Everyone ready? All right, I'll go ahead and call the meeting to order. We'll start with a roll call. McKe here, Lanterman >> here, >> Friedrich >> present, >> here, >> and Nicholls >> here. You like to stand and join me in the pledge of allegiance. >> Ice to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Agenda approval. Uh there it looks like there's maybe a couple additions from the initial uh initial draft of the agenda. Uh six JK and L and just updates to 8 >> and updates to 8A. Okay. Uh anything from council? Only thing I wanted to throw out is do we want to are we good with the order? Or do we want to >> Excuse me, sir. Cannot hear you back here. >> Okay, I'll try to speak up. Thanks for letting me know. >> Um, does council is is everyone good with the order we have or do we want to uh knock some of this the smaller items out first? Just wanted to throw that out there. I'm good either way. I'm not sure if that's what I want to do, but I'd like to maybe make a suggestion on our close session item, item 10B. Since we haven't really had an opportunity to review the evaluation results yet, I'd like council to consider possibly using this closed session to review those results together and then schedule another meeting for the actual evaluation in January or at the end of this month if we wanted to do a special session. Um we'll we can definitely go over it in the close session because that's what we're doing. Um in terms of the ability to even I don't know if we can go into 2026 >> they are >> test one two three. Is >> this any better? >> Yeah. >> Okay. I'll uh lean over like this. Um John, does in terms of 2026, I don't know if we can get into then. >> Yeah, mayor and council, you you do have a close session to discuss that review this evening. Uh, one option would be you could hold the close session and then determine if you need more time. You could simply um adjourn it for this evening, you know, continue it to a different date, pick up, you know, where you left off at that point and then announce the results of it at that time. So, it's the continuation of the close session a different date. End of end of the year, I don't I don't believe it has to be done here. The contract contemplates an annual review. I don't know that a couple weeks is gonna matter in either direction but um that that would be an option although it's possible they'll get through you know reviewing the results and got you know deliberate. >> Okay. >> So then maybe what I would suggest is we go through it tonight see where we are and then can make a decision uh after that. Okay. >> As to what we want to um motion out and figure out what we want to do. >> Okay. >> Next step. Does that work? >> Sure. >> Perfect. Um, other than that, no changes for the agenda. >> No. >> Okay. I will entertain a motion to approve the agenda as amended by the three items I mentioned and the item J mentioned. >> So move second. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. That carries 5. Uh, no presentations today. And now we will go on to open forum which Jay will walk us through for anyone who would like to speak on uh agenda that's not on tonight's on item items not on tonight's agenda. >> So So if anybody here this evening would like to come up and speak on something that is not on tonight's agenda. Uh please speak to the council. Uh share you have three to five minutes to share. State your name and your address. Would like a card uh for the record for us. And this is an opportunity if you have anything you'd like to speak of that's not on this evening's agenda for open forum. I've received no cards. >> Okay, we can move on on to consent agenda uh which consists of items 6A through 6 L. Does anyone want to pull anything? If not, I will entertain a motion to approve consent agenda items 8A through 8 L. >> So moved. >> I'm sorry. 6 A through 6L. I don't know where I got the >> still. So moved. Second. Very care. >> All righty. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Perfect. >> No planning items this week. And then on to unfinished business. Uh what do we have a public hearing for our truth and taxation 20 and 2026 levy adoption. And Jay, I'll pass it over to you. >> Uh good evening mayor and council and guests. Uh I I do want to say this is my 10th truth and taxation meeting and this is actually pretty exciting. I'm glad that you all came. Uh I I mean that sincerely uh because uh we do want to have conversations about it. I also uh want to try and help you understand how we landed where we're at. So that's the goal of this evening is to communicate. Uh so uh this being my 10th. Last year was the first time we had one person here last year. Uh prior to that I'd never had anybody come. So welcome. glad that you're here. Uh so to start out with uh there have been some uh since the September what in September we set a not to exceed levy and the reason that happens in September is to communicate we've got information. We're trying to set it. It's it cannot go statutoily any higher than that. And part of the reason that it ends up that high is because we don't know what's going to happen. You don't know what's happening. The best information that we have then as we're building it is coming from July. And so what's happened from July until now is we've been able to refine it based on what's really happening in the community. And so the budget adjustments that we've been able to make are as of November 30th because we have made financial process and operations improvements. So we actually can do a budget to actual where we're at as of November 30th. And so the changes that you're seeing that we're proposing are what we understand that we need based upon what we know. Uh the reason we set the not to exceed in September where it's at and and some cities they keep it down lower and then they have a problem if something happens between September and December. What are we going to do? Because you cannot increase the levy and so we have set the levy there and just like last year now the proposal is that we pull the levy back to what we recognize that it is. Uh and so even when we set the levy, that was what we were understanding what our requirements were going to be. And in the proposed changes, each of these changes have implications strategically and operationally that uh that we've shared with council. And so uh to go through it really quick, uh the the debt levy that we have is we have to pay that. We don't have a choice on that. And that's increased. It makes up almost 16% of our budget. That is the money that we have borrowed to pay for equipment, to pay for improvements like the new water treatment uh facility. It's all of these different sorts and types of things that we don't have in our operating budget. So, we've borrowed money to do it and we have to pay it back. So, almost 16% of our budget, 15.89% uh is 1 million 1.7 million is for debt service. The other part of it, operating budget, as we've looked at it, we've been able to decrease our budget from what it was projected to be at uh to uh it was projected to be 28% increase. We brought that down to 13% increase based upon our better understanding of what's happening operationally and then these other strategic uh changes that we proposed. So all in at the very bottom you see there in red, the proposed total 2026 property tax levy, should council choose to adopt all of the changes that have been brought forward for consideration, would be brought down to 16.97% from where it was at at 30.11%. Or a tax rate of 44.034%. So the upcoming slides I'm I'm going to walk through how we got to those numbers and then after we've talked through that council will have their feedback to us any proposed potential thoughts and changes and then the public hearing will open. Any changes to that mayor and council that work fit for everyone? Okay. So, uh, as far as a timeline, it's important to note, uh, one of our goals is to be as transparent and communicate as proactively as possible. This is the sixth meeting we've had publicly to discuss the budget. Uh, so the first meeting, uh, that we had was a work session in August. Then we had the September 25th meeting where we set that not to exceed levy. Then we had detailed work sessions where we go through the detailed line items of each budget uh for administration public safety were on the October 23rd. Then we did community development, public works engineering, the water and sewer funds on November 13th after we had walked through the details publicly of all of those budgets. Then we came back on November 25th to get feedback from council. The direction that they provided on the 25th is what we were able to then implement to have that change that you see in in the proposed change to our levy and the proposed rate. Communication is also one of our priorities. So, we send out every resident receives on the left there, it's our quarterly newsletter that's published in C in Corkran Horizons that that went out to every resident in October stating what what the plan was and our not to exceed levy. And then we've talked about in what's now a monthly newsletter that we're doing called corporate compass in October, November, and then recently in December. So, we've tried to very proactively communicate about where we're at and what's happening in the budget process. A couple important terms as we're going through that are sometimes hard to understand. So I want to make sure now part of the re there's a lot of information here. I get it sitting there. It's like holy mackerel J with the ham sandwich. I don't know what I'm supposed to do with all that. Uh these slides are online. Uh we put them online so that you can go back in the comfort of your own home. You can go back and review them. And also I I make this offer to every resident. If you've got questions, grab my business card, give me a call. I've had a lot of great conversations walking people through their tax statement, talking about the implications. I'm always willing to do that or exchange an email if you're more comfortable. Similar, the council has uh received a lot of your feedback and has been communicating with you. Uh we we want to have a very transparent process. So tax capacity, the way that tax capacity is calculated is it takes the valuation uh of what your property has been assessed at. This is how much your property is worth. And then the first 500,000 value of that property is of that assessed market value is multiplied by 1%. And then anything over $500,000 is multiplied by 1.25%. That's where tax capacity gets. So I use the example the median home in Corpin right now is $542,000 if you didn't know that. And so if you take that home, you multiply it, the first 500 would mean a tax bill of 5,000. and then that remaining 42,000 by 1.25 would be 525 for a total uh tax capacity of $5,525. That doesn't mean that's your tax bill. That means that's the the potential taxed value that that they could that could be claimed. So then the tax levy is the amount that we project needing in order to deliver the operations of a city. And so, uh, this is just a a rehash of what I just added on the last slide talking about how it's the operations budgets increasing 13%. Uh, and the total, uh, levy 16.97%. The tax rate on the on the bottom is the percentage or the dollar amount per valuation unit. So, uh, that $5,525 the tax capacity is multiplied by these tax rates in order to determine how much for each of these categories you your bill is going to be. And if you want to go back and reference it, these are all the tax rate uh folks that you'll see on your bill. So, it's got their and and with the current tax rates uh that you'll see on your bill. So, it might not say what the tax rate is. This is what the tax rate is. So when you go and you see you owe this much to the county, that's how it was calculated. You owe this much to the the metro districts which are mosquito control and that council, that's how it calculated. I've also got all five school districts that we have represented there. So if you're in a particular school district, uh you you'll be able to back that out. Mayor and council, any questions on those terms? Okay. So this is then now everyone's tax capacity is brought together for the whole city and it becomes the net tax capacity for the city. This is the total amount that the city could levy for. And so you'll see over the last 10 years because of growth that's happened in corp tax capacity increased by 230%. You see that? Hi. Uh that's that's very significant. But you'll you'll see there at the bottom the orange part, that's actually what the tax levy has been. And if you look on the far right of the slide, that 24,262,267, that's the tax capacity for 2026. 8% of that is brand new houses in corporate. 5.8% 8% of that is increased value on your houses. On average, most of your homes increased in value by 5.8% in 2026 valuations. Uh so that that gets you there. And then to total increase was roughly 14.4%. There's a couple other things in their apartments and stuff, but the bulk of it is 8% new growth and then the increased value on your homes. the part on the bottom there, the tax rate, that shows what's happened with the tax rate, uh, for the last 10 years. So, uh, from 2016 to 2020, we had over a 45% tax rate. Then, right during COVID, we dropped uh to 43% and then it's stayed relatively flat and and uh and and this year, we're looking at a 44.034%. 034%. Any questions about that slide, Mayor Cel? This is what I think you'll be really interested in. So, I took, you'll see right there in the center is the median home, 542,000. And then I took a standard deviation going to the left and the right, lesser value homes, higher value homes. You'll see the blue is what the tax capacity was on those valued homes in 2025. The orange is the tax capacity is calculated for 2026, this coming year. The blue, light blue, that's actually the city taxes that were collected on that home for 2025. And then the little darker, the burnt orange, that's the proposed collection for 2026. And the little green part is what that will increase what it was in 2025 to how much it's increasing for the city for 2026. So you'll see that median home at 542,000. The city portion of taxes is is proposed to grow $240 or roughly $20 a month. Any questions, mayor and council, about that? This is one that I've talked to a lot of folks that didn't know this. So, in 2023, uh, the homestead market exclusion, uh, market value exclusion changed. The legislature changed it and they took the home value from 413,800 and they raised it up to 517,200. What does that mean? That means that some of you, the valuation of your home, you've had a significant portion of that market value excluded from taxes. If your home has increased in value beyond 517,200, there's no longer an exclusion applied. Uh, and so for some, they they were surprised. That's where a significant bump in their taxes has been because they've had an exclusion and they've experienced an exclusion for years. And now with this tax exclusion no longer being applied to their home, it's increasing, you know. So the the median value home right there uh in 2025, $461 was excluded. But if you look I'll look over here at Crystal. Their median value home is $292,100. that means that $20,561 of their of their potential value is excluded from consideration from taxes. Uh that that is having a significant impact on a lot of our residents. And so I just wanted to make sure that that was understood that the mark homestead market value exclusion changed in 2026. Any questions about that, mayor and council? >> Nope. Okay. So, uh understandably why the changes Jay? Why why has why are you proposing changes for 2026? So, uh these these are the key contributors to the changes. Uh one uh Corkran's mission, vision, and values. There's three things that fall under this. One is transparency. So, I've seen some folks go, "Oh, this particular it didn't exist before. or why are you creating, for example, parks? Uh the parks budget just went up a whole lot. Or uh communications, you didn't even have that budget before. The reality is we did have those things before, but they were buried in other budgets. And so in the spirit of transparency, we want everybody to understand where their tax dollars are going. And so the people that are working in communications, we're working in communications before, but now we're making sure that we have that very transparent. the people that are working in parks, they were working under highways before, highways and streets, uh but they've been dedicated towards parks. We want to make sure that they're tracked in parks so that if there's changes with parks budgets in the future, it's very transparent. So, that's one. Uh another is fiscal responsibility. So, some of the the changes that have been proposed uh are in order to make sure that we're thinking about the long-term fiscal responsibility related to the city. uh that in terms of our infrastructure, we have to invest in our infrastructure. If we don't invest in our infrastructure, then it breaks down and we end up replacing it earlier than we'd like to uh or we pay more to replace it or repair it than we we want to. uh so fiscal responsibility and then the last is responsible decision- making and so uh for example the levy came out the not to exceed levy in September was 30.11 so that we had the time to have the data to make wise choices if we were to make some of those choices we would have made different choices in August going into September than we would make now because we did not have the data that drives the decisions and so that's the reason that philosophy has happened the next one over as council goals and directions. Uh 2023, 2024, 2025 strategic goals for the council have directed certain changes in how we do operations uh or how we prioritize certain initiatives. And so we have been intentional over time about investing in those. So I think communications is a great example. Uh there's been a desire for the public uh to have a better understanding of what's going on in the rapidly changing city. And so we've started the minute the the mayor's minutes. If you haven't seen those videos, I encourage you to check them out. Uh we've got a a more active presence on social media. Um we used to contract out managing this suite which is complicated and it would it would break down a lot. So while we still have a one microphone problem, uh we don't have all of the other problems that used to exist that maybe they would fix it on the Monday or Tuesday when they came in after the council meeting. We have a staff member that understands how to deal with this and we've been proactively addressing and updating our systems. And then I already shared the quarterly newsletter uh the quality of that and how that goes out uh the compass that goes out now monthly in order to make sure the public's engaged in in other initiatives. So that's one example. It's happening in it and leveraging technology to make sure that that we are making it more accessible. So for example, Granus uh now if you wanted to watch this meeting at home, it's a lot better uh to be able to watch the meeting. It doesn't break down like Zoom did unpredictably. We don't have anybody crashing our meetings inappropriately, which has happened in the past. Uh technology in terms of our financial operations and uh systems that are aging out and we need to upgrade. Those are a couple examples that align with the council's goals and directions. Uh, I mentioned existing obligations before. Uh, and that would be our our debt service levy. That $1.7 million. We have an obligation to pay that. Uh, I do want to point out a couple things. Our improved financial operations resulted when we went out for that most recent bond and an upgrade in our Moody's rating from an AA3 to an AA2. In the municipal world, that means a lot. uh what it translates into is a change in percentage points in your interest rates that gave us a better interest rate which ultimately saves you money. So improving our financial operations means our debt goes down because we get a better interest rate and we don't have to pay as much over time. The last one on the bottom is rising costs. So uh growth as growth happens exponentially uh expenses grow. Uh, an example would be all the way over to the right. We're adding roughly two miles of road a year. That means that our expenses for paved maintenance goes up incrementally two miles every year. We've got roughly 53 miles of paved roads in Portland right now. Uh, and other growth that continues to happen that tax capacity goes up, but then also the demand. People uh, we've never had this many people uh, at a meeting since I've been here. Glad that you're here. That means more people that have questions that we have to serve. Uh our customer service demand grows up as the demand increases. That that's understandable. Inflation uh that inflation isn't consumer price index. And the reason I put that one there in particular, that's actually Mortonson's index, which is used nationally in terms of what material and labor costs uh in in uh construction occur. And it's impacting other areas too. But this example right there, 11.6% from 2024 to 2025 where the CPI is much different. If we gauge off of the CPI, we we have other demands that continue to be more expensive. And if we don't address those expenses, that means we actually have to deliver less. So an example would be with our gravel expenses. We have 32 miles of gravel roads. Uh thankfully right now we're locked into a three-year contract on our gravel roads. So we're not seeing a huge increase. It's only roughly 5% increase. But our transportation costs for gravel are going up 10% annually. And if that gravel pit closes down, which we continue to pray that it won't, our transportation costs are going to quadruple because there's not going to be a gravel pit near us. Uh and then the last part is the valuation. As each of your homes increased on average less than 5.8%, the direct cost that we experience, you see the fire truck there, we have three different fire service contracts. Uh, one of our departments goes straight off of market value. So, every time that your home value goes up, it's the market value for that area that they cover. In this case, times 0.0044. And so if we don't capture that, that means we have to stop doing other things because the cost goes up. Uh it's not as as severe for our other two departments. That one goes off of percentage of call volume and a percentage of market value. But the valuation changes significantly impact some of our service areas that we have no control over. Any questions, Morel? Okay. So, uh, I'm going to go through each of our department's budgets because I want to address a couple questions that I received and and clarify some things. So, uh, one of the examples that I gave is the communications budget previously was at zero and now it's increasing for this. uh we've been doing communications part-time and we went to a full-time communication person uh to align with the goals the council had directed us and and meet those objectives and that means a full-time person and then it also means some of the things that they need to do. Uh previously the part-time person was tracked under administration. It wasn't tracked under its own business unit. Uh you see a decrease in administration because that position shifted to communications. uh the IT budget has changed because we're trying to leverage technologies and we're and we're increasing technologies. When you there's two different ways that impact us. We can go lower sometimes and we do on premises solutions. But then when it ages out, we can't fix it but to buy a new one or and a very high expense or we can pay a higher cost and then it's called evergreen. And so it continues to update and refresh. And so we're transitioning from on premises solutions for some of our software because strategically over time it's a lot more expensive to some of these solutions that are a little bit more expensive, but they're evergreen and we're continuing to get better solutions over time as they improve. Uh and then elections, it's an election year. That's why it goes from nothing to something. uh we have to budget for those every and it's a significant budget almost $50,000 is what it costs us and unfortunately we can't recoup that from the county or the state uh we'd have to do that from um it's one of those volunte responsibilities um any administration budget questions mayor councel >> just a quick note on the presidential year elections we do receive a small stiffened back for the the very first election that year but it's not very Thanks for clarifying that'll be 28. All right. Uh so community development uh there's a significant increase in building inspections. It's important to note that building inspections, if you were to look at revenue, it's a cost center that directly correlates with the amount of revenue we draw. So it won't actually be that expensive if we don't have that many building inspections, if that makes sense. We outsource our building inspections. it's a contractor. And so if we have permits going out and they have to go and inspect, the permit covers the cost going in here. And so while it's an increase in the budget, it's not actually levy dollars that are paying for building inspections. It's actually out of the revenue stream that comes from our building inspection revenues. Uh so that's the most significant change in community development. Any questions or comments on community development? uh public safety changes. Um the the fire I'll start from the right. Uh that fire is going up roughly 17% this year. Uh 16.9 almost the same percentage of what our levy is. And again, as I said, those contracts are based off of market value. We we have to we uh we have to make sure that you're safe. It's a service we have to provide and we uh we don't really have a lot of leverage to renegotiate the contracts and so market value is what determines it. Uh as far as the police is concerned uh as we continue to grow that means that we have increased calls for service or demand on our police department and we need to add staffing. And so this adds one police officer and it also follows through. We added a lieutenant last year uh using a position that we hadn't been able to fill. So that would be an example of us trying to be good stewards. We saw that hey we haven't been able to fill this position. We have a need that's a future need. So we're going to seize this strategic opportunity and use those dollars to grow that. And uh it's it's been a tremendous benefit to hear from the officers and from the other community. That officer uh was able to get us what's called an IC POE grant. What was in the first in the September not to exceed levy was a cadet uh which is a different strategy to try and grow the department because we were having challenges trying to fill our positions with qualified people. And it's not unusual across the state. As I talked to other city administrators, there's just not the same number of people that want to get into policing. Uh 10 years ago, you'd have a 100 applicants. Uh now we have uh 10. And so trying to make sure that we get the people in. So the cadet program gets someone who has been doing something else previously that is interested in trying policing. And the state has given us a grant. We're one of eight cities in the state that that won the grant. They go to school uh to get their associates degree in criminal justice and they do their skills uh while they're working here and as long as everything works well then they transition to become a full-time officer here. So it's a different strategy to try and attract good quality candidates uh and some other departments have have had good success with that. But if we get a good cadet that the rest of that beyond the IC poet grant expense will be paid for out of long-term financial planning rather than obligating our operation dollars. So that just reflects the lieutenant increase and the one officer. >> Mr. Mayor. >> Yeah, >> if I may real quick. Sure. >> Jay, good job so far and I expect nothing but better going forward or continue good going forward. U Matt, just a real quick question. I've had three people in the last week complain that we have 27 officers in our ranks in our police department. Could we publicly say how many full-time officers we have in this meeting, please? >> Sure. We currently have 14 licensed full-time police officers. Um, again, this would the addition of the two would would bring us to 16. Yeah, >> we do because we have uh you know as you're talking 24 hours operational period if you think about it in an eight hour business term you know a lot the typical person's eight hour day we run three of those to cover one day. So as you look extrapolate how many people you need for that 24h hour along with supervision and training as we're covering training and time off for those officers. We actually leverage part-time police officers as well. uh the number of our part-time police officers who work full-time in other communities come and help us cover those as core career employees. Um that number fluctuates depending on how many we need to cover the time off and the training obligations we have for those full-time. So we do keep about anywhere from five or six part-time officers. So there may be additional faces, but our full-time staff for licensed peace officers including command staff is is 14 today. >> May grow to 16 soon. Yes. So, thank you. It's a far cry from 27 full-time officers. And we are the second or third safest city in Minnesota, depending on how >> people record their information, but ours is pretty accurate. We think we're the safest. So, >> for the last four years, >> for the last four years, no matter what the survey says. >> I like it. Thanks. I had to get that in there. >> Yeah. >> Thank you, Jay. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. any public safety budget questions, mayor and council. >> Uh public works engineering. Um so, uh you see a significant decrease in highway, streets, and roadways. That's because those staff transitioned over to parks along with some of the other expenses that transitioned over to parks. We moved ice and snow removal because it didn't make a lot of sense for us to continue to track that separate. So that that $72,000 went in back into highway streets uh because they're the ones who are doing it. So if you add this back in and then you take out the personnel and some of the operational expenses that have been happening in highway, streets, and roadways, that's where that increase in parks comes from. Any questions about public works and engineering? Mayor C. Okay, that concludes the information that I have. Uh, subject to your questions, Mr. Mayor and Council. >> Okay, great. Thank you. Questions for Jay? >> No. Dean or Michelle? >> Nothing. >> We've had numerous conversations over the last six months about this. >> For sure. For sure. >> And just real quick, if I may, Mr. Mayor, just folks, >> everyone sitting up here is you. We've just been elected to check all of these things and balances. So are your neighbors. I am not a politician. Some of you know me. I uh I do like to call it the way it is. And I believe the rest of the folks up here are the same way. We want to be smart with our money. We want to do the right thing. So, please understand that we are not up here making tremendous amounts of money representing each and every one of our citizens in our town. We are one of you. So, um if you wonder how many hours we put in, me personally, I'm putting in probably 900 hours a year in this position. And that's reading all this information, spending time on my own doing it, visiting anyone that calls me, anyone that emails me, um, and listening as much as I possibly can. So, I can only speak for myself, but I want everybody to know and understand that we're neighbors. We aren't uh we aren't anything more special than that other than we're sitting up here. So, thanks. Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Of >> course. Can I add something to that, >> please? >> I was just going to say um a huge thank you to staff for all the extra work that they did on getting our levy down from the 30% that it was originally the proposed. >> Um it takes a fair amount of time and and just reviewing things over and over again to try to figure out how we can make things work. and our staff did a great job of of taking a look at areas that we could potentially not not cut the cut not cut the expense because it will come later but to try to match it better with when that revenue comes in for the city >> that is development >> if I could add that to your comment >> anything else otherwise we'll go into the public hearing perfect I'll go ahead and open the public hearing Andre, do you have the cards? >> I do. Uh, so the first card that I have is Mr. Roberts and I'm a Carsg Guard. Is that how you say your name, sir? 90180 County Road 116. >> Guard. >> Yeah, Mr. Carsgard. Uh, please step up to the microphone. Uh, state in the microphone for the record. Your your name and your address. And then uh you have three to five minutes to share your thoughts, sir. >> All right. My name is Bob Kyersgard. I live at 9180 Conro 116, which is just up the road. Um, I must say I'm happy to see it go down from 30 to 16.7, >> but I'm assuming there's these meetings going on all over the place like Rogers and so I'm hoping those are going to come down too. I looked at it and compared it to all of Henipin County and we were twice as high as anybody else. And even though it's down to 16.79, I still I still don't understand it. I'm looking at um my taxes were are going to go up. Uh the total averaging out county, city, everything is going to be well with city going down a little bit, it's still going to be in the vicinity of 12 to 13%. And uh I I look around here, there's a lot of white hair. I'm on social security. My raise this year is going to be 2.8. eight. And I I just I don't see how, you know, there's lots of nice things that Corkin's looking to do. I've been living here for over 40 years and I don't have a bike trail. I I have no services where I am. I mean, the county plugs the road in front of my in front of my house and uh I got no way of getting to the Maple Grove Trails because I live on Connor Road 116. I mean, I've been waiting for 40 years to see something happen out here. Um, and I I I don't have any more to add than that. So, I do have one question. Can I ask the police officer a question? >> Matt, >> it's just it's just a quick thing. Know those license plate readers? Uh, is there a grant from the county or the state to pay for those? >> The first two years were were paid for from the from the governor's public safety state aid money was distributed to city. So the first two years of that were paid for. >> So we're see Corkin's paying for that now. >> Those would come on to this budget. >> Um I was looking at maybe I don't have the right data but I was looking at uh the number that there are in the whole city of Minneapolis and the number that are in Corkran. Minneapolis has triple what Corkran has. There's 400,000 people in Minneapolis. What's what's the reason that Corkran has so many of these license plate readers? >> Sure. >> Just curious. >> Yeah, we we can get into more details later. every city has chosen to do different degrees of implementation and what their what their philosophy was behind them. So you'll see uh you know the city of Weisetta has you know you know similar to where Corker has but other cities might have too might have it's going to be all over the map but I'd be happy to sit down and kind of talk through it more with you if you'd like. >> Yeah. I'm just I'm just curious like we just saw the police budget. I'm sure it's not a huge portion but how much does it cost per license plate reader per year? They are $3,000 per year and that includes the the data management storage. >> Okay. So, we're paying 25,000 a year for these licensed pipe beaters. >> Not yet. >> This budget we haven't paid anything the last >> Oh, okay. It'll be coming though. >> Okay. All right. I give the mic back. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Uh, next would be uh I'm not sure which one. It could only be either Joel or Lisa Shuddy, 9105 Brandy Wine Road. >> Good evening. Uh, my name is Lisa Shuddy and my husband Joel and I live have lived in the brand new wine development for 33 years. I was going to talk about the 30% tax increase proposed, but that's obviously changed. So, I'm thrilled about that. Um, however, my husband and I still will have our our city tax rate go up 17%. And I'm concerned about that for whatever the reason is. I understand there's some exclusionary stuff that you brought up tonight that perhaps is a affecting that, but for us that'll be an additional $488 taken out of our household budget. So, um, we believe that this is the largest city tax increase we have ever had in the time that we've lived here and we're concerned and that's all I want. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Mayor. Yeah. Can I ask Jay, could you bring up your slide that showed bar chart for the different values and how much things will go up? So, I just want to clarify because I know we're going to hear from more people and this is great. We're expecting to hear this kind of feedback and that's why we asked staff to reevaluate. When the levy itself goes up by say 30%. That doesn't mean an individual homes levy or the charge to a specific person goes up by 30%. Because of the impact of having new homes. So the increase that an individual resident who has been in Corkran for a long time would see will be based upon the value change of the property increasing the tax capacity of that property and if the tax rate itself is increased. So the levy increase isn't the same as the tax rate increase. >> And so Jay has tried to show that green bar on these charts based upon your home value. That's what you should expect your city tax rate to go up by. So it it probably isn't going to be 17% for most people. It's probably going to be something much less than that unless you did a major remodel or something and your home increased in value by a lot. >> Average home increase value again was 5.8%. Uh and so the the change could be as much as you know if your median home is 542,000 it's going to be $240 is the city portion. uh which is 20 bucks a month. If if it's higher than that, if you see it goes all the way up to $850,000 would be $386. I didn't take it beyond that uh because the when I looked at the volume of homes, I tried to do three standard deviations at on either side of the median. Uh but again, I encourage everybody these slides if you go to the meeting, you can go to it, you can go and and you can calculate your own tax rate and figure out what that is. It shows you how to do it. Uh I tried to explain that pretty clearly so that you can feel comfortable that you one of the thing that's become clear is is that folks think that the tax uh capacity is and the tax rate is different than the tax levy. They think it's going up 30%. That's going to translate 30% of my value uh or even 17%. Uh even when it was at 30.11% 91% of homes in Corkran were only going to see a change of 15% or less. and that was straight from the county. And so that's going to go down uh as it as it goes down. Now, there's all these other taxing districts, too, that that are increasing that. And then don't forget, I mentioned the the the exclusion. So, for a lot of folks, you've been accustomed to that saved me an extra $800 or $400 on my tax bill, and now because of the increased valuation of your home, it's going away in 2026. Um, and for what it's worth to tack on to that, I did hear from several legislators uh yesterday that there are some discussions going on in various ways to try to tackle some of the property tax stuff at the state level, whether it's how valuations are capped or done uh or assess assessing assessing properties are done or um other types of exemptions and stuff like that. So, that is something the legislature is considering this coming session. So, knock on wood. >> All your legislators >> uh we have >> contacts on our website, knowing on who to call and when >> or we can get that. >> Yeah, we can always get that information. >> We can get it done. >> Absolutely. >> Uh we have one more card, Mr. Mayor. I think it's Mr. Tucker, but it's 7402 Furlane. If it's not, I apologize. >> I'm not going to hobble all the way over to the microphone. I just had So, I hope everybody can hear me. Mr. Mayor, council, Mr. Tobin, thank you. Thank you for the presentation. It's very different than the phone call that we had several weeks ago, which I found both disingenuous and snarky when you said to me, "So, would you rather have no police protection?" >> I don't. >> Would you rather have no fire protection and have your taxes go down? I found that I found that very offputting and I think it was very unprofessional. I thank you for the presentation tonight. I also want my neighbors to know uh I contacted you gave me the name of a young man to contact with with the county about assessments and he suggested that when we get our March uh tax assessment, contact him and if you don't think it's right, he'll come out and reassess it for you. And I've already got five neighbors that said, "Yeah, call him. We'll all get together and we'll we'll have him ride her on our neighborhood and see what comes up. That goes on top of the fact that my health insurance is going up 700%. My wife's health insurance is going up 300%. And you know, even 20 bucks a month, 20 bucks a month is still 20 bucks a month, whatever it is. And I and I think that I think that that's something that if I'm a neighbor just like you, we got to keep all those kinds of things in mind going forward. The other question I have for council and more specifically for the planning commission is what are you doing to increase commercial development? We've got all kinds of houses going up on in in in the eastern part of the city. Okay. But what are we doing for commercial development which potentially brings in tons more tax money than than than my you know 3100 or 5500 or whatever it's going to be for the for the value of my house. I think that's something you really need to look into and work at more seriously. >> Could could I address that M? >> Sure. >> Uh so so actually diversification of the tax base is is definitely a desire. One of the challenges that we've had is that commercial businesses, the phrase that we keep hearing is they there's not enough rooftops. And one of the challenges that we have is our proximity to Maple Grove. And so it's it's too much of an overhead is what we're being told for commercial businesses to come and invest uh what they need to in order to put a shovel in the ground where they can go over to to the um the development, what is it called? The lakes. >> Arbor. Harbor Lakes and have a vacancy there with a lot less risk and a lot less money. And so that that's a challenge for us. However, uh council is committed starting in January, we're working with uh Maxfield Research in order to do an economic development strategic plan that's going to help inform us in how properties guided for our 2050 comp plan that'll be going on in January, February, March, April, May, and June. Uh and then the results from that strategic economic development plan are going to help us potentially not only understand what we need better, where it is going to fit better based on market understanding because the last time we had that market understanding was 2008, uh but then also it's going to help us make the necessary connections in order to attract the right developers in order to diversify our tax base. Uh and if you didn't know, we do have a new industrial building that has gone up in the northeast corner. Can't wait for that to hit our our tax base. That's going to be a huge help. Uh and hopefully continue to attract other like businesses to invest in corporate. >> Reattracted to corporate headquarters for manufacturing. >> Yeah, corporate headquarters. >> Yep. >> Yes. >> Just very recently. >> Great. Anyone else see that? >> That was the last card, Mr. Mayor. >> Okay. >> Does anyone else want to speak? >> I quick question. Um, Mr. Tobin, is there, excuse me, or would there be some way, and I don't even know if this is possible to do, but would it be uh possible to have a city ordinance that freezes property taxes for those residents 65 and over? I do not believe so, but I know the state >> that would be out of my scope. >> The state is considering or some people in the legislature are considering that >> but I can do I think we should consider it. >> I don't believe we have the authority to >> we we can't freeze our own tax. >> We can't >> we can't discriminate 65 or older or of any age from property tax. Hey folks, >> okay folks, please >> I'll I'll look into that. >> We'll we'll learn a lot more listening to everybody up here than the individual conversation. >> Yeah. >> Can you be fine for me differently? >> I I will. I I don't see why why we couldn't control our own tax rate, but you know, maybe the maybe the state wouldn't like that because it's not getting the money it wants. I would imagine the challenge would be can you set a different tax rate for one group of people versus another. I'm guessing that's where you would run into problems. >> Well, at what point do they own their homes? Never. >> And that's what the legislature is. >> No, we keep taking money from them forever. >> And I I I just don't know why we have the right to do that. >> Another good reason to call your legislator uh legislators because that is something that is going to be discussed at this year's session. So yeah, >> I think we're done with the hearing, Mr. Mayor. >> Okay, then. Oh, Karen, come on up. >> I apologize. I didn't get here in time to fill out a comment card. Mr. Tobin, thank you. My name is Karen Breummond. I live at 8985 Beckold Road. And um my brain is frantically all over the place, but I'm going to try to be concise. The first thing that I want to say is thank you for the budget meeting. It sounds a lot like what we have in our household with my spouse. Like I understand when we need a technology upgrade or we have a building that is falling apart, but we have to we can't go to our employer and demand more money. Uh I think that's the difference. And you can just raise a tax levy and be like we need these things covered and then the citizen is the one who ends up having to juggle what will I go without? I understand it might just be a few hundred dollars a year. Um but every dollar that goes to the government is a dollar that we can't put towards innovation, towards um improvement, towards our kids' education. And so I just really want to maximize that point so that we're not minimizing it. I understand um we have to justify things in our budget and you did a phenomenal job. It was a great presentation. Um I just think that um government should be held to a similar standard that our households have to do which is to keep a budget to have a reasonable budget. I don't know anybody who is getting a 13% uh increase year after year from their employer. Uh so at some point in time your income revenue is or or your income budget is outpacing what your citizens can pay. With that being said, I have a lot of other thoughts, but my three questions are this. How is this impacting your 2027 2028 proposal for a new municipal government building? How is this what budget is coming for the uh 2050 comp plan? That is a force down from the county, but at what point do we as a city start saying, "I'm sorry, our residents can't afford all of these tax layers." Thirdly, Florida Dantis just came out with a plan to say how they're going to reduce by 2026. He hopes to have it on the ballot that they're going to get rid of property taxes. So, I appreciate hearing the in innovation. Um, I think we need some outside of the box thinking and proposals and solutions. And if we try it and we fail, um, or if we try it and it doesn't end up working, at least we can say that we gave it a valiant effort to try to do um, on behalf of our citizens what's necessary. I had a a call with you over the summer and you guys know I do my best to stay involved in Dean and I, we are a family who are getting priced out and that's sad. I love it here. I'm invested, but I can't continue to pay what what you guys are asking to be paid. And I'm sorry for the emotion. That is hard to hear. Um, >> anyway, so that's what I have to say. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, friend. >> And I'm not leaving because I don't want to hear the rest, but I have a sick kid at home and so I'm going to listen to the rest of the meeting >> on Granus. >> Take care, Gran. Drive safe. >> Okay. And that is everyone. I will entertain a motion to close the public hearing. >> Could I say one thing? >> Sure. >> Could you please state your name and and address? >> I'm the shuttle. >> You made a good point questioning the police officer about number of officers. >> I didn't question. I wanted >> Okay. What your point was my point is we don't have that information. I didn't have that information on that before, but you talk to some of our neighbors and they think partly because of the number of the squad cards lined up out there. They think we've got this huge police department. 14 to me does not sound like a huge police. I don't know what the correct number is. That may be it. The second thing is, you know, we've lost our community center over there. I understand we're rebuilding one over there. At the same time, we're firing up a water treatment plant in the water system. And with very little information on costs involved there. And that brings the next subject is we have no idea how many city employees we have versus last year versus the year before. And I bring this up because that quarterly newsletter, they're always the big smiles, you know, uh, introducing new employees to the city. How do how are we to judge how many employees we should have? We don't know because we don't have the information on these things. That's all I've got to say. >> So I would >> Sorry, I had to say that. >> No. So, so, so I'd encourage everybody the the the second slide talked about those public meetings and each of those public meetings. Each of the departments has their organizational structure laying out how many people are in the department and going line by line what the budget is. So, so it has been discussed here and that information is online. Uh, >> it's online. You send out this funky quarterly report that actually quarter by quarter it's getting weaker and weaker with less and less information. Let's just have some If you're going to send that out, spend the money and send that out. Let's have some actual information in it. Even if it's just a little ticket, >> sorry. And with that, I will entertain a motion to close the public hearing. >> So move a second. Second. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Okay. On to council. Uh, does anyone have anything or potential uh votes or >> we have a class? >> I mean, hey folks, now's the time. We've spent time listening to each and every one of you. Now's the time to listen to us, please. Sidebar conversations can be had, but I'd appreciate it not in here >> because I want to pay attention. I gotta make some calls to do this, right? So, please. Thank you. >> Okay. Um, so yeah. Does anyone want to start us off or have any motions they'd like to make or consider? >> Just real quick. And and to help all of the residents and such, so many of our things and requirements are required by the county and the state and such. When can we start being independent on some of these things? Karin Drumming our our our uh planning chair talks a very passionate volunteer in their city. Mark and his ideas and stuff. When can we start doing some of this stuff or if it's not possible, we just keep saying it, hoping it sticks kind of deal. What? >> I think it depends on what get rid of the med council. >> Well, we can't do that. >> He wanted an idea of what we do. >> I haven't been a fan since it was started 40 years ago. >> They're they're non-elected. Yeah. >> And they're telling these people what to do. >> Yep. >> Um but I I do think it kind of depends on the specific thing. There's a number of things that are brought up that I think are and Mark's going to dig in and I'll dig in as well to verify and see if anything else comes to mind. But uh a number of them are issues that are state authority. Um even like the property tax one that was brought up I think by Quinn on uh in Florida by Dantis. That's a state initiative led by the governor and and passed by potentially passed by the legislature. Um, and a lot of work I've been following that as well because it is an interesting uh way of changing things and doing things differently. Um, and I think they're still working through exactly where that other revenue comes from and that's kind of state specific because Florida has a lot more tourism versus other things. So, >> a lot more options there. Yes. >> My understanding is cities only get like 18% of their funding from property tax in Florida. >> So very different funding mix >> right >> there. >> But yes, like I said, there is some conversation whether or not it gets traction this year or a future year. Um it is at least happening at the at the uh at the legislature. So hopefully and I'm more than happy to continue to uh kind of give legislative updates every quarter or couple months uh at council meetings. So, just keep an eye on packets. I'll try to keep track of these bills and provide links in our packets in our website so that we can get that out to you all and and maybe some contact information of who to reach out to at the legislature for some of these important bills. So, happy to do that. >> Just real quick, too, I think I think staff and I think we've done a good job on communication. There's a lot of information out there talking about our staff in our in our business in our business in our city. Um, I believe for the last two years, if not three, since I've been up here, I've been saying we cannot continue to exist with a flat tax rate. It's going to catch up to us. And I shuddered at the 30 plus% published maximum amount of increase um when that was published. But again, it it wasn't I think it was communicated well. This is the maximum and then we're going to do everything we can to whittle it down and such. And staff did a great job. I think everybody up here gave input on why are we spending here, why are we spending there and I think a lot of adjustments been made and I'm I'm I'm still not happy. My overall tax rate, my my valuation came out of the left field on my my property and I don't have sewer and water. I've got my own septic tank and uh my own well I have to maintain and and I'm I'm not quite sure and understanding how I'm ending up paying $9,200 to get my roads plowed and and my police force which I'm thankful for all of them coming around but it's kind of an expensive thing and why is my share going up when we've got all this development going on the other hand I understand why it's gone up because I'm up here because of how much attention I pay and such. So, um I think a lot of things have changed and a lot of communication is out there. It's just where do you find it? Um to the defense of our communication and those kind of things that quarterly newsletter has never been so full of information and pertinent information that's going on more real time than it used to. We used to put it out and things happened six months before it was put in the newsletter. I believe things have gotten more accurate, more in advance, and more informative than we've ever had in this community. But I do believe as said, and I think we're all understanding it very very much, we don't have a desirable place to build commercial, industrial, those kind of things because we don't have major interstates. I'd love to call 116, 50, and 30 a major interstate every rush hour of every morning when I try and drive around and and go to my little self business and such. It's crazy the number of drive-throughs that we have in our city and disrespect and we are a small city, but we've got to get some rooftops in. We've got every time a development comes in, we've got neighborhoods all upset. We didn't just move into this city to see more growth. We moved to this city to see a corn field stay existing next to us. I'll make the comment, your house was a corn field three years ago. The farmer had nobody else to buy it except a developer and now you're here. It's going to change. Our city is going to change. I lived on the western third of Corkran, but I'm still want this city to grow responsibly and right. And I believe we've never had an administration and a staff like we have now. We've never had that. the transparency that's out there, the numbers, the budgeting process and stuff, it has never been like this up to a couple of years ago. I think staff that we have that's changed over. I think the folks that are doing it now are doing the absolute right thing. There's stuff that wasn't even wasn't even available. We I asked for things that I wouldn't see anything. Now I asked for it. Yep. It's in your budget. It's your line item. This bang, bang, bang. I get the answer and I can question it. So, you do have to dig a little bit. Some of us, I'm not a huge fan of technology, but I guess I got to live with it and such. You do have to dig. But if you go on to the website, try to find it. You should be able to find it easier. But if you don't find it, please call city hall >> or us >> or us. My name is published on on uh on the website. It's my personal number. I only ask if you do call, please don't hang up. Leave a message. I will call you back. >> That's me. >> It's a promise. >> Yeah, you keep calling. I just That's Mark again. I don't give a No, I I I we need you guys to understand we are your neighbors. We are up here because we want this done right. It hadn't been done right. It was it I couldn't even give previous administrations and and such a grade just because I had no idea what was happening or the information that was out there. We have detailed information now. And I'm proud of our staff and I'm proud of our our administrator, everybody we have right now. I think they're doing a great job. But we got to figure out how to bridge this gap until we get rooftops, businesses, industrial, commercial, those kind of things. Um, >> how long have you lived here >> in the city? 19 years across the other side of 101 20 years until development forced me out of my 5 acre hobby farm. I've lived in this area. You've seen it >> 39 40 years. Maple Grove was crazy. I got involved with planning and the council in Maple Grove. So, I stayed on top of it. When I moved out here, I didn't want a part of it. Now, the only person I answer to about my property taxes is my wife. She's not happy and I don't see her in the audience yet, but >> I wish I had that problem. >> She threatens. So, You you guys, we we all this city means a lot to us. We want to make it as good as it is right now, if not better. We've got land owners that don't want to cooperate, don't want to talk with us, don't want to sell to people. I'm harping on them. I poke the bear every time I can with a couple of major property owners and construction people here. when are you going to come to us and work with us and help us out of this fun? Okay, I'm not afraid of anything or anybody. So, just saying again folks, we it's our turn to talk. So, I don't want to get in the back and forth. I apologize. I'll be happy to talk after. But, uh I think we've done a lot. I want to say what past council members said, nope, flat rate. Go back and do it all again and stuff. I can't do that four years in a row. We have to do something to make it right. And then maybe I can say re-examine it. But I've seen this coming. And uh if somebody wants to to say something different or educate me on what I've seen is not right, please let me know. But uh >> this is a tough one. This is >> You can't have the back and forth. Sorry. >> This is a tough one. Oh, yeah. You're more than welcome to go. Yeah, if you'd like to. Yes, of course. You don't have to ask. >> Want to walk out? >> No worries. We'll take no offense. >> Appreciate you coming out. >> We'll give you a moment. >> Thank you very much. >> Appreciate everybody. Thanks. I'm done with mine. >> You sure? >> Oh, stop it. >> A little little smart ale comment from Michelle. >> Way if you want to do this every time. >> Wow. Where did that come from? >> I was just going to add one thing. Let's give him maybe a second to >> well to the gentleman that's leading I could share something with him um >> his comment about the newsletter I would say that there is new new content in the newsletter but there's also repetitive things because we want to make sure that residents know that this is how you grade a road this is the materials that we use in grading a road so there are some things that are repetitive and I think there's also new pieces but it's it's helpful to know those things especially with the new residents that we have coming into the I heard. Let's see. >> He's done. Good. >> Thank you, Michelle. Does anyone else have anything to add? Otherwise, someone want to take a crack at a motion. >> We still have a few people. So, I'll appreciate Dean sentiments. Uh, we all approach things a little bit differently. When >> when I looked at it, when we got to 30%. I wanted to better understand how has the city grown over time? How has inflation impacted the city over time? And I worked with Jay to identify what was our population growth based on a couple different metrics. What were the inflation rates in different years? And going back to 2021, we saw our overall levy at the current proposal of 10.7 million has had a average rate of increase about 16%. And our population has grown by about 9 and a half% per year. And when you include population and inflation, that's been about 14 and a.5% a year. So when you have a city growing as fast as we are, where between population growth and inflation, we're basically doubling every five years, you're going to have to see the levy increase. We've been lucky that a lot of that has been borne by new properties being built in the city and the increase in values of existing properties. But we are running you know one one and a half% behind which means that we don't have the right development model. The the rate that we are adding properties and the kinds of properties that we are adding are not contributing to tax capacity as fast as costs are increasing. And so that should be a red flag for us as city officials because if we continue on the same development path, we should expect to see those lines continue along the same trajectories and we won't be in a position to maintain a flat rate. We'll have to continue to see increases. >> I would there. Sorry. Are you done? >> Please. >> I would just add two kind of things on to that. one being the the frustrating yet uh it is what it is two-year lag. Um that you know kind of continuously we had a massive uh jump, one of the biggest in the metro in terms of the the potential capacity with just our new growth. Um but that two-year lag for for new developments being built to when it's on actually coming in on the tax role is something that always kind of keeps us behind. It's something to keep in mind as we get other types of development that require less services, the commercial, industrial, um, business park type stuff, um, as that won't have quite as much of a gap because there's less cost involved in serving and that the tax revenue is more significant generally. So, >> that's what we hope to find when we do our study, right? That's what >> Mr. Mayor, can I make one comment? So, I had a really good conversation with the county assessor today and I said, "This is going to come up during our truth and taxation meeting. Talk to me about the two-year lag so that I can better understand it and potentially explain it." So, this is my swing at trying uh to So, uh, for example, we have a new house, new development that just gets built in January of 2026. If they were to assess that property and and you heard one resident say, you know, they do the assessments and then they they send evaluations out in March. If you'd assessed that property in January of 2026, it would be dirt farm. Uh so that assessed value then gets affirmed in 2027. Remember it gets goes out and everybody has a chance to validate. And so for 2027 it says, "Yep, this is the valuation for taxes payable in 2028." So that would be an example. Dirt Farm in 2028 is still dirt farm. Now you build a house on it in 2026. Same process. The house is built and complete in 2026 and it gets assessed as a house. They have an opportunity to check about the value. 2027 that valuation gets affirmed for taxes payable in 2028. Does that make sense? >> Better explanation than we've gotten thus far. So appreciate that. still doesn't make sense. It's a house in 19 or in 2026. >> So, if it was a house in 19 and in 2026 and it was it takes That's the three years. You have a you have a a valuation year, a confirmation year, and then the pay tax year. >> It it matters for us because we're growing to 10% a year. >> Yep. >> It doesn't matter for most cities. We're 20% behind by the time. >> And the other thing I was going to add is that we do have some different housing uh styles and and types coming in that we haven't had before in the coming year years here that are in the pipeline. Hope >> in the development pipeline, not constructed. Yeah. >> Right. >> Correct. But of approved developments that construction's going on on the site for parts of it, just not those specific buildings. Yeah. >> Yeah. I mean, I'll believe it when I see it. I'm hopeful that we will see it as >> Don't think they're as far away as it >> depends on the date. >> Yeah, may not be far away. >> We didn't invite the assessor to this meeting. >> So, uh actually I did invite him. We're going to have him come to uh a work session uh or a public meeting. I was going to when we get to the staff reports ask you for feedback on that so I can get him on the calendar. He he has a really good report that explains the assessment process. We can we can put that on the quarterly newsletter and tell everybody that date. >> Absolutely. >> He won't want to come back. >> And and and I I'm really glad to hear Mr. Tucker uh confirm that our present person who does the appraisals of property is very receptive. Uh if anybody wants his information, it's Jason. I'll share it with him. He's been great with our residents in terms of working with them about concerns regarding their appraisals. Does anyone want to make a motion? >> Got the glasses on and the think face. >> Jeremy scrolling. >> Trying to find that resolution on >> 2025118. >> I'll make a motion to approve said resolution >> adopting the 2026 budget and final tax lo. >> Yes. Okay. Do >> we have a second? I will second that. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Opposed. >> Opposed. >> Passes four to one. >> Thank you very much and thank you guys for coming out. >> Thanks for listening everybody. >> Really appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Does this end the council meeting? >> Uh not the council meeting, the budget items. >> So you're welcome to stay if you'd like or you can leave them. No hurt feelings. Either ways. Okay, we will move on to new business um which first is 9A um which is essentially just uh for the collective bargaining agreement. uh it's guidance for the next steps and essentially identifying a date that would work for at least three of us uh to meet towards the end of the month for a very quick meeting potentially 10 15 minute meeting. Um Jay had proposed uh to me maybe around or as close to the 30th of December. So just wanted to see some days and it doesn't have to be our regular time. >> It can be any time of the day. >> Yeah. Could be noon one, early afternoon. >> Just need evening. >> So >> I should be available for when >> and I should be on the 30th. >> 30th. 30th. >> I'm in. >> Perfect. Anytime. Uh >> noon on the 30th. >> What? >> Noon. >> Let's do noon on the 30th. So I'll go ahead and call that special meeting for noon on December 30th right now. >> And what are we talking about the collector bargaining? So, so any potential outcomes from the collective bargaining that's going on? >> Uh, it has to be ratified before the the the current CBA expires on December 31st. And so, we either need to have a bridging strategy or we need to approve a new CBA, whatever whatever that is. But either way, we need to ratify whatever the results that are. >> And we're deep into it right now. >> We're just starting. >> Just starting. Okay. We're we're into it, but it's started recently. >> Okay. Do you guys see any concerns, issues, or >> We'll know better next week. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> That was Yeah, we'll we'll know better next week. >> I understand. I understood what you >> Thanks for doing it you guys very much. >> Of course. >> All right. on to 9B which is a public hearing uh which was required for amending the city charter and uh who's going to take this presentation? >> Perfect. >> We councel uh the charter commission met for their annual meeting on October 15, 2025. At that meeting, they discussed the need to make several amendments to better align the charter with its current practices and to come into some compliance with Minnesota rule 8205.10. Um, from that meeting, they came out with some recommendations. Um, there will be three amendments they're recommending and the first one is specifying the number of commission seats. Right now, article one of the charter states Corkran has seven commission seats. Currently, the commission is operating with 10 seats. Six of the 10 commissioners recently had their terms expire on October 18, 2025. And of those six, four commissioners resigned or have um notified us of their resignations. And two of them are asking or get an application to be reappointed. The charter commission is recommending this is because basically we're concerned about forum issues. Right now we have three. Um we have three commissioners that are still in their terms and if we reappoint the two we will have five. Um with the 10 the number of 10 that five would not even meet the quorum. So that was the reasoning for this um amendment to be done. So that is the first one they are asking about or or first one that they're actually recommending. Um the second one is removing language in the term limit limits. Article one of the charter also states no commissioner may serve more than two successive terms. Uh this provision has not been has not been historically followed nor has it been standard p practice of the ter commission. So they're recommending removing this language and adding section 902 to the charter with language stating that there are no limits to the number of terms an individual may ser serve on the charter commission consecutively. Um this would then align the charter with the actual commission operations and avoid inconsistencies going forward. The third recommendation is updating chapter 7 section 703 petitions under Minnesota rule 8205 1010. All petitions for elections submitted by residents must include their names, address, and date of birth on the petition form. This is to confirm that each signature is qualified voter within the city. Making this change would ensure that any future petition templates would have the date of birth added and that they anything used by the city would be updated to include the requirement and remain in compliance with the state election law. Um, the state statute does provide that the charter commission can propose any amendments to the city charter without refer referendum and recommends that the city council adopt ordinance 2025-557 amending the city charter. >> Perfect. Thank you. Nailed it. >> I didn't. >> No, you did. We got it. We got it. Um, okay. Uh, any discussion or questions from council? >> I have a question. Um, I'm concerned about eliminating the term. I know that it's not been something that's followed. Um, >> eliminate the term limit. >> Yeah. Like like saying that there just isn't one. I think it's important to have a term limit. I think that it's something that you can always say, do you want to continue? But like to have something so if there's a situation where I can't even think of something nefarious happening where someone's term it just never expires. I feel like it's better to have an expiration and then have it renewed versus just eliminating it. >> That's what we're doing. They still have a timeline that they can be reappointed without reapplying. >> But I still think we should have a term limit on itself. Like I don't think we should remove that. I think we should keep that in there. >> The limit is They've got to limit that the each term is three years >> consecutive terms. They're saying take that out. You can't serve more than two consecutive terms. >> I agree with Michelle. I'd like to keep the term on it >> even though we've never even though we haven't. >> The reason why Let me take like two minutes to try to explain my thought process. Um so we have in this city lots of opportunities for people to get involved and have a role. At the high end, we have the mayor, we have counselors who spend lots and lots of time doing very detailed things, helping the city to run. We have planning commission, we have parks and trails commission that spend a few hours a month looking at bigger picture development issues. We have charter commission which is more focused on the structure of the city and its democracy and how we orchestrate terms and things like that. Um, I would love for us in the spirit of ongoing improvement in our volunteerism to have more and more people get involved in all of these roles. And I think because charter has the lowest time commitment, it represents a really good opening funnel to get people who might be casually interested who come to visit because they're concerned about a particular thing. Maybe they spark an interest. Maybe there's some desire for them to do something more. That's a really great entry for them to start getting exposed to things, connect with city staff, learn about major issues in the city. And what the term limit does is when you get somebody who has done that for three or six years, however long the terms are, now there's a prompt for them. You've gotten this experience, you've met these people, you've interacted, can we get you to be interested in this opening on the parks and trails commission? Will you be interested in joining the planning commission? Maybe there's other things that'll open up at that time. even getting involved in some of the nonprofits in the city like the JC's or the Lions. It's a good way to get people started and engaging with civic issues and then give them sort of a gentle shove into something more that you don't necessarily get if you don't have the term limit. And I feel that's a much more vital role that fits more with our vision of a vibrant connected community than having it be sort of a a collection of people who used to have city office. I would love to see it more as a place where people who might one day in the future have city office. I think that's a fair point. Um, I think I would add and maybe counter a little bit that um, well, a couple things actually. Uh, procedurally that was what the charter commission passed. Correct. And so if we were to pass a change, it would have to be all or nothing. >> Thank you, Mayor Council. the the charter commission made a recommendation with direction from staff to um to handle these three more perunctury changes to process um in one uh amendment proposal and anything else they might propose in a second. They didn't propose a second because they didn't have any other content that they wanted to give the council presently. But um these were thought to be sort of an interconnected group I suppose. Now it could be argued that they handed you three different amendments. You could look at them individually. Um however um the proposal comes jointly. So I think there is an argument that it's kind of all or nothing. You either approve all of them or don't. Um we If we were to approve individual points on it, we would argue point to our agreement that unimity as to those points. But the overall amendment proposed is not what you're approving. You're approving two or one aspects of agreement. Right? So my recommendation would be to consider it as a all four or all or or not the three amendments. But you know there is an argument that can be made that you can pick a couple of them I guess to do all >> to Jeremy's point I I like what he's saying as far as term limits but there's so many times we get to an end of a term and a term limit there's nobody in the wings that is for such like that. So we default to saying you want to keep doing it. Is there a way that we could do something different to say hey charter commission the term is opening up anybody interested and then stay in contact with that person that's their term is ending if we don't get anybody do you still want to have >> I'd rather do that >> I like that and I have an idea on that front as well um that my suggestion would be to approve it as was sent to us by the charter commission I think that I agree that is the most defensive posible. Um, and it does have to be unanimous to in order to pass. And notably, the big thing in here is the state required, right? >> Um, getting in getting part of the the process processes in line with state requirements that have changed. Um, but to Jeremy's point, I think if we like right now we have five members, we need seven to have a functioning charter commission. I think if we and I don't disagree that that's a a a nice idea for the charter commission and a goal to have. I think if in the future we saw there was drastically more interest in charter commission, I would then want to have a discussion and and consider maybe upping the number of charter commissioners. um if there was really a strong interest, let's say, you know, eight people came to us really wanted to be on there and we did some interviews and we decided we wanted to up it to nine people or in conjunction with a charter commissioner probably recommendation or 11 or whatever it might be. Um, that way we without necessarily pushing people out and running into the risk that Dean was mentioning, we do we would have the ability to add people on to get them on there to get that experience to then potentially go forward in other city positions down the road. >> Mr. Mayor, can I ask a question? >> Yeah, it's actually for John. Uh, John, does uh not having a term limit prohibit council's ability to choose not to reappoint someone? >> Uh, mayor council, no, it does not. the the seats themselves are four year seats. So you are given the opportunity to review uh the I guess the replacement appointment on that schedule every time the the section that we're looking at trying to correct is to is to basically have the charter aligned with practice throughout it existence which is to say that we have not enforced a successive term limit. In other words, u members that have served two um consecutive terms eight years in a row were not told they couldn't continue. They were allowed to continue and they have we have a couple members that have been on their I believe the entire distance of the chart. So having uh making this change would align what we're doing with what the charter says, right? Um, on top of that, if we choose not to make that change, we have we also have the um the lack of compliance with our own charter to deal with now. So, we would have to decide what does that mean for the seated members that aren't in strict compliance with that committee. Um, does that mean they they're proceed immediately? Do we allow unknown non-compliance to continue to remain for the remaining term? Um, we would staff would need guidance on that. This was this was to correct and align what what we're doing with what the charter would say. Um amendments can be made through this process. It's worth noting at any point. Uh charter meets typically annually in the fall, but they can they can meet more than >> absolutely. Um so the the trick here would be making sure that we had uh that we have a quorum whatever we call that. Now, Deb referenced um 10 members and this that's the size of the body, but arguably um it's my understanding that there's been as many as 13 seats created at one point or another, meaning a quorum of that is really seven members. Now, to staff's credit, Deb was able to get seven people in a room and get a vote to to put this in front of you in order to control that quorum. That gives you a path that doesn't involve a referendum in order to make this change and allow the charter commission to conduct business in the interim. So if there are changes that you want to see to the document itself, that could be suggested to the charter commission, they could make recommendations through this exact same process and they could still do it immediately as opposed to um if we miss this window. Um we're left really with um action of the electorate and and the cost and time of the referendum or um basically throwing ourselves at the mercy of the chief judge um who I I know is is not particularly keen on getting involved in what the chart how the charter what's what we wanted to say. So >> Mr. Mayor quick question. So >> we've met the requirement for 2025 because we had the charter commission meet in 2026 we would need to achieve at least seven members and have them meet that. That's the requirement. Correct. >> Right. Correct. So as long as we can find enough people to get to seven next year, then that body could implement another amendment to deal with the quorum issue. So one thing that I corresponded with John privately on is John explained this to me earlier today, the conventional definition of a quorum is half plus one. So if you have 13, that's where the seven comes from, half plus 13 to get round up. You could also have a charter amendment to define quorum and that could define quorum differently than based on the maximum number of seats. It could be the number of active members would be used to define quorum. That would take a charter amendment but that is probably better than reducing the number of available seats to achieve the same objective. Does that make sense? Did I say that correctly? >> You did. Um, so mayor council, I I I think that we could explore having the charter itself set a quorum something less than half plus one as you mentioned. That's it's atypical. It also means that a minority of that body can control actions of the body which would be again not align with way most charters operate. That doesn't mean you can't do it. You could establish it uh via charter amendment. The problem we have is that charter amendment would be we would be really waiting until we can build the board and so the any any petitions that would be filed would be out of compliance with with the state law reference. Um we would also have to have the ongoing um ins uh two members that are are remaining on the board against the charter's permissions at presently. So this was designed to sort of clean up those points and from point forward changes can be made the same way but this board can make them we can make them now. >> Right. >> Right. So it's it's it's it's empowering the board to act by creating a five or four or five7 forum and we have five members that presuming the reappoint. Um you be you still be able to take action. council can still collaborate with the chairman commission to do some of these things. >> And my recommendation on that would be to pass this as presented to us and then if we want to have further discussions both as a council we could have a work session or something or if we wanted to have even a joint meeting with charter to get their take on it and kind of discuss some of these potential things if there was you know the interest and stuff. Um in the >> I was think could we have a meet a joint meeting with with head charter before we make this decision >> because this has to be done tonight or the window expires. It's like a it's a very complicated window where it has to be unanimously passed by them. Then there's a certain number of time but not longer than this. And it has to be a certain number of time for us and notice but not longer than this. And it basically falls into a small window and requires unanimous charter which already got and then unanimous counsel to >> Mr. Mayor. My question about reappoint I think might address council member Nichols concern and this is where I was going with that is is if reappointment isn't a given and we proactively recruit what if the potential people being reappointed are evaluated with all the potential applicants so they're just thrown into the pool again and then that way that ensures that we have the body filled with interested party but also potentially gives us the opportunity to choose new blood if new blood in fact steps up without us ending up in a position that nobody stepped up and now we can't fulfill our responsibilities. And so if if reappoint isn't a given and they go into the pool with all the others, they interview again uh when you interview everybody else and they're they're an applicant just like everybody else. That that would be if you get rid of term limits, that would be a way to make sure that you're accomplishing the objectives of getting the perspectives that align with the goals of the future and strategy. And and if it's you've been here uh serving. We're grateful for your service and now it's an opportunity to bring in a new perspective. We're not going to reappoint you. That would be a way to handle it that ensures that we don't end up in a precarious position if no one steps up. >> That might be the best of both worlds. >> What would a precarious position? >> Uh that we don't we can't hold a charter meeting and as a result we end up in violation because we don't have any charter commissioners. So, this ensures that that we can hold a charter meeting whether that's in January right away and then you could potentially make the changes that you're talking about uh if if we get the applicants uh or it could be the first step to a new strategy like let's communicate out there see what we get and and rather than we hope that we'll get it we'll actually have data how many people are really interested in serving. We had an open watershed commissioner position for more than a year >> and we weren't able to meet our obligations but for staff involvement because no one wanted to step into that role. I would it it it puts us in a more precarious position uh because statutoily we have obligations with the charter commission and so that that would be the precarious position statuto >> have we tried to reach out to to people about the positions that are going to be vacant. >> So that's the next action is to recruit. So, so what I was you 13 though like the with the existing commission >> like you said that we have some that have expired that are at six or they resigned. When is >> we have resations and >> when is their res they ended their term on the 18th of October. >> Oh okay. >> Of those six two of them uh reapplied. So if this goes through here tonight, you know, obviously we send off to the chief judge and yeah, >> get that reappoint and then that would put us back in. >> So So what we go out and we recruit and and however many we get, consider the reappoints with that same pool. Uh and then as other terms expire, you can apply the same thing as an opportunity in order to generate but but then it's based upon actual interest rather than like the watershed commissioner. Nobody. We threw a party and no one came. >> That was a rough position to fill. It was. >> Yeah. >> As you all know, >> you probably don't. It's very technical. Happens in the middle of the day. So, you have to be able to get away from work or not have something going on at that time. And it's more challenging to find somebody with that interest and specialization. with the charter commission meeting last year. Uh we had I think 13 people on at the time and I had to call and beg two people to come in so that we could have a quorum as everybody else sat here because even though they were there and it's only one meeting a year, we didn't have a quorum that actually showed up. >> We might want to consider pairing with other city events to make it more appealing. Like what if you did it when we have night to unite or something like do it at >> I don't think we get anyone. >> I don't know >> during night. people might be there anyway. >> Yeah, if you're going anyways, >> our commission planning parks charter, >> no compensation, totally volunteer and >> or bark in the park. >> It's a whole different whole different >> but that was the example in which which we had people and it's one meeting a year and we couldn't get a quorum to show up. >> Yeah. >> Fair. >> Yeah. Just one one point to add for the council's consideration as one of the concerns seems to be um you know wanting to sort of having that monitoring of the of the appointment schedule. Um typically uh in more of a uniform setup charter commission you're really only be looking appointments every other year. We actually are uniquely positioned just because of the way the appointments take place over the year that you'll be making appointments three out of every four years. So you'll you'll have some opportunity to renew or review this almost an interest. >> Thank you. >> So, >> it's only so many ways. >> I would uh make a motion to approve what was submitted by the charter commission. >> Okay. Do we have a second? >> I will second it. Any further discussion? >> I would not vote for it unless we can agree to do a joint meeting in January to discuss further refinement. How about this uh joint meeting once we have se because I don't know that we can do a joint meeting when we don't have >> if we do this we'll have five. >> They haven't been reappointed yet. Oh, so it takes the judge's action >> that too. Yeah. Okay. >> So once we have seven and the judge has gotten it then >> well once we have five because the judge has acted on the two that have to get >> well they can't meet. >> I'll I'll modify my uh >> Oh yes. If if this amendment is approved, they are they're a functional body >> with five out five even body size of seven. Yes. So yeah, you're right. So once the judge acts on that um we could set up obviously depending on charter availability, charter commission members availability, but yes, I' I'd be fine with that. And I'll modify my >> I'll and I'll modify the second >> to do something as soon as all the stars align right in the third quarter of the second pass. >> Okay. >> I might take that clearly. >> Yeah. >> All righty then. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Perfect. >> Thank you. Then on to 9C which is the charter commission resignations uh reappoints and vacant seats. And that was kind of explained, but do you have anything else to add? >> Um, basically just that we had the six commission members that had a term expiring. Um, and we got written notification from four of them of their resignation. So, we want to accept their resignation formally tonight. And then we had two commission members of those um asking for a reappoint. So, they did apply for reappointment. Um, and we will get that to the chief judge upon your approval tonight. And then we're also asking just for some um the be okay to go ahead and try to fill like the two vacancies based off of what we just did now so we can try to get as many people on the charter as soon as possible. >> Perfect. Any questions for them? >> Okay. Okay, with that I will entertain a motion to accept the resignations from commissioners Tucker, Hibbert, Hackinson, and Friian and reappoint commissioners uh Buckles and Coots to the Charter Commission for a term ending October 18th, 2029 and authorize staff to post the two vacant seats. >> So move. >> Second. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Perfect. And then just process wise, I believe um obviously we'll see how many we get in at once, if it's multiple or or um or just one. I believe the next one is you and me. >> So I think Dean, you and I will Yeah, I think you and I did a appointment last. So >> be you and me for at least one and then potentially two or and then if it was separated times then it' be second one would be you and me. So perfect. Sounds good. And with that, we are headed into close session. Give me one moment here. Uh, under the authority of Minnesota statute 13D.05, subdivision 3B, the city is permitted to close a meeting for attorney client privilege to discuss pending litigation. The city council is going into close session for that purpose to discuss open litigation with Hey Holding Company LLC. Upon adjournment of that closed session, the city council will enter a second close session pursuant to the authority granted by Minnesota Statute 13D.05 subdivision 3A to evaluate the performance of the city administrator. And we are in close session. Motion to direct the city administrator to execute the reviewed declaration on behalf of the city of Corkran subject to any final revisions made by the city attorney. I'll make that motion. >> Second get picked up. >> Uh all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Perfect. >> Um in the second close session, the city council evaluated the performance of the city administrator. The city administrator perform administrator's performance was determined to be exceptional. Um and with that, I believe there's no motion needed and we are just about done. Do we have any staff reports? Uh nothing that we haven't already discussed except uh everyone have a happy holidays and merry Christmas and uh we will see some of you on December 30th. >> Yeah, there we go. >> Sounds good. Uh same with council reports. I don't have too too much or really anything. Anyone else? >> Jules um passed away. Huge supporter of the Ham Rodeo and such. um keep his family in your prayers. >> Absolutely. >> I visited the Lions at their celebration and volunteer and such down at the Hamill Community Center um this past Saturday. What a bunch of people you guys. >> Yes, they are. >> Gosh, they are something else. And uh I thank them on behalf of all of us and appreciate their their uh everything they do. Um a couple other things. We've got celebrity bartender night tomorrow or Saturday night. Uh please support toys for tots and stuff. We've already committed to go after $12,000 or more. So the stansion is is the place to be. Um Saturday night, um Santa is making very very many public appearances and they're all on my Facebook page if you want to look me up. Um all money, all proceeds go to Toys for Tots. Also, we got a great community, but we got to figure out a way to get more volunteers. We We've got to do that. And, uh, again, I think Michelle said it really well. I think staff and everybody did a great job to get us down to where we got to and we approved tonight. So, thanks each and every one of them. Oh yeah. >> Thank you. >> All righty. >> There was one more. >> Paul Shetty recognized his conservationist of the year in Minnesota. >> I saw that sent that to you and Jay >> and congrats. >> That's a pretty big deal. >> Yeah, that's really cool. >> One of our residents. Pretty neat. >> Very cool. Thanks for bringing that up again. >> You bet. >> Um and with that, city council schedule for 2025. We have that really brief special meeting. Other than that, there is no schedule. Uh we will see you all on I believe it's January 8th, 2026 for the first meeting of the year and then maybe at that point we maybe look into what we're doing for goal setting and stuff like that. >> Correct. Perfect. So there there are some things on the schedule. Uh and so we are planning based on previous guidance to have a work session once a month. Uh we are targeting the first meeting of the month since the second meeting is usually the planning heavy a little bit longer. So that's helpful. uh and uh putting putting some of those things. We'll we'll round out the schedule here now that I've got some more time on my plate next week. Perfect. All righty. And with that, I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> I'll make that motion. >> Mark will make that motion. Do we have a second? >> We'll second it. >> I think Nicholls won that one. All those in favor say I. Yep.