in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. First thing on the agenda is approval of the regular agenda. Uh there's going to be a change to that. Uh because Josh, city administrator, is not here tonight. Uh the city he's online who who is he want to speak or No, I'm just letting you know. Okay. Well, he's Yeah, he's not physically here. uh he to uh swear me in. So uh on the advice of our city attorney, I was sworn in this afternoon and had that uh notorized. So uh we will take that off the agenda. So um any other questions or issues with the existing agenda with the deletion of my swearing in? I'll move to approve and I'll second. I got a motion by Rick, second by Maggie. Any other comments? All in favor say I. I. Any opposition? Okay. Passes 5-0. Next on the agenda is the consent agenda. Does anyone have any questions or issues with the latest consent agenda? I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda. Second. Okay. I got a motion by Maggie Bass, second by Rick Syler to approve. Any other comments? If not, all in favor say I. I. Any opposition? Okay. Passes 5-0. Next is the public is invited to be heard on matters not on the agenda. I just want to uh reiterate that um this is where the public can uh speak to the council but the council will not interact with you or give you any answers or anything but we will take note of the person who is making the comments with their address and uh follow up uh if there's anything that needs to be done. So I have a list here. Um number one on the list is Dennis Tits. Dennis, please come forward. Thanks, Mayor. Congratulations on your swearing in. Dennis Tates, Lee Se County Commissioner. Just to update you guys, tomorrow we have our meeting at 3:30. We usually have our meetings every Tuesday at 9:00, but we have our appeal and equalization at 6:30. That's why we're having it at 3:30. Um last not this la the first Tuesday of the month uh we as a group decided to dissolve the STS which is sentence to serve. That funding was all uh a lot of the funding was taken by the state and the state uh decided not to give us any funding through their uh budgeting. So we decided to uh dissolve that. Can you please explain what that means? What STS? Yeah. So sentence to serve is for individuals that might go to court and instead of getting prison time, the judge might order them to do some or to shorten their uh sentence to uh to go work like I know they use them a lot at the fairgrounds, community service type. Sure. Okay. So, uh, yeah, something that we, uh, looked closely at, but decided that this would all be funded by, uh, taxpayer levy money and, uh, just didn't think that was appropriate. And we did hear from con constituents that, uh, they, uh, were not in favor as well, at least on in my district. Uh, the legislature did pass the rifle season. Um, I know I talked that we as a group uh stated that we were not in favor of the rifle season that we're going to continue with the shotgun zone, but I believe we have to have a public hearing on that. So, that will be soon coming uh down the pipeline. Other than that, I got nothing. Thank you. Thank you all for your service. Thank you. Next on the list, I got Jeff Stalker. place at the end. Oh, okay. Next, Gary Whitus, please. Good evening, Gary Whitus, 1406 9th Street Southeast here in New Prague. First of all, congratulations, mayor. Thank you. Nice to see you back here. Uh, couple things I just want to talk to the council about. On, uh, during the May 19th meeting, uh, Councilman Ryan received a text message during the meeting, about 30 minutes into the meeting, picked up his phone, observed it, and responded to it. I contacted the state attorney general's office and the department of administration about that. And uh, because my belief was it's a violation of the open meeting law that should have been disclosed to everyone in here. However, the state said that it's not because it isn't specifically addressed because the law was written prior to cell phones. However, what they did state was that the city council should and in most cases have throughout the state passed a resolution amongst themselves not to have cell phones during a council meeting. Uh, and he said, "Usually the city attorneys will write up a little recommendation." So, that's something you may want to look into because it looks pretty bad, especially when you're being coached by someone who isn't in the meeting yet. If I want to talk, I have to come up and give my name and address. Right. Okay. Okay. So, just wanted to mention that. Uh, secondly, going back to the police station issue, I looked at uh what the cost would be for my home here in New Prague, and over the period of the years, it would amount to basically less than what my cable TV bill is. That really puts it the priorities in front of me. What's more important, a new police station in the city of New Prague or my cable TV bill? As for me, I'll take both. And I do live on a fixed income. I've been retired for five years, but and I'm I know I'm not the only one, but there's choices to be made, but I think we can well afford it. And thank you for your time. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Gary. I'd like to respond real briefly. Uh there was a data request. I made a screenshot of the text. It was very there was nothing non-nefarious about it. Um essentially it said uh that uh they were going to there was a group that was going to put together a petition. Um and he was just telling me that uh in fact I'm not sure uh but he is here in the room tonight. Maybe he can answer if you were were you at that meeting, Adam, or were you watching it at home? So, so I fully complied. I didn't have to. Scott Riggs, our city attorney, called and said, "You do not have to reply or you do not have to respond to that." But I said, "I'm not trying to hide anything." Um, it was a first time mistake uh in the 15 years that I've sat on this board that I responded to a quick little text about uh uh about a subject that we were talking about. Had I known, I could have I would have announced it there and showed it to anybody who wanted to look at it. So, I did comply completely even though I didn't have to. So, I want to be very upfront about that. So, uh we know in the future. We know in the future and I'd be I'll make a motion right now that we turn off cell phones during the uh meeting if you would like during the miscellaneous. I'll do it. Yeah. Well, I have no problem doing it. We don't have to address that at this meeting, but it's something that we should probably um check with uh our city attorney and just get the proper language so that uh we don't run into an issue in the future. So, but I appreciate your comment, Sean. Anyone else would like to come and speak before the council? Okay. Anyone else who would like to come and speak before the council? Would anyone else like to come in before the council to speak? If not, I guess we're done with that uh matter on the agenda. And next, item six, we do not have any public hearing scheduled for this meeting. So, we'll go to item number seven, city engineer report. Um I know we got in our packet uh an update. Uh Matt, do you want to elaborate on anything or regarding that? Yeah, just a few items because I've got I received a few phone calls over the last few weeks. Um, one, the 2023 project uh is still not closed out. That would uh would be Sunrise Sunset, but the main concern is the walking path that's behind Holiday Gas Station uh Greenway uh Park. Uh there are still some warranty items on the walking trail that still need to be fixed. So, the contractor is still aware of that and it is the contractor that we have in this year's project. So, he's going to do it at the same time as um some of the paving that he's doing on this project. Uh the other one is uh the 2024 CIP project. Uh we've had some major issues with um establishing turf. Um I have a meeting with a contractor uh and the city engineer on Friday to try to figure out uh to resolve the issue. Um but that is a common phone call I've received and I I'm totally on the side of the residents that this should not be this big of an issue and it has been. So hopefully we'll get that resolved. Um, other than that, if there's any questions about uh the memo, I can answer that. Okay. Does anyone on the council have any questions on the memo we received regarding the engineering updates? Okay. If there's no questions, we can go on the next item, which is uh we do not have any item number eight, we do not have any ordinances for introduction tonight. So, that is taken care of. Number nine, we do not have any ordinances for adoption. So, we're on item 10. Um, and uh that would be resolutions A, which is 25-06-16-2, interim use permit for the spa salon. Uh, Ken, I assume you're going to take that. Yeah. And I do have a short PowerPoint. Mitch, if you could put that up on the screen. All right. So, um the next two items on the agenda are from the uh May 28th planning commissioner meeting. And the first one tonight is the interuse permit I1 2025 to allow a spa and wellness center in uh the I1 light industrial district at 100 Second Avenue Southwest, which is a former mill property and the applicant is Emily Bona. Give you a little background again. We've talked about the mill a number of times in the past couple of years, but uh the mill shut down back in 2019. Um the current owners, New Craig Mill LLC, has been trying to find a variety of tenants for the building. Uh we are currently going through a u zoning and subdivision ordinance update and we have not established the final zoning for that property which in the comprehensive plan was uh indicated to be um downtown flex uh which should be more similar to downtown but also have a little bit of a flare of the industrial district in it as well. Um so far we've approved intermuse permits for uh number of uses in addition to um a can is permit for 2fc tactical uh faith music had an intermuse permit and then a dog groomer um all in the past uh roughly year and a half time period. There's also some warehousing in the building which is just a permitted use. Um again the uh dog grooming business um was allowed uh and uh we had another variance for some parking lot issues. So what the applicants looking to do here tonight would be um have an aesthetician business which is kind of like a s a spa wellness type building or use within the building at 473 square feet. It's within an existing office space portion of the building on the um uh east side of the building right off the parking lot and we'll show you uh in a minute where that is exactly in the building. Planning commission reviewed held a public hearing at the May 28th planning commission meeting did recommend approval on a 4 to zero vote. Uh on the overhead you can just see the current zoning, the purple pink color is the industrial zoning and then the um lighter uh pink peach colors the downtown uh B1 district. So again it is transitioning to a new zoning and that is not yet established is why we're reviewing the intermuse permit at this time. Uh the other map indicates in red the corner of the building uh right off the parking lot where the ramp uh for ADA accessibility is located um and near the striped parking lot. Uh just another zoomed in example of the little corner of the building that they're going to be locating in in relation to the other interuses that have been approved previously being Faith Recovery Music and Fancy Bones Pet Salon. And then just a photo of the front door and the paved and striped parking lot there for reference. Just a couple other photos of the front of the building there. Uh interior of the building. I believe they're working on some interior remodeling at this point. New flooring um etc. So not a big area of that uh previous office use, but that is the area they will be operating out of. Just a couple more pictures there. Obviously the windows look over and out into the parking lot to the east. So staff of the planning commission recommend approval of the interim use permit with the findings and conditions listed in the resolution which is by and large very standard uh for that use as an existing use. So uh basically just contingent upon uh obtaining a building permit and uh occupancy permit for that area. So with that I'll leave uh this slide up with the uh floor plan and picture of the parking lot if you have any questions or comments on that. Was there any comments uh from the public hearing? Uh just from the applicant noted that um she's looking forward to get the business going and working with her mother um and a business here in New. Okay. Any other questions for Ken regarding this uh variance? No. I'll move um resolution 2561602 interim use permit for the spelon. Okay. I will second that. So, I have a motion by Rick Syler, uh, second by Chuck Nikolai. Um, any other questions or comments regarding this variance? Just a quick one, Ken. How does the parking work when you rent out individual tenant spaces? How do you how does the requirement work as we go forward? So, we were verifying every use as they go under to make sure that collectively they meet enough parking. So, we had a required number for the uh mill or uh sorry, the gun range location and then the other two businesses and they still have an excess of 10 plus parking spaces at this point out there. Thank you. Okay, any other questions, comments? Okay, we have a motion on the floor. All in favor say I. I. Any opposition? Okay, passes 5-0. Can I assume you're taking the next one? I will. So, next request is a variance request from uh MVE Biological Solutions at um the uh building on the corner of 7th and 1st Avenue Northwest over by Chart and they are looking to allow a commercial driveway to be widened uh by 15 feet on the north side of that driveway. Then additionally to allow a directional signage to be located less than 10 ft from the property line. Give you a little background. Um Chart Industries sold the uh business division off to MV Bio Solutions back in October 2020. Um a new home was recently built uh directly across the street from their loading dock driveway um in 2023. And even before the home was built, there had been issues with uh vehicles accessing the uh curb cut uh or the block through that curb cut uh was fairly narrow and they had a security fence that had been uh on that side of the property. And what it caused was when trucks would try to back up into the loading dock area, they would kind of drive up over the curb on the east side of First Avenue. And at the time it was a vacant lot. uh the owner of the vacant lot did not appreciate um their yard being rudded up and kind of tore up and then that was only exacerbated by the new home that was built uh across street in 2020. So, um, in 2024, kind of on a trial basis, um, staff worked with MVE, um, to suggest that they remove their swing gate and ultimately they added some additional crush stone that provided a little additional room on that north side of that curb cut for uh, the large semi-truck and trailer combinations to make that um, turn and back up into the loading dock. And it proved to be successful, although not 100% successful. And that is the reason they're applying for two variances here tonight, which should um provide a good solution and uh significantly reduce any of the issues with trucks driving over the driveway. So, number one, again, um normally would not allow a driveway within 200 feet of the intersection of uh 7th Street Northwest and First Avenue, but the existing driveway is already less than 200 feet. And they're simply trying to widen it to make it more compliant for drivers to actually uh maneuver into the um site without driving on the curb across the road. And then the second variance would be allow direct directional signage less than 10 ft uh from the property line of their property along 1 Avenue. And what that will provide is uh instructions on um vehicle delivery vehicles on how to properly back up or to begin to back up and how to maneuver into the loading dock. And that signage would be the same setback as other directional signage that they were issued a variance for a few years back. So nothing new, just an additional sign to provide additional clarity there. Uh ultimately the planning commission did approve uh that request uh their meeting on May 28th and variances don't require a public hearing, but we did take public comment from uh Jason Madson uh of MVE Biological Solutions that indicated uh they had been in contact with the property owner across the street and are hopeful that this will be approved so that they can u find a better solution to uh the issues that they've been having up there. Um again you've got a divide between their building in that purple color being I1 light industrial and then directly across street you have the single family residential zoning. So uh narrow roadway u with 1 Avenue Northwest kind of a pre-existing condition. So trying to mitigate that with the variance and widening that driveway up. Um you can see in this particular note just pointing out it's a driveway directly north of uh 7th Street right by their loading dock and they're going to have that sign um be right up on the rightway line um for direction um and I'll pop that up in a second here instructing them to put start a wide 90 degree backend turn stay off the east lawn and um they have pretty good um control over their own uh deliveries but the issue where they run into is if there's like a a driver that's not familiar with the site, they might be doing a one-off pickup or delivery. That's where the sign is more important for them to read that and know where to begin their backup and appropriately back into the dock. So, um again, just providing a wider area to back in and avoid driving over the curb. Um couple of photos here from the site. Um you can see the temporary measure they took to add some crushed rock on that picture on the left there. They had already removed um 15 foot section of the gate. Uh they're actually going to remove a little bit more fencing to um permanently widen that out. And then you can see in that picture on the right of this slide, they had a retaining wall and uh the fencing panel that had been there but has been since removed. Um as well as what's existing today. So again, they're just going to make that more permanent if uh the council approves tonight. You can actually see in that uh lefth hand photo some of the ruts. They're a little hard to see in a small photo, but you can see some of the uh tire tracks into the lawn. And so this will uh hopefully take care of the majority of the issues over there. So ultimately staff does recommend along with the planning commission approval of the variance with the findings contained in the resolution that's in front of you tonight. Did you get any comments from the homeowner homeowner? Um, offline from the meeting, yes. That they were hopeful that it would get approved and they hoped that that would take care of the majority of the issues, but they did not come to the meeting that night. Okay. But they're in favor. They're supportive. They're supportive. Okay. Any other questions to regarding this? No questions, but a comment. um a constituent who is or was I should say a semi-d driver. Um I I posed the question to that individual and they said they could see where it would be difficult under current circumstances to not go onto that yard or that lawn. So um they were certainly in in favor of the proposed changes. So that new building is a new home, residential home. Is a residential home. Correct. Okay. Any other questions? Make a motion to move approval of 25-06-16-3 variance for driveways sign. Okay, I'll second. I got a motion. I got a second. Uh, Mr. Stalker, you did put on there. Is there some comments you want to make? I just thought I had to sign in. I'm sorry. Okay. Okay. So, uh I have a motion by Bruce Wolf, second by Sean Ryan. Any other questions or comments uh from the council? If not, all in favor say I. I. Any opposition? Okay. Passes 5-0. Moving right along. Um general business. Uh who's going to take that? Robin, I will. Thank you. Thank you. Uh so as the memo in the packet outlines, back in April, uh we submitted an RFP seeking interested parties for a compens compensation study, uh with the hopes that it could be completed as part of our 2025 budget process. Um so we were really pleased. We had a total of 11 proposals submitted to us. Um so council member Ryan had expressed interest in being on a review committee with myself and um city administrator Josh Tetsoff. So the three of us independently reviewed those 11 RFPs and ultimately chose four to interview on Friday the 6th. So we interviewed a company called Autosolve, Gallagher, PO paypoint and McGrath. Um so ultimately the three of us uh determined to propose to council tonight to move forward with Autosolve. Um they're out of St. Augustine, Florida and would do the work um virtually as many of the firms would. Um one of the criteria was price point and Autosol was certainly within our budget and comparable among the other firms as well. um they have quite a um portfolio of experience. So they've worked with a thousand different clients over 30 years. So their RFP included um written letters of recommendations as well from clients. So the memo included a proposed timeline that was in their RFP with an anticipated completion date at the beginning of October. Um, so with that, I'll um see if you have any questions or if Council Member Ryan wanted to add anything that I may have missed about the process. Um, no, I I appreciate um all of the four people that we met with. Um, their time. Um, they were all good. Um, we just the three of us thought Auto Solve really kind of knocked it out of the park and it was an easy decision. So, but um no, it was uh it was interesting to be in that interview process. So, thank you. Okay. Any questions from any other members of the council? Just just a comment so that the public is aware that um we budgeted $40,000 for this particular compensation study and the quote that came in from Autosolve was 27,300 and change. Um so it did come well under budget. Um so I just wanted to note that that it was a very positive yes quote and with that um that budget would be spread across our enterprise funds as well. So not just the general fund. Robin I'm just looking at the timeline. Is there engagement with the council in this timeline or Yeah. So the um timeline that was submitted as part of the RFP, a proposed timeline was much lengthier than this snapshot per se. Um and actually if approved by council tonight, we would have a kickoff call tomorrow um to kind of go through things and certainly set the expectation of when meetings would occur. Um I think in other meetings with council we did talk about there's going to be like a data collection period you know that council would not necessarily have responses to those maybe some of them um but so we'd outline what data collection looks like meeting with council um meeting with other employees. So that to be determined and they were really good about allowing two council people so we didn't have a quorum that they would hold multiple meetings. If two of us wanted to go in talk about it in the morning they'd meet with us the other two at in the afternoon just so we don't have to um officially go through the the whole notice process. Yeah. The notice and everything else if questions were to arise. I can't recall the RFP on it, but I'm sure it detailed some of the actual um things that were going to occur. I just assume that the council would be involved in the front end of it trying to kind of go through what the expectations that we would have of it. But and I think once once it's approved and they have an actual, you know, start date, then they can start developing that timeline and propose it to council and move things around as needed based on um your desires and what you want to be involved in. So, thank you. Did you see the RFP, Bruce? Well, I'm sure we did, but you know, that's Well, I don't know if everybody did because it was a stack like this. We didn't provide to council all of the 11 RFPs. um on our I'll call it subcommittee is where we had the three of us review the 11. Um okay. So, but we can certainly share the Yeah, I can give them my copy. You're talking about the responses to the RFP, not the RFP itself. Oh, I respect the RFP itself, which we can share with you if you want. Yeah, you can just put on the share drive if you care to. Sure. Um I just recall and we've talked about this before. The last time we did it, it was kind of like at least I had the feel and being new, not really knowing how it was going to work and the questions I could have asked in the front end because the outcome was just different than I expected maybe or something. Um, just so we have a clear understanding of, you know, what we're wanting to get out of it. So maybe that doesn't have to be done as part of this. I certainly want don't want to incur any more cost to it. But we did express that concern. Um and that's where I think I'll let council member Ryan just validate that that was something we asked to be included and with all the firms when we were in the interview process. Um just really making sure they knew that that was important to the council and that you know this is something council wants to be involved in. Yeah. I guess one of the issues I I seem to remember is just as we review peer data, how are we choosing the peer data? Who's the peer? Are we just using other municipalities? Are we using other job markets that could fit? And just understanding how that all works and how we're selecting the peer group. I'm assuming we're doing a peer study, correct? So, that'll be part of it. Well, I did talk to Josh when him and I had lunch uh weekend a little over a week ago about that and he said that this group would look at also market uh peers, you know, for the city of New Prague, not just municipalities of the same size and that that they would also look at uh the market place in New Prague on how those jobs would be uh also so the private sector and the public sector. Yes. I guess that was that's kind of what I was trying to get at is Yes. And Josh and I did talk about that. So, and I can take guidance if um council approves this this evening and we move forward with autosolve. Um like I said, I was going to have a brief meeting tomorrow and could include any of you. Um, or I can ask them to follow up with you individually or in another method just to understand expectations and maybe get a group consensus on what that looks like. So, I got the feeling that if Bruce wanted to reach out to him just specifically himself that they would talk to you. I mean, that was one of the big bonus points. So, I mean, if you had any questions, he could without in more incurred costs. Correct. It was kind of all part of the package. Okay. So, they're very reasonable um considering this a all-in quote. Um we even spoke to some things about um looking at our part-time or seasonal pay that we didn't necessarily call out in the RFP and they were certainly willing to include that um and do some work on comparable wages for that as well. So, they're definitely open to um not a set number of meetings or a set number of people that they're talking to. Okay. Okay, any other questions? Okay, I guess I will make a motion to approve the uh contract with Autosolve uh for this compensation study. I'll second. Got a second by Sean Ryan. Any other questions or comments from the council? If not, all in favor say I. I. Any opposition? Okay, passes 5-0. Thank you, Robin. miscellaneous udc project timeline. Do we Yeah, I just included that for information from Bolton Make. Um they're just doing a legal review. Um we're going to bring that to the planning commission in July and then like we'll have a update with the council. I'm not sure if we'll do a joint workshop at that point or uh maybe shortly thereafter. But uh I just wanted to give you an update that we're working through it. It's a about 240 pages at this point. Um, which is combining the subdivision ordinance and zoning ordinance together and adding a bunch of graphics to it. Is this what would make that uh zone where the This is what would establish zoning for what we call business flex in the comprehensive plan as well. Correct. Awesome. Yep. Okay. Next miscellaneous uh or meeting minutes. uh in the packet was the park board minutes. I don't know if anyone had any questions or comments on that on B was and then the two was the EDA meeting minutes. Did anyone had any questions on that? If not, the only thing I would like to add is um for my edification is that I am going to s serve on the EDA replacing Dwayne Jurich um as the council representative on the ADA and I'm also going to take uh Sean Ryan's spot on the golf board um effective immediately. So, I just want to let you know that uh those are uh the two boards commissions that I'm going to serve. So, um any anything else? Um no. Um Dwayne was also on aquatics. You interested in coming to that? Is that the joint powers? Yep. Josh told me that Dwayne still wanted to serve on that. That's at large. So, so can you hear me? Yep. This is Josh. Yes. So the three appointed city joint powers Go ahead. Funny funny Chuck. Funny. Um the the the three members from the city who are on the joint powers board don't serve there because they were council members. They just serve there as city appointees. And so Dwayne did uh say he still wanted to serve on that board. Cool. Okay. And then weren't you on the um golf board already? No, I was well. No, I'm serving on the utilities and as a as an atlarge citizen and I still still can serve as that also. And the golf board I never really asked for it. It was just open that I said I would do it. So, and Chuck likes it. I do the budget for the golf board. So, I'm I'm well in tune what's going on there. So, okay. I might have a correction that I'd like to address. I apologize. Okay, Dennis, you're more than welcome. So, regarding uh Council Bass, so sentenced to serve is people that are incarcerated. So, they would take them out of the jail. They'd be watched by probably two officers while they do their duties. Community service will still be an option for a judge. So, a judge might say, "Instead of jail time, I'm giving you community service." That will stay in place. But sentence to serve is for individuals that are currently incarcerated. So I apologize for all that. Okay. Thank you for the clar clarification. Appreciate it. All right. Next thing I don't have anything else on the agenda. If anyone else has anything. What we're going to go around the table for miscellaneous, right? Yeah. If anyone has Yep. I'm done. Bruce. Yep. Maggie, I have nothing this evening. John? Yeah, I have quite a few things actually. So, whoa, whoa, whoa. I know it's hard to believe that Remy liked to get out of here and almost would have broken. Would have been it would have been erected, too. Uh, no. I want to acknowledge that um there was over 500 signatures uh in in regards to uh of voters that um had signed a petition looking to stop or reduce the the cost of the police station. um they received those 500 more than 500 v votes within days of the last meeting once they got organized. So I guess I know that they've been turned into Josh. I thought Scott Riggs was going to be here. I don't know, Ken, if you've been up to speed on this or if Josh is is still on um via Texas, but um if he uh I guess I want to know what the next steps I want to start with that question first, what the next steps are. uh now that they have well I I plenty of I don't think that we're going to address that tonight. Uh I think I want to discuss it during the miscellaneous. I want to get you for two weeks. Um unless you Scott's not here and I told him he didn't have to be here. Um and I was told that he was going to be here. Well, yep. Yep. So Sean, I I can take that real quick. So, right now we are working through just the verification process of that um submitted petition with the attorney's office. Um the there uh I can't remember the exact number of days off the top of my head right now, but there is a um a turnaround on that that's required. That way uh obviously a verification is known one way or the other at some point. And so I'm working through that. I know at this point uh it's in the process. I know uh Ken Formy uh today it sounds like uh reached out to both counties to get the voter list so that we can start verifying signatures. Um and yeah, we're working through the verification process right now. Josh, if I can interject, uh the date that we have to have the uh vetting process completed is uh as soon as practical, but not later than June 27th, 2025. So that's when we'll have to have uh the review of the signatures and all the names on the petition by June 27th. Yep. Uh, of course, we won't have another meeting until July, correct? Which is more than 3 weeks away. So, here's my next concern, and then there's a few others after that. They're obviously doing work there. Um, I think a quarter of the voters, uh, with very little effort on behalf of just a few individuals, um, had had no problem getting the sentiment of the taxpayer. So, I don't know why we're continuing to work if there's potential for this referendum, this this the pretent the the potential to uh put it uh that the referendum gets voted down. Um and then essentially what you'd be doing is just backing us in. Um, so I guess I want to ask the question of the other council where they sit. Um, because it's my belief that we should stop work until this is verified and then um because it's quite obvious the city is against it. You said a quarter of the voters, but it was there was 2,000 some votes and there was over 500. So it was very close to a quarter if it was not a quarter and that was and matter of fact some of the petitioners are here tonight if you guys want to I I'd like to hear from you if you could tell me the exact the public the public Sean Sean it is worth it is worth noting and Ken can correct me. I believe we have over 5,000 registered voters in New Correct. Correct. But it was all the number that voted in the last election and that's why we arose to the 5% which was 240 votes needed and they doubled that essentially. I thought it was households number that voted in the last election. Okay. And there was 2,000. Yes. There's like 4700 somewhere around that. Don't quote me on that. Mhm. And we needed what? 244 to get 5%. 5%. So, um, and we got double that with very little effort. So, I think it's quite obvious that, um, my belief is is that you're going to continue to work, the bill is going to be so high, it's going to be voted down, and you guys are going to be handcuffed and have to own it. Um, when it's quite obvious that the city doesn't want to do that. My next comment was what and Ken can maybe you can explain this. Did they just uncover tanks that were buried there that were either gasoline tanks or something that there was some additional work that was unexpected? I I can speak to that again. Um, yes. So, uh, during demo work, they found a, uh, underground tank in that tin shed there in the southwest corner, um, full of, uh, I believe petroleum. And so, um, we're kind of working through the process of what that look like to, uh, properly remediate that. And do we have a any type of figure that uh the construction company has thrown out with us? That's uh not as of yet. I spoke to I spoke to John McNamera with Wald and they were working through that process. But it was an an unexpected what I'm going to assume large bill that's going to add to that police station already. It's large. It it it was unexpected. I Yeah. I I can't comment on the what the bill would be at this point. Okay, Josh, was that petroleum fully contained? Uh I think that is what they're kind of working through at this point. Um whether it could basically be a remove it um and take the tank out or uh if it could potentially be something bigger. So if it's a Yeah, if it's brownfield then um we can engage the state. Correct. Yeah, I would. Yeah, if there's some brownfield remediation, I would assume that we would work through the whole process with the state to make sure it's done properly and if there's any other resources we could um access at that point. Okay. Um I'd also heard from a cont constituent, excuse me, that um that apparently uh contracts like this cities have changed them. they have um cancelled them and very rarely uh has it ever led to any major lawsuit for um for loss of work. Uh because the last thing the comment that was made to me because the last thing these companies do that are bidding large public works projects is to have a reputation of possibly suing the city. Uh it doesn't look good for business. Um, and what's the background of this cont this constituent? Um, what legal background do they have? They would be in finance. So, it isn't legal, but I'm just saying, Maggie, you could be very right, but I know you. I think that's a fair question. I'm glad you're somebody's finally asking questions other than me. So, with that statement, I would like to know um there is a chance that that's very that the statement is true. We don't know that yet until we find that out. And if you don't believe that, we should stop digging the money pit right now. Um that's a a huge mistake because like I said, the referendum is going to go down. I know there's other avenues that um the EDA can issue these bonds. Uh but I really worry that the EDA, it's not a guarantee that that would even pass. And these are business owners. It's not fair that we're putting it on them. Um that they theoretically could have backlash from the people that to their personal businesses that don't um from the people that don't want to spend $11 million. It's not $11 million. It's 7.8. That's not the number I saw. What was it? 104. The proposal came in at 7.8. The bonding is 10.4. Yeah. Right. So the whole bill is 10.4 right now without knowing what this tank these tanks that were unknown. There's a contingency built into the 7.8, right? And have you ever known a street project where we have not had overruns or change? There's always change orders. I get it. Okay. So you're entitled to your opinion, Maggie. I appreciate the stating facts. Yeah. So, and I so am I with the facts that this referendum will pass and that it was no problem to get more than double the votes needed to push it to a the taxpayers's vote. I guess I'm the lucky one cuz I'm coming in kind of cold and out left field, but um you know me, I'm a numbers guy and you know, everyone's comparing this to the fire station and the fire station was built for $5.2 2 million in 2008. In today's dollars, that would be 10,900,000. So when people are saying that the fire station is a Taj Mahal, well then they should have said the fire station or the police station is a Taj Mahal, then the fire station is a Taj Mahal. I think we all look at the fire station as a beautiful building, a great asset to our community. And um I believe the same thing would be with this facility and then tie it all in and we would probably have one of the better first responder facilities in the state. That that's just my opinion coming from the outside knowing the numbers because you know I hear this too that the fire station was only 5.5 million and stuff. Well I talk to the guys who chew my ear at the golf course and I tell them what is that in today's dollars? So, um, that was 17 years ago, right? And it is a great facility. It's it's served the the city really well and it's still serving the city well and it's it was built to expand to grow with the city. And that's just my take on it coming from the outside. Right. And I'll but you also know how the facility that was um where the the fire department was was at a breaking point and did need something to be done. Right. And so was the police station is but the city council at that time could have said well put up a tin shed on a land and put the buildings in but they decided not to. And you know, so it you know, the the council made that decision back then at understand, you know, with the probably the same discourse that um we're hearing now is that it's going to affect my taxes and everything. We got past it. It is a beautiful facility. It's still a beautiful city. It's going to serve our city for another 20ome years. And I think that's again that's my take just on the numbers. And I think as people are aware of the numbers and I thought the uh police department or whoever did the website uh with the numbers uh showing the layout of the facility how it affect each homeowner um and some historical value with the u fire station comparison. I think I think that was very informative. Uh I think uh as we we look at this I think as more people would understand that and understand the dollars um I I I think they probably would you know we've all agreed that we need a new police station but we're not going to get a police station for $5 million in this day and age unless you just put up a tin shed. And that's what everyone's thinking that well why don't you just spend the same amount you did on the the fire station. Well, in theory, we are. So, that's that's all I'm saying coming from a financial aspect. Yeah. I I'm just And where I disagree with you is that that fire station was there was no room for any equipment whatsoever. And you could barely close the garage door. That's not the situation with the police department. As a police department grows, we all know we will need one eventually. We have the plans that are in place that if we want to, but I think it is overkill and it's built for personally that it's built for double the officers that it is. Uh, one day that'll be great, but that could be 50 years from then and we're going to have to redo other things at that point. And if we always think that that the time is right, um why aren't we building a, you know, a new chamber council and a new city hall? Because that's only going to get more expensive, too. But this works. Well, this is the first responder. How would you like your wife to have to share a locker room with men, you know, or the the one bathroom that's in the police station? Or having to clean your safety your your service weapon in an area that's not safe or not being able to process evidence because there's not enough room, not being able to park vehicles inside when they're not in use. I mean, there's so many inadequacies with that police station. It's not even up to code. I mean it it's it's ridiculous. It's attached to this building and this isn't up to code. Well, of course not, you know, and what does that mean? So, we sacrifice the police station because we want something better. No. Well, and the thing is is that there's one bathroom in there. There's bathrooms in here. Oh, lovely. Lovely. Nobody There's multiple bathrooms in this that are used by both men and women. Yeah. So, and and you disagree, Maggie. That's fine. I'm just saying disagreement. It's an observation that the police station is inadequate for today's use. Period. Parliamentary inquiry doesn't. Okay. This isn't on the agenda, right? We're in miscellaneous. Miscellaneous does not take up a whole. You have to have three council members to take up a piece on the agenda. Then you can call for an adjournment then. And if you get a second, you vote me out. That's fine. I want the voters to see that because I have every right as an elected official to speak on this. What are you What are you asking? Nothing. I made my statement and then there was some rebuttal. Okay. But so you're not asking anything of the council. I am asking the council to tamp the brakes on what's being built right now. Uh because of the fact that I believe that this referendum is going to go down. Okay. Okay. People of the city, the residents of the the voters in this city will not want approve that the police station. But just point of clarification, the petition isn't, you said it's looking to stop the police station. The petition isn't isn't that. It's just to put it to a vote. It's it's a vote for that particular bond issue. For the bond issue. Yes. So, you're making statements and I'm not sure if you mean them that way, but they're not they're not statements. If they present a petition saying, "Hey, we don't like the cost. Would you sign this?" That's inaccurate. I don't I'm not saying they did, but that's what you said. And they're saying, "We're going to stop the police station." If they said that, that's not accurate either. That is not accurate. Something you said. So, I just want to be clear what you're what you're saying is Yes. I I don't I'm not No, I the people that signed it, but I can't look into their motivation and say what they were told and why they signed it. I I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt. They signed it because they wanted to sign it. Well, I'd like to hear from the person that ran. No, it's not on the agenda. This is not a point of order. We let we let Dennis speak after the after after the fact after the He was clarifying something. Well, I'm clarifying something here too, Mr. I'll leave my comments just to answer the question. No, it's it's not on the agenda. It'll probably be on the agenda next meeting because by that time we should have the situation of the signatures verified and we'll have our attorney here and we'll know how the steps we have to proceed. So Josh, why wasn't Scott here tonight? [Applause] I thought he Scott informed me he had a family issue that came up. Oh, okay. Because I I was told he was going to be here tonight, right? So, okay. So, then I I'll ask the question or I'll make a motion. You guys can vote it down. Um that because there's a very good chance that this will be put to a referendum and it will be voted down. the public the sentiment in the public is that they were not fully notified or many of them didn't feel like there was any real chance to discuss it until the very end. um that we at least stop the construction until we get a definitive answer on the petition and the next steps. So we're not putting ourselves and hamstringing ourselves into a situation of where we're already a million dollars into it and we can't stop it now cuz that's I'll still be a no vote but that's what you know you guys own it then. But that's my motion. Okay. No second. Perfect. Okay. That's all I need. Thank you. Okay. Um, any other business? Okay. If not, I guess I'll make a motion to adjurnn. Second. Second by Rick. All in favor say I. I. I. Thank you everyone for coming. I don't feel comfortable going.