shirt darling. >> Three, two, three. [Music] >> Have you ever like tried to take your old commute? I remember you used to do that. >> No. Well, I did on the weekend and it was only like 20 minutes and I was like, how could I have been this for like the last 9 months? >> Right. >> Yeah. Do you need something? >> It's really hard to sit on that side. Couple big windows. All the traffic. >> Motorcycles going by all the time. >> That's why I sit on this side. >> Occasionally it might be the mountain biking team comes does hills in harbor which like >> just like guys out there and give them water kids. >> I mean it's a great place to do a hill. I saw a thing in Norway cuz they had a bunch of pedals there, I guess, >> or Holland, like they have like a system where like it's like almost like a bike pedal thing. So, you put your foot on it and it lifts you all the way up the hill. >> Yeah. Like a bike elevator. >> Yeah. So, think for street. >> You just have to paw around it. >> Bike ski. >> Why don't you run the numbers for that and then let us know? >> Probably get a grand for it. >> Okay. No, it's just a me. >> Oh, goodness. >> Is Eric here tonight? >> No. Okay. >> I probably been gone for a week. >> I don't get if it came later in the afternoon. >> Where summer from? >> Um, we were down for bike week in Missouri. Yes, that was Are you going to Maine this fall? >> No, I leave for Duth tomorrow. Maine was last year. >> All right. Uh, it is 5:30. I'll call the work session to order. Uh, first we have a new employee. Welcome. So, um, before we give you guys the floor, we'll go around and do introductions. My name is Courtney Johnson. I'm the mayor. >> I'm Christine Conrad. I am city council member. I put last name confused with myself. >> Eastern County Schools. >> Hi, I'm Aaron >> Brent, city manager. >> Aaron Ransky, superintendent, Eastern Carver County Schools. Lori Ser, one of the council members. Kayla Pasco, council member. >> Andrew Simmons, director of public services. >> All right. Did they warn you about two truths in a lie? >> Okay. All right. Um All right. Uh, so we started this cuz we kind of started doing this during COVID and we were doing these introductions and co was awkward with everybody being virtual and I just think that this is a fun way to learn about folks. Um, so Craig, Mallerie, whoever wants to go first. >> Okay, I just blurred out everything there, the three that I'm going to say. >> Okay. Uh, first one is um I can't swim. Second is I have three grandchildren. And the third is I'm deathly afraid of snakes. >> To dovetail nicely with Andrew's snake. Three two truths in a lie. >> That's true. >> So, we've done this so many times. I watch for body language and eye contact. But you did okay in the eye contact. >> So, we're going to raise our fingers as to which one we think is the lie. >> You guys can play along, too, if you want. >> Good mix. >> Yeah. Good mix. Which one's the lie? >> Number two. >> Number two. >> I have two grandb babies. >> There you go. >> Outstanding. So, where were you before the city department? I was with a company called um a partners where I was a location manager there and I oversaw 30 so employees worked with dispatch dispatching uh the crews out for the spring fall work. Um prior to that I was with city of New Prague for 16 years and I was a lot of utility supervisor there. >> Outstanding. >> So >> great. And where's home for you? >> New Awesome. I'm not too far away. >> No, not bad at all. Well, welcome to City of >> Thank you. I like it. >> We hope you do. >> Awesome. >> All right, Mallerie. >> Um, okay. So, my three, uh, I have four cats. I've broken four bones. And I have four shots of coffee every morning. >> Oh, >> I like the theme. >> Yeah. A cone. [Music] I held on the floor. >> Yeah, you did. >> It's a mental trick. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> All over the board again. >> Which one's the lie? >> Me, too. I've never broken a bone. >> All right. Well, I know a little bit more about your background, but for the group, why don't you explain like where you were before us? How glad you are to be not working in a diner anymore. Yep. Um I came from EDINA. I worked just shy of three years there as their accounts payable and then utility billing. Um and uh while I am the accountant and I have almost 10 years of accounting experience, my bachelor's degree is actually in history. So in some ways that actually becomes very helpful because details are very important and making sure everything matches. So that is interesting. That's a very fun fact. So awesome. Well, welcome. We're very excited to have both of you guys. So, >> thank you. >> Um, unless you have any questions for us, we're going to go in the rest of the agenda. You're welcome to stay for all of our meetings tonight, but you may want to leave. >> I think I will. >> No worries. >> Pleasure meeting everybody. >> Thanks for coming. >> Um, all right. Moving on. Eastern Carver County Schools. The November referendum question. Dr. Rocky, welcome. >> Have we ever done We've done two truths in a lie, right? >> I did do it last time. Don't put me on the spot. >> Okay. I know. We generally try to give folks a heads up for that. It's kind of hard to pull out of the thin air. >> Welcome. >> Welcome. >> Thank you. I appreciate it. Mayor Johnson, thanks for always letting us come and partner with us. And um Brent is a great partner for us, too. So, I just wanted to say that in front of the council. So, thanks for letting us be here. Um we are going out for a referendum in November. I'm on the road to the road show. I think I did I don't know eight or nine presentations last week and so I'm gonna I'll be fast but thorough and um I might say did I say this already because I presented a couple times. >> Sure. >> So one of the things that we're really excited about that I want to share is just we have just seen an uptick in our community support and over the last three years we've seen an increase. So, Peter Leman does a survey. The board does it right before we decide if we're going out for a referendum. It's just a it's just a data point, but what we have seen is that our community is saying they feel like they're getting a good investment for their dollar. They feel like our schools are high quality, excellent, and good. Um, and and that there's an increased trust over the last three years. Uh, so I just want to start with that. I think it's really important. And one of the things that I I want to uh kind of weave through here is always referendum presentations are about the things that the district's going to lose. And we're trying to just flip it a little bit because we started making that list because that's what you do, right? You either do budget cuts or you uh raise revenue. And when we m started making the list of things that we were thinking might be in jeopardy if we don't think about our financial future, we really started realizing that they were things that make Eastern Carver County really different and investments that we've made as a community and some things that dis that other districts have already lost like media specialists for example. Um a lot of districts around us don't have that anymore. We know that that helps our kids have better background knowledge. We know that it helps them connect with books. It helps them with their reading skills. Our media specialists partner with our teachers and a lot of our kids will say that our media specialists are their their people. Um, we have an activities director. So, the activities director serves Chan and Chesca High School. I do not believe I I know of one other district that is doing that investment, but what that person does is helps with um speech, debate, spring play, um yearbook, prom, and the list goes on. And you know those 95% of our students at the secondary level uh are participating in something outside of like that classroom time studentled clubs activities athletics and I believe part of it is because we have a range of things for kids to access and two we have someone who focuses on something other than athletics and um is make sure that they're robust and run well. And so 95 I always say it and I always want people to react to me like 95% of our kids are involved in something. They that means they have a community. They have a sense of belonging. They have an adult. They like something. Meaning we can correlate engagement to a better opportunity to have academic outcomes. >> Can you tell me what a media specialist does right now because it's very different from what >> I was actually I know what it is. And I um the owner of um Getaway Cafe was a media person, but no, it would be only cuz I had kids, but what level? They're all different at each level. So at at elementary, they're a prep provider. So kids go there for a class and so our media specialists are in front of students 100% of the time like any other classroom. So like your fire teacher and media specialist, so it helps give prep time. So they do STEM at the elementary level. They do reading groups. They make sure that kids have access. They also do partnerships with English teachers to make sure that kids are getting books. If you have a Socratic seminar seminar, example, at the med at the middle level, the media specialist will come in and support that and make sure that there's books, that there reading levels, that there's topics, that there's range of topics. So, they do all kinds of things. It just depends on the level. Um anyway, so the things that we that I just really believe that are in jeopardy in this referendum are just some things that we've invested in and we've been able to invest in over the last handful of years. Uh like you, we're always thinking about our budget and we're here for a reason. It it's not and I I want to say this because I do think there's always questions around mismanagement. Is the district mismanaging their money? Could they make more cuts? And we are really here because funding hasn't kept up with inflation over the last two decades. And we have this graph that we always show where this big gap starts to happen. And so there's just a structural um dynamic that will always cause us to be in a position like this. The second piece is is inflation is inflation. So if your refrigerator and your gas tank costs more to fill, so does ours. and we have a high operations inside of a school district that that is seeing an increase in um cost. The other thing is is I would just say I believe education is as competitive as it ever has been right now and recruiting and retaining the top talent in front of our students is really important. And so we have seen a rise in costs and salary and benefits. And like many industries, benefits have gone up quite a bit. And and Eastern Carver County is no different than that. What the uh board has charged me with is to ensure that we're being operationally efficient. So looking at programming, looking at our investments and saying, are we getting the right return on our investment instead of saying we've always done this in Eastern Carver County, we should still keep doing it. And so we did do a lot of restructuring last year um making sure that the money that we are spending is um efficient and is you know in the place it needs to be right now um based on what the organization needs right now. And so uh I keep talking about like this convergence of factors. It's not one thing but we do know that structurally just um legislation is not keeping up. And maybe if you remember in 2023 there was a Star Tribune article that said uh you know historic mandates or I'm sorry ex historic funding in school districts and and there was a a a total investment in education but it also came with a significant amount of mandates a historic amount of mandates that we've never seen and what we're learning and watching is that they're not fully funded. So the district, these mandates are great. I mean, in support of employees, you know, reading all of that, but the district's subsidizing what the state can't keep up with with the mandates. Oftentimes we talk about uh you know, how much has been sent to local taxpayers, and I certainly think this is accurate, you know, and this is accurate, but that is an accurate statement. In um 2002, 10% of our funding was from the local taxpayer and in 23 24 26 percentage. The state is saying if you want excellent schools, it has to come from your community. That's what happens when you don't have a legislator that's fully funding education at the rate that they should be. Um, one of the things, this is really important and and I actually had David run these numbers because we I know David and I both when we stand up in front of people, we want to make sure that we are saying accurate information. And so we did, you know, there's codes and everything that we look at, but we are spending 80 cents on the dollar towards students. Uh, so instruction, pupil support, and district support. And and part of the reason I put this in is because the community should expect this from us hands down because we do serve students and it is an opportunity for me to just share a little bit about just always what comes up during this time is you know what how many administrators do you have? Can you cut the administrators? So $5 million last year cuts. We did a lot of administrative cuts. Number two, we do have more administrators than other districts because we have more schools. So if you went to Minnotonka, you'd have one high school. We have two. So that is two principles. Um we have more operational costs because our district's 84 miles and Richfield's is, you know, 24 miles. So there are operational things that have to happen that just can't be cut. Um if we were in uh you know another surrounding district, they might have one large middle school. We have three smaller middle schools. And I've been talking a lot about that with the community because one of the top things we've been hearing from our community is safety. I mean, in the in the light of just some really close to home tragedies, our parents are consu concerned. And of course, there's all the reactive things we should have lockdowns, emergency management, all of that. But one of the number one things that we know keeps kids and schools safe is being known. And um the number one thing that I hear from elementary parents, for example, is, "I love my principal so much because they know my kids' name because they're smaller. Our middle schools are smaller. Our high schools are smaller." So, we know that when you're known, you have a better chance to um be intervened quickly, to see warning signs, all of those things that come with that. So, I I just I want to highlight that because I think it's an investment our community has made that shouldn't um be missed. >> Dr. Rathy, can I interrupt? That's a new thing for me. The be known. I think I know what it means, but what? >> Well, I Well, let me just make a correlation back to something that I said. So, 95% of our students at the secondary level are engaged in something smaller than my classroom. So, someone an adult knows you. You're not just a number that's walking through the hallway. Our principles know most of our kids, particularly at the elementary level. So, now you're off. You're not there. Something's happening. someone probably knows you better than just if you were in a school of 3,200 kids. >> So that's why I say you're known. Okay. The other part about um operations I just want to say is you know there are there is a business side to education that has to happen. You know I've been using the the story of the payroll specialist. So, if I was a a a CEO of a Fortune 500 company that had a thousand employees, if you ask Google how many payroll specialists I should have, it would say four. I have 1.5. And if I cut the payroll specialist, no, nobody's coming to the schoolboard table with the microphone and saying, you know, my daughter's so impacted because you cut the payroll specialists, but our employees have to get paid. you know, those those business side of our of our 156 million organization has to run. And so those are those operational and fixed costs. So the board unanimously voted in July to go out for a referendum. It is 10 years, $742 per pupil with annual increase of inflation. what that is, and I'm going to spend a little bit of time on this slide. It's um on an average on a median um cost home, it is $23 a month. In 2019, when the district went out for the referendum, the median home was about 350,000. In 2021, the median value was $375,000. In 25, it is 500,000. And in 1921, and 25, it was around 20ish dollars. So I I say that to say clearly you all know our home values have gone up but the the monthly cost is about the same trend pattern that we've done. Um the other thing I want to point out is because one of the things that I hear sometimes is well if you would increase enrollment you wouldn't have to ask the taxpayers for money. And so what we do know is that the cost of homes have gone up. It doesn't always attract new moms and dads because it's more expensive. And so that is one piece. The second piece is we do know that birth rates are down in Minnesota. Birth rates are down in the US. Um our capture our market capture rate is actually fairly high. Um one of the challenges about Eastern Carver County is there's lots of options and one of the exciting things about Eastern Carver County is there's lots of options. Um and so there's a whole band. The other piece I would just say is our kindergarten incoming classes and our exiting senior classes are the kindergarten classes are smaller than our exiting um senior classes. So that automatically creates a decline in enrollment. We are seeing that our enrollment is plateauing right now. But if you think about what the community was doing 13 years ago versus what it's doing right now is is just different. Um but that was when the district was booming and you know doubling tripling pretty quickly. Um, the other pieces is, as you all know, is $23 a month for a $500,000 home is the highest it will be because the tax base keeps growing. So, of course, we're talking about Carver quite a bit with all the the building that you're doing here in the city. >> Can you say that one more time, please? >> The more homes there are. >> No, the numbers you use and what you just said. So, when you do you say it's not going to go higher than 23? >> Well, it won't be higher than $23 on the day that it's voted because it will continue to spread over the tax base, >> right? But it has an autoinflationary rate. So, it's going to inflate. >> It won't inflate. They They do not It won't inflate higher than the spread, the growth that's happening in Eastern Carpet County. >> How do you guarantee that? I don't that I I don't know that that's a guaranteeable number to say it won't go higher than 23. >> I think the rate that we're seeing the district quadrupling, I don't think that that's going to happen, but certainly I respect that opinion. I don't think that that's going to happen. Usually what we see is that the tax, if you look on your property tax, you'll see that the district's number goes down, has been going down while other numbers have been going up. Um, so here's what we're investing in. We want to do some investments. So what 742 does is it allows us to do some investing in the district. And I think that's something we just haven't been able to do. So there are some places that we are lagging in some of our comparable districts like gifted and talented. Um you know we get where there are a lot of comparable districts that talk that we get compared to that with gifted and talented programming. Um we aren't keeping up and so this will give us an opportunity to do some investing at the elementary level of 1.0 at every um elementary school uh as a gifted and talented teacher at minimum. Of course, we know Carver Elementary is a little bit bigger than some of our other schools and so, you know, we might have to do a little more investing on that side. We're going to continue to invest in advanced academics at the middle level. That was other feedback that we got that we just weren't keeping up. Um, and so we've been working on a three and four-year plan to invest in math, social studies, science, and read English um to have an advanced option. When I got here six years ago, there was one um accelerated class. was only at one middle school. And so one of the things that I just I am committed to as a professional is no matter where you live, what your zip code is, what city you're in, you should have access. And that truly is what equity part of what equity is. And so I want to make sure that that's happening. So it's at all three of our um middle schools. We also heard from our high school students that, you know, mental health continues to be a conversation. and our families are telling that if you know anybody you know getting access to therapy a counselor services is really complicated at the particularly at the uh adolescent level. So we did some investing in an additional counselor. So one at each of the high schools we used some legislative money called student support personnel money um that we were promised in 23 with a legislator. Of course, it came in a little less than 25 and we aren't sure it's going to stay because we know the next bianium might be tough. Um, but we made that investment because we want the community to see we are hearing you. We're listening. We're making investments, but we want to be able to maintain these. We also heard from our families that career and college pathways need to be enhanced. Um, and I I think that's fair. We did have been working on a reimagined high school and wanting to um enhance the program programming that we have to ensure that kids can have a pathway that's a plan. Uh it doesn't have to be just a college two two-year trade or right out into the career field. So doing some enhancements there as well. And over the my first hundred days as a superintendent, we did a lot of listening and these are the things that came out of those listening sessions. And in the Peter Leatherman survey that I said at the beginning, what we saw was the community was very supportive of the district and the referendum. And then when we talked about the investments that I'm listing here, if we made those investments, their favor for the referendum went up, which in reflection back to us is that we we heard the key points that um families are really looking for. So these are the things always this is my sad slide. So over the next handful of years, uh, if the referendum doesn't pass, you know, we project about $6.5 million deficit or, um, cuts over the, you know, next couple years, we know those are just projections. We, you know, federal funding is unpredictable. If you watch the news one time this summer, education is certainly something we can't predict right now. Um, the legislators always unpredictable. You know, in 23 they gave us per pupil funding plus inflation. And in 25 we didn't think we were going to get it. We did. But I believe, you know, there's obviously conversation about that per pupil losing that inflation. Um, so increasing class size, that's always our educators and and saying one more kid in a classroom, which ends up cutting, you know, a million dollars, $2.5 million. And so when we need to make big cuts, that is just where all the teachers are in eastern Carver County. That's where all the money is in eastern Carver County. Um, music offerings, eliminating fifth grade band, which is one thing we've continued to invest in that other districts have not high value in our community with students. Kindergarten profession or pair of professionals, we trim that down a little bit. So, you have three section. We just keep kind of trimming that at each turn. It's going to be eliminated if we have to cut it. The kindergarten teachers are very mad at me. If you have ever been in a room with 23 kindergarteners, they're there's they're a lot of work. You know, they they need a lot of support and it's such a critical time for our kids. It's not just about, you know, tying shoes and zipping coats and and all of that, although that is part of it, but that's where our kids are learning how to be learners and their foundational reading skills are really critical at this time. So, those pair professionals are really important. reducing media specialists, reducing gifted and talented even though no though we know that's where the community wants us to invest more and then of course that activities director that I talked about we have two athletic directors and an activities director and so that we'd have to reconfigure that administrative function um but to make three too. So, here's what we know um about home val here. I said this home values per month per year. You can go onto the district's website and there's a calculator so you can put your exact dollar amount in. I talked about this already just that distribution of property over time. We the actual tax impact historically decreases over time. So, I I can rephrase that. Historically, it has decreased over time. We anticipate that still to be true. So, um, how do we measure up? So, if or I want to say when we pass the referendum. So, this light blue dollar amount, um, is an operating is the operating referendum. So, the legislature gives us a cap. There's only a certain amount of operating funding we can ask for from our community. Um, the other districts that you see to the left side are often districts that we're compared to. um they have been at cap for a long time and so there has been an opportunities of some investments investing longer um and more that Eastern Carver County just hasn't been able to do. Not good, bad, right or wrong. I think um our community has a really high expectation of being fiscally responsible and they should and so this is a chance for us to do some really critical investing. Um, Hopkins, you're maybe wondering. So, the blue, I'm sorry, the dark blue is the capital tech, our capital project levy or our tech levy. Um, and if you look down to the left, Hopkins, maybe you're like, why do they have so much? Well, um, you know, this is a little bit about the configuration of the community. So, Hopkins has a higher industry, so they share the tax implications with industry. In eastern Carver County, we know a lot of the most of the tax implication is on homeowners and that is one of the reasons that people love coming living in this area. Excuse me. And it's a challenge. You know, uh Bloomington has a lot more industry than we do. And so it it's just barriers. And I say that to say like I respect that um it is a huge investment on our community members to um vote yes. I don't care if you ask people for$223 or $200. It's always my money, my livelihood. It's an investment. So I part of the reason I show this slide is I want to be able to say that because there are barriers that we know and we know county taxes have gone up and we know city taxes have gone up and the district has to go out and ask yes or no. And um we're the only industry that has to do that. Thank you. You read my mind. >> It was me. >> Thank you. Oh, I'm sorry. Early voting starts on Friday and um we know that that has really increased in popularity and so want to changes how we go out for referendums and talk to people because they can vote right after school starts. So we're out right away here hitting the pavement fast. Uh the vote is on or before November 4th. Obviously Carver were voting at um Carver City Hall on the 4th. and at the Carver County Government Center before then district. >> Correct. That's a change, right? >> No, >> it is a change from 2019, >> but we changed it there in 2021. I think it just creates more trust. First of all, it's just more trust in the community that we're not managing ballots. >> Number two, it's like a full-time job times three. Yeah. >> That Sarah's doing that I don't want her to do. And I think it just legitimizes our in our process a little more. So if you have questions, the website is dynamic. We keep adding to it. We have an email that people can use and someone will get back to you. And my big joke is we have a referendum phone line. 1 800 referendum. When it's not 1800 referendum, this is the number. >> Nobody out. >> No, nobody's called it yet. So, but you know, I was out at the lodge and um Chaza and you know some of those friends don't want to visit the website. They just want to pick up their phone and get someone to call them back, which we're happy to do. So, just ways to have access to for us to answer your questions. So, I can take any questions. I I David is the executive director of finance and operations. I'd like him to come with me wherever I go because he is the finance guy and probably has some answers that I might not have and we're great partners. So questions. >> I have some, but I don't want to jump ahead of any. >> No, I'm ahead. >> Go ahead, Christie. >> Um, so we so the last referendum just to make sure was 2021. That was the one that was approved in 2021. Um so at that time obviously I believe it was a different was you or was a different superintendent in 2021. >> Dr. Sales Adams was um one of the questions that we asked is that has student enrollment gone up or gone down over the last year or you know two years whatever your measurement is. >> Um go ahead up. Nope. Just looking for has it gone up or has it gone down for enrollment. >> So I'll David will fill in. We do do our projections. I mean, David is part of our projections team. I mean, he's like at 98% accuracy. Um, in 2020, we certainly saw in all public schools that enrollment went down choices um and co and what we have seen is that there was going to be a decline in enrollment because of kindergarten and senior classes projected to just be different because of school age children. So, we have seen a decline. What we have seen is a plateau right now because what we're seeing is people are coming back. They're coming back in sixth and 9th grade which is where we're doing our targeted marketing. We know when kids come into Eastern Carver County first through 12th grade or come in in kindergarten they stay. So we've seen an increase in the inside numbers. Um and so we've seen a plateau. Would you add anything else, David? >> Okay. So our numbers are are technically down not down from last year or >> 2020 was down with COVID significantly across the board, right? And then for the last three years, we've seen larger outgoing graduating classes than incoming kindergarten classes. So this year specifically, >> um I estimated that the outgoing graduating class for a round number would be about 750. We estimated that the incoming kindergarten class would be about 640 or a net difference of 110. >> Okay. >> I think our net difference is actually around 40 or 50 because what happened is in the we call it metriculation right year over year first graders become second graders. We do calculations on all those things. So within that cohorts of first grade through 12th grade, we actually saw an increase of about 60 students to make up a difference of the 120 on the ends. So our net change is going to be about minus40, I believe, this year. >> So I call that plateauing. >> Yep. That's a small number. >> Yep. It's partly a difference between outgoing and incoming and birth rates and everything else. Again, you look around and there's so many houses people would assume were exploding in enrollment. Shakape went from about 700 to 450 graduating seniors to incoming kindergarteners. Crazy. And the that's another growing district. So, uh, low birth rates. Um, but then internally we're gaining students because there is growth and development that is happening. >> Okay. Um, have you sold East Union property? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um, class sizes this year, are they similar to last year? Have they I mean I'm assuming I mean 40 isn't a lot but are they similar class sizes? Are they down? Are they up? >> Well, we cut $5 million so class size went up by one. >> Well, not in all the grades. In primary cave one, it was 0.5 and then one one. >> Okay. >> As a as an average across the entire district. >> Okay. Sure. >> And then you get the total number of students and you divide by a ratio and then you deploy teachers, right? Sure. >> And then you work on the ratios. >> Okay. Uh let's see. All right. So, if we I have a question. This is probably this is a the a money question. So, I'm not sure which one of you is the the correct one. So, when you're talking about cutting I'm just going back to the current slide I need here. Um >> nope, I still missed the slide. Hold on. >> There it is. >> Yep. Um, so when you're saying that if this referendum does not go through, you'll need to cut $6.5 million over four years. Um, if you're seeing though that we've plateaued, then we're not I'm I'm having a disconnect between why we would have to cut $6.5 million if we are staying at a fairly plateaued number. >> Sure. Um, so our projections are based on multiple variables. One of the variables is enrollment. So we do a five-year projection on enrollment. Increase or decrease that based on our projections. Use that enrollment number to make assumptions and projections about the revenue that'll be coming into the district because most revenue is based on a formula from the state of Minnesota. And then we also look at all of our calculations on the expense side and calculate those things out in all kinds of different areas. salary and benefits being a large one, but also think about property, insurance, electricity, fuel, all of those other fixed costs. So, we take all of our costs in any given year. We look at multiple years of trend data, and I might multiply my fuel costs by 5%, I might multiply my property insurance by 12 to 15% because that's what I've had the last few years. I take all of those expenses and all of our assumed revenues and I try to build a balanced budget. And if I can't build a balanced budget, then I have to engage in or suggest that we need to engage in cost containment moving forward. So as enrollment goes up and goes down, we either put more or less teachers to work because at a ratio of approximately 25 to1 across the district, if there's more or less kids, there's more or less teachers. But other things that are fixed costs maybe go up more than the revenue that we generate from the state of Minnesota. And if we don't increase revenue locally, we need to contain costs. And when we contain costs, we look for places that we have to do that. And because we're 80% people, it's almost always people, programs or services that we provide to students. >> Okay. >> Does that help? >> It does. Thank you. Um another question I had is the per 742 per pupil. So the things that we that you have listed here, you know, music, band, um things like some of the gifted classes, when it says 742, will I understand that that that's just an average out over each student, but will each student see anything over each pupil or is it really, you know, that's just an average that we're we're talking about? However, it's it's going to be towards these classes that and I'm sorry, these things that are listed that might get cut. >> So, we're going to make investments at each level, elementary, middle, and high school. It really isn't about like each kid's going to get an iPad. Like, that's our tech levy. That's how we support technology, but each level is going to have an investment. >> Say we would have went out for $450 per pupil. All we would be able to do is keep the lights on and just keep what we already have. And so making those investments to hand enhance in those three areas we believe all kids will get access to something more than >> okay >> you think it will go across >> every student will see something at every level will see something sorry not every level >> and ultimately um I've been in education 30 years I started as a counselor one of the things I observed as a counselor was my average class sizes when I was build when I was uh changing schedules for students was at a high school u 25 students and it became 26 students and it became 27 students when I was a high school principal at Chesca the average I was using was 31.5 so what happens when we engage in cost containment is we look for um organizational efficiencies we look at all those fixed costs and see where we can continue to pull those back and at some point when there isn't much fat or extra that we have we're looking at class sizes so the other piece that students all see as an impact is class sizes start to increase over time. So in my 30 years that class size at high schools has gone from about 24 25 to about an average of 32. >> Okay, >> that's all I have for now. Something else. Thank you. Thank you. >> Y >> any other questions? >> No Christie Christie covered my question. Just in full disclosure, I mentioned that if the community leaders meeting, I've seen this presentation already, so all my questions were answered then. Um, but if there are any questions, I know you got a meeting at two. So, I have a board meeting, too. >> Thank you both. >> Thank you. >> All right. Uh, moving on. Aaron Smith, community parks master plan review. >> What is Cornelia Street? Um, it's a Taylor Swift. >> I know. I figured this much, but I familiar with that. >> We digress. >> Hello. Thank you. We're going to talk about the parks master plan, what it looks like now, what's going to look like later, all good stuff. So the parks master plan was adopted in 2019 formally and that plan there's an inventory of existing parks and their uses as well as future park locations we think it's going to cost. We figure out how many people we think will be in Carver at that time. We divide those two numbers to figure out our park dedication number. So the work that's done in the parks master plan is really important to funding future parks and development value. So those two things go hand in hand. We can dig into it if you would like. Um, when I was looking at the parks master plan, I was thinking about Larry Harris a lot because there's a lot of Larry language like determining the nexus for the parks. So, >> oh my gosh, >> he's somewhere and his ears are ringing. So, uh, the work in the parks master plan is important for a lot of reasons, but I'd say one of the most important is that park dedication number. Figuring out what our future park system is going to cost and then being able to communicate that back to the development community. Just because we can't say we want $5 million because we want to have a cool park system, but it needs to be attached to something. It needs to have meaningful impact for our planning to be able to decide how much that park dedication number is going to be. So when I was working on this, I thought about the parks projects that we have undertaken since 2019. And I was surprised when I put this list together because it was a lot of work that has been done, which I think is a testament to the city council and the community, the commitment to parks and improving what we have, caring for what we have is something that I'm going to talk a lot about, but then also envisioning future parks. So things that have come from the parks master plan since 2019 is the flashing beacon south of the JCP roundabout. So getting kids across JCP safely at the sixth street and JCB roundabout. the underpass near Carver Elementary, the expansion of Ironwood Park with a skate park, basketball court, shelter, permanent lawn games, the Lions Park courts, so the retrofit to pickle ball, creekside park, gazebo park tables, the trail map with the uh wayfinding signage that's around town, and then with the trail map with that QR code, um lots of new trails, and then something that I know that the council has been really intentional with, which I think is really important work, is trail connections. So finding the gaps that we have in our system, uh prioritizing them as projects and then getting them done like the entrance into the Hawthorne Ridge Trail from Sixth Street was such an important trail connection that we were committed to doing and I think has been really successful and then the Carver Creek restoration that has happened with Great River Greening. So that's a ton of projects frankly that's happened since 2019. And I hope that you can take a look at that list and feel proud of what we've done and the value that has been added to the community. I hear all the time from new residents saying, "I didn't realize that Carver had such an extensive trail system or I didn't realize that there was this park here." So know that the work that we're doing here is impactful and this list is impressive and the amount of things that we have tackled together in the past sixish years. So thinking about what's next, we are going to start thinking about the comp plan, which feels crazy. I feel like we just finished the last one. >> We did. >> I know. So, in 2026, we'll start working on the comp plan, which has a parks and trails section, but we rely really heavily on the parks master plan. So, we check the boxes that we need to with the M council for the parks and trails section, but we say in our comp plan that we have a parks master plan. So, if you want more additional information or you want to see graphics, go to that parks master plan instead of take sticking in our comp plan. So, the list of to-dos that we've identified for what's next for parks, the landing which will be the downtown park, the community scale park in the Enclair Horton project on the Lindsen parcel. We are contemplating an underpass as part of Somefield. So, thinking about people moving across another county road, a heavily traffked road. We think an underpass is appropriate near that development. Riverside Park. We are partnering again with Great River Greening to go after some grant dollars for a conversion to prairie from currently mowed grass. Community park shelter has been a big one. We've been talking about two projects we've conceptually been thinking about. Olsen Park, there's a pretty big open space at that park right now. Ironwood and then a commitment to our continued robust trail system. So, those are the things that are on our list right now. When we start the comp plan process, this light list might explode. We might double this list of after hearing what folks want to see or uses that are important to them as we start to dive in in the next round of parks planning and complain planning. So thinking about the landing specifically again it's the downtown park. Uh we are talking about it as the entrance into our community and referring to it as John downtown's Jonathan Carver Parkway. So the parks commission did some work. We had the Gateway to Carver task force that did the reimagining of Old County Road 40, now Main Street. We held open houses as part of that task force. So, we had some information about what that park would look like with um some traffic changes downtown. We had an open house for folks that were adjacent to the project, future project. We've been chasing some grant dollars to get some of that work done. We haven't been successful yet, but I am hopeful it's in our future. The landing is an invitation to enter and stay in Carver. And it feels like the choice between do you stay in Carver or move on to Chaza for that first and lasting impression. So a reminder of the general location where the Miriam Junction Trail will touch down, which is the project in Scott County, the bridge coming over the river that will come into the landing at a future date. So this is what it looks like today. General location of where that bridge is. So you can see the black is uh bringing folks right into our levy trail system right behind the church community gardens and the old public utilities building. These slides will look familiar. We uh did some work as a strategic plan about reinvisioning the landing. So we are committed to a robust community input process for the landing to talk about it, think about it, uh reinvision some of the information. So, uh, thinking about it as a destination for the Miriam Junction Trail for residents and visitors. I think something that's going to be important, which is not glamorous, but some type of city facility where if you're out out for the day that you can use a bathroom, like what will that look like downtown if city hall is closed and uh we typically have uh portaotty in Riverside Park, we don't have that right now. So, we've gotten some feedback from people of like, where do I use the bathroom downtown on a Saturday? And we don't have a great answer right now because city hall is closed. It doesn't feel like there's a great >> When we're talking about this for downtown, are we talking about support urges or having real flush toilets like we have the park shelters >> in the concepts that we've developed to date, it's been a full building. >> Okay, good. I don't think that we should rely on the businesses downtown to support park and trail users that are coming. I don't think that's fair to them. So, I think it's we're right down there at a public utilities building. I think we should put some utilities in. >> Yeah, we've contemplated it with like changing spaces, too. So, if people want to use a water feature, there would be space to change. So, >> subject to change if we get community feedback or council feedback moving through the process, but right now the renderings that we have do show a full building. >> Okay. >> And then taking some feedback from the council and residents is that uh we've been talking about Riverside Park to have a water feature and this is not what we're picturing. Um, it's getting to the level now where Andrew Brent and I are texting each other photos on the weekends of like cool splash pads we're finding that don't look like this. >> Water features. >> Water features. There are water features. >> Who texted the picture? >> No. Where were you? >> I was at the Mississippi Gateway in that new one. >> That's supposed to be really cool. >> Yeah. or like De Moines has a really cool one with like limestone features where it's rock features that I think would be an homage to Carver's history of Carver Rapids, etc. That this doesn't say historic downtown Carver. There's opportunity for it to look different to be a water feature that kids can use, but it also can feel like public art at the same time. So, some renderings that you saw at the strategic plan that we are thinking about as we begin this process of the landing. So much more to come on this process, but something that we're going to start engaging in in the next couple years is conceptual work on the landing, getting feedback, developing updated renderings for the project, and moving it through the council. So, that's where with the landing right now. Um, stay tuned. I'm excited for what it's going to look like and the input we'll get from the community. The second on that list was the park in the enclave. So, a connection from Timber Creek, which has that rustic trail system that Lenar is working on, entering into the future Enclave Park. Again, uh park amenities are unknown here, but just general location. There's opportunity there, uh to partner with Dr. Horton to get probably a pretty large community scale park there. The council gave some feedback. We haven't seen an updated concept since then. So, don't take this as like, oh, they didn't change anything. Why does why is that silly parking lot still? >> We were like reading my mind. We've known each other long enough. >> They have that feedback. We just have not seen a submitt. We wouldn't anticipate seeing another concept plan. Know that they have that feedback. They're working it into their next phase of plans, but not something that we'll review probably before a preliminary PL submitt. So, we're working on that with Dear Horton. We also will think about the uses there uh with the planning commission, city council. We'll get community feedback to say, "What are you looking for? What does our park system need?" Two other parks that exist right now that we're thinking about are Ironwood and Olsen Park. Both we think have some opportunity in them. So, thinking about Ironwood Park, uh we were talking at a staff level like what does it look like to add some pickle ball there? There aren't residents close to it. Um pickle ball is obviously continuing to boom, but then we paused and said, "How much pickle ball is too much pickle ball? Do we want more courts? We have them in Lions Park. We'll have them in Creekide." I we don't feel like the community park ice rink is likely a long-term solution for pickle ball just because they're pretty temporary in nature. Folks that are playing pickle ball, I think expect a higher level of court than probably the ones that are temporary in the master. So, uh there is potential here. There's some open space in Ironwood Park, but if you say we like the openness of it, we like the open fields, great, we'll move on from it. There is also opportunity in Olsen Park. So the park's master plan calls for some type of court structure in there. So a pretty large open space and then just at a staff level, we've been thinking a lot about shade structures. So adding shade structures to playgrounds to allow people to use them in all climates. So adding a little bit of shade in these spaces that don't have uh mature trees. So thinking about Olsen, there's I don't think there's even one tree in Olsson Park. So >> there's trees there. They just >> Yeah, >> they take their >> I know, but that's what I'm saying. There's not a there's not a shade tree that someone could sit with a baby under if their other kid is at the park. So, thinking about those as potential opportunities to continue growing our existing park system as folks continue to move in adjacent to these uses, likely wanting more park features. >> How many basketball courts do we have? >> Uh, we have one full and one half. Okay. The full ones at Ironwood. >> Ironwood and the half. Okay. >> And I mean, unless you could theoretically count the ones in the skating ring. >> Yeah. Oh, yeah. They're okay. I didn't even notice those ones anymore. Okay. They're still there. >> So, thinking through those uses uh in our current existing system. And then I was thinking a lot about the things that we're committed to and then um some ideas of what future commitments could be for this group. So, some feedback we're looking for is uh what rings true for you? What are you looking to commit to with our next round of comp planning messages to share with the community and uh planning commission? So, currently I think our commitments, the maintenance and responsiveness we have of our parks, I think is really impressive. Um, we have a internal parks meeting that happens and hearing Andrew's team's commitment to before an event making sure that a park shelter is clean and the BIFF is available and that the garbages are empty. Uh, is more impressive as someone who does not live in Carver but has rented park spaces in other communities. If I came to a Carver park, it would be like, dang, this is the Taj Mahal. compared to some of the situations that I personally have been in. Um, I think we're really committed to our robust trail system. It's something that we're really thoughtful about making those trail connections, making sure that you can get from A to Z pretty much anywhere in the community via trail. I would say we're committed to building our park system with new uses, which is a great benefit of Carver being a development community. It's not super common right now that folks are able to fund entire park projects with park dedication. And so adding things like pickle ball, the docked parks and creek side permitting our games. And then we've definitely committed in the past couple years to wayfinding and identity. I think the JCP project was kind of a turning point to bring the work that we do in that area throughout the community. So it's the signage for the trails, it's the benches that look similar, it's the park shelters that have the same color roof. So working our way through wayfinding and identity has been really important work future that you can take these leave these give me feedback feelings. I think that there is a narrative and importance right now for equity and accessibility. So thinking about a park playground that has a different uh ground cover that's not wood chips. So if a kid has some type of mobility use that they're able to access a park whether it's poor if it's poor and play or some other type that they can access the park more effectively than wood chips which is tricky for a lot of mobility reasons uh community center and so engaging with residents in planning and decision- making Harvard does a great job of this but thinking about local culture history and identity in park spaces there is a big conversation right now too about like what is a person's third space. So, your spaces are like home or work for a kid at school. What is that third space and can it be Carver's park system for folks where they feel comfortable being just not having uh like you don't always have to go there just for a soccer game like can you go there as a family to spend time with friends, residents, etc. And then thinking about local events, markets, ways to build community. We've been talking about the farmers market quite a bit. I am looking forward to the day that the farmers market can come downtown to hopefully build some additional community, get people in the uh restaurants and businesses downtown to get more of a community feel for the farmers market. And then environmental stewardship. I think that work is reflected in the work that was done with Creekide with Great River Greening. Um some of the irrigation that we've been doing with reuse systems, work done in Riverside Park, etc. So thinking about the natural habitats which I think we all hold near like thinking about um Carver's unique uh natural habitat. So the some of the heavy forests that we have or the topography like how can we incorporate those into our trail system and our park system instead of just creating flat spaces where people can play soccer. How can we add to that? So uh just some general park commitments that we can think about. I don't need um to say yes, these are the three that need to go in the comp plan, but things to think about as we start that work. So, next steps for the parks master plan. The planning commission is taking a larger role in parks planning. So, I'm going to get them up to speed on the parks master plan, give them a similar presentation just to see say this is where we're at. Council looked at it. This is where we're moving to. We're looking for some feedback about the parks advisory group. We talked at the strategic plan about it. Just in general, it's great to have a group of people that are involved, but we are struggling to come up with meaningful content for that group. Um, just thinking through, we don't want them to come and hear the same presentation month after month when there's um I wish that we could have a robust agenda for them more often than we do. So, looking for some feedback and advice if you have ideas or if we can think about that in a more creative way. and then beginning the comprehensive plan work. So, the overhaul of the parks master plan and then community engagement. Uh, a big piece of the comp plan for me that I'm hoping to deliver is u more meaningful community engagement. So, thinking through how we can get people engaged if it's not an openhouse, if it's a great website where people can share feedback or pin something on a map or uh just have more resources to be part of the process. that's not come and listen to an hour presentation that's done by the city council and planning commission and then um sharing the plan in a more meaningful way. I think that's metro wide. I have um a peer group that I meet with monthly there's 15 of us across the metro and our topic Friday was like how can we make our comp plans less terrible? How can it go from a PDF on a website to a map that someone can pull up and it like actually get information about it that's easy to look at? Like I can look at the maps and the comp plan. You all can look at them. But to a resident that's trying to figure out, oh, I have a cool idea about a park, like going through our comprehensive plan is not an effective way to get them information or receive information for them. So those are my big hopes and dreams for the comp plan is different community engagement and then different um like platforming for it. So, more to come. I don't know if it's possible. I don't know what it's going to look like, but those are two of my big commitments for the next round of the comp plan. So, thinking through that. Also, getting feedback about parks is usually one of the most fun things that we do because people are excited about it. They want to share this information. It's not I hate everything. It's usually I love this one use like where can we put it? So, uh thinking through comp plan, community engagement, platforming. So, that's my presentation. Looking for some feedback for you. what range what rang true with you any commitments you want us to explore and then feedback about parks master plan engagement etc wants to go first anything >> yeah um I think looks really good um I'll be interested to see how I've not been through a master plan process before so adding all of this in and getting the community engagement is going to be really interesting Um, the biggest thing that I hear about parks, the two big things, I mean, obviously there's always the confusion about dedication funds and all of that, but there's there's not a lot we can do about that. Um, that we haven't already done a million times. >> Um, people are, you know, the things that I'm hearing are the things that you guys have been talking about and hearing all along, which is, um, concerns about the splash pad, the water feature, which I think is much better. I like the branding. >> I would love to erase that word from the language that we use when talking about that because I think spludge pad scares people and that's why >> Yeah, we all know that. Yes. >> Yeah. The water the water >> Wisconsin Dells they think that like >> neon colors exactly on the slide. >> Yeah. Um so that's one of the things that I hear. Um there's a couple of places that people are concerned about trail connections but you guys are already aware of those. Those are the thing that's another thing that I've heard. Um some of those communities are feeling like they're a little bit disconnected from the rest of Carver. Um and uh concerns about maintenance. Not that we're not doing it, but people are seeing a lot of parks go up. And when parks go up, maintenance costs go up. And there's concerns that and again this falls into the category of the difference between dedication funds and you know general levy but um concerns that people have about as we keep adding parks are we going to be able to maintain that level of maintenance y that we've been having going forward. So those are the things that I've heard. I've heard that last one too >> about that same thing. >> Oh, the people are we are we we're building a lot, right? But then what happens when it needs to be maintained? >> And by that I don't mean we're mowing around it. I mean like the slide is broken and everything is maintained. So >> yeah, the toilets need to be replaced or whatever. >> Yep. So that's what I've been hearing. >> Lauren, um couple questions. Is the park advisory group meeting four to six times a year? >> We haven't met for a while. We haven't come up with a great activity. >> Okay. So, like you said, there just isn't much to put on an agenda. >> Right. So, it's a great group. I'd love to engage them somehow, but I don't know if that's the avenue right now. >> And then here is I have a big question is um I completely support the landing with the water feature. I have a hard time I have a hard time responding to residents when they say, "Why don't you just put it at community park or the school where there's kids and there's already water?" And I I understand the financing part of it, but help me like how to respond to those. >> My feedback would be that the water feature will be part of that park. It's not the entire park. uh versions of that that we've shown have shown like a community plaza area that would co that would host the farmers market, community events, concerts in the park. Um like we've been thinking a lot about the trail connection there. So folks are going to be coming into downtown Carver, so offering them a variety of things to do. We also have shown a couple concepts with like um food truck bays. So if we ever wanted to have a food truck night where six food trucks come down and um everyone sets up shop and we can have some type of community event around it. So I would say yes. Could it be in several different locations? It could. But the water feature is just part of this park. It's not the only thing. I am anticipating and hoping that that park will be a draw for people of all ages. It's not just folks with small kids. uh to be able to get a coffee or a cocktail getaway and sit next to a water feature in the evening that's lit and beautiful as an art installation that can be played in at 9:00 a.m. with kids when it's hot out. So, it's a park that has several community offerings with a water feature that's part of it. >> I like that um description. Community plaza. >> Yeah. And we've talked about like what Church by the River looks like then too. So, if someone hosted some type of show or a wedding at that pavilion, could they use Church by the River as a staging space to allow that building to get some additional use compared to what we're seeing right now just with rentals? So, >> thank you for answering that. >> Also, if you ever want to just say like I know a little bit about it, but I'm happy to send you to Aaron like I'm happy to have that conversation with anyone. >> Christie. >> Yeah. So, I mean, I've heard some of the same feedback about the water feature downtown. A little bit less about it being a feature, but more about some safety of if you are going to be having something that's going to entice children. Um, this is a major roadway and thoroughfare. And so, I know we've talked about um what the reconiguration of that road could look like. Um, I like I like that there's some reconfiguration. Obviously, I've stated that I don't like how it goes into one way and I I don't um think that is our end all be all, but just to make sure that we are taking that into consideration, whatever that plan ends up looking like down there for the roads is that it there is a safe passageway for kids if they are coming down because I have heard um numerous times, you know, kids don't watch crossing the street the way adults do and being how busy this road is that that could become an issue. >> Yeah. and that it's just I think we all can say that's kind of a tricky intersection >> with the one direction that doesn't stop into that turn. So, >> um I have a question. So, by Olsen Park there, the new multif family buildings. >> Mhm. >> I know that Carver Crossing has its own workout uh room. Do the other buildings have that? >> Yes, >> each of them do. Yes. Okay. cuz I was thinking possibly Olsson Park might be a spot to have those that outdoor, you know, adult, I guess, fitness thing that we're talking about. Um because that is a little bit higher density. People can walk there. Maybe it's not necessary if they have their own. >> Um I do think pickle how much pickle ball could be too much pickle ball is real. I don't think that Olsson Park for me is the is the best option because uh that's generally adults and it's generally generally adults driving with their gear there. So, I think wherever if we decided to put another one in, we knew, we need to make sure there's a parking lot rather than just on the street parking. >> And we were we're not thinking pickle ball for Olsson just with how close it is to residents, too. Knowing that Pickleball does have a sound to it, the center of Ironwood Park felt like a spot that's a bit more removed from residential buildings. >> Mhm. Okay. I I love it. I don't have much else for you. Um, I love that in Carver, not every single playground is grow and mature. Not every family has kids, and the families that have kids that are little that use the playground won't be in five years and certainly not in 10 years. So, I think keeping the looking at this through the lens of maturing communities and having something for everything, I think, is so important. And I love that you brought up the outdoor exercise >> um equipment because I think that that's could be a really big draw. Um I don't know where, but I think that that would be a good thing to keep in mind. I think um I don't know the answer to the question of how much pickle ball is too much pickle ball, but I think that's I'm glad that we're thinking of that question, too. I love that we're really looking at the trail connections because again, as those children who are on slides now mature, they're going to be riding their bikes on trails to get downtown or to get to Casey's or to get to Trip Retreat in a few years. Um, I also think that the road crossings are going to be really, really important. Um, I'm glad that we're very seriously looking at the JCP crossing south of town. Um, I think, you know, as Monroe expands, we're going to continue to need to look at stuff there, too. Um, what else was I going to say? I didn't take very great notes on this. Um, but I think, um, I've struggled too with the parks advisory group. That's a great group. We only met a couple of times and we did fun stuff and that wasn't the problem of trying to figure out like what the fun or the social aspect of those meetings was going to be. The last one we did, we learned how to play pickle ball at the Chesa Community Center, but other than the like here's a quick update. Any questions? And it was more of a community advisory group. And I don't know that's what that merges into of like, you know, business alliance light or something where it's just more community updates. Hey, did you hear that Taco Bell has submitted a plan? You're wondering what they're digging holes in over there? Oh, let us tell you. that's going to be less slob or you know whatever the case might be. You know, it's budget season. Make sure you opine with us about what you think about the next budget. >> That is a really good point because like in the community sharing sessions, it wasn't usually we we talk about parks for a little bit but then it was like tell me about the new businesses or what's happening here. Yeah, that's a good point. >> Maybe it is a community advisory group and then we don't have to be so focused of like >> any news on a park yet? No. Okay, I guess we'll go another six months, you know. So, um, maybe that's a evolution >> and in the next couple of years we could think about like a a comp plan task force that's not the planning commission or city council. So, I wouldn't anticipate that group to review the transportation section or the sewer section, but could they give some feed like specific task force feedback on parks, trails, land use decisions? So, >> yeah. Um, I don't think I have anything else. I just I love that things are different. I don't think that we need to have, you know, 18 parks with 18 different playgrounds. I love the idea of getting something that's a little bit more accessible. I think when we think of accessible, we might think of children who have mobility issues. I have a friend whose daughter just underwent a bone marrow transplant and she needed to find a park that had rubberized mats for infection control issues. >> Wow. >> So, um because apparently there's spores potentially and molds in >> which in wooding. So, >> um just I think >> like don't ever come at me and say I don't know any kids in a wheelchair. We don't need that. That's not the case. So, um, just like a broader definition because I had no idea until she posted something about it. Um, shoot, there was one more thing that I was gonna say, but I think I lost it. Um, no, and I I like the idea of the water feature. I think the most insightful slide is what is it? Number seven. Number six. number seven of when you come off of what's going to be the Mariam Junction trail and seeing this as our welcome. Now granted, this was taken >> either late spring >> like maybe with intention but like this is an >> it's not a great >> you said no welcome to our community that has so much to offer. I have a question about the tugboat. Is >> is that an option to no longer stay there or is it >> Oh, that will stay there. I bought it till my last night. No, I'm kidding. I >> would it look good in your yard? >> Not at all. Too far from the water. We could we could put it in your yard. >> I know that >> I think this get wedding gifts. >> I know moving it is challenging, but it's absolutely your discretion if you want to discuss it as part of the landing. Lori, I had to have a crate. >> And it's way too soon to like think that, but when I see it, that's what I think of like when I see it. >> Just get rid of it. Think >> put it in. You have I mean to get out, you'll have to have a a crane. I had to get a crane come in in downtown to get that in. So, just bonfire. >> It doesn't just It was metal >> and wood. >> Oh, sorry. >> I have one more thing with Go ahead. >> Okay. Um, save us. >> When we Yes, so down at Riverside, I forgot this one on my list. So we, you know, the natural plantings going back. Okay. Um I was down there to check it out before uh Simo days to see where they needed to set down before the um the fireworks off. Mother nature, we know she will take it back if you give it to her or if you just turn your eye to it for a few months. So it is a jungle down there. So, I just want to be careful when we go back to the plan and having that planted that it may take a little bit more and a little bit more money than we originally thought. I think we've learned a little bit from JCP and that and it take a little bit more care to get um established and especially down there now because it is, >> you know, six foot tall weeds. It's it's juggled down there. So, I just think we should keep that in our mind that it probably going to take a little bit more, a little bit more money than we thought it was going to to get that in shape down there and to make sure over the course of a couple years that it gets established correctly, too. >> That's a really good point. >> I haven't been down there in a while. Like the next time I go in, it's going to be >> Yeah. Talking about I said it was a little overgrown down there. >> You want to be up to >> All right. Um moving on the marriages report. Mr. Mark, >> thank you. >> So I shared with the council a coordination error and I didn't uh get Eric Pman's uh council request for remote meeting. So apologize to Council Member Pchman. Uh but as a kind of a followup uh just working on kind of an action plan, response plan and in doing that and connecting with Dave Anderson, we can keep a recurring remote meeting notice on our agendas. >> Um so even if no one was deciding, you could we can say one or more council members uh may participate remotely and there isn't a requirement for someone to know your location. So, if we have that, I know there have been an occasion where council member Conrad uh had done >> had asked about that, but we were past that 3-day window. And so, this way if something comes up uh on a Sunday night and you're remote, we can still accommodate that by putting it on the agenda. So, although unfortunate and I wish it didn't occur, it led us to a space where I think we can handle this a little bit more foolproof uh going forward. So, I just wanted to share that with >> So, then you'll you don't have to post locations after that ever again? >> No. >> Oh, well, that makes it really easy. >> Yeah. >> I love that idea because I remember distinctly remember one time you were sick, >> but I think you were still like not flat on your back sick. >> Your germs, right? >> And I love that for those kinds of reasons that pops up and you want to be a good person and not share germs, which I think we all appreciate. Uh you may remember we've had some issues in the past with CC United and the soccer tournament related to like parking and last year there was a garbage issue. Um we had originally thought that they were going to kind of like um lessen their scheduling kind of cadence and they've come back and uh it appears to be kind of ramped up and they kind of let us know um recently and so Brenda Good has been the champion in kind of coordinating that. We're having a meeting with uh CC United um the sheriff's office uh public services staff uh and myself Brenda just to kind of coordinate related to parking. We've added a bunch of parking. Uh they're also expanding their location. So they're going to be at uh um both Ironwood and Bluff Park. And so if you have any feedback, we know the the neighborhood has had some adverse effects to that tournament. Uh but we're going we feel like uh we know what those issues are. We can get out ahead of it. But I just wanted to give you some line of sight. I I've shared a couple emails related to this uh in the last week or so. So if there's any additional feedback that you want us to carry to the meeting, you can let me know. Um moving on, I uh this is probably just more vindication share for me, but we've been working for three years with Excel to try to get our downtown street lights painted. And so we've been pestering them on a pretty regular basis. And um uh I didn't share this with Christie, but they they finally said we're going to paint them and they wanted to paint them uh the Friday of Steamboat Days of all things. >> That would be great. >> Right. And so we plan for another one for next year, >> right? So it was like you've got to be after 3 years like the day you choose is like the worst day, right? >> So u happy to have that done. Uh if you probably I don't know if you noticed but like the bases a lot of the street lights you could see the old green color they were getting kind of beat up so it's nice to have that done. Uh the stairwell lights >> Oh one thing about street lights a couple have been out down here. Have you are you guys aware of that? >> I'm not sure who's reported what if you have some. >> I've just seen them and I wasn't sure. I wouldn't know if there was something that you got that said street lights are out or anybody ever notices them or >> we do have like a form on the website so if someone's noticed them they've been in but I >> it's been me so if I see him again I'll let you know. >> Okay concerns. >> Um so those stairwell lights we had a continuous uh problem with those and we uh pushed wool um was my perspective that there was kind of some bad design. So, they did agree to pay for half the costs of the new uh new stairwell lights. Um, and so, uh, thanks to Rob's Electric, we got they we they helped us with a lot of coordination and W also donated their time to do like the redesign of the different fixtures. So, um, hopefully that works out. >> What was wrong with >> They kept going out two out of the three and we've had the new ones in there now. >> Yes. >> Oh, >> yeah. I think they actually look better than the old ones, frankly. Um, but uh I'm sure the mayor will have more of an update to share, but uh the public utilities commission kind of the abbreviated version sent the Great River Energies. I always think of Greeny Great River Energy's request for the transmission lines back to an administrative law judge for review and more study. Um, so I would say like the cliffnotes version of that is your advocacy made a huge difference and was referenced a ton uh during the uh meeting by the public utilities commission. Um, so job uh well done. Uh the house Minnesota house and senate investment committees are working to arrange visits of our certified flood levy. Um that's related to our body request for that last approximately $4 million for that project. Uh so Mayor Johnson has been coordinating uh with staff to uh arrange for those visits and leave that presentation. We are um I think there is a is there one next Wednesday? Is that this Wednesday? >> This Wednesday. >> This Wednesday. Um it actually I think might work out better because the Lions are having a meeting. We're going to be meeting at the church by the river and that might give them more of a kind of a historic feel, a kind of relationship to the river. Um, want to give kudos to Vickisa and Ziden. Uh, we're on the county phone system and through that fiber they did the fiber ring and the county upgraded their phone system which uh benefit to us is at no charge to us. But there was a ton of coordination with phones, voicemails, usernames, passwords, etc. And Mickey uh really crushed that. So, thanks to her and the team for working on that. I mentioned to the uh heritage preservation commission that kind of a a winter project and a kind of a grant writing project would be to uh look at updating our residential and commercial design guidelines. Um we probably haven't updated those for probably 20 years at this point. And so, uh, I think there's some areas that we could probably brush up on and just after 20 years just to kind of like, uh, get a look at maybe best practices, issues that are local here that we want some better for better clarification on. So, I'll be working through that over the winter. uh had a meeting with uh Carver County, Southwest Transit, uh the cities of Victoria, Mcconia, and Carver here uh last week to talk about kind of the money that the county is getting and how that maybe intersects with prime. Um I would say the cliffnotes version again of that is the county has about a million dollars that they would get on an annual basis towards some type of transit. And that could mean many different things. Some folks uh may think that's just kind of traditional transit, whether that's bus or microtransit, which would be prime. Uh some folks have offered that it could be uh there are some greenhouse uh gas uh restrictions related to road construction these days. I don't I'm not the expert in that, but there are way there are some folks that might think that that million dollars a year could go towards that. Um, at the end of the day, the county is doing a mobility study with Stantech and uh the county uh related to the demand for transit throughout the county and that uh those study results should be done early in 2026. And the message that I shared with the group as along with Eric Hansen with Southwest Transit is that uh we want to be in a position where we can take the results of those study and the county's position on future funding so that the city council here and in other communities has uh the opportunity to kind of sit with that and prepare for the 2026 budget so that you can make some choices related to how we fund it locally and how we may be able to use county dollars to leverage that. Ultimately that like I would say the headline for what I shared with them is that it's probably not sustainable for the city to keep uh to keep funding prime service through the general fund levy. No, not a lot of other cities or you know besides us in Victoria do that and so wanting to get uh off that. And then finally Creekide Park uh we're close uh they still have to do the acrylic on the pickle ball when they did it today. >> I don't know. We drove by this like at lunch and it was done. I was like, when did that happen? >> So, there is some cure time on that. We're so we're thinking um I'm not sure what the cure time is of when the nets are up, but we're hoping to open the pickle ball courts yet this fall. Um even though it'll will be a challenge, we'd like to hold off on opening the do park so that we can get the grass to be established so it doesn't end up getting muddy. It's coming actually fairly well already. Um, and we're going to take some precautions to try to close those off. We know that we've had some folks using it over the weekend already, but the fencing isn't completed yet, so there's just human nature that's going to happen. U, but I want to give an opportunity for the council to share any feedback or if you want us to take a different uh path on that or any of these topics that I mentioned. >> I am so excited about Creek Side Park that night. After we talked, I drove by and you're right, I'm thrilled with how the grass is coming in. I think it looks great there. I support waiting until whenever we feel that the grass is in a better place to open the dog parks. I think we're going to have to make those spaces unusable. Meaning, I don't know if that means like take off a gate or something, but >> yeah, we plan on uh like cheating like the gates closing and then putting like a like a road closed kind of or some type of like sign. Um, so >> I would argue we're going to have to like leave the fencing unfinished because >> Well, if it's the fencing's unfinished, they can walk right in, >> right? No, you better have a gap and lock >> so that it's not enclosed. >> It's not an enclosed place that you would use to >> take your dog. >> You need to have the fence completely enclosed all the way around, but the gates then should have a lock on them so that you cannot go in. >> No, I understand what the mayor is saying. What the mayor is saying is if we have a fence up, people are going to want to use it for their dogs. If we don't put the fence up, >> it's already mostly up, >> but there are still places where dogs can explain what the mayor means. >> Yeah, go right ahead. >> So, I think like if the gate wasn't on there, the gate was removed. I get it that there's like a portion of this that needs to be done by the contractors in order to be done. But if we remove the gates, because otherwise people are going to arc the fence, arc pho to the other side and still use it. I disagree because if I had my dog still and I saw the a spot that was mostly fence because I only have to watch this section now I I would take her in there and let her run because I wouldn't have to watch an entire >> Yeah, I think we support signage but I I support I don't care what we do. I support waiting until the grasses. Yeah, I think the big thing is that it'll be closed and just knowing how I think popular this is going to be, the council's probably going to get some feedback. Why can't the dog park be open? And I I think our you know, my goal here was to make sure that you're all okay saying we're keeping it closed because we want that grass to be robust in the spring. If you felt otherwise, then we would want to create a space for you to tell us to do something different. No, it needs to get established cuz once everyone the dogs start running on it and all the other things that dogs do, um, this is our only shot to really get it down for, >> right? >> My quick thing is I would easily be profiled as the one that would go in there early, but I want to honor the warranty that the landscaper is going to give to. So, we don't want to jeopardize that. >> Okay, that's all I have. Thank you. >> All right, get a motion to adjurnn. >> I'll make a motion to adjurnn. I'll second >> motion by council member comrade second by council member s. All those in favor say I. I >> oppose. Same sign. Passes.