[0:00] Wayne Boucher: We are ready to start the meeting. Let's stand for the pledge of allegiance. [0:05] Group: 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. [0:25] Wayne Boucher: Roll call, please. [0:27] Alissa McClure: Councilor Geissler? [0:28] John Geissler: Here. [0:29] Alissa McClure: Councilor Hjelle? [0:30] Andy Hjelle: Here. [0:31] Alissa McClure: Councilor LeBlanc? [0:32] Brian LeBlanc: Here. [0:33] Alissa McClure: Councilor Peterson? [0:34] Joe Peterson: Here. [0:35] Alissa McClure: Mayor Boucher? [0:36] Wayne Boucher: Here. Uh, next we have announcements. Do any council members have announcements this evening? [0:40] Wayne Boucher: Uh, I have two. Uh, one uh I'll get to in a little bit relates to public comment periods. But first I'd like to recognize some long-term Hermantown residents. It seems like we've had a a rash of people dying in the last two weeks and several of them were connected to city government. Uh, Steve Archambault died at 71 years old. He was a former chair of planning and zoning and a former assistant deputy fire chief. Uh, Irene Edith Shaw, Jean Shaw's wife uh was—Jean is a member of the park board and a prior member of HEDA. Jim Sthers, who was responsible for building uh J-Bard Road and the development there, died at 84. And someone who made it to 100 years old, Olive Kirkland, lived on the Midway Road near Highway 194. She had just turned 100 on Christmas Eve. Uh, long-term residents of the community who through themselves and their children have given a lot. Next, I will address uh recent modifications to our public comment policy. We're asking that anyone want that wants to speak to the council to please sign up out in the hallway prior to speaking. We have general public comment which is about items not on the agenda. And during this meeting, we will have public comment on agenda items that are um resolutions 11 through 14. We will ask that people sign up that wish to speak on those also and we will make another short announcement at the beginning of those resolutions. [2:31] Wayne Boucher: Now for general public comment. Do we have a list? [2:51] Wayne Boucher: Uh, first person on the list is Karen Harmon. Karen, if you could step to the podium and start with your name and address, please. [3:11] Karen Harmon: Hi, I'm Karen Harmon, 5279 West Arrowhead Road. Um, couple things. One is that um I am severely hearing impaired and even with hearing aids and with assisted devices, I have a very difficult time understanding what's going on at the city council meeting and the pre-agenda meetings. The both Android and Apple te um phones have devices now and they will do voice-to-text translations but it still is not adequate for following the conversation. So, a lot of churches have um ways to do it and they will broadcast what's going on in their church and have it up on a wall or something. But I'm advocating for something for the Hermantown pre-agenda meeting and the city council meeting for those of us that aren't able to understand the conversations that are going on. So, that's one of my um um concerns. Also, um I was wondering I've asked before and talked to doc to Mr. Mulder about it, but I was wondering if we can find out who the principal is, who um the we've been told that one of the person that will be um involved with the data center is in the um what's how is it phrased? the top 50 of um the country for financing. That's not the correct phrasing with it. But I was wondering if we can find out who is actually behind the money for the data center yet. If it's going to be Apple or or if it's going to be somebody else if that is available to us if people in the community yet. [5:34] Wayne Boucher: Thank you. That information is something that's not available at this time, but we'll have someone talk to you after the meeting or get in touch with you to go into a further explanation. Thank you. Okay, next is Sarah Loofald. [6:01] Wayne Boucher: Still name and address, please. [6:03] Sarah Loofald: Uh, my name is Sarah Loofald. I live at 5502 Hermantown Road. Um, and I'll be honest, I didn't prepare anything today because it has been a very rough year and it's only been 20 days. Um, it has been tough to watch the news, to see what's going on in our communities, in our state, in our country, and in the world. And it makes me very reflective as to what my community and what my state mean to me. I am very proud of my state right now and how we are standing up to some very big bullies in our government. And I want to tell you that I don't feel that way with you guys. I do not see you as bullies. I see you as the other side of a topic that we see maybe very differently or maybe very similarly. Uh, unfortunately I I don't know how you all think about this data center. Um, but I do not see you as an adversary. I do hope that in the future we can work together as a community and as a council to do what's best for our city because that is what's important is what's best for the people of our city, but also for the people of our surrounding communities because you want to be a good neighbor. You want to show them that you care about them as well. Um that you're not just thinking of your own interests. And that's true for uh any state, any country. You want to look at our community as a whole and the things that have been happening not just in this city but around the world. It makes you look at the people around you, your family, your friends, your loved ones, your community members, and strangers. We've seen people around Minnesota helping strangers, and that's amazing. And I see what we're doing here, too, as trying to help each other. You see it, this data center, as a potential financial opportunity. I see it as a Fortune 50 company taking us for granted. In the past, you have talked to your community about what we want for our city. That's what we've done with the Adolf prior to um this data center coming up. But it does feel like this data center wasn't brought up to the community in the right way. That this wasn't a cooperative thing that it turned right into adversarial within the first moment within the first approval of that AUAR. [9:11] Wayne Boucher: 30 seconds here. [9:14] Sarah Loofald: That our state and our country can work together as well. So my request to you is you have heard how our community feels about this data center. Listen to us and if you want to work cooperatively, bring us in on the conversation. Create a council of citizens that can advise you. Thank you. [9:37] Wayne Boucher: Thank you. Next is Ben Niss. Um, we'll go back to name and address, please. [9:57] Ben Niss: Yeah. My name is Ben Niss. My address is 1015 North 6th Avenue East in Duluth, Minnesota. And I'm here this evening to speak against the data center and against the current AUAR for the data center. I wanted to bring up three sections in the AUAR that I find lacking detail for a sufficient environmental review for a project of this scale. The first section is on page 42 of the AUAR. This section talks about wastewater treatment for the facility. And as we know, 50,000 gallons per day of domestic wastewater is going to be treated at the Duluth wastewater treatment facility every day that's leaving this facility. And there is no pre-treatment listed on this page. And this is the page where you'd list any pre-treatment for the water leaving the facility and cooling centers and data centers. I'm sorry. The cooling systems in data centers release higher levels of salts and minerals. And our local municipal wastewater treatment facilities are not designed for salts and minerals. They're designed for organic wastes. This is not a waste that should be treated by our municipalities. This should be pre-treated at this facility. And the second point I would like to bring up is on page 66 of the AUAR. And there's a table here that refers to greenhouse gas emissions. And the figure I would like to point out is on the grid-based electricity coming from Minnesota Power. The number here is 18,248 tons of CO2 per year. And the issue I have with this number is how this was calculated. The note next to this number and the associated quote is "electricity use is a high-level estimate based on occupancy load for typical light industrial use and the current power supply." So this tells me that this number has no basis in this project. This is solely based on typical light industrial use which we know is not this project. This is a data center of 1.8 million square feet. It's not based on light industrial use which means this number is based in no actual reality at all. And the third point I would like to bring up is on page 68 and it's mostly the lack of detail here and it the only detail it lists about the lifespan of the project here is that it's projected to be operating for 50 years and there's nothing here that states how any of the electronic waste is going to be dealt with. Electronic waste needs to be dealt with responsibly. Servers only last 5 to 10 years. So that's you're looking at replacing servers 10 times, maybe five times, and that all has to be dealt with responsibly. The only people who are benefiting is this Fortune 50 company and not Hermantown. [13:09] Wayne Boucher: Thank you. Next is Emma Rickman. [13:23] Emma Rickman: Good evening. Uh, Emma Rickman, 5215 Chris Drive. Uh, thank you for the opportunity to uh speak my opposition to the data center. Um, I am feeling an appreciation for a platform to protest now more than ever with this current state of affairs in Minnesota. Um, so I thank you for that. Um, I don't have something overly prepared at this time, but again, I just want to voice that I am not in favor of this. Um, I'm concerned at the speed at which a lot of these data centers both in Minnesota and around the country are being built. Um, and with legislation lacking, it feels like there's a race to the finish line to build something that is base level and maximizing profit. Um, so I know that you have the best interests or I hope you have the best interests of the people of Hermantown uh in your mind and I would hope that an EIS would address much more than the AUAR has um to really uh what am I trying to say? Just address the entire scope and scale of this unprecedented development. Um, so I guess that's all I can muster up at this time, but I'll come back with something else in the future. Thank you. [15:06] Wayne Boucher: Thank you. We have one more person who's signed up, but I want to remind anyone before I call that person that there's still time to sign up in the hall if anyone wishes to speak under general public comment. Next is Clarissa Act. [15:27] Clarissa Act: Good evening, Clarissa, 3505 Solway Road Hermantown 55810. I just come today again to ask the council to reconsider your thoughts on this hyper-scale data center. Ask that you join other city councils across the nation that have listened to their constituents and rejected development of these hyper-scale data centers proposed in their communities. Those would be Chandler Arizona, Caledonia Wisconsin, Peculiar Missouri, Franklin Township Indiana, Chesterton Indiana, Solon Michigan, Lordstown Ohio, Cascade Locks Oregon, Warrenton Virginia, and Prince George's County in Maryland. All of those city councils listened to their constituents. They cared about the concerns um and they stopped development. The reasons for doing so were cited as environmental concerns. We certainly have those. We have wetlands. Um, we have houses, we have agricultural lines, we have old growth forests, we have an abundance of water, um water life and wildlife, we have a designated trout stream. Other reasons, noise pollution—certainly that is a huge concern. Grassroots organization and organizing—you've seen that, we're doing that. We'll continue to do that. And legal challenges. As you all know, there's at least two lawsuits against the city of Hermantown directly related to the data center, and there are more to come. I'm wondering how much the city council is committed to spending on legal fees to fight your own residents against something they don't want. I tried to look back to see how much legal fees are being paid right now. And going back through all the agendas, there's usually some amount of legal fees that are paid out. Usually general matters retainer. Um, the December 15, 2025 uh agenda minutes indicates $5,096 spent in legal fees. $3,016 of that was related specifically to project Luzon and the data center. December 1st, 2025, $17,175.50 in legal fees; of that amount $7,367.50 directly related to legal fees associated with the data center and project Luzon. Interestingly though, the last two minutes include zero legal fees, no retainer, nothing. I find that really hard to believe considering now that there's two active litigations and there's zero dollars going towards legal fees in the last two minutes um from January 5th and January 20th. We're watching. I hope you pay attention. Thank you. [18:13] Wayne Boucher: Thank you. Is there anyone else signed up out in the hall? Officer, nothing. Thank you. With that, we will move to the consent agenda. Consent agenda starts with 2026-09 resolution approving pay request number 19 for the Northstar Ford Arena to Krauss-Anderson Construction Company in the amount of $143,711.56. This is for the December charges and resolution 2026-10, resolution approving pay request number 20 for the Northstar Ford Arena to Krauss-Anderson Construction Company in the amount of $523,940.54. This is a resolution reducing the percentage of contingency held back from Krauss-Anderson. Next is minutes approval or correction of the January 5th, 2026 city council continuation minutes and accounts payable approved general city warrants from January 1st, 2026 through January 15, 2026 in the amount of $822,661.81. Is there a motion relating to the consent agenda? [19:47] Joe Peterson: I make a motion to approve. [19:48] Wayne Boucher: Motion by Councilor Peterson to approve. Is there a second? [19:51] Andy Hjelle: I'll second. [19:53] Wayne Boucher: Second by Councilor Hjelle. Roll call, please. [19:56] Alissa McClure: Councilor Geissler? [19:57] John Geissler: Aye. [19:58] Alissa McClure: Councilor Hjelle? [19:59] Andy Hjelle: Aye. [20:00] Alissa McClure: Councilor LeBlanc? [20:01] Brian LeBlanc: Aye. [20:02] Alissa McClure: Councilor Peterson? [20:03] Joe Peterson: Aye. [20:04] Alissa McClure: Mayor Boucher? [20:05] Wayne Boucher: Aye. Next are resolutions all of which have the opportunity for public comment. If anyone wishes to comment on any of these resolutions, please go to the hallway and sign up on the list out there. The officer will bring it to us in the proper time. First is resolution 2026-11. Resolution authorizing the purchase of a Bobcat Toolcat for parks and trail maintenance in the amount of $89,270.55. Is there a motion? [20:38] John Geissler: Motion to approve. [20:40] Wayne Boucher: Motion by Councilor Geissler to approve. Is there a second? [20:43] Joe Peterson: I'll second. [20:45] Wayne Boucher: Second by Councilor Peterson. Any comment on this resolution from council? Any questions? [21:00] Joe Peterson: Build new parks. You need tooling to maintain them. [21:03] Wayne Boucher: Okay. Okay. And um we would normally go to the sign-up list. Is the sign-up occurring right now for this resolution? Okay. Roll call, please. [21:14] Alissa McClure: Councilor Hjelle? [21:15] Andy Hjelle: Aye. [21:16] Alissa McClure: Councilor LeBlanc? [21:17] Brian LeBlanc: Aye. [21:18] Alissa McClure: Councilor Peterson? [21:19] Joe Peterson: Aye. [21:20] Alissa McClure: Councilor Geissler? [21:21] John Geissler: Aye. [21:22] Alissa McClure: Mayor Boucher? [21:23] Wayne Boucher: Aye. Next is resolution 2026-12. Resolution authorizing and directing mayor and city clerk to execute and deliver agreement for professional services with Northland Consulting Engineers LLP for city engineering services. Do we have a motion? [21:40] Joe Peterson: I'll make a motion to approve. [21:42] Wayne Boucher: Motion by Councilor Peterson to approve. Do we have a second? [21:45] Brian LeBlanc: Second. [21:46] Wayne Boucher: Second by Councilor LeBlanc. Mr. Mulder. [21:49] John Mulder: This is uh an annual contract that we have with for city engineering services with Northland Consulting Engineers. The only change is there was a slight increase for the city engineer's hourly rate. [22:04] Wayne Boucher: Thank you. Any questions or comments from council? [22:07] John Geissler: Um, I'll just state what I always do when we approve this contract is that my son works for Northland Consulting Engineers and the result of this contract has no financial benefit for he or I. [22:18] Wayne Boucher: Thank you. Any other council comment? [22:21] John Mulder: Yeah. No, he's not. [22:24] Wayne Boucher: Okay. We have one person that wishes to speak to this item. Emma Rickman says, "Update to resolution 12." You wanted 13. Okay. Well I'll change that here and we'll get to you in a few minutes. Uh, no one else signed up out in the hall for this resolution. Roll call, please. [22:58] Alissa McClure: Councilor LeBlanc? [22:59] Brian LeBlanc: Aye. [23:00] Alissa McClure: Councilor Peterson? [23:01] Joe Peterson: Aye. [23:02] Alissa McClure: Councilor Geissler? [23:03] John Geissler: Aye. [23:04] Alissa McClure: Councilor Hjelle? [23:05] Andy Hjelle: Aye. [23:06] Alissa McClure: Mayor Boucher? [23:07] Wayne Boucher: Aye. Next is resolution 2026-13, resolution approving an update to the City of Hermantown, Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, City Hall Procedures. Is there a motion? [23:22] John Geissler: Motion to approve. [23:23] Wayne Boucher: Motion by Councilor Geissler. Is there a second? [23:26] Andy Hjelle: I'll second. [23:27] Wayne Boucher: Second by Councilor Hjelle. Mr. Mulder, should we have our city attorney explain this one? [23:33] John Mulder: Sure. Do that. Yes, Mr. Johnson. [23:44] Steve Johnson (Legal Counsel): Thank you, mayor and councilors. Um, each year the legislature tweaks and changes the rules about data practices in the state of Minnesota. Um, there have been model policies that have come out over the past six months from the League of Minnesota Cities and there's been a a general increase in the the level of data practices requests that the city has has been receiving. And so the the city clerk and I undertook a pretty extensive review of the City of Hermantown's data practices policies, updated those to make sure that they were compliant with the the changes in the laws and they were consistent with the model policies that are being recommended for municipalities all across the state. Um the changes are are incorporated into the the resolution. They're they're redlined and you can see the particular changes. There was nothing too radical done, but just numerous uh tweaks and and fixes to make sure that the City of Hermantown is compliant with with the state laws. [24:43] Wayne Boucher: Thank you. Any questions or comments from council? Um, I noticed that one of the tweaks was removing the former city clerk's name as a contact person and making that current. [24:54] Steve Johnson (Legal Counsel): That is correct. Quite uh outdated. Yes. [24:58] Wayne Boucher: Okay. And uh that list is available in the hallway with the tonight's minutes for anybody to look at and the changes are redlined and Emma Rickman wishes to speak to that. [25:13] Emma Rickman: Uh, Emma Rickman, 5215 Chris Drive. Uh, was this discussed at the most recent city council meeting two weeks ago? Or is this—Sorry, I've been sick. This hasn't been discussed yet at a city council meeting, the update. [25:28] Wayne Boucher: Not that I'm aware of. [25:31] Emma Rickman: Okay. I just don't want to be uh asking you questions that I maybe could have found the answer to. Um I had a question regarding this redlined area: "Creation of Data. MGDPA does not require the city to create or collect new data in response to a data request or to provide data in a specific form or arrangement if the city does not keep that data in that form or arrangement." Could you expand on what that means? [25:54] Wayne Boucher: Mr. Johnson, could you? [25:56] Steve Johnson (Legal Counsel): Yes. So that's just a clarification of state law. Um if if somebody comes and asks the city to for data about you know what are the names of everybody that lives on such and such a block—the city may not have that data. They don't have the obligation to go out and send employees out and ask everybody what their names are and create data for somebody requesting data. They just have an obligation to give certain data to people that they they already have or have collected. [26:32] Emma Rickman: Okay. And then in regards to the specific form or arrangement—like, what does it mean? Could it be out of order or what is that? [26:47] Steve Johnson (Legal Counsel): Yeah. So that's a good question and it's it's something that comes up. So there's let's say data on on water and it's in a certain form and for somebody that wants to see that data, it would be much nicer if the city would put it into a spreadsheet and be able to have a format that that's much more usable for the person that wants the data. But the law doesn't require the city to modify that data that they have collected into a form that's more convenient for the person that wants to look at it. [27:31] Emma Rickman: Yeah. Okay. Um and any further questions I have about these or the policy and the updates I can direct to Alissa. You're sitting there. Okay. [27:46] Wayne Boucher: And you can stick around at the end of the meeting if you've uncovered some more questions. [27:51] Emma Rickman: Okay. Thank you. [27:53] Wayne Boucher: Has anyone else signed up to speak? Okay. Roll call, please. [27:57] Alissa McClure: Councilor Peterson? [27:58] Joe Peterson: Aye. [27:59] Alissa McClure: Councilor Geissler? [28:00] John Geissler: Aye. [28:01] Alissa McClure: Councilor Hjelle? [28:02] Andy Hjelle: Aye. [28:03] Alissa McClure: Councilor LeBlanc? [28:04] Brian LeBlanc: Aye. [28:05] Alissa McClure: Mayor Boucher? [28:06] Wayne Boucher: Aye. Next is resolution 2026-14. Resolution approving final plans and specifications and ordering advertisement for bids for improvement district number 323 water system connection and booster station project. Do we have a motion? [28:22] Brian LeBlanc: Move to approve. [28:24] Wayne Boucher: Motion by Councilor LeBlanc. Is there a second? [28:26] John Geissler: Second. [28:27] Wayne Boucher: Second by Councilor Geissler. Mr. Mulder, do we want our city engineer to address this? [28:31] John Mulder: Sure. [28:32] Northland Consulting Engineer (Mr. B): Yep. Thank you, Mayor and Council. So, this is a a a rebid of a second waterline connection at the intersection of Haynes and Anderson Road. We previously bid this in July of last year. We had one bidder and the bid amount was considerably higher than the engineer's estimate. So, we decided to not award at that time and put the rebid the project this year. Um, hoping to get some uh more bidders and a better bidding climate and having the the time to do the work. Um, so that's um what this project is and we're hoping to have it completed by the end of the year. [29:20] Wayne Boucher: Thank you. Any questions or comments from council? And Mr. Mulder, just for clarification, this was recommended many years ago by a study that we had prepared. [29:32] John Mulder: Yeah. Um, and I want to say it was 2018 or 19 off the top of my head. Um, SEH did a water modeling um and just looked at our entire system in terms of its needs and in terms of the towers, stations, things like that. And one of the recommendations is that we should have a second connection. Currently, we only have one connection to the City of Duluth for water. And if something were to happen that that would go down, that would potentially cause problems. So, they recommended that we have a second connection. Several years ago, St. Louis County redid Haynes Road. And at that point in time, we knew that we were looking at potentially doing a second connection. We put the pipe across the road while they were reconstructing that road so that we would be ready to do um this connection. [30:20] Wayne Boucher: Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Is anyone signed up? Roll call, please. [30:28] Alissa McClure: Councilor Geissler? [30:29] John Geissler: Aye. [30:30] Alissa McClure: Councilor Hjelle? [30:31] Andy Hjelle: Aye. [30:32] Alissa McClure: Councilor LeBlanc? [30:33] Brian LeBlanc: Aye. [30:34] Alissa McClure: Councilor Peterson? [30:35] Joe Peterson: Aye. [30:36] Alissa McClure: Mayor Boucher? [30:37] Wayne Boucher: Aye. And that is the end of our agenda. Do we have a motion to recess? [30:40] Brian LeBlanc: Move to recess. [30:42] Wayne Boucher: Motion by Councilor LeBlanc. Is there a second? [30:44] Andy Hjelle: I'll second. [30:46] Wayne Boucher: Second by Councilor Hjelle. All in favor say aye. [30:48] Group: Aye. [30:49] Wayne Boucher: Thank you.