meeting in order for December 20th if we could all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all I'd like to welcome everyone we have a special guest here uh thank you go ahead yes uh thank you Mr Mayor and Council for and council person uh Peterson for this invitation I'm David bjorklin I'm one of the pastors at St Marks here in North St Paul and been invited to share a prayer would you brief Prelude so in his explanation of the Lord's Prayer Martin Luther describes the term daily bread and what that includes among the things such as food water and shelter he expands that to include the gift of good governments and so it is with that understanding in mind that I offer this evening's prayer holy God we give you thanks for the gift of good governments we thank you for the public workers who labor to keep our city humming the power and water flowing our streets clear we thank you also for those who attend to the Daily functions of City governments we thank you for our police officers our firefighters and EMTs for their selfless service to our community for their commitments to Public Safety we thank you for elected officials for their vision and their leadership we offer our thanks to outgoing mayor Terry Furlong council member Scott Thorson and Candy Peterson for their years a dedicated service to the people of North St Paul may you bless them in their future endeavors may you also bless this Council as they conduct this evening's business may you bless the people of North St Paul and may you bless these United States amen thank you at this time uh Jennifer take the role councilmember Thorson is absent councilmember Peterson here it's been an honor and I thank you council member Wong here council member Cole here mayor Furlong here it's also been an honor and thank you thank you Quorum is president to this time a motion to adopt the agenda hope your honored by councilmember Peterson it's a Thai vote it's a time uh council member of wine which one yeah all those in favor signify by saying aye aye I suppose the motion carries this time we do have our presentations uh the first presentation is our holiday light award and we have the winners here uh we had about uh carry I don't know how many entries Maybe about 12 to 14 entries and uh this is the third year we've been doing this and they get a prize from the North St Paul Business Association I believe it's a hundred dollars and fifty dollars it went up this year inflation so the second place winner is yeah drum roll please mm-hmm Terence Furlong 100 no I'm just kidding uh it is Eric and Brittany montuful uh 24 46 13th Avenue and they've won a hundred dollars in a in a cooler in our first place winner drum roll please louder foreign Mike and Mary Anderson 2540 schreier and they also won 200 in a cooler congratulations to those two residents it was kind of fun this year to go and see all the lights and all the lights that are up to brighten up our city uh second presentation I will turn it over to city manager frandel oh Santa oh wow oh boy do I have a boy welcome Santa hello Merry Christmas so I uh I was up in the North Pole oh by the way uh that's Santa Claus One Two Three or St Paul uh behind the big snowman okay yeah um I was making that list and I was checking it twice and I was looking at all the work you guys do and I know some people are leaving and so I was like let's see here there's mayor Terry Furlong he's been here what 21 years council member Peterson 12 years and council member Thorson over 10 years as I looked at the list and all the nice things you have done and given up so much personal time I figured I'd better make a personal exp personal appearance here and and really let you know that the sacrifices that you've made have made a difference and now you can kind of kick back and actually enjoy the holidays and I'm all about that and for the rest of the council members you're doing pretty good yeah you're doing all right even you councilmember Wong I know I'm watching that all right now council member Cole um I looked through that that list and uh okay you're not right on the right list yet okay the last name's Cole I don't know where I'm gonna go with that I guess you're kind of used to getting that call no but you got a couple days all right you got three or four days you can probably probably swing it around all right you're right on the edge I'll try okay I still believe you there you go that's all you need all right so I just wanted to stop by and say you know I'm double parked with the reindeer but you know Merry Christmas and thank you for your service thank you Sam all right thank you Santa appreciate it foreign well it is with pleasure to give you this plaque um just you've been a great Steward of the city you've always pulled for us the employees that have been here looked out for the best interests of the city it's sad to see you go but uh we're certainly proud to have you here and we got this plaque it says candy Peterson the the mayor city council and city manager wish to express you our sincere gratitude and appreciation for the leadership and dedication you have provided to the North St Paul Community as a Park and Recreation commissioner and as a council member for the term of January 1st 2011 through December of this year thank you for your dedication December 20th 2022. thank you Brian absolutely [Applause] please do I'll give this back to you when you're done can I turn I don't want a face should I go up there and talk yeah you came up here okay am I out of order my hair nope you're not out here we go just a few words uh I've been honored to serve this community I've always made the best effort for North St Paul I've represented you state county and local level and I've always been proud of North St Paul and everybody knew where I was from and they knew that North St Paul is in my heart and it'll go on I wish the new Council the new mayor elect good luck you're going to need it I mean you know it's tough now the economy is tough the city's tough but we've left a good we've had a great team up here I'm going to miss you guys they're the veterans now looking for you for leadership Terry I'm going to miss you terribly we've worked together for a long time and I just want to thank the my supporters out there and I always try to do my best so I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year thank you [Applause] you are next I tell you um it's been an absolute pleasure working with uih so you go um your dedication to the city goes above and beyond and I couldn't have done this position and what I've been doing without you and I just appreciate from the bottom of my heart this is your plaque so Terry Furlong Terence Furlong the city of North St Paul wishes to express our sincere gratitude and appreciation for the leadership and dedication you have provided to North St Paul Community as a Park and Recreation commissioner as a member of The Economic Development Authority city council member and for your service as mayor of North St Paul for the term of January 1st 2019 through December 31st 2022. the city council city manager and staff thank you for Faithfully serving the residents of North St Paul since 2001. thank you very much [Applause] I do have a prepared little prepared statement here uh again candy thank you for your service and all the kind words you said to the council and what we've been doing the last I don't know how many years we were together with park and rec and everything together we've done a done a lot of good stuff so as we come to the close of my final council meeting as your mayor allow me to reflect on my term as mayor in my experiences with this extraordinary City first it's been an honor and privilege serving the city of North St Paul over the past 21 years I began my involvement with the city with the city first as a member of the Parks and Recreation Commission where I served for eight years as a Parks and Recreation commissioner had the opportunity to work with the commission residents and the city council to establish the park fund to ensure long-term funding for the future needs of our extensive and well-loved park system while serving on the Parks and Recreation Commission we successfully brought several projects to our community including a new playground and Tennis Courts at Silver Lake Park a rollerblade rink at North Northwood Park as well as updated play equipment at Colby Hills Tower housing and Dorothy parks my years as a Park and Recreation commissioner prepared me well for my 10-year term as a city council member through those busy years we worked together to construct The Overlook platform at Southwood Nature Preserve install Janie's playground a beautiful Memorial to one of our young residents and build two of our City's proudest gems the Casey Lake Park pavilion and our beautiful Veterans Park Memorial as a council member I welcome two new Senior Living options for a residence with addition of sweet living in Polar Ridge Those Years also brought the Innovative reflex medical business to our downtown and saw the addition of sidewalks around Silver Lake to continue our efforts to connect neighbors and neighborhoods following those projects I realized there is still so much work to do and thanks to your support I have served this city for the last four years as your mayor the last four years have been a world one of World Wind of development activity and challenges over the last four years we've experienced a Renaissance in our Historic downtown beginning with the mayor with the major construction of 7th Avenue that allowed us to update our aging infrastructure and prepare us for our exciting future a future that brought us new housing with the Sentinel residents mni townhomes in Anchor View Apartments as well as an influx of new businesses such as quick trip and Beyond storage a highlight of my term is The Rebirth of our City's beloved Max with the new Max Diner located on the corner of 7th Avenue and Market Street the new Max Diner reminds us of all the great potential when our when we honor potential when we honor our small town history with reimagined businesses neighborhoods and services this increased development was enhanced by the establishment of our business incentive program to recruit and retain our businesses in the continuation of our popular student build program to create new housing for our new residents thank you for entrusting the future needs of our community in shaping its exciting development to myself and my colleagues on the city council this enduring spirit is alive and well as the new Council will make important decisions about the Redevelopment of the Lilly building and the reimaging of our community center but as you know the last four years have also brought unprecedented challenges for our residents City staff commissions and Council together we have weathered a worldwide pandemic civil unrest and multiple changes in our city managers the resignation of our city manager Scott Dudek was a very troubling time the city council met in a private closed session to discuss Personnel issues as it related to the city manager the majority of the council recognize that changes needed to occur and develop a plan with the best interests of the city in mind rather than honor those wishes information from that meeting was leaked to the media but potential in violation of the data Practice Act this information from the news stories led to a very stressful time for Scott felt it would be in his and he felt the city's best interest for him to resign following his resignation the city fully cooperated with the state auditor and submitted all material relating to credit card charges and receipts for their review after numerous attempts for a ruling from the state auditor to this date we still have no official conclusion conclusion to this issue I'm proud to state that every single City credit card receipt is accounted for in reflecting on the challenges and opportunities we Face together over the last four years I am very grateful for the outstanding efforts of the devoted residents serving on the Planning Commission Economic Development Authority Parks and Recreation Commission arts and culture commission and the majority of the city council I'm also grateful the efforts of City staff our neighboring City partners we've got Paul Reinke here the mayor of Oakdale Paul I want to thank you especially being a partner as a neighboring City my wife Sandy sitting next to Paul there for her patience and understanding with my demanding schedule my employer Premier Banks for allowing me the need of flexibility to serve this community and most of all you the residents of this extraordinary City for entrusting the city where you live work and play to my leadership thank you for this opportunity to serve you so I want to thank everybody thank you very much thank you thank you thank you appreciate it is Christmas time it's my last meeting so there uh we could go different directions and how this meeting is going to go but we'll we'll stay with the agenda here uh so we did adopt the agenda we do have the consent agenda in front of us uh and I'll turn it over to city manager first up on the consent agenda a December 6 2022 regular Council minutes be General claims one million four hundred nineteen thousand one hundred and forty one dollars and 31 cents and see HRA claims 20 645.78 cents item D North St Paul police department Mutual Aid agreement e electric Department purchase of six inch conduit F Public Works purchase of three new fire hydrants and supplies to install uh ge non-union employees cost of living adjustment each appointment to arts and culture commission and Economic Development Authority and lastly I resolution accepting donations through November of 2022. so at this time uh city council member can pull any of the items from the consent agenda Just For Old Times say candy you want to pull anything just I'm not going to start tonight so thank you okay so a motion to approve the consent agenda so moved moved by council member Cole second second night council member Wong any discussion if not all those in favor signify by saying aye aye oppose the motion carries you know at this time what I what I should have done is I know Candy has some people that wanted to maybe come up and save a few items if you want to do that before we go to the open Forum if anybody else wants to say anything about candy or or myself I'm calling you right up here don't appear anything I didn't know I was going to have to go after Santa Claus or the mayor but uh and I know my brother was here two weeks ago and I had some questions I've got nothing to uh no big news here but I I just wanted to say thank you Terry um for all your service for the city and and also to you Candy we're very proud of you um the 12 years on the console you know that's been a lot but it goes beyond that with the park and rec and all that and um I know I've given you a hard time several times you know called this the the student council or whatever but um at the end of the day we are very proud of you and and I know you know from my kids too um all they ever do is talk about grandma candy and how how proud they are of you I think right now Casey's running to be the judge at fifth grade and coward and he's making signs and I think a lot of that resonates from what he's seen from you mom so um again um all you guys good luck um Public Service it's it's there's a lot to be said for it especially at this level you know it's a lot of time a lot of dedication and I as a resident I appreciate that um and uh wish you guys the best um that you've done a great job and I know I know you guys will continue to do a great job and I'm coming mayor and new city council too but thank you Terry thank you Mom we've been here for your swearing-ins we figured we'd be here for your uh your uh last meeting tonight thank you that's it appreciate it appreciate it anybody else want to say anything oh my name is Paul renke I'm oakdale's mayor and just a few words uh you know individually our cities are strong and then together we've done really good things for the East Metro uh council member Peterson congratulations and thank you the service that you've provided over the years and then our friendship uh has been meaningful and then mayor Furlong truly um the last four years as you uh mentioned in your comments um pretty pretty trying at times and so the friendship that you've given me the guidance the Insight the um disagreements on on some issues uh led me to be a better mayor myself and I hope that um in some small way I was able to uh to assist in in your growth and Leadership too so really it's just a thank you you guys are terrific uh you've got another four years coming up with new leadership and some tremendous developments and it's going to be fun to watch so thank you very much thank you Paul appreciate it foreign [Music] will have the open meeting now and we have one uh John Schmall and John you know the routine yeah NBA buzzer behind there at I do so many seconds well you'll have family get-togethers and you still have the buzzer and somebody will get to speak at the the dinner or something and you'll go that's it point and you're done uh I would just like to say a thank you also in trying just to as a citizen a retired person trying to keep up with what is going on in the city and you also having to go over all of these situations and I can't keep up with them and I don't have a job to enter to take care of before getting that so it is appreciated for all the people that do take on this job of being on a city council it's not easy as far as I can see from afar anyway what I want to bring up is that the last meeting you increased the electric rates and on going home that night uh first news on KSTP at nine o'clock the lead off uh article was that NSP thought that this was not NSP God that dates me Excel decided that this was not the year to raise rates because of the inflation and all the other uh problems that citizens are having in dealing with inflation so I thought that's interesting the evil corporate giant says to the people we're not going to raise your rates the extraordinary city with a HomeTown electric raises our rates talk about having the world upside down and you also said that next year you're going to take input from the citizens or you're discussed you won't be here candy won't be here you'll take uh input from the citizens as to what a rate uh increase would cause maybe you won't have a rate increase but uh I uh going back to October when I had a chance to talk to the CEO I think uh his position of uh mmpa and said hey this is my chance to talk to him and one of my main problems that I had was that they would never give information about the production from the whirly gig the electric and I talked to him and I said you know this thing is a joke why can't you give us the information as to what it produces and he said if we give that information out we'd be open to all kinds of other requests so we're not giving that information out so talk about open yeah this is the uh this is open government last item is is the item on the agenda last week or last two weeks ago another sidewalk on 11th why there's nothing on that side of the 11th you got a strip mall you got a swamp with muskrats you've got backyards there goes Ron's efforts when it comes to Public Works got another sidewalk you're going to have to have uh Public Works take care of nobody ever brought up anything and said well hey and Ron you've agreed to plow the sidewalks I see no need for a sidewalk on that side of 11th when you have one already where all of the activities are located and that's Target if you have people starting out on that side of the sidewalk and wanting to go to Target you got them going across a most dangerous Street for pedestrians and that's a four-lane street without any place to take refuge halfway across the street I think that it's not needed okay thank you John anybody else everybody on Zoom at this time City business and X actually got a public hearing I'll turn it over to uh senior manager frandel thank you mayor item as spending plan for use of unobligated funds per temporary transfer Authority for a tip District number 4-2 4-4 and 4-6 are you going to discuss this by instructor Winnick are we going to have Michaela it'll be a joint a joint effort on this um so first first of all uh I didn't get up in the public part too this is actually a tough evening because we're losing you know kind of some of our family members here um but I just want to say that it has been a tremendous honor and privilege to serve you councilmember Thorson councilmember Peterson and mayor Furlong as your Finance director for the past 18 months your leadership has been second to none this has been just a great experience for me and I'm a little bit sad today so I won't be as upbeat as I usually am um so for this item it um it's a public hearing on the spending plan for the use of unobligated funds for a temporary transfer Authority that involves our Tif districts number four two four four six we know 4-2 as the Penn place four four as Charles Street and four six as the Helen Street senior housing there was a change in 2021 in the Minnesota Legislature that gave a temporary ability to transfer unobligated tax increment from districts into a pool that could be used to spur on future development we do have some some unobligated tax increment in those three districts it approximates about 1.1 million dollars that we could use for some development again it needs to still follow the Tiff rules of usage of those funds if it's not used by the end of 2025 it reverts back to those Tif districts and when those Tif districts expire and or are decertified early the funds would then go back to the county for redistribution to all the taxing authorities so I'm going to turn it over to Michaela Hewitt with Baker Tilly and she'll add a little bit more information on the spending plan itself Michaela thank you Dan hopefully everybody can can hear me oh there's um welcome I could not be in person um to give my best wishes uh and sediments of of what um Mr Winnick said but my my congratulations on your next Ventures uh Mr Mayor and council members um but I look forward uh so I again welcome um your next Ventures for you and I will miss working with you but Dan did a really good job highlighting the spending Plan before you and again we are looking um for this provides more authority to you and future tax increments from the district um to be able to to further facilitate Redevelopment and development objectives of the city so this provides additional flexibility for the use of funds that you have on hand and as Mr Winnick said as if the projects do not happen or all the dollars is not spent they will revert back to the original District and I would welcome any questions that you might have on the projects or the spending plan itself so at this time we'll open the public hearing and it's at ten seven no you don't either at uh 703 uh we'll start the public hearing if there's anybody here would like to address the council that can do so at this time and Michaela is here to answer any questions if not we'll close the public hearing and we'll turn it back to the council if there's any questions for Michaela you can ask questions at this time if not uh do you do we have anything that we need to approve I don't see anything on there um yes mayor Furlong we do but it's in the city business and and um okay so it's action items will be coming up yes about it yep thank you Michaela thank you I'll turn it over to city manager Randall thank you mayor uh City business action item a is budget amendments for the fiscal year 2022 budgets and I will turn that over to find instructor Winnick mayor council members this item before you is a budget budget amendment for this current fiscal year it impacts eight of our funds that we budget for and um in essence I look at it as more of a cleanup it's having the city council increase the budgets many of them also with increases of revenues our gen for instance our general fund we received and the city council had approved a phlebotomy grant for forty thousand dollars this is getting your authority to actually increase the estimated revenue and the increase Appropriations or budget side to it and then also because of the hail storm that we had earlier this year we had a tremendous amount of Revenue that was generated through permitting and also on the flip side to it it increased our expenditures for inspections related so that's again an increase in estimated revenue and an increase in Appropriations for the general fund budget the community community service center fund we're asking for it an increase in revenue of twenty thousand dollars and expenditures of ninety one thousand when the budget was originally set up we based it upon the budget side to it was set up based upon prior year history this year was a very unique year in which we had to do some temporary roof repairs we had to do a significant amount of HVAC work that rolls that cost up the budget still based upon revenues and expenditures will not use any fund balance still at the um dip into the fund balance it just really to kind of clean it up to make sure that we have the appropriate budget Authority that's granted by the city council many of the expenditures that have already gone through are have been expended have already gone through and been approved by city council Council through regular actions on the city council the next item is the electric fund because of the MMP fuel cost adjustment which was very significant in this in the summer months there was increased costs and also increased revenues that so we would be increasing that budget 1.3 million dollars the fiber optic fund we're going to be increasing 8 500 dollars the park fund we're raising that 17 500 the city mechanic fund sixteen thousand dollars there were some extraordinary expenditures that were needed for tools and such this year that were not included originally in the budget the Housing and Redevelopment Authority were increasing that 185 thousand dollars the bigger part of it was that forgivable loan that was actually approved in 2021 but was actually paid out in 2022 so we need to to give the budget Authority for that um I'm sorry not for the HRA the HRA was due to student Bill housing the economic development one that we're increasing 170 125 000 of that was due to the forgivable loan and those are the amendments to the budgets there's also will attach the action a resolution with that to amend the 22 budgets there's actually backup to show you what is what is increasing take it from the current budget what's the adjustment and then what's the revised budget in the general fund it also is supplied a projection through the end of this year when we looked at it at the third quarter we were looking at approximately about 155 thousand dollars in Surplus we look a little bit better than that today to the tune of you know close you know about 340 thousand dollars that we should end up with at the end of 2022 so even with these amendments what we had discussed in the um budget process for 2023 still holds true we're still on track on our 10-year Financial plans this is really just more or less a cleanup to make sure that we have the spending authorities and that they're granted by the city council so if there's any questions I will certainly take those any questions for uh Finance director if not I lost my tab here on my iPad so I'm trying to find resolution here and I believe it's the motion is for the resolution amending the 2022 budgets it's almost your honor move by councilmember Peterson second by council member Cole any discussion not all those in favor signify by saying aye aye motion carries city manager frandel come here um up next is the decertification of tax increment financing District number 4-5 for The Reflex property Dan we're going to turn that over to you or Michaela again to speak to that um I get all all started out again Michaela's can add to it and also assist in any questions that may come up um this item is the request for a decertification of the tax increment financing District 4-5 which is the reflex it was scheduled to be decertified at the end of the year 2037. there were two notes that were a part of Pago notes that were a part of this District they have expired this year final payment is in the packet that was just approved earlier and so we have no more legal obligations related to this TIF district so it'll allow us to be able to decertify it early and put it back onto the tax rolls and if we approve it here tonight before December 31st they will be included in the property tax calculations for the 2023 for the payable year 2023 and kind of a just kind of a overall look on the concept of how a tip District works that when a TIF district is created there is a base value that's put on to whatever the property is and that is is is treated as the normal property tax process it's the value that is from that base to whatever the new value because of the development creates that becomes your your tax increment and so that overall value now if we decertify it tonight will end up being going we'll go that incremental difference will end up being added to in the calculation of property taxes so there it's an effort to be able to reduce the local rate which then lowers the taxes for each and every one of our residents we know what that rate is now or what the tax what the impact is on to it I don't know that I can definitely will can do a calculation it'll be anchor of a smaller incremental uh different difference just because of the fact that this property isn't have a a huge net tax capacity yeah any questions for Finance director it's a good thing it's a very good thing yes so the motion is for approval approval of the decertification of tax increment financing District number 4-5 for reflex is there a motion so moved Yeah by council member line is there a second I'm so deferred to me second second my head council member Peterson any discussion if not all in favor signify by saying aye aye oppose the motion carries city manager frandel next up is the spending plan for use of unobligated funds per temporary transfer Authority for tip District numbers 4-2 4-4 and 4-6 I think we'll turn that over to Michaela please thank you Brian so again um following public hearing the action before council tonight is to consider adoption of the spending plan which again provides the authority to use the unobligated text increment funds from Tiff District's number one dash or excuse me 4-2 4-4 and 4-6 for this purpose for the for the obligation or for the spending plan so tonight provides you with the authority to be able to to approve the spending plan and allow for the uses districts for future projects can you say that again Michaela oh I'm sorry so tonight before you is consideration of the adoption of the spending plan for tax increment financing District numbers 4-2 4-4 and 4-6 which would provide these the city with the authority to use the unobligated tax increment funds of about 1.1 million um from the spending plan to be able to use for future uh projects uh use of the funds from these districts for future future projects to be identified thank you any questions for Michaela not motion is for approval of spending plan for use of unobligated funds per temporary transfer Authority for TIF district numbers 4-2 4-4 and 4-6 moved by councilmember Peterson second second by council member Wong any discussion if not all those in favor signify by saying aye aye oppose the motion carries senior manager frandel thank you Michaela um thank you lastly on the city business action items is approval of change order number one uh for 2022 Street and utility Improvement projects CP 22-02 cp22-03 and cp22-04 we have Morgan Dolly here from a city engineer to speak to this thank you Morgan thanks Brian Mr Miracle Morgan thank you Mr Mayor members the council before I start I do also want to say it's been a pleasure to serve with councilmember Peterson mayor of furlong and council member Thorson as well so thank you for your service to the community it's been great working with you and good luck on everything in the future um this item before you hear it tonight is um console authorization or consider consideration on approval of a change order for the 2022 Street and utility Improvement project um as city manager frandel mentioned which is actually that Construction contract rules three different previously authorized projects 22-0203 and 04 together into one Construction contract you may recall that that contract involves work that included improving the public parking lot by 6th Avenue just east of Margaret streets and other streets in that area Charles 6th Avenue also some water main replacement in the vicinity of the high school and also Improvement of roads in the Northwest portion of the city 13th Avenue 14th Avenue Flanders and some other smaller streets in the in that vicinity as well too so kind of an Omnibus project that was combined for like work to make a larger contract to hopefully achieve some economies of scale lots of different work types and you know this change order here I think is intended to provide some transparency and opportunity for the council to understand what some of these increased costs are and and what they amount to um and also provide staff with spending Authority certainly um if the con if the change order is approved within the staff report I did try to break up some of these things into different categories just for a better kind of understanding of how they come about certainly every construction project has some unknowns and some things that come you come across during the project and and this project was no different by any means and but they can be kind of looked at in three different categories which I thought were important um and the first category were items that were identified by the city and so some of that includes uh streets that were intended to receive some spot replacement of curb and gutter for example before they were to be overlaid or reclaimed or some manhole castings that were in the street that were identified during construction that were bad or they might not survive through construction so those had to be removed and replaced and also in that category is you may recall the council directed some additional pedestrian improvements in the parking lot as well too so that was a change that was implemented and added into that project as well so some additional concrete sidewalk within the parking lot there another category includes corrective work or things that actually need to be removed and replaced to provide a better underground base with which to construct some of the road code so while we're doing construction one of the tests for being able to carry the loads or being able to build a road that will carry the loads that it needs to once it's done is called a roll test and sometimes you do find soft areas which are usually because of poor soils Clays or things like that that may have been not identified or anticipated prior we do generally have some ability or some anticipation of that to occur but certainly there was additional quantities identified for that subgrade excavation and correction of the soils included within the project also unidentified prior to the project with some water main and utility conflict work on Charles and Sixth Avenue that resulted in the need to reroute some water main and actually some of the homes that were served off of 6th Avenue the documentation we had in terms of as built record drawings showed that they were not served so we had to add some additional water services to the project in that area and the final category is work that was identified through construction by adjacent property owners in and around the area two property owners adjacent to the parking lot had agreed to and paid money to the city ahead of time by agreement for some adjacent Paving which was right across the line but on private property and so they paid their fair share and also finally working with the high school project which was they're going through the renovations at the time based on the timing of construction it made more sense for our city contractor to extend the Water and Sewer Service to the new addition within 2nd Street there rather than have them come back later and basically rip into our new road so we agreed that they would compensate the city that is yet to be invoiced but again agreed in writing for the school district to compensate the city for all those things included with the services which sewer and water services which were on the school's plans not the city's plans but again all of these items that I've discussed here were things that by line item and by unit price work within the contract we already had and so it's simply an overage of quantity that was included in the contract the contractor was very good to work with they did not charge additional mobilizations or increased inflationary costs to be able to do this work and so this again does result result result in a net increase in the contract of just under 314 thousand dollars for a revised contract amount of 1.892 million dollars I will say that the change order reflects simply the the quantities that were identified over and above I think the estimated quantities that we already had in the Quant in the contract it could be that when we final this contract in the summer time that based on the final quantity of all the work that we come in underneath this revised contract amount but the change order in the official official consideration by Council and potential approval here is simply to identify those specifically identified extra work items that were necessary to complete the project um I will say that um we're operating within a bond program and please jump in and correct me if I'm misrepresenting something here Dan but um for now there are several projects that are yet to be completed so where are the funds coming from to complete this extra work right now it would be within that Bond program in terms of the different funds identified for these different things whether it's water improvements or Street improvements I do know in taking a look at our engineering progress we were able to successfully use one inspector for all of these projects together so I think we're pacing ahead from an engineering cost standpoint on all the projects and I hope that as we come through all the end of the projects with all of the projects including some that are yet to be bid that will will come within the overall Bond program at least that's the goal so with that I'll stand for any questions the council might have any questions from Oregon all of these are complete are all of these completed projects uh the council member Cole and mayor members of the council so the projects the contracts still open there's a little bit of work yet to be done in the spring final lift of Paving that sort of thing so the Project's not officially completed at this time are there because I mean normally we've always attempted to operate in the scope of not exceeding kind of five percent and I recognize that you know we put a sidewalk in the parking lot back there we did we made some of the Right Moves are there key learnings we can take from that so that we can amend what's happening at the time as a opposed to having kind of sticker shock at the end sure I'll take responsibility for this not coming to you earlier I think that in my mind and these are small items as they appear individually but they do add up and in my mind I did not catch earlier that it was going to be this large of an amount over that five percent kind of planned contingency as you mentioned um we we did get delayed by waiting for a contractor's signature this might have been before you at the last council meeting rather than no I know that doesn't really change anything from what you're at the point that you're trying to make but in terms of key learning items yes absolutely we've talked about especially on the items that are related to like for example curb removal and replacement or things that um you know as we go into these projects that might be a million overlay or a Road rehabilitation similar to um you know a typical maintenance overlay a percentage of that curb and gutter for example is estimated you know 10 or 15 percent it could be more than that it could be less than that so one easy takeaway here is to likely utilize public work staff for you know a fairly minor amount of time prior to the project and just go out there and measure it and get that decision made earlier rather than later as opposed to during construction after the contract's been awarded to specifically know how many linear feet and then possibly even add you know a little bit to that as a contingency just in case but knowing that information up front and not relying on an estimation would certainly avoid that some of that with respect to soils that's a little bit more difficult we do do soil investigation on most projects not typically on Mill and overlay or Reclamation projects we don't go down that far we certainly could that'll add a little bit of time and effort and cost on the front end there's always kind of that balance of practicality right so it's not to use an extreme example it's not practical to do a soil boring every 10 feet for example right to be able to identify every area of poor soils that might be on the part of the project but can some additional investigation be done on these types of projects in the future to maybe capture that or can more allowance for subgrade correction and poor soils be included in future projects certainly we are basing this off of past projects and I think we just ran into a couple areas that you know were more than what we typically see on these types of projects than we have in the past right so again some additional investigation and preparation and I think estimation um from a cost standpoint certainly will help avoid the sticker shock as you say there's no guarantee and certainly there can be or there are projects that we don't run into these types of things or we even see cost savings and the project comes in under and then you know we don't talk about that right so I think it's more about trying to capture that um identify and capture that risk ahead of time as much as we can are we gonna have to pull anything back to pay the bill next year well I think you know Morgan spoke a little bit about that you know it's going to have to be you know deducted out of what our bonds that we bonded for earlier this year so that the remaining projects one of the bigger ones that's still out there you know is the Seventh Avenue we'll end up having to decrease the amount of work once again for that work because we're not going to go back for bonding for no this extra money no no um so you know to me from a fine Finance director's point of view there's a couple of items here that really do need to be corrected in the future one being that in item number one if the city council directed uh you know the award at the time of the award of the contract for a new pedestrian improvements and sidewalk there should have been a pricing the city council should have been around aware of that pricing and the city council should have approved that change order at that point in time there's a couple of items the items that are in number three when you're you're talking about areas that property owners and or the North High School that there's an agreement that's there the agreement should be brought in front of the city council pricing should be given to the city council and again a change order should be aware of that items that are um that Morgan had spoke about that are really unit pricing they're pretty addictive pretty much dictated by the contract and and truthfully that's really what your your five and or ten percent contingency is really for is for the unit pricing components to it but um you know council member Cole you know asked the the question has the work been done um and I think that really hits at the heart of it is that we need to to do a better job of bringing the information for city council to make a decision in moving forward before the work is actually done that was my concern is that we're hearing this later than we should have so all right any other questions for Morgan if not don't go ahead do you anticipate any more change orders with this project I do not not on this project no if we don't approve it and what happens I I won't put you on this but I won't put you in a rhetorical question okay so the motion is to approve the change order number one in the amount of 313 895.65 for the 2022 Street and utility Improvement project is there a motion by councilmember Peterson second second by council member Wong any other discussion if not all those in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed motion carries city manager Randolph thank you mayor reports from the city manager I think uh thank you Morgan probably foremost on people's minds in the Departments is the snow event coming up it sounds like it's going to be a doozy that they're uh looking at 11 plus inches high winds 40 to 50 mile lower gusts and so and unfortunately we're down two trucks so it's you guys got your work cut out for you I know you do same with electric I mean we've had still a lot of that sticky snow in the trees and you get high winds with that unfortunately you get branches coming down or trees coming down but they do a great job of tree trimming preventative maintenance on the systems that helps us out tremendously um we also have more energy saving kits coming in for the public we'll get in and give some of them to the Food Shelf we also as part of our conservation Improvement programs to the electric Department which is State mandated we're going to be getting two refrigerators for the food shelf and then next up will be a freezer for them as well so I think we've already purchased probably four of the ones that they already have so kind of a nice deal for them we got three guys's approval we got a couple of new employees going to be starting the pde actually made an offer to a police officer and they've accepted so that's great he's really excited about him the really good looking on paper for sure so they're excited to have him on board um as well as Finance is going to be looking at their position that's coming up the accountant as well as public works for next year uh and as well as fire for ready for their fire inspector positions so getting ramped up for these positions and getting that out to advertise and that's all I have thank you uh reports of council commissions and committees council member call um not a whole lot tonight um park and rec meeting is tomorrow night 6 30 here in council chambers uh next Eda meeting is January 10th at 3 o'clock councilmember one um so the Planning Commission met um earlier this month and we still have three vacant positions open for commission so we're on the lookout for some new Commissioners the next meeting is January 5th here in the chambers at 6 30. in regards to the arts and culture commission um thank you for voting for the two new members Amanda black and Lisa Ritchie so we're excited to welcome them on board and we're also still looking for two youth Commissioners so just to kind of get young people involved in the arts and culture around town so the next meeting will be the first Wednesday of councilmember Peterson attended my last Ramsey County Legal local government and they honored me with the plaque so that was nice and uh I'll talk about the Christmas project bad later so thanks uh General business councilmember Cole I want to build off of what councilmember Wong brought up there are openings on a lot of the the commissions I believe we're going to have three on the Eda and one to three on the parking Rec so um we've got a lot of good senior people that are are retiring or their their times have come to an end and um 15-year 20-year volunteers so there's there's definitely openings and and we'll def we'll move forward with that come first of the year if you're interested now uh contact is it's up on the it's up now on the way on the on the city page correct Perfect all right uh just a huge shout out to Public Works um I I had I had residents come to me and compliment me like I'm driving the truck you guys are doing the work I want to compliment you for keeping the streets clean um you know the the last round of snow was more of a nuisance snow than it was a whole lot of snow that built up and just the you know continually staying out there and for somebody to say it to me I want to make sure you guys hear it so thanks thank you very much and thank thank the whole team [Applause] that's number one uh just a big thank you to you both for your service it's been an honor to work alongside you and I wish you the best with your next Endeavors and your grandbabies thank you councilmember Peterson yeah um I want to give a shout out I thought Rachel Thompson was going to be here tonight we got a lot of Channel 11 was here for our project Christmas tree and we service 12 families in need and there wasn't a dry eye in the parking lot when we delivered those gifts I mean the the Community is wonderful I mean you know we're kind of a lunch bucket Community but boy we got big hearts and there's some money in the wallets so they uh they were very happy you know they were asking for cat food and diapers well let's get some fun stuff you know what do the kids want so that was very special to be part of that I will continue but I have to probably recruit one of you Council people because I won't have the keys of the camp the castle anymore so uh should be looking for somebody to help her but I'll help probably a little elf next year so and I want to again thank you everybody uh it's been a pleasure to serve North St Paul and I want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a happy healthy New Year thank you thank you and I just like to say uh again you know this being my last meeting together uh and running business items through uh I'd like to thank the council you know everybody here I think we worked really good last four years I am excited for uh you two here we're husbands but the the two news uh the two veterans here councilmember Wong and councilmember Cole I think you're going to provide good leadership for the for the new people coming in I'd like to welcome John monge who's here who's our mayor elect Jason Norby who's here I I wish him luck and also Cassidy schrer I think having a new Council here new ideas you're gonna good you're going to go you're going to do a lot of good things for the city and I think the city's in a good position right now so we're leaving in the hands of of you and in the council and wish you all the best of luck yeah don't screw it up I'd like to wish everybody a Merry Christmas happy holidays again it's been a pro privilege serving the community and we've done a lot of good things in the last few years the town I believe is going through a Renaissance right now so I think we keep to keep the momentum going the staff talked to them last week at their at their Christmas get together and I told them that you know we do have a lot of a lot of new staff also not only the new Council but a lot of new staff members and I think we're in a position right now where you're in a good position you know we have a lot of support city manager I I wholeheartedly believe that you're going to have all the support from uh from your department heads and you're going to do very well so I I wish you the best of luck so with that we are going to go into a closed session and I don't have that verbiage sorted swordin Soarin Sauron in front of me uh Mr Mayor I believe uh what you're looking for is that the meeting will be closed as permitted by section 13d05 subdivision 3A to evaluate the performance of city manager Brian frandel and if there's a motion to close the meeting based on that I think you're good to go Motion to is what Soren said to going to close session is there a motion so moved by council member Peterson secondary Council by councilmember Wong any discussion if not all those in favor signify by saying aye aye aye opposed the motion carries and we will go into a closed session thank you everybody for showing up tonight I really appreciate it and