This transcript is from the **Cannon Falls, MN City Council meeting held on December 21, 2021**. Based on the roll call and contextual clues, I have identified the speakers, including Mayor John Althoff, City Administrator Neil Jensen, and other council members and staff. **Speakers identified:** * **Mayor John Althoff** * **Neil Jensen:** City Administrator * **Laura Qualey:** Assistant City Administrator / Community Development Director * **Sarah Sonsalla:** City Attorney (joining via Zoom) * **Kyle Paulson:** Chamber of Commerce Director * **Tyler Lindow:** Police Chief * **Council Members:** Mary Jill Bringold, Bill Duncan, Dan Gesme, Matt Montgomery, Derek Lundell, Laura Cronenberger. *** [5:05] **Mayor John Althoff:** good evening everyone happy holidays i'd like to call the city council meeting for december 21st the city of cannes falls the order courier roll call please [5:15] **Neil Jensen (City Administrator):** Bringold [Bringold: here], Duncan [Duncan: here], Gesme [Gesme: here], Cronenberger [Cronenberger: here], Lindell [Lundell: here], Montgomery [Montgomery: here], Althoff [Althoff: here]. [5:25] **Mayor John Althoff:** would you rise 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 okay does anybody have any additions or corrections to the agenda [5:55] **Mayor John Althoff:** hearing none is there a motion to approve the agenda so moved second second motion by duncan a second by glendale to approve the agenda any discussion all in favor opposed carried okay public input i see there's a couple people in public input that want to talk about covert it is part of our console business tonight but if you want to talk for three minutes we'll let you talk for three minutes of public input too okay public input public input is intended to afford the public an opportunity to address concerns to the city council the public input will be no longer than 30 minutes in total length and each [6:41] **Mayor John Althoff:** speaker will have no more than three minutes to speak speakers must address topics relevant to the governess of the city speakers must sign up in advance and provide their name address and a topic they intend to address comments must be on topic respectful pertinent to city business and adhere to the applicable data privacy rules any speaker that violates these rules will be asked to sit down and if the speaker refused to comply they may be removed from the meeting speakers shall not address the topics that are are should not address topics of their subject of a public hearing all such comments shall be made at that public hearing the city council will not [7:26] **Mayor John Althoff:** generally act on issues raised by the public input may choose to schedule consideration of the item on a future agenda uh eric [7:42] **Eric (Public Speaker):** good evening later tonight this council is slated to vote on whether to impose its coveted policy or to rescind it in the light of recent court rulings this council may be feeling justified to move forward with a vote to keep it i however continue to urge you to vote against and i'm sorry i however continue to urge you to vote to rescind it on two points one is the simple fact that doing so will almost certainly result in a weakening of the number of first responders able to respond to the citizens of cannon falls and second if you have never heard of the nuremberg code i would greatly suggest you familiarize yourself [8:29] **Eric (Public Speaker):** with it before choosing to vote on this policy let me read to you part of point one from this code quote the voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential this means that the person involved should have legal capacity to give consent should be so situated as to be able to exercise free power of choice without the intervention of any element of force fraud deceit duress overreaching or other ulterior form of constraint or coercion end quote can you justify this mandate are the city's employees free from force [9:16] **Eric (Public Speaker):** fraud deceit duress overreaching or other ulterior forms of constraint or coercion take your vote tonight and let it be the final one on this matter it's no need to kick this can down the road anymore you either know your position on this matter to be moral and legal or you do not but when you vote tonight remember the nuremberg trials and that no amount of i was just following someone else's orders will spare you americans are tired of tyrannical government overreach and in the end individual freedom will prevail this is america the land of the free thank you [10:00] **Mayor John Althoff:** thank you becky [10:02] **Becky (Public Speaker):** i have handouts i don't know hi i'm here tonight to ask you to vote no on any discriminatory discriminatory covid19 policy that would require vaccination-free employees to test every two weeks in where mass first of all i would like to thank you for coming up with a policy that does not require mandatory vaccination i really appreciate that i am not for or against vaccinations i believe as a smart unselfish and loyal american citizen it is up to us to be accountable and do our part to research the facts about what we are putting into our bodies i would suggest that if you are going to require testing every two weeks and mask for vaccination free employees it is discrimination and should be considered for all employees if it's voted into effect [11:03] **Becky (Public Speaker):** statistics from the cdc show that the shot does not stop the transmission of the disease the cdc link is listed as number one on the reference sheet that i gave you called did you know common sense says that if you are vaccinated then you should have protection from the vaccine free people you are around however according to our own cdc this drug does not prevent infection or transmission our governor just got it today as a fully vaccinated fully boosted family are you still going grocery shopping the gas station eating at restaurants to the hardware store to sam's or costco each one of us interact with many people throughout our day according to the cdc the contagiousness of vaccinated and vaccinated free persons infected with coven 19 is similar the cd [11:50] **Becky (Public Speaker):** cdc link that you can find that information on is number two on your list according to the cdc and the fda covered vaccines pose risks of myocarditis blood clotting neurological damage and death the link for your confirmation is number three on your resource i've included a chart from the fda listing which is the second page a working list of possible adverse effect event outcomes due to this experimental shot under the box list is another graphic of adverse events identified through december third two thousand twenty one keep in mind that experts consider this number low as many are not reported there have been nine hundred forty six thousand four hundred and sixty one thousand adverse event reports from the [12:37] **Becky (Public Speaker):** shot including almost twenty thousand deaths and over a hundred thousand hospitalizations including over thirty two thousand permanent disabilities this number expands dramatically when you consider worldwide adverse effects according to the world health organization or who there have been at least two million four hundred fifty seven thousand three hundred and eighty six adverse events worldwide that's over a million more cases than all adverse events reported over the last 53 years of all vaccines administered since 1968 combined this is a direct quote from your resource sheet number four and it shows where to go to read the link from the cdc once again i'm asking you to vote no on your employee covet policy as a taxpayer who voted you into these city council [13:24] **Becky (Public Speaker):** seats i do not believe you should be insisting on policies that could harm your employees or cause them to leave employment because of your decisions this could ultimately harm the city residents by creating shortages of staff for our fire department ambulance and police departments none of you are licensed doctors and we're not elected to impose medical mandates on city employees please do not vote in a coveted policy at this time thank you [13:58] **Mayor John Althoff:** thanks becky okay that's the only two i have on public input is there anybody else that i'm seeing then we'll close the public input portion of the meeting okay we'll get into the consent agenda consent agenda items may be adopted [14:10] **Mayor John Althoff:** under one motion as presented or may be removed for discussion and resolution as console business for you at home and in the audience i'll go through the consent agenda item a is just incorrect claims for the accounting period ending december 16th 2021 item b the minute meetings for the december 7th 2021 city council meeting item c the minute meetings for the december 7th 2021 city council work session item d resolution 2597 adopting the 2022 tax levy and budget item e approve a goodyear county communications system [14:56] **Mayor John Althoff:** subscriber agreement item f approve a minnesota water assistant pro program img resolution 2598 minnesota opioids state subdivision memorandum of agreement an item h resolution 2599 authorizing budget transfers for the funding of the water tower restoration project is there anything the council like to pull down anybody otherwise i take a motion to approve the consent agenda [15:26] **Council Member Gesme:** so move [15:27] **Council Member Montgomery:** second [15:28] **Mayor John Althoff:** motion by giving me a second by montgomery to approve the consent agenda any other discussion all in favor opposed carried okay we'll get right into console business item a is the code policy update neil you want to take that [16:20] **Neil Jensen (City Administrator):** sure um two weeks ago we had a work session in regards to what we're going to do based on the federal stay of the fifth circuit um on the covet mandate that the federal government has put on well since our work session uh it was sent to the sixth district and uh they dissolved that uh and now it's back on so we got an email today in fact this afternoon um from the league of minnesota cities that you know it probably best if i just read it it's a couple paragraphs long and it'll give you a better understanding of what's going on sure so the united states court of appeals for the sixth circuit dissolved the fifth circuit stay of the cova 19 vaccination and testing emergency temporary standard on december december 17th [17:05] **Neil Jensen (City Administrator):** the ets which was published in the federal register on november 5th requires employers with at least 100 employees which is canon falls to mandate that employees get vaccinated against coven 19 or mandate that employees get vaccinated or submit to weekly testing and wear face coverings at work as a state plan minnesota osha must adopt this standard as written or an equivalent standard that is as effective as the standard to protect workers in minnesota to meet these obligations minosha is preparing to adopt the ets by reference as soon as january 3rd the ets will be effective immediately in minnesota [17:52] **Neil Jensen (City Administrator):** as of the date of its publication and publication in the state register minosh's state plan applies to all public and private employers in the state with limited exceptions federal osha maintains jurisdiction over federal employees working in minnesota then it goes on to say some effective dates but as soon as it becomes effective within minnesota as soon as minosha approves it and publishes it and in the register so i talked to uh sarah today and i see she's up on the on the screen um via zoom that what we're requesting tonight based on the new information that we [18:37] **Neil Jensen (City Administrator):** received today is that uh council gives staff the uh authority to start putting together a policy based on what uh minnowsha is is doing and it looks like it looks like it's gonna come quickly so by january 4th we should be able to have a draft policy to you um in regards you know if you remember sarah showed her or talked about three draft policies that she already had from other towns or counties she'll put it together and and we'll get whatever we think is appropriate in there for you guys to review by january 4th [19:22] **Neil Jensen (City Administrator):** i know they're going to give us some extra timeline uh it says here uh january 10th and will not issue citations for non-compliance with standards testing requirements before february 9th so we've got a month or so okay to get this thing in place if we continue down the road and if i remember right there's uh some pretty good stiff penalties associated with non-compliance i mean it's tens of thousands i think it was ten or thirteen thousand dollars i don't remember the exact number but um so if somebody turns the city of cannon falls in and they come down and check i guess we'll get a and osha's pretty [20:09] **Neil Jensen (City Administrator):** good at writing uh citations so that's where we stand um that's as of 2 47 this afternoon i got that email and and i knew min osha had to adopt um the federal guidelines either as strict or stricter so that's where we're at [20:25] **Mayor John Althoff:** well that would be my first question can we as a council go more strict i know the federal one talks about testing every week if you don't want to get the shot there's some medical exemptions potentially i would rather see that we don't because people are going to game this and try and go the testing route if they don't want to get the shots i want our people mandated to get it if you don't get it you don't get to work here i'd like that included in the in the policy we'll look at in january is the thing i was all i was ready tonight to uh rescind our motion we made back in october and wait for something to happen while it happened it happened yeah exactly [21:18] **Council Member Duncan:** it's the thing we passed in october just not not sufficient enough to cover is it not [21:23] **Neil Jensen (City Administrator):** we need to do it it has to be at least as strict as osha right what you uh passed had passed passed in october or when or whatever it was was every two weeks um and this is every week so it's not as restrictive we gotta be men osha will will send out their guidance and that's what we'll have to follow and they have the they have to be as strict or stricter okay and the federal guidance okay um here's here's what i'm gonna say and i guess i was threatened with not getting voted for this fall by a emailer but everybody's everybody's waiting for us to do something so they can go to their [22:26] **Mayor John Althoff:** lawyers or go to their unions and and be so happy about we're going to sue you for this we're going to sue you for that if we follow osha's guidelines i think we're going to be okay in that area i mean if that's what everybody agrees to i i don't see how they can sue us for moving too far away from that once uh that's a pretty powerful um department so um sarah well i'm pretty sure the supreme court is going to hear this too yeah i'm sure there sarah hello yes can you hear me [23:14] **Sarah Sonsalla (City Attorney):** yes we can we just can't see you which might be your choice that is my choice um yes so a couple of questions i heard yes we can be more restrictive if the council wants to be um i wouldn't recommend it at this point just based on on the fact that we might get challenged but that's certainly an option the council can choose to do uh st paul has done that they have flat out mandated um vaccinations and they have been challenged but that is what they are trying to do uh mina osha it sounds like their recommendations are going to be out very soon and that they're not going to give us a lot of [23:57] **Sarah Sonsalla (City Attorney):** extra time it also sounds like they're pretty much going to adopt the osha rules in whole by reference so i don't expect anything significant to be different than what osha has already issued what was the third question i thought i heard lawsuits it is really hard to say the fact is we don't have a choice um the federal government has come out and said you must do this and if you don't osha is going to fine you um is it possible we will get food certainly is it possible a union will challenge certainly but being that we don't have the your options are a possible lawsuit or osha fines at this point [24:43] **Mayor John Althoff:** that cover everything yeah yes i think so i think that's what we're asking [24:47] **Council Member Cronenberger:** just a point of clarification i guess i misunderstood because it was my understanding that we voted to create a policy we didn't approve a policy right that's right so this is confusing to me but that also wouldn't according to the discussion that also would be null and void because it's not enough for the federal government as of january so right right right it's yeah okay okay the working session was to create something which we didn't do this is exactly what we were hopefully delaying [25:30] **Mayor John Althoff:** for exactly the federal government would mandate it and whether it would succeed and i heard somebody up here say that it might go to supreme court yeah i probably will it's already been submitted i think seven six seven major corporations have submitted doesn't mean they're gonna pick it up so i think what we should do is at least get working on the policy get it done and then see when this thing takes effect and for the employees that do not want to get vaccinated i asked sarah today that do we pay for the testing [26:11] **Neil Jensen (City Administrator):** yes do we pay for the time off to take it yes um is it an inconvenience maybe a little we're we're working on getting some of the tests um so the ambulance can uh administer them so it'll be really not out of their way and not other and we're trying to we're going to try and make this as simple as possible um so hopefully this this will go smooth and hopefully it won't last too terribly long i'm i'm hoping so [26:40] **Council Member Lundell:** is this part of us making a policy but the uh the logistics of the testing does it have to be rapid does it have to be the the long format can it be done you know mail in spit test through vault [26:54] **Neil Jensen (City Administrator):** that's a better question for the screen and i don't know if we know that sarah do you know that answer [27:01] **Sarah Sonsalla (City Attorney):** our policy will need to cover that i don't know the answer as to what we're going to require but that will need to be part of the policy is what counts as a test and most of the talk i've been hearing is it's going to try and be sort of on-site employer testing you know so instead of saying hey send us something it's going to be you come here we test we get the results um but i don't absolutely know the answer to that yet it will need to be in the policy but uh sarah we can though elect to go even tougher as i mentioned earlier if we wish [27:42] **Sarah Sonsalla (City Attorney):** to correct if you wish to go tougher you can just require mandate uh just vaccinations you still do have to allow for a medical or religious exemption correct but you could go the eater or or you can do the mandated vaccination and then so that just talks about that the mandate has to be in place and then it's up to our specific policy what the consequences would be or is that also in the in the ruling [28:13] **Neil Jensen (City Administrator):** we're going to have to read it and see there will be some questions that staff will have simply because when the line in the sand comes i want u7 to make that decision you know if it's if it's a dismissal or you don't come back to work or whatever that may be if you don't want to do the testing i don't know you guys will put it in a policy and you you'll have to make that decision yeah i guess that's what my question was is that up to us the consequences [28:55] **Council Member Cronenberger:** laura i think so yeah that i think that's part of it well that's not there must be some guidelines because what's the point of a mandated form right right we have there have to be consequences right yes because what i mean okay well should i i implemented a policy but there's no consequences no i wouldn't be okay with that [29:15] **Mayor John Althoff:** no there's there's something out there that's that's kind of why i'm against the testing portion not only the cost but the few employees we have and and this would also have to include our volunteers on committees they're going to game system and work their way around it at our cost and that's not right do it do it for do it for everybody yeah you can laugh out there eric when was the last time you were okay same thing but yeah when was the last time eric you made an ambulance run i believe it was before uh wallace put the mask mandate in place you haven't worked in over a year in this town just bear that in mind now you can be a smart ass if you wish but let's move on here our hands are kind of tied on this so what what kind of direct we just got a direct staff to or sir somebody write a policy policy together yeah and then go from there we're gonna know more in a little while but we'll get started get a draft put together [30:26] **Council Member Montgomery:** yeah the threat of unions and lawsuits kind of pales in comparison to a government agency they really know how they're not just gonna come after this if osha shows up i've had three federal agencies going after the bank at one time it isn't fun [30:41] **Council Member Lundell:** and neil you said they're not going to give us much time with minosha if this takes effect like what would the timeline so what i'm understanding is we should not necessarily we don't have to take action but we have to be ready so that when this does take effect we've got a policy in place [30:57] **Neil Jensen (City Administrator):** correct that's correct and i don't know when that is going to hit as it read here this is the first time i this is all evolving right today at three o'clock basically yes and so apparently when minn osha makes its guidance or its ruling when it gets published that's when it takes effective immediately but they also said they're going to give people some time but there's also i read in here some deadlines so january third to the first week of february roundabout that's our ballpark we're going to find out here more in a little while but what we're requesting is let's get started let's get the policy in place yeah so when the time comes you guys can approve it and uh um we'll get a draft to your next meeting that says this is the this is it and if you uh like it we'll and in two weeks you know what happened in two weeks prior to here we don't know what's gonna happen two weeks from now [31:54] **Council Member Cronenberger:** would you anticipate probably a work session for us to because we may want to adjust you know certain things within that policy or do we just could we just handle that at the council meeting [32:05] **Neil Jensen (City Administrator):** if we need one we can always do one yeah we'll get it put together okay you need action from us to give you direction to or is that just a motion to direct staff to put this policy together [32:17] **Council Member Montgomery:** i'll make a motion to uh direct the city hall staff to work on our coveted policy before our next city council meeting [32:25] **Council Member Lundell:** second of that [32:28] **Mayor John Althoff:** a second oh my montgomery second lundell to have staff put together a policy for our next council meeting any discussion on that all in favor aye okay item b is resolution 2600 authorizing the submission of an application the goodyear county broadband partnership program laura you want to take that [32:47] **Laura Qualey (Assistant City Administrator):** i will. um good evening um so goodyear county has put together a broadband partnership program in response to the american rescue plan act and with this it is basically using it's a grant opportunity for any service providers or cities or townships or whatever within go to county to apply for some funds to go toward broadband expansion within the county so we have in in 22 we do have a water reconditioning project coming up and with that the water tower ring that's at the top is housing some communication equipment like currently we've got verizon wireless is up there northfield wi-fi is up there but then goodhue county also houses their um community emergency communication equipment up there well that equipment will have to temporarily come down and be temporarily housed somewhere else on a some type of temporary tower but what we're asking in our application is to expand or reinforce that ring so that we can ask other providers [34:18] **Laura Qualey (Assistant City Administrator):** such as you know hbc or their southeast minnesota wi-fi or there's ltd communication or broadband communication sorry if i screwed that up to also become tenants on there with lease agreements of course with the city but with that uh with the application it's about eighty five thousand dollars in order to expand that ring is what the estimated cost is for that well the application we have to have a 50 50 match so if we're asking for 425 from goodyou county for the match we also have to have we have to come up with that the other 50 percent so we had commissioner anderson reach out to the townships and ask them with their arpa funds that they have if they would like to contribute toward that 50 match because in the city limits everyone has fiber to the home they have that ability to connect to have service right to their home if they want so this would be able to expand that fixed wireless coverage out into our township areas and we use the school district as kind of our territory um so that it would service the people you know our students in that area but it's also a good way to kind of show that that coverage area with topography in you know the six different townships that are outside of cannon falls so [35:50] **Laura Qualey (Assistant City Administrator):** with that excuse me we reached out to so our six townships arcana falls township stanton township face township leon warsaw bell creek and also um white rock township and anyway some of those townships have gotten back to me and one has chosen not to participate in contributing one has chosen or has given verbal communicator verbal um commitment basically thank you mary jill for finding the word for me um that they're going to contribute leon township i know has their meeting tonight and some of the others still have their meetings yet this year so i'm asking for a verbal commitment from them hoping that we'll be able to find that 425 match in order to find the um that 50 match for this grant submission if we don't get that match then we either a don't submit or you know we don't expand the ring we just kind of shine up the one that we have and we paint it and then there is equipment up there that i'm sure we'll find that is you know kind of dinosaur you know out you know outdated that probably isn't you know that will get removed that won't go back up on the tower so we will maybe have room for new providers but basically um i'm asking for your permission to submit this application with the hope that we'll get this grant we'll also get participation from the townships [37:24] **Laura Qualey (Assistant City Administrator):** um if we don't get participation from the townships then i guess it's a matter of coming back to council and asking if you know i mean we can either turn down the the grant from the the county at that time if we don't find that other participating match um or we choose not to expand the ring so i guess it's it's up to you you know right now i can submit it and we just see how how it turns out with the township contribution um or are we just [38:00] **Mayor John Althoff:** well we're expanding this ring up on the tower to the benefit of the township [38:05] **Laura Qualey (Assistant City Administrator):** well absolutely and that's and that's just it you know the maps that i did provide to the townships showed the gaps in coverage you know it showed the current coverage area where you know fiber to home is right now which is really just within the city limits there are some areas out in visa there was a grant that they did receive from new vera communication that did actually connect some of the homes in that area but it doesn't cover everyone um but this would be able to really reach in and yes it is for the benefit of the townships that's why we're hoping that there is some contribution from this didn't they want it out at lake billsby park yes and we do have letters of support and you know in your packet there were letters of support that we did receive and i did reach out to you know some residents that you know are not very far outside of cannon falls some are you know one it one person that i reached out to is in the vasa area one person is not even two miles outside of the city limits that doesn't receive any um you know can't get you know brought or can't get fiber to our home and the wi-fi is you know not reliable so we're hoping that we'll get that participation from the townships and with the arpa funds you know it needs to be used on certain things for infrastructure as far as sewer water projects well they don't have sewer they don't have you know water so broadband is this fits is it it fits that and so i don't know what other projects that they have slated for their funds but this would be a great opportunity to help service those residents so anyway like i said there's this is that opportunity to do that [39:56] **Mayor John Althoff:** there's definitely a void out there in stan township and south and canvas township yeah there's no broadband and yeah this would be a way to solve the problem but it wouldn't be nice if the townships would contribute a little bit i was going to ask i see cannon falls township has declined did they give a reason [40:19] **Laura Qualey (Assistant City Administrator):** they didn't they they just show they the response i did include in your um in the pack and just said they're choosing not to contribute um that they have other um they have other plans for their funds at this time [40:34] **Mayor John Althoff:** they've got so many students you know so many that oh my goodness so [40:40] **Laura Qualey (Assistant City Administrator):** and i guess my my hope is that um you know if someone from the township i mean if if they come forward you know i have the things that i have to submit this application by june or january 3rd to the county so you know i'm not sure when the award date would be but if they were to come forward and we were to able to say hey you know they're interested in matching that that would be fantastic but at this time i have to be able to submit the application with what i have it in front of me [41:07] **Council Member Lundell:** are we this is a say are we going to ask let's say like hbc southeast minnesota wi-fi and ltd and the school if they're going to contribute i mean this is benefiting the school also right [41:22] **Laura Qualey (Assistant City Administrator):** and you know and at this point what what i've done is just reached out to the townships first because i mean they have the arpa funds you know i mean and that's where we kind of figured that i don't want to call it free money because i mean nothing is really free but if they have they have these funds that are allocated toward these types of projects i mean to help enhance this infrastructure so that's why we thought that it was kind of a perfect project that they could contribute toward that again it will be toward their benefit but i can't force their hand in any way so that's why you know i had a i had a couple conversations with commissioner anderson hoping that he could he started the conversation you know i helped explain it provided the mapping and the coverage gaps um for him so that then i was the the contact person that followed up with each of the township people to help explain and answer any of the questions that they may have had [42:15] **Mayor John Althoff:** but i think uh it's nice to see vasa township they said yes we got a problem here's five grand yeah and um and they even you know had you know and i talked to a couple people at in the vasa township and they'd said um you know is ltd participating you know as far as like in you know their their map coverage are they going to be on the tower and i said you know we'd connected with them last year before we'd even really kind of gotten going on this project in 2020 and so it was a little premature as to like what our timeline looked like or anything and so i did connect with her and i got her information so it is also included in the packet so um so i mean ltd is really important to the vasa township because there are some of those residents i know that said that they have antennas on their silos that you know if they can get that connection you know they can ping off of our water tower then that would really help service that area as well so so yeah i did reach out to as many providers as i possibly could and that is one of the stipulations of the grant too is to i had to send it out to improve that i sent it out to the different providers and if they chose not to respond back i have to i had to include that that i sent it out but if they chose not to respond i have to include that so anyway so i'm basically seeking your permission to submit the application and then um like i said if we end up not receiving the 50 match from the townships or like you said i mean from any of the other providers or the school or something um then we'll cross that bridge when we come to it but i'm just seeking your permission to submit the application tonight [44:03] **Council Member Gesme:** i'm going to make that motion to go ahead and second that yeah [44:11] **Mayor John Althoff:** a motion by gives me a second by bill villa to uh authorize the submission of the application of goody county broadband partnership program is there any other discussion hearing none all in favor opposed carried okay good luck good luck thanks laura for doing it yeah okay reports uh kyle [44:46] **Kyle Paulson (Chamber of Commerce Director):** good evening council and community i want to start off by saying that the chamber office will be closed starting tomorrow morning december 22nd through tuesday december 28th it will reopen on wednesday the 29th at 8 30 a.m and all voicemails and emails will be responded to at that time i'm not only out of city i'm out of state so i'm going away light up cannon falls turned out to be a very nice event for the community um in the decorations we had 18 different residents um turn in their application or turn in their addresses for us but then i also expanded on the map to show other areas of the community that were lit up and as i drive around days after that i'm seeing much much more and so it's been really fun to see what cannon falls is doing with all of their decorations we did give out seven prizes and they were a hundred dollars chamber dollars each so that was that was very good one uh one spouse told me that her husband had already gone out and bought more lights and they didn't even have the money yet so that was pretty fun the uh children's uh gifting tree we ended up with 10 children's names and thank you to goodhue county uh health and human services for helping us out with those names and we also had plenty of public and chamber members that came in took the tag off the tree went out and bought gifts and it was just astounding the amount of gifts that were in my office and so there's going to be some very happy families for christmas so that's wonderful [47:06] **Kyle Paulson (Chamber of Commerce Director):** the scavenger hunt clues anywhere from 2500 or 250 excuse me 250 to 500 hits on each clue and um we did have four answer sheets turned in which is actually let me see we had one turn one and a half turned in last year the half is because it wasn't fleet completely and this year we had four um and so that's always interesting to me um as to they're looking at it on facebook and instagram out on the web but just not turning in that answer sheet and so something we did this year because one of the clues was in regards to a snowflake not being in line no and there were actually two answers really really what was the other one well the one was on top of the christmas tree oh and then if you look at hbc's front window they have a great big snowflake then there's three oh well where's the third one one danny put up it's on uh it's on the south side of uh mill street what's to be done oh my gosh outside of mill street all righty thank you very much um our map online both facebook instagram and on the web we've had over 1400 hits so people really took a hold of that map i'm hoping we're seeing more traffic around and that helps our community as well and actually that we do have a big event uh the community military care package event is starting in january and so there's individual packaging and there's also a packaging event where people are getting together at the american legion and so that is on january 29th so be watching for that okay any other questions concerns happy holidays and i'll see you next week have a great vacation absolutely thank you uh library board mary jill [49:45] **Council Member Mary Jill Bringold:** yep um nicole was going to report but they didn't have a library board meeting this month so she just asked me to talk about a few of the programs they had going on the new year's eve program they're going to have is filled now so there are no more spots but there's still room in the polar express story time steve so you can still sign up for that the library will be closed christmas eve and christmas and new year's eve and new year's day and there is still room derek for you in the crochet class on january 3rd it says it's for intermediate to advanced crocheters so they don't want me that's for sure um so there is still room in that you can look on the website it's going to either be you can either take it on your own on your own time or you can be in a zoom class i believe at the top that's kind of what she had for me okay let's go around dan anything you got there [50:41] **Council Member Dan Gesme:** yeah just one thing uh the new raw wastewater pump has been installed it's been in service for almost a week now and the volume that that new pump pumps really shows how worn the other three are so oops um hasn't been a need knock on wood to pull a pump hey laura i'm [51:11] **Laura Qualey (Assistant City Administrator):** at our eda meeting earlier this month we did start our strategic planning for 2022 so we did extend our meeting we had a couple hours and really had some good momentum good conversation actually we're going to continue it at our january meeting so i think we've got some good ideas and we've got like i said some good enthusiasm and we're excited for 22 and what it can bring so stay tuned sounds good [51:41] **Mayor John Althoff:** tyler you got anything neil just one item [51:48] **Neil Jensen (City Administrator):** um we had a radiant heater furnace breakdown and it's cannot be fixed so it's the building that houses our hydro vac and our vac truck and it's got water so just an fyi we've got to get it fixed and we're going to get a new one we'll get a couple bids we'll take the the cheapest one and and it'll be around three four thousand dollars it's not out of the world like 30 000 but we still have to get heat in that building so you'll probably see it at the next uh accounts payable but it's something that i have to get done okay that's it okay okay council laura anything [52:38] **Council Member Montgomery:** man you know i've thought about sometimes there are issues that you just don't want to bring up because it gives oxygen to the argument and i think everybody in the community who's a registered voter got something in the mail the other day and it has a lot of people fired up and regarding the the referendum that's coming up for the school and i'm not gonna go bullet point by bullet point disproving the claims that these people made or talking them down i'd actually invite whoever did that to step forward and have a discussion the number one point that they said is that they're not being heard how is anybody supposed to have a discussion with a ghost who basically makes claims causes dissension and disruption to the entire process and can never be held accountable uh it gets people worked up and i think that it's a distraction i think that as a community you know the school board is a separate entity but the school is an important part of our community and here at city hall and on the city council we are looking at the entire community and the school is a huge part of that um so i'm going to try in these next couple months to do my part to just create some positivity and i think the i invite whoever did that uh to come forward and have a discussion and sit down because i understand they can be people who are frustrated and disappointed in the district for certain things but that mailer had absolutely nothing to do with the issues that are on the referendum about technology the hvac system the improvement of the cte classrooms the staffing the the proposed cuts if it fails that mailer had nothing to do with any item that faces our community right now so we're stuck with we can sit here and be distracted and argue with a ghost or we can keep our eye on the the task at hand and stay focused on that referendum and try to create some positivity and some information we want people to be informed we want people to make that decision because we understand it is our taxpayers making that decision but our school is a vital part of the community and i fear uh that these distractions will continue and i fear that unless people step forward and we have this discussion that we can move to make progress otherwise it's just going to be squabbling so that's all i got oh and merry christmas and happy new year to everybody [54:55] **Council Member Duncan:** as with matt you know wish you a merry christmas happy new years and for everybody i strongly urge everybody that hasn't got a covet shot to get one that's it [55:10] **Council Member Lundell:** derek i just want to wish just want to wish everyone a like merry christmas happy new year and next year can't be any worse right [55:23] **Council Member Bringold:** married well i could make it worse by starting to sing right now but i'm not going to do that um yes happy holidays merry christmas happy new year all that [55:36] **Council Member Montgomery:** and like you matt sometimes you just can't let it go um i was okay until coveted vaccine mandates got compared to the nuremberg trials nuremberg trials really that's kind of like comparing the common cold to stage four cancer you know yeah might be bad but the nuremberg trials really i'll let everyone google that and find out what that was about um so that's it steve [56:12] **Mayor John Althoff:** first of all tyler oh wake up i'll wait for him to wake right up i've had people talk to me and a few people on the social media sites saying there's a lot of people that don't know what those big red octagon things are on certain streets and i'm just wondering if you've had a lot of complaints from from community members at the police department calling and now i mean i don't even know what octagon thinks that stop signs [57:09] **Chief Tyler Lindow:** it is actually it's a six-sided octagon no it's six i don't know what it is that's a different joke you know whatever stop we haven't had a lot of flights lately that i' heard of but you know we do we do uh you know in the mornings we do hang out around the school area and then we do in the afternoon um you're closing your you know release time so um they're trying to kind of combat that and just [57:43] **Mayor John Althoff:** i could have made you a few hundred the other day i was sitting out in front of chicago ads waiting for someone and on the floor that four-way stop was just like like a four-way suggestion you know um are you done yes i'm done sorry on a personal note um i have a friend um in texas one of my many critics and i just want to say to jim that uh we're all thinking of you we heard the weather tonight's going to be down in the low 40s we hope to survive that and getting to a high of around 80 for christmas so i just uh i hope you'll be okay down there merry christmas to everybody uh there are no meetings scheduled before we have our next causal meeting so no nothing to bring up there but again i just want to wish everybody a merry christmas a happy new year and we'll see you in 2022 a motion to adjourn [58:51] **Mayor John Althoff:** okay second all in favor aye opposed carrie