all right thank you 634 we'll call the meeting to order please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the for IT stand One Nation indivisible andice all thank you very much roll call please Jenny council member Cole here council member schweer is absent council member Wong here council member nordby here mayor mongi here thank you very much can I please get a motion to adopt the agenda so moved so moved council member Norby second second council member Cole all those in favor say I I I thank you consent agend thank you mayor uh first up item a September 17th 2024 Workshop minutes Item B September 17th 2024 HRA meeting minutes item C September 17th 2024 regular meeting minutes item D September 17th 2024 closed meeting minutes item e General claims of 1,435 66343 item f h claims of $3,125 43 uh item G purchase energy kits and led holiday lighting item H special event permit for hangtime board shops ride remember event and item I Public Works Surplus items for auction thank you very much would any council member like to pull anything if not can I get a motion to do I need anything anything else so Mo thank you so move council member Cole second second second council member Norby all those in favor say I I thank you all right next open to the public at 6:36 John schal mayor council evening I can't let it go this cancellation of the zoom and I would have thought it was going to be when I got up here and said something about it previous two times that we have a mayor that does use a handicap spot so this was going to be when I said this is going to be a detriment to handicapp people who can't get in there's going to be a person that's going to say yeah this is very important to me too and you have to admit that you worked with someone on the planning Council who was adamant about making sure that anything that came before the planning Council commission that had to do with handicap she was very very adamant about making sure that it complied I thought there was an aura about thinking about the handicap that couldn't make it and would be able to zoom in and also comment by making uh raising your hand in Zoom but it didn't work but I was still going to say something about because as 100% disabled veteran that would be very important to me when it gets to that point because of the cancer so I'm not giving up I will continue to say something and tonight I thought well maybe they did change so I went into the website to see put in Zoom well first of all for agendas and minutes I don't have my reading glasses meeting open uh it talks about when you go to the website about using Zoom still on the website I don't know why things like that are happening but also it gives you the links when you put zoom in and uh Council meetings Zoom from Tiny URL gives you the URL for zooming in what is this just trying to stick it to someone to see if they can uh zoom in and it doesn't work and then frustrate the hell out of them I don't get it I just don't get it is that what an extraordinary city does thank you thank you all right City business section items and recommendations uh first item up is the housy park reconstruction project and approv change order number one we got uh engineer Morgan Dolly here to speak to that Morgan uh Mr Mayor members of the council these um if it pleases the council and the mayor these next two items so item A and B go together so uh if it's okay I might present on both and then you'd have two separate action items is that acceptable yeah okay um so this is uh both regarding the housy courts reconstruction project which has reached its inclusion uh the first item consideration is change order number one the second order of uh consideration is the uh acceptance of the final uh payment for the contract so closing out the contract so the project is finished uh in accordance with the city's requirements um to not approve a final payment above the the contract amount that's what change order number one is here for um essentially there was some additional quantities of uh things within the contract such as removal of payments P Pavements uh some tree protection fencing additional linear footage therein uh and also some erosion prevention um blanket for the area uh but one thing that wasn't done which was subtracted out is transplanting of two trees so that was included in the contract but was not necessary ultimately the net change order total is $640 so not a significant uh impact on the contract amount but it does result in a new contract amount of $290,000 454 uh75 and uh that is reflected on the second item for consideration which is the final payment to the contractor um all the work has been completed and accepted by the city and so uh with the authorization of this final uh payment which includes change order number one uh contract will be closed and um as a reminder this uh work was supported by a DNR outdoor recreation Grant uh which I believe was a 50-50 match and so uh the project costs have been mitigated by that additional grant money uh which was received for this project so with that I'll stand for any questions as a reminder two action items uh number one would be approval of change order number one as recommended number two would be to uh authorize final payment by resolution um for the housy courts reconstruction project so again I'll stand for any questions Council might have um my my only question is you mentioned the grant does the change order effect do we have to resubmit the grant or do anything no that uh council member Norby not to my understanding there shouldn't be anything that is uh necessary to change other than submit you know the final cost information other documentation as required uh and then uh the city should once approved by the DNR receive reimbursement thank you any other questions if not can I get a motion to um for the first one for the approval for the change order so moved so moved Council excuse me council member Wong second second council member Cole all those in favor say I I I thank you can I get a motion for the second to pay the voucher for number two final so moved so mooved council member Norby second second council member Cole all those in favor say hi hi hi thank you very much thank you Mr Mayor thanks Morgan thank you Morgan appreciate it so item C is the 2025 Enterprise fund budgets which we've gone over unless you guys had any further questions with that um we'll move on to item D for the Enterprise fund 10year Financial plans sounds good all right turn that over to you Dan Finance director Mr Winnick good evening again uh mayor and uh City Council Members um it's going to be hard to see these so you're better looking at your packet um for the 10-year um Financial plans of the Enterprise funds um it's will begin on page 102 of 119 of your Council packet and so what is done here here um for all of these 10-year uh Financial plans which they've been done for the past couple of years is that we make assumptions on uh the changes in Revenue um that we would need what that's going to represent is that was what that's what your rate increase would end up having to be to generate that revenue and then for our expenditures we put um a percentage in their um of a cost increase um and then we look at it from the cash perspective um on the bottom part to it um we need to maintain a Target minimum working capital um and what what that's usually calculated at is 33% um of the annual budget plus um any debt because debt is um the debt payment is due um on uh February 1st um so you need to have the those funds um available um and then um it'll show if it's going to be over or under and again these are just projections this changes every single year if we perform better than what we um anticipate um then we update this and kind of show what you're going to see is in and you can see on the expenditure line item it's the capital line item um that's huge um and you're going to see that when we get into looking at the capital Improvement plan and so much of that capital is is due to your street projects um that are happening um out there um and so the capital that's shown in the capital Improvement plan is the the latest update that um um WSB has prepared for us um and then even the bond funds are the latest ones that was shared with city council um so again those bond funds will hit the three Enterprise funds Water waste water and surface water and um as you can see here um the water fund um and you heard earlier Ron mentioned that in 2028 you can see there's almost a $4.9 million capital expenditure and the large part of that is uh due to the water tower um so to be able to afford within that Capital plan this is the result of what you would end up having to do and so there is no rate increase in 2025 but but you're seeing 4% increase in 26 through 2032 and then we would be at zero for 33 and 34 um that's what the the water um fund would would look like uh waste water is going to be very similar um onto it um get this you're going to see that you would end up having to have 4.75% increases in 26 all the way through uh 2034 um at the end of that you're you're over your working Target Target working capital only by $32,000 um and so again if you look at that Capital line item you're seeing every year um you know in 25 is 1.4 you know almost 1.5 is over 1.5 almost 1.6 and it continuously increases and that's that uh you know um the pavement preservation um component that will drive that um up um if we look at the electric fund um just because of of the projections of of what the costs would be and if there's the contractual Services is a little bit different than all of the others we hold that 3.5 on everything else but contractual Services we got a 2.25 that would be what the mmpa um would raise um right in and again and for 2025 you're hearing from um John that there doesn't appear to be an increase for coming into 2025 but for projection wise we put something in there for the future years if it doesn't materialize um again it's a living document uh would then not require a rate increase um for uh the electric fund and again the cash balance that's being used here is you know short4 million because that's really borrowed to other funds and it hasn't come in yet so if we were to adjust that in which I will do when we have we'll have a separate item in a workshop just kind of discussing um the proposed idea of transferring um that $2 million um and what kind of impact it would have on the electric fund what it would have on surface water and what it would have on the Wastewater funds um and we can kind of see that but you can see that there's increases you know across the board in that um surface water has higher ones and again um you know total revenue charges for services is half of what you're going to see and what you saw in the water and the Wastewater yet they significant costs on every one of these road projects that go into the surface water and you heard Ron um talk about it that the Watershed District um will make requirements um for you know a hold Pond or some and um and and they can be some significant costs that end up coming into there but again the capital that's being shown in these are again everything's coming from um what uh WSB has prepared um and again it's shown in our Capital Improvement plan which will go into great depth um coming up in our uh hopefully in our next meeting um Solid Waste um to to maintain you know this year we're going to buy down the capital um or the fund balance um but we're going to need to have some rate increases because right now the contracts are at 3% on an annual basis um unless we go when we go out for the RFP if we get better um rates than we currently have um in solid waste the you know a part of the bigger driving factor is is the tip fees um we have no control over those um and they've been going up um if not um this year I don't think they go I think they're up that as high but they're usually somewhere they've been going up about double digits um so again that that's a huge driving factor to why we're going to need to have even though we don't have capital in here we need to increase the the rates um and then fiber optics we just have zero across the the board um and that's way we've been showing it for a number of years um but you can see if we don't change that or we don't um generate more Revenue um it's going to take us even longer than 20 years to pay off that $2 million um that's a a deficit in that fund um so that kind of gives you kind of a look of where we're at and these been these have been done consistently since since I've been here you know we established this um three years ago um to kind of give kind of a look at how we look into the future um to be able to help city council make those tough decisions from a budgetary standpoint um and where we're moving forward to um ideally we'd like to see no rate increases across the board that's just not a reality of where we're at unfortunately because we do have um a lot of infrastructure um that we you know that we end up having to um um to cover there 's a part a piece that I do want to say publicly um since we've had some comments um regarding our infrastructure and our special assessments I've never stated I'm for or against special assessments I'm not saying that it was a bad decision or a good decision um it is a funding source I believe at the time that City Council made that decision back and I think in December of 2019 to go away from a special assessments they were given a plan from the financial finan Department that plan was never put into to motion um it was never put into motion and on top of it um because what it required to do was to take some Revenue sources um from some franchise fees um to pay and offset the costs that's never been done um and in addition to that uh we've changed the plan significantly um the the capital plan there was never a 10-year Capital plan um that the city prepared it was just Road reconstruction plans those Road reconstructions only had major reconstructions every other year we saw last year wsp prepared a very good document for us to look doing a every other year major reconstruction our road rating went down that's where last year they proposed and city council passed that went into effect this year the pavement management program component to it um we started it off by funding $1.1 million from the electric fund um to be able to do that and now the suggestion is that we need to even up that a little bit more from the 1 million to maybe $2 million and that's what's being reflected in all of our documents um so it isn't just the the fact that we went away from special assessments um that was a funding source but there's other complicated contributing factors but the plan that was presented to city council at the time was never implemented into it this city council and there's two members that that were here from the very beginning are the ones who who suggested to me to look into that and to push for that and so that's where we started making dedicated Levy for that now as far as special assessments are concerned there's cities that are moving away from it um I went and looked at the city of Edina um one of the legal challenges that gets proposed for special assessments is that the property has to benefit from the Improvement they're looking at that in a in a a major reconstruction of a roadway for a resident that it's coming to the point of Co because of cost increasing increases that it's coming to be like $45,000 per resident that's hard to justify that you have gotten an improvement to your property of $45,000 so it's even on their website United's website they're moving away from that and they're going to be having a plan very similar to us where you're going to shift it over to the levy um they look at it that it'll probably take them about 15 to 16 years to fully shift that over so bottom line um not for or against special assessments I think the decisions that the city council have made have been the right ones at at the point in time I think we and this really it's this city council I'll collectively say because I'm a part of this Wii that we've come up with a very good plan as far as leving um that's dedicated to our streets to help our infrastructure um and I think we need to keep on that path and keep moving forward um and so I wanted to bring that up because there's been a lot of comments uh there's been some data requests that have come out for that and I did want to make sure that we we do address that in a public forum and I hopefully I've I've given it justice um and it's definitely not anything that's against the prior City Council in making that decision or anything circumstances have changed thank you for clearing that up I appreciate it because there has been a lot of letters myself too from different things so understanding so when you're saying they're phasing it out they're not getting rid of the assessments they're kind of weeding down as they get up there we kind of just went cold turkey we kind of went cold turkey they're going to at least what you what their website is saying that 15 16 years they'll be doing away with the special assessments I think all right and and there's there's good reasons for that and and um I saw a council member nordby kind of shaking his head that is the legal ground that many people do challenge it on to is that my property has not benefited from the cost that your um charging ing um yet other cities will have um their special assessment policies that'll state that they need they're going to their goal is to generate 40 to 50% of the construction cost from special assessments um two weeks ago I I pulled out of the St Paul Pioneer Press because it's when you do a special ass special assessment you have to have um a public uh a needs to go in public hearing and you have public notification and um I think it was and I don't know if it was the city of cottage Grover or the city of Inver Grove Heights but they had a number of special assessments let's say five of them so they showed you what the estimated total cost of the project was and what they anticipated being received from the special assessments and every single one of them was right around that 50% range so special assessments is a funding source it isn't the only contributing component to it with the decision at the time was he had to he had to develop a plan to offset that loss of revenue from special assessments and that just wasn't done um and so we have have we do have it in place and I got to give so much credit to the city council for recognizing that especially as we've gone through the capital Improvement plan and the discussions that we've had um and I give great thanks to our engineer WSB um Morgan in particular um that has allowed us to to ask him those questions and to kind of show and make recommendations for our city council um to make our roads for our residents that you know um adequate because we're behind that right now um and just making an imp you know keeping making improvements um so well thanks for the explanation to I understand once I you know once we start talking about it and just you know that much money we can get to that point where it can be evenly you know spread over where people I was the last group for the lake around Silver Lake it wasn't $8,000 was a was quite a hefty chunk to be able to come up with but I'm I see the need for the improvements but you know being able to you know long as we can fund it long as we don't you know we can keep money going and we're not keep falling behind because that's the biggest thing as we see in our streets as we're so we can do that that's awesome I I I mean when we started this budget conversation um Dan presented uh what has happened with um the percent tax increase to the residents of the city and I can't remember how many years back he went it was probably pre- pandemic at this point in time North St Paul was about in the middle of our comp cities that we looked at and over time we've moved to the highest if not the second highest paid per for our city one of those moves was the elimination of special assessments for roads [Music] um it's a difficult conversation you definitely do benefit by having a road in front of your house that's pavement not black top or I'm sorry not gravel so yes there is but what's that value worth um I believe at the time that we walked away or or the council prior to the Two of Us coming on board V to get away from it uh it was about a 20% um and and what Dan has brought up is a lot of cities are 50% 40% um I would like to have an open dialogue of bringing back special assessments putting caps and guard rails around what they might look like so that it might be a 10% until we get over some of these big Levy hikes that we've got a million dollar project at a 10% special assessment Cuts us down one full percentage Point that's one percentage point that all the residents save I would also like to take a look at capping the resident you fell into it when you were the last one you're corner lot you got dinged both sides let's let's look at that is where your mailbox points or whatever that's the street you're responsible for the other Street isn't um I'm just looking at ways and um the three of you remaining and the two new council members coming on board are going to be faced with a lot of tough decisions um I had the opportunity to sit through a workshop um that had to do with um with budget budget restraints and and budgetary things and a lot of them came around the lines of fees and assessments um as a city Dan I can't I apologize I can't remember the other two that you showed but I remember Street assessment was one of the three pillars that moved us from the middle of the pack to towards the highest end and I can't remember what the other two were but we as a council have to make some tough decisions um we can somewhat lower the trend or or slow it down um you know I've got a couple other here I don't know when the right time to bring that up is but um I have other fees to come up with potential ways to to save from a a levy increase whether it be this year or Food For Thought for um you know the three of you going forward I know other cities do franchise fees that go directly to roads directly for those there's a couple cities that do that and we do have franchise fees I think on a lot of our things now so those are already unfortunately those are already being budgeted I think you make a really good point I mean as you said Edina which is is a very affluent Community they're phasing it out over 16 years we went Cold Turkey um there's a lot of ground to make up and I would encourage this group to explore scenarios um that could be maybe help offset maybe the levy a little bit um it could be time bound I mean just exploring those different options because um there are some big ticket items coming um our way here at the and it's definitely something that we I think yeah you'll have to make big decisions on and so that revenue is going to be really critical one of the other things that concerned me I know with Levy I was able to come together with the money but for people that can't and it goes on their property taxes and they pay interest on that isn't that correct for the levies for special assessments I'm sorry I meant said the wrong word you granted a period that you can pay it and you can always pre pay it but yeah then it'll go on your property taxes and usually it's at a 6% annual increase so percentage there's a percentage rate for they can't pay them off then 10 years wasn't it I heard um longer I think it can be a little bit longer than that depends on so that kind of concern people that can't afford it and they're paying interest on something they couldn't afford yes it it it's it's a it's a tough tough a real tough discussion and um I think uh what council member Cole and council member Wong has said tonight is is we we do need to look at scenarios we do need to look at those options because the reality is we went straight for it um and um yeah um it's now put that burden on all of our residents um because we're leving it so it's for every property owner um whether they're benefiting that Improvement for that year or not um and we are we're the second highest in in tax rate for Ramsey County now there's a part to that council member nardy yes we we do get some fiscal disparity dollars back but there becomes a point where are we pricing individuals out of their homes and this community does have a lot of fixed income individuals and so it's a tough tough tough balance and having that you know it's a conversation I think we should absolutely for longer time and paying interest is concerning to me too for people residents any other questions regarding yep uh slightly in a different topic um I am uncomfortable with my understanding of how Tiff fees affect Enterprise funds is that a simple conversation or is that a long Workshop or you and I have lunch oh it's a real quick easy explanation of how it inter how Tiff you could have got a lunch out of it I that's a real long there you got to think of lunch before you do anything sorry that's a long long discussion well I'll give you a quick one and then over lunch I'll give you the more of the detail you go um to uh in two particular projects and it's not the norm it's the exception um that um this the city didn't do pay as you go type of notes um where the city is not obligated for anything the city actually fronted money up and then is going to be repaid through the tax increment that's received on the projects them um that was one of the two items of the three items that was discussed that there's some development decisions that were done in the past that you know whether whether the city bonded for money or loan the money that'll then get repaid through tax increment financing through the districts over time so there's special resolutions that city council had to pass and they did to do that to make those loans um you just can't make you know just can't borrow it has to be city council has to be a resolution that goes to it so in those two circumstances that's what occurred at at that point in time now what we've done you know in the most recent tax increment District which is the article 7 site is that we didn't we didn't take any additional risk on ourselves it there's a Pago node onto it um and then city council also because we had some um extra tax increment in the special legislation that was passed that we pulled some funds to be able to to give them a little extra money to make sure that the project could actually happen because it wouldn't have cash flowed and wouldn't have worked without it so city council passed those two items so we have no loan we have no bonds on those um if the increment doesn't come in it's not on us um that's a risk is all on the developer side and that started with this article seven project going forward yes the way we do it we're not we're not in the we're not in the business of loaning people money right city council didn't formally say that but there was enough city council members that spoke to me to to that we that was our direction we were moving into and so that's what we've we we came up with a way on that article seven to be able to do that and keep it that way so the fees you mentioned that was because they Ed the the balance to front the Tiff money and they're getting repaid by the the Tiff um increment what What's the phrase for when we get the Tiff money uh tax increment so so rather than having an like we're doing now a a long-standing tiff payment to the developer we fronted the money and now we're those funds are getting slowly paid back correct okay yeah and in those projects we did put some safeguard for the city and that's where we had um minimum assessment agreements on to them in other words and I think we had a gentleman discuss that you're right while back and so what a minimum assessment is that property values could plummet and that property value can never go below that agreed amount for the duration until the taxing you know tell it's it's been paid off um so we're once it reach its full value after develop we're going to get the money year after year after year it's just going to take you know the life of the district you know can be 20 25 years to to get all of that money rep paid but we do have interest but once they're paid back there are no additional fees that are going to be incurred unless the city council votes for something like that again correct correct and and usually when a tip district is set up for its duration once that those are it's done it can't be extended beyond that so thank you I'll still buy lunch I yeah I still get lunch so much more I got to tell you much good with good with these um so what I'm hearing from theirs that uh definitely we'll we'll look at those three funds as far is that you if we were to to look at that potential transfer um from the electric and help out those three funds because I think it'll have an impact and we wouldn't be able to we wouldn't have to be as aggressive on a couple of these funds as far as rate increases um into the future so we'll see how that's going to look um we'll start to um look at some of the special assessments components to it I don't think we necessarily will get it Incorporated into this year um but it could be possible um I don't think so looking because because there's a whole public process that needs to take place on on some of those things and there's some other questions that you know that will end up having to to go through but it's definitely something that we could then head up moving into the future but I'll run I'll start to get gather and put together some scenarios um that really are or validation of what council member Cole has has has said because it it again 10% on a million dollar $100,000 there's a Levi percent that's reduced so we'll just we'll look at that Street Maintenance um projections um that I had shown earlier in the year um and we'll put on if we had a different funding source what that would be as far as an impact and what the levy impact would be onto that um so with that um that kind of if there's no further questions I kind of WS up that item on um on the 10year financial plans for the Enterprise funds thank you very much appreciate that sorry about that all right item e 2024 statement of Revenue expenditures year-to date funding updates from Dan this is the Dan show tonight the Dan show got the big chair I like this big [Laughter] chair um it's uh we'll start on page 110 of 119 for the general fund thank you for page numbers yes I got the page numbers right this time that's the scary part to it so when we we look at this this this first one's for the general fund um the 2024 adopted budget um is what it is um as of you know through end of August those are the actuals um it'll show you what the the variance to the actual are um to me I look at that and it's kind of like it's really meaningless information um and the reason why I say that is because it doesn't tell you what's been paid what hasn't been paid I mean that could be reflective of only being paid three months worth and you've got nine more months to go um so what I try to do on a conservative basis is do a projected outstanding um and and looking so I go through each and every um detail dispersement and try to make a projections so I'll actually look at to make sure that you know you've you've you've made eight monthly payments if something's on a monthly payment basis if not then I'll I'll you know project out and include what hasn't been in there um and I do take a conservative approach to it at the end of the day what am I looking at right now I'm looking at our general fund being plus $222,000 um so we have a you know on the revenue side um we're about $200,000 um short um obvious viously the biggest component to that is permits um and permits if you look at that it's a reduction of the revenue but if you go down and look at building inspections on the expenditure side you're going to see that's $193,000 on the good um the reason for that is that um we pay a per we we collect the permitting and then per the contract with our um the company that our inspections we pay a percentage to them um so our expenditures are going to be lower than our revenues and that obviously what we projected um we just haven't had the same volume uh piece I want to kind of look at that is that if you remember when we U moved over to a different company um our our rates changed significantly um and that was after the budget was already U prepared um so our revenues um and our um expenses are are basically we've overestimated on revenue and overestimated on the expenditures but they're not too far they're they're they're fitting together nicely um but um again on the revenue side I think what what uh is saving us this year um and um really is is the other revenues and the other revenues in include investment income which we don't aggressively budget for and then market value um um adjustment and the market value adjustments because interest rates are coming down um and our investments are are booked at a higher but we have to be cautious on that because it's really we don't realize those gains Andor losses but we have to reflect them um in our financial statements and we reflect them on a monthly basis um and so if we go back two years ago um when uh rates were were on the fall side to it um we were seeing huge Market values um negative numbers on Market values last year they did very well as the rates were still on the upward swing we did very very well as a city they're still going up now they're starting to get up Beyond where our negatives are so we have to watch ourselves CU probably next year we'll see them start to go into the um the negative side to or or the year after that because we still have um feds um that will end up cutting um rates um for a while um so um but all in all um I think we've done we're doing very good on our budgets um I I'm not projecting anybody to be in the negative at this point in time um and um so um for the general fund if there's any specific questions on on anything I do have a couple of pages that on this one that gives a little bit more detail of of uh each department um and how they're doing by category of personal services supplies contractual Services capital and transfers um and then also I show um you know the budget and the actuals um where we're at to date um for Revenue um but so good news months through we still look very positive and again I do this on a conservative basis so I anticipate at least hope that um we'll actually be um you know we'll have be better than the 222,000 nicely done thank you appreciate it's a good guy mhm and then we take a look at our Enterprise funds um and the first one that we have up here is is water um and I'm projecting that our revenue is going to be short by about 105 uh anybody want to guess why our revenue is going to be lower on our water this year because they rain except for in September but yeah exactly and so our our our actual usage is is is down significantly on the water um but um we have uh some savings on um the uh expenditures we're not it doesn't look like we will expend everything on that side to it um we were from a budgetary standpoint looking at increasing the fund balance 682 we're still looking at about $650,000 um increase on the water um so again you know it's only the the variance from budget to the end with the projection is um $33,000 down so not too bad even with the the the loss in consumption Wastewater now Wastewater even though consumption was down um it's just because of how Wastewater is is charge is done it's it's done on an averaging basis of 3 months um those are set through the year um we'll see this change next year um because of the consumption pattern being down um but we're looking at being up um relatively pretty good um um you know it's not in the charges of services it's for the other revenues which again are market value and and investment income um but significantly our revenues should be up from where we um had um budgeted um we were positive 300,000 um expenditures uh we um we should be $61,000 under um so where we're looking at increasing the fund balance about 41,000 we should increase it about almost 400,000 um in this Wastewater fund um and again these numbers aren't translated into the financial plans until the year gets closed out but that's where that those 10year plans are are a living document which then would show that for the Wastewater we won't need what was projected as an increase um in there um into the future for rate increases um the electric fund um revenues um projecting down about about 48 um ,000 uh again um the electrical consumption is down this year um but uh again other revenues um have almost offset that loss and revenue um and then um you can see um our expenditures um I think are you know are projected to be significantly under um where we're at um and uh we were looking at a a change of fund balance of being 1.1 to the negative um the bulk of that being the transfer um now we're only looking at about 560,000 to the negative so we've improved our position about $550,000 is what I'm projecting um and again I it's a projection it's an estimate there's I will I will never guarantee it but hopefully it'll be pretty good and hopefully it we do better than what I show um surface water um again um revenue is up about almost 170,000 again so much of it's underneath the investment uh the interest on our investments um and our investment income and our Market values and then um our expenditures were under slightly or under 32,000 so where we were budgeting an increase in the fund balance of about 60,000 we should end up being somewhere closer to $260,000 or $200,000 better than we we've got budgeted so far everything is really good news I like this and then um then Solid Waste has to come in um and uh so we're looking at on our um revenues um we're about $42,000 better um but on the expenditure side um we're um we've got some negatives we we're going to end up being uh negative we'll end up having to have an adjustment onto that and again um that just uh We've added um some additional um uh added a apartment complex that's driven our costs up um on that side um and I'll have to look at that one a little bit more in detail to find out what's driving those costs up um $68,000 higher um thought I had looked at that but off top I can't remember why why that one is um so where we were looking at being $103,000 negative in change of fund balance we're looking now at about 129,000 negative or $26,000 um in a worse position than than we had budgeted and then fiber optics um is pretty pretty close on the revenue side we're only $2,200 under where we thought our expenditures um are about uh you know $1,600 higher um so we're about $4,000 difference um so um that one there's not a lot of moving parts to that um and so we're pretty close onto that but again we were thinking of an increasing our our fund balance 110 this increase is about 107 um and so that's all six of the fiber optics of what they're looking like at the end of August and again the projections I do um you know there's a lot of moving parts and I try to be on the conservative side but um I don't know um you know all of the spending decisions because there's a lot of line items that are not linear so you don't know what's already been planned or what's in the motion to be spent or if there's you know we heard from um you know Ron with the public works um you know they Ron and Randy do a great job of monitoring their budget on a continuous basis um and they'll never go and overspend earlier in the year but as the year goes and they feel more and more comfortable they'll start to take care of some of those um uh sewers um that you know that R had been doing and so I can't project I can't I don't know for sure what's on the pipeline or not um I try to give them enough room um to be able to do those things when my projections so keep my fingers crossed I think we're pretty close U we have been in the in the past uh two years on what I've given the projections that we've we've come pretty Dagon close to and or in a better position you mentioned that Solid Waste one with an an apartment would we have any concern with another Department complex coming online is there uh is it to do with just you know is there any concern with that coming but for the solid waste you mentioned that there was something with one of the well I have to look a little bit deeper I I know that we added a complex here in August um time frame to it um obviously if you know I'll go back and just kind of look at this um um I obviously if we're you know we budgeted um to basically subsidize the operations through our fund balance because it's negative so obviously whoever gets added on to it our expenditures are higher than what they're being charged for revenues um so that would be where the concern would be but I need to do a deeper dive um on what's driving that $68,000 negative on the Contra cont contractual services and obviously um that would re require a budget amendment that would be brought forth with all the full information to city council for their approval onto it thank you but all in all I I I think from the general fund standpoint and our Enterprise funds I think we're we're doing pretty good because Wastewater is calculated on a previous bill or a summary of previous bills how is Wastewater build for a new development that's a good question and I don't really know the answer to that uh normally what they do is they'll take cons um the consumption that's done in December January and February um and then they do the calculation off of that they do a averaging and then that becomes what is charged through the year so how would you do it with a brand new one I don't know I'll get back to you I'll I'll ask I'll ask my expertise um uh who uh are Utility Billing coordinator who's been here for many years in the city U Barb hman knows everything inside and out and I will get that information back to you that's a good question I have no idea that's where I was kind of going by with this new one coming on of course they're coming on the right time of year because that's when it's coming up the assessments If he if you opened up in April then there would be definitely an issue good question any other questions from anybody thank you Dan thank you very much appreciate all the info all right we'll move on to uh reports of the city manager and departments so at a staff meeting today uh Public Works been busy working with um student built they got the U basement boort U they got it all all sealed and insulated now they're just waiting for backfill and students will probably be out there soon to start working on it great uh there they've started their hydrant flushing they're about 20% done through the city um they're working with uh article 7 got a meeting coming up try to get the uh curbs around the structure figured out before the winter time and plowing starts um through the tree program and the grant that we got uh looks like all the trees are removed now uh they're just working on stump removal and replanting of new trees so uh that that went well um Community Development is working with the feasibility study the hga got uh for the three Parks um they met with Park and wreck in or will be meeting Park wreck in October and uh have a meeting on the 9th and the 10th out at Casey Lake for uh public input on that as well um commune development is also working with Ramsey County on a uh free mattress pickup program through the city that'll be coming up more information to come on that in November um Jenny's been working with Gallagher and we'll be meeting with them tomorrow be looking at our health coverage rates for next year um aa's been working with uh the website they're looking to update that um probably middle of this month uh they do that about approximately every four years and we're due for that so be looking into that look for some changes coming there that way uh fire and PD will be doing the uh Trunk or Treat program which worked out well we had lots of candy left over from unfortunately not having a parade due to the severe weather threat fire department's been busy with uh their doing pump and hose testing uh this next couple days it's their yearly test um they're getting ready for the booya this weekend got 560 gallons coming the way for the public to sell so that usually sells out so it's usually nicer when it's a little bit colder weather it solds a lot better with that nice warm soup um and then Fire Prevention Week starts next week which will be great they'll be going out to the schools and then we'll have the contest too for you guys to judge which is awesome um electric is done for the Taco Bell the construction trailer has been pulled out so uh haven't got a quite open date but uh more to come on that uh they've been working work with the the construction site up on 17th in Delaware holding a pole up there they're getting the water and sewer stubs into the different uh Lots there and uh once they finish up the project up by Jennifer Lane in that area which will be a couple weeks yet they'll be moving on to lighting at the Casey Lake and the trail around there a bit so yeah that'll be nice um just a couple General updates the just a little update on your goats so we found out a few things about that so they they're kind of hands off they come and drop them off and they're your baby uh I don't know why but the last couple places they've done it with somebody likes to steal a goat cops go out and find them bring them back um couple of uh I mean it's a nice promotion for your Parks because it it brings in the public for that which is good uh there's a couple of downsides we have uh a couple of ordinances in place that prevent goats from being in parks and also electric fences which you're required to put up for those fences and responsibility comes on the city so Ron uh you know you got to water them you got to make sure you know they're getting plent Daddy yeah so more to come they haven't gotten back to us on price yet they I'm sure they're done for the year but uh we'll probably hear back from them later but get Randy a a camper so he can sit out there night with his shepher Cane and make they all stay [Laughter] there also we a [Laughter] nice we had a nice article in uh Le of Minnesota City's uh Magazine on our for public art projects and our snowy project made it in there so that's kind of nice to see congratulations nice have the Starwatch coming up this week on Wednesday from 7 to 9 we got 27 people signed up for that so that'll be nice we've had a Hiatus on that through either the pandemic or unfortunately some cloudy days over the last couple years that it didn't work out so but looks like the weather is going to cooperate um that is all I have for you thank you very much all right reports from Council commissions and committees council member Norby thank you um the Planning Commission will meet two days from now on October 3rd in this chamber at 6:30 and the topic of conversation will be a conditional use permit for an application at 2586 7th Avenue East thank you as for the arts and culture commission we have um no new updates but um we do have a meeting tomorrow uh here in the chambers at 6:30 um and I believe the group will continue um their remaining plans for for 2025 and their budget that's all oh thank you next Ed meeting is next Tuesday here in Chambers on October the 8th at 4:00 p.m. um I do know that two members will be absent so we may want to shoot an email out to double check that we'll have a quorum okay I'm one of them okay calling your own shot huh y that a boy right anything else all right work our way back to you again any general business yes um one of our uh wonderful residents has organized something at the American Legion so on October 24th at the North St Paul American Legion Hall um at 6 PM there will be a um Please Be Our Guest for an information get to know the people who are running for city council so I uh appreciate or I encourage everyone to come out and get educated um that day and try and learn about who you're going to vote for thank you very much I have no updates okay there we go Al M go uh I had the opportunity last week to be involved in the p uh pmia Memorial walk um and Memorial at at Veterans Park um just a huge shout out to Public Works for what I understand was a lot of last minute requests to help get things pulled off so shout shout out to to public works for that getting chairs and doing some other things to to make the event a success um and again a big shout out to the police department as well for traffic control and intersection control as as everyone made the the walk from the the long walk from the VFW to uh to Veterans Park so uh phenomenal event mayor was the speaker um it was a great event yeah I agree very Memorial it was H it was beautiful weather and it was a great ceremony so very well all right if there's nothing else nothing from you well I said it was a great event I don't know there nothing else is there am I missing something I feel like I'm missing something now that you said that no but there was a good event for the in my APS so I'll call for adjournment so move so move council member Cole second second council member W all in favor say I thank you oh 15th