[0:02] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): well we're going to call this meeting to order please stand for the pledge i al to the flag the United States of America and to the repblic for which it stands indivisible jusice for right well thank you for all all of you for coming this evening um we are going to begin by approving the agenda um council do you have anything you'd like to add or pull out of the consent agenda uh we don't have I think we're [0:48] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): doing that down next no so I think I have the approval of agenda okay approve agenda yeah okay that's not on my I don't have the um most recent copy yes yeah you do okay we just did pledge then approve agenda okay so all right so I move to approve the agenda second um I move to approve with pulling out but there's no the consent agenda is is at the bottom so that's going to be after the speakers okay that's fine unless I mean if you want to move it up you can all right that's fine all in favor of approving the agenda [1:34] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): I opposed um agenda passes motion passes um is there anybody here that would like to speak to the council we're going to open the public forum not seeing anyone we'll close the public forum um I think we do have one Jasper oh Jasper sorry Jasper would you like to come up and speak to us [2:10] Jasper Hankins: yeah testing testing testing yeah this thing's on perfect so I'm here today wait yeah I have to do my address first Jasper Hankins 183 Wildwood Avenue so I have I'm here to or today talk about the uh uh Monami Soccer Association and soccer field run out and I'm hoping that the field can be rented out otherwise we'll have to go all the way to Hugo and then we won't be able to even play near our or fields we have right now down by the aon's playground which are really local but if we can get the Birchwood field we'd be even more local or for or TW so we have around 20% of players on mod Soccer Association that actually live in Birchwood so with that and that would make things a lot local cuz kids like me who live in Birchwood and are on Moni Soccer Association that would make things a lot easier and a lot more accessible than Hugo and and if mon I Soccer Association could just rent that out this actually could be a great opportunity plus you could plus birwood Village is also making money off that rent and that allows B and and if birwood is making money that allows the bir Wood's buz budget to raise so so that allows us birwood Village to be a lot higher or on money than and we are right now okay thank you Jasper [4:10] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): you made some really good points and I appreciate you coming to speak tonight thank you so much you're welcome okay all right um we do have one announcement and I'll just read it off our agenda um the city of Birchwood wishes to announce the resignation of our city administrator Rebecca Kellen effective January 28th 2025 and we're on to City business well um Dr cedarberg is here from met Council thank you for coming tonight [4:55] Gail Cederberg (Met Council): thank you for having me and I I think the man behind the curtain is working on getting my presentation up I it was sent to Rebecca and didn't get put up so sorry about that that's all right that's all right um so as he puts it up I do have a paper copy um but I think this should work so my name is Gail cederberg there we go and I am the council representative for District 11 and there'll be a map showing up but really we have a team and Emma vorak is uh the city planner assigned to uh District 11 and we work in concert where she has you know contacted I think some of your staff in the previous time and she'll be contacting you again about going forward with our 2050 plan and then Elias montessa is our my communications person and that person will change in the next month or so but it's really to make connections and all of those things um so do I have to say next slide or is there a flipper thing just say next slide next slide next slide thank you just really wanted to do introduction so there's a person behind the email or the face learn more about berchwood if you have concerns how can we work together what you need me to do um you know a little bit more about the 2050 development guide that we've been working on Project updates and if there's any questions so next slide so fast facts maybe all of you know what the mech council is um seven County region 182 cities and districts 16 uh me council districts so there's a person who is appointed for each of the 16 districts and then we have a chair so District 11 is that green Northwest um Northeast uh quadrant up there so I in our district um why don't we go to the next slide and we'll show a little bit more there's District 11 so we've got Columbus liono Lakes Wyoming uh in no County Whitebear Lake Whitebear Township but most of the other communities are in Washington County so um going up to Scandia Forest Lake down to Aton I have a little slice of um Woodberry and all the other communities there so a little bit more about myself and people go are you crazy serving on the M Council um I retired in uh April 2021 from a 40-year career in environmental engineering hydrogeology groundwater modeling and cleaning up super fund sites and uh around came 2022 and someone said this district is open why don't you throw your hat in the ring there's all these problems here and I live in Monami by the old Lakeside Club so I've lived here 30 years and I've seen the progressions of the issues with wiper Lake the litigation and all of those things plus all the past contamination and it really is my bailey Wick from a technical expertise I been a Humphrey fellow part of their program taking a lot of policy classes so on the Met Council I starting March 3rd I will be chairing the environment committee and I'm on the environment committee and the management committee so it's really the environment committee wastewater treatment plus uh Waste Water Supply planning we're not a utility but the planning part of it grants for um conservation and things like that I do represent the council on the clean water Council that is a Statewide organization that takes her um Heritage fund money to for projects and um the metro area also receives money from the Clean Water fund through Watershed districts and a lot of other programs and then I also attend as many of these other meetings as I can the um especially the Whitebear Lake Area con comprehensive plan work group there was a meeting uh last week and there'll be one in March um MAAC is the community council water supply advisory committee I tend to participate in as many Washington County programs that I can um DNR has a north and east Metro groundwater area and then the Watershed districts and so you know I've had this long history I grew up in Highland Park in St Paul went to public high school but I really had the best of both worlds because I spent all my Summers up north in crowing count you know you take your shoes off on Memorial Day and you put them back on Labor Day and on the way home you stop at pennies to buy a new pair of shoes I mean what how better can you be raised right and when somebody asked me to put my hat in the ring I really thought a lot about it and and really it aligns with the state goals and the Met Council goals of really having everybody no matter who you are pink purple polka dot red blue no matter what size you are no matter how old you are to really be able to grow up in a really healthy safe environment to be able to drink the water fish the fish in The Lakes recreate and and have it um you know inclusionary where everybody can participate and and so that really U my parents kind of invested made me grow up that way and I just love being on the water so it it really really does help next slide please so a little bit of History we can speed through this pretty quickly in 1957 it was started and it really started over Wastewater believe it or not that as they were growing in 1967 I should say um you know everybody was growing everybody was thinking of putting in their own wastewater treatment plants in St Paul Minneapolis hennipin Ramsey County and did that make sense well not really because the Clean Water Act came about in the 60s and 70s and so why not build bigger plants that could handle more water and do it once Etc um and so after that it was well then we could do Regional planning and we could do land use planning as well so next slide please um so as part of this planning um next week we actually it's tomorrow believe it or not the Imagine 2050 plan is coming up in front of the whole Council for adoption and if we go to the next slide this really talks about our vision and I think it's I think people can resonate with this a prosperous Equitable resilient region with abundant opportunities for all to live work play and Thrive and core values were Equitable inclusive welcoming healthy safe and VI vibrant we lead on addressing climate change we protect and restore natural systems and what this means when you read the plan you know there's a wide variety of people who don't like maybe one or two words in those things um but what does it mean when we lead on addressing climate change it means things like we're having more extreme water storm events we're going to need more land for storm water we're going to have to think about reusing storm water so that's kind of under that umbrella of climate change when we talk about Equitable inclusive and welcoming Washington county is really at the Forefront of you know rebuilding playgrounds that are inclusive for Less able-bodied children um Lake Elmo has a track kind of wheelchair to get off-road so I can go with my friend whose husband as Parkinson's and is a retired naturalist and we can get into the park so there's lots of ways of looking at these words that again I think we all can kind of agree on next slide so I should have this should have been up front but land use planning Community Development housing and Parks environmental services and water supply and Transportation Planning and I do have a few Transportation slides believe it or not even for this neck of the woods next slide please so city of Birchwood Birchwood Village classified as suburban uh for the 2040 plan it was also classified as suburban the minimum density and I looked at your land use plan and I think it's on the next slide there's not a whole lot of build out left to go in Birchwood it's not really going to make an issue there's no changes to the Musa Metropolitan urban service area for Wastewater um but I just wanted to put that up there um next slide please so here's your 20 240 land use plan and it's it's pretty developed it's it's pretty set um with your parks and um and I think in March May my girlfriend is playing at Birchwood uh at the little Birchwood Park or band is coming um sweet rhubarb so I always try to come and visit her um so next slide please and then I think you know with the parks close to home why don't we go to the next slide shows the map and um yep big Marine Park is up there and with the new um Kelly Farm that was added the mech Council helped fund the 240 acres and now we've got the new Wildlife Management Area that's being attached to that Park um so the mech Council does a lot of partnering with Washington County to listen learn and try to get funds for the regional parks as well and the real goal it's it's coming together is to try to connect these parks with Greenways and bikes and other Transit so little by little you know we need a mile here and that's up by Hugo they need an extra mile added so okay let's get them that mile so that the Heartwood Trail so they can be safer going across the railroad tracks so there's a lot of give and take for the regional parks and helping develop them um across the across the whole metro area but also in Washington County um next slide please so waste water Resource Management you know it's Wastewater service but it's integrated planning for water quality and water supply and there are fed there's funding and grants for water efficiency and Municipal and private property inflow and infiltration grants that Birchwood could be applying for um you're in the White Bear Lake comprehensive plan and I didn't check whether you have Municipal Wells I think and so your Municipal well is probably in that area where you might need to go on surface water when they go through that project and so the me council is convening that work group we're not prescribing it's a very um engaged group from all the communities in that five mile radius around Whitebear Lake that they say have impacted the levels of Whitebear lake so I think um like I said you can go on the website if you just go Whitebear Lake Area comprehensive plan work group and you can find the next meeting and everybody's welcome to attend um I had a couple people from Whitebear Township attend just just regular people you don't have to be an elected official there's chairs for an audience and that would be great um and then in uh by Birchwood there's a couple projects for Lift stations and monitoring that are in that little sub picture there that are going on so not huge Capital Improvement but they're going through and looking all the lift stations making improvements to the monitoring um and part of the projects they do is they you know are always Vigilant about um you how well they're doing on their systems um next slide please so planning um there's two parts of Transit planning for Transit where it should go what type it should be and then Transit operations so it's kind of it if we go to the next slide um they serve all the areas including Washington County a little bit um but what what I'd like to say is that you know metr Mobility Services this area transit link and micro Transit so metr Mobility I know that there have been some issues with um availability from like 3 to 5 o'clock and because of ridership but I think that should be alleviated and I think Birchwood is pretty close to where the there's not an issue Transit L is a dial ride um but then microtransit is um kind of an Uber ride sharing van and if we go to the next map we'll see that um what this shows is the green dots so birchwood's very close to the Green Dot by Whitebear lake so that's in the planning phase but what the microtransit the Green Dot on the upper left is Roseville and the Green Dot on the lower part is Woodberry um January 5th they started two ride sharing programs in those two communities and it's really to get them to the Gold Line get them to the rosale hub and if they're really working then you know the White Bear Lake Maplewood Mall is in the works and it's pretty and that Green Dot outline isn't the Green Dot outline that's just a placeholder depends on people um bus lines there's an express bus from Stillwater to um Maplewood Mall from Maplewood Mall to rosale they started the express bus up again um and the bus from Maplewood Mall goes down to Minneapolis and down to St Paul and they did restart the bus on a more frequent basis from Maplewood Mall to centy college I think it's going every 15 minutes now and in the pandemic they stopped it and went every hour students were having a pretty hard time so there's not a lot of public transport but I'm heavily engaged with Washington County on making sure that we're not forgotten as we think about transit in this area next slide please so upcoming activities tomorrow adopting the 2050 Regional development guide and if you go to Mech counil website me council.org or and you click on committees you you can live stream all our committees and meetings and all our committee meetings are archived so um so that's you know very interesting because I have to go back sometimes and you know what are they doing in transportation I'm not on that committee but sometimes I have to again the Metro Transit pilot programs open the bus routes um you know there's there's a lot that we're doing that doesn't have a direct direct impact on Birchwood um however you know I just wanted to come and say that you know I work very closely with Washington County and I want to be that person that if you know somebody says you know what is the me Council doing or maybe the Met counil can help us or something copy me copy Emma Dvorak she's an amazing planner she will come out and meet with you give you guidance I know a lot of communities are one thing that she really suggests is that if you're thinking of making a change and you don't know if it's going to meet the comprehensive plan you know don't spend time on a consultant give Emma a call you know she can head off a lot of things and go well this might be a better way to do it and get you to where you're going to go and then as we talk about the 2050 plan she's actually writing a handbook to make it very easy for going from your 2040 plan to your 2050 plan if you don't have a lot of changes so before you head down that path she is um going to be on vacation for a couple weeks in March and then she's going to come and reach out to all the communities and there are going to be um some Zoom calls so so somehow the email might be sent to your city administrator who's no longer here but to try to introduce you to the 2050 planning process and if you don't get that then I can make sure that you can get get that and if you give me the person's name we can you know switch out Rebecca's name for somebody else's name on on that next slide and the very last slide so really it's what can we and I do for you you know I'm here building relationships I've been to all my communities um at least once questions comments recommendations um you know so so that's kind of who I am what the me council is what we kind of do and really just invite you to reach out more often and and I know I'm hearing a lot from the communities in District 11 they're a lot alike they're small they're rural they're built out but oh my God it's going to cost so much money to make changes but Emma's goal is to streamline that for you and for some of the smaller communities there's actually funds to help pay to do your plan so she has that information as well and if she doesn't get it then I can get it for you well thank you okay so that was kind of a long oh but the very informative but you have the slides and they were meant to be in in your packet so thank you so much if there's any questions all right question thank you any questions anybody no okay thank you so much [23:25] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): all right thank you commissioner Kwasi welcome are you going to be a regular uh I'm at your becking call uh Virtua doesn't require a lot of services you don't know County roads but I don't you'll never be forgotten Birchwood Village is a lovely town uh Stan karwaski Washton County Commissioner District to uh Birchwood is one of eight cities I represent uh I did want before I start my slide pres presentation of if you could load it te it up uh um gentlemen behind yeah just uh I'll uh have you I'll tell you to turn the pages as we go but before I start I want to compliment Dr Gail cedg she is an amazing asset to the Met Council and to Birchwood and Washington County she's going to so much stuff and we truly are partners and I think there's several things in my nine slides uh that really tie into what we do with met Council so um uh I just uh thanks for having me tonight um I apologize I'm fighting a cold but uh I get one of those once a winter and they L about 10 days I don't know what it is um next slide please this are are the County Services one I hope this is informative for you as a count as a County uh as a city Council but also uh your residents uh we consider the county kind of an invisible layer of government we do a lot of services that uh kind of go unnoticed but that's kind of a good thing things operate smoothly and yet a lot gets done I just wanted to point out each symbol maybe starting on the upper left and going clockwise uh the first one is Community Services uh that's kind like people in need all sorts of the social service programs really people in need a variety of services from Seniors to Youth and then the next moving to the right clockwise the next one is uh Public Health in the environment that is kind of waste in energy uh that's a big component of it and all our environmental uh practices groundwater management plans and such uh Public Works and Parks uh that is basically the streets the major streets and of course the bigger regional parks and then the libraries the county runs the library system the closest library here is uh I think we have five libraries uh is Wildwood Library um then if we uh keep moving clockwise uh the bottom uh right corner property Rec records and taxpayer Services that's uh not only getting your property tax statements but evaluating the property it also runs the elections um then uh Community Corrections uh uh most the ring the seven major counties not all have a jail but uh most do uh so when people are incarcerated it's usually low uh not the big typically the violent crimes of people that need to get back on their feet and back into societies so we run the jails and then uh the county attorney is basically handling uh crime and legal issues for the county for the citizens and then the sheriff's office as you know they uh are on contract for many of our cities including Birchwood for police and Public Safety uh next slide please um I try to pick out some items that I think are just interesting uh a broad swath of what the county does um so this is the century for a road aspect I'm going to picked out Century Avenue uh we have East County Line right outside the uh the borders of Birchwood but if you go uh past uh County 12 uh from County 12 down to 694 uh we're working with mind it's a turn back that'll happen this year uh it doesn't really meet it's also centry evidence called 120 it doesn't really meet meet the identity of of a state highway it's more of a county road so they'll for us to take it back they'll give us money uh there's been already two public we're in the uh we're entering the final design phase for 2025 2024 I think we had at least two two meetings I seen them may at one and uh that was to get community feedback as the wants and needs of that road because your citizens are going to be me driving it readily uh I also serve on uh this is tab Transportation Advisory Board which is a met councel of function and I serve on that we've got $8 million down your FedEx to work on a really difficult intersection to keep FedEx happy and keep and keep for that they can grow and work with the community and you can actually uh funnel traffic through there we're working with Cent Century College um construction is targeted for 2027 um next slide please uh this is the uh North Environmental Center uh this is for your hazardous waste items that can't go into the garbage uh electrical components uh volatile paints and things like that chemical um uh I just want to point out the uh in the cream colored box there's some interesting facts now as many residents of Birchwood would have to go to our South Environmental Center to drop off your hazardous items now we've got one on the I think it's more towards the south end of forest lake so it's a much more convenient drive we are uh going back to the cream box uh we're anticipating um uh uh 40,000 customers uh where uh anticipating uh uh $500,000 in free products uh when people the beauty of this is you have residents rather than put the uh used paint uh used adhesive uh oils that uh you may have uh you you don't have any purpose for we'll actually rather than uh properly uh dispose of those we'll have a free uh it's like a store and you can go in there and get all sorts of things cleaning projects products and such uh that in value is 500,000 uh and then on the electronics there's going to be targeted 600,000 of 600,000 pounds of TS and old phones or whatever uh there's different items in those components that are really bad for the the landfill and then uh under the uh um have hard time here the uh in the Hazardous Waste is 750,000 pounds of uh predicted um in this the location is just off of 961 it's right across from the county service center and uh there's a library up there um next slide please it also handles tree waste that's going to be a big from people's yards uh I noticed the food scrap on your table back here we're promoting this um the food scrap program is uh now going into Organics roughly 50% of our current trash does not go into the landfill a state law by 2030 75% of our throwaways in our homes has to be recycled or converted to energy so the the way we're going to get there is to uh Organics and with this program uh if you look at the bottom phone number there uh we encourage people to sign up uh in 2024 Birchwood started getting the uh uh the uh food scrap pickup program but I would be willing to guess I didn't check on the stats but you're probably only at about 10% of your residents uh using it but it's kind of like going back 20 30 years ago when you had the recycling bin that got up to 100% but it took 5 10 years probably even more uh we're hoping that uh if you can promote it like what you're doing now we can get up to the 80 90% you know it' be nice to get 100% people that just can separate their bones banana peels those kind of things and it s it s a separate special e bag uh when that goes down to the Newport recycling center it is uh rather than put in the trash automation singles out that bag pulls it aside and gets that and and then we're going to take those peelings those bones those uh uh basically grocery store waste items we're going to convert that into biofuels and possibly fertilizers uh as technology develops the one we're pursuing right now is a biofuel um next slide pleas please I apologize my voice there uh Central service center we have three service centers one's up in Forest Lake one's in Cottage Grove uh your residents could go continue to go to the Forest Lake one or this one would be off of right off of 494 and Valley Creek Road in Woodbury it's going to be on the Gold Line which is the bus repit transit uh so it's going to be a modern building to provide typical um uh you know licensing uh marriage certificates uh passports um we're expanding that into some of the social service programs uh and the building is going to be flexible uh for that we can move voting will be done there for that we can uh reconfigure different rooms for the needs uh within that week or within that season um it's uh going to be open in uh this coming fall and it's uh uh we a a major tenant of our County in there is Workforce Development uh so people in need of a better job and if they're down on their luck and they don't have a job they can get to this service center with uh uh bus transportation um these service centers are veed you might have residents here that go over to Ramsey County for your licensing or some of their resources so we really uh are compatible across county lines uh so visually someone maybe from mwood uh going over to the uh service center they don't have a car they can take for a dollar or two1 to3 is going to be the cost of the Gold Line and they can get there and work on their profession and give theirself a better job so um many uh different uh benefits to the new service center but we're really excited about that it's also a very environmentally built uh building uh from wood beans to um uh solar energy to um also there's going to be um um what was the other feature there oh uh for cars uh electric charging stations uh next slide please uh Dr cedarberg touched on this one with the Met Council she mentioned uh this slide is of Big Marine Park uh This Is Our Land and Water Legacy program um through that combining with uh uh almost 20 years ago $20 million was appropriated for purchasing largely in a rating system either land that would expand a Park a regional park or land that would protect water as we know since then we've learned that we I think we can't take clean water or the future water for granted so to dat we've acquired uh throughout the county 1300 Acres of Street strategic either protecting streams protecting water sources uh Dr cedarberg touched on this one but this parcel is almost 700 Acres uh of really good water it's kind of circled that expanded Big Marine Park so citizens going up there will be able to uh there's you can still have trails and open to the public so there's can be some public use but it added 700 AC uh now the park is almost doubled in size it's 1500 Acres it's actually part of the original master plan uh we couldn't have done that without the Met Council I think not I don't have the exact figure but uh uh that's a lot of money purchased from the Kelly Farm and it might have been a total of $6 million three phases um there's a total of I think about 1500 Acres if not more 2300 Acres it's going to be protected but the County's involvement is for these 700 acres and I think it was a 50% was paid for by the B Council and their money appropriated a pars um next slide please uh I wanted to pick out a uh that was last slide was more of the land and water Legacy and protecting water sources this one as emphasize Park I picked out Lake Elmo Park it's probably the park that's most used by your citizens um we have several Regional Parks Dr cedarberg actually mentioned this one and it's actually heed up in my slide is that again uh Med Council uh either uh property taxes or Med council with their Regional Park money and we get grants we're able to expand uh improve the uh swim pond but also uh this spring uh is this new uh Tot Lot going up I moved into Oakdale uh in 87 and I think uh I'm not sure there the first to lock a to lot was there but was outdated um working with the Met Council grants uh to really minimize the cost to the citizens of Washington County we now have a more of a state of art Tot Lot which goes with the swim pond uh uh which that swim pond is um a chlorinated water it's basically like a beach in its own little Lake it's like a swimming pool uh but the key thing here is we're really dedicated to making our Park more accessible to uh uh different uh cultures uh different um uh physical limitations um old and young so this Tot Lot as Dr cedarberg alluded to someone with a wheelchair can utilize it maybe they're watching their child maybe it's a youth that could still use the equipment if you the old tot Lots would have sand or wood chips this is going to have a very comfortable floor that in uh wheelchair accessible someone with a can someone with a other limitations uh next slide please and I guess that concludes it uh try to speak um there's many other things we could cover um it had been a while since I gave an update to the Birchwood Council wanted to just kind of give the citizens a reminder of what's out there and um certainly could take on some questions if you got thank you thank you for coming in Stan [41:35] Ryan Hankins (Councilmember): um always nice to hear from you um one question I have and one comment is Birchwood often feels like a little bit of an outlier in Washington County in that we belong to like the Whitebear School District we're kind of rammed up against Ramsey County um the and it also feels like a little like and you know geography is kind of fixed but like to go to even Woodbury versus you know Forest Lake kro those things are all long way away for residents here um one thing is the county offers a lot of nice little kind of services and things um one of the things I think about is I think we have some of those recy or those composting bags here there's like radon tests I think you can get for free it's cheaper for for me to buy a radon test online than it is to go and get one from the county um is there any way that one of the things we do have here is the Wildwood Library which is you know know fairly close to us is there any way we can think a little bit about how we might provide some Services here at the village hall or at the Wildwood library to people um yeah we're getting more you know Co actually taught us all a little more how to do things remotely or online or um [42:58] Stan Karwaski (Washington Co Commissioner): well when I talk to your res and that's why I'm here I definitely don't want Virtua to be forgotten we don't you don't want Ramsey County to like come and like start tugging us away or something um it's funny though when I uh it's kind of that balance because when I talk to Residents of your community you've got those larger Lots uh it's kind of an advantage not to have the major roads so you you definitely like your kind of Independence and your unique but yet at the same to uh uh councilman r hins i i understand that yeah you don't want you still want those kind of attributes but you still want the services um we just as an example I'll try to name a few things one uh in recent years now you don't have to necessarily go down to the central Service Center or the service center up in Forest Lake uh those are expensive buildings and the staff of you know really three is kind of The Sweet Spot we have one in the in our in our county is 44 mil long I Believe by about 10 Mi wide so it's makes it a rather than Square it makes a little bit more challenging to be efficient services but we don't want um you know many of those Services now you can do online um we also regarding uh Social Services uh we could coordinate uh our staff could look into it we just got a uh through a grant a uh community service vehicle where we can bring some of our services even it could be an informational they could uh maybe you could uh I would suggest uh if mayor [44:43] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): if you wanted to reach out to our community services uh kind of take a find out uh they would know something about the dynamic of your residential makeup and uh maybe there would be good fit to bring that service van out here and have residents come and see but she it's GE senior might be some mental health help there and they could kind of see what services are available and that's will come to the cities and that's and that was designed for groups um I don't know what else uh I mean maybe it's just we need to coordinate get some of the pamphlets and yeah stuff from the county and stick it on our wall here I mean maybe that's all we need talk always open for just kind of I'm just kind of putting the thought in your mind that like we're yeah if if there's some little things we can do so and if not that's okay I just thinking about it so but yeah we uh um let's continuously look where there's opportunities any other questions [46:00] Bridget Sperl (Councilmember): a quick question for you and Dr cedarberg um um are there cities that are doing just a great job in communicating to their residents about your services are there best practices that you've seen that you could share with us [46:16] Stan Karwaski (Washington Co Commissioner): um well for us communicating our services uh you know we have a good staff that really reaches out through our cities through the individual residents to make sure they have mental House services um um uh we provide pretty much state and federal programs many of our programs are mandated uh from Seniors to youth as far as uh from children that are abused neglected uh we just uh committed oursel to a uh emergency shelter uh we just uh a permanent facility we would partner with Ramsey County Dakota County where we would Reserve beds but we really uh believe it or not even though uh Washington county is a very uh FL fluent County we still have homelessness and this would be of an emergency shelter for those that could possibly die in the winter month these next few days are going to be abnormally cold we uh immediately react to make sure if our police where we're looking for people that believe it or not there are people that could pass away in these cold times homelessness uh and part of that is the mental health that's it's a problem for every County um one of our resources is I would encour to to do that communication reaching out to Residents as are staying in touch newsletter I think it'll come out at the end of the month come comes out four times a year it's got all our services listed in that we get a lot of feedback on um what's available through that newsletter staying in touch [48:25] Gail Cederberg (Met Council): I think with the me Cil a lot of our grants come to the city and then I know like Moni on the you know toilet swap or water conservation programs they will just pass it through I mean it's a pass through they don't say this has been funded by in their C so it doesn't show a lot of times the parks doesn't say this has been funded by the Met Council until we get a presentation like this so a lot of it is what you show in your newsletter to your community like I really like mon I read it it's online but I get a paper copy I love getting the paper copy from Washington County I I read it all I've been to the north race Center there is lovely it's pretty quick to get up there on 61 noral um but so so a lot of it is um you know there is okay so yes so actually I asked em about that there is a monthly Blast from the Met Council that goes I think to your city administrator okay and that says what the programs are what the dates are and things like that and then Emma usually has her own planning glass that goes out once a month and that usually goes to your city administrator so what we're finding Community talks that I've been to sometimes the disconnect is getting it to the city administrator and then it not getting pushed up to the council or the mayor or the different commissions can you talk in the mic oh sorry sorry about that or sometimes it'll get to the city administrator but it won't get pushed up to the work groups that you have into the council so I was someplace the other day and it was like the mayor said how did I not know this 2015 plan was being adopted but we had comments from the community from two different different people and our planner had been out to visit so I think it's internally getting that communication up and if you would like somebody else to be CCD on those things then let me know but usually we deal with the staff the planning staff or your city administrator for smaller communities and then that should get kind of pushed up to the council and to the elected officials thanks that's helpful [50:35] Stan Karwaski (Washington Co Commissioner): I had a couple other things how we're trying to communicate better because we definitely want anybody that needs a service to be well aware of it uh if you've on within your uh City website the one thing I'm always encouraging is when you make changes your website is create links to our County there's so many things we would provide that your city being small with a very small government body uh can't do and I think if you just well you don't have the financial where thought it just doesn't make sense um and that's where the county uh can play a role and but I think we could do more links I'm always encouraging cities in their website to have these links going out to the appropriate uh County Section the County website we're also invested in we're read doing our County website and that's meaning we're really trying to make it much more user friendly for citizen can quickly get to the information or the service they're looking for uh council member spurl that I kind of answer your question [51:42] Bridget Sperl (Councilmember): you did thank you very much yeah [51:45] Kathy Weier (Councilmember): anything else do you have the contact information for that cold shelter for the next couple of days just in case someone needs it [52:00] Stan Karwaski (Washington Co Commissioner): uh good question it's uh not um you know I think if call 911 the sheriff if somebody's in need okay uh I can't speak for the sheriff but I don't think it's like uh I think we do more than just like you have to find your way to uh what we do is we rent um some of the uh hotels largely in Still Water we contract rooms warm they're comfortable uh they can stay there a few days with have some limitations because we want to get these people back on their feet uh but usually they're in dire need so of 911 uh and and there I know the county would provide a mechanism for getting them there anything else [53:15] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): that is true I can attest to that we just lost a resident's home and so the Sheriff's Department's very familiar with that facility that just came online and so because that IND didn't have a place to live anymore that's where they it is active and the sheriff's know to do that so the best way to get the connection [53:40] Stan Karwaski (Washington Co Commissioner): and I may me our 30 bed facility that um I think it'll be open sometime next summer uh it's under construction now but it's on the government uh campus there in Still Water um believe it or not it's uh everybody Wrecking Iz as a homeless problem this is more for that really emergency case uh uh where somebody could possibly die due the weather their health condition but uh even though we have a generous cities and generous Community it's really hard to get cities to say yes I would like to help out homeless in my community so everybody it's kind of like not my backyard uh so it's a that's a challenge in itself so that's why we put it on the campus um but it was in a location that used to have a home so it's a good fit any other questions thank you so much stay in touch and I'm always a phone call away yes thank you very much for joining us this evening we appreciate it [54:30] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): um we also have next on our agenda an update um by our White Bear C Conservation District representative [54:40] Sharon Hankins (WBC District Rep): hello I am Sharon Hankins I am one of your Birchwood uh Representatives on the um white bir Conservation District and so we have been tasked to reach out to all of you to let you know what has happened in the past year and some of the things that are going to be happening going forward so some of the things that your tax dollars are going to in funding this Conservation District is that we are reimbursing um different cities around the lake for um each treatment so if weim would would to do some sort of treatment to one of our lakes or one of our beaches we could apply for reimbursement for that we have been working with an annual cleanup day which is always held the 2 March or 2 Saturday in March so if you are free and around you are welcome to come and join us as we go out onto the lake and clean up after all of those ice fishermen and I do tend to notice as walking along the lake that we do have a bit of trash and debris even along our own Lake Shores so I say if you see something pick it up that will kind of help us continue to keep the Lakes a little bit cleaner um we have started researching and development of an action plan for the prevention and early detection of something called star stor wart this has been found in Three Lakes that are upper at Northern Minnesota and are starting to creep down this way and what it is is like a big bush that is in the lake and once you get an in once again it's like you Asian mil foil it is hard to eradicate so the key is early prevention so this past summer around the where it pretty much comes in from boats that are coming out so we are starting to do detailed checks around where the boat Landings to ensure that we can catch it before it gets in here um we have contracted with bru water science for um assessment of the orasan mil foil and we treated 3 33.4 3 acres of mil foil in the lake this year so and that's done by a very we take a long but right around the lake where you identify all the hotpots and then once you identify those hotpots then in August you go back through and you start treatment and that will kind of help bring it down and so far doing that has been successful to kind of decrease that a bit um we also did a 2024 Lake study usage which is telling us like how many boats we have out there how many people visit it so we should have those results in the next month or two and I'll come back and let you guys know how many people are using the lake and what they're using it for um we have contracted with Ramy County shareff with um extra enforcement where they're actually not just working on the lake but they're also going and checking doing boat checks making sure that the buoys everyone has all their stuff that they are cleaning their boats and things like that so that way we can continue to make sure we are checking that um this past year we increased the commercial Marina slipp bees doesn't affect us because we're not exactly commercial but it went from 75 to 125 just because cost are continuing to go up for us for our enforcement and stuff like that so that is where we're at so going forward we're going to continue to um do the check story storm War we're going to continue to check for the erasion mil foil we are also putting um in articles in the Laker which comes out four times a year and the Laker is a press pued publication which comes out in May the summer then we have a fall one and then we have a winter one and so we put in a bunch of articles that talk about where ways to enjoy the lake safely and what we can do to prevent any erosion and something that you guys can do as you are going through and getting um variances and things for what people want to do on their lak Shore is make sure we're following the laws and that people are you know encouraging native grasses and things like that because that will help in the long run prevent erosion more than any rip wrap or anything that you can put on there so any questions on what we're doing anybody no oh thank you sh for the I'm enjoying it so six months in so I look forward to see what the next uh tun have HB [59:25] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): well thanks for the update appreciate it it's hankins night thank you for all your presentations we appreciate all the information um thanks for joining us this evening um next up on our city business is the TA schmidtz Park field rental agreement for the midi Soccer Association um we had talked a bit about this uh last month in our last meeting um the resolution I believe there's a resolution for this noct was there a resolution as well that we approve this was listed in the packet somewhere here trying to find the page I'm scrolling well we can do that when we get to the consent agenda but basically um the contract is the same as what we looked over last month but we did put in just the the amount of $2,000 for the rental fee were we able to determine what the price was for mowing [1:00:25] Therese Bellinger (Deputy Clerk): no [1:00:27] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): and would this 2,000 um apply then if there's a fall season so does the 2,000 apply to all the seasons or is it another 2,000 if they play in the fall um I believe they're just asking for was it may through July on this yes right but it says fall season dates TBD oh so I I was just wondering then is it another is this the same contract for the fall season if there is a fall season I mean I guess we would we could Neti it then I mean right now I'm thinking if we're charging them for mowing it's really just two and a half months yeah right right and so if if they were to play in the fall again that would be what another two and a half months you know the rest of July then August September do you know Ryan do you have any information about their seasons in the fall or how long that goes there season [1:01:45] Ryan Hankins (Councilmember): so I want to be clear I'm I'm commenting here just as a as a resident and abstaining um but I don't okay well I just want I don't I don't this one yeah she met this hankin might do better so yeah [1:01:50] Sharon Hankins (WBC District Rep): so the summer session goes from May until like the middle of June so I think that's what the first one is and then I start up again the middle of August and play through like the beginning of October okay so you're looking at like what the two and a half month fre chunk of time [1:02:10] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): okay thank you [1:02:15] Kathy Weier (Councilmember): I don't believe our Parks projects will affect the actual playing field at all right so that shouldn't be an issue as far as access to that I don't think we're going around the parking side either we're going around the backside when we're doing any of the construction there MH so we should be clear of the of the playing surface unless we are fixing that pipe that is broken underneath right [1:02:35] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): so I love the idea all of of all of this that's great I'm just trying to get clear on because I don't remember we talked about fall we didn't we didn't okay so maybe we just strike the fall and then if there's more information that they come forward with or if they want us for the fall then we have a new conversation that's a great idea you okay then that's great Fair okay so can I get a motion to approve this contract [1:03:15] Ryan Eisele (Councilmember): so moved [1:03:18] Kathy Weier (Councilmember): uh second I'll second Cathy [1:03:20] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): all in favor I I opposed abstain oh sorry about that motion carries great I'm very happy to get that done for them that's great thank you yes yep so now Ryan keep me on track here Sher do you want to let them know the soccer people okay we can let them know the city can send out an email yes okay we'll figure it out yeah we can send that out um so we're on to the consent agenda um as I mentioned before I would like to pull out um m and n Mary and Nancy is that Mary and Nancy yes anybody else um I think I wanted to talk about L Larry L [1:04:25] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): okay anything else okay can I get a um motion to approve the consent agenda um excluding m n and L [1:04:40] Ryan Hankins (Councilmember): so moved uh Ryan H henin [1:04:45] Bridget Sperl (Councilmember): second Bridget yep [1:05:00] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): um all in favor I I opposed uh motion passes okay um since Marcus is here can we do L first and then we can let Marcus go would you like that [Laughter] Marcus okay move down to that um Kathy did you have questions for Marcus [1:05:15] Kathy Weier (Councilmember): I did um so I believe this is the one that starts on page 55 in your packet if you're looking for thank you um so it looks like this is related to the lift station specifically right yep and then so we have a construction inspection portion and then also construction Administration and construction staking yep so we should be adding all of those or is the 30 adding all of them total [1:05:40] Marcus Johnson (Bolton & Menk): yep I just wanted to break it down so you can kind of see where the money is going so go ahead Ryan please finish [1:05:55] Ryan Hankins (Councilmember): oh so the construction inspection that's going to be majority of our time um as far as just making sure someone's on site um make sure the contractor doing what is on the plans what we plan for any issues come up um we're there already um the construction Administration that's pretty much making sure you guys you guys are hitting all the grant items EPA contact and all yep um making sure cuz most of that time is going to be in the Clos out it seems like those things drag on forever so of just making sure they have everything all all eyes are DOT T's are crossed they don't have any any issues and then because staking it's the smallest budget but we stake the structures um parts of the road that kind of stuff is is there additional funding that would be needed to do the close out the EPA Grant as in like can you get additional funding well do we need to pay you Bolton and make more money to do to have you complete the Grant application or is that include this this this includes everything so it includes the Grant application and so we basically farm this out to you guys correct the EPA pays us back everybody is happy and basically other than just generally dealing with Bolton and make no no internal City resources are needed Beyond this other than anything that we can't sign for you guys I guess or questions that fair enough yeah generally generally This Is Us taking the project we'll finish it out for you guys and is is there anything here that we're not doing that you would recommend we do um in terms of managing this project no not no there's stuff I would have done different so things we can learn in the future I guess but as far as far as this project goes yeah this is covering everything I guess okay so so you're your engineering opinion is that this is the everything that's needed and nothing that's not to finish the project and your engineering opinion is that this is um this is the full um the same way you would do it at your house correct yep so if we do like a re Street reconstruct I would recommend having more hours of someone just being there but with this it's such a short project most of our time is the coordination looking over everything they're submitting and this the time the hole is open it's very minimal compar compared to everything leading up to it and so you said there we need to probably look at the street reconstruction as well and that's obviously an option but is that something we would want to that you would recommend that we do or don't do I think you had scheduled that for next year in concert with the Liv station yep um that will come at a later time I guess or those costs those will be I guess depending on what the final result is be significantly smaller than this um I mainly the the the things that I recommend that we observe the most is anything where the ground's open because you only can see it one time document it once once it's in the ground and it's covered the only way to see it uncovered it so well I mean kind of makes sense right that makes sense brain surgery I guess yeah the stuff at the surface is less crucial um because you can always go back and okay so so you are just kind of giving us a little caveat here that we probably need to over the next couple months visit the street reconstruction if we're going to go do that reconstruction there okay and you you will probably revisit that as part of your Capital Improvement plan yep actually it's part of my thought process in the future so good [1:10:30] Bridget Sperl (Councilmember): so with this project for the lift station we had approved last session um as part of the road updates that we were going to do there was going to be a crosswalk put in right in that area [1:10:40] Marcus Johnson (Bolton & Menk): yep is any portion of that included with that to finish off that area where it will be good or is that going to have to go with the road that was included in the original bid y so it should be included with that correct yep so we should be all set for what we've already promised yep that was all I had is there anything else you wanted to talk about uh the open house or yeah I guess um so I didn't prep prepare anything for the this year's road construction yet because I'd like to get feedback from the public on what what we like that what we like that's happening in town what we'd like to see different suggestions any feedback before we present a final solution for this year um so I'd like to get some feedback on that and then um maybe get some feedback on the move if we move forward with the watermain um research and then potential projects what residents would like to see I guess out of that so okay kind of sum a couple things up digest it and then we'll spit out something for the 2025 project perfect okay and I can follow up with you this week and an email about some potential dates for that okay okay perfect thank you any other questions else me thank you perfect I'll get um first thing you guys will see is a preon coming up and I'll schedule probably with you Jennifer I think on that so um and just start getting some Hard dates from the contractor of when to start seeing things moving [1:12:35] Ryan Hankins (Councilmember): do city council members get to drive the excavator [1:12:40] Marcus Johnson (Bolton & Menk): I'll run that by them thank you Marcus thanks for your work what's that you want the Touch a Truck Event okay um [1:12:50] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): could I get a motion please then to approve L which is resolution 202-1550 [1:12:55] Kathy Weier (Councilmember): so moved Kathy [1:13:00] Ryan Eisele (Councilmember): second Ryan E [1:13:05] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): okay let's move on to M they approval to post an opening for um our vacancy for City administrator um I had written that resolution and the more I think about it I mean we need to be kind of um agile about this so we can get theres some help as soon as possible and I want to publicly say she has been fantastic absolutely fantastic um she's just really stepped in and taken over and I I really appreciate all that support as well as alen support I mean we have really good staff um but my thought on this posting is that before I can or the Personnel committee can even go ahead and post an opening we need to know like what residents desire you know what do they see are we are we providing the best service possible for them like what do they see that we're doing well and what do they see that we could do better as far as uh Administration and as a council what do we see like our strengths and we weaknesses being in administration so I'd really like people to put some thought into how they see um our city staff working together moving forward like the division of responsibility and like especially like we had talked I think we all ran on communication right we wanted really make sure there's someone there too that's really um passionate about that so there's those sorts of things um and I was thinking before we even interview anybody we need to know what we want and what our citizens what so that being said how are we going to get that information [1:15:10] Kathy Weier (Councilmember): is it possible to get a list from theres and Mara of what they personally are covering so we can see where gaps are [1:15:20] Bridget Sperl (Councilmember): yes and I feel like um because this is an administrator role and is in charge of other staff members one of the most important portions of ours is going to be helping manage other employees as they are supposed to be running that so those are the two areas that I think would be the most helpful to try and figure out what we need to fill [1:15:45] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): okay I've been in um actually there is a document um that lists out responsibilities by month season year for each of those positions and also I was um speaking with theres today and she said that her job description as well as as the city administrator job description is pretty accurate okay Margaret put a lot of work into those I think so um [1:16:05] Kathy Weier (Councilmember): would it make sense to start with both of them to ask them where they see the gaps are [1:16:10] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): yes um I've asked theres to do that and she's been super busy hly right so um we've decided this is like a catch-up week and so um she and I and whoever Ryan um um we're just trying to get things back to a normal level so to speak so next week we're really going to hit that hard but she she's really been working many hours so um but in the meantime before we even get with that um get to her I would like to know from our residents but I don't know quite how we should be able how we should be going about that like what do they what do they see would they like someone to work in the evenings or at least till 5 or 5:30 what you know CU that's part of the hiring process too right you need to get someone that is willing to do that so perhaps we can do an email blast asking for feedback I don't know we enter in the hiring process or I guess I hadn't thought about that too much for tonight um but it [1:17:30] Ryan Hankins (Councilmember): I have a couple thoughts one is it it might be worth just doing an open house for that but I don't know how many people are going to come in for that it would surprise me if people would give you really strong opinions on who to hire and maybe they'll give you some opinions on what the city they want the city to do I think that it's going to be a really hard question to to kind of pose in a way that gets you to hiring the right person so you have to have to think about that a little bit um I'm not talking about the actual person person I'm talking about the services that our residents would like you know what do they see that we could do better as a city like what services could we provide them at a higher level have we ever done a Survey Monkey for issues that's a that's a that's a worthwhile idea in this case a survey might not be the I agree I like that idea so I my other thought is I don't think we want to spend too long kind of nailing down a decision um you know I don't know that a lot of work got missed but I think that Jen has been in the office an awful lot and um you know I'm just don't want people to get burned out here so um [1:19:00] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): I was talking with theres about that today and um I'm good I don't want to rush into anything okay I'll do agendas for a while yes basically I I was telling teres I can do her clerical kind of responsibilities if she does more of the administrative responsibilities um she I had spoken a little bit with her about how she saw her future with the city theres um and she told me that she likes the flexibility she has right now and would not want more hours basically she likes her job so um yes yes um [1:19:40] Kathy Weier (Councilmember): and how many hours does theres work typically in a week um [1:19:45] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): between 20 and 30 yeah okay so I don't want to be rushed into making a decision to hire somebody without really knowing what we're getting into first of all and secondly without having some resident feedback in what they want and maybe we you know maybe we only get three or four people saying hey I would really like to see our office open a couple more hours a week or hey I don't know I don't know what everybody would like to see from this office or if they don't definitely heard about office hours for a long time yeah because I have an idea about that too but if we want to kind of shorten down the time a little bit [1:20:30] Ryan Hankins (Councilmember): I like the Survey Monkey idea I don't know how quickly we can get that out together and out well I guess if you're not in a hurry I'm not in a hurry I mean I can do agendas don't take me that long and I can help out with some other stuff I just uh you know in in the past hiring takes two months training somebody up takes two or three months like you guys all want to do awesome stuff as elected officials and I'm not interested in day-to- day you know permanently I'm just helping Teresa you know and so you know so just be cognizant that like the this is probably going to slow down outside projects until we kind of for probably for several months here so but [1:21:00] Kathy Weier (Councilmember): it make sense to add in uh looking at some other services that can handle some of the things that we have I know we had talked before about potentially um permits adjusting that process Bridget and I had met with Bolton and mink and we can discuss that some more I know I I had looked at another option it sounded like the general consensus is probably to kind of move forward with Ben um [1:21:30] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): also well theres I did bring up um the permitting process with theres and she seemed to think this whatever you guys put in place was it last year the new software software working very well okay um so she didn't see that really as an issue okay so let I just I need to have a more indepth conversation with her but I also want feedback from our residents so because I think that now is the time if we're going to make a pivot this is a good time yes so that's that's one of the reasons I don't want to rush into it I want to make sure we're thorough and getting all the information we can from all all interested parties so [1:22:20] Kathy Weier (Councilmember): something we should look at as well I I know we have a budget of some sort that's in our our um actual budget that we have we probably should pull that back slightly um for a starting wage I would go well we can't adjust up though so if you determine that it's easier to have a like 30 today review and then give a bump at that point right um that might work better than hiring at a higher level that we haven't budgeted for [1:22:45] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): I just yeah I don't I I'm kind of not at that point I just um with this resolution I wanted um approval from Council for the Personnel committee to post for a a a job opening once we nail down all these other variables but I guess I just wanted to have the discussion with all of you about the variables and about getting feedback from our residents um and that wasn't included in there so I wanted to do that [1:23:25] Ryan Hankins (Councilmember): I think that's a really good idea so it's almost like we have to do maybe four things one is to get the staff's input two find a way to get residents input three figure out if there are other things that we want to take off the staff because then the job changes and I had a fourth one but I forgot it yeah it's not that actually hiring yeah that's it I think we need to characterize some qualifications too and you know I don't want to go through them all but one of the things is we've long had a real deficit in technology skills in the city um to where that was my fourth one which is what are our observations as a Council in terms of what we think yes is needed okay so thank you [1:24:45] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): Ryan can I suggest that um I we I really can't move forward with discussions with theres till next week yeah okay so if if you give me next week to kind of meet with her and and do some discussions um in the meantime I can contact our current staff and see what input they have and if you guys want to come up with some observations maybe send them all to theres because we don't want to break the open meeting loss so send all your suggestions to theres um and then if we can figure out a way maybe through email or I don't know how to do survey monkeys I don't either but I figure we can figure it out um I'd be happy to look into it and a rough draft of what a survey could look like and then people can ED it away if we can do that in the next two weeks and get some responses back in then I can see us proceeding to post a job opening and hiring but I can't see anything happening sooner than three or four weeks honestly [1:26:00] Kathy Weier (Councilmember): can you send us the current job listings for Teresa's position as well as the city administrator so we know what should be doing um their job descriptions you want job descriptions okay [1:26:15] Ryan Hankins (Councilmember): I'm sure they're doing a lot more than I actually know about I have some general concerns that um if if we're leaning toward moving to a part-time City administrator that has not typically worked well in the city I also have some concerns that it may be hired hard to hire qualified staff who can run the city at the rate we've been paying so I think those are things we need to think about a little bit here too [1:26:45] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): yeah I'm thinking that's kind of like step two once we get all the requirements that we I just want to I don't know quite how we're proceeding to posting something and I just want to kind of throw in my those are things I think that are really critical to think about here um I I know Ryan and I are on the Personnel committee and I really don't want to post anything without full councel approval so let's go through it would be nice and I think if you're not if you're willing to do the day-to-day on a temporary basis and get a byy that's fine um but like let's let's just make sure we're kind of appreciative of you and respectful of you and if like so I'll let you know something I don't I don't have a problem making my my voice heard okay um as long as you understand I'd like this pass just in just so it's done it's a done deal we can move forward but I don't see the Personnel committee doing anything without full Council approval I mve to I moved to pass resolution 20256 [1:27:50] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): okay can I get a second a second okay okay all in favor opposed thank you Marcus seeing none motion passes thank you Marcus okay um on to resolution 20257 okay so just a general wow General summary of what's been going on um so our city administrator Rebecca Ken has resigned um she put it in writing correct me if I'm wrong with with my dates okay January 28th um when she put it in writing she said she was invoking her 60-day notice and um which we thought she intended to work through those 60 days however um we weren't sure that was actually going to happen after the first week of that so we had a letter drafted and sent to her saying we will honor the 60-day notice but she need not um come into work any longer is that correct is that a summary or is yeah that's fair I mean um some of that was based on the information from our uh techie dudes who thought there might be some security problems there if there was continued access to all our City Records all our city information so that was um one of the driving um points to send that letter out um so the resolution we have on the table is to pay Rebecca out her 60 days um that that we initially told her we would do is that about right Alan is there anything you want to add to that because I feel like I just stumbled through that whole thing [1:30:30] Alan (City Attorney): you did fine stumbling along that's what we do in life yeah I would say that the summary would be that she gave her 60 days notice and for those of you who haven't seen her contract uh that was what the city asked of her when she wanted to go so that's what she invoked and the decision was made to and this is pretty common in executive situations to say you know what we respect the 60 days notice we're good we'll take care of things and move on and honor the 60 days and so the letter basically said you will no longer have any duties to the city and will still compensate you for that notice period plus of course accumulated vacation and sick time so like I said not an uncommon situation for an executive to just be told we'll we'll go it Alone and so the only thing that complicates this of course is what you all received last week a week after the letter went out from the city saying we hear you you'll get a check uh was her essentially saying no I'm going to resign immediately and so that's a little bit of an unusual circumstance CU most people when they know know that they're going to get paid for 60 more days and they can stay home don't usually say no I want out and I want out now and so that's essentially you all read the letter so that's essentially what it said is pay me through last week and my vacation and sick time and we're done so I think that's where you're at I didn't get the luxury I guess of seeing the resolution so I have no idea what it says [1:32:00] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): it um I can read it to you [1:32:05] Alan (City Attorney): well that's all right I'm just I don't know what it's short I don't know what you're resolving to do but I know that that's kind of the conundrum is you know whether the city moves forward with what the city said we're doing or now with this latest um wrinkle so I I guess may I in just one second [1:32:20] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): the only um the resolution just says um that we're asking Council to approve the former city administrator's final paycheck [1:32:30] Alan (City Attorney): fair enough that's it so then the discussion's open what is that paycheck going to look like [1:32:35] Ryan Hankins (Councilmember): I I have some pretty significant concerns I want to State about um paying Becky out Beyond her termination date um first of all I'm not sure I understand um it seems like it probably should have been a council action to have um you know provided to relieve have relieved the city administrator of her duties um so I'm concerned that that letter is not really binding on Becky um the um one of the things I want to raise here is you know you guys probably learned in your league of Minnesota cities class that there's something called that applies to cities called you know the public Purpose Doctrine and that means that any expenditures we make um have to um be serve a public purpose and it seems to me like there's a concern here when we have a city administrator that tended tendered in a mediate resignation on Friday that paying her out for almost two months beyond that Falls outside of those public purpose of that public Purpose Doctrine and that is in fact INF furtherance of a of a private purpose there um I think there's also a number of other things here that are um you know relevant one of the things is there's two attorney general's opinion from the league of Minnesota cities that one it states here that cites a 77 and a 1980 opinion that a bonus for pastor Services is considered a gratuity and is not valid unless there's some agreement or other understanding um it seems like what's being paid to Becky here is effectively an a bonus particularly because there's no consideration provided by Becky for the bonus um I think the other thing we need to keep in mind here is that Becky breached the contract with the city Becky was required to provide the city 60 days notice and indeed on Friday she left immediately so Becky is indeed appears to be you know in breach of the contract with the city um there is no you know there's no so the next thing here is um you know we had a city administrator I think this there was some discussion of this but Becky was approaching a four cause termination and that would have been an IM an immediate dismissal from the city um I don't know why we would pay her additional money um Beyond this particularly and let me be clear I don't think there's any liability to Becky from the city but I don't know why we would pay her any money Beyond um Beyond her resignation date here so um the contract you know Becky's contract clearly states that her herlo her employment was at will and it could be terminated at any time by the city so there doesn't seem like there's any reason to do that here um you know this there's one of the issues here I think is it doesn't so it's not clear to me why we're not just treating Becky like a normal employee who quits paying her through her last date of service which was last Friday she quits she left an Atwell job that's her prerogative and to pay her beyond that I think is is outside of the um you know public Purpose Doctrine and there was no consideration from Becky to receive an additional approximately two months of of pay and this is totally outside of standard practice for a resignation and anywhere I've been is that you basically get paid through your last day here so I don't think any re reliability any reason to believe that the any liability to Becky exists but the city is insured for that purpose and insurance is is this is you know what we should be using here not extra contractual payouts and finally I think there is kind of an important couple of statutes here that we should be looking at here 465 Minnesota statute 465 721 no City Township or other government shall Implement a plan for payment severance pay pursuant to section 46572 until a plan provided for full funding has been developed by the government governing body and since this appears to be a severance payment I don't think that this can be made without that such a payment or such an approval can be made without the council moreover 46572 says severance pay must be paid in a matter mutually agreeable to the employee and the employer so it appears that any additional payment to Becky would have to be made both with the council and with Becky's approval and this was done with with the approval of neither so with that I would suggest that we move forward with a payment through February 7th um 202 and not extend any sort of payment through March 28th isn't that what you said Alan because she sent that letter saying I wanted to resign immediately [1:38:10] Alan (City Attorney): yeah what I said was that that's your choice this is the other one so city has gone out and said what it said and I think Ryan's um pointing out the fact that since she is now officially resigned resigned right and in a way sort of um advanced accelerated her 60 days to say no just pay me through Friday and and the other goodies and that's it so you know I appreciate everything Ryan's saying and it doesn't matter if I agree with it your choice is to keep moving forward with what you've told her you're going to do or honoring what she asked for which was no I'm just done like I said it's an unusual circumstance and so that's the choice that's before you to take a vote so you make I will move [1:39:00] Ryan Hankins (Councilmember): I will move to Payback Becky through February 7th 2025 including the payout of benefits including the vacation payout but excluding ESS and I want to discuss why that's excluded including vacation and sick time but excluding ESS discuss why that's that's your motion well we need a second I'm sorry what's e e that's a new state law that took oh yeah okay Place basically say someone yeah any do you all have this document in front of you we were sharing so basically and I wonder if Chris Chris do you want to put this up so if anybody's watching thanks Alan I can follow along so is the um so looks like you earn that esst um is that based on your anniversary dates I guess I think mannually based so I can discuss why ESS doesn't apply here if we want um well that's not what I'm asking I'm asking how you like how that time frame is based is it calendar year or is it based on your anniversary date which I believe hers is in June SST it's based on calendar calendar year calendar plus it's acur during the time okay [1:40:25] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): we didn't get a second yet so sounds like motion dies for lack of a second okay then let's continue discussing it so basically on this paper that you guys have there's two scenarios right the first one is Ryan's plan minus the ESS not Ryan I shouldn't sayen sorry Ryan and the second one um is the one that went out in the letter that Becky received um after the first resignation um so those are our choices it's an unusual circumstance yes because we're dealing with two different resignation dates and I guess that's part of it too like which one are we honoring so [1:41:20] Kathy Weier (Councilmember): I guess I do have a question on the 60-day requirement that we have in her contract that was based on her working up through those time frame and actually doing the job during that 60 days correct [1:42:05] Alan (City Attorney): well it's just that's the term of of proper resignation is to give two months notice [1:42:10] Kathy Weier (Councilmember): yes but as far as like she wouldn't it's not a I'm giving 60 days but I'm not actually going to do the job during that time frame it's normally a I'm transitioning someone else to take it right correct [1:42:15] Kathy Weier (Councilmember): so I do agree with Ryan that she has resigned and therefore has canceled that as of the 7th um so I I agree with you on that I'm curious on the ESS as to why you wouldn't want to pay that portion it's minimal comparatively I guess [1:42:30] Ryan Hankins (Councilmember): the reason I wouldn't I I mean if I'm not going to bicker about it too much but we had a meeting in December of 2023 and we decided that so ESS is something that you can provide it's basically a minimum amount of vacation and sick time you provide to an employee and in the December of and so this because EST Becky's contract preceeded the state law that required esst her contract doesn't say anything about it in the December of 2023 meeting um Becky's contract we basically visited ESS and the council said we're not going to pay any additional PS ESS and Becky's pay will not be affected by the so so I would suggest the ESS if we want to do everything by the book here be removed I don't know about sick time that seems a little weird but I'm already being pickier than I should so um [1:43:25] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): this is really out of my wheelhouse however I did call the league of Minnesota cities to talk to somebody about the situation and the only thing the person that I had spoken to was really adamant about is making sure you get the ES well perfect if so if esst is something we're worried about that's not my hill to die on so I'm I don't know enough about it to put anything um very intelligent together but I can revisit that I have notes on it um would somebody then make a motion to pay the 10 for5 make a motion to pay the 104 1556 which would give her pay through the date that she uh did she just text all of us she emailed it too right she said she did I think it was received in the mail we received it received it you have to print okay what we what we received via text which is I believe the date it is dated um this is date at the 7th yes okay so thanks [1:44:20] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): I I will make a motion that we pay her through the date of her official resignation and terminating her activity with in the city which would be February 7th 2025 in the amount of $1,415 56 which would include vacation Six Sick time and ESS payments [1:44:45] Kathy Weier (Councilmember): I'll second [1:44:50] Bridget Sperl (Councilmember): go ahead so just so that I understand the timeline and I know these things are always really complicated and hard um so did we send her in writing the fact that she would be paid through uh 328 yeah yes that's in that letter that she copied us and did she receive it when she got back to us with her note [1:45:15] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): yeah she copied it in the text that I received so she had sent both because she had the the letter that she sent us one and then below she has here's the letter I received from Allan that states [1:45:25] Bridget Sperl (Councilmember): okay Bridget we actually sent that out overnight okay so she she had it in hand before she wrote that note to us looks like different because a week later you get this latest one right so it looks like she actually responded to that with that this written correct right and that's the sequencing too okay right well that seems pretty clear then yeah right okay thank you that was my question [1:46:00] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): I seconded Cy firsted any other discussion thank you guys on the Personnel committee I think I don't know I haven't been involved with your discussions but my guess is you spent you guys spent a lot of time on this so just a thank you to you guys so yeah it definitely wasn't thank you Alan to Alan all right let's take a vote take a vote [1:46:15] Ryan Hankins (Councilmember): I just want to ask Alan quick like what's your uh what's your legal opinion about all this [1:46:25] Alan (City Attorney): I think whatever is going to happen is going to happen I know that sound is that a legal opinion chaos but um we're responding to someone who has responded to us so that's the way I look at this and so my question was going to be after the vote um I think it would be wise to put a cover letter you know sort of laying this thing out and why we did what we did and what those numbers are instead of just lick a stamp and send a check she requested that 28th but something that's laying out here's what you're getting what it represents and why sure right and that's about the best we can do is just paper the current events and just hope for the best so and obviously we all hope the best for for Becky so absolutely a little weird not having my sidekick here so but anyway you're on for a vote here okay um okay [1:47:15] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): all in favor I I I opposed okay motion carries [1:47:25] Ryan Hankins (Councilmember): I just want to follow up on what you said a little bit there Allan can we stay on this for a minute sure um Becky did make a number of requests in her text message and one was her son's gaming mouse [1:47:45] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): I asked theres about that I'd like to get any personal property back to her she asked for some documents from techie dudes um she requested basically it looks to me like this accounting right here that we should send to her and I think that was was that everything she requested in there it seemed like most of the things in there were pretty reasonable [1:48:05] Alan (City Attorney): yeah when I reviewed this um what I suggested was is that if she can actually make those specific requests of what's kind of locked up behind the the technology barrier um techy dudes can surgically go in and get folders get files get whatever she needs [1:48:20] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): I don't know anything about a gaming mouse but I think that's a mouse that plays games and maybe there's one down it's just one that has an extra if there's one there we should get it to her we're going to have to make arrangements to get the laptop back because that's actually with her physically it looked like she was she's planning on planning to return the lab top and I assume we would swap or whatever wa yeah [1:48:50] Alan (City Attorney): I mean I don't necessarily want to play games with pay with the laptop but um I don't want to pay games with withholding pay for the laptop necessarily but uh that's illegal [1:49:05] Kathy Weier (Councilmember): be possible to ask her to come and pick up her check and drop off [1:49:10] Alan (City Attorney): certainly I mean if she's if she's got to get her Mouse I mean there's a reason that she would have to come here physic [1:49:15] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): I would anticipate she might have some other stuff as well that I mean like on the desk it's it's all boxed up all set yeah okay [1:49:25] Ryan Hankins (Councilmember): I'm not too worried about that and like I said if techie dudes can if she's got specific requests they should be able to shunt those into some other space and or just email them to her so yeah okay and I assume her access is turned off and there must be some kind of message if somebody tries from the city tries to get in touch with her bounces back think we have her email going to theres basically do we have it forwarded to the teresas or do we have it to the city at Birchwood I think it's a shared mailbox that theres has access to is there didn't she have a team's phone number set up so where's that team's phone number going oh that's an interesting point yeah that's one thing we might want to check is where her phone number is going if she doesn't I thought it was just all went through the Village phone number but it's worth asking uh they would have extensions so there would be an extension number it's probably a question for techie dudes yeah yeah we should look at all of the places that she might be contacted and make sure that it's messaged that she's no longer here update to pull into the city basically yeah [1:50:00] Alan (City Attorney): we did pull the email just so that theres could get access and that's what it said in the letter of the 28th basically you know hey someone else will be monitoring this like you heard Stan tonight in his slide deck yeah you know I wondered because he said well I sent it to your city administrator so she should have it so I'm like yeah well PR got it obviously you wouldn't have gotten it if if that hadn't been monitored so yeah [1:50:40] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): okay my guess is the city and even theres is probably just kind of barely keeping the lights I think it's my understanding those emails have not been opened yet because there's a lot going on we well no we want it to settle you know step by step do things properly so okay that's it okay if there's no other business any other business um I did want to mention that we have a city newsletter coming up if you have anything specifically you would like added to that please email it to me um I will be assembling that hold on the calendar I believe I have to have it done by the 20th so if you could possibly have everything to me by the 19th okay that would be wonderful and then when does it go out the 25th is when they actually are supposed to be sending that out uh based on what theres had sent me as far as the schedule for when the Bills should hit the post office um I believe we bring the bill and the envelopes to a company that stuffs them so I think the 25th is when they leave here but I'll confirm with her just to make an envelope stuffing company MH [1:51:35] Kathy Weier (Councilmember): and just would we want to do a survey on that [1:51:40] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): oh that's a good idea well so it doesn't come out until midm March so it depends on timing as far as when we want to do that but I I think our email system would probably be faster and unfortunately we'll have more people reading it because despite our having a lovely newsletter in our utility bills not everyone is opening those we're always surprised at how many people don't know what's going on so I I would like to send an email out um yeah theres won't be in the office tomorrow but Thursday um maybe we can she and I can put something together to send it out to all residents asking for feedback as well just telling them you know you want to do the link to the Survey Monkey in there if we can I would if you can because it' be nice for them to be able to click on correct that thing and give feedback immediately that way that's two days so I can't take take that on if somebody else wants that [1:52:50] Kathy Weier (Councilmember): see what I can find out let you know okay [1:52:55] Jennifer Arsenault (Mayor): all right anything else okay then meeting adjourned you want a motion to adjourn oh yeah can I get a motion move to adj the meeting I move to stay here my sleeping bag Cathy makes a motion can I get a second to adjourn we have a tie let's do um Mr here um all in favor I opposed motion carries meeting adjourned thank you everyone [Music]