I went up to Taco and made the order. And then when I went up to the window, there was a grown man dressed in a taco costume. And then he goes as he's superman has supervision. Superman needs superision. Okay. Well, how about those? Okay. All right. All right. Um that I will call our session to order. We had a few technical difficulties. Starting just a couple minutes late here. Um up first the city manager. Mr. Mayor. Good evening, mayor and council. Uh couple updates for you. So the we met with uh SM Henches last week. Uh the engineering and public services team uh they're anticipating to start work uh a week from today, Monday, April 28th. Uh the team is working out on sending some handouts to adjacent property owners and then we'll do be doing some social media. We are planning for a one-month closure to do uh the street surfacing, sidewalks, curb and gutter, railing. Uh we're hoping for a quicker outcome than one month. Uh but with weather and this time of year, uh we wanted to underpromise and overd deliver. So uh that project is starting. Uh Creekide Park uh construction is anticipated to begin uh miday. One of the things that we're trying to excuse me sort through is um if you one of the other projects we're working on is the southwest uh extension of utilities and kind of focusing on a council directive of not going back and disrupting infrastructure. We realize that kind of the head end of that utilities project starts in Creekide Park. And so in thinking that through, we realized that if we kind of button up Creekide Park and pave the driveway entrance and do the grading that possibly within a year's time, we could be digging up that whole park to install this major water and sewer line. And so, uh, conversations with Aaron Schmidt, the city engineer, and Andrew Simmons, the director of public services and engineering, uh, they're investigating what I'd call a pre-RO that would basically extend that pipe through the park, uh, this summer, um, and then not, uh, be in a position that when we move forward with the project to dig up the park, close down the park. Um, so, uh, not saying that you're committed to doing that, but we at least want to investigate, uh, that and the cost, uh, to avoid, um, an interruption in services or access to the park, uh, potentially next summer. So, more to come on that. Uh if you notice in the monthly report, the Carver Station bus service, that grant that we initially was federalized and is now a state grant, uh we're anticipating that there's uh probably less than a year worth of grant proceeds to continue funding that. Uh so that's setting us up for a conversation on the future of transportation. Uh there's likely not a path to continue bus service under our kind of current funding. uh we're not a part of the transit taxing district even if you are a member of the transit taxing district. Uh that doesn't necessarily guarantee you bus service. So, um, in any event, Aaron Smith is going to be working on, uh, setting up some partners, uh, the Met Council to talk about the transit taxing district, Eric Hansen, uh, with Southwest Transit, just to kind of give the city council a full perspective on um, what's available to the city and the community as far as mass transportation, how that intersects with uh, the prime service. But in any event, a kind of a a closure to um about 10 plus years of transit service when Carver Station opened in 2015. Um and we're also trying to trying to sort through how does that um grant end, meaning uh at least from my perspective, we don't want to be in a position where it ends on a kind of a random date and who knows who gets the last ride. I think uh there's um some support for maybe ending it at the end of the year. Um or you could say, well, we're going to do it, but then we're going to pay for that ser additional bus service. There are some kind of caveats within there where Southwest is only charging us the distance from uh East Creek to Carver Station and if those grant proceeds end, I would say that deal is probably going to sunset with the grant agreement. So there's just a lot of little wrinkles within this context. So I just wanted to kind of tee you up for a future conversation on transportation. Uh then a reminder that the listening session for the public services space needs is at your uh June 2nd meeting. There will be we'll have this as a agenda item, but there'll be an opportunity for the council to talk about that uh this evening. Um uh I mentioned this a little bit earlier, the Southwest Utilities Extension Project. Uh we're moving forward with Somefield uh on a trunk uh fee agreement, meaning that they would prepay uh their first uh phase uh trunk fees to give us essentially a cash or a means to finance some of the preliminary work and probably uh I would say maybe a first couple years of debt service on that project. We're estimating in the neighborhood of about $800,000 in trunk fees that would come from phase one. So that would kind of and the council's talked about this in different forums gives you an opportunity to kind of um have something both in writing and then financial backing that shows their commitment to moving forward with this and then uh perhaps gives you or the council the ability to move forward with the bigger project. Um, so we're hoping to kind of turn that around and bring that to your May 5th meeting to meet uh some of the timelines that uh are being requested and give Bolton to make enough time prepare plans and specs. Uh we at least wanted to try to hit that May 5th meeting. Uh Commerce Drive extension. So if you can think of off of Levi Griffin Road, uh just before Lake View Industries, Commerce Drive heads north. Uh the school district owns about 20 acres uh just to the north of that. And then there's another 60 from that former Joe Wikenhouser farm. Um both of the parties, the school district and uh the folks that are representing the Wikinhauser family are uh interested in pursuing at least the possibility or requesting to the council that uh the extension be done as a special assessment project. So the city would uh pay for and construct this the project and then the cost would be specially assessed back to the the district and um the wickedouser family or that prospective buyer. Um so they haven't committed to that. They just were just pursuing the conversation um to see if it makes sense for them. Um, but as you can probably imagine, uh, selling a property, especially industrial property that has a street curb and gutter available to it, uh, certainly gives you a leg up on trying to secure an industrial um, user as opposed to saying here we have this 60 acre piece and we still have to figure out public access, utilities, and the timing that goes along with that. So, uh, more to come on that. And then uh a big piece that uh the council's been talking about for quite some time, the planning commission met at their meeting on Thursday to discuss the kind of the final draft of the sign ordinance. So that'll be coming back to you on the 5th. So uh that's my update. Happy to answer any questions. Questions? So I have a question about the future of the Carver uh Southwest Transit Agreement. Uh I know that Erin is going to have that discussion. Is there an opportunity for us as a council to be included in a conversation with Aaron and Eric Hansen and talk about those options? There's a lot going on in Southwest Transit, too. The separation of Southwest Transit from Met Council and to receive funding through uh sales tax dollars. Yeah, that that's the it probably didn't clearly articulate. She's going to facilitate Eric coming to a council work session. So our preliminary design for that conversation is to first invite the Met Council representative out to talk about transit kind of by region and the transit taxing district, how that works. And again, we're not proposing that. We just want to give you line of sight to how that functions. invite Eric Hansen to that and then have a companion work session at a the next meeting or the next month and then have Eric there as kind of a um subject matter uh expert to talk about that and then how that kind of uh integrates with their service providing. So it'll be a a conversation facilitated for the council to have. Understood. Thank you. Any other questions? No comments. No questions. All right. Um, okay. Up next, uh, council requests. Are there any? Okay. Um, up next we have the sheriff's office report with Deputy Nelson. Yeah. Again, this is generally meant to be so much more casual. That's okay. Okay. For those who don't know me, I'm Tyler Nelson. I'm a deputy with the Carver County Sheriff's Office. I've been working here since June of last year, but I've been a peace officer since 2017. Um, prior experience, I did work for the city of Winstead. So, Brent and I have a connection there. Um, paths didn't cross, but I wasn't there. Yep. Yep. He was he was he was long gone onto Yeah. this wonderful city here. So, um, and then I prior I also worked for the Wright County Sheriff's Office. Um, and Brent and I have had a lot of discussions about uh my experience with contract communities and some of the needs and and uh sort of special considerations that we have. Wright County runs a very similar model. It's a lot of no police departments, deputies are assigned to cities. Um, currently I serve as the liazison corporal for the community of Carver in the city of Victoria. Um, I took over that position from Deputy West. if any of you had the opportunity to meet him. Um, Commander Wolen approached me with that opportunity and I was excited to take it. But as far as some of the work goals I have here, I I do enjoy working with the smaller communities. I uh I like that face tof face interaction and I like having that opportunity to to work very closely with with community members, leaders, council, mayor, um, and so forth on on uh relevant issues and problems that do kind of come up. Um, a little about me. I'm married to another police officer. Has its own challenges. Um, we have two young children and a couple of dogs and, uh, you know, it's it's keeping us busy. So, um, as far as, you know, an update in regards to, uh, the month of March report, nothing jumps out at me as uh, uncharacteristic or abnormally high in in any respects. Um, I do think that some of our traffic numbers are on the lower side. I would like to see those numbers improved. Um, I think we could do a better effort of some more patrol, especially in the downtown area. I know that's something we had talked about in the work plan for our contract. So, um, trying to motivate my uh, other team members and and kind of get us to focus in on some areas here. Um, as far say just so that we know when you say traffic that means pulling people over for correct. Yeah. just general traffic enforcement. Um whether it be, you know, something that we were specifically keyed into or if we're just trying to be proactive and stopping what we see, right? Um there's, you know, we've gotten various complaints, uh, you know, within the last few months about specific areas and we try and, you know, give that a bit of more attention at the time. Um, but then obviously we move on to another area as we can. But, um, as far as, uh, some other things that I wanted to talk about with this being our first meeting, um, we currently have four of us assigned to the contract. We're still hoping to fill the other two spots. Um, I'm hopeful those should be filled sometime, you know, summer, fall this year. That depends on how their training goes. We have a number of trainees in training right now. Um, and you might have an opportunity to see and meet them out and about depending on where calls take them. Um, but Commander Wolen and Lieutenant Brunig are more than happy to talk about some of the staffing needs too of the contract. Um, I'm hoping to increase some communication and involvement with our other deputies. Um, the night guys can be hard to get a hold of. They tend to be a little bit more keep to themselves, but I would like for them to uh have open lines of communication with you guys as well. Um, as far as uh community events, um, like I said, I truly enjoy being involved in some stuff like that. So, I know we have some larger events like uh Steamboat Days if I'm correct. I've never attended, so this should be my first year. You're in for a treat being around for that. So, I'm excited. Um, that should be fun. But, as far Yeah. So, keying us in on those sooner rather than later. or if you even if it's a minor event that kind of spur of the moment, maybe somebody plans something and it happens, you know, let me or Brent know and we can start that organization to get, you know, either resources that might be needed or if it's just a simple uh stop, show up, greet, talk and and sort of be present in the city. Um, and that goes for uh you know, if community members wanted to organize any sort of uh you know, public talks, things like that. you know, we're more than happy to organize um scam awareness or maybe bring up the we're finding ebikes are turning into somewhat of an issue in some of our communities. It's kind of catching up with um current laws and ordinances and we're finding that a lot of cities uh don't really have anything in place other than, you know, general state law prohibits certain ages, but um we might have some difficulties with speed on local trails and things like that. um other things like theft protection, you know, lights on programs, closer doors, garage door open programs, things like that, stuff we'd also like to explore and let people know about. But, um, do you notify residents now? Me personally, I haven't worked a night shift in town yet. Um, but I would say that the deputies probably aren't doing that currently. Um, I know of some other communities that have that program. My wife actually works for a department who is who's very big on that. Um and it seems to have quite a bit of success as far as uh positive reception with the homeowners. You know, usually it's just a forgetful thing, right? Um but we most of our more serious thefts that we end up seeing uh even in communities out here and it's it's crime of opportunity. Um they're not necessarily going to go after you if you're present or around the area, but if you leave an unlocked car in your garage, easy target, right? Um, so that's something that uh definitely could be organized and talked about. U and I'd be happy to uh spearhead that project, but um that had years and years ago I had that knock on the door. Yeah. And it did leave positive depression. Yeah. So yeah, it's it's it's a good way to connect with uh community members pretty much at random, too. So it's, you know, hey, this is who I am. I actually am patrolling the street, just so you know, right? Um, but uh I did want to mention theft calls. Um, we really don't get much uh in the way of theft or shoplifting at our businesses in this downtown area. We've pretty much had it all centered around Fleet Farm. Um, but they've been very good with working with us with us. Their loss prevention uh employees and staff are are excellent to work with. So, um, we've been uh pretty quick about apprehending or prosecuting or charging uh any suspects there. But as far as anything else, I really don't have any uh other planned talking points, but I'm more than open to any question or further discussion on anything. So, all right. What do you guys have for Demian Nelson? Did you prep him for two truths in a lie? Oh, did anybody tell you about that? Oh, good. I'm off my game, so maybe not. Oh, Andrew, this is really putting you in the hot seat. Okay. And it's also a test. Um, instead of when we get to meet somebody new, instead of having them say, you know, sometimes it's awkward and they don't know what to say and we're looking to go a little bit deeper than I've got two fish and a dog, you know, kind of thing. Although you did a great job and it's good to hear all that. Um, we played two truths and a lie and it started during COVID when it was something that was really easy to do when we were all in this virtual world and meeting here with me. Um, so if you're so inclined, otherwise we can do it later. I certainly have questions, but trying to think of a good three things to say here. Two tourists and a lie. Feel like this isn't on me for putting on this. That's all right. We can get to So, um, yeah, I'll prepare I'll prepare some questions and feedback. I love hearing that you're saying that you're working and really focusing on traffic. We will I think shortly I think we're all probably anticipating hearing from residents who have that one car that keeps speeding through their neighborhood which they tell us about instead of calling you for whatever reason. Um but I think it's good to help with visibility, you know, and just to enforce folks from going too fast on our roads. Um I also loved what you were saying about theft. I know that accidents happen, but it boggles my mind how people still leave their cars unlocked with the keys on the dash on the street at night, even though there's the perception of you're in Carver and it's safe, right? Just takes a couple of those to figure out that that's not as safe as it is. So, love hearing all of that. I think that's great. Um, also like the relationship work that you're doing. It seems like you're no stranger on here and that's great. We love seeing you in here and that's probably your best line of sight to figuring out when the um bike rodeo is, when Steambo days will be, when we're anticipating that there's going to be the motorcycle rally. Um so those kinds of things and thank you for all your hard work. Absolutely. Easter and such. Really appreciate it. It's quite all right. this uh and we'll get into this during the strategic plan, but I did mention to to Tyler like we're going to be working on monthly reports to kind of um getting used to this conversation. We as all everyone in the room knows there's been some turnover at the sheriff's office. Um but I think as you can see with the month or the weekly reports that Tyler's been doing, I I've told them like those are the best that I've seen. uh there's quite a bit of detail and perspective in there. And so I'm looking forward to like wel welcoming back Tyler. So as you observe and have maybe questions in the community, this isn't going to be you see Tyler and then you see him six months from now. He'll be back here um in May and June. We're going to try to get him at the second meeting of the month. Um, so, um, be ready cuz we want to kind of get that relationship back where you feel like, um, our deputy is just a part of the staff as anybody else that we have and that you feel comfortable in expressing uh, things that you like and things you don't like and things you have questions about. So, that's great. And your reports are fantastic. I will have neighbors and people come up to me and say, "What happened to Quick Trip on Thursday night?" And, you know, whatever and be like, "I don't know, but I should be getting my report on Monday or So, it's really really helpful. Yeah. I found Yeah. Just even just that little bit of information I can offer is it makes a world of difference for just some clarification like you said, somebody will come up and say, "Hey, what happened?" And it it sucks to be on a spot where you say, "I'm not really sure." So, um, and you don't have to go hunting for the information, right? So, no, it's helpful and I hope that it'll be included in your report. Happy to provide it. Yeah. Thank you. Questions? No questions. Thank you so much for coming. Absolutely. Perfect. Hopefully I'll see you soon from that. Depending on what side of the speeding ticket. Yeah, exactly. Good terms. Good terms only. Good terms. Yes. Thank you. Um, okay. Up next we have uh the public services space study discussion. Mr. Mer, Mr. Simmons. Yes. So, this is kind of an I would say an open forum for the council, an opportunity um for you to share observations on the process so far. For the those that are watching, the city council had a tour of public services facilities tonight. So, if there are any observations you want to share, you're welcome to do so. Or any questions in advance of the space study. Uh this was kind of designed um you had the big presentation from Martell. there's been some time to think about it. We've done our engagement tools. So, if there's, you know, any observations or perspectives that you want to share in advance or if you have questions on specific details for Andrew or myself, we're happy to answer them for you, questions, thoughts, comments. I'll start. I would like to reiterate what council member Pchman said when we were out and about that there is a couple of sets of numbers that would be really really helpful when making these decisions in particular um the cost estimated cost uh in long-term um shortening of useful life um on various things that are being stored outdoors or would need to be stored outdoors in the future. Um, and then also the cost or cost savings of increased efficiency with our staff. Um, you know, are we gonna by by putting everybody in one place, are we going to delay having to hire another person for two years or something like that? Um, those are really important ROI numbers when we're talking to constituents about why we're spending the money we're spending um and where that investment's going. So, I just wanted to reiterate those are numbers. Thank you, Eric, for bringing those up because those were numbers that were rolling around in my head as well, but I did not have the exact words I needed to ask the question for what those numbers were. So, I appreciate you bringing that up when we were out and about, and I just wanted to second his opinion on those numbers as well. Um I think um for me the tour was what was helpful I shared at the end um was the importance of protecting um anything with hydraulics um from the elements and also just we want to provide salt service um there's a lot of maybe hidden costs that I didn't know about um that it'll require more storage. Oh, so that's all I don't have any questions. Yeah. Uh so, additionally, one of the things that I looked at is we have a a a machine shop area. Uh I want to be sure that we think about that. Think about proper ventilation, a safe place to do machining and fabrication. I want to be sure that as we, you know, we add additional assets, additional vehicles, trailers, all of the things that we need to make city work, uh that we have our own ability to do u fabrication inhouse and that might get something back up and running in hours versus days or weeks waiting for repair. larger cities typically have that capability and yeah, we've got a spot we could do it in, but I think we're probably out growing that. So, um, you know, let's that just kind of goes into let's do this, right? And not only do we have the space to increase longevity and lifespan of our assets and make everyone more efficient, but not going into two or three different places in the city to equip the vehicle to do its job. Uh, we have the ability to to do that, to do repairs, to improvise machining where we need to. All of those things has let us do more with the resources we have. Thanks. Um, thanks to everybody who was part of staying late and helping us show us through. That was really insightful. Um, when I got there, the what would be the northernmost garage door was open. So I came into the public services side through there and that's the side where things it's tight in there but that's the side where things are really tight. So I was kind of you know shimming in there but that's a great experience right to have to see that it truly is tight. I would welcome you guys to show up there tomorrow night and the night after that like this wasn't a onetime thing. This isn't a first show. Um, I think I've gone on the record before as to saying um that this year for the public services open house, we shouldn't touch a thing and be like, "Hey, this is why we need a new public services facility." But I think I'm going to walk that back because I think it's just too dangerous. You know, like if your kiddos were there running around, it's just one preschooler away from tripping and not just preschoolers but city. I wasn't going to say that. I wasn't going to say that, but catching their forehead on a a fender, you know, like and I don't think that that's what we want, but it's it's tight in there. So, um it was really insightful to see that and to see how everything is really shoehorned in there and how much stuff is outside and we know the investment that we make into those vehicles. Um, but did learn something like that the hydraulic lines don't like to be outside and that's why you can't just put a piece of metal that is a plow outside during the summer when the sun beating down on them. Um, I third what you brought up Kayla about the the numbers and the perspective of like money saved and the kind of value add to having this equipment inside around year round. Um, And then finally, thank you, Brent, for taking my feedback. I asked to have the public services flyer a different color this month so that when folks get it in their newsletter, they're not like, "Oh, somebody at the printer must have messed up. It's the same information." Because it is, but it was on a blue backdrop when it was in the motive where we had April flyer. So, um, thank you for that. Um, it was really insightful and made it really clear just how structured we are space. So, appreciate everybody taking time to do that. No, no other comments. Let's uh Did you get what you needed from us on that? Yep. Okay. Let's move on then to reviewing uh liquor license fees. Yeah. Did you know, by the way, you don't have to stay? [Laughter] Appreciate it. This is one of those things I used to attend Delinos City Council meetings all the time when I was a contract there. I usually just like to stick around. Well, your story that's going on in town, but it's nice to know. Well, good evening everyone. As most of the council knows, uh, city staff reviews our fee schedule usually in the fall and then as part of the budget process, we bring recommended changes back to the city council for your consideration of adoption of those fee changes. In preparation for what's coming up the end of 2026, we took a look at what current peer cities are charging for the on sale intoxicating liquor license fees. and that's on the screen there on the left hand side of my slide that I have up currently. Just a little bit of background, the on sale intoxicating liquor license fee in the city of Carver has not changed since 2008 when it was increased to the amount that we currently have today, the 2525. Also, as part of Minnesota statutes, it does allow the city to include in those fees costs associated with processing applications, issuing licenses, ensuring compliance through inspections, and then providing enforcement, including public safety services, which as you all know, those services are provided through the Carver County Sheriff's Office. Just since just as interesting fact since 2008 um the difference between what this cost uh the city versus what it does today there was a 118% increase in those fees for the sheriff's office. Um also then what we are looking at is providing some information on whether or not the council would like to increase those fees going forward. And in your packet there was a little chart there that had some percent changes and it showed what those fees would be. I also to this slide added that dollar amount. So then rather than just 3% you can see well how much money would that be and that goes for the 3% the 5% the 10%. Also you can decide if you want to change it for one year or multiple years how you want to do that. Just to know that prior to making any adjustments to these fees, we have a legal legal obligation to have a public hearing and then we also need to notify those liquor license holders that will be affected by these fee changes and we need to mail that notice to them at least 30 days in advance. Um, and then just a little bit of background, this would not go into effect until 2026 and they would then be paying that fee next July as they are paying the renewal fees for 2025 coming up here this summer in July. Um, I'd be happy to happy to answer any questions and just see what your thoughts are on this. All right, thoughts. Can you tell me again what cost went up over 100% since the last change uh the fees for the Carver County Sheriff's Office that we took a look at. What were what was the city paying in 2008 compared to what they're paying today? And then on the left there, I'll I'll just point out too, those are our peer cities and what they are currently charging. And you can see the city of Carver is the second one there and the other peer cities are charging more than what what we currently are charging for that fee. Just a little add on when it comes to fees. The reason why we're talking about the sheriff's office fees and processing fees is the city can't profit from this. So the the fee structure has to be related to the costs to implement the program and manage the program. So, in the case of on sale liquor, that'd be the sheriff's office and uh administration for processing. And it's not that um the sheriff's office dramatically increased their rates. They haven't. It's just we're going back to 2008. And so, you are you're talking nearly 20 years. Um, and so that fee is that is put in there just as a a tool to say that you could justify an increase. The however the what that amount is or if there should be any change is entirely up to the council. Thoughts? I am in favor of at least a 5% increase. I think that looking at what our peer cities are charging, we're very very low and um with the increased cost of policing and things like that, I think it's justified. Not just policing, but just administrative costs and staffing costs and all of that as well. And we haven't increased it in almost 20 years, so seems reasonable to do that now. Um same, just seeing how long it's been since it was increased. um I could um entertain between five and 10% increase. Um I do like this the slide also showing each year. Um you know I don't want this to be a burden to any of the holders of liquor license. Um but I think you know with planning ahead and anticipating the increase um would be possible for them but also it's really about for the city um what what we're what we're spending on administrative part of it. So, um, and yeah, I guess there maybe isn't like a average price unless we do look at our peer cities. So, it's I feel it's one of these things where there isn't much information to go off of. Um, but it just makes sense if it's been we're coming up on 20 years and also seeing what the other peer cities need to ask for. I think we need to ask for more. Yeah. So, I'm surprised that it has been 2008 and is one of those things like that I would probably should have looked at a few years ago. Uh even at 10% we're not even catching up to the next city until 2027. I don't think there's been a dramatic increase of administrative fees, but uh so I don't see the money there, but obviously we've had a 100% increase or more in our contract with the sheriff's department, and this is where that some of that money goes. um 5%. I could support a 10% increase for that reason, but we're so far behind having made this adjustment. I think we'll still be behind even at 10%. I would support. Um, so I think I'm coming from the same place as you as we kind of peel back the onion on something like this. We really did ourselves a disservice by not raising this in 17 years. Um, because now it's going to be a change and probably not a welcome one. Um, but I appreciate all the information that you shared and we got bills to pay and this is costing us more to enforce sometimes the activities that go hand in hand with drinking right um so I was thinking more of the 3% um but [Music] perhaps doing an increase not just a one time increase and kind of doing it a little bit more um regularly and could probably even go up to a 5% increase but I think it's something that I think we should try to figure out like what where we want to be, where we need to be, and then kind of work backwards from there. If we want to be at 3,000, if we want to be at 3,500, like I think we don't change that to be the 2026 rate. I think we'll try to go there incrementally because Lord knows it's taken us 17 years to do this, but I would be in favor of increasing that as well. So, so what do you need? you need the percentage increase. This is an aspirant is the best way to manage this. I guess this is uh prescriptive on my part, but I would say if you are at five or below, I think you could have your process be um how you would manage your regular 26 fee schedule. So, we would provide the notice on a 5% increase and they'd have their opportunity for a public hearing. current license holders. Uh I would suggest that if you go to 10% or higher that we create something similar to what we're doing for the space study that we would notice the liquor license holders and then invite them in on a a session where they can at least share the uh perspective impacts that they might have on a 10% or greater just so that you could have line of sight to that prior to a formal process. So I would say um if you're going to to so to summarize 5% we'll just make a note of that for our um upcoming 26 fee schedule process which starts in like August September of the year. If you're going to do 10% then we'd probably reach out in probably Juneish uh to you know as a as we're doing the formal liquor license process for this current year uh that the council is considering a 10% and they're invited to meeting X to share their thoughts. So it's scenario one or scenario two. Scenario one being the 5% scenario two 10%. Remind me either way this ends up sorry uh in a public hearing when we talk about the rates for what would be 2026 correct then folks would have the option to come in and opine at that point that takes place in December right yes I'm just suggesting that if it's 5% that you know quite often we raise a lot of our fees by 5% and so um it'd be I would they they'd still have their opportunity, but I don't think it calls for a special engagement process. If you're going to do 10% that's bor like even though the numbers are down, it's a after 17 years, you know, it probably deserves a conversation. um you know going back you know four or five years now I guess uh there was a period where the council reduced liquor license fees in rel relationship to co there was or rebates uh given so um in some ways you're still kind of coming out of that so I think some of those narratives might be out there um so we were higher than 25 25 no but there was uh the what the 2525 there was a period where uh the governor mandated a shutdown and so uh cities were allowed to rebate uh a prrated portion of the on sale license fee for the amount of months that they were shut down. So we I think it was maybe six months worth of fees. Yeah, I'd have to get the exact detail, but they did get some of their money back. That is correct. Well, and the other strategy too is a 5% increase, but we look at this every three or four years instead of every 17 years or every year. But yeah, let's um Okay. So, I think I feel like for us to compromise to 5% wouldn't be a stretch. You said five, you said 5 to 10, you said fiveish, 10ish. I said three. I could go to five. So why don't we if we are in agreement kind of decide right now on 5%. I agree. Um I would like and again like that feels right to me. Not for me that decision isn't because the process seems a little bit more straightforward. I do think though that there should be some kind of maybe even a call out to the liquor license holders so that they know that they have the opportunity to opine and to share. that can happen at the same time that the November that we go through all of the fees in November um sorry December but um I would like them to have a little bit more transparency. So we are required to send them a notice 30 days in advance. Are you saying you want something in addition to that? Yeah, in my mind it would be letting them know like, hey, at our December 12th meeting, we are going to be reviewing the fee schedule. And in the fee schedule this year, it says that we are we are proposing a 5% increase in on sale liquor licenses. The public hearing will take place at 7 o'clock at city hall. It's your opportunity to opine. Maybe it's just a letter like that that's sent out to all the liquor current liquor license holders so that this doesn't appear to be happening anymore. Is that different than the notice that they would receive because they have to receive a specific notice? Correct. Uh correct me if I'm wrong, but that's when their liquor license expires. Actually, it expires the end of June. This is a separate. So they'll pay they'll pay 2525 this June to July and then the new fee wouldn't go into effect for a whole year from now. Okay. In 26 summer of 26 we're not tracking that when the letter goes out. Yeah. We have to we would have to do it like if we're going to do it as part of the fee schedule process, we'd have to look at the timing and make sure that our public hearing that they have a 30-day notice when we have to have the public hearing to discuss the increase in the liquor license fee this fall. So, we want it's not connected to the renewal. Correct. Sorry if I caused confusion. We would want the fee ready to go January 1 even though they wouldn't pay it until June when their license renews. Correct. So, when do these letters go out? I'm not tracking. It would have to be October. Yes. Okay. Correct. Sometime this fall. So, then it would say in that letter, correct? We're predicting we're proposing and we were we're only going to be stating the proposal for 26. We're not This isn't a plan. This is just an exercise to show you. Yep. So, um I think that that notice resolves it or you Yep. I'm fine with that. Um, I also think that it's bugging me. I think it should be an increase of 126 just to keep with roundish numbers. And what I have up there are rounded numbers. So, I don't know where it would calculate out, but yeah. Um, but that's not how I'm going to die. Okay. That that scratches my itch for making sure that the the license the current license holders are available or aware of that. Correct. And then we always bring a draft of the entire fee schedule back to the council. This would then be a part of that as well. you to have an opportunity to see what the number looks like. Super. Thank you. Okay. Yes, we all that. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Great. Thank you. All right. Um item number seven, uh draft strategic plan and goal setting report to Mr. Merrick. All right. So, as the council may remember, uh we held a goal setting and strategic plan retreat a few weeks ago and as a kind of a followup, we were going to review kind of the summary of those actions. So, this tonight is that first step. If you kind of agree with kind of these summary initiatives, then staff would come back with some companion action plans or proposed action plans that you could again review. But this is an opportunity after some time to verify that these were your intentions and uh maybe you want some wording added or maybe some things that felt important you know a week and a half ago uh after some thought uh don't ring true today. I'll just run through the these one at a time and then we can have some discussion. So the the first item is kind of related to kind of the downtown park or gathering space. Uh there was quite a bit of discussion and presentation from the community development director kind of related to kind of the entrance into the historic downtown and leveraging uh the Miriam Junction trail bridge uh connection. And so I think there's been a an emphasis in the community related to Splash Pad or the downtown Splash Pad. And so after some conversation realizing that the that the there's an opportunity to kind of rebrand and refocus that that uh this is not a splash pad by uh name. It's a community gathering space and trying to figure out what amenities create the optimal space for our community. So the the messaging or the initiative is prioritize the landing is kind of the name. So, kind of the landing of the Miriam Junction Trail, but also kind of the historic downtown uh and making that into a downtown park along with the gateway to Carver project. So, that's the kind of the uh reconstruction of the old County Road 40, which is parts of Old Carver Road, uh Fourth Street East, uh Broadway, and Main Avenue West. Uh as you may remember, there's some intersection improvements specifically at Broadway and Maine. also Mount Hope Road and Old Carver Road and to use those to develop kind of a new community gathering spaces and leverage that investment that Scott County is making along with Carver County to promote visitors, tourism, uh, you know, increasing or helping the businesses ecoourism and then kind of as a kind of an overarching action step to conduct a review of the site amenities in this gathering space and reintroduce that project to the community. So, I'll start with initiative one. If there's any uh questions or observations the council wants to make or share with the community or changes you'd like to uh propose. You can go first on this one. Um I think that this is great. the visuals that Erin showed and kind of looking at like if you've never been to Carver before and your first glimpse of our community is coming in off of that bridge. It's not the place that I would stop to see if there's a restroom or a coffee shop or whatever. It's not pleasing to the eye. It's not welcoming. It's not what we want to put a post on a postcard of our city. Um, so I I love the landing. I love the project. That said, as somebody who's been around and has seen a number of different park projects and projections, I think we need to hold on this until we're ready because I think that there are so many other things that have to be handled and we have to figure out the space study issue before that can even be a thing. I think that if we start talking about that now and reintroduce it to the community, while I see the value in that, I don't I think it's going to get make the the issue of our our space study and our need for a new public services facility convoluted and make it appear that we want a new building because we want a park there. And I would really prefer for those two issues to be separate. So, I would propose that we kind of ruled on that one to be honest. Yeah. Well, and just to kind of add on to that, you don't you can set the timing. So, within the action plan, whatever steps you want, if you wanted to say, okay, I want to do this in the fall of 26, you can do that. Okay. This is just putting a placeholder within the plan. So you're not and so that timing piece that you just mentioned doesn't you could say well we're not going to have that conversation until you know fall of 26 and then that would get Aaron started on whatever action plan steps are related to that. That is helpful and that's a lens that I didn't look at this through. So I I feel a little bit better if we say like working on this doesn't mean in May of 2025 right because I I just don't want it to become convoluted and messy for residents after opining on one issue. Okay. Any other thoughts on number one? I agree with the mayor. It feels like a little bit like putting the cart before the horse because we can't really think about planning that space until we know what's going to happen with the public works building. I Sorry, were you done? Yeah, that was my comment. I actually didn't have the same um like conclusion for me. Um I would like this to be our first priority priority start moving forward with it. For me the um public um services that building is about 4,000 square feet. That's small compared to when we add all of it up and what we actually need. So it's like it's just kind of a growing pain, you know, seeing it today. You know, yes, there's some things that we don't want to be outside, but somehow over the years, they keep coming up with solutions and we're making it by. I don't want to hold off on what I think should be the first priority until we know the better time frame of that project. To me, they're I'm able to separate them a little more. Um, I realize we might not have that public perception and I might have to explain this to to to others often, but um, yeah, I'd like I'd like this to be our first priority. This isn't necessarily chronological or priority order, right? This correct. So list it could have easily. Okay. The question one would be, do you want it to remain an initiative? And so, you know, based on Mayor Johnson's comments and council member Pasco, Council Member Pasco, I think you have some conversation to have, but then if you say yes, it's an initiative, we'll come up with an action plan related to it. And then we'll leave the, you know, we'll probably propose based on your feedback a schedule for that and then the council will have to modify that based on what your priorities are, but you'll you'll determine the priorities at a later date. tonight. Uh what we're wanting to get from you is is this still an initiative? If it is, then we'll prepare action plans as step two. Step three will be uh putting target dates on when you want those initiatives to be completed and started. So for me then it is absolutely still an initiative. you know, I'm whatever we might want to communicate as an update on what the the modeling for the landing looks like. I think it's a good idea for people that are invested in this and have seen uh the development of this project to know that uh you know it's it's not necessarily a splash bed. It may have a water feature, but that it's still a work in progress and that the city is still moving forward to have this be that entry point from the from the Mariam County from the trail. So absolutely still on our list. I wouldn't want to remove that. I would offer that uh this is edit a strictly editorial opinion, but by that by by no later than the end of next summer that they'll be I would suspect a clear direction from the city council on what you're doing with public services, if anything that will be have been communicated to the community and in some steps maybe like progressed. I I would agree that to do that like today would probably be confusing to like um most property uh owners and residents like what what happens when you do this or what. But um I think the public services project is way ahead of this. this project is kind of dormant and so it's just a matter of when you decide to like take it out of storage and start talking about it again. Um, but in a lot of ways, like I think once public services picks up, some of this information might be critical cuz I think there are some folks that have um really connected in a maybe adverse way to like the idea of the splash pad. And it's pretty clear that's not what this is intended to be. And so that might actually help the public services process if they somehow think that public services is paving the way for a splash pad. Yeah, I'm okay with keeping it on here. I appreciate that framing. That was really, really helpful. I do have the strongest desire to kind of put this a little bit later on in the plan because again, I don't want this isn't a chicken and the egg question. It's very clear what has to happen. for that even to become a reality. So, um it would be my strongest preference to hold on that until we have a line of sight as to what we're going to be doing with the space study in the end. Any additional thoughts on that? No. So, are you okay with having it? Yeah. Okay. So, it's it's an initiative but more work to do on the timing and steps that need to be taken. We'll have to be maybe a little surgical on that. Okay. Then initiative number two is pursue new methods for community engagement. So there is a lot of conversations about city app, video, maybe different platforms. Um just kind of as an aside, this is you'll think I'm a bigger nerd than I even appear to be, but over the weekend I saw that Chesa put out a video on park dedication. Matt Podarasi kind of explained park dedication. Boy, it sounds even nerdier as I'm like talking. So, he's saying Matt's name, but you know, think about the task of explaining park dedication to someone who doesn't kind of live and breathe it and talk about it every day. Like for as much as I'd like to think that we can be creative in writing and explaining it in a newsletter, it just it sounded different coming from like a human being and explaining how it works. It was an invitation to ask another question and to do that, you know, it will take some investment. But I think like that's I would offer that's the new version of communication that residents are wanting. It's that, you know, one minute video on a topic or like I would say like the old school way of doing it is is the newsletter or, you know, some kind of like government speak with a lot of acronyms trying to get them to follow because you can say park dedication 10 times in an article and it just probably doesn't transmit. And so, uh, I think just as a kind of a commercial for this, I think this is real a really good initiative to have. There's more work that we need to do as a staff and if the council has suggestions to to see what that actually means in kind of a real life application. Um, but I think we're on the right track, but willing to take feedback from the council on that. Thoughts, questions, feedback? I support it as an initiative, especially the um city app. Those are some good discussions. I agree. I think we have talked about well I've talked about at least uh moving to a city app uh since I've been on city council. Uh I think that is meeting people where they are. I think we've modernized some of our systems like our utilities and um be able to get a permit where we might be able to do all of that from a from an app where we didn't have that technology before. So I I think it's the right right strategy for community engagement. The other thing we talked about is the ability to send alerts out and also poll citizens from that app and I think that would be an invaluable resource uh when we need it to be. your thoughts? I agree. I think it's a good initiative and I support keeping it on the list. Yeah, I love this one. Um maybe just switching topics. Um I know that we had a community engagement metric that we were kind of stumbling on on the existing strategic plan. I don't know if now is the time to talk about it, but I would support removing that because I think we were kind of struggling to figure out what does that look like? How do we the measurement piece especially. So, nope. That's great feedback. Thank you. Uh, third initiative is develop a thoughtful, informative, inclusive, and community centered approach to the 2050 compre comprehensive plan process. So, as you know, the that's a plan that's updated every 10 years, and it's a a major tool for community and growth. Um, that's upcoming. The 2040 plan was I would say more internally focused where the planning commission kind of served as that group um and did a lot of work related to that plan. Um, and I think the council was had kind of the found the right notes related to um, opening that process up and having a more community centered approach just because of the growth trajectory that we're on and how much of that plan is kind of lived and breathed on a daily basis. And so it'll not only be inclusive, but I would offer educational for folks to understand and be prepared for what to expect and feel maybe more a part of what's being created in the community as opposed to maybe a bystander. Uh so and I know Erin is really good at u creating some creative um ways to engage folks. So, I think uh her along with the planning commission and the council could create kind of an interesting way to include people in that process. Love it. And it's something we're going to have to do anyway. So, let's add it. That's Yep. Uh is initiative number four, refocus. And again, we'll be integrating these into your existing plan. So refocus asset and financial planning and policies based on alignment future needs and establish fiscal objectives. I think uh one of the things that can you all can probably clearly see is there's plenty of needs in plenty of areas. Um but what can we do to create some uh constraints or prioritization of those goals? Uh you can always ask for more but it we think we talked about someone said if everything's a priority then nothing is. And so, you know, what are some, you know, standards that you you want to create for uh doing that fiscal analysis? Again, you're not bound to them, but what are your goals related to that? How competitive you do you want to be uh with uh tax base and um tax impact to the average value home. I think there are plenty of metrics out there and with the council's help we can establish those and then the staff can use those as a means to prepare um capital planning and other planning financial planning that uh is maybe more harmonious with the council's uh financial goals and marrying those to the the priorities that we have and and needs in other departments. Eric Hman. Yep. [Music] say, um, is this where we talked about making ensuring that as we plan for a building that this building is going to last for be functional for 40 years when we don't build something shortsided that doesn't live long. Does that fall into this? Uh, that's already embedded in the existing plan. So, this is that'll stay in there. And there's some work that Andrew will be doing related to like asset management um and building maintenance plans and planning for the future that's already in there. This is more related to I would say like kind of the I think we had something related to stewardship or financial stewardship where uh Lynn is working on building kind of a pure city kind of scorecard related to how we fit with tax base franchise fees. um our annual budget expenditures when you have that score sheet like well what do you want you know what do how do you want to use that information so we have one uh I would say constraint model out there where we talk about increasing the tax rate by no more than 3%. There are other things that you could do related to, you know, percent of growth versus percent of like the population or tax base related to percent or growth related to your uh general fund expenditures. You could do a bunch of different metrics and I think establishing a couple of those um might be helpful to nurture your conversation where it relates to finance. uh because the numbers can get as you all know they can get big in a hurry and so it's it's easy I think to say well this is needed in 27 and this is needed in 28 and 29 the harder part is understanding um and creating a system where you can understand the financial impacts to that and then maybe amending your plan based on you know what you're needing. So, you might need something in 2027, but does it does it connect with what your financial goal is for that? And then having a conversation. Some years you might be willing to say, "We're going to miss our goal." And some years you might say, "Nope, we missed our goal for the last last year. We want to hit it this year." Um, it's kind of what a lot of people do with their own personal finances, but we're applying that to a city standard of like, you know, is the priority worth maybe some financial pain in one year, but not the other, and how do you plan for that? I would like to reiterate that as part of this one, I would like to see um our estimates for our priority list updated because I know that those numbers have changed and we haven't updated them. So, I would like to see that specifically. Any other thoughts on this one? Want to keep it on? Yeah, I'd say keep it on and Maybe I know it already exists out there, but it's one of those things where I need to keep in front of me more is a lot of these major projects or investments, you know, when are we when is it paid off? Mhm. Um when the debt is paid off. Yes. Yep. Okay. It's just a little easier to stomach. Okay. Yeah. You know, we'll be doing this, but also this will be paid off by then. Uh initiative number five is develop initiatives related to public safety to include emergency preparedness uh law enforcement needs and service priorities along with a review of staffing and compensation programs for the fire department. Yep. I agree with this. Well, so we had a a discussion that the city is growing to the point that we need to have, I think, a full-time chief. Uh and I think this was part of that discussion. Correct. We've reached that point. And fire chief, fire chief. Uh sorry. Uh and some, you know, some of how our response times are affected by the way we're staffed today. So this one's important to me. Yeah. Yep. Uh common theme here. Initiative number six, ongoing consideration of strategic partnerships and cooperative arrangements for services. So that'd be information technology, recreation, public safety, transportation, southwest prime, etc. um that we create spaces for the city council to be strategic about that and um have discussions and set priorities not just short-term but long term. I have something for this and this is similar to where I know what's out there. I know this was kind of more like reflecting on our meeting and I think too a lot of times um Lynn presents these things in a different time of the year like with our budget but for me it would be a helpful reminder to see with all these cooperative agreements how much we spend. Sure. Like the one that it's um weap I can picture the we don't pay anything for that. Okay. We Yeah. So like maybe that's even I need to be reminded that we No, we can prepare that list. That's a good idea. But um you know like what do we pay for Chesa Parks and Record? What do we pay for Southwest Prime? Sure. I assume you guys are going to speak up if you hate these. So I'm in support of that one as well. And then the final initiative is is to review commission structure, consider modifications. That also includes um the parks advisory group uh structure, the planning commission, heritage preservation commission, etc. Yeah, I know we didn't spend a lot of time, but I really like the idea of reviewing the alternates because sometimes it's just kind of hard to know how much they're needed and we they give a lot of time. And as we look at that, if we could look at um any quorum issues we have or we would have by increasing the numbers on the body because that's the for me with alternates that's my biggest concern because I've served on boards where it's difficult to make a meet a quorum. Um and I don't think we've had that problem. But have we not had that problem because we only have five people? Um correct. Or have we not had that problem because everybody shows up every time? Yep. Those are two different questions. No, that's a great uh comment, council member Pascal, where we could um just look at minutes from past years and see where we would had an issue because I would offer just that this could be a good move for planning commission but might not be a good move for the heritage preservation commission just because of the attendance levels. Um and so that's a very good thing that or point and we can study that and get back to you on that. finally have the HPC fully stacked for the first time. Okay, so those are the initiatives. Uh so uh our next step as a leadership team would come would be to come back with action plans related to these seven initiatives, incorporate that into your existing uh strategic plan that runs from 23 to 26. uh then give you an opportunity to review those amend uh change as you feel uh needed and then we'll come back with um a schedule related to that. So targets for uh starting and ending so they coincide with other initiatives and things that you want to keep segregated from uh discussion as we kind of move forward. Great. Thank you. All right. Uh, I think that is it for this work session. Can I get a motion to adjurnn? I'll make a motion to adjurnn. Motion by council member Pman. Second. Second by council member um Pasco. Take your pick. Sorry. Uh, all those in favor say I. I. Same sign. Motion passes. See you soon.