This transcript reflects the Hastings City Council meeting. Speaker names have been identified based on the context of the meeting and the provided list of officials. [0:00] Unknown: she [0:06] Unknown: upstairs we're [0:12] Unknown: waiting you're fine [0:35] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Okay, time being 7:40, I call the Hastings City Council meeting to order. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. 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. Welcome, and let the roll reflect that we have a full council tonight, so thanks for all for being here. Um, council members, are there any corrections to the meetings from the regular meeting of September 16th and the special meeting on the 23rd? Okay. Comments from the audience at [1:22] this time, we will hear comments from the audience or via Zoom. Anyone wish to speak to the council at this time? No one on Zoom. All right. Council items to be considered? Council, any items to be considered? Okay. Consent agenda. Council, I would accept a motion for to approve the consent agenda. Councilmember Leifeld and Councilmember Fox. All those in favor of the motion, state by saying aye. (Aye) Oppose to that motion, state by saying nay. And that motion prevails. Tonight, under awarding of contracts, we will authorize a signature for the award contract for Lake Rebecca Park habitat improvements project. And for this item [2:08] we will have an introduction by Parks and Recreation Director Chris Jenkins. Welcome, Chris. [2:08] **Chris Jenkins (Parks Director):** Thank you, Mayor, Council. Uh, yeah, quick action tonight. What we're talking about is the natural resources project phase of the Lake Rebecca Park uh LCCMR grant-funded project. So this—this is everything outside of what most people think of as Lake Rebecca where the parking lots are; this is the remainder of the land out there. This is the natural resources work for that, and our consulting team put together the plan and the bid or the quote specifications for that and sent that out to nine companies and we had five responding, and Minnesota Native Landscapes was the low responsible bidder [2:54] or quoter—not a bid, quoter—for this, uh, a little over $133,000. And they'll be ready to start here as soon as they get award and we get all the documentation to them so they can begin work as soon as possible. With that, I can certainly stand for any questions. [3:35] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Sure, thanks Chris. Council, any discussion? Councilmember Leifeld. [3:41] **Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** Chris, I’m gonna throw a curveball at you just because, uh, uh, we're talking about the general area of Lake Rebecca and you mentioned this is outside of the fishing um dock and the parking lot. Could you maybe just in a little elevator speech mention that situation? I know some of us have been seeing a lot of questions on [3:41] social media about the um conditions and such of the area. And since we're now just—they heard us say $133,000, which the city's not paying for, correct? Okay, let's throw that out there. Um, but if you could just maybe in like an elevator speech tell us something about that area [4:28] sure that isn't part of this tonight? [4:28] **Chris Jenkins:** Sure, yeah. The more developed recreation areas for sure. Um, and yeah, just the—the first part of it is this is uh all funding that's an—a million dollar grant from the Environmental Natural Resources Trust Fund (ENRTF), so it is not city tax dollars. Um, and there's two main elements of this project, and the ENRTF [4:28] and the LCCMR have heavily, heavily focused on habitat and natural area enhancement. So don't think playground, don't think back to the 80s in the swim beach and change houses and restrooms and those sorts of—excuse me—those sorts of things. Um, also the recreation area is right on the border of—of wetlands, so there's very limited things you can actually do in that area uh with the permitting and all that that's necessary. What will—what is planned to happen for the—the developed recreation down there is renovating, redoing the boat launch parking lot and the launch itself, and taking that second parking lot, um, not [5:13] the middle parking lot if you will, reducing the footprint of that. We don't need that much parking down there anymore for the use that's there since it's not a dedicated swim beach and change house and those sorts of things. We'll reduce that, keep a good number, um, put in some—some picnic areas and do a bunch of habitat restoration. So where there's a bunch of mowed green grass right now, that won't be mowed grass; it'll be native uh kind of a dry prairie, wet prairie type of area. There'll be some tree removals, there'll be some tree plantings, those sorts of things. [5:54] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** What kind of time frame are you talking for that particular project, Chris? [5:57] **Chris Jenkins:** As fast as we possibly can. Uh, we have to have that money spent by June 30 of—of 2025. So we're rapidly trying to finish the plan [6:00] part of this grant, this funding; we can do that piece of it as well. That's the plan. [6:04] **Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** So thank you for that. I—I know that wasn't part of this, um, but I want people to understand that when you have questions or concerns and you don't like what something looks like in the community, come to us. I will not respond, I won't go down that rabbit hole on social media. Um, but I would love to get the phone call or the email of people because then I go to you and we get this great answer, right? And then—and we all know what the facts are. So I appreciate it, I'm excited about this. Um, to that point, will that extra piece of trail that got put in during the bridge construction, is that going to stay where [6:45] so? [6:45] **Chris Jenkins:** No plan. So we'll—both—we'll have both those segments of trails coming in to this habitat restoration. [6:52] **Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** Okay, thank you Chris. I appreciate your time. [6:54] **Chris Jenkins:** You bet. Thank you. [6:55] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Councilmember Fox. [6:56] **Councilmember Jen Fox:** Thank you, your honor, and thank you, councilmember. That um was a question I was going to bring up, Chris. I've been in touch with you in the last couple months. I—I had the pleasure of meeting with a—a few constituents who are concerned about the—the status of Lake Rebecca Park. Um, and um, while this isn't solving their issue right now, um, I think it's a good step in the direction of reshaping and revamping the use of space. Um, so I think this is a first step, not a final step to making Lake Rebecca Park what we really need it to be for our community. Um, and I—I love any uh grant money. And with that [7:34] I uh would move to award the contract. [7:41] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you. Councilmember Leifeld—and a second by councilmember... I'm sorry, Councilmember Fox, second by Councilmember Haus. Additional or new discussion? All those in favor of the motion, state by saying aye. (Aye) Oppose that motion, state by saying nay. That motion prevails. Thanks, Chris. [8:13] **Chris Jenkins:** Thank you. [8:14] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Tonight, under reports from City staff, under Public Works, um, we have a resolution to implement parking restriction on Ashlin Street, and we will have an introduction by our Public Works Director, Ryan Stempski. Welcome, Ryan. [8:22] **Ryan Stempski (Public Works Director):** Thank you, Mayor, members of the Council. Yes, tonight uh we are talking [8:22] about Ashlin Street. So specifically if you align yourself with the pickleball courts that Parks is very familiar with um off of 55, so Parks and—or Ashlin and 10th Street, right off of 55. There is uh, with the growing popularity of pickleball, uh which is great, um, some—some uh—uh phone calls we got over in Public Works were the parking concerns in this—in this area. And some of you may have seen that as you drove by the area. Um, parking on both sides of Ashlin started to be a concern, so we got calls from our Police and Fire departments as well, concerned about getting emergency vehicles through this location. Also [9:07] obstructive sight lines and um just kind of an unsafe area with pedestrians crossing and vehicular movements. So we uh, for a few weeks, um, went out to the site and just grabbed photos and just tried to document activity. I know our Parks Director did reach out to the Pickleball Association; that did help things for a few days, and then um people sometimes just forget and different people are car-carpooling or whatnot. But uh, that's why we just—we want to get our eyes on it and follow up, and we did see a pretty consistent problem. And so um this is what we would commonly see in—in active times in use, is parking on both sides all the way up the block from 9th—9th to 10th. [9:55] So with uh some analysis of—of the site, we decided that our recommendation from a staff perspective was uh park—allow parking on the west side only. So this is the side closest to the pickleball courts. We do have sidewalk facilities in the boulevard, all ADA compliant, um, so folks can park on the west side, access the sidewalk system, and walk down to the pickleball court without even needing to cross the street. So that played into it. There is more parking spaces on that side because the lack of driveways; so there's uninterrupted parallel parking. Um, we did bring this to our operations committee and gained approval um from our committee for this recommendation. We also sent out a letter [10:41] uh to the neighborhood. So we got this entire block and the blocks east and west to try to get a flavor, um, let folks know we were—we were considering doing this to resolve the issue. Uh, we didn't get any feedback from that letter, but for a comment back from Our Savior's Church, who did just suggest the parking along Ninth Street—there's a little bump-out angled parking there uh that—that would be a good spot to displace any no parking areas. So this is kind of what that looks like. We would uh—the area in red, the east side, is where the no parking signs would go up. Probably about three signs, about 600 bucks um for us to install those at Public Works. We would get locates in and kind of strategically place them uh so that PD would have [11:28] proper signage viewing from any no parking enforcement. But this could happen as soon as Council direction; we can get signs ordered, locates ordered, and—and get this no parking up. And that would just resolve and keep this area safe long term, no matter if there's high flow periods or low flow periods. Um, it would clear those sight lines and make it safer for peds and vehicles in the area. I think with that I will take any questions, and also there is a resolution in your packets for approval of the no parking restriction that would get us—set us into motion to—to erect those signs. [12:15] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you, Ryan. I mean, I know this is a tough call, but it's been looked at how many times? And it is for the safety. And um, you tried it—there was a trial [12:15] run to see if the people attending the pickleball courts and the tennis courts could abide by that, but you know, sometimes it takes this long to make these things come into action. So I appreciate it for the safety of all the neighbors around there. Uh, Councilmember Vihrachoff. [12:35] **Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff:** Uh, thank you, your honor. Thank you, Ryan, for this presentation, for this information tonight. You know, when I first read this in my packet over the weekend, I was like "Oh no," and then I started like thinking about it and looking at it, and then hearing some of your um comments today, and then of course talking um with Dan this morning helped me to feel like I'm—I am way more in support of this than I initially was. Um, I personally—that is my thorough way to get to Highway 55. And because I don't [13:02]—my child is 15 and so I am driving her constantly; that is my actual full-time job. Um, and so I am at that intersection a minimum of six times a day. It is busy. And anybody that's lived in town knows that this is busy because it's also right by the football field. So um, I very much appreciated that there was great public feedback in terms of you reaching out to local neighborhoods. I love that the church did the um, frankly, churchy thing and said, "Yes, you can also use some of our lots as well." Um, yeah, I—I actually think this is ended up being a really good solution that I'm going to support. Um, but I just want to point out that that wasn't my initial reaction. So the fact that you—the city was so thoughtful in its due diligence and crafting this, I really appreciate that [13:48] because I will support this. So thank you. [13:51] **Ryan Stempski:** Great, thanks. [13:52] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you, Councilmember. Councilmember Leifeld. [13:55] **Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** Thank you, honor. Um, the homeowner of that corner house are in the audience tonight. And um, I did speak to them about their teenage son who eventually is going to have a license. And I asked, "Are you concerned about not having street parking in front of your house for when they buy a—a car?" Because they're going to have to buy a—a car. Um, and no, they—that is not a concern. So right there was like, "Okay, this is a great alternative." I would question in the future—I know I don't always like to add spending money—but would there be a possibility at some point of us doing a stairway from up top down? And I mean, I'm [14:38] imagining the pickleballers are all in super great shape and can walk down the hill, but I just am seeing kind of a staircas—a stairway that takes them down to... because now we've got that—the cement poured back there. So just something to kind of think about in the future because that is a great spot to park, but it's a pretty long way around. And if you're going to go exercise, you might want to save your energy, I don't know. So um, I think this is a—a great fix and love the fact that the homeowner most affected by this is completely on board with it. That helps make our decision, I think, so much easier. Um, that being said, I'll make a motion to approve implementing parking restrictions on Ashland Street between 9th Street West and 10th Street West. [15:24] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you, Councilmember Leifeld. Councilmember Pemble. [15:25] **Councilmember Dave Pemble:** Ryan, when—when you came to the operations committee about this and [15:25] we talked a little bit about uh—the corner right down where the entrance is to the pickleball court. And I saw it again this weekend that the cars parked right up to where the access point into the pickleball court. And there was somebody parked kind of in—in the area of the entrance and out to the stop sign. If you weren't paying attention to—to where uh, you know, the stop sign was as people were coming down, I think that... didn't you mention something about that there's a limit how far back from that entrance? [16:04] **Ryan Stempski:** Yeah, I—I think with added [16:12] enforcement in the area and the signage going up, um, police will be able to enforce or have a more—a greater focus on the state statutes there that have a distance from stop signs or entrances at 20, 30 feet. They're—they're prescribed in—in statute. So um—um, I think that just having this awareness and this—this enforcement um, that'll take itself into account at that entrance point. You know, both—both on 10th Street and Ashlin and the entrance to the pickleball parking. [16:47] **Councilmember Dave Pemble:** With that, I'll second the recommendation for the um move. [16:51] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you, Councilmember Pemble. Councilmember Fox. [16:59] **Councilmember Jen Fox:** Thank you, your honor. Um, just two quick questions. Um, does Our [16:59] Savior's own that parking on 9th Street? Dakota County GIS doesn't tell me. [17:09] **Ryan Stempski:** No, that is uh—that is our—that's—that's in city right-of-way. So um, I know it was stated that way, but it's in front—in front of their property. It's very gracious, I'm very grateful, but I think they were just kind of pointing out, making sure we remembered that it was even there. Not like it was "ours and you can use it"; it was more um, "there's parking there and we—we love this idea and people can utilize it." [17:34] **Councilmember Jen Fox:** I was just looking at the map and curious. The other part of the parking question: um, do the—does the school district own the Todd Field parking lot? [17:42] **Ryan Stempski:** Yeah, there's a lease um for that use [17:47] and that parking. MnDOT is the underlying fee owner. [17:51] **Councilmember Jen Fox:** Okay, so it's complicated is my answer. I would never encourage our community to park in a space where there's already an event happening, and if there's not an event happening, could they park there? [18:03] **Ryan Stempski:** I believe... I don't think the lease would restrict it. I—it might be a school district question. Might be an option to... yeah. I know Chris, do you know if there's—have you ever talked to the school? [18:16] **Chris Jenkins:** Yeah, I don't think they'd have a problem with it, but I—we're not really... I would caution that recommendation. [18:22] **Councilmember Jen Fox:** But I just—I'm just looking at the map thinking about it. Um, thank you. I support this. [18:32] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you, Councilmember Fox. Councilmember Vihrachoff. [18:33] **Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff:** Thank you, your [18:33] honor. Sorry, just one more quick um clarifying question, Ryan. The Pickleball Association was not—did not feel strongly about this or necessarily have concerns? They understand our thinking along these same lines? [18:48] **Ryan Stempski:** I—I can feel my Parks Director uh breathing down my neck, who—who uh had the conversations with them. [18:55] **Chris Jenkins:** Okay, they were supportive. [18:58] **Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff:** Just want to make sure that all stakeholders have been engaged and that we know what their feelings are on this. And to—and to Councilmember Leifeld's um point: as somebody that does play pickleball very poorly, I do need to conserve my energy, and so if we did ever have um the ability to make that stairway, I would very much support that. Thank you. [19:18] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you, Councilmember [19:18] Vihrachoff. There is a first and a second. Uh, all those in favor of the motion, state by saying aye. (Aye) Oppose to that motion, state by saying nay. And that motion prevails. Thanks, Ryan. [19:35] **Ryan Stempski:** Thank you. [19:36] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Tonight under Parks and Recreation, we have the 2024 Levy Park recap, and for this introduction, we have our Recreation Programming Specialist, Paige Marshall Bigler. Welcome, Paige. [19:59] **Paige Marshall Bigler (Recreation Specialist):** Good evening, Mayor and Council. [19:59] Um, I'm here tonight to provide a brief recap of our ninth season at Levy Park, which actually just wrapped up a few weeks ago. Similar to previous years, we utilized communication platforms online and with our local media partners. Calendars were also distributed to our local businesses and featured in the News Rivertown newsletter to get the word out. We created reels, stories, posts for Facebook and Instagram to promote events. Our platform analytics showed an average of 2,300 views per reel and an average of 600 views per story. We've developed consistent branding for our city events for easy recognition on social media. The top two [20:45] ways people hear about our events are through social media and our Rivertown newsletters sent to Hastings households, the highest being word of mouth. And this has been consistent over the last few years. Our attendance was over 6,600 people this year. We scheduled 28 events and were able to host 21 due to the weather. Attendance averaged 314 people per event compared to 2023; we scheduled 31 events and canceled three due to weather, averaging 346 per event. So very similar without the graph showing the um discrepancy [21:32] there. Attendance varies depending on the type of program or event and the weather. We had the most challenges this year with forecasted thunderstorms weekly, sometimes twice a week. Thankfully, based on all of our agreements with vendors, we can reschedule most of them in 2025 at a reduced rate or no additional cost. For example, two of our 12 Music in the Park events were cancelled and, based on those agreements, were rescheduling one at a reduced rate and the other at no additional cost. We offered a variety of events this summer, including a new miniseries: Comedy in the Park, which we do plan to expand in 2025 based off our public input. The most popular series was our Music in the [22:18] Park series. I plan to work with our Economic Development Coordinator Alex Menke to—to further develop our Makers Market and our Music in the Park series for 2025, which we hope to broaden the demographic of attendees and increase attendance, including residents and visitors to Hastings for our events and programs. We continue to build partnerships with organizations and businesses and apply for grants to add to our base funding. Although we were not a recipient of grants for our programming this year, I'm already applying for two grants in 2025 and hope to increase our outside funding sources. And I'd like to extend my gratitude for our funding supporters: Arden Mills for supporting our Movie in [23:04] the Park series, Smead Manufacturing for supporting our new Comedy in the Park series, Dakota Electric Association for their contribution to our summer kickoff, and the Ruth and George Doffing Charitable Fund here in Hastings for sponsoring our Music in the Park series. The events and programs at Levy Park are made possible by the generosity of numerous businesses, organizations, and individuals. And a special thank you to you, Council and Mayor, for your ongoing support to our programming at Levy Park. Thank you. At this time I can stand for any questions. [23:44] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thanks, Paige. Council questions? Councilmember Haus. [23:51] **Councilmember Angie Haus:** No question, only praises always for you, Paige. Um, I got to hear from numerous uh different um vendors for events that [23:51] weren't a part of the Parks and Rec Department, actually, and I got to hear praises for you and Alex throughout the season. Um, it was really, really enlightening to see um uh a lot of the new Music in the Parks this year. I loved all the different various um variations of um options you always give. Um, keep it up, you're doing great. I love having you here. And we were just saying how much this is one of our favorite meetings is always the last meetings of the year going through all of the recaps. It's—it's always beautiful to see all the smiling faces. So thank you, thank you. [24:37] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you, Councilmember Haus. Councilmember Vihrachoff. [24:38] **Councilmember DawnMarie Vihrachoff:** Thank you, your honor. I um wholeheartedly uh feel the exact same way that um—um Councilmember Haus does as well. Um, and she said, you know, that uh [24:38] she loves seeing all the smiling faces, and Paige, every single time that I see you out at one of these events you are grinning from ear to ear. I even saw you at the very end of National Night Out and you were like, "I've hit like 30,000 steps on my tracker," and you were still grinning. Um, I just can't say enough good things about the community coming together to support this. I commend your work. I'm so, so proud of our Parks and Rec Department and the work that you do. I think that the communications piece as well that the city does and that you partner with them on um obviously is having great, great impact. Um, I think we should start calling you maybe Leslie Knope instead of um Paige, and that is a compliment. Um, but I'm very, very grateful for all of your work that you do. I just—I can't say enough good things. This is so wonderful. Thank you for this presentation. [25:24] **Paige Marshall Bigler:** Thank you, Council. [25:24] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you, Councilmember Vihrachoff. Councilmember Fox. [25:25] **Councilmember Jen Fox:** Thank you, your honor. Uh, Paige, thank you. If someone's interested in volunteering for next season, the 10th season, the decades of parties in the park, um, how do they get involved and when do you start needing people? [25:46] **Paige Marshall Bigler:** Great question. Thank you, Councilmember Fox. Um, I will typically send out um an email directly to um Parks Rec Commission, Council um, and just general public like um at the beginning of the season, usually in May. Um, kind of outlining our events and what those volunteer opportunities look like—if you need to stand for three hours or—or hold [26:11] 50 pounds, that kind of thing. Um, so May is typically my outreach time uh for Levy Park events um via email. And then for general public, I always welcome volunteers. Um, we have volunteers at a lot of our events throughout the year. Um, for example, upcoming our community Halloween party where we have over 2,000 people, we have about 65 volunteers there. So we do a lot of direct outreach to local organizations, businesses um to get those volunteers. Um, but people—general public can always um connect with me um via email or phone and if they have any questions about doing so. [26:51] **Councilmember Jen Fox:** I will just say to the general public that you can reach out to one of us and we can connect you with Paige who is always looking for [26:56] wonderful hands to help. So thank you for all your work. [26:58] **Paige Marshall Bigler:** Absolutely, thank you. [26:59] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you, Councilmember Fox. Councilmember Leifeld. [27:01] **Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** Oh, Paige, you know how much I love your events. I think they're just so much fun, and I what I love the most is the variety of people, the variety of ages of people that are there. Um, the people who bring their lawn chairs and sit up back by the parking lot so they don't have to go down the hill—you know, they don't have to use the steps—I love it. Um, everyone remember, too, the number one is word of mouth. If you see it on Facebook, share it. Tell your—you know, tell your friends. I'm constantly sharing it because it's—it's just there's so much down there for everyone. So I just love it. And once again, you've got the best presentations. I don't know how you do it, but your presentations always have the best photos and they're the most [27:43] crisp every—every time you bring something up in front of us, it's like, "Gosh, she's really good at that, too." So thank you. [27:49] **Paige Marshall Bigler:** So great space and it's easy to... [27:51] **Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** Yeah, for you maybe! Thanks for all you do. Um, we are so lucky that you're still here with us. And as Councilmember Fox said, I can't wait till the 10 year and, you know, and—and thanks for—I didn't even think about that about volunteers, so that's really good to know. You might be hearing from me. I—I can help out. So thanks, Paige, I appreciate all you do for us. [28:22] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you, Councilmember Leifeld. Councilmember Lawrence. [28:25] **Councilmember Tim Lawrence:** Thank honor. Uh, again I just want to reiterate what everyone else said, thank you so much. Um, this is a staple for my family. You've seen us down there with my girls and they—they always like, "Daddy, can we go down to the park?" "Absolutely we can." So um, and it's so nice coming down there. You always have a smile like they were saying before even [28:29] on the really miserable days, the hot hot, humid humid, and it's just awesome to see and it just really appreciative. So just want to let you know that. [28:44] **Paige Marshall Bigler:** Thank you. Thank you for your support. [28:46] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you, Councilmember Leifeld. Councilmember Pemble. [28:49] **Councilmember Dave Pemble:** Paige, thanks. And yes, I will volunteer again next year. And I think the rest of these folks will do too. [28:55] **Paige Marshall Bigler:** Thank you, Councilmember Pemble. [28:57] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Paige, I always enjoy seeing you. Um, I'm sad to see you at this meeting every year because the end of summer is... but just so we know, Paige does many other things. I was just at Paws in the Park, which was wonderful. Arts, Rec, and Police is always another um portion that [29:15] Paige works with. The Community Halloween party, which is coming up. So you do a bang-up job every year. Parks and Rec, yep, we—we... you're knocking it out of the park, let's just say, no pun intended. So no motion; Council, we'll just have discussion tonight. Thank you, Paige, and uh, look forward to next year. [29:39] **Paige Marshall Bigler:** Thank you. 10th—10th season. I'm very... [29:43] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** I know, oh boy! Crazy. All right. Under Administration, it is that first meeting of the month, so we will have a very exciting PFAS update. [29:56] **Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** Just to give you a little hint hint, next year when I set the agenda, I am not [30:00] going to be directly after Paige Marshall Bigler. Give you that. As you know, we—we do uh in terms of wanting to make sure that we're transparent about everything going on with the PFAS and having the word out there, we give a—a monthly update uh the first meeting of the—the month. So that's where we are now. Um, a couple of quick pieces. Although extremely busy—and and Ryan Stempski, our Public Works Director, and I joke that can't get through a conversation about any topic without PFAS coming up. Um, ju—just the point is, it—it's constantly on our minds and a lot going on, but the report itself is fairly short this month. Um, as you know, uh last month we uh received the [30:47] siting study for Treatment Plants 2 and 3. We had a closed session discussion about uh acquiring property for those coming out of that. So since then, uh, we did hire Valbridge Property Advisors to do two uh—uh property appraisals uh for those preferred sites. We are also in process of getting quotes for a firm to conduct uh a lease analysis to help with statutory requirements for relocating existing businesses at the North Frontage Road site. Uh, so those are moving forward. Um, maybe not as quick as some people want, but uh it is forward. Um, the other piece that uh I'm [31:34] pleased with is I think next week or the following, somewhere pretty soon, uh we are meeting with Senator Pappas, who is the Chair of the Senate Capital Investment Committee, to provide an update uh and discussions on our needs for um our project and funding needs. And really what's nice about this is uh this last legislative session we met with a lot of state elected and staff about our project. Um, important relationships that we uh nurtured there. Um, disappointing that we did not get a state bonding bill for any project, uh but certainly uh spoke well to the efforts we put in this past session that uh the Chair of the [32:20] State Senate uh Capital Investment Committee was reaching out to us wanting an update ahead of this session. So uh I take that as a positive sign to—to keep working towards that. Um, minor update: we had expected around September/October to be hearing about uh emerging contaminant grant applications for Plants—Treatment Plants 1 and 2. Um, we're told that that—those decisions will now be in November. So a little bit later than we wanted, but uh in process. The other thing that staff have been real active on is um preparing for uh sort of the communications piece. As you know, in our budget, we're anticipating a [33:07] 37% increase in water rates. Uh, the postcard to all residents is actually at the printer uh but not yet mailed. Uh, put a hold on that. Um, that's just a part of the communications that we've been planning. Um, when this memo and the agenda were set last Thursday, within a day it's out of date, which is good news in this case. Uh, sometimes out of date's uh surprising. Um, we uh have felt strongly that all of our uh wells are eligible under the uh State's 2018 settlement with 3M. Uh, obviously the [33:53] uh state agencies in charge of that administration have—have some other beliefs that there needs to be a direct connection to one of the 3M disposal sites. Uh, we have worked hard uh with—with our state partners over the last couple of years to do investigation and analysis uh and have found a direct connection for Well Number 5, which is one of the three wells that would be served by Treatment Plant Number 2—sort of the central one. Um, the state's initial view of that was trying to encourage uh the 3M Company to um uh enroll as a uh cooperative responsible party under MERLA. Uh, 3M has been [34:40] resistant to that uh thinking that there may be other sources and not ready to—to step up. Uh, but at this point, uh the—Pollution Control Agency and the DNR as the co-trustees of the uh—the 3M settlement fund have said that the settlement will now cover uh our costs for Well 5, which is great news! (Woo!) But—but it's far short of what we need and where we want to be. We're still in—but it's—it's—it's an important start. Um, unfortunately it throws out the rest of my script. I don't know what else it means. It—it does mean um we are un— [35:27] likely—not ready to make a recommendation to Council—unlikely to be looking at a 37% increase in water rates January 1. Probably still significant—I would guess around 20%—but less. Um, don't know quite what it means for construction schedules where Plant 1, we were positioning ourselves to go out to bids in February. If we instead go with Plant 2, take the money for—for that one, it hasn't been designed yet. So although we were starting to do the engineering on it, well, this sort of puts the pressure on: really get going on the engineering for it. So instead of going to bid in February, maybe we're going to bid [36:13] in uh September-ish. Delays everything. Some advantages of that is it gives us additional time to meet with Senator Pappas and Representative Lee and and all our other friends up there at the capital uh about looking for funding for Plant 1 instead of putting it entirely on our rate payers, our—our residents, our businesses. Um, but as you might recall, um we have a five-year deadline, April 2029, uh that the uh federal government expects us to have the three plants built and operational. And the schedule we were on going to bid in February had about a four to six month cushion. So if we [37:00] wait until September, we have no cushion. So—don't know what that means on construction schedule. Instead of sort of doing a plant a year for three years, we're probably going to have a lot of overlap uh which will be um extra work—doable, but extra work and hassle for staff to monitor uh multiple projects. Uh, additional impacts on our community as we have more construction going on. Um, but uh at the same time, it's—it's great news knowing that we've uh uh gotten our first injection of some significant funding towards the project. Long ways to go uh but this—this definitely helps with that. I could take questions [37:47] or certainly hand it over to Mr. Stempski, our Public Works Director. [37:52] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you, Dan. Councilmember Haus. [37:54] **Councilmember Angie Haus:** Thank you, your honor. Uh, Dan, does this mean that we are out for all of the our other wells by chance, or is there still a chance that 3M still may be um liable? [38:09] **Dan Wietecha:** A—a direct connection has been found for Well 5. Uh, additional investigations uh are pending to see if there's connections for the other wells, but unknown at this point. [38:22] **Councilmember Angie Haus:** Thank you. [38:23] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Any other discussion, Council? Thank you. Looking forward to [38:34] more. I—I do want to say thank you, Dan and Ryan. You have worked very hard on this, and I know there's more work to come, but um, it kind of just gives us a little breathing space, and we look forward to um everything else that's going to happen. And a big thank you to um Kirk and his staff at the MPCA to finally hear our story. Thank you. Council, any announcements? Okay, I do have a few. Councilmember Fox. [39:20] **Councilmember Jen Fox:** I don't know if this is on your—your list, Mayor, but uh the downtown Halloween Candy Crawl is coming up on Sunday, October [39:22] 27th. And now that we officially passed that in the consent agenda today, um, we can start promoting it. So it's 2:00 to 5:00 um on Second Street. And this is an opportunity for you and your families and your friends to come down and dress up and trick-or-treat throughout downtown to all of the businesses. There will be a big trunk-or-treat. If you want to be a part of that, um, I guess just contact me and I can get you connected to the right person. Um, we're going to hopefully have a bounce house, uh pumpkin decorating, trick-or-treating, balloon art, hot chocolate, mini golf... um, all the good stuff. So please join us. [40:02] **Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you, Councilmember Fox. Uh, moving forward: uh October is National Community Planning Month. Extra appreciation to Community Development Director John Hinzman and City Planner [40:08] Justin Fortney. In recognition of National Fire Prevention Week, the Fire and EMS Department Open House is Tuesday, which is tomorrow, October 8th. Meet the department, learn about fire safety, and see the trucks and equipment. All ages are—are welcome. The Hastings Police Department will join more than 50 agencies across the state in selling pink patch items to raise awareness and funds for the American Cancer Society during Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October. The Hastings—the—I'm sorry, the historic Hastings Car Show is Sunday, October 13th. Guests can enjoy music, food trucks, shops, and local [40:56] restaurants while checking out a variety of classic cars. The Arts and Culture Commission hosts the annual Creative Convergence on Wednesday, October 16th. All arts and culture organizations and individuals are invited to attend and network. Meetings: uh Wednesday, October 9th, 6:00 p.m. is Arts and Culture Commission; Thursday, October 10th, 6:00 p.m. is HEDRA; thir—uh Monday, Monday October 14th, the planning committee has been cancelled, but the Planning Commission meeting is at 7:00 p.m.; Tuesday, October 15th, 7:00 p.m. [41:38] Heritage Preservation Commission; Wednesday, October 16th, 6:00 p.m. Parks and Rec Commission; Thursday, October 17th, 6:30 p.m. Public Safety Advisory Commission; and Monday, October 21st, 7:00 p.m. is our regular—regular City Council meeting. With that, I would accept a motion to adjourn. Councilmember Pemble and Councilmember Leifeld. All those in favor of the motion, state by saying aye. (Aye) Oppose to that motion, state by saying nay. We are adjourned.