[0:00] [Silence] [0:37] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: And now I will take a motion and a second to approve the agenda unless there's some changes. [0:43] Chuck Thiele: So moved. [0:44] Royal Ross: Second. [0:45] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Motion by Council Member Ross, second by Council Member Thiele. All in favor say aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? That passes. We have one proclamation tonight. Come around that. To say, if you watch, the Office of the Mayor, City of Faribault, Proclamation: Whereas a visionary group of founding mothers opened Ruth's House in 2004 in response to an unmet need for safe shelter for homeless women and children in Rice County; Whereas Ruth's House of Hope provides over 7,000 nights of safe housing to over 120 women and children each year in its emergency transition shelter; Whereas Ruth’s House of Hope has served over 2,100 women and children during its 20 years; Whereas the community benefits from Ruth’s House of Hope to support women and children fleeing domestic violence, experiencing homelessness, struggling with poverty, and... [1:52] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: ...facing chemical dependency by providing compassionate care and treating all women and children with dignity and respect; Whereas Ruth's House of Hope is celebrating their 20th anniversary on August 23rd, 2024; Now, therefore, the City of Faribault City Council recognizes and congratulates Ruth's House of Hope for 20 years serving Faribault and Rice County, and proclaims August 23rd, 2024, as Ruth's House of Hope Day in Faribault. Anything you'd like to say about the event? [2:23] Ruth's House Representative: Our celebration is this Friday. It is at the Apple Creek Orchard. It's open free to the public, and we are going to have a great time celebrating our residents, past and present, and we will have a lot of fun things to do. We're going to have music and bouncy houses for the kids and food trucks and all kinds of fun things. We hope people will come out. [2:39] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Sounds like a wonderful time. What time was that at the orchard? [2:42] Ruth's House Representative: At 5 o'clock. [2:43] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: At five o'clock. Terrific. We hope you get a good turnout and thank you. Thank you for everything that Ruth's House does. [2:48] Ruth's House Representative: Oh, thank you. Thank you to the members of the council. Perfect. Thank you. [3:20] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: All right, back onto our agenda. Approve the minutes of the July 23rd, 2024 City Council meeting, the July 23rd, 2024 special City Council meeting closed session, and the July 30th, 2024 special City Council meeting and the July 30th, 2024 special City Council meeting closed session. Anybody have any changes or corrections they need to those? I would take a motion and a second to approve those. [3:50] Chuck Thiele: So moved. [3:52] Royal Ross: Second. [3:53] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Motion by Council Member Thiele, second by Council Member Ross. All in favor say aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? Didn't see anything on the clipboard, was there? Do we even have a clipboard anymore? All right, thank you. Thank you, Director Wanberg. Uh, no requests to be heard tonight. Move on to consent agenda items 6A through 6O. Anybody have anything they want pulled for discussion? If not, I would take a motion and a second to approve. [4:30] Royal Ross: Mayor, Council Member Ross, I'll make a motion to approve consent agenda items 6A through 6O. [4:35] John Rowan: Second. [4:37] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Motion by Council Member Ross, second by Council Member Rowan. [4:40] John Rowan: I just want to say thank you to Harry Brown’s for throwing in $3,000 for the Pet Parade. Thank you. I knew it was there. [4:48] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: All right. All in favor say aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? All right, that one passes. Move on to public hearings tonight. An overview of DEED applications or preliminary development agreement related to the potential relocation of KGP Telecommunications LLC to downtown Faribault. Over to Director Wanberg to cover three resolutions. [5:09] David Wanberg: Thank you, Mayor and Council. So you do have three resolutions before you tonight, but I would like first like to give you a little background to the resolutions. So by way of background, Dale and Kathleen Putra founded KGP in 1973. It's a local-based company with global reach that works with networks and leading telecommunications and technology companies around the world to provide network equipment design, architecture, production—the full gamut of issues related to networking. And KGP Co. has been quite successful, so successful in large part that it needs to find a new location. Right now they're located at 3305 Highway 60 West, which is really the interchange of Highway 60 and Interstate 35, and they're looking for a new location. Now, again, it was started as a company that's locally based, and it has grown to have a global reach. They have opportunities where they can locate their headquarters anywhere elsewhere in Minnesota or elsewhere in the United States. We would absolutely like to have them remain here. KGP would like to remain here, but we need to be able to find some options for that to work. [6:24] David Wanberg: Over the past year, KGP representatives as well as City staff and many others including Faribault Real Estate, the County, and others have been working closely to keep and grow KGP in Faribault. KGP right now is working with Faribault Real Estate to relocate KGP headquarters to the downtown area. That is something that is consistent with our downtown master plan, and it is something that we have goals to try to have a major business locate with its employees downtown. So there's a number of benefits for us. They're potentially looking at the area of the 500 block of Central Avenue. Faribault Real Estate would own and renovate the site and KGP would lease the site from Faribault Real Estate. Again, having the headquarters in the downtown would strengthen the downtown, but it would also retain a really important business and their employees and families here in Faribault. [7:10] David Wanberg: However, having that happen is—there's an investment, and that's what we're looking at. There's a number of financial costs that go beyond what KGP is able to contribute right now as well as Faribault Real Estate in terms of covering all the gaps, and that's not uncommon for large projects like this. So City staff has reached out to Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, or DEED. They have looked at the opportunity to be able to keep KGP in Faribault and in Minnesota as opposed to going elsewhere. Based on an anticipated capital expenditure of roughly $4.8 to $5 million, as well as retaining 78 existing jobs that are at KGP and creating eight new jobs, they're identifying that they could provide financial assistance in the range of a $100,000 forgivable loan through the Minnesota Investment Fund, or MIF. They're also identifying that they could provide $153,000 in assistance from the Job Creation Fund, or the JCF. What you need to know about this is that if DEED provides that funding, the Job Creation Fund would be entirely handled by KGP if they meet all the standards and retain 78 jobs and create eight new jobs. They'll be able to get that funding as it comes. [8:45] David Wanberg: To the Minnesota Investment Fund, that $100,000 forgivable loan is something that requires the City to participate. So we essentially act as a pass-through and we administer that loan. In fact, we just recently closed out one of those MIF loans for TriStar. And what the City is required to do is to review and make sure, yes, you met all these standards, you provided the capital expenditures, you submitted the invoices, etc., and then we submit that information to the State. The State gives us the money and then we pass that money back to the applicant; in this case, it would be KGP. So there is that aspect of it. Now, because of that part of it, the MIF or the Minnesota Investment Fund requires a public hearing, and that's why we're here tonight. The JCF does not require a public hearing. We're wrapping that into the same thing just for simplicity's sake, but the reason we have the public hearing tonight is for the Minnesota Investment Fund. [9:32] David Wanberg: So I do want to note that this really is the first step in a long process. We recognize there's a number of things that need to be done to keep KGP Co. here. Getting the MIF and JCF applications in, though, is important because the State views us as a "but-for" test. So if there's a commitment that "No, we're going to be here, we purchased the properties, we've done this, that, and the other thing," then the State says you've failed the "but-for" test. We've had those situations throughout the state and in fact in Faribault where the State has said, "No, I mean, you're already going ahead with the project, this is to keep you in the state." And so we want to make it clear there nothing has been... there's a long way to go on this, right? There's a very long way to go. But the first step before you tonight is to hold a public hearing and say, do you support—and we recommend that you support—resolutions that we can get those applications in for the JCF and the MIF. [11:04] David Wanberg: If you do move ahead with those tonight, which is our recommendation, we'll be getting those in shortly. So that's one thing I want you to know. And then as we move forward in the coming months, there will likely be a number of other things we would have to have public hearings for—a business subsidy, there would likely be a variety of things like platting property and potentially other kinds of aspects to this. We have looked at to close the gap; we've had informal discussions with the EDA and HRA to see if they can contribute some money. We've had those discussions with the Rice County to see if they could contribute some money. All of that requires a business subsidy public hearing. So there are a number of things that would have to happen, a number of things that you would need to review before the project would go ahead. But before we get too far down the line, we want to make sure we get the MIF and JCF applications in so that we don't jeopardize any of the funding with that. So that's what you have before you tonight. You're not deciding anything on any plans, any anything like that—just your support for a MIF and JCF application. [12:12] David Wanberg: And then what we've also added to here just to make sure everyone is clear about it is a preliminary development agreement. You've seen those in a number of cases. All that really is doing is saying, okay, there's a number of different parties involved; the City's going to be involved in this as well as KGP as well as the developer, which in this case is Faribault Real Estate. They would be involved in it. And the preliminary development agreement just simply sets out a framework to say: this is what the City is going to do, this is what the developer is going to do, this is what KGP is responsible for, etc. So we have a framework for that in there, and the resolution allows us the ability as we move forward to refine that. But it really does kind of say like, "Hey, we're serious about this, we're wanting to move forward." Here's a preliminary development agreement in front of you. So what you have before you, we'd like you to take three separate actions. The first is to support Minnesota Investment Fund application in connection with KGP Telecommunications LLC. The second is for the Job Creation Fund. And the third is for the preliminary development agreement between the City, KGP, and Faribault Real Estate that would get us started with that. Again, this is a public hearing, so after—if you have questions for me before you open it up, I'm happy to get into those. We do have representatives here that are prepared to speak during the public hearing from KGP as well as Faribault Real Estate as well. With that, I turn it back to you, Mayor, and I'm happy to answer any questions you might have about the resolutions or the actions in front of you tonight. [14:02] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Thank you, Director Wanberg. Any questions for Wanberg on this item? [14:09] John Rowan: Yeah, I have lots of questions. Okay, first of all, I would like to know, are we all in agreement that we're doing a cornerstone? This is the cornerstone that we wanted downtown? Because I thought we had a discussion that said we really wanted to have retail as our cornerstone downtown. So I guess that's my first question to the Council. I feel like we had a discussion that maybe this wasn't the best choice for that. I feel like you're asking a lot, Director Wanberg, with giving us very little information. I don't know what a business subsidy is, and I feel like that should be answered before we would have a vote. Do you know what a business subsidy is, Chuck? [14:55] Chuck Thiele: Not necessarily. [14:58] John Rowan: I'm also wondering, when we originally were discussing this, are we talking about a proposed apartment, Director Wanberg? Or has that been set aside, or is that just something we're—we're only getting part of the story for this project, and we're going to have this kind of stuff come back up later because the apartment's not mentioned at all in this, right? [15:21] David Wanberg: That's correct. [15:22] John Rowan: Is it off the table? [15:23] David Wanberg: Sure. If you'd like, we can go through step-by-step, Mayor and Commissioner... [15:28] John Rowan: No, just that simple question. Is the apartment still in the plan? [15:32] David Wanberg: The apartments are not on the agenda at all tonight. There have been no plans put together for apartments at this point. The intent here again tonight is to not jeopardize potential funding from DEED with the idea that the project is already pre-ordained to go ahead, and then there is absolutely no chance of funding from the State. [15:58] John Rowan: Okay, I guess I should say this first then. I want to start by thanking the Putras, although I don't see any of them out in the audience, for all they have done for Faribault, and thank you for considering staying in Faribault. I really hope you do. But I can't support what appears to be a substantial monetary investment—and I say "appears" because we have not been given any tangible information. I cannot support spending money unnecessarily, especially at this time when taxpayers are tightening their belts, and I think the City needs to do the same. Multi-million dollar companies and wealthy real estate investors don't really need our help. That's all I have to say. Thank you. [16:47] David Wanberg: And Mayor, if it's helpful, I can respond to Council Member Rowan's specific questions. So in terms of retail, that is an important point in terms of the cornerstone of downtown businesses. But one of the things that we have—and for those of you that participated in Community Vision 2040 as well as the Downtown Master Plan in the Journey to 2040 Comprehensive Plan—it specifically identifies a goal to try to get a major business to locate... business as in an office, you know, where you have employees that are coming in to be in the downtown. So that has been a high priority to try to get some use like that in the downtown with the belief that that helps support our restaurants and our other uses downtown. One of the things that I should point out as well is one of the reasons KGP is—again, their roots are here, they want to stay here. One of the things they like about downtown is it's an opportunity to be able to showcase the downtown and bring their clientele here. It's difficult at the site they are at right now without getting in the car and driving somewhere else. This is a chance for them to be able to have their clientele here, go to the restaurants, go to the different coffee shops, those kinds of things as well. So retail is important, but it really is important from the adopted plans that the City has to try to get a major corporation or employment business downtown. [18:41] John Rowan: 78 people isn't a major... [18:43] David Wanberg: 78 is the existing plus another eight employees. And the staff or the clients that will be coming to the downtown as well for that. So, yeah, so that has been a goal of the City for quite some time. And then in terms of a business subsidy, so there are definitions related to that. So that's really just giving public taxpayer money going to a business. It's a subsidy; it's some way that we're taking our—the taxpayers'—money and giving it to a business, and that does require, if it hits certain thresholds, it requires a public hearing. So in this case, this is... when, if you went ahead with the MIF and JCF applications, there's not money coming from the City of Faribault for that. I'm sure there's some staff time involved if this goes through with the administration of the MIF, but that is not the money that's coming forward from the City or EDA or HRA. Now, if the City were to contribute some money or the County were to contribute money and HRA, EDA, all of them—and you may recall we've had some of those joint meetings with FDC or the Faribault Downtown Central—where those were business subsidies. That's money that the HRA gave that exceeded the business subsidy level, which is generally around $150,000. It depends on what the project is, but let's just for the sake of our discussion say $150,000. If it exceeds that in some level, then you have to have a public hearing. So all of that would happen in the future. [20:11] David Wanberg: I will say, too, that with MIF and JCF applications, not every one of them has gone forward. You might recall that in just the last year or year and a half, we gave support to two other businesses to submit MIF and JCF applications, and those did not... those projects or those applications did not move forward for a variety of reasons, and it's at no loss to the City except for the fact that we put some staff time in doing that. In this case, KGP has to make a decision. They've sold their property at 3305 Highway 60. They're currently leasing for a set period of time until they move somewhere. They will be moving somewhere; we hope it's here. But, you know, they have the option of moving elsewhere, and that's why I'm trying to be transparent and honest that the MIF and JCF are fairly easy applications, I think, to move forward, but I'm also trying to let all of you know that that's not everything. There's still public hearings and a number of things that would have to fall in place before this project could go forward. [21:18] David Wanberg: Oh, and then your last question was on apartments. One of the things that we did discuss early on is: to help close the gap on this, would there be a way that some of that land and some of that area could be converted into residential? And what would that—if we had a Tax Increment Financing for housing there, what would that look like? The preliminary reviews that we did with our financial consultant was saying that we weren't getting a whole lot back from that yet. That's been put on the back burner right now. KGP's got to make a decision relatively quickly: are they going to stay here in Faribault or are they going to go somewhere else? And that's why we're trying to move forward with both the preliminary development agreement and these MIF and JCF applications, which will allow them to get into more detail and start making some decisions about purchasing property and more detailed plans, and so we could get into those discussions. But we're not there yet. Thank you. [22:38] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Thank you, Director Wanberg. Administrator Kinser? [22:45] Jessica Kinser: Yes, thank you, Mayor. I just emailed all of you our business subsidy policy. It is from 2018, and it's not something that's out there very easy to find, so I just wanted to make sure that you knew that we had a policy that defined what we could do. It is required by state law if we are going to provide business subsidies, so you should have that in your inboxes now as a point of reference for anything that we're doing to support business and growth in the community. [23:28] Royal Ross: Thank you. I guess I'd just like to reply to Council Member Rowan's comments. I think KGP is going to be an awesome anchor for downtown. Of course, everybody would like to see more retail, but we have to be realistic. I can't think of a retail situation or business that would bring 86 jobs downtown. But with the addition of 86 professional-level jobs downtown, I can see adding more smaller retail to it. So I think one will feed the other. And I want to make sure for the citizens that are—the thousands and thousands of citizens that are watching our live broadcast here—KGP and their related companies are not asking for a dime of City money tonight. This is State money that just needs the City's approval to request it. They're not requesting a dime of Faribault money tonight. It may come, you know; they may be back. But this is just the first step. So it would to me it would be completely foolish of us to stop this process at the very start of it when they're trying to get some DEED money and some MIF money. So I fully support it. I think it would be a great anchor and a great addition to downtown. [25:02] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Okay, any other comments before we go out to public hearing? Okay. Need a motion and a second to go into public hearing for these three items. [25:12] Thomas J. Spooner: So moved. [25:13] Chuck Thiele: Second. [25:14] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Motion by Council Member Spooner, second by Council Member Thiele. All in favor say aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? We are now in public hearing. If anybody from the public would like to come forward and address the Council or speak on this item, come to the new podium. [25:38] Matt Drivel: Good evening, Council. My name is Matt Drivel. I'm General Counsel for KGP Telecommunications, 3305 Highway 60. I've been fortunate to be with KGP since 2009 when I started out there. At that point, we were a couple hundred employees; most of us were in Faribault. We had some in Kansas. Now we are a few thousand employees. We're spread across the country. We have 2 million square feet of warehouse across the country. We have employees overseas. We have employees here. We have both the products and the services division. When I started, we just had a products division. I get what you're saying about not giving subsidies to a big business, but the fact of the matter is that we're in a different paradigm right now post-COVID with regard to work environment. We have major offices in Kansas City. We have major offices in Atlanta. We have major offices in Dallas Fort Worth, and given where the commercial real estate market is right now for office space, all of those would be very excited to have us come down there and take office space. Also, there is additional resources as far as work and labor pool that are in those areas that are available. [26:55] Matt Drivel: Really, the Putra family has been here the whole life cycle of this company. In fact, it's kind of an interesting cycle because they started in the garage, but then for a while they had a building right downtown here where they did some of their work out of until they grew out of that and kept moving out to where their current location at. They've been there paying taxes, doing their part for the community without asking for a penny for a long, long time. But at this point, in order to get an office environment that makes sense for us and allows us to recruit people, we need something different than what we have right now. In this work-from-home environment, you can't just bludgeon your employees and tell them you got to come into the office. You got to create a reason for them to come into the office; you got to create an environment where they want to be in the office. You also have to create an environment that helps you recruit, attract, and retain talent. We don't have that right now in the location we're in, and I'm sure as many of you are aware and heard from other businesses, recruiting, attracting, and retaining talent in Faribault is difficult right now. [27:43] Matt Drivel: The Putra family would love to stay in Faribault, but there's a hundred reasons to go elsewhere to find a bigger talent pool, to take advantage of some of these current rates on commercial real estate that are really advantageous. We'd like to make this work, but in order to make it work, we need a space that fits what our needs are, helps us with that recruitment and retention of talent, but at the same time doesn't drastically increase the amount that we're paying for rent in our current location. And it's bigger than just the Putra family right now because the Putra family has been very fortunate to grow the company, but they've also been very generous with their employees and with others, and they've sold a portion of the company and allowed other investors to come in, including myself, who is now a part-owner—a very small part, but a part-owner of that company. And the company has a responsibility to those shareholders, those owners as well, to do what's the most advantageous profit-wise and advantageous company-wise for the company, not just what they want to do because they can afford to do something different. So for those reasons, the family would really like to see the company stay here. We'd really like to try and find a way to make this work. And also the fact that it helps the downtown is a great advantage to it as well. Over the last few years, they've been very generous with donations to the Allina Cancer Center, to Shattuck-St. Mary's, to the Senior Center, the Paradise Center for the Arts. We're talking well over a million dollars in donations to those organizations. So I think this is something that makes a lot of sense for everybody involved. I understand the concern about government subsidies and what we're trying to accomplish. This is really something where you're not lining the pockets of the Putra family; you're helping create an environment where they can lease a space—they're not going to own this space—where the company can lease a space that allows us to attract the talent to not only stay here in Faribault but to grow in Faribault and hopefully as part of that process help grow the downtown as well. I don't see where there is a negative. [29:38] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Okay, thank you, Mr. Drivel. Any other comments from the public? Seeing none, I'll bring it back up to the Council. I need a motion and a second to close the public hearing. [29:48] Royal Ross: So moved. [29:49] Thomas J. Spooner: Second. [29:50] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Motion by Council Member Ross, second by Council Member Spooner. All in favor say aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? Public hearing is now closed. Any further comments from Council? [30:03] John Rowan: I would just like to say that leasing the space is not investment in the community by KGP, which is also a $35 million company that's asking—not today, Royal—but will be coming to ask for money from the City, from the HRA, from the EDA, and from any other ways that it can get. So I will be voting "no" on this project. [30:34] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: All right. [30:35] Royal Ross: Mayor, I'll make a motion to approve Resolution 2024-167. [30:40] Chuck Thiele: I'll second that. [30:41] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: All right, I got a motion and a second for a resolution supporting the Minnesota Investment Fund application. All in favor say aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? [30:52] John Rowan: Nay. [30:53] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: That passes. All right, we'll move on to Resolution 2024-168, Job Creation Fund application in connection with KGP Telecommunications LLC. [31:02] Thomas J. Spooner: Mr. Mayor, I'll make a motion to approve Resolution 2024-168. [31:07] Chuck Thiele: Second. [31:08] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Motion by Council Member Spooner, second by Council Member Thiele. All in favor say aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? [31:14] John Rowan: Nay. [31:15] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Passes. Move on to Resolution 2024-169, authorize execution of a preliminary development agreement between the City of Faribault, KGP Telecommunications LLC, and Faribault Real Estate LLC. [31:28] Chuck Thiele: Mr. Mayor, Council Member Thiele, make a motion to approve Resolution 2024-169. [31:33] Royal Ross: Second. [31:34] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Motion by Council Member Thiele, second by Council Member Ross. All in favor say aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? [31:40] John Rowan: Nay. [31:41] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: That one also passes. That's our three items. Anything else that you need on that, Director Wanberg? [31:48] David Wanberg: That's good, okay. Yes, that's all we need for the motions tonight. [31:52] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: All right. For public hearing, thank you, Mr. Drivel, and thank you, Mr. Putra, for showing up. Best of luck; we'll see you in the future. We'll move on to our second set of public hearing, Ordinance 2024-13. [32:28] Heather Slechta: Thank you, Mayor. We held a special City Council meeting on July 30th regarding our cannabis ordinance. At that time, we did not know when the rules would be dropped. However, the next day, the Office of Cannabis Management did release the first draft of the rules and guidelines. I don't think a lot will change within our goals. So that was a good thing. The rules—everybody has until August 30th to provide any feedback on those. However, since we don't have a really solid ordinance in place yet, it was the recommendation of our City Attorney to move forward with extending our moratorium now until January 1st of '25, and the Council agreed with that at that time. So now, part of that process to extend that moratorium is to hold a public hearing. If you have any questions, I'll gladly answer them. [33:17] Royal Ross: Thank you, Mayor. And just to make sure that I understand this, if the State surprises us and actually comes out with hard, firm, fast rules, we can end the moratorium early at any time? [33:32] Heather Slechta: The moratorium can end at any time, yes. So we're extending that to December 31st, January 1st, whatever, but we can end it at any time if the State moves faster than we think they will. Yes. And City staff is working on the steps that we need to take in order to move forward with changing zoning and things like that as well. So I just don't want the citizens to think that we're putting this on the back burner and not willing to move forward with it. We just would like to get the rules down first. So when I did reach out to the Office of Cannabis Management and ask them a question on when they would be approving licenses, they were like, "We don't really—" I mean, the answer was really, "We don't really know yet. It could be weeks, it could be months." So I think we're safe doing this. We'll continue to work on that ordinance and fine-tune it all during that time. [34:39] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Thank you. Any other comments on this? I will take a motion and a second to open the public hearing. [34:44] Thomas J. Spooner: So moved. [34:45] Royal Ross: Second. [34:46] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: I got a motion by Council Member Spooner, second by Council Member Ross. All in favor say aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? We're in a public hearing. If you would like to speak on this item, please come forward, state your name and address for the record. Seeing nobody jump, I need a motion and a second to close the public hearing. [35:10] Chuck Thiele: So moved. [35:11] John Rowan: Second. [35:12] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Motion by Council Member Thiele, second by Council Member Rowan. All in favor say aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? Public hearing is closed. I kind of like this because whenever everything gets ready, we can go for it, but we're not going to get surprised. All right, I'll make a motion to approve Ordinance 2024-13. [35:28] Thomas J. Spooner: Second. [35:29] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Motion by Council Member Spooner, seconded by Council Member Ross. All in favor say aye. [35:34] Heather Slechta: Council Member Rowan? [35:35] John Rowan: Aye. [35:36] Heather Slechta: Ross? [35:37] Royal Ross: Aye. [35:38] Heather Slechta: Van Sluis? [No response]. Spooner? [35:41] Thomas J. Spooner: Aye. [35:42] Heather Slechta: Thiele? [35:43] Chuck Thiele: Aye. [35:44] Heather Slechta: Mayor Spooner? [35:45] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Aye. That passes. Move on to items for discussion. Resolution 2024-161, Order improvements, approve plans and specifications and establish bid date for Straight River Water Main Crossing Contract 2023-10. [36:07] Mark DuChene: Thank you, Mayor and Council. Resolution 2024-161 would approve the plans, specs, and establish a bid date for the Straight River Water Main Crossing project. This project is intended to replace an existing 20-inch water main that currently goes along Second Street Northeast underneath the Heritage Place roundabout or traffic circle. The water main then traverses underneath the Union Pacific Railroad, and when it gets just past the railroad tracks itself, there's some 90-degree bends that bring the water main up to the surface. It's attached to the underside of the pedestrian bridge there that crosses the river, goes across the river, dives back down underground, and then continues its way up to the east side. This is the main transmission line that takes water from our wells and our water treatment facility up to the reservoirs on the east side and feeds a majority of town water. [36:54] Mark DuChene: Some of you may be aware, back in 2019 we actually had a pretty significant break on this water main at one of those 90-degree elbows on the east side of the railroad tracks. It was a very expensive endeavor and time-consuming endeavor working with the railroad and all their safety requirements in order to make that repair. Fast forward to 2021-2022 timeframe, the Viu Park project discussions kicked off, and upon the conclusion of that early preliminary design for Viu Park, when it was identified that there was going to be some type of ice feature or a significant park feature on the north end of the park there, we identified this water main as a critical piece of infrastructure that we probably want to address now before we go and invest millions of dollars in something on top of it that may have to be disturbed should we have to do another major repair. [37:39] Mark DuChene: So this project started along with the design of the Viu Park, and then we put this product on pause at the same time we put the Viu Park on pause to figure out finances. You're aware we had the kickoff for the groundbreaking for Viu Park here just before this meeting. So with that moving forward, we are now recommending we move forward with soliciting bids for this project again to replace this critical piece of infrastructure. I mentioned it is a 20-inch water main transmission pipe; the new pipe will be bored underneath both the railroad and the river, so it'll be entirely underground, go from about the Heritage Place Second Street intersection all the way up to past Third Street intersection. That's how far we have to go in order to meet the construction requirements to get underneath everything and not have too sharp of a bend in the pipe for the pressure. Project cost and funding is entirely funded out of our Water Utility Fund at just over $1.5 million. Pending approval of the plans and specs and setting the bid date, we do have by resolution a bid date of September 4th, anticipating being back here at the September 10th Council meeting for award of a contract. Given the time of year we're at and the bidding climate and construction schedules right now, we do have a flexible construction start date on this project, but the intent is that the work will be done in conjunction with the work being done in Viu Park, to be fully completed by the end of June 2025. So with that, I certainly will take any questions, but we are recommending approval of Resolution 2024-161. [39:07] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Thank you, Director DuChene. Any questions on this item from Council? This would have been something that we probably would have done sometime in the future anyway whether the park was coming or not, correct? [39:13] Mark DuChene: Yes, I mean, given the criticality of this pipe—again, for those that were around back in 2019 when we had that break, we basically had to shut this pipe off and our reservoir levels dropped significantly. We were able to keep all of our businesses that are major water users in operation, but it was at times close to "touch and go" for us. So I think this... that break identified how we need to have a better solution for this. We can't be at the mercy of the railroad should something happen within their right-of-way. The park certainly sped up the timeline for doing this replacement, but yes, this is something that would have been recommended to be done. [39:56] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Okay. And I would assume the standard if we were to develop this today, it would be bored under like it currently is going to be? [40:02] Mark DuChene: Yes, the current railroad design requirements—they would allow us to go underneath and come up to the surface 10 feet from their track with a pressurized pipe. [40:11] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Perfect, thank you. All right, any other questions on this item? Seeing none, I would take a motion and a second to approve Resolution 2024-161. [40:24] Royal Ross: I'll make a motion to approve Resolution 2024-161. [40:28] John Rowan: Second. [40:29] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Motion by Council Member Ross, second by Council Member Rowan. All in favor say aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? Right. Move on to Ordinance 2024-14, Amending Chapter 18 of the City Code of Ordinances, second reading. Over to Director Anderholm-Parsch. I mean, they didn't change your name tag, maybe. We know who she is. [41:09] Rochelle Anderholm-Parsch: Mayor Spooner and members of the Council, first reading for this particular ordinance change allowing alcohol within the city parks was held on July 23rd, 2024. Since that time, we have not received any comments from the public at all on that. So staff is recommending approval of Ordinance 2024-14, amending Chapter 18 of the City of Faribault Code of Ordinances. [41:35] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: That was easy peasy. Thank you, Director Anderholm-Parsch. Any questions on this item, bringing things up to date a little bit? Okay, with that, I would take a motion and a second to approve the revision to Ordinance 2024-14. [41:51] John Rowan: So moved. [41:52] Chuck Thiele: Second. [41:53] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Motion by Council Member Rowan, second by Council Member Thiele. And it is an ordinance. [41:56] Heather Slechta: Council Member Rowan? [41:57] John Rowan: Aye. [41:58] Heather Slechta: Ross? [41:59] Royal Ross: Aye. [42:00] Heather Slechta: Spooner? [42:01] Thomas J. Spooner: Aye. [42:02] Heather Slechta: Thiele? [42:03] Chuck Thiele: Aye. [42:04] Heather Slechta: Mayor Spooner? [42:05] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Aye. That one passes. Need a motion and a second to approve a summary publication of Ordinance 2024-14. [42:13] Thomas J. Spooner: So moved. [42:14] Royal Ross: Second. [42:15] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Motion by Council Member Spooner, second by Council Member Ross. All in favor say aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? That passes. Move on to Ordinance 2024-15, amending Chapter 26 of the City Code of Ordinances, second reading. Back over to Director Anderholm-Parsch. [42:32] Rochelle Anderholm-Parsch: Mayor Spooner and members of the Council, again, first reading of this ordinance was held on July 23rd, 2024. What this ordinance is doing is it updates the tree ordinance, allowing for all different types of diseases within the trees within the community here. Then it also takes and adds in the responsibility that homeowners are responsible for all trees within the boulevards for maintenance and care of those trees. Since this first reading of the ordinance on July 23rd, we have received no comments on that. So staff is recommending approval of Ordinance 2024-15, amending Chapter 26 of the City Code. [43:10] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Okay. Any direct questions for Director Anderholm-Parsch on this one? I assume that we're going to have to have our staff go downtown and trim up the trees because there's a few that are barely six feet? [43:19] Rochelle Anderholm-Parsch: It's part of our annual process down there. Maintenance, always. [43:24] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: All right. I will take a motion and a second to approve Ordinance 2024-15. [43:30] Royal Ross: Mayor, Council Member Ross, I'll make a motion to approve Ordinance 2024-15. [43:34] Chuck Thiele: Second. [43:35] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Motion by Council Member Ross, second by Council Member Thiele. This is another roll call. [43:40] Heather Slechta: Council Member Rowan? [43:41] John Rowan: Aye. [43:42] Heather Slechta: Ross? [43:43] Royal Ross: Aye. [43:44] Heather Slechta: Spooner? [43:45] Thomas J. Spooner: Aye. [43:46] Heather Slechta: Thiele? [43:47] Chuck Thiele: Aye. [43:48] Heather Slechta: Mayor Spooner? [43:49] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Aye. It passes. Need a motion and a second to make a summary of publication of Ordinance 2024-15. [43:55] Thomas J. Spooner: So moved. [43:56] Royal Ross: Second. [43:57] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Got a motion by Council Member Spooner, second by Council Member Ross. All favor say aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? That passes. We'll move on to Sun Company's Property Management RSA Properties LLC Subdivision Number Two: Comprehensive Plan Amendment, Zoning Map Amendment, Easement Vacation, Preliminary Plat, and Final Plat. And over to Harry Davis. [44:20] Harry Davis: All right, thank you, Mayor. Good evening City Council members. So today we are looking at a slew of applications from Sun Companies Properties Management and RSA Properties for a few different projects, which I'll get into here in a second. The applicant, who is here tonight, is Rick Amenson representing Sun Companies. The location for these projects is 1919 Second Street Northwest—it's the 1900 block along 4th Street Northwest. In the proposal we have a few tonight: one is for the Comprehensive Plan Amendment, second is for Zoning Map Amendment, third is for some easement vacation from a previous plat, and then preliminary and final plat concurrent approval. Here's the location for CNS Vending, and this just generally shows context and the properties that are involved with tonight's applications. [45:15] Harry Davis: The request for the comp plan is to change the future land use designation from commercial residential to commercial industrial for just part of these properties. I'll show a diagram here in a minute. For the rezoning, it would be changing the areas that are changing from commercial residential to commercial industrial from R4 High Density Residential to I1 Light Industrial. The easement vacation, which I also have a diagram for, is just vacating a portion of an easement that was platted with an earlier subdivision for these properties, and then replatting a different easement alongside the preliminary and final plat approvals. The first diagram is... if you are looking at it, the purple color is the area that will remain commercial industrial mixed-use in terms of comp plan and be stayed zoned to I1. The area that's brown will either stay... in the case of the property that's to the southwestern edge of all these four, or two resulting properties, will be commercial residential mixed-use and will extend over a few properties that Sun Companies now owns and manages to the east. And so that'll become commercial residential mixed-use and be zoned R4. [46:58] Harry Davis: The next diagram: the area that's in red is the proposed easement vacation. Just to show the other colors, the golden color is an existing easement from a previous plat, and then purple will actually be new easements as a part of the upcoming plat diagram which is—I apologize, it's this last diagram right here. And it's a little hard to tell on the screen, but there's just two lots that are a result of the preliminary and final plats: a larger lot along the northern part of these properties and then a southern, more southwesterly second lot. And so the idea between the two lots: the first, more on the northern side, will be for CNS Vending. Then the south side will be a lot that's reserved for potential future high-density residential in terms of zoning and subdivision concerns. [47:51] Harry Davis: I would say generally across the board, we have no major issues. The applicant has been really good working through any of the issues that we have had. There was a variance at one point and they were able to work with a property owner to negate the need for that variance, and we do recognize that they have done a lot of work on this project. So we do feel like that these proposed applications are needed in order to facilitate the expansion of CNS Vending, and we're excited to see all that come to fruition at some point. So we are recommending in favor of the resolutions and the ordinances in front of you. I can go through it line-by-line if you'd like me to, but generally, we're recommending approval of the resolution for Comprehensive Plan Amendment as well as the ordinance to rezone the subject areas, the ordinance to vacate the unnecessary easement, and then with the preliminary and final plats, we are recommending in favor of both of those and a concurrent approval. So with that, I'm happy to take any questions. [48:54] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Thank you, Mr. Davis. Any questions for city planner? Okay, it's all pretty straightforward, makes sense. So we'll start working our way through these. Resolution 2024-163, approve a Comprehensive Plan Amendment for a change of land use map designation at 1919 Second Street Northwest. [49:15] Thomas J. Spooner: Mayor, I'll make a motion to approve Resolution 2024-163. [49:19] Chuck Thiele: Second. [49:20] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Got a motion by Council Member Spooner, second by Council Member Thiele. All in favor say aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? No? Passes. We'll move on to Ordinance 2024-15, approve rezoning properties in the 1900 block of 4th Street Northwest to I1, first reading. [49:37] Thomas J. Spooner: I'll make a motion to approve Ordinance 2024-15. [49:40] Chuck Thiele: Second. [49:41] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Thank you, Council Member Spooner, seconded by Council Member Thiele. And this is a roll call. [49:46] Heather Slechta: Council Member Rowan? [49:47] John Rowan: Aye. [49:48] Heather Slechta: Ross? [49:49] Royal Ross: Aye. [49:50] Heather Slechta: Spooner? [49:51] Thomas J. Spooner: Aye. [49:52] Heather Slechta: Thiele? [49:53] Chuck Thiele: Aye. [49:54] Heather Slechta: Mayor Spooner? [49:55] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Aye. And passes first reading. We'll move on to ordinance at 1919 Second Street Northwest, first reading. [50:06] Chuck Thiele: Council Member Thiele, I'd like to make a motion to approve Ordinance 2024-16. [50:11] John Rowan: Second. [50:12] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Motion by Council Member Thiele, seconded by Council Member Rowan. And this is another roll call. [50:18] Heather Slechta: Council Member Rowan? [50:19] John Rowan: Aye. [50:20] Heather Slechta: Ross? [50:21] Royal Ross: Aye. [50:22] Heather Slechta: Spooner? [50:23] Thomas J. Spooner: Aye. [50:24] Heather Slechta: Thiele? [50:25] Chuck Thiele: Aye. [50:26] Heather Slechta: Mayor Spooner? [50:27] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Aye. Passes first reading. Move on to Resolution 2024-164, approve the preliminary and final plats for RSA Properties LLC Subdivision Number Two. [50:33] Royal Ross: I believe I had a question. I just have to find it. It was in the conditions... technical tablets, you can't... there is a condition in there where the wording was they had to remove any proposed or future buildings. Do you know the condition I'm referring to, Mr. Davis? [51:24] Harry Davis: Yes, I do, Council Member Ross. So the preliminary and the final plats are meant to be focused more on the property lines and on the land itself rather than any future expansions and buildings other than what's currently existing. And so that was really just a clarification so that there are no confusions going forward on, "Oh, a final plat shows a future proposed building—did it actually get built that way?" and somehow hamstring the developer to do it that way. So it's really just to protect us as well as the developer. [51:50] Royal Ross: Okay. I just... I don't remember seeing a statement like that, and I did find it. It's 2A: "Remove future or proposed buildings from the plat." And I just, yeah, don't remember seeing that. So I just wanted the clarification and education. Thank you. [52:08] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Anything else? [52:09] Thomas J. Spooner: Mr. Mayor, I'll make a motion to approve Resolution 2024-164. [52:13] Royal Ross: Second. [52:14] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Got a motion by Council Member Spooner, second by Council Member Ross. All in favor say aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? All right, those ones all passed. Thank you. We'll move on to Resolution 2024-165, Canvass primary election results and abstract. Over to Slechta. [52:45] Heather Slechta: Yes, I just like to state that I'm... understand. Okay, so as you all know, yesterday we had our first primary election for the City in a very long time. We had four people running for the office of Mayor and the top two candidates will be placed on the general election ballot on November 5th. After each election cycle, the Property Tax and Elections Department at Rice County prepares an abstract. They prepared their abstract quicker than they even thought they were going to get it ready, so I was able to put it together for tonight's meeting. Therefore, we can cancel the meeting on Friday morning at 8:00 AM where we were going to approve this. So the results from yesterday's election put Tom Spooner at with 707 votes, Jonathan Wood received 393 votes, Adama Doumbouya received 132 votes, and Brian C. Peterson had 202 votes. So Tom Spooner and Jonathan Wood will move forward on the general election ballot on the 5th of November. So I'm just requesting that the Council approves Resolution 2024-165. The abstract and information is behind that resolution. At it, we had just over 1,400 voters—12%. [54:11] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Yeah, I thought we were going to have 4,000, so I was kind of way off on that one. So I did not win anything last night when we were trying to figure out how many voters we were going to have. [54:23] Royal Ross: Mayor, Council Member Ross, as much as I was looking forward to an 8:00 AM Friday meeting, I will make a motion to approve Resolution 2024-165. [54:33] John Rowan: I will second that. [54:34] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: All right, a motion by Council Member Ross, seconded enthusiastically by Council Member Rowan. All favor say aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? All right, that passes. We'll move on to Resolution 2024-160, Accept bids for Canon Riverview Trail Contract 2024-05. Over to Director DuChene. [55:18] Mark DuChene: Thank you, Mayor Spooner and members of the Council. Before you tonight is a resolution to accept the bids for the Canon Riverview Trail project. This project extends the multi-purpose trail from 20th Street Northwest—or the cul-de-sac there by the most recently built Kwik Trip—up along the old railroad grade, formerly Faribault Food Spray Fields access road, up to and past Eastview Drive. Eastview Drive is the new road that would access the new Public Safety Center. This trail will extend past that and actually go all the way up to serve the Twin Oaks subdivision, which is the new Rice County HRA subdivision there. This project... bids were open back on July 17th. The low bid came in from S.L. Contracting out of Rochester, Minnesota. You can see it’s just under $238,000 and well underneath our engineers' estimate. [56:05] Mark DuChene: This project also is funded through a grant from Federal Highway Administration as part of the IIJA bill that the federal government passed. We were awarded up to $275,000 for construction costs. Federal grants have an 80/20 split, so while the good news is we got low bids, the bad news is that just means we get less towards our grant because we are capped at 80%. So based on the bids that were received... whoops, those numbers are flipped, I'm sorry. The Carbon Reduction Grant will actually cover $190,000 of the project costs and the Park Improvement Fund will cover $95,000 of the cost for a total project cost of about $285,500. Pending your approval tonight, we will issue contracts, finish up with our final approvals from MnDOT through the federal aid process. Construction is scheduled to start in September and be completed here in November. So with that, I will stand for any questions. [56:59] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Thank you, Director DuChene. Council Member Ross? [57:04] Royal Ross: Thank you, Mayor. Director DuChene, could you repeat the... are the numbers accurate as stated here? The Park Improvement Fund is $190,000? [57:13] Mark DuChene: They're flipped. The numbers are flipped, yep. The Carbon Reduction Grant will cover $190,277 based on the low bids, and the Park Improvement Fund will cover $95,000. [57:24] Royal Ross: Okay, great. All right, thank you. It's always wonderful to receive a grant of that size for a project. Although I used to always wonder why we were always getting all these grants to build trails, because I didn't believe in trails at the time, you know, because I was just a kid. But now I see why we do it—because somebody's going to get the money sooner or later, so it might as well be us. So being that you came in under budget, does that mean we get some trail finding—wayfinding signs—on the trail? [57:56] Mark DuChene: Um, on this specific trail? So people know their direction to downtown or Alexander Park or how to get out to the trailhead? You can create them and be the master. [58:05] Mark DuChene: That's an interesting question. I can run it by our FHWA grant administration folks and see if a change order can be issued for signage, possibly. [58:14] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Probably work with Director Anderholm-Parsch and her team and start the trail program, especially if we only have to pay, you know, 20% of it. Okay, any other conversation? Seeing none, I see Council Member Ross jumping to the bit there. [58:32] Royal Ross: Mayor, Council Member Ross, I'll make a motion to approve Resolution 2024-160. [58:37] Chuck Thiele: Second. [58:38] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Motion by Council Member Ross, second by Council Member Thiele. All in favor say aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? That passes. All right, move to boards and commission reports, announcements, project updates. Anybody have anything of pertinent information going on this weekend? Be quiet. [59:04] Thomas J. Spooner: Downtown car show Friday night. [59:06] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Yeah, that'll be a big event. Hopefully some good weather. It's a roll-in, isn't it? [59:11] Royal Ross: Yeah, yeah, I believe they do. I believe they do the actual car cruise around the lakes and then they all come downtown. So if you're looking for something to do Friday night, come to downtown Faribault and we could always use some volunteers. And if you live around the lakes, make sure you check the Chamber's route and see if they're zipping by your house, then bring earplugs. And anything else, Kinser? [59:38] Jessica Kinser: No, nothing tonight. [59:40] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: All right. With that, I would take a motion and a second to adjourn. [59:44] Royal Ross: So moved. [59:45] Chuck Thiele: Second. [59:46] Mayor Thomas J. Spooner: Motion by Council Member Ross, second by Council Member Thiele. All in favor say aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? [Meeting ends].