This transcript has been formatted with the appropriate speaker names based on the context of the Rosemount City Council meeting and the provided city officials list. **Note:** Based on the context of the discussions (Parks, Trails, Pickleball, and Memorial Day), "Mr. Schultz" refers to **Dan Schultz**, the Parks and Recreation Director, who is a key staff member for these items. *** [0:00] [Music] [1:42] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** You'd like to call the regular city council meeting for Tuesday May 21st 2024 to order. Please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. [Pledge of Allegiance] [2:30] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Welcome everyone this evening. Um, is there any additions or corrections to the agenda? **City Administrator Logan Martin:** Mayor, just a couple of changes tonight. Um, two public hearings can be removed from your agenda. They already have been removed in the update agenda that you have and that's on the website, but I wanted to just announce it. So item 7 B and C, um, that involves our liquor license discussions at the Tops Tavern. Those folks have navigated their situation and so we can remove items 7B and 7C. [3:15] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Ready with 7 B and C moved. I'll move the agenda. Is there a second? **Councilmember Paul Essler:** Second. **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** All in favor signify by saying aye. **Councilmembers:** Aye. **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Opposed? We have an agenda. Start this evening with presentations, proclamations and acknowledgements. First one up: 3A, presentation from the Rosemount Area Arts Council. Mr. Schultz? [3:31] **Parks and Recreation Director Dan Schultz:** Mr. Mayor and council members, I'd like to introduce the chairperson for the Rosemount Area Arts Council, Tony Sasso. He is going to give the update for this year. So Tony, why don't you come on up and share some information with us? Appreciate it. [3:48] **Tony Sasso:** All right, welcome Mr. Mayor, welcome City Council Members. Thank you very much for allowing me to have a couple minutes tonight. My name is Tony Sasso and I am the 2024 chair of the Rosemount Area Arts Council, or as we call it RACK for short. I would like to first of all start by saying thank you, thank you, thank you for the tremendous support that you have been giving to the Arts Council ever since its inception in 2007. We have a tremendous relationship between the Arts Council and the City Council and there's no way we could do what we can do—which is quite a lot of stuff—without your help and support. The mission statement of the RACK or the Arts Council is "building and strengthening our community through the arts," and there is no way we could have done that or can still continue to do that without your help and support. Now Ann Lock has handed out to each one of you a kind of list of all the events that we do throughout the year. It also has a lot of past history with the number of events and the number of volunteer hours that we actually do. I'd like to cover not every single event on that list but just a couple of the big highlights that we've had, especially for the year 2023. One of the biggest things that we brought to Rosemount was a play called *Free Air*, and it was a multimedia presentation with slides and actual acting on the stage. A very fancy car that we had built for the stage—you kind of nodded Tammy, but it was a lot of work—and it was all based on a book written by Sinclair Lewis, Minnesota's own. John Lock, one of our board members, wrote the script based on the movie stills that we had and it was just quite a big, big presentation. We had a big gala affair for that; it was very, very well attended. The other thing that we have in RACK of course is our theater groups. We have two groups: one is called the Front Porch Players and that is open to people of all ages and we welcome that for not just people in Rosemount, but it's the Rosemount Community which includes Hastings, Lakeville, Eagan, Apple Valley, Farmington, Northfield—you name it, people come from all over. Some of our people come from northern Minneapolis down to Rosemount to the Steeple Center, and we are making quite a name for ourselves. We're very proud of the presentation we did by the Front Porch Players just recently, it was *Murder on the Orient Express*. It was a fantastic production—and I'm not saying that just because I was in it—it really was a great show and we broke records for attendance for that one as well. Because of the popularity of that, we also are very unique that we have a theater group called the Second Act Players for people that are 50 years of age and older. This is a chance for people in their "second act" of their lives to get back on stage and we've done lots of presentations with the Second Act Players as well. We usually run three to four plays per year; we rotate back and forth between SAP and FPP (the Front Porch Players). In addition to that, we also do a tremendous amount of arts and festivals throughout the city. We have something called Art Blast and we're very, very proud of this. It is a week-long event—the last week of June—and it's just chalk full of concerts and activities. We've got yoga in the park, we got things for kids, and most of these events are free for the general public and it's all because of the sponsorship we get from our donations that we're able to put on these things. We also bring lots of bands in. Speaking of bands, we also have a tremendous amount of concerts that are held at the Steeple Center and we have so many different genres of music: Jazz, Bluegrass, Country... we've had some cover bands, very, very popular. We just had "Absolutely Fabulous," it was an ABBA tribute band. We just finished with "Crown Jewels," a Queen tribute band. We've got some other ones coming up: a tribute to Billy Joel, Elton John, Michael Bublé. We've had Dion and the Belmonts, The Big Bopper, Ritchie Valens. It's just so many different genres of music which is pretty, pretty unique. Again, in little old Rosemount, we're bringing in all the big names. In addition to that we also do things like highway cleanup. Just this last Saturday, if you saw a bunch of us walking in the yellow vests, it was not the work release program from Stillwater; we were actually cleaning up the highway from Highway 3 all the way down to Pilot Knob Road (County Road 42). So that is something we do quite frequently and we even have a sign that says, you know, "Rosemount Area Arts Council." Some of the initiatives that we have planned for 2024 which again we're very, very proud of: we are now working with a consultant to bring more diversity and inclusion into our events so that we can bring more diverse backgrounds to the events that we have in Rosemount. We've done that in our Christmas at the Steeple Center show—we included a little portion of a Christmas story that was based on a tradition in Mexico. We have Salsa del Sol, which is a Latin dance group, and they're going to come for Art Blast. So we're kind of increasing that and we're using our consultant to see where we can branch out into the community and bring more people in. We are also working very closely with the city and the City Council on upgrading the Steeple Center to add a hearing-impaired system. Right now, we have lots of people that come to our concerts that have hearing aids and have cochlear implants, so we're working on doing that so we can actually develop a system for the theater itself to help out those people. I want to just finish quickly with the fact that the Arts Council is a volunteer organization. We could not survive without the help of our volunteers and the handouts that you have have the numbers of volunteers for throughout the years. We took a big hit in 2020 when COVID hit, but ever since we started opening things back up, our numbers have been increasing exponentially. I'd like to bring your attention to the very last one: our volunteer hours for the entire year of 2023, we had 9,231 volunteer hours by over 105 members of RACK. Now if you take the national minimum wage average of $7.25 by those 9,200 hours, that's about $66,000. However, if you Google what the average salary rate would be for a volunteer, it's more along the lines of $30 to $32. So based on $31.80, our 9,231 hours... that is $293,500. That is all volunteer hours that we have given back to the community. [10:13] **Tony Sasso:** All right, and on behalf of RACK and the rest of the RACK members that are here, we would like to officially donate that money back to the City of Rosemount. In all honesty, we love what we do. We have so many volunteers because we love the events, we love the arts, and again we could not do this without the support that we have from the city council and you, Mr. Mayor. So we can't thank you enough for that. I appreciate your time tonight, thank you very much and hope to see you at these events. [10:48] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Just a follow-up here, allow you a little bit of commercial: somebody that's listening in tonight, how do they volunteer? [10:55] **Tony Sasso:** It's very simple. You go to RosemountArts.com, that is our website. You can become a member of RACK—of the Arts Council—and it's kind of steep, it's $15 a year, right? But there's also some incentive to becoming a member of RACK because if you are a member, then you get discounts to any show that is presented at the Steeple Center. So after two or three shows, you've already made up in discounts the cost of your membership for the entire year. And then once you are a member of RACK, you are now added to the RACK email list and we do not sell it to anybody else; we just simply use it as our email list to send out to all the members of "here's all the events coming up and here's the volunteer opportunity." And all you have to do—we have Sign Up Genius—you just say "I want to volunteer for this particular show" and there you go. Or any event at all—not just the concerts but anything that has to do with Art Blast. So we actually thrive and survive on volunteers. Couldn't do it without them. And you can see the large crowd that came back here, all volunteers. Nobody's getting paid to come here tonight. [11:43] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** So I'll open it up to Council. Any questions or comments? [11:47] **Councilmember Tami Klimpel:** I just wanted to express some gratitude. Thank you so much for the information and *Free Air* was an amazing show last year. I know a lot of work went into that. It certainly came across as a passion project and I really enjoyed it. So yes, thank you very much. [12:12] **Tony Sasso:** I appreciate that. We put a lot of effort into that. You know, you put together something like this and you say, "Okay, how is the public going to react to it?" and we got very, very wave reviews for that. It was just an accomplishment. It was something that was very unique; we had something we had never done before. [12:30] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** It was a stellar event for the community. You know, from the historic perspective, the effort, the performance—all of it. Well done. [12:38] **Tony Sasso:** Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. [12:40] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** I had an opportunity, I saw one of your more recent ones—the ABBA tribute band. The place was packed and I can honestly tell you, I've gone to several events, it's the first one I remember where people were dancing in the front, on the sides, and behind us. So it was quite an event. And I understand that they had been here once before—at least once before—some years back and they were still rocking it. So it was a great tribute band. [13:08] **Tony Sasso:** If I may add one more thing Mr. Mayor... there's an annual Rosemount Expo that's held and um, when I was volunteering at it two years ago, you know, we would talk to people and say, "Hey, have you ever heard of the Steeple Center?" and almost everyone was like, "I never heard of that. Really? There's a theater in Rosemount? I never even heard of that." And now the words coming out were this current Expo has said, "You ever heard of the Steeple Center? Yeah, I went to a concert, you know, and I saw the play." And so like I said, the word is getting out and it's not just Rosemount—it's people from all over the Twin Cities area are coming here to perform which is a tribute to again the work that we put into it. And so we're putting our name on the map here. [13:51] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** No, the way you described it is... I mean you were sitting down while everyone was dancing. [13:56] **Tony Sasso:** Yes, I was not dancing. We have the video evidence if you want to... someone got a video of that, yes. [14:02] **Councilmember Heidi Freske:** No, I just echo Tammy's comment. Just an appreciation. It's amazing—that volunteer hours. I know over the past several years you guys have been continuing to look for volunteers. It sounds like you guys are really getting more volunteers and getting more people and that's exciting to hear because you guys do a lot of work—a lot of heavy lifting by a very few. So very appreciative, on behalf of the community, for what you guys do and what you guys provide. [14:26] **Tony Sasso:** Thank you. Great stuff. [14:28] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Thank you. And just for reference, we refer to it now as the "Greater Rosemount Area." [14:35] **Tony Sasso:** That's right. The Greater Rosemount Area. But Rosemount is greater than—I like it! [14:41] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Boy, taking a twist on all that. I like that too. There we go. Well again, thank you very much and we accept that report. I know later on we have the service agreement on our consent agenda. [14:52] **Tony Sasso:** Yes, sir. Thank you very much. [14:54] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Thank you. Thanks a lot. All right, appreciate it. So that completes item 3A and we'll move on to a presentation of award for "Kicks for a Cure." I'd like to call up our... can I get up here? Oh, are you going to put that on? Yes, I'm going to put that on. You can start. [15:18] **John Alof:** City staff, Council and Mayor. I am John Alof, I'm President and Chief Mission Officer of the Dakota County Regional Chamber of Commerce. Before that, I was chairman or co-chair of the State American Cancer Society "Kicks for a Cure" campaign. It's a campaign that when I became affiliated with the chamber—our platforms are Workforce, Advocacy, Connection, and Community—seemed like a great community idea to see if we couldn't do something to help strike some additional money to fight breast cancer awareness in the month of October. Fortunately, we have some great people that live in Dakota County and particularly some great Mayors. So I wasn't sure if I'd get any luck at all but I asked the Mayors if they would be willing to do it and several of our Mayors said yes. One of the most enthusiastic was Mayor Weisensel. So I just want to say it was a great contest last year. Actually, the three Mayors had kicked—the Mayor was actually tied with the Mayor of Farmington, however, the tiebreaker was who raised the most money, and that was your Mayor, the Mayor of Rosemount. So we actually have two trophies: one for who kicks the most and one for who raises the most money. They're not insignificant trophies. Oh my gosh! They were sponsored and paid for by Minnesota Energy Resources, so we thank them for that. But this is the DCR Chamber Annual Mayor Cup: Most Kicks Made, Kicks for a Cure October Breast Cancer Prevention Month. And the first plate on the traveling trophy is Mayor Jeff Weisensel, Rosemount, who kicked 20 of 25 field goals. Wow! But there's more because not only did he do that, but he also raised the most money. For those of you who aren't familiar with what he did, he kicked this ball basically through uprights 20 of 25 times. There may be some video floating around on that. [17:42] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** There is video of that. We do have some of that. [17:45] **John Alof:** So this is the trophy: DCR Chamber Annual Mayor's Cup, Most Dollars Raised, Kicks for a Cure October Breast Cancer Prevention Month. Again sponsored by Minnesota Energy Resources. 2023: Mayor Jeff Weisensel, Rosemount, $2,001 raised. So Mr. Mayor, I present the trophies. You're well attired, I see. [18:18] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Shake your hand. John, you want to jump? Oh, perfect. Mayor, Mayor, were these 40-yard field goals? They looked a little... [Laughter]. Wonderful. No speech? [18:49] **John Alof:** Because... oh, okay. So this is a traveling trophy. The Mayor has told me that it won't be traveling anywhere; it's going to be staying right here in Rosemount. We'll see this October, but hopefully until October at a minimum, the City of Rosemount can enjoy it here in City Hall or wherever you would like. And I do know that Council and staff in such an impressive community as Rosemount don't like to be the only ones left out. [19:28] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Everybody gets a trophy! [19:30] **John Alof:** Everybody gets a trophy. Participation reigns. [19:35] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Well thanks John. **Councilmembers:** Thanks John. Oh, look at this. Nice. [19:48] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Anyone want to read the inscription on your trophies? [19:51] **Councilmember Paul Essler:** Yeah, the inscription reads: "My Mayor kicks cancer's and other mayor's rears." [19:59] **John Alof:** Excellent, excellent. [20:01] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** I got a couple of mayors that are not going to like that. So when do you anticipate this coming up again? Because I would certainly appreciate any donations that come along and in some cases they were matched and I appreciated the people that had donated on the behalf of cancer in my name. But can you tell us when that next opportunity is coming that people might want to do this? [20:25] **John Alof:** Absolutely. October 5th. Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It is going to be held at—the plan right now, which here shortly will be final—is going to be held at TCO Stadium. So we'll invite all Mayors and other participants. Mayor Cup and then we have the "Kicks for a Cure" on kind of two divisions, if you will. And that'll be on October 5th, kind of the entire day depending on when people are able to attend. And Mayor, you will have a link that people can go to to donate to that just as they did last year by credit card or any other way that they'd like to make donations. Great. [21:12] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Perfect. I may not have a shot at it this year, I'm getting knees replaced. But maybe that'll make it better; maybe I'll pick up those extra five. So we'll see. [21:22] **John Alof:** When's the knee surgery? [21:24] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** We're still working on when that might be. October 12th? We'll find out. My comments to everyone: certainly American Cancer Society, this is a wonderful opportunity to participate in, but I do this because I recognize there are a lot of people that are affected by breast cancer. My grandmother, my mom... my grandmother on my mother's side did experience this and had a double mastectomy. Fortunately, she was able to recover from that; she lived to 93. So I know that—and that's been a while back—but I know that people that are still experiencing this and, you know, it changes people. To be able to live through that and move on, it's a little bit of a burden and sometimes it's a lot of bit of a burden. So appreciate the opportunity to represent Rosemount here and certainly all those that have had to go through that. We're working on trying to find a cure for it. [22:42] **John Alof:** Well said, Mayor. We're always looking for ambassadors such as yourself for the "Men Wear Pink" campaign and that can go to MenWearPinkMinnesota.com—you know, just Google that and it'll take you to the American Cancer Society site. My wife is a 22-year breast cancer survivor. Our twin daughters were diagnosed at 30 and are survivors. And so that's kind of why I've been really dug into it. It will affect one in eight women in the state, the county, and the city of Rosemount. So it's critical that we support this. Thank you, Mayor, for doing so and doing it so well. I spend a lot of time in Rosemount right now—I don't know why that is, you got so much stuff going on—and this is just one of the more pleasant things that I've been able to participate with. So thank you so much. [23:41] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** All right, thank you. [Applause] You know, it's events and things like this that are sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce that bring that hometown feel to us too. So I appreciate their ability to do that. That completes 3B and we'll move on to 3C, National Public Works Week. Mr. Egger? [23:55] **Public Works Director Nick Egger:** Thank you Mayor, good evening council members. Continuing the theme of uplifting news tonight, although I didn't bring any hardware to present—maybe I should have—but I think the celebration here from my standpoint is to pay tribute to our Public Works crew. So if I could give them a trophy, I probably would do that because they are what make my job so easy. They carry on with just the basic routines that they do every day to keep the city looking great: safe, smooth rides on the roads, snow cleared, drainage working—of course, that's going to be really important tonight keeping watch over that—the parks fantastic and fun for everybody who visits them, roads designed well, and on and on. This stems from the American Public Works Association's annual National Public Works Week that started back in 1960. So this is the 64th year they've been celebrating that and this year the theme is "Advancing Quality of Life for All," which is perfectly fitting because our Public Works professionals are a cornerstone of that. We just want to take some time to recognize that. We have been doing some social media activity thus far; we just put something up a little earlier this evening that plays off of a recent Instagram and Facebook "Reels" theme. Take a look for that. Had a little fun with several of our crew who were very willing volunteers and filming those segments yesterday, and just to brag a little bit about what we do to make life normal every day around town. We have a proclamation in your packet and I can turn it back to the Council to run through that. [26:07] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Okay. Before we get started, would you want to acknowledge all the listed team members there? [26:12] **Nick Egger:** That is a great idea. There are 29 of us in Public Works. I will start alphabetically by last name and hopefully my mouth doesn't get too dry by the end of the list here. But we have Derek Anderson who's in our engineering staff; Jane Byron, our stormwater specialist; Tor Berkland is in our streets department; Brian Bodur is with Parks; Tony Braun's in our streets department; Hunter Confair is with our utilities division; John Quasac in Parks; Eric Day in our streets division; Jason Dow in Parks; myself; Brian Erickson who is our City Engineer; Doug Holer who's our utilities lead; Denver Jacobson, he is a recent hire and he's one of our two mechanics; Chuck Jacobus, our supervisor for streets and utilities; Lucas Jenkins who's in our utilities division; Riley Kazinski, he's in our utilities division; AJ Corolla in our utilities division; James Lore who is a recent hire in streets; Brent McGraw; Aaron Menza in GIS; Mike Morris who is our supervisor for Parks, Fleet, and Facilities; Bill Murphy who's one of our mechanics; Steven Nielsen in Parks; Ryan Roush in Parks; Travis Rosan in Parks; Brady Schmidt in streets; Amy Simonson who's the voice you hear on the other end of the line when you call into Public Works with a concern; and then Joe Warden who is our facility maintenance lead. That is the team and I put the team photo that we took earlier this spring on the screen. I forgot to mention that earlier but there they are on a bright sunny day waving to the camera. [28:18] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** All righty. And so this evening we're going to go through the proclamation. We are going to try something a little different moving forward on our proclamations: everyone's going to have an opportunity on the Council to participate. So I'm going to start off here: Proclaiming May 19th to 25th, 2024 is National Public Works Week in the city of Rosemount. Through this Proclamation, whereas Public Works professionals focus on infrastructure, facilities, emergency management and services that are of vital importance to sustainable and resilient communities and the public health, high quality of life and well-being of the people of Rosemount; And whereas Public Works infrastructure, facilities and services provided in our community of over 27,000 residents and hundreds of businesses are an integral part of everyday life; And whereas these infrastructures, facilities and services could not be provided without the dedicated efforts of Public Works professionals who are federally mandated first responders and the laborers, engineers, technicians, specialists, and managers at all levels of government and in the private sector who are responsible for building, improving, maintaining and protecting our City's transportation system, water supply, parks, drainage facilities, public buildings and other structures and facilities essential for our citizens; And whereas the 29 staff of our Public Works Department show each day their dedication to protecting the health, safety, well-being and high quality of life of the people of Rosemount; And whereas it is in the public interest for the citizens, civic leaders and children in Rosemount to gain knowledge and maintain ongoing interest and understanding of the importance of Public Works first responders and Public Works programs; Now therefore be it resolved that the City Council of the City of Rosemount do hereby proclaim the week of May 19th to the 25th 2024 as National Public Works Week and we urge all citizens to join together with us to thank and pay tribute to our team of Public Works professionals and to recognize the substantial contribution they make to advancing our quality of life. Dated this 21st day of May 2024. Jeffrey D. Weisensel, Mayor. With that we'll sign that Proclamation and complete that item. Thank you very much. [30:52] **Nick Egger:** If I could—I did realize that I had a typo as I was reading the names off and I realized who I left out. I don't want them to feel left out. The name that I was missing was Michael Hansen, he's our our most recent hire in the GIS division. So I apologize for that, Michael, but making sure to mention your name before I leave the podium here. [31:07] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** All righty. And thank you city council for sharing on that. I think we may be doing more proclamations like that in the future; it's a little easier on me. I know that completes item 3C and we'll move on to response to public comment. I understand that we do not have anything to share this evening so that completes item 4. We'll move on to item 5, public comment. Anyone wishing to come before Council may do so at this time on subjects that are not part of the meeting agenda. Typically we will reply to those either by email, phone, or in the public session if it's warranted. So anyone wishing to come forward may do so at this time. Please state your name, address, and your comment or question. Seeing no one madly dashing to the podium... going once, twice... all right we'll consider the public comment closed for this evening. We'll move on to consent agenda items 6A through J. Is there anyone that would like to pull an item for further comment or recognition? [32:45] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** For some reason I thought I did... yes, I would like to pull item 6E: the 2025 Street Improvement Project 2025-02. We'll pull from there. If there's no other... can I have someone want to move the consent agenda 6A through J with E removed? [33:04] **Councilmember Paul Essler:** So moved. **Councilmember Heidi Freske:** I'll second. [33:06] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Have a motion by Essler, second by Freske. Roll please. **Administrative Services Director Teah Malecha:** Essler? **Councilmember Paul Essler:** Aye. **Teah Malecha:** Klimpel? **Councilmember Tami Klimpel:** Aye. **Teah Malecha:** Weisensel? **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Aye. **Teah Malecha:** Freske? **Councilmember Heidi Freske:** Aye. [33:17] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** That passes 4-0. We'll move to 6E and I would like to... I see Mr. Egger, could you pull up the map of the location for 2025? This is basically for information for those residents that live in this area and just understanding that we are approving action tonight to identify that area that's on our street improvement and the resolution we had is basically to put that feasibility report in action—a resolution authorizing that report. If you might be able to speak to that? [34:10] **Nick Egger:** Yes, thanks Mayor. Bear with me if you could for just a moment, I didn't have a static image of this saved. I'm going to go to the Council memo. [34:25] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** The Council memo has the street and everything. I think the image area helps identify that and basically just for residents to know the feasibility report is coming, will happen this year. Then later that feasibility report will be brought forward and residents will be further lined up. One of the reasons I want to bring this up is just for transparency for residents to know that this stuff is going on. And yes, this work—once they go through the report—it'll actually occur next year in '25, but I'll leave it to you to further discuss the feasibility. [35:10] **Nick Egger:** Yes, thanks Mayor. That's correct. This is the start of the process that we have to run through in order to reach the point of delivering a construction project. It all begins with preliminary work to look at the area that's being considered: what level of repairs and replacements would be needed. We do a design, we hold an open house or neighborhood meeting where folks in the impacted area can ask questions of staff and leave with takeaways that help them to become more informed about the project. And then we bring this forward with a feasibility report that tells the Council and the public what the cost expectations would be, what the scope of the project is, and so on. And then that's considered for advancement by the Council to take it to a final design and ultimately to a construction contract. Front end of the process over the next several months. There was a timeline within the Council packet for that, but over the next several months we will work through that feasibility stage with the intention of delivering the report on that this fall in October. And then the consideration of whether or not to do the project and how it might be amended or modified would be taken up over the winter months before contract bids would be solicited. [36:51] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** I see the first property owner meetings are being held in September? This September? [36:55] **Nick Egger:** Correct. [37:00] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** And just to kind of call out for people who may not be able to quite read it: it's basically north of 145th, between Chile and Cameo. Essentially it's the area south of the high school and around the middle school areas. So 144th, upper 143rd, Canata Avenue West, Cameo, and 133rd Street West on the other side that comes into Highway 3. [37:41] **Councilmember Paul Essler:** Obviously with that proximity to Rosemount Middle School, Rosemount High School, and projected roundabout construction, I mean this looks like it would kind of make the high school an island for a construction season. Can you talk about how that timing works out and why it may be good or bad? [38:00] **Nick Egger:** Well, we know that it's going to create perhaps a hectic situation in and around that area. Partly, most of this project work would occur in the summer when school's not in session. We already have gotten together with school district officials to talk through some of the preliminary ideas of how we would work through logistics of sequencing activities both in conjunction with projects they will have happening on their campus as well as the roundabout MnDOT will be building at 142nd Street where their main entrance is off Highway 3 and the middle school/elementary school area there. Long way to go yet, but I think it comes back to my point that we have a long runway in front of us to work through these things and to set ourselves up so that we can have this "dance" of various activities happening in a good pattern. [39:00] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Yeah, I think that's a good call for residents to recognize that it is being planned and it is with our partners at the school district as well. [39:10] **Nick Egger:** I'll just mention in parting words here that we do have a web page within the city's website already set up for this project, and residents in the area will expect to see mailings—either postcards or letters—as time goes on as we get closer to having things to share with them in that aforementioned neighborhood meeting. So stay tuned. [39:41] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** All righty. Thank you very much. With that I'll enter the recommended actions: two of them, we'll take them together. To approve the proposal for engineering services for the 2025 Street Improvement project (City Project 2025-02) and to adopt a resolution authorizing the preparation of a feasibility report for the 2025 Street Improvement project (City Project 2025-02). Is there a second? [40:02] **Councilmember Paul Essler:** Second. **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Have a motion by Weisensel, second by Essler. Roll please. **Teah Malecha:** Klimpel? **Councilmember Tami Klimpel:** Aye. **Teah Malecha:** Weisensel? **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Aye. **Teah Malecha:** Freske? **Councilmember Heidi Freske:** Aye. **Teah Malecha:** Essler? **Councilmember Paul Essler:** Aye. [40:19] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** That passes 4-0. We move on to number 7, public hearings. First item up is a request by KJ Walk Inc. for the vacation of utility and drainage easements over portions of Outlot C and D, Rosewood Center. [40:48] **Senior Planner Anthony Nemcek:** Thank you Mayor, members of the City Council. Before you this evening to conduct a public hearing and walk through a request by KJ Walk as a part of their Rosewood Center development. Easement vacations for portions of Outlots C and D within Rosewood Center. A couple of the summary bullets up here just explaining the specifics, but essentially that these are excess pieces that are no longer needed to be retained by the city as a part of the development of these plats within the Rosewood Center Second Edition. Those plats were recommended for approval by the Planning Commission at their last meeting on April 23rd and were actually just considered and approved on your consent agenda this evening. New drainage and utility easements have been dedicated on Rosewood Center Second Edition, so essentially these are cleanup items that we're required to hold public hearings on. Just to show the location, this is just north of Highway 42 and west of Biscayne. For those who may be familiar, Anytime Fitness is the commercial building kind of in the middle of those plats there. This is the sketch showing it appears on here as a kind of pale yellow identifying those areas and then the easements that are recommended to be vacated. This one's very straightforward for you guys this evening. So the recommended motion would be to adopt a resolution approving the vacation of certain easements within Outlot C and D Rosewood Center subject to conditions outlined within that resolution. I can take any questions. And just a reminder that this is a public hearing. [42:15] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** No questions? All right, we will open the floor for the public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak on this matter may do so. Please come forward, state your name and address and your comment. Going once, twice, three times... I'll move to close the public hearing. Is there a second? **Councilmember Heidi Freske:** Second. **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** All in favor signify by saying aye. **Councilmembers:** Aye. **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Opposed? Our hearing is closed. Anyone like to move the recommended motion or any other further discussion? [42:55] **Councilmember Paul Essler:** I'll make a motion to adopt a resolution approving the vacation of certain easements within Outlot C and D Rosewood Center subject to conditions. **Councilmember Heidi Freske:** I'll second. [43:02] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Motion by Essler, second by Freske. Roll please. **Teah Malecha:** Weisensel? **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Aye. **Teah Malecha:** Freske? **Councilmember Heidi Freske:** Aye. **Teah Malecha:** Essler? **Councilmember Paul Essler:** Aye. **Teah Malecha:** Klimpel? **Councilmember Tami Klimpel:** Aye. [43:18] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Complete 4-0. Move on to—I know it's not on the agenda here, but just a follow-up comment so people that maybe have been following this recognize that the Tops Tavern liquor license has been resolved and that the liquor license has been issued. Can you speak to that? [43:40] **City Administrator Logan Martin:** Yep, absolutely. So back in February, the City Council had officially approved the liquor license transfer to the new owners, the Aro family. Now, City staff will then go forward with processing this request to the state. So as of this evening, I will process this to the state so they should have it in the near future. [44:12] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Okay, thank you. Move to item 8, unfinished business, which we have none. Item 9, new business: Joint Powers Agreement with Dakota County for cost share. Mr. Schultz? [44:30] **Dan Schultz:** Mr. Mayor and council members, so this evening before you we have a Joint Powers Agreement that would have the County reimbursing the city for the construction of a Greenway trail in the Flint Hills Athletics Complex area. We are currently working on that project; it's going to be going out to bid soon. The estimated cost of the project is about $535,000. The County will reimburse us up to $508,200, so it's almost the entire project. The little bit that's not being reimbursed is a small section of trail that's being installed right at the entrance way that goes to the building. Could I get the overhead camera popped up here if you would? There you go. And we're going old school here with the paper maps, but you can see that there are three fields on the north end of the complex. The one trail actually will come out of the underpass that's currently in place, will run to the north and then head down south to connect up to some other existing trails. Then we'll also run a new trail that will tee off of that underpass trail and will connect right to the new park building. These are all part of the overall Greenway project with Dakota County and so that's why typically our agreement has been that the city designs and implements the construction of the trails, but then the County actually will reimburse us for the cost. This cost reimbursement will be, like I said, over $500,000. The little section that they're not reimbursing us for is just a 5-foot sidewalk right down here near the building which is not, I guess we would agree, their responsibility. So we're appreciative of the fact that they're working with us on the larger Greenway scope. With that I will stand for questions. [46:58] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Floor is open for questions from Council. None? Anything? No questions. Thank you. [47:05] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** All right, we will move to motion. Would anyone like to move the recommended action? [47:09] **Councilmember Tami Klimpel:** I'll move to approve entering into a Joint Powers Agreement with Dakota County for a cost contribution for the Rosemount Greenway Flint Hills segment. **Councilmember Paul Essler:** Second. [47:18] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Motion by Klimpel, second by Essler. Roll please. **Teah Malecha:** Freske? **Councilmember Heidi Freske:** Aye. **Teah Malecha:** Essler? **Councilmember Paul Essler:** Aye. **Teah Malecha:** Klimpel? **Councilmember Tami Klimpel:** Aye. **Teah Malecha:** Weisensel? **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Aye. [47:32] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** All right. It completes 9A 4-0. We move on to 9B, pickleball project. Mr. Schultz? [47:36] **Dan Schultz:** All right, can I get the camera... there we go. So on the camera, you can see that there is a drawing of the pickleball complex that's currently being built. We are moving right along with that project; it's actually looking to get asphalt in there. I don't know with all this weather if we're going to get it in this week—we were hoping to get the driveway paved and the parking lot followed by the pickleball courts in the near future. The pickleball courts do have to sit for 27 days before you can apply any sort of color coding or seal coat on them, so we want to get that put in place as soon as we can. One of the things that we've been talking about with this project since we started this was the addition of lights. Because of where our park dedication balance was when we bid this project, we recommended holding off on the lights. Now that we've had a little bit more development happening in the area and we've been getting more park dedication money in, the Parks and Recreation Commission and staff are both recommending that we go ahead and move forward with the court lighting as a change order that is being requested by the city. So we put a request into the contractor to get us pricing. They went out and got pricing and they were not far off of what the original estimate was for the lighting. I think the original estimate was about $215,000 for lighting; it came in a little over that, but we are recommending that the City Council approve the change order tonight. One is the first item on the change order is $2,385 for just a little bit more on the allowance for the parking lot and drive lane lighting—there was an allowance of $80,000 and we came in a little over on that. And then the second one is for $229,950 for the court lighting. That was a zero allowance in the contract, so that is coming out of our Park Improvement Fund which we have a very healthy balance in right now. Staff is recommending that we move forward with Change Order Number One for the pickleball court project and I will stand for questions if there are any. [50:08] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Floor is open. [50:09] **Councilmember Paul Essler:** I'm just curious... on the court lighting, what was the reason why we didn't include that in the original scope? [50:18] **Dan Schultz:** Well, it was a bid alternate. But because of where our park dedication account was and other projects we had lined up to pay for, we were just a little bit afraid we were going to run that account down further than we were comfortable with, knowing that we'd have a chance to be able to come back in the spring and look at that again. [50:35] **Councilmember Paul Essler:** So what's changed? [50:37] **Dan Schultz:** Well, back then we were looking at $2.5 million; we're now closer to $7 million in that account. So that's because of all the new development that got the park dedication fees instead of the parks. Because we have Dunmore Park out for bid, the trail project out for bid (which we'll get reimbursed for), the Tallamore Park project out for bid, the more ball field project... we've got the Caramore Park project... we've got a lot of parks and we didn't want to dwindle that account down to where we were just left with a few hundred thousand. Waiting a few months gave us the ability to look at that account and feel more comfortable coming to you saying we've got enough money to do all these projects along with doing these court lights right now. [51:24] **Councilmember Paul Essler:** Well, I think that's another thing just to point out to the residents: that's another benefit of development. Not only are you building your tax base, but you're also getting these park dedication fees and you don't need to build the parks for the facilities that are being developed. For example, the apartment complexes... when you get those fees, it's more than just the tax base; it's real money right up front. It's money we can reinvest into the community right away. [52:05] **Dan Schultz:** Exactly, yep. [52:10] **Councilmember Heidi Freske:** I just have one question: how will the lights be controlled? Are they going to automatically go on? [52:14] **Dan Schultz:** Good question, Councilmember Freske. The lights will be controlled at this point in time by a push-button system. And it depends on how popular they get down there—my guess is they're going to be used every night till later than what people probably want—but like right now with our tennis courts down in Erickson Park, there's a push button that once you push it, they stay on for an hour and then they automatically shut off at 15 minutes after the park closes. We give people time to get out of the park, get in their cars, and get out of there before the lights shut off. But that's been working really well. The lighting system that we use at the Erickson Park tennis courts and also the ball fields are all controlled by a Musco virtual light control system so we can control those by a phone. Like this year, for example, we're giving our AAA baseball coaches a "dummy" app to use where they can actually control the lights themselves by their phones. And so we would definitely right now just plan to have the push button, but if we end up just wanting to leave them on every night from dusk until a certain time, we have that opportunity. But it'll be controlled right now by the players. So if there's no one down there for some reason—which I don't think will be the case—then the lights won't run. But if they're down there and they want the lights, they just punch the button and lights come on. [53:42] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** So what's the timing for the courts to be available? I'm sure we're looking at eager pickleball players. [53:50] **Dan Schultz:** Yeah, I get a lot of questions from people when I see them out in the community. We're looking at probably sometime in mid-June to kind of start with the court surfacing and hopefully have it done by the end of June, all wrapped up. We're looking at probably mid-July for seeding, final grading, all the restoration work around the outside, so they could be used in mid-July. [54:19] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** If not sooner on the courts? [54:21] **Dan Schultz:** I mean the courts might be ready, but we maybe have not backfilled in the parking lot to back of curb and things like that; we maybe haven't done the final seeding. But the courts will be ready hopefully by July 1st. [54:30] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** And is that tied to opening of Akron then? Is that a separate project going on or is it just closed off? [54:36] **Dan Schultz:** It does... people could park at other locations and walk through like we did last night on the Park and Rec Commission tour. But what we hope to have happen is be able to open the courts when we get the street opened up because the driveway comes right off of Akron Avenue. [54:58] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** All righty, great. Any other comments? Would anyone like to move the recommended action? [55:04] **Councilmember Heidi Freske:** I'll move a motion to approve Change Order Number One for the pickleball project in the amount of $232,335. **Councilmember Tami Klimpel:** Second. [55:12] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Motion by Freske, second by Klimpel. Roll please. **Teah Malecha:** Essler? **Councilmember Paul Essler:** Aye. **Teah Malecha:** Klimpel? **Councilmember Tami Klimpel:** Aye. **Teah Malecha:** Weisensel? **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Aye. **Teah Malecha:** Freske? **Councilmember Heidi Freske:** Aye. [55:25] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** That completes 9B 4-0. Move on to 9C. Mr. Martin? [55:36] **City Administrator Logan Martin:** Thank you Mayor, members of the Council. Excited to be here tonight to give our May update on the PD/PW campus project. We've been doing this monthly at the times that Council hasn't had a chance to take a physical tour of the property, just to give both a budget update and then a project status update of this really exciting project we've got going on. The long and short of it—you've got the attachment on the kind of the infographic of the campus update there along with the current budget status from a medium level, and then the project change order log is attached as well. The project is on schedule, on budget, going very well. Since the Council had its last tour in April, the building is essentially fully drywalled with a lot of interior painting actually completed. Windows are in in most areas; metal panels to the outside structure have been installed. The tip-up architectural wall to the front of the building has been added since Council last had a chance to see it. And then up coming next is ceiling tile throughout the project. Some bathroom tile is underway as we speak. The arrival and the placement of the gun range system is coming up in the near term and then overhead garage doors in a number of areas are happening soon as well. So really going well. It just continues to be a fantastic project and a really strong working relationship not only amongst the three of us that are kind of on the project team, but our partners at Kraus-Anderson and our contracting partners and subcontractors. It's really, really going well out there. Overall the budget is attached. The most critical piece that we always talk about and pay attention to is the remaining construction contingency: we're at $1.22 million remaining. We have no pending change orders that require City Council approval. As you can see on the log, the change orders that we have completed have been under the $50,000 threshold which requires just City Administrator approval. The budget that you see does contemplate spending the entire contingency to then show what that bottom line yellow line surplus looks like. And so again, that contemplates spending every nickel of the lines above it to give a perspective there—which we do not intend to have happen. Again, we continue to be through the most expensive change orders, as evidenced by the fact that we haven't had to come back to Council to talk about any. The biggest one that you'll see on a list that's pending that we as a staff are still discussing is a about a $70,000 add to pave a square of currently slated class 5 gravel. It's basically in the bump-out on the Public Works side of the facility; it's a future expansion area. It would be in the budget now, but it would just be a piece of gravel. I think the more we've thought about it and the more the contractors have recommended, when the paver is out there it may be wisest just to get it done now. It also maybe isn't the most intelligent decision to have just kind of this random chunk of class 5 gravel surrounded by other areas of asphalt. So we will likely be coming back to you to ask for that change order. But the others have been just kind of things that pop up as projects go along. With that I think we could chat more about it and answer any questions Council has. Nick is here obviously too and he's been the leader on this project. [59:15] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Any questions? Happy to take them. Floor is open. [59:21] **Councilmember Paul Essler:** Just when is the expected final completion? [59:30] **Logan Martin:** Yeah, we continue to kind of under-promise to ourselves and to staff to say: still probably calling it December, realizing it might be middle of November. But yeah, I think we're saying Thanksgiving to Christmas is somewhere in that window; it is a pretty conservative estimate. If it ends up being early November, we'll just be thrilled. No changes really on that regard. And so now we're in kind of the final pieces too of costing appliances and selecting furniture and interior wall graphics. We just got a look at some of those, which is a really cool opportunity to—in some of the more communal spaces—have some wall graphics that are an homage to Rosemount's history, which is really neat. And then on each of the specific sides, you know, a police-focused area of kind of a staff "pump up" wall graphic and then same for PW showing the work that they do. Nick ran them through a kind of a word cloud thing to see what "Public Works" means to them and then blast that up on the wall, which is just going to be really neat. So kind of in those interior finish pieces and it'll be a fun touch. [1:00:41] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Anything else? Gave away a surprise? Was that a surprise? [1:00:46] **Logan Martin:** No, it isn't anymore! It's all good, people could have figured it out. [1:00:54] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** We'll edit that out of the plan. [Laughs] See here's what happens, you guys get me talking. I'm sorry Nick, that's my bad. [1:01:05] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** All righty. We'll consider the report received and that'll complete item 9C. Item 10, City staff updates. Mr. Martin? [1:01:21] **Logan Martin:** Yeah, maybe I'll ruin Dan's surprise if... no, I don't think so. Dan, do you have one? I'll ruin it. [1:01:26] **Dan Schultz:** No, I got nothing. Go ahead. [1:01:28] **Logan Martin:** I'm going to take my trophy and just... [1:01:29] **Dan Schultz:** Mr. Mayor and council members, just one other plug for an event we have coming up: Monday May 27th, a Memorial Day program. That event will run from 11:00 a.m. until 12:00 noon. This year we've got a wide variety of people involved in this event: we've got the VFW and the Legion and the Beyond the Yellow Ribbon committee. We have Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, we have a local pastor helping us out. We should have an Eagle Scout reading out loud at this event. We are going to have a local 90-year-old veteran who lives in town here going to ring the bell for us during the event. We will have the standard 21-gun salute, things like that, raising of the flag. So it's going to be a good event. The backup in case it does rain that day is going to be at the Rosemount Legion where we can still run most of the event indoors. And then following the event, the Legion will have a lunch that they serve in their large gathering space at the building. So again, 11:00 Monday May 27th. [1:02:48] **Dan Schultz:** Oh, and I didn't mention the Mayor will be speaking. Yes, the Mayor will. We also have a colonel that will also be speaking at the event from the VFW. [1:02:56] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** All righty. Thank you very much. That'll complete 10A. We'll move to the upcoming community calendar 10B. May 22nd tomorrow, between 3:00 and 4:45 is our Youth Commission meeting. On May 27th, City Hall will be closed for Memorial Day, but as you just heard, from 11:00 to 12:00 at Central Park will be our Memorial Day celebration event. Planning Commission will be on May 28th from 6:30 to 7:30 here at City Hall. The next City Council work session and Council meeting: work session will start from 5:00 to 7:00 on June 4th and City Council meeting will be at 7:00 to 8:00 again here at City Hall. And with that, if there are no other items to come before Council... seeing none, I move to adjourn. Is there a second? [1:03:45] **Councilmember Paul Essler:** Second. [1:03:47] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Have a motion and second. All in favor signify by saying aye. **Councilmembers:** Aye. **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** We are adjourned. [1:04:00] [Music]