This transcription identifies speakers based on the context of the meeting, the names used by the participants, and the roles provided. **Note on Identifications:** While your list mentions Matt Kline as City Administrator, the transcript explicitly refers to the City Administrator as "Adam" (who is celebrating a 5-year anniversary) and identifies "Matt Kline" as the Public Works Director. I have used the names as they are spoken in the recording to ensure accuracy. *** [5:38] **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** ...and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Adam, please call the roll. **Adam (City Administrator):** Mayor St. Ours—here. Councilman Carlson—here. Councilmember Gilmore—here. Counselor Hanson—here. Uh, Councilmember Doll is uh, not with us tonight, he's absent. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Very good. That takes us to the approval of tonight's agenda. Does anyone have any questions, comments, or additions? And I think we do have a few additions. So Adam, we'll start with you. **Adam (City Administrator):** Thank you, Madam Mayor. Uh, at tonight's workshop immediately preceding this meeting, we discussed staffing levels in both the Police and the Administration department. [6:24] So as a result of that workshop, there are two agenda items that we'd like to add to the regular agenda under new business immediately following uh, item number one. Uh, the first item is going to be to add—or sorry, the item is going to be to convert the part-time police budget to another full-time officer with the Police Department. Item two is to upgrade the half-time Office Support Specialist to a full-time Office Support Specialist. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Okay. With those two additions, are there [7:10] any other changes or comments or questions from the Council? All right. Would someone like to make a motion for approval? **Councilmember (Connie):** I'll make a motion approving tonight's agenda with the two additions under new business. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Thank you, Connie. Is there a second? **Ethan Gilmore (Deputy Mayor):** Second. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Thank you, Ethan. Um, all in favor? [Chorus of Ayes]. Opposed? All right. That takes us to our proclamations, accommodations, petitions, and announcements. And our January recycling award recipient is Chris Herring at 290 Primrose Path, and he'll be awarded for his recycling efforts by a grant made possible from Washington County. So thank you very much, Chris, for your efforts. [7:55] Takes us to our open forum portion of the meeting where we set aside 15 minutes to address topics that are not on tonight's agenda. And um, is there anyone here that would like to cover a topic or anyone online? We do not have an online. All right, then we can move quickly to our consent agenda where we will consider items 1 through 12. [8:19] **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** The January 3rd, 2022 City Council regular meeting minutes; the January payables and receipts; the January building, plumbing, mechanical, and zoning permits report; a no waiver of statutory tort liability limits for the city insurance coverage; a special event applications from the Kenny Croy Girl Scouts for a camp event from June 9th through 12th, 2022 at Lakeside Park; a special event application from the Bayport Community Action League for its 2022 community events; a service agreement with TruGreen Lawn Care for application of fertilizer, weed, and goose control on city property; the certification of lot line adjustments for conveyance of land from 186 State Street South to 152 State Street South and 159 4th Street South; [9:07] the abatement of special assessment for tax forfeiture parcel number 03.029.20 0.44.0034; a special event application from Andersen Corporation for a picnic on August 12-13, 2022 at Lakeside Park; special event applications for a private wedding ceremony and reception on July 30th, 2022 at Lakeside Park; and a special event application from Run Stillwater Inc. for the Lift Bridge Road Race Run on June 25th, 2022 at Lakeside Park and the designated race route. Any questions, comments, additions, changes? If not, would someone like to make a [9:52] motion to approve? **Ethan Gilmore (Deputy Mayor):** I move to adopt a resolution of the February 7, 2022 consent agenda as presented. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Thank you, Ethan. Is there a second? Go ahead, Connie. **Councilmember (Connie):** Second. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Thank you. And roll call vote, please. **Adam (City Administrator):** Councilmember Gilmore—aye. Councilmember Carlson—aye. Councilmember Hanson—aye. Mayor St. Ours—aye. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** We do not have a public hearing this evening and we do not have unfinished business, but as mentioned, we have three items under new business. The first where we will discuss the recognition of the city's centennial, and I'll pass it over to you, Adam. [10:52] **Adam (City Administrator):** Must have talked too much at the workshop um, or just enough. The item tonight, as everybody or as most people or many people know, uh, is regarding the centennial celebration for the City of Bayport. City of Bayport changed its name from South Stillwater to the Village of Bayport in 1922, so that makes 2022 the 100-year centennial for that name change. Um, the staff would like to do something and we've been discussing this off and on with multiple residents as well as Council members. The centennial must be, or should be, recognized—you know, celebrated in some form or fashion. [11:38] Staff has come up with a list of different types of event ideas or opportunities to do that recognition and celebration. The discussion tonight, the goal is to get direction from the Council as far as what level involvement and if there's any funding that the Council now or in the future would like to discuss as to dedicating to that um, that event. The staff suggestions is to coordinate, because of our limited staffing and limited resources because we are a small city, coordinate these events in conjunction with some of these other larger events and the groups out there: the scheduled community festivals, the Memorial Day parade, Derby Days. We have been in discussion with various residents and, you know, the organizer of the parade. [12:25] They'd like to do something as well. You know, a lot of people are cognizant of the fact that this is our centennial year for the naming. And some of the other suggestions that we have is, because we already work very closely with BCAL, we would like to work with them and have them lead some of these efforts and coordinate this, but then the city can assist with either monetary contributions, equipment, facilities. We haven't had those specific conversations yet—that's the purpose of this discussion with the Council—but having BCAL, they're such a great benefit to the community already, we think they're kind of a natural entity. The city doesn't really have the staff for the bandwidth to come up with, you know, spend a lot of [13:11] staff time on doing independent work. It would be much easier to work with another group. Some of the other event ideas that were mentioned uh, are noted, or options: is a newsletter feature articles—we've got some already in the works, uh, you know, you can do that throughout the year with different aspects; a self-guided walking tour of historic homes, um, you know, anything from 1922 or older. We've already got an idea of roughly about 50 that we know of, and that's something that we think would be, you know, neat for the residents and anyone else who wants to come and visit um, our lovely community. Uh, we could also have a themed movie showing and/or music concert, um, [13:57] with age-appropriate—age-appropriate but time-appropriate. So anything like maybe a silent movie from 1922 or something from that time period, you know, try to recreate. Uh, we could have a poster or essay contest with the Andersen Elementary students; conduct interviews or get memoir information from Croixdale residents—we're aware of quite a few there who would have some very interesting information to share with the broader community. One of the other items that we're getting more information on is we are—the city is in need of new banners on our street lights on Highway 95. [14:37] Um, we have several that need to be placed and the rest of them are showing their age. So if there was something that we wanted to commemorate the centennial aspects along with those. We want to be careful not to have them too centennial-specific so we can continue to use them, make sure it's a, you know, good expenditure for funds, but something a little more celebratory of the fact that we've been here beyond 100 years existing, but you know, named at least the name Bayport for 100. [15:09] So we've been playing with that idea. Uh, we also came up with an idea of possibly displaying uh, photos and memorabilia at City Hall, making some displays. I know the library also does that and they'd be part of that. And then we've also discussed possibly having centennial branded merchandise um, or items for sale at the farmers market—clothing, hats, buttons that uh, different parties would like to, you know, collaborate with. Again, I mentioned the Memorial Day parade; the organizer had reached out and said he would love to have the city celebrate something as part of that, whether that be a float or a banner or some involvement. I haven't really, you know, I've had some [15:55] very high-level conversations with some of the Council members, but we did direct the Council to come to the meeting with any ideas that they may have. Um, I know, Councilmember Hanson, you're very involved with BCAL and I believe you were presented the president for this next year? **Councilmember Hanson:** Yeah, um, it's a great year to be president, right? **Adam (City Administrator):** The uh, I guess I'm hoping that you may have some input on that idea, but now I guess I'm open to questions or feedback from the Council regarding any of these ideas or others that the Council may have. **Councilmember (Connie):** I think those are great ideas. I think getting the kids involved is good. And I guess I thought about the photos, when I was thinking about it, because there's so many old-time photos—like Croixdale has a lot of them hung up there that they're [16:41] kind of spread out. But I was thinking something like that that would commemorate that. Um, I don't know, and I was wondering if the BCAL would take a lead on it, but it sounds like you already kind of got that taken care of? **Adam (City Administrator):** We have that suggestion, yeah. **Ethan Gilmore (Deputy Mayor):** I really like the banners, like an established—like tagline since we need new banners anyway. I'm not sure if that was in our budget or not, but I think that that's something that we should consider um, just the longevity. I think that that would work. Instead of putting on "Celebrating 100 Years," put on "Established [Year]" and then we could use them for a long time until they need to be replaced again. **Councilmember (Connie):** Um, if we do work with BCAL, um, I think we need to, you know, um, commit to some kind of dollar budget number that we would contribute that they could work with. Um, I'm not sure what that would be at this point. **Adam (City Administrator):** Yeah, to that point, uh, we do have the Council in the um—general blank on the line item—but uh, community events, there's a community projects fund that we do have funding in that uh, for this type of event. Um, I can get that specific number for the Council. Um, this is really the kind of kickoff of this discussion. **Ethan Gilmore (Deputy Mayor):** I think there needs to be some [18:12] kind of a logo so that it can be branded on all these different events and on the web, on the newsletters and such. So, I mean, I know that the Chamber just did a contest among members and community to submit logo ideas, but if we want any kind of—anything to be consistent, we should have some kind of logo. It could be as simple as our current logo with "Established" you know, or "Celebrating 100 Years." Just something that's consistent, and we don't have to have a full contest to do that. But I think branding it would be nice. **Councilmember (Connie):** I think in the um, like you said though, hats or the shirts. And I know there's a [18:58] young Hannah girl in town that does that stuff; that if we had a logo or something for her to go off of, she might be interested in something like that. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Have there been discussions at BCAL? **Councilmember Hanson:** Oh yes. Um, I'm surprised Mary hasn't talked to you guys about this. No, we haven't had a lot of opportunity to talk about this. So, Mary—Mary Gruhlke who works here at City Hall—is also on Bayport Community Action League, and she is the one who brought it to us months ago because she thinks ahead, which was great. So we have been talking about it um, and BCAL is meeting again on Thursday night. Um, we don't have like a specific lead on that yet, unless Mary is going to do that or not, we don't know. Um, so that's—that's our only problem is we already have a lot of events that we already are doing, and so I'm not sure how much [20:03] more we can do until we figure out who... I know we've got like two or three people that are interested in helping with it, but I don't know if they want to take the lead. And so there's a lot of things like if the city could help with, you know, coming up with a logo or something like that, that would be great. We also have people that are, you know, um, Sarah Schroeder who—Sarah Schroeder lives in Bayport, owns Minnesota Maid, she has a design background. So she may be able to help us, but I haven't had a chance to ask her with that kind of thing yet. So um, I jotted down a whole bunch of other ideas too, and I think I'll bring them to the BCAL and I can throw some of those out. But I know Mary started talking about getting pictures for a calendar months ago. [20:51] That is taking place. **Adam (City Administrator):** I know uh—well I know she reached out to me together for a couple different old pictures for a calendar. So she must be—I think she's collecting photos. I'm not sure about the production of a calendar, but there were in the display cases here at City Hall and the library, yeah. There were individuals working with Bayport Printing on doing a calendar, and Tim Gardner was actually very involved in that. Um, he had worked with the—was it Brent from the Historical Society?—on getting some old uh, old photos that they had. Um, so I think that is in the works, but that hasn't been something through the city. **Councilmember Hanson:** Okay, really time that we talked to Mary [21:38] about that. That's interesting. And then I know the Heritage Center, Historical Society, whatever we want to call it—I think it's called Heritage Center now—um, was putting together a book about Bayport. Have you heard anything more from Brent? **Adam (City Administrator):** I had heard that they were working on it. I have not heard—I haven't heard anything else or anything since. **Councilmember Hanson:** So that'll be interesting if we get a book. I'd also jotted down, obviously we want some kind of, you know, shirts, hats, mugs, whatever that celebrate our our anniversary. I've seen other cities do like a time capsule on their 100-year anniversary; that might be kind of fun. Maybe the Council wants to put something together, I don't know. I had also suggested a parade. I didn't know if we wanted to do it like the Sunday of Derby Days or the Memorial. Adding something to the Memorial Day parade is way easier than coming up with a whole separate parade, so I like that [22:24] idea. I'm glad that they're amenable to that. Um, if we wanted to go big, we could add more things to Derby Days, like if the city wanted to fund like more—like kind of a carnival instead of just the free activities that we have that Jill from the library usually does for us down at the park on Derby Day Saturday. So that's something we can consider as a Council. We also have to keep in mind that the library is going to be undergoing renovations, so I don't even know how much like—we can't use the library for like displaying photos or anything because they may be closed for some of the other years. **Adam (City Administrator):** Yeah, so we can... yeah. **Councilmember (Connie):** But couldn't you, Michele, like [23:09] maybe take some of these things and incorporate it into like your Derby Days? **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Yes, Derby Days, yeah. Like that's what we're thinking on a whole new task. **Councilmember Hanson:** Yeah, that—that's the idea is to sell it, because it was actually—I think even was it... oh no, that's when BCAL started in September. So um, I think BCAL is like 50 or 60 years old too, like we're having some like anniversary. But yeah, so that was the plan is to kind of incorporate it in a Derby Days, but again, that's like our biggest event already that we already have a ton of planning that goes into. So I don't know if it's easier to actually spread it out and do something in a different time or if it's easier to do it during that. So I'll have to talk to the group about that. Um, I like the idea of some kind of coloring [23:56] or art contest at the elementary school. I also thought, I know if you read the *League of Minnesota Cities* magazine, have you seen they have the "Mayor for a Day" essay? And I thought that might be kind of a cute thing to have the kids do. You know, what would they do if they were Mayor for a day? They get to write, you know, how would they do something fun in the city. I don't know, I just thought that would be kind of fun. Um, historical tours of town would be really helpful or cool too. I don't know who would be able to lead that, though. **Adam (City Administrator):** I don't know who we have that's like a—because you brought that up, did you do you have yourself... **Councilmember Hanson:** I know, but someone needs to—yeah, you can put yourself guides together, but um, some of the stats... I mean, that's so I'll ask among our group. [24:42] I know like um, Dan Coolan—how did they say their last name? I think he's kind of a history buff. There might be other people that are like interested in doing that. But I mean, it's a cool idea. But again, someone asked... what did you say, Ginny and Dan? **Councilmember (Connie):** Hopefully Pauline? **Councilmember Hanson:** Yeah, that's how they say... I never have to say their last name. Um, yeah, they—I don't know. I know they did like the clues for the medallion hunt and I don't... they like that kind of thing. But another kind of bigger thing that the Council could think about is some kind of memorial sculpture or art project or something to commemorate it. I like the idea of the banners too, because I know we need new banners. But again, I'm not sure what we want that in perpetuity on our banners to [25:27] say "100 Years" or whatever. **Ethan Gilmore (Deputy Mayor):** They're also very small and I don't know how much you can really get on there other than "Welcome to Bayport." And that's why I was just thinking of an "EST. [Year]" and then you know, the year. But and they won't last forever anyway. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Yeah, it's a—it's a possibility. **Councilmember Hanson:** Yeah, yeah, I know. So that's an idea. But I was thinking do we want to do something bigger? Do we want to... I've always had in my mind, and this is kind of separate but similar: do we want to put something at Lakeside Park that says like "Bayport"—like one of those big rocks, you know, that says Bayport that faces the river so people coming on the river know that that's our town as they go by? Because they, you know, we have it on our highway but not [the river]. So that could be something and maybe [26:12] it's uh, you know, "Established," maybe that's on there too in the year. And then my phone fell asleep. Um, let me see what else I had. Oh, here was kind of a cool idea: if we could honor like past Mayors somehow. Like have a dinner or do something for—I feel like Mayors did important things in our town and maybe we want to do something if they're, you know, however many are still around. Um, that was it then. Yeah, I have a whole schedule for Derby Days if anybody wants to know like what we already do and what we might add to it. But yeah, and I think we need to also start thinking about who—who else can partner [26:58] with us on this? You know, what can the Chamber do? You know, Ethan, you're involved with the Chamber. Can they do something more to help us with volunteers, with ideas, with... **Ethan Gilmore (Deputy Mayor):** I have a board meeting next week. I can bring this forward. **Councilmember Hanson:** Okay, that would be great. Um, the Scouts, I think they're also celebrating an anniversary, so maybe we could work with them in some way—the Boy Scouts specifically. Um, again, the Heritage Center, I know they had the book, so we want to partner with them. The library is a great partner again, but I don't know what they're going to be able to do at their own facility or if Jill's going to be super busy. Our Fire and PD are always great partners, so I assume they'll do something with us too. I know the Afton Bayport Lakeland Lions are always wanting to help with things like [27:43] this too. Is Andersen Windows interested in helping? Does anyone have... John Dahl's not here, he has that connection there. Maybe they want to contribute something, help us with, you know, paying for a carnival or a sculpture or something, a bigger item. I don't know. Um, the bank has always been good at that stuff too. What about—is this—is it strange to approach the prison? I mean, they're part of our community. **Adam (City Administrator):** I—I don't think anything... these are all good kind of... staff has not spent a lot of time reaching out. **Councilmember Hanson:** Right, right, yeah. Because we—we just don't have time to go in all directions. Yeah, this was just me brainstorming about you know, because [28:29] BCAL can't do everything. Can we—you know, if we come up with ideas, maybe there's other partners that can help us with some things? That's all. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** I mean, this is just the start of the conversation right now, right? **Adam (City Administrator):** Yeah, because that's not a vote or anything tonight. Um, we're just kind of brainstorming trying to get uh, input kind of narrower. Like I said, instead of 360 degrees, at least like a quadrant. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Well, I think based on our discussion at our workshop, you know, staff does not have the time to dedicate to this, so we need—we need to call on other sources. And—and maybe with people seeing this meeting, they'll call up and want to volunteer. The best way to do that is through BCAL and adding the resources there. It's the most organized way to—to accomplish those goals. **Councilmember Hanson:** Sure. And we are meeting Thursday night at six o'clock at the Bayport Legion. We usually meet in the basement. [29:30] So if anyone wants to come and give ideas, that—we will be talking about it. **Councilmember (Connie):** I wonder if Bayport ever had any other kind of logo? **Councilmember Hanson:** Yeah, I don't know. I remember they came when they came up with the "B," but I don't know if there was anything before that. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Yeah, don't know yet. Maybe I'll research that, just be curious because maybe it'd be fun to kind of put some type—something like that. Well, in those same conversations, maybe you [Hanson] can be the voice to come back to us and say, "This is—this is what our asks are, our requests." And if we funnel volunteers to you, to BCAL, and then you come back to us [30:18] for consideration, that would probably be the most organized. **Councilmember Hanson:** I will be the liaison to that. And I do think, being a marketer, I think that the branding across all the activities—whether it's just something simple in the Derby Days flyer that it's, you know, also celebrating and having the little... you know, it doesn't have to be big giant steps, it just reminds us of our celebrating. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** So you have a lot of events already. So that's like... the movie outside, movie sounds fabulous, but we have a kind of a challenge getting attendees to come to the midsummer ice cream social and people are just so busy. So I'll leave it in your hands to figure out what the best approach... **Councilmember Hanson:** Yeah, I had a movie night thing too like [31:03] ...so I like these in the park or whatever. It would be really fun, but I don't know. I mean, I throw all these same ideas at the BCAL meeting and we'll see what people want to do. And even if it would be that like that walking tour wouldn't have to be a guided, and if somebody wanted to take, you know, just... they had a whole list from different communities on houses with lights over Christmas that they contributed to, didn't they? The different... **Adam (City Administrator):** Yeah, I don't know if that went over as well as you might have hoped it would, but um, you actually have to have some history behind... I mean, you're not gonna just go look at the house, right? **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** I think to me, I think the downtown businesses are really interesting too, to kind of level—"this used to be whatever" and "this"—you know, I think that would be even more [31:49] interesting than some of the homes. But maybe a combination of both. **Councilmember Hanson:** Okay. Maybe it's like a video. Maybe we could get Valley Access to do a video for us and compare, like, here's the old shot to the new shot of what the house or the building used to look like and put them on... **Councilmember (Connie):** Especially Fifth Avenue. You had a lot of change up there. **Councilmember Hanson:** Yeah, it used to be the old trolley. And then years ago it was the Pete's Garage, which is now the first aid building. And then you had the shoe store, and you had the Anchor Inn, Walt's Barber Shop. So you had a lot of old... Norm's Grocery Store. **Councilmember (Connie):** Anchor Inn—what was that? **Councilmember Hanson:** That's what the library is. It was a restaurant and a hotel. It was at first just a hotel or inn, and then they had the restaurant down below with a few rooms upstairs. Famous for fragrance frog eggs [laughter] and onion rings. [32:35] **Sara Taylor (Assistant City Administrator):** Sarah guys, sneaking out the back door... [Laughter]. I just thought I'd share with you uh, Bayport Printing is able to do our banners in vinyl, which he thinks will hold up a lot better. And they were able to put together a cost estimate. So for 20 banners along Highway 95, they're just under a hundred dollars each. So for two thousand dollars roughly is what it would cost to go through Bayport Printing to replace the banners. And we will—and the city will take donations [33:21] for sponsored banners. **Councilmember Hanson:** And we have... yeah, so or you know, yeah. So like our park benches, people can contribute to the—the festival or the festivities as well. Matt, do you have anything you want to share? **Matt Kline (Public Works Director):** That's a good idea because we—I don't know how quick we can go, but there's a couple of people who called in last couple months and we're kind of turning down donations almost because... **Councilmember Hanson:** No, not necessarily their name on the banner, but would sure welcome anyone who wants to help with that cost. **Councilmember (Connie):** Why can't we put a plaque on a tree? Does it... bad for the tree? **Matt Kline (Public Works Director):** Oh, maybe we could figure out a way to put it on the tree. Wow, yeah, okay. Because I'd hate to be turning away donations. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Okay, yeah. We're—we're in trees for donations for the K9 too, isn't that—wasn't that a thing the last meeting we were talking about? **Adam (City Administrator):** Yes, that is one of our—as long as we're talking about donating, we should put on our website items that we could use donations for. And that's—to the donation point um, kind of ties into the things we are working on currently still. Um, that is—that is an area that we have been discussing: "where else can we...". There's still a demand for donations to the city and we hate to turn down any—any generosity or support. [35:03] Um, but we are still trying to find—vendor—our avenues for, you know, mediums for those—those donations. So that uh, there may be something associated with the centennial that we hadn't thought of that aspect, that connection. And maybe they—the names don't go on the banners or they... but we do some kind of recognition within our website or programs or whatever that we're doing that we can put people's, you know, recognized people that have contributed in some manner to the celebration. Because that would be all different kinds of ways. **Councilmember Hanson:** So yeah, you could do a thing like during, like the Derby Days concert, wherever you could go down the list and "these people helped banners up," whatever. You announce there to the public that's there too. Pretty easy to add on the website, so we'll find a way to recognize. [35:50] **Adam (City Administrator):** So I guess from staff's perspective, if there are any other ideas, please bring them forward. And that goes for the public as well. If there's any—any other ideas or anyone who wants to help, you know, we'll take volunteers in that regard as well. Because the staffing as far as the actual groundwork um, is—is probably the most difficult. Um, but I—we—we think keeping it—keeping it simpler um, and trying to just piggyback off of the already great programming that we have in the community and try to find a way within each of those. I know Councilmember Dahl's not with us tonight, but when I was speaking with him he had mentioned, "But we already have an ice cream social." But something like that would be fun, you know. So if there's some even if it's just a, you know, the centennial flavor [36:37] that we're, you know, as part of it, whatever that aspect is, just to piggyback off and make everybody—remind everybody throughout the year that, you know, '22 is our centennial for naming. So that's kind of where what our goal is. **Councilmember Hanson:** Maybe we could get like a centennial version of the medallion for the medallion hunt or something. And maybe the prize is a little even bigger or something like that. **Councilmember (Connie):** I think you should let that... I mean, I'm not telling you what to do, but I think if the Legion wants to get involved in... or they sponsor the parade. Maybe the BCAL not take that part on and just let them do something special for the centennial for the Memorial Day parade? **Councilmember Hanson:** Yeah, with the Memorial Day parade, yeah, yeah, that would be awesome, yeah. Instead of doubling up on another parade. **Councilmember (Connie):** Oh yeah, [37:24] that's what I—that's what I said. Like I had originally found the biggest understood, yeah, that we could add it to Derby Days. But it's better knowing that they're—if they're interested in adding it to the Memorial Day library, that would be great. **Councilmember Hanson:** Yeah, that's... parades are a huge amount of work and expanding... yeah, yeah. And I don't know, I think that'd be great. You should probably have a float, I'm sure you guys Public Works guys, I... [Laughter]. [38:02] **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** All right, well, we're gonna funnel—funnel ideas to BCAL, and they are meeting this Thursday at the Legion at six o'clock. And staff will reach out to—we were aware of the Scouts um, as well, some of these other partners that we potentially could partner with to see if they're even just at any of their advanced activities or involvement because they—they are throughout the city and they've been here quite a long time in their own regards. So okay. All right, very good. That's exciting. Um, second item of new business is our [38:49] police staffing topic to convert a part-time police budget item to a full-time officer. And so if Adam and Chief, if you want to cover some details... **Adam (City Administrator):** I'm going to have a Chief Eastman come up and give a quick overview of the workshop. **Chief Eastman (Police Chief):** Good evening, Madam Mayor and Council. I heard "quick," so I'm going to give you a real quick... I've been your Chief for nearly 15 years, and so I've been gathering data for that long. There are no other agencies in Washington County that use part-time officers, for good reason. Because they come and they leave and you invest about fifteen thousand dollars per officer. In the last twenty years, we have gone through 52 officers. So [39:35] that's a lot of funds that we've spent on part-time officers that stay for approximately a year and then they go to other agencies because they're looking for full-time employment. So I appreciate our conversation during the workshop and your support on that. In a time where it's very hard to find good officers that want to work in this profession, it's important that we do it right and hire a full-time officer that we can invest in them and they invest in our community. And that's what we want. So I appreciate that, and I stand for questions. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Thank you, Chief. We had a really good and detailed discussion during our workshop. So does anyone want to share any highlights or any other additional questions or comments [40:22] regarding this topic? **Councilmember (Connie):** No, I think you did a nice job of summarizing the—the main reasons for why it makes sense. So did you mention how we're the only community that has part-time officers? **Councilmember Hanson:** Yeah, I think that was—that was huge. And um, just it's about time, I think actually. I know that we've been thinking about this for a while. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** So I would say that it wasn't supposed to be on the agenda tonight, and in the hour that we discussed that, you convinced all of us and we made it—it was pretty abundantly clear that we needed to do it. So we decided to add it to tonight to get the ball rolling sooner than later. **Chief Eastman (Police Chief):** So that's a very good point. I appreciate that. With my exit in about a year and a half, that sends a big message to the [41:08] potential Chief and future that you're committed to keeping your police department and that you appreciate us. And that way you'll find very good applicants, hopefully, to take my position. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Thank you. Again, we looked also at the financial implication, which is not great um, fiscally, you know. And we also look—if you compare that against the time of the training on each of our officers, dedicating time to training a new officer each time is also an incremental cost. So um, I think this makes a great deal of sense and hopefully um, we'll find somebody that wants to join and stay around. We've got a really nice tenure of officers now that are—are very familiar with us and—and our community recognizes them. So [41:55] thank you again. This is good. **Chief Eastman (Police Chief):** Thank you. **Councilmember Hanson:** Thanks for such a detailed presentation earlier. **Adam (City Administrator):** Yeah, so with that, Adam, do you want to add any comments or do you just want to... Um, I think, you know, Chief Eastman has been doing a... Um, I describe her to the other communities that I work with as the probably the hardest working police chief. I'm not trying to just keep her from retiring—keep her from retiring—but um, she's worked very hard both to keep the department um, alive. Not alive, but she works very hard. She's out there in the community herself. Um, she's out working the road at times because we run—we've had a very lean department, lean city for quite a few years. And she—she cares a lot about her [42:41] officers. And part of this is the mental health or the, you know, the physical health. Um, with COVID it's, you know, exacerbated all—all the—the out time that the employees everywhere have had, and the police are no different. Um, I would say that this is something that's probably overdue. And having... you know, we've been trying to hang on to this model for quite a few years and it—it worked a while ago. We're just at the point where uh, like similar to fire departments moving away, turning away from the paid-call volunteer, you know, full volunteer force... Um, there's—there's liability issues, there's, you know, being able to find people, recruit, retain. It's just something that has changed. You know, we're in a different world than we [43:26] were 10, 15, 5 years ago and we're looking to evolve with that. So um, we thank you, and I can—I will speak for Chief Eastman in the department—thank you for doing this. Um, I think it is needed. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** All right. Well, with that, um, would someone like to make a motion? **Councilmember Hanson:** I'll make a motion that we um, convert our part-time police department budget to a one full-time officer hiring. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Thank you, Michelle. Is there a second? **Ethan Gilmore (Deputy Mayor):** I'll second. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Thank you, Ethan. Adam, and roll call. **Adam (City Administrator):** Councilmember Hanson—aye. Councilmember Gilmore—aye. Councilmember Carlson—aye. Mayor St. Ours—aye. [44:12] Ayes all. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Very good. **Councilmember Hanson:** Should we mention that John was on board with this as well when we were at the workshop? Just so people don't think we're voting without him on purpose or anything? **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Sure. Um, yes, Councilmember Dahl was not able to attend the meeting—he had a last-minute trip come up, so he was not able to be there—but he was... he did listen in um, and make a few comments uh, virtually. And so he—he was very supportive of it. Um, he agreed that it—it was due and uh, he was—he was okay with the Council making this decision, adding it to the agenda. Um, so he was sorry that he wasn't able to be here tonight. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Very good. We appreciate his dialing in, especially on his free time. So [44:59] all right. So that takes us to our third item of new business, which is to discuss upgrading um, or moving forward potentially with upgrading our part-time Office Support Specialist to a full-time position. So over to you, Adam, to discuss this. **Adam (City Administrator):** Thank you, Madam Mayor, members of the Council. The other part of our workshop tonight was to discuss the Administration Department staffing. We face a lot of the same roles that are—same challenges that the Police Department has in recruiting and retaining part-time staff, exacerbated by COVID. We've had some turnover and some new staff learning—learning their roles in the—the department, uh, which has made things even more difficult. The—the commitment level of a part-time employee is naturally not [45:46] uh, not the same as a full-time employee. Um, and we've—we've had... we've lost a couple good employees, but they're—they're not interested in working the level that a full-time employee would look like. Kind of part of the bigger picture, other than the challenge of recruiting and retaining part-time employees, is the amount of work that we would like to get—we'd like to get done. There are more higher strategic level things for the city um, that we just... the current staff does not have the time to ever get to. Uh, we... they've been on our to-do list for quite some time and we'd really like to make uh, more progress in achieving those to provide better service for the—the public, and that's the end goal. Um, and so what we have asked the Council um, and this was added to tonight's [46:33] agenda with the Council in agreement, was to upgrade our current 0.5 full-time employee Office Support Specialist to a full-time—so instead of 20 hours a week, 40 hours a week—and try to fill that remainder. We're looking for a May hiring date. It's been vacant since the end of last year and we have not filled it because: one, we haven't had the time to go through the process; but two, we wanted to wait from our last hire to let the current full-time uh, employee, you know, get a—get a good—not be interrupted and have her onboarding interrupted. Um, so we think that that would be a good time as we ramp up for [47:19] the summer and we really can use that additional manpower. The timing would be good. As a result of having it vacant for so long and the remaining shortened time period, again, it's only about a 4,500 dollar difference from what our part-time employee was budgeted for the year. So it has very minimal impact on the budget for '22, and then we'll be able to discuss '23 when the budget season comes around in just a few months. Um, some of the—some of the things just so the public knows that we are looking to implement, and this would allow us to implement it sooner um, get it up and running and then well-maintained, um, is all of our data retention. Uh, we've... there's been an increase in cemetery [48:05] usage since COVID started, and that's really been, you know, made prevalent on how—how outdated we are with maintaining the cemetery records. It's all on just kind of a spreadsheet and it's very time—time intensive, as well as a sensitive subject; it's not something that you want to get wrong. So we're looking to improve that process. The public would enjoy having fillable and online forms; additional time to do website updates and upgrades; have a more stronger social media presence along with the full strategic communication delivery. And that's something that with short staff has been incredibly difficult, is just doing a better job communicating to the public, both reactively and proactively. Um, so [48:52] that's something that we really would like to be able to do more of with the increased staffing. Uh, another thing: credit card payments. I would think that we know that the public would like that—and I'm sorry, keep hitting the wrong button—as well as online permits uh, building permits, licenses. Some of the other just bigger projects that we had talked about. You know, we talked about water rate study um, other financial uh, analysis um, we have the Fire Hall coming up in two years uh, that we have to figure out the redevelopment or reuse or what we're going to do—that continued um... there's things like that that are... they can sneak up on you when we're constantly just, you know, doing the—not the minimum, but never getting ahead. Um, and we used to [49:38] have uh, when we had a full-time building official, we did have five full-time employees in the office. Right now we're down to four. Um, even with Inspect taking over the actual building inspections, there's still quite a bit of paperwork and processing of those permits that we uh, we do end up doing. So we'd like to get back to the five full-time staff levels and have the additional administrative and clerical support to allow the freedom for the department heads to get more done, make progress. So with that, are there any other questions from the City Council? I—it was originally not intended to have this decision tonight, but we do appreciate the opportunity to uh, to move quickly on it. And again, the [50:23] we are going to take our time still with filling this position to make sure it's the right person. So we're not looking to fill it before May 1st, but this will at least allow us to get that process going. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Very good. Any questions from the Council or comments from the workshop? **Councilmember Hanson:** I think it's also important to point out that our city has grown. And we used to have the five full-time people here, and we've had inspiration develop in the last few years, and those people have needs and they come to the desk and they have questions. And we can't expect to run the city with fewer staff than when our city is growing. So it makes perfect sense to me that we need this. [51:09] **Councilmember (Connie):** Another good point. Anything else? **Councilmember (Connie):** No, I just think it's a good idea. I think to take—you get overloaded and you're not feeling like you're doing everything you're supposed to because you're being pulled in so many directions. I think it's... I don't know, I'm just in favor of it. Good for the staff. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** You know, it wasn't on our radar at all for this evening, but it does make sense. And um, working on a day-to-day basis with Adam, he has made himself available nights, weekends. You've worked like overnight to do our budgeting work, and then you turn around and fill in and do some payroll the next day. It's just going from strategic to [51:55] tactical—it doesn't make sense, and it's not a good value for the community. And we're just not getting the full potential out of everybody that works for the city and delivering as many services as we can. So thank you to the staff for covering so many bases—for our police as well as the admin staff as you've been, you know, covering and transitioning. But it makes sense at this time to—to get you fully staffed so that you can concentrate and stay focused, and that will just increase our productivity and our service. So I'm, you know, again, the fiscal impact this year is—is not significant at all. Of course, it will have an impact in all full-time with adding benefits, but there's benefits to the city and the [52:41] residents in turn. So I think it's a good value. And—and we have experienced some other cost savings in other areas throughout the city um, that we're budgeted in, that we will make it easier to absorb the future costs. All right. Well, with that, would anyone like to make a motion? **Councilmember (Connie):** I'll make a motion to convert the part-time office staff position to a full-time position. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Thank you, Connie. Is there a second? **Councilmember Hanson:** I'll second. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Thank you, Michelle. Roll call, please, Adam. **Adam (City Administrator):** Councilmember Carlson—aye. Councilmember Hanson—aye. Councilmember Gilmore—aye. Mayor St. Ours—aye. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Ayes all. And thank you also for bringing forth—you and—and Sarah bringing forth a very [53:28] compelling case for this. It—it helps us in our decision-making to have good information presented. And—and obviously both you and the Chief, you brought forward very good arguments tonight. So glad that we could all move swiftly. So all right, that takes us to City Council liaison reports. Um, so I'll start with you, Connie. **Councilmember (Connie):** Okay. Um, the library where I met in June—or June, but we met in January, but via Zoom. Um, and first I'd like to welcome the newest library board member, uh, Crystal Petchen to the board. [54:16] I hope I said that right, Crystal. Um, and the big thing is that they're continuing to go forward with defining the project and getting the details all set. They are looking to maybe push the open house that was planned for March back a little bit until they have it more concrete. But their groundbreaking is going to be in August going forward. Um, big thing right now is Jill's trying to decide or weigh the pros and cons of if she should stay in the library while the work is going on or if she should look for another place to set up shop. [55:03] If she stays there, it could take up to six weeks longer to finish the project and—and there'll be a cost to it. But she's not sure she'd be able to find a place big enough to convert for the short time. So right now that's what she's in the process of; she's going through and trying to weigh the cost versus... **Councilmember Hanson:** When you say "set up shop," like... **Councilmember (Connie):** Well, like have a portable. Like there was talk of us renting a trailer to set up a library, temporary library, small version, yeah. But with that, she said with—if the COVID numbers stay or go up, to have a really close place she wouldn't be able to offer people coming in. It would have to just be [55:50] curved—somewhere—I don't know if you call it curbside, trailer-side, whatever. Um, because it's really not, unless you guys know of someplace in the city, she really can't think of a bigger place to really... **Councilmember Hanson:** Yeah, we—I was at the facilities meeting that I think you weren't able to attend, and um, we talked about that, how maybe like the Nature Center could be an option. And I think she had talked to Adam about that too. Um, I don't know if she needs it to be a bigger place, I think she just needs a place... **Councilmember (Connie):** They do need to move out a lot of stuff. So when I talk about it, storage place. But she needed a big enough place to make it worth the moving, I mean, to have... but not—I don't think she needs a huge place like the library. But just to pick [56:35] it up. **Councilmember Hanson:** How many square feet, do you know roughly? **Councilmember (Connie):** Yeah, I don't think she knows how many square feet she doesn't have any idea. I don't think she knows. I know she's, like I say, she's looking into different options and stuff. **Councilmember Hanson:** Yeah, and I think she's leaning towards um—I mean, just from the discussion, it sounded like she was leaning towards like not um, closing down. **Councilmember (Connie):** Yeah, she didn't want it—in case you want to wonder if the library is going to be closed at all. She wanted to keep maintain it open, yeah. Today when I was talking to her, she was leaning a little bit to just staying there while the work was going on, but yeah. But they told her that there's liabilities with that too, you know, having the patrons in there if there's activity [57:20] going on construction-wise during some points of it could be difficult. And she also still... like, they need space to move stuff out of there no matter what. So it's—she's just got a lot of stuff to steal. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Yeah, I think that's the biggest thing right now on our plate, just trying to make that decision or make the right decision. But anyway, so she said she'd let me know, talk to Adam, let him know what the decision is, but... and then um, April is Big Read Month, and so what she—Jill is opening up some of the programs back up. And if she said, depending on the COVID numbers, she may hold those um, activities or those programs outside. But she really wants to start back getting [58:08] some of them opened up. And basically that was about it. The next meeting is actually this next Tuesday the 15th at six at the library. So maybe she'll have more decisions made then. And Adam, you kind of look like you wanted to say something? **Adam (City Administrator):** Oh no, it's—it's right. My—in my conversation last week with the Director Smith is—she envisioned if they weren't—if the library wasn't open, there was a temporary space, it would be more of a like a book pickup, not a, you know, kind of browse or anything. So the space she was envisioning was, you know, some space for shelving and the books to be able to come picked up. Um, obviously there's [58:53] work going on behind the scenes that, you know, to manage all that. Um, but the—uh, we—we discussed it uh, for a little bit of time and there's unfortunately just not a lot of available space in the city um, that could accommodate it um, at that time of the year especially, so without incurring, you know, additional costs, which kind of negates the whole point. So it's kind of a rock—between a rock and a hard place for her. **Councilmember Hanson:** And that's how I was feeling she was feeling today like... **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Did she—when you say "incurring additional costs by staying in there and staying open," do you know roughly what that is? **Councilmember (Connie):** Well, she people... yeah, I asked her that because I said, "Well, if it's twenty thousand dollars..." [59:38] she goes, "Well, they were saying six weeks longer, which could amount to a hundred thousand dollars more." **Councilmember Hanson:** No, I thought that seemed a little... **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Well, think about vacant buildings in this town and what you could offer somebody for whatever it is, two months or whatever. There's not too many. **Councilmember (Connie):** One uh, Mallards—that restaurant, that's pretty big. **Councilmember Hanson:** What about—are we—are we fully utilizing the full old Fire Hall? **Adam (City Administrator):** The—yeah, there's one... so the—the common area um, where the kitchen and the—the common area where the police do their training and there's an office right off of it that the DOC is part of theirs. Um, I don't know [1:00:24] that because of the—uh, the current use, I don't know if that is the—the best space work. As far as the garage um, there we have one stall for the stall um, that's still used by the city. It's not part of the lease with the DOC. Um, I don't recall if that has a separate access on the—on the—the west side. Okay. So there would be cost incurred to try to separate that um, but that would be... it's currently a block and concrete, you know, floor. You'd have to put a little bit of effort into coordinating it off, you know, separating it. [1:01:09] I don't know. We looked at it and that was one of the things we discussed. Um, it's unfortunately not ideal. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Um, but it's similar to—maybe have they spoken to the churches that... I don't know. **Councilmember Hanson:** Church basement? **Councilmember (Connie):** She didn't—she didn't mention that, yeah. So what did I do? That's close too, if it's this one right here. Yeah, the three of them are really close. **Councilmember Hanson:** So well, I guess Pony Preschool uses the basement at Bethlehem. Do you know what they've got? That's why him... yeah. Um, well, we kind of take over them. So it's just—it's just a thought. I don't want to—I'm not volunteering on behalf of anyone, but I'm wondering about Saint Charles. I don't know, I could ask Father. [1:01:54] Mm-hmm. Talk to Jill—ask Father. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Because... no, it's interesting. And so what's the—what's wrong with the Nature Center? Is it just too much traffic in that neighborhood if we did that? I mean, it doesn't need to be a huge space, right? It just needs to be a place to pick up both. **Adam (City Administrator):** I can't remember what they said and I know we might lose out um, some rentals. But is that—could they pay us for whatever we would have lost? Like we could figure out what it was last year or something... **Adam (City Administrator):** And yeah, the Nature Center, it's been increasing the usage. Um, the—Mary uh, Glad has been very—was very good at advocating that and marketing it. Um, it was underused previously. Um, it—that—it's normally, you know, we don't—we don't heat it. We heat it but it's winterized. [1:02:41] We don't keep it room temperature, you know, 70 degrees during the winter other than if there's a reservation. We can go and turn the heat up. Um, that's the other increase in utilities. And the... there are occasional because it's a four-season facility, there are, you know, reservations throughout the year there. Um, I don't know that we'd necessarily be concerned with the loss of revenue, okay, um, because it is fairly limited um, still. Um, I think that would be, you know, as—as helping the library, you know, we can figure that part out. The—that the lack of parking is probably the biggest. But if people are just coming and going, that again shouldn't be a problem. Uh, the—the increase in traffic, I don't know what that would be um, [1:03:27] there may be... it's temporary, and the residents that live up there, that—that just may be a, you know, increased burden for a few months. **Councilmember Hanson:** They also might find it convenient to have the library very well... **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** I mean, yeah, there's two sides to it. I—that'd probably be the best city facility that I can think of. **Councilmember Hanson:** Yeah, that's what I even have. I know there's some meetings up there. Um, it really would depend on how the—how they need to, you know, have the layout. Um, you may still actually be able to maybe not use a full—full use as it currently is um, but you can... I can see that it would work if people still wanted to have meetings, but it may not work if they want to have baby showers or family events. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** So well, food for thought for Jill and um, [1:04:13] we'll just keep posted. But sounds great like they're moving along with their plans. So with that, um, is that okay, are you done? **Councilmember (Connie):** Yeah, okay. All right, I'm done. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Ethan? **Ethan Gilmore (Deputy Mayor):** Uh, we did the Cable Commission—did not meet. I think we meet this month, so... okay, very good. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Planning Commission hasn't met either? **Councilmember (Connie):** No. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** All right. I did attend the Fire Services Agreement meeting on January 4th and we had a good discussion. And so we are meeting again on in either late February, early March to continue that dialogue. So nothing really to report at this time except for that we were able to provide a lot of level-setting information to the members and there was good [1:05:00] participation. Oak Park Heights had three people in attendance—one is a visitor, two representatives—so that was—that was very good. And then our other two partners were there as well. So it was a good discussion and we'll continue that effort in—in late February, early March getting that on the calendar. The other item is that I have an upcoming Lake Elmo Airport Advisory meeting on February 23rd, so I'll report on that in the March timeframe. Over to you, Adam. **Adam (City Administrator):** Thank you, Madam Mayor, members of the Council. Um, for staff reports, uh, Chief Kinney is out of town, so he's not here this evening. You do have his written report in the packet. Uh, next, Chief Eastman, please. [1:05:45] **Chief Eastman (Police Chief):** Good evening again, Madam Mayor and Council. Uh, the past events: Toys for Tots again was a big success. The DOC assisted us with that. And they—to answer your question on that—they've assisted us at National Night Out, or Night to Unite we call it now, and they help us quite a bit. So they might be interested in joining or helping with that. **Councilmember Hanson:** Who is that? **Chief Eastman (Police Chief):** Oh, the DOC—Department of Corrections. Okay. And they also help us with Toys for Tots, and they're a big help for Night to Unite as well, and they have been for the years past. Um, upcoming: as you know was my presentation tonight, and I appreciate that. Just to recap a little bit on that um, over the course of my tenure—which is [1:06:31] 15 years now—our calls have increased by 6,615. To put that into perspective, December of 2021, we had 8,846. So that's just for one year. So we've got it... we've increased quite a bit over the course of those years for every year. Um, total incidents for 2020 were 8,847, so we're off by one call from last year. And the prior year was 7,166, so we were up 1,700 from the previous year. As you know, I attach all the calls. I just want to say thank you again for the additional officer, and that means a lot to the officers and [1:07:18] that... it sends a message that you appreciate the job they're doing, and they do work hard for you. Thank you, and I stand for questions. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Well, one, you're welcome. And uh, we do appreciate you and—and their service. The other thing is that I've noticed um, in the news a lot of uh, walk-ups to people's homes and where middle of the night they'll just come in—you know, try the doorknob, and if it's open they—they've been walking right in. So I just want to encourage everyone to keep their doors locked. This has been happening—it's been captured on a lot of those door cams uh, doorbell cameras. **Councilmember Hanson:** Not a nightmare in the Bayport? **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Okay, not in Bayport, but not that far from us. So um, very brazen activity. So everyone [1:08:06] keep your doors locked, keep your garage doors locked, and uh, don't assume anything. Just take that extra precaution. **Chief Eastman (Police Chief):** Along with that is a lot of stolen cars. So be aware, you know, when you warm your cars up—which is not a good idea um, when you don't have an automatic start—because they're disappearing. Okay. **Councilmember (Connie):** Do your—because now that you said... I've said that um, last weekend when I went to the center there was footprints going in to my door, to my main door. And nobody except for me goes there. And then so did the police officers go around usually? I know they always checked our other doors at the church. Do they—would they have checked that door? I was going [1:08:51] to call you and ask. **Chief Eastman (Police Chief):** Yeah, you can totally call me and I can ask, I can figure out who was on. But when they do business checks, they usually go around the whole buildings—they're pulling on doors and they check windows. Okay. And they do that night... **Councilmember (Connie):** It was kind of freaky because I was going down there on Saturday night and it had snowed and I could tell somebody went up. And I called both my boys because they go there for a different coming or... and neither one had been there. And I could tell it was a man's print, so I thought, "Well, maybe the police checked." **Chief Eastman (Police Chief):** But that's good. Yeah, so just yeah, please go ahead and call us if that ever occurs again. We would—we'd be like... we'll be able to tell you where they are, actually. GPS tracks where they move their squads. **Councilmember (Connie):** So I know—I mean, they've gone because they've left us notes when the church door are open. **Chief Eastman (Police Chief):** Yep, or not closed tight. But correct. [1:09:38] Any other questions? **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** No, just want to make sure everybody takes that extra step. Thank you again. Do you not want to visit unwanted visitors? Public Works Director Kline. **Matt Kline (Public Works Director):** Madam Mayor, members of the Council. Public Works has been busy primarily in two spots: snow plowing and then we're rebuilding some of the components of the water system. Uh, well number three specifically had a check valve that needed replacing. And we've been working on the air stripper facility—which is good because, and we thought that potentially it would need replacement here in 10 years, but it should easily last another 15 years, so we can take that off the CIP [1:10:23] or move it farther down. A couple of smaller projects that we're probably doing this year that were listed or that are listed on the CPA or CIP is um, cleaning and inspecting the water towers again this year, replacing some electrical components throughout the water system, and then probably reconditioning well number four, our emergency well, potentially for just rebuilding the pump and making sure that everything from pumping perspective is working. Some of the bigger projects um, that I've been working on: the bulk box culvert replacement project, which was hopefully going to get done this last fall, is now likely put off to the spring due to frost and availability of [1:11:11] infrastructure. The booster station project: we had a pre-construction meeting on January 18th. At that time, one of the major components was the master control panel—they thought April 1st for a date, now they're thinking June 1st. So that project likely will be pushed to the fall also, or to the fall. Got noticed two weeks ago that we will be having an MS4 audit for our stormwater stuff. There's all kinds of components that we have to collect and inspections we have to do, and so they will be auditing that. The good thing is that staff is not overly concerned about it because we believe that we're doing what we're supposed to do. Mostly it probably took about three days [1:11:57] to pull all the stuff together—so time-consuming. And then the last thing is the lead and copper rules revision. The U.S. EPA has revised the rules in terms of dealing with lead and copper in drinking water. Currently under this—current standards—the city has never tested high for either of those components. But um, there are new testing rules um, so we may see levels go up just based on the testing results. Um, the EPA indicated that pretty much so everybody will likely see higher levels just based on how we're testing. And then based off that testing, if you test over a certain level, there are other things that you have to [1:12:43] do, like start replacing the service lines that potentially have lead and copper in them, or lead in them—lead service lines. But we'll... I'll present here in a couple of months more in-depth on—on that when I hear more about it and get a little well more versed in it. So um, with that I'll stand for questions. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Do we um, as part of our whole mapping and GPS and all of the layering of information, do we know where those potentials... **Matt Kline (Public Works Director):** So the City of Bayport um, now that we're talking about it um, the City of Bayport does not have—not that like Tim has seen—full lead service lines all the way from the water main into the house. So we [1:13:30] don't have an issue with that. What the guys have seen mostly is short lead—what they call goosenecks—that are connected to the main and then galvanized pipe. So the galvanized pipe is really rigid, and once you connect it to the main you'd rather have that flexibility where it can flex them—that's why they use copper now. Um, so they used a short piece, probably like a two-foot piece of lead in order to have that give in there so it won't break the galvanized. So we do have quite a few galvanized lines in the system. So what the EPA says, you have to take an inventory of all your essentially lateral lines or residential lines um, [1:14:16] and if you... if it's like um, galvanized, then you gotta assume that part of it is also a lead one since you don't know for sure. And so there's likely to be a replacement program. The good thing is, you know, with our infrastructure replacement we'll eventually be replacing a lot of these things, and hopefully we just don't have to do it immediately as long as our levels don't reach a certain amount. So okay. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Thank you. Other questions for Matt? Okay, thanks very much. Assistant Administrator Taylor. [1:15:02] **Sara Taylor (Assistant City Administrator):** Madam Mayor and Council. The City Attorney is currently reviewing final draft updates to the city's personnel policy ordinance. A workshop to review these updates and discuss the overall content of the policy with the Council has been scheduled for February 28th. That's at 4:30 to 6:30. I sent an email about that I think last week, so just make sure that's on your calendar. A draft of the next edition of the city's print newsletter is in process. Target distribution is in March. Over the past two years, staff has been working toward better management and organization of city records, which includes removing excessive backlog of paper files to comply with the state's data retention and destruction schedule. Space restrictions at City Hall made it physically impossible almost to store any more paper files without going through those and making sure they get destructed appropriately. [1:15:47] So roughly 40 boxes have been sorted and sent off for destruction so far in the last few weeks. So that's progress in the right direction, and this project will continue over the coming months kind of in our downtime here before we start picking up with park reservations and building permits and that sort of thing. And we'll also increase efforts to organize and archive records electronically going forward. A minor lot line adjustment was approved earlier on tonight's agenda for 186 State Street. The next step in this process will involve preparation of deeds by the land surveyor, and then those will be reviewed by our City Attorney and then recorded at Washington County accordingly. As far as city leads and assignments and meetings: the city has been notified that [1:16:34] due to COVID, the Oak Park Heights City Council will only meet virtually for the next month. So this includes postponement of their meeting with the King Plant advisory panel which we've been discussing for the decommissioning process. Um, while there's no date yet scheduled, we've been advised that it'll be likely in March or April. So we'll let you know about that. And then also I just like to say to echo Chief Eastman's comments and thanks for the thoughtful conversation about staffing at the workshop today. We appreciate your support. Stand for questions. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Any questions for Sarah? Thank you. **Adam (City Administrator):** Thank you. Madam Mayor, members of the Council. We've gone over several items on the night at administrative update about the admin and police staffing. [1:17:21] Uh, Mayor, you mentioned the meeting we are in the fire service contract that we both attended um, we will be scheduling that in the next couple weeks. Uh, keep the Council posted on that. Uh, some of the other items that staff have been working on that I've been working on, as we did... we were notified and have been involved in the increase regarding the railroad idling complaints done by Bayport Marina. I did hear back from... we sent the railroad a letter inquiring as to why it was a perceived increase in the train idling there for short periods and a couple longer. They are looking into that. They're going to get us an answer they hope by the end of this week, so I'll have more information for the Council on that and some of the community that [1:18:06] has notified the city. Uh, in the next couple weeks, the auditors—Fundamental—will be coming out to the city both remotely, uh, obtaining some information as well as coming here in person to do their field work for the 2021 audit. Um, so Mary's been diligently uh, working on that. Luckily, we still have contact with Chantel McRoberts, who did it last year, and she left very good notes, and so she's uh, shared some of that with Mary. So uh, we're a step ahead already. Um, so I will be continuing to work for that and hopefully we don't expect any issues with that. Um, upcoming meetings: just the next Council meeting on March 7th, [1:18:52] a month from tonight. And with that, I—I too want to say thank you for both police and the administration staffing discussion tonight. Um, I look forward... I'll just let the public know, I have my five-year review um, I've been here February 27th, it'll be five years that I'll have been appointed. Um, I hope to continue that tenure. Um, so uh, tonight after this meeting adjourns, we will be having a closed session for that performance evaluation. And thank you. But uh, without any other questions... **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Any other questions for Adam? Nope. All right, yes. [1:19:39] **Chief Eastman (Police Chief):** I just spoke that I've been here for 15 years, and Mr. Bell has been my fourth administrator in Barnum. He is the best. And so I appreciate you and I want to add that just that we appreciate you and how much time and energy you spend here, and you are by far the best administrator I've ever worked for and you've... I've had four. So hopefully that means something. **Adam (City Administrator):** Thank you. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Thank you, very nice. Thank you, thanks for sharing that. All right. So um, any other City Council items or announcements? Remember, everyone who's watching: if you want to get involved with the centennial, please contact BCAL and they will or be our organizing [1:20:26] leaders on that, with the exception of the parade which we are greatly appreciative of the folks at the American Legion as well. So um, but I'm sure you'll collaborate behind the scenes. And thank you, Michelle, for leading all those efforts—that's a lot. So um, whatever you want, hopefully there'll be lots of volunteers too. **Councilmember Hanson:** Yeah, I'm like I'm leading it all... I'm just not in the meetings. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** All right. Well, um, with that, I think that we can have a motion to adjourn and then go into our—our private meeting to have the five-year review. **Councilmember Hanson:** And move we adjourn to the closed session? **Adam (City Administrator):** Right, but do we adjourn this meeting... **Councilmember Hanson:** It's a separate meeting this year. **Adam (City Administrator):** Okay, okay. **Councilmember Hanson:** I'm sorry, sorry. So moved we adjourn. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Okay, thank you Michelle. You have a second? **Ethan Gilmore (Deputy Mayor):** Second. **Michele Hanson (Mayor):** Thank you uh, Ethan. All in favor? [Chorus of Ayes]. Opposed? Adjourned. [1:22:03]