[0:01] [Music] [0:13] [Music] [0:24] [Music] [0:37] [Music] [0:52] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Good evening. Welcome to the October 6th city council meeting. If you join me for a moment of silence in the pledge of allegiance [1:19] **All:** to the stands one nation God indivisible. with liberty and justice for all. [1:28] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Okay, Ms. Orlofsky, roll call, please. [1:34] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** John Bermel, [1:37] **Councilmember: John Bermel:** here. [1:38] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** Dan Wolter, [1:39] **Councilmember: Dan Wolter:** here. [1:40] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** Joshua Lee, [1:42] **Councilmember: Joshua Lee:** here. [1:43] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** Michelle Volk, [1:45] **Councilmember: Michelle Volk:** Here. [1:51] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** All right, moving on to item number three, citizens comments. This is an opportunity for those uh residents or business owners to address the council for up to three minutes. If you have something to say, you can kind of come up to the microphone, state your name and your address for the record. [2:03] **Brian Conn:** Hello, my name is Brian Conn. I live at 16715 Insburg Drive here in Lakeville. [2:09] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Good evening. [2:11] **Brian Conn:** Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, esteemed council members, Chief Paulson. I'm a Lakeville resident who is concerned about the increasing levels of gun violence in our state and in our country. I'm also here representing nearly 500 members of Moms Demand Action that are here in Lakeville. [2:30] We are not anti-gun, we are anti-gun violence. As our local leaders, we are you are the first people we call upon to help keep our community safe. We know that firearms are now the leading cause of death for our children of ages 1 to 18 in communities across Minnesota, including here in Lakeville. And we are experiencing increasing levels of gun violence. We've seen recent tragedies that underscore the urgency of addressing this issue, including the killing of Burnsville first responders Paul Elmstead, Matthew Ruge, and Adam Finseth. We've seen the murder of Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband. Most recently, the devastating mass uh shooting at an enunciation school and church that killed Fletcher Merkel and Harper Moy and injured 21 others. These events make it clear that the time to act is now. Now, my experiences in developing new products and then it points us to a path that we can take to reducing gun violence. We have a proven model for improving product safety. It's built on three solid legs. It starts with reducing the number of incidences of gun violence. This may be through efforts like community policing, improved access to mental health services, and secure storage of firearms. The next leg is leg is detecting potential events and taking actions. Examples here are social media surveillance, orders for protection, and extreme risk protection orders when violence is likely. But today, we are asking you to take action on the third leg of that stool, reducing the severity of these incidents. We urge you, our mayor and council members, to support legislation that bans assault weapon bans and high-capacity magazines. We know that you regularly meet with our state legislators and to share your concerns of the Lakeville residents, and this is one of them. By supporting such legislation, you affirm your commitment to public safety, protecting not only our residents, but also our teachers, our first responders, and our families. [4:37] As of October of last year, 64% of Minnesotans supported a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Today, that support has likely grown with over 300 faith leaders, doctors at Children's Hospital in Minneapolis, and a coalition of 60 health agencies and HCMC doctors all calling for the same action. [4:59] Thank you again for your time and for listening. We urge you to stand with your constituents and support an ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Thank you. [5:10] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Thank you, Mr. Conn. Any other public comment? [5:18] Okay, seeing none, we'll move on to item number four, additional agenda information. Mr. Miller. Okay, we'll move on to 5A, our civic pledge proclamation. And I'll turn it over to council member Lee to kind of tee this up for us. [5:33] **Councilmember: Joshua Lee:** Absolutely. Be happy to tee this up. Um, before I read this proclamation, I want to acknowledge Shannon Watson, who's the founder of uh a nonprofit called Majority in the Middle. Um, it's a nonpartisan organization seeking to increase uh our civil democracy. And so, the Civic Pledge is an an initiative started by Shannon to help folks take action in light of political violence and increasingly polarizing political discourse. [6:04] We have a a responsibility as a council to role model um what civil discourse looks like. And uh thankfully I often tell folks that I feel very privileged by the group that I get to work with because I do think that we uphold these values and I appreciate us reaffirming our commitment with this proclamation today. Um in addition to the proclamation, I do invite of us but also the public to sign this pledge. Uh, and that pledge can be found at whatwecandoweek.org. [6:36] Um, and now for the proclamation. So, the city of Lakeville proclamation civic pledge standing together for respect, dialogue, and democracy. Whereas the city of Lakeville values the well-being of all community members and affirms the importance of civic responsibility, mutual respect, and dialogue. And whereas residents across Minnesota are called to engage peacefully with their fellow Minnesotans, work in good faith to resolve disputes and embrace the hard but necessary work to of finding common ground. And whereas the city of Lakeville rejects political violence in all forms and stands firmly against rhetoric that incites such violence. And whereas by committing to these shared values, Lakeville stands as part of a Minnesota that confronts division not with silence or hostility, but with hope, honesty, and shared responsibility. And whereas through this collective pledge, our community affirms its role in bridging divides, improving trust, and empowering civility. Now therefore, be it resolved that Luke Hellier, mayor of city of the city of Lakeville, does hereby proclaim the city's commitment to the civic pledge, standing together for respect, dialogue, and democracy. [7:50] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Thank you, Council Member Lee, for taking the lead on that. I appreciate it. Okay, moving on to item B. I'm going to turn over our chief of police, Brad Paulson, to recognize some of our recent police department promotions. Good evening and welcome. [8:06] **Police Chief: Brad Paulson:** Good evening, mayor, members of the council, and thank you for allowing us a few minutes this evening to recognize a a slew of promotions this year. I know it's a a healthy agenda tonight. So, uh we're going to kind of do this in two waves. We've got two different ranks being recognized tonight, our lieutenants and sergeants. Um so, we're going to move through in in two different groups here. So, I'll ask our uh lieutenants to come forward. Uh 2024 was a year and continues to be a year of big change for Lakeville PD. We had a lot of uh longtime employees that retired this year. Uh a lot of years of service and and um and uh expertise uh walked out our doors at different points throughout the year. Uh and we're very happy for those people, but we're also happy for those coming behind. We have a very good farm system in Lakeville, so we're we're calling up some others to step into those roles, and we're happy to recognize those folks this evening. You'll see a lot of family, friends, and co-workers here. Um that's just an an acknowledgement, excuse me, of how big of a deal this is for these people and for us as an agency. There's a lot of work that has gone into um these folks being here tonight. We start with Lieutenant Jeff Hansen. [9:17] I'm just going to read a short bio on each of them. Lieutenant Jeff Hansen began his Lakeville Police Department career as a community service officer before moving into a police officer role in January of 2005. Why don't you come up a little bit further, Jeff? Thank you. It's okay. He spent time in roles at the Dakota County Drug Task Force and the South Metro SWAT team, both of which involved him moving into positions of leadership on those teams. Prior to his recent promotion, he was a sergeant for over six years with Lakeville PD. He has a master's degree in police leadership from the University of St. Thomas and is a graduate of the Northwestern School of Police Staff and Command, where his capstone project led to the implementation of Lakeville PD's unmanned aerial vehicle program, also known as drones. He moved into his current role in April of this year and is currently assigned in a support role overseeing various components of our budget, technology, equipment, and the business side of our new fleet center. Congratulations to Lieutenant Jeff Hansen. [10:21] Step out of the limelight now for a second. We'll call Lieutenant Thor Howe. Lieutenant Thor Howe also began his Lakeville Police Department career as a community service officer. He was sworn in as a police officer in April of 2006 and worked through assignments such as a school resource officer in the street crimes unit. Thor has been heavily involved in our firearms and use of force training over the years as both an instructor and a supervisor. Prior to his most recent promotion, he was a sergeant for four years. He too has a master's degree in police leadership from the University of St. Thomas and as a graduate of the Northwestern School of Police Staff and Command. His capstone project was related to professional development and that project is in the stages of being implemented in his new role which began in April as a lieutenant of professional standards where he oversees training, professional development, hiring and wellness. Congratulations, Lieutenant Thor Howe. [11:24] Finally, Lieutenant Jeremy Lurfeld. Lieutenant Jeremy Lurfeld has over 28 years of law enforcement experience, including 17 plus with Lakeville PD. He's held a variety of roles and specialties over those many years, including detective, canine handler, street crimes, school resource officer. As far as leadership experience, he spent nearly four years as the chief deputy with the Goodhue County Sheriff's Office and prior to his recent promotion was a patrol sergeant with Lakeville PD. He's completed the Minnesota State Sheriff's Association Chief Deputy School as well as over 1080 credit hours in the Institute for Credible Leadership Development. Lieutenant Lurfeld's new role started in May where he's one of two lieutenants charged with overseeing our patrol division. This role also oversees our CSO division K9 program and is our department's Panaprog liaison. Congratulations Lieutenant Jeremy Lurfeld. [12:26] Let lieutenants make your make your trip around and shake some hands and then we'll we'll get you off the stage here. [12:50] All right, onto our sergeants. The sergeants want to make their way up here. Um, so with our sergeants, we are doing a badge pinning. Uh, it's kind of a testament to the the sacrifice and responsibility as they enter a leadership role with Lakeville PD. So adding that extra element uh to their recognition this evening and they've got designated badge pinners ready to go here. So we'll start out with uh Sergeant Tom Danielson and uh Tom's badge pinner can come on up and and pin while I speak here. [13:22] Sergeant Tom Danielson started with Lakeville PD in February of 2011. Prior to joining us, he was a police officer for nearly four years with the Prairie Island Tribal Police. With Lakeville. He's been a field training officer, union steward, civil unrest team member, and spent nearly nine years as a K-9 handler. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota, Duluth, and moved into his sergeant role in March of this year. Congratulations, Sergeant Tom Danielson. [13:56] Sergeant Allison Shank, and her posse can come on up as well. [Laughter] This ought to be good. All right. Sergeant Allison Shank joined Lakeville PD in July of 2014. I know nobody's listening to me. They're just watching kids pinning badges. So, which is totally fine. Prior to Lakeville, she spent three years with the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office. With Lakeville, she's been a field training officer, member of the crime scene unit, a school resource officer, and an active member of the community engagement team. She holds a bachelor's degree from from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and officially moved into her sergeant role in April of this year. Congratulations, Sergeant Allison Shank. [14:44] Sergeant Nick Jacobson. Sergeant Nick Jacobson joined Lakeville PD in February of 2014. Prior to Lakeville, he was a dedicated member of the US Marine Corps, including multiple deployments to active combat zones. With Lakeville, he's been a field training officer, SWAT team operator, and sniper, drug task force agent, peer support team member, and use of force firearms instructor. He began his sergeant role in June of this year. Congratulations, Sergeant Nick Jacobson. [15:21] Sergeant Sarah Mann. Sergeant Sarah Mann, like a couple of lieutenants mentioned earlier, began her Lakeville PD career as a community service officer, serving nearly three years in that role. She moved into a police officer position in March of 2013. Since then, she's been a field training officer, use of force firearms instructor, crime scene team member, peer support team member, and a union steward. Sarah holds a bachelor of arts degree from Metropolitan State University and a master's degree in public safety leadership from the University of St. Thomas. She started her role as Sergeant in June of this year as well. Congratulations, Sergeant Sarah Mann. [16:07] Finally, Sergeant Casey King. We didn't forget about you. Sergeant Casey King joined Lakeville PD in December of 2014. Prior to coming to Lakeville, he was a police officer with the Montgomery Police Department. At Lakeville, Casey has been a field training officer, crime scene unit member, a member of the street crimes unit, and a detective. He holds a bachelor's degree from Metropolitan State University, and he also moved into his role as a sergeant in June of this year. Congratulations, Sergeant Casey King. [16:46] And before they make their rounds and people uh in their in their group start to clear out, I'll just turn it over to council if you have any uh comments or questions for our group. [17:01] **Councilmember: John Bermel:** Hey, quick comment. Um so just a while ago, we saw people starting their career here in Lakeville and now we see uh people that are continuing their career here in Lakeville. So we're very pleased with that. Um, we have a great police department and for people to want to invest their future as as you sergeants and lieutenants are, it's fabulous. And everybody in this department is incredibly talented. And what's interesting is is you folks um are in these positions now because there's something that goes beyond just the skill and there's something that matches the values of our community. Uh it's never uh lays light on me that when the chief lays his head down on his pillow at night and we lay our heads down on our pillows at night, you're the folks that are making sure that our values and that our community's values are being upheld. So uh congratulations on your new positions and uh you guys are going to do great. [17:56] **Police Chief: Brad Paulson:** Thank you. [18:11] **Councilmember: Dan Wolter:** I just wanted to add that uh I think it's just so cool watching you all grow in your career and you know every everyone from the chief uh to our our recent promotions. It's just you can tell that there's a culture here that um promotes leadership. Uh we obviously hire well um because you're still here. Uh so thank you for your service. I know from just talking to some of you in the past that um promotions are hard to take sometimes because it comes with uh new hours sometimes uh new responsibilities that uh make the job sometimes even harder. So thank you for stepping into these leadership roles um and uh and just thanks again for for your commitment. [18:44] [Applause] [18:56] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Well, I would just like to add um my gratitude to the spouses and family that continue to support these folks who serve our community. And as John said, and I'll say it, too, it's it's very easy for us to rest peacefully at night knowing that you're the ones that are looking out for our community. So, we're continue to be grateful for all of your service. So, thank you. [19:08] **Police Chief: Brad Paulson:** Thank you, Chief. [19:08] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Thank you. [Applause] [19:31] We're going to take a brief pause. So for those who are here for that and don't want to stay for the rest of the meeting can out [19:55] [Music] [20:04] **Councilmember: Dan Wolter:** You know, if you stayed, Paul would probably tell you when 185th was going to open again. [20:10] **Public Works Director: Paul Oehme:** 411. [20:29] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** We'll now turn it over to item C and Mr. Paul Oehme, public works director, who will give us our quarterly update. [20:44] **Public Works Director: Paul Oehme:** Right. Good evening, mayor and city council members. This is a third quarter report for uh public works. [20:53] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Your mic on or maybe I just [20:55] **Public Works Director: Paul Oehme:** uh should be on. Can you hear me now? [20:57] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Oh, yeah. Okay. All right. [20:58] **Public Works Director: Paul Oehme:** Bend down a little bit. All right. I'll crouch. Go ahead. So, all right. Here we go. Uh so, I just wanted to highlight a a couple new employees that uh we hired just recently in this this quarter uh to fill vacant positions. Grace Ellis, she's our new engineering division um grad engineer. Uh she's going to be working on right-of-way ordinance, um permit reviews, traffic data collection, as-built construction and plan reviews as well. Um keep her busy with that. Um Ryan Hemri is our new uh street division employee. Uh he's going to be doing everything street related wise and then he'll be part of our snowplowing team. [21:39] So this is what everybody's been waiting for. on 185th Street um from Kenwood Trail to Ipava Avenue. Um now we're looking at opening um that section of roadway this Thursday. Uh there's still some striping to be done and completed out there and then some cleanup work, but weather permits, uh Wednesday, Thursday, we should have that section of road finally open to traffic. [22:05] So uh County Road 50 and Hamburg roundabout uh that was opened uh to traffic about a week ago now. uh that project is substantially completed and we're seeing some good benefits from that project. Uh the street reconstruction projects for this year, 170th Street and Glacier Way area, uh the work on Glacier Way area that was paved um last week and is now substantially complete. There's some striping yet to be done this uh today and tomorrow, but uh that that section of the roadway uh is open to traffic and completed. uh final paving on 170th Street. That's programmed for end of the month. Um we're still working on some water main installations on uh Foxboro Park, but that hopefully will be completed in the next couple weeks here. [22:52] Uh moving on to the utility division. Uh water production is a little bit up from where we were this time of year. Um last year uh we produced um a little over 2.17 billion gallons of water at our water treatment plant this year. And that's again that's up about 11% from last year. Uh utility division uh rebates uh in conjunction with the metro council and the clear uh water legacy grant. Um that's still open to residents that would like to replace maybe some of their inefficient toilets or irrigation systems. Uh there's a pretty good rebate associated with that and if anybody's interested in in that rebate you can check the website uh for more details. [23:36] Uh moving on to the street division um streets are actively working on their fall activities that includes tree removals, boulevard pruning, those type of things. Pothole patching is still ongoing as weather permits and then street sweeping of leaves um that started this week. [23:55] our annual uh snowplow training uh will be kicking off this month as well too. So staff every year gets together and talks about um the snowplow uh operations that are coming up for this season um at the uh October 22nd meeting. We're going to go through our routes uh make sure everybody understands those uh chloride and uh salt um applications as well. Try to reduce as much of the salt um putting as much little salt down as necessary but still keep our roads safe. Um and then safety review as well and then any changes to our operations. And then on October 29th, we'll be going over to DCTC for defensive driving training. This is an opportunity to for drivers to get in in the truck and go through course uh the course that's set up there um and refine hone in on their their skills and then just kind of as a refresher to to get behind the wheel again and um before the snow falls. [24:53] Um, our ADA transition plan is going very nicely. Uh, we made some great strides this summer. We did complete our survey for the year. Uh, we still have about 36 um ped ramps left to to replace to get them up to um the new standards. Um, and we're basically we're we're we used to have about 11% of our our um ramps that were not in compliance. We're down to less than 1% now. Um and next year we're going to do probably another third of those uh incompliant ramps. So chipping away at this. Hopefully in the next five years we'll have that all taken care of. Uh moving on to the environmental resources area. Um we have completed our lake management updates for the year. Our summer survey has been complete for plant surveys uh within our lake system. Um the findings of that will be published in the report by the end of the year. Um the good news is we're seeing a lot more native native plants within our our lake system and decrease in our Eurasian milfoil um in certain parts of our lake is so that's good news um the survey did mainly focus in on Lake Mary and Orchard Lake and uh but we have seen more plant growth within our lakes that that can be attributed to a mild winter and a very wet summer and um hot summer as well. [26:21] Uh our MS4 inspection update, uh this is kind of our update to the council, our MS4 permit. Uh we had over 200 construction inspections for this year so far. Uh we are using a new software called Swamp Track to keep track of all our inspections and and notes. Uh which is a great software tool uh that we've been implemented this year. Um later in this this year, we're going to be going through our sump and pond outfall inspections where we inspect about 20% of our our outfalls and ponds every year. Um mainly helping out um through our street department staffing as time allows for that. Um and then program new ponds for for cleaning out and and sumps as well through that program inspections. And then our environmental manhole inspections. Um those are our our uh manholes that catch our floatable materials and uh sediments in our uh in our water storm water system. those will be inspected this uh fall by the utility staff as well in conjunction with the the environmental uh staff as well. Um some just some plant updates. Galaxy liquor store. We did plant our um rainwater garden uh this spring. those um or actually last last week and we're hopefully that will be germinating in the spring and then Valley Park Turf and Prairie Rainwater Garden that was planted in the spring and that has seen really good germination because of the the warm temperatures that we had this summer and uh uh the wet conditions that we had as well. [28:05] Moving on the forestry um have some good news here to report on our EAB infestation. Um, we did complete our survey uh for EAB this summer and uh we found that there's 310 properties that are on have infested trees with on their within their property. This is down about half as many trees that we found as um from our survey last year. So, I think we've hit our EAB peak now and hopefully we'll be on the downer trend of infestation within the community. um letters were sent out on September 29th um for those uh infested uh trees on those properties and we've already had some inspections um set up for that and we're still working on last year's non-compliant um properties uh for uh EAB on on those properties. [28:46] Um the EAB grant that we received in 2023, we're about halfway through that project now. Um this year we removed about 50 trees from five parks. Um and we're be and we're planting about a hundred trees back in those parks this fall. So we have another year um for this program uh to before we're completed with the with the grants. Um and then on October 1st, uh forestry staff did have a class over at the uh environmental learning center at Ritter Farm Park talking about buckthorn and how to manage that uh invasive species in the in in their uh on your landscaping and how to maintain um a healthy landscape um into the future. [29:33] Moving on to the facilities, uh, at the arts center, we did replace or put up, um, blackout theater blinds within the, uh, the theater area. This really is going to help the, um, enhance the, uh, um, the theater experience into the future. And then we also replaced some carpeting within the art center. Um, at city hall here, as you were aware, we replaced a lot of the overgrown landscaping around the building um, and, uh, some of the the landscaping rock. So, this kind of cleaned up the area a little bit and made it a little bit more professional, I think. And uh the I think the project turned out well. The uh heritage center uh roof replacement uh as you know is is ongoing right now. It's about 50% complete replacing all the uh the roofing uh flat roof on on the uh facility. That project will be slated to be completed at the end of the month. [30:26] And then upcoming events um are currently planned and this is in partnership with the Dakota Valley Recycling agency. So paper shredding at central maintenance is on October 25th. Pumpkin composting at the police station is in November 8th and the 9th and holiday lighting recycling it will be ongoing from November uh to January of next year. So bring your um broken or unused lights uh in for recycling instead of throwing away. And then we also have furniture mattress recycling at Burnsville recycling uh um and then sport equipment donation drop off uh pharmacy disposal and food scrap um site um drop off as well. And that's ongoing at Ames Arena, the police station and the water treatment facility as well too. So, you can check uh with Dakota County's website for the food scrap and organic drop off um um site um within the Dakota County and to sign up for that program. So, with that, I stand for any questions you may have. [31:42] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Okay, council, any questions? [31:45] **Councilmember: Dan Wolter:** I I don't have a question. I just have a comment. I I passed it on to you, but I wanted to use this forum to the Glacier Way construction. I just received some nice comments from some businesses on there saying they really appreciated how their access was maintained throughout that project and and and how it went. So, just wanted to give you a shout out for that because I know we often just get the complaints. So, [32:05] **Public Works Director: Paul Oehme:** appreciate that. Thank you. [32:10] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Very good. Thank you, Paul. [32:11] **Public Works Director: Paul Oehme:** Thank you. Appreciate it. [32:15] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Okay, moving on to our consent agenda. These are more routine items for the council. Mr. Miller, anything you wanted to highlight? [32:20] **City Administrator: Justin Miller:** Thank you, Mayor. A couple tonight. We have a very long consent agenda. So I have a couple more items than normal. Item 6Q is a resolution appointing members to the youth advisory commission. Know you interviewed a couple uh new applicants last week and so this is the complete roster that you're approving tonight. Item 6U is a resolution authorizing the closure of streets for Boo event. Uh that is in cooperation with the DBA. Um and that'll be downtown on October 25th. And then we have several uh agreements tonight that are associated with some of our youth groups as well as um some naming rights for Grand Prairie Park. The first is a master agreement with Lakeville Lacrosse and the sec that's 6V and then 6Y is a master agreement with Lakeville Baseball Association. Both of those agreements come with recognition of uh donations or pledges that they've made to increase enhancements at the park, but also specific um ways they can use the parks and and those fields. And then item 6B is a naming right agreement between the city of Lakeville, Lakeville Baseball Association, and Jeff Belzer Chevrolet. And that's for naming rights at the new Grand Prairie Park grandstand, which uh should be open up next year. [33:30] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Very good. Council, any items you wanted to pull for further discussion? If not, I will make a motion to approve. [33:39] **Councilmember: Dan Wolter:** I'll move it. [33:42] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Okay. Is there a second? [33:44] **Councilmember: John Bermel:** Second. [33:45] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Any further discussion? [33:51] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** The only thing that I wanted to just quickly say, I'm very happy to see the purchase of a fire pickup truck um that I've been eyeing down for a long time. So, thank you for that. Um all those in favor say I. [34:02] **Council:** I. [34:04] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** opposed. Consent agenda passes. Uh moving on to 7A, the acknowledgement and the receipt of the 2024 comprehensive financial report and our finance director, Ms. Stahl for presentation. [34:17] **Finance Director: Julie Stahl:** Now that Paul is done talking, I think everybody else is about this level. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and members of the council. We are presenting the final uh 2024 annual comprehensive financial report. We have Ezra Kettz who is our lead auditor and is a manager at at CliftonLarsonAllen to present the findings and um just this overall summary of the report for you. Um everything was given to you in the packet as well as a couple updated items um um tonight before the meeting. So with that, I'm going to let Ezra take over. [35:01] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Welcome. Nice to see you. [35:05] **Ezra Kettz (Auditor):** All right. Well, thank you for that introduction, Julie. Yes. My name is Ezra Kettz. I'm a manager at CLA. A little easier to say sometimes. Um, and yes, I was the manager on the 2024 audit. Been involved with the audit for a number of years here. So, appreciate the opportunity to speak to all of you. All right. So, we'll start off with some of the required communications and audit results and then we'll look at some financial results and then we'll just talk about some future accounting pronouncements. [35:34] All right. So, to start out with the city has is receiving an unmodified clean opinion for the December 31st, 2024 audited financial statements. This is the highest level of assurance that we can give as auditors. We also have a separate governance communication letter. Uh there's different required communications within here. No disagreements with management, no major difficulties, that sort of thing. Um also just want to take the time to appreciate uh management. Really enjoyed working with them. Um very easy to work with and made things go well especially with the new ERP system implementation this year. Uh one thing just want to point out but both in the audit opinion and the governance communication letter we have this emphasis of matter uh related to a restatement due to a change in accounting principle. This is not related to an error. It's just a change in implementation guidance from the government accounting standards board. Um a lot of cities had to go back through do a retrospective review. Uh the city of Lakeville the finance department took a look. There are some water meters that now qualify as capital assets and so they capitalized those in 2024 um but they had been previously expended in previous years. So just a change that will then move forward as a change but again no error there and something that really wasn't that uncommon for cities and other governmental entities in 2024. [37:11] All right, moving on to internal control items. uh we are required to disclose if we find any material weaknesses or significant deficiencies. We we did not uh identify any material weaknesses or significant deficiencies during the audit. Next, Minnesota legal compliance. This is a 25-page checklist that the Minnesota office of the state auditor provides to all auditors to go through and ensure compliance with certain Minnesota statutes. We went through that entire listing and did not find any um non-compliance with any Minnesota statutes. [37:46] All right. Now, we'll get into some of the financial results. So, we'll start out with the general fund here. Have a five-year summary of the past five years general fund revenues. Uh overall, the proportion of tax revenue and the other there, which is investment earnings increased, intergovernmental revenue did go down. You'll see that a couple times in this presentation, that intergovernmental revenue going down related to less public safety aid in 2024, which was expected. Uh, additionally, the proportion of taxes to all of the general fund revenues was 74%. That's relatively normal for the city. Total revenues increased 1.3 million in the general fund and have increased 8.3% since 2020. [38:28] Looking at some budget to actual results overall favorable positive budget variance of close to a million dollars. The charges for services had the largest favorable variance of about 650,000. Uh that was related to engineering related services with uh developer construction administration services as well. Taxes did come in under budget by about 308,000. That's uh that's related to the just some lower than anticipated collections. So that's something that as collections come in those are getting recognized. So if they're a little bit lower one year to the next just related to collections and they go to delinquent all other revenue sources had favorable budget variances. So the other there was a lot of appreciation on investments 258,000 more than expected intergovernmental some additional federal state grants and then license and permits just a mix of different building permits and things that were received. [39:27] All right, moving on to general fund expenditures. So, total expenditures are increasing. They increased 7.6% from last year. They've increased 32.6% since 2020. And the majority of the the reasons for this personnel costs, so adding 15 full-time firefighters, added a police officer, um, and then some contractual inflationary costs as well. Um but overall across the five years here can see proportionally functions are growing at a similar rate each year. [39:58] All right. Then some expenditure budget to actual as well. So overall also favorable budget variances 1.27 million under budget for expenditures. Public works being the largest at 930,000 related to personnel service savings. General government next largest related to some savings and inspections and community economic development areas. Parks and rec and public safety were both slightly over budget. Parks and rec related to the arts center, public safety, those services, there are some services by the police to some local agencies for a high-profile incident. So there are some additional costs related to that. [40:39] All right. Then to sum it all up, so fund balance accumulation of all the revenues and expenditures in the general fund here, the city does have a fund balance policy of maintaining unrestricted fund balance between 40 and 50%. Unassigned fund balance was 53.6% for 2024. And then going off the policy, looking at projected for 2025, it's at 46.7. So within the policy range there. [41:06] All right, moving on to enterprise funds. So the utility fund. So income before depreciation, we're comparing that to just the depreciation in the utility fund overall. Last year it was it covered 102% of depreciation. This year it did decrease a bit, so it's at 86%. Operating revenues also decreased related to just changes in usage, number of customer changes in different service lines. Cash provided by operations though was still positive 4.5 million and total cash investments is 29.9 million with operating expenses 22.2. So very sufficient cash investments in the fund. [41:47] All right now going to liquor. So the gross profit percentage did go up in from 2023 it was 27.4% went up to 27.9% and it's been steadily increasing over the past 5 years. Sales stayed pretty consistent. They actually decreased a little 45,000. Um, now we have some comparisons here and in a couple of the additional slides, we also have a lot of these comparisons, but it's using 2022 data. That's the the data that's available um online from the state of Minnesota. So, some of this is a little bit aged, but for the most part, we still use that as comparison. Last year was 2021 data. So, there's a little bit of a lag there. So keep that in mind when we're doing some of these comparisons. But um in 2022 you can see the difference 26.9 to 25.3. So Lakeville did exceed that 7-count metro area amount. Um and then it is a little bit lower than some of the other metro cities back in 2022 that kind of hovered closer to that 30% range. Um but overall the the city is higher than the metro average. [42:56] All right. Now some economic data. So taxable market values these increased two billion from 2022 to 2023. It was 11.6 billion. And then to 2024 there was another billion dollar increase. So up to 12.5 billion which is now the new new peak for taxable market values. Tax capacity rates. So as you can see this is typically an inverse relationship. Um the tax rate does include operating debt levy. There was about a 12.3 million tax capacity increase from last year and overall that 2024 tax rate is 30.2%. [43:35] And if we go to the next slide here, you can see the comparison just with some other cities. Uh we are comparing apples to apples taking the median taxable market value and and using that as the comparison. So you can see Lakeville is falling, you know, very much in the middle here of a lot of the comparable cities either geographically, size-wise, that sort of thing. And and one clarification, it is just the city portion of taxes. So it's not including county, school district, that sort of thing. [44:04] All right, moving on to per capita information. So again, the the data in these for statewide is is back to 2022 data. Um but then we also are looking at three years of Lakeville's data. So per capita revenues decreased 143 from the previous year, 2024 to 2023. um mostly in intergovernmental revenues and special assessments with the intergovernmental being a large piece of that with the the decrease in public safety aid. 2024 per capita revenues are 137 less than the state average for 2022. Again, a little bit of dated data there, but the um negative variances are in tax increments and intergovernmental revenues. And just remember when comparing back 2022 still had a lot of COVID dollars flowing through. So, all right. [44:51] Now we took that information kind of representing it in graph form here. Um so again looking at comparable cities um listed below there you can kind of see the development of the past three years and then to the the average of those cities. So charges for services has typically always been above average and continued in 2024. Intergovernmental has usually been above average but did decrease with the the change in the public safety aid. And then all of the rest of those categories are staying pretty pretty average with with the rest of those cities. [45:29] Moving on to expenditures per capita. Again, looking at 2022 data, um per capita expenditures decreased 192 from 2023. The biggest difference there is capital outlay and that's related to a lot of uh large street utility projects in 2023, a little less so in 2024. uh per capita expenditure is 305 more than other similar cities with again capital outlay being there. Also remember 2022 spent some inflation since so that also plays a part. Here it is graphically again um just kind of showing some of the comparisons. You can see the city's been below average uh in most of those cases except capital outlay and then principal and interest on debt. [46:12] All right. In conclusion, the city is meeting its fund balance policy for the general fund. There are no internal control comments, no Minnesota legal compliance findings. Enterprise funds are providing cash flows. Those are positive cash flows from operations. Liquor operations covers fully all of the depreciation. Utilities a little bit down to 86%. Liquor fund transferred out 1.3 million to a couple different funds in 2024. So still helping fund some of the activities in those funds. And then last year for the 2023 audit, the city was awarded the GFOA certificate for excellence in financial reporting. Uh and we expect 2024 to be 37th. So great news there. [46:51] Then just just to cover a couple accounting standards, just some future pronouncement type stuff. So next year for the audit will be GASB 102. There's just some additional disclosures that'll come into play um related to certain concentrations or constraints that the city might have. So example of a constraint being like a debt limit. The debt limit for the city 3% and then the concentrations could be if you had large concentrations in investments or one large taxpayer or something like that that would be disclosed and then in 2026 we have GASB 103 and 104 that'll be effective. Uh again that's just additional disclosures. There'll be some clarifications on some of the operating non-operating some of the utility fund statements. Um and then just some additional disclosures around capital assets from some of the new standards the past couple years. So, nothing too crazy like we've had in the past couple years, but good to know what's out there. So, all right. I think that was everything I had. Um, again, I really appreciate the opportunity. I'll take any questions or any comments or anything, but thank you. [47:58] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Is there questions, comments? [48:01] **Councilmember: Dan Wolter:** Sure. We're just so happy with all of our own work. [48:04] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Thank you for for that. And obviously, thank you to all the staff for for following up and and doing the audit work. Thank you very much. [48:10] **Ezra Kettz:** Sure. Yep. Thank you. [48:14] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Oh, we have to actually accept it. Excuse me. [48:19] **Councilmember: John Bermel:** I'll make a motion to acknowledge receipt of the city of Lakeville annual comprehensive financial report for the year December 31, 2024. [48:29] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Is there a second? [48:30] **Councilmember: Joshua Lee:** Second. [48:32] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Any further discussion? Anyone? Roll call, please. [48:36] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** John Bermel, [1:37] **Councilmember: John Bermel:** I. [1:38] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** Dan Wolter, [1:39] **Councilmember: Dan Wolter:** I. [1:40] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** Joshua Lee, [1:42] **Councilmember: Joshua Lee:** I. [1:43] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** Luke Hellier, [1:45] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** I. [48:47] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Okay, very good. It is accepted and acknowledged. Um okay, now moving on to item B public hearing on the application for LFT club operations company Inc. DBA Life Time for on sale intoxicating liquor license. Our understanding is that we conducted background check. There are no issues. This is Life Time Fitness is uh expanding just beyond beer and wine at their outdoor beach facility. So that this is a public hearing. If anybody comment. Okay. With that, I'll take a motion to close the public hearing. [49:20] **Councilmember: John Bermel:** So moved. [49:21] **Councilmember: Joshua Lee:** Second. [49:23] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Okay. All those in favor say I. [49:24] **Council:** I. [49:25] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Okay. with that I'll take a motion to uh accept the application. [49:31] **Councilmember: Dan Wolter:** Move to grant an on-sale intoxicating liquor license for LFT Club Operations Company, Inc. at 18425 Dodd Boulevard. [49:43] **Councilmember: John Bermel:** Second. [49:45] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Any further discussion? Okay, with that roll call, please. [49:48] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** Dan Wolter, [49:49] **Councilmember: Dan Wolter:** I. [49:50] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** Joshua Lee, [49:51] **Councilmember: Joshua Lee:** I. [49:52] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** Luke Hellier, [49:53] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** I. [49:54] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** John Bermel, [49:55] **Councilmember: John Bermel:** I. [49:56] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Congratulations to Life Time. Uh, okay. Moving on to a public hearing for the proposed 2026 to 2030 capital improvement plan and street reconstruction plan and the intent to issue general obligation street reconstruction bonds and general obligation capital improvement bonds. And I'll turn it back over to our finance director, Ms. Stahl. [50:14] **Finance Director: Julie Stahl:** Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and members of the council. So, we are following our process here for our capital improvement plan. Um want to again thank city staff and council for all the work that goes into this because it is is quite a large task as you all know. Um we begin the process in May goes all the way up through October. And just a reminder it is a planning document. It's not a budget and the 2026 projects and equipment replacements still um they're fairly firm but still require that budget approval. Uh future years are a good indicator but it's um not certain because things can change. Uh laying out again a little bit more of the process. Uh May through July, staff is reviewing and updating our equipment, facilities, technology, and citywide projects. Uh the council reviewed the CIP uh draft at the work session on August 25th. And then the planning commission did review and approve the CIP at their September 18th meeting. Um this chart here is just showing a summary of the by type um cost type for the next five years. So in total looking at roughly $324 million dollars of project costs and our street reconstruction plan we're looking at for 2026 through 2030 we've got the street reconstruction and also the collector rehabilitations. So a total for the five years of 29.5 million for those. And with that I'm going to let our city engineer Zach Johnson come up and continue on with his part of this. [51:46] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Mr. Johnson, welcome. [51:48] **City Engineer: Zach Johnson:** Good evening, mayor, council members. Uh, in support of the CIP, uh, staff has developed a story map. The intent of this is to not be inclusive of all the CIP items, but just provide our residents and the public with kind of a supplement. So, it's kind of a quick guide to uh some of the bigger uh projects. So, we'll just kind of run through some of these. uh we won't go through all of them but uh after this meeting uh we'll post this tomorrow and and it'll be uh public facing. So we'll start with the transportation area. Uh we do highlight our annual uh road rehabilitation and reconstruction process here and director gave an update on on the 2025 projects. Uh this map here uh does a nice job of showcasing how we have capital investments throughout the entire city, all areas, whether it be utilities, facilities transportation environmental resources, parks. Uh so this is kind of a good map to kind of give an idea not only what we have planned for next year, but also as we take a look at the planning document for the next four years after that. So you'll see here uh on your left the road that is scheduled for next year is Judicial Road from 205th to 185th Street. Uh that is going to be a joint project with Credit River and you'll subsequently see here in the upcoming months or weeks a JPA with them to kick that project off. And then 2027 through 2030 uh is a list of kind of what's programmed next. Please note that those are subject to change based upon other priorities as we take a look at the CIP next year. But again, this kind of gives an intent of of uh what we have planned. [53:31] Next is the freight rail car storage facility. Uh as council knows, we do have state and federal dollars to support this initiative. And I just want to let you know, we are still along the program timeline of uh constructing these improvements 2026. Uh there was some precursory steps that we had to get uh addressed before that. We are on schedule with those. Uh so look forward uh to some more um uh council items coming up soon as this project advances. Uh but just to let you know again the intent there was to provide about 225 cars worth of storage in the southeast corner of town. Uh and then also then this would be in lieu of having to use the area along 50 for storage. [54:16] Uh I wanted to share this uh it's not a large project in terms of dollar uh but certainly uh the roundabout at 156th and 60 gets a lot of public notice. So just wanted to share with you that the city and county have been working together for quite a while and uh yet this fall you'll see uh some improvements from the county in terms of pavement markings and some signage. The intent again is to progressively work to make this intersection uh as efficient and effective and uh it's a crash reduction measures that we're going to be starting here. So I'll give you updates uh so that Mr. Miller can update you with that, but uh the intent is still to get that in here before winter comes. [54:58] Uh 215th Street public improvements uh associated with development that's coming along on the south side and north side of 215th Street. The city would extend public utilities from County Road 70 over to the west. That would include sanitary sewer and water main. And then also the urbanization or or um upgrade modernization, if you will, of 215th Street from a gravel to a paved roadway. [55:26] Uh 2027, uh we are making good progress from preliminary design for Dodd Boulevard. This is the piece from 50 to 210th Street. Uh we're still in the preliminary design. So about the 30% uh there will be public stakeholder uh meetings coming up. I do want to just note uh this is a little bit of an outdated uh concept. We're still working on a new one for you, but uh the intersection of 50 and Dodd does show a roundabout that determination has not been made. Uh so just uh I don't want to mislead people to misinterpret that but the intent was to show that that uh that intersection was in the corridor and then subsequent to that in 2028 we had finished the last piece of Dodd down to 70 which is kind of a mirror image there that two-lane divided roadway going to the south. One important element to highlight than those is there would be trails along both sides and the piece uh directly south of County Road 50 would include also pedestrian underpass as we continue to emphasize the pedestrian and bicyclist community. [56:29] Uh we continue to make good progress on the County Road 50 and interstate 35 interchange improvements. Uh what you'll see here on this display is a uh rendering of the diverging diamond there. And then also this is a little bit uh expanded view out showing how that interchange and the diverging diamond connects to the local road system. Uh I would expect to see some more business engagement here as we go into quarter 4 of 2024 and the spring of 2025. [57:04] Another project on the radar is the Holyoke Avenue modernization. Again that coincides with the development uh north of city hall. That's programmed for 2029. That would again be a modernization uh two lanes and uh turn lanes at the intersections. And again, uh to reiterate, you'll see an underpass there in pink in the middle of the the bottom profile. [57:28] Uh the city and county are partnering and looking at improvements along Dodd Boulevard at the intersections of 194th Street and 190th Street. Uh be some intersection modifications at those two intersections as we again look to make sure that that corridor moves efficiently, effectively, and safely. [57:46] You'll see uh the uh county road systems for the most part. A lot of our traffic signals are are coming to the end of their useful life. Uh and we also have the addition of some new traffic signals largely coinciding uh with the anticipated impacts to our local system with the uh the uh interchange project at 35/50. Uh we recognize there will be some mitigation efforts there and some rerouting. So we're trying to preempt that and uh see where we can put some traffic signals. I will say for the most part those traffic signals are at warrants today. So it's it's not putting a signal where it's not warranted. We're just trying to get that in ahead of time. So uh the 26 and 27 you'll see are in uh purposely intended there to get done before the interchange starts. And then the 28 through 30 are those that are programmed for replacement. [58:43] Next, highlighting our utilities. Uh again, we have our annual maintenance and rehabilitation efforts on our sewer and water and storm systems. Uh we do have a little bit of a larger maintenance project program for 2026, which is the repainting of the Dakota Heights water tower. And then again, as we look at anticipated growth, we are programmed again to install two additional wells, 24 and 25. Um, director Oehme has given you great update on how we just got one online here at 190th Street. So that is uh directly related to development, but we just as kind of a placeholder, we'll put uh 2028 in as the next timeline for uh two new wells. [59:22] Moving on, environmental resources. Uh you heard it a quarterly update, environmental resources is busy lake management efforts, we'll continue to do that to make sure our water bodies are clean and um work on pollution and water treatment. We also I wanted to highlight this. I thought this was kind of an interesting fact to share with you. If you see the first bullet, uh we have approximately 270 acres of public natural areas that we maintain as a staff. That represents only about 8% of all our city-owned property. So, of that, uh it's the prairies, the shorelines, rain gardens, and such, but just it's a pretty significant effort to take care of all our outlots and our right of way and those natural areas. Uh we also continue our water conservation efforts highlighting forestry. Again, you heard an update tonight on that. It's our annual program to maintain that asset and preserve it. [1:00:22] Highlighting parks and recreation. A couple of projects that have been uh in the public news for sure is uh East Community Park. Uh we're programmed for 2026 construction to kind of fit that phase two. You'll see that continues. So that includes some improvements along the east lake, additional trails and trail heads in coordination with Dakota County and the North Creek Greenway and uh some again some water quality conservation items and then also increasing some recreational opportunities for shoreline fishing and boating along East Lake included. You see this will be some master plan and some additional information for the public. Oops, sorry. That's again just a little bit of a rendering of what you can expect uh at the new trail head. And then we also go to the west side of town. We have the Lake Marion Greenway and the Ritter Farm Park trail head. That too is programmed for 2026 construction, sorry. Again, you'll see some of the elements that we're working on that. Want to highlight that. Again, this also includes some pedestrian safety improvements at Kenrich Avenue as well. And then again with growth we have uh some four significant park improvements scheduled here for the next five years. Voyager Park and then Graham Perry Meadows and then a soon to be named park we'll say. [1:01:33] And then facilities highlighting a couple projects. Uh construction continues on the fleet center programmed and anticipated to finish next year which will also include some improvements on 214th Street. Here you'll see a rendering of that. Um, also included fire station 5 at the intersection of Cedar and Dodd that is still on schedule to begin construction in 2026. You'll see a few renderings here. And again, we wanted to highlight as we transition over to uh the full-time hybrid model, we do have renovations planned in 27 and 28 for fire stations 1 and three. And then also we have expansions programmed in 2027 to accommodate demand and needs is the central maintenance facility and then also the water treatment facility. [1:02:27] And then lastly, equipment and technology. These items cover the purchase and replacement of the items needed to operate our or operate our town with needs and supplies with equipment. Then also technology for our services and communication. Um, with that, I'd just like to take a moment, uh, like, uh, Director Stahl said to, uh, recognize all the folks who have had their hand in this and then also in partnership with Dakota County. They've been a fantastic partner. And then, uh, at your next meeting in October, you'll see a resolution in support of their CIP uh, or also into November, but we're getting really close to that. But these two items coincide. So, with that, I'll stand for any questions. [1:03:09] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Following Director Stahl, any questions? I'll just say um unlike my predecessor, I'm not a numbers guy. So, I appreciate the visualization that is coming here to be able to see where the CIP is on the paper and then kind of exactly what that means. So, I appreciate you guys for putting that together. It's very good. So, thank you council. With that, I can we take all just [1:03:28] **Finance Director: Julie Stahl:** Oh, excuse me. Public hearing. Got a couple more slides. [1:03:32] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Okay, you do. Go ahead. [1:03:35] **Finance Director: Julie Stahl:** Um so when we're looking at the bonding for the projects for 2026, this is the estimate right now where we're sitting for bonding at roughly 36.3 million. Um it could change um depending on how the costs actually come in as we get closer to it. We are planning on a April sale or a March sale um with April proceeds coming in. Um and again this can change with the estimates for the fire station 5 and any excess proceeds from the fleet center. Um just a reminder we do have portions in our levy that are covering several of the costs in the CIP. So, we've got pavement maintenance 2.1 million, park and trail improvements at 1.5 million, equipment purchases for 400,000, facilities and maintenance um in the building fund for a million, and then 250,000 for our technology fund. So, those are included in our levy for 2026. So, with that, I'll let you open it up to the public hearing. [1:04:31] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** This is a public hearing. So, if anybody any comments about the CIP, state your name and address for the record. Good evening, Mr. Ericson. [1:04:50] **Bob Ericson:** Uh, good evening, mayor, members of city council, city administrator Miller. I'm Bob Ericson, 1908 Indale Drive, Lakeville. I'm on I'm here this evening on behalf of the residents who had joined the recently approved tradition development comprehensive plan and zoning amendments and the MUSA expansion. In the on page 110 of the CIP document, it says sanitary sewer and water extension along 215th Street from County Road 70. This is important to west of I-35. The west of I-35 would necessitate did does necessitate a MUSA expansion which the city council has authorized as part of the comprehensive plan and zoning amendment. Yet the Metropolitan Council via the AUAR process by the city developer and ultimately the EQB is yet to occur. So when you approve, if you approve uh the project on page 110 of the document, project 2609, um specifically the sanitary trunk fund, it will be uh subject to an AUAR approval, subject to the Met Council approval, and the EQB. Residents have the following questions. Will the sanitary—and there some of which some of whom are present this evening. Will the sanitary sewer trunk fund expense cost be assessed to adjoining property owners? The residents are concerned specifically the most recent upgraded sanitary sewer independent sanitary sewer septic system on a residential property was at the cost of $60,000. $60,000. And that was done to meet the requirements standards, but it was also done with the understanding there would be no sanitary sewer available, which now has been altered and and changed from the previous the original comprehensive plan and it's been advanced to allow this development to proceed. So the an—we need an answer on that subject. They need a—deserve an answer on that subject. They want to make sure that their investment—uh and these are residents who've been in place in Lakeville for decades. Um Loudens, Waver, Jones have all lived there most of them for two or three decades. So they've made a—an investment in their property and in the community. And most of you know these residents are very active supporters of of the work that you do. So it's important for them to learn. It's very important for them to learn that they will not be expected to support financially support the expansion extension of sanitary sewer prematurely for them and uh and the AUAR will also yield other uh issues and concerns that were previously expressed with the planning commission and the city council. Thank you. [1:08:27] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Thank you. Any other public comment? Seeing none, I'll take a motion to close the public hearing. [1:08:35] **Councilmember: Dan Wolter:** I move to close the public hearing. [1:08:38] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Is there a second? [1:08:40] **Councilmember: Joshua Lee:** Second. [1:08:41] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** All those in favor say I. [1:08:42] **Council:** I. [1:08:43] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Opposed. Okay. Public hearing is now closed. Staff want to answer any questions or Mr. Johnson? [1:08:55] **City Engineer: Zach Johnson:** Uh, mayor. Uh, the question is in relation to how the sanitary extension west uh to the west side of freeway would be paid for. Uh, it is proposed to be paid for by the sanitary sewer trunk fund. Um and then any of the lateral benefit between Kendrick Avenue and County Road 70 on the east side of Interstate would be uh paid for through development. So there are no assessments proposed to the residents to the west. The sanitary sewer would stop just on the west side of the freeway coinciding with the water that was extended a couple years ago. [1:09:28] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Very good. Thank you. Any other Okay, with that any other comments otherwise I can we have to do them each separately? [1:09:34] **City Administrator: Justin Miller:** One motion. [1:09:35] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Okay, make a motion to approve. Yeah, Bermel. [1:09:40] **Councilmember: John Bermel:** Okay. I move to approve the resolution adopting the five-year capital improvement plan 2026 to 2030 and approving the issuance of general obligation capital improvement bonds. Two, I move to approve the resolution adopting the five-year street reconstruction plan 2026 to 2030 and approving the issuance of general obligation street reconstruction bonds. And three, I move to approve the resolution declaring the official intent of the city of Lakeville to reimburse certain expenditures from the proceeds of bonds to be issued by the city. [1:10:21] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Okay. Is there a second? [1:10:23] **Councilmember: Dan Wolter:** Second. [1:10:25] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Any further discussion? See none. Roll call, please. [1:10:28] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** Joshua Lee, [1:10:29] **Councilmember: Joshua Lee:** I. [1:10:30] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** Luke Hellier, [1:10:31] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** I. [1:10:32] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** John Bermel, [1:10:33] **Councilmember: John Bermel:** I. [1:10:34] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** Dan Wolter, [1:10:35] **Councilmember: Dan Wolter:** I. [1:10:38] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Okay, very good. Thank you for that. As I mentioned, I appreciate all the work that you guys have put on for that. Exciting projects ahead. Um, now we'll go back to our finance director for a public hearing and resolution adopting assessments for unpaid special charges. [1:10:55] **Finance Director: Julie Stahl:** Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. There is no PowerPoint for this. Uh just a simple summary of of the process. Um and this is our least expensive and most effective way to avoid um the city losing money due to bankruptcies. Um it is Minnesota's state statute and city ordinances that allows us to um recoup these costs on the property taxes. We called the public hearing um at the August 4th council meeting and the public hearing notices were mailed out to the owners, homeowners, renters if that was the case and also was posted on the city website and in the newspaper. So, um we've got delinquent utility bills, nuisance abatement, unpaid false alarm charges, and then tree removal charges. Um you may have noticed the utility delinquents are up a bit. They're actually only up 14% from the prior year, but it is a large number. A lot of that we attribute to the conversion to the ERP system. We've had a change of the payment processor. Um so with these initial letters, those people that either don't open their emails and don't look at their bank accounts didn't realize that their autopay stopped um after December 31st. So, in an effort to this this letter that we sent out in August was may have been their first alert to oh, something's going on with my account. [1:12:14] Um, after tonight's proceedings and in adopting the assessment role, we will be following up with a second letter to those customers who were on autopays. Um, just another reminder as a courtesy that these are their responsibility and if they choose not to pay it, it will be certified to their property taxes. Um, so with that and and we do get though, they will have 30 days from tonight. So, um, until November 7th to pay the utility bill plus the $50 administration fee uh, and not pay any interest. So, there was still time to get their payments in. Um, and then we will be certifying the rule to the county. So, um, with that and typically also we will be we continue to get payments that maybe missed the cut off for this council packet. You know, those are all falling off the role. So this will not be the total that we certify to the county. So with that I will any questions or open it up for the public hearing. [1:13:06] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Okay. This is a public hearing. So there's comments related to the special charges. Okay. See none. I'll take a motion to close the public hearing. [1:13:20] **Councilmember: John Bermel:** Move. [1:13:21] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** There a second. [1:13:22] **Councilmember: Michelle Volk:** Second. [1:13:24] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** All those in favor say I. [1:13:25] **Council:** I. [1:13:26] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Opposed. Public hearing is now closed. With that, I'll take a motion to approve resolution. [1:13:30] **Councilmember: John Bermel:** Move to approve resolution adopting assessments for the unpaid special charges. [1:13:39] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Is there a second? [1:13:40] **Councilmember: Dan Wolter:** Second. [1:13:42] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Any further discussion? Okay. Roll call, please. [1:13:44] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** John Bermel, [1:13:45] **Councilmember: John Bermel:** I. [1:13:46] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** Dan Wolter, [1:13:47] **Councilmember: Dan Wolter:** I. [1:13:48] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** Joshua Lee, [1:13:49] **Councilmember: Joshua Lee:** I. [1:13:50] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** Luke Hellier, [1:13:51] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** I. [1:13:54] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Very good. Thank you for that work. We'll move on to item E. Chart House conditional use permit amendment and variance. I don't know. Mr. Maverick, are you gonna talk or Miss Goodroad? [1:14:04] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Should I? Yep. Just Yep. Go ahead and just kind of give a background and tee up exactly what we're looking at. [1:14:14] **Jim Maverick (Chart House):** Looking at Sure. Thank you very much. Yes. So, uh, as you know, the Chart House built in '62 on a peninsula in Lake Kingsley. Uh we have a small patio bar building that has seen better days and it needs some uh updating and we thought maybe we'd make it a little bit bigger. So we have some uh rain protection and some big garage doors so on nice days we can all enjoy the weather and then some radiant heat so we can extend the shoulder season and improve the business. Uh the challenge is that uh Lake Kingsley is a natural environment that requires 150 foot setback and our property is 293 feet wide from water to water. So there's literally not one inch where we can build anything. So we need uh your permission to do anything at all. And that's why I'm here tonight. [1:15:02] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Okay. Very good. Miss Goodroad, do you have a staff report? [1:15:07] **Community Development Director: Tina Goodroad:** Good evening, mayor, members of the council. Um as uh Mr. Maverick mentioned, um the property is um up on Klamath Trail. Um the property is zoned C3. um they are um it's guided commercial and the comprehensive plan and they are seeking a comprehensive plan amendment and a variance for doing their request. So um basically what they want to do is remove this building and add a larger building. Um so the conditional use permit um is related or the amendment to the conditional use permit is related to exceeding the 25% impervious. So under a previous CUP that was approved in 1997 they are allowed up to 48% with other changes that they're making on the overall site the new and previous calculation is 46%. So they are slightly reducing it with this addition and then with the variance um both of those tied together would allow this improvement. Access to the site's not changing, parking is not changing. Um, even with this addition, it meets the requirements, partly due to some improvements that we've made to our parking ordinance. They're working with engineering on the final storm water approval. They're adding a rain garden to accommodate the additional storm water. And then you can see the elevation plans on your screen. Um, all in all, we see this as a huge improvement. Um, Mr. Maverick has worked um very well with us. Um, was surprised by some of the requirements regarding storm water. Whenever you do any kind of improvements, you fall under that. And they've been wonderful to work with. Um, and this is just going to be um a really nice improvement to that project or to their whole facility. The planning commission did hold a public hearing on September 18th and unanimously recommended approval. And I would stand for any questions. [1:16:46] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Okay. Council, any questions? Council member Lee, [1:17:01] **Councilmember: Joshua Lee:** what does the uh restoration look like for any disturbed shoreland that as construction is taking place. [1:17:09] **Community Development Director: Tina Goodroad:** Um they'll be protecting the shoreland with, you know, silt fence and so forth, but there isn't any, you know, anything that's getting too close to that area um with the construction and then the rainwater garden will be constructed to handle the additional storm water. [1:17:16] **Councilmember: Joshua Lee:** And I think the the visual is maybe a little hard for me to get the scale. Can you point out where the restaurant is on this diagram? [1:17:28] **Community Development Director: Tina Goodroad:** That's over here. [1:17:30] **Councilmember: Joshua Lee:** That's over there. Okay. [1:17:34] **Community Development Director: Tina Goodroad:** Yep. The outdoor seating area. Um if you can picture that fountain area. Okay. And then the bar that will be removed and then the new structure. [1:17:42] **Councilmember: Joshua Lee:** And then from there, can you point out where the the shoreland is? [1:17:45] **Community Development Director: Tina Goodroad:** The shoreland is over here. [1:17:47] **Councilmember: Joshua Lee:** I see. Thank you. That's very helpful. [1:17:55] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** very good. I like this is very good. Any other questions or comments? No. I'll take a motion to approve. Council member Wolter. [1:18:08] **Councilmember: Dan Wolter:** Uh I move to approve one a conditional use permit amendment to exceed 25% impervious surface and the findings of fact and two variance from the minimum setback requirement from Kingsley Lake and the findings of fact for 11287 Klamath Trail. [1:18:21] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Is there a second? [1:18:22] **Councilmember: John Bermel:** Second. [1:18:24] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Any further discussion? Well, we're excited for you. We really are. Yeah, we look forward to it. So, with that, we'll take roll call. Sorry, we have to vote, but yes. [1:18:32] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** Dan Wolter, [1:18:33] **Councilmember: Dan Wolter:** I. [1:18:34] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** Joshua Lee, [1:18:35] **Councilmember: Joshua Lee:** I. [1:18:36] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** Luke Hellier, [1:18:37] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** I. [1:18:38] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** John Bermel, [1:18:39] **Councilmember: John Bermel:** I. [1:18:41] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Still excited for you. So thank you. Yeah, we look forward to construction. Um okay, moving on to item F, launch park fourth edition preliminary final plat. And I know Mr. Regan, are you going to tee this up or who's you want to just talk about the your project and then Miss Goodroad staff? [1:19:03] **Pat Regan (Developer):** Mayor Hellier, members of the council, Mr. Miller and staff. We're grateful to be here next to Jim. This project is going to be on the south side of the now extended 212th Street, the road to Dakota Electric, if that puts it in perspective for you. And I noticed in your financial report there's a lot of additional taxable market value coming down that road. And I'll also point out I noticed in your consent agenda there's a decertification of a TIF district number 22 that is the building immediately at the beginning of 212th Street. So when uh some of us were young and working with a redhead who I guess left, there's been a lot of taxable market value increase on that area and we're really thrilled with what Jim's bringing to town. We've known the product and we've known Jim for a long time and we were thrilled to have him accept our invitation to come to Lakeville and look around. And so with that, I'll let Jim tell you about the project that we're excited to be seeing come to Lakeville to help take care of a lot of indoor storage needs that people need to have options for. [1:20:25] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Thank you. Good to see you. Welcome. [1:20:29] **Jim (Applicant):** Thank you. Um yeah, so um I'm a part of a group that develops uh what we call small bay industrial spaces and facilities. So this would be our fifth facility uh if if if the project as proposed is accepted. Um uh the model is that we create between 1,000 and 1,200 square feet of uh climate controlled um space for small businesses primarily kind of blue-collar space for you know individuals or companies that grow out of the garage or or maybe retirees that then um are looking for a spot for whatever it is that they have or are downsizing. Um so that's the model. Uh we are proposing 98 um units on this site across four buildings. Um each unit is is is built for sale. So we don't hold and rent. Uh they're built for sale. They're purchased. Um each unit has um uh rough-ins for for plumbing and you know what? Water and sewer. So you could have a bathroom, an office, uh that sort of thing. uh the facility itself is is is controlled or has is a part of a CIC. So um it it limits the uses that can occur. Uh ensures that those uses are in compliance with the uh permitted uses. Uh it also does things such as take care of common space and maintenance. Uh make sure the exterior is upheld and maintained etc. So uh in essence is the project. Um, and happy to answer any questions. [1:22:09] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Very good, Ms. Goodroad. [1:22:11] **Community Development Director: Tina Goodroad:** All right. Thank you, mayor, members of the council. Um, the property is located just south of 212th Street. As Mr. Regan explained, this road to construction has recently been completed. Um, the property is zone I2. The proposed use is a permitted use. So really what the action tonight is the approval of the preliminary and final plat to be known as Launch Park fourth edition. And so um as he mentioned there are several um four total buildings um three of them are roughly around 33,750 square feet and one building is around 16,875 square feet. And then you can see how they're divided up. they can flex um in terms of if somebody wants a couple of bays together um in their purchase, they can flex that um as these units are sold. And so one lot will still outlot will be available for future industrial development. Um and here's a picture of what the units will look like. Um LP siding is used as well as stone and then the front-facing or street facing elevation will have even more stone. Um, so it does meet all of the minimum requirements for architecture and material design. Um, the planning commission did hold a public hearing on September 18th and unanimously recommended approval and I would stand for any questions. [1:23:27] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Okay, council. Any questions or comments? Council member Lee. [1:22:36] **Councilmember: Joshua Lee:** Thank you. Um, my questions are are more just about the business itself. Um, I was curious what the ele—or the uh height of the garage doors are. Um, in terms of what kind of vehicles can use these garage spaces, can you purchase pull-through, you know, so that you can use adjacent bays that are back-to-back as opposed to side-to-side. Just kind of curious what kind of also just vendors are typically in these spaces. [1:24:00] **Jim (Applicant):** Yeah. Um, maybe I'll start there. So, we see a lot of uh small businesses um maybe an electrician that was in their garage operating out of their house that had some success and grew and expanded and, you know, was looking for a a smaller scale space, more affordable. Um those those are a lot of the types of business that we see. Um uh to answer that first qu—or that last question, uh first question, uh overhead doors are 14 foot x 14ft. Um, and they're designed to be a depth that you could fit a class A RV in. So, they're 45 ft deep, uh, 25 ft wide. Um, excuse me. Um, in interior, we have 18ft clear, uh, inside. So, um, that allows for, and they're pre-engineered and designed for a uh, a mezzanine expansion at 9 ft. So, you could have um, some storage space up above, you know, bathroom down below, a little office, workshop down below. Um so when the design is is completed um the foundations the you know you don't have to cut open everything to to expand that in the future. Um um did I catch all of your questions? [1:25:11] **Councilmember: Joshua Lee:** Yeah. No, I think so. I uh I remember going to a ribbon cutting to a a facility similar to this just south of Lakeville and I think that was a pretty popular site. So um the exteriors also look uh very slick to me, you know. So, I I think it looks like a great project and a needed product. So, uh thanks for investing in Lakeville. [1:25:30] **Jim (Applicant):** Yeah, you bet. [1:25:32] **Councilmember: John Bermel:** Yeah, I I love the concept. It's It looks nice and it's cool. Um so, you said they're built for sale. What happens um if they don't sell? Do you end up leasing them then or is this just something that they sell? [1:25:50] **Jim (Applicant):** Yeah, they they sell. Um they're they're at a a good price point. They're they're popular. Um I uh I you know if they didn't sell I haven't invested a ton of time in uh anticipating that. But um we've had a strong track record and there's a there's a very strong demand in Lakeville. Um we've we just are wrapping up a site in White Bear Lake and did complete a site in Rosemount and there's a lot of there's a lot of people that either purchased or inquired about purchasing in those locations that wanted to be here. So, um, to not answer your question, I I don't know that I have a plan B, but no, the the plan B is we would—these are demisable, flexible spaces to get back to your question as well. So, it can be used as a larger industrial uh, use if there was a larger industrial tenant. I'd probably investigate some some options like that should there be a lack of demand and um maybe I could find a larger tenant that would take a building or a lot of square footage. [1:26:55] **Councilmember: John Bermel:** Sure. Thank you. [1:26:57] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Okay, council. That I'll take a motion. Bermel. [1:27:03] **Councilmember: John Bermel:** I uh move to approve a resolution approving the preliminary and final plat of Launch Park fourth edition. [1:27:10] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Is there a second? [1:27:12] **Councilmember: Dan Wolter:** Second. [1:27:13] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Any further discussion? I remind people this is not a data center. Roll call, please. [1:27:19] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** Joshua Lee, [1:27:20] **Councilmember: Joshua Lee:** I. [1:10:30] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** Luke Hellier, [1:10:31] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** I. [1:10:32] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** John Bermel, [1:10:33] **Councilmember: John Bermel:** I. [1:10:34] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** Dan Wolter, [1:10:35] **Councilmember: Dan Wolter:** I. [1:12:42] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Very good. Congratulations. Look forward to your success too. Uh moving on to item G. Spirit of Branch and Farm Commercial 7th edition preliminary and final plat. And I do we have applicant Mr. Okay. It's okay. Welcome. [1:27:46] **Rodney Hints (MSP Commercial):** Thank you, council members. Uh my name is Rodney Hints. I'm with MSP Commercial. Uh we will be the owner and developer for this site. This site is located at uh Pilot Knob and 160th. It is a split uh we are purchasing a parcel from Hy-Vee. Um so the intended use—it is a 9,200 square foot single-story medical office building. uh plan for two tenants. Uh current tenant that we have under lease will be Grow Pediatrics. Uh we have a couple other interested parties from Pediatric Dental Cares. So um if you're familiar with MSP, we're located out of Richfield. We are a real estate uh healthcare developer. Um probably familiar with some of our other properties in Lakeville, most currently the Summit Orthopedics uh that we wrapped up a couple years ago. So excited to be back working in the city of Lakeville and appreciate your consideration. [1:28:40] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Very good. Thank you, Ms. Goodroad. [1:28:43] **Community Development Director: Tina Goodroad:** All right. Thank you. So, yes. So, this is commercial um Spirit of Branch and Farm commercial 7th edition. So, the request tonight is preliminary plat, PUD stage plan um together with that preliminary plat and then the easement vacation. So, the property is part of um kind of the Hy-Vee commercial area. Um you can see the proposed plat boundary and the proposed building site just south of 160th street and east of Pilot Knob. Um the property is zoned PUD with a C3 um underlay um or zoning district. So this permitted—this use is also a permitted use. Um you can see on the plat um the creation of the one lot as well as the outlot. Um there are some easements that are being vacated and then replaced through the platting as well as on the outlot. And then the proposed building um right now is divided into two spaces. Grow Pediatrics will be on this portion of the building. All of the parking for the two tenants has been determined um and provided for with 51 parking stalls, landscaping and so forth um on the site. And then the proposed building um will have two colors of brick plus glass meeting all of the ordinance requirements and again the tenant signage and other architectural features of the building. Um so again the action really is related to the platting um as the medical office building is a permitted use in the zoning district and I would stand for any questions. [1:30:13] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Any questions comments? With that, I'll take a motion council Lee. [1:30:17] **Councilmember: Joshua Lee:** Move to approve one, a resolution approving the Spirit of Branch and Farm Commercial 7th edition preliminary and final plat. And two, a resolution vacating a public drainage and utility easement. [1:30:30] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Okay. Is there a second? [1:30:31] **Councilmember: John Bermel:** Second. [1:30:33] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Well, I'm just excited to see that little empty lot fill in with something, especially I have five kids, so anytime there's more pediatric options, it's good for us. So, that roll call, please. [1:30:42] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** John Bermel, [1:30:45] **Councilmember: John Bermel:** I. [1:30:46] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** Dan Wolter, [1:30:47] **Councilmember: Dan Wolter:** I. [1:30:48] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** Joshua Lee, [1:30:49] **Councilmember: Joshua Lee:** I. [1:30:50] **City Clerk: Ann Orlofsky:** Luke Hellier, [1:30:51] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** I. [1:30:54] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Very good. Thank you. Uh, moving on to unfinished and new business. Seeing none, our next city council meeting is October 20th here at city hall. Our next council work session is October 27th in the Lake Marion conference room. And with that, I'll take a motion to adjourn. [1:31:08] **Councilmember: Dan Wolter:** So moved. [1:31:09] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Is there a second? [1:31:10] **Councilmember: John Bermel:** Second. [1:31:11] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** All those in favor say I. [1:31:13] **Council:** I. [1:31:14] **Mayor: Luke Hellier:** Opposed. We are adjourned. Thank you everybody. [Music]