Here is the transcribed city council meeting with speaker names added based on the context and official roles provided. [0:04] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** I open the meeting for the regular meeting of the City Council for Wednesday, July 10th, 2024, at 4 p.m. And the first item is a Pledge of Allegiance. [0:21] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Please pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [0:43] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All right, the next item is the agenda. We do have one addition; this would be under 6I, New Business, and it's Brush Pile Operation. Do you have any other items for the agenda or discussion on the agenda? Hearing none, do we have a motion to accept the agenda? [1:08] **Council Member:** So moved. **Mayor Jim Michalski:** I have a second? **Council Member:** Second. **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Did you get that? All in favor say aye. **Council Members:** Aye. **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Opposed? Motion carried, thank you. And number two, Consent Agenda. This is minutes for the regular City Council meeting for June 12th, 2024. Any discussion or questions on the minutes? [1:54] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Hearing none, do I have a motion to accept the minutes? **Council Member:** So moved. **Council Member:** Second. **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All in favor say aye. **Council Members:** Aye. **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Opposed say no. Motion carried. Moving on to 2B, Financial Reports. Number one: the City accounts payable for June 2024. Number two: the City financial statements for June 2024. Number three: the liquor store profit/loss statements for June 2024. Any questions or discussion? Hearing none, do I have a motion to accept? [2:44] **Council Member:** Motion. **Council Member:** Second. **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All in favor say aye. **Council Members:** Aye. **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Opposed, no. Motion carried. Number three, Public Comment. This time is reserved for comments from the public on matters not listed on the agenda. Please keep comments to 3 minutes. Thank you. Moving on to number four, Departmental Reports. Interim Police Chief Chad Pison—he's not here so... [3:30] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens:** Chief Patterson is unable to be available today, so I'll just briefly go over the report he provided to Council. As far as the calls for service, presented was the June 2024 total calls for service with a numeric total of 34: 10 self-initiated business checks, 10 extra patrols, and two traffic stops; one assist to other agencies; 11 calls for service; zero medical, for a total of 34. Chief Pison did provide a list of the calls for service for review, and he is currently engaged with the City through July 31st. Questions from the Council? [4:17] **Council Member Walter Lower III:** I had one thing. I had a couple people say to me that the City has been putting on their website the schedule of our Police Department. After talking with the Mayor and the people in the office, that is not true. I just want the public to be aware that the City does not publish that stuff, never has been and never will be. I don't know where these things come from. [5:05] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Yeah, thank you. Any other items from the Council or questions? We'll move on to City Superintendent Phil Entner. Department report for June 2024. [5:05] **City Superintendent Phil Entner:** Busy month. We worked hard there leading to the Fourth of July holiday. Starting in the Water Department, we distributed 5.1 million gallons of drinking water in the month of June. Sewer Department collection system is way up to 23 million with the flooding that we had. You're going to have that; there’s no way to eliminate that, but the number is considerably lower than numbers in the past that we've seen in other flooding events. So that's another telltale sign that the lining is working. The 2024 lining project—we're going to talk about that later. The treatment facility did have a discharge in the month of June totaling 41 million gallons. Still looking at possible upgrades of the wastewater facility to increase capacity. [5:53] **City Superintendent Phil Entner:** Street Department right-of-way stuff: blacktop patching starting next week. After eight days, we will then be shifting gears into right-of-way clearing, ditch clearing. Cemeteries: they're very busy. BGA Day is coming up here and I think there's one more coming up. Taylor, do you know that which one that is? **Deputy Clerk Taylor Hansberry:** National Night Out. **City Superintendent Phil Entner:** Thank you. [6:40] **City Superintendent Phil Entner:** As you drive through town, you see a lot of signage—advertising signs for businesses or even political signs. I love the idea of having all those signs up, we just need to make sure they're in the correct places. The correct places are outside of the public right-of-way. If you have a sidewalk in front of your house, typically on the house side of your sidewalk is the place to put that sign. If it's closer to the street, it's going to be in the public right-of-way. We do have the authority to remove them. [7:26] **City Superintendent Phil Entner:** Any questions? You can always feel free to reach out and I can show you where the right-of-way is. **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Phil, there's some signs that have been put on some telephone poles. I've called the power plant; they should take them down because they shouldn't be on power poles either. I know there's a couple they left on. They should be off the poles. [8:11] **City Superintendent Phil Entner:** Absolutely. **Council Member Walter Lower III:** Garage sale signs? **City Superintendent Phil Entner:** Garage sale signs I don't get too fussy about. People have those out for two days and they're gone. It's a local event. It's not a sign that stays there for two or three months. **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Well, we used to ban them, but people would leave them. If they're still there three days after the weekend of the garage sale, we pick them up. **City Superintendent Phil Entner:** We do. Any other questions, Council? Thank you. [8:58] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Liquor store department report for June 2024 and Fourth of July revenue report. **Finance Director Ryan McKeon:** Members of the Council, Mayor, Administrator Owens. Yeah, so start with the Muni. The staff down there has been working incredibly hard; things have been incredibly busy. We're through the Fourth of July now, into Egg Days and BrewFest this coming weekend. [9:46] **Finance Director Ryan McKeon:** I did provide a snapshot for revenue. It's hard when you're trying to compare year-over-year because of the days of the week. If we include Wednesday the 3rd of this year, that was a really strong day for us. Things are looking good. Mari's doing a great job, thanks to Public Works for setting stuff up down there for us. Any questions about the Muni? **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Well, thank you, it's a good job. [10:31] **Finance Director Ryan McKeon:** We can go right into the Campground. Same thing, year-over-year snapshot. We did raise rates, so you see there we did make a little bit more revenue. At the bottom, for both, 2024 is exceeding 2023 in both the liquor store and the J-room. **Mayor Jim Michalski:** I'm surprised at the campground with all the rain we've had, but it's still high. Any other questions by the Council? Thank you very much, Ryan. [11:19] **Finance Director Ryan McKeon:** Since I'm here, over the last month, it's just kind of been WiFi issues all over the place. The City, the library—we just ran a new fiber from the library/Township office all the way over to our server, so that is good to go now. We will need to install some new wireless access points at the Muni and Public Works garage sometime soon. **Mayor Jim Michalski:** At the arena, is that all being set up? **Finance Director Ryan McKeon:** I haven't heard any issues. WiFi is not strong down there because it's a huge tin building. The Hockey Association did pay for a new wireless router extender, but only in the concession stand. [13:39] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens:** And the Hockey Association did give permission and WiFi passwords out last year to help vendors do electronic transactions. That was a partnership between the Chamber and the Hockey Association. It reduces the loading on the City's WiFi. It’s not the best-case scenario, but it was a willingness from everybody to try and make it the best experience we can. [14:24] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Thank you. Laura, Library Operations report. [14:24] **Library Director Laura:** Hi, good evening members of the Council, Administrator Owens. The library has had a really good second quarter. We had the library book sale; we were in the arena and that's always been really good. We had just over $4,500 altogether. All the books left over, we donated to the Disabled American Veterans. [15:10] **Library Director Laura:** The last two weeks at the library have been pretty busy. Our summer reading program is going really well. We have 101 kids signed up. Our best program so far was Snake Discovery; we had 86 people come for that. And this Saturday during Egg Days at 10:30, we're going to have Peregrine Falcons. [16:46] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Any questions, Council? Well, great job. Did they ever find the last snake in here? **Library Director Laura:** One got away! Thank you. [17:32] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** City Engineer monthly report for June. **City Administrator Ellissa Owens:** The City Engineer meetings have been really busy. We'll review the Trunk Highway 73 Phase 2 Trail project later. Regarding the sewer board coordination, we have a mediation scheduled with the Sewer District for July 24th at 9:30 a.m. [18:19] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens:** Regarding residential development: at the most recent meeting, there was a revised layout that is the final layout for wetland impact applications. We are working on two development agreements. Every two weeks we've been making progress on that. [19:53] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens:** An update on the compressor project with the Hockey Association: I received notice this week that they were waiting for some financial activities. Everything has gone really well. The next step is an appraisal at the arena. We will be participating in a public bid process. The hope is for a September project timeline. [20:38] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** I got one question here. On the city-owned 40-acre parcel, it says "Phil sent a map of the proposed area." What does that exactly mean? **City Administrator Ellissa Owens:** Phil gave them a map of the outline for the area relevant to the gravel pit. **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Phil, I had one question... Wells 3 and 4 close out. Are we waiting for anything from the state? **City Superintendent Phil Entner:** Waiting to hear from the Department of Health to see if they're going to make us update our Wellhead Protection Plan. [22:13] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Moving on to 4A, Chamber of Commerce updates. **City Administrator Ellissa Owens:** Yes, at the Chamber meeting today, the Executive Director, Michelle, gave an update on Fourth of July. There were over 72 entries in the parade, the most they've ever had. Things are underway for the Egg Days activities this weekend. There is still a need for volunteers. BrewFest is happening Saturday from 5 to 8 p.m. [24:32] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** And the Fire Department does have their steak fry on Saturday starting at 4:00. Very good event. All right, thank you. Under 5A, this is small business assistance program discussion and dual drum roller quotes. [25:19] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens:** Last month, we shared that cities under 5,000 population received state assistance for road maintenance. The City received about $37,000. Superintendent Entner provided a quote for a section of Elm at $9,250 for a mill and overlay, and some quotes for paving equipment so the City can facilitate those processes independently. [26:06] **City Superintendent Phil Entner:** It's really hard finding rollers right now. I was able to find a state bid through Caterpillar for about $40,000. There's a Wacker Neuson for about the same. I found a used unit for $33,000 and another for $27,500. Currently, when we're patching, we utilize the County's roller and we only get it on Fridays. [28:25] **Council Member:** Is there a rental possibility? **City Superintendent Phil Entner:** It wouldn't be financially feasible for the City. You don't want to rent it for a day; you want it for a month, and that's upwards of $10,000. [29:57] **City Superintendent Phil Entner:** My biggest fear with the Elm Street mill and overlay is it's such a small volume of work we won't even get bids. And in that section, your storm sewer is undersized. The water main is undersized and the sanitary sewer is old. **City Administrator Ellissa Owens:** There is no deadline for this money to be spent. [32:16] **Council Member Walter Lower III:** So just to be clear, we have this $37,000 and we can do one or the other? Purchase the drum roller or the overlay? If there's no deadline, maybe we should just think about it a little bit more. **City Administrator Ellissa Owens:** We can put it back on the August agenda and give everyone time for it to soak in. [34:38] **City Superintendent Phil Entner:** Regarding the downtown road—you can wait 20 years and let that road continue to deteriorate, or at some point, you're going to have to grind and overlay it. I just want to bring that point out. [36:10] **Council Member (Greg):** What about switching the direction of the traffic on Elm? **City Superintendent Phil Entner:** DOT won't let you do it that way. **Mayor Jim Michalski:** I don't think there's a major issue with how traffic goes now. I think we should just move on. [47:29] **Council Member Walter Lower III:** Regarding parking downtown... I would like to see that addressed. We have apartments downtown and renters park out front 24/7. It's a business district. If we had an ordinance, the landlords would be aware and tell the renters they can't park there at certain times. [54:54] **Council Member Walter Lower III:** It would be customer parking only from, say, 8 in the morning to 8 in the evening. **City Administrator Ellissa Owens:** We'll gather information on the roller and the parking/traffic survey and put it on the agenda for August. [59:30] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** 5B, Long-range summary for HVAC improvement. **Finance Director Ryan McKeon:** We budgeted for the municipal liquor store to get a new controller. We got a summary of what it would cost to incorporate all facilities. [1:01:01] **City Superintendent Phil Entner:** To be honest, it's $136,000 to upgrade all 10 additional sites. The benefit is you can adjust the temperature from your phone. I do not see this being a smart investment other than the Muni, which needs to happen because the current system is no longer supported. **Council Member:** I'll make a motion that we go with Option Two for the liquor store HVAC. **Council Member:** Second. **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All in favor say aye. **Council Members:** Aye. **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Motion carried. [1:06:24] **Finance Director Ryan McKeon:** General fund checking transfer. I need to transfer another $200,000 into the new account due to that old fraud issue. **Council Member:** Motion. **Council Member:** Second. **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All in favor? Aye. Motion carried. [1:07:10] **Finance Director Ryan McKeon:** MSRS Employee Roth IRA. This is a new offering with no cost to the City. **Council Member:** I'll make a motion we add the Roth IRA to the employee package. **Council Member:** Second. **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All in favor? Aye. Motion carried. [1:08:45] **Finance Director Ryan McKeon:** National Fitness Campaign Grant. Blue Cross Blue Shield offers a matching grant for a fitness court. The City would need to come up with $135,000 to $167,000. But there's a 5-mile radius rule, and Moose Lake Township is putting one in at Orion Park. We might be too close. I’ll keep you informed. [1:14:08] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens:** Ordinance Number 174, Cannabis. Legislative updates allowed immediate cultivation and business operations, so our attorneys recommended an interim ordinance to prohibit cannabis businesses until January 1st, 2025, while we study and draft our permanent ordinance. This does not apply to THC drinks or edibles already being sold. **Council Member:** Motion to approve 174. **Council Member:** Second. **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All in favor? Aye. Motion carried. [1:20:12] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens:** Highway 73 Phase 2 Trail route. We met with the DOC and MSOP. They are willing to collaborate on easements. This is a fully funded grant. It will connect the roundabout to the Pauly Trail, closing the loop around the lake. [1:24:14] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens:** 2025 Sewer Lining Project. We want to let this project out for bid early to get better pricing. **Council Member:** Motion to approve. **Council Member:** Second. **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All in favor? Aye. Motion carried. [1:27:16] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens:** Hay Harvest bid award. We received one bid from Phil Leete for $101. **Council Member:** Motion to approve. **Council Member:** Second. **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All in favor? Aye. Motion carried. [1:28:45] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens:** Employee recognition. I'd like to read a letter for City Superintendent Phil Entner regarding the severe weather on June 19th. His swift actions prevented sewer backups into residents' homes. Phil, come up. (Reads letter expressing deepest gratitude for exceptional service). [1:31:04] **City Superintendent Phil Entner:** Thank you. I owe this to the rest of the Public Works crew. We were running four lift stations manually that night. You have a really good crew. [1:31:49] **City Administrator Ellissa Owens:** Brush Pile Operation. As of July 1st, the hours sync with the recycling shed. Liability concerns led to this change. City residents still have free access. We are in an assessment phase to see if we need to adjust hours or staffing for 2025. [1:36:29] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Reports and Correspondence. There is a tuition-free training on Mass Facilities Planning. administrator, you’re looking into that? **City Administrator Ellissa Owens:** Yes, a few staff will attend. **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Also, a June storm update from Emergency Management. It’s important we document everything for potential state reimbursement. [1:39:34] **Mayor Jim Michalski:** Committee and Board minutes... Announcements: Regular City Council meeting Wednesday, August 14th at 4 p.m. EDA on July 17th. Water and Light on July 16th. Any last comments? **Council Member:** Motion to adjourn. **Council Member:** Second. **Mayor Jim Michalski:** All in favor? Aye. We are adjourned.