[0:59] Mayor Luke Kelly: Good evening and welcome to the July 21st city council meeting. If you join me for a moment of silence and pledge of allegiance. [1:23] Mayor Luke Kelly: To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible and justice for all. Okay. Roll call, please. [1:40] City Clerk: Bolt. [1:41] Council Member Bolt: Here. [1:42] City Clerk: Helier. [1:43] Council Member Helier: Here. [1:44] City Clerk: Burmal. [1:45] Council Member Burmel: Here. [1:46] City Clerk: Walter Lee. [1:47] Council Member Walter Lee: Here. [1:48] Mayor Luke Kelly: All right, we'll move on to item three, citizens comments. It's opportunity for anybody to address the council. If you want to just come up, state your name and your address for the record. You have three minutes. Welcome. [1:55] Raymond Tudtow: Welcome. Good evening. Uh I'm Raymond Tudtow. I live at 16685 Foliage Avenue, Rosemont, Minnesota. Um, my concern today is with the licensing of vehicles. Um, I've gotten a ticket in the mail from Liz Stockman. I've talked to her about it and she said, "Well, you can just go down and get them from the Lakeville DMV." I've been down there. They said, "We can't give you it because you don't have insurance on it." Um, now the law, if I'm not correct, is if you don't have insurance on a vehicle, you cannot put tabs on it, right? [2:33] Mayor Luke Kelly: I'm I'm not familiar with the with the rules related to that. [2:36] Raymond Tudtow: Yeah, it is. Um because I've I've asked numerous times before. So now my question is is I I'm getting fined for something I can't really do. Um you know, it's against the law to do it. I can't put my information for my other vehicles on there because that's against the law. Uh what is the deal? I mean, can we make some type of a parking permit pass until I get tabs? This is a vehicle I don't really want to sell. Um, it's kind of a spare vehicle right now. Um, I I I would like to be compliant with the city. You know, if it has to have tabs on it, I'm fine with it, but I don't know how I'm supposed to get them. So I've— [3:08] Mayor Luke Kelly: If you could leave your name and phone and email there with our staff, we'll follow up with you directly. Is that okay? [3:29] Raymond Tudtow: That is okay. Um, If not, you can borrow mine. [3:32] Mayor Luke Kelly: Um, I'll have to borrow yours. I I— Okay, Taylor's got a pen. You can just write. We'll follow up with you. [3:49] Mayor Luke Kelly: We can get more details back to you. [3:51] Raymond Tudtow: Thank you. [3:53] Mayor Luke Kelly: We'll get it squared away. Any other public comment? [4:00] Raymond Tudtow: Okay. If you don't have I'd like to actually bring up another thing. [4:03] Mayor Luke Kelly: Okay. Yep. I'm not going to reset your three minutes, but— [4:06] Raymond Tudtow: Yep. Um, so— [4:08] Mayor Luke Kelly: Hang on. We got to wait till you get to the microphone. [4:14] Raymond Tudtow: I have an old truck that is licensed. I have collector plates on it. Um, because I've I guess I have a neighbor that doesn't like me. I've been complained about a lot of small stuff. I mean, time I even get the letters are always fixed 80% of the time. We'll say, um, I know you can put a party tent up for a week. I've seen that. Is there a possibility I could put up a temporary like summer shelter where I could work work on stuff? So, when it's just a shelter where people don't have to see the stuff in it, they don't have to see parts laying around, stuff like this. [4:49] Mayor Luke Kelly: That's something I don't have an answer to, but we'll follow up in the same followup. [4:54] Raymond Tudtow: Okay. All right. All right. Thank you very much. [4:56] Mayor Luke Kelly: Thanks for stopping by. Okay. Um, any other public comment? All right. Any additional agenda information, Mr. Miller? [5:03] Justin Miller: Nothing tonight, Mayor. [5:05] Mayor Luke Kelly: Okay. And we'll move on to our first presentation, the National Night Out Proclamation. And Chief, were you going to talk about National Night Out at all, or do you want to just— [5:15] Police Chief Jeff Long: I can just share a word. Uh, I think you have the proclamation up there, but uh, the registration for parties is still open through the end of this week. So, just on our web page, there's a little uh link right on top. Pretty easy form to fill out. You can request police or fire presence. We'll do our best to honor all of those and uh look forward to seeing everybody out there on Tuesday, August 5th. [5:36] Mayor Luke Kelly: Very good. Thank you, Chief. I'll turn over to Council Member Burmel, who will read our proclamation. [5:42] Council Member Burmel: Proclamation for National Night Out 2025. Whereas the National Association of Town Watch is sponsoring a unique nationwide crime, drug and violence prevention program on August 5th, 2025 called National Night Out. And whereas the 42nd annual National Night Out provides a unique opportunity for Lakeville to join forces with thousands of other communities across the country in promoting cooperative police community crime prevention efforts. And whereas the city council plays a vital role in assisting the Lakeville Police Department through joint crime, drug and violence prevention efforts in Lakeville and is supporting National Night Out 2025 locally. And whereas it is essential that all citizens of Lakeville be aware of the importance of crime prevention programs and the impact that their participation can have on reducing crime, drugs, and violence in Lakeville. And whereas police community partnerships, neighborhood safety, awareness, and cooperation are important themes of the National Night Out Program. Now, therefore, we the city council do hereby call upon all citizens of Lakeville to join the Lakeville Police Department, Lakeville Fire Department, and the National Association of Town Watch in supporting the 42nd annual National Night Out on August 5th, 2025. Further, let it be resolved that we, the city council, do hereby proclaim Tuesday, August 5th, 2025, as National Night Out in Lakeville, dated this 21st day of July, uh, attested by Luke Kelly, mayor. [7:31] Mayor Luke Kelly: Very good. Thank you, council member. We look forward to seeing everybody on the 5th. Okay. Uh, moving on to our next presentation. The folks from Lakeville Rotary here to talk about the taste of Lakeville. [7:59] Mike Puppy: Good evening, Mayor, Council members, and Administrator Miller and all those guests. Um, my name is Mike Puppy and I'm the president of Lake View Bank and a member of uh the Lakeville Rotary. Tonight I am joined by Colleen Ratsoff Labau and Jim Christian, the co-chairs of the 2025 Taste of Lakeville. Uh, this year the Lakeville Rotary Club will host the 23rd annual Taste of Lakeville on Thursday, August 14th at the Lakeville Area Arts Center. The event will run from 5 to 9:00 pm. Uh the cost of a ticket is $50 advance and $60 at the gate and can be purchased electronically or online at tasteoflakeville.org. Uh or you can visit one of the local establishments uh downtown Ace Hardware and Ensemble Creative, the Lakeville Area Arts Center itself, uh local banks including New Market Bank, Citizens Bank, and Lake View Bank, or you can get it from your friendly local Rotarian. On August 14th, with one ticket, attendees can enjoy unlimited samples of food um from over 30 of the area's restaurants, caterers, and food trucks. With that one ticket, attendees will also be able to enjoy wine, beer, and spirit tasting galore, uh which will include a 2025 uh souvenir wine glass. Uh, a photo booth and yard games will also be part of the festivities along with online auction running from August 12th through August 19th. This year's live entertainment will be provided by the band Atari, referred to as Minnesota's premier 80s cover band. Atari is dedicated to reviving the vibrant sounds and unforgettable energy of the 1980s. Taste of Lakeville is the primary fundraising event for our Lakeville Rotary Club. Proceeds from this event and many of the club's activities go directly to support various local and regional uh activities like scholarships, um community action, food shelves, parks, and many more. In fact, Lakeville Rotary Club has provided over $325,000 in donations and grants over the last two years to groups such as but not limited to 360 communities, Sleeping Heavenly Peace, uh, Scout Troops, Strive, and Open Door to name a few. Thanks to the funds raised by Taste of Lakeville, the Lakeville Rotary Club partners with and donates to more than 50 organizations and projects throughout our local area. Many of these nonprofits, 16 at the last count, will be on site at the Lakeville Area Arts Center during the event. Um, which was a great opportunity to learn more about the nonprofit work being done in our area and effort put forth by Rotary to help these groups. Again, this is a fun event that will ultimately raise funds for many worthy local organizations. So, get your tickets for Thursday, August 14th, and enjoy food, drink, music, and fun at the Taste of Lakeville. You can learn more about it and buy tickets online at tasteoflakeville.org. Um, we invite all of you to join us and we would really like to thank you for your support. Any questions? [11:29] Mayor Luke Kelly: Well, I'll just say um on behalf of the city, we're continue to be grateful for all the support the Rotary provides to the city in particular sponsorships of parks and and other things. So, we appreciate that and this is always a fun event. So, hope you're there. [11:44] Mike Puppy: Happy to help. [11:45] Mayor Luke Kelly: Thanks for help. [11:46] Colleen Ratsoff Labau: And on the behalf of Rotary and I see we have the liquor manager here. We would like to say thank you for the wonderful work that the um liquor store does. I don't know if he can shine in on this at all, but uh providing the vendors and getting them available to come out and be able to sample, but um both the parks department and the arts center as well as the liquor store has been a good staple in this project, too. So, it's great to have a circle of community together. [12:15] Mayor Luke Kelly: Thank you. [12:16] Jim Christian: Thank you. [12:17] Mayor Luke Kelly: Thanks for stopping by, you guys. All right. Now moving on to item C, our public works quarterly report. I'll turn over to our public works director, Mr. Omi. [12:33] Paul Omi: Good evening, mayor, city council members. This is the second quarter report for public works. So, uh, we're right in the thick of construction season right now. So, I'll give you some updates on some of the projects we have going on in town here. The 185th Street project, that's from County Road 50 to IPA. uh we're about maybe less than 40% of that 40% of the project is complete at this time. We did uh pave the intersection of IPA and about not quite half of the base course of 185th Street. But uh we're still working on storm sewer in uh installations, grading out in that project. Um but even with the weather uh that we've had, the um weather delays we've had, we're still anticipating that project to be open to traffic by the end of August. So hopefully we don't have any more of the weather delays though. Um the County Road 50 and Hamburg roundabout project that started construction on July 13th. Um uh currently the contractor has milled up the road um removed some of the the most of the uh concrete curbing that's out there. They're working on the storm sewer improvements uh this weekend into the next. And that project is anticipated to be open to traffic in September, end of September. The uh street reconstruction project for this year um is well underway. Uh the contractor has completed most of the water main installation work that's uh taking place this year. We did line a 12-in water main um along 170th Street that uh is getting tested um this week and hopefully in um put in back into operation uh into this week as well. So their contract will be working on storm sewer moving forward here, but that project um will be uh substantially completed by end of the year. The street rehabilitation project, those are the mill and overlay projects. Uh they're going well this year. The Glasco area, they'll be paving the eastern side of the the project. Um this week, um 183rd Street project that the curb and gutters removing, we be pouring curb back there this week. um then milling that before August 14th. After that, the contract would move it on the uh Kenyon Avenue. Uh that project uh just what it be uh east of County Road 5 that'll be from July 21st to August 22nd. And then downtown project, the Holt Avenue area, a whole streets hold avenue area. Uh that project will start up um in July 28th and be finished uh before the end of August. In conjunction with the downtown project, the Market Street Plaza parking lot uh will be replaced. Uh this project is to remove the tripping hazards that are in the parking lot and then also improve the previous pavement efficiency, the water quality improvements um through for that parking lot. The parking lot unfortunately will be closed for approximately four weeks. Um and we hope to have that back open as soon as we can. Though the surface seal project, um, this year we have 19 miles of residential streets program for surface sealing. This is a, uh, rejuvenator penetrating, uh, sealer that helps extend the life of the pavements. Um, the project is anticipated to start August 18th and it'll take about a week to complete. Uh, moving on to the street department. Um the street department again was busy this uh earlier this month uh helping out with Pan-O-Prog assisting with the traffic control, street sweeping, those type of activities. And also we participated in the touch a truck event this year which was uh well received. A lot of kids really were interested in getting up close to our vehicles, checking them out. Um several other summer activities. We've got a lot of trees to remove yet this year with a EAB infestation. Pothole patching is ongoing as weather permits. Street sign replacement um is uh almost done for this year. Manhole cleaning, inspections and repairs are are ongoing as well. Moving on to the utility uh division, um we are uh down about 7% for water production as compared to the end of June from last year. Uh this is can be attributed to the wet summer we've we're having again this year. But we did produce uh about 1.25 billion gallons of water so far this year. Uh the well 23 project off of 190th street uh the electrical building was finally installed about a week ago. So the electrician can now finish up his work and we're anticipating the substantial completion of that project by the end of August. Um lift station 26 um improvements uh out of uh that are were constructed on Oak Shores Park are now substantially completed. Lift station was brought into operation on June 11th. We still have some restoration to do in the park and then there's going to be a milling overlay on uh Jamaican Oak Shores Drive later in uh I believe in August. They'll work on that. the uh sewer lining project for this year. We lined about 2.75 miles of our sewers within the community. This project uh um helped lines deteriorated sanitary sewers that we have in our community um to help stop the infiltration of water into the pipes and prevent um pipe failures and potentially sewer backups. Uh this project is substantially complete now. And then the utility division, uh the uh uh water efficiency grants are still in effect. Um so we still have some money left over from the state for uh rebates. Uh to date we had 166 um residents apply for the rebates which is about a third of the money uh is still left. Um these rebates uh can go towards um upgrading your um irrigation controllers um putting in high efficiency uh um toilets and then uh upgrading your irrigation system as well. So check the website if you're interested in that rebate. Moving on to the environmental resources uh division. Uh the East Lake invasive species uh removal program is is this is a second year for that. Uh to date this year we've moved over 4,000 pounds of carp and uh goldfish from the lake. Uh last year was almost uh 2,800 lb of fish. So basically 7,000 lbs of evasive species have been removed from the lake so far. Um and we'll continue that until next year as well. Uh the project was uh joint project between um Bowser Vermillion Watershed District and the city to help improve the water quality of the lake. And then uh lake treatment updates. Uh curly leaf pond weed treatment took place earlier this year on Lake Marion and Orchard Lake. Uh we've treated almost 30 acres of the lake. Uh curly leaf was a little bit higher um in these lakes this year just because of the we think because of the the mild winters that we had and all the water um the uh rain that we've had this year so far. Uh Eurasian milfoil. We're going to do a survey in those lakes uh later this summer as well and uh we'll potentially get some grants uh for some management of that uh evasive species and then AIS grant as we have um subsequent years we have had grants from the DNR and Dakota County to um help mitigate or help address the AIS problems we have in our lakes um specifically boat monitoring or inspections as well. Uh and then some also some management activities that go along with that. Um some environmental activities and events that have taken place or will be taken place. A landscaping for clear water event um is ongoing. There's been uh 38 residents that have participated in that and there's been uh introductory class and design classes and if you go through all the classes you can get a grant for your property to put in some landscaping. So that's been very well received within the community. Um bumblebee monitoring took place on July 11th at Ritter Farm. We had 28 participants in that. It's a fun event for all the family to participate in and we're having that event again on July 28th and August 15th at Ritter Farm. And then uh July 23rd, we're going to have a declutter free presentation uh at Heritage Center. This is the declutter your house, especially your kitchen area, and how to recycle old um furniture or appliances or those type of things. Um and that is sponsored by Dakota County Recycling. And then on September 27th, uh Dakota County will have a Valley Recycling day at Burnsville Public Works. So you can bring your appliances and other um items to recycle to that event that takes place all day. Moving on, the forestry division. Um our shade tree and EAB management is is ongoing. Um this year we contacted 604 properties for invasive or for EAB infestation on their properties and we've had really good participation with the property owners. To date we've worked with 438 properties to remove over 600 trees from their property. We're working with another 27 properties to remove um those um dying ash trees on their property and then there's 11 property owners that decided to treat their trees and try to save some of their ash trees on their property which is which is great. Uh the next round of surveys will be taking place uh in August for for next year's management program and our EAB grant. Um we're about two-thirds done with this program or with this grant. Uh this is the second year of the grant. Uh we removed about 55 trees from various parks throughout the community. I believe we'll be planting back 110 trees um this fall and another 60 trees in Aronson Park this fall uh through this program. Moving on to the facility division um facility staff helped out the parks department with the kiln room project expanding their offerings at at the fine arts building. Uh the exterior door opening has been completed and the footings have been frost footings have been poured now too. So that project will be hopefully completed here the next month or so. And then the bathroom upgrades ADA improvements uh took also took place earlier this summer and at fine arts building with to improve the accessibility and functionality of the bathrooms there. Uh liquor store remodeling took place earlier this year too. Facility staff acquired the bids for that. Uh that this project was to improve and make and create a more open modern layout and enhance the customer experience and traffic circulation of the liquor store here. And then fleet center is well underway as you know. Um just recently the pre-cast panels have been installed for the warehouse. That section of the project's done and they're pouring footings for the main building now and and the project is on schedule as we speak. And then upcoming facility improvements. The heritage center is going to get a partial new roof in October. City Hall, the landscaping outside the front of the facility will take place in August and September and performance arts building the stained glass repairs. There's some cracked glass and some other things that need to be replaced at the art center will take place in August and that water treatment the chemical room gates are program repaired in July. And with that, I stand for questions. [25:09] Mayor Luke Kelly: Okay. Council, any questions? Council member Lee. [25:11] Council Member Walter Lee: Thank you, Mr. Omi. Just one quick question going back to the parking lot uh tripping hazard improvements there. Um will the improvements there have any impact on—there's I think either stamped cobblestone there or I'm guessing it's not real cobblestone in that parking lot—but is that being removed as a part of this project? [25:34] Paul Omi: Yeah, there's a good question. So that's there's previous pavers that are in the parking lots. We're actually saving some of those um pavers and replacing them—going to be replacing them and reusing them again—and then adding there's some broken ones that we're replacing the broken ones with some new ones. So yeah, we're recycling those reusing as much as we can, but the underlying material is all going to get replaced so we have better infiltration into the parking lot. [25:59] Council Member Walter Lee: Great. Thank you. [26:01] Mayor Luke Kelly: That was my question too. Want to make sure we just weren't paving over it just for— [26:04] Paul Omi: No, it's going to go back in kind. It's it's going to look pretty much the same as is today. Yep. [26:09] Mayor Luke Kelly: Right. Thank you. [26:10] Paul Omi: Okay. Thank you. [26:11] Mayor Luke Kelly: All right. And we'll turn over our next presentation, uh, our liquor department midyear report. And I'll turn over to our liquor operations director, Tana Wolf. [26:31] Tana Wolf: Mayor and Council members, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to present the midyear report tonight. We will start off with sales metrics. Um after five years of record sales, we are slightly down compared to 2024. Um through June 30th, we've done over $10 million in sales, which is about 4.5% lower than 2024. This deficit continues to decrease over the past few months and I am confident with a strong second half of the year we should be able to continue to decrease that deficit. The emporium room remains very popular for us. We've had so far this year we've had 48 rentals um with over $24,000 in rental fees and bar service fees being collected. We've expanded our marketing for graduation and holiday parties, which has paid off. In June, we had 17 graduation parties booked. So, uh, a lot of them are back to back on the weekends. So, it's very popular. We already have some, um, reservations for 2026 already. So, uh, we've also added additional exposure by participating in the Lakeville Home Show and Weddings of Lakeville. Our e-commerce program continues to grow. Year-to date. Our sales are a little over $26,000. That's a 46% increase over 2024 numbers. Um, our sales per transaction have increased significantly where they it's over $100 per customer. And we've really focused on our marketing. So, we've distributed a lot of flyers to new homes, hotels, senior living facilities, um apartments, pretty much anywhere that has a waiting area, we've tried to put a flyer in. Um we've expanded our delivery hours and we've added a bunch of additional exclusive online promotion features, community engagement. So during the month of March, we had our annual fundraiser for 360 communities and the Open Door Pantry. Our generous customers donated almost $29,000 and almost 300 pounds of food to benefit our local area food shelves. Achievements. For the fourth year in a row, we were named a top 100 retailer by Beverage Dynamics magazine. And we are also voted number one liquor store by Readers of the Sun this week publication. Um, as Paul mentioned, our Galaxy store was remodeled. It was completed in June. Um, they removed the tasting bar, some wooden wine racks. We added some brighter lights to make a more open um, welcoming area for our customers to shop. More achievements. 11 team members have earned their WSET level one certification in spirits. This is important so they can gain the knowledge to provide higher quality customer service to our customers. With the challenges in our market right now, we've really focused on experimenting with new promotional and advertising strategies. Um, we've added a lot of new promotional features to show value to our customers. We've also ventured into some new advertising strategies such as billboards along I-35 and 77. Get a little more exposure. Staffing developments. We've had some staff changes in the last couple months. Um Josh Herman was previously our Galaxy assistant, moved into the heritage store manager position. Kyle Munt was a full-time lead who moved into the Galaxy assistant manager position. Diane Vzley was a full-time lead at Heritage who moved to the Galaxy assistant manager. We hired Daniel Morsy from Wayzata Municipal Liquors. He comes with a background of customer service that fits perfectly with our program. And then Bryley Hansen, she was a part-time staff member at Keokuk, who's now the heritage full-time lead. So, we're really excited for our new talent, but really, really excited that we've helped grow some talent within our team. So, upcoming events. Currently, we are raising funds right now in July for helping replace the cost of two K9s that recently retired. Um, the Taste of Lakeville is quickly approaching. Obviously, we just talked about that in August. We're excited. Um, we hope to have another successful event to benefit the Lakeville Rotary. And then in November, we'll be again fundraising for the Yellow Ribbon Program that provides support to veterans and their families. That is all I have for this evening. I now stand for questions. [31:25] Mayor Luke Kelly: Thank you. Very good. Council, any questions? Council Member Walter, [31:27] Council Member Walter Lee: I just have more of a comment. Um, you know, on the with the sales issue, I know that's a national issue with some of the declining sales issues and challenges there. And I just want to applaud you and your team for kind of the scrappy uh marketing strat. I love the billboard on on 35. It it really stands out. Um and also I think something without a without much fanfare was when you changed your logo to to incorporate the city logo and I I just applaud you on that as well. I think it looks great. I think it plays into the community nature of the liquor store. [32:05] Tana Wolf: Thank you. Thank you for—appreciate it. [32:07] Mayor Luke Kelly: Okay, we'll now move on to our consent agenda. These are more routine items for the council. Mr. Miller, anything you wanted to highlight? [32:16] Justin Miller: Thank you, Mayor. Two items tonight. Item 6D is a donation from Niagara Bottling. Uh that's a a new company down south of here and they donated a couple pallets of water to our fire department. I know already got used at Pan-O-Prog and will continue to be used for different emergency events. And then item 6L is a proposal to for the purchase of a gas kiln. Um due to supply issues, we had to change uh providers or suppliers on this. I just wanted to highlight this because it comes with a a grant from Minnesota Energy Resources as well as funding from the Friends of the Art Center. [32:46] Mayor Luke Kelly: Very good. Council, any items you wanted to discuss further? I'll take a motion to approve the consent agenda. [32:55] Council Member Bolt: Move to approve the consent agenda. [32:58] Mayor Luke Kelly: Okay. Is there a second? [33:02] Council Member Helier: Second. [33:04] Mayor Luke Kelly: Okay. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say Aye. [33:08] Council (Combined): Aye. [33:09] Mayor Luke Kelly: Opposed. Okay. Consent agenda passes. We have no action items. Any unfinished or new business? Okay. Seeing none, announcements: our next work session is next Monday, the 28th. And our next council meeting is Monday, August 4th. And um with that, I'll take a motion to adjourn. [33:23] Council Member Burmel: So moved. [33:25] Mayor Luke Kelly: Is there a second? [33:27] Council Member Walter Lee: Second. [33:29] Mayor Luke Kelly: All those in favor say Aye. [33:31] Council (Combined): Aye. [33:32] Mayor Luke Kelly: Opposed. We're adjourned.