e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e all right uh good evening this is the December 4th 20124 Cottage grow city council meeting uh which I am calling to order um our first order of business is the Pledge of Allegiance so if you'd please rise I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all all right will the uh clerk please do the role council member kada here council member Olen here council member thei here council member Garza here mayor Bailey here uh the next item on our agenda is is uh open Forum this is the opportunity for anybody to speak on something that's not on tonight's agenda uh we did have a signup sheet out in the entry way and nobody did sign up so I just want to check is there anybody that's here in the audience that wants to speak on something that's not on tonight's agenda all right seeing none I will go ahead and close uh open form and and Council will move to five which is adoption of the agenda move the agenda second all right we have a motion by council member thei seconded by council member Kata all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed motion carries uh next on our agenda this evening is presentations we do have two this evening uh the first presentation is the public safety board presentation and we're recognizing uh P Panamint capital or as we like to LS LSP that's correct LSP that are here yep and so I think I'm gonna kick it off to to yourself Julie to to go up there and start and then Council if you want to come let's go down in front on this one as we can also recognize with them yes I apologize for reading because if I don't I'll ramble and I forget what I'm here to talk about could be my trip okay good evening even mayor council members and I saw CH corner there he is I the back yes welcome tonight we're we're the public safety board these three lovely ladies and myself are part of the board and a lot of people see us but or see our name but we don't they don't know what we do and actually what we do is we're a nonprofit citizens board that works with the Department of Public safety and excuse me through the police leaz on officer Brian pier and the fire chief to help promote the partnership between the citizens of Cottage Grove and the Department of Public Safety um to provide a safe Community for our citizens our mission is to provide financial support for equipment training and programs to enhance the safety and provide crime prevention and safety information to the citizens of Cottage Grove in order for us to do that we fund raise and accept donations from businesses in our area when we fund raise we see the patches the police patches we have a member of our board that designs and does excuse me the breast cancer awareness Autism Awareness the Vets memorials all sorts of different patches we sell them challenge coins we sell stuffed animals The Sparky dog and a can9 dog that represents all of our canine officers so in order for us to get extra money businesses support us and we've had several in the past few years that have donated generously um our purchases have been the speed trailers that you've Speed trailer that you might have seen on 80th or um 70th telling you to slow down other speed signs um thermal imaging for the firefighters protective masks and hoods for the firefighters pet chip readers and other items so what we have received over the past 10 years from Kent rander and his company LSP I don't know if everybody knows where that's at but it's over by 3M and I would guess 99% of Cottage Grove doesn't even know exists but it's over by the 3M chemalite and they're their own entity out there so they've been donating and we've been purchasing can9 dogs for the city of Cottage Grove so it started with blitz we got Gunner we got Scout and then we got Odin so all of our dogs have come from the help of generous donations from LSP so um this year Odin he did not have a ballistic vest he was not able to go online and purchase one because he does not receive a paycheck from the city so he's only given a Kong toy and and accolades from everybody so with the help of LSP we purchased the ballistic vest for Odin so that he's saf during his shift at night because there's a lot of bad guys out there that want to hurt him along with some of our officers but now he's protected and we're happy about that so what I would like to do is introduce Kent and thank him publicly for the 10 plus years of donations from their business so thank you [Applause] Kent thank you um just quickly about us we're like Julie said a lot of people don't know we're here but we're a power plant we we Supply power to XL Energy and uh independent power producer and then we also Supply steam to 3M and um thank you guys and and um I guess what I'd like to say is you know thanks for everything you guys do K9 unit the Police Department chief um and I'm glad that we work for I work for a company that supports the mission y so thank you thank [Applause] you next I'd like to introduce officer Matt sgard and canine Officer Odin and just a few months ago they competed in a um national competition for kits and so I'm going to have mat yes please just say what you won they oh I was say they all so you're good all right so uh we attend our national competition which is our Patrol dog one I won't go into it it's our annual certification um down in Louisiana and Baton Rouge over about 6 days of training um competed against 67 dogs from across the country um in things as obedience apprehension work article uh location suspect finding um and we ended up taking second overall out of the 67 dogs um losing to our trainer and the guy that trained both of us and from Washington County um so and then we took first place in our obedience and apprehension overall combined scores for that so um it was a good run for us we enjoyed it we look forward to uh going back next year to Southern Florida to compete again so um I think that's everything right you want me to cover okay first place next year uh we we'll see I I lost the by by 410 of a point which if you if you know uh the scoring that's a lot I lost two points for a healing thing so that and that was my fault not his so um we'll see next year but uh as far as for the ballistic vest obviously thank you um for those that don't aren't aware he's assigned to the SWAT team with me so that's why it's green so he he does go on uh other deployments throughout the whole County so not just in cottage roove so cool and we just want to thank other citizens of the community that do purchase our stuffed dogs our challenged coins our patches they're all available up at City Hall here to come in during business hours and purchase them and at some events we are selling them to help keep in the funds going so that we can continue to purchase items of need for the city of Cottage Grove so thank you so much yes they will be inside yes tomorrow night there will be a couple people from our board that'll be inside the building here they'll be selling the patches the challenge coins Sparky they're little stuffed dogs you can see a couple of them in the window across the way on your way out um Odin and Scout are the only dogs that we have left because Blitz we never we don't have he's been retired and Gunner retired last year so all his dogs have sold out so now we just have Odin and Scout dogs so thank you so much awesome and thank you I'll just shake your hand obviously you guys have done a great uh deal both for obviously the public safety board here but city of Cottage Grove through Economic Development and things like that too so we're real happy uh with the support that you have continued to provide for us over the years and obviously we're excited uh and like I said maybe next year it'll be first place and I will say this after seeing him chew on that toy I don't think I want to be on the end of the receiving from him so as he's looking at me no let's so again thank you and thanks to the board for all the all that you do for the fundraising and if PE if the public whether you're watching or in the audience if you are interested in donating uh financially to the uh the board uh reach out to myself one of the council members or or you can look them up on the we have a have a Facebook yeah Facebook page that's what I thought so you can look up on the Facebook page to see um and what you can do to help fund these types of things that support or yeah there you go you can also join the public safety board there you go all right thank you all thank you for being up here [Applause] all right well let them kind of get out there so that the next gentleman that's going to come up here and join us the dog doesn't run after you so um next here is uh one of the things that we get to do in in the city of Cottage Grove is is do presentations for both uh Boy Scouts uh Eagle Awards but also girls gold Awards and tonight uh we've got ceron here Rex Rex did I say it right uh Cameron rexstad that uh is joining us here this evening uh because we're celebrating the fact that he is another uh Eagle Scout from the city of Cottage Grove and so I believe and I'm going to look there just to make sure troop 3 286 286 okay so 286 and um just for the public to be aware one of the reasons that we we put so much uh focus on this uh is due to the fact of the giving to the community obviously uh uh growing up whether you're in a a Boy Scout uh getting to the Eagles level or girl scouts into the gold level you see a lot of public servants uh and public service people electeds and so on that have had that opportunity I've been lucky enough as my uh one of my council members here our family uh we have uh Eagle Scouts or a gold there we go uh and what's really neat about that uh to see that is we also have out on the hall I think I might have saw you peeking around the corner there um is uh there's a wall out there that we we list and we put up every single gold Girl Scout Gold Award winners and every Eagle Scout Award winner from Cottage groven it goes all the way back as far as we can we can see and you can follow the and and check it out there so like my son's up there two sons and a daughter from uh from Dave and so this is your oh are they so same one same as you there you go so mine was 777 just to put it out there cuz I know they're both pretty active but um in this particular case um we want to thank you uh for the great work in getting to this level and if he knows I was joking with him earlier I mean look I have to look up to see this guy standing next to me here uh but we do want to present to you today um a plaque that just says camon Rick Dead uh congratulations on attaining the rank of Eagle Scout through troop 286 Cottage Grove Minnesota presented this fourth day of December 2024 from the city of cottage Grove uh myin Bailey mayor so on behalf of myself the council all of our staff and the citizens of Cottage Grove [Applause] congratulations if you want to you want to do the hand shaken I told you be ready for [Laughter] him so of course what we like to do to kind of end the presentation this evening is we always love to to hear what the the project was that uh for those that don't know there's usually a big project that they do uh before they actually get to the uh to attain the eagle scout award and so what I'm going to do is I'm hand it over to Cameron and let him tell us what his Eagle Scout uh project was thank you um so back in May uh I had a about like 25 helpers come out to the kaj Grove Cemetery and all we did was kind of like this let's say this is a gravestone uh we just edged around the perimeter of it and then we brushed off the top to make it look nice and clean uh we did a couple hundred of them and then like some of them you couldn't even like see it or tell that it was a gravestone um so it was a pretty cool transformation bet yeah yeah thank you for doing that thank you again let's give another round of applause all right just my dad want to come up for a picture one picture here you get that chance no come on dad awesome thank you again thank you good job all right two great uh presentations this evening that's pretty awesome all right next on our agenda and for the public um this is probably the longest consent um agenda that we've had that I can remember um and uh just for the public uh to be aware if there's something on consent uh what we do is it's usually been already reviewed and such within the by the the staff and the council with no real concerns if there was concerns which I will offer the opportunity uh for Council they wanted to pull anything on consent if not uh we'll just move to approve and then move on with the meeting uh so I will ask council is there anybody that wants to pull anything off of consent for separate discussion okay Mo consent all right so we have a motion by council member Olsen uh on consent do I have a second second second by council member Garza I'm going to get all the way to the end like I said it was a long one all right any other discussions seeing none all those in favor signify by saying I I I opposed motion carries so if you are here for anything that was on tonight's consent agenda all of those items have just now been approved next is 8 on our agenda which is 8A is to approve uh the dispersement or paying the bills move the Bills second motion by council member osen second by council member thei any discussion seeing none all those in favor signify by saying I I I opposed motion carries next this evening is uh nine which is public hearings and we do have a public hearing this evening uh it is we have one and it's the public uh I'm sorry it's the property tax levy payable in 2025 and Adoption of the 2025 budget and our finance director uh Brenda melanowski is going to walk us through this so Brenda welcome back again thank you mayor members of the city council um I have a brief presentation tonight uh regarding the property tax levy and budget uh before you hold that public hearing um and adopt the resolutions uh that relate to that uh first of all uh this is uh for the public to uh let uh everyone know that we've been working on this uh budget that's in front of you since January city council uh this year you actually had five budget workshops uh regarding the budget and so thank you for your time um as you uh went through each uh piece of the budget it's never an easy process um as all these uh needs of the community come forward so thank you for that um our city staff especially our department department heads our city administrator um countless hours uh on all parties as we look uh through all those uh needs in the community and uh prioritize the needs and what we can fund uh within the St constraints that we have uh budget accomplishments uh here with the 2025 budget uh we are able to continue to Pro provide those same exceptional level of services uh that we have to our community uh not limited to those police f services our Parks Recreation services snow plowing street services those sorts of operational type needs in our community uh we continue to show a demonstration of stewardship of our Capital assets uh by including the replacement of not only our Capital uh but our city infrastructure that we've identified in our uh Capital Improvement plan and in our financial management plan uh we maintained the distinction of an employer of choice uh we had contracts that settled for 202 5 and 2026 those financial obligations are included in the budget in front of you uh we're providing managed growth and Staffing positions needed for our growing Community uh by including a few new positions in our budget uh we're meeting our debt service requirements um in the property tax levy we're paying those uh payments of those principal and interest uh payments uh that we've issued in the past whether they're for pavement management projects or to build things such as our uh Central f fire station uh we're establishing an HRA Levy for the first time in this budget and that will provide funds uh not only for housing but for redevelopment in our community um our property tax levy history here is showing on the screen uh it's important to note that this is an a component of our city tax uh rate uh that we apply to an individual property and so we take this city Pro property tax levy and we divide it by the tax capacity and so here's a history of that since 2014 uh for 2025 we're at 26.1 million our tax capacity for 2025 as you can see on the screen uh that's the second component that uh we use in um calculating our city property tax rate um it's really net neutral for 2025 however I would like to point out that uh were we not growing and had new construction in the community that would have went down for 20 25 so the city of Cottage Grove is fortunate that we're a growing Community or that tax capacity actually would have went down for uh 2025 so we take that property tax levy divided by the tax capacity we come up with the city tax rate uh for 2025 that's 37.177665 had some large appreciation in existing property um homeowners had sometimes 20% increases in their market value valuation um on their property which drove that down and so now we're U back to where we were uh in 21 and 22 property tax levy uh details uh that $ 26.1 million uh property tax levy it is a 12.98% increase uh the majority of that increase is uh in our general fund that's our chief operating budget in the city uh that funds our our police services our fire services our parks recreation uh Street snow plowing Services um on the general fund side uh we've got a budget of $28.4 million um as you can see since the general fund does those operational type services for our community whether it's the police fire snow ping Services when we Prov provide those services to our community um we're not sending them a bill when we go to a fire call or a police call and so we need to generate Revenue uh to fund those operations and we fund that through property taxes so the general fund is funded by about 76% in property taxes uh since we are a growing Community license and permits um are a large uh portion of our budget at 8.33% and they uh help run our building inspection department and the other uh departments uh that are out uh with those New Home Building uh projects um on the expenditure side we're also at that 28 m446 310 for 2025 so as you can see it is the same amount as the revenue so we have a considered a balanced budget uh since we provide those services that I talked about whether it be police fire snow plowing uh through Personnel we say we're in the people business uh the general fund 76 70% of it um is those P are those personal services um and then we have contractual Commodities and uh our budget contingency if we look at the general fund expenditure for the last five years you can see that Public Safety so our police and fire uh is the largest component of our budget uh just over 48% uh Public Works which is our streets of Forestry and snow plowings about 19% of our budget our our general government is about 12.76% uh then we have Parks and Recreation just under 12% and then Community Development comes in at 8% and that's been consistent over the last five years our median home um in Cottage Grove uh decreased in value by about 4.2% from 2024 and so for the 2025 budget it has a value of about $354,000 um our residents our community our property taxpayers received proposed property tax bills uh in the mail in November um with the budget meeting tonight uh if they had questions about the city of Cottage Grove budget that median home he they did receive a property tax bill proposal of about $434 it's important to note that the city of ctage Grove is just one component on that property tax bill uh at 29% of that bill um in addition there's the Washington County portion um that is about 18% of that bill and then the school district about 49% of the bill uh based on the budget that's in front of you and the property tax levy uh these are the impacts uh not only to the Ian home but four other sample properties that we look at here in the community uh we did a 10-year financial management plan back in 2023 uh in that plan we threw all the operating costs current operating costs and projected uh we looked at our current debt our future debt based on uh pavement management projects and Street projects that would be done in the future we looked at replacing our capital and we need about a $100 increase on that median home per year uh was the consensus that came out of that financial management report um So based on the property tax levy and budget that's in front of you uh that median home we are within that Target U at $58 uh because we like to look at uh not only know what that median home but other uh homes in the community uh look like uh there's four other properties that we track um and because their market value may increase or decrease at different levels and that's evidenced on here um if we look at the median home uh that went down 4.2% but property one which about had the same valuation last year uh only went down 2.29 so it had a property tax impact of $88 and so it depends on that market valuation uh change uh that's set by the Washington County assessor's office on what that impact is from year to year we also compare to other cities in Washington County to see how we are doing um against those other cities and so here on this screen is a chart and it shows the median home values in the other cities in Washington County with their tax rates and it Compares um each Community um no different than last year we're second lowest so we are able to provide excellent uh value to our citizens um at that at $1,261 and there's only one other community in Washington County uh that is able to beat that number we also compare to median homes in growing cities over 40,000 in the Metro um and so we also compare favorably on this metric uh we are uh the third from the bottom there's only two other cities uh when we look at the median home in those communities uh that can provide city property taxes at a lower amount uh lastly our 2025 tax rate um we compare favorably there too we're on not at the bottom but there's only four other communities that are lower than the city of Cottage Grove on that city property tax rate um then uh lastly on that median home that went down about 4.2% um if instead of paying uh property taxes um on a yearly basis if they sent the city of Cottage Grove a check each month they would send us about $105 uh we would take that check and so that's no different than a cable bill or a cellular um a cell phone bill a utility bill uh but we would send $45 uh over to our Public Safety department to pay for our police and fire Services uh Public Works to pay for uh snow plowing streets and Forestry we get 14478 our General government would get 13369 and just a reminder General government really supports those other functions whether it's through paying employees or doing accounting for employees or administrating those departments uh Community or Parks and Recreation would get $10 94 cents to maintain our Parks Community Development would get a147 they generate those building permits and so that is why that's a little bit lower a Debt Service to pay for pavement management projects in the past are building the central fire St is about $554 Capital Equipment .29 Eda and HRA would both get 55 and then we have our budget contingency of about a do7 that is an increase from 2024 of $58 or6 per day for those Services uh reminders uh for our residents um through the state there are a number of property tax relief programs uh there's either the the 's the regular credit refund and that's based on income there's a special property tax refund program if your property increase or your property uh taxes increase more than 12% in at least a hundred uh dollars it can't be because of an improvement you did on your property but um and then there's also senior citizen or disability property tax deferral programs the website is on the screen the phone number is on the screen otherwise please just contact U me here at the city I'm always happy to talk to Residents and citizens uh regarding those programs and help them navigate those programs and then most importantly to watch for those valuation notices that come out from Washington County in the spring they come out in April um on there it lists open book meetings if you have a question about your valuation if you think that uh it's wrong or have any questions those are the meetings to attend to um understand how those valuations uh are valued on your property uh with that Council I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have okay uh thank you Brenda once again another fine job by staff putting the get together the budget and my guess is maybe what 30 60 days from now you'll be started on the next uh 2026 budget I know how that works but uh council do you have anything you would like to bring up uh council member Olen first thank you very much pardon my voice Brenda I'm fighting a little bit of a cold um um first of all again I Echo the Mayors thank you to you and the staff you know we started this budget process uh actually in January um when we had our strategic planning session as we do every year and uh I can tell you um for those watching at home uh the the number was quite a bit higher at that point in time but of course we didn't have very much information either uh and as the year kind of transpired um you know we've met I guess a dozen times or so maybe more and every time we've kind of refined and refined and refined based on the information there are a couple pieces of information that I think were really critical this year and I was hoping you might be able to just share a little bit about that um so you mentioned earlier the value of property the value of someone's home uh there was a state law change as it related to um property valuations that um probably those with uh a valuation higher than I think it's 513,000 saw on their property tax statement could you explain that to some degree just so that people kind of know what that was yep uh yeah there was a change in uh the Homestead market value exclusion um and so uh properties um lower value properties um received more of a change in that um Advantage uh on that PR program but some of the higher value properties uh did not um and so that that had an impact and a shift and we were we were watching that too um especially the shift uh from residential to Commercial and so the Residential Properties saw a little bit of a savings but those higher value properties um saw some of those increases more and I think we saw that in the chart uh with the properties that we Benchmark every year and it's the same properties year after year after year so it's very consistent but um I noticed that in some cases uh properties that were under that roughly $500,000 Mark uh they actually saw a decrease in valuation this year um and and uh you know the the Teeter Totter went the other way for the folks that were above that 500,000 or 513 Mark now if they're concerned about that if they if they feel like hey you know what I don't know that that valuation is right what should they do about that they should contact the County Assessor when that valuation notice comes out in the spring um if they think that their 2025 uh proposed property tax isn't calculated right welcome to contact me and I can work them through that calculation and um help them understand that calculation uh for 24 versus 2025 yes okay good because certainly I mean you try to apply it evenly but but as the valuations whether it's a commercial business or or a residential property as as those fluctuate you're going to see a fluctuation in your overall taxes uh for every one of the taxing districts that's uh applied on on the tax statement so that's good the other thing I want to talk about was the HRA Levy I noticed that um you know you had that on your chart as well and uh maybe you just tell the the public at home what we chose to do this year with HRA versus Eda yes uh last year so current year 2024 for the Eda Levy we had $275,000 um during the financial management process uh Council consensus was to start doing a levy for HRA for Housing and Redevelopment in the community um instead of uh leaving the Eda Levy at 275,000 uh we took half of the Eda Levy so the Eda Levy uh for 2025 is 137,00 the H Levy is 137,00 so the net effect is the same no change from last year we're putting it uh in an HRA Levy the HRA Levy actually is more transparent uh to our property tax owner because it will be a separate uh line on the property tax statement it will say uh city of Cottage Grove HRA so our property tax uh payer will understand the property taxes that they are going uh to pay the city for those Housing and Redevelopment activities thank you for that and I know that that um is something that you know several of our neighboring communities have done for quite some time and I think as our community um continues to grow uh we have portions of the community where there's you know some aging infrastructure those kinds of things and these HRA uh funds can sometimes help us to um you know maintain a little bit older infrastructure or it can help us you know repurchase a property that might be blighted or things of that nature so I'm glad that we're breaking that out so people can see it much more transparently but the good news is it's budget neutral it's it doesn't change anything good and then the last thing I wanted to ask is you know coming out of 2020 uh we all remember um probably not very fondly the the challenges of covid and uh all the rest of it um you know there were a lot of recovery funds that were um provided to communities either by their their states or uh by the federal government and we're sort of at the end of that now so um maybe you could just speak briefly about sort of when some of those funds sunset or have Sunset and then what that means going forward because certainly we still have to maintain those things that that were initially paid for yes and um I can specifically talk about our one-time Public Safety Aid so at the end of uh 2023 uh the city of Cottage Grove uh received about $1.7 million from the state we're no different than other communities um what Cottage Grove is doing is we are uh doing a staged approach of using those funds instead of using those funds in one year uh we're using it over a 3 to four year period so that when those um those funds uh are depe depleted um that we're not having large SP spikes in our property taxes so that is you know the importance of that long-term financial management plan that we do here in the city uh one of the things that we didn't want to do is to have large property tax swings from one year to the other um and so we're doing that with those onetime Public Safety aid funds I I appreciate that with uh you know battling inflation and the cost of goods and all that that everybody else does taking that measured approach has been a godsend that that 10-year financial management plan of course that's what gave us our AAA Bond rating as well uh and you can't get any better than that so I guess we're doing something right but um I'm glad to see that we're you know taking that yearby year step by-step approach rather than what I've seen some other communities do which is they they spend it all at one Fell Swoop and then and suddenly they're stuck with it and they got to pay for it the next year and there's only one way to do that and that's through a massive increase in property taxes and for a community like ours that doesn't get local government aid to any large degree uh as opposed to you know our friends in St Paul Park who are right below us in Washington County tax per capita um you know we we need to be very judicious and very careful uh and we always are but um you know we can't count on those big influxes of money from the state or the federal government to come our every year like some other folks do uh so I think that makes us a little better when we sharpen our pencil that's all I've got thanks so much thank you Council M yeah council member kamada thank you Mr Mayor you in your breakdown of our budget expenditures you listed um our cost of Debt Service M and I know since we were since our bond rating was uh upgraded we probably haven't had an opportunity to to um to convert those bonds into lower interest um Bond sales but do you have a rough idea of what the long-term um net savings will be on on having that um that addition or that upgraded rating I know in in projects that we've put out for bonds since we've gotten that rating um did we notice a a notice or a large enough or or noticeable drop in the the rates that were being offered to us we did I think we experienced that uh with that 2024 bond issue that we did at the beginning of the year um and so those uh interest savings uh on that debt issue for 2024 so we've got two Bond issues now underneath us with that AAA Bond rating um and so those um interest savings that we saw when we issued debt in 2024 was including included in this budget in front of you so in that $154 okay um and then additionally I just wanted to say thank you to you uh for this year year-long process that is our budget uh but also to directors I know we asked a lot of our specific departments in terms of having them bring to us items that could be uh uh postponed or deferred um and as again in January there's a lot of unknowns and as the year kind of played out we were able to assess kind of what budget line items needed to wait till next year and what we could bring into the fold for this year on a priority basis and that's a heavy lift and uh I appreciate all the work that you guys have put into this yes thank you and I did I just want to I did look tonight there about $125 more dollars on that median home uh that could have been added for requests and so um we did do our due diligence city council City staff on that so yes another $125 on that median home thank you all right yeah Council it it's funny that's first time afraid to actually say that I mean we always look at those and we say no no we got to wait on that and then to hear what that dollar amount is quite quite astonishing uh Council MTI yeah I guess I I just want to make mention that uh that uh you know I I totally understand I tend to be a little bit of the the one that tries to to uh you know well let's just face it I'm I'm kind of cheap my my dad you know raised me to be pretty pretty Frugal but uh so there are some you know definitely some things and and I know that uh you know a lot of people feel that that burden of of increases even though we we're saying well it's not a very big increase when you get about 10 uh you know smaller increases it all it all starts add up so uh we do try to make an effort to to hold the line on on some of those taxes you know some of the the costs have gone up uh we've seen some some increases in in in labor costs and things like that uh and and like it or not that's a biggest one of our you know is the biggest percentage of of uh of our costs and things of that nature so uh so even though sometimes it doesn't seem like we're holding the line on things uh I think we we do have some some pretty good data that says that we uh that we you know sit pretty well in comparison to to other cities and so forth and and while I'll be the first to say that i' I'd love to always see my taxes stay the same or or go down you know it's it's kind of inevitable that that you know costs continue to to go up and and I do have to say that that you know a lot of these folks in the city here kind of put up with me in terms of you know doing some things and cost justifications for equipment and things like that that uh uh that I know are kind of a a pain to do sometimes but uh I think uh it does give good visibility and uh and I think uh you know that that that there is a a lot of effort made to to try to to you know be more productive uh you know try to try to use uh equipment longer and and everybody everybody knows that when somebody gives me a reason that they're you know replacing equipment is because it just came to the end of its life that that they need to have a little bit more information than that to toh convince me of the fact that that uh you know that the piece of equipment has to be replaced I mean one year they even brought me over and showed that there was there was a rusted hole in the in the bottom one of the pickup truck or not the pickup truck um one of one of the vehicles maybe it was a um one of the the uh trucks and but any R so even though it it it it is a a situation where we don't like to see those cost go up I I think we were do a pretty good job so sounds good thank you uh anybody else okay so uh this is the opportunity now I'm going to open thank you Brenda I'm sorry um I'm going to open up the public hearing if there's anybody like to speak on this topic is welcome to do so at this time you just uh can go up to the podium state your name and address for the record and you get up to three minutes is there anybody that wants to speak all right seeing none I will go ahead and close the public hearing at this point and then Council if you noticed on the screen uh we have three separate uh resolutions so I don't know who wants to take the first one okay I we'll do council member gar and then you can do I'd like to make a motion to adopt resolution 2024-25 okay I've got a motion by council member Garza do I have a second second then second by council member kada any other discussion seeing none all those in favor signified by saying I I I opposed MO carries who would like to do number three counc member kada I move to adopt resolution 2024-25 budget all right so we have a motion by council member Kata do I have a second second second by council member Garza any further discussion seeing none all those in favor signifi by saying I I I opposed motion carries and finally number four mayor I'll move to adopt resolution 20 24179 this is a resolution adopting the 2024 Housing and Redevelopment Authority property tax levy collectible in 2025 all right so I have a motion by council member Olson do I have a second second second by council member kada again final any other questions or comments seeing none all those in favor signify by saying I I I opposed motion carries thank you Council thank you staff um for and Brenda thank you for putting it all together and you'll have a little vacation here and then you get to come back and start it all over again sounds good uh next on our agenda is Bid Awards uh number 10 which there are none this evening 11 is the regular agenda we do have one item on our regular agenda this evening which is the Park High School site plan review and our community development director Emily schmidtz is going to take us through this so welcome Emily would you like me and daveid to start singing Christmas music we can do that I was G to take me it's just freezing on me May we'll all blame Brenda she was the last one to touch it all right crisis there we go apologies see we threaten to sing and all I know that's all it took that's all it took uh mayor council members this evening um uh as most of you know the school district did have a successful referendum in 2023 Therefore several projects across the county um however a couple also here in Cottage Grove for those of you who hold a uh PhD in your back pocket I think you're thinking oh my goodness finally um as we look at Park High School and uh a couple of improvements so the site plan before you this this evening it's a little bit twofold um so a couple of building additions one uh the cafeteria on the rear of the building it's by understanding uh the cafeteria as it sits today is existing from when the building was built so it's been around uh for a couple of years and is in need of a brand new cafeteria so uh that addition number 19 as you can see on the screen is a brand new cafeteria um the second building addition is also to the CTE or the career uh technical education portion of the building where they're uh expanding to have some additional opportunities for students to uh build sheds larger uh uh projects that they'll be able to work into that area and that's number 16 on your screen now this site plan looks a little bit different uh Park High and cross view of the site is quite large so uh the minor scale of the addition when we think about the site plan review from a zoning perspective obviously we usually look at parking we look at Landscaping we look at all those details um but I really wanted to focus on the architectural materials as the minor impact of this addition to the site as a whole U but making sure that I highlighted that the school district did place a large focus on making sure that this addition blended into the existing building as it is today as you can see 78% total of that brick glazing and stone which are those class one materials uh that we typically require on Commercial projects within the community so a couple of great renderings just so you can see uh that addition in the back side of the building I my next slide is kind of that second part uh of the site when we look at the site improvements and this is kind of the flow and the access to the site so what I'll highlight is adding an additional access off of 8th uh for most of you who know again who have that PhD in your pocket or uh have have students that attend Park High School a lot of that activity right now is right in front of Park High School and so the the large focus of the school district uh was to see if we couldn't separate all of that activity into different locations within the site so adding an acccess off of 80th um is one of the first steps that helps to separate traffic coming from both the East and the West into their own accesses into the site that gives some additional stacking for folks who are dropping off at Cross View Elementary right and give some additional area for those folks to stack on the site not on to 80th Street and then the biggest change that you're going to see is that drop off for kids to park is going to be in the back side of the building as opposed to the front so that goes back to that activity that you see in the front we're proposing to split that out so your bus traffic will continue to be in the front School drop off or or student drop off will be in the back um student parking will remain um in the student parking lot that they have today uh and then you've got guest and staff uh staff parking in the front um that is also there today but sub additional parking obviously proposed on the back side of the building so that also uh sends that traffic out onto ideal Avenue exiting on to 8th again separating out all of that traffic activity that we see right now directly onto 8th we're spreading that out across the site and finally we are working with the school district uh to obtain uh easements that are needed to cover different uh utilities that exist on the site today to make sure that any of that public infrastructure the city does have access to in the event that we would need to maintain it um in addition uh some additional required right of way along adth street that we needed uh to Encompass if you're aware there's an existing Trail um that extends along adth Street we wanted to be certain that that was within our RightWay so again we could maintain longterm so with that there are two separate uh recommendations before you uh staff is available as well as the applicant with additional questions all right uh thank you Emily Council if you have any questions at this point uh counil M brosen thank you this might be for Ryan and it might be for the applicant so whoever wants it can take it um when we saw this presentation one of the things we talked about was um the safe Crossing areas on Hinton and un ideal and I wondered if somebody could just spend a moment sharing with the public what will be changing in those areas to ensure that um you know the The Crossing for those who walk will actually be safe and I in fact I believe it'll be safer because I think we're going to take a lot of that traffic off of Ideal Mr Mayor uh council member Olson so looking at ideal specifically you're right A lot of it is is probably less traffic just because hearing the school district's numbers the the parent drop off pickup I think averaged somewhere around 150 on different days they checked where the student parking lot holds about 450 cars so you should actually have less traffic on ideal Avenue um we are looking at with them a more of a marked crosswalk at um believe at 79th Street yeah it is 79th Avenue that's been the the sore spot for quite a while yep so we will be looking at that um over at Hinton Avenue really the the designated crosswalk is at the the at 8th Street because that is a controlled intersection that is the safest place to cross um I believe that's where the school district has their crossing guards as well so that that's remaining the same as the designated Crossing and really with the signal there that is the best option over the years discussions come up at 79th there but that is not a a good Crossing uh point being that uh undivided four lane is just not an ideal location to be Crossing uh for children so directing him down to 80th is still the proposed plan good and then um since I have you standing there um you know one of the other challenges that we faced was uh when people are coming into the ice arena and um they're they're moving at a pretty good rate of speed past the front of the Arena towards the back parking there were some changes to to that area as well to try to mitigate some of those concerns do do you feel comfortable speaking about those I think those maybe I'd let the a speak to a little bit they're more familiar I do know there's been some striping changes some changes there um but maybe if they have any additional to add I'll let them discuss that one yeah something to kind of keep the keep the traffic go ahead please yes yep yep so my name is Kevin B I'm a civil engineer working on the project with bkbm Engineers thank you um ultimately yeah we we are going to have the additional parking on the back side of the school which we think is going to help alleviate some of the congestion on the south side of the school um we anticipate that you know after school activities or once school lets out uh it'll be used for you know practice for football and whatever on the North Fields uh but then also use kind of for the Ice Arena parking and kind of eliminating some of that traffic on the South Side there so the the concern that um most people have and have had for quite some time is let's say you have a a big game and I'll use uh Park who's going to play easd this week on Friday night um East ridge's home ice is at the arena Park home ice at the arena so when they play each other they play at the arena it's just a question of which sheet of ice when the buses come to drop off the teams they park right in front of that Arena and then when you have parents who are driving to drop off their players or people who want to come to the game and you know hey drop us off at the front and we go park someplace kind of thing that that uh you know right in front of the Arena that traffic going either way is problematic and sometimes people move at a pretty rapid rate of speed I've seen our uh law enforcement officers on several occasions actually ticket people for for their behavior uh behind the wheel in that area so do you anticipate some of these changes are going to mitigate that is it going to you know slow some of that down or is there anything else that you're aware of that may be going on um yeah I guess uh not specifically uh to that that drive it's you're talking about the drive directly between the ice arena and the high school um there may be some level of uh less congestion of people who are trying to go North to that parking area as they can now enter through the crest side the back side um similarly there's the access off of Ideal so you can kind of loop around to the north if that makes sense instead of cutting straight through the center um so there there's probably some congestion relief because of that but um ultimately there's there's no anticipated speed bumps or anything added in that area well the reality is that was only that was the only way people could get in and out so now that would they have a different access point that may make a big change but um I just wanted to ask the question because we are approaching you know tonight's the first game right so um and the girls played last night so it's going to be that time of year and we want to try to make sure that we plan forward for next year and the year after and the year after thank you yeah that's it for me mayor okay um I I will have a question but does any other council member have a question for either staff or and I'll probably have one of you two get up there again in a second uh council member kada I will just comment that um when this was being presented at uh the Planning Commission meeting which I am the council member or Council leaon 4 um uh a question that I had which was brought up by one of the uh Planning Commission members was how would you uh restrict traffic right so now people are who dropping off their children are supposed to come around to the back of the building how do you prevent them from going through the bus lane and continuing to cause congestion and uh they said that they have uh planned to address that with using some cones to blockade vehicles and that that's been an effective method at at other schools where they have to manage you know those two different types of traffic good okay sounds good uh any other questions down here so I have two questions one and both of them are brought up um during our uh Workshop that we had I believe a couple weeks ago one uh one was and I think I even heard our public parks and rec director brought it up um and it does involve that area between the ice TR and the school uh one is lighting um at the moment the the lighting over there is really um it's dark um with regards to lighting and I guess I'd like to put a plug in no pun intended uh cuz I know we have some on the ice arena itself but it doesn't really get out to the the I'll say the travel Lane uh or lanes that go by there and then of course there's very limited Lighting on the school which actually doesn't really push down towards the the sidewalk there so I would like to just put that out there as something that we should look at and then of course the other one and I I brought it up that night and I'll bring it up again here you know parking has been a premium at that school um and you know customer brosen brings up the comment about um you know if there's a both and it does happen both high schools even if they're not playing each other they might be playing at the same time plus there's basketball at the high school and so when those events happen uh parking is at a premium and literally figuratively you could be parking I'm not kidding on ideal to walk all the way to the ice rain or or basketball whatever one of the and not that this is going to be the biggest of of deals but um one of the things that was ini initially in your first plan was that that uh used to be a warming house that's behind the ice arena uh was going to be moved I know you're using it for storage for like the field facilities and that and that was going to be additional parking and I believe that the reason that it was removed is uh cost factors is that accurate so with with that being said um I know what we do at the city is when there's a budget which you have to have a budget just like we do um if they they do um uh add-ons if you will or what what am I looking for contingency or or a change change order I'm sorry a change order where you could actually say okay I'm going to bid this project out and depending on how the costs come back we can you know we can do a change order which would be a possibility of somebody adding like the parking on the back there and I just know it because it's been between the lighting and the parking all around the high school has been a challenge and I I do appreciate what you guys are doing I I like the idea I like the design that you're trying to do and and to split things up so there isn't so much craziness in the mornings uh at you know getting into the high school um but I would just like to make my plug once again uh for those two items one is the lighting on the high school and then of course the you know looking at what we can do with some additional parking and if you need to work with our staff obviously on placement of a new you know shed or a a building obviously I'm sure we could we could work with you on that to make it I know you had it at another spot at one point I'm not sure because of how the fields are working out that it had to be moved or maybe it was us I don't know um but I'm just saying let's see what we can do to work together um to increase the parking opportunities there but also provide you with the the needed space that you need for sheds so and I would assume Council feels pretty confident on that I know I know we brought it up during the work shop so okay and did you did you either of you want to say anything else or three of you I guess no yeah I saw you hiding over there all right all right so Council this is not a um this is just on our regular agenda so there isn't like a public hearing or anything was there anybody in the audience that did want to speak on this topic At All by chance okay I'll move resolution 20241 77 approving the site plan review for additions to Park High School located at 8040 80th Street South totaling approximately 35,000 ft and additional site improvements to property located at 8040 80th Street South and 7830 80th Street South all right so I have a motion by council member Olsen do I have a second second second by council member kamada any further discussions Council seeing none all those in favor signify by saying I I I opposed motion carries and who would like number two I'll move that we approve drainage and utility easements RightWay easement encroachment agreement and a storm water maintenance agreement on property located at 8040 and 7830 80th Street South all right so we have a motion by council member the do I have second I second second by council member Garza uh final time any questions comments seeing none all those in favor signify by saying I I I opposed motion carries thank you good luck I know there'll be a lot of construction going on up there later this next year so uh next on our agenda is Council comments and request um I'll start with council member kada thank you mayor I am so excited to go and skate on a frozen pond beside myself um however the ice is not thick enough and so I'm just going to make a quick PSA that um sounds like we had a close call in Woodburry just a couple of days ago um with a couple of teenagers who went through the ice and I know that there's been at least one or two other reports um if you go on the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources which is dnr.com pictograph explaining how thick the ice needs to be to stand on it drive on it snowmobile on it please be safe don't go through the ice trying to have fun with your kids that's all I've got for today all right thank you Mr K how about C broson thank you mayor I know that Christmas is your favorite time of year so I'm certainly not going to steal any of your thunder um Cu uh there's a whole bunch of Christmas going on but one thing that I did want to mention is this coming Sunday the 8th of December we have got our Santa breakfast for The Cottage Grove Lions not to be confused with the S breakfast that is taking place at River Oaks Santa's amazing he can be in two places at once but this one is for the Cottage Grove lions from 8:00 a.m. until noon at the Big Red Barn VFW here in Cottage Grove uh Santa will be there along with sparkles the elf and uh you might see some familiar faces wearing their Lion's gear as we're trying to serve some breakfast and drinks and uh there'll be all kinds of fun things going on the admission price is $12 for adults it is $8 for children and we would love to see you there there is no rule that says you can't go to both so if you're already planning on going to River Oaks I know that that was a uh order your tickets in advance sort of event this is a pop in whenever you can sort of event so from 8:00 to noon we'll be there you have your fun at River Oaks and then you come and see us and we'll put a little uh strawberry on top of the Sunday for you and it'll be just a beautiful day you get to see Santa twice um so I look forward to having a really nice crowd there again Sunday 8 to noon at the VFW $12 for adults $8 for kids and with that miror I'll turn it back to you all right thank you uh council member thebe I'm good oh wow okay council member Garza thank you mayor well just um hopping on what Brenda gave us a lot of great information regarding our taxes here in um Cottage Grove and how we're spinning our budget and all the things I just want to give a friendly reminder to any of our new residents to College Grove that may have purchased a home in 2024 make sure that you have Homestead at your home because that will help you with your taxes so if you have not or if you do not know you can check with Washington County I believe online or you can give them a call so that's a really good and an important thing to do before the end of the end of the year if you purchase this year thank you good call out thank you all right so as uh council member Olsson said though uh this evening the wind is going nuts out there and yes a lot of my Christmas decorations are flying everywhere in my yard even though they're they're staked but yeah it's not a pretty night for for Christmas decorations out outside but um I I staff is telling me that they've already talked to Mother Nature and tomorrow night uh when we have our uh Hometown holiday celebration here at City Hall um I encourage you to come uh check check out all the events um the last couple years that we've been doing it's gotten bigger and better every year matter of fact and yes the wind is the tent's up out here and it's holding very well uh but uh there's a lot of decorations here at City Hall staff has uh done a great job of putting things together um just as a as a um friendly reminder there's going to be food trucks out here games uh uh Santa Mrs Claus will be arriving uh and then we'll do an official tree lighting for the city of Cottage Grove I believe at 5:00 and then there'll be some other decoration some music and things that are going to be happening out here uh City Hall will be open I think you might have heard that earlier so if it if it is colder than what me Minnesota would say is normal right now um there is a chance for you to stop inside here to City Hall and warm up if necessary though we'll do have warming tents and such out in front of City Hall but are we going to have the Christmas movies again okay there you go yeah so Christmas movies in inside there you go so like I said it's a it's a great event uh it is tomorrow evening which is uh depending on we watching this Thursday December 5th um you can start arriving as early as 4:30 uh there'll be uh parking at both the Washington County Government Center and the hero Center and you can take a wagon ride uh that'll be provided from one of those locations uh to get you here to city hall and then you can take a ride back uh at that particular Point um I was already going to mention um interesting enough the uh the River Oaks Santa breakfast is completely sold out um so whether you're doing both or now that you you don't have the option at River Oaks we definitely want you to go down uh to do the Santa breakfast at uh the BFW for the the cottage Go Lions so we encourage you to do that and then uh this coming um uh I think it's Saturday isn't it December 7th yeah on on December 7th there is um uh what we call a uh help us fill up the firetruck event and in the past uh in Cottage Grove here we've done it actually at some of our Parks or maybe Cup Foods or different places around town however this year they've decided they're going to do it down at the frenzy need food shelf in in St Paul Park and the purpose of course is because all the benef all the proceeds and such that are done through this event uh is going to be uh provided to the friends that need food shelf to uh to uh support families in need uh you might be asking um what are they looking for well first of all I should mention it's Saturday December 7th from 10: a.m. to 1 p.m. uh and again it's at 535 4th Street in St Paul Park uh it's kind of down behind carbonis for those of us that know uh St Paul Park down there uh so I'll mention that and then the items that they're really looking for which is which is great uh is toilet paper paper towels uh toothpaste toothbrushes uh diapers in sizes four five and six uh plastic and paper bags uh deodorant baby wipes shampoo and bar soap or um I would also suggest uh cash if you're so willing and able to do it uh because obviously that goes a long way if you can't uh provide or don't want to provide those items uh and it will also give you a chance to take a tour uh and that was part of the reason they're doing it down there so other than stopping and filling the fir truck you can actually take a tour of the food shelf and see how they manage uh to put many many many people through there uh to support those in our communities uh Cottage Grove and surrounding communities uh for that so again uh that's this coming uh Saturday December 7th from 10: a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the friends of need food shelf in St Paul Park and then last last ly um I did want to mention about next Wednesday uh which is uh December 11th uh we do have the CP casc holiday train that is going to be back in town here uh right along uh West Point Douglas Road near the usth C spau um it is an amazing event if you haven't seen it I encourage you to swing down there uh there is warming tents there's going to be Santa free glow sticks uh cookies and cocoa uh which is also free uh obviously limited quantities but uh there again the be food trucks there's going to be holiday train merchandise with all the proceeds obviously going to the friends that need food shelf uh which is what this event is um it is amazing to see it there is music that comes with the train so a stage opens up uh and uh I encourage you to stop down there again it starts um as early as um 3:30 when the event starts opening uh the train is expected to arrive around 5:15 it's usually here about 15 to 20 25 minutes tops and then it moves on out so um um again um this is I believe our our goal and I'm looking to another partner of mine on the board is 100,000 I believe this year and if we do achieve that 100,000 I believe is it two million or three over two million dollars would have been raised uh for just in the stop which by the way from what we're hearing from uh the uh CP um KC rail is one of the biggest and most profitable stops uh that they have in other words for for donating to the local community so uh that's pretty amazing both uh for our communities our our members of our communities as well as all of the local businesses uh that help uh bring this to town and so that is why they're back again is uh we're one of their biggest stops we're one of their best stops and uh they do really appreciate all the the the love and support that they get from the communities of cottage grow St P Park Newport uh and greycloud and so that is it for my notes for me and oh I guess I should say there is hopefully everything will still be out there but there is the Holiday Lights tour uh which you can go to our website and uh or Facebook page and you can download the map and it'll literally take you everyone uh as long as you want to do it uh throughout Cottage Grove um last I saw I think there was over 50 um homes uh that are currently signed up Yes mine is one of them hopefully it'll still be intact after this evening but um the the it is uh pretty amazing uh for what people are doing out in our community with with holiday decorations so I encourage you to um to do that oh and I guess I do have one more I'm sorry Council um uh our Public Works director Ryan bfine just mentioned to me that um one of the things that I did mention in my mayor's moments uh on on our local cable access is we're going to be um trying out if you will we're going to be putting up four different uh Christmas decorations uh on street lights that are going to be down on Jamaica basically between Highway 60 one and say Taco Bell in that particular area and there's going to be a number or a letter I'm not guess I'm not sure if it's a number or letter on each of them for you to vote on which which of the of those particular decorations that you would like to see in Cottage Grove in the future uh and the reason is some of the decorations that we currently have are getting older and some of them the lights aren't working anymore um and so our goal will be to start replacing them and of course with the new lights that we've got down in the Jamaica Avenue area uh by Target uh those also require different brackets and things like that too so we are going to need to upgrade some of these and this is going to be your opportunity to help us choose it last time we did this the public I thought loved it uh we got a lot of response from the public about which ones they liked or didn't like uh and we'll get the information from the public at that at later on as we get closer to Christmas and we'll share with everybody what the selection is so I just wanted to throw that out there so stay tuned in the next week or so you'll see the information go out there and you'll see obviously the decorations go up uh shortly okay so that is it um next is uh Workshop open to the public we do not have a Workshop open in the public this evening however we do have a workshop which is closed to the public uh and uh this year is the time that we do uh our administrator uh Jennifer lit's performance review so I will just mention uh to the public in here on camera that we will be closing the meeting uh pursuant to Minnesota statute 13 d05 subsection 3A to conduct a performance evaluation of City administer Jennifer levit and then once we're completed with that uh we will then adjourn at that point so look forward to seeing everybody at the Holiday Hometown holiday event uh tomorrow evening and then again next week at the Holiday train so take care everyone e e