This transcript has been processed to identify speakers based on the context of the Oakdale City Council meeting and the official names provided. Note: Since the source text did not include timestamps, `[00:00]` is used as a placeholder to maintain your requested format. **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** good to go thanks Dallas all right we're gonna go ahead and call to order the meeting of the Oakdale city council May 28th 2024 Sarah will you take the role **[00:00] Sarah (City Clerk):** council member Moore? **[00:00] Council Member Kari Moore:** Here. **[00:00] Sarah (City Clerk):** council member Ingertson? **[00:00] Council Member Jake Ingertson:** Here. **[00:00] Sarah (City Clerk):** council member Morcomb? **[00:00] Council Member Andy Morcomb:** Here. **[00:00] Sarah (City Clerk):** council member Wrich? **[00:00] Council Member Katie Wrich:** Here. **[00:00] Sarah (City Clerk):** mayor Zabel? **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** here please join me in the pledge of 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 first up on our agenda tonight is approving the appointment of a new police officer uh Chief Newton where'd you go uh there he is uh do you want to come down present this item on the agenda **[00:00] Police Chief Nick Newton:** yes thank you honorable mayor members of the council um tonight we uh are going to be greeting our newest addition to the police department um Caleb Mitchell uh Caleb grew up in Whitebear Lake and uh went to the University of Minnesota Crookston and uh has a bachelor's degree in criminal justice uh Caleb is is fresh out of college and this will be his first uh uh job in law enforcement and we're excited to have him on board with our team and get them started with the training process **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** thank you Chief Newton uh council members can I get a motion **[00:00] Council Member Katie Wrich:** I would like to make a motion to appoint Caleb Mitchell as full-time probationary police officer effective May 29th 2024 at a rate of pay consistent with the city base pay schedule **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** there's a motion is there second **[00:00] Council Member Kari Moore:** second **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** motion a second any conversation all those in favor say I **[00:00] City Council:** I **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** opposed and congratulations Caleb you're officially hired um I will head down there and just a minute we'll administer the oath of office um quick rundown on how we'll do this we'll take the oath um and invite someone to pin you um and then we will have the city council come down we'll take a photo invite your family up uh take photos and then the department as well so why don't you meet me down there Caleb **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** I think I was already here but which one we'll do that there okay follow me okay no help just so they can hear us all right all right Caleb raise your right hand and repeat after me I Caleb Mitchell do solemnly swear **[00:00] Caleb Mitchell:** I Caleb Mitchell do solemnly swear **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America **[00:00] Caleb Mitchell:** that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** the constitution of the state of Minnesota **[00:00] Caleb Mitchell:** the constitution of the state of Minnesota **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** and that I will faithfully justly and impartially **[00:00] Caleb Mitchell:** and that I will faithfully justly and partially **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** discharge the duties of police officer **[00:00] Caleb Mitchell:** discharge the duties of police officer **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** for the city of Oakdale Minnesota **[00:00] Caleb Mitchell:** for the city of Oakdale Minnesota **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** to the best of my judgment and ability **[00:00] Caleb Mitchell:** to the best of my judgment and ability **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** so help me God **[00:00] Caleb Mitchell:** so help me God **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** congratulations thank you so much who will be pinning you tonight **[00:00] Caleb Mitchell:** uh my father will **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** come on up sir let's have your whole family come up for photos count of three one two three one two three one two three thank you'll have the city council come up oh we're Huggers okay okay all right count of three one two three one two three one two three thank you and the department yeah I could stand in front of perfect thank you I ask you to condense a little bit more please all right can touch more please it got it count it three one two three one two three one two three thank Youk and Chief and Caleb I need you to sign me go real quick and this is your copy you can take this with you was it was win I put the wrong dat on there but that's okay all right I me to tell you about when I was sh is the 20th it is got about five that's funny all right there we are this one is for you congratulations thank you so much and I will take that one here you go Sarah all right all righty council members uh we still need to approve our agenda we have a slightly amended version in front of us today can I get a motion to approve the agenda as presented **[00:00] Council Member Kari Moore:** make a motion to approve the agenda as amended **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** amended thank you uh there's motion is there a second **[00:00] Council Member Andy Morcomb:** second **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** motion a second all those in favor say I **[00:00] City Council:** I **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** opposed and the agenda is adopted next up we have approval of the minutes we have two sets of meeting minutes in front of us first from the workshop May 14th 2024 council members any changes or Corrections I'll look for motion **[00:00] Council Member Katie Wrich:** so moved **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** there's a motion is there second **[00:00] Council Member Andy Morcomb:** second **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** motion a second all those in favor say I **[00:00] City Council:** I **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** oppose and those Workshop meeting minutes are approved next up we have regular meeting minutes from May 14th 2024 uh council members any changes or Corrections I'll look for motion **[00:00] Council Member Kari Moore:** so moved **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** there's a motion is there a second **[00:00] Council Member Jake Ingertson:** second **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** motion a second all those in favor say I **[00:00] City Council:** I **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** opposed and those minutes are approved as well nothing under public hearing tonight so we'll move into open form this is an opportunity for anybody in the audience that would like to join us and share whatever is on their mind please feel free to step up to the podium uh state your name and address of the record and proceed with your comments all right we'll keep moving into the consensus motions council members in front of us we have a through e in front of us tonight uh are there any that counc uh individual council members would like to pull for consideration I'll look for motion **[00:00] Council Member Katie Wrich:** make a motion to to approve consensus motions a through e as presented **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** there's a motion is there a second **[00:00] Council Member Kari Moore:** second **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** motion a second any comments all those in favor say I **[00:00] City Council:** I **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** opposed and a through e are approved as presented next up is our opportunity to check in with our advisory boards and commissions first up was Environmental Management commission I could not be there um but I know they had their um training with our city staff so they went through all the good things about Robert's Rules of Order and parliamentary procedure and City structure and all that fun stuff so um a big thank you to them for walking through that uh we'll check in on the Planning Commission with council member Ingertson **[00:00] Council Member Jake Ingertson:** Planning Commission just heard a presentation uh from some Consultants regarding a uh or uh zoning ordinance update and it was very similar very very similar to what we heard tonight at the workshop **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** thank you Jake uh parks and wreck council member Morcomb **[00:00] Council Member Andy Morcomb:** yeah we had a light Parks and Rec meeting this time but the primary focus was the the Commissioners were all taking assignments on different Recreation opportunities over the summer so that they can have more visibility more connection with the public which I think was a great idea and obviously a lot of excitement for Summerfest coming up just a few weeks **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** wonderful uh no meeting for tree board or EDC uh water of bid nothing tonight so we'll check in with our staff reports and our City attorney Rachel is joining us welcome Rachel anything for us **[00:00] Rachel (City Attorney):** I'm sorry I don't have anything for you today **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** well we are glad you could be here anybody have any questions for Rachel no all right turn to our right check in with our city administrator we got one item on there **[00:00] Christina Volkers (City Administrator):** hi mayor city council um yes we do have an item on the um I'd like to do an update and actually not me the Royal we um Don Tyson our owners rep for the public works facility city of Oakdale owners rep he's leading this project on our behalf and coordinating everything he's and also here is our architect HDM and our construction manager firm which is um Kraus-Anderson so they're here as well to answer any questions so I'll leave it to Don **[00:00] Don Tyson (Project Owner's Rep):** thanks Chris evening mayor council pleasure to be here tonight uh exciting night to get this project moving ahead and as Chris noted we've got Matt architect and Ken from Kraus-Anderson here um and do I need to do something Sarah okay so while Sarah gets the uh the PowerPoint pulled up we'll just cover tonight the uh Pro some project need project history for the public where's the location of this project uh Matt will talk about the design of the project we'll give you an update on the project budget from the workshop and talk about the schedule and Council actions that are coming uh uh later the summer so with that project need why is this project needed well the project the Public Works facility right right now was built in 1985 so 39 years by the time this Project's done it'll be a 40y old building and those divisions of for streen environment Parks streets and Fleet utilities that's where their house so those are the things that the residents rely on when they turn on the water see the streets plowed and since that building was built the population in oakdale's just about doubled going from 15,000 to 28,000 and you can see the forecast as you know is going to continue to have growth here in the city to over 33,000 people by 2050 where the site's at now it's a constrained site it's surrounded by Wetlands or Granada Avenue and so there really was no ability to expand the building on this site and move there and also as you know the current building does have issues it's certainly a 40y old building so it's energy inefficient operationally inefficient Public Works has certainly changed in the last 40 years and there are some environmental issues with the shell leaking and some mold that was identified early in the report so with your leadership back in 2018 certainly you concurred with that and determined that a new facility was needed in 2020 concept plans were prepared and in 2021 the legislature approved going to the voters for a local option sales tax to help build this building and the residents did approve this in 2022 in 2023 you approved bonding for the project and also the agreement with 3m for doning the land after their environmental work was was complete which was completed this past spring uh just a couple months ago and the project plans are completed which leads us tonight things are all teed up to move this project forward for the public if they're not aware of where this site's located it is at 3200 Granada Avenue about 1,000 ft south of Old Highway 5 or County 14 uh on Granada it's a 9.2 Acre Site that is currently owned by 3M uh in the next couple of months we do expect that land transfer to happen to the city once all the real estate documents are are cleaned up and I know Rachel's team is working on that with uh with the 3M team as we've been as we've talked several times it is in the uh Minnesota police control agency Brownfield program and this is a actually a great program for re reusing sites like this there's several Brownfield projects across the Twin Cities sirly Brewing several residential places where uh those sites are redeveloped after they're cleaned up as we've been talking once the site is cleaned up which it has been uh 3M is going to be donating the land to the city just a quick overview of the what the project looks like from above and maybe I can use the arrow this is Granada Avenue this is 32nd Street this is the building here with the front being the office the center being where the fleet is stored and the back here is the operations Forest stre mechanics all the all the things that are happening utilities group in that group there public parking in the front front for people that need to do business with the public works but also I want to point out that the public will have a brush drop off site in the back of the property along 302nd and uh that'll that's going to be a great amenity to have for the public with that uh tonight we'll let the architect walk through the uh drawings versus the engineer because he'll probably do a better job of explaining it so I'll turn it over to Matt **[00:00] Matt (Architect - HDM):** thanks Don Mr mayor council appreciate being here um so this image that that Don has pulled up this is uh from the Northeast looking Southwest so the blue and gray pieces that you're seeing most in the foreground are the office locker rooms uh conference rooms training rooms a and all of those pieces that the staff would utilize this is employee parking one of the key features that we've uh kept throughout the project is that staff vehicles are separate from city-owned vehicles for safety reasons so they've got a dedicated parking lot similarly uh the public has a separate entry exit and parking lot too um just helps with liability helps with safety um coming and going also helps with wear and tear on the large Gates that are part of the controlled portion of the yard let's see arrows maybe thank you uh this image is looking more at the shop side so you've got 302nd uh the brush drop is in the bottom right hand corner you have the main vehicle entry gate uh road salt storage um material bins stuff like that off um against the adjacent uh TV property you've got a a fuel island with an above ground fuel tank in the background there and the larger gray portion of the building that you're looking at that's the Fleet Maintenance so all the plow trucks are maintained there um large and small Vehicles as well as shop space for forestry and Parks uh we have the the site is secured with a fence around its perimeter and um we actually are not showing as much Landscaping as there is just because you want to for the image we want to be able to look in but I as you mentioned that the project is meeting all of the city required uh zoning ordinance for trees and shrubs so it's following all the same rules that a private sector development would have to um follow as well as Don mentioned the existing properties constrained and actually has some runoff toward the the wetlands that's difficult to control the site's all being managed with under underground storm water on site that's managing the storm water and rate control before it goes out to the adjacent Wetlands this is the the public entrance off of Granada so you're seeing the uh the public parking the public entry that takes them into a Lobby so they can there are Buckthorn pullers that citizens can can uh check out from the city uh contractors can come in and and pick up water meters if they're doing uh work they contractors can also buy water to fill their large um like pump trucks that they use uh there's a small conference room or kind of a mediumsized conference room on that public side a restroom but it's all also secured so that the employee and office side is secured from the the public side um there's a door of course but there's a a separation there uh this is just another view from 32nd the with the office break room locker room piece to to the left that that Fleet storage with some deliveries say if the the parts person comes with parts for Fleet Maintenance they're repairing a vehicle the white portion is the indoor vehicle and Equipment storage um designed to just keep all the Hydraulics all the plow trucks those types of things out of the elements which today they're they struggle to mean this is the sight side of the building so um public the the private yard um we went through um a lot of efforts to make sure that the building scale would step up from the residential so it's lower toward the residential on Granada and the taller portions of the building toward the back also using the building to screen the yard from Granada and um 32nd uh public entry and a view into that medium-sized conference room and the reception desk in that that public Lobby and then as we move into the office area most of the office area is open office with touchdown desks so that staff could do a time card check benefits what have you but we also have a a couple of just touchdown meeting spaces with some soft seating for quick meetings um in the middle a little hard to point up but the one that's kind of in the middle of the screen there on the bottom that's inside uh the private the director's office so Public Works director and then a view of the that hallway that's in the office area uh last slide for me we've got a large dividable training room so it can act as a training room a large conference room a mustard room but it can also be open the bottom left as a view from the lunchroom into that so you can have an all hands meeting so we're trying to have as much flexibility as possible without wasting space if you have all of these spaces that are dedicated they don't get utilized very much um in the in the upper right we've got got the break room area microwaves refrigerators and what have you for staff and a small outdoor space that's kind of the transition between uh employee parking and uh inside **[00:00] Don Tyson (Project Owner's Rep):** all right thanks Matt I did with my fast fingers skip over a slide I wanted to uh touch on it oh let's see there it is okay what I wanted to give this is the console a context of what is the size of the new Building compared to the existing building and the dark gray there is the existing Public Works building and the big overall blue is going is the proposed building so you can see it is significantly bigger than the existing building and this also doesn't take into account that the new building is going to have two stories in in the office area and it also doesn't include uh when we talked in Workshop about adding on to the fleet storage it doesn't include that additional potential 22 ft so just for context when we talk about what do you have now versus what's going to be there at the end I thought this would be a good visual to show you so sorry I flipped through that before Matt's work here so getting to the numbers and these numbers are have not changed from our last uh the workshop we had on the 14th the uh to recap the project history there's really been three reasons why the cost has increased uh slightly since the concept design the first is just simple inflation second as you can see from the numbers there in the building square footage there is an increase of about 5,000 square fet of footage the reason I have a squiggle in there because depending on what alternates are taking uh that numbers could shift a little bit and then finally there was work add it as we worked with 3m on that uh we're going to have to do and that's going to be reimbursed by 3M the big one being the vapor barrier system that'll be installed underneath the building so that project cost is included here but it's once again it'll be a revenue Source from 3M to pay for that the detail on those costs uh you can see the the breakout there the one thing I want to point out on this slide is from the workshop is the project alternates line at the very bottom of a million 66 that's the budget that'll be available to the council for alternate consideration with the adding of $2 million in Revenue which we'll show on the revenue slide otherwise the other numbers there are exactly what we talked about in in the workshop there and what are the project alternates as we talked in uh a couple weeks ago the primary ones are to construct the fuel Island add 22 ft to the fleet storage area which is essentially two bays for trucks and then uh add shop mezine and I should probably should probably better say is restore shop mezine because we did take out a couple thousand square feet to Value engineering so it' be restore that there's also some secondary alternates that we're going to get prices on and and these aren't critical to the operations as uh the those top three are uh adding a second single hoop salt storage area uh using pre-cast black aggregate that's an aesthetic issue uh same thing with the pre-cast paint and then also we're going to get a price of increasing the roof membrane thickness and what comes with that is a longer warranty period and you'll be we'll be able to evaluate that is it worth paying a little bit extra for a little bit thicker roof with a longer warranty uh but we're going to get a price on that that's a very easy thing to bid as an alternate so Revenue uh these are the same figures as before except for that last line uh from the workshop discussion we're showing an additional City revenue of $2 million at this point it uh I understand it's it's likely to be bonding but if there's other Revenue sources that come in for that that's why it's just identified I also wanted to call it out so you can see from the workshop how that was added in so once that revenue is added in that $2 million and those alternates the revenues and expenses uh Balan perfectly moving the project forward schedule wise uh well we here tonight to get your approval to go to bid and with your approval Koss Anderson and the city working with Sarah is ready to advertise this project tomorrow and H hit the streets we have a bid opening scheduled for June 20th at 2: in the afternoon uh these days those bid openings are not like the old ones are ripping envelopes and reading the numbers and everybody's in suspense it's basically all electronic and the numbers come out right away uh but there'll still be some suspense Chris so we'll know initially where the numbers are at that afternoon but it then does take time cross Anderson needs to evaluate those bids uh make sure the contractors covered everything and and the bids are are good bids that takes probably that's in a five to six week time frame to get all that work done they'll then be coming back to you with a recommendation for awarding of the bids uh should back up a second there's going to be about 30 different divisions bid it isn't just one bid so there'll be an earthwork contractor a painting contractor carpet contractor sheetrock uh mechanical electrical so all those different divisions are are come together and are analyzed by car Anderson so when they come back to you in tentatively in July 23rd they'll be giving the city a guaranteed maximum price on the project based on all those bids and then also recommendations we'll have on the alternates which alternates uh to take or not take and make that award there'll be a couple other administrative things to take care of the contracts will be assigned to char Anderson to manage uh those are things that we once again we work with the city legal team on but that July 23rd date is the date the Project's approved you're going to know the maximum number for the project and then after that kuss will continue their work and get the contractors teed up to get out there as soon as possible that most likely is going to be October by the time they mobilize and we're planning on a 12-month construction schedule so October of 2025 would be the opening and I guess going through that schedule of that to kind of the future Council actions I had in the agenda but uh certainly glad to take questions but appreciate your your your leadership and and helping this project get to where it's at it wouldn't be it I know from experience it starts with the councils and if you don't have a council supporting a project nothing happens so thank you **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** council members any questions for Don **[00:00] Council Member Andy Morcomb:** yeah just real quick I know currently our Public Works um because of the growth of the city is having to store a lot of their equipment Outdoors which Tak a toll it's expensive to maintain so this new Public Works just to confirm for the public just bringing things indoors by and large **[00:00] Don Tyson (Project Owner's Rep):** mayor council member yes yep yes and you can see from that graphic where the building's getting bigger uh the fleet storage is definitely a big part of that and with your support on that adding 22 feet to the fleet storage space as an alternate that'll also make a big big be a big help for the staff **[00:00] Council Member Andy Morcomb:** perfect thank you **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** any other questions for Don all right we have an action in front of us **[00:00] Council Member Katie Wrich:** I'll make a motion to authorize the advertisement for and collection of bids for city project b224 d01 construction of new Public Works facility **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** there's a motion is there a second **[00:00] Council Member Kari Moore:** second **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** motion and second any final comments all those in favor say I **[00:00] City Council:** I **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** opposed and let's get this project out to bid thank you uh next up is Council presentations let's start on my left Kari or Jake any Council **[00:00] Council Member Kari Moore:** no presentation **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** all right how about over here oh I'm sorry Chris did you have anything else under admin topics **[00:00] Christina Volkers (City Administrator):** thank you but no thank you **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** that was happy that was good we just gave you $31 million that's all you got I'm shut up though Jake or Andy no okay uh I have a few um it is hard to believe but our first Oakdale Farmers Market of the season will be held Wednesday June 5th from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. in the city hall parking lot uh this is a great opportunity to pick up a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables flowers baked goods and more so please stop fun out and join us um it is always a a very fun time I think it's almost every Wednesday throughout the summer um there's a few exceptions in there because the holidays but pop on out City Hall parking lot um have you noticed properties around town with outstanding Landscapes and Gardens nominate them for an Oakdale Acorn award categories include residential business Commercial and public properties complete a simple online nomination form on the city website by Oakdale mn.gov by June 30th uh the city is offering discounted home energy Squad visits uh to a limited number of Oakdale residents that are CenterPoint Energy and XL Energy customers home energy Squad offers two types of visits the energy saver visit for newer homes and the energy planner visit for older homes uh thanks to the city discount the energy saver visit is only $35 and the energy planner visit is only $50 free visits are also available to income qualified households for more information please visit the city website Oakdale mn.gov uh is hard to believe that Oakdale Summerfest is just one month away so please mark your calendars for June 24th through the 29th and check out the full schedule events uh for this year including a new lineup of activities for families and kids you can find the full schedule at Oakdale summerfest.com finally uh on behalf of the city council and the City of Oakdale I just want to say a very big congratulations to all of our graduating seniors at Tartan and North uh they will be walking in commencement next week yep um so a big congratulations to them you know as I mentioned uh at our Workshop if we think about these seniors you know they started their High School careers in the early year of covid in 2020 so they have certainly been through a lot through their High School careers um but they have persevered and they are now going to be graduating and going to be off to do wonderful things uh for the throughout the throughout their lives so congratulations graduates uh claims roster we have claims roster in front of us May 15th through the May May 28th in the amount of $834,000 in change uh council members are there any claims you wanted to flag or remove for consideration I'll look for motion **[00:00] Council Member Kari Moore:** make a motion to approve claims as presented **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** there's a motion is there a second **[00:00] Council Member Andy Morcomb:** second **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** motion a second final comments all those in favor say I **[00:00] City Council:** I **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** opposed and the bills are paid can I get a motion to adjourn **[00:00] Council Member Katie Wrich:** so moved **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** there's a motion is there a second **[00:00] Council Member Jake Ingertson:** second **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** motion a second all those in favor say I **[00:00] City Council:** I **[00:00] Mayor Kevin Zabel:** opposed we are adjourned thank you and good night