is agenda is the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America recording in progress for stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all and when you're ready of office uh Mr mayor uh elect uh Nick Vivy and the City attorney is going to conduct the oath of office to each of you oh he's on okay do we need to stand or Nick are you ready oh Kim do they stand when they're giving the oath yeah no no no need to stand no Bibles no Bibles Nick are you ready for the AL of office I am okay give them directions please fantastic uh why don't we start with mayor elect keeper if you could stand and raise your right hand please and repeat after me I Jeff geir I Jeff geir do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and of the state of Minnesota and of the state of Minnesota and will Faithfully discharge the duties of the office of Mayor and will Faithfully discharge the duties of office of Mayor and of the city of I'm sorry of the city of Grant of the city of Grant in the county of Washington in the county of Washington and the state of Minnesota Ina in the state of Minnesota to the best of my judgment and ability to the best of my judgment and abilities congratulations congratulations all right well now move to Lindsay if you would please stand and raise your right hand and repeat after me I Lindsay Crona I Lindsay Crona do solemnly swear do solemly swear that I will support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States and of the state of Minnesota of the United States and the state of Minnesota and will Faithfully discharge the duties of the office of council member and will Faithfully discharge the duties of the office of council member of the city of Grant of the city of Grant in the county of Washington in the county of Washington and the state of Minnesota and the state of Minnesota to the best of my judgment and ability to the best of my judgment and ability congratulations thank you then if you would stand and raise your right hand yes sir and repeat after me I Ben cornette I Ben cornette do solemnly swear do Solly swear that I will support the Constitution that I'll support the Constitution of the United States and of the state of Minnesota of the United States and the state of Minnesota and will Faithfully discharge the duties of the office of council member and will Faithfully discharge the duties of the office of council member of the city of Grant of the city of Grant in the county of Washington and the county of Washington and the state of Minnesota and the state of Minnesota to the best of my judgment and ability to the best of my judgment and ability congratulations [Applause] next on the agenda is a presentation of a plaque Huber for a service on behalf of myself and the citizens of Grant I'd like to thank you for your 17 years of service you displayed strong leadership at times when we needed and least wish you best luck in your future thank you so much I wish you all the best luck as well the only advice I would leave you with is problem mayor Geer I do have something additional for oh what would that be Jeff Huber yeah Jeff we go back about 18 years now long time and I just wanted to say it's been a pleasure to work with you um on behalf of myself and all of Staff enjoyed very much working with you um you will be missed I know that you wanted a cake to go with your plaque I so I was able to Navi a piece of cake cuz it's not in the city budget we don't do that this this private cake this no this is from mayor Barb parents from Willer her going away away party so there you have some K which was about 10 days ago okay this means a lot to me Kim I was going to give it to the kids and now I'm afraid to that's for you not giving it to the kids thank you so much and I will tell you working with the staff over the last 18 years has been an extreme pleasure maybe just one more piece of advice listen to the staff because they know a lot more than we do especially together as a team and they're going to give you good advice listen to them they'll guide you through the hardest times they have up there and uh just been a real pleasure tell those guys back there on that screen it's been a pleasure too I think they heard you you hear me all right thanks guys I want some cake you can have the cakes I I misspoke I said 17 years except my apologies I don't want to short you a year yeah you don't want to you want to short me my year okay well thank you I've been uh very pleased to be here I think we left Grant in good shape and I know you guys are going to do well I just had a ton of confidence in you as a unified team you're going to be great okay thank you carry on all right next on the agenda approval of the regular agenda motion to approve second second second council member corette hi council member R HIC member hi mayor hi next Sun agenda approval of the consent agenda we've all had a chance to review the consent agenda assuming there's no questions can I get a motion to approve I'll make that motion I'll a second okay council member cornat hi council member rag I council member pona hi mayor Geer I next on agenda staff agenda items city engineer Brad reek has no action items I don't think he's with us um then our city planner Jennifer Swanson who is with us online um Jennifer could you please walk us through the variance request we have uh before us tonight sure thing uh thank you Mr Mayor members of the council so before us this evening we have a request uh for a variance from a yard setback the side yard setback at the property located at 7076 Lone Oak Trail North um for those of you that have been with us for a while and those that are newcomers this is located in the new uh White Oak Savannah subdivision uh which is on kind of the the east side of town so um we'll walk through exactly what this request uh is for and sort of how it came to be uh the the recent plating of the property and the lot is actually part of the basis for why the variance is being sought this evening so uh I do believe the uh applicant or or their representative is in the audience this evening uh it is they are doing business as white o Savannah but I believe Dave Washburn may be in attendance uh and could answer any questions that you may have I see head shaking so he is there um the property is approximately 7 Acres it is actually the corner lot it is on the North uh side of Lone Oak Trail which is the new roadway that was constructed as part of the subdivision uh when it was approved uh back in 2018 so uh we have noticed a a public hearing hearing for this evening uh to my knowledge we have not received any questions at this time uh with respect to the uh the application and I just realized I don't think I actually shared my screen so I'm going to do that now because we will need the graphic in just one moment so all right so with that looks like we are up and running so uh this evening uh the develop and the owner is who's making the request this evening so the lot is actually vacant they are attempting to sell the lot obviously it it was platted as part of that process back in 2018 uh the the issue arose actually after the final plat process uh was basically concluded at the city back in 2018 uh and uh once uh the city adopted or approved that final plat after the fact actually Washington County transportation department came back uh and said that the final plaque could not be recorded uh and they wouldn't finish it without some additional right of way uh AB buding the Westerly property line of the subject lot so when that occurred and when that additional RightWay was taken it had the effect of further constraining the buildable area on this lot which you will see in just a moment on the graphic so it essentially had the effect of creating a buildable area uh that was reduced from approximately 60 ft to about 40t which significantly constrained how a lot or how a home excuse me could be cited within uh the buildable area given some of the constraints of that lot so the developer at the time uh in would could have come back to us and requested some adjustments to the plat but in the interest of time uh they needed to get going so uh they figured they'd give it a shot the way that it was uh platted with the easement says they were with the additional right of way they have been unable and unsuccessful to find uh someone who would construct a custom home on the property given how constrained that buildable area became after that additional right of way was taken so um obviously they are proposing uh that if this variance is granted that it would be constructed and developed with a single family residential property uh very similar to the other homes that you see going up in that subdivision so the intent is obviously to develop it in a similar fashion when we take a look at our variances we have specific criteria that we have to look at uh the Practical difficulty of following the ordinance is what comes into play when we do our assessment there are a few separate uh criteria that we take a look at with respect to whether or not it meets those criteria for that request uh so you'll see here that we've got the plight of the landowner uh has to be due to physical conditions that are unique to the land or the structure or or the building that is involved in the subject request uh and that uh if they tried to follow the ordinance to the letter of the law that would they would not be able to actually you use the property for a similar use um and in the same zoning District so in this case of course we're talking about a single family residential structure uh we also have to look at whether the unique conditions of the site are c um are caused by the the owner uh so did they do something that created this potential constraint on the property uh or was this something that was somewhat out of their control with respect to uh natural physical characteristics of the property um and economic considerations alone cannot be the basis note that it doesn't say that economic considerations cannot be part of the basis it's just they cannot be the only reason for that request so uh in this particular case we also have a situation where uh because it this property was recently ploted as part of the White Oak subdivision uh that they also need to be able to comply with uh the terms of the development agreement and the other conditions of the final PL as as they were approved back in 2018 so even if we give this variance tonight and it's approved they will still be subject to all of those conditions that were in the development agreement they're still going to have to follow all the requirements with respect to uh the ponding storm water on-site storm water control Etc so it doesn't negate any of that uh that development agreement Still Remains in play so when we take a look at the property at the existing conditions there are two Wetland areas on this particular uh lot there's also a white oak Savannah area which is obviously one of the desirable uh natural characteristics of the property make it a very lovely lot uh but it also has the effect uh when you look at the proper setbacks and those natural features of really constraining the buildable area on the subject property uh to really being on that South what would be the southwest corner of the lot and so uh that obviously is also buting uh the ca 17 or the Lake Elmo Avenue RightWay uh that RightWay when it shifted 25 ft had a pretty significant impact on what that buildable area looks like uh the access in the buildable area were approved through the final plat and preliminary plat process it was identified on that southwest corner uh so all of those pieces remain valid and able in terms of our analysis really comes down to that additional right of way further constraining where an appropriate single family home could be developed on the property so if you look at this graphic uh hopefully you can see it uh it's a little bit small but the blue area if you look at the blue dotted surrounding area uh that is the area that was the buildable area that was approved and identified as part of the preliminary plat and the final plat process when it came through the city uh and so when you look at that it's still a rather constrained area in terms of what was buildable uh but obviously if we go to our next graphic it got even smaller when the additional right of way was taken so the additional right of way that was after the fact was the black dotted area on this graphic so uh what then remains is essentially the yellow area um the developer as I said has worked with a couple potential buyers when they looked at this uh it was just incredibly difficult to make everything fit within that pink area uh and build a home that was comparable to what uh is being developed in the white oak Savannah subdivision on the the other Lots um and so from that perspective that that yellow area did become very constrained not for those of you that are new with us uh and obviously you're your residents of of the community so you understand uh in addition to the single family house we also have to have appropriate area that's going to fit the primary the secondary septic systems uh or drain Fields excuse me and so from that perspective it gets further constrained in what can actually fit within that area so to give you a sense of what the applicant is proposing um and what the variance would do you can see from this rendering that there's actually uh the main portion of the structure uh so the principal portion of the structure as I would call it is actually meeting all of the required setbacks uh the portion that would encroach with in uh that setback area that additional area is actually noted you can see it in the dark brown area uh that is basically an accessory portion of the building or the principal structure so that's the I think they're calling it a shoer garage whatever it is uh that is the portion that would encroach with into that setback area the principal structure itself would actually comply with all of our ordinance requirements so the variance that's being requested this evening is approximately 25 ft it does correlate and match with it precisely and exactly what was approved uh initially by the city in the preliminary and final plat process so the location uh doesn't really change the buildable area from the city's perspective actually doesn't change at all uh it just has the effect of requiring the variance in this case because of that after the fact right ofely request um or or demand not a request from Washington County once the final plat had already come through the city um and so from that perspective there's not a significant change from what we see or what we would have seen uh because it's consistent with what we thought was being approved as part of that preliminary and final plat process so as I said we look at three separate criteria um the analysis basically walks through the fact that is this a reasonable use um and and is what they're requesting in terms of the variance reasonable often times we look at is the variance minimized to the extent possible uh in this case staff does believe this is reasonable this is what um you know when we went through the preliminary and final plat process we do things like make sure that there's adequate buildable area to site uh structures that are comparable in size and value Etc uh to the other parts of the subdivision in this case what they're requesting uh is a a fairly modest home actually compared to what's going on in the remainder of the subdivision um and so from that perspective it certainly seems reasonable uh for this particular request uh the play of the land owner must be due to physical conditions that are unique to the land uh as I stated there are quite a few natural areas on the site that con strain the buildable area and then once that additional ride of way came out uh the amount of area that was buildable was quite constrained and quite small in terms of uh making sure that all of the improvements could get in there so um this is certainly unique because it's on the corner uh it's also unique because of the Wetland configuration and uh the after the fact nature of the additional right of way being requested by the county so um from that perspective there's no other lot within the subdivision that would meet this condition all the other Lots uh should be buildable as they were platted uh without requiring any special variances uh which was checked as we went through that whole preliminary and final plat process uh number three the conditions cannot be caused by the by the owner again in this case it was an after Thea request for that right of way obviously the wetlands that exist and the the white oak Savannah out there uh certainly were not created by the property owners so from that perspective uh they are certainly unique and they were not created by the developer in this particular case uh in terms of essential character uh the the piece of this at important to note is obviously when we look at subdivisions especially when we've got these large lot master planned sort of subdivisions uh making sure that the homes are of similar size scale uh compatibility Etc are is important to the overall sustainability of the neighborhood this particular case being able to develop uh a a reasonable structure single family structure that's compatible with the the remainder of the neighborhood is important especially in some of our newer subdivisions to make sure that we've got compatible development throughout the throughout the project um while economic considerations are certainly at play here um they're not the only reason obviously as we discussed uh this after the fact nature of the request uh really constrained the buildable area so uh it was an impact uh that had the ab had the effect essentially of altering how a a house could be physically cited on the property uh and still comply with all the required subbs uh the city engineer does not have any additional comments uh that is part of why he is not here this evening uh they as I mentioned will still be required to follow all the requirements of the development agreement so from that perspective uh the grading plan compliance with all the Watershed District permits etc those all remain applicable even if the variance is granted this evening uh so from that perspective uh there's no other agency review that's necessary at this time uh because whatever home comes forward will still need to follow all of those conditions and requirements that were put in place during the final plat process so in your packets this evening and also in your resolution there are some draft findings uh with respect to the recommendation from staff this evening uh staff's recommendation is to recommend approval uh with the conditions that are also noted within your packet so uh from that perspective I will not go through each of these findings essentially we have to identify and and document uh our analysis as it relates to those practical difficulties uh and then a couple conditions uh that were identified with respect to ensuring that they comply with and continue to follow the terms of the development agreement so with that Mr Mayor members of the council uh I am happy to answer any questions you might have uh and I will turn it back over to you all any questions of the council we can ask questions later to after public hearing but the wants to ask any questions now we can do that now and then open up for is there uh Jennifer question if I may is there any other uh plots in this subdivision that this might occur again uh Mr Mayor members of the council no uh this lot in particular was quite constrained when it was initially platted from the very beginning and this this actually was the only one that had that very strain buildable area it just was obviously somewhat reasonable uh and then when that 25 ft came out it made it very unreasonable so in terms of the lot that's on the South Side uh of the new roadway that also abots Casa 17 there's adequate buildable area there and so there should not be an issue okay so this is the only one in the subdivision okay correct all right let's uh take a motion to open on public comment move to open for public comment second a second hi hi hi May g i so would anyone like to comment anyone out there what's that oh this this hearing this hearing is for the okay okay and do we have the applicants here yeah okay they don't they aren't part of the public comment okay right um so no public comment a motion wait Mr Mayor also I I just want to make sure we've got three people that have joined us on Zoom um I want to make sure that they're not here for uh to provide any testimonies so for those of you who are with us uh if you raise your hand uh we can bring you into the meeting if you have any public testimony with respect to this request uh for the variance so uh I believe there's three of you right now all right I'm not seeing any hands raised one last call uh if you would have any testimony it would be on the bottom of your screen there should be a hand uh that you could push the button if youve got anything to say if not we will pass it back to the another I'm not seeing anything so we'll we'll pop back and check in with them after we got the people in here that want to speak um okay Kim do he need to sign Matt you know the routine s I just have one quick question um would this variance be necessary if that was sitting on a 10 acre lot that's my only question anyone else um Jennifer you wna we only got one question you want to answer that question uh Mr Mayor members of the council so uh it's hard to answer that question because uh the property was platted uh in 2018 as part of the White Oak Savannah subdivision and so uh the lot the lot lines the lot orientation the lot size were all dictated by that process so um there's there's not an easy way to answer that uh because we have a specific lot it's seven acres uh it was deemed compliant and consistent with our ordinances uh when it through went through that process there's no real easy way to compare so just um corre any other comments or questions okay we'll take a motion to close public comment a motion to close the uh public hearing second council member I Ro I council member Kona I mayor Geer I um now we need a motion to approve or not I'll make the motion to approve second second council member cornette I council member rag I council member perona I mayor Geer I next item on agenda City attorney Nick Vivian consideration of the DNR lease for Stillwater Oaks um Nick you want to talk us through this I sure can Mr Mayor uh so the city has received a request and this actually came several months ago from the Stillwater uh Oaks Association requesting the city's assistance in facilitating the use regulated by the Minnesota DNR um there is one inaccuracy in in my memo I note that this relates to the Gateway Trail it relates to the Browns Creek Trail as you can see on the exhibit that's attached to the lease the association requires a storm sewer pipeline uh to serve the homes and the development and that storm sewer um pipe needs to cross the Browns Creek the trail the DNR will not the DNR will allow it to happen by a lease uh but the DNR will not lease directly to a private entity uh it will lease directly to the city uh as another Municipal entity and then the city is permitted to suas to the association and that's precisely what the association is is asking uh for City staff including myself the planner and the engineer have been involved in this process we've reviewed the lease with the DNR uh we have worked with Stillwater Oaks on the subas and effectively the sublease uh transfers all of the obligations of the city uh to the association uh so the city doesn't bear any performance responsibilities it certainly Bears those responsibilities under under the lease uh but those performance responsibilities are then all passed through the sublease uh to the association and again effectively this is a pipe that that runs under the under the trail um and well there may be some obligations down the road in terms of of clearing the pipe um no significant obl obligations on the on the part of the city or on the part of the association in the in the near ter term or likely the long term and so uh what you have in front of you is the miscellaneous lease that came from the DNR on behalf of the state of Minnesota uh you have uh the subas um and IT staff staff's recommendation that the council consider approval um I did receive an email from uh Jason Palms be on behalf of the association Jason may be in the audience tonight um and so if you have any any questions and if he is indeed in the audience uh you could certainly direct them to him uh otherwise Jennifer or I should be able to take any questions that the council may may have um on this particular item all right that's it um any questions or comments from the council Z John I do um Nick I guess when we you know it it it I I understand that they can't do this themselves uh because of the what the DNR requires and so is this one of the few times if if not the first time that we're doing something like this with a uh a private company that's developing land that we are getting involved in yeah i' I've not seen it before um I I represented the city for call it 10 years between 2006 and and 2016 and then again for the last couple years I've not seen it in in my time um we do from time to time work with the DNR regarding uh the Gateway Trail and the Browns Creek Trail on on different matters um I think this is the first time that I I've seen a pipe needing to cross uh either Trail um and the dnr's policy is is just that they will not lease directly to a private Association because it's not it's it's their policy that they maintain their relationships between governmental agencies which is why the the city is is involved and that's why the request has has come to the city so it's not it's not our choice this is a request that that has been made of of the applicant it's certainly discretionary to the council as to whether the council wants to approve it um or not uh but ultimately this is a request that was applicant initi and not City initiated okay all right thanks Nick question and as far as like their processes and doing this like the DNR is okay with everything that they're doing that they're going under the trail using that land it's it's not anything out of the norm in that regard just a formality that we have to go through this process correct correct that's exactly right so the applicant has worked directly with the DNR um we have been involved in that process from the perspective of of reviewing and negotiating the sublease and reviewing the lease agreement with the with the DNR uh but all other communication has been directly between the applicant and the DNR and you'll note that the applicant uh that the DNR is required uh to sign off and and consent uh to the suble so this does not get done without DNR approval um and the DNR is is fully aware uh that the city will be involved and and will ultimately be sub Divi uh sub U assigning uh or assigning through a suas uh to the applicant is supect that's a similar or very common structure that's set in place where we sublease it out so that din is familiar with this process and anticipate there'll be no issues with it yeah I don't I don't anticipate issues the questions that that have come up I received a couple of questions from uh the the mayor just with respect to maintenance um you know if in fact the pipe needs to be clear whose responsibility is it well it's the association's responsibility if the association doesn't do it um and it creates and there's some sort of an issue the city still is the lesie uh to the to the lease um and you know similarly the question has arisen what happens if the association doesn't exist in the in the future there's an indemnification provision in the suble uh that keeps the association responsible for all of the obligations uh the maintenance obligations and all the other obligations under the under the terms of the lease uh that being said uh this development requires uh storm um water drainage uh and and mitigation and so ultimately if if the association isn't doing what it needs to to do here uh it's going to probably have issues with its storm water uh within the development itself as as this property uh develops through and and homes are built and and whatnot so uh the association is going to have a vested interest uh in making sure that it storm water utility Works um we could have some responsibility for clearing in the future if then maintenance if in fact the association does not exist but the likelihood of that um is probably not very high given the significance of the storm water utility and the need to keep water flowing freely through the development in the future one other question uh if I I can't remember the exact date I think it's like 2045 it expires and then at that point it's the obligation of the city to take on all the maintenance and everything for it or how does that well pres presumably uh it will need to be renewed at at that point um I don't I don't believe there are any plans uh ultimately for this this pipe um uh to be removed and I don't you know believe that there are any plans for the city uh to take this utility over on over on a full-time basis so you know I think that the reality here is that assuming things go uh as planned and there are no issues this agreement would be extended in the future uh to ensure that the association continues to be responsible for all the obligations uh to the DNR thank you uh one more question Nick if I can um I see that you know it's going under mcusic and then going into the uh ditch I guess you know we're okay with I know that there's you know I don't I didn't drive it so I don't know where it's going over there uh is there is there Wetland there is there a retaining pond there what is there in that ditch I don't quite see what's what's over there I see where it goes but um you know it's all it's all good with the DNR so it can't just be in somebody's yard yeah I I don't know the specific answer to the question I do know that Brad did an engineering review of the topography um and of the the Flowage capacity in the area um and he didn't note any concerns regarding uh water flow through that ditch or through the through the city's ditch system um so I I presume that the ditch has capacity uh for whatever would would flow here it also looks like there is a a pond uh that this is this may just be an overflow pipe um if you look at the corner of Leeward Circle and 88 Street north um to the east of Leeward Circle it looks like there's a there's a drainage Pond um and so I think this is just overflow um but again Brad reviewed it and and didn't note any material issues with the proposal all right um if I remember correctly and I'm just going to throw this one to you I know that they were as one of the uh requirements because they are uh having an access on mcusic they were going to pave if I remember correctly about three qus of mcusic so that they can access their their um subdivision um and so you know doing what we're doing um the city is kind of getting involved with this with through the DNR is there a is there a situation where we could say you know um acustic is is a city street and it's probably one of the worst in the city um as far as I can tell can we get them to pave the entire Road possibly as they're you know saying okay we're doing this can you pave the rest of the road too if you're doing three qus of it well well that's that's certainly a a request that that can be made I don't know that that was a you know certainly it's not a requirement of what's been approved uh to date uh nor do I know that there is uh anything in our our code that would necessarily require uh the additional paving at at this point you know certainly the city could say we're willing to consider entering into the the lease agreement and helping to facilitate the the storm uh runoff um and and the pipe uh if in fact the developer is is willing to do some extra work on on muusic that being said developer could say we're going to figure out a different way to to deal with our our storm water um so it's it's certainly a request that that can be made it's not a requirement of of development approval at at this point um it's not particularly related to uh this particular request that being said this request is uh at the discretion of the council um and so ultimately if the council is willing to consider the lease and the sublease but only on the condition of of additional Paving uh we can certainly have that discussion uh with the applicant if the council would like U Nick isn't the development agreement already signed I mean would would this uh I don't see how this could even happen yeah again that the the development piece of it uh has has already been discussed by the by the council as as a development agreement um so this would be outside of the the development agreement this would be solely related to this particular request that the city would would participate and approve this this request but on the on the condition uh that the developer pave some additional roadway on on mcusic you know I have no I have no information as to what that distance is or what that cost is so I can't advise you as to whether that's practical or or pragmatic or or whether it's it's worth um including that as a as a discussion Point again I don't know if Jason is is in the room on behalf of the applicant um and and can perhaps speak to that particular request uh but that's been this piece of it has been outside of our conversation today y Jason's here right now Jason would you like Jason O um um to to address your questions um within the developers agreement when this development was approved we had agreed to um a Mill and overlay for uh a significant portion of mcusic and that was that's that's laid out in the developers agreement as it stands today um to to ask for additional um Mill and over or Miss additional contribution to that is is is is economically it's going to be pretty problematic because it's a pretty heavy lift right now to make that contribution um as far as the uh um the the outlet of what we're proposing or what we're requesting um it isn't the the majority of our storm water will stay on site and this is an overflow um component that is going to flow into a ditch that's currently there it's I would I don't I never want to use the word minimal um outflow but it's it will not be a significant component uh or significant outflow um to what is there today because a lot of what we're doing on site we're treating the storm water on site and we're doing irrigation reuse and a lot of um we're we're attempting to retain as much water as we possibly can on site I hope that helps answer some questions and kind of shed some lights on things yeah okay thank you B do you have something else um Nick I had one thing so um to sum it up with the sub um lease is it fair to say that it's just basically a clean pass through and the um the city does not have any liabilities they all assumed by Still Water Oaks correct yeah that's that's correct the the city the city could have liability if the association doesn't exist um but so you know that we don't have any homes out there as of as of yet um and development is is just starting so we're probably talking about many many years before that situation uh even comes to fruition um although it's probably unlikely event um Nick what are your thoughts on adding a provision to the subas requiring so Ed Oaks to provide like an annual financial statement so we could get a line of sight into potential insolvency yeah I mean we can we can certainly add reporting requirements if if you'd like um it's it's not going to be common for associations to keep a lot of money on hand uh you know particularly non condo associations that I don't know what the the common elements here are going to require from the perspective of of Maintenance and and upkeep um I think you know the bigger thing is that we're going to want to make sure that they have a board that's constituted and that meets on an annual basis and that if there's an issue we've got somebody that that we can call that that serves as the contact person and so you know perhaps a requirement that that indicates that they have to update us on an annual basis as to who their board is and who the emergency contact is um you know along with their updated business filing or an updated uh profit and loss and and balance sheet uh just so that we can kind of keep tabs on the um uh the association as long as uh it's around um the uh this this site is also falls within the Browns Creek Watershed district and there's some reporting mechanisms that we um are required to report to them as well some of those are the contact um giving contact information emergency contact information so replicating that with the city is not an issue at all um okay and a simple Financial not a problem can I um if I could ask you a question so are these people that are going to be in this subdivision they're only going to go one way cusk they won't go the other way to get to you know the u i I can't speak to right how how someone's going to drive I mean right the the in in my mind M mcusic to Manning that's how I would do it that's how I would do it too but I don't know and so what the I think the I think where you're going with the question is what's what's what are we doing on that road we've committed to a Mill and overlay a significant contribution um to improving that road right but I as far as traffic patterns I can't speak to the individuals yeah so that's I mean I know there's not you're doing like three qus of it yeah or a little more I I can't remember I can't you know I was looking at the the length of the road and what you're doing and it's it's really good because that's a rough road yeah and so you know if everybody's going to go to Manning anyhow then they're going to go on a nice smooth Road when they get out and then they just hit the hit the hit the hit the other part and that's why we're just talking about if when you mobilize and pave it's a lot cheaper to do a section all of it as opposed to okay I'm doing three quarters of it and then you're got to mobilize again and then do another quarter so that's why I was trying to see if we can do it now if it's possible um because obviously your people are going to go that way anyhow probably half of them will go to Manning yeah um so I'm just understand looking forward I I feel a little bit uncomfortable okay with you know having the contingency of proving the lease with the proposal so um but that being said um you have any other thoughts I mean something to maybe think about just to mitigate the city risk to the extent that somewhere down the road you know unfortunately the association didn't exist I don't know if it's common at all to put some dollar amount in escrow with the city just to have that um I don't even know it would be a reasonable dollar amount though or if that's something that's ever done just knowing that we've never dealt with this lease pass through situation at least in the city of Grant and I don't know what other cities in this situation do we can't be the first city to have this DNR lease sub fair question so Nick I I believe that's what the $11,000 is for is that is that correct for escrow yeah let me look at the lease here um yeah if I may that that is a um that is a lease payment to the DNR okay so it doesn't it's not okay but as as far as as far as maintenance as far as um um we we have there's storm pipes storm water pipes throughout the development and and part of part of our process is it through the homeowners association is making sure those pipes are clear and with the Browns Creek Watershed District we have um what's the word I'm looking for um we have worksheets that we have to submit to them on a biannual basis in the spring and the fall to demonstrate what looks what it looks like with images everything and this would be part of that as well okay so um even though it's the leases with you they want to know what's going on right across the board so it's a you know so okay yeah it's not unlike a community that has development where you have outlots that are owned by associations um and the associations then don't function and they don't cut their grass or they don't deal with their storm ponds and then cities are are required to to jump in and and do basic maintenance uh to take care of of those items I I think as as Jason points out you know this is really an outflow of a pond for overflow purposes um they have there are other uh storm ponds within the development that they're going to have to maintain now if the association is not viable uh there are going to be a whole lot of issues with Browns Creek uh with the city with the with the DNR um and it it becomes a big issue Association wide or development wide that the association's going to have to fix it's not the city that's going to have to resolve their issues if the association fails to maintain their their ponds and and their pipes this this pipe appears to be one small part of U of a larger sort of network of of ponds and and pipes that are going to have to be maintained on a on a regular basis so um I think Jeff did ask a question um a few days ago about an escrow I think for our from our perspective even if we required a $10,000 escrow or or whatever it might be um then we hold that account or hold those funds in an account and and they sit there and they could sit there for 20 30 years or in in perpetuity um and the question is whether the city wants to wants to do that or or require that council member Kona Kona is exactly correct that when there are performance obligations under a development agreement it's not uncommon to to hold uh funds in escrow either cash or a letter of credit uh or some other form of of security so you could certainly require a form of security if if you want you know the question is what number would be sufficient uh to address maintenance if in fact the city had to jump in uh and keep the pipe clear keep the the grasses down uh so that the storm pipe function properly any other questions so Lindsay if that's something you want to include in a a motion other than that I think we Nick we've got um the uh additional provision of a financial statement and then a simple um Declaration of the board meeting or I forgot how you worded it as potential Provisions we could add to the yeah I I think the I think the three things that we would want to require from a reporting perspective on manual basis our emergency contact information uh board information and then a basic set of financials on an annual basis okay looking for a motion do we do we look at Lindsay well we can we can still discuss it I mean if Lindsay wants to make a motion I mean she can add that provision in there yeah addition I think it's a great idea yeah I just don't know what a number we'd be comfortable with that's you know where I'd like to get some more insight of you know what would be a fair number without oh go ahead if if I can make a suggestion um uh maybe have Brad and my engineer have a discussion on it and it's I I can say right off the top of my head it's it's a it's a very nominal amount but between the two of them and I think they can figure something out that would work um that would that I'd be comfortable with so go ahead Kim Mr mayor council members um in addition to the motion whether it's to approve deny add these other two uh conditions you could add a third condition uh an escro be supplied by the city to to the city to be determined by the city engineer I like that yeah that would be good gives it's a little flexibility right yeah so you yeah so I'd like to do an amendment to to approve but continue upon having those first the financial information um information relative to the contact information of the board as well as emergency as well as adding an escrow um which dollar amount would be um determined between the city uh engineer okay so we we didn't have a motion she didn't have to amend it so you're I just made the motion there's no Amendment okay she's making a motion just making it do we have a second I'll second that okay we have a motion to Second council member cornette hi council member r hi council member Kona hi mayor Geer I right thank you Jason thank you thank you Nick um new business consideration of ordinance 2025 83 the 2025 fee schedule and we should have all had a chance to look at that um we bumped up some fees that haven't been changed in years but I think compared to comparable cities I'd say we we're still on the low side definitely competitive um Kim is there anything you'd like to highlight in in regards to any differences of our 2024 to 2025 fee schedule uh mayor and council members um what I did like I said I included uh the 2024 so you could see the proposed changes to the draft 2025 and typically every year staff goes through this at a staff meeting and talks about each of the esos and fees and uh determines and suggests that uh some be stay the same or some be increased I know these fees haven't been increased in years and years and years and everything has gone up um the actual escros themselves did not go up too much because we are rarely in a situation where the billing is more than the escro so typically there is a is a refund of the escrow but the other fees um did go up about $100 so and then we I just took off the um the false alarm fees because I have never received a fee or provided a bill to somebody for false alarms so just wanted to clean it up a little bit thank you Kim any questions or comments concerns from the council Ben you good John I was going to say um Kim it's it when you came up with the numbers did you um is it a percentage did you use or just just a change um just so that everybody knows how the numbers the increases came from well what we did was like the application fee for minor subdivision which for1 18 years has been $400 we jumped that to $500 it was sorry Kim interrupt we discussed this right or am I misremembering staff meeting yes okay this was discussed with staff staff okay y okay conf few staff at Council all right like I said everything has gone up um and it hasn't gone up in a very long time yeah and the City of Grant has always had the uh kind of approach with applicants that people that want to do things with their property they need pay for it not all of the taxpayers and that's why the city has Consultants all right thanks Kim everyone okay with the 2025 I am okay um do do we have a motion um motion to approve have a second I'll second council member cornette hi council member rag hi member Kum Mona I mayor Geer I next on the agenda is consideration of resolution 2025-the council member cornette hi council member rug hi council member Kona hi mayor Geer hi uh next on the agenda consideration of 2025 city council meeting schedule I think most of us provided input on this previously but we have a new council member Lindsay Lindsay how does that schedule look to you do you have any changes you like to make or you good I think I'm good they all look good would you like to make a motion sure I move to approve the 2025 city of Grant meeting calendar the second I will second council member cornette hi council member Rod hi council member Kona hi mayor Geer hi I will just note uh mayor and council members and for those that are watching the City Council meetings subject to change at any time and certainly uh have additions uh work session scheduled um it's not a requirement that the city even adopts this calendar but I just bring it before you so everyone's kind of an agreement you can get your calendar set and then I do post it on the website all right next on agenda and agenda is the 2025 appointment list um it looks like most of those are carried over from previous there's a couple open items I think we could discuss those first the first open item is Deputy Mayor and I think Mr rag would be a good choice for Deputy Mayor he has uh What uh eight eight years of service now including the Planning Commission oh my goodness um yeah so we started was the 14 we started how long has it been I I'm thinking it's you've had 10 years because you were down the PC for two years 10 years okay well and I know some of those um years in Planning Commission you were the planning chair so you had good experience leading meetings um I think you would be comfortable that I don't know what the if the rest of the council feels the same or if they would like to um have themselves considered or other thoughts I think John makes a lot of sense he's been here he's got experience he has um background in wealth information I think be helpful as a deputy mayor good with me okay all right and then the next um and the next open one was the investment advisor um I I'll jump in start this one so um I appreciate having a choice Kim so I appreciate that you put a couple um uh different alternatives for us and um I call both Focus financial and aers and I've known Dylan Ain from um focus for several years and I know him he would be a really good um give us good service um that being said when I had my conversation with um Jim from uh aers I also had the impression that he would give good service too and and they neither one of them had any um hidden fees you know any trade fees or transaction fees or charges for audit or anything like that and so um and then also they both um offer a single point of contact um which kind of relates to the the service aspect and so for me the only real distinguishing Factor was um the money who is cheaper and um according to my math with aer's 25% annual fee assuming our 1.6 is million um under um management Kim is that accurate or close to okay 1.6 um it would work out to um 4,000 uh fee for aers versus 11,200 for focused Financial so I'm kind of leaning toward towards aers but I'd like to know what the um other council members think if you had a chance to talk to them or any I didn't I I I read about them they seem as though they offer similar uh services and I think the city would do well with either but fees are fees and so I think uh when you're looking to spend the city's money and they seem like they're both going to do a good job managing our money we probably should go with the uh the the less costly place and and so Ben you I know you're good with the numbers you're G to fact check was did I get that right you're good yeah okay sure yeah checking I'm not I'm not pulling out a calculator okay do you do you had any other um questions or comments on the open position for I agree completely with John especially after going through last year's budget you know this run that we did uh things are expensive so we got to say save money where we can and I know that this was one place where we didn't have to spend money in the past if I heard right you know it was just always kind of a uh person so I think going with the cheaper option is is wise in this and it seems as though it's only going to be thousand bucks a year more basically um considering what we paid before Oh from previous yeah I think was which was unbelievably Kim correct me if I'm wrong um the the gentleman that retired was doing it for unreasonably cheap for like $3,000 a year so right so now we're at four so it's not like it's huge increase and when I talked to D and he said yeah that's um you know that he's kind of said basically go with aers because of the you know the the fee structure so um linday what are your thoughts I mean I was able to speak with Dylan he seemed like a really nice guy um they're a smaller company so I suspect that's probably why their fees are higher yeah um they're just a smaller operation they just don't have the ability to be as cheap as a bigger um operations able to be that said you know money is tight I was here at the um meeting when you guys discussed the budget and so yeah I think it would be a really hard jump for the city to go from 3,000 to 11,000 in one year um that would be tough for us to have to um stomach that so knowing that I would say we have to go with the cheaper option okay um and so there's also um the uh or excuse me the um are there any other appointments that the council members would like to discuss for the investment uh well I think I think we're all line if I'm correct on aers so yeah right so we can pencil that in and then looking through the um the other list of appointments is there any um any other appointments that the council members wish to discuss should jump in don't we need to appoint a new fire marshal or do we not oh we got one listed but if you have someone that you want to oh um not necessar uh Mr Mayor and council members there are two listed the city really only required have one okay we we can we can change that if you want if anyone's interested in Fire Marshall please stand up but okay um so we have the blanks filled in I think we just need a a motion to accept the 2025 appointment list we also have the cable commissioner highlighted though oh cable commissioner yeah Kim so that that solist as me for volunteer appointments can you explain that a little bit what's traditionally done there Mr R council members the uh that was added I added that in the draft the proposed um uh typically it's always been the mayor there is an alternate which happens to meet me and I've never gone um um but uh yeah typically it's been the mayor and uh mayor kefir said that he was willing to be the uh cable commissioner for the city I guess I don't what does the cable commissioner do I don't really know yet because I haven't really been they go to meetings of the cable commission okay yeah okay and apparently I've heard that they receive free cable um for their services which if it's the case I I don't need that so I have my own cable but um um so I would turn that down um good question any any other Ben John so we need a motion then for the uh appointment list yeah I'll make a motion to approve the appointment list as uh well what with the fill-ins that we just did but uh as as edited okay we got a motion need second I have a second I a second council member cornette I council member rag hi council member Kona hi mayor kefir hi okay next on the agenda is the consideration of the uh December 3rd 2024 city council meeting minutes which is normally in the consent agenda but it was moved to the regular agenda because will need to abstain she was not here so do I have a a motion to U accept the the December third meeting minutes I will make the motion and I guess I'll second not twisting your arm here but council member cornette hi council member r hi council member Kona abstained but I was at the meeting just not on Council you just V know do know May oh um I and next on the agenda is the consideration of resolution 20253 declare the council vacancy obviously since I vated my Council position to um have the mayor's position we need to declare that vacant Mr Mayor and council members I will just add that uh we've had appointments to vacancy seats I would say a handful of times in the past in the past 18 years and typically what's done is you you do have to declare vacancy officially with a resolution and then on your next agenda February um you will have a resolution to appoint someone and it is uh my recommendation that each of you think of somebody that you may want to appoint and that would be done at the next meeting I I will also note the city does not have to appoint okay so that would work where you just have four people for two years yeah and if you have a tie that could be problematic but you do not necessarily have to appoint okay so um if I may Kim um Kim do we or could we put it out to the the citizens like a publication that says that we're looking for people that may interested and um you know doing you know like like we did with the Planning Commission you people come in you interview them ask them questions things like that can we do that or no Well you certainly can um I will just note that the powers that be in years past uh typically um that was uh they perceived that as advertising for a job and uh people applying to be an official council member did not look good they they did not want to do that they wanted each council person to think of someone that they would like to have on the council and then they would kind of argue that out at the U at the uh council meeting where you do appoint there have never been interviews held for something like this there's never been anything advertised for a vacant seat so that being said I would encourage anyone that's soliciting anyone that's here to reach out to the council members and Lauren you already you know stated so which is good and anyone else though that um you know you might know yourself or someone else um reach out to us let us know your interest um I'm sure we can ask good questions and um get that take that information back and have a good discussion um next month when we appoint I mean I think it'd be important that we put something on our website so that way people would know it's open and say if you're interested please reach out to you know the council members just cuz I think a big you know if we only talk to people we know it just you stay in your own little bubble and then you don't actually reach out to everybody and so I think it'd be really important for us to kind of get out to people that maybe the four of us don't know or no enough in this room don't even know who would be a great council member and so I think putting it on our website and letting them know there's an open vacancy seat here's the resolution if you're interested please reach out um that way we have a a broader grasp of our our citizens and hopefully get a really some really great people who are interested Mr Mayor and council members certainly notice can be put on the website uh and it's a really good idea because it's going to be in bold letters contact your Council people directly do not contact the city I don't make these decisions um and all your uh emails and phone numbers contact info are on the city website so that uh is a good idea a great idea and that's something you can do basically yourself quickly with okay you got the skills I do okay okay that's a good all right um so we so we need to um have a motion for the declare um the vacancy and then we have the instructions from Kim with the input from um Lindsay and how to proceed getting the um the folks interested and just procedurally we do not need a motion to put a notice on the website it would just be declaring your vacancy so yep so can I get a motion to declare the vacancy move to declare vacancy to approve resolution what 20253 no second council member cornette I council member rag I council member Kona I mayor deer I we have no unfinished business that I'm aware of um discussion items staff updates do we have any staff updates Kim I do not at this time city council reports future agenda items um any any future agenda items I think discuss and I'm new so sorry if I speak out of school but I think as we're you know in the process looking at new uh you know person to sit in this seat also talking about the possibility of um Reviving The Planning Commission at some point because if we get a lot of interest and maybe they're not the person to sit here but the be great on the Planning Commission so um know how we get out the agenda in the future but just want to put that out there so um is that something like you envision a a work session to discuss how that would work with the city council or just I know Kim what what are your thoughts on on Lindy's suggestion here well my thought is as council member Kona said at some point in the future I don't I don't think at this point that that discussion needs to be held it's certainly can at a future uh council meeting okay so is are you you okay with that just kind of getting our feet under us and then uh yeah I think it's important to us kind of say like you know as people are coming in saying that they're hopefully we're getting a lot of interest that people are really interested in you know having um a role up here and then to the extent that we can't obviously not everyone can sit here um saying we still really want your involvement we really want people's to be um part of this community and making decisions as a team and so saying you know you might be U well suited for the Planning Commission so just kind of putting that pin in it to talk about in the future no I've I've heard myself too um as well that um for whatever reason the the interest uh a couple years ago with getting folks to to serve in the Planning Commission it really wasn't there but I I have heard quite a few people that indicate interest in the Planning Commission so I think that's a a good idea Ben you might have heard the same I don't know John if you've heard I I just think it's a great idea to get it get it going you know maybe we'll we'll see how the uh uh putting it on the website for the city council position goes and then uh maybe a few months later we'll do the same thing for the Planning Commission it's a great idea and and we'll probably interview like at six or something before the meetings so here's open yeah I agree no good um Okay so that takes us to the community calendar this is thought the most contentious uh agenda item really um at least it was not too long ago um I don't I want to leave this I don't want to you know pick favorites here so whoever wants to read it can read it whoever's first raise or hand I'll read it so we canj okay all right mamidi public school board meeting Thursday January 9th and January 23rd mamei District education center 700 p.m. Stillwater public school board meeting Thursday January 9th Stillwater City Hall 700 p.m. Washington County Commissioners meeting Tuesday Government Center 9:00 am. Martin Luther King day Monday Jan 20 2025 I would like to make a motion to adjourn second I have a second council member cornette hi council member r hi council member Carona I mayor Geer I we're done A J we did it thank you everyone for coming today