This transcript has been formatted with the appropriate speaker names based on the context of the Moose Lake City Council officials and staff provided. Note: In this meeting, City Administrator **Ellissa Owens** is frequently addressed by the name **"Katie."** [0:04] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All right, I'd like to open a meeting, the regular meeting of the Moose Lake City Council for Wednesday, August 11, 2021. And I'd like to start with the Pledge of Allegiance. Oh my gosh, we have a fixed flag. 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. You did. [0:42] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** The first item is the agenda additions and changes. I have one addition on number five; this would be 5c. This would be trees along the walking trails. They gave everyone a handout last council meeting about this issue. Does anyone else have any additions or changes? Hearing none, do we have a motion to accept the agenda? [1:09] **Council Member Lou Ohly:** So moved. [1:13] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** We'll have a second? [1:14] **Council Member Douglas Juntunen:** Second. [1:15] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All in favor say aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? Motion carried. Under consent agenda 2a, the minutes: we have the regular city council meeting for July 14, 2021, and special city council meeting July 27, 2021. Any discussion or questions on the minutes? [1:51] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Hearing then, do we have a motion to accept the minutes? [1:54] **Council Member Kris Huso:** So moved. [1:56] **Council Member Douglas Juntunen:** Second. [1:58] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All in favor say aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? Motion carrying. Under 2b, financial reports: the city accounts payable for July 2021, city financial statements for July 2021, and the third one, liquor store profit/loss statement for July 2021. [2:21] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Any discussion questions? Hearing none, do I have a motion to accept the budget—I should say financial report, excuse me. [2:33] **Council Member Walter Lower III:** So moved. [2:35] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Do I have a second? [2:36] **Council Member Lou Ohly:** Second. [2:38] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All in favor say aye. (Group: Aye). All right, opposed? Carried. Moving on to number three, public comment. This time is reserved for comments from the public on matters not listed on the agenda. Please keep comments to three minutes. See if we have none. Moving on to number four, departmental reports. 4a, the police chief department report for July 2021. [3:11] **Kelly Lake (Sheriff/Law Enforcement Lead):** I'm here, members of the council. In your packages, you see the Moose Lake police report for July. We had 254 calls for service. Three of those calls were to MSOP, and just some follow-up on some cases we already had opened up with them, and nothing for DOC. We had 57 extra patrols, 41 traffic stops, 35 community engagements, 34 assists to other agencies, and 87 calls for service that we had to respond to for 254. [3:43] **Kelly Lake:** We had National Night Out here. I think it was a really nice day; we had a lot of people there. Just want to thank all the businesses and organizations that contributed to that. Several members here that were involved with it—a good turnout, a good night for it. And you know, once again, we have great community support, so it's always amazing what everybody comes up with and does and sticks together over and over again. So I just want to thank everybody for that. Still working on a lot of the ATV stuff. I sent some stuff to Katie today on some bridge prices that, after a meeting with State Representative Mike Sundin, we’re trying to move forward on some of that. I've had a lot of talks with MnDOT; we've got another meeting coming up with them trying to get that into place, so hopefully there'll be some funding coming this way. [4:28] **Kelly Lake:** I saw a couple of MnDOT trucks in town today. I think they're pounding in some crosswalk signs that I had for pedestrians that I asked to have. Hopefully, we'll update those to the flashing ones to let everybody know when they're coming into town right by the brewery and that area where it's pretty busy. And that's at no cost to us, so MnDOT’s been helping out with that as well. The trail behind the hockey arena to the public works to connect the industrial—I think we're pretty much close to getting that ironed out with a special use permit. I have another meeting on Friday with the DNR on that. At first, it was kind of a temporary "we'll give it to you through November," but it's like, well, we don't want to invest our time and money on something that you might pull next year. So I think that's kind of going to get changed and I think we're sitting pretty good at getting that route. So we'll have that then all the way through the city without having to have them up on the highway. So that's moving ahead pretty well. [5:15] **Kelly Lake:** The ATV event we were going to have at the Depot towards the end of this month has been delayed until next year. Some of the ATV clubs and other people participating couldn't get enough stuff together yet for this year, and I think we're better off waiting and doing it right at the beginning of the season. So that'll be for next year. We've been having a little bit of vandalism up on the trails back there; people spray painting the signs and the tar and that kind of stuff. So we've been doing some extra control on those routes and we'll continue to do so. If anybody's out there that sees anything suspicious, I think I got a pretty good handle on who it is, but it's going to take a minute. But other than that, our new officer is going to be starting on the 20th, which is August Reynolds. He works part-time and he'll be filling Travis's position. It would have been a nice seven this weekend because we've been kind of running a little short for the last couple weeks. But other than that, that's about it for the police department, unless anybody has anything. Have a few more things coming up later in the agenda. [6:28] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Hey, thanks a lot for the work you did on that National Night Out. Great turnout, and appreciate all the work you did on that. [6:37] **Kelly Lake:** Sarah deserves the credit; she put it all together. [6:40] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Yeah, I saw you there doing a lot of stuff. It was appreciated. Thanks. Phil? [6:47] **Phil Entner (City Superintendent):** Sorry, members of the council. It’s been a long day. Water department: Water department distributed 8.3 million gallons of drinking water in the month of July. It sounds like a lot because the water tower is down and out of service. I see you all writing some notes down—when you look at that later, it's going to be way up here. It should be, and it will be again next month as well. So yeah, that's good, that's moving along. They are—I think at the end of this week—they'll be done with the interior wet portion of that, so it's moving along fine. The sewer department collected 10.6 million gallons of wastewater in the month of July as well. Our sanitary sewer cleaning program, our year two, which will be this year, was completed this last month. Approximately 18,000 feet was cleaned. [7:35] **Phil Entner:** That's done. Lining project is kind of up in the air; we are waiting for some contractor issues and some timelines and that kind of thing to get worked out. Lift station cleaning was completed last month. In your packet, you'll see the cleaning reports; we're going to discuss that a little later here in your agenda as well. The street department: pothole filling once a month. Every month we go through town. If you missed one, call us, let us know. There's a lot out there to see and there's a lot out there to do, so if there's one that you see us go by and miss, just give us a call. Not a big deal. Road patching will start the 23rd of August. Cemeteries, parks, the campground: for the most part things are running smoothly, just some small maintenance odds and ends. [8:21] **Phil Entner:** It seems like Monday is a really good day for maintenance around there. It seems like some campers get rough with a few things and we end up fixing a couple things, but nothing major, nothing interestingly expensive, just minor stuff. Cemetery is running pretty smoothly. We did actually have three burials put on for us this week. They just all of a sudden showed up yesterday, so we kind of shift the gears there and we'll be spending some time up there Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. And then the last thing too... could you put that thank-you letter in? Okay, perfect. They're in your packet somewhere. I don't have it with me, but on page 53, there you go. There's a letter from Minnesota Water thanking us for hosting a training we had here on the 27th of July. That was a good deal. We had 18 at one point show up. It was good. A lot of the local cities, some of the smaller ones around here—I think the farthest was Hill City. They usually come down when we host this and that's always good. It's good to see all the guys again and see how things are going. Other than that, that's all I've got. Any questions? [9:45] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Oh, thanks, Phil. I appreciate it. And you said they're almost done with the interior wet portion? [9:51] **Phil Entner:** Interior wet portion, yeah. [9:52] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Okay, thanks. Moving on to 4c, technology and library report. [9:58] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator):** I think the biggest update that I have for the library is that Laura's looking at getting some computers to replace the card catalog computers in the library using the summer reading program funds—from the book sale, I should say. So that's probably the biggest update there. [10:24] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Anything technology at this time? [10:26] **Ellissa Owens:** That's it. [10:27] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Any questions? Also moving on, liquor store report. [10:32] **Ellissa Owens:** Elaine had an appointment, so really quickly: They had a profitable Fourth of July weekend. They profited approximately $15,000. They ended up finishing the weekend with an E-Mag tournament on Sunday which had 24 teams. The numbers, the revenue shows that they're about $25,000 to $30,000 ahead of last year, so it's been very busy. [11:05] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** How much was that did you think? [11:07] **Ellissa Owens:** Between $25,000 and $30,000 compared to this time last year. Elaine's been working with Airserve to try to get a few bids, some for next year's capital items, and then we've been talking about an ice machine for what feels like a long time. Trying to get some recommendations from a local guy on ice machines, which—they're just really busy right now because it's been so hot and they've been fixing air conditioners. So it's on their radar. Ted, Rose, and Terry are still performing every first Monday of each month. They have a band on the 28th of August and one for Labor Day Saturday. And that's all she had for me. [11:56] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Any questions? Engineering report? [12:02] **Tyler (SEH, City Engineer):** Phil kind of touched on a lot of the engineering projects. So to kind of catch you guys up: the water tower, that's in progress. The sewer lining—we're just kind of waiting on some staffing from the contractor, but things will be moving along once they can give us a better schedule, I guess. But that will be pushed back a little bit. The one thing that is not anywhere else on the agenda here is the pre-construction meeting for the Trunk Highway 73 trail. That is actually tomorrow at one o'clock at the Transportation Building in Carlton. So that's probably going to be one of our larger projects this year coordinating with a lot of different agencies. So that's probably the biggest update, I guess. [12:54] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Anything on Wells 3 and 4? Just everything's running good? Anything left to be done? [13:00] **Tyler (SEH):** I just saw a punch list today that came out to tie up some of those ends on that. I think kind of what we're waiting on is some manuals, from what I understand from Lakehead, that have not been provided to us at this point. [13:30] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Council have any questions? Seems to be a good way to find everything else. Thank you. Chamber update? [13:48] **Council Member Douglas Juntunen:** There was no Chamber meeting; it was moved from today to next Wednesday at noon. So there's really no new updates other than the triathlon event that they held last weekend went real well. Good show, a lot of athletes and a lot of volunteers, and I think it went pretty smooth. A couple of saves in the lake where athletes got tired and they had to be brought in. I think the Zodiac took one in and another speedboat brought another person in. Other than that, it went real well. [14:48] **Council Member Lou Ohly:** Now, where is the next Chamber meeting at? [14:52] **Council Member Douglas Juntunen:** I think it’s at Poor Gary’s. [14:54] **Ellissa Owens:** Yes, I think I just got an email. It will be Poor Gary’s. [14:58] **Council Member Douglas Juntunen:** And that's next Wednesday. So that's really nothing new. Well, there are some events coming up probably between the next council meeting. I think they're planning another fly-in possible at the airport, working with Larry and the Flying Club. There's another running race coming through on the 21st. There's a race that goes from the Cities to Duluth and there's like six-person teams, so they'll be coming through as well. The runners will be staying up on the trail, but they'll be dropping down in by the arena to switch out stuff. So there'll be a lot of vans in town that day, most likely just in the morning, and then they'll be cleared out after that. [15:47] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Thanks. All right, moving on to number five, previously discussed business. 5a, the wastewater treatment facility capacity. I'm going to have Tyler explain the memo that was directed in regards to the pond capacity. [16:04] **Tyler (SEH, City Engineer):** Members of Council, Mr. Mayor. Just going to give a brief story like Katie said to try and help explain what's shown in this memorandum. If you remember back in, I believe it was 2019, we did a memo of the pond capacity which included looking at years 2015 through 2018. That's the data that Phil had at the time. And this now compares alongside that info because we have obviously more years of information and we've done some projects that have affected that. And so we looked at this to see what kind of benefit we're making with this lining project that we've been doing. [17:05] **Tyler (SEH):** Just a couple of things: When we look at this data, we try to look at it like the MPCA does, and they use a five-year average. When we looked at it in 2019, we only had I think three or four years of data, so it wasn't a complete five-year estimate of what they would look at. And now we have a full five years behind us to look at it. With our improvements with the sewer lining and the I&I (Inflow and Infiltration) reduction that Phil's been reporting, we would expect that a decrease in flow would be showing results and giving you a higher equivalent household capacity left over in the ponds. [18:00] **Tyler (SEH):** Now that being said, when we previously did the report, 2019 was not included. We did not have that data at that time, and 2019 was a very wet year, so it kind of skewed the data a little bit. When we look at the table on page three of the memo, that's kind of our summary table. When we look at the pond capacity, you can look at it two ways: organic capacity and flow. Organic capacity, you can see the bolded number of 402 from 2015 to 2020—so that's equivalent households remaining in capacity. But down under flow, it shows 146. So that's the controlling number: 146 households. Now, you may remember that in our previous memo, we reported I think at 163, which you would wonder—well, if we did this sewer lining project, why did that number go down instead of going up? But because we're taking in that five-year rolling average for these numbers, that average actually went down because of that really wet year in 2019. [19:13] **Tyler (SEH):** Because it showed like that and kind of offset in the wrong direction, we looked at just the previous year from when the lining project was completed. When you look at that, you can see that our equivalent household went up to 432 houses remaining capacity in the ponds. Now, I'm not saying that that's the exact capacity, because it's a one-year measurement where the MPCA looks at a five-year rolling average. But you're probably sitting somewhere in between that 146 and that 432. As you complete these type of I&I projects, I would expect that from year to year that number would increase and get closer to that 432 number. If we came in and did this memo update next year after this lining project this year, I would expect that 146 to go up. [20:18] **Matt (SEH, City Engineer):** There's other things that affected it, like 2020 being COVID. Certain things weren't open like they normally were, so probably not as much flow going in. Essentially, we just don't want you guys to think that these lining projects are not doing anything. As the years go on and we continue to do lining projects, 2015 will drop off, 2016 will drop off, and we'll have more and more of these lining projects. Like Tyler said, we're somewhere between 146 and 432. Probably more towards 146 at this point; 432 is kind of the other extreme. So we're somewhere in the middle and we'll just keep working our way to 432. [21:18] **Matt (SEH):** A reminder what that is: the MPCA, when you get to 80% of your capacity, they start regulating it and looking at it a little closer. When you get developers or whatever coming in wanting to make connections, they might look at it and say you guys are trending in the wrong direction and you're not making any efforts to reduce flow. But the steps we're taking, doing these lining projects, hopefully over the next couple of years we start to see that trend correctly. I wouldn't see why the MPCA would look at it and say you guys are doing the right thing and you're seeing results. Even though it's not how they look at it, we'd still show it to them that way, just to show that we're making steps. Those short-term decisions that the PCA is looking for are things like lining that large main and looking at implementing an I&I ordinance, which is on Matt's desk being looked at right now. Making those types of decisions is good in their eyes. [23:01] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Matt, do you have any idea where we are? 80% is kind of a crossover. Have we hit 70%, 75%? Any idea? [23:10] **Matt (SEH):** With the five-year average that we're taking, the most recent five years, we are at 93% hydraulic capacity, which on our previous memo was at 92%—which was that 163 equivalent household, and now it's 146. So yes, we took a dip from that time because we added 2019 which was a very wet year. But as we move forward, especially with these lining projects, I would suspect that that number will go down and get closer towards the 80% range, assuming that we don't get crazy floods over the next few years. [24:00] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** So we're at a critical development point here where any large developments really can't happen—let's say you have a 40-unit apartment complex where either in the sewer district or in the city, it's kind of questionable where we're at then. [24:18] **Matt (SEH):** I wouldn't take this solely to base that decision off of. This is just over the past few years, and with things like the COVID year and how much rain we had, you'd want to compare all that data to really nail down your numbers. Once you get another year under our belt with a lining project, we should see better data too. And I think we've got a case with the PCA because Phil can show our flows have significantly decreased. I think we're headed in the right direction, but it's just like with anything else—we're going to see the effects of it after a few years. [25:44] **Council Member Douglas Juntunen:** One interesting thing in here—this report says the State of Minnesota Demographic Center projects a decrease in the overall population of Carlton County by 3.7% between 2019 and 2040. And then it says it can be assumed the service population for Moose Lake will likely not significantly change during that same review period. So they're saying that the population of Moose Lake is going to stay relatively the same until 2040? [26:18] **Tyler (SEH):** It’s just an assumption. [26:19] **Council Member Douglas Juntunen:** I was wondering with this last census that we had, have we gotten the figures on Moose Lake to tell if the city has increased the population? [26:27] **Ellissa Owens:** No, they've not been published yet that I know of. [26:30] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Any other questions from the council? Thank you very much, appreciate it. Gives us a good idea of where we're at. Moving on to the next item, 5b, the 4th Street reconstruct design. [27:16] **Ellissa Owens:** We had a special meeting at the end of July and we kind of went through some of these bigger items. After that meeting, I went for a walk just to look at this because, looking at it from a map, you see certain things, but seeing it in person, you also see certain things. So I changed a little bit of what we had decided. Nothing is set in stone at this point, but there is some method behind my madness. The biggest change you're going to see is on the second page of this handout here. The biggest change being from the section of Douglas to Cedar. If you guys can think forward to wintertime, Phil piles snow on the north side of this road. Currently, the sidewalk kind of cuts off at the entrance of that little parking lot that Water and Light uses. [28:28] **Ellissa Owens:** I thought, well, if we could get rid of the sidewalk because no one really walks on it that I notice, then we could make that road bigger. So when Phil piles snow over there, it doesn't take up that whole road—as a safety precaution. And if we don't need the sidewalk, we can just run curb and gutter all the way down to the intersection of 4th and Cedar. That would prevent us from having to put up a retaining wall on the corner of Cedar and 4th. Now, do I think we should put grass in that boulevard? Probably not, because Phil's just going to kill it with salt and sand anyways from plowing. So I'm not sure specifically if we are going to put just like a large curb there or what we're going to put in there. On the other side, the south side of the road, there is currently not a boulevard where it shows there's boulevard, but about halfway down past those apartment buildings, there is boulevard and it just kind of dies. So we could really extend the boulevard all the way to Douglas. [30:21] **Council Member Kris Huso:** Can I make a comment on that second page? That house on the north... is that a DHS house? Are they going to have a hard time getting their people across the street in the middle of the winter? Summer, too? I mean, they cross there rather than go up to the stop sign because it's just like smack in the middle of the road. There won't be a sidewalk for them to walk. [30:54] **Ellissa Owens:** There is currently not a sidewalk—the sidewalk that goes towards the power plant... it's like halfway. I mean, they walk out of their place and they can get on the sidewalk right away. There's no sidewalk in front of their house. [31:09] **Council Member Kris Huso:** I just want to keep that in mind. [31:12] **Ellissa Owens:** Technically, if they wanted to walk on the sidewalk, they would have to—which, there will be a driveway cut out directly across the street because there's a little garage that currently doesn't have a cutout. So there will be an access point for them to cross the road and get on the sidewalk. [31:36] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** You're talking, Chris, it would be like having a pedestrian cross there? Otherwise, there's no safe way to go because there's no sidewalk to turn to go up or down. They have to cross the street. So you might be able to put in a pedestrian crosswalk right there. I mean, they probably walk slower than average people and they have wheelchairs and stuff. [32:15] **Ellissa Owens:** And like I said, we can go back to designing a sidewalk. I was just thinking, for lack of better words, to kill two birds with one stone. It would help Phil because the plowing downtown is a huge "where do we put the snow?" [33:15] **Council Member Lou Ohly:** You take that into comparison when you move it into that intersection and down that road—you push it onto that sidewalk now, right? You totally block the sidewalk off. [33:35] **Greg (Guest/Audience Member):** Most of the time I've noticed when they come out of that with patients or attendants, they basically walk right straight across the road to the sidewalk on the other side. So right now they don't use that sidewalk going to the west; they basically go across and most of the time they go down the hill and around towards the park when they're walking. Probably the best thing would be to actually create a crosswalk straight across for them so that they could use the other side. Probably a good idea is to actually talk to them and ask them what their need is. [34:56] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Good idea. [35:45] **Ellissa Owens:** I guess just to continue: down Cedar to Birch, we had talked about what are the chances of us keeping any of the trees in the boulevard. The chances are realistically slim and none. And the reason being, the roots are underneath the sidewalks and underneath the road in the boulevard, which will all be removed. So it's going to kill the tree. And so all of the trees in the boulevard along both sections, but specifically Cedar to Birch because there's many more, they will all be removed. And what we need to decide on is: how few and far between do we want them if we replant? The other option that we have is we don't replant any trees in the boulevard, and that would be fine too. [37:16] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Council, your input on the boulevards, the trees, and the sidewalk? [37:27] **Council Member Lou Ohly:** Did we find out how many were ash trees along there? [37:35] **Phil Entner:** It's about half of the trees. [37:44] **Council Member Walter Lower III:** I would say that we already know what to expect. We have nothing but problems for homeowners that have the trees there; it's a cost to the city and those tree roots go very deep. So now is the time to be looking for the future since we already know where the past is. So I would recommend not having any trees. [38:32] **Council Member Lou Ohly:** The less number of trees that we have, the better off we are. I'll get shot for that. [38:47] **Council Member Kris Huso:** Well, I think we have to have some trees, because I wouldn't want my neighborhood to have no trees. I guess if we have to go on the lesser side, I would go with that, but I certainly want trees of some sort there. [39:10] **Council Member Douglas Juntunen:** Well, I'd like to see some trees like I brought up at the meeting. Some of the reasoning is for shade. If you live on the south side of the block, most of the houses in town do not have AC and the trees do help tremendously for cooling down the houses. And I think people like the beauty of the trees, the canopy. I think we could look at a lesser number of trees possibly. I realize the problems with the roots, but I just like the beautification of the trees and the shade that they allow. [40:22] **Council Member Kris Huso:** Yes, I think this is a residential area here and I think without the trees it's going to look real... I don't know if that's a good word, but I think the trees are just kind of the finishing touch. They don't have to be a lot of them, but I think there needs to be a few of them. [40:40] **Ellissa Owens:** Katie here. Are we determining the procedure for just this street or all streets and all avenues? I would like to create some type of a standard that for planning purposes I can look back on without having to ask you guys every single question every single time. Are we in the residential districts—is that the standard to put sidewalks on both sides? [41:40] **Council Member Lou Ohly:** You know, some streets now don't have sidewalks in areas like that, and some of them, if you were to go and add a sidewalk in there, it would take up an awful lot of the people's yards and they have a lot of trees planted in those areas. [42:40] **Council Member Kris Huso:** I agree, you could replace what we already have. [42:46] **Council Member Lou Ohly:** I would agree with that, Chris. As Counselor Lower stated, the entire First Street doesn't have—from the laundromat where it turns—there's only the sidewalk on one side of the road. [43:08] **Ellissa Owens:** Well, and then there's certain areas of town like Cedar Avenue from 4th to 5th; there's a sidewalk that is in awful condition. No one can possibly use it because it's so overgrown. Why would we replace that? That's kind of what I would like to create—some type of a general standard for us for planning purposes. [44:11] **Tyler (SEH):** Having a standardized street section to work from from the beginning is very helpful. Every project is different; you're going to have changes with every project. But it’s just somewhere to start from in the planning stages. [44:40] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** You know, I kind of held my counsel until everybody spoke. How critical is it that this decision is made tonight? If you're talking about city-wide change, to me, we should have a public hearing on this. Just going on experience from the past, when you don't involve the community, you probably are going to have far more complaints and problems than you want. Whereas if you take the time to do the public hearing—if you have five people show up, hey, do what you want. If you have 50 or 100 people show up, then you better listen to what the community wants. That's my opinion. [46:40] **Ellissa Owens:** I think having a public hearing is a fine thing to do. I have a question—are you saying a public hearing to decide what our standard across the whole is going to be or just on this street? [47:16] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** If you're going to do a standard throughout the city, it's of course going to affect this. [48:03] **Tyler (SEH):** Something else I've had with the standard is when I go back to the CIP (Capital Improvement Plan). Having a standard in place, you're comparing more "apples to apples" to try and get an idea of cost. Obviously, projects are different—some streets need to be wider, some need to be slim. [49:34] **Council Member Lou Ohly:** One thing that I was thinking about is that some of these projects aren't going to be done for decades and decades. I mean, there's going to be a large time span in between some of these projects. There will be different councils even when some of these things are done. We could come here and set a standard and then a future council just comes along and changes it. [50:20] **Ellissa Owens:** That's with any of our ordinances. If you guys don't want to set up a standard, that's fine, it's just the planning process just takes a lot longer on our end. [51:00] **Council Member Douglas Juntunen:** I think what has to come from us is something—not a generalization on what we want the city to look like, because if you go down every block you're going to have a little different concept of what you're going to do. If we put the generalization that we want the beautification and stuff... there's no way we can go through this town and say we're going to have two sidewalks or one because every street is different. [52:39] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** To me, it should be a public hearing to make this decision. Hear what the public wants and then make the decision. It's always up to the council. [53:40] **Council Member Kris Huso:** Do we want to be at a point that we can tell the engineer to start? [53:45] **Ellissa Owens:** Well, and it sounds like we're kind of divided on Douglas to Cedar, so we would need to do some checking with that group home. [54:40] **Council Member Lou Ohly:** You know, on this design here, you have parking on only one side of the street from Cedar to Birch? You get major holidays and parades and whatever, how are we going to handle parking? [54:57] **Ellissa Owens:** That's all we have right now is parking on one side. [55:40] **Council Member Walter Lower III:** I do agree that if we are going to put in trees there should be a height limit. It's not even logical to say that we're going to put in the trees that we are now and then if we do make that decision that we are going to put in bigger trees, then the city council and the citizens of the city can pay for it down the road. Let's make sure that it doesn't go down very deep and impact what we're spending all the taxpayers' money on. [57:25] **Council Member Kris Huso:** I'm kind of leaning to what the Mayor said. I think if we're going to do a standard, I think we should get the public's opinion. It's their town also. If this is going to be taking trees out on every street we do, that's a lot of trees and it's going to change the town significantly. [58:08] **Ellissa Owens:** Do we want to do a special public hearing where this is the only topic? [58:15] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Let’s do a public hearing. When is good for you guys? I'm open for any day the week of the 23rd. [58:54] **Council Member Lou Ohly:** Tuesday I'm not available. [58:58] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** What about Thursday the 26th? [59:15] **Ellissa Owens:** We should do it at a time when people can get here. Probably 6:30. [1:00:27] **Ellissa Owens:** I just don't want us to keep "kicking the can down the road" after the public hearing. [1:00:54] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** I think our September meeting is the 8th. So the 26th at 6:30 PM. Does that work for everyone? (Agreement from council). [1:03:19] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All right, moving on to 5c. This is trees along the walking trails. Byron had put together a project asking the council if they wanted to cut the trees throughout that area for sale. I think he showed did a lot of research where he'd make maybe $25,000 if the trees were harvested. [1:04:20] **Council Member Kris Huso:** We call it a walking trail—isn't that that bike trail? [1:04:28] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** They're walking/hiking trails in the woods. He originally wanted to see if we could just log along the trails where there won't be trees falling on the trails anymore. To me, I find it kind of strange that you want to have your trails in the forest and then you cut down the trees. [1:05:40] **Council Member Lou Ohly:** It is a very large piece of land. One thing that I've thought about is that if it was to be selectively logged, you could possibly put some logging roads in there that would give you access to see if in the future that area could be developed. The big question there has always been how far is the rock underneath. [1:07:35] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** I think the development which Don Bean put in—which is the trailer court—he stopped where it currently is because of the rock that he was running into. He stopped because of the rock shelf. [1:08:43] **Council Member Kris Huso:** I think that if we were really interested in potentially developing that, we should probably get some soil samples first. I don't think we should log and then check. [1:10:10] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Okay, so we have consensus not to move ahead with that. Moving on to new business 6a, Blanket Constructors Incorporated pay application number nine. [1:10:45] **Ellissa Owens:** Pay app number nine is through the end of July totaling $166,717.40. We've got like a punch list left. [1:11:04] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Do I have a motion to make that payment? (Motion and second made). All in favor say aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? Motion carried. 6b, lift station maintenance. [1:11:15] **Phil Entner:** So starting on page 16... what you have there is basically an inspection done on every one of our pumps and our lift stations. We have seven stations. The quotes you see in there for the small things, we're just going to pick away at that out of our current budget. The one nasty one you see in there is for the bridge lift station of like $39,831. Katie and I have worked on that to put that into the 2022 budget. [1:12:35] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Thank you. 6c, cell phone booster quote for Riverside Arena. [1:12:45] **Ellissa Owens:** Guyal Nelson has been working with DSC Communications. We currently have a piece of equipment that gives cell phones a little bit of a boost, but it's not big enough for the arena. I don't want anything on this quote yet; I just want you guys to know that we're working on trying to find a solution to that. Guyal was also working on some less expensive options than $5,600. [1:14:03] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Under 6d, Resolution 21-08-01: We decertify TIF District 1-4. [1:14:15] **Ellissa Owens:** This is the last open TIF district that we have. It’s for that blue apartment building on Lakeshore Drive. We're just decertifying them with the county and the state because our requirements are done. If we don't do it, we would end up having to pay the county back. [1:15:15] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Do you have a motion to accept the resolution? (Motion and second made). All in favor say aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? Motion carried. Moving on to 6e, squad equipment. [1:15:45] **Ellissa Owens:** This summary sheet is the rest of the equipment for the new squad. I budgeted for $65,000 for 2022 and it will be right around that. [1:16:10] **Kelly Lake:** I eliminated some of the things that I didn't think we needed. We ended up buying new. I know the owners of ATI out of the Cities, so they actually sent the sales rep to RPE to go through the build with them. Typically we would try and take from one of the old ones, but now we need to keep that second one as a backup because we have no other squad. [1:17:25] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Do I have a motion to make the expenditure? (Motion and second made). All in favor say aye. (Group: Aye). Thank you. Moving on to 6f, the 2022 budget working meeting. [1:17:51] **Ellissa Owens:** Mayor, members of the council. As we are aware, we've begun working on the 2022 budget. We've completed our meetings with the department heads. We're also taking into account for any relevant department that the impact the pandemic might have had. Once we get LGA (Local Government Aid) information in early September, we'll start to back into the numbers as far as where we stand with the levy. Are there any items as a council you wish to see in the budget? [1:19:35] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** The only thing I think of is that the Park Board will do a walkthrough. Usually with Park Board stuff, we can fit that in. Hopefully you guys can see some of the maintenance stuff we've done down there—a lot of painting. [1:21:28] **Council Member Kris Huso:** Do we have to do a project on the old bathhouse now? [1:21:43] **Ellissa Owens:** My plan is to replace that in conjunction with the campground expansion. We'll probably end up bonding in 2023 for the total cost. And the beach house—my idea is to put essentially panels that you can put up to make it look like a changing room but it has no plumbing in it. We will need to schedule a working meeting in the beginning of September. Maybe Wednesday, September 1st, at noon? [1:24:58] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Let's shoot for the 1st at noon. September 1st at noon. [1:25:55] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All right, moving on to 6g, the American Rescue Plan funds. [1:26:00] **Ellissa Owens:** We ended up getting $148,000 plus some change, which is 50% of the total. We'll get another $148,000 next year. We have until December 31st of 2024 to spend the money. If we can use it for 4th Street, that would be my preference. One of the questions was can you essentially partner with other communities to make your dollar stretch further, and the answer was yes. Carlton County mentioned that they were really probably going to be investing a lot in broadband, so that might be something to think about. [1:29:45] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Very good, thank you. Moving on to number seven, reports of correspondence. 2020 Community Water Fluoridation 50-year award. [1:30:10] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** We got an award. All this smiling white teeth we have. Good job, Phil. [1:31:13] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Moving on, number eight, the committee and board meeting minutes. Moose Lake Area Fire District, Water and Light Commission, Park and Recreations. Any questions on the minutes? Moving on: Announcements. Regular Moose Lake City Council meeting, Wednesday, September 8th, 4:00 PM. Economic Development Authority, Wednesday, September 15th, 12:00 PM. Water and Light Commission, Tuesday, August 24th, 1:00 PM. Housing Redevelopment Authority, Monday, September 13th, 11:00 AM. Fire District, Tuesday, September 14th, 6:30 PM. Park Board meeting, Monday, September 13th, 6:30 PM. Any other items from the council? Do you have a motion to adjourn? [1:32:43] **Council Member Kris Huso:** So moved. [1:32:44] **Council Member Douglas Juntunen:** Second. [1:32:45] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All in favor say aye. (Group: Aye). Opposed? Meeting adjourned.