This transcript features **Acting Mayor Steve** (likely a Council Member or Mayor Pro Tem filling in) presiding over the meeting. Note that while **Matt Montgomery** is listed as Mayor in your context, the transcript indicates he is present as a Council Member in this specific meeting while "Steve" chairs. [1:15] Acting Mayor Steve: there's the weather so uh I'll be filling in for him tonight uh I also want to acknowledge the death of one of our council members uh Mary Jill bring gold and keep her in your prayers her family um roll call pringgolden uh could we have just the moment of silence in respect to Mary Jill's passing [1:48] Acting Mayor Steve: Duncan here guess me here cronenberger here Lindell here Montgomery here and althoff is absent please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance [2:05] Acting Mayor Steve: the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all victory okay we have a one thing we have to add to the agenda and that's that we're gonna add a work session for the next meeting so we'll we'll uh put that on the end of our meeting uh public input public input is intended or approved of the agenda uh I moved to approve the agenda with the addition of consent agenda item I the meeting I work session before our [2:51] Acting Mayor Steve: next meeting a second uh motioned by Montgomery second by londell to approve the amended agenda is there any discussion all in favor aye aye opposed motion carries now public input public input is intended to afford the public an opportunity to address concerns to the city council the public input will be no longer than 30 minutes in length and each speaker will have no more than three minutes to speak speakers May address topics relevant to the governance of the city speakers must sign up in advance and must provide their name address and a topic they intend to address comments [3:37] Acting Mayor Steve: must be on topic respectful pertinent to City business and in here to the pla applicable data privacy rules any speaker that violates these rules will be asked to sit down and if the speaker refuses to comply they may be removed from the meeting speaker will not address topics that are subject of a public hearing all such comments shall be made at the public hearing the city council will not generally act on issues raised by the public input but may choose to schedule consideration of the item on a future agenda Diane [4:26] Diane Johnson: Diane Johnson 113 Primrose Lane Cannon Falls um speaking on the thing that is on the agenda for night consideration of the city going in with the ede do I have the initials right in terms of the purchase of the mulva Hill property I'm concerned about that um number one we already own the property on Sandstone Ridge earlier this year when the developers I think this year last year wanted to develop that there but said they didn't have enough money to do the infrastructure the city said no we don't have money for infrastructure on property we already own and so that was turned out and of [5:15] Diane Johnson: course they were not able to bill so I guess if we already own property we have developers who are willing to build housing for us if we put in infrastructure why we wouldn't start with that property as opposed to getting too involved in the property that we don't own yet also the asking price of this piece of land here at eight hundred thousand dollars seems to be fairly a lot more than what the assessed market value is which is four hundred thousand five hundred dollars according to last property tax bill it's not that I don't want to see this property developed I know when they were talking about putting the apartment building that's at The Cannonball spot I [6:01] Diane Johnson: thought one of the alternate places for it would be on this property that would then kind of spur development of the housing around it but that was not considered at that time the other thing is uh when we talk about the city not being able to afford infrastructure on one piece of land guaranteed or promising that we'd help with it on this piece of land and at the same time we're going to have a public hearing tonight where every time we put in or redo streets we're charging our assessing our property owners 20 percent which I understand is what we do but at the same time it almost seems a little unfair to me that we are making certain Property Owners pay and because whoever owns this [6:48] Diane Johnson: property now hasn't been able to develop and I know they've been trying for at least five years if not more because I looked at that land when it was on the uh Canon Realty website and they had it all laid out probably not planted officially but they had it all laid out with little streets and little lots and double lots and I thought well that might be a nice place to buy and build a house at this point I'm really glad I didn't go that way being nothing's there except that one little string of of houses so I would ask that you don't act on that proposal tonight really would ask if you could delay that and tell consideration until January or February when the new council is on because quite frankly it's the new Council that we'll have to follow [7:34] Diane Johnson: through on all of this and I would like to see more time to really study it more thank you [7:47] Acting Mayor Steve: okay that's it for uh public input oh Nicole's trying to get in [8:02] Acting Mayor Steve: Cole's trying to get into the zoo oh okay okay public hearings the first one is the 2023 final budget and Levy public hearing Neil thank you I know we've talked about this in quite length and it's been going on for several months and I apologize if you guys are getting sick of it but this is the last time I'm gonna review this and and uh and then we'll adopt a resolution at the next meeting so we'll be taking no action tonight the preliminary budget was adopted on September 6th and as uh as the council [8:49] Neil (Staff/Finance): knows once you adopt the preliminary budget we cannot increase our Levy but we can decrease our Levy I just want to hit some of the highlights um as we go through it I got a list of about 10 highlights that I know you've seen before but I want to present it to the public in 2023 we have a one percent salary adjustment uh one time in July and then a one percent in December we were very fortunate to uh um have a small increase of 3.47 on our health insurance uh I've heard a lot of horror stories out there that there's been some major increases so we uh we [9:36] Neil (Staff/Finance): kind of lucked out there this year I don't expect that to happen every year but this year in 2023 we're gonna do okay when I got here about three years ago we the council had decided to uh Implement a a Mill and overlay budget line item you put 130 000 in it at that time and we have been growing that uh every year incrementally and this year we put another 25 000 in it um but I I'm afraid that 25 000 is going to be eaten up by inflation um when once we've been talking about uh [10:21] Neil (Staff/Finance): but two minutes prices but if we did increase it we'd just be going backwards so that was increased from 175 000 to 200 000 for Mill and overlay of the streets Dan picks out what projects we're going to do and and we keep it within that range one good thing is uh and I see Nicole is on on here on Zoom is that our library building bond is the last year it's it's completed now so in 2023 and we won't have that to pay that was 78 thousand dollars what with that said a couple years ago [11:07] Neil (Staff/Finance): or was it last year we bought a fire truck and uh we burn through our Capital Money on the in the fire department and although we paid cash it drained the account so this year we put 121 thousand dollars in the fire capital account um to build another uh pot because I think we have another truck coming up here in in a few years that we're going to need to pay for one of the things that we worry about and I know motor fuel gas and utilities gas is coming back down but we don't know where it's going to land we're still volatile out there so as department heads [11:53] Neil (Staff/Finance): went through their budgeting they did increase the the gas and the utilities considerably and I concurred with them and it's always better to have a budget Reserve than to be wondering where you're going to get your gas and your utilities from one of the things that and this really surprised me when you hear today that the state of Minnesota has got what a 17 billion dollar uh Revenue uh Surplus forecast forecast our local government Aid comes from the state and they decided that they could increase ours thirty five hundred [12:39] Neil (Staff/Finance): dollars I'd like to thank them for that uh maybe a little sarcastic there but when you have that type of of uh Surplus it seems like they could come to the table a little bit invenergy gives us a uh uh dollars in lieu of taxes their increase is actually 12 130 for 2023 so that'll be coming in and that's just City they um they have uh School District gets a little and and County gets a little and we get a little out of that in lieu of taxes as you know whks and and the city and we've been working on a uh in fact there's a public hearing tonight on a two million dollar [13:26] Neil (Staff/Finance): sewer bridge and Street reconstruction reconstruction project that we're working on that's for 2023 so that'll be coming up and then uh I don't know a few couple months ago we talked and had a work session on whether we should be doing any increases in the storm the sewer and the and the water um fees you decided to do a one percent on that it generates through the three three funds twenty four thousand dollars we hadn't had a water and sewer increase since I got here so a one percent isn't an awful lot it's you know compared to what inflation has done so I think I think that was a a pretty [14:13] Neil (Staff/Finance): fair Shake as far as that goes uh so on if you look on the back side of your of your Levy sheet you know the proposed Levy for for 2023 is 3 306 956 which is a three point four nine percent increase from from 2022. [14:36] Neil (Staff/Finance): the date for the adoption is uh at our next council meeting um I'll present a resolution for you guys uh to uh adopt that's on December 20th at 6 30. and uh just some highlights of of general fund Etc the general fund went up on our total Levy a hundred and eleven thousand which is the 3.4 percent are Bond levies actually went down 3 700 as you know we had the one fall off but we also had some uh move up so and then our non-general fund [15:22] Neil (Staff/Finance): levies uh the library the fire department The Economic Development Fund went up 14 000 for 2.65 percent so that's kind of the generalities of the budget without going line item for line item I know um like I said you've you've studied this you've talked it over you've reviewed it and now we're at the final stretch so I think that's what I got there Acting Mayor Steve: okay thanks Neil um about this time I'm going to open the public hearing anybody that wants to speak to our proposed budget and now is the time is there anybody here [16:09] Becky Youngmark: Becky good evening I'm Becky youngmark um first I'd like to extend my deepest sympathies in the passing of Mary Jill she was dedicated to serving the city and I'm sure she's going to be greatly missed I'm here to ask why you're increasing the water sewer bills I know one percent doesn't seem like much to you but it is 20 years ago when the bond passed for the water treatment facility I remember voters being told it was a 20-year bond in anticipation of our city growth by several thousand people and that once the bond was paid off lower prices would be restored that Bond was paid off this year a resident population increased by less than 200 people in the last 10 years [16:54] Becky Youngmark: which is a whole other set of problems um yet the council is wanting to increase our extremely high water sewer rates according to resolution number 2283 rate changes were effective August 1st of 2017 and from 2017 to 2019 our rates jumped 27 cents per 100 cubic foot for water with a base increase of 65 cents per month our sewer rates went from an increase of 2.89 per month with a dollar one cent per cubic foot from 2017 to 2019 and for storm water charges it increased 34 cents per residential acre during those same three years with the horrible rise in inflation families are [17:41] Becky Youngmark: struggling to pay the rent their utilities their groceries and their gas another hike of one percent for water and sewer to bring in an additional twenty four thousand dollars for the city in the 2023 budget creates more hardship for the residents of the community I ask that the increase in the water sewer rates be postponed until 2024. [18:01] Becky Youngmark: thank you for your time Acting Mayor Steve: thanks Becky [18:12] Acting Mayor Steve: anybody else wanting to address the proposed budget third and last call anybody want to address the proposed 2023 budget I'm going to call I'm going to close the public hearing on the budget Council [18:42] Neil (Staff/Finance): no actions needed tonight no actions needed tonight [18:50] Acting Mayor Steve: so let's move on to [18:57] Acting Mayor Steve: resolution [19:04] Bill Angerman: resolution 2658 ordering improvements on directing preparation of final plans and specifications bill thank you acting mayor let me get hooked up here [Music] [19:38] Bill Angerman: Council and public tonight is our hearing for our 2023 Street and utility project uh so tonight uh what we'll be doing is uh going over kind of what I'll call a high level outline of the feasibility report that's also on your packet tonight that the council has previously reviewed and approved uh tonight what we'll be doing is we'll be following Minnesota statute 429 procedures so that's a very prescriptive process so we'll go through those steps at the end of the presentation then the public will have a chance to come up and give you input and we'll review this as we go but uh the end of the the goal tonight [20:23] Bill Angerman: is there a resolution in your packet which would order the Improvement and move forward so tonight is what I call the thumbs up or thumbs down are you proceeding or not proceeding some of the provisions of Assessments dollar amounts term things like that will be set later on so tonight this is the the vote where you have to decide by a super majority so in this case tonight a four-fifths majority to proceed or not to proceed so with that intro we'll get into the items so we'll talk about the area background what we're proposing to do again that assessment process what we're proposing for a schedule the cost and then we'll end with public comments okay so project area so all the [21:11] Bill Angerman: properties that are highlighted color were did receive notices that Sarah sent out to them notifying of the hearing tonight also notifying them of their proposed assessment amount the colors on the map the red stands for Street assessments so people properties of budding a robot that will be improved I have a red if you have green on your property that means that sewer will also be replaced uh you'll be assessed through sanitary sewer and and blue is water so if you'll notice a lot of the lots have all three so that basically then there's an assessment amount for each one uh some Lots you know like the church in the north up in the Northwest you know there's no Street there so it's just sewer and water and so on so again [21:58] Bill Angerman: that's our project project area and then we'll refer back to the little numbers they're a little hard to see here that corresponds to our assessment rule which has the names and all the detailed parcel information okay so going back on the background so the seed council did review the full report on November 1st you did at that uh meeting uh prove that and then set this hearing date tonight the council also held a workshop on November 15th and the reason that we held the workshop is I guess I'll jump back here uh if you'll notice you know one of the things like in a normal I shouldn't say a normal but in a you know a typical subdivision the lot sizes are all very similar and that means the assessments are similar here we have some really Big [22:45] Bill Angerman: Lots we have a lot of corner lots that makes assessments challenging to do because the assessments get large so we have that Workshop to discuss that so I want to make sure you know the public knows that we did discuss that and what we really discussed was you know we have an ordinance that specifies how we are to assess so what we did is we reviewed that at that Workshop we discussed should we do something different you know there's some different ideas different options and ultimately we decided to proceed per our ordinance so what we have tonight is you know you know follows that so the council uh obviously you'll be able to hear your input tonight you are not bound by that you can up until the final assessment you can modify or change those items so [23:31] Bill Angerman: again just want to play a little bit of the background out for particularly for the public who may not have heard that okay so why are we doing this project well really it kind of starts with the fourth bullet down there that's the sanitary sewer Bridge so uh in this area right here oops right here the sanitary sewer for this whole area actually crosses over the river about 10 feet over the river on literally a bridge to transport the sewer so that's been a it's aging it's getting old uh and flooding events trees uh it's stacked up against that there is a concern that that bridge at some point will fail so the intent of this project is that a lift station or the ability to pump sewage will be installed on the North side and a new pipe will be [24:18] Bill Angerman: drilled underneath the river so that was the first item and then along and then once we do that then we are wanted to address the other items we have other old sewer old water main the streets in poor condition we don't have good drainage in some areas so basically we'll be rebuilding the roads sewering water along with this and adding storm water treatment which is a requirement by Statute now so one of the things that just to make clear to the public is the sanitary sewer Bridge uh is not you know the items of costs associated with that are not being assessed same thing with the storm water treatment you know stormwater ponds that's not being assessed as well so your policy dictates that uh just the road the sewer and the water uh are [25:04] Bill Angerman: assessed also oversizing of pipes uh is not assessed as well so basically it's the base size of Aiden sewer eight inch water so yeah that's that's all spelled out in more detail in that feasibility report okay so what is being proposed so what's being proposed is that we'll have new streets new pavement that'll be 32 feet wide We'll add curb and gutter to help with drainage again as I mentioned earlier all the sewer all the water we'll be adding storm sewer as well this is intended to be the first of two phases of projects so tentatively two years from now the area to the north of here there's some drainage issues that area drains through here so these storm sewer will be extended up to that area but wanted to [25:51] Bill Angerman: point out that that storm sewer to serve that area to the north is not being assessed the only portion of the storm so that's being assessed is the portion that's collecting the drainage basically in front of people's houses uh as I mentioned earlier then that storm water basin and then that sewer Bridge okay those are the those are the main items in this all right so when a city is going to do assessments we have to follow Minnesota statute 429 so we have to we are required to explain that so we'll take a little bit of time tonight just to explain that so number one the city council you have to determine a need for a project you have done that this past summer then an engineering study needs to be performed which it has and then that engineering studying was the one that was reviewed at the [26:37] Bill Angerman: November first city council meeting uh so tonight is uh the hearing where you have to gather input so this is where residents again can offer their input on the project uh and and then ultimately uh tonight you have a resolution before you as I mentioned earlier you'll have to decide to move forward or not and that does require a four-fifth majority of the council members that are here okay second part of the process then so later on uh on your agenda tonight then if you do proceed with that first resolution then you would authorize the preparation of final plans and specifications so at this point you know the final design details you know the plans aren't prepared so we'll take the next couple months to prepare that then [27:22] Bill Angerman: the project is publicly bid and then this next step is important so up up until now at this point all costs are are estimates so we don't have a contractor we don't have bids so everything is preliminary I want to really stress that and particularly right now with the volatility in prices inflation things like that so we don't actually know the final amount until we open those bids so we will open bids then we will have a final assessment hearing so at that hearing then people will know their actual final amount not tonight's an estimate we hope that estimate's pretty accurate but at that hearing then the members of the public can present evidence to the council why that assessment value [28:09] Bill Angerman: did not provide a benefit to their property so the statute says that if we assess somebody that the value of the assessment their property must go up that amount in value okay so that's not tonight so obviously people can offer input into the project but anything to do with the value of the assessment contesting the assessment that would occur at a later date so you are the body of government that hears that assessment if someone would wanted to appeal that they would appeal that the district court but that would occur in the spring so tonight again is not that uh meeting so at that hearing in the spring then after that is over you would award a Construction contract the project is intended then to be be built in the 2023 construction season and then uh and then [28:55] Bill Angerman: well I guess that would be had to be done uh one of the things you know there are some things we have talked about as far as materials we're going to be able to get things you know Etc to build a lift station and everything appears that we'd be able to get other than some of the controls for the lift station we're hearing there still are some long lead times but we think we'll be early enough but that is one of my concerns moving forward that again there's still some shortages of materials you know really across the whole nation across the globe so okay so what so these are the specific dates so I mentioned so again the hearing tonight you're going to consider ordering at those there's those dates uh the final assessment hearing would be in May uh either obviously your first or your one of their two meetings in May with construction in June and then [29:42] Bill Angerman: complete construction fall and then uh I want to put a little bit of a tentative Twist on that complete construction because until we get plans done and really lock in some suppliers and things like that we won't know that here for a couple months so uh next time when everybody is probably most interested in is what are the costs of this project Neil mentioned a little earlier in the budget uh this project is estimated at just under 2.1 million dollars according to your assessment policy the vast majority of this project is not assessed it's 20 of the allowable costs so that means that 264 thousand dollars would be assessed to the budding properties uh the council does have a few methods [30:28] Bill Angerman: you can choose staff is recommending we use What's called the adjusted front foot method that is because of the various different sizes of the Lots it's really the only practical method so adjusted front foot method calls for it's a formula that is it was in the report but basically it's 100 of the the short side and then uh half of the long set up to 150 feet utilities on the short side no utilities for the first 150 feet so again I'm kind of rattling that off kind of quickly but there's a formula that we follow to determine that okay so what that does then is that the assessments they they vary because again the size of the it's really based on the front footage and we have a couple unique properties uh you know where we [31:16] Bill Angerman: have a couple exceptions but the assessment ranges from uh three thousand eight hundred dollars to twenty six thousand four hundred dollars so we did spend quite a bit of time talking about that because I think the council and staff recognize that we have some large Lots here so that have some some larger assessments so every there's the individual assessment amounts uh were sent out I do have that spreadsheet here I think we looked at that Workshop if questions would arise on that so acting there at that point that's the end of the presentation so at this point uh I will sit down and we will move to the public comment portion and I don't know if it's helpful maybe I'll just leave this up here with a map just in case anybody has any questions so thank you [32:05] Acting Mayor Steve: so at this point I'm going to open the public hearing do anybody want us to speak to this uh Improvement um come on up to the mic your name and give us your input [32:27] Acting Mayor Steve: anybody wishing to speak to the proposed Street Improvement second call anybody wishing to speak to the proposed City Improvement third and last call anybody wishing to speak to the proposed Street Improvement hearing none I'll close the public hearing Council [33:02] Council Member Montgomery: I'll make a motion to approve resolution 2658 Council Member Duncan: well second Acting Mayor Steve: motion by Montgomery second by Duncan to approve lost my number here [33:28] Acting Mayor Steve: what is that 26.58 26.58 any further discussion I would just like to say that um there's some streets in bad condition down there I think it's time it's time to improve though those streets straighten out some of the some of the boundaries plus uh we need to put that pipe across underneath there before that sewer Bridge which carries everything from that side of town across we really need to get going on that [34:16] Acting Mayor Steve: that's uh that's all I have to say if there's no further discussion all in favor I I pose motion carries [Music] okay um on the consent agenda uh consent agenda items may be adopted under one motion as presented or may be removed for discussion and resolution as a council business so I will list them Justin correct claims County [35:01] Acting Mayor Steve: period ending December 1st 2022 meeting minutes for November 15 2022. meeting minutes for November 15th 2022 council meeting I should say B was for the council work session D approve Amanda approve amended 2023 Street utility project professional service agreement e resolution 2656 accepting a monetary donation of three thousand one hundred and four dollars from Cannon Falls fire department relief Association Resolute F resolution 2657 approving conditional use permit for three one six three three 64th Avenue [35:50] Acting Mayor Steve: G approved quote from Precision landscape and tree uh H approve water leak credit and I approve what I say work session for Valley View at our next council meeting on December 20th is there any item or items that the council wants to bring down [36:24] Council Member: pull down G the screen just went so happy a quote from Precision landscape and tree we'll call that Council business B um I would like to pull down a Justin correct claims so that'll be Council business C anything else anybody would like to bring down if not I'll take a motion to approve the [37:11] Acting Mayor Steve: council agenda except for those two items so moved second approved by Derek yep second by Montgomery to approve the consent agenda except for the aforementioned items money further discussion all in favor aye aye aye hoes Aries okay so let's see let's see next thing is hardwood estate Smallville Hill property acquisition Laura [38:04] Laura Qualey: good evening how are you Council okay so we are going to talk about the mulva hill property AKA hardwood Estates um so on the this is the study map here so the area in pink is where the hardwood Estates or mobile property resides on the eastern part of town um here's an aerial map so the Eda has been discussing this property for quite some time I know that actually back in 2018 I think some discussions had started which precedes most of us I think that we're on the Eda board with Glenn mulva Hill that owns [38:51] Laura Qualey: the property so anyway back and forth things have discussions have kind of flared back and forth and anyway um housing has been a big discussion on our strategic planning for the last couple years especially and you know over the last few years our comprehensive plan for this city actually the last one that we had done and approved from city council was back in 2003 so needless to say it's pretty old but one thing that hasn't changed significantly is the population in that 20 years so we've had quite a few projects some quite a few [39:36] Laura Qualey: developers and quite a few different plans that were supposed to have happened within that 20 years that never came to fruition as far as different developments and what I wanted to show you was um just some statistics that I pulled from the 2020 census let me just blow this up so you can see it a little bit better so this is from the actual U.S census and this is from Cannon Falls versus so 2010 to 2020. [40:18] Laura Qualey: and it says Cannon Falls and some of our neighboring communities up and down the 52 Corridor but then also I included Hampton uh Goodhue and Randall why include a good Hugh in Randolph because those are a couple of the different school districts that are kind of cannibalizing some of our students so I included them as well even though they're not on the same 52 Corridor as we are but as you can see Cannon Falls has you know even though we're that largest community amongst those that are listed we've had the lowest amount of growth within that time period so um [41:03] Laura Qualey: I guess what we've been discussing I mean it's we've seen that we've known that over the time but the Eda is kind of we've been waiting and we've been hearing from different developers and Builders over the years that yep we're going to build we're going to build we're going to build but yet we have yet to see a significant amount of rooftops happening so the Eda has decided that it's maybe in our best interest to just take the risk and to purchase a property ourselves and to develop the property another significant piece of information that I wanted to share with you is that according to our comprehensive plan the population growth that they had anticipated [41:49] Laura Qualey: based on the growth that we were seeing back in the late 90s and early 2000s was that by 2015 they had projected that our population was supposed to be 7100 at that time so in 2001 just for another little tidbit or little snack of trivia is that our new water treatment plant was built at that time and at this point and they had built it to based on these projections and right now we're using just roughly about half of its capacity that it was built at based on these projections so we were positioned and poised for this [42:35] Laura Qualey: kind of growth at that time but yet now we've got a 20 year old water treatment facility plant that we're not even using at its capacity so we did a joint session with the um with the finance committee earlier this or it was in November and anyway we'd made a presentation we do have a signed purchase agreement from Glenn mull the hill regarding this property and we would like to um we did get the support from the finance committee to purchase the property what we would like to do is the Eda does have the [43:22] Laura Qualey: funds to put down a down payment for the property and make the first payment for tooth in 2023 we will be doing a four-year contract for deed and but what we would need from the city what we're asking is that we could get some financial support to help put in the infrastructure and also do the engineering pay for some of the engineering and work that would have to be done in order for us to get the grading done the planning done so that we could start building herbs so that we could start selling lots so right now in 23 with interest rates going up and the prices of homes haven't really evened out with the interest rates 23 would [44:08] Laura Qualey: actually be a really great year for us to start putting in the infrastructure and getting this plan together so that we can start selling lots um so that we can start seeing some rooftops actually in 2024. so um I have more information more statistics that I could certainly bore you with if you're interested that's from the comprehensive plan um that I could show you and a lot of it is based on the information you know the different dwelling units that were supposed to have been built within you know between 2003 and 2008 different units that were supposed to be built [44:53] Laura Qualey: whoops within um in 2013 or between 2008 and 2013 showing what the population was supposed to have been again these are things that didn't happen with a private sector that were supposed to have happened some of them were plans that had gone through Planning Commission they were approved they were ready to go and they never happened Sandstone Ridge was one that was ready to rock streets infrastructure everything was in and then it failed so um you know so we've had different different things start and stop but we just feel that this is a really great opportunity and I think that it would be it yes it is a risk but I think that it's something that we definitely need to do ourselves if we actually want to [45:39] Laura Qualey: see our community grow and see our schools continue to grow we've got great programs we've got wonderful staff and we've got a great amenities that I think supersede a lot of the other communities that are growing along around us and there's no reason that we shouldn't be at the top of that list for growth so I'll take any questions you may have Acting Mayor Steve: you know approximately how many units we'd be looking at in this um the original property when it was plotted that had gotten approved I'm trying to think of what year that maybe 2018 I think this one maybe that that original that one hardwood Estates was plotted [46:25] Laura Qualey: um that was before the 24 was officially in so now the 24 that 24 connection isn't I think that's shaved off a few of the Lots so at that time there were about 109 lots that were planted in there so I think that it would be hovering around a hundred possibly okay um have you gotten any um knowing that you're always on the phone have you got any interest from local builders that are excited about moving ahead with this and Acting Mayor Steve: you know I'm glad that you asked that [47:10] Laura Qualey: Steve because um what we would be interested in doing is that um you know we would want Builders to purchase the lots and build and sell you know so that's what we would want to happen um you know we wouldn't look at just you know we wouldn't just look for one Builder necessarily to come in so I mean if you know someone wanted to come in and they wanted to buy up you know six lots and just sit on them that's not what we're looking for you know we're looking for multiple people to come in and buy we're looking for you know it to be um we've talked about different ideas as to what it would look like you know I mean it could be some houses for rent it [47:57] Laura Qualey: could be Town Homes it could be single family homes you know so it could be some different mixed use type of housing it being right across from the school I know that superintendent Sampson is very excited about this possibility um because there is there's no more ideal space in or place in town than this development for families to build Minnesota or MnDOT does have a program safe routes to school so that that would also offer some funding that we could apply for with this project that we could also build into the planning that whether it's a route a tunnel you know or route under this under the 19 to have a bike and walk path underneath [48:44] Laura Qualey: um there would be that type of route to school but there's those types of things that we can incorporate into the planning as well okay Acting Mayor Steve: Laura um there's uh Diane made a comment in public input about City pain money for infrastructure could you explain so that everybody can understand how it is that the Eda will be paying the city back as we forward the money Laura Qualey: yep so when the infrastructure is put in what would happen is that um that the cost for that would actually get worked into the price of the lot and then when the lot is sold then those costs get recouped back to the city and [49:33] Laura Qualey: so I will actually show um I will show this just to I mean just to understand that the Eda does have Assets in its account so we're not just coming to Mom and Dad for some money we actually do have some funds available it's just that we wouldn't have enough to make you know purchase it all at once so again the purchase agreement is a four-year contract for deed we would do a two hundred thousand dollar down payment right now and then it would be a 169 thousand dollar payment for the next four years but the Eda we would keep some money in [50:20] Laura Qualey: our revolving loan funds that we could help out businesses for whatever reason whatever they would need we do have some loans coming due within 2006 or before 2026 so that's another two hundred thousand dollars that we would have coming in we have some contingent land sales and then we also have another couple properties that would possibly be coming in so we do have about seven hundred thousand dollars that we would have coming in but um but to your question Bill we would need some of the money from this city you know just to kind of help get us jump started to get some of those upfront costs done but as we sell the property the inner fund loan basically that we're asking for the city we would pay you back as we sold those lots off [51:06] Acting Mayor Steve: and one other piece of the purchase agreement is that mullville has included one of the conditions or terms of the loan is that if we were if a developer were to come in and say hey I want to buy 20 acres of that 44 acres to do something myself and build he will release that those that acreage as part of the terms so or if we sell that we develop phase one and develop those those Acres he will release that part of the deed right I I did want to mention we had done a similar thing we had Advanced the Historical Society some money to purchase the home adjacent to it and they're paying us back over time [51:53] Council Member Derek: this is a similar type thing only on obviously a much larger scale but so it's not that the city is giving away money to this group or that group we are being reimbursed so correct to make everybody aware of that um one worry I maybe would have if this didn't work for a private developer like if there were issues that no one wanted to do it what what issues would we have that you know would make us be able to do it that a private developer wouldn't like does that make sense like this is sat empty for so long I'm sure it's been looked at and for whatever reason nobody wanted to develop it Laura Qualey: well and I think it becomes at such a [52:39] Laura Qualey: large chunk of land I think that probably it would be the infrastructure and I guess I'm not an engineer so I guess I would maybe defer to Bill I go Bill Angerman: bill would you maybe have something to add to I think as far as development costs is slightly higher than an average lot but I just maybe I'll go off a little bit sideways here you know uh Neil and I have been asked various questions about this property and the short version is we've talked to other developers about would they be willing to do this and the answer quite simply has been we have other properties closer to Rochester that we can do first that's that's been the thing we've heard over and over that there's just more profit there so that's that's probably [53:24] Bill Angerman: the main thing I've heard yeah Council Member Derek: I just don't want to get stuck with something like Sandstone again where something happens that we can't um finish it one other thing we do have the uh I think it's the haze ionization on the north end of town that's going to be you know hopefully considerable size two are we worried that maybe there'll be believe it or not too many buildable Lots coming in at once or you know that is I'm glad that you did ask that question Derek because they you know we have thought about that competing with the private sector um the one thing that we have talked about in our Eda meetings is that that is such a specific type of home that they are building in the what they call [54:12] Laura Qualey: the Carlson Bluff Carlson Farm Bluffs or the greensmith the greensmith development because they are environmental friendly electric homes so they're a smaller smaller footprint they're a smaller square footage and their electric homes so they are going to be a smaller home with a much higher price point and for a very specific type of person whereas these homes that would be built across from the school are going to be more fam not that the not that greensmith is not going to be family friendly I don't mean to say but I think it's going to be two different markets you know so you know you think of the um they'll be a little bit higher price but like I said [54:58] Laura Qualey: um but they will be a little more secluded you know I mean they're going to have you know a really um more protected type of area and the ones that are by the school are going to want that proximity to the school or they're going to want that really quick access you know to 52 or to Red Wing or whatever it might be so I think it's going to be a totally different Market but we definitely have considered that because we didn't want to I mean we just we get this great chunk of land annexed and we've got this great developer and we certainly don't want to now compete with him and chase them out but thank you for asking that anything else [55:45] Acting Mayor Steve: derived um that was um so it was listed at I think 850 I think is what it was listed at when it was on the market um Glenn did not renew his contract and so he's he was willing to do instead of a one-time buyout he was willing to do a contract for deed over the four years with a down payment and then do a five percent interest rate on it so he was willing to and so he's kind of sticking his neck out you know as far as taking that four-year or five year actually buyout instead so that's that's how that worked [56:34] Council Member: what I think that um what works for me and and um when we talked about it at the finance committee yeah was it um we were talking to Bankers that were sitting right down on the seats there and uh I guess if two Bankers uh among other people can agree that it's gonna pencil out I guess kind of got to listen to professionals too a little bit and and the finance committee uh both Steve and I had asked Neil um if the city what could handle uh you know the project and did we have the money to kind of give it in advance and Neil was [57:21] Council Member: comfortable with that so the finance committee wanted to move this forward [57:32] Acting Mayor Steve: so if there's if there aren't any other questions um I guess I would you know I I wish that I could say that I had a firm number you know to ask for I don't um but I guess the Eda is asking for your support um and you know as we're able to get firmer costs and whatnot like I said I mean we would be able to close on the property yet this year uh with our 200 000 down payment um and like I said we'll for sure be able to do our first year payment which should be at the end of 2023 next year um and we would be able to start getting things going in 23. so [58:20] Acting Mayor Steve: um I'll leave it to you thanks Laura you're welcome how do you want this handle just a a motion to move this forward okay Council Member Bill Angerman (?): yeah I'll make I'll make a motion to uh to support this uh this project uh and move it forward Council Member Derek: a second for a second me Eric secondary Acting Mayor Steve: oh motion by Bill uh second by Derek to move the hardwood estate Smallville Hill property acquisition forward is there any further discussion all in favor [59:05] Acting Mayor Steve: aye aye hoes motion carries uh Council business B is precision landscape and tree Laura I just wanted to clarify a couple things um can we Define what clean wood is maybe I just don't know Laura Qualey: I asked that I had that same question so a definition of clean wood is wood that has not been started on fire so we haven't had any fires we haven't attempted to burn anything down there so we have all clean wood so man they're they're gonna grind all that wood then and take it away [59:51] Laura Qualey: for whatever use they're gonna use it for is that correct correct he's found a market for the wood chips so they'll grind and haul and that includes the big the big stuff so I had that question also about big stumps or big you know big trunks that were left and uh they will break up the big trunks with the excavator and they will fit it into the grinder [1:00:42] Acting Mayor Steve: he's got an opening in his schedule I think he's got a market for this wood he would come tomorrow so he's going to give an idea of how long it'll take um he thought this was a fairly small job compared to some he's done he was thinking three to four days [1:01:28] Council Member: certainly solves a big problem for us I think it does yeah yeah I'm I'm we've been talking about it for a while obviously it's an issue we still need to talk about how we're going to handle commercial haulers in the future right um I will admit that I am disappointed that we're ending up paying more than we would have if we would have just had it taken care of by Clinton in the beginning but I've learned a lot about wood grinding in the last six months yeah so that disappoints me but we're here did we ask Clinton by any chance if he was interested in this I did not uh this this party came to [1:01:28] Acting Mayor Steve: Public Works so um I thought that it sounded like a fair price there's no time limit on it um there's there's no repair limitations there nothing like that it's just strictly setting up grinding hauling out and and leaving so okay [1:01:58] Council Member Duncan: well I'll make a motion to approve the quote from Precision landscape and tree Council Member Montgomery: second by Duncan second by Montgomery to approve the quote by Precision landscape and tree Acting Mayor Steve: is there any further discussion all in favor aye opposed motion carried okay item number c is I want to talk to Jeff uh Justin correct claims uh we had some excessive not excessive a lot of bills for Squad repair [1:02:45] Acting Mayor Steve: um totaled around fifty three hundred dollars one was on Squad 451 one was the 2018 and one was a 2017. is that a typical that's just another month in Canada Falls no Chief Jeff McCormick: the what you've seen what you're seeing coming through are the repairs for Hail repair most of those are covered through the League's Insurance um if you recall we had a hail storm that acted the the city earlier this spring the squads are just more complicated to get repaired because we had to get all the graphics removed if you recall around mid-summer all of our [1:03:30] Chief Jeff McCormick: cars ended up with magnets on them because they couldn't do the repairs until we got all of the graphics off oh okay um and then one of them might have been the repairs for the squad that was damaged in that abduction and pursuit case yeah one was uh done at emergency Automotive yep and that was that was uh the the repairs for the equipment damaged and getting them put back on the uh the squad so that's probably a reimbursed thing again it goes through the league um and then they uh in fact I got noticed that they'd filed claim uh for restitution uh with the court on it the only way to Noah's ask right uh [1:04:18] Acting Mayor Steve: Justin correct claims for the accounting period and in December 1st second uh Council Member: Washed by Guess me second by Montgomery to approve just some correct claims Acting Mayor Steve: is there any further discussion all in favor hey opposed motion carries okay [1:04:44] Acting Mayor Steve: Council committee reports the only one I have is Eda and most of what we dealt with was brought to us tonight by Laura so we're good there I don't know orchigo I'm gonna go check [1:05:15] Laura Qualey: um yeah right I will add that while um the house that's on 300 East Minnesota street did get um taken down in the last day and a half so that is that's a good thing so that will be now a new lot that the Housing Initiative will build on in the fall that the Cannon Falls construction class will build so that's kind of a a fun little project that'll happen next year Nicole are you with us Australian Chinese [1:06:01] Nicole (Library Rep): yes sorry I'm babysitting so um yeah to be able to answer any questions about the library budget but also just off the top of my head some things that we're doing at the library we are doing the Hat decorating contest again so please come down um we are starting up and you want to see honey we're starting up a new silent book club so that promise this is my neph my nephew so hi um the premise of the silent book club is that you get to bring your own book and sit and read with other people and [1:06:46] Nicole (Library Rep): tell the other people about the book that you're reading and then that's a really good way to share what we like and get some good book advisories so you don't have to sign up for it it's just I believe it's the second Tuesday of the month from 5 30 to 7. so that's one of our new programs and check out our calendar for all of our other new things and that's it if you have any questions go ahead and ask Ed a call Acting Mayor Steve: thank you thank you you're welcome hi Danny you have anything Acting Mayor Steve: bill you talked enough Diane [1:07:38] Diane Johnson: um thank you Monday um 6 30 we will have a Planning Commission meeting on the jablonski pre-plat Laura Qualey: Laura you have anything else I do not Chief Jeff McCormick: Chief I believe that uh the majority of our Squad repairs are through the December 1st I know there's at least one that will still be coming through again that's you know and just completing the uh the stuff that was already in progress they're just having to fit us into the schedule the uh the car that was used by the ambulance department is that going to go into your service are we selling that it came back to us and it's actually already been [1:08:23] Chief Jeff McCormick: sold um we sold uh three um fleet vehicles uh and consulate directed those funds back into our capital I just uh contacted the uh State uh the vendor for State contract on the squads and found out that they apparently opened up the 2023 order earlier this uh late this summer for three weeks and it's now closed and so they will be taking 24 orders sometime this summer um was not something that I was aware of or even anticipated so I'm a little concerned that we're going to see the mileage getting up on the squads in [1:09:12] Chief Jeff McCormick: the you know area that's going to cause us you know just operational costs and keeping them running uh but that's just the way it is they said they have some hybrids and they're going to be comparing our previous order to those and then getting back to me um so I may may bring that uh request it would be looking at a hybrid vehicle as opposed to just a standard gas engine unfortunately I would expect that you know the hybrid pricing that I've seen is usually more than just the the regular gas price so that's where I'm at vehicles Neil (Staff/Finance): Sarah Neil just a piggyback on uh his conversation about uh how far out vehicles and equipment is and I know Dan [1:09:58] Neil (Staff/Finance): has run into that also about buying a 24 and 22 because you can't get anything uh sooner so um and I don't know what we have coming up on the Public Works uh as far as equipment but we've got to look forward in order to get it in time we've got to look forward out a couple years and I don't know when that's ever going to change so I don't know we'll we'll be talking more about that in the future thanks Laura Mayor Matt Montgomery: Matt uh just want to say thoughts and prayers uh with Bill and your family when I got the news of Mary Jill um [1:10:44] Mayor Matt Montgomery: I just wanted to say thank you for all of our service because you know when she had the news she could have stepped down but she continued to serve this community all the way to the end and I think that that is I think that is worth noting and it was she was very funny and very musically talented and we were lucky that we had her so well um yeah [1:11:19] Council Member Duncan: Mary Jill meant the world to me I'm gonna miss her and the world is a little less brighter place with her gone that's it Acting Mayor Steve: Steve sure yeah um my condolences to Bill and all of her friends and family you know when she got on the council I literally didn't even know who she was I'd seen her name but over the last uh I think it's been four years just sitting by her talking to her we Facebook chatted all the time just about life and whatever usually not even City stuff and I'm really gonna miss her she was she was a [1:12:05] Acting Mayor Steve: great person thanks um I'd like to say also to about Mary Jill that she was a recipient for all my off color off mic jokes that I I could think of when she was sitting here so I think she served the community do well served her church well and she served the city of Cannon Falls with that I'll take a motion to adjourn Council Member Montgomery: so moved second by Montgomery to adjourn Acting Mayor Steve: any further discussion all in favor foreign