City of North St. Paul City Council Regular Meetingl Meeting - 10/7/25
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20 seconds. >> My wife called the animal guy and I said, "I'm leaving. You take care, but I'll see you later." >> No wasted time. >> Waiting for the thumbs up. Are we good, booth? Okay. Call the council meeting to order. Please stand 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, liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you very much. Roll call, please. >> Council member Nordby's absent. Council member Woods >> here. >> Council member McKenzie >> here. >> Council member Schwar here. Mayor Mommy >> here. >> Thank you very much. May I please get a motion to adopt the agenda? >> Some moved. >> So moved. Council member Swear. >> Second. >> Second. Council member Woods. All those in favor say I. >> I. Thank you. Consent items. >> Thank you, mayor. Uh consent agenda. Item A, September 16th, 2025 meeting minutes. Item B, general claims of 2,377,279. Item C, H claims of $67649. Item D, building permit report for August and September of 2025. Item E, set electric rates for EV charger time of use program. Item F, electric department purchase compact excavator. And item G, uh, North Suburban access professional and technical service agreement. >> Thank you very much. Would anybody like to pull items at this time? If not, can I get a motion to approve the agenda? So moved. >> So moved. Council member Wood. Second. Council member Schwar. All those in favor say I. I. Thank you very much. 631 open to the public. What's your first name? >> Eliza. >> Eliza, thank you. I'm sorry. Welcome. >> Oh, thanks. No worries. It's a bit of a weird one. Um, thank you so much for letting me come and talk to you all here today. So, I know it's really exciting. I overheard you guys talking about the student housing project being confirmed, which is wonderful. And I 110% support the program because we really need it in our schools, especially for our young high schoolers to get into the trades. I was looking at the plan um that was proposed and I live actually just Kittywampus across the street from the proposed um park area and stuff. And I just kind of have a couple of concerns around the proposed building. I know it's a bit new for us. It's a twin home and I do just worry a little bit for the space. Um, I know that you've had an official survey and you have an architecture working on this. So, you have really good people working on it, but because it's such a strangely shaped triangle at like those five corners, it a twin home and having the garages face 7th Avenue and it would be really big. I do have a bit of a worry for folks pulling out because people really do zoom down that road even with all the lovely signage that we have. Um, and I also do worry that there wouldn't be enough space for like the person living there to actually have like a yard at all since it would be kind of like packed in. So, those are kind of my concerns since it is a really quaint neighborhood. It's mid-century homes. They're single family and a majority of the houses like face the street with the garages in the back. I just kind of worry that it would look really strange. So that is my main point is maybe love the program instead of a twin home. I think it would be better suited as a single home lot. And I don't know if I should take questions, but I just really appreciate your time today. So >> thank you for taking the time to come here. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. All right. Thank you very much. Business. >> All right. Uh, one item up on the city business action items and recommendations. Uh, it is the 2026 pavement management project. Uh, report on estimates and authorized final design. We have city engineer Morgan Dolly here for us. >> Thank you, Brian. Mr. Mayor, members of the council. Uh this item before you tonight is uh basically a report as we've done before on our estimates uh completed uh during the preliminary evaluation and engineering for an upcoming project in 2026. That's the 2026 pavement management project. Um as with the 2024 project, this is primarily uh overlay or uh reclamation of the asphalt pavement. So focusing mostly on the asphalt um getting that back up to uh current modern conditions uh and uh very limited utility work although I'll go into more detail um for this project moving forward. Um we have completed the preliminary data collection investigations. We're reporting on the costs and estimates and the action item before you tonight is authorizing um professional services proposal uh by WSB to continue on with the final design process uh plans and specs bidding in the spring and then moving on to construction would be another phase that I'd be back and for uh back to report to you following completion of the plans and specs as we move into bidding in the spring. So uh without further ado, I'll provide an overview of the project. um the streets uh the costs and then I'll stand for any questions at the end before you um consider any action. So as I mentioned there are several different areas uh included in this project. The roadways were selected uh based on the existing conditions and evaluation by public works also kind of combining uh the pavement conditions with any concerns that we may or may not have with the underground utilities. Uh so the first area is on First Street from Indian Wayade to Navajo Road. Um and each one of these slides has a illustration as well. Uh area two would be Mohawk Road from 17th to Mcnite. So that's immediately adjacent to the project area that is being worked on right now in 2025. Um area three is 7th Street North uh from the culde-sac north to 9th Avenue. Area four is a few streets. So, Sixth Street uh from Holloway to 7th A, Cow from Seventh Street to Sixth Street, and Seventh Street from 7th A to Coward. Uh as you can see on the map, they all kind of fit together there south of 7th Avenue. And area five is kind of an entire neighborhood. So, that includes Cowin Place, Memory Lane, Memory Court, Polaris Place, and Polaris Court. So the proposed improvements here uh again primarily surface improvements or roadway related. So it's either full pavement milling uh combined with new pavement um or potentially we might have to utilize some full depth reclamation if there's u severe issues with the underllayment. And I think most of these are going to be mill all the way through the asphalt and then repave and m maintain that gravel aggregate base uh everywhere we can underneath the street. So we'll be doing not full concrete uh barrier curb replacement but only as needed. So just kind of select locations as identified by public works. We're currently estimating about 20% of the curb will need to be replaced. That'll be uh kind of subject to further review during final design. We'll have a more exact number as we move forward. will replace existing pedestrian ramps at crossings for uh and get them up to ADA compliance um and extend uh at the north end of First Street. There's kind of a I'll show you a graphic further on. There's a wide intersection with First and um Navajo, I believe, that's kind of difficult for public works to pay uh to plow and maintain. It's an intersection that just kind of keeps getting wider and wider and there's a lack of concrete curb and gutter in that area. So, we're actually going to propose to um narrow that intersection throat a little bit, which should not only be easier for public works to maintain and to plow snow. Also should be, I think, a safety improvement as well, too, when you don't have such a wide expansive uh area for people to drive. I think it just further defines that intersection. It's currently just a yield sign north moving uh north from First into Navajo. I think I might want to look at that a little more closely. Maybe it needs to be a stop sign. I don't know. Subject to further review, but it's certainly a non-standard intersection now. And just with some additional linear footage of new curb and gutter, I think we can bring that in and create a little bit more standard intersection. So, it's certainly not a full uh reconstruct, but it's a an opportunity to tighten up something without too much additional work. So, that's something that we're looking to do at that location. Um, as I said, I'll show a graphic in a minute speaking specific to the utilities. So that would be water, uh, sanitary sewer or storm sewer. We're mostly just focusing on, uh, structure repairs, so like manhole repairs where they're falling apart, we certainly don't want to put, uh, multi-millions of dollars of investment or recapitalization in the streets over the top of uh, old and deteriorating utilities. So if we need to to do some uh manhole repairs or top reconstruct like the first the top four feet for example, replace that before we do the pavement work. That's something that we want to focus on for all structures. So whether that's storm or water or sanitary sewer. Um all of the castings uh for sanitary and storm are going to get new um get replaced with new ones if they don't meet the current standards. That's primarily most important for sanitary sewer. we might have old castings out there that actually allow water to intrude into our sanitary system which is not a desired condition. So that the new modern castings are waterproof. So that's something that we'll be uh trying to do. And then we do have as you've heard from public works um in the past past examinations uh during discussions on budget or CIP, we still have some remaining um underground utility issues that we're concerned about looking at where are the high water main break areas throughout the city. And so in talking with public works as we're looking at this pavement management project, although it's primarily focused on pavement, we do have an opportunity on a short stretch to replace the water man on Seventh Street in a very specific area that's been very problematic for public works from a water man standpoint. And I'll show you a graphic on that um moving forward as well too. So this is kind of two graphics in one on the slide. On the left hand side, you can see that intersection of First and Navajo or I'm sorry, I said Navajo, it was Indian Way. I apologize. Uh, First and Indian Way. And that you can kind of see on either side of the yellow there, that's the existing wide asphalt expansive pavement. And as you can see, kind of with a new curb line, that would kind of make it a little more specific intersection there for northbound uh vehicles to come to the intersection and then turn either right or left on Indian Way. >> I think that's what you want to do. >> Uh on the right side, that is a graphic showing uh 7th Street, so of 9th Avenue. There we have a short stretch of water man that we're including in the project. not a significant amount of utility work, but because it's in a comb combined area of concern from pavement and we have the ability with um uh some utility funding on the project to be able to address that and more on the costs in a second. That has been proposed to be included at the same time. Again, a priority for public works. So now I've got several slides that kind of breaks each one of these different areas into uh costs and kind of funding categories. So the top line is street funds. The next is wastewater utility funds. So that's for sanitary sewer improvements in each area. The next line is water utility funds. So that's for uh water man or may it could be a valve or it could be a water manhole that needs to be remediated. Uh and the last one is surface water utility funds. So that would be for storm sewer improvements or uh repairs to the castings or repairs to the the catch basins or manholes in the area. So area one is uh estimated at approximately $289,000 cost and these are total project costs. So this is not only the hard construction costs but also soft indirect for engineering and there's contingency built in for unknowns or bidding risk that sort of thing. Uh second area uh estimated at 384,000. Third area 346 approximately,000. Area 4 $460,000. Um that entire neighborhood of Cow and Memory and Polaris area five that's estimated at $1.3 million. And the total if you add all that together is uh just about $2.8 million. Now, the next slide shows a comparison between that that total project um breakdown at $2.8 million compares to what's been authorized or included within the CIP. And there's a couple important things here. So, most importantly from a street standpoint, um our current estimate at about $2 million compared to $2.4 million. Now, that $2.4 $4 million includes the $2 million that was dedicated within this project fund. Um and 43 and $438 $860,000 which typically is in the um the pavement um maintenance overlay program which is dedicated every year and on these I even years I'm sorry just as we did in 2024 that $438 $860,000 for maintenance overlays can get combined in with this project. So, we actually have some room within the streets category is just what I wanted to highlight. Um, within the wastewater utility fund, we're significantly under that is generally meant to uh if there's uh extra there that public works usually likes to do some sewer lining underneath these streets as needed. So, that would be a separate project and a separate conversation with council. That's not included here because that's kind of specialty work. If that were to be bid out, we'd probably bid it just to line and contractors. Um, and for the water utility fund, we are over, so within the CIP is $125,000. We're estimating $234,000. That's primarily because of the water man on Seventh Street there. So that normally wouldn't be included in this type of a project. Um, public works has had a initial conversation with the finance director. Moving forward, I think the finance director, and I I mentioned this um uh because it's going to be an important kind of evaluation. It's in my staff report. Um the finance director will have to inform as to whether we need to like cut scope or can we identify other funds to be able to make up for that difference from a water utility standpoint. Um we don't have any indications to say that it it we need to cut scope at this point, but it just needs to be evaluated further before we go into bidding, right? So, that'll be something that we'll evaluate between now and then, and I'll report to the council when we get to that point in terms of whether or not that street will be included or not. Public works certainly wants it to be, but again, uh we need to be realistic with the funding that's available. So, that'll be a point of further review. Uh and then finally, uh the surface water utility fund. We're just barely over. So, 280,000 compared to 240,000. So again, that'll require a little bit of review there, but um it's not a significant diff difference. So hopefully that can be uh resolved. In totality though, 2.8 million compared to 3.6 million, we are certainly overall under. However, those individual funding mechanisms need to be sused out so that you know we don't each one of each one of them is a limiting factor in and of itself, right? So uh we just need to evaluate. It could be that um we get the green light from finance at some point or it could be that uh the CIP that you're working on now requires some adjustment or amendment. I mean that's not necessarily my job but that might be something that might come before you. Uh knowing that you know now we have more refined estimates um and it just informs maybe a possible change to that CIP moving forward just so everything lines up, right? So that's a maybe. uh you may hear that in your future CIP and budgeting discussions. So with that said, schedule um if we're here starting the final design process in October, we'd expect to be complete with that uh in time to uh be before the city council in February, first meeting in February, for example, to authorize the bidding process. Uh we receive bids back in March uh and a award a construction contract in front of city council potentially at that second meeting in March. Look at a begin construction date of approximately May. Wrap everything up by September with final completion uh by October unless they have some restoration issues which we did see in 2024 or punch list issues that might occur early the next year before we final the contract. Um, so with that, the next step would be for council to consider authorizing uh final design. There is a proposal from WSB in your packet for consideration. I can't because I work for WSB can't recommend that in the past that's come from the city manager. Um, but that is the kind of authorization to move forward. Um, it is uh hourly not to exceed. So we believe we've built in enough there. So we shouldn't uh probably need all of it. But if, for example, we have $400,000 more dollars to work with from a pavement standpoint. And if uh public works wants to try to add another street, we've already gotten some calls on some additional streets throughout the city. Um that might be a scope adjustment. And I'm comfortable that, you know, we wouldn't need to add any uh fee to that. So what you see here is what you get. I think we can complete the work uh as necessary. And if we move into construction certainly I'll be back with another proposal for your consideration for you know uh inspection during the construction process just as we have on all the other projects. So with that I'll stand for any questions. Um yeah and uh uh happy to help you with understanding the scope or the project or the funding or or WSB's proposal. I can answer questions on that as well too. >> I appreciate you putting this together. I also appreciate you um taking the amounts from our CIP to what you are bidding out to as we are preparing this year for next year's uh CIP. I have a question especially with our roads and maybe Ron and Randy can answer this too. Um the cost was significantly higher with the um you'd have to go back to the slide. I apologize, but it was the >> the wastewater. And is that something that we need to evaluate further with our CIP? Because I mean, I'm really bad at math, so we're just going to go say under the water utility fund, I'm just going to round it up to $100,000. So, if it's at that, if if we're finding our roads that bad, is that something we really do need to evaluate and start factoring in those costs moving forward? >> So, yeah. Yes. So, because this is new and we're we just kind of threw some numbers at this, um, you know, this started off, this pavement preservation started off at like $900,000 and then we got it okay to be $2 million. Working with Dan, the finance director, he percentage based and he'd have to explain. I I don't know exactly how he came up with the percentage of this. And I think some of it um with that uh wastewater fund being as big as it was, that was money that was used for uh sewer lining that we would have set aside for sewer lining. >> Okay. >> So, however that was figured in um percentage based or whether it was not or if you just left it in there as that. So, like when you're saying, uh, Cassidy, um, like for our water, we might like up that for a future budget to >> in case we come across something like this that that's on 7th, uh, avenue for that, just so we have some extra money if we come. Our goal is not to go and replace water manes and and do this stuff while we're doing a pavement management project, but there's there's probably half a dozen breaks that are on this short stretch and covering it up is kind of a risk. But, you know, if if it's decided that, you know, we're not going to replace the water man or we can't find funding for that, um, we're going to pave it either way and just take the chance that, you know, for it, you know, >> but yeah, technically that money should be set or that money that's in there for this kind of stuff, like Morgan said, it's for manholes and catch basins and stuff that we come across that we can fix kind of on the surface of the roads just to get as much life out of these as we can. >> But, you know, like Morgan said, you you guys have needs as well or you guys have desires that you want to fix. And if we'll use First Avenue as an example, I mean, how many water breaks have we had right there? >> Yes. >> And moving forward when that road gets repaired, we're going to want to prepare for fixing all of that and it's not going to be a patch job. >> Yes. That so some somewhere like on First Avenue with that has 24 water mane brakes on it. Um we don't even consider it for this pavement management. Uh >> that's an odd year by the way. >> Yeah, this is that's a full that's a full project reconstruct. Um so we're taking these areas these are baited on a curve. some of our worst roads that we have where we've had maybe the most complaints or and in deciding this, like I've said before, we we not only go off the pavement management uh index that WSB creates for us every year, uh we we sit down and talk with the guys that go out and actually patch the roads that walk every inch of the roads. And like I've told you guys before, we have arguments on which road should get replaced. And it's not because, hey, my mom lives on that one or my grandma lives on that one. It's this road's worse than that one and this. So, you know, it's this thing's not uh the perfect perfect solution for everything. But I think it's a it's a great way for us to get our pavement score going up, >> right? >> And when we come across some of these really really bad roads, you know, some of the guys will bring up, hey, you know, we've had six water mane breaks on this. now we're going to and we're like, "Oh, yeah." Then it's really hard to There's really nothing left to patch on this road. So, like I said, either way, um, you know, we definitely, >> uh, work really hard to live within our budget that we have. Um, we talk with Dan, we talk with Morgan, we we look at those numbers. Um, Randy spends I don't know how many hours out there measuring curb and he comes back and he's like, I measured it again and now I got 150 more feet and I don't know if that's going to fit in the budget. I mean, he's talking feet. He's talking 30 feet. You think it'll be okay if we take But, you know, and if we come and present this to you guys and we're like, "All right, we're $30,000 over um can we make it work?" Yeah, we can. We can live within a budget that the city can afford and the residents can afford. And that's one of our main goals is to live within our means. But some of the stuff comes up like this water man and we're like, man, if if we put this water man in, it's done, >> right? >> We got the road and hopefully this lasts us, we don't have to look back on this for 20 years. Now, we put the road in or we we go and we pave the road and it's not like a whole neighborhood, but it's a road and then all of a sudden residents see us up there this winter digging through it or next winter digging through it. >> You know, it it's kind of a Yeah, it's kind of a juggling act with that. Okay. >> Um, so I want you guys to know that we definitely put a lot of thought into and lots of effort into trying to maximize what we can. I mean, you guys seen >> You don't want to do it twice. Exactly. >> Yeah. You've seen how the road turned out on on out in front here on Margaret. >> You know, that's a milling overlay and you know, people see that and it's great. People are happy about it, but then they're like, why did why didn't you guys do the rest of Margaret? And, you know, that's all concrete. It's a totally different thing. So, >> they don't know that. Yeah. It's a it's a you know it's a it's a balancing act. But >> so these numbers that we have for the utilities for for your questions for this type of project >> we we need to tweak tweak them in and kind of see and I think if we kind of know where we're going the following year, >> right? >> We kind of can go out there and evaluate. We go and pop manhole lids. We look at the structures just to kind of get an idea of where where we're at or what we think it might require for it. and and each project that we do. So the 2024 one was the first type the first one of these type of p pavement preservation projects. This will be the second. So each one that we complete we'll be able to using bid prices we'll be able to better estimate you know just on a linear foot basis which will help us do better estimating for the capital improvement plan for these different little categories. Like Ron said, we started with some percentages that were also based on past projects, but now we're just um I think we're just needing to refine them, right? So >> if you took seventh, if you took that ninth with the water thing out of there, the budget probably would have been just fine. >> It would it would be >> So and it's an overlay year. So that's good, but we might have to have a contingency for overlay years and we run into something then we can be able to do that. >> So our again going into this planning, >> sorry to hijack this. >> Andy's coming up now. Oh, you're in trouble. >> I just had one thing to say about the water man up there. And the only reason we're doing this one or looking at it is because there's not many services on this one. Like if this was in a residential area like by your house, there's no way it would be in the project because the cost would be so high. >> It's only three services. I think >> I think it's great to do it, you know, have a contingency so we're not doing it twice. So, it makes sense, right? >> Yeah. It wouldn't necessarily be every one of these projects like this and it certainly wasn't on the radar until we got into the preliminary work. It was something that came that kind of >> what you want to do is combine like utility concerns with pavement concerns so you don't get into a situation where you just spent >> whatever. >> And as a council we we want to be we want to be you know able to accommodate stuff like that because you know we come across we don't want to be this is this we want to be able to bring stuff in and have you have the concern and go you know let's do this now because we don't have to rip it up in a couple years. It makes sense. So we want to be fluid. you know, we want a budget, but we also want a contingency, I think, is >> well, and that's exactly it. So, as I see this and this the cost comparison, we're clearly saving money, but in the future, what's triggering me as we're talking, we're in CIP, we're in the heat of it. Is that somewhere where we need to evaluate the fees? This may not, this is not a conversation obviously as you're presenting this um Morgan, but looking at those numbers makes me think we should probably reevaluate some of those fees. So, we do have um some extra money as needed when those big things happen. Um but obviously, it's obvious that you've come in lower, which is great. Um but thank you for the comparisons, the cost comparisons too with our funds and what has been adopted with the CIP. >> Perfect. So when the residents when you guys are going underneath your these streets looking for the sanitary sewers or scoping as you would call it, should the residents be aware that they may have a problem that they'll be a notified that they might have to have a uh sewer line uh sewer lined stuff like that. Well, we c we can't really see into the residents sewer lines. So, I mean >> that's their responsibility to go out. >> It it is and we when we camera sewers, we we can see most of the problems with sewers are at the connection to our main is where there's a rope. >> Um us giving them a suggestion of, hey, you should have your sewer lined. I mean, we can't really tell what what it is, whether it's clay or whether it's cast iron or, you know, Orangeberg. We we can't tell that from any of the any of the stuff we can do. Um we go back and forth on talking. Do we notify residents that they have a root ball at the end of their sewer line connection to our main? Um you can call it could it could have been that way its whole life and it works just fine. Um, >> you know, it's kind of you don't want to go knock on people's door and say, "Hey, you have a problem at the end of your sewer." You know, so we don't really go and because we really don't have enough information to really tell them what what's up. So, >> excellent. >> All right. >> Looks good, Morgan. >> Appreciate it. >> Okay. We got the whole gang up here. >> Yeah. Okay. You want to >> I would like to make that recommendation to move forward with the planning process with WSB. >> All right. Can I get a motion for that, please? >> Make a motion. >> Council member Weir, >> I'll second. >> Second. Couple me. Council member McKenzie. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Thank you very much. >> Thanks, Morgan. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. >> Thanks, Morgan. All right. So, next up, uh, we have a reports from city manager and departments. So, we had a staff meeting today. Uh the department's been busy with um working with the licensed electrician for the uh EV charging installation and the fee changes that they're uh got approval for tonight. Um they've been doing working on the construction and pole removals and uh they brought in poles that used to be over at um Burwald's place and brought them into our yard. um we were able to condense enough stuff, get rid of some older equipment that happened that we weren't using anymore and um it's just nice to have it back at the shop and they've been wonderful to work with and just absolutely thankful that they allowed us to do that. Um you know, they are so busy and have so much equipment that sometimes it gets harder to get back to those poles. So, this just will work out well. So, it it's nice to have them back at the shop. Um they're continuing to replace uh crossarms and damaged poles. uh around the system which once they finish up those they will go back into inspection mode over the winter time and find any other issues that need addressing come next spring. Um they found an issue at the substation um through their inspections that they do and it's one of the uh there's a readout for the amperages on one of the circuits that's out there that is kind of all over the place. So looking at getting that replaced. We have some uh work coming up uh next month to update some of the equipment that's out there and we're going to be scheduling another contractor to come out and take care of that amp reading. uh community development. Uh they've been busy u getting ready for the RFP working with uh uh Angie from well they're with was that FOS what's the name of that FA that uh they will do they work through Ramsey County and they'll do the free um RFP for the the trash recycles. So working on that so more information to come back with you later on with that. Um, they're also working on the fee schedule update, uh, which will come back to you guys later this year. Um, also reviewing updating, uh, ordinances on parking different pieces of equipment out in the road. Um, communications. Ava's been busy with uh, she's working on training for Open Gov that was previously handled under uh, Kerry. So, we're getting her up to date on training with that software. Um, also planning for the last event that she has planned for this year, which comes up uh December 5th for Holly Jolly night out there at Casey Lake Park. Um, HR has been busy with open enrollments coming up here the end of this month. Um, we got a couple different benefit meetings coming up. Uh, we have had uh the first successful payroll go through with the new paycom system. >> Oh, keep going. Keep going. Oh, >> got something to add on. >> Okay. And uh yeah, and that goes along with finance. Finance is still working out some of the wrinkles that are in there and getting that all up to date. And just hats off to all the work that went out to them. Um you know, it was Jenny and um Melissa and Jackie that were really busy with that, but Dan certainly went above and beyond to make all this happen. So really appreciate them doing such good work with that. Um PD had kind of an update on where their calls have been. They were up about 634 calls uh from this time uh compared to last year at this time. Um they've had a uptick in medical and person in crisis and domestic calls. They're saying they remain high. Um they have two officers that are left in field training and they were going to be finishing that up uh this month. So, it's be nice to everybody, get them up to speed and out on the streets on their own. Uh, public works has been preparing for the clearly the new student built. Um, update on the road projects are going good. Uh, Gerald is now paved over. Um, the only part that is left is the Shaunie going from Mcnite over to Gerald. So, uh, PCU pond work is done. Uh the waterershed did they put a burm out there and what else did they do out there? >> Reconfigured some storm storm sewer pipes. >> Storm sewers. Um and then started doing the irrigation blowouts already for the cold weather coming. Um so they're transitioning over to the fall maintenance and preparing for the winter operations. Fire uh had a good successful Booya this year. Um they had a good turnout for volunteers. They uh about on par for the same revenue that they made last year for this. Um >> well that was hot for them to stand out there at 90 degrees and those things boiling. >> It's always better when it's 45 degrees. >> Yes. >> Sell more. Uh so their fire prevention week is coming up here. So they're getting the poster contest is underway which is always fun. Um, chief will be attending uh the fire chiefs association conference in Duth next week and they're bringing up their new truck up there to show it off up there and uh kind of helps the manufacturer to show it off as well. And then when they bring that back that'll be ready to get into service um and then take the old truck out of service. Um yeah, which is be the new engine is scheduled to be in service as of October 20th. Uh one quick note on the road project. I'd asked Randy and Ron about that you guys might hear about as well is if you're going down Margaret and turning on to Sepa, there's a bit of a drop or a little bump there, whatever you'd like to call it. They have tried numerous times um without success unfortunately to try to get a Sentry Link who has a duct line that runs down that road that is starting to collapse and settle there. So, we're they're still working on that. They're aware of it and looking to get it fixed, but And that's all I got. >> I just wanted to add on. So I was reminded when uh city manager was mentioning um our communications director Ava and some of the work that she's been doing that um just to remind the council and the public. We did get some calls last week I think from the public. So there's an ongoing lead service line uh inventory and identification and outreach effort happening now. There's information uh on the website. It was it's been kind of updated as we were getting some calls. There are going to be WSB representatives working on behalf of the city of North St. Paul. So, as a part of the your your engineering firm, this is all funded by the Department of Health. So, we got a grant from the Department of Health last year to to do more outreach to try to identify uh or eliminate as many unknowns as we possibly can out there trying to find the lead service lines and the galvanized service lines. Most of them realistically are copper. other materials. But again, that's uh in the interest of the state, the federal government. They've poured a lot of resources into trying to identify these things for future eventual replacement. We've also uh applied for grant funds to eventually replace any that are identified. Um and but we haven't heard back. That's maybe something for this fall or winter. But I just wanted folks to know that um there may be representatives that'll be out can canvasing the neighborhood based on the information that we have that there's an unknown, but it could be a lead or a galvanized uh just to ask the question, have you done the self uh survey? Uh if you'd like one of the representatives, if they're granted access to the home, they can do a quick uh you know, check and take a picture and do the inventory for the resident. So, uh, certainly don't want folks to be confused about, um, you know, WSB versus the city of North St. Paul. WSB is working for the city of North St. Paul funded through this grant by the Minnesota Department of Health. So, just wanted to and there is again more information available on the website uh in case anybody has uh any uh questions or concerns, they can certainly check there or reach out to city staff. >> Are they wearing stuff that says WSB? >> They should have uh WSB information, logo, credentials. Tyranny is >> will >> and a vest. So they will look like u kind of public works representatives of the city. Uh and certainly if anybody has any concerns or they don't want to grant access or speak to the individual that's totally fine. This is just a an outreach and inventory effort. Uh it is not intended to be intrusive or anything like that. that we certainly don't want to make anybody in uncomfortable um or have people feel like they, you know, are um in danger. That's not the intent. And our folks know that, you know, if they're getting push back, they'll just they'll leave. And that's totally fine. We can leave it as an unknown in the inventory. This is not a required thing. It's just we're trying to identify as many as we can, you know, within the grant period, which I think wraps up later in October. So, it's not going to go on forever. It's just happening right now. Okay. >> Did you have anything? >> The information is also going out in in the newsletter as well. So, it's it's being well covered and uh >> right now we have their contact information that's on the website which will then be replaced with ours um by the end of the month when um the grant >> fun grant period ends up then the WSB effort will stop and then we'll go to the standard kind of public works effort. If people have questions or they want public works to do an inspection, they can sign up for that. >> Sounds good. Thank you. What percent did self inspection? How did we do on that when people did that? We do okay. >> I don't know. I will find that out and I'll follow up with you. Um I we got I don't know. Do do we know? We don't know percentages, but we >> certainly in the hundreds. >> Okay. >> How many that we've already collected? >> Yeah. >> How many people did it actually online and took the picture? >> I called it in. >> Yeah. I I don't know. >> Okay. I was just curious to see how it went over, you know, people doing it themselves if it was successful or not. down. We do it on Mondays and Fridays right now. We offer Mondays and Fridays. >> Okay. That has been slowing the last month. >> Yeah. I mean, as you would expect, as you go through, you know, as you This is the second year we've been doing it. Um, you're running through the unknowns, so there's fewer of those and you're probably running through the people that are plugged in and engaged enough to either report themselves or to request an inspection. Um, we're not going to get to everybody certainly, but um, >> I thought it was pretty good the website how you did it. You took the picture, you uploaded it. >> Yeah, it was relatively successful. I think as successful as we could hope for, you know, so far. So, >> all right. Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Any more for you? >> I have. >> You're done. You're done. >> Done. Done. >> All right. >> Parks and Wreck met it feels like forever ago. Maybe last week. Um, but we're talking about fee schedules right now. So, um, we have sent our, um, proposals to Brian and those will be brought to council hopefully when we discuss the fee schedules. >> From all departments right now, so that'll all come later on. >> Excellent. >> Yep. >> Good. >> Uh, EDA won't meet until December sometime soon. December, >> second week of December, Tuesday. And then I did sit in on a planning commission for Councilman Norby and it was quite interesting. They were discussing some of the um what were they doing about it was Ken was going through a lot of the stuff that I hadn't heard about yet. So it was interesting to sit through there. It was the uh what was it? I remember I know. But anyways, it was very interesting and I I enjoyed doing that for him. So >> that's the nuts and bolts committee. They like to get down to numbers and different phrases. Elaine was in charge of that for so long >> and she was such a stickler to detail. She was very good. >> She is. >> Who was that? >> Elaine Martin. >> Oh yeah. >> Yeah. She was that was she was excellent at that. She was good. >> Council member Mackenzie, did you want to mention Vet Spark? >> What? Oh, >> the Vets Spark. Um the attendance over there. Oh, okay. I did attend the Vets Park PM MIA and Councilman Norby stood in for our mayor and did the proclamation. Did a great job. And then there was a nice turnout for the memorial for that night. And I also did a honoring a relative of my grandmother's who was a P for three and a half years in Japan survived the Japanese p uh the atomic bomb twice and upon the Japanese surrendering to the US, the US started sending over parachutes of red, white and blue to the prisoners that were still alive and doing okay. These guys start tearing the parachutes apart. They also made the first flag and the the uh prisoners were put into a col a color guard where they also were placing the US flag first ones on Japanese soil in 1945. >> That's really cool history. So yeah, he uh and he became a police officer after that in Oaklair, Wisconsin for 25 years. >> So he was he was very uh very dedicated and lived a long life. >> Yeah, no kidding. Good for him. >> Yeah, thank you. >> Yes, sir. >> Um Arts and Culture met last week and just kind of went through the projects that we have coming up. Uh we've got two more art nights coming up. uh one in October um they're doing a blanket um project and then in November they're doing coasters and then that'll be it for the end of the year. So >> good. I know two of you went to the ribbon cutting today if you want to bring that up. >> Yeah. Uh so Councilman McKenzie, myself and uh city manager Fandle went to the ribbon cutting at the >> boutique. >> The boutique over by uh and I apologize I don't remember the name. Um >> uh but it was awesome. It was very interesting. Um uh and it's right next to the pizza factory. So I encourage everybody to go over there and check it out. Um, lot of really, really cool stuff in there. So, yeah, >> I also did the I signed up and I went down and cleaned at the food shelf that Saturday morning and that was very rewarding for me because I do a lot with Norma on the toy shelf. I had never been in much in the food shelf and it was really rewarding. And we had our mayor here. He was uh on the vacuuming machine. >> Yep. I was a carpet cleaner. >> He was a carpet cleaner. found something I could do. Well, >> next thing Kathy's going to have to do down there is get you something to ride on. >> That's right. A riding cleaner. That'd be good. >> So, and then I also attended the Booya for a little bit and got some stuff to take home. So, >> it's been very busy time for me. So, >> yes, I appreciate everything. Appreciate >> enjoy doing it all. >> Appreciate the council being involved. That's awesome. >> And I guess I will say that the Sorry, I apologize for not knowing it, but the uh boutique is the Spellbound Moon Boutique. >> Spellbound. >> I knew Moon was in there. I couldn't figure out. Did it start with moon or does it end with moon? >> Spellbound moon boutique. >> Oh, good. We'll give that a try. Well, thank you. General business. Does anybody have any general business? >> No, the same. >> All right. If not, then I will ask for adjournment. Our next meeting will be October 21st. We'll see you then. German. >> So moved. >> So moved. Council member Woods. Second. >> Second. Council member McKenzie. All in favor say I. I. >> See you next. Thanks. Thank you.