This transcript reflects the City of Cannon Falls City Council meeting on December 17th. I have identified the speakers based on the provided list of officials and the internal context of the dialogue (such as members giving farewell speeches or staff members presenting their specific department reports). Note: Based on the dialogue, **Derek** and **Steve** are addressed as Council Members finishing their terms, although they were not on the initial list provided. **Zach** is identified as city staff (likely Planning/Zoning) based on his reports. *** [0:28] **[Audio Testing]** [0:58] **[Audio Testing]** [1:53] **[Audio Testing]** [2:00] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Call to order for City of Cannon Falls City Council meeting for Tuesday, December 17th. If I could get a roll call please. [2:05] **City Clerk Sara Peer:** Gmeiner? Here. Nobach? Here. Jeppesen? Here. Johnson? Here. Kronenberger? Here. Lindell? Montgomery? [2:12] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Here. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. If I could get a motion to approve of tonight's amended agenda. [2:38] **Council Member Lisa Zimmerman:** So moved. [2:40] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Motion from Lisa. Second? [2:42] **Council Member Ryan Jeppesen:** Second. [2:43] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Second from Ryan. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Carries. [2:47] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Gets us to public input. Public input is intended to afford the public an opportunity to address concerns to the city council. The public input will be no longer than 30 minutes in total length. Each speaker will have no more than 3 minutes to speak. Speakers may address topics relevant to the governance of the city. Speakers must sign up in advance and must provide their name, address, and the topic they intend to address. Comments must be on topic, respectful, pertinent to City business and adhere to the applicable data privacy rules. Any speaker that violates these rules will be asked to sit down and if the speaker refuses to comply they may be removed from the meeting. Speakers shall not address topics that are the subject of a public hearing. All such comments shall be made at the public hearing. The city council will not generally act on issues raised by the public input, but may choose to schedule consideration of the item on a future agenda. First off tonight, Greta, is it Berkes? Cannon Valley Fair Association. Thank you very much. [3:42] **Greta Berkes:** You're welcome. Is the green light on on the bottom of the—there we go. Now it is. There we go. That work? Okay, thank you. Uh, good evening. As the mayor said, my name is Greta Berkes. I'm an attorney at Lavender, Gillen and Miller in Eagan and I represent the Cannon Valley Fair Association. I'm here tonight to address you about the proposed ordinance in front of you for first reading pertaining to the fairgrounds. In sum, we are asking that you deny the proposed ordinance that is in front of you tonight for a first reading and I'll go ahead and mention just briefly a couple reasons why. The Cannon Valley Fair Association continues to be, has been and continues to be, a partner with the city. We request the opportunity to work cooperatively with the city in any ordinance that pertains to its property. The draft that is before you tonight was not drafted in cooperation with the fair Association. The draft was simply provided to me a mere couple of hours before the public hearing that was in front of the Planning Commission last week. Despite that, at the public hearing, the president of the fair Association did speak at the public hearing and highlighted some of the many deficiencies that are in the proposed ordinance, and I'll highlight just a couple of those. One, there are incorrect parcel identification numbers for the fair property. It's not a major deal and it appears that those PIDs have been corrected in the draft in front of you this evening. However, the ordinance does omit a handful or, I'm sorry, probably about three parcels of property that the fair Association owns. Those are simply not included in the ordinance tonight. Second, the proposed ordinance prohibits the fair Association from operating certain longstanding events during its annual fair. This was not the understanding of my client or me from what city staff was proposing to do with the ordinance amendments. The discussions between the city staff and the fair Association pertaining to the racetrack have also not been properly incorporated into the proposed ordinance and I think that was the impetus for the ordinance changes. And just as a brief reminder, the Cannon Valley Fair Association donated land to the city that now comprises the southerly portion of Hannah's Bend Park. The fair Association donated easements to the city for permanent utility and drainage easements. No consideration was received by the fair Association for those donations to the city. There are examples of other cities that have clean simple ordinances pertaining to Fair associations and track operations. There are examples out there that we can use and learn from. There is a better solution than what is before you tonight. So we respectfully ask that you deny the proposed ordinance in front of you tonight and give us the opportunity to work cooperatively with you and the city to have an ordinance that satisfies what your Planning Commission would like, what you as council would like, and what my client the landowner would like. So thank you. [7:02] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Thank you. Next up, Jim Hoffman, to talk about the Cannon Valley Fair and the racetrack. [7:10] **Jim Hoffman:** Hi. Jim Hoffman, 917 Park Street West. I'd like the opportunity to speak yet again. Last Monday, excuse me, there was another public hearing in front of the Planning Commission. The recommendation was to not change any zoning. We have had two public hearings now and both times the Planning Commission has voted unanimously not to approve any changes concerning the Cannon River Raceway. People to this point have been very respectful on both sides. I believe it's time the city council finally acts and issues a cease and desist order—and not just a friendly cease and desist order as it was described last fall which allowed racing to continue. We need a cease and desist order that will be enforced to whatever degree it takes to shut the racetrack down. I would like to speak to a couple of facts on topics that have been misleading. The first one is that the racetrack was given the go-ahead by the city last spring. This just isn't true. The other is somehow people that are not in favor of the racetrack are somehow not in favor of the fair. That again is just not true. If the citizens and the city leaders were against the fair, why would we annually donate to the fair board? And last year that was a tune of $7,500. In the planning commission's closing comments last Monday, they spoke to the fairboard and said that they needed to get back to their mission statement and go back to fair business. I wholeheartedly agree with the planning commission's advice. In closing, we need to get back to what's most important to Cannon Falls, and that's protecting the taxpaying citizens. Thank you. [8:55] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Thank you, Jim. And next up, Alicia Saladino, to talk about the swans. [9:05] **Alicia Saladino:** Hello, I am Alicia Saladino. I first stood before the Parks and Public Works board about last February, close to a year ago, just asking a simple question: who cares for the swan? I didn't get an answer, so I asked again and I asked again. Now I'm here and I am reading from a petition drafted by Aaron Anderson, a pro bono attorney volunteer with the Animal Legal Defense Fund. And I guess I'm speaking for those that have signed the petition. We demand the following information be made immediately publicly available: the name and licensing information of the swan breeder whom the city of Cannon Falls purchased the swans. If these are captive bred swans or if the swans are not captive bred, a copy of the license obtained by the city as required by Minnesota statute 97A.501 wild animals defined under 97A.015 sub d39 to exhibit and possess special concern species like Trumpeter swans. The second demand: the current diet and feeding schedule of the swans and who is responsible for their care and feeding along with that caretaker's credentials for such care. And the third: the number of swans that the city of Cannon Falls has purchased for exhibition in total over the years. I have copies of the rest I can pass them around if you haven't seen the petition. This has become a real problem. It's getting cold. Swans can only live to about 20 below; we get 30 below here in Minnesota. And also, I have support also from the investigations department of the Minnesota Federated Humane Society. This petition asks that corrections are made by tomorrow. Other than that, I think I'll have my lawyer talk to your lawyer. Thank you. [12:35] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Thank you. All right, that gets us to tonight's consent agenda. Consent agenda items may be adopted under one motion as presented or may be removed for discussion and resolution as Council business. I'll go through them tonight. We've got: Item A: Just and correct claims for the accounting period ending December 12, 2024. B: Meeting minutes for December 3rd, 2024 city council meeting. Item C: Resolution 2794 adopting the 2025 tax levy and budget. Item D: Approve data center tax analysis engagement letter. Item E: Introduction and first reading of ordinance 408, an ordinance amending Cannon Falls city code regarding zoning related to cannabis businesses. Item F: Approve new therapeutic massage license for Harmon Given in 2025. Item G: Resolution 2795 authorizing budget transfers for the year end of 2024. And Item H: Approve the request to apply for the assistance to Firefighters Grant. Is there anything the council would like to see pulled down to council business? Hearing none, I would recommend a motion to approve tonight's consent agenda. [13:46] **Council Member (Derek):** So moved. [13:47] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Motion from Lindell. Second? [13:49] **Council Member Diane Johnson:** Second. [13:51] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Second from Diane. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Carries. Gets us to council business. Item A tonight: Combined service pension bylaw changes and Fire Chief Brice Miller. [14:04] **Fire Chief Brice Miller:** Good evening. Cannon Falls Fire, we would like to align ourselves with surrounding departments and add this combined service pension benefit. Essentially what it is is if you meet vesting minimums—in our case it would be 5 years—if we had a member that were to transfer or we would accept the member, they would come on board with 5 years credit for vesting services. There are some rules that apply. Both departments have to have this in their bylaws. The member must be partially vested in the first department, and it must happen within two years of leaving the first department. Really what this is is it's trying to keep recruitment in the volunteer fire service. Any questions for Chief Miller? [15:15] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** I assume this is pretty standard especially when you say numbers for recruiting and for fire. [15:20] **Fire Chief Brice Miller:** So this is becoming universal nationwide. Volunteer Fire Service, we're facing a 6% turnover every year with a 7% call increase. [15:29] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Okay. Any questions from the council? Hearing none, I would seek a motion to approve the combined service pension bylaw changes. [15:44] **Council Member Ryan Jeppesen:** So moved. [15:45] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** We're going to give that to Ryan. And the second? [15:48] **Council Member (Steve):** Second. [15:50] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Second from Steve. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Carries. Moves us to Item B: the AquaEye handheld sonar. Chief McCormick, if you would like to take this. Brice, I know you said you've got a head out but if you want to stick around for this one. [16:09] **Fire Chief Brice Miller:** I'll stick around for this. [16:11] **Police Chief Jeff McCormick:** I'm glad to have Brice stick around. This memo is really a joint request from the police department and the fire department. As you know, on the 2nd of December, we responded to a missing person. That led to several days of search to try to find him. Ultimately, we ended up recovering his body from the water. Unfortunately for us, it took us until Saturday to be able to do that because of the ice Monday night and Tuesday, and then some sub-zero cold that came in on Wednesday. We did not know about this tool. The fire chief described it as FLIR for water. FLIR is short for Forward Looking Infrared thermal imaging. About 15 years ago, I think the fire department got that equipment and, you know, it's a tremendous piece of equipment for them to use. It can identify where there's hot spots in a building or where there's bodies inside of a building. They used it that night that we were looking for the missing person, but it requires a heat signature from the person to find them. This device—we were able to get on Saturday. Rochester has two of them and they were willing to send us one. The reason that they only sent us one was that they needed to keep one there just in case something happened in their community. One of their firefighters also works for us and he was familiar with it, so the fire department did sort of a just-in-time training and we deployed that that afternoon after lunch. The ice on the river by that point had freed up on a good chunk of the river and so we deployed the AquaEye where we expected the body may be. Then we put firefighters in—for lack of a better term—Gumby suits; that's their cold water rescue suits. And they were going to walk down the river and then they were going to swap places and do it again. As it turned out, they found the person upstream from where we suspected he went in and were able to recover the body. But after learning about this device, we felt that it was something that would make a lot of sense and we should have. That day after the body was located, they did bring the device up and did some training with it there and it every time would find the body. If you watch the video that was linked in the memo, it displays X's and O's. So as you turn it, it'll put an X and then you can turn it and get that X to line up and so you can move in the direction where the body is located. For us, the river this time of year is incredibly shallow but it's got a lot of deep pockets and that makes it a challenge, especially when there's ice on top of it. The device has the ability to be operated with a pole that you could actually stick below the ice, operate it, bring it up, read it, and then know where you needed to go. So that's why when the fire chief and I talked—neither of us had a plan in our budget. We may very well have at the end of the year, as you know we're coming up to the end of the year, we may very well have the funds available at the end. We just don't know because all the bills are coming in; everything's in flux. When I asked Sara and Michelle for some numbers, they both gave me numbers but said understand bills come in daily, so we don't know—this is the number as of this minute. The auditor was here today and I had an opportunity to chat with him and cover sort of what we were thinking. What he told me was we have a very healthy budget reserve; $10,000 isn't going to impact it. Now we're not asking for 10,000 but that was a round number he used. Even if you take 10,000 out of that reserve to purchase this at the end of the year, between our two budgets we may have that kind of funding left available that just goes back into the general reserve fund. So I don't think you're throwing this money away. I think you're going to get partially replenished if not fully, but at the same time we'd be putting a tool in the hands of the fire department and us that could be incredibly useful if we ever find that need again. I do not know if it would have made a difference between life and death in this case because of the time delay between when we determined that he went likely into the river and when we were on scene looking, but I would be much more comfortable in the future being able to bring a closure to a family that evening as opposed to several days later. That's why the fire chief and I so strongly felt that this needed to come forward to you guys now. Questions or comments from the council for the chief, either Miller or McCormick? [21:30] **Council Member Diane Johnson:** Go ahead, Dan. I think it sounds like an incredibly good piece of equipment that indeed we should have. I guess my question is, did this go before the police commission for their input and discussion? [22:08] **Police Chief Jeff McCormick:** Nope. This has not gone before any commissions. This was just brought to you guys. [22:15] **Council Member Diane Johnson:** Okay. And I guess not that I don't want us to get it, but I also like us to follow correct procedure and I thought most requests like this should have gone through the police commission before they came to the council. [22:25] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** I don't think that's a dual thing because I think it's through the fire department. Fire department as well. Would this go through finance for spending? Because police usually handles personnel/hiring, but I'm not sure. Mayor, it's a fair question, Diane. It is. And you know, it's one of those things where for the fire chief and I, we were just looking at this as something that we felt very strongly and made the request that it be brought directly here as opposed to being delayed through committees just because of the timing of the year. [22:50] **Council Member Lisa Zimmerman:** Sara, just for understanding, this piece of equipment would be housed with the fire department? They would incorporate it into just their normal training? The training is something that can be accomplished pretty much as part of their routine; we wouldn't have to send anybody to Switzerland where this is made? [23:05] **Police Chief Jeff McCormick:** Yeah. [23:08] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Have we considered—I know you said we borrowed the one from Rochester—I assume none of the surrounding communities have one of these? [23:14] **Police Chief Jeff McCormick:** We had Dakota County assisting us; they didn't even know about it. [23:18] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Okay. So have you between the two of you come up with some kind of a—I mean, so next time it happens, it's the Randolph Squad that's out and if they want to use it, do we have a plan for sharing with other neighboring departments? [23:28] **Police Chief Jeff McCormick:** So we report all equipment to Goodhue County. They have a list of every piece of equipment we have. So if somebody from Dakota County were to contact Goodhue County Dispatch, they would be able to get that information. Just like today we had a truck fire just north of town; Miesville requested the Cannon Falls fire department. Those requests would come in and they would continue to be honored just as mutual aid requests. Obviously, it's a fabulous tool for our community, but if somebody asks, I would hope that we would make it available to help whoever is in need. [23:55] **Fire Chief Brice Miller:** Yeah, we are tonight—we're ice water training out at the lake and Zumbrota-Mazeppa is joining us for mutual aid training. So, I mean, definitely mutual aid. [24:02] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Yeah. Sara, would that be something that we could transfer out of the general fund but, like Jeff said, that maybe their budget would reflect an ability to reimburse? [24:14] **City Clerk Sara Peer:** The city funds? So we would just pay for it right out of the general reserve funds and then if at the end of the year they have money, if that's what you would vote on, then we could transfer that to cover that. [24:47] **Council Member Lisa Zimmerman:** I think it sounds like a good idea to get it. Handy piece of equipment. [24:52] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Yeah, you know I agree with you Lisa. I'm not a fan of spending, you know, $8,000 to $10,000 just on a quick decision. However—and it's not the timeliness of the situation of the missing person—it's more I thought more about our community like Byllesby, the river. We're not Rochester. I know they have two, but like you said with our community and how many people are canoeing, tubing, swimming, fishing—Byllesby's busy. Second biggest city in the county. I think that this would be an okay purchase and like the Chief said, it's not to be free spending; it's to be replenished in the funds when possible. Any other questions or comments from the council? Hearing none, I would seek a motion to approve purchasing the AquaEye handheld sonar. [25:39] **Council Member Lisa Zimmerman:** So moved. [25:40] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Motion from Lisa. Second? [25:42] **Council Member (Derek):** Second. [25:44] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Second from Derek. All those in favor? [25:47] **Council Member Ryan Jeppesen:** One question. Can we do what Sara says and move money from the general reserve to be replenished by police/fire if any is available at the end of the year? [25:56] **City Clerk Sara Peer:** We're general funds anyway. That's where it always goes. But yes, we'll make it clear. [26:00] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Okay. Yeah, if you want to modify your motion to that effect—it has really no bearing on how we function—but that would, you know, maybe make it easier for Sara in their operations. [26:15] **Council Member Lisa Zimmerman:** Sure. Okay. [26:16] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** All right. Any further discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Carries. Brings us to Item C: Cannon Valley Fair. Zach? [26:24] **Zach (Staff):** Yeah, so what council is voting on tonight is an ordinance amendment relating to the Cannon Valley Fair. What is being proposed is a rezone of the fair property to a new Fairground Zone, which will allow the city to lay out a list of permitted accessory interim and prohibited uses along with the corresponding conditions. This new Fair Zone would be specific to the fairgrounds property and would give the city authorization to put restrictions on events that occur within the fair, such as racing events. So, Shelley, is there anything that you would like to preface this by? [27:18] **City Attorney Shelley Ryan:** Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Also in the packet is a companion resolution with findings if the council determines to accept the recommendation of the Planning Commission to essentially deny making the suggested changes to the zoning ordinance at this time. So we've provided two paths for proceeding with appropriate memorialization in the record. [27:52] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** All right. Questions, comments from the council? I don't know if we need a ton of discussion considering... [28:22] **Council Member (Derek):** I was going to say, the fact that Planning Commission it was unanimously denied and the fair itself doesn't appear to want it, right? I just don't see why we would go ahead with it. [28:34] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Yeah, I would accept a motion to deny. Steve, go ahead. [28:38] **Council Member (Steve):** I need a little bit of clarification because what's in front of us tonight in our packet is a little bit different than what we had at the Planning Commission, correct? Yes. So if we just went ahead and approved what the Planning Commission—not approved, but we denied the zoning change. So tonight, to word it correctly, if the council agrees on the same thing, do we vote to approve the denial or deny the request? You're saying a double negative? Deny the denial? [29:24] **City Attorney Shelley Ryan:** Actually no, we understand you totally. That is an excellent question. To make this a clear process: there was before the Planning Commission a suggested ordinance, which is required in order to amend your zoning code. You must do that by ordinance. That is what the Planning Commission unanimously rejected and recommended to the council that you do not pass that. You can always override the Planning Commission—they're a recommending body. So that ordinance is still in your packet. But what I would recommend, if you're not amenable to changing the code and you want to go with what the Planning Commission did, I've included a resolution with findings. So the motion I would recommend is to approve the resolution. Zach, did we put a number on it? [30:08] **Zach (Staff):** No, I don't think so. [30:10] **City Attorney Shelley Ryan:** If there's not a number on it, that's fine, but it's a resolution denying an ordinance amending the Cannon Falls city code relating to the Cannon Valley Fair. And what that does is create a written record with findings supporting your denial. And it is essentially, Council Member Gmeiner, an acceptance of the Planning Commission recommendation, just with more substance. [30:35] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Shelley, do you have a page number? I know Sara's looking in the packet. [30:45] **City Clerk Sara Peer:** Found it. And then it would be Resolution 2796 is what it would be. Thank you, Sara. [31:10] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Got it. Resolution denying an ordinance amending Cannon Falls city code relating to the Cannon Valley Fair. So we would be approving the resolution that denies. All right, I'm going to make that motion. [31:25] **Council Member (Steve):** Motion 96. [31:27] **Council Member Diane Johnson:** Second. [31:28] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Motion from Steve. Second from Diane. Any further discussion? All those in favor of Resolution 2796, resolution denying an ordinance amending Cannon Falls city code relating to the Cannon Valley Fair, say Aye. Aye. Those opposed? It carries. That gets us to reports. Chamber of Commerce, Maggie. [31:54] **Maggie (Chamber):** Good evening Council and Mayor. Just a couple things for me tonight. We're a couple weeks out now, but we did wrap up a very successful Deck the Falls in November. Despite the cold, we had a great turnout for it and I just wanted to thank a couple people. Obviously the community for all coming out and braving the cold weather and supporting Cannon Falls in our small businesses that day. Thank you to our public works department for all the help and work that they do leading up to the event and then the day of the event. The Cannon Falls Police Department for helping with traffic. Fire department allows us to use the fire department building in a couple rooms in there to store our stuff and prep for Deck the Falls. And also all of our sponsors: our community sponsors, our business sponsors, and then the City of Cannon Falls for being a sponsor for Deck the Falls. Next up, we have our chamber annual business recognition event January 8th and I invite all of you to attend. This invite goes to current council members, incoming council, outgoing council, any city staff—we encourage you to attend. It'll be at the winery January 8th starting at 5:00. We recognize our businesses, talk about the accomplishments of 2024, and then Jon, our new city administrator, is going to be speaking that night. I just ask that you RSVP to me by January 3rd. And then lastly, I just wanted to encourage the community to really think about our small businesses this small business season and this upcoming winter. Please shop local if you can. As we go into the winter months, things get pretty quiet around Cannon Falls, things slow down a lot, and it really does make an impact when people shop and stay local. So just a little plea for our community and surrounding members to do that. Anything for me tonight? All right, thank you. [33:38] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Thanks Maggie. The EDA met on December 5th. Laura, if you would go through that with us please. [34:00] **Laura Qualey (EDA):** It's hard for me to even think back that far and it probably wasn't that long ago. Um, I'm trying to think. We continue to sell lots in Hardwood Estates. I believe we've got two single-family lots that are not under some type of contract at this point, so that's pretty great. There are two models available for touring in Timber Ridge—formerly Sandstone Ridge up by Cedar Hills. They do have two models that are available for touring up there as well, and Lisa Zimmerman can connect with her if anyone wants to tour those. So yeah, I'm shocked that people are still buying and wanting to build at this time of year; you'd think they'd have different focus, but that's exciting for us I guess. So we will be working pretty frivolously on getting the next phase started as soon as we possibly can with WHKS. Otherwise, John Dahl, our EDA chair, will be retiring. So we will have an at-large seat open on the EDA. So if anyone's interested, we do have applications here at City Hall. I think there's also some other boards and commissions that are also seeking positions so you can get those at City Hall here if you're interested. Otherwise, I'll just echo what Maggie says: it's really important to support. Anytime that you go to Amazon or go to an e-commerce site, think twice and think if you can maybe buy it in town instead. I think you'd be shocked at how many fantastic gifts you can buy right here in town, and I would really think and hope that you would support our business owners instead. And thank you to Maggie for a great Deck the Falls and Merry Christmas to all of you. [35:57] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Thank you, Laura. Public Works and Park Board also met on the 5th? [36:02] **Jed Petersen (Public Works):** No, those were canceled. [36:04] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Those were canceled. All right. Did the library board meet on December 9th? [36:08] **Council Member Lisa Zimmerman:** Very, very briefly. We did the stakeholders meeting instead, which was cool, so I'm glad I was a part of it. [36:20] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Awesome. Planning and Zoning commission, which I know that we dealt with the fair situation that was in that meeting. Was there anything else from that meeting? [36:24] **Zach (Staff):** No. Cannabis and fair. [36:26] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Cannabis and fair. There you go. Joint Point Trail Board December 16th? Did that happen? [36:31] **Council Member (Steve):** Yes, by Zoom. Quick. We just had to discuss mile 14 and 16 slope failure again. [36:38] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** All right. Still failing. There you go. All right, we'll go around the horn. Jed? [36:44] **Jed Petersen (Public Works):** Mayor and Council, there's a chance of snow Thursday. We might get plow trucks out to actually plow snow and not just spread salt. Just a heads up to everybody that driving conditions—I know things have been mild last year and so far this year—but please slow down. Also, my Public Works guys are going around since the weather has held out, we're removing as many ash trees as we can through different parks and whatnot. So I get a lot of calls about ash trees and boulevards and whatnot, and we are trying to get to them, but we want to focus on one area at a time so we're not just popping all around town. Thank you. [37:28] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Awesome. Thank you. Zach? [37:33] **Zach (Staff):** License renewals for 2025: almost everybody's turned them in who had a license last year, but if you're a business in town and you're watching this and you sell tobacco or liquor, please get them to me by this week and then the cops can do a background check and I can get it off to the state and it'll be all good. So thank you. [37:55] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Thank you. Anything else? Laura? [37:59] **Council Member Laura Kronenberger:** I just wanted to thank Councilmembers Gmeiner and Gro for your time and service. And Steve, you've been on our EDA for a bit, so I just want to thank you for your input and support. And also welcome our new City Administrator Jon—I know he's a little under the weather today, but it's been really great getting to know him over the last week. So I think he's a great addition to our city. And I know Neil's not listening anywhere, but just a great mentor he's been to me over the last four and a half years. So that's it. [38:40] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** All right. Chief? [38:44] **Police Chief Jeff McCormick:** So I'm going to build on a couple of things from that side of the room. Snow: if they do come out to plow, I want to remind people to get their vehicles off of the city streets. We try to clear the streets before Public Works comes in so that when they plow they're very efficient; they don't have to come back. That isn't always possible because, in addition to doing that, we have to do whatever calls for service we get. So sometimes we may get half the city cleared and not the other half for cars on the roadway, but we just ask everybody to try to get off. There is parking down in the city lots—it's signed, no permits required—but if you can't get off the road you may get a ticket and you may get towed and we don't want to do that. But we also understand that for Public Works to be able to get out there and clear those streets without that obstacle of vehicles, it makes it more challenging for them in many ways. Then I will touch on what Zach talked about with licenses and just remind any of our businesses that still need to get their licenses in: it's behooved upon them to do so rapidly because it's got to go to the state, get approved, and we get notified. Because if we don't get notified, you will not have a license to operate, especially our liquor establishments on 12:01 New Year's Day, and we do not want to have a violation that we have to bring back before the council for selling without a license. So make sure you get those in. Zach's pretty diligent about getting them to my staff so that we can do the required background checks and investigations we need to do, but understand once we get them done they have to go to the state before they become official. [40:24] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** What's the normal turnaround time? [40:27] **Police Chief Jeff McCormick:** Every other year? Yeah, I don't work for the state. [40:29] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Well, but so what's the day that you would tell our local businesses to get it to you by, other than as soon as possible? [40:35] **Zach (Staff):** Friday. [40:37] **Police Chief Jeff McCormick:** Okay, if we don't have it by Friday, understand the state's going to be closed for at least two days next week. Middle of the week, you got it. So they're going to be closed for another day, New Year's Eve usually. So you just want to get them in. Zach really works hard to make sure that people comply and get them in, but at the end of the day it's on the owners. They're the ones who need to fill out the paperwork correctly; if they don't, the state catches it, they're not going to issue the license and really not care. But we do, and we try to help them get there. So that's why I want to make sure we get that message out: get your stuff into Zach. All right, then for the outgoing council members: it's been great working with you for the last two plus years. It's interesting the dynamics that occur when a council seats and everybody's trying to figure out how the process works, but you guys adjusted very rapidly to it. For those that are staying, I continue to look forward to working for you with at least the two plus years. That's all I have. [41:40] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Thank you, Chief. Sara? [41:41] **City Clerk Sara Peer:** No, I think I'm going to pass. [41:42] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** You're going to pass. All right. Shelley? [41:43] **City Attorney Shelley Ryan:** Pass. [41:44] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** All right. Laura? [41:45] **Laura Qualey (EDA):** I'll just reiterate, you know, it's been good working with the folks that are leaving. That's it. [41:49] **Council Member Lisa Zimmerman:** Thank you to everyone who voted for me. I highly encourage people to run for city council; it's a very eye-opening experience and I've learned so much. I appreciate you city people so much—you have no idea. So be kind. That's all I got. [42:15] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Thank you. You're welcome. Ryan? Derek? [42:35] **Council Member (Derek):** Yeah, excuse me. Yeah, it's my last meeting after six years. Obviously thanks to the community for trusting me and voting for me. I think we're in good hands; we have good people working and running the city. I think Jon will be good if he's feeling better. Yeah, like Lisa said, get involved. Come to meetings, run for something, because what you find out is things aren't always so cut and dry. It's easy to sit and read the Beacon or the Facebook forum and say "What are these idiots doing? Why aren't they doing this? Why aren't they listening?" Things aren't always black and white, I guess is what I'm saying. So thank you to the community and thanks for all you guys. [43:18] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Thanks Derek. Diane? [43:21] **Council Member Diane Johnson:** And I have to go back on to thanks, Derek and—what's your name again—Lisa. It's been great serving with you, even if I had to sit between the two of you, I don't know. But welcome to Jon and, as I think they all said, it's different when you have to make the decisions than when you just get to complain, right? But you can complain up here too! [43:55] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Steve? [44:07] **Council Member (Steve):** Well, what do you mean what's his name? I had to write notes because I'm not very good at this, but six years I've been on the council. It went by like a blink of an eye. There's been sleepless nights. We've had many successes; a lot of it I attribute to Laura. We got housing developments, we got a new apartment—I know there's yeses and no's about that. I thought when I came in there was a few things that I wanted to help change. It's not easy changing. Just an ongoing battle. I've been called a puppet, a "good old boy." I've been called unqualified by a failed business owner. I still stuck it out. I still came every couple weeks. I've lost friends. I've alienated relatives. I had a complaint filed against me because I hurt someone's feelings. But I also had the opportunity to meet fantastic people in the community. Our support staff—the staff in the city is top-notch. I have nothing to compare it to, but I don't think there's a better staff I could work with ever. They always answered my calls. I figured if I was half right, you know, that would be in baseball—that would be .500. I don't think I'm going to be elected to an All-Star game but... to all the council members that I've worked with, we've agreed to disagree but we've done it on a respectful basis. Not everyone ever left here at night happy. But people ask me if I ever regretted starting in this thing six years ago and I say the same answer every time: I wouldn't trade it for the world. So that's all I have. Thank you. [46:17] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** Thank you Steve. Yeah, right! No three-minute rule for us, it's just for the public input. Sorry about the rambling—that's a hard act to follow. That's a tough one. I do want to say welcome to Jon. I hope you feel better quickly, Jon, but Jon I think is going to do a fantastic job here for our community. I know that he is smart as a whip when it comes to the numbers. I think the budgeting is going to continue to be—you know, we are not free spenders here. I think that he is going to keep a very tight book and a nice budget. I think he has a great vision for the future of Cannon Falls. I'm not going to waste a ton of time saying goodbye to Neil because he's not here tonight, but I do want to remind the council that, you know, saying goodbye Friday December 20th noon to 1:00 I believe that's open to the public at City Hall if people want to wish him well. But a reminder at least of the council, if you can make it please do. I think that he's going to be ready—you know, I wouldn't be surprised if he does the "Minnesota goodbye," he'll keep him here for another couple months. The "Irish goodbye," he might be saying "I'm out of here, see you later," so that hour might be all we get. He might Zoom! Yeah, right, just just to say goodbye on Zoom. Like Laura had said, John Dahl, president of the EDA, his term is up. I want to say thank you to John—he's a tremendous person. He's been so kind to the community and the EDA has done so much. I think the term or the word that was used to describe the housing development was "ecstatic." We could not ask for things to be going better than they are right now. I know you sit here and say there's only two lots left for single-family homes; similar developments in towns our size can take years and ours is like on rocket speed right now. And I remember it was John Dahl who sat at that meeting and said we can either take action and do something, or we could be sitting here for five years and be saying the same thing. And we took action and it's been successful and I'm proud of that, and John should be proud of that too. Bruce Hemma, Planning and Zoning commission—how many years did Bruce serve the community? And so he's officially retiring. I want to say thank you to Bruce—he was tremendous on the Planning and Zoning. And then there's a gentleman for the trail board—I'm sorry that I don't have the name—is it Kowski? He's also stepping down, correct? So to all the people: if you want to be involved, civic involvement is needed to keep a community alive, to keep things working, to keep things running. We need people. I know Jim Hoffman is interested in joining the police commission. To the new council members, I hope that you guys are willing to jump in headfirst and serve the community like these council members have. Jon and I have already talked about: this is the kind of job where there is no orientation. This is like you have to dive in and learn on the go. We are going to try to have a meeting in January so we can get to know each other a little bit better, but also so you can get to know the department heads. And like Derek and Steve said, getting to know what we do and seeing the inner workings—that meeting I think is very important. Then I strongly encourage people, if you've never gone, League of Minnesota Cities events—I think they're held in March for newly elected and for people who have been longer serving. They have meetings of both kinds so that you can learn more about your job, your duty, how things go. Even the little stuff—I remember they did a skit about Robert's Rules and public input and how to be polite and not be stuck on your... even when you're doing the three-minute timer and going through the agenda and emails, you still have to be polite to the general public and your citizens. So I definitely encourage you to do that. To the council members, I just want to say thank you. I mean, you're my "ride or die" friends, so this isn't like goodbye. Steve, I know that I'm going to run into you at the coffee shop and Lisa, I know I'm going to see you at Althoff's. But I do want to share just one last thing. I remember before we graduated high school they said you don't realize the group that you're with until they're gone. We'll see each other, we'll still be friends, we're still going to work together for a few more years, but this is it. And from the dais, like you had said before, doing this job there's very few people that get to do this and it is a privilege because we've earned the public's trust. But that also has the negatives and all of you have sat up here and got to see it, the good and the bad. But when we adjourn tonight, it's the end of this Council. I wish you guys the best. Like I said, we will not be strangers; we'll see each other. So with that, I will take a motion to adjourn. [50:23] **Council Member (Derek):** So moved. [50:25] **Council Member (Steve):** Second. [50:26] **Mayor Matt Montgomery:** From Derek and from Steve. All those in favor? And we are adjourned. Thank you everybody.