This transcript has been processed to identify speakers based on the context of the Cannon Falls City Council meeting and the provided list of officials and staff. [0:28] **[Silence/Background Noise]** [2:51] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Roll call to order the City of Cannon Falls City Council meeting for Tuesday, December 5th, 2023. If I could get a roll call of attendance, please. [2:51] **City Clerk Sara Peer:** Guesmi? **Council Member Derek Guesmi:** Here. **City Clerk Sara Peer:** Grot? **Council Member Grot:** Here. **City Clerk Sara Peer:** Jeppesen? **Council Member Ryan Jeppesen:** Here. **City Clerk Sara Peer:** Johnson? **Council Member Diane Johnson:** Here. **City Clerk Sara Peer:** Kronenberger? **Council Member Laura Kronenberger:** Here. **City Clerk Sara Peer:** Lindell? **Council Member Lindell:** Here. **City Clerk Sara Peer:** Montgomery? **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Here. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. [3:00] **All:** 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. [3:37] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Tonight, when I ask for approval of agenda, we're going to switch the order real quick. We're going to put police officer pinnings in front of the public hearing, if that's okay with the Council. With that said, I would seek approval of tonight's agenda. [3:37] **Council Member Lindell:** So moved. **Council Member Grot:** Second. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Motion by Mr. Lindell, second by Miss Grot. All those in favor? **Council:** Aye. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Opposed? Carries. That brings us to public input. Public input is intended to afford the public an opportunity to address concerns to the City Council. The public input will be no longer than 30 minutes in total length. Each speaker will have no more than 3 minutes to speak. Speakers may address topics relevant to the governance of the city. Speakers must sign up in advance and must provide their name, address, and the topic they intend to address. Comments must be on topic, respectful, pertinent to City business, and adhere to the applicable data privacy rules. Any speaker that violates these rules will be asked to sit down and if the speaker refuses to comply they may be removed from the meeting. Speakers shall not address topics that are the subject of a public hearing; all such comments shall be made at the public hearing. The City Council will not generally act on issues raised by the public input but may choose to schedule consideration of the item on a future agenda. First up tonight, Leon Hansen: committee membership. [4:22] **Leon Hansen:** Mr. Mayor and Council, thank you very much for your time. Um, I heard a discussion in the past about the difficulty in getting community members to get involved with commissions and committees that are, you know, at the city level. And at the last City Council meeting, the conversation held around combining two committees because you can't get people to apply or to come forward with it. And Mr. Jeppesen had made a comment on the Planning Commission that you've had two openings on the Planning Commission for quite a long period of time. I put an application in three, maybe four months ago for the Planning Commission and have yet to hear anything—any response from the city. You know, basically, I think if you're at the stage right now... the application process, I believe I'm qualified. But I think if, you know, there's that much desperation for members on these committees, there should be some type of a response, even an acknowledgement of the acceptance of the application or, if a denial, the reason why. I'm just curious. That's it. [5:56] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** You've been Mayor before, you know that public input is not a QA. [5:56] **Leon Hansen:** I thought... okay. No, it's... I'm just curious. My application has been in, I know, for close to four months. So, thank you for your time. [5:56] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Thank you. Thank you. Second up, Becky Youngmark: parkboard changes. [5:56] **Becky Youngmark:** Good evening, City Council. I'm here to challenge something about the parkboard merger. My first observation is why the Council didn't call some of the people that applied for a commission seat and didn't get it to serve on Public Works. Secondly, I'm not opposed to a merger if that is necessary; however, the lack of communication, lack of transparency, and the under-the-table handling of this situation was completely uncalled for. The Beacon quoted a comment from the last meeting: "The way things were communicated... do people get told when they're let go in a situation like this where a thing is getting cut? They don't necessarily get a say in how things get cut. When the park board dissolved 15-20 years ago, did they have meetings where they got to stand up and say 'keep us'?" I'm truly disappointed in the way as we as volunteers were dismissed after serving on the parkboard for several years. This comment was rude, crude, and uncouth. I hope that the city commissions would be willing to work together to work out challenges and work together to reach a solution. After all, the City Council are supposed to be working for us citizens. It was commented at the last meeting that it's easier to have less citizens on committees—is that truly to the benefit of us as taxpayers? The City Council is supposed to be working for residents, not try to control their own agenda. With the way this was handled, it makes me question the motive behind this action. Are the motives only to merge the two boards, or is this the fast and underhanded way this was handled due to the park board speaking up to protect the god-given constitutional rights of all our citizens, especially the children using the pool and parks, instead of going with the city flow of appeasing a very small group that insists their rights are more important than others? Thank you for your time. [8:17] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Thanks. Last up, we've got... is it Mark and Chris Jesse? Gray Duck Dirt or Gray Duck Grit. [8:17] **Mark Jesse:** Thank you. My name is Mark Jesse. [8:17] **Chris Jesse:** And I'm Chris Jesse. We are co-founders and co-race directors of an event called Gray Duck Grit. Our company is Level B Adventures LLC. We are based out of Brooklyn Park—hopefully sometime down the road Cannon Falls residents—but we're here because we want to announce in 2024 our intent and our event that we plan to organize at the Cannon Valley Fairgrounds. The event is going to be over Labor Day weekend, the Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day weekend, so that's August 31st and September 1st. And we're just asking for support of the City Council, the Mayor, the businesses in the area, and the residents. What Gray Duck is, is a gravel cycling endurance event. It's an ultra-endurance event. So what we organize is a race for cyclists in the area, in the Metro, and beyond. Races from 69 miles—and we're going to be introducing another route that's a little shorter than that—up to 333 miles. Some of the races go overnight into the night and into the next day, but it's an ultra-endurance; it's very challenging, it's fun, and we just want to make the announcement so that way when we go public with this—because it isn't public yet—we don't want any of you to be in the dark when you start getting questions from residents or anyone like that. We've already had two years of our race; it's been held in Northfield the two years prior. And the reason we're moving from Northfield and coming to Cannon Falls is because we feel that Cannon Falls is a much better fit long-term because of the growth that we expect and the success that we want to have. Our first year we had 69 cyclists, which may not sound like a lot, but for an event like this, it's actually a decent number for our first year. This year we more than doubled it with 155 participants. We hope to continue to double for a few more years. So if you can imagine how that growth might impact the community... but I just also want to mention that I realize you've had cycling events here in the past, but it's a bit different type of cycling. The road closures and things like that that you've experienced in the past, you're not going to have the same experience. Because of our location at the Cannon Valley Fairgrounds, it's going to limit the road closures and the impact that we're going to have on day-to-day life. So we hope that this is only a positive thing; it will only help the economy here in Cannon Falls, and we look forward to your support. Thank you. [11:24] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Thank you for coming. I appreciate that. All right, seeing as how we switched the order of tonight's agenda, that gets us to the police officer pinnings. And Chief, do you have some comments that you would like to say before you invite people down? [11:24] **Police Chief Jeff McCormick:** Yep, great. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Council. Also thank you for moving this forward. So I've unfortunately done quite a few pinning ceremonies over the years, but as I've said before, there's always been dangers in the policing world for officers, and that's just part of their job—and I don't mean to minimize those dangers—but I believe the officers today are up to the challenges that those dangers present as well as the times that we live in. And I believe that our job is much more like knights of old in that we watch over our community as guardians. However, when we're called upon, we're going to do what's right and fight for what is right when necessary. So as police officers, we dedicate our lives to serving others honorably with integrity, knowledge, and courage, protecting those who can't protect themselves. This evening is the first time that I've had three officers from law enforcement families that are joining our department and getting pinned at the same time, so that's kind of unique. So Officer Luna, Officer Hansen, and Officer Fox are carrying on the legacy of their families. Officer Jacobson will be making his own legacy as all four of them move forward in the lives that they touch through their actions as police officers. So I'll have the officers come forward. Mayor will administer the oath, but as their badges are pinned on, I hope that it fills their hearts with compassion, gives them strength to always do what's right and never use it to do harm or in anger, but always to protect those that we serve and defend those in need. So I'd like to call forward the officers. We'll start off with badge number four, Officer Jackson Hansen. His badge is going to be pinned on by his father, Todd Hansen. [13:42] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Follow along after me. I, state your name. **Officer Jackson Hansen:** I, Jackson Hansen. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Do solemnly swear. **Officer Jackson Hansen:** Do solemnly swear. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** That I will support the Constitution of the United States. **Officer Jackson Hansen:** That I will support the Constitution of the United States. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** And the Constitution of the State of Minnesota. **Officer Jackson Hansen:** And the Constitution of the State of Minnesota. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** I will faithfully and impartially discharge. **Officer Jackson Hansen:** I will faithfully and impartially discharge. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** And perform all the duties. **Officer Jackson Hansen:** And perform all the duties. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Of police officer of the Cannon Falls Police Department. **Officer Jackson Hansen:** Of police officer of the Cannon Falls Police Department. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** To the best of my ability, so help me God. **Officer Jackson Hansen:** To the best of my ability, so help me God. [14:34] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** All right. Congratulations. **Officer Jackson Hansen:** Thank you. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Thank you, congratulations. **[Applause]** [14:43] **Police Chief Jeff McCormick:** All right, next, badge number six, which would be Robert Luna. And his badge is going to be pinned on by his sons. [15:13] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** I, state your name. **Officer Robert Luna:** I, Robert Luna. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Do solemnly swear. **Officer Robert Luna:** Do solemnly swear. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** That I will support the Constitution of the United States. **Officer Robert Luna:** That I will support the Constitution of the United States. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** And the Constitution of the State of Minnesota. **Officer Robert Luna:** And the Constitution of the State of Minnesota. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** I will faithfully and impartially discharge. **Officer Robert Luna:** I will faithfully and partially discharge. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** And perform all the duties. **Officer Robert Luna:** And perform all the duties. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Of police officer of the Cannon Falls Police Department. **Officer Robert Luna:** Police officer of the Cannon Falls Police Department. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** To the best of my ability, so help me God. **Officer Robert Luna:** To the best of my ability, so help me God. Congratulations. [16:13] **[Applause]** [16:13] **Police Chief Jeff McCormick:** All right, next badge number eight, Jeremy Jacobson. And his badge is going to be pinned on by his girlfriend. [16:36] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** I, Jeremy Jacobson. **Officer Jeremy Jacobson:** I, Jeremy Jacobson. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Do solemnly swear. **Officer Jeremy Jacobson:** Do solemnly swear. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** That I will support the Constitution of the United States. **Officer Jeremy Jacobson:** That I will support the Constitution of the United States. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** And the Constitution of the State of Minnesota. **Officer Jeremy Jacobson:** And the Constitution of the State of Minnesota. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** I will faithfully and impartially. **Officer Jeremy Jacobson:** I will faithfully and impartially. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Discharge and perform all the duties. **Officer Jeremy Jacobson:** Discharge and perform all the duties. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Of police officer of the Cannon Falls Police Department. **Officer Jeremy Jacobson:** Of police officer of the Cannon Falls Police Department. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** To the best of my ability. **Officer Jeremy Jacobson:** To the best of my ability. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** So help me God. **Officer Jeremy Jacobson:** So help me God. Congratulations. [17:23] **Police Chief Jeff McCormick:** And badge number nine, Nathaniel Fox. His badge is going to be pinned on by his father. [17:23] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Repeat after me. I, state your name. **Officer Nathaniel Fox:** I, Nathaniel Fox. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Do solemnly swear. **Officer Nathaniel Fox:** Do solemnly swear. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** That I will support the Constitution of the United States. **Officer Nathaniel Fox:** I will support the Constitution of the United States. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** And the Constitution of the State of Minnesota. **Officer Nathaniel Fox:** And the Constitution of the State of Minnesota. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** I will faithfully and impartially discharge. **Officer Nathaniel Fox:** I will faithfully and impartially discharge. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** And perform all the duties. **Officer Nathaniel Fox:** And perform all the duties. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Of police officer of the Cannon Falls Police Department. **Officer Nathaniel Fox:** As police officer of the Cannon Falls Police Department. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** To the best of my ability. **Officer Nathaniel Fox:** To the best of my ability. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** So help me God. **Officer Nathaniel Fox:** So help me God. [18:38] **[Applause]** [18:38] **Police Chief Jeff McCormick:** Mayor and Council, I will be stepping out for just a moment. Usually, there's some photos afterwards in the foyer area, but I'll be back in. [18:38] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** All right. Thank you everybody and congratulations. Welcome to Cannon Falls. We appreciate you. All right, that brings us to the public hearing for the 2023-2024 Street and utility improvements. As I call this public hearing to open, I believe we're going to follow a similar path that we did last time. So Bill, you will get a chance to make your presentation and then we will discuss if there's anybody that would like to speak after that. [19:54] **City Engineer Bill Angerman:** Thank you, Mayor. All right, so you guys have been pretty well versed in hearings lately; we've had a couple of them. So we had a preliminary assessment hearing. This is the final assessment hearing for the 2023-2024 Street project. What we're doing tonight is basically following the statutory provisions. We will review the project area, we'll review the improvements, we'll talk about the cost schedule, and as part of statute, we do have to review the appeals process. You are the board; if anybody appeals your assessment tonight, there's an appeal process where they can appeal your decision to District Court. We'll run through that. And that at the end, as you previously mentioned, would be the time for someone to come up and present testimony on their assessment amount. Just again for a reminder, this is our project area. So we will be improving Cannon Street, also Third Street and portions of Fourth. The color coding corresponds to the different assessment types. We are replacing the sanitary sewer, the water main, and the streets. If you look at any particular lot, the blue is water—that means their project benefited from having new water main and a new water service, so they would be assessed for that. Green is for sanitary sewer and red is for street. You'll see there are some lots, for example the two on the east side that are owned by the city; those are non-buildable lots, those are in the floodway, so they'd receive a street assessment only. And then same thing up on Dakota and I guess Fourth Street or there's no actual road there—you see lots are green and blue; there's no road there, so they would just receive a sewer and water assessment. And then I think the rest of them receive all three. That's the breakdown of the assessment methodology. The improvements themselves: we are constructing a new street. The streets are substandard in nature, meaning they're not wide enough, they don't have good drainage, they're in poor shape. So we will be adding curb and gutter throughout the neighborhood. The new streets will be per our standards, which is 32 feet from back of curb to back of curb. And as I mentioned earlier, we will be replacing all the sanitary sewers, the water mains and their services, and then we will be adding storm sewer to collect the runoff. One important thing to note is when we first started this project, this project also included the sewer bridge removal and the directional drilling under the river. If you recall, we had some issues with land acquisition, so we broke this project into two. So the sewer bridge, the lift station, the work that's already occurred—none of that is being assessed. Also, same thing with the storm water pond, which is providing treatment, and the storm water on Fourth Street. It's only the storm sewer that's on Third and Cannon. And the last item there, the storm water basin, again, not being assessed, but we are required to do that to meet state requirements for limiting the amount of flow and for storm water treatment. On the cost side: you are assessing 20% of the total assessable project costs. The total project cost or the low bid was 1.272 million. You do not assess per your policy for oversized pipe. What do I mean by oversized pipe? That means if a pipe is made larger to serve a bigger area. So for example, part of the water main in this area—a standard residential water main would be 8 inches, but we have water main that serves basically the whole north side of the river, so it's 12 inches. Residents are not assessed for 12-inch pipe; they're assessed for 8-inch pipe. Same thing with sanitary sewer; again, the sanitary sewer serves basically the whole northern part of Cannon Falls, so they're only assessed for an 8-inch pipe. The larger pipe then are costs that are picked up by the city. So what that means, after we take the oversizing costs out, that leaves the total assessable costs at $254,000. And those assessments then range depending upon your lot size, from $3,100 to about $25,700 for the real big lot. There are 23 lots total that are being assessed. Of those, I think three of those are City lots: the two lots on the east side of Third where we have the storm sewer and then if everybody recalls, we did purchase a lot from Mr. Malloy to build the lift station, so then the city would be assessed for that as well. The breakdown of what that amounts to: the street roughly 81 bucks a foot, sanitary sewer roughly 14, and the water main roughly $27 a foot. There is a spreadsheet, and the individual amounts were sent out by Sarah to the individual property owners. And previously, or in your resolution, you have two resolutions—that resolution does allow senior citizen, permanently disabled, and active military deferrals. If someone would fall into that category, they should please contact City Hall. And then lastly, interest rate. When we did set this, we did ask for direction from the Council. You do have a provision in your ordinance that says your interest rate should be set at the Bond Buyer Index plus 2%. The Bond Buyer Index when we put this together was at 4.25%, but for the last two years you've decided not to add 2%; you only add a 1%, hence we get the 5.25%. And your standard assessment term is 10 years. One important distinction is just because of the timing of the year, we have missed the window to put this on taxes for next year, which as the taxpayers, they're probably okay with that. What that means is this would not be... they would have all the way till the next November 15th, which is the typical deadline. So they have 11 months in essence to pay this off if they would choose, or it would then be certified on their taxes for 2025. And Council had previously discussed that... you would have the option, it could accrue interest over the year, but you've previously directed staff that we would not charge interest. So what that means is then this would show up on someone's tax bill for the first time in May of '25, which is a positive thing. So if somebody wants to prepay or make other finance arrangements, there's plenty of time for that. And then we'll talk a little bit about schedule. We did have that preliminary assessment quite a long time ago, December 6th of 2022. Just one editorial comment: we did break this project up and one of the things we did do is we decided to bid that lift station right away because of equipment lead times. In hindsight, that move appears even better because we still do not have the electrical controls for that project—just such a long lead time. So we are still waiting for that; all that other work is done except for the electrical. So that was a good decision to break that up and move that forward. We did open bids on November 1st. Tonight is the final assessment hearing. After you hear if anybody wishes to give testimony, there's two resolutions. The second resolution is awarding that construction contract to Fitzgerald Construction out of Goodhue. If you do pass that resolution, Fitzgerald has stated that they would like to start some work this winter, primarily in that storm water pond area. They'd like to get some of the clearing of trees done. They would resume in the spring and our specified construction completion date is September 20th of next year. I did mention the appeal process. Tonight, technically the statute says they have to provide a written objection either prior to this meeting or tonight. The City Council in the past has also accepted oral objections, meaning someone would have to come up to the microphone tonight. This is your opportunity to provide testimony. This is in essence testimony to you as a Council on what evidence they have that their property value will not be increased by the amount of assessment. Within 30 days of the adoption, an owner may appeal to District Court. In order to do that, they would have to serve notice to Sarah and to you, the Mayor. Then the clerk would furnish the appellant a certified copy of the objections filed. If that did go to District Court, the court would either affirm the assessment or set it aside and order a reassessment. An important thing to note: if someone does appeal that, if the city would win, then those costs that the city incurs could be taxed to that person. The statute has that provision there to protect cities from being challenged frivolously. And then lastly, all objections to the assessment shall be deemed waived unless presented on such appeal. So that means they have to appeal tonight because Sarah, I believe we did not receive any written objections. If somebody does not appeal tonight, there is no more appealing. This is the final decision. With that, that wraps up my portion. [31:46] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Thank you, Bill. So officially, the public hearing for the 2023 and 2024 Street and utility improvements is open. If anybody would like to speak on this, yep, step up to the microphone, please say your name and your address. [31:46] **Steve Ross:** My name is Steve Ross, address 317 Cannon Street. Um, I know we got the letter, my son told me about the letter coming through, and um, just curious about they're talking about the disability side of things. Does that have to also be registered in by tonight, or can that be... [32:33] **City Engineer Bill Angerman:** That's a great question. It does not. So if someone had either a senior citizen deferral or military, they would contact City Hall after this—and actually they would have, I believe, all the way till next November to do that. But we would encourage people to do that sooner than later. So that is something that does not occur tonight. [32:33] **Steve Ross:** Okay. Okay so, contact Sarah or Neil at City Hall. Okay, appreciate it. Thank you. [32:33] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** I'm sorry, what was the name again? [32:33] **Steve Ross:** Steve Ross. [32:33] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Steve Ross. Thank you. Would anybody else like to speak? Public hearing going twice... third and final call. We will close the public hearing for the 2023-2024 Street and utility improvements. Discussion from the Council, questions for Bill, or a motion to approve? [33:19] **Council Member Diane Johnson:** On the sheet it said water main and service—is that the service line to the house? [33:19] **City Engineer Bill Angerman:** That's correct, yep. Service line to the house up until the right-of-way line, so to their property line. [33:19] **City Clerk Sara Peer:** And Mayor, you do have two separate resolutions. [33:19] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Yep, so they'll have to be passed individually. Any other questions or comments from the Council? No? Hearing none, I would accept a motion to approve resolution 2723, adopting the assessments of the 2023-2024 Street and utility improvements. [34:05] **Council Member Diane Johnson:** Motion. **Council Member Laura Kronenberger:** Second. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Motion from Diane, second from Laura. All those in favor? **Council:** Aye. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Opposed? It carries. Resolution 2724, receiving the bids and awarding a contract. Questions, comments, concerns? [34:05] **Council Member Ryan Jeppesen:** Oh, just one thing—the bids came in a little bit lower than we expected, correct? [34:05] **City Engineer Bill Angerman:** They did, correct. [34:05] **Council Member Ryan Jeppesen:** So we were kind of happy about that. [34:05] **City Engineer Bill Angerman:** I'm always happy with bids less than the estimate, yes. [34:50] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** I would accept a motion to approve resolution 2724. [34:50] **Council Member Ryan Jeppesen:** So moved. **Council Member Derek Guesmi:** Second. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Mr. Jeppesen has the motion, Mr. Guesmi has the second. All those in favor? **Council:** Aye. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Opposed? Carries. That brings us to the consent agenda. Consent agenda items may be adopted under one motion as presented or may be removed for discussion and resolution as Council business. Item A: The just and correct claims for the accounting period that ended on November 29th, 2023. Item B: Meeting minutes for November 21st, 2023 City Council meeting. Item C: Second reading and adoption of ordinance 400, an ordinance repealing ordinances 369 and 374. Item D: Second reading and adoption of ordinance 401, an ordinance establishing the Public Works and Park Advisory Board. Item E: Approve squad car replacement. Item F: Resolution 2720, authorizing budget transfers for year-end 2023 Cannon Falls audit. Item G: Approve the vacation extension request. Item H: Resolution 2721, approve right-of-way and utility vacation of old Sandstone Ridge Development. Item I: Resolution 2722, accepting a $500 monetary donation from the VFW. Anything the Council would like to discuss? [35:35] **Council Member Diane Johnson:** C and D. [35:35] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** C and D. We'll pull those down; that'll be Council business items A and B. Anything else? [35:35] **Council Member Diane Johnson:** I have a question on each... I think... do you want to pull it down or do you want to just ask the question? I'll just ask the question. Let me find it in here. It's in the Item H, the Sandstone Ridge vacating. It's got vacation highlighted, $450. I think that's the different vacation, that's Neil's vacation that's... [36:22] **City Administrator Jon Radermacher:** No, no, this is what they had to pay for... that's their fee. That's just a standard fee to actually get the vacation processed and approved. [36:22] **Council Member Diane Johnson:** Yeah, I'm like, who gets to go on vacation for... no? Okay, I'm good. Thanks guys. [36:22] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** So we're good, we keep that on consent agenda. All right, not hearing any others, I'd take a motion to approve what's left on the consent agenda. [37:09] **Council Member Lisa Zimmerman:** So moved. **Council Member Diane Johnson:** Second. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Motion from Lisa, second from Diane. All those in favor? **Council:** Aye. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Opposed? Carries. Gets us to City business item A, which was C: the second reading and adoption of ordinance 400, ordinance repealing ordinances 369 and 373. Diane? [37:09] **Council Member Diane Johnson:** And just one again to point out: I think the process for coming up with this resolution... I would have preferred it to come from Public Works and Park Board. Although I know the Mayor has said that Finance can handle anything... so if that's the case, then we should just dissolve all the other... [37:55] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** When did I say that? [37:55] **Council Member Diane Johnson:** You said last time that because everything can be a financial issue, that almost anything can go to finance. Neil, I believe, said that at the meeting. [37:55] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Neil [Jon Radermacher]? Okay, apologies. The Finance Committee was created in the previous administration and as Neil said, it is Personnel, it is Finance, it is a catch-all of things that might fall through the cracks, right? So the way committees are handled, that's obviously up for debate. Department head and how many meetings he goes to and his time schedule is obviously something of personnel or finance, so it falls into the category. [38:43] **Council Member Diane Johnson:** Yeah, but nonetheless, I would have liked to have seen it go through—have response from those two committees before moving forward. I'm not saying that it's good or bad or otherwise, but I would have preferred a... how it was approached. [38:43] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Anything else from the Council? Hearing none, I would accept a motion to approve the second reading and adoption of ordinance 400. [38:43] **Council Member Lindell:** So moved. **Council Member Derek Guesmi:** Second. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Motion from Mr. Lindell, second from Mr. Guesmi. All those in favor? **Council:** Aye. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Opposed? **Council Member Diane Johnson:** Abstain. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Okay, so that is a 5-0-1 with the abstain. That brings us to the second item then, City Council business item B, which was D: the second reading and adoption of ordinance 401, ordinance establishing Public Works and Park Advisory. Diane, you also pulled this down. [39:31] **Council Member Diane Johnson:** Um, and I was just going to ask Sarah: did we correct the five to seven? And that was just an unintentional typo-type thing. But then the second thing is, being all of our committees, commissions, boards are all advisory, I'm not sure why we have the word "advisory" in this title. It just seems redundant. I would think it should be "Public Works and Park Board," being all of them are advisory. Does the definition change if it's in the title of the board? [40:18] **City Clerk Sara Peer:** Their duties are still the same advisory—they still are advisory regardless, yeah. [40:18] **Council Member Diane Johnson:** So would you like the word "advisory"... is that what you want removed? Yeah, it just seems silly to have it there. [40:18] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Rest of the Council, your thoughts? Doesn't matter? Well, Diane, if you want to make the motion to approve with... see if you get a second, but right now I'm hearing "doesn't matter." But if you'd like to go ahead... [40:18] **Council Member Diane Johnson:** If we make changes just to the word advisory, is it okay to have this as the second reading? I will move to approve the resolution with the elimination of the word "advisory" on the title and the seven-member committee as opposed to five. [41:06] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Is there a second from the Council? We're basically just changing it from... removing "advisory." We're just removing one word from the title of the board, but their duties, according to Sarah, have stayed the same. [41:06] **Council Member Grot:** Second. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** All those in favor? **Council:** Aye. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Opposed? Carries. That gets us to the reports. Maggie is not here tonight, but Chamber of Commerce did an awesome job at Deck the Falls. I think a record number—the businesses downtown, that was absolutely fantastic. The parade, the fireworks—I think it was awesome. The fireworks got so many compliments. Joint Powers Trail Board—did they meet? [41:53] **Council Member Diane Johnson:** Yes, in November. All right, didn't bring my agenda, don't have any notes. What did we talk about? Um, yeah, Mile 14 and 16. We can't fix 14 because something with the DNR... there's something endangered and so they have to come up with... wood turtles. The wood turtles. So it's on hold, that part of it is, yeah. They can still proceed with Mile 16, but wood turtles... [41:53] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Wood turtles, okay. Yep, it's a DNR thing. All right, wood turtle. Planning Commission? [42:40] **Council Member Ryan Jeppesen:** Planning Commission met last night. Um, we had two things on the agenda. One was, um, we're just going through some of the text of our... relating to the residential treatment centers. That was just a discussion item. And the other thing was, we had to clean up some more stuff up on the old Sandstone Ridge by vacating some of the right-of-way and utility easements. And that was all that we did. [42:40] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** All right. Go around the horn. Jed? [43:26] **Public Works Director Jed Petersen:** So we almost had a taste of winter today. Um, but I just want to remind residents that garbage cans need to go behind the curb when we do get snow, so that we're not hitting the garbage cans with snow plows. And also when it snows, I don't think we have snow emergencies here, but when there is snow, if people please park off the streets, just so that we don't have to spend so much time coming back and trying to clean things up. [43:26] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Yep, just a general reminder: November to March is technically a no-overnight... that's why we don't have snow emergencies. So, good reminder. Bill? [43:26] **City Engineer Bill Angerman:** Work on Hardwood Estates is progressing nicely. They've actually are wrapping up all the grading work which, good, they're ahead of schedule. So they are now intending to start utilities, meaning sewer and water. They weren't sure, but it's going to be 50 degrees tomorrow, so they're thinking probably Thursday they'll start on that. [43:26] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** See some pipe already sitting there. [43:26] **City Engineer Bill Angerman:** Yeah, I think they were planning to start doing it tomorrow. So we're going to just keep laying pipe until it gets cold, which it eventually will. I don't mean to steal her thunder, Laura is not here tonight, but am I correct in that a lot has been sold? [44:12] **Council Member Diane Johnson:** Wonderful! Where? [44:12] **City Engineer Bill Angerman:** In Hardwood Estates. The first lot has been sold. One of the big ones, one of the big back corner ones. Yeah, awesome. I think it was former Mayor Althoen who used to say, "That corner... that's one... that corner right there." I heard it was Bill. I had not... thank you, Mayor. [44:12] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** All right, thank you Bill. Zach? **City Attorney Shelley Ryan:** Nothing tonight. [44:12] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** All right, Chief. [45:00] **Police Chief Jeff McCormick:** So for us, Deck the Falls pretty much wraps up our events that we worry about. So until spring, we won't have to worry about, you know, traffic closures and that type of stuff. However, as Jed alluded to, it changes us into wintertime stuff. So I just want to again remind people that when we have a snow event that is going to require plowing, Public Works will let us know. The officers will start checking the community about 9:00 to see, you know, how many vehicles are out. Depending upon the workload, they may be able to pre-warn people, but don't count on it because we just never know what each night is going to bring. But then the officers about midnight will start shifting to getting the streets clear, which is going to result in them issuing tickets and towing vehicles so that when Public Works comes out, they can just go down a street and don't have to slow down and go around vehicles. Trash cans are another obstacle; please keep those off the streets so that they can be very efficient, get all the streets plowed before people start getting up and heading out for their jobs or wherever they're headed. We haven't had to tow quite a few in a few years, but every so many years it seems like we get a stretch where the first snow, nobody moves their car and we tow a dozen of them. We never like to do that, but the reality is for a city, having the officers tow the vehicles allows Public Works to come in and plow in a very efficient manner. And that's why we do what we do. So that's all I have. [46:32] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** All right, thank you Chief. Oh, and by the way, thank you very much again for moving us up. As you can tell, we had quite a few family and friends here this evening to witness the pinning for our officers. And you know, that's just awesome. Yeah, congratulations to all those officers. We are thrilled to have them and feel like we're fully staffed. So congratulations on that. Sarah? [46:32] **City Clerk Sara Peer:** All right. Council, Laura? **Council Member Laura Kronenberger:** I'm good. **City Clerk Sara Peer:** Lisa? **Council Member Lisa Zimmerman:** Congrats to the new officers. **City Clerk Sara Peer:** Ryan? **Council Member Ryan Jeppesen:** For sure, new officers, that's cool. Awesome. **City Clerk Sara Peer:** Derek? **Council Member Derek Guesmi:** There is no Public Works or Parks meetings on Thursday. There's nothing on the agenda. **City Clerk Sara Peer:** Diane? **Council Member Diane Johnson:** And just again, great job on Deck the Falls and great job with police officers. [47:20] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Yeah. Steve? [47:20] **Steve Ross:** Jeff, can I bother you about the thing? [47:20] **Police Chief Jeff McCormick:** So Steve asked me for an update on The Terrace. I said I would write myself a note and bring it, so I remembered I have notes on my desk. But fortunately Steve wrote it on his hand and I told him he'll still remind me if I forgot. So if you recall at a meeting a couple weeks ago, we had a hearing relative to the condition of The Terrace. The City Attorney sent out a letter; we posted that letter on the property as well. I just went by there on Monday to check the status. You know, the officers are doing that on a regular basis anyway, but I wanted to be able to provide the update to the City Attorney. Unfortunately, the status hasn't changed. Now there have been some rumors that, you know, there's people living in there and that type of thing—that's not the case. You know, we have had some open doors; the officers when that occurs check the building, make sure that you know nothing new has been damaged. If it has, we document it and then secure the premise again. But because of the size of the building, you know, it's always a challenge. You know, they get in there, they might unlock something that we previously had secured and then, you know, the officers just miss it when they're doing that safety check. So that's why we're checking on a pretty consistent basis, but yes, we do not have anybody living in there. They were just up there a day or two ago with a keyholder that wanted to check the facility out and request just an officer to be present. So the City Attorney has been advised of the lack of progress and advised to just move forward with whatever the next components are for the city to be able to get that property secured and safety taken care of. [48:50] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** All right, thank you. Nothing big. Hope everybody had a really good Thanksgiving. We're preparing for the holidays. One more to go and then we're at 2024. So enjoy winter sports. Congratulations on Zumbrota-Mazeppa and the girls' basketball win—it was a good game. Thank you. All right. With that said, do I have a motion to adjourn? [48:50] **Council Member Ryan Jeppesen:** So moved. **Council Member Diane Johnson:** Second. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Motion from Mr. Jeppesen, second from Diane. All those in favor? **Council:** Aye. **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Opposed? We are adjourned. Thank you everybody.