Based on the context provided and the phonetic cues in the text, here is the formatted transcript with speaker names. **Note:** There is a discrepancy between your list (which identifies Jon Radermacher as City Administrator) and the transcript (where the speakers clearly refer to and address **Neil Jensen** as the City Administrator). I have used the names spoken in the transcript for accuracy. *** [9:54] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** …a total Wasteland. Good evening everyone, I’d like to call the September 20th city council meeting for the city of Cannon Falls to order. Could we have roll call please? [9:54] **City Clerk Sara Peer:** Bringle? **Council Member Bringle:** Here. **City Clerk Sara Peer:** Duncan? **Council Member Duncan:** Here. **City Clerk Sara Peer:** Gibbs? **Council Member Gibbs:** Here. **City Clerk Sara Peer:** Kronenberger? **Council Member Kronenberger:** Here. **City Clerk Sara Peer:** Lindale? **Council Member Lindale:** Here. **City Clerk Sara Peer:** Montgomery? **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Here. **City Clerk Sara Peer:** Alltop? **Council Member Alltop:** Here. [9:54] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Would you rise 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. [10:39] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Okay, agenda. Anything from the council as far as corrections or additions? I've got a few, but anything? Okay, I'm logging—I'm going to add Steve Dablow as a presentation after public input. He's here from the Historical Society with a message and a little presentation, so he'll be after public input. And then on the consent agenda, we need to delete items I and items L. Item I and item L. [11:36] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Okay, just those? Okay, so with those changes—the addition of Steve Dablow and the elimination of item I on the consent—do I have a motion to accept the agenda? [11:36] **Council Member Duncan:** So moved. **Council Member Gibbs:** Second. [11:36] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Motion by Duncan, a second by Gibbs to approve the agenda. Is there any discussion? All in favor? (Aye). Opposed? Carried. Okay, we'll get into public input. Public input is intended to afford the public an opportunity to address concerns to the City Council. The public input will be no longer than 30 minutes in total length and each speaker will have no more than three minutes to speak. [12:23] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Speakers may address topics relevant to the government of the city. Speakers must sign up in advance and provide their name, address, and topic they intend to address. Comments must be on topic, respectful, pertinent of city business, and adhere to the APCO data privacy rules. Any speaker that violates these rules will be asked to sit down; if the speaker refuses to comply, they'll be removed from the meeting. Speakers shall not address topics that are subject of a public hearing; all such comments shall be made at the public hearing. The City Council will not generally act on issues raised by the public input but may choose to schedule consideration of the item on a future agenda. Thank you. Okay, first up: Eric Porton. [13:23] **Eric Porton:** Good evening. In the midst of nursing and EMS shortages across our state, why has City Administrator Neil Jensen found it necessary to reduce personnel in the city's ambulance? Tonight, myself and three other EMTs are slated to be laid off from the ambulance. What I find hard to understand is why these three other EMTs are being laid off because from what I can ascertain, they may have already resigned as of last week. These three individuals did not have a gear locker or a mailbox at the ambulance station; I did. Nor were they listed as active members on our Aladtec roster; I am. If layoffs due to inactivity are the purpose, then why are three additional ambulance staff members who have not worked in over a year not also on tonight's layoff list? And why is my agenda item the only one listed as saying a layoff for "personal reasons"? What are these personal reasons of mine, or are these personal reasons of yours? I believe it to be morally and ethically wrong to initiate force, fraud, or coercion against any individual. Coerced masking is the only thing preventing me from being able to work. I have suggested and sought out multiple avenues to continue working for this service. In the interactions that I've had with certain council members and the City Administrator, I am left to wonder if the reason for putting my name on tonight's list of layoffs is because I've spoken out, or perhaps it is because of the circumstantial evidence that I have which leads me to reasonable suspicion that the City Administrator has falsified official correspondence with me—and I do have that evidence to corroborate the claim. So I ask: what is the city's standard to determine laying me off? Seven months ago this Council approved an updated policy for unscheduled part-time employees. I'd like to know what part of this policy I am not in accordance with. I have had the privilege to serve on Cannon Falls since 2011, over which time I've served 5,512 hours to this community. I am willing and able to work and want to continue serving this community, but I will not be forced to operate against my beliefs. It appears I'm not the only EMT in Minnesota who does not like these forced policies. According to Glenn Howard at the Star Tribune in his article in February of this year, he states that nearly 60 percent of the state's 10,465 EMTs did not provide patient care in 2021, suggesting they left the workforce altogether. As you move to vote tonight, if you choose to vote "yes," know you are doing so not because of my personal reasons as is written before you, but because of my unwavering personal beliefs. On Sunday night during a 60 Minutes interview, President Biden stated the pandemic is over. If you notice, no one's wearing masks, everybody seems to be in pretty good shape, and so I think it's changing. Well, maybe it's time for Cannon Falls to support change too. Thank you. I have copies of my information if any of you council members would like one. [16:53] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** I’ll take one. Okay. Thank you. [17:07] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Okay, next up is KMH. [17:23] **Anonymous Representative:** Can you hear me okay? I’d like to read a prepared statement on behalf of the letter writer. To the respected council members and citizens of the city of Cannon Falls, Minnesota: This has been edited to read in the time allotted. This Tuesday, September 20th, 2022, the City Council will be voting to lay off four employees of Cannon Falls ambulance. I was on the agenda as a termination, but because the city—in violation of Minnesota statute 13.045 and 5B.01-13, which are intended to protect victims of serious violence—chose to disseminate my name and employment information, my agenda has been moved to 10/4/22. However, they are still in violation of those laws, which are at minimum a criminal offense at the misdemeanor level since they insist on leaving the information in meeting public regardless. The five of us respectfully seek community support. The official reason behind these actions is that we have not satisfied call requirements. None of us have signed documentation agreeing to put in a stated amount of call time, nor has there ever been an official policy, more of a spoken agreement. Here's the real reason this is happening: we as employees have been involved in civil rights complaints against the city. To date, we haven't seen no real validation, resolution, or restitution. In 2014 and 2017 ambulance personnel were involved in the complaint against a member of leadership. These issues range from harassment based on federally protected statuses all the way to physical and sexual assault... the city and even law enforcement has protected and covered up this individual's actions. The victims have been forced or scared into silence. As such, this individual remains employed. We seek: 1. Commendation for our years of public service. 2. Three benefits paid to us and our families if we are gone for occupational-born PTSD and related issues. The first two are very simple to accomplish... the third may be something the city may claim to have no power to do... but this is a cop-out because it places everything back on the victim. The reality is workers' compensation payment is very difficult to attain... One of these people being placed in a layoff status received an award for saving an elementary school teacher's life when she went into cardiac arrest. We have seen gruesome death, even amongst babies mangled in a car accident... whether we worked one hour or thousands, we deserved recognition for our service both in spirit and support of services and frankly, financially. I encourage the city to work amicably with those who have been wronged to find a creative solution. I call on the citizens of the city to recognize that there is a problem and support us as we have cared for you every time you picked up the phone and called 911. Respectfully anonymous, BSNRP. Thank you. [21:14] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Thank you. Okay, Steve, you're going to be up next so you don't have to come up now. Babe Angerman? [21:58] **Babe Angerman:** Just for the record, I want to make sure everybody knows I was placed in front of Dablow. That's all I want to know. So, I'm up on Bluff Drive, scheduled to do—we're building a house up there and they're building a sidewalk right in front of this house and it's kind of handcuffed us. I've talked to Dan about it, but I would like this Council to do something about it, especially you, Derek, here; you could bring this up because you're the chairman of Public Works and maybe we could get something taken care of. They're putting a sidewalk the entire length of that block... I got six trucks full of cement, they weigh about 80,000 pounds a piece. Not real smart to drive across a brand new sidewalk. So my proposal is: leave out 10-12 feet, I'll pour the sidewalk. I'm quite capable of doing that rather than me wrecking it, tearing it out and replacing it. It only makes sense. I don't know where you've got with it, Dan, but it'd be nice if the Council would pass that. Second, there's a curb out there that's getting replaced. Rochester Sand and Gravel bid it about six weeks ago, you folks approved it, it was about 52 dollars a foot to remove and replace that curb. Two weeks ago, you approved the replacement of curb on Limestone Road for 84 dollars a foot. They're not removing and correcting the soils; Dan and his crew are doing that. That's quite a difference... in this particular instance, when I did it a little over a year ago for Derek's aunt, I charged 35 dollars a foot. So that means that this latest curb on Limestone Road was five times more than what I charged, and you, Matt, questioned my price about 14 months ago. So I'm wondering how did that happen and nobody questioned anything? And it seems odd that it's triple what Rochester Sand and Gravel just bid. Thank you for your time. [24:17] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Okay, we'll close the public input portion of the meeting. We'll get into the consent agenda—oh, I'm sorry, I forgot Steve. You're up, Steve. Sorry. [25:02] **Steve Dablow (Historical Society):** In my world, I feel like Rodney Dangerfield. So I'm Steve Dablow from the Cannon Falls Area Historical Society and a local resident. I'm actually pretty excited tonight, more so than normal. We have another ten thousand dollar check to give to you guys here in just a little bit. But it was a number of years ago where we acquired that White House for 186 thousand dollars. One major tornado, one heart attack (don't know where that came from), two years at COVID, and we're closing in on the end of this thing. This donation will get us to 160 thousand dollars. That's our math; I'm sure yours will concur, Neil. It was 186,000 that was paid for that house. I have about another thirty-five hundred dollars in commitments and I'm hoping to have another check here within a month to get us to 170 of the 186. But I've never given the city an opportunity to join in on this... the remaining 16,000, if you guys would like to forgive that or contribute to that or make me go out and raise it, I'll do that. But that's a proposal I'm making tonight. You’ve got to come down and visit with Zach about how exciting—one thing we're doing right now is we're in the process of raising money for replacing all the windows in the fire hall, they're falling apart. But lots of exciting things are just around the corner. So thank you. [26:34] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Yes, thank you Steve. Okay, let's get into the consent agenda. Consent agenda items may be adopted under one motion as presented or may be removed for discussion and resolution as council business. For you at home and in the audience, I'll go through the consent agenda. Item A: correct claims for the accounting period ending September 14, 2022. Item B: minutes for the August 16, 2022 city council work session. Item C: minutes for the September 6, 2022 city council meeting. Item D: approve the appointment of Wendy Rober to the police commission. Item E: second reading and adoption of ordinance 388 relating to development applications. Item F: approve a SEMKRA donation of land, Lookout Point. Item G: approve the hiring of a part-time cable technician, Reese Sessions. Item H: approval of John Birch Park rental for the Cannon Falls High School Humanities fundraiser. Item J: approve the layoff of ambulance personnel Chris Thompson. Item K: approve the layoff of ambulance personnel Adam Piney. And item M: approve the layoff of ambulance personnel Eric Porton. Is there anything the council would like to pull down? [29:26] **Council Member Derek Bringle:** Could I pull down H? [29:26] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Okay, we'll put that in our council business as Item A. Anything else? If not, I'll take a motion to approve the consent agenda minus item H. [29:26] **Council Member Bringle:** So moved. **Council Member Duncan:** Second. [29:26] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Motion by Bringle, second by Duncan to approve the consent agenda minus item H. Any discussion? All in favor? (Aye). Opposed? Carried. Okay, we'll get right into that Item H on Derek approving the John Birch Park rental for the humanities fundraiser. [30:12] **Council Member Derek Bringle:** Yeah, I just brought it down. They're doing a little fundraiser down there and then I see where we're going to charge 100 bucks to rent the park. I just thought maybe we could waive that hundred-dollar fee. You know, they're just trying to raise money to go to Europe and I'm sure every little bit helps. So I just thought I'd bring it up and see if the rest of you guys agree with that or not. [30:12] **Council Member Lindale:** I agree with you. Thanks. **Council Member Duncan:** I do, I agree with you too. But then we are charging other groups—I know like the Bears had their thing down there last weekend, I don't think they paid anything. I know we've had churches do stuff down there, the library do stuff down there. I think if it's the school, I think that's a little different. [30:57] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** That fundraiser can be our contribution. [30:57] **Council Member Bringle:** I'll make a motion that we approve it without the hundred-dollar fee. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Second. Motion by Bringle and the second by Montgomery to waive the hundred-dollar fee for the fundraiser in the park. Any other discussion? [31:43] **Council Member Alltop:** So part of that fee, I think, is to help pay for cleanup, right? Isn't that kind of the point behind charging? [31:43] **Council Member Bringle:** You would think the kids would be cleaning it up, right? **Council Member Alltop:** Yes, but make sure they clean it up. We wouldn't have City staff cleaning up. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Exactly, yeah. We ask that of every group that's down there. Okay, any other comments? All in favor? (Aye). Opposed? Carried. Thank you. [32:29] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Reports? Chamber. [32:29] **Kyle (Chamber Representative):** Yes, busy yapping, sorry. Activities going on at the Chamber: on September 29th, we do have a blood donor drive from noon to 6 p.m. at St. Ansgar's Lutheran Church. The Sogn Valley Art Fair is October 1st and 2nd. Ferndale Market Customer Appreciation Day is October 1st. Cannon Valley Senior Center has the Whitesidewalls coming in for a concert on October 29th. October 14th, the Chamber will be holding a planning meeting with our board and ambassadors. If you have ideas, please let the Chamber know. Thank you very much. [34:02] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Any other questions? Well, thanks, Kyle. Cable committee? [34:48] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Cable committee met on the 12th. We were introduced to Reese Sessions, who we voted to hire today to help with the videoing of council meetings and also activities around town—football and so on. Welcome to Reese, he’s been hands-on with us previously years ago, so he knows our systems. That's all that was on our agenda that night. Okay, finance committee? [35:33] **Council Member Bringle:** Yes, we met on the 12th of September. We had two items—one was on the agenda tonight, the SEMKRA Lookout Point. The other one is we're going to be starting talk with the townships about fire contracts. The one thing I would like to add for our next finance committee meeting is to talk about Steve's request for the building adjacent to the Historical Society. For those who don't know where Lookout Point is, it's up Spring Garden Hill on the left. SEMKRA wanted to get rid of it, so they gave it to the city for a dollar. So it's ours now. [37:10] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Library board? [37:10] **Council Member Kronenberger:** The only thing of note: there was an inquiry as to why there's no flag in front of the library property. That might be coming to the Park Board. I don't think it's required, but a lot of government buildings have them. But of course, you have to maintain that, like putting a light on it. [37:56] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Let's go around. Let's start with Dan over there. [37:56] **Jed "Dan" Petersen (Public Works Director):** Just a couple things: the water tower project has been completed, it's filled. Blacktopping projects are progressing. The south approach to the Third Street Bridge is complete. We'll be working up on Limestone this week. Pickleball courts coming up, and the alley by the bakery. Those rows look pretty nice around town, a big improvement. [38:43] **Tim (Ambulance/EMS):** Last meeting we had at the ambulance was a joint thing with the fire department and the hospital. SafeLink, the bus company, donated a bus to the fire department and we did MCI training, which is mass casualty. It was really good, we haven't done one of those to that scale for a while. Mayo has now developed a system so our EMS providers can scan a QR code to get patient follow-up within two to four days, which helps us improve our care. Lastly, we’re trying to get a packet together so our oldest ambulance can be remounted. Chassis are over two years out, so we're trying to start getting ahead of it. [39:28] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Okay, thank you. Laura? [40:16] **Laura Qualey (Community/Business Dev Specialist):** I have a few updates from the EDA. We have a few lots in the Industrial Park with projects coming up. Carson's Trucking is expanding. Robistro is looking to expand their existing business to about a 35,000 square foot space. And we are acquiring a house forfeiture on 300 East Minnesota Street from the county for future redevelopment. The Keller Baartman apartment project is graded and waiting for footings to be poured. [41:48] **Council Member Gibbs:** Joe, I'm hearing a lot about vandalism. What's going on? [41:48] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Yeah, we had the gazebo burn and people got spray-painted again. Fortunately, Public Works had some paint left over from the last time, so that was easily correctable. But definitely someone is going around tagging, so if anybody knows anything about that, we'd like to know. Neil? [42:36] **Neil Jensen (City Administrator):** Just an update, I know you guys have been wondering where the Fairgrounds property and the park are. We’re about there. We should have had it on this agenda, but we had one more hiccup on a little sliver of land on the northeast corner. We should have it to you guys by the next meeting. There will be a vacation of streets, easements for the water mains, and a swap of land. It’s good to get it cleaned up. [43:24] **Council Member Bringle:** Derek, anything? As someone who has been a customer of the ambulance here in the past four or five months, I just want to commend your crew. They do a great job and they did impress the Mayo Clinic doctor by knowing my name. You guys do a great job and I'm really appreciative. [44:10] **Council Member (Steve):** Well, I hate to make Tim's head any larger but I had to use them too and they were very timely. One other thing, Babe, are you still here? Is there some way we can work with Babe on that thing up there? It sounds like it's going to be a hardship for you to get your stuff done if they put that sidewalk in. [44:10] **Babe Angerman:** We're going to do it one way or the other, but those trucks are three times as heavy as the big guy. If you just leave it out, I'll put it in at no charge. It's a lot cheaper for me. [45:43] **Jed "Dan" Petersen (Public Works):** I talked to Babe yesterday and we can leave about 15 feet out there. We’re trying to keep Rick Knowlton in the loop on that too. [45:43] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Okay, thank you. Sounds good. Laura? No? I don't have anything either. One committee meeting of the Joint Power Board meets on September 27th. That's the only meeting between now and the next council meeting. I'll take a motion to adjourn. [45:43] **Council Member Lindale:** So moved. **Council Member Bringle:** Second. [45:43] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Motion by Lindale, second by Bringle. All in favor? (Aye). Opposed? Carried.