Call to order our Discover Cottage Grove November 25th, 2025 board meeting. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge algiance 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. >> Alexa, can I ask you to come up for roll call? Director Hadbit >> present. >> Director Ree, Director Olsen >> here. >> Director Graasula >> present. Director Kada. Director Lavine >> here. >> And Chairman Olsson. Okay. Number four on our agenda today, adoption of the agenda. Um, I'd like to ask for a motion for the adoption of the agenda. >> Motion. >> Second. >> Second. Any discussion? Okay. And um would like to vote on that? All in favor say I. >> I. I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Okay. Agenda approved. Number five on our agenda today is approval of today's m um last month's minutes. So a motion to approve last month's minutes. >> Motion. >> Thank you. And a second. >> Second. >> Any discussion? And a vote today. Um all in favor say I. >> I. I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. >> Wonderful. Approval of the minutes. Our first presentation number six on our agenda today, um Molly, um going through the holiday events in College Grove. Perfect. Good morning everyone. Um I'll introduce myself. My name is Molly Petrazooki. I am the recreation services manager for the city of Cottage Grove and I have the honor of sharing with you our upcoming holiday events as a city um entity that we are hosting and some other organizations around town that are hosting. Um I have a really cool job. I get to help out and work with a lot of these groups and on these event committees to bring this up in Cottage Grove. So, our first one coming up this Thursday is the Hail to the Bird 5K race. This will be held at Hamlet Park. Race begins at 9:00 a.m. I do believe online registration has closed, but they do take on-site registration on Thursday morning. Those who are already registered are able to pick up their race shirts and bibs on Wednesday night at Hamlet. Um this is our 15th anniversary of supporting the um hail to the bird race which then donates money to the holiday train which then that money goes back to friends in need food shelf. So this is a huge um part of our goal for the holiday train committee supporting the food shelf. This year like it says is the 15th anniversary of this race. Um I talked with organizers yesterday and they're on track for about 600 people signed up for this Thursday at Hamlet. So, we'd love to see more people come on out and support this great cause. Holiday Lights Home Tour, we opened early this year. The lights map is live on the city's website. It opened November 12th. So, if you are planning a big display, have one, or know your neighbors address, you can go on to the city's website and feel free to add that address on there. It does create a live interactive map then that you guys can go out with your families at night. Um, like we were talking earlier, you might have to make two nights out of it. It sounds like there's already like 25 houses signed up. So, a great opportunity to get out this winter as it's coming tonight. Um, and find something kind of free and cheap to do in Cottage Grove. A great family tradition to start for sure. Hometown Holiday is scheduled for next Thursday. Sounds like we're going to have snow on the ground hopefully for that, too. As you can see, previous years it's been a little green still out there. So, the event is held next Thursday here at city hall from 5 to 7:00 p.m. A great free family event. Um, everything's lit outside. A great trail with blowups to walk on. Santa and Mrs. Claus will be here on the big chair for photos. We do offer wagon rides from the Hero Center and the Washington County Service Building up to the driveway here of city hall. Live reindeer games and activities for kids. Uh food trucks will be out there selling food. There is a warming tent for you then to eat in and the Park High School choir will be walking around performing inside and outside. Um typically this is a great family event. We got the bonfire pits going, free cider and cookies. So we invite all of the community to come on out and um kind of start your holiday season next week with us. River Oaks Santa breakfast is scheduled for December 21st, 9:00 a.m. to noon. I did check in with Denny down at River Oaks and reservations are about 70% full. So, you do have to call to make that reservation. We encourage people to do that sooner or later if this is something you want to get on your calendar as once spots are full, there's no opportunity to kind of add more. Um, it's a great chance to do photos with Santa, sleigh rides around the golf course and then enjoy what they're calling a North Pole breakfast menu right in the uh, banquet room there at River Oaks. A great family, another great family tradition I know a lot of families have done for years since my boys were little, too. We've always done it and been a part of it. So, again, encourage people to make reservations ASAP. Even if you have to leave a message over the holiday week this week, be sure to do that and they do keep track and get you signed up in order. Then kind of the big culmination of um something that I work on and I'm a part of is the CPKC holiday train coming to town. We were fortunate enough to get a Saturday trip this year. So Saturday, December 13th. Um our goal this year is $125,000 to raise for the food shelf. And we are well on track to make that goal happen. Um the road closes at 3 p.m. Wagons start at 3:30. So as of 3:30 p.m. this site will be live and open. Um a couple of activities, food trucks. Um there's a ReMax warming tent. The Remax hot air balloon is there. The train arrives at 5:15 and then it does take about 15 minutes for them to kind of set the stage and for the stage to open. at 5:30. Then they perform a handful of songs for about a half hour. The there is the um check presentation from CPKC and then the train kind of closes up and they pull away. I recommend staying for the whole thing. The coming in and the leaving are probably the two coolest parts you're going to see. Um so again, we encourage people to get there early. Same kind of setup. We do provide wagon rides from the park and ride down the road. Otherwise, at the other end of the town, the armory is open and then you'll just have to walk down to the event. Um, our musicians this year are the American authors in Pink Beard are the two musicians that we got this year. As some of you may know, there are two trains. One goes through Canada and one through North America. And then the providers or the um musicians kind of alternate out. So, we've got some great ones this year for our event. And then we just like to remind people that [clears throat] although recreation is kind sometimes kind of focus on the summer, we encourage you to get out and play, our parks department and public works does a great job keeping parking lots clear, keeping trails and sidewalks clear around our parks in the summer. Uh my assistant Noah is working on getting warming houses staffed and opened. The goal is for those provided we have ice and snow would be the day after Christmas. again with the skating rink. Same thing. Cross country skiing this year is um hoping that the trails will be groomed down at River Oaks. There are crosscountry skiing trails down there. And also this year we are using our snowshoes again out in the public. So for those of you who don't know, we re kind of use our kayak rental trailer and build the back of it and then we rent snowshoes out of those. Um, I believe those will once again be at Oakwood Park this summer. Um, this winter. See, even I say summer. The kayak trailer will be at Oakwood with the snowshoes. Um, just a few other festive happenings in Cottage Grove that we wanted to make sure we mention is the Minnesota Christmas Market held at the Madison on November 29th. The 8th annual craft and gift market held at Cottage Grove Middle School on December 6th. And the Cottage Grove Lions Breakfast, I know, is a big tradition around here, too. And that one is December 7th held at the VFW Red Barn. And I believe that is all we have. And I can definitely stand for any questions that anybody might have about upcoming holiday events. >> Thank you, Molly. So exciting to be a part of that. I'm um a part of the holiday train um community and that's hopefully the weather will be really nice and uh comfortable with a little bit of snow on the ground. So, any questions for Molly at any of the events? >> Yes, Eric. >> Molly, I have a question. The the holiday train create event $125,000 goal. That's a lofty goal. A lot of money. For perspective >> roughly, >> do you know last year for 24 what we all raised? I do. Um the last couple years we've been over the $200,000 mark that we've been able to donate to Friends in Need Food Shelf. Um we like to set an achievable goal. So our goal has been a h 100,000. So we've upped it this year. Um and we are on track to make that as well. the kind of the heartwarming part of this year, looking at it last week at our meeting, it it has been a lot of personal donations this year, which we haven't seen in years past, but um a few big and you know, just medium-sized personal donations from residents in the city. Um kind of touched all of us last week. You know, usually there's those bigname businesses, but lots of personal donations coming in this year so far. >> Compliments to you and your staff. That's that's a nice amount of money. Yeah, I will definitely pass that along at our next meeting for sure. >> And then last question, the warming house, the park and wreck >> wonderful hours. Where would someone find that? Is there a a website? I'm guessing [clears throat] it's park and wreck. >> Yep. So on the city of Cottage Grove website under recreation and then warming houses, all of the sites are listed on there. Okay. >> So traditionally weekdays all of our um we host at eight different sites. So, pretty you're going to find one in your community where or your neighborhood where you live. Um, most of the buildings are open by 3:00 a.m. Staff start shutting them about 900 p.m. Weekends are about 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. as well. So, we have some pretty good consistent hours encouraging people to get out to use the trails, the sledding hills, the skating rink, and then bop in if you need to use the bathrooms, restrooms, warm up, drinking fountains, all of that. The park buildings are open for use >> free of charge. >> Free of charge. Yep. >> Yep. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you. Any other questions or comments for Molly? >> I'll make one last mention that um uh Small Business Saturday is also November 29th, so make sure you're shopping local that day. >> Awesome. >> Thank you everyone. Happy holidays. We'll see you about >> number seven on our agenda, business items. Uh our 2025 food truck festival recap. Thank you, members of the board. Um, well, I'm here to talk about all the great things that happened this year at the Cottage Grove Food Truck Festival that happened September 13th at Kingston Park. So, we planned on 35 food trucks. We had 35 food trucks that registered with us. We did unfortunately have one that broke down on the way to the event. So, we ended up having 34 trucks in the parking lot, which we think is kind of about the right size for our event moving forward. Um on the screen in front of you, you can see the list of food trucks that participated. Uh they offered great food throughout the day. There were long lines at all of them. So we figure it was about a success. Um we're estimating, obviously it's not an exact science to estimate how many people attended the event because you have so many entrances and so many people coming and going. Um we're estimating between 13 and 15,000 people attended this year. Um, so re we're really happy with the turnout and heard some great feedback from our food trucks. We did bring in about $14,000 or we brought in $14,000 in revenue from food truck uh registrations. We also support the event with sponsorships. On your screen, you can see the list of sponsors. We had both paid and inind sponsors. Uh our goal this year was to get about $8,000 in sponsorships and we came in at 6,500 in paid sponsorships. We also had our marketplace for the second time this year. Uh we had a goal of 15 vendors participating. Last year we had 17 vendors in our marketplace. Uh we ended up with 27 total marketplace booths. So we were happily surprised with the increase in marketplace vendors this year. Uh we heard great feedback from them as well and we brought in about $3,000 from um the marketplace vendors. There were many other things going on at the food truck festival as well. Strawberry Fest ambassadors um hosted some carnival games for us for part of the event. We had our bounce houses. The Lions Club sponsored beer tent. Um we had live music which was basic and boring and revved up. Came back. They were here our first year and they came back for our third year. And then we had our Discover Cottage Grove booth where some of you helped us hand out a bunch of swag and talk to a bunch of people at the event. All in all, it turned out to be a fantastic day. Um, and fantastic numbers. When we wrapped up once all the revenue came in and all the expenses were paid, we were estimating we would make about $2,900 at the event. And we came in just over $4,900 in profit from the event. And that money gets rolled back into the CVB budget to pay for additional marketing activities throughout the year, too. So, with that, I would be happy to stand for any questions. Any questions or comments for Jan? >> How many vendors do we look for for the market vendors? I mean, how many can apply or how many can I guess how much room do we have for that? >> Director Het, we don't have a cap on the number of vendors that we would take. We have a great big open field where we could place a bunch of marketplace vendors. So, we reach out and um Becca did a great job of finding new vendors to come in this year as well. So, um, we're always hoping people spread the word and kind of share that we're looking for marketplace vendors. Um, but we have no cap on what we could take at this point. Maybe it'll get too big one year where we might have to cap it, but >> and I'll add to that. I know the marketplace was fantastic. Um, we as the College Chamber were there and we had a lot of um, uh, chamber members mentioning, "Oh, I wish I would have known about this. I wish it was businesses." So, I think that could really grow in that area. It was a fantastic day. >> I have a question. If I recall, weren't the hours tweaked this year? Maybe an hour. We hedged an hour here and there, open, close. Is that true? And then how was that accepted? >> Uh, Director Olson, yes, we did. Last year, we went until 7:00 p.m. And for vendors cleaning up, it was dark in the park without a whole bunch of lights um for them to see. So, we did shorten the hours. We went back to our initial hours that we did our first year and we closed at 6:00. Open time was still the same at 11:00 a.m. Um, but we closed at 6:00 p.m. Um, it seemed to be well received by vendors the first year. I heard a couple people ask if we could do longer, which is why we extended the hours. Um, but I think once people realize it gets dark early in September, [laughter] um, I heard no issues with closing at 6 p.m. this year. >> Okay, fair enough. Thanks. Mhm. >> Thank you. Any other questions or comments? >> Right. Thank you. Um next is our 2026 visitors guide uh with Good morning members of the board. Um I'm excited to share the visitor guide with you today. It is currently in its draft state. Um but you do have a copy in front of you. So if you want to flip through it and kind of look at uh what we'll be talking about. So, um, as you know, the CVB's overall mission is to promote Cottage Grove as a premier destination for travelers, wedding weddings, and, um, outdoor enthusiasts. We also focus on recognizing Cottage Grove as a host city for meetings, conventions, and sporting events. For the 2026 visitor guide, we kept the CVB miss CVB's mission um, as well as our findings with our strategic partner, Chandler Thanks, at the forefront when planning the content for the guide. We are currently undergoing a website rebrand and Phil will talk a little bit more on that um when I'm finished. Uh but part of that rebrand consisted of solidifying our brand guidelines for Discover Cottage Grove. This ensures consistency and and it creates an identity for Discover Cottage Grove. And as you can see, not a whole lot has changed. We have the same logo. We're using a similar color palette, similar fonts. Um but it more so put in place was put in place to define what the brand is and that helped our um website designer um kind of follow those guidelines when she was creating the website. [clears throat] So when thinking about what we were going to put in this year's visitor guide, um we thought we we asked ourselves, you know, what makes Cottage Grove unique? What are our strengths? Why do people come here? Um, and so the guide is thoughtfully designed in a way that people will find our strengths in the beginning of the guide. Uh, we offer top attractions. I think it is on like page three or four. Uh, we have sample itineraries. So when people are here, they can look at that and get ideas of what to do when they're here. [clears throat] We made it personal. Um, this year it is all our people's faces, our our our places. Uh we used photos that we took as staff. We used photos from photo contests that residents submitted and visitors I should say. Um we used uh photos from our businesses. So that just made it a little more personal that we we aren't using stock photography. These are our places and our people. [clears throat] Our articles are actionable. Readers have readymade itineraries for their visit. like I mentioned, a list of top attractions and then easy to use resourceful information. Um, you know, we strip down kind of the the information they don't need and direct them straight to the source, the the business's website or if if you need to contact them via phone number, we have included that. And then new this year are scannable QR codes um that direct readers to booking links, business directories, blog articles, and more. Uh with our new website, we wanted to make sure that we were directing people to relevant information. Um the information is we update website daily. Um with a print article, you don't always get the most up-to-date information and so we made sure that with the uh scannable QR codes, you can go direct to the time-sensitive information. This year we focused on the structure and the flow of the guide. Uh, we strategically placed top attractions and itineraries at the beginning. Like I had mentioned before, we also implemented the new brand guidelines and applied the correct fonts and colors. This kind of unifies the website with the visitor guide and all of our other marketing materials. Uh, this year we do have a longer guide as well. Um, I believe I added about eight pages, so a lot more content. Uh, but we chose a a a paper weight that is lighter. So, that cost savings actually makes up for those eight pages. So, we're spending about the same that we did last year. And I do want to mention um we aren't losing paper quality. It's just a different material. And I do have a sample if you guys would like to take a look later, too. [snorts] And then, uh, the paper type chosen closely aligns with what other visitor bureaus are doing, too. So, part of my process when I design is I just take 50 to 100 printed materials, usually visitor guides, and I just flip through them and I look at them and I kind of take it all in like a sponge. Um, and I was noticing that more of the visitor guides are more of like a a magazine type of material. Um, so the paper we chose is in between what we did the previous years and then like a thin thin magazine material. And I want to mention too, it's easier to roll up, fold it, stick it in your purse, your pocket when you're traveling. So that makes it more functional as well, not as heavy. Yeah. [snorts] So the guide is a full color, 24 pages plus cover. This year we've confirmed six ad placements for a total of $3,10. Quotes were submitted by two local print companies and pricing is based on quantities of 6,000, 7,000, and 8,000. Last year we ordered 7,000 booklets and we have a handful of guides left um until 2026 edition in case we have any welcome centers ordering boxes or residents or visitors ordering guides. [clears throat] So uh with that recommendation with that a recommendation is in front of you and I would be happy to stand for any questions regarding the design or the pricing of the 2026 visitor guide. >> Well Courtney I'll start by saying once again this is just beautiful. It's just a um beautiful magazine and um so well thought out. Um I can't wait to see it in real life. So any questions? We'll open it up for questions or comment. I really like the personalized photography. And I had one question. I noticed we make reference to a few attractions that aren't within Cottage Grove. Do we have any kind of partnership with like Afton for example to get featured in their guide? >> Yes, thank you for your question, Director Gasula. Um, Aptton Apple did purchase an ad placement. So, anywhere that you do see like a logo, contact information, more uh bulky content for that business, it is an ad placement. So, they did purchase one this year, and they have been in previous editions in the past. Um, I know in the back of the guide, I have recommendations for people to kind of travel outside of Cottage Grove, but still come back to us, of course. Um, and those are not paid, but it's more so of like a recommendation like, hey, we're only 20 minutes from the Mall of America. like you could stay here and then pop over to Mall of America, but we're a much calmer, slower city. And so, um, yeah, that that's just like to give examples of like what they can do when they're here. >> That makes sense. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anything else? >> I'll make a comment. Uh, I've noticed, and I like this, uh, the print quotes, you obtain two quotes. Uh, they're local. I see a Cottage Grove letterhead address which I like and also the physical printing of it looks like it's in the southeast metro which is also I think important to know. >> Uh thanks for doing that. >> Yeah, thank you. Thank you for commenting that. [snorts] >> Thank you. So, with that, I'll ask for a motion to approve quote for the printing of 7,000 copies of the 2026 visitors guide through Graphic Design, Inc. for $6,286. >> Motion. >> All right. And a second. >> Second. >> Um, and all in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Okay, motion approved for the V, uh, 2026 visitors guide. Thank you. So, uh, website rebrand. So, the CVB website uh, redesign update is going to be Phil. [clears throat] Chair Lavine, uh, members of the board, good morning. Uh, my name is Phil Jensce, the city's communications manager. uh and happy to stand before you to uh give you a quick brief update about the website rebrand. Um as you all certainly know and recall, we've we've talked about the website a couple times before uh over the summer and its need to undergo a design refresh. Um Courtney helpfully mentioned uh the branding guidelines that that we have established. And so the website redesign in addition to giving it a refresh will hopefully also achieve kind of branding consistencies across products that we create. Social media, the visitor guide and the website all kind of living as one branded uh ecosystem if you will. And so we're excited about the website re rebrand and want to just give you a quick kind of background uh where we've been and where we're at. So that website redesign is currently in progress. Uh we did staff received an early draft of that website redesign uh on about October 22nd. Uh staff met and comprised uh a lengthy list of edits and revisions that we wanted made which is not unusual. I mean you want to get this right. Uh and when the city enterprise you know main cottagegrovemn.gov went through a recent rebrand and redesign uh same thing happened, right? you get a bunch of different versions and staff kind of goes to the drawing board and and creates a long list of edits and revisions because again you want if you're going to do it you want to do it well and get it right. And so we provided a list of edits as well as what we're calling a wireframe. So basically a visual representation of all of those edits so that both in language and visual that as our designer can see what it is that we're looking for. Uh so that it's as easier to kind of drag and drop images into what we are hoping uh to get to get done. Um which is which is exciting. Uh those revisions were provided about October 30th and uh they're being worked through kind of as we speak. Um, so we're waiting on that next round of revisions to be incorporated into the the new design and as we have planned all along and I'm sure I have mentioned that before anything goes live, we would of course seek kind of final board uh feedback and blessing on uh you know that substantially complete if not fully completed website redesign. So that could look a few different ways. uh a future workshop at a regularly scheduled board meeting, uh a special meeting that maybe we schedule and held virtually or in person. Uh heck, it could even be over email if that was sufficient. But either way, we would not want to um go live on a new website before you all have a chance to see it and approve it and provide feedback. Same with the visitor guide, right? We wouldn't print it and send it out into the wild without you all seeing it and approving it. And so we are looking forward to that future day where you see the full completed uh redesign and provide us your feedback before we go live on that. With that, happy to stand for any questions on that. >> Any questions on the website redesign. I'm excited to see it. I can't wait. Do we have an idea of when that date will be? Is it something is are we weeks or months away? >> Uh Chair Lavine, members of the board, good question. Uh I think initially we had hoped to have the website you know done and ready to go live by the end of the year. I do still think that is achievable. Um having said that it all kind of depends on what we all decide is the best way to get your final feedback from the board. Our next regularly scheduled board meeting is in February. And so again you want to do this and do it right. And perhaps the cleanest, easiest way to get your feedback is in a workshop setting at that meeting. But I also recognize that's in February and if we do want something sooner than that, I think that's achievable. At which point we'd have to just kind of figure out, do we want to schedule a special virtual meeting, which is something we could possibly do uh and get your feedback before then. I'm open to suggestions. I think all of us would love to have it go live sooner rather than later, but also recognizing that, you know, we want your meaningful feedback as a part of that process too. >> All right. Any suggestions on that? No. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. So, next we'll move on to the Minnesota Department of Revenue Lodging Tax Collections uh and Rentalcape software update. >> Thank you, Chair Levine, and members of the board. Uh while that title is a a mouthful, I recognize that. Um it is [clears throat] still interesting information that I thought it would be good for the board to hear an update. You've heard me mention before that the Minnesota Department of Revenue was going to be conducting lodging tax collections on behalf of the city and you've also heard me mention before um that we've engaged with Decard Technologies uh utilizing the rental scape software. Uh both of which are in place now. So the Department of Revenue is collecting lodging tax collections on behalf of the the city of Cottage Grove and the Rentalscape software is up and running and our staff has been using it. So again, thought it would be prudent to provide you all with an update on how that's going. So as a background, uh, Department of Revenue lodging tax collections began in July of this year, and we are monitoring that closely. We want to make sure that lodging tax collections are coming in as we would expect them to be, that they're meeting projections, if not exceeding them. And so far, that is the case. We're seeing that lodging tax collections are coming in as expected, if not maybe a touch higher than we would have thought. Uh, which is of course a good sign. And it's also important to note that the collections do lag a little bit which was expected when we explored this scenario. We we worked with other communities who have also done uh department of revenue lodging tax collections and they reported that they experience about a 40-day lag which does kind of follow some logic, right? So the property uh submits their lodging tax collections to the state, the state then receives them and then the state then disperses them to a city and all of that takes a little bit of time. Um so that's not unexpected. that is what we expected going in. But nevertheless, as future lodging tax collections uh updates happen at the board level, uh know that um that that's the case that those just fall behind about 40 days. Uh in 2025 Q3, um which uh future on the agenda this morning, you're going to get an update from me on those collections. Uh we're seeing that that two-month average does appear to be coming in slightly higher than a two-month average from 2024. So again, staff wanted to monitor very closely how these lodging tax collections are going. We didn't have any reason to believe they wouldn't come in quote unquote normally, but you know, trust but verify, right? And so we're seeing that tax collections are coming in as we would expect and maybe even a touch higher, which is good to see. [clears throat] And then on to rentalscape software. So, this is a software that goes out and identifies uh short-term rental, long-term rental properties out in the out in the world and making sure that the city is aware of our rental properties out in the out in the community. Uh, as you probably know, many communities experience uh short-term rentals that exist out in the community. They're being, you know, advertised on Airbnb and VBO and other such websites. And sometimes cities aren't aware that those properties exist. And sometimes those properties are not licensed properly. And so the city thought it a good idea to make sure that we have a good understanding of what exists out in our community to ensure that those are, you know, inspected properly, that they're held to safety and code requirements and lensure requirements. So to date, uh staff is finding that uh Rentalscape has identified 11 licensed short-term rental properties in Cottage Grove, 10 unlicensed short-term rental properties, and 22 total unlicensed properties, which could include long-term rental properties. And so as a result, the city's code compliance officer is going to soon be uh sending uh compliance letters to those properties that are unlicensed to ensure that they're coming into compliance. Um just one note on that. You know, ideally you would see uh everyone compliant and licensed uh properly and of course remitting lodging tax collections. Um, we will, it's yet to be clear how moving forward this might or might not impact lodging tax collections. Just because a property is not licensed doesn't necessarily mean they're not remitting lodging tax collections to the state. So, uh, it's good to have an an early understanding of what Rental Scape is finding out there. Uh, and good that our code compliance officer will be getting folks into compliance. We'll also be then looking at does that have any impact on our lodging tax collections, i.e. does it go up because people are now coming into compliance. So that's kind of the next step in this software. With that, stand for any questions you may have. >> Open it up to the board for questions or comments. >> I think Oh, >> um the the last slide you had um 10 unlicensed and totally 22 completely unlicensed. What's what's the difference between those numbers? Uh, [clears throat] Chair Lavine, Director Ree, that's a good question. So, the 10 unlicensed short-term rental properties, those would be what I would consider like a, you know, your your Airbnb or VBO. The 22 total unlicensed properties could include like long-term rentals. So, you know, a we'll call it traditional landlord renting out their property to somebody under a lease agreement for month or year or whatever that might be. um that doesn't necessarily have much if any impact to lodging tax collections, but it's still important for our staff to know that so that they are licensed and inspected and held to the same standards as everyone else. >> Thank you. >> Okay, now I have the question. What is what defines a short-term rental that would make it eligible for lodging tax versus a long-term rental? Chair Lavine, Director Casula, that is an excellent question and I don't know that I'm going to be able to come up with the exact correct answer off the top of my head and I'll look to maybe city administrator Levit if she knows, but it's a determination of, you know, how long the stay is and I don't want to speak out of turn of what that cut off is like 30 days, 45 days, whatever it is, but um that is a good question. >> Madam Chair, members of the board, I believe the code reads uh 30 days. So, if it's over 30 days contiguous stay, you're then into a long-term. If it's less than 30 days, it's a short-term rental. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um, we'll move on to the uh 2025 Q3 lodging tax and revenue collection. [clears throat] >> Chair Lavine, members of the board, again, thank you. You're hearing a lot from me this morning, so for better or worse, uh, here I am. And so, uh, the quarter three, as I mentioned, lodging tax and revenue collection update, uh, uh, we have before you. And so, Minnesota Department of Revenue collecting our lodging taxes on behalf of the city. So far in quarter 3, we are seeing those coming in at $15,392. uh which as I stated earlier is about what we would expect to see uh in a quarter 3 uh lodging tax collections and perhaps even a touch higher than a two-month average uh when compared to 2024. So, you know, that was a a pretty key important thing for us to look at again is are those collections coming in as we would expect? Um before I move on to questions, I did want to note uh the projected quarter 3 lodging tax uh collections uh in the previously approved budget uh was $18,000. So the quarter 3 number that you see before you, I mentioned that lag time that we experience. Uh September's uh lodging tax collections uh the city has not received yet because of that lag time. And so we will we would expect to see that collection come in before the end of this year yet which of course then the number that you see before you will go up uh once we get those. And so uh you know we are confident that the quarter 3 lodging tax collections will meet or exceed um our projected amount that we would have expected to see. Year to date we're sitting at about $62,955 in lodging tax collections which I thought both numbers were important for you all to know. Thank you for clarifying that. Totally makes sense. Um, open it up uh for any questions or comments on the topic. Nothing. Oh, >> director Reese, >> do you have a Sorry if I'm not saying you're over here. >> Uh, Chair Lavine, Director Ree, I do not have that information immediately in front of me, but I would be happy to follow up. >> Okay. Anything else? All right. Um, we will move on to the 2026 final budget approval. Um, also with Phil >> Chair Levine, members of the board, thank you again. Um, last and certainly not least is the budget approval for 2026. [clears throat] So, the 2026 final budget uh is before you uh in your packet, as is the full 2026 final budget worksheet. Uh, so I'll not bore you with reading, you know, that entire spreadsheet. Uh, but, you know, I would happily do so if you wish. Uh, but I'm sure maybe you have, you know, other things to to consider as you move on for the rest of your day. Uh, at any rate, as you also just heard, lodging tax projections for 2026, uh, are similar to other years. We base that on a 63% occupancy rate, which gets us in at around $71,500 a year for lodging tax projections. Uh, visitor guide ad sales come in at $4,500. And as we just discussed, or as you just heard earlier this morning, the food truck festival is a pretty big premier event for the city of Cottage Grove and the CVB, uh, which is coming in at $15,900 in marketplace vendor payments and $8,000 from sponsorships. Uh, and then you've heard me discuss before, but new this year is the Explore Minnesota Tourism Grant. So, Discover Cottage Grove was successful in getting a $2,000 grant from Explore Minnesota, which we will use towards advertising on social media and online for things like the food truck festival and other kind of summertime food um food uh uh things to to market. [clears throat] Uh also, similar to other years, we have our expenses um broken out uh in uh marketing categories and operational categories. So again, I won't bore you by reading all of the numbers on this screen, but you have them before you and in your packet. And the total marketing expenses for the 2026 budget comes in at $56,369.36 for things like, as you see, website hosting uh printing marketing etc. And then under operations for things such as portions of a communications specialist salary, postage, uh dues and subscriptions, and so on and so forth, operating expenses come in at $52,68063. Um, finally, the 2026 final budget total revenue projections come in at $101,950. expenses come in at $19,449.99. Um, which shows a $7,499.98 uh overall loss. A quick note on that, an important note on that final number, uh that will be reconciled with either remaining fund balance, which currently is at $65,440, uh or expenditure reductions, I should say, and or either covering the with the fund balance and or uh expenditure reductions. So, with that, there is a recommendation before you and I'd be happy to stand for any questions. >> Okay, open up for questions or comments. Okay, with that then I'll ask for a motion to approve uh the Cottage Grove Convention and Visitors uh Bureau 2026 final budget. [clears throat] >> Motion to approve >> and ask for a second. >> Second. >> Thank you. Um with that um all in favor say I. >> I. All oppose, same sign and motion approve. Wonderful. Thank you for all of that. Um so number eight on our today's agenda is workshop. Uh we and we do not have any workshop today. And number nine um any last comments on from the board? >> Okay. >> Oh, yep. Dr. [clears throat] I like the idea of having a workshop over a website. Um if there's a way we could do something virtually. >> Oh, sorry. >> Thank you. >> I said I I like the idea of doing a virtual like work workshop to be able to go through the the website of being able to take an hour to do so. Um I think it'd be good for us to know the functionality. Um and if there's anything that we as a board could look at and say, "Oh, you know, that works great, that doesn't work great." Um, I'd love to do that. >> Thank you. I'm also open to that. Everybody else approve. >> Okay. >> Yeah. So, great. Thank you so much. Um, our next meeting is Tuesday, February 24th in 2026. And then last on our agenda number 10, is adjournment. So, I will ask for a motion to adjourn today's meeting. >> Motion. >> And a second. >> Second. Um all in favor say I. >> I oppose same sign. Today's meeting is adjourned. Thank you.