This transcript features **Mayor Mary Fasbender** presiding over a Hastings City Council meeting. Other speakers include City Staff, a legal representative, and members of the City Council. Note: While the provided list of officials was used for reference, the transcript includes names like **Jen Fox** (referred to phonetically as "Felch" or "Folge") and **Vaughn**, who were part of the council during this 2022 session but were not included on your current list. [0:00] **All**: Pledge of Allegiance. [0:14] **Mayor Mary Fasbender**: ...with liberty and justice for all. Welcome, and let the record reflect a majority of members are present and a quorum has been established, with the absence of Councilmember Vaughn. Tonight we will be recognizing new employees, and we have two new employees to introduce today. The first will be introduced by City Forester, TJ Lucas. Welcome, TJ. [0:50] **TJ Lucas**: Hello City Council. My name is TJ Lucas, I am the City Forester for the City of Hastings. This is Ashley Running. She’s actually a GreenCorps member; she’ll be working with us until September—or she started working in September 2022 and she’ll be serving with us until August 2023. She will be helping me with a lot of the forestry work that I am not able to get done, so she'll be doing a lot of work with tree inventory and buckthorn removal and many other small projects that we'll be working on. We are happy to have her helping us, so thank you. [1:33] **Ashley Running**: Welcome, Ashley. Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to meet everyone and I'm excited to do some great things for Hastings. [1:41] **Mayor Mary Fasbender**: Great, thank you. And also from the Parks Department, we have with us Chris Jenkins, and he will be introducing Leander de Villiers. [1:49] **Chris Jenkins**: Good evening, Mayor and Council. Thank you very much. I am introducing Leander de Villiers. He is our newest Parks Keeper, hired just a few weeks ago, September 26th. Leander is originally from South Africa and he's been working on farms in the United States since 2010, and more recently since about 2015 on some farms very near Hastings just on the outside, so he's very familiar with the area. Finally, permanently in the United States in 2019 after marrying his wife, Alyssa, and they have a five-month-old baby girl, Madison. Congratulations—daughters are the best, I'm not biased at all, I have two. Outside of work, Leander likes enjoying time with family, friends, and the outdoors—camping, hiking, boating, those sorts of things. We are certainly excited to have him as part of our team. He comes to us with a wide array of knowledge and experience, a great attitude, "get-it-done" work ethic, and a really good sense of humor that I've learned so far. So Leander, we're looking forward to him being a great addition to our team for years to come. So, welcome Leander. [3:03] **Mayor Mary Fasbender**: We have a promotion. We have a recent promotion who will be introduced by Chief John Townsend. Welcome, Chief. [3:08] **Fire Chief John Townsend**: Hello Mayor and Council. I'm here tonight to introduce Caitlin Newman, who was recently promoted—or actually not even that recently, July—as our newest full-time firefighter paramedic. Caitlin joined us in August of 2020 and since joining our department, she has completed all of her fire training. She just recently completed her paramedic certification and during that same amount of time she got married to her husband, Andy, who's in attendance here, and they brought a new baby into the world named Charlie. So she's been very busy for the last not quite two years. We're really happy to have her here. In attendance tonight are her parents with us too, Brian and Melanie, and we are super excited to have her as part of the team. She's a great addition to our city and we look forward to her bringing her strong work ethic and great attitude to our department. Thank you. [4:05] **Mayor Mary Fasbender**: Thank you, Chief. Welcome, Caitlin. Definitely an asset to the Department. If Council and new employees would please step forward, we'll take some photos. [4:49] **[Pause for Photos]** [5:31] **Mayor Mary Fasbender**: Thank you. All right, well thank you. [5:55] **Mayor Mary Fasbender**: Okay, tonight we have a presentation from Attorney Jim Stroman, who will provide an update on the Suburban Rate Authority. Welcome. [6:03] **Jim Stroman**: Thank you, Madam Mayor and members of the Council, staff. I appreciate the opportunity given to me by Dan Wietecha, your City Administrator. My name is Jim Stroman, I’m an attorney with Kennedy & Graven, and I’ve been General Counsel to the Suburban Rate Authority since 1990. The City of Hastings has been a long-time member of the SRA. I do understand that the Council will be considering continued membership in the SRA and I assume that you have a short memo with bullet points that I have prepared which gives you a history and its purposes and some of the accomplishments that we have achieved over the years. I won't go through everything because I know you have a busy agenda, but I'm happy to answer any questions you might have. The SRA is a collective municipal voice before the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, but it's not limited to that. It does address common issues of municipalities in right-of-way management of utilities, which is a significant part of Public Works, and rates and franchises between the city and, in your case, Xcel Electric and CenterPoint Gas. I know you have a small area served by Dakota Electric which also can be franchised. The SRA currently has 32 members. The list of members I think is attached to your memo. It's a large joint powers with a high population. We certainly value every member because every member counts when you have a collective voice before a state agency like the Public Utilities Commission, and they do value the municipal perspective. But quite frankly, rate cases in the PUC are intensive and lengthy, and single municipalities generally cannot sustain a presence there. One exception is the City of Minneapolis; they've been quite active in recent years. We do have a current rate case that is relevant to the City of Hastings: the Xcel Electric multi-year petition for over 600 million dollars in increased rates. We typically select issues that are germane to cities and we have submitted testimony on street lighting and municipal pumping. We've had some very good developments that have tangible cost savings to cities in municipal pumping by separating them out of the commercial class. I don't want to get too much into the weeds, but there are "sales true-ups" in utility rates and we were able to save $621,000 for municipal pumping customers from 2021 as a result of the effect COVID had on private businesses, but cities' pumping services were going strong and they, as a result, did not have to pay a surcharge. We are also in this case looking at the rate design for cities that have changed over to LED lighting in streetlights. We feel they're paying too much compared to other entities that are still using high-pressure sodium, and we hope to have an adjustment there. One annual savings that has been realized through SRA efforts are outage credits for Xcel Electric. It part of a service quality tariff and it actually arose about 10 years ago when a neighborhood in Roseville was getting constant outages and they weren't getting any attention from Xcel. Roseville is a member of the SRA. The neighbors as well as the SRA brought it to the attention of the PUC, and we have established a menu of outages. If residents, businesses, and municipal pumping have outages of certain duration or a multiple of them during the year, there is a schedule that Xcel must automatically then credit those customers each year. I did provide a letter from Xcel which is their report for 2022 for 2021 outage credits, and that is $712,000 back to the ratepayers, including municipalities, shared by Hastings in proportion. The SRA does not make deals only applicable to the members; we represent all cities or residents, so any benefit derived in a utility context before the Public Utilities Commission is available to all. It's not just the member—that's a common question—but again, in my decades now with this organization, I see it as very beneficial to municipalities, their residents, and at times small businesses. We certainly were active in the legislation of right-of-way management rules that I'm sure Hastings has, and pretty much all cities around the state in managing electric, telecommunications, cable, and other bodies that serve customers. I think I'll stop there. I'll close with: Hastings is a valued member and Hastings goes way, way back—we have old records of original members and Hastings was among them. So we certainly hope it will continue to be a member. [13:58] **Councilmember Jen Fox**: Discussion? Thank you, Your Honor. I'm so glad that you're here. I've had two pressing questions that I've been pondering the last several months. The first is in regards to cable franchise agreements and fees that are associated with them. As more and more people are beginning to dump cable television and just going to utilizing the internet for streaming services, that's a real loss of revenue for municipalities that have cable franchise agreements. For instance, I know Councilmember Beck has sat on our own Hastings Community TV board. And so I was wondering—I don't understand the issue thoroughly enough—but it's my understanding it has something to do with a Federal Regulation that allows the cable franchise fees. So my question is this: Why is it that you can regulate cable franchise fees but we're not able to assess for those same distribution lines for fiber? Why can't we have franchise fees for the fiber as technology transitions away from traditional cable? Because we're losing revenue and I was wondering how it is that we could stop that bleed. [15:53] **Jim Stroman**: Yes, Councilmember Fox, you've really put your finger on an interesting issue. First of all, I should say this: cable falls outside of the joint powers agreement of the SRA, so we don't directly address cable issues. But I can answer your question. Federal law does allow the 5% franchise fee that is, I assume, assessed on your cable provider. It is the same federal law and state law that does not empower cities to charge franchise fees on telecommunication providers. It's a matter of legislative power that has to be delegated to the cities and is not in that context. So, Gas and Electric—you have a franchise and franchise fee power and authority. You no longer have it for anything that is in the telecommunications realm. They don't pay franchise fees to operate in the city, and the exception to that is cable by virtue of the federal and state law that allows it. So there's kind of an anomaly in there. You're right, cable is struggling, it's losing business, and then you lose revenue. But that's a legislative issue. [17:34] **Councilmember Jen Fox**: So it is a State Legislative issue? [17:36] **Jim Stroman**: Well, it is a state and also a federal issue. You have the federal law that enables cable franchises; you have no federal law that enables you to charge franchise fees and you have no state law that allows franchise fees on the other services. You can't do it without that enabling legislation. [18:04] **Councilmember Jen Fox**: So you first need Federal and then State? [18:07] **Jim Stroman**: Right. If you imposed it, they would challenge it and win in a court because the city has to find its authority granted to it by the legislature. And that, in Minnesota, has been terminated. It might seem unfair, but it would be a matter for legislative change. [18:32] **Councilmember Jen Fox**: Can I ask one other follow-up question? My second question was in regards to electric utilities, specifically for electric vehicle charging stations. The high-capacity chargers and even the Level 2 chargers, when they're not hooked up to another electric meter, the surcharges that are accompanied with the charging station make it so extremely expensive. Is there any effort, as Xcel Energy has been moving forward into trying to get their foot in—they just pivoted and they've decided that they're going to start getting into the market of providing EV chargers—they have such an advantage over anyone else within the market then because they have a monopoly obviously over that within the regions that they serve. Is there any effort to try to negotiate better surcharges for EV charging stations with the utility providers? [19:28] **Jim Stroman**: Well, it's interesting you bring that up, that's a very current topic. A couple of my associates met with Xcel on this issue just a couple of weeks ago because the Public Utilities Commission is looking very closely at electrification and electric vehicles. We don't believe that Xcel has a monopoly on charging stations, but no one is providing the electricity but them. They do have the monopoly on providing electric. I think the rub is going to be: Xcel is going to want to put up its charging stations and obviously it's using its own power, and then is it going to be fair to competitors who want to come in? I think the City is going to have something to say about that. I think the PUC is going to have something to say about the rates that would be charged so that they don't make it so their electricity is pumped up so, "Hey, come to our charging stations because it's a much lower rate." One of the principles of rate making is that rates must be uniform to like class members. They can't surcharge competitors out of business. [22:04] **Councilmember Jen Fox**: Yes, thank you for the answer. Thanks, glad that you're here. I know I sound like a geek when I ask those questions but they really are big issues. [22:18] **Mayor Mary Fasbender**: Any other questions Council? Thank you, Mr. Stroman. Thank you very much. Councilmembers, are there any corrections to the minutes from the regular meeting on September 19th? [22:50] **Mayor Mary Fasbender**: Okay, Public Comments. We have options for comments to be emailed prior to the meeting as well as an interactive feature during the meeting. For the emailed comments, they have been forwarded to the City Council and their receipt is acknowledged. Please recognize that items not on the agenda will not be discussed this evening. For live comments, they may either be through Zoom or in person. We ask the attendees to either raise their hand in person or use the raised hand feature on Zoom. Is there anyone who would like to speak to the Council at this time? [23:30] **Barb Hollenbeck**: Good evening, Mayor and City Council Members. I'm Barb Hollenbeck, 212 East 2nd Street. I'm here on behalf of the Arts Task Force as the chair. I'd like to comment on an upcoming recommendation that's coming on this agenda later this evening, and that is the recommendation of the Public Arts Commission going forward. I just wanted to be here to thank everyone for their support. I know the debate was kind of challenging and interesting—we're bringing a new concept to the City Council—and I just wanted to express my gratitude on behalf of the Arts Task Force on entertaining the recommendation and all the discussion and support through City staff. I know it's a new concept and the recommendation provides a two-year window. I feel with the amount of work that the Task Force has done, the Arts and Culture Commission when it's established is going to prove itself very useful. That two-year window was a great compromise for a new concept to go forward and give that window an area of space to prove itself. I'm sure in that two-year window the Arts and Culture Commission is going to prove itself to be a valuable asset to the City of Hastings. So, thank you for your recommendation. [25:01] **Mayor Mary Fasbender**: Thank you, Barb. Okay, anyone else wish to speak to the Council at this time? I see no one on Zoom. All right, Council, are there any items to be considered? [25:12] **Dan Wietecha**: Okay, I would like to pull number 17 from the consent agenda to be discussed at a later time. [25:21] **Mayor Mary Fasbender**: Also, I would accept a motion to accept the consent agenda excluding number 17. [25:35] **Councilmember Mya Beck**: Approved. [25:36] **Councilmember Lisa Leifeld**: Second. [25:48] **Mayor Mary Fasbender**: Councilmember Beck, Councilmember Leifeld. Additional discussion Council? All those in favor of the motion state by saying aye. (Aye). Opposed to that motion state by saying nay. And that motion prevails. Tonight with us we have Community Development Director John Hinzman. Welcome John, and he will be talking to us on a couple different things. [26:22] **John Hinzman**: Thank you Mayor, City Council Members. Tonight I have before you a resolution for approval of a site plan for an addition to Intek Weatherseal/Intek Plastics, which is located within our industrial park. This site plan is a portion of the overall development that we have been working with collectively with the Planning Commission, City Council, and HEDRA. We have before us officially tonight the site plan approval. You've got the existing 120,000 square foot Intek building, and about a 60,000 square foot addition off the rear of the building. This addition here will accomplish a lot of things. It's going to be about an eight-million-dollar expansion, bringing 46 new jobs. That was also with the assistance of state agencies through Minnesota DEED through the MIF and JCF funds that we were able to bring about 1.4 million dollars to assist Intek in their expansion. Intek has been a great company for Hastings. We did have the site plan itself reviewed and approved by our Planning Commission on October 10th with unanimously limited comments. We have not heard any objections from the neighbors here. Looking at the site plan itself, there are two properties as part of this project. There is the main property that is located here which they own presently, and this property over here—a little bit over three acres—which is owned by the City and is scheduled for transfer over to Intek in the near future. We're putting together the transfer agreement for consideration by the Council on November 7th. HEDRA took a look at that and they recommended unanimous approval of that transfer. That transfer is necessary for a couple of things: one for stormwater drainage for this existing facility and potentially further expansion in the future, as well as a roadway connection over to Enterprise Avenue. Building-wise, it would look very similar to what the building looks like today—tilt-up concrete, a nice-looking building. So for you tonight officially is the site plan application itself. We do have representatives from Intek with us tonight as well if you have any questions for them. [29:16] **Mayor Mary Fasbender**: Thank you, John. Council, any questions or comments? Okay, if not, then I would look for a motion to approve the resolution of the City Council of the City of Hastings granting site plan approval for expansion of the Intek Plastics building at 1000 Spiral Boulevard. [29:38] **Councilmember Jen Fox**: So moved. [29:39] **Councilmember Mya Beck**: Second. [29:40] **Mayor Mary Fasbender**: Councilmember Fox and Councilmember Beck. Any discussion Council? Okay, all those in favor of the motion state by saying aye. (Aye). Opposed to that motion state by saying nay. And that motion prevails. Good luck, and it's great to see an expansion coming to your business and to our city. Thank you. [30:04] **John Hinzman**: Okay, thank you. Moving on here, another project that we've been working on for some time here with lots of great benefits and that is the Confluence. We have a couple of actions before you tonight for the former Hudson Manufacturing facility located at 200 West 2nd Street. Our involvement goes back probably about 12 or 13 years or so with the action of acquiring the building, partial demolition, environmental clearance, and then Confluence involvement in about 2016. What we have before you tonight are a couple of actions related to that development. One of them is the Fifth Amendment to the purchase and development agreement. This amendment would do two things: one, it would extend what's termed the "substantial completion date" from October 31st of this year to May 31st of next year. There's been some delays—some equipment line things that have proved difficult, some unforeseen circumstances within the building—but they're looking at May as the extension date. A question that has been out there for the community and HEDRA has been, "What has been happening at the building?" We can see some changes on the outside which are great, but how is the construction going along? From the view of the building we had last week, showing all the interior construction that's going on—electrical, HVAC, plumbing, and setting up walls—the building's really taking shape and that May date certainly appears to be something that can happen. The other thing we're taking action on is the establishment of what's termed a "minimum assessment agreement." This establishes the floor of value on the valuation of that building for tax purposes. Wherever the building is come January 1st of 2023, that minimum valuation is agreed to be 5.7 million dollars. Confluence will be obligated to pay taxes on that 5.7 million dollars regardless of where they are in construction. HEDRA took similar action last Thursday on it. When HEDRA was first enacted back in 2009, this was one of the first projects they overtook. We've had a tremendous commitment from Confluence Development to carry this project forward. This has not been an easy project. I do believe in the very end here that we are going to see a tremendous project within downtown Hastings. We wanted to provide a facility in which people who are crossing the yet-to-be-built Hastings Bridge would come across, see this, and want to stop in. We believe that this is going to be what is going to happen here in the near future. So I'll stand at that at this point. Two actions tonight. We also have Pat Regan here from Confluence if you have any questions for him. [34:47] **Mayor Mary Fasbender**: Thank you John. Any discussion Council? Okay, well I was on that tour and it was wonderful to see the movement that has been happening and just to see the outside and the little things that are coming into play that we can visibly see as we drive down the road. It's very exciting and, you know, 22-23—what's the difference of a year, right? Let's just get it done. [35:24] **Councilmember Jen Fox**: Thank you, Your Honor. I want to echo some of the sentiments John mentioned. I get to look at the beautiful building every day on my way to work and as I leave work, and it's clearly coming along at a great pace. This is certainly a frequently asked question I think that we all receive. Has it taken a lot of time? Yes. Will we see its completion in the near-ish future? Absolutely. And it's something that we can all be very proud of, not only for the wonderful facility it will be but for the partnerships and the work that the City has been able to partner on in this project. So thank you, John, for all of your diligence in this project as well. [36:21] **Councilmember Mya Beck**: As a member of HEDRA, I did tour the facility last Thursday and it really is something that will be beautiful. I think it's hard to share in a vision that you don't work in every day, but there are people that do and that have a vision for how they hope it looks. Just being in there, being able to see all the framing that's been done—"all the work of the bar will be here and the restaurant will be there"—seeing it and standing in between the walls helped me understand the vision. I am appreciative of the work that's been done. I think that when the community gets to come in, they'll also share and understand what a wonderful asset it is. I look forward to seeing it come to completion. I hope the community soon gets to experience it and see the vision, because I think once you walk in there it'll be like, "Oh, this is what we were waiting for." And it will be worth it. [37:34] **Mayor Mary Fasbender**: Okay Council, I would accept a motion to approve the Fifth Amendment of the purchase and development agreement and the minimum assessment agreement. [37:42] **Councilmember Lisa Leifeld**: So moved. [37:44] **Councilmember Jen Fox**: Second. [37:51] **Councilmember Jen Fox**: Thank you, Your Honor. I echo the enthusiasm for this project. But I know that there is a little patio—that patio platform, I'm not sure how else to describe it—that's down by the trail system there on the river that's supposed to be available for the public to reserve. The last time this subject came forward, I had asked about how folks could schedule to be able to use that platform. I haven't seen it being used and I haven't seen it publicized anywhere, so I was wondering where we were with that so that the public can use that space. [38:40] **John Hinzman**: Sure, I'll give what I know on it and perhaps Pat may add some further detail. You're correct, there is a public use agreement over that land where the observation platform is. There are public rights over that, owned privately by Confluence but public rights for use. I would expect that any reservations of that are going to be handled through IDM Hospitality, who is the management entity for the hotel and restaurant. They had mentioned at HEDRA that they have done a new landing page for the Confluence Hotel and they'll be taking reservations for the hotel and facilities here in the near future. Pat, is that fairly accurate? [39:26] **Pat Regan**: Yes, it is. The website is live now. The reservation system goes live December 1st. [39:35] **John Hinzman**: And I don't think there was going to be a cost as long as Confluence wasn't using it for an event of your own; it was available then for free for the public to use. [39:56] **Councilmember Jen Fox**: I guess it's been over a year—I think it's been more like a year and a half—that that platform has been there and available, and no one's been able to use it. If it's public land and all along it's supposed to have been available for folks to utilize in such an absolutely beautiful spot, it's just kind of a travesty that it hasn't been able to be used and that we haven't figured out any of the details. I would love to see that sooner rather than later. I'm sure there’s a bazillion issues that go into the construction of the building itself, but it seems like there’s an obligation to the public for them to be able to use that platform since such a considerable amount of public dollars have gone into an investment in this redevelopment. Dan Wietecha, if you could please address whose responsibility that is. It seems like it's been bounced back and forth. [41:17] **Dan Wietecha**: I believe that is addressed in the public use maintenance agreement—the PUMA, as we call it—which was negotiated several years ago. John's correct; that is something that would be the responsibility of the hotel for that reservation system. [41:45] **John Hinzman**: And I'll further add, with the site itself being in construction with the parking lot and landscaping and other things that were just finished up recently, the platform next to the trail had some disconnect there because of the fence. As the construction site finishes up here and the operation is in place in the spring, I think we'll have greater opportunities. [42:31] **Mayor Mary Fasbender**: Thank you. There is a motion and a second on the floor. All those in favor of the motion stay by saying aye. (Aye). Opposed to that motion state by saying nay. And that motion prevails. Tonight under Administration, we have a Strategic Initiative Quarterly Report and the next steps. Dan? [42:43] **Dan Wietecha**: Thank you, Mayor. Really there's two parts to this and no action. The first item is our quarterly written report on progress on the Strategic Initiatives that were adopted a little over a year ago. When we were developing these, there was concern that we wanted to make sure these weren't just a plan put on a shelf and forgotten about. These reports are housed on the City's website. The other item is next steps. We adopted this a little over a year ago and the thought was these are the goals for the next year to year and a half. We're coming up on the end of that timeframe. I want to have the Council start thinking about that process. I think there's a couple of obvious choices, like waiting until January when there's two or three new Council members instead of hurrying up and doing it now. But I also want to ask: how do we do it? Do we do it as a full all-day retreat? Do we try to do it as a couple of three-hour sessions? Do we work with a facilitator like Chad Weinstein again, or do it in-house? So I’m looking for some feedback over the next month so that come January, we can hit this right away. [47:25] **Mayor Mary Fasbender**: Thank you Dan. Council, any discussion? [47:33] **Councilmember Jen Fox**: Thank you, Your Honor. I think that makes sense to wait until the new year. It would also be a really good opportunity for the new council members just to come up to speed. I appreciate all the hard work that staff have been putting into maintaining and chiseling away at these initiatives. I think one thing that just would have been nice is to periodically take one section of this and dedicate a council meeting and give a verbal update. A lot of these just kind of say "ongoing" or "in progress" without a lot of detail. For instance, I'm keenly interested in the downtown business district taxing district for improvements. It would just be useful for us to hear on some of these issues a little bit more often. So thank you for all your work, I know it's a lot. [49:46] **Dan Wietecha**: Thank you. [49:50] **Mayor Mary Fasbender**: All right, no action needed then. Moving forward, we have the Public Arts Commission. Dan, you may continue. [50:00] **Dan Wietecha**: This one also is for discussion; there's no action requested tonight. Because our Charter holds that creating a commission is by ordinance, I anticipate we will have the first reading ordinance at our November 7th meeting. Earlier this spring, the Arts Task Force had brought forth the recommendation to create a formal Arts Commission. The matter was referred to the City Council's Planning Committee of Council. Their ultimate recommendation was: "Let's do a two-year ordinance. Let's give it a chance to prove itself and succeed." There was some concern that being a new entity, it might be frustrated by slow city processes or budget limits. So the recommendation was a "two-year prove it." I think that they will. We would have the first reading ordinance in a couple of weeks. [52:25] **Mayor Mary Fasbender**: Council discussion? Councilmember Fox. [52:28] **Councilmember Jen Fox**: I just wanted to thank the members of the Arts Task Force who are here in the audience today and members of HPC who have been big supporters. The Council committee that was discussing this met three times on it. There was a lot of conversation. I've been intimately involved in the Arts Task Force this last year, so sometimes it's hard when you're so ingrained and enthusiastic to take two steps back and understand other folks' concerns. I think that the two-year timeframe on the commission is an opportunity for them to prove themselves and then, if need be, a corrective action could happen. But I'm hoping for the best and I think it's just going to be a wonderful opportunity for our community. So, thank you everyone. [54:53] **Councilmember Angie Haus**: Thanks, Your Honor. I am beyond thrilled about this. It is almost 10 years since Dr. Kazar brought her economic report to the city to tell us what the Arts do in terms of economic tourism and growth. I think taking these big steps is a really important moment for the Arts community in Hastings and for the City as a whole. So thank you for finding a spot in the middle that we can be comfortable with. [55:49] **Mayor Mary Fasbender**: I too will thank you. It is exciting and you've worked really hard. I sat in on one of your meetings and the collaboration and thought process you all have for what is best for our community was just really fun to see. So I thank you, and you have two years to prove to us—and I’m pretty sure you will. [56:19] **Mayor Mary Fasbender**: At this point, Council, any announcements? [56:22] **Councilmember Jen Fox**: Thank you, Honor. I just wanted to provide a quick update. I’m chairing one of the four committees for the League of Minnesota Cities this year—the Improving Service Delivery Committee. We are bringing forward recommendations to the board on Thursday. I wanted to name a few because the League is taking comments through October 31st. Two are related to ambulance services. We here in Hastings have our Fire service also run an ambulance service. The committee is recommending adding a provision stating if the Federal Government does not increase Medicaid and Medicare rates to fully reimburse providers, the State should provide additional funding to offset that gap. There's a "bleed" happening in many cities like our own where taxpayers have to make up that gap. The second is modifying the membership of the EMSRB to include representatives of municipal ambulance services to make sure we're properly represented. Three other quick new policies: First, fundraising authority. While cities have authority to accept gifts, the State Auditor has indicated cities lack authority to fundraise. This policy would allow municipalities to solicit charitable donations for certain projects. Second is regulation of cannabinoid products—the "gummy law." This policy reflects the need for the legislature to address regulatory, safety, and health concerns. Third is expungements for rehabilitated individuals, balancing public safety and victim interests. If any of you would like to review those and provide comment, now is the time. [1:02:12] **Mayor Mary Fasbender**: Thank you, Councilmember Fox. I have a few announcements and then we'll go into closed session. HCTV and Hastings Chamber of Commerce will host their Hastings Candidate Forum on Thursday, October 20th at 6:30 PM. The ISD 200 School Board Candidate Forum is on Thursday, October 27th at 7 PM. Sunday, October 23rd is "Breaking the Silence: Remembering Brown’s Chapel AME" at First Presbyterian Church at 2 PM. The first Hastings Creative Convergence is Tuesday, October 25th at 7 PM at the Hastings Arts Center. The Hastings Community Halloween party is Friday, October 28th from 6 to 8 at the Hastings High School. I'd like to recognize that October 28th is National First Responder Day—thank you to all of our First Responders. [1:04:31] **Councilmember Jen Fox**: I would like to mention the Downtown Business Association’s annual Halloween Candy Crawl, Sunday, October 30th from 2 to 5 PM. Come trick-or-treat at the downtown businesses. [1:05:18] **Mayor Mary Fasbender**: Litigation counsel for the City, George Hoff, has asked that the City Council meeting close for an attorney-client privileged discussion of litigation strategy in the matter of *Gregg Homes of Hastings Inc. vs. City of Hastings*. Mr. Hoff and our City Attorney Corey Land are both present. Confidentiality is necessary in order to allow a candid discussion including defense strategies. Closing the meeting is authorized by Minnesota Statute 13D.05, subdivision 3B. I will therefore seek a motion to move into a closed-door session at this time. [1:06:04] **Councilmember Tim Lawrence**: So moved. [1:06:05] **Councilmember Angie Haus**: Second. [1:06:06] **Mayor Mary Fasbender**: Councilmember Lawrence, Councilmember Haus. All those in favor of the motion state by saying aye. (Aye). Opposed? (Motion carries).