Here is the transcribed townhall meeting with speaker names added based on the context and provided information. **Note:** Based on the dialogue, **John Geissler** is serving as the Acting Mayor in Wayne Boucher's absence. **Ellie Jones** is identified as the outgoing council member. *** [0:01] **John Geissler:** Okay, the time is 6:30. I'm going to call the city council meeting to order. It's Monday, December 16th. Let's stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, please. [0:15] **All:** I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [0:30] **John Geissler:** All right, one before roll call: Mayor Boucher is ill this evening and will not be here, so we're moving along without Mayor Boucher tonight. Roll call, please. [0:46] **Alissa McClure (City Clerk):** Councilor Jones? **Ellie Jones:** Here. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Geissler? **John Geissler:** Here. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Hjelle? **Andy Hjelle:** Here. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor LeBlanc? **Brian LeBlanc:** Here. [0:55] **John Geissler:** Next on our agenda is announcements. I'll call for other councilors, but I just want to make a point here that it's Councilor Jones' last meeting. She's been on the Council for two years, and I've really appreciated having you alongside. You also, by the time, learned to maybe ask a few more questions. So thank you for your time. Any other comments? Seconded? All in favor? Any parting comments? [1:15] **Ellie Jones:** No, just I've learned a lot. It's been great. We have an excellent city and I will still be listening in, I will still be attending. Thank you. [1:25] **John Geissler:** Thank you again for your time here spent with us. All right, item five is a public hearing. Tonight we have a public hearing on an ordinance amending the fee schedule for licenses, permits, and fees, section 270 of the Hermantown code of ordinances. So this is 2024-14, an ordinance amending Hermantown code of ordinances section 270 fee schedule. This is the first reading; there will be no vote on it, but this is a public hearing on this matter. So if anybody is here to speak on the matter of the fee schedule, now would be your opportunity to do that. If you're here to talk about anything other than the fee schedule, there will be a time for general discussion following. [2:18] **John Geissler:** Again, public hearing call for anybody with public discussion regarding the fee schedule. Anybody in Chambers welcome to step forward, state your name and address. There's anybody online that would like to speak, state your name and go ahead and speak. One last time for call for public comment on the public hearing regarding fee schedule. Hearing none, we're going to close the public hearing on that and again, this is the first reading, there's no vote on that tonight. So we will move on to Communications. Mr. Mulder, is there anything to report in Communications? [3:05] **John Mulder:** No, we provided the list there. If there's anything that you would like to see a copy of, just let us know and we can make that available to you. [3:15] **John Geissler:** Okay. Item seven is presentations. There were a couple in pre-agenda that Mr. Mulder is going to highlight and then some employee recognition. [3:25] **John Mulder:** Employee recognitions, yeah. I'll start with employee recognition. Each year we're supposed to recognize employees who have been here in multiples of five years. For various reasons, we did not do that in '22 and '23, but as we were preparing this meeting, we thought we should correct that. We do important work in building and serving our community, and that work doesn't get done without employees. And that means everybody from the City Administrator who sits at these meetings every month, all the way to the person who sits at the front desk, and maybe even more importantly, those people that are sitting at the front desk who are out there out on the street working—the snowplows, those patrolling our traffic, our city for crime and public safety. So it's all of those people doing the work to make our city a great hometown. [4:25] **John Mulder:** In 2022, we had two employees who had multiples of five years: Jerry Terhaar has been in our Public Works department for five years at that point in time, and Erica Johnson had been with the Police Department as a police officer. In 2023, we had a number of employees: for five years of service, we had Jeff Dwyer in our Police Department as one of the patrol officers. We had two employees who had 10 years of service: Jonathan Peru is one of our police officers and Alex Joren is one of our Public Works employees. And then also in 2023, Griffin Pfeiffer had 15 years of service in our Police Department. [5:10] **John Mulder:** So we want to recognize them for those two years, '22 and '23. In 2024, we had a number of employees have multiple years of services: for five years, Dana Cunningham, who has been our accountant and Assistant Finance Director, really does a lot of the work to put the budget together. And then Joe Wicklund, who has served as our Communications person and now is Assistant City Administrator, with 10 years of service. In 2024 is Jonathan Enright, again a police officer in the Police Department, and Chris Lefave in our Public Works department. 15 years of service: Jon Esterbrooks, who is one of our Deputy Chiefs of Police, has been with the city for 15 years, and myself. And then 20 years of service this year is Mark Gunderson. Mark reminded me late last week that he is currently the longest-serving employee in the workforce. So we appreciate everybody's dedication and their commitment to the organization and to the community. So we want to recognize them in that process. As part of our employee recognition policy, those employees are eligible for getting, for lack of a better word, City merch that says City of Hermantown on it so they can wear it proudly in their service to the city. [6:40] **John Geissler:** I didn't hear you mention your own name, but John Mulder as well—15 years of service this year. And thank you for that, John. All right, and I will say too, the Police Department has a lot of Johns and Jonathans in that department. All right, moving on to Public Discussion. This is the time in the agenda for individuals to address the Council about any item that's not on the agenda. Your time is limited to three minutes, but we won't be too firm on that. So if you have anything to speak on to the Council, now would be your time. If you're in the chamber, please step to the podium, state your name and address, and tell us what you're thinking. [7:26] **Andy Brew:** Andy Brew, I'm at 4945 Shar Lane in the Maple Fields trailer complex. I will have been there three years this coming April, and from the day we've moved in, we've had nothing but trouble there. When we moved in there wasn't a refrigerator, there wasn't a stove; they just put in a hot water heater that didn't work. We've had over 30 days cumulative of having no water in our unit, and to try to get them to come out and do anything has been next to impossible. This affected me hugely mentally. It's a problem with work because I do work in a customer-facing position, so to show up at work smelly or not looking really good probably isn't the best thing. [8:25] **Andy Brew:** But anyway, the big thing has been the water. We have to keep hot water running through our faucets; that has even frozen in the past. There's a huge hole underneath where our bathtub is to the outside. Twice, about a month ago, a neighborhood cat came up in it, got through the cupboards, and was in the hallway when my son Nick yelled at me. And we have a cat now—thank God that was a cat and not a skunk or rabid cat or raccoon. And then it came up another time, but we had blocked all the cupboards so that it couldn't come out, but our cat knew he was in there and was hissing and growling at it. So there's such a multitude of problems. We tried to stuff it with an old comforter here recently, but that caused the hot water pipe to leak all over the place—into the floor of the bathroom. So we have to keep two heaters underneath our bathtub to keep both the incoming water and the outgoing water from freezing, because last week the outgoing water froze and we had to bail it manually and then pour hot water down there to get it straightened up. [9:45] **Andy Brew:** Now, obviously my son's an adult, but there's a lot of families in that place that have kids, and I expected to see more of them over here tonight, but in talking to them through the internet, just like me, they're afraid of retaliation. Retaliation is not legal, but it happens, and we've seen it with the length of time they take to do anything. They don't even communicate back to us that they're going to be there, just a lot of promises that never get filled. So I would hate to have young children in that place and have this happen to them. I can't even imagine, because it's stressful enough on me, then to have two or three or four little kids who are asking, "Mommy, Daddy, can I do a shower? Do you got water for me?" You know, the owner's fix on it is to bring in water, and they haven't even done that; they did it once for us. This is a huge, huge problem. I want out of that place so bad because of that. I just never thought that I could experience something in this day and age this bad. I did not think that this could happen. But again, I think a lot of us were intimidated to do anything about it because as you know, housing in this area is next to impossible. I think it's easier to do anything in this world than to find housing in the Duluth area. So I don't know if anyone had any questions for me, otherwise, that's all I have to say at the moment. [11:20] **John Geissler:** Well, we thank you for your comments. You know that our Building Official has been working with you and our attorney. [11:30] **Andy Brew:** And Brandon Holmes is fantastic. I just met him a few weeks ago and it feels so comforting to know that something is trying to happen. I don't know what the end result will be, but from the city standpoint, we're doing what we can. [11:45] **John Geissler:** I also recommend there's a gentleman here from Justice North; perhaps talk to them and make sure that they can assist in any way that they can. [11:55] **Andy Brew:** Thank you, that's great, because if you can't afford representation yourself in the world, you're pretty well screwed. So it's great to have an advocate be on our side. Thank you for your comments. [12:06] **John Geissler:** Any other comments tonight? Any other public discussion? Feel free to step to the podium, state your name and address, please. [12:15] **Amy O'Donald:** Hi, my name is Amy O'Donald and I reside at 4941 Shar Lane Drive. I've been there for four years. I have two young children with special needs that go to Hermantown, and it's just been horrible. We've requested maintenance for many years; I still have stuff that's still open from '22 that's still not been done. My roof of my bedroom is currently leaking. We had to move myself and my husband into the front room where my girls were, but now they're in another room together because the roof was leaking and we didn't want to wreck her bed. In my daughter's room, the window is leaking down to the outlet, so she can't plug anything in. And there's a hole underneath the bunk bed set—a hole where the water was going down and it made a bubble in the floor. [13:15] **Amy O'Donald:** We had mushrooms growing in our roof above the washer and dryer. There's still insulation showing and that is leaking onto my washer as we speak. As soon as you walk into our house, there's a hole in the floor. He replaced the hole but didn't put the flooring there, so there's that. And then our bathroom had flooded; we didn't have water for seven days. My kids couldn't go to school because of it. I didn't know what to tell the school because I felt ashamed. And like I said, they're special needs, so this is just mentally and physically draining. I've cried days and nights. My daughter is in the special ed class in Hermantown Middle School and they've done a lot with donations and everything, and it's just overwhelming and I'm very, very grateful for what they have done and what Hermantown has done for us so far. But I just want something to be done with my place because it really hurts telling my kids that I'm sorry we have to live like this. We didn't ask for this and I just get emotional because I want them to have the best life. [15:00] **John Geissler:** Well, I'm grateful that the school is helping out to do what they can. And again, our Building Official and City staff are doing what they can. It's going to be a little bit of a work in progress, but we are doing what we can at this time. Okay, thank you. Anybody else would like to speak to the Council? State your name and address if you will, please. [15:35] **Unidentified Resident:** [Name unclear], 4939 Shar Lane. I have been there for about two and a half years. It's been horrible. The first place we moved into was completely horrible. They moved us into another trailer and same thing—there was a hole by the door. We fixed that properly. The carpet wasn't tacked down; you can literally lift it up a foot. My deck, there's holes in it, and I do also have three kids, one is deaf and has a heart condition, which is hard. There's just a lot of maintenance needs. The siding is falling off, the skirting—there's holes in it so animals are coming in and out from underneath the trailer. The bathtub in my girls' room, the access door is in their room; it's a huge hole, you can literally see the outside underneath. I just ask for something to change. [16:50] **John Geissler:** Okay, thank you for your comments. we appreciate it. And again, we're doing all we can at this time. Any other folks that would like to address the Council? [17:15] **Janelle La:** Hello, Janelle La. I live at 4939 Shar Lane. We've been there for almost a year in February, and I live with my husband and my four-year-old daughter. My daughter can't even play in her room; it's leaking like a faucet through that window. She can't enjoy that room, she can't play. Mommy can't even play. We had a major leak in our kitchen which was fixed but not properly. Our siding, our roof, our skirting needs to all be fixed. I can't even weed-whack in the summer; it just chips off, it's so brittle. I've got no screens on my windows. I have kinked water lines. They don't even do snow removal and that's included. They don't ice or salt anything on the roads. We have kids; they run around, they break arms, they break legs. That's not safe. That's not a community. If I had the money to, I would, but it's horrible. Something needs to be done, and that's why we're coming to you guys now. [18:25] **John Geissler:** Okay. All right, well again, thank you for your comments. We do appreciate it. Anybody else like to speak to the Council? You're in Chambers, feel free to step forward. Anybody online that would like to speak? [18:55] **Joe Wicklund (Assistant City Administrator):** Acting Mayor Geissler, we do have several folks online. And so if anybody is willing to speak, they can just unmute themselves and start with their name and address. [19:05] **John Geissler:** One more call for anybody online that wants to speak to the Council and address your concerns. Okay, we'll have one last call for any public discussion in the chamber or online. We do appreciate everybody's comments and coming tonight. Again, our Building Official has been keeping us abreast of what's happening, and our Building Official and attorney are doing the best they can. And again, I would recommend speaking with the gentleman at the back of the room from Justice North and making sure that he can assist you in any possible manner. [19:45] **John Geissler:** With that, we're going to close the public discussion period and move on to motions. Item nine, motions: a motion to approve or deny the following tobacco license renewal applications effective January 1, 2025, through December 31, 2025, contingent upon complete applications being received, successful background checks, and license fees being paid in full. Do we have a motion? [20:10] **Ellie Jones:** Move to approve. **Andy Hjelle:** Second. [20:15] **John Geissler:** Motion by Councilor Jones, second by Councilor Hjelle. Is there any discussion on this? Councilor Geissler? All of these are renewals and the only one that did not renew was the Chalet. Okay, perfect. All right, thank you. All right, any other Council discussion? All right, with that then I guess we will call for a vote. [20:45] **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Geissler? **John Geissler:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Hjelle? **Andy Hjelle:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor LeBlanc? **Brian LeBlanc:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Jones? **Ellie Jones:** Aye. [20:55] **John Geissler:** All right, next is the consent agenda. On the consent agenda are Item A, minutes approval or correction of the December 2, 2024 city council continuation minutes, and Item B, our accounts payable: approved General City warrants from December 1, 2024 through December 15, 2024 in the amount of $636,589.65. Motion to approve? [21:15] **Brian LeBlanc:** Motion. **Ellie Jones:** Second. [21:20] **John Geissler:** Motion by Councilor LeBlanc, second by Councilor Jones. Roll call, please. [21:25] **Alissa McClure:** Councilor LeBlanc? **Brian LeBlanc:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Jones? **Ellie Jones:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Geissler? **John Geissler:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Hjelle? **Andy Hjelle:** Aye. [21:45] **John Geissler:** All right. Ordinances, item 11, we have none. Resolutions, we have quite a few. First one, Item A, 2024-243: a resolution authorizing and directing that an agreement for Professional Services with Over Law PLLC, doing business as Over Law, be continued, and approval of the amended fee schedule for City's Attorney Services. Do we have a motion? [22:10] **Ellie Jones:** Move to approve. **Andy Hjelle:** Second. [22:15] **John Geissler:** Motion by Councilor Jones, second by Councilor Hjelle. Mr. Mulder, do we have an explanation of this item? [22:24] **John Mulder:** So again, this is the continuation of our agreement with Over Law to be the City Attorney. We're just changing the rates for '25 and '26. [22:35] **John Geissler:** All right. Any Council discussion? Any public discussion on this matter? Item 24-243 authorizing an agreement with Over Law. All right, no questions on that. Any other Council discussion? Roll call, please. [22:50] **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Geissler? **John Geissler:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Hjelle? **Andy Hjelle:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor LeBlanc? **Brian LeBlanc:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Jones? **Ellie Jones:** Aye. [23:05] **John Geissler:** All right. Next item is Item B, 2024-244: resolution authorizing and directing the Mayor and City Clerk to execute and deliver agreement for Professional Services with Dwyer and Peterson PC for Prosecuting Attorney Services. Mr. Mulder, explanation please? [23:25] **John Mulder:** You want a motion and a second first? [23:30] **John Geissler:** Oh, good call. Motion on this resolution, please. [23:35] **Brian LeBlanc:** Move to approve. **Andy Hjelle:** Second. [23:40] **John Mulder:** So we are in need of a prosecuting attorney. We have been with Sean Reed for a number of years, but Sean Reed was recently elected judge. So we contacted and talked with the law firm Dwyer and Peterson. Ray Peterson had previously worked with Over Law a number of years ago, and they've hired a former prosecutor and former defense attorney to provide the prosecution services for the city. [24:15] **John Geissler:** All right. Any Council discussion? Did we talk to multiple attorneys or is this kind of the only one we approached? [24:25] **John Mulder:** This is really the only one we talked to. Initially, what we did was we talked with Sean Reed to say, "Do you have somebody in your firm that's willing to take this on?" And there really wasn't anybody in his firm that would be willing to take it on. So then he sent us to the direction of Dwyer and Peterson. [24:45] **John Geissler:** Any other Council discussion? Any public comments on this item? Any public discussion on authorizing and directing an agreement with Dwyer and Peterson? All right, hearing none. Any other thoughts from the Council? Roll call, please. [25:10] **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Geissler? **John Geissler:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Hjelle? **Andy Hjelle:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor LeBlanc? **Brian LeBlanc:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Jones? **Ellie Jones:** Aye. [25:25] **John Geissler:** All right. We'll move on to item 2024-245: resolution approving local sales tax agreement with the state of Minnesota. Look for a motion, please. [25:35] **Andy Hjelle:** Motion to approve. **Ellie Jones:** Second. [25:40] **John Mulder:** So we have an agreement with the state of Minnesota; they actually collect the 1% sales tax from the local businesses and then they turn that back to us. In that process, they do all the administration of the sales tax and so they have a fee. They could charge up to a flat rate of 1%; in 2025, it'll be 0.9% of the money collected. [26:10] **John Geissler:** Okay. Any Council comments or questions? I'm guessing that's not negotiable; they just tell you what they're going to... [26:15] **John Mulder:** Yeah, there's not a lot of room for negotiating. [26:20] **John Geissler:** All right. Any public discussion on this resolution 2024-245? Call for public discussion. All right, any thoughts by the Council? Roll call, please. [26:35] **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Jones? **Ellie Jones:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Geissler? **John Geissler:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Hjelle? **Andy Hjelle:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor LeBlanc? **Brian LeBlanc:** Aye. [26:45] **John Geissler:** All right. Next resolution is 2024-246: a resolution authorizing and directing Mayor and City Clerk to execute an acceptance of easement agreement to the City Council of Hermantown from Michael and Susan Maguire for the Hermantown Trail projects project. Do we have a motion? [27:00] **Ellie Jones:** Move to approve. **Andy Hjelle:** Second. [27:05] **John Geissler:** We'll give that to Manager Crego; Manager Crego is going to speak on that. [27:09] **Trish Crego (Utility and Infrastructure Director):** Yes, thank you Councilor and Acting Mayor. The Maguires have graciously accepted an offer that we made them for a trail easement of 20 feet into their property, and this will be for the 2025 trail construction of segment three. [27:35] **John Geissler:** All right. Thank you. Any questions from the Council? All right. Any public discussion on this matter of this resolution for an easement agreement for the trail system? Okay, hearing none. Any other discussion by the Council? Roll call, please. [27:55] **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Jones? **Ellie Jones:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Geissler? **John Geissler:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Hjelle? **Andy Hjelle:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor LeBlanc? **Brian LeBlanc:** Aye. [28:10] **John Geissler:** All right. Next resolution is 2024-247: resolution approving application for new license for charitable gambling by Hermantown Youth Soccer Association for Stoies Liquor Store. [28:20] **Brian LeBlanc:** Move to approve. **Andy Hjelle:** Second. [28:25] **John Geissler:** Assistant City Administrator Joe Wicklund is going to speak to this one. [28:30] **Joe Wicklund:** Similar to past practices, we've had organizations reach out to make changes in their charitable gambling. They are all Hermantown-based groups and in this case, Hermantown Youth Soccer had had it based at the Chalet, which we mentioned earlier in this meeting is closing. And so in this case, they were able to make an arrangement with Stoies to be able to move their charitable gambling over there. Obviously, in process-wise, it can't happen until we pass this action and then the state approves it. [29:05] **Brian LeBlanc:** Anxiously awaiting to see how pull-tabs work at a liquor store. That'll be interesting. [29:15] **John Geissler:** Any public discussion on resolution 2024-247? Please step to the podium and state your name and address, please. [29:31] **Resident:** I live at 5374 Roosevelt Drive. I'm the gambling manager for Hermantown Soccer Association, and I just wanted to thank you guys for reviewing it and for considering it. The loss of the Chalet is a huge loss to our community but also to our soccer community. With the amount of funds that were coming in to help us, getting Stoies Liquor will be great to help offset some of it. It obviously won't bring in the same amount of funding as the Chalet, but it's a good start for us. So I appreciate you guys taking the time to listen tonight. [30:15] **John Geissler:** Well, thank you. All right, any follow-up comments from the Council? Roll call, please. [30:30] **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Hjelle? **Andy Hjelle:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor LeBlanc? **Brian LeBlanc:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Jones? **Ellie Jones:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Geissler? **John Geissler:** Aye. [30:45] **John Geissler:** All right. Moving on. Resolution 2024-248: resolution approving payment application to CR Anderson Construction for Northstar Ford Arena in the amount of $184,461. Do we have a motion? [31:00] **Ellie Jones:** Move to approve. **Brian LeBlanc:** Second. [31:05] **John Geissler:** Mr. Mulder. [31:08] **John Mulder:** So this is for the work done in the month of November at the Northstar Arena by KA (Kraus-Anderson). [31:15] **John Geissler:** Perfect, thank you. Anybody would like to speak to this matter, resolution 2024-248? Do we have an update on where we're at as far as sales tax goes? Are we on track for what we're hoping to collect? I know Kevin's not here, so... [31:35] **John Mulder:** Yes, in fact, I looked at that number recently and we had estimated about a million dollars a year in the community recreation initiative, and we will surpass that. So our sales tax is higher than what we had originally projected. [31:55] **John Geissler:** Awesome. Doesn't mean we can collect more though, right? When was the original anticipation of the sun-setting of that? 20 years? [32:10] **John Mulder:** The original assumption was that it would take us 20 years to collect that amount. It won't take us 20 years to collect that amount. At some point in time, we'll basically be able to pay the interest and principle on that, and we will collect that amount before 20 years. [32:30] **John Geissler:** Okay, well that's good. Thank you. Any other Council questions? Roll call, please. [32:40] **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Jones? **Ellie Jones:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Geissler? **John Geissler:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Hjelle? **Andy Hjelle:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor LeBlanc? **Brian LeBlanc:** Aye. [32:55] **John Geissler:** All right. Next resolution is 2024-249: resolution receiving bids and approving Award of Contract to Nextech for audio-visual systems for the Northstar Ford Arena. We have a motion? [33:10] **Ellie Jones:** Move to approve. **Brian LeBlanc:** Second. [33:15] **John Mulder:** We received two different bids for the audio equipment at Northstar Ford Arena. We're recommending Nextech. The amount is within our budget for soft costs, and that will be done directly through the city and not through KA. [33:45] **John Geissler:** And that work is being done after KA's targeted completion date, right? [33:50] **John Mulder:** Yeah, so because Nextech is not a union contractor, that work will be done after the project is substantially complete. We've worked with Nextech on a number of projects, and the firm's owner is local and we've had very good luck with them. [34:10] **Joe Wicklund:** And just to be clear, a lot of the work that will support this stuff will be done by KA and the electrical contractor, but this will be like the hanging of some of the equipment, the wiring of that equipment to those receptacles and things like that. [34:35] **John Geissler:** All right. Is there any public comment on this resolution 2024-249? Any follow-up Council comments? Roll call, please. [34:50] **Alissa McClure:** Councilor LeBlanc? **Brian LeBlanc:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Jones? **Ellie Jones:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Geissler? **John Geissler:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Hjelle? **Andy Hjelle:** Aye. [35:05] **John Geissler:** All right. Moving on to resolution 2024-250: resolution authorizing and directing Mayor and City Clerk to execute and deliver license agreement with Mayo Ambulance to use an apparatus stall at Hall One. Do we have a motion? [35:20] **Ellie Jones:** Move to approve. **Andy Hjelle:** Second. [35:25] **Zach Graves (Fire Chief):** Yes, sir. So beginning first quarter 2025, Mayo will be adding another rig to their fleet. With their research, they have found their busiest hours are 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM, so they're going to be staffing an additional rig during those hours and they want to keep it on top of the hill as much as possible. So this will give them a place to start when they are in operation. [36:00] **Brian LeBlanc:** Is anything currently in that stall? [36:02] **Zach Graves:** No, sir. [36:04] **Brian LeBlanc:** Do you know off the top of your head how many ambulances cover our area? [36:08] **Zach Graves:** Seven. So this will make eight. But also understand their area includes Hermantown, Alborn, Rice Lake, almost all the way to Two Harbors. They have a very large PSA area. [36:20] **John Geissler:** So this should help. All right, any other Council discussion? Otherwise, any public discussion on resolution 2024-250? Any follow-up Council discussion? Roll call, please. [37:05] **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Geissler? **John Geissler:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Hjelle? **Andy Hjelle:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor LeBlanc? **Brian LeBlanc:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Jones? **Ellie Jones:** Aye. [37:25] **John Geissler:** Motion passes. All right. Resolution 2024-251: resolution approving a grant application for radios between FEMA and the City of Hermantown and authorizing and directing the Mayor and City Clerk to execute and deliver such grant application. Do we have a motion? [37:55] **Brian LeBlanc:** Move to approve. **Andy Hjelle:** Second. [38:05] **Zach Graves:** Yes, sir. So all our current radios county-wide were bought in 2012 by a county grant. So now we are responsible for replacing them. Our current ones are starting to fail; currently we're borrowing a couple from our neighboring agencies to keep our current members with portables. So the grant is to replace 40 portables, 11 mobiles in all our vehicles, and three base stations. It would be a 5% match. So if we get it, the city's on the hook for 5%. [38:45] **John Geissler:** Okay. Any Council discussion? Public discussion on 2024-251? Hearing none. Any follow-up Council discussion? Roll call, please. [39:05] **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Geissler? **John Geissler:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Hjelle? **Andy Hjelle:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor LeBlanc? **Brian LeBlanc:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Jones? **Ellie Jones:** Aye. [39:15] **John Geissler:** All right, that motion passes. Next resolution, 2024-252: resolution approving a grant application for aerial apparatus between FEMA and the City of Hermantown. Do we have a motion? [39:35] **Andy Hjelle:** Motion to approve. **Brian LeBlanc:** Second. [39:40] **Zach Graves:** Yes, sir. This is our second FEMA grant we're applying for. We are trying to replace our 75-foot aerial apparatus that is 22 years old. It is recommended that you replace them at 20 years. With low miles on ours, we like to keep them a little longer. The problem we run into is around the 25-year mark, it's harder and harder to find people to certify the ladder part. That's why we are starting the process of applying to replace it with a 100-foot aerial apparatus. [40:15] **John Geissler:** Okay. Any Council discussion? Any public discussion on this matter? Hearing none. Roll call, please. [40:40] **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Jones? **Ellie Jones:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Geissler? **John Geissler:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Hjelle? **Andy Hjelle:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor LeBlanc? **Brian LeBlanc:** Aye. [40:55] **John Geissler:** Motion passes. Resolution 2024-253: resolution approving change order number 10 for Fichtner Park improvements to Cask Inc. in the amount of $45,861. Do we have a motion? [41:10] **Andy Hjelle:** Motion to approve. **Ellie Jones:** Second. [41:15] **David Bolf (City Engineer):** Yes, thank you Council member. This is change order number 10. There's a number of items that we lumped into this one change order. The bulk of it is a bunch of concrete work that we either added or replaced, and then there's some additional electrical work, some additional grading of the t-ball field, and a partition in the men's room that wasn't in the original plan. So that total is just over $45,000. [41:55] **Brian LeBlanc:** Is change order number 10 the final change order on the Fichtner project? [41:58] **David Bolf:** It's the final change order for 2024. [42:00] **John Geissler:** Good answer. Any public discussion on this resolution? Hearing none. Roll call, please. [42:15] **Alissa McClure:** Councilor LeBlanc? **Brian LeBlanc:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Hjelle? **Andy Hjelle:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Geissler? **John Geissler:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Jones? **Ellie Jones:** Aye. [42:30] **John Geissler:** All right, motion passes. Last resolution of the evening, 2024-254: resolution approving pay request number seven for Fichtner Park improvements to Cask Inc. in the amount of $467,077. Do we have a motion? [42:45] **Ellie Jones:** Move to approve. **Brian LeBlanc:** Second. [42:55] **David Bolf:** Yeah, this is the pay estimate number seven for the work associated with Fichtner. To date, we've authorized just over $4 million worth of work. We've paid $3.8 million. This pay estimate is $467,000, and the balance to finish the project is about $226,000. [43:25] **John Geissler:** Right, thank you. Any Council discussion? And any public discussion on resolution 2024-254? No public comments. Any follow-up conversation from the Council? Roll call, please. [43:55] **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Jones? **Ellie Jones:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Geissler? **John Geissler:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor Hjelle? **Andy Hjelle:** Aye. **Alissa McClure:** Councilor LeBlanc? **Brian LeBlanc:** Aye. [44:10] **John Geissler:** All right, that concludes the resolutions. Item 13, closed session—no need for? [44:15] **John Mulder:** No, but I do want to make a couple of comments before we recess if you would allow me such privileges. Normally in the last meeting of the year, I do a slide presentation reviewing... I always call it my personal review because I look at the things that to me are most important. This year I didn't get it done for lots of different reasons, but I think 2024 will be marked as the year we implemented the community recreation initiative. [45:00] **John Mulder:** We've done a lot of work prior to 2024 to make that happen, but in 2024 we started the arena. You can physically see the shape of that taking place. And we completed a vast majority of the work at Fichtner Park. When you drive past that corner now and you think about what that looked like before, it's vastly different. The other thing I would say about 2024 that should be remembered is that we started a Fire Department that was a department of the city. I think that the work of Chief Crace and even more so the work of Zach to make that work effectively as it has should not be overlooked. [46:00] **John Mulder:** Those to me are the two biggest things that we've done in 2024. There was a lot of other work that's important, but those are the things that, off the top of my head, are what 2024 should be remembered by. And again, I always say the work of building a community and creating community is important. We do that every day by mundane things. We lay the bricks by resolution, by motion, by ordinances, and in doing so we create community. [46:40] **John Mulder:** Ellie, as you think about leaving the Council, we thank you for your service to the community and to the organization. I always talk about the City of Hermantown as two different things: on one level, it's an organization that operates the city, and on the other, it's that area on the map where we define community based upon the city limits. You've done a fine job of serving both the organization and the community and you should be proud of that. [47:15] **John Geissler:** Thank you for that, Mr. Mulder. And I speak for myself—the Council appreciates all the City staff's hard work and looking forward to four more years. All right. Vikings game starts in three minutes, so no closed session. We have one last item to do. Look for a motion to recess. [47:45] **Ellie Jones:** Move to recess. **Andy Hjelle:** Second. [47:50] **John Geissler:** Motion by Councilor Jones, second by Councilor Hjelle. All in favor say aye. [47:55] **Council:** Aye. [48:00] **John Geissler:** Opposed, same sign? Adjourn a recess for 2024.