sewer and some water pipes and we're proposing that the park should pay for some of that under General obligation which will address some of the areas of the park that flood yeah so the east side of the park where they're putting the splash pad in kind of past where all the play equipment is is usually underwater um in the plan this is to fix some of those issues of the flooding and the constant non- draining especially from those properties so they're going to take that and connect it to the storm sewer the farm City FunFest why does that uh jump around so much um the 10,000 yeah um you know I I can't speak for the committee I just know that that I don't know if there was a formal way before this that they were asking um for money you know this is part of that conversation where we say you know our are Community organizations eligible for tax dollars um you know that would I mean if you zeroed that and uh the Historical Society out we would have a 0% increase probably it'd be really close maybe a negative and I think things like how much we're spending on Farm City FunFest have become more evident with the better accounting system we have yeah because now we know exactly how much and it's it's much easier to track and see it plus I think we improved our categories and it's just much more transparent and we have a as a city staff we have voist our concern to F City F Fest committee about the amount that they're spending on certain items um that the city in the past has just always taken care of like portapotty portapotty are very expensive for that one weekend alone it cost us almost $3,000 uh you know those types of expenses are impacting taxpayers so I know that they're aware but we can do whatever Council wishes on those do you want to make a proportional cut on that do you want to leave Farm City fund Fest where it is looks like last year they spent about 6,000 and we're budgeting 10 um what they're saying there so we combine those categories so they actually spent 6,000 and then an additional um it was over 10,000 okay it was closer to 12 it was closer to 12 and that's because they last minute ordered some extra tents that we got the bill for after Farm City fund vest so the budget is 10,000 yes yeah total might don't want to mess around a lot I I would I would propose U you know 25 instead of 30 unless those are set costs we know it's going to be 30,000 and then maybe reduce the chamber the rent to five that's just so that would bring the levy down to 5.2% just a awareness any thoughts on that and it's a total dollar amount which is actually the real cost is 47,000 year-over-year increase so what did what did you propose the reduction on the rentals for 5,000 cut and a half so Farm City fund Fest would be down to 5,000 000 and the park improvements uh would go to 25,000 do you also want to reduce the Historical Society then if you're hitting two other we can include that can we already reduce that from last year been at five for a long time so we get 4,000 on that I mean that makes it fair kind of across the board everybody's getting a reduction and going to have to fund raise yeah because put us down 3% 3 three and a half yeah maybe five yeah it's still about five did that not update think it's Farm City FunFest and the historical slide are both nonprofits similar entities right do we need a motion on or this just discussion for now so if you didn't fund any of this excuse me Historical Society your Levy would be uh 1.9% if you did half it would be 2.2 if we did half of the so that would put it at 2500 for hisorical and 2.4 is at 4,000 under 3% is not B yeah I think believe Historical Society at four let's make them let's get them in the fundraising mindset yeah I I think I think it's a really worthwhile thing and it's it's great for the community we yeah we just well truly we are but they probably need to look at what needs to be done to sustain it because it can't just be that the city is the only option for because I would assume other communities that have them have to do the same kind of thing and come up with how they're subsidizing having a historical society we increased our tree budget right yeah we did um you know as as the city streets um um continue to be a problem those Boulevard trees some of them had just got to go um they're they're causing a lot of health and safety issues out on the road um we saw with the last wind storm we saw with the last time when we got that heavy snow um I can almost tell you that we probably have spent half that budget already um with proposed things over the winter and then the spring we have other categories we want to look at anybody have any other questions do we have anybody who signed in I don't have anyone to speak on TNT all right so hang on one second Michael on the uh street sweeper so we got 3,000 budgeted for repairs and maintenance on the machine stoping are you under streets The Sweep oh that's right is there known things that need to be repaired okay yeah is it is it maybe time to to uh start shopping um for used unit they're very expensive so we're trying to keep our eye out on a used still good to us life yes because they're pretty expensive okay just as long as we're making we yeah and you know over the last probably two years we've spent about 15,000 um repairing certain broken parts um we had someone fabricate some new boxes for it because they were shot just because of you know the road salt and all the gme um so we are aware we've been looking but everything has been over our price range okay and those like Leaf suckers I know everyone is obsessed with those they're like half a million so could we share with other communities at some point I mean I know new WM just bought two brand new ones I don't know Mano actually contracts with Mapleton um and they actually do all of Mapleton streets and that's a similar situation I think Hutch has like six of them now yeah and and the John Deere tractors to pull it yeah I mean we could certainly ask them but I'm sure we would pay a pretty penny every year to to have that happen okay any more discussion on public hearings so our total proposed Levy then would be two sorry 925 354 and 31 um it would be a $21,000 increase or a 2.4% decrease decrease okay an increase over last year though okay and I'll let Farm City fund f in the Historical Society no it was at 6 when we started right 6.3 is what we set to preliminary Lev yet all right somebody like to move to close the public hearing motion by Ed is there a second second second by Jenny any discussion any discussion any discussion all those in favor please say I I oppose same sign motion Carri moving on to new business the resolution 2024 46 adopt assessments for the 2023 utility and Street Improvement project uh this was for the first public hearing on the 2023 um project this will be sent certified to the county clerk's office and they'll put it on the tax rules for payable 2025 4% per annual rate at 20 years um and attached was the full assessments all right I'll make a motion to approve that resolution motion by Ed is there a second a second second by Dawn any discussion any discussion any discussion all those in favor please say I I oppose same sign motion carried we have the assessments moving on to 6.2 the resolution regarding 47 reg regarding the tax levy for collectible year 2025 so we'll update the resolution to read 925 354 at a 2 2.4% increase or 2,489 so Motion Kelly is there a second I'll second second by Jenny any discussion any discussion any discussion all those in favor please say I I oppose same sign motion carried um the utility rate finalization ordinance number 20251 ah have some so uh this will be ordinance uh 202- Z1 we'll pass it actually in January we review it usually at budget time because this is actually where impacts the most um I wanted to give you a view of um [Music] um the Total Bond payments so that we understand kind of how municipal bonds work it's like Municipal Bond 101 time so when we do Public Work projects um anywhere in the city from 8th Street to henpen to um Second Street um those categories always hold some type of loan right against them and we pay that loan with water storm sewer so when people pay their water storm sewer electric um Bill we use that money to pay on these loans and they're payable every single year so when we um talk about the Total Bond payments that's really that one two the fth category over that is what we have to cover as a city so you see the next couple of years 25 26 and 27 um they get increasingly higher and then dip down and that is because we have some that will eventually fall off um I think there's also something to be said um about the way we're doing it now versus before is that we're really holding the Enterprise funds accountable for their portion um what was happening was kind of a blend of who pays and we're trying to get rid of that so this is a very concrete look at what our utility rates um need to pay for in order to be a sustainable Enterprise fund on the back side of that in 2016 we did a rate study um that rate study um was looked at again in 2022 and in 2023 those rates that we um are proposing from the study are really uh to cover the already existing bonds which we weren't doing a really good good job of um and to ensure that the levy the go amount Levy is correct you'll notice that the levy amount for 2024 looks really high that is because that was our proposed we thought we were already going to have to pay most of it in 25 so next year you will see a levy increase um because of the way that the bond fell um in 20126 so that Geo Bond line that's on there for 120,000 right now is actually going to go up when we looked um at rates and I'll pull up the other one because it's full um there there were a couple of things that um stood out to us first uh electric um um there was some discrepancies between people that pay taxes in town and live in town versus those that do not right so they're on what we call the farm line or out of town they're out of our legal jurisdiction boundaries but they still use our power mmpa power so we are setting the new residential rate at 01254 um that is to um keep up with not only our utility and increased pressure on electric um but from you know the 2016 study we're actually supposed to be quite about that um the farm line account will be at a 3% increase at 0.1 1285 so there is um that will increase a farm line account by about $30 a month so it'll be seen when we talk about our commercial customers um commercial uh causes a lot more um I will say this they put a lot more strain on the system than our regular residential customers do um right now uh their rate is the exact same or was the exact same as residential we're proposing that we increase that to1 326 um that actually levels out their demands so our demand is actually pretty low um comparably to what we get build at if we put that in a dollar amount per kilowatt hour um mmpa charges us $9 we are charging like six right now so we have to figure out that discrepancy somehow because we're we're already blending those rates um we are proposing that we keep the electric base feed um solar credit would remain the same and solar credits just so you guys know our solar customers that we have um those are in a dur or de contract with the uh that is on a contract with them so when they sign up for solar they know exactly what we're going to pay them back um so if they are using our electric which happens with all of our solar customers especially on very cloudy days they're actually getting charged 0.254 while we're only paying them 764 per kilowatt hour um when we talk about water um we are proposing an increase to water um water is actually probably our healthiest Enterprise fund and um their increas is less than the rest um that was what DDA had kind of suggested to council at the beginning of Second Street theirs would be about three cents three and a half cents per gallon if you if you math that it's three and a half cents per gallon um commercial rate and Industrial rates they're already um higher than residential obviously again those rates are um reflective of their use and their demand on our system I will tell you that water U we are already trying to look at replacing filters and extending the life of our water plant uh we've done I think a really great job at maintaining the water plant um but it needs it needs new filters um we did have them uh preliminary estimated last year um at the beginning of the year and it was it was very high it was almost $400,000 to get new filters um so we're not there yet we can  along for a little while longer and um how long would that extend the uh plant about five years 5 to six years it would extend the life of the plant if you do really great routine maintenance you know the the real life of a filter nowadays is about 10 years yeah then you after after six to seven years you got to start thinking about replacing the filters again and we have all you know our meganes in this area is just very very high I think we all smell it in our water um it's the aqua that we use obviously but um we're we're working on reducing that but it takes some chemical the water base fee would go up to $15 um the sewer base fee would go up to 15.39% [Music] so storm sewer is probably the the biggest change um right now I just can't remember storm is paying $810 right now they come nowhere near close in storm um to paying off their actual obligation to our bonds and not even close um even without Second Street they weren't close and so um Shannon was proposing a $26 base fee um we did the current math in our calculations we actually reduced that to 18.53% other than that the other um the other increase that you're going to see is on uh our ambulance calls um we haven't Ro raised the price in quite a while right now we're at $800 per call we're asking city council to go to a th000 um there's some caps obviously with Medicare and Medicaid that only pay us back 500 they only they're about 30% short of what they should be paying us and that is a beyond our issue we can't really solve that we hope that the feds and the state figure it out sometime soon um because it is impacting significant the the ambulance um so with $1,000 per call that is hopefully going to get us to almost even uh as you remember ambulance hasn't made money for quite a few years going back to the uh utilities yeah on an average household what do you looking at I mean what does that come to for an average household yeah base fees so we gave the example um earlier this year the only difference is is the $5 fee was added back in um and we did that because um we we couldn't figure out how to pay for light poles without it honestly unless we increase the fee even more so on an average two-person household if your average bill was $164 and this does not include garbage and recycling so just so you know um if you just took utilities it was 16440 this last year it would be about 20 to $25 more in 2025 and again this this means that they would be covering their bond obligations it also means that um you know we would be covering our debt and our future projects when it comes to some of our water and waste water on one of the things that's so difficult when you're looking at this if if we had addressed this in 2014 when we first started talking about it if we had made smaller incremental increases along the way as we were encouraged to do back then we wouldn't have to be looking at a larger increase right now but I I've always said the cost of you know even if you don't use a drop of water it there's still a laate in cost for the ability to turn on that faet and you know it it's it cost the city to have that there and to maintain it so you know some of the the base fees are a fair way to to address that how do we compare with surrounding towns um as far as utilities spend on the lower end yeah we had that not too long ago yeah I can't remember if it's this one or not I went utilities folder is it well that's percentage increases utilities and then rates I think is it this one or the actual PDF we'll find out that these are our old rates though I haven't I haven't updated the chart but if you look at Arlington Olivia um they're significantly higher than we are um if you just this is just you know base fees if you just looked at base fees make that old man sized oh yep I sure can there we go much better sorry um and you know especially like Arlington I know that they are raising their electrical this year too um they actually had some deferred costs from their project um that we didn't you know they had their street project they actually contracted someone to come to their utilities so put up the polls and um that costs them a lot of money I I think upwards into $300,000 so if we go if we're at 48.92 then there's only two of the seric Downs that are less yeah and this is just a general overvie yeah yeah but even with increases in the electrical our our electric utility is still cheaper than right Exel substantially by almost 10% yeah or Brown County reist moud con yeah McLoud is very high yeah right do you have more questions about that anybody anybody like to make a motion regarding that proposed ordinance and just like any ordinance it has to be heard twice so you'll hear this again in January and that will when will finalize but we still need a motion now yeah okay I'll make a motion to approve the preliminary motion by Ed is there a second I second it second by Wanda any further discussion any discussion all in favor please say I I post same sign function carry moving on to 6.4 the splash pad bid we have three bids yeah and their bids are not comparable um so CRS actually came in the lowest the other two um did not include things like insulation cost or shipping I and I we don't really know why um so CRS is the one that originally looked at our plans um went within the park committee's budget and so um they're looking at about 460,000 I will tell you that the longer we wait the more they are going to increase um we've already been notified once this fall of a $10,000 increase and I'm sure if we don't lock it in this spring we'll hear about other increases um the other two bids and I apologize I think it's water play um water play gave us a really nice proposal and I appreciated everything they put together um I thought they were very thorough but they didn't include an actual installation of how much that would cost so it would looks like it's really really inexpensive and then you notice that you can't install it for that price so so do they not install is that why they didn't we have to go get a contractor to install is kind of what Paul had told me from my SG okay what are the estimated cost for this the splash pad yeah it's 460 that that's just yeah and that would be a guaranteed cost I mean they don't they the splash pad portion won't would't go up it's 459 342 and 10 cents it's weird how government works 10 cents this has a system that recycles the water yeah that's another thing too um the other two water plate did have a system but it was it would have to you'd have to construct another structure we're um using Vortex kind of Dome system where you don't need to create a a separate structure it's actually kind of like a a dome that just recycles the water um and the other one that we got didn't have a recycling option at all we would have had to buy from Vortex to put it in uh which I I mean we definitely could do if we really wanted to but there wasn't a cost savings necessarily for that okay we've looked at the turn terms and conditions on not contract and it looks acceptable yeah um I know isg has dealt with CRS before and they're a state bid contractor so technically we didn't have to go out for additional bids but we did because we wanted to know who's doing the one Island I don't know who's doing Bird Island I don't know if it's DRS I I think it's um they don't have a recycling portion in Bird Island um and I'm pretty sure it's playtime but I saw fun Henderson's looking at building one too huh Henderson is I don't know where they are at I just saw fundraiser poster yeah I don't think they're BR recycling one the yeah Michael do you want to sort of re refresh for all of us how we're proposing to fund this yeah absolutely so um throughout um our capital expenditure funds city council has appropriated money from those savings accounts to pay for this so parks are very different than our Enterprise funds they're very different from our general obligation bonds Parks according to DDA cannot really be bonded for unless it's a referendum on a ballot so your only two real options are put it on the ballot or pay for it through savings you can't tax directly for it unless the taxpayers okay it obviously um like North Bano to pay for Caswell park has has a a sales tax that pays for that giant infrastructure so this is coming out of our savings and our proposal to council was you know if we pay back $125,000 every year for the next 5 years we will pay back the amount um but you know just like in anything this also means that we are going to you know be building other projects like for instance the street sweeper you know we have to keep that thing going because we can't pay for another one for at least the next five years um but there was definitely sufficient funds in there um State Statute guides cities on debt and how much we can have in our bank account I mean just to give you an idea of our funding mechanism our 3M our 4M account excuse me our Forum account that does Investments um gained about $150,000 this year come the end of the year um so we did try to divest some of our our money to get a bigger return on investment for the community so that we can pay back the splash pad in a faster motion but it's not directly increasing our taxes it's just we're paying back that savings account every year which you know does mean that we can't go out and buy a new street sweeper right away um but that's kind of what we had planned the diagram that I put in here but you can look at it as using the money that we've been investing in Saving rather than yeah and if you're wondering about the whole project um obvious obiously we are going to have to remove some trees um because you don't want to tree over a splash pad because of the recycling portion um we're actually looking into moving one of them like scooping it up and putting it somewhere else Jason doesn't know if that's possible just because of the age of the tree um it's not the big tree don't worry it's not the big tree um but there's some things that you know we want to make sure happen including removing some of that path making it Ada accessible and wider um this would just go from parking lot to parking lot lot we aren't really doing anything with the playground this year um just because financially it wasn't feasible um we're not doing anything to the bathrooms right now we are thinking about painting replacing some of the sinks that got damaged um but yeah I I think that it's a feasible project over the next five years and we could apply for a a grant for some of this next yes that is in April again we will apply for the D gr the 88 bathrooms yep and making the the path more Ada accessible too is is a really important thing my hope is that they'll help us create the trail system all the way around that would be ideal I'm going to step that I'm going to make a motion to accept the uh CRS bid I will second it right we have a motion by Ed and second by Wanda is there any discussion any further questions about the project or funding or anything any discussion all right I call the motion all those in favor please say I I I opposed motion carried all right um 5.6 Library board letter resignation Cheryl melheim Cheryl melheim is going back to work and so she can't um continue to commit to the the library board she's been really great she kind of acted as our first chair of the library board and she did a great job kind of steering that the the kittens and the right direction so um I really appreciate Cheryl but she just can't time obligation wise continue all right so do we need a motion to accept that or yes okay motion by Kelly I'll second any discussion all those in favor please say iose same sign please tell Cheryl we appreciate her yeah efforts very much all right committee notices updates Michael yeah I just I wanted to talk a little bit about streams I know that you've been hearing about it nonstop and it's kind of getting annoying uh we had a we had another meeting today um that really looked over um what the costs and the rates were being uh proposed versus what we need them to be um you know the Wastewater Plant in general wouldn't be necessarily a winr plant it would be long to a Wastewater district and without boring you with details the rates right now that they're proposing um are just not financially possible for anyone um for Industries and for residents so we're continuing to work on that I will tell you that we did get an opportunity to um present at the DNR Round Table the DNR Round Table is an exclusive event at the DNR only three communities and three projects um are chosen uh we uh go before 450 constituents um activists for water DNR um and those uh that opportunity I guess to present in front of legislators and the governor um about the project is going to be really important um there's actually five other states dnrs that are going to be there listening to the presentations and all of them are focused on water scarcity and how our project fits that model um so we continue to work on it it's not there it's not even close um Julie thanks for coming today and sitting through that I know it's very technical um but it is it's really good work uh we just have a lot to do um we really are trying to figure out where that um next step is and how we can go forward because we know like currently we could never propose it to the city council and and really one of the biggest sticking points right now is you build this Wastewater Plant it takes care of all the waste for DFA Harland corn products all four towns it goes to this one plant we have employees the operational costs are pretty high um they are in any waste water the the problem is is that internally in our city we still have projects to do right that include Wastewater projects So Not only would their rates be on top of our rates but how do you blend those and how does that fit our needs you know if you take a a sewer rate and just say well it's just going to go 10 times higher well that will everyone will leave I mean no one would stick around um so we're we're still trying to figure out that formula I will tell you that as a municipality as as for municipalities this would be the first Rural Water Project when it comes to um a water reuse facility that um anyone in the state is tackling so it's kind of the first that's why npca wants to hear about it you know it's taking seven permits for them down to one they know that you can't find workers right you can't find workers in waste water right now even the people that are Contracting to look at and monitor facilities are having troubles finding workers um so building one facility just makes sense for all of us um so streams is going forward but it is I would say very monotonous and meticulous um calculations and we still have not arrived at a a final formula there's very smart people involved which is yeah very technical but I think one of the things that I find encouraging about it is just the discussion between those four communities and our business partners it you know small communities are going to have a harder and harder time paying for things on our own you know like you mentioned the street sweeper or something if we can find ways that we can work together um you know when we helped share the police department with Gibbon all of those things I think just build that shared trust and ability to work together and that's worth a lot right there yeah and I I think you know on on the Wastewater side we conceptually understand that it's feasible like we understand that it's feasible to go from New Auburn and pump it here courland already does it to New allall right we already know that conveyance is probably conceptually feasible and you know in the future what does water look like because every single one of these towns cannot build their own water drinking plant it just is not financially feasible um in the s when most of these water plants went in right there was a huge Federal program that said after the Great War we are going to build out these water plants and then since then we haven't had a really good idea about how to do that um so we we have already approached legislatur we're looking for ear marks we're looking for anything to help us with our preliminary engineering and that would be the next step so um Eda wise we're almost done with the year um you'll get some final statistics uh in January but uh it looks like we gave about $60,000 worth of small business loans um the facade Grant was about $65,000 not all of that's paid out obviously because they're still working on them um but there programs were definitely utilized this year um and you'll see it downtown um you know we've opened quite a few small businesses so um Eda is is just huming along good um anything else fire I don't see anybody from the fire department no Adam was going to come I didn't know okay I was just going to say this going back to uh open public forum concerning our Charter have the police uh and fire department taken a look at that also or ambulance and fire department yeah we have it's I know they wanted to make some possible changes really bizarre um to say the least so we have fire and ambulance not only in Chapter 2 but we also have them in our Personnel policy and I think everyone's been going off the Personnel policy we're looking to actually just brush those up a little bit um but it maybe not be on this first reading because we have to stetch toally figure out what Authority chapter 2 gives them and how do we get rid of the rest like the fire captain stuff and the ambulance Captain stuff just needs to kind of go away CU that's in our Personnel policy now and it should probably be in chapter two okay okay it's kind of like what council did with the Personnel policy when they pulled it out all right um Library all right yeah we met um here and it's getting close to the end of the year so they're um really watching spending and things till after the first of the year and new budget starts um they are still meeting with the rep now on trying to um get more information about the book leasing program that we talked about that they saw in lour um so they're still working on that TDS just gave a $100,000 Grant 1700 of that goes to win directly for non-fiction collection updates and so um libraries are working together and pulling out books that have not been checked out in um five years and weeding that collection and then looking at what do they need to add for nonfiction and um all age groups to try to up the interest in that um their friends group has been meeting they finally have their um EIN number but they still need $600 to apply for nonprofit status so they're still working on where that's coming from um they have a bookfolding uh gome craft things planned for Christmas in the country from 1: to 3: and also on Friday have a program with um leather Souls musicians and things here for um all age groups for that and um they're looking at um we have tentatively booked a murders for fun fundraiser for March 15th and 16th that's a company that comes in and does like the murder mystery dinners oh it's a my yeah Murder Mystery Dinner yeah um with that and uh they have a mocktails class coming up in January and we've also coordinated with Gaylord and given libraries Alex messenger who survived uh muling and wrote a book is going to be here speaking and everybody that's heard him so far has said he's a really Dynamic speaker is Alex messenger yeah when um that's coming up I believe in February yeah February or January end of January end of January first part of February but it'll be like three days in a row so if you can't go to the one here you can hopefully go to either gayer or Gibbons it's a collaborative effort for that um and that's about it for where they're at for right now okay I just wanted to add to the library Michelle's last day was Wednesday she's going to take the library director position in gaylard so she'll be right next door us hopefully some collaboration there in the future yep um okay moving on to public works I don't see sure here you have any I don't okay Planning Commission they meet actually next week on the 10th so nothing from them yet okay write that down um RS fi and nothing we have not met since um utilities um just that their rates were out in the the bills they'll be there again next month and they're going to be printed in the paper Okay ambulance got anything for I said um about the only thing is we've got a really nice group of people that are um taking the class um doing the bridge class from EMR to EMT so we're seeing a lot of good interest um it'll actually give some I told him that they that just because we're adding people doesn't mean people can retire but it's giv it will give us the opportunity if somebody needs to retire that they can retire so um the class is filling out nicely Sam uh coordinated that for us and um it's it's feeling out nicely and I talked to Lafayette today the Lafayette ambulance Captain Mark dick and he said that he's got two that'll come that he's going to encourage to come over gaylor's got five or six for the EMR class so it could be a 30 person class if it keeps going the way it is so we'll be taking over this room on Thursdays so for nine weeks how many for winter from wi I know we have I think three going from EMR to EMT Bridge class um we have I think three EMTs gayor fire is going to send I think three emrs over I think a police officer from Gaylord's going to come over and do EMR Mt gibbons's got two a few other random ones have popped up and it's open to anybody really so I mean if someone heard because Ridgewater also has theirs um it put up on their website and promoting it too so people may come from Hutch if they want to um and do it that way it's nice because it's a hybrid it's every Thursday night so for the first nine weeks in person um every Thursday from 600 p.m. to 10 p.m. um those first nine weeks we'll be doing like the cycle motor skills um CPR um doing the test outs for that then the remaining nine or eight nine weeks um it's actually all do so we don't actually have to meet in person so that makes a little bit easier too nice Community collaboration and I should mention too that that most of the people that are taking the well EMT to EMR bridge and the EMT are are young people um that's good 20s or 20s or less so it's um we're getting some good interest that's great to hear it is because you you know it's it's really easy to fall into it and you hear all the time nobody volunteers anymore and but we do have yeah some young people who really are stepping up which is great wi's blessed with both fire and EMS we are not so much said he said what he said all right police committee Logan you have anything for us I don't really have a lot guys okay already stole my thunder all right um cable commission do we have anything uh we met but we there was a lot discussed okay we talked a little bit about the RS fiber what's going to happen with that and whether or not we'll get funding from the oh yeah we get that and park committee we hav our last now that we have Splash Pad we have to start picking out colors and all of things okay I think that's it for commit IES um we have nothing else some like to move to a moved all in favor we are jour