This transcript has been formatted with the correct speaker names based on the municipal context provided. **Note on "Councilmember Goodwin":** The provided list does not include a "Goodwin," but the transcript frequently uses this name. Based on phonetic similarity and the Mayor addressing "Tom" at [17:50], these lines have been attributed to **Councilmember Tom Melander**. *** [0:00] [Music] [0:58] **Clint Hooppaw (Mayor):** Good evening, we'll call this meeting to order for the August 8th, 2024, Apple Valley City Council meeting. Welcome everyone this evening. For any audience members who have signed up to speak, when your name is called, please come to the podium and address the Council. The first item on our agenda is the Pledge of Allegiance and I would ask everyone to rise and join us in the pledge. [1:45] **Clint Hooppaw (Mayor):** This always sounds very different when there's a full room. So, second item is to approve our agenda. And Tom, we had a couple changes, do you want to provide those updates? [1:45] **Tom Lawell (City Administrator):** Yes, good evening Mr. Mayor, members of the Council. We do have three suggested revisions to tonight's agenda. Two of those were pre-distribution: a project on utility improvements on the Holland Avenue storm sewer project, so that would be item 4T on your consent agenda. You have an updated calendar of upcoming events—that's item number seven on your agenda. And then on your regular agenda tonight, you have the bond sale, so that would be item 5C: issuance of sale of 26.495 million General Obligation Bonds. You have a revised resolution that reflects the terms of that sale, and that will be presented tonight by our Finance Director. [2:31] **Clint Hooppaw (Mayor):** All right, so for our agenda, we're going to add 4T, we're going to have some amendments to item five on the regular agenda, and some calendar changes for seven. Do I have a motion to approve? [3:17] **John Bergman (Councilmember):** So moved. [3:17] **Ruth Grendahl (Councilmember):** Second. [3:17] **Clint Hooppaw (Mayor):** Motion from Councilmember Bergman and a second from Councilmember Grendahl. All those in favor indicate by saying "Aye." (Council: Aye). Opposed? That item carries. Next item is our audience participation portion of the meeting. We have a total for 10 minutes for this item, and this is for items not on our agenda. Anyone in the audience wish to address the audience participation section? All right, seeing none, we'll close that and move on to the consent agenda. These items are considered routine and will be enacted with a single motion unless a Councilmember or citizen requests to pull an item. We'll start with Councilmembers—are there any consent items you'd like to pull? All right, I don't see any. Citizens? Any items? All right, seeing none, we'll take a motion to approve the consent agenda. [4:03] **Tom Melander (Councilmember):** So moved. [4:03] **Ruth Grendahl (Councilmember):** Second. [4:03] **Clint Hooppaw (Mayor):** Motion by Councilmember Melander, second by Councilmember Grendahl. All those in favor indicate by saying "Aye." (Council: Aye). Oppose? Consent items carry. And that moves us on to item 5A, and I'll ask our Police Chief, Nick Francis, to come up and introduce a new police officer this evening, Kyle. [4:03] **Nick Francis (Police Chief):** Good evening Mr. Mayor, members of the Council. I'm proud to introduce you tonight to Officer Kyle Weasner. Kyle is new with us. He grew up in Rochester, Minnesota, graduated from Rochester Century High School. He has two older sisters. As a proud uncle, I don't know how his babysitting skills are going or diaper changing quite yet, but he is a proud uncle. He's the first member in his immediate family to enter law enforcement, so we're really excited to have him part of the law enforcement family. He attended my alma mater, Mankato State—well, Minnesota State University, Mankato—but as someone who attended and taught there, I can say it's one of the greatest institutions in all of Minnesota. So, proud to have him attend there. He started with the department in February and recently completed field training and is out on solo patrol. Outside of work, he enjoys just being outdoors: fishing, hunting, golfing—all things we all enjoy. Hopefully, he has some wild game to add to our fall wild game potluck. And I will just let him say anyone that he wants to introduce that's with you tonight. [5:35] **Kyle Weasner (Police Officer):** Got my parents, April and Dave, here. Girlfriend, girlfriend's mom. All the people in the back row I know from college, went to skills high school with all them. Gentleman on the far right end, he's an officer in Lakeville. Gentleman in the very back, he's an officer in Burnsville. So, it's nice to work in a community close to some friends that I grew up with. [5:35] **Nick Francis (Police Chief):** Excellent. And I will invite you over with the City Clerk to take your oath. [6:14] **Christina Scipioni (City Clerk):** Raise your right hand. Repeat after me. I, and then state your name. [6:14] **Kyle Weasner (Police Officer):** I, Kyle Weasner. [6:14] **Christina Scipioni (City Clerk):** Do solemnly swear... [6:14] **Kyle Weasner (Police Officer):** Do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the State of Minnesota, and faithfully discharge the duties of the office of Police Officer of the City of Apple Valley in the County of Dakota and State of Minnesota to the best of my judgment and ability, so help me God. [Applause] [6:56] **Nick Francis (Police Chief):** Congratulations. Why don't you come on right down here and mom is going to pin the badge on. [Applause] Thank you. We're proud when anybody enters our field. Whether we're swearing in one or two or three or five, we always have folks in the back of the room that are welcoming new members to our department family. We will continue our continuous recruiting and hiring process and keep bringing in really great individuals to fill roles here at the Police Department. So, thanks Chief. [8:09] **Clint Hooppaw (Mayor):** Thanks Chief. Welcome Kyle to Apple Valley and to the Police Department. As you know, you've been through training, right? You've got a great group literally behind you this evening, but you've got a supportive Council. And as we all saw this week with National Night Out, you've got a really supportive community too. So, welcome. We're glad to have you on the team. I think we'll everybody kind of find their way out and celebrate. [Applause] [8:37] **Nate (Parks Staff):** All right, as they make their way out, we'll move on to item 5B, which is the Minnesota Recreation and Park Association Award of Excellence presentation. I just want to start with this—we've got Alyssa Fram here from Plymouth that's going to present the award and do a presentation for us. But I want to start off by saying that this would not have occurred without our Communications Department. Many of us were involved in the Parks and Rec Department, we all had a hand in it, some more than others. But I would like to have the entire group stand up in the back here. We have Eve from our Communications Department, Doug from our Communications Department, Harry from our Communications Department, and then also Tim from our Communications Department. And with them, we have Sharon Lynn from our Senior Center who also helped with this and was in one of the videos, and then Kayla, who took a stab at writing all of the scripts for all of us. If you heard us say something, it was her words, and we're so blessed that she did that for us. We're super proud of everything that they've done for the size of the staff that we have in our city. For cities comparable to our size, it's amazing the work that they've done, and we would not probably have had this as successful as a bond referendum without them. But Alyssa is going to go through and give us the other details. [10:09] **Alyssa Fram (MRPA Representative):** Thank you, Nate. Mayor and City Council, it is an honor to be here tonight and present the Minnesota Recreation and Park Association 2023 Award of Excellence to the City of Apple Valley for the referendum marketing and communication plan. Before I do that, I'd just like to take a few moments and tell you a little bit about the Minnesota Recreation and Park Association. The Association was formed in 1937 to foster growth and development of the Parks and Recreation profession throughout the state. Presently, we have nearly 900 professional, corporate, board, commission, student, and retiree members. Members of the association come from municipal, county, state, district, commercial, and private agencies. The MRPA awards committee was created in 1987 with the purpose of acknowledging individual members and agencies for their excellence in the field of Parks, Recreation, and Leisure Services. The awards committee feels it's important to increase awareness and appreciation of the excellent parks, trails, facilities, and recreation programs that are occurring in Minnesota. That is why the Awards of Excellence program was created. The Award of Excellence is an annual program to recognize agencies and their staff for an exemplary project that was either implemented in 2023 or received substantial revisions in 2023. On behalf of the MRPA awards committee, it is my pleasure tonight to present the Award of Excellence to the City of Apple Valley for its winning project: the referendum marketing and communication plan. Congratulations. [12:30] **Nate (Parks Staff):** Thank you. I should not be accepting this; I'm going to have the Communications Department come up here and actually receive this. It's really tough to be in front of the camera for once. Poor Eric isn't here, you need recovery, Eric! Hey, you don't have the right cameras for these folks right here. Thank you and congratulations. [13:09] **Clint Hooppaw (Mayor):** Thanks all. All right, next is 5C: to adopt a resolution providing for the issuance and sale of $26,495,000 in General Obligation Bonds. Ron, the floor is yours. [13:09] **Ron Hedberg (Finance Director):** Good evening Mr. Mayor, members of the Council. I don't think it's a coincidence that they happen to be getting an award for the referendum communication plan the same day we are selling the bonds for a portion of that project. With us this evening is Tammy Umdal with Northland Securities to present the results of the bond sale from this morning. Positive results, so I'll just turn it over to Tammy. [13:57] **Tammy Umdal (Northland Securities):** Good evening Mayor, Councilmembers. Tammy Umdal with Northland Public Finance to present the results. As Ron indicated, you have a resolution before you this evening awarding the sale of $26,495,000. Some background: the bonds are being issued to finance both the park improvements that Ron referenced as well as municipal facility improvements pursuant to your adopted Capital Improvement Plan. The bonds are structured over a 20-year term and the pledge on the bonds is a property tax levy. Before I get into the results, which went very well this morning... as part of this process, a rating was sought on the bonds from both S&P Global and Moody’s. Both of the rating agencies affirmed the city’s AAA rating. Moody’s points to a sound local economy with above-average resident income, ample reserves, and liquidity—very important to that AAA. S&P Global also affirmed the AAA; their comments noted a consistent record of positive operations, very strong reserves, and a proactive management team. I would note that S&P improved their rating of management by one notch to the very highest rating. That is very helpful, and I congratulate the city on that increase in that specific score. There were four bids received this morning. The winning bid was KeyBank Capital Markets out of Cleveland, Ohio. I believe that’s the first time they have purchased the city’s bonds. They did bid the bonds with a premium of $2,549,662. That premium will be deposited into the city’s project construction fund. The final interest rate, the true interest cost, was 3.66% from KeyBank. I would note the cover bid was at 3.69%, so it was very close. With that, I would be happy to answer any questions. [17:50] **Tom Melander (Councilmember):** So there was 26 [million] in one fell swoop, right? [17:50] **Tammy Umdal (Northland Securities):** Yes, they are sold. [17:50] **Ruth Grendahl (Councilmember):** I just want to point out that one of the biggest goals of the City Council and staff was the AAA Bond ratings, and so I'm just so glad they were reaffirmed. I think there's 12 cities in the state that if I recall right have that designation, so we're in a rather elite group. So, thank you everyone. [18:35] **Tom Melander (Councilmember):** Well, I think it would be appropriate at this point to congratulate our excellent Finance Director and his excellent staff. You've done a wonderful job and keep it up. I'll make the motion. [18:35] **Ruth Grendahl (Councilmember):** Second. [18:35] **Clint Hooppaw (Mayor):** I have motion from Councilmember Grendahl, a second from Councilmember Melander. All those in favor indicate by saying "Aye." (Council: Aye). Opposed? That one carries. Thank you. Once again, we move on to 5D, and this is Alex's item to adopt the resolution approving an interim use permit on Lot 1, Block 1, Legacy of Apple Valley North for Home Shuck and Bodega 42 for a corn roaster and outdoor sales area. [19:22] **Alex (City Staff):** Thank you Mayor and Council. This site is located at the northeast corner of 152nd and Galaxy Avenue. They were able to open last fall. They’ve been looking for ways to expand their business in the summer months, and one of the ways was by placing a corn roaster into the parking lot. We’ve pushed it off into the parking lot area because of fire concerns with two 100-pound propane tanks. We would need to come back with an ordinance amendment should they choose to keep this going beyond this season, but the interim use permit is a much faster process. The Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval. They are making elote corn out of that roaster during the weekends and holidays. It's meant to encourage walk-up users to that site; it's a street corn style of food where you can take it and walk over to events in Kelly Park. I have some photos as well. The only major concerns from staff involve how they manage larger numbers if this were to become more popular; we don't want people stacking out into drive lanes. This IUP will allow the user to figure out how to handle crowds so we can craft a fitting ordinance. I don't see the applicant in attendance, but I am familiar with the project if you have questions. [22:25] **Clint Hooppaw (Mayor):** Thanks, Alex. Are there questions for Alex? All right, well thanks for working with one of our new businesses. Do I have a motion to adopt the resolution? [22:25] **Tom Melander (Councilmember):** So moved. [22:25] **Ruth Grendahl (Councilmember):** Second. [22:25] **Clint Hooppaw (Mayor):** We have a motion from Councilmember Melander, a second from Councilmember Grendahl. All those in favor indicate by saying "Aye." (Council: Aye). Opposed? All right, that one carries as well. Thank you. We'll move on to staff and Council items. Tom, do you have anything? [22:25] **Tom Lawell (City Administrator):** Mr. Mayor, two items for tonight. Since our Park and Rec Director is not able to be here, I want to let the community know that we are currently going through an extensive process of open houses trying to hear from our residents about what they would like to see occur in their neighborhood parks. We call it the "Park Amenity Planning" effort. In over 30 community parks, our staff will be meeting with residents. That process is ongoing for the next month or so. Details are available at applevalleymn.gov. Second item would be to invite up Matt Nelson, our Fire Chief, to give an update on the public open house for the new Fire Station Number Two. [23:11] **Matt Nelson (Fire Chief):** Mr. Mayor, members of the Council. Happy to announce the Fire Station 2 project is coming up to being complete. Finishing touches will be put on this weekend. With that, we have set a ribbon-cutting date for the public to come see the station on Tuesday, September 10th at 5:30 p.m. We encourage the public to come out and ask questions. [24:42] **Clint Hooppaw (Mayor):** Great, thank you. I just—we just finished up Night to Unite here on Tuesday this week. To the Fire Department, to the Police Department, and to staff who made it out to all the parties: thank you for giving up your evening to visit with our residents. It’s a good reminder for all of us that we’ve got a pretty good community. Our problems are really pretty small compared to others and everybody’s generally pretty happy. We saw that in the support for our Public Safety folks as well. Thanks everybody for being out. Any other items? If not, I want to say I only heard about potholes, speaking of major problems in the city. [25:27] **Tom Melander (Councilmember):** Everybody I talked to at all the meetings was very happy. I said, "Are there any concerns?" and they had some questions about parks, so I gave them those things where they could communicate with the Parks Department. Other than that, people were pretty darn happy. [25:27] **Clint Hooppaw (Mayor):** Yep, perfect. Thank you. Next item is our calendar of upcoming events. Our next regular City Council meeting is Thursday, August 22nd at 7 p.m. And do we have a motion to approve the calendar? [25:27] **John Bergman (Councilmember):** So moved. [25:27] **Ruth Grendahl (Councilmember):** Second. [25:27] **Clint Hooppaw (Mayor):** Motion from Councilmember Bergman, second from Councilmember Grendahl. All those in favor by saying "Aye." (Council: Aye). Opposed? That carries. And do we have a motion to adjourn? [26:15] **Ruth Grendahl (Councilmember):** So moved. [26:15] **Tom Melander (Councilmember):** Second. [26:15] **Clint Hooppaw (Mayor):** Motion from Councilmember Grendahl, second from Councilmember Melander. All those in favor? (Council: Aye). We're adjourned. [26:15] [Music] [Applause] [Music]