As the original text did not include timestamps, I have used sequential placeholders. I have also corrected the spelling of names in the speaker tags (e.g., "Christina Volkers" instead of "vulkar") based on the provided context. [00:00] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: Audience, please be seated. Since it is the first meeting of an odd-numbered year, we always get to begin with something pretty special: administering the oath of office to the two winners of the election last November, Kari Moore and Gary Severson. City Administrator Volkers will be leading them in the oath of office. Council Members, they're going to do it right here behind us. Let's fan out to the side, grab our chairs with us, and they can get started. [00:01] **Christina Volkers**: Okay, please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, Kari Moore... [00:01] **Kari Moore**: I, Kari Moore... [00:01] **Christina Volkers**: Do solemnly swear... [00:01] **Kari Moore**: Do solemnly swear... [00:01] **Christina Volkers**: That I will support the Constitution of the United States of America... [00:01] **Kari Moore**: That I will support the Constitution of the United States of America... [00:01] **Christina Volkers**: The constitution of the state of Minnesota, the constitution of the city, and the ordinances of the city of Oakdale... [00:01] **Kari Moore**: The constitution of the state of Minnesota, the constitution of the city, and the ordinances of the city of Oakdale... [00:01] **Christina Volkers**: And that I will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of the office of council member for the city of Oakdale... [00:01] **Kari Moore**: And that I will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of the office of council member for the city of Oakdale... [00:01] **Christina Volkers**: For the term for which I've been elected, to the best of my judgment and ability, so help me God. [00:01] **Kari Moore**: For the term for which I've been elected, to the best of my judgment and ability, so help me God. [Applause] [00:02] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: Congratulations. Gary, come on down. [00:02] **Christina Volkers**: Right, then repeat after me. I, Gary Severson... [00:02] **Gary Severson**: I, Gary Severson... [00:02] **Christina Volkers**: Do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America... [00:02] **Gary Severson**: Do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America... [00:02] **Christina Volkers**: The constitution of the state of Minnesota and the ordinances of the city of Oakdale... [00:02] **Gary Severson**: The constitution of the state of Minnesota and the ordinances of the city of Oakdale... [00:02] **Christina Volkers**: And that I will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of the office of council member for the city of Oakdale... [00:02] **Gary Severson**: And that I will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of the office of council member for the city of Oakdale... [00:02] **Christina Volkers**: For the term for which I've been elected, to the best of my judgment and ability. [00:02] **Gary Severson**: For the term for which I've been elected, to the best of my judgment and ability. [00:03] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: Congratulations. [Applause] Kari and Gary, if you'd like to take any photos with family, this is a great time. You can do it up here if you like, wherever, up to you. Got family joining us? If I can convince any of them to—oh just use the gavel, hit him with it. Come on everybody, he only gets to do this once every four years. [Laughter] With the flags behind you. Yes. Count of three. One, two, three. One, two, three. [00:04] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: I sure do, absolutely. Kari, Gary, I know I speak for my city council colleagues as well as the residents of Oakdale when I say how excited we are to have you both here. We have a lot of work in front of us and you both bring very valuable and unique experience to this job. I am personally, and I know my colleagues are, very excited to get to work with you, so welcome. [00:04] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: First up on the agenda is the approval of the agenda. Council members, we have a slightly amended version in front of us tonight, one little tweak under the admin report. Can I get a motion to approve the agenda as amended? [00:05] **Council Member Andy Morcomb**: So moved. [00:05] **Council Member Katie Wrich**: Second. [00:05] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: There's a motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. (Aye). Opposed? And the agenda is adopted. Next up is the approval of minutes. We have two sets in front of us tonight. First up, Workshop meeting minutes from December 10th, 2024. Council members, any changes or corrections? I'll look for a motion. [00:06] **Council Member Andy Morcomb**: Motion. [00:06] **Council Member Katie Wrich**: Second. [00:06] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: Motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. (Aye). Opposed? Abstentions? [00:06] **Council Member Gary Severson**: I abstain. [00:06] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: Perfect, thank you Gary. And those minutes are approved. Next up, regular meeting minutes from December 10th, 2024. Any changes or corrections? Council members, I'll look for a motion. [00:07] **Council Member Andy Morcomb**: So moved. [00:07] **Council Member Katie Wrich**: Second. [00:07] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: Motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. (Aye). Opposed? And abstentions? [00:07] **Council Member Gary Severson**: I abstain. [00:07] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: Thank you Gary. All right, meeting minutes are approved as presented. Introductions—we don't get to have this section on here very often, so we want to take a minute to recognize those joining us from Troop 580 tonight. A big thank you for coming out when it's so cold. We really appreciate having you here kicking your year off with us. Also kicking our year off, I like this tradition. Would the troops like to come up and introduce themselves at the podium? I am actually going to delegate handing out pins to our new acting mayor since he's also involved with the troops. You can head on down there. Feel free to join us at the podium, state your name and rank into the microphone. Welcome. [00:08] **Gabe Morham**: Hi, I'm Gabe Morham and I am the scout master for troop 7580. Thank you. [00:08] **Irvin Beacon**: Hello, I'm Irvin Beacon, I'm scout master for troop 9580. [00:08] **Liam Schmidt**: I'm Liam Schmidt, I'm star ranked for troop 9580. [00:08] **Carter Ruchi**: I'm Carter Ruchi, I'm life rank for troop 9580. Welcome. [00:08] **Colton Beak**: I'm Colton Beak and I am star ranked for 9580. [00:08] **Simon Leon**: I'm Simon Leon and I'm first class rank for troop 580. [00:09] **Joseph Schmidt**: I am Joseph Schmidt and I am life rank for troop 580. [00:09] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: Thank you all for being here. Council, let's go down and grab a photo with the troop. We'll grab a photo in front here. One, two, three. One, two, three. A little more elevation. Two. Thank you. Bring some Thin Mints next time, I know right! [00:10] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: Next up on the agenda, public hearing. We have a PUD Amendment for the 3M Imation PUD. Staff presentation: Community Development Director Andy Gitzlaff. Welcome. [00:10] **Andrew Gitzlaff**: Good evening, Mayor and Council. I'll give the presentation tonight on this item. This PUD amendment request is to enable the placement of a new pylon sign near the Superior Third-Party Logistics site at 3490 Hayward Avenue North. The applicant is requesting flexibility from the city zoning regulations to install a 50-foot pylon sign containing two sign faces; each sign face would be 350 square feet. The request exceeds the city's zoning standards which allow for a 30-foot tall sign and 150 square feet per side. Pylon signs are also only allowed in commercially zoned property whereas the Forefront is actually a PUD with a mix of underlying districts including research and development, light manufacturing, and office warehouse use. The intent behind the sign is to take advantage of that high visibility from 694. PUD zoning does enable a greater level of flexibility provided that public benefit is derived from requested deviations. Staff does find that the request for the pylon sign is acceptable given that it's placed away from existing signage on the Forefront campus. The design elements and materials are consistent with the existing signage and appear of high quality. MnDOT also took a look and noted that illumination should be kept at reasonable levels. Planning Commission held their public hearing on December 5th; there were no comments and the commission recommended approval. Again, staff is recommending approval. Happy to take any questions, the applicant is here as well. [00:12] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: Council members, any questions for Andy? How about questions for the applicant? All right, we're going to just roll right into the public hearing. In a minute, I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing. This is an opportunity for anybody in the audience that would like to speak to this agenda item only. Please step up to the podium, state your name and address for the record. Limit your comments to three minutes. At this time, I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing. [00:13] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: Seeing none, I'm going to go ahead and close the public hearing and bring it back for Council consideration. Council members, any final questions or should we jump right into action? [00:13] **Council Member Andy Morcomb**: I'll make a motion to waive reading and adopt ordinance number 943 pertaining to the 3M Imation planned unit development to allow a pylon sign at 3490 Hayward Avenue North. [00:14] **Council Member Kari Moore**: Second. [00:14] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: There's a motion and a second. Final comments? All those in favor say aye. (Aye). Opposed? And ordinance number 943 is adopted. Thank you, Andy. [00:14] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: Next up is open forum. Before we open up the floor, I do have a few items to cover. First is a proclamation recognizing National Law Enforcement Day. [Reads Proclamation] Therefore, I, Kevin Zabel, Mayor of Oakdale, Minnesota, do hereby proclaim January 9th as National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day in the City of Oakdale. Oakdale is incredibly fortunate to have the finest police department in the entire state led by Chief Newton. Chief Newton, on behalf of the city and our residents, we say thank you. We do not say it nearly enough for all that you and your officers do. Please share our appreciation with your department as well. [00:16] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: I also want to offer some recognition to two outgoing city advisory commissioners. First up, Kari Moore. Upon taking her oath of office for city council, she resigned her seat on the Oakdale Parks Commission. Kari, on behalf of the city council, thank you for your service on the Parks and Rec Commission. And Gary is leaving the Economic Development Commission. Gary Severson was appointed in 2021 and has been an unwavering member of the EDC. Gary, on behalf of the city council and our residents, we thank you for your three years of dedicated service. Let's go take a picture and we can present the certificates. We're getting our steps in tonight. One, two, three. [00:18] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: We are still under Open Forum. This is a part of the agenda that we like to open up the floor to anybody in the audience that would like to share whatever's on your mind. Seeing none, we're going to keep moving to consensus motions. We have motions A through L tonight. Council members, are there any of the motions that you would like to pull for individual consideration? [00:19] **Council Member Andy Morcomb**: Make a motion to approve consensus motions A through L as presented. [00:19] **Council Member Katie Wrich**: Second. [00:19] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: Motion and a second. Final conversation? All those in favor say aye. (Aye). Opposed? And consensus motions are approved. [00:20] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: Next up is the opportunity to check in with our advisory boards and commissions. Before we do that, we have one action item. At our work session before this, we tackled the board commission liaison assignments for 2025. I'm going to go ahead and make a motion to affirm the 2025 appointments for Council Liaisons and designate Council Member Morcomb as acting mayor for 2025. [00:20] **Council Member Katie Wrich**: Second. [00:20] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: Motion and a second. Any conversation? All those in favor say aye. (Aye). Opposed? And those appointments are affirmed. Boards and commissions will be gearing up for a busy year. No award bids tonight, so we're going to slide right into staff reports. Community Development, Mr. Gitzlaff. [00:21] **Andrew Gitzlaff**: The item before you here is for a conditional use permit (CUP) for a home occupation dental workshop at 4066 Goodwin Avenue North. The applicant is seeking formal approval to continue operating a dental workshop specializing in making crowns and dentures within the garage. The Planning Commission held a public hearing on December 5th. There was one neighbor that voiced concerns about noise, while two other neighbors stated there were no noticeable indications that the business was located there. Staff finds the CUP criteria have been satisfied and recommends approval with conditions regarding hours of operation (9 AM to 5 PM) and staffing. [00:23] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: Council members, any questions for Andy? Any questions for the applicant that staff may be able to answer? Can I get a motion? [00:23] **Council Member Andy Morcomb**: I'll make a motion to waive reading and adopt resolution 2025-1 approving a conditional use permit for a home occupation at 4066 Goodwin Avenue North with conditions included. [00:23] **Council Member Kari Moore**: Second. [00:23] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: Motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. (Aye). Opposed? And resolution 2025-1 is adopted. Thank you, Andy. Next up is our opportunity to check in with Jim, our City Attorney. Jim, welcome. Happy New Year. [00:24] **Jim (City Attorney)**: Happy New Year. Nothing specific to report tonight but happy to answer questions. [00:24] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: Council members, any questions for Jim? Then turn to your right, check in with City Administrator Christina Volkers. [00:24] **Christina Volkers**: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm going to ask Assistant City Administrator Jake Foster to come up and go over our legislative priorities. We did discuss this in the workshop. [00:25] **Jake Foster**: Good evening, Mayor and Council. The legislative priorities are focus areas that the city supports, including Oakdale-focused, East Metro, and Statewide priorities. These will be shared with our elected officials. Key changes from the workshop include grammatical fixes to the Local Government Aid (LGA) section, removal of language relating to preemptive local zoning authority, and removal of a tax exemption request for construction materials because we found we could already take advantage of an existing exemption. We also added language requesting an extension for the city’s use of tax increment financing (TIF) revenue for a project in the queue. [00:27] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: Council members, any questions for Jake or Chris? All right, let’s look for a motion. [00:27] **Council Member Andy Morcomb**: I move to approve the city of Oakdale 2025 legislative priorities as outlined. [00:27] **Council Member Kari Moore**: Second. [00:27] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: Motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. (Aye). Opposed? The legislative priorities are adopted. Jake, thank you. Chris, anything else? [00:28] **Christina Volkers**: Nothing else, unless I'm happy to answer any questions. [00:28] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: Council presentations. Anybody want to go first? Kari? [00:28] **Council Member Kari Moore**: Nothing for me. [00:28] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: Gary? [00:28] **Council Member Gary Severson**: Nothing. [00:28] **Council Member Andy Morcomb**: I had one, absolutely. In partnership with Washington County, we now have a prescription drug drop-off box here at City Hall. It's a resource for residents, so please come and drop off your prescription drugs because we don't want them in the garbage. [00:29] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: I also want to commend Council Member Morcomb; this has been something that you brought to the table a while ago and you've been relentless on getting this done. It is a real need. Thank you to our staff and partners at the county. [00:30] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: I have a number of updates. As of last Thursday, our three skating rinks are now open: East Side, Walton pleasure rink, and Walton hockey rink. Warming house hours are Monday through Friday 4 to 8 PM, Saturday 12 to 8, and Sunday 12 to 7. Also, the Oakdale Indoor Market is at the Discovery Center this Saturday from 9 AM to 1 PM. Very exciting news: we have a new transit option called Metro Micro. It is a shared ride service using mini-buses. You can book through an app or phone. Public Works is also still disposing of natural Christmas trees through the end of the month at the 1900 Hadley Avenue North campus for a $3 fee. Reminder that city offices will be closed on Monday, January 20th for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Finally, congratulations to anyone taking an oath of office this month. [00:33] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: We have two claims rosters tonight. First up, December 11th through December 24th in the amount of 1.52 million. Council members, any claims you wanted to flag? [00:33] **Council Member Andy Morcomb**: Make a motion to approve claims as presented. [00:33] **Council Member Katie Wrich**: Second. [00:34] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: Motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. (Aye). Opposed? Approved. Next up, claims roster for December 25th through January 14th in the amount of 8 million dollars. That may be the largest of my time here. Council members, any claims to flag? [00:34] **Council Member Andy Morcomb**: Make a motion to approve claims as presented. [00:34] **Council Member Katie Wrich**: Second. [00:34] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: Motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. (Aye). Approved. I'm going to break the agenda a little bit—I see our County Commissioner joining us tonight. Stan, welcome. [00:35] **Commissioner Stan Karwaski**: Thank you, Mayor. I just came from Birchwood. It’s an honor to be elected and a privilege to serve, so congratulations Councilman Severson and Council member Moore. I'm just here to observe. [00:36] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: Thanks, Commissioner. Any questions for the county? Can we have some money? [00:36] **Commissioner Stan Karwaski**: I'll go print some! [00:36] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: For our residents, Commissioner Karwaski was once again elected to chair the Washington County Board. Having him wield the gavel makes Oakdale even more special. Congratulations, Stan. Can I get a motion to adjourn? [00:37] **Council Member Andy Morcomb**: So moved. [00:37] **Council Member Kari Moore**: Second. [00:37] **Mayor Kevin Zabel**: All those in favor say aye. (Aye). We are adjourned. Thank you and good night.