[0:03] Unknown Speaker: actually the Curve oh you hit the Curve [0:12] Mayor Mary Fasbender: time being 7:05. I call the Hastings City council meeting to order please stand and state the Pledge of Allegiance. [0:40] Mayor Mary Fasbender: thank you and welcome. Let the roll reflect a majority of the members are present, council member Lund is absent, and a quorum has been established. Tonight we will be having a proclamation recognizing February as Black History Month. Councilmember Haus, would you please start? [1:05] Councilmember Angie Haus: absolutely thank you. Black History Month is celebrated to raise awareness of African-American accomplishments and contributions to our society. And whereas African Americans are part of Minnesota's story from before it was a territory to the present; and whereas the first Minnesota territorial census in 1857 recorded four African-American men living in Hastings, including Robert Burns, a barber, who with Andrew Jackson Overall and J.H. Brooks worked as a committee to draft a petition to further their rights to vote, which was presented to the legislature of Minnesota in 1865. And whereas both houses of the legislature passed a bill that proposed an amendment to strike "white" from the suffrage provision, the amendment was adopted in 1868 by a majority of more than 9,000 votes, becoming a law in Minnesota two years before the 15th Amendment passed the nation. Whereas George Daniels was an enslaved African-American man who freed himself during the Civil War by crossing the battle lines to join the Union Army. In the process, he and Brigadier General George LeDuc became acquainted and built a strong trusting relationship. Daniels moved to Hastings where he lived and worked alongside LeDuc and married Shiloh Hudson and started a family. And whereas the story of George and Chloe Daniels is not unique and represents other African-American families that found their way to the Hastings area following the Civil War. And whereas in the early 1890s, the Korean and Wallace families organized other African-American community members to establish Brown's Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, which served as the center of religious and social activities for African Americans until it was destroyed by arson in 1907, resulting in the eventual exodus of African Americans from Hastings. And whereas recent census data shows that the number of African-American residents in Hastings has increased in the past decade, Hastings continues to strive for racial equity to provide a healthy community for all, and the city council has made diversity, equity, and inclusion an important initiative among its strategic priorities. And whereas the importance of observing Black History Month in the city of Hastings is to acknowledge, recognize, and welcome people of African descent and their contributions to the city of Hastings while simultaneously recognizing the injustices they have endured. [3:50] Councilmember Angie Haus: now therefore be it resolved that I, Mary Fassbender, Mayor of the city of Hastings, Minnesota, and the Hastings City Council, hereby proclaim February 2023 as Black History Month in Hastings, Minnesota. Thank you. [4:10] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Council, council members, are there any corrections from the minutes from the workshop or from the regular meeting on January 17th? Okay. Comments from the audience. For public comments, we have options for comments to be either mailed as well as interactive features during the meeting for live comments. They may be either through our Zoom link or in person. We ask that attendees either raise their hands in person or use the raised hand feature in Zoom and they will be invited to speak one at a time. I would also want to express to everyone that the public comments period is not intended for an extended dialogue. I do not see anyone on Zoom. Commissioner Slavic? [5:16] Commissioner Mike Slavic: well good evening Mayor, council members, thank you very much. Mike Slavic, 1590 Highway 55, Dakota Administration Building. Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak today and also thank you for having public comment and having public comment in the beginning of your meetings as I have a Township meeting that I'm supposed to be at on the other end of the county at the exact same time, so I'll be leaving right after this. I'm here tonight just to clear up a few statements made at the end of the January 17th Hastings City council meeting. The statement was made that Dakota County hastily moved forward to leave the Dakota County Broadband board. The reality is in the previous 18 months Dakota County and two other communities had expressed concerns with future operations and tried to find a solution. Unfortunately, these concerns were either never addressed or ignored, and late last fall the Dakota County Broadband board continued to kick the can down again with no resolution. It should be noted that 60% of the fiber in the Dakota County Broadband board is actually Dakota County fiber, and when you make up the other two communities that also expressed concerns, that is 85% of the fiber in the entire County. The County Board is in no way taking away economic powers from any city. All it is saying is that an agreement must be in place to use County fiber for economic development. This is no different than the multiple agreements the city of Hastings has had with Dakota County before the Dakota County Broadband existed. In fact, I was a signature on one of those agreements that we had when we did connect fiber from City Hall to the Public Works building. On the statement of the fact that the County Board no longer cares and does not want to be a partner in this and any Economic Development within the county, I take issue with that. Quite frankly, in the 11 years that I've served on this side, working in the strong relationship that we've had with Dakota County, we have many partnerships that we've been able to do that have saved the taxpayer tens and thousands of dollars. You know, one example of that is what you'll see this coming year when Dakota County takes over the maintenance and operation of what will be the Vermillion River Greenway. That's an additional 5.1 miles of the 10-mile famed Loop; the Hastings Loop of 10 miles will actually have almost eight miles of that that will be County-maintained once this is completed. So there are many parts where we have certainly worked together in there, but I know that there are certain points that I think in the DBB that certainly created dysfunction, and I think that it has to be acknowledged and there are ways to move forward with that part in there. But I do believe that in my 17 years that I've represented the city of Hastings—we've actually been good partners, six of those on the city council, 11 on the County Board—that we've been able to find that a strong working relationship can overcome a lot of these challenges. You know, we're all one big family and families don't always get along and I think that we saw this with our Dakota 911 over the history of that—that has not always been perfect. We've seen that with this; unfortunately, when you get 12 different entities together and they have different ideas of what is important, it doesn't make it always easy. But at the end of the day, you still have to remember that the common good that we can all do is the end goal with that. And I think an example of that is actually coming up tomorrow at 2:00 PM if any of you are available. The county is convening a meeting with the cities in the county related to the opioid settlement and I really encourage if anyone does have the flexibility to be able to come. In that, as you're well aware, Hastings is one of the highest abuses of opioids of any city in the entire county. However, with the settlement agreement, the city of Hastings is receiving no dollars. In fact, any city under 30,000 is not receiving any. So the 87 counties and cities over 30,000 are receiving settlements from the pharmaceutical companies; however, cities under 30,000 receive nothing. And the County Board has had multiple discussions on that and has said that doesn't feel right. There are true needs and, quite frankly, as much as the county can do stuff county-wide, there are needs that communities like South St. Paul and Hastings and Farmington certainly could go in, who've had much more impact than other communities. So part of the conversation is going to be what we can do with that County money, including actually having a direct allocation to the cities that did not receive an allocation so that you can go and be able to do what you think is in the best interest of your community. The city of Hastings—that's not somebody who goes and says they aren't looking out for the cities and are only looking out for the county themselves. So I think that we've got more good than we don't to that, and I am very much optimistic that we're going to find some resolution that's going to go in and actually help our economic development, not hurt it. One of the fundamental things with the DBB that the county had concerns with was to not go and compete with the private sector. Continually through much of the discussion, that part was not able to be resolved, but we are able to go and find partnerships. If there's a business, the cities have every right with the fiber they own to go in and work with any business. However, if they want to hop onto fiber from another community or fiber with the county, they have the opportunity as well to go in and find an agreement that seems equitable and fair to all. The last point that I will make on here, Madame Mayor and council members, is that though I'm just sharing this in public comment, I am more than willing to bring County staff with me to a meeting later this spring, whether that be a council meeting as was requested by council member Lund or a future workshop. But we'll be moving forward with this; I know the DBB will be figuring out its next steps as well. But I thank you very much for your time Council and Mayor, and know that this is not the last you'll be seeing me, but very happy to have this conversation further when we don't have an ice storm and multiple meetings on the same night. So thank you for your time. [10:43] Mayor Mary Fasbender: I appreciate it, Commissioner Slavic, and thanks for all you do for our city. We do appreciate the partnerships that we do have. Thank you. Council members, are there any Council items to be considered? Okay, I understand that Bird Rides Inc. has withdrawn its application, so item number seven will be the micro-mobility license for Just Skinny Labs. We've had a request to pull items eight and nine regarding Sidewalk Cafe and Parklet license renewals off of the consent agenda; we will consider those under Community Development. Council, I would accept a motion to approve the consent agenda as revised. [11:58] Councilmember Dave Pemble: Second. [12:05] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Facts and council member Pemble. Any discussion Council? All those in favor of the motion state by saying aye. [12:12] Councilmembers: Aye. [12:13] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Opposed to that motion state by saying nay. Okay, and that motion prevails. For this item under awarding contracts, the City Hall HVAC project will be presented by the Community Development Director, John Hinzman. [12:35] John Hinzman: Thank you Madam Mayor, City Council Members, thank you for having me here tonight. The action we have before you tonight is to award a contract for the City Hall HVAC project to Burn Boiler and Mechanical LLC. As the Council is aware, we have the burden and the blessing of living in a great historic building here; it's not the most easiest thing to maintain, it's costly to maintain, and it's a unique thing to maintain. Luckily, with the legislature's help, we were able to secure some bonding of two million dollars to help with the repairs of this building including the HVAC system. We did go out for bids on that one on December 9th and received four bids in total. We are proposing that the award go to Burn Boiler tonight. Now with the bidding package itself, we did have four bids; we did disqualify the lowest bid that came in because they had indicated the city was to provide a major component. In discussion with the City Attorney, we found that was materially different than the project specifications, therefore we were going to disqualify that. So we are looking to go for Burn Boiler. We did do some background checking on the qualifications of that entity, looking at their project references of similar work, and found them to be satisfactory. So we are recommending approval of the awarding of contract to Burn Boiler and Mechanical in the amount of $588,000. I can stand for any questions. [14:15] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Thank you John. Any discussion Council? If not, I would accept a motion to approve a resolution receiving bids and awarding contract for the 2023 City Hall HVAC project. [14:26] Councilmember Dave Pemble: So move. [14:27] Councilmember Angie Haus: Second. [14:28] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Councilmember Pemble, Councilmember Haus. Additional discussion? No discussion. Council, all those in favor of the motion state by saying aye. [14:31] Councilmembers: Aye. [14:32] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Opposed to that motion state by saying nay. And that motion prevails. Thank you, thanks John. Continuing on with Mr. Hinzman, we have an application for Sidewalk Cafe license renewals and you may continue. Thanks John. [14:48] John Hinzman: Yes, we have our annual applications in here for sidewalk cafes and parklets that come forward. It's a program that we've had on the sidewalk cafes for probably about four or five years; the parklets I think the third year within it. It provides the opportunity to use those public aspects of sidewalks and right-of-way in exchange for meeting certain insurance license requirements. So the applications that we have in this year are very similar, if not identical, to those we've had in years past and I can stand for any questions that you may have. [15:19] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Thank you John. Council, any discussion? Councilmember Leifeld. [15:24] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: John, just to confirm, have we received in the city any concerns from any of the other businesses downtown? I know we've been doing this for a few years now and seems like we kind of have it down to a pretty good system. Are you fielding any new concerns or complaints from other area businesses that we should be aware of? [15:43] John Hinzman: Yeah, as far as the fielding of complaints, you know, I've heard some scuttlebutt over the years from some non-parklet facilities of some of the loss of parking. From a practical standpoint, looking at the available parking downtown and the parking studies that we've concluded, you know, I don't see that as being a real practical concern. There seems to be a lot of parking within the downtown area, so I'm aware of some individuals that are not crazy about them, but that's about the extent of what I've heard. [16:21] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: From different residents you know, who are used to being able to park right in front of wherever it is they want to go, I try and explain that as... you know, for most of us who have lived here our entire lives, I think it's just great when I can go downtown and can't find a parking spot and I have to go under the bridge or I have to go into the municipal lot across from City Hall here or the municipal lot down by the Legion. Those are all great signs for me and just kind of something to those people who are having to walk a little bit further than they're used to—that's a really good sign. Those parklets are bringing more people into town. Any day of the week you can walk down there, you know, I ride my scooter through there and I don't recognize anybody in those places, and that's just such a great feeling in the city to know that people are coming down here. We've got such a short season of good weather that we want to be outside. And so I just wanted to kind of address the people in town who are like "well, I want to be able to walk right into where I'm going" and this stops me from doing that. We've got some great lots down there, really quite available. When we look at any other downtowns like us—Stillwater, Red Wing, Hudson—you don't get to park right in front. So that's not anything too unusual. I know it was unique for us and it was great while it happened, but you know, just to kind of put out there for the residents to realize that this is really a good sign for our city when you can't park right in front of your destination because it's so busy downtown. So I just was curious if we'd heard anything new. So I'd make a motion to approve—can I do eight and nine at the same time? Parklets and sidewalk cafes as written. [18:14] Councilmember Angie Haus: Second. [18:15] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Thank you councilmember Leifeld. Second council member Haus. Okay, additional discussion Council? [18:19] Councilmember Jen Fox: I have additional discussion sorry, thank you for letting me pull this from the consent agenda so I'm able to abstain for the perceived conflict of interest as one of these businesses that has applied for these licenses is mine. So I appreciate that. [18:32] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Councilmember Fox. All those in favor of the motion state by saying aye. [18:37] Councilmembers: Aye. [18:38] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Opposed to that motion state by saying nay. And that motion prevails. Thanks John. All members, any announcements? Councilmember Pemble. [18:49] Councilmember Dave Pemble: February 8th I will be part of the Red Rock Corridor Commission meeting. It'll be in Saint Paul Park City Hall and that will be at 4:30. The agenda is posted on the Red Rock Corridor website if folks want to see what's going on. That will be on the 8th, Wednesday 4:00 PM. Thank you. [19:12] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Thank you council member Pemble. Councilmember Fox. [19:16] Councilmember Jen Fox: Thank you Your Honor. I wanted to share the board that I sit on, Dakota 911, has a new executive director and I just wanted to publicly welcome Heidi Haisrick—I believe that's how you say her name. She has extensive experience having worked in positions at the Metropolitan Airport Commission 911 Center and several years as the head of that organization. She's also worked in the private industry and she has great project management skills. We're really excited to have her lead a really excellent group of executives and the board that we are represented on. She started the end of January, so I wish her all the best. Thank you. [20:00] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Thank you councilmember Fox. Councilmember Folch. [20:05] Councilmember Tina Folch: Thank you Your Honor. Just a little bit more follow-up in regards to the Dakota Broadband board. Thank you to Commissioner Slavic for coming this evening. Mike is always wonderful and so I don't want to diminish that whatsoever because I just think that he has been a fantastic person for all of us to work with and he does do a great job for our community, and so I don't want to say anything that's contrary to that. But it is really disappointing, as I had said before, that the county has decided... the Dakota Broadband board had made a request for the County Board to take into consideration their request. The county has put forward what's called an IRU which is an understanding of agreement between the county and each individual city, because to use the county's fiber we'll each have to go into an agreement with them. It's possible that maybe our city can use an existing one previously that I was told, but for the rest of the cities it's really discouraging because they've decided that they won't take into consideration the requested changes to that agreement that the DBB has made of them. They're just going to continue on their course. What we were asking for them to do was specifically to define around this issue of Economic Development. In the agreement it states that for a city, if you're going to go into an arrangement with a proposed commercial entity—and that could even be a non-profit or another governmental entity like the school district or something to that effect—that you would have to get approval from the County Board. So the cities were asking for them to at a minimum to define the criteria around Economic Development, and they wouldn't even do that. They won't take into consideration that, and so I stand by my statements about it being very disappointing. And if the 18 months that he was mentioning is the appointment of Liz Workman to the Dakota Broadband board rather than Joe Atkins, who was the previous member, well then yes, her comments were taken into full consideration. There's a Technical Advisory Group that actually worked on all of the considerations that she had or the worry points that she had had and the two other cities, and that was specifically around defining what would be a commercial entity—a non-governmental entity—that would utilize assets. So just to be clear that that Technical Advisory Group did bring forward full recommendations about how to better define what entities would be allowable from a commercial perspective. And so we had gotten to the point where let's have this conversation about what is each individual city's palatable... what is it that they would like to allow onto government assets and then what would the county like. When we finally got to that point, that's when the county representative ended all conversation and just said that the county wanted to exit the DBB. And so then it was very hasty that they didn't want it take into consideration the recommendations of the Technical Advisory Group or allow the group as a whole to have a conversation about that. So I'll stand by my statements that I was very politically motivated and just to be clear about that. So anyhow, that was it. The DBB will continue to meet without the county which will withdraw in March, really not knowing what are the legal ramifications of them doing that because there are a lot of legal questions about how it is that they can exit. Because you know, there's a lot of technical issues that are within this entire dissolution of the DBB. And so again, from the perspective that there are so many details that needed to still be worked out and they just decided to walk away, that's what makes it very hasty. I'm not really understanding fully what the legal ramifications are and the impact to everyone. So that's it. I wish I had better news about that but it is what it is. Thank you. [25:11] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Announcements: we will be highlighting many of the exciting and important work being done with the annual State of the City on Wednesday, February 8th. This year the event will be the State of the Community, which will be a presentation by both the city and the school. Please join us in person or online. Hastings Rivertown Lion Club is hosting a Super Breakfast on Saturday, February 11th at Resurrection Methodist Church. The breakfast is free-will donations with all the proceeds to be donated to support the health and wellness programs of our Fire and EMS department. Thank you to all the Lions for your support. City offices will be closed Monday, February 20th in observance of President's Day. Experience snowshoeing on Sunday, February 26th at JC Park. A park naturalist will lead participants through floodplain forest and prairie. Snowshoes and instruction provided; please register on the city website. And thank you to our partner Dakota County Parks. Happy Birthday to councilmember Leifeld at the end of the month. Meetings moving forward: Thursday HEDRA 6:00 PM; Monday, February 13th 7:00 PM Planning Commission, 7:00 PM Administrative Committee; Tuesday, February 14th 7:00 PM Parks and Recreation Commission; Tuesday, February 21st 5:30 PM City Council workshop and this is on PFAS, 7:00 PM City Council regular meeting. Also that same evening 7:00 PM there is a Heritage Preservation Commission meeting. I would accept a motion to adjourn. [27:18] Councilmember Dave Pemble: So moved. [27:19] Councilmember Lisa Leifeld: Second. [27:20] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Councilmember Pemble, councilmember Leifeld. No discussion. All those in favor of the motion state by saying aye. [27:23] Councilmembers: Aye. [27:24] Mayor Mary Fasbender: Opposed to that motion state by saying nay. And that motion prevails. We are adjourned.