[0:01] **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Stand for Pledge of Allegiance. **All:** 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. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor Peterson? **Councilor Joe Peterson:** Here. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor Geissler? **Councilor John Geissler:** Here. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor Hjelle? **Councilor Andy Hjelle:** Here. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor LeBlanc? **Councilor Brian LeBlanc:** Here. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Mayor Boucher? **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Here. Do any councilors have announcements this evening for the public good? Thank you. We have no public hearings. Communications are placed on file. Mr. Mulder, could you give us a short synopsis of the presentation by [0:48] Essentia Wellness Center presentation that we had at pre-agenda, or do you want Joe to do that? **City Administrator John Mulder:** Sure, we'll let Joe do it, he's got his name on it. **Assistant City Administrator Joe Wicklund:** Thanks Mayor and Councilors. Like we walked through during pre-agenda, there's been exploration on behalf of the city working with LHB, the YMCA, Essentia, and the school to see what's possible in terms of an expansion of the wellness center. We know from the YMCA's perspective there's need in terms of the amount of folks using it. We know from the community perspective, um, there's different ways to leverage that facility now that we've had it, you know, kind of up and running for five years. And then the primary driver of it is obviously we're region-wide and statewide, you know, suffering some pretty big shortages on the childcare side. So we walked through and took a look at some design pieces that have been put [1:34] together by a little bit of a work group. And then, uh, we'll have some drawings down at St. Louis County Days. No ask or anything at this point, but um, some really interesting exploration into what would be possible for expanding the Essentia Wellness Center. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Thank you. Next we have public discussion. This is the time that any individual can address the council about an item not on the agenda. We ask that you limit your time to three minutes per person. Is anyone online yet? Second opportunity for public discussion... and third call for public discussion. With no public discussion, we'll move to the consent agenda minutes. [2:21] Approval or correction of the January 21st, 2025, City Council continuation minutes and the January 27th, 2025, city council work session minutes. Accounts payable: approve General City warrants from January 16th, 2025, through January 31st, 2025, in the amount of $5,795,638.86. And the third part of the consent agenda is the appointment of Rob Unzen to the six-year term on the HEDA commission. Do we have a motion for the consent agenda? **Councilor Andy Hjelle:** Motion to approve. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Motion by Councilor Hjelle to approve. Is there a second? **Councilor John Geissler:** Second. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Second by Councilor [3:08] Geissler. Roll call please. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor Peterson? **Councilor Joe Peterson:** Aye. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor Geissler? **Councilor John Geissler:** Aye. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor Hjelle? **Councilor Andy Hjelle:** Aye. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor LeBlanc? **Councilor Brian LeBlanc:** Aye. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Mayor Boucher? **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Aye. Next is ordinances. Ordinance [3:28] 2025-03, an ordinance amending the Hermantown code of ordinances by adding a new section 280 Housing Trust Fund. This is the second reading and there will be a motion and a roll call at the end. Mr. Mulder, do we want Mr. Ronchetti to describe this? **City Administrator John Mulder:** Would please. **Economic Development Director Chad Ronchetti:** Mayor Boucher, Councilors. This is the ordinance creating a local Housing Trust Fund which was drafted as such to allow maximum flexibility. This creates a dedicated fund for providing financing for projects in the city of Hermantown. It also provides a fund to transfer State affordable housing aid, which is State money driven into local communities to be provided for housing projects. It also is forward-thinking [4:16] in that further funding will become available from the state to fill the gap on housing projects in the community, and this Housing Trust Fund would position us to be able to apply for those funds. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Thank you. Any questions or comments from Council? Is there any public input on this ordinance? Any public input on Ordinance 2025-03? Any public input on an ordinance amending the Hermantown code [4:57] of ordinances by adding a new section 280 Housing Trust Fund? Roll call... oh, we need a motion. Sorry about that, I thought we had one. **Councilor Andy Hjelle:** I'll move to approve. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Thank you. Second? **Councilor Joe Peterson:** I'll second. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Second by Peterson. Now we have comments—we already went through that. Roll call please. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor LeBlanc? **Councilor Brian LeBlanc:** Aye. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor Hjelle? **Councilor Andy Hjelle:** Aye. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor Geissler? **Councilor John Geissler:** Aye. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor Peterson? **Councilor Joe Peterson:** Aye. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Mayor Boucher? **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Aye. Good news is there's no motions needed for the next five. Ordinance 2025-04, 05, 06, and 07. Okay, great. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor and Council. **Community Development Director Eric Johnson:** As Mr. Mulder mentioned, I will talk about all four of these briefly. All four of these ordinances have to do with environmental review standards and procedures. So the first one before us is amending Chapter 2, which is definitions. What we do as part of the section, we're going to be adding seven new definitions to our definition section. I'll give you a "soup to nuts" type of letters and things here, but terms such as EAW, EIS, EQB, RGU—these are all different terms that you hear in the environmental review. AUAR is an alternative urban areawide review; EAW is an environmental assessment [6:46] worksheet; EIS is an environmental impact statement. So this chapter identifies each what each one of those things are and gives a definition of such. Next to the chapters 5 and chapter 11, what those have to do with is our City's zoning and how these EAWs or these different environmental documents are treated under those sections. So right now the language is actually very specific to the EAW definitions, EISs, etc. So what we're doing is we're cleaning up language. Instead of having specific language that needs to be updated from time to time when the state changes their statutes, we are just referencing the state statute Chapter [7:32] 4410, very similar to like we do with the State Building Code or even our fee schedule. So once again, just getting in more basic information, basic definitions, information that we refer back to the state statutes. And then lastly, we're looking at the creation of Chapter 23, which is environmental review. This is a brand new chapter in our ordinance. What this does is this describes when these different documents are required from a review standpoint. It provides steps of how these are reviewed and then lastly, it also sets up the fee schedule for those and then escrow requirements associated with that. Right now, typically if these have come up in the past, it's more on a case-by-case basis where we negotiate these [8:17] review fees and escrows, etc., but this is actually going to codify those things so we actually have those fees and escrows set up at time of adoption of this. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Thank you. And this Ordinance 2025-04 is a first reading, so there's no motion or roll call on it this evening, but we will have an opportunity for public comment. Is there any public comment on this ordinance? Is there any public comment on Ordinance 2025-04? Any public comment on an ordinance amending Chapter 2 definitions? Hearing none, we'll move on to [9:03] 2025-05, an ordinance amending Chapter 5 land use regulations. This was described by Mr. Johnson. This is a first reading so there will not be a motion or a vote, but there is an opportunity for public comment. If anyone wishes to comment, please identify yourself and proceed. Any comments on the proposed Ordinance 2025-05? Any comments on an ordinance amending Chapter 5 land use regulations? Hearing none, we'll move on to another first reading of Ordinance [9:59] 2025-06. Last opportunity for public comment on the ordinance amending Chapter 11 planned unit development. Hearing none, we will move on to Ordinance 2025-07, adding Chapter 23 environmental review. This is a first reading; no motions or voting. Is there any public comment on this ordinance? Any public comment on the ordinance adding Chapter 23 environmental review? Any comment on Ordinance 2025-07? Move on to Ordinance [11:29] 2025-08. **Councilor Brian LeBlanc:** For $7.50 a month per water customer for 15 years? **City Administrator John Mulder:** Yes, roughly $3 million. **Councilor Brian LeBlanc:** 15 years... oh, 15 years, sorry, I thought you were asking how much money. No, just to clarify there's no extra from the city on top of that? That's exactly how much the City of Duluth is charging us? **City Administrator John Mulder:** It's a pass-through charge. Just want to put it out there either way—we're only passing on costs just increased taxes. We're not adding on profit or we're not taking a loss. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Is there any other comments or [12:15] questions from Council? Any public comment on this ordinance? Any public comment on Ordinance 2025-08? Is there any public comment on the ordinance amending Hermantown code of ordinances Section 270 fee schedule? Hearing none, we'll move on to resolutions. Resolution 2025-22, resolution authorizing transfer of state-wide housing aid to the Housing Trust Fund. Do we have a motion? **Councilor John Geissler:** I'll move to approve. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Motion by Councilor Geissler to approve. Is there a second? **Councilor Andy Hjelle:** Second. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Second by Councilor Hjelle. Mr. Mulder, should we have Mr. Ronchetti address— **City Administrator John Mulder:** Well, just real quickly. So we've received money—you've established the Housing Trust Fund and we've received money over the last two years and we also are receiving some in 2025. We're going to transfer that money to that fund. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** So anything previously received? **City Administrator John Mulder:** Yes. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Any other comments, Mr. Ronchetti? Any questions or comments from Council? Any public comment on this resolution? Any public comment on Resolution 2025-22, resolution authorizing transfer of state-wide housing aid to the Housing Trust Fund? Roll call please. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor Geissler? **Councilor John Geissler:** Aye. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor Hjelle? **Councilor Andy Hjelle:** Aye. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor LeBlanc? **Councilor Brian LeBlanc:** Aye. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor Peterson? **Councilor Joe Peterson:** Aye. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Mayor Boucher? **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Aye. Next is Resolution 2025-23, resolution authorizing and directing Mayor and City Clerk to execute amendment to engineering agreement for consulting services with Short Elliott Hendrickson, independent contractor. Do I have a motion? **Councilor Andy Hjelle:** Motion to approve. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Motion to approve by Councilor Hjelle. Is there a second? **Councilor Joe Peterson:** I'll second. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Second by Councilor Peterson. Mr. Mulder? **City Administrator John Mulder:** So, um, previously we had hired Short Elliott Hendrickson to do, um, the [14:44] second water connection with the City of Duluth at the intersection of Haines and Anderson Road. At that time, the City Council directed us to—because that was going to be at a prominent location—that we wanted to have an architectural type building there, and so we've asked them for some additional work and additional scope, so they've prepared this proposal for us. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Thank you. Any questions or comments from Council? **Councilor John Geissler:** Just thanks to David Bolf, City Engineer, and other staff that got behind this because it was kind of my doing and I still think it's the right thing to do at that location. So thank you. **Councilor Brian LeBlanc:** Is there anything stopping us from building that building ourselves and just having them install their equipment inside of it? [15:32] I'm not sure. Putting out a bid to build the building... because I mean like, there's structural engineers involved here for a building that's 12 x 12. I mean you can go buy trusses at Menards for far cheaper than it would cost to have a structural engineer involved. **City Administrator John Mulder:** Well, so Mayor and Council, I would not recommend that because staff doesn't have the capability to build it ourselves. If we were to put it out for bids, it still has to be an engineered building for the loads and the weights, you know, frost protected, and I think it would just be an extra level of, you know, managing a second [16:19] contract and a second contractor. So it would be my recommendation that we stay with the amendment that's in front of us. It's going to be similar to what the baseball field was, where the main contractor will be the first work contractor and then they'll hire a builder to build it. So it will be bid, I would assume, because those contractors are going to try to get the best price. **Councilor Brian LeBlanc:** Correct. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Any other questions or comments? With none from Council, we'll move on to public input. Is there any public input on this [17:06] resolution? Any public input on Resolution 2025-23, the amendment to engineering agreement for consulting services with Short Elliott Hendrickson? Roll call please. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor Hjelle? **Councilor Andy Hjelle:** Aye. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor LeBlanc? **Councilor Brian LeBlanc:** Aye. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor Peterson? **Councilor Joe Peterson:** Aye. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor Geissler? **Councilor John Geissler:** Aye. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Mayor Boucher? **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Aye. Next is Resolution [17:49] 2025-24, resolution approving change orders number 14 and 15 for NSTAR Ford Arena in the amount of $85,455.96. Do we have a motion? **Councilor John Geissler:** Move to approve. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Motion to approve by Councilor Geissler. Is there a second? **Councilor Joe Peterson:** I'll second. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Second by Councilor Peterson. Mr. Mulder? **City Administrator John Mulder:** Excuse me, there'll be two change orders in this. The first one is to build a mezzanine that will hold the dehumidifier system for the existing arena. They're putting that mezzanine up high so then that would allow them to use the space underneath as an area for puck shooting. The second one is to remove the two garages that are on site. One of them will [18:35] be just taken away and the other one will be probably moved by the school district and/or HAHA to a different location. But this will then make sure that the foundation work is out there and will extend the drainage and improve the drainage and parking there as well. **Councilor Brian LeBlanc:** Are these garages the ones west of the new building? **City Administrator John Mulder:** Yes. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Any other questions or comments from Council? **Councilor Brian LeBlanc:** I guess what I struggle with that one is why isn't the school district footing the bill for that? We can just do what we need to do with the rink, and if those garages flood then it would be on the school district to deal with it. Why is the city paying for [19:21] that? **City Administrator John Mulder:** You can make the argument either way. I think the idea there was is we were trying to make sure that the parking lot really functions well and the drainage functions well without damaging the school's equipment and/or [19:41] property. One could argue why is the city building an arena for that school entirely, but it's for the community because someone had to do it. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Any other questions or comments from Council? Any public comment on this resolution? Any public comment on Resolution 2025-24? Any public comment on the change orders number 14 and 15 for the NSTAR Ford Arena? Roll call please. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor Peterson? **Councilor Joe Peterson:** Aye. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor Geissler? **Councilor John Geissler:** Aye. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor Hjelle? **Councilor Andy Hjelle:** Aye. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor LeBlanc? **Councilor Brian LeBlanc:** Nay. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Mayor Boucher? **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Aye. Next is Resolution 2025-25, resolution approving pay application number 10 for NSTAR Ford Arena from Anderson Construction Company in the amount of $1,529,557.43. Do we have a motion? **Councilor Joe Peterson:** I'll make a motion to approve. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Motion by Councilor Peterson to approve. Is there a second? **Councilor Brian LeBlanc:** Second. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Second by Councilor LeBlanc. Mr. Mulder? **City Administrator John Mulder:** So this is the pay application for the work that's been done in the last month. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Thank you. Any questions or comments from Council? **Councilor John Geissler:** Just worthy of noting that during the pre-agenda the contractor commented that they are on schedule. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Thank you. Any other comments from Council? Any public input on this [21:35] resolution? Any public input on Resolution 2025-25? Roll call please. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor Geissler? **Councilor John Geissler:** Aye. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor Hjelle? **Councilor Andy Hjelle:** Aye. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor LeBlanc? **Councilor Brian LeBlanc:** Aye. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor Peterson? **Councilor Joe Peterson:** Aye. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Mayor Boucher? **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Aye. Next is Resolution 2025-26, resolution authorizing and directing Mayor and City Clerk to execute and deliver purchase agreement for dugout benches, bat/helmet racks, and onfield batting cage for Fichtner Park. Do we have a motion? **Councilor Brian LeBlanc:** Move to approve. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Motion by Councilor LeBlanc. Is there a second? **Councilor Joe Peterson:** I'll second. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Second by Councilor Peterson. Mr. Mulder? **City Administrator John Mulder:** So this was part of the original plan to—for the city to buy this equipment separately as part of the project. We're trying to get all this stuff purchased now so [22:42] that we can have it ready to go April 1st. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Thank you. Any questions or comments from Council? Is there any public input on this resolution? Any public input on Resolution 2025-26? Any public input on the purchase agreement for dugout benches, bat/helmet racks, and onfield batting cage for Fichtner Park? Roll call please. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor Hjelle? **Councilor Andy Hjelle:** Aye. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor LeBlanc? **Councilor Brian LeBlanc:** Aye. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor Peterson? **Councilor Joe Peterson:** Aye. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor Geissler? **Councilor John Geissler:** Aye. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Mayor Boucher? **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Aye. Next is Resolution 2025-27, resolution authorizing and directing Mayor and City Clerk to execute an acceptance of easement agreement to the City of Hermantown from James and Sabine Rita Peterson for the Hermantown Trail project. Do we have a motion? **Councilor John Geissler:** Move to approve. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Motion by Councilor Geissler to approve. Is there a [23:56] second? **Councilor Andy Hjelle:** Second. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Second by Councilor Hjelle. Mr. Mulder? **City Administrator John Mulder:** So as you know, we're acquiring the easement to put the trail in south of Keene Creek Park. This is one of the properties that we needed the easements from. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Thank you. Any questions or comments from Council? Is there any public input on this resolution? Anyone online yet? Okay. Any public input on Resolution 2025-27? Any public input on the acceptance of an easement agreement for the Hermantown Trail project? Roll call please. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor Geissler? **Councilor John Geissler:** Aye. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor Hjelle? **Councilor Andy Hjelle:** Aye. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor LeBlanc? **Councilor Brian LeBlanc:** Aye. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Councilor Peterson? **Councilor Joe Peterson:** Aye. **City Clerk Alissa McClure:** Mayor Boucher? **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Aye. Next we need a motion for a closed session. Motion to close the meeting of the Hermantown City Council pursuant to Minnesota Statute 13D.05 subdivision 3(b) for attorney-client privilege for the discussions with the City Attorney regarding the Maple Fields tenants remedy action and eminent domain proceedings for trail easements. Do we [25:19] have a motion to go into closed session? **Councilor Joe Peterson:** I'll make that motion. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Motion by Councilor Peterson. Is there a second? **Councilor Brian LeBlanc:** Second. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Second by Councilor LeBlanc. All in favor say Aye. **Council:** Aye. **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Opposed same sign. We will reconvene after the end of this discussion and then close our session.