Oh yeah, go to Lisa surgery today. [laughter] >> It's amazing what you learn when you're young. My husband might not care about wedding. I didn't realize that for like two weeks. >> It happens. >> Seriously, >> I think I think those guys had a lot of adrenaline going to [music] like Happy. [laughter] >> I gave her I gave her some candy and then I gave her the she hold the big basket so she can catch him. So we may do >> we always give her candy before we send her home too. >> Yes. That's good. Your brother deserves it. >> Mhm. [laughter] He does. >> Absolutely. >> If I could Snickers and Mountain Dew before she leaves, she'd be awesome. >> Yeah. I think you should give her extras. >> Mhm. >> From Christy. You don't really know her, but she knows this time. >> Exactly. >> She would like you to have a second one. [laughter] >> Tested it an hour ago. So, if nothing changed, we'll be good. Oh, Yes. >> I am enjoying these late agendas early in the year. >> I know you're doing it on purpose, right, Brian? >> Wait until it gets warm out. Yeah, it is weird like that, right? It's >> like it's cold, nothing to do kind of. >> Yeah, >> cuz there's a whole just big pile of stuff that's coming like >> that's going to keep us nice >> cuz we got the, you know, our 10ear update or update to our 10ear financial plan and all the CIP buckets and all that development stuff. That's we're just waiting to see the forecast for a nice day. >> All right, it's 5:30. I will call the work session to order. Um, we have our quarterly public safety update. With us is Chief Walsh. Hi. First of all, uh, kudos because when you told us in October, and I talked about this at our last meeting, but when you told us about the intersection of 11 and 44, Big Woods, Big Big Woods Boulevard, >> like you are the reason why we were able to affect change for that. And I'm sure I don't know about you, but every time I go past there and see the blink, I'm like, "OH, >> it wasn't like a direct path, but because of your advocacy, >> hopefully that will be a little bit safer." >> I'm hoping so. >> Thank you for >> It seems to be anyway. I've only heard one incident since then. >> Good. >> So, and that was pretty minor from the way I understand it. So, yeah, that was a good thing. Glad we were all able to jump in and participate with that and get it done. >> Yeah, it felt like a win. >> Absolutely. what's going on in your world from >> so um since our last meeting fourth quarter we've had 116 calls for service >> overall 2025 we ended with 398 that was a uh 27% increase from the prior year so 84 more calls than the year prior we average in the last four years about 9% increase give or take some a little more, some a little less, but so yeah, we've been uh climbing the ladder for calls next year. I'm hoping not, but >> climbing the ladder. I see what you did there. >> So, does that increase kind of spread evenly among the different types of calls that [clears throat] you receive or is there one that category that is outperforming another? There >> medicals are our biggest one. We're probably 60 some 66% somewhere in there in medicals. The rest of them it's been all over the board. You can't really put a finger on, you know, crashes or, you know, um, fire related or any of that kind of stuff. It's [snorts] all over. A little bit of everything. But our biggest call volume are medicals. [snorts] >> So proportionally, everything is staying the same. It's just more calls. Yep. >> Okay. >> How many structure fires did you have? >> I think last year we only had two. >> Okay. Okay. Do >> you have to call mutual for both of those? >> Yep. Okay. >> Anytime we get a structure fire where we have visible flames, it's automatic. >> Okay. And then who's doing the station then if you guys are out? >> Um we have that covered usually from the scene. So we have um when we do our first alarm, it's us, Chesa and Cologne. No matter where we are in our fire district, normally we're going to call a second alarm. So that brings in I think three more engines in a ladder. And if we don't use all of those people, one of those engines is dedicated to run the rest of the calls from the city or our district. Okay? >> And if we don't, if we're using all of them, we usually call another alarm in and somebody's covered. >> Okay. And then those structure fires, were those in Carver proper or were they in a township? Do you remember? >> Off the top of my head, I think it was one in the city and one out. >> Okay. If I remember correctly. Okay. But yeah, thanks. Um, otherwise we are continuing to do interviews for our command staff. We are working on captains currently and then we'll get two lieutenants. We hope to be done with that whole process by the end of February if not sooner. Then we'll have all of our folks in place and then so far as of about 25 minutes ago, we're 21 calls for so far in January. >> Mhm. >> We just we had two of them today already. Jeez, it's one a day. >> Yeah, pretty much. Sometimes we can go a couple of days with nothing and then there's three or four in one day. >> So, >> is your day coverage good now? >> You know, I would say on average it's anywhere from 8 to 12 people during the day. >> Okay. >> And then sometimes, like today, we had one person show up to take the truck out to the call. There was somebody already there, but we had five or six people show up after that. Okay. And >> so it really it kind of depends on the day and what people are doing and where they're working and that kind of thing, but on average 8 to 12. >> Okay. >> Somewhere there. >> So if we are on a you know cuz obviously people work, right? So we expect lower number of people available during the day. So do you are you more likely to call in for do you call for help? Like let's say it's a medical and you've got one guy going. Are you going to call Chaza or Victoria to come in for that? >> If we have to, we will. Yep. Absolutely. And then what's we've never had to do that. Um Chesa is usually pretty quick because they have a duty crew on. So they normally have four people that run an engine. >> Okay. >> So they're usually pretty quick. I don't know what the time frame would be, but >> but it's reasonable. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Yep. >> Yeah. Otherwise, um the only other thing is I sent out a communication here late last week just uh letting all of our folks know our mission in regards to all the things that are happening in the world today. and uh some of the federal agencies and stuff that are working in our community on what our mission is and what we're going to do. And so they've been up to date on that otherwise. Um yeah, that's kind of my report. >> Eric kind of asked my question, but are there any trends other than lots of medical lots and lots and lots of medicals? >> Not really, but let me go back and look at the data and uh see if I can run some reports. Okay, >> we're in the process of switching um reporting softwares, but I'll go back in there. That'll force me to learn some of the new stuff and see what I can find in there and bring that back. >> Okay. And then how you brought in the new batch of firefighters at one of our more recent meetings. How in general has recruitment been? >> You know, knock on wood, I think we've been pretty successful. um here in some of the other departments where they might get maybe two or three people that apply. Well, we're probably averaging anywhere from four to six. >> Okay. >> So, that's been really good. >> Okay. Is that you've been in the fire service for a long time. Is that >> dwindling though over time? >> Yes. Okay. >> It has dwindled drastically. >> I remember one point we had 16 or 18 applicants >> and we were able to pull some out of that but that's even dropped. >> Right. Is there anything that we can do to help with that? You know, >> make people's lives less busy. >> I wish there was, but it's it's a it's a whole US thing. >> Okay. >> In when it comes to the volunteer or paid on call side of the the world of fire, it's everybody's hurting. even on I should say that even on the payown calls or the full-time folks, >> they're struggling with some of that stuff too and trying to get the right people in and and >> [clears throat] >> um get their positions filled and >> so it's if you get an answer, somebody does learn from it. >> Okay. >> Well, let us know. I think that we're, you know, >> receptive. If there's a silver ticket to getting more folks to apply and stay longer and be healthier, let us know. >> Steve, >> yeah, [laughter] >> actually it worked. It worked. But >> people are in town. Are they still workers? [laughter] >> Yes, >> it was. It worked out pretty good. >> Okay. >> Oh, good. >> We only had one person that wasn't able to make it and that was work work related thing, >> but otherwise, yeah, it worked out quite well >> with the cold temperatures we have coming in -20. Is there anything that doesn't work? Do hydrants work? Do you run into any operational difficulties? >> We have not had any issues with hydrants. Um, but yes, they can freeze up. I know we had a fire I think that was a couple years ago out in uh the township and knock on wood we didn't have any issues but some of [clears throat] the mutual aid departments uh had to spend some money to fix some things that broke cracked didn't work correctly and but >> do we have everything we need for you guys to deal with temperatures like that? Is there any I don't know what the equipment would be, but is there anything that you don't have that enables you to operate? >> Nothing comes to mind. Um, we have procedures and processes for when we go out into these cold weathers and what we do with our trucks. >> And then we've got all the gear and stuff. As long as everybody's wearing the stuff they should be, >> we can stay pretty warm, especially temperatures like this. We'll keep people in our apparatus or in a garage or something where it's warmer instead of standing outside to do things. And then usually when we're out fighting fires and and or on crashes, we'll rotate people around more often than we normally do. >> The batteries for the new extrication equipment, that all stays indoors. It's warm. They're warmed up, correct? That's right. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> All right. Chief, would you mind sharing an update? You made a presentation of the Lions Club recently. >> Yeah. Um I had um Chief Hall and Chief Cox um attend a Lions meeting recently. I don't remember when it was a couple weeks ago. um they're always asking what they can uh help us get and back in 2022 they were able to purchase extrication equipment for us battery operated stuff and we said in a couple years we you know if you're willing we might come back and ask for another set to get rid of our hydraulic stuff and so those guys did that presentation and they had to have a board meeting in order for them to do their process and um hopefully donate that money I haven't heard back yet, but um we're hoping that's going to happen. We'll be able to buy extrication equipment. And we are looking at the exact same stuff that we currently have, but they call it um school used. It's been used a couple of times for some demos. So, it's a significantly reduced rate. So, it'll be cheaper than what we bought the original set for back in 2022. Um, so >> batteries interchangeable with that, same equipment. >> Yep. Be the same stuff, same batteries, same chargers, every thing will be identical. >> So we're hoping that's going to happen. >> What's the ask in a dollar amount? >> It's like 35, I think. I don't remember what the exact dollar amount was, but it's right around the $35,000 mark. Okay. >> And I think we spent back in 22 was over 55 or 60 somewhere in there. >> Wow. >> So yeah, >> quite a quite a difference. I think the lines. Did we Did you pay for part of that city budget back then? I thought we gave something around 35 to 40. I don't remember. It's been a long time. >> You know, I don't remember. >> It's been a long time. >> It has. >> You mean you can't just >> 35 keeps sticking in my head and I could be real wrong. [laughter] A few years. >> Any other [clears throat] questions for the chief? >> All right. Thank you as always. Anything else we should advocate for this quarter? You know, I wish I would have come with a list, but nothing pops into my head right now. >> Okay. >> Next time I might have to put a LIST TOGETHER. [laughter] >> CAN always ask. It's true. >> All right. Thank you so much. You appreciate it. >> Um, all right. Up next, we have Eric Hansen with Southwest Transit. >> Hello everybody. Mayor would be helpful if we >> I know a lot of the people would probably help again, you know, to remind me of the people. >> Let's do that. I'm Courtney Johnson. I'm the mayor. >> I'm Christy Conrad, council member. Thank you. I'm Tim Walsh, fire chief chief. Andrew Simmons, director of public services. >> Lorie Ser, council member. Kayla Pasco, council member. >> I sure hope you know who I am. >> Do you miss these kind of meetings? >> I do. Actually, I Yes, sometimes I do actually. >> We've met before. >> Yes. >> I'm Brenda Good, administrative services manager. Nice to meet see you in person. Um, all right. Well, thanks for giving me the opportunity to kind of give you a year in review. It's been a couple years, I think, since I've been here, but but it's been a really interesting year. [snorts] Um, particularly as it relates to Carver. So, there's a lot of stuff that's been going on. And, um, you know, if at any point you have any questions, you know, please just, you know, interrupt me all the way through as you wish. This is our newly adopted I shouldn't say new so new if we adopted it in 2024 as part of our strategic plan for our mission and vision for the agency. Um and a lot of you know we kind of have three core services that we provide. We provide bus routes uh both to downtown as well as now to the airport and the Mall of America. Um and our shuttle are special event services which we you know run out of Carver station too with the Renaissance Festival and and the state fair you know concerts games you know special festivals and things like that. Southwest Prime which serves Carver as well as our ondemand ride share program. Um and those are kind of how we think about what we provide in terms of services to our to our customers. Um and you know Carver you know folks in Carver participate in all of those actually. Uh so just a little bit information about us just to remind people this is our 40th year. Um so we were founded in 1986. So this is our 40th anniversary uh independent transit agency operated under an agreement between Eden Prair Chan Hassen and Chaska. And of course you have a representative on the commission as well as part of that and that's Eric as we know. Um we are growing. Um we finished up our final year about 14% above but we were when we did this chart uh ridership year-over-year which does make us the fastest growing train services but um also launching our autonomous veh in prairie and the 686 that really accounts for most of our increase in ridership. Um but we're the fastest growing agency in the state. We did a comparison through October which is the latest second one that's growing and they're kind of you know much further behind where we are. So it gives you an idea where we are. So we do writer surveys every year. Um 96 to 98% customer satisfaction depending on our service. We did a community survey as well. We do that every two years. People from Carver [snorts] um and uh 61% positive and 14% negative. It's not as high as you might see for city services or like fire departments. You know, you guys always get all the glory over there. I'm just saying. Um but but uh from a transit agency perspective, you know, we ask people about Metro Transit, too, and they're they're underwater. Um but but uh it's actually really good numbers. Um the other thing that that happens as well is is that we have a um report that's done to the state legislature every year [snorts] as well. It's called the regional route analysis and it looks at something which calls a subsidy um which is how much taxpayer dollars per trip you know are being put into a service. Um we're about 22% lower than Metroransit and about $12.7 versus $15. Um you know if we were part of Metro Transit, which we haven't been since 1986, um I I think we wouldn't be getting as good service and probably less efficient service as well. Um so um what is the community saying about this? I kind of hinted at this already [clears throat] uh but this is the actual numbers but this kind of shows you the trend. The one that I really like as the second one on the show the positives. So we did this survey Morris Leatherman company did it for us in 2019 23 and 2025. In 2019 35 to 42 to 53. Our negatives are down a little bit. The biggest gain though was in the neutrals and that's that's because a lot people know us more than they did before. Um and so I guess our haters are about the same but you know we've moved people from neutral to positive I guess you could say. Um in the last two years um and certainly since 2019 >> apologies if you said this but are you surveying riders or the entire community? >> We this is a community survey. Okay. So this is a phone survey. Um and we it's basically it includes Eden Prairie, Chan, Chesca, Carver, and Victoria. Um and we waited it according to the population of those communities. Um and so generally, so like Eden Prairie is about half of it and then you know Chanassen and Chaza are a little less than a quarter and then the remainder would be Garbor and Victoria. Um so this is a community survey. Um >> does that mean you have to have written on it? like [snorts] when they call you, have you written this? >> This is just how people feel about us in the community at large, whether they write us or not. I don't have that slide teed up here, but we showed it to the commission when we had our retreat on Saturday, but we do ask the question, have you heard of us? >> You know, do you use us? Um, and most people don't use us actually. So, this is really how you feel about us regardless of whether or not you've used our service, which is interesting because, and that's one of the reasons why transit doesn't often get as high a score as maybe some other services might is because a lot of people don't use it. And in addition to that, a lot of people they, you know, they don't necessarily think government should be spending money on transit. That's a different issue altogether. But, so they might have a negative view of transit generally and that bleeds into us. But generally speaking, people like us and if they've used any service, it's most likely that they've gone to the state fair or maybe one of our other festivals or something like that. >> And I'm going to ask another question, but if it's coming up in the slide, then just >> No, no, you're fine. Go ahead. Go ahead. >> So, if this is kind of, you know, the impression survey, right? What are the impression? >> What are you hoping to glean from the results of this? If it's how if it's a feelings survey, >> you know, in general, what we want to know is well, I mean, I think that goes to the we do ask some questions about how they feel about our about us. Usually those marks are anywhere from 90, you know, um does the community see value in this? And this is really important, not just and I'll talk about this a little bit at the end and and you know, thank you by the way for uh passing a resolution to support for Southwest Transit a month or two ago because this is partly what I'm showing to legislators is the kind of thing too is like look, you know, I mean, people feel really good about this service, you know, people like this service. Why would you want to change or take away this service, you know, in some way? And it gives us kind of an internal feel. Okay. Are are we on the right track or off the right track? You know, and we feel like we're generally on the right track, you know, in terms of what we're doing, at least people how few people feel about us. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Sure. Um Oh, I went the wrong way. Um this is an interesting one. I let this one into, you know, we asked the people the question. This is goes more to the question of, you know, would you use this in the future? What would you use this for in the future? And and it and it's really interesting. It's not surprising, you know, services like the state fair and the renaissance festival, sporting events, concerts, you know, they're they're a lot of what people are wanting to use our service for. So, in the last couple of years, we have really leaned into doing more of those kinds of services. And in fact, the last two years, our writership for these kinds of services doubled. Uh Renaissance Festival is in its second year, you know, and um that has become our second biggest service by far. Um, and and you know, we're going to other places that we didn't used to go to, you know, and we try different things like we went to the Minnesota Yach Club Festival over the summer, you know, and that we actually took 2,000 people to that and I was like, well, holy cow, I didn't expect that, you know, but you never know till you try something, right? And so we we do the full season for the Twins, the full season for the Vikings, the full season season for the Timberwolves in the wild and golfers football and and so we didn't always used to do a lot of those things and now we're going to be going to the concert, you know, at Misty Lake. You know, they have a new venue that's happening that they're opening up this year. So we're going to be going there. So I mean, every year we try to do a little bit more and this is the reason why, right? Because people say that this is the kind of thing that they that they want. In the past, we mostly just did, you know, downtown Minneapolis and Southwest Prime. And so, so it gives you an IE. So, we're really trying to lean into this idea of we're going to give people services that they're they're looking for. Um, so that's all I got teed up on that piece of it. I wanted to talk a little bit about Carver itself in terms of what happened in 2025. So, for Prime, um, we serve 6,075 writers. That includes people that were in in the service area as opposed to people were outside going in and out of the service area. And I know that, you know, because we we ended up not continuing the service because the grant funding ran run out at the end of the year. Um how many people, you know, used the express bus from Carver Station. And this is one of the reasons why, you know, we didn't feel like and you didn't feel like it should continue is that we served 152 people last year with that service, which is less than six a day. Um, which from a bus ridership standpoint is actually really, really low. >> Is that a one-way person or >> That's two way. That's three down and three back. >> Three down and three back. Okay. That's what I wanted to make sure you were not shape because Yeah. So, not that big of a deal when you're talking about like 5,000 people, but when you're talking about five people, that makes a big difference. >> Yeah. So, I know that I I know that my staff had worked with your staff as far as you how do we communicate that? You know, what does that mean? Are we concerned about people losing that service? You know, it's it's sad that there was only six a day, but it also means that you're not really impacting a lot of people by not having that service any longer. You know, I think once upon a time it would have been more, you know, co kind of killed that and and so, you know, okay, but what does that mean for that station? And we're going to keep using it for the Renaissance Festival and for the state fair. And we actually have a really cool event coming up this year that I don't know if you know about or not, but but the uh Mipa Minnesota Public Transit Association bus rodeo, which is kind of like a bike rodeo with buses, if you can imagine that kind of thing, is going to be held here um in July. Um and that's super exciting because it's going to bring people to Carver and we're going to host that as well. >> Do you have a date for that yet? >> I think it's the 17th and 18th. >> Okay. >> And it's a public event where you can launch Sure. If you want if you want to do that, you know, absolutely you could definitely >> buzz clubs out there too with the road sign that you also know a number of people that I've talked to around town or people that I know because of the different ride times they could get out of Chaza, they would drive to the >> I have a lot of people like that too because the ride times were so >> I think that's true. I think that people Yeah. I mean that's I think been the communication is is that you can drive to Chaz. It's a little bit further, but you can still get on the bus going that way. You also could take a prime here from from here to Chaza station and transfer if you want to do that, too. That's also an option for people who might need won't be able to drive for whatever reason. So, but um but at any rate, that's what's going on at Chaska Station. Um, so, uh, I want to talk about the Carver County mobility study a little bit, um, and what's happening with the county because I think there's some really good possibilities here to save both of our organizations some money. Um, so I, you know, one of basically there's this the study that was done was looking at a couple of different services in the county. There's Transit Link, otherwise known as Smart Link, and then, you know, you're getting Southwest Prime. technically you're serviced by both. I I feel it's really important to talk about kind of the differences between them and the kinds of things that you see. Um because I know there's been some questions about that. Transit Link is what you would call kind of a true dial and ride and so typically you have to schedule in advance. You have to call 24 hours ahead of time. The other thing that's also true about Transit Link is they can refuse service. So if they don't have a vehicle that can come pick you up, they can just say, "No, you can't. we we can't service you today and you have to come back at another time. Um but we um and you know a little bit different. It's usually served in rural areas lower density you know and which is why they kind of operate you know in the in the western part of the county. They don't have very many vehicles. Um they're three four you know it's like that you know kind of scenario and they're actually coming from Burnsville. Um, so it's a little bit different with microtransit. What we're doing is providing on demand service. Our average wait time is about 23 minutes last year, you know, to get something. Um, so it's it's more like an Uber, but not quite as fast as an Uber, but but faster than ondemand. Usually you see these kinds of services in more mid to higher density suburban areas. car is kind of on the edge of whether or not you want to do dial and ride or microtransit, but I think microtransit works here. Um, short medium length trips. We do not refuse service as long as with within our service hours. Um, and so we'll always send somebody cuz we're operating on any given day anywhere from 17 to 20 vehicles, you know, for this service in our service area. Um, and we have about 24 to 24 25 vehicles that we do run for the service. So, we could ramp up if we needed to. You looked like you had a question that was >> Yes. So, I guess I don't It feels like a distinction about a difference dialeride versus microtransit. Is there what's the what's the technical difference? >> They're both call demand response. >> Okay. >> The difference is how quickly you get it. >> Okay. Um, microtransit is pretty much on demand. You can get it within a short period of time and it's more so it's more readily available. Dial and ride is you have to call ahead of time and they can refuse service. Okay. >> And so really that's the main difference between the two. You have to call you have to call ahead and usually they give you a window like I'll pick you up between, you know, 12 and 2. It's kind of like, you know, when you get your cable guy, right? you know, um, and [clears throat] and so and and then they they will come and get you within that period of time and take you where you want to go. It works. The service level isn't as high is what I'm getting at as it is with microtransit. So, you don't get as good a level of service, which is why you often see it in more rural areas because you you you can't get enough vehicles to be able to do it on demand. And then the next level then will be some kind of fixed route bus, you know, where you have a regular route or something like that. Um, and so it's just a function of how much demand you have for transit and you kind of work your way up from lower demand to higher demand. You know, higher services and you you might end up higher demand services would be like a, you know, a fixed rail or >> Yeah. >> Subway or whatever. You know, we don't have a >> does the diet does the transit link is can you get same day service on that one? >> No call. I thought it was 24 hours. One of the changes coming though with transit link is some fixed routes like a route between Waconia and Victoria. >> I'll talk about that in a second. There's a they would call it a circulator. It's kind of a >> limited fixed route. Yes. And that's some of the changes that we're looking for with this particular transit study. And I've got a slide pulled up for that too in a second. So hold that thought, Eric. Um but but you know sometimes people think oh well they're both d they're both demand response and I'll just call and get it. Well it's a different level of service and so it is a function of what you want as a community or what your people need and and and um you know calling ahead uh doesn't typically work for most people. Um it's not as convenient I guess. Um so this is what Eric was talking about. Okay. So, so I'm going to only kind of go through what the what the um what the uh did I did I include it? Let me just Okay. All right. That's I couldn't remember which slide I included. Sorry. Um so, just from a process standpoint, I mean, what happened is is that um last summer um as as you know, um there was a transit tax passed in 2023. Um 83% of that money that's collected in the seven county metro area goes to Met Council and 17% goes to the counties. And then there's a formula that determines how much each county gets. Of that money that the county gets, 17% of that can be spent on transit. Pretty much has to be spent on transit. So it's like a million bucks a year. um and growing. Um and so, you know, we went to the Carver County and we said, "Look, you know, we we made multiple proposals to them about utilizing some of this transit tax for some additional service." And ultimately what we convinced them to do last summer was to do a study. And so we are actually the project managers on the study um and the county is reimbursing it. So we kind of are doing the study under contract with Stantech uh which is a engineering firm um that's done of this stuff elsewhere. Ella Rasp is the person I think >> if you remember she came out to a meeting maybe a month or two ago summary. >> There you go. So so they're contracting with us and then the county is paying us for the paying for it essentially. Um and went through a whole process looked at data looked at community feedback. fact, there's a steering committee with a bunch of stakeholders that are involved. The short answer is is that they looked at a number of different options and generally settled on an option that looks like this. Um, and so kind of the red is the transit link portion of it and the green is the southwest transit portion of it. So the idea is is that we would have continue uh microransit in Carver and Victoria. [clears throat] We would bring Southwest transit, microtransit, southwest prime to Wakonia with a connection to Victoria and we would be looking to expand service hours in Chanhassen and Chaska uh because of the demand through the rest of the county. Um that would you would still have you know your demand response in some some places transit link and then some circulators. So, so that you see that that there's a there's a little key at the bottom. If you see key types of service, you can see there's a transit link circulator and uh and from those communities like Cologne, Norwood, Young America, New Germany, Mayor, Watertown, um they would get circulator service one and two days to and from Wakonia. You guys could Wonia is kind of, you know, the regional hub for service, you know, for folks, you know, around here. um and then demand response the rest of the time. And so it increases the level of service throughout the county where you get a little bit of a limited fixed route circulator into Wakonia from some of those communities. It's just kind of into Wakonian backed. Right now transit link is actually operating that circulator to and from Norwood Young America one day a week. And so that was kind of piloted and then then that would be expanded. Um, and then additional service with Carver and Vic with in into Wakonia. Um, and so that's kind of the the general gist of what this expanded service would look like. Um, oops, I went the wrong way again. >> Well, you >> go ahead. I'll back up to that. >> But that could car residents get rides to Wakonia using Southwest Prime. That is a really good question and that is not a detail we have figured out yet. Um >> because the way you kind of differentiated the two I mean I think it's possible but but we haven't figured that out yet because really the the idea is okay well you've got service within Monia got to connector to Victoria. Well does that mean that everybody in the rest of our service area then going to go to Wakonia? Uh my gut is probably not. Um, but what that means in terms of who can I'm not sure, >> you know, and the a lot of this can be changed too as time goes on. So, well, I mean, maybe there needs to be a circulator from Carver to Wakone. I don't know, you know, I mean, but but ultimately I don't know yet. Okay. I don't know yet. >> We asked that question when they were presenting cuz I didn't see any circulator from Carver. >> Yeah, right. >> We didn't get an answer on that. But would we just I mean would we more likely just take Prime into Chaza because our services in Chaska probably cover what would go to Aonia anyway. >> Yeah. But if we wanted to be somehow connected with the rest of that network, there's nothing specifically serving Carver from >> Yeah, it's a it's a really good point because reality you get service from Victoria into Wakonia when that's a really short distance. I live over that direction and I drive into Wakonia all the time and it's really short. It's substantially longer from the city of Carver, which might make it difficult on prime, but it's a good point in that that's the one location that's kind of left out in terms of connecting to Waconia that maybe needs a connection to Wakonia. >> So, we were looking at ways to reduce cost. I mean, our >> uh cost for Southwest Prime riders to tie into this network >> and there really isn't anything. So, that's a concern for me because this isn't Southwest Transit. It's a good point. >> Transit link >> and it's a conceptual thing anyway at this point. I mean there aren't any services actually developed but this is the conceptual way to put it and I think there's still opportunity for feedback on stuff like that. So >> so I have one more question about the map. So if you look at the townships that are just left of the all the green they have kind of the lowest opportunities for transit because they don't have a circulator. They don't they can't get prime. >> That's true. So as the cities go west, as they like as we, you know, Carver expands, do they just automatically get included into the prime? >> They could. I mean, we our our commitment is that when you annex new property and you bring in new subdivisions that that's included within the service area. So certainly that would be true, >> you know, for areas that that you would expand to. Um, and I would say the same thing is true for Victoria. Um, what I will tell you is that what what I'm not showing you here, which is a whole bunch of data analysis that went into this that Ella did and her team did that looked at kind of a matrix for areas and those areas that you're describing, you know, the township areas, they would be considered mostly to be kind of lower, maybe high need, but a lower demand, >> you know, so you end up with a situation where you have really low demand for transit because of the population densities. And so if you think about the right tool for the right job, you know, it's kind of like transit link is the right tool for that job. When you get to a certain level of density, then you have another tool for another job. And then, you know, it's it's kind of like that. So that's that's that's what the data would suggest that makes sense in those areas. >> Okay. >> Um this is the money part of it, you know, which is kind of important. Um and um you know ultimately ultimately what we have pitched and what the recommendation is but what the county commissioners have not yet accepted and we're kind of working through the details of that is that they would pay for all of the service service of Southwest Prime and Carver and Victoria which means that the portion that you are currently paying for that as well as the portion that we are subsidizing that would be paid for by the county. and that's what we're working through with them right now. Um, there's some details and some some questions that have been come up about about it and, you know, we're kind of working through that and we've been working with your staff on that as well. There's likely going to be a meeting next month, you know, where they would officially kind of adopt this plan. Um, that would include that portion of it. When we get to that point, you know, we'll let you know so that there's an opportunity for comment in some way. you know, we certainly would appreciate the support because I think this makes a lot of sense for everybody. We've been talking about this for a couple of years with your staff in terms of how we could make this work. Um, so that part is kind of exciting, you know, from from our perspective. >> So, when would that when would that start after meeting about it next month? >> That's a really good question. We have a contract for this year. Um, so likely it would start in 2027. Um, but >> we're okay with it starting soon. okay with that as well. But here's here's the challenge, okay? And and I will tell you why. Because kind of the the attorney, and this is informal, it's not not formalized yet, but you know, we're trying to figure out in the context of the law, what the attorney has advised is that if the service, you know, were no longer to be continued, then the county could pick up and continue the service. they would probably interpret the fact that we have a contract for this year as well, you know, it would be a replacement of the existing dollars. Um, and there's some language in the law about that. Um, so they probably would interpret that as we have to continue the service the rest of the year until until it changes next year. And honestly, you know, we want to continue to serving you. We appreciate you, you know, um, providing that funding for that. and we certainly knew that the decision about this funding wasn't going to be made until after the decision that we had to make for this funding. So, we we probably are stuck this year, although I agree with you, we would like that, too. Um, I just don't know that the county will agree to that. >> Uh, given where we're at with how the law is being interpreted currently. >> Okay. if there's anything we can do to help with that. >> I made my point. In fact, when I was that we had a study session with the commissioners last week about this. Um, and I basically stood up and said, not basically I did. I stood up and I said, "Look, I said I'll tell you what's really important." I said, "And what the communities have communicated to me and as well as what your city managers as well as Victoria and Wikon city managers when we met with Dave Hemsy communicated to him and I was was here in this room actually." um and was was that look, you know, if you're going to provide service to the county, you know, we need to provide service to everybody in the county. You know, it doesn't mean everybody gets exactly the same service because people have different needs, but everybody needs to get something. Um and so I think they the commissioners understand that kind of equity, you know, piece of it. And so now it's just, you know, figuring out how, you know, we make that make that happen. But I think that's an important point. I mean, everybody needs to be served, you know. >> Yeah. >> Um I heard at the commissioner's meeting you talked a little bit about um >> physical assets that are you going to have enough physical assets to be able to manage a plan like this? >> Well, there's going to be a couple things we're going to need. I mean, obviously, one of them is vehicles. >> Yeah. Um, we probably are going to need some kind of facility further west. Um, I don't know what that looks like yet. Um, you know, maybe it's a joint facility, you know, with somebody that's already operating something else. Cuz really what we need is we probably need something someplace to store a couple of two, three vehicles. Um, we would still, you know, use our existing maintenance facilities and things like that, but just a place for a driver to go, keep >> satellite location. I wouldn't want to put a lot of money into it, but part of what we're what we want to do next year, if you've got the >> the second one on the bottom is the regional solicitation. So, we're going to take this money and then we're going to go next year to the TAB uh which is for the regional solicitation and make a request for capital improvements and probably some service as well um in some places um as part of that. So, I I that's our that's our intent. I just don't know what that looks like yet. But yeah, it's probably vehicles in some kind of location and probably more more cost effective that we're a joint facility with some other entity. But but yeah, that's what we're looking at doing. Yeah, I haven't heard the county, the my first shot out of it was, well, you got to, you know, the county public works building is out here on 212, you know, but that what I wasn't greeted as warmly with that as I would like, but but uh you know, I know the school was I think Eastern Carver County Schools was looking at maybe looking at doing a facility. So maybe there's an opportunity there to cobble onto that. Maybe we could work with you and, you know, use some space over here at Carver Station. Maybe something in Victoria. I don't know. You know, I haven't figured that out yet. But we have to It's It's a lot of what we call deadheading time, you know. I mean, from our Eden Prairie facility to Wakonia, it's like 45 minutes. I know. I've driven that, you know, and so if you figure someone has to leave there, drive 45 minutes to get to the service area, drive 45 minutes back, that those are service hours that the county is paying for. in the long run, it's going to be cheaper to build something than it is to continue to pay that. So, I just need to make that financial, you know. >> So, mayor, just so that I'm thinking about this, [clears throat] right, this is essentially this proposal would fund Prime Service >> to the green areas, >> maybe Wonia, TBD. >> Yeah. >> But where does Eden Prairie fall in that? >> Well, I mean, >> is that still included? Prairie is part of our service area, but no Carver County money is going to be spent in Eden Prairie, >> if that makes sense. >> I guess my question is, can residents ride to the mall? >> Oh, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. You can still do that, too. You can do that now and you're still going to be able to keep doing that. Yes, absolutely. Yes. >> Okay. >> Yes. We don't expect your service level to change, not get worse anyway. That's what I'm saying is what I'm saying. No, no, [clears throat] not at all. Um, and so that's that. Um, the last piece um, real quick that I'll go over is something we've we've talked about a little bit before, but you know what's what's happened um, is that is that there are some folks in the legislature. I mean, I can tell you who they are. It's, you know, it's Representative Tabkey, it's Representative Kaggel, um, to a certain extent, Representative Cosnik, and maybe Senator Dibble that has some concerns about, you know, the suburban transit agencies. Um, they are not so much concerns about us. You know, some of this has to do with issues that Representative Chapu some shock has with MVTA and how he feels like he's not getting the right service that he wants, you know, from them. So, and we don't service that area. So, it's really not about us, but we get kind of caught in the crossfire. And, you know, Metro Transit, when you talk to kind of some central Minneapolis type of legislators, they're like, "Well, you know, you're spending all that money in the suburban areas. we should get be spending all that money on transit in the central part of the city instead because that's where the need is, which I don't disagree that there's more need in central Minneapolis than there is here, but that doesn't mean there's no need out here. Um, and so consequently, there's there's some desire to form to reform this in some way, which we would oppose. Uh, we've been around for 40 years. I don't think this is the time to upend the system currently. Um, in addition to that, we do not get a direct share of sales tax like we do for our other revenue sources without the Met Council saying you get some. Um, and so we don't like the idea of having to kind of beg Met Council for that money because they always have a tendency to kind of take their money first before they share any with us. So, we're getting a little bit of sales tax shared with us. But but we we would like the state legislature to weigh in and say this is what what your allocation should be, which is exactly the way they do with motor vehicle sales tax. So that's primarily how we're funded. Almost 70% of our money comes every time you buy a car, a certain amount of that goes to transit. There's a formula at the state legislature that identifies how much each agency gets, which you know, then you can count on that, right? Um, and so generally we don't know what this legislation, you know, reform legislation looks like yet. Um, so we're we're we're kind of I've been talking to a lot of the legislators. I think my count's like 19 at this point, including including yours, by the way. Talked to your legislators. Um, what was her name? What was your >> Bobby? Thank you. I know it was an H, but I couldn't remember. But I, you know, I mean, she's more concerned about agricultural issues, but I don't think she's any fan of the Met Council either. Um, so, you know, we we we're just basically, you know, um should have changed this portion of the slide. I'll have to talk to my says Eden Prairie, but it should say Carver. >> Um, but you know, it's it's one of these things where we're going to keep you informed. Eric will, you know, obviously be informed and we'll keep your city manager informed about, you know, what this looks like um because we just don't know yet. But we do think that there's a real um threat this year in comparison to maybe in some previous years based on our conversations with people. And I can tell you flat out, you know, Representative [snorts] Kaggel um has said, you know, if Representative Tapia doesn't carry the bill to eliminate reform you, I'm going to. So, there's going to be a bill. I just don't know how much traction it's going to get. >> I don't know if you've seen this, but we >> on our LAST we got you. And this year, >> we we do appreciate the support. We really do. >> This year we started, we've always shared our legislative priorities with our state level representatives. This year we've started asking [clears throat] them to come in and at our last meeting we had a really great two-way dialogue with Senator Grunhagen and Commissioner Fehee to talk about the importance of those five five items to the city of Harvard. So um we got your back on that. >> I appreciate that and I I think that the commissioners are very supportive of us as well and you know I mean Tom Workman spent a lot of time in the legislature and he can get fired up about this issue. Believe me >> mentioned that. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, so yes, I mean I I I I think we have a lot of really good support. I don't think it's necessarily going to go anywhere, you know, but but you just never know and it's it's frustrating, you know, from our perspective. So, we had to spend a lot of time and resources on this issue just to kind of ensure our existence, I guess. >> Playing defense. >> Yeah, playing defense. That's exactly right. Yeah. >> So, that's all I have from a presentation standpoint, but I'd be happy to answer any other questions. I know I'm kind of at the a little over the 30 minutes you told me that I had, but >> but uh but any other questions, comments, thoughts? >> After I >> Yeah, I think you covered it well. >> Thank you. Thank you folks. Well, have a good meeting. You still have a meeting tonight yet, don't you? >> Oh, yeah. >> Oh, yeah. the oldfashioned cigarette, but I don't. I I I tried to count one time on how many city council and board of county commissioners meeting and I've been to in my career, and it's well over a thousand and then I lost count. So, yeah, I I I did my tour. >> Fair enough. >> Thank you very much. Appreciate that. There's yours. >> Um, all right. City manager report. Mr. Merrick. >> All right. One second. All right. So, a couple things to go through with you tonight. uh talk to all of you about this sergeant's position uh that the sheriff's office is uh working uh with Carver and Victoria on. Uh so we have a total of six shared patrol deputies in our kind of uh partnership with Victoria uh for a number of years. We haven't been able to full that or fill that full uh six patrol positions. And so, uh, late in December, uh, the sheriff's office, uh, reached out and asked, um, to for Harvard Victoria to contemplate filling that position with a sergeant's position. So, uh, Dana Hardy, the manager in Victoria along with Mike Bolin and, uh, I think it's either Sergeant or Lieutenant Grun with the sheriff's office has have been talking about this. Uh, they're proposing this to start, uh, the 1st of March. Uh one of the concerns uh was related to cost. The sheriff's office is offering this at uh a no cost alternative to the cities. Um so essentially no contract amendment needed. Uh they every all the positions are contracted in there did ask about what the cost differential is for 2026 if you know considering the kind of the change in the corporal to sergeant positions. uh it's approximately $12,000. So on a prrated chair, if there was an upcharge considered for this year, it' be approximately $4,000 uh to the city. So that gives you some type of context for what you could be expecting in 2027. Uh they're offering it kind of as a pilot program this year. Uh there are some benefits. uh uh Corporal Nelson or Deputy Delit is it does it have the ability to provide uh work direction to the patrol team that those six deputies uh where this new sergeant position could uh I would offer probably a little bit more experience related to uh presenting providing data managing community relationships and uh one of the things that that just from a staff perspective that I think would probably be uh the most appealing is this consistency and that position ition. Uh we've been fortunate um in some cases with Deputy Lassard and I would say Deputy Sanberg where we've had some consistency. Uh but beyond those two examples, we've had a pretty steady stream of of deputies that have been good. Uh but haven't been here for, you know, um that long of a time. Deputy Gowen, Deputy Chaffen. Uh we've had quite a bit of turnover and I would say the last handful of years. And so having that steady voice, you know, knowing what to do on steamboat days and knowing uh the principal at Carver Elementary and business owners, there's some um benefit to that. So I just wanted to kind of um tee that up for a conversation point. I did talk to Chief Walsh about that and we talked about some different benefits that that could offer for um going through calls, maybe attending a meeting, just kind of uh public safety coordination of having that consistent and experienced uh leadership position on the team. So, and again, it's a uh this was a question I had originally. I thought like maybe this is more of an office position. This is just as much of a boots on the ground patrol position as a as a deputy uh like a normal deputy. It's a but it's a Monday through Friday 8 to 4:30 or uh it might be flexed a little bit depending upon kind of where we land. But again, that's kind of the overview. Just wanted to get any feedback that uh you had and take it back uh to Commander Wolen as we kind of finish off the details on this. I was a little all over the place on this, but for $4,000 in 2027, I don't see any harm and only a benefit to the city of Barbara with this one. >> Got it. >> Yeah, totally could. At least give it a shot. Mhm. >> So related to that, so one of our strategic initiatives was to do some public safety strategic planning and uh one of the kind of vehicles for that was to look at the city's work plan from the sheriff's office. And so kind of in light of the sergeant's position, uh what I like to do is delay that a little bit and have that sergeant um start and then uh have that person help me facilitate that conversation with the city council and basically kind of develop a new work plan from scratch. Identify expectations uh priorities um for public safety, communication, reporting, etc. rather than have them get this plan that they had no part in uh putting together. So, if that's okay, that's what our plan would be. >> Let's put our work right away. Okay. >> Sure. Um I did send out a email. I'm going to escape from this page for a second uh regarding the state auditor's performance measurement program. Uh so I'll just kind of bring that up. Unplug and plug back in. >> Turn it off. Turn it on again. [laughter] >> My phone's not working. Power down. Power back up. >> You know it's desperate when they tell you to take that. >> It is weird. >> Anyways, the uh >> I don't think so. Well, I mentioned to uh the council in a in an email, the city had an opportunity to and it has has had an ongoing opportunity to join uh this performant measurement performance measurement program. Uh we'll just just keep that out there. That's fine. Um >> I had already turned it off. >> So coming back on it, >> um but the program started around I think it was 2014 or so. And the city at the time, city council at the time had some concerns about kind of what that data was going to be used for and and how it may or may not be used to create uh unfunded mandates, etc. And so for we just haven't gone back to it. And so a conversation related to it came up at a meeting I was at and I realized that we really haven't talked about it for like a decade now. Uh there are some benefits to the program. There's a uh what I would offer as a a minor like financial incentive where they provide additional aid. It's uh would probably be in the neighborhood of about $1,000 to the city. Um in addition, if this uh legislature ever imposed levy limits, uh the city would be exempt from that, which depending upon how you look at levy limits as an issue may be a good or bad thing. However, there's a series and I sent a link out. There's a series of performance measures uh that changes from year to year. Um and there's approximately I think maybe 30 or so some cities that participate in it. There's annual reporting the council would have to adopt a resolution. So I'm not [clears throat] offering this as a pro or a con, but as a piece of information and if the council wants to give it some thought or um say yeah, we want to do it or we need more information or no, we don't want to do it. just kind of opening door to opening the door to that conversation. >> So for me, and I'm curious what everybody else's thoughts are, I don't see any harm in this. These aren't the nuclear codes that are in these in these reports. It's public information. It's kind of interesting information. It seems to vary. I noticed that Chaska and Chan Hassan have both submitted reports in 2025. Um, you know, for me until I talked to Brent about it, it was like $1,000 is $1,000. And Brent was like, "That's probably what it would cost staff time." So that's not as much of an incentive as I thought it would be. But I I feel like we can't go wrong with more transparency, but I'm super eager and open to hear anyone who doesn't agree with that. What is the part about the um limits? What like was it like to receive levy? >> Yeah. So the um so for example our levy this year was like I think right around 10%. Uh there have been times not recently but there have been times where the legislature has opposed levy limits to say that uh cities you can only raise your levy by let's say 5%. Okay. >> And so if what they're offering that's as a a fictitious example, what they're offering is if you're participating in that program, you would be exempt from that 5% limit. And what I what I say it's kind of a double-edged sword is yes, you'd be exempt, but I also would offer that if the legislature passed levy limits at 5% and then you went to 8%. I think fundamentally that'd be hard to rewind to the uh community and say, "Well, the legislature said no more than 5%, but we're doing eight because we're a part of this program." I don't So, I would offer that if you're going to do it, you should do it for like reasons of just getting the information out, but that the levy limits thing might have some pros and cons to how you apply it and communicate it. >> Okay. Do we know why they put those on there or like what's >> I think from time to time uh the legislature is responding to concerns from constituents about property tax increases. >> And so levy limits has been a tool used in the past to for the legislature to control how much counties, cities, and school districts levy for property taxes. I think Senator Grunhagen hinted that Okay. >> No, he straight up said it. Okay. >> He said that there that is on the table or at least it's been discussed. >> If you remember when he was here two weeks ago, he we were talking about local control and he said, "Well, what do you think about this?" And I said, >> Mhm. >> that preempts our authority for local control. So, going to this legislative priority, we don't like it. Um, but I think that it's something that's been a little bit perennial here and there and kind of cyclical, but he indicated that it's something that is on the table for the 2026 legislative session. >> Okay. >> That's [snorts] not the reason why I'm in favor of it for me. It's more of a transparency component and uh why not? >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Is it? So, no, it's not nuclear codes, but other than transparency, is there any information that makes it easier to, I don't know, exclude us or not give us something we want? I mean, sometimes you don't want to volunteer everything and make it an ask if somebody is looking for it. >> Did I see what 36 39 cities total? Yeah, it's uh >> more counties but very very few cities are participating. >> It says 39 cities in 2025 5%. >> And 28 counties which is 72%. >> Sorry. >> Yeah, that's why I'm like what am I missing? What am I not seeing? Cuz nobody's doing this. >> I guess I I don't know that I think it's something we need to do. Like I almost feel like volunteer volunteering uh more backstory uh only then serves to use our metrics in in some way that may not be beneficial to us. If there's a need, they can request it and we can provide that. You know, maybe that's a little silly to to think along those lines, but I I can't think of anything advantageous for us. I kind of I'm I'm kind of along the same lines as you because I don't know I don't know what we're gaining by taking staff time and sure $1,000 but if it's just kind of going for the amount of time it's going to take staff to put this together. We have other priorities here that our staff needs to be working on um rather than sending this kind of measurement information to the state and and to me I don't I really don't see what this benefit is. I don't see why we would take the time and the effort we can get this information if it's you know data requested from us anyways but I don't I just don't see that there's like this great like oh we should do this because it is going to do this for us >> so >> if it helped us get a grant >> but it doesn't look like it falls in that category so I that's my >> I think I agree with Eric and Christy on this one. I don't see the benefit of it. And and I read through a couple of the reports, Chesca, Chanhassen. I'm not entirely clear what it is they're what data they're requesting. It seems >> not standard. >> Not standard. Really nebulous. Um I I it's not that I'm not comfortable with it. I just don't see the benefit. And I I understand your thoughts on transparency, Courtney, but man, we do a lot of transparency as a city, and I don't see how this increases our transparency in any way. >> Yeah, this isn't the hill that I'm going to die on, but I don't see any harm in sharing this kind of stuff. You know, again, >> I'm struggling with there doesn't seem to be any consistency. You know, Chas is more of a narrative. Chanhassins is a chart, >> you know, and bond ratings, police services, we certainly wouldn't have anything there. Fire services, industry rating of fire services. I'm sure that chief can rattle that off right now [laughter] for us. Response time, EMS response time, you know, like streets. This is community survey stuff that they're a lot of the stuff here very literally is community survey stuff that they're using. So I again it's available this kind of stuff if we were to put together a a report that's identical to Chesca's. I'm not worried about the staff time impact. But again like I'm coming from a place of transparency. I worry about with everything that's going on at the state level and the issues that we've had with the lack of transparency that this is going to tighten the state's requirements. So if we can say we've been doing this since 2026, maybe there's a cookie in it for us at the end of the day. But again, it's not something that I'm going to fight tooth the nail for. >> Yeah. Yeah. So I mean when I look at the one from Chanhass the last one on San number of blockages on city system per 100 connections >> um I don't understand how that kind of data dump >> we're going to be part of a 5% sample size >> very data >> and it's most it's a very if you look at the cities it's Apple Valley it's chas it's a very >> select >> if we were part of a 50% sample size that would be more meaningful but to be such a part of such a small sample size when it's not a standardized data set I just worry that somehow it it isn't used to our benefit but >> if this was more standardized and everybody entered the same exact information I might feel a little bit differently about it but because this is just sort of throwing darts out as whatever you want to put it I don't >> why didn't Carver provide Yeah. >> Yeah. [laughter] >> How plans is a resolution with maybe a half a dozen? >> I don't think it's necessary, but that's >> all right. I did not win that one and that is okay. [laughter] >> Uh Commerce Drive extension project. So, this is the North South Street uh that is adjacent to Lake View Industries and then the uh future industrial project by United Properties. We had talked kind of informally about the extension of that street which would serve as property that's now owned by Eastern Carver County Schools and which is about 20 acres and then 60 acres of the former Joe Wikenhouser or late Joe Wickenhouser property. Uh those conversations have been going on frankly for 6 to9 months at this point. Uh we're waiting on the property owners to provide some additional direction on that. Um, and so the we understand that the school district is having some discussions early this winter. And so long story short, I don't expect to have another like formal discussion with the city council on sharing like what the plan is, what the request may or may not be from the school district. Uh, and have that level of clarity probably till late March, early April. So I just wanted to kind of create some mutual expectations on schedule. What that would likely mean is that uh construction of that project should it move forward would be the spring of 27 which then perhaps changes some alignment on maybe borrowing plans that the city had. So, um we had intended to uh reimburse ourselves for the land for the public services property um with our next bond issue cuz we're did an inter fund loan from the county road 40 turnback project. However, we are not planning to use those funds in 2026. So if you carried that inner fund loan for another year until you maybe perhaps bonded for Commerce Drive the land that may actually line up then with when the utility project down to 1140 and that those road improvements are done. So uh we're scheduling a check-in with Northland Securities to kind of talk about what that will be. But I just it's a it's not totally different from what we were talking about. Uh but I would say the headline is that some of these dates that we had kind of normalized are going to be changing. And I frankly I'm not a 100% confident uh that the Commerce Drive extension project will you know be requested to the city as an assessment project. Maybe uh those property owners work out something amongst themselves and do the project on their own. We just don't know that yet. So I just wanted to check in on that. Uh any questions on that before I move on? >> Is that just impacting the bus garage or does that impact the It does not impact the industrial project. >> Uh it's adjacent to it, but it doesn't impact that. That industrial project already has street access. >> Okay. >> The extension would uh terminate in a culde-sac. So the north side of that culde-sac would provide access to this 60 acre Wikenhouser piece. Okay. And then kind of the other remaining I would call the east side of the culde-sac provides uh access and utilities to the land owned by Eastern Carver County Schools. >> Okay. I just want to make sure that this timeline doesn't impact that project. >> No, it does not. Uh wanted to update you on so we have a year under our belt under the milestone program and so met with the department heads today and we did kind of a review on how it went, things that went well, things that didn't go so well. as you know we developed that from scratch and so we were uh okay with taking some risks of like we'll just have to see how it happened. I would say on the whole really positive feedback there are um a couple I would say minor things that we think we can do to make it more efficient uh both from administration and from the employees perspective. So, we're going to be working on some drafts and we hope to bring a a draft of some this I would call them uh minor amendments to your next work session to give you a chance to look at those and then uh hopefully adopt those at a meeting in February or March so we can implement those changes. Um >> can I ask so what did success look like at the one year point? uh >> the number of people participating, how many how far they went in the program, what what did that look like? >> So, everyone met their without kind of, you know, sharing details on specific employees, everyone met their milestone that or met their goals. >> Um, you know, one of the topics that was brought up was like the types of training, like the type of training and the requirements that a certain position has. So example um a somebody in utilities has to do training to maintain their license and somebody also in public services who's on the kind of the street side doesn't. So how do you reconcile someone who is required training and not? So we're kind of like moving toward this like you can count like uh lure requirements but we also want a minimum requirement of what we're calling like interpersonal skills of like conflict management um teamwork uh verbal communication skills written communication skills. We want that those things that we think build a solid and healthy culture amongst our team but we also don't want to uh minimize like the technical skills that each position has. So that was some of the feedback that we got from our team or from the department heads got from their teams. Um, another example, frankly, is like because it was so new, we built in some artificial deadlines like turn this form in by this and that form by then that like in practicality, we we don't need it. I think it's kind of similar to when we did the room reservations here. It's like it all sounds real great on paper. You got to have it all organized and all the check marks or all the check boxes marked, but then when you actually do it, you're like, uh, can't I just go talk to Brenda instead of like filling OUT THIS FORM? GETTING HIS FORMS IN ON TIME. >> YES. >> All right. [laughter] >> So, that's a little preview there. Um, I've been connecting with all of you on the Monful Trail Connection. So, uh, we'll have stuff at your regular meeting. We we feel like the choices are are pretty, uh, stark. You have different options to choose from. Um what we're wanting to get out of the council is not necessarily like this is the one you're going to do no matter what, but we want we're hoping for some consensus enough that we can go when we do notifications to residents of like this is what we're proposing for a trail. uh we can communicate that clearly so that they can come to a future meeting and provide you with feedback on whatever that I would say conceptual choice is. Um but there'll be the three choices. one for the uh full trail redoing the wall. Uh one for kind of it also on the west side but at a 6ft walk but it requires both of the curb lines to be uh reoured and then a trail or 6ft walk on the east side. Um that would require some purchase of some minimal right away on the east side. And so, um, the the other piece to that is that I've mentioned is we don't have enough cash and park dedication to cash flow this. So, uh, we'll be laying out, uh, options for inter fund loans or there's also, uh, give you an option where if you want to add it to the CIP and do the project in 5 years, you could do that. So, there'll be multiple choices. you could, you know, get it done now, too. Cuz if you know you're going to do it in 5 years, the cost today is going to be that cost times X or plus X in the future. So, we want to give you as many different scenarios as possible. You can pull and pl from those to make your own as well. So any uh one of the things that I've asked was I've given updates. If there's anything now or that you've thought about that will be critical for you to be making that decision on the second or providing that feedback, let us know either now or uh throughout the next two weeks so we can provide you with the most complete package as possible. >> I have one thing. Does do any of them require like extra lighting that I forget if it was option? We talked about the ABC where um you would take a trail south, you know, down the road and then you'd cross over and cross back. Would there be additional street lights? >> No street lights, but there would be signage if you depending upon, you know, which scenario you you choose, there could be additional crossings. Do we have a plan for letting the residents on Mount Hope Road know in that stretch that we're going to be discussing? >> Yes. So, that would be the goal is the February second. You give some type of consensus and then we would do a direct mailing to them saying this is the one we >> So, we're not planning on letting them know that we're having this conversation before we have this conversation. >> We can if you choose to. >> Okay. But there the concern that I had with that and again doesn't mean it's a valid concern is that um I didn't want to give out all three if there was like one that none of you would support and then maybe that resident would get very upset about that one that none of you supported. So, I wanted to get some sense of which one you kind of liked and then say here's the here's the one that the council has talked about the most or if you said hey we don't want to do any of this but I'm open to feedback if you want to we certainly can invite them to the February 2nd uh council meeting and say this is going to be discussed and give them a copy of the memo that was prepared. >> Yeah. I I'm I mean I see what you're saying right? like it's we're going to talk about it. The one thing that makes me nervous um is now we know how the rumor bills go, right? So now we're looking at these and suddenly we are taking out the entire hill and we're doing this. So I don't and it worries me a little bit about in the preconceived notion. So, I'm not I'm not opposed to like sending a memo to the to the people who might be there, but I would like them then to come in and hear a discussion about it, not just Yeah. get a bunch, you know, see all these plans and say, "Oh, look at what the city is doing when we when we ourselves haven't come to any kind of >> and my concern is that this is one of those situations where I can see these residents saying, well, this decision was made before I before I even knew that it was happening." You know, if we're coming, we have a consensus as a council that this is what we're looking at. Um, I can see residents saying, "Well, I I didn't know that you guys were going to talk about this. I didn't know and and I know that we have ways that we communicate these things, but this is a very specific project in a very small area with a very limited number of residents that are going to be impacted very heavily. And so my concern is that we we are walking into a situation where if we do come to a consensus at a at a regular meeting, >> they're going these residents when they get the memo after the fact are going to say, "Well, this decision was made without me >> even knowing >> even knowing." >> And and this and I didn't, you know, when I come and voice my opinion at the next meeting, the decision was already made. Cuz that's the biggest complaint that I hear is that people think feel like they get these notifications and they're like, "Well, the decision was made before >> before you guys asked for my opinion." >> So maybe it's more of Sorry, I was just like >> if we like an invite like we're going to be discussing this area. If you'd like to learn more, come to the February 2nd meeting. Um because that really is what we're doing. And then because I don't I would be okay with that. totally up in arms that the council is is doing this big project that we have we're at baby steps on right now been part of it. >> That's all I would that's all I would expect because we haven't we don't have anything in front of us. But >> the meeting on February just I think it bears pointing out that the meeting on February 2nd is going to be like any one of our council meetings where we notice it and we invite folks on our Facebook posts and a number of different ways. So this is going to be a very public, very open meeting. Um we're also not doing plans and specs at that meeting. >> So we're nothing is finalized at that meeting. Even if you know if we hear from residents and if we so choose to revisit it and say, "Oo, okay. Well, that was some feedback. Maybe we go back and take a look at option D, which isn't an option. I'm just using a fictitious option. his ears. >> Yeah, you're right. >> But I don't um I I feel like we already are inviting folks and not only those folks, but those folks and those folks and those folks. Mhm. >> I have a little input and I'm more aligned with um council member Pasco and Conrad in that um not so much like more involved they they're always you know presidents always invited encouraged but more like what's the objective or like what we as a council trying to accomplish. [snorts] I don't think I don't plan to go to that meeting like you know ABC there's three options and like narrowing that down. It's more just having that dialogue of like you know what are our requirements or like what are our top things that we're you know want to come out of that >> ask is going to be to narrow it down >> right ideally we would narrow it down so typically like we'd come back you know with you know one or two we might end up with like five ideas or like a new idea there might be a letter D but I think it's just more the um you know like the purpose or like the objective of like why we're going to have that conversation is the decision is not made based on the information we have. You know, it'll just I'm kind of thinking of conversation I had with Brent just kind of help narrow it down so that we can decide what is the best solution. So we don't we're not >> I was right. Um I was thinking about you know when we did we're doing the bridge down here and all of that like all of the community engagement that we had from those neighbors and things like that and all we are fitting things in we are retroactively fitting things in to very established areas of town >> where to me this one feels maybe not everyone is appropriate. I don't think there's such a precedence for us that we have to invite it to everyone um or to every project that we ever do. But because we are again kind of trying to fit this in in a very established area, it wouldn't bother me at all to just send them an invite to let them know, hey, specifically we are going to be discussing this section tonight. >> Come or right. That's up to them. >> Yeah. >> I just worry that it's a little picky choosy. do we invite all the folks then in Eagle Ridge and I'm mindful of the time we're over um but you know who might have strong feelings about it as well. I think less like not so much who's invited or like or who's reminded but more like what's the purpose what are we going to accomplish on that agenda item is >> well those those are the problems what I'm talking about >> is we're giving staff direction yes but we're not going to say you know this is the only one our decision is made it's more that >> there's something we didn't think about um but you know we're really going to have a discussion to like narrow it down >> I'm just thinking about You guys, I'm going to ask us to and we'll talk about it during the regular meeting. So, I'm sorry to interrupt. Uh, but can I get a motion to >> return? A motion by council member Pushman Conrad. All those opposes. Eric has plenty of time to formulate his answers.