This transcript identifies the speakers based on the provided city official list and the internal context of the February 1, 2023, meeting. *Note: While the provided list included Councilmembers Garza and Clausen, the transcript identifies Councilmembers **Tony Khambata** and **Steve Dennis**, who were the active members present at this specific session.* *** **[00:00] Mayor Myron Bailey:** thank you all right uh good evening this is the February 1st 2023 Cottage Grove City council meeting which I'm calling to order uh the first order of business is the Pledge of Allegiance so if you please rise please 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 right will the clerk please do the role **[00:35] Tammy Anderson (City Clerk):** councilmember combata present councilmember Dennis here council member thidi here councilmember Olson here mayor Bailey here **[00:45] Mayor Myron Bailey:** next on our agenda is open form this is the opportunity for anybody who wants to speak on something that is not on tonight's agenda is welcome to do so we did have a sign up sheet on an entryway but nobody did sign up so in the event that somebody came in that wants to speak but forgot to sign up or didn't see it anybody want to speak on open forum all right seeing them we'll go ahead and close open form and I'll move to number five which is adoption of the agenda **[01:10] Councilmember Steve Dennis:** motion to adapt the agenda **[01:12] Councilmember Dave Thiede:** second **[01:14] Mayor Myron Bailey:** we have a motion by councilmember Dennis seconded by council member thidi all those in favor signify by saying aye **[01:18] Councilmembers (Collective):** aye aye aye **[01:20] Mayor Myron Bailey:** opposed motion carries uh next is presentations we do have one this evening uh the presentation this evening is the public safety board check presentation and I believe um our community service officer that's what we're calling you now Community engagement officer sorry I did get the wrong one uh Dan Schoen is going to uh kick us off here and then I would ask Council and the uh Public Safety Board to come on up to the front **[01:45] Dan Schoen (Community Engagement Officer):** Mr Mayor is uh as mayor you get to call me whatever you want so that works for me well as we assemble Mr Mayor members of the council in 1995 a group of civic-minded individuals with a goal of a safer Cottage Grove came together with our then Public Safety officials and formed a non-profit organization now known as The Cottage Grove Public Safety Board individuals have changed over the years but the goal of doing their part to help their fellow community members remains constant in 2022 you all as the council and mayor made an investment in our community by adding another police canine to our staff we know this investment takes great planning and the results of having a canine team available can literally be the difference between life and death when it comes to tracking down lost children vulnerable adults or violent suspects our society is seeing more and more up the public safety board as our non-profit partner is here to donate a check for ten thousand dollars specifically for the new canine Officer sorgard here to my left is our newest K-9 Handler and believe it or not he will likely receive his new partner this weekend the the lead trainer from Washington County will be working with will be in Florida tomorrow and we'll work with sergeant torning and they probably get on Face Time and and have a conversation about how is the mannerisms of the dog because they do have personalities and how will that dog fit into our department and best serve our community needs it is hard to believe since the public safety board has been actively supporting the canine program that this is now the fourth canine they financially supported starting with officer Mike vandervort and canine Blitz sergeant torning and uh canine Gunner who Mr Mayor in your comments earlier noted that Gunner will be retiring by the end of this year officer Brandon Graf and his canine Scout we didn't bring Scout in the council chambers but Brandon's out here we're gonna we'll leave uh scout scout still stays in the car until we need him and that's all right and then officer sorgard and soon to be named so uh Mr Mayor members of the council thank you so much for your dedication to us and thank you uh on behalf of the Cottage Grove Police Department I Know Chief Kerner wishes he could be here tonight but he's with family tonight as many of you know and uh thank you so there we go **[04:40] Mayor Myron Bailey:** all right so let's give them a round of applause obviously [Applause] yeah I just want to say you know from our standpoint on The Cottage Grove City Council and the staff and obviously all the citizens of Cottage Grove thank you uh for the for the generous donation and uh Nils thank you for uh being the being the leader here on some of this stuff here he's doing pretty good over there until I come over by him so uh Cindy did you want to speak on this Julie I'm sorry I'm looking at my wife and I'm looking at you **[05:15] Julie (Public Safety Board):** um yes we have supported by in or supporting buying a canine dog for the last four times and we can't do that without fundraising and LSP electric is one of our biggest donors and we also try to do a golf tournament and February 19th it's a Sunday afternoon I'm going to plug it we're doing a bunco tournament at the Saint Paul Park Legion cost ten dollars and all that money will be going into the public safety board so come on down have some fun either you play with us or you don't you can observe but it's all fun and you don't have to have any experience so thank you **[06:00] Mayor Myron Bailey:** and I should just mention obviously we're here tonight to uh uh thank you for this uh amazing gift for the our next police dog but they also the the donations that you guys have been doing go to traffic's uh speed signs and all the different things that happen within our community so this is just one uh part of a bigger picture that you guys provide for our Public Safety department here so again on behalf of everybody here thank you awesome one more round of applause and the fire department [Applause] okay make sure we have the mayor take the check you can move the check to the middle and then have journey together perfect thank you thank you thank you guys thanks everybody [Applause] **[07:05] Mayor Myron Bailey:** all right uh next on our agenda this evening is consent calendar uh council is there anything like to pull on consent **[07:15] Councilmember Steve Dennis:** Mary I'd like to pull item e **[07:18] Mayor Myron Bailey:** item e okay counseling everything else all right sing none uh item e uh comes from our Dennis is accepting some donations **[07:25] Councilmember Steve Dennis:** excellent thank you Marin you know this is something that we like to do as a council um every quarter take a moment to uh recognize the generosity of our community uh relative to helping to fund some amazing things here within the city of Cottage Grove so for this period which ran between October 1st 2022 and December 31st 2022 it's my privilege tonight to recognize the stantec Consulting Services Company who donated 2100 to the hometown holiday celebration and also the Cottage Grove Athletic Association who donated a substantial amount looking to me here with some quick math about 35 36 000 in totality for everything from scoreboard power hookups uh Park rink boards and scoreboards black netting and other equipment relative to help helping with football and soccer field Renovations so those things are absolutely fantastic and we're grateful for that opportunity and we recognize those um those organizations for that and as I always like to do every time that we talk about this is that if anyone ever wants to make a difference and we had a chance to see here just a moment ago the public safety board who through numerous uh folks that donate money into causes if you want to make a difference we certainly won't say no we'll be very grateful to accept any donation amount that you may have no donation is too big or too small every dollar makes a difference and helps to make our home be a better place so that's what I have mayor thank you **[09:10] Mayor Myron Bailey:** awesome thank you all right with nothing else being pulled on consent I guess I'll look for motion **[09:15] Councilmember Dave Thiede:** move consent **[09:17] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** seconded **[09:19] Mayor Myron Bailey:** motion by uh to approve consent by customer graffiti seconded by councilmember Olson and the other discussion seeing none all those in favor signify by saying aye **[09:25] Councilmembers (Collective):** aye aye aye **[09:27] Mayor Myron Bailey:** opposed motion carry so if you happen to be here for anything on tonight's consent calendar all of those items have been approved uh number eight is approve disbursement 8a is to pay the bills **[09:35] Councilmember Steve Dennis:** motion to pay the bills **[09:37] Councilmember Tony Khambata:** second **[09:39] Mayor Myron Bailey:** motion by council member Dennis second by councilmember combata any discussion seeing none all those in favor signify by saying aye **[09:44] Councilmembers (Collective):** aye aye aye **[09:46] Mayor Myron Bailey:** opposed motion carries number nine is public hearings we do have one this evening we do have the 2023 pavement management uh project we're holding a hearing uh possibly ordering the project authorizing preps and plans and all that other fun stuff uh in our uh Public Works director Ryan burfein is going to walk us through this so welcome Ryan **[10:10] Ryan Burfeind (Public Works Director):** thank you Mr Mayor members of the council for the public hearing tonight I'm going to start off with a presentation on the project where I'll talk about the specific project area what kind of improvements we're proposing and also take a look at the proposed assessments I'll mention that we did have a neighborhood meeting for this project on January 12th here at City Hall we had 11 households and attendance at that meeting and we gave a very similar presentation to what I'll be giving tonight uh when we look at pavement management or just pavement rehab methods really there's a variety of things that the city has done over the years first which is really just maintenance procedures Sealcoat crack seal those are things that we do on an annual basis on our roads in town just to keep them and maintain them in good working order we have Mill and overlay projects where we take off that top inch and a half to two inches of the pavement put it back down and really don't do much else we don't do a lot of utility work or other improvements in a neighborhood tonight talking about a pavement replacement project that's what we have before you and then reconstruction is when you have that total reconstruction the whole roadway from the subgrade all the way on up is replaced so much more intensive project why do pavement management so it does keep our roads in good condition right good drivable safe operating condition maintains it in good working order it also it does maintain property values we know that having good streets good infrastructure and neighborhood is beneficial to that neighborhood we look at the history of pavement management I got a map on the screen here there's a lot of information but really it's just meant to depict we've been doing this for a long time we've done a lot of the neighborhoods in the city throughout the year starting in the 90s and we think about a 25 to 30 year life cycle of the roadways you really got to work your way around the town in that life cycle and kind of continue on as the city continues to age looking at this project area specifically it's on the north is 80th Street East side of the project is Hyde Avenue 83rd Street and then it's everything north of Hillside Trail years constructed of the actual Pavement in this neighborhood mostly 1996 it was a pavement management project in 1996 so here we are you know 27 years later right in that 25 to 30 year time frame that we're looking for to redo that pavement section A little bit was 1998 as well but the actual neighborhood was constructed in 1963 and 1966. so about 60 years old so the utilities are 60 years old and that is reflected in the project because we do have more utility work than maybe we've seen in past projects in the last five to eight years looking at the roadway condition the city does a Pacer rating is what it's called we rate all our roadways on a scale of one to ten all the streets in this neighborhood are between a three to five so definitely in that realm of needing that pavement replacement it's not a total reconstruction project but definitely you know meets the needs of a pavement replacement we do core samples throughout the project areas we do this for a few different reasons we just want to make sure that the pavement thickness is what we're expecting also we're looking at you know issues with the pavement and a lot of this area has been what we call asphalt stripping where that top starts at the top and works its way down pavement section really dries out and starts to peel off actually nine years ago Public Works did do a thin overlay on each side because it really starts on the edges of the roadway so that that thin overlay has really seen its full useful life we typically say no more than seven years we've stretched a few more years out of it and you can see that with all the patching that we've been doing looking at the existing conditions we have 80th Street Frontage Road in these pictures you can see a lot of the the failure around the manholes that's been pretty consistent throughout the neighborhood a lot of patching and on the right just a lot of that spot patching throughout the neighborhood from all the asphalt stripping these pictures here we've got Hemingway Avenue Hyde Court just a lot of patching on the roadway a lot of cracking and you can see that condition of the those thin overlays on the edge where there's actually additional pothole patching taking place in those thin overlays uh here we've got Homestead Avenue Hornell Avenue A lot of the same a lot of cracking asphalt stripping pavement patching throughout the neighborhood on Hyde Avenue some good example of some really severe alligator cracking in the neighborhood and then more failure on Hemingway Avenue around the manhole section finally on Hemingway Avenue Hensley Avenue Very similar just really continuous patching by the public works crews in this neighborhood over the last several years just to keep in you know drivable condition I mentioned the utilities they're getting quite old in this neighborhood we did do our typical utility inspections uh we inspected all the manhole structures televised all the pipes you know overall we found that they're in good condition in terms of we don't need any full Replacements there's no full water main Replacements no full sewer Replacements required which can happen when you get to utilities of this age but there is a lot of Maintenance needed a lot of manholes need to be patched rebuilt and really fully replaced and also the wise that's where the service comes into the line a lot of cracking of that and a lot of the cracking of the pipe section so we'll have a lot of trenchless work where we actually put a liner in the pipe to fix that cracking that's occurred in the sanitary sewer for water main like I said we have had some water main breaks they haven't been frequent enough to justify any full water main Replacements but we are going to be fixing the valve bolts and the fittings in the area uh the proposed Improvement so it is a full pavement replacement which has been pretty typical for our projects in the past several years spot curb replacement about 15 percent of the curb that we're looking at removing and replacing based on what our inspection showed and then minor utility repairs uh in addition to the ones I mentioned we also have some street light wire to replace we've had one street that's just had a lot of street light issues and we know that wire is just buried in the ground wire we're going to put that in conduit so we don't have those issues in the future and then hydrant reconditioning so we actually sand blast and repaint those hydrants to make sure that they you know get the whole useful life out of them as far as the estimated assessments goes there's 308 residential buildable lot equivalents which is a big word it's really a single family home is what it is for this neighborhood and we do have a special benefit appraisal it's called so we actually hire a third party special benefit appraiser just to verify that the assessment that we are proposing is you know no more than that special benefit that that the homes receive the special benefit appraisals came back between 58 and 7 100 and our proposed assessment per policy is just under five thousand dollars so 4965. and the way that's calculated it's 45 percent of all the accessible costs in the project are divided among those benefiting properties so the special benefit appraisal does support that assessment uh if assessment was approved at the end of the project and and paid over 15 years that's about 467 dollars per year in terms of religious institutions there is one Church in the area and the assessment per policy is about 43 000. but in this case and we do see this with churches I think pretty commonly that the special benefit was 21 900 so the assessment would be capped at that amount if the assessments did move ahead at the end of the project here's just a quick map again all the areas in green is all the single-family homes then there's the one Church on Hyde Avenue quick funding breakdown the Project's just a little over four million dollars you can see the variety of utility funds that we'll be using for a lot of those improvements uh General Levy you know I mentioned 50 or 45 percent is assessed the other 55 is picked up by the general Levy and those assessments are just over 1.5 million dollars estimated at this time the assessment terms and just talking schedule and for the folks in the audience you know tonight is a public hearing um so it's not about the assessment at this time it's really about the need for the project and ordering the project if the project does move ahead there would be assessment hearing at the end of the project where we actually use the actual project cost so we don't want to base an assessment on an estimate we want to know what the real numbers are so if we do see some savings the savings are passed on the assessment but if the project did move ahead and there was an assessment X fall the charges it could be paid within 30 days to avoid any interest charges otherwise it goes on the taxes payable over 15 years and the interest rate is one and a half percent above the bond rate and right now I'm working with ehlers it looks like a bond rate would be about three and a half percent is what it would be partial payment is allowed a minimum of 500 but if the project is ordered tonight there would be a pending assessment listed on all the properties also deferral is available that's for disability military and 65 years of age or older proof is needed for that and interest still accrues during that deferred period if people have more questions on that they can always reach out to our finance department to get that information quickly looking at a schedule so the feasibility report was ordered on October 5th and that was approved on January 4th like I mentioned we had the neighborhood meeting on January 12th here we are tonight for public hearing February 1st and if the project is ordered we'd have construction start in the spring of 2023 complete in September and then we would anticipate a public Hearing in October and with that the recommendations are on the screen before you and I'll be happy to stand for any questions **[20:55] Councilmember Steve Dennis:** thank you mayor um and Ryan thank you for that uh for that they'all thorough overview of this particular project you know I I can't believe what I'm about to say here but um 29 years ago back in 1994 I had a chance to volunteer as a just a private citizen to the city on something called the pavement management task force and um I I bring that up because I saw in one of your slides you had indicated that one of the very early projects was in 1995. So what had happened is I joined with a number of different volunteers from the community worked with the staff team that was present at that time and a consultant and what we sought to do was to create a process that would allow us to effectively manage all of the miles of roadway that we had here and when we talk about man managing we're talking about making sure that we have you know a great surface for people to drive on one that's safe one that's secure one that takes into account the fact that the community through our taxes have paid for that infrastructure and that's an asset to the community so that's a very important point to remember so we mapped out a process that would in essence allow us to go through and work different zones in the city based upon location and date and of course wear and tear on the roadway systems that we had so that we could do this and and protect our asset for the community and do it in pieces that we're able to get our arms around and actually maintain the operation of of pain for that if you look at places like the city of Saint Paul they've kicked those cans down the road so far that they're having some real major problems there as far as being able to step out in front and do what's necessary to make that difference so for us having the process in place and and you took the time to show some of the slides one of the pictures that you presented for people were the core samples and so just so people are aware when we go through and analyze an area there's some real science that goes into this and so with the core samples one of the things that you want to make sure is that we've got proper adhesion between the bituminous material and the Aggregate and the sand and other pieces that come together to make a solid roadway system so when we pull these core samples out if you pull it out and the thing crumbles that indicates that that adhesion was lost and that would be a total reconstruction at that point so one of the things just for folks to know and understand we live in a very difficult climate here in Minnesota we get quite warm in the summertime very cold in the winter we have a lot of liquid water is going to be the the enemy of any roadway system which is why it's always important for us to maintain good quality over our curb and gutter systems to channel that water away so that we're not getting degradation to the process so um every year as mentioned 55 percent of any maintenance cost operation costs relative to this is borne by the community as a whole every once in a while what ends up happening is it comes to the homeowner I know both myself and the mayor had this back in 2013 when our neighborhoods respectively had to have an upgrade and maintenance performed so I just wanted to take the moment to share with the community to know that in the past I had an opportunity to serve and be part of this and and learn about things like the alligatoring and and the stripping and all this stuff it's such a cool thing you never forget it and so I'm grateful that I did but um but I I understand the challenges relative if there's a cost factor involved we understand that but from time to time we have to take care of the process and make sure that we're maintaining the structure of our roads so that our community does not lose that investment over time so I appreciate your time and hope my my little bit of information that I can add into this helps to make a difference for for people that are watching and want to learn a little bit about the process thank you **[24:50] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** thanks for the information Ryan um not my first time going through this so um you know it certainly is encouraging to hear that we continue to place a strong emphasis on the asset of our roadways here in the city of Cottage Grove a couple things I wanted to ask you about and if any of these are things that you don't want to deal with just kick them over to the city administrator the attorney first of all you mentioned that the age of this roadway is approximately 27 years is that accurate **[25:15] Ryan Burfeind:** correct yep **[25:17] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** okay so what do you find to be the average useful life of an area like this with respect to you know the roadways **[25:24] Ryan Burfeind:** I'd say uh Mr Mayor councilmember Olson 25 to 30 years you know that's really what we're looking for if we can get 25 years out of it I think we're pretty happy some have gone a few more years **[25:35] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** sure and is this one of the neighborhoods where um 27 years ago when we addressed this same issue we had the the issue with MnDOT and their their asphalt specs is is this one of those neighborhoods that experienced that where the asphalt was a little bit too dry **[25:52] Ryan Burfeind:** Mr Mayor councilman Olson so that that goes back to that asphalt stripping yeah which has been a lot of research on and that is you know one of the uh I'd say outcomes that research is that there were some changes made it really went 90s into 2000s not just in Cottage Grove but really Statewide where there was a little bit less oil in the mix which kind of had that stripping asphalt issue come out a little bit earlier but it's always hard with asphalt because it's it's an empirical thing and it's it's um there's a lot of testing and whatnot and you don't always see what is happening until far down the road which is where we are now right um but Yep this is one of those neighborhoods that we do have in town **[26:30] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** the reason I asked is I do know that Statewide there have been challenges um and if if you just look to our neighborhood to the north um you know they've got far more miles of this asphalt than than we do and of course what people may not know about these projects is we have to adhere to those MnDOT specifications as it relates to the product that we put down on the roadways and I know at that time there was some conversation about you know how do we recycle some of the asphalt as opposed to just having everything be all brand new and and that led to um number of communities across the state saying hey wait a minute um this this roadway isn't lasting quite as long as we would like and that's probably why we did that thin overlay was to make that last now something else that I know that you've been doing since you became our city engineer and our Public Works director is you've kind of changed the way that we manage our our asphalt um not only are we doing these kind of projects but we're also doing Mill and overlay projects can you just tell us a little bit about how that works and and what the result is in terms of increasing the useful life of a roadway **[27:35] Ryan Burfeind:** Mr Mayor councilman Olsen so that is a new project that we started uh two years ago up in the Timber Ridge Neighborhood where we do that Mill and overlay and you know some cities do a million overlay where you do the mill and overlay take that top layer off and put them back down but then they're doing all the utility work and different things this is really just a pavement preservation type thing where we're just doing that middle really very low cost and we have started doing those I'm about four to five maybe six miles of roadway per year we are hoping to extend that full life right and it's going to take a whole life cycle of roadways to do that but you know get it out to that 35 to 40 year mark is our goal but it does like I said it's going to take that whole life cycle of a roadway to to see that benefit but we want to think long term right we want to think long term and make sure we're getting the best benefit for the city **[28:20] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** so then what I think I hear you saying tell me if I'm wrong is you know we're going to get this roadway back up to the condition it should be in 2023 and then at some point they'll be eligible for that Mill and overlay which we do at at no cost to the homeowner there's no assessment it's all borne by the by the taxpayers in the city so then this roadway which we're addressing 27 years you know into the future from when it was first done um we might see 40 years ish does that sound about right **[28:50] Ryan Burfeind:** Mr Mayor councilman also I think if if uh the way we're playing this and operating it that's that's what we're hoping for **[29:00] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** good um as these roads going forward good and and I like hearing that because of course assessments are tough on everybody but assessments are also a a legal process here in the state of Minnesota and this is where you might want to shoot the puck over to the attorney to talk a little bit about how the process works from a legal perspective we actually have legal guidelines we have to follow could could you just maybe touch on that briefly **[29:30] City Attorney:** certainly your honor members of the council and councilmember Olson uh this is the one of the public hearings that we have to hold in order to order the project so this is really to determine whether or not the public wants you to do this road the obviously one of the outcomes is that there's an assessment at the end which is the second public hearing that we hold so if this passes tonight and you order the project then at the end of the day when the assessments are before you it will be a public hearing again and so the public will have an opportunity to tell you that they agree or don't agree with the assessments and if even if you adopt the assessments there's an appeal process that they can pursue and so the statute carries or explains that they have 30 days from the date of the assessment to appeal it to the district court so their due process rights are fully preserved through this public hearing through the next public hearing and then with the district court **[30:20] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** perfect thank you so much and the reason I I wanted to just touch on that is because as as you said earlier the number that we see in front of us today is an estimate it's it's not real we haven't gone to bid so once we get our bids back then we'll actually have more accurate data to talk through with respect to the assessments because I mean it's clear the roadway needs to be addressed you and I and Gary spent some time visiting with some of the neighbors uh in this neighborhood along with the mayor and I mean it's very evident that it needs to happen but I just wanted to make sure people understood the process as it relates to kind of what are we seeing tonight what are we going to see after the project gets authorized tonight with regard to real numbers versus just estimated numbers and I really like the idea that this will be the last time we have to do this for hopefully 40 years or so because we're implementing that that Mill and overlay that I mean that's such a game changer for us as a community such a great idea I don't have anything further mayor thanks **[31:20] Mayor Myron Bailey:** okay Council any other questions for staff at this point all right thank you Ryan so this is a public hearing so I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing and this is the opportunity for anybody who wants to speak on this item uh if you do you just got to go up to the podium and state your name and address for the record and you have up to three minutes to uh share with the council your thoughts anybody at all yes sir go ahead **[31:50] Earl Carcass (Resident):** um this is something kind of new to me I I haven't I encountered this before where I as a homeowner uh are facing being assessed an extra cost above whatever my property taxes are and I'm a little concerned about it I guess uh this the way that our economy has been here recently with everything going up so much higher and some of us are on fixed incomes and for us to be facing additional costs I mean for me I just live pretty much from paycheck to paycheck and to face this going uh where I'm going to have to bear this burden to uh it's a little bit concerning to me I guess um and so uh if if it was any possibility of delaying this or if there's some way that you could help out some of us who are older and living on on fixed incomes uh it would just be helpful I guess so I I can't say that I'm very excited about this it's uh so I hope there's a way that you can kind of help some of us out that are facing uh this situation **[33:00] Mayor Myron Bailey:** sir can I get you though to state your name and address **[33:03] Earl Carcass:** name and address name and address name and address Earl carcass uh 8257 Hyde Avenue South **[33:08] Mayor Myron Bailey:** okay and and what I would just share uh before if anybody else wants to come up is I would encourage you to actually reach out to our our finance department uh here at City Hall uh they'll be more than happy to give you some of the options I know Ryan touched on a couple uh during the during his presentation to us on different options that might be available to you from either deferments or certain situations like that we do have no multiple neighborhoods over the years that we've done where residents have had that either their their assessment deferred or things to to help with that process so there is definitely some opportunities out there and and believe me as somebody as I know a councilmember Dennis shared my neighborhood many years ago uh was uh was done and that was a expensive one and the one thing I'll just share with you is prior to me moving into my neighborhood I just I'll share real quick for you um there was kind of an uproar in that area about being you know having their roads done and they were just going to do a million overlay and by the time the council at that time agreed and said okay we won't do it then and then I move in not just because of me but I happen to move in in a in a couple years later the city comes back and says the roads are now need to be completely done and it jumped the price up by thousands and thousands of dollars that we were assessed because um pushing the can down the road even during certain Economic Times does make the the pavement worse and it actually makes the the base worse it makes the the curbs worse and so I just I shared that with you because I I totally understand because there's always it's unknown especially this year right now with what's going on with interest rates and the economy and such totally understand that but I would assure you that um we're going to be careful and we always have been with our understanding of what this process is should it go forward but please do call um our office here at City Hall and we can we can walk through some options for you **[35:10] Earl Carcass:** yeah I guess for me this is the first time I've encountered this and to me I just I can't help but wonder why it is that individual homeowners are assessed when it's just not something that the city takes care of through our taxes you know that we and I know that from what I understand this is a common procedure that everybody does but yeah it just to me it doesn't seem quite right **[35:30] Mayor Myron Bailey:** well I guess it's a great question by the way each city does their percentages a little different some require the homeowners to pay a hundred percent uh some pay a little bit less but I also would share with you that if we did your neighborhood or any other neighborhood within the community within the community Cottage Grove and let's say that the city picked up the entire cost then everybody is being born everybody is going to be paying for that so the thought process has been by payment management task force is at a certain percentage of the road um I may not drive down your street and so a certain percentage of it I'm going to pay for to keep the standards up within the city and the in the maintenance the rest of it would be borne by the the individual homeowners that actually use that street on a more consistent basis and so that's kind of the thought process behind it the percentages though it's really up to each City to kind of make it but again I do know that there are some cities not very far from here um that actually assess up to 100 of the cost of the road in front of their house to be worn by the homeowners and then the main thoroughfares in that are born by everybody **[36:35] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** if you take the time to call Sir um even if you call down to Public Works Ryan can maybe do a better job than uh than we can explaining how the special benefit process works because there is value in this project that contributes to the overall value of the neighborhood and the homes in that neighborhood and that's why we do the benefit assessment prior to even going to bed to make sure that there's actually a quantifiable benefit to the homeowner so that's something that he knows a lot more about than we do and can probably answer far more questions but rest assured that these kinds of projects even though they're not what I like to call the the flashy stuff they really do contribute to you know greater value in your home greater value to the neighborhood greater value to the assets in the city **[37:20] Earl Carcass:** okay okay thank you **[37:22] Mayor Myron Bailey:** was there anybody else that would like to speak during the public hearing all right seeing none I guess I'll go oh yes would you like to speak and again if you just state your name and address for the record please **[37:35] Unidentified Resident (Female):** I'm on Cornell Avenue South um I don't meet the any of the guidelines for the that would qualify for a special assessment um but I just wanted to clarify so that I wish I could go back a few slides but that 4 900 something total assessment that is the total amount that we anticipate each homeowner paying correct **[38:05] Mayor Myron Bailey:** yeah whatever the exact well it's it is an estimate right now but yes the answer would be yes **[38:10] Unidentified Resident (Female):** okay so I mean I again I don't qualify for a special assessment like perhaps my neighbor here would but I do want to express the same sentiment that again in a recession I just don't have the ability to pay five thousand dollars to to upkeep the road I mean I do agree that the roads need to be fixed I would just like to like he said postpone it a year or two or something um just because again we are considered to be in a recession and it's just monetary-wise it's just not something that if I had five thousand dollars I wouldn't be using it to to repave the road um but I just wanted to express that sentiment as well as a homeowner and a resident of Cottage Grove **[38:50] Mayor Myron Bailey:** no I appreciate that the one thing I will say they'll just see you're aware um because I know you mentioned that number a couple times now um if it whatever the final number comes back at um that amount as as Ryan has mentioned in his presentation you can pay a certain amount of money at that time or what happens just like any other type of assessment that assessment will then go on to um the count the county it'll say the county tax roll I guess but the the best way to put it so it would be every year when you pay your however you do it through your mortgage or individual so when you pay your uh taxes that cover the city the the county and this and um school district and a couple others uh then that that would be tied into that so you you would have as Ryan was saying you would have a a separate uh taxable amount that's on yours that's going to pay off that that road but you do not need to come up with whatever that final number will be at the end of the year um it's just the option that we do hear from some of our citizens sometimes they want to pay some of it down um and we so we do that option um and then in other cases people just say I'll just put it on the tax on my taxes it'll just roll over there if you don't do anything with it and then it just becomes your part of your yearly tax bill if you will uh that you get out from the county that that Porsche will go to pay off the debt **[40:15] Unidentified Resident (Female):** and for the because I know that a lot of I wish I could see those slides but like some of the money will also be going to um fix the sewer lines and and whatnot but will homeowners be made aware if their particular Street or area is being if their sewer lines are going to be worked on or if their utility lights are going to be fixed or corrected because we're all getting assessed equally but well our our sewer lines or our utility lines also be updated right you you all right what what do we do this um if there's any other questions I'll let you do that and then once we get if there's anybody else wants to speak then I'll maybe have uh Ryan come back up I won't close a public hearing uh Ryan come up and answer some of these questions and then uh if there's other additional questions by the public we can obviously let you come back up and speak okay okay thank you **[41:10] Mayor Myron Bailey:** thank you hi folks appreciate it **[41:15] Jalen Case (Resident):** Jalen case I'm at 82.90 Hemingway appreciate the time today um I had a couple questions a short and sweet if it's all right with you guys um when it comes to obviously upgrading our systems we understand the need for that what I would like to understand as a new homeowner first-time homeowner coming into Cottage Grove um I've had family lived here for many many years and it's kind of a Heritage that I want to continue with that being said is what I brought into consideration was my taxes and where they're at where they stood and coming into just buying this home two years ago I was smart and decided to get moved married new jobs Mary just had a kid literally two days ago type of thing and uh **[41:55] Mayor Myron Bailey:** congratulations yeah thank you **[41:57] Jalen Case:** appreciate it's awesome uh but what it comes to me is is some of the financial burdens behind that after this project what is the plan of attack for will my taxes rise based off of the improvements and then now I have to pay more taxes on top of that could you guys elaborate more on that if that's the case yep we can we can do that um I don't know Jennifer do you want to take that one when we get to it or okay did you have another question though **[42:25] Jalen Case:** I got three more yeah no let's go ahead that's why we'll do it sure um and then outside of that I also plan on bringing in doing a home remodel full home remodel um actually halfway through that so with that I plan on the attack to have a new driveway with also that is I need curb uh so I'd like to know a little bit more on the process of how do we determine on the 15 that needed the curb replacement is that public knowledge and then also explanation of why those were chosen versus not and then on top of the apron behind that too is that public knowledge **[42:55] Mayor Myron Bailey:** great yeah good good question we'll be able to answer that and Ryan can help you with it awesome Brian you're gonna become my best friend yeah you guys are going to get real tight probably uh **[43:08] Jalen Case:** yeah and then last thing too um is there this is kind of a little bit off topic to to but is there a way to utilize technology I travel for a living through many states is there a way to leverage maybe Zoom or some virtual platform to get access to these type of meetings as well too this is totally off topic but just curious **[43:30] Mayor Myron Bailey:** the answer is well I'll leave that for our administrator to speak to but we do I mean this meeting is live uh it's it is streaming right now **[43:40] Jalen Case:** it is okay yeah perfect uh **[43:42] Mayor Myron Bailey:** now can you know yeah no that's good um but can you communicate through the to us through that process at this point no no okay um but yes you can watch the meetings live anywhere **[43:52] Jalen Case:** gotcha or or reruns perfect thank you guys **[43:55] Councilmember Steve Dennis:** before you sit down I have a question for you yeah sure what's your last name **[44:00] Jalen Case:** case c-a-s-e **[44:02] Councilmember Steve Dennis:** okay so are you related to Craig Gary and that whole family **[44:04] Jalen Case:** Gary's my grandfather **[44:06] Councilmember Steve Dennis:** okay so did you move into his house **[44:08] Jalen Case:** I did **[44:09] Councilmember Steve Dennis:** yeah that's what I thought yeah I used to work with the G-Man and Craig is a dear friend of mine so if you need anything at all just call me **[44:15] Jalen Case:** I appreciate that I need uh some of the potholes in front of my house fix **[44:19] Councilmember Steve Dennis:** well they're gonna get fixed with this I know people I know people **[44:22] Jalen Case:** yeah yeah you got her **[44:24] Mayor Myron Bailey:** okay was there any oh uh councilmember combata **[44:28] Councilmember Tony Khambata:** it is also worth noting that uh for anyone who is going to be knows they're going to be absent for any of those meetings you can submit questions or comments in advance to our staff and they'll make sure that those are become part of the record at the meeting **[44:40] Mayor Myron Bailey:** uh anybody else that wants to speak this evening thank you okay hello **[44:50] Bonnie Matter (Resident):** Bonnie matter six six four nine in skip Avenue South and I just have a question um as they do projects like this throughout the city are they looking at bringing in like fiber cable you know burying the internet stuff so that we have access to high speed **[45:10] Mayor Myron Bailey:** gosh I wish I could I I'd love to say yes because I would love to have that in my neighborhood too to be quite honest with you um but I don't believe that that is the case **[45:20] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** I can speak to that as part of the cable commission and Dave also has this information um the governor in his budget has authorized a significant sum of money for accessibility and even though that's predominantly for outstate communities that frankly have nothing right now um at our cable commission meeting the other night which is South Washington County cable commission where we deal with Comcast and all those other folks one of the conversation pieces was connectivity and in two weeks the Minnesota state lobbying group for all of these various cable commissions will be at the Capitol and they will be lobbying for exactly what you just talked about becomes ever more important as more and more people work from home or do schooling from home Etc and that connectivity piece is a is a really critical element to being successful moving through the remainder of this Century **[46:15] Bonnie Matter:** so it's a good question and it's definitely something that's on uh you know the cable commission's radar many of our legislators radar Etc okay anybody else want to speak and then I'll **[46:30] Mayor Myron Bailey:** Brian do you want to start with your couple and then I'll go to our administrator **[46:35] Ryan Burfeind:** yep Mr Mayor members of the council so one of the questions led to the project regarding the sewer lines I mentioned the utility work that's being done and is that you know whose is being fixed and really what that is is it's the sewer Mains throughout the neighborhood the water mains throughout the neighborhood so you know they carry all the sewage out and they bring all the water through it so there might not be a sewer fixed right in front of your house but it might be 10 houses down and you know the sewage flows downhill so it is a benefit throughout the entire neighborhood because you got to make those operate and water mains too all the water mains are looped so that system needs to operate as a whole if we're replacing valves or bolts or have any you know leaking water mains so it is spotty like I said it's not an entire replacement utilities but that's a very expensive project and something we don't take lightly and and you really need a very poor condition to do that work some of the other questions about more of the specifics and the scheduling we will have a if the project moves ahead we'll have a pre-construction neighborhood meeting uh usually have that about a month or so before the project starts after we get bids and a project is awarded at that meeting we'll really get into schedule is the project going to be phased and what's that look like we'll also have our inspector there there's a dedicated inspector for this project we have hotline phone numbers that go directly to them and emails and they can be they're really our liaison not only inspecting the project but they're working with all the residents during the project whether you're doing work you have a driveway so certainly if there's some curb work to be done we'll coordinate that right so we don't want to cut into a new driveway or if there's a wedding or a graduation we work really well with that I do want to add that the roadways are open during construction so it's you know really unless we're Paving in front of the house or have some curb work right where you can't drive over that curb there really is good accessibility during the project um and in terms of kind of setting up separate appointments whether it's about the numbers we're happy to talk with anyone in the neighborhood they can reach out to either myself or our city engineer Amanda Meyer and we can talk through all that information on you know what goes into the numbers in the project and in terms of the actual inspector when it comes to the project we're very happy to do one-on-one meetings for specific questions about construction as well and then I guess yeah last question you answered that was about zoom and the technology yeah and it just to say to the gentleman that was asking I do know that when when they go through neighborhoods they will Mark they you'll probably know if it's in front of your house because it would either be sinking or severely cracked and they'll mark it with a big X to note that that is going to be the one that they're gonna they're gonna take out or a section of it that they're going to take out um and then obviously the The Filling on the back side of it is you is actually with I'll say better soil um and and seed hydroseed just so you know that and I should have added that yes thank you that's why I figured that is probably and what we look at for that just so people know it it's really you know settled settled curb or very defective you know really busted apart it's something that's going to reduce the life of the roadway is what we're looking at for that replacement **[50:10] Mayor Myron Bailey:** and then our administrator Jennifer Levitt **[50:13] Jennifer Levitt (City Administrator):** yes mayor and members of the council I have to say uh I wish all of our residents would engage us as much as Mr case because that's how we can make projects be successful and answer those questions and have the information up front now when it comes to the taxes the one thing that I will tell you up front is we don't notify Washington County that we're improving the road so we don't provide a notice to the assessor's office that we're doing it so you're not going to see a direct impact from our work but I will tell you your remodeling project could have an effect on your assessed value after that the one thing I know Ryan uh maybe just touched on briefly but he also indicated you know how did we determine that um that's actually by us actually walking every linear foot of curb in the neighborhood to determine that and we have an assessment tool that evaluates as Ryan said which curb will be replaced now the key thing too is for projects to be successful it takes engagement and so we really encourage residents to reach out to us as Ryan said we don't want to ruin your graduation your wedding um your garage sale or any of those things so um and especially if you're making a financial investment in your driveway um yes we don't want to come and cut a nice line across your brand new driveway um and rip it out so we want to coordinate that with you and make it be successful we want this to be a lasting value and really enhance your property at the end of the day and we really work too to on the communication side of things to make sure with our neighborhood meetings our letters our email list serves our websites making sure all of our meeting minutes um and presentations are presented so hopefully people can find the information that they need and we work really hard to ensure a successful project for everybody **[52:05] Mayor Myron Bailey:** okay was there anybody that had additional questions on this particular item okay uh seeing none I will go ahead then and go and close the public hearing and then Council unless there's questions for staff **[52:18] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** we're all moved that we adopt resolution 2023-018 ordering the 2023 pavement management project and authorizing preparation of plans and specifications **[52:27] Councilmember Dave Thiede:** second **[52:29] Mayor Myron Bailey:** okay so I have a a motion by customer Olson second by customer betiti okay any further discussions again the only comment I'd mention as I mentioned earlier like with you sir too is if you have any questions about any of this the assessment process or anything like that please reach out to us you can even go through the console if you want but we'll get you in contact with one of our staff members to make sure you're aware of of how this will all go okay oh I'm sorry uh council member cabata **[53:00] Councilmember Tony Khambata:** somebody who has lived in several homes and had several assessments I uh I can empathize with the the like the heartburn of like getting the assessment uh and in my time on Planning Commission and up here you know I really wish we had a crystal ball and we could be like we could know when asphalt's going to be the cheapest and when interest rates are going to be the cheapest but you know it would have not made any sense at all to to do this project five years ago it when it had five years of useful life left in it so especially with these infrastructure projects it's um it's frustrating at least as a council member to to know that like some of these things just have to happen when they happen and we have to do our due diligence to try and get the best outcome for for our constituents but again I do empathize that uh that this neighborhood got their card pulled this year to to do this and you know every every year it's frustrating because a couple years ago asphalt was cheap you know um so that's my two senses it's uh it's a difficult but necessary decision to make **[54:15] Mayor Myron Bailey:** okay so one that that I I definitely take seriously all right seeing no other comments by Council all those in favor of the motion signify by saying I **[54:25] Councilmembers (Collective):** I I I **[54:27] Mayor Myron Bailey:** opposed motion carries thank you all for coming this evening all right uh next uh tennis bid Awards there aren't in this evening uh 11 is regular agenda there are no uh regular agenda items this evening uh 12 is Council comes to request so we'll start with councilmember combata **[54:48] Councilmember Tony Khambata:** I will yield my time to council member Dennis then **[54:51] Mayor Myron Bailey:** I guess I'll go to uh council member Dennis **[54:53] Councilmember Steve Dennis:** all right thank you mayor I just uh wanted to take a moment to um recognize the state of the city address that you did uh did a fantastic job of sharing a lot of great information about our community the vibrant nature the fact that we're growing the fact that we're successful and the fact that we work hard as you indicated to provide and sell happiness as much as we possibly can here so very nice job on that and um and whoever may have helped you to put that material together it was pretty substantial and uh was that Eric was Eric helped absolutely absolutely nice work Eric and uh just just really um a great statement on behalf of of how much our community is being successful so nice quick thank you **[55:40] Mayor Myron Bailey:** all right council member thidi **[55:42] Councilmember Dave Thiede:** I'm good **[55:43] Mayor Myron Bailey:** all right councilmember Olson **[55:45] Councilmember Justin Olsen:** thank you mayor uh earlier this evening you all had the opportunity to see a Check presentation from the public safety board to the city of Cottage Grove to help offset the costs of our new canine and of course we're very grateful to the public safety board for that donation and frankly for all that they do um one thing that I want to note with regard to that body is that they also manage the Craig Woolery scholarship which is awarded each year to a recipient or multiple recipients who reside in the community and are desirous of a career in public safety whether that be police fire or EMS generally we have a check presentation um you know sometime around the first week of March I'm not quite sure if that's how we're going to do it again this year or not because um frankly uh you know Chief willery's a busy guy so we keep calling them to meetings to come and accept the check but that scholarship's very important to me and and my wife we uh we founded that scholarship in Craig's name uh Chief Hillary's name for the reasons as articulated earlier to really help support young people who want to get into a public safety career so if you are interested in helping those young people as well you have the opportunity to contribute towards that scholarship fund and you can do so by reaching out to any of our council members reaching out to anybody at City Hall but really it's the public safety board who is managing that for us so if you would like to put a few dollars towards the Craig Woolery scholarship please give that some consideration there's a lot more information on the public safety board's Facebook page we also have a link to the public safety board on our website and then you know tell people that you know who have you know Young Folks High School age who are looking to go to college and pursue a career in law enforcement or as a firefighter or as a EMT or as a medic that this is an opportunity that exists they will be awarding this scholarship in May for this year's recipients so uh to get really into the application process sooner would be better and for those kids at Park High School who might have some interest in that they can speak to any one of the counselors I know Mr Powers in particular is is very good about sharing that information with people but you know it's getting to be that time of year even though it's January February today and it's cold outside that um you know we're going to start seeing kids thinking about graduating before you know it and getting a hold of those scholarship forms early would be a good thing and then the second thing that I had to add is today is February 1st February as we do every year we celebrate Black History Month and there will be some more information with regard to this month's Council comments and Council update video to dig a little deeper into black history month but I just want to first of all thank everybody who makes our community home regardless of their you know race color creed Etc but we certainly are seeing an increase in our percentage of residents who are people of color and we want everybody in this community to feel welcome you know it seems like every month is something month but you know we want people to know that we're here for you when you move to the city of Cottage Grove you are in our care and we take that very seriously and all are welcome here all are welcome here and if you don't feel welcome we want to know it because that's not the way that we want this community to operate so enjoy Black History Month let your young people know about the Wolverine scholarship if that's something they might want to take advantage of and with that mayor I'll turn it back to you **[59:45] Mayor Myron Bailey:** all right thank you councilmember Olson uh so first of all thank you all for uh joining uh me and a couple of people are still in the audience tonight that joined me at the state of the city address uh very honored to be able to talk about all the exciting things that have happened in the past uh years within the city of Cottage Grove specifically we focused on last year and then a lot of things that are happening as we move forward into 2023 and frankly Beyond a lot of things that I still weren't able to talk about that I so want to but we got to make sure things kind of work their way through um I did I did want to mention at the public I'd happen to see earlier today we had put out a posting City posting so we do we love to communicate in a variety of different uh ways to the citizens of the Cottage Grove whether it's state of the Cities Facebook you know Twitter Instagram all those kind of things newsletters and such there was a posting out there to talk about glacial Valley Park and it was interesting some people that don't know where glacial Valley Park was and I diagnosis on the Facebook posting we're Googling it or trying to find it and for whatever reason it showed up that the Ping shows that glacial Valley Park is in Woodbury and so I know that we're working our staff is working with Google and such on Google Maps to make sure that they realize that there is Glacier Valley Park is in Cottage Grove and it's actually just off of the new Ravine Parkway and County Road 19. it is a significantly it's our first and I mentioned this in our I stayed at the city it's the first large Park that we've built in Cottage Grove in over 20 years the reason it may be pinging if you will in Woodbury is because this area has a huge amount of open space and prairie grass and we're working with the Washington County and the Watershed District everybody and where you can literally take jump on a trail in Cottage Grove and you can work your way into Woodbury and past Woodbury frankly at some point in time you'll you could ride a bike or walk all the way up to Lake Elmo park reserve on the trail system so glacial Valley Park there is a version of it that's in Woodbury that's with the City of Woodbury that they're doing and then they have cottage girls part of ocean Valley Park so for the public that may be why are you building a pavilion and all this stuff in Woodbury it's not being built in Woodbury it's being built in Cottage Grove now Woodbury will have all their stuff on their end I will tell you I do know there is a plan for some interpretive uh informational uh booths or such that are going to be right on the border between the cities of Cottage Grove and Woodbury but all the facilities that we were talking about and that you may be seeing about are actually in the city of Cottage Grove I thought I would just mention that for the public um so next uh seeing no other Council comments request I did want to mention to the public we do have uh one uh Workshop which is open to the public and I thought I would just share with everybody is that we will be as a council adjourning uh to the training room uh for the public safety team to provide our annual response to resistance overview uh this annual review is a standard for our city and it is a protocol that updates the Council on whatever the national best practices are used by our officers following uh or off that are follow our officers follow excuse me when responding to service calls so as many people in this audience and maybe out there know the city of Cottage Grove is with Woodbury again interesting enough I built this great facility next to us for uh training of our public safety personnel and fire and what we're doing right now is to hear what some of the updates are as they do every year for us just to give us an idea of what are some of the things that the training or the new things that they're doing to share with the city of Cottage Grove and the Council on ways of of managing situations that may arise within the city so with that we do not have a workshop that's close to the public so again uh if for everybody that came thank you otherwise we will be moving to the training room have a good night