and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Entertain a motion to approve the regular agenda. So moved. I'll second. Motion been made and second. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. None. Motion passed. Consent agenda. Is there any questions? If not, I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. So moved. I'll second. Motion's been made and second. Any other questions? All those in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Motion pass. The public is now invited to be heard on matters not on the agenda limited five minutes. Is there anyone that wants to speak? Please say your name and address. Thank you. I'm Amy recognized. We need a name and address stated. Uh I will. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. My name is Brian Pollson, uh 2064 Street Southwest. Um speaking here tonight because I have some concerns about the statutory issues with the uh sale of the bonds and the uh the SIP. Um so in your uh packet I handed out there uh just the first thing we don't have to go over, but it's the statutory requirement. Um so the highlighted portion uh the B is for the bonds and then the second page you'll see for the capital improvement plan. and they both have a requirement for a public hearing. Um, and tonight uh later on you'll see in the packet um one of the items that says that uh pursuant to the resolution adopted by the city council on March 17th, 2025 following a duly no noticed public hearing. There was not a hearing. Um so then this packet I just referenced you have for tonight. I didn't put it in the packet I provided. Um so then uh the next page on there you'll see the public notice uh from the newspaper. Uh, so I have here February 27th. There's public notices. I highlighted it. It's included in your packet. So that was for both uh the bonds and the SIP, which I think they should have been separate, but regardless. Um, so that was the public notice. Uh, the next page you'll see the meeting agenda. from the March 17th meeting and after the notice you have 14 to 28 days to uh have the public hearing. The only meeting that the city held during that period was the March 17th meeting which is also noted in the uh public notice. Um you'll see that they did have an item on there for the uh capital improvement plan. Um and they had nothing listed under public hearings. Next page you'll see the meeting minutes from that meeting and there is the number seven police station capital improvement plan uh with the two resolutions that were approved. Uh nowhere in there does it say that there's a public hearing and if you would like to trust me I did watch the video again there was no public hearing during that portion. Um and then also during the minutes public uh hearings six o'clock uh none were listed. Um so then the next item on there I have the resolution which uh in 1.02 references uh before the approved uh approval of the plan and issuance of any general obligation bonds under the act the city is required to hold a public hearing on the plan and issuance of bonds. And in 105 uh it says on this date would be the date of the meeting. The council held a public hearing on the plan and issuance of bonds. Uh so on and so forth um which that was never held. Um and also in the packet from uh Ellers's um you know building communities is what we do. I know what they're doing is is their bread and butter. And in here it even says council must hold a public hearing regarding the issuance of sit bonds to obtain public comment on the matter. And in my opinion they were sold under false pretense. So I'm not sure what you guys want to do with this information but I'm just here and it's something I noticed. I think it's a serious violation for 12 some million dollars of bonds that we sold. Thank you. Anyone else? Anybody online? Uh Jackie, you got something? Sorry, I didn't understand what he was asking. Sorry. Oh, I'm Jackie Tulowski. I'm at 107 Columbus Avenue North. And what I'm want to address is the parking from 107 Columbus Avenue North to 115. It's a residential street um right across from St. Wentz um school. This is several pictures um showing in front of my house where vehicles have been parked. I've owned that residence for three and a half years. And see there's descriptions of the vehicles, the parking and what's included on the back. Just some um got a couple police reports here. I do call once in a while when I can't get them to move, can't locate the drivers. Um, I was called a very nice name by one person. When was that? Um, that was the last one. It's in there. I asked her to move her vehicle because I needed to go to work and she said it was not important. So, this is the area right here. My house is the X and this is the area in concern. Um, I've talked to Matt Brenda about this. The houses are very close. If there was a fire, um, the it's gonna jump. I don't know if you're aware of this. I've taken fire classes. I was an EMT. You have 11 seconds to get out of a room when a fire starts and it's going to jump from one room to another room, which is no time at all. That's why people perish. 11 seconds. There's a house fire here. It's going to go from one house to another. There is Some of these houses don't even have driveways. So, the street is the only place for these vehicles to park. And St. WZ has their own private parking lot. They do not want to park there. I parked there when I worked at the hospital. I got three orange cones behind my vehicle. They asked me to move and that's how they asked me to move. And that's when Columbus Avenue was under assessment, road assessment. They do not allow anyone else to park there. Only their faculty members, but their faculty members can park anywhere in this town. 280 days plus nine hours a day. I have someone parked in front of my house. I cannot use my front door. I'm an independent contractor. Can't access my front door. So, I would like I don't know how to fix this. I've tried a lot of different options, a lot of different ones. I don't know if you notice one of the pictures in here. It's a school bus and it's parking. And then it's also another bus. That street is used by the um ambulance. It's one of the main this one right here. The ambulance goes to the hospital. Look at how much they're going to have to slow down to get down to that street to get to the hospital with your loved ones. Look at how tight that is. Every second counts. Every morning when I open my shades, I've got vehicles parked in front of my house. This red truck was a contractor that was sitting in front of my driveway parked for 3 hours. Then when he was told by the police that he can't block my driveway, then he parked in front of my house, blocking my house, my front door for three days, and he spilled some kind of white paint or something on the road and stained the road. I don't know if it's some kind of a joke or what it is. I don't know what we can fix it. If there's some type of when they do like around the schools for sports parking around the residential areas, I'm not sure. I would just like it to be fixed and be a little bit more appreciative, you know? I don't know. It is residential. It needs to be treated with a little bit more respect. Thank you. I appreciate your time. Thank you. Thank you, Jackie. City engineer project update. Matt, are you doing that or are we getting Chris on one? Well, wait. Are we going to address? Yeah, she is discuss that a public hearing for this part of the meeting. We do not normally Yeah, we usually wait till the end. We can talk at the end if you like. Okay. But certainly we want to address address it. Okay. Yeah. Good. Okay. Um, just so you know, the 2024 project has uh a bunch of um improvements that need to be do done. We call it on a punch list. Um, they should be out this week. Uh, starting that punch list. That's some of that stuff we talked about, Sean. Uh, your concerns. Hopefully, they'll start getting addressed starting this week. Um, did you let the neighbors know or the people that were We sent weekly updates. Oh, you did. And send them out to anybody that signed up. So, Okay. Yep. Okay. Thank you. Yep. This year's project, uh, 2025 project's moving along really well, especially with the nice weather. Um, they're still working on Lincoln Avenue North. Water and sewer and storm for the most part are done up to Second Street, and they kind of jumped north of Second Street. Um, so that's moving along really nice. Uh, 12th Avenue Southeast by Settlers Park. Um, they worked on the sidewalk all of last week, port on Friday, and I haven't been out there today, but I know they were going to be out there again today. So, um 12th Avenue is uh should be completed by the end of the week. Um that's kind of what I got unless you guys have any questions. Um I got questions either Josh or uh um you um over there right in front of Jackie's house. She kind of didn't mention it, but um the boulevard there, it's down a good inch from the soil. Um and the grass itself, I have no idea how you're going to mow that grass when it when the sidewalk is. front of on Columbus. You're talking in front of your property. They already report it once, but it sunk. So, between um H&R Block and my house, there was actually another um house there. They actually did the plumbing and the sewer there because they found uh really old uh brick there and it sunk already once. And I don't know what they're going to do if they're going to have to pour that again, the sidewalk, because it sunk again this winter. Yep. I'll take a look at it. That's still under warranty. So, and I would look at that whole boulevard all the way down Columbus until the hospital. Yep. Definitely will. Thank you. Anything else, Matt or Josh? Okay, next item. Josh, do you want to take that? Uh, yeah. I will uh let uh Becky certainly take this. This would be the series 2025A police station bond sale results and she can share those with you all. Good evening. Rebecca Curts with Ellers. Um maybe I have a procedural question. Okay. Do um based on the public comment, I don't have answers for that right now. I would be happy to go and speak with the city's attorney if there are questions before you act on this or would you like to move forward on acting on it? I guess let's I mean let's share okay the information and we can go from there. Okay. Um so as you know we took um bids this morning in our office for the series 2025A bonds for the um 10 million. you'll see the number changed, but uh 10,225,000 general obligation capital plan um bonds for the new police station. We did um receive four bids and before I get into that, I do want to cover one thing um regarding your rating. We did a rating call with standard and pores and this rating rep or applied to both of the bond issues. The complete report is in the packet for the 25A bonds. Um but I do want to take just a couple minutes and highlight um a couple things and I can answer any questions. Um first I will say congratulations. Um Standard and Pores did assign its double A long-term rating to the city's um both the series A and the series Bonds that were sold today. In addition, they affirmed the city's double A rating for all of the city's outstanding um general obligation debt. And again, the report details um a lot more of what supports that rating. But I want to start with saying congratulations. That always is a testament to the work that you as the council and also the staff has done for managing the city and the finances. Um, standard and poor specifically calls out um the city maintaining high reserves and seeing a strong population and market value growth in recent years as one of the factors um for continuing with the double A rating. They also talk about the stability stability and predictability to the city's financial performance. Um the rating further reflects their assessment of the city's growing local economy. And during the call we talked about um the increase in market value then and some of the new developments that um are currently under construction or that um have been proposed um for future future years. Um standard por pores calls out the available reserves that have been sustained above 60% of revenues and their expectation that um the city will continue with its consistent financial position. And then they talk about the financial management framework. Um and that is a metric that standard and pores uses that includes um in their words proactive policies and practices that encompass um your comprehensive budgeting process, the reporting that the staff provides the council, your long-term capital capital um planning, the investment policies, and then again your fund balance. And it does go on from there. So with that again um just um congratulations on maintaining that doubleA rating um from standard and pores. So with that um as I mentioned we did receive four bids for this issue um bar out of Milwaukee Wisconsin was the low bid. They had a bid or a true interest cost of 4.4% 4% and the true interest cost includes um the interest rate and then factors in the cost of issuance and some of the fees um connected with issuance of the bonds and it is the um standard metric to award debt issues. Um when I was here about a month or so ago we had estimated about 4.8% so it is lower than the estimate. Um, I also want to call out though, as I mentioned, the bond size did change. Um, we had anticipated issuing 10,430,000. We did receive um a premium bid on this, which means that we received um more funding than what was needed. And with that um we were able to then reduce the bond size because it was not needed to fund the project. Um so with the new bond size of 10,225 it saved um or provided a difference of about a million dollars less than um what we were anticipating for principal in interest when um I was here about a month ago. Um, I do also want to call out one more thing on this issue. And, um, we were directed to use the $380,000 in cash from the building fund for this. Um, I just want to point out if there are specific questions on that, $320,000 of that cash would be used to pay the interest payment that is due on February of 2026. and then that balance of um 60,000 was applied to reduce the bond issue. So that's how that was applied. Um with that there are details in there um in your packet with all of the bids um that were received. There is a source in uses um with the updated debt service schedule and then there also is um updated tax impacts um after that for for various valued homes and commercial properties. Do you want to go right into the next bond issue? Uh, I guess let's discuss this one first. Um, and then if there are any questions regarding this one in particular, I guess um and then if you'd like to dive into the next one, we certainly can, but um any vote should probably happen individually. Yes, there are two different votes for tonight. And Scott's not on the horn somewhere. Uh, nope. I can certainly try to call him if you would like, but I guess I would leave that up up to the council at this point. Why why delay the vote on this stuff? How long is the bid good for or the um the underwriters would anticipate um knowing tomorrow morning if you move forward with accepting it. Rick, what is your concern that the um we are going to get to vote on right tonight? That was the intent. Yes, it was to vote tonight. Okay. And then this has nothing to do with this I believe. So I believe Mr. Pollson's argument was that um these bonds were sold illegally and cannot be approved. Um but that would be up to the council as to how they would want to use that information that he has provided. Yeah. Without Scott telling us not to vote on it, I am more comfortable sticking to the agenda and voting on it. I I don't know about you guys. I'm moving forward. I think that uh Mr. Pollson brought up some very good arguments that maybe we are acting in haste. Um so I know that they're looking forward to an answer tomorrow, but in reality, how long is this? Um so in reality, they um it is standard or typical that they would hold their bid for the day. It is really based on um where the market is today. So they would accept a basically if if you are not I don't want this to sound like a threat but if you do not take action today um we cannot guarantee the rate that you have. Um if you choose to move forward with um awarding that then this rate would be the rate. Um I recognize there are a couple questions that we may want to check with Scott. If you do choose to deny the bids and or not award them, then um we could go back and resell them or we could work with Baird and um negotiate and and see if we can keep that interest rate. But I cannot guarantee that um because again it really looks the underwriters look at where the market is today and it changes from day to day. Right. So, have you ever been in a situation where something like this has arisen where it had been approved and then all of a sudden legal counsel says that we in fact did do something wrong and that we awarded illegally? Are we What does that do? I know you're not an attorney, but have you seen a situation? I approve this. Are we locked into this? I have had um situations where councils have not approved, but I have not run into this situation. And I I guess um if there are questions or concerns, it would be something I would want your your city attorney to right weigh in on. I understand. Can you see that? I I guess is that something you guys would like me to check on? I mean, I'm I will certainly give a call if the council would like to. We could just do it and then call the vote. I mean, that way he can opt out of it. Um, I'm I'm against the project anyway, so I'm a no vote. So I I mean, if the you three think you're going to vote yes, then I'm good with it. If she I just don't want you to get us in a situation that we've accepted the money and then legally we did something wrong and in fact we can't. Well, I would I would hate to um not take action um and then tomorrow find out that there was there was the appropriate uh um hearings held. Yeah, I would too. I you know, it's this isn't anything new. We do these every year for street projects and other buildings and whatnot. Um and I I guess I I don't recall if we had public hearings or not or if they were required or what, but I think given the information that Mr. Pollson provided that it it it made me think about it that maybe we're doing something out of the norm. But I I will also say that um and again this is ultimately a council decision. If you do um move forward with with approving it this evening, um the closing date is scheduled at the end of May and if we needed to adjust that to um have some additional time or resolve any concerns, there is there is some time. Um again, I would need to talk with your your legal counsel to know exactly what what I mean by saying that. Have you ever seen a city approve something and then not close on it? Again, I know you're not an attorney, so you're not giving us legal advice. I'm just curious. Um, I have, in my experience, I've not I have not been in a situation where they have not closed. There have been situations, excuse me, where the closing has been delayed for different a variety of of reasons. Okay. Have you uh finished explaining um um uh number seven? Because we could make that resolution right now if you want to. I just want to make a couple comments if I could. Um, I um certainly as Sean mentioned, I I get my interest peaked when Brian presents information like this, but it's certainly not anything I could reasonably digest in a matter of minutes, uh, let alone read it that quickly. Um, so then I kind of fall back on the process that we followed. And Josh, I'm understood that our attorney's been involved in this throughout the process and has given us um um approval to move forward in a sense by being involved in the process and our professional financial um consultants been involved in the process and has deemed it acceptable to do what we've done. So, I guess I would be interested just to if you think it's possible to call Scott to get assurance that he feels okay with it, if we can do that. Yeah. I mean, I would enter entertain a pause in the meeting if you think you need time for it. But, uh, yeah, I mean, I can certainly try to get him on the phone if if the council wants to. But regard regardless of that, I guess I just based on the information that's provided in front of me, I guess I'd pursue it because the there's more risk and not in my mind than than doing it. But based on the information that's in front of me anyway, but so if you feel that's an option, I I would entertain giving them a recess a recess for a minute or 15 minutes. Yeah, we can do that. Okay. I'll call for a recess. Okay. Okay. Um, Scott is in another meeting right now, so I've been texting him trying to get responses. Um, we we certainly see that the meeting was noticed at this point. Um, and you can kind of see who was at the meeting. uh without doing further investigation. He says I can't tell exactly whether a hearing was had. His response was that um he would recommend approving now and if we have to do a redo on the hearing or that sort of thing that that can certainly be done um as Becky said through delaying the closing of the bonds. That was Scott's response. Any other questions of Josh? No. I'd like to make a resolution 25-05-05-01 um police station bond sales. Motion been made. Is there a second? I'll second. Motion's been made and seconded to approve resolution 25501 ordinance the sale of general obligation capital improvement plan bonds series 2025A. All those in favor say I. I. I opposed. I motion passed 3 to one. Next item. Josh. Uh yes. So this next item would be then for the 2025 um B which is the bond sale for the street utility project taking place this summer. So again um related to the series 2025B um you will notice this dollar amount also changed and is $4,655,000. Um again this was issued for the um public improvements and then there is a small piece for um about $100,000 for equipment at the golf course. Um, for this I talked about the rating. Um, so it also carries the double A rating from Standard and Pors. On this one, we did receive three bids. Again, Bared out of Milwaukee was the low bid with a true interest cost of 3.78%. Um, we had estimated about 4.26%. So it was um significantly lower than the estimate about 50 basis points. Um with this one because we were able to reduce we also received a premium and we're able to reduce the bond size. And so um with that it is about $214,000 less in total costs um because of that premium bid and the way the final cost of issuance came in. Um with that again you will see the details on the um bids in there and then the details for the breakdown. Um with that again as a reminder we did um plan to pay or we are playing paying for the sanitary sewer portion with cash from the utility fund. Um then bonded for both the water and the storm pieces of that. Um we are estimating um that the levy is about $240,000 for the first um years until the piece of equipment is paid off and then it is reduced to um roughly 215,000 for the balance of it. And again that is the net levy piece after um the utility revenue writes down the levy and then after um the assessments come in as as projected. Um with this one I am happy to answer questions but we are um recommending awarding to be with the true interest cost of 3.78%. So, I just because of Bruce's banking uh history, I asked him why the difference in the bond interest rates. Is it solely due because this one's a 15 year and the other one's a 30-year or um I think there are a couple pieces of it. Um, one is the difference in time from 15 to um, 15 years to 30 years makes um, a big diff. Well, with with um, longer term debt, we typically see a higher interest rate. You do? So, I think that that is probably the main driver of that. Um, and that is very common. Um, I would have been surprised if they would have come in at about the same rate. Okay. It had it doesn't really have anything to do with the dollar amount. that one was 10.4 million and one that that can sometimes have an impact on the interest rate, but um I would say the term of it probably impacts more than the dollar amount. Okay. Um a $10 million issue for 10 or 15 years likely would have seen a lower interest rate. Thank you. Josh, is there a resolution number for this one? Uh, this one would be 25502. 25502. Any other comments you wanted to make? Back. Um, I don't have any comments, but I'm happy to take additional questions. I don't have questions. Otherwise, I'll entertain a motion. I'll make a motion to approve resolution 25502 approving the sale of general obligation bonds series 2025B for street and utility um uses second motion's been made and second any other questions all those in favor say I I opposed motion pass thank you Becky Thanks, Rebecca. Never spent $15 million so quick. How much? Almost 15. It was 15. I'm 11 resolutions conditional use permit. You speaking on that, John? Oh, yes. I will take this. Uh Ken had a band concert to attend this evening. So this is a conditional use permit um for Bevcom to allow exterior storage at their um new location that they are constructing out at the industrial park on Sixth Street Northwest. So, a little bit of background. Uh, Bevcom did purchase this lot, which is 6056th Street Northwest, um, in the industrial park back in December of 2024. Uh, they intend to build a, uh, structure that is roughly 8,000 square feet to act as an office, shop, and warehouse. um with an 80 by 120 foot fence for exterior storage um on the north side or back of the lot uh for storage of spools um un of underground ducting and conduit. The property is zoned I1 light industrial and in this district uh exterior storage is a listed as a conditional use. Uh the property though to allow exterior storage must meet the following screening requirements. um a single row of deciduous or evergreen trees with a minimum height of 8 feet and a diameter of 2.5 in um to be spaced 40 feet around the perimeter of the property abuing commercial or industrial districts and the fence must be visually appealing and cohesive with the exterior principal structure. So it must generally match. Uh staff does recommend that the fence be a chainlink fence that is six feet tall with vinyl slats for a minimum of 75% opacity. The color of the slat should be similar to the siding of the proposed warehouse so that they match. Um these screening conditions are very similar to what was uh provided to Bricks Boat Works on the west side of them there in the industrial park. And there will be about 238 square feet of office space and 7,700 square feet of warehousing space with this, which means that a minimum of nine parking spaces are required for them. So, here's kind of just a uh pullback of the lot. As you can see, there are there were three general lots remaining in the industrial park, all all zoned industrial, and they are the um eastern most of those uh yet to be built on lots. Ultimately, uh you can see the uh this is kind of their parking area and drive-thru uh with their proposed building and the fence fencing area will be here in kind of the north side. They are then proposing uh those trees that meet the uh tree requirements around the storage here both up against the parking and then as well as well as along the perimeter. and just kind of some general shots of what it looks like right now. So, this did go to planning commission um and planning commission also recommended approval of uh conditional use permit number one, 2025 to allow exterior storage in the light industrial district at 6056th Street Northwest um with the findings and conditions that are listed in your draft resolution. I will certainly stand for any questions you may have. I'll just move it. So moved. Motion has been made. Is there a second? I'll second. Motion has been made and seconded to approve resolution 25503 resolution of the New City Council approving conditional use permit C1-2025. All those in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Motion passed. Josh. Next. Uh, yes. I will let Bruce Rhymers take this next one. I'll take the question at least that that pertains to the utilities portion of it. Um, so, um, it was brought to my attention in regards to bulk water sales. In other words, this is water sales to contractors, primarily seating companies andor contractors that are using water to do excavations around town. the pro the uh power lines um east of town here is a good example of it or hydro seating companies that um purchase water from us. Um it's brought to my attention by actually some of the communities around us that um our water rates were considerably less than kind of the going rate. Um, I brought this to the attention of the utilities commission and they decided that we should raise our rates to the $35 per thousand um, effective and upon approval of the city council. Josh, were you going to take the Yeah, I can take the other one. Um, currently if you were to remodel your bathroom, we do require a couple different permits. Um, and uh, with obviously with a couple different of those permits, we got a few different fees that go with it. Um we are looking at just simplifying that uh to while um you will still need to get a building permit and a plumbing fee that it would just be a flat fee to try to make the process simpler for people who are coming into um your model or bathroom. And so uh we are recommending a flat fee of $120 or $110 plus the the state search charge for those uh reviews. What's the amount of the state search charge? Uh, I believe that depends since it is a plumbing permit. I'm not entirely sure what that is off the top of my head. Um, I can shoot Ken a text here real quick. No, it's not. I could ask him some other time. I was just curious. Yeah. Yeah. Or why there is even a state. Yeah. Why state? Uh, so I believe Yeah. Plumbing permits in the state of Minnesota have to go through the state at least in some sort of review I believe and that would be the state. Okay. Any other questions? Um, the only one I do is the I understand charging $35 for um, private companies and whatnot that are using our water, but I'm worried what this is going to do to the golf course. I see that they're part of that rate increase from 850 to 35. I don't much how many thousands of gallons that the golf course is use or uses, but um I'm a little concerned at uh what that cost is going to do to the budget that we've already approved. John, I can clarify that um the golf course is on a standard metered water consumption rate. So, it does not affect the golf course. This is only for contractors that purchase water for in tanker trucks. Oh, I'm sorry. I saw the yellow and you're right. That's bulk water charge. Yeah, the golf course is right above it. So, that's 465 per step. That stays the same. Okay. No, I'm sorry. That was my fault. I looked at that wrong. So, I didn't realize we actually people actually did that. Back up a tank truck and fill it up at hydrant. And it's a dedicated hydrant in a actually we do a couple of spots in town and then we've got a couple fill stations on our city buildings as well. Right. Any other questions? They do do use fire hydrants. So, right. I mean, designated only. So, we have metering on them. Well, so like the one by Coburn's when I see truck, that's one of them, correct? Okay. So, I just You're aware of that. So, nobody's doing it illegally. Yeah, we have one there and we have one over by the church on the west side of town. Okay. That go ahead. Does your staff have to be present? No, it's done on an honor system and then we have uh forms there that they fill out. Um obviously they do have to be we do training with them and then we also um have them go through the process of of the proper filling. So yeah, and and we have to put on backflow prevention and everything on those individual sites to protect the public water system. Thank you. And I noticed a lot of the contractors go over to that um um the fire hydrant over by the tin house over there on on on Second Second Street Northwest right over there across from um recycling cardboard recycling fire department or no it's there's a fire hydrant and um all the contractors that have been doing these roads it's um oh that would that would be for a construction project that was in the past this year It's not set up this year, but sometimes we we will move them around for large construction projects that are for the city for Oh, yeah. But you did meter. I noticed that over these all these side streets, you did meter all that. We did have a site for the for the contractors for the CIP projects. Thank you. Entertain a motion to approve. I'll approve uh resolution 25504, the fee schedule amendment. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. All those in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Motion passed. Josh. Uh yeah. Next item, I guess, jumping down into general business talking city hall hours. Um I know that as I shared last week, our last meeting, um this has been on the city's uh city council's visioning document for a few years now. And so um I was bringing it forward so we could uh potentially act on it this year. Um the city council did uh vote to table it though. Uh they wanted to hear some of uh Mayor Jerk's ideas. Um he is currently on vacation this week enjoying some time with his family. Um but he did share those ideas with me before he left. Um and the two kind of things that he thought of were to keep city hall hours as they are but allow employees to kind of adjust their hours that still provide for coverage at city hall throughout the hours um throughout the summer. And in the same vein, even taking that so far as to um possibly working uh four 10-hour shifts throughout the week as long as coverage happened. So, um as I kind of stated in the memo, some of those ideas have actually currently been in use or been used at various times throughout the last few years. Um department heads certainly work within their departments coordinating hours throughout the year depending on the work that's accomplished um to kind of maximize that. And I guess um when I've been kind of thinking about city hall hours, while some may certainly view it as a benefit for employees, uh the way I've been kind of approaching it is trying to make city hall more accessible. Um and so if that is what we are trying to approach it in, I do believe that u the hours I recommended uh would do that. Um that being said, I it's not certainly an idea that I'm married to. Um and so if the city council would kind of like to just leave things as they are, I'm certainly open to that as well. this was um me attempting to tackle some of the stuff on the visioning list and just kind of get it out there and say we can certainly go forward with this or we can leave it as it is. So I guess at that if this is certainly something the council would still like to consider um I do kind of offer that same recommendation of opening up earlier throughout the week um to allow people either before work uh or contractors getting in here sort of early as possible. Um, otherwise, um, well, I'm certainly all right leaving city hall hours as they are. They've certainly been this way for as long as I'm aware of. So, if you changed them, how would you how is that going to be fair amongst the employees? I mean, if if you have to still require coverage. So, one person gets four tens for a week and then the next person So, so I would say if we changed them um this the change as it is um would allow city if city hall employees basically worked work from open to close each day to still work the same amount of hours. Um there there would certainly be that f they would city hall would close early on Fridays and unless uh a department head has worked something out um with an employee here or there that might have a special situation um that would certainly put them at their 40 hours and city hall closed and so there wouldn't have to be any rotating schedules here or there. Um that that was the intention kind of of shortening up Friday then uh to ensure that we didn't have to rotate schedules or um that sort of thing while still allowing that earlier time in the morning. Well, I guess I'm not as worried about the contractors coming in at 7 as I am um the general public that needs access to it um that might need to come in on a Friday afternoon um and just work kind of the 8 to 4:30 normal hours would what they've been used to. Um, I don't know how many general contractors, I mean, building permits I think have slowed here recently. Um, but I don't know how many contractors come in to do uh to get things, but if they have to wait till 8 or instead of seven, I'm not worried as much about them. I'm just wondering who's who's going to benefit if we even change it. Well, I think it's a perk for our employees. Um, especially this is just proposed for summer, right? Um, you know, I've worked in situations where, um, some employees may opt to take, you know, that half day on a Monday as opposed to shutting down city hall, you know, on that half day Friday. Um, so that it would still allow coverage for all of those hours. um you know something like that could be hammered out. Um I think it would still show that we would like to support our employees for the summer and give them some extra time off to enjoy um you know time with their family or outdoors. Um you know they could even take that day on a Monday morning so they have a little longer weekend. I mean, there's maybe some more creative ways to kind of think about it, but still have city hall open um for our constituents, which to your point, Sean, I agree. Um there are constituents that maybe get that half day off on Friday from their job and then they want to come into city hall and be able to, you know, handle a permit and uh it would be nice to have that those hours open for them. Well, as I've said before, I I'm comfortable with it on a trial basis, not knowing what the actual flow of people coming in and out of the building and and knowing how many people come in at Friday afternoon. Um, we haven't really tabulated that for and I and I do know staff at since the last I know it's only been two Fridays, but staff did kind of keep track these last two Fridays. Um, and it looks like the majority of our Friday afternoon traffic really was uh utility payments. Um, someone came in to buy a golf permit, golf course or golf cart permit, that sort of thing. Um, but yeah, like I said, um, this is really just something I was bringing forward because it was on the list of ideas. But the utility payments I know that they can pay at the window, correct? As opposed to putting it in the box that's outside of city hall. That is also an option. Yes. Yeah. So, is it We had a couple of people coming in. They just prefer prefer to interact with the person. Correct. And I I think Robin would probably be able to speak better to that, but I would guess that it's probably the same people every month that just prefer to come in and write a check and um hand it over. Okay. The past Friday that we did have a visitor, you know, bills weren't due yet. I think it's just that I'm walking by, I have time, stop in, say hello. Um so certainly that customer service level, there is the option to do the box. Um some people might want a receipt if they come in. So Okay. Thank you. I've never had a complaint, so I'm kind of whatever you guys want. I've never had a complaint, but I know that I'll hear from people that'll Yeah. But it's al it's on a trial basis, so it's not, you know, it's one summer. You You're talking from now? It' be it'd be from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Okay. Okay. So, if we do have a lot of trouble with that, then we could just stop those hours and go back to our normal hours, even if it weren't Labor Day. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. I know. I guess I think it's just worth worth a try. [Music] Um, you know, it's it's nice for our employees and um, we're still providing uh, plenty of hours to be open, but again, if something more a little more creative can be thought about, you know, so that those hours are full fully from at least 8 to 4:30. I don't know how that is a going to be a headache for your scheduling. So, that's the only thing. We've never tried this before. Not since I've been here. And I guess speaking to longer term staff, Matt Bruce, never. Oh, and like I said, I know at a previous position down in southeast Minnesota, it's much more prevalent. Most city halls go to some sort of but around here around here was a little less. I think like we did recent research uh Northfield does um and I believe Fairbow did, but those are kind of the local ones. Well, and those are larger cities and they would probably get a lot more traffic. So, um, is it being wellreceived by your employees to have that Friday afternoon off? From what I've heard, I guess it seems to, um, kind of a hit or miss. I know, I mean, obviously with employees, especially employees with younger kids, there's daycare considerations and having to line that up. Um, some employees are more open to it, others really like their current daycare schedule and don't know if they can shift. Again, that depends on your daycare employer or whoever's providing the daycare. So, um, with most stuff, there are some that, hey, that would be awesome. There's others that are this is one more headache that they've got to figure out. Okay. So, taking that in consideration and the off the offices closed at 11 on Friday, um would that individual that has the daycare issues be able to stay and work or and I think that that that's just something we'd have to work through. I mean, because there's obviously some jobs that more in-person front facing is works better and other jobs where people do have certain jobs you can step away. So, um, that that would just be something we would certainly have to explore if if that was available. Is there a concern that some people are going to get this perk and other people aren't going to be able to take advantage of it? I would guess that that also is always a concern you have. Um, but I mean, we already departments across the city work varying hours. Um, I know our our public works guys start the day earlier and end the day earlier than most. wastewater actually already work 410s um that sort of issue. So this can be a clerical thing. Do you have a action in mind? I mean it kind of says the recommendations and just Yeah. So yeah, the action mind is um if you're down on page two of the memo uh just mentions Monday through Thursday 7 am to 4:30, Fridays 7 to 11 um would be the one that I guess if we wanted to try something that's the one I would recommend trying um but again if there's hesitency or there's there's it's not to it we certainly don't need to do it either. I can remove it from the visioning list. Any other discussion? Why was it How did that get on the visioning list? I didn't know that was an issue. I didn't even see it. I guess it's been on there for like three years now and it's gotten bumped every year because we've never really gotten to it. Who would have brought that up though? Not me. So I I mean I mean when the list first got put together. Um there was the discussion and um there's also hey staff like what what do you guys think we should put on this list? And so we brought a whole long list of stuff and brought them all in and that was one of them that I guess made it through to get on the list and then got bumped for a few years. Now for the sake of moving on, um I'll I'll make the motion. Sounds good. So moved. Uh Rick, would you clarify what your motion is? Yeah. You want me to read the whole paragraph? No, just what it is. are are yeah just just to move to summer hours of uh yeah we'll move to the summer hours temporarily to check out the um how it worked recommended you I think recommended summer hours Monday through Friday 7 to 11 to 4:30 and then Friday 7 to 11. Yeah. Yeah, I can put that on there if you want. You meant Monday through Thursday. Monday through Thursday 7 to 4:30. Yeah. Motion's been made. Is there a second? I will second. Motion's been made and seconded. Any other questions or comments? All those in favor say I. I. I. I. Opposed. I heard 40. Is that correct? That is correct. Okay. If it if there's a problem, we'll just change it. Um, I would ask problem to tabulate activity for the new hours. How much activity are we getting at 7 o'clock or 7 o'clock in the morning to 8? Yeah. Whatever the new frame is. Okay. We can certainly do that. Um, keep your mind open for comments on it because obviously we have employees that we want to if we can if there ways we can accommodate that, but we we're really looking from the customer service standpoint. Are we actually improving our customer service by doing this or are we not? So, are the new hours to the benefit of our community or they not? And so, we can answer that question at the end of this trial period. Yep. We will do that. I didn't mean to be so sloppy. Maybe staff can invite people to come in anymore. How uh how are we going to communicate the new hours, too? So, yeah, I guess we' we'd probably put some signs up on the doors certainly. Um yeah, I don't know. I don't know if we'll get put on the website, the first newsletter, but yeah, website, social media. Um maybe even get a hold of uh in the radio utility bill newsletter. I think the utility bills just went out. Was it last week for the new month? But we can get certainly get them out in the next next one. But yeah, certainly try to Well, that's when I'm gonna hear about it is Friday at one when somebody walks in to do something and they didn't. Pat's going to publish it, I'm sure. Yeah, this will be front page news. So, um I don't know that there's any problem since the newspapers are official um communication device of putting something in the newspaper. I will certainly check to see if there would be an advertising charge. Well, nevertheless, I mean, that is our that's our official communication tool of the city break. So, that's where we should post it. Yeah. Well, we'll we'll explore all avenues to make sure it gets out. I'm sure someone will stop in on that first Friday and not enjoy the fact that they can't get in the building, but that's a good clue. 2026 audit services. Josh or Robin. Uh, yes. I'll pass this one off to Robin. So, in your packet, I've attached a memo and a three-year proposal from ABDO. Um, but the memo states um just how we've been doing our due diligence with other services. We've been with ABDO quite some time. Um, we actually have a great relationship with them. Um, I think they do a really good job. They know our city very well and I think they present well and are able to speak well. um to the council after the work that they've done based on the history and the amount of time that they've been with us. Um but again, going back to that due diligence, what we we would be proposing is that we accept year one of their three-year proposal and then go out for RFP for services um for fiscal year 2026 and beyond. So um auditing the 26 year in 2027. So that Abdo would still complete the audit for the 2025 year presenting in 2026. Are there changes in the services offered from from what we had this year till next year? Nope. It's all the same. It has been for um probably nine years or so that I've been tracking it. I did read the letter, but is there a justification or what is the argument for going 5.4%. Is it is there no new services? So there's is that what they feel cost of providing services? In our last three-year proposal, which I could pull up because like I said, I have all that data. Um there was a larger increase in that first year and then a lesser in year two and year three. So was it similar 5%? Um, I'll pull it up here if there's other conversation to give me a second to grab the The reason I ask obviously is because the inflation rate that we're everyone is trying to achieve is much less than 5%. And is it not to say that that's the dictating factor, but it's our job to question. So, in the last three-year proposal that we approved um was for audit years 2022 through 2024, the one we just completed, first year 2022 was a 6.01% increase over 2021 and then it was a 2.03 and a 2.08. Is there a reason that we couldn't go out for RFP right now? Um although it seems early in the calendar year by the time we go for RFP um and try to get acquainted with a new audit firm it just feels a little rushed a little rushed and a little tight. Um, so just to allow ample time, um, and have a another I think like thorough good working audit, I'd like to allow enough time should we choose a different vendor out of an RFP to establish our our information and our books with them. So, okay. So, no additional services. So the increase in our cost is um exactly the 5.4% increase then correct no other additional services right correct a true increase of 5.4% comparing apples to apples. So over the course of three years, the proposal they've presented this term is 12.57 and the last three years prior to that was 10.11 combined for all three. I can see supporting it given my understanding that the last two years were probably well well below inflation rates and um so that that might be some a factor as far as being able to support this. With that being said, I'll make a motion to approve 2026 audit services for fiscal year 2025 with ABDO and then going out for RFP for subsequent years. I'll second. Motion's been made and second. Any other questions? Those in favor say please. I I opposed. Thank you. Please I Yeah, please. I Josh, are you taking the next item? Yes. Compensation study review. So, uh I included in the memo kind of the general timeline as I foresee um as you remember, we sent out a request for qualifications for uh doing a compensation study uh for the various employees across the city. uh and council has expressed that they would certainly like at least one of you to be involved kind of in the process. Um and on May 23rd, all of the proposals are due from interested parties. And so I was wondering um I guess if a council member would like to be involved in the process of reviewing those with Robin and I to bring those back for a general recommendation to the rest of the council. Why would it just be one? We can certainly do more if you would like. Um I just without trying to create a super giant group like one was my thought of and can review and then speak to the council of the process, but I think we'd certainly like to have two. We get more than two then it opens up the whole process to the public. Yeah, we don't need I understand that. I just was curious if there was more than one person. Well, we Yeah, we could certainly have two if that's what the council would like to do. Um, I'd be happy to sit on that. You need that in action? Uh, I mean, probably just general agree general agreement from you guys or how we'd like to do that. I agree to appoint um Sean to it. So is this just getting down to the final final person and the council approves the selection or is it getting down to two or three and the council makes a decision on So I would generally see this as we've collected let's hope that five people submit that this um group will kind of look through them and say okay these are these are what we got this is the one that we'd recommend certainly going with. So it would be making a recommendation for someone for the council to approve. I'm fine with uh if Sean's interested in doing it. I am too. Anybody else? Maybe Dwayne. Sold. All right. All right. Yeah. I will uh I guess we'll coordinate with you then over those weeks. Um because I'd likely see send you copies and then we'd probably set up interview dates then for the ones that were except Friday afternoons cuz you're not working. Except for Friday afternoon. Well, city hall's closed. I'll probably still be there. I'm kidding, John. I had to get that in there. Saturday mornings at 6:00 a.m. Perfect. Okay. Police building construction administration approval. Josh, uh, yes. Uh, I was talking with