[0:11] Mary Fasbender: okay all right time being 7:07 we are a little tury um I call the hasing city council to meeting and a full council is here so please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge pled alance 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 welcome and tonight we have an exciting evening we have a couple presentations with us and first off we will have Christy bars from the Chamber of Commerce and tourism Bureau give us an update on what she and our city has been doing for the past year welcome [0:58] Christy Baras: Christie thank you is this one on okay thank you Madame mayor and Council um uh as mayor fast Bender said I am here to give a update on the tourism Bureau particularly this last year and then um give an overview of our marketing plan for this next year to come um so just a a quick overview of who our Tourism Committee makeup is we meet six times a year um and we try our best to make sure that there's a good mix of our lodging community on there so we have a representative from the Confluence Hotel Nichols Hotel the sweet experience as part of the part of the committee um Jen V from Carpenter Nature Center as a representative we have Barb hollenbach who um keeps us up to date on what the arts and culture commission is [1:44] Christy Baras: doing and also um provides us updates on downtown retail Jen Fox um is representing our our local Brewery Spyro Brewery and then also can give us some city council updates Nicole sindelar keeps us uh breast in what's happening in the Gulf world and then um our city representation is Don Skelly with Communications and Chris Jenkins so again we meet about six times a year and and we really rely on the Insight from this committee so that we know what is coming up and what we can promote and make sure that our materials are up to date and and we're um putting together packages that makes sense for our visitors um a quick tourism Financial overview so um most of you will remember this from previous years but um our Bureau is funded through a 3% lodging tax that is colle Ed from our local [2:31] Christy Baras: hotels um just as a reminder that 3% is the max that we are allowed to tax in the state of Minnesota the tourism Bureau receives 95% of that to run um the visit Hastings and the funds must be used for marketing and promoting the city as a tourist destination I just I like to bring that up um because oftentimes we will get recommendations for signage or um new art projects and and really per the State statue we have to make sure that these These funds go towards towards marketing material okay um I'd like to do a six-year look back on um the lodging tax just because it's good to see how covid impacted that um but here's how things have been since [3:17] Christy Baras: 2018 as you can see um we were we were bringing in just under 60,000 prior to um the hit of the pandemic and then took that that big dip um in 2019 up to 2021 and then we've been increasing um I think it's pretty remarkable that this last year we saw a 30% increase in our lodging tax typically we see anywhere from 5 to 7 um perc and we know that that is because of the Confluence hotel but the um for reference the confence hotel opened and started uh renting out to rooms in November so it it's been just about a full year um since they have been open so um pretty remarkable increase in that lodging tax for us and they're bringing in some some amazing groups that are are wanting to return [4:02] Christy Baras: I'm hearing so their their corporate um their their corporate business has been very successful along with the weddings um just a brief overview of kind of the breakdown of how those funds are used so um because tourism or visitors plan their trips differently they uh we have to make sure that we're doing a different mix of marketing I know that's really hard to see um but we invest in um print advertising along with online ads and dedicated email blasts and then social media so those are that's kind of the way that our um buckets are broken down if you look at the blue we're investing a good portion of those funds into online ads and targeted emails um we like to split our markets in two so we have um a market that's really focused on our our day [4:49] Christy Baras: Trippers in Twin Cities area um our Google analytics still show that Minneapolis is the top community that visits our our website um so we want to make sure that we're marketing to people that are already interested um so we take a portion of those funds and it goes towards the Twin Cities um and then um if you can remember from last year we are expanding into the Midwest um so prior to covid-19 we were really focused on um getting over this perception that Hastings is so far away from the Twin Cities and so we had a tagline called get away from to someplace close and we were really focused on the Twin Cities Market in within Minnesota um and now now that we're starting to see more of those visitors and that's growing uh we are expanding that into the Midwest so [5:36] Christy Baras: um this year we were able to take out this fall um a targeted email campaign that went to some of the larger cities in m in the U Midwest like de Mo and Chicago and um some of those other larger cities outside of Minnesota okay so um some tracking metrics uh we use our lodging tax as an indicator of um how well our marketing is doing but uh we know that there are multiple wedding venues around our area and so it's just organically going to bring people over weekend traffic so we like to make sure that we're tracking in other ways um and I I'm proud to say that in the last year our number of requests for visitors guides has doubled from the previous year which is pretty [6:22] Christy Baras: incredible um we do pay to have our tourism guide which I have copies for everyone um we do pay to have them in some really high uh tourist areas like the Mall of America and the airport and this year we had four requests from them to send to send more I think we send over 3,000 which is is pretty incredible so we know that our marketing is working um and then we also track it through this is why we like the online campaigns we're able to see how many people are opening our emails how many people are clicking through to the lodging um and where they're coming from so excuse me those Google analytics has have continued to increase um which with each campaign that we have done um and then we just keep track of Word of Mouth we hear from our tourism based businesses and that's where that committee um comes [7:08] Christy Baras: in handy when we do a specific campaign on um our our golf packages we want to make sure that they're working and we want to hear from our golf courses um to say that people are booking okay some fun things um if you remember last year we had piloted um what we're calling step-on tours so we had an increase of um visitors coming um in in a bus that wanted to come to Hastings and they wanted a specific historic tour with a guide um so Dave youngren in our office uh would help them plan that tour um he would give them options for for lunch and then when their bus came by the tourism office he would step on and give them a a historic tour of either downtown city hall or L [7:54] Christy Baras: Duke um and those became really popular so we had five of them this Summer I think he's got one more um and it's actually become something that we're able to monetize it's not a a huge Money Maker for us uh but he uh is spending his time on it and we're we're finding that these groups are willing to pay for it it's been a huge value ad for the corporate groups that come to Confluence that want different experiences um so I see that only continuing to grow um one thing we're hoping to complete uh this year in partnership with the Arts and Council commission as a public art tour our um historic walking tour that is interactive on our website and that also is on the back of our city map um has been extremely popular and so we want to [8:40] Christy Baras: um broaden that with a public art tour and so there'll be um markers on this same map where people that are interested in the murals or they're interested in some of the statues downtown can hover over it and get some of the history on that um and then we are working with the Confluence uh Hotel on uh creating scavenger hunts again their uh their groups are really wanting some additional experiences and we don't want to impede on what the private sector is already doing so um it's been nice to have the port of Hastings there to give bike tours as something that they can offer as a package but some of these other things that we can just Implement and and recreate year after year um is something that we have the information to do and can easily be implemented okay so looking ahead to the [9:27] Christy Baras: next year not a significant of changes we um are hearing from our lodging community that our our Target on multi-generational travel and corporate Retreats is working so we're going to continue to to push in those markets um we are going to continue to do seasonal targeted online campaign so we do one for winter we do one for summer and we do one for fall um and we are going to uh hopefully I don't have all of the results from our fall campaign but we're we're hoping to do the the same um Midwest large cities as we did this last year and again we'll tweak that once I get all of the results from from this this last year um we're going to do the the print advertising focusing on our bike trails so we do we work through Triple A uh our Bike and Hike magazine [10:14] Christy Baras: and the St Croy Valley magazine uh with our increased Bud budget we're going to be able to do some additional ads um one is our travel taste and tour they have a specific um they have a specific addition that that's focused on hidden gems which is small towns so we have a two-page ad that we're going to be able to invest in that um and that goes all over the US um and then we'll uh recreate our events we'll have Rivertown days again our Hastings Prescott Bike Tour and then continue to sponsor our uh tourism based events with the downtown Business Association okay so that's all I have I do have the visitors guide the 2025 is going to print right now but I have last year's end the bik tour one [11:01] Mary Fasbender: and then happy to answer any questions on on the marketing plan or finances sure thanks Christie always a pleasure to hear what's going on that we um hear the uptick of tourism in our community which I think is great um I personally enjoy driving into the downtown area or other areas of town that I can see bike racks on the back of their cars and their bikes aren't there so I'm assuming they're out on the trails right you know in Hastings and even just being out and about I will stop and say hey thanks for coming to Hastings where are you from I mean New Hope I mean just they were here for a wedding at the confence and they thought they'd come down for a weekend I mean I love to hear those stories but you guys do a great job with that and I [11:48] Mary Fasbender: think um futuristically I think it's just going to get better and better so thank you council member host [11:51] Angie Haus: thank you honor Christie it sounds like you guys have a great group that's working really hard on all of these events which I'm very very grateful for um I love to see the six-year map that you had as well I love to see this every year and the growth that it's came um that has come with it so uh also diversifying kind of the experiences that you guys have um for the tourism board is really awesome to see kind of opening up new ways so great job overall thank you [12:15] Mary Fasbender: thank you council member house council member Fox [12:17] Jen Fox: thank you your honor um I just would like to go on public record and say that this is my favorite committee that I'm on um which I tell Christy all the time [12:33] Jen Fox: um you work so diligently and and being in an industry where I have um business partners like all throughout the the Twin Cities and and Minnesota um and into Wisconsin I I'm able to like talk up our our chamber and there are no other Chambers like ours we are so fortunate we're so blessed to have our team who makes our downtown and Hastings businesses Thrive so thank than you for all of your work and and the tourism peace is so unique to our community um we have amazing Hotel experiences including the suite that uh Judith and David run but um just so grateful for all of your hard work and and diligence in promoting our community thank you [13:20] Mary Fasbender: thank you council member Fox council member pmo [13:22] Dave Pemble: first off Christy thanks for all you and Dave do we that's that's what we need tourism we need people coming and visiting our community one question I have is tomorrow the Count's having the final deal are you going to be there or is Dave going to be there yes make sure you have something to hand out absolutely yes so what um council member pemble is talking about is the ribbon cutting for the final Mississippi Greenway Trail so um there has been a TW mile section that we have been waiting on for I don't know a long time but yes um so it will connect Hastings to St Paul it's a really big deal and our bike trails have every year I get up here I actually was [14:07] Dave Pemble: excited to say that the interest in um history and public art has grown this past year because every year I get up and talk about our bike trails over and over and over again because people love them and they still do but this is going to bring a whole new crowd um so it's it's a it's a big deal and I will be there [14:38] Mary Fasbender: thank you council member pmell council member Vera [14:41] DawnMarie Vihrachoff: uh thank you your honor I think it would be really difficult for me to probably say anything better than the these incredibly um wellp put comments from my my colleagues but I did just want to add here Chrissy that I was so impressed by all the statistics and the data that you put and the thought that went into this marketing plan and I really appreciate you showing the different Trends in [14:52] DawnMarie Vihrachoff: terms of what came out of Co and what we're thinking now and especially forecasting what's going forward um I work in an industry that also has a lot of those demographics to take into consideration and so I'm just really sensitive to that and I'm just really impressed by all of this and just thankful for you do thank for your time thank you and I will say council members if you have any um additional questions on finances or if you wanted to see the analytics from any of these online campaign I would be happy to send them so just shoot me an email sure [15:23] Mary Fasbender: thank you council member verv council member life [15:26] Lisa Leifeld: thanks your honor Christie and in the Ling you've got the hotels listed and then campgrounds and RVs when it comes to that lodging tax I know we talked about this in previous years when you've come to visit do airbnbs what all goes [15:40] Lisa Leifeld: into that is that just our hotels what it is there's a certain um level and this may uh be something that I need to ask our City attorney to look into with me but there's a certain level with um the airbnbs that you have to meet to um be part of the lodging tax and I don't know cuz not all of our airbnbs pay into it um and so that there is a great area there that I there's some sort of criteria that maybe depending on how busy they are or something like that right or the platform they use to Market I know that the um the airbnbs that do pay into the lodging tax use a certain platform called evolve and so that shows up on the on the lodging text and so I know [16:26] Lisa Leifeld: which airbnbs those are um and I don't know why I yeah I should I should know that no that's okay that that helps I just was curious because I know we we've talked about the percentage before but just kind of wondering I know we're getting more and more airbnbs people are you know stepping into that we are and I would love to Market them right I would love to have them on our lodging list there we go so um yes and usually you don't get the tourism president up here saying that you want more taxes right so I but I would love to to put them on the lodging list just to read what everyone has said Chris you do such an awesome job and just such an active member um in the community with your husband and your boys and you know love to see you at the events and that just means a lot I mean when all of us too you know we show up [17:12] Lisa Leifeld: at this stuff because we want to show up at it right and it really means a lot when we see you know other people so it's keep up the great work you're doing awesome thank you very much [17:28] Mary Fasbender: thank you council member life fil thanks christe we hope to see you before next year I know we'll see you before right well well come to The ribbing Cutting tomorrow it's a big deal I will be there yes it's going to be awesome and I just found out because I had heard through the weekend that they don't even have part um pave pavement yet they were Paving it today I said well they should be they're doing the ribbon cutting tomorrow so yeah thank you very much we should all be there all right thank you and also tonight we have an update from the arts and culture commission from uh the chair of that committee commission [17:57] Mary Fasbender: um Barb hollenbach welcome [18:06] Barb Hollenbeck: thank you madam mayor and City Council Members I'd like to take this opportunity to give an update or a commission assessment since we have been um a little under two years as a commission and I know um when we were initiated into the city if you want to say initiated uh we have a 2-year WI it has a sunset Clause so I would like to present some information for your consideration and information so we can um potentially make this permanent because I feel it's been uh brought a lot of value to the city and to our community members so I'd like to kind of go through some of our challenges opportunities and what projects we've been working on and where we're headed into the future um assuming there will [18:55] Barb Hollenbeck: be a future um so a little bit of information or background the arts and culture commission was a result of um hpac study the hastings' Arts recommended and arts and culture commission uh the city then uh formed a task force which I was a part of to uh look into what kind of structure would would work as the art and culture commission we did uh recommend a commission structure we had various other um models that we looked at but felt the the commission was the best Avenue and in doing that we wrote Our Own ordinance we wrote Our Own structure organization we have been um seven volunteers from day one that have pretty [19:44] Barb Hollenbeck: much uh built the commission from the ground up which is a great opportunity because we get to um kind of create it out of our community members but also gives us some um reasons to pause because uh there are a lot of structural things that we just don't know and we kind of have to create them on the fly so it seems like it's ever evolving and changing but that's kind of exciting too so some of our challenges have been um because we are a commission we have to abide by the open meeting law which means um it's kind of can be challenging for collaboration on projects especially when it comes to document sharing uh so we don't have a platform where we can document share and work on uh projects together so we work in small groups of [20:31] Barb Hollenbeck: three or less to meet that criteria the open meeting law but it does present some challenges in in in going forward working on projects we just kind of work around it and we just deal with it um another one of our one of our interest um um projects or uh problems that we encounter are document uh storage so like when we create documents if we're doing policies and procedures any kind of um um yeah policy and procedures Communications any kind of like our how we want to organize and work on projects we don't really have a place to store our documents or even if we did have a [21:18] Barb Hollenbeck: place to store them how would we access them for um future reference or just to um put data in it so we can have we can build that profile of what we've been working on in the past um and of course um since we are a commission we have to use all the city's um communication tools which means Facebook and all the um other social media everything has to go through the um the city Communications Department and even this beautiful wonderful graphic was designed by Don at the at the Communications Department which I think she did a fabulous job and absolutely love the colors but there again we're building everything from the ground up and [22:05] Barb Hollenbeck: it's it's exciting and challenging and sometimes can be very frustrating but we usually meet those obstacles and keep going um and one one thing that I find because I have been on a commission I've been on Planning Commission for six years I was on city council for eight years what I find a little not unnerving but a little ch challenging for me is we're a city commission but we don't feel really um connected to the city we have a staff aison person who comes in and takes notes and meeting minutes but other than that we're still trying to find our groove with where we fit within the city and how we can work with other City departments to help them out uh solving [22:50] Barb Hollenbeck: issues like um one example was uh Chris Jenkins the parks director had this very ugly electrical Bo and he said hey can you hire an artist and paint it and we hired Jesse e Road we were able and Jesse had a fabulous idea to make it into a community painon or paint by number so to me that was that's a really it's a challenge and an opportunity to um to extend our skills into other City departments but we don't know where that line is or that structure so I'm hoping that as we go forward we can build some of this in we just and like I said it's it probably doesn't bother any of the other Commissioners but me because I'm used to that that structure and that organization and the [23:36] Barb Hollenbeck: uh chain of command that we don't seem to have but we'll get there it's just we're we're we're it's just all new and it's all growing so um and I'm going to say one more thing of a challenge as I see it I feel adequate in my capabilities and organal organizational skills to carry out the the mission of the art and culture commission but I do feel that your success of the commission is going to hinge on your strengths and your organizational strengths and your commit Community member mindedness if you want to say that of your chair um I basically drive the bus and because I have spent my past 30 years in Hastings being on [24:22] Barb Hollenbeck: different organizations um I have a good pulse on the community and I'm involved in the business community the tourism Community I have um strong relationships with the city from my past experiences so I feel like I had bring a lot to the table on how to get stuff done who to ask but I can see in the future that that could be a challenge and then also with with that is since we don't really have staff is how do we transfer that knowledge to the Future to Future Leaders how we don't certainly want want to try and reinvent the wheel every time we get new Commissioners and especially the chair on how the thing heck we just figured [25:07] Barb Hollenbeck: out how to pay vendors so we don't want to have to go through that again uh so that I feel is a would be a challenge in the future but I don't think it's anything that we can't work around it's just something to be aware of and I feel like I've been in in other boards where somebody has left and it's like well how do we do that now and we certainly want to build that in and that's kind of where goes in back to that document storage how we can build that database up in that stash of information so that we have a a paper trail or a record of of where we've been and how we've accomplished things so I know these are big things these are things I think about all the time I know not everybody [25:52] Barb Hollenbeck: does but I do so here I am um and also um but even given these challenges it's the opportunities it's the possibilities of the art and culture commission that just keeps me revved and keeps me going and active and going oh isn't that a great idea let's do this let's let's make this happen so it's those possibilities um one of them we heard of of um Christy talking about the public art tour I'm so excited to work on that project and being able to share that with the community with the V visitors residents to H make that uh placemaking opportunities in different segments of our city um I it's just it it drives [26:40] Barb Hollenbeck: civic pride it drives uh visitors and it just makes our place really cool and we like that and so I think that is a great opportunity um I'm super excited with the possibility of growing our our creative economy the economic development aspect of the Arts and the importance it is in our economy uh I was able to facilitate I don't know if facilitates the right word but bring together hpac and hedra for the possibility of them to lease the 213 ramsy Street which will become potentially art classes and but also more importantly it gives artists [27:27] Barb Hollenbeck: job and creat creates a small a small business incubator so I'm super excited about that and that potential and that what that's going to bring to our downtown and create that cultural Corridor and we have the then the bike trails the historic tours the um all the great stuff going on it's just going to grow our economy and bring more visitors to Hastings so that really I think is is super exciting to hear and then speaking of um hedra uh Alex M who voluntarily um comes to our commission meetings super excited for his advocacy and his enthusiasm and his um understanding on how the Arts can impact U and drive [28:12] Barb Hollenbeck: Economic Development so we're really happy to have Alex and then he kind of fills in that some of the staff questions that we have like how do you do that and all these um so it was really it's really great to have him there and we we certainly enjoy en Joy his presence and we want to continue that um one other one that I am so so excited about is I know we have the highway 61 rebuild coming uh in a few years and then the how that can dovetail into the Vermilion Street Corridor in placemaking where the Vermillion Street Corridor talks about as you move through the corridor you should have ways to make know that the commuter or person on the corridor is in [29:00] Barb Hollenbeck: a certain segment through the corridor and I feel that we have a voice and we could make we could make some impact and and how that looks in like your Midtown area is going to look different than your downtown and we certainly uh would love to be at the table uh giving some input on that because I think I think we could have some really good discussions but they're again going back into how what staff members do we work with what departments so I think we're we're on board on to um to work on all this plus our new um Civic Arena mural coming down this year we're working on WE fin um our deadline for our uh proposals is October [29:46] Barb Hollenbeck: 25th we got our first final muralist that submitted her paperwork today I haven't looked at it but all three uh miral lists were um very high quality quity and we're excited to work with them but there again that's going to be another kind of Challenge on how that process evolves who do we work with how are we going to proceed in a orderly and ontime fashion and budget- wise of course too so we have a lot of opportunities um challenges I um we've done some fabulous projects in the past we've U put some Dale Lewis art on the Riverwalk we're going to also keep his River his art this year and um because we really felt [30:34] Barb Hollenbeck: we wanted to keep his artwork but also have the opportunity to work on other projects and just doing that last year took a lot of time so we want to keep his stuff and then uh we worked on the electrical box this past year the mural is going to be big uh we held two creative convergences and U that's always a great opportunity to for everybody to get into the room and talk and Foster uh collaboration we had a City Hall tour in January so in our two years I feel we've done a lot from where we started with um nothing basically building it from the ground up and I do like this model and I really would like and encourage the city to city council [31:20] Barb Hollenbeck: to keep us going because I think we bring uh value and we bring a different perspective to or we can to the different City departments without being I don't want to step on anyone's Toes or being um out of place but just to bring that different um perspective and um and and our voice in different ways of looking at it and building our community and because our community Des deserves the best and so do our visitors and I can answer any questions [32:00] Mary Fasbender: thanks Barb I'll I'll start off I love the arts and culture commission I love seeing the people around town the events you have [32:07] Mary Fasbender: um and we all know that art isn't just a statue of some sort right and that's what I love about your commission and you're starting to bring in different partners the other night at the convergent the river valley band was there I think that's awesome I mean those are wonderful Partnerships that are only going to better the art and culture in our community so I appreciate all you do um I'll take some other comments from Council and I'm sure we will have further discussion council member verv [32:43] DawnMarie Vihrachoff: thank you so much mayor uh thank you so much Barb for being here tonight I had the pleasure of attending that um convergence event uh last week um and I thought that it was wonderful to see lots of different folks that are [32:52] DawnMarie Vihrachoff: volunteers in our community and that of course also see the incredible impact that Arts can have on a community and we know that that is part of of the rich essence of of Hastings we know that there's lots that can be done here and that there has been lots that that you and your team have done and I appreciated your honesty um laying out some of the challenges in the work that the commission has experienced so far and I don't want to put you on the spot but just um if it if this is a question that can be answered now or even later um so you identified some of the things that I think you said might helpful going forward is there like one particular I don't know if there's necessarily a silver bullet or if there's you kind of said here's like five challenges do you have a potential [33:38] Barb Hollenbeck: solution for what or do you have a a recommendation or a specific request of Council in terms of well the document the document sharing is never going to happen with the open meeting laws however it could possibly go through a staff member and if even if we and then um document sharing and then the document storage just to build that database I don't know how that happens I've asked a question several times and it's like no because all the Departments because we don't have a department have their own system or own file whatever architecture where they store their documents we don't have that luxury to do that I don't know I don't know what the answer is right and how to access that I completely understand is [34:23] DawnMarie Vihrachoff: it okay for ask one more question mayor thank you um and so um going back to the convergence last week I thought that there was it was such a good um synopsis on some of the things that were done over the summer and so I'm wondering if that would make sense to possibly share with this Council for maybe other folks that might not have necessarily had the opportunity to be there for that I think that there was some great graphics that came out of that and some great statistics and I also just wanted to name that I think that what the arts and culture commission is experiencing is very very normal in terms of for lack of a better umbrella term for this what nonprofits go through as they're starting up um I [35:11] DawnMarie Vihrachoff: hope that there's lots of different ways that we can all brainstorm for the city to be able to help with that but I do think that a lot of these are exactly what you stated which are the what what is the expression we're building the plane as we're flying it so yeah but thank you for your time and for your honesty [35:24] Mary Fasbender: thank you council member ver council member house [35:26] Angie Haus: thank you your honor Barb it's such an honor to have you um leading this commission um it's been really really um enlightening to see all of the different projects uh I loved seeing the electrical box um paint by number by the community um I think each kid that I saw go up to that each kid that I heard go up to that I can't wait for 20 years down the line [35:56] Angie Haus: that where they can go I paint pained this part um I know I do that when I look at the mural that I helped out with in the high school at the high school um so seeing those memories we brought to life is really really encouraging and I really hope we can continue on with your commission and uh keep pushing this forward and I thank you for the leadership that you do [36:11] Mary Fasbender: thank you council member house council member Fox [36:13] Jen Fox: thank you your honor um Barb um I I just want to bring us back to like the initial conversation about why we wanted to create an arts and culture Commission and um Kathy knows this conversation started many many many years ago but the the the fascinating um Challenge and opportunity in this moment is that the reason we wanted to [36:43] Jen Fox: create something like this was so that the city always kept it at the Forefront what are we doing with how are we highlighting the Arts what are we what is our culture like how do we build this thing and it's a lens through which we start building our Community around so I think um it it is well it's frustrating as we're we're figuring out how it works it also highlights the whole goal of it and I really love that and I know we talked about um like investing in different ways and I think this is this is a really great start um and I I hope to see the commission continue um I'm not sure your honor what that looks like administratively do we need to discuss [37:28] Mary Fasbender: it tonight it would be good to hear the council's comments you know tonight and then maybe come together and try to figure out by the end of the year because it's December 31st cor we will need two um meetings if we do pass an ordinance so it's going to have to be just wanted to think about that out loud because we have like four meetings left in the year I think something like that so anyo um I love the work that we're doing and and I'm excited to continue it okay thank you Council M fox any other discussion Council we will need to make a decision [38:14] Mary Fasbender: um soon if we want to continue this commission um again it'll take two meetings to pass as an ordinance so we have four left Dan may you just just procedurally [38:22] Dan Wietecha: um if all that is contemplated is taking away an expiration date and extending it that's yes it needs to be an ordinance yes first and second reading uh but it's relatively easy to do it's you know just here's a sheet of paper saying cross out this date uh but if there were um additional [39:00] Dan Wietecha: changes to the form I I don't quite know what other than possibly my my thoughts not discussing with anybody else but possibly taking out the expectation that there be a uh high school student representative of the commission uh in its two years of existence they had one and then couldn't fill it the second time maybe similar to a couple of other commissions have had trouble having a youth member maybe it's easier to just remove that requirement but point being if you want to make changes besides just the date that's the piece that we would have just some difficulty with you know hey here's a draft no we don't like that we need to make changes that's where we start running out of meeting time but if it's simply extending a date that's that that's the easy [39:46] Dan Wietecha: piece [39:48] Mary Fasbender: okay thank you Dan council member like [39:50] Lisa Leifeld: thanks your honor I think the question comes up now we start we go back to the conversation of commission versus committee no is that not a not a conversation because that's what this was for years right and then we went with they are a commission okay so they are a commission and then who is the do we have a the staff leaon Dan because I know Jen is a a council member but do we have a a staff person on Elizabeth [40:17] Dan Wietecha: we no the I'm really struggling to my memory what was proposed two years ago was and I'm sorry if I oversimplify this or get it wrong um this commission uh is um viewed itself or the task force viewed this commission as a bit more roll up the sleeves and volunteer and carry some more of the work uh um uh but did want and we did budget to give some administrative staff support so basically uh handling that minute taking handling that document uh piece um uh just to make sure it sort of had that administrative secretarial type support [41:19] Dan Wietecha: but not um not necessarily a day-to-day interaction with the over overall operations of the city struggle with how how to best frame that but but but a matter of having sort of the administrative support that was budgeted uh the past I think the other piece of that was was envisioned was uh we might find somebody wanting just sort of a five hours a week pay them a monthly stien here's just somebody to to do that but not necessarily be an hourly employee uh I think there were some FMLA questions about how that could work but um that was what was proposed we had a uh part-time staff person who was [42:06] Dan Wietecha: willing to pick up a few extra hours and do that rule for the past year and a half uh but uh she has asked not to continue in that role it doesn't really fit her um schedule uh quite her interests uh appreciate her work with that but it's not really quite her job duty to be doing that uh so uh the past month or so um Alex M our Economic Development coordinator has been attending those meetings anyway so he's going to pick up that minute taking at least for the time being through the end of the year uh but um I'm not sure that that will be the [42:52] Dan Wietecha: permanent staff administrative support or if we'll go back to finding uh an existing employee that maybe part-time and wants to pick up a few hours or needing to go find a a new administrative employee entirely but it's it's really it's it's a few hours a week it's it's not a job it but but it needs help it does need somebody to fill that role [43:18] Lisa Leifeld: so I think maybe my question wasn't correct I guess bar when we when we started all this right so we don't have a committee for this okay we have a commission and who can the commission take that to right every other commission has right a committee there we go okay now I'm on the same page and [43:37] Lisa Leifeld: and I guess it would be beneficial um I mean I'm going to absolutely support continuing this commission but I don't want to just continue it without hearing what we could maybe do right what else could we do so like um Dan was saying if it's you know changing the wording if it what is it what does it look like to you so I'd be hesitant tonight to say hey let's just move this forward because I don't want to say yeah let's throw on you know two years 5 years six years whatever I think it'd be important for us to hear from from you guys from the commission and say hey these are the things that worked and this what we'd like to do differently or whatever does that [44:24] Lisa Leifeld: make sense to you right I just yeah I can't speak for everyone but I'd be hard pressed to think that anyone's going to be like nope we don't want to do this anymore but I think it's really would be helpful for you guys to present us with you know sure we know what you're doing we know what you're working on great how's it going how are the real nuts and bullets the public probably doesn't need to hear all that right but bring it to us to say well these are the things we'd like to see does that make sense anyone seeing some head nodding good so yeah so I just don't know that it's something that I'd want to move forward tonight but understand being aware of the time to be done by the end of the year and I can't believe we only have like [45:10] Lisa Leifeld: four more meetings left that's horrible so okay thank you Barb excellent job thank you Dan [45:15] Dan Wietecha: I'll listen to you and then we'll go to council member pimble in case that answers your question I I just I I want to in listening to council member liel's comments I I will certainly after this meeting forward a copy of the existing ordinance that created this um some of the comments that I heard from Miss Hollenbeck about um how to transition you know as as you going from current uh commission members to next commission members how do you transition some of [45:55] Dan Wietecha: that knowledge uh maybe baked into the ordinance in terms of having staggered terms but questions such as uh how do we follow the open meeting law or document storage or staff support really are beyond the construct of the ordinance I think that's more operational it's not going to be something you write into the ordinance but I'll certainly forward that to make sure that you guys all have a copy of it and can can see at more top of mind what we're talking about when we speak of the commission but with that that I also great work I get the microphone so I give you a thumbs up thanks Dan council member pemble [46:43] Dave Pemble: bar by to me it's like I think it's an excellent added thing to our community I mean you [46:43] Dave Pemble: you look around some communities do have an arts and culture something but here's a commission that there at seven you have seven active members and you meet regularly and I was just reading over minutes that are published and talking about your activities I think that you know wholeheartedly everybody sitting at the Diaz here will support continuation of this commission but from what you said to start with and looking at four or five different things that you have concerns about I think we need to work through those before we process and just rubber stamp and say yep we're going to go ahead for another two years or [47:29] Dave Pemble: whatever it is let's find out what we can do to fix a lot of these or work with your commission to make things workable between the city and the Arts and uh culture commission and that's all I really had to say thank you [47:35] Mary Fasbender: thank you council member pble all right I think we have some notes but Barbie as you can hear we totally app appreciate what you've done and futuristically what you will continue to do thank you [48:07] Barb Hollenbeck: well it's been my honor to um guide this process and um it's been interesting uh challenge for me coming from using all my past experiences in creating this um [48:15] Barb Hollenbeck: organization so I appreciate the opportunity thank you [48:19] Mary Fasbender: thank you all right council members are there any corrections to the regular meeting or the workshop from October 7th all right comments from the audience at this time we would hear comments from the audience anyone in the audience wish to speak to the council at this time and no one on Zoom all right items to be consider any items to be considered Council okay uh [48:42] Mary Fasbender: counil consent agenda yeah I would accept a council member like [48:51] Lisa Leifeld: your honor on consent agenda I just wanted to say something on record so what people don't hear every week or when we come into our [49:00] Lisa Leifeld: meetings is we just approve the consent agenda unless something needs to be pulled off it that we want to discuss I want the public to know that every single meeting there are multiple donations from community members and local businesses who are donating money to the specific areas and today for instance um uh Parks and Recreation Department received a donation from a business in town um an individual donated money to the Parks and Recs Department another individual to the police department I just want people to know that that's a thing that people do and that is really awesome and I saw a couple names on here that I recognized and it sort of brought a tear to my eye on one of them and it was like you know what this is really amazing and we just sort of fly right through it every meeting but it's a [49:47] Lisa Leifeld: really big deal so for those that can do this thank you so much the parks department the public works department the police department we all thank you for this so I just wanted to put that out there and make a motion to approve the consent agenda [50:06] Mary Fasbender: all right there is a motion on the table and a second by council member Fox all those in favor of the Motion state by saying I I oppose to that Motion state by saying nay and that motion prevails tonight under Community Development we have a resolution for the convey property to convey property to hedra at 2113 Ramsey Street and we will have an update from our community development director John Hinman welcome John [50:23] John Hinzman: thank you mayor city council members on the screen here is [50:33] John Hinzman: the property in question that is owned by the city collectively known as 213 Ramsey Street it includes half of the building over here which is one parcel and three Parcels within the parking lot itself the parking lot we do share with the Walkers who own the other half of the building what we're asking for tonight is the conveyance of this property from the city to hedra the Hastings Economic Development and Redevelopment author Authority really the main purpose behind the differences in property holding between the city council and hedra is if we're looking at something that has longterm we would have the city own the property if it's something in which we anticipate a transfer sale Redevelopment that really falls into the realm of hedra with this property in particular uh HRA the predecessor of hedra acquired it back I [51:20] John Hinzman: think at 2006 or 1997 and then we were transfered over to the city around 2006 20 2008 at that time we had a lease agreement with the school district to use the property since that school district lease expired the last couple of years hedra has taken over the maintenance responsibilities of that building we've put in some uh some money into uh some of the roofing and some of the HVAC to the building from hedra standpoint we're look at this as a Redevelopment piece it's not on a real short term list for redevelopment but over the longer term we see value in there and as mentioned earlier tonight we're looking at a potential lease agreement for the space so action I have before you in consideration is to transfer the property from the city to hedra and I can stand for any questions [52:07] Mary Fasbender: thanks John Council any [52:08] Mary Fasbender: discussion okay council member life [52:10] Lisa Leifeld: I'd make a motion to authorize the resolution to for the conveyance of 213 Ramsey Street from the city of Hastings to hedra [52:20] Mary Fasbender: thank you council member leel and a second by council member Fox additional or new discussion Council all all those in favor of the Motion state by saying I I oppose that Motion state by saying nay and that motion prevails thanks John thank you tonight John will also be presenting to us a resolution to approve the Dakota County CDA to administrator laa funds which are the local affordable housing agency of Dakota County you may continue [52:48] John Hinzman: thank you uh mayor mayor put together a summary of what we're asking for tonight uh you may [52:54] John Hinzman: recall that in the last legisl of session property or sales tax revenue was allocated by the state specifically to cities within the metropolitan area term the local affordable housing aid fund now these funds come with certain restrictions for housing aid uh and those type of things and we have a proposal tonight from the Dakota County Community Development agency to administer those funds on our behalf now the history that the city has had with the CDA has been a long one we do not have a housing department with in the city we've really delegated those responsibilities to the CDA and they've done a phenomenal job with the programs that they run with the housing they provide as well as the assistance that they provide to individuals so we're proposing that we enter into a contract [53:41] John Hinzman: with well we enter into a uh go back we adopt a resolution that would uh lead to an agreement that would be signed in the future on this this would be a three-year commitment this is in order for the CDA to provide Staffing for management of some of these programs uh because some of the laa funds cannot be used directly for the those administrative purposes we we're looking at a couple of of different programs to help funding the one of them is an existing program it is our home improvement loan program that CDA runs this is a lot we use a lot of our cdvg funds for and some other funding that uh that they've had on our behalf and this would increase the availability for housing loan funds for for loow income [54:28] John Hinzman: to moderate income individuals up to about $35,000 would be paid back to that the other one would be the uh the radon assistance program for radon testing so we're proposing tonight is our allocated funds for this year is about $114,000 that we'd have 50% of that go towards the housing program 25% go towards the radon program and then 25% goal in an Undeclared pot that we could use for either or depending on what would occur this would be a three-year commitment so what this does is this notifies the CDA of our interest to enter into an agreement and that agreement would come in the uh the near future so that's what I have before you tonight we did have a workshop on this with the CDA earlier this year and we did take action at hedra at the last [55:14] John Hinzman: meeting and they recommended unanimous approval of the resolution that we have before us so I can stand for any questions [55:20] Mary Fasbender: thanks John uh council member hell [55:23] Dave Pemble: John I I would uh wholeheartedly think that this is the best way to go um the two items here I mean and re interjecting that at the time of the sale of a property that had received the funds then that amount comes back correct right there is an allocated amount an allocated fund council member in which funds that are the city of Hastings will stay allocated to the city of Hastings thank you and the other one for the radon I mean we're in a hot zone for Radon here and [56:01] Dave Pemble: so it's really important I feel that we stay after that and here some funds to help do that and with that I'll make a motion to build this resolution with the CDA for um laa funds and to go for these two projects [56:09] Mary Fasbender: thank you council member pimbo I'll second the motion with a comment sure and discussion council member Fox [56:19] Jen Fox: thank you um um I I was going to point that out as well council member pumble um we both sit on hedra so um we were part of that robust discussion about what to do with the laa funds and why Dakota County CDA is is the best Arbiter of them um they are our funds they will stay our funds we will spend them how we see fit um through their Administration [56:47] Jen Fox: so um one one other thing we discussed in that meeting was that there will be some strategic marketing around them as well um and that's that was really important to both of us as well because um I think folks don't know that much about radon and how to get it tested how to get it fixed and and what that looks like so I'm um glad to see this resolution go through okay there is a first and a second new discussion Council all those in favor of the Motion state by saying I I oppose that Motion state by saying nay and that motion prevails thank you John tonight under Administration we will have a posos update by our city administrator Dan Matia Dan [57:32] Dan Wietecha: thank you mayor and councel [57:36] Dan Wietecha: um our plan in real simple terms has been to build one treatment plant per year for three years uh and uh obviously that takes time uh we've been working towards that and much engineering towards uh getting that started uh but it would get us done by the uh deadline of uh early 2029 um we had intended for the or we do technically I still do intend the uh first plant to be the Eastern plant the one in the industrial park uh the engineering is well underway for that um we are anticipating going out for bids in early 2025 and uh in order to do that we're [58:23] Dan Wietecha: looking at an in our proposed budget which she'll be voting in a few weeks here is a 37.3% water rate increase the first of the year that's what we've been planning and and it will work but we had some really good interesting news just a couple of weeks ago right before our last council meeting and not really even time to work with it uh but um recommendation is let's change our plan instead of starting with the Eastern plant let's start with the central plant uh the one located off the North Frontage Road area um that does a couple of things one uh it um because it has significant funding [59:11] Dan Wietecha: coming through the 3M settlement towards it uh it means a lesser uh water rate increase so instead of 37.3% we'd be looking at something less and I'll get to that in a second uh the other advantage that it has is um it gives us time to look for more funding for the other plants so uh if right now we don't have we got a application out there for some grant funding we had a very good conversation with the uh chair of the Senate capital investment committee last week uh so there's possibly some other state funding that could come towards plant one um or the the Eastern plant but we [59:57] Dan Wietecha: don't have that funding lined up we're looking at a a rate increase to to cover that entirely if it was delayed a year we have more time to look for that funding and and see where that could come in and uh have the rate increases more in line with what's actually needed to fill some gaps uh so some advantages to uh changing the sequence of the projects one it means a lesser rate increase it also means we've got more TI initial rate increase we're looking at several years uh but it also gives us time to look for additional funding um the second recommendation I have tonight is uh that rate increase it's um less than 37% but honest don't know what that [1:00:45] Dan Wietecha: number is right now uh I think it's around 20 to 22% uh but just the way that the um funding would work through the settlement funds uh we can't even apply for that funding until the engineering is about 60% done we weren't planning on building this plant yet for another year year and a half so we haven't started that engineering so yeah we have an estimate but it hasn't been submitted or reviewed by the pollution control agency so it's sort of an estimate on top of an estimate uh I think it's a pretty accurate number but it's not final uh so second recommendation besides uh [1:01:31] Dan Wietecha: flipping the the sequence is let's adjust uh in our our budget actions let's adjust what we're planning for a water rate increase instead of all of it January 1 let's do it in two halves or two phases let's do uh 10% January 1 we know we'll need something uh towards the the project we also know that there's some inflationary costs uh so let's do 10% January 1 and as we get a better knowledge about what those numbers calculate to maybe it's um 6% maybe it's 12% but as we learn that second half let's do that July one uh and um you know really try not to be [1:02:19] Dan Wietecha: increasing rates more than we need to uh but certainly needing to make sure that we're able to cover costs that and timing of the project um but that's really the recommendation it's it's different than what we've been planning all the way up until now it's you know it's sort of a 90 degree pivot but I think it's one that makes a lot of sense for um you know follow the funding and and let let's move forward with the project that's uh got dollars towards it significant dollars towards it uh and uh make some other adjustments along the way but with that I can c certainly take questions but would appreciate Council saying hey this is a change to the budget this is a direction we should be going it's a change in our Communications plan it's a change in our [1:03:06] Dan Wietecha: engineering um thank you [1:03:13] Mary Fasbender: thanks Dan council member like [1:03:15] Lisa Leifeld: thanks your honor Dan thanks so much for this information this has always been a bit of a crapshoot for since we've started the dates how long we have to do them what order should we do them in and staff just started right they started right in to figure it out to get us a game plan and that happened they got us a game plan well this while our team while staff kept going for money well great news we got some money we don't have exacts but we know where it's linked and it's linked in the area specifically that is why you're stating [1:03:51] Lisa Leifeld: the recommendation is to move to the centrally loow located plant instead since we don't have a specific spot at this point I'll just kind of refer to it as the centrally located I think what you're saying is exactly what we want to do none of us want to raise rates it's hard to bring them back down right so I really respect your idea of the 10% we know we're going to need money they're not paying for the whole thing so we know something has to happen but then that gives us the time as you're stating for staff to come in with all of the plans and everything that needs to happen and then we find out how much money we're getting I love this idea I think um I don't know if you're looking for a motion or anything but um [1:04:37] Lisa Leifeld: obviously this is something we check in on the last meeting of every month you bring us up to date as well as the community with where we're at and I don't know cuz I feel like you just keep burying the lead by when you're like well we got some significant funding that's huge and he did the same thing to us a week or two ago when we were told about this he's just having a normal conversation and then mentions yeah and then we got some significant funding it's like wait what so for everyone to understand um everyone's like well why aren't you suing 3M why aren't you doing this why aren't you doing that so much is happening that the community just doesn't know about in regards to what our staff is doing and they're working tirelessly at this and they found a link through our um we had hired a firm and [1:05:22] Lisa Leifeld: we found a link to that directly connect Ed to 3M hence the significant funding so I think I speak on behalf of everyone when I say the the community is concerned about this um the council takes it very seriously the staff has been phenomenal and Dan everything you suggested I think that's what we're looking to do do the 10% for now let's get things going everyone doesn't have to panic I don't know about everyone else I'm worried about increases also right my taxes went up my insurance went up everything's going to cost more money so thank you very much for thinking right big picture what can we do that's not to say it's going to stay at 10 and that's it there may be and most likely [1:06:10] Lisa Leifeld: will be a need for additional increase at some time but this is a nice I I think this is a nice um I don't want to say Olive Branch because we're not in a war or anything but it I think it just it's going to sit well with the community as far as I'm concerned so Dan and the rest of the team because I know you're not doing this alone but congrat I mean seriously you guys have been so phenomenal and um I just wish that the community understood how much has been put into this so thank you so much and I support what you said again I don't think you're looking for a motion or yes we are you are motion would be great otherwise enough conversation consensus so that if suddenly the enough conversation consensus that [1:06:56] Mary Fasbender: suddenly the the budget proposal in a couple of weeks is different where did this come from it's it's known that it wasn't just well meant by staff but was supported by Council motion be great but that minimum a discussion thank you council member leel council member Fox [1:07:07] Jen Fox: thank you your honor um Dan this is great news it is um a just a work in progress and um a constant evolution of process right and um I I want to highlight one thing that council member leld said um so much is happening it's not that anyone is keeping information from the public this is all very important information for our community to have and we're open about it and we're happy to discuss it [1:07:42] Jen Fox: um it is constantly evolving and we're constantly learning new information and growing in where we're going to be able to invest and how we're going to be able to invest in these mitigation systems um so I wanted to make sure to be clear that we are being as transparent as we possibly can with this information because it is so critical and um I do understand um not overemphasizing the the small successes we're finding because we still have to invest so much money to clean our water so I while it is a big exciting moment that we're we're seeing progress it is still a very significant lift for for the city um I'm [1:08:28] Jen Fox: very supportive of this Switcheroo and I think that um the what I like the most about it is that it highlights how agile government can be um that's something that we don't often get to tote and um we're we're trying to do the best for our community by our community and sometimes that means reorganizing and diverting and and changing plans so I I really support this moving forward forward thank you council member Fox council member pimble [1:08:47] Dave Pemble: I think this is you know something that's really evolving in the system of how all this is transpiring we're like 20 some communities around the area [1:09:14] Dave Pemble: that have these issues and you know we're we're close to being shovel ready on a lot of things but with adjusting from the Eastern to the northern uh site takes a little more work and our um Engineering Group needs some more time and I wholeheartedly support this I think the other aspect is you know yep 37% increase in your water rates is kind of tough to bite but you look at it and say okay it's going to go up but if we say here it's 10% now at the first of the year and something around that going [1:09:59] Dave Pemble: forward or if we find more funds that we you know can keep that from rising so drastically and so soon I wholeheartedly support and I will make make that motion to go ahead and a second have the city administrator and staff move towards an adoption of changing which site is preferential to start with and made the first you'll second it okay sorry yeah you're good all right any other discussion yeah great news all the time it's usually the first of the month [1:10:44] Mary Fasbender: council member life fil that posos has brought up but you know what if he wants to bring an update each week each time we meet we'll gladly take it so with that motion in place I would uh all those in favor of the Motion state by saying I I oppose that Motion state by saying nay great great work Dan staff everyone Dan will also give us an employee recognition safety and wellness policy update and we will change that to Kelly will do it our city administrator assistant City administrator welcome Kelly thank shouldn't be able to talk all the time right sorry to throw you [1:11:30] Mary Fasbender: off uh mayor and council members uh I'm coming before you to uh talk about employee recognition a nice segue from the conversation that we just had about posos right and the hard work of that folks have done around here [1:11:32] Kelly Murtaugh: um as you know we do have a tremendous resource a number of resources uh in the city but none probably greater than our human resource and our our employees in the city uh so that's what we're here to talk about just a little bit ever so briefly this evening um the City established a program to uh support employee recognition quite a few years ago and the most recent was in 2009 and this uh focused on the longevity and focused on Service Awards so those two [1:12:16] Kelly Murtaugh: pieces uh were for were forwarded to council at that time State Statute allows uh for cities to establish a program of preventative health and employee recognition services for its employees and may expend funds to support those programs uh so before you this evening is a policy update an expanded list of uh objectives for this particular policy so we're we're expanding the objectives a bit because we know employee recognition and preventative health really has kind of exploded in the last few years right it means a lot more things that it might have meant 15 years ago when the last look at this particular policy was had so we have a defined purpose we have [1:13:02] Kelly Murtaugh: objectives which which are listed here I'm not going to read all of them to you um but it's really looking at awareness of resources among our employees we want to attract and retain employees through engagement promote safe work behaviors and reduce health care costs and then share that recognition across the city to build continue to build uh employee connections and engagement across the city um in August the administration committee did meet to review the the objectives the overall objectives of this policy and I'd like to point out uh that a fair bit of our conversation was on the attracting and retaining employees which I think as we know with recent the last couple of years that has become a high priority with us as well as uh across the country and so when we [1:13:49] Kelly Murtaugh: lose somebody there's obviously a very high cost in replacing them some of those are real dollars and some of those are perceived dollars um but so it's really important that we can continue to engage and support our high performers here at the city so just a highlevel um review of some of the things that are in this particular policy certainly employee recognition and that includes Service Awards and those are fiveyear increments uh but we also want to support and recognize our new hires especially when they achieve uh getting through our probationary process we want to certainly Rec recogniz promotions and we've brought those folks to you uh to celebrate the fact that they are not only with us but then they're advancing their career with us uh we do have an annual recognition lunch where we honor [1:14:36] Kelly Murtaugh: our employees each year we have departmental recognitions that might vary across the city we honor folks when they retire or leave service with the city and we'd and we do some volunteer recognition but I'd like to grow that just a little bit across the city we have an increasing number of volunteers that work with us and they certainly deserve a lot of recognition in addition to this uh we also have safety program materials resources this is continuing but kind of taking on a new life in the last year as well as well inness activities I want to note budget-wise um there are some expenses to some of these things but not everything and many of these expenses are already included in the 2025 budget proposal uh but in the past we've had funds through our healthc care dollars [1:15:23] Kelly Murtaugh: those are funds that come back to us from the Consortium that we pay that we're a part of for our Healthcare programs those funds have been relatively flexible in the past and have supported a lot of our activities and continue to support many of our Wellness related activities but the one thing they are no longer supporting is food we can't buy food uh with those dollars I've experienced that before in other places it happens uh and so that is one change that the city then would be responsible for would be the employee recognition event the annual event and so that will be that's something that I've put in the 2025 budget uh so those are some of the highlights for the uh [1:16:10] Kelly Murtaugh: employee recognition and preventative health program uh supported by State Statute and our historic activities here at the city so I am happy to take any questions that you have at this point about the policy thank you [1:16:16] Mary Fasbender: Kelly any discussion Council council member house [1:16:20] Angie Haus: thank you your honor um I just wanted to bring up I know when we had talked about this in administrative committee we had discussed how important it is for U important it is for us to continue um making sure that our employees feel valued um heard and um seen and so this is one of the ways that we collaborated with to come forward and make sure that everyone is um recognized and are happy [1:16:57] Angie Haus: where they work um and I think this is a really good opportunity um as it averagely costs generally 1.5 to two times your salary rate to replace and rehire someone which is a really lot cost and I think that um I love the retainment of our employees and I think that we have really good staff here um to continue this with so I'm glad uh and hope that this moves forward thank you [1:17:10] Mary Fasbender: council member house council member lifei [1:17:13] Lisa Leifeld: thanks Jor uh thank you Kelly for for this information and we all know how important retention is right and Barb mentioned something earlier when she was talking about the commission having to restart right when you have all new people how do you keep that information [1:17:44] Lisa Leifeld: right how do you pass that information on and so that retention piece having the right people in the right place but they're healthy right and they're happy and they're enjoying their jobs um it's a win-win for all of us so I think these are those little extras that we get to do um to help build that um that morale in your workplace and that you have a you know you feel valued and um I think when we're valued we all work better anyway so excellent job uh is this a move forward with a policy do we need to a motion I would make a motion to um approve the updated employee recognition safety and wellness policy as presented [1:18:31] Lisa Leifeld: um tonight thank you [1:18:38] Mary Fasbender: council member leifeld and council member fox has a second new discussion Council I'll just say too Kelly I appreciate it I know I know the employees appreciate it too they feel they feel like they're more appreciated throughout Council staff and each other I see it at the appreciation you know holiday get together and they feel like they they got something right and um the crowds have grown in the past couple years and I hope to continue to see that growth and uh building those Partnerships within their departments and other departments too I think is really important for uh City staff so [1:19:19] Mary Fasbender: first and second motion are on the table I would let's see where am I at all those in favor of the Motion state by saying I I oppose that Motion state by saying nay and that motion prevails thank you council members any announcements okay I do have a few uh friends of Pleasant Hill Library hosit used book sale this Thursday to Sunday October 24th to the 27th Hastings Police Department joins more than agencies across the state in selling pink patch items to raise awareness and funds for the American Cancer Society during breast cancer awareness month in October [1:20:06] Mary Fasbender: the Hastings Community Halloween party is Friday October 25th from 6:00 to 8: at the high school recommended for All Families kids 12 and under please bring a non-p perishable food item for the Hastings family service or cash or check donation for the Youth impact Council scholarship sponsored by Mid Country Bank inch Plastics Dakota Electric Association Hoffman and Ma mcnamer Hastings Fire Relief Association Rivertown Lions Club Hastings networking group and Treasure Island the Hastings downtown Business Association presents the downtown Hastings Halloween candy crawl on Sunday October 27th please [1:20:53] Mary Fasbender: bring a personal care item to donate to Hastings family service residents can drop off their pumpkins at Dakota County Highway shop in the labeled bins Saturday and Sunday November 2nd and 3rd painted pumpkins and pumpkins with excessive wax or another inorganic residue cannot be accepted and should go in the trash please do not put anything other than the pumpkins or gourds in the container I'd like to rec recogniz the upcoming coming up October 28th is National first responder day and thank all of our First Responders for their service in the community we have a birthday in the house today council [1:21:40] Mary Fasbender: member DawnMarie Vihrachoff happy 25th birthday again uh 7 o'clock on Monday October 28th is the Public Safety Committee meeting 7 is the Planning Commission meeting Monday November 4th is a 7 p.m. [1:21:59] Mary Fasbender: city council regular meeting with that I would accept a motion to adjourn council member vble and council member Lawrence all those in favor of the Motion state by saying I I oppose to that motion St by saying nay and we are adjourned thank you