This transcript contains some phonetic errors from the automated speech-to-text process (e.g., "moose like" for "Moose Lake," "German" for "adjourn"). I have corrected speaker names based on the roles and the context of the discussion. [00:00] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: There is none. Do I hear a motion to adjourn? [00:01] **Council Member**: I’ll move. [00:01] **Council Member**: I’ll second it. [00:02] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: All in favor say aye. (Aye). Opposed? Motion carried. Now switch your data. We will now open the regular meeting of the Moose Lake City Council for Wednesday, January 11th, 2017. We’ll go to 1b, approval of the agenda. This is for changes and additions first. We do have one addition, and that is under number eight, that would be Park Board minutes. We also have a handout on the Fire District annual calls—that’s on a handout—and we’ll go over those when we get to them. Down in number nine, the second to the last entry is a Library Board meeting, January 12th; that has been cancelled, so cross that out please. Any other changes or additions to the agenda? Do I hear a motion to accept the agenda? [00:03] **Council Member**: So moved. [00:03] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Is there a second? [00:04] **Council Member**: Second. [00:04] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: All in favor say aye. (Aye). Opposed? Motion carried. Number two, consent agenda. We have the minutes. Number one is December 14th, 2016, regular City Council minutes. Any discussion or questions? Hearing none, do we have a motion to approve the minutes? [00:05] **Council Member**: So moved. Approve the minutes as written. [00:05] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Do we have a second? [00:05] **Council Member**: Second. [00:06] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Questions, discussion? All in favor say aye. (Aye). Opposed? Motion carried. Moving on to 2b, financial reports. Number one is the city accounts payable, January 2017. Number two is the city financial statements for December 2016. Number three is the liquor store profit and loss statement for December 2016. Questions or discussion? [00:07] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: The city financial statements and the liquor store profit and loss state that they are as of December 2016. Just a side note that they are obviously unaudited, so they are not final. [00:08] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Thank you. Any other questions or discussion? Do I have a motion to accept the financial reports? [00:08] **Council Member**: I’ll make that motion. [00:09] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Is there a second? [00:09] **Council Member**: I’ll second. [00:10] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: All in favor say aye. (Aye). Opposed? Motion carried. Number three is public comment. This time is for comments from the public on matters not listed on the agenda. Please keep comments to two minutes. This is your opportunity. Hearing none, we’ll move on to number four, Department Reports. Chief of Police department report for December 12, 2016, through January 5th, 2017. [00:11] **Kelly Lake (Carlton County Sheriff/Law Enforcement Lead)**: Just a couple things to note. We started the drug education classes at the school this week. Jamie Jungers is meeting with the sixth-grade students one hour a week, and it’s a 12-week program to teach them about the dangers of drugs. So we’re really happy that that started. We did the compliance checks for all the tobacco-selling stores in Moose Lake the last week of December, and everybody passed. That was good. At the end of the year, one report: 1,955 calls, 13 felonies were filed, 12 gross misdemeanors, 113 citations, 10 juvenile cases, 18 felony cases of the MSOP were filed, a gross misdemeanor of the MSOP, 7 pending, and 10 declined. Mileage on our squads... the Utah already has 21,000 miles on it. We just put some new tires on that, some winter tires. The truck that I drive just turned 113,000 and the Charger has 115,000. I spent most of today at Mercy Hospital instructing their staff, with the help of another instructor, on how to deal with active deadly threat situations and active shooters—God forbid—and we’re planning on doing an actual live drill here next month. That went very well, was very well received and appreciated. Yesterday we were quite busy. We assisted Pine County; they had a prisoner escape from the Department of Corrections work camp in Willow. We helped set up a perimeter and were able to help capture the individual just outside of Willow River. A lot of cars in the ditch on the freeway this whole year. It’s been horrible. But yesterday we had to help shut down the freeway. There were so many—there were eight cars in the ditch on both the right and left lane. It is pretty treacherous. So we had to shut the freeway down in Sturgeon Lake just so we were able to get the tow trucks in position to jerk the cars out safely. And several more in the ditch today. So I just urge people to please slow down on the freeway. I’ll tell you, I was driving that guy back from Willow, bringing him back to the Moose Lake prison, and I think I had six cars pass me. I was doing like 60 miles an hour in a fully marked car, so it’s crazy. Is that enough? [00:12] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Any questions for the Chief? Thank you. [00:13] **Council Member**: Thank you. [00:14] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Please pass it on to the crew, good job. [00:14] **Kelly Lake**: Thanks. [00:15] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: That’s a lot of things in one year. Tonight we didn’t have a Public Works Superintendent present. Do you have anything, Mr. Administrator? [00:16] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: I asked him what he would like me to pass along, and he stated that there’s been a lot of snow. [00:17] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: So noted. So noted. For the City Engineer, local road improvement funding. [00:18] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: We did get the surveys complete, and I think they’re working now on putting together plans and estimates and all of that stuff. Are there any questions that the council would like on the three items the City Engineer has? If there are, we’ll get the answers and get them back to you. [00:19] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Hearing none, do you have any input you want on any of those items? [00:20] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: I mean, I can touch briefly on the repairs on the existing utilities within State Highway 73. Most all of that’s going to wait until spring. Update on the wastewater treatment facility: everything is completed as far as the new structure and tearing down the old one. Phone lines still need to be connected for a second phone line for the Public Works. Which I believe means that their SCADA system still has a little bit of work to do. And we are working on finishing up paying off all of the contractors for all the work that’s been done. Everything’s been working really well, though. [00:21] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Great. Anything by the council? And then moving on to 4d, Chamber of Commerce updates. Lou, I don’t know if you want to step to the mic to give any updates? Sorry to put you on the spot. [00:22] **Lou Ohly (Council Member)**: Yeah, we had our annual dinner and annual meeting. It was last Saturday night. Amy Prime, who has been president for quite a few years, has announced that she’s resigning from the board. She’s going to concentrate on her—she’s had a business change. So she’ll still work with the Chamber with committees and things, still be a member, but we elected new officers with a slate that was presented. The only change was to add Tony Stewart as an officer, the direct director on the board. And there will be a meeting tomorrow at Docks in Sturgeon Lake and we’ll be electing new officers from the directors that were elected Saturday. There were no other changes other than adding Tony to it and Amy stepping down. But it was a good dinner, lots of prizes, lots of laughs. There were 64 people there, so that was a good turnout. It was very good. [00:23] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Yeah, very good food. [00:23] **Lou Ohly**: Yes. [00:24] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Could you pass on to everyone there what a great job they do for the city and how much we appreciate it? [00:24] **Lou Ohly**: Sure. [00:25] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Moving on to number five, previously discussed business. 5a, FEMA flood update. [00:26] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: We have a meeting scheduled for next Wednesday with our current and former engineer to hopefully finish out the projects. I don’t even know what we’re hoping for at this point anymore. [00:27] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Date and time of the meeting? [00:28] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: Wednesday of next week, the 18th at 10 o’clock. [00:29] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Very good. [00:30] **Council Member**: Do they still have money for the flood victims or anything, or what? [00:31] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: The projects that were associated with 2012 are technically supposed to be being closed or are closed. We still have projects that are open. There’s some discrepancy in thought on whether they owe us more money or not. [00:32] **Council Member**: Can you ask for a little more money so they can get rid of the church? [00:33] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: We can’t add any more money, but there’s plenty of money that we think that they still owe us that they don’t think that they still owe us. I mean, the building next to me, you can’t get close to because of the mold and stuff in it. As far as adding new projects goes, from what I understand from this flood and meeting with Homeland Security is you get—I think it’s like 30 days after the event to declare what needs to be repaired and a dollar amount. You can’t even increase the dollar amount. So, unfortunately, no. [00:34] **Council Member**: Mr. Mayor? [00:34] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Yes. [00:35] **Council Member**: I believe that’s a Minnesota DNR program, the buyout of properties that have been flooded. I understand some of that. It was just that, you know, originally the house was put on "livable." You couldn’t live in it, so it was never brought up. So in other words, saying that, maybe that’s still open to us to look at. Who owns it now? Do you know? [00:36] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: I don’t know. Somebody from Southern Minnesota somewhere. It’s changed a couple of hands. [00:37] **Council Member**: That’s part of the initiative of the blight, and I don’t know what department of the DNR it is, but it was the DNR one-project-at-a-time buyout program. Maybe we could, you know, contact them and see if we’re still eligible. [00:38] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: Sure. [00:39] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Somebody to look at it. It doesn’t mean we have to do it, but we’ll definitely look at it. Very good. 5b, MLWSSD contract negotiations. [00:40] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: Still waiting on the same things. Our engineer that’s working with us with the contract negotiations had a bit of a health scare over the last month, so he’s been out for a little while. [00:41] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Understand. 5c, maintenance agreement with Carlton County, on page 35. [00:42] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: This was the agreement that was brought forward last month and the council had asked me to look into it a little bit more. We have not had a contract like this before, so I contacted the county and just kind of went through the "Why are you doing this to us?" kind of questions. The townships have always had this agreement; cities have not. They’re just trying to clean that stuff up amongst themselves. The rates are the same for everybody. Every city, every township, everybody gets the same rates. Everybody has signed it but us—that was mentioned to me a couple times. I did check on the prices. They are lower than what is on the website—not the FEMA, but where the vehicle prices are listed. [00:43] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: State estimates. [00:44] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: The state estimates, yes. These are lower than what was listed there. So I would suggest that we approve this. [00:45] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Mr. Mayor? [00:45] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Yes? [00:46] **Council Member**: The question was, though, the patching. [00:47] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: That’s separate. So that’s a separate contract. This is just a schedule of charges for just these vehicles. [00:48] **Council Member**: Okay, that’s what was a misunderstanding. We didn’t know it was a separate contract. Okay, I’ll make a motion we sign the maintenance agreement with Carlton County. [00:49] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: For the second? [00:49] **Council Member**: I’ll second it. [00:50] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Any questions or discussion? Okay, all in favor say aye. (Aye). Opposed? Motion carried. Moves us down to new business. 6a, 2017 campground prices. [00:51] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: This was brought to the Park Board, and the Park Board recommended the changes be applied. And I believe it’s the $5 below, correct? [00:52] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: The $5 below? [00:53] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: Yeah, the change from visitors... five dollars per person. This is based on what he has researched throughout the area. He has changes listed for most all of the rates: daily rates, weekly rates, 15-day rates, seasonal rates, and overnight visitor rates as well. For instance, in the middle where it lists daily where he crosses off, that is just the wrong price—$29 would be the current price and $30 is what he’s suggesting. That happens throughout each of these. And again, I think I mentioned we will get new brochures printed. Tenting, on the other hand, we currently have a tenting daily rate of $24 and he’s suggesting that be dropped to $15. Seasonal rates are listed above as well. [00:54] **Council Member**: There was some confusion on our discussion at the Park Board. This should go back to the Park Board, then. [00:55] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Okay. [00:56] **Council Member**: It’s no big deal because we’re not going to be renting anything for a number of months, but it should go back to the Park Board then. Maybe this should be cleaned up a little bit because there was a lot of confusion on what was already approved and what wasn't. [00:57] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: Okay. [00:58] **Council Member**: Are there some seasonals that pay a year ahead? [00:59] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: I don’t know about a year ahead. Letters to seasonal campers were technically supposed to go out last month. But I don’t know if anybody’s paid a year ahead. If they have, we would have to honor that, I’m sure. [01:00] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Well, it’s up to the Council, too. The Council can pass this tonight if they agree on it. We have authority over the Park Board. It would then be just a notification to the Park Board if that simplifies things for the process going into the new year. [01:01] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: I would ask that that be the case. Just for some background, we did have our campground manager call around to all other local campgrounds to get prices. That’s kind of how this all came about—we are so much lower than everybody else around that this just seemed like an easy thing we could do that made sense. [01:02] **Council Member**: I have a question. How do we account for the overnight visitors that come? How does he recognize that? [01:03] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: Oh, he knows everybody that’s down there. [01:04] **Council Member**: Yeah, I know, but if they come in the evening? I'm just curious because, in the past, did you sticker their window, or how do you determine that? [01:05] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: In the past, what has happened is we have somebody that is selected as a camper there that will work when Joe is not there at night. That person takes... especially for tenting, for instance. If somebody comes in in the middle of the night when Joe is not there, there is somebody there that can help identify a new person so that they do pay. Quite frankly, I would say that some of the time they just get away with some of that stuff until morning when Joe gets there. But Joe knows most everybody that is there. [01:06] **Council Member**: Yeah, I guess. I’ll make a motion that we accept the camping rates as stated for 2017. [01:07] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Have a second? [01:08] **Council Member**: I’ll second that. [01:09] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: All in favor say aye. (Aye). Opposed? Motion carried. Moving on to 6b, bus service to Moose Lake. [01:10] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: That was asked to be put back on the agenda. We will no longer have our matching funding from A-1, I believe, for that bus service. The Mayor had discussed keeping it going, for instance, through the winter and then maybe no longer having that service seeing as how we don’t have the full money for it. [01:11] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: I thought through the winter months and then bring it up as an agenda item for discussion, I would say in May. I certainly support that. I think we need to do it. [01:12] **Council Member**: Do we make money on it? [01:13] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Oh, we don’t make any. [01:14] **Council Member**: I know that, but did the bus company make or lose money on what they did collect? [01:15] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: We pay them to come and pick people up. [01:16] **Council Member**: So are they making money? I doubt that they’re even making money. But I mean, yeah, I think it’s a good thing. It’s a trouble that people don’t use it, but they don't have the ability to get around otherwise. And I think in the winter we need to provide that for them. [01:17] **Council Member**: I’ll make a motion that we do this through April and then revisit it in May. [01:18] **Council Member**: I’ll second it. [01:19] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Any further questions or discussion? [01:20] **Council Member**: Mr. Mayor, I just have something to add. You know, getting close to that, maybe we could revisit it because we could maybe look at a different system. There is a taxi company in town, and maybe we could hire that person for a limited dollar amount. The thing that would be nice about that is that it’s not just when the bus is here that you have to make your appointment; you can make your appointment for the clinic and just schedule it with the taxi driver. It would be more user-friendly. It’s just an idea there if we can put our heads together. [01:21] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: That suggestion was made by some members of A-1 also after talking with senior citizens. But because of the past agenda item and how we talked about it last month, we kept it as it is until the year is over. [01:22] **Council Member**: And then it would be kind of a contract with him, right? And then you don’t have a dollar amount... yeah, I think we’d have to really put some thought into that as to hours, because I could see people—how to keep track of it, you know? [01:23] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Yeah, I think we just need to think about that. But I think it would be a little more complicated because the people using it... it’s a little harder to get your mind around how you would control that so it’s just those that really need it and not open to everyone all the time. Then we would own a taxi service. You have one going to Carlton and then coming back and another one... I think it’s something to look into, but... [01:24] **Council Member**: And I wasn’t thinking about a town service, just in town—groceries, you know. [01:25] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: We did a motion and a second. Did we vote? We just talked. Okay. Any further discussion? All in favor, say aye. (Aye). Opposed? Motion carried. New Business, 6v, plow quotes. [01:26] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: In the capital improvement budget for 2017, we listed and budgeted for a V-plow. These are two quotes for purchasing a V-plow. My suggestion would be Northwoods Hydraulic and Equipment, which has the lowest bid provided to us. It is just the total listed, which is $6,039. [01:27] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Very good. How much was in the capital improvement? [01:28] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: $6,000. But I saved—when we saved money—hold on, wait. The skid steer came in under budget by more than $39. [01:29] **Council Member**: I’ll make a motion we accept the bid for Northwoods Hydraulic and Equipment for the V-plow. [01:30] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Do you have a second? [01:31] **Council Member**: Second. [01:32] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Any further questions or discussion? All in favor say aye. (Aye). Well, Northwoods is in Moose Lake? [01:33] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: Yes. [01:34] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: All in favor say aye. (Aye). Opposed? Motion carried. 6w, Moose Lake School site proposal. [01:35] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: One of the things that I first learned about when coming down here was the property that the school owned along Highway 73. The superintendent and I have had many discussions on this property. One of the things that I thought the City of Moose Lake and the school could partner on is creating some sort of study area with zoning ordinances and an actual plan put in place that we could use to market for businesses looking to come into Moose Lake. I did go and speak to the School Board about this as well, and this is kind of what I presented to them. The Hermantown Marketplace is the first section here—that is basically what I’m proposing. The second document, page 41, shows the current zoning, which was previously just a large commercial area with not a lot of thought put into it, no plans for it whatsoever. Hermantown sat down and said that this was one of the major entrances to their community and could be a little bit better than what it is. So they had HKGI create a picture, a concept plan, of what the Hermantown Marketplace area could look like. They used this to then have a community planning meeting where the community could discuss what kind of businesses they are interested in. They went so far as to also include some high-density housing. One of the things that I’ve heard with the property along Highway 73 is that we would like some commercial and some higher-density housing, which is basically exactly what this plan is. They then create a planning ordinance and a zoning ordinance for that area—you draw a little magical box on a map and create zoning specific to that area. On page 52, there is a proposal from ARDC to help us create this concept plan and zoning ordinances. There is a budget for this project. What I presented to the School Board was that because this is such a large and important area of our community, I think it would be important for the City of Moose Lake and the School Board to participate jointly in this project. So I am suggesting to the City Council that the city pay for 50% of this project because we would be getting zoning ordinances for it and we would be using this for marketing to hopefully increase the tax base. Any questions on that? [01:36] **Council Member**: Yes, this brings me back about 12 years ago. How receptive was the school to this? Because 12 years ago we went through a similar kind of mapping out, and the School Board really was not interested in much of what the city was looking for. They pretty much wanted to control the whole thing. I’m just interested how they took it. We’re kind of reinventing the wheel because we’ve done a lot of this, and we spent a lot of money and time doing this before with them and absolutely got nowhere. [01:37] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: I am aware that the city and the school have created some designs for this area before. I have seen them. Basically, this takes that and should go many steps further with community meetings and creating zoning ordinances. My hope is that what we end up with is marketing material that we can put on our website, the school’s website, and state economic development websites. The second part of your question: they were extremely receptive. This is a better plan than putting a billboard on the property saying that it’s for sale. [01:38] **Council Member**: I know, I just see we’re going backwards so many years. I just want to know that the School Board really wants to work with us and really get this going this time. [01:39] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: This was the smaller ask that I had that night, and they were good with this and the bigger one. I think with the development that’s happened already, they see the potential. And I think they would also agree that the city and the school need to work together and perhaps could use some collaborative wins. [01:40] **Council Member**: I know, the goal always has been to work together. It’s just been like I said, for the last 12 years, we get together, we have this vision, and then we start over. I hope they’re really receptive. [01:41] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: If the City Council does agree to pay for up to half of this project, it doesn’t work without the school’s participation anyways. So if they change their mind, then we’re not going to contribute any money towards it either. [01:42] **Council Member**: So it’s about $7,500? [01:43] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: Correct, half of it. [01:44] **Council Member**: Was there any indication on how much property the school is willing to give up to development? I guess that would kind of depend on the buffer between the school and the next section. [01:45] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: The idea the superintendent and I discussed is if you extend the road that’s behind Shopko over to Kwik Trip, you have both sides to develop. Once their fields are fully completed, they will know where that buffer will be. [01:46] **Council Member**: Well, that was the original plan way back also. If we don’t have a boundary you can work with, you come up with two separate ideas. [01:47] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: This is why I’m saying we work with the school to create a concept drawing of exactly what it is that we want. [01:48] **Council Member**: I’m trying to get at how much of an effort the school is willing to come forward with. The city has come forward several times already, and then the school backs out. I mean, it’s going to be basically your leadership—how far will they go? [01:49] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: I would hope that they would be willing to go all the way considering they don’t want to hold on to this property forever either; it doesn’t make them any money. [01:50] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: No, I agree. [01:51] **Council Member**: Mr. Mayor, I think this is a good time to just start over, clean slate, and try to move forward with this. I think Ellissa is going to be a lot better negotiator than our representation has been in the past. So I feel comfortable with this. I so move that we accept the study proposal of $15,000, not to exceed $8,000 for our share. [01:52] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Is there a second? [01:53] **Council Member**: Second it. [01:54] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Any other questions or discussion? [01:55] **Council Member**: I’d just like to make sure that our representative is using their discretion and brings back any information that would lead them to believe that it’s not going to be working out. We don’t spend the money until we know that that’s going to be a good fit. [01:56] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: One of the things we could look at doing—the biggest benefit is getting marketing materials and zoning ordinances. This is not our property, to be clear. Perhaps our portion of this is the "last money" that goes into this rather than the first money, as a show of everyone working together. [01:57] **Council Member**: I like it because ARDC is a neutral negotiator there. They do a nice job. [01:58] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Motion and a second. In favor say aye. (Aye). Opposed? Motion carried. Under 6c, Riverside Arena exterior. [01:59] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: This is a proposal that the Hockey Association asked that I bring forward. It states that we would remove the bottom portion of the arena—I can’t remember if it’s four feet or six—remove the bottom portion the entire way around and replace it to resolve the holes, and then repaint the entire structure so it is all one color. The Hockey Association's contribution would be to cover all of what I just said. The city’s contribution would be any landscaping, and they are requesting that we perform landscaping to basically keep people away from the building so we no longer have people running into the building or punching holes into the siding. Speaking with the Hockey Association president, I told him that I’d like the council to set up a committee to start working on planning for the arena, to not only do this but to look at an expansion as well. I have seen the plans and estimates from before, and I’m saying frankly, let’s do it again. The expansion may not happen for two years, so at least the thing would be cleaned up. We have a gardener on staff, so we talked about having Clarissa start looking at some gardening plans. We would also want some sort of cement posts to keep cars from hitting the building. [02:00] **Council Member**: I would just like to thank the Hockey Association for taking this on because that is our building. We have the other building in town, and I really want to thank them for doing this. Whatever we need to do to participate in it, we need to do. It’s back to like we talked about the old liquor store—it’s "lipstick on the pig," but we have to invest in it. I would like to be on whatever committee is formed. [02:01] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: I think this is great. I’m sure glad they’re supporting that facility down there. [02:02] **Council Member**: My only concern is—are we going to be the general contractor? Who’s going to be in charge of this? [02:03] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: We would have to be, as it’s our building. We will oversee to make sure the colors are what we want and the work is up to our standards. [02:04] **Council Member**: The quality of the work is my only concern. [02:05] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: This was also my big ask at the School Board meeting, and they were receptive. I would like the Hockey Association, the school, as well as the city to all work together on an expansion plan. [02:06] **Council Member**: We should have a Park Board member on it, since it's part of the park system. [02:07] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: After this, we should do a motion to approve working with the Hockey Association on the Riverside Arena exterior proposal. [02:08] **Council Member**: I’ll make a motion that we work with the Hockey Association on their plans to improve the arena with paint and some new siding. [02:09] **Council Member**: I’ll second that. [02:10] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: All in favor say aye. (Aye). Opposed? Motion carried. Under 6f, MnDOT easement offers. [02:11] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: As a part of the Highway 73 project, the state is acquiring temporary easements. They need an easement while they’re working on it, and as soon as work is done, they turn it back over to the parcel owner. For each parcel that we own, they create a separate offer sheet for us. There is an additional one on top of this for $1,000, making the total sixteen thousand seven hundred dollars. What is needed from the City Council is to approve the easement offers. I really don’t have any idea why we would say no to these. It doesn’t matter what the dollar amount is; they’re turning the property back over to us in better condition than it was previously. There is one section they are requesting permanent easements for, and that is right up by the depot. [02:12] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: So the short version: this is what you recommended? [02:13] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: I would recommend approving this. [02:14] **Council Member**: I have one question out of curiosity. How do they come up with these numbers? [02:15] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: They look at the zoning, the size, and then they start looking at sales that are similar—a price per square foot. Whatever they’re requesting from us is just multiplied. [02:16] **Council Member**: I’ll make a motion that we accept the temporary and permanent easement offers for sixteen thousand seven hundred dollars. [02:17] **Council Member**: I’ll second that. [02:18] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Any further questions? All in favor say aye. (Aye). Opposed? Motion carried. Number 6g, dehumidification system bids. [02:19] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: This is also part of our Mighty Ducks grant. This portion is for a dehumidification system as well as an exhaust system for the girls' locker room upstairs. I am requesting that we approve the D&E Heating system, which is the lower bid. They’ve done work for us before. [02:20] **Council Member**: Is it the $49,600? [02:21] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: On the other quote, they separate out the unit and the installation. When you combine them, D&E is the cheaper of the two. [02:22] **Council Member**: I’ll make a motion we go with D&E as they are local also. [02:23] **Council Member**: I’ll second. [02:24] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: All in favor say aye. (Aye). Motion carried. 6h, estimate for Cat 259 skid steer. [02:25] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: We had budgeted $60,000 for a skid steer. This is coming off of the state bid. I’m asking that you approve this one for $56,646. [02:26] **Council Member**: Does it have attachments? [02:27] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: Yes, a number of attachments are included in this. [02:28] **Council Member**: I so move that we accept the Ziegler quote for $56,646. [02:29] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Do we have a second? [02:30] **Council Member**: Second. [02:31] **Council Member**: Was this what the gentleman down there picked out? [02:32] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: Yes, Phil is the one that spec’d it all out. [02:33] **Council Member**: Where does the rest of the money stay? [02:34] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: It will depend on the records management system for the Police Department. We knew going into the year that we would probably need to shift some things around. [02:35] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: All in favor say aye. (Aye). Opposed? Motion carried. [02:36] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: I’m going to go back to the Riverside Arena. One of the items we had was an emergency exit off the second floor. [02:37] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: I would think that should be done—the siding should be done and then we talked about coordinating that as well. That should probably be an agenda item for next month. Under 7, Reports and Correspondence, we have none. Moving to 8, Committee and Board meetings. We have the December 21st Water and Light Commission minutes. We also have the Park Board minutes and the Fire District annual report. The annual Moose Lake Fire District report: they had 452 calls last year. City of Moose Lake had 264, Moose Lake Township 59, Windermere 99, Silver Township 15. That’s it for committees. Do you have anything else, Administrator? [02:38] **Ellissa Owens (City Administrator)**: Two other things. We will have a bill introduced on Tuesday for a local sales tax. Senator Lourey is going to introduce the sales tax bill on Tuesday, and then Representative Sundin will hopefully be introducing it soon as well. We will go down and testify as soon as it enters a committee. The language will state that we will use the money for parks and trails, road improvement, and an arena bond. It is a half-percent sales tax for $3 million worth of projects or a 20-year period. One more thing: we received notification from Carlton County about scheduling our Local Board of Appeal and Equalization. It is tentatively scheduled for 11:00 a.m. on April 13th. We do have to have a quorum. [02:39] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: Dates fine with me. Do I hear a motion to adjourn? [02:40] **Council Member**: I’ll make that motion. [02:41] **Council Member**: Second. [02:42] **Mayor Jim Michalski**: All in favor say aye. (Aye). Motion carried.