This transcript features members of the Hastings City Council and staff. Please note that while your provided list includes some current officials, the transcript refers to several members (Vaughn, Lund, Brax, and Fox/Fultz) who served during the 2021-2022 term. I have used the names provided in the context list where they match and identified others based on the dialogue. **[0:00] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** We stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. **[0:17] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** For all, welcome, and let the roll reflect that all council members are present and a quorum has been established. We have a presentation tonight by Christy Barres of the Tourism Bureau. Christy, welcome. I’ll join us. Dan, panelists? Our attendee—stay as attendee. Yeah, unmute. Yeah, we want to hear you. Okay, here we go. **[1:05] Christy Barres (Tourism Bureau):** There we go. There we go. Okay, thank you, Your Honor and council members, for having me tonight. I can't believe it's been a full year since I have given a tourism update. It's going by really fast, but tonight I will just do a brief overview of our marketing plan and some of the successes for the previous year and then talk about a highlight for what we're planning for next year. Um, so just a brief financial overview for those in the audience or who may be watching: the Tourism Bureau is funded through a lodging tax from our local hotels. This does not include VRBO or Airbnb, and I bring that up every year just because I do feel that that is an opportunity if tourism is going to continue to be a top priority for Council. Funds must be used for marketing and promoting the city as a tourist destination, and I also bring that up because funds cannot be used for Capital Improvement projects, even if they are capital improvement projects for tourism. So a little bit of history, because the last few years we have talked a lot about how COVID-19 has impacted the tourism industry—an industry that was hit harder than others. So I wanted to go back to—we work off of a fiscal year which is October 1st through September 30th—so that's why you see the 2018 and '19. But kind of going back to what we had historically budgeted and what our actual numbers for lodging tax are: back in 2019, prior to COVID, you see we were bringing in around 55,000 to 56,000 annually in lodging tax. Once the pandemic hit, that dropped to 44,000, which is our new budget for the 2021 year, and we saw it gradually increase, but it did not come back like we had hoped in 2021. So this year, we kind of paid attention to Explore Minnesota and listened to what they said was trending, which was that it was going to be a much better year but still not back to 100% normal. We still went for it; we budgeted 56,000 and we're actually sitting at 66,000 just for this year. And we are about two months behind on that lodging tax, so we just collected our July lodging tax, which is the highest that it's ever been since I've been in this position. So we have had a massive comeback in our lodging, which is fantastic. And just for Council reference, this does relate to tourism traffic quite a bit; it also is affected by the economic development that's been happening in town where our hotels are seeing an increase in lodging with construction workers who are building out Fleet Farm and who are doing some of the MnDOT projects, but that's all contributing to this increase in lodging tax. So kind of a nice number to show for today. A review of our marketing plan for the past year: we are still working as a committee to overcome this perception that Hastings is so far away from the Twin Cities. Our tagline historically has been "Get away to some place close," and we were looking to partner with our regional assets to encourage people to come to town and stay, do what they can do for a day trip here, put together an itinerary, and then also take advantage of some of our regional assets like the Viking Stadium and Treasure Island and areas like that. So we invested in seasonal targeted online campaigns, and we chose winter, spring, and fall for our online campaigns because we have historically heard from our lodging community that summer is already busy. So we wanted to invest the limited funds that we have in those months that would promote tourism traffic to the less busy months. We did a "Getaway to some place close" fall campaign, we did a "Choose your winter" which was a build-your-winter-itinerary campaign, and you'll see the numbers here—it's a little hard to read—but we did targeted emails and then also targeted ad impressions. And then in the spring, we focused on the events that were coming to town, so we focused on our bike trails and our Eagle Watch event and then the car shows. And the reason I point that one out is that was our highest traffic, particularly with the email, so people were really interested in specific activities and specific events. As far as print advertising, we invested with our active lifestyle magazines, so *Minnesota Trails* magazine focuses on bike trails within Minnesota. We have the Hastings bike trail map and *Have Fun Biking*. We partner with the *Saint Croix Valley Regional* magazine, which is a cross-promotion in Wisconsin and also here in Hastings, and then we do some small ads in the *Pioneer Press* during fall and then in AAA, which brings us leads. The print advertising budget is also showing a reprint of the visitor's guide, which was budgeted for a smaller reprint this year just not knowing where we were going to be at as we're still inching our way out of COVID numbers. And then we did invest in downtown permanent posters in the kiosks that have QR codes that will link to our website for itineraries, and then this year we did a printed bike map which we had historically not done before. And then two other small budget items: the tourism events that we host are Rivertown Days, which is not included in this budget but it is still a tourism event; we do a spring bike tour with the Prescott Chamber and Carpenter Nature Center; and then we partner on DBA events like the car show. And this year we did something different in the winter: we partnered with a Twin Cities event company that does ice sculptures around the Twin Cities, so we had a huge Eagle ice sculpture right outside of City Hall and it was piggybacking on the ice sculptures that were in the downtown area. So that was a fun event—probably not something we will do again because it was hard to track—but it was still cool, it was fun to try out. And then part of our niche markets based on the TAP report is visiting friends and family, which is what our lodging community tells us is still a huge tourism draw for them. So people that are coming to town for weddings, for holidays, for events are filling our hotels. So we have invested in the electronic billboard just to push people to the website so when they're here in town visiting friends and family, they can build their own itinerary. Okay, so looking forward to this next year, there's not a lot that we're going to change. We're looking at continuing to do our seasonal targeted online campaigns, and the reason we want to invest this much into the online campaigns is that they're far easier for us to track than the print campaigns and they have a much broader reach. It also allows us to pick and choose. We are hearing from our lodging community and from our tourism-based businesses that we're seeing a lot of people coming from the Twin Cities like St. Paul and Minneapolis, but it's been hard to track where else they're coming from without those overnight stays. So if we can do an online targeted ad for one week in the Rochester area and then compare it to when we're doing an online ad in Des Moines, Iowa, that's really helpful for us as we continue to build our plan in the future. We also hired a drone photographer this year, and so we'll be able to incorporate drone images and videos into our online campaigns and then also use them as we update our website. The print advertising: we have been really successful in the active lifestyle ads that we've been doing in our trail magazine, so we're planning on investing in those again. We'll be upping our distribution for visitor guides and going back to our original plan where we were sending those to destination marketing centers across the state and within Iowa and Wisconsin as well. And then we are going to do a reprint of our bike maps because we had a decent amount of requests for those. The tourism events that we'll be hosting as an organization will be Rivertown Days again and then also our Hastings-Prescott Bike Tour, and then we're going to continue to focus on strategic partnerships. That's going to help us as we do an update for our website and then also increasing our social media presence. And I did put a picture of Alexis Bailey and Spiral Brewery in here because what we're seeing with our tourism-based businesses is when they're able to partner and create packages, both businesses win, and that's really what our visitors are looking for—they're looking for that itinerary that they can build. And then our management fee to manage this marketing campaign and to pay our staff is at 29,000. All right, that's all I have, but I wanted to open it up for some questions. I know I come annually, so there's not a ton of updates, but I’m happy to go back to any slides or any numbers. **[10:01] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Great, thanks Christy. It looks—I mean, we can tell the town has been busy and it's nice to also see out-of-town license plates, Wisconsin, Iowa. So absolutely, thanks for all you're doing. And I think we have some questions, so Councilmember Fox (transcribed as Fultz), I'll start with you. **[10:14] Councilmember Jen Fox:** Great, thank you, Mayor Fasbender. Christy, I've been meaning to tell you this—I met with Lori Levine, who is the executive director with the Cottage Grove Chamber, and it was an interesting conversation. I was telling her about how wonderful our downtown is, and she shared with me that something that they're seeing happen in Cottage Grove is that they don't have very many food places, too many restaurants. And she said one of her biggest challenges is when there's sporting tournaments that are going on, like at the hockey rink or baseball fields, that the associations are asking where can they go eat because there's so few in Cottage Grove. And I would just—and I've been meaning to tell Genesis as well—that I think that there's an opportunity there if there was something that could be packaged and distributed to those associations to help folks that are visiting Cottage Grove, instead of them staring toward Woodbury, steering them this way. There might be a real opportunity there. **[11:32] Christy Barres (Tourism Bureau):** That's a very easy—that's a really good suggestion. I think that's part of the strengthening of our strategic partnerships because we've found a good balance with Prescott and being able to promote both communities and looking to expand that in Inver Grove Heights too as our bike trail expands up to St. Paul. And so Cottage Grove would be a natural partner as well. **[12:12] Councilmember Lund:** Thank you, Honor. Hey Christy, um, you'd mentioned that you're looking to increase or leverage that digital sign more. Is that something that you'd ever consider putting on your own building, having a digital sign? It's really good real estate. **[12:22] Christy Barres (Tourism Bureau):** Yeah, um, well it's not our—no. And actually, to be quite honest, Councilmember Lund, I don't think we're going to invest in that electronic sign this year. We've done three years of it, and I think it's been good, but I'm not sure. I would rather receive those funds—if we're going to do it, an electronic sign outside of the community at this point. Because you know, when we first did our tourism assessment report in 2016, it was loud and clear that community members did not know the tourism assets that were in town. So that was a focus, and I really feel that that's changed. And so now we're trying to even step away a little bit from the day-trip crowd and focus on getting people here for three or four days. So, no, but a good suggestion. **[13:20] Councilmember Vaughn:** Thank you, Honor. Um, Christy, you just mentioned the day-trippers. We have a request in front of us here for blocking off Second Street again for a special event. You mentioned in your report that funds are used for marketing or advertising; can they be used for research? I'm just looking for something to help us make decisions of a day-tripper, because I've heard from some businesses when they come over the bridge, they see orange cones—"Oh, it's blocked off downtown, I'm going to skip it, I'm not going to go down there." So I think it benefits some, but I'll support it today, but I think for the future, I think we need to really look at how often do we block off a street. An orange cone, an orange sign that says "Do Not" does have a negative effect sometimes too. And if you're coming from out of town and you look down and see it, you may just keep going or you might go somewhere else. And I'm looking for some research, and I don't know if we have to do the research internally or is that something that, as a tourism board, your board wants to talk about, saying maybe we should really think about how often we block off streets so we don't have that "orange cone theory." **[14:40] Christy Barres (Tourism Bureau):** Sure. So we have used funds for research in the past, Councilmember Vaughn. We did the tourism assessment report with the Tourism Center at the University of Minnesota. So at the very least, I can reach out to that team and say, "Do you have any resources to help, whether it's the tourism board or the city council that ends up investing it?" So, happy to reach out on that. Sure, absolutely. **[15:02] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** Thank you, Christy. To Councilmember Vaughn's point, though, we have those digital signs, right? So when you come into town, it might—and we looked at putting that—because I've done that before, like if you're out by the Renaissance Festival and such, you'll see those signs. Those can also bring people in. I was just coming through and it's like, "Oh my gosh, there's an event or something going on!" Can we do something like that? Because I'm kind of the opposite of Councilmember Vaughn—that kind of means to me there's something going on and my FOMO requires me to go check out and see what that event is. **[15:53] Christy Barres (Tourism Bureau):** Oh yeah. So Councilmember Vaughn kept driving, Councilmember Leifeld stopped to see what was happening. But looking at that as a possibility, though, you're right, Councilmember—if someone sees that, they might be like, "Oh, something's going on." Well, do we have use of a sign of that nature? Are you thinking of like the traffic signs? **[16:13] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** Yeah, yeah. Um, that wouldn't be something we could use our funds for, but frankly, what I'm hearing is that maybe we don't not invest in the electronic sign this upcoming year and we use it more to our advantage to advertise the events that are happening in town, because there are a lot of events and they do bring a lot of tourism traffic. I think you're doing an excellent job. When I'm anywhere in town, I love when I can go someplace and I don't know anybody—that's weird for me—when I can go into any establishment and I don't have to visit, I don't have to say hello. It's like, "This is awesome!" These are people who are coming from out of town and they're telling their friends and yeah, that's just a great thing to see. And these business owners understand that business brings business, you know? More restaurants brings more people which, you know—"Your restaurant's full tonight, so we're going to try the one across the street." And so, yeah, excellent job with the tourism. I can definitely see a change myself as a lifetime resident and I just love it. I love people knowing that this beautiful little gem—bless you—isn't that far away. So cool, thank you. **[16:59] Christy Barres (Tourism Bureau):** And I—I mean, I appreciate the compliment, but it's certainly not just a Tourism Bureau because I really feel that we're really starting to see the investment that the city has made in tourism assets. And I'm a numbers person, so I like to be able to see—I like people to see those numbers—but I can feel it too. And I can feel it even just when I'm at chamber conferences and tourism conferences that historically when I would go to them, someone would say, "Oh, you're from Hastings? Did it take you four hours to get here?" when the conference is in St. Paul. And that's no longer the case. You know, people know; they've been here and they've been here recently when I talk to them. So I can feel it. Although I'd love to see it more in the numbers, I can definitely feel that change too. **[17:45] Councilmember Brax:** Hi Christy, my question is just about press coverage, because I've been seeing a lot more coverage of different businesses and places in Hastings across social media. Are those because of press releases that we're submitting, or are they just people discovering Hastings other ways and coming to Hastings and doing stories on us? Because I often wonder, you know, are we putting enough information out? And it seems like what you're saying is we are putting a lot of information out there. Do you know how often that results in some sort of broader coverage that is outside of Hastings? **[18:33] Christy Barres (Tourism Bureau):** Yeah, um, so we typically don't do press releases unless it's related to a specific event. So where we're seeing traction is content material on Explore Minnesota, which then feeds into these lists for top 10 tourist destinations or where you want to explore in fall. A lot of times, reporters are getting that information from the state tourism bureau. So we're focusing on efforts to make sure that that content is up to date, that the photos are relevant, and I do think that our tourism-based businesses are doing a good job of reaching out when they have something to promote. Media coverage is not likely going to come down just for one particular business or one particular event, so they're going to tag on two or three, which is only going to expand the reach. **[19:15] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Awesome, thank you Councilmember Brax. Thank you so much, Christy. Well, I’m sure we’ll see more of you, and fall is in the air, so lots of events are still happening. Tonight, also with us, we have Hastings YMCA Josh Schoff, and we are welcoming him as he would like to introduce himself to us. **[19:41] Josh Schoff (YMCA Executive Director):** Awesome, thank you very much, Mayor. And as I'm quickly learning here in Hastings, you don't want to follow Christy because she's a rock star, and every time she presents—I've seen her present a few times now—it's a lot of great news happening. My name is Josh Schoff. I'm the new Executive Director at the Hastings Y. I come to you from Hope Field House, which I helped start and create as a non-profit in Rosemount. I was the Executive Director and CEO there. I have been at Hastings now for two months, so it's been great. I joke a lot of times that I have it all figured out now, but I don't. Some cool things about me: I grew up in the neighboring city right next to you guys here in Rosemount; I now live in Apple Valley, 12 minutes away, so I've been to Hastings a lot. Was a high school football player, played in college at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater where I majored in Elementary Education. Taught for two years—loved the kids, didn't love the teaching background. So went into business, ran my own practice at Thrivent Financial for eight years. One of my largest clients had this idea for Hope Field House, and so I started that about five years ago. So I've been in the non-profit sector now for almost six years. Um, so yeah, I am very excited. The number one thing that I love about my job right now currently is my staff. We have a wonderful staff; most of them live in Hastings and they are just great people. They work very hard. We have great women in leadership there that are doing some good things. I have a passion for youth sports as young families are coming up, and I came through youth sports. We have some of the best programming in the entire association for the YMCA here in Hastings, which is fantastic to see. And kind of a cool number that just came across my desk today is: last Wednesday, of the entire association, Hastings was the most visited YMCA in the Twin Cities. So we have a ton of usage coming out of the Hastings YMCA, which is a great number. We're not high as far as our membership, but our usage rate is extremely high, and that's because of the great work of the leaders before me and in the beautiful facility that we have. So yeah, I'll open it up to questions if anyone has any questions, and just thank you for your time. Please check out the Y, please let your constituents know about us, and we love serving this community. **[22:16] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** Just a welcome to Hastings. When you talk about usage, what does that mean? So our membership isn't as high as others, but our usage—is it? Okay, great question. **[22:31] Josh Schoff (YMCA Executive Director):** So you come in—if you're a member, you have to scan in, so it just automatically logs as soon as you scan in. So we had the most people walking through the door. So we don't have as many members, but our members are committed exactly 100%. Yep, yeah. So and it's a great, again, great testament to who we have working there. So our members are engaged because our employees are in the community telling them, "Hey, you got to get to class, hey..." and then the youth sports numbers—we have the highest youth sports participation at the Y in the entire Twin Cities. So over 155 families are participating in flag football—I think you're one of the families too—this fall. So yeah, there's a lot in it and we are really, really excited. I got it dropped on my lap that we are getting new fields and we're trying to get that built up and ready to go, the infrastructure ready by next spring. So it'll be really nice. The Minnesota Twins have been a part of that, and a few other donors that have helped, and the hospital—we're on their land then as well. So yeah, we're really excited for those youth sports facilities to come in. **[23:38] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** Youth sports... are you working on like an over-50 flag football, anything like that? Yes, all sports. Yeah, love to play that too. Let me know when you set that up as a Member Leifeld. **[23:43] Councilmember Lund:** Thank you, Honor. I—first of all, I'm going to—I am an Eagles fan tonight, but um, just the YMCA flag football Eagles—it's my son's team. Perfect. But to that, yeah, the participation—I've he's been in it for a few years now—the participation this year is through the roof. They had to split it up, even, I think, the practice times and things like that. So that's really good news. And I think with that many kids, it can easily just be kind of a zoo, but it's really, really well organized, and we really appreciate it—as I mean, at least I do. And I think, you know, the amount of opportunities that our youth get through the YMCA, you know, on a sports level, pays off in spades, whether they choose to be in sports later on or not. It's a great opportunity that we can have outside of school to have those opportunities. So I appreciate it very much. **[24:37] Josh Schoff (YMCA Executive Director):** Thank you very much, and I'm going to piggyback a little bit off of that. Hastings has got the highest youth sports, and flag football is one of them. I'm a football guy; I played college football, I currently officiate college football and high school football. In fact, I'll have Hastings when they play South St. Paul—I'll be the white hat reffing that game. But as a football guy, I truly believe in what the Y is doing, and we're spearheading it here in Hastings with flag football. I do not think that kids need to play tackle football until they're ready for it physically. Whether it's each young boy, man, a woman that plays, and a girl that plays football, it depends on where their body's at to be ready to play that tackle. So I think being able to show that you can run a really good big youth association flag football is something that's cool that we're spearheading here in Hastings that is not happening in other places. I think it will continue to grow, and we can really be a model to that at the Y in here in Hastings. **[25:35] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Okay, thank you Josh. Councilmember Fox. **[25:46] Councilmember Jen Fox:** Thanks. I had asked Josh to come tonight because I sit on the YMCA board and I was excited after meeting him and having our first board meeting together. He really brings a lot of energy to the group—not that we didn't have a lot before, but it's wonderful to have a fresh face and new perspective. And folks, for you to also know that Derek Jaeger is still a part of the YMCA with the Equity Center, and he's still very interested in collaborating with us. And so I hope that there's still possibilities of partnerships as we're moving into the future in this next year. So thanks again, Josh, and thanks, Tina. We'll see you at 7:30 tomorrow morning for our board meeting. **[26:33] Josh Schoff (YMCA Executive Director):** I'll be there, bring caffeine. And yes, Derek is still very, very involved, and so is Mike Lavin too. He actually still is technically overseeing on a corporate level, so he's my boss; he's a Vice President of Operations who lives in town. He got this started. And the last thing I just want to hit on—and if there's other questions, please ask—but we do October, the entire month we'll be celebrating our 15th-year anniversary, with it all coming together on the 30th. So after the Vikings game, 3 p.m. Sunday, October 30th, we'll be having a lot of stuff happening and still coming together. We're looking for ribbon-cutting; we're looking for those kinds of things. But we have a rock-climbing wall that's going to be coming in, a bounce house; we're going to have our camp, Camp Spring Lake Park, which is a wonderful asset to this city—they'll bring in some of their games. We'll have food trucks and throw a big open-house party, 3 to 6 p.m., October 30th, again after the Vikings game that Sunday. So I would like to invite the entire Council to that, the Mayor since you're here, the Chamber. So it's something that you will keep your eyes out for; we'll have the details really ironed out after the board meeting. So I want to get that on your guys's calendar. **[27:42] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you, Josh. Look forward to hearing and seeing more. Council members, are there any corrections to the minutes from the workshop or regular meeting on September 6th? Okay. Comments from the audience—for public comments, we have options for comments to be mailed prior to the meeting as well as interactive features during the meeting. For Council comments, they have been forwarded to the City Council and the receipt is acknowledged. Please recognize that items not on the agenda will not be discussed this evening. For live comments, they may either be through Zoom link or in person. We ask that the attendees either raise their hand in person or the "raised hand" feature in Zoom, and they will be invited to speak one at a time. I also would like to remind everyone that the public comment period is not intended for an extended dialogue. Is there anyone who would like to speak to the Council at this time? I see nobody in the audience and no one on Zoom. Okay. Council members, are there any Council items to be considered? Okay, Council, I would accept a motion to approve the consent agenda. **[28:55] Councilmember Jen Fox:** So moved. **[28:56] Councilmember Brax:** Second. **[29:00] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Discussion Council? All those in favor of the motion state by saying aye. (Aye.) Opposed to that motion state by saying nay. (Silence.) And that motion prevails. Today we have an awarding of contracts and public hearing. We have a resolution Award of Contract for the downtown tree grate replacement project, and for this item we have with us tonight Ryan Stempski, our Director of Public Works. Welcome, Ryan. **[29:33] Ryan Stempski (Public Works Director):** Thank you, Mayor, members of the Council. Yeah, tonight we do have an award consideration of our downtown tree grate replacement program. Just a little bit of background on that project: we did bring that through our operations committee and got approval to move forward with a design and collecting bids. We've got about 24 grates downtown that have settled since our Riverfront Renaissance project, unfortunately. We have gotten several complaints from business owners and the public for tripping downtown, and so it was time to do something about this. We currently, if you've maybe noticed, put tape on those trip hazards to help identify the hazard, and it's kind of a means to an end, if you will. We consulted the original design engineer, Bolton & Menk, of the Riverfront Renaissance, to step in and do a design of this correction, do the investigations, do the geotechnical work at no cost to the city, which they have done and, I'll say, they've done a nice job for us. So they put together the bid package so that didn't take our staff resources, and so I do appreciate their efforts. That'll continue on construction inspection and geotechnical reporting and those sorts of things at no cost to the city. So the fix: really what we're trying to do—trees and that environment doesn't necessarily fit in our urban landscapes. We see this all over the country; it's no different in Hastings. We put a lot of structural soil, which doesn't mean what I’d like it to mean (structural stability); it actually means it's kind of dirty rock with a lot of voids, it lets water in, and it promotes tree growth. So that's kind of what went in and around these tree areas. Well, the bad news is when a lot of water gets in there and helps the function of the tree growth, it also consolidates soil, and when the soil consolidates, our grates sink, our concrete sinks, and we create these trip hazards. So that's the separation from our boulevard herringbone pattern space in the existing sidewalk out there. So that's creating that trip hazard of a couple inches or more in some spots, and in our downtown, people park and they walk across into the business they're going to, creating the trip hazard. So basically with the fixes here tonight, what we've put together is basically removing that fill soil that was underneath the concrete, replacing that with Class 5 engineered structured material, compacting that 100%—so getting compaction tests, making sure we have a good sound base—and then putting a foundation around the tree grate that's re-barred in and tied together. And basically that foundational support, that extra thick concrete support that we're going to sit the tree grates on—salvage those, put those back in. We don't have to harm the tree; we're just going to build up structurally around it, and that improvement will last into the future rather than what we had now. So that's what we're talking about here tonight. On August 30th, we opened bids. We got three bids from concrete contractors. Of those bids, the low bid was J.L. Theis. We did our reference checking on them—and I haven't worked with them, I don't believe they've been in town on this type of work—so we did reference checking, got positive responses. Councilmember Vaughn just gave me a reference right before the meeting too that was a positive reference of their work in Eagan. So all good news. The cost was about nearly 14% over the engineer's estimate. Small job, tough to estimate, and just like every other industry, engineering costs, material, labor—it's going up. So I won't say that this price surprises me; it's a little higher than what we anticipated, but it is competitive, we believe, in the market right now. What we did as far as the scheduling goes: we let the contractor either do the work this fall yet or move it into early spring with the final completion date of June 1st. The contractor has chosen to take that advantage—and maybe that's why they're a little better—and start the work early spring. The point is they can focus their resources that early in the year when they know they have a project, get it done in an organized and quicker fashion, and rather than have the whole downtown half tore up sitting for the winter and then finishing in the spring. So I do like their approach. We'll just have a busy fall to kind of get this done in an organized and quicker fashion. So with all that, staff is recommending award of this contract for the downtown tree grate replacement project to J.L. Theis in the amount of $161,323, and I'll stand for any questions the Council may have. **[34:40] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you, Ryan. Um, I'm just curious again—when was the Riverfront Renaissance complete? What year? Seems like two, but it's been... **[35:05] Ryan Stempski (Public Works Director):** Before I was here, so I've been here about eight years. Um, it was done over so many years... was that 2015 or 2016 maybe? Okay. **[35:11] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Yeah, like you said, it just seems like a couple years ago. I know it's been longer, but okay. Thank you. Council, any question? Councilmember Fox. **[35:14] Councilmember Jen Fox:** All right. Do you know—you explained the process a little bit—what kind of like disruption it will be downtown on the sidewalks? Just thinking ahead. **[35:34] Ryan Stempski (Public Works Director):** Yeah, so we obviously don't have the contract in place yet. The pre-con and all that will come after Council's action one way or the other. But what they've preliminarily said is they'd be asking—they'd be working on one spot at a time and they would pull their material in excess piles in a couple parking spots to stay away from the business fronts and the sidewalk. So although it would be taking up some parking spots during construction, I think it's understandable and probably a better plan to move equipment and materials in that space temporarily while they're doing the work. So I think it'll be walkable, accessible, but you'll see a little spoil pile and materials in parking spots. **[36:26] Councilmember Jen Fox:** That's wonderful, just curious. Um, this is a big issue in our downtown and I'm looking forward to it being fixed. So thank you, Your Honor. **[36:34] Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** Thank you, Your Honor. Just the other comment on the impact on the downtown and the businesses: when we bid this, we told them they could not start until mid-September. Today was the earliest potential start date—it was after the last car show. We wanted to make sure that whatever disruption there was was not during the busy summer season. And although they're choosing to do it in the spring instead of the fall, we gave them a deadline before we start getting busy in the spring and summer next year. Trying to minimize that impact also. **[37:13] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you, Dan. Council, I would look for a motion approving a resolution receiving bids and awarding contract for the downtown tree grate replacement project. **[37:25] Councilmember Jen Fox:** So moved. **[37:28] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** Second. **[37:37] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Additional discussion Council? All those in favor of the motion state by saying aye. (Aye.) Opposed to that motion state by saying nay. (Silence.) And that motion prevails. Under Community Development tonight, we have an Interim Use Permit for a motor coach commerce facility, Hastings Commons, 2400 Vermillion Street. And with that, we will hear an update from City Administrator Dan Wietecha. Welcome, Dan. **[37:54] Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** Thank you. Give me a second here. Pitch-hitting for John Hinzman this evening, so it might take me a second to find something... As I pull this up, it really is just to help orientate location. The property here is the red-shaded rectangle just east of 25th Street and Vermillion. Probably looks familiar to City Council—at least, this is proposed as a 12-unit motor coach commerce facility, similar because back in May of 2021, just last year, the City Council approved a very similar application for an Interim Use Permit. That 2021 permit had a deadline of completing construction by September 1st of '22—so what was about a 14-15 month time frame. That did not occur. So the property owner, the business owner, submitted a new Interim Use Permit application, which is what is before you this evening. Other than the dates sort of shoving everything ahead a year with the new completion of November 1st—actually September 1st, 2023—I think everything about the development is identical to what we saw and discussed last year. Planning Commission did meet on it last week, September 12th; they recommended approval on a 3-2 vote. We also did have comments from two neighboring property owners: Champak Bhakta of the adjacent Coratel Inn, concerned about negative effects on the visibility of his hotel located just behind this property, and Mr. Metamoro cited concerns about impacts on traffic as well as the landscaping and site design to it. But other than that, it's essentially what you saw a year ago. I can take questions if they're a bit more technical. On the extension, maybe Attorney Land could handle those, but there’s no questions because we've seen it before. **[41:03] Councilmember Vaughn:** Dan, you said it was very similar. Are there any other changes besides just the date? **[41:10] Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** Just the date. My belief is the application actually was the same application they submitted last year with the cover page ripped off, so it's identical to what was proposed a year ago. **[41:20] Councilmember Vaughn:** Did the applicant—I don't know if they're here today—did they say why we didn't act on it in the first year versus identical? That's not how I read, especially Interim Use Permits, is you don't just keep kicking it till it works for you. **[41:35] Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** It kind of gave away some of the correspondence. They allege that the delays were the fault of the city and the State of Minnesota. Beyond their saying "Not our fault, it's your fault," I can't give more specifics to—so they can state what our faults were. They felt that the permitting process—there's some plumbing permitting that's needed for this although there's no building—they felt that caused some sort of delay. I don't know the specifics without diving into too much. **[42:15] Councilmember Vaughn:** An interim use permit is good for five years, I believe, and then they get to renew after five? Is that what it was? **[42:21] Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** This one, I believe, was a 10-year with the potential for a 10-year extension. **[42:36] Councilmember Vaughn:** Yeah, that's my biggest hang-up on this one is... and I believe Attorney Land, help me out, I believe the way this is written is that original 10 years is already a year into it? Or would at the time that first 10-year period begins November of '22? So by the time this might get built by next September, they've already used the first year of their first 10-year term. So it gives them more time to construct it, but it does not extend the overall life of it. I guess I wish the applicant was here. I'm curious what kind of "fault." I have a question: when we say "fault of our city," did you put the permit in that we didn't approve it on time, or we just haven't got the permit to us yet? **[43:10] Applicant Representative:** I believe the permit actually came in just a couple of months ago, and to make a slight correction, the biggest delay was actually with the Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) and their site plan review that was going on. So a lot of it had to do with delayed correspondence of us sending in our plans, comments being received, revisions being made, plans being sent again. Um, so I apologize, I don't have the timeline fully prepped in front of me. I believe it wasn't until March that we officially got approval from the Department of Labor and Industry, and then following that was some conversation with the city as well on the site plan. All of those concerns were then addressed. I spoke to the Planning Commission last week as well; the sole owner of the family-owned business, he actually had COVID in July that set us back some as well as we were trying to get our final final pieces together. And I believe the final application—I apologize, I wish I had the date written down, Corey might have it from correspondence—but the final application to the city, I believe, was just about two months ago, if that. So we really weren't fully ready to go get that permit from the city until just a month or two ago. **[45:15] Councilmember Vaughn:** Educate me on Department of... why did you have to get approval from them and why? **[45:21] Applicant Representative:** Department of Labor and Industry, given the nature of the project, they have certain standards that we have to follow for the actual construction of the facility, the utilities I know are a big part of that, and that also came up with the city as well. But really, just working with them—we got our plan approved by the city last year and by the Planning Commission permission, we went through the full site plan review process, but then there's a second step in order to make sure that we were constructing it according to the state codes, that we had to follow all of their guidelines as well and make sure we met all of their conditions too. **[45:38] Councilmember Vaughn:** Do we have any dates on that? That just helps me on decision making. Because first of all, I'm concerned about our staff making sure the permit was approved on time, that we didn't delay. But a state permit—when I approved the interim a year ago, that wasn't part of the discussion. I didn't know that it had to go through a state process, because that would maybe change how we vote on that, because it might not get done if you don't do it right away. We don't control how fast the state has to approve something, and that probably should have been in the first application saying a year is not enough time to get this through. It only helps us understand it. **[45:51] Applicant Representative:** So in looking at my notes here, I do see it was May of this year that DLI approved the project or our plans. So I can't speak to exactly what went on when it was approved last year, as I wasn't around for that unfortunately. But I can say it was May of this year once we finally got the green light from DLI to then apply for our permit with the city. **[46:38] Councilmember Vaughn:** Do we know when it was submitted to the state? **[46:44] Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** Your Honor, members of the Council, I do have the correspondence. Fortunately, I was copied on a lot of it between the owner as well as the city with the building official. They actually started communicating and submitted their application in October of 2021, and so it did take a considerable amount of, as she indicated, back and forth between the Department of Labor and Industry and the applicant to get all of the issues resolved. I think it took about six months. So I don't know what happened between March and I guess July or August, but it did take a considerable amount of back and forth between, you know, some coordination with DLI and the applicant and the city to get everybody on the same page about exactly what would be required to comply with the state requirements. So when they finally did that, then I think there was some momentum, but then it wasn't enough to get it completed by the September 1st deadline. **[47:40] Councilmember Vaughn:** That's good education. Maybe our attorney can answer us then: what if—if we're applying for that, is there any changes if it took that long to go back and forth? As the City Administrator says, they just turned in the same plan that we did approve then. Yeah, I'd be curious: what's the back and forth about, and why does it take so long? Again, not our jurisdiction, but it sure puts me in a tough spot to extend something because I'm about precedence. I don't want to set this one for another business to keep doing interims to kind of tie up things until we're going to have a million three-quarter plan coming that has a potential to be affected by five, ten years of development. **[48:08] Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** Yep, Your Honor, members of the Council. What we approved was a site plan, and that is what has not changed. So the application you see before you is exactly the same application that you approved in 2021. What has changed is maybe the mechanics of the building permit part of it, and in this case, it was the plumbing—the what they call the dumping station. And so there was a little bit of confusion with the Department of Labor and Industry as to how it was going to be used, and so they had to kind of get their arms around that and then apply the state standards to that. So it was completely unexpected in the implementation of the building of it that that would be that bumpy and that time-consuming. So I think that's where the disconnect happened. I'm sure the applicant would have asked for more time had he known it would take that long to get it approved. **[49:10] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** Um, yeah, I just have a clarifying question here since this was quite some time ago and we had a lot of discussion about this. I hope I'm not speaking out of line when I say that we really felt that our hands were tied here and we didn't have any other options for this. We didn't have grounds to say no, and I know myself as a council member, this was not a project that we wanted to see go into this location. So I just want anyone who's sitting here now or anyone who's listening at home and is like, "Oh my gosh, what's this all about?" because they're not aware of it—we've been through this. I myself, I got a head-nod here from our City Attorney that our hands are tied. This is a project that we can't stop from happening without possible lawsuits. So that being said, I guess if we're looking for a motion to approve the extension at this point, I would so move, Your Honor. **[50:18] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** First, we need a motion adopting a resolution of the City Council of the City of Hastings granting approval of an Interim Use Permit to operate a motor coach commerce facility as designated, Your Honor. **[50:31] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** So moved. **[50:36] Councilmember Brax:** Second. **[50:38] Councilmember Vaughn:** Just confirming: the motion that's made is on the site plan. The building and permits and all that stuff is not going to come back in front of this—it's just into staff's hands from here on out. And it still has to be done within one year; if not, they're coming back again and asking for the same thing again. We could say—we can't say no to it, but we can, because they still need to get this interim permit, which expired, in front of us today approved. So we can say there's a lawsuit involved, but we approved it as an interim for one year and it didn't get done. Now there's another jurisdiction, not us. That's what I'm hung up on, but I just want to verify that was just a site plan and this project will not be back in front of us. **[51:24] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you. All those in favor of the motion state by saying aye. (Aye.) Opposed to that motion state by saying nay. (Nay—Councilmember Vaughn.) **[51:41] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Okay. And then I also have a motion to approve to terminate the 2021 permit and approve the 2022 permit. **[51:50] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** So moved. **[51:55] Councilmember Jen Fox:** Second. **[52:08] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Additional discussion Council? All those in favor of the motion state by saying aye. (Aye.) Opposed to that motion state by saying nay. (Nay—Councilmember Vaughn.) That motion prevails. Both motions prevail. Thank you, Dan. First reading: ordinance changing Mayor and City Council wages. And for this item, Dan, you may continue. **[52:13] Dan Wietecha (City Administrator):** Thank you, Mayor. This is potentially, if Council is ready, the first reading of the ordinance. Council compensation, as we've discussed at least a couple of times previously, needs to be done by ordinance. So you would have two meetings: first and second reading to accomplish that. It also needs to occur prior to a general election—so early November—and would take effect sometime typically January, but sometime after that election. What we discussed a year ago, or close to a year ago—maybe eight or nine months ago—was including the Mayor and Council wages in the compensation study. We had last adjusted Council compensation in 2014, effective January 2015. Recognizing it's been six or seven years, we felt that it was appropriate to look at what neighboring similar-sized communities are paying. We see they're a little bit higher—about 500 bucks higher on the City Council's annual wage and 800 higher on the Mayor's annual wage. So if Council is ready for the ordinance, one question would be: are these the right numbers based off of the study? A second question would be the technology stipend. For the last six years or so, we have paid a $400 stipend to council members per term, but that stipend was intended to offset the expenses that council members have with devices or data plans for being able to utilize a city email, get council packets, technology related to the job. But we really should, if continuing that stipend, we should formalize that as part of this compensation ordinance. Alternately—and here's sort of that second question—Council has had some discussion about: is the stipend the right way of handling that technology need? Would we be better served providing an iPad or some similar city-purchased and utilized device to each council member, and at the end of their term, they would return that city equipment back to the city? And then the third question potentially with addressing the ordinance—whether it's tonight or a future meeting next month—would be: what is the effective date? Do we make it effective essentially right after the election, January 2023? Or—a question at least one council member has brought up—do we set it out further in the future, January 2025, so that we're not getting past just this election but also the next election? And effectively, I think the purpose of that would be so that nobody here at the dais would be voting themselves a raise. So I can certainly take questions. I think you guys are fairly familiar with the topic because it was at workshop a couple weeks ago and it's been on a Council agenda a couple of times too, but that's what's before you tonight. Are you ready for first reading? Do you need to work out some of the other details and bring first reading to a meeting in a couple of weeks? **[56:06] Councilmember Vaughn:** It's a question for our City Attorney. Have you seen other cities do this where they just set a date—every 10 years we look at the average, it's approved, whatever it is, just pick the number so we're not put in situations to vote for ourselves or even our other colleagues or future colleagues? Personally, I don't agree with it. I just don't think it's—and look, the proposal in front of us is to go more than the average. I just don't think—I didn't do this job, I've said it from the start, I didn't do it for the money. What's the value of the stipend? I totally agree with the stipend for the computer—that was an innovative way of staff not printing our packets and driving them to our house. That's why we did that. I think we should continue that. If we're doing this so more people do it—well, what do we use a stipend for? Is it for gas for our cars to go to events, to get to meetings, or however else you want to use it? Then how do you come up with the number? Just because the neighbors are doing it? We don't have the same budget as other neighbors, so to say, "Hey, that's what neighbors are doing, that's what we should do, and we should probably go a little bit more" will cover for six to seven years. It's too loose for me. I just would rather say on the 10th year of every year, we do an average, we get close to it, and that's what it is, and it's done so we're not put into situations where we got to make this decision. Because this decision was made right before I got on the Council, and I was just like, "That's a terrible thing," and someone had blown it up like, "Oh, it's going up 10%!" Well, 10% was like minimal because it hasn't been done in 10 years. I just don't like the process, I don't like how we have to do it, and I'm just looking to see: is there any other cities that do it different than how we're trying to wrangle this one? **[58:12] Korine Land (City Attorney):** Your Honor, members of the Council. It's always hard to vote on your own raise, and I think a lot of cities struggle with this. By statute, you have to put it in an ordinance. You are the only body that can approve an ordinance, so you have to vote on your own raise. It cannot take effect until after the next regular municipal election. So the thought is you're not voting on your raise; you're voting on whoever's sitting at the dais as of January 1 after the next election. It may be you; it may not be you. And a future Council may change it; they may change it back, they may change it more, but again it couldn't take effect until after the next regular municipal election. Some cities have chosen to make it even more difficult by putting it in their Charter—the salaries—so that a Charter amendment is required which, as you know, requires unanimous consent of all the Council. So that way, everybody has to agree that you deserve or need a raise, and so I have seen some cities do that and they don't often get raises. There's another city that put it in their Charter that the Charter Commission will review salaries every two years, and so they are always recommending whether or not there should be an adjustment—a market adjustment, if you want to call it that. So at least it's being reviewed. But an automatic adjustment I do not recommend, because I think that by law you are obligated to adopt it by ordinance each time, and so I don't know that you have the authority to do an automatic adjustment every so many years. **[59:45] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Thank you, counselor. Councilmember Fox. **[59:52] Councilmember Jen Fox:** Thank you, Honor. I have a follow-up for Ms. Land. So, something I've wondered about is, you know, about just getting whatever the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) is that the non-managerial or the non-union group gets of employees... I'm not sure what you call it here in Hastings, is it the managerial group? Because I know in other cities that group has like a name. So where I was going with that is: whatever is given for a cost-of-living adjustment to the non-union employees... it could still be, you know—I guess you'd have to still go through the whole formal process and all of that, but then so it's not necessarily automatic but it's more of a normal process. Because when it's—historically cost-of-living has been, you know, over the last 10 years, some years it's been 0, others it's been 2 or 3 percent. But the last two years alone—last year inflation was 9.2% and the year before that was 7.4%—so the last two years alone it's been over 16% increase in inflation, right? And so I'm concerned about that. Those of us who put a lot of hours in on the Council, you know, we're not making anything on the number of hours that we're putting in. And so it's not—if you're dedicated, you're dedicated, and I appreciate what you're saying, Councilmember Vaughn, very much so. But what I'm concerned about is that people are not stepping up and running for office oftentimes. And so we're lucky that we had several that came forward to run for the At-Large this time around, but I can tell you that I personally was nudging folks for a long time, anticipating that what if neither of you run and then we don't have anybody to run? And so I just think that it's also important for us to keep folks interested as they're—it's not just Hastings, it's not just our state; throughout our nation, we're seeing problems with volunteerism, people wanting to step up. And then also particularly considering that things have become so partisan that a lot of people are shying away from perhaps wanting to serve for their community because they're afraid of the door-to-door and having to deal with awfulness. And so I just think that it's important that we also think greater than just our own personal value systems and why we are here today, but you know, how is it that we incentivize for folks to be interested continuing into the future to serve? So that's my two cents. Thanks. **[1:03:03] Councilmember Lund:** Thank you, Honor. I agree. I don't think there's enough people willing to run, and it's concerning when you run unopposed—I did last time. And I'd prefer to see people step up and, you know, if they think that they can do a good job, then that's what elections are for. I certainly hope that we have the abundance of candidates that we have this year in two years. I don't think that any amount of money that we would reasonably add to the annual amount would move the needle enough to make people go, "Oh, I gotta do that," because it isn't—it's not for them, the money. And the money helps offset some of the things like the expense of running, which can be thousands of dollars easily, and you know, maybe offset some of the other things that you have to do—childcare or whatever—to cover for being gone at meetings, including this one or others that aren't on Monday nights. So I guess my point is: I don't know if any amount is really going to make a big difference unless it's significant, and at that point, I don't think that's who you want running, representing you—somebody that's doing it for the money. So I have a concern about the date, and I appreciate keeping the name out of it, but I'll raise my hand—I was the one that said I don't want it to be anything that I know would be for me or anybody on this Council. So let's push it out to January 1st, 2025. If indeed the number needs to be increased, then we may or may not be part of that, but it's not a guarantee. If we say next January, then unless something happens, there's definitely a few of us that will be voting for ourselves. So I would strongly encourage that. And then I do think making it a normal, regular cadence makes it less of a thing. And I know I think we've talked about this just in general, wages in general, staff level and whatnot—you can't have a decade slip by before you look at where you sit on things. Anyway, you know, that's totally reasonable. Now on the—so I guess I would encourage us to, if Council wants to act on any sort of moving to the average, consider that January 1st, 2025 effective date as the motion. And then the devices—that's the other one where I'll admit I've been the problem person there, saying "Stop the stipend, let's just get city-owned, city-issued, and city-supported devices." Everybody has the same one, you got a problem, we can get help from City IT. And it just makes sense to me. So I think security reasons, just consistency reasons and so forth, makes a lot of sense, let alone the support of it. Those are my two thoughts. Thank you. **[1:06:54] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** Thank you. I agree with you on the city-owned device. I've also been in strong agreement of that because I'm always having problems with my laptop or my device. As far as the stipend goes—agreed, you don't run to make the money. There's other reasons to run, but it does help. Not everybody is in a two-income household; there are people for whom this does take time and it does cost money. That being said, volunteerism is on the decline, right? We're seeing that—people aren't volunteering as much as they used to. So it needs to be a balance of both. We need to be able to get people who are saying, "You know what? I really want to do this, but gosh darn, I just can't afford it. I've got too many other things going on and I can't have this part-time job if I'm going to do this." And so it does make a difference. I really do think that even that little bit of money does give us more people. So I also don't like the idea of voting for something that I would benefit from, but eventually someone has to, because we're the voters, right? That being said, even if we waited until '25—potentially there could still be four of us, five of us with the Mayor; there could potentially be five of us here. So we're not saying "Oh, we've alleviated that problem," because we didn't alleviate that problem. If you're not planning on running in '25, sure, you've alleviated it for yourself, but if any of us are still here—well, there it is, it still happened. So I don't know if kicking the can is the right idea or not. And when I look at just the 3% on that, it's a couple—what, 264 dollars? And I'm not suggesting we do that every year—that's not a—I don't think that's what we're looking to do. So coming from both directions, I think we just put it into place starting after the election in 2023 just for ease of not having the next Council have to sit here and have these continued conversations over salary and trying to act like we're too almighty to be wanting the money. I—do I want the money? It's not why I ran, but do I use it? Absolutely I do. You know, this summer it bought chemicals for my pool. So it's silly to suggest that—I'm not going to stand on that throne and pretend that that's the only reason I do this, right? I do it for my community, I do it for the people, I do it to give back. But I don't know that I'd do it if I got absolutely nothing. I honestly don't know that I'd go through the phone calls and the emails, the constant conversations which I usually love out in public, if there was nothing there. I—maybe I'm not that good of a person—but I just think that we need to move forward. We've paid a lot of money for this compensation and classification study, we've made a lot of decisions in regards to our excellent staff and ways to keep them, and I think this is just one way to help include others in the future when they say, "You know what? Yeah, that's 550 bucks a month, I really love my community and I'd love to quit that part-time gig I've got going." So I think we just go ahead and do it, but I definitely agree with Councilmember Lund: I would love to see city-owned devices like everybody else in City Hall uses. And I’m guessing, Kelly, that's your little iPad laptop thing there—you get to take that home to do work? I want something just like that. That's my two cents. Thanks, Your Honor. **[1:10:47] Councilmember Brax:** So I think this is an interesting discussion because marrying the Council compensation with the comp-and-class study is a little bit weird to me, just because technically we're not city employees, although we are electeds. We're not city employees according to the employee handbook. So I understand wanting a data point to rest on, and I agree with wanting an objective standard applied to our compensation, because I think without it, then we're just arbitrarily making a decision about our compensation. So I'm glad that we have the data from the study to say, "This is what an average is," and it's something we can rely on that we didn't come up with. So I'm thankful for that. But I will add that I don't do this job because of the money and I never have, and I didn't even know there was compensation until I got elected. And while I'm thankful for it, I haven't spent a lot of time looking at my budget for next year, but I won't be sitting here and I don't know that it's going to affect my budget a lot one way or the other. So in terms of the financial compensation, it's appreciated, but it wasn't a motivation for me in running for office, and I don't know how many people it is, because public service is truly that—it's a service to the public that you do because you love your community, and I think we all would say that. So I guess my other comment is that, absent being a city employee and having this information from the compensation-and-class study, I don't know what kind of process we could set up that would take all the factors into account. So I like your idea, Councilmember Vaughn—it's so fluid if we base it on inflation, if we base it on the average salary of that year; there's so much that changes every year. I think that's tough. So you know, could we build it into how often we'll be doing the comp-and-class study in the future and marry it with that? So that this number—we want to have a consistent data point—so we don't want it to be this year relying on the comp-and-class study and then 10 years from now it's some other number. What process can we set up that will be consistent and will be repetitive so that it is ongoing? I feel comfortable with the numbers, I feel super comfortable with the numbers because it won't benefit me at all, and I'm happy to give you all a raise, because this is a hard job and it's only getting harder as Councilmember Fox kind of alluded to. However, running for the legislature or being in the legislature is even a harder position to be in if you go up a level, because you have to basically quit your job while session is in play; it's a very difficult position. So I think there are less obstacles to running for city council than there even are at the state level for the legislature. And so I don't know that compensation will solve that. But I guess the bottom line for me is: I'm comfortable with the numbers as they are, I would feel more comfortable with the process if we had set in place that we were going to do this study at certain intervals in the future and this number was always going to come with that study and it would be a process that we could rely on. So I guess that's just my thought of how we could set it up for the future, but I'm comfortable with the numbers as they are and I'm fine supporting them. Thank you. **[1:14:38] Councilmember Jen Fox:** I think that's a really important point, Councilmember—that this study brings our compensation and classification into the market, right? We know that in three years we're going to have to re-evaluate that. So if we can continue tying these together so that we don't lose track of it, as was alluded to earlier, I think that that's a really important point because we can't let it get so out of whack that we need to do a big to-do about it. It's something that we can have a discussion about and agree upon and move forward with quickly. So I agree. Thank you. **[1:15:06] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** So as we see, this is the first reading, and Counselor just stated that if we move on and pass for the first reading, moving into the second reading we'll be able to have more discussion if we want to put more of a solid date as to when this can be re-looked at. I mean, we could be more affirmative at that point. **[1:15:24] Korine Land (City Attorney):** Your Honor, members of the Council. If you wanted to provide the direction that on second reading you would like to see a more definitive, as you said, a tie to something—if the next comp-and-class study that you do, that the Council's salaries are re-evaluated at that time—we could write that into the ordinance so there's an automatic review period. Or you could review it every two years in the non-election year so that you could consider it. I mean, that's what other cities have done too—that it will be looked at every two years. You could write that right into the code; that way you have to take a pause, decide if you want to do anything with it—you may not, but you may. So there's a lot of options for you on reviewing it or tying it to something. **[1:16:11] Councilmember Jen Fox:** Your Honor, I would agree with tying into something more often than a comp-class study, because comp-class studies are only done once a decade or something like that, and it was a costly endeavor. And so it doesn't make sense to tie it to that and to go another decade without there being any adjustment, not knowing what the next decade has yet to come. And so I just think that it's fair to future folks who want to be on the Council. And as I thought Councilmember Leifeld put it very well: I think that all of us are—I mean, we're a well-educated group and I think we're all blessed with the lives that we have, and so I think that it does put other people who are at a disadvantage and that don't have the luxury as we do to take just a small stipend as we are taking—and after taxes, it's less than five thousand dollars a year. It is a very little amount. And so I would be in favor of having every two-year process as Attorney Land had suggested. I think that that makes a lot of sense so that Councils have the ability to have this conversation more often. Oh, and then my last two cents about—I'm sorry, Mayor—about the device: I would suggest—I’m hoping to be on the Council, you know, this... I’m hoping to win my bid for the House of Representatives and so... but I just think that it makes sense to continue with the technology allotment, the 400, because I’m not sure if you all understand what goes along with having a government-issued device. Like, you can only use it for your city council email and you really wouldn't be able to use it for anything else because everything else that you would do on it is discoverable—like the memory on it, anything that you do on it. And so, like, I have for my day job a government-issued laptop and I don't do anything on it. I don't do Facebook, I don't look at—if I have Amazon up, it's only because I'm listening to music through it. I mean, you are very conscious about what it is you're doing with a government-issued device. And so personally, I just think that it gives us a lot more latitude in being able to control what devices that we want. And in a memo, Dan had said that the new IT Director said that they can step up and do a better job of supporting individual council members who are having technology problems with your own devices and making sure that you figured out bugs. I just think that that's a wiser thing to do moving forward. So that's my two cents. Thanks. **[1:19:16] Councilmember Lund:** Thank you, Honor. I take issue with that. I mean, we all—I guess I shouldn't say we all—my work computer is not government-issued, but it's a work computer and I use it for that. And I have this, which is a personal computer that I use for personal things. I have no problem with a device that I tuck away when I'm not using it for city council issues. I think that makes the most sense. Is it convenient? No. But it's the point of—it's a tool for this job. So I guess I feel strongly that we should not have a stipend. I don't know where we're at—it feels like an infinite conversation here—but what's the next direction here? **[1:19:58] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** So this motion is just for the first reading and to move it forward to the second. **[1:20:03] Councilmember Lund:** Well, then I'd like to make a motion to move forward to the next reading with an effective date January 1st, 2025, no stipend for device, but instead a city-issued device. **[1:20:17] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** There's a motion on the floor. Second? **[1:20:18] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** Second. **[1:20:41] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** Question? **[1:20:42] Councilmember Vaughn:** It's the most discussion I've ever seen on the first reading of something in a long time. It's worth it. It's worth having a discussion, and I still think everybody has good points. We need to set this up so other Councils don't have to wrestle with this. I mean, look at this study—we were right in the ballpark. That's a good problem. The only reason I bring it up is I just think it's wrong that we have to—I can't stand that ordinance. I like your Charter comment—put it into the Charter and we should be thinking about that for the second reading of who has to make these decisions for the future. So, a lot of discussion, but we got the motion. **[1:21:28] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** I say we vote on it. Okay, any other discussion Council? All those in favor of the motion state by saying aye. (Aye.) Opposed to that motion state by saying nay. (Nay—Councilmember Fox and Councilmember Leifeld). Okay, motion prevails. Council, any announcements? Okay, I have a few. Summer rec program at Levy Park, Wednesday, September 21st, "Story Time in the Park: Transportation," recommended for ages 10 and under, a partnership with Pleasant Hill Library. Friday, September 23rd to Sunday, September 25th, a "Story Walk" will be on the trail between Levy Park and Jaycee Park, a partnership with Pleasant Hill Library. Bring your documents for secure destruction to the paper shred event on Saturday, September 24th—free for residents, no businesses please. Concepts for re-imagined Highway 61/Vermillion Street are now available for online viewing and comment following an open house meeting held last month. This will be the major project in Hastings in the coming years, and we want to hear from our community. Review the preliminary design concepts for various areas along the corridor and complete a survey on the MnDOT Highway 61 study webpage. This week is Rail Safety Week, and as part of their education mission, they have put large sidewalk chalk stencils at railroad crossings. For more information, look on the city's Facebook page: "See Tracks, Think Train." Meetings coming ahead: Tuesday, September 20th, 7 p.m., Heritage Preservation Commission. Monday, September 26th, 7 p.m., Planning Commission. Wednesday, September 28th, 6 p.m., Arts Task Force. Monday, October 3rd, 5:30 p.m., City Council Rural Fire Contract Workshop, and 7 p.m., City Council Regular Meeting. I'd accept a motion to adjourn. **[1:23:08] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld:** So moved. **[1:23:10] Councilmember Brax:** Second. **[1:23:12] Mayor Mary Fasbender:** No discussion? All those in favor say it by saying aye. (Aye.) Opposed to that motion state by saying nay. (Silence.) Motion prevails. We are adjourned.