[0:01] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Comment but then when Cody brings the presentation he's going to say this is not public as well. You could mention that. Yeah, he's going to but you could sure at the beginning. Sure, either way I think it's covered. Time being 7 o'clock I call the Hastings City Council meeting to order. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for [0:46] Mayor Mary Fasbender: all. Welcome and let the roll reflect that we have a full quorum. And tonight we have a visitor; Dr. Tammy Champa is here with us tonight with the school district and she is going to give us an update. Welcome. [1:13] Dr. Tammy Champa: Tammy, push this button. Yes, you're on. Yeah, oh I'm already on. All right. All right, well thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. I know tonight's a big night so I won't take a lot of time, but I have been—this is what I'm calling my tour of gratitude. Prior this year we were asking for support for a tech levy, and school districts are really known to make the rounds and ask for things when they need something, and they're not always known for doing the same when they just have a message of gratitude. So tonight I just want to say thank you. The partnership with the city—I'll speak to that in just a minute—has been second to none. And as we look at what our community is saying [1:58] Dr. Tammy Champa: about the school and where our priorities should be, a lot of it's been in areas that have been partnerships with the city. So with that, that's why I'm here, just to say thank you for the ongoing support of our school system and then to be able to give you just a couple of highlights of the things that are currently top of mind for us. One of the things that I've been talking about is with the Hastings School District, we have 171 square miles. It's a large geographical area and this is the time of year that typically you're talking a lot about snow days and what that might look like, and this year we're just not doing that. So I'm certainly grateful for that but am cautious as to what I say. We are currently serving just about 4,000 [2:44] Dr. Tammy Champa: students in the grades K through 12 in six different sites. Everything we do we like to have aligned to our strategic plan and staying true to students are at the heart of all that we do. Earlier this fall we took a survey—our parents and our staff all were asked what should the priorities of our district be in alignment with our strategic plan. And they told us five things, and those five things were clearly communicated that they were: School Safety and Security, recruit and retain high-quality staff, student behavior/discipline, mental health services, and Career and Technical education. And we had about 18 that were identified but these were clearly the top five, and so with that, that's also [3:30] Dr. Tammy Champa: been top of mind. Academics—we've been doing a lot of work in the recent legislation with the READ Act and I'm just really proud in Hastings we've made great gains with that. The school board has already approved the professional development that all of our teachers will have, so we have 130 teachers, we'll be starting that July 1 of this year. And then at the next school board meeting there'll also be approving the curriculum. So the state of Minnesota has approved five curriculum options that are eligible for reimbursement and funding and so we are moving forward with that. And so the science of reading has been a new conversation in a way that we're looking at literacy like we have not before, much of it based on—if you've heard the podcast *Sold a Story* is where a lot of that has originated from. So a lot of work with the READ Act. Also we have an innovation team going on right now which is looking at that Career and Technical Readiness and what we also heard from our parents. So we've been looking at other systems, Shakopee being one of them, that has six pathways of learning and looking at that, listening to our student voices and really our industry partners that we have a meeting again later this week to have further conversations with them as well. So we're excited about the potential and possibilities with that. In fact we had a board meeting not long ago and I just mentioned this and we had two members stay for the three-hour meeting and afterwards I noted their perseverance and they said, "We're just [5:03] Dr. Tammy Champa: really excited about some possibilities." So it's fun to see that and anxious to continue those conversations. We've been fortunate to be awarded a couple of grants just recently: one for non-exclusionary discipline—so right now that's an area that we also saw some legislation in—and so we were just awarded a grant for $254,000 to continue our work there. And then also with Tier 1 support for our students, we were awarded a grant in for the amount of $200,000 in that area. So we're excited about that. Also in our middle school and high school we're doing a lot of work with curriculum and on the foundational piece and putting back in place after COVID our curriculum review cycle. It's not just literacy [5:49] Dr. Tammy Champa: that we are having a lot of conversations about but all areas as well. The number one thing that we heard from our community and our staff was Safety and Security. So just a number of things that are going on there right now. Thanks to the partnership with the city, we have applied for a grant for Safe Routes to School. There was a grant back in 2010 which just supported the middle school; this recent one that was just submitted is for the entire district. So it will support all six locations and we're really excited about that with the upcoming work on 61 and 55 and also with some further development as well, just making sure that we provide the safest routes as possible. Our system for our schools [6:37] Dr. Tammy Champa: is called Raptor Technologies and we're looking at expanding that also, which that's the monitoring system now for all of our visitors and a reunification plan there as well. Just earlier today met with the police department and could not be more pleased with our relationship there as we talk about our school resource officer. We've been so fortunate to continue that relationship during a difficult time with legislation and so we're certainly grateful for that. And we were talking about our emergency plans as well. We've just expanded our camera system, doing a lot of work behind the scenes with cyber security and a lot of work within our buildings also as we look at Safety and Security and discipline. With discipline I just [7:23] Dr. Tammy Champa: mention too that we have a grant in that area that was awarded. We're doing Catalyst training at our elementary school which is a behavior management, and our building principals are giving the board quarterly reviews as to our current behavior and discipline. And we've done a lot of work in our middle school with our scheduling and what that looks like specifically as we come back for the 24-25 school year. And all of this can't be done without ongoing partnerships, and the partnership with the city, as I mentioned at the beginning, is just second to none. And I look forward to those continued conversations and City Administrator and I are meeting tomorrow, and I just really look forward to that continued work that we're doing together and it [8:09] Dr. Tammy Champa: truly takes a village and so I'm grateful for the continued support. So any questions you might have? [8:14] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Thank you Dr. Champa. Council, any questions for... No. Councilmember Fox? [8:24] Councilmember Jen Fox: Thank you Mayor. Thank you Dr. Champa. We are so fortunate to have you here. Our district is going to thrive because of you. You are such a gift. We are very excited. As you will know, I work with our Hastings show choirs as one of the directors for Riverside Company, and I just want to share this little story. You came to our pre-season show [8:54] Councilmember Jen Fox: without being invited and you sent us a note to thank us for our performance and you are such a special gift to our district. Thank you. We have a lot of challenges ahead of us and we as a community are here to step up and support you in your work and our teachers in their work, and we appreciate you for supporting them. [9:17] Dr. Tammy Champa: Thank you. I greatly appreciate that. And it is a team, and if there's ever been a time to support our educators it's now. So I appreciate that very much and I look forward to our work together. So thank you. [9:28] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Thank you Councilmember Fox and thank you Dr. Champa. Approval of minutes: Councilmembers, are there any approval or additions or corrections to the February 20th or the 26th for the workshop? Okay. Comments from the audience: At this time if anyone would like to speak to the council, they may step to the podium. Please state your name and your address and whatever you would like to speak to us. [10:07] Mary Nehring: Good evening. My name is Mary Nehring and I live at 58 Three Rivers Drive. I come today to ask your declaration of Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Week. It is March 10th through the 16th. I have been living with multiple sclerosis for 23 and a half years and it's been a wild journey. However, I have friends here that have come to support that are working within the Society and helping us bring [10:53] Mary Nehring: awareness, knowledge, help raise funds for research and for services for people living with multiple sclerosis. So with that I would like to ask you to make a motion to declare March 10th through the 16th MS Awareness Week in Hastings. [11:08] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Well Mary, we appreciate you being here and the audience that you brought with to support you and multiple sclerosis. Council? Councilmember Haus. [11:21] Councilmember Angie Haus: Thank you, your honor. I would like to make a motion for the proclamation of MS Awareness Week. I think it's a great cause and I am so happy to see such a great room filled with so many good people that I know can support this cause and continue it. [11:38] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Thank you Councilmember Haus. And Councilmember Fox with a second. Discussion Council? All those in favor of the motion state by saying "aye." (Council: Aye). Opposed to that motion state by saying "nay." And that motion passes. And Mary, look forward to—maybe seeing—and on our website we'll post the actual proclamation for you all to see. So we do appreciate you coming out. [12:05] Mary Nehring: Thank you. And I was wondering if we could get a picture with all our advocates and with the city council? [12:12] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Absolutely. Come on up, guys. [12:27] (Group gathers for photos) [14:13] Mayor Mary Fasbender: All right. Council, I would accept a motion to approve the consent agenda. [14:19] Councilmember Dave Pemble: So moved. [14:20] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Councilmember Pemble and a second by Councilmember Folch. All those in favor of the motion state by saying "aye." (Council: Aye). Opposed to that motion state by saying "nay." And that motion prevails. Tonight under awarding of contracts we have the 2024 Neighborhood Infrastructure Improvements and authorized advertisement for bids. And we are glad to have with us tonight Cody Mathisen. Cody is the principal engineer for our public works department. Welcome Cody. [14:58] Cody Mathisen: Thank you Mayor. Mayor and Council, we're here tonight to talk about our 2024 Neighborhood Infrastructure Improvements project. Before I get started I just wanted to make a note that tonight's public hearing is related to the scope and features of the project. We will touch briefly on assessments, but there will be a separate hearing to give your comments to the city council on assessments on April 1st. So I just wanted to note that before we get started. Myself and Bo, our engineering technician, will make ourselves available after the meeting if you do have specific questions on your property that you want to talk through. So just wanted to offer that up. Anything else that you wanted to have me cover before we jump in Mayor? [15:42] Mayor Mary Fasbender: I think that's good Cody, thank you. [15:44] Cody Mathisen: Okay, so we'll jump right in. We'll do a presentation, we'll conduct our public hearing, and then hopefully we'll get to getting a resolution to approve our plans and authorize our advertisement for bids. So our project goals: Why we show up in any area of our CIP is typically because our pavements are failing. The streets usually trigger an area getting on our Capital Improvement Plan. We look to address our failing pavement, our curb and gutters, and the drainage of the overall area needs to be improved. It's also an opportunity when we have the street surface ripped up to look at our aging utilities. So in this neighborhood in particular that we're improving with this project, we've got everything from utilities that need to be replaced right now to utilities that have some useful life. And while we're in here working on these streets, it's also a great time to look at our pedestrian facilities, enhance them as needed and improve connectivity of our trail and sidewalk facilities. [16:35] Cody Mathisen: So where the 2024 project will take place: The streets shown in red are our streets that are being proposed for reconstruction. This would include 17th Street, Brittany Road, and that northernmost block of Highland Drive. The streets shown in green are being proposed for our reclamation; so that would include Highland Drive—that southerly two-thirds—21st Street, Brooke Lane, and Brooke Court. Reclamation improvement would include recycling of the existing aggregate base and the existing pavement, largely leaving the existing curbs in place, whereas the full reconstruction, the curb and gutter would come out, street surface comes out, and we'd be doing a full reconstruction of the underground utilities. [17:17] Cody Mathisen: Kind of a quick look in to a sample of one of our reconstruction streets, which is Brittany Road. I don't need an engineering degree to tell you that this road needs to be replaced. I think most people could make that determination on their own. We've got every color of pothole mix from the last 20 years in there. These streets are 36 feet wide curb-to-curb today. I'll talk a little bit more in a couple slides here; we are looking to narrow 17th Street and Brittany Road slightly. The utilities underneath these streets, starting with the water main, we've got cast iron pipe about 50 years old and there's a history of breaks in these neighborhoods, with our most recent one just taking place in December on 17th Street. So these are actively failing and these are the ones that I'm saying we need to replace right here, right now. Sanitary sewers are clay, near 50 years old; visible root intrusions causing heavy maintenance for our staff. And the storm sewer is varying in age but we will also be proposing a full replacement of that to improve the overall drainage of our reconstruction streets. [18:25] Cody Mathisen: Our reclamation areas: You can see the pavement surface is similarly deteriorated, not quite as bad as our reconstruction areas, but it does need to be replaced in its full depth. But you look at the curbs there in that photo and you can see they still have some years on them, they still got some life. And since we're leaving the majority of them in place, we won't be narrowing those roadways. The water main under these reclaimed streets are ductile iron pipe, only around 35 years of age. We're going to rehabilitate the valves which are kind of a key component to make sure we can continue operating the system effectively. Most efficient to do that when the pavement is ripped off so we're not making a patch in the street somewhere down the road. The sewer is clay or PVC, a little bit newer; we could rehab with a future lining program down the road, we don't need to do those full runs of pipe. And then the storm sewer, we will also be improving the drainage of these reclaimed streets as well with improving storm drainage structures and adding some. The sample shown here is on Brooke Lane. [19:28] Cody Mathisen: Diving a little bit more into the street narrowing of 17th Street and Brittany Road: 32 feet is the standard width of a residential street here in Hastings with two-sided parking. 36 feet is the current width of those two roads, which is excessive for the level of traffic that they have on them. For safety, we tend to see people speed on larger roads. 32 feet is plenty of space for the around 200 vehicles a day only that these two roads have. They're also already 32 feet on the east side of Pleasant Drive. So this project gives us an opportunity to kind of true up that full segment of both of these roads, bring that width down a little bit. In majority of areas it's going to be about 2 feet narrower on each side. We've had residents inquire about how are we going to do that; it might be a little more or a little less certain places, but on average it'll be about 2 feet on each side. Highland Drive, we would apply the same logic—traffic counts are a little bit higher—but since we're only reconstructing one block of it, instead of having an awkward geometric shift in just that one block, we decided it would make more sense to leave that alone for the time being. It does have a little more traffic on it as well, so we're going to go ahead and leave that at 36 feet with the project. [20:30] Cody Mathisen: From a pedestrian standpoint, when we look into a neighborhood project area, we look to our People Movement Plan as our guiding document. You can see here this kind of L-shape is Brittany Road. What the People Movement Plan is recommending there would be a new sidewalk, as well as a short segment on 21st Street. Staff looked into that and what we found when you look down a street like Brittany Road is a lot of conflicts. This is a really nicely developed street, a lot of landscaping, a lot of mature trees, retaining walls, things like that. So we analyzed each side, looked at what those impacts would be, and even with that 4 feet of narrowing, we would need to go about 6 to 8 feet behind where the curb is today to get a 5-foot boulevard and a 5-foot sidewalk and to tie in that grading, and that would just be really impactful no matter what side of the street you look down in this picture. [21:40] Cody Mathisen: So what staff actually brought forward to the operations committee was a recommendation to forego these sidewalk additions recommended by the plan because of those excessive impacts, because of the low volume of traffic on those roads, and largely because of the proximity that all these homes already have to off-street facilities. Any one house in this neighborhood area is only about a block, block and a half or less away from a trail, a sidewalk, something on a different street, so you don't have to share the road for long. We also got early feedback from some residents through Councilmember Lawrence and through people that we talked to that this wasn't something people were clamoring for. If the opposite were true, if we were hearing from the residents like, "We really, really want a sidewalk on Brittany Road," we might be looking at it differently—can we get creative and suck the road down more? That's not what we were hearing. [22:28] Cody Mathisen: So our operations committee supported foregoing those and instead investing in different facilities. So where we looked first was the existing trails on Pleasant Park. I don't know how many of you have walked through Pleasant Park recently, but those trails are not much to write home about. Some places there's hardly anything to write about because they're washing away. The ramps are not ADA accessible, the widths vary from 6 to 8 feet, so it's not a consistent, nice experience as a trail user. So what we're proposing—we coordinated closely with Chris Jenkins, our Parks Director—we're going to go ahead and reconstruct all those existing failing trails to 8 feet wide, make them ADA accessible at all their entrance points. We also noticed that there's a missing link on this east side of the park. We just built a nice new trail up and down Pleasant Drive; there's no way to get from that trail into the park. I guess especially in the winter months you can walk over the grass, but there's not a real nice path there. So we're going to put in this missing link, and we worked with Chris on the placement of this. It borders that northerly side of the park largely to keep that green space open. If we put the trail right down the center of the park, you'd divide that green space—you might be left with two relatively unusable spaces. This allows the field to be still used for youth soccer, different activities, you name it. You've got one big field instead of two smaller spaces. I had to stop and take this picture after our one and only snowfall this winter—I call it my proof of concept. You can see where everyone was walking and I think we picked the right side. So just goes to show that we hope this will get some usage. [24:00] Cody Mathisen: And kind of putting all those concepts together that we talked about—foregoing the new sidewalk, improving the trail—a reconstruction you can see here on Brittany Road. I won't go through every block of the project, but the red lines (and these are available online as well) indicate where we'll be replacing sewer lines, the blue being water mains and services, the green being some storm sewer additions, and then yellow you can see is our trail facilities that really tie right into the project area. Similarly on a reclaim you can see a few less colored lines on the page, but we still are doing spot utility replacements on our reclaim segments. We're going and getting those valves, improving the storm structures, and then again you can see that yellow trail continuous to the project getting improved right into one of our reclaim streets. [24:50] Cody Mathisen: As far as funding goes for this project, the total project cost right now is estimated just over $4.2 million. The categories you can see shown here: we've got $575,000 to be spent on sanitary sewer, $525,000 on storm, $810,000 on water main, and then roughly $2.3 million is in the streets category. I kind of show that separated in two buckets because we bond for the streets together, but about half of that amount will be paid back via assessments over the next 10 years. [25:35] Cody Mathisen: This is where we're going to just touch on assessments. Like I said, this is our hearing to approve the scope of the project, what we're actually proposing to do. So tonight is not the assessment hearing, but just to kind of bring together the full package of what we're talking about with this project. We have our assessments here; that's really a continuation of the unit method assessments that we used last year. In our reconstruction areas, that means a rate of $7,650 per lot on a standard lot (meaning non-corner). In our reclaim areas that would be $6,750 per lot. Our corner lots get a break where they only pay 25% of the assessment on their long side here in Hastings. But these rates were determined by a third-party appraiser and recommended to us based on the type of improvement we're doing and the type of home and expected special benefit that they would receive as part of the project being completed. How that looks in terms of the total project cost: Usually we're shooting for assessments to be around 20% or more of the total project costs, which allows us to secure the best rates for bonding. This year we're looking like we'd be approximately 26% on that metric. [26:45] Cody Mathisen: Timeline, kind of where we've been, where we are, and where we're headed with this project: December 11th was when we first met with the operations committee, kind of got their buy-in. We spent the month of January engaging with all of our residents. We made resources available online, we took phone calls, had an online survey. We were really excited because we had our first open house since 2020 and got people back in a room together that we could actually sit and talk and look over plans. We thought that was really successful. So we've actually personally connected and documented 60 of 154 households that we've had conversations with so far. And that brings us here today to March 4th. Like I said, April 1st will be our assessment hearing. April 5th we plan to open our bids. We'll award our construction contract in mid-April and hope to be digging holes in early May. That was before I knew that it was going to be this hot—I guess we could have probably started building things like a month ago. [27:40] Cody Mathisen: Project communications: I just want to hit on. We plan to continue the weekly updates that we've come to know as regular here in Hastings—what's been done the past week, what can residents expect in the subsequent week. Those can be sent via text or email to anyone who subscribes. Printed copies will also be made available near a mailbox. We've also had people say, "You know, can you drop one off at my door?" In those special situations if someone has mobility issues, very happy to do that, want to make sure everybody gets the information they need. Door hangers during critical activities: If we're going to shut someone's water off, we won't send them a letter, we'll put that on their door. If people are going to have parking/driveway access restrictions, things like that, that is a door hanger. City staff is always available down at Public Works at the phone number shown and our vehicles; Bo specifically will be on site making sure everything's going smoothly all summer long. And then last thing I'll highlight here is our project website. Right now this is kind of home for everything—pre-project figures, what we're going to do, things like that. It's going to transition as we turn the page here and get through our public process and go out to bid into our construction hub for everything. For those that just want to see updates once in a while, you can go here and this is where we'll be kind of live updating everything for the project. So with that, I'm happy to stand for any questions from Council before the public hearing. [29:05] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Thank you Cody. Councilmember Haus. [29:08] Councilmember Angie Haus: Thank you your honor. I've had the pleasure of working with you and Ryan in operation committee and I love the creativity and ways that we can go into our park system as well. I know in previous neighborhood improvement projects like last year where we've had to take down a tree or we've had to take down a mailbox, it's always unfun for both sides. So I'm glad to hear that we're really listening to our residents and moving forward with that. So I thank you for your work with that. [29:33] Cody Mathisen: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you Councilmember Haus. [29:36] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Cody, I have a question. So foregoing the sidewalks in that area, does it still comply with our People Movement Plan? Are we still on course in that area for that? [29:48] Cody Mathisen: Yeah, so that's a great question, Mayor. I'll go back to that plan in general. I think something that's important to note with the People Movement Plan as a piece of guidance is they are recommendations and I would say, and Chris would tell you the same thing, that these recommendations didn't necessarily dive deep into the feasibility of a given segment. It's sort of, "This is what we'd like to have." And with each project, we go on a case-by-case basis and say, "Can we have it?" So for example you see the Pleasant Drive trail that was shown in blue on this picture. You know, that was on the People Movement Plan and we said, "Absolutely, we can make that work, no problem." Contrary, this one, you know, they sketch it in just because from a two-dimensional area without zooming in and looking at trees and walls and driveways, it kind of served a little connection there that was available between 15th and Pleasant. But when we vetted it out, we just thought that the cost-benefit of putting that segment there—again, not hearing it from the neighborhood at any of our public engagement—that the benefit wasn't there. So that's why we tried to look at, to your question, investing in the region, and these trails are really those off-street facilities for this neighborhood. Every one of these streets can so easily reach this park, and hopefully when we upgrade them, people are going to be that more inclined to hop on it. And with that missing link added, now they can get right onto the Pleasant Trail, they can get all the way down to the Greenway down by the bridge. So we're really, with these contiguous projects, it's actually been really nice to improve all these facilities. [31:30] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Sure. Well, I appreciate your conscientiousness for not putting sidewalk in right there. It puts more stress on the neighborhood and the each resident in general but, you know, to speak to going through a project, we all know it's hard to go through, right? But at the end of the day, it's they're needed and takes a long time, but it's a year, right? So we appreciate everything you do and the communication you do with our residents because I think that's what keeps them, you know, aware and less questions right for futuristic. So yeah, appreciate it. At this time I will open the public hearing to see if there's anyone that wishes to speak to the Council or to Cody at this time. Opening the public hearing. Anyone wish to speak at this time? Anyone on Zoom? Anyone wish to speak to the Council at this time for the public hearing? At this time I will close the public hearing and open discussion for Council. Councilmember Fox. [32:37] Councilmember Jen Fox: Thank you your honor. Cody and Bo, thank you for being here tonight to give us a great example of interconnectivity of our departments in Hastings. I mean the way that you work with the parks department, the way that you work with the other places that build up our community is enormous and we're very fortunate to have both of you in our on our team in our department. This is a big project. I live on River Street and we expanded River Street and I just want to highlight the idea that you are—how did what did you say? You're right-sizing where? [33:18] Cody Mathisen: I guess, yeah, we're just bringing—making the road—we're right-sizing it, I guess. [33:22] Councilmember Jen Fox: Right-sizing. I love that. I love that. It's so hard in a community like ours that has so many very specific thoroughfares that people go really fast, and that's unsafe for our families, right? And we need to be thoughtful about how big our roads are. So thank you for thinking about that in this moment. Also thank you for connecting the People Movement Plan to what we're doing in our development of our roads. That is enormous. That is a really important step. We talk about making these plans and then actually implementing them, so thank you for putting that in your show today. It's important to us as a Council because we put a lot of energy and effort into these plans and then when we don't see them put forward, that's hard. So thank you for that. And I would like to move to approve the resolution of the specifications for the 2024 Neighborhood Infrastructure Improvement and to authorize the advertisement for bids. [34:40] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Okay. Second, Councilmember Fox, second by Councilmember Leifeld. Discussion Council? Okay. All those in favor of the motion state by saying "aye." (Council: Aye). Opposed to that motion state by saying "nay." And that motion prevails. Thanks Cody, so much. Under Administration, we have engagement of Larken Hoffman and Legislative Services, and Dan, our City Administrator, will give us a little update. [35:05] City Administrator Dan Wietecha: Thank you Mayor and Council. As you know, we are anticipating a large, expensive multi-year project for treatment of PFAS to remove it from our drinking water. And Council has identified this as our number one legislative priority. At our workshop a couple of weeks ago on February 20th—there's a typo in the memo, it says the 23 but it's actually 2024—Council asked a question about, with the importance of this, would it be wise to hire a lobbyist for assistance on this? Somebody that knows sort of the ins and outs of the legislative process, ease off on some of the staff time for myself and Public Works Department, bring their expertise to it. So based off of that, did a little bit of inquiry, talked with—and the proposal in the packet here is Margaret Vesel of Larken Hoffman. She heads up legislative services for Larken Hoffman. The connection there is we're already working with Peter Larson as our environmental attorney from that firm to assist with some of the legal aspects around the PFAS questions. So got a proposal from Ms. Vesel. It is $4,000 per month, no additional hourly rates, just the flat monthly charge. Presumably this would go through the '25 legislative session beginning now, but at the same time if circumstances changed or whatever the—not happy with the progress we're making or whatever it may be—we could always cancel it at any time. Proposal before you, I think it's pretty straightforward. Hopefully it's in line with what you were bringing up a couple of weeks ago, but with that I can take any questions. [37:31] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Thank you Dan. Council, any discussion? Councilmember Folch. [37:36] Councilmember Tina Folch: Thank you your honor. Thank you Dan for following up and receiving a proposal from a lobbyist to be able to, you know, to carry our message into the legislative chambers. And so I'm excited to see this. Actually, you and Ryan, our Public Works Director, have been working many hours I know behind the scenes trying to carry this message yourself, and so it's actually a relief to me to know that someone up there at the Capitol is going to be looking out for our issue. And so I was wondering, did they say anything specifically about how they'll be monitoring all of the committees as it's being moving forward, or did they have like a strategy for how it is that they would be helping to promote our cause? [38:36] City Administrator Dan Wietecha: Although in my conversation with Margaret, she did not lay out a specific strategy or method. She did raise a few ideas of contacts we would want to make or just some general practices that they would have in terms of, as you said, following the legislation. And she said there might be just a matter of timing that's important—that, "Hey, this topic we've been following and it's going to a vote through a certain committee and we need a Senator to talk to a peer Senator about the importance of this right now—not yesterday, not tomorrow, but now." So she gave a few examples but it was not a complete mapped out course or method how it would be handled, if that quite answers your question. [39:27] Councilmember Tina Folch: No, it's okay. Yes, I was wondering if they gave you a plan or not, and so that answers it. I would just advocate that either you or the lobbyist also connect with Representative Hudella and Senator Seeburger—thank you very much—just so that they're fully aware. I know that they already are, you know, understanding the importance of this to our community, but so that they're aware of those efforts and perhaps they would have thoughts about how it is that they could work together and moving it forward. [40:12] City Administrator Dan Wietecha: Sure. We've had several conversations with both Senator Seeburger and Representative Hudella over the last few weeks as well as the last year and a half. Happen to be meeting with both of them on Thursday this week when we're at the League of Cities day at the Capitol. And conversing with Senator Seeburger a week ago, maybe two weeks ago, had even told them that we were looking at the possibility of a lobbyist. So we've got good relationships there. [40:48] Councilmember Tina Folch: Wonderful, I'm glad to hear that. I'll make a motion to support moving forward with this contract for a lobbyist. [40:58] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Thank you Councilmember Folch and a second by Councilmember Fox. Any discussion Council? Okay, all those in favor of that motion state by saying "aye." (Council: Aye). Opposed to that motion state by saying "nay." And that motion prevails. Thank you Dan. Tonight we have a very important night as many of you know. We are saying goodbye to our Councilmember Folch. [41:14] Councilmember Tina Folch: Don't start. [41:15] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Don't do that. Why you started it—where's Joel? Where is Joel? He started it. No, we have something for you but first I think Council may have a few words to say. I'll start because I want to get it out and if I cry I'm not going—I'm not going to cry. Tina, you've been such a wonderful advocate for your ward. Okay, I don't like this stuff. I don't like goodbyes and I'm not saying goodbye but I just want to thank you for everything you've done and you will continue to do as a new wife and in your new community. I know you're not going to just sit at home. I'm sure you will become active in whatever you choose to do, but we just—I want to wish you the best and I appreciate everything you've done and being a voice for seven years and three months. So you're appreciated and you've left—you'll be leaving as a legend. Let's say that. Yep. Councilmember Leifeld. [42:35] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: Well, I'm not going to cry. Shore yourself up—famous last words. So Tina and I ran together, so we've been here the same amount of time. She runs an amazing, amazing campaign. She's so dedicated to what she does and isn't afraid to break a couple wrists during her door knockings—I mean elbows, elbows! Not her constituents, but her own. So Tina is beyond dedicated. I, for one, have learned so much from you in the last seven and a half years. Many phone calls of, "Can you explain this? What do you think about this?" You know, she's probably one of the most well-read individuals I know and I'm not even sure that she's slept in the last seven and a half years. We'll be talking about something and she's read this in there and it's like, "Where is that?" and it's—I'm always amazed. Your passion about your ideas, your commitment to those ideas, and your drive to want to get those ideas done right. [43:56] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: Love it or hate it, whatever your position's going to be on this, but things move slowly here and watching you continue to push, you know, the envelope for what you truly believed in, whether it was the people of your ward, the entire community, our environment. I can think of the conversations over the last seven years where we heard a lot of, "Well, let's just wait and see, let's just wait and see," and you were constantly saying, "But this is something that's happening, this is happening, we have to do something." And now here we are—all that is happening. So Tina's crystal ball was right all those years. So I'm a better councilmember for having had this relationship with you and I just really hope your new neighborhood knows who's moving in and how dedicated you're going to be to them. You know, you're going to find your home there and you're going to fall in love with the people there and then you're just going to have to help them just like you helped all of us. So Tina, you've been an amazing support system for me and I hope your the community knows how dedicated you've been. So good luck to you and Joel and to a bright future. [45:00] Councilmember Tina Folch: Thanks Lisa. [45:01] Councilmember Angie Haus: Thank you. I met Tina a long time ago and she has been helping me by being an educator, by being a teacher, by being a friend in every single way. You have been extremely helpful on Council as well as just personal friend. And I think that your community in Hudson is going to be very lucky to have you, and I'm very sad that we're losing you though. And I'm very grateful for your friendship and for everything that you have done. Thank you. [45:37] Councilmember Tina Folch: Thank you Councilmember Haus. [45:39] Councilmember Jen Fox: Thank you your honor. It was about 5 years ago—I've known Tina for a long time—and about 5 years ago she said, "You need to run for Council." I was like, "No, no, no, no, it's fine." And then she would send me things and say, "No, this is why." And eventually she wore me down. And not only did she support me in my campaign, when I got to the dais she would say, "This is what you should say, this is how you should speak up, this is how you can be a voice for our community." And you, Tina, are so passionate about lifting people up around you and that's something that is near and dear to my heart. I am a person that wants to build people up around me, and the way that you did that with me is remarkable. So thank you for bringing me here today because I truly would not have run for Council without you. [46:58] Councilmember Tina Folch: Oh, thank you. [47:00] Councilmember Jen Fox: And I don't know who I'm going to pass notes to anymore besides Kelly, right? But thank you for your work and thank you for your passion. And Joel, thank you for loving Tina. I'm so excited for your next chapter. This is going to be wonderful. And I'm so excited your son is here tonight. But yeah, thank you, thank you, thank you. [47:29] Councilmember Tina Folch: Thank you Councilmember Fox. I prepared a little something here, a little speech, and I'll try to make it quick. But I just wanted to say it's been just a great honor and privilege to serve our community. This community has been my home most of my life. I think that there are many of us who were raised here, graduated from high school, and then went out as young adults only to find our way back home and raise our own children and have our families here. Hastings is a big small town and we have a strong sense of community. When I first ran for City Council in 2015, I wanted to serve our community because I saw an opportunity for improvement. And in the past eight years we have accomplished a great deal, but it's taken a lot of tenacity to see the biggest successes across the finish line. Most of these successes that I've helped champion took years to accomplish. [48:50] Councilmember Tina Folch: Just to Councilmember Leifeld's comments, in my first term within the first four years, we created a community engagement position for a police officer to focus on connecting with residents and problem solving. That was an issue I actually ran on. We obtained a solar energy subscription which at the time of adoption was projected to save the city over $2 million in electrical costs over 20 years, and that was before inflation went through the roof. I can't imagine what it'll be today. And I've been working on improving the aesthetics along Second Street by working with a downtown Business Association after the River Renaissance street project was finished. We invested in new decorative pots and then eventually lighting and trash receptacles. We take a lot of pride in our downtown. My second term began in 2020 along with a pandemic, and during the first several months Mayor Mary and myself, we met regularly with representatives from our Chamber, the downtown Business Association, our County Commissioner, our Senator and our House Representative. We worked as a team to solve the problems, the issues that we could at each level of government. And for our Council, for instance, we fostered the creation of the restaurant patios on Second Street that we still have today. [50:11] Councilmember Tina Folch: Later that partnership that we forged with our legislative team of Senator Bigham and Representative Jurgens helped us obtain the $2 million of state funds that we needed to conduct the restoration here at City Hall for our dome. That's been a squeaky wheel about that one for years, I'm so glad to see it being done. So those are just a few of the quick highlights. And as I started, I'm full of gratitude for having had this chance to serve. First I'd like to thank my sons Brendan and Chase Folch for being supportive and understanding—having your mom run for political office as a teenager is not cool. It's just awful. And I'm so happy that my youngest son Brendan is able to be with me here tonight. He's on spring break, he's in the back, the good-looking one right there. Looks like me. I'd also like to thank Don Slayton and Tony Eliason for encouraging me to run for this position. It takes others to lift you up oftentimes and I thank them for that. I'd also like to thank our city staff for the high level of professionalism that they bring and the commitment that they have to serving our residents. We are nothing without them. And last I'd like to thank Mayor Paul Hicks, Mayor Fasbender, and all the other council members who have served with me. Although we most definitely have not agreed on everything, it is through our different views and our civil discourse that we have become better. These are the basis of a democracy and I think that that is something that we do very, very well. So thank you for that. And then last I'd just like to thank all of you again. It's been my pleasure to serve our community and I so look forward to staying connected with folks to the best of my ability. So always feel free to reach back, I'm more than happy to serve when I still can. So thank you all. [52:02] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Thank you Councilmember Folch. All right. She—oh don't cry, it's my goal not to cry. Congratulations. Here's a little treat for you and it just states: "Tina Folch, in recognition of your years of public service to the great city of Hastings, Minnesota and the citizens of Ward 1, 2017 to 2024." [53:50] Mayor Mary Fasbender: All right, Councilmembers, do you have any announcements? Last time, Tina, any announcements? [53:57] Councilmember Tina Folch: Nothing, nope. [53:59] Mayor Mary Fasbender: You had to have been to some meeting or something... well, she has one more meeting next Monday, right? [54:06] Councilmember Tina Folch: Yes, Monday on the Community Investment Fund. [54:10] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Okay. I do have a couple: The Busted Nut and the Hastings Public House are hosting a benefit for the families of the recent Burnsville tragedy on Sunday, March 10th, 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. at the Hastings Public House. Coffee with a Cop is Tuesday, March 19th from 10:00 to noon at Froth and Cork. Join the police and ask questions, voice concerns, and get to know one another. The Friends of the Pleasant Hill Library Used Book Sale is March 21st to the 24th. Applications for the 2024 Community Investment Fund project proposals are open with a first review of applications on March 5th. Applications after that date will be considered on a first-come, first-serve basis to the extent of funds are available. The city created the CIF to encourage and support community partnerships and community-driven projects. Meetings coming forward: Monday, March 11th at 7:00 p.m. we have a Finance Committee meeting. Wednesday, March 13th at 6:00 p.m. there's an Arts and Culture Commission meeting. Monday, March 18th there is a Council meeting at 7:00 p.m. With that I would accept a motion to adjourn. [55:53] Councilmember Tina Folch: Motion to adjourn. [55:55] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Councilmember Folch. And Councilmember Fox for a second. No discussion Council? All those in favor of the motion state by saying "aye." (Council: Aye). Opposed to that motion state by saying "nay." And we are adjourned.