**[0:00] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** ...the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice. Thank you and welcome everyone. Council members, let the roll reflect that all council members are present and a quorum has been established. Council members, are there any corrections to the minutes of the workshop or the council meeting on October 18th? Seeing none, they are approved. Comments from the audience—for public comments, we have options for comments to be emailed prior to the meeting as well as an interactive... **[0:46] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** ...feature during the meeting. For the email comments, they have been forwarded to the city council and their receipt is acknowledged. Please recognize that items not on the agenda will not be discussed this evening. For live comments, they may be either through our Zoom link here or in person. We ask that the attendees either raise their hand in person or use the raised hand feature in Zoom, and they will be invited to speak one at a time. I also want to remind everyone to the public that the comment period is not intended for the extended dialogue. Is there anyone that would like to speak to the council at this time? Anyone in the room? No one in Zoom. **[1:33] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Council members, are there any council items to be considered? Okay. And council, I would accept a motion to approve the consent agenda. Councilmember Vihrachoff and Councilmember Leifeld. Any discussion? Council, all those in favor, state by saying aye. (Group: Aye). Those opposed, state by saying nay. And that motion prevails. Tonight we have a public hearing to amend the city code for the commercial building rehab. For this item, we have an introduction from John Hinzman, our Community Development Director. **[2:20] John Hinzman:** Welcome. Thank you, Mayor, city council members. Tonight you're asked to hold a public hearing and consider second reading of an ordinance amendment to the city code. It's more of a cleanup of code information than anything new that's being presented. It deals with commercial building rehabilitation. Right now within the code, we have the commercial building rehabilitation regulations in two separate places: one under the construction regulations and one under city policies. We don't need them in both places, so we're going to remove one of those. The other would be to change the definition of agency. There's references here to the HRA; HEDRA is now the agency that would be regulating this program. And there was an expiration date... **[3:05] John Hinzman:** ...of 2011 within the program. We would remove that, and there would not be an expiration date for interest reduction assistance. Other than that, the language and intent of the code would be similar. So you could open up the public hearing at this time or I could stand for any questions. Thank you. **[3:12] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you, John. At this time, I'll open the public hearing. Is there anyone that would like to speak to the public hearing at this time? Anyone like to speak for the public hearing at this time? No one on Zoom. Okay, at this point, I will close the public hearing. John, is there additional discussion, Council? **[3:51] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Okay, then council, could I accept a motion to adopt the ordinance of City of Hastings repealing City Code Section 150.08 Commercial Building Rehabilitation Program. Councilmember Vihrachoff and Councilmember Beck. Additional discussion, Council? All those in favor of the motion, state by saying aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed to the motion, state by saying nay. And that motion prevails. Thank you. Thanks, John. **[4:33] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Okay, under reports from city staff, we've already acknowledged the reading and the adopted ordinance amendment. And tonight, also under City Administration, we have liquor fee licenses, and for this, we will have Mr. Wietecha speak to us. **[5:00] Dan Wietecha:** Thank you. And this is a carryover from the last meeting and potentially a lead-in to your meeting in two weeks on the 15th. Last year and earlier this year, we had waivers of liquor license fees during COVID, and that puts us at really two pieces now. One... **[5:22] Dan Wietecha:** ...at the end of November, bills will go out for the second half of this year's fees due at the end of the year, talking on-premise liquor licenses. So one, the process is in place that that will automatically happen. But as council discussed back this spring, we would revisit this in the fall and determine if conditions were such that we should continue waiving those fees or reinstate them, recognizing it cannot happen forever. The other piece that's different now is the emergency declaration is off. So... **[6:10] Dan Wietecha:** ...where previously council did those waivers with a single emergency ordinance, if there's a desire to waive those fees now, it would have to be two parts: a first reading, a second reading, as well as a public hearing in there. The ordinance that's in the packet and before you anticipates the possibility of—it sets up the mechanism for waiving those fees if council wishes. So really what it talks about is adding some language that under extraordinary circumstances, council by resolution could waive or reduce those... **[6:55] Dan Wietecha:** ...fees. That language is not in the ordinance presently. If council decides that it wants to have first reading tonight and schedule the public hearing, the ordinance that you would see in two weeks would have the mechanism so that you could waive fees, which would still be a subsequent decision on the 15th. I know it's convoluted, but there's multiple steps that we're trying to get in place so that if council wishes, you have that option. Obviously, at any point between now or even in enacting the ordinance, you could still choose not to waive the fees, but setting it up before you do anticipate that. Recently, the... **[7:42] Dan Wietecha:** ...Chamber of Commerce had done a survey of businesses. From what I've heard, although not seeing data, the response that they're really getting from businesses more is on difficulties with hiring and impacts from that. I anticipate that we would have that additional information for you in two weeks, but don't have that tonight. With that, I can stand for any questions on the process. **[8:00] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you, Dan. Council, any discussion? Any questions? Okay, no discussion. **[8:46] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Okay, then council, I look for a motion for the first reading of the ordinance amending City Code Section 111.06 regarding alcoholic beverages license fees and scheduling a public hearing for November 15th. **[8:50] Councilmember Angie Haus:** As a point of clarification, without action or discussion, we will reinstate the second half of the fees. Um, so I think that's where we're all leaning. And also as a point, I will be abstaining from any vote, but just to clarify, I think we were all thinking we would reinstate the fees for the second half of the year in late November. Correct me if I'm wrong. **[9:36] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Okay. Councilmember Vihrachoff. **[9:40] Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff:** Thank you. I agree with your interpretation of things that have just transpired. I was wondering, when is it that you're going to receive word then from Kristy Barse of the Chamber? Your memo indicated that an email went out to the membership asking for feedback. You know, not all of the restaurants are members of the Chamber either. I mean, it's a pretty select group. I'm not sure how many are Chamber members or not. **[10:13] Dan Wietecha:** Not specific to the question about liquor license fees, but coincidentally in the recent past, the Chamber did a survey of its membership asking how are things going, what are issues, and just trying to have a pulse of the business community. So anticipating that we could get that information from the Chamber, it might be some additional input as you look at deciding whether or not you want to waive fees or allow them to be reinstated. **[10:58] Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff:** Your Honor, I know that Julie Flatten used to have a spreadsheet that had all of the emails for all of the establishments that have liquor licenses, and so the city could just directly contact them. I want to say there was like 15 or something to that effect, so it's not a huge list. And so we could be communicating with them directly rather than waiting for Kristy to have the ability to reach out to them and receive any kind of feedback from them. And then as I said, I mean, I would speculate that less than half of the restaurants are members of the Chamber. So, and particularly if they broadcast something out in more of a blanket format, they may not look at it very closely, rather than something that came directly asking for feedback... **[11:45] Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff:** ...specific to the liquor license holders. So I guess I'm looking for discussion on how it is that we're going to do outreach, because what I just heard is that we're not really doing direct outreach at the present time to the establishments that have onset liquor licenses. Am I right or am I wrong? I mean, that's what I just heard, and we're just kind of hoping that maybe... **[12:15] Dan Wietecha:** My understanding from the meeting on October 18th was that the council wanted input from the Chamber of Commerce based on their survey. We certainly can do other inquiries, but my interpretation of the conversation last meeting was that was what the council wanted. **[12:31] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** I think Councilmember Vihrachoff brings up a good question. You know, I think the Chamber only has so many bar/restaurant owners. I guess I didn't really think of it that way, but and I don't know if Kristy has any additional information that she could give us for all. But maybe it is our part to maybe send something out asking them how they're feeling or doing, I don't know. Council, any other suggestions? Councilmember Pemble. **[13:05] Councilmember Dave Pemble:** Going to what the City Administrator just said, I remember the meeting that we talked about reaching out to the restaurants and most people would say, "Yeah, that'd be great if you would." And I remember the conversation was, "Why don't we take an approach and approach the Chamber?" So they asked a vague question. If the need is there, I can tell you I'm not going to support waiving the fees when we just put the penalty back in on residents if they're late on a utility bill. So it's going to be a hard push to have me waive any more fees for this when our residents didn't get any more leeway. We didn't waive any other fees on... **[13:50] Councilmember Dave Pemble:** ...any building permits or anything during this. It was restricted at the time; that's why we helped them out. I don't know why they're not restricted anymore. They're going to be restricted like everybody else. They're looking for workers; that's what we're hearing—that's everybody. So I don't see, with what's in front of us, how it was approached was if we do nothing with it, the fees go back in effect like they always have. And that's what—unless someone asks for a public hearing—and that's what we're going to vote on now. I would recommend if we do that and it passes, then we can choose to reach out to businesses, but I'd be using extreme caution. Thank you. **[14:36] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you, Councilmember Pemble. So moving forward, if we do nothing tonight then the fees will go out. Does anyone... oh, go ahead, go ahead. **[15:10] Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff:** Okay, thinking about that, do you want to make a different—does anyone want to make a motion? Or it's not a motion, it's just staff will just move forward. Your Honor, I'll personally send out an email to restaurants. I know that I have many... **[15:21] Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff:** ...of them from the downtown business association listserv and others, and so I'll just send an email out and ask for them to provide comment to the council as a whole. So it's just not coming back to me if they have any comments or concerns about it. Just to notify them. I think it would be good to give them a heads up as to what our intentions are, and so I'm sure that they're planning on the reinstatement, but just so that it's clear to them as to the direction that the city is going. Thanks. **[16:05] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you, Councilmember Vihrachoff. Any other discussion? Okay. And also today we have the proposed budget for 2022, and Dan will continue the conversation. **[16:15] Dan Wietecha:** This item is not an action item, although it certainly is ripe for any input that council might have. The Finance Committee met last week to discuss the proposed budget for 2022, recognizing a few pieces. The preliminary levy that was set back in September, which sets a cap, also a variety of numbers that have been adjusted since we had that meeting just a couple months ago in September. Health insurance has come in... **[16:58] Dan Wietecha:** ...less than we had anticipated. There's some savings on the Highway 61 study with MnDOT. A few other pieces have gone the other direction. So looking at those adjustments to the budget where things are at, so that there would be a complete, balanced proposal going into the Truth and Taxation hearing on December 6th. **[17:26] Dan Wietecha:** And as outlined in the memo, the Finance Committee recommended several items to balance that out: increasing implementation for the compensation classification study, increasing funding for the mill and overlay project—and it really is a matter of finishing at a logical break point instead of in the middle of the street or the middle of somebody's address. Why'd you stop here? Well, the money ran out. Let's fund it so that it carries to a logical location for a neighborhood. They also proposed deferring to a staff management team on... **[18:11] Dan Wietecha:** ...addressing some of the capital improvement projects that at this point had not been funded. So coming out of staff's discussion were some equipment for a pressure washer to maintain vehicles that get covered in salt in the winter at the Public Works department, repairing concrete out front of the Fire department, potentially replacing a vehicle—but some that's really going to depend on availability of vehicles. But in total, these projects come out to a balanced budget that will be presented at the Truth and Taxation hearing on December 6th. **[18:52] Dan Wietecha:** The Finance Committee also discussed three other projects that are coming in, or potentially coming in, at greater expenses than we had anticipated. Number one being the painting of the water tower, which is essential for maintaining it, but we had planned on bonding for about 750 to 800 thousand dollars; that's coming in closer to 1.4 million on cost estimates. That really means bonding additional funds, and the consequences of that would be later in 2022 renewing or reviewing our... **[19:41] Dan Wietecha:** ...rate analysis that we've done with Ehlers a couple of years ago and looking at the impact on future water rates. Another significant project is the storage building for the Public Works department. It's estimated coming in at about 2 million. We have about a million of that available in cash; the other half would wind up needing to be some sort of debt issue. We do hope that there's some options to reduce the cost through some value engineering—potentially a smaller building, for example—but that's the top-end estimate of 2 million. The other piece that had some discussion but was left more as a contingency at this point is the... **[20:29] Dan Wietecha:** ...City Hall dome and ventilation project. We have two million dollars through the state bonding program last year. The estimates for that project range from 1.8 to 3.3 million. So it's possible it's covered; it's possible that it's short. And really, a lot of that will be determined by the state, which gets to approve the scope of the project. And really the big piece to that range—one option, there are others, but one option would be that if need be, the ARPA funds (the American Rescue Plan Act funds) are sufficient that it could cover... **[21:15] Dan Wietecha:** ...the top end of that range if we needed to just pay cash for it. It obviously limits other uses of that funding, but without having a firm cost estimate, having a range and not knowing if we need it or not, keeping that more as a contingency coverage makes sense. That's a quick overview of updates to the budget proposal. I certainly can stand for any questions or discussion you might have this evening. We are getting closer to the deadline, but there is some room if you wanted to continue discussion again in two weeks on the 15th. But essentially, we're at the point that it would be ready for the public hearing on December 6th. **[22:00] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you, Dan. Council discussion? Okay. Council members, do you have any announcements? I have a few. Compost your pumpkin at our free pumpkin drop-off on Sunday, November 7th from 3 to 8 at the Dakota County maintenance workshop. Please remove paint, candles, wax, or other non-organic material. A concert to honor our veterans featuring the Hastings River Valley Band and special guests the 204th Army Band will play at one o'clock on Sunday, November 7th at the Hastings... **[23:00] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** ...Middle School auditorium. City offices will be closed on Thursday, November 11th in observance of Veterans Day. The Lyle Russell VFW Post 1210 will host this year's Veterans Day dinner and program on November 13th at the Second Street Depot. The guest speaker will be Dale Hoogeveen, Minnesota VFW Department Senior Vice Commander. Monday, November 8th is the Planning Commission. Tuesday, November 9th is Parks and Rec Commission at 7:00 PM. Wednesday, November 10th is a HEDRA meeting at 6:00 PM. And Monday, November 15th at 5:30 PM is a City Council Fire Department workshop, and 7:00 PM is our regular council meeting. At this point, I would accept a motion to adjourn. **[24:08] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Councilmember Leifeld and Councilmember Vihrachoff. All those in favor, state by saying aye. (Group: Aye). Those opposed, state by saying nay. And that motion is approved. Goodnight everyone, thank you.