[4:40] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: The council meeting for Tuesday September 19, 2023. If I could get a roll call please. [4:40] **City Clerk Sara Peer**: Groat? [4:40] **Council Member Steve Groat**: Here. [4:40] **City Clerk Sara Peer**: Jeppesen? [4:40] **Council Member Ryan Jeppesen**: Here. [4:40] **City Clerk Sara Peer**: Johnson? [4:40] **Council Member Diane Johnson**: Here. [4:40] **City Clerk Sara Peer**: Kronenberger? [4:40] **Council Member Laura Kronenberger**: Here. [4:40] **City Clerk Sara Peer**: Lundell? [4:40] **Council Member Lundell**: Here. [4:40] **City Clerk Sara Peer**: Montgomery? [4:40] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Here. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. If I could get an approval of tonight's amended agenda. [4:40] **Council Member Lundell**: Motion. [4:40] **Council Member Diane Johnson**: Second. [5:20] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Motion from Lundell, second from Johnson. Any discussion? Those in favor, aye. Opposed? Carries. We're going to skip public input; nobody signed up tonight. That leads us straight to the consent agenda. Consent agenda items may be adopted under one motion as presented or may be removed for discussion and resolution as Council business. Item A: correct claims the accounting period that ended September 14th, 2023. Item B: meeting minutes for August 22nd, 2023, the city council work session. Item C: meeting minutes for September 5th, 2023, city council meeting. Item D: approve the hire of Sam Singh as the cable coordinator. Item E: Resolution 2700 accepting a monetary donation of four thousand dollars from Henkel Foundation to go to the Library Department. Item F: approve replacement quote from BDS to fix the door actuator of the handicap buttons here at City Hall. Item G: Resolution 2701 accepting a monetary donation of $680 from Pam Knetsko to the Parks Department. Item H: approve quote from River City Refrigeration to fix the air conditioning unit at City Hall. Item I: introduction and first reading of Ordinance 397, an ordinance of the city of Cannon Falls, Minnesota, amending city code 152.355 relating to our signs. And Item J: approve shade tree bonding program application. Is there anything the council would like to pull down? Hearing none, I would accept a motion to approve our consent agenda. [6:50] **Council Member Ryan Jeppesen**: So moved. [6:55] **Council Member Ghazny**: Second. [7:00] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Motion from Jeppesen, can I get a second? Second from Mr. Ghazny. All those in favor? [7:01] **Council Members**: Aye. [7:01] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Aye. Opposed? Carries. Leads us on to Council Business Item A: Timber Ridge. Zach, if you would like to take this one. [7:10] **Zach (City Planner)**: Yes, good evening Mayor, Council. Before you tonight is the final plat and PUD for your review. The preliminary plat was brought to Planning Commission and then you guys the next day on August 15th, so we're just looking for approval of this final stage in our process. With approval tonight, we would also be looking for approval of the PUD agreement as well as the development agreement. Um, and I would just like to point out on the last page of the legal description, after "together with," it should read "Lots one through eight" and instead of "block four," it should read "block two." So with that, Mark is here with JMH Land, and we would entertain any questions you guys may have regarding the final plat. [8:10] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Discussion or questions from the council? [8:12] **Council Member Ryan Jeppesen**: Does this include what we discussed at the Planning Commission with the... what lots the well and septic? [8:18] **Zach (City Planner)**: Yeah, it does not. I just wanted to clarify. [8:25] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Any other questions or comments from the council? We'll do these individually. So first one is Resolution 2702 approving the final plat and final PUD plan for Timber Ridge Development. [8:40] **Council Member Diane Johnson**: So moved. [8:42] **Council Member Ryan Jeppesen**: Second. [8:45] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Motion from Diane, do I have a second? Second from Ryan. All those in favor? [8:50] **Council Members**: Aye. [8:52] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Opposed? Carried. Move this on to Item 2: approving the PUD agreement. Zach, do you need to read anything separate for this or... we’ll just look for questions or comments for the PUD. If not, I would entertain a motion to approve. [9:05] **Council Member Ghazny**: I'll make that motion. [9:07] **Council Member Steve Groat**: Second. [9:10] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Motion for Mr. Ghazny, second from Ms. Groat. All those in favor? [9:15] **Council Members**: Aye. [9:17] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Opposed? Carries. That moves us to Item 3: approve the development agreement. Questions or comments from the council? Hearing none, I'd take a motion to approve. [9:25] **Council Member Diane Johnson**: So moved. [9:27] **Council Member Laura Kronenberger**: Second. [9:30] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Motion from Diane, do I have a second? Second from Laura. All those in favor? [9:35] **Council Members**: Aye. [9:37] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Opposed? Carries. Moves us on to Council Business Item B: Resolution 2703 approving plans and specifications and ordering advertisements for bids. Bill, if you'd like to take this. [9:45] **Bill Angerman (City Engineer)**: Thank you, Mayor. Uh, what we're asking tonight is approval of the resolution. This resolution will basically set our assessment process and our bidding process in place for what we are now calling the 2023-2024 street project. So this is a project that we initiated last December and ultimately we broke it into two projects due to trouble with land acquisition. So the project that is occurring now just north of the Third Street Bridge there on Cannon—so that was the first phase. That's the lift station and the new pipe under the river, which is I think literally being built under the river as we speak. So that was the first phase. The second phase here will be to basically construct the remainder of the streets, so it'll be Cannon, Third, and a portion of Fourth. So what we're asking tonight is approving that resolution. That will mean that I will take bids on November 1st. We will then come back to the Council on November 7th. And what we'll do at that meeting then as well, we will review the bids and then we will set our public hearing. I talked about this a little last meeting, that the other two hearings that take place in an assessment project—you held that first one already last December—the second one will be then with the actual numbers. So we were real clear to tell people we don't know the actual assessments until we receive bids. So on November 7th, we will have actual numbers and we'll have that hearing. Then after that, that will be the chance where if someone would choose to contest their hearing, they would present their evidence to the council and then at that point, most likely you will award a contract and then we will start construction in the spring. [11:35] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Wonderful, thank you Bill. Any questions or comments from the council? Diane? [11:40] **Council Member Diane Johnson**: Do you have any sense of how much more it's going to cost or is that kind of just a guess? [11:45] **Bill Angerman (City Engineer)**: So, um, our estimate that we had when we started was 1.275 million. Neil and I have met and we're right about the same. One of the things that we always struggle a little bit this time of year is what's next year's inflation. So we should expect some inflation; how much, I'm a little unknown at that point. We will be literally probably the first 2024 bid, which I think is a good spot to be. [12:15] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Any other questions? Hearing none, I'd entertain a motion to approve. [12:20] **Council Member Lundell**: Motion. [12:22] **Council Member Ghazny**: Second. [12:25] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Motion from Lundell, second from Ghazny. All those in favor? [12:27] **Council Members**: Aye. [12:28] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Opposed? Carries. Moves us on to Item C: professional service agreement for John Birch Park, the wall project. Bill. [12:35] **Bill Angerman (City Engineer)**: Thank you, Mayor. Actually, I feel like I should let Laura talk about this one because she spent most of the time on this one. So, um, this is the engineering agreement to basically design the wall which the city received the state bonding bill for. So for those of you that have been out to John Birch Park, the third base line is being currently worked on by the Friends of John Birch Park. The first base side is what we'll be doing next year. Basically, the—I'll call it the crumbling wall—this replaces the crumbling wall. It will also redo the dugout, basically reshape that whole side of the field. One of the first things that we'll be doing is—we've had a fair number of meetings with the friends of John Birch Park, basically get the stakeholders together and consolidate some of our ideas or their ideas as well—and then over the winter design it and then with the plan to come back to you late winter or early spring. Just like what we just did, you'll approve plans and you'll go out to bid. So we are where we need to be right now on this project. Laura I think just submitted the grant application paperwork to the state so we should be rolling. [14:00] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Are you optimistic on that 2024 finish date? [14:02] **Bill Angerman (City Engineer)**: Well, this time of year I'm always optimistic. But until you get into the bidding climate you see what bidders—you know, what the workload is. What we're hearing right now is that there are people really looking for work. So for example, Hardwood Estates, I think we have 15 general contractors on our plan holders list now. Will we get 15 bids? No, but we should get a good amount. So that looks to bode well for us. [14:35] **Council Member Ryan Jeppesen**: I know at one point we talked about trying to incorporate the limestone in the new design. Do you know if that's something that's still being considered? [14:40] **Bill Angerman (City Engineer)**: So we had our structural engineer look at that, and we went out with various members of the baseball group there. Most of that limestone is not structurally sound, but what we're going to do is try to come up with a way to salvage it and maybe at the end of the wall, towards the outfield, assemble some rocks or stones. [15:10] **Council Member Ryan Jeppesen**: Yeah, okay. But if anybody has any ideas—one of the things we've talked about is "what are some ideas"—so we'd be happy to entertain some thoughts. [15:15] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Well, I mean, leftovers we can put in Derek's yard. Any other questions? Hearing none, I would entertain a motion to approve our professional service agreement for John Birch Park and the wall project. [15:25] **Council Member Ryan Jeppesen**: So moved. [15:30] **Council Member Chad Johnson**: Second. [15:35] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Motion from Jeppesen, second from Johnson. All those in favor? [15:40] **Council Members**: Aye. [15:42] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Opposed? That carries. That gets us to our reports. Um, we'll start with the Chamber. Maggie. [15:49] **Maggie (Chamber of Commerce)**: There we go. Good evening Council and Mayor. A couple updates here from the Chamber: within the next week or so, hopefully you guys will see some scarecrows start popping up around town. We've been encouraging businesses to put scarecrows up and we'll have a little friendly competition of who has the best. We'll eventually put pictures out on our Facebook page for the community to vote on—so just something fun to spruce up downtown Cannon Falls during the fall. Just to point out some upcoming events: next Saturday there is a pumpkin patch Mission Harvest sponsored by Spring Garden Church; that information can be found on the Chamber’s website and Spring Garden Church's website as well. The following weekend there's a lot of fun events coming up that I'd like everyone to notice. Reminder that all these events are always posted on our community events calendar, which can be found on the Chamber’s website, and then I always post a link to the Facebook page on Fridays as well. But the weekend of the 30th, there's a Ferndale Fall Fest, which will be a big event. It's also Tilion’s Oktoberfest, and then the Education Foundation has their poker social that night as well. So it should be a busy, fun night in downtown Cannon Falls. Um, save the date for the Trick-or-Treat Trot that the Chamber sponsors every year. This year we are doing it on October 27th—so it's not on Halloween, it's the Friday before Halloween—so it'll be from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. And then the school's PTO Halloween party actually follows our event that same night. And then lastly, the Deck the Falls committee is asking for community contributions for this year's Deck the Falls. So if any of our community members are interested in donating, you can contact me at the Chamber or there's a link to pay online at the Chamber website as well. So any questions? All right, thank you guys. [17:35] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: The Eda met on September 7th. Laura, would you like to talk about that? [17:40] **Laura Qualey (Community Development Specialist)**: Hardwood Estates is out for bid right now, I guess that was kind of our main thing. So we'll get those back and open bids on the 27th, so that is kind of what we're waiting for. And then we'll have a better idea as to what the price of the lots will be. Um, as far as just other updates that I have, I just wanted to let everyone in the community know that Keller Baartman—they are taking applications for the apartments even though it doesn't look like it's done on the outside or the inside. They are taking applications and they're for sure at least a third full. I know there's folders here at City Hall and I know some of the realtors also have folders if anyone wants information on that. And the other thing: I was at a meeting at the school yesterday morning and the superintendent had mentioned that the school is going to be having an open house on the 27th for a tour of the new CTE area that they just upgraded over the summer and then also the Innovation Lab that was also upgraded. So that'll start at five o'clock on Wednesday the 27th; that will be open to the community too. So I just wanted to make sure that everyone was aware of that. Thank you. [19:15] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Thank you. Park Board, Derek? [19:20] **Derek (Park Board)**: Yep, didn't have too much. Talked about the VFW out and to have cars down by the duck pond, and then um, those bench benches that were donated. [19:30] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: All right, thank you. Public Works—that was the same day, September 7th. Go for it. [19:36] **Council Member Steve Groat**: I can do it. It wasn't much later there. Um, main thing was just the um, that door that we had to get inside the agenda. Yep, that was on consent. That's it. [19:55] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Library Board met on September 11th. [20:00] **Council Member**: I didn't make that meeting. [20:05] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: All right. Planning Commission, September 11th. [20:10] **Matt (Planning Commission)**: Hi. Commission met September 11th. We had two public hearings. One for Leon Andres on the Timber Ridge on the outlots about maybe having private wells and septics. We tabled that; we're going to do some more digging on that before we opened up that can of worms. And then we have a public hearing on putting sponsorships on signs at the ballparks and the school on the scoreboard. And so we just approved that first reading tonight on the consent agenda. We heard some input from Greg Kurtz of the Cannon Valley Fair putting up an electronic sign; there was no action taken on that and that was about it. [20:55] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: All right, thank you. [21:00] **Matt (Planning Commission)**: Oh, and one another thing, I'm sorry. That's right. Um, we had talked about Zach getting a moratorium spelled out for the old nursing home to make sure that—oh yes, and we also asked for two members to join the Planning Commission the last one and we've always been running one short. So that was it. [21:15] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: All right, thank you. Jed, you got anything from Public Works? [21:20] **Jed Petersen (Public Works Director)**: Um, Bill kind of hit on it earlier. They're boring across today. They have—I think their bore is to the river. They are hoping to get under the river tonight and things should line up. It's been quite the process. Uh, they've had rock and then sand and then gravel and it's thrown there—it's about their seventh attempt to go through—but we're actually on a pretty good path. So that's all I got. [21:50] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: All right, thank you Jed. Bill? [21:55] **Bill Angerman (City Engineer)**: 72nd Avenue Way feasibility report—as we sit today, we'll bring that back to the council the first meeting in October. We've been talking internally anytime we are going to do an assessment project for roads that are partially built, there's a few extra steps to go through. So I think Neil will be talking with the finance committee on that. So thank you. [22:20] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: All right, thank you. Zach, anything you'd like to add? [22:22] **Zach (City Planner)**: Nothing tonight. [22:25] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Right. Laura, anything else? Sarah? Neil? [22:30] **Jon Radermacher (City Administrator)**: Well, I was going to talk about the 72nd Way, but Bill beat me to it. So um, but they are going to start the swimming pool parking lot tomorrow. So they'll grind that up this week and shape it and then pave it next week. We've been working on—Steve and Lisa and I have been working on union contracts over the last month or so. We're making headway, I would say. Right? And uh, we've got another meeting coming up next week. That's all I got. Thank you. [23:05] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Great. Laura, let's start with you. [23:10] **Council Member Laura Kronenberger**: Well, I think it's fun; the community might not. So the Police Commission—Wendy Rober is our chair and she worked with the Goodhue County to get a speed sign that they no longer wanted donated to the city of Cannon Falls. So that is from a community... well, I mean, I think it's good. Um, people driving might not like it, but um, we had been talking about purchasing one and how much it would cost, so she was able to work with them to get it donated to us. So that's pretty cool. I'm sure we'll have to have it formally approved to have the donation but—and I think that we have to get it logoed or something before we can start using it. But um, I thought that was good. And then the Police Commission is going to start meeting on a regular basis to finalize or really firm up how the city wants to... what we want to recommend to Council on marijuana ordinances. More to come on that. That's it. [24:14] **Council Member Lisa Zimmerman**: Nothing for me. [24:16] **Council Member Ryan Jeppesen**: Awesome. [24:18] **Council Member Diane Johnson**: As long as you brought up that 72nd Avenue Way, because that's separate from the Eda development thing, and so that will have to go through the same process that we had for the Cannon Street project? [24:35] **Bill Angerman (City Engineer)**: That's correct. [24:38] **Council Member Diane Johnson**: Okay, yep. That was all I had. [24:42] **Council Member Steve Groat**: Well, just something... we approved that final plat for Timber Ridge. And I'm kind of excited getting something going there after all these years and years and years. It'll be nice to see something finally get in there, somebody sticking their neck out a little bit and getting something going there. So that's all I have. [25:05] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: All right, thank you Steve. Um, this last weekend was the Bago tournament at John Birch Park. I want to thank the Bears; that was an absolutely wonderful event. I think there were 220 roughly people there that were competing, having so much fun. John Birch Park is really drawing attention for the community and I think it's a good cause, and we talked a lot about the wall. Great event. Second year, I hope it continues, and I know that some people have said it almost doubled in size—maybe next year it'll do the same. So put it on your calendars next fall; it's more fun, more people there, really good time. Same day, the VFW had their hog roast; that was a great event. Obviously, we knew about that, closing down the road and letting them get the cars and everything down there. Another great event. To the community: we do need people to be involved. Our Public Works are a couple short, our Library Board is short, and Police Commission is short one as well. Fill out those applications right here at City Hall, then it will come across Sarah's desk and then be forwarded along and we can make the process... but community involvement is what makes this stuff work. So we need people to be willing to be involved and let their voices be heard. Last thing: the school survey. Everybody should have it in the mail by now. Um, I'm just a big proponent of getting the information out there and getting the feedback from the community of how the school district residents who live here feel about what they're asking. What's in the survey is asking how the school is doing, performance in various areas, but also getting the information out there on their project for turfing the athletic field there at the school and then putting another road into the elementary. I know there's a lot of parents with the pickup and drop off of one way in, one way out—things can get pretty bogged down. So they're looking at what it would take to get another spot in and out on Highway 19, which will be right across from Hardwood Estates somewhat, right near the edge of their property. But should have that information with us from the survey. I just ask as many people to fill that out so that they can get an accurate assessment of how the community feels about these projects. All right, with that said, I would accept a motion to adjourn. [27:25] **Council Member Lisa Zimmerman**: So moved. [27:27] **Council Member Diane Johnson**: Second. [27:30] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Motion from Lisa, second from Diane. Those in favor? [27:33] **Council Members**: Aye. [27:35] **Mayor Matt Montgomery**: Opposed? And we're adjourned. Thank you everybody.