This transcript has been formatted with speaker identifications based on the provided city official list and internal context from the dialogue. *Note: While "Nick Kragness" was provided in the initial list, the dialogue consistently refers to "Council Member Becks" and "Council Member Backstrom." Based on municipality records, Katrina Backstrom is a member of this council; she is identified as such below.* *** **[00:00:00] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** And with me for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. For those of you that notice a little chill in the air, I understand that our Finance Director forgot to pay the heating bills, so uh... trying to save some money, you know. Of course, I'm joking, only joking. Second thing on the agenda is approval of the agenda. I'll entertain a motion for approval of the agenda unless somebody else has any questions. **[00:01:15] Council Member Katrina Backstrom:** Mr. Mayor, I'd like to move number 10 from the consent agenda to the regular agenda. **[00:01:22] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Okay. Anyone else with that? Then I'll entertain a motion with the amended agenda. **[00:01:28] Council Member Matt Hirn:** Motion to approve the amended agenda. **[00:01:30] Council Member Jeff Holtz:** Support. **[00:01:32] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** All those in favor of approving the amended agenda, moving number 10 from the consent agenda to the regular agenda, please signify by saying aye. **[00:01:40] City Council:** Aye. **[00:01:42] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Thank you. Amended agenda is now approved. Item C on our agenda is approval of the minutes from the November 12th, 2024 Workshop. Can I get a motion to approve the minutes? **[00:01:50] Council Member Jeff Holtz:** So moved. **[00:01:52] Council Member Matt Hirn:** Support. **[00:01:54] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** We have a motion and a second to approve the minutes from the November 12th, 2024 Workshop. All those in favor please signify by saying aye. **[00:02:00] City Council:** Aye. **[00:02:02] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** All right, the minutes are hereby approved. Item D, public comments or inquiries. Did we have any this evening, Miss Johnson? **[00:02:10] Julie Johnson (City Clerk):** No. **[00:02:12] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** All right. Moving on to presentations. We have our Public Works Director has a presentation to make. **[00:02:18] Pete Tholen (Public Works Director):** Good evening, Mayor and Council. The City of Lake Elmo would like to recognize Jamie Colmer. He is our lead operator at Public Works and he has served us for 15 years. Jamie's hard work ethic, wealth of knowledge, drive to succeed, the drive to please, stay efficient and under budget is an asset that our department is lucky to have. Jamie works hard managing the department's vehicle and equipment maintenance; he’s proficient operating our equipment, resourceful in completing challenges thrown at him at any time of the day, and he makes every effort to lead his crew as efficiently as he can. Jamie's always reliable, ready for action, and willing to work as many hours as required of him. Jamie’s a team player, strong leader, respectful, and works great with the city residents. We hope to have Jamie around to help lead our team for many years to come. Again, we'd like to acknowledge Jamie's 15 years of service, his value, dedication, and the efforts he adds within the Public Works Department and the city. Jamie is a true asset and we are so thankful. Thank you, I appreciate it. **[00:03:30] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** All right, say cheese. Thank you. Thanks. [Applause] I think it's so you have to pass by you... oops, wrong seat. All right, then we have a presentation, Angie Hong, East Metro Water Education Program. Which one did you want first? There was two. **[00:04:00] Angie Hong (East Metro Water Education Program):** Oh, I just wanted—the PowerPoint version probably is better. That one is more of just like a handout in the packet, so I don't need to present it. Hello, thank you for having me here tonight. Sorry to be a bit discombobulated, I came from a wrestling meet and my son apparently broke his elbow, so there was a quick detour to TCO Ortho on the way here. But I am here tonight to talk about water and natural resources support for you. My name's Angie Hong, I have been working in partnership with Washington Conservation District and the City of Lake Elmo for quite some time now and you undoubtedly get lots of emails from me about once a month, including one this morning, so hopefully my name is familiar. I thought it might be helpful as we're moving into our next round of our education partnership—we renew our collaborative partnership every 3 years and I thought, hey, it's probably time to just kind of refresh you all on who we are, what kind of services are available both through the Conservation District and the Watershed District, and what we've got planned for the coming year. The Washington Conservation District was established in 1942 in the wake of the Dust Bowl and we exist completely for education and technical services. One of the things that the general public knows and likes us best for is that our office provides free site visits to anybody in the county—whether you have a farm, a commercial property, a tiny little lot in town—and provide education, connect people with grants, all sorts of advice on things that people might want to do, like "Is this Buckthorn? What should I do about it? Can I plant a rain garden? Are there grants available?" Our office also helps to do erosion control inspections, AIS watercraft inspections at the public boat launches, implement the Wetland Conservation Act inspections and maintenance support, and they host the East Metro Water Education Program. There are also Watershed Districts that exist in the community of Lake Elmo and the majority of the city sits in the Valley Branch Watershed District, but there is a portion of the city that's in Browns Creek Watershed District and a portion that's down in the South Washington Watershed District. Watershed Districts were created to help prevent against flooding and to protect and restore lake and stream water quality. One of the things that people who live in the community like best about Watershed Districts is that they have stewardship grants—meaning that people can apply for grants that might be $500 or they might be $2,000 to do projects like restoring their lakeshore, building a rain garden, and managing invasive species. They do also have permit programs for new development and redevelopment to try to make sure that as communities are growing, we don't create flooding for people who live downstream and also keep our lakes and streams in as good of condition as possible. So, 2006, the Conservation District, the Watershed Districts, Washington County, and many of the cities in our area came together and created this shared water education program which we call the East Metro Water Education Program, or EMWREP. Lake Elmo has been a member of EMWREP since 2009 and it's a way for us to do collaborative education that's bigger than any of the communities or partners might be able to do on their own with limited budgets and limited staffing. In Lake Elmo, I don't have to tell you this part, but you've got a lot of great stuff going on. In terms of natural resources, you are really lucky to have this beautiful park preserve right in the middle of the community. I saw Tony Manzer as I was walking in the door and was really glad that I had a picture of Sunfish Lake Park with some kids from one of the nature camps that they hosted this summer—another really great gem in the community. And then of course there are very high-quality recreational lakes which are known for being clean and clear; we've got DeMontreville, Jane, and Olson, affectionately known as the Tri-Lakes, and then Lake Elmo as well. Pictured there is one of our watercraft inspectors helping to try to prevent the spread of zebra mussels and Eurasian watermilfoil. You are also undoubtedly very familiar with the challenges that come with our water resources in the area. Lake Elmo's kind of at the epicenter of the PFAS contamination issues, so that has unfortunately made its way into Eagle Point Lake, Lake Elmo, and this smaller lake called HJ Brown. But then over on Lake Jane, we were also somewhat surprised in 2022 to find that the Pollution Control Agency was issuing a new impairment. Lake Jane has very clean water quality, but it does not have as many fish and insects and biota as it used to. This is a challenge that we're actually seeing in some other lakes in Northern Washington County and Southern Chisago County, and in a lot of cases, it's coming from having shoreline development and just not as much habitat along the shoreline for the nesting birds, the turtles, and the other species. So those are a couple of concerns that we're looking at in this area. Just to give you a brief overview of some of the things that we've got planned for 2025: for education goals and activities, we spend the lion's share of our time focusing on public education and engaging public and private landowners on restoring landscapes, planting native gardens, and planting rain gardens, especially in priority locations where we know it will help to create habitat corridors or to protect our lakes and rivers from runoff pollution. We do a lot of work with schools and volunteer groups; we are participating in the Blue Thumb Planting for Clean Water program, and that is the website where people can also go to apply for Lawns to Legumes grants—it's yet another grant that people can get to create native gardens on their property—and really just trying to think of all the different ways that we can engage with people in the places they live and the activities that they do. I mentioned that shoreline development has become a concern in recent years, so this past year we spent a lot of effort on educating and connecting with people who own shoreline properties, realtors selling shoreline properties, contractors who are doing work on shoreline properties, and just creating resources to help people take care of their lakeshore in a way that they can enjoy it and it still provides a home for the fish, the turtles, the frogs, and all those kinds of wildlife. Promoting conservation development is something that, as we grow and continue to grow in Washington County, we want to make sure that we maintain those beautiful places that we love so much and maintain the clean, clear water that we all enjoy having. There are some really excellent examples of conservation development in Lake Elmo that I know I frequently brag about and share with people from other cities. And we are always doing education for local officials—you probably all get an invitation from me every year for our St. Croix River Workshop on the Water when we go out on the St. Croix River and have a little bit different focus and information every year. The main reason that the city is a partner in EMWREP is to help meet its stormwater education requirement, which is something that the Pollution Control Agency requires the city to do. We're sending out monthly emails with all sorts of information about things like picking up your dog poop, not using too much salt during the wintertime, why we want to rake up leaves, and all these different things. I'm excited to report that 73 storm drains in Lake Elmo have been adopted by volunteers, so I think that's something pretty cool and worthy of celebrating—that people are willing to do something pretty monotonous in the sake of having clean water, which is basically they're just going out there and they're sweeping up all the gunk in front of their storm drain to keep it from going down and ending up in a nearby lake or river. And then lastly, but certainly not least important, trying to build a community of environmental change, building community connections, and just helping to strengthen all of that citizen capacity. We have a lot of volunteer groups that we work with, we have trained Minnesota Water Stewards, we're very actively partnering with nonprofit organizations, and, like I said, supporting youth education all along. One of the new volunteer programs that we are going to be starting this coming year is a tree stewards program; that will be a group of volunteers very much like Master Gardeners except they're specifically trained in how to take care of trees and can be working with their local communities on things like caring for newly planted trees or pruning trees. Look for more information about that coming out sometime soon. And just because I am up here and you most often hear from me, I thought I should also point out a few of the other people who do education in the area. Jessica Sahutelli just started in April and she's going to be our lead for volunteer coordination and she is also doing some work with older youth. Hannah and Lori are with us temporarily as part of an AmeriCorps Climate Impact program; they've been doing really great work—Hannah primarily with homeowners associations and Lori working with schools—but we only get them until July. And then Barbara Heitkamp is coordinating education for the Lower St. Croix Partnership, which is kind of an overlapping partnership we have in our region, and so she and I very frequently work together as a team even though she has a different source of funding for her position. And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions you might have or let you carry on with your meeting. Thank you. **[00:15:20] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Any questions for Miss Hong? We appreciate you delivering that information. Water is very important to everybody, so thank you for your efforts on that. All right, thank you. Thank you. Moving on to item F, we have the Consent Agenda. Number two is approve payment of disbursements; number three is approve 2025 meeting calendar; number four is authorize certification of delinquent stormwater bills and utility bills, Resolution 2024-124; number five is approve Animal Control contract update; number six, reappoint Parks Commissioners; number seven, accept donation to Fire Department, Resolution 2024-125; number eight, approve special event permit for Light Up Lake Elmo; number nine, approve East Metro Water Resource Education Program (EMWREP) renewal 2025-2027 agreement. With that, I'll entertain a motion to approve the Consent Agenda. **[00:16:30] Council Member Jeff Holtz:** So moved. **[00:16:32] Council Member Matt Hirn:** Support. **[00:16:34] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** All those in favor of approving the Consent Agenda as referenced, please signify by saying aye. **[00:16:40] City Council:** Aye. **[00:16:42] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Consent Agenda is hereby approved. Moving into our regular agenda, we have: Approve pedestrian crosswalk marking policy and marking recommendations. Jack Griffin, present. **[00:16:55] Jack Griffin (Consulting City Engineer):** Thank you, Mayor, members of the Council. If you may recall, I think it was going back last April, the Council directed staff to work on preparation of a crosswalk policy. In doing so, we also investigated a handful of intersections along Laverne Avenue and 39th Street sort of to test the policy and make sure that we were landing on something that the city was happy with adopting and was getting the results that met our goals. In September, we presented the draft policy and the presentation and recommendations of how that played out with those intersections and we received some Council input to make a couple revisions, clean it up, and bring it back for final adoption. So we're here tonight to present that to you. Chris Brown with SRF, who's been working on it for us, is here to answer any questions that still might be a little over my head. I'll go through real quick as a summary. We started off wanting to make sure we had a policy that was responsive to our residents, clear and transparent, easy to read, easy to understand—also easy to implement, not a lot of work effort going into it. The Council back in April had been presented with a handful of different examples and it seemed pretty unanimous that the Council had been attracted to a four-page Blaine example but also wanted a flowchart example that was found in the Eagan policy. That's what we sort of set out to present to you here. We also wanted to make sure it was a consistent process that came up with a consistent result. Just some quick background: there's different streets, different kinds of settings out there that we want to be wary of. It's important to remember that whether it's marked or unmarked, legal crosswalks do exist. I emphasize that because as we get resident calls, what we'll often hear is there might be pedestrian ramps at an intersection, but because there's no marking on the street, the residents say there's no crosswalk. From a legal standpoint in statute, those crosswalks are legal whether they're marked or unmarked. Also, Minnesota statutes have a lot of definitions for guiding the right-of-way. At a crosswalk, if a pedestrian enters, the vehicle is required to yield until the pedestrian has cleared the drive lane. On the flip side, if a pedestrian crosses mid-block where there isn't one, it is the pedestrian's responsibility to yield to the vehicle. There are studies out there that argue marked crosswalks are safer, and there's studies out there that prove they're not necessarily safer. In general, we tend to believe that if you overuse a traffic device, it’s going to lose its effectiveness. The idea is to really focus your use where it's most important. With those guiding principles, we dive into what we came up with. The first type is the "always stop" or a traffic signal. If you have a traffic signal and sidewalks/trails coming into it, we're saying in our policy we will mark those intersections. The second kind is a side street stop control—where you have one direction that's a through road and the opposing traffic has to stop. In this case, the default would be to not mark where the stop sign is. The stop sign is really there to serve the yielding; the pedestrian can see the vehicle stop and then enter into the crosswalk fairly safely. Regarding roundabouts, you typically have trails and sidewalks coming into them; we leave it to whatever the engineering design guides are for that specific roundabout. Mid-block crossings should be discouraged. For the most part, you want to guide the pedestrian to an intersection where you're already controlling the flow of traffic. There are going to be instances, like the one we just put in at Hudson Boulevard, where the distance and the gap distance is just too far to reasonably expect the pedestrian to take a very long route. In those cases, we would mark that and possibly put additional enhancements in like a raised median. For uncontrolled intersections, we developed a flowchart. We started by saying the existing Average Daily Traffic (ADT) of the roadway needs to be at least a thousand vehicles. If a request comes in on a roadway that's not meeting that threshold, our default would be to leave it unmarked. If it meets that, the next step is cameras for a pedestrian count. It has to meet certain thresholds—for example, 20 pedestrian/bicycle crossings in a 24-hour period, or other bracketed increments. We also look at crash history. Lastly, we look at "key destinations." I drew up this map as an example—looking at your downtown MUSA area and key trail systems to direct that traffic into your central business district. I'll stop there and see if the Council has any questions on the policy. **[00:25:30] Council Member Katrina Backstrom:** I've just got a couple of questions, maybe just clarifications. So with the policy, is there a distinction between a trail crossing versus a sidewalk crossing? **[00:25:40] Jack Griffin (Consulting City Engineer):** No, they're both considered crossings. **[00:25:45] Council Member Katrina Backstrom:** And the other just had to do with the mid-block crossings. There's one in particular that comes to mind in Easton Village on Village Parkway that's mid-block and speeds of 30 miles per hour, and traffic is going to be increasing. I think in the policy it indicates if we allow this type of crossing that it will be marked. So are we going to be evaluating some of those potential crosswalks across the city mid-block and addressing those, or do we need residents to raise that as a question or concern? **[00:26:15] Jack Griffin (Consulting City Engineer):** That's a good question. The first step is to get the policy, then I think there should be a systematic process for Public Works and engineering to take a look at markings that are out there that shouldn't be, and address existing ones that meet the policy but haven't been marked yet. **[00:26:45] Council Member Katrina Backstrom:** One follow-up—if we approve this policy and something happens at one of those crossings that's not marked yet, are we liable at all because our policy says that we will have those marked? **[00:27:00] Jack Griffin (Consulting City Engineer):** My understanding is no. You come up with the policies and then there's a time to work on things, especially things that are older. It's more about when you come back and address that street as an improvement that you typically bring it up to standard. **[00:27:30] Council Member Jeff Holtz:** Could you just go back to the map of the roads that are meeting a thousand? Thank you. You created a hypothetical map of what it may look like when we create a key destination route. In the agenda item, you noted that 39th as it's going west and hits Wildflower—right now that does not meet the thresholds but it would based upon this proposed map. So with the motion tonight, we would be saying that yes, it should because it's reasonable to presume a map similar to this would be moving forward? **[00:28:10] Jack Griffin (Consulting City Engineer):** Correct. There were two intersections—Laverne Avenue and 39th Street. That exceeds the 1,000 ADT because it's 1,800. We recommend marking that in 2025. Likewise, at Wildflower Drive, it’s almost an identical intersection, the only difference is the pedestrian count isn't quite there yet, but it would be on the key destination route. **[00:29:10] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** I'll entertain a motion. **[00:29:15] Council Member Jeff Holtz:** Move to approve the pedestrian crosswalk policy dated December 2024 and crosswalk marking recommendations for the intersections at 39th Street North and Laverne Avenue North and at 39th Street North and Wildflower Drive. **[00:29:30] Council Member Matt Hirn:** Second. **[00:29:32] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Discussion? **[00:29:35] Council Member Jeff Holtz:** This is an example of feedback coming in from the community driving action within staff and Council. I want to thank members of the community that have been pushing on this. This is a value gain for the city. It really helps to drive home that we should be paying attention to the interconnectivity within the Old Village. I just want to say thank you to the community. **[00:30:15] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** I’d also like to put a thanks out to SRF for doing the study along with Jack. All those in favor please signify by saying aye. **[00:30:25] City Council:** Aye. **[00:30:28] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Motion passes. Thank you. Number 12 is Royal Golf conditional use permits and variance. **[00:30:35] Miss Jensen (Planning Staff):** Thank you, Mayor. The applicant is Royal Golf LLC at 11441 20th Street. There are three requests: a CUP for a clubhouse expansion, a CUP for two pickleball courts, and a variance to increase the improved surface within the GCC zoning district for this parcel. The clubhouse addition is going to house administration space, a golf simulator, and a restaurant expansion. The pickleball courts are for membership use; landscaping and fence netting is proposed to mitigate noise, and there is no lighting proposed. The GCC zoning district requires 30% impervious surface. The existing parcel is at about 46% and the applicant is requesting an increase to 56.31%. The subject property is 10.9 acres and is surrounded by a pervious golf course which is roughly 182 acres. When taken as a whole, the golf course's total impervious surface is far below the 30% threshold, but parcel by parcel, a variance is required. **[00:35:00] Council Member Jeff Holtz:** Do we know how high the fence is proposed for the pickleball? **[00:35:05] Miss Jensen (Planning Staff):** I do not, but I believe the applicant could answer. **[00:35:10] Applicant (Royal Golf Representative):** 10 feet. **[00:35:15] Council Member Jeff Holtz:** Thanks for clarification. **[00:35:20] Council Member Matt Hirn:** For the noise mitigation, what is it that you guys plan to do? Is it some sort of tarping around the fence? **[00:35:25] Applicant (Royal Golf Representative):** We plan to put wind netting on the fence itself. That'll aid with play but it'll also aid with mitigating the noise. We'll also use natural buffers. **[00:35:40] Council Member Nick Dragisich:** In regards to the pickleball courts, I did receive one call from a neighbor who was concerned about the noise. I suggested they contact other Council people or appear here tonight, but it was a concern. **[00:36:10] Council Member Jeff Holtz:** Move to approve Resolution 2024-126 approving a variance request from Royal Golf Club LLC for an impervious surface variance based on the findings of facts and conditions presented in the staff report. **[00:36:25] Council Member Nick Dragisich:** I second. I wanted to compliment our staff in planning for looking at this. Several neighbors raised questions and I had very good conversations with our planning staff. All the questions were answered. **[00:37:15] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** All those in favor of approving Resolution 2024-126, signify by saying aye. **[00:37:20] City Council:** Aye. **[00:37:22] Council Member Matt Hirn:** I move to approve Resolution 2024-127 approving a conditional use permit request from the Royal Golf Club LLC for an outdoor athletic facility for pickleball. **[00:37:35] Council Member Jeff Holtz:** Second. **[00:37:45] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** All those in favor, signify by saying aye. **[00:37:50] City Council:** Aye. **[00:37:52] Council Member Nick Dragisich:** Move to approve Resolution 2024-128 approving a conditional use permit request from Royal Golf LLC for the expansion of the clubhouse facility. **[00:38:05] Council Member Matt Hirn:** Second. **[00:38:15] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** All those in favor, signify by saying aye. **[00:38:20] City Council:** Aye. **[00:38:25] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Item 13, Limmer Village concept plan. **[00:38:30] Nathan Fuirst (Planning Staff):** Good evening, Mayor, members of the Council. This is the Limmer Village development proposed by Maplewood Development. The site is about 80 acres. The revised plan is at 682 residential units. We have confirmed that this development is consistent with the city's comprehensive plan in terms of land use and densities. On the northeast corner are attached townhomes. On the southeast is four-story senior living. The public park has been significantly increased in its size—it went from under two acres to now at about 8 acres. The single-family lots have been revised to the city's minimum lot width of 50 feet. **[00:43:00] Council Member Jeff Holtz:** You had mentioned that wetlands are not known yet at this time? **[00:43:05] Nathan Fuirst (Planning Staff):** I don't know that I've seen a wetland delineation yet, so I'll defer to the developer's engineer. **[00:44:30] Clark Wickland (Allied Engineering):** Good evening, Mr. Mayor and Council. My name is Clark Wickland, civil engineer. Regarding wetlands, our specialist determined there were no wetlands present; she issued a statement but will do an on-site review again for the formal process. Regarding the 50-foot lots, while the minimum is 6,100 square feet, the lots will average over 7,000 square feet as a whole. **[00:50:00] Council Member Matt Hirn:** I love seeing that there was Park area increase. I think it’s a good tradeoff. I didn't really have any concerns based off previous discussions. **[00:51:00] Council Member Jeff Holtz:** It makes sense that you would have a different product in that transition area. Our comp plan itself is all about transitions. I think the design features along Manning should logically have a different "skin" as you called it. **[00:54:00] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Item 14, Cannabis ordinance. **[00:54:10] Nathan Fuirst (Planning Staff):** This reviews land use standards and registration. We’re proposing to limit to two cannabis retail locations for now. The Planning Commission was in favor of utilizing restrictive performance standards and ensuring temporary cannabis events are indoors only. We’ve also had a discussion about outdoor cultivation; if the city wanted to allow it, we would likely want to permit it only in residential and agricultural zones through a CUP with a 10-acre minimum. **[00:59:30] Council Member Matt Hirn:** Do we have to allow outdoor cannabis cultivation? That stuff stinks. **[00:59:40] Sarah Evenson (City Attorney):** Mr. Mayor, members of the Council, I believe it is something that cities do need to allow, although they can put certain performance standards on it. **[01:03:00] Burn Fleming (Public):** Hi, I'm Burn Fleming from the Pinecrest HOA. Would you please consider publishing what you decide regarding cannabis? I think it is a big issue and there should be a lot more curiosity from residents. I don't want something that looks like the stores between here and Rochester. **[01:05:00] Council Member Jeff Holtz:** Move to adopt Ordinance 2024-20 establishing the registration requirements for cannabis retail businesses. **[01:05:10] Council Member Matt Hirn:** Second. **[01:05:50] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** All those in favor, signify by saying aye. **[01:06:00] City Council:** Aye. **[01:06:05] Council Member Jeff Holtz:** Move to adopt Ordinance 2024-21 as revised, establishing land use and performance standards. **[01:06:15] Council Member Matt Hirn:** Support. I’d like to make an amendment to increase the minimum lot size for outdoor cultivation to 20 acres. **[01:07:00] Council Member Jeff Holtz:** Second. **[01:07:30] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** All those in favor of the amendment, signify by saying aye. **[01:07:35] City Council:** Aye. **[01:08:00] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Motion passes. Item 15, Zoning text amendments for landscape standards. **[01:08:15] Sarah Evenson (Landscape Architect):** I’m Sarah Evenson, the city’s landscape architect. We want to clarify the tree preservation ordinance to ensure we're not seeing mass grading when trees can be preserved. We want to introduce MnDOT standards and ensure inspections are done by a licensed landscape architect. For the warranty, we want to clarify that if they don't comply within the 2-year period, it will be extended. **[01:14:00] Council Member Jeff Holtz:** On the update where it talks about a "certified Forester"—does that term exist in statute? **[01:16:00] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** I’m going to move to table this until we can get some of those fixes or those ideas flushed out. **[01:16:15] Council Member Jeff Holtz:** Support. **[01:17:15] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Motion passes. Item 16, volunteer firefighter pension increase. **[01:17:30] Dustin Kalis (Fire Chief):** Tonight we’re asking for an increase to the benefit level for our paid-on-call firefighters. We moved to the Statewide Volunteer Firefighter (SVF) plan in January. As of July, our funding ratio was 147% funded. At our proposed $8,000 benefit level, our ratio actually increases to about 156%. We receive fire state aid from the state which has increased because of our property value growth. **[01:21:00] Council Member Katrina Backstrom:** Move to approve Resolution 2024-131 opting to increase the benefit level to $8,000 per year of service. **[01:21:15] Council Member Jeff Holtz:** Second. **[01:21:30] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** All those in favor, signify by saying aye. **[01:21:35] City Council:** Aye. **[01:21:45] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Item 17, Solar farm letter of intent. **[01:22:00] Tony Manzer (EDA):** I’m Tony Manzer, a member of the EDA. I want to make sure we have the best chance of getting money out of the 3M settlement Priority 2 funds. The closed landfill is a "white elephant" on our hands. We want to ask for money to pay off the General Obligation bond so we can do something useful with the land, like a solar farm. This Loi would be written toward Goal 1: restoring terrestrial habitat. **[01:28:00] Council Member Katrina Backstrom:** I struggle with the interpretation of Goal 1. We have contamination in our lakes and fish—frankly, I'd rather see us submit something that addresses our lakes and fish contamination. **[01:31:00] Council Member Matt Hirn:** I also have some of the same concerns of being good stewards of a limited fund. **[01:35:00] Council Member Jeff Holtz:** Motion in support of Letter of Intent submission by Commissioner Manzer for the 3M Priority 2 grant funds. **[01:35:10] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** I’ll support. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. **[01:38:00] City Council:** Aye (4-1, Council Member Backstrom dissenting). **[01:38:15] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Item 18, Shilen Park construction. **[01:38:30] Adam Swanepoel (Public Works Assistant Director):** Shilen Park is about 29.9 acres with a DNR conservation easement. We propose a mile and a half of nature trail constructed with a mulching head. We’ll also incorporate four benches, picnic tables, kiosk signs, and a park sign. No bike use on these trails. **[01:42:00] Council Member Jeff Holtz:** Motion to approve the construction of the trail and purchase of amenities in an amount not to exceed $25,000. **[01:42:15] Council Member Matt Hirn:** Support. **[01:42:30] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** All those in favor, signify by saying aye. **[01:42:35] City Council:** Aye. **[01:42:45] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Item 19, appoint Planning Commissioners. **[01:43:00] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Move to appoint Jane Chars to a term ending 12/31/2027. **[01:43:05] Council Member Jeff Holtz:** Support. [Aye] **[01:43:15] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Move to appoint Mike Amundson to a term ending 12/31/2027. **[01:43:20] Council Member Matt Hirn:** Support. [Aye] **[01:43:30] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Move to appoint Susie Dunn to a term ending 12/31/2025. **[01:43:35] Council Member Jeff Holtz:** Support. [Aye] **[01:43:45] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Item 10, moved from consent. Public Works department audit. **[01:44:00] Council Member Katrina Backstrom:** This took a different path to get to us. In the past, we've done an RFP process. I'm concerned we are spending over $50,000 on this without an RFP. When we used Raftelis for a building audit in 2021, the results were not what we wanted—it was generic. I would not support going with them again. **[01:45:30] Nicole Miller (City Administrator):** I did direct negotiations. It was helpful to flush out the scope. **[01:46:00] Council Member Nick Dragisich:** Raftelis is generally a high-quality firm, but my big concern is making sure they have someone with actual Public Works management expertise. Maybe we could develop a list of expected outcomes and ask them if these are included. **[01:49:00] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** I’m going to move to table this until we get a clearer distinction on scope. **[01:49:15] Council Member Katrina Backstrom:** Second. [Aye] **[01:50:00] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Council reports? **[01:50:10] Council Member Jeff Holtz:** The airport commission met. Miss Miller gave a very good presentation. **[01:50:30] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Saturday night, show up downtown for Light Up Lake Elmo, 3 to 6 PM. **[01:51:30] Nicole Miller (City Administrator):** There is a closed session for the City Administrator performance review. **[01:51:45] Mayor Charles Cadenhead:** Motion to go into closed session? **[01:51:50] Council Member Jeff Holtz:** So moved. **[01:51:55] Council Member Matt Hirn:** Second. [Aye]