This transcript has been formatted with speaker names based on the context of the Cottage Grove City Council meeting. **Note on Council Members:** While your provided list mentions Monique Garza and David Clausen, the transcript roll call and dialogue explicitly feature **Councilmember Tony Kamada** and **Councilmember Steve Dennis** (who is resigning during this meeting). I have used the names corresponding to the speakers present in the recording. *** [00:00] **[Music]** [00:06] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, uh, good evening. Uh, this is the October 4th, 2023, Cottage Grove City Council meeting, which I'm calling to order. Uh, the first order of our business this evening is the Pledge of Allegiance. So if you please rise. 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. All right, will the, uh, clerk please do the role? [00:41] **Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Kamada? [00:43] **Councilmember Tony Kamada:** Here. [00:44] **Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Dennis? [00:45] **Councilmember Steve Dennis:** Here. [00:46] **Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Thiede? [00:47] **Councilmember Dave Thiede:** Here. [00:48] **Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Councilmember Olsen? [00:49] **Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Here. [00:50] **Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** Mayor Bailey? [00:51] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Here. Uh, next on the agenda this evening is Open Forum. This is the opportunity for anybody who wants to speak on something that's not on tonight's agenda is welcome to do so at this time. Um, I don't believe anybody did sign up on the, uh, signup sheet out in the entryway, but is there anybody that would like to speak on something that's not on tonight's agenda? All right, seeing none, and we'll go ahead and close, uh, Open Forum and I'll move to number five, which is adoption of the agenda. [01:19] **Councilmember Steve Dennis:** Motion to adopt the agenda. [01:21] **Councilmember Dave Thiede:** Second. [01:22] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, so we have a motion by, uh, Councilmember Dennis, second by Councilmember Thiede. All those in favor signify by saying "Aye." [01:29] **All Councilmembers:** Aye. [01:31] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Opposed? Motion carries. Uh, next is presentations. Uh, we have three, uh, different presentations this evening. Uh, the first one, uh, is the proclamation honoring Hispanic Heritage Month, and I believe are we just doing the—you guys take it first, the next one? Okay, so what I'll do then is I asked, uh, Councilmember Olsen to, uh, read the proclamation and then we'll make a motion and second, and then, uh, our Director of Public Safety, Pete Kerner, will come up and say a few words and then talk about a few other items on the agenda. [02:08] **Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Okay, thank you Mayor Bailey. It's my honor and privilege to read this proclamation tonight. And as you stated, uh, upon completion of the proclamation, uh, we will ask our Public Safety Director Pete Kerner to step to the podium along with our friend Rigo Aguirre, who is the National Latino Police Officers Association, uh, representative here in the city of Cottage Grove. Um, but first let's start with the business at hand, which is our proclamation honoring Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from September 15th through October 15th of 2023. The proclamation reads as follows: "Whereas National Hispanic Heritage Month, established in 1988, is an opportunity to celebrate the rich cultural traditions and honor the significant achievements of our Hispanic, Latina, Latino, and Latin American communities; and whereas Hispanic and Latino Americans have made enormous contributions to our diverse society by sharing their talents, culture, traditions, and their deep connection to family values and a commitment to faith and a desire to live the American dream; and whereas the Hispanic community has had a profound influence on our country through their strong commitment to family, faith, hard work, and service, and they have enhanced and shaped our national heritage with centuries-old tradition that reflect the multi-ethnic and multi-cultural customs of their community; and whereas we recognize and honor the many ways that Hispanics have enriched the fabric of our society while also rededicating ourselves to address the lack of equal access to opportunity that many still face; and whereas the city of Cottage Grove is proud to honor the history and contributions of Hispanics in our community and throughout our state and our nation; now therefore the Mayor and City Council of the city of Cottage Grove, County of Washington, state of Minnesota hereby proclaim September 15th through October 15th, 2023, as Hispanic Heritage Month." And this would be passed on the 4th day of October, 2023, and signed by Myron Bailey, the Mayor of the city of Cottage Grove. And Pete, I would welcome you and Rigo up to the podium. I know that you have a lot of really, uh, good information to share about the ways in which our city is making connections with our Hispanic American community, in particular the Latin Police Officers Association, which you've been part of now for several years and participated in along with our, uh, Community Engagement Officer Dan Schon. So please take it away. [04:44] **Pete Kerner (Director of Public Safety):** Well, honorable Mayor, Council, thank you very much. Say real quick Council, if you want to join me down in the front while, uh, Pete gets started here. You know me, I like to talk. So, um, uh, but as we prepared for this council meeting and we prepared the proclamation, um, one person really resonated with me and that's who I'm, I'm here to recognize tonight as, as along with you Mayor and Council. Um, so tonight I'd like to honor St. Paul Police Commander Rigo Aguirre. Um, Rigo was presented recently with the National Latino Police Officer Association's 2023 Lifetime Award at the national conference in Orlando, Florida. Uh, we have—I'm pictured here when he just got that award recently with the deputy chief and the chief from St. Paul. Just a few things I wanted to point out about Rigo and, um, in his 20-year career in law enforcement, um, Commander Aguirre has had numerous assignments including Homeland Security, gang, gun unit, narcotics, property crimes, sergeant, and he's most recently, um, took on a commander position with the St. Paul Police Department. Um, he's been involved with the NLPOA since he was a law enforcement student. He has been the treasurer, vice president, and is currently the president of the Minnesota chapter. Rigo is currently on the NLPOA national executive board of directors as well. The Lifetime Award is presented to someone who has shown great commitment to the mission and goals of the NLPOA and to the organization. Rigo has certainly achieved that and more. He has given thousands of volunteer hours, and I think that's the important thing to note, that any of these associations we're members of, it's our volunteer time; we're not, we're not being compensated. Um, so with thousands of hours of personal time, and he consistently gives his energy to the improvement of the organization. Rigo really is a leader who supports, promotes, and contributes to the growth and success of the Minnesota Latino community. I think some people might wonder then, why am I recognizing a St. Paul commander, right? Um, but there's more to it. Um, he has a lot of professional praises, awards, everything that goes along with it, but why I wanted to honor Rigo tonight was he's a family man that resides in Cottage Grove. Rigo moved, um, from St. Paul into Cottage Grove in, um, 2004, and that just—that says a lot about our community, that we have so many officers that want to locate here and live here. It's a safe community. So, um, that is the reason I wanted to recognize him tonight, and he's also become not only a partner in a lot of these groups, but he's become a good friend to many of us in the CGPD. So, um, how I met him: Rigo came to the Washington County Chiefs of Police Association and he invited agencies to get involved in the association. After you have a chance to talk with him—I know many of you know him—he's very charismatic, he's very convincing, and he almost made it a challenge to many of us chiefs to get on board. And I'm that guy that can't say no, and I joined the association. Um, so I appreciate that he talked me into it. Um, but it's, it's been nothing but a pleasure to be a member of the association now. So, um, since joining, uh, just a, a few things, um, me, Officer Schon, Officer Foster, a few others—we were able to go to Bloomington and help with the Shop with a Cop event through the association. Um, last year, myself and, um, Community Engagement Officer Schon, we went to the 20th year anniversary Gala, Black Tie event in St. Paul, which was really cool. And I appreciated, as you can see in the picture there, our, you know, we were even recognized as being one of the departments that helped contribute, which was kind of a big deal because it was—it's mainly the larger departments; it's not as many of the suburbs that are involved. So I was, I was proud that we could be there. Um, recently, um, one of the Woodbury officers who's a member, um, hosted a, their business meeting at the HERO Center, so we had members from all over the metro were able to come check out the HERO Center, they did some tours afterwards. Um, our Lions Club recently, um, did a donation for a scholarship program, so I think we're slowly, you know, bringing the different organizations together. And then also this spring, we worked on a Cinco de Mayo celebration at Las Margaritas, and we had, um, some compliance issues at one point and kind of reached out to, to Rigo on, on ways we could work with the community and, um, so that was a huge success. And last week, you might have, uh, seen Rigo and Carlos at our HERO Center, um, open house. They provided a table and there's a, a picture there with them engaging with residents, and so it was just really neat. So but to wrap it up, um, I'd just like to say most people, they have a choice to where to live. Um, we are fortunate to have many law enforcement officers living in Cottage Grove. Um, that makes me very proud as the Chief, that so many officers in the East Metro make it—that just shows that they want to raise their families here and they know Cottage Grove is a great community and we're, we're safe. So that, that says a lot. Um, so in a moment, I, I would like to present, um—I call him Cottage Grove resident Rigo Aguirre—with the Outstanding Citizen Achievement Award. Um, so prior to doing that, if, um, if Rigo can say a few words and then we'll bring—you can present him with a certificate. So thanks, Mayor. I put you on the spot, sir. [10:14] **Rigo Aguirre:** No problem. Thank you, uh, Chief, Mayor, Councilmembers for this great honor. I appreciate, uh, the award, the recognition not only for me but for the association. The National Latino Peace Officers Association has been around 50 plus years nationally, 20 years here in Minnesota. And, um, what it is all about is the partnership, and building this partnership with Cottage Grove has, um, has given us so much. You can see from the pictures, and this is just a little snippet of what we do, but being able to bring Cottage Grove in with the National Latino Peace Officer Association, to go to Bloomington, to go to all these events, to be showcased on a national level—I think that's, that's the key of these partnerships. And it, and you know, I do look at Cottage Grove as a great place to live. Many officers do; this is a very safe place to live. I think you may have more officers living in Cottage Grove than anywhere else, okay? Including members of my family that are, uh, in law enforcement and, and, and are here. I think Cottage Grove has somewhere around 4 to 5% Latino population in Cottage Grove, but that doesn't give the whole picture. You know how big Cottage Grove is growing, you know all the development we're doing. You take any day, Monday through Friday, you look around, we probably double that in the Latino population. And, and that's also the community that we have to reach out to—not just what's on paper and what the census says, but also everybody that's here, everybody that's coming through here that uses Cottage Grove for business and pleasure, right? So, um, this is a great partnership. I appreciate being here. I hope we're going to continue this with partnering up with the Police Department, with the Chief, uh, with the City, and and doing bigger and greater things. Um, can't say enough about Cottage Grove and thank you again for this great honor. [12:12] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, so I just want to say, you know, you made a comment, uh, "we're a very safe community," but as you noted, with that many police officers around, it, it definitely, definitely helps. So I'm just going to read, um, the, uh, certificate here. It says: "Outstanding Citizen Achievement. An Outstanding Citizen Achievement Certificate is granted to a member of the community for outstanding performance and commitment that has brought credit to the community and connects to the mission of the Cottage Grove Police Department. Presented to Rigo Aguirre on this 4th day of October, 2023, on behalf of the city of Cottage Grove and Department of Public Safety. We recognize your leadership of supporting, promoting, and contributing to the growth and success of the Cottage Grove Hispanic Latino community and in the law enforcement community. The NLPOA Lifetime Award demonstrates your commitment to the mission and goals of the National Latino Police Officers Association. Your commitment and dedication to the organization and community is recommended." And this is obviously signed by our Director of Public Safety Pete Kerner, but I know the rest of the Council, myself, and the staff are proud to have you, uh, residing here in Cottage Grove. And maybe at some point in time, Pete, do we got to talk him about coming to—oh no, I guess I shouldn't say that today. Oh, volunteer? Okay, that's what it is. All right, I, I'll stick with that then. But again, uh, very appreciative of all the work you've done, uh, and the support within the community as well, the city of St. Paul. And so, uh, thank you for your service. [13:38] **[Applause]** [13:42] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Thank you. Take care. One more—oh, you want to do one more? One more, got it. Got it. Thank you. Awesome, thank you. And before we, um, take a motion and a second on the proclamation, I just want to thank, uh, our Director of Public Safety Pete Kerner—I guess I don't need those, I could do that over there—um, Pete, for recognizing this opportunity, uh, in this particular, uh, situation. Because I do think, uh, the more, and as, as we've talked about, you know, uh, creating more diversity opportunities within, whether it's the public safety department, our city staff, um, fire, you name it—I think everything that we can do to continue to, to reach out to the various, uh, the community groups. Because, um, as it was noted earlier, um, the—that, I'll say the demographics of our community is changing and I think changing for the good. Uh, so I, I appreciate the fact that you're recognizing that and again, thank you for making Cottage Grove your home. So I do, uh, look for a motion to approve this proclamation. [14:48] **Councilmember Justin Olsen:** So moved. [14:49] **Councilmember Tony Kamada:** Second. [14:50] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, so we have a motion by Councilmember Olsen, second by Councilmember Kamada. All those in favor signify by saying "Aye." [14:57] **All Councilmembers:** Aye. [14:58] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Opposed? Motion carries. And then the last item on our, uh, presentation this evening is Fire Prevention Week Proclamation and the Fire Department Open House, uh, overview. So Pete, take it away. [15:10] **Pete Kerner (Director of Public Safety):** Yeah, I'll just give a, a real brief overview, um, and then in a moment you guys will excuse me, read the proclamation about Fire Prevention Week. But, um, every year during, uh, Fire Prevention Week in October, we do an, an open house. This year we're doing it on Thursday, October 12th from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and this will be held at the Central Fire Station on 8th Street. Um, very similar to past years, they'll have the demonstrations where kids get to operate the nozzle, uh, we'll have the, the ladder truck there. Um, you know, when you see the different themes with the, the kitchen safety, we have some of those demos—I know like Steve Zaccard and some of our other folks, Mike Dandal, they really like doing the kitchen safety demos. And we'll also be including some of our EMS demos and CPR, Stop the Bleed kind of things. So, um, I mean what more do I have to say than you get to come check out our fire trucks? I mean that's—that should be a big enough sell for most of the kids. But, um, with that you're, you're welcome—you'll see more on social media. There's a short video that's already gone out welcoming the community to join us and, um, there'll be—it was in the newsletter as well. So thank you. [16:21] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Awesome. So I've asked, uh, Councilmember Dennis to, uh, read this proclamation. So, uh, Councilmember Dennis. [16:28] **Councilmember Steve Dennis:** All right, well thank you Mayor. It's my, uh, privilege to read the proclamation for Fire Prevention Week, and it's a long one, so here we go: "Whereas the City of Cottage Grove is committed to ensuring the safety and security of all those living in and visiting our state, and fire is a serious public safety concern both locally and nationally; and homes are the locations where people are at greatest risk from fire; and whereas according to the National Fire Protection Association most recent data, US home fires resulted in 2,800 civilian deaths in 2021, and fire departments in the United States responded to 338,000 home fires; and whereas cooking is the leading cause of home fires in the United States, and two out of every five home fires start in the kitchen, with 31% of these fires resulting from unattended cooking; and whereas more than half of reported non-fatal home cooking fire injuries occurred when the victims tried to fight the fire themselves; and whereas Cottage Grove residents should turn pot handles toward the back of the stove, always keep a lid nearby when cooking, keep a three-foot kid-free zone around the stove, oven, and other things that could get hot, watch what they heat and set a timer to remind them that they are cooking; and whereas residents who have planned and practiced a home fire escape plan are more prepared and will therefore be more likely to survive a fire; and working smoke alarms cut the risk of dying in reported home fires almost in half; and whereas Cottage Grove first responders are dedicated to reducing the occurrence of home fires and home fire injuries through prevention and protection education; and whereas Cottage Grove residents are responsive to public education measures and are able to take personal steps to increase their safety from fire especially in their homes; and whereas the 2023 Fire Prevention Week theme in quotes 'Cooking safety starts with you. Pay attention to fire prevention' effectively serves to remind us to stay alert and use caution when cooking to reduce the risk of kitchen fires; now therefore the Mayor and City Council of the city of Cottage Grove, County of Washington, state of Minnesota, hereby proclaiming the week of October 8th through 14th, 2023, is Fire Prevention Week with the theme 'Cooking safety starts with you. Pay attention and fire prevention,' and encourages all Cottage Grove residents to check their kitchens for fire hazards and use safe cooking practices. To be passed this 4th day of October, 2023." [19:07] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, thank you. Uh, Director, you have anything more you want to add before we—but I do, I do apologize, yes, that was very long and we took a lot of it out from the, from the national proclamation. So you did very, very well. So thank you. [19:23] **Pete Kerner (Director of Public Safety):** Make sure everybody knows things. Yes, thank you, Pete. [19:26] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, so I'll look for a motion to approve this. [19:29] **Councilmember Steve Dennis:** Motion to approve, uh, the proclamation. [19:31] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, so have a motion by Councilmember Dennis. Do I have a second? [19:35] **Councilmember Dave Thiede:** Second. [19:36] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Second by Councilmember Thiede. All those in favor signify by saying "Aye." [19:40] **All Councilmembers:** Aye. [19:41] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Opposed? Motion carries. Uh, thank you, uh, thank you, Pete. All right, next on our agenda this evening is Consent. Uh, the consent agenda. Does anybody want to pull anything on Consent? Uh, Councilmember Dennis. [19:54] **Councilmember Steve Dennis:** Well, thank you Mayor. I'm going to ask to that we actually pull two items off of the consent and and, uh, vote on those separately. Um, that would be, uh, liquor license and tobacco license for Bill's Liquor. I'm looking to abstain from that vote because I had connections with the property and other business dealings with that, so I will kindly, uh, refrain from voting on that. I'll step away when the moment's right. [20:15] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Okay, so that's C and D. Councilmember Olsen? [20:18] **Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Item H, please. [20:20] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Item H you said? Yes. Okay, anything else Council? All right, so we'll go to item H, which is appointment of Brad Peterson, Deputy Director of Public Safety, Police Captain. [20:31] **Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Thank you Mayor, and thank you, uh, to my Council colleagues. The reason I chose to pull item H here, as the Mayor mentioned, is, uh, this item is to appoint Brad Peterson to Deputy Director of Public Safety as a Police Department Captain here in the city of Cottage Grove. And I just wanted to take a moment to first of all congratulate Brad on this tremendous opportunity. Um, I've had the pleasure to know Brad for many years and have, uh, watched him move from a RPO, regular police officer, into a Sergeant's position and now, uh, the opportunity to watch him grow into a Captain's position. And it's truly been a pleasure. Brad is one of those people who is intensely focused on ensuring that the city of Cottage Grove Public Safety Department is the very best public safety department in the state of Minnesota and frankly in the country. Uh, he has, has been instrumental with training in our department for many years. He does a tremendous job of leading the initiative towards analyzing use of force in the city and making sure that we are consistently reviewing all of our policies and procedures around use of force so that, uh, that is something that is exceptionally rare here in the city of Cottage Grove, and it, and it truly is. And frankly, he just, uh, bleeds Cottage Grove green as a member of our police department. So it truly is a pleasure to see Brad move into this. I know it was a very, very difficult decision for Director Kerner to make. He had some unbelievably qualified applicants who went through a, a rigorous process in order to, uh, hopefully become a finalist, and then once they became a finalist, had some additional things they had to accomplish. And I know it, uh, left Pete with several sleepless nights before he finally made his decision. But, uh, you made a good decision. I don't know that you could have made a bad one with, with the candidates that you had in front of you. But I have every confidence that Brad's going to do a great job. And so I would encourage my colleagues to approve item H, which is appointing Brad Peterson to Deputy Director of Public Safety and the Police Captain. [22:36] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, thank thank you. Um, so with that, did—I'll move Consent without items, uh, C and D. You got her. All right. [22:45] **Councilmember Dave Thiede:** All right. [22:46] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** So we have a motion by Councilmember Thiede. A second? [22:49] **Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Second. [22:50] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Second by Councilmember Olsen. Any other discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying "Aye." [22:56] **All Councilmembers:** Aye. [22:57] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Opposed? Motion carries. And then, um, we have items C and D, which is a liquor license for Bill's Liquor LLC and a tobacco license for Bill's Liquor LLC. Who would like to make the motion? [23:08] **Councilmember Tony Kamada:** Motion to approve those. [23:10] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Okay, so we have a motion, uh, by, uh, Councilmember Kamada. Do I have a second? [23:14] **Councilmember Dave Thiede:** Second. [23:15] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Second by Councilmember Thiede. All those in favor signify by saying "Aye." [23:19] **All Councilmembers (Excluding Dennis):** Aye. [23:20] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you guys. So, uh, if anybody's interested, all of the items that were on tonight's Consent calendar have been approved. Number eight, uh, which is next on our agenda, is approved disbursements, which is paying the bills. [23:36] **Councilmember Steve Dennis:** Motion to pay the bills. [23:38] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** We have a motion by Councilmember Dennis. [23:40] **Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Second. [23:41] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Second by Councilmember Olsen. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying "Aye." [23:47] **All Councilmembers:** Aye. [23:48] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Opposed? Motion carries. Uh, nine is Public Hearings; we have none this evening. 10 is Bid Awards; we have none this evening. 11 is the Regular Agenda, which we do have one item on our regular agenda, which is declaring a vacancy, uh, for Councilmember Dennis, uh, which, uh, uh, he has, uh, tendered me his, uh, letter, um, or is about to. Did you want to read your letter? [24:14] **Councilmember Steve Dennis:** I would—I would be happy to do that. Okay, so it—the letter itself is addressed to the Honorable Mayor Myron Bailey: "It has been my honor to serve the residents and investors of the city of Cottage Grove since January of 2015. I am extremely proud of the accomplishments made by our city council staff team and those community members who have volunteered their time to make Cottage Grove a better place. I also carry tremendous appreciation toward the dignified way our Council has—has approached our call to service and the outstanding results we have achieved on behalf of the entire community. As you are aware, the past year has brought many changes for me. As a result, I've chosen to pursue aspirations that are more closely aligned with my current and future goals personally and professionally. And while I ultimately arrived at the decision to resign from my position on the city council, it has been extremely difficult because of my consideration and dedication to a place that's been my home for over 34 years. I will always care very deeply for our people, but stand confident in knowing that we made an indelible difference. I am very proud of our entire work, but especially the following accomplishments—both team and personal: solving a decades-old blight and structuring a deal to bring a new grocery store and fill the old vacant Home Depot store; accomplishing the all-time records for economic development success that has allowed us to grow the community in a way that brought tremendous value to the taxpayers; performing a relentless and dedicated approach towards a safe and clean water supply; achieving a AAA stable bond rating through exceptional fiscal management and planning; and lastly, on this particular sheet, is in the entirety of my years of service I have never missed a council meeting at this dais. Please accept my sincere thanks for your partnership and friendship over the years. It's always been my honor to serve as your Mayor Pro Tem and as Vice President of our Economic Development Authority. I hereby resign all positions and appointments at the conclusion of this meeting October 4th, 2023, with kindness, regards, and gratitude, and knowing that we moved our goals very far." [26:36] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right. And obviously, I have a few more things to do here in a few minutes once we get to, uh, Council comment request. Uh, but, uh, since, uh, Councilmember Dennis is, um, resigning, uh, what is before us, Council, is to accept his resignation and declare a vacancy, which, uh, at that point, uh, staff will be, uh, tomorrow—I believe starting tomorrow—uh, sending out information to the public, uh, taking in applications, uh, for those that would like to be appointed by the Council. By the way, and just we've done this once before, Councilmember Kamada, so, uh, this will be a similar process, uh, with timeframes that will be forth with, uh, in the information. So I'll look for a motion, uh, to accept the resignation and declare the vacancy. [27:26] **Councilmember Dave Thiede:** So moved. [27:27] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, so we have a motion by Councilmember Thiede. Do I have a second? [27:31] **Councilmember Tony Kamada:** I'll second. [27:32] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Second by, uh, Councilmember Kamada. All those in favor, uh, signify by saying "Aye." [27:37] **All Councilmembers:** Aye. [27:38] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Opposed? Motion carries. All right, um, so next is Council Comments request. I will do my norm, uh, and then I will ask, um, at some point, um, once it gets to me to go down into the front. Uh, we have some guests in the audience, too, that want to come up as well as we have some information, uh, some things that we want to, uh, share with, uh, Councilmember Dennis on his final night here with us, uh, within, uh, the city of Cottage Grove, uh, as a city council member. Uh, Councilmember Kamada, you have anything you have for tonight? [28:13] **Councilmember Tony Kamada:** I do. Feeling that, uh, Myron had a little something to do with this, um, this is a, um, declaration, uh, to make October 4th, uh, Steve Dennis Day. Yep, yep, and we will be, uh, doing that officially. Can I read it now or should I wait? [28:34] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** No, wait, I've got it here. [28:36] **Councilmember Tony Kamada:** All right, I have it here. Um, I just like to say that you've been a, a mentor to me and and I really am, uh, a little heartbroken that—that you're not going to be sitting next to me. That's all I've got to say. [28:50] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, Councilmember Thiede? [28:51] **Councilmember Dave Thiede:** Well, I would like to mention that, uh, this now being October, that, uh, that the, uh, Halloween's coming up and we've got the Monster Bash parade. And so get everybody excited about getting out there, putting on some costumes, walking in the parade. Uh, and that will be held same place on East Point Douglas Road between Applebee's and, uh, and the, uh, School Administration Center. And it'll on Saturday, October 28th at 10 a.m. it starts. So, uh, be there or be scared. Well no, you won't be scared. All right, and, uh, I'll just say good luck, Steve. [29:33] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Councilmember Olsen. [29:34] **Councilmember Justin Olsen:** Thank you, Mayor. Obviously, um, having to vote, uh, in the affirmative on 11a to declare that vacancy was a reluctant vote, but, uh, a necessary vote. And I know that, uh, Councilmember Dennis, you know, took this decision, um, extremely seriously and and pondered for quite a long time and obviously, uh, we all wish him very well. On a personal note, I simply want to say that, um, it has been an honor and a privilege to be able to serve with Councilmember Dennis. Uh, it all started with a, um, conversation between, uh, Mayor Bailey and and, uh, Councilmember Dennis and myself at Caribou Coffee when he said, "Hey, I'm thinking I might want to do this," and he never looked back. Uh, I am an admirer of your work ethic and your passion and dedication to, uh, fulfilling the obligations of the role of councilmember. It's something that I think we all take extremely seriously, and I know that, um, you hold that, uh, responsibility in the highest regard, and and stepping aside is a, is a very difficult decision for you. As a constituent—in other words, uh, somebody that you represent—I'm very grateful for what you've done for our community and for being a good listener and somebody that, um, has definitely put their heart and soul into the position of councilmember. And I think that's the only way you can do it well. That, at least, that's been my experience. As a colleague, um, I remember when we talked about, you know, is this something that you want to do? Uh, the, the Council was going through a challenging time at that time. We were not a united Council. And having you come aboard and, uh, provide us with that opportunity to heal some of those wounds and and move forward in a very cohesive and comprehensive way, um, made our community better, it made our Council better. And, uh, you've always been somebody who, um, has looked out for the team and defended the community, uh, with, uh, every ounce of, of energy that you have, and I'm grateful for that. As a colleague, as somebody who worked with you on the Beyond the Yellow Ribbon team for many years, uh, your contributions especially as it relates to the Memorial Day event and the organization of that event—and and really taking what, uh, former Councilmember Jen Peterson had brought forth and and expanding upon that and making it even better year after year after year—is something that, um, this community appreciates. It's something that I personally appreciate. I know our Beyond the Yellow Ribbon team appreciates. And when we had to do it without you this last year, it was not easy. Um, so we'll try to maintain, uh, some semblance of the legacy that you built with that and we'll—we'll give it our best. But I'm grateful for all that you did with that. Um, and last but certainly not least, you know, just as a friend, um, you've been somebody who has always had an open ear. Somebody that, uh, you know, when I have one of my crazy days, which seem to happen more often as I get older, and I need to really bounce some things off of somebody and and get, um, some perspective that I may not have, regardless of what the issue may be—I could always stop down to the shop and sit and visit or make a phone call and, um, benefit from good, sound, solid advice. And I hope to continue to be able to do that even though we won't be colleagues on the city council. Don't change your phone number. That's all I'm saying. Okay. Um, you know, without getting, uh, overly emotional, um, just thank you for everything you've done and thank you on behalf of the community for everything you've done. Change is a constant in life, and and this Council will move forward from you and from me and from everybody else who's sitting up here at some point in time, and all we hope is that we've left a legacy that people can be proud of and that they can build upon. Uh, I look back at people like Rod Hale and, uh, all of the former councilmembers that, you know, came before us—Conway, Olsen—and we stand on their shoulders, and now it'll be somebody else's opportunity to stand on yours. The good news is, uh, it's a pretty stable pair of shoulders, so I think it'll work out okay for all of us. Thanks again. [34:11] **Councilmember Steve Dennis:** Thank you, brother. [34:13] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, so before we go down in front, I thought I'll just—I'll make a few comments here and then, uh, I'll ask our Council, uh, to join me down in front so we can, uh, present a couple of words. Um, you know, I don't—if it weren't for—this is the final night, um, um, you could almost say ditto to Councilmember Olsen on, on what he said. But the other thing I wanted, uh, just let the public know, you know, well there's one statement that I know Steve and I have talked about many, many, many times, and that is when you first got elected, uh, onto the Council, I believe we were down in Applebee's. I think I can even remember the booth. And the comment was, you know, "How far can we take this?" And and I basically said, "As far as we want to go." And, uh, we have taken this, uh, City to absolute new heights, uh, unseen before, uh, within—within the, uh, the years of Cottage Grove. Um, but the other part I wanted to, uh, talk about is the things that maybe the public doesn't really realize. You know, it's funny because you—as a collective Council—we've always, um, everybody has different opinions on things, right? And we don't always agree, and we don't always agree. Uh, but when it comes to the end, um, we all are respectful to one another, and that is one of the things that when I go out and talk to other Mayors and other councilmembers and other cities, it—that's unheard of out there—that we have a respectable and respected Council, and councilmembers respecting each other even when we may not always agree with whatever the directions are. Um, but the other part, too, is how we all kind of join together, um, to support things. You know, whether it's, you know—um, and I remember this. I I told Councilmember Olsen earlier today that was going to bring this up. There are—there are moments in life where you—you remember things vividly and you remember where you were and what you did. Whether it's the situation down at, at Applebee's, but I remember us standing inside your liquor store with most of the lights off, mind you—and that—don't take this crazy out in the public—but what we were doing is we were building a wreath. We were building a wreath where the Council pulled our money together to build a wreath to have at the Holiday Train. And each of us, you know, put money in towards the wreath, each of us brought things to add to the wreath that represented Cottage Grove. And that was one of those moments where you could just tell the teamwork. And I know, Tony, you weren't part of that at that time, but the fact of the matter is, um, that's what makes certain things that we do so special, because we do—we do it because we love this community. And and whether you're moving away and your—from our community, you'll still call Cottage Grove home. It'll still be a place, uh, for you and you know you can always come back, too, you know that. And your obviously, your son who's in the audience here tonight is still here in Cottage Grove. Um, so there's obviously going to be that opportunity for you to do that. Um, or it's, you know, Fill the Boot campaigns, you know, doing, uh, fundraising events not because you had to, begging groceries. Um, stepping in, uh, when there was a need, uh, for the Memorial Day event. Everybody loves the Memorial Day event that we have here, and there was, um, a need for somebody to step up, and you stepped up and you said, "I'm going to take this thing and we're going to—we're going to run with it." So, um, I also appreciate the fact that you always, and in a—in multiple times—tried to, if there was descending opinions, maybe certain people out in the public, you always try to navigate that and try to figure out, "How can we maybe in some way, shape, or form help them along the way?" Um, maybe it isn't going to be exactly everything, uh, they want, but we try as best as we can to, and and at least to explain to them the reason behind it. So, um, you will be missed big time on this. I will—I will miss our after-council dinners and trading off steaks and things like that. I love, too, or I love, uh, ribeye steaks, and Steve has got me into rare. Started out at medium-well, and I'm now at a rare, and I like rare. So, um, it's pretty cool. So, um, at this point, I would ask Council if you would join me down in the front and, uh, maybe if you're okay with this before we do our presentations, our County Commissioner Carla Bingham, do you want to come up too? Yep. All right, did she start crying yet? Not yet. Can you pull that—yeah, you open that. [39:09] **Carla Bingham (Washington County Commissioner):** I just wanted to stop by, um, and give you a Commissioner Service Award from a grateful county for your nine years of service on the Cottage Grove City Council and wish you luck, happiness in your future adventures. And thank you for friendship, which doesn't go away, but all the good memories and hard work and dedication that you've done for this community, buddy. Thank you. Here you go. You and I walked a lot of miles together, right? Thank you. Thank you, Carla. [39:46] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, well, um, I'll, I'll do this one first and then we'll do the next. So, uh, what Councilmember is holding in front for the public, um, is just a plaque that we're presenting, uh, to Councilmember Steve Dennis in appreciation for your dedicated service to the city of Cottage Grove, uh, from the city of Cottage Grove. But obviously, it's from—from all the citizens in Cottage Grove, uh, the Council, the staff. Um, and again I just would say on behalf of all of us, uh, we do appreciate everything that you've done for this community, and, uh, we obviously wish you great success in your future endeavors. And like we already said, you can come back anytime. Okay. So you want to present him that? There you are, sir. Congratulations. [40:34] **Councilmember Steve Dennis:** Thank you. [40:35] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, so now I'm going to read, um—they're—we're doing a proclamation, uh, calling this Steve Dennis Day. And so I'm going to do is I'm going to read the proclamation. Thanks that you're going to hold it for me. And then we're going to present this to, uh, Councilmember Dennis. It says: "Whereas, uh, Steve Dennis is a Cottage Grove resident who has served his community in many capacities since 1993, including his involvement with the Masonic Lodge and the Beyond the Yellow Ribbon organization; and whereas Councilmember Dennis has worked as a part-time police officer with the city of Cottage Grove from 1993 to 1997; and whereas Councilmember Dennis has participated on the original Pavement Management Task Force for the city of Cottage Grove—well that must have been a lot of fun—and whereas—how long it was—and whereas the Councilmember Dennis has never missed a regular council meeting since joining the Council in 2015 and served as Mayor Pro Tem for seven years of that service; and whereas Councilmember Dennis helped to guide River Oaks to become a revenue-generating facility; and whereas Councilmember Dennis provided leadership and support for achieving economic development success in the city of Cottage Grove; and whereas Councilmember Dennis helped to form the Cottage Grove Convention and Visitors Bureau and served as chairman of the board since its inception; and whereas Councilmember Dennis coordinated and was the MC for the annual Memorial Day event which paid tribute to veterans; and whereas Councilmember Dennis helped guide the city of Cottage Grove to receive a AAA bond rating; and whereas the City strives to promote and harness the capacity of all members of our community and is thankful for over 30 years—now there be it, I, Myron Bailey, Mayor of the city of Cottage Grove, do hereby proclaim Wednesday, October 4th, 2023, as Steve Dennis Day in the city of Cottage Grove, County of Washington, state of Minnesota. Proclaimed this 4th day of October, 2023. Myron Bailey, Mayor." [42:47] **[Applause]** [42:58] **Councilmember Steve Dennis:** You—I might have a few words. So, um, wow. You know, when I—I think back on time and I—I've—I've been trying to prepare myself mentally, because people don't see an old cop cry, right? So I—I wanted this to be a celebration, not—not a day of sadness. Um, but a celebration of accomplishments and things that—amazing things were able to do and achieve as a group of people that had a call to service and we dedicated to wanting to make a difference. And I've been very, very proud to be part of the group aligned here with everybody. Um, I came at this from a position of gratitude. Uh, I was grateful for living in an amazing community where I had a home, my family lived here, I had a business for 20 years, my kids graduated from Park High School—a fantastic education. Um, I was able to live an amazing life and I wanted to take things that I learned about life and about business and be able to give back. And I was inspired, um, by people like yourself and Justin and Carla and Dan Schon and a number of other people who I saw were dedicated to wanting to make great things happen here. And I saw that actual work and I saw the differences and changes that were occurring in community. And there was a time when it was difficult, when you guys advocated for this building we're in now, and there were certain people in the community that had a differing opinion. We can be respectful of that. Um, but it turns out it was the right thing to do. It moved the community forward. It took courage to do that; you guys did that. And so as a local business owner and a person who lived here and paid a lot of property tax between the two, I—I had a vested interest in wanting to bring some things I thought could make a difference. So I worked on a plan and I—I had, uh, Katy Sen reach out to me and got me connected with Carla and talked with Dan and you guys, I mean, and and we just decided to get behind it and make the push. And that's what really that initial dedication, which is what allowed us to be able to accomplish these things. These things don't belong to me; they belong to everybody up here. So it's a position of gratitude, and no one more grateful. I—I always say the most successful person in the room should be the most gracious person. That's me tonight. All right, so you can't do this stuff by yourself. Takes a lot of—lot of people, a lot of friends. Start with family. Um, Kathy, Greg my son who's there tonight—first time he ever attended a council meeting, my last one, which is kind of cool. So, um, it yeah and and and all the friends and people that I knew through my business over the years and people who volunteered on campaigns and and came out and worked. And, um, my gosh, three times elected and to be able to get that much support out of the community is amazing. So I appreciate everyone who got behind and did that. Um, I want to talk a little bit very, very quickly about, um, some of the accomplishments that, um, were important to us. Um, we've highlighted economic development. We own every single sales record ever set in the city of Cottage Grove for any measured period of time for economic development success. What are those three areas? Residential, industrial, commercial and retail. We own all of that. That took a tremendous amount of work. We had to remake the wheel here, uh, change some things and put together a team of dedicated people that were built for speed in sales so were ready to come in and make things happen. Along with the support of a Council, you and I went to Vegas every year, we promoted the city, got it to a point where we were no longer, "Oh, you're Cottage Grove, Oregon?" or "Cottage Grove, Wisconsin?" or whatever. No, Cottage Grove, Minnesota. Everybody knew that. And those connections are what resulted in a lot of the opportunity that came our way, which is absolutely fantastic. I'm proud of the AAA bond rating. This is going to save the community millions and millions of dollars over the course of time by virtue of our financing costs to do projects that are necessary to protect the integrity of our assets. This is huge. A city of our size usually doesn't get that, and this came through a lot of dedication and a lot of great financial standard and good work. I want to mention very quickly that, um, we provided as a Council tremendous support for, uh, Public Safety—Police, Fire, and EMS—having a world-class operation here. Thank you, Pete, and everybody on the team. Um, fastest response times, dedicated service, taking care of our end-users, keeping our people safe. This has been absolutely incredible and I'm so happy to have played a small role in doing that. As a Council, we funded the tools and the processes that allowed this to happen, uh, by virtue of the money that the community provided, and it has been fantastic. Um, I want to mention that as I look at things and and I—I remember a quote from Don Shelby years ago, his final radio broadcast, and he says, "The thing people remember most about you, it's the last thing you did," okay? So this is my last thing right here and it's a great message and it's a message of—my hope for the community and positive reinforcement for things that'll keep Cottage Grove moving forward. Um, we have some of the most incredible staff. Um, I provided Jennifer with a little card—I don't if she opened it yet—but inside of that I talk about, um, the amazing people. This team could go and be measured against any team any place. Bottom line: fantastic. The people of the community have no idea how fortunate they are to have these dedicated public servants working on their behalf. It is world-class. I—I hope that in my absence you guys will do everything possible to keep this team of people together as long as you can and continue to source additional great people that can supplement what we do here and make things be even better. Um, one thing that we did this year is we created a financial management plan. My recommendation is we stick to that plan. It's a 10-year plan. Let's keep that thing moving forward, okay? Because that provides stability and success financially for the community. Do that and it'll serve everybody really well. Also continue, um, to follow great financial principles. We've worked very, very hard to be stewards of the taxpayer money each and every day, to make hard decisions but to do what was best in the interest of the community long term. I also want to ask the community for their support. Um, normally a man would never talk about an election up here, but seeing as I've now resigned, I'm going to talk about it. Next year is the election, and, um, there are three individuals who are going to be, uh, running for re-election here on this team. And I really ask the community—for those who know me, have known me over the years and trust me—keep this group of folks intact. Myron Bailey, Justin Olsen, Tony Kamada. These guys are absolutely fantastic and, uh, they will do everything to make sure that our community stays moving in the best possible way. One of my, uh, absolute favorite quotes—and I'm going to—I'm going to end with this. Some of you probably heard me say this one before: "Quality, quality has no fear of time." And whether it be in the past, present, or future, the things that we do matter. And when we do things the right way, they never come back in a bad way. So my—my ask and my support, um, for courage. For if you ever want to reach out, I'm not going to change your phone number, okay? Um, I'll be here as a sounding board, um, come back to visit from time to time. But keep doing what we do, because this is what makes this community the special place that it really is. So I want to thank everybody here for that. But again, doesn't belong to me; it's shared by everybody in this room. And, uh, it's deeply honored to have had a chance to be part of this here. So thank you. Let's do that and then can we get some—okay, yeah. I'll put the mic down here. Step so they one together. Him first. Favorite. Perfect. Thank you. [51:24] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** All right, so as we, uh, uh, kind of finish up this meeting, I will just let the public know that after the, uh, the council meeting is completed, uh, we will be—Council and staff, uh, and, uh, some guests that I've seen have joined us, uh, from, uh, retirement, uh, that, uh, uh, we're going to be having a little gathering down at, uh, River Oaks, uh, Golf and Event Center, uh, to kind of commemorate and celebrate, as Councilmember Dennis said, uh, the years of success and having him as part of our amazing team. Um, so, uh, with that I'll just continue here. Uh, we do not—13 was Workshop, which we do not have, uh, this evening, which was open to the public. 14 was a Workshop, uh, closed to the public; we do not have one this evening. Um, so, um, what I will do is I will ask, um, Council—Councilmember Dennis to, uh, make the motion, uh, for adjournment tonight. And I'll, uh, once we get to the point I'll—I'll do one of our favorite little things, which—uh, we're both Star Trek Next Gen—well, Star Trek, but Star Trek Next Generation guys—and so we'll, uh, we'll do that. So do you want to take the lead here? [52:37] **Councilmember Steve Dennis:** Mayor, it'd be my honor to, uh, motion one last time that we adjourn the meeting. [52:43] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Okay, so I have a motion by, uh, Councilmember Dennis. Do I have a second? [52:47] **Councilmember Dave Thiede:** Second. [52:48] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Second by Councilmember, uh, Thiede. So all those in favor of the adjournment signify by saying "Aye." [52:54] **All Councilmembers:** Aye. [52:55] **Mayor Myron Bailey:** Opposed? So, Councilmember Dennis, you are hereby relieved. [53:01] **Councilmember Steve Dennis:** Mayor, I stand relieved. Thank you. [53:05] **[Music]**