This evening we have some special guests with us as as well. And um first order of business um a reminder and I need to remind myself turn your cell phones on silent um so that they don't disrupt the meeting. And soon as I do that we can stand and say pledge of allegiance. I aliance 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. >> So, um, again, welcome everyone this evening, um, as well as those watching on YouTube later on. I'm going to start out with some introductions. I'm Lisa Whan. I'm the mayor. And to my left are council members Kathleen Refkin, Peter Vickery, Claudia Lesey, and then Brian Govern. And on the end, we have our city engineer Allison Falsky with WSB. Then we have our director of public works, Gary Peters. And then we have our assistant administrator, Paula Bowman. To my uh right, I have um our city administrator, Jasper Krugal. Brian Grim is our finance director. And next to Brian, we have David Ael, who is our community development director. And then on the end we have our chief of police uh Craig Squires with that. Um and then do we have anybody remotely participating? >> Yeah. Uh >> and Meerhoff and Meerhoff is taking notes. She is our city clerk. Sarah Sansa >> and Sarah Sansala is our um city attorney. They are both um participating via um internet, whatever it's called. All right. You can tell how old I am. All right, with that um we'll move on to approval of the agenda. Are there any changes or you wish to make otherwise um is there a motion to approve the agenda as presented? >> So move. >> Thank you, Mr. Revkin. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Govern. I'll give it to you. >> Mr. Govern, all those in favor signify with I. I. All those opposed? Motion passes. So, next we move on to our special presentations. Like I said, we have some special a special guests here this evening. Marge Beard is uh from Three Rivers Park District. She is our district uh commissioner. Uh welcome, Marge, and thank you for coming. >> Thank you very much for the warm welcome, Mayor. I appreciate being here. So, I am Marge Beard with Three Rivers Park District. I represent I'm serve as a commissioner on the board and I represent district 1 and and district 1 includes the uh residents of the city of Minatrista. So, it's my pleasure to be here tonight. >> Do I just click Oh, look at that. Here we go. Okay, so we're going to start off a little bit of background. Who is Three Rivers? So, Three Rivers was um it's a park district that was established in 1957 by the state legislature. So, we are a standalone local unit of government. We are run by a board of seven commissioners. We have five elected commissioners and two appointed commissioners. And I serve in one of the elected roles. We have over 25 parks and park reserves, 27,000 acres of land, which is over 36 square miles, 175 miles of regional trail. And regional trail is typically that trails, the trails that are outside our parks that connect our parks together. They're easily identifiable because they're paved and they have a yellow dash line. So, if you're riding around anywhere and you see that yellow dash line, you can pretty much count on that's a Three Rivers Trail. In addition, we have another 300 miles of trails within our parks. And those may be paved, but many times they're uh dirt trails or grass trails or somewhere if you want to put on your hiking boots and get out there, we've got a place for you. We get 16 million visitor visitors a year, which is quite significant because that's more than twice our state's population just in our three rivers parks themselves. >> Three times. So what's happening at Three Rivers? So the most exciting thing that has happened to us in really a long time was our uh opening of our Mississippi Gateway Regional Park. Uh the Mississippi Gateway Park is on the Mississippi and Brooklyn Park. And you may have known it years ago as the Rapids Regional A Rapids Dam Regional Park. We changed the name and we embarked on a a a significant effort to really redevelop that park. There was a ton of community um community input on that and I'm happy to share with you a couple of highlights. The first on the left is the gateway center. So when you approach uh the gateway center really serves as a visitor center as well as a nature center. There's a lot of classrooms inside. There's a downstairs area for us to move boats in and out to move kids and school groups in boot wind boots to get them out in the river. The whole purpose of having a park on the Mississippi River is to get into the river and get people exposed to the river. So, we're very excited about the opportunities there. In the upper left, uh if you go to the park, you'll see a uh area we call the mini Mississippi, and it's just that it is a reconstruction of uh looks like a river. It has water that flows through it, and it really the target is the young toddlers. They're really too little to get into or really close to the Mississippi. and it has proved to be a very exciting place for them to be. I'm I'm glad we we built that. >> Is it as muddy as the Mississippi? >> No mud there. No mud yet, unless it's brought in from somewhere, but it it's really been a hit with the little kids and the parents. >> And then on the bottom right is our treetops trail. So, it's just what you imagine. It's a a a elevated walkway that connects to our gateway center. Comes out the gateway center and you're elevated in the trees as you um you walk around and you come out go out to a vista where you really overlook the um wetlands and it's the I've heard from the birders that they really like being able to be up there and closer to the birds. So, it's been a great success for us. closer to Minatrista. One of the big projects we completed is at Lake Minnetonka Regional Park and it was the restoration of the Schmid farmhouse. Um the um Doug Schmid approached us, his greatgrandfather Frederick Schmid. Uh this was his farm and his farmhouse and we uh embarked together on a project to restore that. It's self-guided and it's available and open now. So, next time you're cruising through Lake Minnetonka Regional Park, uh you know, take a stop and take a walk through the park. There's some historical markers in there. It's very interesting. >> The next uh project closer to home here is the improving of the water quality at Whale Tale Lake. And Whale Lake is the lake just over yonder um associated with um Gail Woods Farm. And we um have done an alum treatment. And alum is this substance. I'm not a water expert, but a substance that binds to the phosphorus and makes the phosphorus land on the bottom of the lake and it clears the water of the lake. We've had great success with it. Right now, our numbers are looking good. We have another alum treatment scheduled for um spring of 2026. And if the lake can hold the numbers we have now, we would be able to in two years be able to take it off the impaired waters list throughout our state, which is quite an achievement and it's hard to do. So, it's something we're really working on here locally. The next project also sort of natural resources based uh is at Carver Park and it's a partnership we have with Ducks Unlimited. There's a shallow lake. I do that. Oh, there's a shallow lake um that would drain and it it's ideal for a water foul ducks. Okay. And um we installed a water control mechanism that allows staff to control the flow of water into this very shallow lake or you might think of it as really like a wetland that you can you can see the difference. On the left is the project once it was complete and on the right is what it looked like in the spring. So it quite filled in and you can see that um ducks would just love that. But today I'm here for the excitement to make sure everyone uh in Ministrista knows about Fall Fest. That's this weekend. That's October 11th and 12th from 10 to 4 at Gailwoods Park. It is a free event. It is outstanding. It is one of our um highlights of the year and it's a great way to showcase the city of Minatrista as visitors come come through your city on their way to to Gail Woods. There will be free. Um the barns will be open, the animals will be out, there'll be music, there'll be food trucks. Uh we also have um sheep hurting dogs. There's sheep hurting trials. It's fantastic. It's very interesting. I went to that last year. I didn't really know anything about it. It was quite quite interesting. And it's just a great day. Hopefully the weather will be cool but hold out uh nice. I drove through Gail Woods on my way here and I see they've already got the uh parking all lined up like staff have been working really hard >> and the sign sign is out. The sign is out. I saw the sign. I saw the parking. They're, you know, getting ready to go and it's going to be quite an event. There'll be vendors there as well. Everything is free. >> What's the time? 10 >> question. >> It is. Thank you. Very good lead there, council member. Um so it's this weekend the 11th to 12th, 10 to 4 at Gail Woods. I encourage you to stop by and uh bring a neighbor or two because it's going to be a great time. >> Thank you. >> So, and with that, Mayor >> March, I just want to make one comment. Um so, the Whale Tail um actually the project there was a um partnership between Piner Creek WHED and the city of Minatrista. So just um wanted to point that out that we uh love the work that you're doing out there and it's a great partnership because we really appreciate um as you know whale well you might not know whale is wholly um incorporated or wholly surrounded by Minatrista. So it's wholly within Minitrista. So we really appreciate those partnerships. >> Yeah, for pointing that out. >> Marge, can I ask you a question? >> Sure. >> How does someone reach out to you regarding like the >> what did you call the lake whale lake? You called it a I'm sorry. You said it was on a certain list. >> So, the impaired impaired. How does someone reach out to you about a lake they think is impaired or or a body of water? Do they just call? >> So, you can certainly call me or send me an email. I won't have the answer, but I certainly know the people who do or they know the people who do and we be would be able to get you an answer. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, it's it's our pleasure. Um, we pride ourselves in partnering with our cities and other organizations to really um, we can't make things happen on our own. So, >> yeah. Thank you so much. >> Get that answer for you. >> Thank Thank you, Marge. Any other questions? So, I'll see you Wednesday night. >> See you then. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> All right. Um, so, um, I don't think we have anybody sign up under persons to be heard. Um, so we'll move on to our consent agenda items. Are there any we have to remove? I I did have a couple questions about item D. >> D is uh approved claims. No, the adopt certification ABCD unpaid >> adopt certification for unpaid utility fees. You want to remove that for discussion? >> Uh >> we can do that. >> Okay. Yeah. Be a brief discussion, but >> All right. Um so otherwise we have A approve work session meeting minutes from September 15, 2025. B is approve city council regular meeting minutes from September 15, 2025. C is a resolution to approve claims. Then we'll move on to E. E is a um resolution to support the acquisition of 6801 County Road number 15 by Three Rivers Park District. F is a resolution to approve the front yard and Lakeshore setback variance at 3275 uh County Road 44. NG is a resolution approving the Minnesota the Waca wetland replacement application for West Tanka High School improvements. and H is accept the grant agreement for funding of a ballistic shield and transport bag. Is there approve um a motion to approve consent agenda items A, B, C, E, F, G, and H? >> So move. >> Thank you, Mr. Vicky. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Miss Refkin. Any other questions? Hearing none. All those in favor signify with I. I. >> I. All those opposed. Motion passes. 5. So, um, Mr. Govern, you had a question on the adoption of the certification. >> Yeah. And uh so I was just reading through it and uh I see that there's a 5% peranom uh interest rate that goes in there and a $30 administrative fee and I just wanted to raise is do we feel like that is sufficient because I know the prime rate's about 7 and a quarter 7 and a half right now and it looks like about half the I half the properties on this list instead of looks like they're just paying their bills this way and I assume that we want to discourage that. Um, yeah, council member Governor, we've the 5%'s been a pretty common. I mean, with the rates being where they are, I mean, I guess depending on, you know, if you're looking at the prime rate or more like a Fed funds rate or something, I mean, somewhere, you know, obviously between four and, you know, like you referenced 7%. I mean, so I think we the 5% interest and the $30 admin fee seems to be pretty fair in what we've charged annually, I guess, as far as for these delinquent accounts. I mean, they these accounts have already been hit with, you know, late fees. Yeah, correct. >> So, this would be on top of that >> be on top. Yeah, basically it's just the time that they're paying then with their property taxes through because it's going to be certified there. So, then the interest is just for another 14 months through the 2026 property taxes. So, >> but they have to pay all of this this amount. It's not spread out over 20 years or anything like that. >> Yeah. Yeah. It's one Yeah. basically a one-year assessment or whatever to get it caught up next year or >> Okay. And then the and the county doesn't charge us anything for that collection. >> Um they have like a small like nominal fee they they charge for special assessments for the list we send down, but it's it's pretty much that's sort of what the admin fee covers some of that plus some of our staff time. So >> Okay. >> Okay. >> That was all I had. >> All right. So then would you like to make a motion to approve the um item number D, which is adopt the certification for unpaid utility fees. So move, madame mayor. >> 2026 taxes. Okay. Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Miss Refkin. Any further questions? Hearing none. All those in favor signify with I. >> All those opposed. Motion passes 5. So next we'll move on to business items and we have um consider approval of the auth of the authorization of a 16th police officer. Is that number one? Yes, it is. >> I'm gonna hand this over to Craig. Craig. Uh chief. All right. Uh, madame mayor, council members, uh, as you know, we have an officer out on long-term leave, and we expect to have another officer out on child leave early next year. Uh, with the upcoming Family Leave Act, employees will be able to take up to 20 weeks of leave in situations such as child birth and serious medical conditions. As a 247 police department, we would like to prepare for this act and just as importantly for future growth. uh from this from basically the above uh the 16th officer conversation was started. Uh a 16th officer would help us cover these long-term absences, prepare for growth, and allow us to have at least two officers working in the road at all times when we were fully staffed and not accommodating sticker vacation time. This would of course increase officer safety, patrol coverage, and make our response times even faster. but also allow us to distribute added duties that police officers have across the board. Uh onboarding a police officer can take months. So adding a 16th officer position will help us strategically stay ahead of any unforeseen shortages while still increasing coverage. So I thank you and I'll stand for any questions. >> Thank you, Chief. Um so I guess a question I would have and maybe you would bring this back since this is an unbudgeted item. Um, could staff then bring back where we would and we can't increase the levy. So, I'm I'm in favor of this because I think safety is is well worth it, especially in a large community, a growing community. Um, where would we get the money from? So, you have any idea of what that would look like and where it would come from? >> Yeah, I think um finance director myself can kind of tag team this. I think tonight what we're what we're looking for is just to see what the appetite is. um to authorize a 16th officer. What that would then allow us to do is to post the position um and see if there's any candidates out there because, as you can imagine, they've been here for three and a half years. We've had a long time >> pull up uh you know, personnel at the police department for three weeks out of those three and a half years. So, we've it seems like we've always had a police officer um queued up to be hired. Um what the 16th officer authorization would do would be allow us to post it now. um and and see what is out there for candidates. Now, as far as the funding mechanisms, I mean, we really have kind of three levers that we can move around. Um and this could be in the form of a budget amendment in 2026 since, as the mayor alluded, we can't move the levy up. Um but what we'd have to look at is potentially using fund balance, potentially reducing the street CIP or the equipment um levy allocation. So, those are the three ones that are, you know, have funding in there that maybe we can move down the road, but keep in mind, anything you do related to this, we're going to have to make up for it in 2027. So, we're going to have to uh include that in the full 2027 budget. So, um we don't know who's out there. We don't I don't think um Chief Squires has any candidates out there, but um in the meantime, it would it would be nice to be able to post the position to be able to see what's out there. And then if we do get close, then I think we could have conversations about where city council wants to get the funding from. Um because we can't really the only thing we could do in 2026 right now would be to um move some of those things around which might be premature because that candidate may not actually exist. So, I just wanted to make the um council aware that we'll have to do some shifting if if we would like to go down this path, which I really would recommend we we consider. As you know, before when we tried to hire, it took us what a year. I mean, it it takes a long time. So, we might not even get anybody on board. And that's why I think u Mr. Krugal is suggesting that we first see if there's candidates out there and then we address um the budgeting of it. But keep in mind roads CIP or fund balance might have to be impacted or maybe a little bit in all three. >> The only context probably on fund balances we know through the budget process this summer we're already projecting to be at our minimum per city council policy in the general fund. So I don't know if that's the best option really either I guess or council would have to yeah >> have discussions I guess or >> yeah so we'll >> just to know that we'd be going going below what we >> is there perhaps a chance maybe even that this officer that is on maternity leave may not come back >> there's two different so the maternity leave is a husband >> okay >> um the other one is on extended leave >> yes so so yeah madame mayor members of council So, the the second person on leave won't be on leave till probably around January. Um, but the first person on leave, yes, correct, is on long-term leave and we're not sure. >> They might not come back. >> Correct. >> Right. >> Right. I think we have to start looking for >> Okay. >> Ryan, you're okay with that? >> Yes, I am. >> Okay. Is it possible to push some things into the next year to raise money and instead of >> well digging into a balance if >> that's why I think we are looking we could shift some funds from the um um CIP and into a street >> push it off into >> No, I think it's a good idea to start looking too. >> Okay. Okay. All right. So, just just to be clear, um you will likely see a job posting >> for a police officer and uh >> so it won't be a surprise to you. And then if we start getting a candidate, then we will start talking about um what this means because it could be >> months, who who knows? Um but we'll we'll keep communicating um and working through the personnel committee to to keep this moving along. So, you will see a job posting here probably in the next week or so. >> Okay. Thank you. Okay. Um, so next we'll um consider work out on duty policy. I think that's the chief again. >> It is. Yes. Thank you. Uh, madame mayor, members of council, uh, we we had kind of talked about this at a a work session before and then, um, uh, brought it before committee with some really helpful suggestions. Um, but overall the the Minotaura public safety department places a high value on employee wellness which is the foundation of why we're bringing this policy before you. Work on duty is not only good for physical and mental health but it's also an excellent retention tool as most of our surrounding hip county agencies have such a policy. In creating our proposed policy, we reviewed work out on duty policies from West Henipin, Weisetta, Maidina, South Lake, Eden Prairie, Plymouth, and Hopkins police departments. And we also had our policy reviewed by the city attorney. An accompanied waiver was also uh reviewed by our city attorney. This policy takes public safety first and foremost into account. The policy states that only one officer on duty can work out at a time. If two officers are working out and it it basically means if two officers are working out, the one officer in the gym still has to be in uniform. Obviously take his vest off and um take some of the gear off, but it's going to be right there in the gym. Um and there must be no calls in pending. All paperwork needs to be completed before working out and the radio must be monitored at all times. Any time spent in the gym is deducted from the officer's existing paid lunches or breaks. So there'll be no additional break time or lunches given to the officer in this policy. If officer chooses, they can use some time to work out and some time to eat. But anytime they're working out is already time allocated to them per our contract. A policy like this allows an officer to gain health benefits rather than watching TV or whatnot during breaks >> or eating. But yeah, they can eat quick protein shake. Uh officers can still work out after duty, but with trainings court and 12-hour shifts, this can be difficult to do and still get proper rest. While there are some risks to working out and getting hurt in a gym, law enforcement leaders feel the benefit of working out do outweigh the outweigh the risks. So, I'll thank you and stand for any questions. >> Thank you. >> So, the personnel committee, we had this for two meetings. We asked lots and lots of questions. Um I had chief go back um with regard to work comp and our exposure on that. Uh we will have exposure for work comp. Um if they do allege an injury um even if they sign the waiver, it's still there. Um the big so I believe the consensus was we're going to do it or we recommended approving it um on a trial basis and then having chief come back to us in about six months with who's using it, how often they're using it, and if anyone is abusing the policy. Sounds good. >> Okay. So, um you need a motion to pass this policy. >> We do. And and also just a a point of order. We'd like a motion on the 16th officer, too. Um and >> Oh, you Okay. >> So, you can do you can do them. >> We'll do both. >> Yeah. >> All right. That'd be fine. >> Um Okay. So, I'm looking for a motion to approve the authorization of a 16th police officer and to um consider the workout policy on the workout on duty policy. Is there a motion to approve those two items? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Miss Lacy. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Govern. Any further questions? >> We're looking forward to healthy police officers. >> All right, with that, all those in favor signify with I. >> I. All those opposed. Motion passes. So, next we're going to move on to our water treatment plant. We received uh three bids. We have Aaron Wulmer here this evening with us uh to go over that and some discussion, I understand. So, what we're going to do here, there may be some people that have some that are here this evening that might have a few questions. Um, Erin is going to go through his uh presentation. The city council can ask him questions and afterwards I will give a brief um if anybody has some brief questions. Uh you can uh come forward and ask those at that time. So, with that, Erin, take it away. >> All right. Madame Mayor, members of council, uh I'm back again. Um I don't really have much of a presentation. It's really mostly just uh providing the results of the bid opening from last week. So actually two weeks ago, sorry. So we'll we'll review the bid results. Uh we'll talk a little bit more about the bid alternatives that were included and then some other considerations and discussion. If you can read that, but uh we received three bids from contractors in the industry. We did have four contractors attend the pre- bid. So, one contractor decided not to bid, but uh we did get three. Um so, we were happy with uh the three that we received. Magny Construction was the low bid. Um and and all contractors provided the correct paperwork for for the bid opening. Um so, Magny uh their low bid was $21,329,000. Um they provided a so there was two two bid alternates. Bid alternate one, which was that quick uh removal of the clear well. So we have about 400,000 gallons um outside of the building footprint below ground that provides finished water that we would pump into the distribution system. So bid alternate one was to remove that from the bid uh and just build the facility with a smaller clear well that would be inside the footprint of the facility. Um, so the results for that, if I'll back up, >> how much is the um, Clearwell inside the facility? It's >> about 200,000. Okay. >> I think total I think it's actually 660,000. >> I think it's 650 or something total. >> So um, >> so it's about 200,000 250,000 in internal to the facility. Um, so to remove that, uh, Magne Construction offered a $1.65 million deduct to the contract. there was a bit of a discrepancy when they entered their bid. They entered it as a positive number and we instructed them to enter it as a negative number. Um, so it's not great, but we could work through that if we needed to, but uh at this point we're not recommending that we move forward with awarding bid alternate one at all anyways. We would just keep the base bid. Um, >> so the the base bid is 21 329 including that includes the clearwell. Yeah, we >> don't want that. we would, you know, we would reduce the price by 1.6 million. >> Uh, bid alternate two was the additional architectural treatments on the outside of the facility. Um, that so this is what the uh additional architectural treatments would look like. Um, and uh, so this was 281,000 I believe for bid alter number two. That would be on top of the base bid cost that we would pay in addition uh to add the the larger bumpout on the upper portion and change some of the texture and coloring uh to the pre-cast. So that was 281,000. >> Okay. >> So our engineers estimate was 20 million. So I was wrong unfortunately. Um I don't like being low but it does happen once in a while. Um, so the the range between the three bids was really pretty good. Uh, 21 uh.3 million up to 24.7 million. Um, so we're we're happy with the the spread on the bids, which essentially means it was a good plan set. They were able to accurately bid it. Um, but we were slightly lower than the three contractors. So overall, jump back. Erin, are you seeing project estimates coming in higher than you expect? I mean, is is this unusual? Is it >> projects are hard? Underground work is >> starting to get a lot better because of the slowdown and some of the development, but um but facility work is still there's just not that many contractors out there that do this work. >> That was my next question. Um because we you had four contractors, one decided not to bid it, so we have three. Have you ever worked with Megan Construction before? >> Uh yeah, actually we're finishing a project with them right now. So they're building a 10 million gallon per day. >> Okay. >> Plant uh very similar to yours. >> Okay. >> Uh that they're currently in the process of finishing. >> So they're going it's a little behind schedule, but overall they're a very good contractor. We've worked with them in the past. >> Great staff. Like likely the staff that finish Ramsey will will transition >> over here. And then when you talked um with them uh or I'm assuming when you talk with them um what are you proposing for a start time? When would they be starting? >> So I we have not been able to get a clear uh schedule from Magny yet but but I did talk to Rice Lake Construction who is number two and they they indicated that they they did not intend to start this fall. They plan to start in the spring in the spring. Um, and given how close we are to winter, unfortunately, I I don't think maybe it would start this this fall either. So, >> so they would start in the spring. >> Likely we'll spend this fall and winter ordering equipment, getting our paperwork in order, reviewing submitts uh so that they can start um strong in the spring. >> Okay. All right. What does that do to the overall time frame? >> Uh nothing. It was included in the So, we are very clear about substantial and final completion dates in the bid documents. That hasn't changed. We actually we got we shifted it out one month because of the bidding delay. Gave them credit for the the bid opening delay. Um but they're able to start it as soon as we issue a notice to proceed. >> So when do you think this plant would be online up and running? >> So the current substantial completion date I have a schedule towards the end I can flip to. Um just >> so our our revised uh substantial completion date is January 30th of 2028. So that winter uh with a final completion date of July 1st. >> Okay. >> So substantial essentially means it's of beneficial use to the city. So it's able to operate in previous water. So we would have it available for uh the summer of 2028. >> Okay. So then another question um if we we have some other uh developments on the horizon potentially um have you been made privy to those and um um how are we how would we be doing in terms of water um quantity um for those developments? So, um, you probably can't read this, but >> no, we can't. >> On the left, the chart on the left are the projections that we used to develop your long-term kind of water supply planning effort. >> Um, and I can read it. You're currently our current your current estimated population in 2025 was about 4,500 people. Um the development >> that are in water that are want to make that clear that are in water >> are connected. Um the development that I've been made of aware of is about 400 homes. >> Okay. >> Um so at a 2.7 per capita uh per unit that's about a thousand people. >> Okay. >> So that would if we add those additional thousand people that would put us at about our 2030 water demand projection uh based on on our original projections. So, >> no, but I'm thinking if they come online or start coming online, obviously before then, they're not going to be completely built out by 2030. But when they start coming online, we'll have sufficient um water capacity >> if you build the water plant. Correct. >> Okay. >> If you don't, uh I would recommend uh reconsidering the So, uh frankly, um wells four and five are are not heavily used wells. uh your water your current water plant is already stressed on in summer demand. Uh we have wells eight and nine that we've drilled but they're not connected and they don't have the ability to pump into the system. So uh really your system is is essentially maxed out without this water plant. >> Right. And and sometimes I know that Gary is tearing out his hair because he's worried that Yeah. So um yeah. And then um just kind of for um public information um this will remove me maganese and iron and we'll be able to meet the um Minnesota health standards. So okay um council any other Okay. So the other thing I want to point out is um we have been trying to get um bonding money from from the state and we've tried and tried and tried and um we haven't been successful for various reasons. one reason this past year they did not pass a bonding bill. So, um so if um if you wanted to wait um and um try and get money from the state, we would have to wait um quite a while and probably have to completely rebid this and and then and then here's the here's the catch. um we would it might be more expensive because it probably would be more expensive because then we have certain obligations that we have to follow um based on state statutes. So there's a lot of other steps you have to go through and then you also have to buy um there's a lot of different purchasing options and or or requirements. So it might actually drive the the cost of the U project up. Um there have been projects where they have requested bonding money and they've received the bonding money but because of the requirements it didn't make any sense to actually take the bonding money because it actually put put the project up higher than what the money was that they got. Um if that makes any sense. So, um I don't think we should wait because if we wait, it's going to put the project out yet another year, >> um or two. Um and we don't know what the U market will do and what pricing will do. So, >> and there's no guarantee we get any money, right? >> Can I add one item to that? >> Yes, please. >> Uh so, regarding the bonding, uh so, so uh state bonding, there's state bonding money and federal, >> right? uh federal we would have to bid the project in a unique ways and we didn't do that because we weren't eligible uh in in state bonding money uh actually Ramsey the project we're finishing with Magny right now they they awarded it without state money they can they started construction and then they actually applied for state money after the fact okay >> and they were awarded I think it was about $3 million >> um and as part of that we actually change ordered in prevailing wage requirements to the project to allow them to accept that funding Okay. >> So, and Magny was the contractor that worked through that with us. >> So, um essentially, >> um we can continue with this project, award it >> and you can still seek funding money >> and if you're lucky enough to receive it, we can work with Magny at that point >> and we can see how much money that they're going to that we're going to get. We might get 1 million, which might not even make sense at that point. But you're right, we should we'll continue. you can continue and you just have to modify the contractual requirements of the project to meet state requirements. So you have to meet prevailing wage requirements which this project does not because it's >> city funded. Um >> going off of memory the change order >> uh additional cost to the project to to modify it to achieve prevailing wage was about $600,000. >> Okay. So the 3 million >> was worth it to them to make that modification. And that was about a $32 million water plant. So if we roughly scale it, >> this is 22. So we're talking four or 500,000 probably. >> Okay. >> Um >> so >> so we'll keep trying. And I know um I've been contact and Jasper has been in contact with Senator Anne Johnson Stewart and with our representative Andrew Meyers. So and I know they're very supportive of it. So we'll we'll continue. We'll keep trying if they have a bond. I think they're talking about a bonding bill. So, >> yeah, it's Yeah. Um, if you don't, if council is okay, um, I'm going to ask the audience if they have any questions and then, um, and then we'll bring it back to council. Um, is there anybody that has a question regarding the treatment plant? If you do, >> I just want to make a comment. >> Okay. Can you please, you're going to have to come to the podium and just state your name and address for the record. I'm Jim Worththingington, 4634 Newcastle Curve. Strange name, a curve. But anyhow, we moved here from Oklahoma a year ago. And we were very concerned about the original proposals and we talked to Gary and Jasper. We had a meeting. It was nice to see you respond. Okay. Did we get everything we wanted? I don't know. But it's nice to have it happen. Okay. Because some places you get shut out. You get don't get to hear from anybody. So, we just want to make that comment. We hope you proceed with it. And when we get all the burm up and all the trees up y >> people will say what is that building? I can't tell what it is. It's behind those trees. >> So that's all I want to thank you. >> Thank you. And uh yes uh we do we do listen to our residents. So um we don't always you don't always get everything you want but uh we we tried our best and I think uh this is a really really good solution and I think um I think you'll be happy you'll be happy to get really good clean drinking water too. So, um, so let's talk about the Oh, anybody else? Okay. >> Kelly Arens 4654 Wolfberry curve. Uh, I'm curious, the until 2040 sticks out to me like, and then we acknowledged it could only last us until 2030 with additional development. So, would we potentially be having to build another one of these? >> Okay, I'll let Aaron know. I think >> 30 is without this. >> Yeah. Maybe Erin could answer this. I He's talking about the um storage capacity. Okay. So, storage capacity without the external storage capacity, it's called a clear well, the external one. Then we would be out of storage capacity in 2030. And then and then we would have to start thinking about building um a another tower somewhere. So, and that and again, Erin, you can correct me if I'm wrong. We're probably looking at somewhere between three and $5 million for at that point probably for another water tower. >> Okay, more. Sorry. Um so, uh we're we're thinking the 16 $1.6 million is a pretty good deal and this will take us out to 2050 50. But again, it depends on development and how much comes and and we'll be keeping an eye on that. But it should take us out into at least 20 240. And in the meantime, we also will be rehabilitating the old Kings Point water tower. I should mention that. And I think I I think it's on our schedule for 2028. Is that correct? So if we can do it sooner, we'll do it sooner. So, is there that this parcel of land where this plant is going has space for that new tower that will eventually be needed? And would this be a site where it would be built? >> No, cuz that's why we're putting the clear well in so there's not a tower in your backyard. >> So, so if we do nothing today >> Okay, hold on. I'm going to ask you to sit down because if he has to come he has to come to the microphone so it's it gets on um Yeah. Go ahead. >> So So if we if we do nothing today and we just provide let's say we put another well in and we pump water into your system, we will need additional storage to accommodate water use in 2030. If we build the water plant as we're proposing with the the clear well and the additional pumping capacity, that will push this need for storage out to at least 2040. If we can reduce our peaking factor, it'll push it out even further. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Um the water plant is sized for 2100 gallons a minute. You can see on that graphic, again, I apologize for the small text, but the the green shaded area is the additional treatment capacity that this water plant provides. The gray shaded portion is what Kings Point can provide. The blue line at the very bottom, that's your average day demand. That's how much you guys use on a winter day. Uh, and then the green line that kind of goes up diagonally, that's what you use on a peak day, the hottest day of the summer. >> So, as you can see, we're starting our our peak day is now above what Kings Point can provide. And Woodland Cove Water Plant will uh provide enough water to meet your peak day demand. Um, and actually as if you look at that green shaded area where the green line intersects the top of that green shaded area, that's so we're able to meet your peak day demand at your projected growth rates until60. >> Um, as far as additional storage once we get to 2040, if you would need additional storage, we would likely not put additional storage at that park site. Um, we we don't typically want to put elevated storage near a water plant. you put it as far away from water plant as possible. So maybe that's good news, but um so >> bad news for somebody else. >> Go. We're hoping we wouldn't need anything until 2040 and it will be in a distant portion of the city. >> Well, I think Erin, correct me if I'm wrong. Didn't we talk about doing an elevated storage tower um in the central area here? I thought it was over >> We did um up just right over here. And we we've also talked about um underground storage as well um just to avoid the >> the community conversation about a water tower, >> right? So that again it's in the future, but >> and it would not be on the Woodland Cove site. >> No. Okay. >> So >> All right. All right. >> Uh for what it's worth, I think the aesthetic uh you called it addition number two or something formal that I don't remember uh would be well worth it. I think there's um homes going in that will not be protected by the trees and burm. I'm personally very appreciative of the trees and burm, but there are a lot of houses that are being built looking headon into this thing and um until the trees get big enough. I think it would be a meaningful to the community to not have to look at the original proposal. >> Thank you. All right. Thank you. Um anybody else? >> Anybody else? All right. So, um, council, let's talk about the, um, aesthetic, the, uh, 281,000. I'm gonna I'll start out because, um, I'm not in favor of spending another $281,000. Um, I did talk to Aaron about doing some other type of aesthetic improvements and we could talk with the um with Megan and see what options we might have if it's the same architectural features that is in the original one, but maybe the colors or the stone or something is slightly different without any extra cost or very very slight extra cost. Um, Brian did a I think you did a ran some numbers and it's like $21,000 a year. 21,000 a year in additional annual payment. And we just got done talking about just an $11,000 additional payment for um for uh salaries and stuff that we didn't we thought was too expensive. So this is a very very expensive um endeavor in my opinion and we are really the water users are are going to have to pay for it and um the current users as well as future users. We're going to do everything in our power to make it as feasible or as nice as possible. But to spend yet another $281,000 in my opinion that's just strapping the water users with with higher with even even higher fees than what we already have to do. and we're going to have to raise our fees. So, that's that's where I'm coming from. I think we can make it look nice, acceptable. It it's a building. It's it's an industrial building and um I think it will look okay as an industrial building. We'll soften it up with with some landscaping um and maybe some other colors or we'll see what what we can get for for the base price. That's just where I'm coming from. I think just the darker colors in this version just make a big difference. Just the paint color can make such a big difference than the I think the first one we saw was white or cream or something. >> Well, it's creamy, right? >> Very creamy, right? It's darker really. Just And that's what I was talking to Aaron about. If there's >> if there's color options for the for the bricks that are shown here, then maybe we can go with the darker one or whatever. So, we can look at look at those to make it a little more attractive. >> I agree. Especially when you consider that the $281,000 is actually $426,000 over 20 years. And since I'm going to be paying for that, I'm a No. >> I was going to say it's not 200 something. It's 400. >> It's $426,000, which is, you know, my house. >> I I respectfully disagree with my colleagues. >> I uh >> we like the respectfuls. It's uh I see it's basically a 1% increase in cost to do right by a neighborhood that's going to have this building in their u basically field of view forever. Um I so I think it's uh it's worth it uh to for the small incremental cost to make it uh look homey as part of the neighborhood. >> Oh. >> Okay. So, if we could do it without 281,000, like, you know, if we could change the color and make it a little warmer with >> Well, I wish we could have all the people from that community in here and say, "Okay, are you all okay with the 400,000 over x amount of I mean, well, >> well, I think the big thing is the project's already over budget. This would be great. I mean, if the project was under budget, yeah, no problem. It's over budget. Odds are it's going to use the contingency fund. AE2s went over budget on the first round likely, possibly probably possibly going over again. Like there needs to be cutbacks and yeah, that's pretty, but the one that's on Kings Point Road now looks just fine. And as long as it works, we're going to put trees in. They're going to grow and we will Gary's going to make sure they continue to grow and they don't look dead like the ones on Woodling Cove Parkway and Wooding Cove Boulevard. And it's it's a water treatment plant. It's not a school. It's not a home. It needs to function. >> Come on up, Peter. Hold on. No. Sorry. No, no, no. Sorry. I can't help myself. Hold on. Um, Peter. >> Yeah. I it's an industrial building and it always will be and uh I would rather put money into shielding it with more plantings and things like that that uh you know long term will make it disappear. Uh but I think you know this really doesn't do much for for the aesthetics of it. So >> it still looks industrial. >> Yeah, it's that's just what it is. So I think shielding it is a much better route than spending money on facades. >> All right, one more comment. I think this gentleman here and >> Yeah. >> My name is Dave Carl. I live at uh 4622 Wolfbury Curve. I don't want to go over bridges we've already crossed. It's not a good use of anybody's time. So before my comment, I'd like to say thank you to Jasper and Gary. You guys have always been responsive, been very helpful. We appreciate it as a neighborhood. Thank you. You're a asset to our community. The one uh comment I had because I know we're talking aesthetics and it is more money and it's really I'm I'm I don't I won't see the plant from my house, but I know my neighbors will and none of us anticipated it being there. Again, that's a bridge we've crossed. But if you would consider the money that we saved by not putting in the road, going through the wetland, building it up, doing all that, instead going a shorter road, there has to have been some savings there. >> There really wasn't. >> It was like $60,000. So, it's it's not as much. >> So, we we had to go >> 60,000. >> Yeah. We had to go through um more um engineering >> and and that was a cost. And and there's still a cost to to change that role, too. So, by the time everything is said and done, there was maybe a 50 I thought it was 5050 $60,000 savings. So, we'll but like I said, I think we'll look at the um the coloring and see if Erin, can you bring up the other one, the plain one, because and I don't know that you could put this up there, but if you had coloring like this on the other one, I think it would make a huge difference. at the very end. >> And that's why I'm saying rather than spending the 281,000 um we could probably see look at if now just if you can imagine that lower part is darker. um the whole thing would just change and and look um much much more um less a little a little less industrial. So if we we'll work on that >> I guess um if I may kind of provide some some thoughts the because the alternative architectural was bid as a bid alternate if we want we we have to make a decision tonight on base bid and the alternates and make that decision we can't go back and award >> right right exactly >> um if we like pieces of the alternate but maybe we want to scale that back and find a middle ground between bid alternate and the base bid. It would be best to award base bid plus the alternate and then we work with magny to to do cost reductions from the from the bid alternate. Um if we award the base bid and then do additions based on the construction contract, we'll have to work through markup and things like The only thing Aaron is with the alternate there's a lot more bumpouts and that's more architectural versus just so would they they would have to go back in and do I mean it would have to be built different? >> I mean like the base bid does that say what color it is like what the concrete and the brick look like? >> There are general color selections because we're not sure what manufacturer we're getting from the pre-cast. We don't finalize that yet but we have a general range. So, I mean like the general range can be there's wiggle room in the general colors. >> Yeah. And again, at this point, we we have a better idea of who our manufacturer is actually going to going to be. So, we would need to sit down with them and look at what real options do they have. Um, so I don't know how dark we can or can't get with the base bid manufacturer, but we would need to have those. >> Where's Go ahead. Go ahead, Mayor. Um, if you just showed this in the exact two colors of the other option too, this paint, not saying I mean the other option is just darker brick and darker paint. >> Sure, >> this shouldn't be more for just a color change on this. It might depending on on what's available is what he's saying, but we can look at that. >> There's only a range of standard colors typically. So, if we go with something that's non-standard, uh, it I I'd have to ask, right? I don't want to overpromise what we can and can't do. So, >> okay. Um, >> well, worst comes to worse, can't we just spray paint it? >> Yeah, >> that's what I was going to say. >> And you can paint pre-cast. So, a lot of the, um, >> a lot of the large big box pre-cast buildings you see off the highway, >> it's it's a gray panel that they paint. >> Yeah. >> Um, and mostly it's for speed of construction. You can paint pre-cast. Just keep in mind that's now maintenance down the road. Yeah. Um, that's why sticking with a concrete color really minimizes your long-term maintenance. So, >> just my two cents. >> Well, if we go we don't do the alternate bid, we can still look at colors. And if we don't find anything, then we could still look at painting, >> which might not be the best alternative, but it's better than >> 280, >> not 280,000. So, all right. I'm good with the base bit. >> All right. So, um, we want to award, uh, do a question, council. Do you want to award the treatment plant bid to Magan Construction? >> Yes. >> Yes. Okay. So, do I have a um a motion to award uh the water treatment plant bid to Magny Construction without Wait, hold on. You have to know what we're going to be um with the um alternate one but not alternate two. >> We don't want alternate one. Alternate one takes out the clear. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. It's the plus and minus thing. Okay. I'm sorry. >> Just the base bit. >> So, the base bit and um not not removing the clear and not doing alternate two. >> So, moved. >> Okay. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Okay. Is there more discussion? You feel like you're in deep thought, Claudia. >> Well, I stop thinking I'm done. >> I'm done. Brian think Okay. >> So, Madam Mayor, if I may, there's a resolution that is set up for you. >> Okay. >> With that combination, it's it's res >> It's page page 101. It's resolution uh 85-25. >> No, it's not 101. >> It's If you're on the one If you're on the new one, >> 68. No, that's not I think it's um >> but it's um it's resolution uh number 85-25 and that's what what that does is >> um awards the base bid without alternate one >> and alternate two so 21 329 >> okay >> great >> as you said okay so the motion was made >> approve resolution number 8525 for the base bid without alternate one or without alternate two Okay. >> And second. >> Second. All right. Any further questions? Staff, we're good there. Okay. All those in favor signify with I. >> I. All those opposed. >> Motion passes 50. And we will work on the aesthetics. We'll work on that. >> All right. There you go. Um, so now uh we move on to we have to call for a public hearing on our street reconstruction bonds. This is a little different than what we've done in the past because we've always done the 429 uh bonds which are um then you have to assess at minimum of 20% of the pro of the project costs. These are bonds where we're not some of the bonds are not going to be um assessed or there's not going to be assessments. So um do you want to >> Yeah, madame mayor and council. So yeah, this is um yeah, unpack it and there's a a resolution um associated with that uh resolution number 8725 that basically states uh you know through the chapter 475 bond process we're doing for the 2026 street projects um we need to call for a public hearing on our street reconstruction plan and the date that's been selected for that would be our council meeting on November 3rd at 6:30 p.m. Okay, >> we publish that in the paper here to uh notice that and and have that on that that date. >> All right, thank you. Any questions? Hearing none, then is there a motion um calling for the public hearing relating to the adoption of a street reconstruction plan and issuance of the bonds uh for November 3rd at 6:30 here at city hall. >> So moved. >> Thank you, Mr. Governor. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Miss Refkin. Any other questions? Hearing none. All those in favor signify with I. >> I. All those opposed. Motion passes 50. So next we're going to move on to install a four-way stop at Lotus Drive and Sunset Lane. Is that you, Miss Bowski? >> Yes, Madam Mayor. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Mayor Whan, members of the council. Um, so staff has received numerous uh complaints and requests uh for a four-way stop at the intersection of Lotus Drive and Sunset Lane to the north, Wolf Bur Curve to the south. location is shown here on the map. Um on the next slide, uh it shows some of the issues that we're encounters encounter. So this is westbound Lotus Drive as we approach uh Sunset Lane and and Wolfbury. So there are three monuments within Lotus Trail there. Uh that's impeding some of the uh the sight lines. And then on the next slide, we show eastbound Lotus Drive. So, as you're coming around the curve there, um, Sunset Lane will be to the left, Wolfbury Curve to the right, and, uh, pedestrians and vehicles are having difficult time seeing this eastbound Lotus Drive traffic through this intersection. And here's another, uh, perspective looking, uh, from Sunset Lane. So, this is looking to the to the west on Lotus Drive. So, we see there's some the trees, there's some decorative grasses. So there's a number of items um that are impeding the site distances and the the curve of the road is is also hindering the site distances. So we had a traffic engineer uh take a look at this. Uh the the traffic engineer did recommend that a four-way stop be installed. So there's already a stop condition on Sunset and Wolfbury. Um, so the proposal for uh council this evening is to consider installing the stop conditions on Lotus Drive in both directions to make it a four-way stop. In addition to that, there would be some advanced warning signs uh two permanent ones. And then we'd also have um some temporary signage uh to alert drivers that there's a change in the traffic control ahead. And the cost of these signs is uh just over $500. And then there would be public works time to go out and install the signs. So, uh, we are included in the packet is a resolution, um, should the council, uh, want to, uh, have those stop signs installed. >> Thank you. And then, uh, so we discussed this at the work session and I also recommended or asked if we could also do some crosswalk, um, striping, um, so that people can so that drivers can be aware that pedestrians may be may be crossing. So, um, any other questions or comments? >> Just striping. No flashing lights, right? Just striping. Just striping. It It just makes a a a vehicle more aware that there could be pedestrians crossing and it'll just make it safer. >> If I may have a point of clarity on that intersection, if we have it up there, do we want four crosswalks on there? Um, >> you only have two. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Not direct pedestrian crossing. >> Yep. >> Traffic into a grass area with no landing >> with no ped ramp or or island there. So, just so you know, I wanted to point that out. So Gary, you would go from um the east side of Sunset over to the west side and then from the west side or where? >> Correct. That's the only two directions you can go. You cannot put a crosswalk into an area with no landing. >> You just connect the sidewalk. >> You connect it where the sidewalk connections are east west and then the north south. >> Okay. Okay, that's fine. >> That you can do. >> Okay. Yeah. All right. Um any other concerns or questions? Okay. Otherwise, we're uh looking for um um a motion to approve the installation of the four-way stop at Lotus Drive and Sunset Lane and Wolfbury Curve. >> So moved. >> Thank you, Miss Revkin. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Govern. All those in favor signify with I. I. >> All those opposed. Motion passes. I didn't ask for comment, but I'll take one quick comment. We didn't think you would oppose. >> No, thank you. Thank you foring this. My name is Venus Williams and I am at 4542 sunset lighting. Um, so yes, I really do appreciate this. Just curious, how much more would it be to do the lights at the crosswalks? Is that significantly more? >> I'm not sure, but that's not on our docket and it's tonight. You got more than what you asked for. So, all right. All right. >> Don't push you up. I'm just kidding. All right. Um but yeah, and there um and we can look at that at a later date, but um I think right now we're going to put in stop signs. There's going to be lights on the stop signs. There's going to be crosswalk striping and uh we can look at um further enhancements at a later date. So, all right. All right. So, next we'll move on to uh staff reports. >> Um thank you, Madam Mayor. I I don't I don't really have anything. Um, we are going to continue working with um, uh, Representative Meyers and Senator Johnson Stewart and I've reached out to both of them today and um, Senator Johnson Stewart is looking to potentially meet next week and um, Representative Myers, it's kind of an ongoing constant conversation about bond bonding. So, we'll continue that. Hopefully, it sounds like they're looking at a billion dollar bonding bill is what we're hearing right now with 600 million going to local government. So, if that actually happens, there might be a chance. So, um, one thing I will note, I think I sent emails out about the LMC open house, the Lake Mitonka Conservation District openhouse. If anybody's interested in that, please let me know. If we end up having more than or three or more people there, we just got to notice it. Um, same with the Gillespie Center. Um, 25th anniversary. >> The 25th. >> Um, it's on the 25th of >> Are you going to be there? >> I am. >> Okay. I can't. I know. If there's anybody else that's go that that is going to attend that um just let me know and we can notice it accordingly. That's all I have. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um any other staff? Do we have um planning commission meeting this? Okay. Um anybody can can somebody go? I can't. I will be out of town. It is the 28th. Monday the 27th. I can do it. >> Okay. Kathleen can do There'll likely be a parks commission before that too. >> Okay. >> So, which is at >> 6 o' 6 o'clock. >> That's fine. >> Okay. >> As long as we can get a forum, we we will do that to do our CIP and Right. Well, the annual stuff that >> Okay. Y So 6 o'clock and um then 7 o'clock. So Kathleen will be there. Thank you. Thank you, Kathleen. Um reports. Ryan, anything? >> No, madam mayor. >> Thank you. >> No, madam mayor. the Gillespie 25th anniversary on the 25th. >> Okay. >> Tickets are $25. >> All right. Should be a nice event. It should got a liquor license now. >> All right. >> And >> no reports. >> No reports. And um Peter and I attended a personnel committee meeting about police officer, the work crowd on duty, the wages, and then you, myself and Jasper attended the fire partnership meeting and we discussed the pension and that was basically just a broad overview and then we will be discussing it more on the October 21st meeting which I will be attending. Yep. >> Yeah. So, it's um >> slow moving. >> So, what we have to do is or what has to happen before we can even continue any more partnership fire partnership meetings is we have to um figure out how to um they're slightly different. The two pension plans are slightly different and so they have to be the same. So, we're trying to figure out how to make them equal and you know it can be done. It's just um going to take some time and some um some maneuvering. So um we're we're still working on that. And then um yeah, I attended the Minnesota Mayor's Association annual um fall get together and it was very well attended and um very interesting. Uh we had uh the speaker was um about um if you have issues on your council or you have issues with residents, how can you um kind of come to terms I guess is the best way deescalate a situation. So but I said we're pretty good here. So um we don't have to deescalate very often. So um but that was a really good meeting. It's a good networking opportunity and so on. and then um fire partnership meetings and and I will be um out for a little while. Um have to take care of my 93y old mother. So um that's all I have. So I guess that's it. If there's a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Vicky. All those in favor signify with I. I. All those opposed. Motion passes. You miss