[4:40] Mayor Michele Hanson: Right. [4:54] Mayor Michele Hanson: Like to call to order the March 2nd, 2026 meeting of the Bayport City Council. We um are going to stand for the pledge of allegiance first. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [5:20] Mayor Michele Hanson: All right. Thanks. Let's don't have to uh swear in anyone. So, we can do roll call. Matt Kline: Give that last time. Council member Bliss? Carl Bliss: Here. Matt Kline: Council member Gilmore? Ethan Gilmore: Here. Matt Kline: Council member Kipp? Orin Kipp: Here. [5:35] Matt Kline: Council member Hill? Katie Hill: Here. Matt Kline: Mayor Hanson? Mayor Michele Hanson: Here. Do we have a motion to approve tonight's agenda? Katie Hill: I move to approve the agenda. Mayor Michele Hanson: All right. Thanks, Katie. Orin Kipp: I'll second that. Mayor Michele Hanson: Thank you, Orin. All in favor? [5:51] Councilmembers: I. I. Mayor Michele Hanson: All right. Agenda is approved. There are no proclamations, etc. Um, we could have an open forum, but I'm pretty sure that no one's here for that, so we'll skip past reading that. Move on to the consent agenda. We're going to consider a resolution adopting items 1 through six. The February 2nd, 2026 city council workshop and regular meeting minutes. [6:15] Mayor Michele Hanson: The February payables and receipts. February building, plumbing, mechanical, and zoning permits report, a joint powers agreement with Washington County Sheriff's Office to purchase fuel for the police department, and a contract award for the 2026 sidewalk saw cutting project. I hope everyone saw the email where we got that separate from the packet. Okay. [6:39] Mayor Michele Hanson: All right. Do we have a motion to approve consent agenda? Carl Bliss: I move to adopt a resolution approving the consent agenda. Mayor Michele Hanson: Thanks, Carl. Katie Hill: I'll second. Mayor Michele Hanson: Thanks, Katie. Roll call. Matt Kline: Council member Bliss. Carl Bliss: I. Matt Kline: Council member Gilmore. [6:55] Ethan Gilmore: I. Matt Kline: Council member Kipp. Orin Kipp: I. Matt Kline: Council member Hill. Katie Hill: I. Matt Kline: Mayor Hanson. Mayor Michele Hanson: I. All right. No public hearings. No unfinished business. We do have new business. And Matt is going to present the item um instead of the SH. So— Matt Kline: I— Mayor Michele Hanson: Or is it Joe? It says Joe. [7:17] Matt Kline: Joe is welcome to— Mayor Michele Hanson: Okay, Joe, you're welcome to present. How do you feel about that? Joe Hansen: It's good if I knew what I was presenting on. Mayor Michele Hanson: You're just as surprised as Matt. Matt Kline: You want me to present? Joe Hansen: It's just the construction services for—uh Go ahead. I wasn't prepared for... Perfect. [7:34] Mayor Michele Hanson: Okay, we're back to Matt. Matt Kline: So, um on any given project, there is construction services um related to the project. Um this isn't included in the first part of SE's normal services which includes um um plan preparation, bidding. [7:55] Matt Kline: I guess we haven't specified which project we're talking about. Mayor Michele Hanson: Yep. Matt Kline: So it's for the 2025 um 2026 actually sidewalk improvement project related to the safe routes to school. Mayor Michele Hanson: So the Fifth Avenue North sidewalk improvement project. Matt Kline: Yep. [8:13] Matt Kline: So, um, normally city staff would wait, uh, for bids to come through to recommend construction services. Um, but the timeline is getting, uh, really tight for some of that work, and we want to make sure everything's in place prior to that happening. Um, as it is now, the timeline is, um, roughly the middle of August for completion of the project. So um estimated cost of the project 405,000 um total engineering costs are currently estimated at about 87,000. So 38,000 of that becomes—unfortunate is that the grant covers anything that the contractor does related to trail installment. So that would have included [9:00] Matt Kline: design of the drill. Whereas if it's on our engineering side, the grant does not cover our engineering. So um we didn't specify out how much that's costing, but it's probably about $3,000 for retaining wall design. So um the city has designated 100,000 in the street reconstruction fund for engineering service. So that 87,000 um has been already earmarked for this year. So staff is recommending um city council adopt a motion authorizing SE to perform construction engineering services and the retaining wall design in the amount of $49,000. Stand for questions. [9:41] Mayor Michele Hanson: Okay, questions. Orin Kipp: Where in the project is the is the wall? Matt Kline: It is down by the creek. So it's the last house on the west end. Um the slopes get pretty steep right there. [9:58] Matt Kline: Um and they need a wall design. They also wanted to keep it under um 4 feet because then it then there's more engineering um involved. So um but that's the area. [10:14] Orin Kipp: Thanks. Mayor Michele Hanson: Good question. Anyone else? Katie Hill: What was the total amount that we got for the safe routes to school grant? Matt Kline: Yeah, so that is not designated specifically yet. Our our cost estimate of 405,000 is what we submitted. So then what the state will do is they'll look at John's bid again. They've kind of already approved that number essentially. Then when we actually go out to bid and receive the actual bids, they'll base their amount that they give off that. So if it's slightly more, slightly less, that's exactly what we'll get. So [11:00] Katie Hill: Okay, cuz they're covering the whole cost. I thought it was just partial. Matt Kline: That's true, too. Sorry, I misspoke. Katie Hill: Like it sounds like they're giving us 405. I don't think they are. Matt Kline: John has not broken out the different costs specifically. Yes. So, there are a couple components moving the two—it might be only the two um fire hydrants moving them um that's necessitated by the by the installation but not part of the sidewalk installation. So, anything not directly related to that um um cuts into that cost essentially. [11:38] Katie Hill: And we can use water funds to move the hydrants. Matt Kline: Correct. Yeah. Anything that um is related to city sewer, city water. Um so most of the funds, the only part of the project that will be using essentially property tax levy money is the engineering. [12:01] Katie Hill: I know there's other parts of the project where we're putting the sidewalk pretty much right alongside the street instead of having the gap in order to accommodate um a couple of the homes and their driveways and their businesses. Um does it make more sense to not move hydrants and have sidewalk or is it not going to work in that area? [12:20] Joe Hansen: We we talked about that due to the possibility because we're moving that portion to the street. Um unfortunately where those hydrants are located, we still have to come back and meet a curb cut um on the side streets and so not not the entire section is going to be right on the city street because we don't want uh residents that close to the street where they're coming on to or off the curb and then onto the street. We want to push them back. So— [12:51] Katie Hill: Okay. So you thought about it and— Joe Hansen: Yes. Mayor Michele Hanson: Yeah. Of course you did because you'd like to not move hydrants if you could. Joe Hansen: Correct. Mayor Michele Hanson: Okay. Just want to make sure everyone's getting all the facts. Okay. So, if there aren't any other questions, I guess we can have a motion. [13:14] Orin Kipp: I move to adopt a motion accepting a proposal from SE for construction engineering services and retaining wall design for the Fifth Avenue North sidewalk improvement project. Mayor Michele Hanson: Thanks Orin and Ethan. Um, what kind of vote do we need? [13:34] Matt Kline: Just any. Mayor Michele Hanson: Okay. All those in favor? Councilmembers: I. Mayor Michele Hanson: Anyone opposed? Right. Motion carries. Now we're on to our city council liaison reports. Look at that meeting go by so quickly. Ethan, what's your report? How's it going with the cable? Yeah, I never start with you because you're right next to me. I usually— Ethan Gilmore: Um we did have a meeting um some few issues in the uh in the budget. I think it's mainly due to declining use of uh—so this is just to reiterate cable. Yes. Okay. Um we're getting less money um in years past. One of the reasons our contract is not great compared to our surrounding communities. [14:16] Ethan Gilmore: So that's one of our big things is renegotiate. We get like a quarter of the amount of most surrounding. Yeah, it's terrible. Mayor Michele Hanson: Are these those peg fees? Ethan Gilmore: Peg fees. Yeah, we get way less than most. So they're—I think the contract is up this year anyways. So that was one of the focal points is to renegotiate that and get that better. Otherwise, you know, there could be could be some issues with it. There are some other ideas of selling one of the channels back to Comcast. [14:43] Ethan Gilmore: It's a lot of things on the table. I know uh Lindsay and uh Julie are other commissioners and they both have marketing background and so they're helping trying to push some of that out to to make some more sales as far as uh— Mayor Michele Hanson: Ads. Ethan Gilmore: Have ads and things like that. So, they there's a plan for it, but yeah, it's it's going okay. We got we got to figure it out because it's it's not going to keep going like this. [15:05] Ethan Gilmore: Otherwise, we got to start tapping into the reserves. Nobody wants to do that. So, yeah. Mayor Michele Hanson: Yeah. Ethan Gilmore: Okay. Mayor Michele Hanson: I know. Um my email message, my monthly message was about openings so people could volunteer for different positions in the city. And one of them is we need a cable commission representative from citizens. Yeah, we have our elected official one, but we don't have a citizen rep. Ethan Gilmore: We have just one citizen rep right now that is from Bayport. [15:34] Mayor Michele Hanson: No, she's from Stillwater. Ethan Gilmore: Yeah, each city should have their own. Mayor Michele Hanson: Yeah, we're down two actually. Ethan Gilmore: Yeah. Okay. Park and then and then Bayport. Mayor Michele Hanson: So someone from Bayport, this would be a great time if this interests you because you can be in on the renegotiating of that contract. So— Carl Bliss: I was around for one of those ones. Okay, Carl, how are you? Lake Elmo Airports Advisory Commission met this month and I was on vacation. So, I'll let uh Council Member Kipp take over. [15:53] Mayor Michele Hanson: Awesome. You want to do that now? Orin Kipp: I attended and it was uh it was kind of brief, but they appointed or elected a new co-chair. So, Bethany Cox, who's a county commissioner, was—she's going to be the co-chair. Mayor Michele Hanson: She's going to be the co-chair. Orin Kipp: So, they switch off every other meeting leading the the meetings. Mayor Michele Hanson: So, it's Bethany and Jeff, correct? Orin Kipp: Oh, I thought they always had like a airport person and an elected official. So, two elected officials as co-chairs. Mayor Michele Hanson: Okay. Okay. [16:16] Orin Kipp: So, that was kind of fun to see. Um, something that I didn't know that they're working on is a they're working on a gazebo for the viewing site. And I didn't know that they had a viewing site where you can go and watch the aircraft come and go and they've got the uh air traffic control going. So, that'd be kind of something cool to go see with the kids. [16:45] Mayor Michele Hanson: Yeah. See what you learn when you're on council that you never like... Orin Kipp: Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. That was about it. Mayor Michele Hanson: Okay. Thanks for attending. And did they give the report of the um calls of complaints? Orin Kipp: They did. Mayor Michele Hanson: And has that gone down at all or? Orin Kipp: It has. It has gone down really like they said, but um still getting the calls. [17:04] Orin Kipp: Still getting quite a bit because it used to be thousands of calls. Um seemed like for the quarter um for the last quarter of 2025, it was down. Mayor Michele Hanson: Good. That's good news. Hopefully that means things are getting better or else they're just getting weary. We don't know. Okay. [17:19] Orin Kipp: Yeah. Mayor Michele Hanson: All right. Thanks, Orin. How about uh BAL? So BAL, you also have watershed and they didn't meet is all we need to say, right? Because I was maybe going to go for you and then we didn't have to go. So Okay. Katie Hill: Yeah. So BAL um was numbers really. They were approving budgets. So all budgets were approved for all their things. They are wondering if um we would like to be ice cream scoopers again for their ice cream social. [17:48] Mayor Michele Hanson: Can I say that's okay? Sign me up. Okay. So, we need at least—I mean I think last year there was three or four of us. So, whoever wants it's on— Ethan Gilmore: Someone else gets a hard ice cream this year though. Whatever one I had. Katie Hill: Yeah, I'm doing the cone only. It's on June 3rd, a Wednesday. [18:06] Katie Hill: So, after and it's like at night. I want to say it's 5, but don't—yeah. Don't— Mayor Michele Hanson: I'll know next time. We'll learn. Katie Hill: Next time I'll say for sure. Yeah. Um, and then I had a few things that I had to go back with City that we're working on for maybe like a backup spot um for street dance on Fridays. We still don't know about that. Mayor Michele Hanson: And then indoor spot for—like last year's been nice to have. Yeah. [18:31] Katie Hill: Um, and then they worked on getting their stuff out of the library hallway as well. Mayor Michele Hanson: Yay. Katie Hill: So, I haven't been there to see, but I'm assuming they did cuz they put it on their calendars and they were meeting there. So nice. And then for planning commission, we had um a couple interviews for the open spot for Orin's spot. So uh we had two interviews. Both the guys were great. It was hard to pick which one. Um we're keeping the next one for when Colleen has to leave. Hopefully. [18:58] Mayor Michele Hanson: Yeah. There you go. Yeah, cuz Colleen's done this year. So— Katie Hill: So okay, the end of this calendar year, she'll be on board. Okay. Mayor Michele Hanson: All right. Well, great. Um let's see. kind of a busy February for a short month. Um I was invited to the Yellow Ribbon Alliance meeting on the 5th of February. So they put on the Field of Bands. I know you see those signs everywhere and it's always been the same weekend as Derby Day since they started. And so the president of that group, I think, or the chair um invited me because they were going to talk about improvements to the um event and considering moving it to the second weekend in September. I thought I could [19:44] Mayor Michele Hanson: at least just at least go. So I listened in on their conversation. It sounds like they're going to hire a company to do their band um or they're considering it figuring out their bands and that they will highly likely to move it to another weekend. So I think that will be good for both of those entities and even just volunteers because like our Lions Club volunteers and they like to do both and all those. Um on the 6th of February I met with the new editor of the Stillwater Gazette. [20:10] Mayor Michele Hanson: Her name is Madeline Combs. So we had Taylor Kyle for three years or so I think. Um we have a new editor now. So I just kind of wanted her to um remember that Bayport's here for when we have some interesting news to to share. um found out that her family grew up up the street from me. So I know her aunts and her dad and so kind of funny from Orno the other side of so and then um fire relief was on the 9th and that is one of my liaison assignments and maybe Matt since I had to leave early but there was a presentation from the PERA. Maybe Matt can talk a little bit about what if there was any discussion afterwards or not, but we got got a presentation about possibly moving the [20:57] Mayor Michele Hanson: um the relief funds to being a state program. So they we wouldn't really need the relief association anymore. And and so just kind of find out how does that work? Are there misconceptions, which there were. I think a lot of the answers to questions were were interesting for some of the people there. Um, so I I missed out on the post presentation discussion. So I don't know if you want to talk about that when you have your update. Um, because I had to go to another meeting. Um, let's see. [21:30] Mayor Michele Hanson: Oh, staff and I met with a couple of different designers, just so you guys are aware. Um, we are thinking about considering doing maybe like um a vinyl wallpaper with some historic photos on one of these blank walls in our city hall or chambers, but kind of wanted to see what pricing was and I don't know. We'll talk about that a little bit more, but it sounds like it could be pretty expensive. Yeah, we only heard from one, but we were um I don't know, was it you or Mary that saw the one up at Siegfrieds? It was you. Sarah saw Siegfrieds has a beautiful wall where they did really cool historical photo compilation and so kind of thought maybe that would look nice in here, but we don't want to, you know, spend a lot of money if we can avoid that. So, still thinking about that. I did go to Judy Seeberger's town hall in Lake Elmo. She's a senator that represents the district just south of us, but she used to also be my neighbor and used to be on this council. So, I kind of wanted to hear what she had to say. How's it going for her being a a state senator? And um she's got some [22:39] Mayor Michele Hanson: interesting appointments. You know, they all get to do different committees and we talked about agriculture a lot. So, but and then on the 17th was a library board meeting. We elected officers for the year and it was all the same people. So, we still have the same group. And um then we confirmed that uh we would have a representative from the board join um a budget review committee that we're starting this year. So it's going to be Anna Da Roseby. Thank you Anna if you're listening. Met with Carl and Matt um just to talk about our communications plan. So hopefully we're—Matt did some research and looked up um some other cities data from doing community surveys about how do people get information. So surprisingly I think Facebook is a little more popular than I thought it would come out in some of those things. So we'll have to reconvene and and talk or are you going to summarize something or— Matt Kline: Yeah. [23:39] Mayor Michele Hanson: Next step is in your hands. Is that what we decided? Okay, great. Matt Kline: So I'll give it to you next year. Mayor Michele Hanson: Next year. All right. Only a year every time. We'll meet once a year. Okay. Um, I did get a chance to meet with Lake Elmo Council member uh Jeff Holtz who is the co-chair of the um LEAAC Lake Elmo airport advisory committee. Um, he and I have just been on different committees together. So, he—we wanted—he wanted to chat. So, we chatted and I learned a lot about the um White Bear Lake water levels and how that is uh kind of restricting their water usage. And I I didn't really get the ins and outs of that story until I met with him. So, if anyone's curious, I can fill you in. But it's—I'm glad we're not in that little circle. What [24:25] Mayor Michele Hanson: was it like five mile radius or something of the lake? So, um went to a business boost event that uh the Washington County Chambers put on and got some more in-depth information about the biz recycling grants for workplaces. They have free money there to help you if you're a business in Bayport. They will help you get new bins and figure out the best way for you to recycle. Um we're uh I learned also that um farmers markets can get free consultation and bins. So we're hoping to connect with BCAL and there's a whole like $20,000 of grant money for apartments. So we're going to reach out to the at home people that are going to be putting the apartments up in Bay Haven. So hopefully they can get some of that grant money. [25:15] Mayor Michele Hanson: And uh Open to Business also spoke at this business boost event. They have a size up program. If you go online and you're looking at opening a business, say in Bayport, you can learn about well how many other similar businesses are there and it's like this cool tool and has all this data and you can filter things. So, so many things for our businesses that I don't know that they're aware of that are out there. And then, uh, learned a little bit about the high school pathways program, which connects businesses to students and the students get to do internships basically. Thought about it for city hall. We should probably think if there's any cool projects a student could come and do, hook them up. Um, we all got a chance to participate in a [26:02] Mayor Michele Hanson: survey of city officials. Um the firm that was hired to do the decommissioning study for the prison um property was looking for feedback, a very initial high level feedback about how the development of that property will affect us and kind of what we're seeing and thinking about um as city officials. So I hope you all—I know—did it and Katie and Carl, did you get a chance Ethan? I know this is important. [26:30] Ethan Gilmore: Oh darn. Okay. Mayor Michele Hanson: There will be other opportunities that we'll be able to chat right with them. Um, planning commission also had a chance so hopefully they got enough feedback from us. Um, we also learned this past week that Excel is planning a large overhead to underground conversion project in Bayport later this year. So, it's going to be a big deal, I think. So, we'll learn more about that, right, Joe? Yeah. So, keep your ears uh open for that. And then I had a chance to deliver business welcome packets to three businesses. So, we have uh Brandon Vanaston of My Dealer who is opening the cannabis shop. He said that's a long ways down the road. There's a lot of work to do. [27:22] Mayor Michele Hanson: Plus, there's no supply. But he is very diligent and working hard on getting his shop open in the old Heartfelt Silks location. I also met with Eric and Eileen Hill, no relation to Katie. They are the new owners of what is now called Bayport Auto Clinic. Used to be Bayport Transmission. So, um they used to own or they were part owners of a Stillwater Auto Clinic in Oak Park Heights. Um, and now this is theirs alone and nice couple. Excited to be part of Bayport. And then, uh, Joe Plac and Nate Johnson and I met. They are the new owners of the former Cummins Law Office condo on Fifth Avenue. And then we talked a little bit about some ordinance things or zoning things related to that at our workshop. [28:14] Mayor Michele Hanson: A lot of chamber things. Um, coffee talk at Oak Glen, Party Barn, ribbon cutting. I went to two different golf simulator places for ribbon cutting. So, Party Barn and um the one up in uh—it's called the Links in the bowling alley. Ethan Gilmore: Bowling alley. Mayor Michele Hanson: Yeah. Very kind of different fields, but it's interesting how popular that is. Apparently, they think they can all have them. Couple ambassadors meetings. Um, Amada Senior Care uh ribbon cutting. Yeah, nothing too—the uh we will be hosting our very own coffee talk here on April 1st at City Hall. So, it's at 7:30 in the morning till 9. I hope you guys can maybe at least stop in for that. It's an opportunity for—I'm hoping also which I need to reach out to the office support specialist and get a list of email addresses of all the businesses and invite them to come. It's an opportunity to share everything we know about Bayport with [29:17] Mayor Michele Hanson: the people who will come and it's usually a good at least 30 people will come to an event like that. So just want to highlight our town. So that's April 1st at 7:30. It's a Wednesday morning right here at City Hall. So, you are right, Carl. I do the most talking. [29:36] Carl Bliss: Context. Mayor Michele Hanson: Context. Okay. Matt, you want to do uh staff and city admin? Matt Kline: Yeah, Madame Mayor. Um I don't know if he needs to give a report, but he can at least come up and introduce himself to fire. Okay. [29:53] Mayor Michele Hanson: Uh Kinney. Gabe Kinney: Thank you. Hi, Mayor, City Council, city staff. Glad to be here. Excited to be here. First meeting. So, okay. Mayor Michele Hanson: Repeat your name out loud and clear for everyone. Gabe Kinney: Uh, Gabe Kinney, Fire Chief, Bayport. Yay. Our first full-time Fire Chief. [30:17] Gabe Kinney: Yeah. Excited to do it. Glad to do it. Glad to be here. Uh, a couple things. Uh call volume 90 calls for February. Uh we're down a little bit for—or I'm sorry, we're up a little bit from where we were last year with February calls. Uh that makes 199 for the year so far. We're down a little bit on that aspect. Um but a couple things to highlight. Uh Luke Swinland met his one-year mark, so he's coming off probation and doing uh firefighting activities. We also have Kyle Pelleter who met his seven-year mark. [30:57] Gabe Kinney: Um, as I've been here, I've been meeting with a couple of uh our other mutual aid departments and couple other city staff. I did meet with uh Oak Park Heights City Administrator, uh, Assistant City Administrator, Public Works, and Police Chief while I was over there. So, it was a good meeting to be able to do and talk. Uh, a couple other things to think about. Um, for the frozen waterways, DNR is requesting that everybody and also has all their ice shacks off. Today, I believe is the final day. So, uh, think frozen water safety. Please, please please. Mayor Michele Hanson: Yeah. Gabe Kinney: Don't, uh, don't be a casualty. Don't do anything else like that. That's about all that I had unless you guys have any other questions for me. [31:46] Mayor Michele Hanson: I um was at the Amada Senior Care ribbon cutting and the co-owner of that is Nick Barrett who is the director of Lakeview EMS and he said "I met your new Fire Chief." I said, "Oh, he went up there on a tour." No, he he was actually on a call with you. Gabe Kinney: It was in their uh front yard right at uh Osgood and 36—a car accident. Mayor Michele Hanson: Yeah, that car crash. Well, they just kind of went up there. Gabe Kinney: Yeah. All right. So, you're already getting out there meeting people. That's great. Trying to as much as I possibly can. Mayor Michele Hanson: Thank you and welcome. Anyone have any questions for Chief Kinney? Councilmembers: Welcome. Welcome. Gabe Kinney: Glad to be here. Excited to be here. So, all right. Awesome. Mayor Michele Hanson: Oh. All right. Uh, Public Works Director Hansen. [32:24] Joe Hansen: Right. Uh, Mayor, Council, um, I'll provide our brief, uh, update for Public Works for February. Uh throughout the past month, uh staff has remained focused on winter operations, including plowing and salting to ensure safe travel. Uh due to the recent warm stretch, uh the ice rinks have been closed, so we will no longer be flooding or maintaining at this time. Uh staff also completed the interior uh painting at Wellhouse number two and number three, including uh the walls, floors, [33:10] Joe Hansen: piping. Uh this will just uh help improve the overall condition and extend the life of those buildings. Um city has been accepted into the 2025 municipal I/I river grant program through the Met Council. Uh this project will include uh sewer main lining, manhole ceiling, uh replacement of pavement adjustment rings. Um the city's project is estimated at somewhere around $500,000. Um grant eligibility is $286,000 and our uh reimbursement amount that we'll get from the Met Council is roughly $143,000. Um eligible work will begin uh January of this year to be completed by December of 2027. [34:07] Joe Hansen: um reimbursement is uh issued after the project completion date. Um I've been working with Wolf River to close out the solar project at the fire station. Um unfortunately they did not pass their final inspection last time through uh and currently coordinating with Excel to uh reschedule this required testing. Um, lastly, as the mayor alluded to earlier, I did have a meeting with Excel Energy uh to discuss their internal infrastructure project that they are doing in Bayport. Um, Excel Energy will be undertaking the largest overhead to underground conversion project in the company's history here in Bayport. Um, this project will involve relocating all of Excel's primary overground to underground um throughout the whole entire city. Um, as a part of this, Excel will be offering uh to install underground services from the [35:18] Joe Hansen: rightway line to the individual homes at no cost. Um approximate value of that is above $5,000 per property. Um homeowners who choose to participate would be responsible to hire their own licensed electrician to convert their overhead service to underground service. Um the representative from Excel approximated this cost at somewhere around $2,000 per household. Um if a resident chooses not to convert at the time they come through and do their project, um they would then be liable for those uh costs if they choose to do so at a later date, absorbing all that cost of roughly $7,000. [36:09] Joe Hansen: Um project is currently expected to begin uh as early as Q4 of 2026. Um and Excel Energy uh is willing to present to the council sometime later this year—uh possibly an open forum or at a meeting—um to detail this project and answer any questions that residents might have. Um this is a ongoing process. None of the plans have been finalized yet, so there will be more to come on that. Um, and then I did just uh discuss the importance of uh the communication between Excel and the city throughout the construction phases of this. Um, it is important to note that as it stands right now, although Excel Energy would be coming off those poles, those poles would stay in place to carry the telecoms that are still on them. Uh they are not part of this undergrounding uh project at this time. [37:20] Joe Hansen: And uh that concludes my report. I stand for any questions. Mayor Michele Hanson: Thanks Joe. I um always get confused about the wellhouse numbers. So two and three are which ones? Joe Hansen: Three is near the park at Village Green and two—two is up the hill—up the hill um between... it's actually on First Street. Mayor Michele Hanson: So where's one then? Joe Hansen: One is no more. That one is gone. Mayor Michele Hanson: Okay. That's— Joe Hansen: The wellhouse that we have is well four and that is down at Lakeside Park. Mayor Michele Hanson: Okay. Thank you. And then we—you—I'm sorry that I kind of spaced it. You said that we did get the grant for sure that said it was going to be... we were notified on February 28th that we got the grant for the sewer. [38:06] Joe Hansen: That is correct. Yes. Mayor Michele Hanson: Awesome. Nicely done. Thank you. All right. And that's unfortunate that that solar panel project has taken so much time, but I appreciate all your work on that, too. Thank you. Anybody else have questions or— Joe? Okay, Assistant Administrator Taylor. Sara Taylor: Madame Mayor, members of the council, uh last week, members of the planning commission, um city council liaison Katie Hill and staff conducted interviews for the vacant planning commission seat formerly held by Orin Kipp. Uh staff will be making a recommendation to the city council for appointment at the April 6th meeting. Um a planning commission meeting has been scheduled for Monday, April 20th. Tentative applications include the final plat for Bay Haven second edition and multiple variance applications for both commercial and residential properties. Um, a draft ordinance establishing zoning regulations for bed and breakfast establishments may also be included on [39:07] Sara Taylor: the agenda for consideration as we discussed at the workshop earlier tonight. Uh, with the launch of the new city website, residents can now view real-time rental availability for picnic shelters and the Lakeside Park beach house. Yay. Uh payment for the online reservations can be made now by credit card, which is a huge improvement. Um but payment by cash or check are still accepted at City Hall. Uh finally, the next edition of the city newsletter will be printed this week. Highlights include articles on the new online park reservation system, update on the Bay Haven development, service recognition for Elizabeth Kelly, who retired from the planning commission earlier this year, um farewell gathering for retiring Fire Chief Alan Eisinger, uh community thread programs, public works, seasonal employment opportunities, and a feature on new council member Kipp. I stand for questions. [40:04] Mayor Michele Hanson: Thank you. Busy, busy. Sara Taylor: You're welcome. Matt Kline: Mayor and council, just my final report, just a couple of things. Um, Bayport Elementary, the new building is um a still ahead of schedule and should open um well within uh the start of the new school year. Um I believe they plan on doing some type of open house prior to it. Um so if that interests anybody, keep an eye out for that. um 2027 budget. um seems too early to start talking about that. But um there's a few items that are coming up this year including uh review of the assessment policy, uh creation of a new budget committee um for better comprehensions of kind of like the [40:50] Matt Kline: dynamics of the budget and then starting preliminary discussion on future capital improvement projects and purchases specifically um street reconstruction work in 2027 2028. Um and then finally uh just a brief update on the decommissioning study for the Stillwater Prison closure. Um we have been um involved in all the meetings that the planning consultant um is is conducting with the other cities and the other entities. So, um, since our meeting or city staff's meeting, we've also met with, uh, Stillwater, um, a couple of their council members, one of their council members, and then, um, a lot of their city staff, um, to help gather information on wants, needs, ideas for the site potentially, uh, just gathering, um, community input. And then also we met with Washington County um as they would potentially be a significant partner in items like affordable housing [41:59] Matt Kline: and different things like that. So um all the meetings are going real well. Um it's it's very interesting to hear some of the outside ideas um that the other entities have. Um and finally um the mayor touched on um PERA pension fund for the firefighters. um no action was taken on that prerogative. Um essentially I think they're going to be looking into, you know, the pros and cons of now that they are better informed the pros and cons of having the state uh take over the uh um pension plan versus them doing it in house. With that, stand for questions. [42:43] Mayor Michele Hanson: Is that something that the membership would vote on or how is that decided? That's a good question. Gabe can probably answer that. Gabe Kinney: Uh yes. So ultimately it's up to the relief board, but I do believe they are going to put it to a vote for the whole membership to be able to do and then they will then take that feedback and the board would vote. [43:09] Mayor Michele Hanson: Yes, ma'am. Okay. Gotcha. Thank you. I don't think there's—I mean there's kind of a hurry because there was some money that's out there. If you switch over to the state program, you get—it was like 30,000 or something from what I remember from the presentation. [43:24] Gabe Kinney: I believe it was 10,000. Mayor Michele Hanson: It was only 10,000. Oh, I thought it was more than that, but that could disappear. There's only so much money out there, but just free money that gets put into your fund. So, they're kind of encouraging people to switch to the state program that way and sending people. Okay. Anyone have any other um items or announcements and we'll uh— Orin Kipp: I move to adjourn the meeting. Mayor Michele Hanson: Thank you. Ethan Gilmore: Thanks. Carl Bliss: Second. Mayor Michele Hanson: Thank you, Carl. All in favor? Councilmembers: I. Mayor Michele Hanson: All right. We are adjourned.