Based on the context provided and the content of the transcript, here is the formatted version with speaker identifications. **Note on Identifications:** * **Councilor Jones:** Though not listed in your initial context, this name appears clearly in the roll call and motions within the transcript. * **City Engineer:** Identified in the transcript as "Mr. Ball," representing Northland Consulting Engineers. * **Alissa McClure (City Clerk):** Conducts roll calls and manages documentation. * **Phonetic Corrections:** Names like "jelly" (Hjelle) and "Geer/gerler" (Geissler) have been associated with their correct names from your provided list. *** [0:02] **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** good evening we will call a meeting to order and stand for the Pledge of Allegiance [All recite the Pledge] to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all roll call please [0:36] **Alissa McClure (City Clerk):** councelor Jones, councelor Geissler here, councelor Hjelle here, Mayor here. [0:40] **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** do any counselors have announcements this evening no I want to go through one that's kind of standard now at the beginning of every meeting we had we have different types of public discussion at usually three different points in our meeting one is if there is [0:48] a public hearing which there is none tonight there is public discussion about that subject we will also at the beginning of our meeting have a general public discussion that is open for items not on the agenda later on when we bring up different items in the agenda before we vote on them we will have an opportunity for public input at that time so I will make an announcement after we've been done um receiving the motion when public input is we ask that all public input be limited to 3 minutes per person but we're somewhat flexible on that and if anyone has written public input they can deliver that to our city clerk over [1:34] here um Mr Moulder we have no Communications this evening could you summarize the presentations we had at pre- Agenda? [1:40] **John Mulder (City Administrator):** so Brandon Holmes our new building official um gave an update on just kind of how um the department will operate going forward and just kind of his view on uh working with the public and also um an overview of some of the online permitting that we will start using uh later this year then uh Zack Graves the fire chief gave the report for the 2023 annual report for the uh Vermon volunteer fire department um highlighting the number of calls types of calls response times um and just uh generally the service of the volunteer fire department over the last 70 years so we thank them for their service. [2:19] **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** thank you uh now is the time for general public discussion this is a time that individuals can address the council about any item not on the agenda we ask that you limit your time to three minutes per person if someone in Chambers wishes to speak to us please step forward to the podium and start with your name and address if you are online please uh lead with your name and address is there any general public discussion this [2:56] evening is there any general public discussion for the city council [3:08] tonight is there anyone that wishes to speak to the council about any item not on the agenda if so please state your name and [3:21] address hearing none we will move on to Mo there is no motions tonight there are no motions move on to the consent agenda approval or correction of the February 20th 2024 city council minutes and accounts payable approved General City warrants from February 16th 2024 through February 29th 2024 in the amount of 61,69 51 do we have a motion [3:56] **John Geissler:** motion to approve [3:58] **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** motion to approve by councelor Geissler is there a second [3:59] **Councilor Jones:** second [4:00] **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** second by councelor Jones roll call please [4:04] **Alissa McClure (City Clerk):** councelor Hjelle I, councelor Jones I, councelor Geissler I, mayor Boucher I. [4:08] **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** next under ordinances this is something we will not be voting on this evening because it is the first reading of a new ordinance but we will allow a short period for public input if one if anybody wishes to address it ordinance [4:29] leading the optional enforcement Provisions adopted by the Hermantown city of Hermantown Mr Moulder do you have a short explanation of this? [4:38] **John Mulder (City Administrator):** sure there um a couple years ago we adopted the State Building Code um and there were a couple chapters there that were included but are optional and as we reviewed that um we didn't feel that it was necessary for us to have those on our books so we're asking to re um remove those one of them um was the special Fire Protection Systems which requires sprinklers in some of the smaller buildings and the other one was um uh a chapter on grading and we have most of those grading issues are taken care of by um our post construction um and construction storm [5:15] water um ordinances so we thought we it wasn't necessary for us to have these two ordinances. [5:19] **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** thank you and we will be bringing this ordinance up again for another vote at our next meeting for vote and possible adoption if there's anyone that wishes to speak on this ordinance please either step forward to the podium or start with your name and address [5:43] online with no one wishing to address this we will move to resolutions resolution 2024-25 resolution approving final plans and specifications and ordering advertising ment for bids for the Improvement to the Hermantown Road and Bridge 7724 District number 541 and 542 do we have a motion? [6:14] **Andy Hjelle:** motion to approve [6:16] **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** motion by councelor Hjelle is there a second [6:17] **John Geissler:** second [6:18] **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** second by councelor Geissler Mr Moulder should we have our city engineer address this? [6:21] **John Mulder (City Administrator):** sure Mr Ball. [6:22] **City Engineer (Mr. Ball):** yeah thank you mayor and councel so this resolution before you is um asking [6:31] you to approve the plans and specifications for what we're calling uh Project A and B project a being four miles of Road rehabilitation and which means a reclaim and overlay and that is three miles of Hermantown Road from Highway 2 to Ed Road and then the one mile section of old Midway from Midway to Midway and uh Project B the Bridge portion is the construction of a new bridge at the near the intersection of five corners and that will remove the the two- span um Bridge that's there now and put a [7:16] single span bridge in so in short that's a summary of the of the two projects. [7:19] **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** thank you are there any questions or comments and concerns by counselors? [7:23] **Councilor Jones:** I just have maybe something for clarification there'll probably be some questions about funding sources um either Mr Ball or Mr Moulder maybe just address the where we are. [7:36] **John Mulder (City Administrator):** yeah where we are at in the process at this point is tonight we're asking you to um approve the plans and authorize the bids um advertisement for bids um in April um we will receive the bed and then at that point in time you'll ask to enter into a contract um with the project um we are funding the bridge with um some State uh Bridge [8:04] money um along with some local dollars um that's about $1.1 million um and then the road is being funded um through assessments um each property will be assessed 9750 um and then um the remaining amount that will be about a million dollars and the remaining amount $3.8 million will be funded um through general fund uh um will we'll bond for that and then we'll carry over The Debt Service on our in our general fund there may be some uh storm water um money that we can use for some of the um cross culs and replace the covers of the driveways that we have as well so we'll use some storm water we'll use um general fund money and the assessments um of the property owners. [8:50] **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** thank you any other questions or comments from Council and now we will have public discussion on on this anyone that wishes to speak to this matter if you're in Chambers please step forward to the podium and start with your name and address if you're online please start with your name and address and we will go with the gentleman approaching the podium first. [9:19] **Blaine Bellance (Public):** name is Blaine Bellance 5491 Hermantown Road I am calling here or tending here to put what I call the council on notice that I believe that this project is in violation of uh state supreme court law on the assessments that we are not receiving what I call a benefit all right or we call a special [9:35] benefit I brought some paperwork here from a recent Supreme Court case that each you guys GNA have copies of I'll let you guys read that at your leisure um I would request that you guys look this over um validate whether what you're trying to do on the assessments that we're getting a special benefit which I believe we're not we're not getting suii sewer water gas we're not getting any municipalities nothing new is being added to our road therefore there is no special benefit therefore I need you guys to look at this I've already talked to your attorney Gunner Johnson he has confirmed I have a letter from him here as well that he agrees that it does require special benefit therefore I ask the council to provide his documentation where you're coming up with a special benefit that we're already paying on our taxes for this maintenance thank you I have copies for every one of you guys here have 10 copies. [10:18] **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** you give those to the clerk she'll hand them out to us thank you thank you thank you is there anyone else that wishes to speak to the council about this [10:44] motion anyone else with questions or comments about the resolution in front of us resolution 2024-25 anyone online Joe [Wicklund] if anyone is online please just start with your name and [11:09] address last opportunity for public input on this [11:19] resolution with no public input after uh roll call please to confirm we are doing the bids this is for the bids. [11:24] **Alissa McClure (City Clerk):** councelor Jones hi, councelor Geissler hi, councelor Hjelle hi, mayor Boucher hi. [11:39] **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** next is a resolution for something in near the same project resolution 224-279-8737 award contract to Rick's tree service and stump removal for tree removal on the Hermantown Road for $52,800 do we have a motion? [12:12] **Andy Hjelle:** motion to approve [12:14] **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** motion by councelor Hjelle is there a second [12:15] **John Geissler:** second [12:16] **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** Mr Moulder [12:17] **John Mulder (City Administrator):** so this is a contract for uh tree and stump removal along Hermon Road as part of the Heron road project um we um do this as a separate project because um or separate proposal because we need to get this work done ahead of the work that will be done on the road um this will remove trees and shrubs um and brush within the right of way um and we'll communicate that to individual uh homeowners um [12:44] later this week um letting them be aware of that um we need to do this in terms of preparation for the road and that work needs to be done before the end of March. [12:53] **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** thank you any questions or comments from Council um I have one we we were advised at our pre- agenda that City staff will be contacting only affected property owners and pointing out to them whatever uh needs to be removed within the RightWay uh sometimes in projects like this we have confusion where people think a tree is on their property when it's actually in the right away but rest assured that no nothing will be cleared that is outside of the city right away and on private property any other questions or comments from Council hearing none is there any public input on resolution 2024-25 if anyone in Chambers would like to comment please step forward to the podium if anyone is online that would like to comment please lead with your name and [13:57] address and any public input on the resolution awarding the contract to Rick's tree service or stump and tree [14:10] removal last opportunity for comment on resolution 2024 [14:22] d27 roll call please [14:28] **Alissa McClure (City Clerk):** councelor Geissler hi, councelor Hjelle hi, councelor Jones hi, mayor Boucher hi. [14:41] **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** next is resolution 2024-25 uh should we turn this over to Mr Ball? [14:55] **John Mulder (City Administrator):** sure Mr Ball. [14:57] **City Engineer (Mr. Ball):** yeah thank you mayor and Council so the the resolution before you is um asking for the authorization to prepare a preliminary engineering report within um section 14 and there's a a few different pieces to this feasibility study and which includes um lightning Drive reconstruction it includes um a new sanitary sewer that removes two lift stations and brings the sewer over to the trunk line um over here by the pillars um it's going to look at um improving Geto Road from Maple Grove [15:44] Road up to Trails and and it's also going to look at um the feasibility of putting a a new multi-use trail from stemer Road over to again the the pillars project here and then the the last piece of this is looking at um the improvements to um Thunder Chief Lane and this feasibility study um will be prepared in a similar fashion to the one we did in section 13 where it'll have um the different segments of the study as as well as a cost associated with that we'll staff and I [16:32] will present that to to the council in a future meeting and then we'll um based on the direction of of Staff um or excuse me based on the direction of the council we'll proceed with uh a future project and as part of the feasibility study piece of this we will be identifying uh properties that will need to secure easements and we're looking at um potentially doing this in 2026 this work. [17:15] **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** thank you any questions or comments from Council is there any public input on resolution 2024-25 [17:22] is there anyone that wishes to speak to the resolution develop preliminary engineering feasibility report for a road Improvement of lightning Drive in Thunder Chief [17:41] Lane is there any public input on the resolution in front of the council roll call please [18:05] **Alissa McClure (City Clerk):** councelor Jones hi, councelor Geissler hi, councelor Hjelle hi, mayor Boucher hi. [18:13] **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** resolution 2024-25 resolution approving sourcewell Cooperative purchasing program participation agreement is there a motion to approve [18:22] **Councilor Jones:** motion [to approve] [18:24] **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** motion by councelor Jones is there a second [18:25] **Andy Hjelle:** second [18:26] **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** second by councelor Hjelle Mr Moulder [18:28] **John Mulder (City Administrator):** so um in the past the city has used Sourcewell in order to uh purchase um um certain equipment and most notably we used them when we were um purchasing equipment for the essential Wellness Center um so we're asking to do is enter into a [18:27] participation agreement with them so that we can purchase um material from them directly and go through their kind of Cooperative purchasing um it's not very similar to the state bid process where they go out and get competitive bids for different things and then have a basically a market where um cities can um purchase from so we're looking at purchasing specifically um the turf for the uh uh Stebner Park and some of the uh Park equipment and and playground equipment as well. [19:07] **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** thank you any questions or comments from Council I'd like to point out that this type of purchasing will save money on the whole project for everyone involved any other Council [19:14] input is there any public input on this resolution is there any public input on resolution 2024-25 [19:34] is there any public input on the resolution approving sourcewell Cooperative Cooperative purchasing program participation agreement roll call please [19:56] **Alissa McClure (City Clerk):** councelor Jones I, councelor Geissler I, councelor Hjelle I, mayor Boucher I. [20:02] **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** and the last item on our agenda is resolution approving an adjustment to the wage rates for seasonal employees in 2024 do we have a motion [20:10] **John Geissler:** motion to approve [20:11] **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** motion by councelor Geissler is there a second [20:12] **Councilor Jones:** second [20:13] **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** second by councelor Jones Mr Moulder [20:16] **John Mulder (City Administrator):** so we're um we hire five seasonal employees um each summer in our public works department um and we're asking to adjust those wages by $2 um in [20:20] order to remain competitive and uh get the kind of quality employees that uh we're looking for for the seasonal uh work in 2024. [20:28] **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** thank you do we have any questions or comments from Council is there any public input on this resolution do we have any public input on resolution [20:54] 2024-the rates for seasonal employees in 2024 roll call please [21:14] **Alissa McClure (City Clerk):** councelor Hjelle hi, councelor Jones hi, councelor Geissler hi, mayor Boucher hi. [21:23] **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** uh we have no closed session this evening do we have a motion for recess [21:27] **Councilor Jones:** move to recess [21:28] **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** motion by councelor Jones is there a second [21:29] **Andy Hjelle:** second [21:30] **Mayor Wayne Boucher:** second by councelor Hjelle all in favor say I [Council says I] oppose same sign.