[0:01] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [0:49] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Good evening. I'd like to call the regular city council meeting for Tuesday, December 3rd, 2024, to order. Please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Are there any additions or corrections to the agenda? [1:42] **Logan Martin:** No, sir. [1:43] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Uh, with that, uh, I'll move the agenda. Is there a second? [1:47] **Councilmember Paul Theisen:** Second. [1:48] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** All in favor signify by saying aye. **Councilmembers:** Aye. **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Opposed? We have an agenda. And welcome to everyone here: residents, our own local fire department, and all the other fire personnel from around the county. I am extremely pleased to share with you this evening—our first item up is a presentation, proclamation, and acknowledgement of our new fire chief, Kip Springer. So, who's leading the...? [2:22] **Logan Martin:** I can give a couple intro items if you'd like me to, Mayor. Council can add whatever they like. But yes, Mayor, members of the Council, as you said, a historic night for the City of Rosemount and something that we're really thrilled about here tonight is to officially deliver the oath of office to our first-ever full-time fire chief, Kip Springer, who, after a long and thorough vetting process, has been selected as Rosemount's first-ever full-time fire chief. Um, and I'll just start here by saying I was giving him a hard time a moment ago, but Fire Chief Rick Schroeder has been serving in this capacity in a stipended position, grossly underpaid, for many, many years. And so, he does not want to be recognized, and we won't make this about him tonight, but I'm going to make it about him for about two seconds, which is to say we're going to find a moment to recognize Chief Schroeder. He's not going anywhere; he's going to stay in a leadership position on the fire department. But thank you for taking the fire department to its place where it is today, which is a full room of shining faces. We've got a 50-or-so member department strong of the best and the brightest public servants that you'll find, serving in our fire department on, again, a paid-on-call fire department. Which is part of the reason why we're here tonight, which is the city council's priority, part of our strategic plan, and as requested and surveyed in community surveys, is: would residents support the exploration of a transition in the fire service model to account for the city's growing nature and our growing needs? And we've crested a thousand fire calls for a couple of years in a row, as you guys know—not going to need to remind you of that—which is a lot to ask of the model that we're currently running, both for the folks running the calls and for leadership and administration having to run a thousand-call fire department. We have other fire chiefs in the room that I think would say the same: that's a big ask to run that kind of a situation. So Council put their faith in starting with a full-time chief, building the model out from there, and so that's what brings us to tonight. And so we're thrilled, again, as I mentioned, to hire Kip. Fire Chief Springer comes to the city with over 25 years of fire experience, starting out in a paid-on-call position and then positions of increasing leadership responsibility both in Eden Prairie, Plymouth, and then most recently serving the City of Eagan for nine years as their deputy chief, and helping lead Eagan through a transition in their fire service model, which really uniquely equips him to come help us as we research what our transition could and might look like. So, Kip, beyond just a deep and extensive fire service, happens to be a Rosemount resident. His wife Susie of 28 years is in the front row to support him tonight; she'll be pinning on his badge. His children are here as well, who are Rosemount residents as well and proud graduates of the high school marching band, is what I understand. And so, wonderful just kind of Rosemount family stepping into this historic moment. And so, Mayor, I think I'll leave it at that, which is just to say from a staff perspective: welcome Kip, we're thrilled to have you, we know you're the right fit and the right choice to lead these fine men and women into the future and to help us understand how we can best respond to our growth in this community. So with that, Mayor, I'll turn it back to you if you want to make any comments, and then City Clerk Fasbender will deliver the oath before we do some photos and stuff. [5:35] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** So we will go right to that. Our Clerk will administer the oath of office for Chief Kip Springer. [5:53] **Erin Fasbender:** I, Kip Springer, do solemnly swear... [5:57] **Kip Springer:** I, Kip Springer, do solemnly swear... [5:59] **Erin Fasbender:** ...that I will support the Constitution of the United States... [6:02] **Kip Springer:** ...that I will support the Constitution of the United States... [6:04] **Erin Fasbender:** ...the Constitution of the State of Minnesota... [6:06] **Kip Springer:** ...the Constitution of the State of Minnesota... [6:08] **Erin Fasbender:** ...and will faithfully discharge the duties... [6:10] **Kip Springer:** ...and will faithfully discharge the duties... [6:12] **Erin Fasbender:** ...of a Fire Chief in the City of Rosemount... [6:15] **Kip Springer:** ...of a Fire Chief in the City of Rosemount... [6:17] **Erin Fasbender:** ...the County of Dakota and State of Minnesota... [6:20] **Kip Springer:** ...the County of Dakota and State of Minnesota... [6:22] **Erin Fasbender:** ...to the best of my judgment and ability. [6:25] **Kip Springer:** ...to the best of my judgment and ability. [6:31] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** I think come up and pin the badge. And so we can do the badge, and Council, maybe you want to make your way down, Council forward for pictures. So go ahead, do the pinning. Oh, that was fast. [Applause] So as we're getting ready to do our picture, we have one little surprise here for the Chief. I understand he didn't realize that this was coming, but we're going to present this... [Applause] [7:43] **Kip Springer:** Thank you. [Applause] Well, I can say I'm a little overwhelmed at the crowd tonight. Thank you for being here. You don't know what this means. All right, good evening Mayor, Councilmembers, City staff, and residents and the business community of Rosemount. It is with great pride and humility that I stand before you today as your new Fire Chief. I first want to express my deep gratitude for the opportunity to serve this wonderful community. I am honored to follow in the footsteps of the many dedicated men and women who have served this department before me. Their legacy is one of service and bravery. I am committed to building upon that foundation to ensure that we continue to evolve and meet the challenges that lie ahead. As your Fire Chief, my top priority will always be the safety and well-being of our residents and our firefighters. The fire department's mission is not just to respond to emergencies, but to prevent them, to educate the public on fire safety, and to be prepared for anything. We will continue to strengthen our emergency response capabilities, improve the training and wellness of our firefighters, and ensure that we have the tools and resources to serve this community effectively. I also want to acknowledge the dedication of our current Rosemount firefighters. Every day they put their lives on the line to protect and serve. It is their commitment, their professionalism, and their courage that make this department what it is, and I promise that I will continue to support you, provide training, resources, and education for you to be successful. I look forward to engaging with all of you in the coming months to understand the needs of our city and to work together to grow our organization. Your support is invaluable, and together we can ensure that Rosemount remains a safe and thriving place to live. Thank you for your trust and support. Thank you all so much for being here. Again, you don't know what this means. I have no words for this. Thank you. Thank you for believing in me. [Applause] [10:51] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Absolutely, already delegating. Very nice. All righty, that completes our presentation, proclamation, acknowledgements this night. Am I going to lose all the audience now? You probably are, Mayor. [11:15] **Kip Springer:** Station one, Shannon Parkway, for cake and light refreshments. Excuse me. So appreciate it if everybody would swing by and have a little camaraderie with Kip. And try his helmet on for everybody. Awesome. [11:32] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Thank you for coming, everybody. Thank you, thank you. And hopefully for the last 10 minutes, we have not had any emergency or fire calls. [11:51] **Logan Martin:** They would all leave one at a time. [11:55] **Kip Springer:** What, what? They all leave church? Yeah, as soon as somebody... [Music] [12:32] **Logan Martin:** I feel like this happened last year where we had this big audience and I thought they would stick for the budget and they... yeah, yeah. [12:44] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Was so disappointed. Yeah, yeah, I know. [12:50] **Tami Klimpel:** Tim said they were staying to support us. [12:54] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Come on, there you go. Yeah, maybe. [12:56] **Logan Martin:** They're going to the newly remodeled fire station one, they said. [13:03] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** All right, take care. All right, as the last firefighters are filing out, we will go ahead and continue on the meeting. Next item up is our response to public comment. We have none this evening, and we look to public comment now. Anyone wishing to come before Council may do so at this time. Please state your name and address and your comment or question for Council. [13:42] **Logan Martin:** And I do think we may have one resident, Mayor, that's going to fight through the crowd, so we we might just want to hold for a minute. [13:51] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Um, if one of the residents maybe coming in—so if you don't mind just a couple minutes to let her potentially weave through the crowd. Sure, yep. I think she's maybe entering now. Okay. Good evening. We're up to public comment. Anyone wishing to speak before Council may do so at this time. Please state your name and address; the podium is open. [14:23] **Sally Wosi:** Hi, um, my name is Sally Wosi and I'm here for the fourth time to get some help from my neighbor that's harassing me and abusing me. I'm going to pass this form along for the Council to look because Sunday, he had a sonic and a ping ball that... 45 times one day that he used ping ball and sonic. He's got a sonic device that comes into my home and it's like a... it's loud enough for a jackhammer, and he does this all day, sometimes 24/7. I'm here for the fourth time to discuss this again. My name is Sally Wosi and I live at 13579 Cross Glenn Path and my neighbors are Roger and Sally Ham that live 11 feet away from me that have been harassing me for 13 months. This has been going on 13 months. I've had no justice, follow-up, or communication from the police. December 1st, Roger had two recordings going on with pop sounds and sonic lasers on my pipes in my home, what is illegal, from a number of 45 starting at 3:46 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. He started... 13 months ago, he started using a pop gun on his deck shooting at late at night to wake me. Then the next was a sonic device that would make my TVs and computer click every five minutes. Kibby from the crisis center was at my home when I experienced 45 minutes of the sound. I had to replace all my equipment in my TV room, which cost me about $500 to help prevent this noise from going into my TV room. Then after that, in October, when the pipes—when the temperature got colder—he was using the sonic device again for... and would hit the pipes in my house, which would create loud noises, and it would be from the front of my house to the side to my bedroom. And it would be on a recorder for every two minutes, every four minutes, every five minutes, as you can see by my list that it's on. He pushes a button and it's a 12-hour recorder. Um, so, and the police... he tells the police and the board that he is not doing anything, and that you know he's lying. I am not a liar. So like I say, I've been here four times and this has been going on 13 months. He lies because he doesn't want to be caught, and this is a fun game for a bored old man. No one knows the feeling of being violated in your home by a sonic device set for every two to four minutes when you are trying to sleep and there is nothing you can do but endure. I have to endure the noise. This has happened 13 months, every day. I have the records. It is past time for this to stop and I have asked for help. This has been the worst year of my life. At 83, I have lived there for 20 years and my home has been quiet. I'm a quiet lady. I call 911 and the crisis says "Go back to bed, try to sleep." How can you sleep with a jackhammer going off in your house every two minutes? The police need to show more authority and not believe the liar who does not want to be caught. I sent our vice president of our association an email about the 45 clicks in my house. He talked to Roger Ham and denied it. The following day, I only got four. He also knows where I am in my house. I cannot even lie on my bed and I will get sonic noise upstairs or down. When I call the vice president about the sonic, the noises stopped. I heard Roger Ham go to his hose reel—this is where I think he keeps his recorder, and I have not looked because I don't want to go on his property. I want this noise to end. My worst year of my life. Tired, depressed, unhappy. Thank you. I need help. [19:46] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** As I understand, we've responded before. We will refer again to the police and other resources that are available to help you with this. Appreciate you again bringing it to our attention. [19:58] **Sally Wosi:** Where can I... what can I do to get help and get this to end? [20:01] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** You can reach out to our Police Department who will follow up with you. [20:05] **Sally Wosi:** Okay. The police came out one day and I was not home and there's been no follow-up at all after that. [20:16] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** My understanding is that they have made some follow-up calls. We will again instruct them to come out and contact you. [20:25] **Sally Wosi:** Okay, but thank you. They lie. They're lying. [20:30] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [20:33] **Sally Wosi:** Thank you. [20:34] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Anyone else wishing to come before us at this time? Seeing none, we'll close public comment. We'll move on to consent agenda this evening, item six. We have A through E: we have bill listings, the minutes of the November 19th, 2024 regular meeting, 2025 liquor license renewals, 2025 community waste abatement grant agreement, and Lifetime Fitness facility change orders 12 and 13. Does anyone wish to pull any of the items for further discussion? If not, I'll entertain a motion to approve. [21:19] **Councilmember Paul Theisen:** So moved. [21:20] **Councilmember Tami Klimpel:** Second. [21:21] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** I have a motion by Theisen, second by Klimpel. Roll please, Teah. [21:23] **Teah Malecha:** Klimpel? **Councilmember Tami Klimpel:** Aye. **Teah Malecha:** Weisensel? **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Aye. **Teah Malecha:** Theisen? **Councilmember Paul Theisen:** Aye. **Teah Malecha:** Freske? **Councilmember Heidi Freske:** Aye. [21:30] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Consent agenda is approved 4-0. Completes item six. We'll move on to item seven. First item up is SKB IUP extension. Kienberger. [21:55] **Adam Kienberger:** Good evening Mayor, members of the City Council. I'm here for a public hearing this evening on SKB's interim use permit or IUP extension. Go a little bit through some of the background, the history—and most of you have heard this before—and kind of why we're here requesting an additional extension tonight. So here's the location of SKB's existing facility, right off of Highway 55, east of Highway 52 and north of 42 on the easternmost area of the community. A little bit of a timeline on the background of this: so back in 2018, City Council approved their current IUP for a period of five years. And then in June of 2022, it was up for renewal with an expansion that was approved with certain conditions. And then in early 2023, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, or the MPCA, who is the governing regulatory body over these types of operations, indicated some delays in their review process due to some staff turnover. And then in October of 2023, City Council extended the IUP through June of 2024. So with some of that in mind, typically this is something that would have been already wrapped up and well within the timeliness. The applicant has been extremely timely in applying for their extensions that they've requested through us and more beholden to other regulatory agencies that have some review authority over this. So a little bit of the additional timeline there in the PowerPoint as well as in the staff memo provided for the packet for the public and for City Council. The applicant is here this evening if there are any other questions that I can't answer for you tonight. But also for those that have been involved in the process, there's been some active purchase agreements on some residential properties in the area to accommodate the expansion. Those are still very active. And the only complaint, if you want to call it that, is just it's been taking a long time—not from our standpoint necessarily, but from the other regulatory agencies. So the request is for an extension of the current IUP expiring this month to allow for their operations to continue here in Rosemount until their new IUP, which is approved, goes into effect. So the existing conditions will remain in effect, and the new IUP with their expansion will not take effect until all the conditions of that approval are met—namely the issuance through the MPCA, and then after that, it goes to Dakota County for their full review and approval. With that, staff is recommending an extension of the IUP to allow SKB time to work through the state and county permitting processes. And again, it's a public hearing; I can take any comments if you have them before opening it up for the public. [24:52] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Floor is open to Council. Any questions or comments for staff? Seeing none, any questions for the applicant? All right, we will go ahead and open up the floor for a public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak on this may do so at this time. State your name and address and your comment for the record. If the applicant wishes to come up and say anything, they may do so at this time as well. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. Seeing no one at this time, we will close the public hearing. Move to close the public hearing, is there a second? [25:34] **Councilmember Tami Klimpel:** Second. [25:35] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Motion been made and seconded to close the public hearing. All in favor signify by saying aye. **Councilmembers:** Aye. **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Opposed? The hearing is closed. We'll move it back to staff. Any follow-up questions, comments? Otherwise, would someone like to move the recommended action? [25:40] **Councilmember Paul Theisen:** Yeah, I'll make a motion to adopt the resolution approving an extension of the 2018 interim use permit for SKB Environmental until June 30th, 2025. [25:52] **Councilmember Tami Klimpel:** Second. [25:54] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Have a motion by Theisen, second by Klimpel. Roll please, Teah. [25:56] **Teah Malecha:** Weisensel? **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Aye. **Teah Malecha:** Theisen? **Councilmember Paul Theisen:** Aye. **Teah Malecha:** Freske? **Councilmember Heidi Freske:** Aye. **Teah Malecha:** Klimpel? **Councilmember Tami Klimpel:** Aye. [26:07] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** The extension is granted 4-0. Thank you. With that, we'll move on to item 7B, establishing the 2025 budget levy. Mr. Martin. [26:11] **Logan Martin:** Thank you, Mayor, members of the Council. A big night for us here as City staff and Council as we bring a close to our budgeting process for the 2025 budget. And I said a moment ago in the hustle and bustle that one of these days the big crowds will stay for the budget, but once again, here we are. Again, really pleased with where we've come thus far to get to tonight, and want to thank Council and most notably staff, led by our Administrative Services Director Teah Malecha, to pull together this budget, which we're really confident is a strong reflection of the City's strategic plan initiatives, goals, and focus for 2025 as we move forward. And really good news to report, as we like to do each year as we get to this night. So some headlines from this budget, as we've done in the past few years to focus on: continue to see record-breaking growth in the value of our new construction here in the city, which we'll talk about in a moment and what that does—that $177 million in new construction value—what that does to buffer folks from tax implications here for the 2025 budget. Our tax capacity valuation increased by about 5.01%, which is less than the evaluation increase in 2024, a reflection not of a slowdown of our growth, but more so a softening of the housing market as you'll see in our median home value actually decreasing a little bit next year as we go forward. So like I said, that $177 million in new construction saved homeowners $65 on their taxes. And so the tax implication of the budget that you're considering approval of tonight is a $69 impact on a median-valued homeowner. That increase would have been $134 but for that 177 million in new construction value. So we've gotten that question in previous years and continue to kind of nail that home to say that the growth that folks are seeing on the east side of town in the industrial sector in town is absolutely having an impact. It's not making your taxes go down per se, and we're not going to ever claim that, at least at this point in our history, but it's protecting residents from an increase that could have been larger. As we go through department by department, I think what you'll see is we're accomplishing a whole lot inside this budget for the betterment of the city and to reflect and pursue our strategic plan, with this dollar impact in mind. And so, something I think to be proud of is how much you're about to see that 2025 will include in a budget impact such as this. So the operating budget is increasing by 10.69% or about $1.69 million. To fund that operating budget increase, we need to increase the overall tax levy 9.9%—so about $1.634 million in a tax levy increase. A portion of that is a 4% increase in our debt levy issuance. And so, again, this is the... we're in the third year now of our Public Works/Police campus being woven into our budget increase, as we have spread that out over four years. And so about 4% or so of our 9.9% increase is associated with the PD/PW campus project. So again, it's not a perfect math, but generally speaking, we're saying about $40 of the $69 is the Public Works/Police campus; about $29 is the remainder of the operational growth that you're seeing in the budget in front of you tonight. A median-valued home in Rosemount paid $1,297 in city taxes in 2024. In 2025, they'll pay $1,367—so that's that $69 increase. The budget process Council is very familiar with: in February we get our preliminary taxable value, and so that tells us the... February of 2024 we received our valuation reflecting the growth that occurred in 2023 and how those homes and businesses were assessed in 20 or appraised in 2023. Those folks are made aware of their value, they have in 2024 to discuss that value with the county, which then gives us a hard number to work through to then set the 2025 budget. And so that's why we kind of say valuation is basically a two-year lag as we do a budget. That 5.01% tax capacity increase takes us from $51.043 million to $53.593 million in overall valuation of tax capacity, the taxes upon which we can draw to fund a city budget. That's about triple... the $177 million that I've been mentioning quite a bit here is about triple the new construction value in 2019, and 2019 was a year of good growth for us at $47 million based on even looking backwards. And so we continue to see historic numbers, and I can tell you that the 2026 budget will include a valuation that is surpassing the $177 million in new construction. So we continue to break the records from year over year. We complete a bunch of budget requests internally. Teah and I meet with every department head to deeply understand what their requests could be, and then we try to whittle that down as good as we can to focus on the needs and priorities of the city before we start talking to the City Council through a number of work sessions over the summer as you guys have been through. And then as we established that in the fall—and I think I should have said in the fall, at September at the preliminary establishment of the ceiling, that number was in that 10.9% area, and now we're at 9.9. So able to bring it down about 1% from September. And so probably should have led with that news, that I think folks sometimes think that when we say that in September we set a ceiling and it can only come down from there, it'll never actually come down. We're proud to say that this one actually did come down because we had some really positive results in our health insurance bidding with our private partners in the health insurance industry and so are able to reduce that budget a little bit. So nice to see it come down from September. Looking back a little bit on just some history here, we... Council appreciates these metrics, I know. And so as we look back on our growth in our operations over a seven or eight-year period here from back to 2018, our operations have grown about 36%. In that same time frame, actually one year less looking to 2024, we've grown 103% in overall value. And so safe to say that our valuation has been outpacing our growth in operations, which is obviously an important piece to look at. As a percentage of growth, that time frame puts us in about the third highest percentage behind Lakeville, which has a larger percentage and a larger dollar amount than us, and then Farmington has a larger percentage than us, but not a larger dollar amount than us. We also have been trending for years kind of an interesting metric of just kind of cost per resident and cost per household of operating the city. Looking back to 2018, you can see those numbers there to see that a cost per resident for operations has grown $182 over about that eight-year period looking back to 2018. So, interesting just data point there. This is a deeper historical picture back to 2014 of our levy and our budget. The levy in green, budget in blue, averaging a 7.84% levy growth and a 6.25% budget growth looking back coming up on 11 years here. Same with tax capacity. I was going to say you should see, you know, you can see in 2018, '19, '20, really kind of a flattening there certainly of levy and budget, and then in the out years here '21, '2, '3, '4, as we've seen the growth in the community, then that's why the budget and levy have grown substantially as well, because it reflects this tax capacity value, the ability to draw upon a larger base and a larger capacity. You can really see those jumps in '22, '3, '4, and interesting to note, you know, looking back to 2017, my first year here—I think Heidi's first year on City Council—$28 million or so in tax capacity value, now cresting $53 million in tax capacity. In that eight-year window is kind of a wild number to pause and take a look at and realize the growth in the tax capacity. All right, so now we'll go through kind of department by department here real quick and just give the Council the budget—again, you've seen this many times, but I'll do this for the sake of doing it the right way here. So, City Council budget shows a 6.9% decrease, about $134,000. We've reallocated some funds in the communications area over to Administrative Services, which will allow us to support our community engagement efforts that we've been focused on with our hiring of the second community engagement employee and allows our communications manager to pivot a bit more towards outward-facing engagement. And so then as we get into Admin Services and the Council bar chart here, you'll see kind of an odd jump and a cut as we reallocated some items out of the City Council budget to be more appropriately placed in the Admin Services budget. Second year here of us being—or third year maybe—in being in an Admin Services model where we've grabbed Finance, HR, Information Technology, Communications, City Clerk, under the umbrella of Admin Services, which Miss Malecha leads. And so that's why you're seeing some of these numbers move around. Inside Admin Services, an 8.06% increase. A key hire there is a third Information Technology employee. As we add a facility the size of the campus, as every new squad is a roving server room and piece of technology, we really have a need for additional Information Technology support. And so an ability to hire that third person is needed and is shown here in this budget. We did a midyear hire of our communication specialist, and so this budget feels the impact of a full—the full freight—of that person's salary and benefits. And then we have some just increased costs as costs grow with Microsoft, spam filters, Adobe, the use of Canva, things of that nature impacts this budget a little bit. So again, as I mentioned, there's that switch as we backdated to show what Admin Services budget looks like as we switched over from Council. Community Development has a 6.4% increase, about $42,000 with some ups and downs. The biggest increase here is the city's hopeful utilization of a third-party consultant to assist us with code enforcement. We continue to see ramp-ups of our code enforcement complaints in the community, and it's understood in a city approaching 30,000, we just have a lot of folks that have varying opinions on property maintenance and what their neighbors should or shouldn't be doing and things that just happen that folks maybe aren't aware of. And it's a lot for our staff. In a city growing as much as we just talked about at the moment, we have two building inspectors; we're supposed to have three. We're in search for a third—if anybody listening is certified to be a building inspector, we'd love to have you apply; it's open right now. But we have three building inspectors and a building official. Those are the folks that can pull off code enforcement for us the vast majority of the year and need to be out in the community doing what they're trained to do, which is building inspections. And so we'd like to supplement what we do in the summertime, which is a part-time staffer that assists us throughout the off-summer months. We would look to a third party to contract with and focus on some code enforcement assistance. So, a pretty flat budget historically for in Community Development, about a 4.6% average annual growth looking back to '17. Police Department is our largest budget, will always be our largest budget, I we would certainly assume. In 2025, sees an 11.7% increase, about $770,000. Staffing continues to be the push and the reason for that result. The budget in '25 includes two new full-time police officers. We've been doing at least one on Council direction for the last number of years—I think every year since I've been here. In the last couple years, we've even had two, or one plus some administrative leadership support. And so next year shows two full-time officers. That $170,000 number, as a rough number, is offset by... we received the state grant again for that Pathways to Policing program—that IC POET is the acronym—where folks could have a college degree or some training in maybe a different industry, get paid by the city to complete their training at a technical college, take the post-licensure and become a police officer as maybe a mid-career or a second career choice. And so we have funding for at least two, potentially three, of those grants here in 2025. So we're really excited about that. We recently hired a crime analyst, which has been a really critical hire and a nice hire for us and has really expanded the horsepower of tracking crime bulletins and warrants and things of that nature, and so that person's wage and benefits is felt in here. Our Dakota County 911 partners have some increased fees along with our policy tracking software, Lexipol, so that has an impact here in the Police Department as well. Looking back here is a 7.13% average annual growth over history. Fire Department has a large increase that is largely due to an item on the second page here, which is we had a request by our auditors to change how we account for a revenue that we get from the State of Minnesota. So we get $200,000 in State Fire Aid from the State of Minnesota. This budget now needs to show that 200,000 in, 200,000 out. So that's why you see this 459 number—take 200 out of that right away as a revenue in, revenue out. Certainly beyond that's still a big number, 250, which again, as I said at the top of the meeting, just continues to show the city's focus on responding to the needs of the fire department and what that future might look like—of course, with the Chief being the top ticket item there. But also as we continue to kind of transition the department into what it needs to look like in the future, outside of service model, is staffing up the folks that we have with the skill set that they need to have to safely perform their jobs and effectively perform their jobs. And so EMT licensure has been a leadership goal of Chief Schroeder and the hope is that all the department will be licensed as EMTs in three years. And so we're in the... I believe that's the second year of Chief pursuing that mission. Similarly, we've been pursuing a second set of gear for all the officers as well. It's the main carcinogen effect and impact of fire departments is to have quote-unquote "dirty gear" as they go back to a fire call. And so this would get... we're continuing on this iterative process to get a second set of gear for the firefighters as well as new gear for the new folks that are hired. Chief Schroeder led us wisely into the focus that the police department and police service has been doing for a while on mental health and peer support in the fire department. And so we have a line item in here that would allow us to replicate a bit of what other fire agencies do and then our Police Department does, which is kind of that "checkup from the neck up" program and the funding of a peer support team. So a line item in the fire budget to support that. Also, professionalization of kind of the policy implementation, and so using that software that the police service has often used and fire service, the Lexipol policy, to track legislative changes and policy consistency across the agency. And then I mentioned a moment ago the fire state aid accounting switch. So there's the big jump in fire—so a bit thrown off on the percentages there, but that's going to keep growing as we talk about the future in fire. Public Works has their three budgets here. 9.1% attributed to government buildings. I mentioned the new... the Deputy Public Works Director here. This is spread across all of the Public Works Department budgets as well as some utility budgets, but want to just call it out here is that we're really excited to add some leadership support to our very, very busy Public Works Department. And so 2025 will see the hiring of a Deputy Public Works Director, and really excited to get a high-level performer in our department to assist that wonderful team. It allowed us—I think you'll see on the next page—to reduce a little bit... it's in a previous slide, but we were able to reduce some consulting fees in engineering with that person coming on board, and so with the assumption that he or she is going to take some load off of our consulting engineers as we add a building. Janitorial services go up, so there's a line item increasing for janitorial services as we need to both take the trash out and clean a new campus, and just cost increasing for all of our government buildings. Fleet Department sees a 2.61% increase. Biggest thing to call out here is we have a few kind of anchor line items for fuel, parts, small tools that see a bump there as our fleet continues to grow and the cost of those items grows. And then the Streets Department sees a 5.08% increase. We continue to push and expand the seal coat and crack sealing program each year and then also just the increased cost for that kind of work every summer. So a growth there, and then as I mentioned is the reduction in the consultant engineering fee with the onboarding of the Deputy Public Works Director. Parks Department just see some of the stuff that you end up seeing kind of every year: fertilizer, weed control as we grow the park system, field dry, chalk, striping in some of the fields. And then did have one cut to call out is a reduction in shop materials, so that's good to see. So there's the kind of pictorial representation of all four budgets there in the Public Works Department and an averaging 3.89% average annual growth across those budgets. Last but not least is Parks and Rec, 2.88% next year. Biggest things to call out there: we have a fairly newly rolled out online registration software that's been really successful and enjoyed by the residents, just a bit of a cost increase for those folks. And then we have more parks, which means more portable toilets, and so a bit of a line item increasing for rental of equipment in our parks. A fairly flat budget—I think Dan wins the award for the flattest budget in the entire organization over history: 3.65%. So, give an extra slice of pizza tonight for Dan. So with that, Mayor and Council, that's the full presentation that I had tonight. This is the statutorily required Truth in Taxation hearing; that's why this falls under the public hearing section of your agenda. So you could open that public hearing at any time and then ask us any questions you'd have. [45:12] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Well, you catch your breath—a lot. Any questions from staff or from Council, Mr. Martin? We've seen this stuff before. It's a lot of work doing that and certainly being able to reduce over the last couple of months the 1% is important. I think Council really supports being able to present the best use of the money out. And with that, I will open up the public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak on the Truth in Taxation hearing may do so at this time. Please state your name and address and the podium is open. See we have one resident out there in the audience. Going once, going twice. All right, I will move to close the public hearing. Is there a second? [46:12] **Councilmember Paul Theisen:** Second. [46:13] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** All in favor signify by saying aye. **Councilmembers:** Aye. **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Opposed? The hearing is closed. Do we have any other questions or comments, Council? [46:25] **Councilmember Paul Theisen:** I just... I only... I'd just like to reiterate that again too. I mean, we see this every day, and if anybody's watching, this is one of those things that I know it hits home even though people aren't here. But it's a lot of work that Logan, staff, and the directors obviously have put a lot of time and effort into this. And to see it come back a little bit from where it was in September, I think it's something to call out. So congratulations and appreciate it. [46:53] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** All right. Anyone wish to move the recommended action? [46:57] **Councilmember Heidi Freske:** I'll move a motion to adopt a resolution setting the 2025 general fund operating budget, the 2025 CIP budget, the 2025 insurance budget, the 2025 Port Authority operating levy, and the 2025 levy. [47:18] **Councilmember Paul Theisen:** Second. [47:20] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Motion by Freske, second by Theisen. Roll please, Teah. [47:23] **Teah Malecha:** Theisen? **Councilmember Paul Theisen:** Aye. **Teah Malecha:** Freske? **Councilmember Heidi Freske:** Aye. **Teah Malecha:** Klimpel? **Councilmember Tami Klimpel:** Aye. **Teah Malecha:** Weisensel? **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Aye. [47:33] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Our 2025 budget levy is approved 4-0 and that completes item 7B this evening. We have no unfinished business, item eight. No new business, item nine. We'll move to announcements, City staff updates. Mr. Martin. [47:42] **Logan Martin:** I think I am set for tonight, unless anybody had anything that was sitting up here that they had on their list. So I think we're... I think we're good, Mayor. [48:07] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** All right, I'll open up the Council. Any things to call out? [48:09] **Councilmember Paul Theisen:** I missed it, but how was the tree lighting? [48:12] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Tree lighting was wonderful. It was cold, there was a lot of warm spirit going on around there. Well attended despite the weather, and now we have a nice pretty tree and and the whole downtown actually looks pretty festive. And we also recognized it was Small Business Day, so just in general to residents, take the opportunity to shop downtown for our local stores if they can, and it's well appreciated. Upcoming... let's see if I can this up... give me a second, got hidden in here... all right, let's see... oh yes, coming: the Santa Tour of Rosemount. We saw Santa at the tree lighting ceremony, but he promised to come back, and so he will be on the Santa Tour, December 14th between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Please check out our website with the Santa Tour route. It'll be two major... I believe it's two major routes, the first one starting at 10:00 and the second one later on at 12:00. The Planning Commission meeting is December 16th, 6:30 to 7:30 here at City Hall, followed by Park and Rec Commission meeting 7:00 to 8:00 on December 16th. That's odd—are they in different locations? [49:55] **Logan Martin:** Or the dates... you're meeting in the conference room. [49:57] **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Okay, thank you. Port Authority meeting, we have an updated time of 4:15 to 7:00 p.m., December 17th. City Council meeting next time we get together will be the last for the year, on December 17th from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. Just one final one: the day after, on the 18th, the Youth Commission will be having their last meeting from 3:45 to 4:45, I believe at the Steeple Center. Any other additions, questions, comments? Further business? Seeing none, I'll move to adjourn. All in favor signify by saying aye. **Councilmembers:** Aye. **Mayor Jeff Weisensel:** Opposed? Thank you. Good evening, and we are adjourned. [50:43] [Music]